Communication systems, apparatus, methods, and non-temporary computer-readable storage devices for integrated sensing and communication using collaborative sensing.

Abstract

A communication system, apparatus, method, and one or more non-temporary computer-readable storage devices for collaborative detection in integrated communication and detection employ the steps of determining the type of a first communication node for object detection and notifying the first communication node of the determined type. The step of determining the type of a first communication node includes the steps of determining the type of the first communication node as a detection transmit / receive node in a detection transmit / receive set for receiving or transmitting detection signals for object detection, or determining the type of the first communication node as a detection active node in a detection active set, wherein the detection active set includes a detection transmit / receive set.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] Cross-references to related applications This application claims the interests of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63 / 463,663, filed on 3 May 2023, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

[0002] This disclosure generally relates to communication systems, apparatus, methods, and non-temporary computer-readable storage devices, and more particularly to communication systems, apparatus, methods, and non-temporary computer-readable storage devices for integrated detection and communication using collaborative detection. [Background technology]

[0003] Mobile communication systems are known. In mobile communications, the communication system or its communication devices often need to understand, or prefer to understand, the environment. For example, a communication device may need to know the direct or even the location of other devices with which it is communicating, in order to direct a radio frequency (RF) beam toward those devices for better signal transmission and / or reception. Another example is when an object between two devices in communication may interfere with the direct propagation path between the two communication devices, thereby adversely affecting communication between them. It may be preferable to detect such objects in order to enable the communication devices to take the necessary actions to mitigate or eliminate such adverse effects. [Overview of the Initiative]

[0004] Therefore, next-generation mobile communication systems can include detection technologies for a variety of applications and benefits. [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] Embodiments of this disclosure relate to communication systems, apparatus, methods, and one or more non-temporary computer-readable storage devices for integrated detection and communication using collaborative detection.

[0006] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a first method is provided, the first method includes determining a type of a first communication node for object detection, and notifying the determined type to the first communication node, wherein the step of determining the type of the first communication node includes determining the type of the first communication node as a detection transceiver node in a detection transceiver set for receiving or transmitting a detection signal for object detection, or determining the type of the first communication node as a detection active node in a detection active set, the detection active set including the detection transceiver set.

[0007] In some embodiments of the first method, the step of determining the type of the first communication node includes determining the type of the first communication node as a detection transceiver node in the detection transceiver set, determining the type of the first communication node as a detection active node in the detection active set, or determining the type of the first communication node as a detection cooperation node in a detection cooperation set, the detection cooperation set including the detection active set.

[0008] In some embodiments of the first method, the first communication node is a detection cooperation node, and the step of determining the type of the first communication node includes activating the first communication node to become a detection active node.

[0009] In some embodiments of the first method, the first communication node is a detection active node, and the step of determining the type of the first communication node includes deactivating the first communication node to become a detection cooperation node.

[0010] In some embodiments of the first method, the first communication node is a sensing active node, and the step of determining the type of the first communication node includes determining the type of the first communication node as a sensing transmit / receive node in a sensing transmit / receive set, based on an instruction from a transmit / receive point (TRP).

[0011] In some embodiments of the first method, the first communication node is a sensing active node, and the step of determining the type of the first communication node includes determining the type of the first communication node as a sensing transmit / receive node in a sensing transmit / receive set, based on information from a measured value of a sensing reference signal.

[0012] In some embodiments of the first method, the detection reference signal includes one or more automatic gain control (AGC) symbols.

[0013] In some embodiments of the first method, the measurement of the detection reference signal includes a power measurement of the detection reference signal.

[0014] In some embodiments of the first method, the step of determining the type of the first communication node further includes the steps of transmitting a detection reference signal to the first communication node and receiving information of a measurement value of the detection reference signal from the first communication node.

[0015] In some embodiments of the first method, the step of determining the type of the first communication node further includes the steps of receiving a detection reference signal to the first communication node and determining information of a measurement of the detection reference signal.

[0016] In some embodiments of the first method, the step of determining the type of a first communication node as a detection transceiver node in a detection transceiver set, based on information from a measurement of a detection reference signal, includes the step of determining the type of the first communication node as a detection transceiver node in a detection transceiver set if the power measurement of the detection reference signal is greater than a power threshold.

[0017] In some embodiments of the first method, the step of determining the type of a first communication node as a detection transmit / receive node in a detection transmit / receive set, based on information of a measurement of a detection reference signal, includes the step of determining the type of a first communication node as a detection transmit / receive node in a detection transmit / receive set if the information of the measurement of the detection reference signal includes a detection instruction.

[0018] In some embodiments of the first method, the first method further includes the step of transmitting a detection signal, wherein the detection signal includes a plurality of beams directed in different directions, and the step of transmitting the detection signal includes the step of transmitting the plurality of beams in different time slots of a time window.

[0019] In some embodiments of the first method, the first method further includes the steps of determining from a plurality of beams one or more beams that a first communication node can receive, and transmitting a notification to the first communication node regarding the determined one or more beams.

[0020] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, one or more circuits (e.g., one or more processing units, or one or more processors) for performing the first method described above are provided.

[0021] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, one or more non-temporary computer-readable storage devices are provided which, when executed, cause one or more circuits (e.g., one or more processing units, or one or more processors) to perform the first method described above.

[0022] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a second method is provided, which includes the steps of: receiving a plurality of signal beams transmitted from a transmitter (Tx) node; measuring the received plurality of signal beams in order to obtain measurement results of the received plurality of signal beams; and reporting beam information and / or measurement results of at least one of the received plurality of signal beams based on the measurement results.

[0023] In some embodiments of the second method, beam information for at least a subset of the received signal beams includes time information for at least one of the received signal beams.

[0024] In some embodiments of the second method, the time information of at least one of the multiple received signal beams includes at least one of the time slots of each of the multiple received signal beams, one or more symbol indices of one or more detection symbols of each of the multiple received signal beams, each of the multiple received signal beams' beam indices, and each of the multiple received signal beams' sequence numbers.

[0025] In some embodiments of the second method, the step of reporting beam information and / or measurement results for at least one of a plurality of received signal beams based on the measurement results includes the step of reporting beam information and / or measurement results for at least one of a plurality of received signal beams having a measured power greater than a power threshold.

[0026] In some embodiments of the second method, the second method further includes the step of receiving instructions for a sensing resource and a feedback resource associated with a Tx node, the step of receiving a plurality of signal beams transmitted from the Tx node includes the step of receiving a plurality of signal beams transmitted from the Tx node using the sensing resource, the step of reporting beam information and / or measurement results for at least one of the received plurality of signal beams based on the measurement results, the step of reporting beam information and / or measurement results for at least one of the received plurality of signal beams using the feedback resource based on the measurement results.

[0027] In some embodiments of the second method, at least one of the sensing resource and feedback resource is a frequency division multiplexing (FDM) resource, a time division multiplexing (TDM) resource, a resource having a unique root index in a Zadoff-Chu (ZC) sequence, a resource having a root index and a unique cyclic shift in a ZC sequence, a resource having a time-domain orthogonal cover code (OCC), a frequency-domain OCC, and / or a unique timing offset.

[0028] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, one or more circuits (e.g., one or more processing units, or one or more processors) for performing the second method described above are provided.

[0029] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, one or more non-temporary computer-readable storage devices are provided which, when executed, cause one or more circuits (e.g., one or more processing units, or one or more processors) to perform the second method described above.

[0030] The technical features and advantages of the communication systems, apparatus, methods, and one or more non-temporary computer-readable storage devices disclosed herein in various embodiments may include, but are not limited to, the following:

[0031] By dividing the Rx and / or Tx nodes into various collaborative sets and using a sensing transmit / receive set, only a subset of the Rx nodes perform measurements and report the measurements to the Tx nodes, thereby reducing the air interface overhead compared to embodiments in which all nodes are involved in the collaborative sensing procedure.

[0032] Both AGC setup and collaborative node discovery can be achieved by sending a detection reference signal containing one or more automatic gain control (AGC) symbols from a Tx node to an Rx node in the detection active set.

[0033] By enabling Rx nodes to selectively report sensing measurement information (such as the power of received echo signals), Rx nodes can use on-demand collaborative sensing reporting methods to report only information about received echo signals or echo signal beams, and not have to report information about all SAC signals or SAC signal beams. Rx nodes may use received power thresholds to determine which echo signals / beams should be reported and which should not.

[0034] By using the detection burst set of the Tx detection beam, and by having the Rx node report the time location of the received echo (e.g., corresponding to the Tx beam index), the Tx node may obtain the time location of the detection measurement reported by the Rx node and derive the correct detection result.

[0035] By using distributed detection collaboration, Rx nodes may assist multiple Tx nodes in their detection.

[0036] In distributed sensing collaboration, collisions can be avoided by allocating orthogonal sensing and feedback resources. The use of timing offsets in feedback further ensures collision avoidance.

[0037] • By using candidate Rx beams, latency and / or air interface overhead can be reduced. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0038] [Figure 1A] This is a simplified schematic diagram showing the structure of a communication system according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 1B] This is a simplified schematic diagram showing the structure of a communication system according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 2A] Figure 1A is a simplified schematic diagram showing the user equipment (UE), terrestrial transmission / reception point (T-TRP), and non-terrestrial transmission / reception point (NT-TRP) of the communication system. [Figure 2B] Figure 1A is a simplified schematic diagram showing a unit or module within a device such as a UE or TRP in the communication system shown. [Figure 3] Figure 1A is a simplified schematic diagram illustrating the structure of a communication system for an integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) using multiple sensing and communication (SAC) nodes, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 4] This is a simplified schematic diagram showing the detection and management function (SMF) of the communication system shown in Figure 1A, implemented as a physically independent entity. [Figure 5A] Figure 1A is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a collaborative detection method performed by transmitter (Tx) and receiver (Rx) nodes of a communication system shown in Figure 1A, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 5B] This schematic diagram illustrates another example, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure, in which a Tx node works in cooperation with two Rx nodes to detect an object. [Figure 6A]Figure 1A is a frequency-time diagram showing an example of a sensing and communication (SAC) signal transmitted between a Tx node and an Rx node in a communication system shown in some embodiments of the present disclosure, where multiple communication symbols and multiple sensing symbols are temporally multiplexed using a time-division multiplexing (TDM) method. [Figure 6B] Figure 1A is a frequency-time diagram showing an example of a SAC signal transmitted between a Tx node and an Rx node in a communication system shown in Figure 1A, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure, in which multiple communication symbols and multiple detection symbols are temporally multiplexed using a frequency division multiplexing (FDM) method. [Figure 6C] Figure 1A is a frequency-time diagram showing an example of a SAC signal transmitted between a Tx node and an Rx node in a communication system shown in Figure 1A, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure, wherein multiple communication symbols and multiple detection symbols are multiplexed in both frequency and time using a TDM / FDM method, and each of the first and second frequency bands transmits a mixture of time-multiplexed communication symbols and detection symbols. [Figure 7] Figure 1A is a frequency-time diagram showing an exemplary chirp signal used for detection by the communication system shown. [Figure 8A] This figure shows a detection symbol having a single chirp signal according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 8B] This figure shows a detection symbol having two frequency-multiplexed chirp signals according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 8C] This figure shows a detection symbol having two time-multiplexed chirp signals according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 8D] This figure shows a detection symbol having four chirp signals multiplexed in frequency and time, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 9] This is a frequency-time diagram showing an example of a SAC signal using OFDM symbols as communication symbols according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 10]This is a schematic diagram illustrating the classification of the receiver (Rx) node of the communication system shown in Figure 1A into various collaborative sets, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 11] This flowchart shows the detection, transmission, and reception determination procedure performed by the transmitter (Tx) node of the communication system shown in Figure 1A, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 12] Figure 11 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the detection, transmission, and reception determination procedure. [Figure 13] This is a schematic diagram showing an example of a SAC signal in the form of a detection burst set, which includes four detection beams transmitted by the Tx node of the communication system shown in Figure 1A, in different time slots of the time window in multiple directions to cover a wide angular span. [Figure 14] This schematic diagram illustrates an example where the Rx node of the communication system shown in Figure 1A can receive only an echo of a subset of the detection beam transmitted by the Tx node of the communication system shown in Figure 1A. [Figure 15] This flowchart shows an on-demand collaborative detection reporting procedure performed by the Rx node of the communication system shown in Figure 1A for on-demand collaborative detection reporting according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 16] This flowchart shows an on-demand collaborative detection reporting procedure performed by the Rx node of the communication system shown in Figure 1A for on-demand collaborative detection reporting, according to some other embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 17] This flowchart shows a distributed sensing collaborative procedure performed by a collaborative Rx node in the communication system shown in Figure 1A, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 18] This is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of distributed detection collaboration. [Figure 19] This is a schematic diagram illustrating conventional beam sweeping. [Figure 20]Figure 1A is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of using a candidate received beam in a communication system to mitigate beam sweeping, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 21] Figure 1A is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of using a candidate received beam in a communication system to mitigate beam sweeping, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 22] This is a schematic diagram showing multiple Tx nodes working with an Rx node for detection, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0039] A. System Structure A-1. General System Structure Referring to Figure 1A, a simplified schematic diagram of a communication system is provided as an illustrative, not limiting, example. The communication system 100 includes a radio access network (RAN) 104. The RAN 104 may be a next-generation (e.g., 6G or later) RAN or a legacy (e.g., 5G, 4G, 3G, or 2G) RAN. One or more user equipment (UEs) 114A-114J (collectively referred to as 114) may be interconnected with each other or connected to one or more network nodes 102A within the RAN 104. The core network 112 may be part of the communication system and may or may not depend on the radio access technology used in the communication system 100. The communication system 100 also includes a public switched telephone network (PSTN) 106, the Internet 108, and other networks 110.

[0040] Figure 1B shows an exemplary communication system 100. Generally, the communication system 100 enables multiple wireless or wired elements to communicate data and other content. The purpose of the communication system 100 may be to provide content such as voice, data, video, and / or text via broadcast, multicast, groupcast, and unicast, and / or similar. The communication system 100 may operate by sharing resources, such as carrier spectral bandwidth, among its components. The communication system 100 may include a terrestrial communication system and / or a non-terrestrial communication system. The communication system 100 may provide a wide range of communication services and applications (earth surveillance, remote sensing, passive sensing and positioning, navigation and tracking, autonomous delivery and movement, and / or similar). The communication system 100 can provide high availability and robustness through the joint operation of the terrestrial and non-terrestrial communication systems. For example, integrating a non-terrestrial communication system (or its components) into a terrestrial communication system may result in what can be thought of as a heterogeneous network with multiple layers. As those skilled in the art will understand, heterogeneous networks may achieve improved overall performance through efficient multilink collaboration between terrestrial and non-terrestrial networks, more flexible function sharing, and faster physical layer link switching.

[0041] The terrestrial and non-terrestrial communication systems may be considered subsystems of the communication system 100. In the illustrated example, the communication system 100 includes a UE 114, a RAN 104A (also called the “terrestrial communication network”), a non-terrestrial communication network 104B, a core network 112, a public switched telephone network (PSTN) 106, the Internet 108, and other networks 110. The RAN 104A includes each base station (BS) 102A, which may commonly be called terrestrial transceiver points (T-TRPs) 102A. The non-terrestrial communication network 104B includes access nodes 102B, which may commonly be called non-terrestrial transceiver points (NT-TRPs) 102B. The T-TRP 102A and NT-TRP 102B may commonly be called TRPs or access nodes 102.

[0042] Any UE 114 may, alternatively or additionally, be configured to interface with, access, or communicate with any other T-TRP 102A and NT-TRP 102B, the Internet 108, the core network 112, the PSTN 106, other networks 110, or any combination thereof. In some examples, UE 114 may communicate with T-TRP 102A for uplink (UL) and / or downlink (DL) transmissions via terrestrial interface 118A. In some examples, UE 114 may communicate with NT-TRP 102B for UL and / or DL ​​transmissions via non-terrestrial interface 118B. In some examples, UE 114 may also communicate directly with each other via one or more sidelink air interfaces 118C.

[0043] Air interfaces 118A and 118C may use any suitable radio access technology or similar communication technology. For example, communication system 100 may implement one or more channel access methods on air interfaces 118A and 118C, such as code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA), or single-carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA, also known as discrete Fourier transform spread OFDMA, or DFT-s-OFDMA). Air interfaces 118A and 118C may utilize other higher-dimensional signal spaces, which may include combinations of orthogonal and / or non-orthogonal dimensions.

