CN109076509B - Priority communication for vehicle proximity services - Google Patents

Abstract

Resource allocation techniques for supporting prioritized communications for vehicle-to-vehicle proximity services. The resource allocation may be based on inter-cell coordination or on vehicle-based reporting.

Description

Priority communication for vehicle proximity services

Background

Device-to-device communication in cellular telephone service may provide direct communication between nearby mobile devices. Direct communication between neighboring devices can improve spectrum utilization, increase overall throughput and performance, improve power consumption, and enable point-to-point and location-based applications and services.

In such proximity services, vehicle-to-vehicle communication is a fast and emerging field of wireless communication. Automobiles, buses, trucks, and other vehicles may communicate with each other to support a variety of applications, from road safety to autopilot. However, such applications and services would require highly reliable packet transfer within a predefined target communication range of the vehicle transmitter while being subject to low packet transfer delay requirements. Furthermore, vehicle-to-vehicle services may also need to provide communication with vehicles outside of network coverage. Accordingly, there is a continuing need for improved proximity services for vehicle-to-vehicle communications that can provide a range of performance characteristics.

Drawings

Features and advantages of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following detailed description, which is to be read in connection with the accompanying drawings, which together illustrate, by way of example, the features of the disclosure; and, wherein:

fig. 1 depicts a wireless system according to one example;

FIG. 2 illustrates signaling in a wireless system supporting resource allocation for prioritized vehicle-to-vehicle transmissions between vehicle user equipment according to one example;

FIG. 3 illustrates functionality to coordinate priority handling in vehicle-to-vehicle transmissions for vehicle user equipment according to one example;

fig. 4 depicts a wireless system according to another example;

FIG. 5 illustrates signaling in a wireless system supporting resource allocation for prioritized vehicle-to-vehicle transmissions between vehicle user equipment according to another example;

FIG. 6 illustrates functionality to coordinate priority handling in vehicle-to-vehicle transmissions of a vehicle user equipment according to another example;

FIG. 7 illustrates a diagram of example components of a vehicle UE, according to one example;

fig. 8 shows a diagram of an eNB and a vehicle UE according to one example; and is also provided with

Fig. 9 illustrates a diagram of example components of a vehicle UE, according to one example.

Detailed Description

Before the present technology is disclosed and described, it is to be understood that this technology is not limited to the particular structures, process acts, or materials disclosed herein, but is extended to equivalents thereof as would be recognized by those of ordinary skill in the relevant arts. It is also to be understood that the terminology employed herein is for the purpose of describing particular examples only and is not intended to be limiting. Like reference symbols in the various drawings indicate like elements. The flow diagrams and numbers provided in the process are provided to clearly illustrate the acts and operations and do not necessarily represent a particular order or sequence.

Definition of the definition

As used herein, the terms "evolved node B", "eNodeB" or "eNB" refer to a device or configuration node of a mobile telephone network that wirelessly communicates with User Equipment (UE).

As used herein, the term "cellular telephone network" or "Long Term Evolution (LTE)" refers to wireless broadband technology developed by the third generation partnership project (3 GPP).

Example embodiment

An initial overview of the technical embodiments is provided below, and then specific technical embodiments are described in more detail later. This initial summary is intended to aid the reader in understanding the technology more quickly, and is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the technology, nor is it intended to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter.

In one aspect, inter-cell vehicle UE-to-vehicle UE communications may include support for priority transmission scheduling. Priority communications may be supported through inter-cell coordination or vehicle-based reporting. In inter-cell coordination, an evolved node B (eNB) may exchange information regarding resource utilization of multiple priorities with neighboring enbs. The eNB may then allocate one or more resources to the corresponding vehicle UE for communication at one or more priorities based on the exchanged information regarding resource utilization.

In a vehicle-based report, the vehicle UE may monitor transmissions of neighboring vehicle UEs to detect resources for communication of different priorities. The vehicle UE may transmit information about the detected resources for different priorities to the corresponding eNB. Based on the information about the detected resource utilization, the eNB may allocate resources to the respective vehicle UEs for communication by the vehicle UEs with one or more priorities.

