Communication method, and device, computer-readable storage medium and program product

Abstract

Provided in the embodiments of the disclosure are a communication method, apparatus and system, and a computer-readable storage medium and a program product. In the method, a first device sends, in a time slot used for sensing, a pilot signal used for sensing interference management. In addition, the first device further sends, in the time slot, a sensing signal used for sensing. In this way, both nearby communication devices and remote communication devices can accurately measure the interference between communication and sensing. In addition, the high complexity of centralized interference measurement can also be avoided.

Description

Methods, devices, computer-readable storage media and program products for communication

[0001] Cross-reference to related applications

[0002] This application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202411201614.6, filed on August 28, 2024, entitled “Method, Apparatus, Computer-readable Storage Medium and Program Product for Communication”, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. Technical Field

[0003] This disclosure generally relates to the field of communications, and more specifically to a method, apparatus, computer-readable storage medium, and program product for communications. Background Technology

[0004] With technological advancements, the operating frequency bands or wavebands for communication have expanded to include millimeter waves (mmWave), terahertz (THz), and even visible light bands to meet diverse communication needs and scenarios. This overlaps with the traditional operating frequency bands of radar. Consequently, the technology of integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) has been proposed. Using this technology, a communication network can be viewed as a giant sensor. Participants in the communication network (e.g., network devices, terminal devices, or network elements) send and receive wireless signals. By utilizing the transmission, reflection, and scattering of radio waves, they can better perceive and understand their surroundings. By acquiring distance, speed, and angle information from wireless signals, a wide range of new services can be provided, including high-precision positioning, gesture capture, motion recognition, detection and tracking of passive objects, imaging, and environmental reconstruction, realizing the concept of "Network as a Sensor."

[0005] On the other hand, the high-precision positioning, imaging, and environmental reconstruction capabilities provided by sensing can help improve communication performance, such as more accurate beamforming, faster beam failure recovery, and lower overhead for terminal channel state information (CSI) tracking, thus achieving "sensor-assisted communication." However, in some cases, when concurrent communication and sensing occur, mutual interference problems may arise. Summary of the Invention

[0006] This disclosure provides a communication method, device, computer-readable storage medium, and program product that can effectively reduce or avoid interference between communication base stations and communication sensing base stations.

[0007] Firstly, a communication method is provided. The implementer of this method can be a communication sensing device (also referred to as a first device in some embodiments) capable of performing both communication and sensing tasks, such as a network device. The implementer can also be a chip or chip system within the communication sensing device. In this method, a pilot signal for sensing interference management is transmitted in a time slot used for sensing. Furthermore, a sensing signal for sensing is also transmitted in the same time slot. In this way, other communication devices can measure the pilot signal and then use reciprocity to estimate the interference that the communication signals of other communication devices will cause to the sensing signal of the communication sensing device. Thus, other communication devices can decide whether to perform operations to reduce or avoid interference based on the pilot signal from the communication sensing device, such as adjusting the power or beam direction of their communication signals. Furthermore, this avoids centralized processing of all interference measurements and management at a single device and enables accurate measurement of near-end interference.

[0008] In some implementations, the pilot signal includes at least one of the following: identification information of the first device or identification information of the sensing cell of the first device. In this way, interference management can be performed for different devices or cells based on the identification information of the device or cell.

[0009] In some implementations, the method also includes transmitting communication signals for communication within a time slot. In some implementations, pilot signals, sensing signals, and communication signals are transmitted in different symbols within the time slot. In this way, interference management between communication and sensing can be performed in the time slots used for communication and sensing.

[0010] In some implementations, the time slots used for sensing include at least one of the following: the initial downlink time slot in a sensing frame period comprising multiple time slots; or a downlink time slot in a sensing frame period following an uplink time slot. In this way, interference from downlink signals from remote base stations can be avoided when using pilot signals to estimate the interference caused by communication signals to sensing signals.

[0011] In some implementations, during the first sensing frame period, the pilot signal is transmitted via a first beam of the first device, and during the second sensing frame period, the pilot signal is transmitted via a second beam of the first device. In this way, interference caused by the communication signal to different beams can be further determined.

[0012] In some implementations, the pilot signal is transmitted during a portion of a sensing frame period across multiple sensing frame periods. This reduces the impact of interference management operations on sensing and / or communication services.

[0013] In some implementations, the aforementioned time slot is a first time slot, the aforementioned pilot signal is a first pilot signal, and the method further includes: detecting a second pilot signal for sensing interference management from a second device in a second time slot used for sensing; determining, based on the detected second pilot signal, at least one of the interference intensity and interference direction that the communication signal of the second device will cause to the sensing signal of the first device; and sending a request to the second device to avoid or reduce interference based on at least one of the interference intensity and interference direction. In this way, interference caused by the communication signal of the communication base station to the sensing signal can also be determined at the communication sensing base station side by receiving and measuring the pilot signal from the communication base station. Furthermore, the communication sensing base station can request the communication base station to reduce or avoid interference. Thus, the interference that the communication signal will cause to the sensing signal can be estimated at the communication base station side, measured at the communication sensing base station side, or estimated or measured separately on both sides to perform corresponding interference reduction or interference avoidance operations. This allows for better interference management.

[0014] In some implementations, the second pilot signal includes at least one of the following: identification information of the second device or identification information of the communication cell of the second device. In this way, the communication sensing device can send corresponding interference management requests for different communication base stations.

[0015] In some implementations, sending a request to the second device to avoid or reduce interference includes at least one of the following: sending the request based on determining that the interference intensity is greater than a first threshold; or sending the request based on determining that the difference between the direction of interference and the transmission direction of the sensed signal is less than a second threshold. In this way, the communicating party causing real interference to the sensing can be identified.

[0016] In some implementations, the method further includes switching the transceiver of the first device to receive mode during the second time slot. In this way, the communication sensing base station can measure the interference of the communication signal on the sensing signal during the communication sensing time slot.

[0017] Secondly, a communication method is provided. The execution entity of this method can be a communication device (also referred to as a second device in some embodiments) capable of performing communication tasks, such as another network device. The execution entity can also be a chip or chip system within the communication device. In this method, a pilot signal for sensing interference management from a first device is detected in a sensing time slot, and based on the detected pilot signal, at least one of the interference intensity or interference direction that the communication signal of the second device will cause to the sensing signal of the first device is determined. Furthermore, the method includes performing an operation to avoid or reduce interference from the communication signal to the sensing signal based on at least one of the interference intensity or interference direction. In this way, the communication device can measure the pilot signal from the communication sensing device in the communication sensing time slot, and then use reciprocity to estimate the interference that the communication signal of the communication device will cause to the sensing signal of the communication sensing device. Thus, the communication device can decide whether to perform an operation to reduce or avoid interference based on the pilot signal from the communication sensing device, for example, adjusting the power or beam direction of the communication signal. Furthermore, this avoids centralized processing of all interference measurements and management at a single device and enables accurate measurement of near-end interference.

[0018] In some implementations, the pilot signal includes at least one of the following: identification information of the first device or identification information of the sensing cell of the first device. In this way, interference management can be performed for different devices or cells based on the identification information of the device or cell.

[0019] In some implementations, this time slot also carries sensing signals for sensing and communication signals for communication transmitted by the first device. In some implementations, pilot signals, sensing signals, and communication signals are transmitted in different symbols within the time slot. In this way, interference management between communication and sensing can be performed in the time slots used for communication and sensing.

[0020] In some implementations, the time slots used for sensing include at least one of the following: the initial downlink time slot in a sensing frame period comprising multiple time slots; or a downlink time slot in a sensing frame period following an uplink time slot. In this way, interference from downlink signals from remote base stations can be avoided when using pilot signals to estimate the interference caused by communication signals to sensing signals.

[0021] In some implementations, during the first sensing frame period, the pilot signal is transmitted via a first beam of the first device, and during the second sensing frame period, the pilot signal is transmitted via a second beam of the first device. In this way, interference caused by the communication signal to different beams can be further determined.

[0022] In some implementations, the pilot signal is transmitted during a portion of a sensing frame period across multiple sensing frame periods. This reduces the impact of interference management operations on sensing and / or communication services.

[0023] In some implementations, determining at least one of interference intensity or interference direction includes: determining interference intensity and interference direction for each sensing frame period in a subset of sensing frame periods to obtain multiple interference intensities and interference directions; determining statistical information on multiple interference intensities or interference directions; and determining at least one of interference intensity or interference direction based on the statistical information. In some implementations, performing an operation based on at least one of interference intensity or interference direction includes: performing an operation based on determining that the interference intensity is greater than a first threshold; or performing an operation based on determining that the difference between the interference direction and the transmission direction of the sensed signal is less than a second threshold. In this way, by statistically analyzing multiple interference measurements, more accurate interference measurement results can be obtained.

[0024] In some implementations, the above operations include at least one of the following: avoiding the transmission of communication signals in one or more time slots used for sensing; or adjusting the beam used for communication signals. In this way, overlap between communication signals and sensing signals in different resource domains can be avoided.

