Chip rate determination
Mechanisms for determining chip duration in AIoT devices address the challenge of limited processing capabilities, enabling efficient signal generation and processing in wireless communications systems.
Patent Information
- Authority / Receiving Office
- WO · WO
- Patent Type
- Applications
- Current Assignee / Owner
- QUALCOMM INC
- Filing Date
- 2024-11-07
- Publication Date
- 2026-05-15
AI Technical Summary
AIoT devices face challenges in indicating transmission parameters, such as chip duration, due to limited processing capabilities, which affects signal generation and processing in wireless communications systems.
Mechanisms are provided for determining chip duration for AIoT transmissions, ensuring transmitting and receiving devices can generate and process signals effectively without additional signaling overhead.
Ensures accurate signal generation and processing for AIoT devices by determining chip duration, enhancing communication efficiency and reducing unnecessary signaling.
Smart Images

Figure CN2024130458_15052026_PF_FP_ABST
Abstract
Description
CHIP RATE DETERMINATION
[0001] Field of the Disclosure
[0002] Aspects of the present disclosure relate to wireless communications, and more particularly, to techniques for determining a chip duration for transmissions from an ambient Internet of Things (AIoT) device.
[0003] Description of Related Art
[0004] Wireless communications systems are widely deployed to provide various telecommunication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging, broadcasts, or other similar types of services. These wireless communications systems may employ multiple-access technologies capable of supporting communications with multiple users by sharing available wireless communications system resources with those users.
[0005] Although wireless communications systems have made great technological advancements over many years, challenges still exist. For example, complex and dynamic environments can still attenuate or block signals between wireless transmitters and wireless receivers. Accordingly, there is a continuous desire to improve the technical performance of wireless communications systems, including, for example: improving speed and data carrying capacity of communications, improving efficiency of the use of shared communications mediums, reducing power used by transmitters and receivers while performing communications, improving reliability of wireless communications, avoiding redundant transmissions and / or receptions and related processing, improving the coverage area of wireless communications, increasing the number and types of devices that can access wireless communications systems, increasing the ability for different types of devices to intercommunicate, increasing the number and type of wireless communications mediums available for use, and the like. Consequently, there exists a need for further improvements in wireless communications systems to overcome the aforementioned technical challenges and others.SUMMARY
[0006] One aspect provides a method for wireless communications. The method includes obtaining a first transmission from a wireless node, the first transmission including a preamble portion and a data portion; processing at least the data portion based on the preamble portion; and outputting a second transmission to the wireless node, wherein a chip duration associated with the second transmission is based on the preamble portion of the first transmission if one or more conditions are met.
[0007] Another aspect provides a method for wireless communications. The method includes outputting a first transmission to a wireless node, the first transmission including a preamble portion and a data portion; and obtaining a second transmission from the wireless node, wherein a chip duration associated with the second transmission is based on the preamble portion of the first transmission if one or more conditions are met.
[0008] Other aspects provide: an apparatus operable, configured, or otherwise adapted to perform any one or more of the aforementioned methods and / or those described elsewhere herein; a non-transitory, computer-readable media comprising instructions that, when executed (e.g., directly, indirectly, after pre-processing, without pre-processing) by one or more processors of an apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform the aforementioned methods as well as those described elsewhere herein; a computer program product embodied on a computer-readable storage medium comprising code for performing the aforementioned methods as well as those described elsewhere herein; and / or an apparatus comprising means for performing the aforementioned methods as well as those described elsewhere herein. By way of example, an apparatus may comprise a processing system, a device with a processing system, or processing systems cooperating over one or more networks.
[0009] The following description and the appended figures set forth certain features for purposes of illustration.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
[0010] The appended figures depict certain features of the various aspects described herein and are not to be considered limiting of the scope of this disclosure.
[0011] FIG. 1 depicts an example wireless communications network.
[0012] FIG. 2 depicts an example disaggregated base station architecture.
[0013] FIG. 3 depicts aspects of an example base station and an example user equipment.
[0014] FIGS. 4A, 4B, 4C, and 4D depict various example aspects of data structures for a wireless communications network.
[0015] FIG. 5 illustrates an example radio frequency identification (RFID) system.
[0016] FIG. 6 depicts an example reader and ambient internet of things (AIoT) device.
[0017] FIG. 7A and FIG. 7B depict example topologies for AIoT communication.
[0018] FIG. 8A and FIG. 8B depict example transmit processing for a transmission from an AIoT device.
[0019] FIG. 9 depicts an example format of a reader to device (R2D) message.
[0020] FIG. 10 depicts an example call flow diagram, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.
[0021] FIG. 11A and FIG. 11B depict examples of chip duration determination for a transmission from an AIoT device, in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.
[0022] FIG. 12 depicts an example of chip duration indication for a transmission from an AIoT device, in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.
[0023] FIG. 13 depicts a method for wireless communications.
[0024] FIG. 14 depicts a method for wireless communications.
[0025] FIG. 15 depicts aspects of an example communications device.DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0026] Aspects of the present disclosure relate to wireless communications, and more particularly, to techniques for determining a chip duration for transmissions from an ambient Internet of Things (AIoT) device.
[0027] The rapid advancement of the Internet of Things (IoT) has led to the development of AIoT systems, which use low-power, low-complexity devices to monitor and manage various environments. These devices, typically operating with minimal power in the range of microwatts (μW) , are essential for applications like efficient inventory management and command in large-scale deployments.
[0028] Despite their advantages, AIoT devices face potential challenges. For example, one potential challenge is how to indicate certain transmission parameters to an AIoT devices with relatively limited processing capabilities. Knowledge of transmission parameters is important so a transmitting device knows how to transmit and a receiving device knows what type of signal to look for and how to process it.
[0029] One example of such a transmission parameter is a chip duration or chip rate for a device to reader (D2R) transmission from an AIoT device to a reader device. Chip rate generally refers the rate at which information signal bits are transmitted as a sequence of chips. A chip generally refers to a minimum reference duration of a time domain resource. For example, for on-off keying (OOK) a chip can be a duration of a transmitted “1” or “0. ” In certain wireless systems, one time slot may be equal to 2560 chips and is equal to 666.7 μs at a default chip rate.
[0030] Aspects of the present disclosure provide various mechanisms for determining a chip rate for a transmission, such as a physical device to reader channel (PDRCH) and / or a physical reader to device channel (PRDCH) .
[0031] By providing mechanisms for determining a chip duration for AIoT transmissions, aspects of the present disclosure may help ensure a transmitting device and receiving device are how to generate and process the corresponding signals. Aspects of the present disclosure may also allow for chip duration indication in a manner that avoids additional signaling overhead.
[0032] Introduction to Wireless Communications Networks
[0033] The techniques and methods described herein may be used for various wireless communications networks. While aspects may be described herein using terminology commonly associated with 3G, 4G, and / or 5G wireless technologies, aspects of the present disclosure may likewise be applicable to other communications systems and standards not explicitly mentioned herein.
[0034] FIG. 1 depicts an example of a wireless communications network 100, in which aspects described herein may be implemented.
[0035] Generally, wireless communications network 100 includes various network entities (alternatively, network elements or network nodes) . A network entity is generally a communications device and / or a communications function performed by a communications device (e.g., a user equipment (UE) , a base station (BS) , a component of a BS, a server, etc. ) . For example, various functions of a network as well as various devices associated with and interacting with a network may be considered network entities. Further, wireless communications network 100 includes terrestrial aspects, such as ground-based network entities (e.g., BSs 102) , and non-terrestrial aspects, such as satellite 140 and aircraft 145, which may include network entities on-board (e.g., one or more BSs) capable of communicating with other network elements (e.g., terrestrial BSs) and user equipments.
[0036] In the depicted example, wireless communications network 100 includes BSs 102, UEs 104, and one or more core networks, such as an Evolved Packet Core (EPC) 160 and 5G Core (5GC) network 190, which interoperate to provide communications services over various communications links, including wired and wireless links.
[0037] FIG. 1 depicts various example UEs 104, which may more generally include: a cellular phone, smart phone, session initiation protocol (SIP) phone, laptop, personal digital assistant (PDA) , satellite radio, global positioning system, multimedia device, video device, digital audio player, camera, game console, tablet, smart device, wearable device, vehicle, electric meter, gas pump, large or small kitchen appliance, healthcare device, implant, sensor / actuator, display, internet of things (IoT) devices, always on (AON) devices, edge processing devices, or other similar devices. UEs 104 may also be referred to more generally as a mobile device, a wireless device, a wireless communications device, a station, a mobile station, a subscriber station, a mobile subscriber station, a mobile unit, a subscriber unit, a wireless unit, a remote unit, a remote device, an access terminal, a mobile terminal, a wireless terminal, a remote terminal, a handset, and others.
[0038] BSs 102 wirelessly communicate with (e.g., transmit signals to or receive signals from) UEs 104 via communications links 120. The communications links 120 between BSs 102 and UEs 104 may include uplink (UL) (also referred to as reverse link) transmissions from a UE 104 to a BS 102 and / or downlink (DL) (also referred to as forward link) transmissions from a BS 102 to a UE 104. The communications links 120 may use multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology, including spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and / or transmit diversity in various aspects.
[0039] BSs 102 may generally include: a NodeB, enhanced NodeB (eNB) , next generation enhanced NodeB (ng-eNB) , next generation NodeB (gNB or gNodeB) , access point, base transceiver station, radio base station, radio transceiver, transceiver function, transmission reception point, and / or others. Each of BSs 102 may provide communications coverage for a respective geographic coverage area 110, which may sometimes be referred to as a cell, and which may overlap in some cases (e.g., small cell 102’ may have a coverage area 110’ that overlaps the coverage area 110 of a macro cell) . A BS may, for example, provide communications coverage for a macro cell (covering relatively large geographic area) , a pico cell (covering relatively smaller geographic area, such as a sports stadium) , a femto cell (relatively smaller geographic area (e.g., a home) ) , and / or other types of cells.
