Radio Frequency Exposure Controls for Authorized Exceptions

Abstract

Techniques and apparatus are described for managing exceptions to radio frequency (RF) exposure compliance. An exemplary method of wireless communication by a wireless device generally includes detecting that a transmission is associated with an authorized exception to RF exposure compliance. The method also includes, in response to detecting that the transmission is associated with the authorized exception, determining an allowed transmit power level for a time interval independent of a time-averaged RF exposure limit. The method further includes transmitting a signal in the time interval based on the allowed transmit power level.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] (CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS)

[0001] This application claims priority to U.S. Patent Application No. 18 / 390,591, filed December 20, 2023, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63 / 476,611, filed December 21, 2022, which is incorporated by reference herein for all applicable purposes.

[0002] introduction Field of Disclosure Aspects of the present disclosure relate to wireless communications, and more particularly, to managing exceptions to radio frequency (RF) exposure compliance.

[0003] 2. Description of Related Art

[0003] Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various telecommunication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging, broadcasting, etc. Modern wireless devices (e.g., cellular phones) are generally required to meet radio frequency (RF) exposure limits set by certain government and international standards and regulations. To ensure compliance with the standards, such devices typically undergo an extensive certification process before being released to the market. To ensure that wireless devices comply with the RF exposure limits, techniques have been developed to enable wireless devices to assess RF exposure from the wireless device and accordingly adjust the transmit power of the wireless device to comply with the RF exposure limits. Summary of the Invention

[0004]

[0004] The systems, methods, and devices of the present disclosure each have several aspects, no one of which is solely responsible for its desirable attributes. Without limiting the scope of the present disclosure as expressed by the claims that follow, several features will now be briefly described. After reviewing this discussion, and particularly after reading the section entitled "Detailed Description of the Invention," it will be understood how the features of the present disclosure provide various advantages.

[0005] Certain aspects of the subject matter described in this disclosure can be implemented in a method of wireless communication by a wireless device. The method generally includes detecting that a transmission is associated with an authorized exception to radio frequency (RF) exposure compliance. The method further includes, in response to detecting that the transmission is associated with the authorized exception, determining an allowed transmit power level for a time interval independent of a time-averaged RF exposure limit. The method also includes transmitting a signal in the time interval based on the allowed transmit power level.

[0006] Some aspects of the subject matter described in this disclosure can be implemented in an apparatus for wireless communications. The apparatus includes one or more memories that collectively store executable instructions and one or more processors coupled to the one or more memories. The one or more processors are collectively configured to execute the executable instructions to cause the apparatus to detect that a transmission is associated with an authorized exception to radio frequency (RF) exposure compliance, determine an allowed transmit power level for a time interval independent of time-averaged RF exposure limits in response to detecting that the transmission is associated with the authorized exception, and transmit a signal in the time interval based on the allowed transmit power level.

[0007] Some aspects of the subject matter described in this disclosure can be implemented in an apparatus for wireless communication. The apparatus includes means for detecting that a transmission is associated with an authorized exception to radio frequency (RF) exposure compliance. The apparatus also includes means for determining, in response to detecting that the transmission is associated with the authorized exception, an authorized transmit power level for a time interval independent of a time-averaged RF exposure limit. The apparatus further includes means for transmitting a signal in the time interval based on the authorized transmit power level.

[0008] Certain aspects of the subject matter described in this disclosure can be implemented in a non-transitory computer-readable medium. The non-transitory computer-readable medium has stored thereon instructions that, when executed by an apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform an operation. The operation includes detecting that a transmission is associated with an authorized exception to radio frequency (RF) exposure compliance. The operation also includes, in response to detecting that the transmission is associated with the authorized exception, determining an allowed transmit power level for a time interval independent of a time-averaged RF exposure limit. The operation further includes transmitting a signal in the time interval based on the allowed transmit power level.

[0009]

[0009] Other aspects provide an apparatus operable, configured, or adapted to perform any one or more of the aforementioned methods and / or methods described elsewhere herein; a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor of the apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform the aforementioned methods and methods described elsewhere herein; a computer program product embodied on a computer-readable storage medium comprising code for performing the aforementioned methods and methods described elsewhere herein; and / or an apparatus comprising means for performing the aforementioned methods and methods described elsewhere herein. By way of example, the apparatus may comprise a processing system, a device having a processing system, or processing systems that cooperate via one or more networks.

[0010] To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the one or more aspects comprise the features hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims. The following description and the annexed drawings set forth in detail certain illustrative features of the one or more aspects. These features are indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of the various aspects may be employed. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0011]

[0011] So that the above-mentioned features of the present disclosure can be understood in detail, a more particular description briefly summarized above may be had by reference to embodiments, some of which are illustrated in the drawings. However, it should be noted that the attached drawings illustrate only certain exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, and therefore should not be considered as limiting the scope of the present disclosure, since the description may be incorporated into other equally effective embodiments. [Figure 1]

[0012] FIG. 1 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an example wireless communication network. [Figure 2]

[0013] is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an exemplary base station (BS) and user equipment (UE) design. [Figure 3]

[0014] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary radio frequency (RF) transceiver. [Figure 4]

[0015] 4A-4C are graphs illustrating examples of transmit power over time in compliance with time-averaged RF exposure limits. [Figure 5]

[0016] 1 is a flow chart illustrating example operations for managing time-averaged RF exposure ratings for authorized exceptions according to certain aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 6]

[0017] 1 illustrates a graph of exemplary (normalized) transmit power over time versus maximum time-averaged transmit power level, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 7]

[0018] FIG. 7A is an example plot illustrating instantaneous normalized exposure over time associated with a wireless device, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

[0019] FIG. 7B is an exemplary plot showing time-averaged normalized exposure corresponding to FIG. 7A, according to certain embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 8]

[0020] 1 is a flow chart illustrating example operations for wireless communication by a wireless device in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 9]

[0021] 1 illustrates a communications device (e.g., a UE) that may include various components configured to perform operations for the techniques disclosed herein, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

[0012]

[0022] For ease of understanding, the same reference numbers have been used, where possible, to designate identical elements common to the figures. It is contemplated that elements disclosed in one embodiment may be beneficially utilized on other embodiments without specific recitation. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0013]

[0023] Aspects of the present disclosure provide an apparatus, method, processing system, and computer-readable medium for managing exceptions to radio frequency (RF) exposure compliance.

[0014]

[0024] A wireless communication device may evaluate RF exposure compliance using a time-averaged operation over a running time window (e.g., 4 seconds for millimeter wave (mmWave), 2 seconds for the 60 gigahertz (GHz) band, 100 seconds or 360 seconds for bands below 6 GHz, etc.). The wireless device may perform an RF exposure assessment of past RF exposure over a given time window to determine a maximum allowable transmit power for future time intervals within the time window. The time-averaged RF exposure assessment may enable the wireless device to output high-power transmission burst(s) in compliance with the time-averaged RF exposure limits. For example, the high-power transmission burst may use most or all of the exposure margin associated with the time-averaged RF exposure limits during a duration short relative to the time window. In some cases, after the high-power transmission burst, the wireless device may refrain from transmitting (e.g., drop the call) or maintain transmit power at a reserve level for the remainder of the time window to ensure compliance with the time-averaged RF exposure limits. In such cases, the wireless device may not be able to make or maintain an emergency transmission, such as a 9-1-1 call or other emergency transmission as further described herein, until the time-averaged RF exposure margin is updated following the passage of a time window that may in some cases be as long as six minutes.

[0015]

[0025] Aspects of the present disclosure provide apparatus and methods for managing exceptions to RF exposure compliance. A wireless device may apply a temporary exception to a time-averaged RF exposure limit for a particular transmission, such as an emergency transmission. For example, in response to detecting an authorized exception to RF exposure compliance (e.g., an emergency transmission), the wireless device may output the emergency transmission at a power level that violates the time-averaged RF exposure limit, taking into account the wireless device's past exposure. In some cases, the power level may be a maximum instantaneous transmit power that the wireless device is capable of outputting or a power level determined by a regulatory agency or standards body. In some cases, the power level may be a level that corresponds to the time-averaged RF exposure limit. The wireless device may allow the time-averaged RF exposure to violate the time-averaged RF exposure limit for a particular duration, such as a time window associated with the time-averaged RF exposure limit, or until the transmission is successfully received.

[0016]

[0026] The apparatus and methods for managing exceptions to RF exposure compliance described herein may enable a wireless device to communicate with another wireless device in an emergency situation (or other permitted exception scenario) regardless of past exposures generated by the wireless device. For example, assuming the wireless device has consumed all or a majority of the exposure margin within a time window associated with a time-averaged RF exposure limit, the wireless device may output an emergency transmission (or other permitted exception transmission) regardless of past RF exposures generated by the wireless device.

[0017]

[0027] The following description provides examples of RF exposure compliance in a communication system and does not limit the scope, applicability, or examples set forth in the claims. Changes may be made in the function and arrangement of the elements described without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Various embodiments may omit, substitute, or add various procedures or components as appropriate. For example, the methods described may be performed in an order different from that described, and various steps may be added, omitted, or combined. Also, features described with respect to some embodiments may be combined in some other embodiments. For example, an apparatus may be implemented or a method may be practiced using any number of aspects described herein. Additionally, the scope of the present disclosure is intended to encompass apparatuses or methods practiced using other structure, functions, or structure and functions in addition to or other than the various aspects of the present disclosure described herein. It should be understood that any aspect of the present disclosure disclosed herein may be embodied by one or more elements of a claim. The word "exemplary" is used herein to mean "serving as an example, instance, or illustration." Any aspect described herein as "exemplary" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects.

[0018]

[0028] Generally, any number of wireless networks may be deployed in a given geographic area. Each wireless network may support a particular radio access technology (RAT) and may operate on one or more frequencies. A RAT may also be referred to as a radio technology, air interface, etc. A frequency may also be referred to as a carrier, subcarrier, frequency channel, tone, subband, etc. Each frequency may support a single RAT in a given geographic area or may support multiple RATs to avoid interference between wireless networks of different RATs.

[0019]

[0029] The techniques described herein may be used for various wireless networks and radio technologies. Although aspects may be described herein using terminology commonly associated with third-generation (3G), fourth-generation (4G), and / or new radio (NR) (e.g., fifth-generation (5G) NR) wireless technologies, aspects of the present disclosure may be applied in other generation-based communication systems and / or to wireless technologies such as 802.11, 802.15, etc.

