Method and device for sidelink communication

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a method and device for sidelink communication, which helps improve channel access efficiency for a PSFCH in a shared spectrum. The method comprises: a terminal device receiving a first PSSCH; the terminal device performing channel access in a shared spectrum—wherein the first PSSCH is associated with a plurality of PSFCH transmitting resources in the shared spectrum, and the plurality of PSFCH transmitting resources are determined based on reserved resources and / or dynamic resources in the shared spectrum—; and the terminal device transmitting the first PSFCH using one of the plurality of PSFCH transmitting resources—wherein the first PSFCH carries feedback information associated with the first PSSCH.

Description

Technology Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to a method and device for sidelink communication. Background Technology

[0002] When performing sidelink communication over a shared spectrum, the terminal device performs the channel access process through mechanisms such as listen before talk (LBT) and similar methods. When the terminal device transmits the physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH) but the channel access process fails, the transmission of feedback information carried by the PSFCH may fail.

[0003] For terminal devices receiving PSFCH, even if the feedback information is an acknowledgment (ACK), overhead for retransmission will occur because the terminal device cannot receive the feedback information, which affects the system's transmission efficiency. Therefore, improving channel access efficiency for PSFCH is an urgent issue that must be resolved.

[0004] The present disclosure provides a method and device for sidelink communication, which helps improve channel access efficiency for PSFCH.

[0005] Some embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method for sidelink communication. The method comprises: a terminal device receiving a first physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH); the terminal device performing channel access in a shared spectrum—wherein the first PSSCH is associated with a plurality of PSFCH transmitting resources in the shared spectrum, and the plurality of PSFCH transmitting resources are determined based on a reserved resource, a dynamic resource, or a reserved resource and a dynamic resource in the shared spectrum—; and the terminal device transmitting the first PSFCH through one of the plurality of PSFCH transmitting resources—wherein the first PSFCH carries feedback information associated with the first PSSCH.

[0006] Some embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method for sidelink communication. The method comprises: a terminal device performing channel listening in a shared spectrum; and the terminal device transmitting a first sidelink channel by continuous slot transmission in response to the result of channel listening being an idle channel. The continuous slot transmission corresponds to a plurality of continuous time slots, and a first transmission block carried by the first sidelink channel comprises transmission data corresponding to a plurality of continuous time slots, and the first sidelink channel comprises at least one PSFCH.

[0007] Some embodiments of the present disclosure provide a device for sidelink communication, wherein the device is a terminal device as described herein. The terminal device comprises: a receiving unit configured to receive a first PSSCH; an accessing unit configured to perform channel access in a shared spectrum—wherein the first PSSCH is associated with a plurality of PSFCH transmitting resources in the shared spectrum, and the plurality of PSFCH transmitting resources are determined based on a reserved resource, a dynamic resource, or a reserved resource and a dynamic resource in the shared spectrum—; and a transmitting unit configured to transmit the first PSFCH through one of the plurality of PSFCH transmitting resources—wherein the first PSFCH carries feedback information associated with the first PSSCH.

[0008] Some embodiments of the present disclosure provide a device for sidelink communication, wherein the device is a terminal device. The terminal device comprises: a listening unit configured to perform channel listening in a shared spectrum; and a transmitting unit configured to transmit a first sidelink channel by continuous slot transmission in response to the result of channel listening being an idle channel. The continuous slot transmission corresponds to a plurality of continuous time slots, and a first transmission block carried by the first sidelink channel comprises transmission data corresponding to a plurality of continuous time slots, and the first sidelink channel comprises at least one PSFCH.

[0009] Some embodiments of the present disclosure provide a communication device comprising a memory and a processor. The memory is configured to store a program, and when the program is called and executed by the processor, the processor enables the processor to implement an operation of the method exemplified above.

[0010] Some embodiments of the present disclosure provide a device comprising a processor. The processor is configured to call and execute a program stored in memory to implement the operation of a method such as that exemplified above.

[0011] Some embodiments of the present disclosure provide a chip comprising a processor. The processor is configured to call and execute a program stored in memory so that a device comprising the chip can implement an operation of the method exemplified above.

[0012] Some embodiments of the present disclosure provide a non-transient computer-readable storage medium configured to store a program, and when the program is called and executed, the computer enables the computer to implement the operation of the method as exemplified above.

[0013] Some embodiments of the present disclosure provide a computer program product comprising a program, wherein when the program is called and executed, the computer enables the computer to implement an operation of the method as exemplified above.

[0014] Some embodiments of the present disclosure provide a computer program. When the computer program is called and executed, it causes the computer to implement an operation of a method as exemplified above.

[0015] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, a PSSCH is associated with a plurality of PSFCH transmission resources, and a terminal device may transmit a PSFCH associated with the PSSCH using one of the plurality of PSFCH transmission resources. Accordingly, even if the channel access process for the current transmission resource fails, the terminal device may select another PSFCH transmission resource to transmit the PSFCH. In this way, the channel access efficiency for the PSFCH can be improved, which helps improve transmission efficiency and reduce overhead. Brief explanation of the drawing

[0016] FIG. 1 illustrates a wireless communication system according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of NR-V2X communication. Figure 3 is a structural diagram of a frame that does not carry PSFCH. Figure 4 is a structural diagram of a frame carrying PSFCH. FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a method for side-link communication according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. FIG. 6 is a flowchart of another method for sidelink communication according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. Figure 7 is a schematic diagram of a possible frame structure for multiple consecutive time slots in the same manner as exemplified in Figure 6. Figure 8 is a schematic diagram of another possible frame structure for multiple consecutive time slots in the same way as exemplified in Figure 6. FIG. 9 is a structural diagram of a device for sidelink communication according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. FIG. 10 is a structural diagram of another device for sidelink communication according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. FIG. 11 is a structural diagram of a communication device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. Specific details for implementing the invention

[0017] The following describes the technical solution of the present disclosure together with the attached drawings. For ease of understanding, the communication process and technical terms associated with the present disclosure will first be introduced together with FIGS. 1 through 4.

[0018] FIG. 1 is a system architecture diagram of a wireless communication system (100) according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. The wireless communication system (100) may include a network device (110) and terminal devices (121 to 129). The network device (110) may provide communication coverage for a specific geographical area and may communicate with terminals within the coverage area.

[0019] In some implementations, communication between terminal devices may be implemented via a sidelink (SL). Sidelink communication may also be referred to as proximity service (ProSe) communication, one-sided communication, sidelink communication, device-to-device (D2D) communication, and sidelink communication.

[0020] In other words, sidelink data is transmitted between terminal devices via a sidelink. Sidelink data may include data and / or control signaling. In some implementations, sidelink data may be, for example, a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH), PSSCH, a PSCCH demodulation reference signal (DMRS), PSSCH DMRS, PSFCH, etc.

[0021] In the following, several common sidelink communication scenarios are described together with Fig. 1. In sidelink communication, there are three scenarios depending on whether the terminal device using the sidelink is within the coverage range of the network device. Scenario 1, the terminal device performs sidelink communication within the coverage range of the network device. Scenario 2, some terminal devices perform sidelink communication within the coverage range of the network device. Scenario 3, the terminal device performs sidelink communication outside the coverage range of the network device.

[0022] As illustrated in FIG. 1, in Scenario 1, terminal devices (121 to 122) communicate via a sidelink, and the terminal devices (121 to 122) are within the coverage range of the network device (110). In other words, the terminal devices (121 to 122) are within the coverage range of the same network device (110). In this scenario, the network device (110) can transmit configuration signaling to the terminal devices (121 to 122), and accordingly, the terminal devices (121 to 122) communicate via the sidelink based on the configuration signaling.

[0023] As illustrated in FIG. 1, in Scenario 2, terminal devices (123 to 124) communicate via a side link, and terminal device (123) is within the coverage range of network device (110), but terminal device (124) is outside the coverage range of network device (110). In this case, terminal device (123) receives configuration information from network device (110) and communicates via the side link based on configuration signaling. However, in the case of terminal device (124) located outside the coverage range of network device (110), it cannot receive configuration information from network device (110). In this case, terminal device (124) can obtain a configuration of side link communication based on pre-configured configuration information and / or configuration information transmitted by terminal device (123) within the coverage range, and can communicate with terminal device (123) via the side link based on the obtained configuration.

[0024] In some implementations, the terminal device (123) can transmit the above-mentioned configuration information to the terminal device (124) via a physical sidelink broadcast channel (PSBCH) to configure the terminal device (124) to communicate via a sidelink.

[0025] As illustrated in FIG. 1, in Scenario 3, all terminal devices (125 to 129) are outside the coverage range of the network device (110) and cannot communicate with the network device (110). In this case, the terminal devices perform sidelink communication based on pre-configured information.

[0026] It is noted that FIG. 1 illustrates a network device and a plurality of terminal devices by way of example. Alternatively, the wireless communication system (100) may include a plurality of network devices, and the coverage range of each network device may include a different number of terminal devices. The embodiments of the present disclosure are not specifically limited thereto.

