Enhanced system and methods for activation and release of type-2 configured grant sidelink positioning reference signals in wireless communications

Abstract

This disclosure describes systems, methods, and devices for activation and release of resources for Type 2 Configured Grant Sidelink Positioning Reference Signals in wireless communications. A device may identify a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) carrying downlink control information (DCI) format 3_2; identify, in the DCI, signaling of an activation or release of a Type 2 Configured Grant Sidelink Positioning Reference Signal (SL PRS) in a dedicated resource pool for SL PRS transmissions; and activate or release the Type 2 Configured Grant SL PRS based on the signaling of the activation or release in the DCI.

Description

[0001] ENHANCED SYSTEM AND METHODS FOR ACTIVATION AND RELEASE OF TYPE-2 CONFIGURED GRANT SIDELINK POSITIONING REFERENCE SIGNALS IN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS

[0002] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATION(S)

[0003] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 63 / 585,142, filed September 25, 2023, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference as if set forth in full.

[0004] TECHNICAL FIELD

[0005] This disclosure generally relates to systems and methods for wireless communications and, more particularly, to sidelink positioning reference signals.

[0006] BACKGROUND

[0007] Wireless devices are becoming widely prevalent and are increasingly using wireless channels. The 3rdGeneration Partnership Program (3 GPP) is developing one or more standards for wireless communications.

[0008] BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0009] FIG. 1 is an example wireless communications system using vehicle-to-everything sidelink positioning, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0010] FIG. 2 illustrates a network, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0011] FIG. 3 schematically illustrates a wireless network, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0012] FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating components to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0013] FIG. 5 illustrates a network, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0014] DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0015] The following description and the drawings sufficiently illustrate specific embodiments to enable those skilled in the art to practice them. Other embodiments may incorporate structural, logical, electrical, process, algorithm, and other changes. Portions and features of some embodiments may be included in, or substituted for, those of other embodiments. Embodiments set forth in the claims encompass all available equivalents of those claims.

[0016] Mobile communication has evolved significantly from early voice systems to today’s highly sophisticated integrated communication platform. The next generation wireless communication system, 5G, or new radio (NR) provides access to information and sharing of data anywhere, anytime by various users and applications. NR is a unified network / system that target to meet vastly different and sometime conflicting performance dimensions and services. Such diverse multi-dimensional requirements are driven by different services and applications. In general, NR will evolve based on 3GPP LTE- Advanced with additional potential new Radio Access Technologies (RATs) to enrich people lives with better, simple, and seamless wireless connectivity solutions. NR will enable everything connected by wireless and deliver fast, rich contents and services.

[0017] Wireless devices may operate as defined by technical standards. For cellular telecommunications, the 3rd Generation Partnership Program (3GPP) defines communication techniques, including for configured grant sidelink (SL) position reference signals (PRS). A gNB may allocate periodic uplink resources by using Configured Grants. There are two types of Configured Grant in 3GPP: Type 1 and Type 2. In Type 1 Configured Grant, RRC provides the configured grant, including its periodicity. In Type 2 Configured Grant, RRC defines the periodicity of the uplink grant, and PDCCH signaling activates and deactivates the periodicity.

[0018] Release 18 of 3GPP New Radio (NR) positioning introduced a SL PRS to enable a user equipment (UE) to measure and report positioning measurements. The 3GPP SL supports device-to-device communications such as for vehicle-to-everything (V2X) and emergency communications when outside of cellular coverage areas. A SL PRS resource refers to a time and frequency resource within a slot used for the transmission and reception of the SL PRS. There are two types of SL PRS resource pool configurations: a shared resource pool and a dedicated resource pool.

[0019] In ReL18, in order to address use cases such as autonomous driving, SL or V2X-based positioning are considered. More specifically, various scenarios including in-coverage, partial coverage, out of network coverage need to be considered for SL positioning. To meet the positioning accuracy requirement, a new SL reference signal, i.e., SL Positioning Reference Signal (SL PRS) is introduced. In a V2X example with a target UE and anchor UEs, the target UE may indicate the UE to be positioned while anchor UEs indicate the UEs supporting positioning of the target UE (e.g., by transmitting and / or receiving a SL PRS and providing positioning-related information). SL PRS may be transmitted between anchor UEs and target UEs for SL positioning.

[0020] In 3GPP Rel- 16, two modes of resource allocation were defined for SL communication that are applied in the V2X application: 1) mode 1 where a gNB allocates the resources for SL communications, and 2) mode 2 where UEs autonomously select the resources for SL communication based on a sensing and resource selection procedure. For SL positioning, a similar technique is supported for SL PRS resource allocation. In particular, SL PRS resource allocation may be controlled by the network or autonomously performed by the UEs that are involved in the SL positioning operation.

[0021] Further, SL PRS may be transmitted in either a dedicated resource pool or a shared resource pool. In particular, a “dedicated resource pool’- (or dedicated SL PRS resource pool) is used to refer to a SL resource pool that is dedicated for transmission and / or reception of SL PRS and any SL channels / signals associated with the SL PRS. A “shared resource pool” is used to refer to a SL resource pool that may be used for SL communications and / or for transmission and / or reception of SL PRS and any SL channels / signals.

[0022] For a dedicated resource pool, both Type 1 and Type 2 configured grant SL PRS is supported. In particular, for Type 1 configured grant SL PRS, SL PRS resource allocation is only based on radio resource control (RRC) (re)configuration without any layer 1 (LI) signaling. For Type 2 configured grant SL PRS, SL PRS resource allocation is based on both RRC configuration and LI signaling to activate or release SL PRS transmission. For Type 2 configured grant SL PRS, a mechanism may need to be defined for the activation and release of SL PRS scheduling in a dedicated resource pool.

[0023] The present disclosure defines a system and methods for activation and release of Type 2 configured grant SL PRS.

[0024] At least the below fields are included in the downlink control information (DCI) format 3_2 (e.g., Section 5.3.3.1.7A of 3GPP TS 36.212) for mode 1 SL PRS resource allocation in a dedicated resource pool. In the following, Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RNTI), i.e., XX-RNTI or YY-CS-RNTI (“CS” referring to configured scheduling, which is a temporary RNTI assigned to and unique to a UE to allow the network to allocate radio resources to the UE for scheduled transmissions), used for the Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) scrambling for DCI format 3_2, are defined as XX-RNTI = SL-PRS-RNTI and YY-CS-RNTI = SL-PRS- CS-RNTI.

[0025] The following information is transmitted by means of the DCI format 3_2 with CRC scrambled by XX-RNTI or YY-CS-RNTI: Resource pool index -[log2I] bits, where I is the total number of resource pools for transmission configured by the higher layer parameter sl-TxPoolScheduling, if configured.

[0026] Time gap - 3 bits determined by higher layer parameter sl-DCI-ToSL-Trans, as defined in [6, TS 38.214]

[0027] First SL PRS indicator - [log2ZVSL-PRS] bits indicating the SL PRS resource ID for the first SL PRS transmission, where the value ZVSL-PRSis the total number of SL PRS resources within a slot in a dedicated resource pool for SL PRS transmission and provided by the higher layer parameter XYZ.

[0028] SCI format 1-B fields according to clause 8.3. 1.2:

[0029] Time resource assignment

[0030] Resource ID indication

[0031] Configuration index - 0 bit if the UE is not configured to monitor DCI format 3_2 with CRC scrambled by YY-CS-RNTI; otherwise 3 bits as defined in clause XYZ of [6, TS 38.214]. If the UE is configured to monitor DCI format 3_2 with CRC scrambled by YY-CS-RNTI, this field is reserved for DCI format 3_2 with CRC scrambled by XX-RNTI.

[0032] Padding bits, if required

[0033] Embodiments of activation and release of Type 2 configured grant SL PRS are provided as follows:

[0034] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, separate RNTIs are used for activation and release of Type 2 configured grant SL PRS in a dedicated resource pool, respectively. In this option, no additional special field or state for any field are defined for PDCCH validation of activation or release. I.e., a first RNTI, e.g., YY-CS-RNTI may be used for activation, another parameters ZZ-CS-RNTI, a second RNTI, may be provided for validation of the release DCI. Note, the above names of the parameters are exemplary.

[0035] In another embodiment of the present disclosure, separate RNTIs are used for activation and release of Type 2 configured grant SL PRS in a dedicated resource pool, respectively. Further, for release of Type 2 configured grant SL PRS in a dedicated resource pool, one state of one or more fields may be additionally used for PDCCH validation.

[0036] In one option, “Resource ID indication” field is set to all “0”s or all “l”s for PDCCH validation of release of Type 2 configured grant SL PRS.

[0037] In another option, “Time resource assignment” field is set to all “0”s or all “l”s for PDCCH validation of release of Type 2 configured grant SL PRS. In another option, “First SL PRS indicator” field is set to all “0”s or all “l”s for PDCCH validation of release of Type 2 configured grant SL PRS.

[0038] In another option, “Resource ID indication” and “Time resource assignment” field are set to all “0”s or all “l”s for PDCCH validation of release of Type 2 configured grant SL PRS.

[0039] In another option, “First SL PRS indicator” and “Resource ID indication” field are set to all “0”s or all “l”s for PDCCH validation of release of Type 2 configured grant SL PRS.

[0040] In another option, “First SL PRS indicator” and “Time resource assignment” field are set to all “0”s or all “l”s for PDCCH validation of release of Type 2 configured grant SL PRS.

[0041] In another embodiment of the present disclosure, for Type 2 configured grant SL PRS in a dedicated resource pool, same RNTI is used for activation and release of Type 2 configured grant SL PRS. Further, one or more states in one or more fields may be used or reserved for PDCCH validation of activation and release for Type 2 configured grant SL PRS, respectively.

[0042] In one option, two states in one field can be reserved for PDCCH validation of activation or release for Type 2 configured grant SL PRS, respectively.

[0043] In one example, number of bits for “Resource pool index” may be increased to [log2(7 + 2)], where 1 is the total number of resource pools for transmission configured by the higher layer parameter sl-TxPoolScheduling, if configured. In this case, at least two states for “Resource pool index” bit-field may be reserved and of these two of the reserved states may be used for PDCCH validation of activation and release for Type 2 configured grant SL PRS, respectively.

