WO2024216609A1

WO2024216609A1 - Determination of sensing beam

Info

Publication number: WO2024216609A1
Application number: PCT/CN2023/089618
Authority: WO
Inventors: Yanni ZHOU; Fei Gao; Jian Guo Liu; Wen Jian WANG; Chao Jun XU
Original assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co Ltd; Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy; Nokia Technologies Oy
Current assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co Ltd; Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy; Nokia Technologies Oy
Priority date: 2023-04-20
Filing date: 2023-04-20
Publication date: 2024-10-24
Anticipated expiration: 2025-10-20
Also published as: CN120937461A

Abstract

Example embodiments of the present disclosure relate to methods, devices, apparatuses and computer readable storage medium for determination of a sensing beam. In a method, a transmitting node transmits a first beam for communication with a device. The transmitting node determines whether the first beam for communication with the device is transmitted towards a sensing area during a first period.

Description

DETERMINATION OF SENSING BEAM

FIELDS

Various example embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field of telecommunication and in particular, to methods, devices, apparatuses and computer readable storage medium for determination of a sensing beam.

BACKGROUND

Integrated Sensing and Communication (ISAC) is a technology of the fifth generation-Advanced (5G-A) and the fifth-generation beyond e.g., the sixth-generation (6G) . It involves integration of communication and sensing functions in a single system to enable efficient sharing of resources. The ISAC design allows communication and sensing functions to share the same resources, such as a frequency band and hardware, to improve spectrum efficiency and reduce costs. A concern for the ISAC function is to improve utilization of resources. A communication beam may be reused for sensing. However, in some scenarios, there is no communication links in target surroundings.

SUMMARY

In a first aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method at a transmitting node. The method comprises: transmitting a first beam for communication with a device; and determining whether the first beam for communication with the device is transmitted towards a sensing area during a first period.

In a second aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method at a network node. The method comprises: determining sensing assistance information, the sensing assistance information being associated with at least one of: a first period, a second period, a sensing area, at least one of a periodicity or a length of a sensing window, task information during the first period, or task information during the second period; and transmitting the sensing assistance information to a transmitting node.

In a third aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a transmitting node. The transmitting node comprises at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the transmitting node at least to perform at least the method according to the first aspect.

In a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a network node. The network node comprises at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the network node at least to perform at least the method according to the second aspect.

In a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a first apparatus. The first apparatus comprises means for transmitting a first beam for communication with a device; and means for determining whether the first beam for communication with the device is transmitted towards a sensing area during a first period.

In a sixth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a second apparatus. The second apparatus comprises means for determining sensing assistance information, the sensing assistance information being associated with at least one of: a first period, a second period, a sensing area, at least one of a periodicity or a length of a sensing window, task information during the first period, or task information during the second period; and means for transmitting the sensing assistance information to a transmitting node.

In a seventh aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer readable medium. The computer readable medium comprises instructions stored thereon for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method according to the first or second aspect.

It is to be understood that the Summary section is not intended to identify key or essential features of embodiments of the present disclosure, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Other features of the present disclosure will become easily comprehensible through the following description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Some example embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, where:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example communication environment in which example embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented;

FIG. 2 illustrates a flowchart of an example method implemented at a transmitting node in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 3A and 3B illustrate two example scenarios of sensing beam determination in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 illustrates a flowchart of an example method implemented at a network node in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 illustrates a flowchart of an example sensing process in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 illustrates a simplified block diagram of a device that is suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 7 illustrates a block diagram of an example computer readable medium in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure.

Throughout the drawings, the same or similar reference numerals represent the same or similar element.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Principle of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to some example embodiments. It is to be understood that these embodiments are described only for the purpose of illustration and help those skilled in the art to understand and implement the present disclosure, without suggesting any limitation as to the scope of the disclosure. Embodiments described herein can be implemented in various manners other than the ones described below.

In the following description and claims, unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skills in the art to which this disclosure belongs.

References in the present disclosure to “one embodiment, ” “an embodiment, ” “an example embodiment, ” and the like indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but it is not necessary that every embodiment includes the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to affect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitly described.

It shall be understood that although the terms “first, ” “second” and the like may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another. For example, a first element could be termed a second element, and similarly, a second element could be termed a first element, without departing from the scope of example embodiments. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the listed terms.

As used herein, “at least one of the following: <a list of two or more elements>” and “at least one of <a list of two or more elements>” and similar wording, where the list of two or more elements are joined by “and” or “or” , mean at least any one of the elements, or at least any two or more of the elements, or at least all the elements.

As used herein, unless stated explicitly, performing a step “in response to A” does not indicate that the step is performed immediately after “A” occurs and one or more intervening steps may be included.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of example embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms “a” , “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” , “comprising” , “has” , “having” , “includes” and/or “including” , when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, elements, and/or components etc., but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components and/or combinations thereof.

As used in this application, the term “circuitry” may refer to one or more or all of the following:

(a) hardware-only circuit implementations (such as implementations in only analog and/or digital circuitry) and

(b) combinations of hardware circuits and software, such as (as applicable) :

(i) a combination of analog and/or digital hardware circuit (s) with software/firmware and

(ii) any portions of hardware processor (s) with software (including digital signal processor (s) ) , software, and memory (ies) that work together to cause an apparatus, such as a mobile phone or server, to perform various functions) and

(c) hardware circuit (s) and or processor (s) , such as a microprocessor (s) or a portion of a microprocessor (s) , that requires software (e.g., firmware) for operation, but the software may not be present when it is not needed for operation.