[0020]

[0030] NR access may support various wireless communication services, such as enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), which targets wide bandwidths (e.g., 80 megahertz (MHz) or greater); millimeter wave, which targets high carrier frequencies (e.g., 24 GHz to 53 GHz or greater); massive machine-type communications (MTC) (mMTC), which targets non-backward compatible MTC techniques; and / or mission-critical, which targets ultra-reliable low-latency communications (URLLC). These services may include latency and reliability requirements. These services may also have different transmission time intervals (TTIs) to meet their respective quality of service (QoS) requirements. In addition, these services may coexist in the same subframe. NR supports beamforming, and beam directions may be dynamically configured. Multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) transmission using precoding is supported, and multi-layer transmission may also be supported. Aggregation of multiple cells may be supported.

[0021] Exemplary Wireless Communication Networks and Devices

[0031] 1 illustrates an example wireless communication network 100 in which aspects of the present disclosure may be implemented. For example, the wireless communication network 100 may be an NR system (e.g., a 5G NR network), an Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) system (e.g., a 4G network), a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) (e.g., a second-generation (2G) / third-generation (3G) network), or a code division multiple access (CDMA) system (e.g., a 2G / 3G network), or may be configured for communication according to an IEEE standard, such as one or more of the 802.11 standards. As shown in FIG. 1, the UE 120a includes an RF exposure manager 122 that manages allowed exception(s) to time-averaged RF exposure compliance in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. The UE 120a may be configured to communicate with multiple radio access networks (RANs), such as a 5G network and a WiFi network, or may be configured to communicate with a single RAN, for example, only a WiFi network or only a Bluetooth network.

[0022]

[0032] As shown in FIG. 1, wireless communication network 100 may include several BSs 110a-110z (each also referred to herein individually or collectively as BSs 110) and other network entities. BSs 110 may provide communication coverage for a particular geographic area, sometimes referred to as a “cell,” which may move according to the location of a stationary or mobile BS. In some examples, BSs 110 may be interconnected through various types of backhaul interfaces (e.g., direct physical connections, wireless connections, virtual networks, etc.) using any suitable transport network and / or to one or more other BSs or network nodes (not shown) in wireless communication network 100. In the example shown in FIG. 1, BSs 110a, 110b, and 110c may be macro BSs of macro cells 102a, 102b, and 102c, respectively. BS 110x may be a pico BS of pico cell 102x. BS 110y and BS 110z may be femto BSs in femto cells 102y and 102z, respectively. A BS may support one or multiple cells.

[0023]

[0033] The BS 110 communicates with UEs 120a through 120y (each also referred to herein individually as a UE 120 or collectively as a UE 120) within the wireless communication network 100. The UEs 120 (e.g., 120x, 120y, etc.) may be dispersed throughout the wireless communication network 100, and each UE 120 may be stationary or mobile. The wireless communication network 100 may also include a relay station (e.g., relay station 110r), which may also be referred to as a relay, receives transmissions of data and / or other information from an upstream station (e.g., the BS 110a or the UE 120r), forwards transmissions of data and / or other information to a downstream station (e.g., the UE 120 or the BS 110), or relays transmissions between the UEs 120 to facilitate communication between the devices.

[0024]

[0034] In certain aspects, the UE 120a may act as an access point (AP) (e.g., a soft AP), communicate with other WiFi clients (e.g., augmented reality (AR) glasses or headsets, tablets, etc.), and use the wireless link to the BS 110 as a backhaul to a network (e.g., the Internet). As an example, the UE 120a may stream video from an AP (e.g., another UE or a base station) and have a Bluetooth link to a pair of headsets.

[0025]

[0035] A network controller 130 may communicate with the set of BSs 110 and provide coordination and control for these BSs 110 (e.g., via a backhaul). In some cases, the network controller 130 may include a centralized unit (CU) and / or a distributed unit (DU), for example, in a 5G NR system. In some aspects, the network controller 130 may communicate with a core network 132 (e.g., a 5G Core Network (5GC)) that provides various network functions such as access and mobility management, session management, user plane functions, policy control functions, authorization server functions, integrated data management, application functions, network exposure functions, network repository functions, and network slice selection functions.

[0026]

[0036] The term “beam” may be used in various contexts in this disclosure. A beam may be used to mean a set of gains and / or phases (e.g., precoding weights or cophasing weights) applied to antenna elements in a UE and / or BS for transmission or reception. The term “beam” may also refer to an antenna or radiation pattern of a signal transmitted while applying gain and / or phase to the antenna elements. Other references to a beam may include one or more characteristics or parameters associated with an antenna (radiation) pattern, such as angle of arrival (AoA), angle of departure (AoD), gain, phase, directivity, beamwidth, beam direction (relative to a reference plane) in azimuth and elevation, peak-to-sidelobe ratio, or antenna port associated with the antenna (radiation) pattern. The term “beam” may also refer to an associated number and / or configuration of antenna elements (e.g., a uniform linear array, a uniform rectangular array, or other uniform array).

[0027]

[0037] FIG. 2 illustrates example components of a BS 110a and a UE 120a (eg, wireless communication network 100 of FIG. 1) that may be used to implement aspects of the present disclosure.

[0028]

[0038] At the BS 110a, the transmit processor 220 may receive data from a data source 212 and control information from the controller / processor 240. The control information may be for a physical broadcast channel (PBCH), a physical control format indicator channel (PCFICH), a physical hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) indicator channel (PHICH), a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), a group common PDCCH (GC PDCCH), etc. The data may be for a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), etc. A medium access control (MAC) control element (MAC-CE) is a MAC layer communication structure that may be used for control command exchange between wireless nodes. The MAC-CE may be carried in a shared channel, such as a PDSCH, a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), or a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH).

[0029]

[0039] The processor 220 may process (e.g., encode and symbol map) the data and control information to obtain data symbols and control symbols, respectively. The transmit processor 220 may also generate reference symbols, such as for a primary synchronization signal (PSS), a secondary synchronization signal (SSS), a PBCH demodulation reference signal (DMRS), and a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS). The transmit (TX) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) processor 230 may perform spatial processing (e.g., precoding) on ​​the data symbols, control symbols, and / or reference symbols, if applicable, and may provide output symbol streams to modulators (MODs) within the transceivers 232a through 232t. Each modulator within transceiver 232a through 232t may process a respective output symbol stream (e.g., for orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), etc.) to obtain an output sample stream. Each of transceivers 232a through 232t may further process (e.g., convert to analog, amplify, filter, and upconvert) the output sample stream to obtain a downlink signal. The downlink signals from transceivers 232a through 232t may be transmitted via antennas 234a through 234t, respectively.

[0030]

[0040] At the UE 120a, the antennas 252a through 252r may receive downlink (DL) signals from the BS 110a and may provide received signals to the transceivers 254a through 254r, respectively. The transceivers 254a through 254r may condition (e.g., filter, amplify, downconvert, and digitize) their respective received signals to obtain input samples. Each demodulator (DEMOD) in the transceivers 232a through 232t may further process the input samples (e.g., for OFDM, etc.) to obtain received symbols. A MIMO detector 256 may obtain received symbols from all demodulators in the transceivers 254a through 254r, perform MIMO detection on the received symbols if applicable, and provide detected symbols. A receive processor 258 may process (e.g., demodulate, deinterleave, and decode) the detected symbols, provide decoded data for UE 120a to a data sink 260, and provide decoded control information to a controller / processor 280.

[0031]

[0041] On the uplink, at the UE 120a, a transmit processor 264 may receive and process data from a data source 262 (e.g., for a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH)) and control information from a controller / processor 280 (e.g., for a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH)). The transmit processor 264 may also generate reference symbols for a reference signal (e.g., for a sounding reference signal (SRS)). The symbols from the transmit processor 264 may be precoded by a TX MIMO processor 266, if applicable, further processed by modulators (MODs) in transceivers 254a through 254r (e.g., for single-carrier frequency division multiplexing (SC-FDM), etc.), and transmitted to the BS 110a. At BS 110a, uplink (UL) signals from UE 120a may be received by antenna 234, processed by demodulators within transceivers 232a-232t, detected by a MIMO detector 236 if applicable, and further processed by a receive processor 238 to obtain decoded data and control information sent by UE 120a. Receive processor 238 may provide the decoded data to a data sink 239 and the decoded control information to a controller / processor 240.

[0032]

[0042] Memories 242 and 282 may store data and program codes for BS 110a and UE 120a, respectively. Scheduler 244 may schedule UEs for data transmission on the downlink and / or uplink.

[0033]

[0043] Antenna 252, processors 266, 258, 264, and / or controller / processor 280 of UE 120a and / or antenna 234, processors 220, 230, 238, and / or controller / processor 240 of BS 110a may be used to perform various techniques and methods described herein. As shown in FIG. 2, controller / processor 280 of UE 120a, according to aspects described herein, includes RF exposure manager 281, which is representative of RF exposure manager 122. Although shown in a controller / processor, other components of UE 120a and BS 110a may be used to perform the operations described herein.

[0034]

[0044] NR may utilize OFDM with a cyclic prefix (CP) on the uplink and downlink. NR may support half-duplex operation using time division duplexing (TDD). OFDM and SC-FDM partition the system bandwidth into multiple orthogonal subcarriers, which are commonly referred to as tones, bins, etc. Each subcarrier may be modulated with data. Modulation symbols may be sent in the frequency domain with OFDM and in the time domain with SC-FDM. The spacing between adjacent subcarriers may be fixed, and the total number of subcarriers may depend on the system bandwidth. The system bandwidth may also be partitioned into subbands. For example, a subband may cover multiple resource blocks (RBs).

[0035]

[0045] 1 and 2 as communicating with a BS and / or within a network, the UE 120a may be configured to communicate / transmit directly with another UE 120 or to another wireless device without relaying the communication through a network. In some aspects, the BS 110a shown in FIG. 2 and described above is an example of another UE 120.

[0036] Exemplary RF Transceiver

[0046] 3 is a block diagram of an example RF transceiver circuit 300 according to certain aspects of the present disclosure. The RF transceiver circuit 300 includes at least one transmit (TX) path 302 (also known as a transmit chain) for transmitting signals via one or more antennas 306, and at least one receive (RX) path 304 (also known as a receive chain) for receiving signals via the antenna 306. When the TX path 302 and the RX path 304 share the antenna 306, these paths may be connected to the antenna via an interface 308, which may include any of a variety of suitable RF devices, such as a switch, a duplexer, a diplexer, a multiplexer, etc.