[0040] While BSs 102 are depicted in various aspects as unitary communications devices, BSs 102 may be implemented in various configurations. For example, one or more components of a base station may be disaggregated, including a central unit (CU) , one or more distributed units (DUs) , one or more radio units (RUs) , a Near-Real Time (Near-RT) RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) , or a Non-Real Time (Non-RT) RIC, to name a few examples. In another example, various aspects of a base station may be virtualized. More generally, a base station (e.g., BS 102) may include components that are located at a single physical location or components located at various physical locations. In examples in which a base station includes components that are located at various physical locations, the various components may each perform functions such that, collectively, the various components achieve functionality that is similar to a base station that is located at a single physical location. In some aspects, a base station including components that are located at various physical locations may be referred to as a disaggregated radio access network architecture, such as an Open RAN (O-RAN) or Virtualized RAN (VRAN) architecture. FIG. 2 depicts and describes an example disaggregated base station architecture.
[0041] Different BSs 102 within wireless communications network 100 may also be configured to support different radio access technologies, such as 3G, 4G, and / or 5G. For example, BSs 102 configured for 4G LTE (collectively referred to as Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) ) may interface with the EPC 160 through first backhaul links 132 (e.g., an S1 interface) . BSs 102 configured for 5G (e.g., 5G NR or Next Generation RAN (NG-RAN) ) may interface with 5GC 190 through second backhaul links 184. BSs 102 may communicate directly or indirectly (e.g., through the EPC 160 or 5GC 190) with each other over third backhaul links 134 (e.g., X2 interface) , which may be wired or wireless.
[0042] Wireless communications network 100 may subdivide the electromagnetic spectrum into various classes, bands, channels, or other features. In some aspects, the subdivision is provided based on wavelength and frequency, where frequency may also be referred to as a carrier, a subcarrier, a frequency channel, a tone, or a subband. For example, 3GPP currently defines Frequency Range 1 (FR1) as including 410 MHz –7125 MHz, which is often referred to (interchangeably) as “Sub-6 GHz” . Similarly, 3GPP currently defines Frequency Range 2 (FR2) as including 24, 250 MHz –71, 000 MHz, which is sometimes referred to (interchangeably) as a “millimeter wave” ( “mmW” or “mmWave” ) . In some cases, FR2 may be further defined in terms of sub-ranges, such as a first sub-range FR2-1 including 24, 250 MHz –52, 600 MHz and a second sub-range FR2-2 including 52, 600 MHz –71, 000 MHz. A base station configured to communicate using mmWave / near mmWave radio frequency bands (e.g., a mmWave base station such as BS 180) may utilize beamforming (e.g., 182) with a UE (e.g., 104) to improve path loss and range.
[0043] The communications links 120 between BSs 102 and, for example, UEs 104, may be through one or more carriers, which may have different bandwidths (e.g., 5, 10, 15, 20, 100, 400, and / or other MHz) , and which may be aggregated in various aspects. Carriers may or may not be adjacent to each other. Allocation of carriers may be asymmetric with respect to DL and UL (e.g., more or fewer carriers may be allocated for DL than for UL) .
[0044] Communications using higher frequency bands may have higher path loss and a shorter range compared to lower frequency communications. Accordingly, certain base stations (e.g., 180 in FIG. 1) may utilize beamforming 182 with a UE 104 to improve path loss and range. For example, BS 180 and the UE 104 may each include a plurality of antennas, such as antenna elements, antenna panels, and / or antenna arrays to facilitate the beamforming. In some cases, BS 180 may transmit a beamformed signal to UE 104 in one or more transmit directions 182’ . UE 104 may receive the beamformed signal from the BS 180 in one or more receive directions 182” . UE 104 may also transmit a beamformed signal to the BS 180 in one or more transmit directions 182” . BS 180 may also receive the beamformed signal from UE 104 in one or more receive directions 182’ . BS 180 and UE 104 may then perform beam training to determine the best receive and transmit directions for each of BS 180 and UE 104. Notably, the transmit and receive directions for BS 180 may or may not be the same. Similarly, the transmit and receive directions for UE 104 may or may not be the same.
[0045] Wireless communications network 100 further includes a Wi-Fi AP 150 in communication with Wi-Fi stations (STAs) 152 via communications links 154 in, for example, a 2.4 GHz and / or 5 GHz unlicensed frequency spectrum.
[0046] Certain UEs 104 may communicate with each other using device-to-device (D2D) communications link 158. D2D communications link 158 may use one or more sidelink channels, such as a physical sidelink broadcast channel (PSBCH) , a physical sidelink discovery channel (PSDCH) , a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) , a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) , and / or a physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH) .
[0047] EPC 160 may include various functional components, including: a Mobility Management Entity (MME) 162, other MMEs 164, a Serving Gateway 166, a Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS) Gateway 168, a Broadcast Multicast Service Center (BM-SC) 170, and / or a Packet Data Network (PDN) Gateway 172, such as in the depicted example. MME 162 may be in communication with a Home Subscriber Server (HSS) 174. MME 162 is the control node that processes the signaling between the UEs 104 and the EPC 160. Generally, MME 162 provides bearer and connection management.
[0048] Generally, user Internet protocol (IP) packets are transferred through Serving Gateway 166, which itself is connected to PDN Gateway 172. PDN Gateway 172 provides UE IP address allocation as well as other functions. PDN Gateway 172 and the BM-SC 170 are connected to IP Services 176, which may include, for example, the Internet, an intranet, an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) , a Packet Switched (PS) streaming service, and / or other IP services.
[0049] BM-SC 170 may provide functions for MBMS user service provisioning and delivery. BM-SC 170 may serve as an entry point for content provider MBMS transmission, may be used to authorize and initiate MBMS Bearer Services within a public land mobile network (PLMN) , and / or may be used to schedule MBMS transmissions. MBMS Gateway 168 may be used to distribute MBMS traffic to the BSs 102 belonging to a Multicast Broadcast Single Frequency Network (MBSFN) area broadcasting a particular service, and / or may be responsible for session management (start / stop) and for collecting eMBMS related charging information.
[0050] 5GC 190 may include various functional components, including: an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) 192, other AMFs 193, a Session Management Function (SMF) 194, and a User Plane Function (UPF) 195. AMF 192 may be in communication with Unified Data Management (UDM) 196.
[0051] AMF 192 is a control node that processes signaling between UEs 104 and 5GC 190. AMF 192 provides, for example, quality of service (QoS) flow and session management.
[0052] Internet protocol (IP) packets are transferred through UPF 195, which is connected to the IP Services 197, and which provides UE IP address allocation as well as other functions for 5GC 190. IP Services 197 may include, for example, the Internet, an intranet, an IMS, a PS streaming service, and / or other IP services.
[0053] In various aspects, a network entity or network node can be implemented as an aggregated base station, as a disaggregated base station, a component of a base station, an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node, a relay node, a sidelink node, to name a few examples.
[0054] FIG. 2 depicts an example disaggregated base station 200 architecture. The disaggregated base station 200 architecture may include one or more central units (CUs) 210 that can communicate directly with a core network 220 via a backhaul link, or indirectly with the core network 220 through one or more disaggregated base station units (such as a Near-Real Time (Near-RT) RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) 225 via an E2 link, or a Non-Real Time (Non-RT) RIC 215 associated with a Service Management and Orchestration (SMO) Framework 205, or both) . A CU 210 may communicate with one or more distributed units (DUs) 230 via respective midhaul links, such as an F1 interface. The DUs 230 may communicate with one or more radio units (RUs) 240 via respective fronthaul links. The RUs 240 may communicate with respective UEs 104 via one or more radio frequency (RF) access links. In some implementations, the UE 104 may be simultaneously served by multiple RUs 240.
[0055] Each of the units, e.g., the CUs 210, the DUs 230, the RUs 240, as well as the Near-RT RICs 225, the Non-RT RICs 215 and the SMO Framework 205, may include one or more interfaces or be coupled to one or more interfaces configured to receive or transmit signals, data, or information (collectively, signals) via a wired or wireless transmission medium. Each of the units, or an associated processor or controller providing instructions to the communications interfaces of the units, can be configured to communicate with one or more of the other units via the transmission medium. For example, the units can include a wired interface configured to receive or transmit signals over a wired transmission medium to one or more of the other units. Additionally or alternatively, the units can include a wireless interface, which may include a receiver, a transmitter or transceiver (such as a radio frequency (RF) transceiver) , configured to receive or transmit signals, or both, over a wireless transmission medium to one or more of the other units.
[0056] In some aspects, the CU 210 may host one or more higher layer control functions. Such control functions can include radio resource control (RRC) , packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) , service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) , or the like. Each control function can be implemented with an interface configured to communicate signals with other control functions hosted by the CU 210. The CU 210 may be configured to handle user plane functionality (e.g., Central Unit –User Plane (CU-UP) ) , control plane functionality (e.g., Central Unit –Control Plane (CU-CP) ) , or a combination thereof. In some implementations, the CU 210 can be logically split into one or more CU-UP units and one or more CU-CP units. The CU-UP unit can communicate bidirectionally with the CU-CP unit via an interface, such as the E1 interface when implemented in an O-RAN configuration. The CU 210 can be implemented to communicate with the DU 230, as necessary, for network control and signaling.
[0057] The DU 230 may correspond to a logical unit that includes one or more base station functions to control the operation of one or more RUs 240. In some aspects, the DU 230 may host one or more of a radio link control (RLC) layer, a medium access control (MAC) layer, and one or more high physical (PHY) layers (such as modules for forward error correction (FEC) encoding and decoding, scrambling, modulation and demodulation, or the like) depending, at least in part, on a functional split, such as those defined by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) . In some aspects, the DU 230 may further host one or more low PHY layers. Each layer (or module) can be implemented with an interface configured to communicate signals with other layers (and modules) hosted by the DU 230, or with the control functions hosted by the CU 210.
