Methods and apparatus for device access distribution in ambient IoT

Abstract

A method performed a wireless transmit / receive unit (WTRU), may comprise: receiving an indication in a first message that includes a value of a partial device ID; determining that the value of the partial device ID matches a corresponding portion of a device ID of the WTRU; based on determining that the value of the partial device ID matches the corresponding portion of the device ID of the WTRU, receiving a second message that includes an indication of which bits of the device ID to use for determining a first temporary ID; determining the first temporary ID based on the bits indicated in the second message; receiving a third message and determining that the third message includes the determined first temporary ID; and transmitting a fourth message.

Description

METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR DEVICE ACCESS DISTRIBUTION IN AMBIENT IOTCROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 63 / 572,650, filed April 1 , 2024, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.BACKGROUND

[0002] The Internet-of-Thi ngs (loT) has garnered significant attention within the wireless communications industry. The increasing interconnection of devices promises to enhance productivity, improve efficiency, and elevate living standards. By further minimizing the size, complexity, and power consumption of loT devices, it will become feasible to deploy tens or even hundreds of billions of devices across various applications, delivering substantial value throughout the entire value chain. However, relying on batteries to power such a vast number of devices poses several challenges, including high maintenance costs, environmental concerns, and potential safety risks (e.g., wireless sensors in electric power and petroleum industries).

[0003] Considering the size and complexity constraints of practical applications for batteryless devices with no energy storage, or devices with limited energy storage that do not require manual replacement or recharging, the output power of an energy harvester is typically in the range of 1 piW to a few hundred piW. In contrast, existing cellular devices are generally incompatible with energy harvesting systems due to their peak power consumption exceeding 10 mW.

[0004] One industry example is asset identification, which currently has to resort mainly to barcode and RFID in most industries. The main advantage of these two technologies is the ultra-low complexity and small form factor of the tags. However, the limited reading range of a few meters usually requires handheld scanning which leads to labor intensive and time-consuming operations, or RFID portals / gates which leads to costly deployments. Moreover, the lack of interference management scheme results in severe interference between RFID readers and capacity problems, especially in case of dense deployment. It is hard to support large-scale network with seamless coverage for RFID.SUMMARY

[0005] A method performed a wireless transmit / receive unit (WTRU), may comprise: receiving an indication in a first message that includes a value of a partial device ID; determining that the value of the partial device ID matches a corresponding portion of a device ID of the WTRU; based on determining that the value of the partial device ID matches the corresponding portion of the device ID of the WTRU, receiving a second message that includes an indication of which bits of the device ID to use for determining a first temporary ID; determining the first temporary ID based on the bits indicated in the second message; receiving a third message and determining that the third message includes the determined first temporary ID; and transmitting a fourth message. The fourth message may be a random access message.

[0006] Based on the indicated bits in the second message, the WTRU may determine a frequency to monitor for the reception of the third message or may determine an access occasion to monitor for reception of the third message.

[0007] The temporary ID may be a value that directly corresponds to the bits indicated in the second message and may be associated with a category of a device corresponding to the device ID. The second message may further include a Q value, and the determination of the temporary ID may be further based on the Q value. The temporary ID may be a mod Q of the bits indicated in the second message.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0008] A more detailed understanding may be had from the following description, given by way of example in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals in the figures indicate like elements, and wherein:

[0009] FIG. 1A is a system diagram illustrating an example communications system in which one or more disclosed embodiments may be implemented;

[0010] FIG. 1B is a system diagram illustrating an example wireless transmit / receive unit (WTRU) that may be used within the communications system illustrated in FIG. 1A according to an embodiment;

[0011] FIG. 1C is a system diagram illustrating an example radio access network (RAN) and an example core network (CN) that may be used within the communications system illustrated in FIG. 1A according to an embodiment;

[0012] FIG. 1 D is a system diagram illustrating a further example RAN and a further example CN that may be used within the communications system illustrated in FIG. 1A according to an embodiment;

[0013] FIG. 2 is an example radio frequency identification (RFID) based inventory procedure;

[0014] FIG. 3 is an example procedure for assigning a temporary ID for determining access occasion in inventory procedure; and

[0015] FIG. 4 is an example procedure performed by a WTRU for assigning a temporary ID for determining access occasion in inventory.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0016] The following abbreviations and acronyms may be referred to:ACK AcknowledgementBLER Block Error RateBWP Bandwidth PartCAP Channel Access PriorityCAPC Channel access priority classCCA Clear Channel AssessmentCCE Control Channel ElementCE Control ElementCG Configured grant or cell groupCP Cyclic PrefixCP-OFDM Conventional OFDM (relying on cyclic prefix)CQI Channel Quality IndicatorCRC Cyclic Redundancy CheckCSI Channel State InformationCW Contention WindowCWS Contention Window Size CO Channel Occupancy DAI Downlink Assignment Index DCI Downlink Control Information DFI Downlink feedback information DG Dynamic grant DL Downlink DM-RS Demodulation Reference Signal DRB Data Radio Bearer EPC Electronic product code eLAA enhanced Licensed Assisted Access FeLAA Further enhanced Licensed Assisted Access HARQ Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request loT Internet-of-Things LAA License Assisted Access LBT Listen-Before-Talk LSB Least Significant Bit LTE Long Term Evolution NACK Negative ACK MCS Modulation and Coding Scheme MIMO Multiple Input Multiple Output MSB Most Significant Bit NR New Radio OFDM Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing PHY Physical Layer PID Process ID PO Paging Occasion PRACH Physical Random Access Channel PSS Primary Synchronization Signal RA Random Access (or procedure) RACH Random Access Channel RAR Random Access Response RCU Radio Access Network Central Unit RF Radio Front end RFID Radio Frequency Identification RLF Radio Link Failure RLM Radio Link Monitoring RNTI Radio Network Identifier RO RACH Occasion RRC Radio Resource Control RRM Radio Resource Management RS Reference Signal RSRP Reference Signal Received Power RSSI Received Signal Strength Indicator SDU Service Data Unit SRS Sounding Reference Signal SS Synchronization Signal SSS Secondary Synchronization Signal SWG Switching Gap (in a self-contained subframe) SPS Semi-persistent Scheduling SUL Supplemental Uplink TB Transport Block TBS Transport Block Size TRP Transmission / Reception Point TSC Time-sensitive Communications TSN Time-sensitive Networking UL UplinkURLLC Ultra-Reliable and Low Latency CommunicationsWBWP Wide Bandwidth PartWLAN Wireless Local Area Networks and related technologies (IEEE 8O2.xx domain)WTRU Wireless Transmit / Receive Unit

[0017] FIG. 1A is a diagram illustrating an example communications system 100 in which one or more disclosed embodiments may be implemented. The communications system 100 may be a multiple access system that provides content, such as voice, data, video, messaging, broadcast, etc., to multiple wireless users. The communications system 100 may enable multiple wireless users to access such content through the sharing of system resources, including wireless bandwidth. For example, the communications systems 100 may employ one or more channel access methods, such as code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA), single-carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA), zero-tail unique-word discrete Fourier transform Spread OFDM (ZT-UW-DFT-S-OFDM), unique word OFDM (UW-OFDM), resource block-filtered OFDM, filter bank multicarrier (FBMC), and the like.

[0018] As shown in FIG. 1A, the communications system 100 may include wireless transmit / receive units (WTRUs) 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d, a radio access network (RAN) 104, a core network (ON) 106, a public switched telephone network (PSTN) 108, the Internet 110, and other networks 112, though it will be appreciated that the disclosed embodiments contemplate any number of WTRUs, base stations, networks, and / or network elements. Each of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d may be any type of device configured to operate and / or communicate in a wireless environment. By way of example, the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d, any of which may be referred to as a station (STA), may be configured to transmit and / or receive wireless signals and may include a user equipment (UE), a mobile station, a fixed or mobile subscriber unit, a subscription-based unit, a pager, a cellular telephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a smartphone, a laptop, a netbook, a personal computer, a wireless sensor, a hotspot or Mi-Fi device, an Internet of Things (loT) device, a watch or other wearable, a head-mounted display (HMD), a vehicle, a drone, a medical device and applications (e.g., remote surgery), an industrial device and applications (e.g., a robot and / or other wireless devices operating in an industrial and / or an automated processing chain contexts), a consumer electronics device, a device operating on commercial and / or industrial wireless networks, and the like. Any of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c and 102d may be interchangeably referred to as a UE.

