WO2025231752A1

WO2025231752A1 - Device and method of communication

Info

Publication number: WO2025231752A1
Application number: PCT/CN2024/092082
Authority: WO
Inventors: Zonghui XIE; Lin Liang; Gang Wang
Original assignee: NEC Corp
Current assignee: NEC Corp
Priority date: 2024-05-09
Filing date: 2024-05-09
Publication date: 2025-11-13
Anticipated expiration: 2026-11-09

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to devices and methods of communication. In the solution, a first communication device may transmit, to an A-IoT device, first information for triggering an access to the first communication device. Upon reception of the first information, the A-IoT device may determine an access procedure from a first access procedure based on 2-step and a second access procedure based on 4-step, and perform the access procedure for accessing to the first communication device. In this way, an A-IoT device may implement an access to a communication device.

Description

DEVICE AND METHOD OF COMMUNICATION

TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field of telecommunication, and in particular, to devices and methods of communication for ambient-Internet of things (A-IoT) .

BACKGROUND

Currently, it is expected to study and decide which functions are needed for an A-IoT compact protocol stack and lightweight signaling procedure to enable device-originated device-terminated triggered (DO-DTT) and device-terminated (DT) data transmissions. It has been proposed to study functions such as paging, access, or data transmission including necessary radio resource control aspects, or interactions with upper layers. Thus, how to implement or manage these functions of an A-IoT device needs to be further developed.

SUMMARY

In general, embodiments of the present disclosure provide methods, devices and computer storage media of communication for A-IoT.

In a first aspect, there is provided an A-IoT device. The A-IoT device comprises a processor. The processor is configured to cause the A-IoT device to: receive, from a first communication device, first information for triggering an access to the first communication device; determine an access procedure from a first access procedure based on 2-step and a second access procedure based on 4-step based on at least one of the following: an indication of the access procedure in the first information, information of whether a contention based resource or a non-contention based resource is to be used for the access to the first communication device, number of transmission occasions available for the access to the first communication device, information of whether the first information is dedicated for the A-IoT device, or completion of an access attempt based on the first or second access procedure; and perform the access procedure for accessing to the first communication device.

In a second aspect, there is provided an A-IoT device. The A-IoT device comprises a processor. The processor is configured to cause the A-IoT device to: receive, from a first communication device, fourth information for paging the A-IoT device, the fourth information comprising access information for accessing to the first communication device; store the access information for accessing to the first communication device; and transmit a response to the paging to the first communication device based on at least one of the following: the A-IoT device is not in a first status of deactivating the response to the paging, the A-IoT device has not started a further access procedure with a second communication device, number of occupied processes is lower than a first threshold, the A-IoT device is in high energy status, or a traffic type indicated in the paging is in a group of traffic types.

In a third aspect, there is provided a first communication device. The first communication device comprises a processor. The processor is configured to cause the first communication device to: transmit, to an A-IoT device, first information for triggering an access to the first communication device, the first information comprising at least one of the following: an indication of a first access procedure or a second access procedure for the access to the first communication device; information of whether a contention based resource or a non-contention based resource is to be used for the access to the first communication device; number of transmission occasions available for the access to the first communication device; or information of whether the first information is dedicated for the A-IoT device.

In a fourth aspect, there is provided a method of communication. The method comprises: receiving, at an A-IoT device and from a first communication device, first information for triggering an access to the first communication device; determining an access procedure from a first access procedure based on 2-step and a second access procedure based on 4-step based on at least one of the following: an indication of the access procedure in the first information, information of whether a contention based resource or a non-contention based resource is to be used for the access to the first communication device, number of transmission occasions available for the access to the first communication device, information of whether the first information is dedicated for the A-IoT device, or completion of an access attempt based on the first or second access procedure; and performing the access procedure for accessing to the first communication device.

In a fifth aspect, there is provided a method of communication. The method comprises: receiving, at an A-IoT device and from a first communication device, fourth information for paging the A-IoT device, the fourth information comprising access information for accessing to the first communication device; storing the access information for accessing to the first communication device; and transmitting a response to the paging to the first communication device based on at least one of the following: the A-IoT device is not in a first status of deactivating the response to the paging, the A-IoT device has not started a further access procedure with a second communication device, number of occupied processes is lower than a first threshold, the A-IoT device is in high energy status, or a traffic type indicated in the paging is in a group of traffic types.

In a sixth aspect, there is provided a method of communication. The method comprises: transmitting, at a first communication device and to an A-IoT device, first information for triggering an access to the first communication device, the first information comprising at least one of the following: an indication of a first access procedure based on 2-step or a second access procedure based on 4-step for the access to the first communication device; information of whether a contention based resource or a non-contention based resource is to be used for the access to the first communication device; number of transmission occasions available for the access to the first communication device; or information of whether the first information is dedicated for the A-IoT device.

In a seventh aspect, there is provided a computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon. The instructions, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform the method according to any of the fourth to sixth aspects of the present disclosure.

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

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

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

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

FIG. 2 illustrates a signaling chart illustrating an example process of communication according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 illustrates a diagram illustrating examples of determining a processed device identifier according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 illustrates a signaling chart illustrating another example process of communication according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5A illustrates a diagram illustrating an example handling for multiple sessions according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5B illustrates a diagram illustrating another example handling for multiple sessions according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5C illustrates a diagram illustrating another example handling for multiple sessions according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5D illustrates a diagram illustrating another example handling for multiple sessions according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

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

FIG. 7 illustrates a flowchart of another example method of communication implemented at an A-IoT device in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 illustrates a flowchart of an example method of communication implemented at a first communication device in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 9 illustrates a simplified block diagram of a device that is suitable for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure.

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

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Principle of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to some embodiments. It is to be understood that these embodiments are described only for the purpose of illustration and help those skilled in the art to understand and implement the present disclosure, without suggesting any limitations 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.

As used herein, the term ‘terminal device’ refers to any device having wireless or wired communication capabilities. Examples of the terminal device include, but not limited to, user equipment (UE) , personal computers, desktops, mobile phones, cellular phones, smart phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs) , portable computers, tablets, wearable devices, Internet of things (IoT) devices, ultra-reliable and low latency communications (URLLC) devices, Internet of everything (IoE) devices, machine type communication (MTC) devices, device on vehicle for V2X communication where X means pedestrian, vehicle, or infrastructure/network, devices for integrated access and backhaul (IAB) , small data transmission (SDT) , mobility, multicast and broadcast services (MBS) , positioning, dynamic/flexible duplex in commercial networks, reduced capability (RedCap) , space borne vehicles or air borne vehicles in non-terrestrial networks (NTN) including Satellites and high altitude platforms (HAPs) encompassing unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) , extended reality (XR) devices including different types of realities such as augmented reality (AR) , mixed reality (MR) and virtual reality (VR) , the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) commonly known as a drone which is an aircraft without any human pilot, devices on high speed train (HST) , or image capture devices such as digital cameras, sensors, gaming devices, music storage and playback appliances, or Internet appliances enabling wireless or wired Internet access and browsing and the like. The ‘terminal device’ can further has ‘multicast/broadcast’ feature, to support public safety and mission critical, V2X applications, transparent IPv4/IPv6 multicast delivery, IPTV, smart TV, radio services, software delivery over wireless, group communications and IoT applications. It may also incorporate one or multiple subscriber identity module (SIM) as known as multi-SIM. The term ‘terminal device’ can be used interchangeably with a UE, a mobile station, a subscriber station, a mobile terminal, a user terminal or a wireless device.

The term ‘network device’ may refer to a core network (CN) device or a radio access network (RAN) device. The term ‘CN device’ refers to any device or entity that provides access and mobility management function (AMF) , network exposure function (NEF) , authentication server function (AUSF) , unified data management (UDM) , session management function (SMF) , user plane function (UPF) , a location management function (LMF) , etc. In other embodiments, the CN device may be any other suitable device or entity providing any other suitable functionality.

As used herein, the term ‘RAN device’ refers to a device which is capable of providing or hosting a cell or coverage where terminal devices can communicate. Examples of an RAN 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 next generation NodeB (gNB) , a transmission reception point (TRP) , a remote radio unit (RRU) , a radio head (RH) , a remote radio head (RRH) , an IAB node, a low power node such as a femto node, a pico node, a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) , and the like.

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

The terminal or network device may work on several frequency ranges, e.g. FR1 (410 MHz to 7125 MHz) , FR2 (24.25GHz to 71GHz) , frequency band larger than 100GHz as well as Tera Hertz (THz) . It can further work on licensed/unlicensed/shared spectrum. The terminal device may have more than one connections with the network devices under MR-DC application scenario. The terminal device or the network device can work on full duplex, flexible duplex and cross division duplex modes.

The network device may have the function of network energy saving, self-organizing networks (SON) /minimization of drive tests (MDT) . The terminal may have the function of power saving.

The embodiments of the present disclosure may be performed in test equipment, e.g. signal generator, signal analyzer, spectrum analyzer, network analyzer, test terminal device, test network device, channel emulator.

In one embodiment, the terminal device may be connected with a first network device and a second network device. One of the first network device and the second network device may be a master node and the other one may be a secondary node. The first network device and the second network device may use different radio access technologies (RATs) . In one embodiment, the first network device may be a first RAT device and the second network device may be a second RAT device. In one embodiment, the first RAT device is eNB and the second RAT device is gNB. Information related with different RATs may be transmitted to the terminal device from at least one of the first network device or the second network device. In one embodiment, first information may be transmitted to the terminal device from the first network device and second information may be transmitted to the terminal device from the second network device directly or via the first network device. In one embodiment, information related with configuration for the terminal device configured by the second network device may be transmitted from the second network device via the first network device. Information related with reconfiguration for the terminal device configured by the second network device may be transmitted to the terminal device from the second network device directly or via the first network device.

As used herein, the singular forms ‘a’ , ‘an’ and ‘the’ are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. The term ‘includes’ and its variants are to be read as open terms that mean ‘includes, but is not limited to. ’ The term ‘based on’ is to be read as ‘at least in part based on. ’ The term ‘one embodiment’ and ‘an embodiment’ are to be read as ‘at least one embodiment. ’ The term ‘another embodiment’ is to be read as ‘at least one other embodiment. ’ The terms ‘first, ’ ‘second, ’ and the like may refer to different or same objects. Other definitions, explicit and implicit, may be included below.

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

In the context of the present disclosure, the term ‘A-IoT’ may be interchangeably used with ‘passive IoT’ . The term ‘A-IoT device’ may refer to a device comprising an energy harvesting module and a backscattering module. The A-IoT device may receive an energy supply signal or command via the energy harvesting module and backscatter a signal via the backscattering module. Some example use cases of the A-IoT device are listed below.

