Techniques for improving efficiency in sidelink wireless communications - Patents.com

Abstract

Some aspects described herein relate to receiving, from a base station, a configuration for transmitting uplink signaling to the base station, determining, based on the configuration, to set up a group for sidelink communication with one or more other user equipments (UEs), transmitting, based on the determination to set up the group, a first uplink message based on the configuration from the base station, and receiving, from the one or more other UEs, a second uplink message based on the configuration to indicate the setup of the group. Some aspects described herein also relate to contention avoidance between sidelink communication and uplink / downlink communication.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] Aspects of the present disclosure relate generally to wireless communication systems, and more particularly, to performing sidelink communications between devices. [Background technology]

[0002] Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content, such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcasts, etc. These systems may be multiple-access systems capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources (e.g., time, frequency, and power). Examples of such multiple-access systems include Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) systems, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) systems, Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) systems, Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) systems, and Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) systems.

[0003] These multiple access technologies are being adopted in various telecommunication standards to provide a common protocol that allows different wireless devices to communicate on a city, national, regional, or even global scale. For example, the fifth generation (5G) wireless communication technology (sometimes referred to as 5G New Radio (5G NR)) is envisioned to extend and support diverse usage scenarios and applications for the current mobile network generation. In one aspect, the 5G communication technology can include enhanced mobile broadband that addresses human-centric use cases for accessing multimedia content, services, and data, ultra-reliable low-latency communications (URLLC) with several specifications for latency and reliability, and massive machine-type communications that can enable a very large number of connected devices and the transmission of information that is not affected by a relatively small amount of delay. However, as the demand for mobile broadband access continues to increase, further improvements in 5G communication technology and beyond may be desired.

[0004] In some wireless communication technologies, such as 5G, user equipment (UE) communicates with base stations to receive access to the wireless network and to communicate with other UEs. In some scenarios where nearby UEs are communicating with each other, such as interactive games, traversing base stations and other network components for direct communication with nearby UEs may use a large amount of network resources and may experience undesirable delays in communication. Summary of the Invention [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] The following presents a simplified summary of one or more aspects in order to provide a basic understanding of such aspects. This summary is not an exhaustive overview of all contemplated aspects, nor does it identify key or critical elements of all aspects or delineate the scope of any or all aspects. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of one or more aspects in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.

[0006] According to an example, a method of wireless communication is provided, the method including receiving, from a base station, a configuration for transmitting uplink signaling to the base station, determining to set up a group for sidelink communication with one or more other user equipments (UEs) based on the configuration, transmitting a configuration-based first uplink message from the base station based on the determination to set up the group, and receiving a configuration-based second uplink message from the one or more other UEs to indicate the setup of the group.

[0007] In another example, a method of wireless communication is provided that includes receiving, from a base station, a configuration for transmitting uplink signaling to the base station; receiving, from a UE, a first uplink message based on the configuration from the base station; determining, based on the first uplink message received from the UE, to set up a group for sidelink communication with the UE; and, based on the determination to set up the group, transmitting a second uplink message over uplink resources determined based on the configuration to indicate the setup of the group.

[0008] In another example, a method of wireless communication is provided that includes receiving one or more signals from a plurality of UEs; determining a possible grouping of a subset of the plurality of UEs based on one or more parameters associated with the one or more signals; and transmitting, to the subset of the plurality of UEs, a configuration for transmitting uplink signaling over uplink resources to set up the possible grouping among the subset of the plurality of UEs for sidelink communication based on determining the possible grouping.

[0009] In another example, a method of wireless communication is provided, comprising: determining to transmit a sidelink communication to one or more UEs in a first time period; transmitting a notification signal to indicate transmission of the sidelink communication in the first time period based on the determination to transmit the sidelink communication in a second time period preceding the first time period; and receiving feedback from the one or more UEs or a base station indicating whether communication is scheduled in the first time period.

[0010] In another example, a method of wireless communication is provided that includes receiving a notification signal from a UE in a first time period preceding a second time period to indicate transmission of a sidelink communication in the second time period, determining whether resources are scheduled for communication in the second time period, and transmitting feedback to the UE in the first time period indicating whether communication is scheduled in the second time period.

[0011] In a further example, an apparatus for wireless communication is provided, including a transceiver, a memory configured to store instructions, and one or more processors communicatively coupled to the transceiver and the memory. The one or more processors are configured to execute instructions for performing operations of the methods and examples described above and further described herein. In another aspect, an apparatus for wireless communication is provided, including means for performing operations of the methods and examples described above and further described herein. In yet another aspect, a computer-readable medium is provided, including code executable by one or more processors to perform operations of the methods and examples described above and further described herein.

[0012] To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the one or more aspects comprise the features hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims. The following description and the annexed drawings set forth in detail certain illustrative features of the one or more aspects. These features are indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of the various aspects may be employed and the description is intended to include all such aspects and their equivalents.

[0013] The disclosed aspects are described below with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which like designations refer to like elements, and which are provided to illustrate but not to limit the disclosed aspects. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0014] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a wireless communication system in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a UE, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. [Diagram 3] FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a base station, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 4]1 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a method for setting up a group of user equipment (UE) for sidelink communication, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. [Diagram 5] 1 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a method for indicating setup of a group of UEs for sidelink communication, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 6] 1 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a method for configuring a UE to set up a group for sidelink communication, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 7] 1 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a method for transmitting a contention avoidance signal in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 8] 1 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a method for receiving a conflict avoidance signal in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 9] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of resource allocation for transmitting contention avoidance signals in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 10] FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a MIMO communication system including a base station and a UE, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0015] Various embodiments will now be described with reference to the drawings. In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of one or more embodiments. However, it will be apparent that such embodiments may be practiced without these specific details.

[0016] The described features generally relate to using sidelink resources to offload or otherwise perform communications between nearby user equipment (UE). For example, a UE configured to communicate with a base station in a wireless network can use sidelink communications to offload communications for nearby UEs, which may improve experience and network efficiency in some scenarios, such as interactive gaming. To facilitate sidelink communications, in one example, nearby UEs can organize or otherwise associate in a group of UEs for sidelink communications. For example, a base station can help establish a group of UEs by triggering the UEs to transmit uplink communications (e.g., RACH communications such as a random access channel (RACH) preamble) and can configure nearby UEs to transmit similar uplink communications (e.g., RACH communications using the same particular RACH preamble). UEs can monitor uplink communications from other UEs and can pair or group with UEs within a certain distance (e.g., within a certain receive timing) for sidelink communications. In one example, a UE that detects uplink communication may transmit a feedback communication (eg, a RACH response) over an uplink channel to indicate the group setup to the UE where the uplink communication was detected.

[0017] In addition, when a UE is configured for sidelink communication and communication with a base station simultaneously, the UE may experience conflicts using sidelink resources with other UEs and using uplink / downlink resources with the base station. In one example, to avoid conflicts between transmitting sidelink communication and receiving downlink communication, a transmitting UE may transmit a contention avoidance signal to inform a receiving UE about an upcoming sidelink transmission, and the receiving UE may transmit feedback to the transmitting UE indicating whether the receiving UE can receive the sidelink communication (e.g., based on whether the receiving UE is scheduled to receive a communication from the base station). Similarly, for example, a transmitting UE may transmit a contention avoidance signal to a base station to inform a base station about an upcoming sidelink transmission, and the base station may avoid scheduling the UE on the associated resource and / or transmit feedback to the UE indicating whether the UE can transmit a sidelink transmission over the resource. In another example, the UE may determine whether to prioritize a sidelink transmission to one or more UEs over an uplink transmission to a base station based on one or more priority rules configured in the UE. In one example, the transmitting UE may transmit a contention avoidance signal as or together with the uplink signaling described above for establishing a group of UEs, and / or the receiving UE or base station may transmit feedback as or together with the feedback signaling described above.

[0018] Grouping UEs for sidelink communications in this regard can enable more efficient spectrum usage and / or improved performance by using the sidelink without having to traverse the base station or the rest of the network. In addition, contention avoidance strategies can enable desirable use of sidelink resources while mitigating interference that may be caused by communications between the UEs and the base station.

[0019] The described features are presented in more detail below with reference to FIGS.

[0020] As used in this application, terms such as "component," "module," "system," and the like are intended to include computer-related entities, such as, but not limited to, hardware, software, a combination of hardware and software, or software in execution. For example, a component may be, but is not limited to, a process running on a processor, a processor, an object, an executable, a thread of execution, a program, and / or a computer. By way of example, both an application running on a computing device and the computing device may be a component. One or more components may reside within a process and / or thread of execution, and a component may be localized on one computer and / or distributed among two or more computers. Additionally, these components may execute from various computer-readable media having various data structures stored thereon. A component may communicate with local and / or remote processes, such as by following a signal having one or more data packets, such as data from one component interacting with another component in a local system, a distributed system, and / or interacting with other systems over a network such as the Internet. Software shall be construed broadly to mean instructions, instruction sets, code, code segments, program code, programs, subprograms, software modules, applications, software applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, executables, threads of execution, procedures, functions, etc., whether referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or otherwise.

[0021] The techniques described herein may be used for various wireless communication systems such as CDMA, TDMA, FDMA, OFDMA, SC-FDMA, and other systems. The terms "system" and "network" may often be used interchangeably. A CDMA system may implement radio technologies such as CDMA2000, Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), etc. CDMA2000 covers IS-2000, IS-95, and IS-856 standards. IS-2000 Releases 0 and A are commonly referred to as CDMA2000 1X, 1X, etc. IS-856 (TIA-856) is commonly referred to as CDMA2000 1xEV-DO, High Rate Packet Data (HRPD), etc. UTRA includes Wideband CDMA (WCDMA) and other variants of CDMA. A TDMA system may implement radio technologies such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). An OFDMA system may implement radio technologies such as Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), Evolved UTRA (E-UTRA), IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, Flash-OFDM™, etc. UTRA and E-UTRA are parts of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS). 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) and LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) are new releases of UMTS that use E-UTRA. UTRA, E-UTRA, UMTS, LTE, LTE-A, and GSM are described in documents from an organization named "3rd Generation Partnership Project" (3GPP). CDMA2000 and UMB are described in documents from an organization named "3rd Generation Partnership Project 2" (3GPP2). The techniques described herein may be used for the systems and radio technologies mentioned above, as well as other systems and radio technologies, including cellular (e.g., LTE) communications over a shared radio frequency spectrum band.However, in the following description, LTE / LTE-A systems are described as examples, and LTE terminology is used in much of the following description, but the techniques are applicable outside of LTE / LTE-A applications (e.g., to Fifth Generation (5G) New Radio (NR) networks or other next-generation communication systems).

