A method and apparatus for command indication and execution between a reader and devices

Abstract

The disclosure relates to a 5G or 6G communication system for supporting a higher data transmission rate. Apparatuses and methods for indicating and executing a command between reader and devices. A method for an Internet of Things (IoT) device to communicate with a reader for executing a command is provided. The method includes receiving a physical reader-to-device channel (PRDCH). The PRDCH indicates information related to executing the command that indicates at least the command. Transmission parameters for the PRDCH are (i) associated with a preamble signal preceding the PRDCH or (ii) indicated by control information provided in the PRDCH. The method further includes determining transmission of a physical device-to-reader channel (PDRCH) based on reception of the PRDCH and transmitting the PDRCH, wherein the PDRCH includes information related to execution of the command including at least an indication on success or failure of executing the command.

Description

A METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR COMMAND INDICATION AND EXECUTION BETWEEN A READER AND DEVICES

[0001] The present disclosure relates generally to wireless communication systems and, more specifically, the present disclosure is related to apparatuses and methods for indicating and executing a command between reader and devices.

[0002] 5G mobile communication technologies define broad frequency bands such that high transmission rates and new services are possible, and can be implemented not only in "Sub 6GHz" bands such as 3.5GHz, but also in "Above 6GHz" bands referred to as mmWave including 28GHz and 39GHz. In addition, it has been considered to implement 6G mobile communication technologies (referred to as Beyond 5G systems) in terahertz bands (for example, 95GHz to 3THz bands) in order to accomplish transmission rates fifty times faster than 5G mobile communication technologies and ultra-low latencies one-tenth of 5G mobile communication technologies.

[0003] At the beginning of the development of 5G mobile communication technologies, in order to support services and to satisfy performance requirements in connection with enhanced Mobile BroadBand (eMBB), Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communications (URLLC), and massive Machine-Type Communications (mMTC), there has been ongoing standardization regarding beamforming and massive MIMO for mitigating radio-wave path loss and increasing radio-wave transmission distances in mmWave, supporting numerologies (for example, operating multiple subcarrier spacings) for efficiently utilizing mmWave resources and dynamic operation of slot formats, initial access technologies for supporting multi-beam transmission and broadbands, definition and operation of BWP (BandWidth Part), new channel coding methods such as a LDPC (Low Density Parity Check) code for large amount of data transmission and a polar code for highly reliable transmission of control information, L2 pre-processing, and network slicing for providing a dedicated network specialized to a specific service.

[0004] Currently, there are ongoing discussions regarding improvement and performance enhancement of initial 5G mobile communication technologies in view of services to be supported by 5G mobile communication technologies, and there has been physical layer standardization regarding technologies such as V2X (Vehicle-to-everything) for aiding driving determination by autonomous vehicles based on information regarding positions and states of vehicles transmitted by the vehicles and for enhancing user convenience, NR-U (New Radio Unlicensed) aimed at system operations conforming to various regulation-related requirements in unlicensed bands, NR UE Power Saving, Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) which is UE-satellite direct communication for providing coverage in an area in which communication with terrestrial networks is unavailable, and positioning.

[0005] Moreover, there has been ongoing standardization in air interface architecture / protocol regarding technologies such as Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) for supporting new services through interworking and convergence with other industries, IAB (Integrated Access and Backhaul) for providing a node for network service area expansion by supporting a wireless backhaul link and an access link in an integrated manner, mobility enhancement including conditional handover and DAPS (Dual Active Protocol Stack) handover, and two-step random access for simplifying random access procedures (2-step RACH for NR). There also has been ongoing standardization in system architecture / service regarding a 5G baseline architecture (for example, service based architecture or service based interface) for combining Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) and Software-Defined Networking (SDN) technologies, and Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) for receiving services based on UE positions.

[0006] As 5G mobile communication systems are commercialized, connected devices that have been exponentially increasing will be connected to communication networks, and it is accordingly expected that enhanced functions and performances of 5G mobile communication systems and integrated operations of connected devices will be necessary. To this end, new research is scheduled in connection with eXtended Reality (XR) for efficiently supporting AR (Augmented Reality), VR (Virtual Reality), MR (Mixed Reality) and the like, 5G performance improvement and complexity reduction by utilizing Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML), AI service support, metaverse service support, and drone communication.

[0007] Furthermore, such development of 5G mobile communication systems will serve as a basis for developing not only new waveforms for providing coverage in terahertz bands of 6G mobile communication technologies, multi-antenna transmission technologies such as Full Dimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO), array antennas and large-scale antennas, metamaterial-based lenses and antennas for improving coverage of terahertz band signals, high-dimensional space multiplexing technology using OAM (Orbital Angular Momentum), and RIS (Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface), but also full-duplex technology for increasing frequency efficiency of 6G mobile communication technologies and improving system networks, AI-based communication technology for implementing system optimization by utilizing satellites and AI (Artificial Intelligence) from the design stage and internalizing end-to-end AI support functions, and next-generation distributed computing technology for implementing services at levels of complexity exceeding the limit of UE operation capability by utilizing ultra-high-performance communication and computing resources.

[0008] The present disclosure relates to indicating and executing a command between reader and devices.

[0009] In one embodiment, a method for an Internet of Things (IoT) device to communicate with a reader for executing a command is provided. The method includes receiving a physical reader-to-device channel (PRDCH). The PRDCH indicates information related to executing the command that indicates at least the command. Transmission parameters for the PRDCH are (i) associated with a preamble signal preceding the PRDCH or (ii) indicated by control information provided in the PRDCH. The method further includes determining transmission of a physical device-to-reader channel (PDRCH) based on reception of the PRDCH and transmitting the PDRCH, wherein the PDRCH includes information related to execution of the command including at least an indication on success or failure of executing the command.

[0010] In one embodiment, an IoT device is provided. The IoT device includes a memory and a transceiver configured to receive a PRDCH. The PRDCH indicates information related to executing a command that indicates at least the command. Transmission parameters for the PRDCH are (i) associated with a preamble signal preceding the PRDCH or (ii) indicated by control information provided in the PRDCH. The IoT device further includes processing circuitry operably coupled to the transceiver and the memory. The processing circuitry is configured to determine transmission of a PDRCH based on reception of the PRDCH. The transceiver is further configured to transmit the PDRCH. The PDRCH includes information related to execution of the command including at least an indication on success or failure of executing the command.

[0011] In one embodiment, a reader is provided. The reader includes a transceiver configured to transmit a PRDCH. The PRDCH indicates information related to executing a command that indicates at least the command. Transmission parameters for the PRDCH are (i) associated with a preamble signal preceding the PRDCH or (ii) indicated by control information provided in the PRDCH. The reader further includes a processor operably coupled to the transceiver. The processor is configured to determine reception of a PDRCH based on transmission of the PRDCH. The transceiver is further configured to receive, from an IoT device, the PDRCH. The PDRCH includes information related to execution of the command including at least an indication on success or failure of executing the command.

[0012] For a more complete understanding of the present disclosure and its advantages, reference is now made to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals represent like parts:

[0013] FIG. 1 illustrates an example wireless network according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0014] FIG. 2 illustrates an example base station (BS) according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0015] FIG. 3 illustrates an example user equipment (UE) according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0016] FIGS. 4A illustrate an example of a wireless transmit path according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0017] FIGS. 4B illustrate an example of a wireless receive path according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0018] FIG. 5 illustrates an example of a transmitter structure using orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0019] FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a receiver structure using OFDM according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0020] FIG. 7 illustrates an example encoding structure for a downlink control information (DCI) format according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0021] FIG. 8 illustrates an example decoding structure for a downlink control information (DCI) format according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0022] FIG. 9 illustrates a diagram of an example type-1 backscatter structure for internet of thing(s) (IoT) devices according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0023] FIG. 10 illustrates a diagram of an example impedance matching circuit according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0024] FIG. 11 illustrates a diagram of an example type-2a backscatter structure for IoT devices according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0025] FIG. 12 illustrates a diagram of an example type-2b structure for IoT devices according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0026] FIG. 13 illustrates a diagram of an example type-2b structure for IoT devices according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0027] FIG. 14 illustrates a diagram of an example type-2b structure for IoT devices according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0028] FIG. 15 illustrates a flowchart of an example device procedure for executing a received command according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0029] FIG. 16 illustrates a flowchart of an example procedure for executing a received command according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0030] FIG. 17 illustrates timelines for example device-specific commands and device-group-specific commands according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0031] FIG. 18 illustrates a diagram of an example physical reader to device channel (PRDCH) transmission architecture according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0032] FIG. 19 illustrates a flowchart of an example device procedure for executing a received command according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0033] FIG. 20 illustrates a flowchart of an example procedure for executing a received command according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0034] FIG. 21 illustrates timelines for example device-specific commands and device-group-specific commands according to embodiments of the present disclosure; and

[0035] FIG. 22 illustrates a diagram of an example PRDCH transmission architecture according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0036] In one embodiment, a method for an Internet of Things (IoT) device to communicate with a reader for executing a command is provided. The method comprising: receiving, from the reader, a physical reader-to-device channel (PRDCH); determining transmission of a physical device-to-reader channel (PDRCH) based on reception of the PRDCH; and transmitting, to the reader, the PDRCH, wherein the PDRCH includes information related to execution of the command including at least an indication on success or failure of executing the command. In one embodiment, the PRDCH includes information related to executing the command that indicates at least the command, and transmission parameters for the PRDCH are (i) associated with a preamble signal preceding the PRDCH or (ii) indicated by control information provided in the PRDCH.

[0037] In one embodiment, the PRDCH includes at least one of: an indication of a message type including unicast, multicast, or broadcast; a receiver identifier; a reader identifier. In one embodiment, the receiver identifier indicates: one or more device identifiers corresponding to respective one or more devices, a device group identifier corresponding to a group of one or more devices, or no identifier corresponding to all devices receiving the PRDCH.

[0038] In one embodiment, the information related to executing the command indicates at least one of: a command to (i) generate a random number for device identification and (ii) transmit the PDRCH providing the random number; (i) a command to write a product code on a memory of the IoT device and (ii) information related to the product code; a command to (i) read the product code associated with the IoT device and (ii) transmit the PDRCH providing the product code; (i) a command to (a) read data from the memory and (b) transmit the PDRCH providing the data and (ii) information related to the memory; (i) a command to write data on the memory and (ii) information related to the data and the memory; a command to transmit PDRCH providing information related to one or more device statuses; (i) a command to set the one or more device statuses and (ii) information related to the one or more device statuses; (i) a command to lock or unlock a memory bank of the IoT device and (ii) information related to the memory bank; or a command to activate, deactivate, or initialize the IoT device.

[0039] In one embodiment, the PRDCH includes a request for transmission of the PDRCH. The determining transmission of the PDRCH further comprises: determining transmission of the PDRCH based on the request for transmission of the PDRCH provided in the PRDCH.

[0040] In one embodiment, the PRDCH includes one or more parameters related to transmission of the PDRCH, and a transmission timing of the PDRCH is based on the one or more parameters. Or, In one embodiment, the PRDCH does not include the one or more parameters related to transmission of the PDRCH, and the transmission timing of the PDRCH is within a time interval from a reception timing of the PRDCH.

[0041] In one embodiment, the PRDCH includes one or more information blocks corresponding to one or more devices, respectively. In one embodiment, each information block includes one or more parameters related to transmission of the PDRCH, and a transmission timing of the PDRCH is based on the one or more parameters provided in the corresponding information block. Or, In one embodiment, each information block does not include the one or more parameters related to transmission of the PDRCH, and the transmission timing of the PDRCH is within a time interval from a reception timing of the PRDCH, wherein the time interval is associated with an information block index corresponding to the IoT device.

[0042] In one embodiment, the method, further comprising: receiving a second PRDCH providing acknowledgement or negative acknowledgement (ACK / NACK) on the PDRCH transmission. The information related to executing the command further includes a request for data transmission in the PDRCH and parameters related to scheduling PDRCH. The second PRDCH is (i) device-specific, providing the ACK / NACK to a device, or (ii) device-group-specific, providing one or more ACK / NACKs to respective one or more devices.

[0043] In one embodiment, an Internet of Things (IoT) device is provided. The IoT device comprising: a memory storing one or more instructions; a transceiver; and at least one processor. The at least one processor is configured to execute the one or more instructions to enable the IoT device to: receive, from a reader, a physical reader-to-device channel (PRDCH); determine transmission of a physical device-to-reader channel (PDRCH) based on reception of the PRDCH; transmit, to the reader, the PDRCH, wherein the PDRCH includes information related to execution of the command including at least an indication on success or failure of executing the command. In one embodiment, the PRDCH includes information related to executing the command that indicates at least the command, and transmission parameters for the PRDCH are (i) associated with a preamble signal preceding the PRDCH or (ii) indicated by control information provided in the PRDCH.

[0044] In one embodiment, the PRDCH includes at least one of: an indication of a message type including unicast, multicast, or broadcast; a receiver identifier; a reader identifier. The receiver identifier indicates: one or more device identifiers corresponding to respective one or more devices, a device group identifier corresponding to a group of one or more devices, or no identifier corresponding to all devices receiving the PRDCH, or

[0045] In one embodiment, the information related to executing the command indicates at least one of: a command to (i) generate a random number for device identification and (ii) transmit the PDRCH providing the random number; (i) a command to write a product code on the memory of the IoT device and (ii) information related to the product code; a command to (i) read the product code associated with the IoT device and (ii) transmit the PDRCH providing the product code; (i) a command to (a) read data from the memory and (b) transmit the PDRCH providing the data and (ii) information related to the memory; (i) a command to write data on the memory and (ii) information related to the data and the memory; a command to transmit PDRCH providing information related to one or more device statuses; (i) a command to set the one or more device statuses and (ii) information related to the one or more device statuses; (i) a command to lock or unlock a memory bank of the IoT device and (ii) information related to the memory bank; or a command to activate, deactivate, or initialize the IoT device.

