WO2024239295A1

WO2024239295A1 - Devices, methods, and medium for communication

Info

Publication number: WO2024239295A1
Application number: PCT/CN2023/096139
Authority: WO
Inventors: Gang Wang
Original assignee: NEC Corp
Current assignee: NEC Corp
Priority date: 2023-05-24
Filing date: 2023-05-24
Publication date: 2024-11-28
Anticipated expiration: 2025-11-24

Abstract

Example embodiments of the present disclosure relate to devices, methods, and computer storage medium for communication. A terminal device may transmit, to a network device, capability information associated with sensing at the terminal device. The terminal device may receive, from the network device, indication information indicating to activate or deactivate at least one of: at least one sensing operation, at least one sensing resource set, or at least one sensing resource. As such, the activation or deactivation mechanism is defined, and the terminal device may perform activation or deactivation accordingly. Therefore, the power consumption at the terminal device may be saved.

Description

DEVICES, METHODS, AND MEDIUM FOR COMMUNICATION

FIELD

Example embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field of communication techniques and in particular, to devices, methods, and a computer readable medium for communication.

BACKGROUND

Many new emerging businesses require sensing capability to provide accurate and timely services, however, traditional radar technology is high cost to deploy and not flexible enough to extent to current diverse services.

In many scenarios, the integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) is a key enabler to provide high quality services. The ISAC can extend the capability of network from “listen and talk” to “see and feel” and create a digital sense augmenting human intelligence. With ISAC, the network or terminal devices will have the capability to sense their surroundings, and exchange their observations through communication. However, the details of sensing at the terminal device, such as user equipment, are still needed to be studied.

SUMMARY

In general, example embodiments of the present disclosure provide devices, methods, and a computer storage medium for communication.

In a first aspect, there is provided a terminal device. The terminal device comprises at least one processor configured to cause the terminal device at least to: transmit, to a network device, capability information associated with sensing at the terminal device; and receive, from the network device, indication information indicating the terminal device to activate or deactivate at least one of: at least one of a plurality of sensing operations, at least one sensing resource set, or at least one sensing resource.

In a second aspect, there is provided a network device. The network device comprises at least one processor configured to cause the network device at least to: receive, from a terminal device, capability information associated with sensing at the terminal device; and transmit, to the terminal device, indication information indicating the terminal device to activate or deactivate at least one of: at least one of a plurality of sensing operations, at least one sensing resource set, or at least one sensing resource.

In a third aspect, there is provided a method of communication. The method comprises: transmitting, at a terminal device to a network device, capability information associated with sensing at the terminal device; receiving, from the network device, indication information indicating the terminal device to activate or deactivate at least one of: at least one of a plurality of sensing operations, at least one sensing resource set, or at least one sensing resource.

In a fourth aspect, there is provided a method of communication. The method comprises: receiving, at a network device from a terminal device, capability information associated with sensing at the terminal device; transmitting, to the terminal device, indication information indicating the terminal device to activate or deactivate at least one of: at least one of a plurality of sensing operations, at least one sensing resource set, or at least one sensing resource.

In a fifth 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 any one of the third or the fourth aspect above.

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

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

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:

FIGS. 1A-1F illustrate some example sensing architectures;

FIGS. 2A-2D illustrate some example use cases;

FIG. 3 illustrates an example communication system in which some embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented;

FIG. 4 illustrates a signalling chart illustrating communication process in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 illustrates an example format of medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 illustrates a flowchart of an example method implemented at a terminal device in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 illustrates a flowchart of an example method implemented at a network device in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 8 illustrates a simplified block diagram of a device that is suitable for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure.

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

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

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

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

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

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

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

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 “communication network” refers to a network following any suitable communication standards, such as New Radio (NR) , Long Term Evolution (LTE) , LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) , Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) , High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) , Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT) and so on. Furthermore, the communications between a terminal device and a network device in the communication network may be performed according to any suitable generation communication protocols, including, but not limited to, the first generation (1G) , the second generation (2G) , 2.5G, 2.75G, the third generation (3G) , the fourth generation (4G) , 4.5G, the fifth generation (5G) , 5.5G, 5G-Advanced networks, or the sixth generation (6G) communication protocols, and/or any other protocols either currently known or to be developed in the future. Embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied in various communication systems. Given the rapid development in communications, there will of course also be future type communication technologies and systems with which the present disclosure may be embodied. It should not be seen as limiting the scope of the present disclosure to only the aforementioned system.

As used herein, the term “terminal device” refers to any device having wireless or wired communication capabilities. Examples of 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, device 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 be incorporated 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.

As used herein, 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 satellite, a unmanned aerial systems (UAS) platform, 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.

In one embodiment, 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 one embodiment, the first network device may be a first RAT device and the second network device may be a second RAT device. In one embodiment, 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 and the second network device. In one embodiment, 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 one embodiment, 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.

Communications discussed herein may conform to any suitable standards including, but not limited to, New Radio Access (NR) , Long Term Evolution (LTE) , LTE-Evolution, LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) , Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) , Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) , cdma2000, and Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) and the like. Furthermore, the communications 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, 2.85G, the third generation (3G) , the fourth generation (4G) , 4.5G, the fifth generation (5G) , and the sixth (6G) communication protocols. The techniques described herein may be used for the wireless networks and radio technologies mentioned above as well as other wireless networks and radio technologies. 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.

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 device or the network device may work on several frequency ranges, e.g. FR1 (410 MHz –7125 MHz) , FR2 (24.25GHz to 71GHz) , frequency band larger than 200GHz 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 device 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, or channel emulator.

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.

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.

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 “based at least in part 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.

As mentioned above, ISAS has been proposed for providing high quality services. Some related terms are listed below for reference.

With the use of higher frequency bands (from mm-Wave to THz) , wider bandwidth, and denser distribution of massive arrays in 5G and future 6G systems, it is possible to enable the integration of wireless sensing and communication in a single system and mutually enhance each other.

Sensing exploration: With sensing capability, the 5G system as a whole can serve as a sensor and explore the radio wave transmission, reflection, and scattering to sense and better understand the physical world, providing a broad range of new services.

Communication enhancement: The capabilities of high-accuracy localization, imaging, and environment reconstruction obtained from sensing could help improve the communication performance such as more accurate beamforming, faster beam failure recovery, and less overhead to track the channel state information (CSI) .

FIGS. 1A-1F illustrate some example sensing architectures. FIG. 1A may be regarded as a mono-static network based architecture 110, where a single gNB 112 acts as sounder and sensor. FIG. 1B may be regarded as a bi-static (or multi-static) network based architecture 120, where one gNB 122 acts as sounder and other gNB 124 (or other gNBs) acts as sensor. FIG. 1C may be regarded as a mono-static UE based architecture 130, where a single UE 132 acts as sounder and sensor. FIG. 1D may be regarded as a bi-static (or multi-static) UE based architecture 140, where one UE 142 acts as sounder and other UE 144 (or other UEs) acts as sensor. FIG. 1E may be regarded as a DL-based collaborative architecture 150, where one gNB 152 acts as sounder and UE 154 (or UEs) acts as sensor. FIG. 1F may be regarded as a UL-based collaborative architecture 160, where one UE 162 acts as sounder and one gNB 164 (or gNBs) acts as sensor.

In some examples, the architectures 110, 120, and 160 may be called as gNB sensing mode, while the architectures 130, 140, and 150 may be called as UE sensing mode.

FIGS. 2A-2D illustrate some use cases on integrated sensing and communication. FIG. 2A illustrates a use case 210 of intruder detection in smart home. Sensing in smart home is a kind of the typical scenarios of indoor/local-area sensing. Considering people spends most of lifetime indoor, how to improve the user experience for indoor scenario is important. Nowadays, various 5G UEs, e.g. wearable device, sensor, smart phone and customer premise equipment (CPE) , are deployed at home. In order to enjoy more comfortable and convenient indoor life, various devices are connected via wireless signals to build a smart home platform. In addition to communication purposes, wireless signals can also be used for sensing, e.g., monitoring the home environment continuously. For intruder detection in smart home scenario, due to the activities of indoor object or human 214, the 3GPP signal measured by UE 212 or network would be influenced. By analysing and collecting the sensing information such as Doppler frequency shift, amplitude change and phase change, the behaviour of indoor object or human 214 could be detected as shown in FIG. 2A which takes sensing entity that transceives (transmits and receives) the signal case as example.

