METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DETERMINING SIDELINK RESOURCES - Patent application

Abstract

Provided are a method and apparatus for determining sidelink resources. The present disclosure relates to a communication method and system for converging a fifth generation (5G) communication system, which supports a higher data transmission rate than a fourth generation (4G) system, with Internet of Things (IOT) technology. The present disclosure may be applied to intelligent services based on IoT-related technologies and 5G communication technologies, such as smart homes, smart buildings, smart cities, smart or connected cars, healthcare, digital education, smart retail, security and safety-related services. The present disclosure provides a communication method for a first user equipment (UE), the method including: determining a candidate sidelink resource set by the first UE when a preset determination condition is met; and transmitting the determined candidate sidelink resource set by the first UE when a preset transmission condition is met, wherein the candidate sidelink resource set is used to determine resources for sidelink transmission.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present application relates to the field of wireless communication technology, and more particularly to a method and apparatus for determining sidelink resources for transmitting sidelink signaling in sidelink (SL) communication in a 5G New Radio (NR) access technology system. [Background technology]

[0002] To meet the increasing demand for wireless data traffic after the construction of the 4G communication system, efforts are underway to develop improved 5G or pre-5G communication systems. For this reason, 5G or pre-5G communication systems are called 'Beyond 4G Network' or 'Post LTE' systems.

[0003] 5G communication systems are expected to be implemented in higher frequency (mmWave) bands such as the 60 GHz band to achieve higher data transmission rates. To mitigate path loss and increase transmission distances in radio wave propagation, technologies such as beamforming, massive MIMO (Multiple-Input Multiple-Output), FD-MIMO (Full Dimensional MIMO), array antennas, analog beamforming, and large-scale antennas are being discussed for 5G communication systems.

[0004] Furthermore, to improve the system network, technologies such as advanced small cells, cloud radio access networks (cloud RAN), ultra-dense networks, device-to-device communication, wireless backhaul, moving networks, cooperative communication, CoMP (Coordinated Multi-Points), and receiver-end interference cancellation are being developed for the 5G communication system.

[0005] For 5G systems, advanced coding modulation (ACM) methods such as FQAM (Hybrid FSK and QAM Modulation) and SWSC (Sliding Window Superposition Coding) and advanced access technologies such as FBMC (Filter Bank Multi Carrier), NOMA (non-orthogonal multiple access), and SCMA (sparse code multiple access) are being developed.

[0006] The Internet, a human-centered network where humans generate and consume information, is evolving into the Internet of Things (IOT), where distributed components such as objects exchange and process information without human intervention. The Internet of Everything (IoE) has emerged, combining IoT technology and big data processing technology through connections to cloud servers. Realizing the IoT requires technological elements such as sensing technology, wired / wireless communication and network infrastructure, service interface technology, and security technology. Recently, research has focused on sensor networks, M2M (machine-to-machine) communication, and MTC (machine-type communication). The IoT environment collects and analyzes data generated by connected objects, providing intelligent IT (Internet Technology) services that create new value in people's lives. Through the convergence and integration of existing IT (information technology) technologies and various industries, the IoT can be applied to a variety of fields, including smart homes, smart buildings, smart cities, smart or connected cars, smart grids, healthcare, smart home appliances, and high-end medical services.

[0007] As a result, various attempts are being made to apply 5G communication systems to IoT networks. For example, this can be realized using techniques such as beamforming, MIMO, and array antennas, as in sensor networks, MTC (Machine Type Communication), and M2M (Machine to Machine) communications. In addition, the application of cloud radio access networks (cloud RAN) as the aforementioned big data processing technology can also be seen as an example of the convergence of 5G and IoT technologies. Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0008] In the prior art, a TX UE using Mode 2 determines resources reserved by other sidelink UEs based solely on the channel sensing result, and then randomly selects a sidelink resource from the remaining resources to transmit a sidelink transmission to a RX UE.

[0009] The main drawback of this method is that the TX UE can select resources based only on the channel conditions it detects. However, because the TX UE and the RX UE are located in different geographical locations, the interference they experience is also different. The TX UE also assumes that available resources cannot be applied to the RX UE based on the channel detection results. A typical example is the hidden node problem in a sidelink network. Both UE1 and UE3 are within the communication range of UE2, but UE1 and UE3 are outside the communication range of each other. Therefore, when UE1 acts as the TX UE, it cannot detect the interference from UE3, but the interference from UE3 will actually damage UE2's transmission and reception of UE1.

[0010] In the prior art, a TX UE using Mode 1 requests sidelink resources from the base station via a Status Report (SR) and / or a Buffer Status Report (BSR) and a sidelink HARQ-ACK report. After obtaining the sidelink resources scheduled by the base station, the TX UE uses the sidelink resources to transmit sidelink transmissions to the RX UE.

[0011] The main drawback of this method is that the base station can schedule only sidelink UEs using Mode 1 in a cell and can minimize mutual interference between sidelink UEs, but cannot control UEs in neighboring cells and sidelink UEs using Mode 2 in the cell. Therefore, if the resource pool used by sidelink UEs using Mode 1 overlaps with the resource pool for UEs in neighboring cells and the resource pool for sidelink UEs using Mode 2 in the cell, resources scheduled by the base station for sidelink using Mode 1 may be interfered with by some of these UEs.

[0012] In the prior art, the main drawback of using Mode 2 is that there is no difference in resource selection between multicast and unicast communication for TX UEs.

[0013] In the prior art, the main drawback of using Mode 1 is that it is difficult for the base station to detect the channel condition of the sidelink UE. [Means for solving the problem]

[0014] An embodiment of the present specification provides a communication method for a first user equipment (UE), the method including: determining, by the first UE, a candidate sidelink resource set if a predetermined determination condition is satisfied; and transmitting, by the first UE, the determined candidate sidelink resource set if a predetermined transmission condition is satisfied, wherein the candidate sidelink resource set is used to determine resources for sidelink transmission. The communication method for an electronic device also includes receiving the candidate sidelink resource set and determining resources for sidelink transmission based on the candidate sidelink resource set or a channel detection result.

[0015] Accordingly, embodiments herein provide a first user equipment (UE), the first UE including: a transceiver; and a controller, the controller configured to determine a candidate sidelink resource set if a predetermined determination condition is met; and to transmit, via the transceiver, the determined candidate sidelink resource set if a predetermined transmission condition is met, wherein the candidate sidelink resource set is used to determine resources for sidelink transmission.

[0016] The electronic device also includes a transceiver and a controller, the controller configured to receive candidate sidelink resource sets and to determine resources for sidelink transmission according to the candidate sidelink resource sets or channel sensing results. [Effects of the Invention]

[0017] The method of the first embodiment prevents the above problem by using the sidelink resources preferred by the RX UE as a criterion when the TX UE selects sidelink resources. Also, if the RX UE provides a preferred resource set, the TX UE can perform channel detection based on this resource set instead of all potential transmission resources. This method reduces the scale of channel detection, thereby reducing the complexity and power consumption of the TX UE.

[0018] In the method of the second embodiment, when the base station schedules sidelink resources for the TX UE, it takes the sidelink resources prioritized by the TX UE as a criterion to prevent potential interference.

[0019] In the third embodiment, a specific UE is regarded as a group manager UE M, and UE M assists group member UE m in resource selection as an additional optimization based on the prior art. The method of the third embodiment achieves the effect of the group manager UE M allocating sidelink resources to group members by providing information to assist resource selection, and by performing a scheduling role similar to that of a base station, the potential risk of collision between group member UE M can be reduced.

[0020] In the third embodiment, the group manager UE M can to some extent infer the channel conditions of the group member UE M through channel detection, and the benefit is particularly significant when the distance between the group manager UE M and different group member UE M is short. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0021] The above and other objects, features, and advantages of the present disclosure will become more apparent by describing the embodiments of the present disclosure in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The accompanying drawings are used to provide additional understanding of the embodiments of the present disclosure, constitute a part of the specification, and are used to explain the present invention together with the embodiments of the present disclosure, but do not constitute limitations on the present invention. In the accompanying drawings, the same reference numerals generally indicate the same parts or steps.

[0022] [Figure 1] 1 is a diagram showing a schematic diagram of a wireless network; [Figure 2a] 1 is a diagram illustrating a schematic diagram of wireless transmission and reception paths in a wireless network. [Figure 2b] 1 is a diagram illustrating a schematic diagram of wireless transmission and reception paths in a wireless network. [Figure 3a] 1 is a diagram showing a schematic diagram of a user equipment (UE). [Figure 3b] 1 is a diagram showing a schematic diagram of a base station (gNB). [Figure 4]1 is a diagram showing a flowchart of a method for determining sidelink resources. [Figure 5] 5 is a diagram illustrating the relationship between the communication ranges of multiple user terminals in a typical scenario of the method shown in FIG. 4. [Figure 6] 10 is a flowchart of another method for determining sidelink resources. [Figure 7] 10 is a flowchart of another method for determining sidelink resources. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0023] In LTE (Long Term Evolution) technology, sidelink communication mainly includes two types of mechanisms, including D2D (Device to Device) communication and V2X (Vehicle to Vehicle / Infrastructure / Pedestrian / Network) communication. V2X communication is designed based on D2D technology and is superior to D2D in data transmission rate, latency, reliability, and link capacity, making it the most representative sidelink communication technology in LTE technology. Currently, in 5G systems, sidelink communication mainly includes V2X communication.

[0024] Several sidelink physical channels are defined in the NR V2X system, including the Physical Sidelink Control Channel (PSCCH), the Physical Sidelink Shared Channel (PSSCH), and the Physical Sidelink Feedback Channel (PSFCH). The PSSCH is used to transmit data, the PSCCH is used to transmit information such as sidelink control information (SCI), the time-frequency domain resource location of the associated PSSCH, the modulation and coding scheme, and the identifier (ID) of the receiver for the associated PSSCH indicated in the SCI, and the PSFCH is used to transmit HARQ-ACK information corresponding to the data.

[0025] The current NR V2X system defines a slot in a 5G system as the smallest unit for resource allocation in the time domain and a subchannel as the smallest unit for resource allocation in the frequency domain, where a subchannel is composed of several resource blocks (RBs) in the frequency domain and can include resources corresponding to at least one of a PSCCH, a PSSCH, and a PSFCH.

[0026] In terms of resource allocation, the 5G sidelink communication system includes two types of modes: one is a resource allocation mode based on base station scheduling; the other is a resource allocation mode independently selected by the user equipment (UE). In the 5G V2X system, the resource allocation mode based on base station scheduling is called Mode 1; the resource allocation mode independently selected by the UE is called Mode 2.

[0027] In Mode 1, the resource allocation mode based on the base station's scheduling means that the base station transmits a sidelink grant to a UE (hereinafter referred to as a "sidelink UE") for sidelink transmission, and the sidelink grant indicates a number of sidelink resources for the sidelink UE and / or periodic sidelink resources for the sidelink UE. The sidelink grant includes dynamic grants and configured grants, where dynamic grants are indicated by downlink control information (DCI); configured grants further include type 1 configured grants indicated by radio resource control (RRC) signaling and type 2 configured grants indicated by RRC signaling and activated / deactivated by the DCI.

[0028] In Mode 2, the autonomous resource selection method of a sidelink UE means that the UE determines a specific time window before sidelink transmission according to the expected time range for transmitting sidelink transmission, and after performing channel sensing within the specific time window, the UE randomly selects sidelink resources that are not excluded based on the channel sensing result, excluding sidelink resources reserved by other sidelink UEs.

