Method and terminal device

Abstract

An exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure relates to an effective mechanism for dealing with discontinuous coverage scenarios. In this solution, a first terminal device receives a sidelink transmission in a first resource within a frequency bandwidth. Then, the first terminal device determines at least one second resource within the frequency bandwidth for transmitting feedback information for the sidelink transmission, and transmits the feedback information in the at least one second resource. A frequency range occupied by the at least one second resource is equal to or greater than a predefined percentage of the frequency bandwidth, and the at least one second resource includes a common second resource. In this way, the occupied channel bandwidth requirement for the feedback information of the sidelink transmission is ensured.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field of communication technologies, and more particularly, to methods, apparatuses, and communication media for feedback information mechanisms.

Background Art

[0002] Wireless communication networks are widely deployed and can support various types of service applications for terminal devices. To support the rapidly increasing data traffic, numerous communication methods have been proposed. For example, the SideLink (SL) communication method has been proposed. In the SideLink communication method, one or more SLs can be established between terminal devices in a wireless communication network, and the terminal devices can directly exchange signaling and data with each other via the established SLs.

[0003] In a scenario where SL communication is performed, a device transmits SL control information associated with SL data on a Physical Sidelink Control Channel (PSCCH), and transmits SL data on a Physical Sidelink Shared Channel (PSSCH) based on the SL control information. Further, in order to ensure the reliability of SL transmission, it is stipulated to use a Physical Sidelink Feedback Channel (PSFCH) for the transmission of Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest (HARQ) feedback information from a receiving device to a transmitting device.

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] Generally, exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure provide solutions for transmitting feedback information. If there are embodiments that do not fall within the scope of the claims, they should be construed as useful examples for understanding the various embodiments of the present disclosure.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0005] In a first aspect, a method for communication is provided. The method includes, at a first terminal device, receiving an SL transmission in a first resource within a frequency bandwidth, determining at least one second resource within the frequency bandwidth for transmitting feedback information for the SL transmission, and transmitting the feedback information in the at least one second resource. The frequency range occupied by the at least one second resource is equal to or greater than a predefined percentage of the frequency bandwidth, and the at least one second resource includes a common second resource.

[0006] In a second aspect, a method for communication is provided. The method includes, at a first terminal device, receiving an interleaving-based SL transmission transmitted with a granularity of an interleaving resource greater than 1 in at least one first resource, determining a second resource for transmitting feedback information for the SL transmission based at least in part on the granularity of the interleaving resource, and transmitting the feedback information in the second resource.

[0007] In a third aspect, a method for communication is provided. The method includes, at a first terminal device, receiving an SL transmission in a first resource and determining a second resource having a cyclic shift pair specialized for the first resource for transmitting feedback information for the SL transmission, and transmitting the feedback information in the second resource having the cyclic shift pair.

[0008] In a fourth aspect, a method for communication is provided. The method includes, at a first terminal device, receiving an interlace-based SL transmission in a first resource within a frequency bandwidth including a plurality of sets of interlace resource blocks in a frequency domain, where the interlace-based SL transmission is transmitted by a second terminal device via multicast, determining at least one second resource for transmitting feedback information for the SL transmission, where the number of at least one second resource is determined based on at least one of the number of terminal devices related to the multicast, the number of the plurality of sets of interlace resource blocks, and the number of cyclic shift pairs, and transmitting the feedback information in the at least one second resource.

[0009] In a fifth aspect, a method for communication is provided. The method includes, at a first terminal device, receiving an SL transmission in at least one first resource, determining at least one second resource for transmitting feedback information for the SL transmission from a plurality of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbols within a single slot, and transmitting the feedback information in the at least one second resource.

[0010] In a sixth aspect, a method for communication is provided. The method includes, at a first terminal device, receiving an SL transmission from a second terminal device in a first resource, determining a feedback resource for transmitting feedback information for the SL transmission, the feedback resource including a second resource and a third resource different from the second resource, and transmitting the feedback information in at least a part of the feedback resource.

[0011] In a seventh aspect, a method for communication is provided. The method includes, at a second terminal device, transmitting a SL transmission in a first resource within a frequency bandwidth, determining at least one second resource within the frequency bandwidth for receiving feedback information for the SL transmission, and receiving the feedback information in the at least one second resource, wherein a frequency range occupied by the at least one second resource is equal to or greater than a predefined ratio of the frequency bandwidth, and the at least one second resource includes a common second resource.

[0012] In an eighth aspect, a method for communication is provided. The method includes, at a second terminal device, transmitting an interleaving-based SL transmission in at least one first resource, wherein the interleaving-based SL transmission is transmitted with an interleaving resource granularity greater than 1, determining a second resource for receiving feedback information for the SL transmission at least partially based on the interleaving resource granularity, and receiving the feedback information in the second resource.

[0013] In a ninth aspect, a method for communication is provided. The method includes, at a first terminal device, transmitting a SL transmission in a first resource, determining a second resource having a cyclic shift pair specialized for the first resource for receiving feedback information for the SL transmission, and receiving the feedback information in the second resource having the cyclic shift pair.

[0014] In a tenth aspect, a method for communication is provided. The method includes, at a first terminal device, transmitting, via groupcast, an interleaving-based SL transmission to a plurality of terminal devices including the first terminal device in a first resource within a frequency bandwidth including a plurality of sets of interleaved resource blocks in a frequency domain; determining at least one second resource for receiving feedback information for the SL transmission from the first terminal device, wherein the number of at least one second resource is determined based on at least one of the number of terminal devices related to the groupcast, the number of the plurality of sets of interleaved resource blocks, and the number of cyclic shift pairs; and receiving feedback information in the at least one second resource.

[0015] In an eleventh aspect, a method for communication is provided. The method includes, at a second terminal device, transmitting an SL transmission in at least one first resource; determining at least one second resource for receiving feedback information for the SL transmission from a plurality of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbols within a single slot; and receiving feedback information in the at least one second resource.

[0016] In a twelfth aspect, a method for communication is provided. The method includes, at a second terminal device, transmitting an SL transmission to a first terminal device in a first resource; determining a feedback resource for receiving feedback information for the SL transmission, the feedback resource including a second resource and a third resource different from the second resource; and receiving feedback information in at least a part of the feedback resource.

[0017] In a thirteenth aspect, a terminal device is provided. The terminal device includes a processor unit and a memory coupled to the processor unit and storing instructions. The instructions, when executed by the processor unit, cause the terminal device to execute the method according to the first aspect.

[0018] In a 14th aspect, a terminal device is provided. The terminal device includes a processor unit and a memory coupled to the processor unit and storing instructions. When the instructions are executed by the processor unit, the terminal device is caused to execute the method according to the 2nd aspect.

[0019] In a 15th aspect, a terminal device is provided. The terminal device includes a processor unit and a memory coupled to the processor unit and storing instructions. When the instructions are executed by the processor unit, the terminal device is caused to execute the method according to the 3rd aspect.

[0020] In a 16th aspect, a terminal device is provided. The terminal device includes a processor unit and a memory coupled to the processor unit and storing instructions. When the instructions are executed by the processor unit, the terminal device is caused to execute the method according to the 4th aspect.

[0021] In a 17th aspect, a terminal device is provided. The terminal device includes a processor unit and a memory coupled to the processor unit and storing instructions. When the instructions are executed by the processor unit, the terminal device is caused to execute the method according to the 5th aspect.

[0022] In an 18th aspect, a terminal device is provided. The terminal device includes a processor unit and a memory coupled to the processor unit and storing instructions. When the instructions are executed by the processor unit, the terminal device is caused to execute the method according to the 6th aspect.

[0023] In a 19th aspect, a terminal device is provided. The terminal device includes a processor unit and a memory coupled to the processor unit and storing instructions. When the instructions are executed by the processor unit, the terminal device is caused to execute the method according to the 7th aspect.

[0024] In the 20th aspect, a terminal device is provided. The terminal device includes a processor unit and a memory coupled to the processor unit and storing instructions. When the instructions are executed by the processor unit, the terminal device is caused to execute the method according to the 8th aspect.

[0025] In the 21st aspect, a terminal device is provided. The terminal device includes a processor unit and a memory coupled to the processor unit and storing instructions. When the instructions are executed by the processor unit, the terminal device is caused to execute the method according to the 9th aspect.

[0026] In the 22nd aspect, a terminal device is provided. The terminal device includes a processor unit and a memory coupled to the processor unit and storing instructions. When the instructions are executed by the processor unit, the terminal device is caused to execute the method according to the 10th aspect.

[0027] In the 23rd aspect, a terminal device is provided. The terminal device includes a processor unit and a memory coupled to the processor unit and storing instructions. When the instructions are executed by the processor unit, the terminal device is caused to execute the method according to the 11th aspect.

[0028] In the 24th aspect, a terminal device is provided. The terminal device includes a processor unit and a memory coupled to the processor unit and storing instructions. When the instructions are executed by the processor unit, the terminal device is caused to execute the method according to the 12th aspect.

[0029] In the 25th aspect, a computer-readable medium storing instructions is provided. When the instructions are executed in at least one processor, the at least one processor is caused to execute the method according to any one of the 1st to 12th aspects described above.

[0030] It should be understood that the summary of the invention is not intended to identify important or essential features of the embodiments of the present disclosure, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Other features of the present disclosure should be readily understood through the following description.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0031] By describing some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure in more detail in the accompanying drawings, the above and other objects, features, and advantages of the present disclosure should become clearer.

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Embodiments for Carrying Out the Invention

[0032] The principles of the present disclosure will be described with reference to some exemplary embodiments. It should be understood that these embodiments are described for illustrative purposes only and are useful for those skilled in the art to understand and implement the present disclosure, and do not imply any limitation to the scope of the present disclosure. The embodiments described herein can be implemented in various ways other than those described below.

[0033] In the following description and claims, unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the technical field to which the present disclosure belongs.

[0034] References to "one embodiment", "embodiment", "exemplary embodiment", etc. in the present disclosure indicate that the described embodiment may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but not all embodiments need to include such particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Also, these expressions do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in relation to an embodiment, it is considered within the knowledge of those skilled in the art to affect such feature, structure, or characteristic in relation to other embodiments, whether or not explicitly described.

[0035] In this specification, terms such as "first", "second", etc. may be used to describe various elements, but it should be understood that these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another. For example, without departing from the scope of the exemplary embodiments, the first element can be referred to as the second element, and similarly, the second element can be referred to as the first element. As used herein, the term "and / or" includes any one or more of the listed items, and all combinations thereof.