[0058] Lower-layer functionality can be implemented by one or more RUs 240. In some deployments, an RU 240, controlled by a DU 230, may correspond to a logical node that hosts RF processing functions, or low-PHY layer functions (such as performing fast Fourier transform (FFT) , inverse FFT (iFFT) , digital beamforming, physical random access channel (PRACH) extraction and filtering, or the like) , or both, based at least in part on the functional split, such as a lower layer functional split. In such an architecture, the RU (s) 240 can be implemented to handle over the air (OTA) communications with one or more UEs 104. In some implementations, real-time and non-real-time aspects of control and user plane communications with the RU (s) 240 can be controlled by the corresponding DU 230. In some scenarios, this configuration can enable the DU (s) 230 and the CU 210 to be implemented in a cloud-based RAN architecture, such as a vRAN architecture.
[0059] The SMO Framework 205 may be configured to support RAN deployment and provisioning of non-virtualized and virtualized network elements. For non-virtualized network elements, the SMO Framework 205 may be configured to support the deployment of dedicated physical resources for RAN coverage requirements which may be managed via an operations and maintenance interface (such as an O1 interface) . For virtualized network elements, the SMO Framework 205 may be configured to interact with a cloud computing platform (such as an open cloud (O-Cloud) 290) to perform network element life cycle management (such as to instantiate virtualized network elements) via a cloud computing platform interface (such as an O2 interface) . Such virtualized network elements can include, but are not limited to, CUs 210, DUs 230, RUs 240 and Near-RT RICs 225. In some implementations, the SMO Framework 205 can communicate with a hardware aspect of a 4G RAN, such as an open eNB (O-eNB) 211, via an O1 interface. Additionally, in some implementations, the SMO Framework 205 can communicate directly with one or more RUs 240 via an O1 interface. The SMO Framework 205 also may include a Non-RT RIC 215 configured to support functionality of the SMO Framework 205.
[0060] The Non-RT RIC 215 may be configured to include a logical function that enables non-real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources, Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning (AI / ML) workflows including model training and updates, or policy-based guidance of applications / features in the Near-RT RIC 225. The Non-RT RIC 215 may be coupled to or communicate with (such as via an A1 interface) the Near-RT RIC 225. The Near-RT RIC 225 may be configured to include a logical function that enables near-real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources via data collection and actions over an interface (such as via an E2 interface) connecting one or more CUs 210, one or more DUs 230, or both, as well as an O-eNB, with the Near-RT RIC 225.
[0061] In some implementations, to generate AI / ML models to be deployed in the Near-RT RIC 225, the Non-RT RIC 215 may receive parameters or external enrichment information from external servers. Such information may be utilized by the Near-RT RIC 225 and may be received at the SMO Framework 205 or the Non-RT RIC 215 from non-network data sources or from network functions. In some examples, the Non-RT RIC 215 or the Near-RT RIC 225 may be configured to tune RAN behavior or performance. For example, the Non-RT RIC 215 may monitor long-term trends and patterns for performance and employ AI / ML models to perform corrective actions through the SMO Framework 205 (such as reconfiguration via O1) or via creation of RAN management policies (such as A1 policies) .
[0062] FIG. 3 depicts aspects of an example BS 102 and a UE 104.
[0063] Generally, BS 102 includes various processors (e.g., 320, 330, 338, and 340) , antennas 334a-t (collectively 334) , transceivers 332a-t (collectively 332) , which include modulators and demodulators, and other aspects, which enable wireless transmission of data (e.g., data source 312) and wireless reception of data (e.g., data sink 339) . For example, BS 102 may send and receive data between BS 102 and UE 104. BS 102 includes controller / processor 340, which may be configured to implement various functions described herein related to wireless communications.
[0064] Generally, UE 104 includes various processors (e.g., 358, 364, 366, and 380) , antennas 352a-r (collectively 352) , transceivers 354a-r (collectively 354) , which include modulators and demodulators, and other aspects, which enable wireless transmission of data (e.g., retrieved from data source 362) and wireless reception of data (e.g., provided to data sink 360) . UE 104 includes controller / processor 380, which may be configured to implement various functions described herein related to wireless communications.
[0065] In regards to an example downlink transmission, BS 102 includes a transmit processor 320 that may receive data from a data source 312 and control information from a controller / processor 340. The control information may be for the physical broadcast channel (PBCH) , physical control format indicator channel (PCFICH) , physical HARQ indicator channel (PHICH) , physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) , group common PDCCH (GC PDCCH) , and / or others. The data may be for the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) , in some examples.
[0066] Transmit processor 320 may process (e.g., encode and symbol map) the data and control information to obtain data symbols and control symbols, respectively. Transmit processor 320 may also generate reference symbols, such as for the primary synchronization signal (PSS) , secondary synchronization signal (SSS) , PBCH demodulation reference signal (DMRS) , and channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) .
[0067] Transmit (TX) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) processor 330 may perform spatial processing (e.g., precoding) on the data symbols, the control symbols, and / or the reference symbols, if applicable, and may provide output symbol streams to the modulators (MODs) in transceivers 332a-332t. Each modulator in transceivers 332a-332t may process a respective output symbol stream to obtain an output sample stream. Each modulator may further process (e.g., convert to analog, amplify, filter, and upconvert) the output sample stream to obtain a downlink signal. Downlink signals from the modulators in transceivers 332a-332t may be transmitted via the antennas 334a-334t, respectively.
[0068] In order to receive the downlink transmission, UE 104 includes antennas 352a-352r that may receive the downlink signals from the BS 102 and may provide received signals to the demodulators (DEMODs) in transceivers 354a-354r, respectively. Each demodulator in transceivers 354a-354r may condition (e.g., filter, amplify, downconvert, and digitize) a respective received signal to obtain input samples. Each demodulator may further process the input samples to obtain received symbols.
[0069] MIMO detector 356 may obtain received symbols from all the demodulators in transceivers 354a-354r, perform MIMO detection on the received symbols if applicable, and provide detected symbols. Receive processor 358 may process (e.g., demodulate, deinterleave, and decode) the detected symbols, provide decoded data for the UE 104 to a data sink 360, and provide decoded control information to a controller / processor 380.
[0070] In regards to an example uplink transmission, UE 104 further includes a transmit processor 364 that may receive and process data (e.g., for the PUSCH) from a data source 362 and control information (e.g., for the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) ) from the controller / processor 380. Transmit processor 364 may also generate reference symbols for a reference signal (e.g., for the sounding reference signal (SRS) ) . The symbols from the transmit processor 364 may be precoded by a TX MIMO processor 366 if applicable, further processed by the modulators in transceivers 354a-354r (e.g., for SC-FDM) , and transmitted to BS 102.
[0071] At BS 102, the uplink signals from UE 104 may be received by antennas 334a-t, processed by the demodulators in transceivers 332a-332t, detected by a MIMO detector 336 if applicable, and further processed by a receive processor 338 to obtain decoded data and control information sent by UE 104. Receive processor 338 may provide the decoded data to a data sink 339 and the decoded control information to the controller / processor 340.
[0072] Memories 342 and 382 may store data and program codes for BS 102 and UE 104, respectively.
[0073] Scheduler 344 may schedule UEs for data transmission on the downlink and / or uplink.
[0074] In various aspects, BS 102 may be described as transmitting and receiving various types of data associated with the methods described herein. In these contexts, “transmitting” may refer to various mechanisms of outputting data, such as outputting data from data source 312, scheduler 344, memory 342, transmit processor 320, controller / processor 340, TX MIMO processor 330, transceivers 332a-t, antenna 334a-t, and / or other aspects described herein. Similarly, “receiving” may refer to various mechanisms of obtaining data, such as obtaining data from antennas 334a-t, transceivers 332a-t, RX MIMO detector 336, controller / processor 340, receive processor 338, scheduler 344, memory 342, and / or other aspects described herein.
[0075] In various aspects, UE 104 may likewise be described as transmitting and receiving various types of data associated with the methods described herein. In these contexts, “transmitting” may refer to various mechanisms of outputting data, such as outputting data from data source 362, memory 382, transmit processor 364, controller / processor 380, TX MIMO processor 366, transceivers 354a-t, antenna 352a-t, and / or other aspects described herein. Similarly, “receiving” may refer to various mechanisms of obtaining data, such as obtaining data from antennas 352a-t, transceivers 354a-t, RX MIMO detector 356, controller / processor 380, receive processor 358, memory 382, and / or other aspects described herein.
[0076] In some aspects, one or more processors may be configured to perform various operations, such as those associated with the methods described herein, and transmit (output) to or receive (obtain) data from another interface that is configured to transmit or receive, respectively, the data.
[0077] FIGS. 4A, 4B, 4C, and 4D depict aspects of data structures for a wireless communications network, such as wireless communications network 100 of FIG. 1.
[0078] In particular, FIG. 4A is a diagram 400 illustrating an example of a first subframe within a 5G (e.g., 5G NR) frame structure, FIG. 4B is a diagram 430 illustrating an example of DL channels within a 5G subframe, FIG. 4C is a diagram 450 illustrating an example of a second subframe within a 5G frame structure, and FIG. 4D is a diagram 480 illustrating an example of UL channels within a 5G subframe.
[0079] Wireless communications systems may utilize orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) with a cyclic prefix (CP) on the uplink and downlink. Such systems may also support half-duplex operation using time division duplexing (TDD) . OFDM and single-carrier frequency division multiplexing (SC-FDM) partition the system bandwidth (e.g., as depicted in FIGS. 4B and 4D) into multiple orthogonal subcarriers. Each subcarrier may be modulated with data. Modulation symbols may be sent in the frequency domain with OFDM and / or in the time domain with SC-FDM.
[0080] A wireless communications frame structure may be frequency division duplex (FDD) , in which, for a particular set of subcarriers, subframes within the set of subcarriers are dedicated for either DL or UL. Wireless communications frame structures may also be time division duplex (TDD) , in which, for a particular set of subcarriers, subframes within the set of subcarriers are dedicated for both DL and UL.