[0027] In some implementations, the wireless communication system (100) may further include other network entities such as a network controller, a mobile management entity, or something similar. The embodiments of the present disclosure are not specifically limited thereto.

[0028] It should be understood that the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied to various communication systems such as 5th generation (5G) systems or New Radio (NR) systems, Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, LTE Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) systems, LTE Time Division Duplex (TDD) systems, and similar ones. The technical solutions provided by the present disclosure may also be applied to future communication systems such as 6th generation mobile communication systems, satellite communication systems, and similar ones.

[0029] A terminal device in an embodiment of the present disclosure may also be referred to as user equipment (UE), access terminal, user unit, user station, mobile radio station, mobile station (MS), mobile terminal (MT), remote station, remote terminal, mobile device, user terminal, wireless communication device, user proxy, or user device. A terminal device in an embodiment of the present disclosure may refer to a device that provides voice and / or data connectivity to a user and may be used to connect people, objects, and machines, such as a handheld device or a vehicle-mounted device having wireless connectivity capabilities. In an embodiment of the present disclosure, a terminal device may be a mobile phone, tablet PC, laptop, personal digital assistant, mobile internet device (MID), wearable device, vehicle, wireless terminal in industrial control, wireless terminal in autonomous driving, wireless terminal in remote medical surgery, wireless terminal in a smart grid, wireless terminal in traffic safety, wireless terminal in a smart city, wireless terminal in a smart home, and similar. Alternatively, a terminal device may be used as a base station. For example, a terminal device can act as a scheduling entity that provides sidelink signals between terminal devices in Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) or Device-to-Device (D2D) communication. For instance, a mobile phone and a vehicle communicate with each other using sidelink data. A mobile phone and a smart home device communicate with each other without the need for relay communication signals from a base station.

[0030] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, a network device may be a device configured to communicate with a terminal device, and the network device may also be referred to as a radio access network device or an access network device, such as a base station. In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the network device may refer to a radio access network (RAN) node (or device) that enables a terminal device to access a radio network. A base station may broadly cover or be replaced by various names such as Node B, evolved Node B (eNB), next generation Node B (gNB), relay station, transmitting and receiving point (TRP), transmitting point (AP), access point (AP), main station (MeNB), secondary station (SeNB), multi-standard radio (MSR) node, home base station, network controller, access node, radio node, transmitting node, transceiver node, base band unit (BBU), remote radio unit (RRU), active antenna unit (AAU), remote radio head (RRH), central unit (CU), distributed unit (DU), positioning node, etc. A base station may be a macro base station, a micro base station, a relay node, a donor node, or a similar one, or a combination thereof. A base station may also refer to a communication module, modem, or chip installed in the equipment or device mentioned above.A base station may also be a device acting as a base station in D2D, V2X, or machine-to-machine (M2M) communication, a mobile switching center, a network-end device in a 6G network, and a device acting as a base station in future communication systems. A base station may support networks having the same or different access technologies. Embodiments of the present disclosure do not limit the specific technology and device form of the network device.

[0031] The base station may be fixed or mobile. For example, a helicopter or drone may be configured to serve as a mobile base station, and one or more cells may move according to the location of the mobile base station. In another example, the helicopter or drone may be configured as a device to communicate with another base station.

[0032] In some deployments, the network device in the embodiments of the present disclosure may refer to a CU or a DU, or the network device includes a CU and a DU. The gNB may also include an AAU.

[0033] Network devices and terminal devices may be deployed on the ground, on water, or in the air on aircraft, hot air balloons, and satellites, including indoors or outdoors, and as handheld or vehicle-mounted. Embodiments of the present disclosure do not limit the scenarios in which network devices and terminal devices are located.

[0034] It should be understood that in this disclosure, all or part of the functions of the communication device may also be achieved through software functions executed in hardware, or through virtualization functions instantiated on a platform such as a cloud platform.

[0035] Sidelink communication mode

[0036] With the development of sidelink communication technology, this involves the exchange of information between various terminal devices. Taking the V2X communication system (200) illustrated in FIG. 2 as an example, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication between a terminal device (201) and a terminal device (202) involves the exchange of information between vehicles. Vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication, vehicle-to-network (V2N) communication, and vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P) communication between a terminal device (201) and terminal devices (203 to 205) involve the exchange of information between the vehicle and an external system.

[0037] The gradual expansion of the scope of information exchange has proposed higher requirements for communication systems. Taking the development of V2X as an example, in LTE-V2X, only the broadcast mode is supported for sidelink communication between terminal devices. In NR-VX, three communication modes: broadcast, group cast, and unicast can be supported.

[0038] Broadcast is the most basic communication mode in sidelink communication. In the transmission mode of broadcast, the terminal device receiving sidelink data may be any terminal device surrounding the terminal device functioning as a transmitter. For example, referring to FIG. 1, assuming that the terminal device (125) is a transmitter and transmits sidelink data by broadcasting, any of the terminal devices (121 to 124 and 126 to 129) located around the terminal device (125) may serve as a receiver for the sidelink data.

[0039] Group cast communication is used to support the exchange of information between terminal devices within a specific group (or communication group) to assist in negotiation and decision-making among terminal devices within the group. A communication group using group cast communication may be a management group with a stable connection relationship, or a temporary group configured in a connectionless manner.

[0040] In group cast transmission, the terminal devices receiving the sidelink data may be all terminal devices within the communication group. Alternatively, the terminal devices receiving the sidelink data may be all terminal devices within a specific transmission range. For example, referring to FIG. 1, in the case of a communication group including terminal devices (127 to 129), when terminal device (127) transmits sidelink data via group cast, other terminal devices (128 to 129) within the communication group are receiving terminals that receive the sidelink data. For example, referring to FIG. 1, assuming that terminal devices within a preset range include terminal devices (127 to 129), when terminal device (127) transmits sidelink data via group cast, other terminal devices (128 to 129) within the preset range are receiving terminals that receive the sidelink data.

[0041] Unicast communication can achieve sidelink communication between two terminal devices. Taking NR-V2X as an example, radio resource control (RRC) signaling based on the PC5 interface can achieve stable communication from one terminal device to another terminal device.

[0042] In unicast transmission mode, there is generally only one terminal device that receives sidelink data. As illustrated in FIG. 1, communication between terminal device (121) and terminal device (122) can be implemented via unicast transmission. For example, when terminal device (121) communicates with terminal device (122) using a sidelink, terminal device (122) receives sidelink data as the sole receiving device. Sidelink data may include PSSCH and PSCCH. Terminal device (122) can obtain sidelink control information (SCI) associated with scheduling by demodulation and sidelink transmission, and SCI can help terminal device (122) receive and decode sidelink information.

[0043] In some communication systems, the sidelink supports a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) mechanism through ACK / NACK acknowledgment. Sidelink HARQ feedback is transmitted from the PSFCH to the transmitting terminal device by the receiving terminal device.

[0044] In sidelink communication, the terminal device may also be a device that meets the requirements of different protocols and may include an LTE SL module and / or an NR SL module. The different protocols may be protocols released or planned for release under the third generation partnership project (3GPP), including Rel-16, Rel-17, Rel-18, or similar ones. Specifically, these terminal devices mainly include the following five types:

[0045] Class A device: Rel-18 device including an LTE SL module and an NR SL module.

[0046] Class B device: Rel-18 device containing only an NR SL module.

[0047] Class C devices: Rel-14 / Rel-15 devices containing only an LTE SL module.

[0048] Class D device: Rel-16 / Rel-17 device containing only an NR SL module.

[0049] Class E device: Rel-16 device including an LTE SL module and an NR SL module.

[0050] Sidelink resource allocation method

[0051] In some communication systems (such as NR), two resource allocation methods are defined for sidelink resources, including mode 1 and mode 2.

[0052] In Mode 1, the network device schedules sidelink resources for the terminal device.

[0053] Currently, Mode 1 includes two methods: dynamic resource configuration and sidelink configuration authorization. In the case of dynamic resource configuration, the network device can allocate sidelink transmit resources to a terminal device by transmitting downlink control information (DCI). DCI corresponds to the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH). In the case of sidelink configuration authorization, when the terminal device is configured with sidelink resources and the terminal device has data to be transmitted, the terminal device can transmit data using the configured sidelink resources without needing to request sidelink resources again from the network device. In the case of periodic service, the network device typically allocates semi-static transmit resources to the terminal device. By scheduling transmit resources for terminal devices on the direct link by the network device, resource conflicts can be effectively prevented, and hidden node issues can be addressed.

[0054] For example, referring to FIG. 1, terminal devices (121 to 123) are located within the coverage range of a network device (110), and the network device (110) can allocate sidelink resources to the terminal devices (121 to 123).

[0055] In Mode 2, the terminal device independently selects a sidelink resource from the sidelink resource pool.