[0036] The terms used in this specification are only for the purpose of describing specific embodiments and are not intended to limit the exemplary embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms "a", "an", and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. Further, the terms "comprising", "including", "having", "possessing", "containing" and / or "including" when used in this specification define the presence of the described features, elements, and / or components, etc., but do not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components and / or combinations thereof.

[0037] In some examples, a value, procedure, or device is referred to as "optimal", "lowest", "highest", "minimum", "maximum", etc. It should be understood that such descriptions are intended to indicate that a selection is possible from among multiple functional alternatives being used, and that such a selection need not be better, smaller, higher, or more preferred than other selections.

[0038] As used herein, the term "communication network" refers to a network that complies with any suitable communication standard such as New Radio (NR), Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA (registered trademark)), High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA), Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT), etc. Further, the communication between the terminal device and the network device in the communication network may be executed by any suitable generation of communication protocol. The communication protocol includes, but is not limited to, the communication protocols of the first generation (1G), the second generation (2G), 2.5G, 2.75G, the third generation (3G), the fourth generation (4G), 4.5G, the fifth generation (5G), 5.5G, 5G-Advanced Network or the sixth generation (6G), and / or other protocols that are currently known or will be developed in the future. Embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied to various communication systems. Considering the rapid development of communication, it is natural that there will also be future communication technologies and communication systems in which the present disclosure can be implemented. The scope of the present disclosure should not be considered limited to only the aforementioned systems.

[0039] As used herein, the term "terminal device" refers to any device having a wireless or wired communication function. Examples of terminal devices include user equipment (UE), personal computers, desktops, mobile phones, cellular phones, smartphones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), portable computers, tablets, wearable devices, Internet of Things (IoT) devices, ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC) devices, Internet of Everything (IoE) devices, machine type communication (MTC) devices, vehicle-mounted devices for V2X communication (where X means pedestrian, vehicle, or infrastructure / network), devices for Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB), spacecraft or aircraft in non-terrestrial networks (NTN) including High Altitude Platforms (HAP) and satellites that include unmanned aerial vehicle systems (UAS), extended reality (XR) devices including different types of reality such as augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR), virtual reality (VR), unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) generally known as drones that do not require a human pilot, devices on high-speed trains (HSTs), imaging devices such as digital cameras, sensors, gaming devices, music storage / playback devices, or Internet devices that enable wireless / wired Internet access and browsing, but are not limited thereto. The "terminal device" can further have a multicast / broadcast function and support public safety, mission-critical, V2X applications, transparent IPv4 / IPv6 multicast delivery, IPTV, smart TV, wireless services, wireless software delivery, group communication, and IoT applications. Also, one or more subscriber identity modules (SIMs), known as multi-SIM, may be incorporated. The term "terminal device" can be used interchangeably with UE, mobile station, subscriber equipment, mobile terminal, user terminal, or wireless device.

[0040] As used herein, the term "network device" refers to a device capable of providing or hosting a cell or coverage with which a terminal device can communicate. Examples of network devices include, but are not limited to, satellites, unmanned aircraft system (UAS) platforms, Node B (NodeB or NB), Evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB), next-generation NodeB (gNB), transmission and reception point (TRP), remote radio unit (RRU), radio head (RH), remote radio head (RRH), IAB node, femto node, low-power nodes such as pico nodes, and reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS).

[0041] The terminal device or network device may have an artificial intelligence (Al) or machine learning function. Generally, it includes a model that can learn from a large number of data collected for a specific function and be used to predict some information.

[0042] The terminal device or network device may function in a plurality of frequency ranges, such as, for example, FR1 (410 MHz to 7125 MHz), FR2 (24.25 GHz to 71 GHz), frequency bands higher than 100 GHz, and terahertz (THz). Furthermore, it can function in licensed / unlicensed / shared spectrum. In a scenario of multi-radio dual connectivity (MR-DC) application, the terminal device may have multiple connections with network devices. The terminal device or network device can function in full-duplex, flexible-duplex, and cross-division duplex modes.

[0043] Embodiments of the present disclosure may be executed in test devices such as, for example, signal generators, signal analyzers, spectrum analyzers, network analyzers, test terminal devices, test network devices, and channel emulators.

[0044] Embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented according to any generation of communication protocols that are currently known or will be developed in the future. Examples of communication protocols include, but are not limited to, communication protocols of the first generation (1G), second generation (2G), 2.5G, 2.75G, third generation (3G), fourth generation (4G), 4.5G, fifth generation (5G), 5.5G, 5G-Advanced Network, or sixth generation (6G) network.

[0045] As used herein, the term "circuit" may mean a hardware circuit and / or a combination of a hardware circuit and software. For example, a circuit may be a combination of an analog hardware circuit and / or a digital hardware circuit and software / firmware. As a further example, a circuit may be any portion of a hardware processor with software, such as a digital signal processor, software, and memory that cooperate to perform various functions in a device such as a terminal device or a network device. In yet another example, a circuit may be a hardware circuit and / or a processor, such as a microprocessor or a part of a microprocessor, that requires software / firmware for operation but may not have software when not required for operation. As used herein, the term "circuit" encompasses merely a hardware circuit or processor, or a part of a hardware circuit or processor, and its (or their) accompanying software and / or firmware implementation.

[0046] As described above, in order to support the rapidly increasing data traffic, the SL communication method has been proposed. In the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), a work item has been implemented for transmitting feedback information for SL communication. Specifically, it is specified to use the PSFCH to transmit HARQ feedback information from a receiving terminal device to a transmitting terminal device.

[0047] Now, the UE (i.e., the terminal device) can be instructed by the SL control information (SCI) format that schedules the reception of the PSSCH to transmit the PSFCH with HARQ-acknowledgment (HARQ-ACK) information (i.e., feedback information) in response to the reception of the PSSCH. The UE provides HARQ-ACK information including ACK or negative acknowledgment (NACK), or NACK only.

[0048] In the conventional solution means for HARQ feedback information, the HARQ feedback information is transmitted in the PSFCH of one PRB. The PSFCH that transmits the HARQ feedback information is usually repeated over two orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols near the end of the SL resource of a certain slot.

[0049] Please refer to FIG. 1A. FIG. 1A shows the conventional slot format 100 of the SL channel. As shown in FIG. 1A, the PSFCH that transmits the HARQ feedback information is repeated over two OFDM symbols 110 (i.e., OFDM symbol #12, #13).

[0050] Furthermore, the time resource of the PSFCH may be (previously) set to occur once every 1, 2, or 4 slots (referred to as the PSFCH period). Furthermore, the HARQ feedback resource (i.e., the PSFCH) is derived from the resource position of the PSCCH / PSSCH that transmits the related SL data.

[0051] In the conventional solution means for HARQ feedback information, the sl-PSFCH-Period can provide the UE with the number of slots in the resource pool of the period of the PSFCH transmission opportunity resource. If the number is 0, the PSFCH transmission from the UE in the resource pool is invalidated.

[0052] TIFF0007704303000001.tif40168

[0053] If the UE receives the PSSCH in a resource pool and the HARQ feedback enabled / disabled indicator field of the related SCI format 2-A or SCI format 2-B has a value of 1, the UE provides HARQ-ACK information in the PSFCH transmission in the resource pool. It is the first slot in the resource pool after the last slot of the PSSCH reception, which is at least the number of slots provided by sl-MinTimeGapPSFCH. In the first slot containing the PSFCH resource, the UE transmits the PSFCH.

[0054] TIFF0007704303000002.tif63168

[0055] The second OFDM symbol l′ of the PSFCH transmission in the slot is defined as l′ = startSLsymbols + lengthSLsymbols - 2.

[0056] TIFF0007704303000003.tif76168

[0057] TIFF0007704303000004.tif19168

[0058] TIFF0007704303000005.tif40168

[0059] TIFF0007704303000006.tif19168

[0060]

Table 1

[0061] When the UE detects an SCI format 2-A with a Cast type indicator field value of "01" or "10", or an SCI format 2-B or SCI format 2-A with a Cast type indicator field value of "11" as shown in Table 2 or Table 3 below, the UE calculates the value of m for the cyclic shift α.cs Determine the value. The UE applies one cyclic shift from the cyclic shift pair to the sequence used for PSFCH transmission.

[0062] [Table 2]

[0063] [Table 3]

[0064] Next, refer to FIG. 1B. FIG. 1B shows a correspondence 120 of a conventional resource mapping disclosed in a document entitled “A Tutorial on 5G NR V2X Communications” with a digital object indicator (DOI) of 10.1109 / COMST.2021.3057017. To more appropriately understand the solution of FIG. 1B, the entire disclosure content of the document is incorporated herein by reference. In the example of FIG. 1B, the PSFCH period (represented by parameter N in FIG. 1B) is 4 slots, and the minimum slot gap (represented by parameter K in FIG. 1B) between PSSCH / PSSCH and PSFCH is 2 slots.

[0065] In addition to the above, an interlace-based SL transmission scheme is being considered. Refer to FIG. 1C to explain the central concept of interlace-based SL transmission. FIG. 1C shows a resource allocation 140 proposed for interlace-based SL transmission. In a specific and exemplary embodiment of FIG. 1C, the frequency resources each include 5 sets of interlace resource blocks (represented as interlace #0 to #4 in FIG. 1C). The SL transmission (i.e., PSSCH / PSSCH transmission) may be performed in a set of interlace resource blocks where the granularity of the interlace resources is “1”.

[0066] Regarding the transmission of feedback information, multiple discussions and proposals have been made, but there are still multiple outstanding issues to be addressed.

[0067] One of the outstanding issues is how to ensure the transmission of feedback information that meets the Occupied Channel Bandwidth (OCB) requirements. Specifically, the nominal channel bandwidth of a single operating channel is usually proposed to be 20 MHz, and the OCB must be 80% - 100% of the published nominal channel bandwidth. In this case, in order to ensure the fair coexistence of different wireless communication systems, the Listen-Before-Talk (LBT) procedure may be accurately executed. However, as described above, the feedback information for SL transmission is transmitted by two OFDM symbols within the PRB (as shown in Figure 1A), which is clearly less than 16 MHz (i.e., the minimum occupied frequency required by the OCB requirement at 20 MHz). Furthermore, if the concept of interlace-based transmission is introduced for the transmission of feedback information to meet the OCB requirements, the transmission opportunity for feedback information will be dramatically reduced. Therefore, it is desirable to propose an efficient solution for designing the resource allocation of PSFCH to meet the OCB requirements.

[0068] Another outstanding issue is how to support the transmission of feedback information for groupcast SL transmission with ACK and NACK feedback. Specifically, as the number of UEs in groupcast SL transmission increases, it becomes difficult to ensure that the corresponding PSFCH resources can be set for each UE.

