Methods and apparatuses for collision handling during query procedure for IoT devices

Abstract

One or more devices, methods, and / or systems are disclosed herein to address collision handling during a communication procedure for ambient IoT (AIoT) device(s). For example, a wireless transmit receive unit (WTRU) may configure an AIoT device for a query procedure. The WTRU may transmit a first indication to the device and receives a device ID(s). The WTRU may determine a partial collision in the received device ID(s), and determine and transmit a signal indicating the partial ID to the device. The WTRU may transmit a second indication indicating only the device with a matching partial device ID to transmit.

Description

METHODS AND APPARATUSES FOR COLLISION HANDLING DURING QUERY PROCEDURE FOR IOT DEVICESCROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application claims priority to and the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 63 / 572,713 filed in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on April 1 , 2024, the entire content of which being incorporated herein by reference as if fully set forth below in its entirety and for all applicable purposes.BACKGROUND

[0002] loT devices are important to several use cases and have recently advanced to the point where they can take advantage of ambient signals, thereby warranting the name Ambient loT devices. Given this new ability, there is a need to address procedures for Ambient loT devices and their ancillary respective wireless communication system(s).SUMMARY

[0003] One or more devices, methods, and / or systems are disclosed herein to address collision handling during a communication procedure for ambient loT (AloT) device(s). For example, a wireless transmit receive unit (WTRU) may configure an AloT device for a query procedure. The WTRU may transmit a first indication to the device and receives a device ID(s). The WTRU may determine a partial collision in the received device ID(s), and determine and transmit a signal indicating the partial identifier (ID) to the device. The WTRU may transmit a second indication indicating only the device with a matching partial device ID to transmit.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0001] 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:

[0002] FIG. 1A is a system diagram illustrating an example communications system in which one or more one or more techniques disclosed herein may be implemented;

[0003] FIG. 1 B 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 one or more techniques disclosed herein;

[0004] FIG. 1 C is a system diagram illustrating an example radio access network (RAN) and an example core network (ON) that may be used within the communications system illustrated in FIG. 1 A according to one or more techniques disclosed herein;

[0005] 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 one or more techniques disclosed herein;

[0006] FIG. 2 is a message sequence chart which illustrates and example of the DCI activation received by the WTRU for the query window and the query window parameters (e.g., start time, stop time, duration, offset, etc.);

[0007] FIG. 3 is a message sequence chart which illustrates an example of the transmission / reception timings;

[0008] FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrates an example of one configuration association with one indication parameter;

[0009] FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B are message sequence charts which illustrate example periodic and aperiodic time occasion indications;

[0010] FIG. 6 is a diagram which illustrates an example of an update message;

[0011] FIG. 7 is a bar graph which illustrates an example of indicating WTRU monitoring the time / frequency occasions for device response;

[0012] FIG. 8 is a line graph which illustrates an example of a WTRU determining a partial sequence of 1xx0 where x is an invalid symbol based on collision of more than one device;

[0013] FIG. 9 is a diagram which illustrates an example of the valid codes and invalid codes for Manchester (left) and PIE encoding (right);

[0014] FIG. 10 is a message sequence chart which illustrates an example of a signal diagram with the first and second indication;

[0015] FIG. 11 is a block diagram which illustrates an example difference between the two indications; and

[0016] FIG. 12 is a flow chart which illustrates an example of a method according to one or more techniques disclosed herein.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0017] Some implementations provide a method for wireless communications, configurations for query procedures are received, including parameters associated with a first number of transmission occasions and a second number of transmission occasions. A first indication is broadcast, in a first query procedure A response is received, in a first occasion of the first number of transmission occasions, that includes a coded first device ID. A NACK message is transmitted, which indicates a partially decoded first device ID based on the coded first device ID being only partially decoded. A second indication is broadcast, in a second query procedure.

[0018] In some implementations, the first query procedure ends when the first number of transmission occasions have occurred, and the second query procedure is initiated with a collision occasion index and the second number of transmission occasions. In some implementations, the configurations indicate a carrier wave for the first query procedure and the second query procedure. In some implementations, an occasion index is sent as part of the first query procedure, and the response is received in an occasion of the occasion index. In some implementations, the first device ID is only partially decoded due to a collision with a second device ID. In some implementations, the second query procedure is initiated with a collision occasion index which indicates an index of the first number of transmission occasions where the first device ID was partially decoded.

[0019] Some implementations also include receiving the coded first device ID in the second query procedure based on the partially decoded first device ID indicated in the NACK message. Some implementations also include receiving the coded first device ID in the second query procedure based on the second number of transmission occasions. Some implementations also include receiving the coded first device ID in the second query procedure at a random time occasion index based on the second number of transmission occasions. Some implementations also include receiving the coded first device ID in the second query procedure based on the partially decoded first device ID indicated in the NACK message matching part of a device ID of an ambient internet-of-things (AloT) device.

[0020] Some implementations provide a wireless transmit / receive unit (WTRU). The WTRU includes circuitry configured to receive configurations for query procedures including parameters associated with a first number of transmission occasions and a second number of transmission occasions. The WTRU also includes circuitry configured to broadcast a first indication, in a first query procedure. The WTRU also includes circuitry configured to receive a response, in a first occasion of the first number of transmission occasions, that includes a coded first device ID. The WTRU also includes circuitry configured to transmit a NACK message which indicates a partially decoded firstdevice ID based on the coded first device ID being only partially decoded. The WTRU also includes circuitry configured to broadcast a second indication, in a second query procedure.

[0021] In some implementations, the first query procedure ends when the first number of transmission occasions have occurred, and the second query procedure is initiated with a collision occasion index and the second number of transmission occasions. In some implementations, the configurations indicate a carrier wave for the first query procedure and the second query procedure. In some implementations, the WTRU also includes circuitry configured to send an occasion index as part of the first query procedure, and circuitry configured to receive the response in an occasion of the occasion index. In some implementations, the first device ID is only partially decoded due to a collision with a second device ID. In some implementations, the WTRU also includes circuitry configured to initiate the second query procedure with a collision occasion index which indicates an index of the first number of transmission occasions where the first device ID was partially decoded.

[0022] In some implementations, the WTRU also includes circuitry configured to receive the coded first device ID in the second query procedure based on the partially decoded first device ID indicated in the NACK message. In some implementations, the WTRU also includes circuitry configured to receive the coded first device ID in the second query procedure based on the second number of transmission occasions. In some implementations, the WTRU also includes circuitry configured to receive the coded first device ID in the second query procedure at a random time occasion index based on the second number of transmission occasions. In some implementations, the WTRU also includes circuitry configured to receive the coded first device ID in the second query procedure based on the partially decoded first device ID indicated in the NACK message matching part of a device ID of an AloT device.

[0023] One or more of the following abbreviations / acronyms may be used herein: Acknowledgement (ACK), Access and Mobility management Function (AMF), Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK), Block Error Rate (BLER), Bandwidth Part (BWP), Backscatter Link Frequency (BLF), Channel Access Priority (CAP), Channel access priority class (CAPC), Clear Channel Assessment (CCA), Control Channel Element (CCE), Control Element (CE), Configured grant or cell group (CG), Cyclic Prefix (CP), Conventional OFDM (relying on cyclic prefix) (CP-OFDM), Channel Quality Indicator (CQI), Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC), Channel State Information (CSI), Contention Window Size (CWS), Channel Occupancy (CO), Carrier Wave (CW), Device to Reader (D2R), Downlink Assignment Index (DAI), Downlink Control Information (DCI), Downlink feedback information (DFI), Dynamic grant (DG), Downlink (DL), Demodulation Reference Signal (DM-RS), Data Radio Bearer (DRB), Dynamic Frame Slotted Aloha (DFSA), enhanced Licensed Assisted Access (eLAA), Further enhanced Licensed Assisted Access (FeLAA), Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ), LicenseAssisted Access (LAA), Listen- Before-Talk (LBT), Location Management Function (LMF), Long Term Evolution (LTE), Negative ACK (NACK), Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS), Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO), New Radio (NR), Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM), On- off Keying (OOK), Physical Layer (PHY), Process ID (PID), Pulse Interval Encoding (PIE), Paging Occasion (PO), Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH), Primary Synchronization Signal (PSS), Reader to Device (R2D), Random Access (or procedure) (RA), Random Access Channel (RACH), Random Access Response (RAR), Radio access network Central Unit (RCU), Radio Front end (RF), Radio Link Failure (RLF), Radio Link Monitoring (RLM), Radio Network Identifier (RNTI), RACH occasion (RO), Radio Resource Control (RRC), Radio Resource Management (RRM), Reference Signal (RS), Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI), Service Data Unit (SDU), Sounding Reference Signal (SRS), Synchronization Signal (SS), Secondary Synchronization Signal (SSS), Switching Gap (in a self-contained subframe) (SWG), Semi-persistent scheduling (SPS), Supplemental Uplink (SUL), Transport Block (TB), Transport Block Size (TBS), Transmission / Reception Point (TRP), Time-sensitive communications (TSC), Time-sensitive networking (TSN), User Plane Function (UPF), Uplink (UL), Ultra-Reliable and Low Latency Communications (URLLC), Wide Bandwidth Part (WBWP), Wireless Local Area Networks and related technologies (IEEE 8O2.xx domain) (WLAN).

[0024] 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.

[0025] 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 1 10, 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 ( U E) , 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-Fl 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.

[0026] 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 1 14a, 1 14b 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 1 14a, 1 14b are each depicted as a single element, it will be appreciated that the base stations 114a, 1 14b may include any number of interconnected base stations and / or network elements.

[0027] The base station 1 14a 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 1 14a and / or the base station 114b may be configured to transmit and / or receive wireless signals 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 1 14a may include three transceivers, i.e., one for each sector of the cell. In an embodiment, the base station 1 14a 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.

[0028] The base stations 114a, 1 14b 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 1 16 may be established using any suitable radio access technology (RAT).

[0029] 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 (HSU PA).

[0030] 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).

[0031] 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.

[0032] In an embodiment, the base station 1 14a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement multiple radio access technologies. For example, the base station 1 14a 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).

[0033] 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 1 X, 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.

[0034] 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, anair corridor (e.g., for use by drones), a roadway, and the 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 cellular-based 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 1 14b may have a direct connection to the Internet 1 10 Thus, the base station 1 14b may not be required to access the Internet 110 via the CN 106.

[0035] 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.

[0036] The CN 106 may also serve as a gateway for the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d to access the PSTN 108, the Internet 1 10, 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 1 12 may include another CN connected to one or more RANs, which may employ the same RAT as the RAN 104 or a different RAT.

[0037] Some or all of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d in the communications system 100 may include multi-mode 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 station114a, which may employ a cellular-based radio technology, and with the base station 114b, which may employ an IEEE 802 radio technology.

[0038] FIG. 1 B is a system diagram illustrating an example WTRU 102. As shown in FIG. 1 B, 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 subcombination of the foregoing elements while remaining consistent with an embodiment.

[0039] 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 1 18 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 1 18 and the transceiver 120 may be integrated together in an electronic package or chip.

[0040] 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 1 16. 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.

[0041] Although the transmit / receive element 122 is depicted in FIG. 1 B 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.

[0042] 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 thetransmit / 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 802.1 1 , for example.

[0043] The processor 1 18 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 1 18 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).

[0044] 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.

[0045] 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 1 16 from a base station (e.g., base stations 114a, 114b) and / or determine 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.

[0046] 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 gameplayer 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.

[0047] 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 selfinterference 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)).

[0048] 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 1 16. The RAN 104 may also be in communication with the CN 106.

[0049] 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 1 16. 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.

[0050] 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 / or DL, and the like. As shown in FIG. 1 C, the eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c may communicate with one another over an X2 interface.

[0051] The CN 106 shown in FIG. 1 C 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.

[0052] 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.

[0053] 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.

[0054] 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.

[0055] 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 landline 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 1 12, which may include other wired and / or wireless networks that are owned and / or operated by other service providers.

[0056] 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.

[0057] In representative embodiments, the other network 112 may be a WLAN.

[0058] 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 and theAP 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 802.1 1e 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.

[0059] When using the 802.11 ac 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 802.1 1 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.

[0060] 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.

[0061] 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).