[0056] A sidelink resource pool may be configured by a network device or pre-configured. In some embodiments, the network device may configure a sidelink resource pool for a terminal device through upper-level signaling. The terminal device selects a time-frequency resource from a resource pool configured by the network device or pre-configured by listening to resources or random selection. For example, in FIG. 1, terminal devices (124 to 129) are located outside the coverage range of the network device (110), and terminal devices (124 to 129) may independently select a sidelink resource from a resource pool configured by the network device.

[0057] In this mode, the terminal device may also reserve a resource for a blind transmission (or retransmission) of a transport block (TB) based on scheduling instructions from the SCI or resource awareness, or reserve a transmission (or retransmission) based on HARQ feedback. For example, SCI-1 transmitted by the terminal device in the PSCCH indicates a time-frequency resource reserved by the terminal device, and the aware terminal device excludes the resource indicated in the SCI, thereby reducing the possibility of resource conflicts.

[0058] A process executed by a terminal device includes a resource recognition process and / or a resource selection process. A terminal device within a recognition window can recognize resources within a selection window and thereby select or exclude candidate resources within the selection window. The end point of the resource selection window is prior to the triggering point of resource selection. During the recognition process, the terminal device can also determine the occupancy or interference of a sidelink resource by measuring the value of the reference signal receiving power (RSRP) of the resources within the recognition window.

[0059] In the case of periodic services, the sidelink may reserve (or reserve) sidelink communication resources for a terminal device at the expected time of data arrival to prevent resource contention with other terminal devices. For example, the transmission resources (transmission timing) of the PSFCH may appear periodically in the time domain within the resource pool and may have a configured / pre-configured period.

[0060] Sidelink system frame structure

[0061] A frame structure (time slot structure) of a system frame for a side link according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is illustrated below with FIGS. 3 and FIGS. 4. The system frame is a single time slot containing 14 time domain symbols. The system frame includes two structures: one with feedback and one without feedback. The feedback is carried by a PSFCH as illustrated above. FIG. 3 illustrates the frame structure of a system frame that does not carry a PSFCH, and FIG. 4 illustrates the frame structure of a system frame that carries a PSFCH.

[0062] The SCI in FIGS. 3 and 4 comprises two parts, namely, a first stage SCI (SCI-1) and a second stage SCI (SCI-2). The first stage (SCI-1) is transmitted in PSCCH and the second stage (SCI-2) is transmitted in PSSCH.

[0063] Referring to FIG. 3, in the time domain, the sidelink symbol occupied by SCI-1 transmitted in the PSCCH starts from the second sidelink symbol of the system frame (e.g., an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol) and includes two or three sidelink symbols. Transmitting the PSCCH at the beginning of the time slot facilitates the receiving terminal device to start PSCCH demodulation as soon as possible, and the early acquisition of the PSCCH by the terminal device can reduce the power consumption of the terminal device.

[0064] In the frequency domain, a PSCCH can occupy multiple physical resource blocks (PRBs). Generally, to reduce the complexity of blind detection of a PSCCH by a terminal device, multiple PSCCH symbols and multiple PRBs within the resource pool are configured with their respective fixed values.

[0065] Referring to FIG. 3, in the time domain, the SCI-2 transmitted over the PSSCH also begins at the second sidelink symbol of the system frame and ends at the second-to-last sidelink symbol of the system frame. In the frequency domain, the PSSCH occupies multiple subchannels for the system frame. In the sidelink resource pool, the subchannel is the minimum granularity for the allocation of PSSCH frequency domain resources. The resource pool is n of 10, 12, 15, 20, 25, 50, 75, or 100. SubCHsize PRB, n in this specification SubCHsizeIt may include multiple subchannels, each composed of a value.

[0066] Therefore, a portion of the PSCCH or PSSCH associated with the PSCCH is transmitted from a resource that overlaps temporally but not in frequency, and a different portion of the PSCCH and PSSCH is transmitted from a resource that does not overlap temporally.

[0067] Generally, the first sidelink symbol within a time slot is a repetition of the second sidelink symbol. When a terminal device receives a system frame, the first sidelink symbol may be used as an automatic gain control (AGC) symbol. Data on the AGC symbol is generally not used for data demodulation. The last symbol within the time slot is a GAP symbol that serves as a guard gap.

[0068] Referring to FIG. 4, when PSFCH is carried in a time slot, the second-to-last sidelink symbol and the third-to-last sidelink symbol in the system frame are used for PSFCH transmission. Furthermore, GAP symbols must be reserved after PSSCH or PSFCH. The value of the pre-configuration cycle for the PSFCH resource can be a {1, 2, 4} time slot.

[0069] Through the configuration of SCI, multiplexed scheduling for multiple services in a single time slot can be supported.

[0070] Sidelink communication spectrum

[0071] The spectrum used by communication systems includes licensed spectrum and unlicensed spectrum. An important aspect of the expansion of communication systems into different fields is the use of unlicensed spectrum. For example, NR placed in unlicensed spectrum is referred to as NR-U.

[0072] Currently, sidelinks primarily use the licensed spectrum. Sidelinks can also use the unlicensed spectrum. Sidelinks deployed in the unlicensed spectrum may be referred to as SL-U.

[0073] Compared to licensed spectrum, unlicensed spectrum possesses the characteristics of permissionless sharing, so it is also known as shared spectrum. For operators, spectrum sharing facilitates the timely aggregation of spectrum, thereby dynamically supporting high-bandwidth services. Spectrum sharing can also extend the benefits of communication technologies (such as NR) to operational entities that may not be able to acquire licensed spectrum.

[0074] Spectrum sharing requires considering the coexistence of different radio access technology (RAT) systems, such as WiFi systems, LTE-based license-assisted access (LAA) systems, and similar ones. These different systems utilize frequency bands within the unlicensed spectrum in a competitive manner based on the principles of channel access fairness and the coexistence of multiple RATs.

[0075] In a shared spectrum, any RAT system must communicate within the limits of unlicensed spectrum supervision rules. Supervision rules include power and power spectrum density levels, maximum channel occupancy time (COT), bandwidth occupied by a channel, channel listening mechanisms, etc. In the same frequency band, each system must meet the requirements of the supervision rules and reasonably occupy and release channels to prevent interference with other RAT systems within the same frequency band.

[0076] To utilize shared spectrum, RAT systems may employ mandatory listening techniques (such as LBT) to access the network. In other words, data transmission occurs only when it is listened that the channel is not currently occupied. Consequently, it cannot be guaranteed that some data will be transmitted on a predetermined channel.

[0077] When performing sidelink communication in a shared spectrum, a terminal device can detect the presence of an idle channel using a channel listening mechanism such as LBT, perform channel access to the idle resource, and transmit data based on the supervision rules mentioned above. For example, when a terminal device transmits data for a channel resource, the limitations of the Channel of Time (COT) must be satisfied. In other words, continuous data transmission must be limited to the COT time; if this is exceeded, the terminal device must release the channel and perform LBT again.

[0078] When performing channel access in the shared spectrum, transmission by the terminal device may be interrupted in response to the failure of the channel access process (such as an LBT failure).

[0079] In the case of critical transmissions, failure of the channel access process can result in the loss of critical transmission information. Critical transmissions are, for example, PSFCH transmissions. PSFCHs are used to carry HARQ feedback for PSSCHs. The lack of HARQ feedback can have a significant impact on performance. Therefore, in resource allocation mode 2, for PSFCHs, a Type 1 LBT is typically used as the reference channel access with a channel access priority class (CAPC) value p=1. A p value of 1 indicates that the PSFCH has a relatively high channel access priority class. Subject to all applicable restrictions, PSFCHs may also use a Type 2 LBT for channel access in the case of COT sharing.

[0080] As mentioned above, a transmission opportunity (TO) for a PSFCH may appear periodically in the time domain within the resource pool. A transmission opportunity for a PSFCH may be one or more RBs in a set of available resource blocks (RBs). A PSSCH is transmitted using a subchannel and a time slot in the time domain within the resource pool. By mapping a PSSCH transmission resource to one or more RBs, a PSFCH transmission can be implemented. In the associated sidelink, the timeline for the PSFCH to provide HARQ feedback has only one opportunity for the PSFCH transmission. In other words, a PSSCH transmission is associated with only a single transmission opportunity for the PSFCH. Therefore, before the terminal device transmits feedback corresponding to the PSSCH, the channel access process must be performed before the PSFCH transmission opportunity associated with the PSSCH.

[0081] As mentioned above, there is uncertainty in channel access mechanisms such as LBT. If the channel access process for the PSSCH performed prior to the transmission opportunity fails, the HARQ feedback associated with the PSSCH (such as HARQ-ACK feedback) cannot be transmitted and will be discarded. The lack of HARQ feedback from the PSSCH can have a significant impact on performance.