[0069] A further outstanding issue is how to ensure the reliable transmission of feedback information. With conventional solutions, unnecessary retransmissions may occur due to the failure of transmitting feedback information. Therefore, it is desirable to improve the reliability of PSFCH transmission.

[0070] It should be understood that the above problems are for illustrative purposes only and do not imply any limitation. Also, any of the concerns and problems addressed by the present disclosure are not limited to the problems shown above.

[0071] In the following text, the terms "resource" or "transmission resource" may refer to any resource for performing communication (e.g., communication between a terminal device and a network device, communication between a terminal device and another terminal device, communication between a network device and another network device), such as a resource in the time domain, a resource in the frequency domain, a resource in the spatial domain, a resource in the code domain, a resource of a combination of multiple domains, or any other resource enabling communication, etc.

[0072] In the following text, for the purpose of better understanding, specific and exemplary embodiments will be described. Specifically, the frequency bandwidth includes 50 PRBs, or 5 sets of interleaved resource blocks (denoted as interleaves #0 to #4 respectively). Further, the PSFCH period is 2 slots, and the number of cyclic shift pairs used is 3. It should be understood that the above values should not be regarded as any limitation to the present disclosure. In other embodiments, the values of the number of PRBs, the number of interleaves (i.e., the number of sets of interleaved resource blocks), the PSFCH period, and the number of cyclic shift pairs may be replaced with any appropriate values. The present disclosure is not limited in this regard.

[0073] Furthermore, in the following description, · The terms "resource block (RB)" and "physical resource block (PRB)" may be used interchangeably. · The terms "nominal channel bandwidth", "bandwidth part (BWP)", and "bandwidth of the resource pool" may be used interchangeably. · The terms "SL transmission", "PSSCH transmission", and "PSSCH / PSSCH transmission" may be used interchangeably. · The terms "granularity", "unit", and "minimum unit" may be used interchangeably. · The terms "feedback information transmission", "HARQ ACK transmission", and "PSFCH transmission" may be used interchangeably.

[0074] Furthermore, in the present disclosure, the terminal device may provide HARQ-ACK information in response to PSSCH reception, and may provide HARQ-ACK information including only NACK (referred to as "Option 1") or HARQ-ACK information including ACK and NACK (referred to as "Option 2").

[0075] Exemplary Environment FIG. 2 shows an exemplary communication environment 200 in which an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure can be implemented.

[0076] The communication environment 200 includes terminal devices 210-1 to 210-3, a first network device 220, and a second network device 230. In the following text, the terminal devices 210-1 to 210-3 are referred to as the first terminal device 210-1, the second terminal device 210-2, and the third terminal device 210-3, respectively.

[0077] In the specific and exemplary embodiment of FIG. 2, a plurality of different wireless communication systems (such as a cellular wireless system, a WiFi system, etc.) coexist. Specifically, in the specific and exemplary embodiment of FIG. 2, the first network device 220 is shown as a network device of a cellular wireless system, and the second network device 230 is shown as an access point of a WiFi system. The serving area of the first network device 220 is referred to as cell 222, and the first network device 220 may communicate with the first terminal device 210-1, the second terminal device 210-2, and the third terminal device 210-3 via a physical communication channel or link. Similarly, the serving area of the second network device 230 is referred to as cell 232, and the second network device 230 may communicate with the second terminal device 210-2 and the third terminal device 210-3 via a physical communication channel or link.

[0078] Furthermore, in the communication environment 200, communication using license-free resources (such as license-free spectrum) is supported. In other words, the license-free resources may be shared by different wireless communication systems (i.e., cellular wireless systems and WiFi systems).

[0079] Also, in the communication environment 200, SL communication is supported. As shown in FIG. 2, the first terminal device 210-1 and the second terminal device 210-2 may receive control information (such as a resource setting message) from the first network device 220 and communicate directly with each other via the established SL.

[0080] The communication in the communication environment 200 may conform to any suitable standard, and the standards include, but are not limited to, Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE Evolution, LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), and Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) for mobile communications, etc. Furthermore, the communication may be executed according to any generation of communication protocol known currently or developed in the future. Examples of communication protocols include, but are not limited to, the communication protocols of the first generation (1G), the second generation (2G), 2.5G, 2.75G, the third generation (3G), the fourth generation (4G), 4.5G, the fifth generation (5G), 5.5G, 5G-Advanced Network, or the sixth generation (6G).

[0081] It should be understood that the number, connection relationship, and types of the devices shown in FIG. 2 (i.e., the terminal device 210, the first network device 220, and the second network device 230) are for illustrative purposes only and do not imply any limitation. The communication environment 200 may include any suitable number of devices suitable for implementing the embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0082] Exemplary Transmission Process of Feedback Information The principles and implementations of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to FIGS. 3 to 10.

[0083] First, please refer to FIG. 3. FIG. 3 shows a signaling chart illustrating a communication process 300 according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the process 300 will be described with reference to FIG. 2. The process 300 may involve the first terminal device 210-1 and the second terminal device 210-2.

[0084] In the specific and exemplary embodiment of FIG. 3, the first terminal device 210-1 receives SL transmission (such as PSSCH / PSCCH, etc.) from the second terminal device 210-2 in a first resource within the frequency bandwidth (310). Next, the first terminal device 210-1 determines at least one second resource within the frequency bandwidth for transmitting feedback information (i.e., PSFCH) for the SL transmission (320-1). Correspondingly, the second terminal device 210-2 determines at least one second resource so that the operations in the first terminal device 210-1 and the second terminal device 210-2 match each other (320-2). Then, the first terminal device 210-1 transmits the feedback information to the second terminal device 210-2 in at least one second resource (330).

[0085] In some embodiments, by default, all PRB resources within the nominal channel bandwidth may be used for feedback information (i.e., PSFCH) transmission. Specifically, the available resources configured for transmitting feedback information include all PRB resources in the frequency domain and one or two (repeated) OFDM symbols before the last guard symbol in the time domain.

[0086] In a specific and exemplary embodiment, all PRBs in the frequency domain in the resource pool are provided for PSFCH transmission. Further, in some embodiments, each interleaver may include a fixed number (e.g., 10) of allocated uniform single PRBs. Alternatively, in some embodiments, each interleaver may include a set of consecutive PRBs (e.g., 10 PRBs).

[0087] Next, please refer to FIG. 4. FIG. 4 shows a specific and exemplary resource allocation 400 for feedback information according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. In the specific and exemplary embodiment of FIG. 4, when the subcarrier spacing (SCS) is 30 kHz, there are 50 PRBs in the frequency domain (represented as PRB#0 to PRB#49 in FIG. 4) or 5 interleavers (represented as interleaver#0 to interleaver#4 in FIG. 4), and all 50 PRBs / 5 interleavers may be configured for PSFCH transmission.

[0088] According to the present disclosure, the procedure for transmitting feedback information is improved. In the following text, exemplary embodiments of the improved procedure will be discussed. In specific and exemplary embodiments, the features / operations are discussed individually, but it should be understood that these features / operations described in different exemplary embodiments may be used in any suitable combination, unless explicitly stated to the contrary.

[0089] In some embodiments, the resources used for PSFCH (i.e., the second resources) may be sub - PRB - based interleaves, for example, sub - carrier - based interleaves. As a specific embodiment, the second resources are a set of specific sub - carriers, such as the first sub - carrier #0 of each PRB within a specific PRB - based interleave resource (such as interleave #0).

[0090] Exemplary process of common PSFCH resources According to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, a solution means for communication is provided. In this solution means, the frequency range occupied by at least one second resource is greater than or equal to a pre - defined percentage of the bandwidth. In some exemplary embodiments, the pre - defined percentage is 80% - 100%. In some embodiments, at least one second resource includes a common second resource. In other words, dedicated resources (such as one dedicated interleave in a PSFCH symbol) are reserved for common PSFCH transmissions.

[0091] In particular, in some embodiments, the common second resource is shared by one SL transmission and a further SL transmission. Specifically, the common second resource may correspond to different PDSSCH / PDCCH transmission opportunities via unicast or groupcast, or may correspond to PDSSCH / PDCCH transmissions to different users having the same PDSSCH / PDCCH transmission opportunity via groupcast. In one exemplary embodiment, when the first terminal device 210 - 1 receives a first SL transmission in interleave #0 and a second SL transmission in interleave #2, both the first SL transmission and the second SL transmission may be fed back in the common second resource. In another exemplary embodiment, when the second terminal device 210 - 2 transmits a first SL transmission to the first terminal device 210 - 1 and a second SL transmission to a further terminal device, both the first SL transmission and the second SL transmission may be fed back in the common second resource.

[0092] It should be understood that an important purpose of the common second resource is that if the terminal device transmits feedback information in the common second resource, the OCB requirement is satisfied. Further, the common second resource may be shared by different SL transmission / PDSSCH / PDCCH transmission opportunities / different terminal devices. The present disclosure is not limited in this regard.

[0093] TIFF0007704303000010.tif27168

[0094] In some embodiments, the feedback information transmitted in the common second resource is predefined common feedback information. In other words, one dedicated signal is reserved as the common feedback information that can be transmitted only in the common PSFCH transmission opportunity.

[0095] In some embodiments, a predefined PUCCH format sequence may be used as the common feedback information by the indicated / (pre-)configured cyclic shift pair m0, cyclic shift value m cs Specifically, in one embodiment, the predefined common feedback information is a sequence predefined for the physical uplink control channel message, or an appropriate sequence. In another specific embodiment, the predefined common feedback information is RS.

[0096] It should be understood that the above examples of the predefined common feedback information are for illustrative purposes only and do not imply any limitation. In other exemplary embodiments, the predefined common feedback information may be any preconfigured sequence.

[0097] By predefining the common feedback information, the transmission of the common feedback information transmitted from multiple terminal devices does not interfere with each other.

[0098] In some embodiments, when the UE receives the PSSCH in the resource pool and the HARQ feedback enable / disable indicator field in the related SCI format is enabled (i.e., set to "1"), the UE transmits common HARQ-ACK information in the common PSFCH transmission in the resource pool.

[0099] In some embodiments, the common second resource is set by the second terminal device 210-2 (i.e., the transmitting device) or the first network device 220 via an SCI message or the like.

[0100] Alternatively, the common second resource may be determined according to a default setting. For example, the common second resource is defined / set / stipulated by a radio specification (such as 3GPP), a network operator, or a service provider.

[0101] In some embodiments, the frequency bandwidth includes a plurality of sets of interleaved resource blocks in the frequency domain, and the common second resource corresponds to one of the plurality of sets of interleaved resource blocks.

