Surface element division and node grouping for intelligent reflective devices

Abstract

This document generally relates to a wireless communication system involving one or more intelligent reflective devices. A plurality of second nodes communicating with a first node may be grouped into node groups based on one or more communication parameters between the plurality of second nodes and the intelligent reflective device. The first node may then transmit signals to the plurality of second nodes via the intelligent reflective device according to a time schedule based on the node grouping. Additionally or alternatively, the intelligent reflective device may include a surface element that is divided into a plurality of surface element regions. The first node may independently communicate with the plurality of surface element regions to serve the plurality of second nodes.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] This document is generally directed to intelligent reflective devices in wireless communications. [Background technology]

[0002] Some of the biggest challenges faced in wireless communication as the capacity density of the network increases significantly include increasing complexity, hardware cost, and energy consumption. For example, increasing base stations in an ultra-high density networking environment may increase hardware and maintenance costs and / or encounter serious network interference problems. In addition, spectrum spreading from sub-6G to millimeter wave or even terahertz waves requires more complex signal processing and higher cost energy consuming hardware. Another challenge or related challenge in wireless communication, especially for 5G, 6G, and beyond, is being able to simultaneously serve a very large number of user devices, such as the expansion of massive machine type communication (mMTC). A way to overcome these challenges for future wireless communication environments may be desirable. Summary of the Invention [Means for solving the problem]

[0003] This document relates to methods, systems, apparatus, and devices for the use of intelligent reflective devices in wireless communications. In some implementations, a method is disclosed. The method may include: assigning, by a node group assignment node, each of a plurality of second nodes to one of a plurality of node groups based on one or more communication parameters between the plurality of second nodes and the intelligent reflective device; determining, by a first node, a plurality of signals to transmit to the plurality of second nodes and a timing schedule according to which the plurality of second signals are transmitted, the timing schedule identifying a plurality of time slots and indicating transmitting signals for reception by second nodes of the same node group in the same time slot and indicating transmitting signals for reception by second nodes of different node groups in different time slots; and transmitting, by the first node, the plurality of signals to the intelligent reflective device according to the timing schedule.

[0004] In some other implementations, a method is disclosed that may include determining, by a region determination node, a plurality of surface element regions of a plurality of surface elements of an intelligent reflective device, independently setting, by at least one of the first node or the intelligent reflective device, communication parameters for respective communications between the first node and each of the plurality of surface element regions, and transmitting, by the first node, signals to a plurality of second nodes via the plurality of surface element regions in accordance with the independent setting of the communication parameters.

[0005] In some other implementations, a system is disclosed that includes one or more network devices. The one or more network devices may include one or more processors and one or more memories, where the one or more processors are configured to read computer code from the one or more memories and implement any one of the methods described above.

[0006] In yet some other implementations, a computer program product is disclosed, the computer program product including a non-transitory computer-readable program medium with computer code stored thereon, the computer code, when executed by one or more processors, can cause the one or more processors to implement any one of the methods described above.

[0007] These and other aspects and their implementations are described in detail in the drawings, description, and claims. The present invention provides, for example, the following: (Item 1) 1. A method for wireless communication, the method comprising: assigning, by a node group assignment node, each of the plurality of second nodes to one of the plurality of node groups based on one or more communication parameters between the plurality of second nodes and the intelligent reflection device; determining, by a first node, a plurality of signals to transmit to the plurality of second nodes and a timing schedule to follow for transmitting the plurality of second signals, the timing schedule identifying a plurality of time slots and indicating transmission in the same time slots of signals for reception by a second node of the same node group and indicating transmission in different time slots of signals for reception by a second node of a different node group; transmitting, by the first node, the plurality of signals to the intelligent reflection device according to the timing schedule; A method comprising: (Item 2) Item 10. The method of item 1, wherein the one or more communication parameters comprise a received signal power of an incident signal received by the intelligent reflecting device. (Item 3) Item 10. The method of item 1, wherein the one or more communication parameters comprise surface element group information identifying a plurality of surface element groups for the plurality of second nodes. (Item 4) 4. The method of claim 3, further comprising: determining, by a surface element group determination node, a plurality of surface element groups for the plurality of second nodes based on a received signal power of an incident signal received by the intelligent reflective device, each surface element group comprising at least one surface element of a surface of the intelligent reflective device, each surface element group being associated with a respective one of the plurality of second nodes. (Item 5) Determining the plurality of surface element groups for the plurality of second nodes includes: 5. The method of claim 4, further comprising: determining, by the surface element group determination node, the associated surface element group for one of the plurality of second nodes by adding the given surface element to an associated surface element group based on a received signal power associated with the given surface element exceeding a power threshold. (Item 6) 6. The method of claim 5, wherein determining the associated surface element group for one of the plurality of second nodes further comprises adding the given surface element to the associated surface element group further based on a predetermined maximum number of surface elements. (Item 7) 5. The method of claim 4, wherein assigning each of the second nodes to one of the node groups is based on at least one overlap criterion associated with the surface element groups. (Item 8) 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the at least one overlap criterion comprises an overlap threshold corresponding to a threshold number of common surface elements. (Item 9) Item 8. The method of item 7, wherein the at least one overlap criterion comprises one or more surface element group boundary criteria. (Item 10) Item 4. The method of item 3, further comprising determining, by the surface element group decision node, the received signal power based on channel state information. (Item 11) Item 11. The method of item 10, wherein determining the channel state information includes estimating, by the intelligent reflection device, the channel state information using a channel estimation algorithm. (Item 12) Item 11. The method of item 10, further comprising: using the first node and the intelligent reflector device to perform beam sweeping or beam training to determine the channel state information. (Item 13) 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more communication parameters comprise angle information associated with a channel between the intelligent reflecting device and the plurality of second nodes. (Item 14) Item 14. The method of item 13, wherein assigning each of the plurality of second nodes to one of the plurality of node groups is based on at least one angular overlap criterion associated with at least one of an angular spread or a central angle of the angle information. (Item 15) 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more communication parameters comprise an orthogonality between channels, and wherein assigning each of the plurality of second nodes to one of the plurality of node groups comprises assigning the two nodes to the same node group in response to an orthogonality between two channels for two nodes of the plurality of second nodes exceeding an orthogonality threshold. (Item 16) The one or more communication parameters comprise location information of the second node, and assigning each of the plurality of second nodes to one of the plurality of node groups comprises: 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: in response to the location information comprising a distance difference between two nodes of the plurality of second nodes that exceeds a location difference threshold, assigning the two nodes to the same node group. (Item 17) The one or more communications parameters comprise a device type, and assigning each of the plurality of second nodes to one of the plurality of node groups comprises: 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: in response to two nodes of the plurality of second nodes having the same node type, assigning the two nodes to the same node group. (Item 18) The one or more communications parameters comprise one or more quality of service parameters, and assigning each of the plurality of second nodes to one of the plurality of second node groups includes: 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: in response to two nodes of the plurality of second nodes having the same quality of service target corresponding to the one or more quality of service parameters, assigning the two nodes to the same node group. (Item 19) 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising moving, by the node group assignment node, at least one of the second nodes to a different node group based on a uniform distribution criterion. (Item 20) 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising broadcasting, by a node group notifying node, information notifying the plurality of node groups to the plurality of second nodes. (Item 21) The plurality of second nodes comprises a subset of a group of second nodes, and the intelligent reflective device comprises a target intelligent reflective device of the plurality of intelligent reflective devices, and the method includes: determining, by an intelligent reflective device selection node, a target intelligent reflective device from among the plurality of target intelligent reflective devices for the subset; 2. The method of claim 1, wherein assigning each of the plurality of second nodes to one of a plurality of node groups includes assigning each of the plurality of second nodes of a subset of the groups of second nodes to one of a plurality of node groups. (Item 22) 22. The method of claim 21, wherein determining the target intelligent reflective device from among the plurality of target intelligent reflective devices for the subset is based on an arriving signal power at the target intelligent reflective device. (Item 23) 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the intelligent reflective device comprises a last intelligent reflective device in a chain of a plurality of intelligent reflective devices, and the first node communicates with the plurality of second nodes via the chain of the plurality of intelligent reflective devices. (Item 24) An apparatus comprising a processor and a memory, the processor configured to read code from the memory and implement a method according to any of items 1-23. (Item 25) 24. A computer program product comprising a computer-readable program medium stored thereon, the code, when executed by a processor, causing the processor to implement a method according to any of items 1-23. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0008] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of an example wireless communication system. [Figure 2A]FIG. 2A illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary intelligent reflection device. [Figure 2B] FIG. 2B shows a schematic diagram of the surface of an intelligent reflective device that reflects an incident signal. [Figure 2C] FIG. 2C shows a schematic diagram of a surface reflecting at multiple reflection angles. [Diagram 3] FIG. 3 illustrates a flow chart of an example wireless communication method including node grouping. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a timing diagram of a transmission scheme involving an intelligent reflector device in which downlink transmission is performed on a node group basis. [Diagram 5] FIG. 5 is a flow chart of an exemplary wireless communication method including surface element region determination. [Figure 6A] FIG. 6 shows a schematic diagram of a group of surface elements distributed on the surface of an intelligent reflective device. [Figure 6B] FIG. 6B shows the schematic diagram of FIG. 6A where the surface element groups have been separated based on node grouping. [Figure 6C] FIG. 6C shows the schematic diagram of FIG. 6B in which surface element groups are contained within surface element regions. [Figure 7] FIG. 7 shows a schematic diagram of a wireless access node and a user device involved in uplink communication via an intelligent reflector device. [Figure 8A] FIG. 8A shows a schematic diagram of a wireless access node and a user device engaged in downlink communication via an intelligent reflective device under close range conditions. [Figure 8B] FIG. 8B shows a schematic diagram of a wireless access node and a user device engaged in downlink communication via an intelligent reflecting device under long-distance conditions. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0009] This description describes various embodiments of systems, apparatus, devices, and methods for wireless communication involving one or more intelligent reflective devices. In such embodiments, a first node may communicate with one or more second nodes via one or more intelligent reflective devices. For example, the first node may transmit a signal to one or more intelligent reflective devices, which reflect the signal toward the second node.

[0010] In various embodiments, the second nodes may be grouped into node groups based on one or more communication parameters between the second nodes and the intelligent reflective devices, where a first node may transmit a signal to a second node in the same node group via an intelligent reflective device in the same time slot and may transmit a signal to a second node in a different node group via an intelligent reflective device in a different time slot.

[0011] Additionally, in various embodiments, a surface element area of ​​a surface element of the intelligent reflective device may be determined, and the first node may transmit a signal to the second node via the intelligent reflective device according to the surface element area. For example, the first node and / or the intelligent reflective device may independently set communication parameters for each communication between the first node and the surface element area.

[0012] Additionally, in various embodiments, a first node may communicate with a second node via multiple intelligent reflective devices. In such embodiments, for each of the second nodes, a target intelligent reflective device through which the first node will communicate with the particular second node may be determined or selected. Node grouping and / or surface element area determination may then be performed for a subset of second nodes associated with the same target intelligent reflective device.