[0081] In FIG. 4A and 4C, the wireless communications frame structure is TDD where D is DL, U is UL, and X is flexible for use between DL / UL. UEs may be configured with a slot format through a received slot format indicator (SFI) (dynamically through DL control information (DCI) , or semi-statically / statically through radio resource control (RRC) signaling) . In the depicted examples, a 10 ms frame is divided into 10 equally sized 1 ms subframes. Each subframe may include one or more time slots. In some examples, each slot may include 7 or 14 symbols, depending on the slot format. Subframes may also include mini-slots, which generally have fewer symbols than an entire slot. Other wireless communications technologies may have a different frame structure and / or different channels.
[0082] In certain aspects, the number of slots within a subframe is based on a slot configuration and a numerology. For example, for slot configuration 0, different numerologies (μ) 0 to 6 allow for 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, and 64 slots, respectively, per subframe. For slot configuration 1, different numerologies 0 to 2 allow for 2, 4, and 8 slots, respectively, per subframe. Accordingly, for slot configuration 0 and numerology μ, there are 14 symbols / slot and 2μ slots / subframe. The subcarrier spacing and symbol length / duration are a function of the numerology. The subcarrier spacing may be equal to 2μ×15 kHz, where μ is the numerology 0 to 6. As such, the numerology μ=0 has a subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz and the numerology μ=6 has a subcarrier spacing of 960 kHz. The symbol length / duration is inversely related to the subcarrier spacing. FIGS. 4A, 4B, 4C, and 4D provide an example of slot configuration 0 with 14 symbols per slot and numerology μ=2 with 4 slots per subframe. The slot duration is 0.25 ms, the subcarrier spacing is 60 kHz, and the symbol duration is approximately 16.67 μs.
[0083] As depicted in FIGS. 4A, 4B, 4C, and 4D, a resource grid may be used to represent the frame structure. Each time slot includes a resource block (RB) (also referred to as physical RBs (PRBs) ) that extends, for example, 12 consecutive subcarriers. The resource grid is divided into multiple resource elements (REs) . The number of bits carried by each RE depends on the modulation scheme.
[0084] As illustrated in FIG. 4A, some of the REs carry reference (pilot) signals (RS) for a UE (e.g., UE 104 of FIGS. 1 and 3) . The RS may include demodulation RS (DMRS) and / or channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS) for channel estimation at the UE. The RS may also include beam measurement RS (BRS) , beam refinement RS (BRRS) , and / or phase tracking RS (PT-RS) .
[0085] FIG. 4B illustrates an example of various DL channels within a subframe of a frame. The physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) carries DCI within one or more control channel elements (CCEs) , each CCE including, for example, nine RE groups (REGs) , each REG including, for example, four consecutive REs in an OFDM symbol.
[0086] A primary synchronization signal (PSS) may be within symbol 2 of particular subframes of a frame. The PSS is used by a UE (e.g., 104 of FIGS. 1 and 3) to determine subframe / symbol timing and a physical layer identity.
[0087] A secondary synchronization signal (SSS) may be within symbol 4 of particular subframes of a frame. The SSS is used by a UE to determine a physical layer cell identity group number and radio frame timing.
[0088] Based on the physical layer identity and the physical layer cell identity group number, the UE can determine a physical cell identifier (PCI) . Based on the PCI, the UE can determine the locations of the aforementioned DMRS. The physical broadcast channel (PBCH) , which carries a master information block (MIB) , may be logically grouped with the PSS and SSS to form a synchronization signal (SS) / PBCH block. The MIB provides a number of RBs in the system bandwidth and a system frame number (SFN) . The physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) carries user data, broadcast system information not transmitted through the PBCH such as system information blocks (SIBs) , and / or paging messages.
[0089] As illustrated in FIG. 4C, some of the REs carry DMRS (indicated as R for one particular configuration, but other DMRS configurations are possible) for channel estimation at the base station. The UE may transmit DMRS for the PUCCH and DMRS for the PUSCH. The PUSCH DMRS may be transmitted, for example, in the first one or two symbols of the PUSCH. The PUCCH DMRS may be transmitted in different configurations depending on whether short or long PUCCHs are transmitted and depending on the particular PUCCH format used. UE 104 may transmit sounding reference signals (SRS) . The SRS may be transmitted, for example, in the last symbol of a subframe. The SRS may have a comb structure, and a UE may transmit SRS on one of the combs. The SRS may be used by a base station for channel quality estimation to enable frequency-dependent scheduling on the UL.
[0090] FIG. 4D illustrates an example of various UL channels within a subframe of a frame. The PUCCH may be located as indicated in one configuration. The PUCCH carries uplink control information (UCI) , such as scheduling requests, a channel quality indicator (CQI) , a precoding matrix indicator (PMI) , a rank indicator (RI) , and HARQ ACK / NACK feedback. The PUSCH carries data, and may additionally be used to carry a buffer status report (BSR) , a power headroom report (PHR) , and / or UCI.
[0091] Introduction to Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Systems
[0092] Radio frequency identification (RFID) is a rapidly growing technology impacting many industries due to its economic potential for inventory / asset management within warehouses, internet of things (IoT) , sustainable sensor networks in factories and / or agriculture, and smart homes, to name a few example applications. RFID technology consists of RFID devices (or backscatter devices) , such as transponders, or tags, that emit an information-bearing signal upon receiving an energizing signal.
[0093] RFID devices may be operated without a battery. Generally, RFID devices that are operated without a battery are known as passive RFID devices. Passive RFID devices may operate by harvesting energy from received radio frequency signals (e.g., “over the air” ) , thereby powering reception and transmission circuitry within the RFID devices. This harvested energy allows passive RFID devices to transmit information, sometimes referred to as backscatter modulated information, without the need for a local power source within the RFID device. On the other hand, in certain aspects, RFID device may be semi-passive and include on-board energy storage to supplement their ability to harvest energy from received signals (however, at higher cost) .
[0094] In some cases, in addition to harvesting power from RF sources, energy harvesting devices may accumulate energy from other direct energy sources, such as solar energy, in order to supplement its power demands. Semi-passive energy harvesting devices may, in some cases, include power consuming RF components, such as analog to digital converters (ADCs) , mixers, and oscillators.
[0095] The RFID device may be a type of user equipment (UE) that provides low-cost and low-power solutions for many applications in a wireless communications system. The RFID device may be power efficient, sometimes requiring less than 0.1mW of power to operate. Further, relatively simple architectures and, in some cases, lack of battery, mean that the RFID device can be small, lightweight, and easily installed or integrated in many types of environments or host devices. The RFID device provides practical and necessary solutions to many networking applications that require, low-cost, small footprint, durable, maintenance-free, and long lifespan communications devices. For example, the RFID device may be configured as long endurance industrial sensors, which mitigates the problems of replacing batteries in and around dangerous machinery.
[0096] FIG. 5 illustrates an example RFID system 500. As shown, RFID system 500 includes a reader 510 and an RFID tag 550. Reader 510 may also be referred to as an interrogator or a scanner. RFID tag 550 may also be referred to as an interrogator, RFID label, or an electronics label. In certain aspects, reader 510 is a network entity (e.g., such as a gNB) and RFID tag 550 is a user equipment (UE) .
[0097] Reader 510 includes an antenna 520 and an electronics unit 530. Antenna 520 radiates signals transmitted by reader 510 and receives signals from RFID tags and / or other devices. Electronics unit 530 may include a transmitter and a receiver for reading RFID tags such as RFID tag 550. The same pair of transmitter and receiver (or another pair of transmitter and receiver) may support bi-directional communication with wireless networks, wireless devices, etc. Electronics unit 530 may include processing circuitry (e.g., a processor) to perform processing for data being transmitted and received by the RFID reader 510.
[0098] RFID tag 550 includes an antenna 560 and a data storage element 570. Antenna 560 radiates signals transmitted by RFID tag 550 and receives signals from RFID reader 510 and / or other devices. Data storage element 570 stores information for RFID tag 550, for example, in an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM) or another type of memory. RFID tag 550 may also include an electronics unit that can process the received signal and generate the signals to be transmitted.
[0099] RFID tag 550 may be a passive RFID tag having no battery. In this case, induction may be used to power the RFID tag 550. For example, in some cases, a magnetic field from a signal transmitted by reader 510 may induce an electrical current in RFID tag 550, which may then operate based on the induced current. RFID tag 550 can radiate its signal in response to receiving a signal from RFID reader 510 or some other device. In certain other aspects, RFID tag 550 may optionally include an energy storage device 590, such as a battery, capacitor, etc., for storing energy harvested using energy harvesting circuitry 555, as described below.
[0100] RFID tag 550 may be read by placing the reader 510 within close proximity to RFID tag 550. Reader 510 may radiate a first signal 525 via the antenna 520. In some cases, the first signal 525 may be known as an interrogation signal or energy signal. In some cases, energy of the first signal 525 may be coupled from reader antenna 520 to RFID tag antenna 560 via magnetic coupling and / or other phenomena. In other words, the RFID tag 550 may receive the first signal 525 from reader 510 via antenna 560 and energy of the first signal 525 may be harvested using energy harvesting circuitry 555 (e.g., an RF transducer) and used to power RFID tag 550. For example, energy of the first signal 525 received by RFID tag 550 may be used to power a microprocessor 545 of RFID tag 550. Microprocessor 545 may, in turn, retrieve information stored in a data storage element 570 of RFID tag 550 and transmit the retrieved information via a second signal 535 using the antenna 560. For example, in some cases, microprocessor 545 may generate the second signal 535 by modulating a baseband signal (e.g., generated using energy of the first signal 525) with the information retrieved from the data storage element 570. In some cases, this second signal 535 may be known as a backscatter modulated information signal. Thereafter, as noted, microprocessor 545 transmits the second signal 535 to reader 510. Reader 510 may receive the second signal 535 from RFID tag 550 via antenna 520 and may process (e.g., demodulate) the received signal to obtain the information of data storage element 570 sent in second signal 535.
[0101] RFID system 500 may be designed to operate at 13.56 MHz or some other frequency (e.g., an ultra-high frequency (UHF) band at 900 MHz) . Reader 510 may have a specified maximum transmit power level, which may be imposed by the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) in the United Stated or other regulatory bodies in other countries. The specified maximum transmit power level of reader 510 may limit the distance at which RFID tag 550 can be read by reader 510.
