METHODS AND DEVICES FOR DEVICE-TO-DEVICE COMMUNICATIONS

TECHNICAL FIELD

Various aspects relate generally to device-to-device communications and related methods and devices.

BACKGROUND

Various communication networks use device-to-device (D2D) communications to enable devices to communicate directly with each other. The devices may therefore establish direct communication links with each other and use these links to transfer data between each other.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings, like reference characters generally refer to the same parts throughout the different views. The drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead generally being placed upon illustrating the principles of the disclosure. In the following description, various aspects of the disclosure are described with reference to the following drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows an exemplary radio communication network according to some aspects;

FIG. 2 shows an exemplary internal configuration of a terminal device according to some aspects;

FIG. 3 shows an exemplary D2D network according to some aspects;

FIG. 4 shows exemplary timing diagrams for sequential retransmissions according to some aspects;

FIG. 5 shows exemplary timing diagrams for randomized retransmissions according to some aspects;

FIG. 6 shows an exemplary diagram of retransmission frame windows in a slotted communication schedule according to some aspects;

FIG. 7 shows an exemplary overall set of retransmission patterns according to some aspects;

FIGS. 8A and 8B show exemplary candidate sets of retransmission patterns according to some aspects;

FIG. 9 shows an exemplary internal configuration of a transmitter according to some aspects;

FIG. 10 shows an exemplary method for transmitting a packet with randomized retransmissions according to some aspects;

FIG. 11 shows an exemplary internal configuration of a receiver according to some aspects;

FIG. 12 shows an exemplary method for receiving a packet with randomized retransmissions according to some aspects;

FIGS. 13A-13D show an example procedure of decoding a packet in a retransmission frame window according to some aspects;

FIG. 14 shows an exemplary exchange of a request and grant for a communication session using randomized retransmissions according to some aspects;

FIG. 15 shows an exemplary discovery procedure using randomized retransmissions according to some aspects;

FIG. 16 shows an example of a logical retransmission frame window according to some aspects;

FIG. 17 shows an exemplary method of receiving transmissions at a wireless device according to some aspects;

FIG. 18 shows an exemplary method of performing transmissions at a wireless device according to some aspects;

FIG. 19 shows an exemplary D2D network for a one-to-many discovery procedure according to some aspects;

FIG. 20 shows an exemplary internal configuration of an initiating device according to some aspects;

FIG. 21 shows an exemplary internal configuration of a responding device according to some aspects;

FIG. 22 shows an exemplary message sequence chart for an authentication procedure according to some aspects;

FIG. 23 shows exemplary pseudocode version of the message sequence chart in FIG. 22 according to some aspects;

FIG. 24 shows an exemplary method of performing authentication of a wireless device according to some aspects;

FIG. 25 shows an exemplary method of performing authentication of a wireless device according to some aspects;

FIG. 26 shows an exemplary discovery procedure according to some aspects;

FIG. 27 shows an exemplary internal configuration of an initiating device according to some aspects;

FIG. 28 shows an exemplary internal configuration of a responding device according to some aspects;

FIG. 29 shows an exemplary message sequence chart of a discovery procedure using dedicated messaging and mute instructions according to some aspects;

FIG. 30 shows an exemplary message sequence chart of a discovery procedure using discovery confirmation messages according to some aspects;

FIG. 31 shows an exemplary chart depicting the false positive probability of discovery confirmation messages with different encoding schemes according to some aspects;

FIG. 32 shows an exemplary message sequence chart of a discovery procedure using response criteria according to some aspects;

FIG. 33 shows an exemplary message sequence chart of a discovery procedure using preconfigured probabilities according to some aspects;

FIG. 34 shows an exemplary message sequence chart of a discovery procedure using derived probabilities according to some aspects;

FIG. 35 shows an exemplary chart of traffic shaping of discovery messages according to some aspects;

FIG. 36 shows an exemplary internal configuration of a wireless device according to some aspects;

FIG. 37 shows an exemplary message sequence chart for centralized estimation of traffic load according to some aspects;

FIG. 38 shows an exemplary method of performing decentralized load estimation according to some aspects;

FIG. 39 shows an exemplary state diagram of load estimation and traffic shaping in discovery procedures according to some aspects;

FIG. 40 shows an exemplary method of performing discovery at a wireless device according to some aspects;

FIG. 41 shows an exemplary method of performing discovery at a wireless device according to some aspects;

FIG. 42 shows an exemplary method of performing discovery at a wireless device according to some aspects;

FIG. 43 shows an exemplary method of performing discovery at a wireless device according to some aspects;

FIG. 44 shows an exemplary method of performing discovery at a wireless device according to some aspects;

FIG. 45 shows an exemplary method of performing wireless communications at a wireless device according to some aspects;

FIG. 46 shows an exemplary method of performing wireless communications at a wireless device according to some aspects;

FIG. 47 shows an exemplary method of performing wireless communications at a wireless device according to some aspects;

FIG. 48 shows an exemplary method of performing wireless communications at a wireless device according to some aspects;

FIG. 49 shows an exemplary method of performing wireless communications at a wireless device according to some aspects;

FIG. 50 shows an exemplary method of performing wireless communications at a wireless device according to some aspects;

FIG. 51 shows an exemplary emergency message dissemination scheme according to some aspects;

FIG. 52 shows an exemplary internal configuration of a wireless device according to some aspects;

FIG. 53 shows an exemplary internal configuration of a wireless device according to some aspects;

FIG. 54 shows an exemplary message sequence chart for an emergency message dissemination scheme according to some aspects;

FIG. 55 shows an exemplary structure of an emergency message according to some aspects;

FIG. 56 shows an example of relaying in an emergency message dissemination scheme according to some aspects;

FIG. 57 shows an exemplary diagram illustrating register tokens according to some aspects;

FIG. 58 shows an exemplary method of performing wireless communications at a wireless device according to some aspects; and

FIG. 59 shows an exemplary method of performing wireless communications at a wireless device according to some aspects.

DESCRIPTION

The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings that show, by way of illustration, specific details and aspects of aspects in which the disclosure may be practiced.

The word “exemplary” is used herein to mean “serving as an example, instance, or illustration.” The words “plurality” and “multiple” in the description and claims refer to a quantity greater than one. The terms “group,” “set”, “sequence,” and the like refer to a quantity equal to or greater than one. Any term expressed in plural form that does not expressly state “plurality” or “multiple” similarly refers to a quantity equal to or greater than one. The term “lesser subset” refers to a subset of a set that contains less than all elements of the set. Any vector and/or matrix notation utilized herein is exemplary in nature and is employed for purposes of explanation. Aspects of this disclosure described with vector and/or matrix notation are not limited to being implemented with vectors and/or matrices and the associated processes and computations may be performed in an equivalent manner with sets or sequences of data or other information.

As used herein, “memory” are understood as a non-transitory computer-readable medium in which data or information can be stored for retrieval. References to “memory” included herein may thus be understood as referring to volatile or non-volatile memory, including random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, solid-state storage, magnetic tape, hard disk drive, optical drive, among others, or any combination thereof. Registers, shift registers, processor registers, data buffers, among others, are also embraced herein by the term memory. The term “software” refers to any type of executable instruction, including firmware.

The term “terminal device” utilized herein refers to user-side devices (both portable and fixed) that can connect to a core network and/or external data networks via a radio access network. “Terminal device” can include any mobile or immobile wireless communication device, including User Equipments (UEs), Mobile Stations (MSs), Stations (STAs), cellular phones, tablets, laptops, personal computers, wearables, multimedia playback and other handheld or body-mounted electronic devices, consumer/home/office/commercial appliances, vehicles, and any other electronic device capable of user-side wireless communications.

The term “network access node” as utilized herein refers to a network-side device that provides a radio access network with which terminal devices can connect and exchange information with a core network and/or external data networks through the network access node. “Network access nodes” can include any type of base station or access point, including macro base stations, micro base stations, NodeBs, evolved NodeBs (eNBs), gNodeBs, Home base stations, Remote Radio Heads (RRHs), relay points, Wi-Fi/WLAN Access Points (APs), Bluetooth master devices, DSRC RSUs, terminal devices acting as network access nodes, and any other electronic device capable of network-side wireless communications, including both immobile and mobile devices (e.g., vehicular network access nodes, moving cells, and other movable network access nodes). As used herein, a “cell” in the context of telecommunications may be understood as a sector served by a network access node. Accordingly, a cell may be a set of geographically co-located antennas that correspond to a particular sectorization of a network access node. A network access node can thus serve one or more cells (or sectors), where the cells are characterized by distinct communication channels.

Various aspects of this disclosure may utilize or be related to radio communication technologies. While some examples may refer to specific radio communication technologies, the examples provided herein may be similarly applied to various other radio communication technologies, both existing and not yet formulated, particularly in cases where such radio communication technologies share similar features as disclosed regarding the following examples. For purposes of this disclosure, radio communication technologies may be classified as one of a Short Range radio communication technology or Cellular Wide Area radio communication technology. Short Range radio communication technologies may include Bluetooth, WLAN (e.g., according to any IEEE 802.11 standard), and other similar radio communication technologies. Cellular Wide Area radio communication technologies may include Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Code Division Multiple Access 2000 (CDMA2000), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Long Term Evolution (LTE), General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Evolution-Data Optimized (EV-DO), Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), High Speed Packet Access (HSPA; including High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA), High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA), HSDPA Plus (HSDPA+), and HSUPA Plus (HSUPA+)), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), 5G New Radio (NR), for example, and other similar radio communication technologies. Cellular Wide Area radio communication technologies also include “small cells” of such technologies, such as microcells, femtocells, and picocells. Cellular Wide Area radio communication technologies may be generally referred to herein as “cellular” communication technologies.

Unless explicitly specified, the term “transmit” encompasses both direct (point-to-point) and indirect transmission (via one or more intermediary points). Similarly, the term “receive” encompasses both direct and indirect reception. Furthermore, the terms “transmit”, “receive”, “communicate”, and other similar terms encompass both physical transmission (e.g., the transmission of radio signals) and logical transmission (e.g., the transmission of digital data over a logical software-level connection). For example, a processor or controller may transmit or receive data over a software-level connection with another processor or controller in the form of radio signals, where the physical transmission and reception is handled by radio-layer components such as RF transceivers and antennas, and the logical transmission and reception over the software-level connection is performed by the processors or controllers. The term “communicate” encompasses one or both of transmitting and receiving, i.e. unidirectional or bidirectional communication in one or both of the incoming and outgoing directions. The term “calculate” encompass both ‘direct’ calculations via a mathematical expression/formula/relationship and ‘indirect’ calculations via lookup or hash tables and other array indexing or searching operations.

FIGS. 1 and 2 depict a general network and device architecture for wireless communications. In particular, FIG. 1 shows exemplary radio communication network 100 according to some aspects, which may include terminal devices 102 and 104 and network access nodes 110 and 120. Radio communication network 100 may communicate with terminal devices 102 and 104 via network access nodes 110 and 120 over a radio access network. Although certain examples described herein may refer to a particular radio access network context (e.g., LTE, UMTS, GSM, other 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) networks, WLAN/WiFi, Bluetooth, 5G NR, mmWave, etc.), these examples are demonstrative and may therefore be readily applied to any other type or configuration of radio access network. The number of network access nodes and terminal devices in radio communication network 100 is exemplary and is scalable to any amount.

In an exemplary cellular context, network access nodes 110 and 120 may be base stations (e.g., eNodeBs, NodeBs, Base Transceiver Stations (BTSs), or any other type of base station), while terminal devices 102 and 104 may be cellular terminal devices (e.g., Mobile Stations (MSs), User Equipments (UEs), or any type of cellular terminal device). Network access nodes 110 and 120 may therefore interface (e.g., via backhaul interfaces) with a cellular core network such as an Evolved Packet Core (EPC, for LTE), Core Network (CN, for UMTS), or other cellular core networks, which may also be considered part of radio communication network 100. The cellular core network may interface with one or more external data networks. In an exemplary short-range context, network access node 110 and 120 may be access points (APs, e.g., WLAN or WiFi APs), while terminal device 102 and 104 may be short range terminal devices (e.g., stations (STAs)). Network access nodes 110 and 120 may interface (e.g., via an internal or external router) with one or more external data networks.

Network access nodes 110 and 120 (and, optionally, other network access nodes of radio communication network 100 not explicitly shown in FIG. 1) may accordingly provide a radio access network to terminal devices 102 and 104 (and, optionally, other terminal devices of radio communication network 100 not explicitly shown in FIG. 1). In an exemplary cellular context, the radio access network provided by network access nodes 110 and 120 may enable terminal devices 102 and 104 to wirelessly access the core network via radio communications. The core network may provide switching, routing, and transmission, for traffic data related to terminal devices 102 and 104, and may further provide access to various internal data networks (e.g., control nodes, routing nodes that transfer information between other terminal devices on radio communication network 100, etc.) and external data networks (e.g., data networks providing voice, text, multimedia (audio, video, image), and other Internet and application data). In an exemplary short-range context, the radio access network provided by network access nodes 110 and 120 may provide access to internal data networks (e.g., for transferring data between terminal devices connected to radio communication network 100) and external data networks (e.g., data networks providing voice, text, multimedia (audio, video, image), and other Internet and application data).

The radio access network and core network (if applicable, such as for a cellular context) of radio communication network 100 may be governed by communication protocols that can vary depending on the specifics of radio communication network 100. Such communication protocols may define the scheduling, formatting, and routing of both user and control data traffic through radio communication network 100, which includes the transmission and reception of such data through both the radio access and core network domains of radio communication network 100. Accordingly, terminal devices 102 and 104 and network access nodes 110 and 120 may follow the defined communication protocols to transmit and receive data over the radio access network domain of radio communication network 100, while the core network may follow the defined communication protocols to route data within and outside of the core network. Exemplary communication protocols include LTE, UMTS, GSM, WiMAX, Bluetooth, WiFi, mmWave, etc., any of which may be applicable to radio communication network 100.

FIG. 2 shows an internal configuration of terminal device 102 according to some aspects, which may include antenna system 202, radio frequency (RF) transceiver 204, baseband modem 206 (including digital signal processor 208 and protocol controller 210), application processor 212, and memory 214. Although not explicitly shown in FIG. 2, in some aspects terminal device 102 may include one or more additional hardware and/or software components, such as processors/microprocessors, controllers/microcontrollers, other specialty or generic hardware/processors/circuits, peripheral device(s), memory, power supply, external device interface(s), subscriber identity module(s) (SIMs), user input/output devices (display(s), keypad(s), touchscreen(s), speaker(s), external button(s), camera(s), microphone(s), etc.), or other related components.

Terminal device 102 may transmit and receive radio signals on one or more radio access networks. Baseband modem 206 may direct such communication functionality of terminal device 102 according to the communication protocols associated with each radio access network, and may execute control over antenna system 202 and RF transceiver 204 to transmit and receive radio signals according to the formatting and scheduling parameters defined by each communication protocol. Although various practical designs may include separate communication components for each supported radio communication technology (e.g., a separate antenna, RF transceiver, digital signal processor, and controller), for purposes of conciseness the configuration of terminal device 102 shown in FIG. 2 depicts only a single instance of such components.

Terminal device 102 may transmit and receive wireless signals with antenna system 202, which may be a single antenna or an antenna array that includes multiple antennas. In some aspects, antenna system 202 may additionally include analog antenna combination and/or beamforming circuitry. In the receive (RX) path, RF transceiver 204 may receive analog radio frequency signals from antenna system 202 and perform analog and digital RF front-end processing on the analog radio frequency signals to produce digital baseband samples (e.g., In-Phase/Quadrature (IQ) samples) to provide to baseband modem 206. RF transceiver 204 may include analog and digital reception components including amplifiers (e.g., Low Noise Amplifiers (LNAs)), filters, RF demodulators (e.g., RF IQ demodulators)), and analog-to-digital converters (ADCs), which RF transceiver 204 may utilize to convert the received radio frequency signals to digital baseband samples. In the transmit (TX) path, RF transceiver 204 may receive digital baseband samples from baseband modem 206 and perform analog and digital RF front-end processing on the digital baseband samples to produce analog radio frequency signals to provide to antenna system 202 for wireless transmission. RF transceiver 204 may thus include analog and digital transmission components including amplifiers (e.g., Power Amplifiers (PAs), filters, RF modulators (e.g., RF IQ modulators), and digital-to-analog converters (DACs), which RF transceiver 204 may utilize to mix the digital baseband samples received from baseband modem 206 and produce the analog radio frequency signals for wireless transmission by antenna system 202. In some aspects baseband modem 206 may control the radio transmission and reception of RF transceiver 204, including specifying the transmit and receive radio frequencies for operation of RF transceiver 204.

As shown in FIG. 2, baseband modem 206 may include digital signal processor 208, which may perform physical layer (PHY, Layer 1) transmission and reception processing to, in the transmit path, prepare outgoing transmit data provided by protocol controller 210 for transmission via RF transceiver 204, and, in the receive path, prepare incoming received data provided by RF transceiver 204 for processing by protocol controller 210. Digital signal processor 208 may be configured to perform one or more of error detection, forward error correction encoding/decoding, channel coding and interleaving, channel modulation/demodulation, physical channel mapping, radio measurement and search, frequency and time synchronization, antenna diversity processing, power control and weighting, rate matching/de-matching, retransmission processing, interference cancelation, and any other physical layer processing functions. Digital signal processor 208 may be structurally realized as hardware components (e.g., as one or more digitally-configured hardware circuits or FPGAs), software-defined components (e.g., one or more processors configured to execute program code defining arithmetic, control, and I/O instructions (e.g., software and/or firmware) stored in a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium), or as a combination of hardware and software components. In some aspects, digital signal processor 208 may include one or more processors configured to retrieve and execute program code that defines control and processing logic for physical layer processing operations. In some aspects, digital signal processor 208 may execute processing functions with software via the execution of executable instructions. In some aspects, digital signal processor 208 may include one or more dedicated hardware circuits (e.g., ASICs, FPGAs, and other hardware) that are digitally configured to specific execute processing functions, where the one or more processors of digital signal processor 208 may offload certain processing tasks to these dedicated hardware circuits, which are known as hardware accelerators. Exemplary hardware accelerators can include Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) circuits and encoder/decoder circuits. In some aspects, the processor and hardware accelerator components of digital signal processor 208 may be realized as a coupled integrated circuit.

Terminal device 102 may be configured to operate according to one or more radio communication technologies. Digital signal processor 208 may be responsible for lower-layer processing functions (e.g., Layer 1/PHY) of the radio communication technologies, while protocol controller 210 may be responsible for upper-layer protocol stack functions (e.g., Data Link Layer/Layer 2 and/or Network Layer/Layer 3). Protocol controller 210 may thus be responsible for controlling the radio communication components of terminal device 102 (antenna system 202, RF transceiver 204, and digital signal processor 208) in accordance with the communication protocols of each supported radio communication technology, and accordingly may represent the Access Stratum and Non-Access Stratum (NAS) (also encompassing Layer 2 and Layer 3) of each supported radio communication technology. Protocol controller 210 may be structurally embodied as a protocol processor configured to execute protocol stack software (retrieved from a controller memory) and subsequently control the radio communication components of terminal device 102 to transmit and receive communication signals in accordance with the corresponding protocol stack control logic defined in the protocol software. Protocol controller 210 may include one or more processors configured to retrieve and execute program code that defines the upper-layer protocol stack logic for one or more radio communication technologies, which can include Data Link Layer/Layer 2 and Network Layer/Layer 3 functions. Protocol controller 210 may be configured to perform both user-plane and control-plane functions to facilitate the transfer of application layer data to and from radio terminal device 102 according to the specific protocols of the supported radio communication technology. User-plane functions can include header compression and encapsulation, security, error checking and correction, channel multiplexing, scheduling and priority, while control-plane functions may include setup and maintenance of radio bearers. The program code retrieved and executed by protocol controller 210 may include executable instructions that define the logic of such functions.

Terminal device 102 may also include application processor 212 and memory 214. Application processor 212 may be a CPU, and may be configured to handle the layers above the protocol stack, including the transport and application layers. Application processor 212 may be configured to execute various applications and/or programs of terminal device 102 at an application layer of terminal device 102, such as an operating system (OS), a user interface (UI) for supporting user interaction with terminal device 102, and/or various user applications. The application processor may interface with baseband modem 206 and act as a source (in the transmit path) and a sink (in the receive path) for user data, such as voice data, audio/video/image data, messaging data, application data, basic Internet/web access data, etc. In the transmit path, protocol controller 210 may therefore receive and process outgoing data provided by application processor 212 according to the layer-specific functions of the protocol stack, and provide the resulting data to digital signal processor 208. Digital signal processor 208 may then perform physical layer processing on the received data to produce digital baseband samples, which digital signal processor may provide to RF transceiver 204. RF transceiver 204 may then process the digital baseband samples to convert the digital baseband samples to analog RF signals, which RF transceiver 204 may wirelessly transmit via antenna system 202. In the receive path, RF transceiver 204 may receive analog RF signals from antenna system 202 and process the analog RF signals to obtain digital baseband samples. RF transceiver 204 may provide the digital baseband samples to digital signal processor 208, which may perform physical layer processing on the digital baseband samples. Digital signal processor 208 may then provide the resulting data to protocol controller 210, which may process the resulting data according to the layer-specific functions of the protocol stack and provide the resulting incoming data to application processor 212. Application processor 212 may then handle the incoming data at the application layer, which can include execution of one or more application programs with the data and/or presentation of the data to a user via a user interface.

Memory 214 may embody a memory component of terminal device 102, such as a hard drive or another such permanent memory device. Although not explicitly depicted in FIG. 2, the various other components of terminal device 102 shown in FIG. 2 may additionally each include integrated permanent and non-permanent memory components, such as for storing software program code, buffering data, etc.

In accordance with some radio communication networks, terminal devices 102 and 104 may execute mobility procedures to connect to, disconnect from, and switch between available network access nodes of the radio access network of radio communication network 100. As each network access node of radio communication network 100 may have a specific coverage area, terminal devices 102 and 104 may be configured to select and re-select between the available network access nodes in order to maintain a strong radio access connection with the radio access network of radio communication network 100. For example, terminal device 102 may establish a radio access connection with network access node 110 while terminal device 104 may establish a radio access connection with network access node 112. In the event that the current radio access connection degrades, terminal devices 102 or 104 may seek a new radio access connection with another network access node of radio communication network 100; for example, terminal device 104 may move from the coverage area of network access node 112 into the coverage area of network access node 110. As a result, the radio access connection with network access node 112 may degrade, which terminal device 104 may detect via radio measurements such as signal strength or signal quality measurements of network access node 112. Depending on the mobility procedures defined in the appropriate network protocols for radio communication network 100, terminal device 104 may seek a new radio access connection (which may be, for example, triggered at terminal device 104 or by the radio access network), such as by performing radio measurements on neighboring network access nodes to determine whether any neighboring network access nodes can provide a suitable radio access connection. As terminal device 104 may have moved into the coverage area of network access node 110, terminal device 104 may identify network access node 110 (which may be selected by terminal device 104 or selected by the radio access network) and transfer to a new radio access connection with network access node 110. Such mobility procedures, including radio measurements, cell selection/reselection, and handover are established in the various network protocols and may be employed by terminal devices and the radio access network in order to maintain strong radio access connections between each terminal device and the radio access network across any number of different radio access network scenarios.

Various wireless communication networks may use retransmissions to recover from reception errors and/or to extend the communication range of devices. Some wireless communication networks may use sequential retransmissions, such as where a transmitter performs retransmissions according to an evenly distributed schedule in time (e.g., every X ms after the initial transmission). A receiver may then listen for retransmissions at each scheduled retransmission instance and subsequently combine the received retransmissions. The receiver may then decode the resulting combined transmission to recover the payload. As the receiver combined multiple transmissions together, receivers may enjoy combining gains and may as a result achieve improved decoding performance. This may help receivers in poor radio conditions, such as when there is high noise or interference, and when receivers are positioned at extended distances from the transmitter.

While this type of sequential retransmission may be effective in some cases, there are some scenarios where the receiver may still not be able to recover the payload in the packet. For example, some scenarios like dense coordinated networks or dense cellular networks may produce considerable interference between devices. This may limit the benefits of using sequential retransmissions. As many devices in these scenarios will perform sequential retransmissions at the same time, the interference between the retransmissions may be correlated. Accordingly, if a receiver cannot decode a particular transmission due to interference, it is likely that further retransmissions will experience a similar level of correlated interference. Combining the sequential retransmissions may therefore not effectively mitigate the interference. Moreover, the interferers may also be performing their own sequential retransmissions to try to cope with the surrounding interference. Consequently, the use of sequential retransmissions may end up leading to an overall, system-level degradation in performance. This can be further exacerbated in some cases where network devices are synchronized in time, as their synchronized transmissions and retransmissions may end up being tightly aligned in time and as a result may be more disruptive to receivers.

Accordingly, various aspects of this disclosure utilize randomized retransmissions instead of sequential retransmissions. As the retransmissions by different devices will therefore be less likely to overlap compared to sequential retransmissions, this can help with the performance degradation caused by correlated interference. As randomized retransmissions can make reception more complex for receivers, various aspects of this disclosure may also utilize predefined retransmission patterns that constrain the time slots in which retransmissions can occur. Receivers may therefore be able to limit their search for retransmissions to specific time slots, thus saving time and loosening the processing power requirements. Various aspects of this disclosure may therefore achieve the combining gains of retransmission in interference-heavy scenarios while still remaining computationally feasible.

FIG. 3 shows exemplary device-to-device (D2D) network 300 according to some aspects. The term D2D refers generally to any type of network that uses direct communication between devices (e.g., without a cell or other intermediary point) and is not limited to any particular radio access technology. As shown in FIG. 3, various wireless devices 302-312 may communicate with each other in a series of transmissions, each of which may take up a single time slot. These time slots can be any length of time and are not limited to any particular standard. In some aspects, wireless devices 302-312 may communicate with each other according to a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) scheme, where wireless devices 302-312 may share one or more channels by taking turns accessing the channels. In the exemplary scenario of FIG. 3, wireless devices 302, 304, and 306 may act as transmitters while wireless devices 308, 310, and 312 act as receivers. As shown in FIG. 3, transmitters 302-306 may each transmit a packet using retransmissions to a target receiver, namely receivers 308, 310, and 312, respectively. These transmission links are denoted by the bold lines. These transmissions may appear as interference to the other receivers, where the interference links are denoted in FIG. 3 by dashed lines.

Transmitters 302-306 may each perform N transmissions of a given packet. Accordingly, transmitters 302-306 may each respectively transmit N replicas of the packet (e.g., one initial transmission followed by N−1 retransmissions of the initial transmission). Receivers 308-312 may then be configured to combine the transmissions and subsequently attempt to decode the combined transmission to recover the payload of their respective packets (e.g., the packet from the target transceiver they are listening for). This type of combining may increase the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) of the combined transmission, which can potentially improve decoder performance. Using chase combining as an exemplary combining technique, the effective SINR after combining N transmissions of a packet is given as

$\begin{matrix} {SINR}_{eff}^{k} = \sum_{i = 1}^{N} {SINR}_{i}^{k} & (1) \end{matrix}$

where SINR_i^kis the SINR of the i^thtransmission of the k^thuser.

In an exemplary case where wireless network 300 uses sequential retransmissions, each of receivers 308-312 may know which time slots the N transmissions from their respective target transmitters occur in. Once these time slots have elapsed and the N transmissions have occurred, receivers 308-312 may combine the N transmissions from these time slots to obtain the combined transmission. FIG. 4 shows exemplary timing diagrams for wireless devices 302-312 according to some aspects. The timing diagrams of FIG. 4 show the transmissions by transmitters 302-306 at each of a sequence of time slots and the corresponding received signals at receivers 308-312. In the example of FIG. 4, transmitters 302-306 may perform their respective N=3 transmissions in successive time slots. The number of transmissions N is exemplary and can be any value in various aspects. In some aspects, the time slots shown in FIG. 4 may be successive in time (e.g., immediately neighboring each other in time). In other aspects, the time slots may be logically successive but not successive in time. For example, certain time slots in a larger time sequence of time slots may be designated for retransmissions (e.g., according to a predefined schedule). Each retransmission time slot may therefore be logically successive to the closest neighboring retransmission time slot occurring before it and to the closest neighboring retransmission time slot occurring after it. The timing diagrams of FIG. 4 can therefore use either configuration of time slots.

As shown in FIG. 4, the transmissions by transmitters 302-306 may be offset by one or more time slots. However, receivers 308-312 may still see interference in their received signals. As shown in FIG. 4, the transmissions by transmitters 302-306 may overlap with each other and may therefore cause interference to receivers 308-312 at certain time slots. These time slots may therefore include the desired transmission (e.g., the transmission from transmitters 302-306 that receivers 308-312 are respectively listening to, which contains the packet) as well as the interfering transmissions from the other transmitters. Even though the transmissions from transmitters 302-306 each start at different times, the transmissions still overlap and combining gains at receivers 308-312 will still be limited.

As introduced above, various aspects of this disclosure may use randomized retransmissions. Accordingly, transmitters may still perform N transmissions of a packet but may randomize the transmissions in time. FIG. 5 shows exemplary timing diagrams according to some aspects using randomized retransmissions. As shown in FIG. 5, transmitters 302-306 may each randomly select N time slots to perform transmissions. Compared to the case of FIG. 4, the transmissions in FIG. 5 may have considerably less overlap and, as a result, there may be less interference in the received signals at receivers 308-312. The effective SINR at receivers 308-312 may thus be higher in the randomized transmission example of FIG. 5 compared to the sequential transmission example in FIG. 4. This feature generally holds on average across all possible transmission configurations for sequential and randomized retransmissions; in other words, the average interference is lower for randomized retransmissions than for sequential retransmissions.

While randomized retransmissions may reduce interference in many cases, there may be drawbacks in the processing complexity of the combining at the receivers. As previously introduced, receivers may achieve increased SINR by combining the received transmissions and decoding the combined transmission. In the sequential retransmission case, a given receiver will know the time slots that contain the transmissions from the target transmitter and will therefore easily be able to identify the transmissions that will be combined. However, in the randomized retransmission case, the transmitters each independently and randomly select the time slots for the transmissions. Consequently, the receivers may not initially know which time slots contain the transmissions and may have to search across a large number of past time slots to the transmissions from the respective target transmitters. The receivers may therefore perform blind combining, such as where a given receiver searches through each possible combination of N time slots out of L past time slots to attempt to determine which time slots contained the transmissions from the target transmitter. However, particularly when N and L increase, there may be a significant number of different slot combinations that could potentially contain the N transmissions. Accordingly, a receiver may have to search up to

$(\begin{matrix} L \\ N \end{matrix})$

slot combinations to successfully combine and decode the payload of the transmissions. This may become exceedingly complex for the receiver to handle for each packet.

Various aspects of this disclosure may therefore provide wireless devices and associated methods that utilize randomized retransmissions with reduced complexity. As further described in detail below, various aspects may use retransmission frame windows and predefined retransmission patterns within the retransmission frame windows. Transmitters may therefore select from the predefined retransmission patterns and perform their transmissions in time slots according to the selected retransmission pattern. As the number of predefined retransmission patterns may be limited, receivers may only search for transmissions in certain time slots according to the predefined retransmission patterns. The receivers may therefore be able to limit the complexity of the search while still enjoying the increased SINR benefits of retransmissions.

In various aspects of this disclosure using randomized retransmissions, both transmitters and receivers may be configured to use retransmission patterns arranged around retransmission frame windows. In particular, the time slots used by the transmitters and receivers may be logically partitioned into retransmission frame windows, such as where each retransmission frame window is composed of L time slots. FIG. 6 shows an example according to some aspects where L=4. Accordingly, the ongoing sequence of time slots may be logically divided into retransmission frame windows that each include L=4 time slots. This configuration may be known a priori at the various transmitters and receivers, which may also be time-synchronized to each other. Accordingly, the transmitters and receivers may transmit and receive according to this time-aligned schedule of time slots.

In the example of FIG. 6, the time slots in retransmission frame window 602 are shown as immediately neighboring each other. In some aspects, the time slots in a given retransmission frame window (or each retransmission frame window) may be immediate neighbors in time. In other aspects, the retransmission frame windows may be logical retransmission frame windows where their component time slots are not all immediate neighbors in time. For example, the time slots in retransmission frame window 602 may be separated in time but may be logically assigned (e.g., per the scheduled shared by the transmitters and receivers) to retransmission frame window 602. Accordingly, while the time slots in retransmission frame window 602 are shown as neighboring each other, they may only be logical neighbors within retransmission frame window 602 and may actually be separated from each other in time. This use of logical retransmission frame windows is further detailed later regarding discovery time slots.

Various aspects of this disclosure may use the time slots of the retransmission frame windows to govern retransmission patterns, where a retransmission pattern may specify certain slots in a retransmission frame window that contain initial transmissions and retransmissions. FIGS. 7, 8A, and 8B show various exemplary retransmission patterns according to some aspects. While these aspects use the retransmission frame window size L=4 (e.g., four time slots per retransmission frame window) and the transmission count N=2 (e.g., two transmissions per retransmission frame window), these settings for L and N are used only for illustrative purposes and can be set at any integer value. As denoted by the legend, a predefined number of time slots (equal transmission count N) in each retransmission frame window are allocated as transmission slots where a transmitter can perform an initial transmission or a retransmission. The remaining time slots in the retransmission frame window are designated as inactive slots. The order and positioning of transmission and active slots in the retransmission frame window therefore define the retransmission pattern.

Starting first with FIG. 7, FIG. 7 shows an overall set of retransmission patterns 702-712 according to some aspects. In particular, for any L and N, there are

$(\begin{matrix} L \\ N \end{matrix})$

(“L choose N”) total possibilities for retransmission patterns. In the exemplary case of L=4 and N=2, there are therefore six total possibilities that represent all possible ways of arranging two transmissions (transmission count N) within four possible time slots (retransmission frame window size L). Retransmission patterns 702-712 may therefore represent the overall set of retransmission frame patterns.

According to various aspects of this disclosure, transmitters and receivers may be configured to use a lesser subset of the overall set of transmission pattern. For example, instead of using any of the

$(\begin{matrix} L \\ N \end{matrix})$

possible retransmission patterns, the transmitters and receivers may be configured to use a candidate set of M retransmission patterns where M<

$(\begin{matrix} L \\ N \end{matrix}) .$

Accordingly, the number of possible retransmission patterns will be limited, since a given transmitter will be constrained to randomly selecting a retransmission pattern from the candidate set of retransmission patterns. Consequently, when a receiver is searching for transmissions in a retransmission frame window, the receiver may search based on the candidate set of retransmission patterns. Instead of having to search through all of the overall set of retransmission patterns to find transmissions, the receiver may thus limit its search to the smaller candidate set of retransmission patterns. This may reduce the computational complexity at the receiver.

FIGS. 8A and 8B show exemplary candidate sets of retransmission patterns according to some aspects. As shown in FIG. 8A, candidate set 800 may include retransmission patterns 802, 804, and 806, which may be the same as retransmission patterns 702, 706, and 710 from the overall set of retransmission patterns in FIG. 7. Accordingly, in this case M=3, or in other words, three retransmission patterns from the overall set of retransmission patterns are used for the candidate set of retransmission patterns. When a given transmitter makes a transmission, the transmitter may therefore randomly select one of the M=3 candidate retransmission patterns. The transmitter may then perform an initial transmission of a packet in the first transmission slot (e.g., time slot 1 for candidate retransmission patterns 802 and 804 and time slot 2 for candidate retransmission pattern 806) and perform one or more subsequent retransmissions of the packet in the remaining transmission slots (e.g., time slot 2 for candidate retransmission pattern 802 and time slot 4 for candidate retransmission patterns 804 and 806). The transmitters and receivers may therefore be preconfigured with the candidate set of retransmission patterns prior to engaging in communications with each other. For example, in some aspects the transmitters and receivers may be preprogrammed with the candidate set of retransmission patterns, such as the time of manufacture or during period maintained. In some aspects, the transmitters and receivers may be configured with the candidate set of retransmission patterns by a central entity, such as a cell or other network-side wireless access node that sends control information to the transmitters and receivers. In some aspects, the transmitters and receivers may be configured with the candidate set of retransmission patterns via relaying, such as where one or more devices receive control information specifying the candidate set of retransmission patterns and relay the control information across a D2D network to devices. In any case, the transmitters and receivers may initially know the candidate set of retransmission patterns (e.g., may have a priori knowledge of the candidate set of retransmission patterns).

As there are only M options for candidate retransmission patterns, a receiver may be able to focus its search for transmissions exclusively on candidate retransmission patterns 802-806. This may consequently reduce the complexity at the receiver compared to the case where all

$(\begin{matrix} L \\ N \end{matrix})$

retransmission patterns of the overall set are available. However, lower values of M may also lead to higher average levels of interference. For example, if M=3 and there are more than three transmitters in a dense area, multiple of the transmitters will randomly select the same retransmission pattern from the candidate set of retransmission patterns. Their transmissions will collide and receivers listening for these transmissions will experience interference. Selection of M may therefore be a tradeoff between average interference levels and receiver complexity.

FIG. 8B shows another exemplary candidate set of retransmission patterns according to some aspects. As shown in FIG. 8B, candidate set 810 may include retransmission patterns 812 and 814, which may be the same as retransmission patterns 704 and 710 from the overall set of retransmission patterns in FIG. 7. As can be seen in FIG. 8B, retransmission patterns 812 and 814 are orthogonal to each other. In other words, the transmission slots in retransmission patterns 812 and 814 are mutually exclusive (e.g., do not overlap). Accordingly, if a first transmitter uses retransmission pattern 812 and a second transmitter uses retransmission pattern 814, their respective transmission will not overlap. However, as there are only M=2 candidate retransmission patterns, there may be interference issues when there is a large number of transmitters in a dense area. This type of orthogonal retransmission pattern configuration can be expanded to higher values of M, where the candidate retransmission patterns are selected to have transmission slots that do not overlap with any other candidate retransmission pattern.

The configuration and operation of the transmitters will now be described with reference to FIGS. 9 and 10, which is followed by a description of the configuration and operation of the receivers with reference to FIGS. 11 and 12. Starting with FIG. 9, FIG. 9 shows an exemplary internal configuration of transmitter 900 according to some aspects. In some aspects, transmitter 900 may be configured as a wireless device. For example, transmitter 900 may be configured as a terminal device, such as terminal device 102 in FIGS. 1 and 2. In some aspects, transmitter 900 may operate as part of a D2D network, such as in the manner of transmitters 302-306 in FIG. 3. In some aspects, transmitter 900 may also be configured to operate as a receiver and may therefore be configured with the same subcomponents and functionality of receiver 1100 as described in FIGS. 11 and 12. The designation “transmitter” is therefore used for to refer to the transmitter functionality of randomized retransmission schemes and does not limit transmitter 900 to only performing transmission.

As shown in FIG. 9, transmitter 900 may include antenna system 902, RF transceiver 904, and baseband modem 906. The configuration depicted in FIG. 9 is primarily focused on the transmission features of randomized retransmission schemes and may not expressly depict other components of transmitter 900. In some aspects, antenna system 902, RF transceiver 904, and baseband modem 906 may be configured in the manner described above for antenna system 202, RF transceiver 204, and baseband modem 206 of terminal device 102. Accordingly, transmitter 900 may be configured to transmit and receive wireless signals via antenna system 902 and RF transceiver 904. RF transceiver 904 may therefore modulate and transmit baseband samples (provided by baseband modem 906) via antenna system 902 in the transmit direction. RF transceiver 904 may also receive and demodulate radio signals via antenna system 902 and provide the resulting baseband samples to baseband modem 906 in the receive direction.

FIG. 9 also depicts several internal components of baseband modem 906, including scheduler 908, controller 910, and pattern memory 912. As discussed above regarding FIG. 2 and baseband modem 206, in some aspects baseband modem 906 may include a digital signal processor and a protocol controller. Accordingly, the various components of baseband modem 906 shown in FIG. 9 may in some aspects be subcomponents of the digital signal processor (e.g., physical layer components) and/or subcomponents of the protocol controller (e.g., protocol stack components). In one exemplary aspect, scheduler 908, controller 910, and pattern memory 912 may be protocol stack components, such as where scheduler 908 and controller 910 are part of a Media Access Control (MAC) entity responsible for scheduling transmissions. While not shown in FIG. 9, this this exemplary aspect baseband modem 906 may also include physical layer components between scheduler 908 and RF transceiver 904 that may perform physical layer processing on transmissions before sending baseband samples to RF transceiver 904.

In various aspects, scheduler 908, controller 910, and pattern memory 912 may be structurally realized as hardware (e.g., as one or more digitally-configured hardware circuits, such as ASICs, FPGAs, or another type of dedicated hardware circuit), as software (e.g., one or more processors configured to retrieve and execute program code that defines arithmetic, control, and/or I/O instructions and is stored in a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium), or as a mixed combination of hardware and software. In one exemplary aspect, scheduler 908 and controller 910 may be processors configured to execute control software for various operations of transmitter 900, including retransmission scheduling. The operation of this software is described in full below in prose and by the associated figures. In this exemplary aspect, pattern memory 912 may be a memory device configured to store information about the candidate set of retransmission patterns. Various other aspects may include where scheduler 908, controller 910, and pattern memory 912 are different mixtures of hardware and/or software, and/or where one or more of scheduler 908, controller 910, and pattern memory 912 are combined into a single physical hardware or software component. The depiction in FIG. 9 therefore shows the logical distinction between these components but does not limit them to being physically separate.

FIG. 10 shows exemplary method 1000 according to some aspects, which transmitter 900 may execute to perform randomized retransmissions. As shown in FIG. 10, transmitter 1000 may first identify a packet scheduled for transmission in stage 1002. For example, scheduler 908 may identify a packet that transmitter 900 is scheduled to send to a target receiver. The term packet is used herein to generally refer to any data that is grouped together for transmission. In some aspects, the packet may be one of a sequence of packets scheduled for transmitter 900. Controller 910 may then select a retransmission pattern from the candidate set of retransmission patterns in stage 1004. For example, pattern memory 912 may store the candidate set of retransmission patterns (e.g., in the form of information that specifies transmission and inactive slots of the candidate retransmission patterns). Controller 910 may then be configured to randomly select a retransmission pattern from the candidate set of retransmission patterns, such as via random selection of a number between 1 and M that identifies a retransmission pattern out of the candidate set of retransmission patterns. In some aspects, controller 910 may be configured to select the retransmissions pattern based on a device ID of the target receiver. For example, controller 910 may apply a modulo function or a hash function to the device ID of the target receiver or to the device ID of transmitter 900, and use the output value to select the retransmission pattern. In some aspects, controller 910 may select a subset of the candidate set of retransmission patterns based on the output value, and then randomly select the retransmission pattern from this subset of the candidate set of retransmission patterns. The target receiver may be able to compute the same output value (using the same modulo function or hash function on its device ID or on the device ID of the target transmitter), and may therefore be able to identify the same subset of the candidate set of retransmission patterns. This may help the target receiver when it searches for the retransmissions.

After selecting the retransmission pattern, controller 910 may specify the retransmission pattern to scheduler 908. Scheduler 908 may then identify the transmission slots and the inactive slots in the retransmission pattern. Then, in stage 1006, scheduler 908 may transmit an initial transmission and subsequent retransmissions of the packet according to the retransmission pattern. For example, scheduler 908 may transmit the initial transmission of the packet in the earliest transmission slot in the retransmission pattern. This may include scheduler 908 transmitting the initial transmission as wireless signals via RF transceiver 904 and antenna system 902. After transmitting the initial transmission in the earliest transmission slot, scheduler 908 may transmit one or more subsequent retransmissions of the packet in the remaining transmission slots of the retransmission pattern. In some aspects, scheduler 908 may wait until the next upcoming retransmission frame window to begin the transmissions. In other words, as the retransmission frame windows should be synchronized between transmitters and receivers, scheduler 908 may not schedule initial transmissions for the middle of a retransmission frame window.

In some aspects, the target receiver may be able to decode the packet from the transmissions before receiving all of the scheduled retransmissions in the retransmission pattern. The target receiver may then be configured to transmit an acknowledgement (ACK) to transmitter 900, which scheduler 908 may identify in received signals at transmitter 900. If scheduler 908 receives this ACK before transmitting all of the scheduled retransmissions, scheduler 908 may terminate the retransmission procedure for the packet (e.g., without performing the maximum number of allowed retransmissions), and may then move to a next packet scheduled for transmission.

Transmitter 900 may complete method 1000 once it either receives an ACK or completes all of the scheduled retransmissions for the packet. In some aspects, transmitter 900 may have a maximum number of allowed transmissions R, and scheduler 908 may continue to perform retransmissions of the initial transmission until R total transmissions have been reached. In some cases, R may be greater than N, and scheduler 908 may perform the retransmissions across multiple retransmission frame windows (e.g.,

$⌈ \frac{R}{N} ⌉$

retransmission frame windows). In some aspects, scheduler 908 may use the same retransmission pattern over all

$⌈ \frac{R}{N} ⌉$

retransmission frame windows, while in other aspects scheduler 908 may select a new retransmission pattern from the candidate set of retransmissions patterns to use in each retransmission frame window. In some aspects, once the transmission is complete transmitter 900 may then move on to a next scheduled packet (e.g., for the same target receiver or for another target receiver) and repeat method 1000 for this next scheduled packet.

Transmitter 900 may therefore randomize its transmissions according to the randomized retransmission scheme. This can be advantageous, for example, when there are multiple transmitters that are all performing a sequence of retransmissions in proximity to each other. Even when the transmitters are synchronized in time, some or all may select different retransmission patterns, which may in turn reduce the interference seen at receivers. The receivers may therefore enjoy combining gains and improved decoding performance. Furthermore, because the randomized retransmissions are limited to certain candidate set of randomized retransmissions, the receivers may be able to detect and combine retransmissions without prohibitively complex reception techniques.

The configuration and operation of a receiver will now be described according to some aspects. As previously indicated, receivers in randomized retransmission schemes may be configured to use the candidate set of retransmission patterns to search for and detect transmissions from a target transmitter. FIG. 11 shows an exemplary internal diagram of receiver 1100 according to some aspects. In some aspects, receiver 1100 may be configured as a wireless device. For example, receiver 1100 may be configured as a terminal device, such as in the case of terminal device 102 in FIGS. 1 and 2. In some aspects, receiver 1100 may operate as part of a D2D network, such as in the manner of receivers 308-312 in FIG. 3. In some aspects, receiver 1100 may also be configured to operate as a transmitter, and may therefore be configured with the same subcomponents and functionality of transmitter 900 as described in FIGS. 9 and 10. The designation “receiver” is therefore used for to refer to the receiver functionality of randomized retransmission schemes and does not limit receiver 1100 to only performing reception.

As shown in FIG. 11, receiver 1100 may include antenna system 1102, RF transceiver 1104, and baseband modem 1106. The configuration depicted in FIG. 11 is primarily focused on the reception features of randomized retransmission schemes and may not expressly depict other components of receiver 1100. In some aspects, antenna system 1102, RF transceiver 1104, and baseband modem 1106 may be configured as described above for antenna system 202, RF transceiver 204, and baseband modem 206 of terminal device 102. Accordingly, wireless device 1100 may be configured to transmit and receive wireless signals via antenna system 1102 and RF transceiver 1104. RF transceiver 1104 may therefore modulate and transmit baseband samples (provided by baseband modem 906) via antenna system 1102 in the transmit direction. RF transceiver 1104 may also receive and demodulate radio signals via antenna system 1102 and provide the resulting baseband samples to baseband modem 1106 in the receive direction.

FIG. 11 also depicts various internal components of baseband modem 1106, including buffer 1108, detector 1110, combiner 1112, decoder 1114, and pattern memory 1116. As discussed above regarding FIG. 2 and baseband modem 206, in some aspects baseband modem 1106 may include a digital signal processor and a protocol controller. Accordingly, the various components of baseband modem 1106 shown in FIG. 11 may in some aspects be subcomponents of the digital signal processor (e.g., physical layer components) and/or subcomponents of the protocol controller (e.g., protocol stack components). In one exemplary aspect, buffer 1108, detector 1110, combiner 1112, decoder 1114, and pattern memory 1116 may be physical layer components of the digital signal processor and may provide decoded payload data to downstream components including the protocol controller. In some aspects, detector 1110 may additionally include MAC entity components related to scheduling of transmissions over time slots.

In various aspects, buffer 1108, detector 1110, combiner 1112, decoder 1114, and pattern memory 1116 may be structurally realized as hardware (e.g., as one or more digitally-configured hardware circuits, such as ASICs, FPGAs, or another type of dedicated hardware circuit), as software (e.g., one or more processors configured to retrieve and execute program code that defines arithmetic, control, and/or I/O instructions and is stored in a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium), or as a mixed combination of hardware and software. In one exemplary aspect of this disclosure, detector 1110 may include a processor configured to execute control software that controls the transmission detection operations of wireless device 1100. The operation of this software is described in full below in prose and by the associated figures. Detector 1110 may also include one or more hardware circuits that are configured to perform detection operations on signals; alternatively, detector 1110 may perform this detection functionality by executing program code. In this exemplary aspect, buffer 1108 may be a memory device configured to store baseband samples from a plurality of previous time slots. Pattern memory 1118 may be a memory device configured to store information about the candidate set of retransmission patterns. Combiner 1112, and decoder 1114 may be either hardware (e.g., hardware circuits configured with digital logic to perform signal combination and packet decoding, respectively) or software components (e.g., processors configured to execute instructions that define signal combination and packet decoding operations, respectively) configured to operate as described below in prose and by the associated figures. Various other aspects may include where buffer 1108, detector 1110, combiner 1112, decoder 1114, and pattern memory 1116 are different mixtures of hardware and/or software, and/or where one or more of buffer 1108, detector 1110, combiner 1112, decoder 1114, and pattern memory 1116 are combined into a single physical hardware or software component. The depiction in FIG. 11 therefore shows the logical distinction between these components but does not limit them to being physically separate.

