WO2024234390A1

WO2024234390A1 - Devices and methods for communication

Info

Publication number: WO2024234390A1
Application number: PCT/CN2023/095157
Authority: WO
Inventors: Gang Wang
Original assignee: NEC Corp
Current assignee: NEC Corp
Priority date: 2023-05-18
Filing date: 2023-05-18
Publication date: 2024-11-21
Anticipated expiration: 2025-11-18

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a solution for measurement configuration for integrated sensing and communication (ISAC). In a solution, a first device receives, from a second device, a measurement configuration at least comprising a sensing measurement event for ISAC. The first device transmits, to the second device, a measurement report based on the measurement configuration, the measurement report comprising at least one of a result of sensing measurement or a result of communication measurement. In this way, the measurement report can be triggered by the configured sensing measurement event.

Description

DEVICES AND METHODS FOR COMMUNICATION

FIELDS

Example embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field of communication techniques and in particular, to devices and methods for measurement configuration for integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) .

BACKGROUND

In communication systems, devices can perform various operations including communication, sensing, and the like. In some mechanisms, ISAC has been proposed. ISAC can realize two functions of wireless communication and sensing through the reuse of spectrum resources, wireless infrastructure and radio frequency signals. For example, ISAC may be used for smart transportation, smart factory, and the like. In the communication systems supporting ISAC, devices may perform measurement and transmit measurement reports to the network. The measurement or measurement report may be used for ISAC. Works are ongoing regarding measurement and sensing among devices for ISAC.

SUMMARY

In general, embodiments of the present disclosure provide measurement configuration for integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) .

In a first aspect, there is provided a communication method performed by a first device. The method comprises: receiving, from a second device, a measurement configuration at least comprising a sensing measurement event for ISAC; and transmitting, to the second device, a measurement report based on the measurement configuration, the measurement report comprising at least one of a result of sensing measurement or a result of communication measurement.

In a second aspect, there is provided a communication method performed by a second device. The method comprises: transmitting, to a first device, a measurement configuration at least comprising a sensing measurement event for ISAC; and receiving, from the first device, a measurement report based on the measurement configuration, the measurement report comprising at least one of a result of sensing measurement or a result of communication measurement.

In a third aspect, there is provided a communication method performed by a third device. The method comprises: transmitting, to a second device, a measurement timing configuration of a neighbor cell for sensing, the measurement timing configuration at least comprising a time domain resource or a frequency domain resource of a reference signal for sensing measurement.

In a fourth aspect, there is provided a first device comprising: a processor configured to cause the first device to: receive, from a second device, a measurement configuration at least comprising a sensing measurement event for ISAC; and transmit, to the second device, a measurement report based on the measurement configuration, the measurement report comprising at least one of a result of sensing measurement or a result of communication measurement.

In a fifth aspect, there is provided a second device comprising: a processor configured to cause the second device to: transmit, to a first device, a measurement configuration at least comprising a sensing measurement event for ISAC; and receive, from the first device, a measurement report based on the measurement configuration, the measurement report comprising at least one of a result of sensing measurement or a result of communication measurement.

In a sixth aspect, there is provided a third device comprising: a processor configured to cause the third device to: transmit, to a second device, a measurement timing configuration of a neighbor cell for sensing, the measurement timing configuration at least comprising a time domain resource or a frequency domain resource of a reference signal for sensing measurement.

In a seventh aspect, there is provided a computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions, when executed on at least one processor, causing the at least one processor to carry out the method according to the first, second, or third aspect.

Other features of the present disclosure will become easily comprehensible through the following description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Through the more detailed description of some example embodiments of the present disclosure in the accompanying drawings, the above and other objects, features and advantages of the present disclosure will become more apparent, wherein:

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

FIG. 2A to FIG. 2F illustrate example sensing modes, respectively;

FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B illustrate example architectures of a communication system comprising devices for ISAC, respectively;

FIG. 4 illustrates a signaling flow of measurement configuration in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 illustrates a signaling flow of serving cell addition in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 illustrates a signaling flow of serving cell modification in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 illustrates a signaling flow of serving cell release in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 illustrates a signaling flow of serving cell addition in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 9 illustrates a flowchart of a method implemented at a first device according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 10 illustrates a flowchart of a method implemented at a second device according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 11 illustrates a flowchart of a method implemented at a third device according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 12 illustrates a simplified block diagram of an apparatus that is suitable for implementing 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.

As used herein, the term ‘terminal device’ refers to any device having wireless or wired communication capabilities. Examples of the terminal device include, but not limited to, user equipment (UE) , personal computers, desktops, mobile phones, cellular phones, smart phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs) , portable computers, tablets, wearable devices, internet of things (IoT) devices, Ultra-reliable and Low Latency Communications (URLLC) devices, Internet of Everything (IoE) devices, machine type communication (MTC) devices, devices on vehicle for V2X communication where X means pedestrian, vehicle, or infrastructure/network, devices for Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB) , Space borne vehicles or Air borne vehicles in Non-terrestrial networks (NTN) including Satellites and High Altitude Platforms (HAPs) encompassing Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) , eXtended Reality (XR) devices including different types of realities such as Augmented Reality (AR) , Mixed Reality (MR) and Virtual Reality (VR) , the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) commonly known as a drone which is an aircraft without any human pilot, devices on high speed train (HST) , or image capture devices such as digital cameras, sensors, gaming devices, music storage and playback appliances, or Internet appliances enabling wireless or wired Internet access and browsing and the like. The ‘terminal device’ can further has ‘multicast/broadcast’ feature, to support public safety and mission critical, V2X applications, transparent IPv4/IPv6 multicast delivery, IPTV, smart TV, radio services, software delivery over wireless, group communications and IoT applications. It may also incorporate one or multiple Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) as known as Multi-SIM. The term “terminal device” can be used interchangeably with a UE, a mobile station, a subscriber station, a mobile terminal, a user terminal or a wireless device.

The term “network device” refers to a device which is capable of providing or hosting a cell or coverage where terminal devices can communicate. Examples of a network device include, but not limited to, a Node B (NodeB or NB) , an evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB) , a next generation NodeB (gNB) , a transmission reception point (TRP) , a remote radio unit (RRU) , a radio head (RH) , a remote radio head (RRH) , an IAB node, a low power node such as a femto node, a pico node, a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) , and the like.

The terminal device or the network device may have Artificial intelligence (AI) or Machine learning capability. It generally includes a model which has been trained from numerous collected data for a specific function, and can be used to predict some information.

The terminal or the network device may work on several frequency ranges, e.g., FR1 (e.g., 450 MHz to 6000 MHz) , FR2 (e.g., 24.25GHz to 52.6GHz) , frequency band larger than 100 GHz as well as Tera Hertz (THz) . It can further work on licensed/unlicensed/shared spectrum. The terminal device may have more than one connection with the network devices under Multi-Radio Dual Connectivity (MR-DC) application scenario. The terminal device or the network device can work on full duplex, flexible duplex and cross division duplex modes.

The embodiments of the present disclosure may be performed in test equipment, e.g., signal generator, signal analyzer, spectrum analyzer, network analyzer, test terminal device, test network device, channel emulator. In some embodiments, the terminal device may be connected with a first network device and a second network device. One of the first network device and the second network device may be a master node and the other one may be a secondary node. The first network device and the second network device may use different radio access technologies (RATs) . In some embodiments, the first network device may be a first RAT device and the second network device may be a second RAT device. In some embodiments, the first RAT device is eNB and the second RAT device is gNB. Information related with different RATs may be transmitted to the terminal device from at least one of the first network device or the second network device. In some embodiments, first information may be transmitted to the terminal device from the first network device and second information may be transmitted to the terminal device from the second network device directly or via the first network device. In some embodiments, information related with configuration for the terminal device configured by the second network device may be transmitted from the second network device via the first network device. Information related with reconfiguration for the terminal device configured by the second network device may be transmitted to the terminal device from the second network device directly or via the first network device.

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. The term ‘includes’ and its variants are to be read as open terms that mean ‘includes, but is not limited to. ’ The term ‘based on’ is to be read as ‘at least in part based on. ’ The term ‘one embodiment’ and ‘an embodiment’ are to be read as ‘at least one embodiment. ’ The term ‘another embodiment’ is to be read as ‘at least one other embodiment. ’ The terms ‘first, ’ ‘second, ’ and the like may refer to different or same objects. Other definitions, explicit and implicit, may be included below.

In some examples, values, procedures, or apparatus are referred to as ‘best, ’ ‘lowest, ’ ‘highest, ’ ‘minimum, ’ ‘maximum, ’ or the like. It will be appreciated that such descriptions are intended to indicate that a selection among many used functional alternatives can be made, and such selections need not be better, smaller, higher, or otherwise preferable to other selections.

As used herein, the term “resource, ” “transmission resource, ” “uplink resource, ” or “downlink resource” may refer to any resource for performing a communication, 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.

As mentioned above, ISAC may be used for smart transportation, smart factory, and the like. Works are ongoing regarding measurement and sensing among devices for ISAC. In some mechanisms, resources for beam measurement are allocated based on the type of serving cell and whether primary cell (PCC) is configured. However, such mechanism is not related to sensing-based carrier aggregation (CA) . For CA, two or more component carriers (CCs) are aggregated. The network may add or delete secondary cell (SCell) based on measurement result of this cell. In order to support high-precision sensing, larger bandwidth is beneficial. For frequency range (FR) 1 and FR2-1, larger bandwidth may be achieved by CA.