In the context of the present disclosure, the term ‘command UE’ may refer to a terminal device transmitting a command to an A-IoT device to implement select, inventory or access (e.g., read and write) to the A-IoT device. The term ‘excitation UE’ may refer to a terminal device providing an excitation signal or energy to an A-IoT device. After receiving the excitation signal, the A-IoT device may generate an induced current, and then receive information and send information through energy obtained by the induced current. It is to be understood that the names ‘command UE’ and ‘excitation UE’ merely are examples, and any other suitable names are also feasible.

In the context of the present disclosure, the term ‘communication device’ herein may refer to a node (e.g., a terminal device or a RAN device or a CN device) communicating with an A-IoT device. The term ‘a communication device’ may be interchangeably used with ‘a node’ , ‘a reader’ , ‘an interrogator’ , ‘a base station’ ‘a managing node’ or any other suitable names. In some embodiments, the communication device may be a node providing excitation signal or energy to an A-IoT device (i.e., an energy providing node or an energy resource) . In some embodiments, the communication device may be command UE. In some embodiments, the communication device may be excitation UE.

In the context of the present disclosure, the term ‘power’ may be interchangeably used with ‘energy’ . The term ‘energy status’ may refer to remaining energy storage (by an energy unit of J or mA/h) or operating time which can be supported by current energy storage or data volume which can be transmitted/received under the current energy storage. The term ‘energy status’ may be interchangeably used with ‘power status’ or ‘energy state’ .

In the context of the present disclosure, the term ‘paging’ or ‘A-IoT paging’ herein may refer to a method or a procedure that a reader used to notify an A-IoT device to participate in a transmission between the reader and the A-IoT device. A-IoT paging is a function to be used for the initial trigger message (s) to indicate device (s) that need to respond, or indicate device (s) to determine whether to respond. Multiple A-IoT devices may be involved in one paging procedure. An A-IoT device may be paged by more than one reader in one time period. The term ‘paging’ , ‘paging message’ or ‘initial trigger message’ may be interchangeably used with any other names. There may be multiple paging messages during one paging procedures, and A-IoT devices may determine whether to respond based on more than one paging messages.

In the context of the present disclosure, the term ‘a response to a paging’ herein may refer to at least one of the following: determining the paging is for an A-IoT device, setting a status according to the paging message, determining the A-IoT device needs to access to a reader, or initiating an access operation upon triggered by a further access trigger indication.

In the context of the present disclosure, the term ‘process’ herein may refer to a signaling procedure between a communication device and an A-IoT device. The signaling procedure may be a DO-DTT or DT or DO-autonomous (DO-A) data transmission. The term ‘process’ may be interchangeably used with ‘session’ , ‘procedure’ or any other suitable names.

In the context of the present disclosure, the term ‘ongoing or pending or suspending process’ may refer to a transmission procedure that is triggered but not completed successfully yet. This transmission procedure may include: a communication device has paged an A-IoT device but the A-IoT device does not receive the paging successfully; an A-IoT device has received a paging but does not respond to the paging yet; an A-IoT device has determined to respond to a paging but does not initiate an access to a communication device yet; an A-IoT device has accessed to a communication device but does not succeed yet (e.g., without confirmation from the communication device) ; or an A-IoT device participates one access round but does not initiate it’s transmission in an access occasion yet.

In the context of the present disclosure, the term ‘an access round’ may refer to a round of operations for accessing to a communication device, and may be interchangeably used with ‘a round of operations’ or ‘an access attempt’ or ‘an attempt’ . The term ‘access trigger indication’ herein may be interchangeably used with ‘access round indication’ or ‘DL access order’ or ‘access Msg0’ . The term ‘access procedure’ may refer to a procedure for accessing to a communication device. The access procedure may comprise one or multiple access rounds or attempts. The term ‘access procedure’ may be interchangeably used with ‘access process’ or ‘access operation’ . The term ‘D2R message’ may refer to a message from an A-IoT device to a communication device, and the term ‘R2D message’ may refer to a message from a communication device to an A-IoT device. The term ‘Msg’ may be interchangeably used with ‘message’ .

In the context of the present disclosure, the following terms may be defined as below.

- A-IoT Msg1: the first D2R message after an A-IoT device is triggered to perform random access, or the first D2R message on an A-IoT access occasion. A-IoT Msg1 may not include any actual data, e.g., the upper layer device ID and upper layer data.

- A-IoT MsgA: the first D2R message after an A-IoT device is triggered to perform random access, or the first D2R message on an A-IoT access occasion. A-IoT MsgA may include actual data, including device ID and upper layer data.

- A-IoT Msg2/MsgB: a possible R2D message after A-IoT Msg1/MsgA, which is corresponding to A-IoT Msg1/MsgA.

- A-IoT Msg3: a possible D2R message after A-IoT Msg2, if needed. A-IoT Msg3 may include actual data, including device ID and upper layer data.

- A-IoT Msg4: a possible R2D message after A-IoT Msg3, if needed.

- 2-step random access procedure: there are two messages in the random access procedure of one A-IoT device, e.g., 2-step random access using A-IoT Msg1 and 2-step random access using A-IoT MsgA.

- 4-step random access procedure: there are four messages in the random access procedure of one A-IoT device.

- 2-step contention resolution: use the R2D message corresponding to the first D2R message (i.e., A-IoT msg B) to complete the contention resolution.

- 4-step contention resolution: use the R2D message corresponding to the second D2R message (i.e., A-IoT Msg4) to complete the contention resolution. This term assumes there could be the contention in A-IoT Msg3.

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a solution of communication for A-IoT. In one aspect, a first communication device may transmit, to an A-IoT device, first information for triggering an access to the first communication device. Upon reception of the first information, the A-IoT device may determine an access procedure from a first access procedure based on 2-step and a second access procedure based on 4-step, and perform the access procedure for accessing to the first communication device. In this way, an A-IoT device may implement an access to a communication device.

In another aspect, an A-IoT device may receive, from a first communication device, fourth information for paging an A-IoT device, the fourth information comprising access information for accessing to the first communication device. The A-IoT device may store the access information for accessing to the first communication device and transmit a response to the paging to the first communication device based on at least one of the following: the A-IoT device is not in a first status of deactivating the response to the paging, the A-IoT device has not started a further access procedure with a second communication device, number of occupied processes is lower than a first threshold, the A-IoT device is in high energy status, or a traffic type indicated in the paging is in a group of traffic types. In this way, a management on a session between an A-IoT device and a communication device may be provided.

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

EXAMPLE OF COMMUNICATION NETWORK

FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic diagram of an example communication network 100 in which some embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented. As shown in FIG. 1, the communication network 100 may include terminal devices 110 and 111 and a RAN device 120. In some embodiments, the RAN device 120 may provide one or more serving cells (not shown) to serve the terminal devices 110 and 111.

As shown in FIG. 1, the communication network 100 may further include one or more A-IoT devices 130 (i.e., a set of A-IoT devices) . In some embodiments, the RAN device 120 and each of the one or more A-IoT devices 130 may communicate with each other. In some embodiments, one of the terminal devices 110 and 111 and each of the one or more A-IoT devices 130 may communicate with each other. In some embodiments, each of the one or more A-IoT devices 130 may communicate with one of the terminal devices 110 and 111 in a forward link (FL) , and may communicate with the RAN device 120 in a backward link (BL) . In some embodiments, each of the one or more A-IoT devices 130 may communicate with the RAN device 120 in a FL, and may communicate with one of the terminal devices 110 and 111 in a BL. In the context of the present disclosure, the term ‘FL’ may refer to a communication link terminated at A-IoT devices, and may also be referred to as downlink (DL) or mobile terminated (MT) . The term ‘BL’ may refer to a communication link originated at A-IoT devices, and may also be referred to as uplink (UL) or mobile originated (MO) .

As shown in FIG. 1, the communication network 100 may further include a CN device 140 and an A-IoT server 150. In some scenarios, each of the one or more A-IoT devices 130 may communicate with the A-IoT server 150 via a cellular network comprising the terminal device 110 and/or 111 and/or 112, and the RAN device 120 and the CN device 140.

It is to be understood that the number of devices in FIG. 1 is given for the purpose of illustration without suggesting any limitations to the present disclosure. The communication network 100 may include any suitable number of RAN devices and/or terminal devices and/or A-IoT devices and/or CN devices and/or A-IoT servers adapted for implementing implementations of the present disclosure.

The terminal device 110 may communicate with the RAN device 120 via a Uu interface. The RAN device 120 may communicate with the CN device 140 via an Ng interface. The communications in the communication network 100 may conform to any suitable standards including, but not limited to, global system for mobile communications (GSM) , long term evolution (LTE) , LTE-evolution, LTE-advanced (LTE-A) , new radio (NR) , wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) , code division multiple access (CDMA) , GSM EDGE radio access network (GERAN) , machine type communication (MTC) and the like. The embodiments of the present disclosure may be performed according to any generation communication protocols either currently known or to be developed in the future. Examples of the communication protocols include, but not limited to, the first generation (1G) , the second generation (2G) , 2.5G, 2.75G, the third generation (3G) , the fourth generation (4G) , 4.5G, the fifth generation (5G) communication protocols, 5.5G, 5G-advanced networks, or the sixth generation (6G) networks.

In some scenarios, the terminal device 110, the RAN device 120 or the CN device 140 may serve as a node (also referred to as a managing node or a communication device herein) of managing the one or more A-IoT devices 130. In some embodiments, each communication device may page one or more A-IoT devices. In some embodiments, each communication device may indicate one or more A-IoT devices to perform an access to this communication device. In some embodiments, an A-IoT device may establish one or more sessions with one or more communication devices.

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide solutions of communication for an access operation and a session management. The detailed description will be made with reference to FIGs. 2 and 3 below.

EXAMPLE IMPLEMENTATION OF ACCESS OPERATION

FIG. 2 illustrates a signaling chart illustrating an example process 200 of communication according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The process 200 may involve an A-IoT device 201 and a communication device 202. The A-IoT device 201 may be any of the one or more A-IoT devices 130 as illustrated in FIG. 1, and the communication device 202 may be the terminal device 110 or 111, the RAN device 120 or the CN device 140 as illustrated in FIG. 1. It is to be understood that the steps and the order of the steps in FIG. 2 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.

As shown in FIG. 2, the communication device 202 (also referred to as a first communication device herein) may transmit 210, to the A-IoT device 201, information (also referred to as first information herein) for triggering an access to the communication device 202. The first information may also be called as an access trigger indication or random access message 0. In some embodiments, the first information may be carried in a message for paging the A-IoT device 201. In some embodiments, the first information may be carried in other messages other than paging or access trigger.