[0025] In some implementations, the aforementioned time slot is a first time slot, the aforementioned pilot signal is a first pilot signal, and the method further includes: transmitting a second pilot signal for sensing interference management in a second time slot used for sensing; receiving a request from a first device for avoiding or reducing interference; and, based on the request, performing an operation including at least one of: avoiding transmitting communication signals in one or more time slots used for sensing or adjusting the beam for communication signals. In this way, interference caused by the communication signals of the communication base station to the sensing signal can also be determined at the communication sensing base station side by receiving and measuring the pilot signal from the communication base station. Furthermore, the communication sensing base station can request the communication base station to reduce or avoid interference. Thus, the interference caused by the communication signals to the sensing signal can be estimated at the communication base station side, measured at the communication sensing base station side, or estimated or measured separately on both sides to perform corresponding interference reduction or interference avoidance operations. This allows for better interference management.

[0026] In some implementations, the second pilot signal includes identification information for the second device. In this way, the communication sensing device can send corresponding interference management requests to different communication base stations.

[0027] In some implementations, the method further includes switching the transceiver of the second device to receive mode during the time slot used for sensing. In this way, the communication base station can estimate the interference of the communication signal on the sensing signal during the communication time slot.

[0028] Thirdly, a communication method is provided. The executing entity of this method can be a communication sensing device (also referred to as a first device in some embodiments) capable of performing both communication and sensing tasks, such as a network device. The executing entity can also be a chip or chip system within the communication sensing device. In this method, a pilot signal for sensing interference management from a second device is detected in a time slot used for sensing; and based on the detected pilot signal, at least one of the interference intensity and direction of the communication signal from the second device on the sensing signal of the first device is determined. The method further includes sending a request to the second device to avoid or reduce interference based on at least one of the interference intensity and direction. In this way, the communication sensing device can determine the interference that the communication signals of other communication devices will cause to its sensing signal by measuring pilot signals from other communication devices in the communication sensing time slot. Furthermore, the communication sensing device can send a request to the corresponding communication base station to reduce or avoid the caused interference. Thus, interference between communication and sensing can be avoided or reduced.

[0029] In some implementations, the pilot signal includes at least one of the following: identification information of the second device or identification information of the sensing cell of the second device. In this way, interference management can be performed for different devices or cells based on the identification information of the device or cell. In this way, interference management between communication and sensing can be performed in time slots used for communication and sensing.

[0030] In some implementations, the time slot also carries communication signals transmitted by a second device for communication. In some implementations, the method further includes transmitting sensing signals for sensing within the time slot used for sensing. In some implementations, pilot signals and communication signals are transmitted in different symbols within the time slot. In this way, interference management between communication and sensing can be performed in the time slots used for both communication and sensing.

[0031] In some implementations, the time slots used for sensing include at least one of the following: the initial downlink time slot in a sensing frame period comprising multiple time slots; or a downlink time slot in a sensing frame period following an uplink time slot. In this way, interference from downlink signals from remote base stations can be avoided when using pilot signals to estimate the interference caused by communication signals to sensing signals.

[0032] In some implementations, during the first sensing frame period, the pilot signal is transmitted via a first beam of the second device, and during the second sensing frame period, the pilot signal is transmitted via a second beam of the second device. In this way, interference from downlink signals from a remote base station can be avoided when using the pilot signal to estimate the interference caused by communication signals to the sensing signal.

[0033] In some implementations, the pilot signal is transmitted during a portion of a sensing frame period across multiple sensing frame periods. This reduces the impact of interference management operations on sensing and / or communication services.

[0034] In some implementations, determining at least one of the interference intensity and interference direction includes: determining the interference intensity and interference direction for each sensing frame period in a subset of sensing frame periods to obtain multiple interference intensities and interference directions; determining statistical information on multiple interference intensities or interference directions; and determining at least one of the interference intensity or interference direction based on the statistical information. In some implementations, sending a request to the second device to avoid or reduce interference includes at least one of the following: sending the request based on determining that the interference intensity is greater than a first threshold; or sending the request based on determining that the difference between the interference direction and the transmission direction of the sensed signal is less than a second threshold. In this way, by statistically analyzing multiple interference measurements, more accurate interference measurement results can be obtained.

[0035] In some implementations, the transceiver of the first device is switched to receive mode during the second time slot. In this way, the communication sensing base station can measure the interference of the communication signal on the sensing signal during the communication sensing time slot.

[0036] In a fourth aspect, a communication method is provided. The executor of this method can be a communication device (also referred to as a second device in some embodiments) capable of performing communication tasks, such as another network device. The executor can also be a chip or chip system within the communication device. In this method, at the second device, a pilot signal for sensing interference management is transmitted in a time slot used for sensing; and a communication signal for communication is transmitted in the same time slot. In this way, the communication sensing device can determine the interference that the communication signal from the communication device will cause to its sensing signal by measuring the pilot signal from the communication device in the communication sensing time slot. Furthermore, the communication sensing device can send a request to the corresponding communication base station to reduce or avoid the caused interference. Thus, interference between communication and sensing can be avoided or reduced.

[0037] In some implementations, the pilot signal includes at least one of the following: identification information of the second device or identification information of the sensing cell of the second device. In this way, interference management can be performed for different devices or cells based on the identification information of the device or cell. In this way, interference management between communication and sensing can be performed in time slots used for communication and sensing.

[0038] In some implementations, pilot signals and communication signals are transmitted in different symbols within a time slot. This allows for interference management between communication and sensing within the time slots used for both.

[0039] In some implementations, the time slots used for sensing include at least one of the following: the initial downlink time slot in a sensing frame period comprising multiple time slots; or a downlink time slot in a sensing frame period following an uplink time slot. In this way, interference from downlink signals from remote base stations can be avoided when using pilot signals to estimate the interference caused by communication signals to sensing signals.

[0040] In some implementations, during the first sensing frame period, the pilot signal is transmitted via a first beam of the second device, and during the second sensing frame period, the pilot signal is transmitted via a second beam of the second device. In this way, interference from downlink signals from a remote base station can be avoided when using the pilot signal to estimate the interference caused by communication signals to the sensing signal.

[0041] In some implementations, the pilot signal is transmitted during a portion of a sensing frame period across multiple sensing frame periods. This reduces the impact of interference management operations on sensing and / or communication services.

[0042] In some implementations, the method further includes: receiving a request from a first device for avoiding or reducing interference; and, based on the request, performing an operation including at least one of: avoiding transmitting communication signals in one or more time slots used for sensing or adjusting the beam used for communication signals. In this way, overlap between communication signals and sensing signals in different resource domains can be avoided.

[0043] Fifthly, a communication device is provided, which has the function of implementing the behavior in the method examples of any of the above aspects. The function can be implemented by hardware or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above functions. Beneficial effects can be found in the descriptions of any of the above aspects, and will not be repeated here. In one possible design, the communication device includes a unit for performing the methods of any of the above aspects.

[0044] A sixth aspect provides a communication device, comprising: a processor and a memory storing instructions, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the electronic device to perform the method according to any of the preceding aspects.

[0045] In a seventh aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, which stores instructions that, when executed by an electronic device, cause the electronic device to perform the method of any of the above aspects.

[0046] Eighthly, a computer program product comprising instructions that, when executed by an electronic device, cause the electronic device to perform the method of any of the above aspects.

[0047] Ninthly, this disclosure provides a chip system including a processor for implementing the functions of the communication device described in any of the preceding aspects. In one possible design, the chip system further includes a memory for storing program instructions and / or data. This chip system may be composed of chips or may include chips and other discrete devices.

[0048] In a tenth aspect, this disclosure also provides a communication system, comprising: a communication device for performing the methods of any of the foregoing aspects. Attached Figure Description

[0049] Figure 1A illustrates an example communication architecture scenario in which embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented.

[0050] Figures 1B and 1C illustrate examples of interference caused by the communication signals of a communication base station to a communication sensing base station.

[0051] Figure 1D shows an example configuration of communication-aware time slots within a sensing frame period.

[0052] Figure 1E illustrates the impact of a standard sensing frame structure used to avoid interference on communication performance.

[0053] Figure 1F shows the time slot structure used for remote communication interference management.

[0054] Figure 2 illustrates a signaling process for interference management between communication and sensing according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0055] Figure 3 illustrates an example of interference management between a communication sensing base station and a communication base station according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0056] Figure 4 illustrates an example of interference with perception according to an embodiment of this disclosure.

[0057] Figure 5A illustrates an example timing configuration for transmitting pilot signals for interference management in a communication-aware time slot according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0058] Figure 5B shows an example structure of a symbol for transmitting a pilot signal for interference management according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0059] Figure 6 illustrates an example of a pilot signal transmitted during a partial sensing frame period according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0060] Figure 7 illustrates example operations performed by a communication base station according to an embodiment of the present disclosure to avoid or reduce interference.