[0029] The present disclosure provides a method and apparatus for determining sidelink resources.

[0030] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a communication method for a first user equipment (UE), the method comprising: determining, by the first UE, a candidate sidelink resource set if a predetermined determination condition is met; and transmitting, by the first UE, the determined candidate sidelink resource set if a predetermined transmission condition is met, wherein the candidate sidelink resource set is used to determine resources for sidelink transmission.

[0031] Furthermore, according to the method of the present disclosure, the step of determining, by the first UE, the candidate sidelink resource sets further comprises determining the candidate sidelink resource sets based on a received request instructing the first UE to assist another UE or a base station supporting sidelink transmission in determining the sidelink resources.

[0032] Furthermore, according to the method of the present disclosure, the predetermined decision condition includes at least one of a configuration attribute condition; a link state condition; a time parameter condition; or a request being received, the request instructing the first UE to assist another UE or a base station supporting sidelink transmission in determining sidelink resources.

[0033] Furthermore, according to the method of the present disclosure, the conditions of the configuration attribute include at least one of: the first UE is configured to assist another UE or base station supporting sidelink transmission in determining sidelink resources; the first UE is configured to periodically determine a set of candidate sidelink resources; the second UE is a specific sidelink UE; a priority corresponding to data of the first UE or the second UE belongs to a specific range; or a cast type corresponding to data of the first UE or the second UE is a specific type, and the second UE is a UE assisted by the first UE in determining sidelink resources and / or a UE that performs sidelink communication with the first UE.

[0034] Furthermore, according to the method of the present disclosure, the link state conditions include at least one of: the number of times the first UE fails to successfully receive a sidelink transmission from the second UE exceeds a threshold; the number of times the second UE fails to successfully receive a sidelink transmission from the first UE exceeds a threshold; the link quality between the first UE and the second UE is lower than a threshold; the geographical distance between the first UE and the second UE exceeds a threshold; the degree of resource pool congestion exceeds a threshold; or resources for sidelink transmission indicated by the second UE overlap with resources for sidelink transmission indicated by another UE that supports sidelink transmission, and the second UE is a UE assisted by the first UE to determine sidelink resources and / or a UE that performs sidelink communication with the first UE.

[0035] Furthermore, according to a method of an aspect of the present disclosure, the link quality between the first UE and the second UE being lower than a threshold is determined by at least one of: the reference signal receiving power (RSRP) or reference signal receiving quality (RSRQ) of the second UE measured by the first UE being below a threshold; the RSRP or RSRQ of the first UE fed back by the second UE being below a threshold; a channel state information (CSI)-related parameter of the UE measured by the first UE being below a threshold; or a CSI-related parameter of the first UE fed back by the second UE to the first UE being below a threshold.

[0036] Furthermore, according to the method of the present disclosure, the condition of the time parameter includes at least one of: there is a sidelink transmission within a specific time range transmitted by the first UE to the second UE; there is a sidelink transmission within a specific time range transmitted by the second UE to the first UE; or the first UE is configured to periodically determine the candidate sidelink resource set, and the second UE is a UE assisted by the first UE to determine sidelink resources and / or is a UE that is in sidelink communication with the first UE.

[0037] Furthermore, according to the method of the present disclosure, the predetermined transmission condition includes at least one of the following predetermined determination conditions: there is a sidelink transmission transmitted by the first UE to the second UE; there is an uplink transmission scheduled by the base station for the first UE; the first UE is configured to periodically transmit the determined candidate sidelink resource set to at least one of the second UE, the base station, and the group manager UE; the number of times the first UE has received a sidelink transmission from the second UE reaches a threshold; or a specific duration has elapsed since the first UE received a sidelink transmission from the second UE, wherein the second UE is a UE assisted by the first UE to determine sidelink resources and / or a UE that performs sidelink communication with the first UE.

[0038] Furthermore, according to the method of the present disclosure, the step of determining the candidate sidelink resource sets includes at least one of the following steps: determining initial candidate sidelink resource sets; excluding sidelink resources from the initial candidate sidelink resource set depending on a channel sensing result of the first UE or candidate resource sets received from other UEs supporting sidelink transmissions; excluding sidelink resources from the initial candidate sidelink resource set depending on an expected time range for the first UE to transmit other sidelink data or uplink data or an expected time range for the first UE to receive downlink data; or determining, in the candidate sidelink resource set, sidelink resources not excluded from the initial candidate sidelink resource set or a subset of sidelink resources not excluded from the initial candidate sidelink resource set.

[0039] Also, according to the method of the present disclosure, the step of removing sidelink resources from the initial candidate sidelink resource set according to candidate resource sets received from other UEs supporting sidelink transmission comprises removing from the initial candidate sidelink resource set resources that are not in the candidate resource sets received from other UEs supporting sidelink transmission.

[0040] Furthermore, according to the method of the present disclosure, the step of excluding sidelink resources from the initial candidate sidelink resource set according to an expected time range during which the first UE transmits other sidelink data and / or uplink data and / or an expected time range during which the first UE receives downlink data comprises excluding resources in the initial candidate sidelink resource set that overlap or partially overlap with the time range.

[0041] Furthermore, according to the method of the present disclosure, the step of transmitting the determined candidate sidelink resource sets comprises at least one of the steps of: indicating the candidate sidelink resource sets determined by radio resource control (RRC) signaling; indicating the candidate sidelink resource sets determined by medium access control (MAC) signaling; or indicating the candidate sidelink resource sets determined by physical layer signaling.

[0042] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a communication method for an electronic device, the method comprising: receiving candidate sidelink resource sets; and determining resources for sidelink transmission according to the candidate sidelink resource sets and / or channel sensing results.

[0043] According to another aspect of the method of the present disclosure, determining resources for sidelink transmission further comprises at least one of: excluding sidelink resources from the candidate sidelink resource set according to the channel detection result; excluding sidelink resources from the candidate sidelink resource set that overlap or partially overlap with a time range expected for transmitting other sidelink data and / or uplink data by the electronic device and / or a time range expected for receiving downlink data by the electronic device; or determining resources for sidelink transmission from the sidelink resources that are not excluded from the candidate sidelink resource set.

[0044] According to a method of another aspect of the present disclosure, resources for sidelink transmission are determined if at least one of the following conditions is met: the number of sidelink resources in the candidate sidelink resource set exceeds a threshold; or the number of sidelink resources not removed from the candidate sidelink resource set exceeds a threshold.

[0045] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a communication method for an electronic device, the method including transmitting a request when a predetermined request condition is satisfied, the request instructing other UEs supporting sidelink transmissions to assist the electronic device in determining sidelink resources.

[0046] According to another aspect of the method of the present disclosure, the pre-defined request conditions include at least one of: a configuration attribute condition; a link state condition; a time parameter condition; the electronic device being configured to be able to request other UEs supporting sidelink transmissions to assist the electronic device in determining sidelink resources; the electronic device being configured to periodically transmit requests; or the PRR (Packet Receiver Ratio) and PIR (Packet Inter-Reception) of the electronic device being less than a threshold.

[0047] According to another aspect of the method of the present disclosure, the conditions of the configuration attribute include at least one of: the third UE is configured to assist the electronic device in determining sidelink resources; the electronic device is a specific sidelink UE; a priority corresponding to data of the electronic device or the third UE belongs to a specific range; or a cast type corresponding to data of the electronic device or the third UE is a specific type, wherein the third UE is a UE requested to assist the electronic device in determining sidelink resources.

[0048] According to another aspect of the method of the present disclosure, the link status condition may be: the number of times the third UE fails to successfully receive a sidelink transmission from the electronic device exceeds a threshold, or the number of times the third UE fails to successfully receive a sidelink transmission from a fourth UE exceeds a threshold; the number of times the electronic device fails to successfully receive a sidelink transmission from the third UE exceeds a threshold, or the number of times the fourth UE fails to successfully receive a sidelink transmission from the third UE exceeds a threshold; the link quality between the third UE and the electronic device is lower than a threshold, or the link quality between the third UE and the fourth UE is lower than a threshold; the geographical distance between the third UE and the fourth UE exceeds a threshold; the congestion level of a resource pool exceeds a threshold; or resources for sidelink transmission indicated by the electronic device overlap with resources for sidelink transmission indicated by another UE supporting sidelink transmission, where the third UE is a UE requested to assist the electronic device in determining sidelink resources, and the fourth UE is a UE that receives a sidelink transmission transmitted by the third UE or transmits a sidelink transmission to the third UE.

[0049] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, the link quality between the third UE and the electronic device being lower than a threshold or the link quality between the third UE and the fourth UE being lower than a threshold is determined by at least one of: a reference signal received power (RSRP) or a reference signal received quality (RSRQ) of the electronic device or the fourth UE measured by the third UE being lower than a threshold; a RSRP or RSRQ of the electronic device being fed back to the third UE by the electronic device or the fourth UE being lower than a threshold; a channel state information (CSI)-related parameter of the electronic device or the fourth UE measured by the third UE being lower than a threshold; or a CSI-related parameter of the electronic device being fed back to the third UE by the electronic device or the fourth UE being lower than a threshold.

[0050] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, the condition of the time parameter includes at least one of: the third UE transmitting sidelink transmissions to the electronic device from within a specific time range; or the third UE being configured to periodically determine candidate sidelink resource sets, the third UE being a UE requested to assist the electronic device in determining sidelink resources.

[0051] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a first user equipment (UE) for performing the aforementioned method.

[0052] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided an electronic device for performing the aforementioned method.

[0053] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided an electronic device for performing the aforementioned method.

[0054] It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide further explanation of the technology as claimed.

[0055] 1 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary wireless network according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the wireless network illustrated in FIG. 1 is for illustrative purposes only. Other embodiments of the wireless network 100 may be used without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0056] The wireless network includes a gNB (gNodeB, 101), a gNB 102, and a gNB 103. The gNB 101 communicates with the gNBs 102 and 103. The gNB 101 further communicates with at least one Internet Protocol (IP) network 130, such as the Internet, a proprietary IP network, or another data network.

[0057] Depending on the network type, other well-known terms such as "base station" or "access point" may be used in place of "gNodeB" or "gNB." For convenience, the terms "gNodeB" and "gNB" are used in this patent specification to refer to network infrastructure components that provide wireless access to remote terminals. Also, depending on the network type, well-known terms such as "mobile station," "subscriber station," "remote terminal," "wireless terminal," or "user equipment" may be used in place of "user terminal" or "UE." For convenience, the terms "user terminal" and "UE" are used in this patent specification to refer to a remote wireless terminal that wirelessly accesses a gNB, whether the UE is a mobile device (e.g., a mobile phone or smartphone) or a commonly considered fixed device (e.g., a desktop computer or vending machine).

[0058] gNB 102 provides wireless broadband access to network 130 for a first plurality of UEs within gNB 102's coverage area 120. The first plurality of UEs includes UE 111, which may be located at a small business (SB); UE 112, which may be located at an enterprise (E); UE 113, which may be located at a WiFi hotspot (HS); UE 114, which may be located at a first residence (R); UE 115, which may be located at a second residence (R); and UE 116, which may be a mobile device (M) such as a cell phone, wireless laptop, wireless PDA, etc. gNB 103 provides wireless broadband access to network 130 for a second plurality of UEs within gNB 103's coverage area 125. The second plurality of UEs includes UE 115 and UE 116. In some embodiments, one or more of the gNBs 101-103 may communicate with each other and with the UEs 111-116 using 5G, LTE (long-term evolution), LTE-A, WiMAX, or other advanced wireless communication technologies.