This definition of circuitry applies to all uses of this term in this application, including in any claims. As a further example, as used in this application, the term circuitry also covers an implementation of merely a hardware circuit or processor (or multiple processors) or portion of a hardware circuit or processor and its (or their) accompanying software and/or firmware. The term circuitry also covers, for example and if applicable to the particular claim element, a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device or a similar integrated circuit in server, a cellular network device, or other computing or network device.

As used herein, the term “communication network” refers to a network following any suitable communication standards, such as New Radio (NR) , Long Term Evolution (LTE) , LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) , Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) , High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) , Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT) and so on. Furthermore, the communications between a terminal device and a network device in the communication network may be performed according to any suitable generation communication protocols, including, but not limited to, the first generation (1G) , the second generation (2G) , 2.5G, 2.75G, the third generation (3G) , the fourth generation (4G) , 4.5G, the fifth generation (5G) , the sixth generation (6G) communication protocols, wireless local network communication protocols such as Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 and the like, and/or any other protocols either currently known or to be developed in the future. Embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied in various communication systems. Given the rapid development in communications, there will of course also be future type communication technologies and systems with which the present disclosure may be embodied. It should not be seen as limiting the scope of the present disclosure to only the aforementioned system.

The communication may utilize any proper wireless communication technology, comprising but not limited to: Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) , Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) , Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) , Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) , Time Division Duplex (TDD) , Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) , Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple (OFDM) , Discrete Fourier Transform spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) and/or any other technologies currently known or to be developed in the future.

As used herein, the term “network device” refers to a node in a communication network via which a terminal device accesses the network and receives services therefrom. The network device may refer to a base station (BS) or an access point (AP) , for example, a node B (NodeB or NB) , an evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB) , an NR NB (also referred to as a gNB) , a Remote Radio Unit (RRU) , a radio header (RH) , a remote radio head (RRH) , a relay, an Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB) node, a low power node such as a femto, a pico, a non-terrestrial network (NTN) or non-ground network device such as a satellite network device, a low earth orbit (LEO) satellite and a geosynchronous earth orbit (GEO) satellite, an aircraft network device, and so forth, depending on the applied terminology and technology. In some example embodiments, radio access network (RAN) split architecture comprises a Centralized Unit (CU) and a Distributed Unit (DU) at an IAB donor node. An IAB node comprises a Mobile Terminal (IAB-MT) part that behaves like a UE toward the parent node, and a DU part of an IAB node behaves like a base station toward the next-hop IAB node.

The term “terminal device” refers to any end device that may be capable of wireless communication. By way of example rather than limitation, a terminal device may also be referred to as a communication device, user equipment (UE) , a Subscriber Station (SS) , a Portable Subscriber Station, a Mobile Station (MS) , or an Access Terminal (AT) . The terminal device may include, but not limited to, a mobile phone, a cellular phone, a smart phone, voice over IP (VoIP) phones, wireless local loop phones, a tablet, a wearable terminal device, a personal digital assistant (PDA) , portable computers, desktop computer, image capture terminal devices such as digital cameras, gaming terminal devices, music storage and playback appliances, vehicle-mounted wireless terminal devices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE) , laptop-mounted equipment (LME) , USB dongles, smart devices, wireless customer-premises equipment (CPE) , an Internet of Things (IoT) device, a watch or other wearable, a head-mounted display (HMD) , a vehicle, a drone, a medical device and applications (e.g., remote surgery) , an industrial device and applications (e.g., a robot and/or other wireless devices operating in an industrial and/or an automated processing chain contexts) , a consumer electronics device, a device operating on commercial and/or industrial wireless networks, and the like. The terminal device may also correspond to a Mobile Termination (MT) part of an IAB node (e.g., a relay node) . In the following description, the terms “terminal device” , “communication device” , “terminal” , “user equipment” and “UE” may be used interchangeably.

As used herein, the term “resource, ” “transmission resource, ” “resource block, ” “physical resource block” (PRB) , “uplink resource, ” or “downlink resource” may refer to any resource for performing a communication, for example, a communication between a terminal device and a network device, such as a resource in time domain, a resource in frequency domain, a resource in space domain, a resource in code domain, or any other resource enabling a communication, and the like. In the following, unless explicitly stated, a resource in both frequency domain and time domain will be used as an example of a transmission resource for describing some example embodiments of the present disclosure. It is noted that example embodiments of the present disclosure are equally applicable to other resources in other domains.

With a widely deployed communication infrastructure, such as 5G base stations, integrating sensing functions into communication systems has become a topic in recent years. This technology can be widely used in application scenarios such as smart transportation, low-altitude airspace, smart living, and smart networks. To achieve wireless sensing capability in current 5G networks, network transformation and upgrades are necessary. ISAC utilizes communication signals, such as OFDM signals, to enable sensing functions by achieving the required resolution and accuracy in range, velocity, and Doppler.