[0061] Figure 8 illustrates another signaling process for interference management between communication and sensing according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0062] Figure 9 illustrates another example of a pilot signal transmitted during a partial sensing frame period according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0063] Figure 10 shows a flowchart of implementation at a communication sensing device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0064] Figure 11 shows a flowchart of implementation at a communication device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0065] Figure 12 shows a flowchart of implementation at a communication sensing device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0066] Figure 13 shows a flowchart of implementation at a communication device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0067] Figure 14 is a block diagram of a device that can be used to implement some embodiments of this application.

[0068] Figures 15 to 18 are schematic diagrams of the structure of an apparatus according to some embodiments of this application. Detailed Implementation

[0069] Embodiments of this disclosure will now be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. While some embodiments of this disclosure are shown in the drawings, it should be understood that this disclosure can be implemented in various forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided to provide a more thorough and complete understanding of this disclosure. It should be understood that the accompanying drawings and embodiments of this disclosure are for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to limit the scope of protection of this disclosure.

[0070] In the description of embodiments of this disclosure, the term "comprising" and similar terms should be understood as open-ended inclusion, i.e., "including but not limited to". The term "based on" should be understood as "at least partially based on". The term "one embodiment" or "the embodiment" should be understood as "at least one embodiment". The terms "first", "second", etc., may refer to different or the same objects. Other explicit and implicit definitions may also be included below.

[0071] Embodiments of this disclosure may be implemented according to any suitable communication protocol, including but not limited to cellular communication protocols such as fifth-generation (5G) and future communication protocols (e.g., sixth-generation (6G)), wireless local area network communication protocols such as Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11, and / or any other protocol currently known or to be developed in the future.

[0072] The technical solutions of the embodiments of this disclosure are applicable to communication systems that follow any appropriate communication protocol, such as: Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) systems, Time Division Duplex (TDD) systems, fifth-generation (5G) systems (e.g., New Radio (NR)), and future communication systems or future communication networks (e.g., sixth-generation (6G) systems), etc.

[0073] As used in this disclosure, the term "terminal" or "terminal device" refers to any terminal device capable of wired or wireless communication with network devices or with each other. A terminal device can be user equipment (UE), access terminal, UE unit, UE station, mobile station, mobile station, remote station, remote terminal, mobile device, UE terminal, terminal, wireless communication device, multimedia device, streaming media device, UE agent, or UE device, etc. An access terminal can be a cellular phone, cordless phone, session initiation protocol (SIP) phone, wireless local loop (WLL) station, personal digital assistant (PDA), handheld device with wireless communication capabilities, computing device or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, in-vehicle device, wearable device, terminal in a future 5G network, or terminal in a future evolved public land mobile network (PLMN) network, etc. The embodiments of this disclosure do not limit this.

[0074] As used in this disclosure, the terms "network node" or "network device" refer to an entity or node that can communicate with a terminal device, such as an access network device. An access network device is a device capable of communicating with a terminal device and can be a base station, relay station, or access point. A base station can be an evolved NB (eNB or eNodeB) in Long Term Evolution (LTE), a radio controller in a cloud radio access network (CRAN) scenario, a base station device in a future 5G network, an access network device in a future evolved PLMN network, or a wearable device or vehicle-mounted device. For ease of description, in the subsequent embodiments of this disclosure, the aforementioned devices providing wireless communication functions for mobile terminals are collectively referred to as network devices. These devices can also refer to chips or modules in mobile terminals or access network devices that implement related wireless communication functions; the embodiments of this disclosure do not specifically limit this.

[0075] In some embodiments of this disclosure, "sensing (function / service)" refers to the function of locating, tracking or identifying a target by transmitting sensing signals and receiving target echo signals in the radio or visible light frequency band.

[0076] In some embodiments of this disclosure, a communication sensing device refers to a device capable of performing both communication and sensing functions. In some embodiments of this disclosure, a communication sensing device may also be referred to as a "first device".

[0077] As mentioned above, in some cases, concurrent communication and sensing can lead to mutual interference. Specifically, a communication sensing base station (which may also be referred to as a sensing-communication integrated base station in some embodiments) may use part of its time, in addition to its primary communication functions, to send / receive sensing signals, such as to detect the position, speed, and altitude of flying objects like drones, birds, and balloons. Simultaneously, adjacent or distant communication base stations are also performing communication. For example, adjacent or distant communication base stations may perform communication on the same spectrum and in the same time slot used for transmitting and / or receiving sensing signals. Therefore, the communication sensing base station may be subject to interference from communication from adjacent and / or distant communication base stations, such as cross-time slot interference.

[0078] However, conventional interference management methods are typically used to measure far-end interference between communication base stations and require traversing the far-end interference management (RIM) pilot signals of different communication cells, and cannot measure interference between neighboring communication cells. Furthermore, regarding interference between communication and sensing, the closer the base stations are, the greater the interference between them. Therefore, conventional far-end interference management methods cannot be applied to manage interference between communication sensing base stations and communication base stations, and conventional interference management methods also require traversing all communication cells (for clarity, the above examples of interference are further discussed with reference to Figures 1B-1F).

[0079] In view of the foregoing discussion, embodiments of this disclosure propose a communication method. This method designs a dedicated pilot signal for sensing interference detection. For example, this dedicated pilot signal can be periodically transmitted in a time slot of a sensing cell used for transmitting sensing signals. Accordingly, surrounding communication base stations can detect the strength of this dedicated pilot signal from each sensing cell. Furthermore, the communication cell can estimate the magnitude and / or direction of the interference it will cause to each sensing cell based on the strength of the pilot signals it receives from each sensing cell. In this way, surrounding communication cells can adaptively take actions to avoid interfering with sensing, such as cooperative beamforming (CBF), time-division multiplexing, etc., and can reduce communication resource loss.

[0080] Specifically, in this method, a communication sensing device (in some embodiments, the communication sensing device is also referred to as a first device) transmits a pilot signal for sensing interference management in a time slot used for sensing. Correspondingly, (a plurality of) communication devices (in some embodiments, the communication devices are also referred to as second devices) detect the aforementioned pilot signal from the communication sensing device in the time slot used for sensing. Then, based on the detected pilot signal, the communication devices determine at least one of the interference intensity or interference direction that the communication signals of the communication devices will cause to the sensing signals of the communication sensing devices. For example, the communication devices can measure the interference of the pilot signal to the communication of the communication devices, thereby utilizing "reciprocity" to determine the interference that the communication signals of the communication devices will cause to the sensing signals of the communication sensing devices. Furthermore, based on at least one of the determined interference intensity or interference direction, the communication devices can perform operations to avoid or reduce the interference of the communication signals to the sensing signals. In addition, the communication sensing device further transmits a sensing signal for sensing in the time slot used for sensing.

[0081] In this way, other communication devices can determine whether to perform interference reduction or avoidance operations based on pilot signals from the communication sensing device during the sensing time slot. For example, they can adjust the power or beam direction of their communication signals. This avoids centralized processing of all interference measurements and management at a single device and enables accurate measurement of near-end interference.

[0082] In some embodiments, the interference cancellation / reduction method described above can also be performed "in reverse". Specifically, a pilot signal for interference management is transmitted by the communication device, and the interference that the communication signal of the communication device will cause to the sensing signal of the communication sensing device is determined at the communication sensing device by measuring the pilot signal. The communication sensing device can then request the communication device to perform operations to avoid or reduce interference.

[0083] To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of this application clearer, the application will be further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The specific operating methods and functional descriptions in the method embodiments can also be applied to the device embodiments or system embodiments.

[0084] Figure 1A illustrates an example communication architecture scenario 100 in which embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented. As shown in Figure 1A, the communication method provided in the embodiments of this application can be applied to communication architecture scenario 100. In communication architecture scenario 100, communication sensing device 110, communication device 120, communication device 130, communication device 140, and terminal devices (such as the drone and mobile communication device shown) are illustrated. As described above, communication sensing device 110 may be subject to interference from communication signals transmitted by communication devices 120, 130, and 140 when performing sensing. For example, when communication sensing device 110 is sensing a drone (e.g., using sensing signal 180 and echo signal 190), communication sensing device 110 may be subject to communication interference 150 and 170 from nearby communication base stations 120 and 130, and interference 160 from communication signals from a remote base station 140.

[0085] In some embodiments, without any limitations, the embodiments of this disclosure can be applied to time-division multiplexing (TDD) integrated communication and sensing base stations. For example, the communication function can be used for communication with terminal devices, and the sensing function can be used for detection, location, and identification of any target, such as a drone. As mentioned above, communication cells typically need to avoid the time-frequency resources used for performing sensing. However, this results in significant resource waste, and some embodiments of this disclosure can reduce the loss of communication resources based on sensing interference detection.