[0037]

[0047] The TX path 302, which receives an in-phase (I) or quadrature (Q) baseband analog signal from a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) 310, may include a baseband filter (BBF) 312, a mixer 314, a driver amplifier (DA) 316, and a power amplifier (PA) 318. The BBF 312, mixer 314, and DA 316 may be included within one or more radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs). The PA 318 may be external to the RFIC(s) in some implementations.

[0038]

[0048] The BBF 312 filters the baseband signal received from the DAC 310, and the mixer 314 mixes the filtered baseband signal with a transmit local oscillator (LO) signal to translate the baseband signal of interest to a different frequency (e.g., upconvert from baseband to radio frequency). This frequency translation process generates sum and difference frequencies between the LO frequency and the frequency of the baseband signal of interest. The sum and difference frequencies are called beat frequencies. Because the beat frequency is typically in the RF range, the signal output by the mixer 314 is typically an RF signal and may be amplified by the DA 316 and / or the PA 318 before being transmitted by the antenna 306. Although one mixer 314 is shown, several mixers may be used to upconvert the filtered baseband signal to one or more intermediate frequencies and then upconvert the intermediate frequency signal to a frequency for transmission.

[0039]

[0049] The RX path 304 may include a low noise amplifier (LNA) 324, a mixer 326, and a baseband filter (BBF) 328. The LNA 324, the mixer 326, and the BBF 328 may be included in one or more RFICs, which may or may not be the same RFICs that include the TX path components. An RF signal received via the antenna 306 is amplified by the LNA 324, and the mixer 326 may mix the amplified RF signal with a receive local oscillator (LO) signal to translate (e.g., downconvert) the RF signal of interest to a different baseband frequency. The baseband signal output by the mixer 326 may be filtered by the BBF 328 before being converted to a digital I or Q signal by an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) 330 for digital signal processing.

[0040]

[0050] Certain transceivers may employ a frequency synthesizer with a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) to generate a stable, tunable LO with a particular tuning range. Thus, the transmit LO may be generated by the TX frequency synthesizer 320 and may be buffered or amplified by an amplifier 322 before being mixed with the baseband signal in the mixer 314. Similarly, the receive LO may be generated by the RX frequency synthesizer 332 and may be buffered or amplified by an amplifier 334 before being mixed with the RF signal in the mixer 326.

[0041]

[0051] A controller 336 may direct the operation of the RF transceiver circuitry 300, such as transmitting signals via the TX path 302 and / or receiving signals via the RX path 304. The controller 336 may be a processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device (PLD), discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof. The memory 338 may store data and program code for operating the RF transceiver circuitry 300. The controller 336 and / or the memory 338 may include control logic. In some cases, the controller 336 may determine the transmit power applied to the TX path 302 (e.g., a particular level of gain applied to the BBF 312, the DA 316, and / or the PA 318) that complies with RF exposure limits set by country-specific regulations and / or international standards, as further described herein.

[0042] Exemplary RF Exposure Compliance

[0052] RF exposure can be expressed in units of specific absorption rate (SAR), which measures energy absorption per unit mass by human tissue and can have units of watts per kilogram (W / kg). RF exposure also measures energy absorption per unit area and can be expressed in units of milliwatts per square centimeter (mW / cm). 2 The power density (PD) may have units of 100 Hz. In some cases, maximum permissible exposure (MPE) limits may be imposed in PD units for wireless devices using transmission frequencies above 6 GHz. MPE limits are based on regulatory standards for area-based exposure, e.g., watts per square meter (W / m), averaged over a defined area and time-averaged over a frequency-dependent time window to prevent human exposure hazards represented by tissue temperature changes. 2 ) is the energy density limit, defined as the number X of

[0043]

[0053] SAR can be used to assess RF exposure for transmission frequencies below 6 GHz, which covers wireless communication technologies such as 2G / 3G (e.g., CDMA), 4G (e.g., Long Term Evolution (LTE)), 5G (e.g., NR in the 6 GHz band), and IEEE 802.11ac. PD can be used to assess RF exposure for transmission frequencies above 6 GHz, which covers wireless communication technologies such as IEEE 802.11ad, 802.11ay, and 5G in the millimeter wave band. Therefore, various metrics can be used to assess RF exposure for different wireless communication technologies.

[0044]

[0054] A wireless device (e.g., UE 120) may simultaneously transmit signals using multiple wireless communication technologies. For example, the wireless device may simultaneously transmit signals using a first wireless communication technology operating at or below 6 GHz (e.g., 3G, 4G, 5G, etc.) and a second wireless communication technology operating above 6 GHz (e.g., mmWave 5G, IEEE 802.11ad, or 802.11ay in the 24-60 GHz band). In certain aspects, the wireless device may simultaneously transmit signals using a first wireless communication technology for which RF exposure is measured in terms of SAR (e.g., 3G, 4G, 5G, IEEE 802.11ac, etc. in the sub-6 GHz band) and a second wireless communication technology for which RF exposure is measured in terms of PD (e.g., 5G, IEEE 802.11ad, 802.11ay, etc. in the 24-60 GHz band). As used herein, the sub-6 GHz band may, in some examples, include frequency bands between 300 and 6000 MHz, and in some examples, may include bands in the range of 6000 MHz and / or 7000 MHz.

[0045]

[0055] In some cases, compliance with RF exposure limits may be performed as a time-averaged RF exposure assessment within a specified time window (T) associated with the RF exposure limit (e.g., 4 seconds for mmWave, 2 seconds for the 60 GHz band, 100 seconds or 360 seconds for bands below 6 GHz, etc.).

[0046]

[0056] 4A is a graph 400A of transmit power (P(t)) over time, varying over an implementation time window (T) associated with a time-averaged RF exposure limit, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure. As an example, the instantaneous transmit power may be increased by a maximum time-averaged transmit power level P(t) at a particular transmission occasion within the time window (T). limit The transmit power may exceed a maximum time-averaged transmit power level P for a particular duration. limit In some cases, the wireless device may be configured to output a maximum transmit power, P maxIn some cases, a wireless device may transmit at a maximum time-averaged transmit power level P limit The maximum time-averaged transmit power level P limit represents the time-averaged threshold for transmit power for RF exposure limits over a time window (T). limit may be referred to as a maximum time-averaged power level or limit, or in terms of exposure, may be referred to as a maximum time-averaged RF exposure level or limit. Graph 400A also shows gaps between transmission bursts, where the gaps represent periods of time during which no transmissions were output from the wireless device.

[0047]

[0057] In some cases, the transmit power may be set to a maximum time-averaged transmit power level (e.g., P ) allowed for RF exposure compliance that allows for continuous transmission during a time window. limit ) For example, FIG. 4B illustrates a case where the transmit power is P limit 4B is a graph 400B of transmit power over time (P(t)) illustrating an example where the UE is set to P limit It can be transmitted continuously.

[0048]

[0058] 4C is a graph 400C of transmit power (P(t)) over time illustrating a time-averaged mode that provides reserve power to enable continuous transmission within a time window (T), in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure. As shown, a UE may use a lower power (P reserve ), the transmission power is set to the maximum instantaneous power (P max ) to reserve power (P reserve ) can be backed off to P max P for the duration of max and P reserve The area between the transmit power (P(t)) in FIG. 4C and the time window T is limitP for a time window T so that the area of limit and P reserve Such an area may be considered using 100% of the energy (transmit power or exposure) to remain compliant with the time-averaged RF exposure limits. reserve In the absence of P, the transmitter must use P for a portion of the time window to ensure compliance with the time-averaged RF exposure limits. max In some aspects, the P reserve is set to a fixed power used to serve the purpose (e.g., reserving power for a specific communication). max The duration of transmission at P is sometimes called the burst transmission time (or high power duration). When more margin becomes available in the future (T seconds later), the transmitter can transmit again at a higher power (e.g., P max The IEEE 802.11 standard may be enabled to transmit (in short bursts at 1 MHz).

[0049]

[0059] In some aspects, the UE may transmit a signal at a higher than average power level in the time-averaged mode shown in FIG. max Although a single transmission burst is shown in FIG. 4C, the UE may instead utilize multiple transmission bursts within a time window (T), e.g., as described herein with respect to FIG. 4A, where the transmission bursts have a transmit power of P reserve It will be appreciated that the transmit power of each transmission burst may be separated by a period maintained at: Furthermore, the transmit power of each transmission burst may vary (within the burst and / or relative to other bursts), with at least a portion of the burst being at a maximum average power level (e.g., P limit ) can be transmitted at a power greater than 100 .mu.m.

[0050]

[0060] 4A-4C depict continuous transmission over a window, occasion, burst, etc., it will be understood that a duty cycle for transmission may be implemented. In such implementations, the transmit power may be zero during certain portions of the duty cycle and maintained at a higher level (e.g., the level shown in FIGS. 4A-4C) during other portions of the duty cycle. As used herein, a duty cycle of a transmission may refer to a portion (e.g., 5 ms) of a particular period (e.g., 500 ms) during which one or more signals are transmitted. In some cases, the duty cycle may be standardized (e.g., predetermined) with a particular RAT and / or may vary over time due to, for example, changes in radio conditions, mobility, user behavior, channel availability, etc.

[0051]

[0061] The time-averaged RF exposure assessment may enable a wireless device to output high-power transmission burst(s) in compliance with the time-averaged RF exposure limit, for example, as shown in FIGS. 4A and 4C . The high-power transmission burst may use most or all of the exposure margin associated with the time-averaged RF exposure limit during a duration short relative to the time window. In some cases, after the high-power transmission burst, the wireless device may refrain from transmitting (e.g., drop the call) or maintain transmit power at a reserve level for the remainder of the time window to ensure compliance with the time-averaged RF exposure limit. For example, assume that the wireless device uses all of the available energy associated with the time-averaged RF exposure limit in the last time interval of the time window. If an emergency transmission is initiated during this time, the wireless device may delay the emergency transmission for approximately one time window (e.g., 6 minutes). If the wireless device uses the reserve, the reserve power may be too low to communicate with another wireless device. In such a case, the wireless device may not be able to make an emergency transmission, such as a 9-1-1 call or other emergency transmission as further described herein, until the time-averaged RF exposure margin is updated following the passage of a time window that may in some cases be as long as six minutes.