[0059] The dotted lines indicate the approximate extents of coverage areas 120 and 125, which are shown as roughly circular for purposes of illustration and explanation only. For example, coverage areas associated with gNBs, such as coverage areas 120 and 125, may have other shapes, including irregular shapes, depending on the configuration of the gNBs and variations in the radio environment related to natural and man-made obstructions.

[0060] As described in more detail below, one or more of gNB101, gNB102, and gNB103 may include a 2D antenna array as described in embodiments of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, one or more of gNB101, gNB102, and gNB103 may support codebook design and construction for systems with 2D antenna arrays.

[0061] While Figure 1 illustrates an example wireless network, various modifications can be made to Figure 1. For example, a wireless network can include any number of gNBs and any number of UEs in any suitable arrangement. Furthermore, gNB 101 can directly communicate with any number of UEs and provide the UEs with wireless broadband access to network 130. Similarly, each gNB 102-103 can directly communicate with network 130 and provide the UEs with direct wireless broadband access to network 130. Additionally, gNBs (101, 102, and / or 103) can provide access to other or additional external networks, such as an external telephone network or other type of data network.

[0062] 2a and 2b are diagrams illustrating example radio transmit and receive paths according to the present disclosure. In the following description, transmit path 200 may be described as being implemented in a gNB (e.g., gNB 102), while receive path 250 may be described as being implemented in a UE (e.g., UE 116). However, it will be understood that receive path 250 may be implemented in a gNB and transmit path 200 may be implemented in a UE. In some embodiments, receive path 250 is configured to support architecture and codebook design for a system with a 2D antenna array as described in embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0063] The transmit path 200 includes a channel coding and modulation block 205, a serial-to-parallel (S-to-P) block 210, a size N inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) block 215, a parallel-to-serial (P-to-S) block 220, a cyclic prefix addition block 225, and an up-converter (UC) 230. The receive path 250 includes a down-converter (DC) 255, a cyclic prefix removal block 260, a serial-to-parallel (S-to-P) block 265, a size N inverse fast Fourier transform (FFT) block 270, a parallel-to-serial (P-to-S) block 275, and a channel decoding and demodulation block 280.

[0064] In the transmit path 200, a channel coding and modulation block 205 receives a set of information bits and applies coding (e.g., low-density parity check (LDPC) coding) and modulates the input bits (e.g., quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) or quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM)) to generate a series of frequency-domain modulation symbols. A serial-to-parallel block 210 converts (e.g., de-multiplexes) the serial modulated symbols with parallel data to generate N parallel symbol streams, where N is the IFFT / FFT size used by the gNB 102 and the UE 116. A size N IFFT block 215 performs an IFFT operation on the N parallel symbol streams to generate a time-domain output signal. The parallel-to-serial block 220 converts (e.g., multiplexes) the parallel time-domain output symbols from the size N IFFT block 215 to generate a serial time-domain signal. The add cyclic prefix block 225 inserts a cyclic prefix into the time-domain signal. The upconverter 230 modulates (e.g., upconverts) the output of the add cyclic prefix block 225 to an RF frequency for transmission over a wireless channel. This signal can be further baseband filtered before converting to an RF frequency.

[0065] The RF signal transmitted from the gNB 102 reaches the UE 116 after passing through a wireless channel, where the UE 116 performs a reverse operation of the operation performed by the gNB 102. The downconverter 255 downconverts the received signal to a baseband frequency, and the cyclic prefix removal block 260 removes the cyclic prefix to generate a serial time-domain baseband signal. The serial-to-parallel block 265 converts the time-domain baseband signal into a parallel time-domain signal. The size N FFT block 270 performs an FFT algorithm to generate N parallel frequency-domain signals. The parallel-to-serial block 275 converts the parallel frequency-domain signals into a series of modulated data symbols. The channel decoding and demodulation block 280 demodulates and decodes the modulated symbols to recover the original input data stream.

[0066] Each of the gNBs 101-103 may implement a transmit path similar to that for transmitting to the UEs 111-116 on the downlink, and may implement a receive path 250 similar to that for receiving from the UEs 111-116 on the uplink. Similarly, each of the UEs 111-116 may implement a transmit path 200 for transmitting to the gNBs 101-103 on the uplink, and may implement a receive path 250 for receiving from the gNBs 101-103 on the downlink.

[0067] 2a and 2b may be implemented using only hardware or a combination of hardware and software / firmware. As a specific example, at least some of the components of FIG. 2a and 2b may be implemented using software, while other components may be implemented using configurable hardware or a mixture of software and configurable hardware. For example, FFT block 270 and IFFT block 215 may be implemented as configurable software algorithms, where the value of size N may be modified depending on the implementation.

[0068] Also, while described using FFT and IFFT, this is for illustrative purposes only and should not be construed to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Other types of transforms, such as Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) and Inverse Discrete Fourier Transform (IDFT) functions, may be used. For DFT and IDFT functions, the value of the N variable may be any integer (e.g., 1, 2, 3, 4, etc.), while for FFT and IFFT functions, the value of the N variable is any integer that is a power of 2 (i.e., 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, etc.).

[0069] While Figures 2a and 2b illustrate example wireless transmission and reception paths, various modifications to Figures 2a and 2b may be made. For example, various components of Figures 2a and 2b may be combined, further subdivided, or omitted, and additional components may be added according to specific needs. Figures 2a and 2b are intended to illustrate examples of types of transmission and reception paths that may be used in a wireless network. Other suitable architectures may be used to support wireless communication in a wireless network.

[0070] 3a is a diagram illustrating an example UE 116 according to the present disclosure. The embodiment of the UE 116 illustrated in FIG. 3a is for illustrative purposes only, and the UEs 111-115 of FIG. 1 may have the same or similar configuration. However, UEs come in a wide variety of configurations, and FIG. 3a does not limit the scope of the present disclosure to any particular implementation of a UE.

[0071] The UE 116 includes an antenna 305, a radio frequency (RF) transceiver 310, transmit (TX) processing circuitry 315, a microphone 320, and receive (RX) processing circuitry 325. The UE 116 also includes a speaker 330, a processor / controller 340, an input / output (I / O) interface 345, an input device 350, a display 355, and memory 360. The memory 360 includes an OS program 361 and one or more applications 362.

[0072] The RF transceiver 310 receives from the antenna 305 an inbound RF signal transmitted by a gNB in ​​the wireless network 100. The RF transceiver 310 downconverts the inbound RF signal to generate an intermediate frequency (IF) or baseband signal. The IF or baseband signal is transmitted to the RX processing circuitry 325, which generates a processed baseband signal by filtering, decoding, and / or digitizing the baseband or IF signal. The RX processing circuitry 325 transmits the processed baseband signal to a speaker 330 (such as voice data) or a processor / controller 340 for further processing (such as web browsing data).

[0073] TX processing circuitry 315 receives analog or digital voice data from microphone 320 or other outgoing baseband data (such as web data, email, or interactive video game data) from processor / controller 340. TX processing circuitry 315 encodes, multiplexes, and / or digitizes the outgoing baseband data to generate a processed baseband or IF signal. RF transceiver 310 receives the outgoing processed baseband or IF signal from TX processing circuitry 315 and upconverts the baseband or IF signal to an RF signal that is transmitted via antenna 305.

[0074] Processor / controller 340 may include one or more processors or other processing devices and may execute a basic operating system program 361 stored in memory 360 to control the overall operation of UE 116. For example, processor / controller 340 may control the reception of forward channel signals and the transmission of reverse channel signals by RF transceiver 310, RX processing circuitry 325, and TX processing circuitry 315 according to well-known principles. In some embodiments, processor / controller 340 includes at least one microprocessor or microcontroller.

[0075] The processor / controller 340 may also execute other processes and programs resident in the memory 360, such as operations for reporting and channel quality measurement for systems with 2D antenna arrays, as described in embodiments of the present disclosure. The processor / controller 340 may move data in and out of the memory 360 as required by executing processes. In some embodiments, the processor / controller 340 may be configured to execute applications 362 based on the OS 361 or in response to signals received from the gNB or an operator. The processor / controller 340 may also be coupled to an I / O interface 345, which provides the UE 116 with the ability to connect to other devices, such as laptop computers and handheld computers. The I / O interface 345 is a communication path between such peripheral devices and the processor / controller 340.

[0076] Processor / controller 340 is further coupled to input device 350 and display 355. An operator of UE 116 can use input device 350 to input data into UE 116. Display 355 can be a liquid crystal display or other display capable of rendering text and / or at least limited graphics, such as from a website. Memory 360 is coupled to processor / controller 340. A portion of memory 360 can include random access memory (RAM), and another portion of memory 360 can include flash memory or other read-only memory (ROM).

[0077] While Figure 3a illustrates an example of a UE 116, various modifications to Figure 3a may be made. For example, various components of Figure 3a may be combined, further subdivided, or omitted, and additional components may be added according to specific needs. As a specific example, the processor / controller 340 may be divided into multiple processors, such as one or more central processing units (CPUs) and one or more graphics processing units (GPUs). Also, although Figure 3a illustrates a UE 116 configured as a mobile phone or smartphone, the UE may be configured to operate as other types of mobile or stationary devices.

[0078] FIG. 3b is a diagram illustrating an example gNB 102 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of gNB 102 illustrated in FIG. 3b is for illustrative purposes only, and other gNBs in FIG. 1 may have the same or similar configuration. However, gNBs have a wide variety of configurations, and FIG. 3b does not limit the scope of the present disclosure to any particular implementation of a gNB. gNB 101 and gNB 103 may include the same or similar structure as gNB 102.

[0079] 3b, the gNB 102 includes multiple antennas 370a-370n, multiple RF transceivers 372a-372n, transmit (TX) processing circuitry 374, and receive (RX) processing circuitry 376. In particular embodiments, one or more of the multiple antennas 370a-370n include a 2D antenna array. The gNB 102 further includes a controller / processor 378, a memory 380, and a backhaul or network interface 382.

[0080] RF transceivers 372a-372n receive inbound RF signals, such as signals transmitted by UEs or other gNBs, from antennas 370a-370n. RF transceivers 372a-372n downconvert the inbound RF signals to generate IF or baseband signals. The IF or baseband signals are transmitted to RX processing circuitry 376, which generates processed baseband signals by filtering, decoding, and / or digitizing the baseband or IF signals. RX processing circuitry 376 transmits the processed baseband signals to controller / processor 378 for further processing.

[0081] TX processing circuitry 374 receives analog or digital data (such as voice data, web data, email, or interactive video game data) from controller / processor 378. TX processing circuitry 374 encodes, multiplexes, and / or digitizes the outbound baseband data to generate processed baseband or IF signals. RF transceivers 372a-372n receive the outbound processed baseband or IF signals from TX processing circuitry 374 and upconvert the baseband or IF signals to RF signals that are transmitted via antennas 370a-370n.

