Patent Application
20250150129
Aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to wireless communication and specifically relate to techniques, apparatuses, and methods for spatial multiplexing at a reflecting device.
Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various services that may include carrying voice, text, messaging, video, data, and/or other traffic. The services may include unicast, multicast, and/or broadcast services, among other examples. Typical wireless communication systems may employ multiple-access radio access technologies (RATs) capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources (for example, time domain resources, frequency domain resources, spatial domain resources, and/or device transmit power, among other examples). Examples of such multiple-access RATs include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems, single-carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) systems, and time division synchronous code division multiple access (TD-SCDMA) systems.
The above multiple-access RATs have been adopted in various telecommunication standards to provide common protocols that enable different wireless communication devices to communicate on a municipal, national, regional, or global level. An example telecommunication standard is New Radio (NR). NR, which may also be referred to as 5G, is part of a continuous mobile broadband evolution promulgated by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). NR (and other mobile broadband evolutions beyond NR) may be designed to better support Internet of things (IoT) and reduced capability device deployments, industrial connectivity, millimeter wave (mmWave) expansion, licensed and unlicensed spectrum access, non-terrestrial network (NTN) deployment, sidelink and other device-to-device direct communication technologies (for example, cellular vehicle-to-everything (CV2X) communication), massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), disaggregated network architectures and network topology expansions, multiple-subscriber implementations, high-precision positioning, and/or radio frequency (RF) sensing, among other examples. As the demand for mobile broadband access continues to increase, further improvements in NR may be implemented, and other radio access technologies such as 6G may be introduced, to further advance mobile broadband evolution.
Some aspects described herein relate to a method of wireless communication performed by a reflecting device. The method may include generating a multi-peak reflection beam that spatially multiplexes a first reflected signal of a first signal and a second reflected signal of a second signal. The method may include receiving the first signal and the second signal. The method may include reflecting the first signal and the second signal to output a spatially multiplexed reflected signal using the multi-peak reflection beam.
Some aspects described herein relate to a method of wireless communication performed by a network entity. The method may include transmitting, to a reflecting device, a first command to prepare to spatially multiplex a first reflected signal of a first signal and a second reflected signal of a second signal. The method may include receiving a response.
Some aspects described herein relate to an apparatus for wireless communication at a reflecting device. The apparatus may include one or more memories and one or more processors coupled to the one or more memories. The one or more processors may be individually or collectively configured to cause the reflecting device to generate a multi-peak reflection beam that spatially multiplexes a first reflected signal of a first signal and a second reflected signal of a second signal. The one or more processors may be individually or collectively configured to cause the reflecting device to receive the first signal and the second signal. The one or more processors may be individually or collectively configured to cause the reflecting device to reflect the first signal and the second signal to output a spatially multiplexed reflected signal using the multi-peak reflection beam.
Some aspects described herein relate to an apparatus for wireless communication at a network entity. The apparatus may include one or more memories and one or more processors coupled to the one or more memories. The one or more processors may individually or collectively configured to cause the network entity to transmit, to a reflecting device, a first command to prepare to spatially multiplex a first reflected signal of a first signal and a second reflected signal of a second signal. The one or more processors may individually or collectively configured to cause the network entity to receive a response.
Some aspects described herein relate to a non-transitory computer-readable medium that stores a set of instructions for wireless communication by a reflecting device. The set of instructions, when executed by one or more processors of the reflecting device, may cause the reflecting device to generate a multi-peak reflection beam that spatially multiplexes a first reflected signal of a first signal and a second reflected signal of a second signal. The set of instructions, when executed by one or more processors of the reflecting device, may cause the reflecting device to receive the first signal and the second signal. The set of instructions, when executed by one or more processors of the reflecting device, may cause the reflecting device to reflect the first signal and the second signal to output a spatially multiplexed reflected signal using the multi-peak reflection beam.
Some aspects described herein relate to a non-transitory computer-readable medium that stores a set of instructions for wireless communication by a network entity. The set of instructions, when executed by one or more processors of the network entity, may cause the network entity to transmit, to a reflecting device, a first command to prepare to spatially multiplex a first reflected signal of a first signal and a second reflected signal of a second signal. The set of instructions, when executed by one or more processors of the network entity, may cause the network entity to receive a response.
Some aspects described herein relate to an apparatus for wireless communication. The apparatus may include means for generating a multi-peak reflection beam that spatially multiplexes a first reflected signal of a first signal and a second reflected signal of a second signal. The apparatus may include means for receiving the first signal and the second signal. The apparatus may include means for reflecting the first signal and the second signal to output a spatially multiplexed reflected signal using the multi-peak reflection beam.
Some aspects described herein relate to an apparatus for wireless communication. The apparatus may include means for transmitting, to a reflecting device, a first command to prepare to spatially multiplex a first reflected signal of a first signal and a second reflected signal of a second signal. The apparatus may include means for receiving a response.
Aspects of the present disclosure may generally be implemented by or as a method, apparatus, system, computer program product, non-transitory computer-readable medium, user equipment, base station, network node, network entity, wireless communication device, and/or processing system as substantially described with reference to, and as illustrated by, the specification and accompanying drawings.
The foregoing paragraphs of this section have broadly summarized some aspects of the present disclosure. These and additional aspects and associated advantages will be described hereinafter. The disclosed aspects may be used as a basis for modifying or designing other aspects for carrying out the same or similar purposes of the present disclosure. Such equivalent aspects do not depart from the scope of the appended claims. Characteristics of the aspects disclosed herein, both their organization and method of operation, together with associated advantages, will be better understood from the following description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings.
The appended drawings illustrate some aspects of the present disclosure, but are not limiting of the scope of the present disclosure because the description may enable other aspects. Each of the drawings is provided for purposes of illustration and description, and not as a definition of the limits of the claims. The same or similar reference numbers in different drawings may identify the same or similar elements.
Various aspects of the present disclosure are described hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, aspects of the present disclosure may be embodied in many different forms and is not to be construed as limited to any specific aspect illustrated by or described with reference to an accompanying drawing or otherwise presented in this disclosure. Rather, these aspects are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the disclosure to those skilled in the art. One skilled in the art may appreciate that the scope of the disclosure is intended to cover any aspect of the disclosure disclosed herein, whether implemented independently of or in combination with any other aspect of the disclosure. For example, an apparatus may be implemented or a method may be practiced using various combinations or quantities of the aspects set forth herein. In addition, the scope of the disclosure is intended to cover an apparatus having, or a method that is practiced using, other structures and/or functionalities in addition to or other than the structures and/or functionalities with which various aspects of the disclosure set forth herein may be practiced. Any aspect of the disclosure disclosed herein may be embodied by one or more elements of a claim.
Several aspects of telecommunication systems will now be presented with reference to various methods, operations, apparatuses, and techniques. These methods, operations, apparatuses, and techniques will be described in the following detailed description and illustrated in the accompanying drawings by various blocks, modules, components, circuits, steps, processes, or algorithms (collectively referred to as “elements”). These elements may be implemented using hardware, software, or a combination of hardware and software. Whether such elements are implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system.
The transmission of signals may be blocked by buildings, natural topography, or other blocking structures. For example, a network entity may transmit signals to a UE, but the network entity may not be able to transmit signals to the UE if there is some type of blockage between the network entity and the UE. In order to resolve transmission issues due to the blockage, the network may use a beam reflecting device. The beam reflecting device may be a device that can change radio wave characteristics, such as amplitude, phase, reflection direction, and/or refraction direction. The beam reflecting device may be a device that forwards, relays, repeats, or reflects signals in a passive or near-passive manner. The beam reflecting device may be configured as, for example, a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS). A RIS may be a two-dimensional surface of engineered material (a panel of RIS elements that can be divided into sub-panels) whose properties are reconfigurable rather than static. A RIS may act as a reflective lens for electromagnetic signals.
In 6G, larger arrays at the transmitter and receiver may be used to enable spatially multiplexed (e.g., more than one layer per polarization) line of sight (LOS) communication in a high millimeter wave (mmWave) or sub-terahertz (THz) band. A strong LOS channel can enable such spatially multiplexed communication. One or more transmitters may be expected to communicate with multiple receivers for which a direct LOS link may not exist or for which there is a weak link due to a blockage or large distances. Beam reflecting devices are not configured for spatially multiplexed communication.
Various aspects relate generally to beam reflecting devices. Some aspects more specifically relate to spatial multiplexing at beam reflecting devices. According to various aspects described herein, a single beam reflecting device (e.g., a single RIS) may enable communication between multiple transmitters and multiple receivers simultaneously, while the LOS path between the multiple transmitters and the multiple receivers is obstructed by one or more obstacles. In some aspects, the RIS may generate a multi-peak reflection beam that spatially multiplexes a first reflected signal of a first signal and a second reflected signal of a second signal. The RIS may generate the multi-peak reflection beam using beam weights.
To select the best beam weights for the multi-peak reflection beam, the RIS may first select sets of beam weights to transmit beams in a beam sweep. The RIS may receive information from the receivers in response to the beam sweep. The RIS may use the sets of beam weights and the information to select an overall set of beam weights that form the multi-peak reflection beam. The RIS may then receive signals from multiple transmitters and output a spatially multiplexed reflected signal using the multi-peak reflection beam. The received signals may include multiple layers. The received signals may include more than one layer per polarization (e.g., horizontal polarization, vertical polarization, circular polarization).
Particular aspects of the subject matter described in this disclosure can be implemented to realize one or more of the following potential advantages. In some examples, by using a multi-peak reflection beam that spatially multiplexes multiple signals simultaneously, the beam reflecting device may reflect multiple signals simultaneously. This increases throughput and reduces latency because transmitters can transmit at the same time rather than in turn.