[0086] Figures 1B and 1C illustrate an example of interference caused by the communication signals of a communication base station to a communication sensing base station. As shown in Figure 1B, the direction of a beam from communication base station 120 may be directly facing communication sensing base station 110. In this case, the communication signals transmitted by communication base station 120 may affect the echo signal received by communication sensing device 110 from the sensing signal. As shown in Figure 1C, communication sensing base station 110 performs sensing (S) within a portion of a communication sensing time slot (D). During sensing, communication sensing base station 110 transmits sensing signals and receives the echo of the sensing signals. Simultaneously, communication devices transmit downlink transmissions in this communication sensing time slot (D). Therefore, the communication sensing device may be interfered with by downlink transmissions from other communication devices when receiving the echo signal.

[0087] Figure 1D illustrates an example configuration of communication sensing time slots within a sensing frame period. As shown in the example configuration in Figure 1D, a communication sensing base station can select one or more downlink time slots (D) as communication sensing time slots within a communication sensing period (shown as "Sensing" in Figure 1D). For example, the communication sensing base station selects time slots 192 and 194 as communication sensing time slots to perform both communication and sensing. Taking communication sensing time slot 192 as an example, the communication sensing device performs sensing in symbols 0-6 and performs communication (e.g., transmitting the Physical Downlink Control Channel PDCCH and the Physical Downlink Shared Channel PDSCH) in symbols 7-13. Regarding sensing, as shown in Figure 1D, different communication sensing devices can be time-division multiplexed within the same sensing symbol. For example, a first communication sensing device performs the transmission and reception of sensing signals in the first part of symbol 0. A second communication sensing device performs the transmission and reception of sensing signals in the second part of symbol 0. A third communication sensing device performs the transmission and reception of sensing signals in the third part of symbol 0. Furthermore, within the same sensing symbol, different communication sensing devices can simultaneously perform sensing through other multiplexing techniques, such as code division multiplexing or space division multiplexing. It should be understood that the sensing frame period in Figure 1D is shown only for clarity of discussion, and any other timing configuration can be used; this disclosure makes no limitation on this.

[0088] In the example of Figure 1D, to avoid communication interference with sensing and a sharp decline in sensing performance, time-division multiplexing or frequency-division multiplexing of communication and sensing is required to reduce cross-interference. However, this approach would cause communication base stations within tens of kilometers of the sensing equipment to lose air interface resources, with resource overhead for low-altitude sensing alone reaching 10-20%, and user experience rate impacted by 20-50%, as shown in Figure 1E. Figure 1E illustrates the impact of a common sensing frame structure used to avoid interference on communication performance. In other words, common techniques used to avoid interference between communication and sensing have a significant impact on communication performance.

[0089] Furthermore, as mentioned above, conventional interference management schemes are used to manage crosstalk between remote communication base stations. In some cases, multiple communication base stations are designed as synchronous systems, for example, in Time Division Multiplexing (TDD) communication networks, where multiple base stations synchronously perform transmission or reception in the same time slot. That is, the same time slot is set as the same downlink or uplink time slot in different communication base stations. In this way, different base stations perform transmission or reception synchronously, thereby avoiding interference between transmission and reception. However, for base stations that are far apart (also known as remote base stations), the signal propagation time in space may be longer than the time of one symbol or time slot. That is, by the time the signal transmitted by the remote communication base station reaches the local communication base station, the local communication base station may have already switched from downlink transmission time slot / symbol transmission to uplink reception time slot / symbol transmission. In this case, interference from the remote communication base station may occur. To avoid or overcome interference in remote communications, a Remote Interference Management (RIM) method has been proposed.

[0090] Figure 1F illustrates the time slot structure for remote communication interference management. Conversely, for communication-aware interference management, as shown in Figure 1F, neighboring communication base stations can transmit RIM pilot signals. The communication-aware base station can then detect the received signal strength of the downlink RIM pilot from the remote communication base station in subsequent uplink symbols (e.g., Uplink Pilot Time Slot UpPTS), thereby obtaining the interference intensity and cell identification information (e.g., Physical Cell Identifier (PCI) of the surrounding communication cells. It can then notify the remote communication base station with the most significant interference to stop transmitting communication signals in the corresponding time slot. Typically, communication base stations cannot detect RIM during gaps because this requires hardware support. Furthermore, even if hardware support is available for detection during gaps, the downlink signal strength during the gap can significantly impact detection accuracy. For example, the combined downlink signal power of numerous communication cells can even saturate the receiver, preventing detection. In summary, whether due to the inability to perform detection during gaps or the receiver potentially being saturated by signals from nearby communication base stations, interference from communication cells within 20 km cannot be accurately detected.

[0091] However, regarding interference between communication and sensing, communication-to-sensing interference mainly originates from communication cells within a 20km radius. This means that conventional technologies cannot detect interference sources within 20km, offering very little benefit in reducing communication resource overhead. Furthermore, current communication networks involve very small base station spacing (e.g., approximately 300m in urban areas) and a large number of base stations. Therefore, centralized detection by communication sensing base stations is difficult, requiring traversal of RIM pilot signals from different communication cells, consuming significant detection, computation, and signaling resources. In light of the above analysis, embodiments of this disclosure propose interference management schemes that at least overcome the aforementioned shortcomings.

[0092] Figure 2 illustrates a signaling process 200 for interference management between communication and sensing according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. For clarity and without limitation, the following embodiments will also be discussed in conjunction with Figure 1A. Without limitation, the following embodiments are primarily discussed with respect to the communication sensing device 110 and communication device 120 in Figure 1A. It should be understood that the following embodiments can also be applied to other communication devices 130 to 150 or any other communication device, such as any other terminal device, wireless communication station, or access point, etc.

[0093] In signaling process 200, the communication sensing device 110 (hereinafter referred to as the first device 110) transmits a pilot signal 215 for sensing interference management 210 in a time slot used for sensing. Furthermore, the first device 110 also transmits a sensing signal 230 for sensing in the same time slot. In some embodiments, the first device 110 may further transmit (260) a communication signal for communication in the same time slot. In some embodiments, the aforementioned pilot signal, sensing signal, and communication signal may be transmitted in different symbols within the time slot used for sensing. For example, the sensing sequence and pilot signal are time-division multiplexed, and the sensing communication base station 110 transmits the pilot signal in the time-domain resources used for the pilot signal. In this way, sensing functions, communication functions, and interference management between communication and sensing can be performed in the time slot used for sensing.

[0094] Additionally, in some embodiments, the time slot used for sensing may be the initial downlink time slot in a sensing frame period comprising multiple time slots. Alternatively, the time slot used for sensing may also be a downlink time slot following the uplink time slot in the sensing frame period. In this way, interference from downlink signals from a remote base station (e.g., downlink-to-uplink crosstalk) can be avoided when using pilot signals to estimate interference caused by communication signals to sensing signals. For clarity, an example of the aforementioned sensing time slot is shown below with reference to FIG5A, and will not be elaborated further here.

[0095] Communication device 120 (hereinafter referred to as second device 120) detects 220 a pilot signal 215 for sensing interference management from first device 110 in a time slot for sensing. Based on the detected pilot signal, second device 120 determines 240 at least one of the interference intensity or interference direction that the communication signal of second device 120 will cause to the sensing signal of first device 110. In some embodiments, second device 120 may measure the received power or angle of arrival of pilot signal 215. Furthermore, second device 120 may determine at least one of the interference intensity or interference direction that the communication signal of second device 120 will cause to the sensing signal of first device 110. Additionally or alternatively, in some embodiments, second device 120 may measure at least one of the interference intensity or interference direction caused by pilot signal 215 to the communication of second device 120. Furthermore, utilizing "reciprocity," the second device 120 can estimate at least one of the interference intensity or interference direction that its communication signal will cause to the sensing signal of the first device 110. Without any limitation, the second device 120 can also determine at least one of the interference intensity or interference direction that its communication signal will cause to the sensing signal of the first device 110 based on any other measurement of the pilot signal.

[0096] Additionally, in some embodiments, the communication device 120 can switch to a receiving state for the entire time slot used for sensing. In some embodiments, the second device 120 switches its transceiver to a receiving state during the time slot used for sensing. As shown in Figure 5 below, in some embodiments, even if a time slot in a TDD system is a downlink time slot, if that time slot is configured as a sensing time slot, the second device 120 will still switch to a receiving state during that sensing time slot. In this way, theoretically, cells with communication-sensing interference within a range of 0-140 km can be detected.

[0097] Based on at least one of the determined interference intensity or interference direction, the second device 120 performs operation 250 to avoid or reduce interference of the communication signal to the sensing signal. In some embodiments, this operation may include cooperative beamforming (CBF), time-division multiplexing, etc. For example, the second device 120 may adjust the transmission direction of the communication signal to avoid covering the communication sensing device 110. In another example, the second device 120 may adjust the time-frequency position of the communication signal to avoid overlapping with the sensing signal that may cause sensing interference, for example, avoiding transmitting the communication signal in one or more time slots used for sensing.