[0044] Assuming 7=4, then, in one example, states “101” and “110” may be reserved and used for PDCCH validation of activation and release for Type 2 configured grant SL PRS, respectively. In another example, assuming 7=4, states “000” and “111” may be reserved and used for PDCCH validation of activation and release for Type 2 configured grant SL PRS, respectively. In this example, the I code-points corresponding to I valid resource pools may correspond to 001, 010, 011, and 100 respectively. In this example, the Hamming distance between the code-points corresponding to activation and release is maximized.

[0045] In another example, when “Resource pool index” field is indicated with the resource pool index with the lowest resource pool index value that is not a dedicated resource pool, this may be used for PDCCH validation of release for Type 2 configured grant SL PRS. A resource pool index may be used to indicate either shared resource pool or dedicated resource pool for SL PRS or a SL communications resource pool (i.e., not for SL PRS transmission / reception). However, DCI format 3_2 may be used for resource allocation of SL PRS in a dedicated resource pool only. At the same time, at least one resource pool for transmission and / or reception of PSSCH that may be shared with SL PRS or be exclusive for SL communications would need to be configured for support of related inter-UE signaling and coordination for SL positioning purposes. Thus, this approach utilizes a reference to a resource pool that is not a dedicated resource pool for validation of release of Type 2 configured grant SL PRS. This is possible since, for release of Type 2 configured grant SL PRS configuration, a UE can identify the configuration to be released based on the “Configuration index” bit-field and thus, the “Resource pool index” hit-field needs not point to the actual dedicated resource pool for the corresponding configuration. In this case, separate validation for activation of Type 2 configured grant SL PRS may not be defined since for DCI format 3_2 with CRC scrambled with YY-CS-RNTI, there is no possibility of ambiguity in identification of activation and a retransmission indication via DCI format 3_2 with CRC scrambled with YY-CS-RNTI.

[0046] Following the above logic, the other embodiments and examples in this disclosure may be limited to validation of release of Type 2 configured grant SL PRS only.

[0047] In another example, number of bits for “First SL PRS indicator” may be increased to [log2( / VSL-PRS+ 2)], where the value / VSL-PRSis the total number of SL PRS resources within a slot in a dedicated resource pool for SL PRS transmission and provided by the higher layer parameter. In this case, at least two states for “First SL PRS indicator” bit-field may be reserved and of these two of the reserved states may be used for PDCCH validation of activation and release for Type 2 configured grant SL PRS, respectively. For example, the first and second reserved state may be used for PDCCH validation of activation and release for Type 2 configured grant SL PRS, respectively

[0048] The same design can be straightforwardly extended to the case when either of “Time resource assignment” or “Resource ID indication” bit-fields is used for PDCCH validation of activation and release for Type 2 configured grant SL PRS, respectively.

[0049] In another embodiment of the present disclosure, for Type 2 configured grant SL PRS in a dedicated resource pool, a same RNTI is used for activation and release of Type 2 configured grant SL PRS. Further, number of bits for one or more fields may be increased by 1 for PDCCH validation of activation and release for Type 2 configured grant SL PRS, respectively.

[0050] In one example, number of bits for “First SL PRS indicator” may be increased to [log2(ASL-PRS)1 + 1, where the value 1VSL-PRSis the total number of SL PRS resources within a slot in a dedicated resource pool for SL PRS transmission and provided by the higher layer parameter. Assuming 1VSL-PRS= 8, state “1110” and “1111” may be used for PDCCH validation of activation and release for Type 2 configured grant SL PRS, respectively. In another example, assuming (VSL-PRS= 8, then, states “0000” and “1111” may be reserved and used for PDCCH validation of activation and release for Type 2 configured grant SL PRS, respectively. In this example, the 1VSL-PRScode-points corresponding to / VSL-PRSvalid resource pools may correspond to 0001, 0010, ..., 1000 respectively.

[0051] Related to the embodiments of increasing the number of states of the field, in one option instead of explicitly increasing the number of states to [log2( / VSL-PRS+ X)], a UE may expect RRC configuration to provide the number of valid parameters in the table (e.g., the total number of SL PRS resources within a slot in a dedicated resource pool for SL PRS transmission NSL-PRS) that results in at least X unused codepoints of the DCI field. This condition may be expressed as 2 'log2(wsL-PRs)l — ;vSL-PRS> X. For example, if 1VSL-PRS= 5 , then there are X = 3 unused codepoints 111, 110, and 101 which may be used for activation and / or release.

[0052] Further, a UE may expect that from all RRC configurable DCI fields there is at least one unused codepoint in at least one of the DCI fields which may be used for validation of the release. In this case, RRC configuration may additionally employ a concept of ‘dummy’ or ‘spare’ or ‘reserved’ states for one or multiple of the tables which provide the parameters referred by the DCI fields. If the DCI field points to the special entry in the RRC table, it may be interpreted as a validation of activation and / or release.

[0053] In another embodiment of the present disclosure, a new field, i.e., validation field may be included in the DCI format 3_2 for the purpose of activation and release of Type 2 configured grant SL PRS in a dedicated resource pool. A UE validates, for SL PRS activation or release, a SL configured grant Type 2 PDCCH if: - the CRC of a corresponding DCI format 3_2 is scrambled with a SL-PRS-CS-RNTI provided by sl-PRS-CSRNTI, and - the activation / release indication field in the DCI format 3_2 is set to T for activation and to 'O' for release.”

[0054] In one option, the new field is set to all “0”s for PDCCH validation of activation of Type 2 configured grant SL PRS.

[0055] In another option, the new field is set to all “l”s for PDCCH validation of release of Type 2 configured grant SL PRS. Alternatively, the assignment may be the reverse (e.g., 0 for release and 1 for activation, using the same concept).

[0056] In another option, one state in one existing field and one state in the new field in the DCI format 3_2 may be jointly used for PDCCH validation of release of Type 2 configured grant SL PRS. In one example, when the new field is set to all “l”s and “Resource ID indication” is set to all “l”s, this indicates the valid PDCCH for release of Type 2 configured grant SL PRS.

[0057] The new field may be either 1 -bit size or 2-bit size or of a configurable size up to Y bit.

[0058] The new field may be 0 bit if the UE is not configured to monitor DCI format 3_2 with CRC scrambled by YY-CS-RNTI; otherwise Y bits. If the UE is configured to monitor DCI format 3_2 with CRC scrambled by YY-CS-RNTI, this field may be reserved for DCI format 3_2 with CRC scrambled by XX-RNTI. The activation / release indication - 0 bit if the UE is not configured to monitor DCI format 3_2 with CRC scrambled with SL-PRS-CS-RNTI; otherwise 1 bit, where value 0 indicates release and value 1 indicates activation. If the UE is configured to monitor DCI format 3_2 with CRC scrambled with SL-PRS-CS-RNTI, this field is reserved for DCI format 3_2 with CRC scrambled by SL-PRS-RNTI.

[0059] In another embodiment of the present disclosure, some of the aforementioned embodiments can be jointly used for PDCCH validation of activation or release of Type 2 configured grant SL PRS in a dedicated resource pool.

[0060] In one option, separate RNTls are used for activation and release of Type 2 configured grant SL PRS in a dedicated resource pool, respectively. Further, when “Resource pool index” field is indicated with resource pool index with the lowest resource pool index value that is not a dedicated resource pool, this may be used for PDCCH validation of release for Type 2 configured grant SL PRS.

[0061] In another option, the same RNTI is used for activation and release of Type 2 configured grant SL PRS in a dedicated resource pool. Further, number of bits for “First SL PRS indicator” may be increased to [log2( / VsL-PRS + 2)1- In this case, a first reserved state for “First SL PRS indicator” may be used for PDCCH validation of activation for Type 2 configured grant SL PRS. In addition, a second reserved state for “First SL PRS indicator” and all “l”s for “Resource ID indication” or “Time resource assignment” may be jointly used for PDCCH validation of release for Type 2 configured grant SL PRS.

[0062] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, when Type 2 configured grant SL PRS resource activation relies on successful detection of DCI 3_2 with CRC scrambled with YY- CS-RNTI and no other field is checked for special states, the activation may be validated based on the checking that the release validation condition is not satisfied.

[0063] In one option, the validation of the activation would be based on the following two conditions: The DCI 3_2 is monitored with Type 2 configured grant related RNTI, e.g., YY-CS-

[0064] RNTI,

[0065] The fields in DCI 3_2 are not set to satisfy the Type 2 configured grant release condition Based on the related embodiments, the following examples can be composed for this condition, for examples:

[0066] “First SL PRS indicator” is not set to all ‘l’s or other invalid state.

[0067] “Resource pool index” indicates a valid dedicated SL PRS resource pool or other invalid state.

[0068] “Resource ID indication” is not set to all ‘l’s or other invalid state.

[0069] “Time resource assignment” is not set to all ‘l’s or other invalid state.

[0070] FIG. 1 is an example wireless communications system 100 using V2X sidelink positioning, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0071] Referring to FIG. 1, the system 100 includes a target UE 102 (e.g., of a vehicle) in communication with anchor UEs 104, 106, and 108 (e.g., of other vehicles). The target UE 102 indicates the UE to be positioned, while the anchor UEs 104-108 indicate the UEs supporting positioning of the target UE 102 (e.g., by transmitting and / or receiving SL PRS and providing positioning-related information). The SL PRS may be transmitted for sidelink positioning.

[0072] Any of the UEs may validate a PDSCH carrying DCI with format 3_2 for activation or release of Type 2 configured grant SL PRS in a dedicated resource pool. Separate RNTIs may be used for activation and release of Type 2 configured grant SL PRS in the dedicated resource pool, respectively. To release the Type 2 configured grant SL PRS in the dedicated resource pool, one state of one or more fields may be used for PDCCH validation. A same RNTI may be used for activation and release of the Type 2 configured grant SL PRS, and one or more states in one or more fields may be used or reserved for PDCCH validation of activation and release for Type 2 configured grant SL PRS, respectively. Two states in a single field may be reserved for PDCCH validation of activation or release for Type 2 configured grant SL PRS, respectively. A same RNTI may be used for activation and release of Type 2 configured grant SL PRS, and a number of bits for one or more fields may be increased by one for PDCCH validation of activation and release for Type 2 configured grant SL PRS, respectively. A new field, such as a validation field, may be included in the DCI format 3_2 for the purpose of activation and release of Type 2 configured grant SL PRS in a dedicated resource pool.