[0022] The following description provides examples and does not limit the scope, applicability, or examples set forth in the claims. Changes may be made in the function and arrangement of the elements described without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Various examples may omit, substitute, or add various procedures or components as appropriate. For example, the methods described may be performed in an order different from that described, and various steps may be added, omitted, or combined. Also, features described with respect to some examples may be combined in other examples.

[0023] Various aspects or features are presented in terms of systems that may include several devices, components, modules, etc. It is to be understood and appreciated that the various systems may include additional devices, components, modules, etc. and / or may not include all of the devices, components, modules, etc. described in connection with the figures. A combination of these approaches may also be used.

[0024] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a wireless communication system and access network 100. The wireless communication system (also referred to as a wireless wide area network (WWAN)) may include base stations 102, UEs 104, evolved packet cores (EPC) 160, and / or 5G cores (5GC) 190. The base stations 102 may include macrocells (high-power cellular base stations) and / or small cells (low-power cellular base stations). The macrocells may include base stations. The small cells may include femtocells, picocells, and microcells. In one example, the base stations 102 may also include gNBs 180, as described further herein. In one example, some nodes of the wireless communication system may have a modem 240 and a communication component 242 for establishing sidelink communication groups and / or avoiding contention in transmitting sidelink communications and communications transmitted / received to / from the base stations 102. Additionally, some nodes may have a modem 340 and a scheduling component 342 to configure the UEs to form sidelink communication groups and / or avoid contention when transmitting / receiving sidelink communications to and between the UE 104, as described herein. Although the UE 104 is shown as having a modem 240 and a communication component 242 and the base station 102 is shown as having a modem 340 and a scheduling component 342, this is one illustrative example and substantially any node or substantially any type of node may include a modem 240 and a communication component 242 and / or a modem 340 and a scheduling component 342 to provide the corresponding functionality described herein.

[0025] A base station 102 configured for 4G LTE (which may be collectively referred to as an Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN)) may interface with the EPC 160 over a backhaul link 132 (e.g., using an S1 interface). A base station 102 configured for 5G NR (which may be collectively referred to as a Next Generation RAN (NG-RAN)) may interface with the 5GC 190 over a backhaul link 184. In addition to other functions, the base station 102 may perform one or more of the following functions: forwarding of user data, encryption and decryption of radio channels, integrity protection, header compression, mobility control functions (e.g., handover, dual connectivity), inter-cell interference coordination, connection setup and release, load balancing, distribution for non-access stratum (NAS) messages, NAS node selection, synchronization, radio access network (RAN) sharing, multimedia broadcast multicast services (MBMS), subscriber and equipment tracing, RAN information management (RIM), paging, positioning, and delivery of alert messages. The base stations 102 may communicate with each other directly or indirectly (e.g., through the EPC 160 or the 5GC 190) over the backhaul links 134 (e.g., using an X2 interface). The backhaul links 134 may be wired or wireless.

[0026] The base stations 102 may wirelessly communicate with one or more UEs 104. Each of the base stations 102 may provide communication coverage to a respective geographic coverage area 110. There may be overlapping geographic coverage areas 110. For example, a small cell 102' may have a coverage area 110' that overlaps with the coverage area 110 of one or more macro base stations 102. A network including both small cells and macro cells may be referred to as a heterogeneous network. A heterogeneous network may also include a home evolved Node B (eNB) (HeNB) that may serve a restricted group, which may be referred to as a closed subscriber group (CSG). A communication link 120 between the base station 102 and the UE 104 may include an uplink (UL) (also referred to as a reverse link) transmission from the UE 104 to the base station 102 and / or a downlink (DL) (also referred to as a forward link) transmission from the base station 102 to the UE 104. The communication link 120 may use multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna techniques, including spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and / or transmit diversity. The communication link may be through one or more carriers. The base station 102 / UE 104 may use spectrum with bandwidth up to Y MHz (e.g., 5, 10, 15, 20, 100, 400 MHz, etc.) per carrier allocated in carrier aggregation up to a total of Yx MHz (e.g., for x component carriers) used for transmission in DL and / or UL directions. The carriers may be adjacent or non-adjacent to each other. The carrier allocation may be asymmetric with respect to DL and UL (e.g., more or fewer carriers may be allocated for DL ​​than for UL). The component carriers may include a primary component carrier and one or more secondary component carriers. The primary component carrier may be referred to as a primary cell (PCell), and the secondary component carrier may be referred to as a secondary cell (SCell).

[0027] In another example, several UEs 104 may communicate with each other using device-to-device (D2D) communication links 158. The D2D communication links 158 may use DL / UL WWAN spectrum. The D2D communication links 158 may use one or more sidelink channels, such as a physical sidelink broadcast channel (PSBCH), a physical sidelink discovery channel (PSDCH), a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH), and a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH). The D2D communication may be through various wireless D2D communication systems, such as, for example, FlashLinQ, WiMedia, Bluetooth, ZigBee, Wi-Fi based on the IEEE 802.11 standard, LTE, or NR.

[0028] The wireless communication system may further include a Wi-Fi access point (AP) 150 in communication with a Wi-Fi station (STA) 152 via a communication link 154 in the 5 GHz unlicensed frequency spectrum. When communicating in the unlicensed frequency spectrum, the STA 152 / AP 150 may perform clear channel assessment (CCA) before communicating to determine if a channel is available.

[0029] The small cell 102' may operate in licensed and / or unlicensed frequency spectrums. When operating in the unlicensed frequency spectrum, the small cell 102' may employ NR and use the same 5 GHz unlicensed frequency spectrum used by the Wi-Fi AP 150. The small cell 102' employing NR in the unlicensed frequency spectrum may extend coverage to and / or increase capacity of the access network.

[0030] The base station 102, whether a small cell 102' or a large cell (e.g., a macro base station), may include an eNB, a gNodeB (gNB), or other type of base station. Some base stations, such as the gNB 180, may communicate with the UE 104 and operate in the traditional sub-6 GHz spectrum, at millimeter wave (mmW) frequencies, and / or at sub-mmW frequencies. When the gNB 180 operates at mmW or sub-mmW frequencies, it may be referred to as an mmW base station. Extremely high frequency (EHF) is a part of RF in the electromagnetic spectrum. EHF has a range of 30 GHz to 300 GHz and a wavelength between 1 millimeter and 10 millimeters. Radio waves in that band may be referred to as millimeter waves. Sub-mmW has a wavelength of 100 millimeters and may extend up to frequencies of 3 GHz. The very high frequency (SHF) band is also called centimeter wave and extends between 3 GHz and 30 GHz. Communications using the mmW / sub-mmW radio frequency bands have extremely high path loss and short distances. The mmW base station 180 may utilize beamforming 182 to the UE 104 to compensate for the large path loss and short distance. The base station 102 referred to herein may include a gNB 180.

[0031] The EPC 160 may include a Mobility Management Entity (MME) 162, other MMEs 164, a Serving Gateway 166, a Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS) Gateway 168, a Broadcast Multicast Service Center (BM-SC) 170, and a Packet Data Network (PDN) Gateway 172. The MME 162 may be in communication with a Home Subscriber Server (HSS) 174. The MME 162 is a control node that handles signaling between the UE 104 and the EPC 160. In general, the MME 162 provides bearer and connection management. All user Internet Protocol (IP) packets are forwarded through the Serving Gateway 166, which is itself connected to the PDN Gateway 172. The PDN Gateway 172 provides UE IP address allocation as well as other functions. The PDN Gateway 172 and the BM-SC 170 are connected to the IP Services 176. The IP services 176 may include Internet, Intranet, IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), PS streaming services, and / or other IP services. The BM-SC 170 may provide functionality for MBMS user service provisioning and delivery. The BM-SC 170 may act as an entry point for content provider MBMS transmissions, may be used to authorize and start MBMS bearer services in a Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN), and may be used to schedule MBMS transmissions. The MBMS Gateway 168 may be used to deliver MBMS traffic to base stations 102 that belong to a Multicast Broadcast Single Frequency Network (MBSFN) area that broadcasts a particular service, and may be responsible for session management (start / stop) and collecting eMBMS-related charging information.

[0032] The 5GC 190 may include an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) 192, other AMFs 193, a Session Management Function (SMF) 194, and a User Plane Function (UPF) 195. The AMF 192 may be in communication with an Unified Data Management (UDM) 196. The AMF 192 may be a control node that handles signaling between the UE 104 and the 5GC 190. In general, the AMF 192 may provide QoS flow and session management. User Internet Protocol (IP) packets (e.g., from one or more UEs 104) may be forwarded through the UPF 195. The UPF 195 may provide UE IP address allocation as well as other functions for one or more UEs. The UPF 195 is connected to IP services 197. The IP services 197 may include the Internet, an intranet, an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), PS streaming services, and / or other IP services.