FIG. 2B illustrates a use case 220 on transparent sensing use case. In general, a UE senses using either or combination of the non-3GPP sensors such as camera, Lidar, 3GPP-based sensing. In 3GPP sensing, the Sensing transmitters and Sensing receivers sense for stationary and moving Objects around them –using time-difference-of-arrival (TDoA) , angle-of-arrival (AoA) , angle-of-departure (AoD) measurements, RSSI etc. as shown in FIG. 2B.

FIG. 2C illustrates a use case 230 on pedestrian/animal intrusion detection on a highway. Highways are an important part of smart transportation. Due to the strong road safety demand on smart transportation, it is necessary to monitor the road situation so as to make appropriate management of road traffic, give guidance or assistance information to vehicles and/or highway traffic safety administration. For example, major accidents caused by pedestrians or animals crossing highways occur frequently. Currently, the highway supervision systems are mainly based on traditional sensors (e.g. radars, cameras) equipped in the roadside infrastructure, but there are still many problems in road supervision system, e.g. it only has partial coverage along the roadside, and the radar may be dedicated for a single usage which requires deploying different types of transportation radars in the same place to satisfy the respective sense use cases and requirements in the area of interest. Base stations on the roadside are already used to provide 5G coverage for communication, and the radio signals can also be used to sense the environment for object detection.

As described in FIG. 2C, when the pedestrian/animal 232 standing at the outermost side of the shoulder starts walking on the traffic lane, it means the highway intrusion happens. The distance that pedestrian/animal 232 move perpendicular to the traffic lane (i.e. y direction in FIG. 2C) is more sensitive for road safety, compared to the distance parallel to the traffic lane (i.e. x direction in FIG. 2C) .

FIG. 2D illustrates a use case 240 on UAV flight trajectory tracing. As shown in FIG. 2D, the UEs that are connected to the 5G RAN entities can be configured to assist in the sensing operations, which can increase the sensing coverage, provide more positioning reference points, and improve sensing result accuracy and robustness.

In certain cases, during the flying course, based on sensing and location information, if it is detected that UAV#1 has left the coverage of an old base station and entered the coverage of a new base station, the old base station could stop radio sensing and operate in a power saving mode. The new base station starts and keeps on sensing UAV#1 until it is out of coverage. Note that the determination that the UAV#1 has left the coverage of a base station or not could be determined based on the UAV positions and velocities estimated at the 5G sensing processing entity. Therefore, the network could then decide to activate and deactivate sensing in certain base stations based on this information. In other cases, the network could configure a start and stop of sensing operations for a base station based on a specified time period.

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a solution of communication. In the solution, a terminal device may transmit capability information to the network device, where the capability information may indicate a capability of the terminal device with respect to sensing. The terminal device may receive indication information from the network device, where the indication information indicates to activate or deactivate at least one of: at least one of a plurality of sensing operations, at least one sensing resource set, or at least one sensing resource. As such, the activation or deactivation mechanism is defined, and the terminal device may perform activation or deactivation accordingly. Principles and implementations of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the figures.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example communication system 300 in which some embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented. The communication system 300 may also be called as a network environment, a network system, a communication environment, a communication network, or the like, the present disclosure does not limit this aspect. The communication system 300 includes a network device 310 and a terminal device 320. The network device 310 can provide services to the terminal device 320.

In the system 300, it is assumed that the terminal device 320 is located within coverage of the network device 310. In some examples, a link from the network device 310 to the terminal device 320 is referred to as a downlink (DL) , while a link from the terminal device 320 to the network device 310 is referred to as an uplink (UL) . In downlink, the network device 310 is a transmitting (TX) device (or a transmitter) and the terminal device 320 is a receiving (RX) device (or a receiver) . In uplink, the terminal device 320 is a transmitting TX device (or a transmitter) and the network device 310 is a RX device (or a receiver) . In some embodiments, the network device 310 and the terminal device 320 may communicate with direct links/channels. DL may comprise one or more logical channels, including but not limited to a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) and a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) . UL may comprise one or more logical channels, including but not limited to a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) and a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) . As used herein, the term “channel” may refer to a carrier or a part of a carrier consisting of a contiguous set of resource blocks (RBs) on which a channel access procedure is performed in shared spectrum.

Communications in the system 300, between the network device 310 and the terminal device 320 for example, may be implemented according to any proper communication protocol (s) , comprising, but not limited to, cellular communication protocols of the first generation (1G) , the second generation (2G) , the third generation (3G) , the fourth generation (4G) and the fifth generation (5G) and on the like, wireless local network communication protocols such as Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 and the like, and/or any other protocols currently known or to be developed in the future. Moreover, the communication may utilize any proper wireless communication technology, comprising but not limited to: Code Divided Multiple Address (CDMA) , Frequency Divided Multiple Address (FDMA) , Time Divided Multiple Address (TDMA) , Frequency Divided Duplexer (FDD) , Time Divided Duplexer (TDD) , Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) , Orthogonal Frequency Divided Multiple Access (OFDMA) and/or any other technologies currently known or to be developed in the future.

Embodiments of the present disclosure can be applied to any suitable scenarios. For example, embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented at reduced capability NR devices. Alternatively, embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented in one of the followings: NR multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) , NR sidelink enhancements, NR systems with frequency above 52.6GHz, an extending NR operation up to 71GHz, narrow band-Internet of Thing (NB-IOT) /enhanced Machine Type Communication (eMTC) over non-terrestrial networks (NTN) , NTN, UE power saving enhancements, NR coverage enhancement, NB-IoT and LTE-MTC, Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB) , NR Multicast and Broadcast Services, or enhancements on Multi-Radio Dual-Connectivity.

It is to be understood that the numbers of devices (i.e., the network device 310 and the terminal device 320) and their connection relationships and types shown in FIG. 3 are only for the purpose of illustration without suggesting any limitation. The system 300 may include any suitable numbers of devices adapted for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure.

In some example embodiments, the terminal device 320 may have a capability to perform a sensing operation. For example, the terminal device 320 may include the UE 132 as shown in FIG. 1C, the UE 142 or UE 144 as shown in FIG. 1D, the UE 154 as shown in FIG. 1E, and the UE 162 as shown in FIG. 1F. In some example embodiments, the network device 310 may be a serving gNB of the terminal device 320.

The following cases/requirements may require sensing to be activated/deactivated,

It should be able to provide means for the network device 310 to activate and/or deactivate sensing service in the target sensing area based on network conditions (e.g., network-load) . For sensing UAV flight trajectory, when the appointed time starts, 5G network operator activates the UAV flight trajectory tracing function at the appointed space until the appointed time ends. Dynamically switching between sparse sensing and dense sensing shall save the sensing device’s power consumption.

In the present disclosure, the term “sensing signal” may include the wireless signals sent by a sensing transmitter, and directly received or the impacted (e.g., reflected refracted, or diffracted) wireless signals received by a sensing receiver. For example, the wireless signals may include synchronization signal block (SSB) , positioning reference signal (PRS) , sounding reference signal (SRS) , channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS) , demodulation reference signal (DMRS) , or other signals.

In the present disclosure, a sensing resource is used for transmitting or receiving the sensing signal. A sensing resource set may include one or more sensing resources. For example, a sensing resource set may be used for a specific function. For example, the network device or the terminal device may scan a specific area periodically, and each area may respond to a sensing resource set.

In the present disclosure, a sensing operation may include transmitting sensing signals on sensing resources/sensing resource sets, and/or receiving sensing signals on sensing resources/sensing resource sets.

Reference is further made to FIG. 4, which illustrates a signalling chart illustrating communication process 400 in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. Only for the purpose of discussion, the process 400 will be described with reference to FIG. 3. The process 400 may involve the network device 310 and the terminal device 320.

The terminal device 320 transmits 420 capability information 422 associated with sensing to the network device 310. The capability information 422 may indicate a capability of the terminal device 320, and the capability information 422 may be with respect to the sensing. As such, the terminal device 320 may report its sensing capability to the network device 310.