[0073] Separate RNTIs may be used for activation and release of Type 2 configured grant SL PRS in a dedicated resource pool, respectively; wherein when “Resource pool index” field is indicated with resource pool index with the lowest resource pool index value that is not a dedicated resource pool, this may be used for PDCCH validation of release for Type 2 configured grant SL PRS. The same RNTI may be used for activation and release of Type 2 configured grant SL PRS in a dedicated resource pool; wherein number of bits for “First SL PRS indicator” may be increased to [log2( / VSL-PRS+ 2)]. A first reserved state for “First SL PRS indicator” may be used for PDCCH validation of activation for Type 2 configured grant SL PRS; wherein a second reserved state for “First SL PRS indicator” and all “l”s for “Resource ID indication” or “Time resource assignment” may be jointly used for PDCCH validation of release for Type 2 configured grant SL PRS. When Type 2 configured grant SL PRS resource activation relies on successful detection of DCI 3_2 with CRC scrambled with YY-CS-RNTI and no other field is checked for special states, the activation may be validated based on the checking that the release validation condition is not satisfied.

[0074] FIG. 2 illustrates a network 200, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0075] The network 200 may operate in a manner consistent with 3GPP technical specifications for LTE or 5G / NR systems. However, the example embodiments are not limited in this regard and the described embodiments may apply to other networks that benefit from the principles described herein, such as future 3 GPP systems, or the like.

[0076] The network 200 may include a UE 202, which may include any mobile or non-mobile computing device designed to communicate with a RAN 204 via an over-the-air connection. The UE 202 may he communicatively coupled with the RAN 204 by a Uu interface. The UE 202 may be, but is not limited to, a smartphone, tablet computer, wearable computer device, desktop computer, laptop computer, in-vehicle infotainment, in-car entertainment device, instrument cluster, head-up display device, onboard diagnostic device, dashtop mobile equipment, mobile data terminal, electronic engine management system, electronic / engine control unit, electronic / engine control module, embedded system, sensor, microcontroller, control module, engine management system, networked appliance, machine-type communication device, M2M or D2D device, loT device, etc.

[0077] In some embodiments, the network 200 may include a plurality of UEs coupled directly with one another via a sidelink interface. The UEs may he M2M / D2D devices that communicate using physical sidelink channels such as, but not limited to, PSBCH, PSDCH, PSSCH, PSCCH, PSFCH, etc.

[0078] In some embodiments, the UE 202 may additionally communicate with an AP 206 via an over-the-air connection. The AP 206 may manage a WLAN connection, which may serve to offload some / all network traffic from the RAN 204. The connection between the UE 202 and the AP 206 may be consistent with any IEEE 802. 11 protocol, wherein the AP 206 could be a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi®) router. In some embodiments, the UE 202, RAN 204, and AP 206 may utilize cellular- WLAN aggregation (for example, LWA / LWIP). Cellular-WLAN aggregation may involve the UE 202 being configured by the RAN 204 to utilize both cellular radio resources and WLAN resources.

[0079] The RAN 204 may include one or more access nodes, for example, AN 208. AN 208 may terminate air-interface protocols for the UE 202 by providing access stratum protocols including RRC, PDCP, RLC, MAC, and LI protocols. In this manner, the AN 208 may enable data / voice connectivity between CN 220 and the UE 202. In some embodiments, the AN 208 may be implemented in a discrete device or as one or more software entities running on server computers as part of, for example, a virtual network, which may be referred to as a CRAN or virtual baseband unit pool. The AN 208 be referred to as a BS, gNB, RAN node, eNB, ng- eNB, NodeB, RSU, TRxP, TRP, etc. The AN 208 may be a macrocell base station or a low power base station for providing femtocells, picocells or other like cells having smaller coverage areas, smaller user capacity, or higher bandwidth compared to macrocells.

[0080] In embodiments in which the RAN 204 includes a plurality of ANs, they may be coupled with one another via an X2 interface (if the RAN 204 is an LTE RAN) or an Xn interface (if the RAN 204 is a 5G RAN). The X2 / Xn interfaces, which may be separated into control / user plane interfaces in some embodiments, may allow the ANs to communicate information related to handovers, data / context transfers, mobility, load management, interference coordination, etc.

[0081] The ANs of the RAN 204 may each manage one or more cells, cell groups, component carriers, etc. to provide the UE 202 with an air interface for network access. The UE 202 may be simultaneously connected with a plurality of cells provided by the same or different ANs of the RAN 204. For example, the UE 202 and RAN 204 may use carrier aggregation to allow the UE 202 to connect with a plurality of component carriers, each corresponding to a Pcell or Scell. In dual connectivity scenarios, a first AN may be a master node that provides an MCG and a second AN may be secondary node that provides an SCG. The first / second ANs may be any combination of eNB, gNB, ng-eNB, etc.

[0082] The RAN 204 may provide the air interface over a licensed spectrum or an unlicensed spectrum. To operate in the unlicensed spectrum, the nodes may use LAA, eLAA, and / or feLAA mechanisms based on CA technology with PCells / Scells. Prior to accessing the unlicensed spectrum, the nodes may perform medium / carrier-sensing operations based on, for example, a listen-before-talk (LBT) protocol.

[0083] In V2X scenarios the UE 202 or AN 208 may be or act as a RSU, which may refer to any transportation infrastructure entity used for V2X communications. An RSU may be implemented in or by a suitable AN or a stationary (or relatively stationary) UE. An RSU implemented in or by: a UE may be referred to as a “UE-type RSU”; an eNB may be referred to as an “eNB-type RSU”; a gNB may be referred to as a “gNB-type RSU”; and the like. In one example, an RSU is a computing device coupled with radio frequency circuitry located on a roadside that provides connectivity support to passing vehicle UEs. The RSU may also include internal data storage circuitry to store intersection map geometry, traffic statistics, media, as well as applications / software to sense and control ongoing vehicular and pedestrian traffic. The RSU may provide very low latency communications required for high speed events, such as crash avoidance, traffic warnings, and the like. Additionally or alternatively, the RSU may provide other cellular / WLAN communications services. The components of the RSU may be packaged in a weatherproof enclosure suitable for outdoor installation, and may include a network interface controller to provide a wired connection (e.g., Ethernet) to a traffic signal controller or a backhaul network.

[0084] In some embodiments, the RAN 204 may be an LTE RAN 210 with eNBs, for example, eNB 212. The LTE RAN 210 may provide an LTE air interface with the following characteristics: SCS of 15 kHz; CP-OFDM waveform for DL and SC-FDMA waveform for UL; turbo codes for data and TBCC for control; etc. The LTE air interface may rely on CSI- RS for CSI acquisition and beam management; PDSCH / PDCCH DMRS for PDSCH / PDCCH demodulation; and CRS for cell search and initial acquisition, channel quality measurements, and channel estimation for coherent demodulation / detection at the UE. The LTE air interface may operating on sub- 6 GHz bands.

[0085] In some embodiments, the RAN 204 may be an NG-RAN 214 with gNBs, for example, gNB 216, or ng-eNBs, for example, ng-eNB 218. The gNB 216 may connect with 5G-enabled UEs using a 5G NR interface. The gNB 216 may connect with a 5G core through an NG interface, which may include an N2 interface or an N3 interface. The ng-eNB 218 may also connect with the 5G core through an NG interface, but may connect with a UE via an LTE air interface. The gNB 216 and the ng-eNB 218 may connect with each other over an Xn interface.

[0086] In some embodiments, the NG interface may be split into two parts, an NG user plane (NG-U) interface, which carries traffic data between the nodes of the NG-RAN 214 and a UPF 248 (e.g., N3 interface), and an NG control plane (NG-C) interface, which is a signaling interface between the nodes of the NG-RAN214 and an AMF 244 (e.g., N2 interface).

[0087] The NG-RAN 214 may provide a 5G-NR air interface with the following characteristics: variable SCS; CP-OFDM for DL, CP-OFDM and DFT-s-OFDM for UL; polar, repetition, simplex, and Reed-Muller codes for control and LDPC for data. The 5G-NR air interface may rely on CSI-RS, PDSCH / PDCCH DMRS similar to the LTE air interface. The 5G-NR air interface may not use a CRS, but may use PBCH DMRS for PBCH demodulation; PTRS for phase tracking for PDSCH; and tracking reference signal for time tracking. The 5G- NR air interface may operating on FR1 bands that include sub-6 GHz bands or FR2 bands that include bands from 24.25 GHz to 52.6 GHz. The 5G-NR air interface may include an SSB that is an area of a downlink resource grid that includes PSS / SSS / PBCH.

[0088] In some embodiments, the 5G-NR air interface may utilize BWPs for various purposes. For example, BWP can be used for dynamic adaptation of the SCS. For example, the UE 202 can be configured with multiple BWPs where each BWP configuration has a different SCS. When a BWP change is indicated to the UE 202, the SCS of the transmission is changed as well. Another use case example of BWP is related to power saving. In particular, multiple BWPs can be configured for the UE 202 with different amount of frequency resources (for example, PRBs) to support data transmission under different traffic loading scenarios. A BWP containing a smaller number of PRBs can be used for data transmission with small traffic load while allowing power saving at the UE 202 and in some cases at the gNB 216. A BWP containing a larger number of PRBs can be used for scenarios with higher traffic load.

[0089] The RAN 204 is communicatively coupled to CN 220 that includes network elements to provide various functions to support data and telecommunications services to customers / subscribers (for example, users of UE 202). The components of the CN 220 may be implemented in one physical node or separate physical nodes. In some embodiments, NFV may be utilized to virtualize any or all of the functions provided by the network elements of the CN 220 onto physical compute / storage resources in servers, switches, etc. A logical instantiation of the CN 220 may be referred to as a network slice, and a logical instantiation of a portion of the CN 220 may be referred to as a network sub-slice.