[0046] In one embodiment, the PRDCH includes a request for transmission of the PDRCH. The at least one processor further configured to execute the one or more instructions to enable the IoT device to: determine transmission of the PDRCH based on the request for transmission of the PDRCH provided in the PRDCH.

[0047] In one embodiment, the PRDCH includes one or more parameters related to transmission of the PDRCH, and a transmission timing of the PDRCH is based on the one or more parameters. Or, In one embodiment, the PRDCH does not include the one or more parameters related to transmission of the PDRCH, and the transmission timing of the PDRCH is within a time interval from a reception timing of the PRDCH.

[0048] In one embodiment, the PRDCH includes one or more information blocks corresponding to one or more devices, respectively. In one embodiment, each information block includes one or more parameters related to transmission of the PDRCH, and a transmission timing of the PDRCH is based on the one or more parameters provided in the corresponding information block. Or, In one embodiment, each information block does not include the one or more parameters related to transmission of the PDRCH, and the transmission timing of the PDRCH is within a time interval from a reception timing of the PRDCH, wherein the time interval is associated with an information block index corresponding to the IoT device.

[0049] In one embodiment, the at least one processor further configured to execute the one or more instructions to enable the IoT device to: receive a second PRDCH providing acknowledgement or negative acknowledgement (ACK / NACK) on the PDRCH transmission. The information related to executing the command further includes a request for data transmission in the PDRCH and parameters related to scheduling PDRCH, and the second PRDCH is (i) device-specific, providing the ACK / NACK to a device, or (ii) device-group-specific, providing one or more ACK / NACKs to respective one or more devices.

[0050] In one embodiment, a reader is provided. The reader comprising: a memory storing one or more instructions; a transceiver; and at least one processor. The at least one processor is configured to execute the one or more instructions to enable the reader to: transmit, to an Internet of Things (IoT) device, a physical reader-to-device channel (PRDCH); determine reception of a physical device-to-reader channel (PDRCH) based on transmission of the PRDCH; and receive, from the IoT device, the PDRCH, wherein the PDRCH includes information related to execution of the command including at least an indication on success or failure of executing the command. In one embodiment, the PRDCH includes information related to executing the command that indicates at least the command, and transmission parameters for the PRDCH are (i) associated with a preamble signal preceding the PRDCH or (ii) indicated by control information provided in the PRDCH.

[0051] Before undertaking the DETAILED DESCRIPTION below, it may be advantageous to set forth definitions of certain words and phrases used throughout this patent document. The term "Couple" and its derivatives refer to any direct or indirect communication between two or more elements, whether or not those elements are in physical contact with one another. The terms "transmit," "receive," and "communicate," as well as derivatives thereof, encompass both direct and indirect communication. The terms "include" and "comprise," as well as derivatives thereof, mean inclusion without limitation. The term "or"is inclusive, meaning and / or. The phrase "associated with," as well as derivatives thereof, means to include, be included within, interconnect with, contain, be contained within, connect to or with, couple to or with, be communicable with, cooperate with, interleave, juxtapose, be proximate to, be bound to or with, have, have a property of, have a relationship to or with, or the like. The term "controller" means any device, system, or part thereof that controls at least one operation. Such a controller may be implemented in hardware or a combination of hardware and software and / or firmware. The functionality associated with any particular controller may be centralized or distributed, whether locally or remotely. The phrase "at least one of," when used with a list of items, means that different combinations of one or more of the listed items may be used, and only one item in the list may be needed. For example, "at least one of: A, B, and C" includes any of the following combinations: A, B, C, A and B, A and C, B and C, and A and B and C.

[0052] Moreover, various functions described below can be implemented or supported by one or more computer programs, each of which is formed from computer readable program code and embodied in a computer readable medium. The terms "application" and "program" refer to one or more computer programs, software components, sets of instructions, procedures, functions, objects, classes, instances, related data, or a portion thereof adapted for implementation in a suitable computer readable program code. The phrase "computer readable program code" includes any type of computer code, including source code, object code, and executable code. The phrase "computer readable medium" includes any type of medium capable of being accessed by a computer, such as read only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), a hard disk drive, a compact disc (CD), a digital video disc (DVD), or any other type of memory. A "non-transitory" computer readable medium excludes wired, wireless, optical, or other communication links that transport transitory electrical or other signals. A non-transitory computer readable medium includes media where data can be permanently stored and media where data can be stored and later overwritten, such as a rewritable optical disc or an erasable memory device.

[0053] Definitions for other certain words and phrases are provided throughout this patent document. Those of ordinary skill in the art should understand that in many if not most instances, such definitions apply to prior as well as future uses of such defined words and phrases.

[0054] FIGS. 1-22, discussed below, and the various, non-limiting embodiments used to describe the principles of the present disclosure in this patent document are by way of illustration only and should not be construed in any way to limit the scope of the disclosure. Those skilled in the art will understand that the principles of the present disclosure may be implemented in any suitably arranged system or device.

[0055] To meet the demand for wireless data traffic having increased since deployment of 4G communication systems, and to enable various vertical applications, 5G / NR communication systems have been developed and are currently being deployed. The 5G / NR communication system is implemented in higher frequency (mmWave) bands, e.g., 28 GHz or 60GHz bands, so as to accomplish higher data rates or in lower frequency bands, such as 6 GHz, to enable robust coverage and mobility support. To decrease propagation loss of the radio waves and increase the transmission distance, the beamforming, massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), full dimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO), array antenna, an analog beam forming, large scale antenna techniques are discussed in 5G / NR communication systems.

[0056] In addition, in 5G / NR communication systems, development for system network improvement is under way based on advanced small cells, cloud radio access networks (RANs), ultra-dense networks, device-to-device (D2D) communication, wireless backhaul, moving network, cooperative communication, coordinated multi-points (CoMP), reception-end interference cancelation, radio access technology (RAT)-dependent positioning and the like.

[0057] The discussion of 5G systems and frequency bands associated therewith is for reference as certain embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in 5G systems. However, the present disclosure is not limited to 5G systems, or the frequency bands associated therewith, and embodiments of the present disclosure may be utilized in connection with any frequency band. For example, aspects of the present disclosure may also be applied to deployment of 5G communication systems, 6G or even later releases which may use terahertz (THz) bands.

[0058] The following documents and standards descriptions are hereby incorporated by reference into the present disclosure as if fully set forth herein: [REF1] 3GPP TS 38.211 v18.1.0, "NR; Physical channels and modulation;" [REF2] 3GPP TS 38.212 v18.1.0, "NR; Multiplexing and channel coding;"[REF3] 3GPP TS 38.213 v18.1.0, "NR; Physical layer procedures for control;"[REF4] 3GPP TS 38.214 v18.1.0, "NR; Physical layer procedures for data;" [REF5] 3GPP TS 38.331 v18.0.0, "NR; Radio Resource Control (RRC) protocol specification;" and [REF6] 3GPP TS 38.321 v18.0.0, "NR; Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol specification;"

[0059] FIGS. 1-3 below describe various embodiments implemented in wireless communications systems and with the use of orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) or orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) communication techniques. The descriptions of FIGS. 1-3 are not meant to imply physical or architectural limitations to the manner in which different embodiments may be implemented. Different embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in any suitably arranged communications system.

[0060] FIG. 1 illustrates an example wireless network 100 according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the wireless network 100 shown in FIG. 1 is for illustration only. Other embodiments of the wireless network 100 could be used without departing from the scope of this disclosure.

[0061] As shown in FIG. 1, the wireless network 100 includes a gNB 101 (e.g., base station, BS), a gNB 102, and a gNB 103. The gNB 101 communicates with the gNB 102 and the gNB 103. The gNB 101 also communicates with at least one network 130, such as the Internet, a proprietary Internet Protocol (IP) network, or other data network.

[0062] The gNB 102 provides wireless broadband access to the network 130 for a first plurality of user equipments (UEs) within a coverage area 120 of the gNB 102. The first plurality of UEs includes a UE 111, which may be located in a small business; a UE 112, which may be located in an enterprise; a UE 113, which may be a WiFi hotspot; a UE 114, which may be located in a first residence; a UE 115, which may be located in a second residence; and a UE 116, which may be a mobile device, such as a cell phone, a wireless laptop, a wireless PDA, or the like. The gNB 103 provides wireless broadband access to the network 130 for a second plurality of UEs within a coverage area 125 of the gNB 103. The second plurality of UEs includes the UE 115 and the UE 116. In some embodiments, one or more of the gNBs 101-103 may communicate with each other and with the UEs 111-116 using 5G / NR, long term evolution (LTE), long term evolution-advanced (LTE-A), WiMAX, WiFi, or other wireless communication techniques.

[0063] Depending on the network type, the term "base station" or "BS" can refer to any component (or collection of components) configured to provide wireless access to a network, such as transmit point (TP), transmit-receive point (TRP), an enhanced base station (eNodeB or eNB), a 5G / NR base station (gNB), a macrocell, a femtocell, a WiFi access point (AP), or other wirelessly enabled devices. Base stations may provide wireless access in accordance with one or more wireless communication protocols, e.g., 5G / NR 3rdgeneration partnership project (3GPP) NR, long term evolution (LTE), LTE advanced (LTE-A), high speed packet access (HSPA), Wi-Fi 802.11a / b / g / n / ac, etc. For the sake of convenience, the terms "BS" and "TRP" are used interchangeably in this patent document to refer to network infrastructure components that provide wireless access to remote terminals. Also, depending on the network type, the term "user equipment" or "UE" can refer to any component such as "mobile station," "subscriber station," "remote terminal,""wreless terminal," "rceive point,"or "user device." For the sake of convenience, the terms "user equipment" and "UE" are used in this patent document to refer to remote wireless equipment that wirelessly accesses a BS, whether the UE is a mobile device (such as a mobile telephone or smartphone) or is normally considered a stationary device (such as a desktop computer or vending machine).

[0064] The dotted lines show the approximate extents of the coverage areas 120 and 125, which are shown as approximately circular for the purposes of illustration and explanation only. It should be clearly understood that the coverage areas associated with gNBs, such as the coverage areas 120 and 125, may have other shapes, including irregular shapes, depending upon the configuration of the gNBs and variations in the radio environment associated with natural and man-made obstructions.

[0065] As described in more detail below, one or more of the UEs 111-116 include circuitry, programing, or a combination thereof for supporting indicating and executing a command between reader and devices. In certain embodiments, one or more of the gNBs 101-103 include circuitry, programing, or a combination thereof to provide for indicating and executing a command between reader and devices.

[0066] Although FIG. 1 illustrates one example of a wireless network, various changes may be made to FIG. 1. For example, the wireless network 100 could include any number of gNBs and any number of UEs in any suitable arrangement. Also, the gNB 101 could communicate directly with any number of UEs and provide those UEs with wireless broadband access to the network 130. Similarly, each gNB 102-103 could communicate directly with the network 130 and provide UEs with direct wireless broadband access to the network 130. Further, the gNBs 101, 102, and / or 103 could provide access to other or additional external networks, such as external telephone networks or other types of data networks.

[0067] FIG. 2 illustrates an example base station (BS) (e.g. gNB 102) according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the gNB 102 illustrated in FIG. 2 is for illustration only, and the gNBs 101 and 103 of FIG. 1 could have the same or similar configuration. However, gNBs come in a wide variety of configurations, and FIG. 2 does not limit the scope of this disclosure to any particular implementation of a gNB.

[0068] As shown in FIG. 2, the gNB 102 includes multiple antennas 205a-205n, multiple transceivers 210a-210n, a controller / processor 225, a memory 230, and a backhaul or network interface 235.

[0069] The transceivers 210a-210n receive, from the antennas 205a-205n, incoming radio frequency (RF) signals, such as signals transmitted by UEs in the wireless network 100. The transceivers 210a-210n down-convert the incoming RF signals to generate IF or baseband signals. The IF or baseband signals are processed by receive (RX) processing circuitry in the transceivers 210a-210n and / or controller / processor 225, which generates processed baseband signals by filtering, decoding, and / or digitizing the baseband or IF signals. The controller / processor 225 may further process the baseband signals.

[0070] Transmit (TX) processing circuitry in the transceivers 210a-210n and / or controller / processor 225 receives analog or digital data (such as voice data, web data, e-mail, or interactive video game data) from the controller / processor 225. The TX processing circuitry encodes, multiplexes, and / or digitizes the outgoing baseband data to generate processed baseband or IF signals. The transceivers 210a-210n up-convert the baseband or IF signals to RF signals that are transmitted via the antennas 205a-205n.

[0071] The controller / processor 225 can include one or more processors or other processing devices that control the overall operation of the gNB 102. For example, the controller / processor 225 could control the reception of uplink (UL) channel signals and the transmission of downlink (DL) channel signals by the transceivers 210a-210n in accordance with well-known principles. The controller / processor 225 could support additional functions as well, such as more advanced wireless communication functions. For instance, the controller / processor 225 could support beam forming or directional routing operations in which outgoing / incoming signals from / to multiple antennas 205a-205n are weighted differently to effectively steer the outgoing signals in a desired direction. Any of a wide variety of other functions could be supported in the gNB 102 by the controller / processor 225.

[0072] The controller / processor 225 may include various processing circuitry and / or multiple processors. For example, as used herein, including the claims, the term "processor" may include various processing circuitry, including at least one processor, wherein one or more of at least one processor, individually and / or collectively in a distributed manner, may be configured to perform various functions described herein. As used herein, when "a processor", "at least one processor", and "one or more processors" are described as being configured to perform numerous functions, these terms cover situations, for example and without limitation, in which one processor performs some of recited functions and another processor(s) performs other of recited functions, and also situations in which a single processor may perform all recited functions. Additionally, the at least one processor may include a combination of processors performing various of the recited / disclosed functions, e.g., in a distributed manner. At least one processor may execute program instructions to achieve or perform various functions.

