Feedback for command communications
By providing detailed feedback on decoding results and action execution for low capability devices, the proposed mechanism addresses inefficiencies in wireless communications systems, enhancing reliability and efficiency in command execution and communication management.
Patent Information
- Application Number
- PCT/CN2024/110563
- Authority / Receiving Office
- WO · WO
- Patent Type
- Applications
- Current Assignee / Owner
- Filing Date
- 2024-08-08
- Publication Date
- 2026-02-12
AI Technical Summary
Wireless communications systems face challenges in complex and dynamic environments that attenuate or block signals, leading to inefficiencies in signal transmission and reception, particularly for low capability devices with limited energy storage and intermittent power supply, such as ambient IoT devices, which require improved feedback mechanisms to ensure successful command execution and communication efficiency.
Providing feedback that includes not only decoding results (ACK/NACK) but also additional information indicating whether an action was successfully executed or the reason for failure, allowing for timely adjustments in communication configuration and power management, thereby enhancing communication reliability and efficiency.
The proposed feedback mechanism improves communication efficiency by enabling readers to skip unnecessary commands, schedule communications appropriately, adjust transmission parameters, and manage power effectively, reducing latency and increasing the likelihood of successful command execution in low capability devices.
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Figure CN2024110563_12022026_PF_FP_ABST
Abstract
Description
FEEDBACK FOR COMMAND COMMUNICATIONS
[0001] INTRODUCTION
[0002] Aspects of the present disclosure relate generally to wireless communication, and to transmission of feedback regarding a command.
[0003] Wireless communications systems are widely deployed to provide various telecommunication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging, broadcasts, or other similar types of services. These wireless communications systems may employ multiple-access technologies capable of supporting communications with multiple users by sharing available wireless communications system resources with those users.
[0004] Although wireless communications systems have made great technological advancements over many years, challenges still exist. For example, complex and dynamic environments can still attenuate or block signals between wireless transmitters and wireless receivers. Accordingly, there is a continuous desire to improve the technical performance of wireless communications systems, including, for example: improving speed and data carrying capacity of communications, improving efficiency of the use of shared communications mediums, reducing power used by transmitters and receivers while performing communications, improving reliability of wireless communications, avoiding redundant transmissions and / or receptions and related processing, improving the coverage area of wireless communications, increasing the number and types of devices that can access wireless communications systems, increasing the ability for different types of devices to intercommunicate, increasing the number and type of wireless communications mediums available for use, and the like. Consequently, there exists a need for further improvements in wireless communications systems to overcome the aforementioned technical challenges and others.SUMMARY
[0005] One aspect provides a method of wireless communication at a device. The method includes receiving a communication that indicates a command; and providing feedback including: a first value that indicates a decoding result of the communication, and a second value that indicates one of: first information that indicates whether an action indicated by the command was successfully executed, or second information regarding a failure to decode the communication.
[0006] Another aspect provides a method of wireless communication at a reader. The method includes providing a communication that indicates a command; and obtaining feedback including: a first value that indicates a decoding result of the communication, and a second value that indicates one of: first information that indicates whether an action indicated by the command was successfully executed, or second information regarding a failure to decode the communication.
[0007] Other aspects provide: one or more apparatuses operable, configured, or otherwise adapted to perform any portion of any method described herein (e.g., such that performance may be by only one apparatus or in a distributed fashion across multiple apparatuses) ; one or more non-transitory, computer-readable media comprising instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of one or more apparatuses, cause the one or more apparatuses to perform any portion of any method described herein (e.g., such that instructions may be included in only one computer-readable medium or in a distributed fashion across multiple computer-readable media, such that instructions may be executed by only one processor or by multiple processors in a distributed fashion, such that each apparatus of the one or more apparatuses may include one processor or multiple processors, and / or such that performance may be by only one apparatus or in a distributed fashion across multiple apparatuses) ; one or more computer program products embodied on one or more computer-readable storage media comprising code for performing any portion of any method described herein (e.g., such that code may be stored in only one computer-readable medium or across computer-readable media in a distributed fashion) ; and / or one or more apparatuses comprising one or more means for performing any portion of any method described herein (e.g., such that performance would be by only one apparatus or by multiple apparatuses in a distributed fashion) . By way of example, an apparatus may comprise a processing system, a device with a processing system, or processing systems cooperating over one or more networks. An apparatus may comprise one or more memories; and one or more processors configured to cause the apparatus to perform any portion of any method described herein. In some examples, one or more of the processors may be preconfigured to perform various functions or operations described herein without requiring configuration by software.
[0008] The following description and the appended figures set forth certain features for purposes of illustration.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
[0009] The appended figures depict certain features of the various aspects described herein and are not to be considered limiting of the scope of this disclosure.
[0010] FIG. 1 depicts an example wireless communications network.
[0011] FIG. 2 depicts an example disaggregated base station architecture.
[0012] FIG. 3 depicts aspects of an example base station and an example user equipment (UE) .
[0013] FIGS. 4A, 4B, 4C, and 4D depict various example aspects of data structures for a wireless communications network.
[0014] FIG. 5 depicts example components of an energy harvesting-capable UE.
[0015] FIGs. 6A-6C depict aspects relating to different energy harvesting and communication architectures for an energy harvesting-capable device.
[0016] FIGs. 7A and 7B are diagrams illustrating examples of feedback for R2D communications.
[0017] FIGs. 8A and 8B are diagrams illustrating examples of feedback for R2D communications.
[0018] FIGs. 9A and 9B are diagrams illustrating example structures for feedback carrying an acknowledgment (ACK) , and an example structure for feedback carrying a negative ACK (NACK) .
[0019] FIGs. 10A-10C are diagrams illustrating examples of structures of a message carrying feedback.
[0020] FIGs. 11A and 11B are diagrams illustrating examples of a time interval associated with a subsequent communication.
[0021] FIGs. 12A and 12B are diagrams illustrating examples of time intervals that may be specific to a second value.
[0022] FIG. 13 depicts a method for wireless communications.
[0023] FIG. 14 depicts another method for wireless communications.
[0024] FIG. 15 depicts aspects of an example communications device.
[0025] FIG. 16 depicts aspects of an example communications device.DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0026] Aspects of the present disclosure provide apparatuses, methods, processing systems, and computer-readable mediums for providing feedback for command communications.
[0027] Some wireless communications devices may be associated with lower capabilities than other wireless communication devices. Such a device is referred to herein as a low capability device. For example, low capability devices may be useful in scenarios involving sparse power supply (such as an inconsistent power supply or power supply derived from an environment of the low capability device) , long field deployment (such as an instrument or a sensor which may be deployed away from maintenance or power) , and / or low communication requirements (such as infrequent communication, low-complexity communication feature set support, low throughput, or low data rate) .
[0028] One example of a low capability device is an ambient Internet of Things (A-IoT) device. An ambient IoT device is a wireless communication device with small or no energy storage capacity, low complexity, and low power consumption. An ambient IoT device may obtain energy to power communications or other operations from an environment of the ambient IoT device, such as from a signal received by the ambient IoT device. Some forms of low capability devices, such as some forms of A-IoT devices or radio frequency identifier (RFID) tags (which is a wireless communication device implementing RFID functionality) , may use passive communication technologies, such as backscatter communication. A passive communication technology generates energy to power communication at least partially using energy obtained from an environment of a device (such as from a received radio frequency signal) .
[0029] Backscatter communication involves receiving a signal and manipulating the signal (via passive reflection and modulation) to convey information back to a transmitter of the signal. A backscattering device may or may not include a battery or a power source. It should be noted that aspects described herein are not limited to backscattering devices, and can be implemented, for example, for devices with energy storage and that can generate a signal in the absence of a carrier wave.
[0030] In the context of backscatter communication, a reader may be a radio frequency (RF) source that transmits a continuous wave (CW) signal. The CW signal may be received by one or more devices. In some examples, a device, such as a passive device (e.g., a tag, an A-IoT device, a UE without an energy source, a backscattering device) , may harvest energy (e.g., may obtain energy to power a communication, either directly or by storing and then using the harvested energy) from the CW signal. In some examples, the device may use passive reflection and modulation of the signal to transmit a backscatter signal using the harvested energy. That is, the passive device may modulate the signal to encode data and then reflect a fraction of the wave to the reader or to the transmitter / reader. The backscatter signal may be encoded with information bits (e.g., identifying information, sensor information) of the passive device. The reader may receive the backscatter signal and read the information bits. In some other examples, a device may transmit a signal to the reader, where the signal is generated using energy stored at the device. In either of these examples, a communication from the reader to the device may be referred to as a reader-to-device (R2D) communication, and a communication (such as a backscattered communication or a communication generated using energy stored at the device) from the device to the reader may be referred to as a device-to-reader (D2R) communication.
[0031] A device, such as an ambient IoT device, a UE, or a network entity, may provide feedback regarding a communication. Typically, feedback can have one of two binary states: an acknowledgment (ACK) indicating that a communication associated with the feedback was successfully received (e.g., decoded, processed) , or a negative ACK (NACK) indicating that the communication was not successfully received (e.g., decoded, processed) . Providing feedback in this fashion enables a transmitter of the communication to determine when the communication should be retransmitted. One form of feedback is hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback, though aspects described herein are not limited to HARQ feedback. Some implementations of ambient IoT may provide a binary feedback mechanism for R2D transmissions, such as a physical R2D channel (PRDCH) .
[0032] Low capability devices such as ambient IoT devices may support inventory actions and command actions. In some examples, a reader may obtain information from a device by transmitting an inventory message and receiving corresponding inventory information from the device. In some examples, the reader may transmit a command to cause the device to perform an action. A command may include a message or information that indicates an action for a device to perform. The action may include a deactivation, an activation, a transmission, a reconfiguration, or the like, as described in more detail elsewhere herein.
[0033] As mentioned, devices such as ambient IoT devices may be associated with limited or no energy storage capacity and / or intermittent power supply. Thus, in some examples, an ambient IoT device may have sufficient energy to decode a command, but not to perform an action indicated by the command. Additionally, or alternatively, an ambient IoT device may have sufficient energy to perform the action, but may benefit from additional time prior to a subsequent communication, such as to gather or store energy to facilitate the subsequent communication or to address a memory lock (e.g., a state in which memory of the ambient IoT device is in a read-only or unmodifiable state) or overrun (e.g., a state in which all available memory of the ambient IoT device is occupied) . Additionally, or alternatively, an ambient IoT device may benefit from a modification to a communication configuration for a subsequent communication, such as a lower data rate or a switch to segmentation based communication. However, feedback mechanisms that use only an ACK / NACK indicating a decoding result may provide insufficient information to determine whether an action was performed, a subsequent communication should be delayed, or a communication configuration of the subsequent communication should be modified. Further, high layer communication, such as via a higher layer D2R communication, may introduce latency and delay, leading to a failure to address the above issues in a timely fashion.
[0034] Aspects described herein relate generally to feedback in the context of ambient IoT command communication. Aspects more specifically provide feedback that indicates both a decoding result (such as an ACK / NACK) and additional information in addition to the decoding result. In some aspects, the additional information may relate to whether performing an action indicated by a command of the communication was successful. In some aspects, the additional information may indicate information regarding a failure to decode the communication. For example, the second information may indicate a reason associated with the failure to decode the communication.
[0035] In some aspects, by providing the additional information in addition to the indication of the decoding result, aspects described herein improve efficiency of command transmission and execution. For example, additional information indicating a successful command execution may enable the reader to skip subsequent additional commands or other signaling related to the command. As another example, additional information indicating a timeline associated with a subsequent communication may enable the reader or a network entity to schedule the subsequent communication at an appropriate time, improving likelihood of successful reception and / or execution at the device and improving scheduling efficiency at the reader or the network entity. As another example, additional information indicating to perform segmentation for a subsequent communication may enable the device to determine when segmentation is appropriate according to information provided by the device, which improves reliability at the device. As another example, additional information indicating that a failure to decode a communication is associated with a chip rate may enable the reader to adjust the chip rate for a retransmission or other subsequent transmission, improving likelihood of successful decoding and reliability of R2D communications. As another example, additional information indicating that an action was not successfully performed due to a memory lock or overrun may enable the reader to transmit a command to unlock the memory or to wait a length of time for the device to clear the memory or reduce a buffer size. As another example, additional information indicating that an action was not successfully performed due to an insufficient power budget may enable the reader to power the device and then trigger the action. As another example, additional information indicating a security timeout may enable the reader to trigger a new security timer associated with the device. In some examples, the feedback may be provided via physical layer (Layer 1) signaling, such as via D2R L1 control signaling or a D2R data communication, which reduces latency and overhead associated with providing the feedback.
[0036] Introduction to Wireless Communications Networks
[0037] The techniques and methods described herein may be used for various wireless communications networks. While aspects may be described herein using terminology commonly associated with 3G, 4G, 5G, 6G, and / or other generations of wireless technologies, aspects of the present disclosure may likewise be applicable to other communications systems and standards not explicitly mentioned herein.
[0038] FIG. 1 depicts an example of a wireless communications network 100, in which aspects described herein may be implemented.
[0039] Generally, wireless communications network 100 includes various network entities (alternatively, network elements or network nodes) . A network entity is generally a communications device and / or a communications function performed by a communications device (e.g., a user equipment (UE) , a base station (BS) , a component of a BS, a server, etc. ) . As such communications devices are part of wireless communications network 100, and facilitate wireless communications, such communications devices may be referred to as wireless communications devices. For example, various functions of a network as well as various devices associated with and interacting with a network may be considered network entities. Further, wireless communications network 100 may include terrestrial aspects, such as ground-based network entities (e.g., BSs 102) , and non-terrestrial aspects (also referred to herein as non-terrestrial network entities) . A non-terrestrial network entity may include satellite 140, which may be an example of an aerial or spaceborne platform. In some examples, satellite 140 may include one or more network entities on-board (e.g., one or more BSs) capable of communicating with other network elements (e.g., terrestrial BSs) and UEs. For example, satellite 140 may be implemented according to a regenerative architecture (also referred to as a non-transparent architecture) , and a gNB implemented at satellite 140 may implement higher-layer network functions. As another example, satellite 140 may be implemented according to a transparent architecture, and may perform a physical or other lower-layer repeater function for UEs and a network entity (such as a gateway associated with the satellite 140) .
[0040] In the depicted example, wireless communications network 100 includes BSs 102, UEs 104, and one or more core networks, such as an Evolved Packet Core (EPC) 160 or a 5G Core (5GC) network 190, which interoperate to provide communications services over various communications links, including wired and wireless links. In some aspects, a core network, such as a 6G core, may implement a converged service-based architecture. In a converged service-based architecture, functions traditionally split between a core network (such as 5GC network 190) and a radio access network (RAN) (such as BS 102) may be implemented at a single network entity. For example, a mobility network entity may perform both core network functions and RAN functions related to mobility of UEs 104 attached to the wireless communications network 100. “Network entity” can refer to a BS 102, a network entity of EPC 160 or 5GC network 190, or a network entity of a converged service-based architecture.