[0082] The controller / processor 378 may include one or more processors or other processing devices that control the overall operation of the gNB 102. For example, the controller / processor 378 may control the reception of forward channel signals and the transmission of reverse channel signals via the RF transceivers 372a-372n, the RX processing circuit 376, and the TX processing circuit 374 according to well-known principles. The controller / processor 378 may also support additional functions, such as more advanced wireless communication functions. For example, the controller / processor 378 may perform a blind interference sensing (BIS) process, such as that performed by a BIS algorithm, to decode a received signal subtracted by an interfering signal. Any of a variety of other functions may be supported in the gNB 102 by the controller / processor 378. In some embodiments, the controller / processor 378 includes at least one microprocessor or microcontroller.

[0083] Controller / processor 378 can execute programs and other processes resident in memory 380, such as a basic operating system. Controller / processor 378 can support channel quality measurement and reporting for systems with 2D antenna arrays, as described in embodiments of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, controller / processor 378 supports communication between entities, such as WebRTC. Controller / processor 378 can move data in and out of memory 380 as required by executing processes.

[0084] The controller / processor 378 is further coupled to a backhaul or network interface 382. The backhaul or network interface 382 enables the gNB 102 to communicate with other devices or systems via a backhaul connection or network. The backhaul or network interface 382 may support communication through any suitable wired or wireless connection. For example, when the gNB 102 is embodied as part of a cellular communication system (such as supporting 5G, LTE, or LTE-A), the backhaul or network interface 382 enables the gNB 102 to communicate with other gNBs via a wired or wireless backhaul connection. When the gNB 102 is embodied as an access point, the backhaul or network interface 382 enables the gNB 102 to communicate with a wired or wireless local area network or a larger network (such as the Internet) via a wired or wireless connection. Backhaul or network interface 382 includes any suitable structure that supports communication over a wired or wireless connection, such as an Ethernet or RF transceiver.

[0085] Memory 380 is coupled to controller / processor 378. A portion of memory 380 may include RAM, and another portion of memory 380 may include flash memory or other ROM. In certain embodiments, instructions, such as a BIS algorithm, are stored in the memory. The instructions configure controller / processor 378 to perform a BIS process and decode the received signal after subtracting at least one interfering signal determined by the BIS algorithm.

[0086] As described in more detail below, the transmit and receive paths of gNB 102 (embodied using RF transceivers 372a-372n, TX processing circuitry 374, and / or RX processing circuitry 376) support communication with a collection of FDD and TDD cells.

[0087] While Figure 3b illustrates one example of a gNB 102, various modifications to Figure 3b can be made. For example, the gNB 102 can include any number of each of the components shown in Figure 3. As a particular example, an access point can include multiple interfaces 382, ​​and the controller / processor 378 can support a routing function for routing data between different network addresses. As another example, although illustrated as including a single instance of the TX processing circuitry 374 and a single instance of the RX processing circuitry 376, the gNB 102 can include multiple instances of each (such as one per RF transceiver).

[0088] Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure are described in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0089] This description and drawings are provided by way of example only to aid the reader in understanding the present disclosure. They are not intended, and should not be construed, as limiting the scope of the disclosure in any way. While specific embodiments and examples have been provided, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art based on the disclosure herein that modifications can be made to the illustrated embodiments and examples without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0090] Those skilled in the art will understand that the singular and "said" can also include the plural unless specifically stated otherwise. It should be further understood that the term "comprising," as used in describing the present disclosure, refers to the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and / or components, but does not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and / or groups thereof. When an element is referred to as being "connected" or "coupled" to another element, it should be understood that it can be directly connected or coupled to the other element, or that intermediate elements may be present. Also, as used herein, "connected" or "coupled" can include being wirelessly connected or wirelessly coupled. As used herein, the term "and / or" includes all or any one and all combinations of one or more associated listed items.

[0091] Those skilled in the art will understand that unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by a person of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs. Furthermore, terms such as commonly defined dictionary terms should be understood to have a meaning consistent with the meaning in the context of the prior art, and should not be described in an idealized or very formal sense unless specifically defined herein.

[0092] Those skilled in the art should understand that the terms "user equipment (UE)," "terminal," and "terminal device" used herein include not only a wireless signal receiver device, which is a device having only a wireless signal receiver without transmission capability, but also a device with receiving and transmitting hardware, which is a device having receiving and transmitting hardware capable of performing bidirectional communication via a bidirectional communication link. In the embodiments of the present application, when the sidelink communication system is a V2X system, the "user equipment (UE)," "terminal," and "terminal device" may be of various types, such as a vehicle, infrastructure, and pedestrian. Such devices may include cellular or other communication devices with or without a single-line or multi-line display; Personal Communications Services (PCS) that may combine voice, data processing, fax, and / or data communication functions; Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) that may include a radio frequency receiver, pager, Internet / intranet access, web browser, notepad, calendar, and / or Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver; and conventional laptop and / or palmtop computers or other devices that have and / or include a radio frequency receiver. As used herein, "terminal" or "terminal equipment" may be portable, transportable, vehicle-based (air, sea, and / or land), or may be adapted and / or configured to operate locally and / or in a distributed manner from other locations on Earth and / or in space. As used herein, "user equipment (UE)", "terminal" and "terminal device" may also refer to a communication terminal, an Internet terminal, a music / video playback terminal, for example, a PDA, a MID (Mobile Internet Device) and / or a mobile phone with music / video playback capabilities, or a device such as a smart TV or a set-top box.

[0093] In the embodiments of the present application, a slot may be a subframe or slot in a physical sense, or a subframe or slot in a logical sense. Specifically, a subframe or slot in a logical sense is a subframe or slot corresponding to a resource pool for sidelink communication. For example, in a V2X system, the resource pool may be all slots or all slots except for some specific slots (e.g., slots for transmitting MIB / SIB), and is defined by a repeated bitmap that is mapped to a specific slot set. Slots marked with "1" in the bitmap can be used for V2X transmission and belong to the slots corresponding to the V2X resource pool, while slots marked with "0" cannot be used for V2X and do not belong to the slots corresponding to the V2X resource pool.

[0094] The difference between subframes or slots in a physical or logical sense can be explained through the following typical application scenario: when calculating a time domain gap between two specific channels / messages (e.g., a PSSCH carrying sidelink data and a PSFCH carrying corresponding feedback information), and when the gap is assumed to have N slots, if a subframe or slot in a physical sense is calculated, the N slots correspond to an absolute time length of N*x milliseconds in the time domain, where x is the time length of a physical slot (subframe) under the numerology of the scenario; by contrast, if a subframe or slot in a logical sense is calculated, taking a sidelink resource pool defined by the bitmap as an example, the N slot gap corresponds to the N slots represented by "1" in the bitmap, and the absolute time length of the gap varies depending on the specific configuration of the sidelink communication resource pool, i.e., it does not have a fixed value.

[0095] In the embodiments of the present application, a slot may be a complete slot or a number of OFDM symbols corresponding to the sidelink communication of the slot. For example, if sidelink communication is configured to be performed on the X1-X2 symbols of each slot, "slot" in the following embodiments refers to the X1-X2 symbols in the slot in this scenario. As another example, if sidelink communication is configured to be transmitted in mini-slots, in this scenario, "slot" in the following embodiments refers to mini-slots defined or configured in the sidelink system, rather than slots in the NR system. As another example, if sidelink communication is configured for symbol-level transmission in this scenario, "slot" in the following embodiments may be replaced by an OFDM symbol or N OFDM symbols, which are the time-domain granularity of the symbol-level transmission.

[0096] In the embodiments of the present application, the information configured by the base station, the information indicated by signaling, the information configured by a higher layer, and the pre-configured information may be one set of configuration information or multiple sets of configuration information. If the information includes multiple sets of configuration information, the UE selects one set of configuration information from the multiple sets of configuration information to use according to pre-defined conditions. If the information is one set of configuration information, such a set of configuration information may include multiple subsets, and the UE selects one subset from the multiple subsets to use according to pre-defined conditions.

[0097] In the embodiments of the present application, some of the provided technical solutions are specifically described based on a V2X system, but the application scenarios are not limited to a V2X sidelink communication system and can also be applied to other sidelink transmission systems. For example, in the following embodiments, a design based on a V2X subchannel can also be used as a D2D subchannel or other subchannel for sidelink transmission. Also, in the following embodiments, a V2X resource pool can be replaced by a D2D resource pool in other sidelink transmission systems, such as D2D.

[0098] In the embodiments of the present application, "less than the threshold" can be replaced with at least one of "above the threshold", "below the threshold", and "above the threshold"; similarly, "above the threshold" can be replaced with at least one of "below the threshold", "below the threshold", and "above the threshold". Among these, related expressions can be replaced with other expressions of the same or similar meaning, for example, "higher" can be expressed as "exceeding".

[0099] In the embodiments of this application, a UE used to transmit physical sidelink data channels is referred to as a transmitting UE and denoted as a TX UE; a UE used to receive physical sidelink data channels is referred to as a receiving UE and denoted as a RX UE.

[0100] In an embodiment of the present application, when the sidelink communication system is a V2X system, the terminal or UE may be various types of terminal or UE such as a vehicle, infrastructure, pedestrian, etc.

[0101] In order to make the objectives, technical solutions and advantages of the present application clearer, the embodiments of the present application will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0102] First Example

[0103] The first embodiment describes a method for determining sidelink resources. Figure 4 is a flowchart of the method of the first embodiment.

[0104] In a first embodiment, the determination of sidelink resources includes the following steps:

[0105] Step 401: determining, by a RX UE, a candidate sidelink resource set if a preset decision condition is met;

[0106] Step 402: If a preset transmission condition is met, transmitting, by an RX UE, the determined candidate sidelink resource set to determine resources for sidelink transmission.

[0107] In an example of the first embodiment, transmitting the determined candidate sidelink resource sets by the RX UE for determining resources for sidelink transmission in step 402 comprises transmitting the determined candidate sidelink resource sets by the RX UE to the TX UE for determining resources for sidelink transmission, wherein the determination of resources for sidelink transmission is made by the TX UE based on the candidate sidelink resource sets and / or the channel sensing result.

[0108] In another example of the first embodiment, in step 402, transmitting the determined candidate sidelink resource set by the RX UE for determining resources for sidelink transmission comprises transmitting the determined candidate sidelink resource set by the RX UE to the base station for determining resources for sidelink transmission, wherein the determination of resources for sidelink transmission is made by the base station from the candidate sidelink resource set; and wherein the resources for sidelink transmission include resources for the TX UE to transmit sidelink transmission.

[0109] In another example of the first embodiment, before step 401 is performed, the method further includes a step of the RX UE receiving a request instructing the RX UE to assist the TX UE in determining sidelink resources. Alternatively, the request can be sent by the TX UE to the RX UE. Alternatively, the request can be sent by the base station to the RX UE.