[0073] The controller / processor 225 is also capable of executing programs and other processes resident in the memory 230, such as providing for indicating and executing a command between reader and devices. The controller / processor 225 can move data into or out of the memory 230 as required by an executing process.

[0074] The controller / processor 225 is also coupled to the backhaul or network interface 235. The backhaul or network interface 235 allows the gNB 102 to communicate with other devices or systems over a backhaul connection or over a network. The backhaul or network interface 235 could support communications over any suitable wired or wireless connection(s). For example, when the gNB 102 is implemented as part of a cellular communication system (such as one supporting 5G / NR, LTE, or LTE-A), the backhaul or network interface 235 could allow the gNB 102 to communicate with other gNBs over a wired or wireless backhaul connection. When the gNB 102 is implemented as an access point, the backhaul or network interface 235 could allow the gNB 102 to communicate over a wired or wireless local area network or over a wired or wireless connection to a larger network (such as the Internet). The backhaul or network interface 235 includes any suitable structure supporting communications over a wired or wireless connection, such as an Ethernet or transceiver.

[0075] The memory 230 is coupled to the controller / processor 225. Part of the memory 230 could include a RAM, and another part of the memory 230 could include a Flash memory or other ROM.

[0076] The memory 230 may store programs for processing and control by the at least one processor 225 and may store data input to or output from the gNB 102. The memory 230 may include at least one type of storage medium selected from flash memory-type memory, hard disk-type memory, multimedia card micro-type memory, card-type memory (e.g., secure digital (SD) or extreme digital (XD) memory), random access memory (RAM), static random access memory (SRAM), read-only memory (ROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), magnetic memory, magnetic disc, and optical disc.

[0077] Although FIG. 2 illustrates one example of gNB 102, various changes may be made to FIG. 2. For example, the gNB 102 could include any number of each component shown in FIG. 2. Also, various components in FIG. 2 could be combined, further subdivided, or omitted and additional components could be added according to particular needs.

[0078] FIG. 3 illustrates an example UE 116 according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the UE 116 illustrated in FIG. 3 is for illustration only, and the UEs 111-115 of FIG. 1 could have the same or similar configuration. However, UEs come in a wide variety of configurations, and FIG. 3 does not limit the scope of this disclosure to any particular implementation of a UE.

[0079] As shown in FIG. 3, the UE　116 includes antenna(s) 305, a transceiver(s) 310, and a microphone 320. The UE　116 also includes a speaker 330, a processor 340, an input / output (I / O) interface (IF) 345, an input 350, a display 355, and a memory 360. The memory 360 includes an operating system (OS) 361 and one or more applications 362.

[0080] The transceiver(s) 310 receives from the antenna(s) 305, an incoming RF signal transmitted by a gNB of the wireless network 100. The transceiver(s) 310 down-converts the incoming RF signal to generate an intermediate frequency (IF) or baseband signal. The IF or baseband signal is processed by RX processing circuitry in the transceiver(s) 310 and / or processor 340, which generates a processed baseband signal by filtering, decoding, and / or digitizing the baseband or IF signal. The RX processing circuitry sends the processed baseband signal to the speaker 330 (such as for voice data) or is processed by the processor 340 (such as for web browsing data).

[0081] TX processing circuitry in the transceiver(s) 310 and / or processor 340 receives analog or digital voice data from the microphone 320 or other outgoing baseband data (such as web data, e-mail, or interactive video game data) from the processor 340. The TX processing circuitry encodes, multiplexes, and / or digitizes the outgoing baseband data to generate a processed baseband or IF signal. The transceiver(s) 310 up-converts the baseband or IF signal to an RF signal that is transmitted via the antenna(s) 305.

[0082] The processor 340 can include one or more processors or other processing devices and execute the OS 361 stored in the memory 360 in order to control the overall operation of the UE 116. For example, the processor 340 could control the reception of DL channel signals and the transmission of UL channel signals by the transceiver(s) 310 in accordance with well-known principles. In some embodiments, the processor 340 includes at least one microprocessor or microcontroller.

[0083] The processor 340 is also capable of executing other processes and programs resident in the memory 360. For example, the processor 340 may execute processes to support indicating and executing a command between reader and devices as described in embodiments of the present disclosure. The processor 340 can move data into or out of the memory 360 as required by an executing process. In some embodiments, the processor 340 is configured to execute the applications 362 based on the OS 361 or in response to signals received from gNBs or an operator. The processor 340 is also coupled to the I / O interface 345, which provides the UE 116 with the ability to connect to other devices, such as laptop computers and handheld computers. The I / O interface 345 is the communication path between these accessories and the processor 340.

[0084] The processor 340 may include various processing circuitry and / or multiple processors. For example, as used herein, including the claims, the term "processor" may include various processing circuitry, including at least one processor, wherein one or more of at least one processor, individually and / or collectively in a distributed manner, may be configured to perform various functions described herein. As used herein, when "a processor", "at least one processor", and "one or more processors" are described as being configured to perform numerous functions, these terms cover situations, for example and without limitation, in which one processor performs some of recited functions and another processor(s) performs other of recited functions, and also situations in which a single processor may perform all recited functions. Additionally, the at least one processor may include a combination of processors performing various of the recited / disclosed functions, e.g., in a distributed manner. At least one processor may execute program instructions to achieve or perform various functions.

[0085] The processor 340 is also coupled to the input 350, which includes, for example, a touchscreen, keypad, etc., and the display 355. The operator of the UE 116 can use the input 350 to enter data into the UE 116. The display 355 may be a liquid crystal display, light emitting diode display, or other display capable of rendering text and / or at least limited graphics, such as from web sites.

[0086] The memory 360 is coupled to the processor 340. Part of the memory 360 could include a random-access memory (RAM), and another part of the memory 360 could include a Flash memory or other read-only memory (ROM).

[0087] The memory 360 may store programs for processing and control by the at least one processor 340 and may store data input to or output from the UE 116. The memory 360 may include at least one type of storage medium selected from flash memory-type memory, hard disk-type memory, multimedia card micro-type memory, card-type memory (e.g., secure digital (SD) or extreme digital (XD) memory), random access memory (RAM), static random access memory (SRAM), read-only memory (ROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), magnetic memory, magnetic disc, and optical disc.

[0088] Although FIG. 3 illustrates one example of UE 116, various changes may be made to FIG. 3. For example, various components in FIG. 3 could be combined, further subdivided, or omitted and additional components could be added according to particular needs. As a particular example, the processor 340 could be divided into multiple processors, such as one or more central processing units (CPUs) and one or more graphics processing units (GPUs). In another example, the transceiver(s) 310 may include any number of transceivers and signal processing chains and may be connected to any number of antennas. Also, while FIG. 3 illustrates the UE 116 configured as a mobile telephone or smartphone, UEs could be configured to operate as other types of mobile or stationary devices.

[0089] FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B illustrate an example of wireless transmit and receive paths 400 and 450, respectively, according to embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, a transmit path 400 may be described as being implemented in a gNB (such as gNB 102), while a receive path 450 may be described as being implemented in a UE (such as UE 116). However, it will be understood that the receive path 450 can be implemented in a gNB and that the transmit path 400 can be implemented in a UE. In some embodiments, the transmit path 400 and / or receive path 450 perform or utilize indicating and executing a command between reader and devices as described in embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0090] As illustrated in FIG. 4A, the transmit path 400 includes a channel coding and modulation block 405, a serial-to-parallel (S-to-P) block 410, a size N Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) block 415, a parallel-to-serial (P-to-S) block 420, an add cyclic prefix block 425, and an up-converter (UC) 430. The receive path 450 includes a down-converter (DC) 455, a remove cyclic prefix block 460, a S-to-P block 465, a size N Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) block 470, a parallel-to-serial (P-to-S) block 475, and a channel decoding and demodulation block 480.

[0091] In the transmit path 400, the channel coding and modulation block 405 receives a set of information bits, applies coding (such as a low-density parity check (LDPC) coding), and modulates the input bits (such as with Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) or Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM)) to generate a sequence of frequency-domain modulation symbols. The serial-to-parallel block 410 converts (such as de-multiplexes) the serial modulated symbols to parallel data in order to generate N parallel symbol streams, where N is the IFFT / FFT size used in the gNB 102 and the UE 116. The size N IFFT block 415 performs an IFFT operation on the N parallel symbol streams to generate time-domain output signals. The parallel-to-serial block 420 converts (such as multiplexes) the parallel time-domain output symbols from the size N IFFT block 415 in order to generate a serial time-domain signal. The add cyclic prefix block 425 inserts a cyclic prefix to the time-domain signal. The up-converter 430 modulates (such as up-converts) the output of the add cyclic prefix block 425 to an RF frequency for transmission via a wireless channel. The signal may also be filtered at a baseband before conversion to the RF frequency.

[0092] As illustrated in FIG. 4B, the down-converter 455 down-converts the received signal to a baseband frequency, and the remove cyclic prefix block 460 removes the cyclic prefix to generate a serial time-domain baseband signal. The serial-to-parallel block 465 converts the time-domain baseband signal to parallel time-domain signals. The size N FFT block 470 performs an FFT algorithm to generate N parallel frequency-domain signals. The (P-to-S) block 475 converts the parallel frequency-domain signals to a sequence of modulated data symbols. The channel decoding and demodulation block 480 demodulates and decodes the modulated symbols to recover the original input data stream.

[0093] Each of the gNBs 101-103 may implement a transmit path 400 that is analogous to transmitting in the downlink to UEs 111-116 and may implement a receive path 450 that is analogous to receiving in the uplink from UEs 111-116. Similarly, each of UEs 111-116 may implement a transmit path 400 for transmitting in the uplink to gNBs 101-103 and may implement a receive path 450 for receiving in the downlink from gNBs 101-103.

[0094] Each of the components in FIGS. 4A and 4B can be implemented using only hardware or using a combination of hardware and software / firmware. As a particular example, at least some of the components in FIGS. 4A and 4B may be implemented in software, while other components may be implemented by configurable hardware or a mixture of software and configurable hardware. For instance, the FFT block 470 and the IFFT block 415 may be implemented as configurable software algorithms, where the value of size N may be modified according to the implementation.

[0095] Furthermore, although described as using FFT and IFFT, this is by way of illustration only and should not be construed to limit the scope of this disclosure. Other types of transforms, such as Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) and Inverse Discrete Fourier Transform (IDFT) functions, can be used. It will be appreciated that the value of the variable N may be any integer number (such as 1, 2, 3, 4, or the like) for DFT and IDFT functions, while the value of the variable N may be any integer number that is a power of two (such as 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, or the like) for FFT and IFFT functions.

[0096] Although FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate examples of wireless transmit and receive paths 400 and 450, respectively, various changes may be made to FIGS. 4A and 4B. For example, various components in FIGS. 4A and 4B can be combined, further subdivided, or omitted and additional components can be added according to particular needs. Also, FIGS. 4A and 4B are meant to illustrate examples of the types of transmit and receive paths that can be used in a wireless network. Any other suitable architectures can be used to support wireless communications in a wireless network.

[0097] Internet of things (IoT) devices include ambient-power-enabled IoT (A-IoT) devices, which are ultra-low-complexity devices with very small form factor and low-cost design that operate without a common battery that can be manually replaced or recharged. Instead, A-IoT devices can be battery-less or with a small battery (such as a small capacitor) that operate based on energy harvesting from RF waveforms or other ambient energy sources. Regarding the limited size and complexity required by practical applications for battery-less devices with no energy storage capability or devices with limited energy storage that do not need to be replaced or recharged manually, the output power of energy harvester is typically from 1 to a few hundreds of .

[0098] In various embodiments throughout the disclosure, a UE (e.g., the UE 116) or a device may be referred to as an A-IoT device or an A-IoT UE based on energy harvesting with ultra-low complexity and power consumption and for low-end IoT applications. For example, the UE may have limited (or no) energy storage or battery capability (e.g., a capacitor), such as an energy storage unit for amplification of receptions at the UE or transmission by the UE, or for other UE operations, such as power-on, warm-up, memory, internal processing, and so on, or operating with backscattering communication.

[0099] An A-IoT device can be an IoT device that satisfies one or more of the following (or variations thereof):

[0100] - powered by energy harvesting, being either battery-less or with limited energy storage capability (e.g., using a capacitor) and the energy is provided through the harvesting of radio waves (including RF waveforms), light (including solar light or indoor light), motion, pressure, heat, or any other power source that could be seen suitable;

[0101] - with low complexity, small size and lower capabilities and lower power consumption than previously defined 3GPP IoT devices (e.g., NB-IoT / enhanced machine type communication (eMTC) devices);

[0102] - maintenance free and can have long life span (e.g., more than 10 years).

[0103] An A-IoT may directly communicate with a base station / gNB (e.g., the BS 102) (e.g., operating as a reader), or may indirectly communicate with a reader through an intermediate / assisting node, such as a handheld device / UE (for example, a "reader" UE that scans the A-IoT devices), a relay, integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node, a repeater for example a network-controlled repeater (NCR), and so on. The communication can be mono-static wherein the transmitter node to the A-IoT UE is same as the receiving node from the A-IoT UE, or can be bi-static (or multi-static) wherein the transmitter nodes to the A-IoT UE can be different from the receiving nodes from the A-IoT UE.

[0104] In various embodiments, the A-IoT device operates with energy storage. These devices are characterized by ultra-low power consumption, and they employ energy harvesting mechanisms such as solar, RF energy and kinetic energy and thus don't require battery replacement or swapping frequently. In various embodiments, an A-IoT device operates with energy harvesting (EH) or with limited (or no) energy storage / battery capability (such as a capacitor), such as an energy storage unit for amplification of receptions at the UE or transmission by the UE, or for other UE operations, such as power-on, warm-up, memory, internal processing, and so on, or operating with backscattering communication.

