COMMUNICATION APPARATUS AND METHOD UTILIZING RESERVED RESOURCES - Patent application

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a communications apparatus and method for utilizing released resources, the communications apparatus comprising: a receiver that, in operation, receives release information for reserved resources from another communications apparatus, the reserved resources being reserved for a transmission from the other communications apparatus; and circuitry that, in operation, selects resources from a plurality of candidate resources for the communications apparatus to perform a subsequent transmission, the plurality of candidate resources including the reserved resources.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The following disclosure relates to a communication device and a communication method for New Radio (NR) communication, and more particularly to a communication device and a communication method that utilize reserved resources, in particular reserved but unused resources. [Background technology]

[0002] V2X communication enables vehicles to interact with public roads and other road users and is therefore considered a key element in enabling autonomous vehicles.

[0003] To accelerate this process, 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) is considering 5G NR based V2X communication (also synonymously called NR V2X communication) with the aim of identifying technical solutions for advanced V2X services, in which a vehicle (also synonymously called communication device or User Equipment (UE) supporting V2X applications) can exchange its status information with another nearby vehicle, infrastructure node, and / or pedestrian over a Side Link (SL). The status information includes information about location, speed, heading, etc.

[0004] At least two sidelink (SL) resource allocation modes have been considered by 3GPP for such V2X communications. In resource allocation mode 1, the sidelink (SL) resource(s) used by the UE for sidelink (SL) transmission are scheduled by the base station (BS). In resource allocation mode 2, the UE determines the sidelink (SL) transmission resource among the base station / network configured or pre-configured sidelink (SL) resources, i.e. the base station does not schedule. The 3GPP study on resource allocation also considers the sensing and resource selection procedure of mode 2(a) in terms of a semi-persistent (semi-static) scheme where resource(s) are selected for multiple transmissions of multiple different transmission blocks (TBs) and a dynamic scheme where resources are selected for each transmission block (TB).

[0005] At the 3GPP RAN WG1 #96b meeting held in Xi'an, the following items were discussed: 1. NR V2X supports initial transmission of TB without reservation based on sensing and resource selection procedures. 2. NR V2X supports reservation of sidelink resources for the first transmission of a TB with at least Sidelink Control Information (SCI) related to different TBs based on sensing and resource selection procedures. This feature can be enabled / disabled by (pre)configuration. 3. For Further Study (FFS): Support independent transmission of the Physical Sidelink Control Channel (PSCCH) for resource reservation in NR V2X.

[0006] At the 3GPP RAN WG1 #97 meeting held in Reno, the following items were discussed: 4. NR V2X Mode 2 supports resource reservation for feedback-based Physical Sidelink Shared Channel (PSSCH) retransmissions with signaling associated with a previous transmission of the same TB.

[0007] 1. Items for future study: Implications for subsequent sensing and resource selection procedures.

[0008] 2. From at least the transmitter point of view of the TB mentioned above, the use of HARQ (Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request) feedback to free up unused resources is supported. [Prior art documents] [Non-patent literature]

[0009] [Non-Patent Document 1] 3GPP TS 38.300 v15.6.0 [Non-Patent Document 2] 3GPP TS 38.211 v15.6.0 [Non-Patent Document 3] 3GPP TS 38.300 v15.7.0 [Non-Patent Document 4] ITU-R M.2083 [Non-Patent Document 5] 3GPP TR 38.913 [Non-Patent Document 6] 3GPP TS 23.287 v16.0.0 [Non-Patent Document 7] 3GPP TS36.213 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0010] However, a communication device and method that utilizes reserved resources that are not used in the initial transmission has not been discussed so far.

[0011] Thus, what is needed is a communication apparatus and method that provides a viable technical solution for utilizing reserved resources. Additionally, other desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the following detailed description and appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the Background section of this disclosure. [Means for solving the problem]

[0012] Non-limiting exemplary embodiments of the present invention facilitate providing a communications apparatus and method that utilizes unused reserved resources.

[0013] According to a first embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a communications device comprising: a transmitter that, in operation, transmits data to a receiving communications device on a first reserved resource of at least two reserved resources, each of the at least two reserved resources being reserved for transmission to the receiving communications device; a receiver that, in operation, receives response information indicating whether the transmission of data on the first reserved resource of the at least two reserved resources was successfully received by the receiving communications device; and a circuit that, in operation, determines a use of a second reserved resource of the at least two reserved resources based on the response information.

[0014] According to a second aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a communication method comprising the steps of: transmitting data to a receiving communication device in a first reserved resource of at least two reserved resources, each of the at least two reserved resources being reserved for transmission to the receiving communication device; receiving response information at the communication device indicating whether the data in the first reserved resource of the at least two reserved resources has been successfully received by the receiving communication device; and determining a use of a second reserved resource of the at least two reserved resources based on the response information.

[0015] It should be noted that the general or specific embodiments may be implemented as a system, a method, an integrated circuit, a computer program, a storage medium, or any combination thereof.

[0016] Further benefits and advantages of the disclosed embodiments will become apparent from the specification and drawings, and these benefits and / or advantages may be obtained individually through the various embodiments and features of the specification and drawings, and it is not necessary for all of these features to be present in order to obtain one or more of such benefits and / or advantages. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0017] Embodiments of the present disclosure will be better understood and readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon reading the following description, given by way of example only, and upon reference to the drawings in which: [Figure 1] 1 illustrates an example 3GPP NR-RAN architecture. [Diagram 2] 1 depicts a schematic diagram showing the separation of functions between NG-RAN and 5GC. [Diagram 3] 1 shows a sequence diagram of the RRC connection establishment / reconfiguration procedure. [Figure 4] It depicts a schematic diagram showing the usage scenarios of enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), massive machine type communications (mMTC), and ultra-reliable low latency communications (URLLC). [Diagram 5] FIG. 1 shows a block diagram illustrating an example 5G system architecture for V2X communications in a non-roaming scenario. [Figure 6] 6 shows a schematic diagram 600 illustrating how resources are reserved for subsequent transmissions in V2X communication. [Figure 7] 7 shows a diagram 700 illustrating how reserved resources are utilized according to various embodiments. [Figure 8]8 shows a diagram 800 illustrating how reserved resources are utilized according to various embodiments. [Figure 9] 9 shows a flowchart 900 illustrating how the physical (PHY) layer performs sensing in the methods shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, according to various embodiments. [Figure 10] 1 shows a flowchart 1000 illustrating how operation A determines the use of reserved but unused resources, according to various embodiments. [Figure 11] 11 shows a flowchart 1100 illustrating how operation B determines the use of reserved but unused resources, according to various embodiments. [Figure 12] 12 shows a flowchart 1200 illustrating how operation C determines the use of reserved but unused resources, according to various embodiments. [Figure 13] 13 shows a flowchart 1300 illustrating how operation D determines the use of reserved but unused resources, according to various embodiments. [Figure 14] 14 shows a flowchart 1400 illustrating how to determine the use of reserved but unused resources based on priorities according to various embodiments. [Figure 15] 15 shows a diagram 1500 illustrating how to determine the use of reserved but unused resources based on congestion levels, according to various embodiments. [Figure 16] 16 shows a flow chart 1600 illustrating a communication method according to various embodiments. [Figure 17] 1 illustrates a schematic example of a communication device according to various embodiments, which may be embodied as a UE or a gNB / base station and may be configured to utilize released resources in accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0018] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some elements in the illustrations, block diagrams, or flow charts may be exaggerated relative to other elements to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0019] Some embodiments of the present disclosure will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the drawings in which like reference numbers and characters indicate similar or equivalent elements, and in which:

[0020] 3GPP is working on the next release of fifth-generation cellular technology (known simply as 5G), which includes the development of a new radio access technology (NR) that will operate in frequencies up to 100 GHz. The first version of the 5G standard will be completed at the end of 2017, which will allow smartphones compliant with the 5G NR standard to proceed to testing and commercial deployment.