[0041] FIG. 1 depicts various example UEs 104. UE 104 may include a cellular phone, a smart phone, a session initiation protocol (SIP) phone, a laptop, a personal digital assistant (PDA) , a satellite radio, a Global Positioning System device, a multimedia device, a video device, a digital audio player, a camera, a game console, a tablet, a smart device, a wearable device, a vehicle, an electric meter, a gas pump, a kitchen appliance, a healthcare device, an implant, a sensor / actuator, a display, an Internet of Things (IoT) device, an always on (AON) device, an edge processing device, a data center, or another similar device. A UE 104 may also be referred to as a mobile device, a wireless device, a station, a mobile station, a subscriber station, a mobile subscriber station, a mobile unit, a subscriber unit, a wireless unit, a remote unit, a remote device, an access terminal, a mobile terminal, a wireless terminal, a remote terminal, a handset, and others.
[0042] BSs 102 wirelessly communicate with (e.g., transmit signals to or receive signals from) UEs 104 via communications links 120. A communications link 120 between a BS 102 and a UE 104 may include uplink (UL) (also referred to as reverse link) transmissions from a UE 104 to a BS 102 and / or downlink (DL) (also referred to as forward link) transmissions from a BS 102 to a UE 104. A communications link 120 may use multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology, including spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and / or transmit diversity in various aspects.
[0043] A BS 102 may include a NodeB, an enhanced NodeB (eNB) , a next generation enhanced NodeB (ng-eNB) , a next generation NodeB (gNB or gNodeB) , an access point, a base transceiver station, a radio base station, a radio transceiver, a transceiver function, a transmission reception point (TRP) , a radio unit (RU) , a distributed unit (DU) , or the like. A given BS 102 may provide communications coverage for a coverage area 110, which may sometimes be referred to as a cell, and which may overlap another coverage area 110 (e.g., a small cell provided by a BS 102′) may have a coverage area 110′that overlaps the coverage area 110 of a macro cell) . A BS 102 may, for example, provide communications coverage for a macro cell (covering a relatively large geographic area) , a pico cell (covering a relatively smaller geographic area, such as a sports stadium) , a femto cell (covering a relatively smaller geographic area, such as a home) , or another type of cells.
[0044] The term “cell” may refer to a portion, partition, or segment of wireless communication coverage served by a network entity within a wireless communications network 100. A cell may have geographic characteristics, such as a geographic coverage area, as well as radio frequency characteristics, such as time and / or frequency resources dedicated to the cell. For example, a specific geographic coverage area may be covered by multiple cells employing different frequency resources (e.g., bandwidth parts) and / or different time resources. As another example, a specific geographic coverage area may be covered by a single cell. In some contexts (e.g., a carrier aggregation scenario and / or multi-connectivity scenario) , the terms “cell” or “serving cell” may refer to or correspond to a specific carrier frequency (e.g., a component carrier) used for wireless communications, and a “cell group” may refer to or correspond to multiple carriers used for wireless communications. As examples, in a carrier aggregation scenario, a UE may communicate on multiple component carriers corresponding to multiple (serving) cells in the same cell group, and in a multi-connectivity (e.g., dual connectivity) scenario, a UE may communicate on multiple component carriers corresponding to multiple cell groups.
[0045] While BSs 102 are depicted in various aspects as unitary communications devices, BSs 102 may be implemented in various configurations. For example, one or more components of a base station may be disaggregated, including a central unit (CU) , one or more DUs, one or more RUs, a Near-Real Time (Near-RT) RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) , or a Non-Real Time (Non-RT) RIC, to name a few examples. In another example, various aspects of a base station may be virtualized. A base station (e.g., BS 102) may include components that are located at a single physical location or components located at various physical locations. In examples in which a base station includes components that are located at various physical locations, the various components may each perform functions such that, collectively, the various components achieve functionality that is similar to a base station that is located at a single physical location. Implementing a base station in this fashion may provide efficiency gains by enabling cloud-based implementation of certain (e.g., non-time-sensitive) higher-layer functions while physical-layer or other lower-layer functions can be implemented at or in proximity to a geographic coverage area of a corresponding cell. In some aspects, a base station including components that are located at various physical locations may be referred to as having a disaggregated RAN architecture, such as an Open RAN (O-RAN) or Virtualized RAN (VRAN) architecture. FIG. 2 depicts and describes an example disaggregated RAN architecture.
[0046] Different BSs 102 within wireless communications network 100 may also be configured to support different radio access technologies, such as 3G, 4G, 5G, and / or 6G. For example, BSs 102 configured for 4G LTE (collectively referred to as Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) ) may interface with the EPC 160 through first backhaul links 132 (e.g., an S1 interface) . BSs 102 configured for 5G (e.g., 5G NR or Next Generation RAN (NG-RAN) ) may interface with 5GC 190 through second backhaul links 184. BSs 102 may communicate directly or indirectly (e.g., through the EPC 160 or 5GC 190) with each other over third backhaul links 134 (e.g., an X2 or XN interface) , which may be wired or wireless.
[0047] Wireless communications network 100 may subdivide the electromagnetic spectrum into various classes, bands, channels, or other features. In some aspects, the subdivision is provided based on wavelength and frequency, where frequency may also be referred to as a carrier, a subcarrier, a frequency channel, a tone, or a subband. For example, 3GPP currently defines Frequency Range 1 (FR1) as including 410 MHz –7125 MHz, which is often referred to (interchangeably) as “Sub-6 GHz” . Similarly, 3GPP currently defines Frequency Range 2 (FR2) as including 24,250 MHz –71,000 MHz, which is sometimes referred to (interchangeably) as a “millimeter wave” ( “mmW” or “mmWave” ) . In some cases, FR2 may be further defined in terms of sub-ranges, such as a first sub-range FR2-1 including 24,250 MHz –52,600 MHz and a second sub-range FR2-2 including 52,600 MHz –71,000 MHz. A base station configured to communicate using mmWave / near mmWave radio frequency bands (e.g., a mmWave base station such as BS 180) may utilize beamforming (e.g., 182) with a UE (e.g., 104) to improve path loss and range.
[0048] A communications links 120 may be through one or more carriers, which may have different bandwidths (e.g., 5 MHz, 10 MHz, 15 MHz, 20 MHz, 100 MHz, 400 MHz, and / or other bandwidths) , and which may be aggregated in various aspects. Carriers may or may not be adjacent to each other. Allocation of carriers may be asymmetric with respect to DL and UL (e.g., more or fewer carriers may be allocated for DL than for UL) .
[0049] Communications using higher frequency bands may have higher path loss and a shorter range compared to lower frequency communications. Accordingly, certain base stations (e.g., base station 180 in FIG. 1) may utilize beamforming (indicated by reference number 182) with a UE 104 to improve path loss and range. For example, BS 180 and the UE 104 may each include a plurality of antennas, such as antenna elements, antenna panels, and / or antenna arrays to facilitate the beamforming. In some cases, BS 180 may transmit a beamformed signal to UE 104 in one or more transmit directions 182′. UE 104 may receive the beamformed signal from the BS 180 in one or more receive directions 182″. UE 104 may also transmit a beamformed signal to the BS 180 in one or more transmit directions 182″. BS 180 may also receive the beamformed signal from UE 104 in one or more receive directions 182′. BS 180 and UE 104 may perform beam training to determine suitable receive and transmit directions for each of BS 180 and UE 104. Notably, the transmit and receive directions for BS 180 may or may not be the same. Similarly, the transmit and receive directions for UE 104 may or may not be the same.
[0050] In some aspects, wireless communications network 100 may include a reader 150 and one or more devices 152. Reader 150 may include, for example, UE 104 or BS 102. Device 152 may include, for example, UE 104. For example, device 152 may comprise an ambient IoT device or another form of low capability device. Reader 150 may provide energy via a transmission 154, which device 152 may harvest to power communications or other operations of device 152.
[0051] As shown, reader 150 may include or otherwise be associated with a communication manager 151. As described in more detail elsewhere herein, the communication manager 151 may provide a communication that indicates a command; and obtain feedback including: a first value that indicates a decoding result of the communication, and a second value that indicates one of: first information that indicates whether an action indicated by the command was successfully executed, or second information regarding a failure to decode the communication. Additionally or alternatively, the communication manager 151 may perform one or more other operations described herein.
[0052] As shown, device 152 may include or otherwise be associated with a communication manager 153. As described in more detail elsewhere herein, the communication manager 153 may receive a communication that indicates a command; and provide feedback including: a first value that indicates a decoding result of the communication, and a second value that indicates one of: first information that indicates whether an action indicated by the command was successfully executed, or second information regarding a failure to decode the communication. Additionally or alternatively, the communication manager 153 may perform one or more other operations described herein.
[0053] Certain UEs 104 may communicate with each other using device-to-device (D2D) communications link 158. D2D communications link 158 may use one or more sidelink channels, such as a physical sidelink broadcast channel (PSBCH) , a physical sidelink discovery channel (PSDCH) , a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) , a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) , and / or a physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH) . D2D communications link 158 may be implemented using a variety of technologies, such as a radio access technology (e.g., 5G, ProSe sidelink) , a WiFi technology, a Bluetooth technology, or the like.
[0054] EPC 160 may include various functional components, such as a Mobility Management Entity (MME) 162, other MMEs 164, a Serving Gateway 166, a Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS) Gateway 168, a Broadcast Multicast Service Center (BM-SC) 170, and / or a Packet Data Network (PDN) Gateway 172. MME 162 may be in communication with a Home Subscriber Server (HSS) 174. MME 162 is a control node that processes signaling between the UEs 104 and the EPC 160. Generally, MME 162 provides bearer and connection management.
[0055] Generally, user Internet protocol (IP) packets are transferred through Serving Gateway 166. Serving gateway 166 is connected to PDN Gateway 172. PDN Gateway 172 provides UE IP address allocation as well as other functions. PDN Gateway 172 and BM-SC 170 are connected to IP Services 176, which may include, for example, the Internet, an intranet, an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) , a Packet Switched (PS) streaming service, and / or other IP services.
[0056] BM-SC 170 may provide functions for MBMS user service provisioning and delivery. BM-SC 170 may serve as an entry point for content provider MBMS transmission, may be used to authorize and initiate MBMS Bearer Services within a public land mobile network (PLMN) , and / or may be used to schedule MBMS transmissions. MBMS Gateway 168 may be used to distribute MBMS traffic to the BSs 102 belonging to a Multicast Broadcast Single Frequency Network (MBSFN) area broadcasting a particular service, and / or may be responsible for session management (start / stop) and for collecting eMBMS related charging information.
[0057] 5GC 190 may include various functional components, such as an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) 192, other AMFs 193, a Session Management Function (SMF) 194, and a User Plane Function (UPF) 195. AMF 192 may be in communication with Unified Data Management (UDM) 196.
[0058] AMF 192 is a control node that processes signaling between UEs 104 and 5GC 190. AMF 192 provides, for example, quality of service (QoS) flow and session management.
[0059] IP packets are transferred through UPF 195, which is connected to the IP Services 197. UPF 195 may provide UE IP address allocation as well as other functions for 5GC 190. IP Services 197 may include, for example, the Internet, an intranet, an IMS, a PS streaming service, and / or other IP services.
[0060] In various aspects, a network entity or network node can be implemented as an aggregated base station, as a disaggregated base station, a component of a base station, an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node, a relay node, a core network entity, or a sidelink node, to name a few examples.
[0061] FIG. 2 depicts an example disaggregated base station 200 architecture. The disaggregated base station 200 architecture may include one or more CUs 210 that can communicate directly with a core network 220 or other CUs 210 via a backhaul link (such as backhaul link 134) , or indirectly with the core network 220 through one or more disaggregated base station units (such as a Near-Real Time (Near-RT) RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) 225 via an E2 link, a Non-Real Time (Non-RT) RIC 215 associated with a Service Management and Orchestration (SMO) Framework 205, or both) . A CU 210 may communicate with one or more DUs 230 via respective midhaul links, such as an F1 interface. The DUs 230 may communicate with one or more RUs 240 via respective fronthaul links. The RUs 240 may communicate with respective UEs 104 via one or more radio frequency (RF) access links (such as communication link 120) . In some implementations, a UE 104 may be simultaneously served by multiple RUs 240.
[0062] Each of the units, e.g., the CUs 210, the DUs 230, the RUs 240, as well as the Near-RT RICs 225, the Non-RT RICs 215 and the SMO Framework 205, may include one or more interfaces or be coupled to one or more interfaces configured to receive or transmit signals, data, or information (collectively, signals) via a wired or wireless transmission medium. Each of the units, or a processor or controller providing instructions to the interfaces of the units, can be configured to communicate with one or more of the other units via the transmission medium. For example, the units can include a wired interface configured to receive or transmit signals over a wired transmission medium to one or more of the other units. Additionally or alternatively, the units can include a wireless interface, which may include a receiver, a transmitter, or a transceiver (such as a RF transceiver) , configured to receive or transmit signals, or both, over a wireless transmission medium.
[0063] In some aspects, the CU 210 may host one or more higher layer control functions. Such control functions can include radio resource control (RRC) , packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) , service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) , or the like. Each control function can be implemented with an interface configured to communicate signals with other control functions hosted by the CU 210. The CU 210 may be configured to handle user plane functionality (e.g., Central Unit –User Plane (CU-UP) ) , control plane functionality (e.g., Central Unit –Control Plane (CU-CP) ) , or a combination thereof. In some implementations, the CU 210 can be logically split into one or more CU-UP units and one or more CU-CP units. The CU-UP unit can communicate bidirectionally with the CU-CP unit via an interface, such as the E1 interface when implemented in an O-RAN configuration. The CU 210 can be implemented to communicate with the DU 230 for network control and signaling.
[0064] The DU 230 may be or correspond to a logical unit that includes one or more base station functions to control the operation of one or more RUs 240. In some aspects, the DU 230 may host one or more of a radio link control (RLC) layer, a medium access control (MAC) layer, and one or more high physical (PHY) layers (such as modules for forward error correction (FEC) encoding and decoding, scrambling, modulation and demodulation, or the like) depending, at least in part, on a functional split, such as those defined by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) . In some aspects, the DU 230 may further host one or more low PHY layers. Each layer (or module) can be implemented with an interface configured to communicate signals with other layers (and modules) hosted by the DU 230, or with the control functions hosted by the CU 210.
[0065] Lower-layer functionality can be implemented by one or more RUs 240. In some deployments, an RU 240, controlled by a DU 230, may correspond to a logical node that hosts RF processing functions, or low-PHY layer functions (such as performing fast Fourier transform (FFT) , inverse FFT (iFFT) , digital beamforming, physical random access channel (PRACH) extraction and filtering, or the like) , or both, based at least in part on the functional split, such as a lower layer functional split. In such an architecture, the RU (s) 240 can be implemented to handle over the air (OTA) communications with one or more UEs 104. In some implementations, real-time and non-real-time aspects of control and user plane communications with the RU (s) 240 can be controlled by the corresponding DU 230. In some scenarios, this configuration can enable the DU (s) 230 and the CU 210 to be implemented in a cloud-based RAN architecture, such as a vRAN architecture.