In some example embodiments, the capability information 422 may indicate whether the terminal device 320 supports transmitting and receiving sensing signals simultaneously. In some examples, the capability of the terminal device 320 may include a capability of whether the terminal device 320 supports transmitting and receiving sensing signals simultaneously. For example, the capability information 422 may indicate whether the terminal device 320 supports to act as sounder and sensing, e.g., to be a UE 132 as shown in FIG. 1C (mono-static UE-based sensing) .

In some example embodiments, the capability information 422 may indicate whether the terminal device 320 supports an activation or deactivation of the at least one of multiple sensing operations. In some example embodiments, the capability information 422 may indicate whether the terminal device 320 supports an activation or deactivation of the at least one sensing resource set. In some example embodiments, the capability information 422 may indicate whether the terminal device 320 supports an activation or deactivation of the at least one sensing resource.

In some examples, the capability of the terminal device 320 may include a capability of whether the terminal device 320 supports sensing activation/deactivation, which may include activation/deactivation of at least one sensing operation, at least one sensing resource, or at least one sensing resource set. For example, if the terminal device 320 supports sensing activation/deactivation, this feature may be supported based on DCI or MAC CE.

In some example embodiments, the capability information 422 may indicate whether the terminal device 320 supports sensing at least two sensing bands. In some example embodiments, the capability information 422 may indicate whether the terminal device 320 supports sensing at least two sensing resource sets. In some example embodiments, the capability information 422 may indicate whether the terminal device 320 supports sensing at least two sensing resources.

In some examples, the capability of the terminal device 320 may include a capability of whether the terminal device 320 supports sensing at least two sensing bands, at least two sensing resource sets, or at least two sensing resources. For example, the terminal device 320 may support sensing 2 areas, each of which corresponds to a sensing resource set or a sensing resource.

In some example embodiments, the capability information 422 may indicate a maximum number of sensing bands the terminal device 320 supports to sensing. In some example embodiments, the capability information 422 may indicate a maximum number of sensing resource sets the terminal device 320 supports to sensing. In some example embodiments, the capability information 422 may indicate a maximum number of sensing resources the terminal device 320 supports to sensing.

In some examples, the capability of the terminal device 320 may include a capability of the maximum number of sensing bands, sensing resource sets, or sensing resources that the terminal device 320 supports for sensing. In some examples, the sensing bands may be implanted as sensing carriers.

In some example embodiments, the capability information 422 may indicate a list of sensing bands the terminal device 320 supports. In some examples, the capability of the terminal device 320 may include a supported band list for sensing.

In some examples, the capability information 422 may indicate a first list of sensing bands the terminal device 320 supports for sensing transmission, and a second list of sensing bands the terminal device 320 supports for sensing reception. For example, the bands for sensing transmission or sensing reception may be reported separately.

In some example embodiments, the capability information 422 may indicate a list of combinations of sensing bands, where the terminal device 320 supports to sensing the combinations of sensing bands. In some examples, the capability of the terminal device 320 may include a supported band combination list for sensing, which may include a list of “communication band + sensing band” or “sensing band + sensing band” combinations.

In some examples, the capability information 422 may indicate a first list of combinations of sensing bands for sensing transmission, and a second list of combinations of sensing bands for sensing reception. For example, the band combinations for sensing transmission or sensing reception may be reported separately.

On the other side of communication, the network device 310 receives 424 the capability information 422. In addition or alternatively, the network device 310 may transmit 430 a configuration 432 to the terminal device 320. In some examples, the configuration 432 may be transmitted via a radio resource control (RRC) signalling.

In some example embodiments, the configuration 432 may include information for sensing activation or deactivation. For example, the configuration 432 may be sensing configuration used for activating or deactivating sensing.

In some example embodiments, the network device 310 may generate the configuration 432 based on one or more of: the capability information 422 of the terminal device 320, or a network condition (such as network load) . In some examples, if the terminal device 320 does not support sensing activation or deactivation, then the network device 310 shall not configure or indicate the terminal device 320 to activate or deactivate sensing. For ease of description, it is assumed that the terminal device 320 supports sensing activation or deactivation in the present disclosure.

In some example embodiments, the configuration 432 may indicate one or more of: whether to enable multiple sensing operations, multiple values of the multiple sensing operations, multiple indices of multiple sensing resources, multiple indices of multiple sensing resource sets, multiple indices of multiple time periods, or an index of a default activated sensing resource set or a default activated sensing resource.

In some examples, multiple time periods may be configured by the network device 310 via the RRC signalling, for example, each of the multiple time periods may be in a unit of any of: symbol, slot, millisecond, second, minute, hour, etc.

In some examples, the configuration 432 may include an activation status of at least one sensing operation, at least one sensing resource, or at least one sensing resource set.

For a sensing operation (asensing transmitting operation or a sensing receiving operation) , one or more sensing resources or sensing resource sets may be configured for the terminal device 320 via the RRC signaling.

In some examples, the RRC signalling may include one or more information elements (IEs) below, to configure the sensing activation/deactivation status: (1) An IE indicates whether to enable sensing activation/deactivation operation or not. (2) An IE indicates whether or not sensing operation at the time of receiving this IE is activated. For example, this IE may be indicated per UE. (3) An IE indicates whether or not the corresponding sensing resource at the time of receiving this IE is activated. For example, this IE may be indicated per sensing resource. (4) An IE indicates whether or not the corresponding sensing resource set at the time of receiving this IE is activated. For example, this IE may be indicated per sensing resource set. (5) An IE indicates a default activated sensing resource ID or sensing resource set ID.

In some examples, the activation/deactivation status of the sensing transmitting operation or sensing receiving operation may be configured separately.

On the other side of communication, the terminal device 320 may receive 434 the configuration 432. In addition or alternatively, the terminal device 320 may perform at least one operation based on the configuration 432.

In some example embodiments, if the sensing transmitting operation is activated, the terminal device 320 shall transmit the sensing signals, e.g., on the activated resource. In some example embodiments, if the sensing transmitting operation is deactivated, the terminal device 320 shall not transmit the sensing signals (e.g., on the deactivated resource) .

In some example embodiments, if the sensing receiving operation is activated, the terminal device 320 shall receive/monitor the sensing signals, e.g., on the activated resource. In some example embodiments, if the sensing receiving operation is deactivated, the terminal device 320 shall not receive/monitor the sensing signals (e.g., on the deactivated resource) .

In some example embodiments, the configuration 432 may indicate an index of a default activated sensing resource set or a default activated sensing resource. In some examples, the RRC signalling may include an IE indicating the default activated sensing resource ID or sensing resource set ID. When receiving the corresponding configuration, the default activated sensing resource or sensing resource set shall be activated at the time of receiving this IE. For example, sensing resource (s) or sensing resource set (s) other than the default activated sensing resource or sensing resource set shall be deactivated at the time of receiving this IE.

The network device 310 transmits 440 indication information 442 to the terminal device 320. The indication information 442 may indicate to activate or deactivate one or more of: at least one sensing operation, at least one sensing resource set, or at least one sensing resource.

In some example embodiments, the network device 310 may determine to activate or deactivate the sensing based on a position of a target and/or a velocity of the target. For example, the target may also be called as a target object. For example, the velocity of the target may be estimated at a sensing processing entity. For example, if the target object is moving outside of coverage of sensing device (such as a gNB or a UE) , the network device 310 may determine to activate or deactivate sensing operation (s) for certain UEs.

In some example embodiments, the indication information 442 may be transmitted via an MAC CE (i.e., L2 signalling) or via a DCI (i.e., L1 signalling) , as that shown in FIG. 4. However, in some other cases, it is to be understood that the indication information 442 may be transmitted via an RRC signalling, the present disclosure does not limit this aspect.

Activate/deactivate at least one sensing operation

In some example embodiments, the indication information 442 may be used to dynamically activate or deactivate at least one sensing operation. In some examples, the at least one sensing operation may include an operation of transmitting a sensing signal (i.e., a sensing transmitting operation) , and/or an operation of receiving or monitoring a sensing signal (i.e., a sensing receiving operation) .