Multiple-access radio access technologies (RATs) have been adopted in various telecommunication standards to provide common protocols that enable wireless communication devices to communicate on a municipal, enterprise, national, regional, or global level. For example, 5G New Radio (NR) is part of a continuous mobile broadband evolution promulgated by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). 5G NR supports various technologies and use cases including enhanced mobile broadband (cMBB), ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC), massive machine-type communication (mMTC), mmWave technology, beamforming, network slicing, edge computing, Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity and management, and network function virtualization (NFV).
As the demand for broadband access increases and as technologies supported by wireless communication networks evolve, further technological improvements may be adopted in or implemented for 5G NR or future RATs, such as 6G, to further advance the evolution of wireless communication for a wide variety of existing and new use cases and applications. Such technological improvements may be associated with new frequency band expansion, licensed and unlicensed spectrum access, overlapping spectrum use, small cell deployments, non-terrestrial network (NTN) deployments, disaggregated network architectures and network topology expansion, device aggregation, advanced duplex communication, sidelink and other device-to-device direct communication, IoT (including passive or ambient IoT) networks, reduced capability (RedCap) UE functionality, industrial connectivity, multiple-subscriber implementations, high-precision positioning, radio frequency (RF) sensing, and/or artificial intelligence or machine learning (AI/ML), among other examples. These technological improvements may support use cases such as wireless backhauls, wireless data centers, extended reality (XR) and metaverse applications, meta services for supporting vehicle connectivity, holographic and mixed reality communication, autonomous and collaborative robots, vehicle platooning and cooperative maneuvering, sensing networks, gesture monitoring, human-brain interfacing, digital twin applications, asset management, and universal coverage applications using non-terrestrial and/or aerial platforms, among other examples. The methods, operations, apparatuses, and techniques described herein may enable one or more of the foregoing technologies and/or support one or more of the foregoing use cases.
The network nodes 110 and the UEs 120 of the wireless communication network 100 may communicate using the electromagnetic spectrum, which may be subdivided by frequency or wavelength into various classes, bands, carriers, and/or channels. For example, devices of the wireless communication network 100 may communicate using one or more operating bands. In some aspects, multiple wireless networks 100 may be deployed in a given geographic area. Each wireless communication network 100 may support a particular radio access technology (RAT) (which may also be referred to as an air interface) and may operate on one or more carrier frequencies in one or more frequency ranges. Examples of RATs include a 4G RAT, a 5G/NR RAT, and/or a 6G RAT, among other examples. In some examples, when multiple RATs are deployed in a given geographic area, each RAT in the geographic area may operate on different frequencies to avoid interference with one another.
Various operating bands have been defined as frequency range designations FR1 (410 MHz through 7.125 GHZ), FR2 (24.25 GHz through 52.6 GHZ), FR3 (7.125 GHZ through 24.25 GHZ), FR4a or FR4-1 (52.6 GHz through 71 GHZ), FR4 (52.6 GHZ through 114.25 GHZ), and FR5 (114.25 GHz through 300 GHz). Although a portion of FR1 is greater than 6 GHz, FR1 is often referred to (interchangeably) as a “Sub-6 GHz” band in some documents and articles. Similarly, FR2 is often referred to (interchangeably) as a “millimeter wave” band in some documents and articles, despite being different than the extremely high frequency (EHF) band (30 GHz through 300 GHz), which is identified by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) as a “millimeter wave” band. The frequencies between FR1 and FR2 are often referred to as mid-band frequencies, which include FR3. Frequency bands falling within FR3 may inherit FR1 characteristics or FR2 characteristics, and thus may effectively extend features of FR1 or FR2 into mid-band frequencies. Thus, “sub-6 GHZ,” if used herein, may broadly refer to frequencies that are less than 6 GHZ, that are within FR1, and/or that are included in mid-band frequencies. Similarly, the term “millimeter wave,” if used herein, may broadly refer to frequencies that are included in mid-band frequencies, that are within FR2, FR4, FR4-a or FR4-1, or FR5, and/or that are within the EHF band. Higher frequency bands may extend 5G NR operation, 6G operation, and/or other RATs beyond 52.6 GHZ. For example, each of FR4a, FR4-1, FR4, and FR5 falls within the EHF band. In some examples, the wireless communication network 100 may implement dynamic spectrum sharing (DSS), in which multiple RATs (for example, 4G/LTE and 5G/NR) are implemented with dynamic bandwidth allocation (for example, based on user demand) in a single frequency band. It is contemplated that the frequencies included in these operating bands (for example, FR1, FR2, FR3, FR4, FR4-a, FR4-1, and/or FR5) may be modified, and techniques described herein may be applicable to those modified frequency ranges.
A network node 110 may include one or more devices, components, or systems that enable communication between a UE 120 and one or more devices, components, or systems of the wireless communication network 100. A network node 110 may be, may include, or may also be referred to as an NR network node, a 5G network node, a 6G network node, a Node B, an eNB, a gNB, an access point (AP), a transmission reception point (TRP), a mobility element, a core, a network entity, a network element, a network equipment, and/or another type of device, component, or system included in a radio access network (RAN).
A network node 110 may be implemented as a single physical node (for example, a single physical structure) or may be implemented as two or more physical nodes (for example, two or more distinct physical structures). For example, a network node 110 may be a device or system that implements part of a radio protocol stack, a device or system that implements a full radio protocol stack (such as a full gNB protocol stack), or a collection of devices or systems that collectively implement the full radio protocol stack. For example, and as shown, a network node 110 may be an aggregated network node (having an aggregated architecture), meaning that the network node 110 may implement a full radio protocol stack that is physically and logically integrated within a single node (for example, a single physical structure) in the wireless communication network 100. For example, an aggregated network node 110 may consist of a single standalone base station or a single TRP that uses a full radio protocol stack to enable or facilitate communication between a UE 120 and a core network of the wireless communication network 100.
Alternatively, and as also shown, a network node 110 may be a disaggregated network node (sometimes referred to as a disaggregated base station), meaning that the network node 110 may implement a radio protocol stack that is physically distributed and/or logically distributed among two or more nodes in the same geographic location or in different geographic locations. For example, a disaggregated network node may have a disaggregated architecture. In some deployments, disaggregated network nodes 110 may be used in an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) network, in an open radio access network (O-RAN) (such as a network configuration in compliance with the O-RAN Alliance), or in a virtualized radio access network (vRAN), also known as a cloud radio access network (C-RAN), to facilitate scaling by separating base station functionality into multiple units that can be individually deployed.
The network nodes 110 of the wireless communication network 100 may include one or more central units (CUs), one or more distributed units (DUs), and/or one or more radio units (RUS). A CU may host one or more higher layer control functions, such as radio resource control (RRC) functions, packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) functions, and/or service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) functions, among other examples. A DU may host one or more of a radio link control (RLC) layer, a medium access control (MAC) layer, and/or one or more higher physical (PHY) layers depending, at least in part, on a functional split, such as a functional split defined by the 3GPP. In some examples, a DU also may host one or more lower PHY layer functions, such as a fast Fourier transform (FFT), an inverse FFT (iFFT), beamforming, physical random access channel (PRACH) extraction and filtering, and/or scheduling of resources for one or more UEs 120, among other examples. An RU may host RF processing functions or lower PHY layer functions, such as an FFT, an iFFT, beamforming, or PRACH extraction and filtering, among other examples, according to a functional split, such as a lower layer functional split. In such an architecture, each RU can be operated to handle over the air (OTA) communication with one or more UEs 120.
In some aspects, a single network node 110 may include a combination of one or more CUs, one or more DUs, and/or one or more RUs. Additionally or alternatively, a network node 110 may include one or more Near-Real Time (Near-RT) RAN Intelligent Controllers (RICs) and/or one or more Non-Real Time (Non-RT) RICs. In some examples, a CU, a DU, and/or an RU may be implemented as a virtual unit, such as a virtual central unit (VCU), a virtual distributed unit (VDU), or a virtual radio unit (VRU), among other examples. A virtual unit may be implemented as a virtual network function, such as associated with a cloud deployment.
Some network nodes 110 (for example, a base station, an RU, or a TRP) may provide communication coverage for a particular geographic area. In the 3GPP, the term “cell” can refer to a coverage area of a network node 110 or to a network node 110 itself, depending on the context in which the term is used. A network node 110 may support one or multiple (for example, three) cells. In some examples, a network node 110 may provide communication coverage for a macro cell, a pico cell, a femto cell, or another type of cell. A macro cell may cover a relatively large geographic area (for example, several kilometers in radius) and may allow unrestricted access by UEs 120 with service subscriptions. A pico cell may cover a relatively small geographic area and may allow unrestricted access by UEs 120 with service subscriptions. A femto cell may cover a relatively small geographic area (for example, a home) and may allow restricted access by UEs 120 having association with the femto cell (for example, UEs 120 in a closed subscriber group (CSG)). A network node 110 for a macro cell may be referred to as a macro network node. A network node 110 for a pico cell may be referred to as a pico network node. A network node 110 for a femto cell may be referred to as a femto network node or an in-home network node. In some examples, a cell may not necessarily be stationary. For example, the geographic area of the cell may move according to the location of an associated mobile network node 110 (for example, a train, a satellite base station, an unmanned aerial vehicle, or a non-terrestrial network (NTN) network node).