[0105] In various embodiments, the A-IoT device operates with RF envelope detection for receiving amplitude shift keying (ASK), e.g., OOK, modulated signal. RF envelope detection is a key function that enables the Ambient IoT devices to filter and analyze RF signals. This technique is applied in the reception of modulated RF signals with a view of acquiring information from the signals and hence enable communication between devices with efficiency and with minimum power consumption. RF envelope detection is one of the most important techniques that are used in many of the low power consumption wireless communication protocols that are employed in Ambient IoT systems.

[0106] In various embodiments, the A-IoT device may operate with impedance matching. Impedance matching may be utilized in passive Ambient IoT devices backscattering externally provisioned carrier wave (CW)signal.

[0107] The disclosure relates to defining functionalities and procedures for A-IoT devices to perform indicating and executing a command between reader and devices. DL and UL are also referred to as reader-to-device (R2D) and device-to-reader (D2R), respectively, and vice versa.

[0108] FIG. 5 illustrates an example of a transmitter structure 500 using OFDM according to embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, transmitter structure 500 using OFDM can be implemented in gNB 102 of FIG. 1. This example is for illustration only and other embodiments can be used without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0109] Information bits, such as DCI bits or data bits 510, are encoded by encoder 520, rate matched to assigned time / frequency resources by rate matcher 530, and modulated by modulator 540. Subsequently, modulated encoded symbols and demodulation reference signal (DM-RS) or channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) 550 are mapped to REs 560, an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) is performed by filter 570. A BW selector unit 565, a filter 580, a radio frequency (RF) amplifier 590, and transmitted signal 595 are also included.

[0110] FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a receiver structure 600 using OFDM according to embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, receiver structure 600 using OFDM can be implemented by any of the UEs 111-116 of FIG. 1. This example is for illustration only and other embodiments can be used without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0111] A received signal 610 is filtered by filter 620, a CP removal unit removes a CP 630, a filter 640 applies a fast Fourier transform (FFT), RE de-mapping unit 650 de-maps REs selected by BW selector unit 655, received symbols are demodulated by a channel estimator and a demodulator unit 660, a rate de-matcher 670 restores a rate matching, and a decoder 680 decodes the resulting bits to provide information bits 690.

[0112] With reference to FIG. 5, an example transmitter structure using OFDM according to this disclosure is shown.

[0113] With reference to FIG. 6, an example receiver structure using OFDM according to this disclosure is shown.

[0114] FIG. 7 illustrates an example encoding structure 700 for a downlink control information (DCI) format according to embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, encoding structure 700 can be implemented in gNB 102 of FIG. 1. This example is for illustration only and other embodiments can be used without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0115] A gNB separately encodes and transmits each DCI format in a respective physical downlink control channel (PDCCH). When applicable, a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) for a UE (e.g., the UE 116) that a DCI format is intended for masks a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) of the DCI format codeword in order to enable the UE to identify the DCI format. For example, the CRC can include 24 bits and the RNTI can include 16 bits or 24 bits. The CRC of (non-coded) DCI format bits 710 is determined using a CRC computation unit 720, and the CRC is masked using an exclusive OR (XOR) operation unit 730 between CRC bits and RNTI bits 740. The XOR operation is defined as XOR(0,0) = 0, XOR(0,1) = 1, XOR(1,0) = 1, XOR(1,1) = 0. The masked CRC bits are appended to DCI format information bits using a CRC append unit 750. An encoder 760 performs channel coding, such as polar coding, followed by rate matching to allocated resources by rate matcher 770. Interleaving and modulation units 780 apply interleaving and modulation, such as QPSK, and the output control signal 790 is transmitted.

[0116] FIG. 8 illustrates an example decoding structure 800 for a DCI format according to embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, decoding structure 800 for a DCI format can be implemented by any of the UEs 111-116 of FIG. 1. This example is for illustration only and other embodiments can be used without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0117] A received control signal 810 is demodulated and de-interleaved by a demodulator and a de-interleaver 820. A rate matching applied at a gNB transmitter is restored by rate matcher 830, and resulting bits are decoded by decoder 840. After decoding, a CRC extractor 850 extracts CRC bits and provides DCI format information bits 860. The DCI format information bits are de-masked 870 by an XOR operation with a RNTI 880 (when applicable) and a CRC check is performed by unit 890. When the CRC check succeeds (check-sum is zero), the DCI format information bits are regarded to be valid. When the CRC check does not succeed, the DCI format information bits are regarded to be invalid.

[0118] With reference to FIG. 7, an example encoding process for a DCI format according to this disclosure is shown.

[0119] With reference to FIG. 8, an example decoding process for a DCI format for use with a UE according to this disclosure is shown.

[0120] It is envisaged that the number of connected devices will reach ~500 billion by 2030, which is about ~59 times larger than the expected world population (~8.5 billion) by that time. Mobile devices will take various form-factors, such as augmented reality (AR) glasses, virtual reality (VR) headsets, hologram devices, while a large portion of the devices will be Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices for improving productivity efficiency and increasing comforts of life. As the number of IoT devices grows exponentially, those IoT devices will become dominant in the next generation wireless communication systems such as fifth generation (5G) advanced, sixth generation (6G) systems, and so on.

[0121] With the explosive number of IoT devices, it may be challenging to power the IoT devices by battery that needs to be replaced or recharged manually, which leads to high maintenance cost. The automation and digitalization of various industries demand new IoT technologies of supporting batteryless devices with no energy storage capability or devices with energy storage that does not need to be replaced or recharged manually. Such types of devices are collectively termed as ambient IoT (A-IoT) in this disclosure, which is powered by various renewable energy sources such as radio waves, light, motion, or heat, etc. Use cases of A-IoT devices include asset inventory / tracking and remote environmental monitoring. The following list provides example use cases of A-IoT devices:

[0122] ● Indoor inventory

[0123] ■ Automated warehousing

[0124] ■ Medical instruments inventory management and positioning

[0125] ■ Non-Public Network for logistics

[0126] ■ Automobile manufacturing

[0127] ■ Airport terminal / shipping port

[0128] ■ Smart laundry

[0129] ■ Automated supply chain distribution

[0130] ■ Fresh food supply chain

[0131] ■ End-to-end logistics

[0132] ■ Flower auction

[0133] ■ Electronic shelf label

[0134] ● Indoor sensor

[0135] ■ Smart homes

[0136] ■ Base station machine room environmental supervision

[0137] ■ Smart laundry

[0138] ■ Smart agriculture

[0139] ■ Smart pig farm

[0140] ■ Cow stable

[0141] ● Indoor positioning

[0142] ■ Finding Remote Lost Item

[0143] ■ Location service

[0144] ■ Ranging in a home

[0145] ■ Personal belongings finding

[0146] ■ Positioning in shopping centre

[0147] ■ Museum Guide

[0148] ● Indoor command

[0149] ■ Online modification of medical instruments status

[0150] ■ Device activation and deactivation

[0151] ■ Elderly Health Care

[0152] ■ Device Permanent Deactivation

[0153] ■ Electronic shelf label

[0154] ● Outdoor inventory

[0155] ■ Medical instruments inventory management and positioning

[0156] ■ Non-public network for logistics

[0157] ■ Airport terminal / shipping port

[0158] ■ Automated supply chain distribution

[0159] ● Outdoor sensor

[0160] ■ Smart grids

[0161] ■ Forest Fire Monitoring

[0162] ■ Dairy farming

[0163] ■ Smart manhole cover safety monitoring

[0164] ■ Smart bridge health monitoring

[0165] ● Outdoor positioning

[0166] ■ Finding remote lost item

[0167] ■ Location service

[0168] ■ Personal belongings finding

[0169] ● Outdoor command

[0170] ■ Online modification of medical instruments status

[0171] ■ Device activation and deactivation

[0172] ■ Elderly Health Care

[0173] ■ Controller in smart agriculture

[0174] Taking into account the limited size and low complexity required by practical applications of A-IoT devices, the output power of energy harvesting from ambient power sources is typically from 1 to a few hundreds of , which is orders of magnitude lower than normal user equipment (UE) having peak power consumption higher than 10mW. This requires a new wireless access technology for A-IoT devices, which cannot be fulfilled by existing cellular systems including low-power IoT technologies such as NB-IoT and eMTC.

[0175] In the following, an italicized name for a parameter implies that the parameter is provided by higher layers.

[0176] DL transmissions or UL transmissions can be based on an OFDM waveform including a variant using DFT precoding that is known as DFT-spread-OFDM that is typically applicable to UL transmissions.

[0177] In the following, subframe (SF) refers to a transmission time unit for the LTE RAT and slot refers to a transmission time unit for an NR RAT. For example, the slot duration can be a sub-multiple of the SF duration. NR can use a different DL or UL slot structure than an LTE SF structure. Differences can include a structure for transmitting physical downlink control channels (PDCCHs), locations and structure of demodulation reference signals (DM-RS), transmission duration, and so on. Further, eNB refers to a base station serving UEs operating with LTE RAT and gNB refers to a base station serving UEs operating with NR RAT. Exemplary embodiments provide a same numerology, that includes a sub-carrier spacing (SCS) configuration and a cyclic prefix (CP) length for an OFDM symbol, for transmission with LTE RAT and with NR RAT. In such case, OFDM symbols for the LTE RAT as same as for the NR RAT, a subframe is same as a slot and, for brevity, the term slot is subsequently used in the remaining of the disclosure.

[0178] A unit for DL signaling or for UL signaling on a cell is referred to as a slot and can include one or more symbols. A bandwidth (BW) unit is referred to as a resource block (RB). One RB includes a number of sub-carriers (SCs). For example, a slot can have duration of one millisecond and an RB can have a bandwidth of 180 kHz and include 12 SCs with inter-SC spacing of 15 kHz. A sub-carrier spacing (SCS) can be determined by a SCS configuration as kHz. A unit of one sub-carrier over one symbol is referred to as resource element (RE). A unit of one RB over one symbol is referred to as physical RB (PRB).

[0179] DL signaling include physical downlink shared channels (PDSCHs) conveying information content, PDCCHs conveying DL control information (DCI), and reference signals (RS). A PDCCH can be transmitted over a variable number of slot symbols including one slot symbol and over a number of control channel elements (CCEs) from a predetermined set of numbers of CCEs referred to as CCE aggregation level within a control resource set (CORESET) as described in v17.6.0 of REF1 and v17.6.0 of REF 3.

[0180] DCI can serve several purposes. A DCI format includes a number of fields, or information elements (IEs), and is typically used for scheduling a PDSCH (DL DCI format) or a PUSCH (UL DCI format) transmission. A DCI format includes cyclic redundancy check (CRC) bits in order for a UE (e.g., the UE 116) to confirm a correct detection. A DCI format type is identified by a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) that scrambles the CRC bits. For a DCI format scheduling a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) or a PUSCH for a single UE with RRC connection to a gNB (e.g., the BS 102), the RNTI is a cell RNTI (C-RNTI) or another RNTI type such as a modulation and coding scheme-cell RNTI (MCS-C-RNTI). For a DCI format scheduling a PDSCH conveying system information (SI) to a group of UEs, the RNTI is a system information RNTI (SI-RNTI). For a DCI format scheduling a PDSCH providing a response to a random access (RA) from a group of UEs, the RNTI is a random access (RA-RNTI). For a DCI format scheduling a PDSCH providing contention resolution in Msg4 of a RA process, the RNTI is a temporary C-RNTI (TC-RNTI). For a DCI format scheduling a PDSCH paging a group of UEs, the RNTI is a paging RNTI (P-RNTI). For a DCI format providing transmission power control (TPC) commands to a group of UEs, the RNTI is a transmit power control radio network temporary identifier (TPC-RNTI), and so on. Each RNTI type is configured to a UE through higher layer signaling. A UE typically decodes at multiple candidate locations for PDCCH receptions as determined by an associated search space set.

[0181] For each DL bandwidth part (BWP) indicated to a UE in a serving cell, the UE can be provided by higher layer signaling with control resource sets (CORESETs). For each CORESET, the UE is provided a CORESET index , , a DM-RS scrambling sequence initialization value, a precoder granularity for a number of resource element groups (REGs) in the frequency domain where the UE can expect use of a same DM-RS precoder, a number of consecutive symbols for the CORESET, a set of resource blocks (RBs) for the CORESET, control channel element to resource element group (CCE-to-REG) mapping parameters, an antenna port quasi co-location, from a set of antenna port quasi co-locations, indicating quasi co-location information of the DM-RS antenna port for PDCCH reception in a respective CORESET, and an indication for a presence or absence of a transmission configuration indication (TCI) field for DCI format 1_1 transmitted by a PDCCH in CORESET .

[0182] For each DL BWP configured to a UE in a serving cell, the UE is provided by higher layers with search space sets. For each search space set from the search space sets, the UE is provided a search space set index , , an association between the search space set and a CORESET , a PDCCH monitoring periodicity of slots and a PDCCH monitoring offset of slots, a PDCCH monitoring pattern within a slot, indicating first symbol(s) of the CORESET within a slot for PDCCH monitoring, a duration of slots indicating a number of slots that the search space set exists, a number of PDCCH candidates per CCE aggregation level , and an indication that search space set is either a common search space (CSS) set or a UE-specific search space (USS) set. When search space set is a CSS set, the UE monitors PDCCH for detection of DCI format 2_x, where x ranges from 0 to 7 as described in v17.6.0 of REF2, or for DCI formats associated with scheduling broadcast / multicast PDSCH receptions, and for DCI format 0_0 and DCI format 1_0.