[0102] Next, please refer to FIG. 5. FIG. 5 shows a specific and exemplary resource mapping 500 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. In the specific and exemplary embodiment of FIG. 5, the frequency bandwidth includes 5 sets of interleaved resource blocks in the frequency domain (represented as interleaves #0 to #4 in FIG. 5), and the common second resource corresponds to a specific interleave (i.e., interleave #4 shown in FIG. 5).

[0103] In some embodiments, the SL transmission is an interlace-based SL transmission, and the at least one first resource and the common second resource correspond to different interlace indices. The first terminal device 210-1 and the second terminal device 210-2 may determine both the common second resource and a dedicated second resource specialized for SL transmission (a part of the resources of interlaces #0 / 1 / 2 / 3).

[0104] In the specific and exemplary embodiment of FIG. 5, interlace #4 is reserved as the common second resource. As shown by the mappings 530-1, 530-2, 540-1, 540-2, the feedback information for the SL transmission in interlaces #0 / 1 / 2 / 3 is transmitted on both interlace #4 and the dedicated second resource in interlaces #0 / 1 / 2 / 3 (i.e., interlace 3 as shown in FIG. 5).

[0105] In some embodiments, the dedicated second resource may be determined according to one or more factors. An example of a factor is a plurality of sets of interlace resource blocks (i.e., the number of available interlaces represented as "I_PSSCH"). In the specific and exemplary embodiment of FIG. 5, the number of the plurality of sets of interlace resource blocks is 5. Another example of a factor is the interlace index corresponding to the at least one first resource. Yet another example of a factor is the period for transmitting the feedback information. In the specific and exemplary embodiment of FIG. 5, the period for transmitting the feedback information is 2 slots (i.e., the PSFCH period, represented as "P").

[0106] In some embodiments, instead of a common second resource, the remaining PRBs are divided into a plurality of sets of PRBs according to the number of potential PSSCH / PSCCH transmission opportunities in the associated slot, and each divided set is associated with each potential PSSCH / PSCCH transmission. In some embodiments, the number of potential PSSCH / PSCCH transmission opportunities in the associated slot is derived from the period for transmitting feedback information (i.e., the PSFCH period) and the number of a plurality of sets of interleaved resource blocks (i.e., the number of interleaves).

[0107] TIFF0007704303000011.tif26168

[0108] In some examples, the first terminal device 210-1 and the second terminal device 210-2 may determine a dedicated second resource according to the 3GPP specification TS38.213.

[0109] Also, in some embodiments, when the number of sets of interleaved resource blocks occupied by SL transmission is greater than 1, the dedicated second resource is further determined based on the number of sets of interleaved resource blocks occupied by SL transmission. In the specific and illustrative embodiment of FIG. 5, when SL transmission (i.e., PSSCH / PSCCH) is set for a plurality of interleaves (such as interleaves #0 to #2, etc.), the feedback information for SL transmission in interleaves #0 to #2 may be transmitted only in interleave #0 or in both interleaves #0 to #2, which means that the number of potential PSFCH transmission opportunities is associated with the number of sets of interleaved resource blocks occupied by SL transmission.

[0110] It should be understood that the example of determining the dedicated second resource is for illustrative purposes only and does not imply any limitation. In some other exemplary embodiments, the first terminal device 210-1 and the second terminal device 210-2 may determine the dedicated second resource according to any suitable rules. Further, the dedicated second resource may be one or two OFDM symbols within one PRB. This means that a dedicated second resource is not required to meet the OCB requirements.

[0111] Continuing to refer to FIG. 5, assume that the feedback information for the SL transmission in the interleaving #4 is transmitted in the PSFCH resource of the interleaving #4 according to the conventional solution means. In this case, since the interleaving #4 is set as the common second resource, correspondingly, further discussion should be made on the feedback information for the SL transmission in the interleaving #4.

[0112] In some embodiments, when a dedicated interleaving (such as the interleaving #4 shown in FIG. 5) is set as the common second resource, the corresponding dedicated interleaving #4 within the PSSCH / PSCCH symbol should not be regarded as a resource available for PSCCH / PSSCH transmission. In a specific and exemplary embodiment, the SL transmission is an interleaving-based SL transmission, and the common second resource corresponds to the first interleaving index. The first terminal device 210-1 may disable the reception of the SL transmission transmitted in the resource corresponding to the first interleaving index. Correspondingly, the second terminal device 210-2 may disable the transmission of the SL transmission transmitted in the resource corresponding to the first interleaving index, or alternatively, during the resource (re)selection, avoid selecting the resource corresponding to the first interleaving index for use in the SL transmission.

[0113] In a specific and exemplary embodiment of FIG. 5, Interlace #4 is reserved as a common second resource. In one implementation, Interlace #4 should not be considered available for SL transmission (i.e., PSCCH / PSSCH transmission). In other words, SL transmission is not performed on Interlace #4.

[0114] Alternatively, in some embodiments, when a dedicated interlace (such as Interlace #4 as shown in FIG. 5) is set as a common second resource, the dedicated Interlace #4 within the PSSCH / PSCCH symbol can be selected only for PSCCH / PSSCH transmissions in which HARQ-ACK feedback is disabled during resource (re)selection. In a specific and exemplary embodiment, the SL transmission is an interlace-based SL transmission, and the common second resource corresponds to a first interlace index. The first terminal device 210-1 may disable the transmission of feedback information for SL transmissions performed on resources corresponding to the first interlace index. Correspondingly, the second terminal device 210-2 may disable the reception of feedback information for SL transmissions performed on resources corresponding to the first interlace index.

[0115] In a specific and exemplary embodiment of FIG. 5, Interlace #4 is reserved as a common second resource. In one implementation, the second terminal device 210-2 may perform SL transmission on Interlace #4, but feedback information is not required for SL transmission on Interlace #4.

[0116] Alternatively, in some embodiments, when a dedicated interleaver (such as interleaver #4 shown in FIG. 5) is set as a common second resource, no restriction is imposed on interleaver #4 of the PSSCH / PSCCH symbol. Specifically, interleaver #4 of the PSSCH symbol may be selected for either SL transmission that enables HARQ feedback or SL transmission that disables HARQ feedback. In a specific and exemplary embodiment, the SL transmission is an interleaver-based SL transmission, and the common second resource corresponds to the first interleaver index. The first terminal device 210-1 and the second terminal device 210-2 may determine both a common second resource and a dedicated second resource specialized for SL transmission.

[0117] In the specific and exemplary embodiment of FIG. 5, interleaver #4 is reserved as a common second resource. In one implementation, according to mappings 510-1, 510-2, 520-1, 520-2, the feedback information for the SL transmission in interleaver #4 may be transmitted on both interleaver #4 and a dedicated second interleaver (i.e., interleaver #3 as shown in FIG. 5). The process of determining the dedicated second interleaver has been described. For the sake of brevity, the same or similar content is omitted here.

[0118] Thus, by introducing a common second resource, even if the first terminal device 210-1 only transmits actual feedback information (i.e., PSFCH) within one PRB, the transmission of the feedback information can still meet the OCB requirements.

[0119] Exemplary Process for Increasing the Granularity of Interleaver Resources In the conventional solution, an interlace is regarded as the minimum unit for performing SL transmission. In this case, as described above, the PSSCH / PSCCH transmission opportunity may be calculated as follows. PSSCH / PSCCH transmission opportunity = the number of available interlaces (I_PSSCH) * PSFCH period (P). Further, the PSFCH transmission opportunity may be calculated as the number of available interlaces (I_PSFCH) * the number of cyclic shift pairs (N cs ). And the number of PSFCH transmission opportunities associated with each PSSCH / PSCCH transmission opportunity may be calculated as the number of cyclic shift pairs (N cs ) / PSFCH period (P). In this way, it is difficult to support the scenario of groupcast SL transmission.

[0120] According to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, a value greater than 1 may be set for the granularity of the interlace resource (represented by the parameter "L"). In this way, the number of PSSCH / PSCCH transmission opportunities decreases, and the number of PSFCH transmission opportunities associated with each PSSCH / PSCCH transmission opportunity increases. Specifically, the number of interlaces occupied by SL transmission is the granularity of a plurality of interlace resources.

[0121] According to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, the PSSCH / PSCCH transmission opportunity may be calculated as follows: PSSCH / PSCCH transmission opportunity = the number of available interlaces (I_PSSCH) * PSFCH period (P) / interlace resource granularity (L). Therefore, the number of PSSCH / PSCCH transmission opportunities decreases by a factor of L. As a result, the number of PSFCH transmission opportunities associated with each PSSCH / PSCCH transmission opportunity increases by a factor of L.

[0122] Next, refer to FIG. 6. FIG. 6 shows a specific and exemplary resource mapping 600 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. In the specific and exemplary embodiment of FIG. 6, the granularity of the interleaved resource is 2, which means that the number of interleaves occupied by the SL transmission may be 2, 4, and other even numbers. Further, in the specific and exemplary embodiment of FIG. 6, as shown by the mappings 610-1 and 610-2, the feedback information for the SL transmission may be transmitted in Interleave #0.

[0123] In some embodiments, the second resource for transmitting the feedback information is included in a feedback resource pool, and the feedback resource pool includes resources in the frequency domain and resources in the code domain (such as a plurality of cyclic shift pairs). Further, the resources of the feedback resource pool are indexed in the order from the frequency domain to the code domain.

[0124] In a specific and exemplary embodiment, the first terminal device 210-1 and the second terminal device 210-2 determine the index of the PSFCH resource for the PSSCH as (P ID +M ID ) mod R. Here, P ID is the ID of the physical layer source that schedules the PSSCH reception, and M ID is the identity of the UE that receives the PSSCH as indicated by the upper layer when the UE detects the SCI format 2-A with the Cast type indicator field value of "01". Otherwise, M ID is zero.

[0125] In a specific example, each resource of the PSFCH resource includes one interleave in the frequency domain and one cyclic shift in the code domain. The first terminal device 210-1 transmits the corresponding feedback information (HARQ-ACK sequence) in each PRB of the interleave. That is, it repeats in each PRB of the interleave.

[0126] As described above, the number of interleaves occupied by SL transmission is the granularity of a plurality of interleave resources. In some embodiments, if the SL transmission occupies M granularities, the corresponding interleave for PSFCH transmission may be one interleave associated with the lowest of the plurality of granularities. In the specific embodiment of FIG. 6, the SL transmission occupies two granularities (i.e., interleaves #0 to #3). As shown by mappings 620-1 and 620-2, the feedback information for the SL transmission may be transmitted on interleave #0.