In order to solve at least part of the above problems or other potential problems, a solution on measurement configuration for ISAC is proposed. According to embodiments of the present disclosure, a first device such as a terminal device receives, from a second device such as a network device, a measurement configuration at least comprising a sensing measurement event for ISAC. The first device transmits, to the second device, a measurement report based on the measurement configuration. The measurement report comprises at least one of a result of sensing measurement or a result of communication measurement. In this way, what measurement events may be used for sensing-based CA can be configured. In addition, what measurement information between different devices needs to be delivered for neighbor cell measurement can also be configured. By configuring the measurement configuration for ISAC, high precision sensing can be achieved. Large bandwidth of carrier aggregation thus can be achieved.

Principles and implementations of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the figures.

FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic diagram of an example communication environment 100 in which example embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented. In the communication environment 100, a plurality of communication devices, including a first device 110, a second device 120 and a third device 130 can communicate with each other.

In the example of FIG. 1, the first device 110 may be a terminal device or a UE, and the second device 120 and the third device 130 may be a base station serving the first device 110. The serving area of the second device 120 may be called as a cell 122. The serving area of the third device 130 may be called as a cell 132.

As shown, the first device 110 is served by the cell 122 of the second device 120 at present. In such cases, the cell 122 may be referred to as a serving cell or a primary serving cell. The second device 120 may be referred to as a serving network device or a main mode (M-node) . The first device 110 may also be served by the cell 132 of the third device 130. The cell 132 may be referred to as a secondary cell (SCell) . The third device 130 may be referred to as a secondary network device or a radio access network (RAN) node (RAN-node) . In the communication environment 100, the second device 120/the third device 130 and the first device 110 may communicate data and control information with each other.

It is to be understood that the number of devices and their connections shown in FIG. 1 are only for the purpose of illustration without suggesting any limitation. The communication environment 100 may include any suitable number of devices configured to implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure. Although not shown, it would be appreciated that one or more additional devices may be located in the cell, and one or more additional cells may be deployed in the communication environment 100. It is noted that although illustrated as a network device, the second device 120 or the third device 130 may be another device than a network device. Although illustrated as a terminal device, the first device 110 may be other device than a terminal device.

In the following, for the purpose of illustration, some example embodiments are described with the first device 110 operating as a UE and the second device 120 and the third device 130 operating as a base station. However, in some example embodiments, operations described in connection with a terminal device may be implemented at a network device or other device, and operations described in connection with a network device may be implemented at a terminal device or other device.

In some example embodiments, if the first device 110 is a terminal device and the second device 120/third device 130 is a network device, a link from the second device 120/third device 130 to the first device 110 is referred to as a downlink (DL) , while a link from the first device 110 to the second device 120/third device 130 is referred to as an uplink (UL) . In DL, the second device 120/third device 130 is a transmitting (TX) device (or a transmitter) and the first device 110 is a receiving (RX) device (or a receiver) . In UL, the first device 110 is a TX device (or a transmitter) and the second device 120/third device 130 is a RX device (or a receiver) .

The communications in the communication environment 100 may conform to any suitable standards including, but not limited to, Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) , Long Term Evolution (LTE) , LTE-Evolution, LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) , New Radio (NR) , Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) , Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) , GSM EDGE Radio Access Network (GERAN) , Machine Type Communication (MTC) and the like. The embodiments of the present disclosure may be performed according to any generation communication protocols either currently known or to be developed in the future. Examples of the communication protocols include, 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) communication protocols, 5.5G, 5G-Advanced networks, or the sixth generation (6G) networks.

In some example embodiments, the first device 110, the second device 120 and/or the third device 130 may perform ISAC. As used herein, the devices performing ISAC may be referred to as ISAC devices. High-precision sensing may be performed among these ISAC devices. The resources for beam measurement may be allocated based on the type of serving cell and whether primary cell is configured.

FIG. 2A illustrates an example architecture 200 of sensing mode of ISAC devices. In the architecture 200, a gNB based mono-static sensing may be performed. FIG. 2B illustrates an example architecture 210 of sensing mode of ISAC devices. In the architecture 210, a gNB-to-UE based bi-static sensing may be performed. FIG. 2C illustrates an example architecture 220 of sensing mode of ISAC devices. In the architecture 220, a UE based mono-static sensing may be performed. FIG. 2D illustrates an example architecture 230 of sensing mode of ISAC devices. In the architecture 230, a gNB-to-gNB based bi-static sensing may be performed. FIG. 2E illustrates an example architecture 240 of sensing mode of ISAC devices. In the architecture 240, a UE-to-gNB based bi-static sensing may be performed. FIG. 2F illustrates an example architecture 250 of sensing mode of ISAC devices. In the architecture 250, a UE1-toUE2 based bi-static sensing may be performed. It is to be understood that the above example architecture of sensing mode is only for the purpose of illustration, without suggesting any limitations. Any suitable sensing mode of ISAC devices defined based on TX/RX node of sensing signal may be applied.

In these architectures, a sensing transmitter is an entity that sends out a sensing signal which the sensing service will use in its operation. The sensing transmitter may be a network device such as an NR RAN node or a terminal device such as UE. The sensing transmitter may be located in the same or different entity as the sensing receiver. A sensing receiver is an entity that receives the sensing signal which the sensing service will use in its operation. The sensing receiver may be a network device such as an NR RAN node or a terminal device such as UE. A sensing receiver may be located in the same or different entity as the sensing transmitter.

The sensing measurement data may be data collected about radio/wireless signals impacted (e.g., reflected, refracted, diffracted) by an object or environment of interest for sensing purposes. The sensing result may be processed third generation partnership project (3GPP) sensing data requested by a service consumer.

FIG. 3A illustrates example architecture 300 of communication system comprising ISAC devices. The architecture 300 may be used for sensing assisted automotive maneuvering and navigation. In the architecture, a 5G system may coordinate sensing to get sensing data from various sources and generate sensing results which may be consumed at the vehicle and used for the vehicular control and driver assistance, e.g., feed into the automated driving system (ADS) in the car. The 3GPP sensing data collected by the UE may be sent alongside relevant sensing information to other sensing entities (including other vehicles, roadside units, and network) for further processing.

FIG. 3B illustrates another example architecture 350 of communication system comprising ISAC devices. The architecture 350 may be used for autonomous mobile robot (AMR) collision avoidance in smart factories. Examples of architecture of communication systems comprising the ISAC devices have been described above. Measurement configuration may be configured for these ISAC devices.

Reference is made to FIG. 4, which illustrates a signaling flow 400 of measurement configuration for ISAC in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purposes of discussion, the signaling flow 400 will be discussed with reference to FIG. 1, for example, by using the first device 110, the second device 120 and the third device 130.

In operation, the second device 120 transmits (415) to the first device 110, a measurement configuration at least comprising a sensing measurement event for ISAC. The measurement configuration may be referred to as measConfig and may be used for performing sensing measurement (s) and/or communication measurement (s) .

The first device 110 receives (420) the measurement configuration, performs measurement (s) based on thereon, and transmits (425) a measurement report based on the measurement configuration to the second device 120. The measurement report comprises at least one of a result of sensing measurement or a result of communication measurement. The second device 120 receives (430) the measurement report. As used herein, the term “result of the sensing measurement” may also be referred to as “sensing result” . As used herein, the term “result of the communication measurement” may also be referred to as “measurement result” . In some embodiments, the measurement report may be at a beam level or a cell level. The measurement result (s) included in the measurement report may assist the network device 120 to select aggregated cell. In this way, sensing based carrier aggregation can be performed.

By way of example, the result of the sensing measurement comprises at least one of: a sensing distance, a sensing distance resolution, a speed or velocity, a speed or velocity resolution, a sensing angle, an angle resolution, or a sensing latency. The result of communication measurement may include, for example, but not limited to, channel quality such as reference signal received power (RSRP) , reference signal received quality (RSRQ) , a latency, an angle of arrival, an angle of departure, and/or the like. The result of sensing measurement or the result of communication measurement may be of a specific target, such as a car.

In some embodiments, transmission of the measurement report may be triggered based on one or more sensing measurement events. The sensing measurement event may be associated with one or more measurement results, for example, the result of sensing measurement, or the result of communication measurement, or both. For purpose of discussion, the term “sensing measurement event” may be referred to as “configured measurement event” .

A reference signal for the sensing measurement may include, for example, but not limited to, a positioning reference signal (PRS) , a Channel State Information-Reference Signal (CSI-RS) , a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) , or a reference signal defined for sensing. It is to be understood that the reference signal may also be any combination of these above reference signals or future developed reference signal.

In some embodiments, a legacy triggering events for the measurement report may be reused or amended. For example, the measurement result obtained based on a legacy event may be, for example, the result of sensing measurement or the result of communication measurement. The type of the measurement result may be based on network configuration.

In one example, the sensing measurement event may be a event (also referred to as a “first event” , for example, event A2) indicating that the at least one measurement result of a serving cell becomes worse than a first threshold. The at least one measurement result of the serving cell (referred to as Ms) may be RSRP (expressed in dBm) , RSRQ (expressed in dB) or reference signal (RS) -signal-to-interference plus noise ratio (SINR) (expressed in dB) , or the result of sensing measurement of the serving cell. The first threshold may be predefined or configured.

In a further example, the sensing measurement event may be a second event indicating (also referred to as event A4) that the at least one measurement result of a neighbor cell becomes better than a second threshold. The at least one measurement result of the neighbor cell (referred to as Mn) may be RSRP (expressed in dBm) , RSRQ (expressed in dB) or reference signal (RS) -signal-to-interference plus noise ratio (SINR) (expressed in dB) , or the result of sensing measurement of the neighbor cell. The second threshold may be predefined or configured.

In a still further example, the sensing measurement event may be a third event (also referred to as event A6) indicating that a measurement result of the neighbor cell (referred to as Mn) becomes better than a measurement result of the serving cell (referred to as Ms) . The at least one measurement result of the serving cell and the neighbor cell may be RSRP (expressed in dBm) , RSRQ (expressed in dB) or reference signal (RS) -signal-to-interference plus noise ratio (SINR) (expressed in dB) , or the result of sensing measurement of the serving cell and the neighbor cell.