[0019] The communications systems 100 may also include a base station 114a and / or a base station 114b. Each of the base stations 114a, 114b may be any type of device configured to wirelessly interface with at least one of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d to facilitate access to one or more communication networks, such as the CN 106, the Internet 110, and / or the other networks 112. By way of example, the base stations 114a, 114b may be a base transceiver station (BTS), a NodeB, an eNode B (eNB), a Home Node B, a Home eNode B, a next generation NodeB, such as a gNode B (gNB), a new radio (NR) NodeB, a site controller, an access point (AP), a wireless router, and the like. While the base stations 114a, 114b are each depicted as a single element, it will be appreciated that the base stations 114a, 114b may include any number of interconnected base stations and / or network elements.

[0020] The base station 114a may be part of the RAN 104, which may also include other base stations and / or network elements (not shown), such as a base station controller (BSC), a radio network controller (RNC), relay nodes, and the like. The base station 114a and / or the base station 114b may be configured to transmit and / or receive wirelesssignals on one or more carrier frequencies, which may be referred to as a cell (not shown). These frequencies may be in licensed spectrum, unlicensed spectrum, or a combination of licensed and unlicensed spectrum. A cell may provide coverage for a wireless service to a specific geographical area that may be relatively fixed or that may change over time. The cell may further be divided into cell sectors. For example, the cell associated with the base station 114a may be divided into three sectors. Thus, in one embodiment, the base station 114a may include three transceivers, i.e., one for each sector of the cell. In an embodiment, the base station 114a may employ multiple-input multiple output (MIMO) technology and may utilize multiple transceivers for each sector of the cell. For example, beamforming may be used to transmit and / or receive signals in desired spatial directions.

[0021] The base stations 114a, 114b may communicate with one or more of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d over an air interface 116, which may be any suitable wireless communication link (e.g., radio frequency (RF), microwave, centimeter wave, micrometer wave, infrared (IR), ultraviolet (UV), visible light, etc.). The air interface 116 may be established using any suitable radio access technology (RAT).

[0022] More specifically, as noted above, the communications system 100 may be a multiple access system and may employ one or more channel access schemes, such as CDMA, TDMA, FDMA, OFDMA, SC-FDMA, and the like. For example, the base station 114a in the RAN 104 and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement a radio technology such as Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), which may establish the air interface 116 using wideband CDMA (WCDMA). WCDMA may include communication protocols such as High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) and / or Evolved HSPA (HSPA+). HSPA may include High-Speed Downlink (DL) Packet Access (HSDPA) and / or High-Speed Uplink (UL) Packet Access (HSUPA).

[0023] In an embodiment, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement a radio technology such as Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA), which may establish the air interface 116 using Long Term Evolution (LTE) and / or LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) and / or LTE-Advanced Pro (LTE-A Pro).

[0024] In an embodiment, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement a radio technology such as NR Radio Access , which may establish the air interface 116 using NR.

[0025] In an embodiment, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement multiple radio access technologies. For example, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement LTE radio access and NR radio access together, for instance using dual connectivity (DC) principles. Thus, the air interface utilized by WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may be characterized by multiple types of radio access technologies and / or transmissions sent to / from multiple types of base stations (e.g., an eNB and a gNB).

[0026] In other embodiments, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement radio technologies such as IEEE 802.11 (i.e., Wireless Fidelity (WiFi), IEEE 802.16 (i.e., Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX)), CDMA2000, CDMA2000 1X, CDMA2000 EV-DO, Interim Standard 2000 (IS-2000), Interim Standard 95 (IS-95), Interim Standard 856 (IS-856), Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), GSM EDGE (GERAN), and the like.

[0027] The base station 114b in FIG. 1 A may be a wireless router, Home Node B, Home eNode B, or access point, for example, and may utilize any suitable RAT for facilitating wireless connectivity in a localized area, such as a place of business, a home, a vehicle, a campus, an industrial facility, an air corridor (e.g., for use by drones), a roadway, andthe like. In one embodiment, the base station 114b and the WTRUs 102c, 102d may implement a radio technology such as IEEE 802.11 to establish a wireless local area network (WLAN). In an embodiment, the base station 114b and the WTRUs 102c, 102d may implement a radio technology such as IEEE 802.15 to establish a wireless personal area network (WPAN). In yet another embodiment, the base station 114b and the WTRUs 102c, 102d may utilize a cellularbased RAT (e.g., WCDMA, CDMA2000, GSM, LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, NR etc.) to establish a picocell or femtocell. As shown in FIG. 1A, the base station 114b may have a direct connection to the Internet 110. Thus, the base station 114b may not be required to access the Internet 110 via the CN 106.

[0028] The RAN 104 may be in communication with the CN 106, which may be any type of network configured to provide voice, data, applications, and / or voice over internet protocol (VoIP) services to one or more of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d. The data may have varying quality of service (QoS) requirements, such as differing throughput requirements, latency requirements, error tolerance requirements, reliability requirements, data throughput requirements, mobility requirements, and the like. The CN 106 may provide call control, billing services, mobile location-based services, pre-paid calling, Internet connectivity, video distribution, etc., and / or perform high-level security functions, such as user authentication. Although not shown in FIG. 1A, it will be appreciated that the RAN 104 and / or the CN 106 may be in direct or indirect communication with other RANs that employ the same RAT as the RAN 104 or a different RAT. For example, in addition to being connected to the RAN 104, which may be utilizing a NR radio technology, the CN 106 may also be in communication with another RAN (not shown) employing a GSM, UMTS, CDMA 2000, WiMAX, E-UTRA, or WiFi radio technology.

[0029] The CN 106 may also serve as a gateway for the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d to access the PSTN 108, the Internet 110, and / or the other networks 112. The PSTN 108 may include circuit-switched telephone networks that provide plain old telephone service (POTS). The Internet 110 may include a global system of interconnected computer networks and devices that use common communication protocols, such as the transmission control protocol (TCP), user datagram protocol (UDP) and / or the internet protocol (IP) in the TCP / IP internet protocol suite. The networks 112 may include wired and / or wireless communications networks owned and / or operated by other service providers. For example, the networks 112 may include another CN connected to one or more RANs, which may employ the same RAT as the RAN 104 or a different RAT.

[0030] Some or all of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d in the communications system 100 may include multimode capabilities (e.g., the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d may include multiple transceivers for communicating with different wireless networks over different wireless links). For example, the WTRU 102c shown in FIG. 1A may be configured to communicate with the base station 114a, which may employ a cellular-based radio technology, and with the base station 114b, which may employ an IEEE 802 radio technology.

[0031] FIG. 1B is a system diagram illustrating an example WTRU 102. As shown in FIG. 1B, the WTRU 102 may include a processor 118, a transceiver 120, a transmit / receive element 122, a speaker / microphone 124, a keypad 126, a display / touchpad 128, non-removable memory 130, removable memory 132, a power source 134, a global positioning system (GPS) chipset 136, and / or other peripherals 138, among others. It will be appreciated that the WTRU 102 may include any sub-combination of the foregoing elements while remaining consistent with an embodiment.

[0032] The processor 118 may be a general purpose processor, a special purpose processor, a conventional processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in association with a DSP core, a controller, a microcontroller, Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), any other type of integrated circuit (IC), a state machine, and the like. The processor 118 may perform signal coding, data processing, power control, input / output processing, and / or any other functionality that enables the WTRU 102 to operate in a wireless environment. The processor 118 may be coupled to the transceiver 120, which may be coupled to the transmit / receive element 122. While FIG. 1 B depicts the processor 118 and the transceiver 120 as separate components, it will be appreciated that the processor 118 and the transceiver 120 may be integrated together in an electronic package or chip.

[0033] The transmit / receive element 122 may be configured to transmit signals to, or receive signals from, a base station (e.g., the base station 114a) over the air interface 116. For example, in one embodiment, the transmit / receive element 122 may be an antenna configured to transmit and / or receive RF signals. In an embodiment, the transmit / receive element 122 may be an emitter / detector configured to transmit and / or receive IR, UV, or visible light signals, for example. In yet another embodiment, the transmit / receive element 122 may be configured to transmit and / or receive both RF and light signals. It will be appreciated that the transmit / receive element 122 may be configured to transmit and / or receive any combination of wireless signals.