The wireless communication network 100 may be a heterogeneous network that includes network nodes 110 of different types, such as macro network nodes, pico network nodes, femto network nodes, relay network nodes, aggregated network nodes, and/or disaggregated network nodes, among other examples. In the example shown in
In some examples, a network node 110 may be, may include, or may operate as an RU, a TRP, or a base station that communicates with one or more UEs 120 via a radio access link (which may be referred to as a “Uu” link). The radio access link may include a downlink and an uplink. “Downlink” (or “DL”) refers to a communication direction from a network node 110 to a UE 120, and “uplink” (or “UL”) refers to a communication direction from a UE 120 to a network node 110. Downlink channels may include one or more control channels and one or more data channels. A downlink control channel may be used to transmit downlink control information (DCI) (for example, scheduling information, reference signals, and/or configuration information) from a network node 110 to a UE 120. A downlink data channel may be used to transmit downlink data (for example, user data associated with a UE 120) from a network node 110 to a UE 120. Downlink control channels may include one or more physical downlink control channels (PDCCHs), and downlink data channels may include one or more physical downlink shared channels (PDSCHs). Uplink channels may similarly include one or more control channels and one or more data channels. An uplink control channel may be used to transmit uplink control information (UCI) (for example, reference signals and/or feedback corresponding to one or more downlink transmissions) from a UE 120 to a network node 110. An uplink data channel may be used to transmit uplink data (for example, user data associated with a UE 120) from a UE 120 to a network node 110. Uplink control channels may include one or more physical uplink control channels (PUCCHs), and uplink data channels may include one or more physical uplink shared channels (PUSCHs). The downlink and the uplink may each include a set of resources on which the network node 110 and the UE 120 may communicate.
Downlink and uplink resources may include time domain resources (frames, subframes, slots, and/or symbols), frequency domain resources (frequency bands, component carriers, subcarriers, resource blocks, and/or resource elements), and/or spatial domain resources (particular transmit directions and/or beam parameters). Frequency domain resources of some bands may be subdivided into bandwidth parts (BWPs). A BWP may be a continuous block of frequency domain resources (for example, a continuous block of resource blocks) that are allocated for one or more UEs 120. A UE 120 may be configured with both an uplink BWP and a downlink BWP (where the uplink BWP and the downlink BWP may be the same BWP or different BWPs). A BWP may be dynamically configured (for example, by a network node 110 transmitting a DCI configuration to the one or more UEs 120) and/or reconfigured, which means that a BWP can be adjusted in real-time (or near-real-time) based on changing network conditions in the wireless communication network 100 and/or based on the specific requirements of the one or more UEs 120. This enables more efficient use of the available frequency domain resources in the wireless communication network 100 because fewer frequency domain resources may be allocated to a BWP for a UE 120 (which may reduce the quantity of frequency domain resources that a UE 120 is required to monitor), leaving more frequency domain resources to be spread across multiple UEs 120. Thus, BWPs may also assist in the implementation of lower-capability UEs 120 by facilitating the configuration of smaller bandwidths for communication by such UEs 120.
As described above, in some aspects, the wireless communication network 100 may be, may include, or may be included in, an IAB network. In an IAB network, at least one network node 110 is an anchor network node that communicates with a core network. An anchor network node 110 may also be referred to as an IAB donor (or “IAB-donor”). The anchor network node 110 may connect to the core network via a wired backhaul link. For example, an Ng interface of the anchor network node 110 may terminate at the core network. Additionally or alternatively, an anchor network node 110 may connect to one or more devices of the core network that provide a core access and mobility management function (AMF). An IAB network also generally includes multiple non-anchor network nodes 110, which may also be referred to as relay network nodes or simply as IAB nodes (or “IAB-nodes”). Each non-anchor network node 110 may communicate directly with the anchor network node 110 via a wireless backhaul link to access the core network, or may communicate indirectly with the anchor network node 110 via one or more other non-anchor network nodes 110 and associated wireless backhaul links that form a backhaul path to the core network. Some anchor network node 110 or other non-anchor network node 110 may also communicate directly with one or more UEs 120 via wireless access links that carry access traffic. In some examples, network resources for wireless communication (such as time resources, frequency resources, and/or spatial resources) may be shared between access links and backhaul links.
In some examples, any network node 110 that relays communications may be referred to as a relay network node, a relay station, or simply as a relay. A relay may receive a transmission of a communication from an upstream station (for example, another network node 110 or a UE 120) and transmit the communication to a downstream station (for example, a UE 120 or another network node 110). In this case, the wireless communication network 100 may include or be referred to as a “multi-hop network.” In the example shown in
The UEs 120 may be physically dispersed throughout the wireless communication network 100, and each UE 120 may be stationary or mobile. A UE 120 may be, may include, or may be included in an access terminal, another terminal, a mobile station, or a subscriber unit. A UE 120 may be, include, or be coupled with a cellular phone (for example, a smart phone), a personal digital assistant (PDA), a wireless modem, a wireless communication device, a handheld device, a laptop computer, a cordless phone, a wireless local loop (WLL) station, a tablet, a camera, a gaming device, a netbook, a smartbook, an ultrabook, a medical device, a biometric device, a wearable device (for example, a smart watch, smart clothing, smart glasses, a smart wristband, and/or smart jewelry, such as a smart ring or a smart bracelet), an entertainment device (for example, a music device, a video device, and/or a satellite radio), an extended reality (XR) device, a vehicular component or sensor, a smart meter or sensor, industrial manufacturing equipment, a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) device (such as a Global Positioning System device or another type of positioning device), a UE function of a network node, and/or any other suitable device or function that may communicate via a wireless medium.
A UE 120 and/or a network node 110 may include one or more chips, system-on-chips (SoCs), chipsets, packages, or devices that individually or collectively constitute or comprise a processing system. The processing system includes processor (or “processing”) circuitry in the form of one or multiple processors, microprocessors, processing units (such as central processing units (CPUs), graphics processing units (GPUs), neural processing units (NPUs) and/or digital signal processors (DSPs)), processing blocks, application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC), programmable logic devices (PLDs) (such as field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs)), or other discrete gate or transistor logic or circuitry (all of which may be generally referred to herein individually as “processors” or collectively as “the processor” or “the processor circuitry”). One or more of the processors may be individually or collectively configurable or configured to perform various functions or operations described herein. A group of processors collectively configurable or configured to perform a set of functions may include a first processor configurable or configured to perform a first function of the set and a second processor configurable or configured to perform a second function of the set, or may include the group of processors all being configured or configurable to perform the set of functions.
The processing system may further include memory circuitry in the form of one or more memory devices, memory blocks, memory elements or other discrete gate or transistor logic or circuitry, each of which may include tangible storage media such as random-access memory (RAM) or read-only memory (ROM), or combinations thereof (all of which may be generally referred to herein individually as “memories” or collectively as “the memory” or “the memory circuitry”). One or more of the memories may be coupled (for example, operatively coupled, communicatively coupled, electronically coupled, or electrically coupled) with one or more of the processors and may individually or collectively store processor-executable code (such as software) that, when executed by one or more of the processors, may configure one or more of the processors to perform various functions or operations described herein. Additionally or alternatively, in some examples, one or more of the processors may be preconfigured to perform various functions or operations described herein without requiring configuration by software. The processing system may further include or be coupled with one or more modems (such as a Wi-Fi (for example, IEEE compliant) modem or a cellular (for example, 3GPP 4G LTE, 5G, or 6G compliant) modem). In some implementations, one or more processors of the processing system include or implement one or more of the modems. The processing system may further include or be coupled with multiple radios (collectively “the radio”), multiple RF chains, or multiple transceivers, each of which may in turn be coupled with one or more of multiple antennas. In some implementations, one or more processors of the processing system include or implement one or more of the radios, RF chains or transceivers. The UE 120 may include or may be included in a housing that houses components associated with the UE 120 including the processing system.
Some UEs 120 may be considered machine-type communication (MTC) UEs, evolved or enhanced machine-type communication (eMTC), UEs, further enhanced eMTC (feMTC) UEs, or enhanced feMTC (efeMTC) UEs, or further evolutions thereof, all of which may be simply referred to as “MTC UEs”). An MTC UE may be, may include, or may be included in or coupled with a robot, an unmanned aerial vehicle or drone, a remote device, a sensor, a meter, a monitor, and/or a location tag. Some UEs 120 may be considered IoT devices and/or may be implemented as NB-IoT (narrowband IoT) devices. An IoT UE or NB-IoT device may be, may include, or may be included in or coupled with an industrial machine, an appliance, a refrigerator, a doorbell camera device, a home automation device, and/or a light fixture, among other examples. Some UEs 120 may be considered Customer Premises Equipment, which may include telecommunications devices that are installed at a customer location (such as a home or office) to enable access to a service provider's network (such as included in or in communication with the wireless communication network 100).
Some UEs 120 may be classified according to different categories in association with different complexities and/or different capabilities. UEs 120 in a first category may facilitate massive IoT in the wireless communication network 100, and may offer low complexity and/or cost relative to UEs 120 in a second category. UEs 120 in a second category may include mission-critical IoT devices, legacy UEs, baseline UEs, high-tier UEs, advanced UEs, full-capability UEs, and/or premium UEs that are capable of ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC), enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), and/or precise positioning in the wireless communication network 100, among other examples. A third category of UEs 120 may have mid-tier complexity and/or capability (for example, a capability between UEs 120 of the first category and UEs 120 of the second capability). A UE 120 of the third category may be referred to as a reduced capacity UE (“RedCap UE”), a mid-tier UE, an NR-Light UE, and/or an NR-Lite UE, among other examples. RedCap UEs may bridge a gap between the capability and complexity of NB-IoT devices and/or eMTC UEs, and mission-critical IoT devices and/or premium UEs. RedCap UEs may include, for example, wearable devices, IoT devices, industrial sensors, and/or cameras that are associated with a limited bandwidth, power capacity, and/or transmission range, among other examples. RedCap UEs may support healthcare environments, building automation, electrical distribution, process automation, transport and logistics, and/or smart city deployments, among other examples.