[0102] Wireless technology is increasingly useful in industrial applications, such as ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC) and machine type communication (MTC) . In such domains, and others, it is desirable to support devices (e.g., passive RFID tags) that are capable of harvesting energy from wireless energy sources (e.g., in lieu of or in combination with a battery or other energy storage device, such as a capacitor) , such as RF signals, thermal energy, solar energy, and the like.
[0103] Introduction to Ambient Internet of Things (IoT) Devices
[0104] An ambient internet of things (AIoT) device (or tag) refers to a device that is typically much smaller and cheaper compared to previous generations of IoT devices, such as narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) and reduced capability (RedCap) devices. Ambient IoT devices may obtain energy from radio waves.
[0105] There are various types of AIoT devices with different characteristics. For example, a first type has a ~1 μW peak power consumption, has energy storage, an initial sampling frequency offset (SFO) up to 10X parts per million (ppm) , and neither DL nor UL amplification in the device. UL transmission from this type of device is backscattered on a carrier wave provided externally. A second type of AIoT device has a few hundred μW peak power consumption, has energy storage, an initial SFO up to 10X ppm, with both DL and / or UL amplification in the device. UL transmission from this type of device may be generated internally by the device, or be backscattered on a carrier wave provided externally.
[0106] Due to their size and ability to operate with little or no power source, AIoT device may have broad applicability in tracking, monitoring, and managing various devices and processes, with consumer and industrial uses.
[0107] FIG. 6 depicts an example system 600 (e.g., an AIoT system) that utilizes a network entity (e.g., a gNodeB (gNB) ) or UE as a reader 610 to communicate with an AIoT device 650. Such AIoT devices may be used to monitor a variety of devices and processes. For example, the AIoT devices may be used to report sensor measurements, video signals / images, light readings, and control devices (e.g., as actuators) .
[0108] Typical networks may not be able to efficiently support the most pervasive radio frequency identification (RFID) type of sensors, implemented as passive IoT devices. Such devices may be used extensively in future use cases, such as asset management, logistics, warehousing and manufacturing. Certain systems may be required to manage AIoT devices.
[0109] As illustrated in FIG. 6, the reader device 610 may be able to read information stored on one or more AIoT devices and / or write information to the one or more AIoT devices. The gNB can provide energy to the one or more AIoT devices (e.g., via a continuous wave (CW) signal) on a reader to device (R2D) link. An information-bearing signal may be reflected back (e.g., backscattered) on a device to reader (D2R) link from the one or more AIoT devices to the gNB. The gNB may read the reflected signal (e.g., a backscattered signal) from the one or more AIoT devices to decode information (e.g., a bit sequence of 0s and 1s) transmitted by the one or more AIoT devices.
[0110] The AIoT devices may support various types of traffic. For example, AIoT devices may support Device-Originated (DO) traffic, including Device-Originated autonomous (DO-DOA) and Device-Terminated triggered (DO-DTT) traffic, which may be reported periodically.
[0111] The AIoT system is associated with different topologies such as a first topology, a second topology, a third topology with downlink assistance, and a third topology with uplink assistance. In all of these topologies, an AIoT device may be provided with a carrier wave from other node (s) either inside or outside the topology. One or more links in each topology may be bidirectional or unidirectional.
[0112] FIG. 7A depicts a first gNB-based reader topology (Topology 1) , where a gNB 102 acts a reader (gNB 710) of an AIoT device 750. In this case, the AIoT device 750 may communicate directly and bidirectionally with the base station (gNB 710) . The communication between the base station and the AIoT device may include AIoT data and / or other signaling.
[0113] FIG. 7B depicts a second UE-based reader topology (Topology 2) , where the AIoT device 750 communicates bidirectionally with an intermediate node 755 between the AIoT device 750 and base station (gNB 102) . In this case, the intermediate node 755 may be an UE which is capable of AIoT communications. The intermediate node 755 may transfer AIoT data and / or signaling between the base station (gNB 102) and the AIoT device 750.
[0114] Example Physical Device to Reader Channel Generation
[0115] There are various options for generating AIoT messages, such as device to reader (D2R) messages from a AIoT device.
[0116] For example, as illustrated in diagram 800 of FIG. 8A, for a single physical device to reader channel (PDRCH) generation, line coding 808 may be used to encode D2R information bits as a pattern for transmission. As indicated at 804, repetition may also be used with forward error correction (FEC) . A location of the repetition block 804 may depend on one or more implemented repetition types. As indicated at 810, in some cases, a small frequency shift may be applied (e.g., in some cases, using square wave generation) .
[0117] Diagram 850 of FIG. 8B illustrates an example of PDRCH generation with FEC 856, repetition 854, and small frequency shift 858, but without line coding. Again, the location of repetition block 854 may depend on implemented repetition types. Different options for PDRCH generation may also be considered.
[0118] In some cases, for small frequency shifts in D2R using Manchester line codes by repetition of the codewords within the same time duration Tb corresponding to an information bit (e.g., per FIG. 8A) , each Manchester codeword may be repeated by a codeword repetition number R, where R = Tb / (2 *chip length) , such that the amount of small frequency shift in Hz is R / Tb = 1 / (2 *chip length) .
[0119] For small frequency shifts in D2R using Manchester line codes by multiplying the codeword with a square wave corresponding to the small frequency shift (e.g., per FIG. 8B) , the multiplication may be performed according to various options. One option may be that the multiplication operation is an XOR operation between Manchester codeword corresponding to the information bit and the square wave for the small frequency shift. Another option may be that the multiplication operation is an XNOR operation between Manchester codeword corresponding to the information bit and the square wave for the small frequency shift.
[0120] Aspects Related to Chip Rate / Chip Duration Determination
[0121] Aspects of the present disclosure relate to wireless communications, and more particularly, to techniques for determining one or more transmission parameters for transmissions from an ambient Internet of Things (AIoT) device. For example, aspects of the present disclosure provide various mechanisms for determining a chip duration for a transmission, such as a physical device to reader channel (PDRCH) and / or a physical reader to device channel (PRDCH) .
[0122] According to certain aspects, an AIoT device may determine a chip duration for a PDRCH based on a preamble of a PRDCH.
[0123] As illustrated in diagram 900 of FIG. 9, a preamble 904 of a subsequent PRDCH 908 may include 2 parts: a start indicator 902 and a clock acquisition part 906.
[0124] For R2D signaling, the clock-acquisition part of the R2D time acquisition signal may be used to determine an on-off keying (OOK) chip duration for at least layer 1 (L1) R2D control information (if any) transmitted in the subsequent PRDCH 908.
[0125] For determining the chip duration for the data transmitted in the subsequent PRDCH 908, there are various options. According to a first option, the clock-acquisition part 906 of the R2D time acquisition signal may be used. According to a second option, R2D control information is used.
[0126] Aspects of the present disclosure allow an AIoT device (and reader) to determine PDRCH chip duration based on the R2D clock-acquisition part 906, if one or more conditions are met. In some cases, the chip duration of a PDRCH transmission may be indicated (e.g., by the AIoT device) , through a D2R preamble.
[0127] FIG. 10 depicts an example call flow diagram 1000 depicting chip duration determination for a transmission from an ambient IoT device, in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. In some cases, the reader device 1002 may be part of a plurality of reader devices that are configured to communicate with the IoT device (or devices) 1004.
[0128] In some aspects, the reader device 1002 may be a radio access network (RAN) entity, such as an example of the BS 102 depicted and described with respect to FIG. 1 and 3 or a disaggregated base station depicted and described with respect to FIG. 2. In some aspects, the reader device 802 may be a UE, such as the UE 104 depicted and described with respect to FIG. 1 and 3. In some aspects, the IoT device (s) 1004 may be an example of the RFID tag 550 described with respect to FIG. 5 and / or one or more of the A-IoT devices described with respect to FIGS. 6 or 7.
[0129] As illustrated at 1006, the reader device 1002 may transmit a reader to device (R2D) Message that includes a preamble portion (with a start indicator and clock acquisition) and a PRDCH (e.g., including data and / or R2D control) .
[0130] As illustrated at 1008, the AIoT device 1004 may process at least a data portion of the R2D message, based on the preamble portion. For example, the R2D message may be a PRDCH transmission. In such cases, the AIoT device 1004 may determine the chip duration for the data transmitted in the PRDCH, based on a clock-acquisition part of the R2D time acquisition signal or based on R2D control information.
[0131] As illustrated at 1010, the AIoT device 1004 may transmit a device to reader (D2R) message, where a chip duration of the D2R message is based on the preamble portion of the R2D message if one or more conditions are met.
[0132] In this manner, various conditions can be introduced to determine whether the chip duration of the PDRCH transmission is (or can be) indicated through the clock acquisition part of R2D preamble. The chip duration of the D2R message may based on the preamble portion of the R2D message, for example, by either having the same chip duration as the (clock acquisition part) of the preamble portion or being an integer multiple (e.g., Nx the clock acquisition part.
[0133] In some cases the one or more conditions may involve a message type of PRDCH. For example, in such cases, whether (or not) the chip duration of PDRCH transmission is indicated through the clock acquisition part of the R2D preamble may depend on the message type of PRDCH. In this context, message type may refer to a specific message type whose chip duration may be fixed / predefined. Examples of messages of this type may include Ambient-IoT paging (msg. 0) and / or msg. 2 during a contention-based access procedure.
[0134] Diagram 1100 of FIG. 11A illustrates an example of a PRDCH 1104 with a chip duration that is fixed (or predefined) . As indicated at 1108, in this case, the chip duration of PDRCH transmission 1106 is indicated through the clock acquisition part 1102 of the PRDCH preamble.