In some examples, the indication information 442 may include at least one value indicating whether the at least one sensing operation is activated or deactivated. In some examples, the indication information 442 may further include a field indicating which sensing operation the at least one value applied for. In some examples, the indication information 442 may include a bitmap indicating multiple activation statuses of multiple sensing operations.

For example, the indication information 442 may be transmitted via a DCI. A new field may be introduced in DCI for DCI-based sensing activation/deactivation. For example, the new field may indicate whether the at least one sensing operation is activated or not. For a specific example, the new filed may carry “1” to indicate activation, and “0” to indicate deactivation. In some examples, two fields in the DCI may be defined, where one field is associated with a sensing transmitting operation, and the other field is associated with a sensing receiving operation.

For example, the indication information 442 may be transmitted via an MAC CE. A new MAC CE may be introduced for MAC CE-based sensing activation/deactivation. For example, the new MAC CE may be a sensing activation/deactivation MAC CE, the present disclosure does not limit this aspect.

In some implementations, the indication information 442 may include a logical channel identity (LCID) or an extended LCID (eLCID) indicating a type of MAC CE. For example, a new LCID or eLCID value may be used to identify the sensing activation/deactivation MAC CE.

In some implementations, the indication information 442 may include a cell ID indicating a serving cell the indication information 442 applies for. For example, the serving ID may be included to indicate an identity of the serving cell for which the MAC CE applies.

In some implementations, the indication information 442 may include a bandwidth part (BWP) ID indicating a BWP the indication information applies for. For example, a field of the MAC CE may indicate a DL BWP or a UL BWP which the MAC CE applies for.

In some implementations, the indication information 442 may include a first value indicating whether the at least one sensing operation is activated or deactivated. For example, a field of the MAC CE, such as the A/D field, may indicate whether the at least one sensing operation is activated or deactivated.

In some implementations, the indication information 442 may include a field indicating whether the activation/deactivation is applied for sensing transmitting operation, sensing receiving operation, or both.

In some implementations, the indication information 442 may include a first bitmap, where the first bitmap may include multiple bits corresponding to multiple sensing operations respectively. For example, the first bitmap may include a first bit corresponding to the sensing transmitting operation and a second bit corresponding to the sensing receiving operation. For example, a bit in the first bitmap may indicate an activation status of the corresponding sensing operation, where the activation status may be activation or deactivation. For a specific example, the bit equals to 1, indicating that the corresponding sensing operation is activated; and the bit equals to 0, indicating that the corresponding sensing operation is deactivated.

Activate/deactivate at least one sensing resource set

In some example embodiments, the indication information 442 may be used to dynamically activate or deactivate at least one sensing resource set. In some examples, a sensing resource set may include one or more sensing resources, and a sensing resource is used to transmit sensing signal (s) or receive sensing signal (s) .

In some examples, if one or more sensing resource sets are configured for the terminal device 320, the network deice 310 may dynamically activate or deactivate at least one sensing resource set, e.g., via an MAC CE (i.e., L2 signalling) or via a DCI (i.e., L1 signalling) . For example, multiple sensing resource sets may have been configured by the network device 310, in the configuration 432.

It is to be understood that if a sensing resource set is activated, the terminal device 320 shall transmit or receive sensing signals on the sensing resource set. If a sensing resource set is deactivated, the terminal device 320 shall not transmit or receive sensing signals on the sensing resource set.

In some examples, the indication information 442 may include at least one of: a second value indicating whether the at least one sensing resource set is activated or deactivated, a first index indicating the at least one sensing resource set, a second bitmap indicating at least one activation status for the at least one sensing resource set, or a first indication indicating whether the at least one sensing resource set is applied for the at least one sensing operation.

For example, the indication information 442 may be transmitted via a DCI. A new field may be introduced in DCI for DCI-based sensing resource set activation/deactivation. For example, the new field may indicate which sensing resource set (s) is/are activated. For a specific example, the filed in the DCI may carry a sensing resource set ID to be activated. For example, the field in the DCI may carry a specific value, to indicate that none of the configured sensing resource set (s) is activated.

Accordingly, the network device 310 may dynamically switch the activated sensing resource set. For example, the network device 310 may dynamically switch between sparse sensing and dense sensing, or switch to another resource set which covers other area.

For example, the indication information 442 may be transmitted via an MAC CE. A new MAC CE may be introduced for MAC CE-based sensing resource set activation/deactivation. For example, the new MAC CE may be a sensing resource set activation/deactivation MAC CE, the present disclosure does not limit this aspect.

In some implementations, the indication information 442 may include an LCID or an eLCID indicating a type of MAC CE. For example, a new LCID or eLCID value may be used to identify the sensing activation/deactivation MAC CE.

In some implementations, the indication information 442 may include a BWP ID indicating a BWP the indication information applies for. For example, a field of the MAC CE may indicate a DL BWP or a UL BWP which the MAC CE applies for.

In some implementations, the indication information 442 may include a field (e.g., carrying at least one first index) indicating the at least one sensing resource set, i.e., the indicated at least one sensing resource set. For example, the filed can be regarded as a resource set ID field, may include at least one index of the at least one sensing resource set, such as at least one sensing resource set ID, to indicate the at least one sensing resource set to be activated or deactivated.

In some implementations, the indication information 442 may include a second value indicating whether to activate or deactivate the indicated at least one sensing resource set. For example, a field of the MAC CE, such as the A/D field, may indicate whether the at least one sensing resource set is activated or deactivated. For example, the field includes “1” to indicate activation, or includes “0” to indicate deactivation.

In some implementations, the indication information 442 may include a second bitmap, where the second bitmap may include multiple bits corresponding to multiple sensing resource sets respectively. For example, a bit in the second bitmap may indicate an activation status of the corresponding sensing resource set, where the activation status may be activation or deactivation.

For example, the resource set ID field may include M resource set IDs, and M bits in the second bitmap may correspond to the M resource set IDs respectively. For a specific example, a bit in the second bitmap equals to 1, indicating that the corresponding sensing resource set is activated; and the bit equals to 0, indicating that the corresponding sensing resource set is deactivated.

In some implementations, the indication information 442 may include a first indication indicating whether the at least one sensing resource set is applied for the at least one sensing operation. In some examples, the indication information 442 may include a field including the first indication, it may indicate whether the activation/deactivation (i.e., activated/deactivated at least one sensing resource set) is applied for sensing transmitting operation, sensing receiving operation, or both.

Activate/deactivate at least one sensing resource

In some example embodiments, the indication information 442 may be used to dynamically activate or deactivate at least one sensing resource. In some examples, a sensing resource is used to transmit sensing signal (s) or receive sensing signal (s) .

In some examples, if one or more sensing resources are configured for the terminal device 320, the network deice 310 may dynamically activate or deactivate at least one sensing resource, e.g., via an MAC CE (i.e., L2 signalling) or via a DCI (i.e., L1 signalling) . For example, multiple sensing resources may have been configured by the network device 310, in the configuration 432.

It is to be understood that if a sensing resource is activated, the terminal device 320 shall transmit or receive sensing signals on the sensing resource. If a sensing resource is deactivated, the terminal device 320 shall not transmit or receive sensing signals on the sensing resource.

In some examples, the indication information 442 may include at least one of: a third value indicating whether the at least one sensing resource is activated or deactivated, a second index indicating the at least one sensing resource, a third bitmap indicating at least one activation status for the at least one sensing resource, or a second indication indicating whether the at least one sensing resource is applied for the at least one sensing operation.

For example, the indication information 442 may be transmitted via a DCI. A new field may be introduced in DCI for DCI-based sensing resource activation/deactivation. For example, the new field may indicate which sensing resource (s) is/are activated. For a specific example, the filed in the DCI may carry a sensing resource ID to be activated. For example, the field in the DCI may carry a specific value, to indicate that none of the configured sensing resource (s) is activated. Accordingly, the network device 310 may dynamically switch the activated sensing resource.

For example, the indication information 442 may be transmitted via an MAC CE. A new MAC CE may be introduced for MAC CE-based sensing resource activation/deactivation. For example, the new MAC CE may be a sensing resource activation/deactivation MAC CE, the present disclosure does not limit this aspect.

In some implementations, the indication information 442 may include a logical channel identity (LCID) or an eLCID indicating a type of MAC CE. For example, a new LCID or eLCID value may be used to identify the sensing activation/deactivation MAC CE.