In some embodiments, the first information may comprise at least one of the following: an indication of an access procedure (for convenience, also referred to as a first access procedure herein) based on 2-step or an access procedure (for convenience, also referred to as a second access procedure herein) based on 4-step for the access to the communication device 202; information of whether a contention based resource or a non-contention based resource is to be used for the access to the communication device 202; number of transmission occasions available for the access to the communication device 202; or information of whether the first information is dedicated for the A-IoT device 201. It is to be understood that the first information may also comprise any other suitable information, and the present disclosure does not limit this aspect.

In some embodiments, the first access procedure based on 2-step may comprise a 2-step random access procedure. In some embodiments, the first access procedure based on 2-step may comprise a 2-step contention resolution procedure. In some embodiments, the second access procedure based on 4-step may comprise a 4-step random access procedure. In some embodiments, the second access procedure based on 4-step may comprise a 4-step contention resolution procedure.

In some embodiments, the first information may comprise information for A-IoT device 201 to determine whether to respond the paging. In some embodiments, the information of the group of A-IoT devices is a set of A-IoT device identifies or a part of a device identifier which can identify a set of A-IoT devices (i.e., a device identifier mask) . In some embodiments, the first information may comprise information of how to apply the mask. In some embodiments, the mask may be applied to different types of device identifier (i.e., device identifier from non-access stratum (NAS) layer or access stratum (AS) layer) or different memory banks of an A-IoT device. For example, the first information may comprise information to indicate one of following ways: applying the mask to the device identifier, applying the mask to a first part of the device identifier, applying the mask to a second part of the device identifier, applying the mask to data in a first device buffer (i.e., device read data buffer) , or applying the mask to data in a second device buffer (i.e., device write data buffer) .

With reference to FIG. 2, upon reception of the first information, the A-IoT device 201 may determine or select 220 an access procedure from the first access procedure based on 2-step and the second access procedure based on 4-step.

In some embodiments, the A-IoT device 201 may determine the access procedure based on an indication (or information) of the access procedure in the first information, i.e., the indication of the first or second access procedure in the first information.

In some embodiments, the A-IoT device 201 may determine the access procedure based on information of whether a contention based resource or a non-contention based resource is to be used for the access to the communication device 202, i.e., information of whether a transmission from the A-IoT device 201 to the communication device 202 is in a contention or non-contention way. In some embodiments, such information may be indicated by the communication device 202. In some embodiments, such information may be carried in the first information (i.e., access trigger indication) . In some embodiments, such information may be determined by the A-IoT device 201. For example, such information may be set during previous transmissions between the A-IoT device 201 and the communication device 202, and the A-IoT device 201 stored the information.

For example, if the non-contention based resource is to be used for the access to the communication device 202 (i.e., the transmission is initiated in the non-contention way) , the A-IoT device 201 may determine the first access procedure based on 2-step as the access procedure, i.e., use the first access procedure based on 2-step for the access to the communication device 202.

In another example, if the contention based resource is to be used for the access to the communication device 202 (i.e., the transmission is initiated in the contention way) , the A-IoT device 201 may determine the second access procedure based on 4-step as the access procedure, i.e., use the second access procedure based on 4-step for the access to the communication device 202.

In still another example, if the contention based resource is to be used for the access to the communication device 202 (i.e., the transmission is initiated in the contention way) , the A-IoT device 201 may determine the access procedure based on the indication of the access procedure from the communication device 202.

In some embodiments, the A-IoT device 201 may determine the access procedure based on number of transmission occasions available for the access to the communication device 202. In some embodiments, the number of transmission occasions may be indicated by the communication device 202, for example, the number of transmission occasions may be indicated in the first information (i.e., access trigger indication) . In some embodiments, the number of transmission occasions may be pre-defined or determined by the A-IoT device 201. In some embodiments, if the number of transmission occasions available for the access to the first communication device is a first value, the A-IoT device 201 may determine the first access procedure based on 2-step as the access procedure. In some embodiments, if the number of transmission occasions available for the access to the communication device 202 is equal to or smaller than the first value, the A-IoT device 201 may determine the first access procedure based on 2-step as the access procedure. For example, the first value may be 1 or any other suitable values.

In some embodiments, the A-IoT device 201 may determine the access procedure based on information of whether the first information is dedicated for the A-IoT device 201. Such information may be indicated in the first information (i.e., access trigger indication) . In some embodiments, if the first information is dedicated for the A-IoT device 201, the A-IoT device 201 may determine the first access procedure based on 2-step as the access procedure.

In some embodiments, the A-IoT device 201 may determine the access procedure based on completion of an access attempt based on the first or second access procedure. In some embodiments, if the access attempt using the first access procedure based on 2-step is completed unsuccessfully, the A-IoT device 201 may switch the first access procedure based on 2-step to the second access procedure based on 4-step.

It is to be understood that the A-IoT device 201 may also determine the access procedure based on any suitable combinations of the above information.

Upon determination of the access procedure, the A-IoT device 201 may perform 230 the access procedure for accessing to the communication device 202. In some embodiments, the access procedure may be the first access procedure based on 2-step. With reference to FIG. 2, the A-IoT device 201 may perform 231 the first access procedure based on 2-step.

As shown in FIG. 2, during the first access procedure based on 2-step, the A-IoT device 201 may transmit 231-1 a first identifier of the A-IoT device 201 to the communication device 202. In some embodiments, the A-IoT device 201 may determine, as the first identifier, an original device identifier of the A-IoT device 201.

In some embodiments, the A-IoT device 201 may determine a resource for initiating the access procedure. In other words, the A-IoT device 201 may determine or select a transmission occasion for transmitting the first identifier.

In some embodiments, the communication device 202 may transmit, to the A-IoT device 201, information (for convenience, also referred to as second information herein) scheduled for a group of A-IoT devices. The second information may indicate that a non-contention based resource is used for the access to the communication device 202. In this case, the A-IoT device 201 may determine the non-contention based resource as the resource for initiating the access procedure. In some embodiments, information of the group of A-IoT devices may associate to a particular provider or operator, or particular product type, which may be static group information. In some embodiments, information of the group of A-IoT devices may be decided by a NAS layer and allocated by a NAS signaling. In some embodiments, information of the group of A-IoT devices may be allocated by a paging. For example, an A-IoT device may be identified to be in different groups during a paging procedure and may further access a communication device according to the group information. In some embodiments, information of the group of A-IoT devices may be allocated during a previous access. In some embodiments, the information of the group of A-IoT devices may be a set of A-IoT device identifies or a part of a device identifier which can identify a set of A-IoT devices.

In some embodiments, the communication device 202 may indicate that an upcoming scheduling is for a non-contention transmission from the A-IoT device 201 to the communication device 202. In the context of the present disclosure, the term ‘non-contention transmission’ may refer to a contention free or low collision possibility transmission.

In some embodiments, the communication device 202 may indicate that an upcoming scheduling is for devices which has been assigned to use non-contention transmission resources. In some embodiments, the communication device 202 may indicate that an upcoming access is a contention-free procedure. In some embodiments, the communication device 202 may indicate that an upcoming access is for devices which has been indicated/configured to use contention-free access resources. In some embodiments, the communication device 202 may indicate the A-IoT device 201 to use non-contention resources.

In some embodiments, the A-IoT device 201 may determine whether the transmission from the A-IoT device 201 to the communication device 202 is initiated in a contention or non-contention way. In some embodiments, the A-IoT device 201 may be configured or indicated or flagged to use non-contention transmission resources during previous transmissions. For example, the A-IoT device 201 may be configured or indicated or flagged to use non-contention transmission resources during previous access rounds initiated by the latest paging. In some embodiments, the A-IoT device 201 may determine to initiate a transmission from the A-IoT device 201 to the communication device 202 in a non-contention way based on implicit indication. If the communication device 202 indicates dedicated access resources for the A-IoT device 201, or the communication device 202 indicates dedicated access resources for a group of A-IoT devices which the A-IoT device 201 belongs to, the A-IoT device 201 may determine that a transmission from the A-IoT device 201 to the communication device 202 is in a non-contention way. The dedicated access resources may be indicated by at least one of: time domain locations of access occasions/slots, information to decide which occasions/slots is to use (i.e., a number value) , or frequency resources information (i.e., frequency band information) .

In some embodiments, the A-IoT device 201 may determine whether the transmission from the A-IoT device 201 to the communication device 202 is initiated in a contention or non-contention way based on at least one of the following: number of transmission occasions available for the access to the communication device 202; information of whether the first information is dedicated for the A-IoT device 201; or completion of an access attempt based on the first or second access procedure. For example, if the number of transmission occasions available for the access to the communication device 202 is a second value (i.e., second value is 0) , the A-IoT device 201 may determine that the transmission from the A-IoT device 201 to the communication device 202 is initiated in a non-contention way. In another example, if the first information is dedicated for the A-IoT device 201, the A-IoT device 201 may determine that the transmission from the A-IoT device 201 to the communication device 202 is initiated in a non-contention way. In another example, if the access attempt based on the first access procedure or non-contention way is unsuccessfully completed, the A-IoT device 201 may determine that the further access attempt from the A-IoT device 201 to the communication device 202 is initiated in a contention way.

In some embodiments, the communication device 202 may determine whether the transmission from the A-IoT device 201 to the communication device 202 is initiated in a contention or non-contention way. In some embodiments, the communication device 202 may tend to use a non-contention way if the communication device 202 considers that the A-IoT device 201 is in the coverage of communication device 202.

In some embodiments, the communication device 202 may determine whether the transmission from the A-IoT device 201 to the communication device 202 is initiated in a contention or non-contention way based on at least one of the following: information of whether the transmission is initiated for a single A-IoT device, a group of A-IoT devices or all A-IoT devices; information of whether a corresponding paging is initiated by RAN or CN; or information of whether a context of the A-IoT device 201 is available in RAN. For example, if the transmission is initiated for a single A-IoT device, the A-IoT device 201 may use a non-contention way. In another example, if the context of the A-IoT device 201 is available in RAN, the A-IoT device 201 may use a non-contention way. In still another example, if the last used or last exited node of the A-IoT device 201 is the current RAN, the A-IoT device 201 may use a non-contention way.

In some embodiments, the communication device 202 may comprise information of a command in a paging procedure. The communication device 202 may determine whether to include the information of the command in the paging procedure based on whether the A-IoT device 201 has been inventoried or whether the A-IoT device 201 has been inventoried during a predefined time period in the past. For example, the value of the predefined time period is indicated by CN. In some embodiments, if communication device 202 determines the transmission from the A-IoT device 201 to the communication device 202 to be initiated in non-contention way, the communication device 202 may determine to include the information of the command in the paging procedure.

In some embodiments, the A-IoT device 201 may determine information (for convenience, also referred to as third information herein) of a criterion for selecting the resource for initiating the access procedure. In some embodiments, the communication device 202 may transmit the third information to the A-IoT device 201, e.g., via the access trigger indication or the paging. In some embodiments, the A-IoT device 201 may determine the third information locally. In some embodiments, the third information is predefined.