Receiver 1100 may be configured to receive randomized retransmissions from transmitters and to combine and decode the randomized retransmission to recover a payload of a packet. FIG. 12 shows exemplary method 1200 according to some aspects, which receiver 1100 may execute as part of a randomized retransmission scheme. In the context of method 1200, receiver 1100 may be expecting a packet from a particular target transmitter. The target transmitter may be configured in the manner of transmitter 900 as described above. Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 12, detector 1110 may first identify the target transmitter in stage 1202. In some aspects, receiver 1100 may be engaged in an active communication session with the target transmitter, and may therefore expect one or more packets from the target transmitter as part of the active communication session. The target transmitter may therefore stand in contrast to other transmitters, which may act as interfering transmitters from the perspective of receiver 1100. As previously discussed, receivers and transmitters may operate with a time schedule composed of a sequence of time slots over time. In some aspects, the receivers and transmitters may be time synchronized with each other and may therefore operate on a common sequence of time slots (e.g., using an external synchronization signal provided by a cell or other entity, or with device-to-device synchronization). Accordingly, the time slots used by receiver 1100 may be aligned in time with the time slots used by the transmitters.

As described above for transmitter 900, the target transmitter may transmit the packet by randomly selecting a retransmission pattern from the candidate set of retransmission patterns and then performing an initial transmission followed by subsequent retransmissions in the transmission slots of the retransmission pattern. Accordingly, buffer 1108 may receive and buffer received signals over a sequence of time slots in stage 1204. For example, baseband modem 1106 may receive baseband samples (representing the received signal) via antenna system 1102 and RF transceiver 1104 and may provide the baseband samples to buffer 1108. Buffer 1108 may store these baseband samples.

As the target transmitter is using a randomized retransmission scheme to transmit the packet, buffer 1108 may receive and buffer the received signal over a sequence of time slots in stage 1204. In some aspects, buffer 1108 may be configured to buffer the received signal over the L time slots of a given retransmission frame window. For example, in the L=4 examples of FIGS. 7, 8A, and 8B, buffer 1108 may be configured to buffer the L=4 time slots of retransmission frame windows (e.g., each retransmission frame window). Once a retransmission frame window is over, buffer 1108 may empty its memory and begin buffering the received signal over the time slots of the next retransmission frame window. Accordingly, at any given time buffer 1108 may store the baseband samples of the time slots that have occurred in the current retransmission frame window. Furthermore, as previously noted, in some aspects the retransmission frame windows may be logical retransmission frame windows where some of the time slots may not be immediate neighbors in time. Accordingly, buffer 1108 may buffer the time slots in stage 1204 by selectively buffering the time slots of a given logical retransmission frame window (e.g., by buffering the time slots in the logical retransmission frame window and optionally ignoring intervening time slots that are not logically allocated to the logical retransmission frame window). Accordingly, in either case buffer 1108 may store the received signal over the time slots of at least one retransmission frame window. The buffered time slots stored in buffer 1108 may therefore not necessarily be immediate neighbors in time.

Receiver 1100 may then use the buffered retransmission frame window to detect the transmissions from the target transmitter. As the target transmitter is using a randomized retransmission scheme, receiver 1100 may perform blind decoding to attempt to decode a packet transmitted by the target transmitter that is addressed to receiver 1100. Assuming the target transmitter is using a randomized retransmission scheme based on a candidate set of retransmission patterns, detector 1110 may use the candidate set of retransmission patterns to focus the search for the transmissions on certain time slots. As previously indicated, both receiver 1100 and the target transmitter may be configured with the same candidate set of retransmission patterns. In some aspects, pattern memory 1118 may store the overall set of retransmission patterns, and detector 1110 may access the overall set of retransmission patterns to identify the candidate set of retransmission patterns. Detector 1110 may then use the candidate set of retransmission patterns to search for the transmissions from the target transmitter. In some aspects where the target transmitter selects a subset of the candidate set of retransmission patterns from which to select the retransmission pattern, detector 1110 may perform the same procedure as the target transmitter to identify the subset. For example, detector 1110 may apply a modulo function or a hash function to the device ID of the target receiver or to the device ID of the target transmitter, and use the output value to select the subset of the candidate set of retransmission patterns. This will therefore reduce the number of retransmission patterns that detector 1110 searches through. References below the candidate set of retransmission patterns may be either the full set of candidate retransmission patterns or the subset of the candidate set of retransmission patterns.

Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 11, buffer 1108 may feed the buffered time slots to detector 1110. As further described below, detector 1110 may be configured to identify time slots for combiner 1112 to combine in an attempt to decode a transmission from the target transmitter from the buffered time slots. In some aspects, detector 1110 may identify the time slots as part of an online decoding procedure, such as where decoder 1114 begins attempting to decode a transmission before buffer 1108 receives all of the time slots from RF transceiver 1104. As shown in FIG. 12, detector 1110 may identify a target slot from the buffered time slots in stage 1206. For example, detector 1110 may identify the time slot most recently buffered by buffer 1108 as the target slot, and may sequentially progress through each of the buffered time slots by focusing on each as the target time slot as the time slots are buffered by buffer 1108. Detector 1108 may attempt to decode transmissions using this target slot and specific earlier-occurring buffered time slots. In other words, detector 1110 may sequentially select each of the buffered time slots as the target slot (in order of their occurrence) and attempt to decode transmissions using the target slot and certain earlier-occurring buffered time slots.

FIGS. 13A-13D show an example of this using a candidate set of retransmission patterns. For purposes of explanation, the candidate set of retransmission patterns in the example of FIGS. 13A-13D is equal to the overall set of retransmission patterns; however, the candidate set of retransmission patterns may in practice be a reduced subset of the overall set of retransmission patterns. As shown in FIG. 13A, detector 1108 may initially select the first-occurring time slot of the current retransmission frame window as the target slot in stage 1206. As this is the first-occurring time slot, there may not be any other earlier buffered time slots for combiner 1112 to combine with the first-occurring time slot. Accordingly, detector 1108 may not identify any applicable candidate retransmission patterns based on the target slot in stage 1208, and may therefore provide the first-occurring time slot to combiner 1112. As there are not any other buffered time slots to combine, combiner 1112 may not combine the first-occurring time slot with any other buffered time slots in stage 1210, and may therefore provide the first-occurring time slot (in uncombined form) to decoder 1114.

Decoder 1114 may then attempt to decode the first-occurring time slot in stage 1212 to obtain the payload of a transmission in the first-occurring time slot. For example, decoder 1114 may decode the first-occurring time slot by decoding it according to the applicable coding scheme. The type of coding scheme is not limited and can generally be any type of coding scheme. In some aspects, decoder 1114 may be configured to perform an error check to determine whether the decode was successful, such as using a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) or other type of error check that is encoded into the transmissions. If the decode is successful, decoder 1114 may then check the payload to determine whether the transmission in the first-occurring time slot is addressed to receiver 1100 (e.g., whether receiver 1100 is the target receiver of the transmission), such as by checking a destination address field in the payload to determine whether the device ID of receiver 1100 is specified. This is part of stage 1214, where decoder determines whether any of the combined transmissions are addressed to receiver 1100 (where only the first-occurring time slot is evaluated during the stage of the current example). If the transmission in the first-occurring time slot is addressed to receiver 1100, decoder 1114 may notify the protocol stack running at the protocol processor of receiver 1100, which may then transmit an ACK to the target transmitter that signifies the transmission was successfully received. Receiver 1100 may then repeat the procedure of method 1200 for the next retransmission frame window following the current retransmission frame window, such as to detect another transmission addressed to receiver 1100. Receiver 1100 may also then process and/or utilize the payload, which may include further physical layer processing at the digital signal processor and/or protocol stack processing at the protocol processor. Depending on whether the payload is control plane or user plane, receiver 1100 may utilize the payload for various communication control and/or user-related functions. As aspects of this disclosure are focused on the decoding of the transmissions and recovery of the payload, its contents and later uses at receiver 1100 are not limited to any specifics

If the decode is not successful, or if the decoded transmission does not identify receiver 1100 as the target receiver, detector 1110 may proceed to evaluate the second-occurring time slot after it is buffered by buffer 1108 and may repeat stages 1206-1214 using this second-occurring time slot as the target slot. Detector 1110 may therefore identify this second-occurring time slot as the target slot in stage 1206. Detector 1110 may then identify applicable candidate retransmission patterns based on the target slot in stage 1208. For example, detector 1110 may determine which of the candidate retransmission patterns have a transmission slot matching the target slot, such as by using the candidate set of retransmission patterns stored in pattern memory 1116. FIG. 13B shows an example of this using the candidate set of transmission patterns from FIG. 7. In this example, detector 1110 may identify that candidate retransmission patterns 1302, 1308, and 1310 have transmission slots that match the target slot (e.g., are aligned with the target slow within the current retransmission frame window). Detector 1110 may therefore identify candidate retransmission patterns 1302, 1308, and 1310 as the applicable candidate retransmission patterns. In cases where the candidate set of retransmission patterns are mutually orthogonal (e.g., in the case of FIG. 8B), there may only be one candidate retransmission pattern that has a transmission slot matching each target slot. Detector 1110 may therefore only identify a single applicable candidate retransmission pattern for each target slot in such mutually orthogonal cases.

Detector 1110 may then identify buffered time slots of the applicable candidate retransmission patterns, and provide these buffered time slots to combiner 1112. As the target slot is the second-occurring time slot, only candidate retransmission pattern 1302 has a buffered time slot (the first-occurring time slot) in addition to the target slot in buffer 1108. By contrast, candidate retransmission patterns 1308 and 1310 have transmission slots that occur after the target slot, and are therefore not yet buffered in buffer 1108. The target slot may therefore not be combinable with any of the other transmission slots of candidate retransmission patterns 1308 and 1310.

Combiner 1112 may then combine the buffered time slots of the applicable candidate retransmission patterns to obtain respective combined transmissions (e.g., one for each applicable candidate retransmission that has buffered time slots). In the instant case, only candidate retransmission patterns 1302 has multiple buffered time slots, namely the first-occurring and second-occurring time slots. Accordingly, combiner 1112 may combine the first-occurring and second-occurring time slots for candidate retransmission pattern 1302, and provide this combined transmission to decoder 1114.

Decoder 1114 may then attempt to decode the combined transmission in stage 1212 to obtain its payload. As described above, if the decode is successful decoder 1114 may determine whether the transmission is addressed to receiver 1100 as the target receiver. If so, decoder 1114 may inform the protocol stack, which may transmit an ACK to the transmitter. As a transmission has been decoded in the current retransmission frame window, receiver 1100 may then repeat this procedure for the next retransmission frame window to attempt to decode a subsequent transmission. Because the combined transmission is a combination of multiple time slots, it may have a higher change of being decoded if the combined time slots were actually used by the target transmitter to perform the initial transmission and a retransmission (due to combining gain). As this is blind decoding, decoder 1114 may not know whether or not the combined time slots actually contain an initial transmission and a retransmission prior to attempting to decode the combined transmission.

If the decode is not successful, or if the transmission was not addressed to receiver 1100, detector 1110 may then move on the next time slot (as there are no other combined transmissions to attempt to decode), which may be buffered in buffer 1108. As shown in FIG. 13C, detector 1110 may select the third-occurring time slot of the current retransmission window as the target slot in stage 1206. Detector 1110 may then identify the applicable candidate retransmission patterns based on the target slot in stage 1208, namely by identifying candidate retransmission patterns that have transmission slots that match the target slot. As shown in FIG. 13C, detector 1110 may identify candidate retransmission patterns 1304, 1308, and 1318 as the applicable candidate retransmission patterns. Candidate retransmission patterns 1304 and 1308 may have multiple buffered time slots (including the target slot), while candidate retransmission pattern 1312 may only have one buffered time slot (the target slot) in buffer 1108. The target slot may therefore only be combinable with the buffered time slots from candidate retransmission patterns 1304 and 1308, but may not be combinable with any buffered time slots for candidate retransmission pattern 1312.

Detector 1110 may then provide the buffered time slots to combiner 1112, which may combine the buffered time slots for the applicable candidate retransmission patterns to obtain respective combined transmissions (e.g., one for each applicable candidate retransmission pattern that has multiple buffered time slots) in stage 1210. Combiner 1112 may then provide each of the combined transmissions to decoder 1114 for decoding.

Decoder 1114 may then attempt to decode each of the combined transmissions (e.g., in sequence) in stage 1212. For example, decoder 1114 may first attempt to decode the combined transmission for candidate retransmission pattern 1304 (e.g., the combination of the first- and third-occurring time slots). If the decode is successful and decoder 1114 determines that the payload was addressed to receiver 1100, receiver 1100 may end the decoding procedure for the current retransmission frame window. If not, decoder 1114 may then attempt to decode the combined transmission for candidate retransmission pattern 1304 (e.g., the combination of the second- and third-occurring time slots). If the decode is successful and decoder 1114 determines that the payload was addressed to receiver 1100, receiver 1100 may end the decoding procedure for the current retransmission frame window.

If not, detector 1110 may select the next-occurring time slot, namely the fourth-occurring time slot, as the target slot in stage 1206. Detector 1110 may then identify the applicable candidate retransmission patterns for this target slot in stage 1208, such as candidate retransmission patterns 1306, 1310, and 1312 as shown in FIG. 13D. As the fourth-occurring time slot is the final time slot in the current retransmission frame pattern, all of the applicable candidate retransmission patterns will have multiple buffered time slots (including the target slot). Detector 1110 may therefore provide the buffered time slots to combiner 1112, which may combine the buffered time slots for each of the applicable candidate retransmission patterns to obtain respective combined transmissions in stage 1210. Combiner 1112 may then provide the combined transmissions to decoder 1114, which may then attempt to decode the combined transmissions in stage 1212. As described above for the third-occurring time slot, decoder 1114 may attempt to decode the combined transmissions in sequence, and may end the decoding procedure for the current retransmission frame window if any of the combined transmissions are decoded successfully and are addressed to receiver 1100.

Accordingly, receiver 1100 may progress through each of the time slots of the retransmission frame window, focus on a given time slot as the target slot, and combine the target slot with certain other buffered time slots according to the candidate set of retransmission patterns to obtain combined transmissions. Receiver 1100 may then attempt to decode the combined transmissions and determine whether any of the combined transmissions contains a payload addressed to receiver 1100. As the transmitter randomly selected the retransmission pattern, receiver 1100 may not know which time slots (if any) actually contain the initial transmission and retransmissions transmitted by the transmitter to receiver 1100. However, by attempting to decode the possible combinations of time slots, receiver 1100 may eventually be able to identify a combination of time slots that is decodable by decoder 1114. This may therefore be a type of blind decoding, where receiver 1100 attempts to decode the various different combinations of time slots without knowing which combination is correct. Because there is only a limited number of candidate retransmission patterns, the decoding complexity may be reduced. In other words, receiver 1100 may not need to attempt every combination of time slots when decoding, but may instead limit its decode attempts to combinations of time slots that match the candidate set of retransmission patterns.

In the example described above for FIGS. 13A-13D, receiver 1100 performed online decoding, namely by attempting to decode the buffered time slots while they are still being buffered by buffer 1108. In other aspects, receiver 1100 may be configured to wait until all time slots of the current retransmission frame window are buffered in buffer 1108. Detector 1110 may then identify the combinations of time slots that match the candidate retransmission patterns, and provide these time slots to combiner 1112 for combination. Combiner 1112 may then provide the resulting combined transmissions (e.g., one per applicable candidate retransmission pattern) to decoder 1114, which may then attempt to decode the combined transmissions. If decoder 1114 successfully decodes a combined transmission and its payload is addressed to receiver 1100, decoder 1114 may end the decoding procedure for the current retransmission frame window. Otherwise, decoder 1114 may continue until a decode is attempted on all combined transmissions for the current retransmission frame window.

Furthermore, the above example of FIGS. 13A-13D described a case where decoder 1114 attempts to decode the combined transmissions from the applicable candidate retransmission patterns for the target slot. In some aspects, decoder 1114 may first attempt to decode the target slot, e.g., without combining the target slot with any other buffered time slots. If this decode is not successful, decoder 1114 may then attempt to decode the combined transmissions, which are the target slot combined with buffered time slots according to the applicable candidate retransmission patterns. As these combined transmissions may be a valid combination of retransmissions (e.g., may correspond to the retransmission pattern used by the transmitter), they may have a higher probability of a successful decode. However, as decoder 1114 may in some cases be able to decode transmissions from only a single time slot, this approach can reduce latency.

As previously indicated, in some aspects the transmitter may perform up to R total transmissions of a given packet, such as an initial transmission followed by R−1 retransmissions. This total number of transmissions may take

$⌈ \frac{R}{N} ⌉$

retransmission frame windows. In some aspects where

$⌈ \frac{R}{N} ⌉ > 1$

(e.g., the transmissions are spread across more than one retransmission frame window), receiver 1100 may repeat the same procedure of method 1100 for the next retransmission frame window. As the transmitter may either re-use the same retransmission pattern or select a new one, the same procedure may enable receiver 1100 to decode the retransmissions in the next retransmission frame window.

In some aspects, receiver 1100 may also use successive interference cancellation (SIC) as part of the decoding procedure for each retransmission frame window. For example, if decoder 1114 successfully decodes a payload from a combined transmission of the current retransmission frame window but determines that the payload is addressed to another wireless device, decoder 1114 may be configured to use the decoded payload as a first layer for SIC. Decoder 1114 may then recreate the payload as a transmission at the physical layer (e.g., by re-encoding the decoded payload and using a channel estimate to approximate the transmission at the physical layer). Decoder 1114 may then subtract the recreated transmission from the received signal, and repeat the decoding procedure from the resulting residue signal. If the residue signal contains a transmission (and payload) addressed to receiver 1100, decoder 1114 may be able to decode the payload from the resulting residue signal. Decoder 1114 may therefore be able to cancel out interfering signals to recover payloads addressed to receiver 1100.

As noted above, the retransmission frame window size L, the transmission count N, and the number M of candidate retransmission patterns (out of the

$(\begin{matrix} L \\ N \end{matrix})$

overall retransmission patterns) can be scaled to various different integer values. These values can be preselected, such as by a designer, and/or can be adapted over time by the network. The retransmission frame window size L contributes to the number of overall transmission patterns and the latency observed by the transmitters and receivers. Specifically, since transmitters may be constrained to beginning transmissions at the start of each retransmission frame window, transmitters may have to wait an average of L/2 time slots before initiating a transmission. As there is latency in the transmissions, receivers may similarly have to wait before receiving transmissions. Furthermore, as buffer 1108 may be configured to hold at least as an entire retransmission frame window, retransmission frame window size L will impact the size (e.g., storage capacity) of buffer 1108. The transmission count N, which stipulates N−1 allowed retransmissions, similarly influences the number of overall transmission patterns. The transmission count N also influences the number of retransmission frame windows

$⌈ \frac{R}{N} ⌉$

that need to elapse for the maximum number of allows retransmissions R be reached.

For example, if the maximum number of permitted transmissions (including the initial transmission) is R, then it will take

$⌈ \frac{R}{N} ⌉$

retransmission frame windows to reach the R retransmissions. The number M of candidate retransmission patterns impacts the receiver complexity as well as the probability that two or more transmitters will randomly select the same retransmission pattern for overlapping transmissions.

Various aspects described above assume that both the transmitters and receivers are configured with the same candidate set of retransmission patterns and use synchronized retransmission frame windows. As noted above, the candidate set of retransmission patterns and the synchronization of retransmission frame windows can be re-configured (e.g., by a central entity) and propagated across the network to the transmitters and receivers. In some aspects, the transmitters and receivers may also interact with legacy devices that are not configured to use the randomized retransmission scheme of this disclosure. However, when a randomized retransmission-enabled transmitter interacts with a legacy receiver, the legacy receiver may not be able to take advantage of the combining gains (e.g., as it may not be configured to properly search for and detect transmissions in the randomized retransmission scheme). Similarly, randomized retransmission-enabled receivers may only be able to take advantage of the combining gains when receiving from a randomized retransmission-enabled transmitter.

FIGS. 14-16 show several exemplary scenarios that can use the randomized retransmission scheme according to some aspects. Starting with FIG. 14, FIG. 14 shows exemplary message sequence chart 1400 according to some aspects. As shown in FIG. 14, wireless devices 1410 and 1420 may exchange several messages with each other. In some aspects, both wireless devices 1410 and 1420 may be configured with the subcomponents and functionality of both transmitter 900 and receiver 1100. Accordingly, wireless devices 1410 and 1420 may both include an antenna system, RF transceiver, scheduler 908, controller 910, pattern memory 912, buffer 1108, detector 1110, combiner 1112, decoder 1114, and pattern memory 1116 (which may be the same or separate from pattern memory 912). In other words, wireless devices 1410 and 1420 may both be configured to use randomized retransmissions for both transmitting and receiving.

In the context of FIG. 14, wireless device 1410 may wish to establish a communication session with wireless device 1420. Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 14 wireless device 1410 may request access with wireless device 1420 in stage 1402, such as by transmitting a message that requests access. Wireless device 1420 may receive the message and respond with a message that grants access to wireless device 1410 in stage 1404. Wireless device 1410 may then receive this message and begin data communication with wireless device 1420 in stage 1406, which can include unidirectional or bidirectional communication between wireless devices 1410 and 1420. In this example, wireless devices 1410 and 1420 may use randomized retransmissions for some or all of the messages in stages 1402-1406. For example, for the access request in stage 1402 wireless device 1410 may act as transmitter 900 to transmit the access request with randomized retransmissions (e.g., by randomly selecting and using a retransmission pattern as described above in method 1000). Simultaneously, wireless device 1420 may act as receiver 1100 to receive the access request with randomized retransmissions (e.g., by using the candidate set of retransmission patterns to search for and detect the initial transmission and subsequent retransmissions). In some aspects, the access request may follow a random access scheme, such as where wireless device 1420 listens for access requests at various preconfigured random access occasions. Wireless device 1410 may therefore perform multiple transmissions of the access request according to the randomized retransmission scheme, where the preconfigured random access occasions of wireless device 1420 may form the time slots of a logical retransmission frame window. Wireless device 1410 may therefore selectively transmit the access request in certain of these random access occasions according to the transmission slots of the selected retransmission pattern. Wireless device 1420 may then search for these transmissions within the random access occasions using a candidate set of retransmission patterns to limit the random access occasions that are searched.

Wireless device 1420 may then act as transmitter 900 to transmit the access grant in stage 1404 while wireless device 1410 acts as receiver 1100 to receive the access granted message. Accordingly, wireless device 1420 may perform multiple transmissions of the access grant according to its own selected retransmission pattern. Wireless device 1410 may then search for and detect the transmissions according to the candidate set of retransmission patterns. In some aspects, wireless devices 1410 and 1420 may include the correspondence of a retransmission configuration frame between the first and second messages.

Similarly, wireless device 1410 may then again act as transmitter 900 to transmit data as part of the data communication in stage 1406 while wireless device 1420 acts as receiver 1100. In some aspects, wireless devices 1410 and 1420 may perform the data communication in stage 1406 in conjunction with a Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) scheme, which can help to uncorrelated and/or randomize the interference.

FIGS. 15 and 16 illustrate the randomized retransmission scheme as applied to a discovery procedure. FIG. 15 shows exemplary message sequence chart 1500 according to some aspects, which illustrates a discovery message exchange between wireless devices 1410 and 1420. As introduced above regarding FIG. 14, wireless devices 1410 and 1420 may be configured with the subcomponents and functionality of transmitter 900 and receiver 1100. As shown in FIG. 15, wireless device 1410 may transmit a discovery request to wireless device 1420 in stage 1502. Wireless device 1420 may receive the discovery request and respond with a discovery reply in stage 1504. As wireless device 1410 is initiating the discovery, wireless device 1410 can be considered the discovery initiator (DI). Likewise, as wireless device 1420 is replying to the discovery request, wireless device 1420 can be considered the discovery replier (DR). In some aspects, the payload of the discovery request may include the identity of the DI, such as a device identifier ID_DIthat identifies wireless device 1410. The payload of the discovery reply may include the identity of the DR, such as a device identifier ID_DRthat identifies wireless device 1420.

In some aspects, certain radio resources (e.g., time-frequency resources) may be allocated as discovery resources. Wireless devices may therefore use these discovery resources to transmit discovery requests, to listen for discovery requests from other wireless devices, and to respond to discovery requests with discovery replies. FIG. 16 shows one example where discovery resources are periodically allocated in time in system frames of the common schedule of transmitters and receivers. In some aspects, each discovery resource (each shaded block) may be multiple frequency subchannels, which are further divided into subchannels for discovery requests and subchannels for discovery replies. DIs and DRs may therefore use the appropriate subchannels in a given discovery resource.

As shown in FIG. 16, the discovery resources may be logically allocated into logical retransmission frame windows. In this example, the retransmission frame window size is L=4, and each discovery resource may be logically allocated as one time slot in the retransmission frame window where sequences of four discovery resources make up each retransmission frame window. Accordingly, time slots in the retransmission frame windows may not be immediately neighboring each other in time but may be logical neighbors within the retransmission frame window. The allocation of discovery resources into the time slots of specific retransmission frame windows may be collaborated between transmitters and receivers so that the various transmitters and receivers use the same retransmission frame windows.

Wireless devices 1410 and 1420 may therefore be configured to use the randomized retransmission scheme of this disclosure to transmit and receive the discovery request and/or discovery reply in stages 1502 and 1502. In particular, wireless devices 1410 and 1420 may use the discovery resources allocated as time slots in the retransmission frame windows to perform transmissions according to a randomly selected retransmission pattern, and may likewise use the discovery resources allocated as time slots to search for and detect transmissions according to candidate retransmission patterns. In these cases, the retransmission frame windows are built on top of the existing system frames (e.g., by using discovery resources as time slots). Accordingly, the retransmission frame windows and time slots can have a configurable length.

There are numerous use cases in addition to access requests and discovery procedures for which randomized retransmission scheme can be applied, including standard data communications between wireless devices. The use cases described herein are therefore merely examples. In various cases, the randomized retransmission schemes discussed herein can provide combining gains that increase SINR, which can in turn improve decoder performance. Likewise, these randomized retransmission schemes may in some cases reduce the complexity of the reception and combination procedure, such as in comparison to a randomized retransmission scheme that does not limit the retransmissions to a candidate set of retransmission patterns.

FIG. 17 shows exemplary method 1700 of receiving transmissions at a wireless device according to some aspects. As shown in FIG. 17, method 1700 includes buffering a received signal over a plurality of time slots of a retransmission frame window (1702), identifying a target slot of the plurality of time slots (1704), identifying an applicable candidate retransmission pattern based on the target slot (1706), identifying one or more buffered time slots stored in the buffer based on the applicable candidate retransmission pattern (1708), combining the target slot with the one or more buffered time slots to obtain a combined transmission (1710), and decoding the combined transmission to obtain payload data (1712).

FIG. 18 shows exemplary method 1800 of performing transmissions at a wireless device according to some aspects. As shown in FIG. 18, method 1800 includes identifying a packet scheduled for transmission (1802), randomly selecting a retransmission from a candidate set of retransmission patterns (1804), and performing an initial transmission of the packet and one or more retransmissions of the packet according to the retransmission pattern (1806).

Some aspects of this disclosure provide a wireless device including a buffer (e.g., buffer 1108) configured to buffer a received signal over a plurality of time slots of a retransmission frame window, a detector (e.g., detector 1110) configured to identify a target slot of the plurality of time slots, identify an applicable candidate retransmission pattern based on the target slot, and identify one or more buffered time slots stored in the buffer based on the applicable candidate retransmission pattern, a combiner (e.g., combiner 1112) configured to combine the target slot with the one or more buffered time slots to obtain a combined transmission, and a decoder (e.g., decoder 1114) configured to decode the combined transmission to obtain payload data.

Some aspects of this disclosure provide a wireless device including a scheduler (e.g., scheduler 908) configured to identify a packet scheduled for transmission, and a controller (e.g., controller 910) configured to randomly select a retransmission pattern from a candidate set of retransmission patterns, the scheduler further configured to perform an initial transmission of the packet and one or more retransmissions of the packet according to the retransmission pattern.

Security may be a key consideration in computationally- or energy-constrained devices such as sensors, actuators, wearables, and other devices used in various IoT and M2M applications. As these devices often process sensitive data (e.g., for safety, security, or privacy purposes), it can be important that these devices avoid both accepting false information from and leaking sensitive data to illegitimate entities. Authentication techniques between devices can therefore provide a crucial function in protecting sensitive data.

However, many of these authentication techniques are based on strong cryptography and require substantial communication overhead. Accordingly, it can be problematic to implement these techniques in applications with low bandwidth, low power, reduced processing resources, and/or real-time operational demands. Furthermore, some of these authentication techniques are designed to authenticate individual pairings of devices and are therefore inefficient for many-to-one authentication, such as where a large number of sensors all connect to a gateway device. Accordingly, these authentication techniques may not be optimal for many IoT and M2M applications.

Various aspects of this disclosure therefore provide mutual authentication techniques that are low power and low bandwidth while also providing for efficient many-to-one authentication. These authentication techniques may therefore be suitable for processing- and/or energy-constrained use cases that authenticate large numbers of devices. In particular, these techniques allow for two or more devices to mutually authenticate each other without disclosing any information that allows them to be identified or tracked. As described in detail below, these techniques allow the devices to achieve several important security and privacy objectives including entity authentication, message authentication, anonymity, and unlinkability. Starting first with entity authentication, entity authentication ensures that the devices can verify that the other device is a trusted device (e.g., a known, good entity). Message authentication ensures that a device can verify that a message payload originated from the trusted device that is purported to have sent it. Anonymity ensures that the confidentiality of each device's entity is protected and not revealed to any eavesdroppers. Lastly, unlinkability ensures that the devices cannot be tracked over time (e.g., cannot be linked to other messages) based on any exchanged data.

The authentication techniques described herein aim to achieve these objectives in a cryptographically secure way while still remaining suitable for low-bandwidth, low-power, and/or low processing resource use cases. FIG. 19 shows exemplary network 1900, which is used herein to describe the authentication techniques according to some aspects. As shown in FIG. 19, network 1900 may include initiating device 1902 and responding devices 1904-1914. Responding devices 1904-1914 may not initially be connected to initiating device 1902 and may therefore perform a connection procedure through which responding devices 1904-1914 establish a connection with initiating device 1902. This can occur all at once (e.g., where all of responding devices 1904-1914 connect to initiating device 1902 in an initial startup phase) or at different times (e.g., where responding devices 1904-1914 connect to initiating device 1902 at different points over an extended duration of time).

Initiating device 1902 and responding devices 1904-1914 may perform authentication as part of this connection procedure. Accordingly, in some aspects initiating device 1902 and responding devices 1904-1914 may perform many-to-one authentication, namely where each of responding devices 1904-1914 perform mutual authentication with initiating device 1902. While various examples described herein may be based on many-to-one authentication, it is generally understood that these authentication techniques can also be used in any type of mutual authentication (including one-to-one authentication).

FIGS. 20 and 21 show exemplary internal configurations of initiating device 1902 and responding device 1904 according to some aspects. The configurations illustrated in FIGS. 20 and 21 are focused on the authentication features of initiating device 1902 and responding device 1904 and, for purposes of explanation, may not expressly depict other components of initiating device 1902 and responding device 1904 that are less directly related to authentication. It is thus understood that initiating device 1902 and/or responding device 1904 may include various other components in various aspects. While the internal components of initiating device 1902 and responding device 1902 are named similarly, these components may be configured to perform different operations according to the initiating and responding side of the authentication techniques described herein.

Starting with FIG. 20, initiating device 1902 may include antenna system 2002, RF transceiver 2004, and baseband modem 2006. In some aspects, antenna system 2002, RF transceiver 2004, and baseband modem 2006 may be configured as described above for antenna system 202, RF transceiver 204, and baseband modem 206 of terminal device 102. Accordingly, initiating device 1902 may be configured to transmit and receive wireless signals via antenna system 2002 and RF transceiver 2004. RF transceiver 2004 may therefore modulate and transmit baseband samples (provided by baseband modem 2006) via antenna system 2002 in the transmit direction. RF transceiver 2004 may also receive and demodulate radio signals via antenna system 2002 and provide the resulting baseband samples to baseband modem 2006 in the receive direction.

FIG. 20 also depicts several internal components of baseband modem 2006, including verifier 2008, message code processor 2010, and random selector 2012. In some aspects, baseband modem 2006 may include a digital signal processor and a protocol controller. The internal components of baseband modem 2006 may therefore in some aspects be subcomponents of the digital signal processor (e.g., physical layer components) and/or subcomponents of the protocol controller (e.g., protocol stack components).

In various aspects, verifier 2008, message code processor 2010, and random selector 2012 may be structurally realized as hardware (e.g., as one or more digitally-configured hardware circuits, such as ASICs, FPGAs, or another type of dedicated hardware circuit), as software (e.g., one or more processors configured to retrieve and execute program code that defines arithmetic, control, and/or I/O instructions and is stored in a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium), or as a mixed combination of hardware and software. In one exemplary aspect, verifier 2008, message code processor 2010, and random selector 2012 may each be software, such as where verifier 2008, message code processor 2010, and random selector 2012 are implemented as one or more processors configured to execute instruction sets that define their respective functionality. This aspect is not limiting and verifier 2008, message code processor 2010, and random selector 2012 can also be implemented as hardware. The operation (e.g., algorithmic structure) of each of verifier 2008, message code processor 2010, and random selector 2012 is detailed in full in the below description related to FIGS. 22 and 23.

Turning next to FIG. 21, responding device 1904 may include antenna system 2102, RF transceiver 2104, and baseband modem 2106. In some aspects, antenna system 2102, RF transceiver 2104, and baseband modem 2106 may be configured as described above for antenna system 202, RF transceiver 204, and baseband modem 206 of terminal device 102. Accordingly, responding device 1904 may be configured to transmit and receive wireless signals via antenna system 2102 and RF transceiver 2104. RF transceiver 2104 may therefore modulate and transmit baseband samples (provided by baseband modem 2106) via antenna system 2102 in the transmit direction. RF transceiver 2104 may also receive and demodulate radio signals via antenna system 2102 and provide the resulting baseband samples to baseband modem 2106 in the receive direction. In some aspects, each of responding devices 1914 (e.g., multiple responding devices that interact with initiating device 1902) may be configured in the manner described for responding device 1904).

FIG. 21 also depicts several internal components of baseband modem 2106, including verifier 2108, message code processor 2110, and random selector 2112. In some aspects, baseband modem 2106 may include a digital signal processor and a protocol controller. The internal components of baseband modem 2106 may therefore in some aspects be subcomponents of the digital signal processor (e.g., physical layer components) and/or subcomponents of the protocol controller (e.g., protocol stack components).

In various aspects, verifier 2108, message code processor 2110, and random selector 2112 may be structurally realized as hardware (e.g., as one or more digitally-configured hardware circuits, such as ASICs, FPGAs, or another type of dedicated hardware circuit), as software (e.g., one or more processors configured to retrieve and execute program code that defines arithmetic, control, and/or I/O instructions and is stored in a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium), or as a mixed combination of hardware and software. In one exemplary aspect, verifier 2108, message code processor 2110, and random selector 2112 may each be software, such as where verifier 2108, message code processor 2110, and random selector 2112 are implemented as one or more processors configured to execute instruction sets that define their respective functionality. This aspect is not limiting and verifier 2108, message code processor 2110, and random selector 2112 can also be implemented as hardware. The hardware and/or algorithmic structure of each of verifier 2108, message code processor 2110, and random selector 2112 is detailed in full in the below description related to FIGS. 22 and 23.

FIG. 22 shows exemplary message sequence chart 2200, which describes an authentication procedure between initiating device 1902 and responding device 1904 according to some aspects. As shown in FIG. 22, initiating device 1902 and responding device 1904 may mutually authenticate each other via exchange of several messages. Initiating device 1902 and responding device 1904 may start with several pieces of information relevant to the authentication procedure. As shown in FIG. 22, initiating device 1902 may start with K_DI, custom-character _DI, m_DI, and m_P. K_DIis the common secret identity of initiating device 1902 while _DIis the trusted entity list (e.g., a set of trusted entities) stored at initiating device 1902. Each entity may have its own common secret identity and trusted entity list, where the trusted entity list holds secret identities of the other trusted entities. The authentication procedure may use both common secret identities and pairwise secret identities. For example, all devices that consider initiating device 1902 a trusted entity may hold the common secret identity K_DIof initiating device 1902 in their respective trusted entity list (e.g., trusted entity list custom-character _DRof responding device 1904). The common secret identity K_DIof initiating device 1902 may then be paired in the trusted entity list with a pairwise secret identity (e.g., K_DR,DIin the trusted entity list _DRof responding device 1904). These pairwise secret identities may be unique to each pairing of trusted entities, e.g., the pairwise secret identity between each responding device and initiating device 1902 may be different (for example, each responding device has a unique pairwise secret identity with initiating device 1902). Accordingly, the trusted entity list custom-character _DRof responding device 1904 and the trusted entity list _DRof responding device 1906 may both hold the same common secret identity K_DIof initiating device 1902. However, the trusted entity list _DRof responding device 1904 and the trusted entity list _DRof responding device 1906 may hold different pairwise secret identities for initiating device 1902. Accordingly, the pairwise secret identity K_DR,DIbetween initiating device 1902 and responding device 1904 may be different from the pairwise secret identity K_DR,DIbetween initiating device 1902 and responding device 1906.

As further described below, initiating device 1902 may use its common secret identity K_DIand the pairwise secret identities in its trusted entity list custom-character _DIto generate message authentication codes (MACs). As K_DIis assumed to be known only by trusted entities, responding devices that identify a MAC generated with K_DIcan assume that the MAC was generated by initiating device 1902 (e.g., a decide that possesses a valid K_DI). Furthermore, responding devices that identify MACs generated with the unique pairwise secret identity with initiating device 1902 can assume that the MAC was generated by initiating device 1902 specifically for the responding device. Initiating device 1902 may use its trusted entity list custom-character _DIto verify whether received messages were validly generated by a given responding device. In some aspects, initiating device 1902 may be configured with its secret identity K_DIand its trusted entity list _DIat time of manufacture. In other aspects, initiating device 1902 may be configured with its secret identity K_DIand its trusted entity list custom-character _DIas part of a repeated update procedure, such as where initiating device 1902 periodically downloads or receives (e.g., from a central network or via D2D relaying) a new secret identity K_DIand/or new trusted entity list _DI. In either case, initiating device 1902 may be preconfigured with its secret identity K_DIand its trusted entity list custom-character _DIprior to the start of message sequence chart 2200. In some aspects, initiating device 1902 may store K_DIand _DIin a local memory that can be accessed by verifier 2008 and message code processor 2010.

In addition to K_DIand custom-character _DI, initiating device 1902 may also begin with message payloads m_DIand m_p. Initiation message payload m_DImay be the message payload for the initiation message that initiating device 1902 first transmits. As further described below, initiating device 1902 may broadcast this initiation message to any responding devices in its vicinity. The initiation message payload m_DIof this initiation message may therefore be a general message intended for any nearby responding device. In some aspects, the authentication procedure of message sequence chart 2200 may be part of a discovery procedure where initiating device 1902 broadcasts a discovery message out to any devices in its vicinity. These devices, e.g., responding devices 1904-1914, may detect and read the discovery message to identify initiating device 1902 and to identify communication parameters for further communications with initiating device 1902. Accordingly, in some aspects the initiation message payload m_DImay be a discovery message payload including such information. In various other aspects, initiation message payload m_DImay be any other type of information that initiating device 1902 wishes to transmit to other nearby devices.

The confirmation message payload m_Pmay be the message payload for the confirmation message that initiating device 1902 sends to responding devices after initiating device 1902 has verified them. Accordingly, in contrast to the general nature of the initiation message payload m_DI, the confirmation message payload m_Pof the confirmation message may be specific to the verified responding device. In some aspects, confirmation message payload m_pmay include communication parameters that the verified responding device can use to continue communicating with initiating device 1902.

Similarly to initiating device 1902, responding device 1904 may begin message sequence chart 2200 with its own common secret identity K_DR, its own trusted entity list custom-character _DR, and response message payload m_DR. Common secret identity K_DRmay be the common secret identity of responding device 1904, which trusted entities such as initiating device 1902 may include in their trusted entity list. These trusted entity lists of other devices may pair the common secret identity K_DRof responding device 1904 with a respective pairwise secret identity that is unique to the pairing between the other device and responding device 1904. The trusted entity list custom-character _DRof responding device 1904 may contain entries for each trusted entity that include the common secret identity (e.g., K_DIfor initiating device 1902) paired with the pairwise secret identity (e.g., K_DR,DIfor initiating device 1902) between responding device 1904 and the trusted entity. Message payload m_DRmay be a payload for a response message, which responding device 1904 may transmit to initiating devices. Message payload m_DRcan contain any type of information, such as parameters relevant for a communication session between responding device 1904 and an initiating device. In some aspects, responding device 1902 may store K_DRand custom-character _DRin a local memory that can be accessed by verifier 2108, and message code processor 2110.

As shown in FIG. 22, message sequence chart 2200 may begin at initiating device 1902 in stage 2202. In particular, initiating device 1902 may begin by selecting a first random session number r_DIin stage 2202. For example, random selector 2012 may randomly generate a number to use as r_DI(e.g., using 10-bit random number generation). In the 10-bit example, this operation can be expressed as r_DI←DRBG(10); in other words, random selector 2012 may execute a 10-bit deterministic random bit generator (DRBG) to obtain the first random session number r_DI. This first random session number r_DImay be used (along with a second random session number r_DR) as an anti-replay value (or ‘nonce’ value) to prevent replay of any of the messages by illegitimate entities. Because initiating device 1902 and responding device 1904 will use random session numbers to generate the exchanged messages, these messages will be tied to the random session numbers of this instance of the authentication procedure. Accordingly, the messages will only be valid for the current instance of the authentication procedure, and an illegitimate entity may thus not be able to validly capture and replay back the messages in another authentication procedure. Using larger random session numbers (e.g., more bits) may present a tradeoff between communication overhead and security; in particular, using more bits may make it more difficult for illegitimate entities to replay messages (as it is less likely that they will have captured a message in another authentication procedure with the same random session numbers) but may result in a larger number of transmitted bits.

After selecting the first random session number r_DI, random selector 2012 may provide r_DIto message code processor 2010. Message code processor 2010 may then continue stage 2202 by generating an initiation MAC H_DIfor initiation message payload m_DI. This initiation MAC H_DImay be used by other devices, such as responding device 1904, to verify that initiating device 1902 actually transmitted the initiation message payload m_DI. Accordingly, message code processor 2010 may use a MAC function to generate the MAC H_DIbased on initiation message payload m_DI, first random session number r_DI, and secret identity K_DI. This operation can be expressed as H_DI←MAC(K_DI,r_DI∥m_DI). The specific MAC function MAC(K, m) can be any of a number of different MAC functions that generate a cryptographic message authentication code based on a key K and a message m. These MAC functions rely on secret identities that are known to trusted entities and differentiate from many public key-private key and/or digital signature techniques in that they do not use modular exponentiation. In one exemplary aspect, message code processor 2010 may be configured to use a Sip-Hash-4-8 function that takes initiation message payload m_DI, first random session number r_DI, and secret identity K_DIas inputs and generates the MAC H_DIas output. The MAC H_DItherefore serves as a cryptographic authentication code. As this is a cryptographic procedure, it can generally be assumed that only an entity with all of initiation message payload m_DI, first random session number r_DI, and secret identity K_DIcould generate the given MAC H_DI(e.g., unless another illegitimate device uses brute force or exposes a weakness in the MAC function).

After generating the MAC H_DI, initiating device 1902 may transmit r_DI, H_DI, and m_DIas an initiation message in stage 2204. In some aspects, message code processor 2010 may transmit the initiation message including r_DI, H_DI, and m_DIvia RF transceiver 2004 and antenna system 2002, which may modulate and transmit the initiation message as a wireless signal. Although not expressly shown in FIG. 20, in some aspects baseband modem 2006 may include one or more subcomponents between message code processor 2010 and RF transceiver 2004 that are configured to perform transmit direction processing on the initiation message. As previously indicated, message sequence chart 2200 may form part of a discovery procedure through which initiating device 1902 discovers and authenticates nearby responding devices. Accordingly, the initiation message transmitted in stage 2204 may be a discovery broadcast signal.

One or more nearby responding devices, including responding device 1904, may receive the initiation message in stage 2204 and may identify r_DI, H_DI, and m_DI. For example, with reference to FIG. 21, verifier 2108 of responding device 1904 may receive the initiation message via antenna system 2100 and RF transceiver 2104. Although not expressly shown in FIG. 21, in some aspects baseband modem 2106 may include one or more subcomponents between verifier 2108 and RF transceiver 2104 that are configured to perform receive direction processing on the initiation message.

Verifier 2108 may then use r_DI, H_DI, and m_DIto verify the initiation message in stage 2206. As indicated in FIG. 22, responding device 1904 may begin message sequence chart 2200 with the common secret identity K_DRof responding device 1904, the trusted entity list custom-character _DRof responding device 1904, and a response message payload m_DRof a response message. Similar to trusted entity list _DIof initiating device 1902, trusted entity list _DRof responding device 1904 may include paired secret identities that match the common secret identity of a given trusted entity with a pairwise secret identity between responding device 1904 and the trusted entity. Accordingly, if initiating device 1902 is a trusted entity of responding device 1904, trusted entity list custom-character _DRwill include an entry that pairs the common secret identity K_DIwith a pairwise secret identity K_DR,DI(equivalent to K_DI,DRbut reversed here to reflect the direction of the relationship) that is unique to the pairing between responding device 1904 and initiating device 1902. In some aspects, trusted entity list custom-character _DRof responding device 1904 may be the only trusted entity list that includes the pairwise secret identity K_DR,DI(e.g., each device will only have pairwise secret identities between itself and other devices and will not have pairwise secret identities that are unique to other pairs of other devices). Accordingly, even if responding device 1906 also includes an entry that matches the common secret identity K_DIwith a pairwise secret identity K_DR,DI, this pairwise secret identity K_DR,DIat responding device 1906 may be different from the pairwise secret identity K_DR,DIat responding device 1904. In some aspects, this use of unique pairwise secret identities for each pair may help ensure that one trusted entity does not pretend to be another trusted entity. In other words, if responding device 1904 is the only trusted entity with from the pairwise secret identity K_DR,DIwith initiating device 1902, even other trusted entities may not be able to pretend that they are responding device 1904. Similar to as described above for the secret identities of initiating device 1902, in some aspects responding device 1902 may be configured with its common secret identity K_DRand/or trusted entity list custom-character _DRat the time of manufacture. In other aspects, responding device 1902 may periodically update its common secret identity K_DRand/or trusted entity list _DRthrough a downloading or reception process. In either case, responding device 1902 may be preconfigured with its common secret identity K_DRand trusted entity list custom-character _DRat the start of message sequence chart 2200.

Responding device 1904 may therefore verify MAC H_DIusing its trusted entity list custom-character _DR. For example, verifier 2108 may search through the entries (pairs of common secret identities and pairwise secret identities) and check whether any of the common secret identities K′_DIcould have generated the MAC H_DI. In one example, verifier 2108 may iterate through each common secret identity K′_DI, where K′_DIis the candidate common secret identity in a given iteration, and compute a candidate MAC H′_DIfrom the candidate common secret identity K′_DI, the first random session number r_DI, and the initiation message payload m_DI. In some aspects, verifier 2108 may generate the candidate MACs H′_DIusing the same MAC function MAC(K, m) used by initiating device 1902 to initially generate the MAC H_DI(e.g., by computing H′_DI←MAC(K′_DI,r_DI∥m_DI) for a given K′_DI).

Verifier 2108 may then determine whether the candidate MAC H′_DI(from a given iteration) matches the actual MAC H_DIincluded in the initiation message. This can be expressed as determining if ∃(K′_DI,K′_DI,DR)∈ custom-character _DRwhere H_DI=MAC(K′_DI,r_DI∥m_DI), or in other words, determining if there exists an entry (K′_DI,K′_DI,DR) of _DRthat produces a candidate MAC H′_DIthat matches the actual MAC H_DI. If none of the candidate MACs H′_DIfor any of the common secret identities K_DIin _DRmatch H_DI, verifier 2108 may determine that initiating device 1902 is not a trusted entity. Verifier 2108 may then end the authentication procedure, and responding device 1904 may not send further messages to initiating device 1902.