It is to be understood that these events are only for the purpose of illustration, without suggesting any limitation. Any suitable sensing measurement events may be used.

In this way, sensing based carrier aggregation may be performed based on the configured measurement events.

In some embodiments, the sensing measurement event is an event defined for ISAC. At least one of an entering condition or a leaving condition for the sensing measurement event may be associated with the at least one measurement result and a hysteresis parameter. The sensing measurement event may be dedicated for ISAC. The configured sensing measurement event may be used for assisting the network device 120 to select the aggregated cell. That is, based on the sensing measurement event, sensing based carrier aggregation can be performed. As used herein, the term “entering condition” may refer to a condition for entering the sensing measurement event. The term “leaving condition” may refer to a condition for leaving the sensing measurement event.

In one example, the entering condition (referred to as condition S1-1) for the sensing measurement event (referred to as event S1) may be satisfied if a sum of the at least one measurement result (referred to as Mn) and the hysteresis parameter (referred to as Hys) is less than a third threshold (referred to as Thresh) . For example, if Mn + Hys <Thresh, the entering condition is satisfied. In such cases, the leaving condition (referred to as condition S1-2) for the sensing measurement event may be satisfied if a difference between the at least one measurement result and the hysteresis parameter is larger than a fourth threshold. The at least one measurement result may be the result of sensing measurement, such as the distance resolution or other suitable parameter. The third threshold and the fourth threshold may be predefined or configured. The third and fourth thresholds may be the same or different.

Alternatively, in another example, the entering condition (referred to as condition S1-1) for the sensing measurement event is satisfied if a difference between the at least one measurement result and the hysteresis parameter is larger than the fourth threshold. In such cases, the leaving condition (referred to as condition S1-2) for the sensing measurement event is satisfied if a sum of the at least one measurement result and the hysteresis parameter is less than the third threshold. The third threshold and the fourth threshold may be predefined or configured. The third and fourth thresholds may be the same or different.

In some cases where the third threshold and the fourth threshold are the same, the entering condition may be specified as Mn+ Hys < Thresh or Mn-Hys > Thresh, and the leaving condition may be specified as Mn –Hys > Thresh or Mn + Hys < Thresh. It is to be understood that the above conditions are just discussed for purpose of example, rather than suggest any limitations. The entering and leaving conditions may be implemented in other suitable ways.

In some embodiments, the sensing measurement event may be an event defined for ISAC. At least one of an entering condition or a leaving condition for the sensing measurement event is associated with the at least one measurement result of a cell, a hysteresis parameter, a measurement object specific offset of the cell, and a cell individual offset of the cell. The cell may be a serving cell or a neighbor cell.

In one example, the entering condition (referred to as condition S1-1) for the sensing measurement event (referred to as event S1) is satisfied if a sum of the at least one measurement result, the hysteresis parameter (referred to as Hys) , the measurement object specific offset of the cell and the cell individual offset of the cell is less than a fifth threshold. In such cases, the leaving condition (referred to as condition S1-2) for the sensing measurement event may be satisfied if a difference between a sum of the at least one measurement result, the measurement object specific offset of the cell and the cell individual offset of the cell, and the hysteresis parameter is larger than a sixth threshold.

The at least one measurement result may be the result of sensing measurement, such as distance resolution, or other suitable parameter. The measurement object specific offset of the cell may be measurement object specific offset of the serving cell Ofs, or the measurement object specific offset of the neighbor cell Ofn, such as offsetMO. The cell individual offset of the cell may be the cell individual offset of the serving cell Ocs or the cell individual offset of the neighbor cell Ocn such as cellIndividualOffset. The fifth threshold and the sixth threshold may be predefined or configured. The fifth and sixth thresholds may be the same or different.

Alternatively, in another example, the entering condition (referred to as condition S1-1) for the sensing measurement event is satisfied if a difference between a sum of the at least one measurement result, the measurement object specific offset of the cell and the cell individual offset of the cell, and the hysteresis parameter is larger than the sixth threshold. In such cases, the leaving condition (referred to as condition S1-2) for the sensing measurement event is satisfied if a sum of the at least one measurement result, the hysteresis parameter, the measurement object specific offset of the cell and the cell individual offset of the cell is less than the fifth threshold. The fifth threshold and the sixth threshold may be predefined or configured. The fifth and sixth thresholds may be the same or different.

In some situations where the fifth threshold and sixth threshold are the same, the entering condition may be specified as Mn + Ofn + Ocn + Hys < Thresh or Mn + Ofn +Ocn -Hys > Thresh. In such cases, the leaving condition may be specified as Mn + Ofn + Ocn –Hys > Thresh or Mn + Ofn + Ocn + Hys < Thresh. It is to be understood that the above conditions are just discussed for purpose of example, rather than suggest any limitations. The entering and leaving conditions may be implemented in other suitable ways.

In some embodiments, the sensing measurement event is an event defined for ISAC. At least one of an entering condition or a leaving condition for the sensing measurement event is associated with a hysteresis parameter (referred to as Hys) and both the result of sensing measurement and the result of communication measurement. For example, the result of sensing measurement may be the result of sensing measurement of a neighbor cell (referred to as Mns) , and the result of communication measurement may be the result of communication measurement of the neighbor cell (referred to as Mn) .

In one example, the entering condition for the sensing measurement event is satisfied if a sum of the result of sensing measurement and the hysteresis parameter is less than a seventh threshold, and a difference between the result of communication measurement and the hysteresis parameter is larger than an eighth threshold. That is, if Mns + Hys < Thresh (referred to as inequality S1-1) and Mn –Hys > Thresh 2 (referred to as inequality S1-2) , the entering condition is met.

In such cases, the leaving condition for the sensing measurement event is satisfied if a difference between the result of sensing measurement and the hysteresis parameter is larger than the seventh threshold, and a sum of the result of communication measurement and the hysteresis parameter is less than the eighth threshold. That is, if Mns –Hys > Thresh 1 (referred to as inequality S1-3, Threshold 1 representing the seventh threshold) and Mn + Hys < Thresh 2 (referred to as inequality S1-4, Threshold 2 representing the eighth threshold) , the leaving condition is met.

Alternatively, in some embodiments, the entering condition for the sensing measurement event is satisfied if a difference between the result of sensing measurement and the hysteresis parameter is larger than a seventh threshold, and a difference between the result of communication measurement and the hysteresis parameter is larger than an eighth threshold. In such cases, the leaving condition for the sensing measurement event may be satisfied if a sum of the result of sensing measurement and the hysteresis parameter is less than the seventh threshold, and a sum of the result of communication measurement and the hysteresis parameter is less than the eighth threshold.

The seventh threshold and the eighth threshold may be predefined or configured. The seventh and eighth thresholds may be the same or different. In embodiments wherein the seventh threshold and eighth threshold are the same, the entering condition and the leaving condition may be specified as:
Inequality S1-1 (Entering condition 1)
Mns + Hys < Thresh 1 or Mns -Hys > Thresh 1,
Inequality S1-2 (Entering condition 2)
Mn –Hys > Thresh 2,
Inequality S1-3 (Leaving condition 1)
Mns –Hys > Thresh 1 or Mns + Hys < Thresh 1,
Inequality S1-4 (Leaving condition 2)
Mn + Hys < Thresh 2.

If the inequality S1-1 and inequality S1-2 are both satisfied, the entering condition is satisfied. If the inequality S1-3 and inequality S1-4 are both satisfied, the leaving condition is satisfied.

It is to be understood that the above described entering conditions and leaving conditions or other suitable conditions may be applied separately, or in any combination. These conditions may be modified. New conditions may be added. Scope of the present disclosure is not limited in this regard.

In some embodiments, the measurement configuration may include additional information. For example, the measurement configuration may further comprise frequency information for the sensing measurement, such as a frequency for the sensing measurement. For another example, the measurement configuration may further comprise a list of neighbor cells (also referred to as a neighbor cell list) . For a further example, the measurement configuration may further comprise a frequency domain resource of a reference signal for the sensing measurement, such as start of physical resource block (PRB) , a number of PRBs. For a still further example, the measurement configuration may further comprise a time domain resource of a reference signal for the sensing measurement, such as period or offset. For a still further example, the measurement configuration may further comprise beam information or Quasi Co-Location (QCL) information. The measurement configuration may comprise one or more of the above additional information, or any other suitable additional information.

In some embodiments, the additional measurement configuration may be determined by the network device 120. For example, the network device 120 may need to achieve sensing capabilities of multiple node such as the network device 130. For example, the sensing capabilities may be reported by Uu or Xn interface. The network device 120 may determine the additional measurement configuration based on the sensing capabilities and/or any other suitable information.

As described above, the at least one of the result of sensing measurement or the result of communication measurement may comprise result of sensing and/or communication measurement of the neighbor cell. In some embodiments, the measurement timing of the neighbor cell may be configured.

In some embodiments, the third device 130 may transmit (405) a measurement timing configuration of a neighbor cell (such as the cell 132) to the second device 120. The second device 120 may receive (410) the measurement timing configuration. The measurement timing configuration may at least comprise a time domain resource or a frequency domain resource of a reference signal for the sensing measurement. For example, the measurement timing configuration may be transmitted (405) /received (410) via an Xn interface defined for communication or an Xn interface defined for sensing.

The reference signal for the sensing measurement may include but not limited to:a positioning reference signal (PRS) , a Channel State Information-Reference Signal (CSI-RS) , a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) , or a reference signal defined for sensing. It is to be understood that the reference signal may also be any combination of these above reference signals.