[0034] Although the transmit / receive element 122 is depicted in FIG. 1B as a single element, the WTRU 102 may include any number of transmit / receive elements 122. More specifically, the WTRU 102 may employ MIMO technology. Thus, in one embodiment, the WTRU 102 may include two or more transmit / receive elements 122 (e.g., multiple antennas) for transmitting and receiving wireless signals over the air interface 116.

[0035] The transceiver 120 may be configured to modulate the signals that are to be transmitted by the transmit / receive element 122 and to demodulate the signals that are received by the transmit / receive element 122. As noted above, the WTRU 102 may have multi-mode capabilities. Thus, the transceiver 120 may include multiple transceivers for enabling the WTRU 102 to communicate via multiple RATs, such as NR and IEEE 802.11 , for example.

[0036] The processor 118 of the WTRU 102 may be coupled to, and may receive user input data from, the speaker / microphone 124, the keypad 126, and / or the display / touchpad 128 (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD) display unit or organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display unit). The processor 118 may also output user data to the speaker / microphone 124, the keypad 126, and / or the display / touchpad 128. In addition, the processor 118 may access information from, and store data in, any type of suitable memory, such as the non-removable memory 130 and / or the removable memory 132. The non-removable memory 130 may include random-access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), a hard disk, or any other type of memory storage device. The removable memory 132 may include a subscriber identity module (SIM) card, a memory stick, a secure digital (SD) memory card, and the like. In other embodiments, the processor 118 may access information from, and store data in, memory that is not physically located on the WTRU 102, such as on a server or a home computer (not shown).

[0037] The processor 118 may receive power from the power source 134, and may be configured to distribute and / or control the power to the other components in the WTRU 102. The power source 134 may be any suitable device for powering the WTRU 102. For example, the power source 134 may include one or more dry cell batteries (e.g.,nickel-cadmium (NiCd), nickel-zinc (NiZn), nickel metal hydride (NiMH), lithium-ion (Li-ion), etc.), solar cells, fuel cells, and the like.

[0038] The processor 118 may also be coupled to the GPS chipset 136, which may be configured to provide location information (e.g., longitude and latitude) regarding the current location of the WTRU 102. In addition to, or in lieu of, the information from the GPS chipset 136, the WTRU 102 may receive location information over the air interface 116 from a base station (e.g., base stations 114a, 114b) and / ordetermine its location based on the timing of the signals being received from two or more nearby base stations. It will be appreciated that the WTRU 102 may acquire location information by way of any suitable location-determination method while remaining consistent with an embodiment.

[0039] The processor 118 may further be coupled to other peripherals 138, which may include one or more software and / or hardware modules that provide additional features, functionality and / or wired or wireless connectivity. For example, the peripherals 138 may include an accelerometer, an e-compass, a satellite transceiver, a digital camera (for photographs and / or video), a universal serial bus (USB) port, a vibration device, a television transceiver, a hands free headset, a Bluetooth® module, a frequency modulated (FM) radio unit, a digital music player, a media player, a video game player module, an Internet browser, a Virtual Reality and / or Augmented Reality (VR / AR) device, an activity tracker, and the like. The peripherals 138 may include one or more sensors. The sensors may be one or more of a gyroscope, an accelerometer, a hall effect sensor, a magnetometer, an orientation sensor, a proximity sensor, a temperature sensor, a time sensor; a geolocation sensor, an altimeter, a light sensor, a touch sensor, a magnetometer, a barometer, a gesture sensor, a biometric sensor, a humidity sensor and the like.

[0040] The WTRU 102 may include a full duplex radio for which transmission and reception of some or all of the signals (e.g., associated with particular subframes for both the UL (e.g., for transmission) and DL (e.g., for reception) may be concurrent and / or simultaneous. The full duplex radio may include an interference management unit to reduce and or substantially eliminate self-interference via either hardware (e.g., a choke) or signal processing via a processor (e.g., a separate processor (not shown) or via processor 118). In an embodiment, the WTRU 102 may include a halfduplex radio for which transmission and reception of some or all of the signals (e.g., associated with particular subframes for either the UL (e.g., for transmission) or the DL (e.g., for reception)).

[0041] FIG. 1 C is a system diagram illustrating the RAN 104 and the CN 106 according to an embodiment. As noted above, the RAN 104 may employ an E-UTRA radio technology to communicate with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c over the air interface 116. The RAN 104 may also be in communication with the CN 106.

[0042] The RAN 104 may include eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c, though it will be appreciated that the RAN 104 may include any number of eNode-Bs while remaining consistent with an embodiment. The eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c may each include one or more transceivers for communicating with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c over the air interface 116. In one embodiment, the eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c may implement MIMO technology. Thus, the eNode-B 160a, for example, may use multiple antennas to transmit wireless signals to, and / or receive wireless signals from, the WTRU 102a.

[0043] Each of the eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c may be associated with a particular cell (not shown) and may be configured to handle radio resource management decisions, handover decisions, scheduling of users in the UL and / orDL, and the like. As shown in FIG. 1 C, the eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c may communicate with one another over an X2 interface.

[0044] The CN 106 shown in FIG. 1C may include a mobility management entity (MME) 162, a serving gateway (SGW) 164, and a packet data network (PDN) gateway (PGW) 166. While the foregoing elements are depicted as part of the CN 106, it will be appreciated that any of these elements may be owned and / or operated by an entity other than the CN operator.

[0045] The MME 162 may be connected to each of the eNode-Bs 162a, 162b, 162c in the RAN 104 via an S1 interface and may serve as a control node. For example, the MME 162 may be responsible for authenticating users of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, bearer activation / deactivation, selecting a particular serving gateway during an initial attach of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, and the like. The MME 162 may provide a control plane function for switching between the RAN 104 and other RANs (not shown) that employ other radio technologies, such as GSM and / or WCDMA.

[0046] The SGW 164 may be connected to each of the eNode Bs 160a, 160b, 160c in the RAN 104 via the S1 interface. The SGW 164 may generally route and forward user data packets to / from the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c. The SGW 164 may perform other functions, such as anchoring user planes during inter-eNode B handovers, triggering paging when DL data is available for the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, managing and storing contexts of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, and the like.

[0047] The SGW 164 may be connected to the PGW 166, which may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to packet-switched networks, such as the Internet 110, to facilitate communications between the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c and IP-enabled devices.

[0048] The CN 106 may facilitate communications with other networks. For example, the CN 106 may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to circuit-switched networks, such as the PSTN 108, to facilitate communications between the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c and traditional land-line communications devices. For example, the CN 106 may include, or may communicate with, an IP gateway (e.g., an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) server) that serves as an interface between the CN 106 and the PSTN 108. In addition, the CN 106 may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to the other networks 112, which may include other wired and / or wireless networks that are owned and / or operated by other service providers.

[0049] Although the WTRU is described in FIGS. 1A-1 D as a wireless terminal, it is contemplated that in certain representative embodiments that such a terminal may use (e.g., temporarily or permanently) wired communication interfaces with the communication network.

[0050] In representative embodiments, the other network 112 may be a WLAN.

[0051] A WLAN in Infrastructure Basic Service Set (BSS) mode may have an Access Point (AP) for the BSS and one or more stations (STAs) associated with the AP. The AP may have access or an interface to a Distribution System (DS) or another type of wired / wireless network that carries traffic in to and / or out of the BSS. Traffic to STAs that originates from outside the BSS may arrive through the AP and may be delivered to the STAs. Traffic originating from STAs to destinations outside the BSS may be sent to the AP to be delivered to respective destinations. Traffic between STAs within the BSS may be sent through the AP, for example, where the source STA may send traffic to the AP andthe AP may deliver the traffic to the destination STA. The traffic between STAs within a BSS may be considered and / or referred to as peer-to-peer traffic. The peer-to-peer traffic may be sent between (e.g., directly between) the source and destination STAs with a direct link setup (DLS). In certain representative embodiments, the DLS may use an 802.11e DLS or an 802.11z tunneled DLS (TDLS). A WLAN using an Independent BSS (IBSS) mode may not have an AP, and the STAs (e.g., all of the STAs) within or using the IBSS may communicate directly with each other. The IBSS mode of communication may sometimes be referred to herein as an “ad-hoc” mode of communication.