[0033] A base station may also be referred to as a gNB, Node B, evolved Node B (eNB), access point, base transceiver station, radio base station, radio transceiver, transceiver function, basic service set (BSS), enhanced service set (ESS), transmit reception point (TRP), or some other suitable terminology. The base station 102 provides an access point to the EPC 160 or 5GC 190 for the UE 104. Examples of UEs 104 include cellular phones, smartphones, session initiation protocol (SIP) phones, laptops, personal digital assistants (PDAs), satellite radios, positioning systems (e.g., satellite, terrestrial), multimedia devices, video devices, digital audio players (e.g., MP3 players), cameras, game consoles, tablets, smart devices, robots, drones, industrial / manufacturing devices, wearable devices (e.g., smart watches, smart clothing, smart glasses, virtual reality goggles, smart wristbands, smart jewelry (e.g., smart rings, smart bracelets)), vehicles / vehicle devices, meters (e.g., parking meters, electric meters, gas meters, water meters, flow meters), gas pumps, large or small kitchen appliances, medical / healthcare devices, implants, sensors / actuators, displays, or any other similarly functional devices. Some of the UEs 104 may be referred to as IoT devices (e.g., meters, pumps, monitors, cameras, industrial / manufacturing devices, appliances, vehicles, robots, drones, etc.). IoT UEs may include MTC / enhanced MTC (eMTC, also known as CAT-M, Cat M1) UEs, NB-IoT (also known as CAT NB1) UEs, as well as other types of UEs. In this disclosure, eMTC and NB-IoT may refer to future technologies that may evolve from or be based on these technologies.For example, eMTC may include FeMTC (further eMTC), eFeMTC (enhanced further eMTC), mMTC (massive MTC), etc., and NB-IoT may include eNB-IoT (enhanced NB-IoT), FeNB-IoT (further enhanced NB-IoT), etc. The UE 104 may also be referred to as a station, mobile station, subscriber station, mobile unit, subscriber unit, wireless unit, remote unit, mobile device, wireless device, wireless communications device, remote device, mobile subscriber station, access terminal, mobile terminal, wireless terminal, remote terminal, handset, user agent, mobile client, client, or some other suitable terminology.

[0034] In one example, the UE 104 can establish a sidelink communication group based on the communication component 242 transmitting an uplink communication, which can be received by other UEs 104 with communication components 242 to determine whether to set up a group for sidelink communication. In one example, the scheduling component 342 can configure the UE 104 to transmit an uplink communication, such as a random access channel (RACH) communication, and can configure UEs 104 determined to be likely to be near each other to transmit similar uplink communications (e.g., to select the same RACH preamble, or a RACH preamble from the same group of preambles). In this regard, the communication component 242 of the UE 104 can detect the similar uplink communication and can determine to form a group with each other for sidelink communication. In addition, the communication component 242 can avoid contention in transmitting sidelink communication by transmitting a contention avoidance signal that can be received by the receiving UE 104 or the base station 102. The communications component 242 of the receiving UE 104 or the scheduling component 342 of the receiving base station 102 may send feedback to the contention avoidance signal indicating whether sidelink communications may be transmitted via the indicated resources.

[0035] 2-10, aspects are illustrated with respect to one or more components and one or more methods that may perform the actions or operations described herein, with aspects within dashed lines being optional. Although the operations described below in FIGS. 4-8 are presented as being performed in a particular order and / or by example components, it should be understood that the order of the actions and the components performing the actions may vary depending on the implementation. Furthermore, it should be understood that the actions, functions, and / or components described below may be performed by a specially programmed processor, a processor executing specially programmed software, or a computer readable medium, or by any other combination of hardware and / or software components capable of performing the actions or functions described.

[0036] With reference to FIG. 2, one example of an implementation of the UE 104 may include various components, some of which have already been described above and further described herein, including components such as one or more processors 212 and memories 216 and transceivers 202 in communication via one or more buses 244, which may operate in conjunction with a modem 240 and / or a communications component 242 for establishing groups for sidelink communications and / or communicating contention avoidance signaling for sidelink communications, as described herein.

[0037] In one aspect, the one or more processors 212 may include the modem 240 and / or may be part of the modem 240 using one or more modem processors. Thus, various functions related to the communication component 242 may be included in the modem 240 and / or the processor 212, and in one aspect may be performed by a single processor, while in other aspects different ones of the functions may be performed by a combination of two or more different processors. For example, in one aspect, the one or more processors 212 may include any one or any combination of a modem processor, or a baseband processor, or a digital signal processor, or a transmit processor, or a receiver processor, or a transceiver processor associated with the transceiver 202. In other aspects, some of the features of the one or more processors 212 associated with the communication component 242 and / or the modem 240 may be performed by the transceiver 202.

[0038] The memory 216 may also be configured to store local versions of data and / or applications 275 as used herein, or one or more of the communications components 242 and / or their subcomponents executed by the at least one processor 212. The memory 216 may include any type of computer readable medium usable by a computer or the at least one processor 212, such as random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), tape, magnetic disk, optical disk, volatile memory, non-volatile memory, and any combination thereof. In one aspect, for example, the memory 216 may be a non-transitory computer readable storage medium that stores one or more computer executable codes defining the communications components 242 and / or one or more of its subcomponents and / or data associated therewith when the UE 104 operates the at least one processor 212 to execute the communications components 242 and / or one or more of its subcomponents.

[0039] The transceiver 202 may include at least one receiver 206 and at least one transmitter 208. The receiver 206 may include hardware and / or software executable by a processor to receive data, where the code comprises instructions and is stored in a memory (e.g., a computer-readable medium). The receiver 206 may be, for example, a radio frequency (RF) receiver. In an aspect, the receiver 206 may receive signals transmitted by at least one base station 102. In addition, the receiver 206 may process such received signals and may also obtain measurements of the signals, such as, but not limited to, Ec / Io, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), reference signal received power (RSRP), received signal strength indicator (RSSI), and the like. The transmitter 208 may include hardware and / or software executable by a processor to transmit data, where the code comprises instructions and is stored in a memory (e.g., a computer-readable medium). A suitable example of the transmitter 208 may include, but is not limited to, an RF transmitter.

[0040] Further, in an aspect, the UE 104 may include an RF front end 288 that may be in operative communication with one or more antennas 265 and a transceiver 202 for receiving and transmitting radio transmissions, e.g., wireless communications transmitted by at least one base station 102 or wireless transmissions transmitted by the UE 104. The RF front end 288 may be connected to the one or more antennas 265 and may include one or more low noise amplifiers (LNAs) 290, one or more switches 292, one or more power amplifiers (PAs) 298, and one or more filters 296 for transmitting and receiving RF signals.

[0041] In one aspect, the LNAs 290 can amplify the received signal at a desired power level. In one aspect, each LNA 290 can have a specified minimum and maximum gain value. In one aspect, the RF front end 288 can use one or more switches 292 to select a particular LNA 290 and its specified gain value based on the desired gain value for a particular application.

[0042] Additionally, one or more PAs 298 may be used by the RF front end 288, for example, to amplify a signal for RF output at a desired output power level. In an aspect, each PA 298 may have a specified minimum and maximum gain value. In an aspect, the RF front end 288 may use one or more switches 292 to select a particular PA 298 and its specified gain value based on the desired gain value for a particular application.

[0043] Also, one or more filters 296 may be used by the RF front end 288, for example, to filter a received signal to obtain an input RF signal. Similarly, in an aspect, each filter 296 may be used, for example, to filter an output from a respective PA 298 to generate an output signal for transmission. In an aspect, each filter 296 may be connected to a particular LNA 290 and / or PA 298. In an aspect, the RF front end 288 may use one or more switches 292 to select a transmit path or a receive path using a specified filter 296, LNA 290, and / or PA 298 based on a configuration specified by the transceiver 202 and / or processor 212.

[0044] Thus, the transceiver 202 may be configured to transmit and receive wireless signals through one or more antennas 265 via the RF front end 288. In an aspect, the transceiver may be tuned to operate at a designated frequency such that the UE 104 can communicate with, for example, one or more base stations 102, or one or more cells associated with the one or more base stations 102. In an aspect, for example, the modem 240 may configure the transceiver 202 to operate at a designated frequency and power level based on the UE configuration of the UE 104 and a communication protocol used by the modem 240.

[0045] In one aspect, the modem 240 may be a multi-band multi-mode modem capable of processing digital data and communicating with the transceiver 202 such that the digital data is sent and received using the transceiver 202. In one aspect, the modem 240 may be multi-band and configured to support multiple frequency bands for a particular communication protocol. In one aspect, the modem 240 may be multi-mode and configured to support multiple operating networks and communication protocols. In one aspect, the modem 240 may control one or more components of the UE 104 (e.g., the RF front end 288, the transceiver 202) to enable transmission and / or reception of signals from the network based on a specified modem configuration. In one aspect, the modem configuration may be based on the modem mode and the frequency band in use. In another aspect, the modem configuration may be based on UE configuration information associated with the UE 104 provided by the network during cell selection and / or cell reselection.

[0046] In one aspect, the communications component 242 may optionally include a group setup component 252 for attempting to set up a group of UEs for sidelink communications, a setup indication component 254 for indicating the setup of a group of UEs based on signaling received from one or more UEs, and / or a contention avoidance component 256 for communicating contention avoidance signaling to mitigate contention between sidelink communications and communications between the UEs and the base station, as described herein.

[0047] In one aspect, the processor 212 may correspond to one or more of the processors described with respect to the UE of FIG. 10. Similarly, the memory 216 may correspond to the memory described with respect to the UE of FIG.

[0048] With reference to FIG. 3, one example of an implementation of a base station 102 (e.g., a base station 102 and / or a gNB 180 as described above) may include various components, some of which have already been described above, including components such as one or more processors 312 and memories 316 and transceivers 302 in communication via one or more buses 344, which may operate in conjunction with a modem 340 and a scheduling component 342 for scheduling uplink communications to establish groups of UEs for sidelink communications and / or communicating contention avoidance signaling for sidelink communications, as described herein.

[0049] The transceiver 302, receiver 306, transmitter 308, one or more processors 312, memory 316, application 375, bus 344, RF front end 388, LNA 390, switch 392, filter 396, PA 398, and one or more antennas 365 may be the same or similar to corresponding components of the UE 104, as described above, but may be configured or otherwise programmed for base station operation as opposed to UE operation.

[0050] In one aspect, the scheduling component 342 can optionally include a grouping component 352 for configuring one or more UEs to send signaling to establish a group for sidelink communications and / or a conflict indication component 354 for indicating whether sidelink communication resources conflict with resources for transmitting downlink communications to one or more corresponding UEs or transmitting uplink communications from one or more corresponding UEs.

[0051] In one aspect, the processor 312 may correspond to one or more of the processors described with respect to the base station of Figure 10. Similarly, the memory 316 may correspond to the memory described with respect to the base station of Figure 10.

[0052] FIG. 4 illustrates a flowchart of an example method 400 for attempting to set up a group of UEs for sidelink communication. FIG. 5 illustrates a flowchart of an example method 500 for illustrating setting up a group of UEs for sidelink communication. For ease of explanation, the methods 400 and 500 are described with respect to each other, but the methods 400 and 500 need not be performed in conjunction. In one example, a UE 104 can perform the functions described in the method 400 using one or more of the components described in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 and / or another UE 104 can perform the functions described in the method 500 using one or more of the components described in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 (in one example, a given UE 104 can be configured to perform both the method 400 and the method 500).

