WO2025038611A2

WO2025038611A2 - Radio frequency sensing transmission scheduling

Info

Publication number: WO2025038611A2
Application number: PCT/US2024/042062
Authority: WO
Inventors: Stelios STEFANATOS; Arthur GUBESKYS; Shijun Wu; Kapil Gulati; Preeti Kumari
Original assignee: Qualcomm Inc
Current assignee: Qualcomm Inc
Priority date: 2023-08-16
Filing date: 2024-08-13
Publication date: 2025-02-20
Anticipated expiration: 2026-02-16
Also published as: WO2025038611A3

Abstract

A method, for establishing or using a resource allocation, includes: receiving, at a UE, the resource allocation indicating a plurality of first resources, for non-sensing signal transfer, and a plurality of second resources, for sensing signal transmission, each of the first resources comprising a first frequency-time combination and each of the second resources comprising a second frequency-time combination; and at least one of: overriding the resource allocation by transmitting at least one sensing signal using at least one of the plurality of first resources; and sending, from the UE to a network entity, a request for a plurality of third resources, each comprising a third frequency-time combination, for sensing signal transmission, and a tolerance indication indicating an ability of the UE to tolerate puncturing of at least one of the plurality of third resources.

Description

RADIO FREQUENCY SENSING TRANSMISSION SCHEDULING

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application claims the benefit of Greek Application No. 20230100674, filed August 16, 2023, entitled "RADIO FREQUENCY SENSING TRANSMISSION SCHEDULING," which is assigned to the assignee hereof, and the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.

BACKGROUND

[0002] Wireless communication systems have developed through various generations, including a first-generation analog wireless phone service (1G), a second-generation (2G) digital wireless phone service (including interim 2.5G and 2.7 5G networks), a third-generation (3G) high speed data, Internet-capable wireless service, a fourthgeneration (4G) service (e.g., Long Term Evolution (LTE) or WiMax®), a fifthgeneration (5G) service, etc. There are presently many different types of wireless communication systems in use, including Cellular and Personal Communications Service (PCS) systems. Examples of known cellular systems include the cellular Analog Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS), and digital cellular systems based on Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), the Global System for Mobile access (GSM) variation of TDMA, etc.

[0003] A fifth generation (5G) mobile standard calls for higher data transfer speeds, greater numbers of connections, and better coverage, among other improvements. Tire 5G standard, according to tire Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance, is designed to provide data rates of several tens of megabits per second to each of tens of thousands of users, with 1 gigabit per second to tens of workers on an office floor. Several hundreds of thousands of simultaneous connections should be supported in order to support large sensor deployments. Consequently, the spectral efficiency of 5G mobile communications should be significantly enhanced compared to tire current 4G standard. Furthennore, signaling efficiencies should be enhanced and latency should be substantially reduced compared to current standards.

-1-

RECTIFIED SHEET (RULE 91) ISA/EP [0004] As the bandwidth allocated for cellular communications systems (5G and 5G+) becomes larger and more use cases are introduced with cellular communications system, joint communication/RF (Radio Frequency) sensing (JCS) gains importance for cellular systems (for example, sixth-generation (6G) service). A JCS is an integrated system where each of one or more signals can be used to perform both wireless communications and radar sensing, e g., simultaneously. In a JCS, time/frequency/spatial radio resources are allocated to support two purposes (communication and sensing) in the integrated system. A JCS can improve cost efficiency for both radar and communication systems. In radar systems, probing signals are sent to uncooperative or cooperative targets, and useful information (e.g., ranges and directions to the target objects from a signal source) may be inferred from signal echoes from the target objects. In communication systems, information is transferred (and possibly exchanged) between two or more cooperative transceivers. Cooperative transceivers are able to receive signals transmitted by other cooperative transceivers. Uncooperative transceivers are unable or unwilling to receive signals from a particular signal source and/or to transmit signals capable of being processed by the signal source.

SUMMARY

[0005] An example UE (user equipment) includes: one or more memories; one or more transceivers; and one or more processors communicatively coupled to the one or more memories and the one or more transceivers; wherein the one or more processors are configured to receive, via the one or more transceivers, a resource allocation indicating a plurality of first resources, for non-sensing signal transfer, and a plurality of second resources, for sensing signal transmission, each of the first resources comprising a first frequency -time combination and each of the second resources comprising a second frequency -time combination; wherein: the one or more processors are configured to override the resource allocation to transmit at least one sensing signal using at least one of the plurality of first resources; or the one or more processors are configured to: send, via the one or more transceivers, a request for a plurality⁷ of third resources, each comprising a third frequency -time combination, for sensing signal transmission; and send, via the one or more transceivers, a tolerance indication indicating an ability of the UE to tolerate puncturing of at least one of the plurality of third resources; or a combination thereof. [0006] An example method, for establishing or using a resource allocation, includes: receiving, at a UE, the resource allocation indicating a plurality of first resources, for non-sensing signal transfer, and a plurality of second resources, for sensing signal transmission, each of the first resources comprising a first frequency -time combination and each of the second resources comprising a second frequency -time combination; and at least one of: overriding the resource allocation by transmitting at least one sensing signal using at least one of the plurality of first resources; and sending, from the UE to a network entity, a request for a plurality of third resources, each comprising a third frequency-time combination, for sensing signal transmission, and a tolerance indication indicating an ability of the UE to tolerate puncturing of at least one of the plurality of third resources.

[0007] Anther example UE includes: means for receiving the resource allocation indicating a plurality of first resources, for non-sensing signal transfer, and a plurality of second resources, for sensing signal transmission, each of the first resources comprising a first frequency -time combination and each of the second resources comprising a second frequency -time combination; and at least one of: means for overriding the resource allocation by transmitting at least one sensing signal using at least one of the plurality of first resources; and means for sending, to a network entity, a request for a plurality of third resources, each comprising a third frequency-time combination, for sensing signal transmission, and a tolerance indication indicating an ability of the UE to tolerate puncturing of at least one of the plurality⁷ of third resources.

[0008] An example non-transitory, processor-readable storage medium includes processor-readable instructions to cause one or more processors of a UE to: receive the resource allocation indicating a plurality⁷ of first resources, for non-sensing signal transfer, and a plurality of second resources, for sensing signal transmission, each of the first resources comprising a first frequency -time combination and each of the second resources comprising a second frequency-time combination; and at least one of: processor-readable instructions to cause the one or more processors to override the resource allocation by transmitting at least one sensing signal using at least one of the plurality of first resources; and processor-readable instructions to cause the one or more processors to send, to a network entity, a request for a plurality of third resources, each comprising a third frequency -time combination, for sensing signal transmission, and a tolerance indication indicating an ability of the UE to tolerate puncturing of at least one of the plurality of third resources.

[0009] An example network entity includes: one or more memories; one or more transceivers; and one or more processors communicatively coupled to the one or more memories and the one or more transceivers and configured to: receive, via the one or more transceivers from a UE, a first indication that indicates a request for a plurality of first resources, for sensing signal transmission, each of the plurality of first resources comprising a first frequency -time combination; receive, via the one or more transceivers from the UE. a second indication that indicates an ability of the UE to tolerate puncturing of at least one of the plurality of first resources; determine, based on the second indication, a resource allocation, for the UE, indicating a plurality of second resources, for non-sensing signal transfer, and indicating a plurality of third resources, for sensing signal transmission, at least one of the plurality of second resources comprising a corresponding at least one of the plurality of first resources, each of the plurality of second resources comprising a second frequency-time combination and each of the plurality of third resources comprising a third frequency-time combination; and transmit the resource allocation to the UE via the one or more transceivers.

[0010] An example resource allocation determination method includes: receiving, at a network entity from a UE, a first indication indicating a request for a plurality of first resources, for sensing signal transmission, each of the plurality of first resources comprising a first frequency -time combination; receiving, at the network entity, a second indication indicating an ability of the UE to tolerate puncturing of at least one of the plurality of first resources; determining, at the network entity and based on the second indication, a resource allocation, for the UE, indicating a plurality of first second resources, for non-sensing signal transfer, and indicating a plurality of third resources, for sensing signal transmission, at least one of the plurality of second resources comprising a corresponding at least one of the plurality of first resources, each of the plurality of second resources comprising a second frequency -time combination and each of the plurality of third resources comprising a third frequency-time combination; and transmitting, from the network entity, the resource allocation to the UE.

[0011] Another example network entity includes: means for receiving, from a UE, a first indication indicating a request for a plurality of first resources, for sensing signal transmission, each of the plurality of first resources comprising a first frequency-time combination; means for receiving a second indication indicating an ability of the UE to tolerate puncturing of at least one of the plurality of first resources; means for determining, based on the second indication, a resource allocation, for the UE, indicating a plurality of first second resources, for non-sensing signal transfer, and indicating a plurality of third resources, for sensing signal transmission, at least one of the plurality of second resources comprising a corresponding at least one of the plurality of first resources, each of the plurality of second resources comprising a second frequency -time combination and each of the plurality of third resources comprising a third frequency -time combination; and means for transmitting the resource allocation to the UE.

[0012] Another example non-transitory, processor-readable storage medium includes processor-readable instructions to cause one or more processors of a network entity to: receive, from a UE, a first indication indicating a request for a plurality of first resources, for sensing signal transmission, each of the plurality of first resources comprising a first frequency -time combination; receive a second indication indicating an ability of the UE to tolerate puncturing of at least one of the plurality' of first resources; determine, based on the second indication, a resource allocation, for the UE, indicating a plurality of first second resources, for non-sensing signal transfer, and indicating a plurality of third resources, for sensing signal transmission, at least one of the plurality of second resources comprising a corresponding at least one of the plurality of first resources, each of the plurality of second resources comprising a second frequency -time combination and each of the plurality of third resources comprising a third frequency -time combination; and transmit the resource allocation to the UE.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0013] FIG. 1 is a simplified diagram of an example wireless communications system. [0014] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of components of an example user equipment shown in FIG. 1.

[0015] FIG. 3 is a block diagram of components of an example transmission/reception point shown in FIG. 1.

[0016] FIG. 4 is a block diagram of components of an example server shown in FIG. 1.

[0017] FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a user equipment.

[0018] FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a network entity/

[0019] FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a monostatic sensing system.

[0020] FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a bistatic sensing system.

[0021] FIG. 9 is a block diagram of a multi-static sensing system.

[0022] FIG. 10 is a block diagram of another multi-static sensing system.

[0023] FIG. 11 is a signal and processing flow diagram for determining range to and/or velocity of a target object using radio frequency sensing.

[0024] FIG. 12 is a timing diagram of an overridden requested sensing signal transfer schedule with punctured sensing cycles.

[0025] FIG. 13 is a timing diagram of an overridden signal transfer schedule with overridden non-sensing signal transfer opportunities.

[0026] FIG. 14 is a block flow diagram of a method for establishing or using a signal transfer schedule.

[0027] FIG. 15 is a block flow diagram of a signal transfer scheduling method.

[0028] FIG. 16 is a timing diagram of signal transfer slots.

[0029] FIG. 17 is a timing diagram of a sensing signal configuration w ith a periodic transmission pattern.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0030] Techniques are discussed herein for determining and/or overriding requested and/or allocated signal transmission resources. For example, a requested set of signal transmission configuration may be overridden to puncture one or more requested opportunities for sensing signal transmission such that no sensing signal is transmitted one or more requested sensing signal transmission resources, e.g., with a user equipment (UE) transmitting a non-sensing signal using the requested sensing signal transmission resource(s) or the UE not transmitting a signal using the requested resource(s). As another example, puncturing of one or more resources requested for sensing signal transmission may be subject to a condition or subject to multiple conditions. As another example, one or more UEs may provide information to a network enti ty as to a type and a level of puncturing of requested sensing signal transmissions that the respective UE can afford. The network entity may use the information from the UE(s) to decide what resources to allocate for sensing signal transmission from the UE(s). As another example, a UE (user equipment) may override a resource allocation (that complies with a time domain duplex (TDD) signal transfer configuration) to transmit a sensing signal using one or more resources allocated for a use other than sensing signal transmission. Other configurations/implementations, however, may be used.

[0031] Items and/or techniques described herein may provide one or more of the following capabilities, as well as other capabilities not mentioned. Sensing performance criteria may be met despite a fewer sensing signal transmission resources being allocated than requested. Non-sensing signal transmission may be used in lieu of requested sensing signal transmission based on lack of transmission of the sensing signal being acceptable to a user equipment. Sensing performance criteria may be met by performing, under one or more conditions, sensing transmission over resources not nominally allowed for sensing transmissions. Other capabilities may be provided and not every implementation according to the disclosure must provide any, let alone all, of the capabilities discussed.

[0032] Obtaining the locations of mobile devices that are accessing a wireless network may be useful for many applications including, for example, emergency calls, personal navigation, consumer asset tracking, locating a friend or family member, etc. Existing positioning methods include methods based on measuring radio signals transmitted from a variety of devices or entities including satellite vehicles (SVs) and terrestrial radio sources in a wireless network such as base stations and access points. It is expected that standardization for the 5G wireless netw orks will include support for various positioning methods, which may utilize reference signals transmitted by base stations in a manner similar to which LTE wireless networks currently utilize Positioning Reference Signals (PRS) and/or Cell-specific Reference Signals (CRS) for position determination. [0033] Radio frequency sensing (RF sensing) may be used to determine information about an environment of a device. In RF sensing, an RF signal is transmitted by a transmitter, reflected off a target object, and received by a receiver. The received signal may be used to determine characteristics of the target object, e.g.. location, size, material, movement, etc. RF sensing may be achieved using various techniques such as radar, radio frequency identification (RFID), and/or wireless sensor networks. In RFID techniques, RF signals may be used for identification and/or tracking. Tags or transponders that contain a unique identifier may communicate with RFID readers using RF signals. By placing the RFID tags on objects, the objects may be identified, tracked, and managed. RF sensing may be used for a variety of applications such as automotive (collision avoidance, autonomous driving, adaptive cruise control, etc.), surveillance and security⁷, obj ect detection, inventory management, medication management, environmental monitoring, etc.

[0034] The description herein may refer to sequences of actions to be performed, for example, by elements of a computing device. Various actions described herein can be performed by specific circuits (e.g., an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC)), by program instructions being executed by one or more processors, or by a combination of both. Sequences of actions described herein may be embodied within a non- transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon a corresponding set of computer instructions that upon execution would cause an associated processor to perform the functionality⁷ described herein. Thus, the various examples described herein may be embodied in a number of different forms, all of which are within the scope of the disclosure, including claimed subject matter.

[0035] As used herein, the terms "user equipment" (UE) and "base station" are not specific to or otherwise limited to any particular Radio Access Technology⁷ (RAT), unless otherwise noted. In general, a UE may be any wireless communication device (e.g.. a mobile phone, router, tablet computer, laptop computer, consumer asset tracking device, Internet of Things (ToT) device, etc.) used to communicate over a wireless communications network. A UE may be mobile or may (e.g., at certain times) be stationary⁷, and may communicate with a Radio Access Network (RAN). As used herein, the term "UE" may be referred to interchangeably as an "access terminal" or "AT," a "client device," a "wireless device," a "subscriber device," a "subscriber terminal," a "subscriber station," a "user terminal" or UT, a "mobile terminal," a "mobile station," a "mobile device," or variations thereof. Generally, UEs can communicate with a core network via a RAN, and through the core network the UEs can be connected with external networks such as the Internet and with other UEs. Of course, other mechanisms of connecting to the core network and/or the Internet are also possible for the UEs, such as over wired access networks, WiFi® networks (e.g., based on IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) 802.11, etc.) and so on.

[0036] A base station may operate according to one of several RATs in communication with UEs depending on the network in which it is deployed. Examples of a base station include an Access Point (AP), a Network Node. a NodeB, an evolved NodeB (eNB). or a general Node B (gNodeB, gNB). In addition, in some systems a base station may provide purely edge node signaling functions while in other systems it may provide additional control and/or network management functions.

[0037] UEs may be embodied by any of a number of types of devices including but not limited to printed circuit (PC) cards, compact flash devices, external or internal modems, wireless or wireline phones, smartphones, tablets, consumer asset tracking devices, asset tags, and so on. A communication link through which UEs can send signals to a RAN is called an uplink channel (e.g., a reverse traffic channel, a reverse control channel, an access channel, etc.). A communication link through which the RAN can send signals to UEs is called a downlink or forward link channel (e.g., a paging channel, a control channel, a broadcast channel, a forward traffic channel, etc.). As used herein the term traffic channel (TCH) can refer to either an uplink / reverse or downlink / forward traffic channel.

[0038] As used herein, the term "cell" or "sector" may correspond to one of a plurality of cells of a base station, or to the base station itself, depending on the context. The term "cell" may refer to a logical communication entity⁷ used for communication with a base station (for example, over a carrier), and may be associated with an identifier for distinguishing neighboring cells (for example, a phy sical cell identifier (PCID), a virtual cell identifier (VCID)) operating via the same or a different carrier. In some examples, a carrier may support multiple cells, and different cells may be configured according to different protocol types (for example, machine-type communication (MTC), narrowband Intemet-of-Things (NB-IoT), enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), or others) that may provide access for different types of devices. In some examples, the term "cell" may refer to a portion of a geographic coverage area (for example, a sector) over which the logical entity operates.