[0062] Sub 1 GHz modes of operation are supported by 802.11 af and 802.1 1 ah. The channel operating bandwidths, and carriers, are reduced in 802.11 af and 802.11 ah relative to those used in 802.1 1n, and 802.11 ac. 802.11 af supports 5 MHz, 10 MHz, and 20 MHz bandwidths in the TV White Space (TVWS) spectrum, and 802.1 1 ah supports 1 MHz, 2 MHz, 4 MHz, 8 MHz, and 16 MHzbandwidths using non-TVWS spectrum. According to a representative embodiment, 802.1 1 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, for example, 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).

[0063] WLAN systems, which may support multiple channels, and channel bandwidths, such as 802.11n, 802.11 ac, 802.1 1 af, and 802.1 1 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 802.1 1 ah, 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.

[0064] 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 802.11 ah is 6 MHz to 26 MHz depending on the country code.

[0065] 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 1 16. The RAN 104 may also be in communication with the CN 106.

[0066] 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 gN Bs 180a, 180b, 180c may each include one or more transceivers for communicating with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c over the air interface 1 16 In one embodiment, the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may implement M IMO 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 aggregationtechnology. 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).

[0067] 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).

[0068] 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 communicate with 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.

[0069] 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.

[0070] 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.

[0071] 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 of services 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.

[0072] The SMF 183a, 183b may be connected to an AMF 182a, 182b in the CN 106 via an N1 1 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 IP-based, non-IP based, Ethernet-based, and the like.

[0073] 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 1 10, to facilitate communications between the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c and IP-enabled devices. The UPF 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.

[0074] 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.

[0075] 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.

[0076] 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.

[0077] 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.

[0078] Ambient loT (AloT) devices include low complexity, small, and reduced capability loT devices that operate based on ambient energy (e.g., through harvesting of energy through radio waves, light, motion, heat, etc.). These devices may either be battery-less or have limited energy storage capabilities. There are several different use cases for AloT, grouped into indoor and outdoorinventory, sensors, positioning, and command use cases, which lend themselves to various topolog ies / deployment scenarios, and different device categories.

[0079] AloT may be further defined by types: ~1 piW peak power consumption, has energy storage, initial sampling frequency offset (SFO) up to 10X ppm, neither DL nor UL amplification in the device, where the device’s UL transmission is backscattered on a carrier wave provided externally; and / or, less than or equal to a few hundred W peak power consumption, has energy storage, initial sampling frequency offset (SFO) up to 10X ppm, both DL and / or UL amplification in the device, where the device's UL transmission may be generated internally by the device, or be backscattered on a carrier wave provided externally.

[0080] Further, in any given scenario, there may be a different AloT deployment and / or topology, such as indoor BS to Indoor AloT device, and / or outdoor BS to Indoor UE to Indoor AloT device. As discussed herein, there may be use cases that demonstrate indoor inventory and indoor command. In addressing these use cases, both UL and DL frame structure, synchronization and timing, random access, and / or other communication aspects may be addressed herein.

[0081] 5G NRdefines two procedures (e.g., 4-step and 2-step) for random access (RA) for a WTRU to connect to the network. These procedures involve a WTRU selecting a random access preamble and transmitting on a RACH occasion and, depending on the procedure, collision management procedures may (e.g., contention-based random access) or may not (e.g., contention-free random access) follow. As described herein, a random access occasion may be specified in terms of time and frequency resource and / or may be associated with one or more SSB beams.

[0082] There is a need for devices, systems, and methods that address one or more issues for AloT devices. For example, during a query procedure, potentially, one or more AloT devices may need to signal their IDs to the reader (e.g., gNB, WTRU, etc.). This may also mean that there may be multiple collisions between the devices. Some multiple access methods (e.g., dynamic slotted aloha) resolve this issue by dynamically increasing the number of frames. However, this may create a latency problem for the query procedure. Accordingly, there is a general need to address issues that may arise in different used cases for AloT devices, especially as they relate to query procedures for AloT.

[0083] As described herein, an “AloT device” or a “device” may refer to a device (e.g., loT device) that may be able to transmit and / or backscatter and / or receive data / ID(s) and / or control signals to and / or from RAN entities (e.g., gNB, WTRU, network etc.). A “TRP” may be used interchangeably with “gNB”. A “WTRU” may be used interchangeably with “Reader” or “TRP” or “gNB" or any other entity (e.g , RAN entity) that can transmit and or receive the signals and messages (e.g., data signals, control messages, etc.) with the device or the AloT device. A “Network” may refer togNB / AMF / UPF / LMF etc. A “Query procedure” may be used interchangeably with “Inventory procedure”, “Random access procedure”, “Paging procedure” etc. A query procedure may refer to the procedure that involves a request for one or more devices to respond, such as based on certain configurations (e.g., query method, number of time / frequency occasions, etc.). A BLF may refer to the data rate the reader (e.g., WTRU) may receive the message (e.g., data signals, control messages) (D2R). Downlink may refer to the reader to device (R2D) communication and / or procedures. Uplink may refer to the device to reader (D2R) communication and / or procedures. “Pre-configuration” and “configuration” may be used interchangeably. “ID(s)” may be used interchangeably with index / indices. The WTRU may receive configurations from the network (e.g., gNB) via downlink physical channel (e.g., PDSCH, PDCCH, etc.) or via lower or higher layer signaling (e.g., DCI, MAC-CE, RRC or LPP message). The WTRU may receive (pre)configured th reshold (s)sign aling from the network (e.g., gNB) via downlink physical channel (e.g., PDSCH, PDCCH, etc.) or via lower or higher layer signaling (e.g., DCI, MAC-CE, RRC or LPP message). Backscattering may be an AloT device capability wherein the device is able to modulate or encode a CW and reflect it to the reader. The device may perform such backscattering based on an impedance mismatch concept (e.g., by changing the reflection coefficient by altering the impedance (e.g., load impedance) of the device. The CW may be provided to the backscattering device externally, either by the reader or another entity inside or outside of the topology. The CW may either be transmitted in the UL band or the DL band.

[0084] As discussed herein, there may be at least three types of AloT devices based on their capabilities. For example, there may be the following categories, referred to herein as Device 1 , Device 2a, and Device 2b types. Device 1 type devices have ~1 piW peak power consumption without either DL or UL amplification in the device, where the device’s UL transmission capability is mostly backscattering on a carrier wave provided externally. Device 2a type devices are similar to the Device 1 except that they may use DL and / or UL amplification, where the device’s UL transmission capability, similarly to Device 1 , is mostly backscattering on a carrier wave provided externally. Device 2b, type devices have a capability of a few hundred piW peak power consumption, both DL and / or UL amplification in the device, where this type of device may also have signal generation capabilities. All the devices may be able to receive and / or demodulate data and control messages from different RAN entities (e.g., from gNB, WTRU, network, etc ). As disclosed herein, an “AloT” device may refer to an ambient loT device. The device's capability may be one of those categorized as described herein (e.g., by 3GPP to date) (e.g., device 1 , device 2a, device 2b) or any other loT device that may at least have one or more combinations of the capabilities described.

[0085] In some cases, there may be messages from the reader to the device. In one example, the WTRU (e.g., the reader) may be able to transmit messages (e.g., downlink signals, control messages,etc.) to one or more devices. The control messages may comprise of configurations, indications, ACKs, NACKs, and / or other control messages to control the transmission, reception and / or other behaviors of the devices. The data messages may comprise the data (e.g ., WTRU IDs), information, etc., to the devices.

[0086] In one example, the WTRU may transmit the data and the control messages as separate messages characterized by transmission in separate time, frequency occasions, and / or in different channels. In another example, the WTRU transmits the data and control messages together on the same time / frequency occasion and / or in the same channel. For instance, the WTRU may transmit a message that is part control message (e.g., as preamble, mid-amble, post-amble, part of message, etc.) and part data message in the same transmission.

[0087] In one example, the WTRU may transmit both the control messages and data messages in the same channel. In another example, the WTRU may transmit control messages in a control channel (e.g., channel dedicated transmission and reception of a control signal) and data messages in a data channel (e g., channel dedicated to transmission and reception of a data signal) These transmissions may be in the same or different time / frequency occasions.

[0088] In one example, the WTRU may transmit the DL messages to the device in the DL physical channel (e.g , PDSCH, PDCCH, etc.) or via lower or higher layer signaling (e g., DCI, MAC-CE, RRC or LPP message) (e.g., defined by 3GPP) or via device specific (e.g., R2D) physical channels or higher or lower layer signaling specific to DL reader to device channels.

[0089] In some cases, there may be messages from a device to a reader. In one example, the WTRU may receive a message (e.g., data generated by the device, device ID(s), device capabilities, device data (e.g., sensor data), and / or device information (e.g., type, available energy etc.), etc.) from the device(s).

[0090] In one example, the WTRU may receive the UL messages from the device in the NR UL physical channel (e.g., PUSCH, PUCCH, etc.) or via lower or higher layer signaling (e.g., DCI, MAC- CE, RRC or LPP message) or via newly defined physical channels or higher or lower layer signaling specific to UL reader to device channels.

[0091] In some cases, configuration information may be needed to configure one or more devices, on any side of a communication procedure (e.g., a query procedure for an AloT device). In one example, a WTRU may receive configuration (e.g., configuration information) from a network for query procedures involving devices (e.g., AloT devices) via downlink physical channel (e.g., PDSCH, PDCCH, etc.) or via lower or higher layer signaling (e.g., DCI, MAC-CE, SIB, RRC or LPP message).

[0092] In one example, the configuration may be associated with the WTRU reserving the resources (e.g time and / or frequency) for the AloT device procedures, such as the query procedure. In one example, the WTRU may receive at least one of the following in the configuration message from the network: configuration of time resources (e.g., in terms of symbol index, slot index, frame index, absolute time, relative time with respect to a reference point); configuration of DL frequency resources (e.g., in terms of REs, RBs, bands, carriers, subcarriers, CCs, PFLs, etc.), configuration of where the WTRU may receive DL frequency resources to transmit to the devices (e.g., R2D transmission); configuration of UL frequency resources; and / or, configuration of a query time window.

[0093] For the UL frequency resources, the WTRU may receive configuration of one or more CW frequency(ies) (e.g., in terms of Hz, RE index / indices, RB index / indices, carriers, subcarriers, relative frequency with respect to a reference frequency point (e.g., ARFCN) etc.). The WTRU may receive the configuration of UL frequency occasions (e.g., range of occasions) to receive messages form the device (e.g., UL / D2R reception, reception). The range may be an absolute range of frequencies (e.g., in terms of RE indices, RB indices, bands, carriers, subcarriers, CCs, PFLs) or a relative range of frequencies (e.g., with respect to an absolute reference point (e.g., ARFCN, CW wave frequency, etc.), in terms of Hz, no. of REs, no. of RBs, bands, no. of subcarriers, CCs, PFLs etc.). In one example, the range may be contiguous or non-contiguous. Each range may be associated with a center frequency (e.g., in terms of Hz, RE index, RB index etc.), or associated with a starting frequency and end frequency (e.g., in terms of Hz, REs, RBs, bands, carriers, subcarriers). The WTRU may receive configuration of specific UL frequencies (e.g., F1 MHz, F2 MHz, etc.) that the device may backscatter the UL signals on. In one example, the WTRU these specific frequencies may be configured relative to a reference frequency (e.g., in terms of Hz, RE index, RB index, etc.). The WTRU may receive configuration of the total number of frequency occasions available. The UL frequency may be associated with BLF.

[0094] For the query time window, the WTRU may be configured with one or more time windows (e.g., implicit or explicit) for a query procedure. In this window, the WTRU may determine to prioritize query procedure over other transmission or receptions. The WTRU may receive at least one of the following configurations for the window: Start / end time (e.g., expressed in terms of relative time (e.g., symbol / slot / frame / subframe offset with respect to a reference (e.g., SFN)) or symbol number, slot number, subframe number or frame number); periodicity of occurrence of the time window (e.g., symbol / slot / frame / subframe); duration (e.g., in terms of the number of symbols, slots, frames or subframes); offset (e.g., in terms of symbol / slot / frame / subframe or offset with respect to a reference (e.g., network activation, DCI activation, etc.)); and / or, events / conditions that may activate / deactivate the time window (e.g., DCI indication, WTRU mobility, etc.). FIG. 2 illustrates an example of the querytime window and associated parameters. FIG. 2 is a message sequence chart 200 which illustrates an example of a DCI activation 202 received by a WTRU 204 (e.g., from the network, such as via a base station 206) for a query window, and the query window parameters (e.g., start time 208, stop time 210, duration 212, offset 214, etc.) defining the query window.

