WO2025213602A1

WO2025213602A1 - Method and apparatus for communication

Info

Publication number: WO2025213602A1
Application number: PCT/CN2024/104694
Authority: WO
Inventors: Mengyao Ma; Jianglei Ma
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2024-04-08
Filing date: 2024-07-10
Publication date: 2025-10-16
Anticipated expiration: 2026-10-08
Also published as: WO2025213602A9

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a method and an apparatus for communication. In an aspect, a device receives sensing information comprising subset information indicating a subset of a sensing target. Moreover, the device performs a communication related operation based on the sensing information. Thus, computational complexity and power consumption can be reduced, and transmission overheads for sensing information exchange can also be greatly reduced.

Description

Method and Apparatus for Communication

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION (S)

The present application claims the priority of US provisional application No. 63/575,978, filed on April 8, 2024, and entitled “A method and apparatus for subset-based sensing information indication” , which is incorporated in its entirety herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Example embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to the field of communications, and in particular, to a method, an apparatus, and a computer-readable storage medium, and a computer program product for communication related to sensing.

BACKGROUND

User equipment (UE) position information is often used in cellular communication networks to improve various performance metrics for a network (NW) . A sensing system may be used to help gather UE position information, including its location in a global coordinate system, its velocity, and direction of movement in the global coordinate system, orientation information, and information about a wireless environment. While the sensing system may be separate from a communication system, it may be advantageous to gather the UE position information using an integrated system, which reduces hardware and cost in the integrated system as well as time, frequency, or spatial resources needed to achieve both functionalities. Accordingly, communication related to sensingis a desirable feature in existing and future communication systems.

SUMMARY

This present disclosure provides a communication method and apparatus used for communication related to sensing.

According to a first aspect, a communication method is described. The method may be applied at a first device side, such as a terminal side, for example, a terminal or a module in a terminal, a circuit or a chip (for example, a modem (modem) chip, also referred to as a baseband (baseband) chip, or a system on chip (system on chip, SoC) chip or a system in package (system in package, SIP) chip that includes a modem core) that is responsible for a communication function in a terminal. For example, the method is applied to a first device. In this method, the first device receives sensing information comprising subset information indicating a subset of a sensing target, and performs a communication related operation based on the sensing information. In this way, computational complexity and power consumption at a device can reduced, and transmission overheads for sensing information exchange can also be greatly reduced. Then, the device can have sufficient information to assist subsequent communication tasks.

In a possible design, the subset information indicates a geometric shape for representing the subset. In this way, the representation of the sensing target can be optimized.

In a possible design, the geometric shape comprises one of the following: a square, a circle, a rectangle, and a polygon. In this way, the sensing target can be described in multiple ways.

In a possible design, the geometric shape is indicated by at least one of the following: the geometric shape is the circle and is indicated by a center point and a radius of the circle, the geometric shape is the circle and is indicated by a center point, a radius, and a normal vector, the geometric shape is the square and is indicated by a center point and a side length, the geometric shape is the square and is indicated by a center point, a side length, and a normal vector, the geometric shape is the square or the rectangle and is indicated by four points, the geometric shape is the square or the rectangle and is indicated by one vertex and two direction vectors, and the geometric shape is the polygon and is indicated by a set of points. In this case, the sensing information of the sensing target can be represented more accurately.

In a possible design, the subset has a subset index, and the sensing information indicates the subset index. In this way, the subset can be indicated in a simple way, and thus signaling overhead can be reduced.

In a possible design, the sensing target has a plurality of subsets comprising the subset, and the sensing information comprises a plurality of subset information indicating the plurality of subsets respectively. In this way, the sensing target can be represented effectively.

In a possible design, the sensing information is a first sensing information comprising first subset information indicating a first subset, and the method further comprises receiving second sensing information indicating an update of the first sensing information. In this way, the sensing target can be updated effectively.

In a possible design, the second sensing information comprises second subset information indicating a second subset of the sensing target. In this way, the sensing target can be indicated effectively.

In a possible design, the second sensing information comprises update information for updating the first sensing information to obtain the second sensing information comprising second subset information indicating a second subset of the sensing target. In this way, the sensing target can be indicated effectively.

In a possible design, the update information indicates at least one of the following: adding further subset information indicating a further subset of the sensing target in addition to the first subset information, removing the first subset information, and translating the first subset information. In this way, the update of the sensing target can be indicated effectively.

In a possible design, the method further comprises transmitting or receiving at least one of the following: capability information on whether a device has a capability to process the sensing information comprising the subset information, a first indication of using the sensing information comprising the subset information, a second indication of enabling the sensing information comprising the subset information, and a third indication of disabling the sensing information comprising the subset information. In this way, it is allowed to facilitate the subset-based representation effectively.

In a possible design, the capability information comprises at least one of the following: information on whether the device has a capability to process compressed sensing information, and a max number of subset information can be processed at a time. In this way, it is allowed to indicate the capability information effectively.

In a possible design, the method further comprises receiving or transmitting information indicating one or more of the following: a geometric shape type of the subset, a coordinate system of the subset, a max number of subsets of the sensing target, a number of subsets of the sensing target, precision for representation of the subset, whether a subset index of the subset is used or not, whether update of the subset is supported or not, a format to indicate the update, if the update is supported, a period to trigger the update, if the update is supported, whether compression of the sensing information comprising the subset information is used or not, and a compression approach and/or a compression parameter, if the compression is used. In this way, it is allowed to facilitate the subset-based representation effectively.

In a possible design, performing the communication related operation comprises at least one of the following: performing beamforming/beam tracking, performing multiple input multiple output (MIMO) parameter estimation, and performing a channel measurement operation. In this way, it is possible to facilitate multiple types of communication related operations.

According to a second aspect, a method may be applied to a second device side, such as a network side, for example, a location server or a component (for example, a circuit, a chip, or a chip system) in a location server on a network side. For example, the method is applied to a second device. In the method, the second device determines sensing information comprising subset information indicating a subset of a sensing target, and transmits the sensing information. In this way, computational complexity and power consumption at a device can reduced, and transmission overheads for sensing information exchange can also be greatly reduced.

In a possible design, the sensing information is a first sensing information comprising first subset information indicating a first subset, and the method further comprises transmitting second sensing information indicating an update of the first sensing information. In this way, the sensing target can be updated effectively.

According to a third aspect, a communication apparatus is described. The communication apparatus has a function of implementing the first aspect. For example, the communication apparatus includes a corresponding module, unit, or means for performing operations in the first aspect. The module, unit, or means may be specifically implemented by using software, may be implemented by using hardware, or may be implemented by using software in combination with hardware.

According to a fourth aspect, a communication apparatus is described. The communication apparatus has a function of implementing the second aspect. For example, the communication apparatus includes a corresponding module, unit, or means for performing operations in the second aspect. The module, unit, or means may be specifically implemented by using software, may be implemented by using hardware, or may be implemented by using software in combination with hardware.

According to a fifth aspect, another communication apparatus is described. The communication apparatus includes a memory and one or more processors. The memory is configured to store a part or all of a necessary computer program or instructions for implementing a function in the first aspect. The one or more processors may execute the computer program or the instructions, and when the computer program or the instructions is/are executed, the communication apparatus is enabled to implement the method in any possible design or implementation of the first aspect.

In some embodiments, the communication apparatus may further include an interface circuit, and the processor is configured to communicate with another apparatus or component through the interface circuit.

In some embodiments, the communication apparatus may further include the memory.

The communication apparatus may be a terminal, a module in a terminal, or a chip responsible for a communication function in a terminal, for example, a modem chip (also referred to as a baseband chip) or an SoC chip or an SIP chip that includes a modem module.

According to a sixth aspect, another communication apparatus is described. The communication apparatus includes a memory and one or more processors. The memory is configured to store a part or all of a necessary computer program or instructions for implementing a function in the second aspect. The one or more processors may execute the computer program or the instructions, and when the computer program or the instructions is/are executed, the communication apparatus is enabled to implement the method in any possible design or implementation of the second aspect...

According to a seventh aspect, a communication system is described. The communication system includes a first apparatus for implementing the method in any possible design or implementation of the first aspect. The communication system includes a second apparatus for implementing the method in any possible design or implementation of the second aspect.

According to an eighth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is described. The computer-readable storage medium stores computer-readable instructions, and when a computer reads and executes the computer-readable instructions, the computer is enabled to perform the method in any one of the possible designs of the first aspect to the second aspect.

According to a ninth aspect, this application provides a computer program product. When a computer reads and executes the computer program product, the computer is enabled to perform the method in any one of the possible designs of the first aspect to the second aspect.

According to a tenth aspect, this application provides a system comprising at least one of an apparatus in (or at) a first device of the present application, or an apparatus in (or at) a second device of the present application.

According to a eleventh aspect, this application provides a method performed by a system comprising at least one of an apparatus in (or at) a first device of the present application, and an apparatus in (or at) a second device of the present application.

This application encompasses various embodiments, including not only method embodiments, but also other embodiments such as apparatus embodiments and embodiments related to non-transitory computer readable storage media. Embodiments may incorporate, individually or in combinations, the features disclosed herein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

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

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

FIG. 2 illustrates another example communication system in which some embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented;

FIG. 3A illustrates an example of an ED and a base station in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3B illustrates an example apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 illustrates an example block schematic of units or modules in a device in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 illustrates example schematics of point cloud representation and mesh representation;

FIG. 6 illustrates a signaling chart illustrating an example process of communication in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 7A and 7B illustrate examples of subset-based representations in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 illustrates an example process of transmitting sensing information in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 9 illustrates an example mobility scenario in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 10 illustrates an example process for updating sensing information in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 11 illustrates an example interaction process before transmitting sensing information in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 12 illustrates a flowchart of a method in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 13 illustrates another flowchart of a method in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 14 is a block diagram of a device that may be used for implementing some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 15 is a schematic diagram of a structure of an apparatus in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 16 is a schematic diagram of a structure of an apparatus in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

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

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Embodiments of the present disclosure may relate to a communication device, which may include a terminal device, a network device, an electronic device, etc.

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

The term “network device” refers to an access network device (or network node) or a core network device (CN entity or CN function) . For example, it may be a device which is capable of providing or hosting a cell or coverage where terminal devices can communicate. Examples of a network device include, but not limited to, a satellite, an unmanned aerial systems (UAS) platform, a Node B (NodeB or NB) , an evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB) , a future generation NodeB (gNB) , a transmission reception point (TRP) , a remote radio unit (RRU) , a radio head (RH) , a remote radio head (RRH) , an IAB node, a low power node such as a femto node, a pico node, a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) , an access point (AP) , and the like.

In the context of the present disclosure, the term “alocation” may be used interchangeably with “aposition” , and the term “communication related to sensing” describes a kind of sensing assisted communication system, and may be used interchangeably with “integrated communication and sensing” , “joint sensing and communication” , “integrated system” , “communication based on sensing technique” , “cooperative sensing and communication” or any other similar names.

In the context of the present disclosure, the term “asensing target” , which may be associated with a sensing task, may refer to a reconstructed environment and/or a sensing object. The term “sensing target” may be sensed to determine or generate sensing information for constructing the sensing target. The term “environment” herein may be interchangeably used with “sensing environment” , and the term “object” herein may be interchangeably used with “sensing object” . The term “sensing information” may refer to information of the sensing target such as the sensing environment or object (s) . The term “sensing information” herein may be interchangeably used with “sensing results” .