Communication and sensing fusion achieves a unified design of communication and sensing functions through signal joint design and/or hardware sharing. The sensing part in communication and sensing fusion can be implemented by a wireless sensing technology based on a communication system. Wireless signals may be emitted towards a target area or an object, and the received echo signals may be analyzed to obtain corresponding sensing measurement information.

Wireless communication networks have natural wireless sensing capabilities. Base stations and terminals may have both communication and sensing capabilities, which may provide sensing services for various applications in intelligent transportation, drone supervision, national railway perimeter security detection, smart homes, public safety, health monitoring, environmental monitoring, and other fields. The integration of communication and sensing functions in a single system offers several benefits, including increased spectrum efficiency, reduced costs, and improved performance.

Currently, communication and sensing fusion is still in its early stages of development. In the 5G-Aphase, one focus is exploring the integration of communication and sensing functions based on the 5G network architecture and air interface enhancement design. This involves utilizing the wireless channel characteristics to obtain richer environmental information and enable basic sensing applications.

To achieve this, some technical areas related to communication and sensing fusion need to be defined in the third generation partnership project (3GPP) Release 19 (Rel-19) . For example, the service and system requirements may be defined for communication and sensing fusion, including the use cases, functional requirements, and performance metrics. This ensures that the integrated system meets the needs of different application scenarios, such as smart transportation, smart cities, and industrial automation. 32 use cases for ISAC have been agreed in total.

Moreover, in 3GPP Rel-19 for sensing function, architecture enhancements for a 5G system may meet some requirements. For example, extension of 5G system architecture to support sensing functionality is required. It is required to identify extensions or gaps of Location Services (LCS) -based architecture according to sensing functional requirements. Location management function (LMF) role investigation and/or new network function (NF) with dedicated sensing functionality may be required. Impact on network functions may be considered.

The LMF’s Role is to manage the overall co-ordination and scheduling of resources required for positioning of a UE that is registered with or accessing a 5G core network (5GCN) . It also calculates or verifies a final location and any velocity estimate and may estimate the achieved accuracy. LMF functionalities are focusing on connected UEs.

In many use cases, a sensing service is requested for a defined area (e.g., parking place, industrial zone etc. ) , which is beyond the current LMF logic. In this case, a new dedicated Sensing Management Function (SeMF) may be preferable to avoid extension of the LMF that could lead to a complex design. The SeMF can interact with an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) to coordinate the sensing functionality. It is similar to LMF interaction with the AMF for the location services.

Identification and description of sensing service procedures are required. It is required to identify sensing approaches that need to be considered in 5G-ARel-19. For example, such sensing approaches may be related to LMF-based assisted sensing, sensing with non-3GPP type sensors (e.g., Lidar, camera, etc.. ) , monostatic DL signals (vendor specific) , and localization UL signals to be processed by a BS. It is required to define sensing service procedures (e.g., UE originated, network induced, etc. ) .

Authorization and policy/parameter provisioning to a UE and next-generation radio access network (NG-RAN) for sensing service is required. Exposure of sensing services is required. It is required to specify request and delivery of sensing service. It is also required to define parameters and information elements of the exposure function.

For sensing function, some security problems need to be considered. Potential objectives are related to: sensing information provisioning to authorized users, support of encryption and integrity protection of sensing results, support of an appropriate level of sensing depending on whether consent is obtained, a mechanism to protect identifiable information that can be derived from the sensing measurement data from eavesdropping.

One of the challenges for the sensing function through communication and sensing fusion is to utilize resources efficiently. One solution for a sensing beam is reusing a communication beam for sensing. However, the reuse of a communication beam for sensing may have some limitations. For example, in some scenarios, there are no communication users or existing communication links in target surroundings. Therefore, in such scenarios, the sensing function cannot be effectively implemented through the communication beam, resulting in poor sensing performance.

Another solution is using a dedicated beam for sensing. However, the dedicated beam for sensing occupies some resources which cannot be allocated for communication. This sometimes may result in overuse and waste of time/frequency resources. There is a need to balance resource allocation between communication and sensing, thereby improving spectrum efficiency while maintaining sensing capabilities.

Example embodiments of the present disclosure propose a sensing beam determination scheme for integrated sensing and communication functions. With this scheme, a beam for communication can be reused for sensing purposes if this beam is directed towards the sensing area during a first period. If no beam meets the required sensing direction, a dedicated sensing beam may be deployed during a second period.

Utilization of the existing communication beam for sensing allows the resources allocated for communication to be fully utilized. Moreover, no additional sensing resource overhead is required. This helps to improve the resource utilization and reduce additional time/frequency resources for sensing.

Example embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example communication environment 100 in which example embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented. In the communication environment 100, which is a part of two nodes 110 and 120 can be used to sense an object 130 in a sensing area 135 (also referred to as a sensing interesting area or a sensing area of interest) . For the purpose of discussion, two nodes 110 and 120 will be referred to as a transmitting (Tx) node 110 and a sensing node 120, respectively.