Fig. 1 depicts a wireless system according to one example. In one aspect, a wireless system includes one or more vehicle User Equipment (UEs) 110, 115, 120, 125 communicatively coupled to one or more Base Stations (BSs) 130, 135 through one or more wireless networks. The wireless system may also include one or more back-end devices 140, the one or more back-end devices 140 configured to communicatively couple the base stations 130, 135 together via one or more wired or wireless networks. In one aspect, the back-end device 140 may include one or more Evolved Packet Cores (EPCs), which may include one or more serving gateways, one or more packet data network gateways, one or more mobility management entities, and other similar devices. In one aspect, one or more of the base stations 130, 135 may be a Long Term Evolution (LTE) evolved node B (eNB). In one aspect, one or more vehicular UEs 110, 115, 120, 125 may be communicatively coupled to one or more base stations 130, 135 through one or more third generation partnership project (3 GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE) protocol-based networks (commonly referred to as cells 145, 150). In one aspect, the vehicle UEs 110, 115, 120, 125 may be located in an autonomous car, an in-vehicle infotainment device, an in-vehicle navigation system, an in-vehicle internet of things (IOT) device, or similar in-vehicle wireless communication device configured to provide communication services. As used herein, communication may include data and/or voice communication, as well as control information.

In one aspect, vehicle UEs within range of one or more other vehicle UEs to send and receive communications directly and reliably between the one or more vehicle UEs are considered to be in close proximity to each other. The term "vehicle UE to vehicle UE" will hereinafter be referred to as V2V. In one aspect, a vehicle UE is configured to communicate on a V2V basis using one or more channels of a 3GPP LTE protocol network. In one aspect, the vehicle UE may communicate with other nearby vehicle UEs using one or more uplink channels and/or time slots within uplink channels of a 3GPP LTE network protocol. In one aspect, a downlink channel for communication between an eNB and a UE may be protected by using the uplink channel and timeslots therein for V2V communication. The uplink channel for V2V communication is also referred to as a side link channel to be used hereinafter. In one aspect, one or more side link channels support a one-to-one communication mode, a broadcast communication mode, and a relay communication mode between neighboring vehicle UEs.

In one aspect, the vehicle UE may support a priority mechanism that provides different communication characteristics in terms of reliability, range, and medium access. In one example, higher priority communications may be provided by providing better radio quality transmission spectrum resources than lower priority communications. In another example, higher priority communications may be allowed to be sent more frequently than lower priority communications.

However, enbs of different cells may not be aware of the priority of scheduled transmissions in other cells, particularly when other cells come from different service providers. If the eNB does not know the scheduling resources of the neighboring cells, transmissions with different priorities may collide on the same spectrum resources and thus may not provide better quality for high priority transmissions. In one aspect, priority support for inter-cell V2V communications may include inter-cell coordination.

In inter-cell coordination, an eNB cell may coordinate priority transmission scheduling through services provided by one or more backhaul devices 140. In one aspect, the services of Evolved Packet Core (EPC) 140 may coordinate information about the set of resources allocated and currently used for each priority in a given eNB cell such that neighboring cells may consider this information when scheduling V2V transmissions within the cell of the respective eNB to avoid scheduling communications with different priorities for different vehicle UEs on the same or neighboring sets of resources.

In one aspect, the first eNB 130 may communicate with one or more vehicle UEs 110, 115 within its respective cell coverage area 145. The second eNB 135 may likewise communicate with one or more vehicle UEs 120 within its respective cell coverage area 150. The first and second enbs 130, 135 may send information regarding resources allocated for side link transmissions of one or more vehicle UEs 110, 115, 120 to one or more wireless networks, such as an evolved packet core 140. The first and second enbs 130, 135 may also transmit information regarding resources allocated for uplink transmissions of one or more vehicle UEs 110, 115, 120. For example, the first eNB 130 may send information regarding resources allocated for uplink and/or sidelink transmissions of the vehicular UEs 110, 115. The second eNB 135 may send information about the resources allocated for uplink and sidelink transmissions of the vehicular UE 120. The evolved packet core 140 may forward information regarding resource allocation for uplink and sidelink transmissions associated with each eNB to the respective neighboring enbs. For example, the evolved packet core 140 may send information about resources allocated by the first eNB 130 for uplink and sidelink communications to the second eNB 135, and vice versa. Each eNB may utilize the received information regarding the allocation of uplink and sidelink transmission resources of neighboring enbs when allocating uplink and sidelink transmission resources for use by vehicular UEs in the respective cell coverage areas of the particular enbs. For example, when the first eNB 130 is allocating uplink and/or sidelink transmission resources to the vehicular UEs 110, 115, the first eNB 130 may use information regarding the uplink and sidelink transmission resources allocated by the second eNB 135 for the vehicular UE 120. For example, based on the sidelink resources allocated by the second eNB 135 for the vehicular UE 120, the first eNB 130 may allocate sidelink transmission resources to the vehicular UE 115 for V2V transmission to the vehicular UE 120. Further, first eNB 130 may allocate uplink and sidelink transmission resources to vehicle UE 110 such that transmissions of vehicle UE 110 do not interfere with one or more priority V2V transmissions between vehicle UE 115 and vehicle UE 120.