[0127] Alternatively, if the PSSCH occupies M granularities, the corresponding interleaves for PSFCH transmission can be M interleaves associated with all of the plurality of granularities. In the specific embodiment of FIG. 6, the SL transmission occupies two granularities (i.e., interleaves #0 to #3). As shown by mappings 620-1, 620-2, the feedback information for the SL transmission may be transmitted on interleave #0 and interleave #2.

[0128] Alternatively, if the PSSCH occupies M granularities, the corresponding interleaves for PSFCH transmission can be all interleaves associated with all of the plurality of granularities. In the specific embodiment of FIG. 6, when the SL transmission occupies two granularities (i.e., interleaves #0 to #3), the feedback information for the SL transmission may also be transmitted on interleaves #0 to #3.

[0129] In some embodiments, in addition to increasing the granularity of the interleave resource, the PSFCH period can also be decreased (e.g., decreased to be "1"). In this case, the number of PSSCH / PSCCH transmission opportunities may be decreased to I_PSSCH*1. As a result, the number of PSFCH transmission opportunities associated with each PSSCH / PSCCH transmission opportunity increases.

[0130] In this way, the number of terminal devices in groupcast SL transmission can be increased.

[0131] Exemplary process of pre-set cyclic shift pairs In the conventional solution, the PSFCH resource is, in some cases (such as unicast SL transmission or option 1 of groupcast where the terminal device only needs one PSFCH resource), P ID determined by.

[0132] In the case of interlace-based PSSCH / PSFCH transmission, the PSFCH resource (i.e., the same PRB with different cyclic shifts) is P ID determined by the number of PSFCH transmission opportunities in the number of P modes. However, since the number of PSFCH transmission opportunities is relatively small, different P ID in different slots of PSSCH / PSCCH transmission may still determine the same PSFCH resource (i.e., the same m0). This is not what the first terminal device 210-1 and the second terminal device 210-2 expect.

[0133] According to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, it is expected that I_PSFCH*>=I_PSSCH*P / L, and further, different cyclic shift pairs may be set for PSSCH / PSCCH transmission in different slots.

[0134] In some embodiments, a feedback setting regarding the invalidation of SL transmission transmitted via groupcast is applied to the network. Alternatively, in some embodiments, a feedback setting regarding the validation of feedback information including only NACK is applied to the network. By doing so, the scenario of option 2 of groupcast is invalidated.

[0135] In some embodiments, the first terminal device 210-1 receives an SL transmission in a first resource, and then determines a second resource having a cyclic shift pair specialized for the first resource for transmitting feedback information for the SL transmission.

[0136] Next, refer to FIG. 7A. FIG. 7A shows a specific and exemplary resource mapping 700 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. In the specific and exemplary embodiment of FIG. 7A, according to mapping 730, feedback information for SL transmission 710 is transmitted in interleaving #0 of cyclic shift #1. Similarly, according to mapping 740, feedback information for SL transmission 720 is transmitted in interleaving #0 of cyclic shift #N.

[0137] In some embodiments, the cyclic shift pair is determined based on a preset correspondence between the distance (denoted as “l”) between the first resource and the second resource in the time domain and the index of the cyclic shift pair (i.e., “m0”).

[0138] Next, refer to FIG. 7B. FIG. 7B shows a specific and exemplary correspondence between the distance and the index of the cyclic shift pair in different PSFCH periods.

[0139] In a specific embodiment, the first terminal device 210-1 and the second terminal device 210-2 determine a second resource (such as a dedicated interleaving or a PRB, etc.) according to any one of the embodiments discussed in the present disclosure.

[0140] Next, the first terminal device 210-1 and the second terminal device 210-2 determine the index of the cyclic shift pair (as shown in FIG. 7B) based on the correspondence between the distance (e.g., K, K + 1, K + 2, etc., where K is the minimum slot gap between the PSFCH slot and the PSSCH / PSCCH slot) between the first resource and the second resource in the time domain and the index of the cyclic shift pair.

[0141] In this way, different PSSCH / PSCCH transmission opportunities may correspond to different cyclic shift pairs. When the terminal device only needs one PSFCH resource (such as in the unicast or groupcast option 1 scenario), it is possible to avoid PSSCH / PSCCH transmissions in different slots corresponding to the same PSFCH resource.

[0142] Exemplary process of groupcast SL transmission In the conventional solution, the OCB is calculated for each UE. As described above, the OCB is usually used in the LBT procedure, and the LBT procedure may be executed among a plurality of different wireless communication systems. For example, in the specific example of FIG. 2, a plurality of different wireless communication systems (such as a cellular wireless system, a WiFi system, etc.) coexist. In this case, the third terminal device 210-3 may monitor the SL transmission in the cellular wireless system. In view of such circumstances, according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, the OCB requirements may be defined for each group. In other words, the integrated OCB of the PSFCH from the receiving group must meet the OCB requirements.

[0143] In some embodiments, in the case of unicast SL transmission, the allocated PSFCH resource may be determined by (P ID ) mod R. This means that the receiving terminal device transmits feedback on one interleaving, and determines m0 as one of the set CS pair values.

[0144] In some embodiments, in the case of groupcast option 1, the allocated PSFCH resource may be determined by (P ID ) mod R. This means that the receiving terminal device transmits the NACK sequence on one interleaving, and determines m0 as one of the set CS pair values.

[0145] In some embodiments, when the first terminal device 210-1 receives an interlace-based SL transmission via groupcast, the first terminal device 210-1 determines at least one second resource for transmitting feedback information for the SL transmission. The number of at least one second resource is determined based on at least one of the number of terminal devices related to the groupcast, the number of multiple sets of interlace resource blocks, and the number of cyclic shift pairs.

[0146] Furthermore, in some embodiments, in the case of option 2 of groupcast, the number of PRBs occupied by each terminal device is represented as “F”, where F is R*N CS is any integer that satisfies >=M*F>=R, M is the group size, R is the number of PRBs in one interlace, and N CS is the number of cyclic shift pairs. Furthermore, the parameter “F” may be determined as a specific value, such as the minimum value or the maximum value of an integer that satisfies R*N CS >=M*F>=R.

[0147] Furthermore, in some embodiments, the feedback resource pool may be divided into X sets, each set includes F PSFCH transmission resources, and the UEs of the first terminal device 210-1 and the second terminal device 210-2 determine the PSFCH resources as (M ID ) mod R.

[0148] Next, refer to FIGS. 8A and 8B. FIGS. 8A and 8B show specific and exemplary resource allocations 800, 850 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0149] In the specific example of FIG. 8A, the group size is M = 9, the number of PRBs in each interlace is R = 10, and the number of cyclic shift pairs is N CS = 3. In this case, F is calculated to be 2, which is the smallest integer that satisfies R*N CS >=M*F>=R.

[0150] In the specific example of FIG. 8B, the group size is M = 23, the number of PRBs per interlace is R = 10, and the number of cyclic shift pairs is N CS = 3. In this case, F is calculated to be 2, which is the largest integer that satisfies R * N CS >= M * F >= R

[0151] Furthermore, in some embodiments, the group size M is set by the upper layer of the transmitting terminal device and indicated in the SCI to the receiving terminal device. In some embodiments, the first terminal device 210-1 receives information indicating the number of terminal devices related to the group cast from the second terminal device 210-2.

[0152] In some embodiments, at least one second resource is included in the feedback resource pool, and the resources of the feedback resource pool are indexed in order from the frequency domain to the code domain.

[0153] Thus, particularly in the scenario of option 2 of group cast, since the OCB is defined for each group, each receiving terminal device does not necessarily have to satisfy the OCB.

[0154] Exemplary process for setting multiple symbols in the PSFCH In the conventional solution, the PSFCH slot occurs every 1 / 2 / 4 slots. Further, as shown in FIG. 1A, only one or two OFDM symbols are used for the transmission of the PSFCH in each PSFCH slot, and the other available OFDM symbols are used for the PSCCH / PSSCH transmission.

[0155] According to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, the first terminal device 210-1 and the second terminal device 210-2 determine at least one second resource for transmitting feedback information from a plurality of OFDM symbols within a single slot (i.e., a PSFCH slot). By setting a plurality of OFDM symbols for transmitting feedback information within a single slot, the number of available PSFCH resources increases.

[0156] Furthermore, in some embodiments, the plurality of OFDM symbols are all available OFDM symbols within a single slot. Next, refer to FIG. 9A. FIG. 9A shows an exemplary resource allocation 900 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. In the specific example of FIG. 9A, the number of symbols available within one slot is 12. In some embodiments, the available PSFCH resources may be set for different terminal devices and / or different SL transmission opportunities.

[0157] Furthermore, considering the possibility that different terminal devices transmit PSFCH using different symbols, each PSFCH symbol may require an AGC procedure. In some embodiments, one OFDM symbol for AGC is set before each PSFCH symbol. Next, refer to FIG. 9B. FIG. 9B shows an exemplary resource allocation 950 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. In the specific and exemplary embodiment of FIG. 9B, AGC symbols and PSFCH symbols are set alternately.

[0158] In this way, the number of available PSFCH transmission opportunities increases.

[0159] Exemplary process for improving reliability As described above, due to the transmission failure of feedback information, unnecessary retransmissions of PSCCH / PSSCH may occur. Therefore, it is desirable to improve the reliability of feedback information transmission.

[0160] According to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, a feedback resource for transmitting feedback information includes a second resource and a third resource different from the second resource.

[0161] In some embodiments, one PSSCH / PSCCH transmission may be mapped to two or more PSFCH slots. The two or more PSFCH slots may be set in any suitable manner. In a specific embodiment, the two or more PSFCH slots are determined by two or more set minimum slot gaps (K1,..., K m represented). Further, each of the two or more minimum slot gaps (i.e., K m ) should be an integer multiple of the PSFCH period.

[0162] Alternatively, in another specific embodiment, the first PSFCH slot is determined by a set K, where K is the minimum slot gap between the PSSCH and the PSFCH, the second PSFCH slot is the next available PSFCH slot, and the other PSFCH slots (if any) are determined similarly.

[0163] In some embodiments, the first terminal device 210-1 receives a setting from the second terminal device 210-2, and the setting indicates at least one of a first minimum slot gap between the second resource and the first resource and a second minimum slot gap between the third resource and the first resource.

[0164] Next, refer to FIG. 10. FIG. 10 shows an exemplary resource allocation 1000 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in the specific embodiment of FIG. 10, the feedback information for the PSSCH / PSCCH transmission in slot #1 is transmitted in both slot #3 and slot #5.