[0082] Taking a unicast link as an example, a terminal device acting as the transmitter sends a PSSCH, and a terminal device acting as the receiver receives the reception status and provides feedback on it. When the LBT performed prior to the reception terminal device transmitting the PSSCH fails, the transmitting terminal device considers the lost PSSCH signal as a NACK. In other words, when the feedback carried by the PSSCH is a HARQ-NACK, the transmitting terminal device retransmits the PSSCH regardless of whether the PSSCH is lost. When the feedback carried by the PSSCH is an ACK, the transmitting terminal device must still retransmit the PSSCH because no feedback information was received. Retransmitting the PSSCH incurs a specific overhead, thereby affecting transmission performance and efficiency. Furthermore, in the case of the receiving terminal device, after receiving the PSSCH, the terminal device first decodes it and provides feedback based on the decoding result. When the feedback information is discarded, decoding by the terminal device becomes unnecessary overhead, which further affects system performance and transmission efficiency.

[0083] Therefore, due to the uncertainty of channel access in the shared spectrum, when PSSCH transmission is associated with only one PSFCH transmission opportunity, the channel access efficiency for PSFCH is low, which further affects system performance and transmission efficiency.

[0084] In this regard, some embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method for sidelink communication. In this method, a PSSCH is associated with a plurality of PSFCH transmitting resources, and a terminal device can flexibly select one of the plurality of PSFCH transmitting resources to transmit the PSFCH. In this way, the certainty of channel access for the PSFCH can be improved. A method for sidelink communication according to some embodiments of the present disclosure is illustrated below together with FIG. 5.

[0085] Referring to FIG. 5, at S510, the terminal device receives the first PSSCH.

[0086] The terminal device may be a device for sidelink communication. For example, the terminal device may be a Class A device, a Class B device, or a device of the other three types as exemplified above. In some embodiments, the terminal device may function as a receiver in the sidelink to receive data transmitted by another terminal device. In some embodiments, the terminal device may function as a transmitter in the sidelink to transmit data and feedback information to another terminal device.

[0087] A terminal device may receive the first PSSCH using a plurality of communication modes. In some embodiments, the terminal device may be a receiving device in unicast communication. In some embodiments, the terminal device may be a group member of a broadcast communication group or a communication group and may receive the first PSSCH transmitted by a group header terminal or another group member. For example, the terminal device may be a vehicle that receives the first PSSCH transmitted by another vehicle within the communication group.

[0088] In some embodiments, the terminal device receiving the first PSSCH may be located within or outside the coverage range of the network. For example, a terminal device located within the coverage range of the network may receive the first PSSCH transmitted by the network device.

[0089] The first PSSCH may be a side link including SCI-2. A terminal device may demodulate the first PSSCH based on SCI-2 to receive transmitted data carried by the first PSSCH, such as a transmission block.

[0090] The transmission of the first PSSCH may be a transmission based on continuous RBs, interleaved RBs, or interlaced RBs. In some embodiments, for PSSCH transmission, one subchannel may be considered as a interlaced, where a may be a value of 1 or another fixed value. In some embodiments, the subchannel used for PSSCH transmission may be limited to one set of RBs or may be included by one or more sets of RBs in a resource pool.

[0091] The first PSSCH may be a data channel having a specific HARQ timeline or a data channel having a different HARQ timeline.

[0092] In S520, the terminal device performs channel access in the shared spectrum.

[0093] Channel access may be an initial access for data transmission by a terminal device. In some embodiments, channel access may include only an initial access performed by the terminal device. For example, channel access may be a resource-aware access. In some embodiments, channel access may include channel listening and initial access performed by the terminal device.

[0094] In the shared spectrum, the first PSSCH in S510 may be associated with multiple PSFCH transmission resources. The PSFCH transmission resources may be one or more RBs. In the time domain, the PSFCH transmission resources may also be referred to as PSFCH transmission opportunities.

[0095] In some embodiments, by mapping the first PSSCH to a plurality of PSFCH transmission resources, the requirements of different transmission modes for the PSFCH transmission resources can be satisfied. For example, in the case of continuous slot transmission, some time slots in the system frame structure may not be used to transmit the PSFCH. Flexible mapping of the PSFCH transmission resources can improve transmission efficiency.

[0096] Multiple PSFCH transmit resources may be continuous or discontinuous time-frequency resources. In some embodiments, multiple PSFCH transmit resources may be multiple continuous RBs within a resource pool. In some embodiments, multiple PSFCH transmit resources may be allocated in an interleaved and interlaced manner. Interleaved waveforms may be associated with the number of RBs required for each PSFCH. In some embodiments, each PSFCH transmit resource may occur from a continuous resource within the same time slot.

[0097] Multiple PSFCH transmission resources can be determined based on multiple types of resources, which will be explained in detail below.

[0098] Multiple PSFCH transmit resources may be indicated by an SCI or other dedicated signaling. In some embodiments, the SCI may indicate the time slot length (number of time slots) of the multiple PSFCH transmit resources. In some embodiments, the number of PSFCH transmit resources may also be indicated by an SCI configuration signaling or other dedicated signaling.

[0099] In S530, the terminal device transmits the first PSFCH using one of the multiple PSFCH transmission resources.

[0100] The first PSFCH can carry feedback information associated with the first PSSCH, and the feedback information can be ACK or NACK in the HARQ feedback.

[0101] In some embodiments, feedback information may be determined based on the reception of the first PSSCH by the terminal device. For example, in a poor transmission environment, the first PSSCH received by the terminal device experiences packet loss, and the feedback information is NACK. In some embodiments, feedback information may be determined based on the decoding of the first PSSCH by the terminal device. For example, after decoding the first PSSCH, the terminal device determines that the transmission of the first PSSCH was successful, and the feedback information is ACK.

[0102] The transmission of the first PSFCH may be either the initial transmission of feedback information or the retransmission of feedback information.

[0103] The first PSFCH may be transmitted through the time-frequency resources of a plurality of PSFCH transmission resources. In some embodiments, the first PSFCH may be transmitted through a single PSFCH transmission resource. In some embodiments, the first PSFCH may be transmitted through a plurality of PSFCH transmission resources. For example, when the first PSFCH is associated with a transmission resource t, the first PSFCH may be transmitted through a transmission resource less than t or a transmission resource t. The PSFCH transmission resources may be interlaced and interleaved.

[0104] In some embodiments, the first PSFCH may be flexibly transmitted based on a plurality of PSFCH transmission resources. For example, a terminal device may select any one of the plurality of PSFCH transmission resources according to a successful channel access process. For example, when the channel access process for a PSFCH prior to a transmission resource fails, the terminal device may select a subsequent transmission resource for transmission. The subsequent transmission resource may be occupied by the next cycle or the next channel to ensure the transmission of HARQ feedback.

[0105] According to FIG. 5, in a method for sidelink communication provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure, a PSSCH is associated with a plurality of PSFCH transmission resources. Through this flexible association method, the efficiency of channel access for the PSFCH can be improved. In addition, this flexible association method can serve as a compensation mechanism for failed channel access for the PSFCH. In this way, additional transmission to more transmission resources can be allowed, thereby ensuring transmission of the PSFCH by the terminal device in the shared spectrum.

[0106] As mentioned above, multiple PSFCH transmission resources can be determined based on multiple types of resources.

[0107] In some embodiments, a plurality of PSFCH transmit resources may be determined based on reserved resources in the shared spectrum. Reserved resources may provide a plurality of PSFCH transmit resources to ensure the transmit requirements of the PSFCH. For example, the reserved resources may be time-frequency resources within a resource pool configured by a network device for a terminal device, or time-frequency resources within a pre-configured resource pool. As another example, the reserved resources may be time-frequency resources of reserved resources determined by resource recognition and used for periodic transmit. Still as yet another example, the reserved resources may be time-frequency resources of COT sharing.

[0108] In some embodiments, a plurality of PSFCH transmit resources may be determined based on dynamic resources in the shared spectrum. Dynamic resources may be part of the common resources reserved in the resource pool for dynamic scheduling. Dynamic resources may also be time-frequency resources reserved or unused in resource allocation mode 2.

[0109] When a reserved PSFCH transmission resource is fully occupied, a transmission resource can be determined via dynamic scheduling. For example, dynamic scheduling may occupy another resource within a pre-configured resource pool for PSFCH transmission. Alternatively, dynamic scheduling may schedule a resource within another resource pool (a non-pre-configured resource pool) for PSFCH transmission.

[0110] In some embodiments, the use of reserved resources or dynamic resources (common resources) may be determined based on the type of service. For example, different types of services may have different priorities. Services with high priority may use reserved resources, while services with low priority may use dynamic resources. Alternatively, services may be classified according to quality of service (QoS) to determine which services use reserved resources and which use dynamic resources. In some other embodiments, the use of reserved resources or dynamic resources may be determined based on the order of arrival and waiting time of services. For example, the principle of first arriving and first assigned may be used.

[0111] In some embodiments, the terminal device may use an SCI to indicate a plurality of transmission resources of reserved resources for transmitting a PSFCH. For example, the reserved resources may be associated with first indication information. The first indication information may be carried in the first SCI. For example, the first indication information may be carried in SCI-1 or SCI-2 of the first SCI.