The embodiments of the present disclosure may be performed according to communication protocols of any generation either currently known or to be developed in the future. Examples of these communication protocols include, but are not limited to, cellular protocols including the first generation (1G) , the second generation (2G, 2.5G, 2.75G) , the third generation (3G) , the fourth generation (4G, sometimes known as “LTE” , 4.5G, sometimes known as “LTE Advanced” and “LTE Advanced Pro” ) , the fifth generation (5G, sometimes known as “NR” , 5.5G, 5G-Advanced) , and future generation, such as the future generation, as well as various generations of Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) , and Ultra Wideband (UWB) .

As mentioned above, UE position information is often used in cellular communication networks to improve various performance metrics for the network. Such performance metrics may, for example, include capacity, agility, and efficiency. The improvement may be achieved when elements of the network exploit the position, the behavior, the mobility pattern, etc., of the UE in the context of a priori information describing a wireless environment in which the UE is operating.

A sensing system may be used to help gather UE pose information, including its location in a global coordinate system, its velocity and direction of movement in the global coordinate system, orientation information, and the information about the wireless environment. “Location” is also known as “position” and these two terms may be used interchangeably herein. Examples of well-known sensing systems include radio detection and ranging (RADAR) and light detection and ranging (LIDAR) . While the sensing system can be separate from the communication system, it could be advantageous to gather the information using an integrated system, which reduces the hardware (and cost) in the system as well as the time, frequency, or spatial resources needed to achieve both functionalities. However, using the communication system hardware to perform sensing of UE pose and environment information is a highly challenging and open problem. The difficulty of the problem relates to factors such as the limited resolution of the communication system, the dynamicity of the environment, and the huge number of objects whose electromagnetic properties and position are to be estimated.

Accordingly, communication related to sensingis a desirable feature in existing and future communication systems, and it is desirable to provide improved sensing for practical implementations of integrated sensing.

In some scenarios of communication related to sensing, a device (or sensor, or UE) , also referred to as device 1, may sense the environment and then use the sensing results to further assist in communications. Due to the limited sensing distance and range of device 1, or due to some obstacles in the environment, for example, another device, also referred to as device 2, may provide its sensing information or fused sensing results to device 1, so as to help to improve the performance of subsequent tasks of device 1. For example, device 2 can be a central node or base station, which can collect the sensing results from a plurality of devices and fuse them into a complete/large environment map. Then device 2 can send the fused environment map to device 2 to assist its communication tasks.

In the above scenarios, the reconstructed environment or environment map needs to be described in a certain way. A very fine-grained description is good, but also results in relatively large transmission overhead from device 2 to device 1, and large computational and power consumption overhead for device 1. Considering scenarios such as sensing assisted communication, a rough description about the environment/object can meet the requirements of most tasks. Therefore, how to describe the environment/object in a simplified manner can be considered.

In view of the above, embodiments of the present disclosure provide a solution of a subset-based representation. In the solution, a device receives sensing information comprising subset information indicating a subset of a sensing target. Moreover, the device performs a communication related operation based on the sensing information.

In the context of the present disclosure, the term “subset-based representation” means that a sensing target may be represented based on one or more subsets of the sensing target. Subset-based representation can be considered to be a good indication manner of sensing information, which describes the local environment/object information in a simplified and effective way. Based on such a simplified representation, the computational complexity and power consumption at the device can be reduced, and transmission overheads for sensing information exchange can also be greatly reduced.

For illustrative purposes, principles and implementations of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the figures. However, it is to be noted that these embodiments are given to enable the person skilled in the art to understand inventive concepts of the present disclosure and implement the solution as provided herein, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present application in any way to explicitly illustrated structures and combinations of features.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example communication system 100 in which some embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented. Referring to FIG. 1, as an illustrative example without limitation, a simplified schematic illustration of a communication system is provided. The communication system 100 comprises a radio access network 120. The radio access network 120 may be a future generation radio access network, or a legacy (e.g. 5G, 4G, 3G or 2G) radio access network. One or more communication electronic devices (ED) 110a, 110b, 110c, 110d, 110e, 110f, 110g, 110h, 110i, 110j (generically referred to as 110) may be interconnected to one another or connected to one or more network nodes (170a, 170b, generically referred to as 170) in the radio access network 120. A core network 130 may be a part of the communication system and may be dependent or independent of the radio access technology used in the communication system 100. Also the communication system 100 comprises a public switched telephone network (PSTN) 140, the internet 150, and other networks 160.

FIG. 2 illustrates another example communication system 100. In general, the communication system 100 enables multiple wireless or wired elements to communicate data and other content. The purpose of the communication system 100 may be to provide content, such as voice, data, video, and/or text, via broadcast, multicast, groupcast, unicast, etc. The communication system 100 may operate by sharing resources, such as carrier spectrum bandwidth, between its constituent elements. The communication system 100 may include a terrestrial communication system and/or a non-terrestrial communication system. The communication system 100 may provide a wide range of communication services and applications (such as earth monitoring, remote sensing, passive sensing and positioning, navigation and tracking, autonomous delivery and mobility, etc. ) . The communication system 100 may provide a high degree of availability and robustness through a joint operation of a terrestrial communication system and a non-terrestrial communication system. For example, integrating a non-terrestrial communication system (or components thereof) into a terrestrial communication system can result in what may be considered a heterogeneous network comprising multiple layers. Compared to conventional communication networks, the heterogeneous network may achieve better overall performance through efficient multi-link joint operation, more flexible functionality sharing, and faster physical layer link switching between terrestrial networks and non-terrestrial networks.

The terrestrial communication system and the non-terrestrial communication system could be considered sub-systems of the communication system. In the example shown in FIG. 2, the communication system 100 includes electronic devices (ED) 110a, 110b, 110c, 110d (generically referred to as ED 110) , radio access networks (RANs) 120a, 120b, a non-terrestrial communication network 120c, a core network 130, a public switched telephone network (PSTN) 140, the Internet 150, and other networks 160. The RANs 120a, 120b include respective base stations (BSs) 170a, 170b, which may be generically referred to as terrestrial transmit and receive points (T-TRPs) 170a, 170b. The non-terrestrial communication network 120c includes an access node 172, which may be generically referred to as a non-terrestrial transmit and receive point (NT-TRP) 172.

Any ED 110 may be alternatively or additionally configured to interface, access, or communicate with any T-TRP 170a, 170b and NT-TRP 172, the Internet 150, the core network 130, the PSTN 140, the other networks 160, or any combination of the preceding. In some examples, ED 110a may communicate an uplink and/or downlink transmission over a terrestrial air interface 190a with T-TRP 170a. In some examples, the EDs 110a, 110b, 110c, and 110d may also communicate directly with one another via one or more sidelink air interfaces 190b. In some examples, ED 110d may communicate an uplink and/or downlink transmission over a non-terrestrial air interface 190c with NT-TRP 172.

The air interfaces 190a and 190b may use similar communication technology, such as any suitable radio access technology. For example, the communication system 100 may implement one or more channel access methods, such as code division multiple access (CDMA) , space division multiple access (SDMA) , time division multiple access (TDMA) , frequency division multiple access (FDMA) , orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA) , or single-carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA, also known as discrete Fourier transform spread OFDMA, DFT-s-OFDMA) in the air interfaces 190a and 190b. The air interfaces 190a and 190b may utilize other higher dimension signal spaces, which may involve a combination of orthogonal and/or non-orthogonal dimensions.

The non-terrestrial air interface 190c can enable communication between the ED 110d and one or multiple NT-TRPs 172 via a wireless link or simply a link. For some examples, the link is a dedicated connection for unicast transmission, a connection for broadcast transmission, or a connection between a group of EDs 110 and one or multiple NT-TRPs 172 for multicast transmission.

The RANs 120a and 120b are in communication with the core network 130 to provide the EDs 110a 110b, and 110c with various services such as voice, data, and other services. The RANs 120a and 120b and/or the core network 130 may be in direct or indirect communication with one or more other RANs (not shown) , which may or may not be directly served by core network 130, and may or may not employ the same radio access technology as RAN 120a, RAN 120b or both. The core network 130 may also serve as a gateway access between (i) the RANs 120a and 120b or EDs 110a 110b, and 110c or both, and (ii) other networks (such as the PSTN 140, the Internet 150, and the other networks 160) . In addition, some or all of the EDs 110a 110b, and 110c may include functionality for communicating with different wireless networks over different wireless links using different wireless technologies and/or protocols. Instead of wireless communication (or in addition thereto) , the EDs 110a 110b, and 110c may communicate via wired communication channels to a service provider or switch (not shown) , and to the Internet 150. PSTN 140 may include circuit switched telephone networks for providing plain old telephone service (POTS) . Internet 150 may include a network of computers and subnets (intranets) or both, and incorporate protocols, such as Internet Protocol (IP) , Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) , User Datagram Protocol (UDP) . EDs 110a 110b, and 110c may be multimode devices capable of operation according to multiple radio access technologies, and incorporate multiple transceivers necessary to support such.

Furthermore, communication between different devices/apparatuses in various implementations of this disclosure may refer to direct communication (that is, without the need of forwarding by another device/apparatus) , or may refer to communication (s) between different devices/apparatuses via another device/apparatus (that is, requiring forwarding by another device/apparatus) . Alternatively, such communication (s) may involve one functional unit inside a device/apparatus using another functional unit within the device/apparatus to communicate with another device/apparatus. In other words, phrases such as "sending (or transmitting) information to. . . (an ED or a base station) " in this disclosure may be understood as a destination endpoint of the information being an ED or a base station, including, sending/transmitting information directly or indirectly to an ED or a base station. Similarly, phrases like "receiving information from. . . (an ED or a base station) " may be understood as a source endpoint of the information being an ED or a base station, including directly or indirectly receiving information from an ED or a base station. Between the source endpoint that sends the information and the destination endpoint, necessary processing such as, but not limited to, format conversion, digital-to-analog conversion, amplification, and filtering may be performed on the information. However, the destination endpoint may understand valid information from the source endpoint. A similar understanding applies to other descriptions in this disclosure without reiterating details already described. In the present disclosure, the terms "send" and "transmit" may be used interchangeably in different implementations of this disclosure.

FIG. 3A illustrates an example 300 of an ED 110 and a base station 170a, 170b and/or 170c. The ED 110 is used to connect persons, objects, machines, etc. The ED 110 may be widely used in various scenarios including, for example, cellular communications, device-to-device (D2D) , vehicle to everything (V2X) , peer-to-peer (P2P) , machine-to-machine (M2M) , machine-type communications (MTC) , internet of things (IoT) , virtual reality (VR) , augmented reality (AR) , mixed reality (MR) , metaverse, digital twin, industrial control, self-driving, remote medical, smart grid, smart furniture, smart office, smart wearable, smart transportation, smart city, drones, robots, remote sensing, passive sensing, positioning, navigation and tracking, autonomous delivery and mobility, etc.