[0095] In one example, the configuration may be associated with the query procedure. In one example, the WTRU may receive at least one of the following in the configuration messages from the network: method ID; number of transmission time occasions for the query procedure; time occasion types; number of frequency occasions for the query procedure; frequency occasions for the query procedure; number of groups for the query procedure; DL modulation (e.g., ASK, OOK) for R2D; DL encoding method (e.g., line encoding methods, Manchester coding, PIE coding, etc.) for R2D; UL modulation (e.g., ASK, OOK, PIE) for D2R; UL encoding method (e.g. line encoding methods, FM0 coding, Miller coding, etc.) for D2R; Parameters associated with the DL / UL modulation and coding; BLF and the associated parameters / BLF index / BLF range; device type to query; number of devices to query (e.g., specific, estimated, range, etc.); and / or etc.

[0096] In an example, the configuration information may include a method ID. For example, the WTRU may receive one or more collision methods (e.g., Aloha, dynamic slotted Aloha, tree-based method such as collision tree, binary collision tree etc.). In one example, the WTRU may receive a direct indication of the methods (e.g.,11Aloha”, "DFSA”, etc.) or it may be indicated as an index or indices e.g., based on a configured or preconfigured mapping table with the index mapped to the methods. For example, the WTRU may receive a mapping table where method ID #1 , #2, #3 and #4 may be associated with 4 collision handling methods. The WTRU may receive one or more ID(s) as an indication of the method to use.

[0097] In an example, the configuration information may indicate a number (i.e., quantity) of transmission time occasions for the query procedure. The WTRU may receive the one or more number of transmission time occasions or parameters for determining time transmission time occasions (e.g., Q1 , Q2) for the query procedure. This may be associated with one or more indicated method ID(s). The value(s) may represent the either the number or the parameter for determining the number of initial number of time occasions that the WTRU may allocate to the devices. In one example, the number of occasions may be an implicit indication of the query method to use (e.g., DFSA, etc.). In one example, the WTRU may determine the number of occasions as 2AQ1 or f(Q1) where f may be a (e.g., (pre)configured) function (e.g., ceiling(expQ), etc.) to determine the number of time occasions based on the parameter.- 72 -

[0098] In an example, the configuration information may include time occasion types. The WTRU may receive an indication of type of time occasion, for instance periodic, semi-persistent or aperiodic. For example, the WTRU may receive an indication of a periodicity (e.g . , in terms of symbol index, slot index, frame index, absolute time, relative time) associated with the periodic and / or semi-persistent time occasions. For example, the WTRU may transmit the periodic and semi-persistent time occasion indications periodically and aperiodic time occasion indications based on certain trigger conditions.

[0099] In an example, the configuration information may include an indication of a number (i.e., quantity) of frequency occasions for the query procedure. The WTRU may receive one or more number of frequency occasions (QF1 , QF2) that the devices may respond to the query request in. In one example, this may be associated with the (pre)configured UL frequency resources (e.g., range).

[0100] In an example, the configuration information may include an indication of frequency occasions for the query procedure. For example, the WTRU may receive the frequency occasions (e.g., in terms of Hz, RE index, RB index, relative to a reference (e.g., CW frequency)) where the device may transmit. For e.g., F1 MHz, F2 MHz, F3 MHz etc.

[0101] In an example, the configuration information may include an indication of a number of groups for the query procedure. The WTRU may receive the number of groups (e.g., G) that the WTRU may request the devices to be in during the query procedure. In one example, the configuration parameter number of groups may be associated with one or more method ID(s). For example, the binary collision tree method may be associated with the group number of 2.

[0102] In an example, the configuration information may include DL modulation (e g., ASK, OOK) for R2D. In one example, the number of groups may be an implicit indication of the method for the query procedure. In another example, the configuration with the number of groups as 2 may be an implicit indication by the network to use a certain method for the query procedure.

[0103] In an example, the configuration information may include DL encoding method (e.g., line encoding methods, Manchester coding, PIE coding, etc.) for R2D.

[0104] In an example, the configuration information may include UL modulation (e g ., ASK, OOK, PIE) for D2R.

[0105] In an example, the configuration information may include UL encoding method (e.g. line encoding methods, FM0 coding, Miller coding, etc.) for D2R.

[0106] In an example, the configuration information may include parameters associated with the DL / UL modulation and coding.

[0107] In an example, the configuration information may include BLF and the associated parameters / BLF index / BLF range. For example, the WTRU may be (pre)configured with one or moreBLFs or BLF (e.g., range) where each BLF or a range of BLFs indicate the devices of the chip duration configuration for UL transmission (e.g., D2R). For example, the WTRU may receive a range of BLF that may indicate the range of BLF the WTRU may receive the UL transmission from the devices. This may be associated with the range of frequency (e.g., with respect to a reference such as CW frequency) received by the WTRU from the network.

[0108] In an example, the configuration information may include device type to query. For example, the WTRU may receive an indication of one or more device types that it may query (e.g., device 1 , device 2-1). This may indicate the different capabilities associated with the device to query.

[0109] In an example, the configuration information may include number of devices to query (e.g., specific, estimated, range, etc.).

[0110] In another example, the WTRU mays send a request for the configuration(s) for the device query procedures via UL-MAC-CE, UCI, RRC or LPP.

[0111] The WTRU may receive an activation or deactivation of the query time window from the network via DL-MAC-CE or DCI. The WTRU may request for activation or deactivation of the time window via UL-MAC-CE or UCI.

[0112] In some cases, a WTRU may determine the configuration from the network for AloT device procedure. In one example, the WTRU may determine the configurations associated with the device query procedure, such as based on the (pre)configuration received from the network, including at least one of the following parameters: query cycle ID; query method and / or associated parameters (e.g., number of time occasions, number of frequency occasions, number of groups, etc.); UL frequency occasions; DL modulation / encoding method; UL modulation / encoding method; BLF (e.g., range, maximum, etc.); transmission / reception timing (e.g., range of time); and / or, device response type.

[0113] In an example, a parameter may include a query cycle ID. The WTRU may determine an ID associated with a query cycle, where each cycle may be intended to query one or more set of devices. In one example, the set of devices associated with two query cycles may be disjoint, partially overlapping or completely overlapping. For example, Query cycle ID #1 may be associated with a first set of devices, Query cycle ID #2 may be associated with a second set of devices (e.g., a subset of first set of devices), etc. The ID, in one example, may be associated with complete or a part of at least one of the identifiers, such as, reader ID (e.g., WTRU ID), a time stamp associated with the query (e.g., query procedure start time, time of reception of configuration for the query procedure, etc.). This may be used, in one example, to differentiate between different query cycles IDs that may be determined by one or more readers in one or more time occasions. In another example, the querycycle ID may be randomly generated by the WTRU. In one example, the query cycle may be performed during the query window where one or more query cycle ID(s) may be associated with a query window. In one example, the WTRU may be configured with one or more Query cycle ID(s) from the network.

[0114] In an example, a parameter may include query method and / or the associated parameters (e.g., number of time occasions, number of frequency occasions, number of groups, etc.). The WTRU may determine one or more query methods and the parameters associated with the query methods (e.g., number of time occasions and / or frequency resources associated with slotted Aloha, number of groups and / or frequency resources associated with collision tree, etc.) for the procedure if at least one of the: the available resources for the query procedure (e.g., time, frequency, etc.) are above a (pre)configured threshold, the (e.g., estimated) number of devices to query are above a (pre)configured threshold, and / or the WTRU receives a configuration from the network, etc.

[0115] In an example, a parameter may include UL frequency occasions. The WTRU may determine the UL frequency resources that the devices may backscatter their ID(s) for the query procedure on based on at least one of the: the indicated UL frequency range is above a (pre)configured threshold, the (e.g., estimated) number of devices to query is above a (pre)configured threshold, the frequency error tolerance (e.g., of the backscattered signal) is above a (pre)configured threshold, and / or the WTRU receives a configuration from the network, etc.

[0116] In an example, a parameter may include DL modulation / encoding method. The WTRU may determine the modulation and / or encoding method to use if at least one of the: the frequency error tolerance is above a (pre)configured threshold, and / or the WTRU receives a configuration (e.g., explicit indication of the modulation and / or encoding method to use, implicit indication with the parameters associated with it, etc.) from the network.

[0117] In an example, a parameter may include UL modulation / encoding method. The WTRU may determine the modulation and / or encoding method to indicate to the devices for UL transmission if at least one of the: the (e.g., estimated) number of devices are below a threshold, and / or the devices to query are of a certain type (e.g., type 1), etc.

[0118] In an example, a parameter may include BLF (e.g., range, maximum, etc.). The WTRU may determine a set (e.g., range) of BLF values (e.g., measured in terms of Hz, no. of REs, no. of RBs, bands, no. of subcarriers, CCs, PFLs etc.), or maximum BLF value or an exact BLF value to indicate to the devices for UL transmission. This may be associated with the UL frequency resources the WTRU may indicate to the devices for backscattering. In one example, the BLF value may be a maximum value, a range (e.g., defined by with a minimum BLF value and maximum BLF value, or acenter BLF value with a range, etc.) The WTRU may determine this if at least one of the: the frequency resources allocated for device query procedure is above a (pre)configured threshold, the (e.g., estimated) number of devices to query is above a (pre)configured threshold, the frequency error tolerance (e.g., associated with the backscattered signal) is above a (pre)configured threshold, and / or the WTRU receives a configuration from the network, etc.

[0119] In an example, a parameter may include transmission / reception timing (e.g., range of time). The WTRU may be configured or determine the time or a range (e.g., minimum time, maximum time) for the device to, for example: transmit a message following the reception of an indication from the WTRU, and / or transmit a second message following a first message from the device. The WTRU may be configured or determine the time or a range (e.g., minimum time, maximum time) for the WTRU to, for example: transmit a message following the reception of a message from the device, transmit a second message (e.g., time occasion indication) following transmission of a first message (e.g., query configuration indication) to the device, and / or transmit two first message (e.g., time occasion indications) to the device, etc. The WTRU may be configured or determine the timings in terms of the number of OFDM symbols, slots, frames, subframes, chip duration (e.g., determined by the BLF), duration of DL signal (e.g., duration of an encoded bit O or bit 1 ), etc.

[0120] FIG. 3 is a message sequence chart 300 which illustrates an example of the transmission / reception timings between a reader 302 and an AloT device 304. For example, example timing between two consecutive R2D transmissions, 306, 320, is indicated as T1 in the figure, example timing between two consecutive D2R transmissions, 308, 312, is indicated as T2 in the figure, example timing between a R2D reception 310 and D2R transmission 312 is indicated as T3 in the figure, and / or example timing between a D2R reception 308 and R2D transmission 310 is indicated as T4 in the figure.

[0121] In an example, a parameter may include device response type, such as, the WTRU may be configured or may determine what the device should transmit (e.g., device ID, temporary device ID, etc.) during the query procedure.

[0122] In some cases, there may be a procedure for communication between a WTRU and an AloT device. In one case, the WTRU may initiate a query cycle. In one example, the WTRU may determine to initiate a query cycle based on at least one of the following conditions: the WTRU receives an indication from the network (e.g., periodic, semi-persistent, aperiodic indication) for initiating the query procedure; the WTRU receives an activation indication (e.g., periodic activation, semi-persistent, aperiodic activation) for the query time window (e.g., as illustrated in FIG. 2, where the WTRU mayreceive a DCI activation to initiate the query time window); and / or, the WTRU receives the configuration for device query procedure from the network, etc.