[0183] PDSCH receptions, and for DCI format 0_0 and DCI format 1_0.

[0184] A UE determines a PDCCH monitoring occasion on an active DL BWP from the PDCCH monitoring periodicity, the PDCCH monitoring offset, and the PDCCH monitoring pattern within a slot. For search space set , the UE determines that a PDCCH monitoring occasion(s) exists in a slot with number in a frame with number if . The UE monitors PDCCH candidates for search space set for consecutive slots, starting from slot , and does not monitor PDCCH candidates for search space set for the next consecutive slots. The UE determines CCEs for monitoring PDCCH according to a search space set based on a search space equation as described in v17.6.0 of REF3.

[0185] A UE expects to monitor PDCCH candidates for up to 4 sizes of DCI formats that include up to 3 sizes of DCI formats with CRC scrambled by C-RNTI per serving cell. The UE counts a number of sizes for DCI formats per serving / scheduled cell based on a number of PDCCH candidates in respective search space sets for the corresponding active DL BWP. In the following, for brevity, that constraint for the number of DCI format sizes will be referred to as DCI size limit. When the DCI size limit would be exceeded for a UE based on a configuration of DCI formats that the UE monitors PDCCH, the UE aligns the size of some DCI formats, as described in v17.6.0 of REF2, so that the DCI size limit would not be exceeded.

[0186] For each scheduled cell, the UE is not required to monitor on the active DL BWP with SCS configuration of the scheduling cell more than PDCCH candidates or more than non-overlapped CCEs per slot, wherein and are respectively a maximum number of PDCCH candidates and non-overlapping CCEs for a scheduled cell and and are respectively a total number of PDCCH candidates and non-overlapping CCEs for a scheduling cell, as described in v17.6.0 of REF3.

[0187] A UE does not expect to be configured CSS sets, other than CSS sets for multicast PDSCH scheduling, that result to corresponding total, or per scheduled cell, numbers of monitored PDCCH candidates and non-overlapped CCEs per slot on the primary cell that exceed the corresponding maximum numbers per slot. For USS sets or for CSS sets associated with multicast PDSCH scheduling, when a number of PDCCH candidates or non-overlapping CCEs in a slot would exceed the limits / maximum per slot for scheduling on the primary cell mentioned herein, the UE selects the USS sets or the CSS sets to monitor corresponding PDCCH in an ascending order of a corresponding search space set index until and an index of a search space set for which PDCCH monitoring would result to exceeding the maximum number of PDCCH candidates or non-overlapping CCEs per slot for scheduling on the PCell as described in v17.6.0 of REF3.

[0188] For same cell scheduling or for cross-carrier scheduling where a scheduling cell and scheduled cells have DL BWPs with same SCS configuration , a UE does not expect a number of PDCCH candidates, and a number of corresponding non-overlapped CCEs per slot on a secondary cell to be larger than the corresponding numbers that the UE is capable of monitoring on the secondary cell per slot. For cross-carrier scheduling, the number of PDCCH candidates for monitoring and the number of non-overlapped CCEs per slot are separately counted for each scheduled cell.

[0189] A UE can be configured for operation with carrier aggregation (CA) for PDSCH receptions over multiple cells (DL CA) or for PUSCH transmissions over multiple cells (UL CA). The UE can also be configured multiple transmission-reception points (TRPs) per cell via indication (or absence of indication) of acoresetPoolIndexfor CORESETs where the UE receives PDCCH / PDSCH from a corresponding TRP as described in v17.6.0 of REF3 and v17.6.0 of REF4.

[0190] MIMO technologies have a key role in boosting system throughput both in NR and LTE and such a role will continue and further expand in the future generations of wireless technologies. For MIMO operation, an antenna port is defined such that a channel over which a symbol on the antenna port is conveyed can be inferred from the channel over which another symbol on the same antenna port is conveyed. There is not necessarily a one to one correspondence between an antenna port and an antenna element, and a plurality of antenna elements can be mapped onto one antenna port.

[0191] FIG. 9 illustrates a diagram of an example type-1 backscatter structure 900 for IoT devices according to embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, type-1 backscatter structure 900 can be implemented by any of the UEs 111-116 of FIG. 1, or may be devices with fewer components and functionality than a UE. This example is for illustration only and other embodiments can be used without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0192] As shown in FIG. 9, the type-1 backscatter structure 900 for IoT devices includes an antenna 905, a matching network 910, a RF energy harvester 915, a phasor measurement unit (PMU) 920, an energy storage 925, a RF bandpass filter (BPF) 930, a RF envelope detector 935, a baseband (BB) lowpass filter (LPF) 940, a comparator 945, a clock generator 950, a BB logistics 955, a memory 960, backscatter (impedance matching) 965, and processing circuitry 913.

[0193] In various embodiments, the processing circuitry 913, which may be a full-powered processor, such as included in UE 116, a lower-power microprocessor or microcontroller, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or logic circuitry. The processing circuitry 913 can control the overall operation of the IoT device including determination of reception and / or transmission timing. The processing circuitry 913 may be powered via energy storage 925. The signal receiving and transmitting processing circuitry included in the IoT devices, such as RF BPF 930, a RF envelope detector 935, a baseband (BB) low pass filter (LPF) 940, a comparator 945, a baseband (BB) logics 955, a backscatter (impedance matching) 965, may be referred to as a transceiver, which may use separate antennas for reception and transmission, respectively, or may use a common antenna, such as antenna 905 for transmission and reception. One or more implementations described herein further include other implementation variations such as separate Tx-Rx antennas vs common Tx-Rx antenna, use of a sensor, etc. The implementations should be understood as an example and not as a restriction.

[0194] FIG. 10 illustrates a diagram of an example impedance matching circuit according to embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, impedance matching circuit 1000 can be implemented in any of the IoT device described herein. This example is for illustration only and other embodiments can be used without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0195] FIG. 11 illustrates a diagram of an example type-2a backscatter structure 1100 for IoT devices according to embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, type-2a backscatter structure 1100 can be implemented by any of the UEs 111-116 of FIG. 1, such as the UE 111, or may be devices with fewer components and functionality than a UE. This example is for illustration only and other embodiments can be used without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0196] As shown in FIG. 11, the type-2a backscatter structure 1100 includes an antenna 905, a matching network 910, a RF energy harvester 915, a PMU 920, an energy storage 925, an energy harvester (other than RF) 1122, a RF BPF 930, a low noise amplifier (LNA) 1132, a RF envelope detector 935, a BB amp 1137, a BB LPF 940, a comparator / analog to digital converter (ADC) 1142, a clock generator 950, a BB logistics 955, a memory 960, a frequency shifter 1162, backscatter (impedance matching) 965, a reflection amp 1167, and processing circuitry 913.

[0197] FIG. 12 illustrates a diagram of an example type-2b structure 1200 for IoT devices according to embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, structure 1200 can be implemented by any of the UEs 111-116 of FIG. 1, such as the UE 112, or may be devices with fewer components and functionality than a UE. This example is for illustration only and other embodiments can be used without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0198] As shown in FIG. 12, the type-2b structure 1200 includes an antenna 905, a matching network 910, a RF energy harvester 915, a PMU 920, an energy storage 925, an energy harvester (other than RF) 1122, a RF BPF 930, a LNA 1132, a RF envelope detector 935, a BB amp 1137, a BB LPF 940, a comparator / ADC 1142, a clock generator 950, a BB logistics 955, a memory 960, a modulator 1265, a digital to analog converter (DAC) 1270, a local oscillator (LO) 1275, a frequency mixer 1280, a PA 1285, and processing circuitry 913.

[0199] FIG. 13 illustrates a diagram of an example type-2b structure 1300 for IoT devices according to embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, structure 1300 can be implemented by any of the UEs 111-116 of FIG. 1, such as the UE 113, or may be devices with fewer components and functionality than a UE. This example is for illustration only and other embodiments can be used without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0200] As shown in FIG. 13, the type-2b structure 1300 includes an antenna 905, a matching network 910, a RF energy harvester 915, a PMU 920, an energy storage 925, an energy harvester (other than RF) 1122, a RF BPF 930, a LNA 1132, a mixer 1334, an IF Amp / BPF 1336, an IF envelope detector (ED) 1338, a BB amp / LPF 1340, a comparator / ADC 1142, a clock generator 950, a BB logistics 955, a memory 960, a modulator 1265, a DAC 1270, a LO 1275, a frequency mixer 1280, a PA 1285, and processing circuitry 913.

[0201] FIG. 14 illustrates a diagram of an example type-2b structure 1400 for IoT devices according to embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, structure 1400 can be implemented by any of the UEs 111-116 of FIG. 1, such as the UE 114, or may be devices with fewer components and functionality than a UE. This example is for illustration only and other embodiments can be used without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0202] As shown in FIG. 14, the type-2b structure 1400 includes an antenna 905, a matching network 910, a RF energy harvester 915, a PMU 920, an energy storage 925, an energy harvester (other than RF) 1122, a RF BPF 930, a LNA 1132, a mixer 1334, a BB amp 1137, a BB LPF 940, a comparator / ADC 1142, a clock generator 950, a BB logistics 955, a memory 960, a modulator 1265, a DAC 1270, a LO 1275, a frequency mixer 1280, a PA 1285, and processing circuitry 913.

[0203] Several different types of A-IoT devices can be regarded as following.

[0204] ● Device 1: ~1 peak power consumption, has energy storage, initial sampling frequency offset (SFO) up to 10X ppm, neither R2D nor D2R amplification in the device. The device's D2R transmission is backscattered on a carrier wave provided externally.

[0205] ● Device 2a: few undred W eak ower onsumption, as nergy torage, nitial ampling requency ffset SFO) p o 0X pm, oth 2D nd / or 2R mplification n he evice. he evice's D2R transmission is backscattered on a carrier wave provided externally.

[0206] ● Device 2b: a few hundred ㎼ peak power consumption, has energy storage, initial sampling frequency offset (SFO) up to 10X ppm, both R2D and / or D2R amplification in the device. The device's D2R transmission is generated internally by the device.

[0207] The devices may operate in frequency division duplexing (FDD) spectrum or time division duplexing (TDD) spectrum, which may be licensed or unlicensed.

[0208] In the following, reference architectures for the device types herein are provided, which should be understood as an example and not as a restriction.

[0209] With reference to FIG. 9, an example Type-1 backscatter device structure according to the disclosure is shown.

[0210] The RF energy harvester 915 converts RF signal to DC power and supplies to the device. Either a R2D (e.g., PRDCH) (e.g., signal or an externally provisioned CW signal for backscattering can be utilized for RF energy harvesting. The CW is externally provided from a gNB (e.g., the BS 102) or a dedicated source. The source of CW signal, e.g., either a gNB or a dedicated node, may or may not be agnostic to A-IoT devices. The harvested energy, e.g., using a rectifier, can be stored using a capacitor, super-capacitor, or, generally speaking, an energy storage. Antenna could be either shared or separate for RF energy harvester and receiver / transmitter. Matching network 910 is to match impedance between antenna and other components. Power management unit (PMU) 920 manages storing energy to energy storage from energy harvester and suppling power to active component blocks which needs power supply. Clock generator 950 provides required clock signal(s).

[0211] The R2D signal is demodulated using a low complexity envelop detector and comparator, whose output is provided as an input to the baseband circuit. Given the low-power and low-complexity requirements of the Type-1 backscatter device, an RF envelop detection can be a viable solution for a receiver architecture, compared to a heterodyne architecture with IF ED 1338 or a homodyne architecture with baseband envelope detection, which require LO 1275 and frequency mixer 1280 for frequency down-conversion. The input RF signal passes through an RF band-pass filter (BPF) 930 for an adjacent channel interference suppression, and then the filtered RF signal is directly converted into a baseband using an RF envelop detector 935, followed by a baseband low-pass filter (LPF) 940 for filtering out harmonics and high frequency components, and an n-bit comparator, where n can be 1, 2, 4, 8, The use of filters, e.g., BPF only, LPF only, or both, can be an implementation choice.

[0212] For the D2R (e.g., PDRCH) backscatter transmission, any of the following can be used:

[0213] ● Case 1) CW is provisioned at DL spectrum and backscattered, i.e., CW @ DL spectrum, D2R backscattering @ DL spectrum.

[0214] ● Case 2) CW is provisioned at UL spectrum and backscattered, i.e., CW @ UL spectrum, D2R backscattering @ UL spectrum.

[0215] ● Case 3) CW is provisioned at DL spectrum, frequency shifted to UL spectrum, and then backscattered, i.e., CW @ DL spectrum, D2R backscattering @ UL spectrum.

[0216] In one example, Case 1) or Case 2) is evaluated for device 1, i.e., CW and D2R backscattering on the same frequency and, therefore, a frequency shifter (FS) is not required.

[0217] With reference to FIG. 10, an example impedance matching circuit for backscatter device D2R modulation according to the disclosure is shown.

[0218] The following are simple examples of impedance matching operations:

[0219] ● Open circuit: Full reflection of the received CW signal in the same phase. This can be used for on-off keying (OOK) modulation with matching circuit.

[0220] ● Short circuit: Full reflection of the received CW signal in the reversed phase. This can be used for phase-shift keying (PSK) modulation.

[0221] ● Matching circuit: No reflection as the impedance is matched to a load, i.e., absorption. This can be utilized for energy harvesting, Rx mode, or modulation with other matching states.

[0222] ● Multi-level matching circuit: As illustrated in FIG. 10. Multi-level impedance matching to , ,,, for bits per symbol ASK modulation.

[0223] Depending on the matched load impedance, the matching circuit can backscatter the incoming CW signal with different reflection coefficients in both amplitude and phase. In general, ASK / PSK / frequency shift keying (FSK) may be supported using an impedance matching circuit. As a simplest modulation scheme, OOK may be evaluated. The device may indicate its modulation capability or impedance matching capability to the network, or certain requirement may be predefined in the specification of system operation.