[0110] In the first embodiment, the predetermined decision conditions in step 401 include at least one of the following:

[0111] Configuration attribute conditions

[0112] The RX UE is (pre)configured or (pre)defined to help other UEs determine sidelink resources, where the other UEs may be any sidelink UE or specific sidelink UE. The specific sidelink UE includes sidelink UEs whose UE ID or UE group ID satisfies specific conditions or specific configuration information, where such specific conditions or specific configuration information can be (pre)configured or (pre)defined by the base station or a higher layer. The TX UE can determine whether the RX UE is (pre)configured or (pre)defined to help other UEs select resources based on the information configured by the higher layer or indicated by the RX UE;

[0113] The Tx UE is, for example, a specific sidelink UE whose UE ID or UE group ID satisfies specific conditions or specific configuration information, and such specific conditions or specific configuration information may be (pre)configured or (pre)defined by the base station or a higher layer;

[0114] The RX UE determines that the priority corresponding to the data from the TX UE belongs to a specific range, where the specific range includes a range that is (pre)set or (pre)defined by the base station or a higher layer, and the priority can be represented by Quality of Service (QoS);

[0115] The RX UE determines whether the corresponding cast type (unicast, multicast, multicast type 1, multicast type 2, broadcast) of the data from the TX UE is a specific type;

[0116] Link State Conditions

[0117] The number of times that the RX UE fails to successfully receive a sidelink transmission from the TX UE exceeds a specific threshold, which may be preset or defined by the base station or a higher layer. Here, the number of times that the RX UE fails to successfully receive a sidelink transmission from the TX UE may be the number of consecutive reception failures. For example, this may be a case where the RX UE successfully receives a PSCCH transmitted by the TX UE to the RX UE but fails to successfully receive a PSSCH associated with the PSCCH, and / or a case where the RX UE successfully receives a PSCCH transmitted by the TX UE to the RX UE and sidelink resources are predetermined for the PSCCH, but the RX UE fails to successfully receive a sidelink transmission from the TX UE on the predetermined sidelink resources;

[0118] The link quality between the RX UE and the TX UE being lower than a predetermined threshold, such threshold may be (pre)set or (pre)defined by the base station or a higher layer, and the link quality being lower than the predetermined threshold may be determined by at least one of the following:

[0119] The reference signal received power (RSRP) or reference signal received quality (RSRQ) of the TX UE measured by the RX UE is lower than a threshold;

[0120] The RSRP or RSRQ fed back by the TX UE to the RX UE is lower than a threshold;

[0121] The channel state information (CSI) related parameters (e.g., channel quality indicator (CQI), ranking indicator (RI), and payload missing indicator (PMI)) of the TX UE measured by the RX UE are less than a threshold;

[0122] The CSI-related parameters (e.g., CQI, RI, PMI) fed back by the TX UE to the RX UE are less than a threshold.

[0123] The geographical distance between the RX UE and the TX UE exceeds a threshold, where the geographical distance is (pre)set by a higher layer and / or determined by the RX UE through calculation according to information dynamically displayed by the TX UE and the geographical location of the RX UE, where the information dynamically displayed by the TX UE includes the geographical location of the TX UE displayed in the SCI and the geographical location of the TX UE displayed in the higher layer signaling;

[0124] The RX UE determines that the congestion level of the resource pool (e.g., CBR (Channel Busy Ratio) or CR (Channel Occupancy Ratio)) exceeds a threshold;

[0125] the RX UE detects that the sidelink resources indicated by the TX UE overlap with the sidelink resources indicated by other sidelink UEs, where the indicated sidelink resources include resources for the current sidelink transmission indicated in the SCI and resources reserved for a subsequent sidelink transmission;

[0126] Time parameter conditions

[0127] The RX UE sends a sidelink transmission to the TX UE within a specific time range, e.g., the RX UE determines whether to send a sidelink transmission to the TX UE within an expected time range (slot n to slot n+n1), and if so, determines a candidate sidelink resource set on or before slot n-n0;

[0128] The RX UE is (pre)configured to periodically determine candidate sidelink resource sets, e.g., in slot n, a candidate sidelink resource set is determined if n-n1 can be evenly divided by p, where n1 is an offset corresponding to the start position of the period and p is the length of the period;

[0129] Here, the time range and period are (pre)set or (pre)defined.

[0130] Conditions for receiving requests

[0131] The RX UE receives a request instructing the RX UE to assist the TX UE in determining sidelink resources. Alternatively, the request is sent by the TX UE to the RX UE. Alternatively, the request is sent by the base station to the RX UE. Alternatively, the request transmission occurs when a preset request condition is met.

[0132] The predefined request conditions include at least one of the following conditions:

[0133] The condition of the setting attribute;

[0134] said link state condition;

[0135] the time parameter condition;

[0136] The TX UE is (pre-)configured with the ability to request other UEs to assist in determining sidelink resources;

[0137] periodically sending a request to cause the TX UE to periodically update the status of available resources of the RX UE;

[0138] The Packet Reception Ratio (PRR) and / or Packet Inter-Reception (PIR) of a TX UE for a certain period of time and / or for a specific service is below a threshold.

[0139] In a first embodiment, the preset transmission conditions in step 402 include at least one of the following:

[0140] At least one of the predetermined decision conditions, for example, the RX UE transmits the determined candidate sidelink resource set to the TX UE whenever the predetermined decision condition is met.

[0141] The existence of a sidelink transmission sent by a RX UE to a TX UE within a specific time range or a sidelink transmission sent by a RX UE to a TX UE, for example, if a RX UE determines a candidate sidelink resource set in slot n and sends a sidelink transmission to a TX UE within a time window not later than slot n+k, the candidate sidelink resource set is included in the sidelink transmission;

[0142] the RX UE periodically transmits the determined candidate sidelink resource set to the TX UE, for example, in slot n, if n-n1 can be evenly divided by p, the determined candidate sidelink resource set is transmitted to the TX UE, where n1 is an offset corresponding to the start position of the period and p is the length of the period;

[0143] The RX UE receives n sidelink transmissions from the TX UE, where the n sidelink transmissions may include only successfully decoded sidelink transmissions or may include successfully decoded and unsuccessfully decoded sidelink transmissions. In the case of unsuccessfully decoded sidelink transmissions, this situation further includes (i) a situation where the PSCCH is successfully decoded but the PSSCH is not successfully decoded and / or (ii) a situation where the PSCCH and PSSCH are not successfully decoded but the previous SCI content is represented by the predetermined resource locations of the PSCCH and / or PSSCH.

[0144] In a first embodiment, the method for determining candidate sidelink resource sets by the RX UE in step 401 includes at least one of the following:

[0145] determining, by the RX UE, an initial candidate sidelink resource set according to an expected time for the RX UE to receive a sidelink transmission and / or an expected time for the TX UE to transmit a sidelink transmission; and determining, by the RX UE, an initial candidate sidelink resource set including determining a time range corresponding to the candidate sidelink resource set and taking, by the RX UE, all sidelink time-frequency resources within the range as the initial candidate sidelink resource set;

[0146] The step of excluding some sidelink resources from the initial candidate sidelink resource set by the RX UE according to the channel detection result.

[0147] For example, if the RX UE detects in the channel detection process that the RSRP (or RSRQ) of the sidelink signaling representing resource reservation from other sidelink UEs is higher than a threshold, the RX UE will exclude the sidelink resources reserved by the sidelink signaling according to the channel detection result;

[0148] As another example, if the RX UE detects during the channel detection process that the RSRP and / or RSRQ and / or RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indication) of a first resource is higher than a threshold, the first resource is excluded from the initial candidate sidelink resource set; if the RX UE detects during the channel detection process that the RSRP and / or RSRQ and / or RSSI of the first resource is higher than a threshold and the first resource is associated with a second resource in the initial candidate sidelink resource set, the second resource is excluded from the initial candidate sidelink resource set; where both the first and second resources are sidelink resources and the association between the first and second resources comprises a (pre)set or (pre)defined time domain and / or frequency domain mapping.

[0149] For example, by pre-configuration, the first resource is a sidelink resource in sub-channel m of slot n, and the second resource is a sidelink resource in sub-channel m+m1 of slot n+n1, where n1 and m1 are (pre-)configured or (pre-)defined;

[0150] As another example, aligning resources (assumed to be first resources) detected by the RX UE in the channel detection process may include aligning the first resources according to their respective RSRP and / or RSRQ and / or RSSI and / or aligning associated second resources according to their respective RSRP and / or RSRQ and / or RSSI; if the aligned first resource is not within a given threshold range and the first resource is associated with a second resource in the initial candidate sidelink resource set and / or if the aligned second resource is not within a given threshold range, the second resource is removed from the initial candidate sidelink resource set; this method may also be used if the number of sidelink resources in the initial candidate sidelink resource set (which may be the remaining sidelink resources after removal by other methods) is higher than a threshold. For example, assuming the threshold range is 0% to x% (i.e., the lowest x%), if a first resource does not belong to the lowest x% resource range of RSSI when aligned by RSSI and is associated with a second resource in the initial candidate sidelink resource set, the second resource is excluded from the initial candidate sidelink resource set. For example, assuming the threshold range is N and the associated second resources are aligned by RSSI of the first resource, the first N second resources (i.e., the N second resources with the lowest RSSI among the associated first resources) are reserved in the initial candidate sidelink resource set, and the other second resources are excluded. Both the first and second resources are sidelink resources, and the association between the first and second resources includes a (pre)set or (pre)defined time domain and / or frequency domain mapping, the specific method being similar to that described above;

[0151] The initial candidate sidelink resource set shall exclude sidelink resources that overlap or partially overlap the following times: the times when the RX UE is expected to send a sidelink or uplink transmission and the times when the RX UE is expected to receive a downlink transmission. For example, if the initial candidate sidelink resource set of an RX UE includes all sidelink resources from slot n to slot n+10 and the RX UE is scheduled by the base station to send an uplink transmission in slot n+5, the RX UE shall exclude all sidelink resources in slot n+5 from its initial candidate sidelink resource set.

[0152] In the method, the thresholds for RSRP, RSRQ, and RSSI or the corresponding threshold ranges after alignment are set or defined in advance, and the RX UE can increase the thresholds or threshold ranges (e.g., by +3 dB, from x% to x%+10%) when the number of sidelink resources in the initial candidate sidelink resource set is less than a certain number;

[0153] The RX UE determines its candidate sidelink resource set according to the candidate sidelink resource set received from the TX UE, e.g., the RX UE excludes resources not included in the candidate sidelink resource set of the TX UE and / or determines that the candidate sidelink resource set of the TX UE is the candidate sidelink resource set of the RX UE or is the initial candidate sidelink resource set of the TX UE;

[0154] The RX UE determines in the candidate sidelink resource set the resources that are not excluded from the initial candidate sidelink resource set.

[0155] In the case of combining two or more of the above methods, a specific example is as follows: the RX UE determines the initial candidate sidelink resource set according to the expected time at which a sidelink transmission is received and / or the expected time at which a TX UE is to transmit a sidelink transmission; according to the multiple methods, resources corresponding to each method are removed from the initial candidate sidelink resource set, e.g., sidelink resources reserved by other sidelink UEs, resources whose associated first resource has an RSSI higher than a threshold, and resources whose sidelink / uplink / downlink transmission or reception time overlap; if the number of sidelink resources remaining in the initial candidate sidelink resource set after the removal of the resources is higher than a threshold N, the remaining second sidelink resources in the initial candidate sidelink resource set are sorted by the RSSI of the associated first resource, and the first N second resources are selected as the candidate sidelink resource set.