[0052] When using the 802.11ac infrastructure mode of operation or a similar mode of operations, the AP may transmit a beacon on a fixed channel, such as a primary channel. The primary channel may be a fixed width (e.g., 20 MHz wide bandwidth) or a dynamically set width. The primary channel may be the operating channel of the BSS and may be used by the STAs to establish a connection with the AP. In certain representative embodiments, Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance (CSMA / CA) may be implemented, for example in 802.11 systems. For CSMA / CA, the STAs (e.g., every STA), including the AP, may sense the primary channel. If the primary channel is sensed / detected and / or determined to be busy by a particular STA, the particular STA may back off. One STA (e.g., only one station) may transmit at any given time in a given BSS.

[0053] High Throughput (HT) STAs may use a 40 MHz wide channel for communication, for example, via a combination of the primary 20 MHz channel with an adjacent or nonadjacent 20 MHz channel to form a 40 MHz wide channel.

[0054] Very High Throughput (VHT) STAs may support 20MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz, and / or 160 MHz wide channels. The 40 MHz, and / or 80 MHz, channels may be formed by combining contiguous 20 MHz channels. A 160 MHz channel may be formed by combining 8 contiguous 20 MHz channels, or by combining two non-contiguous 80 MHz channels, which may be referred to as an 80+80 configuration. For the 80+80 configuration, the data, after channel encoding, may be passed through a segment parser that may divide the data into two streams. Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) processing, and time domain processing, may be done on each stream separately. The streams may be mapped on to the two 80 MHz channels, and the data may be transmitted by a transmitting STA. At the receiver of the receiving STA, the above described operation for the 80+80 configuration may be reversed, and the combined data may be sent to the Medium Access Control (MAC).

[0055] Sub 1 GHz modes of operation are supported by 802.11af and 802.11ah. The channel operating bandwidths, and carriers, are reduced in 802.11af and 802.11ah relative to those used in 802.11 n, and 802.11ac. 802.11 af supports 5 MHz, 10 MHz, and 20 MHz bandwidths in the TV White Space (TVWS) spectrum, and 802.11 ah supports 1 MHz, 2 MHz, 4 MHz, 8 MHz, and 16 MHz bandwidths using non-TVWS spectrum. According to a representative embodiment, 802.11 ah may support Meter Type Control / Machine-Type Communications (MTC), such as MTC devices in a macro coverage area. MTC devices may have certain capabilities, forexample, limited capabilities including support for (e.g., only support for) certain and / or limited bandwidths. The MTC devices may include a battery with a battery life above a threshold (e.g., to maintain a very long battery life).

[0056] WLAN systems, which may support multiple channels, and channel bandwidths, such as 802.11n, 802.11ac, 802.11 af, and 802.11 ah, include a channel which may be designated as the primary channel. The primary channel may have a bandwidth equal to the largest common operating bandwidth supported by all STAs in the BSS.The bandwidth of the primary channel may be set and / or limited by a STA, from among all STAs in operating in a BSS, which supports the smallest bandwidth operating mode. In the example of 802.11ah, the primary channel may be 1 MHz wide for STAs (e.g., MTC type devices) that support (e.g., only support) a 1 MHz mode, even if the AP, and other STAs in the BSS support 2 MHz, 4 MHz, 8 MHz, 16 MHz, and / or other channel bandwidth operating modes. Carrier sensing and / or Network Allocation Vector (NAV) settings may depend on the status of the primary channel. If the primary channel is busy, for example, due to a STA (which supports only a 1 MHz operating mode) transmitting to the AP, all available frequency bands may be considered busy even though a majority of the available frequency bands remains idle.

[0057] In the United States, the available frequency bands, which may be used by 802.11 ah, are from 902 MHz to 928 MHz. In Korea, the available frequency bands are from 917.5 MHz to 923.5 MHz. In Japan, the available frequency bands are from 916.5 MHz to 927.5 MHz. The total bandwidth available for 802.11ah is 6 MHz to 26 MHz depending on the country code.

[0058] FIG. 1 D is a system diagram illustrating the RAN 104 and the CN 106 according to an embodiment. As noted above, the RAN 104 may employ an NR radio technology to communicate with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c over the air interface 116. The RAN 104 may also be in communication with the CN 106.

[0059] The RAN 104 may include gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c, though it will be appreciated that the RAN 104 may include any number of gNBs while remaining consistent with an embodiment. The gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may each include one or more transceivers for communicating with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c over the air interface 116. In one embodiment, the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may implement MIMO technology. For example, gNBs 180a, 108b may utilize beamforming to transmit signals to and / or receive signals from the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c. Thus, the gNB 180a, for example, may use multiple antennas to transmit wireless signals to, and / or receive wireless signals from, the WTRU 102a. In an embodiment, the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may implement carrier aggregation technology. For example, the gNB 180a may transmit multiple component carriers to the WTRU 102a (not shown). A subset of these component carriers may be on unlicensed spectrum while the remaining component carriers may be on licensed spectrum. In an embodiment, the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may implement Coordinated Multi-Point (CoMP) technology. For example, WTRU 102a may receive coordinated transmissions from gNB 180a and gNB 180b (and / or gNB 180c).

[0060] The WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may communicate with gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c using transmissions associated with a scalable numerology. For example, the OFDM symbol spacing and / or OFDM subcarrier spacing may vary for different transmissions, different cells, and / or different portions of the wireless transmission spectrum. The WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may communicate with gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c using subframe or transmission time intervals (TTIs) of various or scalable lengths (e.g., containing a varying number of OFDM symbols and / or lasting varying lengths of absolute time).

[0061] The gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may be configured to communicate with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c in a standalone configuration and / or a non-standalone configuration. In the standalone configuration, WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may communicate with gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c without also accessing other RANs (e.g., such as eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c). In the standalone configuration, WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may utilize one or more of gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c as a mobility anchor point. In the standalone configuration, WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may communicatewith gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c using signals in an unlicensed band. In a non-standalone configuration WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may communicate with / connect to gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c while also communicating with / connecting to another RAN such as eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c. For example, WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement DC principles to communicate with one or more gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c and one or more eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c substantially simultaneously. In the non-standalone configuration, eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c may serve as a mobility anchor for WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c and gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may provide additional coverage and / or throughput for servicing WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c.

[0062] Each of the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may be associated with a particular cell (not shown) and may be configured to handle radio resource management decisions, handover decisions, scheduling of users in the UL and / or DL, support of network slicing, DC, interworking between NR and E-UTRA, routing of user plane data towards User Plane Function (UPF) 184a, 184b, routing of control plane information towards Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) 182a, 182b and the like. As shown in FIG. 1 D, the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may communicate with one another over an Xn interface.

[0063] The CN 106 shown in FIG. 1 D may include at least one AMF 182a, 182b, at least one UPF 184a, 184b, at least one Session Management Function (SMF) 183a, 183b, and possibly a Data Network (DN) 185a, 185b. While the foregoing elements are depicted as part of the CN 106, it will be appreciated that any of these elements may be owned and / or operated by an entity other than the CN operator.

[0064] The AMF 182a, 182b may be connected to one or more of the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c in the RAN 104 via an N2 interface and may serve as a control node. For example, the AMF 182a, 182b may be responsible for authenticating users of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, support for network slicing (e.g., handling of different protocol data unit (PDU) sessions with different requirements), selecting a particular SMF 183a, 183b, management of the registration area, termination of non-access stratum (NAS) signaling, mobility management, and the like. Network slicing may be used by the AMF 182a, 182b in order to customize CN support for WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c based on the types ofservices being utilized WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c. For example, different network slices may be established for different use cases such as services relying on ultra-reliable low latency (URLLC) access, services relying on enhanced massive mobile broadband (eMBB) access, services for MTC access, and the like. The AMF 182a, 182b may provide a control plane function for switching between the RAN 104 and other RANs (not shown) that employ other radio technologies, such as LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, and / or non-3GPP access technologies such as WiFi.

[0065] The SMF 183a, 183b may be connected to an AMF 182a, 182b in the CN 106 via an N11 interface. The SMF 183a, 183b may also be connected to a UPF 184a, 184b in the CN 106 via an N4 interface. The SMF 183a, 183b may select and control the UPF 184a, 184b and configure the routing of traffic through the UPF 184a, 184b. The SMF 183a, 183b may perform other functions, such as managing and allocating UE IP address, managing PDU sessions, controlling policy enforcement and QoS, providing DL data notifications, and the like. A PDU session type may be IPbased, non-IP based, Ethernet-based, and the like.