[0044] The non-terrestrial air interface 118B may enable communication between the UE 114 and one or more NT-TRP 102Bs via a radio link or simply a link. In some examples, the link is a dedicated connection for unicast transmission, a connection for broadcast transmission, or a connection between a group of UE 114s and one or more NT-TRP 102Bs for multicast transmission.

[0045] RAN 104A communicates with core network 112 to provide various services to UE 114, such as voice, data, and other services. RAN 104A and / or core network 112 may communicate directly or indirectly with one or more other RANs (not shown), which may or may not be directly serviced by core network 112, and may or may not employ the same radio access technology as RAN 104A. Core network 112 may also function as a gateway access between (i) RAN 104A or UE 114, or both, and (ii) other networks (such as PSTN 106, the Internet 108, and other networks 110). In addition, some or all of UE 114 may include the capability to communicate with different radio networks through different radio links using different radio technologies and / or protocols. Instead of (or in addition to) wireless communication, UE 114 may communicate with service providers or switches (not shown) and the Internet 108 via wired communication channels. PSTN106 may include a circuit-switched telephone network for providing conventional telephone services (POTS). The Internet108 may include a network and / or subnet of computers (intranet) and may incorporate protocols such as Internet Protocol (IP), Transmit Control Protocol (TCP), and User Datagram Protocol (UDP). UE114 may be a multimode device capable of operating according to multiple radio access technologies and may incorporate multiple transceivers necessary to support them.

[0046] A2. Structure of basic components Figure 2A shows an example of UE 114, T-TRP 102A, and NT-TRP 102B. UE 114 is used to connect to people, objects, machines, and / or similar entities. UE 114 may be widely used in various scenarios such as cellular communications, device-to-device (D2D), vehicle-to-all (V2X), peer-to-peer (P2P), machine-to-machine (M2M), machine-type communications (MTC), Internet of Things (IoT), virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR), metaverse, digital twins, industrial control, autonomous driving, telemedicine, smart grids, smart furniture, smart offices, smart wearables, smart transportation, smart cities, drones, robots, remote sensing, passive sensing, positioning, navigation and tracking, autonomous delivery and mobility, and / or similar entities.

[0047] Each UE 114 represents any suitable end-user device for wireless operation, and may include (or be referred to as) devices such as user devices, wireless transceiver units (WTRUs), mobile stations, fixed or mobile subscriber units, cell phones, stations (STAs), machine-type communications (MTC) devices, personal digital assistants (PDAs), smartphones, laptops, computers, tablets, wireless sensors, consumer electronics devices, smartbooks, vehicles, automobiles, trucks, buses, trains, or IoT devices, wearable devices (e.g., watches, glasses, head-mounted devices, and / or similar), industrial devices, robots, or apparatus (e.g., communication modules, modems, or chips). Future generations of UE 114 may be referred to using other terms. Each UE 114 connected to T-TRP 102A and / or NT-TRP 102B may be dynamically or semi-statically turned on (i.e., established, activated, or enabled), turned off (i.e., released, deactivated, or disabled), and / or configured in response to one or more of connection availability and connection needs.

[0048] In some embodiments, the T-TRP 102A may be known by other names, among the possible names, particularly base station, base transceiver base station (BTS), radio base station, network node, network device, network-side device, transmit / receive node, Node B, evolved Node B (eNodeB or eNB), home eNodeB, next-generation Node B (gNB), transmitting point (TP), site controller, access point (AP), radio router, relay station, remote radio head, terrestrial node, terrestrial network device, or terrestrial base station, baseband unit (BBU), remote radio unit (RRU), active antenna unit (AAU), remote radio head (RRH), centralized unit (CU), distributed unit (DU), positioning node, etc. The T-TRP 102A may also be a macro BS, pico BS, relay node, donor node, and / or similar, or a combination thereof. T-TRP 102A may refer to the aforementioned device, or to a component within the aforementioned device (e.g., a communication module, modem, chip, and / or similar).

[0049] In some embodiments, portions of the T-TRP 102A may be distributed. For example, some modules of the T-TRP 102A may be located away from the equipment housing the T-TRP 102A antenna and may be coupled to the equipment housing the antenna via a communication link (not shown) sometimes known as a fronthaul, such as a Common Public Radio Interface (CPRI). Thus, in some embodiments, the term T-TRP 102A may also refer to network-side modules that are not necessarily part of the equipment housing the T-TRP 102A antenna and perform processing operations such as determining the location of the UE 114, resource allocation (scheduling), message generation, and encoding / decoding. These modules may also be coupled to other T-TRPs. In some embodiments, the T-TRP 102A may actually be multiple T-TRPs working together to serve the UE 114, for example, through collaborative multipoint transmission.

[0050] The T-TRP 102A comprises one or more circuits (such as one or more electronic circuits and / or one or more optical circuits) that form various components. For example, the T-TRP 102 may comprise at least one transmitter 144 and at least one receiver 146 coupled to one or more antennas 148. Only one antenna 148 is shown. One, some, or all of the antennas, or a panel, may be present. The transmitter 144 and receiver 146 may be integrated as a transceiver. The T-TRP 102A may further comprise at least one processor 142 for performing operations including operations related to preparing a transmission for a DL transmission to UE 114, processing a UL transmission received from UE 114, preparing a transmission for a backhaul transmission to NT-TRP 102B, and processing a transmission received via backhaul from NT-TRP 102B. Processing operations related to preparing a transmission for DL ​​transmission or backhaul transmission may include operations such as encoding, modulation, precoding (e.g., multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) precoding), transmit beamforming, and generation of symbols for transmission. Processing operations related to processing a received transmission in UL or via backhaul may include operations such as receive beamforming, and demodulation and decoding of the received symbols. The processor 142 may also perform operations related to network access (e.g., initial access) and / or DL ​​synchronization, such as generating the contents of a synchronous signal block (SSB), generating system information, and / or similar. In some embodiments, the processor 142 also generates beam direction instructions, e.g., BAI, which can be scheduled for transmission by the scheduler 154. The processor 142 performs other network-side processing operations described herein, such as determining the location of UE 114, determining where the NT-TRP 102B should be deployed, and / or similar.In some embodiments, the processor 142 may generate signaling to constitute, for example, one or more parameters of the UE 114 and / or one or more parameters of the NT-TRP 102B. Any signaling generated by the processor 142 is transmitted by the transmitter 144. The term "signaling" may also be referred to as control signaling as used herein. Dynamic signaling may be transmitted on a control channel, e.g., a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), and static or quasi-static upper-layer signaling may be included in packets transmitted on a data channel, e.g., a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), in which case the signaling may be known as upper-layer signaling, static signaling, or quasi-static signaling. Upper-layer signaling may also refer to radio resource control (RRC) protocol signaling or media access control element (MAC-CE) signaling.

[0051] The scheduler 154 may be coupled to the processor 142. The scheduler 154 may be contained within or operate separately from the T-TRP 102A, and may schedule UL, DL, and / or backhaul transmissions, including issuing scheduling permissions and / or configuring scheduling-free (e.g., “configured permissions”) resources. The T-TRP 102A may further include a memory 150 for storing information and data. The memory 150 stores instructions and data used, generated, or collected by the T-TRP 102A. For example, the memory 150 may store software instructions or modules executed by the processor 142, configured to perform some or all of the functions and / or embodiments described herein.

[0052] Although not shown, the processor 142 may form part of the transmitter 144 and / or receiver 146. Also, although not shown, the processor 142 may implement a scheduler 154. Although not shown, the memory 150 may form part of the processor 142.

[0053] The processing components of processor 142, scheduler 154, transmitter 144, and receiver 146 may each be implemented by one or more identical or different processors configured to execute instructions stored in memory, for example, memory 150. Alternatively, some or all of the processing components of processor 142, scheduler 154, transmitter 144, and receiver 146 may be implemented using dedicated circuits such as field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), graphics processing units (GPUs), or application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs).

[0054] Although NT-TRP 102B is shown as a drone only as an example, NT-TRP 102B may be implemented in any suitable non-terrestrial form, such as satellites and high-altitude platforms, including international mobile communications base stations and unmanned aerial vehicles. Furthermore, NT-TRP 102B may be known by other names in some embodiments, such as non-terrestrial node, non-terrestrial network device, or non-terrestrial base station.

[0055] The NT-TRP 102B may have a structure similar to the T-TRP 102A, comprising one or more circuits (one or more electronic circuits and / or one or more optical circuits, etc.) that form various components. For example, the NT-TRP 102B may comprise a transmitter 144 and a receiver 146 coupled to one or more antennas 148. Note that only one antenna 148 is shown in the figure to avoid clutter. One, some, or all of the antennas may be a panel. The transmitter 144 and receiver 146 may be integrated as a transceiver. The NT-TRP 102B further comprises at least one processor 142 for performing operations including operations related to preparing a transmission for DL ​​transmission to UE 114, processing UL transmissions received from UE 114, preparing a transmission for backhaul transmission to T-TRP 102A, and processing transmissions received from T-TRP 102A via backhaul. Processing operations related to preparing a transmission for DL ​​transmission or backhaul transmission may include operations such as encoding, modulation, precoding (e.g., MIMO precoding), transmit beamforming, and symbol generation for transmission. Processing operations related to processing a received transmission in UL or via backhaul may include operations such as receive beamforming, as well as demodulation and decoding of the received symbol. In some embodiments, processor 142 performs transmit beamforming and / or receive beamforming based on beam direction information (e.g., BAI) received from T-TRP 102A. In some embodiments, processor 142 may generate signaling to configure one or more parameters of UE 114, for example. In some embodiments, NT-TRP 102B implements physical layer processing but does not implement higher layer functions such as functions in the media access control (MAC) or radio link control (RLC) layer. This is just an example, and more generally, NT-TRP 102B may implement higher layer functions in addition to physical layer processing.

[0056] The NT-TRP 102B further includes a memory 150 for storing information and data. Although not shown, a processor 142 may form part of a transmitter 144 and / or a receiver 146. Although not shown, the memory 150 may form part of the processor 142.

[0057] The processing components of processor 142, transmitter 144, and receiver 146 may each be implemented by one or more identical or different processors configured to execute instructions stored in memory, for example, memory 150. Alternatively, some or all of the processing components of processor 142, transmitter 144, and receiver 146 may be implemented using programmed FPGAs, hardware accelerators (e.g., GPUs or artificial intelligence (AI) accelerators), or dedicated circuits such as ASICs. In some embodiments, the NT-TRP 102B may actually be multiple NT-TRPs working together to serve the UE 114, for example, via collaborative multipoint transmission.

[0058] T-TRP 102A, NT-TRP 102B, and / or UE 114 may include other components, but these are omitted for clarity.

[0059] UE 114 comprises one or more circuits (e.g., one or more electronic circuits and / or one or more optical circuits) that form various components. More specifically, UE 114 includes a transmitter 200 and a receiver 202 coupled to one or more antennas 204. Note that only one antenna 204 is shown in the figure to avoid clutter. One, some, or all of the antennas may be a panel. The transmitter 200 and receiver 202 may be integrated, for example, as a transceiver. The transceiver is configured to modulate data or other content for transmission by at least one antenna 204 or a network interface controller (NIC). The transceiver is also configured to demodulate data or other content received by at least one antenna 204. Each transceiver includes any suitable structure for generating a signal for wireless or wired transmission and / or processing a signal received wirelessly or wired. Each antenna 204 includes any suitable structure for transmitting and / or receiving wireless or wired signals.

[0060] The UE 114 has at least one memory 208. The memory 208 stores instructions and data used, generated, or collected by the UE 114. For example, the memory 208 may store software instructions or modules that are executed by at least one processing unit (e.g., at least one processor 210) and are configured to carry out some or all of the functions and / or embodiments described herein. Each memory 208 includes any suitable volatile and / or non-volatile storage and retrieval device(s). Any suitable type of memory may be used, such as random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), hard disk, optical disk, subscriber identification module (SIM) card, memory stick, secure digital (SD) memory card, or on-processor cache.

[0061] UE114 may further include one or more input / output devices (not shown) or interfaces (such as a wired interface to the Internet 108 in Figure 1A). The input / output devices enable interaction with the user or other devices in the network. Each input / output device includes any suitable structure for providing information to or receiving information from the user and / or for network interface communication. Suitable structures include, for example, speakers, microphones, keypads, keyboards, displays, touchscreens, network interfaces, and / or similar.

[0062] UE 114 further includes at least one processor 210 for performing operations related to preparing a transmission for UL transmission to T-TRP 102A and / or NT-TRP 102B, operations related to processing DL transmissions received from T-TRP 102A and / or NT-TRP 102B, and operations related to processing sidelink transmissions to and from another UE 114. Processing operations related to preparing a transmission for UL transmission may include operations such as encoding, modulation, transmit beamforming, and generation of symbols for transmission. Processing operations related to processing DL transmissions may include operations such as receive beamforming, demodulation, and decoding of received symbols. Depending on the embodiment, the DL transmission may be received by receiver 202, optionally using receive beamforming, and the processor 210 may extract signaling from the DL transmission (e.g., by detecting and / or decoding the signaling). An example of signaling may be a reference signal transmitted by the T-TRP 102A and / or NT-TRP 102B. In some embodiments, the processor 142 performs transmit beamforming and / or receive beamforming based on beam direction indications, e.g., beam angle information (BAI), received from the T-TRP 102. In some embodiments, the processor 210 may perform operations related to network access (e.g., initial access), and / or DL ​​synchronization, such as operations related to synchronization sequence detection, decoding and retrieval of system information, and / or similar operations. In some embodiments, the processor 210 may perform channel estimation using, for example, a reference signal received from the T-TRP 102A and / or NT-TRP 102B.

[0063] Although not shown, the processor 210 may form part of the transmitter 200 and / or part of the receiver 202. Although not shown, the memory 208 may form part of the processor 210.

[0064] The processor 210, the processing components of the transmitter 200, and the processing components of the receiver 202 may each be implemented by the same one or more processors configured to execute instructions stored in memory (e.g., in memory 208), or they may be implemented by one or more different processors. Alternatively, some or all of the processor 210, the processing components of the transmitter 200, and the processing components of the receiver 202 may be implemented using dedicated circuitry such as a programmed FPGA, ASIC, or hardware accelerator such as a GPU or AI accelerator.

[0065] A-3. Basic Module Structure One or more steps of the methods of the embodiments provided herein may be performed by corresponding units or modules as shown in Figure 2B. Figure 2B shows units or modules in a device such as within UE 114 or TRP 102. For example, a signal may be transmitted by a transmitting unit or transmitting module. A signal may be received by a receiving unit or receiving module. A signal may be processed by a processing unit or processing module. Other steps may be performed by an AI or machine learning (ML) module. Each unit or module may be implemented using hardware, one or more components or devices that run software, or a combination thereof. For example, one or more of the units or modules may be integrated circuits. Examples of integrated circuits include programmed FPGAs, GPUs, or ASICs. For example, one or more of the units or modules may be logical, such as logical functions that are performed by circuitry, by parts of an integrated circuit, or by software instructions executed by a processor. If modules are implemented using software for execution by a processor, it will be understood that, for example, those modules may be retrieved by the processor as a whole or as part, individually or together, in a single instance or multiple instances for processing, and that the modules themselves may contain instructions for further deployment and instantiation.

[0066] Further details regarding UE 114 and TRP 102 are known to those skilled in the art; therefore, these details are omitted here.

[0067] A-4. Intelligent Air Interface An air interface generally comprises several components and associated parameters that collectively specify how two or more communication devices transmit and / or receive over a radio communication link. For example, an air interface may include one or more components that define waveforms, frame structures, multiple access schemes, protocols, coding schemes, and / or modulation schemes for transmitting information (e.g., data) over a radio communication link. The radio communication link may support a link between a RAN and a UE (e.g., a "Uu" link), and / or a device-to-device link such as between two user devices (e.g., a "side link"), and / or a non-terrestrial (NT) communication network and a UE. The following are some examples of the components described above.

[0068] ○The waveform components may specify the shape and form of the signal being transmitted. Waveform options may include orthogonal multiple access waveforms and non-orthogonal multiple access waveforms. Non-exclusive examples of such waveform options include orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), filtered OFDM (f-OFDM), time-windowed OFDM, filtered bank multicarrier (FBMC), universal filtered multicarrier (UFMC), generalized frequency division multiplexing (GFDM), wavelet packet modulation (WPM), faster than Nyquist (FTN) waveforms, frequency-modulated continuous wave (FMCW), tip waveforms, and low peak-to-average power ratio (low PAPR WF) waveforms.