The Tx node 110 or the sensing node 120 may be either a network device or a terminal device capable of sensing. For example, the Tx node 110 may be a base station/gNB in a 5G NR system, which transmits communication signals to terminal devices or sensing signals to a sensed target. It can also be any other device such as a UE that has a transmitting module. Likewise, the sensing node 120 may be a base station/gNB in the 5G NR system. The sensing node 220 may also be a device which has a receiving module to receive the echo sensing signal that can enable the sensing function. For example, the sensing node 120 may be a Customer Premise (s) Equipment (CPE) or a UE in the 5G NR system. For the purpose of discussion, some example embodiments are discussed by taking network devices as example implementations of the Tx node 110 or the sensing node 120.

Only for the purpose of illustration, some example embodiments are discussed in the Bi-static scenario where a network device or a terminal device operates as a Tx node and a network device or a terminal device operates as a sensing node. These example embodiments may be in general applied to the mono-static scenario where a network device or a terminal device operates as both a Tx node and a sensing node, or the multi-static scenario where a network device or a terminal device operates as a Tx node and a plurality of network devices and/or terminal devices operate as sensing nodes.

To sense the object 130, the Tx node 110 may transmit a sensing reference signal towards the sensing area 135 using a sensing beam 140. The sensing node 120 may detect an echo signal and sense the object 130 based on the detected echo signal. As shown in FIG. 1, the communication environment 100 further comprises a network node 145 which can communicate with the Tx node 110 and the sensing node 120. The network node 145 may determine sensing policies and configurations for the two nodes 110 and 120.

In an example, the network node 145 may be a SeMF. The SeMF can serve as a functional entity within a core network for managing sensing functions, as a sensing management component located at a network edge, or as a functional entity within a gNB. The SeMF is expected to possess knowledge of sensing requirements and be capable of managing the coordination and scheduling of resources necessary for sensing operations.

The network node 145 is shown in FIG. 1 to be separate from the Tx node 110 and the sensing node 120 only for illustration but not for limitation. In some embodiments, the network node 145 may be collocated with either the Tx node 110 or the sensing node 120 or implemented as a part thereof. In these embodiments, the Tx node 110 or the sensing node 120 may perform the function of the SeMF.

In the communication environment 100, the Tx node 110 can communicate with a device 150. The device 150 may be a UE, or other mobile device or communication equipment that can receive the communication data. In some scenarios, the device 150 may be located in the sensing area 135. If a first beam for communication with the device 150 is directed towards the sensing area 135, the Tx node 110 can reuse the first beam for sensing purposes.

It is to be understood that the numbers of devices are only for the purpose of illustration without suggesting any limitations. The communication environment 100 may include any suitable numbers of devices. For example, there may be a plurality of Tx nodes, each of which may communicate with several mobile devices. In the multi-static scenario, one Tx node may cooperate with more than one sensing nodes.

FIG. 2 shows a flowchart of an example method 200 for determining a sensing beam implemented at the Tx node 110 in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 200 will be described with reference to in FIG. 1.

As shown in FIG. 2, at block 210, the Tx node 110 transmits a first beam for communication with the device 150. At block 220, the Tx node 110 determines whether the first beam for communication with the device is transmitted towards the sensing area 135 during a first period. Depending on the practical implementations, if there is any intersection or overlapping region between the first beam and the sensing area 135, the first beam may be determined to be directed towards the sensing area 135. The first beam towards the sensing area 135 can be reused for the sensing purpose. For the purpose of discussion, in some example embodiments, the first beam may also be referred to as a communication beam.

In some example embodiments, a sensing window, also referred to as a window of opportunity, for integrated sensing and communication functions is proposed. The first period may be a first stage of the sensing window, which is also referred to as a waiting period. The Tx node 110 can reuse the communication beam for sensing purposes if the communication beam is directed toward the sensing area 135 during the waiting period.

In some example embodiments, the Tx node 110 may transmit a second beam for sensing towards the sensing area 135 during a second period. In some example embodiments, the second period may be a second stage of the sensing window, for example, the end of the window of opportunity, which is also referred to as an action period. In some embodiments, the second period may be shorter than the first period to further improve the utilization of resources allocated for communications.

In some example embodiments, the second beam may be a dedicated beam for sensing. In some other example embodiments, the second beam may be a beam allocated for communications in other timing occasions than the first and second periods. If the first beam for communication with the device is not directed or absent towards the sensing area 135 during the first period, which means no beam meets the required sensing direction, then a dedicated beam may be deployed during the second period.

In some example embodiments, the Tx node 110 may detect the presence of a communication beam towards the sensing area 135 during the waiting period. If a communication beam is detected, it is used for sensing purposes. If no beam is directed towards the sensing area during the waiting period, a dedicated beam may be transmitted towards the sensing area during the action period. Two example cases for sensing beam determination will be discussed below with reference to FIGS. 3A and 3B.

FIG. 3A shows an example scenario 300 where the device 150 is located near the object 130.

In this example, as shown in FIG. 3A, the device 150 is inside the sensing area 135 of the object 130, so it can be deemed that the device 150 is located near the object 130. In this case, a communication beam 305 transmitted by the Tx node 110 to communicate with the device 150 may be appropriate for sensing.