Conversely, if verifier 2108 determines that a given candidate MAC H′_DI(from a given candidate common secret identity K′_DIin custom-character _DR) matches the H_DIfrom the initiation message, verifier 2108 may determine that candidate common secret identity K′_DIand the candidate pairwise secret identity K′_DI,DRis the common secret identity of initiating device 1902. Accordingly, verifier 2108 may determine that initiating device 1902 is a trusted entity, and may continue with the authentication procedure. In some aspects, verifier 2108 may stop iterating through custom-character _DRwhen a match is found; in other aspects, verifier 2108 may iterate through all entries of _DRregardless of whether a match is found.

As shown in FIG. 22, if the verify is successful responding device 1904 may proceed to stage 2208, where responding device 1904 may generate a session key K and a response MAC H_DR. For example, verifier 2108 may provide the candidate common secret identity K′_DIof initiating device 1902 to message code processor 2110 along with the candidate pairwise secret identity K′_DI,DRand first random session number r_DI. In some aspects, verifier 2108 may pass initiation message payload m_DIto another subcomponent of baseband modem 2106, such as a protocol processor configured to use the communication parameters in m_DIfor subsequent communications with initiating device 1902 (e.g., after the authentication procedure is complete).

After receiving K_DI,DRand r_DI, message code processor 2110 may generate the session key K and MAC H_DRbased on K′_DI,DRand r_DI. In particular, random selector 2112 may first generate a second random session number r_DRand provide the second random session number r_DRto message code processor 2110. As discussed above regarding r_DI, these random session numbers may help prevent messages from being replayed by illegitimate entities in other instances of the authentication procedure; in other words, use of these random session numbers may tie the messages to this particular instance of the authentication procedure. In some aspects, random selector 2112 may generate r_DRusing a digital random bit generator DRBG(n) (e.g., r_DR←DRBG(8) with an 8-bit DRBG).

Message code processor 2110 may then use the random session numbers r_DIand r_DRand pairwise secret identity K′_DI,DRto determine a session key K. For example, message code processor 2110 may generate session key K using a MAC function in the manner K←MAC(K′_DI,DR,S_p(r_DI,r_DR)), where MAC(K, m) is a MAC function (e.g., the same MAC function as previously used for H_DIor a different MAC function) and S_p(r_DI,r_DR) is function providing Fixed Input Data bytes according to, e.g., a NIST SP800-108 standard for key derivation using randomness as part of the Context data. This MAC generation is exemplary, and in various aspects message code processor 2110 may use any type of MAC generation function based on K′_DI,DR, r_DR, and r_DI. As this session key K is based on K′_DI,DR, r_DR, and r_DI, it is considered unique to the current instance of the authentication procedure between initiating device 1902 and responding device 1904.

After generating the session key K, message code processor 2110 may generate the response MAC H_DR. For example, message code processor 2110 may generate response MAC H_DRbased on K and response message payload m_DR, namely by using the MAC function H_DR←MAC(K,m_DR). The MAC H_DRis therefore generated with pairwise secret identity K′_DI,DRand random session numbers r_DRand r_DI, the MAC H_DRAs previously indicated, the pairwise secret identity K′_DI,DRis unique (assuming it is the correct pairwise secret identity K_DI,DR) to the pairing between initiating device 1902 and responding device 1904 (e.g., is not known to other devices such as responding device 1906-1914 and is different from their respective pairwise secret identities with initiating device 1902). Initiating device 1902 and responding device 1904 may therefore be able to use the pairwise secret identity K_DI,DRto communicate with each other in a verifiable manner. For example, initiating device 1902 and responding device 1902 may be able to verify whether messages were generated by another device that also possesses pairwise secret identity K_DI,DRand, if so, can assume that the message was generated by the counterpart device of the pairwise secret identity. Accordingly, initiating device 1902 may be able to assume that a device that can provide a valid H_DRfor m_Ris in possession of the pairwise secret identity K_DI,DR.

Message code processor 2110 may then transmit r_DR, H_DR, and m_DRas a response message in stage 2210. For example, message code processor 2110 may transmit the response message via RF transceiver 2104 and antenna system 2102.

Initiating device 1902 may then receive the response message, such as where verifier 2008 of initiating device 1902 receives the response message via antennas system 2002 and RF transceiver 2004. Verifier 2008 may then verify the response MAC H_DRin stage 2212. In particular, verifier 2008 may use its trusted entity list custom-character _DIto determine whether there is a trusted entity having a pairwise secret identity K′_DR,DI(between the trusted entity and initiating device 1902) that could validly generate H_DRfrom m_DR. Similar to as described above for verifier 2108 in stage 2206, verifier 2008 may therefore iterate through the entries (pairs of common secret identities K_DRand pairwise secret identities K_DR,DIof trusted entities) of custom-character _DRto see if any trusted entity has a pairwise secret identity K_DR,DIthat could produce H_DR. For example, verifier 2008 may at each iteration take a candidate pairwise secret identity K′_DR<DIand generate a candidate session key K′ based on the candidate pairwise secret identity K′_DR,DIand the random session numbers r_DRand r_DI, such as by determining K′←MAC(K′_DR,DI,S_p(r_DI,r_DR)). Then, continuing with the iteration, verifier 2008 may determine a candidate response MAC H′_DRbased on the candidate session key K′ and m_DR, such as by determining H′_DR=MAC(K′,m_DR). Verifier 2008 may then check whether the candidate response MAC H′_DRmatches the actual response MAC H_DR.

Verifier 2008 may continue to iterate through the entries of custom-character _DRuntil a match is found or until all entries have been checked. If verifier 2008 does not find a match between any candidate H′_DRand the actual H_DR, verifier 2008 may conclude that verification has failed and may assume that responding device 1904 is not a trusted entity. Initiating device 1902 may then terminate the authentication procedure without sending any further messages to responding device 1904.

If responding device 1904 is a trusted entity and uses a valid pairwise secret identity K_DI,DRto generate H_DR, verifier 2008 should detect a match for one of the entries in custom-character _DR(e.g., during an iteration using a given candidate pairwise secret identity K′_DR,DI). This entry will have common secret identity K_DR(identifying responding device 1904) and a pairwise secret identity K_DR,DI(which may be equal to K_DI,DR, although the notation is reversed here to reflect the perspective of initiating device 1902). This iterative search process through custom-character _DRcan be expressed as determining whether ∃(K′_DR,K′_DR,DI)∈_DRwhere K′←MAC(K′_DR,DI,S_P(r_DI,r_DR)) and H_DR=MAC(K′,m_DR), or in other words, whether there exists an entry (pair of K′_DRand K′_DR,DI) in _DRthat produces a candidate response MAC H_DR′ (based on the candidate session key K′) that matches the actual MAC H_DR. If verifier 2008 detects a match, verifier 2008 may conclude that responding device 1904 is a trusted entity. Verifier 2008 may then provide the candidate pairwise secret identity K′_DR,DI(that produced the match) and r_DRto message code processor 2010.

Message code processor 2008 may then generate a confirmation MAC H_Pstage 2214. In particular, message code processor 2008 may determine a second session key K_Lbased on the candidate pairwise secret identity K′_DR,DIand the random session number r_DIand r_DR. For example, message code processor 2008 may apply the MAC function to obtain K_Las K_L←MAC(K′_DR,DI,S_L(r_DI,r_DR)), where S_L(r_DI,r_DR) is a function providing Fixed Input Data bytes according to, e.g., a NIST SP800-108 standard for key derivation using randomness as part of the Context data. Message code processor 2008 may then determine the confirmation MAC H_Pbased on the second session key K_Land confirmation message payload m_P, where confirmation message payload m_Pis payload for a confirmation message to responding device 1904 (and may contain any relevant information). For example, message code processor 2008 may determine H_Pwith the MAC function as H_P←MAC(K_L,m_P). In some aspects, the strings S_p(⋅) and S_L(⋅) may be formed as described in the NIST SP 800-108 standard for key derivation functions. In particular these strings may correspond to the Fixed Input Data string that is defined in this standard. This string consists of two parts that are called Context and Label. In some aspects, the Context string is composed of the concatenated random bit strings, while the Label string is a constant string (e.g. an ASCII string) that defines the usage of the key that is derived when this string is used as input to the key derivation function. Specifically, the constant Label part of S_p(⋅) says that the key derived using this string is to be used as Link ID and the constant Label part of S_l(⋅) says that the key derived using this string is to be used as temporary Link ID. This may help ensure that for each purpose a different key is derived even if the same key is used as input to the key derivation function.

Message code processor 2008 may then transmit H_Pand m_Pas a confirmation message in stage 2216. Responding device 1904 may then receive the confirmation message, such as where verifier 2108 receives the confirmation message via antenna system 2102 and RF transceiver 2104. Verifier 2108 may then verify the confirmation MAC in stage 2218. This verification may prove to responding device 1904 that initiating device 1902 is in possession of a valid pairwise secret identity K_DR,DIbetween responding device 1904 and initiating device 1902. In particular, verifier 2108 may generate a candidate second session key K′_Lbased on the candidate pairwise secret identity K′_DI,DR(from the verification in stage 2206) and the random session numbers r_DIand r_DR. For example, verifier 2108 may generate K′_Las K′_L←MAC(K′_DI,DR,S_L(r_DI,r_DR)). Verifier 2108 may then determine a candidate confirmation MAC H′_Pbased on K′_Land confirmation message payload m_Pand check whether the H′_Pmatches the actual confirmation MAC H_Pprovided by initiating device 1902 in the confirmation message. In particular, verifier 2108 may determine H′_Pas H′_P←MAC(K′_L) and compare this H′_Pto H_P.

If verifier 2108 determines that candidate confirmation MAC H′_Pdoes not match the actual confirmation MAC H_P, verifier 2108 may determine that the verification has failed, or in other words, that initiating device 1902 is not a trusted entity. Verifier 2108 may then terminate the authentication procedure, and responding device 1904 may not send any further messages to initiating device 1902.

Conversely, if verifier 2108 determines that the candidate confirmation MAC H′_Pmatches the actual confirmation MAC H_P, verifier 2108 may conclude that initiating device 1902 is authorized. In other words, this may prove that initiating device 1902 has a valid K_DIand K_DI,DRfrom the trusted entity list custom-character _DRat responding device 1904. This may conclude the authentication procedure, as both initiating device 1902 and responding device 1904 have successfully authenticated each other. In various aspects, initiating device 1902 and responding device 1904 may use the authentication procedure of message sequence chart 2200 as part of a communication session establishment procedure. Accordingly, after authenticating each other initiating device 1902 and responding device 1904 may continue to exchange messages with each other as part of the communication session.

In some aspects, initiating device 1902 may perform the authentication procedure of message sequence chart 2200 with one or more additional responding devices. For example, one or more responding devices may respond with their own respective response messages to the same initiation message that initiating device 1902 transmits in stage 2204. Initiating device 1902 may then verify these responding devices with the same procedure (e.g., stages 2210-2214) used for responding device 1904 in message sequence chart 2200.

FIG. 23 shows an exemplary pseudocode version of message sequence chart 2200 according to some aspects. The operations of stages 2202-2218 may be equivalent to that described above for FIG. 22; however, the prose descriptions haves been replaced by pseudocode operations that describe the processing at each stage. The variables are defined as follows:

K_{i, j} \underset{}{\leftarrow} {0, 1}^{1 2 8}

Temporary identifier of a pair of entities i and j. Can be updated as applicable for

the use case

custom-character

_i= {(K_j, K_i,j): j ∈ F}
Set of temporary identifiers known to

entity i, where F is the set of entities in

the trusted entity list of user i and K_i,j=

K_j,i

r ← DRBG(n)
Digital Random Bit Generator returns a

string r of n pseudo-random bits

MAC(K, m)
Lightweight keyed hash function, with

key K and message m; e.g., SipHash-4-8

m_DI, m_DR, m_P
Message payload data (optional)

a || b
Concatenation of bit strings a and b

S_P(r_DI, r_DR), S_L(r_DI, r_DR)
Fixed Input Data bytes according to the

NIST SP800-198 standard for key

derivation using the randomness as part

of the Context data

In some aspects, initiating device 1902 and/or responding device 1904 may reduce bandwidth usage by truncating the MACs. Unlike digital signatures, many MACs can be truncated, such as by dropping some of the bits of the MAC. Accordingly, initiating device 1902 and/or responding device 1904 may truncate any of the MACs (e.g., in stages 2204, 2210, and/or 2216). This reduction in bandwidth usage may be particularly beneficial when in scenarios where bandwidth is constrained.

In some aspects, the message payloads m_DI, m_DR, and m_Pmay be optional (e.g., may not contain meaningful data). Accordingly, initiating device 1902 and responding device 1904 may use message sequence chart 2200 only to authenticate each other (and, for example, not to exchange parameters).

The various aspects of this authentication procedure described herein are considered applicable in any type of mutual authentication. These aspects may, for example, be particular useful in a use case with a narrow bandwidth channel that only allows for a limited number of bits to be exchanged for security and privacy purposes. Because many MAC schemes use smaller number of bits than digital signatures, the bandwidth usage may be reduced, especially if truncated MACs are used.

These aspects may also, for example, be useful in many-to-one authentication schemes. In some many-to-one authentication schemes, each responding device may perform a separate mutual authentication procedure with an initiating device. This could include a first discovery initiation signal by the initiating devices, followed by a separate exchange of verifiable authentication messages between responding devices and the initiating devices. However, aspects of this disclosure streamline this procedure, as initiating device 1902 broadcasts an initiation message with a MAC generated based on its common secret identity K_DI. Accordingly, responding devices may be able to immediately verify the MAC and decide whether or not to respond. Responding devices may therefore not waste resources responding to invalid initiation messages. In some aspects, the initiation message may be the first message that responding device 1904 receives from initiating device 1902 as part of the authentication procedure (e.g., responding device 1904 may not receive any prior discovery messages or other messages from responding device 1904 before the initiation message). This stands in contrast to other discovery procedures, such as where initiating device 1902 broadcasts a discovery signal (without a MAC generated from its common secret identity K_DI), one or more responding devices respond, and initiating device 1902 then performs mutual authentication on each of the one or more responding devices in a separate, one-to-one authentication procedures.

FIG. 24 shows exemplary method 2400 of performing authentication at a wireless device according to some aspects. As shown in FIG. 24, method 2400 includes generating an initiation message authentication code based on a secret identifier of the wireless device (2402), transmitting the initiation message authentication code (2404), receiving a response message authentication code from a responding device (2406), determining whether the response message authentication code is valid based on a set of pairwise secret identities that are unique to respective pairings of the wireless device with different trusted devices (2408), and transmitting a confirmation message authentication code to the responding device if the response message authentication code is valid (2410).

FIG. 25 shows exemplary method 2500 of performing authentication at a wireless device according to some aspects. As shown in FIG. 25, method 2500 includes receiving an initiation message authentication code from an initiating device (2502), determining that the initiation message authentication code is valid based on a set of secret identities for different trusted devices (2504), generating a response message authentication code based on a pairwise secret identity that is unique to a pairing between the wireless device and the initiating device (2506), and transmitting the response message authentication code to the initiating device (2508).

In some aspects, initiating device 1902 may be characterized as a wireless device including a message code processor (e.g., message code processor 2010) configured to generate an initiation message authentication code based on a secret identifier of the wireless device and to transmit the initiation message authentication code, and a verifier (e.g., verifier 2008) configured to receive a response message authentication code from a responding device and to determine whether the response message authentication code is valid based on a set of pairwise secret identities that are unique to respective pairings of the wireless device with different trusted devices, the message code processor further configured to transmit a confirmation message authentication code to the responding device if the response message authentication code is valid.

In some aspects, responding device 1902 may be characterized as a wireless device including a verifier (e.g., verifier 2108) configured to receive an initiation message authentication code from an initiating device, and to determine that the initiation message authentication code is valid based on a set of secret identities for different trusted devices, and a message code processor (e.g., message code processor 2110) configured to generate a response message authentication code based on a pairwise secret identity that is unique to a pairing between the wireless device and the initiating device, and to transmit the response message authentication code to the initiating device.

As introduced in various aspects above, some D2D networks may use discovery procedures to help devices detect each other. For example, an initiating device (that initiates the discovery procedure) may broadcast a discovery initiation message. Nearby responding devices may receive this discovery initiation message, recognize that the initiating device is initiating discovery, and may then respond by transmitting respective discovery response messages to the initiating device. This type of discovery procedure can be characterized as a one-to-many discovery procedure, as a single device (the initiating device) performs discovery to detect multiple other devices (the responding devices).

In some scenarios, these D2D discovery procedures may experience problems with collisions. For example, if multiple responding devices transmit their respective discovery response messages on the same radio resources (e.g., the same time-frequency resources), these discovery response messages may collide with each other. The initiating device may not be able to successfully decode the colliding discovery response messages and may not be able to detect the corresponding responding devices. These types of collisions may be particularly problematic in D2D networks that operate without network coordination. As there is no centralized coordination from a network to help manage collisions, it is possible that many (or potentially even all) of the discovery response messages could collide. The initiating device may consequently not be able to discover all of the responding devices.

FIG. 26 shows an exemplary discovery procedure according to some aspects. As shown in FIG. 26, initiating device 2602 may broadcast a discovery initiation message. Responding devices 2604-2608 may be located in the vicinity of initiating device 2602 (e.g., within wireless communication range) and may therefore receive the discovery initiation message. In some aspects, initiating device 2602 and responding devices 2604-2608 may be configured to follow a shared schedule that includes periodic discovery windows. For example, initiating device 2602 and responding devices 2604-2608 may follow a shared schedule composed of a sequence of frames that are each composed of multiple slots (e.g., a time-slotted schedule). One or more of the slots in each frame (or every one of a number of frames) may be allocated for discovery procedures, where these blocks of slots allocated for discovery procedures each form a discovery window. These frames, slots, and discovery windows can be any duration of time and are not limited to any particular radio access technology. Initiating device 2602 may be configured to broadcast the discovery initiation message in one of these discovery windows. As responding devices 2604-2608 are following the same shared schedule, responding devices 2604-2608 may be configured to listen for discovery initiation messages during the discovery windows. Responding devices 2604-2608 may therefore receive the discovery initiation message from initiating device 2602 in the discovery window in which initiating device 2602 transmits the discovery initiation message.

After receiving the discovery initiation message, responding devices 2604-2608 may determine that the discovery initiation message is part of a discovery procedure initiated by initiating device 2602. Responding devices 2604-2608 may then decide to engage in the discovery procedure by responding to the discovery initiation message. In some cases, responding devices 2604-2608 may be configured to wait until a subsequent (e.g., the next scheduled in time) discovery window to respond to initiating device 2602. For example, the shared schedule may allocate a plurality of channels (e.g., each channel composed of an individual subcarrier or a set of subcarriers or block of spectrum) in a given discovery window on which responding devices can transmit discovery response messages. Responding devices 2604-2608 may therefore be configured to select (e.g., randomly) a respective channel from the plurality of channels and to subsequently transmit a discovery response message on their respectively selected channels. These channels are also referred to herein as discovery channels, where the set of discovery channels allocated in a given discovery window are the discovery resources for that discovery window.

If responding devices 2604-2608 select different respective channels, then there may not be any collisions between the discovery response messages. Accordingly, initiating device 2602 may be able to successfully receive and decode each of the discovery response messages (unless noise or other errors cause a decode failure). However, if multiple of responding devices 2604-2608 select the same channel, their discovery response messages will collide with each other. This can result in substantial interference between the affected responding devices. Accordingly, initiating device 2602 may receive both of discovery response messages on the same radio resources, which may corrupt the discovery response messages and prevent initiating device 2602 from successfully decoding them. As a result, initiating device 2602 may not be able to detect all of responding devices 2604-2608 in the discovery procedure.

In some cases, initiating device 2602 may perform a retransmission of the discovery initiation message, such as by using the next (or any subsequent) scheduled discovery window after the discovery window in which responding devices 2604-2608 transmit their discovery response messages. In other words, initiating device 2602 may perform a retransmission of the initial discovery initiation message in the next scheduled discovery window. While this can help with collisions, it may nevertheless be a suboptimal solution. For example, in an exemplary scenario initiating device 2602 may transmit a discovery initiation message in a first discovery window. Responding devices 2604-2608 may then respond in a second discovery window, where responding devices 2604 and 2606 may select the same channel to respond while responding device 2608 may select a different channel. Initiating device 2602 may therefore be able to successfully decode the discovery response message from responding device 2608 but may not be able to successfully decode the discovery response messages from responding devices 2604 and 2606. Continuing with the exemplary scenario, initiating device 2602 may then retransmit the discovery initiation message in a third discovery window (e.g., the next scheduled after the second discovery window). Responding devices 2604-2608 may receive this discovery initiation message and again respond by transmitting respective discovery response messages in a fourth discovery window. However, responding devices 2604 and 2608 may select the same channel to respond while responding device 2606 may select a different channel to respond. Initiating device 2602 may therefore be able to successfully decode the discovery response message from responding device 2606 but may not be able to successfully decode the discovery response message from responding devices 2604 and 2608.

Accordingly, while initiating device 2602 may have successfully decoded discovery response messages from responding devices 2606 and 2608 (in the fourth and second discovery windows, respectively), initiating device 2602 may not have successfully decoded any discovery response messages from responding device 2604. In other words, because responding device 2604 randomly selected the same channel as another responding device in for responding to both discovery initiation messages, both of its discovery response messages may have collided with other discovery response messages. Despite using multiple discovery procedures (e.g., retransmitting the discovery initiation message), initiating device 2602 may still not have successfully decoded discovery response messages from all of the responding devices. Consequently, initiating device 2602 may not have been able to discover all responding devices. While initiating device 2602 can in principle continue to perform retransmissions indefinitely until it is likely that all responding devices have been discovered (by successfully decoding a discovery response message), this may be inefficient. For example, if initiating device 2602 needs to perform a large number of retransmissions before detecting all responding devices, initiating device 2602 may not be able to discover all responding devices in a timely manner.

The probability that a given responding device transmits a colliding discovery response message with another responding device is the collision probability. This collision probability is governed by the number of devices in communication range of the initiating device (also known as the system load) as well as the number of available discovery resources (e.g., the discovery channels available for responding devices to respond on). When the collision probability is higher, the expected percentage of successful decodes of discovery response messages by the initiating device will be lower. Accordingly, higher collision probabilities can mean that it will take the initiating device longer to discover all responding devices in its vicinity. In other words, the discovery latency (the average time taken to discover a given responding device) may increase. Furthermore, the initiating device may also consume more power from repeatedly performing discovery over an extended period of time. In some cases, high system loads (e.g., in densely populated networks) can even lead to permanent collisions. It can therefore be advantageous to attempt to keep the collision probability below excessive levels.

Accordingly, various aspects of this disclosure provide a discovery procedure that can reduce collisions, such as in one-to-many discovery procedures. By reducing collisions, interference between wireless devices is also reduced. As further described herein, these discovery procedures may provide mechanisms for initiating devices and/or responding devices to help avoid collisions. These aspects can therefore improve the reliability of the discovery procedures, as the initiating device may be able to more reliably detect the responding devices. This can in turn lead to reduced discovery latency and reduced power consumption.

Various aspects of this disclosure can be characterized as initiator-controlled or responder-controlled. Initiator-controlled aspects may include techniques implemented by initiating devices to reduce collision probability while responder-controlled aspects may include techniques implemented by responding devices to reduce collision probability. The internal structure of initiating devices and responding devices will first be described, followed by a procedural explanation of the initiator-controlled and responder-controlled discovery techniques.

FIG. 27 shows an exemplary internal configuration of initiating device 2602 according to some aspects, while FIG. 28 shows an exemplary internal configuration of responding device 2604 according to some aspects. The designations “initiating” and “responding” are used herein to refer to their primary function in the discovery procedure; however, these designations are not limiting and some devices can be configured with the functionality and structure of both initiating and responding devices. The configurations shown in FIGS. 27 and 28 are focused on the discovery features of initiating device 2602 and responding device 2604 and may therefore not expressly depict other components of initiating device 2602 and responding device 2604 that are less directly related to discovery.

Starting first with FIG. 27, initiating device 2602 may include antenna system 2702, RF transceiver 2704, and baseband modem 2706. In some aspects, antenna system 2702, RF transceiver 2704, and baseband modem 2706 may be configured as described above for antenna system 202, RF transceiver 204, and baseband modem 206 of terminal device 102. Accordingly, initiating device 2602 may be configured to transmit and receive wireless signals via antenna system 2702 and RF transceiver 2704. RF transceiver 2704 may therefore modulate and transmit baseband samples (provided by baseband modem 2706) via antenna system 2702 in the transmit direction. RF transceiver 2704 may also receive and demodulate radio signals via antenna system 2702 and provide the resulting baseband samples to baseband modem 2706 in the receive direction.

FIG. 27 also depicts several internal components of baseband modem 2706, including decoder 2708 and discovery controller 2710. In some aspects, baseband modem 2706 may include a digital signal processor and a protocol controller, e.g., similar to digital signal processor 208 and protocol controller 210 of terminal device 102 in FIG. 2. In some aspects, the internal components of baseband modem 2706 may therefore be subcomponents of the digital signal processor (e.g., physical layer components) and/or subcomponents of the protocol controller (e.g., protocol stack components).

In various aspects, decoder 2708 and discovery controller 2710 may be structurally realized as hardware (e.g., as one or more digitally-configured hardware circuits, such as ASICs, FPGAs, or another type of dedicated hardware circuit), as software (e.g., one or more processors configured to retrieve and execute program code that defines arithmetic, control, and/or I/O instructions and is stored in a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium), or as a mixed combination of hardware and software. In one exemplary aspect, decoder 2708 may be a digital hardware decoder, such as a hardware circuit configured to perform decoding operations on packets. Discovery controller 2710 may be a processor configured to execute an instruction set that controls discovery operations of initiating device 2602, which includes control over decoding by decoder 2708. In another exemplary aspect, decoder 2708 and discovery controller 2710 may each be software, such as where decoder 2708 and discovery controller 2710 are implemented as one or more processors configured to execute instruction sets that define their respective functionality. Decoder 2708 may therefore be a processor configured to execute instruction sets that define its decoding operations while discovery controller 2710 may be a processor configured to execute an instruction set that controls discovery operations of initiating device 2602. The hardware and/or algorithmic structure of decoder 2708 and discovery controller 2710 is fully detailed in the below description related to FIGS. 29-32.

As shown in FIG. 28, responding device 2604 may include antenna system 2802, RF transceiver 2804, and baseband modem 2806. In some aspects, antenna system 2806, RF transceiver 2804, and baseband modem 2806 may be configured as described above for antenna system 202, RF transceiver 204, and baseband modem 206 of terminal device 102. Accordingly, responding device 2604 may be configured to transmit and receive wireless signals via antenna system 2802 and RF transceiver 2804. RF transceiver 2804 may therefore modulate and transmit baseband samples (provided by baseband modem 2806) via antenna system 2802 in the transmit direction. RF transceiver 2804 may also receive and demodulate radio signals via antenna system 2802 and provide the resulting baseband samples to baseband modem 2806 in the receive direction.

FIG. 28 also depicts several internal components of baseband modem 2806, including decoder 2808 and discovery controller 2810. In some aspects, baseband modem 2806 may include a digital signal processor and a protocol controller, e.g., similar to digital signal processor 208 and protocol controller 210 of terminal device 102 in FIG. 2. In some aspects, the internal components of baseband modem 2806 may therefore be subcomponents of the digital signal processor (e.g., physical layer components) and/or subcomponents of the protocol controller (e.g., protocol stack components).

In various aspects, decoder 2808 and discovery controller 2810 may be structurally realized as hardware (e.g., as one or more digitally-configured hardware circuits, such as ASICs, FPGAs, or another type of dedicated hardware circuit), as software (e.g., one or more processors configured to retrieve and execute program code that defines arithmetic, control, and/or I/O instructions and is stored in a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium), or as a mixed combination of hardware and software. In one exemplary aspect, decoder 2708 may be a digital hardware decoder, such as a hardware circuit configured to perform decoding operations on packets. Discovery controller 2810 may be a processor configured to execute an instruction set that controls discovery operations of responding device 2604, which includes control over decoding by decoder 2808. In another exemplary aspect, decoder 2808 and discovery controller 2810 may each be software, such as where decoder 2808 and discovery controller 2810 are implemented as one or more processors configured to execute instruction sets that define their respective functionality. Decoder 2808 may therefore be a processor configured to execute instruction sets that define its decoding operations while discovery controller 2810 may be a processor configured to execute an instruction set that controls discovery operations of responding device 2604. The hardware and/or algorithmic structure of decoder 2808 and discovery controller 2810 is detailed in full in the below description related to FIGS. 29-32.

As previously introduced, some aspects of this disclosure relate to initiator-controlled discovery procedures. FIG. 29 shows exemplary message sequence chart 2900 according to some aspects, which shows an example of an initiator-controlled discovery procedure. In particular, initiating device 2602 may use dedicated messaging to provide a mute instruction to certain responding devices. These responding devices may then identify the mute instruction and refrain from responding to subsequent discovery initiation messages. This may reduce the number of responding devices that respond to these subsequent discovery initiation messages. As the number of responding devices are reduced, the collision probability can also be reduced.

As shown in FIG. 29, the discovery procedure may involve initiating device 2602 and one or more responding devices, e.g., responding devices 2604-2608. In some aspects, responding devices 2606 and 2608 may be configured in the manner of responding device 2604 described above in FIG. 28. Initiating device 2602 may start message sequence chart 2900 by broadcasting a discovery initiation message in stages 2902-2906 (which may involve a single broadcast but is shown in separate stages to show that responding devices 2604-2608 receive the broadcast separately). For example, discovery controller 2710 of initiating device 2602 may broadcast the discovery initiation message as a wireless signal via RF transceiver 2704 and antenna system 2702. As previously introduced, initiating device 2602 and responding devices 2604-2608 may be configured to follow a shared scheduled that includes periodic discovery windows (e.g., one or more slots every frame or every several frames). Accordingly, discovery controller 2710 may be configured to transmit the discovery initiation message in a first discovery window.

Responding devices 2604-2608 may then separately receive the discovery initiation message in stages 2902-2906. Using responding device 2604 as an example, decoder 2808 may receive the discovery initiation message via antenna system 2802 and RF transceiver 2804. Decoder 2808 may then decode the discovery initiation message and provide the decoded version of the discovery initiation message to discovery controller 2810.

Responding devices 2604-2608 may then respond to the discovery initiation message by transmitting respective discovery response messages. As shown in FIG. 29, responding devices 2604-2608 may select respective channels in stages 2908-2912. Using responding device 2604 as an example, discovery controller 2810 may select a channel from a plurality of channels that are pre-allocated for discovery (e.g., the plurality of discovery channels) in a second discovery window. In some aspects, each of the plurality of channels may be a single subcarrier, while in other aspects each of the plurality of channels may be composed of multiple subcarriers or blocks of spectrum. In some aspects, the plurality of channels may remain constant over multiple discovery windows, while in other aspects the plurality of channels may change each or every several discovery windows. In either case, a given discovery window may have a plurality of channels available for discovery. In some aspects, discovery controller 2810 may select the channel by randomly selecting from the plurality of channels.

After selecting their respective channels, responding devices 2604-2606 may transmit respective discovery response messages in stages 2914-2918. Continuing with the example of responding device 2604, discovery controller 2810 may generate a discovery response message in response to the discovery initiation message. The discovery response message can include, for example, information that identifies responding device 2604 (e.g., a device identifier) and any other relevant communication parameters. Discovery controller 2810 may then transmit the discovery response message in the second discovery window, such as by transmitting the discovery response message via RF transceiver 2804 and antenna system 2802.

Responding devices 2604-2608 may transmit their respective discovery response messages in the same second discovery window. However, in the example of FIG. 29, responding devices 2604 and 2606 may have selected the same channel in stages 2908 and 2910. Accordingly, responding devices 2604 and 2606 may transmit their discovery response messages on the same channel, and their discovery response messages may consequently collide.

Initiating device 2602 may receive the discovery response messages in the second discovery window and then detect responding devices in stage 2920. For example, decoder 2708 may receive the signal data (e.g., baseband samples) for the second discovery window via antenna system 2702 and RF transceiver 2704 and then attempt to decode the signal data on each of the plurality of channels (that are pre-allocated for discovery in the second discovery window). Decoder 2708 may perform this decoding according to any type of decoding scheme, where the decoding scheme corresponds to an encoding scheme used by responding devices 2604-2608 to encode the discovery response messages.

If decoder 2708 successfully decodes a discovery response message from a given channel in the second discovery window (e.g., as indicated by an error-detecting code, such as a cyclic redundancy check (CRC)), decoder 2708 may provide the decoded version of the discovery response message to discovery controller 2710. Discovery controller 2710 may then be able to identity which responding device transmitted the discovery response message, such as by identifying a device identifier of the responding device. Accordingly, discovery controller 2710 may discover the responding devices in stage 2920 pending the successful decode of their discovery response message.

In the example of FIG. 29, decoder 2708 may successfully decode the discovery response message from responding device 2608 and discovery controller 2710 may therefore detect responding device 2608 in stage 2920. However, as the discovery response messages from responding devices 2604 and 2606 collided, decoder 2708 may not be able to successfully decode these discovery response messages. For example, decoder 2708 may detect a decode error when attempting to decode the signal data on the channel that responding devices 2604 and 2606 both selected. As decoder 2708 is not able to successfully decode a discovery response message from responding device 2604 or 2606, discovery controller 2710 may not detect either of responding device 2604 or 2606.

Initiating device 2602 may then perform a retransmission of the discovery initiation message. However, instead of immediately sending out another discovery initiation message, initiating device 2602 may use dedicated messaging (e.g., individually addressed to a particular device or devices) to instruct certain responding devices to mute, or in other words, to refrain from transmitting a discovery response message. For example, discovery controller 2708 may have detected responding devices in stage 2920 (e.g., the responding devices whose discovery response messages successfully decoded by decoder 2708), which includes responding device 2608 in this example. Discovery controller 2708 may then select one or more of the detected responding devices. Discovery controller 2708 may then generate a dedicated message for these one or more selected responding devices. These dedicated messages may be individually addressed to a particular responding device and may include an instruction to mute for a set number of discovery procedures (e.g., to refrain from responding to the next set number of discovery initiation messages).

Discover controller 2708 may then transmit the dedicated messages to the one or more selected responding devices in stage 2922, such as by transmitting the dedicated messages via RF transceiver 2704 and antenna system 2702. In the example of FIG. 29, responding device 2608 may be the only detected responding device, and initiating device 2602 may therefore select responding device 2608 to transmit the dedicated message to. In other exemplary scenarios, there may be multiple detected responding devices, from which discovery controller 2710 may select the one or more selected responding devices to transmit the dedicated messages to.

As shown in FIG. 29, responding device 2608 may then identify the dedicated message in stage 2924. As previously indicated, responding device 2608 may be configured in the manner of responding device 2604 in FIG. 28 and may thus include a decoder 2808 and discovery controller 2810. Decoder 2808 of responding device 2608 may decode the dedicated message and provide the decoded version of the dedicated message to discovery controller 2810. Discovery controller 2810 may then determine that the dedicated message is an instruction to mute for a set number of upcoming discovery procedures, e.g., to refrain from responding from the next set number of discovery initiation messages.

Initiating device 2602 may then retransmit the discovery initiation message, namely by re-broadcasting the discovery initiation message in a third discovery window in stages 2926-2930. The third discovery window can be any discovery window scheduled after the second discovery window. As shown in FIG. 29, responding devices 2604-2608 may receive this discovery initiation message. Responding devices 2604 and 2606 may again select respective channels from the plurality of channels (allocated for discovery in the third discovery window) in stages 2932 and 2484. Responding devices 2604 and 2606 may then transmit respective discovery response messages in stages 2936 and 2938 in a fourth discovery window.

By contrast, responding device 2608 may not select a channel and may not transmit a discovery response message in response to the discovery initiation message. Responding device 2608 may therefore follow the instruction in the dedicated message to mute for this discovery initiation message (optionally in addition to further discovery initiation messages depending on the set number specified in the dedicated message) and may thus refrain from transmitting a discovery response message.

As shown in FIG. 29, initiating device 2602 may receive the discovery response messages from responding devices 2604 and 2606 in stages 2936 and 2938. In this example, responding devices 2604 and 2606 may select different channels from the plurality of channels, and may therefore transmit their respective discovery response messages without collisions. Accordingly, when initiating device 2602 attempts to detect responding devices with decoder 2708 and discovery controller 2710 in stage 2940, initiating device 2602 may be able to successfully decode the discovery response messages from both responding devices 2604 and 2606. Initiating device 2602 may therefore be able to detect both responding devices 2604 and 2606.

Because initiating device 2602 has instructed one or more of the detected responding devices to mute in stage 2922, the collision probability may be reduced. In other words, as fewer responding devices will transmit discovery response messages, there may be a reduced probability that multiple responding devices will select the same channel on which to transmit their discovery response messages.

In the example of FIG. 29, there was only one detected responding device (from the first discovery procedure) for discovery controller 2710 to instruct to mute. In other examples, there may be multiple detected responding devices. In these cases, discovery controller 2710 may be configured to select a number (or, equivalently, percentage) of the detected responding devices to instruct to mute. Discovery controller 2710 may then send respective dedicated messages to these selected responding devices that instruct them to mute for a set number of upcoming discovery initiation messages. In some aspects, discovery controller 2710 may be configured to select all of the detected responding devices to instruct to mute. As discovery controller 2710 may already have detected these devices after the initial transmission of the discovery initiation message, discovery controller 2710 may not need to receive another discovery response message from these devices in response to the next discovery initiation message.

In other aspects, discovery controller 2710 may select a reduced subset of the detected responding devices to instruct to mute. In some aspects, this can be based on a criteria, such as the number of discovery response messages that were successfully decoded in the first discovery procedure. For example, discovery controller 2710 may compare the number of detected responding devices (from stage 2920) to a predefined threshold. If the number of detected responding devices is greater than the predefined threshold, discovery controller 2710 may select a first number of detected responding devices to instruct to mute. if the number of detected responding devices is less than the predefined threshold, discovery controller 2710 may select a second number of detected responding devices to instruct to mute, where the first number is greater than the second number. In other words, when there is a greater number of detected responding devices, discovery controller 2710 may select a greater number of these detected responding devices to instruct to mute. Because there are more detected responding devices, this can indicate that the collision probability will be higher. Accordingly, discovery controller 2710 may instruct more responding devices to mute to attempt to counter this higher collision probability. In various aspects, discovery controller 2710 may use multiple predefined thresholds of detected responding devices, where the predefined thresholds map to progressively higher numbers of detected responding devices as the predefined thresholds increase in value.

In some aspects, discovery controller 2710 may be configured to select a set number of discovery initiation messages that the selected responding devices are muted for. This set number refers to how many subsequent discovery initiation messages the selected responding devices will remain muted for. In particular, discovery controller 2710 may indicate the set number of discovery initiation messages to mute in the dedicated message. The selected responding devices may then identify the set number in the dedicated message and subsequently refrain from transmitting discovery response messages in the response to the set number of subsequent discovery initiation messages from the initiating device. In some aspects, discovery controller 2710 may use a predefined number as the set number, such as one (or any other number). In other words, discovery controller 2710 may instruct the selected responding devices to mute for the next scheduled discovery initiation message (or any other number of upcoming discovery initiation messages). In other aspects, discovery controller 2710 may dynamically select the set number, such as based on the number of detected responding devices. In this example, discovery controller 2710 may be configured to compare the number of detected responding devices to a predefined threshold. If the number of detected responding devices is greater than the predefined threshold, discovery controller 2710 may select a first number as the set number of discovery initiation messages to mute the selected responding devices for. If the number of detected responding devices is less than the predefined threshold, discovery controller 2710 may select a second number as the set number to mute, where the first number is greater than the second number. Accordingly, discovery controller 2710 may be configured to mute the selected responding devices for more discovery initiation messages (e.g., longer periods of time) when there are more detected responding devices.

In some aspects, initiating device 2602 may continue to retransmit the discovery initiation message over time. Accordingly, initiating device 2602 may broadcast a discovery initiation message and detect responding devices by successfully decoding discovery response messages. Initiating device 2602 may then select one or more of the detected responding devices and transmit dedicated messages to these selected responding devices that instruct them to mute for a set number of subsequent discovery initiation messages (e.g., retransmissions of the initial discovery initiation message). Initiating device 2602 may then broadcast another discovery initiation message and detect responding devices by successfully decoding discovery response messages. As the one or more selected responding devices are muted, the collision probability will be reduced, and initiating device 2602 may be able to detect responding devices whose discovery response messages underwent collisions when responding to the previous discovery initiation message. Initiating device 2602 may again select one or more of the detected responding devices to mute for a set number of upcoming discovery initiation messages, and may transmit dedicated messages to these selected responding devices that instruct them to mute. Initiating device 2602 may continue in this manner by repeatedly transmitting discovery initiation messages, detecting responding devices, and muting some of the detected responding devices.

In some aspects, the dedicated message transmitted by initiating device 2602 may be a unicast message, or in other words, initiating device 2602 may address and transmit the dedicated message to a single responding device. Accordingly, if initiating device 2602 selects multiple responding devices to mute, initiating device 2602 may transmit multiple dedicated messages, each of which is addressed to a single responding device that initiating device 2602 wants to mute.

In other aspects, initiating device 2602 may broadcast a single discovery confirmation message to the responding devices that identifies the selected responding devices (i.e., the responding devices that are instructed to mute). Responding devices may therefore receive the discovery confirmation message, check whether they are identified as selected responding devices, and, if so, refrain from responding to subsequent discovery initiation messages from initiating device 2602.

FIG. 30 shows exemplary message sequence chart 3000, which illustrates the use of discovery confirmation messages according to some aspects. As shown in FIG. 30, initiating device 2602 and responding devices 2604-2614 may be involved in the procedure of message sequence chart 3000. Initiating device 2602 may start message sequence chart 3000 by transmitting a discovery initiation message in stage 3002. Similar to the previous examples using discovery initiation messages, this may be a broadcast message on the discovery channel during a first discovery window. The discovery initiation message in stage 3002 is depicted as a single broadcast in FIG. 30 for purposes of simplicity, and the discovery initiation message may be received separately by responding devices 2604-2614 in the same manner as responding devices 2604-2608 in stages 2902-2906 of FIG. 29.

As shown in FIG. 30, responding devices 2604, 2608, and 2614 may transmit discovery response messages in stages 3004-3008 that are received and successfully decoded by initiating device 2602. Conversely, initiating device 2602 may not receive and successfully decode discovery response messages from responding devices 2606, 2610, and 2612. This can occur for any of a number of reasons. For example, one or more of responding devices 2606, 2610, and 2612 may not receive and/or successfully decode the discovery initiation message in stage 3002, and may therefore not be aware of the discovery initiation message. In another example, one or more of responding devices 2606, 2610, and 2612 may receive and successfully decode the discovery initiation message in stage 3002 but may not transmit a discovery response message. In another example, one or more responding devices 2606, 2610, and 2612 may transmit a discovery response message that initiating device 2602 is not able to successfully receive and decode (e.g., due to a collision in the discovery response messages). In any case, initiating device 2602 may only successfully receive and decode discovery response messages from responding devices 2604, 2608, and 2614.

Like the exemplary case in FIG. 29, initiating device 2602 may transmit an additional message to one or more selected responding devices that instructs them to mute (e.g., to refrain from responding to subsequent discovery initiation messages). Instead of sending a separate dedicated message addressed to each of the one or more selected responding devices, initiating device 2602 may transmit a discovery confirmation message in stage 3010. This discovery confirmation message may be a broadcast message (intended for all responding devices) and may identify the one or more selected responding devices that are instructed to mute.

For example, discovery controller 2710 may identify which responding devices transmitted discovery response messages that were successfully decoded by decoder 2708. These responding devices are the detected responding devices, namely responding devices 2604, 2608, and 2614 in the example of FIG. 30. Discovery controller 2710 may then select some or all of the detected responding devices as the one or more selected responding devices. Discovery controller 2710 may then generate a discovery confirmation message that identifies the one or more selected responding devices, and may subsequently transmit the discovery confirmation message (via RF transceiver 2704 and antenna system 2702). In the example of FIG. 30, discovery controller 2710 may select all of the detected responding devices, namely responding devices 2604, 2608, and 2614, as the one or more selected responding devices.

As shown in FIG. 30, responding devices 2604-2614 may receive the discovery confirmation message. Responding devices 2604-2614 may then determine whether the discovery confirmation message identifies them as one of the one or more selected responding devices. If so, responding devices 2604-2614 may determine that initiating device 2602 has already detected them and that they should refrain from responding to subsequent discovery initiation messages. In the example of FIG. 30, responding devices 2604, 2608, and 2614 may determine that they are identified as selected responding devices by the discovery confirmation message. Responding devices 2604, 2608, and 2614 may therefore refrain from responding to discovery initiation messages from initiating device 2602. In some aspects, the responding devices 2604, 2608, and 2614 may be configured to refrain from responding to discovery initiation messages from initiating device 2602 for a predefined amount of time (e.g., several minutes) and/or a predefined number of discovery initiation messages. In other aspects, the discovery confirmation message may include a mute window that specifies an amount of time or number of discovery initiation messages during which the selected responding devices should mute.

Initiating device 2602 may then transmit another discovery initiation message in stage 3012. This may be considered a retransmission of the discovery initiation message in stage 3002. As responding devices 2604, 2608, and 2612 determined that they were identified in the discovery confirmation message, they may not respond to the discovery initiation message. As shown in FIG. 30, responding devices 2606 and 2610 may transmit discovery response messages in stages 3014 and 3016 that are successfully received and decoded by initiating device 2602. Accordingly, initiating device 2602 may select responding devices 2606 and 2610 as selected responding devices and may generate a second discovery confirmation message that identifies responding devices 2606 and 2610. As the discovery confirmation message of stage 3010 already identified responding devices 2604, 2608, and 2614, the second discovery confirmation message may not identify responding devices 2604, 2608, and 2614.

Initiating device 2602 may then transmit the second discovery confirmation message in stage 3018. Responding devices 2606 and 2610 may receive the discovery confirmation message and determine that they are identified as selected responding devices.

Accordingly, when initiating device 2602 transmits a third discovery initiation message in stage 3020, responding devices 2604, 2606, 2608, 2610, and 2614 may refrain from responding. As shown in FIG. 30, only responding device 2612 may respond to the discovery initiation message in stage 3022. Initiating device 2602 may successfully receive and decode the discovery response message and may then select responding device 2612 as a selected responding device. Initiating device 2602 may then transmit a discovery confirmation message in stage 3024 that identifies responding device 2612 as a selected responding device. Responding device 2612 may therefore refrain from responding to subsequent discovery initiation messages.

In some aspects, initiating device 2602 and responding devices 2604-2614 may use discovery confirmation messages that explicitly identify the selected responding devices, such as by specifying a device ID of each selected responding device. The discovery controllers of responding devices 2604-2614 may therefore identify that they are instructed to refrain from responding by identifying their device IDs in the discovery confirmation message. In other aspects, initiating device 2602 and responding devices 2604-2614 may use a specific format of discovery confirmation messages that reduces the size of the discovery confirmation message. In one example, initiating device 2602 may generate the discovery confirmation to have a payload including a bit string S of length L, where bit string S identifies the selected responding devices. Initiating device 2602 may use a mechanism similar to a Bloom filter to determine the L bits in a manner that identifies the selected responding devices. As further described below, the basic principle is that initiating device 2602 will activate K distinct bits (e.g., set the bits to binary “1”) in bit string S for each selected responding device. The specific K activated bits (in other words, the bit positions that are activated) for each selected responding device are derived from the device ID of the selected responding device.

In one example, initiating device 2602 may execute the following pseudocode to generate bit string S:

TABLE 1

Pseudocode for generation of bit string S

Line

Number
Code

1
Input (L, K, N, ID_DR= [ID_DR,1, · · · , ID_DR,N])

2
Output (S)

3
Initialize the bit string S with L zeros, as S ← 0_L

4
FOR i: 1 · · · N

5
Initialize the random generator g with ID_DR,i, as g(ID_DR,i)

6
Extract K uniform random integers within the [2⁰,2³²]

interval, as U = g(ID_DR,i, K)

7
Initialize bit selection vector L, as L ← 1 . . . L

8
FOR j: 1 · · · K

9
Select the j^thindex to be active in S,

as h_j= L(mod(U(j), L + 1 − j))

10
Activate the j^thindex to be active in S, as S(h_j) = 1

11
Exclude the j^thselected index from L, as L = L\{h_j}

12
END

13
END

Discovery controller 2710 may be configured to execute the procedure of Table 1 to generate the discovery confirmation message. Discovery controller 2710 may be configured to begin execution of this procedure after identifying the selected responding devices (e.g., after selecting some or all of the detected responding devices as selected responding devices to instruct to mute). Like described above for FIGS. 19-25, the wireless devices may be assigned device IDs, which are secret identities that can be periodically updated via download from a cloud server. Initiating device 2602 and responding devices 2604-2614 may therefore each be assigned a device ID. Each wireless device may also be configured (e.g., by the cloud server) with a trusted entity list that includes device IDs of trusted devices. When initiating device 2602 receives a discovery response message from a responding device, discovery controller 2710 may be configured to determine the device ID of the responding device (e.g., by determining which device ID in the trusted entity list can produce the same hash value as in the discovery response message).