[0013] Additionally, in various embodiments, a first node may communicate with multiple second nodes through multiple intelligent reflective devices or a chain thereof. For example, a first node may transmit a signal to a first intelligent reflective device in the chain, which reflects the signal to a second intelligent reflective device in the chain, and so on until the last intelligent reflective device reflects the signal to a given second node. For such embodiments, the channel state information may include: Depending on whether an intelligent reflective device in the chain has sensing capabilities and / or which intelligent reflective devices in the chain have sensing capabilities and which do not, this may be obtained through channel estimation, beam training or sweeping, or a combination thereof. Additionally or alternatively, a relatively low complexity scheme may be implemented where node grouping and / or surface element region determination is performed with respect to and / or based only on the last intelligent reflective device in the chain.

[0014] Various embodiments described herein may provide improved and more efficient methods, including improved and more efficient allocation of resources (including time domain and spatial domain resources) for a first node communicating with multiple second nodes in a wireless communication system via one or more intelligent reflective devices, and / or enable a first node to effectively communicate with a larger number of second nodes via one or more intelligent reflective devices. Such improvements and increased efficiency may be achieved through surface element grouping and / or region determination, node grouping, channel state information acquisition, utilization of angle domain information, utilization of channel reciprocity, utilization of location information, utilization of service (e.g., QoS) requirements, or any various combinations thereof, as described in further detail below. In addition, separating surface elements of an intelligent reflective device into regions may improve spatial degrees of freedom. Furthermore, a tradeoff between complexity and efficiency may be determined for communication via multiple intelligent reflective devices in parallel or cascade (series). Details of the various embodiments are advantages, benefits, and improvements that may be obtained through implementation of the various embodiments, which are described in further detail below with reference to the accompanying figures.

[0015] FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic diagram of an exemplary wireless communication system 100 including multiple communication nodes (or simply nodes) configured to wirelessly communicate with one another. In general, the communication nodes include at least one user device 102 and at least one radio access node 104. The exemplary wireless communication system 100 of FIG. 1 is shown as including two user devices 102 and two radio access nodes 104. However, various other examples of the wireless communication system 100 include any of various combinations of user devices 102 and radio access nodes 104 including only one user device 102 and only one radio access node 104, only one user device 102 and two or more radio access nodes 104, two or more user devices 102 without any radio access node 104, two or more user devices 102 and one or more radio access nodes 104, or two or more radio access nodes 104 without any user devices 102.

[0016] The user device 102 may include a single electronic device or apparatus or multiple electronic devices or apparatuses (e.g., the network) capable of wirelessly communicating over a network. The user device may comprise or otherwise be referred to as a user terminal or user equipment (UE). In addition, the user device may be or include, without limitation, a mobile device (such as, by way of non-limiting example, a mobile phone, a smartphone, a tablet, or a laptop computer) or a fixed or stationary device (such as, by way of non-limiting example, a desktop computer or other relatively heavy device including a consumer electronics appliance, an Internet of Things (IoT), or other computing device that is not typically moved for extended periods of time, such as a computing device used in a commercial or industrial environment). In various embodiments, the user device 102 may include transceiver circuitry 106 coupled to an antenna 108 to provide wireless communication with the wireless access node 104. The transceiver circuitry 106 may also be coupled to a processor 110, which may also be coupled to a memory 112 or other storage device. The memory 112 may store therein instructions or code that, when read and executed by the processor 110, cause the processor 110 to implement various of the methods described herein.

[0017] Similarly, the radio access node 104 may include a single electronic device or apparatus, or multiple electronic devices or apparatuses (e.g., a network thereof), and may comprise one or more base stations or other wireless network access points capable of communicating wirelessly over the network with one or more user devices and / or with one or more other radio access nodes 104. For example, the radio access node 104 may comprise a 4G LTE base station, a 5G NR base station, a 5G central unit base station, a 5G distributed unit base station, a next generation Node B (gNB), an enhanced Node B (eNB), or other similar (or next generation (e.g., 6G)) base station, in various embodiments. The radio access node 104 may include transceiver circuitry 114 coupled to an antenna 116, which may include an antenna tower 118 in various approaches to provide wireless communication with the user device 102 or another radio access node 104. The transceiver circuitry 114 may also be coupled to one or more processors 120, which may also be coupled to a memory 122 or other storage device. The memory 122 may store therein instructions or code that, when read and executed by the processor 120, cause the processor 120 to implement one or more of the methods described herein.

[0018] In various embodiments, two communication nodes in the wireless system 100 (such as a user device 102 and a radio access node 104, two user devices 102 without a radio access node 104, or two radio access nodes 104 without a user device 102) may be configured to wirelessly communicate with each other within or via a mobile network and / or radio access network in accordance with one or more standards and / or specifications. In general, the standards and / or specifications may define the rules or procedures under which the communication nodes may communicate wirelessly, and the standards and / or specifications may include, in various embodiments, those for communicating in the millimeter (mm) wave band and / or those related to multi-antenna schemes and beamforming functions. Additionally or alternatively, the standards and / or specifications are those that define radio access technologies and / or cellular technologies, such as, by way of non-limiting examples, Fourth Generation (4G) Long Term Evolution (LTE), Fifth Generation (5G) New Radio (NR), or Unlicensed New Radio (NR-U).

[0019] In the wireless system 100, the communication nodes are configured to wirelessly communicate signals between each other. In general, communication in the wireless system 100 between two communication nodes can be or include transmission or reception, generally both simultaneously, depending on the perspective of the particular node in the communication. For example, for a given communication between a first node and a second node, if the first node is transmitting a signal to the second node and the second node is receiving a signal from the first node, the first node may be referred to as a transmitting node or device, the second node may be referred to as a receiving node or device, and the communication may be considered to be a transmission with respect to the first node and a reception with respect to the second node. Of course, since both communication nodes in the wireless system 100 can transmit and receive signals, a single communication node may be both a transmitting node and a receiving node at the same time, or may switch between a transmitting node and a receiving node.

[0020] A particular signal may also be characterized or defined as either an uplink (UL) signal, a downlink (DL) signal, or a sidelink (SL) signal. An uplink signal is a signal transmitted from a user device 102 to a radio access node 104. A downlink signal is a signal transmitted from a radio access node 104 to a mobile station 102. A sidelink signal is a signal transmitted from a first user device 102 to a second user device 102 or from a first radio access node 104 to a second radio access node 104.

[0021] In addition, the wireless communication system 100 may further include or communicate with a network of one or more intelligent reflective devices 124. As used herein, an intelligent reflective device is a device having a surface that can reflect a signal and has one or more variable angles of reflection. An intelligent reflective device and / or a surface of an intelligent reflective device may also be referred to (or otherwise) as an intelligent reflective surface (IRS), a large intelligent surface (LIS), a large intelligent metasurface (LIM), a smart reflector array, a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS), a software defined surface (SDS), a software defined metasurface (SDM), a passive intelligent surface (PIS), or a passive intelligent mirror.

[0022] In general, the surface of an intelligent reflective device receives an incident signal and reflects the incident signal. The signal that the surface outputs in response to or as a result of the reflection is referred to as the reflected signal. In other words, the reflected signal is a reflected version of the incident signal that is reflected by the surface.

[0023] In addition, the surface of the intelligent reflective device may be configured to reflect the signal with one or more variable angles of reflection. The angle of reflection is the angle at which the surface outputs the reflected signal. The angle of reflection may be determined or measured relative to the surface of the intelligent reflective device or a line perpendicular to the surface. In addition, a variable angle of reflection is an angle of reflection that has an amount or value that can vary over time. Thus, at any point in time, the intelligent reflective device can change the amount of the reflected signal or keep it the same.

[0024] In various embodiments, the intelligent reflective device may simultaneously reflect multiple signals, each of the multiple signals having a respective one of the multiple variable reflected signals. As described in further detail below, in various embodiments, the surface of the intelligent reflective device may be separated or divided into multiple portions or regions. Each region may be configured to reflect the incident signal at an associated variable reflection angle. At any given time, the different regions may reflect the incident signal at an associated variable reflection angle, which may be the same or different from one another. The intelligent reflective device may be configured to independently control or set the variable reflection angles of the different regions at various times.

[0025] Additionally, for at least some embodiments, the surface of the intelligent reflective device may be configured to reflect an incident signal with a variable reflection magnitude. In general, the reflection magnitude is (or is indicative of) the amount of power of the incident signal that the surface reflects. The reflection magnitude may be a value in units of power (such as watts) or may be expressed as a percentage or fraction of the power of the incident signal. The reflection magnitude may be inversely proportional to the amount of signal energy that the surface absorbs in response to receiving and reflecting the signal. A variable reflection magnitude is also a reflection magnitude that has an amount or value that can vary over time. Thus, at any point in time, the intelligent reflective device may change the amount of reflection magnitude or keep it the same.

[0026] Furthermore, in various embodiments, the intelligent reflective device may simultaneously reflect multiple signals, each having a respective one of multiple variable reflectance magnitudes. In particular, each region of a plurality of regions on a surface of the intelligent reflective device may reflect an incident signal with an associated variable reflectance magnitude. At any given time, the different regions may reflect an incident signal with associated variable reflectance magnitudes that may be the same as or different from one another. The intelligent reflective device may be configured to independently control or set the variable reflectance magnitudes of the different regions at various times.

[0027] In more detail, FIG. 2A shows a block diagram of an example configuration of an intelligent reflecting device 200 representing an example configuration of the intelligent reflecting device 124 of FIG. 1. The intelligent reflecting device 200 includes a surface 202 and a controller 204. The surface 202 includes a plurality of surface elements (SEs) (also referred to as surface units (SUs)) 206. For simplicity, FIG. 2A shows 12 surface elements 206. However, any number of surface elements 206, including hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, or more, is possible in any of the various embodiments. In general, a surface element 206 of the surface 202 of the intelligent reflecting device 200 is the smallest unit or portion of a surface having an associated variable reflecting angle. Thus, the intelligent reflecting device 200 can be configured such that any two surface elements 206 can have their respective variable reflecting angles set or controlled independently of each other.

[0028] Each surface element 206 may also have an associated variable phase shift at which it reflects an incident signal. The amount of phase shift may in turn determine the amount of the reflection angle. Thus, the intelligent reflecting device 200 may set the associated phase shift of a given surface element 206 to a certain amount to result in a certain amount of reflection angle associated with the given surface element 206. Additionally, the intelligent reflecting device 200 may vary the phase shift from one amount to a second amount to result in a corresponding change in the reflection angle.

[0029] The surface elements 206 of the surface element 202 may be divided, separated, or grouped together into one or more surface element regions (SERs) 208. In general, a surface element region is a group or set of one or more surface elements 206. For purposes of illustration, FIG. 2A shows four surface element regions 208, however, in any of the various embodiments, the surface 202 may have its surface elements 206 divided into any number of one or more surface regions 208. Additionally, for at least some embodiments, a surface element 208 may be in only one surface element region 208 at any given time.