[0069] ○Frame structure components may specify the settings for a frame or a group of frames. Frame structure components may indicate the time, frequency, pilot signature, code, or one or more other parameters of a frame or group of frames. Details of the frame structure will be described later.

[0070] The components of a multiple access scheme may specify multiple access technology options, including techniques that define how communication devices share a common physical channel, such as TDMA, FDMA, CDMA, SC-FDMA, Low-Density Signature Multi-Carrier Code Division Multiple Access (LDS-MC-CDMA), Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA), Pattern Division Multiple Access (PDMA), Grid Division Multiple Access (LPMA), Resource Spread Multiple Access (RSMA), and Sparse Code Multiple Access (SCMA). Furthermore, multiple access technology options may include scheduled and unscheduled access, also known as configured authorized or unauthorized access; non-orthogonal and orthogonal multiple access, via dedicated channel resources (e.g., not shared among multiple communication devices); competition-based and non-competition-based shared channel resources; and aware radio-based access.

[0071] ○ Hybrid Automatic Retransmission Request (HARQ) protocol components may specify how transmission and / or retransmission should occur. Non-exclusive examples of transmission and / or retransmission mechanism options include the scheduled data pipe size, the transmission and / or retransmission signaling mechanism, and options for specifying the retransmission mechanism.

[0072] The coding and modulation components may specify how the transmitted information is encoded / decoded and modulated / demodulated for transmission / reception. Coding may also refer to methods of error detection and forward error correction. Non-exclusive examples of coding options include Reed-Müller (RM) codes, turbo-trellis codes, turbo-product codes, fountain codes, low-density parity-check codes, and polar codes. Modulation may simply refer to a constellation (including, for example, modulation techniques and modulation order), and in particular to various types of advanced modulation methods such as hierarchical modulation and low-PAPR modulation.

[0073] In some embodiments, the air interface may be a "one-size-fits-all" concept. For example, once an air interface is defined, its components may not need to be changed or adapted. In some implementations, only a limited set of parameters or modes of the air interface, such as the length of the cyclic prefix (CP) or the MIMO mode, may be configured. In some embodiments, the air interface design may provide a unified or flexible framework for supporting frequency bands below 6 gigahertz (GHz) and above 6 GHz (e.g., millimeter wave) for both authorized and unauthorized access. For example, the flexibility of a configurable air interface provided by scalable neurology and symbol duration may allow for optimization of transmit parameters when different spectral bands and services / devices are present. As another example, a unified air interface is self-contained in the frequency domain, and a self-contained design in the frequency domain may support more flexible RAN slicing through channel resource sharing between services that differ in both frequency and time.

[0074] A-5. Frame Structure A frame structure is a feature of the radio communication physical layer that defines the time-domain signal transmission structure, for example, to enable timing references and timing alignment of basic time-domain transmission units. Radio communication between communication devices may occur over time-frequency resources governed by the frame structure. A frame structure may sometimes be referred to as a radio frame structure.

[0075] Depending on the frame structure and / or the configuration of frames within the frame structure, frequency division duplex (FDD), time division duplex (TDD), and / or full duplex (FD, including subband FD) communication may be possible. FDD communication occurs when transmissions in different directions (e.g., UL to DL) occur in different frequency bands. TDD communication occurs when transmissions in different directions (e.g., UL to DL) occur over different durations. FD communication occurs when transmission and reception occur on the same time-frequency resource, meaning that a device can simultaneously transmit and receive on the same frequency resource.

[0076] An example of a frame structure is the frame structure in Long-Term Evolution (LTE) with the following specifications: Each frame has a duration of 10 milliseconds (ms), each frame has 10 subframes, and each subframe has a duration of 1 ms. Each subframe contains 2 slots, each slot has a duration of 0.5 ms. Each slot is for transmitting 7 OFDM symbols (assuming a normal CP). Each OFDM symbol has a symbol duration and a specific bandwidth (or partial bandwidth or bandwidth division) related to the number of subcarriers and subcarrier spacing. The frame structure is based on OFDM waveform parameters such as subcarrier spacing and CP length (CP has fixed-length or limited-length options). The switching gap between UL and DL in TDD must be an integer time of the OFDM symbol duration.

[0077] Another example of a frame structure is the frame structure in new radio (NR), which has the following specifications: multiple subcarrier intervals are supported, with each subcarrier interval corresponding to a different neurology. The frame structure depends on the neurology, but in all cases, the frame length is set to 10 ms, consisting of 10 subframes, each 1 ms long. Slots are defined as 14 OFDM symbols, and the slot length depends on the neurology. For example, the NR frame structure for a normal CP with a 15 kHz subcarrier interval ("numerology 1") differs from the NR frame structure for a normal CP with a 30 kHz subcarrier interval ("numerology 2"). For a 15 kHz subcarrier interval, the slot length is 1 ms, while for a 30 kHz subcarrier interval, the slot length is 0.5 ms. The NR frame structure can be more flexible than the LTE frame structure.

[0078] Another example of a frame structure is a flexible frame structure, for example, for use in 6G networks or later. In a flexible frame structure, a symbol block may be defined as the minimum duration that can be scheduled in the flexible frame structure. A symbol block may be a transmission unit having an optional redundant portion (e.g., a CP portion) and an informational portion (e.g., a data portion). OFDM symbols are an example of a symbol block. A symbol block may also be referred to as a symbol. Embodiments of a flexible frame structure include different parameters that may be configurable, e.g., frame length, subframe length, symbol block length, and / or similar. A non-exhaustive list of possible configurable parameters in some embodiments of a flexible frame structure is: (1) Frame: The frame length is not limited to 10ms, and the frame length is configurable and may change over time. In some embodiments, each frame includes one or more DL synchronous channels and / or one or more DL broadcast channels, and each synchronous channel and / or broadcast channel may be transmitted in different directions by different beamforming. The frame length may be two or more feasible values ​​and may be set based on the application. For example, an autonomous vehicle may require relatively early initial access, in which case the frame length may be set to 5ms, as used in the autonomous vehicle application example. In another example, a smart meter in a house may not require early initial access, in which case the frame length may be set to 20ms, as used in the smart meter application example. (2) Subframe duration: Subframes may or may not be defined in a flexible frame structure depending on the implementation. For example, a frame may be defined to include slots but not subframes. For example, in a frame in which subframes are defined for time-domain alignment, the duration of the subframes may be configurable. For example, subframes may be configured to have lengths such as 0.1 ms, 0.2 ms, 0.5 ms, 1 ms, 2 ms, 5 ms, etc. In some embodiments, if subframes are not required in a particular scenario, the subframe length may be defined to be the same as the frame length or not defined. (3) Slot Configuration: Depending on the implementation, slots may or may not be defined within a flexible frame structure. In frames in which slots are defined, the slot definition (e.g., duration and / or number of symbol blocks) may be configurable. In one embodiment, the slot configuration may be common to all UEs or common to a group of UEs. In this case, the slot configuration information may be transmitted to the UEs on a broadcast channel or a common control channel(s). In other embodiments, the slot configuration may be specific to a UE, in which case the slot configuration information may be transmitted on a control channel specific to the UE. In some embodiments, the slot configuration signaling may be transmitted together with the frame configuration signaling and / or the subframe configuration signaling. In other embodiments, the slot configuration may be transmitted independently of the frame configuration signaling and / or the subframe configuration signaling. Generally, the slot configuration may be common to the system, common to a base station, common to a group of UEs, or specific to a UE. (4) Subcarrier Spacing (SCS): SCS is one of the scalable neurology parameters that can, in some cases, allow the SCS to be in the range of 15 kHz to 480 kHz. SCS may vary depending on the spectral frequency and / or maximum UE velocity to minimize the impact of Doppler shift and phase noise. In some examples, the transmit and receive frames are separate, and the SCS of the symbols in the receive frame structure may be set independently of the SCS of the symbols in the transmit frame structure. The SCS of the receive frame may be different from the SCS of the transmit frame. In some examples, the SCS of each transmit frame may be half the SCS of each receive frame. When the SCS of the receive and transmit frames are different, the difference does not necessarily have to be magnified by a factor of two, for example, when the inverse discrete Fourier transform (IDFT) is used instead of the fast fourier transform (FFT) to implement more flexible symbol durations. Examples of additional frame structures may be used with different SCSs. (5) Flexible transmission duration of the basic transmission unit: The basic transmission unit may generally be a symbol block (or symbol) containing a redundant portion (called CP) and an information (e.g., data) portion, although in some embodiments the CP may be omitted from the symbol block. The CP length may be flexible and configurable. The CP length may be fixed within a frame or flexible within a frame, and in some cases the CP length may change from one frame to another, or from one group of frames to another, or from one subframe to another, or from one slot to another, or dynamically from one scheduling to another. The information (e.g., data) portion may be flexible and configurable. Another possible parameter relating to the symbol block that can be defined is the ratio of the CP duration to the information (e.g., data) duration. In some embodiments the symbol block length may be adjusted according to channel conditions (e.g., multipath delay, Doppler) and / or latency requirements and / or available duration. As another example, the symbol block length may be adjusted to fit the available duration into the frame. (6) Flexible switching gap: A frame may include both a DL portion for DL ​​transmission from the base station and a UL portion for UL transmission from the UE. A gap may exist between each UL portion and DL portion, which is called a switching gap. The switching gap length (duration) may be configurable. The switching gap duration may be fixed within a frame or flexible within a frame, and in some cases the switching gap duration may change from one frame to another, or from one group of frames to another group of frames, or from one subframe to another subframe, or from one slot to another slot, or dynamically from one scheduling to another scheduling.

[0079] A-6. Cells, carriers, bandwidth portions, and occupied bandwidth Devices such as base stations may provide coverage across cells. Radio communication with a device may occur using one or more carrier frequencies. Carrier frequencies are called carriers. Carriers may also be called component carriers (CCs). Carriers may be characterized by their bandwidth and reference frequency, e.g., the carrier's center or lowest or highest frequency. Carriers may be on licensed or unlicensed spectrum. Radio communication with a device may also occur, or instead, via one or more bandwidth portions (BWPs), or a specific subband containing one or more physical resource blocks (PRBs) or other frequency domain fundamental units. For example, a carrier may have one or more BWPs. More generally, radio communication with a device may occur across spectrum. A spectrum may comprise one or more carriers and / or one or more BWPs.

[0080] A cell may include one or more DL resources and optionally one or more UL resources, or a cell may include one or more UL resources and optionally one or more DL resources, or a cell may include both one or more DL resources and one or more UL resources. For example, a cell may include only one DL carrier / BWP, or only one UL carrier / BWP, or multiple DL carriers / BWPs, or multiple UL carriers / BWPs, or one DL carrier / BWP and one UL carrier / BWP, or one DL carrier / BWP and multiple UL carriers / BWPs, or multiple DL carriers / BWPs and one UL carrier / BWP, or multiple DL carriers / BWPs and multiple UL carriers / BWPs. In some embodiments, a cell may instead, or additionally, include one or more sidelink resources, including sidelink transmit / receive resources.

[0081] The BWP may be a set of consecutive or non-consecutive frequency subcarriers on a carrier, a set of consecutive or non-consecutive frequency subcarriers on multiple carriers, or a set of non-consecutive or consecutive frequency subcarriers having one or more carriers.

[0082] In some embodiments, a carrier may have one or more BWPs, for example, a carrier may have a bandwidth of 20 megahertz (MHz) and consist of one BWP, or a bandwidth of 80 MHz and consist of two adjacent and continuous BWPs, and / or similar configurations. In other embodiments, a BWP may have one or more carriers, for example, a BWP may have a bandwidth of 40 MHz and consist of two adjacent and continuous carriers, each having a bandwidth of 20 MHz. In some embodiments, a BWP may comprise a discontinuous spectral resource consisting of a plurality of discontinuous carriers, where the first carrier of the discontinuous plurality of carriers may be in the millimeter-wave band, the second carrier may be in the low-band (e.g., the 2 GHz band), the third carrier (if present) may be in the terahertz (THz) band, and the fourth carrier (if present) may be in the visible light band. The resources in one carrier belonging to the BWP may be continuous or not. In some embodiments, a BWP has a discontinuous spectral resource on one carrier.

[0083] Wireless communication may occur across the occupied bandwidth. The occupied bandwidth may be defined as the width of a frequency band such that, below the lower frequency and above the upper frequency, each average power emitted is equal to a specified proportion β / 2 of the total average transmitted power (for example, the value of β / 2 is 0.5%).

[0084] The carrier, BWP, or occupied bandwidth may be signaled dynamically by a network device (e.g., a base station) using physical layer control signaling such as downlink control information (DCI), or quasi-statically at the MAC layer, such as RRC signaling; or it may be predefined based on the application scenario; or it may be determined by the UE as a function of other parameters known to the UE; or it may be fixed by a standard, for example.

[0085] A-7. Timing reference point In current networks, frame timing and synchronization are established based on synchronization signals such as the primary synchronization signal (PSS) and the secondary synchronization signal (SSS). In particular, known frame timing and synchronization strategies involve adding a timestamp, e.g., (xx0:yy0:zz), to the frame boundary, where xx0, yy0, and zz in the timestamp may represent a time format such as hours, minutes, and seconds, respectively.

[0086] Diverse applications and use cases in future networks are expected to involve the use of different durations for frames, slots, and symbols to meet different requirements, functionalities, and quality of service (QoS) types. Therefore, using different frame durations to meet these applications may present challenges in frame timing alignment across diverse frame structures. For example, consider frame timing alignment for TDD configurations across adjacent carrier frequency bands or subbands (or bandwidth portions) of a single channel / carrier bandwidth.

[0087] In some embodiments, frame timing alignment and / or realignment may involve timing alignment and / or realignment with respect to symbols, slots or subframes within a frame, or the boundaries of a frame (thus, frame timing alignment / realignment here is more general and not limited to cases where timing alignment / realignment is solely from the frame boundaries). Also, timing points relative to a frame or frame boundary may be interpreted in a more general sense, i.e., frame boundary means timing points of frame elements having a frame, such as symbols, slots or subframes within a frame, or frames. Hereafter, the terms “(frame) timing alignment or realignment” and “timing relative to frame boundary” are used in the more general sense described above.

[0088] In some embodiments, a network device such as a base station 102, referred to below as TRP 102, may transmit signaling that carries a timing realignment instruction message. The timing realignment instruction message includes information that enables a receiving UE 114 to determine a timing reference point. Based on the timing reference point, the transmission of frames by the UE 114 may be aligned. In some embodiments, the aligned frames are located in different subbands of a single carrier frequency band. In some other embodiments, the aligned frames are located in adjacent carrier frequency bands.

[0089] On the TRP 102 side, one or more types of signaling may be used to indicate timing realignment (or / and timing correction) messages. For illustrative purposes, two exemplary types of signaling are provided here. The first exemplary type of signaling may be referred to as cell-specific signaling, examples of which include group common signaling and broadcast signaling. The second exemplary type of signaling may be referred to as UE-specific signaling. One of these two types of signaling, or a combination of both types of signaling, may be used to send timing realignment instruction messages. Timing realignment instruction messages may be sent to inform one or more UEs 114 of the configuration of the timing reference point. Hereafter, references to the term "UE" may be understood to refer to a broad class of general-purpose wireless communication devices within a cell (i.e., network receiving nodes such as wireless devices, sensors, gateways, routers, etc.), i.e., serviced by TRP 102. A timing reference point is a timing reference time and may be expressed in terms of relative timing, taking into account timing points within a frame, such as symbols, slots, or subframes (start or end boundaries) within a frame, or the frame itself. For the purposes of the following brief explanation, the term “frame boundary” is used, in some cases, to refer to symbols, slots, or subframes within a frame, or the boundary of a frame. Thus, a timing reference point may be expressed in terms of relative timing, taking into account the current frame boundary, for example, the start of the current frame. Alternatively, a timing reference point may be expressed in terms of absolute timing based on a specific standard timing reference, such as a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) (e.g., Global Positioning System (GPS)), Coordinated Universal Time ("UTC"), and / or similar. The absolute timing version of a timing reference point may explicitly specify the timing reference point.