Accordingly, as shown in Table 1, discovery controller 2710 may start with vector ID_DR(the trusted entity list) containing the device IDs of all selected responding devices ID_DR,i, i=1, . . . , N, where N is the number of selected responding devices (e.g., selected from the overall set of detected responding devices). Discovery controller 2710 may also start with the bit string length L and the number of bits K to be activated for each selected responding device. The values for L and K may be predefined (e.g., by a designer during initial configuration of the devices) or may be adapted over time (e.g., to increase or decrease the size of S or the number of activated bits in K based on the number of responding devices). As shown in Table 1, discovery controller 2710 may first initialize the bit string S as L zeros, namely as S←0_L. Bit string S is therefore indexed from 1 to L.

Discovery controller 2710 may then iterate through the N selected responding devices. For each ith selected responding device, discovery controller 2710 may hash its device ID ID_DR,iK times with an independent hash function. The output of these K hash functions gives the bit index to be activated. Discovery controller 2710 may then activate these bit indices in S, thus obtaining an S that has K bit positions (given by the hash function) activated for each of the N selected responding devices.

In the example of Table 1, discovery controller 2710 may emulate the output of these K hash functions using a random number generator. In particular, discovery controller 2710 may use ID_DR,ito initialize the seed of a pseudo-random generator g and may then extract K random numbers from the random generator g, where the resulting K random numbers therefore provide the K hash outputs. As shown in Table 1, discovery controller 2710 may therefore extract K uniform random integers within the [2⁰, 2³²] interval, expressed as U=g(ID_DR,i,K) with U being the vector of K integers. In various aspects, discovery controller 2710 can use the full device ID ID_DR,ior a reduced presentation (e.g., obtained by hashing ID_DR,i) as the seed of the random generator g.

Discovery controller 2710 may then identify the K bits of S to activate using the random integers U. To ensure that the number of activated bits is always K (even in the case where the number of distinct integers is less than K), discovery controller 2710 may select the K bits (using U) in an iterative manner and, after selection of each bit, may remove the selected bit from an available pool. This may prevent the same bit from being selected again in the next iteration. In other words, even if multiple integers in U are the same, the fact that each bit is removed from the pool before selecting the next bit will prevent the same bit from being selected for activation multiple times. In particular, as shown in Table 1, discovery controller 2710 may initialize a bit selection vector L as the integers [1, . . . , L]. Discovery controller 2710 may then iterate through the K bit selections. For each jth bit selection, discovery controller 2710 may select the jth bit to activate as h_j=L(mod(U(j),L+1−j)) (e.g., taking the modulus, base L+1−j, of the jth integer in U and then using this value as the index to select a value from bit selection vector L). Discovery controller 2710 may then activate the jth index (with the bit index in S given by h_j) in S, namely with S(h_j)−1. Discovery controller 2710 may then remove this jth index from bit selection vector L via the operation L=L{h_j}. Discovery controller 2710 may iteratively complete this loop K times, thus activating K bits in S for the ith selected responding device. Discovery controller 2710 may then repeat the iterative loop for all N selected responding devices.

Discovery controller 2710 may then use the resulting bit string S as the payload of the discovery confirmation message. Responding devices 2604-2614 may therefore receive this discovery confirmation message and evaluate the bit string S to determine whether they are selected as selected responding devices (in other words, whether initiating device 2602 successfully received and decoded their discovery response messages and then selected them as selected responding devices). Responding devices 2604-2614 may perform this check by attempting to regenerate a local copy S_localof the original bit string S, where the local copy S_localhas bits activated at the indices given by their respective device IDs.

In one example, responding devices 2604-2614 may use the following pseudocode for evaluating the bit string S in the discovery confirmation message:

TABLE 2

Pseudocode for evaluation of bit string S

Line

Number
Code

1
Input (L, K, ID_DR,i, S)

2
Output (Confirmation if the DR’s MSG(2) was detected by the DI)

3
Initialize the bit string S_localwith L zeros, as S_local← 0_L

4
Initialize the random generator g with ID_DR,i, as g(ID_DR,i)

5
Extract K uniform random integers within the [2⁰,2³²] interval, as U = g(ID_DR,i, K)

6
Initialize bit selection vector L, as L ← 1 . . . L

7
FOR j: 1 · · · K

8
Select the j^thindex to be active in S_local, as h_j= L(mod(U(j), L + 1 − j))

9
Activate the j^thindex to be active in S_local, as S_local(h_j) = 1

10
Exclude the j^thselected index from L, as L = L\{h_j}

11
END

12
Confirm that the DR’s MSG(2) was detected by the DI, as S ⊗ S_local= S_local

Responding devices 2604-2614 may be configured to execute the pseudocode of Table 2 at their respective discovery controllers. Using responding device 2604 as an example, decoder 2808 may receive and decode the discovery confirmation message before providing the discovery confirmation message to discovery controller 2810. Discovery controller 2810 may then execute the pseudocode of Table 2 on the discovery confirmation message. As shown in Table 2, discovery controller 2810 may start with the bit string length L, number of bits K to be activated per selected responding device, device ID ID_DR,iof responding device 2604, and bit string S (from the payload of the discovery confirmation message). Discovery controller 2810 may then initialize the local bit string S_localas a vector of L zeros, namely as S_local←0_L. Discovery controller 2810 may then initialize its own pseudo-random generator g with ID_DR,ias the seed, or in other words, g(ID_DR,i). It is assumed that initiating device 2602 and responding devices 2604-2614 are configured with the same pseudo-random generators and, accordingly, will produce the same random integers when initialized with the same seed value.

Discovery controller 2810 may then generate K uniform random integers within the [2⁰, 2³²] interval, which may produce vector U=g(ID_DR,i,K). As pseudo-random generator g is assumed the same as the pseudo-random generator used by initiating device 2602, this random integer vector U should be the same as a random integer vector U generated by initiating device 2602 if using the same seed. Accordingly, if initiating device 2602 selected responding device 2604 as a selected responding device, initiating device 2602 will have activated bits in S using the same random integer vector U. Responding device 2604 may therefore be able to generate local copy S_localof the bit string and compare it to the original bit string S to see if the same bits are activated.

As shown in Table 2, discovery controller 2810 may initialize bit selection vector L as a vector of integers from [1, . . . , L]. Discovery controller 2810 may then loop over the K bits to be activated and, during each jth iteration, activate a bit of local copy S_localaccording to the jth integer of U. In doing so, discovery controller 2810 may attempt to activate the same bits of S_localthat initiating device 2602 would have activated if responding device 2604 was a selected responding device. Each iteration may therefore follow the same procedure used by initiating device 2602 in the size-K loop in the pseudocode of Table 1. In particular, discovery controller 2810 may select an index h_jof S_localto activate, where discovery controller 2810 determines h_jusing U as h_j=L(mod(U(j), L+1−j)). In other words, discovery controller 2810 may identify the jth integer in U and use the modulus, base L+1−j, of this integer to select an index of bit selection vector L. Discovery controller 2810 may then select h_jas the integer positioned at this index in L. Discovery controller 2810 may then activate the bit at the h_jth position in S_local, namely as S_local(h_j)=1, and may subsequently exclude this index h_jfrom L with the operation L=L{h_j}.

After performing this loop for all K bits to be activated, discovery controller 2810 may obtain local copy S_localof the bit string. Discovery controller 2810 may then compare S_localto the original bit string S to determine whether the same bits are activated. For example, discovery controller 2810 may calculate the XOR of S and S_local. If all activated bits of S_localare also activated in S, the XOR product S⊗S_localwill be equal to S_local(as the XOR will produce “1”s at indices of S and S_localthat are both “1” while producing “0”s at all other indices). Discovery controller 2810 may therefore check if the XOR product S⊗S_localis the same as S_local. If so, discovery controller 2810 may determine that initiating device 2602 selected responding device 2604 as a selected responding device. Discovery controller 2810 may therefore refrain from responding to subsequent discovery procedures from initiating device 2602. If the XOR product S⊗S_localis not the same as S_local, discovery controller 2810 may determine that initiating device 2602 did not select responding device 2604 as a selected responding device. Discovery controller 2810 may therefore respond to subsequent discovery procedures from initiating device 2602.

Use of such bit strings may reduce the size of the discovery confirmation message. However, because there is no restriction preventing activation of the same two bits in S for two different selected responding devices, this type of encoding can lead to false positives in some csaes. For example, responding device 2606 may determine that its K bits are activated in S because initiating device 2602 activated these K bits for other selected responding devices. Responding device 2606 may therefore determine that it was selected as a selected responding device when initiating device 2602 did not actually detect responding device 2606 (e.g., did not successfully receive and decode its discovery response message). As a result, responding device 2606 may refrain from responding to subsequent discovery initiation messages from initiating device 2602, and initiating device 2602 may not detect responding device 2606. These failed detections can be reduced through proper selection of K and L given N. The probability of a false positive can be modeled as

$P_{fp} = {[1 - {(1 - \frac{1}{L})}^{K \cdot N}]}^{K} \approx {(1 - e^{- \frac{K \cdot N}{L}})}^{K} \geq {(\frac{1}{2})}^{\frac{L}{N} \ln 2}$

In some aspects, the parameter L can be selected based on a desired false positive probability P_fp. FIG. 31 shows exemplary chart 3100 depicting the required L to achieve different P_fptargets given the number N of selected responding devices (which can be some or all of the detected responding devices). Curve 3102 gives the plot for P_fp=0.01, curve 3104 gives the plot for P_fp=0.1, and curve 3106 gives the plot for P_fp=0.2.

In some aspects, responding devices may be configured to reduce false positives by continuing to respond to discovery initiation messages from initiating device 2602 even after the responding devices determine they are identified in the discovery confirmation message. For example, responding devices 2604-2614 may be configured with a number R of allowed responses, where responding devices 2604-2614 may be configured to perform at least R responses to discovery initiation messages (e.g., transmit discovery response messages in response to at least R discovery initiation messages). This number R of allowed responses would therefore be a tradeoff between the final false positive probability P_fp,final=P_fp^Rand the overall system degradation (caused by collisions) due to the R allowed replies.

The aspects described above for FIGS. 29-31 relate to an initiator-controlled discovery procedure using dedicated messages and discovery confirmation messages. FIG. 32 shows exemplary message sequence chart 3200 according to some aspects, which illustrates an initiator-controlled discovery procedure using response criteria. Similar to the use of dedicated messages with mute instructions in FIG. 29, initiating device 2602 may use response criteria to reduce collision probability.

As shown in FIG. 32, initiating device 2602 may first select a response criteria in stage 3202. This response criteria may be used by responding devices to decide whether to respond to a discovery initiation message. Accordingly, the response criteria may impact the number of responding devices that respond to a discovery initiation message. In some aspects, initiating device 2602 may use a probability as the response criteria, such as a probability p where 0<p≤1. In other aspects, initiating device 2602 may use a subset identifier as the response criteria. This subset identifier may identify certain responding devices. As further described below for stages 3210-3214, responding devices 2604-2608 may use the response criteria to decide whether to respond to a discovery initiation message. This use of probabilities as response criteria is also described in relation to traffic shaping in stages 3908 and 3926 in FIG. 39.

After selecting the response criteria, initiating device 2602 may generate a discovery initiation message including the response criteria and broadcast the discovery initiation in stages 3204-3208 (which may involve a single broadcast but is shown in separate stages to show that responding devices 2604-2608 receive the broadcast separately). Responding devices 2604-2608 may then receive and decode the discovery initiation messages. Responding devices 2604-2608 may then evaluate the response criteria in the discovery initiation messages in stages 3210-3214 and decide whether to respond to the discovery initiation message.

Using responding device 2604 as an example, decoder 2808 may receive the discovery initiation message via antenna system 2802 and RF transceiver 2804 and then decode the discovery initiation message. Decoder 2808 may then provide the decoded version of the discovery initiation message to discovery controller 2810. Discovery controller 2810 may then identify the response criteria (e.g., as a field of the discovery initiation message) and evaluate the response criteria in stage 3210.

For example, as previously indicated the response criteria can be a probability p. Initiating device 2602 can select p (in stage 3202) depending on whether initiating device 2602 wants more or fewer responding devices to respond. For example, initiating device 2602 can set p to a high value (e.g., 0.75<p≤1) if initiating device 2602 wants more responding devices to respond. Conversely, initiating device 2602 can set p to a low value (e.g., 0<p≤0.25) if initiating device 2602 wants fewer responding devices to respond. As lower values of p reduce the number of responding devices, lower values of p can also reduce the collision probability. However, if p is too low, it may take a large number of discovery procedures for a given responding device to respond. Accordingly, discovery latency can be high when p is low.

Discovery controller 2810 of responding device 2604 may therefore identify the probability p specified in the discovery initiation message and then evaluate p in stage 3210 to decide whether to respond. For example, discovery controller 2810 may perform a random check that produces a positive result with a probability of p (e.g., random selection of a number between zero and one that yields a positive result if p is greater than the random number) in stage 3210. If the random check yields a positive result, discovery controller 2810 may decide to respond to the discovery response message. Conversely, if the random check yields a negative result, discovery controller 2810 may decide not to respond (e.g., to refrain from transmitting a discovery response message in response to the discovery initiation message). Each of responding devices 2604-2608 may perform this random check in stages 3210 based on p to decide whether to respond.

In other aspects, the response criteria may be a subset identifier, or in other words, a criteria that identifies a subset of the responding devices. In one example, the subset identifier may be a preconfigured device group number. For instance, responding devices may be preconfigured with respective device group numbers (e.g., assigned to device groups). When selecting the response criteria in stage 3202, initiating device 2602 may therefore select a device group number (or multiple group numbers) that identify a set of responding devices. Using responding device 2604 as an example, discovery controller 2810 may evaluate the response criteria in stage 3212 by determining whether responding device 2604 is assigned the device group number (e.g., assigned to the device group identified by the device group number) specified as the response criteria. If so, discovery controller 2810 may decide to respond to the discovery initiation message. Conversely, if responding device 2604 is not assigned the device group number, discovery controller 2801 may decide not to respond to the discovery initiation message.

In another example, the subset identifier may be a device-dependent value (or values). For instance, in one example the device-dependent value may be a modulo operation of a device IP address (e.g., a network address), device ID, or other device information element. For example, when selecting the response criteria in stage 3202, discovery controller 2710 may select one or more modulo device IP addresses (or modulo device IDs or modulo of another device information element). Discovery controller 2710 may then include these modulo device IP addresses as the response criteria in the discovery initiation message. Then, when discovery controller 2810 of responding device 2604 receives the discovery initiation message, discovery controller 2810 may identify the one or more modulo device IP addresses. In stage 3210, discovery controller 2810 may then identify the device IP address of responding device 2604 and calculate the modulo (using the same base as used in the response criteria) of this device IP address. Discovery controller 2810 may then compare this modulo device IP address with the modulo IP address from the discovery initiation message. If the modulo device IP address of responding device 2604 matches the modulo IP address from the discovery initiation message, discovery controller 2810 may decide to respond to the discovery initiation message. Discovery controller 2810 may then proceed to select a channel in stage 3216 and transmit a discovery response message in stage 3222. Otherwise, if the modulo device IP address of responding device 2604 does not match the modulo IP address from the discovery initiation message, discovery controller 2810 may decide not to respond to the discovery initiation message, and may refrain from transmitting a discovery response message. As the modulo device IP address in the discovery initiation message only corresponds to some of the responding devices, using a modulo device IP address as a response criteria may impact the number of responding devices that respond to a discovery initiation message.

Initiating device 2602 and responding devices 2604-2608 may similarly use a modulo device ID or a modulo of other device information elements as device-dependent values of the response criteria. Accordingly, responding devices 2604-2608 may calculate their own device-dependent value and compare it with the device-dependent value (or values) in the discovery initiation message. If the device-dependent value matches the device-dependent value (or any of the device-dependent values) in the discovery initiation message, responding devices 2604-2608 may respond to the discovery initiation message.

Similar to the use of a probability p as the response criteria, initiating device 2602 may be configured to select the subset identifier (device group number or device-dependent value) based on the number of responding devices that initiating device 2602 wants to respond. If there is a dense network scenario with high load and/or many responding devices in its vicinity, initiating device 2602 may select a subset identifier that corresponds to fewer devices, while if there is low load and/or few responding devices in its vicinity, initiating device 2602 may select a subset identifier that corresponds to more devices. This is further described below in stage 3228.

In the example of FIG. 32, responding devices 2604 and 2608 may decide to respond to the discovery initiation message while responding device 2606 may decide not to respond to the discovery initiation message. Continuing with the example of responding device 2604, discovery controller 2810 may generate a discovery response message, select a channel from the plurality of channels pre-allocated for discovery in a second discovery window in stage 3216, and then transmit the discovery response message on the channel in the second discovery window in stage 3222. Responding device 2608 may similarly select a channel in stage 3220 and transmit its own discovery response message in stage 3224. Responding device 2606 may decide not to respond (no response in stage 3218) and may therefore refrain from transmitting a discovery response message.

Initiating device 2602 may then detect the discovery response messages from responding devices in stage 3226. As previously described for FIG. 29, decoder 2708 may decode the signal data for the plurality of channels in the second discovery window and may determine whether any of the plurality of channels contains a valid discovery response message. If so, decoder 2708 may provide the decoded version of the discovery response message to discovery controller 2710. Discovery controller 2710 may then identity the responding devices that transmitted the discovery response messages (e.g., determine a device identifier included in the discovery response messages), or in other words, may identify responding devices 2604 and 2608.

As shown in FIG. 32, initiating device 2602 may then retransmit the discovery initiation message. For example, initiating device 2602 may again select a response criteria in stage 3228. In some aspects, initiating device 2602 may dynamically select the response criteria based on the number of responding devices that responded to the previous discovery initiation message (or multiple previous discovery initiation messages). For example, discovery controller 2710 of initiating device 2602 may compare the number of responding devices that responded to the previous discovery initiation message to a predefined threshold. If more than the predefined threshold of responding devices responded to the previous discovery initiation message, discovery controller 2710 of initiating device 2602 may update the response criteria to a response criteria that corresponds to fewer responding devices. For example, discovery controller 2710 may reduce the probability p, select a device group number that is assigned to fewer responding devices, select a set of device group numbers that are assigned to fewer responding devices (e.g., if initiating device 2602 is using multiple device group numbers as the response criteria), select a device-dependent value that corresponds to fewer responding devices, or select a set of device-dependent values that correspond to fewer responding devices (e.g., if initiating device 2602 is using multiple device-dependent values as the response criteria). In other words, discovery controller 2710 may update the response criteria to reduce the number of responding devices when the number of responding devices for the previous discovery initiation message is greater than the predefined threshold. Conversely, if the number of responding devices to the previous discovery initiation message is less than the predefined threshold, discovery controller 2710 may update the response criteria to a response criteria that corresponds to more responding devices (or, alternatively, may keep the same response criteria). For example, discovery controller 2710 may increase the probability p, select a device group number that is assigned to more responding devices, select a set of device group numbers that are assigned to more responding devices (e.g., if initiating device 2602 is using multiple device group numbers as the response criteria), select a device-dependent value that corresponds to more responding devices, or select a set of device-dependent values that correspond to more responding devices (e.g., if initiating device 2602 is using multiple device-dependent values as the response criteria). In some aspects, discovery controller 2710 may observe the cumulative number of responding devices that respond to multiple previous discovery initiation messages, and may then compare this cumulative number to a threshold to determine how to update the response criteria.

Accordingly, discovery controller 2710 may be configured to dynamically adapt the response criteria in stage 3228 based on the number of responding devices that responded to one or more previous discovery initiation messages. Initiating device 2602 may therefore be able to adapt the response criteria to the collision probability. In other words, as there is a higher collision probability when more responding devices are responding at the same time, initiating device 2602 may reduce the collision probability by reducing the number of responding devices that respond to subsequent discovery initiation messages. Discovery controller 2710 may also be able to increase the number of responding devices when the number of responding devices is low. Although this may increase the collision probability, this may be acceptable as it may allow responding devices to be discovered more quickly (e.g., without having to wait for multiple subsequent discovery initiation messages before responding).

After updating the response criteria in stage 3228, initiating device 2602 may generate a discovery initiation message including the response criteria and transmit the discovery initiation message in a third discovery window in stages 3230-3234. Responding devices 2604-2608 may again receive and decode the discovery initiation message and then evaluate the response criteria in stages 3236-3240. In the example of FIG. 32, responding devices 2604 and 2606 may decide to respond while responding device 2608 may decide not to respond. Responding devices 2604 and 2606 may select respective channels to respond on and then transmit respective discovery response messages in stages 3248 and 3250. Responding device 2608 may refrain from transmitting a discovery response message.

In the example of FIG. 32, responding devices 2604 and 2606 may select different channels and may therefore transmit their respective discovery response messages without collision. Initiating device 2602 may receive these discovery response messages and successfully decode them to detect responding devices 2604 and 2606 in stage 3252.

Because reducing the number of responding devices that respond to a given discovery initiation message can reduce the collision probability, initiating device 2602 may use the response criteria to avoid excessive collision probabilities. When there are too many responding devices responding to discovery response messages (e.g., more than a predefined threshold), initiating device 2602 may therefore update the response criteria to correspond to fewer responding devices. While it may take multiple retransmissions to detect every responding device, this can still avoid scenarios where there are persistent collisions.

FIGS. 29-32 described exemplary initiator-controlled discovery procedures, namely where initiating device 2602 uses dedicated messages with mute instructions, discovery confirmation messages, or response criteria in discovery initiation messages to reduce the number of responding devices. FIGS. 33 and 34 show exemplary responder-controlled discovery procedures according to some aspects, namely where responding devices use preconfigured probabilities p_preor derived probabilities p_derto decide whether or not to respond to a discovery initiation message.

FIG. 33 shows exemplary message sequence chart 3300 according to some aspects, which may be a responder-controlled discovery procedure using preconfigured probabilities p_pre. As shown in FIG. 33, initiating device 2602 may broadcast a discovery initiation message in stages 3302-3306. Responding devices 2604-2608 may then decide whether to respond to the discovery initiation message using their preconfigured probabilities p_prestages 3308-3312. In some aspects, responding devices 2604-2608 may be configured with the same preconfigured probabilities p_pre, while in other aspects responding devices 2604-2608 may be configured with different preconfigured probabilities p_pre. In either case, responding devices 2604-2608 may have a preconfigured probability p_pre(with 0<p_pre≤1). In some aspects, responding devices 2604-2608 may periodically update their preconfigured probabilities p_pre, such as by downloading updated values of p_prefrom a central network or through a decentralized update process using D2D. In some aspects, responding device 2604-2608 may store the preconfigured probability p_prein a memory accessible by the discovery controller, where the discovery controller may identify the preconfigured probability p_preby retrieving it from the memory when needed.

Using responding device 2604 as an example, discovery controller 2810 may perform a random check that produces a positive result with a probability of p_pre(e.g., random selection of a number between zero and one with a positive result if the p_preis greater than the random number) in stage 3308. If the random check yields a positive result, discovery controller 2810 may decide to respond to the discovery response message. Conversely, if the random check yields a negative result, discovery controller 2810 may decide not to respond (e.g., to refrain from transmitting a discovery response message in response to the discovery initiation message). Responding devices 2606 and 2608 may similarly decide whether to respond based on their preconfigured probabilities p_prein stages 3310 and 3312.

In the example of FIG. 33, responding devices 2604 and 2608 may decide to respond while responding device 2606 may decide not to respond. Responding devices 2604 and 2608 may therefore select channels to respond in stages 3314 and 3318. Responding devices 2604 and 2608 may then generate discovery response messages and transmit the discovery response messages in a second discovery window in stages 3320 and 3322. In the example of FIG. 33, responding devices 2604 and 2608 may select different channels and therefore may transmit their discovery response messages without collisions. Initiating device 2602 may then detect responding devices 2604 and 2608 by receiving and successfully decoding their discovery response messages in stage 3324.

Initiating device 2602 may then retransmit the discovery initiation message. As the preconfigured probabilities p_preare preconfigured, responding devices 2604-2608 may use the same preconfigured probabilities p_pre. As shown in FIG. 33, initiating device 2602 may broadcast a discovery initiation message in a third discovery window in stages 3326-3330. Responding devices 2604-2608 may receive the discovery response message and decide whether to respond based on the preconfigured probabilities p_prein stages 3332-3334. In the example of FIG. 33, responding devices 2606 and 2608 may decide to respond while responding device 2604 may decide not to respond. Accordingly, responding devices 2606 and 2608 may select channels in stages 3340 and 3342. Responding devices 2606 and 2608 may then transmit their discovery response messages in a fourth discovery window in stages 3348 and 3350 while responding device 2604 may refrain from transmitting a discovery response message.

In the example of FIG. 33, responding devices 2606 and 2608 may select different channels and may transmit their discovery response messages without collisions. Initiating device 2602 may then receive and successfully decode the discovery response messages in stage 3352, and may consequently detect responding devices 2606 and 2608.

This use of preconfigured probabilities p_preto control the response probability may help manage collision probabilities, namely by helping to keep the collision probability below excessive levels. Because some responding devices may decide not to respond, the collision probability may be reduced. In some aspects, initiating device 2602 may be configured to control the preconfigured probabilities p_preover time. For example, discovery controller 2710 may periodically update the preconfigured probability p_preand send the updated value of p_preto responding devices 2604-2608 using dedicated messages. Responding devices 2604-2608 may then use the updated value of p_preto decide whether to respond to subsequent discovery initiation messages. In some aspects, discovery controller 2710 may be configured to reduce the value of p_prewhen more than a predefined threshold of responding devices respond to a discovery initiation message (or multiple previous discovery initiation messages). As described above, this can help prevent the collision probability from reaching excessively high values.

FIG. 34 shows exemplary message sequence chart 3400 according to some aspects, which shows a responder-controlled discovery procedure using derived probabilities p_der. As opposed to using a preconfigured probability p_pre, responding devices 2604-2608 may be configured to derive a probability p_derbased on response criteria observed by responding devices 2604-2608. Responding devices 2604-2608 may then use this derived probability p_derto decide whether or not to respond to discovery initiation messages. Accordingly, the probability that responding devices 2604-2608 respond is based on observed response criteria.

As shown in FIG. 34, initiating device 2602 may start by broadcasting a discovery initiation message in stages 3402-3406. Responding devices 2604-2608 may receive the discovery initiation message and then decide whether to respond in stages 3408-3412. Using responding device 2604 as an example, discovery controller 2810 may use response criteria to decide whether to respond. In various aspects, the response criteria can be received power measurements, the number of received discovery initiation messages in a specific time window, the average interval between received discovery initiation messages, or the frame number in which a discovery response message is scheduled for transmission. Discovery controller 2810 may determine a derived probability p_derbased on the response criteria and then decide whether to respond based on the derived probability p_der.

In some aspects where the response criteria is a received power measurement, a measurement engine of responding device 2604 may measure a received signal power (e.g., a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) or other signal power measurement) for initiating device 2602 (e.g., measuring the signal power of the discovery initiation message and/or measuring any other signal transmitted by initiating device 2602) and provide the received power measurement to discovery controller 2810. Discovery controller 2810 may then determine the derived probability p_derbased on the received power measurement. In some aspects, discovery controller 2810 may be configured to determine higher derived probabilities p_derfor lower received power measurements. As lower received power measurements may indicate that responding device 2604 is farther from initiating device 2602, this can mean that there is a lower probability that initiating device 2602 successfully decodes a given discovery response message from responding device 2604. Accordingly, it may be advantageous for responding device 2604 to transmit discovery response messages more frequently (e.g., in a high proportion of discovery procedures). This may in turn mean that responding device 2604 should use a higher derived probability p_der. In one example, discovery controller 2810 may be configured to compare the received power measurement to a predefined threshold. If the received power measurement is greater than the predefined threshold, discovery controller 2810 may select a first value for the derived probability p_der; conversely, if the received power measurement is less than the predefined threshold, discovery controller 2810 may select a second value for the derived probability where the second is greater than the first value. In other words, discovery controller 2810 may select a higher derived probability p_derwhen the received power measurement is less than the predefined threshold than when the received power measurement is greater than the predefined threshold.

In another example, responding device 2604 may use the number of received discovery initiation messages in a specific time window as the response criteria. For example, discovery controller 2810 may use a time window of predefined length as the specific time window. Discovery controller 2810 may count the number of discovery initiation messages received from initiating device 2602 during the specific time window. When responding device 2604 is receiving many discovery initiation messages within the specific time window, it may not be as important for responding device 2604 to respond to all or almost all of them. Accordingly, when the number of received discovery initiation messages in the specific time window is high, discovery controller 2810 may be configured to use a lower derived probability p_der. For example, discovery controller 2810 may be configured to compare the number of received discovery initiation messages in the specific time window to a predefined threshold. When the number of received discovery initiation messages in the specific time window is greater than the predefined threshold, discovery controller 2810 may select a first value as the derived probability p_der; conversely, when the number of received discovery initiation messages in the specific time window is less than the predefined threshold, discovery controller 2810 may select a second value as the derived probability p_der, where the second value is greater than the first value. Consequently, discovery controller 2810 may be configured to select a higher value of the derived probability p_derwhen the number of received discovery initiation messages in the specific time window is less than the predefined threshold than when the number of received discovery initiation messages in the specific time window is less than the predefined threshold. In some aspects, discovery controller 2810 may use a rolling time window as the specific time window, such as where discovery controller 2810 periodically checks to count the number of received discovery initiation messages in the last X frames or Y seconds.

In another example, discovery controller 2810 may be configured to use the average interval between received discovery initiation messages as the response criteria. For example, discovery controller 2810 may monitor the time between receipt of discovery initiation messages from initiating device 2602 and may calculate the average interval between received discovery initiation messages. Similar to the above case of number of received discovery initiation messages in a specific time window, when there is a shorter average interval between received discovery initiation messages, it may be less important for responding device 2604 to respond to all or almost all of the discovery initiation messages. Discovery controller 2810 may therefore determine lower derived probabilities p_derwhen the average interval between received discovery initiation messages is shorter. For example, discovery controller 2810 may compare the average interval between received discovery initiation messages to a predefined threshold. When the average interval between received discovery initiation messages is greater than the predefined threshold, discovery controller 2810 may select a first value as the derived probability p_der; conversely, discovery controller 2810 may select a second value as the derived probability p_derwhen the average interval between received discovery initiation messages is less than the derived probability p_der, where the second value is less than the first value. In other words, discovery controller 2810 may select a lower derived probability p_derwhen the average interval between received discovery initiation messages is less than the predefined threshold than when the average interval between received discovery initiation messages is greater than the predefined threshold.

In some cases, the number of received discovery initiation messages in the specific time window and the average interval between received discovery initiation messages may also depend on the distance between responding device 2604 and initiating device 2602. For example, when responding device 2604 is far from initiating device 2602, responding device 2604 may not successfully detect all of the discovery initiation messages from initiating device 2602 (e.g., decoder 2808 may not successfully decode some discovery initiation messages). As responding device 2604 may not recognize all of the discovery initiation messages, the number of received discovery initiation messages in the specific time window may be lower and the average interval between received discovery initiation messages may be higher (e.g., compared to cases where responding device 2604 recognizes all of the discovery initiation messages). As discussed above, responding device 2604 may select higher derived probabilities p_derin these cases.

In another example, responding device 2604 may be configured to use the frame number in which a given discovery response message is scheduled to be transmitted as the response criteria. For example, some responding devices may be configured to transmit discovery response messages only in certain frames while other responding devices are configured to transmit discovery only in other frames. Responding devices may be configured with this information in advance; for example, responding devices may know a preconfigured set of frames in which they are allowed to transmit discovery response messages. The preconfigured set of frames may be a subset of a cyclic schedule of frames that repeats over time. Accordingly, when a given responding device receives a discovery initiation message in a first discovery window, it may only be permitted to transmit a discovery response message in response if the next discovery window is in one of the preconfigured set of frames.

Continuing with responding device 2604 as an example, discovery controller 2810 may identify that the discovery initiation message from initiating device 2602 was received in a first discovery window. Discovery controller 2810 may then determine whether the second discovery window (e.g., the next scheduled discovery window after the first discovery window) is in one of the preconfigured set of frames for responding device 2604. If so, discovery controller 2810 may decide to respond to the discovery initiation message. If the second discovery window is not one of the preconfigured set of frames, discovery controller 2810 may decide not to respond to the discovery initiation message.

Responding device 2604-2608 may therefore use any of these response criteria to determine whether to respond in stages 3408-3412. In some aspects, responding devices 2604-2608 may use the same response criteria, while in other aspects responding devices 2604-2608 may use different response criteria. Responding device 2604-2608 may use the response criteria to determine respective response probabilities p_derand then decide whether to respond based on their respective response probabilities p_der. For example, responding devices 2604-2608 may use a random check the produces a positive result with probability p_derto decide whether to respond. In the example of FIG. 33, responding devices 2604 and 2608 may decide to respond while responding device 2606 may decide not to respond. Responding devices 2604 and 2608 may therefore select respective channels in stages 3414 and 3418 and transmit their respective discovery response messages in a second discovery window in stages 3420 and 3422. Responding device 2606 may refrain from transmitting a discovery response message. As shown in FIG. 34, initiating device 2602 may receive the discovery response messages from responding devices 2604 and 2608 and detect responding devices 2604 and 2608 in stage 3424.

Initiating device 2602 may then retransmit the discovery initiation message. As shown in FIG. 34, initiating device 2602 may broadcast a discovery initiation message in a third discovery window in stages 3426-3430. Responding devices 2604-2608 may then evaluate their response criteria in stages 3432-3436 to decide whether to respond. In some cases, responding devices 2604-2608 may update their response criteria based on new observations. For example, responding devices 2604-2608 may use obtained updated received power measurements, update the number of received discovery initiation messages in a specific time window, update the average interval between received discovery initiation messages, or using a new frame number in which a discovery response message is scheduled for transmission (e.g., the fourth discovery window). Accordingly, the derived probabilities p_derused by responding devices 2604-2608 in stages 3432 -3436 may be different from those used in stages 3408-3412. Responding devices 2604-2608 may again perform a random check using the respective derived probabilities p_derto decide whether to respond.

In the example of FIG. 34, responding devices 2606 and 2608 may decide to respond to the discovery initiation message while responding device 2604 may decide not to respond to the discovery initiation message. Responding devices 2606 and 2608 may therefore select channels in stages 3440 and 3442 and transmit respective discovery response messages in a fourth discovery window in stages 3448 and 3450. Responding device 2604 may refrain from transmitting a discovery response message. Initiating device 2602 may then receive and successfully decode the discovery response messages from responding devices 2606 and 2608 in stage 3452.

The various initiator-controlled and responder-controlled discovery procedures described herein provide techniques for devices to reduce collision probabilities. In particular, these techniques may reduce the number of devices that respond to discovery initiation messages, which can in turn reduce the probability that multiple devices select the same channel on which to respond. This can be particularly helpful in scenarios where there is high system load, as the initiating and/or responding devices can adjust their behavior to avoid excessively high collision probabilities. As the likelihood of collisions can be reduced, the initiating and responding devices can decrease discovery latency and reduce power consumption.

D2D networks such as those described above may be uncoordinated, which can lead to stochastic behavior in terms of the number of devices attempting to simultaneously access the available discovery resources. In some scenarios, such as by chance or triggered by a certain event (e.g., a concert, sport event, or other large gathering of people), the number of wireless devices attempting to use discovery resources at a given time (e.g., the allocated discovery channels in a given discovery window) can significantly exceed the capacity of the network. This can lead to outages and denial of service in the affected geographic area. For example, considerable numbers of initiating devices may attempt to initiate discovery at the same time, which may lead to collisions (resulting in interference) between both the discovery initiation messages and the resulting discovery response message. As this can significantly degrade discovery performance, it can be beneficial for D2D networks to control, or shape, the radio resource access of the wireless devices. Through effective shaping of radio resource access, outages can be mitigated and/or avoided entirely.

FIG. 35 shows exemplary chart 3500 according to some aspects, which plots an example of network load over time. As shown in FIG. 35, when traffic is not shaped, there may be a large number of arrivals (e.g., received discovery initiation messages or discovery response messages) during a limited window of time. This may considerably exceed the network capacity and consequently lead to collisions. However, as depicted in FIG. 35, traffic shaping may be able to control the resource access to remain below the network capacity.

Accordingly, various aspects of this disclosure may apply load estimation and traffic shaping, where the load estimation results are used as input to the traffic shaping mechanism. Wireless devices may therefore be able to dynamically approximate network load and apply traffic shaping measures. Some aspects may be closely related to the initiator-controlled and responder-controlled aspects described above, but may incorporate additional load estimation and traffic shaping techniques therein.

Load estimation will be discussed first, followed by a description of traffic shaping. FIG. 36 shows an exemplary internal configuration of wireless device 3600 according to some aspects, which may be configured to perform load estimation and/or traffic shaping. The configuration shown in FIG. 36 is focused on the load estimation and/or traffic shaping features of wireless device 3600 and therefore may not expressly depict other components of wireless device 3600 that are less directly related thereto. As shown in FIG. 36, wireless device 3600 may include antenna system 3602, RF transceiver 3604, and baseband modem 3606. In some aspects, antenna system 3602, RF transceiver 3604, and baseband modem 3606 may be configured as described above for antenna system 202, RF transceiver 204, and baseband modem 206 of terminal device 102. Accordingly, wireless device 3600 may be configured to transmit and receive wireless signals via antenna system 3602 and RF transceiver 3604. RF transceiver 3604 may therefore modulate and transmit baseband samples (provided by baseband modem 3606) via antenna system 3602 in the transmit direction. RF transceiver 3604 may also receive and demodulate radio signals via antenna system 3602 and provide the resulting baseband samples to baseband modem 3606 in the receive direction.

FIG. 36 also depicts several internal components of baseband modem 3606, including decoder 3608, discovery controller 3610, load estimator 3612, and traffic shaper 3614. In some aspects, baseband modem 3606 may include a digital signal processor and a protocol controller, e.g., similar to digital signal processor 208 and protocol controller 210 of terminal device 102 in FIG. 2. In some aspects, the internal components of baseband modem 3606 may therefore be subcomponents of the digital signal processor (e.g., physical layer components) and/or subcomponents of the protocol controller (e.g., protocol stack components).

In some aspects, decoder 3608 and discovery controller 3610 may be configured in the manner described above for decoder 2708/2808 and discovery controller 2710/2810 of initiating device 2602/responding device 2604. Accordingly, decoder 3608 may be configured to receive baseband samples via antenna system 3602 and RF transceiver 3604 and to decode the baseband samples to obtain data. Decoder 3608 may then provide the baseband samples to discovery controller 3610, which may then process and evaluate discovery initiation messages or discovery response messages represented by the data. Discovery controller 3610 may then transmit discovery initiation messages and/or discovery response messages via RF transceiver 3604 and antenna system 3602.

Load estimator 3612 may be configured to estimate the load on discovery resources. In some aspects, load estimator 3612 may be a processor configured to execute instructions that define the load estimation techniques described below. As shown in FIG. 36, load estimator 3612 may receive input from decoder 3608, and may therefore perform load estimation using signal data provided by decoder 3608. Load estimator 3612 may provide load estimates to traffic shaper 3614, which may then provide input to discovery controller 3610 to control discovery traffic to or from wireless device 3600. In some aspects, traffic shaper 3614 may be a processor configured to execute instructions that define the traffic shaping techniques described below.

Various aspects using load estimation can be classified as centralized estimation or decentralized estimation. In centralized estimation, a single wireless device may act as a coordinating device and may estimate the overall number of devices within its coverage area. The coordinating device may then provide this load estimate to other nearby devices. The coordinating device may also provide other services, such as propagating synchronization signals and other important network information (e.g., current frame number and other system information) to the nearby devices. In contrast to centralized estimation, for decentralized estimation individual wireless devices may monitor the occupancy of discovery resources and estimate the load based thereon.

Wireless device 3600 will be used to describe exemplary aspects of both centralized estimation and decentralized estimation, starting first with centralized estimation. In centralized estimation, wireless device 3600 may estimate an upper bound on the number of potentially active devices (e.g., the overall number of proximate wireless devices). FIG. 37 shows exemplary message sequence chart 3700, which describes centralized estimation according to some aspects. As shown in FIG. 37, wireless device 3600 may interact with wireless devices 3620, 3630, and 3640 as part of the centralized estimation. In some aspects, wireless devices 3620-3640 may be configured in the same manner as wireless device 3600 and may accordingly include an antenna system, RF transceiver, and baseband modem (including a decoder, discovery controller, load estimator, and traffic shaper).

Wireless device 3600 may perform centralized estimation by estimating the overall number of proximate wireless devices based on the received power of response signals transmitted by the nearby devices. As shown in FIG. 37, wireless device 3600 may first transmit a channel estimation pilot signal in stage 3702. For example, discovery controller 3610 may transmit a channel estimation pilot signal via RF transceiver 3604 and antenna system 3602. The channel estimation pilot signal may be a predefined training sequence p (e.g., a vector of complex samples) that wireless devices 3620-3640 are preconfigured with knowledge of. Various aspects can use any signal to form the training sequence p.

Wireless devices 3620-3640 may then receive the channel estimation pilot signal. Using wireless device 3620 as an example, the decoder of wireless device 3620 may receive the channel estimation pilot signal (via the antenna system and RF transceiver) and may provide the channel estimation pilot signal to the discovery controller. This received channel estimation pilot signal at the ith device can be expressed as

y=h
_i
·p+n

where h_iis the channel between wireless device 3600 and the ith device and n is the noise (e.g., additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN).

After receiving the channel estimation pilot signal, wireless devices 3620-3640 may estimate the channel power in stages 3704-3708. Continuing with the example of wireless device 3620, the decoder of wireless device 3620 may provide the channel estimation pilot signal to the discovery controller. The discovery controller may then estimate the channel h_ibetween wireless device 3600 and wireless device 3620 in stage 3704. For example, the discovery controller may determine a channel estimate ĥ_iby calculating

ĥ
_i
=y·p*

where p* is the complex conjugate of the channel estimation pilot signal p (namely, where p·p*=1). As channel estimation pilot signal p is predefined, the discovery controller may be configured to store p* (in its local memory) and retrieve p* during the channel power estimation of stage 3704.

The discovery controller may then estimate the channel power based on the channel estimate ĥ_i. For example, the discovery controller may determine the estimated channel power by calculating the magnitude squared of ĥ_i, namely |ĥ_i|².

After determining the estimated channel power, wireless devices 3620-3640 select transmit powers for response signals in stages 3710-3714. In particular, the centralized estimation technique may be based on having the responding devices (e.g., wireless devices 3620-3640) sending response signals that are intended to each be received at wireless device 3600 with a target received power P_rx. In other words, even though wireless devices 3620 and 3630 may be located at different distances (and have different propagation loss) from wireless device 3600, wireless devices 3620 and 3640 may be configured to send response signals to wireless device 3600 that are both received by wireless device 3600 with a received power approximately equal to P_rx. Wireless devices 3620-3640 may therefore be configured to select their respective transmit powers in stages 3710-3714 based on the estimated channel powers |ĥ_i|²and the target received power P_rx(e.g., the target received power at wireless device 3600). This is also known as channel inversion-based power control, which aims to control transmit power so the received power at a given receiver is approximately equal to a target received power. Using wireless device 3620 as an example, the discovery controller may select the transmit power

$P_{tx, i} = \frac{P_{rx}}{{\langle {\hat{h}}_{i} \rangle}^{2}},$

or in other words, by dividing the target received power P_rxby the estimated channel power |ĥ_i|². This channel inversion-based power control technique assumes both channel reciprocity (e.g., for Time Division Duplexing (TDD) and that the transmission (e.g., response signal) occurs within the coherence time of the channel (e.g., the time window during which the estimated channel ĥ_iis valid). If the transmission occurs outside the coherence time of the channel, the estimated overall number of proximate wireless devices may be inaccurate. In some aspects, this can be addressed by more sophisticated estimation techniques that consider changes in the channels over time based on its channel statistics (e.g., channel variance, among others).

After selecting their respective transmit powers in stages 3710-3714, wireless devices 3620-3640 may transmit response signals with their respective transmit powers in stages 3716-3720. Continuing with the example of wireless device 3620, the discovery controller may transmit a response signal with the selected transmit power P_tx,ivia the RF transceiver and the antenna system of wireless device 3620. The response signal may be any type of signal sequence.

Wireless device 3600 may then receive the response signals and determine the total received power in stage 3722. For example, decoder 3608 may obtain a received signal (via antenna system 3602 and RF transceiver 3604) that includes all of response signals plus noise and interference. Decoder 3608 may provide this received signal to load estimator 3612, which may then perform a signal power measurement on the received signal to obtain a total received power P_rx,total. Assuming that there are N responding device (e.g., N=3 in the example of FIG. 37) that each optimally select P_tx,i, the total received power P_rx,totalcan be mathematically expressed as

$P_{rx, total} = \sum_{i = 1}^{N} P_{rx} + σ^{2}$

where σ²is the noise power at wireless device 3600. In practice, the responding devices may not optimally select P_tx,iand the actual received power for each response signal may not be equal to the target received power P_rx.

Load estimator 3612 may then estimate the overall number of proximate wireless devices based on the total received power P_rx,totalin stage 3724. For example, as the total received power P_rx,totalis a summation of the individual received powers of each response signal, load estimator 3612 may estimate the overall number of proximate wireless devices by dividing the total received power P_rx,totalby the target received power P_rx. Accordingly, load estimator 3612 may obtain an estimated overall number of proximate wireless devices {circumflex over (N)} (which estimates N) by calculating

$\hat{N} = \frac{P_{rx, total}}{P_{rx}}$

Wireless device 3600 may therefore determine an estimated overall number of proximate wireless devices {circumflex over (N)} through execution of message sequence chart 3700. This estimated overall number of proximate wireless devices {circumflex over (N)} may provide a load estimate as it gives the approximate total number of proximate wireless devices around wireless device 3600 (e.g., within communication range). Accordingly, higher values of {circumflex over (N)} may indicate higher discovery load (e.g., more collisions) while lower values of {circumflex over (N)} may indicate lower discovery load (e.g., fewer collisions). This technique to estimate the overall number of proximate wireless devices is straightforward, and other aspects may use more elaborate estimators that consider side information about the variability of the channel, or in other words, may determine {circumflex over (N)} based on the total received power, target received power, and channel variability metrics. This could be beneficial, for example, when channel conditions change quickly (e.g., when the coherence time of the channel is short).

Once load estimator 3612 determines {circumflex over (N)}, load estimator 3612 may transmit signaling to wireless devices 3620-3640 (the responding devices) that specifies {circumflex over (N)}. Wireless devices 3620-3640 may then use {circumflex over (N)} for traffic shaping, as further described herein. Load estimator 3612 may also provide {circumflex over (N)} to traffic shaper 3614, which may use {circumflex over (N)} for traffic shaping (as further described below) at wireless device 3600.

In some aspects, the target received power P_rxmay be preconfigured at wireless devices 3620-3640 (e.g., known a priori). In other aspects, load estimator 3612 may be configured to adaptively update P_rxover time and, after each update, may send the updated value of P_rxto the other wireless devices. For example, wireless device 3600 may have an operating range of received signal power levels, which may be defined by a minimum received power P_rx,minand a maximum received power P_rx,max. Wireless device 3600 may obtain accurate estimates of {circumflex over (N)} when the total received power P_rx,totalis between P_rx,minand P_rx,max, or in other words, when

P_rx,min≤P_rx,total≤P_rx,max

Load estimator 3612 may therefore be configured to adapt P_rxwhen it is too low or too high in comparison to N. For example, if the total received power P_rx,totalis greater than the maximum received power P_rx,max, then there are at least

$\hat{N} = \frac{P_{rx, \max}}{P_{rx}}$

responding devices. Load estimator 3612 can therefore obtain more accurate estimates of N by decreasing the target received power P_rx(as this will in turn reduce P_rx,totalassuming N remains constant). Similarly, if the total received power P_rx,totalis less than the minimum received power P_rx,min, then load estimator 3612 may not be able to detect any responding devices. Load estimator 3612 can therefore obtain more accurate estimates of N by increasing the target received power P_rx. In some aspects, load estimator 3612 may increase P_rxby a scaling factor α when the total received power P_rx,totalis less than the minimum received power P_rx,minand may decrease P_rxby a scaling factor α⁻¹when the total received power P_rx,totalis greater than the maximum received power P_rx,max. In some aspects, load estimator 3612 may periodically adapt P_rxin this manner, such as by repeatedly updating P_rxaccording to a fixed adaptation period. The adaptation period can be based on the expected speed at which the overall number of proximate wireless devices N changes over time. In some aspects, load estimator 3612 may be configured to execute the following pseudocode (e.g., as software) to update P_rxfor each adaptation period:

TABLE 3

Pseudocode for adapting P_Rx

Line

Number
Code

1
Input ({circumflex over (N)}_previous, P_RX,previous , P_Rx,min, P_Rx,max)

2
Output ({circumflex over (N)}, P_Rx)

3
IF ({circumflex over (N)}_previousor P_RX,previous are not defined)

4
P_Rx,set_point = P_Rx,min+ (P_Rx,max− P_Rx,min)/2

5
P_RX,previous = P_Rx,set_point/{circumflex over (N)}_initial

6
{circumflex over (N)}_previous= {circumflex over (N)}_initial

7
END

8
Measure P_Rx,total

9
IF P_Rx,total< P_Rx,min

10
{circumflex over (N)} = {circumflex over (N)}_previous

11
P_Rx= P_RX,previous · α

12
ELSEIF P_Rx,total> P_Rx,max

13
{circumflex over (N)} = P_Rx,max/P_RX,previous

14
P_Rx= P_RX,previous · α⁻¹

15
ELSE

16
{circumflex over (N)} = P_Rx,total/P_RX,previous

17
P_Rx= P_RX,previous

18
END

In the pseudocode of Table 3, load estimator 3612 may start with the previous estimate {circumflex over (N)}_previous, the previous target received power P_rx,previous, and the maximum and minimum received powers P_rx,minand P_rx,max. {circumflex over (N)}_initialis an initialization constant and α is a scaling factor. If {circumflex over (N)}_previousor P_rx,previousare not defined, load estimator 3612 may use a middle setpoint (halfway between P_rx,minand P_rx,max) as P_{rx,set_point}and may then initialize {circumflex over (N)}_previousand P_rx,previousbased on the setpoint P_{rx,set_point}. Load estimator 3612 may then measure the total received power P_rx,totaland compare P_rx,totalto P_rx,minand P_rx,max. If P_rx,totalis less than P_rx,min, load estimator 3612 may set {circumflex over (N)} (for the current estimate) equal to {circumflex over (N)}_previousand increase the target received power by scaling P_rx,previouswith scale factor α. If P_rx,totalis greater than P_rx,max, load estimator 3612 may determine {circumflex over (N)} by dividing P_rx,maxby P_rx,previousand may decrease the target received power by scaling P_rx,prevoiuswith scale factor α⁻¹. If P_rxis between P_rx,minand P_rx,max, load estimator 3612 may determine {circumflex over (N)} by dividing P_rx,maxby P_rx,previousand may keep the target received power the same (e.g., set P_rxequal to P_rx,previous).