[0030] Additionally, in some embodiments, the surface element region 208 is fixed (i.e., one or more surface elements forming the surface element region 208 are constant or unchanging). In other embodiments, the surface element region 208 is variable or configurable. That is, the combination of one or more surface elements 206 can change at different times. Secondly, the number, shape, and / or size of the surface element regions 208 of the surface 202 can change at different times. For example, FIG. 2A shows four surface element regions 208, including two surface element regions 208 each with two surface elements 206 and two surface element regions 208 each with four surface elements 206. At another time, the intelligent reflection device 200 may, by way of non-limiting examples, divide the 12 surface elements 206 into two surface element regions 208 with six surface elements 206 each, or may divide the 12 surface elements 206 into two surface element regions 208 with unequal numbers, or may keep all 12 surface elements 206 grouped together in one surface element region 208. Also, in various embodiments and / or at any of various times, a given surface element 206 may not be part of any surface element region 206.

[0031] In addition, surface elements 206 may be assigned to a given surface element region 208 to configure the given surface element region 208 with a particular shape, size, and / or to have a particular location for the surface element region 208 or to be configured to span an area of ​​the surface 202. Any of a variety of shapes that may be formed with one or more surface elements 206 of the surface 202 may be possible, such as a rectangle or polygon, a star, an ellipse, an amorphous shape, or any other type of shape. The size of a given surface element region 208 may depend on or be equal to the number of surface elements 206 of the given surface element region 208. Thus, if the surface element region 206 is divided into multiple surface element regions 208, any two surface element regions 208 at any of various times may have the same or different sizes (and / or shapes) relative to one another. Additionally, in various embodiments, a given surface element region 208 may be continuous or discontinuous (e.g., a given surface region 208 includes two or more portions that are not connected to one another). In various embodiments, or at any one of various times, the surface element areas 208 of a surface can be all contiguous, all discontinuous, or a combination of continuous and discontinuous.

[0032] In general, each surface element region 208 may have an associated variable reflection angle, and the intelligent reflection device 200 may be configured to independently set, control, and / or vary the variable reflection angle for each of the surface element regions 208. Thus, the intelligent reflection device 200 may independently determine the reflection angles for the different surface element regions 208 and then set the phase shifts of the different surface elements 206 of the different surface element regions 208 such that the different surface element regions 208 are configured to reflect (including simultaneously reflect respective incident signals at their respective reflection angles).

[0033] As one exemplary illustration, FIG. 2B shows a surface 202 whose surface elements are organized as a single surface element region 208, which is a region of an incident signal s i (t) is reflected at an angle of reflection Θ rThe reflected signal s r The intelligent reflection device 200 outputs the reflection angle Θ r , and then set the phase shift of the surface elements 206 that are part of the single surface element region 208, so that the single surface element region 208 will have a reflection angle Θ in the determined amount. r The reflected signal s r Output (t).

[0034] As another example illustration, Figure 2C shows a surface 202 whose surface elements are organized as two surface element regions 208(1) and 208(2). Intelligent reflective device 200 is configured to detect a first reflection angle Θ with respect to first surface region 208(1). r1 and a second reflection angle Θ for the second surface area 208(2). r2 The intelligent reflective device 200 can then determine the amount of the first incident signal s i1 (t) is reflected at the first reflection angle Θ r1 The first reflected signal s r1 (t), and the second surface element region 208(2) outputs a second incident signal s i2 (t) is reflected at the second reflection angle Θ r1 At the second reflected signal s r2 t, the phase shift for the surface elements 206 in the first and second surface element regions 208(1), 208(2) may be set to output (t).

[0035] Referring again to FIG. 2A, in general, the controller 204 is configured to control the surface 202 and the surface elements 206. As part of its control functionality, the controller 204 may be configured to perform any of a variety of functions and / or make any of a variety of decisions so that the surface elements 204 reflect at a certain reflection angle. By way of example, the controller 204 may determine the surface element regions 208, determine the surface element region 208 to which each of the surface elements 206 belongs, and / or assign each surface element 206 to a surface element region 208. Additionally or alternatively, the controller 204 may be configured to determine a reflection angle for each of the surface element regions 208 and set a phase shift of the surface elements 206 so that the surface element regions 208 reflect according to the determined reflection angle. Additionally, the controller 204 may control the surface 202 and / or the surface elements 206 to control the magnitude of reflection with which the surface elements 206 reflect an incident signal. In various embodiments, the controller 204 may also be configured to determine and / or set any of a variety of communication parameters associated with the received incident signal and / or the output reflected signal for communications between other nodes in the wireless communication system 100. As a non-limiting example, the controller 204 may be configured to determine channel state information and / or received signal power associated with the incident signal received by the intelligent reflecting device 200 and / or the reflected signal output by the intelligent reflecting device 200. Additional functionality associated with the controller 204 is described in further detail below.

[0036] 1, the controller 204 may include a processor 208 and a memory (or other storage device) 210. In various embodiments, the memory 210 may store therein instructions or code that, when read and executed by the processor 208, cause the processor 208 to perform any of the various functions and / or any of the various methods described herein.

[0037] Additionally, for at least some exemplary configurations, the controller 204 includes transceiver circuitry 212 configured to communicate (including transmitting and receiving signals and / or information) with one or more other communication nodes in the wireless communication system 100. For some exemplary embodiments, such as that shown in FIG. 2A, the intelligent reflecting device 200 includes an antenna 214 coupled to the transceiver 212 through which the intelligent reflecting device 200 wirelessly communicates with the other communication nodes. Additionally or alternatively, the intelligent reflecting device 200 may be configured to communicate with one or more other communication nodes through one or more wired connections using the transceiver 212 (such as with electrical wires or cabling that electrically connect the intelligent reflecting device 200 with one or more other communication nodes). Thus, in various embodiments, the intelligent reflecting device 200 can communicate externally with one or more communication nodes wirelessly, through wired connections, or a combination thereof.

[0038] 1 , the present description describes a node grouping and surface element domain partitioning scheme or approach for communication between a first node and multiple second nodes via an intelligent reflective device 124. The node grouping and / or surface element domain partitioning scheme described below may enable a very large (large) number of second nodes to receive signals from and / or be served by the first node through the use of the intelligent reflective device 124 with low time-frequency resource usage, minimal time-frequency resource cost, high spectral efficiency, and / or high data transmission quality, making them desirable schemes to employ when using the intelligent reflective device 124 for wireless communication between wireless access nodes.

[0039] Any of various combinations of one or more user devices 102 and / or one or more radio access nodes 104 with respect to the first node and the plurality of second nodes may be possible. In a particular embodiment, the first node is a radio access node 104, the plurality of second nodes are user devices 102, and the communication between the first node and the plurality of second nodes is a downlink transmission, with the radio access node 104 transmitting downlink signals to the plurality of user devices 102 using the intelligent reflective device 124. However, in other embodiments, the first node may be a user device 102, the plurality of second nodes 104 may be radio access nodes 104, and the user device 102 transmitting uplink signals to the radio access node 104 using the intelligent reflective device 124. In still other embodiments, the first node and all of the plurality of second nodes are user devices 102, or the first node and all of the plurality of second nodes are radio access nodes 104, and the first user device 102 transmits sidelink signals to the plurality of second nodes using the intelligent reflection device 124. In still other embodiments, the first node is a user device 102 or a radio access node 104, and the plurality of second nodes include a combination of one or more user devices 102 and one or more radio access nodes 104, such that communication between the first node and the plurality of second nodes includes a combination of one or more uplink transmissions and one or more sidelink transmissions or a combination of one or more downlink transmissions and one or more sidelink transmissions.

[0040] FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary method 300 for wireless communication including node grouping. In general, when a first node intends to communicate with multiple second nodes, the first node may determine multiple node groups to which each second node may belong (and / or to which each second node may be assigned). A node group is a group or collection of one or more second nodes to which the first node transmits at or during a single or common time slot. For a given set of second nodes in the same node group, the first node may determine to transmit signals to those second nodes in the same node group at or during the same time slot. In addition, for a given set of nodes in different node groups, the first node may determine to transmit signals to those nodes at or during different time slots.

[0041] In general, a timeslot is a unit of time defined in the time domain for transmission. Parameters defining a timeslot may be determined according to a communication standard or specification based on which nodes in a wireless communication system communicate. In various embodiments, a timeslot may be a portion of a subframe and may have a predetermined number of symbols, such as orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols. For example, in 5G NR, a subframe may be divided into timeslots, with each timeslot including 14 OFDM symbols. Various other methods of defining a timeslot may also be possible.

[0042] After determining the multiple node groups, the first node may know the node group to which each second node belongs. Thus, after determining the multiple node groups, the first node may know the node group to which each of the second nodes belongs. Then, the first node may know the time slots to transmit signals to various second nodes via the intelligent reflection device 124 based on the node group to which each of the second nodes belongs.

[0043] In further detail, in block 302, the node group assignment node may assign each of the plurality of second nodes to one of the plurality of node groups based on one or more communication parameters between the plurality of second nodes and the intelligent reflective device. In general, the node group assignment node may be any communication node involved in assigning the second nodes to one or more node groups. The assignment node may be any of a first node that is to transmit a signal to the second node, a second node that is to receive a signal from the first node via the intelligent reflective device, the intelligent reflective device, another communication node that is not involved in the communication between the first node and the plurality of second nodes via the intelligent reflective device, or various combinations thereof.

[0044] In general, as used herein, a communication parameter is any information that can characterize (or describe) a communication between two nodes. Non-limiting examples of communication parameters include signal power (including received signal power and / or transmitted signal power); channel state information; node location information (including where a node is located relative to another node or a distance one node is from another node); surface element group information and overlap information associated with the surface element group information (described in more detail below); node type (e.g., the type of the second node); beam, including a selected beam selected from among a plurality of beams (including a transmit beam used to transmit a signal and / or a receive beam used to receive a signal); or any other of a variety of parameters that may relate to or describe or characterize communication between two nodes (including target parameters according to which the two nodes should communicate with each other and / or actual or measured parameters determined from one or more communications between the two nodes), non-limiting examples include signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio (SINR), data rate (or data transmission rate), capacity, signal gain, signal energy, or angle (or angle domain) information, or quality of service (QoS) parameters.

[0045] Additionally, in at least some example embodiments, each second node may have an associated surface element group of surface elements 206. In the wireless system 100, one or more of the nodes designated as surface element group determination nodes may determine the surface element group for the second node. The surface element group determination node may be any of the various nodes in the wireless communication system, such as the intelligent reflection device 124, one of the first nodes, the second nodes, or a combination thereof.

[0046] In certain embodiments, the surface element group determination node may determine a surface element group for the second node based on the received signal power of the surface elements 206 of the intelligent reflecting device 124. In various embodiments, the received signal power of a given surface element 206 may be characterized or quantified in any of a variety of ways, including an absolute power value, a power ratio of the received signal power for the given surface element 206 to the received signal power for all of the surface elements 206, a ratio of the received signal power for the given surface element 206 to the total signal power, or a comparative power ratio between the received signal power for the given surface element 206 and one or more received signal powers for one or more other surface elements 206.

[0047] The surface element group determination node may determine a surface element group for a given second node by identifying a set of one or more surface elements 206 of the surface 202. The surface element group for a given second node may include those surface elements 206 of the surface 202 of the intelligent reflecting device 124 that have a received signal power above a power threshold when communicating with the given second node. Thus, to determine a surface element group for a given second node, the surface element group determination node may determine that a given surface element 206 is part of a surface element group or add a surface element 206 to a surface element group for the given second node if the surface element group determination node determines that the given surface element 206 has a received signal power associated with the given second node that is above a threshold power level. Additionally, if the surface element group determination node determines that a given surface element 206 does not have a received signal power associated with a given second node that exceeds a threshold power level, the surface element group determination node may decide not to add the given surface element 206 to the surface element group with respect to the given second node.

