Base station and communication method

Abstract

[0005] Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a method, apparatus, and medium for communication. The communication method includes performing a plurality of channel access procedures in a shared channel using a plurality of sensing beams. Each of the plurality of sensing beams is associated with at least one of a plurality of signals, the plurality of signals including a plurality of synchronization signal blocks (SSBs). The method also includes, according to a determination that the at least one channel access procedure in the plurality of channel access procedures is successful, determining at least one transmit beam for the at least one signal in the plurality of signals based on at least one of the plurality of sensing beams in which the at least one successful channel access procedure was performed, and transmitting the at least one signal in the shared channel using the at least one transmit beam.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field of telecommunications, and more particularly, to methods, apparatuses, and media for communication.

Background Art

[0002] Wireless communication systems may operate in millimeter wave (mmWave) frequency bands, such as high frequency bands from 52.6 GHz to 71 GHz and the like. Wireless communication at these frequencies can achieve high data rates and low latency, but is accompanied by an increase in signal attenuation (such as path loss). As a result, in order to overcome the path loss at these frequencies, signal processing techniques such as beamforming may be used. Since path loss increases in mmWave communication systems, transmissions from network devices and / or terminal devices may be beamformed.

[0003] In a wireless access network such as a new radio (NR) network, a network device may transmit discovery-related reference signals (such as synchronization signal blocks (SSBs)) so that a terminal device can search for cells in the wireless access network and acquire synchronization. In some examples, the network device may repeatedly transmit the SSB at a predetermined period. In the case of beamforming, the network device may transmit the SSB in different directions using a transmission beam. When the network device operates in a shared channel or an unlicensed frequency spectrum, the network device may determine whether other devices are using the shared channel in different directions before transmitting a signal including the transmission of the SSB. Channel access procedures may be performed to determine whether the shared channel is idle or in use.

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] Generally, exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure provide solutions for SSB transmission.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0005] In a first aspect, a communication method is provided. The method includes performing a plurality of channel access procedures in a shared channel using a plurality of sensing beams, wherein each of the plurality of sensing beams is associated with at least one of a plurality of signals, the plurality of signals includes a plurality of synchronization signal blocks (SSBs), determining at least one transmission beam for at least one of the plurality of signals based on at least one of the plurality of sensing beams according to a determination that at least one of the plurality of channel access procedures has succeeded, and transmitting at least one signal in the shared channel using the at least one transmission beam.

[0006] In a second aspect, a network device is provided. The network 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 device to perform the method according to the first aspect.

[0007] In a third aspect, a computer-readable medium storing instructions is provided. The instructions, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform the method according to the first aspect.

[0008] Other features of the present disclosure should be readily understood through the following description.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0009] The above and other objects, features, and advantages of the present disclosure should become more apparent through a more detailed description of some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure in the accompanying drawings.

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[0020] Throughout the drawings, the same or similar reference numerals represent the same or similar elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0021] 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 on the scope of the present disclosure. The present disclosure described herein can be implemented in various ways other than those described below.

[0022] 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.

[0023] 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 portion of a microprocessor, that requires software / firmware for operation but may not have software present when not required for operation. As used herein, the term circuit encompasses merely a hardware circuit or processor, or a portion of a hardware circuit or processor, and the implementation of its (or their) accompanying software and / or firmware.

[0024] 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, Node B (NB or NB), Evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB), new radio access NodeB (gNB), Remote Radio Unit (RRU), Radio Head (RH), Remote Radio Head (RRH), femto node, pico node and other low-power nodes, satellite network devices, aircraft network devices, etc. Hereinafter, for the purpose of discussion, some exemplary embodiments will be described with reference to eNB as an example of a network device.

[0025] In this specification, 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, Internet of Everything (IoE) devices, machine type communication (MTC) devices or evolved MTC (eMTC) devices, vehicle-mounted devices for V2X communication (where X means pedestrian, vehicle or infrastructure / network), imaging devices such as digital cameras, game devices, music storage / playback devices, Internet devices enabling wireless or wired Internet access and browsing, etc., but are not limited thereto. In the following description, the terms "terminal device", "communication device", "terminal", "user equipment", "UE" may be used interchangeably.

[0026] In one embodiment, the terminal device may be connected to a first network device and a second network device. One of the first network device and the second network device may be a master node and the other may be a secondary node. The first network device and the second network device may use different radio access technologies (RATs). In one embodiment, the first network device may be a first RAT device and the second network device may be a second RAT device. In one embodiment, the first RAT device is an eNB and the second RAT device is a gNB. Information related to different RATs may be transmitted from at least one of the first network device and the second network device to the terminal device. In one embodiment, first information may be transmitted from the first network device to the terminal device, and second information may be transmitted directly from the second network device to the terminal device or transmitted via the first network device. In one embodiment, information related to the settings of the terminal device set by the second network device may be transmitted from the second network device via the first network device. Information related to the resetting of the terminal device set by the second network device may be transmitted directly from the second network device to the terminal device or transmitted via the first network device.

[0027] The communications discussed in this specification may conform to any suitable standard, and the standards may include New Radio (NR), Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Evolution, LTE-Advanced, Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA (Registered Trademark): including, but not limited to, Wideband Code Division Multiple Access, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), cdma2000, and Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) for mobile communications. Further, the communication may be performed according to any generation of communication protocol known currently or 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, and fifth generation (5G). The technology described in this specification may be used not only for the above wireless networks and wireless technologies, but also for other wireless networks and wireless technologies.

[0028] 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. The term "including" and its variations are to be construed as an open-ended term meaning "including but not limited to". The term "based on" is to be construed as "based at least in part on". The terms "one embodiment" and "an embodiment" are to be construed as "at least one embodiment". The term "another embodiment" is to be construed as "at least one other embodiment". The terms "first", "second", etc. may refer to different objects or the same object. There may be other explicit and implicit definitions included in the following content.

[0029] 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 a plurality of functional alternatives being used, and such a selection need not be better, smaller, higher, or more preferable than other selections. Exemplary Environment

[0030] Figure 1 shows an exemplary communication network 100 capable of implementing an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. In the example of Figure 1, the network device 110 is deployed to provide services to one or more terminal devices located within its coverage area, such as terminal devices 120-1, 120-2, 120-3, 120-4, etc. The coverage area of the network device 110 is referred to as cell 102. For ease of discussion, the terminal devices 120-1, 120-2, 120-3, and 120-4 may be collectively referred to as terminal device 120. The terminal devices 120 may be distributed throughout the coverage area of the network device 110, and each terminal device 120 may be fixed or movable.

[0031] It should be understood that the number of devices and their connections shown in Figure 1 are shown for illustrative purposes only and do not imply any limitations. The environment 100 may include any suitable number of network devices and / or terminal devices suitable for implementing the embodiments of the present disclosure. Although not shown, it will be understood that one or more additional terminal devices may be located in cell 102, and one or more additional cells may be arranged in environment 100.

[0032] The communication between the terminal device 120 and the network device 110 may be carried out according to any suitable communication protocol. The communication in the direction from the terminal device 120 to the network device 110 is referred to as UL communication, and the reverse communication from the network device 110 to the terminal device 120 is referred to as DL communication.

[0033] In UL communication, the terminal device 120 may transmit UL data and control information to the network device 110 via a UL channel. In some examples, the UL data may be transmitted on a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) and / or any other UL channel available for data transmission. In some examples, the UL control information may be transmitted on a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) and / or any other UL channel available for transmission of control information. In DL transmission, the network device 110 may transmit DL data and control information to the terminal device 120 via a DL channel. In some examples, the DL data may be transmitted on a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) and / or any other DL channel available for data transmission. In some examples, the DL control information may be transmitted on a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) and / or any other DL channel available for transmission of control information.

[0034] In some exemplary embodiments, for example, in a millimeter wave (mmWave) system, directional transmission or beamforming transmission (e.g., a transmission beam) may be utilized for communication. For example, the network device 110 may transmit signals with multiple transmission beams (e.g., associated with different coverage areas) and execute a contention procedure. The beams are generated using an antenna array (including multiple antennas) associated with a communication device (e.g., the network device 110). A beam is the main lobe of the radiation pattern of an antenna or an antenna array. The network device 110 may select different antenna subsets to generate different beams.

[0035] The network device 110 may, in some cases, perform beam sweeping for some or all of the possible transmission beams for messages or signals for wireless devices distributed throughout its coverage area (e.g., cell 102). For example, the network device 110 may transmit a plurality of signals using each transmission beam to facilitate cell synchronization and discovery by the terminal device across the entire coverage area. The plurality of signals may include synchronization signal blocks (SSBs).

[0036] Generally, the time, frequency, and spatial resources of each SSB may be pre-set. For each SSB, a predicted transmission beam that covers the predicted coverage area within the cell 102 of the network device 110 may be set. The combination of SSBs may cover the entire cell 102 so that the terminal devices 120 distributed in the cell 102 have opportunities to receive the SSBs.