[0090] The timing reference point may be indicated to allow timing adjustments to be performed at UE 114. Timing adjustments may be performed to improve the accuracy of the clock at UE 114. Alternatively or additionally, the timing reference point may be indicated to allow adjustments to be performed in future transmissions made from UE 114. Adjustments may be indicated to cause a realignment of frames transmitted at the timing reference point. Note that the realignment of frames transmitted at the timing reference point may include timing realignment of symbols, slots, or subframes within the frame, or from the frame (start boundary) at the timing reference point for one or more UE 114s (in a cell or group of cells) and one or more BS 102s.

[0091] On the UE 114 side, UE 114 may monitor for timing realignment instruction messages. In response to receiving a timing realignment instruction message, UE 114 may acquire a timing reference point and take steps to trigger frame realignment at the timing reference point. These steps may include, for example, initiating the transmission of subsequent frames at the timing reference point.

[0092] Furthermore, or alternatively, before monitoring for timing realignment instruction messages, UE 114 may cause TRP 102 to send a timing realignment instruction message by sending a timing realignment request, i.e., a timing realignment request message, to TRP 102. In response to receiving the timing realignment request message, TRP 102 may send a timing realignment instruction message to UE 114 containing information about the timing reference point, thereby enabling UE 114 to perform timing realignment (or / and timing adjustment, including clock timing error correction), with respect to symbols, slots, or subframes within a frame, or to frames for UEs and base stations(s) within a cell(s) (e.g., start boundary).

[0093] In some embodiments, a TRP 102 associated with a given cell may send a timing realignment instruction message. The timing realignment instruction message may contain sufficient information to enable the recipient of the message to obtain a timing reference point. The timing reference point may be used by one or more UEs 114 in a given cell to perform timing realignment (or / and timing adjustment, including clock timing error correction).

[0094] In some embodiments, the timing reference point may be expressed in the timing realignment instruction message with respect to a frame boundary (which may be a symbol, slot, or subframe within a frame, or the boundary of a frame). The timing realignment instruction message may include a relative timing instruction Δt. The relative timing instruction Δt may indicate that the timing reference point is the one that occurs after a specific duration, i.e., Δt, following the frame boundary of a given frame. Since the frame boundary is important for UE 114 to determine the timing reference point, it is important that UE 114 recognizes a given frame having the frame boundary of interest. Therefore, the timing realignment instruction message may also include the system frame number (SFN) of the given frame.

[0095] In 5G NR, the SFN is known to be a value in the range of 0 to 1023. Therefore, 10 bits may be used to represent the SFN. When the SFN is carried by SSB, six of the 10 bits for the SFN may be carried in the Master Information Block (MIB), and the remaining four bits for the SFN may be carried in the Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH) payload.

[0096] Optionally, the timing realignment instruction message may include other parameters. These other parameters may include, for example, a minimum time offset. The minimum time offset may establish a duration that precedes the timing reference point. UE 114 may rely on the minimum time offset to indicate that the DL signaling including the timing realignment instruction message gives UE 114 sufficient time to detect the timing realignment instruction message in order to obtain information about the timing reference point.

[0097] A-8. Precoding As used herein, precoding may refer to any coding operation(s) or modulation(s) that converts an input signal to an output signal. Precoding may be performed in different domains, typically converting an input signal from a first domain to an output signal from a second domain. Precoding may include linear operations.

[0098] A-9. Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) MIMO technology allows a single signal transmission and reception to be performed across an antenna array of multiple antennas to meet high transmission speed requirements. UE 114 and / or TRP 102 may use MIMO to communicate through a radio resource block. MIMO utilizes multiple antennas in the transmitter and / or receiver to transmit the radio resource block via parallel radio signals. MIMO may beamform the parallel radio signals for reliable multipath transmission of the radio resource block. MIMO may increase the data rate of the radio resource block by linking parallel radio signals carrying different data.

[0099] In recent years, MIMO (Large-Scale MIMO) wireless communication systems, which consist of multiple antennas for the TRP 102 described above, have attracted widespread attention from academic and industry circles. In a large-scale MIMO system, the TRP 102 may generally consist of more than 10 antenna units (e.g., antenna 148 shown in Figure 2A), serving dozens of UEs 114. The numerous antenna units of the TRP 102 significantly increase the spatial freedom of wireless communication, greatly improving transmission rate, spectral efficiency, and power efficiency, and can significantly reduce inter-cell interference. As the number of antennas increases, each antenna unit can be smaller in size and less expensive. Using the spatial freedom provided by the large-scale antenna units, the TRP 102 in each cell may communicate with many UEs 114 within the cell simultaneously using the same time-frequency resources, thus greatly improving spectral efficiency. The numerous antenna units of the TRP 102 also allow each user to have improved spatial directivity for UL and DL transmissions, resulting in a significant reduction in the transmit power of the TRP 102 and / or UE 114, and a substantial increase in power efficiency. If the number of antennas of the TRP 102 is sufficiently large, the random channels between each UE 114 and the TRP 102 may approach orthogonal, potentially eliminating the effects of interference and noise between the cell and the user. Due to the multiple advantages described above, large-scale MIMO can have excellent application potential.

[0100] A MIMO system may include a receiver connected to a receiving (Rx) antenna, a transmitter connected to a transmitting (Tx) antenna, and a signal processor connected to both the transmitter and receiver. Each of the Rx and Tx antennas may include multiple antennas. For example, the Rx antenna may have a uniform linear array (ULA) antenna array in which multiple antennas are arranged in a line at uniform intervals. When a radio frequency (RF) signal is transmitted through the Tx antenna, the Rx antenna may receive the signal reflected back from a target in front of it.

[0101] A non-exhaustive list of possible units or possible configurable parameters, or in some embodiments of the MIMO system, includes: namely, Panel: A unit of antenna group, or antenna array, or antenna sub-array, capable of independently controlling its Tx or Rx beam. Beam: A beam may be formed by applying amplitude and / or phase weighting to data transmitted or received by at least one antenna port, or by using another method, for example, by adjusting relevant parameters of the antenna unit. The beam may include a Tx beam and / or an Rx beam. The transmit beam refers to the distribution of signal intensity formed in various directions in space after the signal has been transmitted through the antenna. The receive beam is the signal intensity of the radio signal received from the antenna, and refers to the distribution of signal intensity in different directions in space. Beam information may include a beam identifier, an antenna port(s) identifier, a Channel Status Information Reference Signal (CSI-RS) resource identifier, an SSB resource identifier, a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) resource identifier, a codebook indication, a beam direction indication, or other reference signal resource identifiers.

[0102] A-10. Integrated Terrestrial Network (TN) and Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) Terrestrial communication systems can also be called land-based or terrestrial communication systems, and similarly or alternatively, terrestrial communication systems can be implemented on or underwater. Non-terrestrial communication systems may fill coverage gaps in underserved areas by extending the coverage of cellular networks via non-terrestrial nodes, which is key to ensuring global seamless coverage and providing mobile broadband services to areas that are unserved or underserved, in which case it is nearly impossible to implement terrestrial access point / base station infrastructure in areas such as the sea, mountains, forests, or other remote locations.

[0103] Terrestrial communication systems may be wireless communications using 5G technology and / or later generation wireless technologies (e.g., 6G and beyond). In some examples, terrestrial communication systems may also support some legacy wireless technologies (e.g., 3G or 4G wireless technologies). Non-terrestrial communication systems may be communications using satellite constellations such as conventional geostationary (GEO) satellites that utilize broadcast-published / common content to local servers, low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites that establish a better balance between wide coverage area and path loss / latency, very low Earth orbit (VLEO) stabilization satellites that enable technologies that significantly reduce the cost of launching satellites into low Earth orbit, high-altitude platforms (HAPs) that provide users with low path loss air interfaces with limited power budgets, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) (or unmanned aerial vehicle systems (UAS)) that achieve high-density deployment because their coverage may be limited to local areas such as the air, balloons, quadcopters, drones, and / or similar. In some examples, GEO satellites, LEO satellites, UAVs, HAPs, and VLEOs can be horizontal and two-dimensional. In some examples, UAVs, HAPs, and VLEOs, coupled to integrate satellite communications into emerging 3D vertical cellular networks, consist of many mobile (non-geostationary) and high-altitude access points such as UAVs, HAPs, and VLEOs.

[0104] A-11. Artificial Intelligence or Machine Learning (AI / ML) AI technologies, including AI / ML-based communications in the physical layer and / or higher layers, such as the MAC layer, may be applied to communications. For example, in the physical layer, AI / ML-based communications may aim to optimize component design and / or improve algorithmic performance. In the case of the MAC layer, AI / ML-based communications may aim to leverage AI / ML capabilities to learn, predict, and / or make decisions to solve complex optimization problems using possible better strategies and / or optimal solutions in order to optimize the functionality of the MAC layer, such as intelligent TRP management, intelligent beam management, intelligent channel resource allocation, intelligent power control, intelligent spectrum utilization, intelligent modulation and coding scheme (MCS), intelligent HARQ strategy, intelligent transmit / receive (Tx / Rx) mode adaptation, and / or similar.

[0105] The following are some terms used in the AI / ML field.

[0106] • Data collection: Data is a crucial component of AI / ML technology. Data collection is the process of gathering data by network nodes, management entities, or UEs for the purpose of AI / ML model training, data analysis, and inference.

[0107] AI / ML model training: AI / ML model training is the process of training an AI / ML model by learning input / output relationships using a data-driven method, and obtaining a trained AI / ML model for inference.

[0108] AI / ML model inference: The process of generating a set of outputs based on a set of inputs using a trained AI / ML model.

[0109] AI / ML model validation: As a subprocess of training, validation is used to evaluate the quality of the AI / ML model using a different dataset than the one used for model training. Validation can help select model parameters that generalize beyond the dataset used for model training. Post-trained model parameters may be further refined through the validation process.

[0110] • AI / ML model testing: Similar to validation, testing is a subprocess of training and is used to evaluate the performance of the final AI / ML model using a different dataset than the one used for training and validation of the model. Unlike validation of an AI / ML model, testing does not anticipate subsequent tuning of the model.

[0111] • Online training: Online training refers to an AI / ML training process in which the model used for inference is continuously trained (almost) in real time, typically as new training samples arrive.

[0112] Offline training: An AI / ML training process in which a model is trained based on collected datasets, and the trained model is later used or delivered for inference.

[0113] • Distribution / transfer of AI / ML models: A general term referring to the distribution of AI / ML models from one entity to another by any means. Distribution of AI / ML models via an AI interface includes either the parameters of a model structure known to the receiving end, or a new model with those parameters. Distribution may include a complete or partial model.

[0114] • Lifecycle Management (LCM): When AI / ML models are trained and / or inferred on a single device, the entire AI / ML process needs to be monitored and managed to ensure the performance gains obtained by the AI / ML technology. For example, the radio signal propagation environment changes frequently due to the randomness of radio channels and the mobility of UEs. Nevertheless, it is difficult for AI / ML models to always maintain optimal performance in all scenarios, and in some scenarios, performance may even degrade rapidly. Therefore, lifecycle management (LCM) of AI / ML models is essential for the sustainable operation of AI / ML in NR air interfaces.

[0115] Lifecycle management covers the entire process of AI / ML techniques applied to one or more nodes. Specifically, it includes at least one of the following subprocesses: data collection, model training, model identification, model registration, model deployment, model configuration, model inference, model selection, model activation, deactivation, model switching, model fallback, model monitoring, model update, model transfer / delivery, and UE capability reporting.

[0116] Model monitoring may be based on inference accuracy, including metrics related to intermediate key performance indicators (KPIs), or on system performance, including metrics related to system performance KPIs, such as accuracy and relevance, overhead, complexity (computation and memory costs), latency (timeliness of monitoring results from model failure to action), and power consumption. Furthermore, models based on input or output data distributions may also be considered, as data distributions may shift after deployment due to environmental changes.

[0117] • Supervised learning: The goal of a supervised learning algorithm is to train a model that maps feature vectors (inputs) to labels (outputs) based on training data containing exemplary feature-label pairs. Supervised learning may also analyze the training data and generate an inferred function that can be used to map inference data.

[0118] Supervised learning can be further divided into two types: classification and regression. Classification is used when the output of an AI / ML model is categorical, i.e., it is two or more classes. Regression is used when the output of an AI / ML model is a real number or a continuous value.

[0119] • Unsupervised learning: In contrast to supervised learning, where an AI / ML model learns to map inputs to target outputs, unsupervised methods learn a concise representation of input data without labeled data, which may be used for data exploration or the analysis or generation of new data. One typical example of unsupervised learning is clustering, which explores the hidden structure of input data and provides classification results for the data.

[0120] • Reinforcement learning: Reinforcement learning is used to solve sequential decision-making problems. It is the process of training an intelligent agent's actions based on inputs (states) and feedback signals (rewards) from an environment. In reinforcement learning, the intelligent agent interacts with the environment by taking actions that maximize cumulative rewards. Whenever the intelligent agent takes an action, the current state in the environment may transition to a new state, and the new state resulting from the action yields a corresponding reward. The intelligent agent may then take its next action based on the received reward and the new state in the environment. During the training phase, the agent interacts with the environment and collects experience. Because direct interaction with real systems is costly, the environment is often simulated by a simulator. In the inference phase, the agent may use the optimal decision-making rules learned during the training phase to achieve the maximum cumulative reward.

[0121] Associative learning: Federated learning (FL) is a machine learning technique used to train AI / ML models using a central node (e.g., a server) and multiple decentralized edge nodes (e.g., UEs, next-generation nodes B, or "gNBs").

[0122] According to wireless FL technology, the server may provide the edge node with a set of model parameters (e.g., weights, biases, gradients) describing a global AI / ML model. The edge node may initialize a local AI / ML model with the received global AI / ML model parameters. The edge node may then train the local AI / ML model using local data samples, thereby producing a trained local AI / ML model. The edge node may then provide the service with a set of AI / ML model parameters describing the local AI / ML model.

[0123] Upon receiving multiple sets of AI / ML model parameters from multiple edge nodes, each describing a local AI / ML model at those nodes, the server may aggregate the local AI / ML model parameters reported by the multiple UEs and update the global AI / ML model based on such aggregation. Subsequent iterations proceed similarly to the first iteration. The server may also send the aggregated global model to the multiple edge nodes. The above procedure is repeated multiple times until the global AI / ML model is considered complete, for example, until the AI / ML model converges or until the training stop condition is met.

[0124] In particular, wireless FL technology does not involve the exchange of local data samples. In fact, local data samples remain at each edge node.

[0125] AI technology (including ML technology) may be applied to communications, including AI-based communications in the physical layer and / or AI-based communications in the MAC layer. In the case of the physical layer, AI communications may be applied to optimize component design and / or improve algorithmic performance. For example, AI may be applied in relation to the implementation of channel coding, channel modeling, channel estimation, channel decoding, modulation, demodulation, MIMO, waveforms, multiple access, optimization and updating of physical layer element parameters, beamforming, tracking, detection, and / or positioning, and / or similar. In the case of the MAC layer, AI communications may be applied to leverage AI capabilities to learn, predict, and / or make decisions to solve complex optimization problems with possible better strategies and / or optimal solutions, for example, to optimize the functionality of the MAC layer. For example, AI may be applied to implement intelligent TRP management, intelligent beam management, intelligent channel resource allocation, intelligent power control, intelligent spectrum utilization, intelligent MCS, intelligent HARQ strategy, intelligent transmit / receive mode adaptation, and / or similar.

[0126] An AI architecture may include multiple nodes, which may be organized in one of two modes, centralized or distributed, and both may be deployed in an access network, core network, or edge computing system or third-party network. Centralized training and computing architectures may be limited by significant communication overhead and strict user data confidentiality. Distributed training and computing architectures may include several frameworks, such as distributed machine learning and federative learning. In some embodiments, the AI ​​architecture may include an intelligent controller that can run as a single agent or multiple agents based on joint or individual optimization. Novel protocols and signaling mechanisms are desired to enable the personalization of corresponding interface links with customized parameters to meet specific requirements, while minimizing signaling overhead and maximizing efficiency across the entire system spectrum through personalized AI techniques.

[0127] New protocols and signaling mechanisms are provided for operation within different operating modes, including between AI mode and non-AI mode, and for switching between operating modes, as well as for measurement and feedback to accommodate different possible measurements and information that may need to be fed back depending on the implementation.

[0128] For example, an air interface that uses AI as part of its implementation to optimize one or more components of the air interface is referred to herein as an "AI-enabled air interface." In some embodiments, an AI-enabled air interface may have two types of AI behavior: either both the network and the UE implement learning, or learning is applied only by the network.