Each ED 110 represents any suitable end user device for wireless operation and may include such devices (or may be referred to) as a user equipment/device (UE) , a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) , a mobile station, a fixed or mobile subscriber unit, a cellular telephone, a station (STA) , a machine type communication (MTC) device, a personal digital assistant (PDA) , a smartphone, a laptop, a computer, a tablet, a wireless sensor, a consumer electronics device, a smart book, a vehicle, a car, a truck, a bus, a train, or an IoT device, wearable devices (such as a watch, a pair of glasses, head mounted equipment, etc. ) , an industrial device, or an apparatus in (e.g. communication module, modem, or chip) or comprising the forgoing devices, among other possibilities. Future generation EDs 110 may be referred to using other terms. The base station 170a and 170b is a T-TRP and will hereafter be referred to as T-TRP 170. Also shown in FIG. 3A, a NT-TRP will hereafter be referred to as NT-TRP 172. Each ED 110 connected to T-TRP 170 and/or NT-TRP 172 can be dynamically or semi-statically turned-on (i.e., established, activated, or enabled) , turned-off (i.e., released, deactivated, or disabled) and/or configured in response to one of more of: connection availability and connection necessity.

The ED 110 includes a transmitter 201 and a receiver 203 coupled to one or more antennas 204. Only one antenna 204 is illustrated to avoid congestion in the drawing. One, some, or all of the antennas 204 may alternatively be panels. The transmitter 201 and the receiver 203 may be integrated, e.g. as a transceiver. The transceiver is configured to modulate data or other content for transmission by at least one antenna 204 or network interface controller (NIC) . The transceiver is also configured to demodulate data or other content received by the at least one antenna 204. Each transceiver includes any suitable structure for generating signals for wireless or wired transmission and/or processing signals received wirelessly or by wire. Each antenna 204 includes any suitable structure for transmitting and/or receiving wireless or wired signals.

The ED 110 includes at least one memory 208. The memory 208 stores instructions and data used, generated, or collected by the ED 110. For example, the memory 208 could store software instructions or modules configured to implement some or all of the functionality and/or embodiments described herein and that are executed by one or more processing unit (s) (e.g., a processor 210) . Each memory 208 includes any suitable volatile and/or non-volatile storage and retrieval device (s) . Any suitable type of memory may be used, such as random access memory (RAM) , read only memory (ROM) , hard disk, optical disc, subscriber identity module (SIM) card, memory stick, secure digital (SD) memory card, on-processor cache, and the like.

The ED 110 may further include one or more input/output devices (not shown) or interfaces (such as a wired interface to the Internet 150 in FIG. 1) . The input/output devices or interfaces permit interaction with a user or other devices in the network. Each input/output device or interface includes any suitable structure for providing information to or receiving information from a user, and/or for network interface communications. Suitable structures include, for example, a speaker, microphone, keypad, keyboard, display, touch screen, etc.

The ED 110 includes the processor 210 for performing operations including those operations related to preparing a transmission for uplink transmission to the NT-TRP 172 and/or the T-TRP 170; those operations related to processing downlink transmissions received from the NT-TRP 172 and/or the T-TRP 170; and those operations related to processing sidelink transmission to and from another ED 110. Processing operations related to preparing a transmission for uplink transmission may include operations such as encoding, modulating, transmit beamforming, and generating symbols for transmission. Processing operations related to processing downlink transmissions may include operations such as receive beamforming, demodulating and decoding received symbols. Depending upon the embodiment, a downlink transmission may be received by the receiver 203, possibly using receive beamforming, and the processor 210 may extract signaling from the downlink transmission (e.g. by detecting and/or decoding the signaling) . An example of signaling may be a reference signal transmitted by the NT-TRP 172 and/or by the T-TRP 170. In some embodiments, the processor 210 implements the transmit beamforming and/or the receive beamforming based on the indication of beam direction, e.g. beam angle information (BAI) , received from the T-TRP 170. In some embodiments, the processor 210 may perform operations relating to network access (e.g. initial access) and/or downlink synchronization, such as operations relating to detecting a synchronization sequence, decoding and obtaining the system information, etc. In some embodiments, the processor 210 may perform channel estimation, e.g. using a reference signal received from the NT-TRP 172 and/or from the T-TRP 170.

Although not illustrated, the processor 210 may form part of the transmitter 201 and/or part of the receiver 203. Although not illustrated, the memory 208 may form part of the processor 210.

The processor 210, the processing components of the transmitter 201, and the processing components of the receiver 203 may each be implemented by the same or different one or more processors that are configured to execute instructions stored in a memory (e.g. in the memory 208) . Alternatively, some or all of the processor 210, the processing components of the transmitter 201, and the processing components of the receiver 203 may each be implemented using dedicated circuitry, such as a programmed field-programmable gate array (FPGA) , an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) , or a hardware accelerator such as a graphics processing unit (GPU) or an artificial intelligence (AI) accelerator.

The T-TRP 170 may be known by other names in some implementations, such as a base station, a base transceiver station (BTS) , a radio base station, a network node, a network device, a device on the network side, a transmit/receive node, a Node B, an evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB) , a Home eNodeB, a future Generation NodeB (gNB) , a transmission point (TP) , a site controller, an access point (AP) , a wireless router, a relay station, a terrestrial node, a terrestrial network device, a terrestrial base station, a base band unit (BBU) , a remote radio unit (RRU) , an active antenna unit (AAU) , a remote radio head (RRH) , a central unit (CU) , a distributed unit (DU) , a positioning node, among other possibilities. The T-TRP 170 may be a macro BS, a pico BS, a relay node, a donor node, or the like, or combinations thereof. The T-TRP 170 may refer to the forgoing devices or refer to apparatus (e.g. a communication module, a modem, or a chip) in the forgoing devices.

In some embodiments, the parts of the T-TRP 170 may be distributed. For example, some of the modules of the T-TRP 170 may be located remote from the equipment that houses the antennas 256 for the T-TRP 170, and may be coupled to the equipment that houses the antennas 256 over a communication link (not shown) sometimes known as front haul, such as common public radio interface (CPRI) . Therefore, in some embodiments, the term T-TRP 170 may also refer to modules on the network side that perform processing operations, such as determining the location of the ED 110, resource allocation (scheduling) , message generation, and encoding/decoding, and that are not necessarily part of the equipment that houses the antennas 256 of the T-TRP 170. The modules may also be coupled to other T-TRPs. In some embodiments, the T-TRP 170 may actually be a plurality of T-TRPs that are operating together to serve the ED 110, e.g. through the use of coordinated multipoint transmissions.

The T-TRP 170 includes at least one transmitter 252 and at least one receiver 254 coupled to one or more antennas 256. Only one antenna 256 is illustrated to avoid congestion in the drawing. One, some, or all of the antennas 256 may alternatively be panels. The transmitter 252 and the receiver 254 may be integrated as a transceiver. The T-TRP 170 further includes a processor 260 for performing operations including those related to: preparing a transmission for downlink transmission to the ED 110, processing an uplink transmission received from the ED 110, preparing a transmission for backhaul transmission to the NT-TRP 172, and processing a transmission received over backhaul from the NT-TRP 172. Processing operations related to preparing a transmission for downlink or backhaul transmission may include operations such as encoding, modulating, precoding (e.g. multiple input multiple output (MIMO) precoding) , transmit beamforming, and generating symbols for transmission. Processing operations related to processing received transmissions in the uplink or over backhaul may include operations such as receive beamforming, demodulating received symbols, and decoding received symbols. The processor 260 may also perform operations relating to network access (e.g. initial access) and/or downlink synchronization, such as generating the content of synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) , generating the system information, etc. In some embodiments, the processor 260 also generates an indication of beam direction, e.g. BAI, which may be scheduled for transmission by a scheduler 253. The processor 260 performs other network-side processing operations described herein, such as determining the location of the ED 110, determining where to deploy the NT-TRP 172, etc. In some embodiments, the processor 260 may generate signaling, e.g. to configure one or more parameters of the ED 110 and/or one or more parameters of the NT-TRP 172. Any signaling generated by the processor 260 is sent by the transmitter 252. Note that “signaling” , as used herein, may alternatively be called control signaling. Signaling may be transmitted in a physical layer control channel, e.g. a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) , in which case the signaling may be known as dynamic signaling. Signaling transmitted in a downlink physical layer control channel may be known as downlink control information (DCI) . Siganling transmitted in an uplink physical layer control channel may be known as uplink control information (UCI) . Signaling transmitted in a sidelink physical layer control channel may be known as sidelink control information (SCI) . Signaling may be included in a higher-layer (e.g., higher than physical layer) packet transmitted in a physical layer data channel, e.g. in a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) , in which case the signaling may be known as higher-layer signaling, static signaling, or semi-static signaling. Higher-layer signaling may also refer to radio resource control (RRC) protocol signaling or media access control –Control Element (MAC-CE) signaling.

The scheduler 253 may be coupled to the processor 260. The scheduler 253 may be included within or operated separately from the T-TRP 170. The scheduler 253 may schedule uplink, downlink, sidelink, and/or backhaul transmissions, including issuing scheduling grants and/or configuring scheduling-free (e.g., “configured grant” ) resources. The T-TRP 170 further includes a memory 258 for storing information and data. The memory 258 stores instructions and data used, generated, or collected by the T-TRP 170. For example, the memory 258 could store software instructions or modules configured to implement some or all of the functionality and/or embodiments described herein and that are executed by the processor 260.

Although not illustrated, the processor 260 may form part of the transmitter 252 and/or part of the receiver 254. Also, although not illustrated, the processor 260 may implement the scheduler 253. Although not illustrated, the memory 258 may form part of the processor 260.

The processor 260, the scheduler 253, the processing components of the transmitter 252, and the processing components of the receiver 254 may each be implemented by the same or different one or more processors that are configured to execute instructions stored in a memory, e.g. in the memory 258. Alternatively, some or all of the processor 260, the scheduler 253, the processing components of the transmitter 252, and the processing components of the receiver 254 may be implemented using dedicated circuitry, such as a programmed FPGA, a hardware accelerator (e.g., a GPU or AI accelerator) , or an ASIC.

Although the NT-TRP 172 is illustrated as a drone only as an example, the NT-TRP 172 may be implemented in any suitable non-terrestrial form, such as satellites and high altitude platforms, including international mobile telecommunication base stations and unmanned aerial vehicles, for example. Also, the NT-TRP 172 may be known by other names in some implementations, such as a non-terrestrial node, a non-terrestrial network device, or a non-terrestrial base station. The NT-TRP 172 includes a transmitter 272 and a receiver 274 coupled to one or more antennas 280. Only one antenna 280 is illustrated to avoid congestion in the drawing. One, some, or all of the antennas may alternatively be panels. The transmitter 272 and the receiver 274 may be integrated as a transceiver. The NT-TRP 172 further includes a processor 276 for performing operations including those related to: preparing a transmission for downlink transmission to the ED 110, processing an uplink transmission received from the ED 110, preparing a transmission for backhaul transmission to T-TRP 170, and processing a transmission received over backhaul from the T-TRP 170. Processing operations related to preparing a transmission for downlink or backhaul transmission may include operations such as encoding, modulating, precoding (e.g. MIMO precoding) , transmit beamforming, and generating symbols for transmission. Processing operations related to processing received transmissions in the uplink or over backhaul may include operations such as receive beamforming, demodulating received symbols, and decoding received symbols. In some embodiments, the processor 276 implements the transmit beamforming and/or receive beamforming based on beam direction information (e.g. BAI) received from the T-TRP 170. In some embodiments, the processor 276 may generate signaling, e.g. to configure one or more parameters of the ED 110. In some embodiments, the NT-TRP 172 implements physical layer processing, but does not implement higher layer functions such as functions at the medium access control (MAC) or radio link control (RLC) layer. As this is only an example, more generally, the NT-TRP 172 may implement higher layer functions in addition to physical layer processing.