In some embodiments, the third information may be used to make A-IoT devices scattering to different transmission resources. In some embodiments, the third information may be a Hash algorithm parameter for an A-IoT device to generate temporary identifier or variables used for resource selection. In some embodiments, the third information may be provided by CN. In the context of the present disclosure, the term ‘transmission resources’ may refer to transmission or access occasions, transmission or access rounds, or frequency information for A-IoT device backscattering.

In some embodiments, the third information may indicate one of the following: number (for convenience, also referred to as a first number or X herein) of least significant bits (LSBs) in a device identifier (i.e., an original device identifier) of the A-IoT device 201; number (for convenience, also referred to as a first number or X herein) of most significant bits (MSBs) in a device identifier (i.e., an original device identifier) of the A-IoT device 201; a starting bit and an ending bit which can be used to determine a truncated device identifier; a bitmap corresponding to the device identifier; a bit in the processed device identifier corresponds to a bit in a group of bits of the device identifier; or the bit in the processed device identifier is derived from bits of the group of bits of the device identifier.

In some embodiments, the A-IoT device 201 may determine the resource for initiating the access procedure based on the criterion. In some embodiments, the A-IoT device 201 may determine a processed device identifier by processing the original device identifier of the A-IoT device 201 based on the third information. In some embodiments, the processed device identifier may be a Hash value of the original device identifier.

For illustration, some examples of determination of the processed device identifier will be described in connection with FIG. 3 below. FIG. 3 illustrates a diagram 300 illustrating examples of determining a processed device identifier according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

In an example 310 of FIG. 3, the third information may indicate the first number X (in this example, X=4) , and the A-IoT device 201 may determine the processed device identifier based on X LSBs (as indicated by shading lines) in the original device identifier of the A-IoT device 201.

In an example 320 of FIG. 3, the third information may indicate a starting bit and an ending bit in the original device identifier, and the A-IoT device 201 may determine the processed device identifier based on a truncated device identifier (e.g., as indicated by shading lines) .

In an example 330 of FIG. 3, the third information may indicate a bitmap corresponding to the original device identifier. The A-IoT device 201 may determine the processed device identifier based on the bitmap (e.g., based on bits set to 1 in the bitmap) .

In an example 340 of FIG. 3, the third information may indicate that a bit in the processed device identifier corresponds to a bit in a group of bits of the original device identifier. For example, the A-IoT device 201 may determine ith bit of the processed device identifier based on the (i×N+M) th bit of the original device identifier. In this case, the third information may comprise values of N and M. It is to be understood that this is merely an example, and any other suitable corresponding relationships between bits of the processed device identifier and the original device identifier may also be feasible.

In an example 350 of FIG. 3, the third information may indicate that the bit in the processed device identifier is derived from bits of the group of bits of the original device identifier. For example, the A-IoT device 201 may determine ith bit of the processed device identifier based on P bits of the original device identifier, i.e., use every P bits of the original device identifier to generate 1 bit of the processed device identifier. In this case, the third information may comprise values of P. For example, the A-IoT device 201 may determine ith bit of the processed device identifier based on a function of the { (i×P) th bit, the [ (i×P) +1] th bit, …, the [ (i×P) + (P-1) ] th bit} . The function may have any suitable forms. In this example, P=4. A bit 351 in the processed device identifier may be generated based on a bit group 351’ comprising 4 bits, a bit 352 in the processed device identifier may be generated based on a bit group 352’ comprising 4 bits, a bit 353 in the processed device identifier may be generated based on a bit group 353’ comprising 4 bits, and a bit 354 in the processed device identifier may be generated based on a bit group 354’ comprising 4 bits.

In some embodiments, a method of determining the processed device identifier from the original device identifier may be indicated by the communication device 202. In some embodiments, a length of the processed device identifier may be indicated by the communication device 202. In some embodiments, upon reception of the third information (i.e., Hash parameters) , the A-IoT device 201 may reset local variables, for example, information of selected transmission resources (i.e., access occasions) , the previous processed device identifier, etc.

Upon determination of the processed device identifier, the A-IoT device 201 may select the resource from a set of resources based on the processed device identifier and number of resources in the set of resources. For example, the A-IoT device 201 may determine an index of the resource by a modulo operation of the processed device identifier and the number of resources.

With such resource selection, a communication device may be aware of information of a full set of devices which may assist an A-IoT device to select different resources by providing differential information. Comparing to unicast way, a communication device may schedule multiple devices in one command and reduce contention as much as possible. Further, a communication device may prioritize some accesses by allocating dedicated occasions or reduce contention between A-IoT devices.

Upon determination of the resource, the A-IoT device 201 may initiate the access procedure on the resource, e.g., transmit the first identifier of the A-IoT device 201 on the resource. For example, this operation may correspond to transmitting A-IoT MsgA.

Continuing to refer to FIG. 2, the communication device 202 may transmit 231-2 an acknowledgement with a second identifier to the A-IoT device 201. For example, this operation may correspond to transmitting A-IoT MsgB.

In some embodiments, the communication device 202 may observe one or more device identifiers. In some embodiments, if the first identifier of the A-IoT device 201 has no collision with other device identifiers, the communication device 202 may acknowledge the A-IoT device 201. If the first identifier of the A-IoT device 201 has a collision with another device identifier, the communication device 202 may resolve the collision and then acknowledge the A-IoT device 201.

In some embodiments, the communication device 202 may acknowledge the A-IoT device 201 with the second identifier. The second identifier may be generated based on the first identifier. For example, the second identifier may be the same as the first identifier.

In some examples, the second identifier may be derived from the first identifier. In some embodiments, the communication device 202 may determine the second identifier by processing the first identifier based on the third information as described above. The processing may be carried out in the same way as that described in connection with FIG. 3. In this case, the processed device identifier is replaced with the second identifier and the original device identifier is replaced with the first identifier.

In another example, the second identifier may be derived from the information carried by A-IoT MsgA, or the information to transmit A-IoT MsgA (i.e., the time or frequency domain resource location to transmit A-IoT MsgA) . So far, the first access procedure based on 2-step is completed.

In some embodiments, the access procedure may be the second access procedure based on 4-step. With reference to FIG. 2, the A-IoT device 201 may perform 232 the second access procedure based on 4-step.

As shown in FIG. 2, during the second access procedure based on 4-step, the A-IoT device 201 may transmit 232-1 a third identifier of the A-IoT device 201 to the communication device 202. For example, this operation may correspond to transmitting A-IoT Msg1.

In some embodiments, the A-IoT device 201 may determine, as the third identifier, a temporary device identifier of the A-IoT device 201. The temporary device identifier may be generated based on the original device identifier of the A-IoT device 201. In some embodiments, the communication device 202 may determine the temporary device identifier by processing the original device identifier based on the third information as described above. The processing may be carried out in the same way as that described in connection with FIG. 3. In this case, the processed device identifier is replaced with the temporary device identifier.

In some embodiments, the A-IoT device 201 may determine a resource for initiating the access procedure. In other words, the A-IoT device 201 may determine or select a transmission occasion for transmitting the third identifier. The determination of the transmission occasion or resource may be carried out in the same way as that described above for the step 231-1, and thus is not repeated here for conciseness.

Continuing to refer to FIG. 2, the communication device 202 may transmit 232-2 a first acknowledgement with a fourth identifier to the A-IoT device 201. For example, this operation may correspond to transmitting A-IoT Msg2.

In some embodiments, the communication device 202 may observe one or more device identifiers. In some embodiments, if the third identifier of the A-IoT device 201 has no collision with other device identifiers, the communication device 202 may acknowledge the A-IoT device 201. If the third identifier of the A-IoT device 201 has a collision with another device identifier, the communication device 202 may resolve the collision and then acknowledge the A-IoT device 201.

In some embodiments, the communication device 202 may acknowledge the A-IoT device 201 with the fourth identifier. The fourth identifier may be generated based on the third identifier. For example, the fourth identifier may be the same as the third identifier.

In some examples, the fourth identifier may be derived from the third identifier. In some embodiments, the communication device 202 may determine the fourth identifier by processing the third identifier based on the third information as described above. The processing may be carried out in the same way as that described in connection with FIG. 3. In this case, the processed device identifier is replaced with the fourth identifier and the original device identifier is replaced with the third identifier.

In another example, the fourth identifier may be derived from the information carried by A-IoT Msg1, or the information to transmit A-IoT Msg1 (i.e., the time or frequency domain resource location to transmit A-IoT Msg1) .

Continuing to refer to FIG. 2, the A-IoT device 201 may transmit 232-3 a fifth identifier of the A-IoT device 201 to the communication device 202. For example, this operation may correspond to transmitting A-IoT Msg3.

In some embodiments, the fifth identifier may be the original device identifier of the A-IoT device 201. The A-IoT device 201 may determine or select a transmission occasion for transmitting the fifth identifier. The determination of the transmission occasion or resource may be carried out in the same way as that described above for the step 231-1, and thus is not repeated here for conciseness.

As shown in FIG. 2, the communication device 202 may transmit 232-4 a second acknowledgement with a sixth identifier to the A-IoT device 201. For example, this operation may correspond to transmitting A-IoT Msg4.

The sixth identifier may be generated based on the fifth identifier. For example, the sixth identifier may be the same as the fifth identifier.

In another example, the sixth identifier may be derived from the fifth identifier. In some embodiments, the communication device 202 may determine the sixth identifier by processing the fifth identifier based on the third information as described above. The processing may be carried out in the same way as that described in connection with FIG. 3. In this case, the processed device identifier is replaced with the sixth identifier and the original device identifier is replaced with the fifth identifier.

In another example, the sixth identifier may be derived from the information carried by A-IoT Msg3, or the information to transmit A-IoT Msg3 (i.e., the time or frequency domain resource location to transmit A-IoT Msg3) . So far, the second access procedure based on 4-step is completed.

In some embodiments, the A-IoT device 201 may receive an acknowledgement (e.g., the acknowledgement with the second identifier during the first access procedure, or the first or second acknowledgement during the second access procedure) for an identifier (e.g., the first identifier, the third identifier, or the fifth identifier) from the communication device 202 during a time window (for convenience, also referred to as a first time window herein) .

In some embodiments, the A-IoT device 201 may determine the length of the time window based on at least one of the following: a type of the access procedure, a type of a resource used for the access procedure, or a type of the identifier. For example, the length of the time window may be dependent on or associated with a length of the last uplink transmission, i.e., a length of the first identifier, the third identifier, or the fifth identifier.

With reference to FIG. 2, in some embodiments, if no acknowledgment (e.g., expected acknowledgement) is received during the time window, the A-IoT device 201 may consider 240 that an uplink transmission (e.g., the transmission of the first identifier, the third identifier, or the fifth identifier) fails.