[0037] Figure 2 shows exemplary transmission patterns of a plurality of SSBs. In these examples, the SSBs can be transmitted during a period, e.g., a half-frame (e.g., 5 ms). According to the transmission pattern 210, when the subcarrier spacing (SCS) is 15 kHz, a total of 4 SSBs may be transmitted, and the first 2 SSBs may be transmitted in time slot 212, and the other 2 SSBs may be transmitted in time slot 214 within a period of 5 ms. According to the transmission pattern 220, when the SCS is 30 kHz, a total of 8 SSBs may be transmitted, and 2 SSBs may be transmitted in each of the time slots 222, 224, 226, and 228. According to the transmission pattern 230, when the SCS is extended to 120 kHz, the number of SSBs may increase up to 64, and the 64 SSBs may be transmitted 8 by 8 in the time slots 231 to 238.

[0038] In transmission pattern 210 or 220, the network device 110 may be able to perform cyclic transmission of one or more SSBs in the next time slot in order to improve the reliability of SSB transmission. In transmission pattern 230, since the number of SSBs is large, there is remaining time for cyclic transmission in a 5 ms period. Thus, the possibility of SSB reception failure may increase.

[0039] Furthermore, in a communication system based on a shared channel, the network device may execute a channel access procedure for competing for access to the channel before transmitting an SSB with a specified transmission beam. The SSB is transmitted when it is detected that the shared channel is in an idle state. The channel access procedure may be executed for a specific sensing beam having a specific coverage area. By transmitting the SSB together with the transmission beam in the direction sensed to be in an idle state, it is expected to avoid collisions with other devices in the shared channel and increase the probability of successful reception of the SSB. Therefore, there are things to be done to demonstrate higher flexibility for dealing with channel sensing in the SSB transmission procedure. Principle of Operation and Exemplary Method

[0040] According to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, a solution for SSB transmission is provided. In this solution, it is determined that a plurality of sensing beams are associated with one or more of a plurality of signals including SSB. A plurality of channel access procedures are performed by a communication device, such as a network device, using the plurality of sensing beams. Depending on the result of the channel access procedure, a signal associated with the sensing beam on which a successful channel access procedure has been performed can be transmitted using at least one transmission beam. At least one transmission beam for the signal is determined based on the sensing beam on which a successful channel access procedure has been performed, rather than directly using the expected transmission beam of this signal. The at least one determined transmission beam may partially cover or completely cover the expected transmission beam of the signal.

[0041] In this way, the flexibility of SSB transmission can be improved, and when the channel access procedure is successful, there is a possibility of increasing the opportunity to transmit SSB in at least some of the expected transmission beams.

[0042] Hereinafter, some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail. First, refer to FIG. 3. FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of an exemplary method 300 for SSB transmission implemented in a network device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, method 300 may be executed in network device 110. For the purpose of discussion, method 300 will be described with reference to FIG. 1.

[0043] In block 310, network device 110 performs a plurality of channel access procedures on a shared channel using a plurality of sensing beams. The shared channel is an unlicensed frequency band and cannot be used exclusively. The shared channel may also be referred to as a shared frequency spectrum, an unlicensed channel, an unlicensed frequency band, an unlicensed frequency spectrum, etc., and these terms are used interchangeably in this specification.

[0044] To access the shared channel, for example, to transmit SSB on the shared channel, the device may execute a channel access procedure and sense whether the shared channel is available or being used by other devices. Depending on the sensing result of the channel access procedure, if the shared channel is indicated to be in an idle state, the network device 110 may determine that the channel access procedure has succeeded. Conversely, if the sensing result indicates that the shared channel is being used by other devices, the channel access procedure is determined to have failed.

[0045] In some exemplary embodiments, the network device 110 may execute multiple channel access procedures by utilizing the beamforming capabilities of the associated antennas. More specifically, the network device 110 may execute multiple channel access procedures on the shared channel by using multiple subsets of antennas. For example, the network device 110 may execute a first channel access procedure using a first subset of antennas and a second channel access procedure using a second subset of antennas, and so on. By using multiple subsets of antennas, different beams (i.e., sensing beams) can be generated. The multiple subsets of antennas are different from each other such that the generated sensing beams are different.

[0046] In some exemplary embodiments, the channel access procedure may include at least energy detection to determine whether a shared channel is being used before transmitting on the channel. In the channel access procedure, network device 110 may monitor the shared channel with a sensing beam and detect the energy level on the shared channel. If the detected energy level is below a threshold (e.g., the energy detection threshold), network device 110 may determine that the shared channel is not being used by other devices. Thus, the channel access procedure is determined to be successful. In some exemplary embodiments, the channel access procedure may be performed based on LBT or CCA (clear channel assessment). The channel access procedure may optionally be referred to as an LBT procedure or a CCA procedure.

[0047] The sensing beam covers a specific coverage area that network device 110 monitors in the channel access procedure. The sensing beam may be referred to as a channel access beam, an LBT beam, etc. The coverage area may correspond to a plane (e.g., a horizontal plane or a vertical plane) or the beam direction of the sensing beam in three-dimensional space. Thus, the coverage area may be a planar area or a three-dimensional space area. If the channel access procedure performed with a certain sensing beam is successful, it may be determined that no other device is using the shared channel from the corresponding coverage area.

[0048] Conventionally, before the period when multiple SSBs can be transmitted, one omnidirectional channel access procedure is performed using one omnidirectional sensing beam. If the omnidirectional channel access procedure fails, any of the multiple SSBs can be transmitted. If the omnidirectional channel access procedure is successful, the network device can transmit the multiple SSBs according to their settings. In the omnidirectional channel access procedure, the flexibility of SSB transmission is low.

[0049] According to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, a plurality of channel access procedures are performed using different sensing beams. The association relationship between the sensing beams and the plurality of signals transmitted by the network device 110 may be predefined. Each of the plurality of sensing beams is associated with at least one of the plurality of signals. In some exemplary embodiments, each of the plurality of signals is associated with two or more of the plurality of sensing beams. Different signals may be associated with one or more identical sensing beams.

[0050] In some exemplary embodiments, the plurality of signals transmitted may include at least a plurality of Synchronization Signal Blocks (SSBs). The SSB may include one or more types of synchronization signals such as a Primary Synchronization Signal (PSS), a Secondary Synchronization Signal (SSS), etc. In some exemplary embodiments, one of the plurality of signals may include at least a combination of an SSB and a Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH). In some exemplary embodiments, one of the plurality of signals may further include one or more information blocks such as one or more other broadcast system blocks. In some examples, the signal including at least the SSB / PBCH may include the PSS, the SSS, and the PBCH with an associated Demodulation Reference Signal (DM-RS). In some examples, the signal may also include a Control Resource Set (CORESET) for a Physical Downlink Control Channel (DPDCCH) that schedules a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) having a System Information Block (SIB) (e.g., SIB1), and a PDSCH that carries the SIB1 and / or a non-zero power CSI Reference Signal (CSI-RS). In one embodiment, the signal may include a discovery signal or a discovery reference signal.

[0051] In some exemplary embodiments, the plurality of signals may be transmitted during a specified period that can be transmitted. This period may be referred to as an SSB burst set transmission window in some cases. The specified period may be repeated at a predetermined cycle. In some examples, the period may have a channel occupancy time (COT) or a maximum channel occupancy time (MCOT), such as a period of 5 ms. Other periods are also possible.

[0052] Generally, each of the plurality of signals may be set to be transmitted to a predicted coverage area. To cover all of the spatial coverage ranges of the network device 110, all of the predicted coverage areas of the plurality of signals may be combined. The sensing beam associated with one or more signals may be defined to have a coverage area that at least covers the predicted coverage area of the one or more signals.

[0053] In some exemplary embodiments, the relationship between the sensing beam and the transmitted signal may include a many-to-one relationship, in which case one group of the plurality of sensing beams is respectively associated with one transmitted signal (e.g., SSB). The coverage area of the sensing beam may be determined based on the associated signal. In such an example, the sensing beam associated with one signal may have a coverage area that covers a part of the predicted coverage area, and thus the sensing beam may be relatively narrow. The channel access procedure performed with such a narrow sensing beam may be referred to as a directional channel access procedure because the network device 110 may have to monitor the shared channel in a small beam direction.

[0054] In some exemplary embodiments, the association relationship may include a many-to-many relationship, in which case a plurality of wide sensing beams are associated with a plurality of signals transmitted (e.g., SSB). In such an example, a group of sensing beams may be associated with two or more signals, and each wide sensing beam has a large coverage area covering a part of the expected total coverage area of two or more signals. Such sensing beams may be relatively wide. The channel access procedure performed with such wide sensing beams may be referred to as a quasi-omnidirectional (or near-omnidirectional) channel access procedure. This is because the network device 110 may have to monitor the shared channel in a relatively wide beam direction that covers both two or more signals.

[0055] In some exemplary embodiments, the association relationship may include a many-to-all relationship, in which case each of a plurality of signals (e.g., a plurality of SSB) may be considered to be associated with all of a plurality of sensing beams. Each sensing beam may be an omnidirectional sensing beam having an omnidirectional range covering a plurality of signals in a certain plane (e.g., a horizontal plane, a vertical plane, or any other plane). The plurality of omnidirectional sensing beams may be different in their 3D coverage, and thus may have different coverage areas in three-dimensional space. Therefore, the total coverage area of the plurality of omnidirectional sensing beams covers the total coverage area of the plurality of signals. That is, the coverage range of the network device 110 (substantially corresponding to the total coverage area of all the expected coverage areas of the plurality of signals) is divided into a plurality of coverage areas in the horizontal direction, the vertical direction, etc., and each coverage area is covered by an omnidirectional sensing beam. The channel access procedure performed with such omnidirectional sensing beams may be referred to as an omnidirectional channel access procedure.