[0066] The SMO Framework 205 may be configured to support RAN deployment and provisioning of non-virtualized and virtualized network elements. For non-virtualized network elements, the SMO Framework 205 may be configured to support the deployment of dedicated physical resources for RAN coverage requirements which may be managed via an operations and maintenance interface (such as an O1 interface) . For virtualized network elements, the SMO Framework 205 may be configured to interact with a cloud computing platform (such as an open cloud (O-Cloud) 290) to perform network element life cycle management (such as to instantiate virtualized network elements) via a cloud computing platform interface (such as an O2 interface) . Such virtualized network elements can include, but are not limited to, CUs 210, DUs 230, RUs 240 and Near-RT RICs 225. In some implementations, the SMO Framework 205 can communicate with a hardware aspect of a 4G RAN, such as an open eNB (O-eNB) 211, via an O1 interface. Additionally, in some implementations, the SMO Framework 205 can communicate directly with one or more DUs 230 and / or one or more RUs 240 via an O1 interface. The SMO Framework 205 also may include a Non-RT RIC 215 configured to support functionality of the SMO Framework 205.
[0067] The Non-RT RIC 215 may be configured to include a logical function that enables non-real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources, Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning (AI / ML) workflows including model training and updates, or policy-based guidance of applications / features in the Near-RT RIC 225. The Non-RT RIC 215 may be coupled to or communicate with (such as via an A1 interface) the Near-RT RIC 225. The Near-RT RIC 225 may be configured to include a logical function that enables near-real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources via data collection and actions over an interface (such as via an E2 interface) connecting one or more CUs 210, one or more DUs 230, or both, as well as an O-eNB, with the Near-RT RIC 225.
[0068] In some implementations, to generate AI / ML models to be deployed in the Near-RT RIC 225, the Non-RT RIC 215 may receive parameters or external enrichment information from external servers. Such information may be utilized by the Near-RT RIC 225 and may be received at the SMO Framework 205 or the Non-RT RIC 215 from non-network data sources or from network functions. In some examples, the Non-RT RIC 215 or the Near-RT RIC 225 may be configured to tune RAN behavior or performance. For example, the Non-RT RIC 215 may monitor long-term trends and patterns for performance and employ AI / ML models to perform corrective actions through the SMO Framework 205 (such as reconfiguration via O1) or via creation of RAN management policies (such as A1 policies) .
[0069] FIG. 3 depicts aspects of network entities 300 and 302 and a UE 304.
[0070] FIG. 3 includes a first network entity 300 and a second network entity 302. In some examples, first network entity 300 may be an example of a CU 210 or a DU 230. In some examples, second network entity 302 may be an example of a DU 230 or an RU 240. First network entity 300 and second network entity 302 may communicate with one another via a communications link, such as a midhaul link. In some examples, first network entity 300 and second network entity 302 may be implemented at a same BS (e.g., BS 102) . For example, first network entity 300 and second network entity 302 may be co-located. In some other examples, first network entity 300 may be implemented separately from second network entity 302. For example, first network entity 300 may be implemented as a function (e.g., one or more processes) running on a server (e.g., in a cloud environment, such as a public or private cloud) . As another example, first network entity 300 may be implemented as a server (e.g., as a physical server or as a virtual computing instance, such as a virtual machine or a container) ) separate from second network entity 302.
[0071] First network entity 300 and second network entity 302 each include one or more processors 306 (illustrated as “processor (s) 306a” and “processor (s) 306b” ) and one or more memories 308 (illustrated as “one or more memories 308a” and “one or more memories 308b” ) coupled to the one or more processors 306. The one or more processors 306 may implement various functions described herein related to wireless communications or other operations of a network entity. For example, the one or more processors 306 may include or implement one or more controllers / processors, one or more modems, one or more AI processors, one or more schedulers, one or more control functions, one or more network controllers, one or more application processors, or the like. In some aspects, the one or more processors 306 may perform processing (such as digital signal processing) of data, control information, or signals received or transmitted by a network entity. For example, the one or more processors 306 may include a coder, a decoder, a multiplexer, a demultiplexer, a transmit MIMO processor, a transmit processor, a receive processor, a receive MIMO detector, an automatic gain control component, or the like.
[0072] The one or more memories 308 may include one or more memory devices, memory blocks, memory elements or other discrete gate or transistor logic or circuitry, each of which may include tangible storage media such as random-access memory (RAM) or read-only memory (ROM) , or combinations thereof (all of which may be generally referred to herein individually as “memories” or collectively as “the memory” or “the memory circuitry” ) . The one or more memories 308 may store data and program code for first network entity 300 and / or second network entity 302.
[0073] As further shown, second network entity 302 includes one or more transceivers 310. Transceiver 310 may perform processing related to implementing physical layer (e.g., radio, air interface) communication with other devices such as UE 304. Transceiver 310 may include one or more radio frequency (RF) components, such as an RF transceiver, a front-end module (e.g., an RF front-end (RFFE) ) , or the like. For example, transceiver 310 may include a transmit path (also referred to as a transmit chain) , a receive path (also referred to as a receive chain) , and / or an interface with one or more antennas 312.
[0074] The one or more antennas 312 may perform wireless transmission and reception of signals. The one or more antennas 312 may include, or may be included within, one or more antenna panels, one or more antenna groups, one or more sets of antenna elements, or one or more antenna arrays, among other examples. An antenna panel, an antenna group, a set of antenna elements, or an antenna array may include one or more antenna elements (within a single housing or multiple housings) , a set of coplanar antenna elements, a set of non-coplanar antenna elements, or one or more antenna elements coupled with one or more transmission or reception components, such as one or more components of FIG. 3.
[0075] UE 304 may be an example of UE 104. As shown, UE 304 includes one or more processors 314, one or more memories 316, one or more antennas 318, one or more transceivers 320, and / or other aspects, which enable wireless transmission and reception of data.
[0076] The one or more processors 314 may be, or may include, a chip, a system on chip (SoC) , a system in package (SiP) , a chipset, a package, or a device. As shown, in some examples, the one or more processors 314 may include one or more modems 322, one or more application processors (APs) 324, one or more AI processors 326, a combination thereof, and / or another form of processor.
[0077] Modem 322 may include a digital signal processor that converts information into a waveform for analog signal transmission (e.g., via modulation) and / or converts the waveform of a received signal into information (e.g., via demodulation) . Modem 322 may process information or waveforms in connection with signal transmission or reception. For example, modem 322 may include a coder, a decoder, a multiplexer, a demultiplexer, a transmit MIMO processor, a transmit processor, a receive processor, a receive MIMO detector, an automatic gain control component, or the like.
[0078] AP 324 may perform processing relating to an operating system and / or a higher layer application of the UE 304. For example, AP 324 may provide a higher-level operating system (HLOS) , software, audio or video processing, graphics processing, or the like. In some examples, AP 324 may be a data source (e.g., for transmissions) or a data sink (e.g., for receptions) .
[0079] Transceiver 320 may perform processing related to implementing physical layer (e.g., radio, air interface) communication with other devices such as other UEs 304 or second network entity 302. Transceiver 320 may include one or more RF components, such as an RF transceiver, a front-end module (e.g., an RFFE) , or the like. For example, transceiver 320 may include a transmit path (also referred to as a transmit chain) , a receive path (also referred to as a receive chain) , and / or an interface with one or more antennas 318.
[0080] The one or more antennas 318 may perform wireless transmission and reception of signals. The one or more antennas 318 may include, or may be included within, one or more antenna panels, one or more antenna groups, one or more sets of antenna elements, or one or more antenna arrays, among other examples. An antenna panel, an antenna group, a set of antenna elements, or an antenna array may include one or more antenna elements (within a single housing or multiple housings) , a set of coplanar antenna elements, a set of non-coplanar antenna elements, or one or more antenna elements coupled with one or more transmission or reception components, such as one or more components of FIG. 3.
[0081] For an example downlink transmission by second network entity 302, the one or more processors 306b (e.g., a transmit processor) may receive data and / or control information. The control information may be for the physical broadcast channel (PBCH) , physical control format indicator channel (PCFICH) , physical hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) indicator channel (PHICH) , physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) , group common PDCCH (GC PDCCH) , and / or others. The data may be for the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) , in some examples.
[0082] The one or more processors 306b (e.g., the transmit processor) may process (e.g., encode and symbol map) the data and control information to obtain data symbols and control symbols, respectively. The one or more processors 306b may also generate reference symbols, such as for the primary synchronization signal (PSS) , secondary synchronization signal (SSS) , PBCH demodulation reference signal (DMRS) , or channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) .
[0083] The one or more processors 306b (e.g., a TX MIMO processor) may perform spatial processing (e.g., precoding) on the data symbols, the control symbols, and / or the reference symbols, if applicable, and may provide output symbol streams to one or more modulators of the one or more processors 306b. The one or more modulators may process one or more respective output symbol streams to obtain an output sample stream. Transceiver 310 may process (e.g., convert to analog, amplify, filter, and upconvert) the output sample stream to obtain a downlink signal. Second network entity 302 may transmit the downlink signal via antenna 312.
[0084] In order to receive the downlink transmission at UE 304 (or a sidelink transmission from another UE) , antenna 318 may receive the downlink signal and may provide received signals to transceiver 320. Transceiver 320 may condition (e.g., filter, amplify, downconvert, and digitize) the received signals to obtain input samples. Transceiver 320 and / or the one or more processors 314 may further process the input samples to obtain received symbols.
[0085] The one or more processors 314 (e.g., modem 322, an RX MIMO detector) may obtain the received symbols, perform MIMO detection on the received symbols if applicable, and provide detected symbols. The one or more processors 314 (e.g., modem 322, a receive processor) may process (e.g., de-interleave and decode) the detected symbols. The one or more processors 314 may provide decoded data for the UE 304 (e.g., to an AP 324) and / or decoded control information (e.g., to a controller / processor of the one or more processors 314) .
[0086] For an example uplink transmission or a sidelink transmission from UE 304, the one or more processors 314 (e.g., modem 322, a transmit processor) may receive and process data and / or control information to obtain a set of symbols for transmission. The data may be for the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) , and may be received from a data source such as the AP 324. The control information may be for the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) , and may be received, for example, from a controller / processor of the one or more processors 314. The one or more processors 314 (e.g., modem 322, the transmit processor) may also generate reference symbols for a reference signal (e.g., for a sounding reference signal (SRS) , a demodulation reference signal, a phase tracking reference signal, or the like) . In some examples, the symbols and / or reference signals may be precoded by the one or more processors 314 (e.g., modem 322, a TX MIMO processor) , further processed by transceiver 320 (e.g., for SC-FDM) , and transmitted to second network entity 302.
[0087] At second network entity 302, the uplink signals from UE 304 may be received by antenna 312, conditioned by transceiver 310 (e.g., filtered, amplified, downconverted, and digitized) , detected (e.g., by the one or more processors 306b such as a modem and / or an RX MIMO detector) , and further processed by the one or more processors 306b (e.g., a modem and / or a receive processor) to obtain decoded data and control information sent by UE 304. The one or more processors 306b may provide the decoded data and the decoded control information (such as to a controller / processor of the one or more processors 306b, an AP, first network entity 300, or another entity) .
[0088] In various aspects, first network entity 300, second network entity 302, or BS 102 may be described as transmitting or receiving various types of data associated with the methods described herein. In these contexts, “transmitting” may refer to various mechanisms of outputting data, such as outputting data from the one or more processors 306, memory 308, transceiver 310, antenna 312, and / or other aspects described herein. Similarly, “receiving” may refer to various mechanisms of obtaining data, such as obtaining data from the one or more processors 306, memory 308, transceiver 310, antenna 312, and / or other aspects described herein. “Obtaining” may include receiving (wirelessly, via a wired connection, or both) directly or via another device, or can include to obtain internally by a process from memory. “Sending” may include transmitting (wirelessly, via a wired connection, or both) directly or via another device, or can include sending by a process to memory. “Communicating” can include obtaining or sending, and can include internal communication within a device or external communication with another device.
[0089] In various aspects, UE 304 or UE 104 may be described as transmitting or receiving various types of data associated with the methods described herein. In these contexts, “transmitting” may refer to various mechanisms of outputting data, such as outputting data from the one or more processors 314, memory 316, transceiver 320, antenna 318, and / or other aspects described herein. Similarly, “receiving” may refer to various mechanisms of obtaining data, such as obtaining data from the one or more processors 314, memory 316, transceiver 320, antenna 318, and / or other aspects described herein.
[0090] In various aspects, the one or more processors 306 or 314 may include one or more AI processors (such as AI processor 326 of the one or more processors 314) . An AI processor may perform AI processing. The AI processor may include AI accelerator hardware or circuitry such as one or more neural processing units (NPUs) , one or more neural network processors, one or more tensor processors, one or more deep learning processors, etc. As an example, the AI processor may perform AI-based beam management, AI-based channel state feedback (CSF) , AI-based antenna tuning, and / or AI-based positioning (e.g., non-line of sight positioning prediction) . In some cases, at the UE 104, the AI processor may process feedback generated by the UE 104 (e.g., CSF) using hardware accelerated AI inferences and / or AI training. In some cases, at the BS 102, the AI processor may decode compressed CSF from the UE 104, for example, using a hardware accelerated AI inference associated with the CSF. In certain cases, the AI processor may perform certain RAN-based functions including, for example, network planning, network performance management, energy-efficient network operations, etc.
[0091] A UE 304 and / or a network entity 300 / 302 may include one or more chips, system-on-chips (SoCs) , chipsets, packages, or devices that individually or collectively constitute or comprise a processing system. The processing system includes processor (or “processing” ) circuitry in the form of one or multiple processors, microprocessors, processing units (such as central processing units (CPUs) , graphics processing units (GPUs) , NPUs and / or digital signal processors (DSPs) ) , processing blocks, application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) , programmable logic devices (PLDs) (such as field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) ) , or other discrete gate or transistor logic or circuitry (all of which may be generally referred to herein individually as “processors” or collectively as “the processor” or “the processor circuitry” ) . One or more of the processors may be individually or collectively configurable or configured to perform various functions or operations described herein. A group of processors collectively configurable or configured to perform a set of functions may include a first processor configurable or configured to perform a first function of the set and a second processor configurable or configured to perform a second function of the set, or may include the group of processors all being configured or configurable to perform the set of functions.
[0092] The processing system may further include memory circuitry in the form of one or more memory devices, memory blocks, memory elements or other discrete gate or transistor logic or circuitry, each of which may include tangible storage media such as random-access memory (RAM) or read-only memory (ROM) , or combinations thereof (all of which may be generally referred to herein individually as “memories” or collectively as “the memory” or “the memory circuitry” ) . One or more of the memories may be coupled (for example, operatively coupled, communicatively coupled, electronically coupled, or electrically coupled) with one or more of the processors and may individually or collectively store processor-executable code (such as software) that, when executed by one or more of the processors, may configure one or more of the processors to perform various functions or operations described herein. Additionally or alternatively, in some examples, one or more of the processors may be preconfigured to perform various functions or operations described herein without requiring configuration by software. The processing system may further include or be coupled with one or more modems (such as a Wi-Fi (for example, IEEE compliant) modem or a cellular (for example, 3GPP 4G LTE, 5G, or 6G compliant) modem) . In some implementations, one or more processors of the processing system include or implement one or more of the modems. The processing system may further include or be coupled with multiple radios (collectively “the radio” ) , multiple RF chains, or multiple transceivers, each of which may in turn be coupled with one or more of multiple antennas. In some implementations, one or more processors of the processing system include or implement one or more of the radios, RF chains or transceivers. The UE 304 may include or may be included in a housing that houses components associated with the UE 304 including the processing system.