[0053] In the method 400, at block 402, a configuration for transmitting uplink signaling to the base station may be received from the base station. In an aspect, the group setup component 252, in cooperation with, for example, the processor 212, the memory 216, the transceiver 202, the communication component 242, etc., may receive the configuration for transmitting uplink signaling to the base station from the base station. As described above and further described herein, the base station 102 may configure multiple UEs to transmit uplink signaling in an attempt to associate the UEs in a group of UEs for sidelink communications. The received configuration may indicate similar uplink signaling to transmit for UEs determined to be near each other. For example, the uplink signaling may correspond to RACH signaling, and the similarity of the UEs may include an indication of similar RACH preambles to transmit for the nearby UEs, or similar groups of RACH preambles that the nearby UEs may select to transmit to the base station 102. In one example, the group setup component 252 can receive the configuration from the base station 102 in radio resource control (RRC) signaling, downlink control information (DCI) signaling (e.g., via a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH)), etc.

[0054] In the method 400, at block 404, it may be determined to set up a group for sidelink communications with one or more other UEs based on the configuration. In an aspect, the group setup component 252, in cooperation with, for example, the processor 212, the memory 216, the transceiver 202, the communication component 242, etc., may determine to set up a group for sidelink communications with one or more other UEs based on the configuration. For example, receiving the configuration may be a trigger to attempt to set up a group for sidelink communications by transmitting corresponding uplink signaling based on the configuration. In one example, the configuration may include an indicator regarding group setup for sidelink communications, which may be an explicit indicator in the configuration, an implicit indicator based on one or more parameters in the configuration, etc.

[0055] In the method 400, at block 406, a first uplink message based on the configuration from the base station may be transmitted based on the determination to set up a group. In an aspect, the group setup component 252, in cooperation with, for example, the processor 212, the memory 216, the transceiver 202, the communication component 242, etc., may transmit a first uplink message based on the configuration from the base station based on the determination to set up a group. For example, the group setup component 252 may transmit a first uplink message based on one or more parameters specified in the configuration. As described, in one example, the configuration may indicate (for example, for connected mode UEs) to transmit a RACH preamble, where the RACH preamble may be the same for nearby UEs to enable them to detect and receive the RACH preamble from each other. In another example, the configuration may indicate (for example, for idle mode UEs) to select a RACH preamble from a group of preambles, where the group of preambles may be similar to that configured for nearby UEs to enable them to detect and receive the RACH preamble from the group of preambles. In another example, the configuration may indicate a RACH opportunity for transmitting a RACH preamble, and the group setup component 252 may transmit the RACH preamble in the configured RACH opportunity accordingly. If the first uplink message is a RACH, for example, the group setup component 252 may transmit the RACH preamble as a MSG-A physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) in a two-stage RACH procedure or a MSG1 preamble in a four-stage RACH procedure.

[0056] In one example, the group setup component 252 can transmit additional information in uplink signaling, where the additional information can include parameters for establishing sidelink communication. For example, the additional information can include a timing adjustment / timing advance used by the transmitting UE 104 to transmit uplink and / or sidelink communication, a transmit (Tx) and / or receive (Rx) resource pool for selecting resources for sidelink communication, a Sidelink Radio Network Temporary Identifier (SL-RNTI) for identifying sidelink communication, information such as transmit power, modulation and coding scheme (MCS) for transmission over sidelink resources, etc.

[0057] As described, method 400 may be performed by a first UE and method 500 may be performed by a second UE, where the first UE and the second UE may establish a group for sidelink communication. In method 500, at block 502, a configuration for transmitting uplink signaling to the base station may be received from a base station. In one aspect, the group setup component 252, in cooperation with, for example, the processor 212, the memory 216, the transceiver 202, the communication component 242, etc., may receive a configuration for transmitting uplink signaling to the base station from the base station. This may be similar to the configuration received by another UE at block 402 of method 400, as described above, and thus may be based on the UEs performing method 400 and method 500 being in proximity to each other.

[0058] In the method 500, at block 504, a first uplink message based on a configuration from a base station may be received from the UE. In one aspect, the group setup component 252, in cooperation with, for example, the processor 212, the memory 216, the transceiver 202, the communication component 242, etc., may receive from the UE the first uplink message based on a configuration from the base station. As described, the first uplink message may be addressed to the base station 102, but may also be received by a nearby UE. For example, the first uplink message may be transmitted by another UE based on a configuration (e.g., a RACH configuration) received from the base station. In one example, as described, the first uplink message may include a RACH message having a RACH preamble selected or determined based on a configuration for establishing a group for sidelink communication.

[0059] In the method 500, at block 506, it may be determined to set up a group for sidelink communication with the UE based on a first uplink message received from the UE. In one aspect, the setup instruction component 254, in cooperation with, for example, the processor 212, the memory 216, the transceiver 202, the communication component 242, etc., may determine to set up a group for sidelink communication with the UE based on the first uplink message received from the UE. For example, the setup instruction component 254 (e.g., of a UE) may receive a first uplink message transmitted from the UE (e.g., from another UE) to a base station. Based on receiving the first uplink message and / or one or more parameters thereof, the setup instruction component 254 may determine to set up a group with the UE. For example, the setup instruction component 254 may determine to set up a group based on received signal strength / quality of the first uplink signal, based on the content of the signal (e.g., the RACH preamble of the signal), based on the reception timing or opportunity (e.g., the RACH opportunity) of the signal (which may indicate, e.g., the distance to the UE), based on the beam used to transmit the signal (which may indicate, e.g., the proximity where both UEs use the same or similar beam to communicate with the base station 102), etc. In one example, the setup instruction component 254 may compare the reception timing or opportunity with a known or determined transmission timing (which may be indicated in the first uplink signal or may be otherwise known) to determine whether to set up a group, which may imply the distance between the UEs. In another example, the setup instruction component 254 may determine to set up a group based on information indicated in the first uplink signal (e.g., the RACH preamble of the signal, timing adjustment / timing advance, Tx / Rx resource pool for sidelink, transmit power, MCS, etc., indicated in the signal).

[0060] In the method 500, at block 508, based on the determination to set up the group, a second uplink message may be transmitted over an uplink resource determined based on the configuration to indicate the set up of the group. In an aspect, the setup indication component 254, in cooperation with, for example, the processor 212, the memory 216, the transceiver 202, the communication component 242, etc., may transmit the second uplink message over an uplink resource determined based on the configuration to indicate the set up of the group based on the determination to set up the group. For example, the setup indication component 254 may transmit the second uplink message as a RACH response with a modified Random Access-RNTI (RA-RNTI), which may include a preamble and a RACH resource, to organize the group. In one example, the second uplink message (and / or the first uplink message) may be transmitted with a demodulation reference signal (DM-RS) or other reference signal to facilitate detection and demodulation of the uplink message.

[0061] Further, in one example, the second uplink message may additionally or alternatively include additional information regarding sidelink communication, such as timing adjustment / timing advance, Tx / Rx resource pool for sidelink communication, SL-RNTI, transmit power, MCS, etc. In either case, the setup indication component 254 may indicate the setup of the group by transmitting a second uplink message to the UE that transmitted the first uplink message as a response to the first uplink message. In addition, for example, the setup indication component 254 may transmit a RACH response (e.g., MSG-B in a two-stage RACH or MSG-2 in a four-stage RACH) via a RACH resource configured by the base station 102 (e.g., in the configuration received at block 502).

[0062] In the method 400, at block 408, a configuration-based second uplink message may be received from one or more other UEs to indicate the setup of the group. In one aspect, the group setup component 252, in cooperation with, for example, the processor 212, the memory 216, the transceiver 202, the communication component 242, etc., may receive the configuration-based second uplink message from one or more other UEs to indicate the setup of the group. For example, as described, the group setup component 252 may receive the second uplink message as a RACH response from one or more UEs to the first uplink message transmitted by the group setup component 252 (e.g., at block 406). The second uplink message may indicate the setup of the group and / or may include other parameters for sidelink communication between the groups (e.g., along with or as an alternative to information that may be specified in the first uplink message, as described above). In one example, the group setup component 252 may acknowledge the group setup message (e.g., acknowledge receipt of a RACH response indicating the group setup) or may directly transmit data using the configured resources.

[0063] In the method 400, optionally at block 410, a sidelink communication may be communicated with one or more other UEs based on receiving the second uplink message. In an aspect, the communication component 242, e.g., in cooperation with the processor 212, the memory 216, the transceiver 202, etc., may communicate a sidelink communication with one or more other UEs based on receiving the second uplink message. For example, the communication component 242 may communicate the sidelink communication by transmitting to or receiving from the one or more other UEs via one or more sidelink channels (e.g., PSCCH, PSSCH, etc.), which may be based on establishing a group with the one or more other UEs. Additionally, for example, the sidelink communication may be based on parameters transmitted in the first uplink message or received in the second uplink message (e.g., using an indicated timing adjustment / timing advance, via resources indicated in a Tx / Rx resource pool for sidelink communication, using a SL-RNTI, transmit power, MCS, etc., etc.). As described, sidelink communications may be used to offload communications over the network or otherwise improve performance when communicating with nearby UEs (e.g., in the case of interactive gaming or other data-rich scenarios).

[0064] Similarly, in the method 500, optionally at block 510, a sidelink communication may be communicated with the UE based on receiving the second uplink message. In an aspect, the communication component 242, e.g., in cooperation with the processor 212, the memory 216, the transceiver 202, etc., may communicate a sidelink communication with the UE based on receiving the second uplink message. For example, the communication component 242 may communicate the sidelink communication by transmitting to or receiving from the UE via one or more sidelink channels (e.g., PSCCH, PSSCH, etc.), which may be based on establishing a group with the UE. Additionally, for example, the sidelink communication may be based on parameters received in the first uplink message or transmitted in the second uplink message (e.g., using an indicated timing adjustment / timing advance, via resources indicated in a Tx / Rx resource pool for sidelink communication, using a SL-RNTI, transmit power, MCS, etc., etc.). As described, sidelink communications may be used to offload communications over the network or otherwise improve performance when communicating with nearby UEs (e.g., in the case of interactive gaming or other data-rich scenarios).