In some implementations, the indication information 442 may include a field (e.g., carrying at least one second index) indicating the at least one sensing resource, i.e., the indicated at least one sensing resource. For example, the filed can be regarded as a resource ID field, may include at least one index of the at least one sensing resource, such as at least one sensing resource ID, to indicate the at least one sensing resource to be activated or deactivated.

In some implementations, the indication information 442 may include a third value indicating whether to activate or deactivate the indicated at least one sensing resource. For example, a field of the MAC CE, such as the A/D field, may indicate whether the at least one sensing resource is activated or deactivated. For example, the field includes “1” to indicate activation, or includes “0” to indicate deactivation.

In some implementations, the indication information 442 may include a third bitmap, where the third bitmap may include multiple bits corresponding to multiple sensing resources respectively. For example, a bit in the third bitmap may indicate an activation status of the corresponding sensing resource, where the activation status may be activation or deactivation.

For example, the resource ID field may include N resource IDs, and N bits in the third bitmap may correspond to the N resource IDs respectively. For a specific example, a bit in the third bitmap equals to 1, indicating that the corresponding sensing resource is activated; and the bit equals to 0, indicating that the corresponding sensing resource is deactivated.

In some implementations, the indication information 442 may include a second indication indicating whether the at least one sensing resource is applied for the at least one sensing operation. In some examples, the indication information 442 may include a field including the second indication, it may indicate whether the activation/deactivation (i.e., activated/deactivated at least one sensing resource) is applied for sensing transmitting operation, sensing receiving operation, or both.

On the other side of communication, the terminal device 320 receives 444 the indication information 442. Accordingly, the terminal device 320 may activate or deactivate the at least one sensing operation on the at least one sensing resource set or on the at least one sensing resource.

In addition or alternatively, a time period may be configured or indicated by the network device 310. In some example embodiments, the indication information 442 may indicate a time period. In some example embodiments, the indication information 442 may include one or more of: an index of the time period, a duration of the time period, a start of the time period, or an end of the time period.

In some example embodiments, the network device 310 may configure or indicate the terminal device 320 to activate or deactivate (start or stop) the at least one sensing operation for the time period, e.g., via the RRC signalling, MAC CE, or DCI.

In some examples, the time period may also be called as a time duration, and the present disclosure does not limit this aspect.

In some examples, the index of the time period may be included in the indication information 442, which is transmitted via an MAC CE or a DCI, and the index of the time period is one of those (e.g., multiple indices of multiple time periods) configured by the network device 310 via the RRC signalling.

In some other examples, the duration of the time period may be indicated to the terminal device 320, e.g., via the RRC signalling, the MAC CE, or the DCI.

In some other examples, a start time and/or an end time of the time period may be configured or indicated to the terminal device 320, e.g., via the RRC signalling, the MAC CE, or the DCI.

In some example embodiments, if the time period is indicated by the network device 310, the terminal device 320 shall activate or deactivate the sensing for the specific time period. In some example embodiments, the terminal device 320 may activate or deactivate the at least one sensing operation for a duration of the time period. In some example embodiments, the terminal device 320 may activate or deactivate the at least one sensing resource set for the duration of the time period. In some example embodiments, the terminal device 320 may activate or deactivate the at least one sensing resource for the duration of the time period.

For example, if a sensing operation is activated and the time period is provided, the sensing operation shall be deactivated after the time period has elapsed. For example, if a sensing operation is deactivated and the time period is provided, the sensing operation shall be activated after the time period has elapsed.

For example, the time period may be applied to a specific sensing resource set or a specific sensing resource. Accordingly, the specific sensing resource set or the specific sensing resource may be activated or deactivated for the time period.

In addition or alternatively, a specific time may be configured or indicated by the network device 310. In some example embodiments, the indication information 442 may indicate a specific time. In some example embodiments, the indication information 442 may include an absolute time or a relative time about the specific time.

In some example embodiments, the network device 310 may configure or indicate the terminal device 320 to activate or deactivate (start or stop) the at least one sensing operation at the specific time.

In some examples, an absolute time (such as 22: 00: 00) for activating or deactivating sensing can be configured by the network device 310, e.g., via the RRC signalling or via non-access stratum (NAS) signaling. For example, if the absolute time is configured by the network device 310, the terminal device 320 shall activate/deactivate the at least one sensing operation at the time specified by the absolute time.

In some examples, a relative time for activating or deactivating sensing can be configured by the network device 310. For example, the relative time is relative to the time when the value of relative time is received. For example, if the relative time is configured by the network, the network or UE shall activate/deactivate sensing operation after the time specified by the relative time.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example format of MAC CE 500 in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 5, the MAC CE 500 includes a serving cell ID, a BWP ID, and a resource set ID. Some other information, which is not shown in FIG. 5, may also be included in the MAC CE 500. It is to be understood that the illustrated example in FIG. 5 is only for ease of description without any limitation, other example formats may also be applied, the present disclosure does not limit this aspect.

According to the example embodiments described with reference to FIGS. 4-5, a network-controlled sensing activation/deactivation procedure is proposed. In the procedure, the network device 310 may transmit indication information to the terminal device 320, to activate or deactivate at least one sensing operation, at least one sensing resource set, and/or at least one sensing resource. As such, the network device 310 may control the at least one sensing operation at the terminal device 320 dynamically. For example, the terminal device 320 may switch between using sparse sensing and using dense sensing, based on the indication information from the network device 310. Therefore, the sensing activation or deactivation mechanism is defined. Since the sensing may be deactivated in some cases, the power consumption at the terminal device 320 may be reduced.

FIG. 6 illustrates a flowchart of an example method 600 implemented at a terminal device in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 600 will be described from the perspective of the terminal device 320 with reference to FIG. 3.

At block 610, the terminal device 320 transmits, to a network device, capability information associated with sensing at the terminal device. At block 620, the terminal device 320 receives, from the network device, indication information indicating the terminal device to activate or deactivate at least one of: at least one of multiple sensing operations, at least one sensing resource set, or at least one sensing resource.

In some example embodiments, multiple sensing operations comprise at least one of: an operation of transmitting a sensing signal, or an operation of receiving or monitoring a sensing signal.

In some example embodiments, the indication information comprises at least one of: a first value indicating whether the at least one of multiple sensing operations is activated or deactivated, at least one value indicating the at least one of multiple sensing operations, or a first bitmap indicating multiple activation statuses for multiple sensing operations.

In some example embodiments, the indication information comprises at least one of: a second value indicating whether the at least one sensing resource set is activated or deactivated, a first index indicating the at least one sensing resource set, a second bitmap indicating at least one activation status for the at least one sensing resource set, or a first indication indicating whether the at least one sensing resource set is applied for the at least one of the multiple sensing operations.

In some example embodiments, the indication information comprises at least one of: a third value indicating whether the at least one sensing resource is activated or deactivated, a second index indicating the at least one sensing resource, a third bitmap indicating at least one activation status for the at least one sensing resource, or a second indication indicating whether the at least one sensing resource is applied for the at least one of the multiple sensing operations.

In some example embodiments, the indication information comprises at least one of: an LCID or an eLCID indicating a type of MAC CE, where the indication information is the MAC CE, a cell ID indicating a serving cell the indication information applies for, or a BWP ID indicating a BWP the indication information applies for.

In some example embodiments, the indication information further indicates a time period. In some example embodiments, the terminal device performs at least one of: activating or deactivating the at least one of the multiple sensing operations for a duration of the time period, activating or deactivating the at least one sensing resource set for the duration of the time period, or activating or deactivating the at least one sensing resource for the duration of the time period.

In some example embodiments, the indication information comprises at least one of: an index of the time period, the duration of the time period, a start of the time period, or an end of the time period.

In some example embodiments, the indication information further indicates a specific time. In some example embodiments, the terminal device performs at least one of: activating or deactivating the at least one of the multiple sensing operations at the specific time, activating or deactivating the at least one sensing resource set at the specific time, or activating or deactivating the at least one sensing resource at the specific time.