[0052] Exemplary Radio Management of Permitted Exceptions to Radio Frequency Compliance

[0062] Aspects of the present disclosure provide apparatus and methods for managing exceptions to RF exposure compliance. A wireless device may apply a temporary exception to a time-averaged RF exposure limit for a particular transmission, such as an emergency transmission. For example, in response to detecting an authorized exception to RF exposure compliance (e.g., an emergency transmission), the wireless device may output the emergency transmission at a power level that violates the time-averaged RF exposure limit, taking into account the wireless device's past exposure. In some cases, the power level may be a maximum instantaneous transmit power that the wireless device is capable of outputting. In some cases, the power level may be a level corresponding to the time-averaged RF exposure limit or some other predetermined power level for such an exception. The wireless device may allow the time-averaged RF exposure to violate the time-averaged RF exposure limit for a particular duration, such as a time window associated with the time-averaged RF exposure limit.

[0053]

[0063] The apparatus and methods for managing exceptions to RF exposure compliance described herein may enable a wireless device to communicate with another wireless device in an emergency situation (or other authorized exception scenario) regardless of past exposures generated by the wireless device. For example, assuming the wireless device has consumed all or a majority of the exposure margin within a time window associated with a time-averaged RF exposure limit, the wireless device may output an emergency transmission (or other authorized exception transmission) regardless of past RF exposures generated by the wireless device. The apparatus and methods for managing exceptions to RF exposure compliance described herein may also enable a wireless device to switch between operating in compliance with RF exposure limits and applying authorized exceptions to RF exposure compliance.

[0054]

[0064] In certain aspects, the wireless device, in response to detecting an authorized exception to RF exposure compliance, may transmit one or more signals at an exception transmit power level (P excep ) can be transmitted at the exception transmit power level (P excep ) may result in the wireless device being temporarily non-compliant with time-average RF exposure limits. excep may be the maximum transmit power that the wireless device can output (e.g., P max ). In some cases, the power level is determined by the maximum time-average transmitted power level (P limit In certain aspects, the wireless device may limit ~P max From the power range including P excep Select the power level of max Any transmit power level below which the power level can be selected may be:

[0055]

[0065] In some cases, the wireless device may temporarily stop (or refrain from) performing time-averaged RF exposure assessments during the emergency transmission, and the wireless device may resume performing time-averaged RF exposure assessments responsive to the emergency transmission ending. In such a scenario, when the time-averaged RF exposure assessment resumes, the wireless device may replace the RF exposure history corresponding to the emergency transmission with one or more values ​​that comply with the time-averaged RF exposure limits as described herein.

[0056]

[0066] In certain aspects, a wireless device may adjust the RF exposure history (or transmit power history) tracked for the time-averaged RF exposure assessment (e.g., for permitted exception scenarios). Such adjustments may be made to prevent the time-averaged RF exposure assessment from crashing (e.g., serious computing failure due to non-compliance with RF exposure limits) or interfering with an emergency transmission (e.g., delaying a transmission or causing a P excep This may prevent the wireless device from excep, the time-averaged RF exposure assessment may crash without further action due to non-compliance with the RF exposure limits. For smooth operation from a software operation perspective, on the power reporting side, the wireless device may replace the actual transmit power report (representing past RF exposure generated by the wireless device within the execution time window) with an alternative transmit power report that may comply with the time-averaged RF exposure limits or prevent a crash. The alternative transmit power report may be a substitute (or replacement) or dummy (or mock) report that may be used to determine the maximum allowed transmit power, which may be replaced with an exception transmit power level as further described herein with respect to FIGS. 5 and 6. The wireless device may replace the past exposure or past transmit power with one or more values ​​that comply with the time-averaged RF exposure limits. For example, the wireless device may set the actual past exposure to an amount that is less than the time-averaged RF exposure limit. In some cases, the wireless device may set the past exposure to a value that represents no exposure (e.g., zero on average over a time window or zero for multiple time intervals associated with the past exposure) or some other predetermined value. In some cases, the wireless device may record past exposures at a reserve power level (e.g., P reserve ) can be set to

[0057]

[0067] In some cases, the wireless device may select an alternate power report from multiple values. For example, the wireless device may select a minimum value for the alternate power report among the actual transmit power report value and the alternate value (e.g., min(actual transmit power report, last calculated power level based on allowed RF exposure margin to ensure time-averaged RF exposure complies with regulatory limits)). The alternate value may be a backup level (e.g., P reserve), a level lower than the reserve (e.g., zero), or a level calculated based on the allowable RF exposure margin for that time interval. The substitute value may be a value determined based on the allowable RF exposure margin to ensure that the time-averaged RF exposure is less than the time-averaged RF exposure limit. The substitute value may be less than or equal to the reserve power, where the reserve power is P limit and the reserve level (e.g., P reserve = P in milliwatts (mW) limit * Reserve level in linear units = P in dBm limit -Preliminary level in dB).

[0058]

[0068] In certain aspects, the wireless device may be configured to provide an exception transmit power level P excep may be determined to be at a power level that complies with time-averaged RF exposure limits associated with an occupational or controlled environment, and the exception transmit power level P excep may be non-compliant with the general public RF exposure limits. In some cases, time-average RF exposure limits associated with occupational or controlled environments are higher (e.g., up to five times higher) than RF exposure limits associated with the general public. A wireless device may be configured to use a maximum allowable transmit power (P max_allowed ) may apply a scaling factor to P. For example, the wireless device may increase the maximum permitted transmit power by the scaling factor. This scaling factor may be less than or equal to the ratio of the occupational RF exposure limit to the general public RF exposure limit. In certain aspects, the scaling factor may be a value specified or permitted by a regulatory agency or standards body. The wireless device may excep is defined as a scaling factor (e.g., a = 5) and the maximum allowable transmit power (e.g., a P max_allowed ) On the transmit power reporting side, the wireless device may replace the actual transmit power report with a reduced transmit power report. For example, the wireless device may reduce the actual transmit power report by a scaling factor (e.g., actual transmit power report / a).

[0059]

[0069] 5 is a flow diagram illustrating example operations 500 for managing a time-averaged RF exposure assessment for an authorized exception. The operations 500 may be performed, for example, by a wireless device (e.g., UE 120a) and / or RF transceiver circuitry (e.g., RF transceiver circuitry 300). The operations 500 are described with respect to FIG. 6 and may include managing a maximum time-averaged transmit power level (P limit 6 shows an example (normalized) transmit power graph 600 over time versus an exception transmit power level (P excep ) is the maximum allowable transmission power P determined according to the time-average evaluation max_allowed may be overridden.

[0060]

[0070] The operations 500 may optionally begin at block 502, where a wireless device may obtain a transmit power to be used for a particular time interval (e.g., second time interval 608) within an execution time window (T) associated with a time-averaged RF exposure limit. The transmit power may be obtained from a transmit automatic gain control (TxAGC) module in layer 1 (L1) of a protocol stack. For example, L1 may include a physical radio layer (PHY) of the protocol stack. In particular aspects, a controller 336 of the RF transceiver circuit 300 may obtain (or access) the transmit power to be used for the particular time interval. The controller 336 may include a TxAGC module and track the transmit power output by the transmit path over time. A transmit power report of a historical transmit power (e.g., historical transmit power 606) may represent the actual transmit power(s) within expected device uncertainty.

[0061]

[0071] At block 504, the wireless device may determine a normalized power report of a past transmit power (e.g., past transmit power 606). The normalized power report for a particular time interval (e.g., second time interval 608) may be P limitFor example, the normalized power report may be a report of the past time-averaged transmit power(s) during the second time interval 608 normalized using P limit (e.g., normalized power report = Tx power report / P limit ), where the transmit power(s) associated with the second time interval 608 are averaged over the second time interval 608. Such normalized power reports may be calculated and tracked for multiple time intervals (e.g., corresponding to past transmit powers 606) belonging to the running time window (T). The wireless device may determine an average of the normalized power reports associated with the past transmit powers 606.

[0062]

[0072] At block 506, the wireless device may adjust the normalized power report in response to detecting an allowed exception to RF exposure compliance, such as detecting an emergency transmission. The wireless device may, for example, adjust the normalized power report to comply with time-averaged RF exposure limits, as described herein. The adjusted power report is calculated as a maximum allowed transmit power (P max_allowed ) may be a substitute (or replacement) or dummy (or mock) report used to determine the normalized power report. As an example, the wireless device may select a substitute value for the normalized power report, which may be selected as the minimum of the actual transmit power report and the last calculated power level based on an allowable RF exposure margin to ensure that the time-averaged RF exposure complies with regulatory or standardized limits.

[0063]

[0073] At block 508, the wireless device may perform a time-averaging operation based on the adjusted normalized power report. The wireless device may determine an allowed normalized exposure margin for the next time interval (e.g., the first time interval 604) within the time window (T) such that the time average of the adjusted version of the normalized power report and the exposure margin for the next time interval meets the time-averaged RF exposure limit. In certain aspects, the exposure margin may be a maximum RF exposure at which the wireless device can generate and meet the time-averaged RF exposure limit. The normalized exposure margin may be a percentage of the remaining exposure with respect to the normalized power report and the time-averaged RF exposure limit. For example, the time-averaged RF exposure limit may be met when the time average of the adjusted normalized power report and the exposure margin for the next time interval (e.g., the first time interval 604) is less than or equal to 1 (e.g., the normalized RF exposure limit). With respect to the allowed transmit power for the next time interval (e.g., the first time interval 604), the normalized exposure margin is the maximum time-averaged RF exposure power level P limit Represents the percentage of.

[0064]

[0074] At block 510, the wireless device determines the maximum allowed transmit power (P max_allowed For example, the maximum allowed transmit power (P max_allowed ) is the normalized exposure margin determined in block 508 and P limit It may be equal to the product of

[0065]

[0075] At block 512, the wireless device determines the maximum allowed transmit power for the allowed exception (e.g., the exception transmit power level P excep ) The wireless device may determine an exception transmit power level P excep P limit In some cases, the exception transmit power level P excep is P limit ~P max(the maximum instantaneous transmit power that the wireless device can output). In some cases, the exception transmit power level P excep is the calculated maximum allowed transmit power (P max_allowed 6, the wireless device may determine the exception transmit power level P as the maximum allowed transmit power for the first time interval 604. excep can be used.

[0066]

[0076] At block 514, the wireless device sets the exception transmit power level P excep 602 to the transceiver circuitry (e.g., RF transceiver circuit 300). For example, the TxAGC module may provide the exception transmit power level P 602 as digital RF information (e.g., a particular gain index associated with the output power of the transmit path 302). excep 602, and the TxAGC module may control the gain applied to circuitry in the transmit path to output a signal (e.g., an analog RF signal) at a transmit power associated with the digital RF information.