[0065] 6 illustrates a flow chart of an example of a method 600 for configuring a UE to establish a group for sidelink communication. In one example, the base station 102 can perform the functions described in the method 600 using one or more of the components described in FIG. 1 and FIG.

[0066] In the method 600, one or more signals may be received from a plurality of UEs at block 602. In an aspect, the scheduling component 342, in cooperation with, for example, the processor 312, the memory 316, the transceiver 302, etc., may receive one or more signals from the plurality of UEs. For example, the scheduling component 342 may receive one or more signals over resources scheduled by the scheduling component 342 for each of the plurality of UEs. In this regard, the one or more signals may include uplink communications transmitted by the plurality of UEs over corresponding control channels (e.g., physical uplink control channels (PUCCHs)), shared channels (e.g., physical uplink shared channels (PUSCHs)), etc.

[0067] In the method 600, at block 604, a possible grouping of a subset of the plurality of UEs may be determined based on one or more parameters associated with one or more signals. In one aspect, the grouping component 352, in cooperation with, for example, the processor 312, the memory 316, the transceiver 302, the scheduling component 342, etc., may determine a possible grouping of a subset of the plurality of UEs based on one or more parameters associated with one or more signals. For example, the grouping component 352 may determine a subset of the plurality of UEs having similar path losses, which may imply a distance between the UE and the base station 102, and thus UEs having similar distances may be near each other. For example, the grouping component 352 may determine the path losses based on measuring a signal from the UE, based on an indication in control signaling from the UE (e.g., an indication of downlink path loss at the UE), etc. In another example, the grouping component 352 may determine a subset of the plurality of UEs based on a beam utilized to communicate with the UE. For example, the UE may select and / or indicate to the base station 102 a beam to be used for communication with the UE. Thus, the grouping component 352 may determine a subset of UEs to be those that use the same or similar beams (e.g., neighboring beams in a beam sweeping procedure). This may indicate the UEs as being in similar areas of base station 102 coverage. In one example, the path loss and beams may be used to determine the relative proximity of the UEs and organize the subsets accordingly.

[0068] In one example, the grouping component 352 can determine to group UEs for sidelink communication based on one or more triggers and can accordingly determine possible groupings based on detecting the trigger. For example, the trigger for determining to group UEs can include detecting a parameter related to the UEs, such as determining that a difference in path loss and / or timing advance of the UEs falls below a threshold. In another example, the trigger for determining to group UEs can include determining that the UEs are requesting a particular service or amount of data that achieves a threshold, quality of service (QoS), etc. In another example, the trigger for determining to group UEs can include determining that a signal strength / quality of at least one of the UEs as received at the base station 102 falls below a threshold, etc. In another example, the trigger for determining to group UEs can include detecting a parameter related to the base station 102, such as determining that a load on the base station 102 achieves a threshold (and thus offloading the UEs to sidelink communication can free up resources). In yet another example, the trigger for determining to group UEs can be periodic (e.g., based on one or more timers).

[0069] In the method 600, at block 606, a configuration for transmitting uplink signaling over uplink resources to set up possible groupings among a subset of the plurality of UEs for sidelink communication may be transmitted to the subset of the plurality of UEs based on determining the possible groupings. In an aspect, the grouping component 352, in cooperation with, for example, the processor 312, the memory 316, the transceiver 302, the scheduling component 342, etc., can transmit to the subset of the plurality of UEs a configuration for transmitting uplink signaling over uplink resources to set up possible groupings among a subset of the plurality of UEs for sidelink communication based on determining the possible groupings. For example, this may include a configuration received by the UE as described in blocks 402 and 504 of FIG. 4 and FIG. 5.

[0070] In one example, the configuration transmitted to each UE in the subset of UEs may include similar parameters for transmitting uplink signals to the base station 102. For example, for connected mode UEs, the configuration may indicate the same RACH preamble to be used by the subset of UEs when transmitting to the base station 102 as part of a RACH procedure. For idle mode UEs, for example, the configuration may indicate the same set of RACH preambles for the subset of UEs to select from when transmitting to the base station 102. In this regard, the subset of UEs may detect RACH preambles from each other when in the vicinity of each other and may accordingly organize into groups for sidelink communication as described above.

[0071] For example, the grouping component 352 can transmit the configuration using RRC signaling, DCI signaling, etc., as described. Additionally, as described, the grouping component 352 can select UEs to be grouped based on measurements (e.g., similar path loss and / or in the same or neighboring beams). For RRC connected UEs, the base station 102 can configure the UEs with similar timing advance to use the same particular preamble. For RRC idle UEs, the preamble can be selected randomly from a defined pool.

[0072] In the method 600, optionally at block 608, a first uplink message indicating at least one of one or more identities of one or more UEs or resources for sidelink communication may be received from one UE of a subset of the plurality of UEs. In an aspect, the grouping component 352, in cooperation with, for example, the processor 312, the memory 316, the transceiver 302, the scheduling component 342, etc., may receive the first uplink message indicating at least one of one or more identities of one or more UEs or resources for sidelink communication from one UE of the subset of the plurality of UEs. For example, the grouping component 352 may receive the first uplink message as a contention avoidance message, as described further herein, and in some examples, may receive the contention avoidance message as or with a RACH preamble (based on a configuration provided to the UE). In one example, the contention avoidance message may indicate an identifier of one or more UEs to which the one UE of the subset of the plurality of UEs desires to transmit sidelink communication. Based on the identifier, the conflict indication component 354 may determine whether it has scheduled one or more UEs for communication and whether the associated resources conflict with the indicated sidelink resources.

[0073] In the method 600, optionally at block 610, feedback indicating whether the uplink communication is scheduled over resources for sidelink communication may be transmitted based on the first uplink message. In an aspect, the contention indication component 354, in cooperation with, for example, the processor 312, the memory 316, the transceiver 302, the scheduling component 342, etc., may transmit feedback indicating whether the uplink communication is scheduled over resources for sidelink communication based on the first uplink message. In one example, the feedback may be transmitted as or with a RACH response (e.g., if the first uplink message received at block 608 is a RACH request) or as or with other resources prior to the scheduled uplink communication.

[0074] FIG. 7 illustrates a flow chart of an example of a method 700 for transmitting contention avoidance signaling to avoid contention between sidelink resources and configured uplink / downlink resources. FIG. 8 illustrates a flow chart of an example of a method 800 for responding to contention avoidance signaling. For ease of explanation, the methods 700 and 800 are described with respect to each other, but the methods 700 and 800 need not be performed in conjunction. In one example, a UE 104 can perform the functions described in the method 700 using one or more of the components described in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 and / or another UE 104 or a base station 102 can perform the functions described in the method 800 using one or more of the components described in FIG. 1-FIG. 3 (in one example, a given UE 104 can be configured to perform both the methods 700 and 800).

[0075] In the method 700, at block 702, it may be determined to transmit sidelink communications to one or more UEs in a first time period. In an aspect, the communications component 242, e.g., in cooperation with the processor 212, the memory 216, the transceiver 202, etc., may determine to transmit sidelink communications to one or more UEs in a first time period. In one example, the communications component 242 may determine to transmit sidelink communications based at least in part on the group setup component 252 determining to set up a group of UEs (e.g., including one or more UEs and the UE 104) for sidelink communications (e.g., similar to one or more of the examples described above with reference to FIGS. 4-6), receiving a setup indication from one or more UEs, etc. In one example, the first time period may correspond to a symbol (e.g., an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol), a slot including multiple symbols, a subframe including multiple slots, etc., and a time transmission interval (TTI) for the UE 104 and / or one or more other UEs may be one symbol, multiple symbols, one slot, multiple slots, one subframe, etc. Based on the determination to transmit a sidelink communication, the transmitting UE 104 may determine to transmit a contention avoidance signal as described herein.

[0076] In the method 700, at block 704, a notification signal may be transmitted to indicate a transmission of a sidelink communication in the first time period based on the determination to transmit a sidelink communication in a second time period preceding the first time period. In an aspect, the contention avoidance component 256, in cooperation with, for example, the processor 212, the memory 216, the transceiver 202, the communication component 242, etc., may determine and / or transmit a notification signal (e.g., a contention avoidance signal) to indicate a transmission of a sidelink communication in the first time period based on the determination to transmit a sidelink communication in the second time period preceding the first time period (e.g., in a preceding symbol, slot, subframe, one or more thereof, etc.). In one example, the notification signal may include an identifier of one or more UEs to receive the sidelink communication, an indication of the sidelink resources, etc., to facilitate a determination whether the sidelink resources conflict with uplink / downlink resources scheduled by the base station 102 for one or more other UEs (e.g., and / or for the UE 104). As described, the contention avoidance component 256 can transmit the notification signal to the base station 102 and / or to one or more UEs that will receive the sidelink communication from the UE 104. Additionally, in one example, the contention avoidance component 256 can transmit the notification signal as a first uplink message, a RACH preamble, etc., as described in block 406 of FIG.

[0077] In the method 800, at block 802, a notification signal for indicating transmission of a sidelink communication in a second time period may be received from the UE in a first time period preceding the second time period. In an aspect, the contention avoidance component 256 of the UE 104, in cooperation with, for example, the processor 212, the memory 216, the transceiver 202, the communication component 242, etc., may receive a notification signal from the UE in a first time period preceding the second time period for indicating transmission of a sidelink communication in the second time period. The first time period and the second time period may correspond to symbols, slots, subframes, etc., as described. In an example, the contention avoidance component 256 may determine, based on an indication of sidelink resources in the notification signal, whether the base station 102 has scheduled resources that will conflict with the sidelink resources.

[0078] In another aspect, the conflict indication component 354 of the base station 102, e.g., in cooperation with the processor 312, the memory 316, the transceiver 302, the scheduling component 342, etc., can receive a notification signal from the UE in a first time period preceding a second time period to indicate a transmission of a sidelink communication in the second time period. In one example, the conflict indication component 354 can determine, based on the indication of sidelink resources in the notification signal, whether the scheduling component 342 has scheduled resources that will conflict with (or overlap in time and / or frequency, e.g.,) the sidelink resources.