[0093] As shown, network entity 302 or UE 304 may include or otherwise be associated with a communication manager 151, which is described in more detail in connection with FIG. 1. As shown, UE 304 may include or otherwise be associated with a communication manager 153, as described in more detail in connection with FIG. 1.
[0094] FIGS. 4A, 4B, 4C, and 4D depict aspects of data structures for a wireless communications network, such as wireless communications network 100 of FIG. 1.
[0095] FIG. 4A is a diagram 400 illustrating an example of a first subframe within a 5G (e.g., 5G NR) frame structure, FIG. 4B is a diagram 430 illustrating an example of DL channels within a 5G subframe, FIG. 4C is a diagram 450 illustrating an example of a second subframe within a 5G frame structure, and FIG. 4D is a diagram 480 illustrating an example of UL channels within a 5G subframe.
[0096] Wireless communications systems may utilize orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) with a cyclic prefix (CP) on the uplink and downlink. Such systems may also support half-duplex operation using time division duplexing (TDD) . OFDM and single-carrier frequency division multiplexing (SC-FDM) partition the system bandwidth (e.g., as depicted in FIGS. 4B and 4D) into multiple orthogonal subcarriers. One or more subcarriers may be modulated with data. Modulation symbols may be sent in the frequency domain with OFDM and / or in the time domain with SC-FDM.
[0097] In some examples, a wireless communications frame structure may be implemented using frequency division duplexing (FDD) . In FDD, some subcarriers may be configured for DL communication, and other subcarriers (which may overlap in time with the DL subcarriers) may be configured for UL communication. In some other examples, wireless communications frame structures may be implemented using time division duplexing (TDD) . In TDD, for a particular set of subcarriers, some subframes are configured for DL communication and other subframes are configured for UL communication.
[0098] In FIGs. 4A and 4C, the wireless communications frame structure is implemented using TDD. “D” indicates DL time resources, “U” indicates UL time resources, and “X” indicates flexible time resources for use or later reconfiguration for either DL or UL communication. UEs may be configured with a slot format through a received slot format indicator (SFI) (dynamically through DL control information (DCI) , or semi-statically / statically through radio resource control (RRC) signaling) . In the depicted examples, a 10 ms frame is divided into 10 equally sized 1 ms subframes. Each subframe may include one or more time slots. In some examples, each slot may include 12 or 14 symbols, depending on the cyclic prefix (CP) type (e.g., 12 symbols per slot for an extended CP or 14 symbols per slot for a normal CP) . Subframes may also include mini-slots, which generally have fewer symbols than an entire slot. Other wireless communications technologies may have a different frame structure and / or different channels.
[0099] In certain aspects, the number of slots within a subframe (e.g., a slot duration in a subframe) is based on a numerology. A numerology may define a frequency domain subcarrier spacing and symbol duration, and may be configured for a given bandwidth part, carrier, cell, or network entity. In certain aspects, given a numerology μ, there are 2μ slots per subframe. Thus, numerologies (μ) 0 to 6 may allow for 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, and 64 slots, respectively, per subframe. In some cases, an extended CP (e.g., 12 symbols per slot) may be used with a specific numerology, such as numerology μ = 2 allowing for 4 slots per subframe. The subcarrier spacing and symbol length / duration are a function of the numerology. The subcarrier spacing may be equal to 2μ×15 kHz. As an example, the numerology μ=0 corresponds to a subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz, and the numerology μ=6 corresponds to a subcarrier spacing of 960 kHz. The symbol length / duration is inversely related to the subcarrier spacing. FIGS. 4A, 4B, 4C, and 4D provide an example of a slot format having 14 symbols per slot (e.g., a normal CP) and a numerology μ=2 with 4 slots per subframe. In such a case, the slot duration is 0.25 ms, the subcarrier spacing is 60 kHz, and the symbol duration is approximately 16.67 μs.
[0100] As depicted in FIGS. 4A, 4B, 4C, and 4D, a resource grid may be used to represent the frame structure. Each time slot includes a resource block (RB) (also referred to as a physical RB (PRB) ) that extends across, for example, 12 consecutive subcarriers. The resource grid is divided into multiple resource elements (REs) . An RE may include a single subcarrier in the frequency domain and a single symbol in the time domain. The number of bits carried by each RE depends on the modulation scheme including, for example, quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) or quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) .
[0101] As illustrated in FIG. 4A, some of the REs carry reference (pilot) signals (shown as “RS” ) for a UE (e.g., UE 104 of FIGS. 1 and 3) . The RS may include a demodulation RS (DMRS) and / or a channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS) for channel estimation at the UE. The RS may additionally or alternatively include a beam measurement RS (BRS) , a beam refinement RS (BRRS) , and / or a phase tracking RS (PT-RS) .
[0102] FIG. 4B illustrates an example of various DL channels within a subframe of a frame. The physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) carries DCI within one or more control channel elements (CCEs) , each CCE including, for example, nine RE groups (REGs) , each REG including, for example, four consecutive REs in an OFDM symbol.
[0103] A primary synchronization signal (PSS) may be within symbol 2 of particular subframes of a frame. The PSS is used by a UE (e.g., 104 of FIGS. 1 and 3) to determine subframe / symbol timing and a physical layer identity.
[0104] A secondary synchronization signal (SSS) may be within symbol 4 of particular subframes of a frame. The SSS is used by a UE to determine a physical layer cell identity group number and radio frame timing.
[0105] Based on the physical layer identity and the physical layer cell identity group number, the UE can determine a physical cell identifier (PCI) . Based on the PCI, the UE can determine the locations of the aforementioned DMRS. The physical broadcast channel (PBCH) , which carries a master information block (MIB) , may be logically grouped with the PSS and SSS to form a synchronization signal (SS) / PBCH block (SSB) , and in some cases, referred to as a synchronization signal block (SSB) . The MIB provides a number of RBs in the system bandwidth and a system frame number (SFN) . The physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) carries user data, broadcast system information not transmitted through the PBCH such as system information blocks (SIBs) , and / or paging messages.
[0106] As illustrated in FIG. 4C, some of the REs carry DMRS (indicated as “R” for one particular configuration, but other DMRS configurations are possible) for channel estimation at the base station. The UE may transmit DMRS for the PUCCH and DMRS for the PUSCH. The PUSCH DMRS may be transmitted, for example, in the first one or two symbols of the PUSCH. The PUCCH DMRS may be transmitted in different configurations depending on whether short or long PUCCHs are transmitted and depending on the particular PUCCH format used. UE 104 may transmit sounding reference signals (SRS) . The SRS may be transmitted, for example, in the last symbol of a subframe. The SRS may have a comb structure, and a UE may transmit SRS on one of the combs. The SRS may be used by a base station for channel quality estimation to enable frequency-dependent scheduling on the UL.
[0107] FIG. 4D illustrates an example of various UL channels within a subframe of a frame. The PUCCH may be located as indicated in one configuration. The PUCCH carries uplink control information (UCI) , such as scheduling requests, a channel quality indicator (CQI) , a precoding matrix indicator (PMI) , a rank indicator (RI) , and HARQ ACK / NACK feedback. The PUSCH carries data, and may additionally be used to carry a buffer status report (BSR) , a power headroom report (PHR) , and / or UCI.
[0108] In some examples, wireless communications network 100 may facilitate communications between a reader 150 and a device 152. Such communication may be transmitted via a physical channel. For example, R2D communications (from the reader 150 to the device 152) may be transmitted via a physical R2D channel (PRDCH) , and D2R communications (from the device 152 to the reader 150) may be transmitted via a physical D2R channel (PDRCH) .
[0109] FIG. 5 depicts example components 500 of an energy-harvesting-capable UE. Various example components 500 may be incorporated into devices such as ambient IoT devices. The energy-harvesting-capable UE or another device incorporating example components 500 may be an example of UE 104 or UE 304.
[0110] In this example, components 512-518 are aspects of a data transmission pipeline. In particular, antenna (s) 512 (which may be an example of an antenna 318) and RF transceiver (s) 514 (e.g., a low power RF transceiver, transceiver 320) may transmit and / or receive data. Microcontroller 516 (e.g., a low power microcontroller, which may be an example of one or more processors 314) may process data received from an application 518 (which may be an example of application processor 324) .
[0111] Further in this example, components 522-528 are aspects of an RF-energy-harvesting pipeline. In particular, antenna 522 and an RF energy harvester 524 are configured to harvest RF energy. In some aspects, RF energy harvester 524 includes an impedance matching circuit 532, a voltage multiplier 534, and / or a capacitor 536 to collect RF signals and convert them into electricity. In some aspects, a power management module 526 determines whether to store the electricity obtained from the RF energy harvester 524 or to use the electricity for information transmission immediately. In this example, energy storage 528 (e.g., a battery or a capacitor) is configured to store energy converted by the RF energy harvester 524.
[0112] As above, in various aspects, a device which may be referred to as an ambient IoT UE may include the components depicted and described with respect to FIG. 5. In some aspects, a device which may be referred to as a passive IoT UE may omit certain aspects depicted and described with respect to FIG. 5, such as energy storage 528. Further, while multiple antennas (512 and 522) are depicted in this example, in others, a single antenna and antenna switching component may be used to share the antenna between transceiver 514 and RF energy harvester 524, such as described further with respect to FIGs. 6A-6C. “Device, ” as used herein, may refer to an ambient IoT UE or a passive IoT UE.
[0113] FIGs. 6A-6C depicts aspects 610, 620, and 630 relating to different RF energy harvesting and RF communication architectures for an energy-harvesting-capable device, such as an ambient IoT UE. The energy-harvesting-capable UE or another device incorporating example components 500 may be an example of UE 104 or UE 304.
[0114] In particular, aspect 610 depicts antenna 612 connected to time switcher 614. In some aspects, time switcher 614 is configured to allow an energy harvesting-capable UE to switch between (1) being connected to information receiver 616 and (2) being connected to RF energy harvester 618. For example, the device may exchange wireless communication and RF energy at different, e.g., non-overlapping, times.
[0115] Aspect 620 depicts antenna 622 connected to power splitter 624. In some aspects, power splitter 624 is configured to allow an energy harvesting-capable device to distribute power between (1) information receiver 626 and (2) RF energy harvester 628. Thus, in this example, the device may exchange wireless communication and RF energy at overlapping times. For example, a received RF signal may be split into two streams, with one stream for the information receiver 626 and the other stream for the RF energy harvester 628.
[0116] Aspect 630 depicts an example separated receiver architecture. In particular, a first set of antennas 632 is connected with an RF energy harvester 638 and a second set of antennas 634 is connected with information receiver 636. FIG. 5, described above, depicts a separated receiver architecture.
[0117] RF energy may be harvested from various signal types. For example, RF energy may be harvested via one or more of a deterministic signal (e.g., a pilot signal) , a random signal such as a circularly symmetric complex Gaussian random signal, and / or an improper complex Gaussian random signal (e.g., a signal in which real and imaginary components have different variances) .
[0118] In certain aspects, a device may communicate via on-off keying (OOK) modulation in order to facilitate a receive chain that is capable of operating at low powers and / or from harvested power, for example, as described herein with respect to FIGS. 5 and 6A-6C. OOK modulation may involve a chip rate. A chip rate may indicate a number of OOK on / off durations ( “chips” ) per time interval. A higher chip rate may convey more data than a lower chip rate at the cost of decreased reliability.
[0119] FIGs. 7A and 7B are diagrams illustrating an example 700 of feedback for R2D communications. Example 700 includes a device 705 (e.g., UE 104, UE 304, an ambient IoT device) and a reader 710 (e.g., UE 104, UE 304, BS 102, network entity 300, network entity 302) . In example 700, the device 705 successfully decodes a communication, and feedback regarding the communication includes a second value. The second value may be in addition to a first value that indicates a decoding result of the communication. In example 700, the decoding result indicates that that the communication was successfully decoded.
[0120] As shown in FIG. 7A, the reader 710 transmits a communication 715. The communication 715 may be an R2D communication. As shown, the communication includes a command 720. The command 720 may indicate an action. The action may include, for example, an online modification of a medical instrument status, a device activation, a device deactivation, a device permanent deactivation, or the like.
[0121] As shown by reference number 725, the device 705 successfully decodes the communication 715. Thus, the device 705 may identify the command 720 and / or the action indicated by the command 720.
[0122] As shown by reference number 730, the device 705 may, or may not, perform the action indicated by the command 720. In some aspects, the device 705 may perform the action. For example, the device 705 may enter a deactivated state in accordance with the command 720. As another example, the device 705 may enter an activated state in accordance with the command 720. As another example, the device 705 may enter a permanently deactivated state in accordance with the command 720. As another example, the device 705 may perform an online modification.
[0123] In some other aspects, the device 705 may not perform the action. In such aspects, the device 705 may not perform the action for a variety of reasons. For example, the device may have insufficient power to perform the action. As another example, the command 720 may include an unsupported parameter. An unsupported parameter may be a parameter that the device 705 cannot parse or is not configured to use.
[0124] As shown, the device 705 may transmit, and the reader 710 may receive, feedback 735. As further shown, the feedback 735 includes a first value 740 and a second value 745. The first value 740 may indicate a decoding result for the communication 715. In example 700, the first value 740 indicates a positive decoding result, such as an ACK, since decoding of the communication 715 is successful in example 700. In some aspects, the feedback 735 includes a single second value 745. In some other aspects, the feedback 735 includes multiple second values 745. In some aspects, the device 705 may transmit the feedback 735 via a D2R Layer 1 control signal. For example, the D2R Layer 1 control signal may be defined for the ACK / NACK response. In some aspects, the device 705 may transmit the feedback 735 via a MAC control element (MAC-CE) . For example, the MAC-CE may be defined for the ACK / NACK response. In some aspects, the device 705 may transmit the first value 835 via a D2R Layer 1 control signal and the second value 745 via a MAC-CE. For example, a bit of the first value 740 (e.g., a single-bit ACK / NACK) may indicate whether the device 705 successfully decoded R2D data (e.g., of the communication 715) .
[0125] In example 700, the second value 745 includes information indicating whether the action indicated by the command 720 was successfully executed. In some examples, the second value 745 also includes information regarding whether the action was successfully executed. Examples of potential second values 745, and respective information indicated by each potential second value 745, are provided in table 750 of FIG. 7B.
[0126] As shown, a first second value 745 (shown as an ACK code of 0) may indicate that the action indicated by the command 720 was successfully executed, and that the device 705 is associated with lower than a threshold power budget. Thus, the first second value 745 may indicate a remaining power budget of the device 705. A power budget may indicate an amount of available power for communication or other operations. For example, the first second value 745 may indicate that the device 705 is associated with no remaining power budget.
[0127] As shown, a second second value 745 (shown as an ACK code of 1) may indicate that the action indicated by the command 720 was successfully executed, and that the device 705 is ready for subsequent communication (shown as an R2D or D2R (R2D / D2R) time) after a shorter time duration. The shorter time duration may be configured by the reader 710, defined in a wireless communication specification, or the like. In some aspects, the shorter time duration may be shorter than a longer duration interval described with regard to a third second value 745.