[0156] In a first embodiment, the method for transmitting the determined candidate sidelink resources for determining resources for sidelink transmission by the RX UE in step 402 includes at least one of the following:

[0157] Indicating the determined candidate sidelink resource set in Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling by the RX UE, for example, by a specific RRC information element (IE);

[0158] Indicating the determined candidate sidelink resource set in medium access control (MAC) signaling by the RX UE, for example, by a specific MAC Control Element (CE) with a dedicated Logical Channel ID (LCID), or, for another example, by a MAC header or MAC subheader;

[0159] Indicating the determined candidate sidelink resource sets in physical layer signaling by the RX UE, for example, by a specific SCI format (e.g., SCI format 3), which may be different from the PSCCH format used for scheduling the PSSCH on the bearer PSCCH in the prior art; or, as another example, by conveying the determined candidate sidelink resource sets in a sidelink transmission sent by the RX UE to the TX UE, specifically, by piggybacking the determined candidate sidelink resource sets on the PSSCH in the form of PSCCH or independent data, or, more specifically, by mapping the determined candidate sidelink resource sets to specific Resource Element (RE) locations of the PSSCH, and by rate-matching the PSSCH around the specific RE locations or puncturing the PSSCH at the specific RE locations.

[0160] In a first embodiment, a method for determining resources for sidelink transmission by a TX UE or a base station according to candidate sidelink resource sets and / or channel sensing results includes at least one of:

[0161] excluding sidelink resources in the candidate sidelink resource set that overlap or partially overlap with the following times: times when the TX UE is expected to send uplink transmissions, times when the TX UE is expected to send other sidelink transmissions (other than the sidelink transmission sent to the RX UE), and times when the TX UE is expected to receive sidelink or downlink transmissions;

[0162] determining, from the sidelink resources remaining in the candidate sidelink resource set, resources for transmitting a sidelink transmission by the TX UE to the RX UE. Alternatively, the selection comprises random selection. Alternatively, the selection further comprises performing channel sensing based on the sidelink resources remaining in the candidate sidelink resource set, and selecting resources for transmitting a sidelink transmission by the TX UE to the RX UE according to the sensing result;

[0163] selecting no resources in the candidate sidelink resource set for sending a sidelink transmission to the RX UE and / or not selecting any resources for (again) sending a request to the RX UE if the number of sidelink resources indicated in the candidate sidelink resource set received from the RX UE is lower than a threshold and / or the number of sidelink resources remaining in the candidate sidelink resource set after the exclusion is lower than a threshold, the content of the request including a request for the RX UE to assist the TX UE or the base station in selecting sidelink resources.

[0164] A typical application scenario of this embodiment is the resource allocation mode independently selected by the UE, ie, mode 2.

[0165] In the prior art, a TX UE using Mode 2 determines resources reserved by other sidelink UEs based solely on the channel sensing result, excludes these resources, and then randomly selects a sidelink resource from the remaining resources for transmitting a sidelink transmission to a RX UE.

[0166] The main drawback of this method is that the TX UE can select resources based only on the channel conditions it detects. However, because the TX UE and the RX UE are located in different geographical locations, the interference they experience is also different. The TX UE determines whether available resources can be applied to the RX UE based on the channel detection results. The hidden node problem in a sidelink network is a typical example. As shown in Figure 5, UE1 and UE3 are both within the communication range of UE2, but UE1 and UE3 are outside the communication range of each other. Therefore, when UE1 functions as the TX UE, it cannot detect the interference from UE3, but the interference from UE3 will actually impair UE2's transmission and reception of UE1.

[0167] The method in the first embodiment prevents the above problem by using the RX UE's preferred sidelink resource as a criterion when the TX UE selects sidelink resources. Also, if the RX UE provides a preferred resource set, the TX UE can perform channel detection based on this resource set instead of all potential transmission resources. This method reduces the scale of channel detection, thereby reducing the complexity and power consumption of the TX UE.

[0168] Second Example

[0169] The second embodiment describes a method for determining sidelink resources. Figure 6 is a flowchart of the method of the second embodiment.

[0170] In a second embodiment, the determination of sidelink resources includes the following steps:

[0171] Step 601: determining, by a TX UE, a candidate sidelink resource set if a preset decision condition is met;

[0172] Step 602: If a preset transmission condition is met, transmitting, by a TX UE, the determined candidate sidelink resource set to a base station for determining resources for sidelink transmission.

[0173] Here, the determination of resources for sidelink transmission is made by the base station according to a candidate sidelink resource set; where the resources for sidelink transmission include sidelink resources used by a TX UE to send a sidelink transmission to a RX UE.

[0174] In one example of the second embodiment, before step 601, the method further includes a step of the TX UE receiving a request instructing the TX UE to assist the base station in determining sidelink resources. Alternatively, the request can be sent by the RX UE to the TX UE. Alternatively, the request can be sent by the base station to the TX UE.

[0175] In a second embodiment, the predetermined decision conditions in step 601 include at least one of the following:

[0176] Setting Attribute Conditions

[0177] The TX UE is (pre)configured or (pre)defined to assist the base station in selecting resources;

[0178] The RX UE is a specific sidelink UE whose UE ID, UE group ID, or UE intra-group ID satisfies specific conditions or configuration information, and such specific conditions or configuration information may be (pre)configured or (pre)defined by the base station or a higher layer;

[0179] The priority corresponding to the data of the TX UE belongs to a specific range, and such a specific range includes a range that is (pre)set or (pre)defined by the base station or a higher layer, and the priority can be represented by QoS;

[0180] The cast type (unicast, multicast, multicast type 1, multicast type 2, broadcast) corresponding to the data of the TX UE is a specific type;

[0181] Link State Conditions

[0182] The number of times that an RX UE fails to successfully receive a sidelink transmission from a TX UE exceeds a certain threshold, which may be preset or defined by the base station or a higher layer. Here, the number of times that the RX UE fails to receive a sidelink transmission from a TX UE may be the number of consecutive reception failures. For example, if the TX UE receives a NACK feedback from the RX UE and / or fails to receive feedback from the RX UE in unicast or multicast communication that feeds back an ACK and NACK, the RX UE is deemed to have failed to successfully receive the sidelink transmission from the TX UE.

[0183] The link quality between the RX UE and the TX UE is lower than a predetermined threshold, and such threshold can be (pre)set or (pre)defined by the base station or a higher layer; the link quality being lower than the predetermined threshold can be determined by at least one of the following:

[0184] The RSRP or RSRQ of the RX UE measured by the TX UE is lower than a threshold;

[0185] The RSRP or RSRQ fed back by the RX UE to the TX UE is lower than a threshold;

[0186] The CSI-related parameters (e.g., CQI, RI, PMI) of the RX UE measured by the TX UE are less than a threshold;

[0187] The CSI-related parameters (e.g., CQI, RI, PMI) fed back by the RX UE to the TX UE are less than a threshold;

[0188] The geographical distance between the TX UE and the RX UE exceeds a threshold, where the geographical distance is (pre)set by a higher layer and / or determined by the TX UE through calculation according to information dynamically displayed by the RX UE and the geographical location of the TX UE, where the information dynamically displayed by the RX UE includes the geographical location of the RX UE displayed in the SCI and the geographical location of the RX UE displayed in the higher layer signaling;

[0189] The TX UE determines that the congestion level of the resource pool exceeds a threshold, for example, that the CBR or CR exceeds a threshold;

[0190] Time parameter conditions

[0191] The TX UE must send a sidelink transmission to the RX UE within a specific time window, e.g., the TX UE must determine whether to send a sidelink transmission to the RX UE within an expected time range (slot n to slot n+n1), and if so, determine a candidate sidelink resource set on or before slot n-n0;

[0192] The TX UE is (pre)configured to periodically determine candidate sidelink resource sets, e.g., in slot n, a candidate sidelink resource set is determined if n-n1 is evenly divisible by p, where n1 is an offset corresponding to the start position of the period and p is the length of the period;

[0193] Here, the time range and period are (pre)set or (pre)defined.

[0194] Conditions for receiving requests

[0195] The TX UE receives a request instructing the TX UE to assist the base station in determining sidelink resources. Alternatively, this request can be sent by the RX UE to the TX UE. Alternatively, this request is sent by the base station to the TX UE.

[0196] Instead, a request transmission occurs when pre-defined request conditions are met.

[0197] The predefined request conditions include at least one of the following conditions:

[0198] The condition of the setting attribute;

[0199] said link state condition;

[0200] the time parameter condition;

[0201] The TX UE is (pre-)configured with the ability to request other UEs to assist in determining sidelink resources;

[0202] the TX UE periodically sends a request to periodically update the status of available resources of the RX UE;

[0203] The PHR and / or PAIR of a TX UE for a certain period of time and / or for a particular service is below a threshold.

[0204] In a second embodiment, the preset transmission conditions in step 602 include at least one of the following:

[0205] At least one of the predetermined decision conditions, for example, the TX UE transmits the determined candidate sidelink resource set to the base station whenever the predetermined decision condition is met.

[0206] The existence of an uplink transmission scheduled by the base station for the TX UE, or the TX UE transmitting an uplink transmission to the base station within a specific time range. For example, if the TX UE determines a candidate sidelink resource set in slot n and transmits an uplink transmission to the base station within a time window not later than slot n+k, the candidate sidelink resource set is included in the uplink transmission. The uplink transmission may be one of the following: an uplink transmission carrying other uplink data (instead of the candidate sidelink resource set) transmitted by the UE 3 to the base station, an uplink transmission scheduled by the base station after the UE 3 requests uplink resources from the base station for transmitting the candidate sidelink resource set;

[0207] the TX UE periodically transmits the determined candidate sidelink resource set to the base station;

[0208] A TX UE sends N sidelink transmissions to a RX UE, where the N sidelink transmissions may include only sidelink transmissions successfully received by the RX UE, or may include sidelink transmissions successfully and unsuccessfully received by the RX UE.

[0209] In a second embodiment, the method for determining candidate sidelink resource sets by the TX UE in step 601 includes at least one of the following:

[0210] determining, by the TX UE, an initial candidate sidelink resource set according to a time range during which the TX UE is expected to transmit sidelink transmissions and / or a time during which the RX UE is expected to receive sidelink transmissions; and determining, by the TX UE, an initial candidate sidelink resource set includes determining a time range corresponding to the candidate sidelink resource set and taking, by the TX UE, all sidelink time-frequency resources within the time range as the initial candidate sidelink resource set;

[0211] The step of excluding some sidelink resources from the initial candidate sidelink resource set by the TX UE according to the channel detection result.