[0079] In the method 800, at block 804, it may be determined whether resources are scheduled for communication in the second time period. In an aspect, the contention avoidance component 256 of the UE 104, in cooperation with, for example, the processor 212, the memory 216, the transceiver 202, the communication component 242, etc., may determine whether resources are scheduled for communication in the second time period. In an example, the contention avoidance component 256 may determine whether the base station 102 has scheduled resources (e.g., downlink resources) for the UE 104 that receives the notification and receives a sidelink communication that will conflict with the sidelink resources. For example, the contention avoidance component 256 may compare the resource scheduling from the base station 102 to the indication of sidelink resources in the notification signal to determine any overlap (e.g., in time and / or in frequency).

[0080] In another aspect, the conflict indication component 354 of the base station 102, e.g., in cooperation with the processor 312, the memory 316, the transceiver 302, the scheduling component 342, etc., can determine whether resources are scheduled for communication in the second time period. In one example, the conflict indication component 354 can determine, based on the indication of sidelink resources in the notification signal, whether the scheduling component 342 has scheduled resources (e.g., uplink resources) that would conflict with sidelink resources for the UE 104 that transmitted the notification signal and wishes to transmit a sidelink communication.

[0081] In the method 800, feedback indicating whether communication is scheduled in the second time period may be transmitted to the UE in the first time period at block 806. In an aspect, the contention avoidance component 256 of the UE 104, in cooperation with, for example, the processor 212, the memory 216, the transceiver 202, the communication component 242, etc., may transmit feedback to the UE in the first time period indicating whether communication is scheduled in the second time period. In one example, the contention avoidance component 256 may transmit a notification signal and transmit feedback to the UE that desires to transmit a sidelink communication based on the determination at block 804.

[0082] In another aspect, the contention indication component 354 of the base station 102, in cooperation with, for example, the processor 312, the memory 316, the transceiver 302, the scheduling component 342, etc., can transmit feedback to the UE in the first time period indicating whether communication is scheduled in the second time period. In one example, the contention indication component 354 can transmit a notification signal and transmit feedback to the UE that desires to transmit a sidelink communication based on the determination in block 804. Additionally, in one example, the contention avoidance component 256 and / or the contention indication component 354 can transmit the feedback signal as a second uplink message, RACH response, etc., as described in block 508 of FIG. 5.

[0083] In the method 700, at block 706, feedback indicating whether communication is scheduled in the first time period may be received from one or more UEs or base stations. In one aspect, the contention avoidance component 256, in cooperation with, for example, the processor 212, the memory 216, the transceiver 202, the communication component 242, etc., may receive feedback from one or more UEs or base stations indicating whether communication is scheduled in the first time period. For example, the feedback may be hybrid automatic repeat / request (HARQ) feedback indicating an acknowledgement (ACK) or a negative acknowledgement (NACK). In one example, the HARQ feedback may be used to indicate that resources for uplink / downlink communication are not scheduled during sidelink resources (e.g., using an ACK) or that resources for uplink / downlink communication are scheduled during or overlap with sidelink resources (e.g., using a NACK). In this example, the contention avoidance component 256 may determine whether to transmit a sidelink communication based at least in part on the feedback.

[0084] In one example, in the method 700, optionally at block 708, a sidelink communication may be transmitted during a first time period based on feedback indicating that the communication is not scheduled in the first time period. In one aspect, the contention avoidance component 256, in cooperation with, for example, the processor 212, the memory 216, the transceiver 202, the communication component 242, etc., may transmit a sidelink communication during a first time period based on feedback indicating that the communication is not scheduled in the first time period. In another example, in the method 700, optionally at block 710, an uplink communication may be transmitted during a first time period based on feedback indicating that the communication is scheduled in the first time period. In one aspect, the contention avoidance component 256, in cooperation with, for example, the processor 212, the memory 216, the transceiver 202, the communication component 242, etc., may transmit an uplink communication during a first time period based on feedback indicating that the communication is scheduled in the first time period.

[0085] In another example, the contention avoidance component 256 can determine whether to transmit a sidelink communication when an uplink transmission is scheduled for the UE 104 based on one or more priority rules. In one example, some types of sidelink communications may be prioritized for transmission over some types of uplink communications and / or vice versa. In one specific example, control channel communications and sounding reference signals (SRS), physical RACH (PRACH), etc. may be prioritized over sidelink communications (and / or sidelink communications may possibly be prioritized over other types of uplink communications).

[0086] FIG. 9 illustrates a specific example of notification signaling. In FIG. 9, resource allocation 900 includes various downlink transmissions (DL Tx) scheduled for the base station in various consecutive time periods (e.g., slots). In addition, a UE receiving downlink and sidelink communications may experience a conflict in receiving both downlink and sidelink communications, possibly simultaneously, in resources scheduled for receiving downlink and / or sidelink communications. For example, the conflict may be based at least in part on a timing advance configured for receiving downlink communications (which may not be needed for sidelink communications and may cause the downlink communications to be at least partially received within the next time period that may be scheduled for receiving sidelink communications). In addition, a UE transmitting an uplink communication and transmitting a sidelink communication may experience conflicts in transmitting both the uplink communication and the sidelink communication, possibly simultaneously, in resources for transmitting the uplink communication and the sidelink communication based at least in part on a timing advance configured for transmitting the uplink communication (which may not be needed for the sidelink communication and may cause the sidelink communication to be at least partially transmitted within the next time period for which the uplink communication may be scheduled to be transmitted), both cases being illustrated by symbol 910.

[0087] For example, there may be downlink reception contention where the sidelink resources use the downlink spectrum / slot, which may result in potential contention between Rx signals from the sidelink and downlink. In addition, there may be uplink transmission contention where the sidelink resources use the uplink spectrum / slot, which may be similar to the LTE sidelink. This may result in potential contention between uplink Tx and sidelink Tx. In this example, the UE may drop the uplink communication (e.g., over the Uu interface) or sidelink Tx at symbol 910, which may result in some performance (latency, throughput) loss.

[0088] Resource allocations 902 and 904 illustrate notification signaling to prevent contention as illustrated in resource allocation 900 according to aspects described herein. For example, in resource allocation 902, the transmitting UE may transmit SL Pre-tx 912 (e.g., a notification signal or contention avoidance signal as described herein) to the receiving UE to inform the receiving UE about upcoming sidelink transmissions 914, 916. The SL Pre-tx signal 912 may indicate resources to be used for sidelink communication. The receiving UE may receive SL Pre-tx 912 (e.g., after PDCCH) and may transmit feedback (SL FB 918) indicating whether downlink resources are scheduled at least partially within resources for sidelink communication. If scheduled, the receiving UE may transmit SL FB 918 as a NACK, and the transmitting UE may avoid transmitting sidelink communication based on receiving the NACK, which may include falling back if the message is a unicast or groupcast message. However, in another example, at resource allocation 902, the receiving UE may send a SL FB 918 as an ACK indicating that no downlink resources are scheduled in the sidelink resources, and in response, the transmitting UE may send a sidelink transmission 914, 916 in a subsequent resource based on receiving the ACK. In one example, the feedback signal may occur immediately after the DCI / control resource set (CORESET) (e.g., in a subsequent symbol of the same slot).

[0089] Additionally, as described, the SL Pre-tx signal 912 can utilize the MSG-A preamble and PUSCH, and the SL feedback 918 can utilize the MSG-B design described above. In this example, the SL Pre-tx signal 912 transmitted as a RACH preamble can include a target UE identifier and an occupied resource (e.g., a symbol / slot having a reference time point). Additionally, in this example, the SL FB 918 transmitted as a RACH response can deliver a positive or negative confirmation, as described.

[0090] For example, in resource allocation 904, the transmitting UE may transmit SL Pre-tx 922 (e.g., a notification signal or a contention avoidance signal as described herein) to the base station to report resource occupancy (e.g., to indicate resources for sidelink communication). In one example, the transmitting UE may expect the base station not to schedule uplink resources that overlap with the indicated sidelink resources, such as sidelink transmissions 924, 926, 928. The base station may receive SL Pre-tx 922 (e.g., after PDCCH) and may transmit SL feedback 930 indicating whether uplink resources for the transmitting UE are (or will be) at least partially scheduled within the resources for sidelink transmissions 924, 926, 928. If scheduled, the transmitting UE may avoid transmitting in the resources indicated for sidelink transmissions 924, 926, 928. For example, the base station may feedback an ACK to confirm that the uplink is not scheduled or a NACK to hold the sidelink transmission, or the base station may adapt to uplink scheduling if there is an urgent uplink transmission. However, in this illustrated example of resource allocation 904, the base station can transmit an ACK indicating that no uplink resources are (and will be) scheduled within the sidelink resources, and in response, the transmitting UE can transmit sidelink communications in subsequent resources for sidelink transmissions 924, 926, 928.

[0091] Additionally, as described, the SL Pre-tx signal 922 can utilize the MSG-A preamble and PUSCH, and the SL feedback 930 can utilize the MSG-B design described above. In this example, the SL Pre-tx signal 922 transmitted as a RACH preamble can include the target UE identifier and the occupied resources (e.g., symbols / slots with a reference time point). Additionally, in this example, the SL FB 930 transmitted as a RACH response can deliver a positive or negative confirmation, as described.

[0092] 10 is a block diagram of a MIMO communication system 1000 including a base station 102 and a UE 104 in accordance with various aspects of the disclosure. The MIMO communication system 1000 may represent aspects of the wireless communication access network 100 described with reference to FIG. 1. The base station 102 may be an example of an aspect of the base station 102 described with reference to FIG. 1. Additionally, the UE 104 may communicate with another UE via sidelink resources using similar functionality described herein with respect to communications between the UE 104 and the base station 102.

[0093] The base station 102 may be equipped with antennas 1034 and 1035, and the UE 104 may be equipped with antennas 1052 and 1053. In the MIMO communication system 1000, the base station 102 may be capable of sending data simultaneously over multiple communication links. Each communication link may be referred to as a "layer," and the "rank" of a communication link may indicate the number of layers used for communication. For example, in a 2×2 MIMO communication system in which the base station 102 transmits two "layers," the rank of the communication link between the base station 102 and the UE 104 is two.