[0021] In particular, the overall system architecture envisages an NG-RAN (Next Generation - Radio Access Network) with gNBs terminating NG radio access user plane (SDAP / PDCP / RLC / MAC / PHY) and control plane (RRC) protocols towards the UEs. The gNBs are interconnected with each other by an Xn interface. Furthermore, the gNBs are connected to the NGC (Next Generation Core) by a Next Generation (NG) interface, more specifically to the AMF (Access and Mobility Management Function) (e.g. a specific core entity running the AMF) by an NG-C interface and to the UPF (User Plane Function) (e.g. a specific core entity running the UPF) by an NG-U interface. Figure 1 shows the NG-RAN architecture (see Section 4 of Non-Patent Document 1).

[0022] The user plane protocol stack in NR (see, for example, section 4.4.1 of 3GPP) includes the PDCP (Packet Data Convergence Protocol, see section 6.4 of 3GPP), RLC (Radio Link Control, see section 6.3 of 3GPP), and MAC (Medium Access Control, see section 6.2 of 3GPP), which are terminated in the gNB on the network side. In addition, a new sublayer of the access stratum (AS), SDAP (Service Data Adaptation Protocol), is introduced on top of PDCP (see, for example, section 6.5 of 3GPP). A control plane protocol stack is also defined in NR (see, for example, section 4.4.2 of 3GPP). An overview of the functions of Layer 2 is given in section 6 of 3GPP. The functions of the PDCP sublayer, the RLC sublayer, and the MAC sublayer are respectively described in clauses 6.4, 6.3, and 6.2 of 3GPP TS 2011-010111. The functions of the RRC layer are described in clause 7 of 3GPP TS 2011-010111.

[0023] The Medium Access Control (MAC) layer handles, for example, logical channel multiplexing and scheduling and scheduling-related functions (including handling of various numerologies).

[0024] The physical layer (PHY) is responsible for, for example, coding, PHY HARQ processing, modulation, multi-antenna processing, mapping of signals to appropriate physical time-frequency resources. Furthermore, the physical layer (PHY) handles mapping of transport channels to physical channels. The physical layer (PHY) provides services to the MAC layer in the form of transport channels. A physical channel corresponds to a set of time-frequency resources used for the transmission of a particular transport channel, and each transport channel is mapped to a corresponding physical channel. For example, the physical channels are PRACH (Physical Random Access Channel), PUSCH (Physical Uplink Shared Channel), and PUCCH (Physical Uplink Control Channel) for the uplink, and PDSCH (Physical Downlink Shared Channel), PDCCH (Physical Downlink Control Channel), and PBCH (Physical Broadcast Channel) for the downlink.

[0025] NR use cases / deployment scenarios include enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB), ultra-reliable and low latency communications (URLLC), and massive machine type communications (mMTC), which have diverse requirements in terms of data rates, latency, and coverage. For example, eMBB is expected to support peak data rates (20 Gbps downlink and 10 Gbps uplink) and user-perceived data rates that are on the order of three times higher than those offered by IMT-Advanced. In contrast, URLLC has more stringent requirements, including extremely low latency (user plane latency of 0.5 ms for uplink and downlink, respectively) and high reliability (1-10 Mbps within 1 ms). -5) is imposed. In addition, mMTC requires high connection density (1 km 2 1,000,000 devices per second), wide coverage in harsh environments, and extremely long battery life (15 years) to lower device costs may be desirable.

[0026] Thus, an OFDM numerology (e.g., subcarrier spacing, OFDM symbol duration, cyclic prefix (CP) duration, number of symbols per scheduling interval) suitable for one use case may not work well for another use case. For example, low latency services may preferably require a shorter symbol duration (and therefore a larger subcarrier spacing) and / or fewer symbols per scheduling interval (also referred to as TTI) than mMTC services. Furthermore, deployment scenarios with large channel delay spreads may preferably require a longer cyclic prefix (CP) duration than scenarios with small delay spreads. To maintain a similar cyclic prefix (CP) overhead, the subcarrier spacing should be optimized depending on the delay spread. In NR, more than one value of subcarrier spacing may be supported. Thus, currently, subcarrier spacings of 15 kHz, 30 kHz, 60 kHz, ... are considered. Symbol duration T u and the subcarrier spacing Δf is expressed by the formula Δf=1 / T u As in LTE systems, the term "resource element" can be used to denote the smallest resource unit consisting of one subcarrier for the length of one OFDM / SC-FDMA symbol.

[0027] In the new radio system 5G NR, for each numerology and carrier, a resource grid of subcarriers and OFDM symbols is defined in the uplink and downlink, respectively. Each element in the resource grid is called a resource element and is identified based on a frequency index in the frequency domain and a symbol position in the time domain (see Non-Patent Document 2).

[0028] (Control signal) In this disclosure, the downlink control signal (information) related to this disclosure may be a signal (information) transmitted via a PDCCH of a physical layer, or may be a signal (information) transmitted via a MAC control element (CE) or RRC of a higher layer. The downlink control signal may be a predefined signal (information).

[0029] The uplink control signal (information) related to the present disclosure may be a signal (information) transmitted via a PUCCH of the physical layer, or may be a signal (information) transmitted via a MAC CE or RRC of a higher layer. Furthermore, the uplink control signal may be a predefined signal (information). The uplink control signal may be replaced by uplink control information (UCI), 1st stage sidelink control information (SCI), or 2nd stage SCI.

[0030] (base station) In the present disclosure, the base station may be, for example, a Transmission Reception Point (TRP), a cluster head, an access point, a Remote Radio Head (RRH), an eNodeB (eNB), a gNodeB (gNB), a base station (BS), a base transceiver station (BTS), a base unit, or a gateway. Furthermore, in sidelink communication, a terminal may be employed instead of the base station. The base station may be a relay device that relays communication between an upper node and a terminal. The base station may be a roadside unit.

[0031] (uplink / downlink / sidelink) The present disclosure can be applied to any of the uplink, downlink, and sidelink.

[0032] The present disclosure may be applied to uplink channels, such as, for example, PUSCH, PUCCH, and PRACH, downlink channels, such as PDSCH, PDCCH, and PBCH, and sidelink channels, such as the physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH), physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH), and physical sidelink broadcast channel (PSBCH).