In some examples, two or more UEs 120 (for example, shown as UE 120a and UE 120c) may communicate directly with one another using sidelink communications (for example, without communicating by way of a network node 110 as an intermediary). As an example, the UE 120a may directly transmit data, control information, or other signaling as a sidelink communication to the UE 120c. This is in contrast to, for example, the UE 120a first transmitting data in an UL communication to a network node 110, which then transmits the data to the UE 120e in a DL communication. In various examples, the UEs 120 may transmit and receive sidelink communications using peer-to-peer (P2P) communication protocols, device-to-device (D2D) communication protocols, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication protocols (which may include vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) protocols, vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) protocols, and/or vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P) protocols), and/or mesh network communication protocols. In some deployments and configurations, a network node 110 may schedule and/or allocate resources for sidelink communications between UEs 120 in the wireless communication network 100. In some other deployments and configurations, a UE 120 (instead of a network node 110) may perform, or collaborate or negotiate with one or more other UEs to perform, scheduling operations, resource selection operations, and/or other operations for sidelink communications.
In various examples, some of the network nodes 110 and the UEs 120 of the wireless communication network 100 may be configured for full-duplex operation in addition to half-duplex operation. A network node 110 or a UE 120 operating in a half-duplex mode may perform only one of transmission or reception during particular time resources, such as during particular slots, symbols, or other time periods. Half-duplex operation may involve time-division duplexing (TDD), in which DL transmissions of the network node 110 and UL transmissions of the UE 120 do not occur in the same time resources (that is, the transmissions do not overlap in time). In contrast, a network node 110 or a UE 120 operating in a full-duplex mode can transmit and receive communications concurrently (for example, in the same time resources). By operating in a full-duplex mode, network nodes 110 and/or UEs 120 may generally increase the capacity of the network and the radio access link. In some examples, full-duplex operation may involve frequency-division duplexing (FDD), in which DL transmissions of the network node 110 are performed in a first frequency band or on a first component carrier and transmissions of the UE 120 are performed in a second frequency band or on a second component carrier different than the first frequency band or the first component carrier, respectively. In some examples, full-duplex operation may be enabled for a UE 120 but not for a network node 110. For example, a UE 120 may simultaneously transmit an UL transmission to a first network node 110 and receive a DL transmission from a second network node 110 in the same time resources. In some other examples, full-duplex operation may be enabled for a network node 110 but not for a UE 120. For example, a network node 110 may simultaneously transmit a DL transmission to a first UE 120 and receive an UL transmission from a second UE 120 in the same time resources. In some other examples, full-duplex operation may be enabled for both a network node 110 and a UE 120.
In some examples, the UEs 120 and the network nodes 110 may perform MIMO communication. “MIMO” generally refers to transmitting or receiving multiple signals (such as multiple layers or multiple data streams) simultaneously over the same time and frequency resources. MIMO techniques generally exploit multipath propagation. MIMO may be implemented using various spatial processing or spatial multiplexing operations. In some examples, MIMO may support simultaneous transmission to multiple receivers, referred to as multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO). Some radio access technologies (RATs) may employ advanced MIMO techniques, such as mTRP operation (including redundant transmission or reception on multiple TRPs), reciprocity in the time domain or the frequency domain, single-frequency-network (SFN) transmission, or non-coherent joint transmission (NC-JT).
Wireless network 100 shows a first device (e.g., UE 120a, network node 110) that may communicate with a second device (e.g., network node 110, UE 120a) directly or by reflecting signals via a beam reflecting device 160 (e.g., a RIS). The first device may be a transmitting device (e.g., network node 110, UE 120) and the second device may be a receiving device (e.g., UE 120, network node 110), because the transmitting device is transmitting a signal to the receiving device. This may be at the request of a network entity.
In some aspects, a reflecting device (e.g., beam reflecting device 160) may include a communication manager 170. As described in more detail elsewhere herein, the communication manager 170 may generate a multi-peak reflection beam that spatially multiplexes a first reflected signal of a first signal and a second reflected signal of a second signal; receive the first signal and the second signal; and reflect the first signal and the second signal to output a spatially multiplexed reflected signal using the multi-peak reflection beam. Additionally, or alternatively, the communication manager 170 may perform one or more other operations described herein.
In some aspects, a network entity (e.g., a network node 110) may include a communication manager 150. As described in more detail elsewhere herein, the communication manager 150 may transmit, to a reflecting device, a first command to prepare to spatially multiplex a first reflected signal of a first signal and a second reflected signal of a second signal; and receive a response. Additionally, or alternatively, the communication manager 150 may perform one or more other operations described herein.
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The terms “processor,” “controller,” or “controller/processor” may refer to one or more controllers and/or one or more processors. For example, reference to “a/the processor,” “a/the controller/processor,” or the like (in the singular) should be understood to refer to any one or more of the processors described in connection with
In some aspects, a single processor may perform all of the operations described as being performed by the one or more processors. In some aspects, a first set of (one or more) processors of the one or more processors may perform a first operation described as being performed by the one or more processors, and a second set of (one or more) processors of the one or more processors may perform a second operation described as being performed by the one or more processors. The first set of processors and the second set of processors may be the same set of processors or may be different sets of processors. Reference to “one or more memories” should be understood to refer to any one or more memories of a corresponding device, such as the memory described in connection with
For downlink communication from the network node 110 to the UE 120, the transmit processor 214 may receive data (“downlink data”) intended for the UE 120 (or a set of UEs that includes the UE 120) from the data source 212 (such as a data pipeline or a data queue). In some examples, the transmit processor 214 may select one or more MCSs for the UE 120 in accordance with one or more channel quality indicators (CQIs) received from the UE 120. The network node 110 may process the data (for example, including encoding the data) for transmission to the UE 120 on a downlink in accordance with the MCS(s) selected for the UE 120 to generate data symbols. The transmit processor 214 may process system information (for example, semi-static resource partitioning information (SRPI)) and/or control information (for example, CQI requests, grants, and/or upper layer signaling) and provide overhead symbols and/or control symbols. The transmit processor 214 may generate reference symbols for reference signals (for example, a cell-specific reference signal (CRS), a demodulation reference signal (DMRS), or a channel state information (CSI) reference signal (CSI-RS)) and/or synchronization signals (for example, a primary synchronization signal (PSS) or a secondary synchronization signals (SSS)).
The TX MIMO processor 216 may perform spatial processing (for example, precoding) on the data symbols, the control symbols, the overhead symbols, and/or the reference symbols, if applicable, and may provide a set of output symbol streams (for example, T output symbol streams) to the set of modems 232. For example, each output symbol stream may be provided to a respective modulator component (shown as MOD) of a modem 232. Each modem 232 may use the respective modulator component to process (for example, to modulate) a respective output symbol stream (for example, for orthogonal frequency division multiplexing ((OFDM)) to obtain an output sample stream. Each modem 232 may further use the respective modulator component to process (for example, convert to analog, amplify, filter, and/or upconvert) the output sample stream to obtain a time domain downlink signal. The modems 232a through 232t may together transmit a set of downlink signals (for example, T downlink signals) via the corresponding set of antennas 234.
A downlink signal may include a DCI communication, a MAC control element (MAC CE) communication, an RRC communication, a downlink reference signal, or another type of downlink communication. Downlink signals may be transmitted on a PDCCH, a PDSCH, and/or on another downlink channel. A downlink signal may carry one or more transport blocks (TBs) of data. A TB may be a unit of data that is transmitted over an air interface in the wireless communication network 100. A data stream (for example, from the data source 212) may be encoded into multiple TBs for transmission over the air interface. The quantity of TBs used to carry the data associated with a particular data stream may be associated with a TB size common to the multiple TBs. The TB size may be based on or otherwise associated with radio channel conditions of the air interface, the MCS used for encoding the data, the downlink resources allocated for transmitting the data, and/or another parameter. In general, the larger the TB size, the greater the amount of data that can be transmitted in a single transmission, which reduces signaling overhead. However, larger TB sizes may be more prone to transmission and/or reception errors than smaller TB sizes, but such errors may be mitigated by more robust error correction techniques.
For uplink communication from the UE 120 to the network node 110, uplink signals from the UE 120 may be received by an antenna 234, may be processed by a modem 232 (for example, a demodulator component, shown as DEMOD, of a modem 232), may be detected by the MIMO detector 236 (for example, a receive (Rx) MIMO processor) if applicable, and/or may be further processed by the receive processor 238 to obtain decoded data and/or control information. The receive processor 238 may provide the decoded data to a data sink 239 (which may be a data pipeline, a data queue, and/or another type of data sink) and provide the decoded control information to a processor, such as the controller/processor 240.
The network node 110 may use the scheduler 246 to schedule one or more UEs 120 for downlink or uplink communications. In some aspects, the scheduler 246 may use DCI to dynamically schedule DL transmissions to the UE 120 and/or UL transmissions from the UE 120. In some examples, the scheduler 246 may allocate recurring time domain resources and/or frequency domain resources that the UE 120 may use to transmit and/or receive communications using an RRC configuration (for example, a semi-static configuration), for example, to perform semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) or to configure a configured grant (CG) for the UE 120.
One or more of the transmit processor 214, the TX MIMO processor 216, the modem 232, the antenna 234, the MIMO detector 236, the receive processor 238, and/or the controller/processor 240 may be included in an RF chain of the network node 110. An RF chain may include one or more filters, mixers, oscillators, amplifiers, analog-to-digital converters (ADCs), and/or other devices that convert between an analog signal (such as for transmission or reception via an air interface) and a digital signal (such as for processing by one or more processors of the network node 110). In some aspects, the RF chain may be or may be included in a transceiver of the network node 110.