[0094] At the base station 102, a transmit (Tx) processor 1020 may receive data from a data source. The transmit processor 1020 may process the data. The transmit processor 1020 may also generate control symbols or reference symbols. The transmit MIMO processor 1030 may perform spatial processing (e.g., precoding) on ​​the data symbols, control symbols, or reference symbols, if applicable, and may provide an output symbol stream to the transmit modulators / demodulators 1032 and 1033. Each modulator / demodulator 1032-1033 may process a respective output symbol stream (e.g., for OFDM, etc.) to obtain an output sample stream. Each modulator / demodulator 1032-1033 may further process (e.g., convert to analog, amplify, filter, and upconvert) the output sample stream to obtain a DL signal. In one example, the DL signals from the modulators / demodulators 1032 and 1033 may be transmitted via antennas 1034 and 1035, respectively.

[0095] UE 104 may be an example of the aspects of UE 104 described with reference to FIGS. 1-2. In UE 104, UE antennas 1052 and 1053 may receive DL signals from base station 102 and may provide received signals to modulators / demodulators 1054 and 1055, respectively. Each modulator / demodulator 1054-1055 may condition (e.g., filter, amplify, downconvert, and digitize) a respective received signal to obtain input samples. Each modulator / demodulator 1054-1055 may further process the input samples (e.g., for OFDM, etc.) to obtain received symbols. MIMO detector 1056 may obtain the received symbols from modulators / demodulators 1054 and 1055, perform MIMO detection on the received symbols, if applicable, and provide detected symbols. The receive (Rx) processor 1058 may process (e.g., demodulate, deinterleave, and decode) the detected symbols and provide decoded data for the UE 104 to a data output and may provide decoded control information to a processor 1080 or memory 1082.

[0096] The processor 1080 may execute stored instructions, in some cases, to instantiate the communications component 242 (see, eg, FIGS. 1 and 2).

[0097] On the uplink (UL), at the UE 104, a transmit processor 1064 may receive and process data from a data source. The transmit processor 1064 may also generate reference symbols for a reference signal. The symbols from the transmit processor 1064 may be precoded by a transmit MIMO processor 1066, if applicable, further processed by modulators / demodulators 1054 and 1055 (e.g., for SC-FDMA, etc.), and transmitted to the base station 102 according to communication parameters received from the base station 102. At the base station 102, UL signals from the UE 104 may be received by antennas 1034 and 1035, processed by modulators / demodulators 1032 and 1033, detected by a MIMO detector 1036, if applicable, and further processed by a receive processor 1038. The receive processor 1038 may provide decoded data to a data output and to a processor 1040 or a memory 1042.

[0098] The processor 1040 may execute stored instructions, in some cases, to instantiate a scheduling component 342 (see, eg, FIGS. 1 and 3).

[0099] The components of the UE 104 may be implemented, individually or collectively, with one or more ASICs adapted to perform some or all of the applicable functions in hardware. Each of the mentioned modules may be a means for performing one or more functions related to the operation of the MIMO communication system 1000. Similarly, the components of the base station 102 may be implemented, individually or collectively, with one or more ASICs adapted to perform some or all of the applicable functions in hardware. Each of the mentioned components may be a means for performing one or more functions related to the operation of the MIMO communication system 1000.

[0100] The above detailed description set forth above with reference to the accompanying drawings describes examples and does not represent the only examples that may be implemented or fall within the scope of the claims. The term "example" as used herein means "serving as an example, instance, or illustration" and does not mean "preferred" or "advantageous over other examples." The detailed description includes specific details for the purpose of providing an understanding of the described techniques. However, these techniques may be practiced without these specific details. In some instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring the concepts of the described examples.

[0101] Information and signals may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies and techniques. For example, the data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referenced throughout the above description may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields or particles, computer executable code or instructions stored on a computer readable medium, or any combination thereof.

[0102] The various example blocks and components described with respect to the present disclosure herein may be implemented or performed using specially programmed devices such as, but not limited to, processors, digital signal processors (DSPs), ASICs, FPGAs or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. The specially programmed processor may be a microprocessor, but alternatively the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. The specially programmed processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, for example, a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, multiple microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.

[0103] The functions described herein may be implemented in hardware, software, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software executed by a processor, the functions may be stored on or transmitted over a non-transitory computer-readable medium as one or more instructions or codes. Other examples and implementations are within the scope and spirit of the present disclosure and the appended claims. For example, due to the nature of software, the functions described above may be implemented using software executed by a specially programmed processor, hardware, hardwiring, or any combination thereof. The features implementing the functions may also be physically located in various locations, including being distributed such that parts of the functions are implemented in different physical locations. Furthermore, the term "or" is intended to mean an inclusive "or" rather than an exclusive "or". That is, unless otherwise specified or clear from the context, for example, the phrase "X employs A or B" is intended to mean any of the natural inclusive permutations. That is, for example, the phrase "X employs A or B" is satisfied by any of the following examples: X employs A, X employs B, or X employs both A and B. Also, as used in this specification, including the claims, "or" used in a list of items ending with "at least one of" indicates a disjunctive list, such as, for example, a list of "at least one of A, B, or C" means A or B or C or AB or AC or BC or ABC (A and B and C).

[0104] Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. Storage media may be any available medium that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer. By way of example and not limitation, computer-readable media may comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code means in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer or processor. Also, any connection is properly termed a computer-readable medium. For example, if the software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave, the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave are included in the definition of the medium. As used herein, disk and disc include compact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk and Blu-ray disc, where disks typically reproduce data magnetically and discs reproduce data optically using lasers. Combinations of the above are also included within the scope of computer readable media.

[0105] The preceding description of the disclosure is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the disclosure. Various modifications of the disclosure will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein may be applied to other variations without departing from the spirit or scope of the disclosure. Furthermore, although elements of the described aspects and / or embodiments may be described or claimed in the singular, the plural is contemplated unless limitation to the singular is expressly stated. In addition, all or a portion of any aspect and / or embodiment may be utilized with all or a portion of any other aspect and / or embodiment unless otherwise stated. Thus, the disclosure should not be limited to the examples and designs described herein, but should be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein. Further example outlines are provided below. 1. A method for wireless communication, comprising: receiving, from a base station, a configuration for transmitting uplink signaling to the base station; determining, based on the configuration, to set up a group for sidelink communication with one or more other user equipments (UEs); transmitting a configuration-based first uplink message from the base station based on the determination to set up the group; receiving a second uplink message based on the configuration from one or more other UEs to indicate the setup of the group; A method for providing the above. 2. The method of example 1, wherein the uplink signaling includes random access signaling and the first uplink message is a first message in a random access procedure. 3. The method of any of examples 1 or 2, wherein the first uplink message includes one or more parameters relating to the group. 4. The method of example 3, wherein the one or more parameters include a timing adjustment or timing advance, a resource pool for sidelink communications, a sidelink radio network temporary identifier, a transmit power, or a modulation and coding scheme. 5. The method of any of Examples 1-4, further comprising transmitting a sidelink communication to one or more other UEs based on receiving the second uplink message. 6. The method of any of Examples 1-5, wherein receiving the configuration comprises receiving the configuration in radio resource control (RRC) signaling or downlink control information (DCI) signaling from a base station. 7. The method of any of Examples 1-6, wherein the first uplink message indicates at least one of an identity of one or more other UEs or resources used for sidelink communication. 8. The method of example 7, wherein the second uplink message indicates an acknowledgment of receiving the first uplink message, the method further comprising transmitting a sidelink communication to one or more other UEs based at least in part on the acknowledgment. 9. A method for wireless communication, comprising: receiving, from a base station, a configuration for transmitting uplink signaling to the base station; receiving, from a user equipment (UE), a first uplink message based on a configuration from a base station; determining, based on a first uplink message received from the UE, to set up a group for sidelink communication with the UE; based on determining to set up the group, transmitting a second uplink message over the uplink resources determined based on the configuration to indicate the setting up of the group; A method for providing the above. 10. The method of example 9, wherein the uplink signaling includes random access signaling and the first uplink message is a first message in a random access procedure. 11. The method of any of examples 9 or 10, wherein the first uplink message includes one or more parameters related to the group. 12. The method of example 11, wherein the one or more parameters include a timing adjustment or timing advance, a resource pool for sidelink communications, a sidelink radio network temporary identifier, a transmit power, or a modulation and coding scheme. 13. The method of any of Examples 9-12, further comprising generating a second uplink message to indicate at least one of the random access preamble or the corresponding random access channel resource from the first uplink message. 14. The method of any of Examples 9-13, wherein receiving the configuration comprises receiving the configuration in radio resource control (RRC) signaling or downlink control information (DCI) signaling from a base station. 15. The method of any of examples 9-14, wherein the first uplink message indicates at least one of an identifier or a resource to be used for sidelink communication. 16. The method of any of Examples 9 to 15, wherein the step of transmitting the second uplink message is based at least in part on at least one of the identifier and a determination from the base station that downlink communication is not scheduled via resources used for sidelink communication. 17. A method for wireless communication, comprising: receiving one or more signals from a plurality of user equipments (UEs); determining a possible grouping of a subset of the plurality of UEs based on one or more parameters associated with the one or more signals; transmitting, to a subset of the plurality of UEs, a configuration for transmitting uplink signaling over uplink resources to set up the possible groupings among the subset of the plurality of UEs for sidelink communication based on determining the possible groupings; A method for providing the above. 18. The method of example 17, wherein the configuration relates to a random access configuration for transmitting the uplink signaling as one or more random access messages. 19. The method of any of Examples 17 or 18, wherein transmitting the configuration comprises transmitting the configuration to a subset of the plurality of UEs in radio resource control (RRC) signaling or downlink control information (DCI) signaling. 20. The method of any of Examples 17-19, wherein the step of determining the possible groupings is based at least in part on determining similar values ​​for one or more parameters of one or more signals received from a subset of the plurality of UEs. 21. The method of example 20, wherein the one or more parameters correspond to at least one of a path loss or beamforming associated with the one or more signals. 22. The method of any of Examples 17 to 21, wherein the configurations include a random access preamble, and the method further comprises generating at least two of the configurations to indicate the same random access preamble for different UEs of a subset of the plurality of UEs determined to have similar timing advances. 23. The method of any of examples 17-22, wherein the configuration includes the same pool of random access preambles that a subset of the multiple UEs can select from to transmit uplink signaling. 24. receiving a first uplink message from a UE of a subset of the plurality of UEs, the first uplink message indicating at least one of one or more identities of the one or more UEs or resources for sidelink communication; transmitting feedback indicating whether uplink communication is scheduled via resources for sidelink communication based on the first uplink message; The method of any of Examples 17 to 23, further comprising: 25. A method for wireless communication, comprising: determining to transmit sidelink communications to one or more user equipments (UEs) during a first time period; transmitting, based on the determination to transmit sidelink communications in a second time period preceding the first time period, a notification signal to indicate the transmission of sidelink communications in the first time period; receiving feedback from one or more UEs or base stations indicating whether communication is scheduled in the first time period; A method for providing the above. 26. The method of example 25, further comprising transmitting a sidelink communication during the first time period based on feedback indicating that communication is not scheduled in the first time period. 27. The method of any of Examples 25 or 26, further comprising transmitting an uplink communication during the first time period based on feedback from the base station indicating that the communication is scheduled in the first time period. 28. The method of any of Examples 25 to 27, wherein receiving feedback comprises receiving feedback from one or more UEs indicating whether downlink communication is scheduled for the one or more UEs in the first time period after a downlink control information (DCI) transmission or a control resource set (CORESET) transmission. 29. The method of any of Examples 25-28, wherein receiving feedback comprises receiving feedback from a base station indicating whether uplink communication is scheduled for the one or more UEs or other UEs in the first time period. 30. The method of any of examples 25-29, wherein the notification signal indicates at least one of one or more identities of one or more UEs or resources to be used for sidelink communication. 31. A method for wireless communication, comprising: receiving, from a user equipment (UE), a notification signal in a first time period preceding a second time period, for indicating a transmission of a sidelink communication in the second time period; determining whether resources are scheduled for communication in a second time period; transmitting feedback to the UE in the first time period indicating whether communication is scheduled in the second time period; A method for providing the above. 32. The method of Example 31, wherein determining whether resources are scheduled comprises determining whether the base station has scheduled resources for receiving downlink communications in a second time period. 33. The method of Example 32, wherein transmitting the feedback comprises transmitting the feedback after a downlink control information (DCI) transmission or a control resource set (CORESET) transmission by the base station. 34. The method of any of Examples 31 to 33, wherein determining whether resources are scheduled comprises determining whether uplink communication is scheduled for the UE or one or more other UEs in a second time period. 35. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising: A transceiver; A memory configured to store instructions; An apparatus comprising: one or more processors communicatively coupled to the transceiver and the memory, the one or more processors configured to execute instructions for performing operations of one or more methods of any of Examples 1 to 34. 36. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising means for performing one or more method operations of any of Examples 1 to 34. 37. A computer-readable medium comprising code executable by one or more processors to perform the operations of one or more of the methods of any of Examples 1-34. [Explanation of symbols]