[0056] Examples of the type of relationship between the sensing beam and the plurality of signals to be transmitted may be summarized in Table 1 below. Let the number of signals to be transmitted be L. [Table 1]

[0057] In some exemplary embodiments, when executing a plurality of channel access procedures in block 310, the network device 110 may adopt one or more of the above relationships to define the sensing beam used for the channel access procedure. Depending at least on the sensing beam used and / or the channel access policy for SSB switching, the network device 110 may execute the channel access procedure in different ways. This will be described in more detail below.

[0058] In block 320, the network device 110 determines whether at least one of the plurality of channel access procedures has succeeded. If one or more channel access procedures have succeeded, the network device 110 determines that one or more associated signals may be transmitted to at least a part of their expected coverage area. One or more associated signals (which may also be referred to as "target signals") are signals associated with one or more sensing beams for which one or more channel access procedures are executed.

[0059] Thus, in block 330, if the success of at least one channel access procedure is determined, the network device 110 determines at least one transmission beam for at least one signal based on at least one sensing beam for which at least one successful channel access procedure was executed. For example, the network device 110 may select at least one antenna subset that passed through the channel access procedure to generate at least one transmission beam for transmitting at least one signal.

[0060] In some exemplary embodiments, for each signal that can be transmitted according to the result of a channel access procedure, one or more transmission beams may be determined for transmitting the signal. In some exemplary embodiments, one or more transmission beams for a signal may at least partially overlap or cover at least one sensing beam. As used herein, a transmission beam covering or overlapping one or more sensing beams means that the (entire) coverage area of the transmission beam overlaps the (entire) coverage area of the sensing beam.

[0061] In an exemplary embodiment, if at least one sensing beam associated with a signal is determined to cover the entire expected coverage area, a transmission beam may be determined as the expected transmission beam for that signal, and the transmission beam has the expected coverage area set for this signal. In an exemplary embodiment, if the channel access procedure is successful with one or more of the associated sensing beams but not all, one or more sensing beams associated with this signal may be determined to cover a part of the expected coverage area of this signal. Thus, if at least one of the channel access procedures is successful, at least one of the plurality of signals may be transmitted to at least a part of its (their) expected coverage area.

[0062] In block 340, network device 110 transmits at least one signal on a shared channel using at least one transmission beam. Network device 110 may control the antenna array to radiate at least one transmission beam for transmitting at least one signal. In some exemplary embodiments, for each signal, a time resource (e.g., a time slot, also referred to as a time domain position) for transmission during the available period for transmission may be set. Network device 110 may transmit the signal in the set time slot during that period.

[0063] Depending at least on the sensing beam (directional, omnidirectional, and / or pseudo-omnidirectional sensing beam) used and / or the channel access policy for SSB switching, different channel access procedures may be executed, and thus, different transmission methods may be executed. Hereinafter, some exemplary embodiments regarding the transmission method will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 4 to 9. Example of SSB Transmission Based on Directional Channel Access

[0064] FIG. 4 shows an exemplary SSB transmission method 400 based on directional channel access according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. In FIG. 4 and the following FIGS. 5A to 9, the signal transmitted by the network device 110 is shown as an SSB, but it will be understood that other blocks / signals may also be included and transmitted. For illustrative purposes only, six SSBs are shown. However, it will be understood that a different number of SSBs or signals may be expected to be transmitted by the network device 110. In addition to the number of SSBs, the grouping of sensing beams and the number of sensing beams in the examples shown in FIG. 4 and the following FIGS. 5A to 9 are for illustrative purposes only, and it will be understood that other groupings and numbers are also applicable.

[0065] In some exemplary embodiments related to directive channel access-based SSB transmission, the network device 110 may execute a plurality of channel access procedures using a plurality of groups of directive sensing beams, each group including at least two directive sensing beams and being associated with one of the plurality of SSBs. In this way, each SSB may be associated with two or more directive sensing beams within the group. Therefore, the sensing beam and the SSB have the above-described one-to-many association relationship. In some exemplary embodiments, the network device 110 may determine the association between the sensing beam and the SSB with reference to Table 1. For example, the sensing beams indexed as "b00, b01,..., b0i" may be associated with the signal indexed as "0" (e.g., the SSB here), and the sensing beams indexed as "b10, b11,..., b1j" may be associated with the signal indexed as "1" (e.g., the SSB here), and so on. In some exemplary embodiments, all the directive sensing beams of the plurality of groups may together cover the expected total coverage area of the plurality of SSBs.

[0066] In the example shown in FIG. 4, there are six groups of directive sensing beams (numbered from group 0 to group 5), each associated with one of the six SSBs (numbered from SSB0 to SSB5). Each group includes three directive sensing beams (numbered sensing beam 0, sensing beam 1, and sensing beam 2). Note that the sensing beams of different groups are not the same.

[0067] Each directional sensing beam within a group may be determined to partially cover the expected coverage area of the associated SSB. In this way, each directional sensing beam is narrower than the expected transmission beam of the associated SSB. Two or more directional sensing beams within a group may have an overall coverage area that overlaps with the expected coverage area of the associated SSB. For example, the three sensing beams of group 0 in FIG. 4 are associated with SSB0, and the overall coverage area of the three directional sensing beams may be equal to or larger than the expected coverage area of SSB0. Other groups of directional sensing beams may be determined similarly.

[0068] In some exemplary embodiments, the number of directional sensing beams in different groups may be the same or different. Thus, although the six groups in FIG. 4 are shown as having the same number of three directional sensing beams, each of these groups may have a different number of directional sensing beams.

[0069] The network device 110 may execute a plurality of directional channel access procedures on a shared channel using the respective directional sensing beams of the plurality of groups. For each directional sensing beam, a directional channel access procedure may be executed. In some exemplary embodiments, the plurality of directional channel access procedures may be executed before the period available for SSB transmission, for example, at the start of the COT. In some exemplary embodiments, the plurality of directional channel access procedures may be executed substantially in parallel. In some examples, for the plurality of directional channel access procedures, the same channel access parameters such as a backoff counter, a channel access priority class, etc. may be the same or similar.

[0070] In some exemplary embodiments, at the start of a period, network device 110 may execute a Category 4 (Cat4) channel access procedure that enables a relatively long monitoring / sensing period. The Cat4 channel access procedure may also be referred to as a Type 1 channel access procedure. The channel access procedure may be based on a contention window. Upon successful completion of the Cat4 channel access procedure, network device 110 may have a transmission period longer than, for example, 1 ms.

[0071] Depending on the availability of the shared channel by other devices, multiple directional channel access procedures may each succeed or fail. In some exemplary embodiments, for each group of directional sensing beams associated with an SSB, if the sensing results of all the directional sensing beams are successful, i.e., if the directional channel access procedures executed with the directional sensing beams are successful, network device 110 may be able to determine that the SSB may be transmitted, and the transmission beam may be determined to cover the entire coverage area of the directional sensing beams (covering also the expected coverage area of this SSB). In some examples, a single transmission beam (i.e., the expected transmission beam) may be determined for transmitting this SSB.

[0072] In the example of FIG. 4, the directional channel access procedures executed with the three directional sensing beams of Group 2 are all successful, and the transmission beam of the associated SSB (e.g., SSB2) may be determined as the expected transmission beam that covers the expected coverage area. In each of Groups 3 to 5, all the directional channel access procedures are successful.

[0073] To more appropriately describe the association between the coverage of the transmission beam and the sensing beam, in FIG. 4 and FIGS. 5A to 9 below, it will be understood that separate transmission beam portions (e.g., transmission beam - P1, transmission beam - P2, and / or transmission beam - P3) are shown for a single SSB. One or more transmission beams may be determined to cover the transmission portion of this SSB. For example, to transmit SSB2, a single transmission beam may be determined, which covers three transmission beam portions (transmission beam - P1, transmission beam - P2, and / or transmission beam - P3). Similarly, for SSB3, SSB4, and SSB5, their respective transmission beams may be determined to cover their expected coverage areas.

[0074] In some exemplary embodiments, when at least one directional channel access procedure executed using at least one directional sensing beam in a group is successful while one or more other directional channel access procedures fail, the network device 110 may determine that the SSB (e.g., SSB) associated with a group may be transmitted with a transmission beam narrower than its expected transmission beam. The network device 110 may determine one or more transmission beams for transmitting the SSB based on at least one directional sensing beam for which at least one successful directional channel access procedure has been executed. In some exemplary embodiments, one or more transmission beams may be determined to partially or fully overlap with at least one directional sensing beam. For example, the entire coverage area of one or more transmission beams may be substantially equal to or smaller than the entire coverage area of at least one directional sensing beam.

[0075] In the example shown in FIG. 4, in group 0, while the directional channel access procedures performed with sensing beam 0 and sensing beam 1 are successful, the directional channel access procedure performed with sensing beam 2 fails, and the network device 110 may determine one or more transmission beams that overlap with sensing beam 0 and sensing beam 1 to transmit SSB0. Similarly for group 1, the network device 110 may determine one or more transmission beams that overlap with sensing beam 0 and sensing beam 1 to transmit SSB1.