[0067]

[0077] In certain aspects, the operations 500 may optionally begin at block 512 in response to detecting an authorized exception to RF exposure compliance. The wireless device may adjust its transmit power reporting at block 506 until a transmission associated with the authorized exception has ended.

[0068]

[0078] In certain aspects, a wireless device may temporarily refrain from performing the time-averaged RF exposure assessment described herein with respect to FIG. 5. For example, the wireless device may perform operations 500 at blocks 512 and 514 in response to detecting an authorized exception to RF exposure compliance. During a transmission associated with the authorized exception, the wireless device may refrain from performing operations associated with any of blocks 502, 504, 506, 508, and 510.

[0069]

[0079] 7A is an example plot 700A illustrating instantaneous normalized exposure over time associated with a wireless device. In this example, just before the 200-second mark, the wireless device may output a transmission burst that uses all or a large portion of the exposure margin associated with the time-averaged RF exposure limit. Instantaneous exposure 702 may correspond to the exposure generated by the transmission burst. To comply with the RF exposure limit, the wireless device may wait for the duration of the next time window to allow for a subsequent transmission, or the wireless device may continuously transmit in the next time window, as shown by 706. limit In response to detecting an allowed exception to RF exposure compliance, the wireless device may transmit at the exception transmit power (e.g., 0.8 * P limit ) to ensure smooth operation of the time-averaged evaluation. To ensure smooth operation of the time-averaged evaluation, the wireless device may select the minimum of the actual exposure 704 and the exposure margin 706 determined by the time-averaging algorithm as an alternative to transmit power reporting, e.g., as described herein with respect to FIG. 5. The wireless device may adjust the exposure margin 706 over time as more margin becomes available based on past exposure. The wireless device may increase the exposure margin 706 after the wireless device transmits in compliance with RF exposure limits, e.g., as shown at about the 280-second mark. In some cases, when past exposures associated with a transmission comply with time-averaged RF exposure limits, the exposure margin 706 may be adjusted to P limit For example, a time averaging algorithm may be used to adjust the time averaging algorithm so that the wireless device limit , the exposure margin 706 can be adjusted to a value of 1.0 from 280 seconds to 600 seconds.

[0070]

[0080] 7B is an example plot 700B illustrating the time-averaged normalized exposure corresponding to FIG. 7A. Assuming the wireless device transmits at the same power level after the 200 second mark (e.g., P excep =0.8 * P limit ), the time-averaged RF exposure 708 is a maximum time-averaged transmit power level P limit 710. The time-averaged RF exposure 708 reaches a maximum time-averaged transmit power level P just before the 300 second mark. limit 710, and the time-averaged RF exposure may fall below the exception transmit power level P excep In this example, the exception transmit power level may be less than or equal to the exposure margin 712, which is the remaining margin (e.g., (1-0.8) * P limit =0.2 * P limit ) becomes available for other transmissions.

[0071]

[0081] 8 is a flow diagram illustrating example operations 800 for wireless communication in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure. The operations 800 may be performed, for example, by a wireless device (e.g., UE 120a in wireless communication network 100). The operations 800 may be implemented as software components executed and running on one or more processors (e.g., controller / processor 280 of FIG. 2). Furthermore, transmission and / or reception of signals by the wireless device in operations 800 may be enabled, for example, by one or more antennas (e.g., antenna 252 of FIG. 2). In some aspects, transmission and / or reception of signals by the wireless device may be implemented via a bus interface of one or more processors (e.g., controller / processor 280) that acquires and / or outputs signals.

[0072]

[0082] The operations 800 may optionally begin at block 802, where a wireless device may detect that a transmission is associated with an authorized exception to RF exposure compliance. The authorized exception to RF exposure compliance may allow the wireless device to temporarily exceed time-averaged RF exposure limits, for example, as described herein with respect to FIGS. 5, 6, 7A, and 7B. In certain aspects, the authorized exception may include an emergency transmission. In some cases, the wireless device may perform this detection before outputting a transmission, and the wireless device may perform one or more actions in response to this detection.

[0073]

[0083] At block 804, in response to detecting that a transmission is associated with an allowed exception, the wireless device determines an allowed transmit power level (e.g., P excep For example, the wireless device may determine the maximum instantaneous transmit power (e.g., P max ) The time interval may include at least a portion of an execution time window associated with a time-averaged RF exposure limit.

[0074]

[0084] At block 806, the wireless device may transmit a signal at a time interval based on the allowed transmit power level. The wireless device may transmit the signal at a power level equal to or less than the allowed transmit power level. Transmitting the signal may include transmitting any of a variety of communications, such as a text message, a video call, a voice call, a data transmission, etc. The wireless device may transmit the signal to any of a variety of other wireless devices, such as a base station (e.g., BS 110a) or user equipment (e.g., UE 120). Transmitting the signal may use any of a variety of RATs, such as CDMA, E-UTRA, NR, IEEE 802.11, non-terrestrial network (NTN) communications, etc.

[0075]

[0085] Wireless devices must be configured to use a transmit power level (P excep ) to be one of a variety of power levels. In some cases, the wireless device may determine the allowable transmit power level based on a transmit power limit (e.g., P limit In some cases, the allowed transmit power level may be determined to be equal to the power level associated with P limit In certain aspects, the wireless device may have a transmit power limit (e.g., P limit ) and the maximum instantaneous transmit power (e.g., P max ) To determine the allowable transmit power level for an allowed exception transmission, the wireless device may tolerate non-compliance with the time-averaged RF exposure limit in a time interval based on past RF exposure and transmit power for the time interval, e.g., as described herein with respect to FIG.

[0076]

[0086] In certain aspects, to enable smooth operation from a software operation perspective, a wireless device may adjust an RF exposure report or a transmit power report (e.g., an RF exposure report or a transmit power report associated with past transmit power 606) to comply with a time-averaged RF exposure limit, as described herein, for example, with respect to FIGS. 5 and 6. The RF exposure report or transmit power report may indicate the RF exposure or transmit power generated by the wireless device in an execution time window associated with the time-averaged RF exposure limit. In some cases, to adjust the RF exposure report or transmit power report, the wireless device may select a minimum value from among multiple values ​​for the RF exposure report (e.g., min(transmit power report / P limit, previously calculated exposure margin for time-averaged RF exposure compliance)), or may select a minimum value among multiple values ​​for the transmit power report (e.g., min(actual transmit power report, last calculated power level based on allowed RF exposure margin to ensure time-averaged RF exposure complies with regulatory limits)). The multiple values ​​may include a current value for the RF exposure report or transmit power report, and an alternative value for the RF exposure report or transmit power report. The wireless device may select a reserve power (e.g., P reserve ) In some cases, to adjust the RF exposure reporting, the wireless device may set the RF exposure reporting or the transmit power reporting to a particular value. The particular value may be a first value indicating no past RF exposure (e.g., zero, i.e., equivalent to disabling the time-averaged RF exposure assessment during the allowed exception transmission), or a second value corresponding to a reserve power level (e.g., P reserve ).

[0077]

[0087] The wireless device may override the time-averaged RF exposure assessment with the transmit power determined in block 804, for example, as described herein with respect to FIGS. 5 and 6. The wireless device may determine an initial transmit power level (e.g., P) based on the adjusted RF exposure report in compliance with the time-averaged RF exposure limits. max_allowed The wireless device may determine the initial transmit power level to be equal to the allowed transmit power level (e.g., P), e.g., as described herein with respect to block 512. excep ) can be replaced by the maximum allowed transmission power (P max_allowed ), the wireless device may use an exception transmit power level P excep can be used.

[0078]

[0088] In certain aspects, the wireless device may apply RF exposure limits associated with an occupational or controlled environment to determine the transmit power. For example, the wireless device may determine that the transmit power complies with a first RF exposure limit associated with the occupational or controlled environment, and the wireless device may allow the transmit power to be non-compliant with a second RF exposure limit associated with the general public environment. In some cases, to determine the transmit power that complies with the first RF exposure limit associated with the occupational or controlled environment, the wireless device may apply a maximum time-averaged RF exposure power level P limit may be increased by a scaling factor (e.g., a=5). In such a case, the maximum allowed transmit power (P max_allowed ) may be, for example, a maximum time-averaged RF exposure power level P limit This scaling factor may be equal to or less than the ratio of the occupational RF exposure limit to the RF exposure limit for the general public, or the scaling factor may be a value specified or permitted by a regulatory agency or standards body.

[0079]

[0089] In other cases, the wireless device may not exceed a maximum time-average RF exposure level P established in accordance with a second RF exposure limit associated with the general public environment. limit Maintain the maximum allowable transmission power (P max_allowed ) may be increased by a scaling factor (e.g., a=5) to obtain the maximum allowed transmit power (P max_allowed ) is determined according to a time-averaged RF exposure assessment. This scaling factor may be equal to or less than the ratio of the occupational RF exposure limit to the RF exposure limit for the general public, or the scaling factor may be a value specified or permitted by a regulatory or standards body. For example, a wireless device may have a P excep is defined as a scaling factor (e.g., a = 5) and the maximum allowable transmit power (e.g., a P max_allowed) The wireless device may replace the actual transmit power report with a reduced transmit power report. For example, the wireless device may reduce the actual transmit power report by a scaling factor (e.g., actual TX power report / a).

[0080]

[0090] In certain aspects, a wireless device may apply different RF exposure limits for determining transmit power based on a particular application / transmission scenario. For example, a wireless device may have dual certification such that when the wireless device is used in a professional or controlled environment for a particular application (e.g., radio frequency identification (RFID) transmission or emergency communications, e.g., 9-1-1), the wireless device applies a (first) RF exposure limit associated with the professional or controlled environment, and when the wireless device is used in a general public environment, the wireless device applies a (second) RF exposure limit associated with the general public environment.

[0081]

[0091] In certain aspects, a wireless device may refrain from checking whether a transmission complies with time-averaged RF exposure limits. The wireless device may temporarily refrain from performing a time-averaged RF exposure assessment, for example, as described herein with respect to Figures 5 and 6. The wireless device may refrain from performing a time-averaged RF exposure assessment for at least the duration of the transmission.