[0098] In some embodiments, the second device 120 can determine the magnitude of interference based on the detected signal strength and / or signal direction, and determine whether to perform an operation based on the magnitude of the interference. For example, the second device 120 can perform the interference avoidance operation based on determining that the interference strength is greater than a first threshold. Alternatively, the second device 120 can also perform the interference avoidance operation based on determining that the difference between the interference direction and the transmission direction of the sensed signal is less than a second threshold. In this way, centralized processing of all interference measurements and management can be avoided at the same device (i.e., the first device 110), and accurate measurement of near-end interference can be achieved. In other words, since electromagnetic wave propagation is reciprocal, a strong detection of interference in the pilot signal means that the communication cell also has strong interference with the sensed cell, so the communication cell can, for example, stop transmitting communication signals in the sensed time slot. Conversely, if the interference in the pilot signal is small, the communication cell can continue to transmit communication signals, thereby reducing communication resource loss.

[0099] In some embodiments, the pilot signal 215 may include an identification signal of the first device 110 and / or identification information of the sensing cell of the first device 110. In this way, by means of the pilot signal with identification information, the second device 120 can determine the interference that the communication signal of the second device 120 will cause to a plurality of communication sensing devices including the first device 110. In some embodiments, a plurality of communication sensing devices including the communication sensing device 110 can transmit a plurality of pilot signals, each of which carries identification information of the corresponding communication sensing device (i.e., the sender of the pilot signal) or the corresponding cell. Correspondingly, all communication devices including the communication device (120) (e.g., communication devices 130 and 140, etc.) can uniformly detect a plurality of pilot signals at the same time (this can reduce interference between communication devices), so that each communication device can independently determine the interference that will cause to each communication sensing device. Furthermore, these communication devices can perform operations based on these interference conditions to avoid or reduce interference. Additionally, in some embodiments, the pilot signal may reuse a remote interference mechanism (RIM) pilot sequence for atmospheric waveguides. This reduces the complexity of the solution.

[0100] For clarity of discussion only, the above embodiments are further discussed with reference to Figures 3 to 5B. Figure 3 illustrates an example of interference management between a communication sensing base station and a communication base station according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in Figure 3, a first device 110 sends a pilot signal for interference management to a second device 120. Furthermore, as described above, the second device 120 can perform adaptive interference avoidance based on interference detection of the pilot signal, for example, adjusting time-frequency resources using CRB, etc.

[0101] Figure 4 illustrates an example of interference to sensing according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in Figure 4, a downlink signal transmitted by the second device 120 via a certain beam may be received by the first device 110 as an echo of a sensing signal, thereby causing downlink transmission interference 410 to sensing. In this case, using the interference detection described above, the second device 120 can adjust the beam direction to avoid or reduce the interference.

[0102] Figure 5A illustrates an example timing configuration for transmitting pilot signals for interference management in a communication sensing time slot according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As described above, the first device 110 may configure one or more downlink time slots as sensing time slots. For example, the initial downlink time slot of a sensing frame period and / or a downlink time slot following an uplink time slot in a sensing frame period (as shown in the example of Figure 5A). In this way, since the base stations in a TDD communication network are designed to be synchronized, crosstalk from other remote base stations can be avoided when detecting interference.

[0103] In some embodiments, the first device 110 may transmit pilot signals in symbols 0 and 1 of the sensing time slot, sensing signals in symbols 2 to 6, and communication signals in symbols 7 to 13. Without any limitation, in other examples, the pilot signals, sensing signals, and communication signals may also be configured in different symbols.

[0104] Figure 5B illustrates an example structure of a symbol for transmitting a pilot signal for interference management according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In the example of Figure 5B, symbol m-1 can be symbol 0 in Figure 5A, and symbol m can be symbol 1 in Figure 5A. As shown in Figure 5A, the tail portion of the pilot signal transmitted in symbol m-1 can be copied as a cyclic prefix portion of symbol m-1. Additionally or alternatively, in some embodiments, the head portion of the pilot signal transmitted in symbol m can be copied as a suffix portion of symbol m. It should be understood that the above-described configuration of sensing period, sensing time slot, and symbols for pilot signals is only discussed as an example, and any other configuration may be adopted.

[0105] Returning to Figure 2, in some embodiments, to avoid impacting communication performance, the first device 110 may transmit the aforementioned pilot signal during a portion of a plurality of sensing frame periods. For example, since the pilot signal and the sensing signal can be transmitted on the same time-frequency resources, to reduce the impact on sensing services, a portion (e.g., 40 ms) of the sensing frame period (e.g., 640 ms) may be used for detection in each cell during a certain time period (e.g., 10 min). This embodiment is further discussed with reference to Figure 6, merely as an example.

[0106] Figure 6 illustrates an example of pilot signals transmitted in a partial sensing frame period according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Assume a sensing frame period is 640 milliseconds (ms). In some embodiments, communication sensing cell 1 and communication sensing cell 2 may also transmit pilot signals in only a portion of a sensing frame period, for example, in a sensing time slot within 40 ms of the 640 ms. In this way, the impact of sensing interference management on sensing and communication services can be avoided or reduced.

[0107] Alternatively, as shown in Figure 6, in some embodiments, the pilot signal may not be transmitted in the sensing time slots of all sensing frame periods (the relationship between sensing frame periods and sensing time slots can be found in the discussion above regarding Figure 1D). For example, communication sensing cell 1 and communication sensing cell 2 may transmit the pilot signal in the sensing time slots of specific sensing frame periods within multiple sensing frame periods. By way of example only, communication sensing device 110 may periodically transmit the pilot signal in a sensing frame within 10 communication sensing frame periods (i.e., 6.4 s). In this way, the communication device (e.g., the second device 120) may periodically detect once uniformly at the same time point every 6.4 s, for example, in the downlink time slot after the start time slot and / or uplink time slot of the sensing frame period (e.g., slot 0 and slot 5).

[0108] Returning to Figure 2, in some embodiments, the second device 120 can determine the interference intensity and direction for each of the plurality of sensing frame periods to obtain a plurality of interference intensities and directions. Alternatively, the second device 120 can determine the interference intensity and direction for a portion of the plurality of sensing frame periods (e.g., 40ms) to obtain a plurality of interference intensities and directions. Furthermore, the second device 120 can use the plurality of interference intensities and directions to determine statistical information on the plurality of interference intensities or directions. Thus, the second device 120 can determine at least one of the interference intensities or directions based on this statistical information. In this way, by statistically analyzing multiple interference measurements, more accurate interference measurement results can be obtained. For example, if the first device 110 transmits a pilot signal in a portion of each 640ms sensing frame period, the second device 120 can detect for 6.4s each time (e.g., detect the pilot signal 10 times) to obtain 10 measurement results. Furthermore, the second device 120 uses the 10 measurement results to obtain statistical information.

[0109] Referring again to FIG2, in some embodiments, interference detection can be associated with a corresponding beam. For example, if there are multiple beams for sensing, pilot signals on each beam can be detected. In some embodiments, the first device 110 may transmit the aforementioned pilot signals via a first beam of the first device 110 during a first sensing frame period. Furthermore, the first device 110 may transmit the aforementioned pilot signals via a second beam of the first device 110 during a second sensing frame period. In this way, the second device 120 can determine the interference of the communication signal on the sensing signal beam by beam.

[0110] Additionally, in some embodiments, the above scheme can also be reversed. For example, the communication cell can also transmit the aforementioned pilot signal. In this case, the sensing cell receives and detects the pilot signal. In this way, mutual detection can be achieved, making interference detection more accurate. In some embodiments, the second device 120 transmits another pilot signal (also referred to as the second pilot signal) for sensing interference management in another time slot (also referred to as the second time slot) used for sensing. The first device 110 detects the second pilot signal from the second device in the second time slot. Similarly, in some embodiments, the first device 110 can switch its transceiver to a receiving state in the second time slot. Furthermore, based on the detected second pilot signal, the first device 110 determines at least one of the interference intensity and interference direction that the communication signal of the second device will interfere with the sensing signal of the first device. Based on at least one of the interference intensity and interference direction, the first device 110 can send a request to the second device 120 for avoiding or reducing interference. In this way, the second device 120 can perform operations to avoid or reduce interference based on the request.

[0111] As mentioned above, conventional technologies cannot detect interference sources at close range (e.g., within 20km), and their effect on reducing communication resource overhead is minimal. To address this, embodiments of this disclosure allow communication base stations located more than 20km away from the sensing base station (even those as far as 130km), as well as those within 20km, to detect the strength of the sensing RIM pilot signal transmitted by the sensing base station. Furthermore, the communication base station estimates the magnitude and direction of interference to each sensing base station based on the signal strength received from each sensing cell. This allows the communication base station to adaptively employ CBF and / or time-division multiplexing techniques to avoid interference with sensing services, thereby reducing resource losses for the communication base station. Alternatively, sensing RIM can be transmitted by a communication cell. In this case, the sensing cell receives and detects the pilot signal. The sensing cell can then estimate the interference intensity of the interfering cell and request the interfering communication base station to implement an interference avoidance scheme to reduce communication air interface resource losses.