[0076] In some exemplary embodiments, for a particular directional sensing beam group in which two or more directional channel access procedures are successful, if the corresponding two or more directional sensing beams of the successful channel access procedures cover adjacent coverage areas, the network device 110 may integrate the adjacent coverage areas of the two or more directional sensing beams and determine a single transmission beam that covers the integrated coverage area to transmit the associated SSB. In some examples, if two or more directional sensing beams are separated in their coverage areas, the network device 110 may determine two or more respective transmission beams. Each transmission beam overlaps with one of the separate directional sensing beams. Transmission of the associated SSB may be performed using two or more separate transmission beams. In the example of FIG. 4, for group 0, a single narrow transmission beam that covers transmission beam -P1 and transmission beam -P2 is determined to transmit SSB0. For group 1, a single narrow transmission beam that covers transmission beam -P1 and transmission beam -P2 is determined to transmit SSB1.

[0077] It will be understood that separate transmission beams may be determined in the case of adjacent coverage areas. For example, two separate transmission beams that each overlap with sensing beam 0 and sensing beam 1 may be determined to transmit SSB0 or SSB1.

[0078] Since transmission beams for one or more of SSB0 to SSB5 are determined, the network device 110 may sequentially transmit SSBs in respective time slots during a period available for SSB transmission (e.g., COT). In the example of FIG. 4, the network device 110 is set not to perform channel access immediately before each SB transmission switching in the middle of the period.

[0079] In some exemplary embodiments, if one or more of the executed multiple directional channel access procedures fail, the network device 110 may determine that one or more SSBs may not be transmitted at least for the coverage area of one or more of the directional sensing beams for which the failed channel access procedures are executed. In some examples, for a certain SSB associated with a directional sensing beam group, if one or more of the corresponding directional channel access procedures succeed but one or more others fail, the SSB may be partially transmitted. The network device 110 may not transmit an SSB in the coverage area of the sensing beam for which the failed channel access procedure is executed. For example, in FIG. 4, SSB0 and SSB1 are partially transmitted. The two SSBs are not transmitted in the coverage area covered by the transmission beam P3 because the directional channel access procedures fail.

[0080] In some exemplary embodiments, if one or more SSBs are not transmitted or are partially transmitted due to one or more failed directional channel access procedures, the network device 110 may attempt to transmit one or more SSBs in the next configured time slot (if any) within the period available for SSB transmission. For each directional sensing beam for which a failure of the directional channel access procedure has occurred, the network device 110 may perform a further directional channel access procedure using the directional sensing beam. The further directional channel access procedure may be performed before the next time slot configured for the SSB associated with the directional sensing beam during the period available for SSB transmission.

[0081] In the example of FIG. 4, if there is a further time slot configured for the transmission of SSB0 after the time slot for the last SSB (e.g., SSB5), the network device 110 may transmit a further directional channel access procedure (not shown) for SSB0 using the sensing beam 2 of group 0 associated with SSB0. The directional channel access procedure may be performed before the further time slot configured for the transmission of SSB0. Similarly for SSB1, the network device 110 may perform a further directional channel access procedure to transmit two SSBs.

[0082] If a further directional channel access procedure is successful, the first device 110 may determine one or more transmission beams, and the first device 110 may determine one or more transmission beams for the SSB associated with the directional sensing beam. The one or more determined transmission beams may overlap with the directional sensing beam. The network device 110 may transmit the associated SSB using the one or more transmission beams, for example, in the next time slot configured for this SSB. For example, in FIG. 4, if a further directional channel access procedure performed using the sensing beam 2 of group 1 is successful, the network device 110 may transmit SSB0 using a transmission beam that overlaps with the sensing beam 2. Example of SSB Transmission Based on Omnidirectional Channel Access

[0083] In some exemplary embodiments, the network device 110 may use a plurality of omnidirectional sensing beams to perform a plurality of channel access procedures. Each omnidirectional sensing beam is associated with a plurality of signals (e.g., SSBs) to be transmitted. Thus, the sensing beam and the SSB have the multiple-to-all association relationships described above. In some exemplary embodiments, the network device 110 may determine the association between the sensing beam and the SSB with reference to Table 1. For example, the sensing beams indexed as "0, 1,..., p" may be associated with a plurality of signals (e.g., here SSBs) indexed as "0, 1,..., L".

[0084] As described above, the omnidirectional sensing beam has an omnidirectional range that covers a plurality of signals in a certain plane (e.g., a horizontal plane, a vertical plane, or any other arbitrary plane). The plurality of omnidirectional sensing beams are different in their 3D coverage, and thus may have different coverage areas in three-dimensional space. The total coverage area of the plurality of omnidirectional sensing beams covers the total coverage area of the plurality of SSBs.

[0085] Figures 5A-5C illustrate some exemplary SSB transmission schemes 500, 510, 520 based on omnidirectional channel access. In the examples of Figures 5A-5C, there may be three omnidirectional sensing beams (numbered sensing beam 0, sensing beam 1, and sensing beam 2) respectively associated with six SSBs (SSB0-SSB5).

[0086] The network device 110 may execute multiple omnidirectional channel access procedures using multiple omnidirectional sensing beams. For each sensing beam, an omnidirectional channel access procedure may be executed. In some exemplary embodiments, the multiple omnidirectional channel access procedures may be executed before the period available for SSB transmission, for example, at the start of the COT. In some exemplary embodiments, the multiple omnidirectional channel access procedures may be executed substantially in parallel. In some examples, for the multiple omnidirectional channel access procedures, the same channel access parameters such as a backoff counter, a channel access priority class, etc. may be the same or similar. In some exemplary embodiments, the network device 110 may execute a Cat4 channel access procedure that enables a relatively long monitoring / sensing period at the start of the period.

[0087] Depending on the availability of the shared channel by other devices, each of the plurality of omnidirectional channel access procedures may either fail or succeed. In some exemplary embodiments, if any one of the plurality of omnidirectional channel access procedures succeeds, the network device 110 may determine that it can transmit a plurality of SSBs because each omnidirectional sensing beam used in the omnidirectional channel access procedure is associated with a plurality of SSBs. For each omnidirectional sensing beam for which a successful omnidirectional channel access procedure has been performed, the network device 110 may determine a respective transmission beam for the plurality of SSBs based on the omnidirectional sensing beam. In some exemplary embodiments, each of the transmission beams of the SSBs may be determined to overlap with a part of the omnidirectional sensing beam. Generally, the transmission beam of one SSB partially overlaps with the omnidirectional sensing beam, and the transmission beams of the plurality of SSBs all overlap with the entire coverage area of the omnidirectional sensing beam.

[0088] In the example of FIG. 5A, the omnidirectional channel access procedures for omnidirectional sensing beam 0 and omnidirectional sensing beam 2 are successful. The network device 110 may determine respective transmission beams for transmitting from SSB0 to SSB1. For each SSB, two transmission beams may be determined, each overlapping with one of omnidirectional sensing beam 0 and omnidirectional sensing beam 2. The two transmission beams may cover transmission beam - P1 and / or transmission beam - P3 of the SSB. In some examples, if two or more omnidirectional sensing beams for which a successful channel access procedure has been performed have adjacent coverage areas, the network device 110 may integrate the adjacent coverage areas of the two or more omnidirectional sensing beams and determine a single transmission beam for each SSB that partially covers the integrated coverage area. In some exemplary embodiments, two or more separate narrow transmission beams may be determined.

[0089] In some exemplary embodiments, if at least one omnidirectional channel access procedure fails, the network device 110 may determine that a plurality of SSBs are partially transmitted and may not be transmitted to the coverage area of one or more omnidirectional sensing beams for which the failed channel access procedure was executed. For example, in FIG. 5A, due to the failure of the omnidirectional channel access procedure, SSB0 to SSB5 may not be transmitted to the coverage area of the omnidirectional sensing beam 1.

[0090] Since the transmission beams for SSB0 to SSB5 are determined, the network device 110 may sequentially transmit from SSB0 to SSB5 in each time slot during the period available for SSB transmission (e.g., COT). In the example of FIG. 5A, the network device 110 is set not to perform channel access immediately before each SB transmission switch in the middle of the period.

[0091] In some exemplary embodiments, if all of the plurality of omnidirectional channel access procedures executed at the start of the period for SSB transmission fail, the network device 110 may re-execute a plurality of additional omnidirectional channel access procedures using a plurality of omnidirectional sensing beams during the period. Similarly, the network device 110 may continue to determine how the SSB is transmitted based on the results of these plurality of additional omnidirectional channel access procedures. FIG. 5B shows such an exemplary SSB transmission method 510. In this example, three omnidirectional channel access procedures executed at the start of the period have failed. The network device 110 may continue to execute three omnidirectional channel access procedures using three omnidirectional sensing beams.

[0092] In some examples, during the SSB transmission period, additional omnidirectional channel access procedures are executed, and one or more time slots for transmitting one or more SSBs may become invalid after the completion of the additional omnidirectional channel access procedures. In this case, these SSBs may not be transmitted. If one or more additional omnidirectional channel access procedures are successful, the network device 110 may determine a subset of the plurality of SSBs that can be transmitted after the completion of the additional omnidirectional channel access procedures. In the example of FIG. 5B, after the competition of the omnidirectional channel access procedure executed before the time slot of SSB1, the network device 110 may determine, based on the result of the omnidirectional channel access procedure, that SSB1 to SSB5 can still be transmitted, but SSB0 may not be transmitted. Since the omnidirectional channel access procedures are performed on sensing beam 0 and sensing beam 2, the transmission beams determined for SSB1 to SSB5 may be the same as those determined in the example of FIG. 5A.