In some example embodiments, the terminal device receives, from the network device, a configuration indicating at least one of: whether to enable the multiple sensing operations, multiple values of the multiple sensing operations, multiple indices of the multiple sensing resources, multiple indices of multiple sensing resource sets, multiple indices of multiple time periods, or an index of a default activated sensing resource set or a default activated sensing resource.

In some example embodiments, the capability information indicates at least one of: whether the terminal device supports transmitting and receiving sensing signals simultaneously, whether the terminal device supports an activation or deactivation of the at least one of the multiple sensing operations, whether the terminal device supports an activation or deactivation of the at least one sensing resource set, whether the terminal device supports an activation or deactivation of the at least one sensing resource, whether the terminal device supports sensing at least two sensing bands, whether the terminal device supports sensing at least two sensing resource sets, whether the terminal device supports sensing at least two sensing resources, a maximum number of sensing bands the terminal device supports to sensing, a maximum number of sensing resource sets the terminal device supports to sensing, a maximum number of sensing resources the terminal device supports to sensing, a list of sensing bands the terminal device supports, or a list of combinations of sensing bands, where the terminal device supports to sensing the combinations of sensing bands.

FIG. 7 illustrates a flowchart of an example method 700 implemented at a network device in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 700 will be described from the perspective of the network device 310 with reference to FIG. 3.

At block 710, the network device 310 receives, from a terminal device, capability information associated with sensing at the terminal device. At 720, the network device 310 transmits, to the terminal device, indication information indicating the terminal device to activate or deactivate at least one of: at least one of multiple sensing operations, at least one sensing resource set, or at least one sensing resource.

In some example embodiments, the multiple sensing operations comprise at least one of: an operation of transmitting a sensing signal, or an operation of receiving or monitoring a sensing signal.

In some example embodiments, the indication information comprises at least one of: a first value indicating whether the at least one of the multiple sensing operations is activated or deactivated, at least one value indicating the at least one of the multiple sensing operations, or a first bitmap indicating multiple activation statuses for the multiple sensing operations.

In some example embodiments, the indication information comprises at least one of: an index of a time period, the duration of the time period, a start of the time period, an end of the time period, or a specific time.

In some example embodiments, the network device transmits, to the terminal device, a configuration indicating at least one of: whether to enable multiple sensing operations, multiple values of multiple sensing operations, multiple indices of multiple sensing resources, multiple indices of multiple sensing resource sets, multiple indices of multiple time periods, or an index of a default activated sensing resource set or a default activated sensing resource.

In some example embodiments, the capability information indicates at least one of: whether the terminal device supports transmitting and receiving sensing signals simultaneously, whether the terminal device supports an activation or deactivation of the at least one of multiple sensing operations, whether the terminal device supports an activation or deactivation of the at least one sensing resource set, whether the terminal device supports an activation or deactivation of the at least one sensing resource, whether the terminal device supports sensing at least two sensing bands, whether the terminal device supports sensing at least two sensing resource sets, whether the terminal device supports sensing at least two sensing resources, a maximum number of sensing bands the terminal device supports to sensing, a maximum number of sensing resource sets the terminal device supports to sensing, a maximum number of sensing resources the terminal device supports to sensing, a list of sensing bands the terminal device supports, or a list of combinations of sensing bands, where the terminal device supports to sensing the combinations of sensing bands.

Details of some embodiments according to the present disclosure have been described with reference to FIGS. 3-7. Now an example implementation of the terminal device and the network device will be discussed below.

In some example embodiments, a terminal device comprises circuitry configured to: transmit, to a network device, capability information associated with sensing at the terminal device; and receive, from the network device, indication information indicating the terminal device to activate or deactivate at least one of: at least one of a plurality of sensing operations, at least one sensing resource set, or at least one sensing resource.

In some example embodiments, the plurality of sensing operations comprise at least one of: an operation of transmitting a sensing signal, or an operation of receiving or monitoring a sensing signal.

In some example embodiments, the indication information comprises at least one of: a first value indicating whether the at least one of the plurality of sensing operations is activated or deactivated, at least one value indicating the at least one of the plurality of sensing operations, or a first bitmap indicating a plurality of activation statuses for the plurality of sensing operations.

In some example embodiments, the indication information comprises at least one of: a second value indicating whether the at least one sensing resource set is activated or deactivated, a first index indicating the at least one sensing resource set, a second bitmap indicating at least one activation status for the at least one sensing resource set, or a first indication indicating whether the at least one sensing resource set is applied for the at least one of the plurality of sensing operations.

In some example embodiments, the indication information comprises at least one of: a third value indicating whether the at least one sensing resource is activated or deactivated, a second index indicating the at least one sensing resource, a third bitmap indicating at least one activation status for the at least one sensing resource, or a second indication indicating whether the at least one sensing resource is applied for the at least one of the plurality of sensing operations.

In some example embodiments, the indication information comprises at least one of: a logical channel identity (LCID) or an extended LCID (eLCID) indicating a type of a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) , wherein the indication information is the MAC CE, a cell ID indicating a serving cell the indication information applies for, or a bandwidth part (BWP) ID indicating a BWP the indication information applies for.

In some example embodiments, the indication information further indicates a time period, and the terminal device comprises circuitry configured to perform at least one of: activating or deactivating the at least one of the plurality of sensing operations for a duration of the time period, activating or deactivating the at least one sensing resource set for the duration of the time period, or activating or deactivating the at least one sensing resource for the duration of the time period.

In some example embodiments, the indication information further indicates a specific time, and the terminal device comprises circuitry configured to perform at least one of: activating or deactivating the at least one of the plurality of sensing operations at the specific time, activating or deactivating the at least one sensing resource set at the specific time, or activating or deactivating the at least one sensing resource at the specific time.

In some example embodiments, the terminal device comprises circuitry configured to: receive, from the network device, a configuration indicating at least one of: whether to enable the plurality of sensing operations, a plurality of values of the plurality of sensing operations, a plurality of indices of the plurality of sensing resources, a plurality of indices of a plurality of sensing resource sets, a plurality of indices of a plurality of time periods, or an index of a default activated sensing resource set or a default activated sensing resource.

In some example embodiments, the capability information indicates at least one of: whether the terminal device supports transmitting and receiving sensing signals simultaneously, whether the terminal device supports an activation or deactivation of the at least one of the plurality of sensing operations, whether the terminal device supports an activation or deactivation of the at least one sensing resource set, whether the terminal device supports an activation or deactivation of the at least one sensing resource, whether the terminal device supports sensing at least two sensing bands, whether the terminal device supports sensing at least two sensing resource sets, whether the terminal device supports sensing at least two sensing resources, a maximum number of sensing bands the terminal device supports to sensing, a maximum number of sensing resource sets the terminal device supports to sensing, a maximum number of sensing resources the terminal device supports to sensing, a list of sensing bands the terminal device supports, or a list of combinations of sensing bands, wherein the terminal device supports to sensing the combinations of sensing bands.

In some example embodiments, a network device comprises circuitry configured to: receive, from a terminal device, capability information associated with sensing at the terminal device; and transmit, to the terminal device, indication information indicating the terminal device to activate or deactivate at least one of: at least one of a plurality of sensing operations, at least one sensing resource set, or at least one sensing resource.

In some example embodiments, the indication information comprises at least one of: a logical channel identity (LCID) or an extended LCID (eLCID) indicating a type of a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) , wherein the indication information is the MAC CE, a cell identity (ID) indicating a serving cell the indication information applies for, or a bandwidth part (BWP) ID indicating a BWP the indication information applies for.

In some example embodiments, the network device comprises circuitry configured to: transmit, to the terminal device, a configuration indicating at least one of: whether to enable the plurality of sensing operations, a plurality of values of the plurality of sensing operations, a plurality of indices of the plurality of sensing resources, a plurality of indices of a plurality of sensing resource sets, a plurality of indices of a plurality of time periods, or an index of a default activated sensing resource set or a default activated sensing resource.

FIG. 8 illustrates a simplified block diagram of a device 800 that is suitable for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure. The device 800 can be considered as a further example implementation of the terminal device and the network device as described above. Accordingly, the device 800 can be implemented at or as at least a part of the terminal device or the network device.