[0033] The PDCCH, PDSCH, PUSCH, and PUCCH are examples of a downlink control channel, a downlink data channel, an uplink data channel, and an uplink control channel, respectively. The PSCCH and PSSCH are examples of a sidelink control channel and a sidelink data channel, respectively. The PBCH and PSBCH are examples of a broadcast channel, and the PRACH is an example of a random access channel.

[0034] (Data Channel / Control Channel) The present disclosure can be applied to both data channels and control channels. The channels in the present disclosure can be replaced with data channels including PDSCH, PUSCH, and PSSCH, and / or control channels including PDCCH, PUCCH, PBCH, PSCCH, and PSBCH.

[0035] (Reference signal) In this disclosure, a reference signal is a signal known to both a base station and a mobile station, and each reference signal may be referred to as a Reference Signal (RS) or sometimes a pilot signal. A reference signal may be any of a DMRS, a Channel State Information - Reference Signal (CSI-RS), a Tracking Reference Signal (TRS), a Phase Tracking Reference Signal (PTRS), a Cell-specific Reference Signal (CRS), and a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS).

[0036] (Time Interval) In the present disclosure, the time resource unit is not limited to one or a combination of a slot and a symbol, and may be a time resource unit such as a frame, a superframe, a subframe, a slot, a time slot subslot, a minislot, or a time resource unit such as a symbol, an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbol, a Single Carrier-Frequency Division Multiplexing Access (SC-FDMA) symbol, or another time resource unit. The number of symbols included in one slot is not limited to the number exemplified in the above embodiment, and may be another number of symbols.

[0037] (Frequency band) The present disclosure may be applied to both licensed and unlicensed bands.

[0038] (communication) The present disclosure can be applied to any of communication between a base station and a terminal (Uu link communication), communication between terminals (sidelink communication), and communication between a vehicle and some entity (V2X: Vehicle to Everything). The channels in the present disclosure can be replaced with PSCCH, PSSCH, Physical Sidelink Feedback Channel (PSFCH), PSBCH, PDCCH, PUCCH, PDSCH, PUSCH, and PBCH.

[0039] Furthermore, the present disclosure can be applied to any of terrestrial networks and networks other than terrestrial networks (NTN: Non-Terrestrial Network) that use satellites or High Altitude Pseudo Satellites (HAPS). Furthermore, the present disclosure may be applied to networks with large cell sizes and terrestrial networks with large delays compared to the symbol length or slot length, such as ultra-wideband transmission networks.

[0040] (Antenna port) An antenna port refers to a logical antenna (antenna group) formed by one or more physical antennas. That is, an antenna port does not necessarily refer to one physical antenna, but may refer to an array antenna formed by multiple antennas. For example, the number of physical antennas forming an antenna port is not defined, and instead, the smallest unit by which a terminal can transmit a reference signal is defined as an antenna port. An antenna port may also be defined as the smallest unit for multiplication of a precoding vector weighting.

[0041] Figure 2 shows the division of functions between NG-RAN and 5GC. The logical nodes of NG-RAN are gNB or ng-eNB. The logical nodes of 5GC are AMF, UPF, and SMF.

[0042] The gNB and ng-eNB handle among other things the following key functions: - Radio Resource Management functions, such as Radio Bearer Control, Radio Admission Control, Connection Mobility Control, dynamic resource allocation (scheduling) to UEs in both uplink and downlink directions - IP header compression, encryption, and data integrity protection - Selection of AMF at UE attach time when routing to AMF cannot be determined from information provided by the UE - Routing user plane data to the UPF - Routing control plane information to AMF - Establishing and releasing connections - Scheduling and sending paging messages - Scheduling and transmission of system broadcast information (sent from AMF or OAM) - Configuring measurements and measurement reporting for mobility and scheduling - Transport-level packet marking in the uplink - Session Management - Network slicing support - QoS flow management and mapping to data radio bearers - Support for UEs in RRC_INACTIVE state - NAS message delivery function - Wireless Access Network Sharing - Dual Connection - Tight interworking between NR and E-UTRA

[0043] The Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) handles the following main functions: - Termination of Non-Access Stratum (NAS) signalling - NAS signaling security - Access Stratum (AS) security control - Core Network (CN) inter-node signaling for mobility between 3GPP access networks - Idle mode UE reachability (including control and execution of paging retransmissions) - Registration Area Management - Support for intra-system and inter-system mobility - Access Authentication - Access authentication, including roaming rights checks - Mobility management controls (subscriptions and policies) - Network slicing support - Selection of Session Management Function (SMF)

[0044] In addition, the User Plane Function (UPF) handles the following main functions: - Anchor points for intra-RAT / inter-RAT mobility (when applicable) - External PDU session points for interconnection with data networks - Packet routing and forwarding - User plane part of packet inspection and policy rule enforcement - Traffic usage reports - An uplink classifier to support routing of traffic flows to the data network. - Branching points to support multi-homed PDU sessions - User plane QoS processing (e.g. packet filtering, gating, UL / DL rate enforcement) - Validation of uplink traffic (mapping of SDF to QoS flows) - Buffering of downlink packets and triggering of downlink data notifications

[0045] Finally, the Session Management Function (SMF) handles the following major functions: - Session Management - UE IP address allocation and management - UP function selection and control - Configuring traffic steering in the User Plane Function (UPF) to route traffic to the correct destination - Policy enforcement and QoS control - Downlink data notification

[0046] Figure 3 shows the interactions between the UE, gNB and AMF in the NAS part when the UE transitions from RRC_IDLE to RRC_CONNECTED (see non-patent document 3).

[0047] RRC is a higher layer signaling (protocol) used for the configuration of the UE and the gNB. In particular, in this transition, the AMF creates UE context data (including e.g. PDU session context, security keys, UE radio capabilities, UE security capabilities, etc.) and sends it to the gNB via an INITIAL CONTEXT SETUP REQUEST. The gNB then activates AS security with the UE, which is performed by the gNB sending a SecurityModeCommand message to the UE and the UE responding with a SecurityModeComplete message to the gNB. The gNB then performs a reconfiguration to establish the signaling radio bearer 2 (SRB2) and data radio bearer (DRB), which is performed by the gNB sending an RRCReconfiguration message to the UE and the gNB receiving an RRCReconfigurationComplete from the UE in response. In the case of a signaling-only connection, these steps related to RRCReconfiguration are skipped since SRB2 and DRB are not established. Finally, the gNB notifies the AMF by INITIAL CONTEXT SETUP RESPONSE that the establishment procedure is complete.

[0048] Figure 4 shows some of the use cases for 5G NR. Three use cases are considered for 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) New Radio (3GPP NR) to support various services and applications with early IMT-2020. The specifications for Phase 1 of Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) have been finalized. Current and upcoming work includes standardization of Ultra-Reliable and Low-Latency Communications (URLLC) and Large-Scale Machine-Type Communications, in addition to further extending support for eMBB. Figure 4 shows some examples of usage scenarios envisioned for IMT-2000 and beyond (see, for example, Figure 2 in Non-Patent Document 4).