[0112] In some embodiments, the first display information may be determined based on one or more types of information.

[0113] In some embodiments, the first indication information may be determined based on the number of maximum resource blocks (RBs) required by each PSFCH transmission resource among a plurality of PSFCH transmission resources. The number of resource blocks may be determined by equal division according to the total number of reserved resources, or by specific division according to the requirements of the service. For example, the number of maximum RBs required by each PSFCH transmission resource may be k, where k is an integer greater than or equal to 1. When representing each PSFCH transmission resource using TO, the j-th TO among a plurality of TOs is [RB j0 , RBj0+k-1 It can be represented as ].

[0114] In some embodiments, the first indication information may be determined based on the number of first sidelink time-domain units within the reserved resource. The first sidelink time-domain unit may be a time slot. For example, when the reserved resource includes a total of n time slots, the first indication information may indicate a plurality of PSFCH transmission resources based on the n time slots.

[0115] In some embodiments, the first indication information may be determined based on the number of resource blocks configured for PSFCH transmission in the first sidelink time-domain unit. For example, when the first sidelink time-domain unit is a time slot, the number of resource blocks may be the total number of RBs within the time slot of the reserved resource.

[0116] In some embodiments, the first indication information may be determined based on the number of PSFCH transmission resources within the first sidelink time domain unit. For example, the time slot is M S When having PSFCH transmission resources, the first display information is each M S It can be used to indicate PSFCH transmission resources.

[0117] In some embodiments, the first indication information may be determined based on a service type corresponding to the first PSSCH. The service type may also be a service priority. For example, when the first PSSCH carries a real-time service having a relatively high priority, the first indication information may indicate that the first PSSCH is associated with a plurality of PSFCH transmission resources that are temporally close to the first PSSCH. For example, when the first PSSCH carries a periodic service, the first indication information may periodically configure a plurality of PSFCH transmission resources associated with the first PSSCH.

[0118] In some embodiments, the first indication information may be determined based on more than one type of information as exemplified above. The first indication information may indicate an index of each transmission resource. For example, a reservation resource includes M PSFCH transmission resources, and the first indication information corresponding to the j-th PSFCH transmission resource among the M PSFCH transmission resources may be represented as IndexTO, wherein IndexTO may satisfy the following:

[0119] .

[0120] Here, j is an integer with a value range from 0 to M-1, n represents the number of first sidelink time domain units in the reserved resource, m represents the number of resource blocks configured for PSFCH transmission in the first sidelink time domain unit, and MS represents the number of PSFCH transmission resources in the first sidelink time domain unit.

[0121] In some embodiments, reserving transmit resources for PSFCH can satisfy the transmit requirements of PSFCH in consecutive slot transmits. By SCI configuration or DCI scheduling, a large transmit block may be formed during the transmit of multiple consecutive time slots. Assuming that each time slot carries NACK / ACK, each transmit block requires multiple PSFCH transmit resources. That is to say, there will be multiple HARQ codebooks in the transmit block, and transmitting a large number of transmit blocks per unit time requires a large amount of feedback. The capability of the terminal device will become a significant challenge. Therefore, by reserving resources, the PSFCH corresponding to the PSFCH transmit can be mapped to a set of PSFCH resources. The reserved resources may be, for example, a set of all RBs in the same time slot, and the RBs may require interlaced transmits. By providing a dedicated set of PSFCH resources for consecutive slot transmits, the reserved resources can ensure that the ACK / NACK feedback of each time slot within a complete transmit block has PSFCH resources for transmit.

[0122] In some embodiments, after the terminal device performs channel access in the shared spectrum, the terminal device may first determine whether there is an idle PSFCH transmission resource in the reserved resource. For example, the terminal device may determine based on the first indication information.

[0123] For example, after successfully accessing using LBT, when it is found that there are still reserved PSFCH transmission resources, the terminal device may select one of the PSFCH transmission resources to transmit the first PSFCH. When multiple PSFCH transmission resources are fully occupied, the terminal device may use dynamic resource allocation. That is to say, when there are no idle PSFCH transmission resources in the reserved resources, the terminal device may transmit the first PSFCH using dynamic resources as previously mentioned.

[0124] In some embodiments, the terminal device may determine whether to transmit the first PSFCH based on feedback information. For example, the terminal device may set a first threshold (threshold value) for the number of NACK feedbacks. When the number of NACK feedbacks from the terminal device is greater than the first threshold, the terminal device may terminate the transmission of the first PSFCH.

[0125] For example, the transmission of the first PSFCH can be terminated by adding an indication of HARQ disable to the SCI indication. Additionally, the indication of HARQ disable / enable can be set via the SCI. For example, whether HARQ is disabled for a service can be set based on the QoS requirements of different services. For services requiring high QoS, HARQ may be enabled. For services requiring low QoS, HARQ may be disabled.

[0126] As another example, when a terminal device is in a poor environment, NACKs are transmitted continuously. The terminal device needs to perform LBTs continuously to transmit PSFCH, which can cause resource conflicts with other terminal devices. Therefore, a maximum number of NACK transmissions can be set. When this number is exceeded, HARQ will be disabled via SCI on the next TB transmission.

[0127] In some embodiments, the terminal device performs channel listening before performing channel access in the shared spectrum. In the shared spectrum, the terminal device typically begins resource selection and channel access only after successful channel listening. The terminal device may determine whether to transmit a first PSFCH using a short control signaling transmit (SCSt) based on the result of channel listening. When the channel is always occupied as a result of channel listening—that is, when channel access continues to fail—the terminal device cannot transmit a PSFCH. As a possible implementation, the terminal device may set a second threshold for channel listening failures. For example, when the number of channel listening failures exceeds the second threshold, the terminal device may transmit a first PSFCH using an SCSt.

[0128] It should be noted that LBT is not required prior to SCSt within the shared spectrum. Two limitations exist regarding the use of SCSt: within a 50 ms observation period, the number of short control signaling transmissions by the terminal device must be 50 or less; and during the observation period, the total duration of the short control signaling transmissions by the terminal device must be less than 2500 μs. If the short control signalings exceed these two limitations, channel access may be performed using LBT.

[0129] In some embodiments, the second threshold may be set based on the service. For example, the second threshold for all services may be set identically. For example, the second threshold may be associated with the QoS of the service.

[0130] By reserving multiple PSFCH transmission resources, channel access efficiency for PSFCH can be improved, thereby compensating for overhead and efficiency issues caused by uncertain channel access for PSFCH. Flexible mapping of PSFCH transmission resources can also meet the requirements of different transmission modes, such as continuous slot transmission.

[0131] In continuous slot transmission, to maximize the utilization of cleared LBT attempts, the terminal device may utilize multiple continuous time slots for the transmission of large-sized data. In other words, through a successful LBT, multiple pieces of data (multiple transmission blocks) can be transmitted. Therefore, for the same transmission data, using continuous slot transmission can prevent the repeated performance of LBTs for multiple independent time slots, thereby improving channel access efficiency. Multiple independent time slots may also be multiple transmission blocks.

[0132] As mentioned above, when each time slot of multiple consecutive time slots carries a NACK / ACK, consecutive slot transmission requires a large amount of PSFCH transmission resources. A method to design a reasonable frame structure for PSFCH transmission using multiple consecutive time slots to more effectively improve transmission efficiency is also a problem that needs to be solved.

[0133] To this end, some embodiments of the present disclosure provide another method for sidelink communication. In this method, a terminal device transmits a first sidelink channel by continuous slot transmission, and one or more PSFCHs may be assigned to a transmission block carried by the first sidelink channel. Furthermore, in a plurality of time slots, PSFCH feedback may be flexibly transmitted based on the setting of the PSFCHs, thereby improving transmission efficiency. The following is a detailed description of a method for sidelink communication together with FIG. 6. The method illustrated in FIG. 6 relates to FIG. 5. Accordingly, for the sake of simplification, FIG. 6 does not provide further detailed descriptions of terms already shown in FIG. 5.

[0134] Referring to FIG. 6, in S610, the terminal device performs channel listening in the shared spectrum.

[0135] Channel listening may refer to a terminal device performing listening on multiple channel resources in a shared spectrum, or a terminal device performing listening on a target channel resource.

[0136] Channel resources may be resources within the shared spectrum or COT resources shared by other terminal devices within the sidelink. For example, in V2X, a terminal device can listen to a channel in a shared COT provided by surrounding vehicles.

[0137] In some embodiments, channel listening may refer to a terminal device performing listening for a channel resource using an LBT mechanism, or a terminal device performing listening using channel awareness or something similar. For example, a terminal device may determine the occupancy of a sidelink resource based on the RSRP value of the sidelink's DMRS.

[0138] The result of channel listening may be either that the channel resource being listened to is idle or that the channel being listened to is occupied. If the result of channel listening is that the channel is occupied, channel listening fails. The terminal device may continue to perform channel listening until an idle channel is found.

[0139] In S620, in response to the result of channel listening being an idle channel, the terminal device transmits the first sidelink channel by continuous slot transmission.