[0106] 100 Access network, wireless communication access network 102 Base station, macro base station, receiving base station 102' Small Cell 104 UE, receiving UE, transmitting UE 110 Geographical Coverage Area, Coverage Area 110' Coverage Area 120 Communication Links 132 backhaul links 134 backhaul links 150 Wi-Fi Access Points (APs), APs, Wi-Fi APs 152 Wi-Fi stations (STAs), STA 154 Communication Links 158 Device-to-Device (D2D) Communication Links, D2D Communication Links 160 Evolved Packet Core (EPC), EPC 162 Mobility Management Entity (MME), MME 164 Other MMEs 166 Serving Gateway 168 Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS) Gateway, MBMS Gateway 170 Broadcast Multicast Service Center (BM-SC), BM-SC 172 Packet Data Network (PDN) Gateway, PDN Gateway 174 Home Subscriber Server (HSS) 176 IP Services 180 gNB, mmW base station 182 Beamforming 184 backhaul links 190 5G Core (5GC), 5GC 192 Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), AMF 193 Other AMF 194 Session Management Facility (SMF) 195 User Plane Function (UPF), UPF 196 Unified Data Management (UDM) 197 IP Services 202 Transceiver 206 Receiver 208 Transmitter 212 processors 216 Memory 240 Modem 242 Communication Components 244 Bus 252 Group Setup Components 254 Setup Instruction Component 256 Conflict Avoidance Components 265 Antenna 275 Applications 288 RF Front End 290 Low Noise Amplifier (LNA), LNA 292 Switch 296 Filters 298 Power Amplifier (PA), PA 302 Transceiver 306 Receiver 308 Transmitter 312 processor 316 Memory 340 Modem 342 Scheduling Components 344 Bus 352 Grouping Components 354 Conflict Instruction Constituent 365 Antenna 375 Applications 388 RF Front End 390 LNA 392 Switch 396 Filters 398 PA 400 ways 500 ways 600 ways 700 methods 800 ways 900 Resource Allocation 902 Resource Allocation 904 Resource Allocation 910 Symbol 912 SL Pre-tx, SL Pre-tx signal 914 Sidelink transmission 916 Sidelink transmission 918 SL FB, SL Feedback 922 SL Pre-tx, SL Pre-tx signal 924 Sidelink transmission 926 Sidelink transmission 928 Sidelink transmission 930 SL FB, SL Feedback 1000 MIMO Communication System 1020 Transmit (Tx) Processor, Transmit Processor 1030 Transmit MIMO Processor 1032 Transmitter Modulator / Demodulator, Modulator / Demodulator 1033 Transmitter Modulator / Demodulator, Modulator / Demodulator 1034 Antenna 1035 Antenna 1036 MIMO Detector 1038 Receive Processor 1040 Processor 1042 Memory 1052 Antenna, UE Antenna 1053 Antenna, UE Antenna 1054 Modulator / Demodulator 1055 Modulator / Demodulator 1056 MIMO Detector 1058 Receiver (Rx) Processor 1064 Transmit Processor 1066 Transmit MIMO Processor 1080 Processor 1082 Memory

Claims

1. 1. A method for wireless communication, comprising: receiving, by a user equipment (UE), from a base station, a configuration for transmitting uplink signaling to the base station; determining, by the UE, based on the configuration, to set up a group for sidelink communication with one or more other UEs; transmitting, by the UE, a first uplink message based on the configuration from the base station based on the determination to set up the group; receiving, by the UE, a second uplink message based on the configuration to indicate the setup of the group from the one or more other UEs; A method for providing the above.

2. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the uplink signaling includes random access signaling, and the first uplink message is a first message in a random access procedure.

3. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first uplink message comprises one or more parameters for the group, the one or more parameters comprising a timing adjustment or advance, a resource pool for sidelink communication, a sidelink radio network temporary identifier, a transmit power, or a modulation and coding scheme.

4. 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: the UE transmitting a sidelink communication to the one or more other UEs based on receiving the second uplink message.

5. determining, based on receiving the second uplink message, by the UE to transmit sidelink communications to the one or more other UEs during a first time period; transmitting, based on a determination to transmit the sidelink communication in a second time period preceding the first time period, a notification signal by the UE to indicate transmission of the sidelink communication in the first time period; receiving, by the UE, feedback from the one or more other UEs or base stations indicating whether other communications are scheduled in the first time period; The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

6. 6. The method of claim 5, further comprising: transmitting the sidelink communication during the first time period based on the feedback indicating that a communication is not scheduled in the first time period; or transmitting an uplink communication during the first time period based on feedback indicating that a communication is scheduled in the first time period.

7. receiving the feedback, receiving, by the UE, the feedback from the one or more other UEs indicating whether downlink communication is scheduled for the one or more other UEs in the first time period after a downlink control information (DCI) transmission or a control resource set (CORESET) transmission; or 6. The method of claim 5, comprising the step of the UE receiving the feedback from the base station indicating whether uplink communication is scheduled for the one or more other UEs in the first time period.

8. 1. A method for wireless communication, comprising: receiving, by a user equipment (UE), from a base station, a configuration for transmitting uplink signaling to the base station; receiving, by the UE, a first uplink message based on the configuration from the base station from another UE; determining, by the UE, based on the first uplink message received from the other UE, to set up a group for sidelink communication with the other UE; based on determining to set up the group, the UE transmitting a second uplink message via an uplink resource determined based on the configuration to indicate the setting up of the group; A method for providing the above.

9. 10. The method of claim 8, further comprising: the UE generating the second uplink message to indicate at least one of a random access preamble or a corresponding random access channel resource from the first uplink message.

10. receiving, by the UE, a notification signal from the other UE in a first time period preceding a second time period, the notification signal indicating a transmission of a sidelink communication in the second time period; determining, by the UE, whether resources are scheduled for communication in the second time period; transmitting, by the UE, feedback to the other UE during the first time period indicating whether communication is scheduled during the second time period; The method of claim 8, further comprising:

11. determining whether the resource is scheduled, 11. The method of claim 10, comprising the step of the UE determining whether a base station has scheduled resources for receiving downlink communication in the second time period or the UE determining whether uplink communication is scheduled for the UE or one or more other UEs in the second time period.

12. 10. The method of claim 8, wherein receiving the configuration comprises the UE receiving the configuration in radio resource control (RRC) signaling or downlink control information (DCI) signaling from the base station.

13. 10. The method of claim 8, wherein the step of transmitting the second uplink message is based on at least one of an identifier and a determination that downlink communication from the base station over resources used for sidelink communication is not scheduled.

14. 1. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising: means for receiving, from a base station, a configuration for transmitting uplink signaling to said base station; means for determining, based on the configuration, to set up a group for sidelink communication with one or more other user equipments (UEs); means for transmitting a first uplink message based on the configuration from the base station based on the determination to set up the group; means for receiving, from the one or more other UEs, a second uplink message based on the configuration to indicate the setup of the group; An apparatus comprising:

15. 1. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising: means for receiving, from a base station, a configuration for transmitting uplink signaling to said base station; means for receiving, from a user equipment (UE), a first uplink message from the base station based on the configuration; means for determining, based on the first uplink message received from the UE, to set up a group for sidelink communication with the UE; means for transmitting, based on a determination to set up the group, a second uplink message over an uplink resource determined based on the configuration to indicate the setting up of the group; An apparatus comprising:

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