[0082]

[0092] In certain aspects, to detect that a transmission is associated with an authorized exception, the wireless device may detect that the transmission is associated with an emergency. The emergency transmission may include a (video or voice) call or text to an emergency hotline (e.g., 9-1-1 in the United States). The wireless device may detect that the transmission is associated with an emergency based at least in part on at least one of the recipient of the transmission, a destination telephone number associated with the transmission, or a priority service associated with the transmission (e.g., a government-authorized priority service such as Wireless Priority Service). The wireless device may store or retrieve information associated with the emergency transmission, the information indicating which transmission(s) qualify as an emergency transmission. The wireless device may examine the transmission to determine whether the transmission qualifies as an emergency transmission based on the information associated with the emergency transmission. For example, the wireless device may examine a telephone number dialed for a call or text message, and when the number matches an emergency telephone number (e.g., 9-1-1), the wireless device may apply a temporary exception to the time-averaged RF exposure limit for the emergency call, as described herein. The telephone number or other exception identifier may be stored on the wireless device, for example, in an initial configuration or based on information (e.g., network-specific configuration) exchanged with (or obtained from) the radio access network. For example, when registering with a network, the network may provide the wireless device with emergency contact information or a set of allowed exceptions. In some examples, the network may respond to a received communication with an indicator that a subsequent portion of the communication may be treated as an allowed exception. In some examples, an allowed exception is associated only with one RAT (e.g., NTN) or a specific RAT. In some such examples, only certain communications, e.g., 9-1-1 communications, on that RAT(s) may be allowed exceptions. In other examples, as described herein, communications that meet certain criteria may be considered allowed exceptions regardless of which RAT such communications are transmitted over.

[0083]

[0093] The recipient of a transmission may include an identifier associated with the recipient, the recipient's address (e.g., an internet protocol (IP) address, a media access control address, an email address, etc.), the recipient's uniform resource locator (URL), etc. In some cases where the emergency transmission is an internet communication (e.g., an online chat service or video or audio over the internet), the wireless device may detect the emergency transmission based on the recipient of the transmission. The recipient of the transmission may be associated with a particular online emergency service that may not be associated with a particular telephone number. The wireless device may inspect header information of a particular communication protocol, such as Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) or Internet Protocol. For example, the wireless device may identify that the host of an HTTP request message (e.g., HTTP GET) matches the URL or IP of an emergency service provider, such as a police station or suicide prevention service. The wireless device may apply temporary exceptions to the time-averaged RF exposure limits for emergency transmissions, as described herein.

[0084]

[0094] The recipient or destination telephone number of the transmission may correspond to at least one of an emergency contact number, an emergency hotline, a police station, a fire station, a coast guard, a border patrol, an emergency medical service, or an ambulance service. The emergency hotline may include a 9-1-1 call center in the United States or Canada, or a similar emergency call center in another country, such as 1-1-2 in France, Germany, or Italy (or other European countries), or the emergency hotline numbers 1-2-0, 1-1-9, 1-1-0, and 1-2-2 in China. In certain aspects, the emergency hotline may include, for example, a suicide prevention hotline or a poison control center. The wireless device may examine the telephone number dialed for the call, text, or other communication. When the dialed telephone number matches an emergency telephone number (e.g., a police station), the wireless device may apply a temporary exception to the time-averaged RF exposure limit for the emergency call, as described herein.

[0085]

[0095] Priority service may provide priority to certain authorized users, such as first responders or government officials. Priority service may include wireless priority service in the United States or an equivalent service in another country. Authorized users may include, for example, federal, state, local, and tribal police departments, fire departments, public safety answering points or 9-1-1 call centers, emergency medical services, essential healthcare providers, or any other organization that uses telecommunications services for the maintenance of public health, safety, public order, or law enforcement. Authorized users may prefix a specific sequence (e.g., * 272) to receive call queue priority via the priority service. The wireless device may examine the dialed telephone number for a call or text. If the dialed telephone number is in the priority service sequence (e.g., * 272), the wireless device may apply temporary exceptions to the time-averaged RF exposure limits for emergency calls as described herein.

[0086]

[0096] 1-8 are described herein with respect to a UE performing various methods for ease of understanding, however, aspects of the present disclosure may also apply to other wireless devices, such as wireless stations, access points, base stations, and / or customer premises equipment (CPE), performing the methods described herein. Additionally, while examples are described with respect to communications between a UE (or other wireless device) and a network entity, a UE or other wireless device may communicate with a device other than a network entity, e.g., another UE, or, e.g., another device in a user's home that is not a network entity. Similarly, while certain aspects describe permitted exceptions in the context of emergency transmissions such as 9-1-1 calls, it should be noted that permitted exceptions may include any permitted transmissions specified or permitted by a regulatory or standards body.

[0087] Exemplary Communication Devices

[0097] 9 illustrates a communications device 900 (e.g., UE 120) that may include various components (e.g., corresponding to means-plus-function components) configured to perform operations for the techniques disclosed herein, such as the operations 500 shown in FIG. 5, the operations shown in FIG. 8, or other operations described herein for managing exceptions to RF exposure compliance. The communications device 900 includes a processing system 902 that may be coupled to a transceiver 908 (e.g., a transmitter and / or a receiver). The transceiver 908 is configured to transmit and receive signals for the communications device 900 via an antenna 910, such as various signals as described herein. The processing system 902 may be configured to perform processing functions for the communications device 900, including processing signals received by the communications device 900 and / or to be transmitted.

[0088]

[0098] Processing system 902 includes a processor 904 coupled to a computer-readable medium / memory 912 via a bus 906. In certain aspects, computer-readable medium / memory 912 is configured to store instructions (e.g., computer-executable code) that, when executed by processor 904, cause communications device 900 to perform operation 500 shown in FIG. 5, operation 800 shown in FIG. 8, or other operations for performing various techniques described herein for managing exceptions to RF exposure compliance. In certain aspects, computer-readable medium / memory 912 stores code for detecting 914, code for determining (or selecting, adjusting, enabling, allowing, setting, or replacing) 916, code for transmitting (or outputting) 918, or any combination thereof.

[0089]

[0099] In certain aspects, processing system 902 includes circuitry 920 configured to execute code stored in computer-readable medium / memory 912. In certain aspects, circuitry 920 is coupled to processor 904 and / or computer-readable medium / memory 912 via bus 906. For example, circuitry 920 includes circuitry for detecting 922, circuitry for determining (or selecting, adjusting, enabling, permitting, setting, or replacing), circuitry for transmitting (or outputting) 926, or any combination thereof.

[0090]

[0100] In some examples, the means for transmitting or sending (or the means for outputting for transmission) may include the transceiver 254 and / or antenna(s) 252 of the UE 120 illustrated in FIG. 2 and / or the transceiver 908 and antenna 910 of the communication device 900 of FIG. 9.

[0091]

[0101] In some cases, a device may have an interface (means for outputting) for outputting signals and / or data for transmission, e.g., without actually transmitting the signals and / or data. For example, a processor may output signals and / or data to a radio frequency (RF) front end for transmission via a bus interface. Similarly, a device may have an interface (means for acquiring) for acquiring signals and / or data received from another device, without actually receiving the signals and / or data. For example, a processor may acquire (or receive) signals and / or data from an RF front end for reception via a bus interface. In various aspects, the RF front end may include various components, including transmit and receive processors, transmit and receive MIMO processors, modulators, demodulators, etc., such as those shown in the example of FIG. 2.

[0092]

[0102] In some examples, the detecting means and / or determining means (or selecting, adjusting, enabling, permitting, setting, or replacing means) may include various processing system components, such as, for example, processor 904 in FIG. 9 or aspects of UE 120 shown in FIG. 2, including receive processor 258, transmit processor 264, TX MIMO processor 266, and / or controller / processor 280.

[0093] Exemplary Embodiments

[0103] Example implementations are described in the following numbered clauses.

[0094]

[0104] Aspect 1: A method of wireless communication by a wireless device, the method including: detecting that a transmission is associated with an authorized exception to radio frequency (RF) exposure compliance; determining an allowed transmit power level for a time interval independent of a time-averaged RF exposure limit in response to detecting that the transmission is associated with the authorized exception; and transmitting a signal in the time interval based on the allowed transmit power level.

[0095]

[0105] Aspect 2: The method of aspect 1, wherein determining the allowable transmit power level includes determining the allowable transmit power level to be equal to a power level associated with a transmit power limit corresponding to a time-averaged RF exposure limit.

[0096]

[0106] Aspect 3: The method of aspect 1, wherein determining the allowed transmit power level includes determining that the allowed transmit power level is a maximum instantaneous transmit power that the wireless device can output.

[0097]

[0107] Aspect 4: The method of aspect 1, wherein determining the allowable transmit power level includes selecting the allowable transmit power level between a power level associated with a transmit power limit corresponding to a time-averaged RF exposure limit and a maximum instantaneous transmit power that the wireless device can output.

[0098]

[0108] Aspect 5: A method as described in any of aspects 1 to 4, wherein determining the allowable transmit power level includes allowing non-compliance with time-averaged RF exposure limits in the time interval based on past RF exposure and the allowable transmit power level for the time interval.

[0099]

[0109] Aspect 6: The method of any of aspects 1 to 5, further comprising refraining from performing a time-averaged RF exposure assessment for at least the duration of the transmission.

[0100]

[0110] Aspect 7: The method of any of aspects 1 to 6, further comprising adjusting the RF exposure report or the transmit power report to comply with the time-averaged RF exposure limit.

[0101]

[0111] Aspect 8: The method of aspect 7, wherein determining the allowable transmit power level includes determining an initial transmit power level based on an adjusted RF exposure report or an adjusted transmit power report in compliance with a time-averaged RF exposure limit, and replacing the initial transmit power level with the allowable transmit power level.

[0102]

[0112] Aspect 9: The method of any of aspects 7 to 8, wherein adjusting the RF exposure report or the transmit power report includes selecting a minimum value among a plurality of values ​​as the RF exposure report or the transmit power report.

[0103]

[0113] Aspect 10: The method of aspect 9, wherein the plurality of values ​​includes a current value of the RF exposure report or the transmit power report and an alternative value of the RF exposure report or the transmit power report.

[0104]

[0114] Aspect 11: The method of aspect 10, further comprising determining the alternative value as a value corresponding to a reserve power associated with a time-averaged RF exposure limit.

[0105]

[0115] Aspect 12: The method of any of aspects 7 to 8, wherein adjusting the RF exposure report or the transmit power report includes setting the RF exposure report or the transmit power report to a particular value.