As shown, the device 800 includes a processor 810, a memory 820 coupled to the processor 810, a suitable transceiver 840 coupled to the processor 810, and a communication interface coupled to the transceiver 840. The memory 820 stores at least a part of a program 830. The transceiver 840 may be for bidirectional communications or a unidirectional communication based on requirements. The transceiver 840 may include at least one of a transmitter and a receiver. The transmitter and the receiver may be functional modules or physical entities. The transceiver840 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) /serving gateway (SGW) /user plane function (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 830 is assumed to include program instructions that, when executed by the associated processor 810, enable the device 800 to operate in accordance with the embodiments of the present disclosure, as discussed herein with reference to FIGS. 3-7. The embodiments herein may be implemented by computer software executable by the processor 810 of the device 800, or by hardware, or by a combination of software and hardware. The processor 810 may be configured to implement various embodiments of the present disclosure. Furthermore, a combination of the processor 810 and memory 820 may form processing means 850 adapted to implement various embodiments of the present disclosure.

The memory 820 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 820 is shown in the device 800, there may be several physically distinct memory modules in the device 800. The processor 810 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 800 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.

In summary, embodiments of the present disclosure may provide the following solutions.

The present disclosure provides a terminal device, comprising at least one processor configured to cause the terminal device at least to: transmit, to a network device, capability information associated with sensing at the terminal device; and receive, from the network device, indication information indicating the terminal device to activate or deactivate at least one of: at least one of a plurality of sensing operations, at least one sensing resource set, or at least one sensing resource.

In one embodiment, the terminal device as above, the plurality of sensing operations comprise at least one of: an operation of transmitting a sensing signal, or an operation of receiving or monitoring a sensing signal.

In one embodiment, the terminal device as above, the indication information comprises at least one of: a first value indicating whether the at least one of the plurality of sensing operations is activated or deactivated, at least one value indicating the at least one of the plurality of sensing operations, or a first bitmap indicating a plurality of activation statuses for the plurality of sensing operations.

In one embodiment, the terminal device as above, the indication information comprises at least one of: a second value indicating whether the at least one sensing resource set is activated or deactivated, a first index indicating the at least one sensing resource set, a second bitmap indicating at least one activation status for the at least one sensing resource set, or a first indication indicating whether the at least one sensing resource set is applied for the at least one of the plurality of sensing operations.

In one embodiment, the terminal device as above, the indication information comprises at least one of: a third value indicating whether the at least one sensing resource is activated or deactivated, a second index indicating the at least one sensing resource, a third bitmap indicating at least one activation status for the at least one sensing resource, or a second indication indicating whether the at least one sensing resource is applied for the at least one of the plurality of sensing operations.

In one embodiment, the terminal device as above, the indication information comprises at least one of: a logical channel identity (LCID) or an extended LCID (eLCID) indicating a type of a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) , wherein the indication information is the MAC CE, a cell ID indicating a serving cell the indication information applies for, or a bandwidth part (BWP) ID indicating a BWP the indication information applies for.

In one embodiment, the terminal device as above, the indication information further indicates a time period, and wherein the terminal device is further caused to perform at least one of: activating or deactivating the at least one of the plurality of sensing operations for a duration of the time period, activating or deactivating the at least one sensing resource set for the duration of the time period, or activating or deactivating the at least one sensing resource for the duration of the time period.

In one embodiment, the terminal device as above, the indication information comprises at least one of: an index of the time period, the duration of the time period, a start of the time period, or an end of the time period.

In one embodiment, the terminal device as above, the indication information further indicates a specific time, and wherein the terminal device is further caused to perform at least one of: activating or deactivating the at least one of the plurality of sensing operations at the specific time, activating or deactivating the at least one sensing resource set at the specific time, or activating or deactivating the at least one sensing resource at the specific time.

In one embodiment, the terminal device as above, the terminal device is further caused to: receive, from the network device, a configuration indicating at least one of: whether to enable the plurality of sensing operations, a plurality of values of the plurality of sensing operations, a plurality of indices of the plurality of sensing resources, a plurality of indices of a plurality of sensing resource sets, a plurality of indices of a plurality of time periods, or an index of a default activated sensing resource set or a default activated sensing resource.

In one embodiment, the terminal device as above, the capability information indicates at least one of: whether the terminal device supports transmitting and receiving sensing signals simultaneously, whether the terminal device supports an activation or deactivation of the at least one of the plurality of sensing operations, whether the terminal device supports an activation or deactivation of the at least one sensing resource set, whether the terminal device supports an activation or deactivation of the at least one sensing resource, whether the terminal device supports sensing at least two sensing bands, whether the terminal device supports sensing at least two sensing resource sets, whether the terminal device supports sensing at least two sensing resources, a maximum number of sensing bands the terminal device supports to sensing, a maximum number of sensing resource sets the terminal device supports to sensing, a maximum number of sensing resources the terminal device supports to sensing, a list of sensing bands the terminal device supports, or a list of combinations of sensing bands, wherein the terminal device supports to sensing the combinations of sensing bands.

The present disclosure provides a network device, comprising at least one processor configured to cause the network device at least to: receive, from a terminal device, capability information associated with sensing at the terminal device; and transmit, to the terminal device, indication information indicating the terminal device to activate or deactivate at least one of: at least one of a plurality of sensing operations, at least one sensing resource set, or at least one sensing resource.

In one embodiment, the network device as above, the plurality of sensing operations comprise at least one of: an operation of transmitting a sensing signal, or an operation of receiving or monitoring a sensing signal.

In one embodiment, the network device as above, the indication information comprises at least one of: a first value indicating whether the at least one of the plurality of sensing operations is activated or deactivated, at least one value indicating the at least one of the plurality of sensing operations, or a first bitmap indicating a plurality of activation statuses for the plurality of sensing operations.

In one embodiment, the network device as above, the indication information comprises at least one of: a second value indicating whether the at least one sensing resource set is activated or deactivated, a first index indicating the at least one sensing resource set, a second bitmap indicating at least one activation status for the at least one sensing resource set, or a first indication indicating whether the at least one sensing resource set is applied for the at least one of the plurality of sensing operations.

In one embodiment, the network device as above, the indication information comprises at least one of: a third value indicating whether the at least one sensing resource is activated or deactivated, a second index indicating the at least one sensing resource, a third bitmap indicating at least one activation status for the at least one sensing resource, or a second indication indicating whether the at least one sensing resource is applied for the at least one of the plurality of sensing operations.

In one embodiment, the network device as above, the indication information comprises at least one of: a logical channel identity (LCID) or an extended LCID (eLCID) indicating a type of a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) , wherein the indication information is the MAC CE, a cell identity (ID) indicating a serving cell the indication information applies for, or a bandwidth part (BWP) ID indicating a BWP the indication information applies for.

In one embodiment, the network device as above, the indication information comprises at least one of: an index of a time period, the duration of the time period, a start of the time period, an end of the time period, or a specific time.

In one embodiment, the network device as above, the network device is further caused to: transmit, to the terminal device, a configuration indicating at least one of: whether to enable the plurality of sensing operations, a plurality of values of the plurality of sensing operations, a plurality of indices of the plurality of sensing resources, a plurality of indices of a plurality of sensing resource sets, a plurality of indices of a plurality of time periods, or an index of a default activated sensing resource set or a default activated sensing resource.

In one embodiment, the network device as above, the capability information indicates at least one of: whether the terminal device supports transmitting and receiving sensing signals simultaneously, whether the terminal device supports an activation or deactivation of the at least one of the plurality of sensing operations, whether the terminal device supports an activation or deactivation of the at least one sensing resource set, whether the terminal device supports an activation or deactivation of the at least one sensing resource, whether the terminal device supports sensing at least two sensing bands, whether the terminal device supports sensing at least two sensing resource sets, whether the terminal device supports sensing at least two sensing resources, a maximum number of sensing bands the terminal device supports to sensing, a maximum number of sensing resource sets the terminal device supports to sensing, a maximum number of sensing resources the terminal device supports to sensing, a list of sensing bands the terminal device supports, or a list of combinations of sensing bands, wherein the terminal device supports to sensing the combinations of sensing bands.

The present disclosure provides a method of communication, comprising the operations implemented at the terminal device discussed above.

The present disclosure provides a method of communication, comprising the operations implemented at the network device discussed above.