[0129] B. Detection in communication systems As described above, the communication system 100 or its communication device often needs to understand or prefers to understand the environment, which can be achieved through detection.

[0130] Detection is a technique for acquiring ambient information about an object, such as its location, velocity, distance, orientation, shape, texture, and / or similar information. Generally, detection can be broadly classified as follows: • RF detection: Obtains ambient information by transmitting an RF signal and receiving and processing this RF signal, or RF signals reflected by echoes or other means. • Non-RF detection: Acquires ambient information via means that use non-RF signals, such as video cameras or other sensors.

[0131] RF detection may be further classified as follows: • Active detection (also referred to as "device-based detection"). The detection device transmits an RF signal to a target device. The target device detects the RF signal, obtains detection information by measuring the RF signal or some intermediate information therein, and then feeds the detection information back to the detection device. • Passive detection (also referred to as "device-free detection"): The detection device transmits an RF signal to an object, detects the echo of the RF signal (i.e., the reflected RF signal), and obtains detection information from the echo.

[0132] An example of passive detection is a radar system, in which the sensing device may transmit RF signals to locate, detect, and track a target object. Radar systems are typically implemented as standalone systems for specific applications.

[0133] In passive detection, surrounding IoT devices (which are smaller and less expensive IoT devices compared to conventional IoT devices) may or may not contain specific identifier (ID) information (such as RF tags).

[0134] Generally, from the perspective of transmitters and receivers, there are three types of detection. That is, Monostatic detection where the transmitter and receiver are the same device. The transmitter and receiver are different devices in bistatic sensing. For example, TRP 102 may function as a transmitter and transmit an RF signal for sensing, and UE 114 may function as a receiver and receive an RF signal. • Multistatic detection that can be decomposed into multiple bistatic Tx-Rx pairs. For example, TRP 102 may transmit an RF signal for detection, and two UE114s (UE1, UE2, etc.) may receive the RF signal, thereby forming a first Tx-Rx pair between TRP 102 and UE1, and a second Tx-Rx pair between TRP 102 and UE2.

[0135] C. Integrated detection and communication C-1. Radio Detection and Ranging (RADAR) The term RADAR originates from the phrases Radio Detection and Ranging. However, expressions with different capitalizations (i.e., Radar and radar) are equally valid and are now more common. Radar is typically used to detect the presence and location of objects. A radar system emits radio frequency energy and receives echoes of the reflected energy from one or more targets. The system determines a given target based on the echoes returned from that target. The emitted energy may be in the form of energy pulses or continuous waves, which can be represented or defined by a particular waveform. Examples of waveforms used in radar include frequency-modulated continuous waves (FMCW) and ultra-wideband (UWB) waveforms.

[0136] Radar systems can be monostatic, bistatic, or multistatic. In a monostatic radar system, the radar signal transmitter and receiver are located in the same location, such as being integrated into a transceiver. In a bistatic radar system, the transmitter and receiver are spatially separated, and the separation distance is comparable to or greater than the expected target distance (often called range). In a multistatic radar system, two or more radar components are spatially diverse but share a common area of ​​coverage. Multistatic radar is also called multi-site or network radar.

[0137] Terrestrial radar applications face challenges such as multipath propagation and shadowing interference. Another challenge is the issue of identifiability, as terrestrial targets have similar physical attributes. Integrating detection into communication systems can be subject to these same challenges, and many more.

[0138] C-2. Introduction UE location information is often used in cellular communication networks to improve various network performance metrics, such as capacity, agility, and efficiency. This improvement may be achieved when the wireless environment in which the UE114 operates is described by prior information, and network elements leverage the UE114's location, behavior, mobility patterns, and / or similar factors.

[0139] A sensing system may be used to help collect UE information, including its location in a reference system such as a global coordinate system, a local coordinate system, or a reference system (may be one or more) relative to a specific reference point; its speed and direction of movement in the reference system; orientation information; and information about the wireless environment. In this specification, the term “location” is also known as “position,” and these two terms may be used interchangeably. Examples of well-known sensing systems include radio detection and ranging (RADAR) and optical detection and ranging (LIDAR). While a sensing system may be separate from a communication system, it may be advantageous to collect information using an integrated system, thereby reducing the hardware (and cost) within the system, as well as the time, frequency, or spatial resources required to perform both functionalities. However, performing the detection of objects (e.g., detecting an object and its location or locating, shape, orientation, gesture, and / or similar) and environmental information using communication system hardware is a very difficult and unresolved problem. The difficulty of this problem stems from factors such as the limited resolution of communication systems, the dynamic nature of the environment, and the enormous number of objects whose electromagnetic properties and positions need to be estimated.

[0140] Therefore, integrated detection and communication (also known as integrated communication and detection) is a desired feature in existing and future communication systems.

[0141] C-3. Detection Node, Detection Management Function As shown in Figure 3, either or all of UE 114 and TRP 102 may be sensing nodes in system 100. Sensing nodes are network entities that perform sensing by transmitting and receiving sensing signals. Some sensing nodes are communication devices that perform both communication and sensing. On the other hand, some sensing nodes do not perform communication and can be dedicated to sensing, unlike the above. Sensing agent 232 is an example of a sensing node dedicated to sensing. Unlike UE 114 and TRP 102, sensing agent 232 does not transmit or receive communication signals. However, sensing agent 232 may communicate configuration information, sensing information, signaling information, and other information within the communication system 100. Sensing agent 232 may communicate with the core network 112 to communicate with the rest of the communication system 100 and convey information. For example, sensing agent 232 may determine the location of UE 114 and transmit this information to TRP 102 via the core network 112. Although only one detection agent 232 is shown in Figure 3, any number of detection agents may be implemented in the communication system 100. In some embodiments, one or more detection agents may be implemented in one or more RANs 104.

[0142] The sensing node may combine sensing-based techniques with reference signal-based techniques to enhance the determination of UE-related information. This type of sensing node may also be known as a sensing management function (SMF). In some networks, the SMF may also be known as a location management function (LMF). In some embodiments, the SMF may be implemented as a physically independent entity located in a core network 112 connected to multiple TRPs 102. In some other embodiments, the SMF may be implemented as a logical entity located in the same location within the TRP 102 via logic executed by a processor 142.

[0143] As shown in Figure 4, when the SMF176 is implemented as a physically separate entity, it includes at least one processor 290, at least one transmitter 282, at least one receiver 284, one or more antennas 286, and at least one memory 288. Transmitters not shown may be used instead of the transmitter 282 and receiver 284. A scheduler 283 may be coupled to the processor 290. The scheduler 283 may be included within the SMF176 or may operate separately from the SMF176. The processor 290 performs various processing operations of the SMF176, such as signal coding, data processing, power control, input / output processing, and other functions. The processor 290 may be configured to perform some or all of the functions and / or embodiments described in more detail above. Each processor 290 includes any suitable processing device or computing device configured to perform one or more operations. Each processor 290 may include, for example, a microprocessor, microcontroller, digital signal processor, FPGA, or ASIC.

[0144] Reference signal-based object determination techniques may include an "active" attitude estimation paradigm. In the active attitude estimation paradigm, the attitude information seeker (i.e., UE 114) participates in the process of determining the seeker's attitude. This may involve transmitting or receiving (or both) signals specific to the seeker's attitude determination process. GNSS-based positioning techniques such as GPS are another example of the active attitude estimation paradigm.

[0145] In contrast, radar-based detection technologies, for example, can be considered to include a "passive" attitude determination paradigm. In a passive attitude determination paradigm, the target is unaware of the attitude determination process.

[0146] Integrating detection and communication into a single system eliminates the need for the system to operate according to only one paradigm. Therefore, combining detection-based technology with reference signal-based technology can improve object identification.

[0147] Enhanced object detection may include, for example, acquiring UE channel subspace information, which is particularly useful for reconstructing UE channels at detection nodes, and especially for beam-based operation and communication. The UE channel subspace is a subset of the entire algebraic space defined over the spatial domain in which the entire channel from TP to UE resides. Thus, the UE channel subspace defines the channel from TP to UE with very high accuracy. When signals are transmitted over other subspaces, their effect on the UE channel becomes negligible. Knowledge of the UE channel subspace helps reduce the effort required for channel measurement at the UE and channel reconstruction on the network side. Therefore, combining detection-based techniques with reference signal-based techniques enables UE channel reconstruction with much less overhead than conventional methods. Subspace information can support subspace-based detection, reducing detection complexity and improving detection accuracy.

[0148] C-4. Detection Channel In some embodiments of integrated sensing and communication, the same radio access technology (RAT) is used for both sensing and communication. This avoids the need to multiplex two different RATs when one carrier spectrum is used, or the requirement for two different carrier spectra for two different RATs.

[0149] In embodiments where detection and communication are integrated using a single RAT, a first set of channels may be used to transmit detection signals, and a second set of channels may be used to transmit communication signals. In some embodiments, each channel in the first set of channels and each channel in the second set of channels may be a logical channel, a transport channel, or a physical channel.

[0150] Communication and detection may be performed at the physical layer via separate physical channels. For example, a first physical downlink shared channel PDSCH-C may be defined for data communication, and a second physical downlink shared channel PDSCH-S may be defined for detection, such as detection data sharing for collaborative detection, detection reference signals, and / or similar. Similarly, separate physical uplink shared channels (PUSCH) PUSCH-C and PUSCH-S may be defined for UL communication and detection. For example, PUSCH-S may be used for detection result reporting and detection data sharing.

[0151] In another example, the same PDSCH and PUSCH may be used for both communication and sensing, and separate logical layer channels and / or transport layer channels may be defined for communication and sensing. It should also be noted that the control channel(s) and data channel(s) for sensing may have the same channel structure (format) or different channel structures (formats), and may occupy the same frequency band or bandwidth portion or different frequency band or bandwidth portion.

[0152] In yet another example, a common physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and a common physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) are used to carry control information for both detection and communication. Alternatively, separate physical layer control channels may be used to carry separate control information for communication and detection. For example, PUCCH-S and PUCCH-C may be used for UL control of detection and communication, respectively, and PDCCH-S and PDCCH-C may be used for DL ​​control of detection and communication, respectively.

[0153] Different combinations of shared and dedicated channels for detection and communication are possible at each of the physical, transport, and logical layers.

[0154] C-5. Half-double and full-double A communication node can be either half-duplex or full-duplex. A half-duplex node cannot both transmit and receive using the same physical resources (time, frequency, and / or similar). Conversely, a full-duplex node can transmit and receive using the same physical resources. All existing commercial radio communication networks are half-duplex. Even if full-duplex communication networks become practical in the future, it is expected that at least some of the nodes in a network will still be half-duplex nodes, as half-duplex devices are less complex and have lower costs and lower power consumption. In particular, full-duplex implementations are more difficult at higher frequencies (e.g., in the millimeter-wave band), which is very difficult for small, low-cost devices such as femtocell base stations and UEs.

[0155] The limitations of half-duplex nodes in communication networks present further challenges to integrating detection and communication into devices and systems within the communication network. For example, both half-duplex and full-duplex nodes can perform bistatic or multistatic detection, but monostatic detection typically requires the detection node to have full-duplex capabilities. Half-duplex nodes may perform monostatic detection with certain limitations, such as in pulse radar with specific duty cycles and ranging capabilities.

[0156] C-6. Detection signal waveform and frame structure The characteristics of a detection signal, or a signal used for both detection and communication, include the signal's waveform and frame structure. The frame structure defines the signal's time-domain boundary. The waveform represents the signal's shape as a function of time and frequency. Examples of waveforms that may be used for detection signals include UWB pulses, FMCW or "chirp," OFDM, CP-OFDM, and Discrete Fourier Transform Spread (DFT-s)-OFDM.

[0157] C-7. Integrated Detection and Communication (ISAC) Systems and Detection and Communication (SAC) Signals In some embodiments, the communication system 100 is an integrated detection and communication (ISAC) system for using RF signals transmitted between various devices (e.g., between TRP 102 and UE 114, between different TRP 102s, between different UE 114s, etc.) for both detection and communication. Thus, the communication system 100 is a networked collaborative detection system rather than a standalone radar system. Collaborative detection may be achieved via an integrated communication protocol.

[0158] As those skilled in the art will understand, a first communication node (such as TRP 102) may transmit an RF signal to one or more second communication nodes (such as UE 114), and the RF signal may be used for different purposes such as signaling or data transmission. In these embodiments, the RF signal or a portion thereof may be used for sensing. In the following description, an RF signal used for both sensing and communication may be referred to as a “sensing and communication (SAC) signal,” and a communication node using the SAC signal (e.g., TRP 102, UE 114, sensing device, relay, etc.) may be referred to as a “SAC node.” Here, the SAC signal is or includes a physical signal or channel for communication (referred to as “signal / channel,” e.g., a reference signal). Alternatively, the SAC signal is or includes a physical signal / channel for sensing (the signal / channel uses an OFDM waveform or other waveform (such as a chirp)). Further alternatively, the SAC signal is or includes a signal / channel for both communication and sensing.

[0159] Depending on its role, a SAC node may be a transmitter node (also referred to as a "Tx node") if it transmits SAC signals, or a receiver node (also referred to as an "Rx node") if it receives SAC signals and / or their echoes (i.e., reflected SAC signals). Furthermore, a communication node may operate as a Tx node (when transmitting SAC signals), an Rx node (when receiving SAC signals and / or their echoes), or both (when transmitting SAC signals and simultaneously receiving other SAC signals and / or their echoes).

[0160] In some embodiments, the communication system 100 may use a collaborative detection method for detecting an object (also referred to as the “target”). Figure 5A is a schematic diagram showing an example of a collaborative detection method. As shown, the Tx node 302 transmits a SAC signal 312. The Rx node 304 receives the SAC signal 312 and its echo 314 reflected from the target object 306 (or simply referred to as the “object”). The Rx node 304 may detect and measure the received SAC signal 312 and / or echo 314 and report its measured parameters to the Tx node 302. Alternatively, the Rx node 304 may detect and measure the received SAC signal 312 and / or echo 314, and further measure parameters of the object 306 (e.g., orientation, size, velocity, and / or similar) based on the received SAC signal 312 and / or its echo 314, and then report the detected object 306 and its parameters to the Tx node 302. Object 306 may be located near Rx node 304 or at a certain distance from Rx node 304, insofar as Rx node 304 can detect and measure the parameters of object 306. Hereafter, the term “measurement results” is used to generally refer to the measured parameters of the received SAC signal 312, one or more measured parameters of the echo 314, and / or one or more measured parameters of object 306.

[0161] Figure 5B is a schematic diagram showing another example in which the Tx node 302 works with two Rx nodes 304 to detect object 306. More specifically, the Rx node 304 receives an echo 314 of the SAC signal 312 and reports the measurement result to the Tx node 302, which may determine the location of object 306 using, for example, triangulation.

[0162] Similarly, the Rx node 304 may work with two Tx nodes 302 for object detection.

[0163] In various embodiments, the measurement results may include one or more channel-related measurements (i.e., measurement results of the received SAC signal 312 and / or echo 314) and / or one or more object-related measurements (i.e., measurement results of object 306). Some examples of channel-related measurements are listed below. • Delay in the first path between Tx node 302 and Rx node 304 • The delay of the path with the highest power among all paths between Tx node 302 and Rx node 304, and / or, • Power of the received reflected signal (e.g., reference signal received power (RSRP))

[0164] Below are some examples of object-related measurements. • Distance between Rx node 304 and object 306 • Orientation or angle of object 306 • Elevation of object 306 • Range of distance values ​​for object 306 (i.e., upper and / or lower limits) • Range of azimuth values ​​for object 306 (i.e., upper and / or lower limits) • Range of elevation values ​​for object 306 (i.e., upper and / or lower limits) • Linear span (length or width, etc.) of object 306 • The azimuth angle or angular span (angle size, etc.) of object 306 • Elevation span (height, etc.) of object 306 • Radial velocity of object 306 • The bearing or angular velocity of object 306 • The upward velocity of object 306, and / or, • Number of objects (e.g., no objects detected (i.e., zero (0) objects), one detected object, two detected objects, etc.)