[0106]

[0116] Aspect 13: The method of aspect 12, wherein the particular value includes a first value indicating no past RF exposure or a second value corresponding to a reserve power level.

[0107]

[0117] Aspect 14: The method of any of aspects 7 to 12, wherein the RF exposure report indicates RF exposure generated by the wireless device in a running time window associated with a time-averaged RF exposure limit.

[0108]

[0118] Aspect 15: A method described in any of aspects 1 to 14, wherein determining the permissible transmit power level includes determining that the permissible transmit power level complies with a first RF exposure limit associated with an occupational environment or a controlled environment.

[0109]

[0119] Aspect 16: The method of aspect 15, wherein determining the permissible transmit power level includes allowing the permissible transmit power level to be non-compliant with a second RF exposure limit associated with a general public environment.

[0110]

[0120] Aspect 17: The method of aspect 15, wherein determining that the permissible transmit power level complies with a first RF exposure limit includes determining the permissible transmit power level to be equal to a power level associated with a first transmit power limit corresponding to a time-averaged RF exposure limit, the first transmit power limit being higher than a second transmit power limit corresponding to the time-averaged RF exposure limit.

[0111]

[0121] Aspect 18: The method of aspect 15, wherein determining that the permissible transmit power level complies with a first RF exposure limit includes determining the permissible transmit power level to be equal to a first power level associated with a transmit power limit corresponding to a time-averaged RF exposure limit, the first power level being higher than a second power level associated with a transmit power limit corresponding to a second RF exposure limit associated with a general public environment.

[0112]

[0122] Aspect 19: The method of any of aspects 1 to 18, wherein detecting that the transmission is associated with an allowed exception includes detecting that the transmission is associated with an emergency situation.

[0113]

[0123] Aspect 20: The method of aspect 19, wherein detecting that the transmission is associated with an emergency includes detecting that the transmission is associated with an emergency based at least in part on at least one of a recipient of the transmission, a destination telephone number associated with the transmission, or a preferred service associated with the transmission.

[0114]

[0124] Aspect 21: The method of aspect 20, wherein the recipient or destination telephone number corresponds to at least one of an emergency contact number, an emergency hotline, a police station, a fire station, a coast guard, a border patrol, an emergency medical service, or an ambulance service.

[0115]

[0125] Aspect 22: The method of aspect 20 or 21, wherein the priority service includes a wireless priority service.

[0116]

[0126] Aspect 23: An apparatus comprising: one or more memories that collectively store executable instructions; and one or more processors coupled to the one or more memories, the one or more processors collectively configured to execute the executable instructions to cause the apparatus to perform a method according to any of aspects 1 to 22.

[0117]

[0127] Embodiment 24: An apparatus comprising means for carrying out the method according to any of embodiments 1 to 22.

[0118]

[0128] Aspect 25: A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a processing system, cause the processing system to perform a method according to any of aspects 1 to 22.

[0119]

[0129] Aspect 26: A computer program product, embodied on a computer-readable storage medium, comprising code for performing the method according to any of aspects 1 to 22.

[0120]

[0130] The techniques described herein may be used for various wireless communication technologies, such as NR (e.g., 5G NR), 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA), single-carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA), time division synchronous code division multiple access (TD-SCDMA), and other networks. The terms “network” and “system” are often used interchangeably. A CDMA network may implement a radio technology, such as Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), cdma2000, etc. UTRA includes Wideband CDMA (WCDMA) and other variants of CDMA. cdma2000 covers the IS-2000, IS-95, and IS-856 standards. TDMA networks may implement radio technologies such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). OFDMA networks may implement radio technologies such as NR (e.g., 5G RA), Evolved UTRA (E-UTRA), Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, Flash-OFDMA, and others. UTRA and E-UTRA are parts of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS). LTE and LTE-A are releases of UMTS that use E-UTRA.UTRA, E-UTRA, UMTS, LTE, LTE-A, and GSM are described in documents from an organization named "3rd Generation Partnership Project" (3GPP). cdma2000 and UMB are described in documents from an organization named "3rd Generation Partnership Project 2" (3GPP2). NR is a new wireless communications technology under development.

[0121]

[0131] In 3GPP, the term "cell" can refer to a coverage area of ​​a Node B (NB) and / or the NB subsystem serving this coverage area, depending on the context in which the term is used. In an NR system, the terms "cell" and BS, next-generation Node B (gNB or gNodeB), access point (AP), distributed unit (DU), carrier, or transmission reception point (TRP) may be used interchangeably. A BS may provide communication coverage for macrocells, picocells, femtocells, and / or other types of cells. A macrocell may cover a relatively large geographic area (e.g., a radius of several kilometers) and may allow unrestricted access by UEs with service subscriptions. A picocell may cover a relatively small geographic area and may allow unrestricted access by UEs with service subscriptions. A femtocell may cover a relatively small geographic area (e.g., a home) and may allow restricted access by UEs that have an association with the femtocell (e.g., UEs in a closed subscriber group (CSG), UEs of users in the home, etc.). A BS for a macrocell may be referred to as a macro BS. A BS for a picocell may be referred to as a pico BS. A BS for a femtocell may be referred to as a femto BS or a home BS.

[0122]

[0132] A UE may also be referred to as a mobile station, terminal, access terminal, subscriber unit, station, customer premises equipment (CPE), cellular phone, smartphone, personal digital assistant (PDA), wireless modem, wireless device, handheld device, laptop computer, cordless phone, wireless local loop (WLL) station, tablet computer, camera, gaming device, netbook, smartbook, ultrabook, appliance, medical device or equipment, biometric sensor / device, wearable device such as smart watch, smart clothing, smart glasses, smart wristband, smart jewelry (e.g., smart ring, smart bracelet, etc.), entertainment device (e.g., music device, video device, satellite radio, etc.), vehicle component or vehicle sensor, smart meter / sensor, industrial manufacturing equipment, global positioning system device, or any other suitable device configured to communicate over a wireless or wired medium. Some UEs may be considered machine-type communication (MTC) devices or evolved MTC (eMTC) devices. MTC and eMTC UEs include, for example, robots, drones, remote devices, sensors, meters, monitors, location tags, etc. that may communicate with a BS, another device (e.g., a remote device), or some other entity. A wireless node may provide, for example, connectivity to a network (e.g., a wide area network such as the Internet or a cellular network) via a wired or wireless communication link. Some UEs may be considered Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices, which may be narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) devices.

[0123]

[0133] In some examples, access to the air interface may be scheduled. A scheduling entity (e.g., a BS) allocates resources for communication between some or all devices and equipment within the entity's service area or cell. The scheduling entity may be responsible for scheduling, allocating, reconfiguring, and releasing resources for one or more subordinate entities. That is, for scheduled communication, the subordinate entities use the resources allocated by the scheduling entity. A base station is not the only entity that may function as a scheduling entity. In some examples, a UE may function as a scheduling entity and schedule resources for one or more subordinate entities (e.g., one or more other UEs), and the other UEs may utilize the resources scheduled by the UE for wireless communication. In some examples, a UE may function as a scheduling entity in a peer-to-peer (P2P) network and / or in a mesh network. In the example of a mesh network, UEs may communicate directly with each other in addition to communicating with the scheduling entity.

[0124]

[0134] The methods disclosed herein include one or more steps or actions for achieving the method. The steps and / or actions of those methods may be interchanged with one another without departing from the scope of the claims. In other words, unless a specific order of steps or actions is specified, the order of specific steps and / or actions and / or the use of those steps and / or actions may be modified without departing from the scope of the claims.

[0125]

[0135] As used herein, "processor," "at least one processor," or "one or more processors" generally refers to a single processor configured to perform one or more operations or to multiple processors configured to collectively perform one or more operations. In the case of multiple processors, performance of one or more operations may be divided among different processors, although one processor may perform multiple operations and multiple processors may collectively perform a single operation. Similarly, "memory," "at least one memory," or "one or more memories" generally refers to a single memory configured to store data and / or instructions or to multiple memories configured collectively to store data and / or instructions.

[0126]

[0136] As used herein, a phrase referring to "at least one of" a list of items refers to any combination of those items, including single members. By way of example, "at least one of a, b, or c" is intended to encompass a, b, c, ab, ac, bc, and abc, as well as any combination having multiples of the same element (e.g., aa, aaa, aab, aac, abb, acc, bb, bbb, bbc, cc, and ccc, or any other permutation of a, b, and c).

[0127]

[0137] As used herein, the term "determining" encompasses a wide variety of actions. For example, "determining" can include calculating, computing, processing, deriving, generating, investigating, looking up (e.g., looking up in a table, database, or another data structure), ascertaining, and the like. "Determining" can also include receiving (e.g., receiving information), accessing (e.g., accessing data in a memory), and the like. "Determining" can also include resolving, selecting, choosing, establishing, and the like.

[0128]

[0138] The foregoing description is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the various embodiments described herein. Various modifications to these embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments. Accordingly, the claims are not limited to the embodiments set forth herein but are to be accorded the full scope consistent with the language of the claims, and reference to an element in the singular does not mean "one and only one," unless expressly stated otherwise, but rather "one or more." Unless expressly stated otherwise, the term "some" refers to one or more. All structural and functional equivalents of the elements of the various embodiments described throughout this disclosure that are known or later become known to those skilled in the art are expressly incorporated herein by reference and intended to be encompassed by the claims. Furthermore, nothing disclosed herein is intended to be made public, regardless of whether such disclosure is expressly recited in the claims. No element of a claim shall be construed under the provisions of 35 U.S.C. 112(f) unless the element is expressly recited using the phrase "means for," or, in the case of a method claim, the element is recited using the phrase "step for."

[0129]

[0139] The various operations of the methods described above may be performed by any suitable means capable of performing the corresponding functions, which may include various hardware and / or software component(s) and / or various hardware and / or software module(s), including, but not limited to, circuits, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), or processors. Generally, when operations are illustrated in figures, those operations may have corresponding equivalent means-plus-function components that are similarly numbered.

[0130]

[0140] The various example logic blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with this disclosure may be implemented or performed using a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device (PLD), discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but alternatively, the processor may be any commercially available processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, such as a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, multiple microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.