[0123] In one case, the WTRU may send an indication to the device(s) to initiate the query procedure. In one example, a query cycle may be defined as a message sent by the reader (e.g., WTRU) to the device requesting a response. The WTRU may receive a response where the response may indicate at least a part of device ID, temporary device ID (e.g., randomly generated device ID), etc. The WTRU may send an indication (e.g., with configuration) to the devices to initiate the query procedure. In one instance, the WTRU may explicitly transmit one or more indications to the device comprising of one or more of the following: query cycle ID(s); method ID(s) and the associated parameters (e.g., number of time occasion(s) and / or the parameters associated (e.g., Q1 , Q2), type of time occasions (e.g., periodic, semi-periodic, aperiodic) and associated parameters (e.g., periodicity), number of frequency occasion(s) and / or the parameters associated (e.g., QF1 , QF2), number of groups and / or the parameters associated, and / or Frequency occasions (e.g., F1 MHz, F2 MHz, F3 MHz, etc.)); BLF (e.g., range, maximum); DL modulation and / or encoding; UL modulation and / or encoding; Device response type (e.g., device ID, temporary ID, etc.); and / or, Device specific transmission / reception timing (e.g., minimum, maximum). In one example of device specific transmission / reception timing, the WTRU may transmit the transmission / reception timings (e.g., minimum, maximum) where the transmission timings may, for example, as illustrated in FIG. 3, include one or more of the following: timings between two consecutive D2R transmissions (e.g., indicated as T2 in the figure); and / or, timings between a R2D reception and D2R transmission (e.g., indicated as T3 in the figure).

[0124] In one case, the WTRU may determine the message to send for the indication of query configuration. The WTRU may transmit the complete configurations as one message or as part of multiple messages.

[0125] In another instance, the WTRU may determine to implicitly indicate one or more of these configurations with the indication for the query procedure In one example, the WTRU may implicitly indicate the configurations by determining the parameters of the indication or the message transmitted to the WTRU.

[0126] In the examples herein, the term message or indication may be used interchangeably with a reference sequence (e.g., preamble, postamble, midamble) or a part of the reference sequence or a message that the WTRU may transmit to the reader.

[0127] For example, the WTRU may associate a first query method (e g., slotted aloha method) and / or the associated parameters (e.g., number of time occasion and / or parameters associated with-7J -the number of time occasion Q1 and / or frequency resources or parameter associated with the frequency resources QF1 ) with the first message.

[0128] For example, the WTRU may associate a second query method (e.g., collision tree method) and / or the associated parameters (e.g., the number of groups and / or the parameters associated with the number of groups G1 and / or parameter associated with the frequency resources QF1 ) with the second message.

[0129] For example, the WTRU may also determine one or more parameters of the first message and / or second message based on the configurations such as BLF, DL / UL modulation, DL / UL coding, transmission timing, etc.

[0130] The WTRU may associate one or more parameters (e.g., message sequence, length, duration, encoding used, data rate, etc.) of the message with one or more configurations, such as for the query procedure. For example, a query procedure configuration may be associated with one message parameter. For example, a combination of configurations for the query procedure may be associated with one indication parameter.

[0131] FIG. 4 is a block diagram 400 which illustrates an example of a configuration indication associated with an indication parameter. As shown, the configuration indication may include one or more messages as follows. The configuration indication may include one message sequence or part of message sequence (e.g., bit sequence 0000 in the first 4 bits of the indication) 402 associated with a query method (e.g., slotted aloha method). In this example, sequence 402 indicates a query method ID. The configuration indication may include one encoding 404 used for the message (e.g., Manchester encoding) associated with an UL encoding method (e.g., Manchester encoding). In this example, encoding 404 of the preamble of the configuration indication indicates the UL encoding. The configuration indication may include one message length 406 (e.g., N bits) associated with the number of frequency occasions. In this example, N1 bits indicate the number of frequency occasions. The configuration may include one duration 408 of the message or a component / part of the message (e.g., 1 .5 ms for the first message) associated with a BLF. In this example, duration 408 indicates a duration of T1 milliseconds associated with the BLF.

[0132] In another example, the WTRU may indicate the configurations for the query procedure as a combination of implicit and explicit indications. For example, the WTRU may indicate a set of configuration parameters as an implicit indication (e.g., as a preamble 410) and another part of the configuration (e.g ., the rest of, or non-preamble part 412) as an explicit message, as illustrated in FIG. 4.

[0133] In another example, the WTRU may implicitly indicate one or more first configurations by indicating second configuration(s) associated with the first. For example, the WTRU may indicate the number of time occasions in the message and can implicitly indicate to the network that the method is slotted Aloha.

[0134] In one instance, the WTRU may transmit the indication (e.g., configuration indication) to the devices via DL physical channel (e.g., PDSCH, PDCCH, etc.) or via lower or higher layer signaling (e.g., DCI, MAC-CE, RRC or LPP message) or via newly defined physical channels or higher or lower layer signaling specific to DL reader to device channels.

[0135] In some cases, transmission time occasion indices may be indicated. In one case, a WTRU may transmit one or more indications to the one or more devices with a time occasion index. In one example, the WTRU may send transmission time occasion indications messages to the devices. In some examples, due to the low complexity nature of the devices, they may not have an internal clock with required accuracy to track the timing. Hence the WTRU may, at different time instances, transmit transmission time indications or messages to the devices indicating a new occasion. For the devices, a time occasion can be defined as the duration between two consecutive indications (e.g., time occasion indications) from the reader.

[0136] In one instance, the WTRU may explicitly transmit the time occasion indication with explicit occasion index. For example, the WTRU may transmit the time occasion indication such as occasion #1 to indicate the first time occasion, occasion #2 to indicate the second time occasion and so on. The WTRU may determine to transmit the occasion indices in the messages.

[0137] In another instance, the WTRU may transmit a transmission time occasion indication without explicitly transmitting the occasion index. For example, the WTRU may transmit an indication or a message to indicate a new time occasion.

[0138] In one example, the WTRU may transmit the first occasion indication with a (pre)configured time offset (e.g., minimum time offset, maximum time offset, etc.) after transmitting the initial query indication message (e.g., with the configuration). In another example, the WTRU may be (pre)configured by the network with the time duration (e.g., minimum time duration, maximum time duration, etc.) when it may transmit the second occasion indication message after the first time occasion indication message where the first occasion indication message may be transmitted earlier than the second occasion indication.

[0139] In another example, the WTRU may be (pre)configured by the network with the time instance when it may transmit a time occasion indication. The time occasion may be either be periodic or aperiodic. If the time occasion type is periodic, the WTRU may transmit the time occasions withcertain (pre)configured periodicity, for example, every 14 symbols after the first time occasion. If the occasion type is aperiodic, the WTRU determine when to transmit an indication for an occasion in one instance when at least one of the following is met: the WTRU successfully receives and identifies a device ID; the WTRU determines a collision between one or more devices, and indicates it to the devices; the WTRU receives no response within a (pre)configured duration of time after the previous occasion indication (e.g., time occasion indication) from the devices; and / or, the time duration from the previous transmission of a message (e.g., configuration, occasion indication, ACK, NACK, etc.) is above a (pre)configured threshold, etc

[0140] In another example, the time occasion may be transmitted semi-persistently. The WTRU may start the semi-persistent transmission based on the same conditions to start the aperiodic transmissions. The WTRU may determine the periodicity based on the configuration from the network. In another example, the WTRU may determine the periodicity (e.g., for periodic and / or semi-persistent time occasion indication) for a query cycle based on at least one of the following: time resources allocated to the device (e.g., time duration of the query window); BLF indicated to the devices; the total frequency occasions (e.g., associated with the query cycle); and / or, the expected number of devices (e.g., associated with a query cycle) etc. In one example, the WTRU may determine one periodicity if the above parameters are above a (pre)configured threshold and another periodicity otherwise.

[0141] FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B are message sequence charts 500, 550, which illustrate example periodic and aperiodic time occasion indications.

[0142] For example, as shown in FIG. 5A, WTRU 502 may transmit to an AloT device 504 at a periodic time occasion a configured or preconfigured time occasion offset 508 after a time occasion indication trigger. In some implementations, the trigger 510 may be WTRU 502 transmitting a configuration 512 for the query cycle. After a time occasion offset 508, the WTRU 502 may transmit occasion indices 514, 516, 518 periodically with the same duration between two occasion indications occasions (e.g., same periodicity of P1).

[0143] In another example, as shown in FIG. 5B, WTRU 502 may transmit to AloT device 504 at an aperiodic time occasion after a time occasion indication trigger. For example, the WTRU 502 may determine to transmit to AloT device 504 based on one or more trigger conditions. In some implementations, the trigger condition may be reception of a message from AloT device 504. In the example shown, reception of message 552 from AloT device 504 is a first time occasion trigger 554, and WTRU 504 transmits occasion index 556 a time offset T after first time occasion trigger 554. Similarly, reception of message 558 from AloT device 504 is a second time occasion trigger 560, andWTRU 504 transmits occasion index 566 a time offset T after second time occasion trigger 560. It is noted that the occasion indices 554, 566, are not transmitted periodically following configuration 568 or otherwise.

[0144] In one instance, the WTRU may also indicate the devices to update or change one or more configurations (e.g., of the configured or preconfigured query configurations) with the time occasion indications. In some implementations, the WTRU may transmit a configuration update indicating, e.g., the total number of indicated time occasions, the total number of frequency occasions, the frequency occasions (e.g., F1 MHz, F2 MHz, etc.) to transmit in, etc.

[0145] FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example configuration update 600 where the WTRU indicates to the AloT devices to perform queries in eight time occasions instead of in an initially configured four occasions. As shown in FIG. 6, an initial or current configuration 602 configures six devices each to perform queries in one of four time occasions 604, 606, 608, 610. After a configuration update 612, an updated configuration 614 configures the six devices each to perform queries in one of eight time occasions 616, 618, 620, 622, 624, 626, 628, 630. In some implementations, for example, the configuration update 612 is precipitated by a collision occurring in the first time occasion 604 of the four time occasions 604, 606, 608, 610 of the initial configuration, and the configuration update 612 is transmitted in the next time occasion (second time occasion 606 of the four time occasions 604, 606, 608, 610 of the initial configuration, in this example).

[0146] In some implementations, the WTRU may indicate the devices to perform grouping with 3 groups instead of previously configured 2 groups. Such dynamic configuration change may assist in collision resolution using some methods.

[0147] In one instance, the WTRU may determine to consider the configuration indication message as a first occasion indication (e.g., indication of occasion #1). The WTRU, in case it is configured to perform explicit transmission of the time occasion index, may transmit the time occasion index with the configuration indication for the first time occasion.

[0148] In one example, the WTRU may initiate a time occasion counter at every query cycle initiation indication to track the number of time occasions. The WTRU may increase the counter with every new time occasion index indication / transmission. In some instances, each time occasion counter may be associated with one query cycle. In other instances, the same counter may be associated with more than one query cycles.

[0149] In some cases, a WTRU may perform a specific action, or carry out a specific behavior, such that it has been determined or configured, upon receiving a query response. In such a process, there may be one or more steps associated with the query procedure.

[0150] In a query procedure, initially, a WTRU may receive a response from a device. In one example, during a time occasion, such as following the transmission of the time occasion indication, the WTRU may monitor time and / or frequency occasions to receive the responses from one or more devices.

[0151] FIG. 7 is a bar graph 700 illustrating example time and frequency occasions for a WTRU to receive responses from one or more devices. In this example, the WTRU may be configured with a time duration (e.g ., minimum and / or a maximum duration (e.g., relative to the time occasion indication transmission)) where it may monitor the responses from the devices. As illustrated in FIG. 7, the WTRU may also be configured with a time duration (e.g., T1) during which the WTRU may receive a response in a given time occasion.

[0152] The WTRU may also be configured with a frequency range (e.g., associated with BLF) within which to monitor the response from one or more devices within a time occasion. The WTRU may determine a minimum frequency and maximum frequency for each frequency occasion it allocated the devices where it may monitor the response. In one example, as illustrated in FIG. 7, the WTRU may monitor a frequency range (e.g., F1 ) for each configured frequency occasion. In one example, the frequency occasions to monitor may also depend on the modulation used. If the modulation is a simple double side band modulation, the WTRU may receive more than one frequency component (e.g., on either side of the CW frequency). The number of frequency components, in one example, may also depend on the number of frequency components in the CW. For instance, for a CW frequency of 900 MHz and a frequency occasion at 920 MHz, the WTRU may also monitor 880 MHz frequency occasion due to the symmetry of the double side band signals with respect to the CW frequency.