[0039] Referring to FIG. 1, an example of a communication system 100 includes a UE 105, a UE 106. a Radio Access Network (RAN), here a Fifth Generation (5G) Next Generation (NG) RAN (NG-RAN) 135. a 5G Core Network (5GC) 140, and a server 150. The UE 105 and/or the UE 106 may be, e.g., an loT device, a location tracker device, a cellular telephone, a vehicle (e.g., a car, a truck, a bus, a boat, etc.), or another device. A 5G network may also be referred to as a New Radio (NR) network; NG-RAN 135 may be referred to as a 5G RAN or as an NR RAN: and 5GC 140 may be referred to as an NG Core network (NGC). Standardization of an NG-RAN and 5GC is ongoing in the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). Accordingly, the NG-RAN 135 and the 5GC 140 may conform to current or future standards for 5G support from 3GPP. The NG-RAN 135 may be another type of RAN, e.g.. a 3G RAN. a 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) RAN, etc. The UE 106 may be configured and coupled similarly to the UE 105 to send and/or receive signals to/from similar other entities in the system 100, but such signaling is not indicated in FIG. 1 for the sake of simplicity of the figure. Similarly, the discussion focuses on the UE 105 for the sake of simplicity. The communication system 100 may utilize information from a constellation 185 of satellite vehicles (SVs) 190, 191, 192, 193 for a Satellite Positioning System (SPS) (e.g., a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)) like the Global Positioning System (GPS), the Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS), Galileo, or Beidou or some other local or regional SPS such as the Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System (IRNSS), the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), or the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS). Additional components of the communication system 100 are described below. The communication system 100 may include additional or alternative components.

[0040] As shown in FIG. 1, the NG-RAN 135 includes NR nodeBs (gNBs) 110a, 110b, and a next generation eNodeB (ng-eNB) 114, and the 5GC 140 includes an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) 115, a Session Management Function (SMF) 117, network entities 116 (including a sensing entity 118, and a Location Management Function (LMF) 120), and a Gateway Mobile Location Center (GMLC) 125. The gNBs 110a, 110b and the ng-eNB 114 are communicatively coupled to each other, are each configured to bi-directionally wirelessly communicate with the UE 105, and are each communicatively coupled to, and configured to bi-directionally communicate with, the AMF 115. The gNBs 110a, 110b, and the ng-eNB 114 may be referred to as base stations (BSs). The AMF 115, the SMF 117, the network entities 116, and the GMLC 125 are communicatively coupled to each other, and the GMLC is communicatively coupled to an external client 130. The SMF 117 may serve as an initial contact point of a Service Control Function (SCF) (not shown) to create, control, and delete media sessions. Base stations such as the gNBs 110a, 110b and/or the ng-eNB 114 may be a macro cell (e.g., a high-power cellular base station), or a small cell (e.g., a low-power cellular base station), or an access point (e.g., a short-range base station configured to communicate with short-range technology such as WiFi®, WiFi®-Direct (WiFi®-D), Bluetooth®, Bluetooth®-low energy' (BLE), Zigbee®, etc. One or more base stations, e.g., one or more of the gNBs 110a, 110b and/or the ng-eNB 114 may be configured to communicate with the UE 105 via multiple carriers. Each of the gNBs 110a. 110b and/or the ng-eNB 114 may provide communication coverage for a respective geographic region, e.g., a cell. Each cell may be partitioned into multiple sectors as a function of the base station antennas.

[0041] FIG. 1 provides a generalized illustration of various components, any or all of which may be utilized as appropriate, and each of which may be duplicated or omitted as necessary. Specifically, although one UE 105 is illustrated, many UEs (e.g., hundreds, thousands, millions, etc.) may be utilized in the communication system 100. Similarly, the communication system 100 may include a larger (or smaller) number of SVs (i.e.. more or fewer than the four SVs 190-193 shown), gNBs 110a, 110b, ng-eNBs 114, AMFs 115, external clients 130, and/or other components. The illustrated connections that connect the various components in the communication system 100 include data and signaling connections which may include additional (intermediary) components, direct or indirect physical and/or wireless connections, and/or additional networks. Furthermore, components may be rearranged, combined, separated, substituted, and/or omitted, depending on desired functionality.

[0042] While FIG. 1 illustrates a 5G-based network, similar network implementations and configurations may be used for other communication technologies, such as 3G, Long Term Evolution (LTE), etc. Implementations described herein (be they for 5G technology and/or for one or more other communication technologies and/or protocols) may be used to transmit (or broadcast) directional synchronization signals, receive and measure directional signals at UEs (e.g., the UE 105) and/or provide location assistance to the UE 105 (via the GMLC 125 or other location server) and/or compute a location for the UE 105 at a location-capable device such as the UE 105, the gNB 110a, 110b, or the EMF 120 based on measurement quantities received at the UE 105 for such directionally-transmitted signals. The gateway mobile location center (GMLC) 125. the location management function (LMF) 120, the access and mobility management function (AMF) 115, the SMF 117, the ng-eNB (eNodeB) 114 and the gNBs (gNodeBs) 110a. 110b are examples and may, in various embodiments, be replaced by or include various other location server functionality and/or base station functionality respectively. [0043] The system 100 is capable of wireless communication in that components of the system 100 can communicate with one another (at least some times using wireless connections) directly or indirectly, e.g., via the gNBs 110a, 110b, the ng-eNB 114, and/or the 5GC 140 (and/or one or more other devices not shown, such as one or more other base transceiver stations). For indirect communications, the communications may be altered during transmission from one entity to another, e.g., to alter header information of data packets, to change format, etc. The UE 105 may include multiple UEs and may be a mobile wireless communication device, but may communicate wirelessly and via wired connections. The UE 105 may be any of a variety of devices, e g., a smartphone, a tablet computer, a vehicle-based device, etc., but these are examples as the UE 105 is not required to be any of these configurations, and other configurations of UEs may be used. Other UEs may include wearable devices (e.g., smart watches, smart jewelry, smart glasses or headsets, etc.). Still other UEs may be used, whether currently existing or developed in the future. Further, other wireless devices (whether mobile or not) may be implemented within the system 100 and may communicate with each other and/or with the UE 105, the gNBs 110a, 110b, the ng- eNB 114, the 5GC 140, and/or the external client 130. For example, such other devices may include internet of thing (loT) devices, medical devices, home entertainment and/or automation devices, etc. The 5GC 140 may communicate with the external client 130 (e.g., a computer system), e.g., to allow the external client 130 to request and/or receive location information regarding the UE 105 (e.g., via the GMLC 125).

[0044] The UE 105 or other devices may be configured to communicate in various networks and/or for various purposes and/or using various technologies (e.g., 5G, WiFi® communication, multiple frequencies of Wi-Fi® communication, satellite positioning, one or more types of communications (e.g., GSM (Global System for Mobiles), CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), LTE (Long Term Evolution), V2X (Vehicle-to-Everything, e.g., V2P (Vehicle-to-Pedestrian), V2I (Vehicle-to- Infrastructure). V2V (Vehicle-to-Vehicle), etc.), IEEE 802. l ip. etc.). V2X communications may be cellular (Cellular-V2X (C-V2X)) and/or WiFi® (e.g.. DSRC (Dedicated Short-Range Connection)). The system 100 may support operation on multiple carriers (waveform signals of different frequencies). Multi-carrier transmitters can transmit modulated signals simultaneously on the multiple carriers. Each modulated signal may be a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) signal, a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) signal, an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) signal, a Single-Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC- FDMA) signal, etc. Each modulated signal may be sent on a different carrier and maycarry pilot, overhead information, data, etc. The UEs 105, 106 may communicate with each other through UE-to-UE sidelmk (SL) communications by transmitting over one or more sidelink channels such as a physical sidelink synchronization channel (PSSCH), a physical sidelink broadcast channel (PSBCH), or a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH). Direct wireless-device-to-wireless-device communications without going through a network may be referred to generally as sidelink communications without limiting the communications to a particular protocol.

[0045] The UE 105 may comprise and/or may be referred to as a device, a mobile device, a wireless device, a mobile terminal, a terminal, a mobile station (MS), a Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) Enabled Terminal (SET), or by some other name. Moreover, the UE 105 may correspond to a cellphone, smartphone, laptop, tablet, PDA, consumer asset tracking device, navigation device, Internet of Things (loT) device, health monitors, security- systems, smart city- sensors, smart meters, wearable trackers, or some other portable or moveable device. Typically, though not necessarily, the UE 105 may support wireless communication using one or more Radio Access Technologies (RATs) such as Global System for Mobile communication (GSM), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Wideband CDMA (WCDMA), LTE, High Rate Packet Data (HRPD), IEEE 802.11 WiFi® (also referred to as Wi-Fi®), Bluetooth® (BT). Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax®). 5G new radio (NR) (e.g., using the NG-RAN 135 and the 5GC 140), etc. The UE 105 may support wireless communication using a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) which may connect to other networks (e.g., the Internet) using a Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) or packet cable, for example. The use of one or more of these RATs may allow the UE 105 to communicate with the external client 130 (e.g., via elements of the 5GC 140 not shown in FIG. 1, or possibly via the GMLC 125) and/or allow the external client 130 to receive location information regarding the UE 105 (e.g., via the GMLC 125).

[0046] The UE 105 may include a single entity or may include multiple entities such as in a personal area network where a user may employ audio, video and/or data I/O (input/output) devices and/or body sensors and a separate wireline or wireless modem. An estimate of a location of the UE 105 may be referred to as a location, location estimate, location fix, fix, position, position estimate, or position fix, and may be geographic, thus providing location coordinates for the UE 105 (e.g., latitude and longitude) which may or may not include an altitude component (e.g., height above sea level, height above or depth below ground level, floor level, or basement level). Alternatively, a location of the UE 105 may be expressed as a civic location (e.g., as a postal address or the designation of some point or small area in a building such as a particular room or floor). A location of the UE 105 may be expressed as an area or volume (defined either geographically or in civic form) within which the UE 105 is expected to be located with some probability or confidence level (e.g., 67%, 95%, etc.). A location of the UE 105 may be expressed as a relative location comprising, for example, a distance and direction from a known location. The relative location may be expressed as relative coordinates (e.g., X, Y (and Z) coordinates) defined relative to some origin at a known location which may be defined, e.g., geographically, in civic terms, or by reference to a point, area, or volume, e.g., indicated on a map, floor plan, or building plan. In the description contained herein, the use of the term location may comprise any of these variants unless indicated otherwise. When computing the location of a UE. it is common to solve for local x, y, and possibly z coordinates and then, if desired, convert the local coordinates into absolute coordinates (e.g., for latitude, longitude, and altitude above or below mean sea level).

[0047] The UE 105 may be configured to communicate with other entities using one or more of a variety of technologies. The UE 105 may be configured to connect indirectly to one or more communication networks via one or more device-to-device (D2D) peer- to-peer (P2P) links. The D2D P2P links may be supported with any appropriate D2D radio access technology (RAT), such as LTE Direct (LTE-D), WiFi® Direct (WiFi®- D), Bluetooth®, and so on. One or more of a group of UEs utilizing D2D communications may be within a geographic coverage area of a Transmission/Reception Point (TRP) such as one or more of the gNBs 110a, 110b, and/or the ng-eNB 114. Other UEs in such a group may be outside such geographic coverage areas, or may be otherwise unable to receive transmissions from a base station. Groups of UEs communicating via D2D communications may utilize a one-to-many (1 :M) system in which each UE may transmit to other UEs in the group. A TRP may facilitate scheduling of resources for D2D communications. In other cases, D2D communications may be carried out between UEs without the involvement of a TRP. One or more of a group of UEs utilizing D2D communications may be within a geographic coverage area of a TRP. Other UEs in such a group may be outside such geographic coverage areas, or be otherwise unable to receive transmissions from a base station. Groups of UEs communicating via D2D communications may utilize a one-to- many (1 :M) system in which each UE may transmit to other UEs in the group. A TRP may facilitate scheduling of resources for D2D communications. In other cases, D2D communications may be carried out between UEs without the involvement of a TRP. [0048] Base stations (BSs) in the NG-RAN 135 shown in FIG. 1 include NR Node Bs. referred to as the gNBs 110a and 110b. Pairs of the gNBs 110a, 110b in the NG-RAN 135 may be connected to one another via one or more other gNBs. Access to the 5G network is provided to the UE 105 via wireless communication between the UE 105 and one or more of the gNBs 110a, 110b, which may provide wireless communications access to the 5GC 140 on behalf of the UE 105 using 5G. In FIG. 1, the serving gNB for the UE 105 is assumed to be the gNB 110a, although another gNB (e.g., the gNB 110b) may act as a serving gNB if the UE 105 moves to another location or may act as a secondary gNB to provide additional throughput and bandwidth to the UE 105. [0049] Base stations (BSs) in the NG-RAN 135 shown in FIG. 1 may include the ng- eNB 114, also referred to as a next generation evolved Node B. The ng-eNB 114 may be connected to one or more of the gNBs 1 10a, 1 10b in the NG-RAN 135, possibly via one or more other gNBs and/or one or more other ng-eNBs. The ng-eNB 114 may provide LTE wireless access and/or evolved LTE (eLTE) wireless access to the UE 105. One or more of the gNBs 110a, 110b and/or the ng-eNB 114 may be configured to function as positioning-only beacons which may transmit signals to assist with determining the position of the UE 105 but may not receive signals from the UE 105 or from other UEs.

[0050] The gNBs 110a, 110b and/or the ng-eNB 114 may each comprise one or more TRPs. For example, each sector within a cell of a BS may comprise a TRP, although multiple TRPs may share one or more components (e.g., share a processor but have separate antennas). The system 100 may include macro TRPs exclusively or the system 100 may have TRPs of different types, e.g., macro, pico, and/or femto TRPs, etc. A macro TRP may cover a relatively large geographic area (e.g., several kilometers in radius) and may allow unrestricted access by terminals with service subscription. A pico TRP may cover a relatively small geographic area (e.g., a pico cell) and may allow unrestricted access by terminals with service subscription. A femto or home TRP may cover a relatively small geographic area (e.g., a femto cell) and may allow restricted access by terminals having association with the femto cell (e.g., terminals for users in a home).

[0051] Each of the gNBs 110a, 110b and/or the ng-eNB 114 may include a radio unit (RU), a distributed unit (DU), and a central unit (CU). For example, the gNB 110b includes an RU 111, a DU 112, and a CU 113. The RU 111, DU 112, and CU 113 divide functionality of the gNB 110b. While the gNB 110b is shown with a single RU, a single DU, and a single CU, a gNB may include one or more RUs, one or more DUs, and/or one or more CUs. An interface between the CU 113 and the DU 112 is referred to as an Fl interface. The RU 111 is configured to perform digital front end (DFE) functions (e.g.. analog-to-digital conversion, filtering, power amplification, transmission/reception) and digital beamforming, and includes a portion of the physical (PHY) layer. The RU 111 may perform the DFE using massive multiple input/multiple output (MIMO) and may be integrated with one or more antennas of the gNB 110b. The DU 112 hosts the Radio Link Control (RLC), Medium Access Control (MAC), and physical layers of the gNB 1 10b. One DU can support one or more cells, and each cell is supported by a single DU. The operation of the DU 1 12 is controlled by the CU 1 13. The CU 113 is configured to perform functions for transferring user data, mobility control, radio access network sharing, positioning, session management, etc. although some functions are allocated exclusively to the DU 112. The CU 113 hosts the Radio Resource Control (RRC), Sendee Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP), and Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) protocols of the gNB 110b. The UE 105 may communicate with the CU 1 13 via RRC, SDAP, and PDCP layers, with the DU 112 via the RLC, MAC, and PHY layers, and with the RU 111 via the PHY layer.

[0052] As noted, while FIG. 1 depicts nodes configured to communicate according to 5G communication protocols, nodes configured to communicate according to other communication protocols, such as, for example, an LTE protocol or IEEE 802. 1 lx protocol, may be used. For example, in an Evolved Packet System (EPS) providing LTE wireless access to the UE 105, a RAN may comprise an Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) which may comprise base stations comprising evolved Node Bs (eNBs). A core network for EPS may comprise an Evolved Packet Core (EPC). An EPS may comprise an E-UTRAN plus EPC, where the E-UTRAN corresponds to the NG-RAN 135 and the EPC corresponds to the 5GC 140 in FIG. 1.

[0053] The gNBs 110a, 110b and the ng-eNB 114 may communicate with the AMF 115, which, for positioning functionality, communicates with the LMF 120. The AMF 115 may support mobility of the UE 105, including cell change and handover and may participate in supporting a signaling connection to the UE 105 and possibly data and voice bearers for the UE 105. The sensing entity 118 and the LMF 120 may communicate directly with the UE 105, e.g., through wireless communications, or directly with the gNBs 110a, 110b and/or the ng-eNB 1 14. The sensing entity 118 may support RF sensing operations and process RF sensing requests, e.g., by determining and providing sensing signal configurations. The LMF 120 may support positioning of the UE 105 when the UE 105 accesses the NG-RAN 135 and may support position procedures / methods such as Assisted GNSS (A-GNSS), Observed Time Difference of Arrival (OTDOA) (e.g., Downlink (DL) OTDOA or Uplink (UL) OTDOA), Round Trip Time (RTT), Multi-Cell RTT, Real Time Kinematic (RTK), Precise Point Positioning (PPP), Differential GNSS (DGNSS), Enhanced Cell ID (E-CID), angle of arrival (AoA). angle of departure (AoD), and/or other position methods. The LMF 120 mayprocess location sendees requests for the UE 105, e g., received from the AMF 1 15 or from the GMLC 125. The LMF 120 may be connected to the AMF 115 and/or to the GMLC 125. The LMF 120 may be referred to by other names such as a Location Manager (LM), Location Function (LF). commercial LMF (CLMF), or value added LMF (VLMF). A node / system that implements the LMF 120 may additionally or alternatively implement other types of location-support modules, such as an Enhanced Serving Mobile Location Center (E-SMLC) or a Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) Location Platform (SLP). At least part of the positioning functionality (including derivation of the location of the UE 105) may be performed at the UE 105 (e.g., using signal measurements obtained by the UE 105 for signals transmitted by wireless nodes such as the gNBs 110a, 110b and/or the ng-eNB 114, and/or assistance data provided to the UE 105, e.g., by the LMF 120). The AMF 115 may serve as a control node that processes signaling between the UE 105 and the 5GC 140, and may provide QoS (Quality of Service) flow and session management. The AMF 115 may support mobility of the UE 105 including cell change and handover and may participate in supporting signaling connection to the UE 105.