In another example, if uplink and/or sidelink transmission resources allocated to the vehicle UE 110 interfere with one or more priority sidelink V2V communications of the UE 120, the second eNB 120 may reallocate uplink and/or sidelink transmission resources for use by the vehicle UE 120 with information regarding the allocation of uplink and/or sidelink resource allocations by the first eNB 110.

Fig. 2 illustrates signaling in a wireless system supporting resource allocation for prioritized V2V transmissions between vehicular UEs. In one aspect, enbs 205, 210 in a wireless system may send information (215, 220) regarding resources for different priorities to a wireless network, such as an Evolved Packet Core (EPC) 225. In one example, information about priority-based resource allocation may be exchanged between the eNB and EPC across the X2 interface using the X2 Application Protocol (AP). Alternatively, another type of interface and protocol may be used. In one example, information regarding priority-based resource allocation may be placed in a container or message in which new information elements may be introduced. The new information element may include information about the occupied time-frequency resources of each priority including a set of Physical Resource Blocks (PRBs), a set of subframes, a set of resource pools, a temporal pattern of transmissions, a time interval or subchannel, and an associated priority.

In one aspect, the EPC 225 may distribute information 230 about resources for different priorities to neighbor enbs 210, 205. For example, EPC 225 may distribute information about resources allocated by first eNB 205 to second eNB 210. Further, EPC 225 may distribute information regarding resource allocation of second eNB 210 to first eNB 205. In one aspect, the enbs 205, 210 may consider the distributed information about resources for different priorities for the neighbor enbs 210, 205 when allocating (235, 240) resources to the vehicle UEs 245, 250. In one aspect, the vehicle UEs 245, 250 may send the priority communications 255 to the other vehicle UEs 250, 245 using the resources allocated to the respective vehicle UEs. The communication may be sent at a physical side link shared channel (PSSCH) or a side link message on one or more slots of the PSSCH.

Fig. 3 shows the function of coordinating priority handling in V2V transmissions for a vehicle UE. Coordination of priority processing may be implemented by one or more processors and memory storing one or more instruction sets that, when executed by the one or more processors, perform one or more functions including priority-based resource allocation.

In one aspect, coordinating priority handling in V2V transmissions for vehicular UEs includes a resource allocation mechanism and a priority transmission mechanism. The resource allocation mechanism may include exchanging information (310) between the eNB and one or more neighboring enbs regarding resource utilization of different communication priorities. In one example, resource utilization information may be exchanged between enbs over an X2 protocol interface. The new information element may include information about the occupied time-frequency resources of each priority including a set of PRBs, a set of subframes, a set of resource pools, a temporal pattern of transmissions, a time interval or subchannel, and an associated priority.

In one aspect, an eNB may allocate resources to one or more vehicular UEs within wireless communication coverage of the eNB based on the exchanged resource utilization information (320). The allocated resources may include one or more communication priorities for side link transmissions between the vehicle UEs based on the exchanged resource utilization. In one example, information about the allocated resources may be transmitted from the eNB to the vehicle UE using a Radio Resource Control (RRC) interface.

In one example, LI-related parameters may be associated and configured according to the example of table 1 to support different priorities. This example is based on four different priorities. However, any number of different priorities may be utilized in other cases.

TABLE 1

In one aspect, a vehicle UE may receive a resource allocation to communicate with one or more other vehicle UEs (330). The resources allocated to the vehicle UE may include resource allocations for one or more priorities of sidelink transmissions to other vehicle UEs. The process of 310, 320, and 330 may be iteratively repeated. In one example, the eNB may modify the resource allocation when the vehicle UE enters, moves, and/or leaves the cell coverage area of the eNB. When the eNB modifies the resource allocation, the enbs may exchange updated information regarding changes in resource utilization, reallocate resources based on the updated information, and the affected vehicular UEs may receive the updated resource allocation. Alternatively, the enbs may exchange updated information periodically or in response to one or more events.

The prioritized transmission mechanism may include determining a priority of communications to be sent by the eNB to one or more neighboring vehicle UEs (340). In one aspect, communications may be sent to one or more neighboring vehicle UEs (350) using the allocated resources for the determined priority of side link transmissions. The communication may be sent at a physical side link shared channel (PSSCH) or a side link message on one or more slots of the PSSCH.

The vehicle UEs within the cellular communication area of the eNB may advantageously communicate with other nearby vehicle UEs to support a variety of applications ranging from road safety to autopilot. The enbs may exchange information regarding side link communications and optionally uplink communications to advantageously support priority-based communications between neighboring vehicle UEs. The resource allocation mechanism may be used to provide different transmission characteristics in terms of reliability, range and medium access for transmissions with different priorities.