[0128] As shown, a third second value 745 (shown as an ACK code of 2) may indicate that the action indicated by the command 720 was successfully executed, and that the device 705 is ready for subsequent communication (shown as an R2D / D2R time) after a longer time duration. The longer time duration may be configured by the reader 710, defined in a wireless communication specification, or the like. The longer time duration and the shorter time duration may be referred to as time durations associated with a subsequent communication.
[0129] As shown, a fourth second value 745 (shown as an ACK code of 3) may indicate that the action indicated by the command 720 was successfully executed, and to perform segmentation for a subsequent communication (e.g., subsequent communication 755) . Segmentation may include dividing the subsequent communication into a plurality of segments or communications, and may be beneficial to reduce processing burden and energy expenditure at the device 705. For example, performing segmentation for a communication may include dividing a transport block of the communication into multiple sub-transport-blocks, or dividing a single transmission of the communication into multiple transmissions.
[0130] As shown, a fifth second value 745 (shown as an ACK code of 4) may indicate that the command 720, or an action indicated by the command 720, is being performed. For example, the fifth second value 745 may indicate that the action has not been executed, but is in processing and / or is currently being performed.
[0131] Below, a sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth second value 745 are described. Each of these may indicate that the action was not executed, and may indicate a reason that the command 720 or action was not successfully executed.
[0132] As shown, a sixth second value 745 (shown as an ACK code of 5) may indicate that the action was not executed, and may indicate a reason associated with an unsupported parameter. For example, the reason may be that the command 720 or the action includes an unsupported parameter.
[0133] As shown, a seventh second value 745 (shown as an ACK code of 6) may indicate that the action was not executed, and may indicate a reason associated with a memory lock or a memory overrun. A memory lock may be a state in which a memory of the device 705 is locked, such as in a read-only state. A memory overrun may be a state in which the memory of the device 705 is unavailable, such as due to the memory being fully utilized or occupied. The reason may be that the device 705 is currently configured with the memory lock or the memory overrun.
[0134] As shown, an eighth second value 745 (shown as an ACK code of 7) may indicate that the action was not executed, and may indicate a reason associated with an insufficient power state. For example, the eighth second value 745 may indicate that a power budget of the device 705 is insufficient to perform the action indicated by the command 720.
[0135] As shown, a ninth second value 745 (shown as an ACK code of 8) may indicate that the action was not executed, and may indicate a reason associated with a security timeout. For example, the device 705 may maintain a security configuration (e.g., a connection, a security context) with the reader 710. If this security configuration has timed out or otherwise become invalid, the device 705 may be unable to perform the action. The reason may indicate that the security configuration has timed out or otherwise become invalid.
[0136] As shown, in some aspects, the reader 710 may transmit, and the device 705 may receive, a subsequent communication 755. In some aspects, the subsequent communication 755 may be based at least in part on the feedback 735. For example, the subsequent communication 755 may be received in accordance with the shorter time interval when the feedback 735 includes ACK code 1. As another example, the subsequent communication 755 may be received in accordance with the longer time interval when the feedback 735 includes ACK code 2. Additional description of the timeline for the subsequent communication 755 is provided elsewhere herein. As another example, the subsequent communication 755 may be associated with a segmentation configuration when the feedback 735 includes ACK code 3. As another example, the subsequent communication 755 may indicate an action that is compatible with supported parameters of the device 705 when the feedback 735 indicates ACK code 5. As another example, the subsequent communication 755 may be transmitted after a memory lock or overrun has been resolved in response to the feedback 735 indicating ACK code 6. As another example, the subsequent communication 755 may be transmitted after power has been accumulated at the device 705 in response to the feedback 735 indicating ACK code 7. As another example, the subsequent communication 755 may be transmitted after a security configuration has been reestablished or a security timer has been reset in response to the feedback 735 indicating ACK code 8.
[0137] In this way, by providing ACK code 0, the device 705 facilitates efficient communication without overwhelming a power budget of the device 705. By providing ACK codes 1 or 2, the device 705 supports communication between the device 705 and the reader 710 on an appropriate timeline. By providing ACK code 3, the device 705 supports usage of segmentation when appropriate, thereby increasing reliability and / or reducing overhead. By providing ACK code 4, the device 705 may avoid a retransmission of the command 720, thereby reducing overhead. By providing ACK code 5, the device 705 may improve conformance with capabilities of the device 705. By providing ACK code 6, the device 705 may improve memory utilization of the device 705. By providing ACK code 7, the device 705 may improve power budget utilization. By providing ACK code 8, the device 705 may avoid retransmissions of a command 720 while reestablishing a security configuration. More generally, by providing the second value 745, efficiency and reliability of R2D communications indicating commands 720 are improved.
[0138] FIGs. 8A and 8B are diagrams illustrating an example 800 of feedback for R2D communications. Example 800 includes a device 805 (e.g., UE 104, UE 304, an ambient IoT device) and a reader 810 (e.g., UE 104, UE 304, BS 102, network entity 300, network entity 302) . In example 800, the device 805 fails to decode a communication such as an R2D communication, and feedback regarding the communication includes a second value in addition to a first value that indicates a failure to decode the communication.
[0139] As shown in FIG. 8A, the reader 810 may transmit a communication 815. As shown, the communication includes a command 820. The command 820 may indicate an action. The action may include, for example, any one or more of the actions described with regard to FIGs. 7A-7B.
[0140] As shown by reference number 825, the device 805 fails to decode the communication 815. The device 805 may fail to decode the communication for a variety of reasons. For example, the communication 815 may use a chip rate (which may indicate a number of “chips, ” also referred to as symbols or on / off states, in a time interval) that is higher than can be decoded by the device 805 given channel conditions or capabilities of the device 805. As another example, the communication 815 may be received at a signal to interference and noise ratio (SINR) that is lower than a threshold. As another example, the device 805 may have insufficient power to decode the communication 815.
[0141] As shown, the device 805 may transmit, and the reader 810 may receive, feedback 830. As further shown, the feedback 830 includes a first value 835 and a second value 840. The first value 835 may indicate a decoding result for the communication 815. In example 800, the first value 835 indicates a negative decoding result, such as a NACK, since decoding of the communication 815 is unsuccessful in example 800. In some aspects, the feedback 830 includes a single second value 840. In some other aspects, the feedback 830 includes multiple second values 840.
[0142] In example 800, the second value 840 includes information (referred to herein as second information) regarding a failure to decode the communication 815. For example, the second information may be associated with a failure to decode the communication. Examples of potential second values 840, and respective information indicated by each potential second value 840, are provided in table 845 of FIG. 8B.
[0143] As shown, a first second value 840 (shown as a NACK code of 0) may comprise an indication that a failure to decode the communication 815 (shown as a PRDCH) is associated with a chip rate of the communication 815 being higher than a threshold for successfully decoding the communication 815.
[0144] As shown, a second second value 840 (shown as a NACK code of 1) may comprise an indication that a failure to decode the communication 815 is associated with an SINR of the communication 815 being lower than a threshold for successfully receiving the communication 815.
[0145] As shown, a third second value 840 (shown as a NACK code of 2) may comprise an indication that a failure to decode the communication 815 is associated with insufficient power at the device 805. For example, the device 805 may be associated with an insufficient power budget to decode the communication 815.
[0146] As shown, a fourth second value 840 (shown as a NACK code of 3) may comprise an indication that a failure to decode the communication 815 is associated with a memory overrun or a memory lock. Memory locks and overruns are described in connection with FIG. 7. A memory lock or overrun may prevent the device 805 from successfully decoding the communication 815.
[0147] As shown, a fifth second value 840 (shown as a NACK code of 4) may comprise an indication to perform segmentation for a subsequent communication (e.g., subsequent communication 850) , which may for example be a retransmission of the communication 815. Segmentation is described in more detail elsewhere herein.
[0148] In some aspects, the device 805 may transmit the feedback 830 via a D2R Layer 1 control signal. For example, the D2R Layer 1 control signal may be defined for the ACK / NACK response. In some aspects, the device 805 may transmit the feedback 830 via a MAC control element (MAC-CE) . A MAC-CE is a data structure, provided via a data channel such as a physical device to reader channel (PDRCH) , that uses a defined format for particular information. For example, the MAC-CE may be defined for the ACK / NACK response. In some aspects, the device 805 may transmit the first value 835 via a D2R Layer 1 control signal and the second value 840 via a MAC-CE. For example, a bit of the first value 835 (e.g., a single-bit ACK / NACK) may indicate whether the device 805 successfully decoded R2D data (e.g., of the communication 815) .
[0149] As shown, in some aspects, the reader 810 may transmit, and the device 805 may receive, a subsequent communication 850. In some aspects, the subsequent communication 850 may be based at least in part on the feedback 830. For example, the subsequent communication 850 may use a lower data rate (e.g., chip rate) than the communication 815 when the feedback 830 includes NACK code 0. As another example, the subsequent communication 850 may use a higher transmit power than the communication 815 when the feedback 830 includes NACK code 1. As another example, the subsequent communication 850 may be transmitted after the device 805 has accumulated energy in response to the feedback 830 indicating NACK code 2. As another example, the subsequent communication 850 may be transmitted after a memory overrun or lock has been resolved in response to the feedback 830 indicating NACK code 3. As another example, the subsequent communication 850 may be associated with a segmentation configuration when the feedback 830 includes NACK code 4.
[0150] In this way, by providing the NACK code indicating the lower data rate, reliability of R2D communications is improved. By providing the NACK code indicating to use a higher transmit power, SINR may be improved or resource allocations may be modified such that reliability is improved. By providing the NACK code indicating insufficient power, the device 805 may be allowed time to accumulate energy, thereby reducing the occurrence of missed commands in a low power state. By providing the NACK code indicating the memory overrun or lock, compatibility with various memory states of the device 805 is improved, thereby improving operation of the device 805. By indicating to use the segmentation configuration, efficiency of communication with multiple devices 805 is improved. More generally, by providing the second value 840, efficiency and reliability of R2D communications indicating commands 820 are improved.
[0151] In some aspects, device 705 may transmit ACK-only feedback. For example, device 705 may provide the feedback 735 only if the feedback 735 includes an ACK (e.g., a positive decoding result) , and may skip transmission of feedback if the feedback indicates a NACK (e.g., a negative decoding result) . In some aspects, device 705 or device 805 may transmit ACK / NACK feedback. For example, device 705 or 805 may provide the feedback 735 if the feedback 735 includes an ACK, or may provide the feedback 830 if the feedback 830 includes a NACK. In some aspects, device 805 may provide NACK-only feedback. For example, device 805 may provide the feedback 830 only if the feedback 830 includes a NACK (e.g., a negative decoding result) , and may skip transmission of feedback if the feedback indicates an ACK.
[0152] In some aspects, device 705 or 805 may receive an indication of whether to provide ACK-only feedback (e.g., for a positive decoding result only) , NACK-only feedback (e.g., for a negative decoding result only) , or ACK / NACK feedback (e.g., for both the positive decoding result and the negative decoding result) . For example, device 705 or 805 may be configured (such as via RRC signaling) with the indication. As another example, device 705 or 805 may be pre-configured (such as by an original equipment manufacturer, network operator, or deployer of device 705 or 805) with the indication. As another example, device 705 or 805 may receive the indication via dynamic signaling, such as in an R2D Layer 1 message (e.g., an R2D Layer 1 control message) or in a message associated with an inventory operation (e.g., Message 0 or Message 4 of an inventory operation) . In some aspects, the indication may be specified in a wireless communication specification.
[0153] In some aspects, feedback 735 or 830 may always include a second value 745 or 840. In some other aspects, device 705 or 805 may receive an indication of whether feedback 735 or 830 is to include the second value 745 or 840. For example, device 705 or 805 may receive the indication via an R2D Layer 1 message (e.g., an R2D Layer 1 control message may dynamically indicate whether an ACK / NACK code should be transmitted or not) . Device 705 or 805 may include the second value 745 or 840 in the feedback 735 or 830 in accordance with the indication. Thus, device 705 or 805 may be provided an indication of whether to provide the first value 740 or 835, or the second value 745 or 840.
[0154] The device 705 or 805 may transmit the feedback 735 or 830 in accordance with (e.g., on) a resource allocation. For example, the resource allocation may be for the feedback 735 / 830, a first value 740 / 835, a second value 745 / 840, or a combination thereof. In some aspects, the device 705 or 805 may receive an indication of the resource allocation. For example, the device 705 or 805 may receive the indication via an R2D Layer 1 message (e.g., an R2D Layer 1 control message) . In some aspects, the resource allocation may be a periodic resource. For example, the device 705 or 805 may be configured with the periodic resource. Configuration may include explicit configuration (e.g., via RRC signaling) or pre-configuration (such as by an original equipment manufacturer, network operator, or deployer of the device 705 or 805) . In some aspects, the device 705 or 805 may be configured with a periodic resource and may receive an indication of a dynamic resource allocation. For example, the device 705 may be configured with a periodic resource and may transmit a first value 740 / 835 on the periodic resource, and may receive an indication of a dynamic resource allocation and may transmit the second value 745 / 840 on the dynamic resource allocation.
[0155] In some aspects, the periodic resource may be associated with a minimum time gap between the communication 715 / 815 and the periodic resource. For example, the minimum time gap may be configured (e.g., explicitly or via pre-configuration) , as described above. As another example, the minimum time gap may be defined (e.g., pre-defined, such as in a wireless communication specification) . As another example, the minimum time gap may be dynamically indicated by the reader (e.g., which may be suitable for devices with higher clock reliability, such as device types 2a / 2b) . In some aspects, a same time gap may be used for all types of devices 705 / 805 (e.g., a first type having no energy storage and backscatter based communication, a second type having energy storage and backscatter based communication, and a third type having energy storage and a capability to generate a transmitted signal internally) . In some aspects, a first time gap may be used for a first type of device 705 / 805 and a second time gap (different than the first time gap) may be used for a second type of device 705 / 805. For example, the minimum gap time for device types 2a / 2b may be shorter than the minimum gap time for device type 1 / 2a. As a result, the different types of devices 705 / 805 may transmit feedback in different periodic resources. This may help the reader, by not having to distinguish between confirmatory responses sent at the same time, thus accounting for different decoding capabilities and clock capabilities of different types of devices.
[0156] In some aspects, the device 705 / 805 may receive a triggering signal associated with a periodic resource. For example, the triggering signal may indicate for the device 705 / 805 to transmit the feedback 735 / 830 in the periodic resource. In some aspects, the device 705 / 805 may transmit the feedback 735 / 830 in a first (e.g., earliest) valid periodic resource (that satisfies the minimum time gap) after the end of reception of the communication 715 / 815 and reception of the triggering signal. In some aspects, the device 705 / 805 may transmit the feedback 735 / 830 in a first (e.g., earliest) valid periodic resource after decoding the communication 715 / 815. In such aspects, the device 705 / 805 may transmit the feedback 735 / 830 after a number of triggering signals have been received and after receiving or decoding the communication 715 / 815. For example, the number of triggering signals may be configured, defined (e.g., in a wireless communication specification) , or signaled via control information that schedules the communication 715 / 815.
[0157] FIGs. 9A and 9B are diagrams illustrating an example structure 900 for feedback 735 carrying an ACK, and an example structure 905 for feedback 830 carrying a NACK.