[0090] In some embodiments, the CN 220 may be an LTE CN 222, which may also be referred to as an EPC. The LTE CN 222 may include MME 224, SGW 226, SGSN 228, HSS 230, PGW 232, and PCRF 234 coupled with one another over interfaces (or “reference points”) as shown. Functions of the elements of the LTE CN 222 may be briefly introduced as follows. The MME 224 may implement mobility management functions to track a current location of the UE 202 to facilitate paging, bearer activation / deactivation, handovers, gateway selection, authentication, etc.

[0091] The SGW 226 may terminate an SI interface toward the RAN and route data packets between the RAN and the LTE CN 222. The SGW 226 may be a local mobility anchor point for inter-RAN node handovers and also may provide an anchor for inter-3GPP mobility. Other responsibilities may include lawful intercept, charging, and some policy enforcement.

[0092] The SGSN 228 may track a location of the UE 202 and perform security functions and access control. In addition, the SGSN 228 may perform inter-EPC node signaling for mobility between different RAT networks; PDN and S-GW selection as specified by MME 224; MME selection for handovers; etc. The S3 reference point between the MME 224 and the SGSN 228 may enable user and bearer information exchange for inter-3GPP access network mobility in idle / active states.

[0093] The HSS 230 may include a database for network users, including subscription-related information to support the network entities’ handling of communication sessions. The HSS 230 can provide support for routing / roaming, authentication, authorization, naming / addressing resolution, location dependencies, etc. An S6a reference point between the HSS 230 and the MME 224 may enable transfer of subscription and authentication data for authenticating / authorizing user access to the LTE CN 220.

[0094] The PGW 232 may terminate an SGi interface toward a data network (DN) 236 that may include an application / content server 238. The PGW 232 may route data packets between the LTE CN 222 and the data network 236. The PGW 232 may be coupled with the SGW 226 by an S5 reference point to facilitate user plane tunneling and tunnel management. The PGW 232 may further include a node for policy enforcement and charging data collection (for example, PCEF). Additionally, the SGi reference point between the PGW 232 and the data network 2 36 may be an operator external public, a private PDN, or an intra-operator packet data network, for example, for provision of IMS services. The PGW 232 may be coupled with a PCRF 234 via a Gx reference point.

[0095] The PCRF 234 is the policy and charging control element of the LTE CN 222. The PCRF 234 may be communicatively coupled to the app / content server 238 to determine appropriate QoS and charging parameters for service flows. The PCRF 232 may provision associated rules into a PCEF (via Gx reference point) with appropriate TFT and QCI.

[0096] In some embodiments, the CN 220 may be a 5GC 240. The 5GC 240 may include an AUSF 242, AMF 244, SMF 246, UPF 248, NSSF 250, NEF 252, NRF 254, PCF 256, UDM 258, and AF 260 coupled with one another over interfaces (or “reference points”) as shown. Functions of the elements of the 5GC 240 may be briefly introduced as follows.

[0097] The AUSF 242 may store data for authentication of UE 202 and handle authentication- related functionality. The AUSF 242 may facilitate a common authentication framework for various access types. In addition to communicating with other elements of the 5GC 240 over reference points as shown, the AUSF 242 may exhibit an Nausf service-based interface.

[0098] The AMF 244 may allow other functions of the 5GC 240 to communicate with the UE 202 and the RAN 204 and to subscribe to notifications about mobility events with respect to the UE 202. The AMF 244 may be responsible for registration management (for example, for registering UE 202), connection management, reachability management, mobility management, lawful interception of AMF-related events, and access authentication and authorization. The AMF 244 may provide transport for SM messages between the UE 202 and the SMF 246, and act as a transparent proxy for routing SM messages. AMF 244 may also provide transport for SMS messages between UE 202 and an SMSF. AMF 244 may interact with the AUSF 242 and the UE 202 to perform various security anchor and context management functions. Furthermore, AMF 244 may be a termination point of a RAN CP interface, which may include or be an N2 reference point between the RAN 204 and the AMF 244; and the AMF 244 may be a termination point of NAS (Nl) signaling, and perform NAS ciphering and integrity protection. AMF 244 may also support NAS signaling with the UE 202 over an N3 IWF interface.

[0099] The SMF 246 may be responsible for SM (for example, session establishment, tunnel management between UPF 248 and AN 208); UE IP address allocation and management (including optional authorization); selection and control of UP function; configuring traffic steering at UPF 248 to route traffic to proper destination; termination of interfaces toward policy control functions; controlling part of policy enforcement, charging, and QoS; lawful intercept (for SM events and interface to LI system); termination of SM parts of NAS messages; downlink data notification; initiating AN specific SM information, sent via AMF 244 over N2 to AN 208; and determining SSC mode of a session. SM may refer to management of a PDU session, and a PDU session or “session” may refer to a PDU connectivity service that provides or enables the exchange of PDUs between the UE 202 and the data network 236.

[0100] The UPF 248 may act as an anchor point for intra-RAT and inter-RAT mobility, an external PDU session point of interconnect to data network 236, and a branching point to support multi-homed PDU session. The UPF 248 may also perform packet routing and forwarding, perform packet inspection, enforce the user plane part of policy rules, lawfully intercept packets (UP collection), perform traffic usage reporting, perform QoS handling for a user plane (e.g., packet filtering, gating, UL / DL rate enforcement), perform uplink traffic verification (e.g., SDF-to-QoS flow mapping), transport level packet marking in the uplink and downlink, and perform downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification triggering. UPF 248 may include an uplink classifier to support routing traffic flows to a data network.

[0101] The NSSF 250 may select a set of network slice instances serving the UE 202. The NSSF 250 may also determine allowed NSSAI and the mapping to the subscribed S-NSSAIs, if needed. The NSSF 250 may also determine the AMF set to be used to serve the UE 202, or a list of candidate AMFs based on a suitable configuration and possibly by querying the NRF 254. The selection of a set of network slice instances for the UE 202 may be triggered by the AMF 244 with which the UE 202 is registered by interacting with the NSSF 250, which may lead to a change of AMF. The NSSF 250 may interact with the AMF 244 via an N22 reference point; and may communicate with another NSSF in a visited network via an N31 reference point (not shown). Additionally, the NSSF 250 may exhibit an Nnssf service-based interface.

[0102] The NEF 252 may securely expose services and capabilities provided by 3 GPP network functions for third party, internal exposure / re-exposure, AFs (e.g., AF 260), edge computing or fog computing systems, etc. In such embodiments, the NEF 252 may authenticate, authorize, or throttle the AFs. NEF 252 may also translate information exchanged with the AF 260 and information exchanged with internal network functions. For example, the NEF 252 may translate between an AF-Service-Identifier and an internal 5GC information. NEF 252 may also receive information from other NFs based on exposed capabilities of other NFs. This information may be stored at the NEF 252 as structured data, or at a data storage NF using standardized interfaces. The stored information can then be re-exposed by the NEF 252 to other NFs and AFs, or used for other purposes such as analytics. Additionally, the NEF 252 may exhibit an Nnef service-based interface.

[0103] The NRF 254 may support service discovery functions, receive NF discovery requests from NF instances, and provide the information of the discovered NF instances to the NF instances. NRF 254 also maintains information of available NF instances and their supported services. As used herein, the terms “instantiate,” “instantiation,” and the like may refer to the creation of an instance, and an “instance” may refer to a concrete occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, during execution of program code. Additionally, the NRF 254 may exhibit the Nnrf service-based interface.

[0104] The PCF 256 may provide policy rules to control plane functions to enforce them, and may also support unified policy framework to govern network behavior. The PCF 256 may also implement a front end to access subscription information relevant for policy decisions in a UDR of the UDM 258. In addition to communicating with functions over reference points as shown, the PCF 256 exhibit an Npcf service-based interface.

[0105] The UDM 258 may handle subscription-related information to support the network entities’ handling of communication sessions, and may store subscription data of UE 202. For example, subscription data may be communicated via an N8 reference point between the UDM 258 and the AMF 244. The UDM 258 may include two parts, an application front end and a UDR. The UDR may store subscription data and policy data for the UDM 258 and the PCF 256, and / or structured data for exposure and application data (including PFDs for application detection, application request information for multiple UEs 202) for the NEF 252. The Nudr service-based interface may be exhibited by the UDR 221 to allow the UDM 258, PCF 256, and NEF 252 to access a particular set of the stored data, as well as to read, update (e.g., add, modify), delete, and subscribe to notification of relevant data changes in the UDR. The UDM may include a UDM-FE, which is in charge of processing credentials, location management, subscription management and so on. Several different front ends may serve the same user in different transactions. The UDM-FE accesses subscription information stored in the UDR and performs authentication credential processing, user identification handling, access authorization, registration / mobility management, and subscription management. In addition to communicating with other NFs over reference points as shown, the UDM 258 may exhibit the Nudm service-based interface.

[0106] The AF 260 may provide application influence on traffic routing, provide access to NEF, and interact with the policy framework for policy control.

[0107] In some embodiments, the 5GC 240 may enable edge computing by selecting operator / 3rd party services to be geographically close to a point that the UE 202 is attached to the network. This may reduce latency and load on the network. To provide edge-computing implementations, the 5GC 240 may select a UPF 248 close to the UE 202 and execute traffic steering from the UPF 248 to data network 236 via the N6 interface. This may be based on the UE subscription data, UE location, and information provided by the AF 260. In this way, the AF 260 may influence UPF (re)selection and traffic routing. Based on operator deployment, when AF 260 is considered to be a trusted entity, the network operator may permit AF 260 to interact directly with relevant NFs. Additionally, the AF 260 may exhibit an Naf service-based interface. The data network 236 may represent various network operator services, Internet access, or third party services that may be provided by one or more servers including, for example, application / content server 238.

[0108] FIG. 3 schematically illustrates a wireless network 300, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0109] The wireless network 300 may include a UE 302 in wireless communication with an AN 304. The UE 302 and AN 304 may be similar to, and substantially interchangeable with, like-named components described elsewhere herein.