Fig. 4 depicts a wireless system according to another example. Those aspects of the wireless system depicted in fig. 4 that are substantially similar to the wireless system depicted in fig. 1 will not be described again below, except as necessary to understand the different aspects shown in fig. 4. Also, in one aspect, the wireless system includes one or more vehicle UEs 410, 415, 420, 425, 430 communicatively coupled to one or more enbs 435, 440. In one aspect, the one or more vehicle UEs 425, 430 are not within range of the one or more enbs 435, 440.

In one aspect, the vehicular UEs 410, 415, 420, 425, 430 may support priority mechanisms that provide different characteristics in terms of reliability, range, latency, and medium access. In one example, higher priority communications may be provided with transmission spectrum resources that provide better radio quality than lower priority communications. In another example, higher priority communications may be allowed to be sent more frequently than lower priority communications. In one aspect, priority support for inter-cell V2V communications may include priority processing based on vehicle UE reporting.

In a priority process based on vehicle UE reporting, one or more vehicle UEs 410, 415, 420 may report to respective serving enbs 440, 445 a set of resources used by one or more neighboring vehicle UEs 425. In one aspect, each vehicle UE may monitor transmissions of neighboring vehicle UEs. For example, vehicle UE 415 may sense transmissions of vehicle UEs 410, 420, and 430 in proximity to vehicle UE 415. However, the vehicle UE 415 may not be able to sense the transmission of the vehicle UE 430 because it is not within the reception area of the vehicle UE 415. In one aspect, the vehicle UE may detect a priority of a different transmission from each neighboring vehicle UE.

In one aspect, for each vehicle UE within range of the eNB, the vehicle UE may report information about resources for one or more communication priorities of neighboring vehicle UEs. For example, the vehicle UE 415 may be within range of the eNB 435 and may sense resources for priority communications for the vehicle UEs 410 and 425 proximate to the vehicle UE 415. In one aspect, the eNB may utilize information received from the vehicle UE to allocate and/or reallocate resources for use associated with one or more priorities.

In one aspect, to enable reporting based on the vehicle UE, the reporting vehicle UE may identify which cell scheduled each of the one or more priority transmissions. In one example, the priority transmission may include cell-specific information, such as a cell identifier explicitly indicated in side link control information (SCI), medium Access Control (MAC), radio Link Control (RLC), or implicitly associated with a physical side link control channel/physical side link shared channel (PSCCH/PSSCH) pool, configuration, or pilot pattern. In one example, the vehicle UE may notify the serving eNB of cell-specific information for one or more priority transmissions.

In another aspect, the vehicle UE may report information about the monitored resources for transmission of a given priority without cell-specific information. In one example, the vehicle UE may collect resource information for priority communications and report it to the various enbs along with a group identifier, LI identifier, source and destination identifiers or addresses. Each eNB may determine whether the reported information relates to scheduled transmissions from other cells. The enbs may identify neighbor cell transmissions in view of each eNB knowing its own scheduling decisions.

In one aspect, the vehicle UE may autonomously report the detected priority information and associated resource measurements for one or more priorities in response to one or more predetermined events and/or periodically. In another aspect, the eNB may configure the vehicle UE to report priority information and associated resource measurements (e.g., received signal strength indicators or power levels of received reference signals measured on the resources of the PSCCH/PSSCH). In yet another aspect, the vehicular UE may report priority information in response to explicit requests from the various enbs.

In one aspect, vehicle UE sensing operations may be characterized by a sensing window, a transmission window period, a semi-persistent resource allocation window, and a side link semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) procedure. In one aspect, the sensing window may be a set of subframes used by the vehicle UE to monitor and collect information of PSCCH transmissions from other vehicle UEs and make corresponding energy measurements. The window may be network configurable, predefined by specifications, or preconfigured in the case of out-of-coverage operation. The sensing window may be common between the vehicle UEs. To accommodate low V2V message rates of 1Hz, the sensing window duration in one example may be on the order of 100ms, 1000ms, or higher.

In one aspect, the transmission window may be a set of subframes in which the vehicle UE performs resource selection for transmission of a Transport Block (TB) including potential retransmissions (e.g., a packet transmission window). The transmission window may be network configurable, predefined by specifications, or preconfigured for out-of-coverage operation. In one example, the transmission window length may be less than 100ms to satisfy the V2V delay constraint. However, typical values may be in the range of 5ms to 500 ms.

In one aspect, the transmission window period may be a resource allocation period that indicates a periodicity of a transmission window (e.g., a packet transmission window) having a semi-persistent resource allocation window. The transmission window period may be aligned with the V2V message generation rate and meet the delay requirement of periodic traffic transmission.