[0093] If one or more SSBs are partially transmitted because the execution of one or more channel access procedures fails, the network device 110 may attempt to transmit the plurality of SSBs in the time slot of the next configured SSB (if any) within the period available for SSB transmission. For each omnidirectional sensing beam where a failure of the omnidirectional channel access procedure occurs, the network device 110 may execute an additional omnidirectional channel access procedure using the omnidirectional sensing beam. The additional omnidirectional channel access procedure may be executed before the next earliest time slot configured for the SSB during the period available for SSB transmission. As shown in the exemplary SSB transmission scheme 520 of FIG. 5C, the network device 110 executes an additional omnidirectional channel access procedure using omnidirectional sensing beam 1.

[0094] The next transmission of the SSB depends on the result of one or more further omnidirectional channel access procedures. If the omnidirectional channel access procedure is successful, the first device 110 may determine a plurality of transmission beams for a plurality of SSBs (e.g., SSB0 to SSB5). The determined transmission beams may overlap with the omnidirectional sensing beam (e.g., sensing beam 1 in FIG. 5C). The network device 110 may sequentially transmit from SSB0 to SSB5 in the time slots set for those SSBs using the determined transmission beams. Example of SSB Transmission Based on Quasi-Omnidirectional Channel Access In some exemplary embodiments, the network device 110 may use a plurality of groups of wide sensing beams to perform a plurality of channel access procedures (referred to as pseudo-omnidirectional channel access procedures). Each group of wide sensing beams is associated with two or more of the plurality of signals (e.g., SSBs) to be transmitted, and thus each wide sensing beam within the group is also associated with two or more SSBs. Therefore, the sensing beam and the SSB have the above-described many-to-many relationship. In some exemplary embodiments, the network device 110 may determine the association between the sensing beam and the SSB with reference to Table 1. For example, the sensing beams indexed as "b00, b01,..., b0x" may be associated with a plurality of signals (e.g., here SSBs) indexed as "0, 1,…, k", and the sensing beams indexed as "b10, b11,..., b1j" may be associated with a plurality of signals (e.g., here SSBs) indexed as "k + 1, k + 2,…, j", etc.

[0095] FIG. 6 shows an exemplary SSB transmission method 600 based on pseudo-omnidirectional channel access according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. Each group includes at least two wide sensing beams, and each wide sensing beam is associated with at least two of the plurality of signals (e.g., SSBs).

[0096] In the example shown in FIG. 6, there are three directive sensing beam groups (numbered from group 0 to group 2) respectively associated with six SSBs (numbered from SSB0 to SSB5). Each group includes three wide sensing beams (numbered sensing beam 0, sensing beam 1, and sensing beam 2). Note that the sensing beams of different groups are not the same. Each wide sensing beam in group 0 is associated with SSB0 and SSB1, each wide sensing beam in group 1 is associated with SSB2 and SSB3, and each wide sensing beam in group 2 is associated with SSB4 and SSB5. This association is an example, and it will be understood that each wide sensing beam may cover two or more SSBs.

[0097] Each wide sensing beam within a group is determined to partially cover the expected coverage areas of two or more associated SSBs. The beam direction of such a wide sensing beam is wider than that of a directive sensing beam covering a single SSB. Two or more wide sensing beams within a group may have a total coverage area that overlaps the expected coverage areas of two or more associated SSBs. For example, the three sensing beams of group 0 in FIG. 6 have a total coverage area equal to or larger than the sum of the expected coverage areas of SSB0 and SSB1. Other wide sensing beam groups may be determined similarly.

[0098] In some exemplary embodiments, the number of wide sensing beams in different groups may be the same or different. Thus, although the six groups in FIG. 6 are shown to have the same number of three wide sensing beams, these groups may each have a different number of wide sensing beams.

[0099] Network device 110 may execute a plurality of pseudo-omnidirectional channel access procedures in a shared channel using respective wide sensing beams of a plurality of groups. For each wide sensing beam, a pseudo-omnidirectional channel access procedure may be executed. In some exemplary embodiments, the plurality of pseudo-omnidirectional channel access procedures may be executed before the period available for SSB transmission, for example, at the start of the COT. In some exemplary embodiments, the plurality of pseudo-omnidirectional channel access procedures may be executed substantially in parallel. In some examples, for the plurality of pseudo-omnidirectional channel access procedures, the same channel access parameters such as a backoff counter, a channel access priority class, etc. may be the same or similar. In some exemplary embodiments, network device 110 may execute a Cat4 channel access procedure that enables a relatively long monitoring / sensing period at the start of the period.

[0100] Depending on the availability of the shared channel by other devices, each of the plurality of pseudo-omnidirectional channel access procedures may fail or succeed. In some exemplary embodiments, for each group of pseudo-omnidirectional sensing beams associated with two or more SSBs, if the sensing results of all the pseudo-omnidirectional sensing beams are successful, that is, if the pseudo-omnidirectional channel access procedures executed with the wide sensing beams are successful, network device 110 may determine that the two or more SSBs are transmissible, and their transmission beams may be determined based on the wide sensing beams. In some examples, each transmission beam of the two or more SSBs is determined as their expected transmission beam.

[0101] In the example of FIG. 6, all the beamforming channel access procedures performed with the three beamforming sensing beams of Group 1 are successful, and the transmission beams of the associated SSBs (e.g., SSB2 and SSB3) may be determined as the expected transmission beams of the SSBs that respectively cover the expected coverage areas of the SSBs. In FIG. 6, the transmission beams of SSB2 and SSB3 are each shown to cover three transmission beam portions (transmission beam - P1, transmission beam - P2, and / or transmission beam - P3).

[0102] In some exemplary embodiments, if at least one pseudo-omnidirectional channel access procedure performed with at least one wide sensing beam in a group is successful, while one or more other pseudo-omnidirectional channel access procedures fail, the network device 110 may determine to partially transmit two or more associated SSBs based on at least one wide sensing beam with at least one successful pseudo-omnidirectional channel procedure. In some exemplary embodiments, for each associated SSB, one or more transmission beams may be determined to partially or fully overlap with at least one wide sensing beam. The total coverage area of the transmission beams determined for two or more associated SSBs may be substantially equal to or smaller than the total coverage area of at least one wide sensing beam.

[0103] In the example shown in FIG. 6, in group 0, while the pseudo-omnidirectional channel access procedures executed with sensing beam 1 and sensing beam 2 are successful, the pseudo-omnidirectional channel access procedure executed with sensing beam 0 fails. The network device 110 may determine one or more transmission beams for transmitting SSB0 and one or more transmission beams for transmitting SSB1 based on sensing beam 0 and sensing beam 1. Similarly for group 2, the network device 110 may determine the transmission beams of SSB4 and SSB5 based on sensing beam 0 and sensing beam 2 where the successful pseudo-omnidirectional channel access procedures were executed.

[0104] In some examples, if two or more wide sensing beams within a group where successful channel access procedures were executed have adjacent coverage areas, the network device 110 may perform integration and determine a single transmission beam that partially covers the integrated area of the adjacent coverage areas for each of the associated SSBs. In some exemplary embodiments, two or more separate narrow transmission beams may be determined.

[0105] Upon determining the transmission beams for one or more of SSB0 to SSB5, the network device 110 may sequentially transmit the SSBs in each time slot during the period available for SSB transmission (e.g., COT). In the example of FIG. 6, the network device 110 is set not to perform channel access immediately before each SB transmission switch in the middle of the period.

[0106] In some exemplary embodiments, if one or more of the executed multiple pseudo-omnidirectional channel access procedures fail, the network device 110 may determine that one or more SSBs may not be transmitted at least for the coverage area of one or more wide sensing beams for which the failed channel access procedures were executed. In some examples, for a certain SSB associated with a wide sensing beam group, if one or more of the corresponding pseudo-omnidirectional channel access procedures succeed while one or more others fail, the SSB may be transmitted partially. The network device 110 may not transmit an SSB in the coverage area of the sensing beam for which the failed channel access procedure was executed. For example, in FIG. 6, SSB0 and SSB1 associated with group 0, and SSB4 and SSB5 associated with group 2 are transmitted partially. SSB0 and SSB1 are not transmitted in the coverage area covered by their transmission beam P3 because the pseudo-omnidirectional channel access procedure fails. Also, SSB4 and SSB5 are not transmitted in the coverage area covered by their transmission beam P2 because the pseudo-omnidirectional channel access procedure fails.

[0107] In some exemplary embodiments, if one or more SSBs are not transmitted or are transmitted partially due to one or more failed channel access procedures, the network device 110 may attempt to transmit one or more SSBs in its next configured time slot (if any) within the period available for SSB transmission. For each wide sensing beam for which a failure of the pseudo-omnidirectional channel access procedure occurs, the network device 110 may execute a further pseudo-omnidirectional channel access procedure using the wide sensing beam. The further pseudo-omnidirectional channel access procedure may be executed before the next time slot configured for the SSB associated with the wide sensing beam during the period available for SSB transmission.