[0153] As shown in the example of FIG. 7, WTRU monitoring may occur within one of four time and frequency defined occasions 702, 704, 706, 708.

[0154] In one example, the WTRU may receive response(s) from one or more devices. The responses may be associated with different time and / or frequency occasion. The responses may include any identifier to identify the ID of the devices, or the like. The ID(s) may be either a temporary ID (e.g., based on random number), permanent ID (e.g., (pre)configured at the device or a hybrid ID where the ID partially consists of a temporary ID and partially a permanent ID).

[0155] In a query procedure, a WTRU may decode a response from a device. In one example, the WTRU may receive and successfully decode at least one response from the device in a time and / or frequency occasion. The WTRU may indicate to the device(s) that it has successfully decoded their response(s) (e.g., I D(s)) . In order for the WTRU to indicate that a particular device has been identified,the WTRU may transmit back the successfully decoded ID(s) to the devices. In one example, the WTRU may receive an indication from the devices acknowledging the successful query.

[0156] In another example, the WTRU may receive the response from one or more devices but may be unable to decode the response. In one example, this may be caused by collisions (e.g., interference) between the device ID(s) due to one or more devices transmitting in the same time and / or frequency occasions. The WTRU may indicate to the devices its inability to decode the response(s) (e.g., due to device collision). The WTRU may transmit a NACK message to the devices and may increase a time occasion counter.

[0157] In another example, the WTRU may not receive any response from the device within the duration where the WTRU may monitor the response(s) from the devices, such as idle time occasion. In such a case, the WTRU may indicate no reception of the device ID(s) within the indicated time and / or frequency resources. The WTRU may transmit a NACK message to the devices and may increase the time occasion counter.

[0158] Following the event of either non-reception or non-detection of device ID(s) due to collision, the WTRU may determine to dynamically change one or more parameters of the query method within the query cycle.

[0159] In one instance, if the WTRU determines one or more idle time occasions, it may, in one example, reduce the number of allocated time and / or frequency occasions and / or groups (e.g., depending on the configured query method).

[0160] In another instance, if the WTRU determines one or more idle time occasions, it may determine to change the method ID(s).

[0161] In another instance, if the WTRU determines one or more idle time occasions, it may determine to terminate the query cycle.

[0162] In one instance, if the WTRU cannot decode the device ID due to collisions between one or more devices, it may increase the number of allocated time and / or frequency occasions and / or groups (e.g., depending on the configured query method).

[0163] In one instance, if the WTRU cannot decode the device ID due to insufficient received power of one or more device IDs, the WTRU may transmit an indication to increase the transmit power.

[0164] In another instance, cannot decode the device ID due to collisions, it may determine to change the method ID(s).

[0165] In another instance, if the WTRU cannot decode the device ID due to collisions, it may determine to terminate the query cycle. For example, the WTRU may terminate if it determines thenumber of time or frequency occasions that is available during the query cycle is below a (pre)configured threshold.

[0166] In one instance, the WTRU may dynamically update the query parameters through the time occasion index indication or the ACK / NACK messages. In another solution, the WTRU may transmit one or more separate message(s) to the devices indicating with the updated parameters.

[0167] FIG. 8 is a line graph 800 illustrating partial decoding of a device response by a WTRU. In thish example, a WTRU decodes a partial sequence of bits (1xx0 in this example, where x represents an invalid symbol) due to collision of responses from more than one device.)

[0168] In a query procedure, a WTRU may partially decode a response from a device. In some implementations, the WTRU may receive device ID(s) represented or encoded with a Manchester encoding. As decoding the Manchester encoding may rely on detection of transitions (e.g . , from high voltage to low voltage for bit 0 and from low voltage to high voltage for bit 1 ), the WTRU may be able to determine or decode an encoded symbol if the WTRU receives more than one ID(s) with the symbols aligned at reception. In the example of FIG. 8, the WTRU receives device IDs 1100 and 1010, encoded with the Manchester encoding, from Device 1 and Device 2, respectively, during corresponding times. The WTRU, may be able to partially decode the first symbol of the IDs (e.g., 1 represented by a high voltage to low voltage transition) and the last symbol of the ID (e.g., 0, represented by a high voltage to low voltage), e.g., due to non-interference (or constructive interference) as shown. The WTRU may be unable to decode the second or third symbol of the IDs, e.g., due to interference (e.g., destructive interference) as shown, where the symbols effectively cancel one enother.

[0169] In another example, the WTRU may receive the device ID(s) from more than one device(s) with a small offset between them in time. In this case, the WTRU may receive and decode the nonoverlapping bits or symbols associated with one or more devices. For example, the WTRU may decode the first two bits 11 for device 1 and last two bits e.g., 10 for device 2.

[0170] Following the reception and decoding of the partial device ID, the WTRU may transmit an indication (e.g., NACK) indicating the failure to successfully decode the transmitted device ID(s) in the time and / or frequency occasion.

[0171] The WTRU may also determine to transmit or indicate the partial device ID(s) to the devices indicating that for some of the devices, the ID has been partially decoded. In one example, the partial device ID may act like a mask for the devices to compare their ID(s) with.

[0172] In a query procedure, a WTRU may transmit a partial device ID to the device(s). In one example, the WTRU may transmit the partial device ID(s) to the devices e.g., with the time occasionindication message, ACK / NACK message, and / or one or more separate dedicated messages to the device(s).

[0173] In one instance, partial device ID, such as transmitted to the device(s), may contain multiple symbols where each symbol can be either a valid symbol or an invalid symbol.

[0174] For example, if the WTRU uses a given transmit encoding (e.g., DL encoding method, e.g., Manchester encoding which encodes a 0 bit as low voltage followed by high voltage and encodes a 1 bit as high voltage followed by low voltage or vice-versa), then a valid symbol correctly uses the selected transmit encoding for a bit of the partial device ID; an invalid symbol uses an invalid representation for a bit (0 and / or 1 ) according to the selected transmit encoding (e.g., for Manchester encoding, an invalid symbol uses low voltage followed by low voltage or high voltage followed by high voltage).

[0175] FIG. 9 is a diagram 900 which illustrates an example valid codes and invalid codes for Manchester (left) and PIE encoding (right).

[0176] For example, as illustrated in the example of FIG. 9, the valid and invalid symbols may be described per DL encoding methods (e.g., Manchester encoding and PIE encoding). Similarly to Manchester Encoding, for PIE encoding a bit 0 may be represented by a high voltage value followed by a low voltage value. Likewise, a bit 1 may be represented by 3 high voltage values and a low voltage value. In this case, the examples of invalid code may 4 high voltage values or 2 low voltage values followed by a high voltage value.

[0177] In another example, the WTRU may transmit the partial device ID by indicating the decoded bit and the bit position index. For example, the WTRU may indicate bit 1 in the Oth position and bit 0 in the 3rd position to the devices. The WTRU may also indicate that the MSB is the Oth bit in this case. In another example, the WTRU may indicate bit 1 in the 3rd position, bit 0 in the Oth position and indicate that the MSB is the 3rd bit.

[0178] In one example, in case the WTRU determines partial device ID(s) of colliding devices, the WTRU may indicate to the devices to transmit in another time and / or frequency occasion to resolve the collision. The WTRU may perform at least one of the following: indicate a query cycle ID where the device (e.g., with the matching partial device ID(s)) may be queried again to resolve collision; indicate the time occasion index where the devices (e.g., with the matching partial ID(s)) may be queried again; indicate the frequency resource index where the devices (e.g., with the matching partial ID(s)) may be queried again; and / or, indicate to monitor the message(s) from the WTRU where it may receive an indication on when it may be queried again, etc.

[0179] In some cases, there may be a second indication transmission. In one or more methods described herein, the indications transmitted by the WTRU to the devices, for instance the configuration indication, time occasion index indication, ACK, NACK indication, and any other indications associated with R2D transmission may be considered as a first indication. The first indication is defined for all the devices participating in a given query cycle.

[0180] In contrast, there may be a second indication, which may, in contrast to the first indication, contain (e.g., partially) different messages and may intend to query a different set of devices (e.g., subset, disjoint set, etc.) compared to the first indication.

[0181] In one example, the second indication may be associated, as with the first indication, with at least one of the configuration indication, time occasion index indication, ACK, NACK indication, and any other indications associated with R2D transmissions.

[0182] In one example, for each message, the WTRU may transmit a first indication or a second indication explicitly in the messages.

[0183] In another example, for each message, the WTRU may implicitly indicate the first or the second indication. For example, the second indication may be implicitly indicated by transmitting one or more conditions associated with the response from the devices (e.g., devices that collided in the n- th time occasion index and k-th frequency occasion). In another example, the WTRU may implicitly indicate the first and the second indication by associating with at least one of the parameters of the transmitted message (e.g., duration, number of bits, transmission rate, etc.) or a part of the transmitted message (e.g., a preamble, a mid-amble, a post-amble, etc.) with each indication. For example, one or more of the parameters described herein that is above a (e.g., (pre)configured) threshold may be associated with the first indication and otherwise the second indication.

[0184] In one case, a WTRU may transmit a second indication to the device(s). In one example, the WTRU may transmit a second indication for the query procedure for least one of the following purposes: to resolve the collisions between one or more devices; to receive responses (e.g., device ID(s)) from a set of devices (e.g., a subset of devices from a query cycle) that meet a certain criteria; and / or, another purpose.

[0185] The second indication may be used to make a query request (e.g., for only a subset of devices associated with the first query cycle in the first indication that may fulfill some criteria and / or conditions). In one example, the WTRU may determine to transmit at least one of the following pieces of information with one or more messages associated with or contained in the second indication: Collision Query cycle ID(s) (e.g., to indicate the required response from the device(s) that transmitted and / or collided and / or received the partial device ID(s) during the indicated query cycle ID(s));Collision time occasion ID(s) (e.g., to indicate the required response from the device(s) that transmitted and / or collided and / or received the partial device ID(s) in the indicated time occasion ID(s)); Collision frequency occasions (e.g., to indicate the required response from the device(s) that transmitted and / or collided and / or received the partial device ID(s) in the indicated frequency occasions(s), e.g., the frequency occasions may either be represented as an absolute frequency or a relative frequency with respect to a reference (e.g., CW frequency) or an index (e.g., frequency ID #1 , frequency ID #2) etc.); Partial device ID(s) (e.g., to indicate the required response from the device(s) with the device ID matching with the indicated partial device ID(s)); Group number (e.g., to indicate the devices in a certain group number to transmit); Priority level threshold (e.g., to indicate the required response from the device(s) that satisfy the (pre)configured priority level); and / or, Query flag (e.g., on or off, 0 or 1 , etc.) (e.g., to indicate only the devices with either query flag off or query flag on to transmit).

[0186] In one example, in the second indication, if more than one query cycle ID(s) are indicated with the message, each time occasion ID(s) and / or frequency ID(s) and / or partial device ID(s) may be associated with one query cycle ID. For example, more than one query cycle ID(s) may have the same collision time occasion index, collision frequency occasion, etc.

[0187] FIG. 10 is a message sequence chart 1000 illustrating an example of the first and second indication. Chart 1000 illustrates example communications among the network 1002 (e.g., a base station or other network device), WTRU 1004, and AloT devices 1006. Network 1002 sends a query procedure configuration 1008 to WRTU 1004. The query procedure configuration 1008 may include configurations for query procedures including parameters associated with first and second transmission time occasions, Q1 and Q2.