In one aspect, the semi-persistent resource allocation window may be a vehicle UE-specific parameter, which may depend on the traffic pattern on the vehicle UE side. The maximum value of the window may be configurable by the network or autonomously determined by the vehicle UE. In general, the value of the semi-persistent resource allocation window may be limited and may be in the range of 100ms to 1000ms in order to cope with mobility effects in the vehicle environment.

In one aspect, the sidelink SPS procedure is a UE-specific procedure for transmitting PSCCH and PSSCH within a semi-persistent resource allocation window. The vehicle UE may trigger multiple SPS processes, each associated with and carried within a semi-persistent resource allocation window.

In one aspect, to support priority in autonomous resource selection mode, priority information may be exchanged between vehicle UEs. In order to support different levels of transmission quality for each priority, priority information collected by the vehicle UE may be used as part of autonomous resource reselection by the vehicle UE.

In one aspect, side chain control information (SCI) decoding and energy measurement support may be used for sensing and vehicle UE autonomous resource selection. Support for SCI decoding for sensing and resource selection may also be used to communicate priority information. SCI reception may be more robust than the data channel and thus may be advantageously used to indicate priority. Furthermore, SCI has a larger communication range, which is important for priority processing for ensuring transmission quality. Instead of explicit signaling in SCI, some SCI resources may also be associated with priority or priority information placed in the shared channel transmission. However, in this case, the amount of SCI resources for each priority may be reduced, and additional resources may need to be allocated for each priority. Thus, an explicit signaling mechanism may be preferred, so a one to three bit new field may be added to the new SCI format (e.g., SCI format 1) indicating transmission priority. In this case, 2, 4, or 8 priorities may be supported.

In one aspect, the sensing process of the vehicle UE is independent of priority. The vehicle UE may perform the sensing process independent of the priority. However, the conditions for resource selection may be different for different priorities and configured by higher protocol layers. On the other hand, for abnormal triggering situations such as a vehicle collision, where immediate access to resources is required, the vehicle UE may access the medium regardless of the resource selection conditions preconfigured for each priority. Thus, the eNB may configure the vehicle UE to skip the sensing procedure for high priority transmissions and other abnormal triggering situations in order to access the medium with minimal delay.

In one aspect, high priority transmissions may require better transmission quality conditions in terms of transmission range, interference protection, and preferential access to the medium. The priority and resource selection procedure of V2V communication may take into account a number of principles. In one aspect, these principles may include priority-specific candidate resource set construction based on priority-specific conditions. In another aspect, priority-specific conditions used to construct the priority-specific candidate resource set may be configured by higher protocol layers. These configurations may consider conditions (e.g., metrics and thresholds) that are used to exclude and/or include resources occupied by higher priority transmissions of the candidate set of resources. The candidate set of resources may include received signal power, a reference received signal strength threshold, and other similar metrics. Similarly, the configuration may consider conditions to exclude and/or include resources occupied by lower priority transmissions of the candidate set of resources. In another aspect, the priority-specific candidate resource set may be selected based on randomized resources. In yet another aspect, detecting a resource conflict with a higher priority transmission may trigger a resource reselection procedure at a low or high priority transmission vehicle UE that detects a conflict on a spectrum resource.

In one aspect, a priority-specific candidate set of resources may be determined.In each subframe of the associated shared channel (PSSCH), the vehicle UE may identify a preferred frequency resource according to one or more predetermined metrics, such as any function of received power on the resource. The subframes of the resource may be ordered according to the metric. The metric may also take into account the number of transmitters occupying the resource and their priorities. In one example, each UE may randomly select among M available subframes of the candidate set of resources, where M is determined as m=max (M _MIN ；M _THR ). Here, M _MIN Is the smallest size of the candidate resource set (e.g., M _MIN =8), and M _THR Is equal to or lower than the resource congestion pattern threshold Q in the resource congestion pattern _MIN Is a predetermined value of the number of resources. The vehicle UE may randomize its resource selection among the selected candidate set of resources.

In one aspect, dual threshold operation may be used for V2V communications. From a system perspective, it may be advantageous to transmit in high energy subframes on unoccupied frequency resources in order to reduce near-far and in-band transmission problems for the receiver. In this case, a dual threshold may be used. The first threshold may be used to identify low energy resources (e.g., "empty resources") and the second threshold may be used to identify high energy subframes and "empty resources" within high energy subframes. In this case, the priority of resource selection may be given to the high energy subframe having the empty resource.