[0131]

[0141] When implemented in hardware, an exemplary hardware configuration may comprise a processing system within a wireless node. The processing system may be implemented using a bus architecture. The bus may include any number of interconnected buses and bridges, depending on the particular application of the processing system and overall design constraints. The bus may link various circuits together, including a processor, a machine-readable medium, and a bus interface. The bus interface may be used to connect a network adapter, among other things, to the processing system via the bus. The network adapter may be used to implement signal processing functions of the physical (PHY) layer. In the case of a UE (see FIG. 1 ), a user interface (e.g., keypad, display, mouse, joystick, etc.) may also be connected to the bus. The bus may also link various other circuits, such as timing sources, peripherals, voltage regulators, power management circuits, etc., which are well known in the art and therefore will not be described further. The processor may be implemented using one or more general-purpose and / or special-purpose processors. Examples include microprocessors, microcontrollers, DSP processors, and other circuit configurations capable of executing software. Those skilled in the art will recognize how to best implement the described functionality for a processing system depending on the particular application and the overall design constraints imposed on the overall system.

[0132]

[0142] If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Software shall be broadly construed to mean instructions, data, or any combination thereof, whether referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or otherwise. Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media, including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. A processor may be responsible for general processing, including managing a bus and executing software modules stored on the machine-readable storage medium. A computer-readable storage medium may be coupled to the processor such that the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. Alternatively, the storage medium may be integral to the processor. By way of example, machine-readable media may include a transmission line, a carrier wave modulated by data, and / or a computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored separate from a wireless node, all of which may be accessed by the processor through a bus interface. Alternatively, or in addition, the machine-readable medium, or any portion thereof, may be integrated into the processor, such as is the case with a cache and / or general-purpose register file. Examples of machine-readable storage media may include, by way of example, RAM (random access memory), flash memory, ROM (read-only memory), PROM (programmable read-only memory), EPROM (erasable programmable read-only memory), EEPROM (electrically erasable programmable read-only memory), registers, magnetic disks, optical disks, hard drives, or any other suitable storage medium, or any combination thereof. The machine-readable medium may be embodied in a computer program product.

[0133]

[0143] A software module may include a single instruction or multiple instructions and may be distributed across several different code segments, among different programs, and across multiple storage media. A computer-readable medium may include several software modules. A software module includes instructions that, when executed by a device such as a processor, cause a processing system to perform various functions. A software module may include a transmitting module and a receiving module. Each software module may reside in a single storage device or may be distributed across multiple storage devices. As an example, a software module may be loaded into RAM from a hard drive when a trigger event occurs. During execution of a software module, a processor may load some of the instructions into a cache to increase access speed. One or more cache lines may then be loaded into a general-purpose register file for execution by the processor. When referring below to the functionality of a software module, it will be understood that such functionality is implemented by a processor upon executing instructions from that software module.

[0134]

[0144] Also, any connection is properly termed a computer-readable medium. For example, if software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared (IR), radio, and microwave, the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave are included within the definition of medium. As used herein, disk and disc include compact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk, and Blu-ray disc, where disks typically reproduce data magnetically and discs reproduce data optically using lasers. Thus, in some aspects computer-readable medium may comprise non-transitory computer-readable medium (e.g., tangible media). Additionally, in other aspects computer-readable medium may include transitory computer-readable medium (e.g., a signal). Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.

[0135]

[0145] Accordingly, certain aspects may include computer program products for performing the operations presented herein. For example, such computer program products may comprise a computer-readable medium having instructions stored (and / or encoded) thereon, the instructions being executable by one or more processors to perform the operations described herein, such as instructions for performing the operations described herein and illustrated in FIG. 8.

[0136]

[0146] Furthermore, it should be understood that modules and / or other suitable means for performing the methods and techniques described herein may be downloaded and / or obtained by a user terminal and / or base station, where applicable. For example, such devices may be coupled to a server to facilitate the transfer of means for performing the methods described herein. Alternatively, the various methods described herein may be provided via storage means (e.g., RAM, ROM, or a physical storage medium such as a compact disc (CD) or floppy disk, etc.) such that the user terminal and / or base station may obtain the various methods upon coupling or providing the storage means to the device. Moreover, any other suitable technique for providing the methods and techniques described herein to a device may be utilized.

[0137]

[0147] It is to be understood that the claims are not limited to the precise configuration and components illustrated above. Various modifications, changes and variations may be made in the arrangement, operation and details of the methods and apparatus described above without departing from the scope of the claims.

Claims

1. 1. A method of wireless communication by a wireless device, comprising: Detecting that the transmission is associated with an authorized exception to radio frequency (RF) exposure compliance; In response to detecting that the transmission is associated with the permitted exception, determining an allowable transmit power level for a time interval independent of a time-averaged RF exposure limit; transmitting a signal during the time interval based on the allowed transmit power level; A method comprising:

2. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the allowed transmit power level comprises determining the allowed transmit power level to be equal to a power level associated with a transmit power limit corresponding to the time-averaged RF exposure limit.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the allowed transmit power level comprises determining that the allowed transmit power level is a maximum instantaneous transmit power that the wireless device is capable of outputting.

4. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the allowable transmit power level includes selecting the allowable transmit power level between a power level associated with a transmit power limit corresponding to the time-averaged RF exposure limit and a maximum instantaneous transmit power that the wireless device is capable of outputting.

5. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the allowed transmit power level comprises allowing non-compliance with the time-averaged RF exposure limit during the time interval based on past RF exposure and the allowed transmit power level for the time interval.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising refraining from performing a time-averaged RF exposure assessment for at least the duration of the transmission.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising adjusting an RF exposure report or a transmit power report to comply with the time-averaged RF exposure limit.

8. Determining the allowable transmit power level comprises: determining an initial transmit power level based on the adjusted RF exposure report or the adjusted transmit power report in compliance with the time-averaged RF exposure limit; and replacing the initial transmit power level with the allowed transmit power level.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein adjusting the RF exposure report or transmit power report comprises selecting a minimum value among a plurality of values ​​for the RF exposure report or transmit power report.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the plurality of values ​​includes a current value of the RF exposure report or transmit power report and an alternative value of the RF exposure report or transmit power report.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising determining the alternative value as a value corresponding to a reserve power associated with the time-averaged RF exposure limit.

12. The method of claim 7 , wherein adjusting the RF exposure report or transmit power report comprises setting the RF exposure report or transmit power report to a particular value.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the particular value comprises a first value indicative of no previous RF exposure or a second value corresponding to a reserve power level.

14. The method of claim 7 , wherein the RF exposure report indicates the RF exposure generated by the wireless device during a running time window associated with the time-averaged RF exposure limit.

15. 10. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the permissible transmit power level comprises determining that the permissible transmit power level complies with a first RF exposure limit associated with an occupational or controlled environment.

16. 16. The method of claim 15, wherein determining the permissible transmit power level includes allowing the permissible transmit power level to be non-compliant with a second RF exposure limit associated with a general public environment.

17. determining that the permissible transmit power level complies with the first RF exposure limit includes determining the permissible transmit power level to be equal to a power level associated with a first transmit power limit that corresponds to the time-averaged RF exposure limit; 16. The method of claim 15, wherein the first transmit power limit is higher than a second transmit power limit corresponding to the time-averaged RF exposure limit.

18. determining that the permissible transmit power level complies with the first RF exposure limit includes determining the permissible transmit power level to be equal to a first power level associated with a transmit power limit corresponding to the time-averaged RF exposure limit; 16. The method of claim 15, wherein the first power level is greater than a second power level associated with a transmit power limit corresponding to a second RF exposure limit associated with a general public environment.

19. The method of claim 1 , wherein detecting that the transmission is associated with the permitted exception comprises detecting that the transmission is associated with an emergency situation.

20. Detecting that the transmission is associated with the emergency situation may include detecting that the transmission is associated with: the recipient of said transmission; a destination telephone number associated with said transmission; or 20. The method of claim 19, comprising detecting that the transmission is associated with the emergency situation based at least in part on at least one of: a priority service associated with the transmission;

21. The recipient or destination telephone number is Emergency contact number, Emergency hotline, Police station, fire department, Coast Guard, Border Patrol, Emergency medical services, or 21. The method of claim 20, wherein the method corresponds to at least one of:

22. 21. The method of claim 20, wherein the priority service comprises a wireless priority service.

23. 1. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising: one or more memories that collectively store executable instructions; one or more processors coupled to the one or more memories, wherein the one or more processors execute the executable instructions to cause the device to: Detecting that the transmission is associated with an authorized exception to radio frequency (RF) exposure compliance; responsive to detecting that the transmission is associated with the authorized exception, determining an allowable transmit power level for a time interval independent of a time-averaged RF exposure limit; the devices are collectively configured to cause a signal to be transmitted during the time interval based on the allowed transmit power level.

24. 24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein to determine the allowed transmit power level, the one or more processors are collectively configured to execute the executable instructions to cause the apparatus to determine the allowed transmit power level to be equal to a power level associated with a transmit power limit corresponding to the time-averaged RF exposure limit.

25. 24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein to determine the allowed transmit power level, the one or more processors are collectively configured to execute the executable instructions to cause the apparatus to determine that the allowed transmit power level is a maximum instantaneous transmit power that the apparatus is capable of outputting.

26. 24. The device of claim 23, wherein to determine the allowable transmit power level, the one or more processors are collectively configured to execute the executable instructions to cause the device to select the allowable transmit power level between a power level associated with a transmit power limit corresponding to the time-averaged RF exposure limit and a maximum instantaneous transmit power that the device is capable of outputting.

27. 24. The device of claim 23, wherein to determine the allowed transmit power level, the one or more processors are collectively configured to execute the executable instructions to cause the device to tolerate non-compliance with the time-averaged RF exposure limit during the time interval based on past RF exposure and the allowed transmit power level for the time interval.

28. 24. The device of claim 23, wherein to determine the permissible transmit power level, the one or more processors are collectively configured to execute the executable instructions to cause the device to determine that the permissible transmit power level complies with a first RF exposure limit associated with an occupational or controlled environment.

29. 1. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising: means for detecting that the transmission is associated with an authorized exception to radio frequency (RF) exposure compliance; means for determining an allowable transmit power level for a time interval independent of a time-averaged RF exposure limit in response to detecting that the transmission is associated with the permitted exception; means for transmitting a signal during said time interval based on said permitted transmission power level; An apparatus comprising:

30. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by an apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform an operation, the operation comprising: Detecting that the transmission is associated with an authorized exception to radio frequency (RF) exposure compliance; In response to detecting that the transmission is associated with the permitted exception, determining an allowable transmit power level for a time interval independent of a time-averaged RF exposure limit; and transmitting a signal during the time interval based on the allowed transmit power level.

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