[0188] Based on the query procedure configuration 1008, in a first query procedure 1009, WTRU 1004 sends a first indication 1010 to AloT devices 1006. First indication 1010 may be a broadcast message. First indication 1010 may indicate a request for each of the AloT devices 1006 to send their device ID to the WTRU 1004. First indication 1010 may indicate an occasion index, and / or Q1 . AloT devices 1006 may generate a random time occasion number at 1012, e.g., based on Q1 , based on receiving the first indication 1010. One or more of AloT devices 1006 may transmit responses 1014, indicating their device IDs, to WTRU 1004, e.g., responsive to first indication 1010. In this example, WTRU 1004 only partially decodes a device ID from responses 1014, e.g., due to a collision. This may be due, for example, to the random time occasions generated at 1012 overlapping. Based on the collision, WTRU 1004 transmits a NACK 1016 to AloT devices 1006. In some implementations, NACK 1016 includes a partial device ID (i.e., the portion of the device ID that was decoded from responses 1014 in this example), e.g., as discussed herein. For example, in some implementations,the partial device ID includes multiple symbols, where each symbol is a valid symbol or an invalid symbol according to the selected transmit encoding (e.g., where at least one symbol is a valid symbol and at least one symbol is an invalid symbol.) In some implementations, a valid symbol correctly uses the selected transmit encoding for a bit of the partial device ID, and an invalid symbol uses an invalid representation for a bit (0 and / or 1 bit) according to the selected transmit encoding (e.g., for Manchester encoding, an invalid symbol uses low voltage followed by low voltage or high voltage followed by high voltage).

[0189] After the first query procedure 1009 ends, (e.g., after the first number of transmission occasions has occurred), WTRU 1004 may initiate a second query procedure 1017. Here, WTRU 1004 transmits a second indication 1018 may indicate a collision time occasion index, and / or Q2. In some implementations, the collision occasion index indicates the index of the first occasion when the WTRU 1004 partially decodes the device ID during the first occasion. At 1020, only those AloT devices 1006 matching the partial device ID generate a random time occasion index based on Q2, responsive to receiving second indication 1018. These AloT devices 1006 may transmit responses 1022, indicating their device IDs, to WTRU 1004. WTRU 1004 may send a report 1024 of successfully decoded device IDs from first query procedure 1009 and / or the second query procedure 1017, to network 1002.

[0190] In one example, one or a combination of criteria described herein may be conditions that the WTRU may indicate to the devices to participate in the second query cycle.

[0191] In one example, the WTRU may transmit the second indication within the same query cycle ID as the first indication. For instance, the WTRU may transmit the initial configuration message and time occasion #1 to time occasion #k to the device with the first indication and then transmit from time occasion #k+1 in the same query cycle with the second indication. In another example, the WTRU may transmit the second indication in a new query cycle, such as associated with a unique query cycle ID (e.g., compared to the query cycle ID associated with the first indication).

[0192] In one example, the WTRU may transmit a second indication with the query configuration to the devices. The WTRU may transmit at least one of the query configurations as described previously for the first indication with the second indication. The WTRU may additionally transmit the conditions for device reply with the configuration message using the second indication.

[0193] In another example, the WTRU may transmit the second query indication with the time occasion indication message where similarly to the first indication, the WTRU may implicitly or explicitly transmit the time occasion index. The WTRU may, in some examples, additionally transmit the criteria or conditions for the devices to respond in the second indication.

[0194] FIG. 1 1 is a block diagram 1 100 which illustrates an example difference between the two indications (e.g., first indication 1010 and second indication 1018 as shown and described with respect to FIG. 10). In this case, the difference in indication is the first bits (e.g., 4 bits) of the message preamble. In this example, the first indication 1102 includes a sequence of 0000 in its preamble 1104, and the second indication 1 112 includes a sequence of 11 1 1 in its preamble 1 114. Some implementations transmit the two indications in other ways. Further, in some implementations, first indication 1102 is broadcast (e.g., to all AloT devices) and includes the time occasion index ID (e.g., in body 1 106), whereas second indication 11 12 includes the time occasion index ID and also conditions and / or criteria identifying which AloT devices should respond (e.g., in body 11 16).

[0195] In one example, the WTRU may determine to transmit one or more messages with a second indication within the same query cycle (e.g., with the same query cycle ID) based on at least one of the following conditions: the WTRU determines the total number of estimated devices in the query cycle is below a (pre)configured threshold; the WTRU determines the N1 time occasions (e.g., non- consecutive or consecutive time occasions) with partially decoded device ID(s) in the query cycle; the WTRU determines the number of time occasions (e.g., non-consecutive or consecutive time occasions) with partially decoded device ID(s) (e.g., within a query cycle) is above a (pre)configured threshold; the WTRU determines the number of idle time occasions (e.g., consecutive or non- consecutive) in the query cycle is above a (pre)configured threshold; the difference between the estimated number of devices and the initially allocated number of time and / or frequency occasions within the query cycle is above a (pre)configured threshold; and / or, the WTRU receives an indication from the network to transmit the second indication to the devices, etc.

[0196] In case at least one of the conditions described herein are not fulfilled, the WTRU may determine to transmit the second indication in a second query cycle, such as after the first query cycle has terminated.

[0197] If the second indication is transmitted in the same query cycle, the WTRU may either update one or more of the configuration parameters with the second indication or just transmit the time occasion indications with a second indication without updating the configuration parameters. In the latter case, the WTRU may assume the configuration parameters transmitted at the beginning of a query cycle are valid throughout the query cycle with other indications (e.g., time occasion indication) with first or second indication.

[0198] In one example, after transmitting the configuration in the second indication associated with the second query cycle, the WTRU may transmit the second time occasion ID indications in the second cycle.

[0199] If the query cycle ID(s) for the first and the second query cycle is the same, the WTRU may continue to use the same time counter as the first query cycle and continue the time occasion count in the second query cycle. For example, if the time occasion counter in the first cycle terminated at time occasion #K, in the second cycle, the first time occasion may be time occasion #K+1 .

[0200] In one example, if the query cycle ID(s) for the first and the second query cycle is different, the WTRU may use a second counter (e.g., starting from time occasion #1 ) for the second cycle ID independent of the first time occasion counter.

[0201] In another example, if the query cycle ID(s) for the first and the second query cycle is the different, the WTRU may use continue the time occasion counter for the second query cycle from the same position where the time occasion ID for the first query cycle terminated. For example, if the time occasion #K was the final time occasion for first query cycle, the WTRU may start the counter from time occasion #K+1 in the new query cycle.

[0202] In one example, the WTRU may transmit the second indication to the devices either within the same query cycle or a different cycle.

[0203] In one case, a WTRU may receive a response to the second indication from one or more device(s). In one example, after indication of the time occasion index, the WTRU may receive responses from one or more devices that may meeting the one or more combinations of the indicated conditions and / or criteria. For example, the WTRU may receive the responses from the devices: that received a collision message associated with one or more query cycle ID(s); that with the matching device ID as the partial device ID associated with one or more query cycle ID; and / or, that with the matching device ID as the partial device ID associated with an indicated time occasion ID etc.

[0204] In one example, the WTRU may receive and successfully decode the device ID in the time and / or frequency occasion of a second query cycle. In order for the WTRU to indicate that a particular device has been identified, the WTRU may transmit back the successfully decoded ID(s) (e.g., with an ACK message) to the devices. In one example, the WTRU may receive an indication from the devices acknowledging the successful query.

[0205] In another example, the WTRU may receive but may not decode the device ID(s) in the second query cycle. In one example, in this case the WTRU may resolve the collision within the same query cycle. The WTRU may transmit the conditions associated with the second indication (e.g., query cycle ID, time occasion index, frequency occasion index, partial device ID(s), etc.) indicating a response from only the devices that satisfy the condition to transmit in the following occasions.

[0206] In one example, the WTRU may resolve the collision with a second indication within the same query cycle. For example, the WTRU requests query with first indication in occasion #1 and ifdevice #1 , device #2 and device #3 collide, in the occasions, such as occasion #2, occasion #3, etc., the WTRU may use a second indication to only request the colliding devices #1 , #2 and #3 to transmit (e.g., with condition only colliding device in the time occasion #1 transmit). The WTRU may then receive a response from the devices until all the devices #1 , #2 and #3 are queried.

[0207] In another example, the WTRU may resolve the collisions of a first query cycle with second indication in a second query cycle. For example, the WTRU requests query with first indication in time occasion #1 and if device #1 , device #2 and device #3 collide, in the time occasions, such as time occasion #2, time occasion #3, etc., the WTRU may transmit a NACK message with an indication that the devices will be queried again in a new query cycle. Upon termination of the first query cycle, the WTRU may then determine to start a second query cycle with second indication indicating the devices that collided in the first query cycle to transmit.

[0208] The WTRU may use a second indication to only request the colliding devices #1 , #2 and #3 to transmit (e.g., with condition only colliding device in the time occasion #1 transmit). The WTRU may then receive a response from the devices until all the devices #1 , #2 and #3 are queried.

[0209] In one example, the WTRU may determine to switch from the second indication to the first indication based on at least one of the following: the number of idle time occasions in time and / or frequency (e.g., in a query cycle or consecutive time occasions) as a response to indication #2; the number of time / frequency time occasions (e.g., consecutive or non-consecutive time occasions) where the device is successfully decoded and identified; and / or, the WTRU determines that all the devices in the indicated collision time / frequency (e.g., associated with the second indication) occasion has been successfully decoded, etc.

[0210] In one example, the WTRU may determine to switch the indication if the above-mentioned parameters are above a (pre)configured threshold.

[0211] In some cases, a query procedure may terminate based on one or more events and / or one or more actions.

[0212] In one example, the WTRU may report at least one of the following to the network: Query cycle ID(s); Successfully identified device ID(s) (e.g., associated with a query cycle ID and / or indication type); Partial device ID(s) (e.g., associated with a query cycle ID and / or indication type); Number of idle time / frequency occasions (e.g., associated with a query cycle ID and / or indication type); Method ID (e.g., associated with a query cycle ID and / or indication type); BLF (e.g., associated with a query cycle ID and / or indication type); and / or, Timestamp (e.g., in terms of symbol index, time occasion index, frame index, subframe index, absolute timestamp (e.g., date, hour, minute, second etc.), relative timestamp etc.) (e.g ., associated with the query cycle ID(s)).

[0213] The WTRU may determine to terminate the query procedure based on at least one or more of the following conditions: the WTRU determines that the number of device(s) successfully identified is above a (pre)configured threshold; the WTRU determines that the number of device(s) successfully identified is below a (pre)configured threshold; the WTRU determines that the number of idle (e.g., consecutive or non-consecutive) time and / or frequency occasions (e.g., in one or more query cycle(s)) is above a (pre)configured threshold; the WTRU determines the number of query cycles performed is above a (pre)configured threshold; the WTRU determines the number of collision (e.g., consecutive or non-consecutive) time and / or frequency occasions (e.g., in one or more query cycle(s)) is above a (pre)configured threshold; the WTRU determines that the difference between duration since the start of the query procedure and the time duration allocated for the query procedure (e.g., through time resources, through query window) is below a (pre)configured threshold; and / or, the WTRU receives an indication from the network to terminate the query procedure, etc.

[0214] In one example, the WTRU may indicate to the devices a termination of a query cycle. The termination indication may include at least a query cycle ID. The WTRU may report the termination of the query procedure to the network.

[0215] In some cases, there may be query procedure for an AloT device.

[0216] In one case, there may be a device configuration for the query procedure. In one example, the device may be pre-configured to monitor the DL channel (e.g., between the reader and the device). The monitoring occasion may be periodic, aperiodic or semi-persistent and the monitoring duration may also be a pre-configured duration where the device may search any messages or indications from the reader.

[0217] In one example, the device may wake up (e.g., every N ms) for a fixed duration of time (e.g., M ms) to search for query signals from the WTRU.

[0218] In another example, the device may be (pre)configured with one or more method ID(s) and the associated protocols (e.g. for determining the number of time and / or frequency occasions from the indicated parameters such as Q1 , QF1 , G1 , etc.) for different query response methods (e.g., aloha, collision tree, etc.).

[0219] In another example, the device may be (pre)configured with different priorities (e.g., low, medium, high), (1 , 2, .... 10), etc. where high or 10 in this example may represent a high priority device.

[0220] In another example, the device may be (pre)configured with permanent device ID(s) (e.g., from the network) and may also be able to generate a (e.g. (pre)configured N bit random number)

[0221] In another example, the device may be (pre)configured to receive the indications or messages from the network and decode the information associated with the query procedure. In one example, the query information may be an explicit message. In another example, the query message may be an implicit message that may be indicated implicitly (e.g., via one or more combinations of message properties (e.g., message size / message content / message duration / message reception time, etc.), different preambles, midambles, postambles, sequences etc.). In one example, the device may be (pre)configured with a map or a table or a function or a formula that maps the message parameters, sequences, etc. to the parameters associated with the query procedure.