In one aspect, resource selection within a priority-specific candidate set of resources may be randomized to account for priority information of other transmitters occupying resources within the identified priority-specific candidate set of resources. For example, resources occupied by lower priority transmissions may be selected with a higher probability, while resources occupied by higher priority transmissions may be selected with a lower probability. In another aspect, resources within the candidate set of resources may be selected with the same priority independent of priority.

In one aspect, the trigger for resource reselection may be priority-specific. Detecting a high priority transmission on the overlapping set of resources may trigger a resource reselection procedure such that a vehicular UE transmitting at a lower priority does not overlap with resources pre-allocated for high priority transmission. If the vehicle UE detects a collision with a higher priority transmission in its resource allocation, it may trigger a resource reselection procedure. In one example, reselection may be triggered for a collision in time, such as a collision occurring on the same subframe but not necessarily the same frequency resource. In another example, reselection may be triggered for collisions in time and frequency, such as collisions occurring on a particular time-frequency allocation. In one aspect, a vehicular UE transmitting at a low priority may discard transmission packets in a pre-allocated semi-persistent transmission window or simply discard transmission packets that collide with a higher priority transmission of another vehicular UE.

In one aspect, a mechanism may be provided for notifying high priority transmissions for a selected priority. High priority transmissions may require high reliability in terms of reception. To improve the reliability of high priority transmissions in autonomous resource selection, the vehicle UE may perform notification about higher priority transmissions detected by other UEs. The notification mechanism may indicate the resources utilized for high priority transmissions such that the transmission environment on these resources becomes less congested due to sensing and ongoing resource reselection procedures. In one example, a neighboring vehicle UE performing a resource reselection procedure in the neighborhood may attempt and avoid selecting resources utilized for high priority transmissions, thereby reducing interference problems and increasing coverage of high priority transmissions in interference limited scenarios. The vehicle UE may simply relay (e.g., relay and decode) the SCI signal of the higher priority vehicle UE, thereby reproducing the content of the original SCI signal transmitted by the higher priority vehicle UE. In one aspect, the eNB may configure conditions for which priorities and notification may occur. In addition, the eNB may also configure a threshold for reference signal received power level in order for the vehicle UE to signal high priority communications.

Fig. 5 illustrates signaling in a wireless system supporting resource allocation for prioritized V2V transmissions between vehicular UEs. In one aspect, the vehicle UEs 505, 510, 515 may monitor communications of other vehicle UEs 520, 525, 530 to determine information about resources utilized by neighboring UEs for different priorities. In one aspect, the vehicle UE sends (535, 540) the determined information regarding resources utilized by the neighboring UEs to the respective enbs 545, 550. The information may indicate the vehicular UE and/or eNB cell associated with the information, or a given eNB may determine information associated with vehicular UEs in other eNB cells and/or other eNB cells from those cells and vehicular UEs that do not correspond to the resources allocated by the given eNB.

In one aspect, the enbs 545, 550 may consider information received from the vehicle UEs about resources for different priorities in allocating (555, 560) resources to the vehicle UEs 505, 510. For example, the eNB may allocate different resources for one or more priority side-chain communications that provide different characteristics such as transmission reliability, transmission range, and medium access. In one aspect, the vehicle UEs 505, 510 may send the priority communications 565 to the other vehicle UEs 505, 510 using the resources allocated to the respective vehicle UEs. In another aspect, a vehicular UE 515 that is outside the cell coverage area of an eNB may utilize information about resources for different priorities in selecting resources for transmitting priority communications to other vehicular UEs.

Fig. 6 shows the function of coordinating priority handling in V2V transmissions for a vehicle UE. Coordination of priority handling may be implemented by one or more processors and memory, where the memory stores one or more instruction sets that, when executed by the one or more processors, perform one or more functions including resource allocation. In one aspect, coordinating priority handling in V2V transmissions for vehicular UEs includes a discovery mechanism, a resource allocation mechanism, and a priority transmission mechanism.

In one aspect, a discovery mechanism is provided for detecting a neighboring vehicle UE without network assistance for in-coverage or out-of-coverage situations. In one aspect, a vehicle UE may monitor sidelink transmissions from neighboring vehicle UEs to detect resource utilization of one or more priorities of communications between other vehicle UEs (610). In one aspect, a vehicle UE transmits information regarding resource utilization for one or more priorities of communications between neighboring vehicle UEs to a corresponding eNB (620).

In one aspect, an eNB receives information regarding resource utilization of different priorities for communications from vehicle UEs within a cell coverage area of a respective eNB (630). In one aspect, each eNB may allocate resources to one or more vehicle UEs within its respective cell coverage area based on the received resource utilization information (640). Resources may be allocated for one or more communication priorities of side link transmissions between vehicle UEs. In one example, related resources and priority parameters may be associated and configured according to the example of table 1 above.