With reference to FIG. 2, in some embodiments, if a first indication indicating an end of the access procedure is received, the A-IoT device 201 may reset or release 250 a first set of variables or configurations or parameters associated with the access procedure. In other words, if a DL transmission (e.g., a subsequent access trigger indication) indicates the end of the overall access procedure, the A-IoT device 201 may reset or release corresponding access variables or configurations or parameters configured by an initial access trigger indication or a paging. The first set of variables or configurations or parameters may include at least one of the following: a contention or non-contention flag, a 2-step or 4-step flag, or all device identifiers of the A-IoT device 201 generated based on the original device identifier of the A-IoT device 201.

With reference to FIG. 2, in some embodiments, if a second indication indicating an end of an access round of the access procedure is received, the A-IoT device 201 may reset or release 260 a second set of variables or configurations or parameters associated with the access procedure. In other words, if a DL transmission (e.g., a subsequent access trigger indication) indicates the end of the access round, the A-IoT device 201 may reset or release corresponding access variables or configurations or parameters configured by an initial access trigger indication or a paging. The second set of variables or configurations or parameters may include at least one of the following: a contention or non-contention flag, a 2-step or 4-step flag, or all device identifiers of the A-IoT device 201 generated based on the original device identifier of the A-IoT device 201.

So far, an access operation of an A-IoT device is described. It is to be understood that the above actions described in the process 200 may be carried out separately or in any suitable combinations. The present disclosure does not limit this aspect.

EXAMPLE IMPLEMENTATION OF SESSION MANAGEMENT

FIG. 4 illustrates a signaling chart illustrating another example process 400 of communication according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The process 400 may involve an A-IoT device 201 and a communication device 202. The A-IoT device 201 may be any of the one or more A-IoT devices 130 as illustrated in FIG. 1, and the communication device 202 may be the terminal device 110 or 111, the RAN device 120 or the CN device 140 as illustrated in FIG. 1. It is to be understood that the steps and the order of the steps in FIG. 3 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.

As shown in FIG. 4, the communication device 202 (also referred to as a first communication device herein) may transmit 410, to the A-IoT device 201, information (for convenience, also referred to as fourth information herein) for paging the A-IoT device 201. The fourth information comprise access information for accessing to the communication device 202. In some embodiments, the fourth information may be carried in a message for triggering an access to the communication device 202. In some embodiments, the fourth information may be carried in a separate message for paging the A-IoT device 201.

With reference to FIG. 4, upon reception of the fourth information (i.e., upon reception of the paging) , the A-IoT device 201 may store 420 the access information comprised in the fourth information. In other words, the A-IoT device 201 may maintain a corresponding procedure with the communication device 202 and may determine whether to access to the communication device 202 according to the access information.

With reference to FIG. 4, the A-IoT device 201 may transmit 430 a response to the paging to the communication device 202 if a first condition is fulfilled. In some embodiments, the first condition may comprise at least one of the following: the A-IoT device 201 is not in a first status of deactivating the response to the paging; the A-IoT device 201 has not started a further access procedure with a further communication device (also referred to as a second communication device herein, e.g., the communication device 203) ; number of occupied processes is lower than a first threshold; the A-IoT device 201 is in a high energy status, or a traffic type indicated in the paging is in a group of traffic types. For illustration, some example embodiments are described as below.

In some embodiments, if the A-IoT device 201 is not in the first status of deactivating the response to the paging, the A-IoT device 201 may transmit the response to the paging.

In some embodiments, the A-IoT device 201 may have not started one or more access procedures with one or more communication devices, i.e., the A-IoT device 201 has received a paging from the one or more communication devices but has not initiated an access procedure (e.g., has not received an access trigger indication) . In this case, the A-IoT device 201 may transmit the response to the paging.

In some embodiments, if the number of occupied processes (i.e., already assigned to other communication devices) has not reach the first threshold (i.e., a maximum number of occupied processes) , the A-IoT device 201 may transmit the response to the paging.

In some embodiments, if the A-IoT device 201 is not in a low energy status, the A-IoT device 201 may transmit the response to the paging. In some embodiments, if the A-IoT device 201 is operating at a high capability mode, the A-IoT device 201 may transmit the response to the paging. In some embodiments, if remaining energy of the A-IoT device 201 is not less than an energy threshold, the A-IoT device 201 may transmit the response to the paging.

In some embodiments, if a service with the communication device 202 belongs to a first traffic type group, the A-IoT device 201 may transmit the response to the paging. For example, the first traffic type group may include the following traffic types: DO-DTT, DT, DO-A, inventory, command, inventory and command, read, and write.

It is to be understood that these are merely examples, and any other suitable combinations of these conditions may also be feasible.

Continuing to refer to FIG. 4, the A-IoT device 201 may perform 440 a first operation upon determination of at least one of the following: the fourth information for paging the A-IoT device 201 is received; the number of occupied processes is higher than the first threshold, or the traffic type indicated in the paging is in the group of traffic types. In some embodiments, the A-IoT device 201 may perform the first operation for a period of time.

In some embodiments, the first operation may comprise that the A-IoT device 201 enters the first status of deactivating the response to the paging. In some embodiments, the first operation may comprise that the A-IoT device 201 stays in the first status for a time period. In some embodiments, the time period may be predefined. In some embodiments, the time period may be configured by the communication device 202.

In some embodiments, the first operation may comprise that the A-IoT device 201 does not monitor a further paging or information for triggering an access to the further communication device (e.g., the communication device 203) . In some embodiments, the A-IoT device 201 may not monitor any subsequent paging or access trigger indications from the communication device 202 or any other communication devices.

In some embodiments, the first operation may comprise that the A-IoT device 201 ignores the further paging or information for triggering the access to the further communication device. In some embodiments, the A-IoT device 201 may ignore any subsequent paging or access trigger indications from the communication device 202 or any other communication devices.

In some embodiments, the first operation may comprise that the A-IoT device 201 does not store further access information included in the further paging from the further communication device. In some embodiments, the A-IoT device 201 may not store access information included in any subsequent paging from the communication device 202 or any other communication devices.

In some embodiments, the first operation may comprise that the A-IoT device 201 does not trigger an access attempt for the further communication device. In some embodiments, the A-IoT device 201 may not participate in any access round from the communication device 202 or any other communication devices.

It is to be understood that the first operation may comprise any suitable combinations of the above operations.

Continuing to refer to FIG. 4, the A-IoT device 201 may perform 450 an access to the communication device 202. In some embodiments, the A-IoT device 201 may initiate the access to the communication device 202 in a time window (for convenience, also referred to as a second time window herein) . In some embodiments, the A-IoT device 201 may receive, from the communication device 202, a further message for triggering the access to the communication device 202 in the second time window, and then initiate the access to the communication device 202. In some embodiments, the second time window may be predefined or configured.

In some embodiments, the A-IoT device 201 may perform a second operation outside of the second time window. In some embodiments, if the fourth information for paging the A-IoT device 201 is received, the A-IoT device 201 may start a timer. A value of the timer may correspond to a length of the second time window. If the timer expires, the A-IoT device 201 may perform the second operation.

In some embodiments, the second operation may comprise releasing the stored access information. In some embodiments, the second operation may comprise entering a second status of activating the response to the paging. In some embodiments, the second operation may comprise monitoring the further paging or information for triggering the access to the further communication device. In some embodiments, the second operation may comprise monitoring any subsequent paging or information for triggering the access to the communication device 202 or any other communication devices. It is to be understood that the second operation may comprise any suitable combinations of the above operations.

In some embodiments, the A-IoT device 201 may determine that an access attempt for a first session between the A-IoT device 201 and the communication device 202 is to be initiated. For example, the A-IoT device 201 may decide to participate in an access round upon reception of an indication (also referred to as a round indication herein) of the access round.

In some embodiments, upon determination that the access attempt for the first session is to be initiated, there may be no ongoing session. In some embodiments, if the access attempt is an initial access attempt for the first session, the A-IoT device 201 may initiate the access attempt. In some embodiments, if the access attempt is a further access attempt for the first session due to an access failure, the A-IoT device 201 may delay the access attempt for a period of time. In some embodiments, the A-IoT device 201 may decide to participate in the nearest access round (i.e., next access round) . In some embodiments, the A-IoT device 201 may skip or delay N access rounds for the first session. N may be predefined or configured by the communication device 202. In some embodiments, the participated access round may be successfully or unsuccessfully completed. If the participated access round is unsuccessfully completed, the A-IoT device 201 may need to participate another access round initiated by the communication device 202 in a similar way. In some embodiments, the A-IoT device 201 may need to participate another access round after a time period.

In the context of the present disclosure, the term ‘round indication’ may refer to a DL transmission to indicate a start of an access round/occasion. The round indication may be any of the following: a paging message to trigger a transmission between an A-IoT device and a communication device; or an access order/trigger, or an initial access order/trigger, or a random access (RA) Msg0.

In some embodiments, the round indication may indicate first group information allocated by NAS (may also referred to as NAS group information) . The A-IoT device 201 may determine that an access round is for the A-IoT device 201 based on an allocation of the first group information by NAS (may also referred to as NAS group information) . In some embodiments, the round indication may indicate second group information allocated by a paging or previous round indication. The A-IoT device 201 may determine that an access round is for the A-IoT device 201 based on an allocation of the second group information by the paging or previous round indication.

In some embodiments, a session status may be maintained to indicate the access round is an initial access or a re-access.

In some embodiments, upon determination that the access attempt for the first session is to be initiated, there may be one or more ongoing sessions. In some embodiments, if a second session between the A-IoT device 201 and the further communication device is ongoing (i.e., if there is an ongoing session) , the A-IoT device 201 may perform a third operation.

In some embodiments, the third operation may comprise performing the access attempt for the first session after the second session is successfully completed. That is, only after the second session is successfully completed, the A-IoT device 201 may perform the access attempt for the first session.

In some embodiments, the third operation may comprise performing the access attempt for the first session based on number of ongoing sessions. For example, if the number of ongoing sessions is less than a second threshold, the A-IoT device 201 may perform the access attempt for the first session.

In some embodiments, the third operation may comprise performing an access attempt for the second session upon reception of information triggering the access attempt for the second session. In some embodiments, the third operation may comprise performing the access attempt for the first session upon reception of information triggering the access attempt for the first session. That is, the A-IoT device 201 may perform the access attempt to either of the first or second session upon reception of a corresponding round indication, i.e., initiate the access attempt to the earliest one.

In some embodiments, the third operation may comprise delaying the access attempt for the first session or ignoring or skipping the information triggering the access attempt for the first session for a period of time. In some embodiments, if a timing or remaining time (e.g., T) of the next access round for the further communication device has been indicated to the A-IoT device 201, the A-IoT device 201 may delay the access attempt for the first session by at least T.