[0066] The UPF 184a, 184b may be connected to one or more of the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c in the RAN 104 via an N3 interface, which may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to packet-switched networks, such as the Internet 110, to facilitate communications between the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c and IP-enabled devices. TheUPF 184, 184b may perform other functions, such as routing and forwarding packets, enforcing user plane policies, supporting multi-homed PDU sessions, handling user plane QoS, buffering DL packets, providing mobility anchoring, and the like.

[0067] The CN 106 may facilitate communications with other networks. For example, the CN 106 may include, or may communicate with, an IP gateway (e.g., an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) server) that serves as an interface between the CN 106 and the PSTN 108. In addition, the CN 106 may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to the other networks 112, which may include other wired and / or wireless networks that are owned and / or operated by other service providers. In one embodiment, the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may be connected to a local DN 185a, 185b through the UPF 184a, 184b via the N3 interface to the UPF 184a, 184b and an N6 interface between the UPF 184a, 184b and the DN 185a, 185b.

[0068] In view of FIGs. 1A-1 D, and the corresponding description of FIGs. 1A-1 D, one or more, or all, of the functions described herein with regard to one or more of: WTRU 102a-d, Base Station 114a-b, eNode-B 160a-c, MME 162, SGW 164, PGW 166, gNB 180a-c, AMF 182a-b, UPF 184a-b, SMF 183a-b, DN 185a-b, and / or any other device(s) described herein, may be performed by one or more emulation devices (not shown). The emulation devices may be one or more devices configured to emulate one or more, or all, of the functions described herein. For example, the emulation devices may be used to test other devices and / or to simulate network and / or WTRU functions.

[0069] The emulation devices may be designed to implement one or more tests of other devices in a lab environment and / or in an operator network environment. For example, the one or more emulation devices may perform the one or more, or all, functions while being fully or partially implemented and / or deployed as part of a wired and / or wireless communication network in order to test other devices within the communication network. The one or more emulation devices may perform the one or more, or all, functions while being temporarily implemented / deployed as part of a wired and / or wireless communication network. The emulation device may be directly coupled to another device for purposes of testing and / or performing testing using over-the-air wireless communications.

[0070] The one or more emulation devices may perform the one or more, including all, functions while not being implemented / deployed as part of a wired and / or wireless communication network. For example, the emulation devices may be utilized in a testing scenario in a testing laboratory and / or a non-deployed (e.g., testing) wired and / or wireless communication network in order to implement testing of one or more components. The one or more emulation devices may be test equipment. Direct RF coupling and / or wireless communications via RF circuitry (e.g., which may include one or more antennas) may be used by the emulation devices to transmit and / or receive data.

[0071] Hereinafter, the terms ‘device,” ‘‘ambient loT WTRU,” “tag,” and WTRU may be used interchangeably to mean the ambient loT device(s) that are being inventoried / queried by the reader. The term “reader” may refer to the entity that queries the ambient loT device, either directly, or via an intermediate WTRU. The term “reader” may also refer to the intermediate WTRU. As a result, the term “reader” may refer to a network node or a WTRU, depending on the context and / or the ambient loT topology.

[0072] An ambient loT device may communicate bidirectionally with an intermediate node between the device and base station. The intermediate node can be a relay, IAB node, WTRU, repeater, etc. which is capable of ambient loT. The intermediate node transfers ambient loT data and / or signalling between BS and the ambient loT device.

[0073] Hereinafter, the terms “reader,” “network,” and “intermediate WTRU” may be used interchangeably to refer to the reader.

[0074] Hereinafter, the term “inventory” may refer to the over procedure of a reader triggering access by multiple devices using a sequence of messages. The inventory procedure may refer to a single round of attempts to have each device respond or attempt to respond with its device ID or access ID. The inventory procedure may refer to a set of access occasions which may have 0 or at least 1 device respond within the access occasion. The inventory procedure may occur similar to legacy RFID procedure. Although referred to herein as inventory procedure, it may be termed differently in device requirements or specifications (e.g., query procedure, paging procedure, RACH procedure etc.).

[0075] Hereinafter, the term “occasion” may refer to an opportunity for device transmission, which may be defined by the transmission of a query response message (or a similar message). Specifically, a device may utilize an occasion for transmission by performing an ambient loT transmission within a defined time period following the query response associated with that transmission. Alternatively, an occasion may include both a time component and a frequency component. For example, a device may determine an occasion by transmitting after a specific query response and selecting one of several available frequencies (e.g., FDM) .In cases where embodiments involve selecting an occasion, the selection may apply equally to only the time component, only the frequency component, or both components together.

[0076] Hereinafter, any reference to time may be associated with an absolute time measurement (e.g., seconds, slots, frames, etc.). Alternatively, any reference to time may refer to a number of executions of a procedure, possibly triggered by a reader (e.g., number of inventory procedures, number of accesses or RACH procedures, etc.). Alternatively, any reference to time may refer to a number of messages, possibly of a specific type, or containing specific information, as described herein, received or transmitted.

[0077] To support an ambient loT compact protocol stack and lightweight signaling procedure, specific functions may be required to enable DO-DTT and DT data transmission. These functions include, but are not limited to, paging, random access, and data transmission, along with essential RRC mechanisms. Additionally, these functions must operate within the defined system constraints and facilitate seamless interactions with upper protocol layers.

[0078] The role of asset identification is closely tied to traditional RFID technology, which has been widely used for this purpose. RFID systems perform asset identification through the management of tag populations. This is achieved using three primary operations: select, inventory, and access. Each operation may include one or more specific commands.

[0079] “Selection” is the process by which an interrogator selects a tag population for inventory and access. Interrogators may use one or more select commands to select a particular tag population prior to inventory.

[0080] “Inventory” is the process through which an interrogator identifies tags. An inventory round begins when the interrogator transmits a query command in one of four sessions. One or more tags may respond. The interrogator may detect a single tag's response and request the Protocol Control (PC), Electronic Product Code (EPC), and Cyclical Redundancy Check (CRC)-16 from the tag. Each inventory round operates within only one session at a time.

[0081] “Access” is the process through which an interrogator interacts with individual tags by reading from or writing to them. Before access can occur, a tag should be uniquely identified.

[0082] FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary inventory procedure 200 utilizing radio frequency identification (RFID). Inventory procedure 200 involves a tag 202 and one or more interrogators 204.

[0083] At 210, before initiating the inventory procedure, the interrogator 204 may issue a select message to specify which tags should respond. The select message may define specific bits to match in the Electronic Product Codes (EPC) or the user memory. For instance, if pallets carrying a specific product enter a factory, the interrogator 204 may send a select command to target tags containing the product code for pallet tags. As a result, only the pallet tags may respond to the subsequent inventory procedure. Additionally, the interrogator 204 may issue multiple select commands to perform more complex operations.

[0084] At 212, the interrogator 204 may transmit a query message to energize all or a subset of TAGs. At 214, following the query message, a tag 202 may select a random number from 0 - 20-1and loads its memory with that random number.

[0085] At 216, the interrogator 204 may transmit one or more QueiyReps to the tag 202. At 218, the tag 202 may decrement its counter until the counter reaches zero. At 220, when the counter reaches zero, the tag 202 may initiate a contention resolution procedure which includes transmitting the its device ID in the uplink, and wait for confirmation of the device ID in the downlink (to address possible collision between multiple devices selecting the same random number). At 222, for a tag that passed contention resolution, the interrogator 204 may send multiple read / write commands, to which the tag 202 may respond.

[0086] Ambient loT inventory improves the traditional RFID inventory procedure explained above. For example, the use of a random number to determine which QueiyRep to respond to has several drawbacks. For example the use of a random number to determine which QueiyRep to respond to highlights a lack of network control and is not deterministic. Further, there may be potentially wasted access occasions (e.g., if no device selects the number 0, then the first QueiyRep will have no response). There is also an increased likelihood of collision (e.g., two WTRUs selecting the same random number resulting in at least one being unable to access). An ambient loT inventory procedure is may control the access in a more deterministic way and improve resource efficiency and minimize collisions.

[0087] At a device, a paging procedure may include receiving, in a paging message from the reader, an ID or list of IDs for which the subsequent inventory procedure becomes relevant. The paging message may be similar, in terms of sequencing, to the “select” message in a RFID inventory procedure. When a device determines that its device ID is included in the paging message, the device may receive and decode the subsequent messages from the reader (e.g., similar to query and query rep) in order to receive its RRC configuration.