[0048] In addition, in various embodiments, the surface element group determination node may use one or more other (or additional) criteria to determine the surface element group for a given second node. The one or more other (or additional) criteria may include a predetermined maximum number of surface elements and / or a predetermined minimum number of surface elements. For example, if the received signal power for a given surface element 206 meets the power threshold but the number of surface elements 206 added to the surface element group for a given second node has already reached the predetermined maximum number of surface elements, the surface element group determination node may determine not to add the given surface element 206 to the surface element group so as not to exceed the predetermined maximum number. Additionally or alternatively, if the received signal power for a given surface element 206 does not meet the power threshold but the number of surface elements 206 added to the surface element group for a given second node is below the predetermined minimum number of surface elements, the surface element group determination node may determine to add the given surface element 206 to the surface element group so as to meet the predetermined minimum number.

[0049] For at least some embodiments, the surface element group determination node may determine the received signal power based on the channel state information. In various embodiments, the intelligent reflecting device 124 may have sensing capabilities, such as through the use of its controller 204, which allows the intelligent reflecting device 124 to obtain channel state information through a channel estimation algorithm, such as least squares (LS) or minimum mean square error (MMSE). The intelligent reflecting device 124 may determine channel state information for different second nodes by performing channel estimation in different time slots. In addition, when the channel is sparse, the intelligent reflecting device 124 may use advanced signal processing techniques, such as compressive sensing, which may be particularly advantageous in the millimeter wave and / or terahertz frequency bands. In other embodiments, the intelligent reflecting device 124 may not have sensing capabilities, and the surface element group determination node may determine the channel state information using beam searching and / or beam training techniques to perform channel estimation. For example, for downlink transmissions, the codebooks for the wireless access node 104 and the intelligent reflecting device 124 may be fixed, and the beam training process may be repeated over multiple iterations using different beam pairs to determine a desired (or optimal) beam pair, which may then provide channel state information that the surface element group determination node may use to determine a surface element group for a given second node.

[0050] In some embodiments, the one or more communication parameters used to assign the second node to a node group include surface element group information, the surface element group information identifying a surface element group of the second node. For such embodiments, once the surface element group determination node determines a surface element group for the second node, the node group assignment model may assign the second node to a node group based on the surface element group. In particular, in these embodiments, the node group assignment node may determine how to assign the second node to a node group based on at least one surface element overlap criterion associated with the surface element group.

[0051] In general, two surface element groups overlap each other if they have at least one surface element 206 that is the same (or in common) with each other. A surface element 206 that is common to two or more surface element groups may be referred to as a common surface element or an overlapping surface element. A surface element state indicates (or characterizes) the overlap between two or more surface element groups. A "no overlap" surface element state for two or more surface element groups indicates that the two or more surface element groups do not have any surface elements in common. A "partial overlap" surface element state for two or more surface element groups indicates that the two or more surface element groups have at least one, but not all, of their surface elements in common. In various embodiments, the partial overlap surface element state may also include or involve the amount of overlap between the surface element groups (which may be a percentage of the total number of surface elements in common or the total number of surface elements of one or both of the surface element groups). A "complete overlap" surface element state for two or more surface element groups indicates that the two or more surface element groups have all of their surface elements in common.

[0052] One surface element overlap criterion may be an overlap threshold corresponding to a threshold number of common surface elements. In various embodiments, for two or more surface element groups, the overlap threshold may be an absolute number of common surface elements or a percentage of the total number of common surface elements of the two or more surface element groups. For two surface element groups of two given second nodes, the node group assignment node may determine an amount of surface element overlap for the two surface element groups. If the amount of surface element overlap is less than or equal to the overlap threshold, the node group assignment node may assign the two given second nodes to the same node group. Additionally, if the amount of surface element overlap exceeds the overlap threshold, the node group assignment node may assign the two given second nodes to different node groups.

[0053] In various embodiments, the overlap criterion may correspond to a target surface element overlap state, which in turn may correspond to an overlap threshold. For example, for embodiments in which the target surface element state is "no overlap," the overlap threshold may be zero or zero percent. As another example, for embodiments in which the target surface element state is "partial overlap," the overlap threshold may be a number of surface elements or a percentage of surface elements that are greater than zero.

[0054] Another surface element overlap criterion may be a surface element group boundary criterion. In general, the boundary surface elements of a given surface element group are surface elements that form the boundary (or edge or outer perimeter) of the given surface element group. Thus, the surface element group boundary criterion may be that two second nodes may be assigned to the same node group if the only common surface elements of those surface element groups are boundary surface elements. On the other hand, if at least one of the common surface elements is not a boundary surface element of at least one of the two surface element groups, the two second nodes may be assigned to different node groups. Another surface element group boundary criterion may be the number of common surface elements that are boundary surface elements, which may be an absolute number of surface elements or a percentage of the total number of surface elements of the two surface element groups in various embodiments. If the number of common surface elements that are boundary surface elements is equal to or less than a threshold value, the node group assignment node may assign the two second nodes to the same node group. In addition, if the number of common surface elements that are boundary surface elements is greater than a threshold value, the node group assignment node may assign the two second nodes to different node groups.

[0055] Additionally or alternatively, the communication parameters to which the node group for the second node is assigned may include channel state information. In various embodiments, the channel state information may include angle information (or angle domain information) and / or gain information (including channel gain information and / or path gain information) associated with the channel between the intelligent reflecting device 124 and the second node. For such embodiments, the node group assignment node may determine the node group based on at least one of the angle information or the gain information. Particularly in such embodiments, the node group assignment node determines the node group based on the angular spread of the second node and / or the central angle of the second node. For at least some of these embodiments, the node group assignment node determines the node group based on at least one angular overlap criterion associated with the angular spread and / or the central angle.

[0056] In more detail, the angle information associated with a given second node may include or indicate one or more angles of incidence or arrival. The one or more angles may include or be characterized as an angle spread or angle range. For a given transmission of a signal, if a receiving node (either a given second node or an intelligent reflecting device 124, depending on the transmitting and receiving node) receives a single version of the transmitted signal over a single path, the angle spread includes a single angle of arrival for the single signal. In addition, if a receiving node receives multiple versions of a transmitted signal over multiple paths (i.e., the transmission is a multipath transmission), the receiving node may receive multiple versions of the signal at multiple angles of arrival, in which case the angle spread includes multiple angles. In addition to having an associated angle of arrival, each signal version received over the associated path may have an associated signal energy, and / or the associated path may have an associated path gain. Also, for a given second node, the angle information and / or the angular spread includes a central (or median) angle, which is the angle among the multiple angles that make up the angular spread associated with the highest signal energy and / or path gain.

[0057] In various embodiments, the node group assignment node may determine the node groups based on the angular spread and / or central angle of the second nodes. In certain embodiments, the node group assignment node may determine the node groups based on the angular spread and / or central angle and one or more angular overlap criteria. In some embodiments, the angular overlap criteria may be based on an amount of overlap, such as a percentage overlap, between the two angular spreads of the two nodes. If the amount of overlap between the two angular spreads of two given second nodes is less than or equal to an angular spread overlap threshold, the node group assignment node may assign the given second nodes to the same node group. Alternatively, if the amount of overlap between the two angular spreads is greater than an angular spread overlap threshold, the node group assignment node may assign the given two second nodes to different node groups. In other embodiments, the angular overlap criteria may be based on an overlap between the central angles of the two nodes. If the central angles of the given two nodes are different or have a difference greater than a difference threshold, the node group assignment node may assign the given two nodes to the same node group. Alternatively, if the central angles of two given nodes match or have a difference below a difference threshold, the node group assignment node may assign the two given nodes to different node groups.

[0058] Additionally, in various embodiments, including those involving relatively high frequencies, the node group assignment node may ignore the angular spread and use only the central angle to determine how to group the second node into a node group.

[0059] In addition, for at least some embodiments, the central angle and angular spread that the node group assignment node determines or uses to determine the node group are effective central angles and angular spreads determined based on a power or energy threshold. In particular, if a given received signal received over an associated path has a signal power or energy above a power or energy threshold, and / or if the associated path has an associated path gain above a path gain threshold, the node group assignment node may add the associated angle of arrival to the effective angular spread of a given second node. Alternatively, if the signal power or energy is below a power or energy threshold, and / or if the associated path gain is below a path gain threshold, the node group assignment node may not add the associated angle of arrival to the effective angular spread of a given second node.

[0060] In various embodiments, the node group assignment node may also determine the node group based on angle and gain information for the channel between the intelligent reflecting device 124 and the second node when the channel is sparse. Additionally or alternatively, the node group assignment node may determine the angle and / or gain information based on reciprocity. When the node group assignment node operates under perfect reciprocity, if the node group assignment node determines ideal channel condition information for the channel between the intelligent reflecting device 124 and the second node, the node group assignment node may identify that the angle and gain information for a transmission from the first node to the second node is the same as for a transmission from the second node to the first node. In addition, if the node group assignment node operates under full reciprocity and the determined channel state information is not ideal, the node group assignment node may identify that the angle and gain information for the transmission from the first node to the second node is the same as that for the transmission from the second node to the first node plus some correction (e.g., if the channel state information is not ideal, a pilot signal may be communicated to correct the channel state information obtained by the channel reciprocity). In addition, if the node group assignment node operates under partial reciprocity, the first node may transmit a signal, such as a pilot signal, to the second node, or the second node may transmit a signal to the first node, via the intelligent reflector device 124, to obtain one or more channel state parameters that cannot otherwise be obtained due to the reciprocity being only partial and not complete. Additionally, if the node group assignment node operates under non-reciprocity, the first node may transmit a signal, such as a pilot signal, to the second node, or the second node transmits a signal to the first node, via the intelligent reflector device 124, to determine or recover the angle and gain information. For embodiments in which the second node transmits a signal to the first node under partial or non-reciprocity, the first node can directly determine the angle and gain information in response.Additionally, for embodiments in which the first node transmits a signal to the second node, the second node may feed back angle and gain information to the first node, and in response, the first node may determine the angle and gain information based on the feedback information from the second node. In various embodiments, in conjunction with signal transmission (e.g., pilot signal transmission), the node group assignment node may also employ any of a variety of channel state information approaches or algorithms for determining the angle and gain information, such as least squares (LS), minimum mean square error (MMSE), multiple signal classification (MUSIC), or estimation of signal parameters via rotational invariance (ESPRIT).

[0061] Additionally or alternatively, in various embodiments, the communication parameters may include orthogonality between channels for two second nodes. That is, in various embodiments, the node group assignment node may determine a node group based on the orthogonality between channels between the intelligent reflection device 124 and the second node. In a particular embodiment, the node group assignment node uses the orthogonality information to determine a node group in which the channel between the intelligent reflection device 124 and the second node is not sparse. Upon determining the orthogonality between two channels for two given second nodes, the node group assignment node may compare the determined orthogonality with a predefined orthogonality threshold. If the determined orthogonality is above the predefined orthogonality threshold, the node group assignment node may determine to assign the given two second nodes to the same node group. Alternatively, if the determined orthogonality is below the predefined orthogonality threshold, the node group assignment node may determine to assign the given two nodes to separate node groups.