It is to be understood that the third operation may comprise any suitable combinations of the above operations.

In some embodiments, if the second session between the A-IoT device 201 and the further communication device is ongoing and a second condition is fulfilled, the A-IoT device 201 may perform the third operation as described above.

In some embodiments, the second condition may comprise that there are one or more ongoing sessions and the one or more ongoing sessions have not started the initial access attempt. In some embodiments, the second condition may comprise that there are one or more ongoing sessions and the one or more ongoing sessions have started the initial access attempt but failed (e.g., are going to perform a further access attempt) . In some embodiments, the second condition may comprise: current session is for an initial access attempt, there are one or more ongoing sessions and the one or more ongoing sessions have not started the initial access attempt. In some embodiments, the second condition may comprise: current session is for a further access attempt (i.e., re-access) , there are one or more ongoing sessions and the one or more ongoing sessions have not started the initial access attempt. In some embodiments, the second condition may comprise: current session is for an initial access attempt, there are one or more ongoing sessions and the one or more ongoing sessions have started the initial access attempt but failed. In some embodiments, the second condition may comprise: current session is for a further access attempt, there are one or more ongoing sessions and the one or more ongoing sessions have started the initial access attempt but failed. It is to be understood that the second condition may comprise any suitable combinations of the above conditions.

As such, an A-IoT device may prioritize an access for an initial access attempt or further access attempt with a certain communication device.

For illustration, some example embodiments are described in connection with FIGs. 5A to 5C. FIG. 5A illustrates a diagram 500A illustrating an example handling for multiple sessions according to embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 5A, the A-IoT device 201 receives a paging from the communication device 202 first and then receive a paging from the communication device 203. If a round indication #1 is received from the communication device 203 but a round indication #1 is not received from the communication device 202, the A-IoT device 201 may skip the round indication #1 from the communication device 203. Upon reception of a round indication #1 from the communication device 202, the A-IoT device 201 may decide to participate the current access round and perform an access attempt to the communication device 202. In other words, the A-IoT device 201 may perform an access attempt to the communication device 203 only after successfully completing a transmission or access to the communication device 202.

FIG. 5B illustrates a diagram 500B illustrating another example handling for multiple sessions according to embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 5B, the A-IoT device 201 receives a paging from the communication device 202 first and then receive a paging from the communication device 203. If a round indication #1 is received from the communication device 203, the A-IoT device 201 may decide to participate the current access round and perform an access attempt to the communication device 203. If a round indication #1 is received from the communication device 202, the A-IoT device 201 may decide to participate the current access round and perform an access attempt to the communication device 202. In other words, the A-IoT device 201 may perform an access attempt to either of the communication device 202 or 203 upon reception of the corresponding access round indication.

FIG. 5C illustrates a diagram 500C illustrating another example handling for multiple sessions according to embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 5C, the A-IoT device 201 receives a paging from the communication device 202 first and then receive a paging from the communication device 203. If a round indication #1 is received from the communication device 203 but a round indication #1 is not received from the communication device 202, the A-IoT device 201 may skip the round indication #1 from the communication device 203 for two access rounds. After that, if a round indication #1 is received from the communication device 203, the A-IoT device 201 may decide to participate the current access round and perform an access attempt to the communication device 203. In other words, the A-IoT device 201 may delay the access to the communication device 203 by N access rounds. In this example, N=2.

In some embodiments, upon determination that the access attempt for the first session is to be initiated, if a timing of initiating the access attempt for the second session between the A-IoT device 201 and the further communication device overlaps with a timing of initiating the access attempt for the first session, the A-IoT device 201 may delay the access attempt for the second session.

In some embodiments, the A-IoT device 201 may apply an offset to delay the access attempt for the second session. For example, the A-IoT device 201 may generate the offset randomly based on 0 and a predefined value. In some embodiments, the A-IoT device 201 may delay the access attempt for the second session to the next access round. In some embodiments, the A-IoT device 201 may delay the access attempt for the second session by N access rounds, where N is equal to or greater than 1.

In some embodiments, upon reception of the paging from the communication device 202, or upon initiation of a further access attempt due to access failure, the A-IoT device 201 may determine a target access round for the communication device 202 before receiving a round indication from the communication device 202. In some embodiments, if there are one or more ongoing sessions, the A-IoT device 201 may perform an access attempt to the communication device 202 based on a third condition is fulfilled.

In some embodiments, the third condition may comprise that there are one or more ongoing sessions and the one or more ongoing sessions have not started the initial access attempt. In some embodiments, the third condition may comprise that there are one or more ongoing sessions and the one or more ongoing sessions have started the initial access attempt but failed (e.g., are going to perform a further access attempt) . In some embodiments, the third condition may comprise: current session is for an initial access attempt, there are one or more ongoing sessions and the one or more ongoing sessions have not started the initial access attempt. In some embodiments, the third condition may comprise: current session is for a further access attempt, there are one or more ongoing sessions and the one or more ongoing sessions have not started the initial access attempt. In some embodiments, the third condition may comprise: current session is for an initial access attempt, there are one or more ongoing sessions and the one or more ongoing sessions have started the initial access attempt but failed. In some embodiments, the third condition may comprise: current session is for a further access attempt, there are one or more ongoing sessions and the one or more ongoing sessions have started the initial access attempt but failed. It is to be understood that the third condition may comprise any suitable combinations of the above conditions.

In some embodiments, the A-IoT device 201 may determine the target access round for the communication device 202 only after successfully completing the transmission or access with the further communication device. In some embodiments, the A-IoT device 201 may determine the target access round for the communication device 202 based on number of ongoing sessions. For example, in some embodiments, the A-IoT device 201 may determine the target access round for the communication device 202 if the number of ongoing sessions is less than a number threshold.

For illustration, some example embodiments are described in connection with FIG. 5D. FIG. 5D illustrates a diagram 500D illustrating another example handling for multiple sessions according to embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 5D, the A-IoT device 201 receives a paging from the communication device 202 first and then decides to participate in the first round of the communication device 202. As shown in FIG. 5D, upon receiving a paging from the communication device 203, the A-IoT device 201 decides to participate in the first round of the communication device 203.

Continuing to refer to FIG. 5D, upon reception of a round indication #1 from the communication device 202, the A-IoT device 201 performs an access to the communication device 202 but fails to access the communication device 202. If a target round for the next access attempt is overlapped with the first round of the communication device 203, the A-IoT device 201 delays the target round by one round. As shown in FIG. 5D, the A-IoT device 201 skips a round indication #2 from the communication device 202. Upon reception of a round indication #1 from the communication device 203, the A-IoT device 201 performs an access to the communication device 203. As shown in FIG. 5D, upon reception of a round indication #3 from the communication device 202, the A-IoT device 201 performs an access to the communication device 202.

So far, the solution of session management of an A-IoT device is described. It is to be understood that the above actions described in the process 400 may be carried out separately or in any suitable combinations. It is also to be understood that the above operations described in the processes 200 and 400 may be carried out separately or in any suitable combinations.

EXAMPLE IMPLEMENTATION OF METHODS

Corresponding to the above processes, embodiments of the present disclosure provide methods of communication implemented at an A-IoT device and at a first communication device. The first communication device may be a terminal device or an RAN device or a CN device. These methods will be described below with reference to FIGs. 6 to 8.

FIG. 6 illustrates a flowchart of an example method 600 of communication implemented at an A-IoT device in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, in the following, the method 600 will be described with reference to FIG. 2. It is to be understood that the method 600 may include additional blocks not shown and/or may omit some blocks as shown, and the scope of the present disclosure is not limited in this regard.

At block 610, an A-IoT device (e.g., the A-IoT device 201) may receive, from a first communication device (e.g., communication device 202) , first information for triggering an access to the first communication device.

At block 620, the A-IoT device may determine an access procedure from a first access procedure based on 2-step and a second access procedure based on 4-step. In some embodiments, the A-IoT device may determine the access procedure based on at least one of the following: an indication of the access procedure in the first information; information of whether a contention based resource or a non-contention based resource is to be used for the access to the first communication device; number of transmission occasions available for the access to the first communication device; information of whether the first information is dedicated for the A-IoT device; or completion of an access attempt based on the first or second access procedure.

In some embodiments, the A-IoT device may determine the access procedure by at least one of the following: in accordance with a determination that the non-contention based resource is to be used for the access to the first communication device, determining the first access procedure as the access procedure; in accordance with a determination that the contention based resource is to be used for the access to the first communication device, determining the second access procedure as the access procedure or determining the access procedure based on the indication of the access procedure; in accordance with a determination that the number of transmission occasions available for the access to the first communication device is a first value, determining the first access procedure as the access procedure; in accordance with a determination that the first information is dedicated for the A-IoT device, determining the first access procedure as the access procedure; or in accordance with a determination that the access attempt using the first access procedure is completed unsuccessfully, switching the first access procedure to the second access procedure.

At block 630, the A-IoT device may perform the access procedure for accessing to the first communication device.

In some embodiments where the access procedure is the first access procedure, the A-IoT device may perform the first access procedure by: transmitting a first identifier of the A-IoT device to the first communication device; and receiving, from the first communication device, an acknowledgement with a second identifier, the second identifier being generated based on the first identifier.

In some embodiments where the access procedure is the second access procedure, the A-IoT device may perform the second access procedure by: transmitting a third identifier of the A-IoT device to the first communication device; receiving, from the first communication device, a first acknowledgement with a fourth identifier, the fourth identifier being generated based on the third identifier; transmitting a fifth identifier of the A-IoT device to the first communication device; and receiving, from the first communication device, a second acknowledgement with a sixth identifier, the sixth identifier being generated based on the fifth identifier.

In some embodiments, the A-IoT device may perform the access procedure by: determining a resource for initiating the access procedure; and performing the access procedure on the resource.

In some embodiments, the A-IoT device may determine the resource by: receiving second information scheduled for a group of A-IoT devices, the second information indicating that a non-contention based resource is used for the access to the first communication device; and determining the non-contention based resource as the resource.

In some embodiments, the A-IoT device may determine the resource by: determining third information of a criterion for selecting the resource; and determining the resource based on the criterion.

In some embodiments, the A-IoT device may determine the resource by: determining a processed device identifier by processing a device identifier of the A-IoT device based on the third information; and selecting the resource from a set of resources based on the processed device identifier and number of resources in the set of resources.

In some embodiments, the third information may indicate one of the following: first number of LSBs or MSBs in the device identifier; a starting bit and an ending bit in the device identifier; a bitmap corresponding to the device identifier; a bit in the processed device identifier corresponds to a bit in a group of bits of the device identifier; or the bit in the processed device identifier is derived from bits of the group of bits of the device identifier.