[0054] The server 150, e.g., a cloud server, is configured to obtain and provide location estimates, sensing information, and/or information provided by the UE 105 to the external client 130. The server 150 may, for example, be configured to run a microservice/service that obtains the location estimate of the UE 105. The server 150 may, for example, pull the location estimate from (e.g., by sending a location request to) the UE 105, one or more of the gNBs 110a, 110b (e.g., via the RU 111, the DU 112, and the CU 113) and/or the ng-eNB 114, and/or the LMF 120. As another example, the UE 105, one or more of the gNBs 110a, 110b (e.g., via the RU 111, the DU 112, and the CU 113), and/or the LMF 120 may push the location estimate of the UE 105 to the server 150.

[0055] The GMLC 125 may support a location request for the UE 105 received from the external client 130 via the server 150 and may forward such a location request to the AMF 1 15 for forwarding by the AMF 115 to the LMF 120 or may forward the location request directly to the LMF 120. A location response from the LMF 120 (e.g., containing a location estimate for the UE 105) may be returned to the GMLC 125 either directly or via the AMF 115 and the GMLC 125 may then return the location response (e.g.. containing the location estimate) to the external client 130 via the server 150. The GMLC 125 is shown connected to both the AMF 1 15 and LMF 120, though may not be connected to the AMF 115 or the LMF 120 in some implementations.

[0056] As further illustrated in FIG. 1, the network entities 116 may communicate with the gNBs 110a, 110b and/or the ng-eNB 114 using a New Radio Position Protocol A (which may be referred to as NPPa or NRPPa), which may be defined in 3GPP Technical Specification (TS) 38.455. NRPPa may be the same as, similar to, or an extension of the LTE Positioning Protocol A (LPPa) defined in 3GPP TS 36.455, with NRPPa messages being transferred between the gNB 110a (or the gNB 110b) and the network entities 116, and/or between the ng-eNB 114 and the network entities 116, via the AMF 115. As further illustrated in FIG. 1, the network entities 116 and the UE 105 may communicate using an LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP), which may be defined in 3GPP TS 36.355. The network entities 116 and the UE 105 may also or instead communicate using a New Radio Positioning Protocol (which may be referred to as NPP or NRPP), which may be the same as, similar to, or an extension of LPP. Here, LPP and/or NPP messages may be transferred between the UE 105 and the network entities 1 16 via the AMF 115 and the serving gNB 110a, 110b or the serving ng-eNB 114 for the UE 105. For example, LPP and/or NPP messages may be transferred between the LMF 120 and the AMF 115 using a 5G Location Services Application Protocol (LCS AP) and may be transferred between the AMF 115 and the UE 105 using a 5G Non-Access Stratum (NAS) protocol. The LPP and/or NPP protocol may be used to support positioning of the UE 105 using UE-assisted and/or UE-based position methods such as A-GNSS, RTK, OTDOA and/or E-CID. The NRPPa protocol may be used to support positioning of the UE 105 using network-based position methods such as E-CID (e.g.. when used with measurements obtained by the gNB 110a, 110b or the ng-eNB 114) and/or may be used by the LMF 120 to obtain location related information from the gNBs 110a, 110b and/or the ng-eNB 114, such as parameters defining directional SS or PRS transmissions from the gNBs 110a, 110b, and/or the ng-eNB 114. One or more of the network entities 116 may be co-located or integrated with a gNB or a TRP, or may be disposed remote from the gNB and/or the TRP and configured to communicate directly or indirectly with the gNB and/or the TRP.

[0057] With a UE-assisted position method, the UE 105 may obtain location measurements and send the measurements to a location server (e.g., the LMF 120) for computation of a location estimate for the UE 105. For example, the location measurements may include one or more of a Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI), Round Trip signal propagation Time (RTT), Reference Signal Time Difference (RSTD), Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) and/or Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ) for the gNBs 110a, 110b. the ng-eNB 114. and/or a WLAN AP. The location measurements may also or instead include measurements of GNSS pseudorange, code phase, and/or carrier phase for the SVs 190-193. [0058] With a UE-based position method, the UE 105 may obtain location measurements (e.g., which may be the same as or similar to location measurements for a UE-assisted position method) and may compute a location of the UE 105 (e.g., with the help of assistance data received from a location server such as the LMF 120 or broadcast by the gNBs 110a. 110b, the ng-eNB 114, or other base stations or APs). [0059] With a network-based position method, one or more base stations (e.g., the gNBs 110a, 110b, and/or the ng-eNB 114) or APs may obtain location measurements (e.g., measurements of RSSI, RTT, RSRP, RSRQ or Time of Arrival (ToA) for signals transmitted by the UE 105) and/or may receive measurements obtained by the UE 105. The one or more base stations or APs may send the measurements to a location server (e.g., the LMF 120) for computation of a location estimate for the UE 105.

[0060] Information provided by the gNBs 110a, 110b, and/or the ng-eNB 114 to the LMF 120 using NRPPa may include timing and configuration information for directional SS or PRS transmissions and location coordinates. The LMF 120 may provide some or all of this information to the UE 105 as assistance data in an LPP and/or NPP message via the NG-RAN 135 and the 5GC 140.

[0061] An LPP or NPP message sent from the network entities 116 to the UE 105 may instruct the UE 105 to do any of a variety of things depending on desired functionality. For example, the LPP or NPP message could contain an instruction for the UE 105 to obtain measurements for GNSS (or A-GNSS), WLAN, E-CID, and/or OTDOA (or some other position method). In the case of E-CID, the LPP or NPP message may instruct the UE 105 to obtain one or more measurement quantities (e.g., beam ID, beam width, mean angle, RSRP, RSRQ measurements) of directional signals transmitted within particular cells supported by one or more of the gNBs 110a, 110b, and/or the ng- eNB 114 (or supported by some other ty pe of base station such as an eNB or WiFi® AP). The UE 105 may send the measurement quantities back to the LMF 120 in an LPP or NPP message (e.g., inside a 5G NAS message) via the serving gNB 110a (or the serving ng-eNB 114) and the AMF 1 15.

[0062] As noted, while the communication system 100 is described in relation to 5G technology, the communication system 100 may be implemented to support other communication technologies, such as GSM. WCDMA, LTE, etc., that are used for supporting and interacting with mobile devices such as the UE 105 (e.g., to implement voice, data, positioning, and other functionalities). In some such embodiments, the 5GC 140 may be configured to control different air interfaces. For example, the 5GC 140 may be connected to a WLAN using a Non-3GPP InterWorking Function (N3IWF, not shown FIG. 1) in the 5GC 140. For example, the WLAN may support IEEE 802. 11 WiFi® access for the UE 105 and may comprise one or more WiFi® APs. Here, the N31WF may connect to the WLAN and to other elements in the 5GC 140 such as the AMF 115. In some embodiments, both the NG- RAN 135 and the 5GC 140 may be replaced by one or more other RANs and one or more other core networks. For example, in an EPS, the NG-RAN 135 may be replaced by an E-UTRAN containing eNBs and the 5GC 140 may be replaced by an EPC containing a Mobility Management Entity (MME) in place of the AMF 115, an E-SMLC in place of the LMF 120, and a GMLC that may be similar to the GMLC 125. In such an EPS, the E-SMLC may use LPPa in place of NRPPato send and receive location information to and from the eNBs in the E-UTRAN and may use LPP to support positioning of the UE 105. In these other embodiments, positioning of the UE 105 using directional PRSs may be supported in an analogous manner to that described herein for a 5G network with the difference that functions and procedures described herein for the gNBs 110a, 110b, the ng-eNB 114, the AMF 115, and the LMF 120 may, in some cases, apply instead to other network elements such eNBs. WiFi® APs, an MME. and an E-SMLC.

[0063] As noted, in some embodiments, positioning functionality may be implemented, at least in part, using the directional SS or PRS beams, sent by base stations (such as the gNBs 110a, 110b, and/or the ng-eNB 114) that are within range of the UE whose position is to be determined (e.g., the UE 105 of FIG. 1). The UE may, in some instances, use the directional SS or PRS beams from a plurality of base stations (such as the gNBs 110a, 110b, the ng-eNB 114, etc.) to compute the position of the UE.

[0064] Referring also to FIG. 2, a UE 200 may be an example of one of the UEs 105, 106 and may comprise a computing platform including a processor 210, memory 211 including software (SW) 212, and a transceiver interface 214 for a transceiver 215 (that includes a wireless transceiver 240 and a wired transceiver 250). The processor 210, the memory 211, and the transceiver interface 214 may be communicatively coupled to each other by a bus 220 (which may be configured, e.g., for optical and/or electrical communication). The UE 200 may include one or more apparatus not shown (e.g.. a camera, a position device, and/or one or more sensors, etc.). The processor 210 may include one or more hardware devices, e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a microcontroller, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), etc. The processor 210 may comprise multiple processors including a general-purpose/application processor 230, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP) 231, a modem processor 232, a video processor 233, and/or a sensor processor 234. One or more of the processors 230-234 may comprise multiple devices (e.g., multiple processors). For example, the sensor processor 234 may comprise, e g., processors for RF (radio frequency) sensing (with one or more (cellular) wireless signals transmitted and reflection(s) used to identify, map, and/or track an object), and/or ultrasound, etc. The modem processor 232 may support dual SIM/dual connectivity (or even more SIMs). For example, a SIM (Subscriber Identity Module or Subscriber Identification Module) may be used by an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), and another SIM may be used by an end user of the UE 200 for connectivity. The memory 211 may be a non-transitory storage medium that may include random access memory (RAM), flash memory, disc memory, and/or read-only memory (ROM), etc. The memory 211 may store the software 212 which may be processor-readable, processor-executable software code containing instructions that may be configured to, when executed, cause the processor 210 to perform various functions described herein. Alternatively, the software 212 may not be directly executable by the processor 210 but may be configured to cause the processor 210, e g., when compiled and executed, to perform the functions. The description herein may refer to the processor 210 performing a function, but this includes other implementations such as where the processor 210 executes software and/or firmware. The description herein may refer to the processor 210 performing a function as shorthand for one or more of the processors 230-234 performing the function. The description herein may refer to the UE 200 performing a function as shorthand for one or more appropriate components of the UE 200 performing the function. The processor 210 may include a memory' with stored instructions in addition to and/or instead of the memory 211. Functionality of the processor 210 is discussed more fully below.

[0065] The configuration of the UE 200 shown in FIG. 2 is an example and not limiting of the disclosure, including the claims, and other configurations may be used. For example, an example configuration of the UE may include one or more of the processors 230-234 of the processor 210, the memory 211, and the wireless transceiver 240. Other example configurations may include one or more of the processors 230-234 of the processor 210, the memory 211, a wireless transceiver, and one or more of sensors, a user interface, an SPS receiver, a camera, and/or a position device (e.g., for determining position of the UE 200 by means other than satellite signals).

[0066] The UE 200 may comprise the modem processor 232 that may be capable of performing baseband processing of signals received and down-converted by the transceiver 215. The modem processor 232 may perform baseband processing of signals to be upconverted for transmission by the transceiver 215. Also or alternatively, baseband processing may be performed by the general-purpose/application processor 230 and/or the DSP 231. Other configurations, however, may be used to perform baseband processing.

[0067] The transceiver 215 may include a wireless transceiver 240 and a wired transceiver 250 configured to communicate with other devices through wireless connections and wired connections, respectively. For example, the wireless transceiver 240 may include a wireless transmitter 242 and a wireless receiver 244 coupled to an antenna 246 for transmitting (e.g., on one or more uplink channels and/or one or more sidelink channels) and/or receiving (e.g., on one or more downlink channels and/or one or more sidelink channels) w ireless signals 248 and transducing signals from the wireless signals 248 to wired (e.g., electrical and/or optical) signals and from wired (e.g.. electrical and/or optical) signals to the wireless signals 248. The wireless transmitter 242 includes appropriate components (e g., a power amplifier and a digital- to-analog converter). The wireless receiver 244 includes appropriate components (e.g., one or more amplifiers, one or more frequency filters, and an analog-to-digital converter). The wireless transmitter 242 may include multiple transmitters that may be discrete components or combined/integrated components, and/or the wireless receiver 244 may include multiple receivers that may be discrete components or combined/integrated components. The wireless transceiver 240 may be configured to communicate signals (e.g.. with TRPs and/or one or more other devices) according to a variety of radio access technologies (RATs) such as 5G New Radio (NR), GSM (Global System for Mobiles), UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System), AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone System), CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), WCDMA (Wideband CDMA), LTE (Long Term Evolution), LTE Direct (LTE-D), 3GPP LTE- V2X (PC5), IEEE 802. 11 (including IEEE 802. l ip), WiFi®, WiFi® Direct (WiFi®-D), Bluetooth®, Zigbee® etc. New Radio may use mm-wave frequencies and/or sub-6GHz frequencies. The wired transceiver 250 may include a wired transmitter 252 and a wired receiver 254 configured for wired communication, e.g., a network interface that may be utilized to communicate with the NG-RAN 135 to send communications to, and receive communications from, the NG-RAN 135. The wired transmitter 252 may include multiple transmitters that may be discrete components or combined/integrated components, and/or the wired receiver 254 may include multiple receivers that may be discrete components or combined/integrated components. The wired transceiver 250 may be configured, e.g., for optical communication and/or electrical communication. The transceiver 215 may be communicatively coupled to the transceiver interface 214, e.g., by optical and/or electrical connection. The transceiver interface 214 may be at least partially integrated with the transceiver 215. The wireless transmitter 242, the wireless receiver 244, and/or the antenna 246 may include multiple transmitters, multiple receivers, and/or multiple antennas, respectively, for sending and/or receiving, respectively, appropriate signals.

[0068] Referring also to FIG. 3, an example of a TRP 300 of the gNBs 110a, 1 10b and/or the ng-eNB 1 14 comprises a computing platform including a processor 310, memory 311 including softw are (SW) 312, and a transceiver 315. The processor 310, the memory 311. and the transceiver 315 may be communicatively coupled to each other by a bus 320 (which may be configured, e.g., for optical and/or electrical communication). One or more of the shown apparatus (e.g., a wireless transceiver) may be omitted from the TRP 300. The processor 310 may include one or more intelligent hardware devices, e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a microcontroller, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), etc. The processor 310 may comprise multiple processors (e.g., including a general-purpose/application processor, a DSP, a modem processor, a video processor, and/or a sensor processor as shown in FIG. 2). The memory' 311 may be a non-transitoiy storage medium that may include random access memory (RAM)), flash memory, disc memory, and/or read-only memory (ROM), etc. The memory 311 may store the software 312 which may be processor- readable, processor-executable software code containing instructions that are configured to, when executed, cause the processor 310 to perform various functions described herein. Alternatively, the software 312 may not be directly executable by the processor 310 but may be configured to cause the processor 310, e.g.. when compiled and executed, to perform the functions. [0069] The description herein may refer to the processor 310 performing a function, but this includes other implementations such as where the processor 310 executes software and/or firmware. The description herein may refer to the processor 310 performing a function as shorthand for one or more of the processors contained in the processor 310 performing the function. The description herein may refer to the TRP 300 performing a function as shorthand for one or more appropriate components (e.g., the processor 310 and the memory 311 ) of the TRP 300 (and thus of one of the gNBs 110a, 110b and/ or the ng-eNB 114) performing the function. The processor 310 may include a memory' with stored instructions in addition to and/or instead of the memory 311. Functionality’ of the processor 310 is discussed more fully below.

[0070] The transceiver 315 may include a wireless transceiver 340 and/or a wired transceiver 350 configured to communicate with other devices through wireless connections and wired connections, respectively. For example, the wireless transceiver 340 may include a wireless transmitter 342 and a wireless receiver 344 coupled to one or more antennas 346 for transmitting (e.g., on one or more uplink channels and/or one or more downlink channels) and/or receiving (e.g., on one or more downlink channels and/or one or more uplink channels) wireless signals 348 and transducing signals from the wireless signals 348 to wired (e.g.. electrical and/or optical) signals and from wired (e.g., electrical and/or optical) signals to the wireless signals 348. Thus, the wireless transmitter 342 may include multiple transmitters that may be discrete components or combined/integrated components, and/or the wireless receiver 344 may include multiple receivers that may be discrete components or combined/integrated components. The wireless transceiver 340 may be configured to communicate signals (e.g., with the UE 200, one or more other UEs, and/or one or more other devices) according to a variety' of radio access technologies (RATs) such as 5GNew Radio (NR), GSM (Global System for Mobiles). UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System), AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone System), CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), WCDMA (Wideband CDMA), LTE (Long Term Evolution), LTE Direct (LTE-D), 3GPP LTE- V2X (PC5), IEEE 802. 11 (including IEEE 802. l ip), WiFi®, WiFi® Direct (WiFi®-D), Bluetooth®, Zigbee® etc. The wired transceiver 350 may include a wired transmitter 352 and a wired receiver 354 configured for wired communication, e.g., a network interface that may be utilized to communicate with the NG-RAN 135 to send communications to, and receive communications from, the LMF 120, for example, and/or one or more other network entities. The wired transmitter 352 may include multiple transmitters that may be discrete components or combined/integrated components, and/or the wired receiver 354 may include multiple receivers that may be discrete components or combined/integrated components. The wired transceiver 350 may be configured, e.g.. for optical communication and/or electrical communication. [0071] The configuration of the TRP 300 shown in FIG. 3 is an example and not limiting of the disclosure, including the claims, and other configurations may be used. For example, the description herein discusses that the TRP 300 may be configured to perform or performs several functions, but one or more of these functions may be performed by the LMF 120 and/or the UE 200 (i.e., the LMF 120 and/or the UE 200 may be configured to perform one or more of these functions).