During a waiting period 310, the Tx node 110 is responsible for transmitting communication signals to communication users using beam sweeping or beam management procedures that may involve multiple wide or narrow beams. The Tx node 110 may compare the coverage area of each real-time allocated communication beam, which is being transmitted individually, with the sensing area 135. This comparison allows the Tx node 110 to determine whether there is any intersection or overlapping region between the allocated beam and the sensing area 135. Based on the results of the comparison, if there is no intersection or overlapping region, the Tx node 110 continues with the transmitting process until the waiting period 305 ends.

In the scenario 300, the communication beam 305 appears during the waiting period 310. The Tx node 110 may determine that there is an intersection or overlapping region between the communication beam 305 and the sensing area 135. Accordingly, the communication beam 305 may be used as the sensing beam. This means that the opportunity to use a communication beam for sensing is captured during the window of opportunity, and no dedicated sensing beam during an action period 310 is required.

FIG. 3B shows another example scenario 320 where no communication device around the object 130.

In the scenario 320, the device 150 is outside the sensing area 135. In this case, there is no opportunity to use a communication beam 325 for sensing during the waiting period 310. Moreover, there are no other devices located near the object 130 as shown in FIG. 3B. When the waiting period 310 ends, there is no communication beam that meets the requirements of transmitting towards the sensing area 135.

In this case, an additional sensing beam 330 is allocated and transmitted towards the sensing area 135 during the action period 315. The sensing beam 330 may be either a wide or a narrow beam. After the current window of opportunity ends, the Tx node 110 waits for the next window of opportunity.

In this way, the sensing function may be ensured by always directing a beam towards the sensing interesting area. This improves the reliability of the sensing function. Furthermore, the resource allocation can be maximized. Resource allocation may be balanced between communication and sensing while ensuring the sensing function. This allows for efficient utilization of resources and provides a good balance between communication and sensing functions.

After the Tx node 110 determines that the first beam for communication with the device 150 is to be transmitted towards the sensing area 135 during the first period, the Tx node 110 may transmit, to the sensing node 120, a first sensing indication associated with the first beam. For example, if it is determined that the first beam for communication meets the requirements for transmitting towards the sensing area 135, this first beam may be deployed also for sensing function with a sensing reference signal (RS) . The sensing reference signal may be a communication RS allocated for communication or a dedicated RS for sensing. The Tx node 110 may need to indicate the sensing node 120 to receive an echo signal to perform sensing.

Likewise, after the Tx node 110 determines that the second beam for sensing is to be transmitted towards the sensing area 135 during the second period, the Tx node 110 may transmit, to the sensing node 120, a second sensing indication associated with the second beam. In some example embodiments, the first sensing indication or the second sensing indication indicates a reference signal transmission for sensing.

In an example, the first or second sensing indication to the sensing node 120 may be a signal that is configured to explicitly or implicitly inform that the RS transmission is intended for a specific sensing area of interest. In one embodiment, it may be a control signal on a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) . In one embodiment, a trigger bit (e.g., a binary sequence) may be defined for the indication. Accordingly, the sensing node 120 will perform sensing measurement based on the corresponding RS.

In some example embodiments, the Tx node 110 may use the communication beam for sensing purposes once during the first period. If there is already a previous communication beam that is reused for the sensing function, or if the first beam for communication with the device 150 has already used for the sensing function, the Tx node 110 may not use the first beam again for the sensing function. As such, the system overhead may be reduced while ensuring the sensing performance.

In some example embodiments, before determining the reuse of the first beam for sensing purposes and transmitting the first sensing indication associated with the first beam, the Tx node 110 may determine whether a beam for communication with a device has been previously transmitted towards the sensing area. If no beam is transmitted previously, the first sensing indication may be transmitted by the Tx node 110 to the sensing node 120.

In some example embodiments, the Tx node 110 may receive sensing assistance information from the network node 145. Based on the sensing assistance information, the TX node 110 may determine at least one of: the first period, the second period, the sensing area, at least one of a periodicity or a length of a sensing window, task information during the first period, or task information during the second period. In some example embodiments, the Tx node 110 may receive a sensing RS configuration from the network node 145. Some example embodiments in this regard will be discussed below with reference to FIG. 4.

FIG. 4 shows a flowchart of an example method 400 implemented at the network node 145 in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 400 will be described with reference to in FIG. 1.

At block 410, the network node 145 determines sensing assistance information The sensing assistance information is associated with at least one of: a first period, a second period, a sensing area, at least one of a periodicity or a length of a sensing window, task information during the first period, or task information during the second period.

In some example embodiments, the sensing assistance information determined by network node 145 may comprise sensing area where the sensing target is located. Alternatively, or in addition, the sensing assistance information may comprise information of a window of opportunity. In some example embodiments, the network node 145 may determine the window of opportunity based on sensing requirements. A factor for determining the configuration for this window is the frequency at which sensing results need to be refreshed, which varies depending on different scenarios and use cases. Accordingly, the information of the window of opportunity may include the at least one of a periodicity or a length of the window. The information of the window may further include the number of executions of the window.

In some example embodiments, the length of the window of opportunity may encompass the lengths of the waiting period l_w and the action period l_a. In some example embodiments, the action period may be placed towards the end of the designated time frame and may be much shorter in duration than the waiting period. If effective execution of the sensing function is allowed within the duration of the action period, then the action period can be deemed sufficient. In some example embodiments, the information of the window of opportunity may include length/period information (l_w, l_a) .