In some embodiments, the A-IoT device may perform the access procedure by: determining a time window for receiving an acknowledgement for an identifier from the first communication device; and receiving the acknowledgement during the time window.

In some embodiments, the A-IoT device may determine the time window by: determining a length of the time window based on at least one of a type of the access procedure, a type of a resource used for the access procedure, or a type of the identifier.

In some embodiments, the A-IoT device may be further caused to at least one of the following: in accordance with a determination that no acknowledgement is received during the time window, consider that an uplink transmission fails; in accordance with a determination that a first indication indicating an end of the access procedure is received, reset or release a first set of variables associated with the access procedure; or in accordance with a determination that a second indication indicating an end of an access round of the access procedure is received, reset or release a second set of variables associated with the access procedure.

With the method 600, an access operation of an A-IoT device may be carried out.

FIG. 7 illustrates a flowchart of another example method 700 of communication implemented at an A-IoT device in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, in the following, the method 700 will be described with reference to FIG. 2. It is to be understood that the method 700 may include additional blocks not shown and/or may omit some blocks as shown, and the scope of the present disclosure is not limited in this regard.

At block 710, an A-IoT device (e.g., the A-IoT device 201) may receive, from a first communication device (e.g., the communication device 202) , fourth information for paging the A-IoT device. The fourth information comprises access information for accessing to the first communication device.

At block 720, the A-IoT device may store the access information for accessing to the first communication device.

At block 730, the A-IoT device may transmit a response to the paging to the first communication device if a condition is fulfilled. The A-IoT device may transmit the response to the paging to the first communication device based on at least one of the following: the A-IoT device is not in a first status of deactivating the response to the paging; the A-IoT device has not started a further access procedure with a second communication device; number of occupied processes is lower than a first threshold; the A-IoT device is in a high energy status; or a traffic type indicated in the paging is in a group of traffic types.

In some embodiments, the A-IoT device may be further caused to: determine at least one of the following: the fourth information for paging the A-IoT device is received, the number of occupied processes is higher than the first threshold, or the traffic type indicated in the paging is in the group of traffic types; and perform a first operation. The first operation may comprise at least one of the following: the A-IoT device enters the first status of deactivating the response to the paging; the A-IoT device does not monitor a further paging or information for triggering an access to the second communication device; the A-IoT device ignores the further paging or information for triggering the access to the second communication device; the A-IoT device does not store further access information included in the further paging from the second communication device; or the A-IoT device does not trigger an access attempt for the second communication device.

In some embodiments, the A-IoT device may be further caused to: in accordance with a determination that the fourth information for paging the A-IoT device is received, start a timer; and in accordance with a determination that the timer expires, perform a second operation. In some embodiments, the second operation may comprise at least one of the following: releasing the stored access information; entering a second status of activating the response to the paging; or monitoring a further paging or information for triggering an access to the second communication device.

In some embodiments, the A-IoT device may be further caused to: determine that an access attempt for a first session between the A-IoT device and the first communication device is to be initiated; and in accordance with a determination that the access attempt is a further access attempt for the first session, delay the access attempt for a period of time.

In some embodiments, the A-IoT device may be further caused to: determine that an access attempt for a first session between the A-IoT device and the first communication device is to be initiated; and in accordance with a determination that a second session between the A-IoT device and a second communication device is ongoing, perform a third operation.

In some embodiments, the third operation may comprise at least one of the following: performing the access attempt for the first session after the second session is successfully completed; performing the access attempt for the first session based on number of ongoing sessions less than a second threshold; performing an access attempt for the second session upon reception of information triggering the access attempt for the second session; performing the access attempt for the first session upon reception of information triggering the access attempt for the first session; or delaying the access attempt for the first session or ignoring the information triggering the access attempt for the first session for a period of time.

In some embodiments, the A-IoT device may be further caused to: determine that an access attempt for a first session between the A-IoT device and the first communication device is to be initiated; and in accordance with a determination that a timing of initiating an access attempt for a second session between the A-IoT device and a second communication device overlaps with a timing of initiating the access attempt for the first session, delay the access attempt for the second session.

With the method 700, a session management of an A-IoT device may be carried out.

FIG. 8 illustrates a flowchart of an example method 800 of communication implemented at a first communication device in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, in the following, the method 800 will be described with reference to FIG. 2. It is to be understood that the method 800 may include additional blocks not shown and/or may omit some blocks as shown, and the scope of the present disclosure is not limited in this regard.

At block 810, a first communication device (e.g., the communication device 202) may transmit, to an A-IoT device (e.g., the A-IoT device 201) , first information for triggering an access to the first communication device.

In some embodiments, the first information may comprise at least one of the following: an indication of a first access procedure based on 2-step or a second access procedure based on 4-step for the access to the first communication device; information of whether a contention based resource or a non-contention based resource is to be used for the access to the first communication device; number of transmission occasions available for the access to the first communication device; or information of whether the first information is dedicated for the A-IoT device.

In some embodiments, the first communication device may be further caused to: receive a first identifier of the A-IoT device from the A-IoT device; and transmit, to the A-IoT device, an acknowledgement with a second identifier, the second identifier being generated based on the first identifier.

In some embodiments, the first communication device may be further caused to: receive a third identifier of the A-IoT device from the A-IoT device; transmit, to the A-IoT device, a first acknowledgement with a fourth identifier, the fourth identifier being generated based on the third identifier; receive a fifth identifier of the A-IoT device from the A-IoT device; and transmit, to the A-IoT device, a second acknowledgement with a sixth identifier, the sixth identifier being generated based on the fifth identifier.

In some embodiments, the first communication device may be further caused to: transmit second information scheduled for a group of A-IoT devices, the second information indicating that a non-contention based resource is used for the access to the first communication device; or transmit third information of a criterion for selecting a resource for the access to the first communication device.

In some embodiments, the third information may indicate one of the following: first number of LSBs or MSBs in a device identifier of the A-IoT device; a starting bit and an ending bit in the device identifier; a bitmap corresponding to the device identifier; a bit in the processed device identifier corresponds to a bit in a group of bits of the device identifier; or the bit in the processed device identifier is derived from bits of the group of bits of the device identifier.

With the method 800, an access operation of an A-IoT device may be facilitated.

It is to be understood that operations of the methods 600, 700 and 800 correspond to that described with reference to FIGs. 2 to 4, and thus other details are not repeated here for conciseness.

EXAMPLE IMPLEMENTATION OF DEVICES

FIG. 9 is a simplified block diagram of a device 900 that is suitable for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure. The device 900 can be considered as a further example implementation of the terminal device 110 or 111 or the RAN device 120 or the CN device 140 as shown in FIG. 1. Accordingly, the device 900 can be implemented at or as at least a part of the terminal device 110 or 111 or the RAN device 120 or the CN device 140.

As shown, the device 900 includes a processor 910, a memory 920 coupled to the processor 910, a suitable transceiver 940 coupled to the processor 910, and a communication interface coupled to the transceiver 940. The memory 910 stores at least a part of a program 930. The transceiver 940 may be for bidirectional communications or a unidirectional communication based on requirements. The transceiver 940 may include at least one of a transmitter 942 or a receiver 944. The transmitter 942 and the receiver 944 may be functional modules or physical entities. The transceiver 940 has at least one antenna to facilitate communication, though in practice an Access Node mentioned in this application may have several ones. The communication interface may represent any interface that is necessary for communication with other network elements, such as X2/Xn interface for bidirectional communications between eNBs/gNBs, S1/NG interface for communication between a Mobility Management Entity (MME) /Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) /SGW/UPF and the eNB/gNB, Un interface for communication between the eNB/gNB and a relay node (RN) , or Uu interface for communication between the eNB/gNB and a terminal device.

The program 930 is assumed to include program instructions that, when executed by the associated processor 910, enable the device 900 to operate in accordance with the embodiments of the present disclosure, as discussed herein with reference to FIGs. 1 to 8. The embodiments herein may be implemented by computer software executable by the processor 910 of the device 900, or by hardware, or by a combination of software and hardware. The processor 910 may be configured to implement various embodiments of the present disclosure. Furthermore, a combination of the processor 910 and memory 920 may form processing means 950 adapted to implement various embodiments of the present disclosure.

The memory 920 may be of any type suitable to the local technical network and may be implemented using any suitable data storage technology, such as a non-transitory computer readable storage medium, semiconductor based memory devices, magnetic memory devices and systems, optical memory devices and systems, fixed memory and removable memory, as non-limiting examples. While only one memory 920 is shown in the device 900, there may be several physically distinct memory modules in the device 900. The processor 910 may be of any type suitable to the local technical network, and may include one or more of general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs) and processors based on multicore processor architecture, as non-limiting examples. The device 900 may have multiple processors, such as an application specific integrated circuit chip that is slaved in time to a clock which synchronizes the main processor.

In some embodiments, an A-IoT device comprises a circuitry configured to: receive, from a first communication device, first information for triggering an access to the first communication device; determine an access procedure from a first access procedure based on 2-step and a second access procedure based on 4-step based on at least one of the following: an indication of the access procedure in the first information, information of whether a contention based resource or a non-contention based resource is to be used for the access to the first communication device, number of transmission occasions available for the access to the first communication device, information of whether the first information is dedicated for the A-IoT device, or completion of an access attempt based on the first or second access procedure; and perform the access procedure for accessing to the first communication device.

In some embodiments, an A-IoT device comprises a circuitry configured to: receive, from a first communication device, fourth information for paging the A-IoT device, the fourth information comprising access information for accessing to the first communication device; store the access information for accessing to the first communication device; and transmit a response to the paging to the first communication device based on at least one of the following: the A-IoT device is not in a first status of deactivating the response to the paging, the A-IoT device has not started a further access procedure with a second communication device, number of occupied processes is lower than a first threshold, the A-IoT device is in high energy status, or a traffic type indicated in the paging is in a group of traffic types.

In some embodiments, a first communication device comprises a circuitry configured to: transmit, to an A-IoT device, first information for triggering an access to the first communication device, the first information comprising at least one of the following: an indication of a first access procedure or a second access procedure for the access to the first communication device; information of whether a contention based resource or a non-contention based resource is to be used for the access to the first communication device; number of transmission occasions available for the access to the first communication device; or information of whether the first information is dedicated for the A-IoT device.

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

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

The present disclosure also provides at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a non-transitory computer readable storage medium. The computer program product includes computer-executable instructions, such as those included in program modules, being executed in a device on a target real or virtual processor, to carry out the process or method as described above with reference to FIGs. 1 to 8. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, or the like that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The functionality of the program modules may be combined or split between program modules as desired in various embodiments. Machine-executable instructions for program modules may be executed within a local or distributed device. In a distributed device, program modules may be located in both local and remote storage media.