The NT-TRP 172 further includes a memory 278 for storing information and data. Although not illustrated, the processor 276 may form part of the transmitter 272 and/or part of the receiver 274. Although not illustrated, the memory 278 may form part of the processor 276.

The processor 276, the processing components of the transmitter 272, and the processing components of the receiver 274 may each be implemented by the same or different one or more processors that are configured to execute instructions stored in a memory, e.g. in the memory 278. Alternatively, some or all of the processor 276, the processing components of the transmitter 272, and the processing components of the receiver 274 may be implemented using dedicated circuitry, such as a programmed FPGA, a hardware accelerator (e.g., a GPU or AI accelerator) , or an ASIC. In some embodiments, the NT-TRP 172 may actually be a plurality of NT-TRPs that are operating together to serve the ED 110, e.g. through coordinated multipoint transmissions.

The T-TRP 170, the NT-TRP 172, and/or the ED 110 may include other components, but these have been omitted for the sake of clarity.

FIG. 3B illustrates an example apparatus 410 according to an implementation of the present disclosure. The apparatus 410 may be a communication device or an apparatus implemented in a communication device such as the ED 110 or the TRPs 170a, 170b, 172. For example, the apparatus 410 implemented in an ED may be an integrated circuit, which in some instances may be referred to as a chip, a modem, a modem chip, a baseband chip, or a baseband processor. In some implementations, one or more integrated circuits can be packaged into a system-on-chip, a system-in-package, or a multi-chip module. The apparatus 410 can include one or more integrated circuits and other discrete components. In some implementations, the apparatus 410 may be a module within the ED 110, or within the apparatus 310. In some implementations, the apparatus 410 may be a module within one of the TRPs 170a, 170b, 172, or the apparatus 320.

In an example, the apparatus 410 may include one or more processors 411, and an interface circuit 412. The apparatus 410 may further include a memory 413. The one or more processors 411 are configured to process signals and execute one or more communication protocols. The memory 413 is configured to store at least a part of corresponding computer program instructions and/or data. In an example, the one or more processors 411 execute the computer program instructions stored in the memory 413 to implement related operations (for example, inputting, outputting, receiving, and transmitting) in the method embodiments disclosed herein. In some implementations, the memory 413 being configured to store the corresponding computer program instructions and/or data may mean that the memory 413 is configured to store all of the corresponding computer program instructions and/or data for execution by the one or more processors 411. In some implementations, the memory 413 being configured to store the corresponding computer program instructions and/or data may mean that the memory 413 is configured to store a part of the corresponding computer program instructions and/or data. For example, the part of the corresponding computer program instructions and/or data may include computer program instructions and/or data that need to be currently executed by the one or more processors 411. Thus, the memory 413 may store different parts of computer program instructions and/or data for a plurality times for the one or more processors 411 to perform related operations in the method embodiments disclosed herein. As a communication interface, the interface circuit 412 is configured to implement communication with another component. For example, the interface circuit 412 may communicate a signal with another apparatus or system, such as a radio frequency processing apparatus or another processor. The signal may include or carry information intended as a payload, such as user data, control information, etc. The signal may also include or carry information useful to a receiver, but not necessarily as a payload, such as a pilot signal or reference signal. Communicating the signal may include transmitting the signal to another component or device. Communicating the signal may additionally or alternatively include receiving the signal from another component or device. Transmitting the signal may include outputting the signal to a component or device that is directly or indirectly coupled to the interface circuit 412. Receiving the signal may include inputting or obtaining the signal from a component or device that is directly or indirectly coupled to the interface circuit 412. Optionally, to reduce a load of the one or more processors, a baseband signal processing circuit 414 may be also disposed to implement processing of at least a part of baseband signals, including signal demodulation, modulation, encoding, decoding, or the like.

The apparatus 410 may be the processor 210 (or 260) within the apparatus 310 (or 320) , in some scenarios, or may be included within the processor 210 (or 260) within the apparatus 310 (or 320) in some scenarios. The apparatus 410 may be a baseband chip or may include a baseband chip. In some implementations, the apparatus 410 may be independently packaged into a chip. In some implementations, the apparatus 310 (or 320) includes different types of chips. The apparatus 410 may be packaged into a processor chip (for example, an SoC chip or an SIP chip) with the different types of chips. In some implementations, the apparatus 410 may be packaged into a chip with some or all of circuits of a radio frequency processing system that may further be included in the apparatus 310 (or 320) .

One or more steps of the embodiment methods provided herein may be performed by corresponding units or modules, according to FIG. 4. FIG. 4 illustrates an example block schematic 400 of units or modules in a device, such as in the ED 110, in the T-TRP 170, or in the NT-TRP 172. For example, a signal may be transmitted or output by a transmitting unit or by a transmitting module. A signal may be received or input by a receiving unit or by a receiving module. A signal may be processed by a processing unit or a processing module. Other steps may be performed by an artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning (ML) module. The respective units or modules may be implemented using hardware, one or more components or devices that execute software, or a combination thereof. For instance, one or more of the units or modules may be a circuit such as an integrated circuit. Examples of an integrated circuit includes a programmed FPGA, a GPU, or an ASIC. For instance, one or more of the units or modules may be logical such as a logical function performed by a circuit, by a portion of an integrated circuit, or by software instructions executed by a processor. It will be appreciated that where the modules are implemented using software for execution by a processor for example, the modules may be retrieved by a processor, in whole or part as needed, individually or together for processing, in single or multiple instances, and that the modules themselves may include instructions for further deployment and instantiation.

While not shown, the transmitting module and the receiving module may be part of, or combined into, a transceiver module. A transceiver module may also be known as an interface module, or simply an interface, for inputting and outputting operations.

Additional details regarding the EDs 110, the T-TRP 170, and the NT-TRP 172 are known to those of skill in the art. As such, these details are omitted here.

For a sensing task/application, a device (e.g., an ED 110) , also referred to as device 1, may sense a sensing target (e.g., an environment or an object within the environment) and obtain sensing results. Then, device 1 may use sensing results to further assist in communications. Another device (e.g., network device 170) , also referred to as device 2, may provide its sensing information or fused sensing results to device 1, so as to help improve the performance of subsequent communication tasks of device 1. The exchanged sensing information may be the reconstructed sensing target, such as an environment map, or an environment object. Therefore, the exchanged sensing information needs to be described in a certain way.

The sensing information may be represented as a point position in a space, with a coordinate (x, y, z) . Although such position-based representation is simple and has low transmission overheads, it cannot well describe the detected sensing target information. For example, contour information of the sensing target cannot be described.

The sensing information may also be represented by a point cloud or mesh. For example, FIG. 5 illustrates example schematics 500 of point cloud representation and mesh representation for two buildings. A point cloud is a discrete set of data points in space. Each point position has a coordinate (x, y, z) .

Mesh is a collection of vertices, edges, and faces that defines a shape of an object. The faces usually comprise triangles (i.e., triangle mesh) , quadrilaterals (i.e., quads) , or other convex polygons. The mesh may also be referred to as a polygon, or a polygon mesh.

For both point cloud and mesh representation, they can provide a detailed description of the sensing target. However, because they both represent the object based on points/vertices, the amount of bits for representation is relatively large, which brings large communication overhead in sensing fusion, sensing reports, or other scenarios for sensing information exchange. For example, suppose 16 bit precision for the coordinate (x, y, z) of each point/vertex, the total bits for 100 points/vertices will be 100 *3 *16 = 4800 bits. Mesh representation will need additional bits for edge representations, i.e. the relationship between vertices.

To describe the sensing information of the sensing target (such as a sensing environment or sensing object (s) ) , a very fine-grained description is good, but also causes relatively large computation overhead (for example, at the UE side) and large transmission overhead (for example, from the BS to the UE) . Considering these scenarios, or similar scenarios, a rough and general description can meet the requirements of most tasks. In this case, embodiments of the present disclosure provide a solution of a subset-based representation. The subset-based representation may be used to represent the sensing information, which can describe the sensing target in a simplified and effective way. The solution of the subset-based representation will be detailed in connection with FIG. 6 below.

FIG. 6 illustrates a signaling chart illustrating an example process 600 of communication in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The process 600 may involve a first device 601 and a second device 602. The steps and the order of the steps in FIG. 6 are merely for illustration, and not for limitation. For example, the order of the steps may be changed. Some of the steps may be omitted or any other suitable additional steps may be added.

In some embodiments, the first device 601 may be a UE, and the second device 602 may be a BS. In some embodiments, the first device 601 may be a BS, and the second device 602 may be a UE. In some embodiments, the first device 601 may be a UE, and the second device 602 may be another UE. In some embodiments, the first device 601 may be a BS, and the second device 602 may be another BS.

In some embodiments, the network device may be a device in the RAN 120 (e.g., the network node 170, such as a BS) . In some embodiments, the network device may be an AP. In some embodiments, the network device may be a device in the CN 130, e.g., an access management function (AMF) , session management function (SMF) , user plane function (UPF) , etc.

In some embodiments, in the process 600, the first device 601 and the second device 602 may belong to a same communication device or different communication devices. In some implementations, the first device 601 may be a chip in a communication device and the second device 602 may be a radio frequency apparatus in the same communication device. In some implementations, the first device 601 may be a first communication device and the second device 602 may be a second communication device. In some implementations, the first device 601 may be a part of a first communication device and the second device 602 may be a part of a second communication device. In some examples, the first and second communication devices may communicate with each other via a communication link or channel. In some examples, the first and second communication devices may have a same device type or may be with different device types. For example, any one of the first or second communication device may be an ED 110, a T-TRP 170, an NT-TRP 172, an SMF 176, or the like, as discussed above. It is to be noted that the first communication device and/or the second communication device may be implemented as any device type, and the present disclosure does not limit for this aspect. For ease of description, the first communication device may be called as a first device and the second communication device may be called as a second device in the following description.

As shown in FIG. 6, at 610, the second device 602 determines sensing information (also referred to subset-based sensing information) comprising subset information indicating a subset of a sensing target (for example, a sensing environment or sensing object (s) within the environment) . This way of representing the sensing target based on subset (s) of the sensing target may be referred to subset-based representation or subset-based sensing information indication. A base element of subset-based representation of sensing information may be a subset (or in other words, the subset information indicating the subset) of the sensing target. The sensing target may have a plurality of subsets, and in this case, the sensing information may comprise a plurality of subset information indicating the plurality of subsets respectively. In other words, the subset-based representations may involve one or multiple subsets of the sensing target to describe the sensing information.

The sensing information may comprise information associated with the first device 601. In some embodiments, because the second device 602 has the global information (for example, global environment information) of the sensing target (comprising for example, a building, a vehicle, etc. ) , and thus it may obtain the local information (for example, local environment information) of the sensing target currently related to UE. For example, the local information may comprise subset information indicating a subset of the sensing target, and the second device 602 may only send this subset information to the first device 601 for further processing. For example, the second device 602 may use ray tracing to estimate multipath/non-line-of-sight (NLOS) information between the first device 601 and the second device 602 based on the global information, and then obtain the local information, i.e., the subset information indicating the subset of the sensing target currently related to the first device 601. The subset of the sensing target may have reflection and scattering features, and may be related to the channel status of the first device 601. The second device 602 may also use any other approaches to obtain the subset information indicating the subset of the sensing target, which is not limited in the present disclosure. With the subset-based sensing indication, the second device 602 may only extract the sensing information that is currently needed by the first device 601, i.e. on-demand indication.

