# US 11,445,547 B2 · First radio terminal, method to operate a first radio terminal, and method to operate a radio communications network

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- Number: US 11,445,547 B2
- Document ID: US11445547B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 17/174,895
- Filed: 2021-02-12
- Published: 2021-08-19
- Granted: 2022-09-13
- Earliest claimed: 2020-02-14
- Assignees: Robert Bosch GmbH
- Applicants: Robert Bosch GmbH
- Inventors: Khaled Shawky Hassan; Maria Bezmenov; Klaus Sambale; Nadia Brahmi
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11445547B2

## CPC

- H04W 74/0816: with collision avoidance
- H04W 74/0825: {with collision detection}
- H04W 72/23: in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal
- H04W 74/02: Hybrid access
- H04W 4/40: for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]
- H04W 72/02: Selection of wireless resources by user or terminal
- H04W: WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS (broadcast communication H04H; communication systems using wireless links for non-selective communication, e.g. wireless extensions H04M1/72)

## Abstract

A method to operate a first radio terminal of a radio communications network, is provided, wherein the method comprises: determining a SPS configuration for the first radio terminal, wherein the SPS configuration indicates a set of SPS, semi-persistently scheduled, radio resources of a shared device-to-device radio channel, in particular of a sidelink channel, SL-CH, wherein the indicated SPS radio resources are intended for a transmission by the first radio terminal; transmitting, towards at least one second radio terminal, data via a first subset of the set of the SPS radio resources; selecting at least one sensing resource out of the set of SPS radio resources; sensing the at least one sensing resource; determining a contention indicator in dependence on the sensing of the at least one sensing resource; and refraining from transmitting data via a second subset of the set of SPS radio resources if the contention indicator indicates a contention situation at the at least one sensing resource.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A first radio terminal (UE1) of a radio communications network (RCN), said first radio terminal (UE1) comprising:
at least one processor, at least one memory comprising computer program code, at least one communication module, and at least one antenna, wherein the computer program code and the memory are configured, together with the at least one processor, the at least one communication module, and the at least one antenna, to cause the radio terminal (UE1) at least to
determine (102) a SPS configuration for the first radio terminal (UE1), wherein the SPS configuration indicates a set (s1) of SPS, semi-persistently scheduled, radio resources (rr1-rr4) of a shared device-to-device radio channel (CH), wherein the indicated SPS radio resources (rr1-rr4) are intended for a transmission by the first radio terminal (UE1);
transmit (104), towards at least one second radio terminal (UE2), data via a first subset (ss1) of the set (s1) of the SPS radio resources (rr1-rr4);
select (106) at least one sensing resource (sr) out of the set (s1) of SPS radio resources (rr1-rr4);
sense (108) the at least one sensing resource (sr);
determine (110) a contention indicator (CONT) in dependence on the sensing (108) of the at least one sensing resource (sr); and
refrain (114) from transmitting data via a second subset (ss2) of the set (s1) of SPS radio resources (rr1-rr4) if the contention indicator (CONT) indicates a contention situation at the at least one sensing resource (sr).

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The first radio terminal (UE1) according to claim 1, the first radio terminal (UE1) further configured to:
transmit (112, 116), towards the at least one second radio terminal (UE2), data via the second subset (ss2) of the set (s1) of SPS radio resources (rr1-rr4) if the contention indicator (CONT) indicates no contention situation at the at least one sensing resource (sr).

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The first radio terminal (UE1) according to claim 1, the first radio terminal (UE1) further configured to:
determine (402; 502) at least one auxiliary radio resource (ar1; ar2), wherein the at least one auxiliary radio resource (ar1; ar2) and the set (s1) of SPS radio resources (rr1-rr4) are disjoint; and
transmit (404, 406; 504, 506), towards the at least one second radio terminal (UE2), data via the at least one auxiliary radio resource (ar1; ar2).

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The first radio terminal (UE1) according to claim 3, wherein the data transmitted via the at least one auxiliary radio resource (ar1; ar2) comprises an out-of-sequence indicator (OOS), which indicates that the auxiliary radio resource (ar1; ar2) is an auxiliary radio resource (ar1; ar2).

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The first radio terminal (UE1) according to claim 1, wherein the at least one sensing source (sr) is selected in dependence on a resource reselection counter and a threshold for a probability of keeping the SPS radio resources.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The first radio terminal (UE1) according to claim 1, wherein the selection (106) of the at least one sensing resource (sr) comprises
selecting the at least one sensing resource (sr) out of the set (s1) of SPS resources (rr1-rr4) upon expiry of a time period (T1) since the first transmission via the set of SPS resources (rr1-rr4) or upon reaching a number of transmissions conducted via the set (s1) of SPS resources (rr1-rr4).