[0110] The UE 302 may be communicatively coupled with the AN 304 via connection 306. The connection 306 is illustrated as an air interface to enable communicative coupling, and can be consistent with cellular communications protocols such as an LTE protocol or a 5G NR protocol operating at mmWave or sub-6GHz frequencies.

[0111] The UE 302 may include a host platform 308 coupled with a modem platform 310. The host platform 308 may include application processing circuitry 312, which may be coupled with protocol processing circuitry 314 of the modem platform 310. The application processing circuitry 312 may run various applications for the UE 302 that source / sink application data. The application processing circuitry 312 may further implement one or more layer operations to transmit / receive application data to / from a data network. These layer operations may include transport (for example UDP) and Internet (for example, IP) operations

[0112] The protocol processing circuitry 314 may implement one or more of layer operations to facilitate transmission or reception of data over the connection 306. The layer operations implemented by the protocol processing circuitry 314 may include, for example, MAC, RLC, PDCP, RRC and NAS operations.

[0113] The modem platform 310 may further include digital baseband circuitry 316 that may implement one or more layer operations that are “below” layer operations performed by the protocol processing circuitry 314 in a network protocol stack. These operations may include, for example, PHY operations including one or more of HARQ-ACK functions, scrambling / descrambling, encoding / decoding, layer mapping / de-mapping, modulation symbol mapping, received symbol / bit metric determination, multi-antenna port precoding / decoding, which may include one or more of space-time, space- frequency or spatial coding, reference signal generation / detection, preamble sequence generation and / or decoding, synchronization sequence generation / detection, control channel signal blind decoding, and other related functions. The modem platform 310 may further include transmit circuitry 318, receive circuitry 320, RF circuitry 322, and RF front end (RFFE) 324, which may include or connect to one or more antenna panels 326. Briefly, the transmit circuitry 318 may include a digital-to-analog converter, mixer, intermediate frequency (IF) components, etc.; the receive circuitry 320 may include an analog-to-digital converter, mixer, IF components, etc.; the RF circuitry 322 may include a low-noise amplifier, a power amplifier, power tracking components, etc.; RFFE 324 may include filters (for example, surface / bulk acoustic wave filters), switches, antenna tuners, beamforming components (for example, phase-array antenna components), etc. The selection and arrangement of the components of the transmit circuitry 318, receive circuitry 320, RF circuitry 322, RFFE 324, and antenna panels 326 (referred generically as “transmit / receive components”) may be specific to details of a specific implementation such as, for example, whether communication is TDM or FDM, in mmWave or sub-6 gHz frequencies, etc. In some embodiments, the transmit / receive components may be arranged in multiple parallel transmit / receive chains, may be disposed in the same or different chips / modules, etc.

[0114] In some embodiments, the protocol processing circuitry 314 may include one or more instances of control circuitry (not shown) to provide control functions for the transmit / receive components.

[0115] A UE reception may be established by and via the antenna panels 326, RFFE 324, RF circuitry 322, receive circuitry 320, digital baseband circuitry 316, and protocol processing circuitry 314. In some embodiments, the antenna panels 326 may receive a transmission from the AN 304 by receive-beamforming signals received by a plurality of antennas / antenna elements of the one or more antenna panels 326.

[0116] A UE transmission may be established by and via the protocol processing circuitry 314, digital baseband circuitry 316, transmit circuitry 318, RF circuitry 322, RFFE 324, and antenna panels 326. In some embodiments, the transmit components of the UE 304 may apply a spatial filter to the data to be transmitted to form a transmit beam emitted by the antenna elements of the antenna panels 326.

[0117] Similar to the UE 302, the AN 304 may include a host platform 328 coupled with a modem platform 330. The host platform 328 may include application processing circuitry 332 coupled with protocol processing circuitry 334 of the modem platform 330. The modem platform may further include digital baseband circuitry 336, transmit circuitry 338, receive circuitry 340, RF circuitry 342, RFFE circuitry 344, and antenna panels 346. The components of the AN 304 may be similar to and substantially interchangeable with like-named components of the UE 302. In addition to performing data transmission / reception as described above, the components of the AN 308 may perform various logical functions that include, for example, RNC functions such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management, and data packet scheduling.

[0118] FIG. 4 is a block diagram 400 illustrating components to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0119] Figure 4 is a block diagram illustrating components, according to some example embodiments, able to read instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. Specifically, Figure 4 shows a diagrammatic representation of hardware resources 400 including one or more processors (or processor cores) 410, one or more memory / storage devices 420, and one or more communication resources 430, each of which may be communicatively coupled via a bus 440 or other interface circuitry. For embodiments where node virtualization (e.g., NFV) is utilized, a hypervisor 402 may be executed to provide an execution environment for one or more network slices / sub-slices to utilize the hardware resources 400.

[0120] The processors 410 may include, for example, a processor 412 and a processor 414. The processors 410 may be, for example, a central processing unit (CPU), a reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processor, a complex instruction set computing (CISC) processor, a graphics processing unit (GPU), a DSP such as a baseband processor, an ASIC, an FPGA, a radio-frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), another processor (including those discussed herein), or any suitable combination thereof.

[0121] The memory / storage devices 420 may include main memory, disk storage, or any suitable combination thereof. The memory / storage devices 420 may include, but are not limited to, any type of volatile, non-volatile, or semi-volatile memory such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), Flash memory, solid-state storage, etc.

[0122] The communication resources 430 may include interconnection or network interface controllers, components, or other suitable devices to communicate with one or more peripheral devices 404 or one or more databases 406 or other network elements via a network 408. For example, the communication resources 430 may include wired communication components (e.g., for coupling via USB, Ethernet, etc.), cellular communication components, NFC components, Bluetooth® (or Bluetooth® Low Energy) components, Wi-Fi® components, and other communication components.

[0123] Instructions 450 may comprise software, a program, an application, an applet, an app, or other executable code for causing at least any of the processors 410 to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. The instructions 450 may reside, completely or partially, within at least one of the processors 410 (e.g., within the processor’s cache memory), the memory / storage devices 420, or any suitable combination thereof. Furthermore, any portion of the instructions 450 may be transferred to the hardware resources 400 from any combination of the peripheral devices 404 or the databases 406. Accordingly, the memory of processors 410, the memory / storage devices 420, the peripheral devices 404, and the databases 406 are examples of computer-readable and machine-readable media.

[0124] FIG. 5 illustrates a network 500 in accordance with various embodiments. The network 500 may operate in a matter consistent with 3GPP technical specifications or technical reports for 6G systems. In some embodiments, the network 500 may operate concurrently with network 200. For example, in some embodiments, the network 500 may share one or more frequency or bandwidth resources with network 200. As one specific example, a UE (e.g., UE 502) may be configured to operate in both network 500 and network 200. Such configuration may be based on a UE including circuitry configured for communication with frequency and bandwidth resources of both networks 200 and 500. In general, several elements of network 500 may share one or more characteristics with elements of network 200. For the sake of brevity and clarity, such elements may not be repeated in the description of network 500.

[0125] The network 500 may include a UE 502, which may include any mobile or non-mobile computing device designed to communicate with a RAN 508 via an over-the-air connection. The UE 502 may be similar to, for example, UE 202. The UE 502 may be, but is not limited to, a smartphone, tablet computer, wearable computer device, desktop computer, laptop computer, in-vehicle infotainment, in-car entertainment device, instrument cluster, head-up display device, onboard diagnostic device, dashtop mobile equipment, mobile data terminal, electronic engine management system, electronic / engine control unit, electronic / engine control module, embedded system, sensor, microcontroller, control module, engine management system, networked appliance, machine-type communication device, M2M or D2D device, loT device, etc.

[0126] Although not specifically shown in Figure 5, in some embodiments the network 500 may include a plurality of UEs coupled directly with one another via a sidelink interface. The UEs may be M2M / D2D devices that communicate using physical sidelink channels such as, but not limited to, PSBCH, PSDCH, PSSCH, PSCCH, PSFCH, etc. Similarly, although not specifically shown in Figure 5, the UE 502 may be communicatively coupled with an AP such as AP 206 as described with respect to Figure 2. Additionally, although not specifically shown in Figure 5, in some embodiments the RAN 508 may include one or more ANss such as AN 208 as described with respect to Figure 2. The RAN 508 and / or the AN of the RAN 508 may be referred to as a base station (BS), a RAN node, or using some other term or name.

[0127] The UE 502 and the RAN 508 may be configured to communicate via an air interface that may be referred to as a sixth generation (6G) air interface. The 6G air interface may include one or more features such as communication in a terahertz (THz) or sub-THz bandwidth, or joint communication and sensing. As used herein, the term “joint communication and sensing’- may refer to a system that allows for wireless communication as well as radar-based sensing via various types of multiplexing. As used herein, THz or sub- THz bandwidths may refer to communication in the 80 GHz and above frequency ranges. Such frequency ranges may additionally or alternatively be referred to as “millimeter wave” or “mmWave” frequency ranges.

[0128] The RAN 508 may allow for communication between the UE 502 and a 6G core network (CN) 510. Specifically, the RAN 508 may facilitate the transmission and reception of data between the UE 502 and the 6G CN 510. The 6G CN 510 may include various functions such as NSSF 250, NEF 252, NRF 254, PCF 256, UDM 258, AF 260, SMF 246, and AUSF 242. The 6G CN 510 may additional include UPF 248 and DN 236 as shown in Figure 5.

[0129] Additionally, the RAN 508 may include various additional functions that are in addition to, or alternative to, functions of a legacy cellular network such as a 4G or 5G network. Two such functions may include a Compute Control Function (Comp CF) 524 and a Compute Service Function (Comp SF) 536. The Comp CF 524 and the Comp SF 536 may be parts or functions of the Computing Service Plane. Comp CF 524 may be a control plane function that provides functionalities such as management of the Comp SF 536, computing task context generation and management (e.g., create, read, modify, delete), interaction with the underlying computing infrastructure for computing resource management, etc. Comp SF 536 may be a user plane function that serves as the gateway to interface computing service users (such as UE 502) and computing nodes behind a Comp SF instance. Some functionalities of the Comp SF 536 may include: parse computing service data received from users to compute tasks executable by computing nodes; hold service mesh ingress gateway or service API gateway; service and charging policies enforcement; performance monitoring and telemetry collection, etc. In some embodiments, a Comp SF 536 instance may serve as the user plane gateway for a cluster of computing nodes. A Comp CF 524 instance may control one or more Comp SF 536 instances.