[0212] For example, if a TX UE detects in a channel detection process that the RSRP (or RSRQ) of the sidelink signaling indicating resource reservation from another sidelink UE is higher than a threshold, the TX UE will exclude the sidelink resources reserved by the sidelink signaling;

[0213] As another example, if a TX UE detects during a channel detection process that the RSRP and / or RSRQ and / or RSSI of a first resource is higher than a threshold, the first resource is excluded from the initial candidate sidelink resource set; if a RX UE detects during a channel detection process that the RSRP and / or RSRQ and / or RSSI of a first resource is higher than a threshold and the first resource is associated with a second resource in the initial candidate sidelink resource set, the second resource is excluded from the initial candidate sidelink resource set, where both the first and second resources are sidelink resources and the association between the first and second resources comprises a (pre)configured or (pre)defined time-domain and / or frequency-domain mapping. For example, by pre-configuration, the first resource is a sidelink resource in subchannel m of slot n and the second resource is a sidelink resource in subchannel m+m1 of slot n+n1, where n1 and m1 are (pre)configured or (pre)defined;

[0214] As another example, aligning resources (assumed to be first resources) detected by the TX UE in the channel detection process may include aligning the first resources according to their respective RSRP and / or RSRQ and / or RSSI and / or aligning associated second resources according to their respective RSRP and / or RSRQ and / or RSSI; if the aligned first resources are not within a given threshold range and the first resources are associated with the second resources of the initial candidate sidelink resource set and / or if the aligned second resources are not within a given threshold range, the second resources are removed from the initial candidate sidelink resource set; this method is also used if the number of sidelink resources in the initial candidate sidelink resource set (which may be the remaining sidelink resources after removal by other methods) is higher than a threshold. For example, assuming the threshold range is 0% to x% (i.e., the lowest x%), if a first resource does not belong to the lowest x% resource range of RSSI when aligned by RSSI and is associated with a second resource in the initial candidate sidelink resource set, the second resource is excluded from the initial candidate sidelink resource set. For example, assuming the threshold range is N and the associated second resources are aligned by RSSI of the first resource, only N second resources (i.e., the N second resources with the lowest RSSI among the associated first resources) are reserved in the initial candidate sidelink resource set, and the other second resources are excluded. Both the first and second resources are sidelink resources, and the association between the first and second resources includes (pre)set or (pre)defined time domain and / or frequency domain mapping, the specific method being similar to that described above;

[0215] The initial candidate sidelink resource set shall exclude sidelink resources that overlap or partially overlap the following times: the times when the TX UE is expected to send a sidelink or uplink transmission and the times when the TX UE is expected to receive a downlink transmission. For example, if the initial candidate sidelink resource set of a TX UE includes all sidelink resources from slot n to slot n+10 and the TX UE is scheduled by the base station to send an uplink transmission in slot n+5, the RX UE shall exclude all sidelink resources in slot n+5 from its initial candidate sidelink resource set.

[0216] In the method, the thresholds or the corresponding threshold ranges after alignment for RSRP, RSRQ and RSSI are (pre)configured or (pre)defined, and the RX UE can increase the threshold or threshold range (e.g., by +3 dB, from x% to x%+10%) if the number of sidelink resources in the initial candidate sidelink resource set is less than a certain number.

[0217] The TX UE determines the candidate sidelink resource set of the TX UE according to the candidate sidelink resource set received from the RX UE, for example, the TX UE excludes resources not included in the candidate sidelink resource set of the RX UE and / or determines that the candidate sidelink resource set of the RX UE is the candidate sidelink resource set of the TX UE or is the initial candidate sidelink resource set of the TX UE;

[0218] The TX UE determines the candidate sidelink resource set to be the resources that are not excluded from the initial candidate sidelink resource set.

[0219] In the case of combining two or more of the above methods, a specific example is as follows: the TX UE receives candidate sidelink resource sets from the RX UE and determines that the candidate sidelink resource set of the RX UE is its initial candidate sidelink resource set; according to the multiple methods, resources corresponding to each method are removed from the initial candidate sidelink resource set, for example, sidelink resources reserved by other sidelink UEs, resources whose associated first resource has an RSSI higher than a threshold, and resources that overlap with the sidelink / uplink / downlink transmission or reception time; if the number of sidelink resources remaining in the initial candidate sidelink resource set after the removal of the resources is higher than a threshold N, the remaining second sidelink resources in the initial candidate sidelink resource set are sorted by the RSSI of the associated first resource, and the first N second resources are selected as the candidate sidelink resource set.

[0220] In a second embodiment, the method for transmitting the determined candidate sidelink resource set to the base station to determine resources for sidelink transmission by the TX UE in step 602 includes at least one of:

[0221] indicating the determined candidate sidelink resource sets in RRC signaling by the TX UE, for example, indicated by a specific RRC IE;

[0222] Indicating the determined candidate sidelink resource set in MAC signaling by the TX UE, for example, by a specific MAC CE having a dedicated LCID, or as another example, by a MAC header / MAC subheader;

[0223] Indicating the determined candidate sidelink resource sets in physical layer signaling by the TX UE. For example, this may be indicated by a specific SCI format, which may be the same as or different from the PUCCH format of the prior art. As another example, the determined candidate sidelink resource sets may be indicated by conveying them in an uplink transmission sent by the TX UE to the base station. Specifically, the determined candidate sidelink resource sets may be piggybacked on a PUSCH in the form of a PUCCH or independent data, a more specific method being similar to the method of piggybacking a PUSCH on a PUCCH in the prior art.

[0224] A typical application scenario of this embodiment is the resource allocation mode based on base station scheduling, ie, mode 1.

[0225] In the prior art, a TX UE using Mode 1 requests sidelink resources from the base station via a Status Report (SR) and / or a Buffer Status Report (BSR) and a sidelink HARQ-ACK report. After obtaining the sidelink resources scheduled by the base station, the TX UE performs sidelink transmission to the RX UE using the sidelink resources.

[0226] The main drawback of this method is that the base station can schedule only sidelink UEs using Mode 1 in a cell and can minimize mutual interference between sidelink UEs, but cannot control UEs in neighboring cells and sidelink UEs using Mode 2 in the cell. Therefore, if the resource pool used by sidelink UEs using Mode 1 overlaps with the resource pool for UEs in neighboring cells and the resource pool for sidelink UEs using Mode 2 in the cell, resources scheduled by the base station for sidelink using Mode 1 may be interfered with by some of these UEs.

[0227] In the method of the second embodiment, when the base station schedules sidelink resources for the TX UE, the sidelink resources prioritized by the TX UE are taken as a criterion to prevent potential interference.

[0228] Third Example

[0229] A third embodiment describes a method for determining sidelink resources. Figure 7 is a flowchart of the method of the third embodiment.

[0230] In the third embodiment, multiple sidelink UEs are configured (in advance) as a UE group by a base station or a higher layer, UE M is configured as the manager of the UE group, and UEs m1, m2, ... are other group member UEs of the UE group.

[0231] In a third embodiment, the determination of sidelink resources includes the following steps:

[0232] Step 701: determining, by a UE M, a candidate sidelink resource set if a preset decision condition is met;

[0233] Step 702: transmitting, by UE M, the determined candidate sidelink resource set to at least one of group member UEs m1, m2, ... if a preset transmission condition is met - the candidate sidelink resource set being used to determine resources for sidelink transmission.

[0234] Here, the decision of resources for sidelink transmission is made by at least one of the group member UEs m1, m2, ... based on the candidate sidelink resource set and / or the channel sensing result.

[0235] In one example of the third embodiment, before step 701 is performed, the method further comprises a step of UE M receiving a request including an indication requesting UE M to assist at least one of UEs m1, m2, ... in determining sidelink resources. Alternatively, this request can be sent directly to UE M by at least one of UEs m1, m2, .... Alternatively, this request can be sent to UE M by a base station. It should be noted that in the following description, a group member UE refers to at least one group member UE in a UE group.

[0236] In a third embodiment, the predetermined decision conditions in step 701 include at least one of the following:

[0237] (1) Conditions for setting attributes

[0238] UE M is (pre)configured or (pre)defined to assist other UEs in determining sidelink resources, where the other UEs may be any sidelink UE, or a specific sidelink UE, or a group member UE; where the group member UE may be any group member UE or a specific group member UE.

[0239] The group member UE is, for example, a specific sidelink UE whose UE ID, UE group ID, or UE intra-group ID satisfies specific conditions or specific configuration information, and such specific conditions or specific configuration information can be (pre)set or (pre)defined by the base station or a higher layer;

[0240] UE M determines that the priority corresponding to data from group member UEs belongs to a specific range and / or that the priority corresponding to data from UE M belongs to a specific range; here, the specific range includes a range that is (pre)set or (pre)defined by the base station or a higher layer, and the priority can be represented by QoS.

[0241] UE M determines that the cast type (unicast, multicast, multicast type 1, multicast type 2, broadcast) corresponding to the data from the group member UE is a specific type, and / or determines that the cast type corresponding to the data of UE M is a specific type;

[0242] 2) Link state conditions

[0243] The number of times that UE M is unable to successfully receive sidelink transmissions from group member UEs exceeds a specific threshold, and / or the number of times that group member UEs are unable to successfully receive sidelink transmissions from UE M exceeds a specific threshold, where such a specific threshold may be (pre)set or (pre)defined by the base station or a higher layer;

[0244] The link quality between UE M and the group member UEs is lower than a predetermined threshold, which may be set or defined (pre-set) by the base station or a higher layer, and the link quality being lower than the predetermined threshold may be determined by at least one of the following:

[0245] The RSRP or RSRQ of the group member UE measured by UE M is lower than a threshold;

[0246] The RSRP or RSRQ fed back to UE M by the group member UE is lower than a threshold;

[0247] The channel state information related parameters of the group member UEs measured by UE M are less than the threshold value;

[0248] The CSI-related parameters fed back to UE M by the group member UEs are less than a threshold value;

[0249] The geographical distance between UE M and the group member UE exceeds a threshold, where the geographical distance is (pre)set by a higher layer and / or determined by UE M through calculation according to the information dynamically displayed by the group member UE and the geographical location of UE M, and the information dynamically displayed by the group member UE includes the geographical location of the group member UE displayed in the SCI and the geographical location of the group member UE displayed in the higher layer signaling;

[0250] The UE M determines that the resource pool congestion (e.g., CBR or CR) exceeds a threshold;

[0251] UE M detects that resources for sidelink transmission indicated by a group member UE overlap with resources for sidelink transmission indicated by other group member UEs and / or that resources indicated by different group member UEs overlap, where the indicated resources include resources for the current sidelink transmission indicated in the SCI and resources reserved for a subsequent sidelink transmission;

[0252] 3) Time parameter conditions

[0253] UE M sends sidelink transmissions to group member UEs within a specific time range;

[0254] The UE M is (pre)configured to periodically determine candidate sidelink resource sets;

[0255] Here, the time range and period are (pre)set or (pre)defined.

[0256] (4) Conditions for receiving requests

[0257] The UE M receives a request including a request to the UE M to assist the group member UE in determining sidelink resources. Alternatively, the request is sent by the group member UE to the UE M. Alternatively, the request is sent by the base station to the UE M. Alternatively, the request transmission occurs if a preset request condition is met.

[0258] The predefined request conditions include at least one of the following conditions:

[0259] The condition of the setting attribute;

[0260] said link state condition;

[0261] the time parameter condition;

[0262] Group member UEs are (pre-)configured to be able to request other UEs to assist in determining sidelink resources;

[0263] The group member UEs are (pre) configured to periodically send requests to periodically update the available resource status and / or the intra-group resource allocation status of the RX UEs corresponding to the group members;

[0264] The PRR and / or PIR of group member UEs for a certain period of time and / or for a particular service is below a threshold.

[0265] In a third embodiment, the preset transmission conditions in step 702 include at least one of the following:

[0266] at least one of the predetermined decision conditions;

[0267] There exists a sidelink transmission sent by UE M to group member UEs or UE M sends a sidelink transmission to group member UEs within a specific time range;

[0268] the UE M periodically transmits the determined candidate sidelink resource set to the group member UEs;

[0269] UE M receives N sidelink transmissions from group member UEs; where the N sidelink transmissions may include only sidelink transmissions from the same group member UE, or may include sidelink transmissions from any group member or a specific set of group members.