[0088] The paging procedure may identify a single device, ora finite number of devices. The paging message (e.g., select message) or subsequent messages (e.g., query messages) may include a defined mapping occasion to device. For example, in case of a single device being paged, the reader may configure a single occasion and the access or RACH procedure may be a deterministic procedure.

[0089] The paging procedure may target a subset of devices based on a specific condition or state, rather than individual device IDs. The paging procedure may identify devices using a predefined device ID or through an explicit indication included in the paging message. These identified devices could be those that were previously unable toaccess or provide the required device information (e.g., failed inventory) during a past inventory round— such as the most recent inventory round, the last x inventory rounds, or similar scenarios.

[0090] For example, the paging procedure may identify devices that have data available for transmission to the reader. The paging procedure may identify devices using a predefined device ID or through an explicit indication included in the paging message. The paging procedure may selectively target devices based on specific criteria, such as having at least a minimum required amount of data to transmit, not exceeding a maximum data threshold, or containing a particular type of data. Additionally, the procedure may identify devices with data that meets specific requirements, including a designated Quality of Service (QoS) level, time-sensitive transmission constraints, or a deadline within a defined time window.

[0091] The paging procedure may identify devices located in a specific area, as indicated in the paging message. The paging procedure may identify devices based on a specific capability or device type, as indicated in the paging message. The paging procedure may identify devices that have not yet reported their identity, possibly to a specific reader identified in the paging message. The paging procedure may identify devices that have experienced a failure, such as being unable to perform access during a past inventory procedure, due to noncompliance with a specific configuration. For each of these examples, the paging procedure may identify devices using a predefined device ID or through an explicit indication included in the paging message.

[0092] Upon receiving the paging message described above, a device that meets the specified criteria is required, or may be instructed, to perform a RACH procedure as described herein.

[0093] A RACH procedure may be initiated with a device’s first transmission during an occasion. Such transmission may be similar to the transmission by the device in RFID to indicate the device ID. Such transmission may be followed by a confirmation of the ID by the reader. Such transmission may be initiated by the device upon reception of an indication that an occasion has been started. Similar to an RFID inventory procedure, the indication of a start of an occasion may be signaled in a message from the reader (e.g., in the query rep message).

[0094] A device may initiate a RACH procedure only during specific occasions, which can be defined by certain transmissions from a reader. For example, this setup may be analogous to an RFID inventory procedure, where each query repetition marks the beginning of an occasion. Alternatively, a device may initiate the RACH procedure during multiple occasions. The specific occasion for RACH initiation can be indicated in various ways. It may be specified in a paging message sent by the reader, or in a broadcast configuration message that provides a mapping between a device ID or a specific condition and an occasion number, similar to an RFID query. Additionally, occasion-delimiting messages may contain explicit information, such as a specific device ID or condition, to identify the appropriate occasion for initiating the RACH procedure.

[0095] For ambient loT systems, a RACH procedure may be initiated when a device receives an explicit indication in a message from the reader. For instance, a protocol layer header, such as a MAC layer header, may explicitly indicate that the message marks the beginning of an occasion. Upon receiving this message, the device may initiate the RACH procedure. Additionally, the message may contain a control element, such as a MAC CE or a RRC message, which explicitly identifies the message as the first in an occasion. This explicit indication may enable the device to recognize the appropriate timing and initiate the RACH procedure accordingly.

[0096] In ambient loT systems, the initiation of a RACH procedure may be based on the sequence of messages received from the reader. For example, the reader might trigger the RACH procedure after the reception of a specific message in the sequence, such as the first, Nth, or a predefined number of messages following a paging message. This paging message may indicate that subsequent messages include broadcast data. The triggering message may include an indicator specifying whether it is a broadcast or unicast message. Broadcast messages could correspond to operations like query or query repetition, while unicast messages might relate to operations such as RACH response, read, or write commands that occur within a specific occasion. The RACH procedure may be initiated by counting the number of broadcast messages received after a paging message. For example, a device might trigger the RACH procedure to align with the Nth occasion, which corresponds to the N+1 broadcast message received after the paging message.

[0097] In ambient loT systems, a RACH procedure may be initiated by aligning with a specific RACH occasion. As described in the examples above, a device may initiate the RACH procedure only after the start of an occasion, and only if that occasion has been identified as the selected occasion (e.g., an inventory occasion, as referenced).

[0098] A device in an ambient loT system may perform either a contention-free or contention-based RACH procedure, with each having distinct characteristics. In a contention-based RACH procedure, the device typically includes its device ID in the transmitted message. Additionally, the device may include configuration-related information, such as a desired configuration or an indication that it can comply with the specified configuration.

[0099] In contrast, a contention-free RACH procedure does not require that the device include its device ID in the transmitted message. Specifically, if the initial message that initiates the occasion (e.g., a query repetition or a similar message) already includes the device ID for that occasion, the device may initiate a contention-free RACH procedure. In this case, the device may transmit other information, such as configuration details or buffer status, without including its device ID. This differentiation ensures the appropriate handling of RACH procedures based on the context and system requirements.

[0100] Contention resolution during RACH procedure may filter subsequent transmissions from the reader. Contention resolution may, for example, determine whether a device should decode messages (e.g., messages indicated as unicast) in a given occasion. Contention resolution may consist of a device receiving a confirmation of the device ID sent in the previous RACH message. If the device does not receive a message with the device ID matching the transmitted device ID, the device may ignore or filter out subsequent messages indicated as unicast.

[0101] Alternatively, each unicast message sent to a device after contention resolution (i.e., following the reader's message containing the device ID) may include the same device ID. The device may then filter out or ignore any messages that contain a non-matching device ID, while forwarding messages with a matching device ID to the upper protocol layers.

[0102] Data transmission may include data exchanges (e.g., in unicast messages) that occur within each occasion. A reader may explicitly identify a message as being unicast or groupcast (e.g. with a flag in a protocol header, or by inclusion of a device ID in a protocol header). A device may treat the reception of unicast data different than broadcast transmissions. For example, broadcast transmissions may be associated with messages such as query and query rep, which upper layers (e.g., application layer) should be provided.

[0103] A device may forward all broadcast messages to upper layers. Alternatively, a device may forward broadcast messages depending on their type. For example a device may, forward only paging messages; forward only broadcast messages associated with the device’s selected occasion; or forward only broadcast messages that contain an upper layer PDU.

[0104] A device may filter the decoding and forwarding, to upper layers, of unicast messages. For example, a device may forward only unicast messages that contain a device ID that matches the device ID of the device. For example, a device may forward all unicast messages which follow reception of its device ID in a contention resolution message, up to the reception of the next broadcast message.

[0105] One embodiment includes assigning a temporary ID to manage access distribution among devices. For example, the reader may select a subgroup of devices and assign them a temporary ID to be used during subsequent access occasions. The reader may also specify how devices with the assigned temporary ID should be distributed. For example, if the reader selects N WTRUs, it can allocate them across N access occasions to ensure efficient and organized access.

[0106] In an example procedure for assigning a temporary ID to a device, the device may receive an indication in a first message (e.g., a “Select” message). The indication may include a value of a partial DEVICE-ID, which may be a specific subset of bits of the DEVICE ID and / or a specific value for that subset, for example, N MSB = value. For example, this indication may include a value representing a partial DEVICE-ID, which may refer to a specific subset of bits taken from the full DEVICE-ID, rather than the entire identifier. For example, the indication may also specify a particular value for this subset, such as assigning a value to the A / MSB of the DEVICE-ID. The partial DEVICE-ID may be a subset, portion, or part of the full DEVICE-ID.

[0107] Next, ifthe indicated value ofthe bits of the partial DEVICE-ID matches the value of the same bits of DEVICE ID stored in device memory, then the device may receive an indication in a second message (e.g. “Query”), where the indication includes an indication of which bits of the DEVICE-ID to use for determining a temporary ID (e.g. N LSB or specific bits), and a Q value. The Q-value may be pre-determined or dynamically adjusted by the reader.

[0108] The device may then determine a temporary ID based on the indicated bits of the device’s DEVICE- ID (received in the second message). For example, the temporary ID may be the indicated bits of DEVICE-ID mod Q. In another example, the temporary ID may be the direct (e.g. decimal) value corresponding to the indicated bits of DEVICE-ID. In another example, the temporary ID may be a function of the indicated bits of the DEVICE-ID and may also depend on the DEVICE category (e.g. DEVICE category 1 uses a first range of values, DEVICE category 2 a second range, and the indicated bits are used to select a value in the respective range) or energy harvesting level / duty cycle.