[0072] Referring also to FIG. 4, a server 400, of which the LMF 120 may be an example, may comprise a computing platform including a processor 410. memory 411 including software (SW) 412, and a transceiver 415. The processor 410, the memory 411, and the transceiver 415 may be communicatively coupled to each other by a bus 420 (which may be configured, e.g., for optical and/or electrical communication). One or more of the shown apparatus (e g., a wireless transceiver) may be omitted from the server 400. The processor 410 may include one or more intelligent hardware devices, e g., a central processing unit (CPU), a microcontroller, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), etc. The processor 410 may comprise multiple processors (e.g., including a general-purpose/application processor, a DSP, a modem processor, a video processor, and/or a sensor processor as shown in FIG. 2). The memory’ 411 may be a non-transitory storage medium that may include random access memory (RAM)), flash memory, disc memory, and/or read-only memory (ROM), etc. The memory 411 may store the software 412 which may be processor-readable, processor-executable software code containing instructions that are configured to, when executed, cause the processor 410 to perform various functions described herein. Alternatively, the software 412 may not be directly executable by the processor 410 but may be configured to cause the processor 410, e.g., when compiled and executed, to perform the functions. The description herein may refer to the processor 410 performing a function, but this includes other implementations such as where the processor 410 executes software and/or firmware. The description herein may refer to the processor 410 performing a function as shorthand for one or more of the processors contained in the processor 410 performing the function. The description herein may refer to the server 400 performing a function as shorthand for one or more appropriate components of the server 400 performing the function. The processor 410 may include a memory with stored instructions in addition to and/or instead of the memory 411. Functionality of the processor 410 is discussed more fully below.

[0073] The transceiver 415 may include a wireless transceiver 440 and/or a wired transceiver 450 configured to communicate with other devices through wireless connections and wired connections, respectively. For example, the wireless transceiver 440 may include a wireless transmitter 442 and a wireless receiver 444 coupled to one or more antennas 446 for transmitting (e.g., on one or more downlink channels) and/or receiving (e.g., on one or more uplink channels) wireless signals 448 and transducing signals from the wireless signals 448 to wired (e.g., electrical and/or optical) signals and from wired (e.g.. electrical and/or optical) signals to the wireless signals 448. Thus, the wireless transmitter 442 may include multiple transmitters that may be discrete components or combined/integrated components, and/or the wireless receiver 444 may include multiple receivers that may be discrete components or combined/integrated components. The wireless transceiver 440 may be configured to communicate signals (e.g.. with the UE 200. one or more other UEs, and/or one or more other devices) according to a variety of radio access technologies (RATs) such as 5GNew Radio (NR), GSM (Global System for Mobiles), UMTS (Universal Mobile

Telecommunications System), AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone System), CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), WCDMA (Wideband CDMA), LTE (Long Term

Evolution), LTE Direct (LTE-D), 3GPP LTE-V2X (PC5), IEEE 802.11 (including IEEE 802. 1 Ip), WiFi®, WiFi® Direct (WiFi®-D), Bluetooth®, Zigbee® etc. The wired transceiver 450 may include a wired transmitter 452 and a wired receiver 454 configured for wired communication, e.g., a network interface that may be utilized to communicate with the NG-RAN 135 to send communications to. and receive communications from, the TRP 300, for example, and/or one or more other network entities. The wired transmitter 452 may include multiple transmitters that may be discrete components or combined/integrated components, and/or the wired receiver 454 may include multiple receivers that may be discrete components or combined/integrated components. The wired transceiver 450 may be configured, e.g., for optical communication and/or electrical communication. [0074] The description herein may refer to the processor 410 performing a function, but this includes other implementations such as where the processor 410 executes software (stored in the memory 411) and/or firmware. The description herein may refer to the server 400 performing a function as shorthand for one or more appropriate components (e.g.. the processor 410 and the memory 411) of the server 400 performing the function. [0075] The configuration of the server 400 shown in FIG. 4 is an example and not limiting of the disclosure, including the claims, and other configurations may be used. For example, the wireless transceiver 440 may be omitted. Also or alternatively, the description herein discusses that the server 400 is configured to perform or performs several functions, but one or more of these functions may be performed by the TRP 300 and/or the UE 200 (i.e., the TRP 300 and/or the UE 200 may be configured to perform one or more of these functions).

[0076] Sensing transmission scheduling and overriding

[0077] Referring also to FIG. 5, a UE 500 includes a processor 510, a transceiver 520, and a memory 530 communicatively coupled to each other by a bus 540. Even if referred to in the singular, the processor 510 may include one or more processors, the transceiver 520 may include one or more transceivers (e.g., one or more transmitters and/or one or more receivers), and the memory 530 may include one or more memories. The UE 500 may include the components shown in FIG. 5. The UE 500 may include one or more other components such as any of those show n in FIG. 2 such that the UE 200 may be an example of the UE 500. For example, the processor 510 may include one or more of the components of the processor 210. The transceiver 520 may include one or more of the components of the transceiver 215, e.g., the wireless transmitter 242 and the antenna 246, or the wireless receiver 244 and the antenna 246, or the wireless transmitter 242, the wireless receiver 244, and the antenna 246. Also or alternatively, the transceiver 520 may include the wired transmitter 252 and/or the wired receiver 254. The memory 530 may be configured similarly to the memory 211, e.g.. including software with processor-readable instructions configured to cause the processor 510 to perform functions.

[0078] The description herein may refer to the processor 510 performing a function, but this includes other implementations such as where the processor 510 executes software (stored in the memory 530) and/or firmware. The description herein may refer to the UE 500 performing a function as shorthand for one or more appropriate components (e.g. , the processor 510 and the memory 530) of the UE 500 performing the function. The processor 510 (possibly in conjunction with the memory 530 and, as appropriate, the transceiver 520) may include a capability unit 550 and/or a resource allocation override unit 560. The capability unit 550 may be configured to send a capability message indicating one or more capabilities of the UE 500 to have one or more requested sensing signal transmission resources punctured and/or one or more capabilities of the UE 500 to override a signal transfer allocation (e.g., an allocation that complies with a time division duplex schedule) to transmit a sensing signal using one or more resources allocated for a use other than sensing signal transmission. A requested sensing signal transmission resource (e.g., a channel resource (e.g., an OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexed) resource element or an OFDM resource block) requested by the UE for sensing signal transmission) is punctured if the resource is not used by the UE 500 for sensing signal transmission. For example, one or more requested sensing signal transmission resources may be punctured by having no signal (sensing or otherwise) transmitted or received by the UE 500 using the requested but punctured resource(s), or by having a non-sensing signal (e.g., communication signal) transmitted or received by the UE 500 using the requested resource(s). The resource allocation override unit 560 may be configured to override a signal transfer allocation, e g., resources allocated in accordance with a time division duplex (TDD) schedule, to transmit a sensing signal using one or more resources allocated for non-sensing signal transfer (e.g.. UL communication signal transmission. DL communication signal reception, SL communication signal transmission and/or reception, etc.). While the description herein may focus on TDD, the description and claims may apply to other signal transfer configurations unless indicated otherwise. The capability unit 550 and the resource allocation override unit 560 are discussed further below, and the description may refer to the processor 510 generally , or the UE 500 generally, as performing any of the functions of the capability unit 550 and/or the resource allocation override unit 560, with the UE 500 being configured to perform the function(s). [0079] Referring also to FIG. 6, a network entity 600 includes a processor 610, a transceiver 620, and a memory 630 communicatively coupled to each other by a bus 640. The network entity 600 may be, for example, a base station, a TRP. a server, etc. Even if referred to in the singular, the network entity 600 may include one or more network entities, the processor 610 may include one or more processors, the transceiver 620 may include one or more transceivers (e.g., one or more transmiters and/or one or more receivers), and the memory 630 may include one or more memories. The network entity 600 may include the components shown in FIG. 6. The network entity 600 may include one or more other components such as any of those shown in FIG. 4 such that the server 400 may be an example of the network entity 600. For example, the processor 610 may include one or more of the components of the processor 410. The transceiver 620 may include one or more of the components of the transceiver 415. The memory 630 may be configured similarly to the memory 411, e.g., including software with processor-readable instructions configured to cause the processor 610 to perform functions. Also or alternatively, the network entity 600 may include one or more other components such as any of those show n in FIG. 3 such that the TRP 300 may be an example of the network entity 600. For example, the processor 610 may include one or more of the components of the processor 310. The transceiver 620 may include one or more of the components of the transceiver 315. The memory 630 may be configured similarly to the memory 311, e.g., including software with processor-readable instructions configured to cause the processor 610 to perform functions.

[0080] The description herein may refer to the processor 610 performing a function, but this includes other implementations such as where the processor 610 executes software (stored in the memory 630) and/or firmware. The description herein may refer to the netw ork entity 600 performing a function as shorthand for one or more appropriate components (e.g., the processor 610 and the memory 630) of the netw ork entity 600 performing the function. The processor 610 (possibly in conjunction with the memory 630 and, as appropriate, the transceiver 620) may include a resource allocation unit 650 and/or a sensing unit 660. The resource allocation unit 650 may be configured to determine, e.g., using a request and capability information from the UE 500, an allocation of channel resources (which may be called communication resources, signal transfer resources, or resources) for the UE 500 to use for sensing signal transmission and for one or more other purposes (e.g., for non-sensing signal transmission and/or for non-sensing signal reception). The allocation of resources for the other purpose(s) may include one or more resources requested by the UE 500 for sensing signal transmission, and thus may puncture the resource(s) requested for sensing signal transmission. Each of the resources comprises a frequency -time combination, e.g., a time/frequency window, for transferring (receiving or transmiting) a designated signal (e.g., a sensing signal, a non-sensing signal (e.g., a communication signal, a control signal, etc.)). The resource allocation unit 650 may further be configured to transmit, e.g., via a broadcast message, a signal transfer configuration applicable to multiple UEs to any appropriate entity(ies), e.g., the UE 500. The resource allocation unit 650 may be configured to transmit, e.g., via a unicast message, to the UE 500 a resource allocation, e.g., a configuration of resources allocated to the UE 500 for sensing signal transmission and resources allocated for non-sensing signal transfer. The sensing unit 660 (e.g., with the network entity 600 being a TRP) may be configured to transmit sensing signals and/or receive and measure sensing signals. The resource allocation unit 650 and the sensing unit 660 are discussed further below, and the description may refer to the processor 610 generally, or the network entity 600 generally, as performing any of the functions of the resource allocation unit 650 and/or the sensing unit 660, with the network entity⁷ 600 being configured to perform the function(s).

[0081] Referring also to FIGS. 7 and 8, various configurations of sensing systems, such as monostatic sensing systems or bistatic sensing systems, may be implemented. For example, as shown in FIG. 7, a monostatic sensing system 700 includes a transmit node 710, a target object 720, and a receive node 730. In this case, the transmit node 710 and the receive node 730 are co-located and may be portions of a single physical device. The transmit node 710 may transmit an FL signal 712 (forward link signal), and the target object 720 may backscatter (e.g., reflect) a BL signal 722 (backscatter link signal) based on the incoming signal, i.e., the FL signal 712. The receive node 730 may receive and measure the BL signal 722. A transmit (Tx) node or a receive (Rx) node may be, for example, a UE, a TRP, or a RAN node. As shown in FIG. 8, a bistatic sensing system 800 includes a transmit node 810, a target object 820, and a receive node 830. In this case, the transmit node 810 and the receive node 830 are non-co-located. The transmit node 810 may transmit an FL signal 812, the target object 820 may backscatter a BL signal 822 based on the FL signal 812. and the receive node 830 may receive and measure and/or decode the BL signal 822.

[0082] Referring also to FIGS. 9 and 10, a sensing system may be configured as a multi-static sensing system, in which there are multiple transmit nodes and/or multiple receive nodes. In a multi-static sensing system, there may be one or more monostatic systems and/or one or more bi static systems. FIGS. 9 and 10 show two examples of bistatic-based multi-static sensing systems. For example, a multi-static sensing system 900 includes a transmit node 910, a target object 920, and receive nodes 931, 932, 933. The transmit node 910 may transmit an FL signal 912, the target object 920 may backscatter BL signals 921, 922, 923 based on the FL signal 912, and the receive nodes 931-933 may receive and measure the BL signals 921-923, respectively. The BL signals 921-923 may be the same signal as transmitted in different directions as shown. As another example, a multi-static sensing system 1000 includes transmit nodes 1010, 1040, a target object 1020, and receive nodes 1030, 1050. The transmit nodes 1010, 1040 may transmit FL signals 1012, 1042, respectively, and the target object 1020 may transmit BL signals 1022, 1024. The BL signal 1022 may be based on the FL signal 1012 alone, or on the FL signal 1042 alone, or may be multiple signals with one signal based on the FL signal 1012 and another signal based on the FL signal 1042. Similarly, the BL signal 1024 may be based on the FL signal 1012 alone, or on the FL signal 1042 alone, or may be multiple signals with one signal based on the FL signal 1012 and another signal based on the FL signal 1042.

[0083] Various factors may be considered to determine a sensing signal configuration. For example, sensing signal transmissions typically have stringent requirements in terms of transmission timeline with little room for deviations from a regular/periodic pattern. Deviations from regular/periodic patterns are possible, but add complexity’ and thus add cost (expense, processing power, processing time) to process. When monostatic sensing transmissions are performed by UEs over communication resources, the transmissions may be constrained to occur over a subset of slots, e.g., as specified/indicated by a TDD (Time Domain Duplex) configuration. With multiple sensing UEs, each with different sensing requirements/timehnes, having all the sensing transmissions contained within the sensing-allowed slots of the system may be challenging. Consequently, puncturing of sensing transmissions may occur that results in potentially severe sensing performance degradation. As discussed herein, additional information from one or more UEs may be provided to the network entity 600 such that the network entity 600 may make educated scheduling decisions (e g., to attempt to reduce an impact of punctured sensing transmissions for a given TDD configuration). Also discussed herein, a UE may override non-sensing signal restrictions imposed by a TDD configuration and thus transmit a sensing signal during a time indicated by the TDD configuration not to be used for sensing signal transfer, e.g., to be used for nonsensing signal transfer. [0084] Referring to FIG. 16, communication signal resources may be allocated according to a TDD configuration. For example, resources for downlink (DL), uplink (UL), and sidelink (SL) communications may be identified according to a TDD configuration. For example, a TDD configuration 1600 includes DL slots 1610, UL slots 1620. and flexible slots 1630. A slot comprises a set of symbols (spanning a corresponding time) and a set of subcarriers (spanning a range of frequency), may be dedicated to UL, DL, or SL. The TDD configuration identifies which slots (in a frame, e g., an OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexed) frame) are to be used for DL, UL, and SL purposes. A slot may be used exclusively for one purpose, or may- have a subset of symbols of the slot used for one purpose and another, non-overlapping, subset of symbols of the slot used for another purpose. The TDD may identify flexible (F) slots and/or symbols, for which the UE may not make assumptions as to the purpose of the slot(s) and/or symbol(s), but a network entity may indicate the purpose for a slot or symbol. The TDD configuration 1600 may be provided to a UE in a semi-static fashion (e.g., using RRC signaling) that can optionally be complemented by dynamic reconfiguration (e.g., using DCI (Downlink Control Information) signaling), that maybe valid for a short time duration.

[0085] Referring to FIG. 17. a sensing signal configuration 1700 for use in a sensing operation includes sensing cycles 1710, 1720. Each of the sensing cycles 1710, 1720 has n sensing signal transmissions 17301-1730_n corresponding to n sensing beams transmitted by a UE. Each of the n sensing beam transmissions is a signal transmission using a different beam direction, e.g., using beam steering or beam forming to produce an antenna beam with a different direction relative to an antenna producing the beam. For each of the sensing transmissions there may- be a transmission in multiple sensing symbols 1740, here in each of tw o sensing slots 1751, 1752, for a total of seven symbols per beam. In this example, there is a consistent gap of three symbols between each sensing transmission (sensing symbol). Also, there may be, as in this example, a consistent gap 1760 between the sensing signal transmissions 17301-1730_n such that the sensing signal configuration 1700 represents a periodic pattern of the sensing signal transmissions 1730i-1730_n.