In some examples, the network node 110 may use the communication unit 244 to communicate with a core network and/or with other network nodes. The communication unit 244 may support wired and/or wireless communication protocols and/or connections, such as Ethernet, optical fiber, common public radio interface (CPRI), and/or a wired or wireless backhaul, among other examples. The network node 110 may use the communication unit 244 to transmit and/or receive data associated with the UE 120 or to perform network control signaling, among other examples. The communication unit 244 may include a transceiver and/or an interface, such as a network interface.
The UE 120 may include a set of antennas 252 (shown as antennas 252a through 252r, where r≥1), a set of modems 254 (shown as modems 254a through 254u, where u≥1), a MIMO detector 256, a receive processor 258, a data sink 260, a data source 262, a transmit processor 264, a TX MIMO processor 266, a controller/processor 280, a memory 282, and/or a communication manager 140, among other examples. One or more of the components of the UE 120 may be included in a housing 284. In some aspects, one or a combination of the antenna(s) 252, the modem(s) 254, the MIMO detector 256, the receive processor 258, the transmit processor 264, or the TX MIMO processor 266 may be included in a transceiver that is included in the UE 120. The transceiver may be under control of and used by one or more processors, such as the controller/processor 280, and in some aspects in conjunction with processor-readable code stored in the memory 282, to perform aspects of the methods, processes, or operations described herein. In some aspects, the UE 120 may include another interface, another communication component, and/or another component that facilitates communication with the network node 110 and/or another UE 120.
For downlink communication from the network node 110 to the UE 120, the set of antennas 252 may receive the downlink communications or signals from the network node 110 and may provide a set of received downlink signals (for example, R received signals) to the set of modems 254. For example, each received signal may be provided to a respective demodulator component (shown as DEMOD) of a modem 254. Each modem 254 may use the respective demodulator component to condition (for example, filter, amplify, downconvert, and/or digitize) a received signal to obtain input samples. Each modem 254 may use the respective demodulator component to further demodulate or process the input samples (for example, for OFDM) to obtain received symbols. The MIMO detector 256 may obtain received symbols from the set of modems 254, may perform MIMO detection on the received symbols if applicable, and may provide detected symbols. The receive processor 258 may process (for example, decode) the detected symbols, may provide decoded data for the UE 120 to the data sink 260 (which may include a data pipeline, a data queue, and/or an application executed on the UE 120), and may provide decoded control information and system information to the controller/processor 280.
For uplink communication from the UE 120 to the network node 110, the transmit processor 264 may receive and process data (“uplink data”) from a data source 262 (such as a data pipeline, a data queue, and/or an application executed on the UE 120) and control information from the controller/processor 280. The control information may include one or more parameters, feedback, one or more signal measurements, and/or other types of control information. In some aspects, the receive processor 258 and/or the controller/processor 280 may determine, for a received signal (such as received from the network node 110 or another UE), one or more parameters relating to transmission of the uplink communication. The one or more parameters may include a reference signal received power (RSRP) parameter, a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) parameter, a reference signal received quality (RSRQ) parameter, a channel quality indicator (CQI) parameter, or a transmit power control (TPC) parameter, among other examples. The control information may include an indication of the RSRP parameter, the RSSI parameter, the RSRQ parameter, the CQI parameter, the TPC parameter, and/or another parameter. The control information may facilitate parameter selection and/or scheduling for the UE 120 by the network node 110.
The transmit processor 264 may generate reference symbols for one or more reference signals, such as an uplink DMRS, an uplink sounding reference signal (SRS), and/or another type of reference signal. The symbols from the transmit processor 264 may be precoded by the TX MIMO processor 266, if applicable, and further processed by the set of modems 254 (for example, for DFT-s-OFDM or CP-OFDM). The TX MIMO processor 266 may perform spatial processing (for example, precoding) on the data symbols, the control symbols, the overhead symbols, and/or the reference symbols, if applicable, and may provide a set of output symbol streams (for example, U output symbol streams) to the set of modems 254. For example, each output symbol stream may be provided to a respective modulator component (shown as MOD) of a modem 254. Each modem 254 may use the respective modulator component to process (for example, to modulate) a respective output symbol stream (for example, for OFDM) to obtain an output sample stream. Each modem 254 may further use the respective modulator component to process (for example, convert to analog, amplify, filter, and/or upconvert) the output sample stream to obtain an uplink signal.
The modems 254a through 254u may transmit a set of uplink signals (for example, R uplink signals or U uplink symbols) via the corresponding set of antennas 252. An uplink signal may include a UCI communication, a MAC CE communication, an RRC communication, or another type of uplink communication. Uplink signals may be transmitted on a PUSCH, a PUCCH, and/or another type of uplink channel. An uplink signal may carry one or more TBs of data. Sidelink data and control transmissions (that is, transmissions directly between two or more UEs 120) may generally use similar techniques as were described for uplink data and control transmission, and may use sidelink-specific channels such as a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH), a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH), and/or a physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH).
One or more antennas of the set of antennas 252 or the set of antennas 234 may include, or may be included within, one or more antenna panels, one or more antenna groups, one or more sets of antenna elements, or one or more antenna arrays, among other examples. An antenna panel, an antenna group, a set of antenna elements, or an antenna array may include one or more antenna elements (within a single housing or multiple housings), a set of coplanar antenna elements, a set of non-coplanar antenna elements, or one or more antenna elements coupled with one or more transmission or reception components, such as one or more components of
In some examples, each of the antenna elements of an antenna 234 or an antenna 252 may include one or more sub-elements for radiating or receiving radio frequency signals. For example, a single antenna element may include a first sub-element cross-polarized with a second sub-element that can be used to independently transmit cross-polarized signals. The antenna elements may include patch antennas, dipole antennas, and/or other types of antennas arranged in a linear pattern, a two-dimensional pattern, or another pattern. A spacing between antenna elements may be such that signals with a desired wavelength transmitted separately by the antenna elements may interact or interfere constructively and destructively along various directions (such as to form a desired beam). For example, given an expected range of wavelengths or frequencies, the spacing may provide a quarter wavelength, a half wavelength, or another fraction of a wavelength of spacing between neighboring antenna elements to allow for the desired constructive and destructive interference patterns of signals transmitted by the separate antenna elements within that expected range.
The amplitudes and/or phases of signals transmitted via antenna elements and/or sub-elements may be modulated and shifted relative to each other (such as by manipulating phase shift, phase offset, and/or amplitude) to generate one or more beams, which is referred to as beamforming. The term “beam” may refer to a directional transmission of a wireless signal toward a receiving device or otherwise in a desired direction. “Beam” may also generally refer to a direction associated with such a directional signal transmission, a set of directional resources associated with the signal transmission (for example, an angle of arrival, a horizontal direction, and/or a vertical direction), and/or a set of parameters that indicate one or more aspects of a directional signal, a direction associated with the signal, and/or a set of directional resources associated with the signal. In some implementations, antenna elements may be individually selected or deselected for directional transmission of a signal (or signals) by controlling amplitudes of one or more corresponding amplifiers and/or phases of the signal(s) to form one or more beams. The shape of a beam (such as the amplitude, width, and/or presence of side lobes) and/or the direction of a beam (such as an angle of the beam relative to a surface of an antenna array) can be dynamically controlled by modifying the phase shifts, phase offsets, and/or amplitudes of the multiple signals relative to each other.
Different UEs 120 or network nodes 110 may include different numbers of antenna elements. For example, a UE 120 may include a single antenna element, two antenna elements, four antenna elements, eight antenna elements, or a different number of antenna elements. As another example, a network node 110 may include eight antenna elements, 24 antenna elements, 64 antenna elements, 128 antenna elements, or a different number of antenna elements. Generally, a larger number of antenna elements may provide increased control over parameters for beam generation relative to a smaller number of antenna elements, whereas a smaller number of antenna elements may be less complex to implement and may use less power than a larger number of antenna elements. Multiple antenna elements may support multiple-layer transmission, in which a first layer of a communication (which may include a first data stream) and a second layer of a communication (which may include a second data stream) are transmitted using the same time and frequency resources with spatial multiplexing.
The beam reflecting device 160 may include communication unit 294, controller/processor 290, memory 292, and surface elements 296. The controller/processor 290 may control a configuration (e.g., reflective direction) of the surface elements 296 by applying voltage to specific elements of the surface elements 296. The beam reflecting device 160 may communicate with the network node 110 via the communication unit 294.
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Each of the components of the disaggregated base station architecture 300, including the CUS 310, the DUs 330, the RUs 340, the Near-RT RICs 370, the Non-RT RICs 350, and the SMO Framework 360, may include one or more interfaces or may be coupled with one or more interfaces for receiving or transmitting signals, such as data or information, via a wired or wireless transmission medium.
In some aspects, the CU 310 may be logically split into one or more CU user plane (CU-UP) units and one or more CU control plane (CU-CP) units. A CU-UP unit may communicate bidirectionally with a CU-CP unit via an interface, such as the E1 interface when implemented in an O-RAN configuration. The CU 310 may be deployed to communicate with one or more DUs 330, as necessary, for network control and signaling. Each DU 330 may correspond to a logical unit that includes one or more base station functions to control the operation of one or more RUs 340. For example, a DU 330 may host various layers, such as an RLC layer, a MAC layer, or one or more PHY layers, such as one or more high PHY layers or one or more low PHY layers. Each layer (which also may be referred to as a module) may be implemented with an interface for communicating signals with other layers (and modules) hosted by the DU 330, or for communicating signals with the control functions hosted by the CU 310. Each RU 340 may implement lower layer functionality. In some aspects, real-time and non-real-time aspects of control and user plane communication with the RU(s) 340 may be controlled by the corresponding DU 330.