Load estimator 3612 may therefore periodically determine {circumflex over (N)} and update P_rx. After load estimator determines {circumflex over (N)} and P_rx, load estimator 3612 may transmit signaling to the nearby wireless devices (e.g., wireless devices 3620-3640) that specifies {circumflex over (N)} and P_rx. The wireless devices may then use {circumflex over (N)} for traffic shaping and may use P_rxwhen transmitting response signals as part of the centralized estimation. In some aspects, wireless device 3600 may therefore act as a coordinating device for centralized estimation, meaning that wireless device 3600 may perform the load estimation (in determining {circumflex over (N)}) and provide load estimation results to the other wireless devices.

Wireless devices may also perform decentralized estimation. In decentralized estimation, individual wireless devices monitor the occupancy of the discovery channels and obtain load estimates based on the current discovery load. Accordingly, in contrast to centralized estimation being performed at one coordinating device, multiple (or each) wireless device may perform its own decentralized estimation.

Decentralized estimation will also be described with reference to wireless device 3600. However, in some aspects the wireless devices that perform decentralized estimation may not perform centralized estimation, and may instead receive the centralized estimation results ({circumflex over (N)}) from the coordinating devices. For example, wireless devices 3620-3640 may each be configured to perform their own decentralized estimation and then use the centralized and decentralized estimation results to perform traffic shaping.

Wireless device 3600 may perform decentralized estimation by monitoring the occupancy of the discovery resources and gathering statistics on the discovery transmissions (e.g., discovery initiation messages and discovery response messages) on the discovery resources. As higher density of discovery transmissions generally means higher load, wireless device 3600 may be able to estimate the load based on the statistics of the discovery transmissions. FIG. 38 shows exemplary method 3800 according to some aspects, which wireless device 3600 may execute to perform load estimation. As shown in FIG. 38, wireless device 3600 may monitor the discovery resources in stage 3802. For example, decoder 3608 may tune to the discovery channel or channels allocated for discovery and decode signals on these discovery resources to obtain a bitstream. In aspects where the discovery resources are composed of multiple discovery channels (e.g., multiple subcarriers that each form their own channel), decoder 3608 may be configured to decode signals on each of the discovery channels.

Decoder 3608 may then detect discovery transmissions in the received signals in stage 3804. In some aspects, decoder 3608 may be a simple receiver (e.g., a simple energy detector) that is only capable of detecting whether or not there is a discovery transmission on a given discovery channel. Accordingly, if there are multiple colliding discovery transmissions on the discovery channel, decoder 3608 may not be able to detect each discovery transmission and may instead only detect that there is at least one discovery transmission. In other aspects, decoder 3608 may be a more complex receiver that is capable of decoding multiple signals from the received signal (which may be a composite signal including multiple discovery transmissions on the discovery channel). For example, decoder 3608 may be a successive interference cancellation (SIC) decoder capable of performing M SIC rounds (and thus capable of detecting up to M discovery transmissions on a discovery channel). If the discovery resources are composed of multiple discovery channels, decoder 3608 may be able to detect up to M discovery transmissions on each of the discovery channels.

Decoder 3608 may then specify the number of detected discovery transmissions to load estimator 3612. If the discovery resources are composed of multiple discovery channels, decoder 3608 may specify the total number of detected discovery transmissions on all of the discovery channels. Load estimator 3612 may then estimate the load per discovery channel based on the number of detected discovery transmissions in stage 3806. As each discovery transmission corresponds to a single active device (e.g., a wireless device either transmitting a discovery initiation message or a discovery response message), the number of detected discovery transmissions may directly correspond to the number of active devices. Accordingly, in some aspects load estimator 3612 may estimate the load by determining an estimated number of active devices S_i(where wireless device 3600 is the ith device performing decentralized estimation) on each discovery channel. In some aspects, load estimator 3612 may determine S_iby averaging the number of detected discovery transmissions over multiple discovery windows and over each of the multiple discovery channels. The estimated number of active devices S_imay therefore be an average estimated number of active devices per discovery resource. In some aspects, load estimator 3612 may determine S_ias the number (or average number) of detected discovery transmissions. In some aspects, load estimator 3612 may also estimate the number of initiating devices and/or the number of responding devices based on the number of discovery initiation messages and discovery response messages that it detects.

The accuracy of S_imay depend on the aforementioned capabilities of decoder 3608. For example, if decoder 3608 is a simple energy detector that can detect whether or not there is a discovery transmission, decoder 3608 may only be able to detect zero or one discovery transmissions on each discovery channel, even when there are multiple colliding discovery transmissions. The detected number of discovery transmissions will therefore be lower than the actual number of discovery transmissions. If decoder 3608 is a complex receiver capable of SIC decoding, decoder 3608 may be able to detect between zero to M discovery transmissions on each discovery channel. Decoder 3608 may therefore be able to detect the actual number of discovery transmissions unless the actual number of discovery transmissions is greater than M. The detected number of discovery transmissions, and likewise the estimated number of proximate wireless devices per discovery resource S_i, may therefore be more accurate when decoder 3608 is an SIC receiver capable of detecting a high number M discovery transmissions.

In some aspects, load estimator 3612 may additionally or alternatively determine S_ibased on channel estimation pilot signals. For example, there may be multiple channel estimation pilot signals available, from which an initiating device can randomly select when transmitting its discovery initiation message. Wireless device 3600 may therefore determine S_iby detecting the channel estimation pilot signals transmitted by wireless devices. For example, decoder 3608 may receive and detect the channel estimation pilot signals via antenna system 3602 and RF transceiver 3604. Load estimator 3612 may then determine the number of channel estimation pilot signals and determine S_ibased thereon.

Wireless devices may use the load estimation results ({circumflex over (N)} and S_i) to perform traffic shaping for discovery procedures. FIG. 39 shows exemplary state machine 3900, which depicts the various stages of discovery including traffic shaping according to some aspects. The operations of state machine 3900 will be described with reference to wireless device 3600. It is assumed that wireless device 3600 has the load estimation results {circumflex over (N)} (e.g., obtained by wireless device 3600 or received from a coordinating device) and S_i(e.g., obtained by load estimator 3612), which traffic shaper 3614 may use to perform the traffic shaping. As further described below, wireless device 3600 may perform traffic shaping in any one or more of stages 3906, 3908, 3910, 3916, 3924, and 3926. While each of these stages will be described below in full, these stages are optional in some aspects. Accordingly, wireless device 3600 may perform some or all of the traffic shaping techniques described herein.

As shown in FIG. 39, wireless device 3600 may first monitor the discovery resources (the discovery channels during scheduled discovery windows) in stage 3902. Wireless device 3600 may then decide whether wireless device 3600 will initiate discovery or not in stage 3904. If wireless device 3600 decides to initiate discovery, wireless device 3600 will assume the role of an initiating device and proceed to stage 3906. Otherwise, wireless device 3600 may assume the role of a responding device and proceed to stage 3918.

If initiating discovery, wireless device 3600 may perform proactive backoff for transmitting a discovery initiation message in stage 3906. For example, instead of immediately transmitting a discovery initiation message in the next scheduled discovery window, discovery controller 3610 may first complete a proactive backoff procedure. In some aspects, discovery controller 3610 may first select a random backoff window (e.g., a duration of one or more discovery windows). This use of random backoff windows can help avoid cases where too many initiating devices attempt to transmit discovery initiation messages during the same discovery window (which can cause collisions). Discovery controller 3610 may then wait until the random backoff window expires and identify a first discovery window (e.g., the discovery window scheduled directly after the random backoff window is over).

Discovery controller 3610 may then perform a random check based on an activation probability P_{DI,activation}, where the random check has a success probability of P_{DI,activation}and 0<P_{DI,activation}<1. In one example, discovery controller 3610 may draw a random number between zero and one and determine that the random check is successful if P_{DI,activation}is less than the random number.

If the random check is successful, discovery controller 3610 may proceed to stage 3908, where discovery controller 3610 may transmit the discovery initiation message in the first discovery window. This is further described below. Conversely, if the random check is unsuccessful, discovery controller 3610 may refrain from transmitting the discovery initiation message in the first discovery window. Instead, discovery controller 3610 may identify a second discovery window scheduled after the first discovery window (e.g., the discovery window scheduled directly after the first discovery window). Discovery controller 3610 may then perform a second random check using P_{DI,activation}to determine whether to transmit the discovery initiation message in the second discovery window. If the second random check is successful, discovery controller 3610 may decide to transmit the discovery initiation message in the second discovery window and may proceed to stage 3908. If the second random check is unsuccessful, discovery controller 3610 may identify a third discovery window scheduled after the second discovery window. Discovery controller 3610 may then perform a third random check to determine whether to transmit the discovery initiation message in the third discovery window. Discovery controller 3610 may continue this process of random checks in subsequent discovery windows until the random check is successful, at which point discovery controller 3610 may proceed to stage 3908 to transmit the discovery initiation message.

In some aspects, traffic shaper 3614 may be configured to determine and update the activation probability P_{DI,activation}. For example, traffic shaper 3614 may determine P_{DI,activation}based on the load estimation results {circumflex over (N)} and S_i. In one example, traffic shaper 3614 may determine P_{DI,activation}based on {circumflex over (N)}, S_i, the maximum decoding capacity a of decoder 3608 (e.g., the maximum number M of layers supported in SIC decoding), and/or the number of discovery channels available in the discovery resources M_{init_msg}(e.g., the number of discovery channels allocated in a discovery window). In some aspects, traffic shaper 3614 may be configured to execute the following pseudocode to determine P_{DI,activation}

TABLE 4

Pseudocode for determining P_{DI,activation}

Line Number
Code

1
Input (B_i−1, S_i, {circumflex over (N)})

2
Output (B_i,P_{DI,activation} )

3
IF S_i< α

4
B_i= B_i−1− α

5
ELSE

6
B_i= B_i−1+ S_i· β

7
END

8

P_{DI, activation} = \frac{α \cdot M_{init_msg}}{\min (B_{i}, \hat{N})}

As shown in the pseudocode of Table 4, traffic shaper 3614 may compare S_ito α (e.g., to the maximum number of layers M that decoder 3608 can decode). If S_iis less than α, traffic shaper 3614 may set the number of backlogged devices B_i(e.g., the average number of devices on a discovery channel that decoder 3608 cannot decode) equal to the difference between the previous number of backlogged devices B_i(from the last execution of the pseudocode to determine P_{DI,activation}) and α (the maximum number of layers that decoder 3608 can decode). If S_iis greater than α, traffic shaper 3614 may set B_iequal to B_i−1plus the product of S_iand β, where β is an overestimation factor for the number of backlogged devices B_i. The parameter β may therefore tune how aggressive the initial random backoff is. Traffic shaper 3614 may then determine the minimum of the number of backlogged devices B_iand the estimated overall number of proximate wireless devices {circumflex over (N)} (e.g., number of active wireless devices detected by the coordinating device during centralized estimation). Traffic shaper 3614 may then set P_{DI,activation}equal to

$\frac{α \cdot M_{init_msg}}{\min (B_{i}, \hat{N})},$

and may provide P_{DI,activation}to discovery controller 3610. Discovery controller 3610 may then use this P_{DI,activation}to perform the random checks in stage 3906. In some aspects, traffic shaper 3614 may periodically update P_{DI,activiation}, such as whenever an updated value for {circumflex over (N)} or S_iis obtained.

Use of this proactive backoff may help to spread discovery initiation messages over time, which can help prevent excessive numbers of initiating devices from transmitting discovery initiation messages. This can help reduce collisions and interference and avoid outages. The parameter β can be used to influence this spreading over time. For example, larger values of β can spread discovery access more over time but at the cost of higher access latency (e.g., initiating devices may need to wait longer to transmit a discovery initiation message). Furthermore, in some aspects traffic shaper 3614 may select P_{DI,activation}to prioritize access to initiating devices with higher user priority. For example, traffic shaper 3614 may increase P_{DI,activation}(e.g., relative to the initially obtained value) if wireless device 3600 has an emergency or low battery, including even setting P_{DI,activation}equal to one. Wireless device 3600 may therefore be able to reduce the access latency.

After completing proactive backoff in stage 3906, wireless device 3600 may send the discovery initiation message and wait for discovery response messages in stage 3908. In some aspects, wireless device 3600 may employ traffic shaping as part of stage 3908. This traffic shaping may be similar to the use of response criteria in discovery initiation messages as described above in FIG. 32. For example, traffic shaper 3614 may be configured to determine an activation probability P_{DR,activation}based on the load estimation and to provide this activation probability P_{DR,activation}to discovery controller 3610. Discovery controller 3610 may then include the activation probability P_{DR,activation}as a response criteria in the discovery initiation message. As previously described for responding devices 2604-2608 in FIG. 32, responding devices that receive the discovery initiation message may then use the activation probability to perform a random check to determine whether or not to respond with a discovery response message. This is also described below regarding stage 3926.

Traffic shaper 3614 may base the activation probability P_{DR,activation}on the load estimation results {circumflex over (N)} and S_i. Accordingly, traffic shaper 3614 may be able to monitor the load on the discovery resources (at its location) and can control the amount of responding devices for each discovery initiation message. In doing so, traffic shaper 3614 may also control network load. In some aspects, traffic shaper 3614 may also use the number of devices that it wants to discover (presence discovery with friend list) to determine P_{DR,activation}, such as to improve the load estimation. in some aspects, traffic shaper 3614 may use the number of devices it wants to discover (e.g., a predefined value) instead of the load estimate {circumflex over (N)}.

In one example, traffic shaper 3614 may execute the following pseudocode to determine P_{DR,activation}

TABLE 5

Pseudocode for determining P_{DR,activation}

Line Number
Code

1
Input (B_i−1, S_i, {circumflex over (N)})

2
Output (B_i,P_{DR,activation} )

3
IF S_i< α

4
B_i= B_i−1− α

5
ELSE

6
B_i= B_i−1+ S_i· β

7
END

8

P_{DR, activation} = \frac{α \cdot M_{resp_msg}}{\min (B_{i}, \hat{N}) \cdot {\hat{N}}_{DR}}

As shown in Table 5, traffic shaper 3614 may start with the previous number of backlogged devices B_i−1and the load estimation results S_iand {circumflex over (N)}. Traffic shaper 3614 may then compare S_ito α, which is the maximum decoding capacity of decoder 3608 (e.g., the maximum number of supported SIC layers M). If S_iis less than α (e.g., there are more active devices than decoder 3608 can support), traffic shaper 3614 may set the number of backlogged devices B_ito B_i−1−α. Otherwise, traffic shaper 3614 may set the number of backlogged devices B_ito B_i−1+S_i·β, where β is an overestimation factor that tunes how aggressive the initial random backoff is. Traffic shaper 3614 may then determine the minimum of β_iand {circumflex over (N)} and set P_{DR,activation}to

$\frac{α \cdot M_{resp_msg}}{\min (B_{i}, \hat{N}) \cdot {\hat{N}}_{DR}},$

where M_{resp_msg}is the number of discovery channels allocated in a discovery window and {circumflex over (N)}_DRis the estimated average number of DRs transmitting on each discovery channel (e.g., determined as part of decentralized estimation). Traffic shaper 3614 may therefore provide this P_{DR,activation}to discovery controller 3610, which may then include P_{DR,activation}as the response criteria in the discovery initiation message.

After transmitting the discovery initiation message in stage 3908, discovery controller 3610 may receive discovery response messages from responding devices (e.g., via antenna system 3602, RF transceiver 3604, and decoder 3608). Discovery controller 3610 may therefore detect the responding devices from which discovery response messages are successfully received.

In some aspects, discovery controller 3610 may then identify one or more selected responding devices from the detected responding devices and subsequently transmit a discovery confirmation message (or, alternatively, dedicated messages with mute instructions) to the one or more selected responding devices in stage 3910. This may follow the same procedure described above for FIGS. 30 and 31. In some aspects, traffic shaper 3614 may determine a number of detected responding devices to select based on the load estimation results S_iand {circumflex over (N)}, such as where traffic shaper 3614 selects a larger number when S_iand {circumflex over (N)} are above a certain threshold. Traffic shaper 3614 may provide this number to discovery controller 3610, which may then identify the one or more selected responding devices based on the number. Traffic shaper 3614 may therefore perform traffic shaping by influencing the number of responding devices that are instructed to refrain from responding to subsequent discovery initiation messages.

Wireless device 3600 may then determine in stage 3912 whether a sufficient number of responding devices have been detected. For example, discovery controller 3610 may compare the number of detected responding devices to a threshold, and may determine that a sufficient number have been detected if the number of detected responding devices is greater than the threshold. If discovery controller 3610 determines that a sufficient number of responding devices were detected, discovery controller 3610 may end the current discovery procedure and return to stage 3902. Otherwise, discovery controller 3610 may proceed to stage 3914.

In some aspects, wireless device 3600 may be configured to perform a maximum number of retransmissions N_rtx. Wireless device 3600 may therefore repeatedly transmit the discovery initiation message up to N_rtxtimes. Discovery controller 3610 may therefore determine in stage 3914 whether discovery controller 3610 has performed N_rtxretransmissions (in the current discovery procedure). If so, discovery controller 3610 may end the current discovery procedure and return to stage 3902. Otherwise, discovery controller 3610 may proceed to stage 3916 to perform the next retransmission of the discovery initiation message.

In some aspects, wireless device 3600 may perform traffic shaping with retransmissions in stage 3916. For example, the stochastic nature of the wireless channel (e.g., occurrence of deep fading) coupled with the uncoordinated behavior of D2D networks (e.g., where devices transmit independently and are more likely to interfere with each other) can lead to unreliable reception and decoding of discovery initiation and response messages. Accordingly, discovery controller 3610 may perform retransmissions that are finite in number but also account for reception failures due to both interference and the occurrence of deep fades.

For example, discovery controller 3610 may perform a first set of retransmissions that address failures due to interference as well as a second set of retransmissions that address failures due to deep fades in the channel. The number of retransmissions in the first set is given as N_rtx,1and the number of retransmissions in the second set is given as N_rtx,2, where N_rtx,1+N_rtx,2=N_rtx. In this example, discovery controller 3610 may perform the first set of retransmissions using random checks based on an activation probability P_{rtx,activation}. Similar to the activation probabilities discussed above, the activation probability P_{rtx,activation}may influence the likelihood that discovery controller 3610 performs a retransmission in a given discovery window. For example, discovery controller 3610 may perform the initial transmission of the discovery initiation message in an initial discovery window (e.g., after performing a random backoff and completing a random check). Discovery controller 3610 may then begin performing the N_rtx,1retransmissions in the first set of retransmissions. In particular, discovery controller may perform a first random check to determine whether to perform a first retransmission of the discovery initiation message in a first discovery window scheduled after the initial discovery window (e.g., the discovery window scheduled directly after the initial discovery window). In particular, discovery controller 3610 may perform a random check using P_{rtx,activation}(e.g., having a probability of success equal to P_{rtx,activation}) and, if the random check is successful, may perform the retransmission in the first discovery window. If the random check is not successful, discovery controller 3610 may refrain from performing the retransmission in the first discovery window. Discovery controller 3610 may then identify a second discovery window scheduled after the first discovery window and perform a second random check to determine whether to perform the retransmission in the second discovery window. Discovery controller 3610 may continue to perform random checks to decide whether to perform a retransmission in a series of discovery windows until a random check is successful, after which discovery controller 3610 may perform the retransmission in the corresponding discovery window. After performing the first retransmission, discovery controller 3610 may perform the same procedure with a second retransmission in the first set of retransmissions. In other words, discovery controller 3610 may perform random checks to determine whether to perform the second retransmission in each of a sequence of scheduled discovery windows and may perform the second retransmission once a random check is successful for a given discovery window. Discovery controller 3610 may repeat this procedure until all of the first set of retransmissions are performed.

In some aspects, traffic shaper 3614 may determine activation probability P_{rtx,activation}in the same manner as activation probability P_{DI,activiation}. Optionally, P_{rtx,activation}may be equal to P_{DI,activiation}. Accordingly, traffic shaper 3614 may periodically update the value of both P_{rtx,activation}may be equal to P_{DI,activiation}with the same procedure, such as the one described above in the pseudocode of Table 5. After determining P_{rtx,activation}, traffic shaper 3614 may provide P_{rtx,activation}to discovery controller 3610 for use in the traffic shaping of stage 3916.

Once discovery controller 3610 performs all N_rtx,1retransmissions in the first set of retransmissions, discovery controller 3610 may begin performing the N_rtx,2retransmissions in the second set of retransmissions. While randomizing the retransmissions using a random check for each discovery window may be effective in countering interference, this may not be as effective for countering deep fading. Accordingly, discovery controller 3610 may use a different approach for the second set of retransmissions. For example, for each retransmission in the second set of retransmissions, discovery controller 3610 may select a random backoff window. The backoff windows may increase in duration for each retransmission, which may assist in addressing deep fading. In one example, discovery controller 3610 may select a random backoff window for a first retransmission of the second set of retransmissions. Discovery controller 3610 may then wait until the random backoff window is over, after which discovery controller 3610 may perform the first retransmission. Discovery controller 3610 may then select a random backoff window for a second retransmission of the second set of retransmissions, and may perform the second retransmission after the random backoff window is over. Discovery controller 3610 may continue in this manner until all N_rtx,2retransmissions in the second retransmission are completed. The maximum backoff window may progressively increase for each retransmission, and discovery controller 3610 may therefore select, on average, larger random backoff windows as more retransmissions are done.

In one example, discovery controller 3610 may be configured to select the random backoff window by performing a uniform random selection of discovery windows within a maximum backoff window W_max,ifor the ith retransmission (out of N_rtx,2total retransmissions). For example, assuming the previous retransmission occurred in a gth discovery window, discovery controller 3610 may select a random backoff window that expires prior to a jth discovery window, where discovery controller 3610 can perform the next retransmission in the jth discovery window. This can be expressed as

j=g+┌U(0,1)·W_max,i┐

where W_max,iis the maximum backoff window and U(0,1) is a uniform random number between zero and one. The maximum backoff window W_max,iis given as

W
_max,i
=W
_max,1·γ^η(i−1)

where W_max,1is the initial backoff window and γ and η are parameters controlling how aggressive the backoff window increases between retransmissions. The parameter i gives the ongoing number of retransmissions performed in the second set of retransmisisons.

Discovery controller 3610 may therefore, for each of the second set of retransmissions, determine W_max,ibased on W_max,1, parameters γ and η, and the number i of previous retransmissions in the second set of retransmissions. Discovery controller 3610 may then select a random backoff window based on W_max,ithat ends prior to a gth discovery window. Discovery controller 3610 may then wait until this random backoff window is over and perform the next retransmission in the gth discovery window.

In some aspects, traffic shaper 3614 may be configured to perform traffic shaping by determining W_max,1and parameters γ and η based on how aggressive the backoff window size increases should be. For example, γ=2 and η=1 lead to a quadratic increase in the successive backoff windows. Discovery may therefore have higher latency (as the retransmissions are spaced further apart) but may be less susceptible to deep fading (as the deep fading may subside between retransmissions).

After each retransmission, wireless device 3600 may wait for responses and then return to stage 3910 to (optionally) send a discovery confirmation message to one or more selected responding devices. This functionality is described above for FIGS. 30 and 31. Wireless device 3600 may then check whether a sufficient number of responses have been received in stage 3912 and, if not, proceed back to stage 3914. Wireless device 3600 may continue performing retransmissions until all of the first and second sets of retransmissions are completed or until a sufficient number of responses are received. Wireless device 3600 may then end the current discovery procedure and return to stage 3902.

As shown in FIG. 39, wireless device 3600 may also be configured to perform traffic shaping when operating as a responding device. If operating as a responding device, wireless device 3600 may begin by monitoring for discovery initiation messages in stage 3918. This includes monitoring the discovery resources (discovery channels during discovery windows), such as where decoder 3608 receives and decodes signals on the discovery resources and provides the resulting bitstream to discovery controller 3610.

Discovery controller 3610 may evaluate the bitstream to identify discovery initiation messages in the discovery resources. When discovery controller 3610 identifies a discovery initiation message, discovery controller 3610 may evaluate the discovery initiation message in stage 3920 to determine whether the discovery initiation message is valid. For example, discovery controller 3610 may identify a hash value in the discovery initiation message that is based on the device ID of the initiating device. As previously described above for FIGS. 19-26, discovery controller 3610 may then determine whether any device ID in its trusted entity list can produce a candidate hash value that matches the hash value in the discovery initiation message. If so, discovery controller 3610 may determine that the discovery initiation message is valid and then proceed to stage 3924. If not, discovery controller 3610 may determine that the discovery initiation message is not valid and may return to stage 3918.

In stage 3924, discovery controller 3610 may (optionally) determine whether a discovery confirmation message (or, alternatively, a dedicated message with a mute instruction) was received that identified wireless device 3600 as a selected responding device. If so, discovery controller 3610 may determine that wireless device 3600 has already been detected by the initiating device, and should therefore refrain from responding to the discovery initiation message. Discovery controller 3610 may then return to stage 3918. This may therefore be part of the traffic shaping, as wireless device 3600 may be following the traffic shaping decisions of the initiating device. If no discovery confirmation message identifying wireless device 3600 was received (and no dedicated message with a mute instruction was received), discovery controller 3610 may proceed to stage 3926. In some aspects, discovery controller 3610 may be configured to perform a maximum number of allowed responses R, or in other words, may respond to R retransmissions of the discovery initiation message. As previously described regarding FIG. 30, this may help to prevent false positives that can occur due to special types of encoding used in the discovery confirmation messages.

In stage 3926, discovery controller 3610 may (optionally) perform a proactive backoff based on an activation probability P_{DR,activation}included as response criteria in the discovery initiation message. As described above for stage 3908 and Table 5, the initiating device may determine an activation probability P_{DR,activation}based on the load estimation results and may include P_{DR,activation}as a response criteria in the discovery initiation message. Discovery controller 3610 may therefore identify P_{DR,activation}and perform a random check based on P_{DR,activation}to determine whether to transmit a discovery response message in response to the discovery initiation message. In one example, discovery controller 3610 may perform a random check with a success probability equal to P_{DR,activation}, such as by selecting a random number between zero and one and determining a successful random check if P_{DR,activation}is greater than the random number. If the random check is successful, discovery controller 3610 may decide to transmit a discovery response message in response to the discovery initiation message and may proceed to stage 3928. If the random check is not successful, discovery controller 3610 may return to stage 3918.

In stage 3928, discovery controller 3610 may transmit a discovery response message to the initiating device. Discovery controller 3610 may then return to stage 3902. If the initiating device retransmits the discovery initiation message, wireless device 3600 may receive and process the discovery initiation message according to stages 3918-3928.

As previously indicated, wireless devices may use some or all of these traffic shaping features to help manage collisions and interference during discovery. These traffic shaping features may be based on load estimation, which can be performed by wireless devices in a centralized or decentralized manner.

FIG. 40 shows exemplary method 4000 of performing discovery at a wireless device according to some aspects. As shown in FIG. 40, method 4000 includes broadcasting a first discovery initiation message (4002), decoding discovery response messages from one or more first responding devices, transmitting dedicated messages to the one or more responding devices to instruct the one or more responding devices to not respond to a second discovery initiation message (4004), broadcasting the second discovery initiation message (4006), and decoding discovery response messages from one or more second responding devices (4008).

FIG. 41 shows exemplary method 4100 of performing discovery at a wireless device according to some aspects. As shown in FIG. 41, method 4100 includes receiving a first discovery initiation message from an initiating device (4102), transmitting a first discovery response message to the initiating device (4104), receiving a dedicated message from the initiating device that instructs the wireless device to not respond to a second discovery initiation message (4106), receiving the second discovery initiation message from the initiating device (4108), and not responding to the second discovery initiation message (4110).

FIG. 42 shows exemplary method 4200 of performing discovery at a wireless device according to some aspects. As shown in FIG. 42, method 4200 includes broadcasting a first discovery initiation message and decoding one or more first discovery response messages (4202), determining, based on the one or more first discovery response messages, a response criteria that affects the number of devices that respond to a second discovery initiation message (4204), broadcasting the second discovery initiation message and the response criteria (4206), and decoding one or more second discovery response messages (4208).

FIG. 43 shows exemplary method 4300 of performing discovery at a wireless device according to some aspects. As shown in FIG. 43, method 4300 includes receiving, from an initiating device, a discovery initiation message including a response criteria (4302), determining whether to respond to the discovery initiation message based on the response criteria (4304), and transmitting a discovery response message if it is determined to respond to the discovery initiation message and not transmitting the discovery response message if it is determined not to respond to the discovery initiation message (4306).

FIG. 44 shows exemplary method 4400 of performing discovery at a wireless device according to some aspects. As shown in FIG. 44, method 4400 includes receiving a discovery initiation message from an initiating device (4402), determining a probability value (4404), determining whether to respond to the discovery initiation message based on the probability value (4406), and transmitting a discovery response message to the initiating device if it is determined to respond to the discovery initiation message, and not transmitting a discovery response message to the initiating device if it is determined not to respond to the discovery initiation message (4408).

FIG. 45 shows exemplary method 4500 of performing wireless communications at a wireless device. As shown in FIG. 45, method 4500 includes transmitting a channel estimation pilot signal (4502), receiving response signals from a plurality of responding devices (4504), wherein a received power of the respective response signals is based on a target receive power and a channel power between the wireless device and the plurality of responding devices, and determining an estimated overall number of proximate wireless devices based on the target receive power and an overall received power of the response signals (4506).

FIG. 46 shows exemplary method 4600 of performing wireless communications at a wireless device. As shown in FIG. 46, method 4600 includes receiving a channel estimation pilot signal from a transmitting device (4602), determining an estimated channel power based on the channel estimation pilot signal (4604), selecting, based on the estimated channel power and a target receive power of a response signal at the transmitting device, a transmit power (4606), and transmitting the response signal to the transmitting device with the transmit power (4608).

FIG. 47 shows exemplary method 4700 of performing wireless communications at a wireless device. As shown in FIG. 47, method 4700 includes monitoring discovery resources during a plurality of discovery windows (4702), where the discovery resources are allocated for wireless devices to perform discovery, detecting discovery transmissions on the discovery resources over the plurality of discovery windows (4704), and determining an estimated number of active wireless devices per discovery resource based on the number of discovery transmissions that are detected over the plurality of discovery windows (4706).

FIG. 48 shows exemplary method 4800 of performing wireless communications at a wireless device. As shown in FIG. 48, method 4800 includes selecting a backoff window during which to wait before initiating a discovery procedure (4802), performing, based on an activation probability, a random check to determine whether to initiate discovery in a first discovery window that is scheduled after the backoff window is over (4804), if it is determined to initiate discovery in the first discovery window, transmitting a discovery initiation message in the first discovery window (4806), and if it is determined to not initiate discovery in the first discovery window, performing a second random check based on the activation probability to determine whether to initiate the discovery procedure in a second discovery window (4808).

FIG. 49 shows exemplary method 4900 of performing wireless communications at a wireless device. As shown in FIG. 49, method 4900 includes transmitting a discovery initiation message (4902), and performing one or more first retransmissions of the discovery initiation message (4904) by, for each respective retransmission of the one or more first retransmissions: performing a first random check to determine whether to perform the respective retransmission at a first discovery window and, if it is determined to not perform the respective retransmission, performing a second random check to determine whether to perform the respective retransmission at a second discovery window, the method further including performing one or more second retransmissions of the discovery invitation message (4906) by, for each respective retransmission of the one or more second retransmissions: selecting a random backoff window based on a number of retransmissions of the discovery initiation message prior to the respective retransmission, and performing the respective retransmission after the random backoff window is over.

FIG. 50 shows exemplary method 5000 of performing wireless communications at a wireless device. As shown in FIG. 50, method 5000 includes obtaining an estimated overall number of proximate wireless devices that approximates an upper bound for wireless devices proximate to the wireless device (5002), obtaining an estimated number of active wireless devices per discovery resource that approximates a number of wireless devices that are actively using discovery resources (5004), determining an activation probability based on the load estimation results (5006), transmitting a discovery initiation message that indicates the activation probability (5008), where the activation probability influences a number of responding devices transmitting discovery response messages, and receiving one or more discovery response messages (5010)

In some aspects, initiating device 2602 may be characterized as a wireless device including a discovery controller (e.g., discovery controller 2710) configured to broadcast a first discovery initiation message, and a decoder (e.g., decoder 2708) configured to decode discovery response messages from one or more first responding devices, the discovery controller further configured to transmit one or more dedicated messages to the one or more first responding devices to instruct the one or more first responding devices to refrain from responding to a second discovery initiation message, and to broadcast the second discovery initiation message, the decoder further configured to decode discovery response messages from the one or more second responding devices. In some aspects, initiating device 2602 may be characterized as a wireless device including a radio frequency transceiver (e.g., RF transceiver 2704) and one or more antennas (e.g., antenna system 2702), and one or more processors (e.g., decoder 2708 and discovery controller 2710) configured to transmit and receive signals via the radio frequency transceiver and the one or more antennas, the one or more processors further configured to broadcast a first discovery initiation message, decode discovery response messages from one or more first responding devices, transmit dedicated messages to the one or more responding devices to instruct the one or more responding devices to refrain from responding to a second discovery initiation message, broadcast the second discovery initiation message, and decode discovery response messages from one or more second responding devices.

In some aspects, responding device 2604 may be characterized as a wireless device including a decoder (e.g., decoder 2808) configured to receive a first discovery initiation message from an initiating device, and a discovery controller (e.g., discovery controller 2810) configured to transmit a first discovery response message to the initiating device, the decoder further configured to receive a dedicated message from the initiating device that instructs the wireless device to refrain from responding to a second discovery initiation message, and further configured to receive the second discovery initiation message from the initiating device, and the discovery controller further configured to refrain from responding to the second discovery initiation message. In some aspects, responding device 2604 may be characterized as a wireless device including a radio frequency transceiver (e.g., RF transceiver 2804) and one or more antennas (e.g., antenna system 2802), and one or more processors (e.g., decoder 2808 and discovery controller 2810) configured to transmit and receive signals via the radio frequency transceiver and the one or more antennas, the one or more processors further configured to receive a first discovery initiation message from an initiating device, transmit a first discovery response message to the initiating device, receive a dedicated message from the initiating device that instructs the wireless device to refrain from responding to a second discovery initiation message, receive the second discovery initiation message from the initiating device, and refrain from responding to the second discovery initiation message.

In some aspects, initiating device 2602 may be characterized as a wireless device including a discovery controller (e.g., discovery controller 2710) configured to broadcast a first discovery initiation message, and a decoder (e.g., decoder 2708) configured to decode one or more first discovery response messages, the discovery controller further configured to determine, based on the one or more first discovery response messages, a response criteria that impacts the number of responding devices that respond to a second discovery initiation message, and to broadcast the second discovery initiation message and the response criteria, the decoder further configured to decode one or more second discovery response messages. In some aspects, initiating device 2602 may be characterized as a wireless device including a radio frequency transceiver (e.g., RF transceiver 2704) and one or more antennas (e.g., antenna system 2702), and one or more processors (e.g., decoder 2708 and discovery controller 2710) configured to transmit and receive signals via the radio frequency transceiver and the one or more antennas, the one or more processors further configured to broadcast a first discovery initiation message and decode one or more first discovery response messages, determine, based on the one or more first discovery response messages, a response criteria that impacts the number of devices that respond to a second discovery initiation message, broadcast the second discovery initiation message and the response criteria, and decode one or more second discovery response messages.

In some aspects, responding device 2604 may be characterized as a wireless device including a decoder (e.g., decoder 2808) configured to receive, from an initiating device, a discovery initiation message including a response criteria, and a discovery controller (e.g., discovery controller 2810) configured to determine whether to respond to the discovery initiation message based on the response criteria, transmit a discovery response message if it is determined to respond to the discovery initiation message, and refrain from transmitting the discovery response message if it is determined not to respond to the discovery initiation message. In some aspects, responding device 2604 may be characterized as a wireless device including a radio frequency transceiver (e.g., RF transceiver 2804) and one or more antennas (e.g., antenna system 2802), and one or more processors (e.g., decoder 2808 and discovery controller 2810) configured to transmit and receive signals via the radio frequency transceiver and the one or more antennas, the one or more processors further configured to receive, from an initiating device, a discovery initiation message including a response criteria, determine whether to respond to the discovery initiation message based on the response criteria, and transmit a discovery response message if it is determined to respond to the discovery initiation message and refrain from transmitting the discovery response message if it is determined not to respond to the discovery initiation message.

In some aspects, responding device 2604 may be characterized as a wireless device including a decoder (e.g., decoder 2808) configured to receive a discovery initiation message from an initiating device, and a discovery controller (e.g., discovery controller 2810) configured to determine a probability value, determine whether to respond to the discovery initiation message based on the probability value, and transmit a discovery response message to the initiating device if it is determined to respond to the discovery initiation message, and refrain from transmitting a discovery response message to the initiating device if it is determined not to respond to the discovery initiation message. In some aspects, responding device 2604 may be characterized as a wireless device including a radio frequency transceiver (e.g., RF transceiver 2804) and one or more antennas (e.g., antenna system 2802), and one or more processors (e.g., decoder 2808 and discovery controller 2810) configured to transmit and receive signals via the radio frequency transceiver and the one or more antennas, the one or more processors further configured to receive a discovery initiation message from an initiating device, determine a probability value, determine whether to respond to the discovery initiation message based on the probability value, and transmit a discovery response message to the initiating device if it is determined to respond to the discovery initiation message, and refrain from transmitting a discovery response message to the initiating device if it is determined not to respond to the discovery initiation message.

In some aspects, wireless device 3600 may be characterized as a wireless device including a discovery controller (e.g., discovery controller 3610) configured to transmit a channel estimation pilot signal, a decoder (e.g., decoder 3608) configured to receive response signals from a plurality of responding devices, wherein a received power of the respective response signals is based on a target receive power and a channel power between the wireless device and the plurality of responding devices, and a load estimator (e.g., load estimator 3612) configured to determine an estimated overall number of proximate wireless devices based on the target receive power and an overall received power of the response signals.

In some aspects, wireless device 3600 may be characterized as a wireless device including a decoder (e.g., decoder 3608) configured to receive a channel estimation pilot signal from a transmitting device, a load estimator (e.g., load estimator 3612) configured to determine an estimated channel power based on the channel estimation pilot signal, and to select, based on the estimated channel power and a target receive power of a response signal at the transmitting device, a transmit power, and a discovery controller (e.g., discovery controller 3610) configured to transmit the response signal to the transmitting device with the transmit power.

In some aspects, wireless device 3600 may be characterized as a wireless device including a decoder (e.g., decoder 3608) configured to monitor discovery resources during a plurality of discovery windows, where the discovery resources are allocated for wireless devices to perform discovery, and further configured to detect discovery transmissions on the discovery resources over the plurality of discovery windows, and a load estimator (e.g., load estimator 3612) configured to determine an estimated number of active wireless devices per discovery resource based on the number of discovery transmissions that are detected over the plurality of discovery windows.

In some aspects, wireless device 3600 may be characterized as a wireless device including a discovery controller (e.g., discovery controller 3610) configured to perform, based on an activation probability, a random check to determine whether to initiate discovery in a first discovery window that is scheduled after the backoff window is over, if it is determined to initiate discovery in the first discovery window, transmit a discovery initiation message in the first discovery window, and if it is determined to not initiate discovery in the first discovery window, perform a second random check based on the activation probability to determine whether to initiate the discovery procedure in a second discovery window.

In some aspects, wireless device 3600 may be characterized as a wireless device including a discovery controller (e.g., discovery controller 3610) configured to transmit a discovery initiation message, and perform one or more first retransmissions of the discovery initiation message by, for each respective retransmission of the one or more first retransmissions performing a first random check to determine whether to perform the respective retransmission at a first discovery window and, if it is determined to not perform the respective retransmission, performing a second random check to determine whether to perform the respective retransmission at a second discovery window, the device controller further configured to perform one or more second retransmissions of the discovery invitation message by, for each respective retransmission of the one or more second retransmissions selecting a random backoff window based on a number of retransmissions of the discovery initiation message prior to the respective retransmission, and performing the respective retransmission after the random backoff window is over.

In some aspects, wireless device 3600 may be characterized as a wireless device including a traffic shaper (e.g., traffic shaper 3614) configured to obtain an estimated overall number of proximate wireless devices that approximates an upper bound for wireless devices proximate to the wireless device, obtain an estimated number of active wireless devices per discovery resource that approximates a number of wireless devices that are actively using discovery resources, and determine an activation probability based on the load estimation results, a discovery controller (e.g., discovery controller 3610) configured to transmit a discovery initiation message that indicates the activation probability, where the activation probability influences a number of responding devices transmitting discovery response messages, and a decoder (e.g., decoder 3608) configured to receive one or more discovery response messages. In some aspects, wireless devices in a decentralized network (such as D2D) may provide an emergency message dissemination scheme. In such a scheme, wireless devices may broadcast and/or relay emergency messages to other wireless devices. This can include dissemination of emergency messages that originate locally from a wireless device (e.g., when a user activates an alarm or call for help) or emergency messages that originate from a cellular network (e.g., emergency messages for natural disasters). Wireless devices may therefore use D2D signaling to disseminate the emergency messages throughout a decentralized network of wireless devices.

FIG. 51 shows an exemplary emergency message dissemination scheme according to some aspects. As shown in FIG. 51, cellular network 5102 may include cell 5104 while decentralized network 5100 may include wireless devices 5106-5116. In the example of FIG. 51, wireless device 5106 may be within the coverage area of cellular network 5102, namely in the coverage area of cell 5104. Wireless devices 5108-5116 may be outside of the coverage of cellular network 5102 but may be within communication range of each other and within communication range of wireless device 5106. Wireless devices 5106-5116 may therefore form decentralized network 5100 and may use D2D signaling (e.g., on D2D resources) to communicate with each other. As specified above, the term D2D refers to any type of direct signaling between devices and is not limited to any particular radio access technology.

In various aspects, wireless devices 5106-5116 may use an emergency message dissemination scheme to distribute emergency messages between each other. This can include both emergency messages that originate locally within decentralized network 5100 as well as emergency messages that originate outside of decentralized network 5100, such as at cellular network 5102. In one example using locally-originating emergency messages, an emergency message may originate at wireless device 5106. For example, a user of wireless device 5106 may trigger an alert, such as a safety alarm or other type of triggered alert. Wireless device 5106 may then generate an emergency message based on the alert and broadcast out the emergency message using the emergency message dissemination scheme of various aspects of this disclosure. As shown in FIG. 51, wireless device 5106 may broadcast the emergency message to wireless devices 5108-5116 using D2D signaling. As described in detail below, wireless devices 5106-5116 may use specific techniques of the emergency message dissemination scheme to distribute the emergency message.

In an example using externally-originating emergency messages, cellular network 5102 may originally generate an emergency message. For example, an entity in cellular network 5102 may trigger an alert for a natural disaster or other emergency. Cellular network 5102 may then generate an emergency message based on the alert. Cell 5104 may then broadcast the emergency message to wireless devices in its coverage area. As shown in FIG. 51, wireless device 5106 may be located in the coverage area of cell 5104 and may maintain a signaling connection with cell 5104 (e.g., a paging connection). As part of the broadcast of the emergency message, cell 5104 may send the emergency message to wireless device 5106 over this signaling connection. Wireless device 5106 may then broadcast out the emergency message to wireless devices 5108-5116 using the emergency message dissemination scheme of various aspects of this disclosure. Similar to the locally-originating case, wireless device 5106 may broadcast the emergency message to wireless devices 5108-5116 using D2D signaling.

In various aspects, wireless devices 5106-5116 may therefore be structurally configured to perform the emergency message dissemination scheme. This structural configuration will first be introduced, followed by a procedural description of the emergency message dissemination scheme. FIGS. 52 and 53 show exemplary internal configurations of wireless devices 5106 and 5108 according to some aspects. The configurations shown in FIGS. 52 and 53 are focused on the emergency message dissemination features of wireless devices 5106 and 5108 and therefore may not expressly depict other components of wireless devices 5106 and 5108 that are less directly related to emergency message dissemination. Accordingly, in various aspects wireless device 5106 and/or wireless device 5108 may include various other components. Furthermore, while the following description may focus on wireless device 5106 in a transmitting role (e.g., transmitting emergency messages) and wireless device 5108 in a receiving role (e.g., receiving emergency messages), in some aspects wireless device 5106 may also be configured with the structure and functionality of wireless device 5108 and/or wireless device 5108 may be configured with the structure and functionality of wireless device 5106. Wireless devices 5106 and 5108 may therefore be configured to both transmit and receive emergency messages.

Starting with FIG. 52, wireless device 5106 may include antenna system 5202, RF transceiver 5204, baseband modem 5206, and application processor 5214. In some aspects, antenna system 5202, RF transceiver 5204, baseband modem 5206, and application processor 5214 may be configured as described above for antenna system 202, RF transceiver 204, baseband modem 206, and application processor 212 of terminal device 102. Accordingly, wireless device 5106 may be configured to transmit and receive wireless signals via antenna system 5202 and RF transceiver 5204. In the transmit direction, RF transceiver 5204 may therefore modulate and transmit baseband samples (provided by baseband modem 5206) via antenna system 5202. In the receive direction, RF transceiver 5204 may also receive and demodulate radio signals via antenna system 5202 and provide the resulting baseband samples to baseband modem 5206. Application processor 5214 may provide user data to baseband modem 5206 for transmission while baseband modem 5206 may provide received user data to application processor 5214.

FIG. 52 also depicts several internal components of baseband modem 5206, including receiver 5208, transmitter 5210, and controller 5212. In some aspects, baseband modem 5206 may include a digital signal processor and a protocol controller. Receiver 5208, transmitter 5210, and controller 5212 may therefore be subcomponents of the digital signal processor (e.g., physical layer components) and/or subcomponents of the protocol controller (e.g., protocol stack components). In some aspects, receiver 5208 may be the physical layer receive chain while transmitter 5210 may be the physical layer transmit chain. For example, receiver 5208 may include a demodulator, demapper (e.g., constellation demapper), de-interleaver, decoder, and/or descrambler. Receiver 5208 may receive wireless signals in the form of baseband samples via antenna system 5202 and RF transceiver 5204. Receiver 5208 may then sequentially process these baseband samples with the demodulator, demapper (e.g., constellation demapper), de-interleaver, decoder, and/or descrambler to produce a bitstream, which recover 5208 may provide to controller 5212 (e.g., to protocol stack layers of controller 5212). Transmitter 5210 may include a scrambler, encoder, interleaver, mapper (e.g., constellation mapper), and/or a modulator, which may sequentially process a bitstream (e.g., provided by protocol stack layers of controller 5212) to produce baseband samples (e.g., complex IQ symbols). Transmitter 5210 may then transmit these baseband samples as wireless signals via RF transceiver 5204 and antenna system 5202. Controller 5212 may include one or more processors configured to execute the protocol stack layers as software. This may include generating messages for transmitter 5210 to transmit (e.g., messages including user or control data) and/or recovering messages from bitstreams provided by receiver 5208. The detailed functionality of receiver 5208, transmitter 5210, and controller 5212 is further described below in FIGS. 54-56.

As shown in FIG. 53, wireless device 5108 may be structurally configured in a similar manner to wireless device 5106. In particular, wireless device 5108 may include antenna system 5302, RF transceiver 5304, baseband modem 5306, and application processor 5314. In some aspects, antenna system 5302, RF transceiver 5304, baseband modem 5306, and application processor 5314 may be configured as described above for antenna system 202, RF transceiver 204, baseband modem 206, and application processor 212 of terminal device 102. Accordingly, wireless device 5108 may be configured to transmit and receive wireless signals via antenna system 5302 and RF transceiver 5304. In the transmit direction, RF transceiver 5304 may therefore modulate and transmit baseband samples (provided by baseband modem 5306) via antenna system 5302. In the receive direction, RF transceiver 5304 may also receive and demodulate radio signals via antenna system 5302 and provide the resulting baseband samples to baseband modem 5306. Application processor 5214 may provide user data to baseband modem 5206 for transmission while baseband modem 5206 may provide received user data to application processor 5214.