[0062] In addition, in various embodiments, the node group assignment node may determine the orthogonality based on complete channel information. For embodiments in which the node group assignment node operates under complete reciprocity, the node group assignment node may determine channel state information for a channel in a direction from the first node to the second node directly from channel state information for a channel in a direction from the second node to the first node. For example, if the first node is a radio access node 104 and the second node is a user device 102, the node group assignment node may determine channel state information for a downlink channel from the radio access node 104 to the user device 102 directly from channel state information for an uplink channel from the user device 102 to the radio access node 104. In addition, if the node group operating node operates under non-reciprocity, the first node may transmit one or more signals (e.g., pilot signals) to the second node, or the second node may transmit one or more signals (e.g., pilot signals) to the first node, in order to determine complete channel state information. For embodiments in which the second node transmits a signal to the first node under partial or non-reciprocity, the first node may directly determine complete channel state information in response. Additionally, for embodiments in which the first node transmits a signal to the second node, the second node may feed back channel state information to the first node, and in response, the first node may determine the channel state information based on the feedback information from the second node. In various embodiments, in conjunction with signal transmission (e.g., pilot signal transmission), the node group assignment node may also employ any of a variety of channel state information approaches or algorithms for determining angle and gain information, such as, by way of non-limiting example, least squares (LS) or minimum mean square error (MMSE).

[0063] Additionally or alternatively, in various embodiments, the communication parameters include location information of the second nodes. That is, in various embodiments, the node group assignment node may determine the node group based on the location information of the second nodes. The location information may include the relative position of the second node in two-dimensional or three-dimensional space with respect to the intelligent reflection device 124 and / or the relative distance of the second node from the intelligent reflection device. For a given two second nodes, the node group assignment node may determine how to group the two second nodes based on the location difference between the two second nodes that the node group assignment node may determine from the location information of the two second nodes. If the location difference between the two nodes exceeds a location difference threshold, the node group assignment node may determine to group the two nodes in the same node group. Alternatively, if the location difference between the two nodes does not exceed a location difference threshold, the node group assignment node may determine to group the two nodes in different node groups. Any of a variety of location parameters may be used to determine the location difference and location difference threshold between the two second nodes, including an absolute distance difference, or a distance difference of one directional vector in two or three dimensional space, such as a horizontal distance difference or a vertical (or height) distance difference.

[0064] Additionally or alternatively, in various embodiments, the communication parameters include the device type of the second node. For such embodiments, the node group assignment node may decide to group or assign second nodes of the same device type in the same node group and assign second nodes of different device types in different node groups. The node group assignment node may group second nodes in node groups based on device type under the assumption that devices of the same type require the same service and / or communicate under similar communication parameters such as transmission rate or delay. Exemplary device types may include user device types, non-limiting examples of which include enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) and ultra-reliable low-latency communications (URLLC). Grouping by device type may be particularly advantageous in mMTC scenarios that involve a large amount of user devices communicating with a base station at one time.

[0065] Additionally or alternatively, in various embodiments, the communication parameters include one or more quality of service (QoS) parameters, non-limiting examples of which include a minimum SINR, a minimum data rate, a minimum capacity, a minimum number of surface elements that a surface element group may have, a secure communication rate, or a minimum inter-user interference. In various embodiments, the node group assignment node may determine a QoS target based on one or more QoS parameters for each second node. Then, for a given two second nodes, if the node group assignment node determines that the QoS targets for the two second nodes match or are sufficiently close to each other (e.g., by their difference being below a QoS target threshold, etc.), the node group assignment node may decide to assign the two second nodes to the same node group. Additionally, if the node group assignment node determines that the QoS targets for the two second nodes are sufficiently far from each other (e.g., their difference being above a QoS target threshold), the node group assignment node may decide to assign the two second nodes to different node groups.

[0066] In various embodiments, the node group assignment node may assign second nodes to user groups based on the node distribution criteria as well. Specifically, the node group assignment node may assign second nodes to node groups to achieve as uniform a distribution of second nodes in the node groups as possible. Thus, after assigning second nodes to node groups according to one or more of the criteria identified above, the node group assignment node may analyze the groups to determine whether the number of second nodes in the node groups is as uniformly distributed as possible. If not, the node group assignment node may change the assignment of at least one second node from the original (or current) node group to a different node group to achieve a more uniform distribution of the number of second nodes in the node groups. The node group assignment node may perform multiple iterations of moving one or more second nodes into one or more different node groups until an optimally uniform distribution of the number of second nodes in the node groups is achieved.

[0067] Additionally, in various embodiments, after the node group assignment node determines the node group for the second node, a node group notification node, which may be the node group assignment node or another node, may notify the second node of the node group to which they belong. In various embodiments, the node group notification node may notify the second node by broadcasting the node group information to the second node. In certain embodiments, the node group notification node may include the node group information in a header of a broadcast signal. In response to receiving the broadcast signal, the second node checks the header of the broadcast signal and identifies the node group to which it belongs. In various embodiments, the node groups may each have an associated node group identifier (ID) that uniquely identifies the node group. For at least some of these embodiments, the node group notification node may notify the second node of the node group using the node group ID.

[0068] Additionally, in various embodiments, the node group notifying node may notify the second node before the first node transmits a signal to the second node. For example, the node group notifying node may broadcast the node group information to the first node prior to other signals that the first node is to transmit to the second node via the intelligent reflecting device 124. For other embodiments, the first node includes the group node information in the signal it transmits to the second node. After the signal is reflected by the intelligent reflecting device 124, the second node receives the reflected signal. A given second node receiving the reflected signal may check a portion of the reflected signal, such as the header of the reflected signal, to identify the node group to which it belongs.

[0069] In various embodiments where the node group assignment node is not an intelligent reflective device 124, the node group assignment node may also inform the intelligent reflective device 124 of the node group information. The node group assignment node may inform the intelligent reflective device either wirelessly or through a wired connection, depending on how it is communicatively connected to the intelligent reflective device 124.

[0070] After the node group assignment node assigns each of the second nodes to one of the plurality of node groups in block 304, the first node may determine a plurality of signals to transmit to the plurality of second nodes via the intelligent reflection device 124. For the first node to transmit the signals, a scheduling node may determine a timing schedule for transmitting the signals. The scheduling node may be the first node or another node. The timing schedule may identify a time to transmit each of the signals. In particular, the timing schedule may identify one or more time slots and associate each time slot of the one or more time slots with one of the signals that the first node should transmit. A given time slot associated with a given signal in the timing schedule indicates that the first node should transmit the given signal at or during the given time slot. The scheduling node may generate a timing schedule based on the node groups determined in block 302. In particular, the scheduling node may associate a signal with a time slot, whereby the timing schedule indicates transmitting a signal in the same time slot for reception by a second node of the same node group and transmitting a signal in a different time slot for reception by a second node of a different node group.

[0071] To illustrate, assume that the second node A and the second node B are in the same node group, and assume that the first node should transmit a first signal to the second node A and a second signal to the second node B. Because the second node A and the second node B are in the same node group, the scheduling node may generate a timing schedule to indicate transmitting the first and second signals in the same time slot. As another illustration, assume that the second node A and the second node C are in different node groups, and assume that the first node should transmit a third signal to the second node C. Because the second node A and the second node C are in different node groups, the scheduling node may generate a timing schedule to indicate transmitting the first and third signals in different time slots.

[0072] At block 306, the first node may transmit signals to the second node via the intelligent reflecting device 126 according to the timing schedule. In doing so, the first node transmits signals in the time slots with which each of the signals is associated. In addition, the signals are transmitted to the second node via the intelligent reflecting device 124 at a point where the given signal is reflected by the intelligent reflecting device 124 after the given signal to be received by the given second node is transmitted by the first node and before the given signal is received by the given second node.

[0073] FIG. 4 shows an example timing diagram illustrating an example timing scheme for implementing downlink and uplink data transmission based on node grouping. Such a timing diagram may be implemented when the first node is a radio access node 104 and the second node is a user device 102. A similar timing scheme may be implemented for other configurations where the first and second nodes are other than a radio access node 104 and a user device 102, respectively. As shown in FIG. 4, the nodes may determine channel state information, which may include uplink channel estimation followed by downlink channel estimation. After determining the channel state information, the node group assignment node may determine a node group for the second node (user device 102) based on one or more communication parameters as previously described. After determining the node group, the radio access node 104 may transmit downlink signals to the user device 102 via the intelligent reflection device 124 over multiple time slots for each node group, such as according to a node group-based timing schedule, as previously described. After transmitting the downlink signal to the last node group of the user device 102 , the user device 102 may transmit an uplink signal to the radio access node 104 .

[0074] In addition to or as an alternative to the node grouping performed by the node group assignment node, a region determination node (which may be the same as or different from the node group assignment node and / or which may be the first node or another node in the wireless communication system 100) may determine multiple surface element regions 208 for the multiple surface elements 206 of the intelligent reflective device 200. The region determination node may determine the multiple surface element regions 208 by dividing, grouping, or separating the surface elements 206 into surface element regions 208.

[0075] Upon determining the plurality of surface element regions 208, the first node may independently set communication parameters for each communication between the first node and the plurality of surface element regions 208. An exemplary communication parameter is a beam, such as a transmission beam, that the first node selects and uses to transmit a signal. To illustrate, if the first node should transmit a first signal to a first surface element region and a second signal to a second surface element region, the first node may independently select a first beam to be used to transmit the first signal to the first surface element region and a second beam to be used to transmit the second signal to the second surface element region. The first and second beams may be the same as or different from each other. Another exemplary communication parameter is a reflection angle at which the surface element region reflects an incident signal (or at which the surface element region outputs a reflected signal). To illustrate, a first node may independently control a first surface element area to output a first reflected signal at a first reflected angle and a second surface element area to output a second reflected signal at a second reflected angle.

[0076] 5 illustrates an exemplary method 500 for wireless communication including surface element region determination. At block 502, a region determination node may determine a plurality of surface element regions 208 of a plurality of surface elements 206 of a surface 202 of an intelligent reflective device 200. The region determination node may form the plurality of surface element regions 208 by dividing the plurality of surface elements 206 into a plurality of surface regions 208. To divide the surface elements 206 into the surface element regions 208, the region determination node may assign or associate each surface element 206 with one of the plurality of surface regions 208. Thus, upon dividing the surface elements 206 into the surface element regions 208, the surface element region 208 to which each surface element 206 belongs may be known. The region determination node may divide the surface elements 206 in any of a variety of ways based on any of a variety of criteria, examples of which are described in further detail below.

[0077] For some embodiments, the region determination node may determine the number of surface element regions 208 into which to divide the surface element 206. For example, the region determination node may determine the number of surface element regions 206, and then the region assignment node may assign each of the surface elements 206 to one or more of the number of surface element regions 208. For at least some of these embodiments, the region determination node may determine the number of surface element regions based on the number of second nodes. The number may be further based on a predetermined ratio of the number of surface element regions 208 to the number of second nodes. In various embodiments, the ratio is less than, equal to, or greater than 1, meaning that the number of surface regions 208 may be less than, equal to, or greater than the number of second nodes according to the ratio.