[0222] In one example, the device may be (pre)configured with the protocols and rules to identify the first indication transmitted by the WTRU from a second indication transmitted by the WTRU.

[0223] In one example, the device receives the configuration from the network for a query procedure.

[0224] In one example, the device may have a query flag that it may switch on or off. The device may turn off the flag by default and the turn on if it determines that the WTRU or the reader has successfully decoded its ID. The flag may be reset (e.g., turned off) after a (pre)configured duration of time (e.g., from when it was turned on).

[0225] In one approach, the device may receive a first indication from the WTRU including at least one of the following configuration messages: Query cycle ID(s); BLF (e.g., range, maximum); DL modulation and / or encoding; UL modulation and / or encoding; Device response type (e.g., device ID, temporary ID, etc.); Method ID(s) and the associated parameters; and / or Device specific transmission / reception timing (e.g., minimum, maximum).

[0226] Regarding method IDs and associated parameters, one or more examples include: Number of time occasion(s) and / or the parameters associated (e.g., Q1 , Q2); Periodicity of time occasion(s) (e.g., periodic, semi-persistent, aperiodic); Number of frequency occasion(s) and / or the parameters associated (e.g., QF1 , QF2); Number of groups and / or the parameters associated; and / or, Frequency occasions (e.g., F1 MHz, F2 MHz, F3 MHz, etc.).

[0227] Regarding device specific transmission / reception timing (e.g., minimum, maximum), an example may be that the WTRU may transmit the transmission / reception timings (e.g., minimum, maximum) where the transmission timings may, for example, as illustrated in the example of FIG. 3 that may include one or more of: timings between two consecutive D2R transmissions (e.g., indicated as T2 in the figure); and / or, timings between a R2D reception and D2R transmission (e.g., indicated as T3 in the figure).

[0228] In another approach, the device may receive the query configurations with a second indication from the WTRU, where in addition to the configurations similar to that of the first indication, the device may additionally receive the conditions where the device may reply to the WTRU, including one or more of the following: Collision Query cycle ID(s); Collision time occasion ID(s); Collision frequency occasion(s); Partial device ID(s); Priority level threshold; Group ID; Query flag, etc.

[0229] In one example, the device may consider the reception of the configuration indication as initial trigger condition to determine whether to participate in the query cycle or not.

[0230] In one case, the device may determine to participate in the query cycle. If the device receives the query configuration with first or a second indication, the device may determine to participate in the query cycle based on one or more of the following conditions: the energy available to the device is above a (pre)configured threshold; the rate of energy harvesting at the device is above a (pre)configured threshold; the number of transmissions that the device can make during the query cycle may be above a (pre)configured threshold; the number of time occasions associated with the query cycle ID is below a (pre)configured threshold; the required BLF is below a (pre)configured threshold; the device is (pre)configured with the protocols associated with the method ID; the device receives an indication from the network to participate in the query procedure; the duration between the termination of the previous query cycle and the indication received is above a (pre)configured threshold; the device receives a device trigger message (e.g., from the reader, WTRU, from the network, etc.); the device query flag is turned off, etc.

[0231] If the device receives a second indication, the device may determine to participate in the query cycle based on one or more of the following in addition to the conditions associated with the first indication: the device transmitted in at least one of the indicated collision query cycle ID; the device did not receive an acknowledgement of a successful query in the indicated collision cycle ID; the device transmitted at least in the indicated time occasion index; the device transmitted at least in the indicated frequency occasion; the valid symbol in the indicated device ID matches its device ID in the corresponding position; the (pre)configured device priority level is above the indicated priority level threshold; and / or, the query flag associated with the second indication is same as the query flag associated with the device etc.

[0232] In one case, the device may determine to transmit occasionally based on the configuration. In one example, the device may receive the configuration message and determine the parameters for the query cycle. The device may determine the configuration parameters based on either explicit indication, or implicit indication or a combination of explicit and implicit indication.

[0233] For example, the device may determine the number of time occasions that it may possibly transmit the response or device ID in based on the configured number of time occasions or based on the indicated parameter for associated with the number of time occasions. In case of the latter, the device may be (pre)configured with a function (e.g., associated with the method ID in one example) to determine the number of time occasions based on the parameter (e.g., Q1). For example, in some methods the total number of occasions may be determined by 2AQ 1 .

[0234] For example, the device may determine the number of groups based on the configured number of groups or based on the indicated parameter associated with the number of groups.

[0235] For example, the device may determine the number of frequency occasions (e.g., per time occasion) that the device may transmit the device ID or response in. In case of the latter, the device may be (pre)configured with a function (e.g., associated with the method ID in one example) to determine the number of frequency occasions based on the parameter (e.g., QF1 ). For example, in some methods the total number of frequency occasions to transmit may be determined by 2AQF1 .

[0236] In another example, the device may determine the number of frequency occasions it may transmit based on one or more of the following: the energy available to the device; the rate of energy harvesting; the number of estimated transmissions that the device can make with the available energy in; the indicated BLF; the device sampling frequency offset (e.g., SFO); the total number of indicated frequency occasions to transmit; the frequency difference between two frequency occasions (e.g., F2 MHz - F1 MHz); the number of time occasions (e.g., number of time occasions) where the device may transmit; and / or the device type (e.g., type 1 , type 2-1 , etc.).

[0237] In one example, the device may determine to transmit in QF1_device number of frequency occasions (e.g., where QF device may be less or equal to the total number of indicated frequency occasions (e.g., based on QF1)) if one or more of the conditions described herein are above a (pre)configured threshold.

[0238] In another example, the device may determine the frequency occasions where it may transmit in a given time occasion. The device for instance may determine to transmit in the frequency occasions F1 and F3. The device may determine this based on one or more of the: device type, Sampling frequency offset associated with the device, and / or the amount of energy available to the device, etc.

[0239] In some cases, there may be a query procedure for an AloT device. In one case, the device may receive a query indication from the WTRU. In one example, the device may receive a time occasion indication message from the WTRU in the configured time (e.g., T ms after reception of the initial indication (e.g., configuration message, device trigger message, indication from the networketc.)). In one example, the device may receive the time occasion indication with a first indication or a second indication.

[0240] In one example, the device may receive the time occasion ID indication in the time occasion indication message, for example time occasion #1 , time occasion #2, etc. In another example, the device may just receive an indication of a new time occasion without explicit indication of the time occasion ID number. In such a case, the device may itself keep track of the time occasion number. The device may keep track of this by one or more of the following methods: by resetting the time occasion counter as to 0 upon query cycle initiation and incrementing the current time occasion number by 1 each time a time occasion indication is received; and / or, by resetting the time occasion counter as to total number of time occasions upon query cycle initiation and incrementing the current time occasion number by 1 each time a time occasion indication is received.

[0241] In one example, the device may be (pre)configured with or the device may determine the number of time occasions (e.g., time occasions) and / or frequency occasions where it may transmit within a given query cycle (e.g., associated with a query cycle ID). The device may then determine the time and / or frequency occasion where it may transmit the device ID based on one or more of the following: generating a transmission time occasion number / transmission frequency number between 1 and total number of time occasion / frequency occasions; randomly generating the transmission time occasion number / transmission frequency number (e.g., between 1 and the total number of time / frequency occasions e.g., configured by the WTRU).; determining transmission time occasion slot number / transmission frequency number based on other ID(s) (e.g., based on first N bits of its (pre)configured device ID(s) or the temporary device ID)); determining transmission time occasion slot number / transmission frequency number based on different energy levels (e.g., Time occasion #N and / or frequency occasion #K may be associated with an energy level at the device below a threshold); Determining transmission time occasion / transmission frequency occasion based on the (pre)configured priority (e.g., time occasion number 1 to N1 where N1 <total number of time occasion occasions may be associated with a priority level above a threshold and time occasion number N1 +1 to total number of time occasions may be associated with rest of the devices); and / or, determining the frequency occasion based on configuration from the network (e.g., with time occasion indication message, configuration indication, etc.).

[0242] In another example, the device may be (pre)configured with or the WTRU may determine the number of groups (NG). The WTRU may then determine the time occasions and / or frequency occasion to transmit based on a procedure.

[0243] In one example, the device may consider the indication of the number of groups in the indication as a trigger to determine its group and subsequently, the transmission time and / or frequency occasion based on the determined group.

[0244] The device may determine its group between 1 to NG based on at least one of the following: Randomly generating a number (e.g., based on uniform distribution) between 1 to NG; and / or, determining the group number based on some other ID(s), energy levels (e.g., devices below the first energy level may be associated with the first group, etc.), (pre)configured priority (e.g., low priority device associated with the first group).

[0245] In one example, the device may receive an indication from the WTRU of a group number (e.g., between 1 and NG). The device may then determine its transmission time and / or frequency occasions for transmitting the query response (e.g., device ID) if it receives the same device generated group number from the WTRU.

[0246] The device may generate a random time occasion number (e.g., based on the current time occasion index and the total number of time occasions) and a frequency occasion (e.g., based on the total number of frequency occasions). For example, if the device receives a request to generate a random time occasion index based on maximum 4 time occasions with the same group indication as the one the device generated in Time occasion #5, the device may generate a random number e.g., 3, and determine to transmit on the Time occasion # (5 + 3) = Time occasion #8.

[0247] The device may transmit if the indication is received with a time occasion index that may match the device generated time occasion index.

[0248] In one example, the device may transmit the indicated device ID (e.g., (pre)configured device ID, permanent device ID, temporary device ID, etc.) if the current time occasion is the device determined time occasion for the device. The device may transmit the ID in the determined / indicated frequency resource in the time occasion.

[0249] In one approach, if the device determines that the time occasion indication is periodic, the device may determine to not monitor the resources for a (e.g., (pre)configured) duration of time based on at least one of the: the time occasion index generated by the device; the periodicity of the time occasion indication message; and / or, the time of the first time occasion indication, etc.

[0250] The WTRU may determine to not monitor the time occasion indication messages if at least one of the following: the available energy at the device is below a (pre)configured threshold; and / or, the (e.g., estimated, configured) clock error / sampling frequency error is below a (pre)configured threshold, etc.

[0251] The device may transmit the response (e.g., device ID) at least (pre)configured first time unit and at most (pre)configured second time unit after the reception of the time occasion indication. In another example, the (pre)configured first and second time units may be absolute time. If the device fails to transmit within this time, the device may either: generate another time occasion number / frequency occasion to transmit in, or drop out of the inventory cycle, etc.

[0252] In one example, the device may receive response from the WTRU within a configured time (e.g., between a (pre)configured first and the second time units (e.g., absolute time units, relative to another message transmission, etc.)). The response may be at least one of: acknowledgement or "ACK”; negative acknowledgement of "NACK”; Device ID (e.g., at least one of the ID(s) transmitted by one of the device(s) in the time occasion; and / or, partial device ID (e.g., consisting of one or more symbols that may not be decoded by the device).

[0253] If the device receives an ACK message and determines that the transmitted and the received device ID(s) are the same, the device determines that it has identified itself. The device may perform at least one of the following: Turns the query flag ON; Stores the query cycle ID; Stores the query time occasion / frequency occasions of transmission; Stop monitoring the query messages from the WTRU; and / or, Terminates the query procedure.

[0254] If the device receives a NACK message, the device may keep receiving further indications (e.g., associated with change of query parameters).

[0255] If the device receives a NACK message and a partial device ID, the device may try to match the device ID with the partial device ID. For example, the device may determine the valid codes and the positions of the valid codes from the partial device ID. If the decoded bit associated with valid code in the partial device ID and the bit in the device ID in the specific position associated with the valid code is the same, the device may perform at least one of the following: Keep the query flag OFF; Store the query cycle ID as collision cycle ID; Store the query time occasion / frequency occasion as a collision time occasion / frequency ID; Keep monitoring the query message from the reader.

[0256] If the device receives a second indication and the associated configurations, the devices determine the transmission occasion (e.g., time occasion / frequency occasion) only if the device satisfies the conditions associated with the second indication.