In one aspect, a vehicle UE may receive a resource allocation for communication with one or more priorities of one or more other vehicle UEs (650). In one aspect, the vehicle UE may determine a priority of the communication (660). In one aspect, the vehicle UE may communicate with one or more other vehicle UEs using the allocated resources for the determined priority (670). The communication may be sent at a physical side link shared channel (PSSCH) or a side link message on one or more slots of the PSSCH.

FIG. 7 illustrates a diagram of example components of a vehicular UE device, according to one example. In some aspects, the vehicular UE device 700 may include application circuitry 702, baseband circuitry 704, radio Frequency (RF) circuitry 706, front End Module (FEM) circuitry 708, and one or more antennas 710 coupled together at least as shown.

The application circuitry 702 may include one or more application processors. For example, application circuitry 702 may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The one or more processors may include any combination of general-purpose processors and special-purpose processors (e.g., graphics processors, application processors, etc.). The processor may be coupled with and/or may include memory/storage and may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory/storage to enable various applications and/or operating systems to run on the system.

The one or more processors may include any combination of general-purpose processors and special-purpose processors (e.g., graphics processors, application processors, etc.). The processor may be coupled to the storage medium 712 and/or may include the storage medium 712, and may be configured to execute instructions stored in the storage medium 712 to enable various applications and/or operating systems to run on the system.

Baseband circuitry 704 may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The baseband circuitry 704 may include one or more baseband processors and/or control logic to process baseband signals received from the receive signal path of the RF circuitry 706 and to generate baseband signals for the transmit signal path of the RF circuitry 706. Baseband processing circuit 704 may interface with application circuit 702 for generating and processing baseband signals and for controlling the operation of RF circuit 706. For example, in some aspects, the baseband circuitry 704 may include a second generation (2G) baseband processor 704a, a third generation (3G) baseband processor 704b, a fourth generation (4G) baseband processor 704c, a wifi baseband processor 704d, and/or one or more other baseband processors 704e for other existing generations, for which development is occurring or is to be developed in the future (e.g., fifth generation (5G), 6G, etc.). The baseband circuitry 704 (e.g., one or more of the baseband processors 704 a-d) may handle various radio control functions that enable communication with one or more radio networks via the RF circuitry 706. The radio control functions may include, but are not limited to, signal modulation/demodulation, encoding/decoding, radio frequency shifting, and the like. In some aspects, the modulation/demodulation circuitry of the baseband circuitry 704 may include Fast Fourier Transform (FFT), precoding, and/or constellation mapping/demapping functions. In some aspects, the encoding/decoding circuitry of baseband circuitry 704 may include convolution, tail-biting convolution, turbo, viterbi, and/or Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) encoder/decoder functions. Aspects of the modem and encoder/decoder functions are not limited to these examples and may include other suitable functions in other aspects.

In some aspects, baseband circuitry 704 may include elements of a protocol stack, such as, for example, elements of an Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (EUTRAN) protocol, including, for example, physical (PHY), medium Access Control (MAC), radio Link Control (RLC), packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP), and/or Radio Resource Control (RRC) elements. The Central Processing Unit (CPU) 704f of the baseband circuitry 704 may be configured to run elements of a protocol stack for signaling of the PHY, MAC, RLC, PDCP and/or RRC layers. In some aspects, the baseband circuitry may include one or more audio Digital Signal Processors (DSPs) 704g. One or more of the audio DSPs 704g may include elements for compression/decompression and echo cancellation, and may include other suitable processing elements in other aspects. In some aspects, components of the baseband circuitry may be suitably combined in a single chip, a single chipset, or disposed on the same circuit board. In some aspects, some or all of the constituent components of baseband circuitry 704 and application circuitry 702 may be implemented together, such as on, for example, a system on a chip (SOC).

In some aspects, baseband circuitry 704 may provide communications compatible with one or more radio technologies. For example, in some aspects, baseband circuitry 704 may support communication with an Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (EUTRAN) and/or other Wireless Metropolitan Area Networks (WMANs), wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs), wireless Personal Area Networks (WPANs). The aspect of the baseband circuitry 704 configured to support radio communications of more than one wireless protocol may be referred to as a multi-mode baseband circuitry.

The RF circuitry 706 may enable communication with a wireless network using modulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. In various aspects, the RF circuitry 706 may include switches, filters, amplifiers, and the like to facilitate communication with a wireless network. The RF circuitry 706 may include a receive signal path that may include circuitry to down-convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 708 and provide baseband signals to the baseband circuitry 704. RF circuitry 706 may also include transmit signal paths, which may include circuitry to up-convert baseband signals provided by baseband circuitry 704 and provide RF output signals to FEM circuitry 708 for transmission.