Reference is made to FIGS. 7A and 7B, which illustrate examples of subset-based representations. The sensing target in FIG. 7A may comprise one subset. Thus, in this case, the sensing information determined by the second device 602 may comprise one subset information indicating this one subset as shown in FIG. 7A. The sensing target in FIG. 7B may comprise two subsets. Thus, in this case, the sensing information determined by the second device 602 may comprise two subset information indicating these two subsets as shown in FIG. 7B.

The subset information may be represented in a variety of ways. For example, the subset information may indicate a geometric shape for representing the subset. In this case, the subset may be described as a geometric shape (for example, a simple geometric shape) that can represent a surface of the sensing target. As an example, the geometric shape may comprise a square, a rectangle, a polygon, a circle, etc., so as to greatly reduce the transmission overhead from the second device 602 to the first device 601.

In subset-based representation for the sensing target, considering that the sensing target may comprise one or more subsets, the base element of subset-based representation may be a subset with its subset information, for example, denoted as S. In the example where the geometric shape is a circle, the geometric shape may be indicated by a center point v and radius r of the circle (e.g. in a 2D plane) , and thus S may comprie {v, r} . In the example where the geometric shape is a circle, the geometric shape may be indicated by a center point v, a radius r, and a normal vector n, and thus S may comprise {v, r, n} . In the example where the geometric shape is a square, the geometric shape may be indicated by a center point v, a side length e (e.g. in a 2D plane) , and thus S may comprise {v, e} . In the example where the geometric shape is a square, the geometric shape may be indicated by a center point v, a side length e, and a normal vector n, and thus S may comprise {v, e, n} . In the example where the geometric shape is a square or a rectangle, the geometric shape may be indicated by four points (for example, four vertices) v₁, v₂, v₃, v₄, and thus S may comprise {v₁, v₂, v₃, v₄} . In the example where the geometric shape is a square or a rectangle, the geometric shape may be indicated by one vertex v, and two direction vectors d₁ and d₂, and thus S may comprise {v, d₁, d₂} . In the example where the geometric shape is a polygon, the geometric shape may be indicated by a set of points (for example, a set of vertices) v₁, v₂, …v_G, and thus S may comprise {v₁, v₂, …v_G } , where G is the number of points in this polygon. In this case, by connecting the points one by one, the polygon may be formed.

The above points and vectors, such as v, v_i, d_i, and n may be represented by 2D coordinates (x, y) or 3D coordinates (x, y, z) , and may be represented by global coordinates (for example, a geography coordinate system, a coordinate system of a cell, etc. ) or local coordinates (for example, a coordinate system of the first device 601 or the second device 602, a coordinate system referring to a reference point, or a coordinate system defined by a plane, etc. )

The above representations/formats of subset information S are only used as examples, and the scope of the present disclosure is not limited in this regard.

Now referring back to FIG. 6, at 620, the second device 602 transmits the sensing information to the first device 601. Accordingly, the first device 601 receives the sensing information from the second device 602.

In the embodiments where the subset-based representations involve one or multiple subsets of the sensing target to describe the sensing information, one or more subset information corresponding to the one or multiple subsets respectively, denoted as {S₁, S₂, …S_N}, may be comprised in the sensing information, where N is the number of subsets (i.e., the number of corresponding subset information) , and S_j is the subset information indicating the j-th subset of the one or multiple subsets, 1 ≤ j≤ N. Optionally, the number of subsets N may also be included in the subset-based representation, i.e., in the sensing information transmitted to the first device 601. Alternatively or additionally, if the number of subsets is fixed or configured/indicated previously before the sensing information transmission, N may not need to be transmitted together with the subset information {S₁, S₂, …S_N} .

In some embodiments, for ease of reference to the one or more subsets, each subset may optionally have a subset index. The subset index for the j-th subset may be denoted as I_j, where 1 ≤ j≤ N. The subset index I_j may be indicated in the sensing information. There may be multiple ways to indicate the subset index I_j. As an example implementation, the subset index I_j may be included within S_j. For example, if S_j indicates a square represented by {v, e, n}, then by including I_j, S_j may become {I_j, v, e, n} or {v, e, n, I_j} . Similarly for other formats/shapes of S_j. As another example implementation, I_j may be may be indicated in parallel with S_j. For example, the sensing information may be {S₁, S₂, …S_N, I₁, I₂, …I_N } , or {I₁, I₂, …I_N, S₁, S₂, …S_N} , or {I₁, S₁, I₂, S₂, …I_N, S_N} , and so on.

, As shown in FIG. 6, after obtaining the sensing information from the second device 602, at 630, the first device 601 performs a communication related operation based on the sensing information. For example, based on the received sensing information, the first device 601 may use it to assist subsequent communication tasks or other tasks. As an example, the first device 601 may perform beamforming/beam tracking. As another example, the first device 601 may perform a channel measurement operation. As an implementation, the first device 601 may perform MIMO parameter estimation.

Another example process 800 of transmitting subset-based sensing information in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure may be given in FIG. 8. For the purpose of discussion, the process 800 will be described with reference to FIG. 6. For example, the first device 601 may be a UE and the second device 602 may be a BS. Alternatively or additionally, the first device 601 and the second device 602 may be implemented by any other types of devices. As shown in FIG. 8, at 810, the second device 602 transmits subset-based sensing information {S₁, S₂, …S_N} to the first device 601. Optionally, the subset indices {I₁, I₂, …I_N} may be included. Related details, such as the contents and formats for the subset indices have been described above and are omitted for the sake of clarity. Optionally, the number of subsets N may also be included. Related details, such as the way to indicate N have been described above and are omitted for the sake of clarity. Alternatively or additionally, if the number of subsets is fixed or configured/indicated previously before the sensing information transmission, N may not need to be transmitted together with {S₁, S₂, …S_N} .

In some embodiments, there may be a need to consider the update of the sensing information, as when the sensing target changes, the channel may change, and thus the subset (s) related to the first device 601 may also change. Subset-based sensing information indication may be used in scenarios with a moving device (such as the moving first device 601) , to dynamically indicate the updated sensing information.

Reference is now made to FIG. 9 to discuss an example mobility scenario in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 9, from moment t to moment t+1, the corresponding subset of the sensing target related to the first device 601 (for example, the corresponding subset used to assist communication) may have changed.

For example, with the mobility scenarios, the second device 602 may predict the first device 601’s trajectory and transmit, to the first device 601, the updated sensing information comprising the updated subset information indicating the updated subset in real time or in advance, so as to provide the latest sensing information to the first device 601. Alternatively or additionally, in addition to on-demand triggering by the first device 601, the update of sensing information may also be periodically triggered. The period for the update may be optionally configured from the second device 602 to the first device 601.

For the purpose of discussion, the previous sensing information transmitted from the second device 602 to the first device 601 (for example, the sensing information transmitted at 620) may be referred to as first sensing information comprising one or more first subset information indicating one or more first subsets of the sensing target respectively. In some cases where the sensing target changes, the second device 602 may transmit further sensing information (also referred to as second sensing information) indicating an update of the first sensing information and comprising one or more second subset information indicating one or more second subsets of the sensing target respectively. For example, suppose the first sensing information comprising one or more first sensing information indicating one or more first subsets at a first moment (for example, moment t) is {S₁, S₂, …S_N} , and the second sensing information comprising one or more second subset information indicating one or more second subsets at a second moment (for example, moment t+1) is {S’ ₁, S’ ₂, …S’ _M} , where M is the number of subsets at moment t+1, and S’ _i is the subset information indicating the i-th subset at moment t+1, 1 ≤ i≤ M.

Based on the prior knowledge of {S₁, S₂, …S_N} , there may be several ways to indicate the second sensing information used to obtain the updated subset information {S’ ₁, S’₂, …S’ _M} .

In some example implementations, a direct indication may be utilized. In this case, the second sensing information may comprise one or more second subset information indicating the one or more second subset of the sensing target directly. In other words, the second sensing information may directly indicate {S’ ₁, S’ ₂, …S’ _M} . That is, the first device 601 may replace {S₁, S₂, …S_N} with {S’ ₁, S’ ₂, …S’ _M} . The same representation/formats for subset information as described above may be used to indicate {S’ ₁, S’ ₂, …S’ _M} .

In some example implementations, an indirect indication (also referred to as subset update indication) may be used. In this case, the second sensing information may comprise update information for updating the first sensing information to obtain the second sensing information. In other words, the second sensing information may indicate the information to update {S₁, S₂, …S_N} to obtain {S’ ₁, S’ ₂, …S’ _M} . There are several ways to indicate the update.

As an example implementation, add/remove-based update may be used. In this case, the update information may indicate adding further subset information indicating a further subset of the sensing target in addition to the one or more first subset information in the first sensing information. Alternatively or additionally, the update information may indicate removing one or more of the one or more first subset information in the first sensing information. As an example representation, the update information may indicate the added subset information {S^a ₁, S^a ₂, …S^a _A} and/or the removed subset information {S^b ₁, S^b ₂, …S^b _B} . By receiving this updated information, the first device 601 may check previously received sensing information {S₁, S₂, …S_N} , remove subset information included in {S^b ₁, S^b ₂, …S^b _B} , and add new subset information included in {S^a ₁, S^a ₂, …S^a _A} . It is to be noted that the added subset information and removed subset information may use the representation/formats for subset information as described above.

Alternatively or additionally, in order to indicate the removed subset information {S^b ₁, S^b ₂, …S^b _B} more concisely, corresponding subset index (indices) may be indicated instead. Suppose the subset index for the removed subset associated with the removed subset information S^b _p is I^b _p, 1 ≤ p≤ B, the indication for {S^b ₁, S^b ₂, …S^b _B} may be simplified to {I^b ₁, I^b ₂, …I^b _B} .

Alternatively or additionally, in order to better support multiple updates of the subset information, each added subset information may also be indicated together with a subset index. Suppose the index for the added subset associated with the added subset information S^a _q is I^a _q, 1 ≤ q≤ A, the indication of I^a _q may be included within S^a _q or may be indicated in parallel with S^a _q, as described above.