[0049] URLLC use cases have stringent requirements on capabilities such as throughput, latency and availability, and are envisioned as one of the enablers of future vertical applications such as wireless control of industrial manufacturing and production processes, remote medical surgery, power distribution automation in smart grids, and transportation safety. URLLC's ultra-high reliability is supported by identifying technologies to meet the requirements set by NR URLLC in Release 15. Key requirements for NR URLLC in Release 15 include a target user plane latency of 0.5 ms for each of the UL (uplink) and DL (downlink). The general URLLC requirement for a single transmission of a packet is a BLER (block error rate) of 1E-5 for a packet size of 32 bytes with a user plane latency of 1 ms.

[0050] From a physical layer perspective, there are several possible ways to improve reliability. Currently, there are measures to improve reliability, such as the definition of a separate CQI table for URLLC, more compact DCI formats, and PDCCH repetition. However, as NR becomes more stable and developed (a key requirement for NR URLLC), the scope for achieving ultra-high reliability may increase. Specific use cases for NR URLLC in Release 15 include augmented reality / virtual reality (AR / VR), e-health, e-safety, and mission-critical applications.

[0051] Furthermore, technology enhancements targeted by NR URLLC target latency improvement and reliability improvement. Technology enhancements for latency improvement include configurable numerology, non-slot-based scheduling with flexible mapping, grant-free (configured grant) uplink, slot-level repetition of data channel, and preemption for downlink. Preemption means that a transmission for which resources are already allocated is aborted and the already allocated resources are used for another transmission with smaller latency / higher priority requirement requested later. Thus, an already granted transmission is preempted by a later transmission. Preemption applies regardless of service type. For example, a transmission of service type A (URLLC) can be preempted by a transmission of service type B (eMBB, etc.). Technology enhancements related to reliability improvement include dedicated CQI / MCS tables for a target BLER of 1E-5.

[0052] The mMTC (Massive Machine Type Communication) use case is characterized by a very large number of connected devices transmitting relatively small amounts of data that are generally not sensitive to latency. The devices are required to be low cost and have extremely long battery life. From an NR perspective, utilizing very narrow bandwidth portions is one possible solution to achieve power saving from the UE perspective to enable long battery life.

[0053] As mentioned above, it is expected that the scope of reliability in NR will expand. One key requirement for all cases, especially for URLLC and mMTC, is high or ultra-high reliability. Several mechanisms can be considered to improve reliability from a radio perspective and from a network perspective. In general, there are several key areas that can help improve reliability. These areas include compact control channel information, data channel / control channel repetition, diversity related to frequency domain, time domain, and / or spatial domain. These areas are generally applicable to reliability, regardless of the specific communication scenario.

[0054] For NR URLLC, further use cases with more stringent requirements have been identified, such as factory automation, transportation, and power distribution. The more stringent requirements include higher reliability (up to 10 times faster) depending on the use case. -6 These include: high-speed, low latency, high-speed (high-speed), higher availability, packet sizes up to 256 bytes, time synchronization on the order of a few microseconds (1 μs to a few μs depending on the frequency range), and low latency on the order of 0.5-1 ms, with a target user plane latency of 0.5 ms in particular.

[0055] Furthermore, for NR URLLC, several technical enhancements have been identified from the physical layer perspective. In particular, enhancements related to the PDCCH (Physical Downlink Control Channel) include compact DCI, PDCCH repetition, and increased PDCCH monitoring. Also, enhancements related to the UCI (Uplink Control Information) include HARQ (Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request) enhancements and CSI feedback enhancements. Also, PUSCH enhancements related to minislot level hopping and retransmission / repetition enhancements have been recognized. The term "minislot" refers to a TTI (Transmission Time Interval) that contains fewer symbols than a slot (a slot contains 14 symbols).

[0056] The 5G QoS (Quality of Service) model is based on QoS flows and supports both QoS flows that require guaranteed flow bitrates (GBR QoS flows) and QoS flows that do not require guaranteed flow bitrates (non-GBR QoS flows). At the NAS level, QoS flows are therefore the finest granularity of QoS differentiation in a PDU session. Within a PDU session, QoS flows are identified by a QoS Flow Identifier (QFI) that is conveyed in the encapsulation header over the NG-U interface.

[0057] The 5GC establishes one or more PDU sessions for each UE. The NG-RAN establishes at least one Data Radio Bearer (DRB) for each UE together with the PDU session and can then configure additional DRBs for the QoS flows of that PDU session (NG-RAN decides when to do so), e.g. as described above with reference to Figure 3. The NG-RAN maps packets belonging to different PDU sessions to different DRBs. NAS-level packet filters in the UE and 5GC associate UL and DL packets with QoS flows, and AS-level mapping rules in the UE and NG-RAN associate UL and DL QoS flows with DRBs.

[0058] Figure 5 shows the non-roaming reference architecture of 5G NR (see section 4.2.1.1 of non-patent document 6). Application Functions (AFs) (e.g., external application servers handling 5G services exemplarily described in Figure 4) interact with the 3GPP core network to provide services. For example, they support application influence on traffic routing, access Network Exposure Functions (NEFs), and interact with a policy framework (see Policy Control Function (PCF)) for policy control (e.g., QoS control). Based on the operator's deployment, application functions (AFs) that are considered trusted by the operator can be allowed to interact directly with the relevant network functions (Network Functions). Application functions (AFs) that are not allowed by the operator to directly access network functions interact with the relevant network functions using an external exposure framework via the NEF.

[0059] Furthermore, Figure 5 shows further functional units of the 5G architecture for V2X communication, such as Unified Data Management (UDM), Policy Control Function (PCF), Network Exposure Function (NEF), Application Function (AF), Unified Data Repository (UDR), Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), Session Management Function (SMF), User Plane Function (UPF), as well as V2X Application Server (V2AS) and Data Network (DN) (e.g. operator's services, Internet access, or third-party services) in 5GC. All or part of the core network functions and application services may be located and executed in a cloud computing environment.

[0060] As mentioned above, using HARQ feedback to release unused resources is supported, at least from the perspective of the transmitting UE of the associated TB, however no additional signaling is defined for the purpose of releasing unused resources by the transmitting UE.

[0061] The sensing and reporting of resources by the physical layer in LTE V2X is defined in the following procedure in section 14.1.1.6 of non-patent document 7.

[0062] 1) PSSCH Transmitter x,y A single subframe resource candidate for

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[0063] 2) The UE transmits in all subframes except the subframe in which it transmits.

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[0064] 3) Parameter Th a,b to the value indicated by the i-th SL-ThresPSSCH-RSRP field in the SL-ThresPSSCH-RSRP-List, where i=a*8+b+1.

[0065] 4) Set S A We initialize,S,to the union of all single-subframe resource candidates. B Initialize to the empty set.

[0066] 5) The UE selects a single subframe resource candidate R if all of the following conditions are met: x,y Set S A Exclude from.

[0067] - The UE receives the subframe in step 2.

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[0068] 6) The UE selects a single subframe resource candidate R if all of the following conditions are met: x,y Set S A Exclude from. - The UE receives the subframe

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[0069] 7) Set S AThe number of single-subframe resource candidates remaining is 0.2 M total If it is smaller than Th a,b Increase by 3 dB and repeat step 4.