The present disclosure provides a terminal device, comprising: a processor; and a memory storing computer program codes; the memory and the computer program codes configured to, with the processor, cause the terminal device to perform the method implemented at the terminal device discussed above.

The present disclosure provides a network device, comprising: a processor; and a memory storing computer program codes; the memory and the computer program codes configured to, with the processor, cause the network device to perform the method implemented at the network device discussed above.

The present disclosure provides a computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions, when executed by a processor of an apparatus, causing the apparatus to perform the method implemented at a terminal device or a network 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. 4-7. 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 terminal device comprising at least one processor configured to cause the terminal device at least to:

transmit, to a network device, capability information associated with sensing at the terminal device; and

receive, from the network device, indication information indicating the terminal device to activate or deactivate at least one of:

at least one of a plurality of sensing operations,

at least one sensing resource set, or

at least one sensing resource.
The terminal device of claim 1, wherein the plurality of sensing operations comprise at least one of:

an operation of transmitting a sensing signal, or

an operation of receiving or monitoring a sensing signal,

and wherein the indication information comprises at least one of:

a first value indicating whether the at least one of the plurality of sensing operations is activated or deactivated,

at least one value indicating the at least one of the plurality of sensing operations, or

a first bitmap indicating a plurality of activation statuses for the plurality of sensing operations.
The terminal device of claim 1, wherein the indication information comprises at least one of:

a second value indicating whether the at least one sensing resource set is activated or deactivated,

a first index indicating the at least one sensing resource set,

a second bitmap indicating at least one activation status for the at least one sensing resource set, or

a first indication indicating whether the at least one sensing resource set is applied for the at least one of the plurality of sensing operations.
The terminal device of claim 1, wherein the indication information comprises at least one of:

a third value indicating whether the at least one sensing resource is activated or deactivated,

a second index indicating the at least one sensing resource,

a third bitmap indicating at least one activation status for the at least one sensing resource, or

a second indication indicating whether the at least one sensing resource is applied for the at least one of the plurality of sensing operations.
The terminal device of claim 1, wherein the indication information comprises at least one of:

a logical channel identity (LCID) or an extended LCID (eLCID) indicating a type of a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) , wherein the indication information is the MAC CE,

a cell ID indicating a serving cell the indication information applies for, or

a bandwidth part (BWP) ID indicating a BWP the indication information applies for.
The terminal device of claim 1, wherein the indication information further indicates a time period, and wherein the terminal device is further caused to perform at least one of:

activating or deactivating the at least one of the plurality of sensing operations for a duration of the time period,

activating or deactivating the at least one sensing resource set for the duration of the time period, or

activating or deactivating the at least one sensing resource for the duration of the time period,

and the indication information comprises at least one of:

an index of the time period,

the duration of the time period,

a start of the time period, or

an end of the time period.
The terminal device of claim 1, wherein the indication information further indicates a specific time, and wherein the terminal device is further caused to perform at least one of:

activating or deactivating the at least one of the plurality of sensing operations at the specific time,

activating or deactivating the at least one sensing resource set at the specific time, or

activating or deactivating the at least one sensing resource at the specific time.
The terminal device of claim 1, wherein the terminal device is further caused to:

receive, from the network device, a configuration indicating at least one of:

whether to enable the plurality of sensing operations,

a plurality of values of the plurality of sensing operations,

a plurality of indices of the plurality of sensing resources,

a plurality of indices of a plurality of sensing resource sets,

a plurality of indices of a plurality of time periods, or

an index of a default activated sensing resource set or a default activated sensing resource.
The terminal device of claim 1, wherein the capability information indicates at least one of:

whether the terminal device supports transmitting and receiving sensing signals simultaneously,

whether the terminal device supports an activation or deactivation of the at least one of the plurality of sensing operations,

whether the terminal device supports an activation or deactivation of the at least one sensing resource set,

whether the terminal device supports an activation or deactivation of the at least one sensing resource,

whether the terminal device supports sensing at least two sensing bands,

whether the terminal device supports sensing at least two sensing resource sets,

whether the terminal device supports sensing at least two sensing resources,

a maximum number of sensing bands the terminal device supports to sensing,

a maximum number of sensing resource sets the terminal device supports to sensing,

a maximum number of sensing resources the terminal device supports to sensing,

a list of sensing bands the terminal device supports, or

a list of combinations of sensing bands, wherein the terminal device supports to sensing the combinations of sensing bands.
A network device comprising at least one processor configured to cause the network device at least to:

receive, from a terminal device, capability information associated with sensing at the terminal device; and

transmit, to the terminal device, indication information indicating the terminal device to activate or deactivate at least one of:

at least one of a plurality of sensing operations,

at least one sensing resource set, or

at least one sensing resource.
The network device of claim 10, wherein the plurality of sensing operations comprise at least one of:

an operation of transmitting a sensing signal, or

an operation of receiving or monitoring a sensing signal,

and wherein the indication information comprises at least one of:

a first value indicating whether the at least one of the plurality of sensing operations is activated or deactivated,

at least one value indicating the at least one of the plurality of sensing operations, or

a first bitmap indicating a plurality of activation statuses for the plurality of sensing operations.
The network device of claim 10, wherein the indication information comprises at least one of:

a second value indicating whether the at least one sensing resource set is activated or deactivated,

a first index indicating the at least one sensing resource set,

a second bitmap indicating at least one activation status for the at least one sensing resource set, or

a first indication indicating whether the at least one sensing resource set is applied for the at least one of the plurality of sensing operations.
The network device of claim 10, wherein the indication information comprises at least one of:

a third value indicating whether the at least one sensing resource is activated or deactivated,

a second index indicating the at least one sensing resource,

a third bitmap indicating at least one activation status for the at least one sensing resource, or

a second indication indicating whether the at least one sensing resource is applied for the at least one of the plurality of sensing operations.
The network device of claim 10, wherein the indication information comprises at least one of:

a logical channel identity (LCID) or an extended LCID (eLCID) indicating a type of a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) , wherein the indication information is the MAC CE,

a cell identity (ID) indicating a serving cell the indication information applies for, or

a bandwidth part (BWP) ID indicating a BWP the indication information applies for.
The network device of claim 10, wherein the indication information comprises at least one of:

an index of a time period,

the duration of the time period,

a start of the time period,

an end of the time period, or

a specific time.
The network device of claim 10, wherein the network device is further caused to:

transmit, to the terminal device, a configuration indicating at least one of:

whether to enable the plurality of sensing operations,

a plurality of values of the plurality of sensing operations,

a plurality of indices of the plurality of sensing resources,

a plurality of indices of a plurality of sensing resource sets,

a plurality of indices of a plurality of time periods, or

an index of a default activated sensing resource set or a default activated sensing resource.
The network device of claim 10, wherein the capability information indicates at least one of:

whether the terminal device supports transmitting and receiving sensing signals simultaneously,

whether the terminal device supports an activation or deactivation of the at least one of the plurality of sensing operations,

whether the terminal device supports an activation or deactivation of the at least one sensing resource set,

whether the terminal device supports an activation or deactivation of the at least one sensing resource,

whether the terminal device supports sensing at least two sensing bands,

whether the terminal device supports sensing at least two sensing resource sets,

whether the terminal device supports sensing at least two sensing resources,

a maximum number of sensing bands the terminal device supports to sensing,

a maximum number of sensing resource sets the terminal device supports to sensing,

a maximum number of sensing resources the terminal device supports to sensing,

a list of sensing bands the terminal device supports, or

a list of combinations of sensing bands, wherein the terminal device supports to sensing the combinations of sensing bands.
A method of communication, comprising:

transmitting, at a terminal device to a network device, capability information associated with sensing at the terminal device;

receiving, from the network device, indication information indicating the terminal device to activate or deactivate at least one of:

at least one of a plurality of sensing operations,

at least one sensing resource set, or

at least one sensing resource.
A method of communication, comprising:

receiving, at a network device from a terminal device, capability information associated with sensing at the terminal device;

transmitting, to the terminal device, indication information indicating the terminal device to activate or deactivate at least one of:

at least one of a plurality of sensing operations,

at least one sensing resource set, or

at least one sensing resource.
A computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions, when executed by a processor of an apparatus, causing the apparatus to perform the method according to any of claims 18-19.