[0165] Furthermore, in some embodiments, the total PSFCH resources of one PSFCH slot (such as slot #2, #4, #6, #8, or #10, etc.) are equally divided into multiple sets. Furthermore, each set includes P*S PSFCH resources, where P is the PSFCH period and S is the possible PSSCH opportunities in one slot.

[0166] In this way, the reliability of the feedback information is improved, and unnecessary retransmission of PSSCH / PSCCH is avoided.

[0167] Exemplary method FIG. 11 shows a flowchart of an exemplary method 1100 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, method 1100 can be implemented at a first terminal device 210-1 as shown in FIG. 2.

[0168] At block 1110, the first terminal device 210-1 receives an SL transmission at a first resource within a frequency bandwidth.

[0169] At block 1120, the first terminal device 210-1 determines at least one second resource within the frequency bandwidth for transmitting feedback information for the SL transmission. The frequency range occupied by the at least one second resource is greater than or equal to a predefined ratio of the frequency bandwidth, and the at least one second resource includes a common second resource.

[0170] At block 1130, the first terminal device 210-1 transmits the feedback information at the at least one second resource.

[0171] In some exemplary embodiments, the feedback information transmitted at the common second resource is predefined common feedback information.

[0172] In some exemplary embodiments, the predefined common feedback information is one of a predefined sequence for messages of a physical uplink control channel, or a reference signal.

[0173] In some exemplary embodiments, the frequency bandwidth includes a plurality of sets of interleaved resource blocks in the frequency domain, and the common second resource corresponds to one of the plurality of sets of interleaved resource blocks.

[0174] In some exemplary embodiments, the SL transmission is an interleaving-based SL transmission, and the common second resource corresponds to a first interleaving index. The circuit is further configured to disable reception of SL transmissions transmitted on a resource corresponding to the first interleaving index, or to disable transmission of feedback information for SL transmissions transmitted on a resource corresponding to the first interleaving index.

[0175] In some exemplary embodiments, the SL transmission is an interleaving-based SL transmission, and the common second resource corresponds to a first interleaving index. Further, when the first resource corresponds to a first interleaving index or a second interleaving index, at least one second resource includes a common second resource and a dedicated second resource specialized for SL transmission.

[0176] In some exemplary embodiments, the dedicated second resource is determined based on at least one of the number of the plurality of sets of interleaved resource blocks, the interleaving index corresponding to at least one first resource, and the period for transmitting feedback information.

[0177] In some exemplary embodiments, when the number of sets of interleaved resource blocks occupied by SL transmission is greater than 1, the dedicated second resource is further determined based on the number of sets of interleaved resource blocks occupied by SL transmission.

[0178] In some exemplary embodiments, the common second resource is set by the second terminal device 210-2 that transmits SL transmission or is determined according to a default setting.

[0179] FIG. 12 shows a flowchart of an exemplary method 1200 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, the method 1200 can be implemented in the first terminal device 210-1 as shown in FIG. 2.

[0180] In block 1210, the first terminal device 210-1 receives an interleaved-based SL transmission in at least one first resource. The interleaved-based SL transmission is transmitted with an interleaved resource granularity greater than 1.

[0181] In block 1220, the first terminal device 210-1 determines a second resource for transmitting feedback information for the SL transmission based at least in part on the interleaved resource granularity.

[0182] In block 1230, the first terminal device 210-1 transmits feedback information in the second resource.

[0183] In some exemplary embodiments, the second resource is included in a feedback resource pool, and the resources of the feedback resource pool are indexed in the order from the frequency domain to the code domain.

[0184] FIG. 13 shows a flowchart of an exemplary method 1300 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, the method 1300 can be implemented in the first terminal device 210-1 as shown in FIG. 2.

[0185] In block 1310, the first terminal device 210-1 receives an SL transmission in a first resource.

[0186] In block 1320, the first terminal device 210-1 determines a second resource having a cyclic shift pair specialized for the first resource for transmitting feedback information for the SL transmission.

[0187] In block 1330, the first terminal device 210-1 transmits feedback information in the second resource having the cyclic shift pair.

[0188] In some exemplary embodiments, the cyclic shift pair is determined based on a pre-set correspondence between the distance between the first resource and the second resource in the time domain and the index of the cyclic shift pair.

[0189] In some exemplary embodiments, the first terminal device 210-1 applies a feedback setting regarding one of the invalidation of the SL transmission transmitted via groupcast or the activation of feedback information including only negative responses.

[0190] FIG. 14 shows a flowchart of an exemplary method 1400 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, the method 1400 can be implemented by the first terminal device 210-1 as shown in FIG. 2.

[0191] In block 1410, the first terminal device 210-1 receives an interlace-based SL transmission in a first resource within a frequency bandwidth including a plurality of sets of interlace resource blocks in the frequency domain. The interlace-based SL transmission is transmitted by the second terminal device 210-2 via groupcast.

[0192] In block 1420, the first terminal device 210-1 determines at least one second resource for transmitting feedback information for SL transmission. The number of at least one second resource is determined based on at least one of the number of terminal devices related to groupcast, the number of a plurality of sets of interlace resource blocks, and the number of cyclic shift pairs.

[0193] In block 1430, the first terminal device 210-1 transmits feedback information in at least one second resource.

[0194] In some exemplary embodiments, at least one second resource is included in a feedback resource pool, and the resources of the feedback resource pool are indexed in order from the frequency domain to the code domain.

[0195] In some exemplary embodiments, the first terminal device 210-1 receives information indicating the number of terminal devices related to groupcast from the second terminal device 210-2.

[0196] In some exemplary embodiments, the first terminal device 210-1 applies a rule for evaluating the occupied channel bandwidth, that is, evaluating the occupied channel bandwidth by summing the frequency resources occupied by all terminal devices related to groupcast SL transmission.

[0197] In some exemplary embodiments, the first terminal device 210-1 receives an instruction from the second terminal device 210-2 to enable the application of the rule for evaluating the occupied channel bandwidth.

[0198] FIG. 15 shows a flowchart of an exemplary method 1500 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, the method 1500 can be implemented by the first terminal device 210-1 as shown in FIG. 2.

[0199] In block 1510, the first terminal device 210-1 receives an SL transmission in at least one first resource.

[0200] In block 1520, the first terminal device 210-1 determines at least one second resource for transmitting feedback information for the SL transmission from a plurality of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbols within a single slot.

[0201] In block 1530, the first terminal device 210-1 transmits the feedback information in at least one second resource.

[0202] In some exemplary embodiments, the plurality of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbols are all available orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbols within a single slot.

[0203] FIG. 16 shows a flowchart of an exemplary method 1600 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, method 1600 can be implemented by the first terminal device 210-1 as shown in FIG. 2.

[0204] In block 1610, the first terminal device 210-1 receives an SL transmission from the second terminal device 210-2 in a first resource.

[0205] In block 1620, the first terminal device 210-1 determines a feedback resource for transmitting feedback information for the SL transmission. The feedback resource includes a second resource and a third resource different from the second resource.

[0206] In block 1630, the first terminal device 210-1 transmits the feedback information in at least a part of the feedback resource.

[0207] In some exemplary embodiments, the first terminal device 210-1 receives from the second terminal device 210-2 a setting indicating at least one of a first minimum slot gap between a second resource and a first resource and a second minimum slot gap between a third resource and the first resource.

[0208] FIG. 17 shows a flowchart of an exemplary method 1700 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, the method 1700 can be implemented in the second terminal device 210-2 as shown in FIG. 2.

[0209] In block 1710, the second terminal device 210-2 transmits an SL transmission in a first resource within a frequency bandwidth.

[0210] In block 1720, the second terminal device 210-2 determines at least one second resource within the frequency bandwidth for receiving feedback information for the SL transmission. The frequency range occupied by the at least one second resource is equal to or greater than a predefined percentage of the frequency bandwidth, and the at least one second resource includes a common second resource.

[0211] In block 1730, the second terminal device 210-2 receives feedback information in the at least one second resource.

[0212] In some exemplary embodiments, the feedback information transmitted on the common second resource is predefined common feedback information.

[0213] In some exemplary embodiments, the predefined common feedback information is one of a predefined sequence for a physical uplink control channel message or a reference signal.

[0214] In some exemplary embodiments, the frequency bandwidth includes a plurality of sets of interleaved resource blocks in the frequency domain, and a common second resource corresponds to one of the sets of interleaved resource blocks.

[0215] In some exemplary embodiments, the SL transmission is an interleaved-based SL transmission, and a common second resource corresponds to a first interleaving index. The circuit further disables the transmission of SL transmission in the resource corresponding to the first interleaving index, and during resource (re)selection, avoids selecting the resource corresponding to the first interleaving index for use in SL transmission, or is configured to disable the transmission of feedback information for the SL transmission transmitted in the resource corresponding to the first interleaving index.

[0216] In some exemplary embodiments, the SL transmission is an interleaved-based SL transmission, and a common second resource corresponds to a first interleaving index. Further, when a first resource corresponds to a first interleaving index or a second interleaving index, at least one second resource includes a common second resource and a dedicated second resource specialized for SL transmission.

[0217] In some exemplary embodiments, the dedicated second resource is determined based on at least one of the number of sets of interleaved resource blocks, the interleaving index corresponding to at least one first resource, and the period for transmitting feedback information.

[0218] In some exemplary embodiments, when the number of sets of interleaved resource blocks occupied by the SL transmission is greater than 1, the dedicated second resource is further determined based on the number of sets of interleaved resource blocks occupied by the SL transmission.

[0219] In some exemplary embodiments, the common second resource is set by the second terminal device 210-2 or determined according to a default setting.

[0220] FIG. 18 shows a flowchart of an exemplary method 1800 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, the method 1800 can be implemented on the second terminal device 210-2 as shown in FIG. 2.

[0221] In block 1810, the second terminal device 210-2 transmits an interleaving-based SL transmission in at least one first resource. The interleaving-based SL transmission is transmitted at an interleaving resource granularity greater than 1.

[0222] In block 1820, the second terminal device 210-2 determines a second resource for receiving feedback information for the SL transmission based at least in part on the granularity of the interleaving resource.

[0223] In block 1820, the second terminal device 210-2 receives feedback information in the second resource.

[0224] In some exemplary embodiments, the second resource is included in a feedback resource pool, and the resources of the feedback resource pool are indexed in order from the frequency domain to the code domain.

[0225] FIG. 19 shows a flowchart of an exemplary method 1900 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, the method 1900 can be implemented on the second terminal device 210-2 as shown in FIG. 2.

[0226] In block 1910, the second terminal device 210-2 transmits an SL transmission to the first terminal device 210-1 in a first resource.