[0086] A sensing operation typically is associated with a set of requirements. For example, a maximum detection range (how far a target object can be from the UE and still be detectable) and a range resolution (how close in range two targets can be and still be distinguished from each other) may be specified. As another example, a maximum detection angle (a field of view (FoV) in which target objects should be detected) and an angular resolution (how close in angular position two targets can be and still be distinguished from each other) may be specified. As another example, a maximum detection velocity (a maximum relative speed of a target that can be reliably identified) and a velocity resolution (how close in velocity two targets can be and still be distinguished) may be specified. As another example, a sensing update rate (how frequently an environment should be sensed for targets) may be specified. For example, for an automotive application, an update rate is typically once every’ 100ms or less, with a trend toward higher update rates, e.g., to reduce gaps between environment sensing. To achieve detections up to a desired range, sensing transmissions typically comprise multiple ‘‘chirps” to achieve sufficient processing (e.g., integration) gain to counter path losses from objects at the maximum range. A chirp waveform may be an OFDM (NR) symbol. For typical fields of views and angular resolutions (that each depend on an application of the sensing), each sensing cycle comprises an angular scanning of a set of sensing beams whose radiation patterns (beam widths) are sufficiently narrow and span the FoV when combined. With analog beamforming, signals may be transmitted from beams sequentially and sensed for any target objects present within the corresponding beam direction. Velocity information from a target object (which may be called a target) may be extracted by Doppler estimation. For an efficient FFT-based (Fast Fourier Transform-based) implementation, a gap between successive sensing OFDM symbols should remain constant (i.e., there should be regular sensing symbol spacing). A size of a gap between sensing may affect velocity resolution, and non-uniform (varying) gap sizes may be used, but may add complexity’ to calculations. The gap may be zero such that symbols are transmitted consecutively (back to back). One or more resources (although the description herein may refer to “resources”) may be allocated for sensing in order to achieve one or more sensing performance criteria, e.g., maximum range, range resolution, maximum velocity, velocity' resolution, etc. Symbols in gaps between sensing transmissions may be used for other purposes (e.g., communication, data reception, data transmission, etc.) or may not be used (e.g., null symbols).

[0087] Various observations may be made regarding a sensing operation. There may be a constant-gap configuration of sensing signal transmissions, e.g., for varying symbols per beam, beam transmissions per sensing cycle, and/or a pattern of sensing cycles. For each sensing beam, a transmit pattern may have strict requirements, e.g., in order to transmit a sufficient number of symbols to achieve an integration gain to achieve desired performance and to maintain a gap between successive sensing symbols for Doppler estimation. Sensing cycles may not occur strictly periodically, but using periodic cycles may reduce complexity and improve performance. There may be little to no variation between sensing transmissions in order to transmit many beams in a short sensing cycle. Sensing may in effect become another type of transmission in addition to UL, DL, and SL transmissions, and thus a network entity may identity' slots where sensing is allowed to help achieve desired sensing performance. To limit interference, sensing transmissions may be limited to a subset of slots (e.g., in a frame) as specified/indicated by a TDD configuration. For example, sensing transmissions may be restricted to UL slots (e.g., if a network entity schedules the sensing transmissions) or restricted to SL slots (e.g.. if an entity other than a network entity schedules the sensing transmissions). As another example, the TDD configuration may specify sensing-dedicated slots where (theoretically) only sensing transmissions may be performed.

[0088] Sensing in an environment with multiple UEs presents challenges. In a scenario involving multiple UEs performing sensing, each with respective sensing requirements (which may dictate a different, per UE, sensing transmission timeline), ensuring that all the sensing transmissions are fully contained within a subset of slots where sensing is allowed may be difficult or even impossible. An extremely flexible semi-static TDD configuration along with dynamic indication per UE may be used if the corresponding signaling overhead is acceptable. If sensing transmissions are restricted to SL slots, a dynamic TDD configuration may not be supported or even possible.

[0089] Techniques are discussed herein for UE operation in response to the UE being scheduled to perform a sensing transmission where a UE desires or even needs more resources than allocated by a network entity for sensing, e.g.. more resources for sensing than are consistent with a TDD configuration. For example, under one or more conditions, a UE may be able to override an allocation of non-sensing resources, allocated in accordance with the TDD configuration, to perform a sensing transmission not allocated to the UE. The UE may provide information, as discussed herein, to the network that the network may use to make scheduling decisions for sensing transmissions by one or more UEs. For example, a UE may be inhibited from transmitting all requested sensing signal transmissions such that one or more sensing transmission gaps, called puncturing, occur where a requested sensing transmission is not performed. In a punctured duration (e.g., a slot), another function may be performed (e.g., DL communication) or no function performed. The UE may inform the network of a tolerance of the UE for diminished sensing transmissions (relative to a requested level of sensing transmissions) and the network may use this tolerance to allocate resources, in accordance with a TDD configuration, to the UE for sensing and/or other purposes.

[0090] Referring to FIG. 11, with further reference to FIGS. 1-9 and 17, a processing and signal flow 1100 for scheduling and transmitting sensing signals includes the stages show n. The flow 1100 is an example of interaction between a UE 1101, a UE 1102, a target object 1103, and a network entity 1105. The UEs 1101, 1102 may each be an example of the UE 500. The network entity 1105 may be an example of the network entity 600. Other flow's may be used. For example, one or more stages may be added to the flow 1100, rearranged, and/or removed from the flow 1100. For example, sub-stage 1132, sub-stage 1142, sub-stage 1144, and/or sub-stage 1146 may be omitted, although at least one of sub-stage 1132, sub-stage 1142, and sub-stage 1144 should be performed. Also, the discussion of the flow 1100 focuses on puncturing sensing signal transmission and overriding non-sensing signal transfer with sensing signal transmission, but the discussion may also or alternatively be applied to sensing signal reception. Upon initial connection of the UEs 1101, 1102 to the network entity 1105. the network entity 1105 may transmit a TDD configuration to the UEs 1101, 1102. The TDD configuration is static and the network entity 1105 may transmit the TDD configuration (e.g., the TDD configuration 1600) to the UEs 1101, 1102 in a TDD configuration message 111 1 (e.g., in a broadcast transmission).

[0091] At stage 1110, the UE 1101 may request sensing resources and may indicate a tolerance for puncturing of the requested sensing resources. For example, the UE 1101 may transmit a request 1 1 12 for sensing resources for sensing signal transmission. The request 1112 may be an explicit request for specified resources or an implicit request, e.g., a quantity of sensing resources or one or more sensing parameters (e.g., latency, accuracy) from which requested sensing resources may be determined. The UE 1101 may transmit a capability message 1 116 to the network entity 1105 indicating a tolerance of the UE 1101 to puncturing of the requested sensing signal resources. The network entity 1105, e.g., the resource allocation unit 650, may send a request 1112 to the UE 1101 that requests a puncture tolerance from the UE 1101. The message 1116 may, for example, be sent each time the request 1114 is sent. As another example, the message 1116 may be sent once, e.g., as part of initial RRC connection with the network entity 1105. The message 11 16 may include information that the network entity 1105 may use to determine a resource allocation, e.g., including a non-sensing signal resource allocation and a sensing signal resource allocation. For example, the message 1116 may include one or more sensing parameters, e.g., a granularity (type) and level (extent) of puncturing that the UE 1101 can tolerate, e.g., and still be able to meet one or more sensing performance criteria. For example, the message 1116 may indicate whether the UE 1101 can tolerate puncturing of one or more sensing symbols of a requested sensing signal resource allocation, one or more sensing beams of a requested sensing signal resource allocation, and/or one or more (parts of or entire) sensing cycles of a requested sensing signal resource allocation. As another example, the message 111 may indicate an amount of puncturing that the UE 1101 can tolerate, e.g., a quantity or percentage of beams within a sensing cycle that may be punctured. A sensing beam may correspond to one or more slots of a frame.

[0092] Referring also to FIG. 12, a sensing signal transmission pattern 1200 includes sensing cycles 1211, 1212, each with sensing signal transmissions 1220i-1220_n. The pattern 1200 may correspond to sensing signal resources requested by the UE 1101 in the request 1112. The capability message 1116 may indicate, for example, that the UE 1101 can tolerate puncturing of one sensing signal transmission (corresponding to a respective sensing beam) per sensing cycle, or even that, as in this example, the UE 1101 can tolerate puncturing of the same sensing signal transmission, here a sensing signal transmission 12202, in each sensing cycle.

[0093] The UE 1101 may use the message 1116 to indicate an ability to have a requested sensing signal allocation punctured, e.g., while maintaining desired sensing performance. Puncturing requested sensing signal resources may degrade sensing performance (relative to the full set of requested sensing resources being used) depending on what in the requested resources is punctured and how much (e.g., how many symbols, how many beams, how many instances of the same beam, etc.) is punctured. For example, if sensing symbols (of a beam) are punctured, there may be degradation in maximum range detection and velocity' estimation accuracy. As another example, if beams are punctured (with the beams effectively being skipped), there maybe degradation in angular estimation (with interpolation possibly being used based on beam directions that are sensed). As another example, if a whole sensing cycle is punctured (or enough transmissions are punctured to render the sensing cycle useless) there may be a degradation in tracking highly-dynamic (e.g., automotive) environments. The UE 1101 may, however, be willing to sacrifice some sensing performance due to puncturing. For example, the UE 1101 might have an understanding of the environment around the UE 1101 (e.g., from previous measurements), from which the UE 1101 may determine that a degradation in sensing resolution is acceptable.

[0094] The message 1116 may be transmitted in any of a variety of ways. For example, the message 1116 may be sent semi-statically (e.g., via RRC signaling) or dynamically (e.g., as part of UCI (Uplink Control Information) signaling or as part of SR (Scheduling Request) signaling and/or associated BSR (Buffer Status Report) signaling). The UE 1101 may be configured to transmit the capability message 1116 semi-statically, or may be configured to transmit the capability message 1116 dynamically, or may be configured to transmit the capability- message 1116 semi- statically and configured to transmit the capability- message 1116 dynamically. If the UE 1101 is configured to transmit the message 1116 dynamically, transmission of the message 1116 may be triggered dynamically by the network entity 1105 (e g., as part of DCI (Downlink Control Information) signaling or MAC-CE (Media Access Control - Control Element) signaling). If the UE 1101 is configured to transmit the message 1116 periodically, transmission of the message 1116 may be triggered periodically, e.g., based on a periodicity shared by multiple UEs or specific to the UE 1 101.

[0095] The message 1116 may include one or more constraints in order for puncturing (at all, or a certain granularity and/or level of puncturing) of a requested sensing signal allocation to be permitted. For example, the message 1116 may indicate that a sensing beam may be punctured only- if the sensing beam immediately prior to a punctured sensing beam and the sensing beam immediately after the punctured sensing beam are not punctured. That is, the message 1116 may indicate that a sensing beam may be punctured only if no adjacent sensing beam transmission is punctured.

[0096] At stage 1120, the network entity 1105, e.g.. the resource allocation unit 650. may determine a resource allocation. The network entity 1105 may transmit the resource allocation to the UE 1101 in a resource allocation message 1124. The network en ti ty 1105 may use information from the request 1 112 and the capability message 1 116 to determine the resource allocation, e.g., as best as possible: not to exceed the puncturing tolerance indicated by the message 1116; to comply with any constraints indicated for puncturing; and to help the UE 1101 meet one or more quality of service criteria (e.g.. sensing performance criteria), which may be included in the request 1112 and/or otherwise known to the network entity 1105. The network entity 1105 may know one or more configuration parameters of the UE 1101, e.g., a quantity of sensing beams usable by the UE 1105, e.g., an may use such parameter(s) to determine a quantity of allowable punctures based on an indication of a percentage of allowable punctures. The resource allocation may include a non-sensing signal resource allocation and a sensing signal resource allocation. The non-sensing signal resource allocation may indicate non-sensing signal resources (e.g., frequencies and durations) for transmission and/or reception of non-sensing signals (or at least resources not to be used for sensing signal transfer) such as communication signals. The sensing signal resource allocation may indicate resources for transmission and/or reception of sensing signals. The non-sensing signal resource allocation may puncture one or more resources corresponding to a requested set of resources indicated by the request 1112. For example, a requested allocation of sensing resources corresponding to the configuration 1700 may be punctured by having a non-sensing signal resource allocation allocate resources, that were requested for sensing signal transmission, for one or more other purposes instead. For example, the configuration 1700 may be punctured by having the non-sensing signal resource allocation indicate allocation of resources for non-sensing signal transmissions 1231, 1232 instead of the sensing signal transmission 12202 of each of the sensing cycles 1211, 1212. In this way, “additional” non-sensing signal transfer (e.g., communication, data transfer) may be performed, and may be performed without degrading sensing performance by a UE beyond an acceptable amount. As shown in this example, resources requested for sensing signal transmissions 12202 may be allocated for either or both of the non-sensing signal transmissions 1231, 1232 (e.g., SL communication, UL communication, DL communication). As another example, one or more of the resources requested for sensing signal transmissions 12202 may be allocated for nothing at all (null).

[0097] The punctured resource allocation shown in FIG. 12 is an example, and any number of alternative resource allocations may be used/detennined. For example, the same requested resources for sensing signal transmission need not be punctured in each (or even multiple) sensing cycles. As another example, different quantities of requested resources for sensing signal transmissions may be punctured in different sensing cycles. As another example, a different quantity of sensing cycles (e.g., one sensing cycle, three sensing cycles, etc.) may be configured for a resource allocation. As another example, another amount of puncturing may occur (e.g., multiple punctures in a single sensing cycle). Still other resource allocations may be used.

[0098] Due to the heavy load from sensing transmissions from multiple UEs, the network entity 1105 (e.g., a gNB) may not dynamically allocate sensing resources with a granularity of sensing slot/symbol, sensing beam, and/or sensing cycle. The network entity 1105 may, for example, provide a configured grant (CG) for periodic sensing transmissions. A CG period may be defined over logical slots as all transmission resources (e.g.. slots) used may not be periodic (e.g., slots within a group may be periodic (e.g., the DL slots 1610 shown in FIG. 16), but groups of the same kinds of slots (e.g., DL slots) may not be periodic). As another example, the network entity 1105 (e.g., a gNB) may defer the sensing signal resource allocation to UEs, with the UEs contending for sensing resources over a resource pool (similar to mode-2 in sidelink). In either case, the UE 1101 may not be able to identify sensing resources that can accommodate the requested sensing signal transmission. For this reason, and/or possibly one or more other reasons (e.g., to meet one or more sensing performance criteria), the UE 1101 may want to override the sensing signal resource allocation to perform sensing signal transmission over one or more unused resources and/or one or more resources nominally used for another (non-sensing) purpose. For example, sensing transmissions allowed to be performed over SL slots may be allowed to "leak" over UL slots, e.g., if a sensing transmission direction (beam) is unlikely to interfere (e.g., align) with a TRP uplink reception direction (beam).

[0099] At stage 1130, the UE 1101 may perform sensing signal transmission (e.g.. one or more sensing signal transmissions) and the UEs 1 101, 1102 and the network entity 1105 may perform non-sensing signal transfer (e.g., one or more transmission(s) and/or one or more reception(s)). The sensing signal transmission may involve overriding the resource allocation in the resource allocation message 1124 received from the network entity' 1105. The UE 1 101 may engage in non-sensing signal transfer and/or sensing signal transfer based on the resource allocation received from the network entity 1105 in the resource allocation message 1124. For example, the UE 1101 may attempt to transmit sensing signals only using resources allocated for sensing signal transmissions while meeting one or more sensing signal performance criteria.

[00100] Referring also to FIG. 13, the UE 1101 may determine to override the resource allocation received in the resource allocation message 1124 to perform one or more sensing transmissions using one or more resources not allocated for sensing signal transmission. As another example, the UE 1101 may be configured (e.g., via dedicated RRC signaling to the UE 1101) to be able to override the resource allocation. As shown in FIG. 13. the UE 1101 may, for example, determine to override a resource allocation 1300 and use non-sensing signal resources 1311, 1312 for sensing signal transmissions 1321, 1322, e.g., to meet one or more sensing performance criteria. For example, the UE 1101 may transmit one or more sensing signals 1134, e.g., including the sensing signal transmissions 1321, 1322, using resources not allocated for sensing (e.g., allocated for one or more non-sensing purposes or allocated for no purpose (e.g., null resources)). In this way, sensing performance may be improved, e.g., enabling sensing performance criteria to be met despite a scheduled amount of sensing signal transfer opportunities not enabling such sensing signal performance criteria to be met.

[00101] The UE 1101, e.g.. the resource allocation override unit 560, may be configured to override a (non-sensing signal) resource allocation to perform sensing signal transmission over non-sensing signal resources based on one or more conditions being met. The condition(s) may be statically and/or dynamically configured (e.g.. a static configuration may be changed by a dynamic configuration). The network entity 1105 may provide a dynamic configuration of condition(s) to be met, e.g., to prevent a UE from using too many resources. The UE 1101 may, for example, be configured to override the resource allocation only if the non-sensing resources utilized constitute less than a specified percentage of all the resources used for sensing transmission. The number of resources used for sensing transmission may be the number of resources over a statically or dynamically specified size in frequency (e g., number of physical resource blocks (PRBs) or subchannels) and time (e.g., in number of slots) and may be determined by measurement near a time of requested sensing signal transmission. As another example, the UE 1101 may be configured to override the resource allocation only if the non-sensing resources utilized are less than a specified percentage of all nonsensing resources within a pre-configured window of resources. For example, overriding may be permited only if the non-sensing UL resources used are less than Y% of all non-sensing UL resources of a specified window of time of the resource allocation. The value ofY may be pre-configured (e.g., statically configured) and may depend on a resource type (e.g., UL. DL, SL, etc.). The value of Y may be measured over the window of time near a time of requested sensing signal transmission. As another example, the UE 1101 may be configured to override the resource allocation only if the UE 1101 is unaware of any transmission scheduled to be performed over any of the non-sensing resources to be used for sensing signal transmission. For example, if sensing resources are allowed only on a subset of SL resources and the UE 1101 wants to utilize SL resources where sensing is nominally not allowed, the UE 1 101 may check whether these particular resources have been indicated (“reserved”) by one or more other UEs for future transmission(s) by the other UE(s) and not override the resource allocation for any resource that has been reserved. As another example, the UE 1101 may be configured to override the resource allocation only if the sensing signal transmission over non-sensing resources satisfies one or more constraints on maximum transmit power, maximum transmit bandwidth, and/or beam direction. A maximum power (or bandwidth) constraint may be that a sensing signal is transmited with no more than a maximum transmit power (or bandwidth) of a non-sensing signal. A constraint on beam direction may, for example, help ensure that a different beam is used for the sensing signal transmission than a beam used for UL communication, e.g., if the resources to be used are UL resources. As another example, the UE 1101 may be configured to override the resource allocation only if the number of previous sensing cycles that experienced puncturing within a pre-configured time window exceed a threshold. A sensing cycle may be defined as “punctured” if the number and/or the percentage of sensing transmissions that are punctured exceeds a threshold. The number of punctured sensing cycles may be determined near a time of desired overriding of the resource allocation. As another example, the UE 1101 may be configured to override the resource allocation only if a priority of the sensing signal transmission using the non-sensing resources exceeds a threshold. This may help ensure that the resource allocation is overridden only for important events (e.g., an imminent collision of an automobile). The priority may be determined, for example, by an application of the UE 1101, e.g., an autonomous driving application. As another example, the UE 1 101 may be configured to override the resource allocation only if the non-sensing resources used are mode-2 SL resources, and a measured CBR (Channel Busy Ratio) of the resource pool that these resources correspond to is below a threshold. As another example, the UE 1101 may be configured to override the resource allocation only if the duty cycle of the sensing operation is below a first threshold or above a second threshold. The duty cycle may be defined as a number of sensing cycles per unit of time (e g., a frame), or a number of sensing symbols per unit of time, and the duty cycle definition may be statically or dynamically configured. The duty cycle may be a measure of how frequently sensing transmissions are performed. The UE 1101 may be configured to override the resource allocation only if two or more of the above constraints exist.