The SMO Framework 360 may support RAN deployment and provisioning of non-virtualized and virtualized network elements. For non-virtualized network elements, the SMO Framework 360 may support the deployment of dedicated physical resources for RAN coverage requirements, which may be managed via an operations and maintenance interface, such as an O1 interface. For virtualized network elements, the SMO Framework 360 may interact with a cloud computing platform (such as an open cloud (O-Cloud) platform 390) to perform network element life cycle management (such as to instantiate virtualized network elements) via a cloud computing platform interface, such as an O2 interface. A virtualized network element may include, but is not limited to, a CU 310, a DU 330, an RU 340, a non-RT RIC 350, and/or a Near-RT RIC 370. In some aspects, the SMO Framework 360 may communicate with a hardware aspect of a 4G RAN, a 5G NR RAN, and/or a 6G RAN, such as an open eNB (O-cNB) 380, via an O1 interface. Additionally or alternatively, the SMO Framework 360 may communicate directly with each of one or more RUs 340 via a respective O1 interface. In some deployments, this configuration can enable each DU 330 and the CU 310 to be implemented in a cloud-based RAN architecture, such as a vRAN architecture.
The Non-RT RIC 350 may include or may implement a logical function that enables non-real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources, artificial intelligence and/or machine learning (AI/ML) workflows including model training and updates, and/or policy-based guidance of applications and/or features in the Near-RT RIC 370. The Non-RT RIC 350 may be coupled to or may communicate with (such as via an A1 interface) the Near-RT RIC 370. The Near-RT RIC 370 may include or May implement a logical function that enables near-real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources via data collection and actions via an interface (such as via an E2 interface) connecting one or more CUs 310, one or more DUs 330, and/or an O-cNB with the Near-RT RIC 370.
In some aspects, to generate AI/ML models to be deployed in the Near-RT RIC 370, the Non-RT RIC 350 may receive parameters or external enrichment information from external servers. Such information may be utilized by the Near-RT RIC 370 and may be received at the SMO Framework 360 or the Non-RT RIC 350 from non-network data sources or from network functions. In some examples, the Non-RT RIC 350 or the Near-RT RIC 370 may tune RAN behavior or performance. For example, the Non-RT RIC 350 may monitor long-term trends and patterns for performance and may employ AI/ML models to perform corrective actions via the SMO Framework 360 (such as reconfiguration via an O1 interface) or via creation of RAN management policies (such as A1 interface policies).
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The controller/processor of a network entity (e.g., controller/processor 240 of the network node 110), the controller/processor 280 of the UE 120, the controller/processor 290 of the beam reflecting device 160, the CU 310, the DU 330, the RU 340, or any other component(s) of
In some aspects, a reflecting device (e.g., beam reflecting device 160) includes means for generating a multi-peak reflection beam that spatially multiplexes a first reflected signal of a first signal and a second reflected signal of a second signal; means for receiving the first signal and the second signal; and/or means for reflecting the first signal and the second signal to output a spatially multiplexed reflected signal using the multi-peak reflection beam. In some aspects, the means for the reflecting device to perform operations described herein may include, for example, one or more of communication manager 170, controller/processor 290, memory 292, or elements 296.
In some aspects, a network entity (e.g., a network node 110) includes means for transmitting, to a reflecting device, a first command to prepare to spatially multiplex a first reflected signal of a first signal and a second reflected signal of a second signal; and/or means for receiving a response. In some aspects, the means for the network entity to perform operations described herein may include, for example, one or more of communication manager 150, transmit processor 220, TX MIMO processor 230, modem 232, antenna 234, MIMO detector 236, receive processor 238, controller/processor 240, memory 242, or scheduler 246.
A network may have antennas that are grouped together at a transmitter or receiver, in order to increase throughput. The grouping of antennas may be referred to as “massive MIMO.” Massive MIMO may use active antenna units (AAUs) to achieve high beamforming gain. An AAU may combine an antenna, a radio, a tower-mounted amplifier, a feeder, and/or jumper functionalities into a single unit. An AAU may include an individual RF chain for each antenna port.
There may be barriers to massive MIMO. The transmission of signals may be blocked by buildings, natural topography, or other blocking structures. For example, network entity 410 may transmit signals to UE 420, but network entity 410 may not be able to transmit signals to UE 440. As shown in example 400, there is some type of blockage between network entity 410 and UE 440. UE 440 may instead be served by network entity 430.
In order to resolve transmission issues due to the blockage, the network may use a beam reflecting device 450 (e.g., beam reflecting device 160). The beam reflecting device may be a device that can change radio wave characteristics, such as amplitude, phase, reflection direction, and/or refraction direction. The beam reflecting device 450 may be a device that forwards, relays, repeats, or reflects signals in a passive or near-passive manner. The beam reflecting device 450 may be configured as, for example, a RIS. A RIS may be a two-dimensional surface of engineered material (a panel of RIS elements that can be divided into sub-panels) whose properties are reconfigurable rather than static. The engineered material may contain integrated electronic circuits with multi-state tunable electronic components (e.g., PIN diodes, varactors) and software that enables control of a wireless medium by altering an impedance of the surface or a portion of the surface. The change in impedance may alter a phase shift and/or an angle of reflection. Scattering, absorption, reflection, or diffraction properties may be changed with time and controlled by the software. A RIS may act as a reflective lens. In one example, a RIS may include large arrays of inexpensive antennas spaced half of a wavelength apart. In another example, a RIS may include metamaterial-based planar or conformal large surfaces whose elements (e.g., square elements) have sizes and inter-distances that are smaller than the wavelength. Each of the elements may have a configured impedance or other surface properties that are controlled by a voltage to the element. A RIS may also be referred to as a “software-controlled metasurface” or an “intelligent reflecting surface”.
The beam reflecting device 450, when configured to operate as a RIS, may not have antennas or RF chains of its own, but may include a large number of small, low-cost reflective elements on a surface to passively reflect incident electromagnetic signals transmitted from network entity 410. A controller of the beam reflecting device 450 may control the elements on the surface, and the surface may act as a phased array. The beam reflecting device 450 may be a smart device that is configured to use a specific angle of reflection for the signals. Network entity 410 may use a controller to control, as part of a reflective configuration, the angle of reflection (angle of arrival e; for an incident wave, angle of departure Or for a reflected wave), an amplitude, a phase, and/or a width of the elements of the beam reflecting device 450 by controlling a voltage to each of the elements. The reflective configuration may also correspond to analog beamforming weights or coefficients that are provided by the beam reflecting device 450 when reflecting signals from one device to another. The reflective configuration may also be referred to as a “RIS reflection configuration,” a “RIS reflection matrix,” or a “P-MIMO configuration.” In sum, the beam reflecting device 450 may help to control a propagation environment with less power consumption than AAUs. Passive devices, such as beam reflecting devices, may even replace AAUs in the propagation environment. MIMO that uses passive devices or beam reflecting devices may be referred to as “passive MIMO” or “P-MIMO”. The beam reflecting device 450 may be also referred to as a “passive node” or a “P-MIMO device.” A RIS may provide an energy boost to nearby devices.
In some aspects, network entity 410 may configure the beam reflecting device 450 by sending a control signal with information for configuring the properties and/or timing of the elements. For example, network entity 410 may transmit a set of beam weights to the beam reflecting device 450 through explicit signaling (e.g., RRC signaling) instead of using beam sweeping.
In some aspects, the network entity 410 may transmit a control signal to the beam reflecting device 450 for operation of the beam reflecting device 450, and the beam reflecting device 450 may provide information back to the network entity 410. For example, the beam reflecting device 450 may provide a few bits of RIS-side information, such as an indication of an acknowledgement (ACK) or a negative acknowledgment (NACK) of the control signal. The information may also indicate a quality of the channel.
Various entities may control a RIS in different scenarios. A transmitting UE (Tx UE) may transmit a configuration to the RIS. The RIS may provide a response. The RIS may be preconfigured by a gNB. A gNB-controlled RIS may also transmit a configuration to a RIS. The RIS may provide a response. The Tx UE may provide traffic information to the gNB. In some scenarios, a special UE device (e.g., gateway) May control the RIS. In some scenarios, the RIS may control itself with the help of a gNB or UE assisted UE.
In 6G, larger arrays at the transmitter and receiver may be used to enable spatially multiplexed (more than one layer per polarization) LOS communication in a high mm Wave or sub-THz band. A strong LOS channel can enable such spatially multiplexed communication. One or more transmitters may be expected to communicate with multiple receivers for which a direct LOS link may not exist or for which there is a weak link due to foliage or large distances. Reflective devices are not configured for spatially multiplexed communication.
As indicated above,
According to various aspects described herein, a single beam reflecting device (e.g., a single RIS) may enable communication between multiple transmitters and multiple receivers simultaneously, while the LOS path between the multiple transmitters and the multiple receivers is obstructed by one or more obstacles. In some aspects, the RIS may generate a multi-peak reflection beam that spatially multiplexes a first reflected signal of a first signal and a second reflected signal of a second signal. The RIS may generate the multi-peak reflection beam using beam weights. The RIS may perform a beam sweep to select the best beam weights (e.g., highest gain, highest throughput, most receivers) for the multi-peak reflection beam. The RIS may receive information from the receivers in response to the beam sweep. Each beam of the beam sweep may be formed using a set of beam weights. A set of beam weights may be associated with a transmitter receiver pair. A set of beam weights may be associated with convex properties, concave properties, or flat mirror properties. A set of beam weights may have various orientations. The RIS (or another network entity) may select an overall set of beam weights that form the multi-peak reflection beam. The multi-peak reflection beam may spatially multiplex multiple signals in multiple directions simultaneously.