[0140] Continuous slot transmission can be implemented by aggregating multiple time slots to improve transmission efficiency and reduce the LBT access process. By aggregating multiple continuous time slots, a larger transmission block, namely a first transmission block, can be formed.

[0141] The first transmission block may include transmission data corresponding to a plurality of consecutive time slots. Compared to the transmission block corresponding to each transmission time slot, the size of the first transmission block is relatively large, which can provide a relatively large coding gain.

[0142] Continuous slot transmission can be scheduled under different resource allocation modes. For example, in resource allocation mode 1, a plurality of consecutive time slots can be scheduled using PDCCH, and a plurality of subsequent time slots that are adjacent or not adjacent to each other can be scheduled using the PDCCH of the first time slot. For example, in resource allocation mode 2, a plurality of consecutive time slots can be scheduled using SCI, and parameters of SCI-1 or SCI-2 can be set in the first time slot and applied to subsequent time slots upon transmission.

[0143] Multiple consecutive time slots corresponding to consecutive slot transmission can be determined based on multiple factors. For example, the formation of multiple time slots can be determined based on the same region / destination ID in the SCI. For example, the formation of multiple time slots can be determined based on adjacent time slots. For example, the formation of multiple time slots can be determined based on the transmission mode of group cast or unicast.

[0144] The first sidelink channel may include at least one of PSCCH, PSSCH, or PSFCH. In continuous slot transmission, the first sidelink channel may include one or more PSFCHs. For example, the SCI parameter may be configured such that each time slot has a PSFCH, or that multiple continuous time slots have one PSFCH.

[0145] In some embodiments, the first sidelink channel may include a single PSFCH, i.e., the first PSFCH. In the case of multiple consecutive time slots having a single PSFCH, one or more symbols of one time slot may be selected to transmit the first PSFCH. For example, the last symbol of the last time slot among the multiple consecutive time slots is defined as the first symbol, and the time domain resource for the first PSFCH may include a single symbol adjacent to the first symbol. That is to say, the time domain resource for the first PSFCH may be the second-to-last sidelink symbol of the last time slot, or it may be two consecutive symbols including the second-to-last sidelink symbol.

[0146] In some embodiments, a first sidelink channel containing a piece of PSFCH may further contain a piece of SCI. The SCI may contain SCI-1 and SCI-2, or may contain SCI-1 or SCI-2. For example, the first sidelink channel may contain a piece of SCI-2, and the time domain resource containing SCI-2 is within the first time slot among a plurality of consecutive time slots. Taking three consecutive time slots as an example, when the three time slots are time slot n, time slot n+1, and time slot n+2, the time domain resource containing SCI-2 may contain the first few symbols of time slot n excluding AGC, and time slots n+1 and n+2 are primarily used to transmit PSSCH and PSFCH.

[0147] In some embodiments, a time domain resource containing an SCI may correspond to a first time slot among a plurality of consecutive time slots. By setting the SCI in the first time slot, parameters / fields within the SCI are applicable to all subsequent time slots during transmission. For example, SCI-2 in the first time slot may be used to demodulate transmitted data of the first time slot and a plurality of subsequent time slots.

[0148] In some embodiments, when the first transmission block is composed of a single PSFCH, the result of decoding by the terminal device may be determined as NACK or ACK based on the first transmission block.

[0149] In some embodiments, the first sidelink channel may include a plurality of PSFCHs, so there are pieces of a plurality of PSFCH feedbacks within the first transmission block. The plurality of PSFCHs may include a second PSFCH and at least one other PSFCH. The at least one other PSFCH may be one PSFCH or a plurality of PSFCHs. Thus, a plurality of consecutive time slots may include a last time slot and at least one other time slot. The at least one other PSFCH may correspond one-by-one to at least one other time slot. Thus, the at least one other time slot may be one time slot or a plurality of time slots.

[0150] In the case of multiple consecutive time slots composed of multiple PSFCHs, multiple symbols must be selected to transmit multiple PSFCHs. In some embodiments, symbols within multiple consecutive time slots are classified, wherein the last symbol of the last time slot is referred to as the second symbol, and the last symbol of at least one other time slot is referred to as the third symbol.

[0151] In some embodiments, the time domain resource for the second PSFCH may correspond to the first PSFCH as mentioned above, and will not be repeated here. The time domain resource for at least one other PSFCH may include a third symbol. In other words, each time domain resource of the time domain resource for at least one other PSFCH may be the last symbol of each time slot of at least one other time slot. Taking three consecutive time slots as an example, three PSFCHs may be configured, one corresponding to each of the three time slots. These three PSFCHs may include one second PSFCH and two other PSFCHs. When these three time slots are time slot n, time slot n+1, and time slot n+2, the second PSFCH may be set to the second-to-last symbol of time slot n+2, and the other two PSFCHs may be set to the last symbols of time slot n and time slot n+1, respectively.

[0152] In some embodiments, a first sidelink channel composed of a plurality of PSFCHs may further include a plurality of fragments of SCI-2. Each fragment of SCI-2 of the plurality of fragments of SCI-2 may correspond to a respective PSFCH of the plurality of PSFCHs, and each time domain resource for each fragment of SCI-2 may correspond to a respective time slot of a plurality of consecutive time slots. For example, each time slot of the three time slots mentioned above may correspond to a respective fragment of SCI-2, and the time domain resource for each fragment of SCI-2 may be the first few symbols of each time slot excluding the AGC.

[0153] In some embodiments, HARQ codes for multiple PSFCHs may be considered individually based on each time slot, or multiple HARQs may form a single HARQ. For example, an "AND" calculation may be performed on HARQ feedback from multiple time slots to form a HARQ.

[0154] In some embodiments, at least one PSFCH carries feedback information associated with the first PSSCH. The first PSSCH may be associated with a plurality of PSFCH transmitting resources on a shared spectrum, and the plurality of PSFCH transmitting resources may be configured to transmit the at least one PSFCH mentioned above. FIG. 5 illustrates the association between the first PSSCH and the plurality of PSFCH transmitting resources, which will not be repeated herein.

[0155] In some embodiments, the terminal device may configure the transmission frame structure of the PSFCH according to different service or quality control information (QCI) modes. A frame structure that satisfies service requirements or QCI requirements can facilitate the improvement of transmission efficiency.

[0156] In the case of multiple consecutive time slots transmitted each time in consecutive slot transmission, it can be seen that ACK / NACK is fed back by HARQ via PSFCH. Multiple consecutive time slots can flexibly provide PSFCH feedback depending on the service or other requirements and by setting SCI.

[0157] For ease of understanding, taking a continuous slot transmission having three time slots as an example, the frame structure of multiple continuous time slots will be briefly explained together with FIGS. 7 and FIGS. 8. FIGS. 7 illustrates a schematic diagram of the frame structure for three time slots composed of one PSFCH. FIGS. 8 illustrates a schematic diagram of the frame structure for three time slots composed of three PSFCHs.

[0158] Referring to FIG. 7, time slots (710, 720, and 730) are three consecutive time slots, which are aggregated into a single time slot (not shown in the drawing). The first symbol in time slot (710) is AGC. SCI-1 is configured in the second to fourth symbols of time slot (710), and SCI-2 is configured in the second to third symbols of time slot (710). PSFCH is configured in the second-to-last symbol of time slot (730). The last symbol of time slot (730) is GAP. All other symbols in the aggregated time slot are configured to transmit PSSCH.

[0159] As illustrated in FIG. 7, in the first transmission block formed by three consecutive time slots, only one PSFCH is configured within the last time slot, and SCI-1 and SCI-2 are configured within the first time slot.

[0160] Referring to FIG. 8, the aggregated time slot (not shown in the drawing) is formed by three consecutive time slots, namely time slot (810), time slot (820), and time slot (830).

[0161] Compared to FIG. 7, the main difference in FIG. 8 is the number and configuration of PSFCH and SCI-2. As illustrated in FIG. 8, the frame structure includes three pieces of PSFCH and three pieces of SCI-2. The three pieces of SCI-2 are configured in the second and third symbols of time slots (810, 820, and 830), respectively. Two of the three PSFCHs are configured in the last symbols of time slots (810 and 820), respectively, and one PSFCH is configured in the second-to-last symbol of time slot (830).

[0162] Above, embodiments of the method according to the present disclosure are illustrated in detail together with FIGS. 5 through 8. Next, embodiments of the device according to the present disclosure will be illustrated in detail together with FIGS. 9 through 11. It should be understood that the examples of the device correspond to the examples of the method. Accordingly, for details not illustrated in detail, reference may be made to prior embodiments of the method.

[0163] FIG. 9 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device according to some embodiment of the present disclosure. The device (900) may be any terminal device such as the one exemplified above. A device (900) such as the one illustrated in FIG. 9 includes a receiving unit (910), an accessing unit (920), and a transmitting unit (930).

[0164] The receiving unit (910) can be configured to receive the first PSSCH.