[0108] In the example of FIG. 6, if there are additional time slots for transmitting SSB0 and SSB1 after the time slot for the last SSB (e.g., SSB5), the network device 110 may transmit a further pseudo-omnidirectional channel access procedure (not shown) using the sensing beam 0 of group 0. The directional channel access procedure may be executed before the additional time slots set for transmitting SSB0 and SSB1. Similarly for SSB4 and SSB5, the network device 110 may execute a further pseudo-omnidirectional channel access procedure for transmitting two SSBs. Depending on the result of the further pseudo-omnidirectional channel access procedure, the network device 110 may determine whether and how to transmit the SSB in the same manner as above. Further Example of SSB Transmission Based on Directional Channel Access

[0109] In some exemplary embodiments, the channel access procedure for the SSB may not be executed in parallel before the SSB transmission period. The network device 110 may execute the channel access procedure during the period in response to an SSB transmission switch (e.g., a switch from one SSB to another SSB, or a switch from a subset of SSBs to another subset of SSBs). The network device 110 may execute different SSB transmission methods according to the directional sensing beam, wide sensing beam, and / or omnidirectional sensing beam used. First, with reference to FIGS. 7A-7B, an example of an SSB transmission method based on directional channel access will be introduced.

[0110] In the exemplary SSB transmission method 700 shown in FIG. 7A, the network device 110 executes a plurality of directional channel access procedures using a plurality of directional sensing beam groups (similar to FIG. 4). The difference is that the network device 110 executes the directional channel access procedure using different groups of directional sensing beams before the time slot for transmitting each associated SSB during the SSB transmission period.

[0111] Specifically, the network device 110 may execute a plurality of directional channel access procedures using the directional sensing beam of group 0 associated with the first SSB, i.e., SSB0, before the period available for SSB transmission, for example, at the start of the COT. The network device 110 may further execute a plurality of directional channel access procedures using the directional sensing beam of group 1 associated with SSB1 before the time slot available for transmission of SSB1 during the period. The directional channel access procedures for subsequent SSBs may be executed in the same manner.

[0112] In some exemplary embodiments, the plurality of directional channel access procedures for each group of directional sensing beams may be executed substantially in parallel. In some examples, for the plurality of directional channel access procedures for each group of directional sensing beams, the same channel access parameters such as a backoff counter, a channel access priority class, etc. may be the same or similar. In some exemplary embodiments, the network device 110 may execute a Category 2 (Cat2) channel access procedure that enables a relatively short monitoring / sensing period at the start of the period. The Cat2 channel access procedure is also referred to as a Type 2 channel access procedure and may include, for example, a Type 2A channel access procedure, a Type 2B channel access procedure, etc. According to the Cat2 channel access procedure, after the network device 110 senses that the channel is idle for at least a sensing interval (for example, an interval between 25 us and 16 us), it may transmit a signal immediately. If the Cat2 channel access procedure is successful, the network device 110 may have a transmission period of, for example, 1 ms or less.

[0113] Depending on the results of the directional channel access procedures performed for each group of directional sensing beams, the network device 110 determines whether it can transmit the associated SSB, and may determine the transmission beam of the associated SSB if one or more of the directional channel access procedures for the group are successful. The determination of the transmission beam and the transmission of the SSB may be the same as discussed with reference to FIG. 4.

[0114] As shown in FIG. 7A, depending on the results of the directional channel access procedures, SSB0, SSB3, and SSB4 are fully transmitted, and SSB1, SSB2, and SSB5 are partially transmitted.

[0115] In some exemplary embodiments, the number of directional sensing beams within multiple groups may be the same or different. That is, the granularity of the sensing beams associated with each SSB may be diverse. FIG. 7B shows such an exemplary transmission scheme 710. In this example, there are three directional sensing beams (numbered sensing beam 0, sensing beam 1, and sensing beam 2) in each of groups 0, 4, and 5 associated with SSB0, SSB3, and SSB4, respectively. There are four directional sensing beams (numbered sensing beam 0, sensing beam 1, sensing beam 2, and sensing beam 3) in each of groups 1 and 2 associated with SSB1 and SSB2, respectively.

[0116] The transmission beams of SSB1 and SSB2 may be determined with finer granularity based on the results of the directional channel access procedure performed with the associated sensing beams. For example, after performing the directional channel access procedure with the directional sensing beams of group 1, network device 110 determines that the directional channel access procedures performed with sensing beam 0, sensing beam 1, and sensing beam 2 are successful, and thus may determine one or more transmission beams that overlap with these sensing beams for transmitting SSB1. SSB1 may not be transmitted to a very small part of the coverage area covered by sensing beam 3. For group 2, one or more transmission beams of SSB2 may be determined to overlap with sensing beam 0, sensing beam 1, and sensing beam 3 according to the results of the directional channel access procedure.

[0117] In some exemplary embodiments, for one or more SSBs that are not transmitted or are partially transmitted, network device 110 may also attempt to transmit such SSBs in the next set time slot (if any) within the period available for SSB transmission, for example, by performing further directional channel access procedures. The retransmission attempt of the SSB for the failed directional channel access procedure may be similar to that discussed with reference to FIG. 4. Example of SSB Transmission Based on Quasi-Omnidirectional Channel Access

[0118] In some embodiments, network device 110 may perform an omni-directional-like channel access procedure during the period in response to an SSB transmission switch (e.g., a switch from one subset of SSBs to another subset of SSBs). FIG. 8 shows such an exemplary SSB transmission method 800 based on omni-directional-like channel access according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0119] In the exemplary SSB transmission method 800 shown in FIG. 8, the network device 110 executes a plurality of pseudo-omnidirectional channel access procedures using a plurality of directional sensing beam groups (similar to FIG. 6). The difference is that the network device 110 executes the pseudo-omnidirectional channel access procedures using different groups of wide sensing beams before and during the SSB transmission period.

[0120] Specifically, before the period available for SSB transmission, for example, at the start of the COT, the network device 110 may execute a plurality of pseudo-omnidirectional channel access procedures using the wide sensing beams of group 0 associated with the first SSB subset, i.e., SSB0 and SSB1. The network device 110 may further execute a plurality of pseudo-omnidirectional channel access procedures using the wide sensing beams of group 1 associated with SSB2 and SSB3 before the earlier time slot available for the transmission of SSB2 during the period. The pseudo-omnidirectional channel access procedures for subsequent SSBs may be executed in the same manner.

[0121] In some exemplary embodiments, the plurality of pseudo-omnidirectional channel access procedures for each group of wide sensing beams may be executed substantially in parallel. In some examples, for the plurality of pseudo-omnidirectional channel access procedures for each group of wide sensing beams, the same channel access parameters such as a backoff counter, a channel access priority class, etc. may be the same or similar. In some exemplary embodiments, the network device 110 may execute a Cat2 channel access procedure that allows a relatively short monitoring / sensing period.

[0122] Based on the results of the pseudo-omnidirectional channel access procedure performed for each group of the directional sensing beams, the network device 110 determines whether it can transmit the associated SSB, and may determine the transmission beam of the associated SSB if one or more pseudo-omnidirectional channel access procedures of the group are successful. The determination of the transmission beam and the transmission of the SSB may be the same as discussed with reference to FIG. 6.

[0123] As shown in FIG. 8, according to the results of the pseudo-omnidirectional channel access procedure, SSB2 and SSB3 associated with group 1 are completely transmitted, while SSB and SSB1 associated with group 0, and SSB4 and SSB5 associated with group 2 are partially transmitted.

[0124] In some exemplary embodiments, for some SSBs that are not transmitted or are partially transmitted, the network device 110 may also attempt to transmit such SSBs in the next set time slot (if any) within the period available for SSB transmission, for example, by performing further pseudo-omnidirectional channel access procedures. The retransmission attempt of the SSB for the failed directional channel access procedure may be the same as discussed with reference to FIG. 6. SSB Transmission Based on Omnidirectional / Directional Channel Access

[0125] In some exemplary embodiments, the network device 110 may use various types of sensing beams to perform the channel access procedure.

[0126] FIG. 9 shows an exemplary SSB transmission method 900 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on omnidirectional channel access and directional channel access. In this transmission method 900, the network device 110 performs a channel access procedure using a plurality of omnidirectional sensing beams and a plurality of groups of directional sensing beams.

[0127] Specifically, the network device 110 may execute a plurality of omnidirectional channel access procedures using a plurality of omnidirectional sensing beams before the period available for SSB transmission, for example, at the start of the COT. In some examples, for the plurality of omnidirectional channel access procedures of each omnidirectional sensing beam, the same channel access parameters such as a backoff counter, a channel access priority class, etc. may be the same or similar. In some exemplary embodiments, the network device 110 may execute Category 2 of the channel access procedure that enables a relatively short monitoring / sensing period.

[0128] According to the results of the omnidirectional channel access procedure, the network device 110 may determine whether it can transmit one or more first SSBs, for example, SSB0. The determination of the transmission beam and the transmission of the SSB may be the same as discussed with reference to FIGS. 5A - 5C.

[0129] Also, the network device 110 may execute a plurality of directional channel access procedures using a plurality of directional sensing beam groups before the next period available for SSB transmission. In the example of FIG. 9, since SSB0 can be transmitted based on the results of the omnidirectional channel access procedure, a plurality of groups of directional sensing beams (numbered as Group 1 - Group 5) associated with other SSBs such as SSB1 - SSB5 may be used to execute the directional channel access procedure.