[0130] Two other such functions may include a Communication Control Function (Comm CF) 528 and a Communication Service Function (Comm SF) 538, which may be parts of the Communication Service Plane. The Comm CF 528 may be the control plane function for managing the Comm SF 538, communication sessions creation / configuration / releasing, and managing communication session context. The Comm SF 538 may be a user plane function for data transport. Comm CF 528 and Comm SF 538 may be considered as upgrades of SMF 246 and UPF 248, which were described with respect to a 5G system in Figure 2. The upgrades provided by the Comm CF 528 and the Comm SF 538 may enable service-aware transport. For legacy (e.g., 4G or 5G) data transport, SMF 246 and UPF 248 may still be used.

[0131] Two other such functions may include a Data Control Function (Data CF) 522 and Data Service Function (Data SF) 532 may be parts of the Data Service Plane. Data CF 522 may be a control plane function and provides functionalities such as Data SF 532 management, Data service creation / configuration / releasing, Data service context management, etc. Data SF 532 may be a user plane function and serve as the gateway between data service users (such as UE 502 and the various functions of the 6G CN 510) and data service endpoints behind the gateway. Specific functionalities may include include: parse data service user data and forward to corresponding data service endpoints, generate charging data, report data service status.

[0132] Another such function may be the Service Orchestration and Chaining Function (SOCF) 520, which may discover, orchestrate and chain up communication / computing / data services provided by functions in the network. Upon receiving service requests from users, SOCF 520 may interact with one or more of Comp CF 524, Comm CF 528, and Data CF 522 to identify Comp SF 536, Comm SF 538, and Data SF 532 instances, configure service resources, and generate the service chain, which could contain multiple Comp SF 536, Comm SF 538, and Data SF 532 instances and their associated computing endpoints. Workload processing and data movement may then be conducted within the generated service chain. The SOCF 520 may also responsible for maintaining, updating, and releasing a created service chain.

[0133] Another such function may be the service registration function (SRF) 514, which may act as a registry for system services provided in the user plane such as services provided by service endpoints behind Comp SF 536 and Data SF 532 gateways and services provided by the UE 502. The SRF 514 may be considered a counterpart of NRF 254, which may act as the registry for network functions. Other such functions may include an evolved service communication proxy (eSCP) and service infrastructure control function (SICF) 526, which may provide service communication infrastructure for control plane services and user plane services. The eSCP may be related to the service communication proxy (SCP) of 5G with user plane service communication proxy capabilities being added. The eSCP is therefore expressed in two parts: eCSP-C 512 and eSCP- U 534, for control plane service communication proxy and user plane service communication proxy, respectively. The SICF 526 may control and configure eCSP instances in terms of service traffic routing policies, access rules, load balancing configurations, performance monitoring, etc.

[0134] Another such function is the AMF 544. The AMF 544 may be similar to 244, but with additional functionality. Specifically, the AMF 544 may include potential functional repartition, such as move the message forwarding functionality from the AMF 544 to the RAN 508.

[0135] Another such function is the service orchestration exposure function (SOEF) 518. The SOEF may be configured to expose service orchestration and chaining services to external users such as applications.

[0136] The UE 502 may include an additional function that is referred to as a computing client service function (comp CSF) 504. The comp CSF 504 may have both the control plane functionalities and user plane functionalities, and may interact with corresponding network side functions such as SOCF 520, Comp CF 524, Comp SF 536, Data CF 522, and / or Data SF 532 for service discovery, request / response, compute task workload exchange, etc. The Comp CSF 504 may also work with network side functions to decide on whether a computing task should be run on the UE 502, the RAN 508, and / or an element of the 6G CN 510.

[0137] The UE 502 and / or the Comp CSF 504 may include a service mesh proxy 506. The service mesh proxy 506 may act as a proxy for service-to-service communication in the user plane. Capabilities of the service mesh proxy 506 may include one or more of addressing, security, load balancing, etc.

[0138] The following examples pertain to further embodiments.

[0139] For one or more embodiments, at least one of the components set forth in one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to perform one or more operations, techniques, processes, and / or methods as set forth in the example section below. For example, the baseband circuitry as described above in connection with one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to operate in accordance with one or more of the examples set forth below. For another example, circuitry associated with a UE, base station, network element, etc. as described above in connection with one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to operate in accordance with one or more of the examples set forth below in the example section.

[0140] The word “exemplary’' is used herein to mean “serving as an example, instance, or illustration.” Any embodiment described herein as “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments. The terms “computing device,” “user device,” “communication station,” “station,” “handheld device,” “mobile device,” “wireless device” and “user equipment” (UE) as used herein refers to a wireless communication device such as a cellular telephone, a smartphone, a tablet, a netbook, a wireless terminal, a laptop computer, a femtocell, a high data rate (HDR) subscriber station, an access point, a printer, a point of sale device, an access terminal, or other personal communication system (PCS) device. The device may be either mobile or stationary.

[0141] As used within this document, the term “communicate” is intended to include transmitting, or receiving, or both transmitting and receiving. This may be particularly useful in claims when describing the organization of data that is being transmitted by one device and received by another, but only the functionality of one of those devices is required to infringe the claim. Similarly, the bidirectional exchange of data between two devices (both devices transmit and receive during the exchange) may be described as “communicating,” when only the functionality of one of those devices is being claimed. The term “communicating” as used herein with respect to a wireless communication signal includes transmitting the wireless communication signal and / or receiving the wireless communication signal. For example, a wireless communication unit, which is capable of communicating a wireless communication signal, may include a wireless transmitter to transmit the wireless communication signal to at least one other wireless communication unit, and / or a wireless communication receiver to receive the wireless communication signal from at least one other wireless communication unit.

[0142] As used herein, unless otherwise specified, the use of the ordinal adjectives “first,” “second,” “third,” etc., to describe a common object, merely indicates that different instances of like objects are being referred to and are not intended to imply that the objects so described must be in a given sequence, either temporally, spatially, in ranking, or in any other manner.

[0143] The term “access point” (AP) as used herein may be a fixed station. An access point may also be referred to as an access node, a base station, an evolved node B (eNodeB), or some other similar terminology known in the art. An access terminal may also be called a mobile station, user equipment (UE), a wireless communication device, or some other similar terminology known in the art. Embodiments disclosed herein generally pertain to wireless networks. Some embodiments may relate to wireless networks that operate in accordance with one of the IEEE 802.11 standards.

[0144] Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with various devices and systems, for example, a personal computer (PC), a desktop computer, a mobile computer, a laptop computer, a notebook computer, a tablet computer, a server computer, a handheld computer, a handheld device, a personal digital assistant (PDA) device, a handheld PDA device, an onboard device, an off-board device, a hybrid device, a vehicular device, a non- vehicular device, a mobile or portable device, a consumer device, a non-mobile or non-portable device, a wireless communication station, a wireless communication device, a wireless access point (AP), a wired or wireless router, a wired or wireless modem, a video device, an audio device, an audio- video (A / V) device, a wired or wireless network, a wireless area network, a wireless video area network (WVAN), a local area network (LAN), a wireless LAN (WLAN), a personal area network (PAN), a wireless PAN (WPAN), and the like.

[0145] Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with one way and / or two-way radio communication systems, cellular radio-telephone communication systems, a mobile phone, a cellular telephone, a wireless telephone, a personal communication system (PCS) device, a PDA device which incorporates a wireless communication device, a mobile or portable global positioning system (GPS) device, a device which incorporates a GPS receiver or transceiver or chip, a device which incorporates an RFID element or chip, a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) transceiver or device, a single input multiple output (SIMO) transceiver or device, a multiple input single output (MISO) transceiver or device, a device having one or more internal antennas and / or external antennas, digital video broadcast (DVB) devices or systems, multistandard radio devices or systems, a wired or wireless handheld device, e.g., a smartphone, a wireless application protocol (WAP) device, or the like.

[0146] Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with one or more types of wireless communication signals and / or systems following one or more wireless communication protocols, for example, radio frequency (RF), infrared (IR), frequency-division multiplexing (FDM), orthogonal FDM (OFDM), time-division multiplexing (TDM), time-division multiple access (TDMA), extended TDMA (E-TDMA), general packet radio service (GPRS), extended GPRS, code-division multiple access (CDMA), wideband CDMA (WCDMA), CDMA 2000, single-carrier CDMA, multi-carrier CDMA, multi-carrier modulation (MDM), discrete multi- tone (DMT), Bluetooth®, global positioning system (GPS), Wi-Fi, Wi-Ml l, ZigBee, ultra- wideband (UWB), global system for mobile communications (GSM), 2G, 2.5G, 3G, 3.5G, 4G, fifth generation (5G) mobile networks, 3GPP, long term evolution (LTE), LTE advanced, enhanced data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), or the like. Other embodiments may be used in various other devices, systems, and / or networks.

[0147] Various embodiments are described below.

[0148] Example 1 may include an apparatus of a user equipment (UE) device, the apparatus comprising processing circuitry coupled to storage for storing information associated with activation and release of resources for Type 2 Configured Grant Sidelink Positioning Reference Signal (SL PRS) in wireless communications, the processing circuitry configured to: identify a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) carrying downlink control information (DCI) format 3_2; identify, in the DCI, signaling of an activation or release of a Type 2 Configured Grant Sidelink Positioning Reference Signal (SL PRS) in a dedicated resource pool for SL PRS transmissions; and validating the activation or release the Type 2 Configured Grant SL PRS based on the signaling of the activation or release in the DCI.

[0149] Example 2 may include the apparatus of example 1 and / or any other example herein, wherein the signaling comprises a first Radio Network Temporary Identifiers (RNTI) to signal the activation or a second RNTI, separate from the first RNTI, to signal the release.

[0150] Example 3 may include the apparatus of example 2 and / or any other example herein, wherein the signaling comprises the second RNTI to signal the release, and wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to validate the activation or release in a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) based on a respective state of one or more additional fields in the DCI.