[0270] In the third embodiment, the method of determining candidate sidelink resource sets by the UE M in step 701 is similar to that of the other embodiments, for example, includes at least one of the following:

[0271] determining an initial candidate sidelink resource set by the UE M based on at least one of the time when the UE M is expected to receive the sidelink transmission and / or the time when the group member UEs are expected to transmit the sidelink transmission and / or the time when the group member UEs are expected to receive the sidelink transmission, a (pre)definition or (pre)configuration by a higher layer / base station and a group identity, for example, the UE M calculating and obtaining the initial candidate sidelink resource set based on a predefined formula and the group identity; and determining the initial candidate sidelink resource set by the UE M further includes determining a time range corresponding to the candidate sidelink resource set and determining by the UE M all sidelink time-frequency resources within that range as the initial candidate sidelink resource set;

[0272] A step of excluding some sidelink resources from the initial candidate sidelink resource set by the UE M according to the channel detection result (the exclusion method described in other embodiments can be applied here);

[0273] removing sidelink resources that overlap or partially overlap with the times when the group member UEs are expected to transmit sidelink or uplink transmissions and when the group member UEs are expected to receive downlink transmissions from the initial candidate sidelink resource set;

[0274] determining a candidate sidelink resource set for UE M according to the candidate sidelink resource sets received from the group member UEs, e.g., UE M excluding resources not included in the candidate sidelink resource sets of the group member UEs and / or determining that the candidate sidelink resource sets of the group member UEs are the candidate sidelink resource sets of UE M or are the initial candidate sidelink resource sets of the group member UEs;

[0275] a step in which the UE M divides the initial candidate sidelink resource set or the remaining resources excluding resources from the initial candidate sidelink resource set into a number of subsets, and the UE M assigns the divided subsets to the group member UEs as candidate sidelink resource sets; specifically, each group member UE is assigned at least one subset and / or each subset is assigned to at least one group member UE.

[0276] When the above method and the methods provided in other embodiments are used in combination, a specific example is as follows: UE M determines an initial candidate sidelink resource set according to a (pre)definition or (pre)configuration by a higher layer / base station and / or according to a group identity; UE M divides the initial candidate sidelink resource set into multiple subsets and assigns each divided subset to one group member UE; according to the candidate sidelink resource sets sent by each group member UE to UE M's group member UE, UE M removes sidelink resources that are not included in the candidate sidelink resource set of the specific group member UE from the subsets assigned to the group member UE; and UE M transmits the remaining subsets to the group member UEs.

[0277] In the third embodiment, a method for transmitting the determined candidate sidelink resources to determine resources for sidelink transmission by the UE M in step 702 is similar to the other embodiments, and may include, for example, at least one of the following:

[0278] indicating the determined candidate sidelink resource set in radio resource control (RRC) signaling by the UE M;

[0279] indicating the determined candidate sidelink resource set in Medium Access Control (MAC) signaling by the UE M;

[0280] Indicating the determined candidate sidelink resource set in physical layer signaling by the UE M.

[0281] The method for determining resources for sidelink transmission according to the determined candidate sidelink resource sets and / or channel detection results in step 703 includes at least one of:

[0282] In a third embodiment, a method for determining candidate sidelink resource sets and / or resources for sidelink transmission by a group member UE or a base station according to a channel sensing result includes at least one of:

[0283] excluding sidelink resources in the candidate sidelink resource set that overlap or partially overlap with the following times: the times when the group member UEs are expected to transmit uplink transmissions, the times when the group member UEs are expected to transmit other sidelink transmissions (e.g., other sidelink transmissions other than those transmitted to UE M and / or group member UEs (i.e., RX UEs)), and the times when the group member UEs are expected to receive sidelink transmissions or downlink transmissions;

[0284] determining, from the remaining sidelink resources in the candidate sidelink resource set, resources for transmitting a sidelink transmission to UE M or a group member UE that is the RX UE. Alternatively, the selection comprises random selection. Alternatively, the selection further comprises performing channel sensing based on the remaining sidelink resources in the candidate sidelink resource set and selecting resources for transmitting a sidelink transmission to UE M according to the sensing result;

[0285] selecting no resources in the candidate sidelink resource set for sending a sidelink transmission to UE M and / or not selecting resources for (re-)transmitting the request by the RX UE if the number of sidelink resources indicated in the candidate sidelink resource set received from UE M is lower than a threshold and / or the number of sidelink resources remaining in the candidate sidelink resource set after the exclusion is lower than a threshold, the content of the request including a requirement for UE M to assist group member UEs in selecting sidelink resources.

[0286] This embodiment also includes indicating the candidate sidelink resource sets of all group member UEs in the same sidelink signaling in a multicast manner.

[0287] As another subject of this embodiment, a group member UE may send a request to UE5, the content of the request including a request for UE5 to assist the group member UE in selecting sidelink resources; when a group member UE receives a candidate sidelink resource set from UE5, it may also determine resources for transmitting sidelink transmissions to UE5 and / or other group members and / or other sidelink UEs according to the candidate sidelink resource set. The specific method is the same as in other embodiments, and therefore will not be described here. A typical application scenario of this embodiment is multicast communication in a resource allocation mode independently selected by UEs (i.e., Mode 2), especially in a motorcade scenario or a scenario where other group members are geographically close.

[0288] In the prior art, the main drawback of using Mode 2 is that there is no difference in resource selection between multicast and unicast communication for TX UEs.

[0289] In the third embodiment, a specific UE is regarded as a group manager UE M, and UE M assists group member UE m in resource selection as an additional optimization based on the prior art. The method in the third embodiment achieves the effect of the group manager UE M allocating sidelink resources to group members by providing information to assist resource selection, and by performing a scheduling role similar to that of a base station, the potential risk of collision between group member UE M can be reduced.

[0290] In the prior art, the main drawback of using Mode 1 is that it is difficult for the base station to detect the channel condition of the sidelink UE.

[0291] In the third embodiment, the group manager UE M can to some extent infer the channel conditions of the group member UE M through channel detection, and the benefit is particularly significant when the distance between the group manager UE M and different group member UE M is short.

[0292] The sidelink resource allocation method in an NR V2X system provided in this application can also be applied to, for example, an LTE V2X system and other communication systems.

[0293] Those skilled in the art will recognize that the present disclosure includes apparatuses adapted to perform one or more of the operations described herein. Such apparatuses may be specially designed and manufactured for the desired purpose, or may include known apparatuses within a general-purpose computer. These apparatuses store a computer program that can be selectively activated or reconfigured. Such computer programs can be stored on any device- (e.g., computer-) readable medium, including, but not limited to, any type of disk (including floppy disks, hard disks, optical disks, CD-ROMs, and magneto-optical disks), read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, magnetic card, or optical card. In other words, readable media includes any medium that stores or transmits information in a manner readable by a device (e.g., computer).

[0294] Those skilled in the art will understand that each block in the structural diagrams and / or block diagrams and / or flowcharts, and combinations of blocks in the structural diagrams and / or block diagrams and / or flowcharts, may be embodied by computer program instructions, which may be provided to a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, or other programmable data processing device for implementation, and that solutions represented by one or more blocks in the structural diagrams and / or block diagrams and / or flowcharts disclosed in this disclosure are executed by a processor in the computer or other programmable data processing device.

[0295] Those skilled in the art will understand that the steps, means, and schemes of the various operations, methods, and processes discussed in this disclosure may be replaced, modified, rearranged, disassembled, combined, or deleted. For similar technical solutions, the implementation and / or specific implementation may vary depending on the scenario, and the scope of such variations can be determined by those skilled in the art based on conventional techniques and common sense. For example, some operations and operating conditions of a transmitting UE may be applied to a receiving UE and / or group manager UE in some scenarios.

[0296] It should be noted that the above contents are only a part of the embodiments of the present disclosure, and those skilled in the art may make various improvements and modifications without departing from the principles of the present disclosure, and such improvements and modifications are deemed to fall within the scope of protection of the present disclosure.

Claims

1. 1. A method performed by a first terminal in a communication system, comprising: receiving, from a second terminal, request information instructing the first terminal to assist a resource allocation mode 2 for sidelink transmission of the second terminal, wherein the first terminal is configured to assist the resource allocation mode 2 of another terminal; determining a resource set based on the request information; and transmitting information about the resource set to a second terminal.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the request information is for data to be received by the first terminal from the second terminal.

3. 10. The method of claim 1, wherein the information about the resource set is transmitted via one or more of: (i) a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE), or (ii) a sidelink control information (SCI) format.

4. The step of determining the resource set comprises: identifying an initial set of resources; excluding one or more resources from the initial set of resources on which the first terminal transmits; and determining the resource set based on the initial set of resources from which the one or more resources have been excluded, wherein the determined resource set corresponds to a resource set preferred by the first terminal.

5. 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a sidelink transmission of the second terminal from the second terminal, wherein one or more resources on which the sidelink transmission of the second terminal is received are included in the resource set.

6. In a first terminal of the communication system, A transmitter / receiver, a processor coupled to the transceiver, the processor comprising: receive, from a second terminal, request information instructing the first terminal to assist a resource allocation mode 2 for sidelink transmission of the second terminal, the first terminal being configured to assist the resource allocation mode 2 of another terminal; determining a resource set based on the request information; A first terminal configured to transmit information about the resource set to a second terminal.

7. The first terminal of claim 6 , wherein the request information is for data received by the first terminal from the second terminal.

8. 7. The first terminal of claim 6, wherein the information about the resource set is transmitted via one or more of: (i) a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE); or (ii) a sidelink control information (SCI) format.

9. In determining the resource set, the processor: Identifying an initial set of resources; excluding one or more resources from the initial set of resources on which the first terminal transmits; The first terminal of claim 6, configured to determine the resource set based on the initial set of resources from which the one or more resources have been excluded, and the determined resource set corresponds to a resource set preferred by the first terminal.

10. 7. The first terminal of claim 6, wherein the processor is configured to receive a sidelink transmission of the second terminal from the second terminal, and one or more resources on which the sidelink transmission of the second terminal is received are included in the resource set.

11. 1. A method performed by a second terminal in a communication system, comprising: transmitting, to a first terminal, request information instructing the second terminal to assist a resource allocation mode 2 for sidelink transmission, the second terminal being configured in association with the resource allocation mode 2 being assisted by the first terminal; receiving information about a resource set from the first terminal as a response to the request information; selecting one or more resources based on information about the resource set and the resource allocation mode 2; and causing the first terminal to perform the sidelink transmission based on the one or more resources.

12. 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the information regarding the resource set is received through one or more of: (i) a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE); or (ii) a sidelink control information (SCI) format.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the resource set corresponds to a resource set preferred by the first terminal.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the one or more resources are included in the resource set.

15. The method of claim 11 , wherein the request information is for data to be transmitted by the second terminal to the first terminal.

16. In a second terminal of the communication system, A transmitter / receiver, a processor coupled to the transceiver, the processor comprising: transmit, to a first terminal, request information instructing the second terminal to assist a resource allocation mode 2 for sidelink transmission, the second terminal being configured in association with the resource allocation mode 2 being assisted by the first terminal; receiving information about a resource set from the first terminal as a response to the request information; selecting one or more resources based on information about the resource set and the resource allocation mode 2; A second terminal configured to perform the sidelink transmission based on the one or more resources on the first terminal.

17. 17. The second terminal of claim 16, wherein the information about the resource set is received through one or more of: (i) a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE); or (ii) a sidelink control information (SCI) format.

18. A second terminal as described in claim 16, wherein the resource set corresponds to a resource set preferred by the first terminal.

19. A second terminal as described in claim 16, wherein the one or more resources are included in the resource set.

20. The second terminal of claim 16, wherein the request information is for data to be transmitted by the second terminal to the first terminal.

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