[0130] The network device 110 may further execute a plurality of directional channel access procedures using each group of directional sensing beams before the time slot for transmitting the associated SSB during the SSB transmission period. As shown in FIG. 9, the network device 110 may execute a directional channel access procedure using the directional sensing beam of Group 1 associated with SSB1 before the time slot available for the transmission of SSB1. The directional channel access procedures for subsequent SSBs may be executed in the same manner.

[0131] In some exemplary embodiments, the plurality of directional channel access procedures for each group of directional sensing beams may be executed substantially in parallel. In some examples, for the plurality of directional channel access procedures for each group of directional sensing beams, the same channel access parameters such as a backoff counter, a channel access priority class, etc. may be the same or similar. In some exemplary embodiments, the network device 110 may execute a category 2 (Cat2) of channel access procedures that enable a relatively short monitoring period at the start of a period.

[0132] According to the results of the directional channel access procedures executed for each group of directional sensing beams, the network device 110 may determine whether it can transmit the associated SSB, and if one or more of the directional channel access procedures for the group are successful, may determine the transmission beam of the associated SSB. The determination of the transmission beam and the transmission of the SSB may be similar to those discussed with reference to FIG. 4.

[0133] To perform omnidirectional channel access, since a category of channel access procedures that enable a relatively short monitoring period is used, the network device 110 may not need to perform a long-term monitoring before the SSB transmission period. Also, by performing directional channel access during the period of determining whether subsequent SSBs can be transmitted, the probability of communication collisions and failures can be further reduced.

[0134] In some exemplary embodiments, for some SSBs that are not transmitted or are partially transmitted, the network device 110 may attempt to transmit such SSBs by, for example, performing further directional or omnidirectional channel access procedures in the next set time slot (if any) within the period available for SSB transmission. The retransmission attempt of the SSB due to the failed channel access procedure may be similar to those discussed with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5A - 5C.

[0135] In some exemplary embodiments, the results of the omnidirectional channel access procedure may be used to determine whether two or more first SSBs, e.g., SSB0 and SSB1, can be transmitted. In such cases, the directional channel access procedure for group 0 may not be executed. The use of the omnidirectional channel access procedure may depend on the monitoring time of such channel access procedures. When the monitoring time is relatively long, the results of the omnidirectional channel access procedure may be determined to be valid for determining the transmission beam of SSB1.

[0136] In some exemplary embodiments, instead of using one or more groups of directional sensing beams, one or more groups of wide sensing beams may be used to perform the channel access procedure during the SSB transmission period. For example, in FIG. 9, for SSB4 and SSB5, the network device 110 may perform a pseudo-omnidirectional channel access procedure using a group of wide sensing beams such as group 2 in FIG. 6 or FIG. 8. The transmission of SSB4 and SSB5 may be based on the results of the pseudo-omnidirectional channel access procedure, and their transmission beams may be determined based on the wide sensing beams for which a successful pseudo-omnidirectional channel access procedure has been performed, similar to those discussed in FIGS. 6 and 8. Example of Threshold Determination

[0137] As described above, when performing the channel access procedure, an energy detection threshold may be used to determine whether the shared channel is being used before transmitting on the channel. In some exemplary embodiments, a directional or pseudo-omnidirectional channel access procedure may be performed, and the SSB may be transmitted partially or completely using different transmission beams covering different coverage areas. The network device 110 may use different transmission powers for transmitting the SSB according to the transmission beam determined for this SSB.

[0138] In some exemplary embodiments, the energy detection threshold used in the channel access procedure may be determined based on the transmission power difference between different transmission beams. Specifically, it is assumed that a plurality of channel access procedures are performed using a group of non-omnidirectional sensing beams associated with a target signal (e.g., SSB). Here, the group of non-omnidirectional sensing beams may include a group of directional sensing beams (e.g., FIGS. 4, 7A-7B, 9) or a group of quasi-omnidirectional sensing beams (e.g., FIGS. 6, 8).

[0139] The network device 110 may determine an energy detection threshold for the target non-omnidirectional sensing beam in the group based on power-related parameters. The power-related parameters are determined based on the difference between the first transmission power of the first transmission beam and the second transmission power of the second transmission beam. Here, the first transmission beam has a first coverage area that overlaps with the entire coverage area of the non-omnidirectional sensing beam group, and the second transmission beam has a second coverage area that overlaps with the target non-omnidirectional sensing beam.

[0140] Taking the group of directional sensing beams in FIG. 4 as an example. The network device 110 may determine the difference between the transmission power of the predicted transmission beam of SSB0 (which overlaps with the entire coverage area of sensing beam 0, sensing beam 1, and sensing beam 2 in group 0) and the transmission power of the transmission beam that overlaps with sensing beam 0 in group 0. The network device 110 may determine the energy detection threshold used in the directional channel access procedure performed with sensing beam 0 based on the difference in transmission power.

[0141] In some exemplary embodiments, the network device 110 may adjust the energy detection threshold used in the channel access procedure based on a power-related parameter (which may be a value proportional to the difference in transmission power). In some exemplary embodiments, the network device 110 may use the power-related parameter as an offset for adjusting the set maximum output power used to determine the energy detection threshold according to the communication standard.

[0142] The set maximum output power is P’ TX =P TX + D2 is determined as follows. Here, P TX is the set maximum output power (dBm) of the shared channel, and D2 is an offset (dBm) determined from the power-related parameter. The network device 110 may use the adjusted maximum output power P’ TX to determine the energy detection threshold. For example, the energy detection threshold in a certain standard is determined as follows.

Equation

[0143] It will be understood that the power-related parameter determined as described above may be used in other ways to determine the energy detection threshold used in the channel access procedure.

[0144] The network device 110 may execute a channel access procedure with a target omnidirectional sensing beam based on the determined energy detection threshold using the determined energy detection threshold. In this way, the network device 110 can use a more appropriate energy detection threshold in different directivity or quasi-omnidirectional channel access procedures.

[0145] In some exemplary embodiments, in addition to or as an addition to the difference in transmission power, the energy detection threshold used in the channel access procedure performed using an omnidirectional sensing beam may be based on the beamforming gain from the directivity or quasi-omnidirectional channel access procedure compared to the omnidirectional channel access procedure, the technology used to share the shared channel, and / or other factors. Example of Operation in a Terminal Device

[0146] One or more terminal devices 120 within the cell 102 of the network device 110 may detect the SSB transmitted from the network device 110 on the shared channel. Depending on the relative positioning with respect to the network device 110, the terminal device 120 may receive one of a plurality of SSBs transmitted from the network device 110 using different transmission beams.

[0147] In some exemplary embodiments, as described above, the network device 110 may determine two or more separate transmission beams for the same SSB. In this case, on the side of the terminal device 120, the SSB may be received with two or more transmission beams. Each transmission beam may be considered to carry a replica of the SSB. The terminal device 120 may combine the replicas of the SSB by utilizing the transmit diversity signal of the network device 110. For this reason, the probability of successfully decoding the SSB may increase. Exemplary Apparatus

[0148] FIG. 10 is a schematic block diagram of an apparatus 1000 suitable for implementing an embodiment of the present disclosure. The apparatus 1000 can be considered as another exemplary implementation of the network apparatus 110 or the terminal apparatus 120 shown in FIG. 1. Therefore, the apparatus 1000 can be implemented in the network apparatus 110 or the terminal apparatus 120, or at least as a part thereof.

[0149] As shown in the figure, the apparatus 1000 includes a processor 1010, a memory 1020 coupled to the processor 1010, a suitable transmitter (TX) and receiver (RX) 1040 coupled to the processor 1010, and a communication interface coupled to the TX / RX 1040. The memory 1020 stores at least a part of the program 1030. The TX / RX 1040 is for two-way communication. The TX / RX 1040 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 necessary for communicating with other network elements, for example, an X2 interface for two-way 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 apparatus.

[0150] The program 1030 is considered to include program instructions, and when the program is executed by the associated processor 1010, it enables the apparatus 1000 to operate according to the embodiments of the present disclosure as discussed with reference to FIGS. 2 to 9 herein. The embodiments herein may be implemented by computer software, hardware, or a combination of software and hardware executable by the processor 1010 of the apparatus 1000. The processor 1010 can be configured to implement various embodiments of the present disclosure. Also, the combination of the processor 1010 and the memory 1020 may constitute a processing means 1050 suitable for implementing each embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0151] Memory 1020 may be of any type suitable for a local technology network and may be implemented by any suitable 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 1020 is shown for device 1000, device 1000 may have multiple physically different memory modules installed. Processor 1010 may be of any type suitable for a local technology 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. Device 1000 may have multiple processors, for example, application-specific integrated circuit chips that are temporally dependent on a clock synchronized with a master processor. Examples of Embodiments

[0152] In some embodiments, the network device includes a processor unit and a memory coupled to the processor unit and storing instructions. When executed by the processor unit, the instructions cause the device to perform operations. The operations include executing a plurality of channel access procedures in a shared channel using a plurality of sensing beams, where each of the plurality of sensing beams is associated with at least one of a plurality of signals, the plurality of signals including a plurality of synchronization signal blocks (SSBs), and determining at least one transmission beam for at least one of the plurality of signals based on at least one of the plurality of sensing beams according to a determination that at least one of the plurality of channel access procedures has been successful, and transmitting at least one signal in the shared channel using the at least one transmission beam.