The RIS may receive signals from multiple transmitters and output a spatially multiplexed reflected signal using the multi-peak reflection beam. The transmitters and the beam reflecting device may use one or more multiplexing schemes, including spatial division multiplexing (SDM), time division multiplexing (TDM), and/or frequency division multiplexing (FDM).
Example 500 illustrates a beam reflecting device 510, such as a RIS, that may generate a multi-peak reflection beam 512 and reflect signals 502 and 504 from multiple transmitters (from multiple directions) using the multi-peak reflection beam 512. The received signals 502 and 504 may include multiple layers. The received signals 502 and 504 may include more than one layer per polarization (e.g., horizontal polarization, vertical polarization, circular polarization).
By using a multi-peak reflection beam that spatially multiplexes multiple signals simultaneously, the beam reflecting device 510 may increase throughput and reduce latency because multiple transmitters can transmit at the same time rather than wait for other transmitters.
As indicated above,
Example 600 illustrates the beam reflecting device 510 performing a beam sweep 602 to select the overall beam weights for the multi-peak reflection beam 512. The beam reflecting device 510 may select a first set of beam weights 604 for a beam in a first beam direction. The beam reflecting device 510 may adjust its elements according to the first set of beam weights 604. The beam reflecting device 510 may change the weights of its elements, where each codebook entry, for a given incident angle, is associated with a reflected beam with a single peak. The beam reflecting device 510 may transmit the beam.
The beam reflecting device 510 may receive information 606 from one or more receivers. The information may include feedback (e.g., ACK), a measurement (e.g., RSRP), the best beam weight vector, parameter values, or some other response that informs the beam reflecting device 510 of the strength or quality of the beam in a direction. The beam reflecting device 510 may repeat this process for each beam direction to collect information for the multiple beam directions.
The beam reflecting device 510 may use the sets of beam weights and the information to select the best overall set of beam weights for the multi-peak reflection beam 512. The beam reflection device 510 may select beam weights associated with beam directions with the best weights for the elements (e.g., greatest signal strength, greatest quality, closest direction to receiver). The beam directions may be associated with devices that use the beam reflecting device 510 for transmission or reception.
In some aspects, the beam reflecting device 510 may form the multi-peak reflection beam 512 using information about known receivers, such as the quantity and/or directions of the known receivers. The beam reflecting device 510 may form the multi-peak reflection beam 512 based at least in part on the directions and quantity of transmitters. Multiple transmitters and/or receivers that are close to each other may be served by elements acting as a convex mirror (wider reflected beam). The beam reflecting device 510 may prioritize main lobes and/or side lobes for specific receivers.
In some aspects, the beam reflecting device 510 may form the multi-peak reflection beam 512 based at least in part on transmitter receiver pairs. For example, if communication between transmitter i and receiver j is desired, the beam reflecting device 510 may identify the weight wij of the elements that enables the best spatially multiplexed communication performance between transmitter i and receiver j. To enable a simultaneous communication between all desired transmitter receiver pairs, the overall weight (w) may be a function of the derived weights from the beam sweeping, such that
In some aspects, a network entity may request the beam sweep. The network entity may also collect the information from the beam sweep, select the overall set of beam weights, and transmit the overall set of beam weights to the beam reflecting device 510.
As indicated above,
Example 700 shows the signaling associated with example 500 and example 600. As shown by reference number 705, network entity 515 may transmit an indication to prepare for spatial multiplexing. The indication may include a configuration for forming a multi-peak reflection beam. As shown by reference number 710, the beam reflecting device 510 may perform a beam sweep with sets of beam weights. The beam reflecting device 510 may collect information from the beam sweep.
As shown by reference number 715, the beam reflecting device 510 may select an overall set of weights using the set of weights from the beam sweep and the collected information. Alternatively, in some aspects, as shown by reference number 720, the beam reflecting device 510 may transmit the sets of beam weights and the information to a network entity, such as network entity 515. As shown by reference number 725, the network entity 515 may select the overall set of weights. As shown by reference number 730, the network entity 515 may transmit the overall set of weights to the beam reflecting device 510.
As shown by reference number 735, the beam reflecting device 510 may generate the multi-peak reflection beam. As shown by reference number 740, multiple transmitters, such a network entity 515 and network entity 520, may transmit multiple signals. As shown by reference number 745, the beam reflecting device 510 may reflect the multiple signals to multiple receivers (e.g., UE 530 and UE 535) using the multi-peak reflection beam. As a result, the beam reflecting device 510 may improve throughput and reduce latency for multiple transmitters that do not have a good LOS to one or more receivers.
As indicated above,
In some aspects, transmitters may use multiple beam reflecting devices (e.g., multiple RISs) that are capable of spatial multiplexing. Example 800 shows an additional beam reflecting device 810. Network entity 515 may transmit to both beam reflecting device 510 and beam reflecting device 810. Beam reflecting device 510 may use a multi-peak reflection beam to spatially multiplex reflected signals from network entity 515 and network entity 520 to UE 530 and UE 535. Beam reflecting device 810 may use another multi-peak reflection beam to spatially multiplex reflected signals from network entity 515 and UE 820 to UE 830 and UE 535.
While the multi-peak reflection beams show two peaks in the examples, the multi-peak reflection beams may include more than two peaks of equal or differing gains for more than two transmitters and/or more than two receivers. A transmitter may transmit a signal with different layers, and a beam reflecting device may spatially multiplex the layers of the signal. The transmitters may use SDM, TDM, and/or FDM multiplexing schemes with multiple beam reflection devices to optimize throughput and coverage.
As indicated above,
As shown in
As further shown in
As further shown in
Process 900 may include additional aspects, such as any single aspect or any combination of aspects described below and/or in connection with one or more other processes described elsewhere herein.
In a first aspect, process 900 includes transmitting signals in a beam sweep, where each transmit beam of the beam sweep is associated with a set of beam weights, and receiving information from receivers in response to the beam sweep.
In a second aspect, alone or in combination with the first aspect, generating the multi-peak reflection beam includes selecting an overall set of beam weights from the sets of beam weights using the information.
In a third aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first and second aspects, each set of beam weights is associated with a transmitter receiver pair.
In a fourth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first through third aspects, the sets of beam weights are associated with convex properties for the reflecting device.
In a fifth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first through fourth aspects, the sets of beam weights are associated with concave properties for the reflecting device.
In a sixth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first through fifth aspects, the sets of beam weights are associated with flat mirror properties for the reflecting device.
In a seventh aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first through sixth aspects, process 900 includes receiving an indication to generate the multi-peak reflection beam, where generating the multi-peak reflection beam includes generating the multi-peak reflection beam based at least in part on the indication.
In an eighth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first through seventh aspects, the first reflected signal and the second reflected signal include multiple layers.
In a ninth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first through eighth aspects, the first reflected signal and the second reflected signal include more than one layer per polarization.
In a tenth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first through ninth aspects, the reflecting device is a RIS.
Although
As shown in
As further shown in
Process 1000 may include additional aspects, such as any single aspect or any combination of aspects described below and/or in connection with one or more other processes described elsewhere herein.
In a first aspect, process 1000 includes transmitting, to the reflecting device, a second command to transmit signals in a beam sweep using sets of beam weights, and receiving information from receivers in response to the beam sweep.
In a second aspect, alone or in combination with the first aspect, process 1000 includes selecting an overall set of beam weights using the information, and transmitting the overall set of beam weights to the reflecting device.
In a third aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first and second aspects, the first reflected signal and the second reflected signal include multiple layers.
In a fourth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first through third aspects, the first reflected signal and the second reflected signal include more than one layer per polarization.
Although
In some aspects, the apparatus 1100 may be configured to perform one or more operations described herein in connection with
The reception component 1102 may receive communications, such as reference signals, control information, data communications, or a combination thereof, from the apparatus 1108. The reception component 1102 may provide received communications to one or more other components of the apparatus 1100. In some aspects, the reception component 1102 may perform signal processing on the received communications (such as filtering, amplification, demodulation, analog-to-digital conversion, demultiplexing, deinterleaving, de-mapping, equalization, interference cancellation, or decoding, among other examples), and may provide the processed signals to the one or more other components of the apparatus 1100. In some aspects, the reception component 1102 may include one or more antennas, one or more modems, one or more demodulators, one or more MIMO detectors, one or more receive processors, one or more controllers/processors, one or more memories, or a combination thereof, of the beam reflecting device described in connection with
The transmission component 1104 may transmit communications, such as reference signals, control information, data communications, or a combination thereof, to the apparatus 1108. In some aspects, one or more other components of the apparatus 1100 may generate communications and may provide the generated communications to the transmission component 1104 for transmission to the apparatus 1108. In some aspects, the transmission component 1104 may perform signal processing on the generated communications (such as filtering, amplification, modulation, digital-to-analog conversion, multiplexing, interleaving, mapping, or encoding, among other examples), and may transmit the processed signals to the apparatus 1108. In some aspects, the transmission component 1104 may include one or more antennas, one or more modems, one or more modulators, one or more transmit MIMO processors, one or more transmit processors, one or more controllers/processors, one or more memories, or a combination thereof, of the beam reflecting device described in connection with
The communication manager 1106 may support operations of the reception component 1102 and/or the transmission component 1104. For example, the communication manager 1106 may receive information associated with configuring reception of communications by the reception component 1102 and/or transmission of communications by the transmission component 1104. Additionally, or alternatively, the communication manager 1106 may generate and/or provide control information to the reception component 1102 and/or the transmission component 1104 to control reception and/or transmission of communications.