[0070] 8) Set S A The remaining single subframe resource candidates R x,y Regarding metric E x,y Let x+k(k=0,...,L subCH The subframes monitored in step 2 are defined as the linear average of the S-RSSIs measured in rsvp_TX For non-negative integer j ≥ 100

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[0071] 9) UE is set S A From, metric E x,y Set the single-subframe resource candidates with the smallest B Move to Set S B The number of single-subframe resource candidates in total Repeat this step until you get to that point.

[0072] 10) If the UE is configured by higher layers to transmit using a resource pool on multiple carriers, the UE shall select the single subframe resource candidates in the carrier if the UE does not support transmission on the single subframe resource candidates in the carrier, assuming that transmissions are performed on other carriers using the already selected resources, due to reasons such as limitations on the number of simultaneously transmitting carriers, limitations on supported carrier combinations, or interruptions due to RF retuning time. B

[10]

[0073] Next, UE is S B Report to higher levels.

[0074] 6 shows a schematic diagram 600 illustrating how resources are reserved for subsequent transmissions in V2X communication. For example, a transmitting UE (Tx UE) can perform a SL transmission of a TB using resource #1 602 to a receiving UE(s) (Rx UE).

[0075] The Tx UE and the Rx UE(s) may include, for example, a communication module integrated or installed in a vehicle that subscribes to communication services of one or more telecommunication / Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) operators. The Tx UE and the Rx UE(s) may subscribe to a telecommunication / PLMN operator and communicate with a base station of the telecommunication operator. The base station may be a Next Generation NodeB (gNB). It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the base station 602 may also be a NG-eNB and may be connected to a 5G core network via a NG interface.

[0076] The SL transmission of the TB can be made via the physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) and its corresponding control information SCI can be transmitted via the physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH). Thus, as shown in FIG. 6, SCI#1 of resource#1 602 indicates the current transmission (SCI#1+PSSCH#1) on resource#1 602 and also reserves resource#2 604 for a subsequent possible transmission (SCI#2+PSSCH#2) to the same target receiver, i.e., Rx UE. In response to the transmission, response information can be received at the receiver of the Tx UE. The response information relates to the reserved resource#1 and the reserved resource#2. The response information can indicate whether the transmission of data on resource#1 has been successfully received by the receiving communication device. Also, the response information can indicate whether the reserved resource#2 is reserved for the Rx UE. This will be explained in more detail below.

[0077] Under certain circumstances, Tx UE (or UE#1) may cancel the subsequent transmission of SCI#2+PSSCH#2, in which case reserved resource#2 604 is released or treated as "reserved but unused." For example, if PSSCH#2 is a HARQ retransmission of PSSCH#1, resource#2 604 can be released if PSSCH#1 is successfully received.

[0078] So far, 3GPP has only discussed the possibility of Tx UEs using “reserved but unused” resources. However, it is still not clear how to utilize “reserved but unused” resources based on the response information (i.e., the behavior of Rx UE, Tx UE, and other UEs in the current transmission).

[0079] Therefore, the present invention proposes an improved communication procedure so that the "reserved but unused" resource or resource #2 604 shown in FIG. 6 can be utilized by the Rx UE(s), Tx UE, and other UEs.

[0080] In the following paragraphs, certain exemplary embodiments are described with reference to V2X communication mechanisms that advantageously enable "reserved but unused" or released resources to be utilized by the Rx UE(s), Tx UE and other UEs of the current transmission.

[0081] For sidelink resources reserved by a UE for a future transmission (i.e. after the current transmission has been made), the response information / signaling is notified to the Tx UE when the reserved resources are released by that UE. The reserved but unused resources can then be included in the resource selection by the UE(s) aware of the response information for possible transmissions from those UEs. The reservation is known to all UEs receiving / decoding the control information in the current transmission or the response information by the Rx UE.

[0082] Returning to FIG. 6, the Tx UE can perform sidelink transmission of TB#1 (or data) on resource #1 602. SCI#1 on resource #1 602 indicates the current transmission on resource #1 602 (SCI#1+PSSCH#1) and can reserve resource #2 604, which can be used for a subsequent transmission, e.g., a subsequent HARQ retransmission, to the same target receiver as PSSCH#1. In response to the current transmission of data on resource #1 602, response information is received at the Tx UE indicating whether the current transmission of data to the target receiver was successfully received. The transmission of TB#1 on resource #1 602 can be unicast to another UE, or groupcast to a group of UEs, or broadcast. When SCI#1 is received and the reference signal received power (RSRP) of SCI#1 is greater than Th a,bThe subsequent transmission on resource #2 is reserved for all UEs (not limited to the target receiver of PSSCH#1) with a higher TB#1 than the resource #1 602. If the transmission of TB#1 on resource #1 602 is successfully received by the receiving UE, the Tx UE knows that resource #2 604 can be released, for example, by receiving response information from the receiving UE via a physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH). The response information can be any explicit or implicit signal to inform the Tx UE that the reserved resources can be released, such as an acknowledgement feedback (e.g., HARQ-ACK or non-NACK) from the receiving UE. That is, the Tx UE and other UEs can obtain information related to resource #1 602 and resource #2 604 by monitoring the PSFCH (or response information) from the receiving UE. The Tx UE can also determine and send release information to other UEs to inform them that resource #2 604 has been released, so that these other UEs can include resource #2 604 in their selection of resources for transmission. In various embodiments, the release information may be generated for the Tx UE and the Rx UE(s) from an associated base station or gNB, e.g., in case of Mode 1 transmission.

[0083] FIG. 7 shows a schematic diagram 700 illustrating how a UE utilizes released resources after recognizing the release information related to the reserved resources, according to various embodiments, where the reserved resources are resources that can be reserved for transmission. For example, the Tx UE described in FIG. 6 can reuse the released resource #2 604 for a subsequent transmission of another TB (e.g., TB#2). In this embodiment, the physical layer 702 of the Tx UE can reuse the initial set S A , and then a set of candidate resources S B to the MAC layer 704 of the Tx UE. A The M for subsequent transmissions of TB#2 totalThe physical layer 702 detects that the reserved resource #2 604 is included in the S A If so, reserved resource #2 604 is added to the initial set S A A resource exclusion step can be performed so that reserved resource #2 604 is not excluded from S A If not, reserved resource #2 604 is added to the initial set S A The set S reported to the MAC layer 704 B is the set S remaining after the resource elimination step. A 20% M with the lowest RSRP from total Contains one or more resource candidates.

[0084] The MAC layer 704 then performs the release decision and resource selection. The release decision is made for the reserved candidate resource, and the MAC layer 704 determines whether the reserved candidate resource is released or not based on the release information of the reserved candidate resource. The release information can be determined or generated by the Tx UE (i.e., for the candidate resource reserved for a subsequent transmission from the TX UE, such as resource #2 604), or can be received from the Rx UE(s) or associated base station. For example, B If includes resource #2 604 and the MAC layer determines that resource #2 604 is released, then the MAC layer 704 acts as follows. - When selecting resources for the subsequent transmission of TB#2, the MAC layer 704 may prioritize consecutive candidate resources including resource #2 604 (if they have sufficient size and latency). Resource #2 604 can be used in part, alone, or together with other consecutive resources. If it is determined that resource #2 604 is not released, the MAC layer 704 allocates S B A random selection of resources from may be performed.