[0078] Additionally or alternatively, the number of surface regions 208 may be directly proportional to the number of second nodes. Thus, as the number of second nodes increases, the number of surface regions 208 also increases, and as the number of second nodes decreases, the number of surface regions 208 also decreases.

[0079] Additionally, in at least some embodiments, the region determination node may determine a shape for the surface element region 208. The region determination node may assign certain surface elements 206 as bounding surface elements for the surface element region 208 to form the shape. Any of a variety of shapes that may be formed with one or more surface elements 206 of the surface 202 may be possible, such as a rectangle or polygon, a star, an ellipse, an amorphous shape, or any other type of shape.

[0080] Additionally, for at least some embodiments, upon determination of the surface element regions 208, a region assignment node, which may be the same node as the region determination node or a different node, may assign (or match) each of the second nodes to one or more of the surface element regions 208. Through the assignment or matching, the region assignment node establishes an association between the surface element regions 208 and the second nodes. Then, when a first node is to transmit a signal to a given second node associated with a given one or more surface element regions 208, the first node may transmit the signal to the one or more associated surface element regions 208, which will then reflect the signal toward the given second node. Prior to the reflection, the first node (or another node) may set one or more reflection angles of the one or more surface element regions 208 to optimal values ​​for the reflection of the signal to the given second node.

[0081] In various embodiments, the region assignment node may assign the second node to a surface element region 208 based on any of a variety of communication parameters. For some embodiments, the region assignment node may assign the second node to a surface element region 208 based on channel state information of a channel between the surface element 206 of the intelligent reflecting device 124 and the second node. From the channel state information, the region assignment node may determine a received signal power or energy for each surface element 206 for each second node. The region assignment node may then assign the second node to one or more of the surface element regions 208 based on a received signal power or energy derived from the channel state information, such as a received signal amplitude of the channel state information. For example, the region assignment node may assign a given second node to a given surface element region 208 where the received signal power or energy of the surface element 206 in the given surface element region 208 exceeds a threshold or is the highest or is one of a predetermined number of the highest received signal powers or energies for the given second node. If the channel between the second node and the surface element 206 is sparse, the region assignment node may determine the received signal power or energy for each surface element 206 for each second node based on the angle and gain information.

[0082] Additionally or alternatively, for some embodiments, the region assignment node may assign a second node to a surface element region 208 based on the surface element group of the second node. For a given surface element group of a given second node and a given surface element region 208, the region assignment node may assign a given second node to a given surface element region if the number of surface elements 206 of the given surface element group that are also part of the given surface element region 208 meets or exceeds a threshold value. In various embodiments, the threshold value may be a threshold number of surface elements or a percentage of the total number of surface elements of the given surface element group. For example, if the threshold value is five surface elements, the region assignment node may assign a given second node to a given surface element region 208 if the surface element group associated with the given second node has at least five surface elements that are within or are part of the given surface element region. As another example, if the threshold is 50%, the region assignment node may assign a given second node to a given surface element region if the surface element group associated with the given second node has at least 50% of its surface elements within the given surface element region (or is at least a 50% portion of the surface elements).

[0083] Further, in some embodiments or situations, a surface element group of a given second node may overlap with more than one surface element region (i.e., a surface element group may include surface elements that are part of more than one surface element region). For at least some of these embodiments, the region assignment node may have a predetermined maximum number of surface element regions to assign to the given second node. If the number of surface element regions overlapped by a surface element group exceeds the predetermined maximum number, the region assignment node may select a predetermined maximum number of surface element regions from among the surface element regions where the surface element group overlaps that have the strongest signal power with respect to the given second node (or as it relates to the given second node) and assign the selected surface element regions to the given second node.

[0084] Additionally or alternatively, for some embodiments, the region allocation node may assign one or more of the surface element regions 208 to the second node based on a target communication parameter, such as, by way of non-limiting example, a target SINR, capacity, or data rate. For at least some of these embodiments, the region allocation node may determine the number of surface element regions 208 to assign to a given second node based on the one or more target communication parameters. For example, the region allocation node may assign only one or more (such as two or more) surface element regions to a given second node based on the one or more target communication parameters. Additionally or alternatively, the region allocation node may assign more surface element regions 208 to a first second node than a second second node if the first second node has one or more higher target communication parameters than the second second node. To illustrate, if a first second node has a higher target communication parameter than a second second node, the region assignment node may assign the first second node to two surface element regions 208 and assign the second second node to only one surface element region 208.

[0085] Additionally or alternatively, for some embodiments, the region assignment node may assign the second node to one or more of the surface element regions 208 based on location information associated with the second node. For at least some of these embodiments, the region assignment node may assign more surface element region 208 to a first second node than a second second node if the first second node is farther away from the intelligent reflective device 124 than the second second node. Additionally or alternatively, the region assignment node may assign second nodes to surface element regions 208 based on their relative distance away from the surface element region 208. In particular, the region assignment node may assign a closer second node to a surface element region than a second node that is farther away. For example, if a first second node is closer to a first surface element region than a second second node, and the second second node is closer to a second surface element region than the first second node, the region allocation node may assign the first second node to the first surface element region and the second second node to the second surface element region.

[0086] The surface element region determination described above may be considered a fixed surface element region determination in that the surface element regions 208 to be determined may be fixed in number, size, and shape before the second nodes are assigned to the surface element regions. In other embodiments, the region determination node may implement dynamic surface element region determination. Under dynamic surface element region determination, the region determination node determines the surface element regions 208 "on the fly" or dynamically as a function of or in response to the surface element groups of the second nodes. For example, even if the number of second nodes is known, the region determination node may not determine the size, shape, relative position of the surface element regions 208, or generally which surface elements 206 belong to which surface element regions 208, until or unless the surface element groups of the second nodes are known. In contrast, under the fixed approach already described, surface element regions 208 are determined (i.e., which surface elements 206 are within which surface element regions 208), and then the second node is assigned (or matched) to one or more of the surface element regions 208 based on one or more criteria, one of which may be the second node's surface element group, as already described.

[0087] Under the dynamic surface element determination scheme, the region determination node may identify a surface element region 208 as a region that includes a surface element group of a given second user. The surface element region 208 may be the surface element group itself, or may be the surface element group in addition to other surface elements 206 that surround the surface element group. In certain embodiments, the surface element region 208 includes all of the surface elements 206 of the surface element group, although in other embodiments, a surface element region 208 that includes less than all of the surface elements 206 of the surface element group may be possible. Additionally, in certain embodiments, the region determination node may determine the surface element region 208 according to a one-to-one correspondence or a ratio of the surface element region 208 to the surface element group (or to the second node). That is, for such an embodiment, the surface element region 208 includes surface elements 206 of only one surface element group, and / or the region assignment node assigns (or matches) only one second node to the surface element region 208. In other embodiments, the region determination node may determine a surface element region 208 that includes two or more surface element groups, and / or the region assignment node may assign (or match) two or more second nodes to the surface element region 208. In either case, when the region determination node determines one or more surface element groups to be part of the surface element region 208, the region determination node may determine a boundary of the surface element region 208 that includes one or more surface element groups, while excluding surface elements of the other surface element groups. In this manner, the region determination node determines the surface element region 208, including their size, shape, and relative positioning on the surface 202, dynamically as a function of the surface element groups (e.g., as the region determination node analyzes the surface element groups), rather than in a predetermined or fixed manner.

[0088] For at least some embodiments, when two surface element groups of two given second nodes overlap and the region determination node determines to form two different surface element regions 208 for the two surface element groups, the region determination node may determine one of the two surface element regions 208 to which the overlapping surface elements 206 should be assigned based on one or more overlap criteria. One overlap criterion may be based on received signal strength. Specifically, the region determination node may determine to assign or match the overlapping surface elements to the surface element region 208 of the second node having a greater received signal power. Another overlap criterion may be based on the number of surface elements. Specifically, the region determination node may determine to assign or match the overlapping surface elements to the surface element region 208 having a smaller number of surface elements. In other embodiments, the region determination node may not select one surface element region 208 over another. Instead, the region determination node may assign the overlapping surface elements 206 to both of the two surface element regions 208. In other embodiments, the region determination node may decide not to assign the overlapping surface element region 206 to either of the two surface element regions 208, and instead to leave the surface element 206 as a free surface element 206 that is available to be part of another surface element region 208.

[0089] Additionally, for at least some embodiments implementing a dynamic region determination scheme, the region determination node may determine the size of the surface element region 208 (number of surface elements 206) based on the location information of the second node. For example, the region determination node may determine the size of the surface element region 208 for a given second node as a function of, or in response to, the distance of the given second node from the intelligent reflecting device 124. In certain embodiments, the region determination node may allocate more surface elements 206 to the surface element region 208 for second nodes that are farther away from the intelligent reflecting device 124 than others, compared to other second nodes that are closer to the intelligent reflecting device 124.

[0090] Additionally or alternatively, for at least some embodiments implementing a dynamic region determination scheme, the region determination node may determine the size of the surface element region 208 based on one or more target communications parameters (e.g., target SINR, target capacity, target data rate). In certain embodiments, the region determination node may allocate more surface elements 206 to the surface element region 208 for second nodes with one or more higher target communications parameters compared to other second nodes with lower target communications parameters.

[0091] Additionally or alternatively, for at least some embodiments implementing a dynamic region determination scheme, the region determination node may determine the surface element region based on the node group. For example, the node group assignment node may assign each of the second nodes to one of a plurality of node groups, as already described. In addition, as already described, the scheduling node may determine a timing schedule indicating to transmit signals for reception by second nodes of the same node group in the same time slot and to transmit signals for reception by second nodes of different node groups in different time slots. According to the node grouping corresponding timing schedule, the region determination node may determine the surface element region per node group or per time slot. In particular, the region determination node may determine a set of surface element regions 208 for each node group. Because the first node transmits signals to different node groups in different time slots, the region determination node may use the same surface elements 206 for the different sets of surface element regions 208.

[0092] 6A-6C illustrate an example of dynamic region determination based on node groups determined from surface element groups. In the example, a first node should communicate with ten second nodes. FIG. 6A shows ten surface element groups (SEGs) distributed in the surface 202 of the intelligent reflective device, each surface element group being associated with one of the ten second nodes. For example, the first surface element group SEG1 is associated with the first second node, the second surface element group SEG2 is associated with the second second node, and so on. Referring to FIG. 6B, the node group determination node may group each of the ten second nodes into one of a plurality of node groups, such as based on one or more of the criteria already described. In the example of FIG. 6B, the second nodes are grouped into two node groups including a first node group (node ​​group 1) and a second node group (node ​​group 2). Specifically, the first, third, fifth, sixth, and tenth second nodes are grouped into node group 1, and the second, fourth, seventh, eighth, and ninth second nodes are grouped into node group 2. Referring to FIG. 6C, the region determination node determines a plurality of sets of surface element regions, each set relating to one of the node groups. For example, since the node group determination node has determined two node groups, the region determination node determines two sets of surface element regions, each relating to one of the two node groups. As shown in FIG. 6C, each set includes five surface element regions (SER), one surface element region relating to each of the five second nodes in that node group. For the first node group, the first surface element region (SER1) includes the surface element group of the first second node (SEG1), the second surface element region (SER2) includes the surface element group of the tenth second node (SEG10), and so on. Similarly, for the second node group, the first surface element region (SER1) includes the surface element group of the second second node (SEG2), the second surface element region (SER2) includes the surface element group of the ninth second node (SEG9), and so on.