As an example implementation, translation-based update may be utilized. In this case, the update information may indicate translating one or more first subset information in the first sensing information. In other words, the update information may indicate moving partial or all subset information in {S₁, S₂, …S_N} to obtain {S’ ₁, S’ ₂, …S’ _N} based on one or multiple translation vectors (for example, M = N in this case) . As an example, the update information may indicate one translation vector t, and then all the subset information in {S₁, S₂, …S_N} may be shifted by t to obtain {S’ ₁, S’ ₂, …S’ _N} . As another example, the update information may indicate N translation vectors {t₁, t₂, …t_N} , and then each subset information S_j may be shifted by corresponding t_j to obtain S’ _j, 1 ≤ j ≤ N. As a further example, the update information may indicate T translation vectors and their corresponding subset information, {t₁, t₂, …t_T, U₁, U ₂, …U_T } , T ≥ 1, where t_k is the k-th translation vector and U_k includes its corresponding subset information to be shifted by t_k, 1 ≤ k ≤ T. U_k may be represented by {Z_k, I^k ₁, I^k ₂, …I^k _Zk } , where Z_k is the number of subset information ( {S^k ₁, S^k ₂, …S^k _Zk} ) to be shifted by t_k, and I^k ₁, I^k ₂, …I^k _Zk are the indices of corresponding subsets associated with the subset information, respectively. Alternatively or additionally, U_k may also directly use the representation of subset (s) , i.e., corresponding subset information, instead of indices, i.e. {Z_k, S^k ₁, S^k ₂, …S^k _Zk} . Then for each t_k, corresponding Z_k subset information included in {S^k ₁, S^k ₂, …S^k _Zk} may be shifted by t_k to obtain {S’ ^k ₁, S’ ^k ₂, …S’ ^k _Zk} . Then {S’ ₁, S’ ₂, …S’ _N} may be achieved by combining all the un-shifted subset information in {S₁, S₂, …S_N} and all the shifted information including {S’ ^k ₁, S’ ^k ₂, …S’ ^k _Zk } , where 1 ≤k ≤ T. As an example, the above translation vector t, t_j, or t_k may be a 2D vector or a 3D vector as described above.

Alternatively or additionally, a combination of the above two example implementations may be possible. As an example, the update information may indicate removed subset information {S^b ₁, S^b ₂, …S^b _B} , added subset information {S^a ₁, S^a ₂, …S^a _A} and T translation vectors with their corresponding subset information {t₁, t₂, …t_T, U₁, U ₂, …U_T } . In this case, the T translation vectors may be applied to unremoved corresponding subset information in {S₁, S₂, …S_N} . As another example, the update information may indicate removed subset information {S^b ₁, S^b ₂, …S^b _B} , added subset information {S^a ₁, S^a ₂, …S^a _A} and one translation vector t. In this case, the translation vector t may be applied to all unremoved corresponding subset information in {S₁, S₂, …S_N} . As a further example, the update information may indicate removed subset information {S^b ₁, S^b ₂, …S^b _B} , added subset information {S^a ₁, S^a ₂, …S^a _A} and (N-B) translation vectors {t₁, t₂, …t_N-B} . In this case, the (N-B) translation vectors may be applied to the (N-B) unremoved subset information in {S₁, S₂, …S_N} respectively.

An example process 1000 for the update of subset-based sensing information may be given in FIG. 10. For the purpose of discussion, the process 1000 will be described with reference to FIG. 6. For example, the first device 601 may be a UE and the second device 602 may be a BS. Alternatively or additionally, the first device 601 and the second device 602 may be implemented by any other types of devices. At 1010, the second device 602 transmits subset-based sensing information to the first device 601. At 1020 and 1030, the second device 602 transmits subset updates (i.e., updated sensing information) to the first device 601. For example, the second device 602 may predict the first device 601’s trajectory and transmit, to the first device 601, the subset updates in real time or in advance, so as to provide the latest sensing information to the first device 601. Alternatively or additionally, in addition to on-demand triggering by the first device 601, the update of sensing information may also be periodically triggered. The period for the update may be optionally configured from the second device 602 to the first device 601. For all the above cases, more details such as contents and formats for the subset information update as described above may be used.

In some embodiments, before the transmission of the subset-based sensing information, the first device 601 and the second device 602 may exchange some assistant information to facilitate the sensing information transmission. For example, if the first device 601 is a UE and the second device 602 is a BS, then the first device 601 may transmit, to the second device 602, its capability information on whether it has a capability to process the sensing information comprising the subset information, or an indication (also referred to as a first indication or mode selection or mode indication) of using the sensing information comprising the subset information. In other words, the first device 601 may indicate its capability for subset-based sensing representation (i.e, whether it has the capability) , or its mode selection for subset-based sensing representation (i.e., whether select the mode to receive or process subset-based sensing information, e.g., using subset-based sensing representation) . For example, the capability information may comprise information on whether the first device 601 has a capability to process compressed subset-based sensing information, the max number of subset information can be processed (or received) at a time (that is, the max number of subsets of the sensing target can be received/processed at a time) , etc. For example, the above assistant information may be transmitted by the first device 601 in an RRC signaling, a MAC CE, or a physical layer (PHY) signaling to the second device 602. Vice versa, the second device 602 may also broadcast/multi-cast/unicast its mode selection for subset-based sensing representation, e.g. using subset-based sensing representation, to one or multiple UEs (including the first device 601) . Such mode selection may be included in an RRC signaling, a MAC CE, or a PHY signaling. For example, the mode selection may be included in a synchronization signal block (SSB) , in the system information (SIB) , in an RRC dedicated signaling, in a control channel such as a PDCCH/DCI, etc.

Alternatively or additionally, an indication (also referred to as a second indication) of enabling the sensing information comprising the subset information, and/or an indication (also referred to as a third indication) of disabling the sensing information comprising the subset information may be interacted between the first device 601 and the second device 602. In this case, real-time enabling or disabling subset-based sensing representation may be indicated from the first device 601 to the second device 602, or from the second device 602 to the first device 601. For example, such enabling or disabling indication may be included in a broadcast/multi-cast/unicast message, such as an RRC signaling, a MAC CE, or a PHY signaling. For example, such enabling or disabling indication may be included in an SSB, in a SIB, in a RRC dedicated signaling, in UE-assistance information (UAI) , or in a control channel such as a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) /PDCCH/DCI/UCI, etc.

In some embodiments, before the transmission of the subset-based sensing information, some related parameters may be interacted between the first device 601 and the second device 602. For example, such parameters may be configured from the second device 602 to the first device 601, or indicated from the first device 601 to the second device 602. For example, if the first device 601 is a UE and the device 602 is a BS, then the second device 602 may broadcast/multi-cast/unicast information indicating such related parameters to one or multiple UEs (including the first device 601) . Vice versa, the first device 601 may also indicate some related parameters, or preferred parameters, to the second device 602. For example, the information indicating such the related parameters may be included in a downlink/uplink/sidelink RRC signaling, a MAC CE, or a PHY signaling. For example, an indication or a configuration of the related parameters may be included in an SSB, in a SIB, in a common/dedicated RRC signaling, in a control channel such as a PUCCH/PDCCH/DCI/UCI, etc.

In some embodiments, such related parameters may include but may not be limited to:

- a geometric shape type of a subset, such as a square, a rectangle, a polygon, a circle, etc. ;

- a coordinate system of the subset, such as a 2D coordinate or a 3D coordinate;

- whether the coordinate system of the subset is a global coordinate (such as a geography coordinate system, a coordinate system of a cell, etc. ) or a local coordinate (such as a coordinate system of the first device 601 or the second device 602, a coordinate system referring to a reference point, a coordinate system defined by a plane, etc. ) ;

- the max number of subsets of the sensing target, such as the max number of subsets in each transmission;

- the number of subsets of the sensing target, such as the number of subsets N in each transmission;

- the precision for representation of the subset, e.g., the number of bits, to represent the point (s) /vertice (s) , normal vector (s) , direction vector (s) , radius, and/or side length (s) for subset representation (such as those involved in a square, rectangle, a polygon, a circle, etc. described previously) ;

- whether a subset index of the subset is used or not (and if used, the format to represent {S₁, S₂, …S_N} and index indication, i.e. included in S_j or parallel with S_j) ;

- whether an update of the subset is supported or not;

- if an update of the subset is supported, a format to indicate the update, i.e. the example implementations described previously, such as a direct indication, an indirect indication (such as add/remove-based update, translation-based update, combination scheme, etc. ) ;

- for add/remove-based update, the max number of added subset information in each transmission, and/or the max number of removed subset information in each transmission;

- for translation-based update, the max number of translation vectors in each transmission, and/or the max number of subset information for each translation vector in each transmission, and/or the precision (e.g., number of bits) to represent the translation vectors;

- if an update of the subset is supported, a period to trigger the update;

- whether compression of the sensing information comprising the subset information (i.e., subset-based sensing information) is used or not;

- if the compression is used, a compression approach and/or a compression parameter. For example, the quantization approach for subset representation (e.g. point (s) /vertice (s) , normal vector (s) , direction vector (s) , radiu, side length (s) ) , and/or translation vector (s) for subset update (such as scalar quantization, dynamic quantization, non-uniform quantization, etc. ) , the quantization parameter (s) (such as quantization bit (s) , [min, max] values, etc. ) , whether entropy coding is used or not (such as Huffman coding, Arithmetic coding, etc. ) , and so on.

An example interaction process 1100 before transmitting sensing information may be shown in FIG. 11. For the purpose of discussion, the process 1100 will be described with reference to FIG. 6. For example, the first device 601 may be a UE and the second device 602 may be a BS. Alternatively or additionally, the first device 601 and the second device 602 may be implemented by any other types of devices. As shown in FIG. 11, at 1110, capability information and/or mode selection as described above may be interacted between the first device 601 and the second device 602. At 1120, enabling or disabling subset-based sensing representation as described above may be interacted between the first device 601 and the second device 602. At 1130, related parameters as described above may be interacted between the first device 601 and the second device 602. Then, at 1140, the second device 602 transmits subset-based sensing information to the first device 601. Related details have been described above and are omitted for the sake of clarity. Steps 1110 to 1130 are optional and the process 1100 can work without the steps 1110 to 1130.

It should be appreciated that although some embodiments above are described by using the interaction and processing procedures between the user equipment (UE) and the base station (BS) , the exchanged information and protocol flows can also be used between other network nodes such as those described in FIG. 2, for example, between an ED and a TRP, between an ED and a core network, between an ED and an ED, between a TRP and a TRP.

The present disclosure can be also applied to Wi-Fi, UWB (Ultra Wide Band) , and other short range communications. Then the BS in the procedure described above in some embodiment of the present disclosure may be replaced with, e.g., an AP (Access Point) .

Corresponding to the above process, embodiments of the present disclosure provide methods of communication implemented at a first device and at a second device. These methods will be described below with reference to FIGS. 12 and 13.

FIG. 12 illustrates a flowchart of a method 1200 in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The method 1200 can be implemented by the first device 601 as discussed with reference to FIGS. 6-11. For the purpose of discussion, the method 1200 will be described with reference to the first device 601. The method 1200 may include additional acts not shown and/or may omit some shown acts, and the scope of the present disclosure is not limited in this regard.

At 1210, the first device 601 receives sensing information comprising subset information indicating a subset of a sensing target. At 1220, the first device 601 performs a communication related operation based on the sensing information. It should be noted that the method 1200 may include various other operations which may be performed by the first device 601 as described above with reference to FIGS. 6-11.

In some embodiments, the subset information may indicate a geometric shape for representing the subset. In some embodiments, the geometric shape may comprise one of the following: a square, a circle, a rectangle, and a polygon. More details regarding the geometric shape have been discussed above with reference to FIG. 6, and the details will be omitted for the purpose of simplification.

In some embodiments, the subset may have a subset index, and the sensing information may indicate the subset index. More details regarding the indication of the subset index have been discussed above with reference to FIG. 6, and the details will be omitted for the purpose of simplification.

In some embodiments, the sensing target may have a plurality of subsets comprising the subset, and the sensing information may comprise a plurality of subset information indicating the plurality of subsets respectively. More details regarding the multiple subset information cases have been discussed above with reference to FIG. 6, and the details will be omitted for the purpose of simplification.