[0224] With reference to FIG. 11, an example device 2a architecture based on RF envelop detection according to the disclosure is shown.

[0225] The device 2a may share similar structure at large with device 1 as the D2R transmission is still based on backscattering of an externally provided CW, while the device 2a may differ from device 1 from the following aspects.

[0226] The device 2a has a few hundred μW peak power consumption and both R2D and / or D2R amplification in the device. In this case, alternative to the RF energy harvesting from a R2D signal or an externally provided CW signal, other renewable energy sources, e.g., solar, thermal, kinetic, etc., may be provided for energy harvesting. The presence of a certain energy harvesting capability from a certain renewable energy source may be expected for system design point of view. The use of energy harvesters, e.g., RF energy harvester only, other energy harvester only, or both, can be an implementation choice.

[0227] The device 2a may be equipped with both R2D and / or D2R amplification in the device. Given the power consumption requirement, i.e. a few hundred μW, the R2D / D2R amplification for device 2a may be based on an architecture that is different from the typical power amplifier (PA) and low noise amplifier (LNA). In some example low-power / complexity architectures for forward amplifier for reader-to-device (R2D) reception and reflection amplifier for device-to-reader (D2R) transmission, a single bipolar transistor terminated with microstrips may be used. The receiver amplification can be either RF amplification prior to the envelop detector, baseband amplification after the envelop detector, or both, which is an implementation choice. In one example, a reflection amplifier is used for both R2D reception and D2R transmission, and LNA may or may not exist. In another example, a reflection amplifier is used for D2R transmission only and LNA is used for R2D reception amplification.

[0228] One additional difference of device 2a compared to device 1 may be a use of a FS. With a few hundred peak power consumption, some low-power LO architectures with a frequency mixer can be evaluated for Case 3). With FS, it can be expected that the CW is provided in a frequency different than the UL carrier frequency. Taking into account that the A-IoT devices are targeting for low complexity and low power consumption, the following options can be evaluated as an example method for frequency shift:

[0229] ● Ultra-low power local oscillator (LO), whose output frequency is multiplied in one or more stages using a frequency multiplier to obtain a desired amount of frequency shift.

[0230] ● Calibrated RC (resistor-capacitor) oscillator, which uses CW frequency as an input to the RC oscillator with phase locked loop (PLL) circuitry.

[0231] ● CW signal provided at the UL carrier frequency; In this case, no frequency shifter is needed.

[0232] ● Use of harmonic frequencies of CW signal or intermodulation frequencies of two-tone CW signals.

[0233] The device 2a receiver architecture may be based on RF envelop detector, intermediate frequency (IF) envelop detector, i.e., heterodyne receiver, or homodyne receiver with zero IF, as exemplified for device 2b.

[0234] With reference to FIG. 12, an example device 2b architecture based on RF envelop detection according to the disclosure is shown.

[0235] With reference to FIG. 13, an example device 2b architecture based on heterodyne / IF-ED receiver according to the disclosure is shown.

[0236] With reference to FIG. 14, an example device 2b architecture based on homodyne / zero-IF receiver according to the disclosure is shown.

[0237] The device 2b shares similar structure at large with the device 2a other than the D2R signal is internally generated using LO rather than backscattering the externally provided CW. The example architecture shown in FIGS. 12-14 is based on a typical active transmitter chain, wherein the D2R data is modulated, converted to an analog signal using digital to analog converter (DAC) and, then up-converted to a UL carrier frequency using LO and frequency mixer, which is followed by an amplifier.

[0238] In FIG. 12, the R2D receiver chain is still based on the RF envelop detector as in the previous architectures. In FIG. 13, the R2D receiver chain is based on heterodyne receiver with IF envelop detector. In the heterodyne architecture, the RF signal is down converted into an intermediate frequency and then detected using an envelope detector. In FIG. 14, the R2D receiver is based on homodyne receiver, i.e., zero-IF. In the homodyne / zero-IF architecture, the RF signal is directly down converted into baseband signal and then detected using a comparator / ADC.

[0239] FIGS. 9-14 should be understood for illustration purpose only. There can be other components not explicitly shown in the figure such as switch, duplexer, and filters, or some components may be replaced to different options. Also, the devices can operate both in TDD and FDD spectrum, either licensed or unlicensed, and, depending on the operating spectrum, the actual architectures can be different from the conceptual illustrations in the figures.

[0240] In deploying A-IoT devices, different topology options can be evaluated. The following provides examples of topology options:

[0241] ● Topology 1: BS ↔ IoT evice

[0242] ■ An A-IoT device directly and bidirectionally communicates with a basestation. The communication between the basestation and the A-IoT device includes A-IoT data and / or signalling. This topology includes the possibility that the BS transmitting to the A-IoT device is a different from the BS receiving from the A-IoT device.

[0243] ● Topology 2: BS ↔ intermediate node ↔ Ambient IoT device

[0244] ■ An A-IoT device communicates bidirectionally with an intermediate node between the device and basestation. In this topology, the intermediate node can be a relay, IAB node, UE, repeater, etc. which is capable of A-IoT. The intermediate node transfers A-IoT data and / or signalling between BS and the A-IoT device. The intermediate node is referred to as I-node in this disclosure.

[0245] ● Topology 3: BS ↔ assisting node ↔ Ambient IoT device ↔ BS

[0246] ■ An A-IoT device transmits data / signalling to a basestation, and receives data / signalling from the assisting node; or the A-IoT device receives data / signalling from a basestation and transmits data / signalling to the assisting node. In this topology, the assisting node can be a relay, IAB, UE, repeater, etc. which is capable of A-IoT.

[0247] ● Topology 4: UE ↔ Ambient IoT device

[0248] ■ An A-IoT device communicates bidirectionally with a UE. The communication between UE and the A-IoT device includes A-IoT data and / or signalling.

[0249] This disclosure is applicable at least to the following deployment scenarios:

[0250] ● Scenario 1: Device indoors, BS indoors

[0251] ● Scenario 2: Device indoors, BS outdoors

[0252] ● Scenario 3: Device indoors, UE-based reader

[0253] ● Scenario 4: Device outdoors, BS outdoors

[0254] ● Scenario 5: Device outdoors, UE-based reader

[0255] The deployment of A-IoT can be on the same sites as an existing 3GPP deployment corresponding to the BS type, e.g., macro-cell, micro-cell, pic-cell, etc. In some embodiments, it may be expected that the deployment of A-IoT can be on new sites without an assumption of an existing 3GPP deployment. The deployment can be based on licensed or unlicensed TDD or FDD spectrum, which may be in-band to an existing deployment, in guard-band of an existing deployment, or in a standalone band. Different traffic types can be supported including device-terminated (DT) and device-originated (DO), wherein DO traffic can be further divided into DO autonomous (DO-A), and DO device-terminated triggered (DO-DTT) types.

[0256] A-IoT device is one type of a UE. Embodiments in this disclosure can be generally applicable to other types of UEs, e.g., smartphones, AR / VR devices, or any other types of IoT devices.

[0257] Any operations performed by BS in this disclosure can be also performed by I-node instead of the BS, and each of or part of interfaces are transparent to the A-IoT devices. An entity directly communicating with a device, or tag, is collectively termed as a reader, which can be for example, e.g., a gNB, a UE, or an intermediate / assisting node of any type such as relay, repeater, UE, or gNB (e.g., the BS 102).

[0258] A physical channel for reader to device transmission is referred to as a physical reader to device (R2D) channel (PRDCH), and a physical channel for device to reader transmission is referred to as a physical device to reader (D2R) channel (PDRCH) in this disclosure.

[0259] For PRDCH and PDRCH transmission, a timing acquisition signal, e.g., a preamble, is included at least for timing acquisition and for indicating the start of the transmission in time domain, respectively.

[0260] There may be a timing relationship between transmissions as herein:

[0261] ● , : Minimum / maximum time between a R2D transmission and the corresponding D2R transmission following it.

[0262] ● , : Minimum / maximum time between a D2R transmission and the corresponding R2D transmission following it.

[0263] ● , : Minimum / maximum time between two different consecutive R2D transmissions to the same A-IoT device.

[0264] ● , : Minimum / maximum time between two different consecutive D2R transmissions from the same A-IoT device.

[0265] Given the low complexity and the low power consumption requirements for A-IoT devices, it is apparent that the oscillators equipped with A-IoT devices will be significantly subpar to that equipped with a normal NR UE. It is therefore impractical to expect a precise timing capability for A-IoT devices as it is usually expected for normal NR UEs. Furthermore, given that A-IoT devices are powered by harvesting energy, the device maybe running out of power time to time and, thereby, loosing timing, i.e., lacking timing maintaining capability.

[0266] One important use case of A-IoT is indoor / outdoor command involving sub-use cases such as online modification of medical instruments status, device activation and deactivation, elderly health care, device permanent deactivation, electronic shelf label, controller in smart agriculture. Therefore, embodiments of the present disclosure recognize that there is a need to define procedures and methods for indicating a command and associated parameters to one or more devices.

[0267] Depending on the use cases or command set, the reader may need to receive a confirmation on the execution of the indicated command from one or more devices. Therefore, embodiments of the present disclosure further recognize that there is another need to define procedures and methods for transmitting acknowledgement (ACK) message upon successful / failed execution of the received command by one or more devices.

[0268] In some use cases or command set, there may be an associated data transmission expected by a reader from one or more devices to fulfill the execution of the indicated command. Therefore, embodiments of the present disclosure further recognize that there is a need to define procedures and methods for indicating a command involving D2R data transmission and associated parameters, including scheduling information, to one or more devices, and procedures and methods for D2R data transmission by one or more devices based on the received scheduling information.

[0269] Depending on the use cases or command set, the one or more devices may need to receive a confirmation on the reception of D2R data transmission from the reader. Therefore, there is another need to define procedures and methods for receiving ACK messaged from a reader by one or more devices performed D2R data transmission.

[0270] The disclosure relates to a communication system. The disclosure relates to defining functionalities and procedures for indicating and executing a command between a reader and a device, wherein the device may be lacking a precise timing capability and may operate in a passive / active communication mode.

[0271] The disclosure relates to defining functionalities and procedures for indicating a command and associated parameters to one or more devices.

[0272] The disclosure further relates to defining functionalities and procedures for transmitting ACK message upon successful / failed execution of the received command by one or more devices.

[0273] The disclosure also relates to defining functionalities and procedures for indicating a command involving D2R data transmission and associated parameters, including scheduling information, to one or more devices.

[0274] The disclosure further relates to defining functionalities and procedures for D2R data transmission by one or more devices based on the received scheduling information.

[0275] The disclosure additionally relates to defining functionalities and procedures for receiving ACK message from a reader by one or more devices performed D2R data transmission.

[0276] Embodiments of the disclosure for indicating and executing a command between a reader and a device, wherein the device may be lacking a precise timing capability and may operate in a passive / active communication mode, are summarized in the following and are fully elaborated further herein.

[0277] ● Method and apparatus for defining functionalities and procedures for indicating a command and associated parameters to one or more devices.

[0278] ● Method and apparatus for defining functionalities and procedures for transmitting ACK message upon successful / failed execution of the received command by one or more devices.

[0279] ● Method and apparatus for defining functionalities and procedures for indicating a command involving D2R data transmission and associated parameters, including scheduling information, to one or more devices.

[0280] ● Method and apparatus for defining functionalities and procedures for D2R data transmission by one or more devices based on the received scheduling information.

[0281] ● Method and apparatus for defining functionalities and procedures for receiving ACK message from a reader by one or more devices performed D2R data transmission.

[0282] The following is an example list of commands that can be indicated from a reader to the device and the parameters associated with the command according to the disclosure.

[0283] ● Read / write: the device reads and returns specific data from the memory or writes received data to the memory including one or more of

[0284] ■ all or part of device product code,

[0285] ■ country code,

[0286] ■ version / generation information,

[0287] ■ device ID,

[0288] ■ sensor data,

[0289] ■ or any data that can be read from or written to the device memory.

[0290] ● Request random number / set parameters: the device returns a random number or set parameters related to random number generation, such as N for setting the range of values for drawing a random number, e.g., .

[0291] ● Status report / update: the device reads and return specific status or updates status based on the received command including one or more of

[0292] ■ password status (e.g., protected, unprotected), current / new password,

[0293] ■ device status (e.g., identified, unidentified, arbitrate, reply, acknowledged, open, secured, killed, etc.),

[0294] ■ or memory size.

[0295] ● Lock / unlock: the device permanently or temporarily locks / unlocks one or more of

[0296] ■ a password,

[0297] ■ a specific memory bank,

[0298] ■ or entire memory.

[0299] ● Access / kill: the device access or kill a certain process, memory bank or command.

[0300] ● Device activation / deactivation

[0301] ● Reset: the device reset one or more of

[0302] ■ a specific or each of the counters from a set of counters used by the device, e.g., slot counter,

[0303] ■ a specific memory bank,

[0304] ■ or data from the stored data in the device memory.