[0165] The first path typically represents the shortest path between Tx node 302 and Rx node 304, or the path that takes the shortest time for the data transmission or SAC signal to travel. The bearing or angle of object 306 typically represents the absolute value of the orientation of object 306 relative to Rx node 304, the orientation of Rx node 304 relative to object 306, or the orientation relative to the Earth or another stationary object. The elevation of object 306 typically represents the absolute value of the height of object 306 relative to Rx node 304, or its height, such as altitude. Other parameters may be relative to Rx node 304 or other objects, or they may be absolute values.

[0166] In some embodiments, the SAC signal 312 may include one or more communication symbols for communication and one or more detection symbols for detection. In various embodiments, the communication symbols and detection symbols may be OFDM symbols (in the SAC signal 312 using OFDM) or non-OFDM symbols (in the SAC signal 312 not using OFDM). Here, symbols are generally signal components or transmission opportunities that form part of the SAC signal 312. For example, in the SAC signal 312 not using OFDM (i.e., a non-OFDM-based SAC signal), symbols may be signal components that carry information (i.e., communication symbols) or signal components for detection (i.e., detection symbols such as chirp signals).

[0167] In the transmission and reception of the SAC signal 312, the detection symbols and communication symbols are aligned in time and / or frequency so that they can be transmitted and received as if they were communication symbols. Therefore, the Tx node 302 and Rx node 304 may transmit and receive detection symbols using existing transmit / receive techniques, and / or transmit and receive detection symbols according to the transmit / receive specifications of existing wireless communication standards. The advantage is the high efficiency of resource utilization for detection and communication. For example, if a resource is not used by communication, it can be used for detection without resulting in fragmented resources.

[0168] In this specification, the concept of "signal alignment in time" means that when a plurality of symbols (which can be detection symbols and / or communication symbols) are transmitted by the SAC signal 312, each symbol has a duration T s , , ,

[0170] , s , s ≤T, and each symbol is transmitted between t s +nT and t s +(n + 1)T, where T is a predefined or configured duration, t s is a time offset, and n≥0 is an integer.

[0169] Similarly, the concept of "signal alignment in frequency" means that when a plurality of symbols (which can be detection symbols and / or communication symbols) are transmitted, each symbol has a frequency bandwidth BW s ≤BW, and each symbol is transmitted within a frequency band from f s +mBW to f s +(m + 1)BW, where BW is a predefined or configured bandwidth (which can be one or more physical resource blocks (PRBs)), f s is a frequency offset, and m≥0 is an integer. In some embodiments, the bandwidth configuration may be based on BWP. For example, in some embodiments, the TRP 102 may allocate one BWP for communication and another BWP for detection. In some embodiments, communication and detection may use the same BWP. Alternatively, the BWP for communication may be within the BWP for detection, or the BWP for detection may be within the BWP for communication. In various embodiments, for switching between communication and detection, the UE 114 may switch to the corresponding BWP with a zero BWP switching delay.

[0170] Therefore, the concept of "signal alignment in time and frequency" means that when a plurality of symbols (which can be detection symbols and / or communication symbols) are transmitted by the SAC signal 312, · Each symbol has a duration T s ≤T, and each symbol is transmitted between t s +nT and t s +(n + 1)T. Each symbol represents the frequency bandwidth BW s ≤ BW, and each symbol is f s +mBW to f s Transmission is performed in a frequency band up to +(m+1)BW.

[0171] For example, in some embodiments, the detection symbol has the same duration T as the communication symbol. s =T (may include periods of non-use), and the same bandwidth BW s =BW (may include unused frequency ranges).

[0172] In the SAC signal 312, the detection and communication symbols may be multiplexed using any suitable multiplexing method.

[0173] For example, Figure 6A is a frequency-time diagram showing an example of a SAC signal 312, in which multiple communication symbols 320 and multiple detection symbols 322 are temporally multiplexed using an appropriate time-division multiplexing (TDM) method.

[0174] As another example, Figure 6B shows a SAC signal 312, in which multiple communication symbols 320 and multiple detection symbols 322 are multiplexed by frequency using a suitable frequency division multiplexing (FDM) method, with the multiple communication symbols 320 being transmitted in a first frequency band 324 and the multiple detection symbols 322 being transmitted in a second frequency band 326.

[0175] As yet another example, Figure 6C shows a SAC signal 312, in which multiple communication symbols 320 and multiple detection symbols 322 are multiplexed in both frequency and time using a suitable TDM / FDM method, with each of the first and second frequency bands 324 and 326 transmitting a mixture of the time-multiplexed communication symbols 320 and detection symbols 322.

[0176] As yet another example, the SAC signal 312 may include multiple communication symbols 320 and multiple detection symbols 322, which are multiplexed by frequency, time, space, code, and / or similar means using appropriate TDM, FDM, special division multiplexing (SDM), code division multiplexing (CDM), etc.

[0177] In various embodiments, the parameters of the detection symbol 322 of the SAC signal 312 may be predefined (for example, according to one or more communication standards) and / or configured by a Tx node 302 such as TRP 102 to ensure alignment of the detection symbol 322 with the communication symbol 320. In other words, in various embodiments, all, some, or any of the parameters of the detection symbol 322 may be determined by the Tx node 302, and therefore, none, some, or all of the parameters of the detection symbol 322 may be predefined.

[0178] When configuring detection symbols 322, the Tx node 302 may individually determine the parameter set of one or more detection symbols 322 so that each of the one or more detection symbols 322 may use a different set of parameters. The Tx node 302 may also, similarly or alternatively, determine the parameter set of one or more other detection symbols 322 so that one or more other detection symbols 322 may use the same set of parameters. Similarly, each of one or more detection symbols 322 may use a particular set of predefined parameters, and / or one or more other detection symbols 322 may use the same set of predefined parameters.

[0179] Tx node 302 or TRP 102 may notify Rx node 304 of the parameters of the detection symbol 322 (if any) that it has configured. Tx node 302 may not need to notify Rx node 304 of the predefined parameters of the detection symbol 322, as such parameters may already be known by Rx node 304 (for example, according to the specifications of one or more communication standards).

[0180] The following are examples of parameters for detection symbol 322 that may be predefined and / or configured by Tx node 302. • The frequency band of detection symbol 322, and / or The index of each detection symbol 322, or the index of each detection burst having multiple detection symbols 322.

[0181] In some embodiments, the detection symbol 322 has a duration T s and bandwidth BW S It may include one or more sensing signals, such as one or more chirp signals for transmission. A chirp signal is, as those skilled in the art will understand, a signal whose frequency increases (up-chirp) or decreases (down-chirp) over time. One type of chirp signal is a linear chirp signal, whose frequency changes linearly over time. As shown in Figure 7, a linear chirp signal 330 may be represented in the frequency domain as follows: f(t) = f0 + u0(t - t0) ... (1) If t0 ≤ t ≤ t1, then t0 is the start time (i.e., the start time position) of the linear chirp signal 330, t1 is the end time (i.e., the end time position) of the linear chirp signal 330, and T c =t1-t0 is the duration of the linear chirp signal 330, and T c ≦T s Here, f0 is the starting frequency at time t=t0, f1 is the ending frequency at time t=t1, and u0 is a constant called the chirp rate (also called the slope of the chirp signal). Bandwidth BW of linear chirp signal 330c BW c =f1-f0=u0T c BW c ≤BW s In other words, the chirp duration T c =BW c It is / u0.

[0182] The time-domain representation of the linear chirp signal 316 is as follows:

number

[0183] As shown in Figure 8A, in some embodiments, the detection symbol 322 may include a chirp signal 330. In this example, the duration T of the chirp signal 330 is c The detection symbol time T s The following, that is, T c ≦T s (T c <T s In this case, the detection symbol duration T s (Part of it is unused). The slope u0 is given by u0 = BW c / T c The Tx node 302 or TRP 102 has a bandwidth of 330 for the chirp signal BW. c Alternatively, the Tx node 302 may configure and notify the Rx node 304 of its settings. c ≤BW s (BW c <BW s In this case, some detection symbol bandwidth BW S The slope u0 of the chirp signal 330 may be configured under the condition that (is unused), and this configuration may be notified to the Rx node 304.

[0184] In some embodiments, the detection symbol 322 may include a plurality of chirp signals 330, which are multiplexed frequency using FDM and / or temporally using TDM.

[0185] In some embodiments, the detection symbol 322 may include a plurality of chirp signals 330 aligned in time and / or frequency, the plurality of chirp signals 330 being multiplexed in frequency using FDM and / or in time using TDM. Here, the concept of aligning the plurality of chirp signals 330 of the detection symbol 322 in time and / or frequency is the same as described above, except that the plurality of chirp signals 330 are within the duration and frequency band of the detection symbol 322.

[0186] For example, Figure 8B shows a detection symbol 322 having two frequency-multiplexed chirp signals 330. The Tx node 302 has a bandwidth BW of each chirp signal 330. c The start frequency f0, end frequency f1, and / or slope u0 may be configured and, if necessary, the configuration may be notified to the Rx node 304. In this example, each chirp signal 330 has a duration T c ≦T s It has. The sum of the bandwidths of the two chirp signals 330 is

number

[0187] As another example, Figure 8C shows a detection symbol 322 having M time-multiplexed chirp signals 330, where M>1 is an integer (e.g., M=2 in Figure 8C). The Tx node 302 has a bandwidth BW of each chirp signal 330. c The start frequency f0, end frequency f1, slope u0, start time t0, and / or end time t1 are configured and, if necessary, the configuration may be notified to the Rx node 304. In this example, each chirp signal 330 has a bandwidth BW c ≤BW s The sum of the durations of the two chirp signals 330 must satisfy the following conditions:

number

[0188] As yet another example, Figure 8D shows a detection symbol 322 having four chirp signals 330 multiplexed in frequency and time. The Tx node 302 has a bandwidth BW of each chirp signal 330. c The start frequency f0, end frequency f1, slope u0, start time t0, and / or end time t1 are configured and, if necessary, the configuration may be notified to the Rx node 304. In this example, each chirp signal 330 has a bandwidth BW c ≤BW s It has the following. The total duration of the chirp signal 330 (parts of the chirp signal 330 may overlap in time) is T s The following conditions must be met, and the total bandwidth of the chirp signal 330 (parts of the chirp signal 330 may overlap frequency-wise) is BW s The following is required:

[0189] In various embodiments, the Tx node 302 or TRP 102 may configure the number of chirp signals 330 in the detection symbol 322 and / or use a predefined number of chirp signals 330 in the detection symbol 322 for detection.

[0190] In various embodiments, the Tx node 302 or TRP 102 may configure the parameters of the chirp signal 330 and / or use its predefined parameters to ensure alignment of the detection symbol 322 and the communication symbol 320.

[0191] When configuring the chirp signals 330, the Tx node 302 may individually determine the set of parameters for each of the one or more chirp signals 330 so that each of them may use different parameters, or it may similarly or alternatively determine the set of parameters for one or more other chirp signals 330 so that one or more chirp signals 330 may use the same set of parameters. Similarly, each of the one or more chirp signals 330 may use a specific set of predefined parameters, and / or one or more other detection symbols 322 may use the same set of predefined parameters.

[0192] Tx node 302 may notify Rx node 304 of the number of configured chirp signals 330 and / or the parameters of the chirp signals 330 (if any). Tx node 302 may not need to notify Rx node 304 of predefined parameters of the chirp signals 330, as such parameters may be known by Rx node 304 (for example, according to the specifications of one or more communication standards).

[0193] The following are examples of parameters for the chirp signal 330 that may be predefined and / or configured by the Tx node 302. • Chirp signal bandwidth 330 BW c • Starting frequency f of chirp signal 330 start • Ending frequency f of chirp signal 330 end , and / or, • The slope of the chirp signal 330 (i.e., the chirp rate u0)

[0194] For example, in some embodiments, the entire carrier bandwidth may be predefined or configured to be sensed using, for example, one or more chirp signals. In these embodiments, the Tx node 302 sets the starting frequency f of the chirp signal 330. startIn some cases, it may not be necessary to configure this. As another example, in some embodiments, the starting frequency f of the chirp signal 330 start f is predefined as the lowest frequency of the carrier. In these embodiments, the Tx node 302 is the starting frequency f of the chirp signal 330. start In some cases, it may not be necessary to configure it.

[0195] As yet another example, in the example shown in Figure 8C, the detection symbol 322 includes two time-multiplexed chirp signals 330. The Tx node 302 has a bandwidth BW of each chirp signal 330. c , start or end frequency f start Or f end The slope u0 and / or start or end time location (i.e., start time or end time) may be configured separately. Alternatively, the Tx node 302 may configure the slope u0 and / or start / end frequency f for both chirps. start Or f end The same set may be configured, and the start time location or end time location of each chirp signal 330 may be configured individually. As another example, if there are multiple chirp signals multiplexed by frequency (see, for example, Figure 8B), TRP 102 may configure the start frequency f0A of the first chirp signal 330A, and the start frequency f1A of the second chirp signal 330B is predefined as the end frequency f0B of the first chirp signal 330A.

[0196] The parameters described above align the detection symbol 322 and the communication symbol 320 in time. More specifically, when the detection symbol 322 and the communication symbol 320 are multiplexed (and aligned) in frequency, the start time boundary of the detection symbol 322 is aligned (i.e., the same as) the start time boundary of the communication symbol 320, and / or the end time boundary of the detection symbol 322 is aligned (i.e., the same as) the end time boundary of the communication symbol 320. When the detection symbol 322 and the communication symbol 320 are multiplexed in time, the start time boundary of the detection symbol 322 is aligned (i.e., the same as) the end time boundary of the previous communication symbol 320, and / or the end time boundary of the detection symbol 322 is aligned (i.e., the same as) the start time boundary of the next communication symbol 320.

[0197] In some embodiments conforming to 5G NR or similar standards, the communication symbol 320 is an OFDM symbol. Figure 9 is a frequency-time diagram showing an example of a SAC signal 312 using an OFDM symbol as the communication symbol 320.

[0198] Each OFDM symbol 320 comprises an information portion 342 having multiple information items 344 (such as data items) arranged on multiple subcarriers. The information items 344 are converted into a time-domain signal, for example, using an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT), and then the tail portion of the time-domain signal is copied to the beginning as a cyclic prefix (CP) 346 to counteract channel distortion. Thus, the duration T of the OFDM symbol 320 s This is the total duration of CP 346 and information portion 342, and the start time boundary of OFDM symbol 320 is the start time boundary of its CP 346.

[0199] The detection symbol 322 and the communication symbol 320 are temporally multiplexed and have the same duration. Therefore, the start time boundary of the detection symbol 322 is temporally aligned with the end time boundary of the previous communication symbol 320, and / or the end time boundary of the detection symbol 322 is temporally aligned with the start time boundary of the next communication symbol 320.

[0200] As shown in Figure 10, the Rx node 304 may be classified into various collaboration sets, such as the following: • Detection / transmission / reception set 352 • Detection Active Set 354 • Detection collaboration set 356

[0201] The detection collaboration set 356 includes one or more Rx nodes (e.g., Rx nodes 304A-304C) configured for detection collaboration (e.g., by TRP 102). Some nodes in the detection collaboration set 356 (e.g., nodes 304A and 304B) may have completed the initial access procedure, while some other nodes in the detection collaboration set 356 (e.g., node 304C) may not. The nodes in the detection collaboration set 356 may be referred to as detection collaboration nodes.

[0202] The detection active set 354 includes one or more Rx nodes (such as Rx nodes 304A and 304B) in the detection cooperation set 356 that are activated for detection (e.g., by TRP 102). On the other hand, when Rx node 304 in the detection active set 354 is deactivated, it is removed from the detection active set 354 but still belongs to the detection cooperation set 356. Nodes in the detection active set 354 may also be referred to as detection active nodes.

[0203] The detection transmit / receive set 352 includes one or more Rx nodes (such as Rx node 304A) in the detection active set 354, which are configured to actively receive detection signals over a predefined or configured period. Optionally, after receiving a detection signal, the Rx node 304 in the detection transmit / receive set 352 may transmit the measurement result of the received detection signal to the Tx node 302, TRP 102, or another node for processing detection results. TRP 102 may configure which Rx nodes 304 in the detection active set 354 can be configured as Rx nodes in the detection transmit / receive set 352. For example, the detection active set 354 may contain N Rx nodes 304. Then, an N-bit bitmap indication may be used to indicate which Rx nodes belong to the detection transmit / receive set 352, where a binary 1 value means "belongs to" and a binary 0 value means "does not belong to". Nodes in the detection transmit / receive set 352 may be denoted as detection transmit / receive nodes.