[0158] Each column of structure 900 and structure 905 corresponds to a field of a respective feedback message (e.g., feedback 735 or feedback 830) . Row 910a and row 910b indicate example numbers of bits for each field. Row 915a and row 915b indicate example content (e.g., values) of each field.
[0159] As shown by reference number 920a, structure 900 may include a header. The header may include one bit. In some aspects, the header may include multiple bits. The bit may be set to a first bit value ( “1” in structure 900) to indicate an ACK (e.g., a successful decoding result) . The header and / or the bit may be an example of first value 740 of feedback 735. As shown by reference number 925a, structure 900 may include an ACK code field, which may use up to 8 bits in some aspects (e.g., 2 bits, 3 bits, 4 bits, 5 bits, 6 bits, 7 bits, 8 bits, etc. ) . For example, the ACK code may be included if the header indicates an ACK. The ACK code may be an example of second value 745 of feedback 735, and may be selected from table 750. As shown by reference number 930a, structure 900 may include a device identifier field, which may include, for example, 16 bits indicating a device identifier of device 705. As shown by reference number 935a, structure 900 may include a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) field, which may include, for example, 16 bits indicating a CRC value (e.g., CRC-16) .
[0160] As shown by reference number 920b, structure 905 may include a header. The header may include one bit. In some aspects, the header may include multiple bits. The bit may be set to a second bit value ( “0” in structure 905) to indicate a NACK (e.g., an unsuccessful decoding result) . The header and / or the bit may be an example of first value 835 of feedback 830. As shown by reference number 925b, structure 905 may include a NACK code field, which may use up to 8 bits in some aspects (e.g., 2 bits, 3 bits, 4 bits, 5 bits, 6 bits, 7 bits, 8 bits, etc. ) . For example, the NACK code may be included if the header indicates a NACK. The NACK code may be an example of second value 840 of feedback 830, and may be selected from table 845. As shown by reference number 930b, structure 905 may include a device identifier field, which may include, for example, 16 bits indicating a device identifier of device 805. As shown by reference number 935b, structure 905 may include a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) field, which may include, for example, 16 bits indicating a CRC value (e.g., CRC-16) .
[0161] In some aspects, the ACK code field (shown by reference number 925a) and the NACK code field (shown by reference number 925b) may have a same length. For example, a unified length may be defined for both ACK indication (e.g., ACK code indication) and NACK indication (e.g., NACK code indication) . If a set of usable code indexes of an ACK code or a NACK code does not fully utilize the ACK code field, then any unused code indexes may be reserved. For example, if ACK codes 0 through 8 are defined, and the ACK code field uses 4 bits (therefore supporting 16 ACK codes) , then ACK codes 9 through 15 may be reserved. This may be simpler to implement than separate lengths of ACK / NACK code fields. Thus, a length of feedback including first information (e.g., an ACK code) may be equal to a length of feedback including second information (e.g., a NACK code) .
[0162] In some aspects, the ACK code field may have a first length and the NACK code field may have a second length different than the first length. For example, the ACK code field may use M bits, and the NACK code field may use N bits, where M is different than N. This may reduce overhead relative to a unified length. Thus, a length of feedback including first information (e.g., an ACK code) may be different than a length of feedback including second information (e.g., a NACK code) .
[0163] FIGs. 10A-10C are diagrams illustrating examples 1000, 1005, and 1010, respectively, of structures of a message carrying feedback 735 or 830. In examples 1000 and 1005, dashed boxes indicate optional elements of the message.
[0164] In example 1000, feedback (including a first value 740 / 835 and a second value 745 / 840) may be carried in a D2R L1 message (e.g., a D2R L1 control message) , as indicated by reference number 1015. A D2R data message of example 1000 may be considered optional. In example 1005, feedback (including a first value 740 / 835 and a second value 745 / 840) may be carried in a D2R data message (e.g., in a MAC-CE of the D2R data message) , as indicated by reference number 1020. A D2R L1 message (e.g., a D2R L1 control message) of example 1005 may be considered optional. In example 1005, a first value 740 / 835 may be carried in a D2R L1 message (e.g., a D2R L1 control message) and a second value 745 / 840 may be carried in a D2R data message (e.g., in a MAC-CE of the D2R data message) , as indicated by reference numbers 1025 and 1030, respectively.
[0165] FIGs. 11A and 11B are diagrams illustrating examples 1100 of a time interval 1105 associated with a subsequent communication (e.g., subsequent communication 755 or 850) . Example 1100 includes an R2D communication 1110a / 1110b (e.g., communication 715, communication 815) , a D2R communication 1115a / 1115b (e.g., feedback 735, feedback 830) , and an R2D communication 1120a / 1120b (e.g., subsequent communication 755 or subsequent communication 850) .
[0166] A time interval 1105a may be defined between the R2D communication 1110a and the R2D communication 1120a. For example, the time interval 1105a may start at an end of the R2D communication 1110a and end at a beginning of the R2D communication 1120a. For example, the time interval 1105a may start at a beginning of the R2D communication 1110a and end at a beginning of the R2D communication 1120a. For example, the time interval 1105a may start at an end of the R2D communication 1110a and end at an end of the R2D communication 1120a. For example, the time interval 1105a may start at a beginning of the R2D communication 1110a and end at a beginning of the R2D communication 1120a.
[0167] A time interval 1105b may be defined between the D2R communication 1115b and the R2D communication 1120b. For example, the time interval 1105b may start at an end of the D2R communication 1115b and end at a beginning of the R2D communication 1120b. For example, the time interval 1105b may start at a beginning of the D2R communication 1115b and end at a beginning of the R2D communication 1120b. For example, the time interval 1105b may start at an end of the D2R communication 1115b and end at an end of the R2D communication 1120b. For example, the time interval 1105b may start at a beginning of the D2R communication 1115b and end at a beginning of the R2D communication 1120b.
[0168] Time interval 1105 may indicate a timeline for a device (e.g., device 705 or device 805) to start monitoring a subsequent communication (R2D communication 1120) . In some examples (for time interval 1105a) , the time interval 1105 may represent a time gap between an end of R2D reception (at R2D communication 1110) and a start of a monitoring time for the subsequent communication (R2D communication 1120) . In some examples (for time interval 1105b) , the time interval 1105 may represent a time gap between an end of ACK / NACK transmission or ACK / NACK code transmission (at D2R communication 1115b) and a start of a transmission time or a start of a monitoring time for the subsequent communication (R2D communication 1120, or a D2R transmission) . Reference herein to time interval 1105 should be understood to cover either or both of time interval 1105a or time interval 1105b.
[0169] In some aspects, the time interval 1105 may be common across multiple second values (e.g., multiple ACK codes or NACK codes, such as second value 745 or second value 840) . For example, device 705 or 805 may be configured (such as explicitly via RRC signaling) with the time interval 1105. As another example, device 705 or 805 may be pre-configured (such as by an original equipment manufacturer, network operator, or deployer of device 705 or 805) with the time interval 1105. As another example, device 705 or 805 may receive an indication of the time interval 1105 via dynamic signaling, such as in an R2D Layer 1 message (e.g., an R2D Layer 1 control message) or in a message associated with an inventory operation (e.g., Message 0 or Message 4 of an inventory operation) . In some aspects, the time interval 1105 may be specified in a wireless communication specification. In some aspects, the time interval 1105 may be configured to be long enough such that the device 705 or 805 has accumulated sufficient energy to receive a new R2D transmission or retransmission (e.g., R2D communication 1120) . In some aspects, a reader (e.g., reader 710 or reader 810) may provide the indication of the time interval 1105, such as a dynamic indication via dynamic signaling. Thus, the reader may indicate a common time gap for the device to monitor a new R2D transmission or retransmission without consideration of a transmitted ACK / NACK code. In this example, the time gap may be sufficiently large that the device can accumulate sufficient energy to receive a new R2D transmission or retransmission.
[0170] In some aspects, the time interval 1105 may be specific to a second value (e.g., specific to one or more ACK codes and / or one or more NACK codes, such as a single ACK / NACK code or a group of ACK / NACK codes) . For example, device 705 or 805 may be configured (such as explicitly via RRC signaling) with the time interval 1105 for a second value. As another example, device 705 or 805 may be pre-configured (such as by an original equipment manufacturer, network operator, or deployer of device 705 or 805) with the time interval 1105 for a second value. As another example, device 705 or 805 may receive an indication of the time interval 1105 for a second value via dynamic signaling, such as in an R2D Layer 1 message (e.g., an R2D Layer 1 control message) or in a message associated with an inventory operation (e.g., Message 0 or Message 4 of an inventory operation) . In some aspects, the time interval 1105 for a second value may be specified in a wireless communication specification. In some aspects, a reader (e.g., reader 710 or reader 810) may provide the indication of the time interval 1105 specific to the second value, such as a dynamic indication via dynamic signaling. Thus, the reader may indicate different time gap for different ACK / NACK codes for the device to monitor a new R2D transmission or retransmission. In this example, the time gap may be sufficiently large that the device can accumulate sufficient energy to receive a new R2D transmission or retransmission.
[0171] FIGs. 12A and 12B are diagrams illustrating examples 1200 and 1205, respectively, of time intervals 1210 and 1215 that may be specific to a second value. Time interval 1210 (shown as T1) and time interval 1215 (shown as T2) may be examples of time interval 1105. For example, time interval 1210 may be an example of time interval 1105a and time interval 1215 may be an example of time interval 1105b. As shown, the time interval 1215 may be associated with a sleep duration 1240. The sleep duration 1240 may include, for example, an energy gathering state, a dormant state, a low-power state, or the like. For example, the time interval 1215 may start at an end of the sleep duration 1240. In this way, the device is provided time to accumulate energy after performing (or not performing) an action.
[0172] As mentioned, a time interval 1210 or 1215 may be specific to a second value. For example, time interval 1210 may be used for certain ACK codes and / or NACK codes, and time interval 1215 may be used for other ACK codes and / or NACK codes. For example, a time interval 1210 may be used to schedule a subsequent communication 1220 (e.g., subsequent communication 755 or subsequent communication 850) when a corresponding feedback transmission 1225 (e.g., feedback 735 or feedback 830) includes ACK code 2 (indicating that a command was successfully executed and the device is ready for a long R2D or D2R time) . As another example, a time interval 1215 may be used to schedule a subsequent communication 1230 (e.g., subsequent communication 755 or subsequent communication 850) when a corresponding feedback transmission 1235 (e.g., feedback 735 or feedback 830) includes ACK code 0 or ACK code 7 (indicating insufficient power to execute a command or that a command was executed with no remaining power budget) .
[0173] As another example, a time interval 1210 may be used to schedule a subsequent communication 1220 (e.g., subsequent communication 755 or subsequent communication 850) when a corresponding feedback transmission 1225 (e.g., feedback 735 or feedback 830) includes ACK code 1 (indicating that a command was successfully executed and the device is ready for a short R2D or D2R time) and if a payload of the subsequent communication 1220 is smaller than a threshold. As another example, a time interval 1210 may be used to schedule a subsequent communication 1220 (e.g., subsequent communication 755 or subsequent communication 850) when a corresponding feedback transmission 1225 (e.g., feedback 735 or feedback 830) includes ACK code 1 (indicating that a command was successfully executed and the device is ready for a short R2D or D2R time) and if the subsequent communication 1220 is transmitted using a segmentation configuration (such that the threshold is satisfied) . If the threshold is not satisfied (that is, if the payload is too large) , the time interval 1215 may be used (that is, the time gap may be T2 after an end of a next sleep duration 1240 (e.g., after a next wake up) .
[0174] In some aspects, for example, a device may be configured (such as via RRC signaling) with the threshold. As another example, the device may be pre-configured (such as by an original equipment manufacturer, network operator, or deployer of device the device) with the threshold. As another example, the device may receive an indication of the threshold via dynamic signaling, such as in an R2D Layer 1 message (e.g., an R2D Layer 1 control message) or in a message associated with an inventory operation (e.g., Message 0 or Message 4 of an inventory operation) . In some aspects, the threshold may be specified in a wireless communication specification. In some aspects, the device may select the threshold. The device may transmit information indicating the threshold. For example, feedback (such as feedback 735 or feedback 830) may indicate the threshold.
[0175] In some aspects, for example, a device may be configured (such as via RRC signaling) with a length of the sleep duration 1240. As another example, the device may be pre-configured (such as by an original equipment manufacturer, network operator, or deployer of device the device) with the length of the sleep duration 1240. As another example, the device may receive an indication of the length of the sleep duration 1240 via dynamic signaling, such as in an R2D Layer 1 message (e.g., an R2D Layer 1 control message) or in a message associated with an inventory operation (e.g., Message 0 or Message 4 of an inventory operation) . In some aspects, the length of the sleep duration 1240 may be specified in a wireless communication specification. In some aspects, the device may select the length of the sleep duration 1240. The device may transmit information indicating the length of the sleep duration 1240. For example, feedback (such as feedback 735 or feedback 830) may indicate the length of the sleep duration 1240. In some aspects, a reader may provide an indication (such as a dynamic indication) of the length of the sleep duration 1240.
[0176] FIG. 13 shows a method 1300 for wireless communication at a device, such as UE 104 of FIGS. 1 and 3.
[0177] Method 1300 begins at block 1305 with receiving a communication (e.g., communication 715, communication 815) indicating a command (e.g., command 720, command 820) .
[0178] Method 1300 then proceeds to block 1310 with providing feedback (e.g., feedback 735, feedback 830) . The feedback includes a first value (e.g., first value 740, first value 835) indicating a decoding result of the communication, and a second value (e.g., second value 745, second value 840) . The second value may indicate or include one of: first information (e.g., second value 745 or an ACK code) that indicates whether an action indicated by the command was successfully executed, or second information (e.g., second value 840 or a NACK code) regarding a failure to decode the communication. For example, the second information may be associated with a failure to decode the communication.
[0179] In one aspect, the first information further indicates a remaining power budget. In one aspect, the first information further indicates a time duration associated with a subsequent communication after the communication. In one aspect, the first information further indicates whether to perform segmentation for a subsequent communication after the communication. In one aspect, the first information further indicates that the command or the action is being performed. In one aspect, the first information further indicates a reason that the command was not successfully executed. In one aspect, the reason is associated with an unsupported parameter of the command. In one aspect, the reason is associated with a memory lock or an overrun. In one aspect, the reason is associated with an insufficient power state. In one aspect, the reason is associated with a security timeout. In one aspect, the second information regarding the failure to decode includes an indication that the failure is associated with a chip rate. In one aspect, the second information regarding the failure to decode includes an indication that the failure is associated with a signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio. In one aspect, the second information regarding the failure to decode includes an indication that the failure is associated with an insufficient power state. In one aspect, the second information regarding the failure to decode includes an indication that the failure is associated with a memory lock or an overrun. In one aspect, the second information regarding the failure to decode includes an indication to perform segmentation for a subsequent communication after the communication.
[0180] In one aspect, block 1310 includes providing the feedback via a device-to-reader Layer 1 message (e.g., as described with regard to example 1000) . In one aspect, block 1310 includes providing the feedback via a medium access control control element (e.g., as described with regard to example 1005) . In one aspect, block 1310 includes providing the first value via a device-to-reader Layer 1 message and the second value via a medium access control control element (e.g., as described with regard to example 1010) . In one aspect, a length of the feedback including the first information is equal to a length of the feedback including the second information. In one aspect, the feedback including the first information has a first length and the second information has a second length.