In one example, the reference signal may be SCI-RS or PRS. The measurement timing configuration of the neighbor cell for sensing such as time or frequency domain resource for the reference signal for sensing may be informed by the Xn interface for communication or the Xn interface for sensing.

In another example, the reference signal may be a reference signal defined for sensing, the measurement timing configuration related to such reference signal may be informed by the Xn interface for communication or the Xn interface for sensing. The measurement timing configuration may comprise time/frequency domain resource, measurement periodicity, measurement duration and so on.

In some embodiments, the second device 120 may transmit (435) a request to the third device 130. The request may be a serving cell addition request (such as SCell addition request) comprising sensing related information. The request may alternatively be a serving cell modification request (such as SCell modification request) comprising sensing related information. The request may alternatively be a serving cell release request. The third device 130 may receive (440) the request. The third device 130 may transmit (445) a response to the request or a request acknowledge (ACK) message to the second device 120. The second device 120 may receive (450) the response or request ACK message.

As mentioned above, the request comprises sensing related information. The sensing related information may include: a sensing role indicating whether the third device 130 is to be a receiver, a transmitter or a transceiver. Alternatively, or in addition, the sensing related information may include: a sensing requirement comprising at least one of a sensing distance, a sensing speed, or a sensing latency. Alternatively, or in addition, the sensing related information may include: a sensing function indicating whether the third device 130 is to operate only as a sensing node or as a sensing and communication node.

In some embodiments, the neighbor cell to be added as a serving cell is a cell only supporting sensing function. In such cases, the sensing related information may include a sensing role indicating whether the third device 130 is to be a receiver, a transmitter or a transceiver. Alternatively, or in addition, the sensing related information may include: a sensing requirement comprising at least one of a sensing distance, a sensing speed, or a sensing latency.

The second device 120 may transmit (455) a reconfiguration message such as a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message to the first device 110. The first device 110 may receive (460) the reconfiguration message. The first device 110 may transmit (465) a reconfiguration complete message such as an RRC reconfiguration complete message to the second device 120. The second device 120 may receive (470) the reconfiguration complete message.

In some embodiments, the reconfiguration complete message may comprise a serving cell response message. The second device 120 may transmit (475) a serving cell reconfiguration complete message to the third device 130. The third device 130 may receive (480) the serving cell reconfiguration complete message. The serving cell reconfiguration complete message may comprise the serving cell response message.

In embodiments where the request is a serving cell addition request, the second device 120 may receive (450) the serving cell addition request acknowledge message. The serving cell addition request acknowledge message may comprise a sensing resource configuration of a neighbor cell such as the cell 132 of the third device 130. In such cases, the second device 120 may transmit (455) a reconfiguration message comprising the sensing resource configuration of the neighbor cell. The neighbor cell is a serving cell to be added. In some embodiments, the neighbor cell to be added as a serving cell may be a cell only supporting sensing function.

The first device 110 may transmit (465) a reconfiguration complete message at least indicating a reconfiguration procedure related to addition of the neighbor cell is completed based on the result of sensing measurement obtained according to the sensing resource configuration.

In response to receiving (470) , from the first device 110, the reconfiguration complete message at least indicating a reconfiguration procedure related to addition of the neighbor cell is completed, the second device 120 may transmit (475) a serving cell reconfiguration complete message to the third device 130. The third device 130 may receive (480) the complete message.

In embodiments where the request is a serving cell modification request, the second device 120 may receive (450) the serving cell modification request acknowledge message. The serving cell modification request acknowledge message may comprise a sensing resource configuration of a neighbor cell such as the cell 132.

In response to receiving (450) , from the third device 130, the serving cell modification request acknowledge message, the second device 120 may transmit (455) , to the first device 110, a reconfiguration message comprising the sensing resource configuration of the neighbor cell. The neighbor cell is a serving cell to be modified.

In some embodiments, the first device 110 may transmit (465) a reconfiguration complete message at least indicating a reconfiguration procedure related to modification of the neighbor cell is completed based on the result of sensing measurement obtained according to the sensing resource configuration.

In response to receiving (470) , from the first device 110, the reconfiguration complete message at least indicating a reconfiguration procedure related to modification of the neighbor cell is completed, the second device 120 may transmit (475) a serving cell reconfiguration complete message to the third device 130. The third device 130 may receive (480) the serving cell reconfiguration complete message.

Several embodiments regarding serving cell addition or serving cell modification have been described. With these embodiments, larger bandwidth can be achieved by carrier aggregation. Sensing predication can be thus improved by larger bandwidth of carrier aggregation.

FIG. 5 illustrates a signaling flow 500 of serving cell addition in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purposes of discussion, the signaling flow 500 will be discussed with reference to FIG. 1, for example, by using the first device 110, the second device 120 and the third device 130.

In operation, the first device 110 may transmit (425) the measurement report to the second device 120. The measurement report comprises the result of sensing measurement. The second device 120 may receive (430) the measurement report. Details regarding the transmission of the measurement report have been described with respect to FIG. 4, which will not be repeated here.

In some embodiments, for ISAC, if inter-gNB carrier aggregation is supported, signaling between different network devices such as different gNBs for SCell addition are needed. For example, the second device 120 may transmit (510) a serving cell addition request such as a SCell addition request to the third device 130. The third device 130 may receive (515) the serving cell addition request.

The second device 120 such as PCell or M-node may select one or more neighbor cells as SCells based on the measurement report. The second device 120 may transmit (510) the serving cell addition request to the third device 130 (corresponding to a neighbor cell) . The serving cell addition request may be an Xn message.

The serving cell addition request may comprise sensing related information. The sensing related information may include: a sensing role indicating whether the third device 130 is to be a receiver, a transmitter or a transceiver. Alternatively, or in addition, the sensing related information may include: a sensing requirement comprising at least one of a sensing distance, a sensing speed, or a sensing latency. Alternatively, or in addition, the sensing related information may include: a sensing function indicating whether the third device 130 is to operate only as a sensing node or as a sensing and communication node.

The third device 130 may receive (515) the serving cell addition request. The third device 130 may determine whether the third device 130 (or the cell 132) may be as the serving cell or SCell based on a current cell load information. If the cell 132 of the third device 130 may be as the serving cell, the third device may provide resource configuration based on information of the requested node or requested network device. For example, the third device 130 may transmit (520) the serving cell addition request acknowledge message. to the second device 120. The serving cell addition request acknowledge message may be a RRC configuration message. For example, the RRC configuration message may be a SCell RRC configuration message contained in the SCell Addition Request Acknowledge message. The serving cell addition request acknowledge message may comprise a sensing resource configuration of a neighbor cell such as the cell 132 of the third device 130.

The second device 120 may receive (525) the serving cell addition request acknowledge message. In such cases, the second device 120 may transmit (530) a reconfiguration message comprising the sensing resource configuration of the neighbor cell. The neighbor cell is a serving cell to be added. In some embodiments, the neighbor cell to be added as a serving cell may be a cell only supporting sensing function. For example, the second device 120 or PCell may transmit (530) RRC reconfiguration message to the first device 110 including SCell configuration message, without modifying it.

The first device 110 may receive (535) the reconfiguration message and transmit (540) a reconfiguration complete message at least indicating a reconfiguration procedure related to addition of the neighbor cell is completed based on the result of sensing measurement obtained according to the sensing resource configuration. For example, the first device 110 may apply the new configuration and reply to the second device 120 with RRC reconfiguration complete message, including an SCell response message, if needed.

The second device 120 may receive (545) the reconfiguration complete message. The second device 120 may transmit (550) a serving cell reconfiguration complete message to the third device 130. The third device 130 may receive (555) the complete message. In this way, the PCell may inform the SCell that the first device 110 has completed the reconfiguration procedure successfully via SCell Reconfiguration Complete message, including the SCell response message, if received (545) from the first device 110.

FIG. 6 illustrates a signaling flow 600 of serving cell modification in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purposes of discussion, the signaling flow 600 will be discussed with reference to FIG. 1, for example, by using the first device 110, the second device 120 and the third device 130.

In operation, the first device 110 may transmit (610) a measurement report to the second device 120. The second device 120 may receive (615) the measurement report. The measurement report may be transmitted (610) in accordance with the present disclosure, as described with respect to FIG. 4. Alternatively, the measurement report may be triggered periodically or triggered by any suitable predefined or legacy events.

The second device 120 may transmit (620) a serving cell modification request such as a SCell modification request to the third device 130. For example, the second device 120 or the PCell or M-node may use SCell modification procedure to request the modification of the current SCell configuration, or activation and deactivation of SCell such as RAN-node.

The serving cell modification request may include sensing related information. For example, the sensing related information may include at least one of the following: a sensing role of the third device, a sensing requirement, such as sensing distance, sensing distance resolution, or sensing latency, or a function of the third device 130. For example, the third device 130 is either only as sensing node or it is as sensing and communication node.

The third device 130 may transmit (630) a serving cell medication request acknowledge message such as SCell modification request acknowledgement message to the second device 120. The second device 120 may receive (635) the serving cell modification request acknowledge message. The serving cell modification request acknowledge message may comprise a sensing resource configuration of a neighbor cell such as the cell 132. For example, upon receiving (625) SCell modification request, the third device 130 may provide resource configuration or state confirmation based on the requested node’s information within SCell RRC configuration message contained in the SCell Modification Request Acknowledge message.

In response to receiving (640) , from the third device 130, the serving cell modification request acknowledge message, the second device 120 may transmit (645) , to the first device 110, a reconfiguration message comprising the sensing resource configuration of the neighbor cell. The neighbor cell is a serving cell to be modified. The first device 110 may receive (650) the reconfiguration message.