[0135] As shown in FIG. 11A, if there is a single corresponding PDRCH following PRDCH, the chip duration of PDRCH may be indicated though R2D clock acquisition part. In some cases, if there are multiple PDRCHs following the PRDCH, a reference chip duration of a PDRCH may be indicated through the R2D clock acquisition part. For example, the reference chip duration may be the chip duration of PDRCH which is located at the lowest frequency (e.g., if the multiple PDRCHs are frequency division multiplexed-FDM’ d) .
[0136] Diagram 1150 of FIG. 11B illustrates an example of a PRDCH 1154 with a chip duration that is not fixed (e.g., not predefined) . As indicated at 1158, in this case, the chip duration of PDRCH transmission 1156 may be indicated through R2D control information (e.g., transmitted with PRDCH 1154) .
[0137] In some cases the one or more conditions may depend on PDRCH multiplexing (e.g., if the PDRCH is FDM’ d) and / or a method used to generate the frequency shift by the device.
[0138] In some cases, the device may indicate the generation method of frequency shift to the reader. In such cases, if the device indicates the frequency shift is realized through square wave and the chip duration are the same for the FDMed devices, the chip duration of the PDRCH transmission may be indicated through R2D clock acquisition.
[0139] According to a first option, the clock acquisition of the R2D preamble may separately indicate chip durations for PRDCH and PDRCH. For example, the R2D preamble may contain two parts: one for PRDCH chip duration indication and the other for PDRCH chip duration indication.
[0140] According to another example, the clock acquisition of the R2D preamble may indicate both PRDCH chip duration and PDRCH chip duration. In this case, a table may be used to define the mapping among the chip duration of clock acquisition, PRDCH chip duration, and PDRCH chip duration.
[0141] In some cases, there may be a reason to indicate different chip rates to realize different frequency shifts for multiplexing. According to a first option, the chip duration of PDRCH transmission (s) may be indicated through the R2D control. According to a second option, the chip duration of the PDRCH transmission (s) may be indicated through both the R2D control and clock acquisition part of R2D preamble. In some cases, R2D preamble may indicate a reference chip duration for PDRCH transmission. The reference chip duration may be determined using techniques presented herein.
[0142] In some cases the one or more conditions may depend on a cast type and / or generation method of the frequency shift of the device.
[0143] For example, if a PRDCH is unicast, the chip duration of the PDRCH transmission may be indicated through the clock acquisition part of R2D preamble. As noted above, in some cases, the clock acquisition of R2D preamble may contain two parts: one for PRDCH chip duration indication and the other for PDRCH chip duration indication. In other cases, a single part of the clock acquisition of R2D preamble may be used to indicate both PRDCH chip duration and PDRCH chip duration (e.g., and a table may be used to define the mapping among the chip duration of clock acquisition, PRDCH chip duration, and PDRCH chip duration) .
[0144] In some cases, if the PRDCH is groupcast or broadcast, the conditions may also depend on whether a generation method of the frequency shift is square wave based. If so and if the PDRCH chip durations are the same for all the target devices of the groupcast / broadcast PRDCH, the chip duration of the PDRCH transmission may be indicated through R2D clock acquisition. Otherwise, the chip duration of PDRCH transmission may be indicated through the R2D control. In some cases, the chip duration of the PDRCH transmission may be indicated through both the R2D control and clock acquisition part of R2D preamble. For example, the R2D preamble may indicate a reference chip duration for PDRCH transmission and R2D control may indicate supported frequency shift (s) .
[0145] According to certain aspects, the one or more conditions may involve a relationship of chip duration between PDRCH and PRDCH. For example, if the chip duration of PDRCH is the same as PRDCH, the chip duration of PDRCH transmission may be indicated though the R2D clock acquisition. If the chip duration of PDRCH is an integer of the chip duration of PRDCH, the chip duration of PDRCH transmission may be indicated though the R2D clock acquisition.
[0146] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that various options presented above may be combined in any suitable combination.
[0147] As illustrated in diagram 1200 of FIG. 12, according to certain aspects, the chip duration of a PDRCH transmission may be indicated through the D2R preamble. For example, as indicated at 1208, the device may indicate a (e.g., through clock acquisition part 1204) the PDRCH chip duration through its D2R preamble.
[0148] One potential benefit to the approach shown in FIG. 12 is that there is typically no CSI support from the ambient-IoT device. Hence, the reader may not be able to determine the suitable chip duration for the PDRCH transmission, but the ambient-IoT device can determine the D2R chip duration based on the PRDCH reception.
[0149] According to certain aspects, an allowed adjustment of the chip duration (e.g., based on the chip duration of PRDCH or the indicated chip duration for PDRCH by PRDCH) may be limited by the reader to reduce the blind detection and avoid the collision / reduce the interference with other transmission (s) .
[0150] Example Operations
[0151] FIG. 13 shows an example of a method 1300 of wireless communication at a wireless node. In some examples, the wireless node is a user equipment, such as a UE 104 of FIGS. 1 and 3. In some examples, the wireless node is a network entity, such as a BS 102 of FIGS. 1 and 3, or a disaggregated base station as discussed with respect to FIG. 2.
[0152] Method 1300 begins at step 1305 with obtaining a first transmission from a wireless node, the first transmission including a preamble portion and a data portion. In some cases, the operations of this step refer to, or may be performed by, circuitry for obtaining and / or code for obtaining as described with reference to FIG. 15.
[0153] Method 1300 then proceeds to step 1310 with processing at least the data portion based on the preamble portion. In some cases, the operations of this step refer to, or may be performed by, circuitry for processing and / or code for processing as described with reference to FIG. 15.
[0154] Method 1300 then proceeds to step 1315 with outputting a second transmission to the wireless node, wherein a chip duration associated with the second transmission is based on the preamble portion of the first transmission if one or more conditions are met. In some cases, the operations of this step refer to, or may be performed by, circuitry for outputting and / or code for outputting as described with reference to FIG. 15.
[0155] In some aspects, the chip duration associated with the second transmission is based on a clock acquisition portion of the preamble portion if the one or more conditions are met.
[0156] In some aspects, the one or more conditions involve a type of the data portion of the first transmission.
[0157] In some aspects, the one or more conditions are considered met if the type of the data portion is associated with a defined chip duration.
[0158] In some aspects, the chip duration associated with the second transmission is based on control information included in the first transmission if the type of the data portion is not associated with a defined chip duration.
[0159] In some aspects, the one or more conditions involve a type of multiplexing associated with outputting the second transmission.
[0160] In some aspects, the one or more conditions involve a mechanism for applying a frequency shift associated with outputting the second transmission.
[0161] In some aspects, the one or more conditions are considered met if the mechanism for applying the frequency shift is based on a square-wave.
[0162] In some aspects, a first part of the preamble portion indicates a chip duration associated with the data portion of the first transmission; and a second part of the preamble portion indicates a chip duration associated with the second transmission.
[0163] In some aspects, a single part of the preamble portion indicates both of a chip duration associated with the data portion of the first transmission and a chip duration associated with the second transmission.
[0164] In some aspects, the one or more conditions involve a cast type associated with the first transmission.
[0165] In some aspects, the one or more conditions are considered met if the cast type is unicast.
[0166] In some aspects, the one or more conditions involve a relation between a chip duration associated with the first transmission and the chip duration associated with the second transmission.
[0167] In some aspects, the one or more conditions are considered met if: the chip duration associated with first transmission is the same as the chip duration associated with the second transmission; or the chip duration of second transmission is an integer multiple of the chip duration of the first transmission.
[0168] In some aspects, the second transmission includes an indication of the chip duration associated with the second transmission.
[0169] In one aspect, method 1300, or any aspect related to it, may be performed by an apparatus, such as communications device 1500 of FIG. 15, which includes various components operable, configured, or adapted to perform the method 1300. Communications device 1500 is described below in further detail.
[0170] Note that FIG. 13 is just one example of a method, and other methods including fewer, additional, or alternative steps are possible consistent with this disclosure.
[0171] FIG. 14 shows an example of a method 1400 of wireless communication at a wireless node. In some examples, the wireless node is a user equipment, such as a UE 104 of FIGS. 1 and 3. In some examples, the wireless node is a network entity, such as a BS 102 of FIGS. 1 and 3, or a disaggregated base station as discussed with respect to FIG. 2.
[0172] Method 1400 begins at step 1405 with outputting a first transmission to a wireless node, the first transmission including a preamble portion and a data portion. In some cases, the operations of this step refer to, or may be performed by, circuitry for outputting and / or code for outputting as described with reference to FIG. 15.
[0173] Method 1400 then proceeds to step 1410 with obtaining a second transmission from the wireless node, wherein a chip duration associated with the second transmission is based on the preamble portion of the first transmission if one or more conditions are met. In some cases, the operations of this step refer to, or may be performed by, circuitry for obtaining and / or code for obtaining as described with reference to FIG. 15.
[0174] In some aspects, the chip duration associated with the second transmission is based on a clock acquisition portion of the preamble portion if the one or more conditions are met.
[0175] In some aspects, the one or more conditions involve a type of the data portion of the first transmission.
[0176] In some aspects, the one or more conditions are considered met if the type of the data portion is associated with a defined chip duration.
[0177] In some aspects, the chip duration associated with the second transmission is based on control information included in the first transmission if the type of the data portion is not associated with a defined chip duration.
[0178] In some aspects, the one or more conditions involve a type of multiplexing associated with outputting the second transmission.
[0179] In some aspects, the one or more conditions involve a mechanism for applying a frequency shift associated with outputting the second transmission.
[0180] In some aspects, the one or more conditions are considered met if the mechanism for applying the frequency shift is based on a square-wave.
[0181] In some aspects, a first part of the preamble portion indicates a chip duration associated with the data portion of the first transmission; and a second part of the preamble portion indicates a chip duration associated with the second transmission.
[0182] In some aspects, a single part of the preamble portion indicates both of a chip duration associated with the data portion of the first transmission and a chip duration associated with the second transmission.
[0183] In some aspects, the one or more conditions involve a cast type associated with the first transmission.
[0184] In some aspects, the one or more conditions are considered met if the cast type is unicast.
[0185] In some aspects, the one or more conditions involve a relation between a chip duration associated with the first transmission and the chip duration associated with the second transmission.