[0181] In one aspect, method 1300 further includes receiving, prior to providing the feedback, an indication of whether to provide the feedback for a positive decoding result, a negative decoding result, or both the positive decoding result and the negative decoding result.
[0182] In one aspect, method 1300 further includes receiving, prior to providing the feedback, an indication of whether to provide the first value or the second value.
[0183] In one aspect, method 1300 further includes receiving, prior to providing the feedback, an indication of a resource allocation associated with the feedback, wherein block 1310 includes providing the feedback in accordance with the resource allocation.
[0184] In one aspect, block 1310 includes providing the feedback in accordance with a periodic resource.
[0185] In one aspect, method 1300 further includes receiving, prior to providing the feedback, a dynamic indication of a resource allocation, wherein block 1310 includes providing the first value on a periodic resource and the second value on the resource allocation in accordance with the dynamic indication.
[0186] In one aspect, method 1300 further includes monitoring for a subsequent communication in accordance with a time interval after one of: receiving the communication, or providing the feedback.
[0187] In one aspect, the time interval is common to multiple values of the second value. In one aspect, the time interval is specific to a value of the second value that is included in the feedback. In one aspect, the time interval is associated with a sleep duration after providing the feedback. In one aspect, method 1300 further includes receiving an indication of the time interval.
[0188] In one aspect, method 1300, or any aspect related to it, may be performed by an apparatus, such as communications device 1500 of FIG. 15, which includes various components operable, configured, or adapted to perform the method 1300. Communications device 1500 is described below in further detail.
[0189] Note that FIG. 13 is just one example of a method, and other methods including fewer, additional, or alternative operations are possible consistent with this disclosure.
[0190] FIG. 14 shows a method 1400 for wireless communication at a reader, such as UE 104 of FIGS. 1 and 3.
[0191] Method 1400 begins at block 1405 with providing a communication (e.g., communication 715, communication 815) indicating a command (e.g., command 720, command 820) .
[0192] Method 1400 then proceeds to block 1410 with obtaining feedback (e.g., feedback 735, feedback 830) including: a first value (e.g., first value 740, first value 835) indicating a decoding result of the communication, and a second value (e.g., second value 745, second value 840) indicating or comprising one of: first information (e.g., an ACK code) that indicates whether an action indicated by the command was successfully executed, or second information (e.g., a NACK code) regarding a failure to decode the communication.
[0193] In one aspect, the first information further indicates a remaining power budget. In one aspect, the first information further indicates a time duration associated with a subsequent communication after the communication. In one aspect, the first information further indicates whether to perform segmentation for a subsequent communication after the communication. In one aspect, the first information further indicates that the action is being performed. In one aspect, the first information further indicates a reason that the command was not successfully executed. In one aspect, the reason is associated with an unsupported parameter of the command. In one aspect, the reason is associated with a memory lock or an overrun. In one aspect, the reason is associated with an insufficient power state. In one aspect, the reason is associated with a security timeout. In one aspect, the second information regarding the failure to decode includes an indication that the failure is associated with a chip rate. In one aspect, the second information regarding the failure to decode includes an indication that the failure is associated with a signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio. In one aspect, the second information regarding the failure to decode includes an indication that the failure is associated with an insufficient power state. In one aspect, the second information regarding the failure to decode includes an indication that the failure is associated with a memory lock or an overrun. In one aspect, the second information regarding the failure to decode includes an indication to perform segmentation for a subsequent communication after the communication.
[0194] In one aspect, block 1410 includes obtaining the feedback via a device-to-reader Layer 1 message. In one aspect, block 1410 includes obtaining the feedback via a medium access control control element. In one aspect, block 1410 includes obtaining the first value via a device-to-reader Layer 1 message and the second value via a medium access control control element. In one aspect, a length of the feedback including the first value is equal to a length of the feedback including the second value. In one aspect, the feedback including the first value has a first length and the second value has a second length. In one aspect, method 1400 further includes providing, prior to obtaining the feedback, an indication of whether to provide the feedback for a positive decoding result, a negative decoding result, or both the positive decoding result and the negative decoding result. In one aspect, method 1400 further includes providing, prior to obtaining the feedback, an indication of whether to provide the first value or the second value.
[0195] In one aspect, method 1400 further includes providing, prior to obtaining the feedback, an indication of a resource allocation associated with the feedback, wherein block 1410 includes obtaining the feedback in accordance with the resource allocation. In one aspect, block 1410 includes obtaining the feedback in accordance with a periodic resource. In one aspect, method 1400 further includes providing, prior to obtaining the feedback, a dynamic indication of a resource allocation, wherein block 1410 includes obtaining the first value on a periodic resource and the second value on the resource allocation. In one aspect, method 1400 further includes providing a subsequent communication in accordance with a time interval after one of: providing the communication, or obtaining the feedback.
[0196] In one aspect, the time interval is common to multiple values of the second information. In one aspect, the time interval is specific to a value of the second information that is included in the feedback. In one aspect, the time interval is associated with a sleep duration after transmitting the feedback. In one aspect, method 1400 further includes providing an indication of the time interval.
[0197] In one aspect, method 1400, or any aspect related to it, may be performed by an apparatus, such as communications device 1600 of FIG. 16, which includes various components operable, configured, or adapted to perform the method 1400. Communications device 1600 is described below in further detail.
[0198] Note that FIG. 14 is just one example of a method, and other methods including fewer, additional, or alternative operations are possible consistent with this disclosure.
[0199] Example Communications Devices
[0200] FIG. 15 depicts aspects of an example communications device 1500. In some aspects, communications device 1500 is a device, such as UE 104 or UE 304 described above with respect to FIGS. 1 and 3, device 705, device 805, or an ambient IoT device.
[0201] The communications device 1500 includes a processing system 1505 coupled to a transceiver 1555 (e.g., a transmitter and / or a receiver) . The transceiver 1555 is configured to transmit and receive signals for the communications device 1500 via an antenna 1560, such as the various signals as described herein. The processing system 1505 may be configured to perform processing functions for the communications device 1500, including processing signals received and / or to be transmitted by the communications device 1500.
[0202] The processing system 1505 includes one or more processors 1510. In various aspects, the one or more processors 1510 may be representative of one or more processors 314, as described with respect to FIG. 3. The one or more processors 1510 are coupled to a computer-readable medium / memory 1530 via a bus 1550. In certain aspects, the computer-readable medium / memory 1530 is configured to store instructions (e.g., computer-executable code) , including code 1535-1545, that when executed by the one or more processors 1510, enable and cause the one or more processors 1510 to perform the method 1300 described with respect to FIG. 13, or any aspect related to it, including any operations described in relation to FIG. 13. Note that reference to a processor performing a function of communications device 1500 may include one or more processors performing that function of communications device 1500, such as in a distributed fashion.
[0203] In the depicted example, computer-readable medium / memory 1530 stores code for receiving 1535, code for providing 1540, and code for monitoring 1545. Processing of the code 1535-1545 may enable and cause the communications device 1500 to perform the method 1300 described with respect to FIG. 13, or any aspect related to it.
[0204] The one or more processors 1510 include circuitry configured to implement (e.g., execute) the code (e.g., executable instructions) stored in the computer-readable medium / memory 1530, including circuitry for receiving 1515, circuitry for providing 1520, and circuitry for monitoring 1525. Processing with circuitry 1515-1525 may enable and cause the communications device 1500 to perform the method 1300 described with respect to FIG. 13, or any aspect related to it.
[0205] More generally, means for communicating, transmitting, sending or outputting for transmission may include the transceiver 320, antenna 318, one or more memories 316, or one or more processors of the UE 304 illustrated in FIG. 3, transceiver 1555 and / or antenna 1560 of the communications device 1500 in FIG. 15, and / or one or more processors 1510 of the communications device 1500 in FIG. 15. Means for communicating, receiving or obtaining may include transceiver 320, antenna 318, one or more memories 316, or one or more processors of the UE 304 illustrated in FIG. 3, transceiver 1555 and / or antenna 1560 of the communications device 1500 in FIG. 15, and / or one or more processors 1510 of the communications device 1500 in FIG. 15.
[0206] FIG. 16 depicts aspects of an example communications device 1600. In some aspects, communications device 1600 is a user equipment, such as UE 104 or UE 304 described above with respect to FIGS. 1 and 3, device 705, device 805, or an ambient IoT device.
[0207] The communications device 1600 includes a processing system 1605 coupled to a transceiver 1645 (e.g., a transmitter and / or a receiver) . The transceiver 1645 is configured to transmit and receive signals for the communications device 1600 via an antenna 1650, such as the various signals as described herein. The processing system 1605 may be configured to perform processing functions for the communications device 1600, including processing signals received and / or to be transmitted by the communications device 1600.
[0208] The processing system 1605 includes one or more processors 1610. In various aspects, the one or more processors 1610 may be representative of one or more processors 314, as described with respect to FIG. 3. The one or more processors 1610 are coupled to a computer-readable medium / memory 1625 via a bus 1640. In certain aspects, the computer-readable medium / memory 1625 is configured to store instructions (e.g., computer-executable code) , including code 1630 and 1635, that when executed by the one or more processors 1610, enable and cause the one or more processors 1610 to perform the method 1400 described with respect to FIG. 14, or any aspect related to it, including any operations described in relation to FIG. 14. Note that reference to a processor performing a function of communications device 1600 may include one or more processors performing that function of communications device 1600, such as in a distributed fashion.
[0209] In the depicted example, computer-readable medium / memory 1625 stores code for providing 1630 and code for obtaining 1635. Processing of the code 1630 and 1635 may enable and cause the communications device 1600 to perform the method 1400 described with respect to FIG. 14, or any aspect related to it.
[0210] The one or more processors 1610 include circuitry configured to implement (e.g., execute) the code (e.g., executable instructions) stored in the computer-readable medium / memory 1625, including circuitry for providing 1615 and circuitry for obtaining 1620. Processing with circuitry 1615 and 1620 may enable and cause the communications device 1600 to perform the method 1400 described with respect to FIG. 14, or any aspect related to it.
[0211] More generally, means for communicating, transmitting, sending or outputting for transmission may include transceiver 320, antenna 318, one or more memories 316, or one or more processors of the UE 304 illustrated in FIG. 3, transceiver 1645 and / or antenna 1650 of the communications device 1600 in FIG. 16, and / or one or more processors 1610 of the communications device 1600 in FIG. 16. Means for communicating, receiving or obtaining may include transceiver 320, antenna 318, one or more memories 316, or one or more processors of the UE 304 illustrated in FIG. 3, transceiver 1645 and / or antenna 1650 of the communications device 1600 in FIG. 16, and / or one or more processors 1610 of the communications device 1600 in FIG. 16.
[0212] Example Clauses
[0213] Implementation examples are described in the following numbered clauses:
[0214] Clause 1: A method of wireless communication at a device, comprising: receiving a communication that indicates a command; and providing feedback including: a first value that indicates a decoding result of the communication, and a second value that indicates one of: first information that indicates whether an action indicated by the command was successfully executed, or second information regarding a failure to decode the communication.
[0215] Clause 2: The method of Clause 1, wherein the first information further indicates a remaining power budget.
[0216] Clause 3: The method of any one of Clauses 1-2, wherein the first information further indicates a time duration associated with a subsequent communication after the communication.
[0217] Clause 4: The method of any one of Clauses 1-3, wherein the first information further indicates whether to perform segmentation for a subsequent communication after the communication.
[0218] Clause 5: The method of any one of Clauses 1-4, wherein the first information further indicates that the command or the action is being performed.
[0219] Clause 6: The method of any one of Clauses 1-5, wherein the first information further indicates a reason that the command was not successfully executed.
[0220] Clause 7: The method of Clause 6, wherein the reason is associated with an unsupported parameter of the command.
[0221] Clause 8: The method of Clause 6, wherein the reason is associated with a memory lock or an overrun.
[0222] Clause 9: The method of Clause 6, wherein the reason is associated with an insufficient power state.
[0223] Clause 10: The method of Clause 6, wherein the reason is associated with a security timeout.
[0224] Clause 11: The method of any one of Clauses 1-10, wherein the second information regarding the failure to decode includes an indication that the failure is associated with a chip rate.
[0225] Clause 12: The method of any one of Clauses 1-11, wherein the second information regarding the failure to decode includes an indication that the failure is associated with a signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio.
[0226] Clause 13: The method of any one of Clauses 1-12, wherein the second information regarding the failure to decode includes an indication that the failure is associated with an insufficient power state.
[0227] Clause 14: The method of any one of Clauses 1-13, wherein the second information regarding the failure to decode includes an indication that the failure is associated with a memory lock or an overrun.
[0228] Clause 15: The method of any one of Clauses 1-14, wherein the second information regarding the failure to decode includes an indication to perform segmentation for a subsequent communication after the communication.
[0229] Clause 16: The method of any one of Clauses 1-15, wherein providing the feedback comprises providing the feedback via a device-to-reader Layer 1 message.
[0230] Clause 17: The method of any one of Clauses 1-16, wherein providing the feedback comprises providing the feedback via a medium access control control element.
[0231] Clause 18: The method of any one of Clauses 1-17, wherein providing the feedback comprises providing the first value via a device-to-reader Layer 1 message and the second value via a medium access control control element.
[0232] Clause 19: The method of any one of Clauses 1-18, wherein a length of the feedback including the first value is equal to a length of the feedback including the second value.
[0233] Clause 20: The method of any one of Clauses 1-19, wherein the feedback including the first value has a first length and the second value has a second length.
[0234] Clause 21: The method of any one of Clauses 1-20, further comprising receiving, prior to providing the feedback, an indication of whether to provide the feedback for a positive decoding result, a negative decoding result, or both the positive decoding result and the negative decoding result.
[0235] Clause 22: The method of any one of Clauses 1-21, further comprising receiving, prior to providing the feedback, an indication of whether to provide the first value or the second value.
[0236] Clause 23: The method of any one of Clauses 1-22, further comprising: receiving, prior to providing the feedback, an indication of a resource allocation associated with the feedback, wherein providing the feedback comprises providing the feedback in accordance with the resource allocation.
[0237] Clause 24: The method of any one of Clauses 1-23, wherein providing the feedback comprises providing the feedback in accordance with a periodic resource.
[0238] Clause 25: The method of any one of Clauses 1-24, further comprising receiving, prior to providing the feedback, a dynamic indication of a resource allocation, wherein providing the feedback comprises providing the first value on a periodic resource and the second value on the resource allocation in accordance with the dynamic indication.
[0239] Clause 26: The method of any one of Clauses 1-25, further comprising monitoring for a subsequent communication in accordance with a time interval after one of: receiving the communication, or providing the feedback.
[0240] Clause 27: The method of Clause 26, wherein the time interval is common to multiple values of the second value.
[0241] Clause 28: The method of Clause 26, wherein the time interval is specific to a value of the second value that is included in the feedback.
[0242] Clause 29: The method of Clause 26, wherein the time interval is associated with a sleep duration after providing the feedback.
[0243] Clause 30: The method of Clause 26, further comprising receiving an indication of the time interval.