[0153] In some exemplary embodiments, the plurality of sensing beams includes a first plurality of groups of directional sensing beams, each group including at least two directional sensing beams, and each being associated with one of the plurality of signals. In some exemplary embodiments, performing a plurality of channel access procedures includes performing a plurality of directional channel access procedures on a shared channel using each directional sensing beam within the first plurality of groups.

[0154] In some exemplary embodiments, determining at least one transmit beam includes determining at least one target transmit beam for a target signal associated with a predetermined group among the plurality of signals, based on at least one directional sensing beam, according to a determination of at least one successful directional channel access procedure performed using at least one directional sensing beam within the predetermined group of the first plurality of groups.

[0155] In some exemplary embodiments, performing a plurality of directional channel access procedures includes performing a plurality of directional channel access procedures prior to a period available for transmission of the plurality of signals.

[0156] In some exemplary embodiments, performing a plurality of directional channel access procedures includes performing at least two directional channel access procedures prior to a first time slot available for transmission of a first signal among the plurality of signals associated with a second group, using at least two directional sensing beams of a first group of the first plurality of groups, and performing at least two further directional channel access procedures prior to a second time slot available for transmission of a second signal among the plurality of signals associated with the second group, using at least two further directional sensing beams of a second group of the first plurality of groups.

[0157] In some exemplary embodiments, the plurality of sensing beams includes a second plurality of groups of wide sensing beams, each group including at least two wide sensing beams and being associated with at least two of the plurality of signals. In some exemplary embodiments, performing a plurality of channel access procedures includes performing a plurality of pseudo-omnidirectional channel access procedures on a shared channel using each wide sensing beam within the second plurality of groups.

[0158] In some exemplary embodiments, determining at least one transmit beam includes determining, for a predetermined group of the second plurality of groups, based on at least one wide sensing beam, a plurality of transmit beams for at least two target signals of a plurality of signals associated with the predetermined group according to a determination of at least one successful pseudo-omnidirectional channel access procedure performed with at least one wide sensing beam within the predetermined group, for transmission.

[0159] In some exemplary embodiments, performing a plurality of pseudo-omnidirectional channel access procedures includes performing a plurality of pseudo-omnidirectional channel access procedures prior to a period available for transmission of the plurality of signals.

[0160] In some exemplary embodiments, performing a plurality of pseudo-omnidirectional channel access procedures includes performing at least two pseudo-omnidirectional channel access procedures using at least two wide sensing beams of a first group of the second plurality of groups, prior to a third time slot available for transmission of at least two signals of a plurality of signals associated with the first group, and performing at least two further pseudo-omnidirectional channel access procedures using at least two further wide sensing beams of a second group of the second plurality of groups, prior to a fourth time slot available for transmission of at least two further signals of a plurality of signals associated with the second group.

[0161] In some exemplary embodiments, the plurality of sensing beams include a plurality of omnidirectional sensing beams, and each of the plurality of omnidirectional sensing beams is associated with a plurality of signals. In some exemplary embodiments, performing a plurality of channel access procedures includes performing a plurality of omnidirectional channel access procedures in a shared channel using the plurality of omnidirectional sensing beams.

[0162] In some exemplary embodiments, determining at least one transmission beam includes at least determining a target subset of a plurality of signals that can be transmitted during a period after completion of at least one omnidirectional channel access procedure according to a determination that at least one of the plurality of omnidirectional channel access procedures has succeeded, and determining a plurality of transmission beams for at least the target subset of signals based on at least one of the plurality of omnidirectional sensing beams in which at least one omnidirectional channel access procedure has been performed.

[0163] In some exemplary embodiments, performing a plurality of channel access procedures includes respectively performing a first plurality of omnidirectional channel access procedures using the plurality of omnidirectional sensing beams, and respectively performing a second plurality of omnidirectional channel access procedures in a shared channel using the plurality of omnidirectional sensing beams in response to a determination that the first plurality of omnidirectional channel access procedures have failed.

[0164] In some exemplary embodiments, the plurality of sensing beams further includes a third plurality of groups of directional sensing beams, each group of directional sensing beams includes at least two directional sensing beams, and is associated with one of the plurality of signals. In some exemplary embodiments, performing the plurality of channel access procedures includes performing a plurality of omnidirectional channel access procedures before a period available for transmission of the plurality of signals, and during the period, performing a plurality of directional channel access procedures on a shared channel using each directional sensing beam of the third plurality of groups.

[0165] In some exemplary embodiments, determining at least one transmit beam includes determining, according to a determination that at least one of the plurality of directional channel access procedures has succeeded, a further target signal associated with a target group from among the plurality of signals, where the target group includes at least one directional sensing beam for which at least one successful directional channel access procedure has been performed, and determining at least one target transmit beam for a further signal based on the at least one directional sensing beam.

[0166] In some exemplary embodiments, the operation further includes determining at least one further signal among the plurality of signals associated with a first sensing beam on which a first channel access procedure of the plurality of channel access procedures has been performed, according to a determination that the first channel access procedure of the plurality of channel access procedures has failed, and preventing at least one further signal from being transmitted in a coverage area of the first sensing beam on a shared channel.

[0167] In some exemplary embodiments, the operation further includes executing a second channel access procedure using a first sensing beam, determining at least one additional transmission beam for at least one additional signal based on the first sensing beam according to a determination that the second channel access procedure was successful, and transmitting at least one additional signal in a shared channel using the at least one additional transmission beam.

[0168] In some exemplary embodiments, the plurality of sensing beams includes an omnidirectional sensing beam group associated with the target signals of the plurality of signals, and executing the plurality of channel access procedures includes determining an energy detection threshold based on power-related parameters, where the power-related parameters are determined from the difference between the first transmission power of the first transmission beam and the second transmission power of the second transmission beam, the first coverage area of the first transmission beam overlaps with the entire coverage area of the omnidirectional sensing beam group, the second coverage area of the second transmission beam overlaps with the target omnidirectional sensing beam, and executing a channel access procedure using the target omnidirectional sensing beam based on the determined energy detection threshold.

[0169] In some exemplary embodiments, executing the plurality of channel access procedures in a shared channel using the plurality of sensing beams includes executing the plurality of channel access procedures in the shared channel using a plurality of antenna subsets.

[0170] 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, microprocessor, or other computing device. Although various aspects of the embodiments of the present disclosure are illustrated and described as block diagrams, flowcharts, or by some other pictorial representation, 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 a combination thereof, but are not limited thereto.

[0171] The present disclosure further provides at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a computer-readable non-transitory 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 physical processor or virtual processor, and execute the processes or methods described above with reference to any of FIGS. 2 to 9. 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 the program modules may be executed within a local or distributed device. In a distributed device, the program modules may be located on either local or remote storage media.

[0172] 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. 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.

[0173] 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 conjunction 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.

[0174] Note that, although the operations have been described in a particular order, it should not be understood that these operations must be performed in the particular order shown or sequentially, or that all of the operations shown must 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 present 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, the various features described in the context of one embodiment may be implemented separately in multiple embodiments or in any suitable sub-combination.

[0175] 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 present 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. Means for individually performing sensing in a shared spectrum for a plurality of sensing beams corresponding to a plurality of transmission beams; Means for determining a single transmission beam that covers an integrated coverage area where adjacent coverage areas are integrated, the single transmission beam corresponding to two or more of the plurality of sensing beams for which the channel access procedure has been successful among the plurality of sensing beams and covering the adjacent coverage areas; Means for transmitting a downlink transmission using the single transmission beam, comprising A base station.

2. The channel access procedure is based on sensing considering whether a channel in the shared spectrum is idle. The base station according to claim 1.

3. During the sensing period, the spatial resources for the plurality of sensing beams cover the single transmission beam. The base station according to claim 1.

4. One of the plurality of sensing beams covers the plurality of transmission beams. The base station according to claim 1.

5. One of the plurality of sensing beams covers the single transmission beam. The base station according to claim 1.

6. The channel access procedure is executed before the period available for transmission. The base station according to claim 1.

7. The downlink transmission is transmitted when the channel has been accessed. The base station according to claim 2.

8. The channel access procedure is applied simultaneously to each sensing beam. The base station according to claim 1.

9. A communication method executed by a base station, comprising Individually performing sensing in a shared spectrum for a plurality of sensing beams corresponding to a plurality of transmission beams; Determining a single transmission beam that covers an integrated coverage area where adjacent coverage areas are integrated, the single transmission beam corresponding to two or more of the plurality of sensing beams for which the channel access procedure has been successful among the plurality of sensing beams and covering the adjacent coverage areas; Transmitting a downlink transmission using the single transmission beam, comprising A communication method.

10. The channel access procedure is based on sensing whether the channel in the shared spectrum is idle or not. The method according to claim 9. **Claim 11** During the sensing period, the spatial resources for the plurality of sensing beams cover the single transmission beam. The method according to claim 9. **Claim 12** One of the plurality of sensing beams covers the plurality of transmission beams. The method according to claim 9. **Claim 13** One of the plurality of sensing beams covers the single transmission beam. The method according to claim 9. **Claim 14** The channel access procedure is executed before the period available for transmission. The method according to claim 9.

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