[0112] This allows for the detection of communication interference at any distance. For example, due to numerous buildings in urban areas, many nearby communication base stations are physically isolated from the sensing base station (i.e., they do not interfere with the sensing). In this case, the communication base station can still perform communication, reducing the loss of communication resources within 20km of the sensing station. Furthermore, pilot signals can carry identification information for the sensing device, allowing the communication equipment to perform corresponding operations for different sensing devices. Moreover, pilot signals can reuse atmospheric waveguide RIM sequences to reduce complexity.

[0113] Alternatively or additionally, the embodiment described above, in which the communication device 120 transmits pilot signals, can also be implemented independently. Figure 8 illustrates another signaling process 800 for interference management between communication and sensing according to an embodiment of this disclosure. For clarity and without limitation, the following embodiments will also be discussed in conjunction with Figure 1A. Without any limitation, the following embodiments are primarily discussed with respect to the communication sensing device 110 and the communication device 120 in Figure 1A. It should be understood that the following embodiments can also be applied to other communication devices 130 to 150 or any other communication device, such as any other terminal device, wireless communication station, or access point, etc.

[0114] In signaling process 800, the second device 120 transmits a pilot signal 815 for sensing interference management (810) in a time slot designated for sensing. Additionally, the second device 120 also transmits a communication signal (840) for communication in the same time slot. This sensing time slot and pilot signal can be the same as those discussed with reference to FIG2.

[0115] Correspondingly, the first device 110 detects 820 pilot signals for sensing interference management from the second device 120 in the sensing time slot. Based on the detected pilot signals, the first device 110 determines at least one of the interference intensity and interference direction that the communication signals of the second device 120 will interfere with the sensing signals of the first device 110. In some embodiments, except that it is not necessary to use "reciprocity" for estimation, the first device 110 can determine at least one of the interference intensity and interference direction in the same manner as in FIG. 2. Then, based on at least one of the interference intensity and interference direction, the first device 110 sends a request to the second device 120 for avoiding or reducing interference. In this way, the second device 120 can perform an operation to avoid or reduce interference according to the request. This operation can be the same as the operation for reducing or avoiding interference in FIG. 2. For clarity of discussion only, the above embodiments are further discussed with reference to FIG. 9.

[0116] Figure 9 illustrates another example of a pilot signal transmitted during a partial sensing frame period according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in Figure 9, a second device 120, acting as a transmitting base station, transmits a pilot signal in a time slot used for interference detection (e.g., a downlink time slot configured as a sensing time slot). Furthermore, a first device 110 determines whether to request the second device 120 to perform operations to avoid or reduce interference based on measurements of the pilot signal.

[0117] Figure 10 illustrates a flowchart implemented at a communication sensing device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in Figure 10, for ease of description, flowchart 1000 is executively represented by a first device 110 as the executing entity of the corresponding steps in flowchart 1000. However, the corresponding steps in flowchart 1000 of the embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited to being executed by the first device 110. In other examples, they may also be other terminal devices and / or modules and / or chips in the first device 110, or other devices, equipment, modules and / or chips, that have the function of executing the corresponding steps.

[0118] At 1010, the first device 110 transmits a pilot signal for sensing interference management in the time slot designated for sensing. At 1020, the first device 110 transmits a sensing signal for sensing in the same time slot.

[0119] In some embodiments, the above also includes other operations performed at the first device 110 as described in conjunction with FIGS. 2 to 7 in this disclosure.

[0120] Figure 11 illustrates a flowchart implemented at a communication device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in Figure 11, for ease of description, flowchart 1100 is executively represented by a second device 120 as the executing entity of the corresponding steps in flowchart 1100. However, the corresponding steps in flowchart 1100 of the embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited to being executed by the first device 110. In other examples, they may also be other terminal devices and / or modules and / or chips in the first device 110, or other devices, equipment, modules and / or chips, that have the function of executing the corresponding steps.

[0121] At 1110, the second device 120 detects a pilot signal from the first device for sensing interference management in a time slot used for sensing. At 1120, based on the detected pilot signal, the second device 120 determines at least one of the interference intensity or interference direction that the communication signal of the second device 120 will cause to the sensing signal of the first device 110. At 1130, based on at least one of the interference intensity or interference direction, the second device 120 performs an operation to avoid or reduce the interference of the communication signal to the sensing signal.

[0122] In some embodiments, the above also includes other operations performed at the second device 120 as described in conjunction with Figures 2 to 7 in this disclosure.

[0123] Figure 12 illustrates a flowchart implemented at a communication sensing device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in Figure 12, for ease of description, flowchart 1200 is executively represented by a first device 110 as the executing entity of the corresponding steps in flowchart 1200. However, the corresponding steps in flowchart 1200 of the embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited to being executed by the first device 110. In other examples, they may also be other terminal devices and / or modules and / or chips in the first device 110, or other devices, equipment, modules and / or chips, that have the function of executing the corresponding steps.

[0124] At 1210, the first device 110 detects a pilot signal from the second device for sensing interference management in a time slot used for sensing. At 1220, based on the detected pilot signal, the first device 110 determines at least one of the interference intensity and interference direction that the communication signal of the second device 120 will interfere with the sensing signal of the first device. At 1230, based on at least one of the interference intensity and interference direction, the first device 110 sends a request to the second device 120 for avoiding or reducing interference.

[0125] In some embodiments, the above also includes other operations performed at the first device 110 as described in conjunction with FIGS. 8 and 9 in this disclosure.

[0126] Figure 13 illustrates a flowchart implemented at a communication device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in Figure 13, for ease of description, flowchart 1300 is executively represented by the second device 120 as the executing entity of the corresponding steps in flowchart 1300. However, the corresponding steps in flowchart 1300 of the embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited to being executed by the first device 110. In other examples, they may also be other terminal devices and / or modules and / or chips in the first device 110, or other devices, equipment, modules and / or chips, that have the function of executing the corresponding steps.

[0127] At 1310, the second device 120 transmits a pilot signal for sensing interference management in the time slot designated for sensing. At 1320, the second device 120 transmits a communication signal for communication in the same time slot.

[0128] In some embodiments, the above also includes other operations performed at the second device 120 as described in conjunction with Figures 8 and 9 in this disclosure.

[0129] Figure 14 is a block diagram of a device 1400 that can be used to implement some embodiments of the present application. In some embodiments, device 1400 may be an element of a communication network infrastructure, such as a base station (e.g., NodeB, evolved NodeB, eNodeB, or eNB), next-generation NodeB (sometimes called next-generation NodeB, gNodeB, or gNB), home subscriber server (HSS), gateway (GW), such as packet gateway (PGW) or serving gateway (SGW), or various other nodes or functions within a core network (CN) or Public Land Mobility Network (PLMN). In other embodiments, device 1400 may be a device connected to the network infrastructure via a wireless interface, such as a mobile phone, smartphone, or other such device that can be classified as user equipment (UE). In some embodiments, device 1400 may be machine-type communication (M2C). Communications (MTC) equipment (also known as machine-to-machine (M2M) equipment), or another such device that, although not providing direct service to a user, can be classified as a UE. In some embodiments, device 1400 may be a roadside unit (RSU), a vehicle UE (V-UE), a pedestrian UE (P-UE), or an infrastructure UE. (UE, I-UE). In some scenarios, device 1400 may also be referred to as a mobile device, a term intended to reflect a device connected to a mobile network, regardless of whether the device itself is designed for or capable of being mobile. A particular device may utilize all or only a subset of the components shown, and the level of integration may vary depending on the device. Furthermore, device 900 may contain multiple instances of components, such as multiple processors, memory, transmitters, receivers, etc. Additionally, device 1400 may be a master node and / or slave node in any of the communication domains described above. For example, device 1400 may be a master node and / or slave node in short-range wireless communications such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Zigbee, Near Field Communication, SparkLink, etc. It should be understood that although devices of some embodiments of this disclosure are shown in the form of device 900, it should be understood that some embodiments of this disclosure may also be implemented by chips and / or chip systems.The aforementioned device 900 may also be a block diagram of a chip and / or a chip system, and this disclosure does not impose any restrictions on it.

[0130] Device 1400 typically includes a processor 1402, such as a central processing unit (CPU), and may further include a dedicated processor, such as a graphics processing unit (GPU) or other such processor, memory 1404, a network interface 1406, and a bus 1408 for connecting the components of device 1400. Optionally, device 1400 may also include components such as a mass storage device 1410, a video adapter 1412, and an I / O interface 1416 (shown in dashed lines).

[0131] Memory 1404 may include any type of non-transitory system memory readable by processor 1402, such as static random access memory (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), read-only memory (ROM), or combinations thereof. In one embodiment, memory 1404 may include more than one type of memory, such as ROM used at startup and DRAM used for program and data storage during program execution. Bus 908 may be one or more of a plurality of bus architectures of any type, including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, or a video bus.