[0186] In some aspects, the one or more conditions are considered met if: the chip duration associated with first transmission is the same as the chip duration associated with the second transmission; or the chip duration of second transmission is an integer multiple of the chip duration of the first transmission.
[0187] In some aspects, the second transmission includes an indication of the chip duration associated with the second transmission.
[0188] In one aspect, method 1400, or any aspect related to it, may be performed by an apparatus, such as communications device 1500 of FIG. 15, which includes various components operable, configured, or adapted to perform the method 1400. Communications device 1500 is described below in further detail.
[0189] Note that FIG. 14 is just one example of a method, and other methods including fewer, additional, or alternative steps are possible consistent with this disclosure.
[0190] Example Communications Device (s)
[0191] FIG. 15 depicts aspects of an example communications device 1500. In some aspects, communications device 1500 is a user equipment, such as UE 104 described above with respect to FIGS. 1 and 3. In some aspects, communications device 1500 is a network entity, such as BS 102 of FIGS. 1 and 3, or a disaggregated base station as discussed with respect to FIG. 2.
[0192] The communications device 1500 includes a processing system 1505 coupled to the transceiver 1555 (e.g., a transmitter and / or a receiver) . In some aspects (e.g., when communications device 1500 is a network entity) , processing system 1505 may be coupled to a network interface 1565 that is configured to obtain and send signals for the communications device 1500 via communication link (s) , such as a backhaul link, midhaul link, and / or fronthaul link as described herein, such as with respect to FIG. 2. The transceiver 1555 is configured to transmit and receive signals for the communications device 1500 via the antenna 1560, such as the various signals as described herein. The processing system 1505 may be configured to perform processing functions for the communications device 1500, including processing signals received and / or to be transmitted by the communications device 1500.
[0193] The processing system 1505 includes one or more processors 1510. In various aspects, the one or more processors 1510 may be representative of one or more of receive processor 358, transmit processor 364, TX MIMO processor 366, and / or controller / processor 380, as described with respect to FIG. 3. In various aspects, one or more processors 1510 may be representative of one or more of receive processor 338, transmit processor 320, TX MIMO processor 330, and / or controller / processor 340, as described with respect to FIG. 3. The one or more processors 1510 are coupled to a computer-readable medium / memory 1530 via a bus 1550. In certain aspects, the computer-readable medium / memory 1530 is configured to store instructions (e.g., computer-executable code) that when executed by the one or more processors 1510, cause the one or more processors 1510 to perform the method 1300 described with respect to FIG. 13, or any aspect related to it; and the method 1400 described with respect to FIG. 14, or any aspect related to it. Note that reference to a processor performing a function of communications device 1500 may include one or more processors 1510 performing that function of communications device 1500.
[0194] In the depicted example, computer-readable medium / memory 1530 stores code (e.g., executable instructions) , such as code for obtaining 1535, code for processing 1540, and code for outputting 1545. Processing of the code for obtaining 1535, code for processing 1540, and code for outputting 1545 may cause the communications device 1500 to perform the method 1300 described with respect to FIG. 13, or any aspect related to it; and the method 1400 described with respect to FIG. 14, or any aspect related to it.
[0195] The one or more processors 1510 include circuitry configured to implement (e.g., execute) the code stored in the computer-readable medium / memory 1530, including circuitry for obtaining 1515, circuitry for processing 1520, and circuitry for outputting 1525. Processing with circuitry for obtaining 1515, circuitry for processing 1520, and circuitry for outputting 1525 may cause the communications device 1500 to perform the method 1300 described with respect to FIG. 13, or any aspect related to it; and the method 1400 described with respect to FIG. 14, or any aspect related to it.
[0196] Various components of the communications device 1500 may provide means for performing the method 1300 described with respect to FIG. 13, or any aspect related to it; and the method 1400 described with respect to FIG. 14, or any aspect related to it. For example, means for transmitting, sending or outputting for transmission may include transceivers 354 and / or antenna (s) 352 of the UE 104 illustrated in FIG. 3, transceivers 332 and / or antenna (s) 334 of the BS 102 illustrated in FIG. 3, and / or the transceiver 1555 and the antenna 1560 of the communications device 1500 in FIG. 15. Means for receiving or obtaining may include transceivers 354 and / or antenna (s) 352 of the UE 104 illustrated in FIG. 3, transceivers 332 and / or antenna (s) 334 of the BS 102 illustrated in FIG. 3, and / or the transceiver 1555 and the antenna 1560 of the communications device 1500 in FIG. 15.
[0197] Example Clauses
[0198] Implementation examples are described in the following numbered clauses:
[0199] Clause 1: A method for wireless communications, comprising: obtaining a first transmission from a wireless node, the first transmission including a preamble portion and a data portion; processing at least the data portion based on the preamble portion; and outputting a second transmission to the wireless node, wherein a chip duration associated with the second transmission is based on the preamble portion of the first transmission if one or more conditions are met.
[0200] Clause 2: The method of Clause 1, wherein the chip duration associated with the second transmission is based on a clock acquisition portion of the preamble portion if the one or more conditions are met.
[0201] Clause 3: The method of any one of Clauses 1-2, wherein the one or more conditions involve a type of the data portion of the first transmission.
[0202] Clause 4: The method of Clause 3, wherein the one or more conditions are considered met if the type of the data portion is associated with a defined chip duration.
[0203] Clause 5: The method of Clause 4, wherein the chip duration associated with the second transmission is based on control information included in the first transmission if the type of the data portion is not associated with a defined chip duration.
[0204] Clause 6: The method of any one of Clauses 1-5, wherein the one or more conditions involve a type of multiplexing associated with outputting the second transmission.
[0205] Clause 7: The method of any one of Clauses 1-6, wherein the one or more conditions involve a mechanism for applying a frequency shift associated with outputting the second transmission.
[0206] Clause 8: The method of Clause 7, wherein the one or more conditions are considered met if the mechanism for applying the frequency shift is based on a square-wave.
[0207] Clause 9: The method of any one of Clauses 1-8, wherein: a first part of the preamble portion indicates a chip duration associated with the data portion of the first transmission; and a second part of the preamble portion indicates a chip duration associated with the second transmission.
[0208] Clause 10: The method of any one of Clauses 1-9, wherein a single part of the preamble portion indicates both of a chip duration associated with the data portion of the first transmission and a chip duration associated with the second transmission.
[0209] Clause 11: The method of any one of Clauses 1-10, wherein the one or more conditions involve a cast type associated with the first transmission.
[0210] Clause 12: The method of Clause 11, wherein the one or more conditions are considered met if the cast type is unicast.
[0211] Clause 13: The method of any one of Clauses 1-12, wherein the one or more conditions involve a relation between a chip duration associated with the first transmission and the chip duration associated with the second transmission.
[0212] Clause 14: The method of Clause 13, wherein the one or more conditions are considered met if: the chip duration associated with first transmission is the same as the chip duration associated with the second transmission; or the chip duration of second transmission is an integer multiple of the chip duration of the first transmission.
[0213] Clause 15: The method of any one of Clauses 1-14, wherein the second transmission includes an indication of the chip duration associated with the second transmission.
[0214] Clause 16: A method for wireless communications, comprising: outputting a first transmission to a wireless node, the first transmission including a preamble portion and a data portion; and obtaining a second transmission from the wireless node, wherein a chip duration associated with the second transmission is based on the preamble portion of the first transmission if one or more conditions are met.
[0215] Clause 17: The method of Clause 16, wherein the chip duration associated with the second transmission is based on a clock acquisition portion of the preamble portion if the one or more conditions are met.
[0216] Clause 18: The method of any one of Clauses 16-17, wherein the one or more conditions involve a type of the data portion of the first transmission.
[0217] Clause 19: The method of Clause 18, wherein the one or more conditions are considered met if the type of the data portion is associated with a defined chip duration.
[0218] Clause 20: The method of Clause 19, wherein the chip duration associated with the second transmission is based on control information included in the first transmission if the type of the data portion is not associated with a defined chip duration.
[0219] Clause 21: The method of any one of Clauses 16-20, wherein the one or more conditions involve a type of multiplexing associated with outputting the second transmission.
[0220] Clause 22: The method of any one of Clauses 16-21, wherein the one or more conditions involve a mechanism for applying a frequency shift associated with outputting the second transmission.
[0221] Clause 23: The method of Clause 22, wherein the one or more conditions are considered met if the mechanism for applying the frequency shift is based on a square-wave.
[0222] Clause 24: The method of any one of Clauses 16-23, wherein: a first part of the preamble portion indicates a chip duration associated with the data portion of the first transmission; and a second part of the preamble portion indicates a chip duration associated with the second transmission.
[0223] Clause 25: The method of any one of Clauses 16-24, wherein a single part of the preamble portion indicates both of a chip duration associated with the data portion of the first transmission and a chip duration associated with the second transmission.
[0224] Clause 26: The method of any one of Clauses 16-25, wherein the one or more conditions involve a cast type associated with the first transmission.
[0225] Clause 27: The method of Clause 26, wherein the one or more conditions are considered met if the cast type is unicast.
[0226] Clause 28: The method of any one of Clauses 16-27, wherein the one or more conditions involve a relation between a chip duration associated with the first transmission and the chip duration associated with the second transmission.
[0227] Clause 29: The method of Clause 28, wherein the one or more conditions are considered met if: the chip duration associated with first transmission is the same as the chip duration associated with the second transmission; or the chip duration of second transmission is an integer multiple of the chip duration of the first transmission.
[0228] Clause 30: The method of any one of Clauses 16-29, wherein the second transmission includes an indication of the chip duration associated with the second transmission.
[0229] Clause 31: An apparatus, comprising: at least one memory comprising executable instructions; and at least one processor configured to execute the executable instructions and cause the apparatus to perform a method in accordance with any combination of Clauses 1-30.
[0230] Clause 32: An apparatus, comprising means for performing a method in accordance with any combination of Clauses 1-30.
[0231] Clause 33: A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising executable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor of an apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform a method in accordance with any combination of Clauses 1-30.