FIG. 53 also depicts several internal components of baseband modem 5306, including receiver 5308, transmitter 5310, and controller 5312. In some aspects, baseband modem 5306 may include a digital signal processor and a protocol controller. Receiver 5308, transmitter 5310, and controller 5312 may therefore be subcomponents of the digital signal processor (e.g., physical layer components) and/or subcomponents of the protocol controller (e.g., protocol stack components). In some aspects, receiver 5308 may be the physical layer receive chain while transmitter 5310 may be the physical layer transmit chain. For example, receiver 5308 may include a demodulator, demapper (e.g., constellation demapper), de-interleaver, decoder, and/or descrambler. Receiver 5308 may receive wireless signals in the form of baseband samples via antenna system 5302 and RF transceiver 5304. Receiver 5308 may then sequentially process these baseband samples with the demodulator, demapper (e.g., constellation demapper), de-interleaver, decoder, and/or descrambler to produce a bitstream, which recover 5308 may provide to controller 5312 (e.g., to protocol stack layers of controller 5312). Transmitter 5310 may include a scrambler, encoder, interleaver, mapper (e.g., constellation mapper), and/or a modulator, which may sequentially process a bitstream (e.g., provided by protocol stack layers of controller 5312) to produce baseband samples (e.g., complex IQ symbols). Transmitter 5310 may then transmit these baseband samples as wireless signals via RF transceiver 5304 and antenna system 5302. Controller 5312 may include one or more processors configured to execute the protocol stack layers as software. This may include generating messages for transmitter 5310 to transmit (e.g., messages including user or control data) and/or recovering messages from bitstreams provided by receiver 5308. The detailed functionality of receiver 5308, transmitter 5310, and controller 5312 is further described below in FIGS. 54-56. In some aspects, wireless devices 5110-5116 may configured in the same manner as wireless device 5108 shown in FIG. 53.

FIG. 54 shows exemplary message sequence chart 5400, which describes the emergency message dissemination scheme according to some aspects. In various aspects, wireless devices may use the procedure of message sequence chart 5400 to transmit and receive emergency messages with each other. FIG. 54 shows an exemplary case of this procedure between wireless devices 5106 and 5108. As shown in FIG. 54, wireless device 5106 may first identify an emergency in stage 5402. In some aspects, the emergency may originate at wireless device 5106. In one example where the emergency originates at wireless device 5106, a user of wireless device 5106 may trigger the emergency. For example, the user may use an input interface of wireless device 5106 to trigger an emergency, such as where the user is in a dangerous or potentially harmful scenario and triggers an alert. An application layer running at application processor 5214 of wireless device 5106 may receive the emergency trigger via the input interface and may notify controller 5212 of the emergency. In some aspects, application processor 5214 may provide emergency information about the emergency, such as a location (e.g., GPS coordinates), information about the type of emergency, and any other relevant information about the emergency.

In other aspects, the emergency may originate external to wireless device 5106, such as at cellular network 5102. In one example, a network entity of cellular network 5102 (e.g., in the core network) may trigger the emergency. For instance, there may be a natural disaster or other large-scale emergency that triggers an emergency. A network entity in cellular network 5102 may then generate an emergency network broadcast and distribute it to the cells of cellular network 5102. The emergency network broadcast may include emergency information about the emergency, such as a location (e.g., GPS coordinates), information about the type of emergency, and any other relevant information about the emergency.

The cells may then broadcast the emergency network broadcast into their respective coverage areas. In the example shown in FIG. 51, cell 5104 may broadcast the emergency network broadcast on a paging channel to wireless device 5106. This is exemplary and any type of broadcast or channel can alternatively be used. Wireless device 5106 may then identify the emergency by receiving and processing the emergency network broadcast. For example, receiver 5208 may receive the emergency network broadcast via antenna system 5202 and RF transceiver 5204 and decode and demodulate the emergency network broadcast. Receiver 5208 may then provide the emergency network broadcast to controller 5212, which may read the emergency network broadcast and identify the emergency from the emergency network broadcast.

Accordingly, in either case wireless device 5106 may identify the emergency in stage 5402. After identifying the emergency, wireless device 5106 may generate an emergency message in stage 5404. For example, controller 5212 may be configured to generate an emergency message that includes emergency information about the emergency. Controller 5212 may be configured to generate the emergency message according to a predefined format, such as a predefined emergency message format that wireless devices 5106-5116 are preconfigured to understand and use. FIG. 55 shows exemplary emergency message 5500 according to some aspects, which serves as an example of one possible predefined emergency message format. As shown in FIG. 55, emergency message 5500 may include header 5502, location 5504, phone number 5506, and payload 5508. Header 5502 may be a header that specifies that emergency message 5500 is an emergency message. Location 5504 may be a field that includes location information, such as GPS coordinates that identify the location or area of the emergency. Phone number 5506 may be the phone number of the initiator of the emergency. Payload 5508 may be a message payload including scenario information 5510 and register token 5512.

Using emergency message 5500 as an example, controller 5212 may be configured to obtain and/or generate the data for the various fields as part of stage 5404. In some aspects where the emergency originates at wireless device 5106, application processor 5214 may obtain GPS coordinates of wireless device 5106 with a GPS receiver and controller 5212 may generate location 5504 with the GPS coordinates. In some aspects where the emergency originates at cellular network 5102, controller 5212 may obtain location 5504 from the emergency network broadcast, which may specify the location as one of its fields. In some aspects where the emergency originates at wireless device 5106, controller 5212 may use the phone number of wireless device 5106 as phone number 5506. In some aspects where the emergency originates at wireless device 5106, controller 5212 may generate scenario information 5510 locally, and may include information such as a timestamp, emergency type, or any other relevant information in scenario information 5510. In some aspects, controller 5212 may include a text message in scenario information 5510 that specifies information about the emergency. In some aspects where the emergency originates at cellular network 5102, controller 5212 may take information from the emergency network broadcast and include this information in scenario information 5510.

Register token 5512 may help prevent abuse of the emergency message dissemination scheme. In particular, register token 5512 may be used to verify the authenticity of emergency message 5500 and/or to track which devices initiated and relayed the emergency message. If abuse occurs, such as where a device spams other devices with emergency messages, register token 5512 may help in determining which devices were acting inappropriately. In some aspects, register token 5512 may therefore be based on an initiating device ID that identifies the device that initiated distribution of emergency message 5500 within decentralized network 5100. In some aspects, register token 5512 may also be based on a relaying device ID that identifies a device that relayed emergency message 5500. The initiating device ID may therefore correspond to the wireless device that either triggered the emergency or received the emergency network broadcast from outside of decentralized network 5100 (as this is the device within decentralized network 5100 that initializes distribution of the emergency message). In the example of FIG. 51, wireless device 5106 may therefore be the initiating device.

In some aspects, controller 5212 may be configured to generate register token 5512 as part of generating the emergency message in stage 5404. Controller 5212 may use a device ID of wireless device 5106 as the initiating device ID. For example, wireless devices 5106-5116 may each be configured with a device ID and with a trusted entity list that includes the device IDs of all trusted wireless device. In the example of FIG. 51, wireless devices 5106-5116 may all trust one another and may therefore include the device IDs of the rest of wireless devices 5106-5116 in their respective trusted entity lists. In some aspects, the device ID and the trusted entity list may be managed by a centralized server (e.g., a cloud server), where wireless devices 5106-5116 periodically download a new device ID and/or trusted entity list from a centralized server. Wireless devices 5106-5116 may then use these device IDs and trusted entity lists to communicate with each other. As wireless devices 5106-5116 have each other's device IDs in their respective trusted entity lists, wireless devices 5106-5116 may use the trusted entity lists to verify that they only communicate with other trusted devices. For example, wireless devices 5106-5116 may be configured to exchange messages by applying a hash function to a message payload, where the hash function uses their device ID as an input, and then sending both the message payload and hash value to another device. This other device may then use its trusted entity list to verify that one of its trusted devices sent the message, such as by iterating through the device IDs in the trusted entity list, determining a hash value for the message payload for each device ID, and checking if the hash value matches the hash value from the message. If so, the device can assume that the message payload was validly transmitted by one of its trusted devices.

In some aspects, wireless devices 5106-5116 may use a similar hashing technique based on their device IDs to generate the register tokens for emergency messages. For example, when wireless device 5106 generates the emergency message in stage 5404, controller 5212 may generate a hash value using the device ID of wireless device 5106 (the initiating device ID) and may include this hash value as the register token. The register token therefore serves as a record of which devices were involved in propagation of the emergency message (e.g., initiating and/or relaying devices). If the emergency message is later determined to be spam or malicious, wireless device 5106 can be identified as the spamming or malicious device. This can be useful when investigating abuses.

In some aspects, the register token may also be based on a relaying device ID, such as where the relaying device ID is also used to generate a hash value and both hash values (from initiating device ID and relaying device ID) are included in the register token (e.g., by concatenating the hash value). This is further discussed below in the description of relaying features of wireless device 5108.

In some aspects, wireless device 5106 may also determine a hash value based on its device ID and the payload of the emergency message and may include this hash value in the emergency message. This hash value may be separate from the register token, and may be used by other devices (such as wireless device 5108) to identify the device that transmitted the emergency message. This is contrast to the register token, which serves as a more detailed record of the wireless devices that have propagated the emergency message.

As described immediately above, wireless device 5106 may therefore generate the emergency message in stage 5404 by obtaining and/or generating the data for each field of the emergency message. While FIG. 55 shows an exemplary emergency message format, this is only for illustrative purposes and various aspects may use emergency messages with many different formats (e.g., different fields). After generating the emergency message, wireless device 5106 may proceed to transmit an emergency indicator beacon in stage 5408. This emergency indicator beacon may notify nearby wireless devices (e.g., wireless devices 5108-5116) that wireless device 5106 is preparing to transmit an emergency message. Wireless device 5106 may use a discovery channel to transmit the emergency indicator beacon. For example, the wireless devices of decentralized network 5100 may be configured to monitor a discovery channel to listen for other wireless devices. The wireless devices may therefore use the discovery channel for initial detection before starting communication sessions with other devices. In some aspects, the discovery channel may be composed of certain slots in a shared schedule of wireless devices 5106-5116, such as certain slots in each or every few frames of the shared schedule. These slots may form a discovery window. The discovery channel be a single subcarrier, set of subcarriers, or a block of spectrum.

As other wireless devices are configured to listen to the discovery channel, wireless device 5106 may use the discovery channel to transmit the emergency indicator beacon in stage 5408. For example, controller 5212 may provide the emergency indicator beacon (e.g., as a bitstream) to transmitter 5210, which may then transmit the emergency indicator beacon on the discovery channel via RF transceiver 5204 and antenna system 5202. The emergency indicator beacon may have a predefined format that wireless devices 5108-5116 are configured to recognize. In one example, the emergency indicator beacon may have certain bits set to specific values (e.g., the Most Significant Bit (MSB) of the payload set to “1”), where wireless devices 5108-5116 are configured to detect emergency indicator beacons by identifying that these bits are set to the specific values. Controller 5212 may therefore generate the emergency indicator beacon with the bits set to the specific values. Controller 5212 may also generate a payload for the emergency indicator beacon. In some aspects, controller 5212 may include information about the emergency message, which wireless device 5106 will transmit after the emergency indicator beacon. For example, controller 5212 may specify identify information of wireless device 5106, identify a data channel on which the emergency message will be transmitted, and/or identify a time when the emergency message will be transmitted. The emergency indicator beacon may therefore include information that wireless devices 5108-5116 can use to receive the emergency message.

In some aspects, the emergency indicator beacon may be scrambled with an emergency scrambling code. For example, transmitter 5210 may apply the emergency scrambling code to the emergency indicator beacon it processes the emergency indicator beacon (prior to transmission via RF transceiver 5204 and antenna system 5202). The emergency scrambling may be predefined and known a priori at other wireless devices configured to use the emergency message dissemination scheme. These other wireless devices may therefore be able to revert the emergency scrambling code when they receive the emergency indicator beacon. Furthermore, some aspects may provide different scrambling codes. For example, there may be a public emergency scrambling code that is open to all wireless devices configured for the emergency message dissemination scheme as well as a private emergency scrambling code that is limited to specific subsets of ‘friend’ devices. If wireless device 5106 is broadcasting the emergency message to all proximate wireless devices, transmitter 5210 may apply the public emergency scrambling code to the emergency indicator beacon. Any wireless device configured for the emergency message dissemination scheme may therefore be able to revert the public emergency scrambling code and read the emergency indicator beacon. Conversely, if wireless device 5106 is only transmitting the emergency message to a specific subset of its friend devices (e.g., multicast), transmitter 5210 may apply the private emergency scrambling code (preconfigured for this specific subset) to the emergency indicator beacon. Only the wireless devices in the specific subset will therefore be able to revert the public emergency scrambling code and read the emergency indicator beacon. This use of emergency scrambling codes may limit dissemination to certain users and/or allow wireless devices to differentiate between standard discovery messages versus emergency indicator beacons.

As shown in FIG. 54, wireless device 5108 may monitor the discovery channel in stage 5406. This can be a continuous process, such as where wireless device 5108 periodically tunes to the discovery channel to listen for discovery messages and emergency indicator beacons. For example, receiver 5308 may receive signals during discovery windows via antenna system 5302 and RF transceiver 5304 and process the received signals to obtain a bitstream. If emergency scrambling codes are being used, receiver 5308 may process the bitstream to revert the emergency scrambling code (e.g., to revert the public or private emergency scrambling code, depending on which is being used). Controller 5312 may then evaluate the bitstream to determine whether the bitstream includes an emergency indicator beacon. For example, if the emergency indicator beacon is identifiable via certain bits being set to specific values, controller 5312 may detect the emergency indicator beacon by determining that these bits are set to the specific values. Controller 5312 may therefore identify the emergency indicator beacon based on a predefined format of emergency indicator beacons.

As shown in FIG. 54, wireless device 5108 may also identify the transmitting wireless device, i.e., the device that transmitted the emergency indicator beacon. As introduced above, in some aspects wireless device 5106 may be configured to include its identity information as part of the payload of the emergency indicator beacon. Accordingly, controller 5312 of wireless device 5108 may be configured to identify wireless device 5106 as the transmitting wireless device by reading the identity information from the payload of the emergency indicator beacon.

Once wireless device 5108 has detected the emergency indicator and identified the transmitting wireless device, wireless device 5108 may be aware that the transmitting wireless device will transmit an emergency message on its data channel. Wireless device 5108 may therefore tune to the data channel of the transmitting wireless device in stage 5414. For example, controller 5312 may instruct receiver 5308 to tune to the data channel of wireless device 5106 and begin receiving signals on the data channel. Receiver 5308 may then receive the signals via antenna system 5302 and RF transceiver 5304. In some aspects, the data channel may be a subcarrier, set of subcarriers, or block of spectrum allocated to wireless device 5106 for transmission. Receiver 5308 may therefore tune to the data channel by receiving signals (via antenna system 5302 and RF transceiver) on the subcarrier, set of subcarriers, or block of spectrum. In other aspects, the data channel may be a frequency hopping pattern. Receiver 5308 may therefore tune to the data channel by hopping subcarriers according to the frequency hopping pattern and receiving signals on the appropriate subcarrier for each hop.

As previously indicated, in some aspects wireless device 5106 may explicitly specify the data channel in the payload of the emergency indicator beacon. Controller 5312 may therefore identify the data channel in the payload and specify the data channel to receiver 5308, which may then tune to the data channel. Furthermore, in some aspects wireless device 5106 may also specify in the payload a time when wireless device 5106 will transmit the emergency message on the data channel. Controller 5312 may also identify this information and provide it to receiver 5308. Receiver 5308 may then tune to the data channel at or immediately before the specified time.

In some aspects, wireless device 5106 may not explicitly specify the data channel in the emergency indicator beacon. Wireless device 5108 may use predefined information about the data channel of wireless device 5106 to identify and tune to the data channel. For example, wireless devices 5106-5116 may operate on predefined communication schedules, such as where wireless devices 5106-5116 are respectively assigned frequency hopping patterns to use. Similar to the device IDs and trusted entity list, these communication schedules can be managed by a centralized server, where wireless devices 5106-5116 periodically download updated communication schedules from the centralized server. In these cases, wireless device 5108 may be able to identify the data channel of wireless device 5106 based on its identity (identified in stage 5412). For example, after controller 5312 obtains the device ID of wireless device 5106, controller 5312 may reference the communication schedule using the device ID. Controller 5312 may then identify the data channel of wireless device 5106 from the communication schedule. Receiver 5308 may then tune to this data channel in stage 5414.

In some aspects, wireless device 5108 may suspend other data reception when it tunes to the data channel of wireless device 5106 in stage 5414. For example, if receiver 5308 is receiving data from another wireless device and controller 5312 detects the emergency indicator beacon, receiver 5308 may suspend reception of this data when it tunes to the data channel of wireless device 5106 in stage 5414.

Wireless device 5106 may then transmit the emergency message on its data channel in stage 5416. For example, controller 5404 may provide the emergency message to transmitter 5210, which may then process and transmit the emergency message via RF transceiver 5204 and antenna system 5202. In some aspects, transmitter 5210 may also apply an emergency scrambling code (e.g., public or private emergency scrambling code) to the emergency message. In some aspects where wireless device 5106 uses frequency hopping, transmitter 5210 may transmit the emergency message according to the frequency hopping pattern. Once transmitter 5210 has completed transmission of the emergency message (e.g., has sent all data packets of the emergency message), transmitter 5210 may notify the higher layers (e.g., protocol stack layers) that the emergency message has been transmitted.

Wireless device 5108 may then receive the emergency message in stage 5418. For example, receiver 5308 may receive signals via antenna system 5302 and RF transceiver 5304 and process the signals to obtain the emergency message (e.g., as a bitstream). If emergency scrambling codes are being used, receiver 5308 may process the bitstream according to the emergency scrambling code (e.g., public or private emergency scrambling code) to revert the emergency scrambling code. Receiver 5308 may then provide the emergency message to controller 5312. Controller 5312 may be preconfigured with the emergency message format and may therefore read the fields of the emergency message to obtain the emergency information included therein. In some aspects, controller 5312 may report the emergency information to application processor 5314, which may then display the emergency information to a user of wireless device 5108.

In some aspects, wireless devices using the emergency dissemination scheme may be concerned with distributing the emergency messages to as many devices as possible. Accordingly, controller 5312 may not be concerned with the authenticity of the emergency message (e.g., whether the register token corresponds to device IDs of trusted devices). In other aspects, controller 5312 may also verify the authenticity of the emergency message. For example, as previously introduced the emergency message may include a register token as one of its fields (e.g., register token 5512 of emergency message 5500 in FIG. 55). During generation of the emergency message, wireless device 5106 may have generated the register token by generating a hash value using its device ID (the initiating device ID), where other wireless devices that trust wireless device 5106 may have the device ID of wireless device 5106 stored in their trusted entity lists. Accordingly, in an example where wireless device 5108 trusts wireless device 5106, controller 5312 may verify whether the emergency message was initiated by a trusted device using its trusted entity list. For instance, controller 5312 of wireless device 5108 may access the trusted entity list (e.g., stored at a memory of controller 5312) and may compute respective hash values using each device ID. Controller 5312 may then compare these hash values to the hash value in the register token and determine whether the hash value for any device ID in the trusted entity list matches the hash value in the trusted entity list. Because wireless device 5108 trusts wireless device 5106, the hash value from the device ID of wireless device 5106 may produce a hash value that matches the hash value in the trusted entity list. Controller 5312 may therefore determine that wireless device 5106 was the initiating device of the emergency message. As wireless device 5106 is considered a trusted device, controller 5312 may determine that the emergency message is authentic and may proceed to use the contents of the emergency message as appropriate. If wireless device 5106 initiated the emergency message for an improper reason, such as to spam other wireless devices, the register token may allow the emergency message to be tracked back to wireless device 5106. This may therefore be advantageous when investigating improper use of the emergency message distribution scheme. In another scenario, the initiating device is not a trusted device, controller 5312 may determine that none of the device IDs in the trusted entity list produce a hash value that matches hash value in the register token. Controller 5312 may therefore determine that the emergency message is not authentic and may decide to disregard the emergency message.

In some aspects, the emergency message may be too large for wireless device 5106 to transmit in a single block. In one example of this, the emergency message may be too large (e.g., due to a large payload) to fit into a single frame of the communication schedule used by wireless devices 5106-5116. In some aspects, wireless device 5106 may repeat stages 5408 and 5416 to transmit the emergency message over multiple frames. For example, controller 5212 of wireless device 5106 may determine that the emergency message will take up a certain number of frames (e.g., two). Controller 5212 may then separate the emergency message into multiple sections equal to the certain number of frames. Controller 5212 may then transmit an emergency indicator beacon in stage 5408 and then transmit a first section of the emergency message in stage 5416. Wireless device 5108 may detect the emergency indicator beacon, identify wireless device 5106, tune to the data channel, and receive the first section of the emergency message in stages 5410, 5412, 5414, and 5418. Controller 5212 may then repeat stages 5408 and 5416 with a second section of the emergency message, namely by sending another emergency indicator beacon and then sending the second section of the emergency message. Wireless device 5108 may then receive the emergency indicator beacon and the second section of the emergency message. Wireless devices 5106 and 5108 may repeat this procedure until wireless device 5108 has received all sections of the emergency message. In some aspects, controller 5212 of wireless device 5106 may include an indicator in the emergency beacon indicator and/or in the payload of the first section of the emergency message that indicates that the emergency message is split into multiple sections. Controller 5212 may then mark the sections with a section number that identifies the section within the emergency message. Controller 5212 may also attach a final data block bit to the last section, which signifies that this section is the last section of the emergency message. When controller 5312 receives the emergency beacon indicator or first section, controller 5312 of wireless device 5108 may then determine, based on the indicator, that the emergency message is split into multiple sections. Controller 5312 may recombine the sections of the emergency messages based on their sequence numbers and the final data block bit to obtain the original version of the emergency message.

In some aspects, wireless device 5106 may be configured to repeatedly broadcast the emergency message, such as over an extended period of time. Accordingly, wireless device 5106 may periodically transmit an emergency indicator beacon followed by the emergency message. This can help to ensure that nearby devices receive the emergency message even if they miss an individual broadcast of the emergency message. As previously indicated, transmitter 5210 may notify controller 5212 when transmission of the emergency message has completed. Controller 5212 may then be configured to trigger repetitions of the emergency message, such as by instructing transmitter 5210 to transmit the emergency message again.

Furthermore, if the emergency message is split and wireless device 5108 begins receiving it after the first section (e.g., the earliest section received by wireless device 5108 is not the first section), controller 5312 may detect that the received section is not the first section (e.g., as it does not have the initial section number, such as “0”). Controller 5312 may then wait until wireless device 5106 repeats transmission of the emergency message and can start receiving the emergency message at its first section.

In some aspects, wireless device 5106 may be configured to transmit the emergency message in unacknowledged mode. Accordingly, after wireless device 5108 successfully receives and decodes the emergency message, controller 5312 may not send an acknowledgement to wireless device 5106 (and, likewise, may not send a non-acknowledgement if decode is unsuccessful).

In some aspects, wireless devices in decentralized network 5100 may be configured to relay emergency messages as part of the emergency message dissemination scheme. FIG. 56 shows an example of this relaying according to some aspects. As shown in FIG. 56, wireless device 5106 may again act as the initiating device in decentralized network 5100 (e.g., the wireless device that initializes distribution of the emergency message in decentralized network 5100, where the emergency message is locally-originating or externally-originating). Wireless device 5106 may therefore broadcast the emergency message using the procedure of message sequence chart 5400, namely by broadcasting an emergency indicator beacon on the discovery channel followed broadcast of the emergency message on its data channel. As denoted by the arrows in FIG. 56, wireless devices 5108, 5110, and 5116 may receive the emergency message from wireless device 5106. This may include using the same procedure described for wireless device 5108 in message sequence chart 5400. As this is the earliest distribution of the emergency message (not including transmissions of an emergency network broadcast related to the emergency message), this may be referred to as the original transmission. As shown in FIG. 56, wireless devices 5112 and 5114 may not receive the original transmission of the emergency message. For example, wireless devices 5112 and 5114 may be out of communication range from wireless device 5106, may miss reception of the emergency indicator beacon, or may have a decode error or other reception error.

The relaying functionality will be described using wireless device 5110 as an example, where wireless device 5110 is configured in the same manner as wireless device 5108 shown in FIG. 53. After receiving the emergency message from wireless device 5106 at receiver 5308, controller 5312 of wireless device 5110 may trigger relay of the emergency message. Accordingly, wireless device 5110 may re-use this emergency message to relay the emergency message. For example, controller 5312 may identify the fields of the original transmission of the emergency message and then use some or all of the fields as the payload of the relay transmission of the emergency message. In one example using the emergency message format of FIG. 55, controller 5312 may re-use emergency system information 5510 from the original transmission as the emergency system information in the relay transmission. Controller 5312 may re-use location 5504 and/or phone number 5506 from the original transmission of the emergency message, or alternatively may use its own location and/or phone number in these fields of the relay transmission of the emergency message. Controller 5312 may generate a new header to use as the header of the relay transmission of the emergency message.

As previously discussed, in some aspects the emergency message may include a register token. In some aspects, the register token may include a hash value based on the initiating device ID but not the relaying device ID. Accordingly, controller 5312 may re-use the register token from the original transmission of the emergency message as the register token of the relay transmission of the emergency message. In other aspects, the register token may be based on both the initiating device ID and the relaying device ID. Accordingly, controller 5312 may generate a hash value based on the device ID of wireless device 5110, which is the relaying device ID. Controller 5312 may then concatenate the hash value from the initiating device ID (from the original transmission of the emergency message) with the hash value from the relaying device ID, and use this concatenated hash string as the register token for the relay transmission of the emergency message.

The specific procedure for generating the relay transmission of the emergency message can vary depending on the fields of the emergency message. In various cases, controller 5312 may be configured to re-use some fields from the original transmission in the relay transmission, generate new fields for the relay transmission, and/or modify some fields from the original transmission to obtain the fields for the relay transmission. Controller 5312 may therefore generate the relay transmission of the emergency message.

After generating the relay transmission of the emergency transmission, controller 5312 may generate and transmit an emergency indicator beacon on the discovery channel. This may include the same procedure described above for stage 5408 in FIG. 54. As the emergency indicator beacon is broadcasted on the discovery channel, other wireless devices including wireless device 5112 may be monitoring the discovery channel. In this example, wireless device 5112 may be configured in the manner of wireless device 5108 as shown in FIG. 53. Wireless device 5112 may therefore perform the procedure of stages 5406, 5410, 5412, and 5414 to monitor the discovery channel, detect the emergency indicator beacon, identify wireless device 5110 as the transmitting wireless device, and tune to the data channel of wireless device 5110. Wireless device 5106 may then transmit the relay transmission of the emergency message on its data channel using the procedure of stage 5416. Wireless device 5112 may then receive the emergency message on the data channel using the procedure of stage 5418.

In some aspects, wireless device 5112 may identify that the emergency message is a relay transmission. In some aspects, a header field may identify that the emergency message is a relay transmission. Controller 5312 of wireless device 5112 may therefore determine that the emergency message is a relay transmission by evaluating the header field. In some aspects, controller 5312 may determine that the emergency message is a relay transmission by checking the register token of the emergency message. As previously indicated, in some aspects wireless device 5110 may include a hash value based on its device ID (the relaying device ID) in the register token. Controller 5312 may therefore identify that the emergency message is a relay transmission by identifying the presence of this hash value.

In some aspects, wireless device 5112 may also verify the authenticity of the relaying device of the emergency message. This may be similar to the procedure described above for verifying the initiating device of the emergency message using the register token. For instance, controller 5312 of wireless device 5112 may access the trusted entity list of wireless device 5112 (e.g., stored in a memory of controller 5312). Controller 5312 may then calculate hash values for each device ID in the trusted entity list and compare these hash values to the hash value in the register token. If controller 5312 determines that the hash value from one of the device IDs matches the hash value in the register token, controller 5312 may determine that the relaying device is trusted and may treat the emergency message as valid (e.g., assuming the initiating device is also trusted). If controller 5312 does not find a device ID in the trusted entity list that can produce a hash value matching the hash value in the register token, controller 5312 may determine that the relaying device is not trusted. In some cases, controller 5312 may be configured to still use the emergency message if the initiating device is trusted, while in other cases controller 5312 may be configured to only use the emergency message if the initiating device and the relaying device are trusted.

In some aspects, wireless device 5112 may also decide to relay the emergency message. Accordingly, wireless device 5112 may be configured to perform the same procedure described for wireless device 5110 to relay the message to other wireless devices. In some aspects, wireless device 5112 may update the register token to include a hash value based on its own device ID. In some aspects, wireless device 5112 may update the register token to include a hash value from its own device ID, the hash value from the device ID of wireless device 5110 (the relaying device ID), and the hash value from the device ID of wireless device 5106. In these cases, the register token may include a complete registry of all wireless devices through which the emergency message has passed. Other wireless devices may therefore be able to verify whether all of the involved wireless devices are trusted. In other aspects, wireless device 5112 may use the hash value based on its device ID to replace the hash value based on the device ID of wireless device 5110 (the relaying device ID). Accordingly, the resulting register token will include a hash value based on the device ID of the most recent relaying device (wireless device 5112) and a hash value based on the initiating device ID (wireless device 5106). Other wireless devices may be able to verify whether the initiating and the most recent relaying device are trusted.

Additionally, as shown in FIG. 56 wireless device 5116 may also relay the emergency message (received as an original transmission from wireless device 5106) to wireless device 5114. Wireless device 5108 may also attempt to relay the emergency message, but there may not be any other wireless devices within its communication range. In some cases, one or more of wireless devices 5106-5116 may be outside of cellular coverage. The emergency message dissemination scheme may therefore provide distribution of emergency messages outside of cellular coverage. This can be advantageous in increasing the distribution of the emergency message, as even out-of-coverage (OOC) devices in remote areas will be able to receive it.

FIG. 57 shows an exemplary diagram illustrating register tokens according to some aspects. As shown in FIG. 57, the example of FIG. 57 includes multiple relays. In particular, wireless device 5702 may be the initiating device, and may use the emergency message dissemination scheme to distribute an emergency message to all of wireless devices 5704-5716. FIG. 57 explicitly plots out one propagation path from wireless device 5702 to wireless device 5706 to wireless device 5712 to wireless device 5716. In this example, wireless device 5702 may generate and broadcast an emergency message, where wireless device 5702 is the initiating device. Wireless device 5702 may include a hash value from its device ID in the register token. Wireless device 5706 may receive the emergency register token and decide to relay it. As wireless device 5706 is therefore a relaying device, wireless device 5706 may generate a hash value based on its device ID and then combine this hash value with the existing register token to obtain an updated version of the register token. After wireless device 5706 broadcasts the emergency message (including the updated version of the register token), wireless device 5712 may receive the emergency message. Wireless device 5712 may also generate a hash value based on its device ID and combine this hash value with the register token to obtain another updated version of the register token. Wireless device 5712 may then broadcast the emergency message including this updated version of the register token. Wireless device 5716 may receive the emergency message including this updated version of the register token. As the register token was updated based on the device ID of each relaying device, register token may be a complete record of each device (including initiating and relaying) through which the emergency message has passed. In some aspects, relaying devices may concatenate their hash value with the register token to obtain the updated version of the register token, where the register token at any given time is the concatenation of the hash values of the initiating device and all relaying devices. In other aspects, relaying devices may XOR their hash value with the register token to obtain the updated version of the register token.

Other techniques for generating the register token can also be used in various other aspects. For example, in some aspects relaying devices may update the register token based on the hash value of the device that transmitted the emergency message to the relaying device. For example, wireless device 5702 may transmit the emergency message with an empty register token, and wireless device 5706 may generate the hash value based on the device ID of wireless device 5702 and include this hash value as the register token when wireless device 5706 relays the emergency message. Wireless device 5712 may then generate a hash value based on the device ID of wireless device 5706 and determine the updated version of the register token by combining this hash value with the previous version of the register token. In other aspects, each wireless device may generate a new register token based on the device IDs of all previous devices. For example, wireless device 5712 may use the device IDs of wireless devices 5702 and 5706 to generate hash values for the register token and may then use this register token when broadcasting the emergency message. If wireless device 5716 relays the register token, wireless device 5716 may use the device IDs of wireless devices 5702, 5706, and 5712 to generate hash values for the register token and may then use this register token when broadcasting the emergency message. In some aspects, this may involve extra signaling so that each relaying device knows the device IDs of all previous devices through which the emergency message has passed.

In addition to the OOC distribution benefits, various aspects of the emergency message dissemination scheme may also provide increased security. As discussed above, the register token may allow devices to authenticate the initiating and/or relaying devices of the emergency message. Wireless devices can therefore choose to only react to emergency messages that come from trusted devices. Furthermore, if a device abuses the emergency message dissemination scheme, the register token may provide a record that can be used to determine which devices were responsible for the abuse.

FIG. 58 shows exemplary method 5800 of performing wireless communications at a wireless device according to some aspects. As shown in FIG. 57, method 5800 includes identifying an emergency (5802), generating an emergency message including information about the emergency (5804), transmitting an emergency indicator beacon on a discovery channel allocated for other wireless devices to perform discovery (5806), and transmitting the emergency message on a data channel of the wireless device (5808).

FIG. 59 shows exemplary method 5900 of performing wireless communications at a wireless device according to some aspects. As shown in FIG. 58, method 5900 includes monitoring a discovery channel allocated for a wireless device to perform discovery (5902), detecting an emergency indicator beacon on the discovery channel (5904), processing the emergency indicator beacon to identify a transmitting wireless device that transmitted the emergency indicator beacon (5906), and receiving an emergency message on a data channel of the transmitting wireless device (5908).

In some aspects, wireless device 5106 may be characterized as a wireless device including a controller (e.g., controller 5212) configured to identify an emergency and to generate an emergency message including information about the emergency, and a transmitter (e.g., transmitter 5210) configured to transmit, on a discovery channel allocated for other wireless devices to perform discovery, an emergency indicator beacon that indicates an upcoming transmission of the emergency message, and to transmit the emergency message on a data channel of the wireless device.

In some aspects. wireless device 5108 may be characterized as a wireless device including a receiver (e.g., receiver 5308) configured to monitor a discovery channel allocated for the wireless device to perform discovery, and a controller (e.g., controller 5312) configured to obtain received data from the receiver and to detect, on the discovery channel, an emergency indicator beacon that indicates an upcoming transmission of an emergency device, and to process the emergency indicator beacon to identify a transmitting wireless device that transmitted the emergency indicator beacon, the receiver further configured to receive the emergency message on a data channel of the transmitting wireless device.

While the above descriptions and connected figures may depict electronic device components as separate elements, skilled persons will appreciate the various possibilities to combine or integrate discrete elements into a single element. Such may include combining two or more circuits for form a single circuit, mounting two or more circuits onto a common chip or chassis to form an integrated element, executing discrete software components on a common processor core, etc. Conversely, skilled persons will recognize the possibility to separate a single element into two or more discrete elements, such as splitting a single circuit into two or more separate circuits, separating a chip or chassis into discrete elements originally provided thereon, separating a software component into two or more sections and executing each on a separate processor core, etc.

It is appreciated that implementations of methods detailed herein are demonstrative in nature, and are thus understood as capable of being implemented in a corresponding device. Likewise, it is appreciated that implementations of devices detailed herein are understood as capable of being implemented as a corresponding method. It is thus understood that a device corresponding to a method detailed herein may include one or more components configured to perform each aspect of the related method.

All acronyms defined in the above description additionally hold in all claims included herein.

The following examples pertain to further aspects of this disclosure:

Example 1 is a wireless device including a buffer configured to buffer a received signal over a plurality of time slots of a retransmission frame window, a detector configured to identify a target slot of the plurality of time slots, identify an applicable candidate retransmission pattern based on the target slot, and identify one or more buffered time slots stored in the buffer based on the applicable candidate retransmission pattern, a combiner configured to combine the target slot with the one or more buffered time slots to obtain a combined transmission, and a decoder configured to decode the combined transmission to obtain payload data.

In Example 2, the subject matter of Example 1 can optionally further include a radio frequency (RF) transceiver and one or more antennas, wherein the buffer is configured to receive the received signal via the RF transceiver and the one or more antennas.

In Example 3, the subject matter of Example 1 or 2 can optionally include wherein the detector is further configured to identify a second target slot of the plurality of time slots, identify a second applicable candidate retransmission pattern based on the second target slot, and identify one or more second buffered time slots stored in the buffer based on the second applicable candidate retransmission pattern, wherein the combiner is configured to combine the second target slot with the one or more second buffered time slots to obtain a second combined transmission, and wherein the decoder is configured to decode the second combined transmission to obtain second payload data.

In Example 4, the subject matter of Example 1 or 2 can optionally include wherein the detector is configured to identify the applicable candidate retransmission pattern from a plurality of candidate retransmission patterns that are predefined to have transmission slots with transmissions and inactive transmission slots without transmissions.

In Example 5, the subject matter of Example 4 can optionally include wherein the detector is configured to identify the applicable candidate pattern by identifying, as the applicable candidate pattern, one of the plurality of candidate retransmission patterns that includes a transmission slot that is aligned with the target slot in the retransmission frame window.

In Example 6, the subject matter of Example 4 or 5 can optionally include wherein the plurality of candidate retransmission patterns are a lesser subset of an overall set of retransmission patterns that include each possible pattern of transmissions over the plurality of time slots of the retransmission frame window.

In Example 7, the subject matter of Example 6 can optionally include wherein the number of transmission slots is the same for each of the overall set of candidate retransmission patterns.

In Example 8, the subject matter of Example 4 or 5 can optionally include wherein the detector is configured to identify transmission slots of the applicable candidate retransmission pattern that occur before the target slot in the retransmission frame window as the one or more buffered time slots.

In Example 9, the subject matter of Example 1 or 2 can optionally include wherein the detector is configured to identify one or more additional applicable candidate retransmission patterns based on the target slot, and to identify one or more respective buffered time slots stored in the buffer for each of the one or more additional applicable candidate retransmission patterns, wherein the combiner is configured to combine the target slot with the one or more respective buffered time slots to obtain a respective combined transmission for each of the one or more additional applicable candidate retransmission patterns, and wherein the decoder is configured to decode the respective combined transmission to obtain respective payload data for each of the one or more additional applicable candidate retransmission patterns.

In Example 10, the subject matter of Example 9 can optionally include wherein the decoder is further configured to perform an error check on the payload data for the applicable candidate retransmission pattern and the respective payload data for the one or more additional applicable candidate retransmission patterns to determine whether any of the decodes are successful.

In Example 11, the subject matter of Example 10 can optionally include wherein the decoder is further configured to, if a first decode of a given combined transmission is successful, determine whether the payload data of the given combined transmission is addressed to the wireless device.

In Example 12, the subject matter of Example 1 or 2 can optionally include wherein the detector is configured to sequentially progress through the plurality of time slots to sequentially select each of the plurality of time slots as the target slot, and to, for each selection as the target slot identify one or more additional applicable candidate retransmission patterns based on the target slot, and to identify one or more respective buffered time slots stored in the buffer for each of the one or more additional applicable candidate retransmission patterns, wherein the combiner is configured to, for each selection as the target slot, combine the target slot with the one or more respective buffered time slots to obtain a respective combined transmission for each of the one or more additional applicable candidate retransmission patterns, and wherein the decoder is configured to, for each selection as the target slot, decode the combined transmission to obtain respective payload data for each of the one or more additional applicable candidate retransmission patterns.

In Example 13, the subject matter of Example 1 or 2 can optionally include wherein the decoder is further configured to perform an error check on the payload data to determine whether the decode is successful.

In Example 14, the subject matter of Example 13 can optionally include wherein the decoder is further configured to, if the decode is successful, determine whether the payload data of the combined transmission is addressed to the wireless device.

In Example 15, the subject matter of Example 14 can optionally include wherein the detector is configured to terminate decoding attempts for the retransmission frame window if the payload data of the combined transmission is addressed to the wireless device.

In Example 16, the subject matter of Example 15 can optionally include wherein, if the decode is not successful or if the payload data of the combined transmission is not addressed to the wireless device, the detector is further configured to identify a second target slot of the plurality of time slots, identify a second applicable candidate retransmission pattern based on the second target slot, and identify one or more second buffered time slots stored in the buffer based on the second applicable candidate retransmission pattern, and the combiner is configured to combine the second target slot with the one or more second buffered time slots to obtain a second combined transmission, and the decoder is configured to decode the second combined transmission to obtain second payload data.

In Example 17, the subject matter of Example 15 can optionally include wherein the buffer is configured to buffer the received signal over a second plurality of time slots in a second retransmission frame window occurring after the retransmission window, and wherein the detector, the combiner, and the decoder are configured to process the second plurality of time slots to obtain a second combined transmission and to obtain payload data from the second combined transmission.

In Example 18, the subject matter of any one of Examples 1 to 17 can optionally include wherein the retransmission frame window is synchronized with a transmitter that transmitted the transmission.

In Example 19, the subject matter of Example 18 can optionally include wherein the applicable candidate retransmission pattern is predefined to have transmission slots in some of the plurality of time slots of the retransmission frame window and predefined to have inactive slots in other time slots of the plurality of time slots of the retransmission window.

In Example 20, the subject matter of any one of Examples 1 to 19 can optionally further include a protocol processor configured to execute a protocol stack, wherein the decoder is further configured to, if the decode is successful, notify the protocol stack that the decode was successful, and wherein the protocol stack is configured to transmit an acknowledgement indicating that the decode was successful.

In Example 21, the subject matter of any one of Examples 1 to 20 can optionally include wherein the transmission is from a target transmitter from which the wireless device is expecting a transmission.

In Example 22, the subject matter of any one of Examples 1 to 21 can optionally include wherein the combiner is configured to combine the target slot with the one or more buffered time slots using chase combining.

Example 23 is a method of receiving transmissions at a wireless device, the method including buffering a received signal over a plurality of time slots of a retransmission frame window, identifying a target slot of the plurality of time slots, identifying an applicable candidate retransmission pattern based on the target slot, identifying one or more buffered time slots stored in the buffer based on the applicable candidate retransmission pattern, combining the target slot with the one or more buffered time slots to obtain a combined transmission, and decoding the combined transmission to obtain payload data.

In Example 24, the subject matter of Example 23 can optionally further include wirelessly receiving the received signal.

In Example 25, the subject matter of Example 23 or 24 can optionally further include identifying a second target slot of the plurality of time slots, identifying a second applicable candidate retransmission pattern based on the second target slot, identifying one or more second buffered time slots stored in the buffer based on the second applicable candidate retransmission pattern, combining the second target slot with the one or more second buffered time slots to obtain a second combined transmission, and decoding the second combined transmission to obtain second payload data.

In Example 26, the subject matter of Example 23 or 24 can optionally include wherein identifying the applicable candidate retransmission pattern includes identifying the applicable candidate retransmission pattern from a plurality of candidate retransmission patterns that are predefined to have transmission slots with transmissions and inactive slots without transmissions.

In Example 27, the subject matter of Example 26 can optionally include wherein identifying the applicable candidate pattern includes identifying, as the applicable candidate pattern, one of the plurality of candidate retransmission patterns that includes a transmission slot that is aligned with the target slot in the retransmission frame window.

In Example 28, the subject matter of Example 26 or 27 can optionally include wherein the plurality of candidate retransmission patterns are a lesser subset of an overall set of retransmission patterns that include each possible pattern of transmissions over the plurality of time slots of the retransmission frame window.

In Example 29, the subject matter of Example 28 can optionally include wherein the number of transmission slots is the same for each of the overall set of candidate retransmission patterns.

In Example 30, the subject matter of Example 26 or 27 can optionally include wherein identifying the one or more buffered time slots includes identifying transmission slots of the applicable candidate retransmission pattern that occur before the target slot in the retransmission frame window as the one or more buffered time slots.

In Example 31, the subject matter of Example 23 or 24 can optionally further include identifying one or more additional applicable candidate retransmission patterns based on the target slot, identifying one or more respective buffered time slots stored in the buffer for each of the one or more additional applicable candidate retransmission patterns, combining the target slot with the one or more respective buffered time slots to obtain a respective combined transmission for each of the one or more additional applicable candidate retransmission patterns, and decoding the respective combined transmission to obtain respective payload data for each of the one or more additional applicable candidate retransmission patterns.

In Example 32, the subject matter of Example 31 can optionally further include performing an error check on the payload data for the applicable candidate retransmission pattern and the respective payload data for the one or more additional applicable candidate retransmission patterns to determine whether any of the decodes are successful.

In Example 33, the subject matter of Example 32 can optionally further include if a first decode of a given combined transmission is successful, determining whether the payload data of the given combined transmission is addressed to the wireless device.

In Example 34, the subject matter of Example 23 or 24 can optionally further include sequentially progressing through the plurality of time slots to sequentially select each of the plurality of time slots as the target slot, where each selection as the target slot includes identifying one or more additional applicable candidate retransmission patterns based on the target slot, identifying one or more respective buffered time slots stored in the buffer for each of the one or more additional applicable candidate retransmission patterns, combining the target slot with the one or more respective buffered time slots to obtain a respective combined transmission for each of the one or more additional applicable candidate retransmission patterns, decoding the combined transmission to obtain respective payload data for each of the one or more additional applicable candidate retransmission patterns.

In Example 35, the subject matter of Example 23 or 24 can optionally further include performing an error check on the payload data to determine whether the decode is successful.

In Example 36, the subject matter of Example 35 can optionally further include if the decode is successful, determining whether the payload data of the combined transmission is addressed to the wireless device.

In Example 37, the subject matter of Example 35 can optionally further include terminating decoding attempts for the retransmission frame window if the payload data of the combined transmission is addressed to the wireless device.

In Example 38, the subject matter of Example 37 can optionally further include, if the decode is not successful or if the payload data of the combined transmission is not addressed to the wireless device identifying a second target slot of the plurality of time slots, identifying a second applicable candidate retransmission pattern based on the second target slot, identifying one or more second buffered time slots stored in the buffer based on the second applicable candidate retransmission pattern, combining the second target slot with the one or more second buffered time slots to obtain a second combined transmission, and decoding the second combined transmission to obtain second payload data.

In Example 39, the subject matter of Example 38 can optionally further include buffering the received signal over a second plurality of time slots in a second retransmission frame window occurring after the retransmission window, and processing the second plurality of time slots to obtain a second combined transmission and to obtain payload data from the second combined transmission.

In Example 40, the subject matter of any one of Examples 23 to 39 can optionally include wherein the retransmission frame window is synchronized with a transmitter that transmitted the transmission.

In Example 41, the subject matter of Example 40 can optionally include wherein the applicable candidate retransmission pattern is predefined to have transmission slots in some of the plurality of time slots of the retransmission frame window and predefined to have inactive slots in other time slots of the plurality of time slots of the retransmission window.

In Example 42, the subject matter of any one of Examples 23 to 41 can optionally further include if the decode is successful, transmitting an acknowledgement indicating that the decode was successful.

In Example 43, the subject matter of any one of Examples 23 to 42 can optionally include wherein the transmission is from a target transmitter from which the wireless device is expecting a transmission.

In Example 44, the subject matter of any one of Examples 23 to 43 can optionally include wherein combining the target slot with the one or more buffered time slots includes combining the target slot with the one or more buffered time slots using chase combining.

Example 45 is a wireless device including one or more antennas, a radio frequency (RF) transceiver configured to wirelessly receive a received signal via the one or more antennas, and a baseband modem including the buffer, the detector, the combiner, and the decoder of any one of Examples 1 to 22.

Example 47 is a wireless device including a scheduler configured to identify a packet scheduled for transmission, and a controller configured to randomly select a retransmission pattern from a candidate set of retransmission patterns, the scheduler further configured to perform an initial transmission of the packet and one or more retransmissions of the packet according to the retransmission pattern.

In Example 47, the subject matter of Example 46 can optionally further include a radio frequency (RF) transceiver and one or more antennas, wherein the scheduler is configured to perform the initial transmission and the one or more transmissions via the RF transceiver and the one or more antennas.

In Example 48, the subject matter of Example 46 or 47 can optionally include wherein the retransmission patterns in the candidate set of retransmission patterns are defined over a plurality of time slots of a retransmission frame window, and wherein the retransmission patterns in the candidate set of retransmission patterns are predefined to have transmission slots in some of the plurality of time slots of the retransmission frame window and predefined to have inactive slots in other time slots of the plurality of time slots of the retransmission window.

In Example 49, the subject matter of Example 48 can optionally include wherein the one or more candidate retransmission patterns are a lesser subset of an overall set of retransmission patterns that include each possible pattern of transmissions over the plurality of time slots of the retransmission frame window.

In Example 50, the subject matter of Example 48 or 49 can optionally include wherein the number of transmission slots is the same for each of the retransmission patterns of the candidate set of retransmission patterns.