[0204] Therefore, the detection transmit / receive set 352 may be a subset of the detection active set 354, and the detection active set 354 (including the detection transmit / receive set 352) may be a subset of the detection cooperation set 356. In other words, an Rx node in the detection cooperation set 356 is a candidate for detection reception. When an Rx node 304 in the detection cooperation set 356 is activated, for example, by TRP 102 or Tx node 302, it becomes an Rx node in the detection active set 354. When an Rx node 304 in the detection active set 354 completes the detection transmit / receive determination procedure (described in more detail later) and / or is configured by TRP 102 or Tx node 302, it becomes a node in the detection transmit / receive set 352.

[0205] As shown in Figure 10, the communication system 100 may also include several Rx nodes 304D (referred to as “non-cooperative Rx nodes”) that are not configured for detection cooperation.

[0206] For the sake of illustration, Figure 10 shows only a single Tx node 302. However, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the communication system 100 may have multiple Tx nodes 302.

[0207] In some embodiments, the Tx node 302 (such as TRP 102) may constitute a detection collaboration set 356 and a detection active set 354 (i.e., determining which Rx nodes 304 should be included in the detection collaboration set 356 and which Rx nodes 304 should be included in the detection active set 354).

[0208] In some other embodiments, the Tx node 302 (e.g., TRP 102) may constitute only the detection active set 354. In these embodiments, the detection collaborative set 356 may be configured using other suitable methods. For example, the Rx node may be predefined as a collaborative Rx node (then included in the detection collaborative set 356) or a non-collaborative Rx node (then not included in the detection collaborative set 356) based on its capacity, type, manufacture, and / or similar, etc.

[0209] Due to the random reflection characteristics of wireless signals, not all Rx nodes in the detection active set 354 will necessarily receive an echo of the SAC signal. Therefore, the Tx node 302 may perform a detection / transmission determination procedure to determine which Rx nodes in the detection active set 354 should be included in the detection / transmission set 352.

[0210] Figure 11 is a flowchart illustrating a detection / transmission / determination procedure 360 ​​performed by the Tx node 302 according to several embodiments of the present disclosure. Figure 12 shows an example of the detection / transmission / determination procedure 360 ​​(direct transmission of SAC signals from the Tx node 302 to the Rx nodes 304A and 304B is not shown).

[0211] Referring to Figures 11 and 12, after the procedure has started (step 362), Tx node 302 transmits a sensing reference signal 372 (such as the SAC signal 240) to Rx nodes 304A and 304B in the sensing active set 354 (step 364). In some embodiments, the sensing reference signal 372 may include an automatic gain control (AGC) signal (or one or more AGC symbols) which may be used for both AGC setting and cooperative node discovery. Each Rx node 304A receives and measures the sensing reference signal 372 and / or its echo 374 (typically denoted as “sensing reference signal 372”) and reports sensing measurement information, e.g., the power of the sensing reference signal 372, to Tx node 302.

[0212] In some embodiments, if Rx node 304B does not detect the sensing reference signal 372, Rx node 304B reports a non-detection indication (e.g., 0 or NACK) to Tx node 302. Alternatively, Rx node 304B does not have to report a non-detection indication if it does not detect the sensing reference signal 372. Those skilled in the art will understand that in various embodiments, any suitable criterion can be used to determine the non-detection of the sensing reference signal 372. For example, in some embodiments, the detection of the sensing reference signal 372 at any power level may be considered a detection of the sensing reference signal 372, and therefore, "non-detection" occurs only if the sensing reference signal 372 is not detected at all. In some embodiments, non-detection of the sensing reference signal 372 occurs if the sensing reference signal 372 is not detected at all, or if the sensing reference signal 372 is detected, but the power of the detected sensing reference signal 372 is lower than a predefined or configured power threshold. Rx node 304B may then report 0 (zero) or NACK to Tx node 302. Alternatively, Rx node 304B does not need to report a non-detection instruction.

[0213] In some embodiments, Rx node 304B may report a detection instruction to Tx node 302 as detection measurement information if the detection reference signal 372 is detected at a power greater than a predefined or configured power threshold. In these embodiments, Rx node 304B may report a non-detection instruction (such as 0 (zero) or NACK) to Tx node 302 if the detection reference signal 372 is not detected at all, or if the detection reference signal 372 is detected but the power of the detected detection reference signal 372 is lower than a predefined or configured power threshold, or it may not report a non-detection instruction at all.

[0214] The Tx node 302 receives detection measurement information from the Rx node 304A in the detection active set 354 (step 366). Based on the received detection measurement information, the Tx node 302 or TRP 102 then configures the appropriate Rx nodes (such as the Rx node 304A that reports detection measurements greater than a predefined threshold) into the detection transmit / receive set 352 and notifies each of these Rx nodes 304A that it is included in the detection transmit / receive set 352 (step 368). The procedure then ends (step 370).

[0215] Next, the Rx node 304A, which is classified as a detection / transmission set 352, actively participates in collaborative detection, that is, it receives the SAC signal and / or its echo and reports the detection results to the Tx node 302 according to the collaborative detection procedure.

[0216] If Rx node 304A in the detection / transmit / receive set 352 can no longer receive echoes of the SAC signal (for example, due to its movement) or if Rx node 304A requests that collaborative detection be stopped (for example, due to its power saving requirements), Tx node 302 may deactivate Rx node 304A from collaborative detection (i.e., remove it from the detection / transmit / receive set 352) by removing Rx node 304A from the detection / transmit / receive set 352. As a result, the deactivated Rx node 304 does not participate in collaborative detection and does not measure and report detection results.

[0217] By using the detection / transmission set 352, only a subset of Rx nodes 304 perform measurements and report the measurements to Tx node 302, thereby reducing air interface overhead compared to embodiments in which all nodes are involved in the collaborative detection procedure.

[0218] In some embodiments, the SAC signal may be a set of detection bursts containing multiple SAC signal components, such as multiple detection beams transmitted by the Tx node 302 within a detection transmission time window. In various embodiments, the length of the time window may be predefined or customized by the Tx node 302.

[0219] Figure 13 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a SAC signal 312 in the form of a detection burst set, which includes four detection beams 312A-312D transmitted by a Tx node 302 (not shown) in different time slots 382 of a time window 384, each detection beam directed in a specific direction so that the detection burst set 312 covers a wide angular span. In some embodiments, the detection beams 312A-312D may be indexed.

[0220] As those skilled in the art will understand, the Rx node 304 does not need to receive echoes of all detection beams 312A-312D. In the example shown in Figure 14 (direct SAC signal transmission from Tx node 302 to Rx node 304 is not shown), the Rx node 304 (e.g., UE 114) may receive only echoes 314C and 314D of detection beams 312C and 312D, respectively, and may not receive echoes 314A and 314B of detection beams 312A and 312B, respectively.

[0221] In some embodiments, the Rx node 304 may use an on-demand collaborative detection reporting method to report only the measurement results of the beam echoes 314C and 314D it receives (instead of information on all beam echoes 314) in order to reduce reporting overhead.

[0222] FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing an on-demand collaborative detection reporting procedure 400 executed by Rx node 304 for on-demand collaborative detection reporting according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0223] Referring also to FIG. 14, after procedure 400 starts (step 402), Rx node 304 receives echoes 314C and 314D of one or more detection beams 312C and 312D of SAC signal 312 transmitted from Tx node 302 (step 404). Rx node 304 measures the received one or more echoes 314C and 314D (step 406) and reports the measurement results and beam information of the received one or more echoes 314C and 314D to Tx node 302 (step 408). Then, procedure 400 ends (step 410).

[0224] In step 408, Rx node 304 may report any appropriate beam information of the received one or more echoes 314C and 314D, and may enable Tx node 302 to understand which echo was received by Rx node 304. In some embodiments, Rx node 304 may report the time information of the received one or more echoes 314C and 314D.

[0225] For example, in some embodiments, SAC signal 312 may be divided into a plurality of frames each having a predefined duration (such as 10 milliseconds (ms)). Each frame is divided into a plurality of sub-frames (for example, 10 sub-frames of 1 ms). Each sub-frame is divided into a plurality of slots according to a numerology. Each slot includes a predefined number of OFDM symbols 320 and / or detection symbols 322 (for example, 14 OFDM symbols 320 and / or detection symbols 322 when normal CP is used, and 12 OFDM symbols 320 and / or detection symbols 322 when extended CP is used).

[0226] In these embodiments, the Rx node 304 may report the time location of one or more received echoes 314C and 314D, including the time slot 382 (see Figure 13) and / or the symbol index of the detection symbol for the corresponding detection beams 312C and 312D.

[0227] As another example, in some embodiments in which detection beams 312A-312D are indexed, the Rx node 304 may report the beam indices of the corresponding detection beams 312C and 312D.

[0228] As yet another example, in some embodiments, the Rx node 304 may report the sequence numbers (such as the third and fourth transmissions) of the corresponding detection beams 312C and 312D within the detection burst set.

[0229] Figure 16 is a flowchart of an on-demand collaborative sensing reporting procedure 400 performed by Rx node 304 for on-demand collaborative sensing reporting according to some other embodiments of the present disclosure. The on-demand collaborative sensing reporting procedure 400 is similar to that shown in Figure 15, except that in step 408, Rx node 304 compares the measurement result of each received echo 314C, 314D with a predefined power threshold and reports only the measurement results that are greater than the predefined power threshold.

[0230] In some embodiments, the Rx node 304 may first report beam information (such as time information) of one or more received echoes 314C and 314D to the Tx node 302. Based on the received beam information report, the Tx node 302 allocates reporting resources to the Rx node 304 and notifies the Rx node 304 via appropriate signaling. The Rx node 304 then uses the allocated reporting resources to report the detection measurement results.

[0231] In some embodiments, the communication system 100 (or, more specifically, its Tx nodes 302 and Rx nodes 304) may use distributed sensing cooperation. More specifically, an Rx node 304 may cooperate with multiple Tx nodes 302 for collaborative sensing, and a Tx node 302 may cooperate with multiple Rx nodes 304 for collaborative sensing. For ease of explanation, the Tx nodes 302 and Rx nodes 304 in distributed sensing cooperation are referred to as collaborative Tx nodes and Rx nodes.

[0232] Figure 17 is a flowchart of a distributed sensing collaborative procedure 440 performed by a collaborative Rx node 304 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0233] In these embodiments, each collaborative Tx node 302 may transmit a SAC signal using the sensing resources assigned to it (such as time, frequency, spatial resources, and / or similar). TRP 102 (which may be a Tx node 302, an Rx node 304, or another node) may send instructions to the collaborative Rx node 304 indicating the sensing resources of the multiple collaborating Tx nodes 302. TRP 102 may also send instructions to the collaborative Rx node 304 for resources for feedback (including time-domain feedback resources).

[0234] After the distributed detection collaboration procedure 440 is initiated (step 442), the collaborative Rx node 304 receives instructions from TRP 102 regarding the detection and feedback resources associated with the multiple collaborative Tx nodes 302 (step 444).

[0235] In step 446, based on the received instructions, Rx node 304 receives and blind-decodes SAC signals and / or echoes of at least some of the collaborating Tx nodes 302 (as mentioned above, Rx node 304 does not need to receive echoes of all SAC signals). Rx node 304 also measures the received SAC signals and / or echoes (step 448).

[0236] In step 450, the collaborative Rx node 304 reports the measurement results to the respective collaborative Tx node 302 using its respective feedback resource, and the procedure ends (step 452).

[0237] In these embodiments, the collaborative Rx node 304 reports to the collaborative Tx node 302 only if it receives an echo of its SAC signal. In other words, if the collaborative Rx node 304 does not receive an echo of its SAC signal, it does not report to the collaborative Tx node 302.

[0238] As those skilled in the art will understand, collisions can be avoided when the collaborative Tx nodes 302 transmit their SAC signals and / or when the collaborative Rx node 304 reports measurement results to multiple collaborative Tx nodes 302 by allocating quadrature sensing resources and / or feedback resources for different collaborative Tx nodes 302.

[0239] In some embodiments, the detection resources may be predefined (for example, for a predefined set of channels). In these embodiments, TRP 102 does not need to send information about the detection resources to Rx node 304.

[0240] In some embodiments, the feedback resource may be predefined (for example, a predefined set of channels). In these embodiments, TRP 102 does not need to send information about the feedback resource to Rx node 304.

[0241] Figure 18 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of distributed sensing collaboration. In this example, UE1 and UE2 are Tx nodes 302, and UE3 is Rx node 304. TRP 102 (not shown) assigns sensing resources 502 and 504 to Tx nodes UE1 and UE2, respectively. More specifically, TRP 102 may assign orthogonal sensing resources to Tx nodes UE1 and UE2 via, for example, frequency division multiplexing (FDM), time division multiplexing (TDM), different root indices in Zadoff-Chu (ZC) sequences, the same root index but different cyclic shifts in ZC sequences, time-domain orthogonal cover codes (OCC), frequency-domain OCC, and / or similar methods. In the example shown in Figure 18, TRP 102 assigns different BWPs 502 and 504 to Tx nodes UE1 and UE2 in different frequency bands and different time slots.

[0242] TRP 102 sends notifications of the assigned sensing resources for UE1 and UE2 to the Rx node UE3.

[0243] TRP 102 also assigns a feedback resource to Rx node UE3 (to send feedback to Tx nodes UE1 and UE2) and sends a notification of the assigned feedback resource to Rx node UE3.

[0244] If Rx node UE3 is configured to detect N Tx nodes 302 (N=2 in the example shown in Figure 18), then N orthogonal feedback resources are assigned to Rx node UE3, and each feedback resource is associated with a Tx node 302. In the example shown in Figure 18, feedback resource 510 is associated with Tx node UE1, and feedback resource 514 is associated with Tx node UE2.

[0245] Similar to the allocation of orthogonal detection resources, the TRP 102 may allocate orthogonal feedback resources to the Tx nodes UE1 and UE2 via, for example, different root indexes in FDM, TDM, Zadoff-Chu (ZC) sequences (i.e., the root index is unique among the root indexes of the feedback resources), the same root index but different cyclic shifts in the ZC sequence (i.e., the cyclic shift is unique among the cyclic shifts of the feedback resources), time-domain OCC, frequency-domain OCC, and / or the like. Further, each feedback resource may include a timing offset (to be described in more detail later). Depending on the implementation, the timing offsets of different feedback resources may be different or the same.

[0246] In the example shown in FIG. 18, the Rx node UE3 receives the SAC signal of UE1 and / or its echo in time slot 506 and receives the SAC signal of UE2 and / or its echo in time slot 508. Based on the received notifications of the allocated detection resources of the Tx nodes UE1 and UE2, the Rx node UE3 may blindly detect the SAC signals transmitted from the Tx nodes UE1 and UE2, and / or their echoes. Since the detection resources of the Tx nodes UE1 and UE2 are orthogonal, the Rx node UE3 can determine the transmitter of each received SAC signal (i.e., UE1 or UE2).

[0247] Rx node UE3 measures the received SAC signal and / or its echo. Rx node UE3 then uses feedback resource 510 (located in the assigned frequency band and at the timing offset 512 assigned from the corresponding receive time slot 506) to report the detection measurement results of the SAC signal and / or its echo from UE1 to Tx node UE1, and uses feedback resource 514 (located in the assigned frequency band and at the timing offset 516 assigned from the corresponding receive time slot 508) to report the detection measurement results of the SAC signal and / or its echo from UE2 to Tx node UE2.

[0248] In some embodiments, the collaborative detection method can also help the Rx node 304 reduce or even avoid the beam sweeping load and / or latency.

[0249] Figure 19 is a schematic diagram illustrating conventional beam sweeping. As shown, a Tx node 302, such as TRP 102, transmits a signal beam 542 for data communication. An Rx node 304 (such as UE 114) may use multiple receive beams 544 directed in multiple directions (i.e., focusing on receiving signals in multiple directions) to receive the signal beam 542. Alternatively, an Rx node 304 may use a single receive beam 544 and rotate the direction of the receive beam 544 as shown by arrow 546 to receive the signal beam 542. Generally, an Rx node 304 needs to use beam sweeping (e.g., using multiple receive beams or changing the direction of a single receive beam) to cover a wide angular span.

[0250] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, a Tx node 302 (such as TRP 102) may, based on its knowledge of the environment, transmit information about candidate received beams (corresponding to, or otherwise associated with, a detection beam transmitted from the Tx node 302) to an Rx node 304 (such as UE 114), thereby allowing the Rx node 304 to form a reduced number of received beams or sweep a reduced angular span.