[0232] Clause 34: A computer program product embodied on a computer-readable storage medium comprising code for performing a method in accordance with any combination of Clauses 1-30.
[0233] Clause 35: A wireless node (e.g., an AIoT device) , including: at least one transceiver; at least one memory including executable instructions; and at least one processor configured to execute the executable instructions and cause the wireless node to perform a method in accordance with any combination of Clauses 1-15, wherein the at least one transceiver is configured to receive the first transmission and transmit the second transmission.
[0234] Clause 36: A wireless node (e.g., a reader device) , including: at least one transceiver; at least one memory including executable instructions; and at least one processor configured to execute the executable instructions and cause the wireless node to perform a method in accordance with any combination of Clauses 16-30, wherein the at least one transceiver is configured to transmit the first transmission and receive the second transmission.
[0235] Additional Considerations
[0236] The preceding description is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the various aspects described herein. The examples discussed herein are not limiting of the scope, applicability, or aspects set forth in the claims. Various modifications to these aspects will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein may be applied to other aspects. For example, changes may be made in the function and arrangement of elements discussed without departing from the scope of the disclosure. Various examples may omit, substitute, or add various procedures or components as appropriate. For instance, the methods described may be performed in an order different from that described, and various actions may be added, omitted, or combined. Also, features described with respect to some examples may be combined in some other examples. For example, an apparatus may be implemented or a method may be practiced using any number of the aspects set forth herein. In addition, the scope of the disclosure is intended to cover such an apparatus or method that is practiced using other structure, functionality, or structure and functionality in addition to, or other than, the various aspects of the disclosure set forth herein. It should be understood that any aspect of the disclosure disclosed herein may be embodied by one or more elements of a claim.
[0237] The various illustrative logical blocks, modules and circuits described in connection with the present disclosure may be implemented or performed with a general purpose processor, a graphics processing unit (GPU) , a neural processing unit (NPU) , a digital signal processor (DSP) , an ASIC, a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device (PLD) , discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be any commercially available processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, a system on a chip (SoC) , or any other such configuration.
[0238] As used herein, “a processor, ” “at least one processor” or “one or more processors” generally refers to a single processor configured to perform one or multiple operations or multiple processors configured to collectively perform one or more operations. In the case of multiple processors, performance of the one or more operations could be divided amongst different processors, though one processor may perform multiple operations, and multiple processors could collectively perform a single operation. Similarly, “amemory, ” “at least one memory” or “one or more memories” generally refers to a single memory configured to store data and / or instructions, multiple memories configured to collectively store data and / or instructions.
[0239] In some cases, rather than actually transmitting a signal, an apparatus (e.g., a wireless node or device) may have an interface to output the signal for transmission. For example, a processor may output a signal, via a bus interface, to a radio frequency (RF) front end for transmission. Accordingly, a means for outputting may include such an interface as an alternative (or in addition) to a transmitter or transceiver. Similarly, rather than actually receiving a signal, an apparatus (e.g., a wireless node or device) may have an interface to obtain a signal from another device. For example, a processor may obtain (or receive) a signal, via a bus interface, from an RF front end for reception. Accordingly, a means for obtaining may include such an interface as an alternative (or in addition) to a receiver or transceiver.
[0240] While the present disclosure may describe certain operations as being performed by one type of wireless node, the same or similar operations may also be performed by another type of wireless node. For example, operations performed by a user equipment (UE) may also (or instead) be performed by a network entity (e.g., a base station or unit of a disaggregated base station) . Similarly, operations performed by a network entity may also (or instead) be performed by a UE.
[0241] Further, while the present disclosure may describe certain types of communications between different types of wireless nodes (e.g., between a network entity and a UE) , the same or similar types of communications may occur between same types of wireless nodes (e.g., between network entities or between UEs, in a peer-to-peer scenario) . Further, communications may occur in reverse order than described.
[0242] Means for obtaining, means for processing, and means for outputting may comprise one or more processors, such as one or more of the processors described above with reference to FIG. 15.
[0243] As used herein, a phrase referring to “at least one of” a list of items refers to any combination of those items, including single members. As an example, “at least one of: a, b, or c” is intended to cover a, b, c, a-b, a-c, b-c, and a-b-c, as well as any combination with multiples of the same element (e.g., a-a, a-a-a, a-a-b, a-a-c, a-b-b, a-c-c, b-b, b-b-b, b-b-c, c-c, and c-c-c or any other ordering of a, b, and c) .
[0244] As used herein, the term “determining” encompasses a wide variety of actions. For example, “determining” may include calculating, computing, processing, deriving, investigating, looking up (e.g., looking up in a table, a database or another data structure) , ascertaining and the like. Also, “determining” may include receiving (e.g., receiving information) , accessing (e.g., accessing data in a memory) and the like. Also, “determining” may include resolving, selecting, choosing, establishing and the like.
[0245] The methods disclosed herein comprise one or more actions for achieving the methods. The method actions may be interchanged with one another without departing from the scope of the claims. In other words, unless a specific order of actions is specified, the order and / or use of specific actions may be modified without departing from the scope of the claims. Further, the various operations of methods described above may be performed by any suitable means capable of performing the corresponding functions. The means may include various hardware and / or software component (s) and / or module (s) , including, but not limited to a circuit, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) , or processor. Software shall be construed broadly to mean instructions, instruction sets, code, code segments, program code, programs, subprograms, software modules, applications, software applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, executables, threads of execution, procedures, or functions, whether referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or otherwise.
[0246] The following claims are not intended to be limited to the aspects shown herein, but are to be accorded the full scope consistent with the language of the claims. Within a claim, reference to an element in the singular is not intended to mean “one and only one” unless specifically so stated, but rather “one or more. ” Unless specifically stated otherwise, the term “some” refers to one or more. No claim element is to be construed under the provisions of 35 U.S.C. §112 (f) unless the element is expressly recited using the phrase “means for” . All structural and functional equivalents to the elements of the various aspects described throughout this disclosure that are known or later come to be known to those of ordinary skill in the art are expressly incorporated herein by reference and are intended to be encompassed by the claims. Moreover, nothing disclosed herein is intended to be dedicated to the public regardless of whether such disclosure is explicitly recited in the claims.
Claims
1.An apparatus for wireless communications at a first wireless node, comprising:at least one memory comprising computer-executable instructions; andone or more processors configured to execute the computer-executable instructions and cause the apparatus to:obtain a first transmission from a second wireless node, the first transmission including a preamble portion and a data portion;process at least the data portion based on the preamble portion; andoutput a second transmission to the second wireless node, wherein a chip duration associated with the second transmission is based on the preamble portion of the first transmission if one or more conditions are met.2.The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the chip duration associated with the second transmission is based on a clock acquisition portion of the preamble portion if the one or more conditions are met.3.The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more conditions involve a type of the data portion of the first transmission.4.The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the one or more conditions are considered met if the type of the data portion is associated with a defined chip duration.5.The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the chip duration associated with the second transmission is based on control information included in the first transmission if the type of the data portion is not associated with a defined chip duration.6.The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more conditions involve a type of multiplexing associated with outputting the second transmission.7.The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more conditions involve a mechanism for applying a frequency shift associated with outputting the second transmission.8.The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the one or more conditions are considered met if the mechanism for applying the frequency shift is based on a square-wave.9.The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:a first part of the preamble portion indicates a chip duration associated with the data portion of the first transmission; anda second part of the preamble portion indicates a chip duration associated with the second transmission.10.The apparatus of claim 1, wherein a single part of the preamble portion indicates both of a chip duration associated with the data portion of the first transmission and a chip duration associated with the second transmission.11.The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more conditions involve a cast type associated with the first transmission.12.The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the one or more conditions are considered met if the cast type is unicast.13.The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more conditions involve a relation between a chip duration associated with the first transmission and the chip duration associated with the second transmission.14.The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the one or more conditions are considered met if:the chip duration associated with first transmission is the same as the chip duration associated with the second transmission; orthe chip duration of second transmission is an integer multiple of the chip duration of the first transmission.15.The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the second transmission includes an indication of the chip duration associated with the second transmission.16.An apparatus for wireless communications at a first wireless node, comprising:at least one memory comprising computer-executable instructions; andone or more processors configured to execute the computer-executable instructions and cause the apparatus to:output a first transmission to a second wireless node, the first transmission including a preamble portion and a data portion; andobtain a second transmission from the second wireless node, wherein a chip duration associated with the second transmission is based on the preamble portion of the first transmission if one or more conditions are met.17.The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the chip duration associated with the second transmission is based on a clock acquisition portion of the preamble portion if the one or more conditions are met.18.The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the one or more conditions involve a type of the data portion of the first transmission.19.The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the one or more conditions are considered met if the type of the data portion is associated with a defined chip duration.20.The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the chip duration associated with the second transmission is based on control information included in the first transmission if the type of the data portion is not associated with a defined chip duration.21.The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the one or more conditions involve a type of multiplexing associated with outputting the second transmission.22.The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the one or more conditions involve a mechanism for applying a frequency shift associated with outputting the second transmission.23.The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the one or more conditions are considered met if the mechanism for applying the frequency shift is based on a square-wave.24.The apparatus of claim 16, wherein:a first part of the preamble portion indicates a chip duration associated with the data portion of the first transmission; anda second part of the preamble portion indicates a chip duration associated with the second transmission.25.The apparatus of claim 16, wherein a single part of the preamble portion indicates both of a chip duration associated with the data portion of the first transmission and a chip duration associated with the second transmission.26.The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the one or more conditions involve a cast type associated with the first transmission.27.The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the one or more conditions are considered met if the cast type is unicast.28.The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the one or more conditions involve a relation between a chip duration associated with the first transmission and the chip duration associated with the second transmission.29.The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the one or more conditions are considered met if:the chip duration associated with first transmission is the same as the chip duration associated with the second transmission; orthe chip duration of second transmission is an integer multiple of the chip duration of the first transmission.30.The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the second transmission includes an indication of the chip duration associated with the second transmission.