In some example embodiments, the information of the window may include task information during the waiting period and/or the action period. In some embodiments, the task information during the first period may indicate tasks or operations for sensing during the first period. For example, during the waiting period, the Tx node 140 needs to wait for a communication beam towards the sensing area and reuse such a communication beam for the sensing purposes.

In some embodiments, the task information during the second period may indicate tasks or operations for sensing during the second period. For example, if the first beam for communication towards the sensing area 135 is absent during the first period, the Tx node 110 needs to determine the second beam for sensing towards the sensing area 135.

At block 420, the network node 145 transmits the sensing assistance information to the Tx node 110. Thus, sensing can be performed between the Tx node 110 and the sensing node 120 based on the sensing assistance information.

In some example embodiments, the network node 145 may determine a sensing RS configuration, and transmit the sensing RS configuration to the Tx node 110. In some example embodiments, the sensing RS configuration may comprise at least one of: a type of a sensing RS, time resource allocation for a sensing RS transmission, frequency resource allocation for the sensing RS transmission, or at least one measurement parameter.

For example, the sensing RS configuration may comprise a type of the sensing RS, also referred to as a sensing RS type, may indicate which type of RSs may be used for sensing. In an example, the sensing RS may comprise a RS for communication, e.g., a primary synchronization signal (PSS) or a secondary synchronization signal (SSS) , a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) for common PDCCH and/or UE-specific PDCCH or Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) decoding, a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) , a positioning reference signal (PRS) . In an alternative example, the sensing RS may comprise a RS dedicated for sensing.

Alternatively, or in addition, the sensing RS configuration may comprise time and/or frequency resource allocation for RS transmission. Alternatively, or in addition, the sensing RS configuration may comprise at least one measurement parameter for sensing, such as period, occasions, and/or the like.

In some example embodiments, the network node 145 may negotiate the sensing RS configuration with another network node. For example, the network node 145 may negotiate the sensing RS configurations with the Tx node 110. In an embodiment, the network node 145 may determine the sensing RS type and the sensing RS configuration requirement (e.g., the bandwidth, period, density, and/or the like) and then send them to the Tx node 110 which then may determine the sensing RS time/frequency resource configuration.

Then, the network node 145 and/or the Tx node 110 may deliver the RS configuration to the sensing node 120. To enable the sensing or/and measurement function, the sensing node 120 may perform range, angle and/or Doppler measurement, LoS estimation, intrusion detection, proximity perception, channel fluctuation detection and/or the like.

It is to be understood that it is just an example implementation that the network node 145 performs the above sensing related configurations. In some example embodiments, some or even all of the above configurations may be performed by the Tx node 110. In these embodiments, some signal transferring between the network node 145 and the Tx node 110 may be skipped.

FIG. 5 shows a flowchart of an example sensing process 500 in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. In this example, a UE 502 operates as an example implementation of the device 150 in FIG. 1, the SeMF 503 operates as an example implementation of the network node 145 in FIG. 1. The first period and the second period are implemented as the waiting period and the action period in the window of opportunity.

As shown in FIG. 5, in the sensing process 500, at 505, the SeMF 503 may determine a window of opportunity based on sensing requirements (e.g., the sensing assistance information) . At 510, the SeMF 503 may deliver the sensing assistance information for the window to the Tx node 110. At 515, the Tx node 110 and the SeMF 503 may determine a sensing RS configuration. At 520, the SeMF 503 and/or the Tx node 110 may deliver the RS configuration to the sensing node 120.

At 525, the Tx node 110 may determine whether a communication beam towards the sensing area exists during the waiting period. At 530, the Tx node 110 may transmit DL communication signals to the UE 502. At 535, if the communication beam towards the sensing area exists during the waiting period, the Tx node 110 may determine whether the communication beam appears for the first time in the window. If so, then at 540, the Tx node 110 may indicate to the sensing node 120 RS transmission for sensing. At 545, the sensing node 120 may perform sensing measurement based on RS information.

If it is determined at 525 that the communication beam towards the sensing area is absent during the waiting period, then at 550, the Tx node 110 may transmit dedicated sensing beam during the action period. At 555, the Tx node 110 may indicate to the sensing node 120 RS transmission for sensing. At 560, the sensing node 120 may perform sensing measurement based on the RS information.

The operations at 525 to 560 may be performed periodically. The frequency of these intervals may be determined by the SeMF 503 and can be refreshed based on the defined length of the window of opportunity for sensing requirements. Thus, a beam may be directed towards the sensing interesting area in the required sensing refresh frequency. This improves the reliability of the sensing function.

Example Apparatus, Device and Medium

In some example embodiments, a first apparatus capable of performing any of the method 200 (for example, the Tx node 110 in FIG. 1) may comprise means for performing the respective operations of the method 200. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module. The first apparatus may be implemented as or included in the Tx node 110 in FIG. 1.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus comprises means for transmitting a first beam for communication with a device; and means for determining whether the first beam for communication with the device is transmitted towards a sensing area during a first period.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for transmitting a second beam for sensing towards the sensing area during a second period.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for receiving, from a network node, sensing assistance information; and means for based on the sensing assistance information, determining at least one of: the first period, the second period, the sensing area, at least one of a periodicity or a length of a sensing window, task information during the first period, or task information during the second period.