In some embodiments, the sensing information may be a first sensing information comprising first subset information indicating a first subset, and the first device 601 may further receive second sensing information indicating an update of the first sensing information. In some embodiments, the second sensing information may comprise second subset information indicating a second subset of the sensing target. In some embodiments, the second sensing information may comprise update information for updating the first sensing information to obtain the second sensing information comprising second subset information indicating a second subset of the sensing target. In some embodiments, the update information may indicate at least one of the following: adding further subset information indicating a further subset of the sensing target in addition to the first subset information, removing the first subset information, and translating the first subset information. More details regarding the subset information updating have been discussed above with reference to FIG. 6, and the details will be omitted for the purpose of simplification.

In some embodiments, the first device 601 may further transmit or receive at least one of the following: capability information on whether a device has a capability to process the sensing information comprising the subset information, a first indication of using the sensing information comprising the subset information, a second indication of enabling the sensing information comprising the subset information, and a third indication of disabling the sensing information comprising the subset information. More details regarding the above capability information or indications have been discussed above with reference to FIG. 6, and the details will be omitted for the purpose of simplification.

In some embodiments, the first device 601 may further receive or transmit information indicating one or more of the following: a geometric shape type of the subset, a coordinate system of the subset, a max number of subsets of the sensing target, a number of subsets of the sensing target, precision for representation of the subset, whether a subset index of the subset is used or not, whether update of the subset is supported or not, a format to indicate the update, if the update is supported, a period to trigger the update, if the update is supported, whether compression of the sensing information comprising the subset information is used or not, and a compression approach and/or a compression parameter, if the compression is used. More details regarding the above assistant information or indications have been discussed above with reference to FIG. 6, and the details will be omitted for the purpose of simplification.

In some embodiments, performing the communication related operation may comprise at least one of the following: performing beamforming/beam tracking, performing multiple input multiple output (MIMO) parameter estimation, and performing a channel measurement operation. More details regarding the communication related operation have been discussed above with reference to FIG. 6, and the details will be omitted for the purpose of simplification.

FIG. 13 illustrates a flowchart of a method 1300 in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The method 1300 can be implemented by a second device 602 as discussed with reference to FIGS. 6-11. For the purpose of discussion, the method 1300 will be described with reference to the second device 602. The method 1300 may include additional acts not shown and/or may omit some shown acts, and the scope of the present disclosure is not limited in this regard.

At 1310, the second device 602 determines sensing information comprising subset information indicating a subset of a sensing target. At 1320, the second device 602 transmits the sensing information. It should be noted that the method 1300 may include various other operations which may be performed by the second device 602 as described above with reference to FIGS. 6-11.

In some embodiments, the sensing information may be a first sensing information comprising first subset information indicating a first subset, and the second device 602 may transmit second sensing information indicating an update of the first sensing information. In some embodiments, the second sensing information may comprise second subset information indicating a second subset of the sensing target. In some embodiments, the second sensing information may comprise update information for updating the first sensing information to obtain the second sensing information comprising second subset information indicating a second subset of the sensing target. In some embodiments, the update information may indicate at least one of the following: adding further subset information indicating a further subset of the sensing target in addition to the first subset information, removing the first subset information, and translating the first subset information. More details regarding the subset information updating have been discussed above with reference to FIG. 6, and the details will be omitted for the purpose of simplification.

In some embodiments, the second device 602 may further transmit or receive at least one of the following: capability information on whether a device has a capability to process the sensing information comprising the subset information, a first indication of using the sensing information comprising the subset information, a second indication of enabling the sensing information comprising the subset information, and a third indication of disabling the sensing information comprising the subset information. More details regarding the above capability information or indications have been discussed above with reference to FIG. 6, and the details will be omitted for the purpose of simplification.

In some embodiments, the second device 602 may further receive or transmit information indicating one or more of the following: a geometric shape type of the subset, a coordinate system of the subset, a max number of subsets of the sensing target, a number of subsets of the sensing target, precision for representation of the subset, whether a subset index of the subset is used or not, whether update of the subset is supported or not, a format to indicate the update, if the update is supported, a period to trigger the update, if the update is supported, whether compression of the sensing information comprising the subset information is used or not, and a compression approach and/or a compression parameter, if the compression is used. More details regarding the above assistant information or indications have been discussed above with reference to FIG. 6, and the details will be omitted for the purpose of simplification.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram of a device 1400 that may be used for implementing some embodiments of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, the device 1400 may be an element of communications network infrastructure, such as a base station (for example, a NodeB, an evolved Node B (eNodeB, or eNB) , a future generation NodeB (sometimes referred to as a gNodeB or gNB) , a home subscriber server (HSS) , a gateway (GW) such as a packet gateway (PGW) or a serving gateway (SGW) or various other nodes or functions within a core network (CN) or a Public Land Mobility Network (PLMN) . In other embodiments, the device 1400 may be a device that connects to the network infrastructure over a radio interface, such as a mobile phone, smart phone or other such device that may be classified as a User Equipment (UE) . In some embodiments, the device 1400 may be a Machine Type Communications (MTC) device (also referred to as a machine-to-machine (M2M) device) , or another such device that may be categorized as a UE despite not providing a direct service to a user. In some embodiments, the device 1400 may be a road side unit (RSU) , a vehicle UE (V-UE) , pedestrian UE (P-UE) or an infrastructure UE (I-UE) . In some scenarios, the device 1400 may also be referred to as a mobile device, a term intended to reflect devices that connect to mobile network, regardless of whether the device itself is designed for, or capable of, mobility. Specific devices may utilize all of the components shown or only a subset of the components, and levels of integration may vary from device to device. Furthermore, the device 1400 may contain multiple instances of a component, such as multiple processors, memories, transmitters, receivers, etc.

The device 1400 typically includes a processor 1402, such as a Central Processing Unit (CPU) , and may further include specialized processors such as a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) or other such processor, a memory 1404, a network interface 1406 and a bus 1408 to connect the components of the device 1400. The device 1400 may optionally also include components such as a mass storage device 1410, a video adapter 1412, and an I/O interface 1416 (shown in dashed lines) .

The memory 1404 may comprise any type of non-transitory system memory, readable by the processor 1402, such as static random access memory (SRAM) , dynamic random access memory (DRAM) , synchronous DRAM (SDRAM) , read-only memory (ROM) , or a combination thereof. In an embodiment, the memory 1404 may include more than one type of memory, such as ROM for use at boot-up, and DRAM for program and data storage for use while executing programs. The bus 1408 may be one or more of any type of several bus architectures including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, or a video bus.

The device 1400 may also include one or more network interfaces 1406, which may include at least one of a wired network interface and a wireless network interface. As illustrated in FIG. 14, network interface 1406 may include a wired network interface to connect to a network 1422, and also may include a radio access network interface 1420 for connecting to other devices over a radio link. When the device 1400 is a network infrastructure element, the radio access network interface 1420 may be omitted for nodes or functions acting as elements of the PLMN other than those at the radio edge. When the device 1400 is infrastructure at the radio edge of a network, both wired and wireless network interfaces may be included. When the device 1400 is a wirelessly connected device, such as a User Equipment, radio access network interface 1420 may be present and it may be supplemented by other wireless interfaces such as WiFi network interfaces. The network interfaces 1406 allow the device 1400 to communicate with remote entities such as those connected to network 1422.

The mass storage 1410 may comprise any type of non-transitory storage device configured to store data, programs, and other information and to make the data, programs, and other information accessible via the bus 1408. The mass storage 1410 may comprise, for example, one or more of a solid state drive, hard disk drive, a magnetic disk drive, or an optical disk drive. In some embodiments, the mass storage 1410 may be remote to the device 1400 and accessible through use of a network interface such as interface 1406. In the illustrated embodiment, the mass storage 1410 is distinct from memory 1404 where it is included, and may generally perform storage tasks compatible with higher latency, but may generally provide lesser or no volatility. In some embodiments, the mass storage 1410 may be integrated with a heterogeneous memory 1404.

The optional video adapter 1412 and the I/O interface 1416 (shown in dashed lines) provide interfaces to couple the device 1400 to external input and output devices. Examples of input and output devices include a display 1414 coupled to the video adapter 1412 and an I/O device 1418 such as a touch-screen coupled to the I/O interface 1416. Other devices may be coupled to the device 1400, and additional or fewer interfaces may be utilized. For example, a serial interface such as Universal Serial Bus (USB) (not shown) may be used to provide an interface for an external device. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that in embodiments in which the device 1400 is part of a data center, I/O interface 1416 and Video Adapter 1412 may be virtualized and provided through network interface 1406.

FIG. 15 is a schematic diagram of a structure of an apparatus 1500 in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 15, the apparatus 1500 includes a receiving unit 1502, and a performing unit 1504. The apparatus 1500 may be applied to the communication system as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, and may implement any of the methods provided in the foregoing embodiments. Optionally, a physical representation form of the apparatus 1500 may be a communication device, for example, a network device or a UE. Alternatively, the apparatus 1500 may be another apparatus that can implement a function of a communication device, for example, a processor or a chip inside the communication device. Specifically, the apparatus 1500 may be some programmable chips such as a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) , a complex programmable logic device (CPLD) , an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) , or a system on a chip (SOC) .

In some embodiments, the receiving unit 1502 may be configured to receive sensing information comprising subset information indicating a subset of a sensing target. The performing unit 1504 may be configured to perform a communication related operation based on the sensing information.

In some other embodiments, the apparatus 1500 can include various other units or modules which may be configured to perform various operations or functions as described in connection with the foregoing method embodiments. The details can be obtained referring to the detailed description of the foregoing method embodiments and are not described herein again.

FIG. 16 is a schematic diagram of a structure of an apparatus 1600 in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 16, the apparatus 1600 includes a determining unit 1602, and a transmitting unit 1604. The apparatus 1600 may be applied to the communication system as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, and may implement any of the methods provided in the foregoing embodiments. Optionally, a physical representation form of the apparatus 1600 may be a communication device, for example, a network device or a UE. Alternatively, the apparatus 1600 may be another apparatus that can implement a function of a communication device, for example, a processor or a chip inside the communication device. Specifically, the apparatus 1600 may be some programmable chips such as a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) , a complex programmable logic device (CPLD) , an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) , or a system on a chip (SOC) .

In some embodiments, the determining unit 1602 may be configured to determine sensing information comprising subset information indicating a subset of a sensing target. The transmitting unit 1604 may be configured to transmit the sensing information.

In some other embodiments, the apparatus 1600 can include various other units or modules which may be configured to perform various operations or functions as described in connection with the foregoing method embodiments. The details can be obtained referring to the detailed description of the foregoing method embodiments and are not described herein again.

It should be noted that division into the units or modules in the foregoing embodiments of the present disclosure is an example, and is merely logical function division. In actual implementation, there may be another division manner. In addition, function units in embodiments of the present disclosure may be integrated into one processing unit, or may exist alone physically, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit. The integrated unit may be implemented in a form of hardware, or may be implemented in a form of a software function unit.