[0305] ● Get / set configuration: the device reports or sets a certain configuration parameter according to the command including one or more of

[0306] ■ device transmission power level, e.g., maximum equivalent isotropic radiated power (EIRP),

[0307] ■ device amplification level,

[0308] ■ PRDCH reception parameters, or

[0309] ■ PDRCH transmission parameters,

[0310] ■ wherein the reception or transmission parameters includes one or more of

[0311] ◆ modulation scheme (OOK-N with N and number of chips per symbol duration, double sideband (DSB) / synchronization signal block (SSB) / phase reversal amplitude shift keying (PR-ASK), PSK, FSK with modulation order),

[0312] ◆ oding schemes (e.g., Manchester, FM0, PIE, Miller with a number of chips per symbol),

[0313] ◆ use of scrambling,

[0314] ◆ operating frequency, bandwidth, operating channel index, single-tone vs multi-tone, default frequency shift, frequency hopping sequence / rate,

[0315] ◆ use of forward error correction (FEC),

[0316] ◆ use of CRC,

[0317] ◆ use of pre- / mid- / post-amble and related parameters such as length, short or long format, waveform

[0318] ◆ bit rate,

[0319] ◆ timing parameters, e.g., , , , , , , ,

[0320] FIG. 15 illustrates a flowchart of an example device procedure 1500 for executing a received command according to embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, procedure 1500 can be performed by any of the devices described herein. This example is for illustration only and other embodiments can be used without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0321] The procedure begins in 1510, a device receives a PRDCH including a command from a reader. In 1520, the device executes the received command and transmits a PDRCH providing an ACK message to the reader.

[0322] FIG. 16 illustrates a flowchart of an example procedure 1600 for executing a received command according to embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, procedure 1600 can be performed by any of the devices described herein and any of the readers described herein. This example is for illustration only and other embodiments can be used without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0323] The procedure begins in 1610, a reader transmits a PRDCH - command to a device. In 1620, the device transmits a PDRCH - ACK to the reader.

[0324] The general principle for indicating and executing a command between reader and devices includes a physical reader to device channel (PRDCH) transmission by a reader providing a command and the related parameters, and a physical device to reader channel (PDRCH) transmission by a device providing an ACK after executing the received command.

[0325] With reference to FIG. 15, an example flowchart of a device to execute a received command according to the disclosure is shown.

[0326] With reference to FIG. 16, an example signal flow of executing a command according to the disclosure is shown.

[0327] As an example, a device product code may include one or more of:

[0328] ● Header: provides information related to the device ID, such as length, type, structure, version / generation information, country code.

[0329] ● Management ID: provides identification of ownership or higher level categorization, e.g., company, logistics space, brand, product category, etc.

[0330] ● Group ID: provides identification of a group of devices, e.g., a specific product category similar to stock keeping unit (SKU)

[0331] ● Device ID: provides a unique identification of a device, e.g., within a group ID, within a management ID, or universally.

[0332] FIG. 17 illustrates timelines 1700 and 1750 for example device-specific commands and device-group-specific commands according to embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, timelines 1700 and 1750 can be followed by any of the devices described herein. This example is for illustration only and other embodiments can be used without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0333] FIG. 18 illustrates a diagram of an example PRDCH transmission architecture 1800 and 1850 according to embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, PRDCH transmission architecture 1800 and 1850 can be received by any of the devices described herein. This example is for illustration only and other embodiments can be used without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0334] In one example, 1800 the PRDCH providing a command is device-specific. The PRDCH provides at least one of: a particular device ID, wherein the ID can be assigned ID, e.g., handler, or device product related ID.

[0335] In one example, 1850 the PRDCH providing a command is device-group-specific. The PRDCH provides at least one of: a particular device group ID, wherein the group ID can be management ID or group ID in the device product code. It can be also an assigned ID. For example, a device group may be defined as a set of devices whose ID satisfies mod (device ID, K) = L, wherein K and / or L are indicated or predefined. In one example, L is fixed, e.g., zero, and only K is indicated. Alternatively, in another example, K is fixed and L is indicated.

[0336] In one example, the PRDCH providing a command is common to any device which receives the command. In this case, the PRDCH is addressed to NULL or a certain codepoint for broadcasting purpose, which is predefined in the specifications of system operation.

[0337] With reference to FIG. 17, device-specific and device-group-specific command and associated ACK transmissions according to the disclosure is shown.

[0338] A device receives a PRDCH including a command from a reader 1510. The command can be any command predefined by the specifications of system operation, wherein the list of commands disclosed can be an example. As illustrated in FIG. 17, in one example, the command can be device-specific, while in another example, the command can be device-group specific, or common to any devices in the proximity.

[0339] With reference to FIG. 18, an example frame structure is shown for PRDCH transmission providing device-specific, device-group-specific, or common command according to the disclosure.

[0340] ● Preamble

[0341] ● The TYPE field may indicate a certain codepoint, which may be predefined in the specifications of system operation, indicating that the corresponding PRDCH transmission is for device-specific, device-group-specific, or common command. In one example, the codepoint further indicates a particular command instruction from the set of supported commands.

[0342] ● The ID field may indicate the transmitter ID, i.e., a reader ID.

[0343] ● The ADDR field may provide parameters related to device selection. For device-specific command, the field may indicate a target device ID. For device-group-specific command, the field may indicate a target device-group ID. For a common command, the field may indicate NULL or a predefined codepoint.

[0344] ● The Payload field may indicate a particular command instruction from the set of supported commands, and / or any additional information elements associated with the indicated command.

[0345] ■ For a device-group-specific command, the payload field may include a number of blocks providing one or more of ADDR field indicating a particular device from the group of devices, and payload providing a device-specific command and associated parameters. A CRC may be attached to each block.

[0346] ● Request for a PDRCH transmission providing ACK / negative ACK (NACK)

[0347] ■ Whether a PDRCH transmission providing ACK / NACK upon successful / failed execution of the received command is requested or not.

[0348] ■ In one example, the ACK / NACK message is expected, without an explicit request indication. Such default ACK transmission may be for a certain set of commands, which may be indicated or predefined in the specifications of system operation.

[0349] ■ If a PDRCH transmission providing an ACK / NACK is expected, a timing information for transmitting PDRCH may be provided. Alternatively, the timing may be predefined in the specifications of system operation.

[0350] In one example, the control field in the PRDCH, and also in the PDRCH, may have a set of fixed PHY parameters, such as length, modulation and coding schemes, e.g., OOK-N with M chips per symbol, wherein N and M are indicated to the devices or predefined in the specifications of system operation.

[0351] Alternatively, the control field may take a set of PHY parameters from one or more sets of PHY parameters, wherein the one or more sets of PHY parameters are indicated to the devices or predefined in the specifications of system operation. In one example, PRDCH or PDRCH includes an indication on the used set of parameters by indicating an index from the set of predefined sets of parameters.

[0352] In another example, there may be an association between the preamble and the used set of PHY parameters. For instance, there may be short and long preamble types which are associated with a first set of PHY parameters and a second set of PHY parameters. Based on the detected preamble type, a device can determine the used set of parameters.

[0353] The device executes the received command and transmits a PDRCH providing an ACK message 1520.

[0354] For a device-specific command, a single targeted device may transmit PDRCH providing ACK upon successful execution of the command or NACK upon failed execution of the command. In one example, the PRDCH command may indicate the timing of a PDRCH transmission providing an ACK / NACK. The timing may be indicated as a delay from the start or end of the PRDCH reception to the start of PDRCH transmission, which may be in a number of symbols / chips, in a number of unit time, or as an index from a set of predefined values. In another example, the transmission timing of a PDRCH transmission providing an ACK / NACK is predefined in the specifications of system operation. For instance, the PDRCH transmission providing an ACK / NACK follows the preceding PRDCH transmission providing a command after but not earlier than There may be also such that the PDRCH transmission providing an ACK / NACK is expected to be no later than . The timing parameters, e.g., and / or , may be defined to different values for different subset of commands, in order to take into account different processing time needed at the device depending on the command set.

[0355] For a device-group-specific command, one or more devices from the targeted device group may transmit PDRCH providing ACK upon successful execution of the command or NACK upon failed execution of the command. In one example, each block of the PRDCH may indicate the timing of a PDRCH transmission providing an ACK / NACK. A device corresponding to i-th block of the PRDCH may be indicated timing parameter, which corresponds to PDRCH transmission delay from the start or end of the PRDCH reception to the start of PDRCH transmission. In another example, there may be a fixed PDRCH transmission timing associated with each block, e.g., , where N corresponds to a number of blocks in the PRDCH, such that devices corresponding to a number of blocks transmit PDRCH providing an ACK / NACK in an ordered manner. Similarly, there may be also in an ordered manner such that the PDRCH transmission providing an ACK / NACK is expected to be no later than for the group of devices.

[0356] In one example, the reader transmits a PRDCH providing a command, which commonly applies to any devices receiving the command. An example of such a command may include a kill or a reset command. The ADDR field in the PRDCH may indicate NULL or a certain codepoint designed for common command purpos which is predefined in the specifications of system operation. For a command, which is not addressed to a specific device or a device-group, in one example, the PDRCH transmission providing an ACK / NACK is skipped. In another example, a number of resources, e.g., time slots and / or frequency shifts / resources, are provided for transmitting PDRCH providing an ACK / NACK, wherein a number of devices randomly access to transmit. The device may draw a Bernoulli random variable using an access probability . If an outcome is positive, the device randomly selects one resource from the set of resources and transmits PDRCH. If the outcome is negative, the device skips transmitting PDRCH. In another example, the access probability is applied per resource in the random access round. For example, in each time slot, the device draws a Bernoulli random variable and decides whether to access the medium or not. In yet another example, for a given resource, the device draws a uniform discrete random variable from a certain range, e.g., or , and, if the drawn random variable is n, whose value is predefined, e.g., zero or 1, or indicated to the device, the device attempts random access for transmitting PDRCH providing an ACK / NACK.

[0357] FIG. 19 illustrates a flowchart of an example device procedure 1900 for executing a received command according to embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, procedure 1900 can be performed by any of the devices described herein. This example is for illustration only and other embodiments can be used without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0358] The procedure begins in 1910, a device receives a PRDCH indicating a command involving D2R data transmission and associated scheduling information. In 1920, the device executes the indicated command including the PDRCH transmission based on the associated scheduling information. In 1930, the device receives a PRDCH providing an ACK message.

[0359] FIG. 20 illustrates a flowchart of an example procedure 2000 for executing a received command according to embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, procedure 2000 can be performed by any of the devices described herein and any of the readers described herein. This example is for illustration only and other embodiments can be used without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0360] The procedure begins in 2010 a reader transmits a PRDCH - Command & Scheduling to a device. In 2020, the device transmits PDRCH - data to the reader. In 2030, the reader may transmit a PRDCH - ACK to the device.

[0361] FIG. 21 illustrates timelines 2100 and 2150 for example device-specific commands and device-group-specific commands according to embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, timelines 2100 and 2150 can be followed by any of the devices described herein and any of the readers described herein. This example is for illustration only and other embodiments can be used without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0362] The general principle for indicating and executing a command involving D2R data transmission between reader and devices includes a physical reader to device channel (PRDCH) transmission by a reader providing a command and the related parameters, and a physical device to reader channel (PDRCH) transmission by a device including a data transmission, and a PRDCH transmission by a reader providing an ACK after receiving PDRCH transmission from the device.

[0363] With reference to FIG. 19, an example flowchart is shown for a device to execute a received command involving D2R data transmission according to the disclosure.

[0364] With reference to FIG. 20, an example signal flow of executing a command involving D2R data transmission according to the disclosure is shown.

[0365] With reference to FIG. 21, device-specific and device-group-specific command involving D2R data transmission and associated ACK transmissions according to the disclosure is shown.

[0366] A device receives a PRDCH indicating a command involving D2R data transmission and associated scheduling information 1910.

[0367] The PRDCH payload includes control information for scheduling PDRCH transmission, in addition to the elements disclosed herein for the example frame structure illustrated in FIG. 18. The control information for scheduling PDRCH transmission includes one or more of:

[0368] ● Parameters related to PDRCH transmission timing

[0369] ■ , which starts from the start / end of PRDCH reception to the scheduled start timing of PDRCH. Alternatively, starts from the after the end of PRDCH reception to the scheduled start timing of PDRCH.

[0370] ■ If a PRDCH transmission includes a number of blocks for a number of devices, the timing parameter is included in each i-th block of the PRDCH, i.e., .

[0371] ■ The timing parameters may be provided in a number of symbols / chips, in a number of unit time, or as an index from a set of predefined values.

[0372] ● Requested data

[0373] ■ In one example, the data to be transmitted in the PDRCH is associated with the received command in the PRDCH without an explicit indication in the PRDCH. Such an association may be indicated or predefined in the specifications of system operation.

[0374] ■ In one example, the requested data is explicitly indicated in the PRDCH. As an example, the requested data can be device type (e.g., 1 / 2a / 2b), device product code, device capability (e.g., TX power, amplification capability, FDM capability, frequency shifting capability, supported modulation schemes, etc.), a specific memory bank such as for sensor data, or an entire memory.

[0375] ● Transmission duration, e.g., in number of symbols or chips, payload size

[0376] ● MCS or a parameter of a line code, such as a number of subcarrier cycles per symbol.

[0377] ■ In one example, a certain scaling value is indicated, denoted by . The information transmission frequency, or equivalently a data rate, is determined by , where is a chip duration or a symbol duration, which may be predefined in the specifications of system operation, indicated, or measured from a calibration signal from R2D.

[0378] ● Frequency domain resource

[0379] ■ In one example, frequency domain shift value is indicated by Hz, integer multiples of a unit amount of a frequency, or a parameter of a line code, such as a number of subcarrier cycles per symbol.

[0380] ■ In one example, frequency domain channel or resource information is indicated, e.g., in number of tones, PRBs, Hz, or in an unit bandwidth.

[0381] ● Parameters related to TPC command, e.g., an index to dB value from the previous transmission. In one example, the PDRCH preamble transmission power is the reference value to adjust the transmission power.

[0382] ● Attachment of preamble, midamble, or postamble. Additionally, a format of pre- / mid- / post-amble may be indicated, e.g., long or short format, if more than one formats are supported.

[0383] ● Attachment of CRC, and / or CRC size.

[0384] ● Modulation type such as OOK-1, OOK-4, binary phase-shift keying (BPSK), QPSK, FSK, ASK with orders.