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

The above program code may be embodied on a machine readable medium, which may be any tangible medium that may contain, or store a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. The machine readable medium may be a machine readable signal medium or a machine readable storage medium. A machine readable medium may include but not limited to an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples of the machine readable storage medium would include an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM) , a read-only memory (ROM) , an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory) , an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) , an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

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

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

Claims

An ambient Internet of things (A-IoT) device comprising:

a processor configured to cause the A-IoT device to:

receive, from a first communication device, first information for triggering an access to the first communication device;

determine an access procedure from a first access procedure based on 2-step and a second access procedure based on 4-step based on at least one of the following:

an indication of the access procedure in the first information,

information of whether a contention based resource or a non-contention based resource is to be used for the access to the first communication device,

number of transmission occasions available for the access to the first communication device,

information of whether the first information is dedicated for the A-IoT device, or

completion of an access attempt based on the first or second access procedure; and

perform the access procedure for accessing to the first communication device.
The A-IoT device of claim 1, wherein the A-IoT device is caused to determine the access procedure by at least one of the following:

in accordance with a determination that the non-contention based resource is to be used for the access to the first communication device, determining the first access procedure as the access procedure;

in accordance with a determination that the contention based resource is to be used for the access to the first communication device, determining the second access procedure as the access procedure or determining the access procedure based on the indication of the access procedure;

in accordance with a determination that the number of transmission occasions available for the access to the first communication device is a first value, determining the first access procedure as the access procedure;

in accordance with a determination that the first information is dedicated for the A-IoT device, determining the first access procedure as the access procedure; or

in accordance with a determination that the access attempt using the first access procedure is completed unsuccessfully, switching the first access procedure to the second access procedure.
The A-IoT device of claim 1, wherein the access procedure is the first access procedure, and wherein the A-IoT device is caused to perform the first access procedure by:

transmitting a first identifier of the A-IoT device to the first communication device; and

receiving, from the first communication device, an acknowledgement with a second identifier, the second identifier being generated based on the first identifier.
The A-IoT device of claim 1, wherein the access procedure is the second access procedure, and wherein the A-IoT device is caused to perform the second access procedure by:

transmitting a third identifier of the A-IoT device to the first communication device;

receiving, from the first communication device, a first acknowledgement with a fourth identifier, the fourth identifier being generated based on the third identifier;

transmitting a fifth identifier of the A-IoT device to the first communication device; and

receiving, from the first communication device, a second acknowledgement with a sixth identifier, the sixth identifier being generated based on the fifth identifier.
The A-IoT device of claim 1, wherein the A-IoT device is caused to perform the access procedure by:

determining a resource for initiating the access procedure; and

performing the access procedure on the resource.
The A-IoT device of claim 5, wherein the A-IoT device is caused to determine the resource by:

receiving second information scheduled for a group of A-IoT devices, the second information indicating that a non-contention based resource is used for the access to the first communication device; and

determining the non-contention based resource as the resource.
The A-IoT device of claim 5, wherein the A-IoT device is caused to determine the resource by:

determining third information of a criterion for selecting the resource; and

determining the resource based on the criterion.
The A-IoT device of claim 7, wherein the A-IoT device is caused to determine the resource by:

determining a processed device identifier by processing a device identifier of the A-IoT device based on the third information; and

selecting the resource from a set of resources based on the processed device identifier and number of resources in the set of resources.
The A-IoT device of claim 8, wherein the third information indicates one of the following:

first number of least significant bits (LSBs) or most significant bits (MSBs) in the device identifier,

a starting bit and an ending bit in the device identifier,

a bitmap corresponding to the device identifier,

a bit in the processed device identifier corresponds to a bit in a group of bits of the device identifier, or

the bit in the processed device identifier is derived from bits of the group of bits of the device identifier.
The A-IoT device of claim 1, wherein the A-IoT device is caused to perform the access procedure by:

determining a time window for receiving an acknowledgement for an identifier from the first communication device; and

receiving the acknowledgement during the time window.
The A-IoT device of claim 10, wherein the A-IoT device is caused to determine the time window by:

determining a length of the time window based on at least one of a type of the access procedure, a type of a resource used for the access procedure, or a type of the identifier.
The A-IoT device of claim 10, wherein the A-IoT device is further caused to at least one of the following:

in accordance with a determination that no acknowledgement is received during the time window, consider that an uplink transmission fails;

in accordance with a determination that a first indication indicating an end of the access procedure is received, reset or release a first set of variables associated with the access procedure; or

in accordance with a determination that a second indication indicating an end of an access round of the access procedure is received, reset or release a second set of variables associated with the access procedure.
An ambient Internet of things (A-IoT) device comprising:

a processor configured to cause the A-IoT device to:

receive, from a first communication device, fourth information for paging the A-IoT device, the fourth information comprising access information for accessing to the first communication device;

store the access information for accessing to the first communication device; and

transmit a response to the paging to the first communication device based on at least one of the following:

the A-IoT device is not in a first status of deactivating the response to the paging,

the A-IoT device has not started a further access procedure with a second communication device,

number of occupied processes is lower than a first threshold,

the A-IoT device is in a high energy status, or

a traffic type indicated in the paging is in a group of traffic types.
The A-IoT device of claim 13, wherein the A-IoT device is further caused to:

determine at least one of the following: the fourth information for paging the A-IoT device is received, the number of occupied processes is higher than the first threshold, or the traffic type indicated in the paging is in the group of traffic types; and

perform a first operation comprising at least one of the following:

the A-IoT device enters the first status of deactivating the response to the paging,

the A-IoT device does not monitor a further paging or information for triggering an access to the second communication device,

the A-IoT device ignores the further paging or information for triggering the access to the second communication device,

the A-IoT device does not store further access information included in the further paging from the second communication device, or

the A-IoT device does not trigger an access attempt for the second communication device.
The A-IoT device of claim 13, wherein the A-IoT device is further caused to:

in accordance with a determination that the fourth information for paging the A-IoT device is received, start a timer; and

in accordance with a determination that the timer expires, perform a second operation comprising at least one of the following:

releasing the stored access information,

entering a second status of activating the response to the paging, or

monitoring a further paging or information for triggering an access to the second communication device.
The A-IoT device of claim 13, wherein the A-IoT device is further caused to:

determine that an access attempt for a first session between the A-IoT device and the first communication device is to be initiated; and

in accordance with a determination that the access attempt is a further access attempt for the first session, delay the access attempt for a period of time.
The A-IoT device of claim 13, wherein the A-IoT device is further caused to:

determine that an access attempt for a first session between the A-IoT device and the first communication device is to be initiated; and

in accordance with a determination that a second session between the A-IoT device and a second communication device is ongoing, perform a third operation comprising at least one of the following:

performing the access attempt for the first session after the second session is successfully completed;

performing the access attempt for the first session based on number of ongoing sessions less than a second threshold;

performing an access attempt for the second session upon reception of information triggering the access attempt for the second session;

performing the access attempt for the first session upon reception of information triggering the access attempt for the first session; or

delaying the access attempt for the first session or ignoring the information triggering the access attempt for the first session for a period of time.
The A-IoT device of claim 13, wherein the A-IoT device is further caused to:

determine that an access attempt for a first session between the A-IoT device and the first communication device is to be initiated; and

in accordance with a determination that a timing of initiating an access attempt for a second session between the A-IoT device and a second communication device overlaps with a timing of initiating the access attempt for the first session, delay the access attempt for the second session.
A first communication device comprising:

a processor configured to cause the first communication device to:

transmit, to an ambient Internet of things (A-IoT) device, first information for triggering an access to the first communication device, the first information comprising at least one of the following:

an indication of a first access procedure based on 2-step or a second access procedure based on 4-step for the access to the first communication device;

information of whether a contention based resource or a non-contention based resource is to be used for the access to the first communication device;

number of transmission occasions available for the access to the first communication device; or

information of whether the first information is dedicated for the A-IoT device.
The first communication device of claim 19, wherein the first communication device is further caused to:

receive a first identifier of the A-IoT device from the A-IoT device; and

transmit, to the A-IoT device, an acknowledgement with a second identifier, the second identifier being generated based on the first identifier.
The first communication device of claim 19, wherein the first communication device is further caused to:

receive a third identifier of the A-IoT device from the A-IoT device;

transmit, to the A-IoT device, a first acknowledgement with a fourth identifier, the fourth identifier being generated based on the third identifier;

receive a fifth identifier of the A-IoT device from the A-IoT device; and

transmit, to the A-IoT device, a second acknowledgement with a sixth identifier, the sixth identifier being generated based on the fifth identifier.
The first communication device of claim 19, wherein the first communication device is further caused to:

transmit second information scheduled for a group of A-IoT devices, the second information indicating that a non-contention based resource is used for the access to the first communication device; or

transmit third information of a criterion for selecting a resource for the access to the first communication device.
The first communication device of claim 22, wherein the third information indicates one of the following:

first number of least significant bits (LSBs) or most significant bits (MSBs) in a device identifier of the A-IoT device,

a starting bit and an ending bit in the device identifier,

a bitmap corresponding to the device identifier,

a bit in the processed device identifier corresponds to a bit in a group of bits of the device identifier, or

the bit in the processed device identifier is derived from bits of the group of bits of the device identifier.
A method of communication, comprising:

receiving, at an ambient Internet of things (A-IoT) device and from a first communication device, first information for triggering an access to the first communication device;

determining an access procedure from a first access procedure based on 2-step and a second access procedure based on 4-step based on at least one of the following:

an indication of the access procedure in the first information,

information of whether a contention based resource or a non-contention based resource is to be used for the access to the first communication device,

number of transmission occasions available for the access to the first communication device,

information of whether the first information is dedicated for the A-IoT device, or

completion of an access attempt based on the first or second access procedure; and

performing the access procedure for accessing to the first communication device.
A method of communication, comprising:

receiving, at an ambient Internet of things (A-IoT) device and from a first communication device, fourth information for paging the A-IoT device, the fourth information comprising access information for accessing to the first communication device;

storing the access information for accessing to the first communication device; and

transmitting a response to the paging to the first communication device based on at least one of the following:

the A-IoT device is not in a first status of deactivating the response to the paging,

the A-IoT device has not started a further access procedure with a second communication device,

number of occupied processes is lower than a first threshold,

the A-IoT device is in a high energy status, or

a traffic type indicated in the paging is in a group of traffic types.
A method of communication, comprising:

transmitting, at a first communication device and to an ambient Internet of things (A-IoT) device, first information for triggering an access to the first communication device, the first information comprising at least one of the following:

an indication of a first access procedure based on 2-step or a second access procedure based on 4-step for the access to the first communication device;

information of whether a contention based resource or a non-contention based resource is to be used for the access to the first communication device;

number of transmission occasions available for the access to the first communication device; or

information of whether the first information is dedicated for the A-IoT device.