[0085] FIG. 8 shows a schematic diagram 800 illustrating how to utilize the released resources according to various embodiments. For example, the Tx UE described in FIG. 6 can reuse the released resource #2 604 for a subsequent transmission of another TB (e.g., TB#2). In one embodiment, the physical layer 802 of the Tx UE can reuse the initial set S A Execute the sensing procedure and release decision of the candidate resources from B to the MAC layer 804 of the Tx UE. A The M for subsequent transmissions of TB#2 total The physical layer 802 detects that the reserved resource #2 604 is included in the S A If the reserved resource #2 604 is within the initial set S and the physical layer 802 determines that the reserved resource #2 604 has been released, the reserved resource #2 604 is added to the initial set S A Conversely, a resource exclusion step can be performed so that reserved resource #2 604 is not excluded from S A If the physical layer 802 determines that the reserved resource #2 604 is not released, the reserved resource #2 604 is added to the initial set S A The release decision is performed for the reserved candidate resources, and the physical layer 802 determines that the reserved candidate resources are released based on the release information of the reserved candidate resources. The release information can be determined by the Tx UE (i.e., for the candidate resources reserved for a subsequent transmission from the TX UE, such as resource #2 604) or can be received from the Rx UE or the associated base station. The set S reported to the MAC layer 804 is B is the set S remaining after the resource elimination step. A 20% M with the lowest RSRP from total Contains one or more resource candidates.

[0086] Then, the MAC layer 804 performs the resource selection. BIf resource #2 604 is included, then the MAC layer 804 operates as follows. When selecting resources for subsequent transmissions of TB#2, the MAC layer 804 may prioritize consecutive candidate resources (if they have sufficient size and latency) including resource #2 604. Resource #2 604 can be used in part, alone, or together with other consecutive resources. - S B does not include resource #2 604, the MAC layer 804 selects S B A random selection of resources from may be performed.

[0087] That is, after the UE recognizes the response information related to the reserved resources, it can utilize the reserved resources according to various embodiments. For example, the Tx UE described in FIG. 6 can reuse the released resource #2 604 for a subsequent transmission of another TB (e.g., TB#2). In one example, the set of candidate resources S B can be provided to the MAC layer of the Tx UE by pre-configuration, RRC, or MAC. The MAC layer then performs resource selection. For example, S B If includes resource #2 604, the MAC layer operates as follows. - When selecting resources for the subsequent transmission of TB#2, the MAC layer may prioritize consecutive candidate resources including resource #2 604 (if they have sufficient size and latency). Resource #2 604 can be used in part, alone, or together with other consecutive resources. - S B does not include resource #2 604, the MAC layer selects S B A random selection of resources from may be performed.

[0088] 9 shows a flowchart 900 illustrating how a physical layer (such as physical layer 702 and physical layer 802) performs sensing in the methods shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, according to various embodiments. In step 902, the physical layer total A set S containing all candidate resources A In step 904, candidate resources are classified into a set S A The physical layer performs an iteration of resource exclusion so that the resource is excluded from the resource pool. The conditions of exclusion are different between the method shown in FIG. 7 and the method shown in FIG. 8 because the physical layer performs a release decision in the method shown in FIG. 8 but does not perform a release decision in the method shown in FIG. 7. In step 906, after the resource exclusion step 904, the physical layer performs a release decision in the method shown in FIG. A The number of candidate resources remaining in is 0.2 M total After the resource exclusion step 904, it is determined whether S A The number of candidate resources remaining in is 0.2 M total If it is determined that the threshold is less than Th, the process proceeds to step 914. a,b 3 dB and return to step 904. A M total The resource elimination process is repeated until a resource pool is determined to include at least 20% of the candidate resources.

[0089] The process then proceeds to a sorting step 908, where the candidate resource with the lowest RSRP is sorted into S A From S B In various embodiments, in step 908 of the method shown in FIG. 8, resource #2 604 is moved to S A The candidate resource with the lowest RSPR is selected from the list of candidates. total If the condition of 20% of the set S is satisfied, resource #2 604 is B In various embodiments, in step 908 of the method illustrated in FIG. 7 and the method illustrated in FIG. 8, resource #2 604 may be given more weight so that it is included in S AThe candidate resource with the lowest RSPR is not excluded from the total If the condition of 20% of the set S is not met, resource #2 604 is added to the set S B More weight may be given to resource #2 604 so that it is included in the

[0090] In step 910, the set S B The number of candidate resources in is 0.2 M total Determine whether a set S is less than B The number of candidate resources in is 0.2 M total If it is determined that the set S B The number of candidate resources in is 0.2 M total The sorting step 908 is repeated until the set S B to a higher layer (e.g., MAC layer 704 or MAC layer 804).

[0091] In one embodiment, a transmitter of the Tx UE transmits data to a receiving communication device on a first reserved resource of at least two reserved resources, each of which is reserved for transmission to the receiving communication device. In response, a response information is received at the receiver indicating whether the transmission of the data on the first reserved resource was successfully received by the receiving communication device. Circuitry of the communication device then determines a use of a second reserved resource of the at least two reserved resources based on the response information.

[0092] FIG. 10 shows a flow chart 1000 illustrating how to determine the use of the reserved but unused resource (or resource #2 604 shown in FIG. 6) in operation A according to various embodiments. In step 1002, the Tx UE (or transmitting communication device or UE #1) determines whether the data transmission in the first reserved resource has been successfully received by the receiving communication device (or Rx UE or UE #2) based on the response information received in the Tx UE. If it is determined that the data transmission in the first reserved resource has not been successfully received by the receiving communication device, the process proceeds to step 1006, where the Tx UE performs a retransmission of the data in the second reserved resource (or resource #2). If it is determined that the data transmission in the first reserved resource has been successfully received by the receiving communication device, the process proceeds to step 1004, where the second reserved resource (or reserved but unused resource) can be released to all communication devices on the network. In one embodiment, the second reserved resource (or a reserved but unused resource) may be released to a communication device having an equal priority on the network. Alternatively, the second reserved resource (or a reserved but unused resource) may be released to a communication device having an equal or higher priority on the network. That is, if the response information indicates that the data in the first reserved resource has been successfully received by the receiving communication device, the second reserved resource may be released to at least one of the receiving communication device, the communication device, and the other communication device. For example, during the sensing procedure or the (re)evaluation procedure, resource #2 is not excluded as a resource reserved by a communication device on the network. In this way, the other communication devices can be made aware that resource #2 has been released.

[0093] For example, when determining whether the candidate resource is reserved, the physical layer 702 determines that the second reserved resource is not reserved and the second reserved resource is not in the set S Aare not excluded from

[0094] However, it is not mandatory for the other UEs to use the second reserved resource, and therefore there is no need for the other UEs to monitor the response information.