### Claim 7 (depends on 6)

The first radio terminal (UE1) according to claim 6, wherein the time period (T1) or the number of transmissions is determined in dependence on at least one selected from the group consisting of a measured channel load of the physical device-to-device channel, a present status of an egress queue of the first radio terminal (UE1), and a QoS indicator.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The first radio terminal (UE1) according to claim 1, wherein determining (110) the contention indicator (CONT) comprises:
decode SCI, Sidelink Control Information, present in the received at least one sensing resource (sr);
determine a plurality of radio resources (r2_UE2, r3_UE3) reserved for a further radio terminal (UE3); and
determine the contention indicator (CONT) to represent no contention, if the second subset (ss2) of the set (s1) of SPS radio resources (rr1-rr4) and the determined plurality of radio resources (r2_UE3, r3_UE3) are disjoint.

### Claim 9 (depends on 1)

The first radio terminal (UE1) according to claim 1, wherein the determining (110) the contention indicator (CONT) comprises:
determining a received signal strength for the at least one sensing resource (sr);
comparing the received signal strength with a threshold; and
determining the contention indicator (CONT) in dependence on the comparison.

### Claim 10 (depends on 1)

The first radio terminal (UE1) according to claim 1, wherein the sensing (108) comprises:
sensing a first part of the sensing resource (sr); and
transmitting, towards the at least one second radio terminal (UE2), data in a second part of the sensing resource (sr).

### Claim 11 (depends on 1)

The first radio terminal (UE1) according to claim 1, wherein the refraining (114) comprises:
determine (202; 412), after the SPS configuration has lapsed, a further SPS configuration for the first radio terminal (UE1), wherein the further SPS configuration indicates a further set (fs) of further SPS radio resources (rr10, rr11) of the shared device-to-device radio channel (CH), wherein the indicated further SPS radio resources (rr10, rr11) are intended for a transmission by the first radio terminal (UE1); and
start transmitting (206, 208; 416, 418), towards the at least one second radio terminal (UE2), data via the further set (fs) of SPS radio resources (rr10, rr11) if a time period (T2) since the sensing (108) of the at least one sensing resource (sr) and before the first transmission via the further set of SPS radio resources (rr10, rr11) has not lapsed.

### Claim 12 (depends on 1)

The first radio terminal (UE1) according to claim 1, the first radio terminal (UE1) being further configured to:
transmit (406), towards the at least one second radio terminal (UE2), the contention indicator (CONT), wherein the transmitted contention indicator (CONT) indicates a contention situation at the at least one sensing resource (sr) and the identity of the at least one sensing resource (sr).

### Claim 13 (depends on 1)

The first radio terminal (UE1) according to claim 1, wherein the data transmitted towards the at least one second radio terminal (UE2) comprises a reservation indicator, which indicates an identity of the subsequent SPS radio resource (rr2; rr3; rr4) or subsequent auxiliary radio resource (ar1; ar2) for transmitting by the first radio terminal (UE1).

### Claim 14 (depends on 1)

The first radio terminal (UE1) according to claim 1, wherein the data transmitted towards the at least one second radio terminal (UE2) comprises a sensing indicator, which indicates an identity of the subsequent SPS radio resource (sr) for sensing by the first radio terminal (UE1).

### Claim 15

A method to operate a first radio terminal (UE1) of a radio communications network (RCN), the method comprising:
determining (102) a SPS configuration for the first radio terminal (UE1), wherein the SPS configuration indicates a set (s1) of SPS, semi-persistently scheduled, radio resources (rr1-rr4) of a shared device-to-device radio channel (CH), wherein the indicated SPS radio resources (rr1-rr4) are intended for a transmission by the first radio terminal (UE1);
transmitting (104), towards at least one second radio terminal (UE2), data via a first subset (ss1) of the set (s1) of the SPS radio resources (rr1-rr4);
selecting (106) at least one sensing resource (sr) out of the set (s1) of SPS radio resources (rr1-rr4);
sensing (108) the at least one sensing resource (sr);
determining (110) a contention indicator (CONT) in dependence on the sensing (108) of the at least one sensing resource (sr); and
refraining (114) from transmitting data via a second subset (ss2) of the set (s1) of SPS radio resources (rr1-rr4) if the contention indicator (CONT) indicates a contention situation at the at least one sensing resource (sr).

### Claim 16 (depends on 1)

A system configured to operate a radio communications network (RCN) which comprises the first radio terminal (UE1) according to claim 1 and the at least one second radio terminal (UE2).