[0109] The device may, optionally, determine a frequency to monitor for a third message based on the indicated bits of the device's DEVICE-ID (received in the second message) or the determined temporary ID.

[0110] The device may, optionally, determine an access occasion to monitor for a third message based on the indicated bits of the device's DEVICE-ID (received in the second message) or the determined temporary ID.

[0111] The device may, optionally, monitor for and receive the third message (e.g. “QueiyRep"). If the third message includes the temporary ID then the device may transmit a fourth message, such as a random access message.

[0112] FIG. 3 illustrates an example procedure in which a temporary ID is assigned to determine the specific access occasion to which the device should respond. The procedure shown in FIG. 3 describes the overall procedure, which applies to both the reader behavior and the device behavior. For example, if the reader transmits a message then the device receives the message, and if the reader receives a message then the device transmits a message, and vice- versa.

[0113] At 310, the reader 304 may select a subset of devices by sending a first message (e.g. select, paging, etc.) to a device 302 (e.g., WTRU, ambient loT WTRU, and / or tag). The first message may include / provide a partial DEVICE- ID. All devices which contain bits in their device ID (e.g. DEVICE-ID, EPC) matching the partial DEVICE-ID provided in the paging message may be selected as a result of determining that the partial DEVICE-ID matches the bits stored in the device memory. For example, if the indicated partial DEVICE-ID has a value “1234xxxx” then any device with the first 4 digits of an 8 digit ID matching “1234” may be selected. For example, if the indicated partial DEVICE-ID has a value of “12xx34xx” then devices with the first 2 digits of an 8 digit ID with the value “12” and the 5th and 6th digits of an 8 digit ID with the value “34” would be selected.

[0114] Various methods may be used for selecting or indicating specific partial DEVICE-ID values. In some embodiments, the partial ID may be a bitstring containing an indication of which bits to compare, and the value of the bits for comparison (e.g., an indication that X MSB must have value “11111111”). In some embodiments, the partial ID may be hexadecimal or decimal values (e.g., an indication that Octet 3 must have value “9”). In some embodiments, the partial ID may be provided as a “MASK” and MASK indicates which device(s) are selected / matched by comparing the MASK with Device ID (e.g. which bits / field(s) need to be same as MASK). If the device 302 receive a partial DEVICE-ID and this matches the devices DEVICE-ID based on the selection conditions, then the device 302 may consider itself as selected for the following procedure.

[0115] At 312, the reader 304 may send a second message (e.g. query, access round indication) to the selected device(s) 302. The second message may indicate a subset of DEVICE-ID bits or fields to be used, by the device 302, for determining a temporary ID. The second message may also include a “Q value.” The Q value may be indication of the number of access occasions that the selected devices will be spread across. For example, a Q value of “4” may indicate four access occasions.

[0116] The bits or fields to be used for determining a temporary ID may be one or more of the following: a first N LSB or a first N MSB; an index and length (e.g. start at bit X, and use Y bits); a bitmap explicitly indicating the bits to use; and / or a list containing an indication of which fields to use.

[0117] In one embodiment, a bitmap may include valid and invalid symbols according to an encoding scheme and the locations of the valid symbols may indicate which bits to use and / or compare. For example, in Manchester encoding, a bit-0 may be encoded as a signal with a high component followed by a low component (denoted as “SO”) and a bit-1 may be encoded as a signal with a low component followed by a high component (denote as “S 1 ”). A devicereceiving a bitmap, mask, etc. may determine the bits indicated by the valid symbols to use and / or compare and not to use the bits indicated by the invalid symbols.

[0118] For example, if the reader intends to instruct devices to use the 1st, 2nd, 5th, 6th, and 8th bits at a specific memory location within the device, the reader may transmit bitmap [S1 S1 V V S1 S1 V S1]. Upon receiving the bitmap, a device may determine to use the 1st, 2nd, 5th, 6th, and 8th bits. The symbols denoted as “V” may be determined to be invalid (e.g., high followed by high or low followed by low) so the device may determine not to use the bits indicated by these symbols.

[0119] In some embodiments, the first message and the second message may be a single message containing the partial DEVICE-ID and the indication of bits or fields to use when determining the temporary ID.

[0120] The range of values to be used for a temporary ID may further depend on a property of the device. For example, devices of a first type may use a first value range (e.g. 0-3 depending on an indicated 2 bits of the DEVICE- ID) and devices of a second type may use a second value range (e.g. 4-7 depending on an indicated 2 bits of the DEVICE-ID). Examples of a device property include, but are not limited to, DEVICE category, energy harvest status, available battery power, device priority, data priority, product type, time of last successful access, number of transmission failures, and so on.

[0121] At 314, the device 302 may determine a temporary ID based on the indicated bits of the device's DEVICE- ID (received at 312 in the second message). For example, the temporary ID may be the indicated bits of DEVICE-ID mod Q. In another example, the temporary ID may be the direct (e.g. decimal, hexadecimal, etc.) value corresponding to the indicated bits of DEVICE-ID. In another example, the temporary ID may be a function of the indicated bits of the DEVICE-ID and may also depend on the DEVICE category (e.g., DEVICE category 1 uses a first range of values, DEVICE category 2 uses a second range, and the indicated bits are used to select a value in the respective range) or energy harvesting level / duty cycle. In addition to determining a value for the temporary ID, the DEVICE may also select a frequency or access occasion time, for example a time component and / or frequency component of the access occasion.

[0122] At 316, the device 302 may monitor for and receive a third message (e.g. “QueryRep"). The device may receive one or more third messages. Each of the one or more third messages may contain an identifier corresponding to temporary IDs. The device may respond to receiving a third message containing an identifier which matches all or part of the value of the determined temporary ID.

[0123] At 318, the device 302, determines if an ID in the third message (e.g. QueryRep) matches the determined temporary ID value.

[0124] At 320, the device 302 may initiate a contention resolution procedure (e.g., based on a random access) If the device 302 receives the third message containing a matching identifier, the device 302 may respond by transmitting a fourth message to the reader, for example a random access message, or transmission of a random number or other value for the purpose of contention resolution.

[0125] At 322, if the device 302 passed the contention resolution procedure, the reader 304 may address the device 302 for data transmission by sending one or more read / write commands to the device 302, to which the device 302 may respond.

[0126] At 324, the reader 304 may send a fourth message (e.g., QueiyRep) to the device 302.

[0127] Following transmission of response and / or contention resolution, the device may be addressed by the reader for data transmission (e.g. read / write functions).

[0128] In another embodiment, the query message may not include an explicit value to compare to the temporary ID, rather the temporary ID determines an initial value of a counter. For example, similar to the RFID procedure, a counter is initialized to a value using the determined temporary ID value. For each QueiyRep message received, the device decreases the counter. When the counter reaches a value of 0 the device may respond to the query. In one solution, a counter may be initialized to an initial value (e.g., 0). For each QueiyRep message received, the device may increment the counter. When the counter reaches the value using the determined temporary ID the device may respond to the query.

[0129] In one example, the temporary ID is explicitly indicated by the reader to a device. For example, a first message may initialize one subset of devices. A second message may assign a specific temporary ID. By assigning different temporary IDs to different subsets of devices, the network may then use some WTRUs from each subgroup (e.g. by using a select message which ensures WTRUs with different temporary IDs are selected) an distribute those WTRUs when performing the inventory procedure.

[0130] The device ID is described herein. In an example, the reader may additionally indicate a “Session ID.” The Session ID may be provided, for example, in the first message or the second message, and is assigned to the selected devices which match the partial WTRU-ID. For example, “select” may contain a session ID and subsequent queries may indicate that session ID such that devices which have been selected and assigned the session ID will respond to relevant queries containing a matching session ID. This may allow, for example, the reader to perform multiple operations on different groups of devices in parallel.

[0131] A device may determine the location of the bits to use for the partial device-ID or the bits to compare for the temporary ID assignment based on the provided session-ID. For example, for a session ID N, and a partial device ID which is 4 bits long, the WTRU may select the 4 bits starting from the Nth bit of the device ID stored in memory to compare with the partial device ID.