[0095] FIG. 11 shows a flow chart 1100 illustrating how to determine the use of reserved but unused resources in operation B according to various embodiments. In step 1102, the Tx UE (or transmitting communication device or UE#1) determines whether the transmission of data on the first reserved resource (or resource#1) has been successfully received by the receiving communication device (or Rx UE) based on the response information received at the Tx UE. If it is determined that the transmission of data on the first reserved resource has not been successfully received by the receiving communication device, the process proceeds to step 1106, where the Tx UE retransmits the data on the second reserved resource (or resource#2). If it is determined that the transmission of data on the first reserved resource has been successfully received by the receiving communication device, the process proceeds to step 1104, where the Tx UE determines whether there is data available for transmission. If it is determined that there is data available for transmission on the Tx UE, the process proceeds to step 1108, where the Tx UE performs the transmission of data on resource#2 604. If it is determined that there is no data available for transmission on the Tx UE, the process proceeds to step 1110 and resource #2 is not used. In operation B, the Tx UE always holds reservation rights for resource #2 if it is determined that the transmission of data on resource #1 is successfully received.

[0096] FIG. 12 shows a flow chart 1200 illustrating how to determine the use of reserved but unused resources in operation C according to various embodiments. In step 1202, the Tx UE (or transmitting communication device or UE#1) determines whether the transmission of data on the first reserved resource (or resource#1) was successfully received by the receiving communication device (or Rx UE or UE#2) based on the response information received at the Tx UE. If it is determined that the transmission of data on the first reserved resource was not successfully received by the receiving communication device, the process proceeds to step 1206, where the Tx UE retransmits the data on the second reserved resource. If it is determined that the transmission of data on the first reserved resource was successfully received by the receiving communication device (or Rx UE), the process proceeds to step 1204, where it determines whether there is available data for transmission on the Tx UE. If it is determined that there is data available for transmission on the Tx UE, the process proceeds to step 1208, where the Tx UE performs data transmission on resource #2 604. If it is determined that there is no data available for transmission on the Tx UE, the process proceeds to step 1210, where resource #2 can be used by other UEs, including the Rx UE. Furthermore, during the sensing procedure or (re)evaluation procedure, resource #2 is not excluded as a resource reserved for a communication device on the network. In this way, other communication devices can be made aware that resource #2 has been released.

[0097] FIG. 13 shows a flow chart 1300 illustrating how to determine the use of reserved but unused resources in operation D according to various embodiments. In step 1302, the Tx UE (or transmitting communication device or UE#1) determines whether the transmission of data in the first reserved resource has been successfully received by the receiving communication device (or Rx UE or UE#2) based on the response information received at the Tx UE. If it is determined that the transmission of data in the first reserved resource has not been successfully received by the receiving communication device, the process proceeds to step 1306, where the Tx UE performs a retransmission of data in the second reserved resource (or resource#2). If it is determined that the transmission of data in the first reserved resource has been successfully received by the receiving communication device (or Rx UE), the process proceeds to step 1304, where it determines whether there is available data for transmission on the Rx UE. If it is determined that there is data available for transmission on the Rx UE, the process proceeds to step 1308 where the Rx UE performs transmission of data on the second reserved resource (or resource #2), which may be indicated in the response information to inform the Tx UE that resource #2 has been reserved for the receiving communication device.

[0098] If it is determined that there is no data available for transmission on the Rx UE, the process proceeds to step 1310 and resource #2 is not used. To inform the Tx UE that resource #2 is not used when it is determined that there is no data available for transmission on the Rx UE, this can be indicated in the response information.

[0099] FIG. 14 shows a flow chart 1400 illustrating how to determine the use of reserved but unused resources based on priority according to various embodiments. In different scenarios, which behavior to adopt for reserved but unused resources can be (pre)configured in the UE on the network. For example, different operators / vendors can (pre)configure different behaviors in different cells or different geographical areas. Different behaviors can be (pre)configured or specified in the standard for different transmission priorities (or priority groups) of resource #1. For example, in step 1402, it is determined whether the priority is high. If it is determined that the priority is high, the process proceeds to step 1404, and for example, if the priority is 4 to 7, the operation A shown in FIG. 10 is executed. If it is determined that the priority is not high, the process proceeds to step 1406, and for example, if the priority is 0 to 3, the operation B shown in FIG. 11 is executed.

[0100] Figure 15 shows a schematic diagram 1500 illustrating how to determine the use of reserved but unused resources based on congestion level according to various embodiments. Different actions for different congestion levels can be (pre)configured or specified in a standard. For example, in step 1502, it is determined whether the congestion level is high. If it is determined that the congestion level is not high, the process proceeds to step 1504, where the action B shown in Figure 11 is performed. If it is determined that the congestion level is high, the process proceeds to step 1506, where the action A shown in Figure 10 is performed.

[0101] 16 shows a flow chart 1600 illustrating a communication method according to various embodiments. In step 1602, the method includes transmitting data to a receiving communication device on a first reserved resource of at least two reserved resources, each of the at least two reserved resources being reserved for transmission to the receiving communication device. In step 1604, the method includes receiving response information at the communication device indicating whether the data on the first reserved resource was successfully received by the receiving communication device. In step 1606, the method includes determining a usage of a second reserved resource of the at least two reserved resources based on the response information.

[0102] Figure 17 illustrates a partially boxed schematic diagram of a communication device 1700 that may be implemented to establish V2X communication in accordance with various embodiments illustrated in Figures 1-16. The communication device 1700 may be implemented as a UE or a base station in accordance with various embodiments.

[0103] The various functions and operations of the communications device 1700 are arranged in layers according to a hierarchical model in which lower layers report to and receive instructions from higher layers in accordance with 3GPP specifications, and for the sake of brevity, the details of the hierarchical model are not described in this disclosure.

[0104] As shown in Figure 17, the communication device 1700 may include a circuit 1714, at least one wireless transmitter 1702, at least one wireless receiver 1704, and at least one antenna 1717 (only one antenna is shown in Figure 17 for purposes of illustration for simplicity). The circuit 1714 may include at least one controller 1706, which is used with the aid of software and hardware to carry out the tasks it is designed to perform, including controlling communications with one or more other communication devices in a wireless network. The circuit 1714 may further include at least one transmit signal generator 1708 and at least one receive signal processor 1710. The at least one controller 1706 may control at least one transmit signal generator 1708 to generate a signal (e.g., a signal including release information related to the reserved resources) to be transmitted to one or more other communication devices via the at least one wireless transmitter 1702, and may further control at least one receive signal processor 1710 to process a signal (e.g., a signal including response information related to the reserved resources of the at least two reserved resources) received from one or more other communication devices via the at least one wireless receiver 1704 under the control of the at least one controller 1706. The at least one transmit signal generator 1708 and the at least one receive signal processor 1710 may be separate modules of the communication device 1700 that communicate with the at least one controller 1706 for the functions described above, as shown in FIG. 17. Alternatively, the at least one transmit signal generator 1708 and the at least one receive signal processor 1710 may be included in the at least one controller 1706. However, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the arrangement of these functional modules is flexible and may be changed according to actual needs and / or requirements. The data processing device, storage device, and other related control devices may be provided on an appropriate circuit board and / or chipset.In various embodiments, in operation, at least one wireless transmitter 1702 , at least one wireless receiver 1704 , and at least one antenna 1717 can be controlled by at least one controller 1706 .