[0251] Figure 20 shows an example of using candidate received beams to mitigate beam sweeping. As shown, Tx node 302 may obtain knowledge of the environment (such as the locations of walls 562A and 562B) from previous detections (e.g., via detection fusion on the Tx node side) or based on predefined knowledge (such as a site map). In this example, Tx node 302 transmits detection beam 542A toward wall 562A. Based on knowledge of the environment and the direction of the transmitted detection beam 542A, Tx node 302 determines that Rx node 304 is likely to receive, or can receive, an echo of detection beam 542A along the directions of received beams 544A and 544B, but is unlikely to receive an echo of detection beam 542A along the directions of received beams 544C-544E. Therefore, the Tx node 302 may transmit information to the Rx node 304 about candidate received beams 544A and 544B (e.g., in the form of {Tx beam 542A, [Rx beam 544A, Rx beam 544B]}) for receiving an echo of the detection beam 542A.

[0252] Next, the Rx node 304 may form only two receiving beams 544A and 544B to receive the echo of the detection beam 542A, or it may use a single receiving beam to sweep the reduced angular span corresponding to the candidate receiving beams 544A and 544B.

[0253] Similarly, in the example shown in Figure 21, Tx node 302 transmits a sensing beam 542B toward wall 562B. Based on knowledge of the environment and direction of the transmitted sensing beam 542B, Tx node 302 may transmit information to Rx node 304 about candidate receiving beams 544D and 544E (Tx beam 542B, Rx beam 544D, Rx beam 544E) for receiving echoes of sensing beam 542B.

[0254] Next, the Rx node 304 may form only two receiving beams 544D and 544E to receive the echo of the detection beam 542B, or it may use a single receiving beam to sweep the reduced angular span corresponding to the candidate receiving beams 544D and 544E.

[0255] Therefore, by using candidate received beams, Rx node 304 can perform a reduced number of beam sweeps, thereby reducing latency and / or air interface overhead.

[0256] Those skilled in the art will understand that other embodiments and variations are readily available. For example, in some embodiments, it is feasible to selectively use some features of the embodiments described above, as desired or as needed, or to selectively combine various features of the embodiments described above, as desired or as needed.

[0257] In the above embodiment, the Tx node 302 is executed by the Rx node 304 and sends a detection reference signal to the Rx node 304 to determine whether the Rx node 304 should be included in the detection transmit / receive set 352 based on the measurement values ​​fed back from the Rx node 304. In some embodiments, the Rx node 304 determines, based on its measurement values, whether it should itself be included in the detection transmit / receive set 352 and notifies the Tx node 302.

[0258] In the embodiments described above, the Rx node 304 is classified into various cooperation sets, such as the detection transmit / receive set 352, the detection active set 354, and the detection cooperation set 356. In some embodiments, the Tx node 302 may be classified into various cooperation sets (e.g., similar to the cooperation sets described above) either or otherwise. For example, Figure 22 shows multiple Tx nodes 302 cooperating with the Rx node 304 for detection. The multiple Tx nodes 302 may be classified into various cooperation sets, such as the detection transmit / receive set 352, the detection active set 354, and the detection cooperation set 356, in a manner similar to that described above, and the operation and configuration described above may be applied in a similar manner in these embodiments as well. In some embodiments, the Tx node 302 may transmit a detection reference signal to the Rx node 304 in the detection transmit / receive set 352 and receive measurements from there. If the measured value received from one or more Rx nodes 304 (which could be one or more specific Rx nodes 304 in the detection transmit / receive set 352 (determined by their ID) or any predefined number of Rx nodes 304) is less than a predefined threshold, Tx node 302 may exclude itself from the detection transmit / receive set 352; otherwise, Tx node 302 may include itself in the detection transmit / receive set 352. Alternatively, TRP 102 may configure Tx node 302 in the detection transmit / receive set 352, the detection active set 354, or the detection collaborative set 356.

[0259] In the embodiments described above, the communication system 100 is a mobile communication system having a terrestrial communication network and / or a non-terrestrial communication network, such as a combination of a cellular network and a satellite communication network. In some embodiments, the communication system 100 may also include other RANs, such as a Wi-Fi® network (Wi-Fi is a registered trademark of the Wi-Fi Alliance in Austin, Texas, USA).

[0260] In the embodiments described above, the Rx node 304 detects the SAC signal and its echo in order to detect an object that reflects an echo and to determine the parameters of the object. In some embodiments, the Rx node 304 may use the detected SAC signal to determine the parameters of the Rx node 304 itself. In some embodiments, the Rx node 304 may not detect an echo of the SAC signal and therefore may determine only the parameters of the Rx node 304 itself. The above descriptions may be applicable to the Rx node 304 in these embodiments, except that any of the above descriptions relating to echoes are considered relating to the SAC signal.

[0261] In the embodiments described above, the detection symbol 322 includes one or more detection signals, such as one or more chirp signals 330. In some other embodiments, the detection symbol 322 may include other types of detection signals, such as pulses, unmodulated continuous waves, frequency-modulated continuous waves, OFDM signals, and / or similar signals.

[0262] As described above, in some embodiments, one or more Tx nodes 302 and one or more Rx nodes 304 may use collaborative detection to detect one or more objects using one or more SAC signals 312. In some other embodiments, a communication node may transmit an SAC signal 312 and receive its echo to detect an object.

[0263] In the above description, where it is stated that Tx node 302 may perform the configuration, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that, instead of having Tx node 302 perform the configuration, TRP 102 (which may or may not be Tx node 302) may perform the configuration and notify Tx node 302 and / or Rx node 304 as necessary. Alternatively or additionally, Rx node 304 may perform the configuration and notify Tx node 302 and / or TRP 102 as necessary.

[0264] This specification describes various embodiments of collaborative sensing methods for integrated sensing and communication. In some embodiments, the collaborative sensing methods disclosed herein may be implemented as one or more circuits (e.g., one or more processing units or one or more processors) such as modules, devices, apparatus, systems, and / or similar entities. In some embodiments, the collaborative sensing methods disclosed herein may be implemented as computer executable instructions stored in one or more non-temporary computer-readable memory devices, so that when the instructions are executed, one or more circuits (e.g., one or more processing units or one or more processors) can execute the collaborative sensing methods disclosed herein. The technical features and advantages of the embodiments described above may include the following:

[0265] By dividing the Rx and / or Tx nodes into various collaborative sets of 352 to 356, and by using the sensing transmit / receive set 352, only a subset of the Rx nodes 304 perform measurements and report the measurements to the Tx nodes 302, thereby reducing the air interface overhead compared to embodiments in which all nodes are involved in the collaborative sensing procedure.

[0266] Both AGC setup and collaborative node discovery may be achieved by sending a detection reference signal containing one or more AGC symbols from the Tx node 302 to the Rx node 304 in the detection active set 354.

[0267] By enabling Rx node 304 to selectively report sensing measurement information (such as the power of received echo signals), Rx node 304 may use an on-demand collaborative sensing reporting method to report only information about received echo signals or echo signal beams, and not have to report information about all SAC signals or SAC signal beams. Rx node 304 may use a received power threshold to determine which echo signals / beams should be reported and which should not.

[0268] By using the detection burst set of the Tx detection beam and reporting the time location of the received echo (e.g., corresponding to the Tx beam index) from Rx node 304, Tx node 302 may obtain the time location of the detection measurement reported from Rx node 304 and derive the correct detection result.

[0269] By using distributed detection collaboration, the Rx node 304 may support multiple Tx nodes 302 in their detection.

[0270] In distributed sensing collaboration, collisions can be avoided by allocating orthogonal sensing and feedback resources. The use of timing offsets in feedback further ensures collision avoidance.

[0271] • By using candidate Rx beams, latency and / or air interface overhead can be reduced.

[0272] Those skilled in the art will understand that the embodiments and / or features described above can be customized and / or combined as needed or desired. Furthermore, although embodiments have been described above with reference to the accompanying drawings, those skilled in the art will understand that modifications and alterations can be made without departing from the scope defined by the accompanying claims. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0273] 100 Communication systems, 102 Base stations, access nodes, network nodes, 102A Network nodes, T-TRP, 102B Access nodes, NT-TRP, 104 Radio access networks (RAN), 104A RAN, terrestrial communication networks, 104B Non-terrestrial communication networks, 106 Public switched telephone networks (PSTN), 108 Internet, 110 Other networks, 112 Core networks, 114 User equipment (UE), 114A User equipment (UE), 114B User equipment (UE), 114C User equipment (UE), 114D User equipment (UE), 114E User equipment (UE), 114F User equipment (UE), 114G User equipment (UE), 114H User equipment (UE), 114I User equipment (UE), 114J User equipment (UE), 118A Terrestrial interface, air interface, 118B Non-terrestrial interface, 118C sidelink air interface, 142 processors, 144 transmitters, 146 receivers, 148 antennas, 150 memory, 154 schedulers, 176 SMF, 200 transmitters, 202 receivers, 204 antennas, 208 memory, 210 processors, 232 detection agents, 240 SAC signals, 282 transmitters, 283 schedulers, 284 receivers, 286 antennas, 288 memory, 290 processors, 302 Tx nodes, collaborative Tx nodes, 304 Rx nodes, collaborative Rx nodes, 304A Rx nodes, 304B Rx nodes, 304C Rx nodes, 304D Rx nodes, 306 objects, 312 SAC signals, detection burst sets, 312A detection beams, 312B detection beams, 312C 312D detection beam, 314 echo, 314A echo, 314B echo, 314C echo, 314D echo, 316 linear chirp signal, 320 communication symbol, OFDM symbol, 322 detection symbol, 324 frequency band, 326 frequency band, 330 linear chirp signal, chirp signal, 330A chirp signal, 330B chirp signal, 342 information section, 344 information item, 346 cyclic prefix (CP), 352 detection transmit / receive set, 354 detection active set, 356 detection cooperative set, 360Detection, transmission, and judgment procedure; 372 Detection reference signal; 374 Echo; 382 Time slot; 384 Time window; 400 On-demand collaborative detection reporting procedure; 440 Distributed detection collaborative procedure; 502 Detection resource; 506 Time slot; 508 Time slot; 510 Feedback resource; 512 Timing offset; 514 Feedback resource; 516 Timing offset; 542 Signal beam; 542A Detection beam, Tx beam; 542B Detection beam, Tx beam; 544 Receive beam; 544A Receive beam, Rx beam; 544B Receive beam, Rx beam; 544C Receive beam; 544D Receive beam, Rx beam; 544E Receive beam, Rx beam; 546 Arrow; 562A Wall; 562B Wall

Claims

1. A step of determining the type of the first communication node for object detection, The steps include notifying the first communication node of the determined type, Includes, The step of determining the type of the first communication node is: The steps of determining the type of the first communication node as a detection transmit / receive node in a detection transmit / receive set for receiving or transmitting a detection signal for object detection, A step of determining the type of the first communication node as a detection active node in a detection active set, wherein the detection active set includes the detection transmit / receive set. Methods that include...

2. The step of determining the type of the first communication node is: The step of determining the type of the first communication node as the detection transmission node in the detection transmission set, The steps of determining the type of the first communication node as the detected active node in the detected active set, A step of determining the type of the first communication node as a detection collaboration node in a detection collaboration set, wherein the detection collaboration set includes the detection active set. The method according to claim 1, including the method described in claim 1.

3. The first communication node is the detection cooperation node, The step of determining the type of the first communication node is, In order to become the detection active node, the first communication node is activated. The method according to claim 2, further comprising:

4. The first communication node is the detection active node, The step of determining the type of the first communication node is, In order to become the aforementioned detection collaborative node, the first communication node is deactivated. The method according to claim 2 or 3, further comprising:

5. The first communication node is the detection active node, The step of determining the type of the first communication node is, A step of determining the type of the first communication node as the detection transmission node in the detection transmission set, based on the command of the transmission / reception point (TRP), The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, including the method described in any one of claims 1 to 4.

6. The first communication node is the detection active node, The step of determining the type of the first communication node is, A step of determining the type of the first communication node as the detection transmit / receive node in the detection transmit / receive set, based on the measured value information of the detection reference signal. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, including the method described in any one of claims 1 to 4.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the detection reference signal includes one or more automatic gain control (AGC) symbols.

8. The method according to claim 6 or 7, wherein the measured value of the detection reference signal includes a power measurement of the detection reference signal.

9. The step of determining the type of the first communication node is: The steps include transmitting the aforementioned detection reference signal to the first communication node, The steps include receiving the information of the measured value of the detection reference signal from the first communication node, The method according to any one of claims 6 to 8, further comprising:

10. The step of determining the type of the first communication node is: The steps include receiving the detection reference signal to the first communication node, A step of determining the information of the measured value of the detection reference signal, The method according to any one of claims 6 to 8, further comprising:

11. The step of determining the type of the first communication node as the detection transmit / receive node in the detection transmit / receive set, based on the information of the measured value of the detection reference signal, If the power measurement value of the detection reference signal is greater than the power threshold, the type of the first communication node is determined to be the detection transmit / receive node in the detection transmit / receive set. The method according to claim 9 or 10, including the method described in claim 9 or 10.

12. The step of determining the type of the first communication node as the detection transmit / receive node in the detection transmit / receive set, based on the information of the measured value of the detection reference signal, If the information of the measured value of the detection reference signal includes a detection instruction, the type of the first communication node is determined to be the detection transmit / receive node in the detection transmit / receive set. The method according to claim 9 or 10, including the method described in claim 9 or 10.

13. A step of transmitting a detection signal, further comprising a step of the detection signal including a plurality of beams directed in different directions, The step of transmitting the detection signal, The step includes transmitting the plurality of beams in different time slots of a time window, The method according to any one of claims 1 to 12.

14. The steps include determining one or more beams from the plurality of beams that the first communication node can receive, The steps include: transmitting a notification regarding the determined one or more beams to the first communication node; The method according to claim 13, further comprising:

15. One or more circuits for performing the method described in any one of claims 1 to 14.

16. One or more non-temporary computer-readable storage devices comprising a computer-executable instruction, wherein, when the instruction is executed, one or more circuits cause one or more circuits to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 14.

17. The steps include receiving multiple signal beams transmitted from a transmitter (Tx) node, To obtain the measurement results of the multiple received signal beams, the steps include: measuring the multiple received signal beams; The steps include reporting beam information of at least one of the received plurality of signal beams and / or the measurement result based on the measurement result, Methods that include...

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein the beam information of at least a subset of the received plurality of signal beams includes the time information of at least one of the received plurality of signal beams.

19. The time information of the multiple received signal beams, at least one of them, Each of the at least one time slot of the received plurality of signal beams, One or more symbol indices of each of the one or more detection symbols of the at least one of the received plurality of signal beams, The beam index of each of the multiple received signal beams, The sequence number of each of the multiple received signal beams, The method according to claim 18, comprising at least one of the following.

20. Based on the measurement results, the step of reporting the beam information and / or measurement results of at least one of the received plurality of signal beams is: A step of reporting the beam information and / or measurement result of at least one of the received signal beams having a measured power greater than a power threshold, The method according to any one of claims 17 to 19, including the method described in any one of claims 17 to 19.

21. The steps further include receiving instructions for the detection resource and feedback resource associated with the Tx node, The step of receiving the plurality of signal beams transmitted from the Tx node is, The step includes using the detection resource to receive the plurality of signal beams transmitted from the Tx node, Based on the measurement results, the step of reporting the beam information and / or measurement results of at least one of the received plurality of signal beams is: The step includes reporting the beam information and / or the measurement result of at least one of the received signal beams using the feedback resource based on the measurement result, The method according to any one of claims 17 to 20.

22. The method according to claim 21, wherein at least one of the detection resource and the feedback resource is a frequency division multiplexing resource (FDM), a time division multiplexing resource (TDM), a resource having a unique root index in a Zadoff-Chu (ZC) sequence, a resource having a root index in a ZC sequence and a unique cyclic shift, a resource having a time-domain orthogonal cover code (OCC), a frequency-domain OCC, and / or a unique timing offset.

23. One or more circuits for performing the method described in any one of claims 17 to 22.

24. One or more non-temporary computer-readable storage devices comprising a computer-executable instruction, wherein, when executed, the instruction causes one or more circuits to perform the method according to any one of claims 17 to 22.

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