[0165] The accessing unit (20) may be configured to perform channel access in the shared spectrum, wherein the first PSSCH is associated with a plurality of PSFCH transmission resources in the shared spectrum, and the plurality of PSFCH transmission resources are determined based on reserved resources, dynamic resources, or reserved resources and dynamic resources in the shared spectrum.

[0166] The transmitting unit (930) may be configured to transmit a first PSFCH using one of a plurality of PSFCH transmitting resources, wherein the first PSFCH carries feedback information associated with the first PSFCH.

[0167] In some embodiments, a plurality of PSFCH transmission resources are determined based on at least one of reserved resources or dynamic resources on the shared spectrum.

[0168] In some embodiments, a reserved resource is associated with first indication information, and the first indication information is determined based on at least one of the following: the maximum number of resource blocks required by each PSFCH transmission resource among a plurality of PSFCH transmission resources, the number of first sidelink time domain units within the reserved resource, the number of resource blocks configured for PSFCH transmission within the first sidelink time domain unit, the number of PSFCH transmission resources within the first sidelink time domain unit, or a service type corresponding to the first PSSCH.

[0169] In some embodiments, the first display information is carried in the first side link control information.

[0170] In some embodiments, the reservation resource includes M PSFCH transmission resources, and the first indication information IndexTO corresponding to the j-th PSFCH transmission resource of the M PSFCH transmission resources satisfies the following:

[0171] ;

[0172] Here, j is an integer with a value range from 0 to M-1, n represents the number of first sidelink time domain units within the reserved resource, m represents the number of resource blocks configured for PSFCH transmission within the first sidelink time domain unit, and M S represents the number of PSFCH transmission resources within the first sidelink time domain unit.

[0173] In some embodiments, the terminal device further includes a determination unit configured to determine whether there is an idle PSFCH transmission resource within the reserved resource. The transmission unit is also configured to transmit a first PSFCH using a dynamic resource in response to the fact that there is no idle PSFCH transmission resource within the reserved resource.

[0174] In some embodiments, in response to feedback information being NACK, the first PSFCH is transmitted based on the information of the NACK.

[0175] In some embodiments, the transmitting unit is also configured to terminate the transmission of the first PSFCH in response to the number of NACKs being greater than a first threshold.

[0176] In some embodiments, the Deanmal device also further includes a listening unit configured to perform channel listening in a shared spectrum. The transmitting unit is also configured to determine whether to transmit a first PSFCH using short control signaling based on the result of channel listening.

[0177] In some embodiments, the transmitting unit is also configured to transmit a first PSFCH using short control signaling in response to the number of channel listening failures being greater than a second threshold.

[0178] FIG. 10 is a schematic block diagram of another communication device according to some embodiment of the present disclosure. The device (1000) may be any terminal device such as the one exemplified above. A device (1000) such as the one illustrated in FIG. 10 includes a listening unit (1010) and a transmitting unit (1020).

[0179] The listening unit (1010) can be configured to perform channel listening in a shared spectrum.

[0180] The transmitting unit (1020) may be configured to transmit a first sidelink channel by continuous slot transmission in response to the result of channel listening being an idle channel. Continuous slot transmission corresponds to a plurality of continuous time slots, and a first transmission block carried by the first sidelink channel includes transmission data corresponding to a plurality of continuous time slots, and the first sidelink channel includes at least one PSFCH.

[0181] In some embodiments, the first sidelink channel includes a single PSFCH referred to as the first PSFCH, the last symbol of the last time slot among a plurality of consecutive time slots is referred to as the first symbol, and the time domain resource for the first PSFCH includes a single symbol adjacent to the first symbol.

[0182] In some embodiments, the first sidelink channel further includes a piece of the second stage SCI, wherein the time domain resource for the piece of the second stage SCI is in the first time slot among a plurality of consecutive time slots.

[0183] In some embodiments, the first sidelink channel comprises a plurality of PSFCHs, including a second PSFCH and at least one other PSFCH, and a plurality of consecutive time slots comprises a last time slot and at least one other time slot. The last symbol of the last time slot is referred to as the second symbol, and the last symbol of at least one other time slot is referred to as the third symbol. A time domain resource for the second PSFCH comprises one symbol adjacent to the second symbol, and a time domain resource for at least one other PSFCH comprises the third symbol.

[0184] In some embodiments, the first sidelink channel further includes a plurality of fragments of the second stage SCI. Each time domain resource of the time domain resources for the plurality of fragments of the second stage SCI corresponds to a respective time slot of a plurality of consecutive time slots.

[0185] In some embodiments, at least one PSFCH carries feedback information associated with the first PSSCH. The first PSSCH is associated with a plurality of PSFCH transmitting resources on a shared spectrum, and the plurality of PSFCH transmitting resources are configured to transmit at least one PSFCH.

[0186] FIG. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. Dashed lines in FIG. 11 indicate that a unit or module is optional. The device (1100) may be used to implement the method exemplified in the above embodiments for the method. The device (1100) may be a chip or a terminal device.

[0187] The device (1100) may include at least one processor (1110). The processor (1110) may support the device (1100) to implement the method exemplified in the above embodiment for the method. The processor (1110) may be a general-purpose processor or a dedicated processor. For example, the processor may be a central processing unit (CPU). Alternatively, the processor may be another general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logic device, or a discrete hardware component or something similar. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor.

[0188] The device (1100) may further include at least one memory (1120). The memory (1120) is configured to store a program, and when executed by the processor (1110), the program enables the processor (1110) to implement the operation of the method exemplified in the above embodiment for the method. The memory (1120) may be independent of the processor (1110) or may be integrated into the processor (1110).

[0189] The device (1100) may further include a transceiver (1130). The processor (1110) can communicate with another device or chip through the transceiver (1130). For example, the processor (1110) can transmit data to another device or chip and receive data from another device or chip through the transceiver (1130).

[0190] Some embodiments of the present disclosure provide a non-transient computer-readable storage medium configured to store a program. The non-transient computer-readable storage medium may be applied to a network device or a terminal device provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure. When the program is executed, the computer enables the operation of a method implemented by the network device or terminal device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0191] It should be understood that the non-transient computer-readable storage medium provided in the embodiments of the present disclosure may be any computer-readable and available medium, or a data storage device such as a data center or server comprising one or more available media integrations. The available medium may be a magnetic medium (such as a floppy disk, hard drive, or magnetic tape), an optical medium (such as a digital video disc (DVD)), a semiconductor medium (such as a solid state disk (SSD)), or something similar.

[0192] Some embodiments of the present disclosure provide a computer program product comprising a program. The computer program product may be applicable to a network device or a terminal device provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure. When the program is executed, the computer enables the operation of a method implemented by the network device or terminal device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0193] The above embodiments may be fully or partially implemented through software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented using software, the above embodiments may be fully or partially implemented in the form of a computer program product. A computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When computer program instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, all or part of the process or function described in the embodiments of this disclosure is implemented. The computer may be a general-purpose computer, a dedicated computer, a computer network, or other programmable device. Computer instructions may be stored on a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium, and, for example, computer instructions may be transmitted from a website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center via a wired (such as coaxial cable, fiber optic, digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wireless (such as infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.).

[0194] Some embodiments of the present disclosure provide a computer program. The computer program may be applied to a network device or a terminal device provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure. When the computer program is executed, the computer enables the operation of a method implemented by the network device or terminal device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0195] In this disclosure, the terms “system” and “network” may be used interchangeably. Furthermore, the terms used in this disclosure are intended merely to illustrate specific embodiments of this disclosure and are not intended to limit this disclosure. In the description of this disclosure, the claims, and the accompanying drawings, the terms “first,” “second,” “third,” and “fourth” are used to distinguish different objects, not to describe a specific order. Furthermore, the terms “comprising” and “having,” as well as any variations thereof, are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions.

[0196] In embodiments of the present disclosure, the mentioned “indication” may be a direct indication, an indirect indication, or an expression of a related relationship. For example, A indicating B may indicate that A directly indicates B, e.g., that B can be obtained through A; or A indirectly indicates B, e.g., that A indicates C and B can be obtained through C; or it may indicate that there is an association between A and B.

[0197] In embodiments of the present disclosure, the term “corresponding to” may indicate a direct or indirect correspondence between two objects, a correlation between two objects, or a relationship that is indicated or configured.

[0198] In embodiments of the present disclosure, "pre-configuration" may be implemented by pre-storing corresponding code, tables, or other methods that can be used to display relevant information within a device (such as a terminal device and a network device). The present disclosure does not limit specific implementations.

[0199] In embodiments of the present disclosure, "protocol" may refer to standard protocols in the field of communication, such as LTE protocols, NR protocols, and related protocols applied to future communication systems. The present disclosure is not limited thereto.

[0200] In embodiments of the present disclosure, determining B based on A does not mean determining B based only on A, and B may also be determined based on A and / or other information.