[0227] In block 1920, the second terminal device 210-2 determines a second resource having a cyclic shift pair specialized for a first resource for receiving feedback information for SL transmission.

[0228] In block 1930, the second terminal device 210-2 receives feedback information in the second resource having the cyclic shift pair.

[0229] In some exemplary embodiments, the cyclic shift pair is determined based on a preset correspondence between the distance between the first resource and the second resource in the time domain and the index of the cyclic shift pair.

[0230] In some exemplary embodiments, the second terminal device 210-2 applies a feedback setting regarding one of disabling an SL transmission transmitted via groupcast or enabling feedback information including only negative responses.

[0231] FIG. 20 shows a flowchart of an exemplary method 2000 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, the method 2000 can be implemented by the second terminal device 210-2 as shown in FIG. 2.

[0232] In block 2010, the second terminal device 210-2 transmits an interleaving-based SL transmission to a plurality of terminal devices including the first terminal device 210-1 via groupcast in a first resource within a frequency bandwidth including a plurality of sets of interleaved resource blocks in the frequency domain.

[0233] In block 2020, the second terminal device 210-2 determines at least one second resource for receiving feedback information regarding SL transmission from the first terminal device 210-1. The number of at least one second resource is determined based on at least one of the number of terminal devices related to groupcast, the number of multiple sets of interlace resource blocks, and the number of cyclic shift pairs.

[0234] In block 2030, the second terminal device 210-2 receives feedback information in at least one second resource.

[0235] In some exemplary embodiments, at least one second resource is included in a feedback resource pool, and the resources of the feedback resource pool are indexed in order from the frequency domain to the code domain.

[0236] In some exemplary embodiments, the second terminal device 210-2 transmits information indicating the number of terminal devices related to groupcast to the first terminal device 210-1.

[0237] In some exemplary embodiments, the second terminal device 210-2 applies a rule for evaluating the occupied channel bandwidth, which is to evaluate the occupied channel bandwidth by summing up the frequency resources occupied by all terminal devices related to groupcast SL transmission.

[0238] In some exemplary embodiments, the second terminal device 210-2 transmits an instruction to enable the application of the rule for evaluating the occupied channel bandwidth to a plurality of first terminal devices.

[0239] FIG. 21 shows a flowchart of an exemplary method 2100 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, the method 2100 can be implemented by the second terminal device 210-2 as shown in FIG. 2.

[0240] In block 2110, the second terminal device 210-2 transmits an SL transmission in at least one first resource.

[0241] In block 2120, the second terminal device 210-2 determines at least one second resource for receiving feedback information for the SL transmission from a plurality of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbols within a single slot.

[0242] In block 2130, the second terminal device 210-2 receives feedback information in at least one second resource.

[0243] In some exemplary embodiments, the plurality of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbols are all available orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbols within a single slot.

[0244] FIG. 22 shows a flowchart of an exemplary method 2200 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, method 2200 can be implemented by the second terminal device 210-2 as shown in FIG. 2.

[0245] In block 2210, the second terminal device 210-2 transmits an SL transmission to the first terminal device 210-1 in a first resource.

[0246] In block 2220, the second terminal device 210-2 determines a feedback resource for receiving feedback information for the SL transmission. The feedback resource includes a second resource and a third resource different from the second resource.

[0247] In block 2230, the second terminal device 210-2 receives feedback information in at least a part of the feedback resource.

[0248] In some exemplary embodiments, the circuit is further configured to transmit to the first terminal device 210-1 a setting indicating at least one of a first minimum slot gap between the second resource and the first resource and a second minimum slot gap between the third resource and the first resource.

[0249] Exemplary apparatus In some exemplary embodiments, the first terminal device 210-1 includes a circuit configured to receive an SL transmission in a first resource within a frequency bandwidth and determine at least one second resource within the frequency bandwidth for transmitting feedback information for the SL transmission, and transmit the feedback information in the at least one second resource. The frequency range occupied by the at least one second resource is equal to or greater than a predefined ratio of the frequency bandwidth, and the at least one second resource includes a common second resource.

[0250] In some exemplary embodiments, the feedback information transmitted on the common second resource is predefined common feedback information.

[0251] In some exemplary embodiments, the predefined common feedback information is one of a predefined sequence for a message of a physical uplink control channel or a reference signal.

[0252] In some exemplary embodiments, the frequency bandwidth includes a plurality of sets of interleaved resource blocks in the frequency domain, and the common second resource corresponds to one of the plurality of sets of interleaved resource blocks.

[0253] In some exemplary embodiments, the SL transmission is an interlace-based SL transmission, and the common second resource corresponds to a first interlace index. The circuit is further configured to disable reception of the SL transmission transmitted on the resource corresponding to the first interlace index or to disable transmission of feedback information for the SL transmission transmitted on the resource corresponding to the first interlace index.

[0254] In some exemplary embodiments, the SL transmission is an interlace-based SL transmission, and the common second resource corresponds to a first interlace index. Further, when the first resource corresponds to a first interlace index or a second interlace index, at least one second resource includes a common second resource and a dedicated second resource specialized for the SL transmission.

[0255] In some exemplary embodiments, the dedicated second resource is determined based on at least one of the number of sets of interlace resource blocks, the interlace index corresponding to at least one first resource, and the period for transmitting feedback information.

[0256] In some exemplary embodiments, when the number of sets of interlace resource blocks occupied by the SL transmission is greater than 1, the dedicated second resource is further determined based on the number of sets of interlace resource blocks occupied by the SL transmission.

[0257] In some exemplary embodiments, the common second resource is set by the second terminal device 210-2 that transmits the SL transmission or is determined according to a default setting.

[0258] In some exemplary embodiments, the first terminal device 210-1 receives, at the first terminal device 210-1, an interlace-based SL transmission transmitted at a granularity of an interlace resource greater than 1 in at least one first resource, determines a second resource for transmitting feedback information for the SL transmission based at least in part on the granularity of the interlace resource, and includes a circuit configured to transmit the feedback information in the second resource.

[0259] In some exemplary embodiments, the second resource is included in a feedback resource pool, and the resources of the feedback resource pool are indexed in order from a frequency domain to a code domain.

[0260] In some exemplary embodiments, the first terminal device 210-1 receives an SL transmission in a first resource, determines a second resource having a cyclic shift pair specialized for the first resource for transmitting feedback information for the SL transmission, and includes a circuit configured to transmit the feedback information in the second resource having the cyclic shift pair.

[0261] In some exemplary embodiments, the cyclic shift pair is determined based on a preset correspondence between the distance between the first resource and the second resource in the time domain and the index of the cyclic shift pair.

[0262] In some exemplary embodiments, the circuit is further configured to apply a feedback setting related to one of disabling the SL transmission transmitted via groupcast or enabling the feedback information including only negative acknowledgments.

[0263] In some exemplary embodiments, the first terminal device 210-1 receives, at a first resource within a frequency bandwidth including a plurality of sets of interlace resource blocks in a frequency domain, an interlace-based SL transmission transmitted by the second terminal device 210-2 via groupcast, and determines at least one second resource for transmitting feedback information for the SL transmission, and includes a circuit configured to transmit the feedback information at the at least one second resource. The number of the at least one second resource is determined based on at least one of the number of terminal devices related to the groupcast, the number of the plurality of sets of interlace resource blocks, and the number of cyclic shift pairs.

[0264] In some exemplary embodiments, the at least one second resource is included in a feedback resource pool, and the resources of the feedback resource pool are indexed in the order from the frequency domain to the code domain.

[0265] In some exemplary embodiments, the circuit is further configured to receive, from the second terminal device 210-2, information indicating the number of terminal devices related to the groupcast.

[0266] In some exemplary embodiments, the circuit is further configured to apply a rule for evaluating an occupied channel bandwidth, which is to evaluate the occupied channel bandwidth by summing up frequency resources occupied by all terminal devices related to the groupcast SL transmission.

[0267] In some exemplary embodiments, the circuit is further configured to receive, from the second terminal device 210-2, an instruction to enable the application of the rule for evaluating the occupied channel bandwidth.

[0268] In some exemplary embodiments, the first terminal device 210-1 includes a circuit configured to receive SL transmission in at least one first resource at the first terminal device 210-1, determine at least one second resource for transmitting feedback information for the SL transmission from a plurality of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbols within a single slot, and transmit the feedback information in the at least one second resource.

[0269] In some exemplary embodiments, the plurality of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbols are all available orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbols within a single slot.

[0270] In some exemplary embodiments, the first terminal device 210-1 includes a circuit configured to receive SL transmission in a first resource from a second terminal device 210-2, determine a feedback resource for transmitting feedback information for the SL transmission, the feedback resource including a second resource and a third resource different from the second resource, and transmit the feedback information in at least a part of the feedback resource.

[0271] In some exemplary embodiments, the circuit is further configured to receive from the second terminal device 210-2 a setting indicating at least one of a first minimum slot gap between the second resource and the first resource and a second minimum slot gap between the third resource and the first resource.

[0272] In some exemplary embodiments, the second terminal device 210-2 includes a circuit configured to transmit SL transmission in a first resource within a frequency bandwidth, determine at least one second resource within the frequency bandwidth for receiving feedback information for the SL transmission, and receive the feedback information in the at least one second resource. The frequency range occupied by the at least one second resource is equal to or greater than a predefined ratio of the frequency bandwidth, and the at least one second resource includes a common second resource.

[0273] In some exemplary embodiments, the feedback information transmitted on a common second resource is predefined common feedback information.

[0274] In some exemplary embodiments, the predefined common feedback information is one of a sequence predefined for messages of a physical uplink control channel or a reference signal.

[0275] In some exemplary embodiments, the frequency bandwidth includes a plurality of sets of interleaved resource blocks in the frequency domain, and the common second resource corresponds to one of the sets of interleaved resource blocks.

[0276] In some exemplary embodiments, the SL transmission is an interleaving-based SL transmission, and the common second resource corresponds to a first interleaving index. The circuit further avoids disabling the transmission of the SL transmission in the resource corresponding to the first interleaving index and selecting the resource corresponding to the first interleaving index for use in the SL transmission, or is configured to disable the transmission of the feedback information for the SL transmission transmitted on the resource corresponding to the first interleaving index.

[0277] In some exemplary embodiments, the SL transmission is an interleaving-based SL transmission, and the common second resource corresponds to a first interleaving index. Further, when a first resource corresponds to a first interleaving index or a second interleaving index, at least one second resource includes a common second resource and a dedicated second resource specialized for the SL transmission.