Example 51 is a method of performing transmissions at a wireless device, the method including identifying a packet scheduled for transmission, randomly selecting a retransmission from a candidate set of retransmission patterns, and performing an initial transmission of the packet and one or more retransmissions of the packet according to the retransmission pattern.

In Example 52, the subject matter of Example 51 can optionally include wherein performing the initial transmission and the one or more retransmissions includes performing the initial transmission and the one or more retransmissions via an RF transceiver and one or more antennas.

In Example 53, the subject matter of Example 51 or 52 can optionally include wherein the retransmission patterns in the candidate set of retransmission patterns are defined over a plurality of time slots of a retransmission frame window, and wherein the retransmission patterns in the candidate set of retransmission patterns are predefined to have transmission slots in some of the plurality of time slots of the retransmission frame window and predefined to have inactive slots in other time slots of the plurality of time slots of the retransmission window.

In Example 54, the subject matter of Example 53 can optionally include wherein the one or more candidate retransmission patterns are a lesser subset of an overall set of retransmission patterns that include each possible pattern of transmissions over the plurality of time slots of the retransmission frame window.

In Example 55, the subject matter of Example 53 or 54 can optionally include wherein the number of transmission slots is the same for each of the retransmission patterns of the candidate set of retransmission patterns.

Example 56 is a non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions that when executed by one or more processors cause the one or more processors to perform the method of any one of Examples 23 to 44 or 51 to 55.

Example 57 is a wireless device including one or more processors, and a memory storing instructions that when executed by the one or more processors cause the processors to perform the method of any one of Examples 23 to 44 or 51 to 55.

Example 58 is a wireless device including means for buffering a received signal over a plurality of time slots of a retransmission frame window, means for identifying a target slot of the plurality of time slots, means for identifying an applicable candidate retransmission pattern based on the target slot, means for identifying one or more buffered time slots stored in the buffer based on the applicable candidate retransmission pattern, means for combining the target slot with the one or more buffered time slots to obtain a combined transmission, and means for decoding the combined transmission to obtain payload data.

Example 59 is a wireless device including means for identifying a packet scheduled for transmission, means for randomly selecting a retransmission from a candidate set of retransmission patterns, means for performing an initial transmission of the packet and one or more retransmissions of the packet according to the retransmission pattern.

Example 60 is a method of performing authentication at a wireless device, the method including generating an initiation message authentication code based on a secret identifier of the wireless device, transmitting the initiation message authentication code, receiving a response message authentication code from a responding device, determining whether the response message authentication code is valid based on a set of pairwise secret identities that are unique to respective pairings of the wireless device with different trusted devices, and transmitting a confirmation message authentication code to the responding device if the response message authentication code is valid.

In Example 61, the subject matter of Example 60 can optionally include wherein the secret device identifier of the wireless device is a common secret device identifier known to a plurality of devices that consider the wireless device a trusted entity.

In Example 62, the subject matter of Example 60 can optionally include wherein determining whether the response message authentication code is valid based on the set of pairwise secret identities includes determining that a first secret identity in the set produces a candidate response message authentication code that matches the response message authentication code.

In Example 63, the subject matter of Example 60 can optionally include wherein generating the initiation message authentication code includes generating a first random session number, and determining the initiation message authentication code based on the first random session number and an initiation message payload.

In Example 64, the subject matter of Example 63 can optionally include wherein determining the initiation message authentication code is based on a hash function using the first random session number and the initiation message payload as inputs.

In Example 65, the subject matter of any one of Examples 60 to 64 can optionally include wherein transmitting the initiation message authentication code includes transmitting the initiation message authentication code via a radio frequency transceiver and one or more antennas.

In Example 66, the subject matter of any one of Examples 63 to 65 can optionally include wherein transmitting the initiation message authentication code includes transmitting the initiation message authentication code with the first random session number and the initiation message payload.

In Example 67, the subject matter of any one of Examples 63 to 66 can optionally further include receiving a second random session number from the responding device, wherein determining whether the response message authentication code is valid includes determining, based on the first and second random session numbers, respective candidate session keys for one or more of the pairwise secret identities in the set, determining, based on the respective candidate session keys, respective candidate response message authentication codes for the one or more of the pairwise secret identities in the set, determining whether any of the respective candidate response message authentication codes match the response message authentication code, and determining that the response message authentication code is valid if one of the respective candidate response message authentication codes matches the response message authentication code.

In Example 68, the subject matter of Example 67 can optionally further include determining that the response message authentication code is invalid if no respective candidate response message authentication codes match the response message authentication code.

In Example 69, the subject matter of Example 67 can optionally further include generating the confirmation message authentication code based on the respective candidate response message authentication code that matches the response message authentication code.

In Example 70, the subject matter of Example 67 can optionally further include identifying a pairwise secret identity from the set that corresponds to the respective candidate response message authentication code that matches the response message authentication code, and generating the confirmation message authentication code based on the pairwise secret identity.

In Example 71, the subject matter of Example 67 can optionally further include identifying a pairwise secret identity from the set that corresponds to the respective candidate response message authentication code that matches the response message authentication code, generating a second session key based on the pairwise secret identity, the first random session number, and the second random session number, and generating the confirmation message authentication code based on the second session key.

In Example 72, the subject matter of any one of Examples 67 to 71 can optionally include wherein determining the respective candidate response message authentication codes for the one or more of the pairwise secret identities in the set is based on the respective candidate session keys and a response message payload received with the response message authentication code.

In Example 73, the subject matter of any one of Examples 60 to 66 can optionally include wherein determining whether the response message authentication code is valid includes determining respective candidate response message authentication codes for one or more of the pairwise secret identities in the set, determining whether any of the respective candidate response message authentication codes match the response message authentication code, and determining that the response message authentication code is valid if one of the respective candidate response message authentication codes matches the response message authentication code.

In Example 74, the subject matter of Example 73 can optionally further include determining that the response message authentication code is invalid if no respective candidate response message authentication codes match the response message authentication code.

In Example 75, the subject matter of Example 73 can optionally further include generating the confirmation message authentication code based on the respective candidate message authentication code that matches the response message authentication code.

In Example 76, the subject matter of Example 73 can optionally further include identifying a pairwise secret identity from the set that corresponds to the respective candidate response message authentication code that matches the response message authentication code, and generating the confirmation message authentication code based on the pairwise secret identity.

In Example 77, the subject matter of any one of Examples 73 to 76 can optionally include wherein determining the respective candidate response message authentication code for one or more of the pairwise secret identities in the set is based on a response message payload received with the response message authentication code.

In Example 78, the subject matter of any one of Examples 60 to 77 can optionally further include generating the confirmation message authentication code based on a confirmation message payload and transmitting the confirmation message payload with the confirmation message authentication payload.

In Example 79, the subject matter of any one of Examples 60 to 78 can optionally include wherein the response message authentication code is received in response to the initiation message authentication code, the method further including receiving a second response message authentication code from a second responding device in response to the response message authentication code.

In Example 80, the subject matter of any one of Examples 60 to 79 can optionally further include not transmitting a confirmation message authentication code to the responding device if the response message authentication code is invalid.

Example 81 is a method of performing authentication at a wireless device, the method including receiving an initiation message authentication code from an initiating device, determining that the initiation message authentication code is valid based on a set of secret identities for different trusted devices, generating a response message authentication code based on a pairwise secret identity that is unique to a pairing between the wireless device and the initiating device, and transmitting the response message authentication code to the initiating device.

In Example 82, the subject matter of Example 81 can optionally include wherein the set of secret identities includes common secret identities of multiple trusted devices, where the common secret identities are paired with pairwise secret identities that are unique to respective pairings between the wireless device and the multiple trusted devices.

In Example 83, the subject matter of Example 82 can optionally include wherein determining that the initiation message authentication code is valid based on the set of secret identities includes determining that a first secret identity in the set produces a candidate initiation message authentication code that matches the initiation message authentication code.

In Example 84, the subject matter of Example 83 can optionally include wherein generating the response message authentication code based on the pairwise secret identity includes identifying, in the set of secret identities, a pairwise secret identity that is paired to the first secret identity, and generating the response message authentication code with the pairwise secret identity.

In Example 85, the subject matter of Example 83 can optionally include wherein determining that the first secret identity of the set produces the candidate initiation message authentication code that matches the initiation message authentication code includes determining respective candidate initiation message authentication codes for one or more secret identities in the set, comparing the respective candidate initiation message authentication codes to the initiation message authentication code, and determining that a respective candidate initiation message authentication code of the first secret identity matches the initiation message authentication code.

In Example 86, the subject matter of Example 85 can optionally further include receiving a first random session number with the initiation message authentication code, wherein determining the respective candidate initiation message authentication codes for the one or more secret identities in the set includes determining each respective candidate initiation message authentication code based on the first random session number and based on a respective one of the secret identities in the set.

In Example 87, the subject matter of Example 86 can optionally include wherein determining each respective candidate initiation message authentication code based on the first random session number and based on the respective one of the secret identities in the set includes determining each respective candidate initiation message authentication code with a hash function that takes the first random session number and the respective one of the secret identities in the set as inputs.

In Example 88, the subject matter of any one of Examples 81 to 85 can optionally further include receiving a first random session number with the initiation message authentication code and generating a second random session number, wherein generating the response message authentication code based on the pairwise secret identity includes generating a session key based on the pairwise secret identity, the first random session number, and the second random session number, and generating the response message authentication code based on the session key and a response message payload.

In Example 89, the subject matter of Example 88 can optionally further include transmitting the second random session number and the response message payload to the initiating device with the response message authentication code.

In Example 90, the subject matter of Example 88 or 89 can optionally further include receiving a confirmation message authentication code from the initiating device, generating a second session key based on the pairwise secret identity, the first random session number, and the second random session number, determining a candidate confirmation message authentication code based on the second session key and a confirmation message payload, and determining that the confirmation message authentication code is valid if the candidate confirmation message authentication code matches the confirmation message authentication code.

In Example 91, the subject matter of Example 81 can optionally further include receiving a first random session number with the initiation message authentication code, wherein determining that the initiation message authentication code is valid includes determining, based on the first random session number, respective candidate initiation message authentication codes for one or more secret identities in the set, comparing the respective candidate initiation message authentication codes to the initiation message authentication code, and determining that a respective candidate message authentication code for a first secret identity in the set matches the initiation message authentication code.

In Example 92, the subject matter of Example 91 can optionally further include receiving an initiation message payload with the initiation message authentication code, wherein determining the respective candidate initiation message authentication codes for the one or more secret identities in the set is based on the initiation message payload and on the first random session number.

In Example 93, the subject matter of any one of Examples 81 to 92 can optionally include wherein the set of secret identities are common secret identities of the different trusted devices that are known to other wireless devices.

In Example 94, the subject matter of Example 81 can optionally further include receiving a first random session number from the initiating device, wherein determining that the initiation message authentication code is valid includes determining, based on the first session random number, respective candidate initiation message authentication codes for one or more of the secret identities in the set, and determining that a first candidate initiation message authentication code for a first secret identity in the set matches the message authentication code.

In Example 95, the subject matter of Example 94 can optionally include wherein generating the response message authentication code based on the pairwise secret identity includes generating a second random session number, determining a session key based on the pairwise secret identity, the first random session number, and the second random session number, and determining the response message authentication code based on the session key.

In Example 96, the subject matter of Example 95 can optionally include wherein generating the response message authentication code is further based on a response message payload, the method further including transmitting the response message payload with the response message authentication code.

In Example 97, the subject matter of Example 95 or 96 can optionally further include transmitting the second random session number with the response message authentication code.

In Example 98, the subject matter of any one of Examples 95 to 97 can optionally further include receiving a confirmation message authentication code from the initiating device, determining a second session key based on the pairwise secret identity, the first random session number, and the second random session number, and determining whether the confirmation message authentication code is valid based on the second session key.

In Example 99, the subject matter of Example 98 can optionally include wherein determining whether the confirmation message authentication code is valid based on the second session key includes determining a candidate confirmation message authentication code based on the second session key and a confirmation message payload received with the confirmation message authentication code, and determining that the confirmation message authentication code is valid if the confirmation message authentication code matches the candidate confirmation message authentication code.

Example 100 is a wireless device including a message code processor configured to generate an initiation message authentication code based on a secret identifier of the wireless device and to transmit the initiation message authentication code, and a verifier configured to receive a response message authentication code from a responding device and to determine whether the response message authentication code is valid based on a set of pairwise secret identities that are unique to respective pairings of the wireless device with different trusted devices, the message code processor further configured to transmit a confirmation message authentication code to the responding device if the response message authentication code is valid.

In Example 101, the subject matter of Example 100 can optionally further include a radio frequency (RF) transceiver and one or more antennas, wherein the message code processor is configured to transmit signals via the RF transceiver and the one or more antennas and wherein the verifier is configured to receive signals via the RF transceiver and the one or more antennas.

In Example 102, the subject matter of Example 100 or 101 can optionally include wherein the secret device identifier of the wireless device is a common secret device identifier known to a plurality of devices that consider the wireless device a trusted entity.

In Example 103, the subject matter of Example 100 can optionally include wherein the verifier is configured to determine whether the response message authentication code is valid based on the set of pairwise secret identities by determining that a first secret identity in the set produces a candidate response message authentication code that matches the response message authentication code.

In Example 104, the subject matter of Example 100 can optionally further include a random selector configured to generate a first random session number, wherein the message code processor is configured to generate the initiation message authentication code by determining the initiation message authentication code based on the first random session number and an initiation message payload.

In Example 105, the subject matter of Example 104 can optionally include wherein the message code processor is configured to determine the initiation message authentication code based on a hash function using the first random session number and the initiation message payload as inputs.

In Example 106, the subject matter of Example 104 or 105 can optionally include wherein the message code processor is configured to transmit the initiation message authentication code by transmitting the initiation message authentication code with the first random session number and the initiation message payload.

In Example 107, the subject matter of any one of Examples 104 to 106 can optionally include wherein the verifier is further configured to receive a second random session number from the responding device, and wherein the verifier is configured to whether the response message authentication code is valid by determining, based on the first and second random session numbers, respective candidate session keys for one or more of the pairwise secret identities in the set, determining, based on the respective candidate session keys, respective candidate response message authentication codes for the one or more of the pairwise secret identities in the set, determining whether any of the respective candidate response message authentication codes match the response message authentication code, and determining that the response message authentication code is valid if one of the respective candidate response message authentication codes matches the response message authentication code.

In Example 108, the subject matter of Example 107 can optionally include wherein the verifier is further configured to determine that the response message authentication code is invalid if no respective candidate response message authentication codes match the response message authentication code.

In Example 109, the subject matter of Example 107 can optionally include wherein the message code processor is further configured to generate the confirmation message authentication code based on the respective candidate message authentication code that matches the response message authentication code.

In Example 110, the subject matter of Example 107 can optionally include wherein the verifier is further configured to identify a pairwise secret identity from the set that corresponds to the respective candidate response message authentication code that matches the response message authentication code, wherein the message code processor is configured to generate the confirmation message authentication code based on the pairwise secret identity.

In Example 111, the subject matter of Example 107 can optionally include wherein the verifier is configured to identify a pairwise secret identity from the set that corresponds to the respective candidate response message authentication code that matches the response message authentication code, and wherein the message code processor is further configured to generate a second session key based on the pairwise secret identity, the first random session number, and the second random session number, and to generate the confirmation message authentication code based on the second session key.

In Example 112, the subject matter of any one of Examples 107 to 111 can optionally include wherein the verifier is configured to determine the respective candidate response message authentication codes for the one or more of the pairwise secret identities in the set based on the respective candidate session keys and a response message payload received with the response message authentication code.

In Example 113, the subject matter of any one of Examples 100 to 106 can optionally include wherein the verifier is configured to determine whether the response message authentication code is valid by determining respective candidate response message authentication codes for one or more of the pairwise secret identities in the set, determining whether any of the respective candidate response message authentication codes match the response message authentication code, and determining that the response message authentication code is valid if one of the respective candidate response message authentication codes matches the response message authentication code.

In Example 114, the subject matter of Example 113 can optionally include wherein the verifier is configured to determine that the response message authentication code is invalid if no respective candidate response message authentication codes match the response message authentication code.

In Example 115, the subject matter of Example 113 can optionally include wherein the message code processor is further configured to generate the confirmation message authentication code based on the respective candidate message authentication code that matches the response message authentication code.

In Example 116, the subject matter of Example 113 can optionally include wherein the verifier is further configured to identify a pairwise secret identity from the set that corresponds to the respective candidate response message authentication code that matches the response message authentication code, and wherein the message code processor is configured to generate the confirmation message authentication code based on the pairwise secret identity.

In Example 117, the subject matter of any one of Examples 113 to 116 can optionally include wherein the verifier is configured to determine the respective candidate response message authentication code for one or more of the pairwise secret identities in the set based on a response message payload received with the response message authentication code.

In Example 118, the subject matter of any one of Examples 100 to 117 can optionally include wherein the message code processor is further configured generate the confirmation message authentication based on a confirmation message payload and to transmit the confirmation message payload with the confirmation message authentication payload.

In Example 119, the subject matter of any one of Examples 100 to 118 can optionally include wherein the verifier is configured to receive the response message authentication code in response to the initiation message authentication code, the verifier further configured to receive a second response message authentication code from a second responding device in response to the response message authentication code.

In Example 120, the subject matter of any one of Examples 100 to 119 can optionally include wherein the message code processor is further configured to not transmit a confirmation message authentication code to the responding device if the response message authentication code is invalid.

Example 121 is a wireless device including a verifier configured to receive an initiation message authentication code from an initiating device, and to determine that the initiation message authentication code is valid based on a set of secret identities for different trusted devices, and a message code processor configured to generate a response message authentication code based on a pairwise secret identity that is unique to a pairing between the wireless device and the initiating device, and to transmit the response message authentication code to the initiating device.

In Example 122, the subject matter of Example 121 can optionally further include a radio frequency (RF) transceiver and one or more antennas, wherein the verifier is configured to receive signals via the RF transceiver and the one or more antennas and wherein the message code processor is configured to transmit signals via the RF transceiver and the one or more antennas.

In Example 123, the subject matter of Example 121 can optionally include wherein the set of secret identities includes common secret identities of multiple trusted devices, where the common secret identities are paired with pairwise secret identities that are unique to respective pairings between the wireless device and the multiple trusted devices.

In Example 124, the subject matter of Example 123 can optionally include wherein the verifier is configured to determine that the initiation message authentication code is valid based on the set of secret identities by determining that a first secret identity in the set produces a candidate initiation message authentication code that matches the initiation message authentication code.

In Example 125, the subject matter of Example 124 can optionally include wherein the verifier is further configured to identify, in the set of secret identities, a pairwise secret identity that is paired to the first secret identity, and wherein the message code processor is configured to generate the response message authentication code based on the pairwise secret identity by generating the response message authentication code with the pairwise secret identity.

In Example 126, the subject matter of Example 124 can optionally include wherein the verifier is configured to determine that the first secret identity of the set produces the candidate initiation message authentication code that matches the initiation message authentication code by determining respective candidate initiation message authentication codes for one or more secret identities in the set, comparing the respective candidate initiation message authentication codes to the initiation message authentication code, and determining that a respective candidate initiation message authentication code of the first secret identity matches the initiation message authentication code.

In Example 127, the subject matter of Example 126 can optionally include wherein the verifier is further configured to receive a first random session number with the initiation message authentication code, and is configured to determine the respective candidate initiation message authentication codes for the one or more secret identities in the set by determining each respective candidate initiation message authentication code based on the first random session number and based on a respective one of the secret identities in the set.

In Example 128, the subject matter of Example 127 can optionally include wherein the verifier is configured to determine each respective candidate initiation message authentication code based on the first random session number and based on the respective one of the secret identities in the set by determining each respective candidate initiation message authentication code with a hash function that takes the first random session number and the respective one of the secret identities in the set as inputs.

In Example 129, the subject matter of any one of Examples 121 to 128 can optionally include wherein the verifier is further configured to receive a first random session number with the initiation message authentication code, the wireless device further including a random selector configured to generate a second random session number, and wherein the message code processor is configured to generate the response message authentication code based on the pairwise secret identity by generating a session key based on the pairwise secret identity, the first random session number, and the second random session number, and generating the response message authentication code based on the session key and a response message payload.

In Example 130, the subject matter of Example 129 can optionally include wherein the message code processor is further configured to transmit the second random session number and the response message payload to the initiating device with the response message authentication code.

In Example 131, the subject matter of Example 129 or 130 can optionally include wherein the verifier is further configured to receive a confirmation message authentication code from the initiating device, and wherein the message code processor is further configured to generate a second session key based on the pairwise secret identity, the first random session number, and the second random session number, determine a candidate confirmation message authentication code based on the second session key and a confirmation message payload, and determine that the confirmation message authentication code is valid if the candidate confirmation message authentication code matches the confirmation message authentication code.

In Example 132, the subject matter of Example 121 can optionally include wherein the verifier is further configured to receive a first session number with the initiation message authentication code, and wherein the message code processor is configured to determine that the initiation message authentication code is valid by determining, based on the first random session number, respective candidate initiation message authentication codes for one or more secret identities in the set, comparing the respective candidate initiation message authentication codes to the initiation message authentication code, and determining that a respective candidate message authentication code for a first secret identity in the set matches the initiating message authentication code.

In Example 133, the subject matter of Example 132 can optionally include wherein the verifier is further configured to receive an initiation message payload with the initiation message, and wherein the verifier is configured to determine the respective candidate initiation message authentication codes for the one or more secret identities in the set based on the initiation message payload and on the first random session number.

In Example 134, the subject matter of any one of Examples 121 to 133 can optionally include wherein the set of secret identities are common secret identities of the different trusted devices that are known to other wireless devices.

In Example 135, the subject matter of Example 121 can optionally include wherein the verifier is further configured to receive a first random session number from the initiating device, and wherein the verifier is configured to determine that the initiation message authentication code is valid by determining, based on the first random session number, respective candidate initiation message authentication codes for one or more of the secret identities in the set, and determining that a first candidate initiation message authentication code for a first secret identity in the set matches the message authentication code.

In Example 136, the subject matter of Example 135 can optionally further include a random selector configured to generate a second random session number, wherein the message code processor is configured to generate the response message the response message authentication code based on the pairwise secret identity by determining a session key based on the pairwise secret identity, the first random session number, and the second random session number, and determining the response message authentication code based on the session key.

In Example 137, the subject matter of Example 136 can optionally include wherein the message code processor is configured to generate the response message authentication code further based on a response message payload, and is further configured to transmit the response message payload with the response message authentication code.

In Example 138, the subject matter of Example 136 or 137 can optionally include wherein the message code processor is further configured to transmit the second random session number with the response message authentication code.

In Example 139, the subject matter of any one of Examples 136 to 138 can optionally include wherein the verifier is further configured to receive a confirmation message authentication code from the initiating device, determine a second session key based on the pairwise secret identity, the first random session number, and the second random session number, and determine whether the confirmation message authentication code is valid based on the second session key.

In Example 140, the subject matter of Example 139 can optionally include wherein the verifier is configured to determine whether the confirmation message authentication code is valid based on the second session key by determining a candidate confirmation message authentication code based on the second session key and a confirmation message payload received with the confirmation message authentication code, and determining that the confirmation message authentication code is valid if the confirmation message authentication code matches the candidate confirmation message authentication code.

Example 141 is a wireless device including a radio frequency transceiver and one or more antennas, one or more processors configured to transmit and receive wireless signals via the radio frequency transceiver and the one or more antennas, the one or more processors further configured to generate an initiation message authentication code based on a secret identifier of the wireless device transmit the initiation message authentication code, receive a response message authentication code from a responding device, determine whether the response message authentication code is valid based on a set of pairwise secret identities that are unique to respective pairings of the wireless device with different trusted devices, and transmit a confirmation message authentication code to the responding device if the response message authentication code is valid.

Example 142 is a wireless device including a radio frequency transceiver and one or more antennas, one or more processors configured to transmit and receive wireless signals via the radio frequency transceiver and the one or more antennas, the one or more processors further configured to receive an initiation message authentication code from an initiating device, determine that the initiation message authentication code is valid based on a set of secret identities for different trusted devices, generate a response message authentication code based on a pairwise secret identity that is unique to a pairing between the wireless device and the initiating device, and transmit the response message authentication code to the initiating device.

Example 143 is a wireless device including means for generating an initiation message authentication code based on a secret identifier of the wireless device means for transmitting the initiation message authentication code, means for receiving a response message authentication code from a responding device, means for determining whether the response message authentication code is valid based on a set of pairwise secret identities that are unique to respective pairings of the wireless device with different trusted devices, and means for transmitting a confirmation message authentication code to the responding device if the response message authentication code is valid.

Example 144 is a wireless device including means for receiving an initiation message authentication code from an initiating device, means for determining that the initiation message authentication code is valid based on a set of secret identities for different trusted devices, means for generating a response message authentication code based on a pairwise secret identity that is unique to a pairing between the wireless device and the initiating device, and means for transmitting the response message authentication code to the initiating device.

Example 145 is a non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions that when executed by one or more processors cause the one or more processors to perform the method of any one of Examples 60 to 99.

Example 146 is a wireless device including a discovery controller configured to broadcast a first discovery initiation message, and a decoder configured to decode discovery response messages from one or more first responding devices, the discovery controller further configured to transmit one or more messages to the one or more first responding devices to instruct the one or more first responding devices to not respond to a second discovery initiation message, and to broadcast the second discovery initiation message, the decoder further configured to decode discovery response messages from one or more second responding devices.

In Example 147, the subject matter of Example 146 can optionally include wherein the decoder is configured to receive the discovery response messages via a radio frequency transceiver and one or more antennas, and wherein the discovery controller is configured to transmit the first discovery initiation message, the second discovery initiation message, and the or more messages via the radio frequency transceiver and the one or more antennas.

In Example 148, the subject matter of Example 146 or 147 can optionally further include the radio frequency transceiver and the one or more antennas.

In Example 149, the subject matter of any one of Examples 146 to 148 can optionally include wherein the decoder is configured to decode the discovery response messages from the one or more first responding devices by receiving signal data from a plurality of channels allocated for discovery in a first discovery window, decode the signal data from the plurality of channels, and determine that the discovery response messages were successfully decoded from the signal data.

In Example 150, the subject matter of any one of Examples 146 to 149 can optionally include wherein the decoder is configured to decode the discovery response messages from the one or more first responding devices by decoding discovery response messages from a plurality of responding devices that include the one or more first responding devices, and wherein the discovery controller is configured to select the one or more first responding devices from the plurality of responding devices.

In Example 151, the subject matter of Example 150 can optionally include wherein the discovery controller is configured to select the one or more first responding devices from the plurality of responding devices based on a number of responding devices that responded to a previous discovery initiation message transmitted before the first discovery initiation message.

In Example 152, the subject matter of any one of Examples 146 to 151 can optionally include wherein the discovery controller is configured to individually address the one or more messages to the one or more first responding devices.

In Example 153, the subject matter of any one of Examples 146 to 152 can optionally include wherein the discovery controller is configured to specify, in the messages, a set number of subsequent discovery initiation messages for which the one or more first responding devices are instructed to not respond.

In Example 154, the subject matter of any one of Examples 146 to 150 can optionally include wherein the one or more messages are a discovery confirmation message, and wherein the discovery controller is further configured to generate the discovery confirmation message by identifying a device ID of a first responding device of the one or more first responding devices, generating a plurality of random integers based on the device ID, and activating bits in a bit string of the discovery confirmation message based on the plurality of random integers.

In Example 155, the subject matter of Example 154 can optionally include wherein the discovery controller is configured to generate the plurality of random integers based on the device ID by using the device ID as a seed to initialize a pseudo-random number generator and generating the plurality of random integers with the pseudo-random number generator.

In Example 156, the subject matter of Example 154 or 155 can optionally include wherein the discovery controller is configured to activate the bits in the bit string of the discovery confirmation message based on the plurality of random integers by using the plurality of random integers to identify indices of the bit string and activating the bits at the indices of the bit string.

Example 157 is a wireless device including a radio frequency transceiver and one or more antennas, and one or more processors configured to transmit and receive signals via the radio frequency transceiver and the one or more antennas, the one or more processors further configured to broadcast a first discovery initiation message, decode discovery response messages from one or more first responding devices, transmit messages to the one or more responding devices to instruct the one or more responding devices to not respond to a second discovery initiation message, broadcast the second discovery initiation message, and decode discovery response messages from one or more second responding devices.

Example 158 is a method of performing discovery at a wireless device, the method including broadcasting a first discovery initiation message, decoding discovery response messages from one or more first responding devices, transmitting messages to the one or more responding devices to instruct the one or more responding devices to not respond to a second discovery initiation message, broadcasting the second discovery initiation message, and decoding discovery response messages from one or more second responding devices.

In Example 159, the subject matter of Example 158 can optionally further include wirelessly receiving the discovery response messages.

In Example 160, the subject matter of Example 158 or 159 can optionally include wherein decoding the discovery response messages from the one or more first responding devices includes receiving signal data from a plurality of channels allocated for discovery in a first discovery window, decoding the signal data from the plurality of channels, and determining that the discovery response messages were successfully decoded from the signal data.

In Example 161, the subject matter of any one of Examples 158 to 160 can optionally include wherein decoding the discovery response messages from the one or more first responding devices includes decoding discovery response messages from a plurality of responding devices that include the one or more first responding devices, the method further including selecting the one or more first responding devices from the plurality of responding devices.

In Example 162, the subject matter of Example 161 can optionally include wherein selecting the one or more first responding devices from the plurality of responding devices includes selecting the one or more first responding devices from the plurality of responding devices based on a number of responding devices that responded to a previous discovery initiation message transmitted before the first discovery initiation message.

In Example 163, the subject matter of any one of Examples 158 to 162 can optionally further include generating the messages, wherein the messages are individually addressed to the one or more or more first responding devices.

In Example 164, the subject matter of any one of Examples 158 to 163 can optionally further include generating the messages, wherein the messages specify a set number of subsequent discovery initiation messages for which the one or more first responding devices are instructed to not respond.

In Example 165, the subject matter of any one of Examples 158 to 162 can optionally include wherein the one or more messages are a discovery confirmation message, the method further including generating the discovery confirmation message by identifying a device ID of a first responding device of the one or more first responding devices, generating a plurality of random integers based on the device ID, and activating bits in a bit string of the discovery confirmation message based on the plurality of random integers.

In Example 166, the subject matter of Example 165 can optionally include wherein generating the plurality of random integers based on the device ID includes using the device ID as a seed to initialize a pseudo-random number generator and generating the plurality of random integers with the pseudo-random number generator.

In Example 167, the subject matter of Example 165 or 166 can optionally include wherein activating the bits in the bit string of the discovery confirmation message based on the plurality of random integers includes using the plurality of random integers to identify indices of the bit string and activating the bits at the indices of the bit string.

Example 168 is a wireless device including a decoder configured to receive a first discovery initiation message from an initiating device, and a discovery controller configured to transmit a first discovery response message to the initiating device, the decoder further configured to receive a message from the initiating device that instructs the wireless device to not respond to a second discovery initiation message, and further configured to receive the second discovery initiation message from the initiating device, and the discovery controller further configured to not respond to the second discovery initiation message.

In Example 169, the subject matter of Example 168 can optionally include wherein the decoder is configured to receive the first discovery initiation message, the second discovery initiation message, and the message via a radio frequency transceiver and one or more antennas, and wherein the discovery controller is configured to transmit the first discovery response message to the initiating device via the radio frequency transceiver and the one or more antennas.

In Example 170, the subject matter of Example 169 can optionally further include the radio frequency transceiver and the one or more antennas.

In Example 171, the subject matter of any one of Examples 168 to 170 can optionally include wherein the message is individually addressed to the wireless device.

In Example 172, the subject matter of any one of Examples 168 to 171 can optionally include wherein the message indicates a set number of subsequent discovery initiation messages to not respond to, and wherein the discovery controller is configured to not respond for the set number of subsequent discovery initiation messages.

In Example 173, the subject matter of any one of Examples 168 to 172 can optionally include wherein the discovery controller is configured to transmit the first discovery response message by selecting a channel from a plurality of channels allocated for discovery, and transmitting the first discovery response message on the channel.

In Example 174, the subject matter of any one of Examples 168 to 173 can optionally include wherein the discovery controller is further configured to evaluate a bit string in the message by generating, based on a device ID of the wireless device, a local copy of a bit string, and comparing the local copy of the bit string to the bit string in the message, and determining that the wireless device is instructed to not respond if the local copy of the bit string matches the bit string in the message.

In Example 175, the subject matter of Example 174 can optionally include wherein the discovery controller is configured to generate the local copy of the bit string by generating a plurality of random integers based on the device ID, and activating bits in the local copy of the bit string of the discovery confirmation message based on the plurality of random integers.

In Example 176, the subject matter of Example 175 can optionally include wherein the discovery controller is configured to activate the bits in the local copy of the bit string by using the plurality of random integers to identify indices of the local copy bit string and activating the bits at the indices of the local copy of the bit string.

Example 177 is a wireless device including a radio frequency transceiver and one or more antennas, one or more processors configured to transmit and receive signals via the radio frequency transceiver and the one or more antennas, the one or more processors further configured to receive a first discovery initiation message from an initiating device, transmit a first discovery response message to the initiating device, receive a message from the initiating device that instructs the wireless device to not respond to a second discovery initiation message, receive the second discovery initiation message from the initiating device, and not respond to the second discovery initiation message.

Example 178 is a method of performing discovery at a wireless device, the method including receiving a first discovery initiation message from an initiating device, transmitting a first discovery response message to the initiating device, receiving a message from the initiating device that instructs the wireless device to not respond to a second discovery initiation message, receiving the second discovery initiation message from the initiating device, and not respond to the second discovery initiation message.

In Example 179, the subject matter of Example 178 can optionally include wherein receiving the first discovery initiation message, the message, and the second discovery initiation message includes wirelessly receiving the first discovery initiation message, the message, and the second discovery initiation message via a radio frequency transceiver and one or more antennas, and wherein transmitting the first discovery response message includes wirelessly transmitting the first discovery response message via the radio frequency transceiver and the one or more antennas.

In Example 180, the subject matter of Example 178 or 179 can optionally include wherein the message is individually addressed to the wireless device.

In Example 181, the subject matter of any one of Examples 178 to 180 can optionally include wherein the message indicates a set number of subsequent discovery initiation messages to not respond to, the method further including not responding for the set number of subsequent discovery initiation messages.

In Example 182, the subject matter of any one of Examples 178 to 181 can optionally include wherein transmitting the first discovery response message includes selecting a channel from a plurality of channels allocated for discovery, and transmitting the first discovery response message on the channel.

In Example 183, the subject matter of any one of Examples 178 to 182 can optionally further include evaluating a bit string in the message by generating, based on a device ID of the wireless device, a local copy of a bit string, comparing the local copy of the bit string to the bit string in the message, and determining that the wireless device is instructed to not respond if the local copy of the bit string matches the bit string in the message.

In Example 184, the subject matter of Example 183 can optionally include wherein generating the local copy of the bit string includes generating a plurality of random integers based on the device ID, and activating bits in the local copy of the bit string of the discovery confirmation message based on the plurality of random integers.

In Example 185, the subject matter of Example 184 can optionally include wherein activating the bits in the local copy of the bit string includes using the plurality of random integers to identify indices of the local copy bit string and activating the bits at the indices of the local copy of the bit string.

Example 186 is a wireless device including a discovery controller configured to broadcast a first discovery initiation message, and a decoder configured to decode one or more first discovery response messages, the discovery controller further configured to determine, based on the one or more first discovery response messages, a response criteria that affects the number of responding devices that respond to a second discovery initiation message, and to broadcast the second discovery initiation message and the response criteria, the decoder further configured to decode one or more second discovery response messages.

In Example 187, the subject matter of Example 186 can optionally include wherein the discovery controller is configured to transmit the first discovery initiation message and the second discovery initiation message via a radio frequency transceiver and one or more antennas, and wherein the decoder is configured to receive the one or more first discovery response messages and the one or more second discovery response messages via the radio frequency transceiver and the one or more antennas.

In Example 188, the subject matter of Example 187 can optionally further include the radio frequency transceiver and the one or more antennas.

In Example 189, the subject matter of any one of Examples 186 to 188 can optionally include wherein the decoder is configured to decode the one or more first discovery response messages by receiving signal data from a plurality of channels allocated for discovery in a first discovery window, decoding the signal data from the plurality of channels, and determining that the discovery response messages were successfully decoded from the signal data.

In Example 190, the subject matter of any one of Examples 186 to 189 can optionally include wherein the response criteria is a probability value that determines the probability that a responding device responds to the second discovery initiation message.

In Example 191, the subject matter of Example 190 can optionally include wherein the discovery controller is configured to determine the probability value based on the number of responding devices that responded to a previous discovery initiation message transmitted before the first discovery initiation message.

In Example 192, the subject matter of Example 191 can optionally include wherein the discovery controller is configured to determine the probability value by selecting a first value as the probability value if the number of responding devices that responded to the previous discovery initiation message is more than a predefined threshold, and selecting a second value greater than the first value as the probability value if the number of responding devices that responded to the previous discovery initiation message is less than the predefined threshold.

In Example 193, the subject matter of any one of Examples 186 to 189 can optionally include wherein the response criteria is one or more subset identifiers that identify a subset of responding devices.

In Example 194, the subject matter of Example 193 can optionally include wherein one or more subset identifiers are one or more device group numbers that respectively identify a group of responding devices that are pre-assigned to the device group number.

In Example 195, the subject matter of Example 193 can optionally include wherein the one or more subset identifiers are device-dependent values that respectively identify a subset of responding devices based on a device network address or device identifier.

In Example 196, the subject matter of any one of Examples 193 to 195 can optionally include wherein the discovery controller is configured to determine the one or more subset identifiers by determining the number of responding devices that responded to a previous discovery initiation message transmitted before the first discovery initiation message, and selecting, as the response criteria, one or more subset identifiers that identify a first number of responding devices if the number of responding devices is greater than a predefined threshold, and selecting, as the response criteria, one or more subset identifiers that identify a second number of responding devices if the number of responding devices is less than the predefined threshold, where the second number is greater than the first number.

Example 197 is a wireless device including a radio frequency transceiver and one or more antennas, and one or more processors configured to transmit and receive signals via the radio frequency transceiver and the one or more antennas, the one or more processors further configured to broadcast a first discovery initiation message and decode one or more first discovery response messages, determine, based on the one or more first discovery response messages, a response criteria that affects the number of devices that respond to a second discovery initiation message, broadcast the second discovery initiation message and the response criteria, and decode one or more second discovery response messages.

Example 198 is a method of performing discovery at a wireless device, the method including broadcasting a first discovery initiation message and decoding one or more first discovery response messages, determining, based on the one or more first discovery response messages, a response criteria that affects the number of devices that respond to a second discovery initiation message, broadcasting the second discovery initiation message and the response criteria, and decoding one or more second discovery response messages.

In Example 199, the subject matter of Example 198 can optionally further include receiving the one or more first discovery response messages and the one or more second discovery response messages via a radio frequency transceiver and one or more antennas, and wherein broadcasting the first discovery initiation message and the second discovery initiation message includes transmitting the first discovery initiation message and the second discovery initiation message via the radio frequency transceiver and the one or more antennas.

In Example 200, the subject matter of Example 198 or 199 can optionally include wherein decoding the one or more first discovery response messages includes receiving signal data from a plurality of channels allocated for discovery in a first discovery window, decoding the signal data from the plurality of channels, and determining that the discovery response messages were successfully decoded from the signal data.

In Example 201, the subject matter of any one of Examples 198 to 200 can optionally include wherein the response criteria is a probability value that determines the probability that a responding device responds to the second discovery initiation message.

In Example 202, the subject matter of Example 201 can optionally include wherein determining the response criteria includes determining the probability value based on the number of responding devices that responded to a previous discovery initiation message transmitted before the first discovery initiation message.

In Example 203, the subject matter of Example 202 can optionally include wherein determining the probability value includes selecting a first value as the probability value if the number of responding devices that responded to the previous discovery initiation message is more than a predefined threshold, and selecting a second value greater than the first value as the probability value if the number of responding devices that responded to the previous discovery initiation message is less than the predefined threshold.

In Example 204, the subject matter of any one of Examples 198 to 200 can optionally include wherein the response criteria is one or more subset identifiers that identify a subset of responding devices.

In Example 205, the subject matter of Example 204 can optionally include wherein one or more subset identifiers are one or more device group numbers that respectively identify a group of responding devices that are pre-assigned to the device group number.

In Example 206, the subject matter of Example 204 can optionally include wherein the one or more subset identifiers are device-dependent values that respectively identify a subset of responding devices based on a device network address or device identifier.

In Example 207, the subject matter of any one of Examples 204 to 206 can optionally further include determining the one or more subset identifiers by determining the number of responding devices that responded to a previous discovery initiation message transmitted before the first discovery initiation message, selecting, as the response criteria, one or more subset identifiers that identify a first number of responding devices if the number of responding devices is greater than a predefined threshold, and selecting, as the response criteria, one or more subset identifiers that identify a second number of responding devices if the number of responding devices is less than the predefined threshold, where the second number is greater than the first number.

Example 208 is a method of performing discovery at a wireless device, the method including receiving, from an initiating device, a discovery initiation message including a response criteria, determining whether to respond to the discovery initiation message based on the response criteria, and transmitting a discovery response message if it is determined to respond to the discovery initiation message and not transmitting the discovery response message if it is determined not to respond to the discovery initiation message.

In Example 209, the subject matter of Example 208 can optionally include wherein receiving the discovery initiation message includes receiving the discovery initiation message via a radio frequency transceiver and one or more antennas, and wherein transmitting the discovery response message includes transmitting the discovery response message via the radio frequency transceiver and the one or more antennas.

In Example 210, the subject matter of Example 208 or 209 can optionally include wherein the response criteria is a probability value, and wherein determining whether to respond to the discovery initiation message includes executing a random check that generates a positive result with a probability of the probability value, and responding to the discovery initiation message if the random check generates a positive result.

In Example 211, the subject matter of Example 208 or 209 can optionally include wherein the response criteria is one or more device group numbers that are preassigned to respective groups of wireless devices, and wherein determining whether to respond to the discovery initiation message includes determining whether the wireless device is preassigned to any of the one or more device group numbers, and responding to the discovery initiation message if the wireless device is preassigned to any of the one or more device group numbers.

In Example 212, the subject matter of Example 208 or 209 can optionally include wherein the response criteria is one or more device-dependent values that depend on a network address or device identity, and wherein determining whether to respond to the discovery initiation message includes determining a device-dependent value of the wireless device based on a network address or a device identity of the wireless device, determining whether the device-dependent value of the wireless device matches any of the one or more device-dependent values of the response criteria, and responding to the discovery initiation message if the device-dependent value of the wireless device matches any of the one or more device-dependent values of the response criteria.

In Example 213, the subject matter of any one of Examples 208 to 212 can optionally include wherein transmitting the discovery response message includes selecting a channel from a plurality of channels allocated for discovery, and transmitting the discovery response message on the channel.

Example 214 is a wireless device including a decoder configured to receive, from an initiating device, a discovery initiation message including a response criteria, and a discovery controller configured to determine whether to respond to the discovery initiation message based on the response criteria, transmit a discovery response message if it is determined to respond to the discovery initiation message, and not transmitting the discovery response message if it is determined not to respond to the discovery initiation message.

In Example 215, the subject matter of Example 214 can optionally include wherein the decoder is configured to receive the discovery initiation message via a radio frequency transceiver and one or more antennas, and wherein the discovery controller is configured to transmit the discovery response message via the one or more antennas.

In Example 216, the subject matter of Example 215 can optionally further include the radio frequency transceiver and the one or more antennas.

In Example 217, the subject matter of any one of Examples 214 to 216 can optionally include wherein the response criteria is a probability value, and wherein the discovery controller is configured to determine whether to respond to the discovery initiation message by executing a random check that generates a positive result with a probability of the probability value, and responding to the discovery initiation message if the random check generates a positive result.

In Example 218, the subject matter of any one of Examples 214 to 216 can optionally include wherein the response criteria is one or more device group numbers that are preassigned to respective groups of wireless devices, and wherein the device controller is configured to determine whether to respond to the discovery

initiation message by determining whether the wireless device is preassigned to any of the one or more device group numbers, and responding to the discovery initiation message if the wireless device is preassigned to any of the one or more device group numbers.

In Example 219, the subject matter of any one of Examples 214 to 216 can optionally include wherein the response criteria is one or more device-dependent values that depend on a network address or device identity, and wherein the discovery controller is configured to determine whether to respond to the discovery initiation message by determining a device-dependent value of the wireless device based on a network address or a device identity of the wireless device, determining whether the device-dependent value of the wireless device matches any of the one or more device-dependent values of the response criteria, and responding to the discovery initiation message if the device-dependent value of the wireless device matches any of the one or more device-dependent values of the response criteria.

In Example 220, the subject matter of any one of Examples 214 to 219 can optionally include wherein the discovery controller is configured to transmit the discovery response message by selecting a channel from a plurality of channels allocated for discovery, and transmitting the discovery response message on the channel.

Example 221 is a wireless device including a radio frequency transceiver and one or more antennas, and one or more processors configured to transmit and receive signals via the radio frequency transceiver and the one or more antennas, the one or more processors further configured to receive, from an initiating device, a discovery initiation message including a response criteria, determine whether to respond to the discovery initiation message based on the response criteria, and transmit a discovery response message if it is determined to respond to the discovery initiation message and not transmitting the discovery response message if it is determined not to respond to the discovery initiation message.

Example 222 is a method of performing discovery at a wireless device, the method including receiving a discovery initiation message from an initiating device, determining a probability value, determining whether to respond to the discovery initiation message based on the probability value, and transmitting a discovery response message to the initiating device if it is determined to respond to the discovery initiation message, and not transmitting a discovery response message to the initiating device if it is determined not to respond to the discovery initiation message.

In Example 223, the subject matter of Example 222 can optionally include wherein receiving the discovery initiation message includes receiving the discovery initiation message via a radio frequency transceiver and one or more antennas, and wherein transmitting the discovery response message includes transmitting the discovery response message via the radio frequency transceiver and the one or more antennas.

In Example 224, the subject matter of Example 222 or 223 can optionally include wherein the probability value is a preconfigured probability value, and wherein determining the probability value includes retrieving the probability value from a memory.

In Example 225, the subject matter of Example 222 or 223 can optionally include wherein determining the probability value includes selecting a first value as the probability value if a received power measurement of the initiating device is greater than a predefined threshold, and selecting a second value as the probability value if the received power measurement is less than the predefined threshold, where the second value is greater than the first value.

In Example 226, the subject matter of Example 222 or 223 can optionally include wherein determining the probability value includes selecting, as the probability value, a first value if a number of received discovery initiation messages from the initiating device in a specific time window is greater than a predefined threshold, and selecting, as the probability value, a second value if the number of received discovery initiation messages from the initiating device in the specific time window is less than the predefined threshold, where the second value is greater than the first value.

In Example 227, the subject matter of Example 222 or 223 can optionally include wherein determining the probability value includes selecting, as the probability value, a first value if an average interval between received discovery initiation messages from the initiating device is greater than a predefined threshold, and selecting, as the probability value, a second value if the average interval between received discovery initiation messages from the initiating device is less than the predefined threshold, where the second value is less than the first value.

In Example 228, the subject matter of any one of Examples 222 to 227 can optionally include wherein determining whether to respond to the discovery initiation message based on the probability value includes executing a random check that generates a positive result with a probability of the probability value, and responding to the discovery initiation message if the random check generates a positive result.

In Example 229, the subject matter of any one of Examples 222 to 228 can optionally include wherein transmitting the discovery response message to the initiating device includes selecting a channel from a plurality of channels allocated for discovery, and transmitting the discovery response message on the channel.

Example 230 is a wireless device including a decoder configured to receive a discovery initiation message from an initiating device, and a discovery controller configured to determine a probability value, determine whether to respond to the discovery initiation message based on the probability value, and transmit a discovery response message to the initiating device if it is determined to respond to the discovery initiation message, and not transmit a discovery response message to the initiating device if it is determined not to respond to the discovery initiation message.

In Example 231, the subject matter of Example 230 can optionally include wherein the decoder is configured to receive the discovery initiation message from the initiating device via a radio frequency transceiver and one or more antennas, and wherein the discovery controller is configured to transmit the discovery response message via the radio frequency transceiver and the one or more antennas.

In Example 232, the subject matter of Example 231 can optionally further include the radio frequency transceiver and the one or more antennas.

In Example 233, the subject matter of any one of Examples 230 to 232 can optionally include wherein the probability value is a preconfigured probability value of the wireless device, and wherein the discovery controller is configured to determine the probability value by retrieving it from a memory.

In Example 234, the subject matter of any one of Examples 230 to 233 can optionally include wherein the discovery controller is configured to determine the probability value by selecting a first value as the probability value if a received power measurement of the initiating device is greater than a predefined threshold, and selecting a second value as the probability value if the received power measurement is less than the predefined threshold, where the second value is greater than the first value.

In Example 235, the subject matter of any one of Examples 230 to 233 can optionally include wherein the discovery controller is configured to determine the probability value by selecting, as the probability value, a first value if a number of received discovery initiation messages from the initiating device in a specific time window is greater than a predefined threshold, and selecting, as the probability value, a second value if the number of received discovery initiation messages from the initiating device in the specific time window is less than the predefined threshold, where the second value is greater than the first value.