In some embodiments, the first device 110 may transmit (465) a reconfiguration complete message at least indicating a reconfiguration procedure related to modification of the neighbor cell is completed based on the result of sensing measurement obtained according to the sensing resource configuration. For example, the first device 110 may transmit (650) a reconfiguration complete message such as a RRC reconfiguration complete message to the second device 120. The second device 120 may receive (655) the reconfiguration complete message.

For example, the second device 120 may initiate the RRC reconfiguration procedure, including an SCell RRC reconfiguration message. The first device 110 may apply the new configuration and reply with RRC reconfiguration complete message, including an SCell RRC response message, if needed.

The second device 120 may transmit (660) a serving cell reconfiguration complete message to the third device 130. The third device 130 may receive (665) the serving cell reconfiguration complete message such as SCell Reconfiguration Complete message. For example, upon successful completion of the reconfiguration, the success of the procedure is indicated in the SCell Reconfiguration Complete message.

FIG. 7 illustrates a signaling flow 700 of serving cell release or SCell release in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purposes of discussion, the signaling flow 700 will be discussed with reference to FIG. 1, for example, by using the first device 110, the second device 120 and the third device 130.

In operation, the first device 110 may transmit (710) a measurement report to the second device 120. The second device 120 may receive (715) the measurement report. The measurement report may be transmitted (710) in accordance with the present disclosure, as described with respect to FIG. 4. Alternatively, the measurement report may be triggered periodically or triggered by any suitable predefined or legacy events.

In some embodiments, the second device 120 may transmit (720) a serving cell release request such as a SCell release request to the third device 130. For example, the second device 120 may initiate the SCell release procedure by transmitting (720) the SCell Release Request message based on the measurement result, for example, measurement result of this cell is worse than threshold.

The third device 130 may receive (725) the serving cell release request. The third device 130 may confirm the serving cell release by transmitting (730) a serving cell release acknowledge message such as a SCell Release Request Acknowledge message to the second device 120. The second device 120 may receive (735) the serving cell release acknowledge message.

In response to receiving (735) serving cell release acknowledge message, the second device 120 may transmit (740) a reconfiguration message such as a RRC reconfiguration message to the first device 110. The reconfiguration message indicates that the first device 110 should release the entire SCell configuration. The first device 110 may receive (745) the reconfiguration message.

The first device 110 may transmit (750) a reconfiguration complete message such as a RRC reconfiguration complete message to the second device 120. The second device 120 may receive (755) the reconfiguration complete message. The second device 120 may transmit a release message such as UE Context Release message to the third device 130. The release message may indicate to release context of the first device 110. The third device 130 may receive (760) the release message. The third device 130 may release radio and C-plane related resources associated with context of the first device 110.

FIG. 8 illustrates a signaling flow 800 of serving cell addition such as SCell addition in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purposes of discussion, the signaling flow 800 will be discussed with reference to FIG. 1, for example, by using the first device 110, the second device 120 and the third device 130. It is assumed that in the example of FIG. 8, the serving cell addition procedure is an only sensing function addition procedure. That is, the added serving cell such as the cell 132 or added SCell performs the sensing function only. In such scenarios, the added serving cell may be referred to as sensing cell. The network device 130 corresponding to the added serving cell 132 may be referred to as sensing device or sensing node.

In some embodiments, the second device 120 may transmit (810) a serving cell addition request such as a SCell addition request to the third device 130. The third device 130 may receive (815) the serving cell addition request.

The second device 120 such as PCell or M-node may select one or more neighbor cells as SCells based on the measurement report. The second device 120 may transmit (810) the serving cell addition request to the third device 130 (corresponding to a neighbor cell) . The serving cell addition request may be an Xn message.

The serving cell addition request may comprise sensing related information. The sensing related information may include: a sensing role indicating whether the third device 130 is to be a receiver, a transmitter or a transceiver. Alternatively, or in addition, the sensing related information may include: a sensing requirement comprising at least one of a sensing distance, a sensing speed, or a sensing latency.

The third device 130 may receive (815) the serving cell addition request. The third device 130 may determine whether the third device 130 (or the cell 132) may be as the serving cell or SCell based on a current cell load information. If the cell 132 of the third device 130 may be as the serving cell, the third device may provide resource configuration based on information of the requested node or requested network device. For example, the third device 130 may transmit (820) the serving cell addition request acknowledge message. to the second device 120. The serving cell addition request acknowledge message may be a RRC configuration message. For example, the RRC configuration message may be a SCell RRC configuration message contained in the SCell Addition Request Acknowledge message. The serving cell addition request acknowledge message may comprise a sensing resource configuration of a neighbor cell such as the cell 132 of the third device 130.

The second device 120 may receive (825) the serving cell addition request acknowledge message. In such cases, the second device 120 may transmit (830) a reconfiguration message comprising the sensing resource configuration of the neighbor cell. The neighbor cell is a serving cell to be added. In some embodiments, the neighbor cell to be added as a serving cell may be a cell only supporting sensing function. For example, the second device 120 or PCell may transmit (830) RRC reconfiguration message to the first device 110 including SCell configuration message, without modifying it.

The first device 110 may receive (835) the reconfiguration message and transmit (840) a reconfiguration complete message at least indicating a reconfiguration procedure related to addition of the neighbor cell is completed based on the result of sensing measurement obtained according to the sensing resource configuration. For example, the first device 110 may apply the new configuration and reply to the second device 120 with RRC reconfiguration complete message, including an SCell response message, if needed.

The second device 120 may receive (845) the reconfiguration complete message. The second device 120 may transmit (850) a serving cell reconfiguration complete message to the third device 130. The third device 130 may receive (855) the complete message. In this way, the PCell may inform the SCell that the first device 110 has completed the reconfiguration procedure successfully via SCell Reconfiguration Complete message, including the SCell response message, if received (845) from the first device 110.

Examples regarding serving cell addition procedure, serving cell modification procedure or serving cell release procedure have been described. It is to be understood that these different procedures may be configured with different sensing measurement events or the same sensing measurement events. It is to be understood that although only one third device 130 is shown in FIGS. 4-8, there may be more than one third device 130 in some embodiments. That is, the second device 120 may select more than one serving cell to be added or modified. The serving cell addition request or modification request may be transmitted to a plurality of third devices. It is to be understood that these signaling flows 400-800 may be used separately, or in any suitable combination. Scope of the present disclosure is not limited in this regard.

FIG. 9 illustrates a flowchart of a communication method 900 implemented at a first device in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 900 will be described from the perspective of the first device 110 in FIG. 1.

At block 910, the first device 110 receives, from a second device, a measurement configuration at least comprising a sensing measurement event for ISAC; and

At block 920, the first device 110 transmits, to the second device, a measurement report based on the measurement configuration, the measurement report comprising at least one of a result of sensing measurement or a result of communication measurement.

In some example embodiments, the result of the sensing measurement comprises at least one of: a sensing distance, a sensing distance resolution, a speed or velocity, a speed or velocity resolution, a sensing angle, an angle resolution, or a sensing latency.

In some example embodiments, transmission of the measurement report is triggered based on the sensing measurement event, and the sensing measurement event is associated with the at least one measurement result of the result of sensing measurement or the result of communication measurement.

In some example embodiments, the sensing measurement event is one of: a first event indicating that the at least one measurement result of a serving cell becomes worse than a first threshold, a second event indicating that the at least one measurement result of a neighbor cell becomes better than a second threshold, or a third event indicating that a measurement result of the neighbor cell becomes better than a measurement result of the serving cell.

In some example embodiments, the sensing measurement event is an event defined for ISAC, at least one of an entering condition or a leaving condition for the sensing measurement event is associated with the at least one measurement result and a hysteresis parameter.

In some example embodiments, the entering condition for the sensing measurement event is satisfied if a sum of the at least one measurement result and the hysteresis parameter is less than a third threshold, and the leaving condition for the sensing measurement event is satisfied if a difference between the at least one measurement result and the hysteresis parameter is larger than a fourth threshold, or wherein the entering condition for the sensing measurement event is satisfied if a difference between the at least one measurement result and the hysteresis parameter is larger than the fourth threshold, and the leaving condition for the sensing measurement event is satisfied if a sum of the at least one measurement result and the hysteresis parameter is less than the third threshold.

In some example embodiments, the sensing measurement event is an event defined for ISAC, at least one of an entering condition or a leaving condition for the sensing measurement event is associated with the at least one measurement result of a cell, a hysteresis parameter, a measurement object specific offset of the cell, and a cell individual offset of the cell.

In some example embodiments, the entering condition for the sensing measurement event is satisfied if a sum of the at least one measurement result, the hysteresis parameter, the measurement object specific offset of the cell and the cell individual offset of the cell is less than a fifth threshold, and the leaving condition for the sensing measurement event is satisfied if a difference between a sum of the at least one measurement result, the measurement object specific offset of the cell and the cell individual offset of the cell, and the hysteresis parameter is larger than a sixth threshold, or wherein the entering condition for the sensing measurement event is satisfied if a difference between a sum of the at least one measurement result, the measurement object specific offset of the cell and the cell individual offset of the cell, and the hysteresis parameter is larger than the sixth threshold, and the leaving condition for the sensing measurement event is satisfied if a sum of the at least one measurement result, the hysteresis parameter, the measurement object specific offset of the cell and the cell individual offset of the cell is less than the fifth threshold.

In some example embodiments, the sensing measurement event is an event defined for ISAC, at least one of an entering condition or a leaving condition for the sensing measurement event is associated with a hysteresis parameter and both the result of sensing measurement and the result of communication measurement.