[0151] Example 4 may include the apparatus of example 1 and / or any other example herein, wherein the signaling comprises a first SL-PRS configured scheduling RNTI (SL-PRS-CS- RNTI), used to scramble a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) of the DCI format 3_2, to signal the activation or the release, and wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to validate the activation or release in a PDCCH based on one or more additional fields of the DCI.

[0152] Example 5 may include the apparatus of example 4 and / or any other example herein, wherein the one or more additional fields are reserved if the CRC of the DCI format 3_2 is scrambled with a second RNTI (SL-PRS-RNTI) that is different from the first SL-PRS-CS- RNTI.

[0153] Example 6 may include the apparatus of example 1 and / or any other example herein, wherein the signaling comprises either a first state in field of the DCI or a second state in the field of the DCI, wherein the first state signals the release in a PDCCH and the second state signals the activation in the PDCCH.

[0154] Example 7 may include the apparatus of example 1 and / or any other example herein, wherein the signaling comprises a validation field in the DCI.

[0155] Example 8 may include the apparatus of example 1 and / or any other example herein, wherein the signaling comprises an RNTI to signal either the activation or the release, wherein a number of bits of a First SL PRS indicator in the DCI may be [log2( / V)]SL_pRS+ 2)], and wherein A / SL-PRSis a total number of SL PRS resources within a slot in the dedicated resource pool.

[0156] Example 9 may include the apparatus of example 1 and / or any other example herein, wherein the signaling comprises a reserved first state for a First SL PRS indicator field of the DCI to signal the activation, or a second reserved state for the First SL PRS indicator field and all Is for a Resource Identifier indication field of the DCI or for a Time Resource Assignment field of the DCI to signal the release.

[0157] Example 10 may include a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions to cause processing circuitry of a user equipment (UE) device for activation and release of resources for Type 2 Configured Grant Sidelink Positioning Reference Signal (SL PRS) in wireless communications, upon execution of the instructions by the processing circuitry, to: identify a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) carrying downlink control information (DCI) format 3_2; identify, in the DCI, signaling of an activation or release of a Type 2 Configured Grant Sidelink Positioning Reference Signal (SL PRS) in a dedicated resource pool for SL PRS transmissions; and validating the activation or release of the Type 2 Configured Grant SL PRS based on the signaling of the activation or release in the DCI.

[0158] Example 11 may include the computer-readable storage medium of example 10 and / or any other example herein, wherein the signaling comprises a first Radio Network Temporary Identifiers (RNTI) to signal the activation or a second RNTI, separate from the first RNTI, to signal the release.

[0159] Example 12 may include the computer-readable storage medium of example 11 and / or any other example herein, wherein the signaling comprises the second RNTI to signal the release, and wherein execution of the instructions further causes the processing circuitry to validate the activation or release in a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) based on a respective state of one or more additional fields in the DCI. Example 13 may include the computer-readable storage medium of example 10 and / or any other example herein, wherein the signaling comprises a first SL-PRS configured scheduling RNTI (SL-PRS-CS-RNTI), used to scramble a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) of the DCI format 3_2, to signal the activation or the release, and wherein execution of the instructions further causes the processing circuitry to validate the activation or release in a PDCCH based on one or more additional fields of the DCI.

[0160] Example 14 may include the computer-readable storage medium of example 13 and / or any other example herein, wherein the one or more additional fields are reserved if the CRC of the DCI format 3_2 is scrambled with a second RNTI (SL-PRS -RNTI) that is different from the first SL-PRS-CS-RNTI.

[0161] Example 15 may include the computer-readable storage medium of example 10 and / or any other example herein, wherein the signaling comprises either a first state in field of the DCI or a second state in the field of the DCI, wherein the first state signals the release in a PDCCH and the second state signals the activation in the PDCCH.

[0162] Example 16 may include the computer-readable storage medium of example 10 and / or any other example herein, wherein the signaling comprises a validation field in the DCI.

[0163] Example 17 may include the computer-readable storage medium of example 10 and / or any other example herein, wherein the signaling comprises an RNTI to signal either the activation or the release, wherein a number of bits of a First SL PRS indicator in the DCI may be + 2)], and wherein / VSL-PRSis a total number of SL PRS resources within a slot in the dedicated resource pool.

[0164] Example 18 may include a method for activation and release of resources for Type 2 Configured Grant Sidelink Positioning Reference Signal (SL PRS) in wireless communications, the method comprising: identifying, by processing circuitry of a user equipment (UE) device, a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) carrying downlink control information (DCI) format 3_2; identifying, by the processing circuitry, in the DCI, signaling of an activation or release of a Type 2 Configured Grant Sidelink Positioning Reference Signal (SL PRS) in a dedicated resource pool for SL PRS transmissions; and validating, by the processing circuitry, the activation or release of the Type 2 Configured Grant SL PRS based on the signaling of the activation or release in the DCI.

[0165] Example 19 may include an apparatus including means for: identifying a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) carrying downlink control information (DCI) format 3_2; identifying, in the DCI, signaling of an activation or release of a Type 2 Configured Grant Sidelink Positioning Reference Signal (SL PRS) in a dedicated resource pool for SL PRS transmissions; and validating the activation or release of the Type 2 Configured Grant SL PRS based on the signaling of the activation or release in the DCI.

[0166] Example 20 may include one or more computer-readable media comprising instructions to cause an electronic device, upon execution of the instructions by one or more processors of the electronic device, to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of examples 1-19, or any other method or process described herein.

[0167] Example 21 may include an apparatus comprising logic, modules, and / or circuitry to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of examples 1-19, or any other method or process described herein.

[0168] Example 22 may include a method, technique, or process as described in or related to any of examples 1-19, or portions or parts thereof.

[0169] Example 23 may include an apparatus comprising: one or more processors and one or more computer readable media comprising instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the method, techniques, or process as described in or related to any of examples 1-19, or portions thereof.

[0170] Example 24 may include a method of communicating in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

[0171] Example 25 may include a system for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein.

[0172] Example 26 may include a device for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein.

[0173] Embodiments according to the disclosure are in particular disclosed in the attached claims directed to a method, a storage medium, a device and a computer program product, wherein any feature mentioned in one claim category, e.g., method, can be claimed in another claim category, e.g., system, as well. The dependencies or references back in the attached claims are chosen for formal reasons only. However, any subject matter resulting from a deliberate reference back to any previous claims (in particular multiple dependencies) can be claimed as well, so that any combination of claims and the features thereof are disclosed and can be claimed regardless of the dependencies chosen in the attached claims. The subject- matter which can be claimed comprises not only the combinations of features as set out in the attached claims but also any other combination of features in the claims, wherein each feature mentioned in the claims can be combined with any other feature or combination of other features in the claims. Furthermore, any of the embodiments and features described or depicted herein can be claimed in a separate claim and / or in any combination with any embodiment or feature described or depicted herein or with any of the features of the attached claims.

[0174] The foregoing description of one or more implementations provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the scope of embodiments to the precise form disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings or may be acquired from practice of various embodiments.

[0175] Certain aspects of the disclosure are described above with reference to block and flow diagrams of systems, methods, apparatuses, and / or computer program products according to various implementations. It will be understood that one or more blocks of the block diagrams and flow diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and the flow diagrams, respectively, may be implemented by computer-executable program instructions. Likewise, some blocks of the block diagrams and flow diagrams may not necessarily need to be performed in the order presented, or may not necessarily need to be performed at all, according to some implementations.

[0176] These computer-executable program instructions may be loaded onto a special-purpose computer or other particular machine, a processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a particular machine, such that the instructions that execute on the computer, processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus create means for implementing one or more functions specified in the flow diagram block or blocks. These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable storage media or memory that may direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable storage media produce an article of manufacture including instruction means that implement one or more functions specified in the flow diagram block or blocks. As an example, certain implementations may provide for a computer program product, comprising a computer- readable storage medium having a computer-readable program code or program instructions implemented therein, said computer-readable program code adapted to be executed to implement one or more functions specified in the flow diagram block or blocks. The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational elements or steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer-implemented process such that the instructions that execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide elements or steps for implementing the functions specified in the flow diagram block or blocks. Accordingly, blocks of the block diagrams and flow diagrams support combinations of means for performing the specified functions, combinations of elements or steps for performing the specified functions and program instruction means for performing the specified functions. It will also be understood that each block of the block diagrams and flow diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and flow diagrams, may be implemented by special-purpose, hardware-based computer systems that perform the specified functions, elements or steps, or combinations of special-purpose hardware and computer instructions.

[0177] Conditional language, such as, among others, “can,” “could,” “might,” or “may,” unless specifically stated otherwise, or otherwise understood within the context as used, is generally intended to convey that certain implementations could include, while other implementations do not include, certain features, elements, and / or operations. Thus, such conditional language is not generally intended to imply that features, elements, and / or operations are in any way required for one or more implementations or that one or more implementations necessarily include logic for deciding, with or without user input or prompting, whether these features, elements, and / or operations are included or are to be performed in any particular implementation.

[0178] Many modifications and other implementations of the disclosure set forth herein will be apparent having the benefit of the teachings presented in the foregoing descriptions and the associated drawings. Therefore, it is to be understood that the disclosure is not to be limited to the specific implementations disclosed and that modifications and other implementations are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims. Although specific terms are employed herein, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation.

[0179] For the purposes of the present document, the following terms and definitions are applicable to the examples and embodiments discussed herein.

[0180] The term “circuitry” as used herein refers to, is part of, or includes hardware components such as an electronic circuit, a logic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group) and / or memory (shared, dedicated, or group), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a field-programmable device (FPD) (e.g., a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a programmable logic device (PLD), a complex PLD (CPLD), a high-capacity PLD (HCPLD), a structured ASIC, or a programmable SoC), digital signal processors (DSPs), etc., that are configured to provide the described functionality. In some embodiments, the circuitry may execute one or more software or firmware programs to provide at least some of the described functionality. The term “circuitry” may also refer to a combination of one or more hardware elements (or a combination of circuits used in an electrical or electronic system) with the program code used to carry out the functionality of that program code. In these embodiments, the combination of hardware elements and program code may be referred to as a particular type of circuitry.