[0132] Device 1400 may also include one or more network interfaces 1406, which may include at least one of wired network interfaces and wireless network interfaces. As shown in FIG14, network interface 1406 may include a wired network interface for connecting to network 1422, and may also include a wireless access network interface 1420 for connecting to other devices via a wireless link. When device 1400 is a network infrastructure element, the wireless access network interface 1420 may be omitted for nodes or functions that are elements of a PLMN rather than elements at the wireless edge. When device 1400 is infrastructure at the wireless edge of a network, it may include both wired and wireless network interfaces. When device 1400 is a wirelessly connected device, such as a user equipment, the wireless access network interface 1420 may be present and may be supplemented by other wireless interfaces such as a WiFi network interface. Network interface 1406 allows device 1400 to communicate with remote entities such as those connected to network 1422.

[0133] Mass storage 1410 may include any type of non-transitory storage device configured to store data, programs, and other information and make the data, programs, and other information accessible via bus 1408. Mass storage 1410 may include, for example, one or more of a solid-state drive, hard disk drive, disk drive, or optical disk drive. In some embodiments, mass storage 1410 may be located remotely from device 1400 and may be accessed using a network interface such as interface 1406. In the illustrated embodiment, mass storage 1410 is distinct from the memory 1404 that includes it, and mass storage 1410 typically performs storage tasks compatible with higher latency but typically provides low or no fluctuation. In some embodiments, mass storage 1410 may be integrated with heterogeneous memory 1404.

[0134] Optional video adapter 1412 and I / O interface 1416 (shown in dashed lines) provide interfaces for coupling device 1400 to external input and output devices. Examples of input and output devices include a display 1414 coupled to video adapter 1412 and an I / O device 1418, such as a touchscreen, coupled to I / O interface 1416. Other devices may be coupled to device 1400 and may utilize additional or fewer interfaces. For example, a serial interface such as Universal Serial Bus (USB) (not shown) may be used to provide interfaces for external devices. Those skilled in the art will understand that in embodiments where device 1400 is part of a data center, I / O interface 1416 and video adapter 1412 may be virtualized and provided via network interface 1406.

[0135] Figure 15 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a device 1500 according to some embodiments of this application. As shown in Figure 15, the device 1500 includes a first transmitting unit 1502 and a second transmitting unit 1504. The device 1500 can be applied to the communication system shown in Figure 1 and can implement any of the methods provided in the foregoing embodiments. Optionally, the physical manifestation of the device 1500 can be a communication device, such as a network device or a UE. Alternatively, the device 1500 can be other devices capable of implementing the functions of a communication device, such as a processor or chip inside the communication device. Specifically, the device 1500 can be a programmable chip, such as a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a complex programmable logic device (CPLD), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or a system on a chip (SOC).

[0136] In some embodiments, the first transmitting unit 1502 may be configured to transmit pilot signals for sensing interference management in a time slot for sensing. The second transmitting unit 1504 may be configured to transmit sensing signals for sensing in a time slot.

[0137] In some other embodiments, the apparatus 1500 may include various other units or modules that can be configured to perform the various operations or functions described with respect to the foregoing method embodiments. Specific details can be obtained by referring to the detailed description of the foregoing method embodiments, and will not be repeated here.

[0138] Figure 16 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a device 1600 according to some embodiments of this application. As shown in Figure 16, the device 1600 includes a detection unit 1602, a determination unit 1604, and an execution unit 1606. The device 1600 can be applied to the communication system shown in Figure 1 and can implement any of the methods provided in the foregoing embodiments. Optionally, the physical manifestation of the device 1600 can be a communication device, such as a network device or a UE. Alternatively, the device 1600 can be other devices capable of implementing the functions of a communication device, such as a processor or chip inside the communication device. Specifically, the device 1600 can be a programmable chip, such as a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a complex programmable logic device (CPLD), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or a system on a chip (SOC).

[0139] In some embodiments, the detection unit 1602 may be configured to detect a pilot signal from the first device for sensing interference management in a time slot used for sensing. The determination unit 1604 may be configured to determine, based on the detected pilot signal, at least one of the interference intensity or interference direction that the communication signal of the second device will cause to the sensing signal of the first device. The execution unit 1606 may be configured to perform an operation to avoid or reduce the interference of the communication signal to the sensing signal based on the at least one of the interference intensity or interference direction.

[0140] In some other embodiments, the apparatus 1600 may include various other units or modules that can be configured to perform the various operations or functions described with respect to the foregoing method embodiments. Specific details can be obtained by referring to the detailed description of the foregoing method embodiments, and will not be repeated here.

[0141] Figure 17 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a device 1700 according to some embodiments of this application. As shown in Figure 17, the device 1700 includes a detection unit 1702, a determination unit 1704, and a transmission unit 1706. The device 1700 can be applied to the communication system shown in Figure 1 and can implement any of the methods provided in the foregoing embodiments. Optionally, the physical manifestation of the device 1700 can be a communication device, such as a network device or a UE. Alternatively, the device 1700 can be other devices capable of implementing the functions of a communication device, such as a processor or chip inside the communication device. Specifically, the device 1700 can be a programmable chip, such as a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a complex programmable logic device (CPLD), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or a system on a chip (SOC).

[0142] In some embodiments, the detection unit 1702 may be configured to detect pilot signals from the second device for sensing interference management in a time slot used for sensing. The determination unit 1704 may be configured to determine, based on the detected pilot signals, at least one of the interference intensity and interference direction of the communication signals of the second device on the sensing signals of the first device. The transmission unit 1706 may be configured to send a request to the second device for avoiding or reducing interference based on said at least one of the interference intensity and interference direction.

[0143] In some other embodiments, apparatus 1700 may include various other units or modules that can be configured to perform the various operations or functions described with respect to the foregoing method embodiments. Specific details can be obtained by referring to the detailed description of the foregoing method embodiments, and will not be repeated here.

[0144] Figure 18 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a device 1800 according to some embodiments of this application. As shown in Figure 18, the device 1800 includes a first transmitting unit 1802 and a second transmitting unit 1804. The device 1800 can be applied to the communication system shown in Figure 1 and can implement any of the methods provided in the foregoing embodiments. Optionally, the physical manifestation of the device 1800 can be a communication device, such as a network device or a UE. Alternatively, the device 1800 can be other devices capable of implementing the functions of a communication device, such as a processor or chip inside the communication device. Specifically, the device 1800 can be a programmable chip, such as a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a complex programmable logic device (CPLD), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or a system on a chip (SOC).

[0145] In some embodiments, the first transmitting unit 1802 may be configured to transmit pilot signals for sensing interference management in a time slot for sensing. The second transmitting unit 1804 may be configured to transmit communication signals for communication in a time slot.

[0146] In some other embodiments, apparatus 1800 may include various other units or modules that can be configured to perform the various operations or functions described with respect to the foregoing method embodiments. Specific details can be obtained by referring to the detailed description of the foregoing method embodiments, and will not be repeated here.

[0147] It should be noted that the module division in the above embodiments of this application is illustrative and only represents one logical functional division. In actual implementation, there may be other division methods. Furthermore, the functional units in the various embodiments of this application can be integrated into one processing unit, exist as separate physical units, or be integrated into one unit by two or more units. The integrated units described above can be implemented in hardware or as software functional units.

[0148] If the integrated unit is implemented as a software functional unit and sold or used as an independent product, it can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of this application, or all or part of it, can be embodied in the form of a software product. This computer software product is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions to cause a computer device (which may be a personal computer, server, or network device, etc.) or processor to execute all or part of the steps of the methods of the various embodiments of this application. The aforementioned storage medium includes various media capable of storing program code, such as USB flash drives, portable hard drives, read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), magnetic disks, or optical disks.

[0149] Based on the above embodiments, this application also provides a computer program that, when run on a computer, causes the computer to execute any of the methods provided in the above embodiments.

[0150] Based on the above embodiments, this application also provides a computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program. When the computer program is executed by a computer, it causes the computer to perform any of the methods provided in the above embodiments. The storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example, but not limited to, a computer-readable medium may include RAM, ROM, electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) or other optical disc storage, magnetic disk storage media or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code having the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer.

[0151] Based on the above embodiments, this application also provides a chip for reading a computer program stored in a memory and implementing any of the methods provided in the above embodiments.

[0152] Based on the above embodiments, this application provides a chip system including a processor for supporting a computer device in implementing the functions involved in the communication devices in the above embodiments. In one possible design, the chip system further includes a memory for storing necessary programs and data of the computer device. This chip system may be composed of chips or may include chips and other discrete components.

[0153] Those skilled in the art will understand that embodiments of this application can be provided as methods, systems, or computer program products. Therefore, this application can take the form of a completely hardware embodiment, a completely software embodiment, or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Furthermore, this application can take the form of a computer program product embodied on one or more computer-usable storage media (including but not limited to disk storage, CD-ROM, optical storage, etc.) containing computer-usable program code.