In some example embodiments, means for transmitting the second beam comprises: means for based on a determination that the first beam is absent towards the sensing area during the first period, transmitting the second beam for sensing towards the sensing area.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for based on a determination that the first beam for communication with the device is to be transmitted towards the sensing area during the first period, transmitting, to a sensing node, a first sensing indication associated with the first beam.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for determining whether a beam for communication with a device has been previously transmitted towards the sensing area, wherein the first sensing indication is transmitted based on a determination that no beam has been previously transmitted.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for based on a determination that the second beam for sensing is to be transmitted towards the sensing area during the second period, transmitting, to the sensing node, a second sensing indication associated with the second beam.

In some example embodiments, the first sensing indication or the second sensing indication indicates a reference signal transmission for sensing.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for receiving, from a network node, a sensing reference signal configuration.

In some example embodiments, the second period is shorter than the first period.

In some example embodiments, the transmitting node comprises a network device or a terminal device.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises means for performing other operations in some example embodiments of the method 200 or the Tx node 110. In some example embodiments, the means comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the performance of the first apparatus.

In some example embodiments, a second apparatus capable of performing any of the method 400 (for example, the network node 145 in FIG. 1) may comprise means for performing the respective operations of the method 400. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module. The second apparatus may be implemented as or included in the network node 145 in FIG. 1.

In some example embodiments, the second apparatus comprises means for determining sensing assistance information, the sensing assistance information being associated with at least one of: a first period, a second period, a sensing area, at least one of a periodicity or a length of a sensing window, task information during the first period, or task information during the second period; and means for transmitting the sensing assistance information to a transmitting node.

In some example embodiments, the second apparatus comprises: means for determining a sensing reference signal configuration; and transmitting the sensing reference signal configuration to the transmitting node.

In some example embodiments, the sensing reference signal configuration comprises at least one of: a type of a sensing reference signal, time resource allocation for a sensing reference signal transmission, frequency resource allocation for the sensing reference signal transmission, or at least one measurement parameter.

In some example embodiments, the second apparatus comprises: means for negotiating the sensing reference signal configuration with another network node.

In some example embodiments, the network node comprises a sensing management function.

In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises means for performing other operations in some example embodiments of the method 400 or the network node 145. In some example embodiments, the means comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the performance of the second apparatus.

FIG. 6 is a simplified block diagram of a device 600 that is suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure. The device 600 may be provided to implement a communication device, for example, the Tx node 110 or the sensing node 120 as shown in FIG. 1. As shown, the device 600 includes one or more processors 610, one or more memories 620 coupled to the processor 610, and one or more communication modules 640 coupled to the processor 610.

The communication module 640 is for bidirectional communications. The communication module 640 has one or more communication interfaces to facilitate communication with one or more other modules or devices. The communication interfaces may represent any interface that is necessary for communication with other network elements. In some example embodiments, the communication module 640 may include at least one antenna.

The processor 610 may be of any type suitable to the local technical network and may include one or more of the following: general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs) and processors based on multicore processor architecture, as non-limiting examples. The device 600 may have multiple processors, such as an application specific integrated circuit chip that is slaved in time to a clock which synchronizes the main processor.

The memory 620 may include one or more non-volatile memories and one or more volatile memories. Examples of the non-volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a Read Only Memory (ROM) 624, an electrically programmable read only memory (EPROM) , a flash memory, a hard disk, a compact disc (CD) , a digital video disk (DVD) , an optical disk, a laser disk, and other magnetic storage and/or optical storage. Examples of the volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a random access memory (RAM) 622 and other volatile memories that will not last in the power-down duration.

A computer program 630 includes computer executable instructions that are executed by the associated processor 610. The instructions of the program 630 may include instructions for performing operations/acts of some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The program 630 may be stored in the memory, e.g., the ROM 624. The processor 610 may perform any suitable actions and processing by loading the program 630 into the RAM 622.

The example embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by means of the program 630 so that the device 600 may perform any process of the disclosure as discussed with reference to FIG. 2 to FIG. 5. The example embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented by hardware or by a combination of software and hardware.

In some example embodiments, the program 630 may be tangibly contained in a computer readable medium which may be included in the device 600 (such as in the memory 620) or other storage devices that are accessible by the device 600. The device 600 may load the program 630 from the computer readable medium to the RAM 622 for execution. In some example embodiments, the computer readable medium may include any types of non-transitory storage medium, such as ROM, EPROM, a flash memory, a hard disk, CD, DVD, and the like. The term “non-transitory, ” as used herein, is a limitation of the medium itself (i.e., tangible, not a signal) as opposed to a limitation on data storage persistency (e.g., RAM vs. ROM) .

FIG. 7 shows an example of the computer readable medium 700 which may be in form of CD, DVD or other optical storage disk. The computer readable medium 700 has the program 630 stored thereon.