[0132] One or more temporary IDs may be utilized, with each temporary ID associated with one or more specific conditions. When these conditions are satisfied, a WTRU can determine the corresponding temporary ID. The number of temporary IDs may be determined based on the bitwidth for the temporary ID and the bitwidth may be predetermined or indicated in the query (or associated with session-ID, or partial WTRU-ID). Conditions applicable to the temporary ID may be predefined, pre-configured, or indicated in the query (or associated with session-ID, or partial WTRU-ID).

[0133] Conditions may include one or more of following: radio condition related parameters; time related parameters; priority parameters for the device or data; device condition; mobility; and / or any combinations thereof.

[0134] With respect to radio condition related parameters, a device with measurement quality of the query or select message signal within a certain range may be allowed to read and respond to a next message. In some embodiments, the range may be indicated in a previous query message or a select message.

[0135] With respect to time related parameters, a device which previously provided its ID within a certain time window (e.g., for a specific reader-ID) may be precluded from responding.

[0136] With respect to priority of the device or data. Each device or a specific data / information to be transmitted by the device may be assigned with a certain priority (for example, via configuration or predefined manner e.g. from a table in the specification). In some solutions the priority may be indicated in the second message. A device equal to or higher than the priority number may read and / or respond to the next message.

[0137] With respect to device condition. For example energy harvesting level, synchronization level (e.g., SFO within a certain range, maximum possible Tx power level, etc.), amount of data, data validity (e.g. if stored information validity has expired).

[0138] With respect to mobility, in some solutions, the device may determine whether or not it is in the same location from the last successful inventory procedure or not, assuming that a device has a capability of positioning (e.g., it can be simply just whether the device is keep seeing the same Reader-ID in the “select” message or not, or based on a reader ID, cell ID, query ID, session ID, etc.).

[0139] The set of conditions associated with a temporary ID may be determined based on the number of temporary IDs used (e.g., bitwidth of the temporary ID).

[0140] Temporary ID reassignment is discussed herein. In some embodiments, the select and query operation may result in more than one device being allocated with the same access occasion. This may occur, for example, when the select operation selects a larger number of devices than the query operation allocates access occasions or temporary IDs.

[0141] For example, the select operation may select eight devices (e.g., eight devices are in coverage of the reader, and match the partial device ID). The query operation may assign only four access occasions. If the eight devices are uniformly spread then two devices will be allocated to each access occasion, meaning that two devices will share each of the temporary IDs. In this scenario, the reader may perform a re-allocation of access occasions or temporary IDs upon detecting collision(s) in the device’s transmissions. Examples to resolve this include the following:

[0142] The reader may “manually” re-assign a temporary ID to a specific device ID. Assuming that the reader has realized that two devices share the same temporary ID and that these two devices provided their (full) device ID, the reader could issue a command to at least one of the devices containing its full device ID and the new applicable temp ID in order that there is no longer multiple devices with the same temporary ID.

[0143] The reader may also supplement the temporary ID of these devices with additional bits to make them distinguishable. For example, reader sends a command containing temporary ID and indication of how to derive the extended temp ID (e.g. a number of random bits, specific bits of device ID). This solution may be more suitable if the reader could not decode the responses of the conflicting devices, but does not guarantee unicity of temp ID.

[0144] To reduce number of conflicts to a manageable level, the reader may re-issue a select command with additional masked bits when the number of conflicts is above some threshold to reduce the number of selected devices (conversely, the reader may re-issue select command with more masked bits when there is no conflict at all).

[0145] The reader may re-issue the query command, and increase the number of bits to use when performing the temporary ID assignment, or to increase the value of Q, to increase the number of temporary IDs to share amongst the same set of devices.

[0146] FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary procedure 400 performed by a WTRU for assigning a temporary device ID for determining an access occasion in inventory. In procedure 400, the WTRU may be a tag.

[0147] At 402, the WTRU may receive an indication in a first message that includes a value of a partial DEVICE- ID. At 404, the WTRU may determine that the value of the partial device ID matches a corresponding portion of a device ID of the WTRU. At 406, based on determining that the value of the partial device ID matches the corresponding portion of the device ID of the WTRU, the WTRU may receive a second message that includes an indication of which bits of the device ID to use for determining a first temporary ID. The second message may further include a Q value.

[0148] At 408, the WTRU may determine the first temporary ID based on the bits indicated in the second message. The temporary ID may be a value that directly corresponds to the bits indicated in the second message. The temporary ID may be associated with a category of a device corresponding to the device ID. The determination of the temporary ID may be further based on the Q value. The temporary ID may be a mod Q of the bits indicated in the second message.

[0149] At 410, the WTRU may receive a third message and determining that the third message includes the determined first temporary ID. The WTRU may determine a frequency to monitor for reception of the third message based on the indicated bits in the second message. The WTRU may determine an access occasion to monitor for reception of the third message based on the indicated bits in the second message. At 412 the WTRU may transmit a fourth message. The fourth message may be a random access message.

[0150] In some embodiments, the procedure 400 may further include the WTRU transmitting a fourth message, where the fourth message is a random access message. Procedure 400 may further include determining a frequency to monitor for reception of the third message based on the indicated bits in the second message.

[0151] Although features and elements are described above in particular combinations, one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that each feature or element can be used alone or in any combination with the other features and elements. In addition, the methods described herein may be implemented in a computer program, software, or firmware incorporated in a computer-readable medium for execution by a computer or processor. Examples of computer-readable media include electronic signals (transmitted over wired or wireless connections) and computer- readable storage media. Examples of computer-readable storage media include, but are not limited to, a read only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a register, cache memory, semiconductor memory devices, magnetic media such as internal hard disks and removable disks, magneto-optical media, and optical media such as CD-ROM disks, and digital versatile disks (DVDs). A processor in association with software may be used to implement a radio frequency transceiver for use in a WTRU, UE, terminal, base station, RNC, or any host computer.

Claims

CLAIMSWhat is Claimed:1 . A method performed a wireless transmit / receive unit (WTRU), the method comprising: receiving an indication in a first message that includes a value of a partial device ID; determining that the value of the partial device ID matches a corresponding portion of a device ID of the WTRU; based on determining that the value of the partial device ID matches the corresponding portion of the device ID of the WTRU, receiving a second message that includes an indication of which bits of the device ID to use for determining a first temporary ID; determining the first temporary ID based on the bits indicated in the second message; receiving a third message and determining that the third message includes the determined first temporary ID; and transmitting a fourth message.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the fourth message is a random access message.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the temporary ID is a value that directly corresponds to the bits indicated in the second message.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the temporary ID is associated with a category of a device corresponding to the device ID.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second message further includes a Q value.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the determination of the temporary ID is further based on the Q value.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the temporary ID is a mod Q of the bits indicated in the second message.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: based on the indicated bits in the second message, determining a frequency to monitor for reception of the third message.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: based on the indicated bits in the second message, determining an access occasion to monitor for reception of the third message.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the WTRU is a tag.

11. A wireless transmit / receive unit (WTRU) comprising: a transceiver; and a processor;wherein the transceiver and processor are configured to: receive an indication in a first message that includes a value of a partial device ID; determine that the value of the partial device ID matches a corresponding portion of a device ID of the WTRU; on a condition that the value of the partial device ID matches the device ID of the WTRU, based on determining that the value of the partial device ID matches the corresponding portion of the device ID of the WTRU, receive a second message that includes an indication of which bits of the device ID to use for determining a first temporary ID; determine the first temporary ID based on the bits indicated in the second message; receive a third message and determining that the third message includes the determined first temporary ID; and transmit a fourth message.

12. The WTRU of claim 11 , wherein the fourth message is a random access message.

13. The WTRU of claim 11 , wherein the temporary ID is a value that directly corresponds to the bits indicated in the second message.

14. The WTRU of claim 11 , wherein the temporary ID is associated with a category of a device corresponding to the device ID.

15. The WTRU of claim 11 , wherein the second message further includes a Q value.

16. The WTRU of claim 15, wherein the determination of the temporary ID is further based on the Q value.

17. The WTRU of claim 15, wherein the temporary ID is a mod Q of the bits indicated in the second message.

18. The WTRU of claim 11 , further comprising: based on the indicated bits in the second message, determining a frequency to monitor for reception of the third message.

19. The WTRU of claim 11 , further comprising: based on the indicated bits in the second message, determining an access occasion to monitor for reception of the third message.

20. The WTRU of claim 11 , wherein the WTRU is a tag.

Images