[0093] Upon determining the set of surface element regions, the first node and / or the intelligent reflecting device 124 may independently set one or more communication parameters for communication with different surface element regions within the same set of surface element regions, and may also independently set one or more communication parameters for communication with different surface element regions within different sets of surface element regions. For example, with reference to FIG. 6C, the first node may determine to transmit a first set of signals to the first node group via the intelligent reflecting device 124 in a first time slot. To do so, the first node may independently select a transmission beam for transmitting signals to each of the five surface element regions of the first set of surface element regions, and / or the intelligent reflecting device 124 may independently set a reflection angle for each of the five surface element regions of the first set of surface element regions. Once the transmission beam and / or reflection angle are independently set, the first node may transmit the first set of signals to a second node in the first node group via the intelligent reflecting device in a first time slot. In addition, the first node may determine to transmit a second set of signals to the second group of nodes via the intelligent reflecting device 124 in the second time slot. To do so, the first node may independently select a transmission beam for transmitting signals to each of the five surface element regions of the second set of surface element regions and / or the intelligent reflecting device 124 may independently set a reflection angle for each of the five surface element regions of the second set of surface element regions. Once the transmission beams and / or the reflection angles are independently set, the first node may transmit the second set of signals to a second node in the second group of nodes via the intelligent reflecting device in the second time slot.

[0094] Under a dynamic region determination scheme, a region determination node determines or forms the surface element region 208 for a particular second node. As a result, the assignment of the second node to the surface element region 208 is inherently done when determining the surface element region 208. Thus, unlike a fixed region determination scheme, a dynamic region scheme may not have an explicit region assignment node to assign the second node to the surface element region 208.

[0095] Additionally, in various embodiments relating to either a fixed or dynamic region determination scheme, the region determination node and / or the region assignment node may inform the intelligent reflection device 124 of the determined surface regions 208 and, for at least some embodiments, the second nodes that are assigned or matched to each of the determined surface regions 208. The region determination node and / or the region assignment node may inform the intelligent reflection device 124 either wirelessly or through a wired connection, depending on how the region determination node and / or the region assignment node are communicatively connected to the intelligent reflection device 124.

[0096] When the second node is sufficiently far away from the intelligent reflecting device 124, the surface element group of the second node will likely, or typically, be relatively small compared to the overall size of the surface 202. As a result, the second node, or at least a majority of the second nodes, will have non-overlapping surface element groups, which may then enable communication between the first node and the second node via the intelligent reflecting device 124 without much transmission loss. Dynamic region determination may also be feasible for relatively large surface element groups.

[0097] FIG. 7 shows a schematic diagram of a wireless access node 104 and a plurality of user devices (UDs) 102 communicating with each other via an intelligent reflective device 124 during an uplink communication phase. In FIG. 6, two user devices 102(1) and 102(2) may transmit uplink signals simultaneously. A first user device 102(1) may transmit an uplink signal to the wireless access node 104 via a first surface element region SER1 of the intelligent reflective device, and a second user device 102(2) may transmit an uplink signal to the wireless access node 104 via a second surface element region SER2 of the intelligent reflective device. The first surface element region SER1 may include a surface element group of the first user device 102(1), and the second surface element region SER2 may include a surface element group of the second user device 102(2). Since the surface element regions SER of the intelligent reflective device 124 all form beams pointing towards the same entity, i.e. the radio access node 104, the spatial separation between the first and second surface element regions SER1, SER2 may be relatively unimportant in the uplink phase, or at least not as important as in the downlink phase.

[0098] Referring again to the method of FIG. 5, after the region determination node has determined the surface element regions, in block 504, the first node and / or the intelligent reflecting device 104 may independently set communication parameters for each communication between the first node and the surface element regions. In various embodiments, the communication parameters include at least one of the transmission beams of the first node or the reflection angles associated with the surface element regions. For example, the intelligent reflecting device 124 may independently set the reflection angles for the various surface element regions (such as through setting the phase shifts of the various surface elements 206) such that the surface element regions optimally reflect their respective incident signals toward the second node with which they are associated or matched. As another example, the first node may independently select transmission beams for transmitting signals to different surface element regions. For example, because the different surface element regions are spatially separated, it may be desirable for the first node to use different transmission beams when transmitting to different surface element regions. Thus, the first node may independently select the optimal transmission beams for transmitting signals to each different surface element region. Other communication parameters may be possible that the first node and / or the intelligent reflection device 124 may set independently.

[0099] 8A and 8B show schematic diagrams of a first device transmitting to a plurality of second nodes via an intelligent reflecting device 124. In the particular situation shown in FIGS. 8A and 8B, the first node is a wireless access node 104, the plurality of second nodes are user devices 102, and the wireless access node 104 and the user devices 102 are operating in a downlink transmission phase, i.e., the wireless access node 104 is transmitting to the user devices 102. As shown in FIGS. 8A and 8B, the surface element 206 of the intelligent reflecting device 124 is divided into three surface element regions SER1, SER2, SER3. Each of the three surface element regions SER1, SER2, SER3 is associated with and configured to reflect a signal to a respective one of the three user devices 102(1), 102(2), 102(3).

[0100] 8A illustrates a situation in which the distance between the wireless access node 104 and the intelligent reflective device 124 is relatively small to meet a close-range condition. For such a close-range condition, all of the surface element regions SER may receive similar signals, as illustrated in FIG. 8A.

[0101] 8B illustrates a situation in which the distance between the wireless access node 104 and the intelligent reflecting device 124 is relatively large to meet a long-distance condition. For such a long-distance condition, the first node (e.g., wireless access node 104) may simultaneously independently formulate or use multiple (or different) beams to transmit signals to different surface element regions SER. Furthermore, the intelligent reflecting device 124 may independently set the reflection angle of each surface element region to optimally reflect the incident signal toward their respective second node (e.g., user device 102) with which they are associated, to minimize interference between the overall channel including the path from the first node (e.g., wireless access node 104) to the surface element region SER and the path from the surface element region SER to the second node (e.g., user device 102).

[0102] 5, in block 506, the first node may transmit signals to the second node via multiple surface element regions of the intelligent reflective device after independently setting communication parameters for each communication. As previously described, if the region determination node determines surface element regions 208 for each node group, the first node and / or the intelligent reflective device may independently set communication parameters for different (or multiple) sets of surface element regions and transmit signals to the different node groups after independently setting communication parameters for the different sets.

[0103] Referring again to FIG. 1, as shown, the wireless communication system 100 may include multiple intelligent reflective devices 124. For such an embodiment, in order for a first node to communicate with a second node via multiple intelligent reflective devices 124, an intelligent reflective device selection node (which may be the first node, the intelligent reflective device, one or more second nodes, any other node in the communication system 100, or various combinations thereof) may first select or determine, for each of the second nodes, one or more target (or serving) intelligent reflective devices from among the multiple intelligent reflective devices. In various embodiments, the intelligent reflective device selection node may independently select the intelligent reflective devices 124 for different second nodes, whereby each second node is associated with a respective one or more target intelligent reflective devices, and for any two given second nodes, the one or more target intelligent reflective devices may be the same as or different from one another. For example, when selecting a target intelligent reflective device for a second node, the intelligent reflective device selection node may determine that the first node communicates with a first second node through a first set of one or more target intelligent reflective devices, and that the first node communicates with a second second node through a second set of one or more target intelligent reflective devices, where the first set of one or more target intelligent reflective devices and the second set of one or more target intelligent reflective devices may be the same as each other or different. The two sets of one or more target intelligent reflective devices may be the same as each other if all of the target intelligent reflective devices in their respective sets are the same. In addition, the two sets of one or more target intelligent reflective devices may be different from each other if at least one intelligent reflective device in one set is not part of the other set of intelligent reflective devices.

[0104] In addition, for embodiments in which the node group assignment node determines a node group for a second node, the node group assignment node may determine a node group for the second node based on the set of intelligent reflective devices (such as for each intelligent reflective device). For example, assume that a first node should communicate with a group of second nodes via a plurality of intelligent reflective devices 124. Further assume that the intelligent reflective device selection node determines that the first node should communicate with only a subset of the group of second nodes via a first targeted intelligent reflective device. The node group assignment node may then determine a node group for that subset of second nodes, excluding second nodes that are not part of the subset when grouping the subset of second nodes into a plurality of node groups. In addition, the scheduling node may determine a timing schedule based on the node group for the subset, and the first node may transmit a signal to the subset of second nodes via the first targeted intelligent reflective device in accordance with the timing schedule. Similar node grouping, timing scheduling, and transmission actions may be implemented with respect to other subsets of the second nodes corresponding to other targeted intelligent reflective devices.

[0105] Additionally, for embodiments in which the region determination node determines surface element groups for surface elements of the intelligent reflective devices 124, the region determination node may determine the surface element region based on a set of intelligent reflective devices (such as for each intelligent reflective device). For example, assume that a first node should communicate with a group of second nodes via a plurality of intelligent reflective devices 124. Further assume that the intelligent reflective device selection node determines that the first node should communicate with only a subset of the group of second nodes via a first targeted intelligent reflective device. The region determination node may then determine a surface element region for the first targeted intelligent reflective device based on the communication parameters and / or surface element groups associated with only that subset of second nodes, without considering second nodes of the group that are not part of that subset.

[0106] Additionally, in various of these embodiments of determining a target intelligent reflective device, the intelligent reflective device selection node may select a target intelligent reflective device for a given second node based on a signal power arriving at the intelligent reflective device 124. To that end, the first node may transmit one or more signals to the multiple intelligent reflective devices 124 for the given second node. In response to receiving a signal, each of the multiple intelligent reflective devices 124 may feed back the received or arriving signal power to the first node. In some embodiments, if the received signal power received from a given intelligent reflective device for transmission to a given intelligent reflective device for a given second node is above a predetermined threshold (e.g., 20%), the intelligent reflective device selection node may identify the given intelligent reflective device as a target intelligent reflective device with which the first node should communicate to transmit a signal to the given second node. In another exemplary embodiment, the intelligent reflective device selection node may select a target intelligent reflective device for a given second node as the intelligent reflective device having the highest received signal power or a predetermined number of the highest received signal powers among the received signal powers for the multiple intelligent reflective devices.

[0107] In other exemplary embodiments, a first node may communicate with a plurality of second nodes via a plurality of intelligent reflection devices. For such embodiments, the plurality of intelligent reflection devices may be a chain of intelligent reflection devices, with a first intelligent reflection device in the chain being a first intelligent reflection device for reflecting a set of signals from the first node, and a last intelligent reflection device in the chain being a last intelligent reflection device in the chain for reflecting a set of signals before the set of signals is received by the second node. In addition, a channel from a first node to a second node via a plurality of intelligent reflection devices may include a plurality of channel segments, each channel segment being between two nodes, the plurality of channel segments including a channel segment between the first node and a first intelligent reflection device in the chain, a channel segment between the last intelligent reflection device in the chain and a second node, and one or more channel segments each being between a respective two of the plurality of intelligent reflection devices in the chain.