When the integrated unit is implemented in a form of a software function unit and sold or used as an independent product, the integrated unit may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on such an understanding, the technical solutions of the present disclosure essentially, or all or some of the technical solutions may be implemented in a form of a software product. The computer software product is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions for instructing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device) or a processor to perform all or some of the steps of the methods described in embodiments of the present disclosure. The foregoing storage medium includes any medium that can store program code, such as a USB flash drive, a removable hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM) , a random access memory (RAM) , a magnetic disk, or an optical disc.

Based on the foregoing embodiments, an embodiment of this application further provides a computer program. When the computer program is run on a computer, the computer is enabled to perform any of the methods provided in the foregoing embodiments.

Based on the foregoing embodiments, an embodiment of this application further provides a computer-readable storage medium. The computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program. When the computer program is executed by a computer, the computer is enabled to perform the any of the methods provided in the foregoing embodiments. The storage medium may be any usable medium that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example and not limitation, the computer-readable medium may include a RAM, a ROM, an Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM) , a Compact Disc Read-Only Memory (CD-ROM) or another optical disk storage, a magnetic disk storage medium or another magnetic storage device, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store expected program code in a form of an instruction or a data structure and that can be accessed by a computer.

Based on the foregoing embodiments, an embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a chip. The chip is configured to read a computer program stored in a memory, to implement any of the methods provided in the foregoing embodiments.

Based on the foregoing embodiments, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a chip system. The chip system includes a processor, configured to support a computer apparatus in implementing functions related to communication devices in the foregoing embodiments. In a possible design, the chip system further includes a memory, and the memory is configured to store a program and data that are necessary for the computer apparatus. The chip system may include a chip, or may include a chip and another discrete component.

A person skilled in the art should understand that embodiments of the present disclosure may be provided as a method, a system, or a computer program product. Therefore, the present disclosure may be in a form of a hardware-only embodiment, a software-only embodiment, or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. In addition, the present disclosure may be in a form of a computer program product implemented on one or more computer-usable storage media (including but not limited to a magnetic disk memory, a CD-ROM, an optical memory, and the like) including computer-usable program code.

The present disclosure is described with reference to the flowcharts and/or block diagrams of the method, the device (system) , and the computer program product according to the present disclosure. It should be understood that computer program instructions may be used to implement each process and/or each block in the flowcharts and/or the block diagrams and a combination of a process and/or a block in the flowcharts and/or the block diagrams. These computer program instructions may be provided for a general-purpose computer, a dedicated computer, an embedded processor, or a processor of another programmable data processing device to generate a machine, so that the instructions executed by a computer or a processor of another programmable data processing device generate an apparatus for implementing a specific function in one or more processes in the flowcharts and/or in one or more blocks in the block diagrams.

These computer program instructions may alternatively be stored in a computer-readable memory that can indicate a computer or another programmable data processing device to work in a specific manner, so that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory generate an artifact that includes an instruction apparatus. The instruction apparatus implements a specific function in one or more processes in the flowcharts and/or in one or more blocks in the block diagrams.

These computer program instructions may alternatively be loaded onto a computer or another programmable data processing device, so that a series of operations and steps are performed on the computer or the another programmable device, to generate computer-implemented processing. Therefore, the instructions executed on the computer or the another programmable device provide steps for implementing a specific function in one or more processes in the flowcharts and/or in one or more blocks in the block diagrams.

It is clear that a person skilled in the art may make various modifications and variations to the present disclosure without departing from the protection scope of the present disclosure. Thus, the present disclosure is intended to cover these modifications and variations, provided that they fall within the scope of the claims of the present disclosure and their equivalent technologies.

The present disclosure encompasses various embodiments, including not only method embodiments, but also other embodiments such as apparatus embodiments and embodiments related to non-transitory computer readable storage media. Embodiments may incorporate, individually or in combinations, the features disclosed herein.

Although this disclosure refers to illustrative embodiments, this is not intended to be construed in a limiting sense. Various modifications and combinations of the illustrative embodiments, as well as other embodiments of the disclosure, will be apparent to persons skilled in the art upon reference to the description.

Features disclosed herein in the context of any particular embodiments may also or instead be implemented in other embodiments. Method embodiments, for example, may also or instead be implemented in apparatus, system, and/or computer program product embodiments. In addition, although embodiments are described primarily in the context of methods and apparatus, other implementations are also contemplated, as instructions stored on one or more non-transitory computer-readable media, for example. Such media could store programming or instructions to perform any of various methods consistent with the present disclosure.

Some of acronyms, abbreviations, and initialisms for terms that may be used in the present disclosure are provided in the table below.

Claims

A method of communication, comprising:

receiving sensing information comprising subset information indicating a subset of a sensing target; and

performing a communication related operation based on the sensing information.
The method of claim 1, wherein the subset information indicates a geometric shape for representing the subset.
The method of claim 2, wherein the geometric shape comprises one of the following:

a square;

a circle;

a rectangle; and

a polygon.
The method of claim 3, wherein the geometric shape is indicated by at least one of the following:

the geometric shape is the circle and is indicated by a center point and a radius of the circle;

the geometric shape is the circle and is indicated by a center point, a radius, and a normal vector;

the geometric shape is the square and is indicated by a center point and a side length;

the geometric shape is the square and is indicated by a center point, a side length, and a normal vector;

the geometric shape is the square or the rectangle and is indicated by four points;

the geometric shape is the square or the rectangle and is indicated by one vertex and two direction vectors; and

the geometric shape is the polygon and is indicated by a set of points.
The method of any of claims 1-4, wherein the subset has a subset index, and the sensing information indicates the subset index.
The method of any of claims 1-5, wherein the sensing target has a plurality of subsets comprising the subset, and the sensing information comprises a plurality of subset information indicating the plurality of subsets respectively.
The method of any of claims 1-6, wherein the sensing information is a first sensing information comprising first subset information indicating a first subset, and the method further comprises:

receiving second sensing information indicating an update of the first sensing information.
The method of claim 7, wherein the second sensing information comprises second subset information indicating a second subset of the sensing target.
The method of claim 7, wherein the second sensing information comprises update information for updating the first sensing information to obtain the second sensing information comprising second subset information indicating a second subset of the sensing target.
The method of claim 9, wherein the update information indicates at least one of the following:

adding further subset information indicating a further subset of the sensing target in addition to the first subset information;

removing the first subset information; and

translating the first subset information.
The method of any of claims 1-10, further comprising:

transmitting or receiving at least one of the following:

capability information on whether a device has a capability to process the sensing information comprising the subset information;

a first indication of using the sensing information comprising the subset information;

a second indication of enabling the sensing information comprising the subset information; and

a third indication of disabling the sensing information comprising the subset information.
The method of claim 11, wherein the capability information comprises at least one of the following:

information on whether the device has a capability to process compressed sensing information; and

a max number of subset information can be processed at a time.
The method of any of claims 1-12, further comprising:

receiving or transmitting information indicating one or more of the following:

a geometric shape type of the subset;

a coordinate system of the subset;

a max number of subsets of the sensing target;

a number of subsets of the sensing target;

precision for representation of the subset;

whether a subset index of the subset is used or not;

whether update of the subset is supported or not;

a format to indicate the update, if the update is supported;

a period to trigger the update, if the update is supported;

whether compression of the sensing information comprising the subset information is used or not; and

a compression approach and/or a compression parameter, if the compression is used.
The method of any of claims 1-13, wherein performing the communication related operation comprises at least one of the following:

performing beamforming/beam tracking;

performing multiple input multiple output (MIMO) parameter estimation; and

performing a channel measurement operation.
A method of communication, comprising:

determining sensing information comprising subset information indicating a subset of a sensing target; and

transmitting the sensing information.
The method of claim 15, wherein the subset information indicates a geometric shape for representing the subset.
The method of claim 16, wherein the geometric shape comprises one of the following:

a square;

a circle;

a rectangle; and

a polygon.
The method of claim 17, wherein the geometric shape is indicated by at least one of the following:

the geometric shape is the circle and is indicated by a center point and a radius of the circle;

the geometric shape is the circle and is indicated by a center point, a radius, and a normal vector;

the geometric shape is the square and is indicated by a center point and a side length;

the geometric shape is the square and is indicated by a center point, a side length, and a normal vector;

the geometric shape is the square or the rectangle and is indicated by four points;

the geometric shape is the square or the rectangle and is indicated by one vertex and two direction vectors; and

the geometric shape is the polygon and is indicated by a set of points.
The method of any of claims 15-18, wherein the subset has a subset index, and the sensing information indicates the subset index.
The method of any of claims 15-19, wherein the sensing target has a plurality of subsets comprising the subset, and the sensing information comprises a plurality of subset information indicating the plurality of subsets respectively.
The method of any of claims 15-20, wherein the sensing information is a first sensing information comprising first subset information indicating a first subset, and the method further comprises:

transmitting second sensing information indicating an update of the first sensing information.
The method of claim 21, wherein the second sensing information comprises second subset information indicating a second subset of the sensing target.
The method of claim 21, wherein the second sensing information comprises update information for updating the first sensing information to obtain the second sensing information comprising second subset information indicating a second subset of the sensing target.
The method of claim 23, wherein the update information indicates at least one of the following:

adding further subset information indicating a further subset of the sensing target in addition to the first subset information;

removing the first subset information; and

translating the first subset information.
The method of any of claims 15-24, further comprising:

transmitting or receiving at least one of the following:

capability information on whether a device has a capability to process the sensing information comprising the subset information;

a first indication of using the sensing information comprising the subset information;

a second indication of enabling the sensing information comprising the subset information; and

a third indication of disabling the sensing information comprising the subset information.
The method of claim 25, wherein the capability information comprises at least one of the following:

information on whether the device has a capability to process compressed sensing information; and

a max number of subset information can be processed at a time.
The method of any of claims 15-26, further comprising:

receiving or transmitting information indicating one or more of the following:

a geometric shape type of the subset;

a coordinate system of the subset;

a max number of subsets of the sensing target;

a number of subsets of the sensing target;

precision for representation of the subset;

whether a subset index of the subset is used or not;

whether update of the subset is supported or not;

a format to indicate the update, if the update is supported;

a period to trigger the update, if the update is supported;

whether compression of the sensing information comprising the subset information is used or not; and

a compression approach and/or a compression parameter, if the compression is used.
A communication apparatus, configured to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 14 or 15 to 27.
The communication apparatus of claim 28, wherein comprising:

a receiving unit configured to receive sensing information comprising subset information indicating a subset of a sensing target; and

a performing unit configured to perform a communication related operation based on the sensing information.
The communication apparatus of claim 28, comprising:

a determining unit configured to determine sensing information comprising subset information indicating a subset of a sensing target; and

a transmitting unit configured to transmit the sensing information
The communication apparatus of claim 28, comprising:

an interface circuit configured to receive sensing information comprising subset information indicating a subset of a sensing target;

one or more processors configured to perform a communication related operation based on the sensing information.
The communication apparatus of claim 28, comprising:

one or more processors configured to determine sensing information comprising subset information indicating a subset of a sensing target;

an interface circuit configured to transmit the sensing information.
The communication apparatus of claim 31 or 32, wherein the interface circuit comprises one or more transceivers.
An apparatus comprising:

one or more processors; and

a memory storing instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 14 or 15 to 27.
A communication system, wherein the communication system comprises a first communication apparatus configured to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 14 and a second communication apparatus configured to perform the method of any one of claims 15 to 27.
A computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon which, when executed by an apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 14 or 15 to 27.