[00102] Referring again in particular to FIG. 11, at stage 1130, the sensing signal 1134 (which may comprise more than one sensing signal) may be transmitted by the UE 1101 and reflected off the target object 1103 as a reflected sensing signal 1136. The UE 1101 and/or the UE 1102 may receive the reflected sensing signal 1136.

[00103] At stage 1140, the UE 1101 and/or the UE 1102 may measure the reflected sensing signal 1136 and possibly report one or more respective measurements and/or processed measurements. At sub-stage 1142, the UE 1101 may measure the reflected sensing signal 1136 and may transmit, to the network entity 1105, a measurement report 1143 that may include one or more raw measurements and/or one or more processed measurements, e.g., one or more object ranges and/or one or more object directions and/or one or more object velocities. At sub-stage 1144, the UE 1102 may measure the reflected sensing signal 1136 and may transmit, to the network entity 1105, a measurement report 1145 that may include one or more raw measurements and/or one or more processed measurements, e.g., one or more object ranges and/or one or more object directions and/or one or more object velocities. Also or alternatively, at substage 1146, the network entity 1105 (e.g., the sensing unit 660) may determine one or more target object ranges and/or one or more target object velocities similar to sub-stage 1 142 and/or sub-stage 1144, e.g., based on information in the measurement report 1 143 and/or the measurement report 1145. The network entity 1105, e.g., the sensing unit 660, may transmit one or more determined ranges and/or one or more determined velocities to another entity, e.g., to the UE 1102 in a range/velocity report 1147 and/or to the UE 1101 in a range/velocity report 1148. [00104] Referring to FIG. 14, with further reference to FIGS. 1-13 and 17, a method 1400 for establishing or using a resource allocation includes the stages shown. The method 1400 is, however, an example only and not limiting. The method 1400 may be altered, e.g., by having one or more stages added, removed, rearranged, combined, performed concurrently, and/or having one or more single stages split into multiple stages.

[00105] At stage 1410, the method 1400 includes receiving, at a UE, the resource allocation indicating a plurality' of first resources, for non-sensing signal transfer, and a plurality of second resources, for sensing signal transmission, each of the first resources comprising a first frequency -time combination and each of the second resources comprising a second frequency -time combination. For example, at stage 1120, the UE 1101 may receive a resource allocation in the resource allocation message 1124 from the network entity 1105. The resource allocation may include resources allocated for sensing signal transmission (e.g., the sensing signal transmissions 1220i-1220_n, except for the sensing signal transmissions 12202, shown in FIG. 12, or the sensing signal resources 1331, 1332 shown in FIG. 13) and resources for non-sensing signal transfer (e.g., non-sensing signal transmissions 1231, 1232 shown in FIG. 12, or non-sensing signal resources 1311, 1312. 1341, 1342 shown in FIG. 13). The processor 510, possibly in combination with the memory 530, in combination with the transceiver 520 (e.g., the wireless receiver 244 and the antenna 246) may comprise means for receiving the resource allocation.

[00106] At stage 1420, the method 1400 includes at least one of: overriding the resource allocation by transmitting at least one sensing signal using at least one of the plurality of first resources; and sending, from the UE to a network entity, a request for a plurality of third resources, each comprising a third frequency -time combination, for sensing signal transmission, and a tolerance indication indicating an ability of the UE to tolerate puncturing of at least one of the plurality of third resources. The UE 1101 may, for example at stage 1 130, transmit the sensing signal 1 134 using at least one resource allocated for non-sensing signal transfer, e.g., performing sensing signal transmissions 1321, 1322 using non-sensing signal resources 1311, 1312. The processor 510, possibly in combination with the memory 530, in combination with the transceiver 520 (e.g., the wireless transmitter 242 and the antenna 246) may comprise means for overriding the resource allocation. Also or alternatively, at stage 1110, the UE 1101 may transmit the request 1 112 for sensing resources and/or may transmit the capability message 1116 indicating acceptable puncturing of requested sensing signal resources (e.g., of the sensing cycle 1211, or the sensing signal configuration 1700, etc.). The capability message 1116 may include a tolerance indication, i.e., information indicating (identifying and/or pointing out) puncturing that the UE 1101 would find acceptable. The network entity 1105 may use this information to allocate, e.g., at stage 1 120, one or more non-sensing signal resources in place of requested sensing signal resources. The processor 510, possibly in combination with the memory 530, in combination with the transceiver 520 (e.g., the wireless transmitter 242 and the antenna 246) may comprise means for sending the request for the plurality of third resources and the tolerance indication.

[00107] Implementations of the method 1400 may include one or more of the following features. In an example implementation, the tolerance indication indicates whether the UE is configured to tolerate puncturing of: (a) one or more sensing symbols; or (b) one or more sensing beams; or (c) one or more sensing cycles; or (d) any combination of two or more of (a), (b), or (c). In another example implementation, the tolerance indication indicates an amount of puncturing of the periodic sensing signal transmission pattern that the UE can tolerate. In another example implementation, the tolerance indication indicates at least one conditional constraint on the tolerance of the UE to puncturing of the periodic sensing signal transmission pattern. For example, a constraint may be that neither a most-recent beam prior to a punctured beam nor a next beam after the punctured beam can also be punctured.

[00108] Also or alternatively, implementations of the method 1400 may include one or more of the following features. In an example implementation, the method 1400 includes at least one of: sending the tolerance indication semi-statically; or sending the tolerance indication dynamically. For example, the UE 1101 may transmit the capability message 1116 upon establishment of an RRC connection between the UE 1 101 and the network entity 1 105 or reconfiguration of an RRC connection, with the indicated tolerance remaining valid until the RRC connection is reconfigured or reestablished. As another example, the UE 1101 may transmit the capability message 1116 aperiodically in response to a trigger (e.g.. the request 1114). The processor 510. possibly in combination with the memory 530, in combination with the transceiver 520 (e.g., the wireless transmitter 242, the wireless receiver 244, and the antenna 246) may comprise means for sending the tolerance indication semi-statically and/or means for sending the tolerance indication dynamically. In another example implementation, the UE is a particular UE of a plurality' of UEs, and the method 1400 includes transmitting the at least one sensing signal using at least one of the plurality of first resources based on a first sidelink resource pool configuration applicable to the plurality of UEs, or based on a second sidelink resource pool configuration specifically-applicable to the particular UE. For example, the UE 1101 may transmit a sensing signal in a duration scheduled for non-sensing signal transfer based on a ‘‘global’' SL resource pool or a dedicated SL resource pool for the UE 1101.

[00109] Also or alternatively, implementations of the method 1400 may include one or more of the following features. In an example implementation, the method 1400 includes transmitting the at least one sensing signal using at least one of the plurality of first resources based on: (1) a first amount of the plurality of first resources used for sensing signal transmission being less than a first threshold amount; or (2) a second amount of a subset, of a particular type of signal transfer, of the plurality of first resources used for sensing signal transmission being less than a second threshold amount; or (3) the UE being unaware of any signal transmission to be performed using the at least one of the plurality of first resources; or (4) transmission of the at least one sensing signal being within a maximum transmit power corresponding to the at least one of the plurality⁷ of first resources, or being within a maximum bandwidth corresponding to the at least one of the plurality of first resources, or being in an acceptable beam direction corresponding to the at least one of the plurality of first resources, or any combination of two or more thereof; or (5) a third amount of sensing cycles within a specified time duration that were punctured exceeding a third threshold amount; or (6) a priority of the at least one sensing signal exceeding an override threshold; or (7) the at least one of the plurality of first resources corresponding to mode-2 sidelink and a channel busy ratio corresponding to the at least one of the plurality of first resources being below a fourth threshold amount; or (8) a duty cycle of a sensing operation being determined to be below a duty cycle threshold or above the duty cycle threshold; or (9) any combination of two or more of (1 )-(8). For example, the UE 1101 may transmit a sensing signal using one or more resources allocated for non-sensing signal transfer based on a first amount of resources allocated for non-sensing signal transfer that are used for sensing signal transmission being less than a first threshold amount and based on a second amount of a subset, of a particular type of signal transfer, of the resources allocated for non-sensing signal transfer that are used for sensing signal transmission being less than a second threshold amount.

[00110] Referring to FIG. 15. with further reference to FIGS. 1-13 and 17, a resource allocation determination method 1500 includes the stages shown. The method 1500 is, however, an example only and not limiting. The method 1500 may be altered, e.g., by having one or more stages added, removed, rearranged, combined, performed concurrently, and/or having one or more single stages split into multiple stages. The method 1500 may comprise at least a portion of a method for determining range and/or velocity of each of one or more target objects using RF sensing.

[00111] At stage 1510, the method 1500 includes receiving, at a network entity from a UE, a first indication indicating a request for a plurality of first resources, for sensing signal transmission, each of the plurality of first resources comprising a first frequencytime combination. For example, at stage 1110 in the request 1112, the network entity 1105 may receive an implicit and/or explicit request for sensing signal transmission resources. The processor 610, possibly in combination with the memory 630, in combination with the transceiver 620 (e.g., the wireless receiver 444 and the antenna 446, and/or the wired receiver 454, or the wireless receiver 344 and the antenna 346. and/or the wired receiver 354) may comprise means for receiving the first indication. [00112] At stage 1520, the method 1500 includes receiving, at the network entity, a second indication indicating an ability of the UE to tolerate puncturing of at least one of the plurality of first resources. For example, at stage 1110, the network entity 1105 may receive the capability message 1116 indicating tolerance of the UE 1101 for puncturing of requested sensing signal resources. The processor 610, possibly in combination with the memory⁷ 630, in combination with the transceiver 620 (e.g., the wireless receiver 444 and the antenna 446, and/or the wired receiver 454. or the wireless receiver 344 and the antenna 346, and/or the wired receiver 354) may⁷ comprise means for receiving the second indication.

[00113] At stage 1530, the method 1500 includes determining, at the network entity⁷ and based on the second indication, a resource allocation indicating a plurality of second resources, for non-sensing signal transfer, and indicating a plurality of third resources, for sensing signal transmission, at least one of the plurality of second resources comprising a corresponding at least one of the plurality of first resources, each of the plurality of second resources comprising a second frequency-time combination and each of the plurality of third resources comprising a third frequency-time combination. For example, at stage 1120, the UE 1105, e.g., the resource allocation unit 650, may determine the resource allocation (of sensing signal resources and non-sensing signal resources) based on the acceptable puncturing of requested sensing signal resources (e g., of the sensing cycle 1211, the sensing cycle 1212, or the sensing signal configuration 1700, etc.) indicated in the capability message 1116. The determined resource allocation may include sensing signal transmission resources (e.g., for the sensing signal transmissions 1220i-1220_n except for the sensing signal transmissions 12202, with resources for the non-sensing signal transmissions 1231, 1232 being allocated at what would have been the resources for the sensing signal transmissions 12202 for the sensing cycles 1211, 1212). The processor 610, possibly in combination with the memory 630, may comprise means for determining the resource allocation.

[00114] At stage 1540, the method 1500 includes transmitting, from the network entity, the resource allocation to the UE. For example, at stage 1120, the UE 1105 may transmit the resource allocation message 1124 to the UE 1101. The processor 610, possibly in combination with the memory 630, in combination with the transceiver 620 (e.g.. the wireless transmitter 442 and the antenna 446, and/or the wired transmitter 452, or the wireless transmitter 342 and the antenna 346, and/or the wired transmitter 352) may comprise means for transmitting the resource allocation.

[00115] Implementations of the method 1500 may include one or more of the following features. In an example implementation, the second indication indicates whether the UE is configured to tolerate puncturing of: (a) one or more sensing symbols; or (b) one or more sensing beams; or (c) one or more sensing cycles; or (d) any combination of two or more of (a), (b), or (c). For example, the network entity 1105 may schedule puncturing of one or more sensing symbols, one or more sensing beams, and/or one or more sensing cycles based on the capability message 1116 indicating tolerance of the UE 1 101 for one or more of such puncturing types. The network entity 1105 may not schedule a puncturing type that is not indicated by the message 1116 as being acceptable by the UE 1101 for puncturing. In another example implementation, the second indication indicates an amount of puncturing of the at least one of the plurality of first resources that the UE can tolerate. For example, the network entity' 1105 may schedule puncturing of no more than the indicated amount of puncturing of the requested sensing signal resources that the UE can tolerate. In another example implementation, the second indication indicates at least one conditional constraint on the tolerance of the UE to puncturing of the at least one of the plurality of first resources. For example, the network entity 1105 may schedule only puncturing that meets the one or more, if any. conditional constraints indicated by the capability message 1116. For example, a constraint may be that, and the network entity⁷ 1105 may determine the resource allocation such that, neither a most-recent beam prior to a punctured beam nor a next beam after the punctured beam is punctured.

[00116] Implementation examples

[00117] Implementation examples are provided in the following numbered clauses.

[00118] Clause 1. A UE (user equipment) comprising: one or more memories; one or more transceivers; and one or more processors communicatively coupled to the one or more memories and the one or more transceivers; wherein the one or more processors are configured to receive, via the one or more transceivers, a resource allocation indicating a plurality of first resources, for nonsensing signal transfer, and a plurality of second resources, for sensing signal transmission, each of the first resources comprising a first frequency-time combination and each of the second resources comprising a second frequency -time combination; wherein: the one or more processors are configured to override the resource allocation to transmit at least one sensing signal using at least one of the plurality- of first resources; or the one or more processors are configured to: send, via the one or more transceivers, a request for a plurality of third resources, each comprising a third frequency-time combination, for sensing signal transmission; and send, via the one or more transceivers, a tolerance indication indicating an ability of the UE to tolerate puncturing of at least one of the plurality of third resources; or a combination thereof. [00119] Clause 2. The UE of clause 1, wherein the tolerance indication indicates whether the UE is configured to tolerate puncturing of: (a) one or more sensing symbols; or (b) one or more sensing beams; or (c) one or more sensing cycles; or (d) any combination of two or more of (a), (b), or (c).

[00120] Clause 3. The UE of clause 1. wherein the tolerance indication indicates an amount of puncturing of the periodic sensing signal transmission pattern that the UE can tolerate.

[00121] Clause 4. The UE of clause 1, wherein the tolerance indication indicates at least one conditional constraint on the ability of the UE to tolerate puncturing of the periodic sensing signal transmission pattern.

[00122] Clause 5. The UE of clause 1, wherein the one or more processors are: configured to send the tolerance indication semi-statically; or configured to send the tolerance indication dynamically; or configured to send the tolerance indication either semi-statically or dynamically.

[00123] Clause 6. The UE of clause 1, wherein the UE is a particular UE of a plurality of UEs, and wherein the one or more processors are configured to transmit the at least one sensing signal using at least one of the plurality of first resources based on a first sidelink resource pool configuration applicable to the plurality of UEs, or based on a second sidelink resource pool configuration specifically-applicable to the particular UE. [00124] Clause 7. The UE of clause 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to transmit the at least one sensing signal using at least one of the plurality⁷ of first resources based on:

(1) a first amount of the plurality of first resources used for sensing signal transmission being less than a first threshold amount; or

(2) a second amount of a subset, of a particular ty pe of signal transfer, of the plurality of first resources used for sensing signal transmission being less than a second threshold amount; or

(3) the UE being unaware of any signal transmission to be performed using the at least one of the plurality⁷ of first resources; or

(4) transmission of the at least one sensing signal being w ithin a maximum transmit power corresponding to the at least one of the plurality of first resources, or being within a maximum bandwidth corresponding to the at least one of the plurality of first resources, or being in an acceptable beam direction corresponding to the at least one of the plurality of first resources, or any combination of two or more thereof; or

(5) a third amount of sensing cycles within a specified time duration that were punctured exceeding a third threshold amount; or

(6) a priority of the at least one sensing signal exceeding an override threshold; or

(7) the at least one of the plurality' of first resources corresponding to mode-2 sidelink and a channel busy ratio corresponding to the at least one of the plurality' of first resources being below a fourth threshold amount; or

(8) a duty cycle of a sensing operation being determined by the one or more processors to be below a duty cycle threshold or above the duty⁷ cycle threshold; or

(9) any combination of two or more of (1 )-(8).