[0244] Clause 31: A method of wireless communication at a reader, comprising: providing a communication that indicates a command; and obtaining feedback including: a first value that indicates a decoding result of the communication, and a second value that indicates one of: first information that indicates whether an action indicated by the command was successfully executed, or second information regarding a failure to decode the communication.
[0245] Clause 32: The method of Clause 31, wherein the first information further indicates a remaining power budget.
[0246] Clause 33: The method of any one of Clauses 31-32, wherein the first information further indicates a time duration associated with a subsequent communication after the communication.
[0247] Clause 34: The method of any one of Clauses 31-33, wherein the first information further indicates whether to perform segmentation for a subsequent communication after the communication.
[0248] Clause 35: The method of any one of Clauses 31-34, wherein the first information further indicates that the action is being performed.
[0249] Clause 36: The method of any one of Clauses 31-35, wherein the first information further indicates a reason that the command was not successfully executed.
[0250] Clause 37: The method of Clause 36, wherein the reason is associated with an unsupported parameter of the command.
[0251] Clause 38: The method of Clause 36, wherein the reason is associated with a memory lock or an overrun.
[0252] Clause 39: The method of Clause 36, wherein the reason is associated with an insufficient power state.
[0253] Clause 40: The method of Clause 36, wherein the reason is associated with a security timeout.
[0254] Clause 41: The method of any one of Clauses 31-40, wherein the second information regarding the failure to decode includes an indication that the failure is associated with a chip rate.
[0255] Clause 42: The method of any one of Clauses 31-41, wherein the second information regarding the failure to decode includes an indication that the failure is associated with a signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio.
[0256] Clause 43: The method of any one of Clauses 31-42, wherein the second information regarding the failure to decode includes an indication that the failure is associated with an insufficient power state.
[0257] Clause 44: The method of any one of Clauses 31-43, wherein the second information regarding the failure to decode includes an indication that the failure is associated with a memory lock or an overrun.
[0258] Clause 45: The method of any one of Clauses 31-44, wherein the second information regarding the failure to decode includes an indication to perform segmentation for a subsequent communication after the communication.
[0259] Clause 46: The method of any one of Clauses 31-45, wherein obtaining the feedback comprises obtaining the feedback via a device-to-reader Layer 1 message.
[0260] Clause 47: The method of any one of Clauses 31-46, wherein obtaining the feedback comprises obtaining the feedback via a medium access control control element.
[0261] Clause 48: The method of any one of Clauses 31-47, wherein obtaining the feedback comprises obtaining the first value via a device-to-reader Layer 1 message and the second value via a medium access control control element.
[0262] Clause 49: The method of any one of Clauses 31-48, wherein a length of the feedback including the first value is equal to a length of the feedback including the second value.
[0263] Clause 50: The method of any one of Clauses 31-49, wherein the feedback including the first value has a first length and the second value has a second length.
[0264] Clause 51: The method of any one of Clauses 31-50, further comprising providing, prior to obtaining the feedback, an indication of whether to provide the feedback for a positive decoding result, a negative decoding result, or both the positive decoding result and the negative decoding result.
[0265] Clause 52: The method of any one of Clauses 31-51, further comprising providing, prior to obtaining the feedback, an indication of whether to provide the first value or the second value.
[0266] Clause 53: The method of any one of Clauses 31-52, further comprising providing, prior to obtaining the feedback, an indication of a resource allocation associated with the feedback, wherein obtaining the feedback comprises obtaining the feedback in accordance with the resource allocation.
[0267] Clause 54: The method of any one of Clauses 31-53, wherein obtaining the feedback comprises obtaining the feedback in accordance with a periodic resource.
[0268] Clause 55: The method of any one of Clauses 31-54, further comprising providing, prior to obtaining the feedback, a dynamic indication of a resource allocation, wherein obtaining the feedback comprises obtaining the first value on a periodic resource and the second value on the resource allocation.
[0269] Clause 56: The method of any one of Clauses 31-55, further comprising providing a subsequent communication in accordance with a time interval after one of: providing the communication, or obtaining the feedback.
[0270] Clause 57: The method of Clause 56, wherein the time interval is common to multiple values of the second information.
[0271] Clause 58: The method of Clause 56, wherein the time interval is specific to a value of the second information that is included in the feedback.
[0272] Clause 59: The method of Clause 56, wherein the time interval is associated with a sleep duration after transmitting the feedback.
[0273] Clause 60: The method of Clause 56, further comprising providing an indication of the time interval.
[0274] Clause 61: One or more apparatuses, comprising: one or more memories comprising executable instructions; and one or more processors configured to execute the executable instructions and cause the one or more apparatuses to perform a method in accordance with any one of Clauses 1-60.
[0275] Clause 62: One or more apparatuses, comprising: one or more memories; and one or more processors, coupled to the one or more memories, configured to cause the one or more apparatuses to perform a method in accordance with any one of Clauses 1-60.
[0276] Clause 63: One or more apparatuses, comprising: one or more memories; and one or more processors, coupled to the one or more memories, configured to perform a method in accordance with any one of Clauses 1-60.
[0277] Clause 64: One or more apparatuses, comprising means for performing a method in accordance with any one of Clauses 1-60.
[0278] Clause 65: One or more non-transitory computer-readable media comprising executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of one or more apparatuses, cause the one or more apparatuses to perform a method in accordance with any one of Clauses 1-60.
[0279] Clause 66: One or more computer program products embodied on one or more computer-readable storage media comprising code for performing a method in accordance with any one of Clauses 1-60.
[0280] Clause 67: An apparatus, comprising: a processing system that includes processor circuitry and memory circuitry that stores code, the processing system configured to cause the apparatus to perform a method in accordance with any one of Clauses 1-60.
[0281] Additional Considerations
[0282] The preceding description is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the various aspects described herein. The examples discussed herein are not limiting of the scope, applicability, or aspects set forth in the claims. Various modifications to these aspects will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein may be applied to other aspects. For example, changes may be made in the function and arrangement of elements discussed without departing from the scope of the disclosure. Various examples may omit, substitute, or add various procedures or components as appropriate. For instance, the methods described may be performed in an order different from that described, and various actions may be added, omitted, or combined. Also, features described with respect to some examples may be combined in some other examples. For example, an apparatus may be implemented or a method may be practiced using any number of the aspects set forth herein. In addition, the scope of the disclosure is intended to cover such an apparatus or method that is practiced using other structure, functionality, or structure and functionality in addition to, or other than, the various aspects of the disclosure set forth herein. It should be understood that any aspect of the disclosure disclosed herein may be embodied by one or more elements of a claim.
[0283] The various illustrative logical blocks, modules and circuits described in connection with the present disclosure may be implemented or performed with a general purpose processor, an AI processor, a digital signal processor (DSP) , an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) , a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device (PLD) , discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be any commercially available processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, a system on a chip (SoC) , a system in package (SiP) , or any other such configuration.
[0284] As used herein, a phrase referring to “at least one of” a list of items refers to any combination of those items, including single members. As an example, “at least one of: a, b, or c” is intended to cover a, b, c, a-b, a-c, b-c, and a-b-c, as well as any combination with multiples of the same element (e.g., a-a, a-a-a, a-a-b, a-a-c, a-b-b, a-c-c, b-b, b-b-b, b-b-c, c-c, and c-c-c or any other ordering of a, b, and c) .
[0285] As used herein, the term “determining” encompasses a wide variety of actions. For example, “determining” may include calculating, computing, processing, deriving, investigating, looking up (e.g., looking up in a table, a database or another data structure) , ascertaining and the like. Also, “determining” may include receiving (e.g., receiving information) , accessing (e.g., accessing data in a memory) and the like. Also, “determining” may include resolving, selecting, choosing, establishing and the like.
[0286] As used herein, “coupled to” and “coupled with” generally encompass direct coupling and indirect coupling (e.g., including intermediary coupled aspects) unless stated otherwise. For example, stating that a processor is coupled to a memory allows for a direct coupling or a coupling via an intermediary aspect, such as a bus.
[0287] The methods disclosed herein comprise one or more actions for achieving the methods. The method actions may be interchanged with one another without departing from the scope of the claims. In other words, unless a specific order of actions is specified, the order and / or use of specific actions may be modified without departing from the scope of the claims. Further, the various operations of methods described above may be performed by any suitable means capable of performing the corresponding functions. The means may include various hardware and / or software component (s) and / or module (s) , including, but not limited to a circuit, an ASIC, or processor.
[0288] The following claims are not intended to be limited to the aspects shown herein, but are to be accorded the full scope consistent with the language of the claims. Reference to an element in the singular is not intended to mean only one unless specifically so stated, but rather “one or more. ” The subsequent use of a definite article (e.g., “the” or “said” ) with an element (e.g., “the processor” ) is not intended to invoke a singular meaning (e.g., “only one” ) on the element unless otherwise specifically stated. For example, reference to an element (e.g., “aprocessor, ” “the processor, ” etc. ) , unless otherwise specifically stated, should be understood to refer to one or more elements (e.g., “one or more processors, ” or the like) . The terms “set” and “group” are intended to include one or more elements, and may be used interchangeably with “one or more. ” Where reference is made to one or more elements performing functions (e.g., steps of a method) , one element may perform all functions, or more than one element may collectively perform the functions. When more than one element collectively performs the functions, each function need not be performed by each of those elements (e.g., different functions may be performed by different elements) and / or each function need not be performed in whole by only one element (e.g., different elements may perform different sub-functions of a function) . Similarly, where reference is made to one or more elements configured to cause another element (e.g., an apparatus) to perform functions, one element may be configured to cause the other element to perform all functions, or more than one element may collectively be configured to cause the other element to perform the functions. Unless specifically stated otherwise, the term “some” refers to one or more. All structural and functional equivalents to the elements of the various aspects described throughout this disclosure that are known or later come to be known to those of ordinary skill in the art are intended to be encompassed by the claims. Moreover, nothing disclosed herein is intended to be dedicated to the public regardless of whether such disclosure is explicitly recited in the claims.
Claims
1.An apparatus of a device configured for wireless communications, comprising: one or more memories; and one or more processors coupled to the one or more memories and configured to cause the device to:receive a communication that indicates a command; andprovide feedback including:a first value that indicates a decoding result of the communication, anda second value that indicates one of:first information that indicates whether an action indicated by the command was successfully executed, orsecond information regarding a failure to decode the communication.2.The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first information further indicates at least one of:a remaining power budget,a time duration associated with a subsequent communication after the communication,whether to perform segmentation for the subsequent communication after the communication,that the command or the action is being performed, ora reason that the command was not successfully executed.3.The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the second information regarding the failure to decode includes at least one of:an indication that the failure is associated with a chip ratean indication that the failure is associated with a signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio,an indication that the failure is associated with an insufficient power state, an indication that the failure is associated with a memory lock or an overrun, oran indication to perform segmentation for a subsequent communication after the communication.4.The apparatus of claim 1, wherein to cause the device to provide the feedback, the one or more processors are configured to cause the device to provide the feedback comprises providing the feedback via a device-to-reader Layer 1 message.5.The apparatus of claim 1, wherein to provide the feedback, the one or more processors are configured to cause the device to provide the feedback via a medium access control control element.6.The apparatus of claim 1, wherein to provide the feedback, the one or more processors are configured to cause the device to provide the first value via a device-to-reader Layer 1 message and the second value via a medium access control control element.7.The apparatus of claim 1, wherein a length of the feedback that includes the first value is equal to a length of the feedback that includes the second value.8.The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the feedback that includes the first value has a first length and the second value has a second length.9.The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to cause the device to receive, prior to providing the feedback, an indication of whether to provide the feedback for a positive decoding result, a negative decoding result, or both the positive decoding result and the negative decoding result.10.The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to further cause the device to receive, prior to providing the feedback, an indication of whether to provide the first value or the second value.11.The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to further cause the device to receive, prior to providing the feedback, an indication of a resource allocation associated with the feedback, wherein the one or more processors, to cause the device to provide the feedback, are configured to cause the device to provide the feedback in accordance with the resource allocation.12.The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors, to cause the device to provide the feedback, are configured to cause the device to provide the feedback in accordance with a periodic resource.13.The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to further cause the device to receive, prior to providing the feedback, a dynamic indication of a resource allocation, wherein the one or more processors, to cause the device to provide the feedback, are configured to cause the device to provide the first value on a periodic resource and the second value on the resource allocation in accordance with the dynamic indication.14.The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to cause the device to monitor for a subsequent communication in accordance with a time interval after one of:receiving the communication, orproviding the feedback.15.The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the time interval is common to multiple values of the second value.16.The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the time interval is specific to a value of the second value that is included in the feedback.17.The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the time interval is associated with a sleep duration after providing the feedback.18.The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the one or more processors are configured to further cause the device to receive an indication of the time interval.19.An apparatus of a reader configured for wireless communications, comprising:one or more memories; and one or more processors coupled to the one or more memories and configured to cause the reader to:provide a communication that indicates a command; andobtain feedback including:a first value that indicates a decoding result of the communication, anda second value that indicates one of:first information that indicates whether an action indicated by the command was successfully executed, orsecond information regarding a failure to decode the communication.20.The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the first information further indicates at least one of:a remaining power budget,a time duration associated with a subsequent communication after the communication,whether to perform segmentation for the subsequent communication after the communication,that the command or the action is being performed, ora reason that the command was not successfully executed.21.The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the reason is associated with at least one of:an unsupported parameter of the command,a memory lock or an overrun,an insufficient power state, ora security timeout.22.The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the second information regarding the failure to decode includes at least one of:an indication that the failure is associated with a chip ratean indication that the failure is associated with a signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio,an indication that the failure is associated with an insufficient power state,an indication that the failure is associated with a memory lock or an overrun, oran indication to perform segmentation for a subsequent communication after the communication.23.The apparatus of claim 19, wherein a length of the feedback that includes the first value is equal to a length of the feedback that includes the second value.24.The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the feedback that includes the first value has a first length and the second value has a second length.25.The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the one or more processors are configured to further cause the reader to provide, prior to obtaining the feedback, an indication of whether to provide the feedback for a positive decoding result, a negative decoding result, or both the positive decoding result and the negative decoding result.26.The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the one or more processors are configured to further cause the reader to provide, prior to obtaining the feedback, an indication of whether to provide the first value or the second value.27.The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the one or more processors are configured to further cause the reader to provide, prior to obtaining the feedback, an indication of a resource allocation associated with the feedback, wherein, to cause the reader to obtain the feedback, the one or more processors are configured to cause the reader to obtain the feedback in accordance with the resource allocation.28.The apparatus of claim 19, wherein, to cause the reader to obtain the feedback, the one or more processors are configured to cause the reader to obtain the feedback in accordance with a periodic resource.29.The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the one or more processors are configured to further cause the reader to provide, prior to obtaining the feedback, a dynamic indication of a resource allocation, wherein, to cause the reader to obtain the feedback, the one or more processors are configured to cause the reader to obtain the first value on a periodic resource and the second value on the resource allocation.30.A method of wireless communication at a device, comprising:receiving a communication that indicates a command; andproviding feedback including:a first value that indicates a decoding result of the communication, anda second value that indicates one of:first information that indicates whether an action indicated by the command was successfully executed, orsecond information regarding a failure to decode the communication.
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