[0154] This application is described with reference to flowchart illustrations and / or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems), and computer program products according to this application. It should be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and / or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and / or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions can be provided to a processor of a general-purpose computer, special-purpose computer, embedded processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions specified in one or more blocks of the flowchart illustrations and / or one or more blocks of the block diagrams.

[0155] These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable storage medium that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing device to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable storage medium produce an article of manufacture including instruction means that implement the functions specified in one or more flowcharts and / or one or more block diagrams.

[0156] These computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer-implemented process, such that the instructions, which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus, provide steps for implementing the functions specified in one or more flowcharts and / or one or more block diagrams.

[0157] Obviously, those skilled in the art can make various modifications and variations to this application without departing from the scope of protection of this application. Therefore, if such modifications and variations fall within the scope of the claims of this application and their equivalents, this application also intends to include such modifications and variations.

Claims

1. A method of communication, comprising: At the first device, pilot signals for sensing interference management are transmitted in the time slot used for sensing; and In the time slot, a sensing signal for sensing is transmitted.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the pilot signal includes at least one of the following: identification information of the first device or identification information of the sensing cell of the first device.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising: Communication signals for communication are transmitted in the time slot.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the pilot signal, the sensing signal, and the communication signal are transmitted in different symbols of the time slot.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1-4, wherein the time slot for sensing comprises at least one of the following: The initial downlink time slot in a sensing frame period that includes multiple time slots; or The downlink time slot following the uplink time slot in the sensing frame period.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1-5, wherein: During the first sensing frame period, the pilot signal is transmitted via the first beam of the first device, and During the second sensing frame period, the pilot signal is transmitted via the second beam of the first device.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1-6, wherein the pilot signal is transmitted in a portion of a plurality of sensing frame periods.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1-7, wherein the time slot is a first time slot, the pilot signal is a first pilot signal, and the method further comprises: Detect a second pilot signal from a second device for sensing interference management in a second time slot used for sensing; Based on the detected second pilot signal, it is determined that the communication signal of the second device will interfere with at least one of the interference intensity and interference direction of the sensing signal of the first device. as well as Based on at least one of the interference intensity and the interference direction, a request for avoiding or reducing interference is sent to the second device.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the second pilot signal includes at least one of the following: identification information of the second device or identification information of the communication cell of the second device.

10. The method of claim 8 or 9, wherein sending the request to the second device for avoiding or reducing interference comprises at least one of the following: Based on the determination that the interference intensity is greater than a first threshold, the request is sent; or The request is sent based on the fact that the difference between the direction of interference and the transmission direction of the sensed signal is less than a second threshold.

11. The method according to any one of claims 8-10, further comprising: During the second time slot, the transceiver of the first device is switched to receive mode.

12. A method of communication, comprising: At the second device, pilot signals for sensing interference management from the first device are detected in the time slot used for sensing; Based on the detected pilot signal, determine at least one of the interference intensity or interference direction that the communication signal of the second device will cause to the sensing signal of the first device. as well as Based on at least one of the interference intensity or the interference direction, an operation is performed to avoid or reduce the interference of the communication signal on the sensed signal.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the pilot signal includes at least one of the following: identification information of the first device or identification information of the sensing cell of the first device.

14. The method according to claim 12 or 13, wherein the time slot further carries sensing signals for sensing and communication signals for communication transmitted by the first device.

15. The method of any one of claims 14, wherein the pilot signal, the sensing signal, and the communication signal are transmitted in different symbols of the time slot.

16. The method according to any one of claims 12 to 15, wherein the time slot for sensing comprises at least one of the following: The initial downlink time slot in a sensing frame period that includes multiple time slots; or The downlink time slot following the uplink time slot in the sensing frame period.

17. The method according to any one of claims 12 to 16: wherein: During the first sensing frame period, the pilot signal is transmitted via the first beam of the first device, and During the second sensing frame period, the pilot signal is transmitted via the second beam of the first device.

18. The method according to any one of claims 12 to 16, wherein the pilot signal is transmitted in a portion of a plurality of sensing frame periods.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein determining at least one of the interference intensity or the interference direction comprises: For each sensing frame period in the aforementioned portion of sensing frame periods, the interference intensity and interference direction are determined to obtain multiple interference intensities and interference directions; as well as Determine statistical information on the multiple interference intensities or directions; as well as Based on the statistical information, at least one of the interference intensity or the interference direction is determined.

20. The method according to any one of claims 12 to 19, wherein performing the operation based on at least one of the interference intensity or the interference direction comprises: The operation is performed based on the determination that the interference intensity is greater than a first threshold. or The operation is performed based on the determination that the difference between the direction of interference and the transmission direction of the sensed signal is less than a second threshold.

21. The method according to any one of claims 12 to 20, wherein the operation comprises at least one of the following: Avoid transmitting communication signals in one or more time slots used for sensing; or Adjust the beam used for the communication signal.

22. The method according to any one of claims 12 to 21, wherein the time slot is a first time slot, the pilot signal is a first pilot signal, and the method further comprises: Transmit a second pilot signal for sensing interference management in the second time slot used for sensing; Receive a request from the first device to avoid or reduce interference; as well as Based on the request, perform at least one of the following operations: avoid transmitting communication signals in one or more time slots used for sensing or adjust the beam used for the communication signals.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the second pilot signal includes identification information of the second device or identification information of the communication cell of the second device.

24. The method according to any one of claims 12 to 23, further comprising: During the time slot used for sensing, the transceiver of the second device is switched to receive mode.

25. A method of communication, comprising: At the first device, pilot signals for sensing interference management from the second device are detected in the time slot used for sensing; Based on the detected pilot signal, it is determined that the communication signal of the second device will interfere with at least one of the interference intensity and interference direction of the sensing signal of the first device. as well as Based on at least one of the interference intensity and the interference direction, a request for avoiding or reducing interference is sent to the second device.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the pilot signal includes at least one of the following: identification information of the second device or identification information of the sensing cell of the second device.

27. The method of claim 25 or 26, wherein the time slot further carries communication signals for communication transmitted by the second device.

28. The method according to any one of claims 25-27, further comprising: Sensing signals for sensing are transmitted in the time slots used for sensing.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the pilot signal and the communication signal are transmitted in different symbols of the time slot.

30. The method according to any one of claims 25-29, wherein the time slot for sensing comprises at least one of the following: The initial downlink time slot in a sensing frame period that includes multiple time slots; or The downlink time slot following the uplink time slot in the sensing frame period.

31. The method according to any one of claims 25-30, wherein: During the first sensing frame period, the pilot signal is transmitted via the first beam of the second device, and During the second sensing frame period, the pilot signal is transmitted via the second beam of the second device.

32. The method according to any one of claims 25-31, wherein the pilot signal is transmitted in a portion of a plurality of sensing frame periods.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein determining at least one of the interference intensity or the interference direction comprises: For each sensing frame period in the aforementioned portion of sensing frame periods, the interference intensity and interference direction are determined to obtain multiple interference intensities and interference directions; as well as Determine statistical information on the multiple interference intensities or directions; as well as Based on the statistical information, at least one of the interference intensity or the interference direction is determined.

34. The method according to any one of claims 25-33, wherein sending the request to the second device for avoiding or reducing interference comprises at least one of the following: Based on the determination that the interference intensity is greater than a first threshold, the request is sent; or The request is sent based on the fact that the difference between the direction of interference and the transmission direction of the sensed signal is less than a second threshold.

35. The method according to any one of claims 25-34, further comprising: During the second time slot, the transceiver of the first device is switched to receive mode.

36. A method of communication, comprising: At the second device, pilot signals for sensing interference management are transmitted in the time slots used for sensing; as well as During the time slot, communication signals for communication are transmitted.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein the pilot signal includes at least one of the following: identification information of the second device or identification information of the sensing cell of the second device.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein the pilot signal and the communication signal are transmitted in different symbols of the time slot.

39. The method according to any one of claims 36-38, wherein the time slot for sensing comprises at least one of the following: The initial downlink time slot in a sensing frame period that includes multiple time slots; or The downlink time slot following the uplink time slot in the sensing frame period.

40. The method according to any one of claims 36-39, wherein: During the first sensing frame period, the pilot signal is transmitted via the first beam of the second device, and During the second sensing frame period, the pilot signal is transmitted via the second beam of the second device.

41. The method according to any one of claims 36-40, wherein the pilot signal is transmitted in a portion of a plurality of sensing frame periods.

42. The method according to any one of claims 36-41, further comprising: Receive a request from the first device to avoid or reduce interference; as well as Based on the request, perform at least one of the following operations: avoid transmitting communication signals in one or more time slots used for sensing or adjust the beam used for the communication signals.

43. A communication device, comprising: A processor for performing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, 12 to 24, 25 to 35, or 36 to 42.

44. A computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed, cause the method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, 12 to 24, 25 to 35, or 36 to 42 to be performed.

45. A computer program product comprising instructions for performing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, 12 to 24, 25 to 35, or 36 to 42.

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