In some example embodiments, the entering condition for the sensing measurement event is satisfied if a sum of the result of sensing measurement and the hysteresis parameter is less than a seventh threshold, and a difference between the result of communication measurement and the hysteresis parameter is larger than an eighth threshold, and wherein the leaving condition for the sensing measurement event is satisfied if a difference between the result of sensing measurement and the hysteresis parameter is larger than the seventh threshold, and a sum of the result of communication measurement and the hysteresis parameter is less than the eighth threshold.

In some example embodiments, the entering condition for the sensing measurement event is satisfied if a difference between the result of sensing measurement and the hysteresis parameter is larger than a seventh threshold, and a difference between the result of communication measurement and the hysteresis parameter is larger than an eighth threshold, and wherein the leaving condition for the sensing measurement event is satisfied if a sum of the result of sensing measurement and the hysteresis parameter is less than the seventh threshold, and a sum of the result of communication measurement and the hysteresis parameter is less than the eighth threshold.

In some example embodiments, the measurement report is at a beam level or a cell level.

In some example embodiments, a reference signal for the sensing measurement is at least one of: a positioning reference signal, PRS, a Channel State Information-Reference Signal, CSI-RS, a Sounding Reference Signal, SRS, or a reference signal defined for sensing.

In some example embodiments, the measurement configuration further comprises at least one of: frequency information for the sensing measurement, a list of neighbor cells, a frequency domain resource of a reference signal for the sensing measurement, a time domain resource of a reference signal for the sensing measurement, or beam information or Quasi Co-Location, QCL, information.

In some example embodiments, the first device 110 may receive, from the second device, a reconfiguration message comprising a sensing resource configuration of a neighbor cell, the neighbor cell being a serving cell to be added or to be modified. The first device 110 may transmit, to the second device, a reconfiguration complete message at least indicating a reconfiguration procedure related to addition or modification of the neighbor cell is completed based on the result of sensing measurement obtained according to the sensing resource configuration.

In some example embodiments, the reconfiguration complete message comprises a serving cell response message.

In some example embodiments, the neighbor cell to be added as a serving cell is a cell only supporting sensing function.

FIG. 10 illustrates a flowchart of a communication method 1000 implemented at a second device in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 1000 will be described from the perspective of the second device 120 in FIG. 1.

At block 1010, the second device 120 transmits, to a first device, a measurement configuration at least comprising a sensing measurement event for ISAC; and

At block 1020, the second device 120 receives, from the first device, a measurement report based on the measurement configuration, the measurement report comprising at least one of a result of sensing measurement or a result of communication measurement.

In some example embodiments, t the second device 120 may receive, from a third device, a measurement timing configuration of a neighbor cell for sensing, the measurement timing configuration at least comprising a time domain resource or a frequency domain resource of a reference signal for the sensing measurement.

In some example embodiments, the measurement timing configuration is received via an Xn interface defined for communication or an Xn interface defined for sensing.

In some example embodiments, the reference signal is at least one of: a positioning reference signal, PRS, a Channel State Information-Reference Signal, CSI-RS, a Sounding Reference Signal, SRS, or a reference signal defined for sensing.

In some example embodiments, the second device 120 may transmit, to a third device, a serving cell addition request comprising sensing related information.

In some example embodiments, in response to receiving, from the third device, a serving cell addition request acknowledge message comprising a sensing resource configuration of a neighbor cell, the second device 120 may transmit, to the first device, a reconfiguration message comprising the sensing resource configuration of the neighbor cell, the neighbor cell being a serving cell to be added. In response to receiving, from the first device, a reconfiguration complete message at least indicating a reconfiguration procedure related to addition of the neighbor cell is completed based on the result of sensing measurement obtained according to the sensing resource configuration, the second device 120 transmit a serving cell reconfiguration complete message to the third device.

In some example embodiments, the second device 120 may transmit, to a third device, a serving cell modification request comprising sensing related information.

In some example embodiments, in response to receiving, from the third device, a serving cell modification request acknowledge message comprising a sensing resource configuration of a neighbor cell, the second device 120 may transmit, to the first device, a reconfiguration message comprising the sensing resource configuration of the neighbor cell, the neighbor cell being a serving cell to be modified. In response to receiving, from the first device, a reconfiguration complete message at least indicating a reconfiguration procedure related to modification of the neighbor cell is completed based on the result of sensing measurement obtained according to the sensing resource configuration, the second device 120 may transmit a serving cell reconfiguration complete message to the third device.

In some example embodiments, the sensing related information comprises at least one of: a sensing role indicating whether the third device is to be a receiver, a transmitter or a transceiver, a sensing requirement comprising at least one of a sensing distance, a sensing speed, or a sensing latency, or a sensing function indicating whether the third device is to operate only as a sensing node or as a sensing and communication node.

In some example embodiments, the neighbor cell to be added as a serving cell is a cell only supporting sensing function, and the sensing related information comprises at least one of: a sensing role indicating whether the third device is to be a receiver, a transmitter or a transceiver, or a sensing requirement comprising at least one of a sensing distance, a sensing speed, or a sensing latency.

In some example embodiments, the reconfiguration complete message comprises a serving cell response message, and the serving cell reconfiguration complete message comprises the serving cell response message.

FIG. 11 illustrates a flowchart of a communication method 1100 implemented at a third device in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 1100 will be described from the perspective of the third device 130 in FIG. 1.

At block 1110, the third device 130 transmits, to a second device, a measurement timing configuration of a neighbor cell for sensing, the measurement timing configuration at least comprising a time domain resource or a frequency domain resource of a reference signal for sensing measurement.

In some example embodiments, the measurement timing configuration is transmitted via an Xn interface defined for communication or an Xn interface defined for sensing.

In some example embodiments, the third device 130 may receive, from the second device, a serving cell addition request comprising sensing related information.

In some example embodiments, the third device 130 may transmit, to the second device, a serving cell addition request acknowledge message comprising a sensing resource configuration of the neighbor cell.

In some example embodiments, the third device 130 may receive, from the second device, a serving cell reconfiguration complete message indicating a reconfiguration procedure related to addition of the neighbor cell is completed based on a result of sensing measurement, the result of sensing measurement being obtained according to the sensing resource configuration.

In some example embodiments, the third device 130 may receive, from the second device, a serving cell modification request comprising sensing related information.

In some example embodiments, the third device 130 may transmit, to the second device, a serving cell modification request acknowledge message comprising a sensing resource configuration of the neighbor cell.

In some example embodiments, the third device 130 may receive, from the second device, a serving cell reconfiguration complete message indicating a reconfiguration procedure related to modification of the neighbor cell is completed based on a result of sensing measurement, the result of sensing measurement being obtained according to the sensing resource configuration.

FIG. 12 is a simplified block diagram of a device 1200 that is suitable for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure. The device 1200 can be considered as a further example implementation of any of the devices as shown in FIG. 1. Accordingly, the device 1200 can be implemented at or as at least a part of the first device 110, the second device 120 or the third device 130.

As shown, the device 1200 includes a processor 1210, a memory 1220 coupled to the processor 1210, a suitable transceiver 1240 coupled to the processor 1210, and a communication interface coupled to the transceiver 1240. The memory 1210 stores at least a part of a program 1230. The transceiver 1240 may be for bidirectional communications or a unidirectional communication based on requirements. The transceiver 1240 may include at least one of a transmitter 1242 and a receiver 1244. The transmitter 1242 and the receiver 1244 may be functional modules or physical entities. The transceiver 1240 has at least one antenna to facilitate communication, though in practice an Access Node mentioned in this application may have several ones. The communication interface may represent any interface that is necessary for communication with other network elements, such as X2/Xn interface for bidirectional communications between eNBs/gNBs, S1/NG interface for communication between a Mobility Management Entity (MME) /Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) /SGW/UPF and the eNB/gNB, Un interface for communication between the eNB/gNB and a relay node (RN) , or Uu interface for communication between the eNB/gNB and a terminal device.

The program 1230 is assumed to include program instructions that, when executed by the associated processor 1210, enable the device 1200 to operate in accordance with the embodiments of the present disclosure, as discussed herein with reference to FIGS. 1 to 11. The embodiments herein may be implemented by computer software executable by the processor 1210 of the device 1200, or by hardware, or by a combination of software and hardware. The processor 1210 may be configured to implement various embodiments of the present disclosure. Furthermore, a combination of the processor 1210 and memory 1220 may form processing means 1250 adapted to implement various embodiments of the present disclosure.

The memory 1220 may be of any type suitable to the local technical network and may be implemented using any suitable data storage technology, such as a non-transitory computer readable storage medium, semiconductor based memory devices, magnetic memory devices and systems, optical memory devices and systems, fixed memory and removable memory, as non-limiting examples. While only one memory 1220 is shown in the device 1200, there may be several physically distinct memory modules in the device 1200. The processor 1210 may be of any type suitable to the local technical network, and may include one or more of general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs) and processors based on multicore processor architecture, as non-limiting examples. The device 1200 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.

According to embodiments of the present disclosure, a first device comprising a circuitry is provided. The circuitry is configured to: receive, from a second device, a measurement configuration at least comprising a sensing measurement event for ISAC; and transmit, to the second device, a measurement report based on the measurement configuration, the measurement report comprising at least one of a result of sensing measurement or a result of communication measurement. According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the circuitry may be configured to perform any method implemented by the first device as discussed above.

According to embodiments of the present disclosure, a second device comprising a circuitry is provided. The circuitry is configured to: transmit, to a first device, a measurement configuration at least comprising a sensing measurement event for ISAC; and receive, from the first device, a measurement report based on the measurement configuration, the measurement report comprising at least one of a result of sensing measurement or a result of communication measurement. According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the circuitry may be configured to perform any method implemented by the second device as discussed above.

According to embodiments of the present disclosure, a third device comprising a circuitry is provided. The circuitry is configured to: transmit, to a second device, a measurement timing configuration of a neighbor cell for sensing, the measurement timing configuration at least comprising a time domain resource or a frequency domain resource of a reference signal for sensing measurement. According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the circuitry may be configured to perform any method implemented by the third device as discussed above.