[0105] The communications device 1700, in operation, provides functionality necessary to utilize the reserved resources. For example, the communications device 1700 can be a UE, and the wireless receiver 1704, in operation, can receive response information indicating whether data in a first reserved resource was successfully received by a receiving communications device, and determine a usage of a second reserved resource of the at least two reserved resources based on the response information.

[0106] For example, the communications apparatus 1700 can be a UE, and the circuit 1714, during operation, can determine a usage of a second reserved resource of the at least two reserved resources based on the response information.

[0107] In operation, the wireless receiver 1704 can receive response information from a communication device other than a base station, an access point (AP), or another communication device. The response information can be received via a PSFCH. The circuit 1714 can be further configured to select a resource from a plurality of resource candidates when the communication device makes a subsequent transmission, the plurality of resource candidates including reserved resources, and the wireless transmitter 1702 can be further configured to make the subsequent transmission using the selected resource.

[0108] The circuitry 1714 may be further configured to exclude or not exclude the reserved resource from the plurality of resource candidates, and the decision to exclude or not exclude the reserved resource from the plurality of resource candidates may be made by the physical layer or the MAC layer based on the release information. The selection of the resource may be made by the MAC layer. The wireless transmitter 1702 may be further configured to transmit the release information to the group of communication devices.

[0109] As has been described thus far, embodiments of the present disclosure provide advanced communication systems, methods, and devices that utilize released resources that advantageously reduce the likelihood of over-the-air collisions in the released resources.

[0110] The present disclosure can be implemented by software, by hardware, or by software cooperating with hardware. Each functional block used in the description of each embodiment above can be implemented in part or in whole by an LSI such as an integrated circuit, and each process described in each embodiment can be controlled in part or in whole by the same LSI or a combination of LSIs. The LSI can be formed as a chip individually, or a single chip can be formed to include some or all of the functional blocks. The LSI can include a data input / output unit coupled to it. Depending on the degree of integration, the LSI can also be called an IC, a system LSI, a super LSI, or an ultra LSI. However, the technology for implementing an integrated circuit is not limited to an LSI, and can be implemented by using a dedicated circuit, a general-purpose processor, or a dedicated processor. Furthermore, an FPGA (field programmable gate array) that can be programmed after the LSI is manufactured, or a reconfigurable processor that can reconfigure the connections and settings of the circuit cells arranged inside the LSI can also be used. The present disclosure can be implemented as digital processing or analog processing. If, as a result of advances in semiconductor technology or other derivative technologies, LSI is replaced by a future integrated circuit technology, the future integrated circuit technology can be used to integrate the functional blocks. Biotechnology can also be applied.

[0111] The present disclosure may be implemented by any kind of apparatus, device or system having a communication capability (referred to as a communication apparatus).

[0112] A communication device may include a transceiver and processing / control circuitry. The transceiver may include a receiver and a transmitter and / or function as a receiver and a transmitter. The transceiver as a transmitter and a receiver may include an RF (radio frequency) module including an amplifier, an RF modulator / demodulator, etc., and one or more antennas.

[0113] Some non-limiting examples of such communications devices include phones (e.g., cell phones, smartphones), tablets, personal computers (PCs) (e.g., laptops, desktops, notebooks), cameras (e.g., digital still / video cameras), digital players (digital audio / video players), wearable devices (e.g., wearable cameras, smart watches, tracking devices), game consoles, e-book readers, telehealth / telemedicine equipment, vehicles that provide communications capabilities (e.g., cars, airplanes, ships), and various combinations thereof.

[0114] Communications devices are not limited to portable or portable, but can also include any type of equipment, device, or system that is non-portable or fixed, such as smart home devices (e.g., appliances, lights, smart meters, control panels), vending machines, and any other "things" in the "Internet of Things" network.

[0115] Communications may include, for example, exchanging data through cellular systems, wireless LAN systems, satellite systems, etc., as well as various combinations thereof.

[0116] A communications device may include devices such as a controller or a sensor coupled to the communications device to perform the communications functions described in this disclosure. For example, a communications device may include a controller or a sensor that generates control or data signals used by the communications device to perform the communications functions of the communications device.

[0117] The communications apparatus may further include infrastructure facilities, such as base stations, access points, and any other apparatus, devices, or systems that communicate with or control apparatuses such as the apparatuses in the non-limiting examples above.

[0118] Although certain features of the various embodiments are described with reference to a device, the corresponding features also apply to the methods of the various embodiments, and vice versa.

[0119] It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that numerous changes and / or modifications may be made to the present disclosure as set forth in the specific embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the present disclosure as broadly described, and the embodiments herein are therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive.

Claims

1. 1. A communication device, comprising: a transmitter that, in operation, transmits data to a receiving communication device on a first reserved resource of at least two reserved resources, each of the at least two reserved resources being reserved for transmission to the receiving communication device; and a receiver that, in operation, receives an explicit signal indicating that a second reserved resource of the at least two reserved resources can be released and that the receiving communication device does not have available data for further transmission and that the second reserved resource is not in use for the receiving communication device; a circuit for determining, during operation, a use of the second reserved resource of the at least two reserved resources based on the response information; A communication device comprising:

2. the circuitry is further configured to release the second reserved resource to at least one of the receiving communication device, the communication device, and another communication device if the response information indicates that the second reserved resource can be released. The communication device according to claim 1 .

3. the circuitry is further configured to determine whether the communication device has data available for transmission, and the circuitry is further configured to use the second reserved resource for the another transmission of data from the communication device if it is determined that the communication device has data available for another transmission. The communication device according to claim 1 .

4. and when it is determined that the communication device does not have available data for transmission, the second reserved resource is not used. The communication device according to claim 3.

5. when it is determined that the communication device does not have available data for transmission, the second reserved resources are released to one or more receiving communication devices different from the communication device. The communication device according to claim 3.

6. the response information indicating that the second reserved resource is reserved for the receiving communication device. The communication device according to claim 1 .

7. 1. A communication method comprising: transmitting data to a receiving communication device on a first reserved resource of at least two reserved resources, each of the at least two reserved resources being reserved for transmission to the receiving communication device; receiving, at the communication device, response information indicating that a second of the at least two reserved resources can be released and that the receiving communication device does not have available data for further transmission and that the second reserved resource is not in use for the receiving communication device; determining a usage of the second reserved resource of the at least two reserved resources based on the response information; A communication method comprising:

8. if the response information indicates that the second reserved resource can be released, releasing the second reserved resource to at least one of the receiving communication device, the communication device, and another communication device; The communication method of claim 7 further comprising:

9. determining whether the communication device has data available for transmission; using the second reserved resource for another transmission of data from the communication device when it is determined that the communication device has available data for the another transmission; The communication method of claim 7, further comprising:

10. and when it is determined that the communication device does not have available data for transmission, the second reserved resource is not used for the communication device. The communication method according to claim 9.

11. when it is determined that the communication device does not have available data for transmission, the second reserved resources are released to one or more receiving communication devices different from the communication device. The communication method according to claim 9.

12. the response information indicating that the second reserved resource is reserved for the receiving communication device. The communication method according to claim 7.

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