[0257] In one example, the devices may keep the configuration associated with the second indication until indicated by the WTRU. For example, the device may receive a configuration associated with a second indication. The devices may determine the time / frequency occasions and / or transmit based on the configuration until the device receives a first indication or a new configuration and a second indication.

[0258] In some cases, there may be a query procedure termination for the device. In one case, the device may terminate the query procedure. In one example, the device may terminate the query procedure if at least one of the following conditions are met: the device receives an ACK message with the transmitted device ID from the WTRU; the available energy in the device is below a (pre)configured threshold; the time duration from the reception of an indication from the WTRU is above a (pre)configured threshold; the number of occasions (e.g., time and / or frequency occasions) the devices has transmitted the device ID is above a (pre)configured threshold; and / or, the device receives an indication from the network to terminate the query procedure.

[0259] Based on the disclosures herein, there may be a WTRU procedure for collision handling for a query procedure with an AloT device. Generally, the WTRU may broadcast a first indication for the query cycle and receive response from one or more devices. In case of collision between the devices, where the WTRU determines a partial device ID, the WTRU transmits a second indication with the partial device ID to request only the colliding devices to respond.

[0260] The WTRU may receive configuration information for one or more query procedures (e.g., related to querying an AloT device) including parameters associated with a first and a second number of transmission occasions (e.g., Q1 and Q2) from the network.

[0261] The WTRU may initiate the first query procedure by broadcasting a first indication (e.g., where the first indication indicates the request to send device ID) and receive a response in a first occasion .

[0262] The broadcast message may include the occasion index and Q1 .

[0263] If the WTRU successfully (e.g., fully) decodes a device ID from the response, the WTRU may transmit an ACK message with the received device ID.

[0264] If the WTRU decodes a partial ID from the response, the WTRU may transmit a NACK message with the partial device ID.

[0265] The partial device ID may comprise multiple symbols where each symbol is a valid symbol or an invalid symbol according to the selected transmit encoding (e.g., where at least one symbol is a valid symbol and at least one symbol is an invalid symbol). For the selected transmit encoding (e.g., Manchester encoding which encodes a 0 bit as low voltage followed by high voltage and encodes a 1 bit as high voltage followed by low voltage or vice-versa): a valid symbol may correctly uses the selected transmit encoding for a bit of the partial device ID, and an invalid symbol may use an invalid representation for a bit (0 and / or 1 bit) according to the selected transmit encoding (e.g., for Manchester encoding, an invalid symbol uses low voltage followed by low voltage or high voltage followed by high voltage).

[0266] When the first query procedure ends (e.g., when the first number of transmission occasions have occurred), the WTRU may initiate a second query procedure by broadcasting a second indication (e.g., requesting device IDs), collision occasion index and Q2. The collision occasion index may be the index of the first occasion when the WTRU decodes the partial ID in the first occasion.

[0267] The WTRU may receive a device ID based on the second query procedure.

[0268] The WTRU may report the successfully decoded device ID(s) from the first and / or second queries to the network.

[0269] Based on the disclosures herein, there may be an AloT device procedure for collision handling for a query procedure. The device (e.g., AloT device) may receive configuration with a first indication for query procedure from the reader (e.g., WTRU, gNB, etc.) including a query cycle ID, and / or a number of time occasions and backscattering frequencies to transmit on.

[0270] The device may determine to participate in the query cycle if number of time occasions associated with the query cycle ID is below a threshold.

[0271] The device may determine a time and a frequency transmission occasion randomly based on the number of time occasions and the backscattering frequencies.

[0272] The device may receive a first indication with time occasion index from the network. The device may transmit its device ID if the determined time occasion is the same as indicated time occasion index.

[0273] The device may receive a NACK message with a device ID from the reader (e.g. if the WTRU does not fully decode the device ID that was transmitted), the device may determine the device ID is partial if: the device determines at least one valid and at least one invalid symbol in the device ID; and / or, the device stores the query cycle ID as collision cycle and the time occasion index as collision occasion index.

[0274] The device may receive a second indication from the network with query configuration, collision query cycle ID, and / or collision occasions index.

[0275] The device may determine a time and a frequency occasion to transmit if the indicated collision query cycle ID and collision occasion index is the same as the device stored collision cycle ID and collision occasion index.

[0276] FIG. 12 is a flowchart which illustrates an example of a method according to one or more techniques disclosed herein. At 1202, a configuration or configurations for query procedures including parameters associated with a first and a second number of transmission occasions are received. In some implementations, the configuration or configurations indicate a carrier wave for the first query procedure and the second query procedure. At 1204, a first query procedure is initiated bybroadcasting a first indication. In some implementations, an occasion index is sent as part of the first query procedure. At 1206, a response is received in a first occasion of the first number of transmission occasions that includes a coded first device ID. In some implementations, the response is received in an occasion associated with the occasion index.

[0277] At 1208, either an ACK message is transmitted with a fully decoded first device ID, or a NACK message is transmitted with a partial decoded first device ID, depending on whether the coded first device ID is successfully fully decoded or only partially decoded. At 1210, a second query procedure is initiated by broadcasting a second indication. At 1212, a coded second device ID is received based on the second query procedure. At 1214, successfully decoded device IDs from the first query procedure and / or the second query procedure are reported to the network.

[0278] As disclosed herein, there may be techniques and approaches that enable a WTRU to request a response from either all the devices or a group of devices. This may enable: efficient random-access procedure with collision resolution in more than one query procedure: determination of the number of devices in a collision occasion and / or participating in the query procedure (e.g., based on number of device determination in a collision occasion): and / or, paging all the devices (e.g., with the first indication) or a subset of devices (e.g., with the second indication) based on certain criteria.

[0279] As described herein, “etc." may refer to etcetera, which is intended to reference any other like element in a list, or reference some other element disclosed herein. For example, if a list has “a, b, c, etc.” and another list disclosed herein discloses “a, b, c, d, e” then it is intended that the “etc.” may refer to at least “d, e” or “etc.” may generally refer to other letters in the alphabet.

[0280] As described herein, a higher layer may refer to one or more layers in a protocol stack, or a specific sublayer within the protocol stack. The protocol stack may comprise of one or more layers in a WTRU or a network node (e.g., eNB, gNB, other functional entity, etc.), where each layer may have one or more sublayers. Each layer / sublayer may be responsible for one or more functions. Each layer / sublayer may communicate with one or more of the other layers / sublayers, directly or indirectly. In some cases, these layers may be numbered, such as Layer 1 , Layer 2, and Layer 3. For example, Layer 3 may comprise of one or more of the following: Non-Access Stratum (NAS), Internet Protocol (IP), and / or Radio Resource Control (RRC). For example, Layer 2 may comprise of one or more of the following: Packet Data Convergence Control (PDCP), Radio Link Control (RLC), and / or Medium Access Control (MAC). For example, Layer 3 may comprise of physical (PHY) layer type operations. The greater the number of the layer, the higher it is relative to other layers (e.g., Layer 3 is higher than Layer 1). In some cases, the aforementioned examples may be called layers / sublayers themselvesirrespective of layer number, and may be referred to as a higher layer as described herein. For example, from highest to lowest, a higher layer may refer to one or more of the following layers / sublayers: a NAS layer, a RRC layer, a PDCP layer, a RLC layer, a MAC layer, and / or a PHY layer. Any reference herein to a higher layer in conjunction with a process, device, or system will refer to a layer that is higher than the layer of the process, device, or system. In some cases, reference to a higher layer herein may refer to a function or operation performed by one or more layers described herein. In some cases, reference to a high layer herein may refer to information that is sent or received by one or more layers described herein. In some cases, reference to a higher layer herein may refer to a configuration that is sent and / or received by one or more layers described herein.

[0281] Although features and elements are described above in particular combinations (e.g., embodiments, methods, examples, etc.), 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. For example, as disclosed herein there may be a method described in association with a figure for illustrative purposes, and one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that one or more features or elements from this method may be used alone or in combination with one or more features from another method described elsewhere. A symbol 7' (e.g., forward slash) may be used herein to represent 'and / or', where for example, ‘A / B’ may imply 'A and / or B'. As used herein, 'a' and 'an' and similar phrases are to be interpreted as 'one or more’ and 'at least one’. Similarly, any term which ends with the suffix ‘(s)’ is to be interpreted as 'one or more’ and ‘at least one’. The term ‘may’ is to be interpreted as ‘may, for example' or indicate that something "does happen" or "can happen". 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.

[0282] As disclosed herein, 'a' and ‘an’ and similar phrases are to be interpreted as ‘one or more’ and ‘at least one’. Similarly, any term which ends with the suffix ‘(s)’ is to be interpreted as ‘one or more' and ‘at least one'. The term ‘may’ is to be interpreted as ‘may, for example’. A symbol 7' (e.g., forward slash) as used herein, unless otherwise indicated, represents ‘and / or’, where for example, ‘A / B’ may imply ‘A and / or B’.

Claims

CLAIMSWhat is Claimed:1 . A method for wireless communications, the method comprising: receiving configuration information for query procedures including parameters associated with a first number of transmission occasions and a second number of transmission occasions; broadcasting a first indication, in a first query procedure; receiving a response, in a first occasion of the first number of transmission occasions, that includes a coded first device ID; transmitting a NACK message based on the coded first device ID being only partially decoded, wherein the NACK message indicates the partially decoded first device ID; and broadcasting a second indication, in a second query procedure.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first query procedure ends when the first number of transmission occasions have occurred, and the second query procedure is initiated with a collision occasion index and the second number of transmission occasions.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second query procedure is initiated with a collision occasion index which indicates an index of the first number of transmission occasions where the first device ID was partially decoded.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the configurations indicate a carrier wave for the first query procedure and the second query procedure.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein an occasion index is sent as part of the first query procedure, and the response is received in an occasion of the occasion index.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the coded first device ID is only partially decoded due to a collision with a second device ID.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving the coded first device ID in the second query procedure based on the partially decoded first device ID indicated in the NACK message.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the coded first device ID is received in the second query procedure based on the partially decoded first device ID indicated in the NACK message matching part of a device ID of an ambient internet-of-things (AloT) device.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving the coded first device ID in the second query procedure based on the second number of transmission occasions.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving the coded first device ID in the second query procedure at a random time occasion index based on the second number of transmission occasions.

11. A wireless transmit / receive unit (WTRU) comprising: circuitry configured to receive configuration information for query procedures including parameters associated with a first number of transmission occasions and a second number of transmission occasions; circuitry configured to broadcast a first indication, in a first query procedure; circuitry configured to receive a response, in a first occasion of the first number of transmission occasions, that includes a coded first device ID; circuitry configured to transmit a based on the coded first device ID being only partially decoded, wherein the NACK message indicates the partially decoded first device ID; and circuitry configured to broadcast a second indication, in a second query procedure.

12. The WTRU of claim 1 1 , wherein the first query procedure ends when the first number of transmission occasions have occurred, and the second query procedure is initiated with a collision occasion index and the second number of transmission occasions.

13. The WTRU of claim 1 1 , further comprising circuitry configured to initiate the second query procedure with a collision occasion index which indicates an index of the first number of transmission occasions where the first device ID was partially decoded14. The WTRU of claim 11 , wherein the configurations indicate a carrier wave for the first query procedure and the second query procedure.

15. The WTRU of claim 11 , further comprising circuitry configured to send an occasion index as part of the first query procedure, and circuitry configured to receive the response in an occasion of the occasion index.

16. The WTRU of claim 11 , wherein the coded first device ID is only partially decoded due to a collision with a second device ID.

17. The WTRU of claim 1 1 , further comprising circuitry configured to receive the coded first device ID in the second query procedure based on the partially decoded first device ID indicated in the NACK message.

18. The WTRU of claim 17, further comprising circuitry configured to receive the coded first device ID in the second query procedure based on the partially decoded first device ID indicated in the NACK message matching part of a device ID of an ambient internet-of-things (AloT) device.

19. The WTRU of claim 1 1 , further comprising circuitry configured to receive the coded first device ID in the second query procedure based on the second number of transmission occasions.

20. The WTRU of claim 1 1 , further comprising circuitry configured to receive the coded first device ID in the second query procedure at a random time occasion index based on the second number of transmission occasions.

Images