The communication manager 1106 may generate a multi-peak reflection beam that spatially multiplexes a first reflected signal of a first signal and a second reflected signal of a second signal. The reception component 1102 may receive the first signal and the second signal. The reception component 1102, the transmission component 1104, and the communication manager 1106 may reflect the first signal and the second signal to output a spatially multiplexed reflected signal using the multi-peak reflection beam.
The number and arrangement of components shown in
In some aspects, the apparatus 1200 may be configured to perform one or more operations described herein in connection with
The reception component 1202 may receive communications, such as reference signals, control information, data communications, or a combination thereof, from the apparatus 1208. The reception component 1202 may provide received communications to one or more other components of the apparatus 1200. In some aspects, the reception component 1202 may perform signal processing on the received communications (such as filtering, amplification, demodulation, analog-to-digital conversion, demultiplexing, deinterleaving, de-mapping, equalization, interference cancellation, or decoding, among other examples), and may provide the processed signals to the one or more other components of the apparatus 1200. In some aspects, the reception component 1202 may include one or more antennas, one or more modems, one or more demodulators, one or more MIMO detectors, one or more receive processors, one or more controllers/processors, one or more memories, or a combination thereof, of the network entity described in connection with
The transmission component 1204 may transmit communications, such as reference signals, control information, data communications, or a combination thereof, to the apparatus 1208. In some aspects, one or more other components of the apparatus 1200 may generate communications and may provide the generated communications to the transmission component 1204 for transmission to the apparatus 1208. In some aspects, the transmission component 1204 may perform signal processing on the generated communications (such as filtering, amplification, modulation, digital-to-analog conversion, multiplexing, interleaving, mapping, or encoding, among other examples), and may transmit the processed signals to the apparatus 1208. In some aspects, the transmission component 1204 may include one or more antennas, one or more modems, one or more modulators, one or more transmit MIMO processors, one or more transmit processors, one or more controllers/processors, one or more memories, or a combination thereof, of the network entity described in connection with
The communication manager 1206 may support operations of the reception component 1202 and/or the transmission component 1204. For example, the communication manager 1206 may receive information associated with configuring reception of communications by the reception component 1202 and/or transmission of communications by the transmission component 1204. Additionally, or alternatively, the communication manager 1206 may generate and/or provide control information to the reception component 1202 and/or the transmission component 1204 to control reception and/or transmission of communications.
The transmission component 1204 may transmit, to a reflecting device, a first command to prepare to spatially multiplex a first reflected signal of a first signal and a second reflected signal of a second signal. The reception component 1202 may receive a response.
The transmission component 1204 may transmit, to the reflecting device, a second command to transmit signals in a beam sweep using sets of beam weights. The reception component 1202 may receive information from receivers in response to the beam sweep. The communication manager 1206 may select an overall set of beam weights using the information. The transmission component 1204 may transmit the overall set of beam weights to the reflecting device.
The number and arrangement of components shown in
The following provides an overview of some Aspects of the present disclosure:
Aspect 2: The method of Aspect 1, further comprising: transmitting signals in a beam sweep, wherein each transmit beam of the beam sweep is associated with a set of beam weights; and receiving information from receivers in response to the beam sweep.
Aspect 3: The method of Aspect 2, wherein generating the multi-peak reflection beam includes selecting an overall set of beam weights from the sets of beam weights using the information.
Aspect 4: The method of Aspect 2, wherein each set of beam weights is associated with a transmitter receiver pair.
Aspect 5: The method of Aspect 2, wherein the sets of beam weights are associated with convex properties for the reflecting device.
Aspect 6: The method of Aspect 2, wherein the sets of beam weights are associated with concave properties for the reflecting device.
Aspect 7: The method of Aspect 2, wherein the sets of beam weights are associated with flat mirror properties for the reflecting device.
Aspect 8: The method of any of Aspects 1-7, further comprising receiving an indication to generate the multi-peak reflection beam, wherein generating the multi-peak reflection beam includes generating the multi-peak reflection beam based at least in part on the indication.
Aspect 9: The method of any of Aspects 1-8, wherein the first reflected signal and the second reflected signal include multiple layers.
Aspect 10: The method of any of Aspects 1-9, wherein the first reflected signal and the second reflected signal include more than one layer per polarization.
Aspect 11: The method of any of Aspects 1-10, wherein the reflecting device is a reconfigurable intelligent surface.
Aspect 12: A method of wireless communication performed by a network entity, comprising: transmitting, to a reflecting device, a first command to prepare to spatially multiplex a first reflected signal of a first signal and a second reflected signal of a second signal; and receiving a response.
Aspect 13: The method of Aspect 12, further comprising: transmitting, to the reflecting device, a second command to transmit signals in a beam sweep using sets of beam weights; and receiving information from receivers in response to the beam sweep.
Aspect 14: The method of Aspect 13, further comprising: selecting an overall set of beam weights using the information; and transmitting the overall set of beam weights to the reflecting device.
Aspect 15: The method of any of Aspects 12-14, wherein the first reflected signal and the second reflected signal include multiple layers.
Aspect 16: The method of any of Aspects 12-15, wherein the first reflected signal and the second reflected signal include more than one layer per polarization.
Aspect 17: An apparatus for wireless communication at a device, the apparatus comprising one or more processors; one or more memories coupled with the one or more processors; and instructions stored in the one or more memories and executable by the one or more processors to cause the apparatus to perform the method of one or more of Aspects 1-16.
Aspect 18: An apparatus for wireless communication at a device, the apparatus comprising one or more memories and one or more processors coupled to the one or more memories, the one or more processors configured to cause the device to perform the method of one or more of Aspects 1-16.
Aspect 19: An apparatus for wireless communication, the apparatus comprising at least one means for performing the method of one or more of Aspects 1-16.
Aspect 20: A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code for wireless communication, the code comprising instructions executable by one or more processors to perform the method of one or more of Aspects 1-16.
Aspect 21: A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a set of instructions for wireless communication, the set of instructions comprising one or more instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a device, cause the device to perform the method of one or more of Aspects 1-16.
Aspect 22: A device for wireless communication, the device comprising a processing system that includes one or more processors and one or more memories coupled with the one or more processors, the processing system configured to cause the device to perform the method of one or more of Aspects 1-16.
Aspect 23: An apparatus for wireless communication at a device, the apparatus comprising one or more memories and one or more processors coupled to the one or more memories, the one or more processors individually or collectively configured to cause the device to perform the method of one or more of Aspects 1-16.
The foregoing disclosure provides illustration and description but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the aspects to the precise forms disclosed. Modifications and variations may be made in light of the above disclosure or may be acquired from practice of the aspects.
As used herein, the term “component” is intended to be broadly construed as hardware or a combination of hardware and at least one of software or firmware. “Software” shall be construed broadly to mean instructions, instruction sets, code, code segments, program code, programs, subprograms, software modules, applications, software applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, executables, threads of execution, procedures, or functions, among other examples, whether referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or otherwise. As used herein, a “processor” is implemented in hardware or a combination of hardware and software. It will be apparent that systems or methods described herein may be implemented in different forms of hardware or a combination of hardware and software. The actual specialized control hardware or software code used to implement these systems or methods is not limiting of the aspects. Thus, the operation and behavior of the systems or methods are described herein without reference to specific software code, because those skilled in the art will understand that software and hardware can be designed to implement the systems or methods based, at least in part, on the description herein. A component being configured to perform a function means that the component has a capability to perform the function, and does not require the function to be actually performed by the component, unless noted otherwise.
As used herein, “satisfying a threshold” may, depending on the context, refer to a value being greater than the threshold, greater than or equal to the threshold, less than the threshold, less than or equal to the threshold, equal to the threshold, or not equal to the threshold, among other examples.
As used herein, a phrase referring to “at least one of” a list of items refers to any combination of those items, including single members. As an example, “at least one of: a, b, or c” is intended to cover a, b, c, a+b, a+c, b+c, and a+b+c, as well as any combination with multiples of the same element (for example, a+a, a+a+a, a+a+b, a+a+c, a+b+b, a+c+c, b+b, b+b+b, b+b+c, c+c, and c+c+c, or any other ordering of a, b, and c).
No element, act, or instruction used herein should be construed as critical or essential unless explicitly described as such. Also, as used herein, the articles “a” and “an” are intended to include one or more items and may be used interchangeably with “one or more.” Further, as used herein, the article “the” is intended to include one or more items referenced in connection with the article “the” and may be used interchangeably with “the one or more.” Furthermore, as used herein, the terms “set” and “group” are intended to include one or more items and may be used interchangeably with “one or more.” Where only one item is intended, the phrase “only one” or similar language is used. Also, as used herein, the terms “has,” “have,” “having,” and similar terms are intended to be open-ended terms that do not limit an element that they modify (for example, an element “having” A may also have B). Further, the phrase “based on” is intended to mean “based on or otherwise in association with” unless explicitly stated otherwise. Also, as used herein, the term “or” is intended to be inclusive when used in a series and may be used interchangeably with “and/or,” unless explicitly stated otherwise (for example, if used in combination with “either” or “only one of”). It should be understood that “one or more” is equivalent to “at least one.”
Even though particular combinations of features are recited in the claims or disclosed in the specification, these combinations are not intended to limit the disclosure of various aspects. Many of these features may be combined in ways not specifically recited in the claims or disclosed in the specification. The disclosure of various aspects includes each dependent claim in combination with every other claim in the claim set.