In Example 236, the subject matter of any one of Examples 230 to 233 can optionally include wherein the discovery controller is configured to determine the probability value by selecting, as the probability value, a first value if an average interval between received discovery initiation messages from the initiating device is greater than a predefined threshold, and selecting, as the probability value, a second value if the average interval between received discovery initiation messages from the initiating device is less than the predefined threshold, where the second value is less than the first value.

In Example 237, the subject matter of any one of Examples 230 to 236 can optionally include wherein the discovery controller is configured to determine whether to respond to the discovery initiation message based on the probability value by executing a random check that generates a positive result with a probability of the probability value, and responding to the discovery initiation message if the random check generates a positive result.

In Example 238, the subject matter of any one of Examples 230 to 237 can optionally include wherein the discovery controller is configured to transmit the discovery response message to the initiating device by selecting a channel from a plurality of channels allocated for discovery, and transmitting the discovery response message on the channel.

Example 239 is a wireless device including a radio frequency transceiver and one or more antennas, and one or more processors configured to transmit and receive signals via the radio frequency transceiver and the one or more antennas, the one or more processors further configured to receive a discovery initiation message from an initiating device, determine a probability value, determine whether to respond to the discovery initiation message based on the probability value, and transmit a discovery response message to the initiating device if it is determined to respond to the discovery initiation message, and not transmitting a discovery response message to the initiating device if it is determined not to respond to the discovery initiation message.

Example 240 is a method of performing wireless communications at a wireless device, the method including transmitting a channel estimation pilot signal, receiving response signals from a plurality of responding devices, wherein a received power of the respective response signals is based on a target receive power and a channel power between the wireless device and the plurality of responding devices, and determining an estimated overall number of proximate wireless devices based on the target receive power and an overall received power of the response signals.

In Example 241, the subject matter of Example 240 can optionally include wherein transmitting the channel estimation pilot signal includes transmitting the channel estimation pilot signal via a radio frequency transceiver and one or more antennas, and wherein receiving the response signals includes receiving the response signals via the radio frequency transceiver and the one or more antennas.

In Example 242, the subject matter of Example 240 or 241 can optionally include wherein determining the estimated overall number of proximate wireless devices includes dividing the overall received power of the response signals by the target received power to obtain the estimated overall number of proximate wireless devices.

In Example 243, the subject matter of Example 242 can optionally further include broadcasting signaling that indicates the estimated overall number of proximate wireless devices.

In Example 244, the subject matter of any one of Examples 240 to 243 can optionally further include performing a signal power measurement to determine the overall power of the response signals.

In Example 245, the subject matter of any one of Examples 240 to 244 can optionally further include comparing the overall received power of the response signals to a minimum received power and a maximum received power of a range of operation of the wireless device, and determining an updated value for the target receive power based on the comparing.

In Example 246, the subject matter of Example 245 can optionally further include transmitting signaling to the plurality of responding devices that indicates the updated value of the target receive power, receiving second response signals, and determining an updated value of the estimated overall number of proximate wireless devices based on the updated value of the target receive power and an overall received power of the second response signals.

In Example 247, the subject matter of Example 245 or 246 can optionally include wherein determining the updated value for the target receive power based on the comparing includes reducing the target receive power by a scaling factor if the overall received power is greater than the maximum received power, and increasing the target receive power if the overall received power is less than the minimum received power.

In Example 248, the subject matter of any one of Examples 240 to 247 can optionally further include performing traffic shaping for discovery procedures based on the estimated overall number of proximate wireless devices.

In Example 249, the subject matter of any one of Examples 240 to 248 can optionally further include determining an activation probability based on the estimated overall number of proximate wireless devices, and deciding whether to transmit a discovery initiation message based on the activation probability.

In Example 250, the subject matter of any one of Examples 240 to 248 can optionally further include determining an activation probability based on the estimated overall number of proximate wireless devices and including the activation probability in a discovery initiation message, wherein the activation probability affects a number of responding devices that respond to the discovery initiation message.

Example 251 is a wireless device including a discovery controller configured to transmit a channel estimation pilot signal, a decoder configured to receive response signals from a plurality of responding devices, wherein a received power of the respective response signals is based on a target receive power and a channel power between the wireless device and the plurality of responding devices, and a load estimator configured to determine an estimated overall number of proximate wireless devices based on the target receive power and an overall received power of the response signals.

In Example 252, the subject matter of Example 251 can optionally include wherein the discovery controller is configured to transmit the channel estimation pilot signal via a radio frequency transceiver and one or more antennas.

In Example 254, the subject matter of Example 252 can optionally further include the radio frequency transceiver and the one or more antennas.

In Example 254, the subject matter of any one of Examples 251 to 253 can optionally include wherein the load estimator is configured to determine the estimated overall number of proximate wireless devices by dividing the overall received power of the response signals by the target received power to obtain the estimated overall number of proximate wireless devices.

In Example 255, the subject matter of Example 254 can optionally include wherein the discovery controller is further configured to broadcast signaling that indicates the estimated overall number of proximate wireless devices.

In Example 256, the subject matter of any one of Examples 251 to 255 can optionally include wherein the load estimator is further configured to perform a signal power measurement to determine the overall power of the response signals.

In Example 257, the subject matter of any one of Examples 251 to 256 can optionally include wherein the load estimator is further configured to compare the overall received power of the response signals to a minimum received power and a maximum received power of a range of operation of the wireless device, and to determine an updated value for the target receive power based on the comparing.

In Example 258, the subject matter of Example 257 can optionally include wherein the discovery controller is further configured to transmit signaling to the plurality of responding devices that indicates the updated value of the target receive power, the decoder is further configured to receive second response signals, and the load estimator is further configured to determine an updated value of the estimated overall number of proximate wireless devices based on the updated value of the target receive power and an overall received power of the second response signals.

In Example 259, the subject matter of Example 257 or 258 can optionally include wherein the load estimator is configured to determining the updated value for the target receive power based on the comparing by reducing the target receive power by a scaling factor if the overall received power is greater than the maximum received power, and increasing the target receive power if the overall received power is less than the minimum received power.

In Example 260, the subject matter of any one of Examples 251 to 259 can optionally further include a traffic shaper configured to perform traffic shaping for discovery procedures based on the estimated overall number of proximate wireless devices.

In Example 261, the subject matter of any one of Examples 251 to 259 can optionally further include a traffic shaper configured to determine an activation probability based on the estimated overall number of proximate wireless devices, wherein the discovery controller is configured to decide whether to transmit a discovery initiation message based on the activation probability.

In Example 262, the subject matter of any one of Examples 251 to 259 can optionally further include a traffic shaper configured to determine an activation probability based on the estimated overall number of proximate wireless devices, wherein the discovery controller is further configured including the activation probability in a discovery initiation message, wherein the activation probability affects a number of responding devices that respond to the discovery initiation message.

Example 263 is a method of performing wireless communications at a wireless device, the method including receiving a channel estimation pilot signal from a transmitting device, determining an estimated channel power based on the channel estimation pilot signal, selecting, based on the estimated channel power and a target receive power of a response signal at the transmitting device, a transmit power, and transmitting the response signal to the transmitting device with the transmit power.

In Example 264, the subject matter of Example 263 can optionally include wherein receiving the channel estimation pilot signal includes receiving the channel estimation pilot signal via one or more antennas and a radio frequency transceiver, and wherein transmitting the response signal includes transmitting the response signal with the transmit power via the radio transceiver and the one or more antennas.

In Example 265, the subject matter of Example 263 or 264 can optionally include wherein determining the estimated channel power based on the channel estimation pilot signal includes determining, based on the channel estimation pilot signal, an estimated channel between the transmitting device and the wireless device, and determining the estimated channel power based on the estimated channel.

In Example 266, the subject matter of any one of Examples 263 to 265 can optionally include wherein selecting the transmit power includes dividing the target receive power by the estimated channel power to obtain the transmit power.

In Example 267, the subject matter of any one of Examples 263 to 265 can optionally include wherein selecting the transmit power includes performing channel inversion with the estimated channel power to obtain a transmit power for the response signal to arrive at the transmitting device with approximately the target receive power.

In Example 268, the subject matter of any one of Examples 263 to 267 can optionally further include receiving, prior to selecting the transmit power, signaling from the transmitting device that indicates the target receive power.

In Example 269, the subject matter of Example 268 can optionally further include receiving signaling from the transmitting device that indicates an updated value of the target receive power.

In Example 270, the subject matter of any one of Examples 263 to 269 can optionally further include receiving signaling that indicates an estimated overall number of proximate wireless devices from the transmitting device, and performing traffic shaping of discovery procedures based on the estimated overall number of proximate wireless devices.

In Example 271, the subject matter of any one of Examples 263 to 269 can optionally further include receiving signaling that indicates an estimated overall number of proximate wireless devices from the transmitting device, and determining an activation probability based on the estimated overall number of proximate wireless devices, and deciding whether to transmit a discovery initiation message based on the activation probability.

In Example 272, the subject matter of any one of Examples 263 to 269 can optionally further include receiving signaling that indicates an estimated overall number of proximate wireless devices from the transmitting device, and determining an activation probability based on the estimated overall number of proximate wireless devices and including the activation probability in a discovery initiation message, wherein the activation probability affects a number of responding devices that respond to the discovery initiation message.

Example 273 is a wireless device including a decoder configured to receive a channel estimation pilot signal from a transmitting device, a load estimator configured to determine an estimated channel power based on the channel estimation pilot signal, and to select, based on the estimated channel power and a target receive power of a response signal at the transmitting device, a transmit power, and a discovery controller configured to transmit the response signal to the transmitting device with the transmit power.

In Example 274, the subject matter of Example 273 can optionally include wherein the decoder is configured to receive the channel estimation pilot signal via one or more antennas and a radio frequency transceiver, and wherein the discovery controller is configured to transmit the response signal with the transmit power via the radio transceiver and the one or more antennas.

In Example 275, the subject matter of Example 273 or 274 can optionally include wherein the load estimator is configured to determine the estimated channel power based on the channel estimation pilot signal by determining, based on the channel estimation pilot signal, an estimated channel between the transmitting device and the wireless device, and determining the estimated channel power based on the estimated channel.

In Example 276, the subject matter of any one of Examples 273 to 275 can optionally include wherein the load estimator is configured to select the transmit power by dividing the target receive power by the estimated channel power to obtain the transmit power.

In Example 277, the subject matter of any one of Examples 273 to 275 can optionally include wherein the load estimator is configured to select the transmit power by performing channel inversion with the estimated channel power to obtain a transmit power for the response signal to arrive at the transmitting device with approximately the target receive power.

In Example 278, the subject matter of any one of Examples 273 to 277 can optionally include wherein the decoder is further configured to, before selecting the transmit power, receive signaling from the transmitting device that indicates the target receive power.

In Example 279, the subject matter of Example 278 can optionally include wherein the decoder is further configured to receive signaling from the transmitting device that indicates an updated value of the target receive power.

In Example 280, the subject matter of any one of Examples 273 to 279 can optionally include wherein the decoder is further configured to receive signaling that indicates an estimated overall number of proximate wireless devices from the transmitting device, and wherein the discovery controller is further configured to perform traffic shaping of discovery procedures based on the estimated overall number of proximate wireless devices.

In Example 281, the subject matter of any one of Examples 273 to 279 can optionally include wherein the decoder is further configured to receive signaling that indicates an estimated overall number of proximate wireless devices from the transmitting device, the wireless device further including a traffic shaper configured to determine an activation probability based on the estimated overall number of proximate wireless devices, and wherein the discovery controller is configured to decide whether to transmit a discovery initiation message based on the activation probability.

In Example 282, the subject matter of any one of Examples 273 to 279 can optionally include wherein the decoder is further configured to receive signaling that indicates an estimated overall number of proximate wireless devices from the transmitting device, the wireless device further including a traffic shaper configured to determine an activation probability based on the estimated overall number of proximate wireless devices, and wherein the discovery controller is configured to include the activation probability in a discovery initiation message, where activation probability affects a number of responding devices that respond to the discovery initiation message.

Example 283 is a method of performing wireless communications at a wireless device, the method including monitoring discovery resources during a plurality of discovery windows, where the discovery resources are allocated for wireless devices to perform discovery, detecting discovery transmissions on the discovery resources over the plurality of discovery windows, and determining an estimated number of active wireless devices per discovery resource based on the number of discovery transmissions that are detected over the plurality of discovery windows.

In Example 284, the subject matter of Example 283 can optionally include wherein monitoring the discovery resources during the plurality of discovery windows includes receiving signals on the discovery resources during plurality of discovery windows via one or more antennas and a radio frequency transceiver.

In Example 285, the subject matter of Example 283 or 284 can optionally include wherein the discovery resources include a discovery channel, and wherein detecting discovery transmissions on the discovery resources in a first discovery window of the plurality of discovery windows includes detecting whether or not a discovery transmission is on the discovery channel during the first discovery window.

In Example 286, the subject matter of Example 283 or 284 can optionally include wherein the discovery resources include a discovery channel, and wherein detecting discovery transmissions on the discovery resources in a first discovery window of the plurality of discovery windows includes detecting multiple discovery transmissions on the discovery channel during the first discovery window.

In Example 286, the subject matter of Example 286 can optionally include wherein detecting the multiple discovery transmissions includes performing successive interference cancelation on a composite signal received during the first discovery window and decoding the multiple discovery transmissions based on the successive interference cancelation.

In Example 288, the subject matter of any one of Examples 283 to 287 can optionally include wherein the estimated number of active wireless devices per discovery resource is an estimated average number of active wireless devices per discovery channel of the discovery resources.

In Example 289, the subject matter of any one of Examples 283 to 288 can optionally include wherein detecting the discovery transmissions on the discovery resources over the plurality of discovery windows includes detecting discovery initiation messages and discovery response messages on the discovery resources over the plurality of discovery windows.

In Example 290, the subject matter of any one of Examples 283 to 289 can optionally further include performing traffic shaping of discovery procedures based on the estimated number of active wireless devices per discovery resource.

In Example 291, the subject matter of any one of Examples 283 to 289 can optionally further include determining an activation probability based on the estimated number of active wireless devices per discovery resource, and deciding whether to transmit a discovery initiation message based on the activation probability.

In Example 292, the subject matter of any one of Examples 283 to 289 can optionally further include determining an activation probability based on the estimated number of active wireless devices per discovery resource and including the activation probability in a discovery initiation message, wherein the activation probability affects a number of responding devices that respond to the discovery initiation message.

Example 293 is a wireless device including a decoder configured to monitor discovery resources during a plurality of discovery windows, where the discovery resources are allocated for wireless devices to perform discovery, and further configured to detect discovery transmissions on the discovery resources over the plurality of discovery windows, and a load estimator configured to determine an estimated number of active wireless devices per discovery resource based on the number of discovery transmissions that are detected over the plurality of discovery windows.

In Example 294, the subject matter of Example 293 can optionally include wherein the decoder is configured to monitor the discovery resources during the plurality of discovery windows by receiving signals via one or more antennas and a radio frequency transceiver.

In Example 295, the subject matter of Example 294 can optionally further include the one or more antennas and the radio frequency transceiver.

In Example 296, the subject matter of any one of Examples 293 to 295 can optionally include wherein the discovery resources include a discovery channel, and wherein the decoder is configured to detect the discovery transmissions on the discovery resources in a first discovery window of the plurality of discovery windows by detecting whether or not a discovery transmission is on the discovery channel during the first discovery window.

In Example 297, the subject matter of any one of Examples 293 to 295 can optionally include wherein the discovery resources include a discovery channel, and wherein the decoder is configured to the detect discovery transmissions on the discovery resources in a first discovery window of the plurality of discovery windows by detecting multiple discovery transmissions on the discovery channel during the first discovery window.

In Example 298, the subject matter of Example 297 can optionally include wherein the decoder is configured to detect the multiple discovery transmissions by performing successive interference cancelation on a composite signal received during the first discovery window and decoding the multiple discovery transmissions based on the successive interference cancelation.

In Example 299, the subject matter of any one of Examples 293 to 298 can optionally include wherein the estimated number of active wireless devices per discovery resource is an estimated average number of active wireless devices per discovery channel of the discovery resources.

In Example 300, the subject matter of any one of Examples 293 to 299 can optionally include wherein decoder is configured to detect the discovery transmissions on the discovery resources over the plurality of discovery windows by detecting discovery initiation messages and discovery response messages on the discovery resources over the plurality of discovery windows.

In Example 301, the subject matter of any one of Examples 293 to 300 can optionally further include a traffic shaper configured to perform traffic shaping of discovery procedures based on the estimated number of active wireless devices per discovery resource.

In Example 302, the subject matter of any one of Examples 293 to 300 can optionally further include a traffic shaper configured to determine an activation probability based on the estimated number of active wireless devices per discovery resource, wherein the discovery controller is further configured to decide whether to transmit a discovery initiation message based on the activation probability.

In Example 303, the subject matter of any one of Examples 293 to 300 can optionally further include a traffic shaper configured to determine an activation probability based on the estimated number of active wireless devices per discovery resource, wherein the discovery controller is further configured to include the activation probability in a discovery initiation message, wherein the activation probability affects a number of responding devices that respond to the discovery initiation message.

Example 304 is a method of performing wireless communications at a wireless device, the method including selecting a backoff window during which to wait before initiating a discovery procedure, performing, based on an activation probability, a random check to determine whether to initiate discovery in a first discovery window that is scheduled after the backoff window is over, if it is determined to initiate discovery in the first discovery window, transmitting a discovery initiation message in the first discovery window, and if it is determined to not initiate discovery in the first discovery window, performing a second random check based on the activation probability to determine whether to initiate the discovery procedure in a second discovery window.

In Example 305, the subject matter of Example 304 can optionally include wherein transmitting the discovery initiation message in the first discovery window includes transmitting the discovery initiation message via a radio frequency transceiver and one or more antennas.

In Example 306, the subject matter of Example 304 or 305 can optionally further include determining the activation probability based on an estimated number of active wireless devices per discovery resource and an estimated overall number of proximate wireless devices.

In Example 307, the subject matter of Example 305 can optionally include wherein determining the activation probability is further based on a maximum decoding capacity of the wireless device.

In Example 308, the subject matter of Example 306 or 307 can optionally further include determining an updated value of the activation probability based on an updated value for the estimated number of active wireless devices per discovery resource and an updated value for the estimated overall number of proximate wireless devices, selecting a second backoff window during which to wait before initiating a second discovery procedure, and performing, based on the updated value of the activation probability, a random check to determine whether to initiate discovery in a third discovery window that is scheduled after the second backoff window is over.

In Example 309, the subject matter of any one of Examples 306 to 308 can optionally further include receiving signaling that indicates the estimated overall number of proximate wireless devices.

In Example 310, the subject matter of any one of Examples 306 to 309 can optionally further include determining the estimated number of active devices per discovery resource by monitoring discovery resources for discovery transmissions over a plurality of discovery windows.

In Example 311, the subject matter of any one of Examples 304 to 310 can optionally further include if it is determined to not initiate discovery in the second discovery window, performing random checks for one or more further discovery windows until a random check for a given discovery window is successful, and transmitting the discovery initiation message in the given discovery window.

In Example 312, the subject matter of any one of Examples 304 to 311 can optionally include wherein performing, based on the activation probability, the random check to determine whether to initiate discovery in the first discovery window includes selecting a random number in a predefined interval, comparing the random number to the activation probability, and determining to initiate discovery in the first discovery window if the activation probability is greater than the random number.

Example 313 is a wireless device including a discovery controller configured to perform, based on an activation probability, a random check to determine whether to initiate discovery in a first discovery window that is scheduled after the backoff window is over, if it is determined to initiate discovery in the first discovery window, transmit a discovery initiation message in the first discovery window, and if it is determined to not initiate discovery in the first discovery window, perform a second random check based on the activation probability to determine whether to initiate the discovery procedure in a second discovery window.

In Example 314, the subject matter of Example 313 can optionally include wherein the discovery controller is configured to transmit the discovery initiation message in the first discovery window by transmitting the discovery initiation message via a radio frequency transceiver and one or more antennas.

In Example 315, the subject matter of Example 314 can optionally further include the radio frequency transceiver and the one or more antennas.

In Example 316, the subject matter of any one of Examples 313 to 315 can optionally further include a traffic shaper configured to determine the activation probability based on an estimated number of active wireless devices per discovery resource and an estimated overall number of proximate wireless devices.

In Example 317, the subject matter of Example 316 can optionally include wherein the traffic shaper is configured to determine the activation probability further based on a maximum decoding capacity of the wireless device.

In Example 318, the subject matter of Example 316 or 317 can optionally include wherein the traffic shaper is further configured to determine an updated value of the activation probability based on an updated value for the estimated number of active wireless devices per discovery resource and an updated value for the estimated overall number of proximate wireless devices, and wherein the discovery controller is further configured to select a second backoff window during which to wait before initiating a second discovery procedure, and performing, based on the updated value of the activation probability, a random check to determine whether to initiate discovery in a third discovery window that is scheduled after the second backoff window is over.

In Example 319, the subject matter of any one of Examples 316 to 318 can optionally further include a decoder configured to receive signaling that indicates the estimated overall number of proximate wireless devices.

In Example 320, the subject matter of any one of Examples 316 to 319 can optionally further include a load estimator configured to determine the estimated number of active devices per discovery resource by monitoring discovery resources for discovery transmissions over a plurality of discovery windows.

In Example 321, the subject matter of any one of Examples 313 to 320 can optionally include wherein the discovery controller is further configured to if it is determined to not initiate discovery in the second discovery window, perform random checks for one or more further discovery windows until a random check for a given discovery window is successful, and to transmit the discovery initiation message in the given discovery window

In Example 322, the subject matter of any one of Examples 313 to 321 can optionally include wherein the discovery controller is configured to perform, based on the activation probability, the random check to determine whether to initiate discovery in the first discovery window by selecting a random number in a predefined interval, comparing the random number to the activation probability, and determining to initiate discovery in the first discovery window if the activation probability is greater than the random number.

Example 323 is a method of performing wireless communications at a wireless device, the method including transmitting a discovery initiation message, and performing one or more first retransmissions of the discovery initiation message by, for each respective retransmission of the one or more first retransmissions performing a first random check to determine whether to perform the respective retransmission at a first discovery window and, if it is determined to not perform the respective retransmission, performing a second random check to determine whether to perform the respective retransmission at a second discovery window, the method further including performing one or more second retransmissions of the discovery invitation message by, for each respective retransmission of the one or more second retransmissions selecting a random backoff window based on a number of retransmissions of the discovery initiation message prior to the respective retransmission, and performing the respective retransmission after the random backoff window is over.

In Example 324, the subject matter of Example 323 can optionally include wherein transmitting the discovery initiation message and performing the one or more first and second retransmissions of the discovery initiation message includes transmitting signals via a radio frequency transceiver and one or more antennas.

In Example 325, the subject matter of Example 323 or 324 can optionally include wherein selecting the random backoff window based on the number of retransmissions of the discovery initiation message prior to the respective retransmission includes selecting the random backoff window based on a maximum backoff window that increases in size as more retransmissions of the discovery initiation message occur.

In Example 326, the subject matter of Example 325 can optionally include wherein selecting the random backoff window based on the number of retransmissions of the discovery initiation message prior to the respective retransmission includes selecting the random backoff window in an interval with an upper bound defined by a maximum backoff window, wherein the size of the maximum backoff window is proportional to the number of retransmissions of the discovery initiation message prior to the respective retransmission.

In Example 327, the subject matter of any one of Examples 323 to 326 can optionally include wherein performing the first random check to determine whether to perform the respective retransmission at the first discovery window includes selecting a random number in a predefined interval, comparing the random number to the activation probability, and determining to perform the respective retransmission in the first discovery window if the activation probability is greater than the random number.

In Example 328, the subject matter of any one of Examples 323 to 327 can optionally include wherein performing each respective retransmission of the one or more first retransmissions further includes if it is determined to not perform the respective retransmission in the second discovery window, performing random checks for one or more further discovery windows until a random check for a given discovery window is successful, and performing the respective retransmission in the given discovery window.

In Example 329, the subject matter of any one of Examples 323 to 328 can optionally further include determining the activation probability based on an estimated number of active wireless devices per discovery resource and an estimated overall number of proximate wireless devices.

In Example 330, the subject matter of Example 329 can optionally include wherein determining the activation probability is further based on a maximum decoding capacity of the wireless device.

In Example 331, the subject matter of Example 329 or 330 can optionally further include receiving signaling that indicates the estimated overall number of proximate wireless devices.

In Example 332, the subject matter of any one of Examples 329 to 331 can optionally further include determining the estimated number of active devices per discovery resource by monitoring discovery resources for discovery transmissions over a plurality of discovery windows.

Example 333 is a wireless device including a discovery controller configured to transmit a discovery initiation message, and perform one or more first retransmissions of the discovery initiation message by, for each respective retransmission of the one or more first retransmissions performing a first random check to determine whether to perform the respective retransmission at a first discovery window and, if it is determined to not perform the respective retransmission, performing a second random check to determine whether to perform the respective retransmission at a second discovery window, the device controller further configured to perform one or more second retransmissions of the discovery invitation message by, for each respective retransmission of the one or more second retransmissions selecting a random backoff window based on a number of retransmissions of the discovery initiation message prior to the respective retransmission, and performing the respective retransmission after the random backoff window is over.

In Example 334, the subject matter of Example 333 can optionally include wherein the discovery controller is configured to transmit the discovery initiation message and perform the one or more first and second retransmissions of the discovery initiation message by transmitting signals via a radio frequency transceiver and one or more antennas.

In Example 335, the subject matter of Example 334 can optionally further include the radio frequency transceiver and one or more antennas.

In Example 336, the subject matter of any one of Examples 333 to 335 can optionally include wherein the discovery controller is configured to select the random backoff window based on the number of retransmissions of the discovery initiation message prior to the respective retransmission by selecting the random backoff window based on a maximum backoff window that increases in size as more retransmissions of the discovery initiation message occur.

In Example 337, the subject matter of Example 336 can optionally include wherein the discovery controller is configured to select the random backoff window based on the number of retransmissions of the discovery initiation message prior to the respective retransmission by selecting the random backoff window in an interval with an upper bound defined by a maximum backoff window, wherein the size of the maximum backoff window is proportional to the number of retransmissions of the discovery initiation message prior to the respective retransmission.

In Example 338, the subject matter of any one of Examples 333 to 337 can optionally include wherein the discovery controller is configured to perform the first random check to determine whether to perform the respective retransmission at the first discovery window by selecting a random number in a predefined interval, comparing the random number to the activation probability, and determining to perform the respective retransmission in the first discovery window if the activation probability is greater than the random number.

In Example 339, the subject matter of any one of Examples 333 to 338 can optionally include wherein the discovery controller is configured to perform each respective retransmission of the one or more first retransmissions by additionally if it is determined to not perform the respective retransmission in the second discovery window, performing random checks for one or more further discovery windows until a random check for a given discovery window is successful, and performing the respective retransmission in the given discovery window.

In Example 340, the subject matter of any one of Examples 333 to 339 can optionally further include a traffic shaper configured to determine the activation probability based on an estimated number of active wireless devices per discovery resource and an estimated overall number of proximate wireless devices.

In Example 341, the subject matter of Example 340 can optionally include wherein the traffic shaper is configured to determine the activation probability further based on a maximum decoding capacity of the wireless device.

In Example 342, the subject matter of Example 340 or 341 can optionally further include a decoder configured to receive signaling that indicates the estimated overall number of proximate wireless devices.

In Example 343, the subject matter of any one of Examples 340 to 342 can optionally further include a load estimator configured to determine the estimated number of active devices per discovery resource by monitoring discovery resources for discovery transmissions over a plurality of discovery windows.

Example 344 is a method of performing wireless communications at a wireless device, the method including obtaining an estimated overall number of proximate wireless devices that approximates an upper bound for wireless devices proximate to the wireless device, obtaining an estimated number of active wireless devices per discovery resource that approximates a number of wireless devices that are actively using discovery resources, determining an activation probability based on the load estimation results, transmitting a discovery initiation message that indicates the activation probability, wherein the activation probability affects a number of responding devices transmitting discovery response messages, and receiving one or more discovery response messages.

In Example 345, the subject matter of Example 344 can optionally include wherein transmitting the discovery initiation message includes transmitting the discovery initiation message via a radio frequency transceiver and one or more antennas, and wherein receiving the one or more discovery response messages includes receiving the one or more discovery response messages via the one or more antennas and the radio frequency transceiver.

In Example 346, the subject matter of Example 344 or 345 can optionally further include receiving signaling that indicates the estimated overall number of proximate wireless devices.

In Example 347, the subject matter of any one of Examples 344 to 346 can optionally further include determining the estimated number of active wireless devices per discovery resource by monitoring discovery transmissions on the discovery resources during a plurality of discovery windows.

In Example 348, the subject matter of Example 347 can optionally include wherein the estimated number of active wireless devices per discovery resource is an average number of detected discovery transmissions per discovery resource per discovery window.

In Example 349, the subject matter of any one of Examples 344 to 348 can optionally further include obtaining an updated value of the estimated overall number of proximate wireless devices and an updated value of estimated overall number of proximate wireless devices, determining an updated value of the activation probability, and transmitting a discovery initiation message that indicates the updated value of the activation probability.

In Example 350, the subject matter of any one of Examples 344 to 349 can optionally include wherein determining the activation probability based on the load estimation results includes determining the activation probability based on the estimated overall number of proximate wireless devices, the estimated overall number of proximate wireless devices, and a maximum decoding capacity of the wireless device.

Example 351 is a wireless device including a traffic shaper configured to obtain an estimated overall number of proximate wireless devices that approximates an upper bound for wireless devices proximate to the wireless device, obtain an estimated number of active wireless devices per discovery resource that approximates a number of wireless devices that are actively using discovery resources, and determine an activation probability based on the load estimation results, a discovery controller configured to transmit a discovery initiation message that indicates the activation probability, wherein the activation probability affects a number of responding devices transmitting discovery response messages, and a decoder configured to receive one or more discovery response messages.

In Example 352, the subject matter of Example 351 can optionally include wherein the discovery controller is configured to transmit via a radio frequency transceiver and one or more antennas, and wherein the decoder is configured to receive the one or more discovery response messages via the one or more antennas and the radio frequency transceiver.

In Example 353, the subject matter of Example 352 can optionally further include the radio frequency transceiver and the one or more antennas.

In Example 354, the subject matter of any one of Examples 351 to 353 can optionally include wherein the decoder is configured to receive signaling that indicates the estimated overall number of proximate wireless devices and to provide the estimated overall number of proximate wireless devices to the traffic shaper.

In Example 355, the subject matter of any one of Examples 351 to 354 can optionally further include a load estimator configured to determine the estimated number of active wireless devices per discovery resource by monitoring discovery transmissions on the discovery resources during a plurality of discovery windows, and to provide the estimated number of active wireless devices per discovery resource to the traffic shaper.

In Example 356, the subject matter of Example 355 can optionally include wherein the estimated number of active wireless devices per discovery resource is an average number of detected discovery transmissions per discovery resource per discovery window.

In Example 357, the subject matter of any one of Examples 351 to 356 can optionally include wherein the traffic shaper is further configured to obtain an updated value of the estimated overall number of proximate wireless devices and an updated value of estimated overall number of proximate wireless devices, and to determine an updated value of the activation probability, and wherein the discovery controller is further configured to transmit a discovery initiation message that indicates the updated value of the activation probability.

In Example 358, the subject matter of any one of Examples 351 to 357 can optionally include wherein the traffic shaper is configured to determine the activation probability based on the estimated overall number of proximate wireless devices, the estimated overall number of proximate wireless devices, and a maximum decoding capacity of the wireless device.

Example 359 is a wireless device including means for broadcasting a first discovery initiation message, means for decoding discovery response messages from one or more first responding devices, means for transmitting messages to the one or more responding devices to instruct the one or more responding devices to wait before responding to a second discovery initiation message, means for broadcasting the second discovery initiation message, and means for decoding discovery response messages from one or more second responding devices.

Example 360 is a wireless device including means for receiving a first discovery initiation message from an initiating device, means for transmitting a first discovery response message to the initiating device, means for receiving a message from the initiating device that instructs the wireless device to wait before responding to a second discovery initiation message, means for receiving the second discovery initiation message from the initiating device, and means for refraining from responding to the second discovery initiation message.

Example 361 is a wireless device including means for broadcasting a first discovery initiation message and decoding one or more first discovery response messages, means for determining, based on the one or more first discovery response messages, a response criteria that affects the number of devices that respond to a second discovery initiation message, means for broadcasting the second discovery initiation message and the response criteria, and means for decoding one or more second discovery response messages.

Example 362 is a wireless device including means for receiving, from an initiating device, a discovery initiation message including a response criteria, means for determining whether to respond to the discovery initiation message based on the response criteria, and means for transmitting a discovery response message if it is determined to respond to the discovery initiation message and not transmitting the discovery response message if it is determined not to respond to the discovery initiation message.

Example 363 is a wireless device including means for receiving a discovery initiation message from an initiating device, means for determining a probability value, means for determining whether to respond to the discovery initiation message based on the probability value, and means for transmitting a discovery response message to the initiating device if it is determined to respond to the discovery initiation message and not transmitting a discovery response message to the initiating device if it is determined not to respond to the discovery initiation message.

Example 364 is a wireless device including means for transmitting a channel estimation pilot signal, means for receiving response signals from a plurality of responding devices, wherein a received power of the respective response signals is based on a target receive power and a channel power between the wireless device and the plurality of responding devices, and means for determining an estimated number of responding devices based on the target receive power and an overall received power of the response signals.

Example 365 is a wireless device including means for receiving a channel estimation pilot signal from a transmitting device, means for determining an estimated channel power based on the channel estimation pilot signal, means for selecting, based on the estimated channel power and a target receive power of a response signal at the transmitting device, a transmit power, and means for transmitting the response signal to the transmitting device with the transmit power.

Example 366 is a wireless device including means for monitoring discovery resources during a plurality of discovery windows, where the discovery resources are allocated for wireless devices to perform discovery, means for detecting discovery transmissions on the discovery resources over the plurality of discovery windows, and means for determining an estimated number of active wireless devices per discovery resource based on the number of discovery transmissions that are detected over the plurality of discovery windows.

Example 367 is a wireless device including means for selecting a backoff window during which to not initiate a discovery procedure, means for performing, based on an activation probability, a random check to determine whether to initiate discovery in a first discovery window that is scheduled after the backoff window is over, means for, if it is determined to initiate discovery in the first discovery window, transmitting a discovery initiation message in the first discovery window, and means for, if it is determined to not initiate discovery in the first discovery window, performing a second random check based on the activation probability to determine whether to initiate the discovery procedure in a second discovery window.

Example 368 is a wireless device including means for transmitting a discovery initiation message, and means for performing one or more first retransmissions of the discovery initiation message by, for each respective retransmission of the one or more first retransmissions performing a first random check to determine whether to perform the respective retransmission at a first discovery window and, if it is determined to not perform the respective retransmission, performing a second random check to determine whether to perform the respective retransmission at a second discovery window, means for performing one or more second retransmissions of the discovery invitation message by, for each respective retransmission of the one or more second retransmissions selecting a random backoff window based on a number of retransmissions of the discovery initiation message prior to the respective retransmission, and performing the respective retransmission after the random backoff window is over.

Example 369 is a wireless device including means for obtaining an estimated overall number of proximate wireless devices that approximates an upper bound for wireless devices proximate to the wireless device, means for obtaining an estimated number of active wireless devices per discovery resource that approximates a number of wireless devices that are actively using discovery resources, means for determining an activation probability based on the load estimation results, and means for transmitting a discovery initiation message that indicates the activation probability, wherein the activation probability affects a number of responding devices transmitting discovery response messages, and means for receiving one or more discovery response messages.

Example 370 is a non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the method of any one of Examples 158 to 164, 198 to 213, 222 to 229, 240 to 250, 263 to 272, 283 to 292, 304 to 312, 323 to 332, and 344 to 350

Example 371 is a wireless device including one or more processors, and a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the wireless device to perform the method of any one of Examples 158 to 164, 198 to 213, 222 to 229, 240 to 250, 263 to 272, 283 to 292, 304 to 312, 323 to 332, and 344 to 350.

Example 372 is a wireless device including a controller configured to identify an emergency and to generate an emergency message including information on the emergency, and a transmitter configured to transmit, on a discovery channel allocated for other wireless devices to perform discovery, an emergency indicator beacon for an upcoming transmission of the emergency message, and to transmit the emergency message on a data channel of the wireless device.

In Example 373, the subject matter of Example 372 can optionally include wherein the controller and the transmitter are components of a baseband modem of the wireless device.

In Example 374, the subject matter of Example 372 or 373 can optionally further include a radio frequency transceiver and one or more antennas, wherein the transmitter is configured to transmit the emergency indicator beacon and the emergency message via the radio frequency transceiver and the one or more antennas.

In Example 375, the subject matter of any one of Examples 372 to 374 can optionally further include a receiver configured to receive an emergency network broadcast from an external network, wherein the controller is configured to identify the emergency from the emergency network broadcast.

In Example 376, the subject matter of Example 375 can optionally include wherein the controller is configured to generate the emergency message by identifying the information on the emergency in the emergency network broadcast, and including the information on the emergency in one or more fields of the emergency message.

In Example 377, the subject matter of Example 375 or 376 can optionally include wherein the external network is a cellular network, and wherein the receiver is configured to receive the emergency network broadcast from a cell of the cellular network.

In Example 378, the subject matter of any one of Examples 372 to 374 can optionally include wherein the controller is configured to identify the emergency from a user input that indicates the emergency.

In Example 379, the subject matter of Example 378 can optionally further include an application processor configured to receive the user input indicating the emergency and to notify the controller of the user input.

In Example 380, the subject matter of Example 378 or 379 can optionally include wherein the controller is configured to generate the emergency message by generating the information on the emergency from the user input and including the information on the emergency in one or more fields of the emergency message.

In Example 381, the subject matter of any one of Examples 372 to 380 can optionally include wherein the controller is configured to generate the emergency message by generating a header, generating the information on the emergency, and including the header and the information on the emergency as fields of the emergency message.

In Example 382, the subject matter of any one of Examples 372 to 380 can optionally include wherein the controller is configured generate the emergency message by determining, based on a device ID of the wireless device, a hash value, and including the hash value in a register token of the emergency message.

In Example 383, the subject matter of any one of Examples 372 to 382 can optionally include wherein the transmitter is configured to apply an emergency scrambling code to the emergency indicator beacon before transmitting the emergency indicator beacon.

Example 384 is a wireless device including a receiver configured to monitor a discovery channel allocated for the wireless device to perform discovery, and a controller configured to obtain received data from the receiver and to detect, on the discovery channel, an emergency indicator beacon for an upcoming transmission of an emergency device, and to process the emergency indicator beacon to identify a transmitting wireless device that transmitted the emergency indicator beacon, the receiver further configured to receive the emergency message on a data channel of the transmitting wireless device.

In Example 385, the subject matter of Example 384 can optionally include wherein the controller and the transmitter are components of a baseband modem of the wireless device.

In Example 386, the subject matter of Example 384 or 385 can optionally further include a radio frequency transceiver and one or more antennas, wherein the receiver is configured to receive data on the discovery channel via the radio frequency transceiver and the one or more antennas.

In Example 387, the subject matter of any one of Examples 384 to 386 can optionally include wherein the controller is configured to detect the emergency indicator beacon based on a predefined format of emergency indicator beacons.

In Example 388, the subject matter of any one of Examples 384 to 387 can optionally include wherein the controller is configured to identify the transmitting wireless device by reading a payload of the emergency indicator beacon that identifies the transmitting wireless device.

In Example 389, the subject matter of any one of Examples 384 to 387 can optionally include wherein the receiver is configured to descramble the emergency indicator beacon according to an emergency scrambling code.

In Example 390, the subject matter of any one of Examples 384 to 389 can optionally include wherein the controller is further configured to identify the data channel of the transmitting wireless device.

In Example 391, the subject matter of Example 390 can optionally include wherein the transmitting wireless device is preassigned the data channel, and wherein the controller is configured to identify the data channel by identifying a device ID of the transmitting wireless device and identifying, as the data channel, a data channel preassigned to the device ID of the transmitting device.

In Example 392, the subject matter of any one of Examples 384 to 391 can optionally include wherein the controller is further configured to receive the emergency message from the receiver, and to verify the authenticity of the emergency message by determining hash values for one or more device IDs in a trusted entity list of the wireless device, comparing the hash values for the one or more device IDs to a hash value in a register token of the emergency message, and verifying that the emergency message is authentic if one of the hash values for the one or more device IDs matches the hash value in the register token.

In Example 393, the subject matter of any one of Examples 384 to 391 can optionally include wherein the controller is further configured to receive the emergency message from the receiver, and to verify the authenticity of the emergency message by determining hash values for one or more device IDs in a trusted entity list of the wireless device, comparing the hash values for the one or more device IDs to hash values in a register token of the emergency message, and verifying that the emergency message is authentic based on whether the hash values for the one or more device IDs match the hash values in the register token.

In Example 394, the subject matter of Example 393 can optionally include wherein the hash values in the register token include a first hash value for an originating wireless device of the emergency message and a second hash value for a relaying wireless device of the emergency message, and wherein the controller is configured to verify that the emergency message is authentic if at least one of the hash values for the one or more device IDs matches the first hash value and at least one of the hash values for the one or more device IDs matches the second hash value.

In Example 395, the subject matter of any one of Examples 384 to 394 can optionally include wherein the controller is further configured to generate a relay transmission of the emergency message, the wireless device further including a transmitter configured to transmit the relay transmission of the emergency message.

In Example 396, the subject matter of Example 395 can optionally include wherein the transmitter is configured to transmit the relay transmission of the emergency message by transmitting, on the discovery channel, an emergency indicator beacon for an upcoming transmission of the emergency message, and transmitting the relay transmission of the emergency message on a data channel of the wireless device.

In Example 397, the subject matter of Example 395 can optionally include wherein the controller is configured to generate the relay transmission of the emergency message by determining, based on a device ID of the wireless device, a first hash value, and including the first hash value in a register token of the relay transmission of the emergency message.

In Example 398, the subject matter of Example 397 can optionally include wherein the emergency message includes a first hash value based on a device ID of an originating device of the emergency message, wherein the controller is configured to include the first hash value and the second hash value in the register token of the emergency message.

In Example 399, the subject matter of any one of Examples 384 to 398 can optionally further include an application processor, wherein the controller is configured to provide information on the emergency from the emergency message to the application processor and where the application processor is configured to display the information on the emergency to a user of the wireless device.

Example 400 is a method of performing wireless communications at a wireless device, the method including identifying an emergency, generating an emergency message including information on the emergency, transmitting an emergency indicator beacon on a discovery channel allocated for other wireless devices to perform discovery, and transmitting the emergency message on a data channel of the wireless device.

In Example 401, the subject matter of Example 400 can optionally include wherein transmitting the emergency indicator beacon and the emergency message includes transmitting the emergency indicator beacon and the emergency message via a radio frequency transceiver and one or more antennas.

In Example 402, the subject matter of Example 400 or 401 can optionally include wherein identifying the emergency includes receiving an emergency network broadcast from an external network that indicates the emergency.

In Example 403, the subject matter of Example 402 can optionally include wherein generating the emergency message includes identifying the information on the emergency in the emergency network broadcast, and including the information on the emergency in one or more fields of the emergency message.

In Example 404, the subject matter of Example 402 or 403 can optionally include wherein the external network is a cellular network, and wherein receiving the emergency network broadcast includes receiving the emergency network broadcast from a cell of the cellular network.

In Example 405, the subject matter of Example 400 or 401 can optionally include wherein identifying the emergency includes identifying the emergency from a user input that indicates the emergency.

In Example 406, the subject matter of Example 405 can optionally include wherein generating the emergency message includes generating the information on the emergency from the user input and including the information on the emergency in one or more fields of the emergency message.

In Example 407, the subject matter of any one of Examples 400 to 406 can optionally include wherein generating the emergency message includes generating a header, generating the information on the emergency, and including the header and the information on the emergency as fields of the emergency message.

In Example 408, the subject matter of any one of Examples 400 to 406 can optionally include wherein generating the emergency message includes determining, based on a device ID of the wireless device, a hash value, and including the hash value in a register token of the emergency message.

In Example 409, the subject matter of any one of Examples 400 to 408 can optionally further include applying an emergency scrambling code to the emergency indicator beacon before transmitting the emergency indicator beacon.

Example 410 is a method of performing wireless communications at a wireless device, the method including monitoring a discovery channel allocated for a wireless device to perform discovery, detecting an emergency indicator beacon on the discovery channel, processing the emergency indicator beacon to identify a transmitting wireless device that transmitted the emergency indicator beacon, and receiving an emergency message on a data channel of the transmitting wireless device.

In Example 411, the subject matter of Example 410 can optionally include wherein monitoring the discovery channel includes receiving data on the discovery channel via a radio frequency transceiver and one or more antennas, and wherein receiving the emergency message on the data channel includes receiving the emergency message via the radio frequency transceiver and the one or more antennas.

In Example 412, the subject matter of Example 410 or 411 can optionally include wherein detecting the emergency indicator beacon includes detecting the emergency indicator beacon based on a predefined format of emergency indicator beacons.

In Example 413, the subject matter of any one of Examples 410 to 412 can optionally include wherein identifying the transmitting wireless device includes reading a payload of the emergency indicator beacon that identifies the transmitting wireless device.

In Example 414, the subject matter of any one of Examples 410 to 412 can optionally include wherein further including descrambling the emergency indicator beacon according to an emergency scrambling code.

In Example 415, the subject matter of any one of Examples 410 to 414 can optionally further include identifying the data channel of the transmitting wireless device.

In Example 416, the subject matter of Example 415 can optionally include wherein the transmitting wireless device is preassigned the data channel, and wherein identifying the data channel includes identifying a device ID of the transmitting wireless device and identifying, as the data channel, a data channel preassigned to the device ID of the transmitting device.

In Example 417, the subject matter of any one of Examples 410 to 416 can optionally further include verifying the authenticity of the emergency message by determining hash values for one or more device IDs in a trusted entity list of the wireless device, comparing the hash values for the one or more device IDs to a hash value in a register token of the emergency message, and verifying that the emergency message is authentic if one of the hash values for the one or more device IDs matches the hash value in the register token.

In Example 418, the subject matter of any one of Examples 410 to 416 can optionally further include verifying the authenticity of the emergency message by determining hash values for one or more device IDs in a trusted entity list of the wireless device, comparing the hash values for the one or more device IDs to hash values in a register token of the emergency message, and verifying that the emergency message is authentic based on whether the hash values for the one or more device IDs match the hash values in the register token.

In Example 419, the subject matter of Example 418 can optionally include wherein the hash values in the register token include a first hash value for an originating wireless device of the emergency message and a second hash value for a relaying wireless device of the emergency message, and wherein verifying that the emergency message is authentic includes verifying that the emergency message is authentic if at least one of the hash values for the one or more device IDs matches the first hash value and at least one of the hash values for the one or more device IDs matches the second hash value.

In Example 420, the subject matter of any one of Examples 410 to 419 can optionally further include generating a relay transmission of the emergency message and transmitting the relay transmission of the emergency message.

In Example 421, the subject matter of Example 420 can optionally include wherein transmitting the relay transmission of the emergency message includes transmitting, on the discovery channel, an emergency indicator beacon for an upcoming transmission of the emergency message, and transmitting the relay transmission of the emergency message on a data channel of the wireless device.

In Example 422, the subject matter of Example 420 can optionally include wherein generating the relay transmission of the emergency message includes determining, based on a device ID of the wireless device, a first hash value, and including the first hash value in a register token of the relay transmission of the emergency message.

In Example 423, the subject matter of Example 422 can optionally include wherein the emergency message includes a first hash value based on a device ID of an originating device of the emergency message, wherein generating the emergency message further includes including the first hash value and the second hash value in the register token of the emergency message.

In Example 424, the subject matter of any one of Examples 410 to 423 can optionally further include displaying information on the emergency to a user of the wireless device.

Example 425 is a non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions that when executed by one or more processors of a wireless device cause the wireless device to perform the method of any one of Examples 400 to 424.

Example 426 is a wireless device including means for identifying an emergency, means for generating an emergency message including information on the emergency, means for transmitting an emergency indicator beacon on a discovery channel allocated for other wireless devices to perform discovery, and means for transmitting the emergency message on a data channel of the wireless device.

Example 427 is a wireless device including means for monitoring a discovery channel allocated for a wireless device to perform discovery, means for detecting an emergency indicator beacon on the discovery channel, means for processing the emergency indicator beacon to identify a transmitting wireless device that transmitted the emergency indicator beacon, and means for receiving an emergency message on a data channel of the transmitting wireless device.

Example 428 is a wireless device including one or more processors, a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the wireless device to perform the method of any one of Examples 400 to 424.

While the disclosure has been particularly shown and described with reference to specific aspects, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure as defined by the appended claims. The scope of the disclosure is thus indicated by the appended claims and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced.

METHODS AND DEVICES FOR DEVICE-TO-DEVICE COMMUNICATIONS

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