[0181] The term “processor circuitry” as used herein refers to, is part of, or includes circuitry capable of sequentially and automatically carrying out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations, or recording, storing, and / or transferring digital data. Processing circuitry may include one or more processing cores to execute instructions and one or more memory structures to store program and data information. The term “processor circuitry” may refer to one or more application processors, one or more baseband processors, a physical central processing unit (CPU), a single-core processor, a dual-core processor, a triple-core processor, a quad-core processor, and / or any other device capable of executing or otherwise operating computer-executable instructions, such as program code, software modules, and / or functional processes. Processing circuitry may include more hardware accelerators, which may be microprocessors, programmable processing devices, or the like. The one or more hardware accelerators may include, for example, computer vision (CV) and / or deep learning (DL) accelerators. The terms “application circuitry” and / or “baseband circuitry” may be considered synonymous to, and may be referred to as, “processor circuitry.”

[0182] The term “interface circuitry” as used herein refers to, is part of, or includes circuitry that enables the exchange of information between two or more components or devices. The term “interface circuitry” may refer to one or more hardware interfaces, for example, buses, I / O interfaces, peripheral component interfaces, network interface cards, and / or the like.

[0183] The term “user equipment” or “UE” as used herein refers to a device with radio communication capabilities and may describe a remote user of network resources in a communications network. The term “user equipment” or “UE” may be considered synonymous to, and may be referred to as, client, mobile, mobile device, mobile terminal, user terminal, mobile unit, mobile station, mobile user, subscriber, user, remote station, access agent, user agent, receiver, radio equipment, reconfigurable radio equipment, reconfigurable mobile device, etc. Furthermore, the term “user equipment” or “UE” may include any type of wireless / wired device or any computing device including a wireless communications interface.

[0184] The term “network element” as used herein refers to physical or virtualized equipment and / or infrastructure used to provide wired or wireless communication network services. The term “network element” may be considered synonymous to and / or referred to as a networked computer, networking hardware, network equipment, network node, router, switch, hub, bridge, radio network controller, RAN device, RAN node, gateway, server, virtualized VNF, NFVI, and / or the like.

[0185] The term “computer system” as used herein refers to any type interconnected electronic devices, computer devices, or components thereof. Additionally, the term “computer system” and / or “system” may refer to various components of a computer that are communicatively coupled with one another. Furthermore, the term “computer system” and / or “system” may refer to multiple computer devices and / or multiple computing systems that are communicatively coupled with one another and configured to share computing and / or networking resources.

[0186] The term “appliance,” “computer appliance,” or the like, as used herein refers to a computer device or computer system with program code (e.g., software or firmware) that is specifically designed to provide a specific computing resource. A “virtual appliance” is a virtual machine image to be implemented by a hypervisor-equipped device that virtualizes or emulates a computer appliance or otherwise is dedicated to provide a specific computing resource.

[0187] The term “resource” as used herein refers to a physical or virtual device, a physical or virtual component within a computing environment, and / or a physical or virtual component within a particular device, such as computer devices, mechanical devices, memory space, processor / CPU time, processor / CPU usage, processor and accelerator loads, hardware time or usage, electrical power, input / output operations, ports or network sockets, channel / link allocation, throughput, memory usage, storage, network, database and applications, workload units, and / or the like. A “hardware resource” may refer to compute, storage, and / or network resources provided by physical hardware element(s). A “virtualized resource” may refer to compute, storage, and / or network resources provided by virtualization infrastructure to an application, device, system, etc. The term “network resource” or “communication resource” may refer to resources that are accessible by computer devices / systems via a communications network. The term “system resources” may refer to any kind of shared entities to provide services, and may include computing and / or network resources. System resources may be considered as a set of coherent functions, network data objects or services, accessible through a server where such system resources reside on a single host or multiple hosts and are clearly identifiable.

[0188] The term “channel” as used herein refers to any transmission medium, either tangible or intangible, which is used to communicate data or a data stream. The term “channel” may be synonymous with and / or equivalent to “communications channel,” “data communications channel,” “transmission channel,” “data transmission channel,” “access channel,” “data access channel,” “link,” “data link,” “carrier,” “radiofrequency carrier,” and / or any other like term denoting a pathway or medium through which data is communicated. Additionally, the term “link” as used herein refers to a connection between two devices through a RAT for the purpose of transmitting and receiving information.

[0189] The terms “instantiate,” “instantiation,” and the like as used herein refers to the creation of an instance. An “instance” also refers to a concrete occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, during execution of program code.

[0190] The terms “coupled,” “communicatively coupled,” along with derivatives thereof are used herein. The term “coupled” may mean two or more elements are in direct physical or electrical contact with one another, may mean that two or more elements indirectly contact each other but still cooperate or interact with each other, and / or may mean that one or more other elements are coupled or connected between the elements that are said to be coupled with each other. The term “directly coupled” may mean that two or more elements are in direct contact with one another. The term “communicatively coupled” may mean that two or more elements may be in contact with one another by a means of communication including through a wire or other interconnect connection, through a wireless communication channel or link, and / or the like.

[0191] The term “information element” refers to a structural element containing one or more fields. The term “field” refers to individual contents of an information element, or a data element that contains content.

[0192] Unless used differently herein, terms, definitions, and abbreviations may be consistent with terms, definitions, and abbreviations defined in 3GPP TR 21.905 vl6.0.0 (2019-06) and / or any other 3GPP standard. For the purposes of the present document, the following abbreviations (shown in Table 1) may apply to the examples and embodiments discussed herein.

[0193] Table 1: Abbreviations

Claims

CLAIMSWhat is claimed is:

1. An apparatus of a user equipment (UE) device, the apparatus comprising processing circuitry coupled to storage for storing information associated with activation and release of resources for Type 2 Configured Grant Sidelink Positioning Reference Signal (SL PRS) in wireless communications, the processing circuitry configured to: identify a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) carrying downlink control information (DCI) format 3_2; identify, in the DCI, signaling of an activation or release of a Type 2 Configured Grant Sidelink Positioning Reference Signal (SL PRS) in a dedicated resource pool for SL PRS transmissions; and validate the activating or release of the Type 2 Configured Grant SL PRS based on the signaling of the activation or release in the DCI.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the signaling comprises a first Radio Network Temporary Identifiers (RNTI) to signal the activation or a second RNTI, separate from the first RNTI, to signal the release.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the signaling comprises the second RNTI to signal the release, and wherein the validating is further based on a respective state of one or more additional fields in the DCI.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the signaling comprises a first SL-PRS configured scheduling RNTI (SL-PRS-CS-RNTI), used to scramble a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) of the DCI format 3_2, to signal the activation or the release, and wherein the validating is further based on one or more additional fields of the DCI.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the one or more additional fields are reserved if the CRC of the DCI format 3_2 is scrambled with a second RNTI (SL-PRS-RNTI) that is different from the first SL-PRS-CS-RNTI.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the signaling comprises either a first state in field of the DCI or a second state in the field of the DCI, wherein the first state signals the release in a PDCCH and the second state signals the activation in the PDCCH.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the signaling comprises a validation field in the DCI.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the signaling comprises an RNTI to signal either the activation or the release, wherein a number of bits of a First SL PRS indicator in the DCI may be [log2[(w]sL-PRS + 2)], and wherein / VSL-PRSis a total number of SL PRS resources within a slot in the dedicated resource pool.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the signaling comprises a reserved first state for a First SL PRS indicator field of the DCI to signal the activation, or a second reserved state for the First SL PRS indicator field and all Is for a Resource Identifier indication field of the DCI or for a Time Resource Assignment field of the DCI to signal the release.

10. A computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions to cause processing circuitry of a user equipment (UE) device for activation and release of resources for Type 2 Configured Grant Sidelink Positioning Reference Signal (SL PRS) in wireless communications, upon execution of the instractions by the processing circuitry, to: identify a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) carrying downlink control information (DCI) format 3_2; identify, in the DCI, signaling of an activation or release of a Type 2 Configured Grant Sidelink Positioning Reference Signal (SL PRS) in a dedicated resource pool for SL PRS transmissions; and validating the activation or release of the Type 2 Configured Grant SL PRS based on the signaling of the activation or release in the DCI.1 1 . The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the signaling comprises a first Radio Network Temporary Identifiers (RNTI) to signal the activation or a second RNTI, separate from the first RNTI, to signal the release.

12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 11 , wherein the signaling comprises the second RNTI to signal the release, and wherein the validating is further based on a respective state of one or more additional fields in the DCI.

13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the signaling comprises a first SL-PRS configured scheduling RNTI (SL-PRS-CS-RNTI), used to scramble a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) of the DCI format 3_2, to signal the activation or the release, and wherein the validating is further based on one or more additional fields of the DCI.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the one or more additional fields are reserved if the CRC of the DCI format 3_2 is scrambled with a second RNTI (SL-PRS-RNTI) that is different from the first SL-PRS-CS-RNTI.

15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the signaling comprises either a first state in field of the DCI or a second state in the field of the DCI, wherein the first state signals the release in a PDCCH and the second state signals the activation in the PDCCH.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the signaling comprises a validation field in the DCI.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the signaling comprises an RNTI to signal either the activation or the release, wherein a number of bits of a First SL PRS indicator in the DCI may be [log2[(A ]SL-PRS + 2)1, and wherein / VSL-PRSis a total number of SL PRS resources within a slot in the dedicated resource pool.

18. A method for activation and release of resources for Type 2 Configured Grant Sidelink Positioning Reference Signal (SL PRS)in wireless communications, the method comprising: identifying, by processing circuitry of a user equipment (UE) device, a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) carrying downlink control information (DCI) formatidentifying, by the processing circuitry, in the DCI, signaling of an activation or release of a Type 2 Configured Grant Sidelink Positioning Reference Signal (SL PRS) in a dedicated resource pool for SL PRS transmissions; and validating, by the processing circuitry, the activation or release of the Type 2 Configured Grant SL PRS based on the signaling of the activation or release in the DCI.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions to perform the method of claim 18.

20. An apparatus comprising means for performing the method of claim 18.

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