[00125] Clause 8. A method, for establishing or using a resource allocation, comprising: receiving, at a UE (user equipment), the resource allocation indicating a plurality' of first resources, for non-sensing signal transfer, and a plurality' of second resources, for sensing signal transmission, each of the first resources comprising a first frequencytime combination and each of the second resources comprising a second frequency-time combination; and at least one of: overriding the resource allocation by transmitting at least one sensing signal using at least one of the plurality of first resources; and sending, from the UE to a network entity, a request for a plurality of third resources, each comprising a third frequency -time combination, for sensing signal transmission, and a tolerance indication indicating an ability' of the UE to tolerate puncturing of at least one of the plurality' of third resources.

[00126] Clause 9. The method of clause 8. wherein the tolerance indication indicates whether the UE is configured to tolerate puncturing of: (a) one or more sensing symbols; or (b) one or more sensing beams; or (c) one or more sensing cycles; or (d) any combination of two or more of (a), (b), or (c).

[00127] Clause 10. The method of clause 8, wherein the tolerance indication indicates an amount of puncturing of the periodic sensing signal transmission pattern that the UE can tolerate. [00128] Clause 11. The method of clause 8, wherein the tolerance indication indicates at least one conditional constraint on the ability of the UE to tolerate puncturing of the periodic sensing signal transmission pattern.

[00129] Clause 12. The method of clause 8, further comprising at least one of: sending the tolerance indication semi-statically; and sending the tolerance indication dynamically.

[00130] Clause 13. The method of clause 8, wherein the UE is a particular UE of a plurality of UEs, and wherein the method comprises transmitting the at least one sensing signal using at least one of the plurality of first resources based on a first sidelink resource pool configuration applicable to the plurality of UEs, or based on a second sidelink resource pool configuration specifically-applicable to the particular UE.

[00131] Clause 14. The method of clause 8, wherein the method comprises transmitting the at least one sensing signal using at least one of the plurality’ of first resources based on:

(2) a second amount of a subset, of a particular type of signal transfer, of the plurality of first resources used for sensing signal transmission being less than a second threshold amount; or

(3) the UE being unaware of any signal transmission to be performed using the at least one of the plurality of first resources; or

(4) transmission of the at least one sensing signal being within a maximum transmit power corresponding to the at least one of the plurality of first resources, or being within a maximum bandw idth corresponding to the at least one of the plurality of first resources, or being in an acceptable beam direction corresponding to the at least one of the plurality of first resources, or any combination of two or more thereof; or

(7) the at least one of the plurality of first resources corresponding to mode-2 sidelink and a channel busy ratio corresponding to the at least one of the plurality of first resources being below a fourth threshold amount; or (8) a duty cycle of a sensing operation being determined to be below a duty cycle threshold or above the duty cycle threshold; or

(9) any combination of two or more of (1 )-(8).

[00132] Clause 15. A UE (user equipment) comprising: means for receiving the resource allocation indicating a plurality of first resources, for non-sensing signal transfer, and a plurality of second resources, for sensing signal transmission, each of the first resources comprising a first frequency -time combination and each of the second resources comprising a second frequency -time combination; and at least one of: means for overriding the resource allocation by transmitting at least one sensing signal using at least one of the plurality of first resources; and means for sending, to a network entity, a request for a plurality of third resources, each comprising a third frequency -time combination, for sensing signal transmission, and a tolerance indication indicating an ability of the UE to tolerate puncturing of at least one of the plurality of third resources.

[00133] Clause 16. The UE of clause 15, wherein the tolerance indication indicates whether the UE is configured to tolerate puncturing of: (a) one or more sensing symbols; or (b) one or more sensing beams; or (c) one or more sensing cycles; or (d) any combination of two or more of (a), (b), or (c).

[00134] Clause 17. The UE of clause 15, wherein the tolerance indication indicates an amount of puncturing of the periodic sensing signal transmission pattern that the UE can tolerate.

[00135] Clause 18. The UE of clause 15, wherein the tolerance indication indicates at least one conditional constraint on the ability of the UE to tolerate puncturing of the periodic sensing signal transmission pattern.

[00136] Clause 19. The UE of clause 15, further comprising at least one of: means for sending the tolerance indication semi-statically; and means for sending the tolerance indication dynamically.

[00137] Clause 20. The UE of clause 15, wherein the UE is a particular UE of a plurality of UEs, and wherein the UE comprises means for transmitting the at least one sensing signal using at least one of the plurality of first resources based on a first sidelink resource pool configuration applicable to the plurality of UEs, or based on a second sidelink resource pool configuration specifically-applicable to the particular UE. [00138] Clause 21. The UE of clause 15, further comprising means for transmitting the at least one sensing signal using at least one of the plurality of first resources based on:

(4) transmission of the at least one sensing signal being within a maximum transmit power corresponding to the at least one of the plurality of first resources, or being within a maximum bandwidth corresponding to the at least one of the plurality of first resources, or being in an acceptable beam direction corresponding to the at least one of the plurality of first resources, or any combination of tw o or more thereof; or

(7) the at least one of the plurality of first resources corresponding to mode-2 sidelink and a channel busy ratio corresponding to the at least one of the plurality of first resources being below a fourth threshold amount; or

(8) a duty cycle of a sensing operation being determined to be below a duty cycle threshold or above the duty⁷ cycle threshold; or

(9) any combination of two or more of (1 )-(8).

[00139] Clause 22. A non-transitory. processor-readable storage medium comprising processor-readable instructions to cause one or more processors of a UE (user equipment) to: receive the resource allocation indicating a plurality of first resources, for nonsensing signal transfer, and a plurality of second resources, for sensing signal transmission, each of the first resources comprising a first frequency-time combination and each of the second resources comprising a second frequency-time combination; and at least one of: processor-readable instructions to cause the one or more processors to override the resource allocation by transmitting at least one sensing signal using at least one of the plurality of first resources; and processor-readable instructions to cause the one or more processors to send, to a network entity, a request for a plurality of third resources, each comprising a third frequency -time combination, for sensing signal transmission, and a tolerance indication indicating an ability of the UE to tolerate puncturing of at least one of the plurality of third resources.

[00140] Clause 23. The non-transitory, processor-readable storage medium of clause 22, wherein the tolerance indication indicates whether the UE is configured to tolerate puncturing of: (a) one or more sensing symbols; or (b) one or more sensing beams; or (c) one or more sensing cycles; or (d) any combination of two or more of (a), (b), or (c). [00141] Clause 24. The non-transitory, processor-readable storage medium of clause 22, wherein the tolerance indication indicates an amount of puncturing of the periodic sensing signal transmission pattern that the UE can tolerate.

[00142] Clause 25. The non-transitory, processor-readable storage medium of clause 22. wherein the tolerance indication indicates at least one conditional constraint on the ability of the UE to tolerate puncturing of the periodic sensing signal transmission pattern.

[00143] Clause 26. The non-transitory. processor-readable storage medium of clause 22, further comprising at least one of: processor-readable instructions to cause the one or more processors to send the tolerance indication semi-statically; and processor-readable instructions to cause the one or more processors to send the tolerance indication dynamically.

[00144] Clause 27. The non-transitory, processor-readable storage medium of clause 22, wherein the UE is a particular UE of a plurality of UEs, and wherein the non- transitory, processor-readable storage medium comprises processor-readable instructions to cause the one or more processors to transmit the at least one sensing signal using at least one of the plurality of first resources based on a first sidelink resource pool configuration applicable to the plurality of UEs, or based on a second sidelink resource pool configuration specifically-applicable to the particular UE. [00145] Clause 28. The non-transitory, processor-readable storage medium of clause 22, further comprising processor-readable instructions to cause the one or more processors to transmit the at least one sensing signal using at least one of the plurality of first resources based on:

(9) any combination of two or more of (1 )-(8).

[00146] Clause 29. A network entity comprising: one or more memories; one or more transceivers; and one or more processors communicatively coupled to the one or more memories and the one or more transceivers and configured to: receive, via the one or more transceivers from a UE (user equipment), a first indication that indicates a request for a plurality of first resources, for sensing signal transmission, each of the plurality of first resources comprising a first frequencytime combination; receive, via the one or more transceivers from the UE, a second indication that indicates an ability of the UE to tolerate puncturing of at least one of the plurality of first resources; determine, based on the second indication, a resource allocation, for the UE, indicating a pl urality of second resources, for non-sensing signal transfer, and indicating a plurality of third resources, for sensing signal transmission, at least one of the plurality of second resources comprising a corresponding at least one of the plurality of first resources, each of the plurality of second resources comprising a second frequency-time combination and each of the plurality of third resources comprising a third frequency-time combination; and transmit the resource allocation to the UE via the one or more transceivers.

[00147] Clause 30. The network entity of clause 29, wherein the second indication indicates whether the UE is configured to tolerate puncturing of: (a) one or more sensing symbols; or (b) one or more sensing beams; or (c) one or more sensing cycles; or (d) any combination of two or more of (a), (b), or (c).

[00148] Clause 31. The network entity of clause 29, wherein the second indication indicates an amount of puncturing of the at least one of the plurality of first resources that the UE can tolerate.

[00149] Clause 32. The network entity of clause 29, wherein the second indication indicates at least one conditional constraint on the ability of the UE to tolerate puncturing of the at least one of the plurality of first resources.

[00150] Clause 33. A resource allocation determination method comprising: receiving, at a network entity from a UE (user equipment), a first indication indicating a request for a plurality of first resources, for sensing signal transmission, each of the plurality of first resources comprising a first frequency-time combination; receiving, at the network entity', a second indication indicating an ability of the UE to tolerate puncturing of at least one of the plurality of first resources; determining, at the network entity and based on the second indication, a resource allocation, for the UE, indicating a plurality of first second resources, for non-sensing signal transfer, and indicating a plurality’ of third resources, for sensing signal transmission, at least one of the plurality of second resources comprising a corresponding at least one of the plurality of first resources, each of the plurality of second resources comprising a second frequency-time combination and each of the plurality of third resources comprising a third frequency -time combination; and transmitting, from the network entity, the resource allocation to the UE.

[00151] Clause 34. The signal transfer scheduling method of clause 33, wherein the second indication indicates whether the UE is configured to tolerate puncturing of: (a) one or more sensing sy mbols; or (b) one or more sensing beams; or (c) one or more sensing cycles; or (d) any combination of two or more of (a), (b), or (c).

[00152] Clause 35. The signal transfer scheduling method of clause 33, wherein the second indication indicates an amount of puncturing of the at least one of the plurality of first resources that the UE can tolerate.

[00153] Clause 36. The signal transfer scheduling method of clause 33, wherein the second indication indicates at least one conditional constraint on the ability of the UE to tolerate puncturing of the at least one of the plurality of first resources.

[00154] Clause 37. A network entity' comprising: means for receiving, from a UE (user equipment), a first indication indicating a request for a plurality of first resources, for sensing signal transmission, each of the plurality of first resources comprising a first frequency-time combination; means for receiving a second indication indicating an ability of the UE to tolerate puncturing of at least one of the plurality⁷ of first resources; means for determining, based on the second indication, a resource allocation, for the UE, indicating a plurality' of first second resources, for non-sensing signal transfer, and indicating a plurality⁷ of third resources, for sensing signal transmission, at least one of the plurality⁷ of second resources comprising a corresponding at least one of the plurality of first resources, each of the plurality of second resources comprising a second frequency -time combination and each of the plurality of third resources comprising a third frequency-time combination; and means for transmitting the resource allocation to the UE.

[00155] Clause 38. The network entity of clause 37, wherein the second indication indicates whether the UE is configured to tolerate puncturing of: (a) one or more sensing symbols; or (b) one or more sensing beams; or (c) one or more sensing cycles; or (d) any combination of two or more of (a), (b), or (c). [00156] Clause 39. The network entity of clause 37, wherein the second indication indicates an amount of puncturing of the at least one of the plurality of first resources that the UE can tolerate.

[00157] Clause 40. The network entity of clause 37, wherein the second indication indicates at least one conditional constraint on the ability of the UE to tolerate puncturing of the at least one of the plurality of first resources.

[00158] Clause 41. A non-transitory, processor-readable storage medium comprising processor-readable instructions to cause one or more processors of a network entity to: receive, from a UE (user equipment), a first indication indicating a request for a plurality of first resources, for sensing signal transmission, each of the plurality of first resources comprising a first frequency -time combination; receive a second indication indicating an ability of the UE to tolerate puncturing of at least one of the plurality of first resources; determine, based on the second indication, a resource allocation, for the UE, indicating a plurality of first second resources, for non-sensing signal transfer, and indicating a plurality of third resources, for sensing signal transmission, at least one of the plurality of second resources comprising a corresponding at least one of the plurality of first resources, each of the plurality of second resources comprising a second frequency-time combination and each of the plurality of third resources comprising a third frequency -time combination; and transmit the resource allocation to the UE.

[00159] Clause 42. The non-transitory, processor-readable storage medium of clause 41, wherein the second indication indicates whether the UE is configured to tolerate puncturing of: (a) one or more sensing symbols; or (b) one or more sensing beams; or (c) one or more sensing cycles; or (d) any combination of two or more of (a), (b), or (c). [00160] Clause 43. The non-transitory, processor-readable storage medium of clause 41. wherein the second indication indicates an amount of puncturing of the at least one of the plurality of first resources that the UE can tolerate.

[00161] Clause 44. The non-transitory, processor-readable storage medium of clause 41, wherein the second indication indicates at least one conditional constraint on the ability of the UE to tolerate puncturing of the at least one of the plurality of first resources.

[00162] Other considerations [00163] Other examples and implementations are within the scope of the disclosure and appended claims. For example, due to the nature of software and computers, functions described above can be implemented using software executed by a processor, hardware, firmware, hardwiring, or a combination of any of these. Features implementing functions may also be physically located at various positions, including being distributed such that portions of functions are implemented at different physical locations.

[00164] As used herein, the singular forms “a,” "an." and “the” include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. Thus, reference to a device in the singular (e.g., “a device,” “the device”), including in the claims, includes one or more of such devices (e.g., “a processor” includes one or more processors, “the processor” includes one or more processors, “a memory” includes one or more memories, “the memory” includes one or more memories, etc.). The phrase “one or more” referred-to objects includes implementations that have one referred-to object and implementations that have multiple referred-to objects. For example, “one or more processors” includes implementations that have one processor and implementations that have multiple processors.

[00165] The terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “includes,” and/or “including,” as used herein, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. [00166] Also, as used herein, “or” as used in a list of items (possibly prefaced by “at least one of’ or prefaced by “one or more of’) indicates a disjunctive list such that, for example, a list of “at least one of A, B, or C,” or a list of “one or more of A, B, or C” or a list of “A or B or C” means A, or B, or C, or AB (A and B), or AC (A and C), or BC (B and C), or ABC (i.e., A and B and C), or combinations with more than one feature (e.g.. AA, AAB, ABBC. etc.). Thus, a recitation that an item, e.g., a processor, is configured to perform a function regarding at least one of A or B, or a recitation that an item is configured to perform a function A or a function B, means that the item may be configured to perform the function regarding A, or may be configured to perform the function regarding B, or may be configured to perform the function regarding A and B. For example, a phrase of “a processor configured to measure at least one of A or B” or “a processor configured to measure A or measure B” means that the processor may be configured to measure A (and may or may not be configured to measure B), or may be configured to measure B (and may or may not be configured to measure A), or may be configured to measure A and measure B (and may be configured to select which, or both, of A and B to measure). Similarly, a recitation of a means for measuring at least one of A or B includes means for measuring A (which may or may not be able to measure B), or means for measuring B (and may or may not be configured to measure A), or means for measuring A and B (which may be able to select which, or both, of A and B to measure). As another example, a recitation that an item, e.g., a processor, is configured to at least one of perform function X or perform function Y means that the item may be configured to perform the function X, or may be configured to perform the function Y, or may be configured to perform the function X and to perform the function Y. For example, a phrase of “a processor configured to at least one of measure X or measure Y” means that the processor may be configured to measure X (and may or may not be configured to measure Y), or may be configured to measure Y (and may or may not be configured to measure X), or may be configured to measure X and to measure Y (and may be configured to select which, or both, of X and Y to measure).

[00167] As used herein, unless otherwise stated, a statement that a function or operation is "based on” an item or condition means that the function or operation is based on the stated item or condition and may be based on one or more items and/or conditions in addition to the stated item or condition.

[00168] Substantial variations may be made in accordance with specific requirements. For example, customized hardware might also be used, and/or particular elements might be implemented in hardware, software (including portable software, such as applets, etc.) executed by a processor, or both. Further, connection to other computing devices such as network input/output devices may be employed. Components, functional or otherwise, shown in the figures and/or discussed herein as being connected or communicating with each other are communicatively coupled unless otherwise noted. That is, they may be directly or indirectly connected to enable communication between them.

[00169] The systems and devices discussed above are examples. Various configurations may omit, substitute, or add various procedures or components as appropriate. For instance, features described with respect to certain configurations may be combined in various other configurations. Different aspects and elements of the configurations may be combined in a similar manner. Also, technology evolves and, thus, many of the elements are examples and do not limit the scope of the disclosure or claims.

[00170] A wireless communication system is one in which communications are conveyed wirelessly, i.e., by electromagnetic and/or acoustic waves propagating through atmospheric space rather than through a wire or other physical connection, between wireless communication devices. A wireless communication system (also called a wireless communications system, a wireless communication network, or a wireless communications network) may not have all communications transmitted wirelessly, but is configured to have at least some communications transmitted wirelessly. Further, the term “wireless communication device,” or similar term, does not require that the functionality of the device is exclusively, or even primarily, for communication, or that communication using the wireless communication device is exclusively, or even primarily, wireless, or that the device be a mobile device, but indicates that the device includes wireless communication capability (one-way or two- way), e.g., includes at least one radio (each radio being part of a transmitter, receiver, or transceiver) for wireless communication.