The term “circuitry” used herein may refer to hardware circuits and/or combinations of hardware circuits and software. For example, the circuitry may be a combination of analog and/or digital hardware circuits with software/firmware. As a further example, the circuitry may be any portions of hardware processors with software including digital signal processor (s) , software, and memory (ies) that work together to cause an apparatus, such as a terminal device or a network device, to perform various functions. In a still further example, the circuitry may be hardware circuits and or processors, such as a microprocessor or a portion of a microprocessor, that requires software/firmware for operation, but the software may not be present when it is not needed for operation. As used herein, the term circuitry also covers an implementation of merely a hardware circuit or processor (s) or a portion of a hardware circuit or processor (s) and its (or their) accompanying software and/or firmware.

In summary, embodiments of the present disclosure provide the following aspects.

In an aspect, it is proposed a first device comprising: a processor configured to cause the first device to: receive, from a second device, a measurement configuration at least comprising a sensing measurement event for ISAC; and transmit, to the second device, a measurement report based on the measurement configuration, the measurement report comprising at least one of a result of sensing measurement or a result of communication measurement.

In some embodiments, the result of the sensing measurement comprises at least one of: a sensing distance, a sensing distance resolution, a speed or velocity, a speed or velocity resolution, a sensing angle, an angle resolution, or a sensing latency.

In some embodiments, transmission of the measurement report is triggered based on the sensing measurement event, and the sensing measurement event is associated with the at least one measurement result of the result of sensing measurement or the result of communication measurement.

In some embodiments, the sensing measurement event is one of: a first event indicating that the at least one measurement result of a serving cell becomes worse than a first threshold, a second event indicating that the at least one measurement result of a neighbor cell becomes better than a second threshold, or a third event indicating that a measurement result of the neighbor cell becomes better than a measurement result of the serving cell.

In some embodiments, the sensing measurement event is an event defined for ISAC, at least one of an entering condition or a leaving condition for the sensing measurement event is associated with the at least one measurement result and a hysteresis parameter.

In some embodiments, the entering condition for the sensing measurement event is satisfied if a sum of the at least one measurement result and the hysteresis parameter is less than a third threshold, and the leaving condition for the sensing measurement event is satisfied if a difference between the at least one measurement result and the hysteresis parameter is larger than a fourth threshold, or wherein the entering condition for the sensing measurement event is satisfied if a difference between the at least one measurement result and the hysteresis parameter is larger than the fourth threshold, and the leaving condition for the sensing measurement event is satisfied if a sum of the at least one measurement result and the hysteresis parameter is less than the third threshold.

In some embodiments, the sensing measurement event is an event defined for ISAC, at least one of an entering condition or a leaving condition for the sensing measurement event is associated with the at least one measurement result of a cell, a hysteresis parameter, a measurement object specific offset of the cell, and a cell individual offset of the cell.

In some embodiments, the entering condition for the sensing measurement event is satisfied if a sum of the at least one measurement result, the hysteresis parameter, the measurement object specific offset of the cell and the cell individual offset of the cell is less than a fifth threshold, and the leaving condition for the sensing measurement event is satisfied if a difference between a sum of the at least one measurement result, the measurement object specific offset of the cell and the cell individual offset of the cell, and the hysteresis parameter is larger than a sixth threshold, or wherein the entering condition for the sensing measurement event is satisfied if a difference between a sum of the at least one measurement result, the measurement object specific offset of the cell and the cell individual offset of the cell, and the hysteresis parameter is larger than the sixth threshold, and the leaving condition for the sensing measurement event is satisfied if a sum of the at least one measurement result, the hysteresis parameter, the measurement object specific offset of the cell and the cell individual offset of the cell is less than the fifth threshold.

In some embodiments, the sensing measurement event is an event defined for ISAC, at least one of an entering condition or a leaving condition for the sensing measurement event is associated with a hysteresis parameter and both the result of sensing measurement and the result of communication measurement.

In some embodiments, the entering condition for the sensing measurement event is satisfied if a sum of the result of sensing measurement and the hysteresis parameter is less than a seventh threshold, and a difference between the result of communication measurement and the hysteresis parameter is larger than an eighth threshold, and wherein the leaving condition for the sensing measurement event is satisfied if a difference between the result of sensing measurement and the hysteresis parameter is larger than the seventh threshold, and a sum of the result of communication measurement and the hysteresis parameter is less than the eighth threshold.

In some embodiments, the entering condition for the sensing measurement event is satisfied if a difference between the result of sensing measurement and the hysteresis parameter is larger than a seventh threshold, and a difference between the result of communication measurement and the hysteresis parameter is larger than an eighth threshold, and wherein the leaving condition for the sensing measurement event is satisfied if a sum of the result of sensing measurement and the hysteresis parameter is less than the seventh threshold, and a sum of the result of communication measurement and the hysteresis parameter is less than the eighth threshold.

In some embodiments, the measurement report is at a beam level or a cell level.

In some embodiments, a reference signal for the sensing measurement is at least one of: a positioning reference signal, PRS, a Channel State Information-Reference Signal, CSI-RS, a Sounding Reference Signal, SRS, or a reference signal defined for sensing.

In some embodiments, the measurement configuration further comprises at least one of: frequency information for the sensing measurement, a list of neighbor cells, a frequency domain resource of a reference signal for the sensing measurement, a time domain resource of a reference signal for the sensing measurement, or beam information or Quasi Co-Location, QCL, information.

In some embodiments, the processor is further configured to cause the first device to: receive, from the second device, a reconfiguration message comprising a sensing resource configuration of a neighbor cell, the neighbor cell being a serving cell to be added or to be modified; and transmit, to the second device, a reconfiguration complete message at least indicating a reconfiguration procedure related to addition or modification of the neighbor cell is completed based on the result of sensing measurement obtained according to the sensing resource configuration.

In some embodiments, the reconfiguration complete message comprises a serving cell response message.

In some embodiments, the neighbor cell to be added as a serving cell is a cell only supporting sensing function.

In an aspect, it is proposed a second device comprising: a processor configured to cause the second device to: transmit, to a first device, a measurement configuration at least comprising a sensing measurement event for ISAC; and receive, from the first device, a measurement report based on the measurement configuration, the measurement report comprising at least one of a result of sensing measurement or a result of communication measurement.

In some embodiments, the entering condition for the sensing measurement event is satisfied if a sum of the at least one measurement result, the hysteresis parameter, the measurement object specific offset of the cell and the cell individual offset of the cell is less than a fifth threshold, and the leaving condition for the sensing measurement event is satisfied if a difference between a sum of the at least one measurement result, the measurement object specific offset of the cell and the cell individual offset of the cell, and the hysteresis parameter is larger than a sixth threshold, or wherein the entering condition for the sensing measurement event is satisfied if a difference between a sum of the at least one measurement result, the measurement object specific offset of the cell and the cell individual offset of the cell, and the hysteresis parameter is larger than the sixth threshold, and the leaving condition for the sensing measurement event is satisfied if a sum of the at least one measurement result, the hysteresis parameter, the measurement obj ect specific offset of the cell and the cell individual offset of the cell is less than the fifth threshold.

In some embodiments, the measurement report is at a beam level or a cell level.

In some embodiments, the processor is further configured to cause the second device to: receive, from a third device, a measurement timing configuration of a neighbor cell for sensing, the measurement timing configuration at least comprising a time domain resource or a frequency domain resource of a reference signal for the sensing measurement.

In some embodiments, the measurement timing configuration is received via an Xn interface defined for communication or an Xn interface defined for sensing.

In some embodiments, the reference signal is at least one of: a positioning reference signal, PRS, a Channel State Information-Reference Signal, CSI-RS, a Sounding Reference Signal, SRS, or a reference signal defined for sensing.

In some embodiments, the processor is further configured to cause the second device to: transmit, to a third device, a serving cell addition request comprising sensing related information.

In some embodiments, the processor is further configured to cause the second device to: in response to receiving, from the third device, a serving cell addition request acknowledge message comprising a sensing resource configuration of a neighbor cell, transmit, to the first device, a reconfiguration message comprising the sensing resource configuration of the neighbor cell, the neighbor cell being a serving cell to be added; and in response to receiving, from the first device, a reconfiguration complete message at least indicating a reconfiguration procedure related to addition of the neighbor cell is completed based on the result of sensing measurement obtained according to the sensing resource configuration, transmit a serving cell reconfiguration complete message to the third device.

In some embodiments, the processor is further configured to cause the second device to: transmit, to a third device, a serving cell modification request comprising sensing related information.

In some embodiments, the processor is further configured to cause the second device to: in response to receiving, from the third device, a serving cell modification request acknowledge message comprising a sensing resource configuration of a neighbor cell, transmit, to the first device, a reconfiguration message comprising the sensing resource configuration of the neighbor cell, the neighbor cell being a serving cell to be modified; and in response to receiving, from the first device, a reconfiguration complete message at least indicating a reconfiguration procedure related to modification of the neighbor cell is completed based on the result of sensing measurement obtained according to the sensing resource configuration, transmit a serving cell reconfiguration complete message to the third device.

In some embodiments, the sensing related information comprises at least one of: a sensing role indicating whether the third device is to be a receiver, a transmitter or a transceiver, a sensing requirement comprising at least one of a sensing distance, a sensing speed, or a sensing latency, or a sensing function indicating whether the third device is to operate only as a sensing node or as a sensing and communication node.

In some embodiments, the neighbor cell to be added as a serving cell is a cell only supporting sensing function, and the sensing related information comprises at least one of: a sensing role indicating whether the third device is to be a receiver, a transmitter or a transceiver, or a sensing requirement comprising at least one of a sensing distance, a sensing speed, or a sensing latency.