Generally, various embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic or any combination thereof. Some aspects may be implemented in hardware, while other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software which may be executed by a controller, microprocessor or other computing device. While various aspects of embodiments of the present disclosure are illustrated and described as block diagrams, flowcharts, or using some other pictorial representations, it is to be understood that the block, apparatus, system, technique or method described herein may be implemented in, as non-limiting examples, hardware, software, firmware, special purpose circuits or logic, general purpose hardware or controller or other computing devices, or some combination thereof.

Some example embodiments of the present disclosure also provide at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a computer readable medium, such as a non-transitory computer readable medium. The computer program product includes computer-executable instructions, such as those included in program modules, being executed in a device on a target physical or virtual processor, to carry out any of the methods as described above. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, or the like that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The functionality of the program modules may be combined or split between program modules as desired in various embodiments. Machine-executable instructions for program modules may be executed within a local or distributed device. In a distributed device, program modules may be located in both local and remote storage media.

Program code for carrying out methods of the present disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. The program code may be provided to a processor or controller of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus, such that the program code, when executed by the processor or controller, cause the functions/operations specified in the flowcharts and/or block diagrams to be implemented. The program code may execute entirely on a machine, partly on the machine, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the machine and partly on a remote machine or entirely on the remote machine or server.

In the context of the present disclosure, the computer program code or related data may be carried by any suitable carrier to enable the device, apparatus or processor to perform various processes and operations as described above. Examples of the carrier include a signal, computer readable medium, and the like.

The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readable medium may include but not limited to an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples of the computer readable storage medium would include an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM) , a read-only memory (ROM) , an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory) , an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) , an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

Further, while operations are depicted in a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring that such operations be performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, or that all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirable results. In certain circumstances, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Likewise, while several specific implementation details are contained in the above discussions, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the present disclosure, but rather as descriptions of features that may be specific to particular embodiments. Unless explicitly stated, certain features that are described in the context of separate embodiments may also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, unless explicitly stated, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment may also be implemented in a plurality of embodiments separately or in any suitable sub-combination.

Although the present disclosure has been described in languages specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the present disclosure defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.

Claims

A method comprising:

at a transmitting node,

transmitting a first beam for communication with a device; and

determining whether the first beam for communication with the device is transmitted towards a sensing area during a first period.
The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting a second beam for sensing towards the sensing area during a second period.
The method of claim 2, further comprising:

receiving, from a network node, sensing assistance information; and

based on the sensing assistance information, determining at least one of:

the first period,

the second period,

the sensing area,

at least one of a periodicity or a length of a sensing window,

task information during the first period, or

task information during the second period.
The method of claim 2, wherein transmitting the second beam comprises:

based on a determination that the first beam is absent towards the sensing area during the first period, transmitting the second beam for sensing towards the sensing area.
The method of claim 1, further comprising:

based on a determination that the first beam for communication with the device is to be transmitted towards the sensing area during the first period, transmitting, to a sensing node, a first sensing indication associated with the first beam.
The method of claim 5, further comprising:

determining whether a beam for communication with a device has been previously transmitted towards the sensing area,

wherein the first sensing indication is transmitted based on a determination that no beam has been previously transmitted.
The method of any of claims 2-4, further comprising:

based on a determination that the second beam for sensing is to be transmitted towards the sensing area during the second period, transmitting, to the sensing node, a second sensing indication associated with the second beam.
The method of claim 5 or 7, wherein the first sensing indication or the second sensing indication indicates a reference signal transmission for sensing.
The method of any of claims 1-8, further comprising:

receiving, from a network node, a sensing reference signal configuration.
The method of any of claims 2-3, wherein the second period is shorter than the first period.
The method of any of claims 1-10, wherein the transmitting node comprises a network device or a terminal device.
A method comprising:

at a network node,

determining sensing assistance information, the sensing assistance information being associated with at least one of:

a first period,

a second period,

a sensing area,

at least one of a periodicity or a length of a sensing window,

task information during the first period, or

task information during the second period; and

transmitting the sensing assistance information to a transmitting node.
The method of claim 12, wherein the second period is shorter than the first period.
The method of claim 12 or 13, further comprising:

determining a sensing reference signal configuration; and

transmitting the sensing reference signal configuration to the transmitting node.
The method of claim 14, wherein the sensing reference signal configuration comprises at least one of: a type of a sensing reference signal, time resource allocation for a sensing reference signal transmission, frequency resource allocation for the sensing reference signal transmission, or at least one measurement parameter.
The method of claim 14 or 15, further comprising:

negotiating the sensing reference signal configuration with another network node.
The method of any of claims 12-16, wherein the network node comprises a sensing management function.
A transmitting node, comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the transmitting node at least to perform the method of any of claims 1- 11.
A network node, comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the network node at least to perform the method of any of claims 12-17.
A apparatus comprising:

means for transmitting a first beam for communication with a device; and

means for determining whether the first beam for communication with the device is transmitted towards a sensing area during a first period.
A apparatus comprising:

means for determining sensing assistance information, the sensing assistance information being associated with at least one of: a first period, a second period, a sensing area, at least one of a periodicity or a length of a sensing window, task information during the first period, or task information during the second period; and

means for transmitting the sensing assistance information to a transmitting node.
A computer readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon for causing an apparatus at least to perform the method of any of claims 1-11 or the method of any of claims 12-17.