[00171] Specific details are given in the description herein to provide a thorough understanding of example configurations (including implementations). However, configurations may be practiced without these specific details. For example, well- known circuits, processes, algorithms, structures, and techniques have been shown without unnecessary detail in order to avoid obscuring the configurations. The description herein provides example configurations, and does not limit the scope, applicability, or configurations of the claims. Rather, the preceding description of the configurations provides a description for implementing described techniques. Various changes may be made in the function and arrangement of elements.

[00172] The terms “processor-readable medium.” “machine-readable medium,” and “computer-readable medium,” as used herein, refer to any medium that participates in providing data that causes a machine to operate in a specific fashion. Using a computing platform, various processor-readable media might be involved in providing instruct! ons/code to processor(s) for execution and/or might be used to store and/or carry such instruct! ons/code (e.g., as signals). In many implementations, a processor- readable medium is a physical and/or tangible storage medium. Such a medium may take many forms, including but not limited to, non-volatile media and volatile media. Non-volatile media include, for example, optical and/or magnetic disks. Volatile media include, without limitation, dynamic memory.

[00173] Having described several example configurations, various modifications, alternative constructions, and equivalents may be used. For example, the above elements may be components of a larger system, wherein other rules may take precedence over or otherwise modify the application of the disclosure. Also, a number of operations may be undertaken before, during, or after the above elements are considered. Accordingly, the above description does not bound the scope of the claims. [00174] Unless otherwise indicated, ‘'about” and/or “approximately” as used herein when referring to a measurable value such as an amount, a temporal duration, and the like, encompasses variations of ±20% or ±10%, ±5%, or ±0. 1% from the specified value, as appropriate in the context of the systems, devices, circuits, methods, and other implementations described herein. Unless otherwise indicated, “substantially” as used herein when referring to a measurable value such as an amount, a temporal duration, a physical attribute (such as frequency), and the like, also encompasses variations of ±20% or ±10%, ±5%, or ±0.1% from the specified value, as appropriate in the context of the systems, devices, circuits, methods, and other implementations described herein.

[00175] A statement that a value exceeds (or is more than or above) a first threshold value is equivalent to a statement that the value meets or exceeds a second threshold value that is slightly greater than the first threshold value, e.g., the second threshold value being one value higher than the first threshold value in the resolution of a computing system. A statement that a value is less than (or is within or below) a first threshold value is equivalent to a statement that the value is less than or equal to a second threshold value that is slightly lower than the first threshold value, e g., the second threshold value being one value lower than the first threshold value in the resolution of a computing system.

Claims

1. A UE (user equipment) comprising: one or more memories; one or more transceivers; and one or more processors communicatively coupled to the one or more memories and the one or more transceivers; wherein the one or more processors are configured to receive, via the one or more transceivers, a resource allocation indicating a plurality of first resources, for nonsensing signal transfer, and a plurality of second resources, for sensing signal transmission, each of the first resources comprising a first frequency-time combination and each of the second resources comprising a second frequency -time combination; wherein: the one or more processors are configured to override the resource allocation to transmit at least one sensing signal using at least one of the plurality of first resources; or the one or more processors are configured to: send, via the one or more transceivers, a request for a plurality of third resources, each comprising a third frequency -time combination, for sensing signal transmission; and send, via the one or more transceivers, a tolerance indication indicating an ability of the UE to tolerate puncturing of at least one of the plurality of third resources; or a combination thereof.

2. The UE of claim 1, wherein the tolerance indication indicates whether the UE is configured to tolerate puncturing of: (a) one or more sensing symbols; or (b) one or more sensing beams; or (c) one or more sensing cycles; or (d) any combination of two or more of (a), (b), or (c).

3. The UE of claim 1, wherein the tolerance indication indicates an amount of puncturing of the periodic sensing signal transmission pattern that the UE can tolerate.

4. The UE of claim 1, wherein the tolerance indication indicates at least one conditional constraint on the ability of the UE to tolerate puncturing of the periodic sensing signal transmission pattern.

5. The UE of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are: configured to send the tolerance indication semi-statically; or configured to send the tolerance indication dynamically; or configured to send the tolerance indication either semi-statically or dynamically.

6. The UE of claim 1, wherein the UE is a particular UE of a plurality of UEs, and wherein the one or more processors are configured to transmit the at least one sensing signal using at least one of the plurality of first resources based on a first sidelink resource pool configuration applicable to the plurality of UEs, or based on a second sidelink resource pool configuration specifically-applicable to the particular UE.

7. The UE of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to transmit the at least one sensing signal using at least one of the plurality of first resources based on:

(4) transmission of the at least one sensing signal being within a maximum transmit power corresponding to the at least one of the plurality of first resources, or being within a maximum bandwidth corresponding to the at least one of the plurality of first resources, or being in an acceptable beam direction corresponding to the at least one of the plurality of first resources, or any combination of two or more thereof; or

(5) a third amount of sensing cycles within a specified time duration that were punctured exceeding a third threshold amount; or (6) a priority of the at least one sensing signal exceeding an override threshold; or

(8) a duty cycle of a sensing operation being determined by the one or more processors to be below a duty cycle threshold or above the duty' cycle threshold; or

(9) any combination of two or more of (1 )-(8).

8. A method, for establishing or using a resource allocation, comprising: receiving, at a UE (user equipment), the resource allocation indicating a plurality' of first resources, for non-sensing signal transfer, and a plurality' of second resources, for sensing signal transmission, each of the first resources comprising a first frequencytime combination and each of the second resources comprising a second frequency-time combination; and at least one of: overriding the resource allocation by transmitting at least one sensing signal using at least one of the plurality of first resources; and sending, from the UE to a network entity’, a request for a plurality of third resources, each comprising a third frequency -time combination, for sensing signal transmission, and a tolerance indication indicating an ability' of the UE to tolerate puncturing of at least one of the plurality of third resources.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the tolerance indication indicates whether the UE is configured to tolerate puncturing of: (a) one or more sensing symbols; or (b) one or more sensing beams; or (c) one or more sensing cycles; or (d) any combination of two or more of (a), (b), or (c).

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the tolerance indication indicates an amount of puncturing of the periodic sensing signal transmission pattern that the UE can tolerate.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the tolerance indication indicates at least one conditional constraint on the ability of the UE to tolerate puncturing of the periodic sensing signal transmission pattern.

12. The method of claim 8, further comprising at least one of: sending the tolerance indication semi-statically; and sending the tolerance indication dynamically.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the UE is a particular UE of a plurality of UEs, and wherein the method comprises transmitting the at least one sensing signal using at least one of the plurality of first resources based on a first sidelink resource pool configuration applicable to the plurality of UEs, or based on a second sidelink resource pool configuration specifically-applicable to the particular UE.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the method comprises transmitting the at least one sensing signal using at least one of the plurality of first resources based on:

(6) a priority of the at least one sensing signal exceeding an override threshold; or (7) the at least one of the plurality of first resources corresponding to mode-2 sidelink and a channel busy ratio corresponding to the at least one of the plurality of first resources being below a fourth threshold amount; or

(8) a duty cycle of a sensing operation being determined to be below a duly cycle threshold or above the duty cycle threshold; or

(9) any combination of two or more of (1 )-(8).

15. A UE (user equipment) comprising: means for receiving the resource allocation indicating a plurality of first resources, for non-sensing signal transfer, and a plurality of second resources, for sensing signal transmission, each of the first resources comprising a first frequency -time combination and each of the second resources comprising a second frequency -time combination; and at least one of: means for overriding the resource allocation by transmitting at least one sensing signal using at least one of the plurality of first resources; and means for sending, to a network entity, a request for a plurality of third resources, each comprising a third frequency -time combination, for sensing signal transmission, and a tolerance indication indicating an ability of the UE to tolerate puncturing of at least one of the plurality of third resources.

16. The UE of claim 15. w herein the tolerance indication indicates whether the UE is configured to tolerate puncturing of: (a) one or more sensing symbols; or (b) one or more sensing beams; or (c) one or more sensing cycles; or (d) any combination of two or more of (a), (b), or (c).

17. The UE of claim 15. w herein the tolerance indication indicates an amount of puncturing of the periodic sensing signal transmission pattern that the UE can tolerate.

18. The UE of claim 15, w herein the tolerance indication indicates at least one conditional constraint on the ability of the UE to tolerate puncturing of the periodic sensing signal transmission pattern.

19. The UE of claim 15, further comprising at least one of: means for sending the tolerance indication semi-statically; and means for sending the tolerance indication dynamically.

20. The UE of claim 15. wherein the UE is a particular UE of a plurality of UEs, and wherein the UE comprises means for transmitting the at least one sensing signal using at least one of the plurality of first resources based on a first sidelink resource pool configuration applicable to the plurality of UEs, or based on a second sidelink resource pool configuration specifically-applicable to the particular UE.

21. The UE of claim 15, further comprising means for transmitting the at least one sensing signal using at least one of the plurality of first resources based on:

(4) transmission of the at least one sensing signal being within a maximum transmit power corresponding to the at least one of the plurality of first resources, or being within a maximum bandwidth corresponding to the at least one of the plurality of first resources, or being in an acceptable beam direction corresponding to the at least one of the plurality' of first resources, or any combination of two or more thereof; or

(8) a duty cycle of a sensing operation being determined to be below a duty cycle threshold or above the duty cycle threshold; or (9) any combination of two or more of ( 1 )-(8).

22. A non-transitory, processor-readable storage medium comprising processor- readable instructions to cause one or more processors of a UE (user equipment) to: receive the resource allocation indicating a plurality of first resources, for nonsensing signal transfer, and a plurality of second resources, for sensing signal transmission, each of the first resources comprising a first frequency -time combination and each of the second resources comprising a second frequency -time combination; and at least one of: processor-readable instructions to cause the one or more processors to override the resource allocation by transmitting at least one sensing signal using at least one of the plurality of first resources; and processor-readable instructions to cause the one or more processors to send, to a network entity, a request for a plurality of third resources, each comprising a third frequency -time combination, for sensing signal transmission, and a tolerance indication indicating an ability' of the UE to tolerate puncturing of at least one of the plurality of third resources.

23. The non-transitory. processor-readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the tolerance indication indicates whether the UE is configured to tolerate puncturing of: (a) one or more sensing symbols; or (b) one or more sensing beams; or (c) one or more sensing cycles; or (d) any combination of two or more of (a), (b), or (c).

24. The non-transitory⁷, processor-readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the tolerance indication indicates an amount of puncturing of the periodic sensing signal transmission pattern that the UE can tolerate.

25. The non-transitory, processor-readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the tolerance indication indicates at least one conditional constraint on the ability of the UE to tolerate puncturing of the periodic sensing signal transmission pattern.

26. The non-transitory, processor-readable storage medium of claim 22. further comprising at least one of: processor-readable instructions to cause the one or more processors to send the tolerance indication semi-statically; and processor-readable instructions to cause the one or more processors to send the tolerance indication dynamically.

27. The non-transitory, processor-readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the UE is a particular UE of a plurality of UEs. and wherein the non-transitory, processor-readable storage medium comprises processor-readable instructions to cause the one or more processors to transmit the at least one sensing signal using at least one of the plurality of first resources based on a first sidelink resource pool configuration applicable to the plurality of UEs, or based on a second sidelink resource pool configuration specifically-applicable to the particular UE.

28. The non-transitory', processor-readable storage medium of claim 22, further comprising processor-readable instructions to cause the one or more processors to transmit the at least one sensing signal using at least one of the plurality of first resources based on:

(4) transmission of the at least one sensing signal being within a maximum transmit power corresponding to the at least one of the plurality’ of first resources, or being within a maximum bandw idth corresponding to the at least one of the plurality’ of first resources, or being in an acceptable beam direction corresponding to the at least one of the plurality of first resources, or any combination of two or more thereof; or

(5) a third amount of sensing cycles w ithin a specified time duration that w ere punctured exceeding a third threshold amount; or (6) a priority of the at least one sensing signal exceeding an override threshold; or

(8) a duty cycle of a sensing operation being determined to be below a duty cycle threshold or above the duty cycle threshold; or

(9) any combination of two or more of (1 )-(8).

29. A network entity comprising: one or more memories; one or more transceivers; and one or more processors communicatively coupled to the one or more memories and the one or more transceivers and configured to: receive, via the one or more transceivers from a UE (user equipment), a first indication that indicates a request for a plurality' of first resources, for sensing signal transmission, each of the plurality of first resources comprising a first frequencytime combination; receive, via the one or more transceivers from the UE, a second indication that indicates an ability of the UE to tolerate puncturing of at least one of the plurality of first resources; determine, based on the second indication, a resource allocation, for the UE, indicating a plurality of second resources, for non-sensing signal transfer, and indicating a plurality' of third resources, for sensing signal transmission, at least one of the plurality' of second resources comprising a corresponding at least one of the plurality of first resources, each of the plurality of second resources comprising a second frequency-time combination and each of the plurality of third resources comprising a third frequency -time combination; and transmit the resource allocation to the UE via the one or more transceivers.

30. The network entity’ of claim 29, wherein the second indication indicates whether the UE is configured to tolerate puncturing of: (a) one or more sensing symbols; or (b) one or more sensing beams; or (c) one or more sensing cycles; or (d) any combination of two or more of (a), (b), or (c).

31. The network entity of claim 29, wherein the second indication indicates an amount of puncturing of the at least one of the plurality of first resources that the UE can tolerate.

32. The network entity of claim 29, wherein the second indication indicates at least one conditional constraint on the ability of the UE to tolerate puncturing of the at least one of the plurality of first resources.

33. A resource allocation determination method comprising: receiving, at a network entity’ from a UE (user equipment), a first indication indicating a request for a plurality of first resources, for sensing signal transmission, each of the plurality of first resources comprising a first frequency-time combination; receiving, at the network entity, a second indication indicating an ability’ of the UE to tolerate puncturing of at least one of the plurality of first resources; determining, at the network entity and based on the second indication, a resource allocation, for the UE, indicating a plurality of second resources, for non-sensing signal transfer, and indicating a plurality of third resources, for sensing signal transmission, at least one of the plurality of second resources comprising a corresponding at least one of the plurality of first resources, each of the plurality of second resources comprising a second frequency -time combination and each of the plurality of third resources comprising a third frequency -time combination; and transmitting, from the network entity', the resource allocation to the UE.

34. The signal transfer scheduling method of claim 33, wherein the second indication indicates whether the UE is configured to tolerate puncturing of: (a) one or more sensing symbols; or (b) one or more sensing beams; or (c) one or more sensing cycles; or (d) any combination of two or more of (a), (b), or (c).

35. The signal transfer scheduling method of claim 33, wherein the second indication indicates an amount of puncturing of the at least one of the plurality of first resources that the UE can tolerate.

36. The signal transfer scheduling method of claim 33, wherein the second indication indicates at least one conditional constraint on the ability' of the UE to tolerate puncturing of the at least one of the plurality' of first resources.

37. A network entity comprising: means for receiving, from a UE (user equipment), a first indication indicating a request for a plurality of first resources, for sensing signal transmission, each of the plurality⁷ of first resources comprising a first frequency-time combination; means for receiving a second indication indicating an ability’ of the UE to tolerate puncturing of at least one of the plurality of first resources; means for determining, based on the second indication, a resource allocation, for the UE, indicating a plurality' of second resources, for non-sensing signal transfer, and indicating a plurality of third resources, for sensing signal transmission, at least one of the plurality of second resources comprising a corresponding at least one of the plurality of first resources, each of the plurality of second resources comprising a second frequency-time combination and each of the plurality of third resources comprising a third frequency -time combination; and means for transmitting the resource allocation to the UE.

38. The network entity of claim 37, wherein the second indication indicates whether the UE is configured to tolerate puncturing of: (a) one or more sensing symbols; or (b) one or more sensing beams; or (c) one or more sensing cycles; or (d) any combination of two or more of (a), (b), or (c).

39. The network entity of claim 37, wherein the second indication indicates an amount of puncturing of the at least one of the plurality of first resources that the UE can tolerate.

40. The network entity of claim 37, wherein the second indication indicates at least one conditional constraint on the ability of the UE to tolerate puncturing of the at least one of the plurality of first resources.

41. A non-transitory, processor-readable storage medium comprising processor- readable instructions to cause one or more processors of a network entity to: receive, from a UE (user equipment), a first indication indicating a request for a plurality of first resources, for sensing signal transmission, each of the plurality of first resources comprising a first frequency-time combination; receive a second indication indicating an ability of the UE to tolerate puncturing of at least one of the plurality of first resources; determine, based on the second indication, a resource allocation, for the UE, indicating a plurality of second resources, for non-sensing signal transfer, and indicating a plurality of third resources, for sensing signal transmission, at least one of the plurality of second resources comprising a corresponding at least one of the plurality of first resources, each of the plurality of second resources comprising a second frequency -time combination and each of the plurality of third resources comprising a third frequencytime combination; and transmit the resource allocation to the UE.

42. The non-transitory, processor-readable storage medium of claim 41, wherein the second indication indicates whether the UE is configured to tolerate puncturing of: (a) one or more sensing symbols; or (b) one or more sensing beams; or (c) one or more sensing cycles; or (d) any combination of two or more of (a), (b), or (c).

43. The non-transitory, processor-readable storage medium of claim 41, wherein the second indication indicates an amount of puncturing of the at least one of the plurality of first resources that the UE can tolerate.

44. The non-transitory, processor-readable storage medium of claim 41, wherein the second indication indicates at least one conditional constraint on the ability of the UE to tolerate puncturing of the at least one of the plurality of first resources.