In some embodiments, the reconfiguration complete message comprises a serving cell response message, and the serving cell reconfiguration complete message comprises the serving cell response message.

In an aspect, it is proposed a third device comprising: a processor configured to cause the third device to: transmit, to a second device, a measurement timing configuration of a neighbor cell for sensing, the measurement timing configuration at least comprising a time domain resource or a frequency domain resource of a reference signal for sensing measurement.

In some embodiments, the measurement timing configuration is transmitted via an Xn interface defined for communication or an Xn interface defined for sensing.

In some embodiments, the processor is further configured to cause the second device to: receive, from the second device, a serving cell addition request comprising sensing related information.

In some embodiments, the processor is further configured to cause the second device to: transmit, to the second device, a serving cell addition request acknowledge message comprising a sensing resource configuration of the neighbor cell.

In some embodiments, the processor is further configured to cause the second device to: receive, from the second device, a serving cell reconfiguration complete message indicating a reconfiguration procedure related to addition of the neighbor cell is completed based on a result of sensing measurement, the result of sensing measurement being obtained according to the sensing resource configuration.

In some embodiments, the processor is further configured to cause the second device to: receive, from the second device, a serving cell modification request comprising sensing related information.

In some embodiments, the processor is further configured to cause the second device to: transmit, to the second device, a serving cell modification request acknowledge message comprising a sensing resource configuration of the neighbor cell.

In some embodiments, the processor is further configured to cause the second device to: receive, from the second device, a serving cell reconfiguration complete message indicating a reconfiguration procedure related to modification of the neighbor cell is completed based on a result of sensing measurement, the result of sensing measurement being obtained according to the sensing resource configuration.

In an aspect, a first device comprises: at least one processor; and at least one memory coupled to the at least one processor and storing instructions thereon, the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, causing the device to perform the method implemented by the first device discussed above.

In an aspect, a second device comprises: at least one processor; and at least one memory coupled to the at least one processor and storing instructions thereon, the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, causing the device to perform the method implemented by the second device discussed above.

In an aspect, a third device comprises: at least one processor; and at least one memory coupled to the at least one processor and storing instructions thereon, the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, causing the device to perform the method implemented by the third device discussed above.

In an aspect, a computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions, when executed on at least one processor, causing the at least one processor to perform the method implemented by the first device discussed above.

In an aspect, a computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions, when executed on at least one processor, causing the at least one processor to perform the method implemented by the second device discussed above.

In an aspect, a computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions, when executed on at least one processor, causing the at least one processor to perform the method implemented by the third device discussed above.

In an aspect, a computer program comprising instructions, the instructions, when executed on at least one processor, causing the at least one processor to perform the method implemented by the first device discussed above.

In an aspect, a computer program comprising instructions, the instructions, when executed on at least one processor, causing the at least one processor to perform the method implemented by the second device discussed above.

In an aspect, a computer program comprising instructions, the instructions, when executed on at least one processor, causing the at least one processor to perform the method implemented by the third device discussed above.

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 representation, it will be appreciated that the blocks, apparatus, systems, techniques or methods 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.

The present disclosure also provides at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a non-transitory computer readable storage medium. The computer program product includes computer-executable instructions, such as those included in program modules, being executed in a device on a target real or virtual processor, to carry out the process or method as described above with reference to FIGS. 1 to 12. 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. These program codes 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 codes, 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.

The above program code may be embodied on a machine readable medium, which may be any tangible medium that may contain, or store a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. The machine readable medium may be a machine readable signal medium or a machine readable storage medium. A machine 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 machine 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. Certain features that are described in the context of separate embodiments may also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment may also be implemented in multiple embodiments separately or in any suitable sub-combination.

Although the present disclosure has been described in language 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 first device comprising:

a processor configured to cause the first device to:

receive, from a second device, a measurement configuration at least comprising a sensing measurement event for Integrated Sensing And Communication, ISAC; and

transmit, to the second device, a measurement report based on the measurement configuration, the measurement report comprising at least one of a result of sensing measurement or a result of communication measurement.
The device of claim 1, wherein the result of the sensing measurement comprises at least one of:

a sensing distance, a sensing distance resolution, a speed or velocity, a speed or velocity resolution, a sensing angle, an angle resolution, or a sensing latency.
The device of claim 1, wherein transmission of the measurement report is triggered based on the sensing measurement event, and the sensing measurement event is associated with the at least one measurement result of the result of sensing measurement or the result of communication measurement.
The device of claim 3, wherein the sensing measurement event is one of:

a first event indicating that the at least one measurement result of a serving cell becomes worse than a first threshold,

a second event indicating that the at least one measurement result of a neighbor cell becomes better than a second threshold, or

a third event indicating that a measurement result of the neighbor cell becomes better than a measurement result of the serving cell.
The device of claim 3, wherein the sensing measurement event is an event defined for ISAC, at least one of an entering condition or a leaving condition for the sensing measurement event is associated with the at least one measurement result and a hysteresis parameter.
The device of claim 5, wherein the entering condition for the sensing measurement event is satisfied if a sum of the at least one measurement result and the hysteresis parameter is less than a third threshold, and the leaving condition for the sensing measurement event is satisfied if a difference between the at least one measurement result and the hysteresis parameter is larger than a fourth threshold, or

wherein the entering condition for the sensing measurement event is satisfied if a difference between the at least one measurement result and the hysteresis parameter is larger than the fourth threshold, and the leaving condition for the sensing measurement event is satisfied if a sum of the at least one measurement result and the hysteresis parameter is less than the third threshold.
The device of claim 3, wherein the sensing measurement event is an event defined for ISAC, at least one of an entering condition or a leaving condition for the sensing measurement event is associated with the at least one measurement result of a cell, a hysteresis parameter, a measurement object specific offset of the cell, and a cell individual offset of the cell.
The device of claim 7, wherein the entering condition for the sensing measurement event is satisfied if a sum of the at least one measurement result, the hysteresis parameter, the measurement object specific offset of the cell and the cell individual offset of the cell is less than a fifth threshold, and the leaving condition for the sensing measurement event is satisfied if a difference between a sum of the at least one measurement result, the measurement object specific offset of the cell and the cell individual offset of the cell, and the hysteresis parameter is larger than a sixth threshold, or

wherein the entering condition for the sensing measurement event is satisfied if a difference between a sum of the at least one measurement result, the measurement object specific offset of the cell and the cell individual offset of the cell, and the hysteresis parameter is larger than the sixth threshold, and the leaving condition for the sensing measurement event is satisfied if a sum of the at least one measurement result, the hysteresis parameter, the measurement object specific offset of the cell and the cell individual offset of the cell is less than the fifth threshold.
The device of claim 3, wherein the sensing measurement event is an event defined for ISAC, at least one of an entering condition or a leaving condition for the sensing measurement event is associated with a hysteresis parameter and both the result of sensing measurement and the result of communication measurement.
The device of claim 9, wherein the entering condition for the sensing measurement event is satisfied if a sum of the result of sensing measurement and the hysteresis parameter is less than a seventh threshold, and a difference between the result of communication measurement and the hysteresis parameter is larger than an eighth threshold, and

wherein the leaving condition for the sensing measurement event is satisfied if a difference between the result of sensing measurement and the hysteresis parameter is larger than the seventh threshold, and a sum of the result of communication measurement and the hysteresis parameter is less than the eighth threshold.
The device of claim 9, wherein the entering condition for the sensing measurement event is satisfied if a difference between the result of sensing measurement and the hysteresis parameter is larger than a seventh threshold, and a difference between the result of communication measurement and the hysteresis parameter is larger than an eighth threshold, and

wherein the leaving condition for the sensing measurement event is satisfied if a sum of the result of sensing measurement and the hysteresis parameter is less than the seventh threshold, and a sum of the result of communication measurement and the hysteresis parameter is less than the eighth threshold.
The device of claim 1, wherein the measurement report is at a beam level or a cell level.
The device of claim 1, wherein a reference signal for the sensing measurement is at least one of:

a positioning reference signal, PRS,

a Channel State Information-Reference Signal, CSI-RS,

a Sounding Reference Signal, SRS, or

a reference signal defined for sensing.
The device of claim 1, wherein the measurement configuration further comprises at least one of:

frequency information for the sensing measurement,

a list of neighbor cells,

a frequency domain resource of a reference signal for the sensing measurement,

a time domain resource of a reference signal for the sensing measurement, or

beam information or Quasi Co-Location, QCL, information.
The device of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to cause the first device to:

receive, from the second device, a reconfiguration message comprising a sensing resource configuration of a neighbor cell, the neighbor cell being a serving cell to be added or to be modified; and

transmit, to the second device, a reconfiguration complete message at least indicating a reconfiguration procedure related to addition or modification of the neighbor cell is completed based on the result of sensing measurement obtained according to the sensing resource configuration.
The device of claim 15, wherein the reconfiguration complete message comprises a serving cell response message.
The device of claim 15 or 16, wherein the neighbor cell to be added as a serving cell is a cell only supporting sensing function.
A third device comprising:

a processor configured to cause the third device to:

transmit, to a second device, a measurement timing configuration of a neighbor cell for sensing, the measurement timing configuration at least comprising a time domain resource or a frequency domain resource of a reference signal for sensing measurement.
The device of claim 18, wherein the measurement timing configuration is transmitted via an Xn interface defined for communication or an Xn interface defined for sensing.
The device of claim 18, wherein the reference signal is at least one of:

a positioning reference signal, PRS,

a Channel State Information-Reference Signal, CSI-RS,

a Sounding Reference Signal, SRS, or

a reference signal defined for sensing.