[0108] For some embodiments, the surface element group determination node may determine a surface element group for each of the one or more second nodes for each intelligent reflective device in the chain. For other embodiments, the surface element group determination node may determine a surface element group for each of the one or more second nodes for only the last intelligent reflective device in the chain. In addition, for embodiments in which each of the intelligent reflective devices has sensing capability, the surface element group node may determine channel state information for each channel segment based on a channel estimation algorithm such as LS or MMSE, as previously described. The surface element group determination node may also use compressed sensing, for at least some embodiments. In addition, for at least some embodiments, the surface element group determination node may perform channel estimation to determine channel state information for intelligent reflective devices in the chain other than the first intelligent reflective device, in different time slots.

[0109] Additionally, for embodiments in which the last intelligent reflective device has sensing capabilities but the first intelligent reflective device does not, channel state information for the channel segment between the last intelligent reflective device and the second node may be obtained through channel estimation and / or compressed sensing, such as through the use of LS or MMSE, while channel state information for other channel segments may be obtained through repeated beam training or beam sweeping processes, as already described for the other channel segments.

[0110] Additionally, for embodiments in which the first intelligent reflective device has sensing capabilities but the last intelligent reflective device does not, channel state information for channel segments other than the channel segment between the first node and the first intelligent reflective device may be determined through repeated beam training or beam sweeping. For example, the codebooks for one or more of the first node and the intelligent reflective devices may be fixed and an iterative procedure using different beam pairs may be used to determine a desired beam pair from which channel state information may be obtained.

[0111] In various embodiments in which a first intelligent reflective device communicates with a plurality of second nodes through a chain of intelligent reflective devices, the node group assignment node may determine a node group based on one or more communication parameters between the plurality of second nodes and the last intelligent reflective device in the chain. For example, the node group assignment node may refrain from forming a node group based on communication parameters associated with any of the other intelligent reflective devices in the chain except the last intelligent reflective device. Additionally or alternatively, the region determination node may determine a surface element region for only the last intelligent reflective device in the chain. For example, with respect to each of the other intelligent reflective devices other than the last intelligent reflective device, the surface elements of the other intelligent reflective devices may be configured as one whole or integral region that reflects according to one reflection angle to collectively serve the plurality of second nodes. In contrast, the last intelligent reflective device may have its surface elements separated into different surface element regions, each independently controlled and configured with an associated reflection angle, and independently reflect signals to respective second nodes associated with each of the surface element regions, as previously described.

[0112] Thus, for such an embodiment, each of the intelligent reflecting devices in the chain may have an associated phase shift matrix that determines the phase shift of the surface elements, while the other intelligent reflecting devices other than the last intelligent reflecting device may each have an associated phase shift matrix that configures the phase shift of all of the surface elements of the surface such that the surface elements operate as a single unit and collectively reflect according to a single reflection angle, while the last intelligent reflecting device may have an associated phase shift matrix that corresponds to multiple surface element regions of the surface of the last intelligent reflecting device and sets the phase shifts of the surface elements of the different surface element regions such that the different surface element regions reflect at multiple independently set reflection angles according to the phase shifts determined by the phase shift matrix.

[0113] Configurations that implement node grouping, surface element area determination, and / or control of independent reflection angle / phase shift for different surface element areas for only the last intelligent reflection device in the chain may reduce the overall complexity of communication between a first node and multiple nodes, thereby making use of a chain of intelligent reflection devices more practical and / or easier to implement.

[0114] The above description and the accompanying drawings provide specific exemplary embodiments and implementations. However, the described subject matter may be embodied in a variety of different forms, and therefore, it is intended that the covered or claimed subject matter be construed as not being limited to any exemplary embodiment described herein. A reasonably broad scope for the claimed or covered subject matter is intended. Among other things, for example, the subject matter may be embodied as a method, device, component, system, or non-transitory computer-readable medium for storing computer code. Thus, the embodiments may take the form of, for example, hardware, software, firmware, storage medium, or any combination thereof. For example, the method embodiments described above may be implemented by a component, device, or system including a memory and a processor executing computer code stored in the memory.

[0115] Throughout this specification and the claims, terms may have subtle meanings that are suggested or implied in a context other than the meaning explicitly stated. Similarly, the phrase "in one embodiment / implementation" as used herein does not necessarily refer to the same embodiment, and the phrase "in another embodiment / implementation" as used herein does not necessarily refer to a different embodiment. For example, it is intended that the claimed subject matter include, in whole or in part, a combination of the example embodiments.

[0116] Generally, terminology may be understood, at least in part, from use in context. For example, terms such as "and," "or," or "and / or" as used herein may include various meanings that may depend, at least in part, on the context in which such terms are used. Typically, "or," when used to relate a list such as A, B, or C, is intended to mean A, B, and C, which are used herein in an inclusive sense, and A, B, or C, which are used herein in an exclusive sense. In addition, the term "one or more" as used herein may be used, at least in part, depending on the context, to describe any feature, structure, or characteristic in a singular sense, or may be used to describe a combination of features, structures, or characteristics in a plural sense. Similarly, terms such as "a," "an," or "the" may be understood, at least in part, to convey the use of the singular, or to convey the use of the plural, depending, at least in part, on the context. In addition, the term "based on" may be understood not to necessarily be intended to convey an exclusive set of factors, and instead may allow for the existence of additional factors not necessarily specifically described, again, at least in part, depending on the context.

[0117] References to features, advantages, or similar language throughout this specification do not imply that all of the features and advantages that may be realized using the solution should or are included in any single implementation thereof. Rather, language referring to features and advantages is to be understood to mean that a particular feature, advantage, or characteristic described in connection with an embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the solution. Thus, discussions of features and advantages and similar language throughout this specification may, but do not necessarily, refer to the same embodiment.

[0118] Furthermore, the described features, advantages, and characteristics of the solution may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. Those skilled in the art will recognize in light of the description herein that the solution may be practiced without one or more of the specific features or advantages of a particular embodiment. In other cases, additional features and advantages may be recognized in an embodiment that may not be present in all embodiments of the solution.

Claims

1. 1. A method for wireless communication, the method comprising: a node group assignment node assigning each of a plurality of second nodes to one of a plurality of node groups based on one or more communication parameters between the plurality of second nodes and an intelligent reflective device, the one or more communication parameters comprising surface element group information identifying a plurality of surface element groups for the plurality of second nodes; a first node determining a plurality of signals to transmit to the plurality of second nodes and a timing schedule for transmitting the plurality of second signals, the timing schedule identifying a plurality of time slots and indicating transmission in the same time slot of signals for reception by second nodes of the same node group and indicating transmission in a plurality of different time slots of signals for reception by second nodes of a plurality of different node groups; the first node transmitting the plurality of signals to the intelligent reflection device according to the timing schedule; A method comprising:

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more communications parameters further comprise a received signal power of an incident signal received by the intelligent reflecting device.

3. 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: a surface element group determination node determining the plurality of surface element groups for the plurality of second nodes based on a received signal power of an incident signal received by the intelligent reflective device, each surface element group comprising at least one surface element of a surface of the intelligent reflective device, each surface element group being associated with a respective one of the plurality of second nodes.

4. Determining the plurality of surface element groups for the plurality of second nodes includes: The surface element group decision node adds a given surface element to an associated surface element group based on a received signal power associated with the given surface element exceeding a power threshold.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising determining the associated surface element group for one of the plurality of second nodes by adding a surface element group associated with the one of the plurality of second nodes to a surface element group associated with the one of the plurality of second nodes.

5. 5. The method of claim 4, wherein determining the associated surface element group for one of the plurality of second nodes further comprises adding the given surface element to the associated surface element group further based on a predetermined maximum number of surface elements.

6. The method of claim 3 , wherein assigning each of the second nodes to one of the node groups is based on at least one overlap criterion associated with the surface element groups.

7. 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the at least one overlap criterion comprises whether an amount of surface element overlap exceeds an overlap threshold corresponding to a threshold number of common surface elements, the threshold number of common surface elements being common among two or more of the plurality of surface element groups.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the at least one overlap criterion comprises one or more surface element group boundary criteria.

9. The method of claim 3 , further comprising: the surface element group decision node determining the received signal power based on channel state information.

10. 10. The method of claim 9, wherein determining the channel state information includes the intelligent reflection device estimating the channel state information using a channel estimation algorithm.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising: determining the channel state information by performing beam sweeping or beam training with the first node and the intelligent reflector device.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more communication parameters further comprise angle information associated with a channel between the intelligent reflecting device and the plurality of second nodes.

13. 13. The method of claim 12, wherein assigning each of the plurality of second nodes to one of the plurality of node groups is further based on at least one angular overlap criterion associated with at least one of an angular spread or a central angle of the angular information.

14. 2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more communication parameters further comprise an orthogonality between channels, and wherein assigning each of the plurality of second nodes to one of the plurality of node groups further comprises assigning the two nodes to the same node group in response to an orthogonality between two channels for two nodes of the plurality of second nodes exceeding an orthogonality threshold.

15. The one or more communication parameters further comprise location information of the second nodes, and assigning each of the plurality of second nodes to one of the plurality of node groups comprises:

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: in response to the location information comprising a distance difference between two nodes of the plurality of second nodes that exceeds a location difference threshold, assigning the two nodes to a same node group.

16. The one or more communication parameters further comprise a device type, and assigning each of the plurality of second nodes to one of the plurality of node groups includes:

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: in response to two nodes of the plurality of second nodes having the same node type, assigning the two nodes to the same node group.

17. The one or more communication parameters further comprise one or more quality of service parameters, and assigning each of the plurality of second nodes to one of the plurality of second node groups comprises:

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: in response to two nodes of the plurality of second nodes having the same quality of service target corresponding to the one or more quality of service parameters, assigning the two nodes to the same node group.

18. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: the node group assignment node moving at least one of the second nodes to a different node group based on a uniform distribution criterion.

19. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: a node group notifying node broadcasting information notifying the plurality of node groups to the plurality of second nodes.

20. the plurality of second nodes comprises a subset of a group of second nodes, and the intelligent reflective device comprises a target intelligent reflective device of the plurality of intelligent reflective devices; The method further includes an intelligent reflective device selection node determining, for the subset, the target intelligent reflective device from among the plurality of intelligent reflective devices; 2. The method of claim 1 , wherein assigning each of the plurality of second nodes to one of a plurality of node groups comprises assigning each of the plurality of second nodes of a subset of the groups of second nodes to one of a plurality of node groups.

21. 21. The method of claim 20, wherein determining the target intelligent reflective device from among the plurality of intelligent reflective devices for the subset is based on a received signal power of an incident signal received by the target intelligent reflective device.

22. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the intelligent reflective device comprises a last intelligent reflective device in a chain of a plurality of intelligent reflective devices, and the first node communicates with the plurality of second nodes via the chain of the plurality of intelligent reflective devices.

23. An apparatus comprising a processor and a memory, the processor being configured to read code from the memory and to perform a method according to any of claims 1 to 22.

24. A computer program product comprising a computer readable program medium having code stored thereon, the code causing the processor to perform a method according to any of claims 1 to 22 when executed by a processor.

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