[0201] In embodiments of the present disclosure, the term “and / or” merely describes an association between associated objects, indicating that there may be three types of relationships. For example, A and / or B may represent three situations: only A, A and B, and only B. Furthermore, in the present disclosure, the symbol “ / ” generally indicates that associated objects have an “or” relationship.

[0202] In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the sequence numbers of the above processes do not denote the order of execution. The order of execution of the processes should be determined based on their functions and internal logic and should not constitute any restrictions on the implementation processes of the embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0203] It should be understood that in the embodiments of the present disclosure, the disclosed systems, devices, and methods may be implemented in other ways. For example, the embodiments for the devices described above are merely exemplary. For example, the division of units is merely a logical functional division, and in actual implementation, there may be other division methods. For example, multiple units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be ignored or not executed. On the other hand, the combination or direct combination or communication connection between them shown or discussed may be an indirect combination or communication connection through some interface, device, or unit, which may be electrical, mechanical, or of other forms.

[0204] Units described as separate components may or may not be physically separated, and components described as units may or may not be physical units, that is, they may be located in one place or distributed across multiple network units. Some or all of the units may be selected as necessary to achieve the purposes of this disclosure.

[0205] In addition, in each embodiment of the present disclosure, each functional unit may be integrated into a single processing unit, each unit may exist physically independently, or two or more units may be integrated into a single unit.

[0206] The above description is merely a specific embodiment of the present disclosure, but the scope of protection of the present disclosure is not limited thereto. Any modification or substitution readily conceivable by a person skilled in the art within the scope of the technology disclosed in the present disclosure should be covered by the scope of protection of the present disclosure. Accordingly, the scope of protection of the present disclosure should be based on the claimed scope of protection.

Claims

Claim 1 A method for sidelink communication, comprising: receiving a first physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) by a terminal device; and performing channel access in a shared spectrum by the terminal device ― the first PSSCH is associated with a plurality of physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH) transmission resources in the shared spectrum, wherein the plurality of PSFCH transmission resources are located in at least one of a reserved resource and a dynamic resource in the shared spectrum, and the reserved resource is associated with first indication information determined based on at least the number of first sidelink time domain units within the reserved resource, the number of resource blocks configured for PSFCH transmission within the first sidelink time domain unit, and the number of PSFCH transmission resources within the first sidelink time domain unit ―; and includes the step of transmitting a first PSFCH using one of the plurality of PSFCH transmission resources by the terminal device — the first PSFCH carries feedback information associated with the first PSFCH — and the reservation resource includes M PSFCH transmission resources, and the first display information IndexTO corresponding to the j-th PSFCH transmission resource of the M PSFCH transmission resources satisfies the following equation: ; j is an integer having a value range from 0 to M-1, n represents the number of the first sidelink time domain units within the reserved resource, m represents the number of resource blocks configured for PSFCH transmission within the first sidelink time domain unit, and M S A method for sidelink communication, wherein represents the number of PSFCH transmission resources within the first sidelink time domain unit. Claim 2 A method for sidelink communication according to claim 1, wherein the first display information is also determined based on: the number of maximum resource blocks required by each of the plurality of PSFCH transmission resources; and at least one of the service type corresponding to the first PSSCH. Claim 3 A method for side-link communication according to paragraph 2, wherein the first display information is carried in the first side-link control information. Claim 4 delete Claim 5 A method for sidelink communication according to claim 1, wherein the PSFCH transmission resources are interleaved. Claim 6 A method for sidelink communication according to claim 5, wherein the PSFCH transmission resources are interleaved according to an interleaved waveform associated with the number of resource blocks (RB) required for each PSFCH. Claim 7 A method for sidelink communication according to claim 1, further comprising: a step of determining whether there is an idle PSFCH transmission resource within the reserved resource after the step of performing channel access in the shared spectrum by the terminal device; and a step of transmitting the first PSFCH using the dynamic resource by the terminal device in response to the determination that there is no idle PSFCH transmission resource within the reserved resource. Claim 8 A method for sidelink communication according to claim 1, further comprising the step of transmitting the first PSFCH based on the information of the NACK in response to the feedback information being a negative acknowledgment (NACK). Claim 9 A method for sidelink communication according to claim 1, further comprising the step of terminating the transmission of the first PSFCH by the terminal device in response to the number of NACKs being greater than a first threshold. Claim 10 A method for sidelink communication according to claim 1, further comprising: a step of performing channel listening in the shared spectrum by the terminal device prior to the step of performing channel access in the shared spectrum by the terminal device; and a step of determining whether to transmit the first PSFCH using short control signaling by the terminal device based on the result of the channel listening. Claim 11 A method for sidelink communication according to claim 10, further comprising the step of transmitting the first PSFCH using the short control signaling by the terminal device in response to the number of failures of the channel listening being greater than the second threshold. Claim 12 A terminal device comprises at least one processor; and one or more non-transient computer-readable storage media coupled to the at least one processor and storing programming instructions for execution by the at least one processor, wherein, upon execution, the programming instructions cause the terminal device to perform an operation, the operation being: receiving a first physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) by the terminal device; and performing channel access in a shared spectrum by the terminal device ― the first PSSCH is associated with a plurality of physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH) transmission resources in the shared spectrum, wherein the plurality of PSFCH transmission resources are located in at least one of a reserved resource and a dynamic resource in the shared spectrum, and the reserved resource is associated with a first indication information determined based on at least the number of a first sidelink time domain unit in the reserved resource, the number of resource blocks configured for PSFCH transmission in the first sidelink time domain unit, and the number of PSFCH transmission resources in the first sidelink time domain unit ― ; and the operation of transmitting a first PSFCH using one of the plurality of PSFCH transmission resources by the terminal device — the first PSFCH carries feedback information associated with the first PSFCH — and the reservation resource includes M PSFCH transmission resources, and the first display information IndexTO corresponding to the j-th PSFCH transmission resource of the M PSFCH transmission resources satisfies the following equation: ; j is an integer having a value range from 0 to M-1, n represents the number of the first sidelink time domain units within the reserved resource, m represents the number of resource blocks configured for PSFCH transmission within the first sidelink time domain unit, and M S A terminal device that represents the number of PSFCH transmission resources within the first sidelink time domain unit. Claim 13 In paragraph 12, the above-mentioned first display information is also: the maximum number of resource blocks required by each of the plurality of PSFCH transmission resources; and a terminal device determined based on at least one of the service types corresponding to the first PSSCH. Claim 14 In paragraph 13, the terminal device wherein the first display information is carried in the first side link control information. Claim 15 delete Claim 16 In Clause 12, the terminal device wherein the above PSFCH transmission resource is interleaved. Claim 17 A terminal device according to claim 16, wherein the PSFCH transmission resources are interleaved according to an interleaved waveform associated with the number of resource blocks (RB) required for each PSFCH. Claim 18 A terminal device according to claim 12, wherein the operation further comprises: an operation by which, after the operation by which, by which, the terminal device performs channel access in the shared spectrum, the terminal device determines whether there is an idle PSFCH transmission resource in the reserved resource; and an operation by which, in response to the determination that there is no idle PSFCH transmission resource in the reserved resource, the terminal device transmits the first PSFCH using the dynamic resource. Claim 19 A terminal device according to claim 12, wherein the operation further includes transmitting the first PSFCH based on the information of the NACK in response to the feedback information being a negative acknowledgment (NACK). Claim 20 In one or more non-transient computer-readable media storing computer instructions, said computer instructions, when executed by one or more processors, cause a computing device to perform an operation, said operation being: an operation of receiving a first physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) by a terminal device; an operation of performing channel access in a shared spectrum by the terminal device ― said first PSSCH is associated with a plurality of physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH) transmission resources in the shared spectrum, said plurality of PSFCH transmission resources are located in at least one of a reserved resource and a dynamic resource in the shared spectrum, said reserved resource is associated with a first indication information determined based on at least the number of first sidelink time domain units in said reserved resource, the number of resource blocks configured for PSFCH transmission in the first sidelink time domain unit, and the number of PSFCH transmission resources in the first sidelink time domain unit ―; and the operation of transmitting a first PSFCH using one of the plurality of PSFCH transmission resources by the terminal device — the first PSFCH carries feedback information associated with the first PSFCH — and the reservation resource includes M PSFCH transmission resources, and the first display information IndexTO corresponding to the j-th PSFCH transmission resource of the M PSFCH transmission resources satisfies the following equation: ; j is an integer having a value range from 0 to M-1, n represents the number of the first sidelink time domain units within the reserved resource, m represents the number of resource blocks configured for PSFCH transmission within the first sidelink time domain unit, and M S One or more non-transient computer-readable media representing the number of PSFCH transmission resources within a first sidelink time domain unit. Claim 21 delete Claim 22 delete Claim 23 delete Claim 24 delete Claim 25 delete Claim 26 delete Claim 27 delete Claim 28 delete Claim 29 delete Claim 30 delete Claim 31 delete Claim 32 delete Claim 33 delete Claim 34 delete Claim 35 delete Claim 36 delete

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