[0278] In some exemplary embodiments, the dedicated second resource is determined based on at least one of the number of a plurality of sets of interleaved resource blocks, an interleaving index corresponding to at least one first resource, and a period for transmitting feedback information.

[0279] In some exemplary embodiments, when the number of sets of interleaved resource blocks occupied by SL transmission is greater than 1, the dedicated second resource is further determined based on the number of sets of interleaved resource blocks occupied by SL transmission.

[0280] In some exemplary embodiments, the common second resource is set by the second terminal device 210-2 or determined according to a default setting.

[0281] In some exemplary embodiments, the second terminal device 210-2 transmits an interleaving-based SL transmission transmitted at a granularity of interleaved resources greater than 1 in at least one first resource, determines a second resource for receiving feedback information for the SL transmission based at least in part on the granularity of the interleaved resources, and includes a circuit configured to receive feedback information in the second resource.

[0282] In some exemplary embodiments, the second resource is included in a feedback resource pool, and the resources of the feedback resource pool are indexed in order from the frequency domain to the code domain.

[0283] In some exemplary embodiments, the second terminal device 210-2 determines, in the first terminal device 210-1, a second resource having a cyclic shift pair specialized for the first resource for transmitting an SL transmission in the first resource and receiving feedback information for the SL transmission, and includes a circuit configured to receive feedback information in the second resource having the cyclic shift pair.

[0284] In some exemplary embodiments, the cyclic shift pair is determined based on a pre-set correspondence between the distance between a first resource and a second resource in the time domain and the index of the cyclic shift pair.

[0285] In some exemplary embodiments, the circuit is further configured to apply a feedback setting regarding one of disabling SL transmissions transmitted via groupcast or enabling feedback information including only negative acknowledgments.

[0286] In some exemplary embodiments, the second terminal device 210-2 determines at least one second resource for transmitting an interlace-based SL transmission to a plurality of terminal devices including the first terminal device 210-1 via groupcast in a first resource within a frequency bandwidth including a plurality of sets of interlace resource blocks in the frequency domain, and receiving feedback information for the SL transmission from the first terminal device 210-1, and includes a circuit configured to receive the feedback information in at least one second resource. The number of at least one second resource is determined based on at least one of the number of terminal devices related to the groupcast, the number of a plurality of sets of interlace resource blocks, and the number of cyclic shift pairs.

[0287] In some exemplary embodiments, at least one second resource is included in a feedback resource pool, and the resources of the feedback resource pool are indexed in order from the frequency domain to the code domain.

[0288] In some exemplary embodiments, the circuit is further configured to transmit information indicating the number of terminal devices related to the groupcast to the first terminal device 210-1.

[0289] In some exemplary embodiments, the circuit is further configured to apply a rule for evaluating the occupied channel bandwidth by summing the frequency resources occupied by all the terminal devices related to groupcast SL transmission.

[0290] In some exemplary embodiments, the circuit is further configured to send an instruction to enable the application of the rule for evaluating the occupied channel bandwidth to a plurality of terminal devices.

[0291] In some exemplary embodiments, the second terminal device 210-2 includes a circuit configured to transmit an SL transmission in at least one first resource and determine at least one second resource for receiving feedback information for the SL transmission from a plurality of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbols within a single slot, and receive the feedback information in the at least one second resource.

[0292] In some exemplary embodiments, the plurality of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbols are all available orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbols within a single slot.

[0293] In some exemplary embodiments, the second terminal device 210-2 includes a circuit configured to transmit an SL transmission to the first terminal device 210-1 in a first resource, determine a feedback resource for receiving feedback information for the SL transmission, including a second resource and a third resource different from the second resource, and receive the feedback information in at least a part of the feedback resource.

[0294] In some exemplary embodiments, the circuit is further configured to send a setting indicating at least one of a first minimum slot gap between the second resource and the first resource and a second minimum slot gap between the third resource and the first resource to the first terminal device 210-1.

[0295] FIG. 23 is a schematic block diagram of an apparatus 2300 suitable for implementing an embodiment of the present disclosure. The apparatus 2300 can be regarded as a further exemplary implementation of the first terminal device 210-1 and the second terminal device 210-2 shown in FIG. 2. Therefore, the apparatus 2300 can be implemented in or at least as part of the terminal device 210, the second network device 230, and the first network device 220.

[0296] As shown, the apparatus 2300 includes a processor 2310, a memory 2320 coupled to the processor 2310, a suitable transmitter (TX) and receiver (RX) 2340 coupled to the processor 2310, and a communication interface coupled to the TX / RX 2340. The memory 2320 stores at least a part of the program 2330. The TX / RX 2340 is for bidirectional communication. The TX / RX 2340 has at least one antenna for facilitating communication, but in practice, the access node described in the present application may have a plurality of antennas. The communication interface may represent any interface required for communicating with other network elements, for example, an X2 interface for bidirectional communication between eNBs, an S1 interface for communication between a Mobility Management Entity (MME) / Serving Gateway (S-GW) and an eNB, a Un interface for communication between an eNB and a Relay Node (RN), or a Uu interface for communication between an eNB and a terminal device.

[0297] Program 2330 is considered to include program instructions, and when the program is executed by the associated processor 2310, it enables the apparatus 2300 to operate in accordance with the embodiments of the present disclosure as discussed with reference to FIGS. 2 to 10 herein. The embodiments herein may be implemented by computer software, hardware, or a combination of software and hardware that can be executed by the processor 2310 of the apparatus 2300. The processor 2310 may be configured to implement various embodiments of the present disclosure. Also, the combination of the processor 2310 and the memory 2320 may constitute processing means 2350 suitable for implementing each embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0298] The memory 2320 may be of any type suitable for a local technical network and may be implemented by any appropriate data storage technology (examples include, but are not limited to, computer-readable non-transitory storage media, semiconductor-based storage devices, magnetic storage devices and systems, optical storage devices and systems, fixed memory, and removable memory, etc.). Although only one memory 2320 is shown in the apparatus 2300, a plurality of physically different memory modules may be installed in the apparatus 2300. The processor 2310 may be of any type suitable for a local technical network and may include, for example, but is not limited to, a general-purpose computer, a dedicated computer, a microprocessor, a digital signal processor (DSP), and a processor based on a multi-core processor configuration, one or more of which may be included. The apparatus 2300 may have a plurality of processors, for example, an application-specific integrated circuit chip that is temporally dependent on a clock synchronized with a master processor.

[0299] In general, various embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by hardware or dedicated circuits, software, logic, or any combination thereof. Some aspects may be implemented in hardware, and other aspects may be implemented by firmware or software that can be executed by a controller, a microprocessor, or other computing device. Various aspects of the embodiments of the present disclosure are illustrated and described as block diagrams, flowcharts, or by some other pictorial representation, and the blocks, devices, systems, techniques, or methods described herein may be implemented, for example, by hardware, software, firmware, dedicated circuits or logic, general-purpose hardware or controllers or other computing devices, or combinations thereof, but it will be understood that they are not limited thereto.

[0300] The present disclosure further provides at least one computer program product tangibly stored in a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. The computer program product includes computer-executable instructions, such as instructions included in program modules. The instructions are executed on a device on a target actual processor or virtual processor, and execute the processes or methods described above with reference to FIGS. 11 to 22, for example. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, etc. that perform specific tasks or implement specific abstract data types. In various embodiments, the functions of program modules may be combined or divided among program modules as needed. The machine-readable instructions of program modules may be executed within a local or distributed device. In a distributed device, program modules may be located on either local or remote storage media.

[0301] The program code for executing the method of the present disclosure may be described in any combination of one or more programming languages. These program codes may be provided to a processor or a controller of a general-purpose computer, a dedicated computer, or other programmable data processing devices, and when the program code is executed by the processor or the controller, the functions / operations defined in the flowchart and / or the block diagram are implemented. The program code may be executed entirely on a machine, partially on a machine, executed as an independent software package, partially executed on a machine and partially executed on a remote machine, or entirely executed on a remote machine or server.

[0302] The above program code may be embodied on a machine-readable medium, and the machine-readable medium may be any tangible medium that includes or stores a program used by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. The machine-readable medium may be a machine-readable signal medium or a machine-readable storage medium. The machine-readable medium may include, but is not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples of the machine-readable storage medium include one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

[0303] Note that, although the operations have been described in a particular order, it should not be understood that such operations are required to be performed in the particular order shown or in sequence, or that all of the operations shown are to be performed, to obtain a desired result. In some situations, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Similarly, although the foregoing discussion includes some specific implementation details, these are not limitations on the scope of the disclosure, but rather explanations of features that may be specific to particular embodiments. Some features that are described in the context of individual embodiments may be implemented in combination in one embodiment. Conversely, various features that are described in the context of one embodiment may be implemented separately in a plurality of embodiments or in any suitable sub-combination.

[0304] Although the present disclosure has been described in terms of language specific to structural features and / or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the disclosure defined by the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.

Claims

1. A method performed by a first terminal device communicating with a second terminal device via a sidelink channel, comprising: receiving a first sidelink transmission from the second terminal device within a first resource block set; determining a plurality of first resources for transmitting feedback information in response to the first sidelink transmission, wherein the plurality of first resources are within the first resource block set; the plurality of first resources include a common resource and at least one dedicated resource; the common resource is determined based on first information received from a network; transmitting the feedback information on the plurality of first resources. A method.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first resource block set includes a plurality of sets of interleaved resource blocks in a frequency domain, and the common resource corresponds to one of the plurality of sets of interleaved resource blocks. The method according to claim 1.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first sidelink transmission is an interleaved-based sidelink transmission. The method according to claim 1.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein an index of the common resource corresponds to an index of a first interleaving. The method according to claim 1.

5. A first terminal device for communicating with a second terminal device via a sidelink channel, comprising: a receiver configured to receive a first sidelink transmission from the second terminal device within a first resource block set; a determiner configured to determine a plurality of first resources for transmitting feedback information in response to the first sidelink transmission, wherein the plurality of first resources are within the first resource block set; the plurality of first resources include a common resource and at least one dedicated resource; the common resource is determined based on first information received from a network; a transmitter configured to transmit the feedback information on the plurality of first resources. A first terminal device.

6. The first terminal device according to claim 5, wherein the first resource block set includes a plurality of sets of interleaved resource blocks in a frequency domain, and the common resource corresponds to one of the plurality of sets of interleaved resource blocks. The first terminal device according to claim 5.

7. The first terminal device according to claim 5, wherein the first sidelink transmission is an interleaved-based sidelink transmission. The first terminal device according to claim 5.

8. The index of the common resource corresponds to the index of the first interleaving. The first terminal device according to claim 5.

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