[0385] ● Coding type such as indicator for Manchester coding, FM0, or Miller coding.

[0386] The device executes the indicated command including the PDRCH transmission based on the associated scheduling information 1920.

[0387] In the case of device-specific command wherein a single device is targeted, the PDRCH transmission may follow a predefined timing without an explicit indication. For instance, the PDRCH transmission follows the preceding PRDCH transmission no earlier than . There may be also such that the PDRCH transmission is expected to be no later than . In another example, the PDRCH transmission follows an indicated timing delay value .

[0388] In the case of device-specific command wherein one or more devices are targeted, in one example, the PDRCH transmission may follow a predefined timing without an explicit indication. For instance, for a device associated with the i-th block in the PRDCH transmission, the PDRCH transmission follows the preceding PRDCH transmission no earlier than . There may be also such that the PDRCH transmission is expected to be no later than . In one example, , and are in the ascending order of i = 1, 2,,,, N. In another example, each of the PDRCH transmission follows the indicated timing delay value associated with the i-th block of the PRDCH.

[0389] The device receives a PRDCH providing an ACK message 1930.

[0390] In one example, the PRDCH providing an ACK message is skipped. In another example, the PRDCH providing an ACK message is expected by a device after transmitting PDRCH.

[0391] When a PRDCH providing an ACK message is expected, in one example, the device expects to receive PRDCH by no earlier than TD2R,min. There may be also TD2R,maxsuch that the PRDCH transmission providing an ACK is expected to be no later than TD2R,max. Alternatively, the preceding PRDCH providing command may indicate the ACK reception timing, which may be, as an example, from start / end of PRDCH reception providing the command or from start / end of the scheduled PDRCH transmission to the expected ACK reception timing. In one example, the device awaits ACK reception for a certain time duration, e.g., from TD2R,minto TD2R,maxafter the PDRCH transmission, and if the ACK is not received during the time interval, the device expects that the random access is failed.

[0392] When a PRDCH schedules one or more PDRCHs from one or more devices, in one example, the ACK message is provided individually for each successfully received PDRCH by the reader in a burst manner. When one or more ACK messages are transmitted in a burst manner, there may be a time gap, e.g., TR2D_R2D_min, between the ACK transmissions, if consecutive ACK messages are addressed to the same device. If consecutive ACK messages are addressed to different devices, there may or may not be a time gap between the transmissions. In one example, a device monitors ACK during a certain time window. A device identifies a PRDCH providing ACK, which is addressed to the device, by decoding the control field in the PRDCH from one or more PRDCHs received during the time window. In another example, the preceding PRDCH providing command may indicate in each of the i-th block the ACK reception timing for the corresponding i-th PDRCH transmission. In yet another example, the preceding PRDCH provides a common timing delay parameter for the reception of ACK message, denoted by , such that each device is expected to receive a PRDCH proving an ACK after each device's respective PDRCH transmission. In yet another example, there is a timing relationship between the PDRCH transmission and the PRDCH reception providing ACK such as , where

[0393] ● tACK_iis the timing for receiving an ACK corresponding to the i-th PDRCH transmission

[0394] ● tREFis the reference timing. As an example, it can be start / end of the preceding PRDCH reception providing a command, the start / end of the last PDRCH transmission corresponding to the N-th block, the start / end of the first PRDCH transmission providing an ACK corresponding to the first block, or a timing of a certain timing reference signal, e.g., preamble, beacon, SSB, from the reader.

[0395] ● tOffsetis an offset from the reference timing, tREF. In one example, the value is zero.

[0396] ● TGAPis a time gap between two consecutive PRDCH transmission providing an ACK.

[0397] ● TPRDCH, ACKis a duration of PDRCH transmission providing an ACK.

[0398] Some of the listed parameters herein may be indicated in the preceding PRDCH providing a command, or as a system information broadcasted using another PRDCH.

[0399] FIG. 22 illustrates a diagram of an example PRDCH transmission architecture 2200 according to embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, PRDCH transmission architecture 2200 can be received by any of the devices described herein. This example is for illustration only and other embodiments can be used without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0400] When a PRDCH schedules one or more PDRCH from one or more devices, in another example, a group ACK message is provided for a number of successfully received PDRCH by the reader in a single message.

[0401] With reference to FIG. 22, an example frame structure is shown for PRDCH transmission providing a group ACK according to the disclosure.

[0402] In one example, there may be a certain association between the PDRCH transmission and the PRDCH ACK message reception. For instance, the block index in the PRDCH transmission providing a command corresponds to the block index in the PRDCH transmission providing an ACK. Alternatively, each device decodes the ADDR field in each block to identify if the corresponding block is addressed to the device or not. In one example, the control field in the group ACK message provides a size of the message or a number of ACK messages included. In another example, the control field provides a list of device IDs acknowledged in the group ACK message, such that a device can read the corresponding information block only.

[0403] The above flowchart(s) illustrate example methods that can be implemented in accordance with the principles of the present disclosure and various changes could be made to the methods illustrated in the flowcharts herein. For example, while shown as a series of steps, various steps in each figure could overlap, occur in parallel, occur in a different order, or occur multiple times. In another example, steps may be omitted or replaced by other steps.

[0404] Although the figures illustrate different examples of user equipment, various changes may be made to the figures. For example, the user equipment can include any number of each component in any suitable arrangement. In general, the figures do not limit the scope of the present disclosure to any particular configuration(s). Moreover, while figures illustrate operational environments in which various user equipment features disclosed in this patent document can be used, these features can be used in any other suitable system.

[0405] Although the present disclosure has been described with exemplary embodiments, various changes and modifications may be suggested to one skilled in the art. It is intended that the present disclosure encompass such changes and modifications as fall within the scope of the appended claims. None of the descriptions in this application should be read as implying that any particular element, step, or function is an essential element that must be included in the claims scope. The scope of patented subject matter is defined by the claims.

[0406] In addition, computer-readable storage media may be provided in the form of non-transitory storage media. The 'non-transitory storage medium' is a tangible device and only means that it does not contain a signal (e.g., electromagnetic waves). This term does not distinguish a case in which data is stored semi-permanently in a storage medium from a case in which data is temporarily stored. For example, the non-transitory recording medium may include a buffer in which data is temporarily stored.

[0407] The specific examples provided to explain the embodiments according to the present disclosure are merely a combination of each standard, method, detail method, and operation, and the various embodiments described herein can be performed through a combination of at least two or more techniques among the various techniques described. In addition, at this time, it can be performed according to a method determined through a combination of one or at least two or more of the aforementioned techniques. For example, it may be possible to perform a combination of parts of the operation of one embodiment with parts of the operation of another embodiment.

Claims

1.A method for an Internet of Things (IoT) device to communicate with a reader for executing a command, the method comprising:receiving, from the reader, a physical reader-to-device channel (PRDCH), wherein:the PRDCH includes information related to executing the command that indicates at least the command, andtransmission parameters for the PRDCH are (i) associated with a preamble signal preceding the PRDCH or (ii) indicated by control information provided in the PRDCH;determining transmission of a physical device-to-reader channel (PDRCH) based on reception of the PRDCH; andtransmitting, to the reader, the PDRCH, wherein the PDRCH includes information related to execution of the command including at least an indication on success or failure of executing the command.2.The method of claim 1, wherein the PRDCH includes at least one of:an indication of a message type including unicast, multicast, or broadcast;a receiver identifier;wherein the receiver identifier indicates:one or more device identifiers correspondingto respective one or more devices,a device group identifier corresponding to a group of one or more devices, orno identifier corresponding to all devices receiving the PRDCH, ora reader identifier.3.The method of claim 1, wherein the information related to executing the command indicates at least one of:a command to (i) generate a random number for device identification and (ii) transmit the PDRCH providing the random number;(i) a command to write a product code on a memory of the IoT device and (ii) information related to the product code;a command to (i) read the product code associated with the IoT device and (ii) transmit the PDRCH providing the product code;(i) a command to (a) read data from the memory and (b) transmit the PDRCH providing the data and (ii) information related to the memory;(i) a command to write data on the memory and (ii) information related to the data and the memory;a command to transmit PDRCH providing information related to one or more device statuses;(i) a command to set the one or more device statuses and (ii) information related to the one or more device statuses;(i) a command to lock or unlock a memory bank of the IoT device and (ii) information related to the memory bank; ora command to activate, deactivate, or initialize the IoT device.4.The method of claim 1, wherein:the PRDCH includes a request for transmission of the PDRCH, andthe determining transmission of the PDRCH further comprises: determining transmission of the PDRCH based on the request for transmission of the PDRCH provided in the PRDCH.5.The method of claim 1, wherein:the PRDCH includes one or more parameters related to transmission of the PDRCH, and a transmission timing of the PDRCH is based on the one or more parameters, orthe PRDCH does not include the one or more parameters related to transmission of the PDRCH, and the transmission timing of the PDRCH is within a time interval from a reception timing of the PRDCH.6.The method of claim 1, wherein:the PRDCH includes one or more information blocks corresponding to one or more devices, respectively, andone of:each information block includes one or more parameters related to transmission of the PDRCH, and a transmission timing of the PDRCH is based on the one or more parameters provided in the corresponding information block, oreach information block does not include the one or more parameters related to transmission of the PDRCH, and the transmission timing of the PDRCH is within a time interval from a reception timing of the PRDCH, wherein the time interval is associated with an information block index corresponding to the IoT device.7.The method of claim 1, further comprising:receiving a second PRDCH providing acknowledgement or negative acknowledgement (ACK / NACK) on the PDRCH transmission,wherein:the information related to executing the command further includes a request for data transmission in the PDRCH and parameters related to scheduling PDRCH, andthe second PRDCH is (i) device-specific, providing the ACK / NACK to a device, or (ii) device-group-specific, providing one or more ACK / NACKs to respective one or more devices.8.An Internet of Things (IoT) device, comprising:a memory storing one or more instructions;a transceiver; andat least one processor configured to execute the one or more instructions to enable the IoT device to:receive, from a reader, a physical reader-to-device channel (PRDCH), wherein:the PRDCH includes information related to executing a command that indicates at least the command, andtransmission parameters for the PRDCH are (i) associated with a preamble signal preceding the PRDCH or (ii) indicated by control information provided in the PRDCH;determine transmission of a physical device-to-reader channel (PDRCH) based on reception of the PRDCH;transmit, to the reader, the PDRCH, wherein the PDRCH includes information related to execution of the command including at least an indication on success or failure of executing the command.9.The IoT device of claim 8, wherein the PRDCH includes at least one of:an indication of a message type including unicast, multicast, or broadcast;a receiver identifier;wherein the receiver identifier indicates:one or more device identifiers corresponding to respective one or more devices,a device group identifier corresponding to a group of one or more devices, orno identifier corresponding to all devices receiving the PRDCH, ora reader identifier.10.The IoT device of claim 8, wherein the information related to executing the command indicates at least one of:a command to (i) generate a random number for device identification and (ii) transmit the PDRCH providing the random number;(i) a command to write a product code on the memory of the IoT device and (ii) information related to the product code;a command to (i) read the product code associated with the IoT device and (ii) transmit the PDRCH providing the product code;(i) a command to (a) read data from the memory and (b) transmit the PDRCH providing the data and (ii) information related to the memory;(i) a command to write data on the memory and (ii) information related to the data and the memory;a command to transmit PDRCH providing information related to one or more device statuses;(i) a command to set the one or more device statuses and (ii) information related to the one or more device statuses;(i) a command to lock or unlock a memory bank of the IoT device and (ii) information related to the memory bank; ora command to activate, deactivate, or initialize the IoT device.11.The IoT device of claim 8, wherein:the PRDCH includes a request for transmission of the PDRCH, andthe at least one processor further configured to execute the one or more instructions to enable the IoT device to: determine transmission of the PDRCH based on the request for transmission of the PDRCH provided in the PRDCH.12.The IoT device of claim 8, wherein:the PRDCH includes one or more parameters related to transmission of the PDRCH, and a transmission timing of the PDRCH is based on the one or more parameters, orthe PRDCH does not include the one or more parameters related to transmission of the PDRCH, and the transmission timing of the PDRCH is within a time interval from a reception timing of the PRDCH.13.The IoT device of claim 8, wherein:the PRDCH includes one or more information blocks corresponding to one or more devices, respectively, andone of:each information block includes one or more parameters related to transmission of the PDRCH, and a transmission timing of the PDRCH is based on the one or more parameters provided in the corresponding information block, oreach information block does not include the one or more parameters related to transmission of the PDRCH, and the transmission timing of the PDRCH is within a time interval from a reception timing of the PRDCH, wherein the time interval is associated with an information block index corresponding to the IoT device.14.The IoT device of claim 8, wherein the at least one processor further configured to execute the one or more instructions to enable the IoT device to:receive a second PRDCH providing acknowledgement or negative acknowledgement (ACK / NACK) on the PDRCH transmission,the information related to executing the command further includes a request for data transmission in the PDRCH and parameters related to scheduling PDRCH, andthe second PRDCH is (i) device-specific, providing the ACK / NACK to a device, or (ii) device-group-specific, providing one or more ACK / NACKs to respective one or more devices.15.A reader, comprising:a memory storing one or more instructions;a transceiver; andat least one processor configured to execute the one or more instructions to enable the reader to:transmit, to an Internet of Things (IoT) device, a physical reader-to-device channel (PRDCH), wherein:the PRDCH includes information related to executing a command that indicates at least the command, andtransmission parameters for the PRDCH are (i) associated with a preamble signal preceding the PRDCH or (ii) indicated by control information provided in the PRDCH; anddetermine reception of a physical device-to-reader channel (PDRCH) based on transmission of the PRDCH,receive, from the IoT device, the PDRCH, wherein the PDRCH includes information related to execution of the command including at least an indication on success or failure of executing the command.

Images