In some aspects, the RF circuit 706 may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the RF circuit 706 may include a mixer circuit 706a, an amplifier circuit 706b, and a filter circuit 706c. The transmit signal path of the RF circuit 706 may include a filter circuit 706c and a mixer circuit 706a. The RF circuit 706 may also include a synthesizer circuit 706d for synthesizing frequencies for use by the mixer circuit 706a of the receive signal path and the transmit signal path. In some aspects, the mixer circuit 706a of the receive signal path may be configured to down-convert the RF signal received from the FEM circuit 708 based on the synthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuit 706 d. The amplifier circuit 706b may be configured to amplify the down-converted signal, and the filter circuit 706c may be a Low Pass Filter (LPF) or a Band Pass Filter (BPF) configured to remove unwanted signals from the down-converted signal to generate an output baseband signal. The output baseband signal may be provided to baseband circuitry 704 for further processing. In some aspects, the output baseband signal may be a zero frequency baseband signal, although the output baseband signal need not be a zero frequency baseband signal. In some aspects, mixer circuit 706a of the receive signal path may comprise a passive mixer, although the scope of these aspects is not limited in this respect.

In some aspects, the mixer circuit 706a of the transmit signal path may be configured to upconvert the input baseband signal based on a synthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuit 706d to generate an RF output signal for the FEM circuit 708. The baseband signal may be provided by baseband circuitry 704 and may be filtered by filter circuitry 706 c. The filter circuit 706c may include a Low Pass Filter (LPF), although the scope of these aspects is not limited in this respect.

In some aspects, the mixer circuit 706a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 706a of the transmit signal path may comprise two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadrature down-conversion and/or up-conversion, respectively. In some aspects, the mixer circuit 706a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 706a of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for image rejection (e.g., hartley image rejection). In some aspects, the mixer circuit 706a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 706a of the transmit signal path may be arranged for direct down-conversion and/or direct up-conversion, respectively. In some aspects, the mixer circuit 706a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 706a of the transmit signal path may be configured for superheterodyne operation.

In some aspects, the output baseband signal and the input baseband signal may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of these aspects is not limited in this respect. In some alternative aspects, the output baseband signal and the input baseband signal may be digital baseband signals. In these alternative aspects, the RF circuitry 706 may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuitry, and the baseband circuitry 704 may include a digital baseband interface to communicate with the RF circuitry 706.

In some dual mode embodiments, separate radio IC circuits may be provided for processing the signals for each spectrum, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments synthesizer circuit 706d may be a fractional-N synthesizer or a fractional-N/N +1 synthesizer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect as other types of frequency synthesizers may be suitable. For example, the synthesizer circuit 706d may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer including a phase locked loop with a frequency divider.

The synthesizer circuit 706d may be configured to synthesize an output frequency for use by the mixer circuit 706a of the RF circuit 706 based on the frequency input and the divider control input. In some embodiments, synthesizer circuit 706d may be a fractional N/n+1 synthesizer.

In some embodiments, the frequency input may be provided by a Voltage Controlled Oscillator (VCO), although this is not a constraint. The divider control input may be provided by the baseband circuitry 704 or the application processor 702 depending on the desired output frequency. In some embodiments, the divider control input (e.g., N) may be determined from a look-up table based on the channel indicated by the application processor 702.

The synthesizer circuit 706d of the RF circuit 706 may include a frequency divider, a Delay Locked Loop (DLL), a multiplexer, and a phase accumulator. In some embodiments, the frequency divider may be a dual-mode frequency divider (DMD) and the phase accumulator may be a Digital Phase Accumulator (DPA). In some embodiments, the DMD may be configured to divide the input signal by N or n+1 (e.g., based on a carry) to provide a fractional divide ratio. In some example embodiments, the DLL may include a set of cascaded, tunable delay elements, a phase detector, a charge pump, and a D-type flip-flop. In these embodiments, the delay elements may be configured to decompose the VCO period into Nd equal phase packets, where Nd is the number of delay elements in the delay line. In this way, the DLL provides negative feedback to help ensure that the total delay through the delay line is one VCO cycle.

In some embodiments, synthesizer circuit 706d may be configured to generate a carrier frequency as the output frequency, while in other embodiments the output frequency may be a multiple of the carrier frequency (e.g., twice the carrier frequency, four times the carrier frequency) and used in conjunction with quadrature generator and divider circuits to generate a plurality of signals at the carrier frequency that have a plurality of different phases relative to each other. In some embodiments, the output frequency may be an LO frequency (fLO). In some embodiments, the RF circuit 706 may include an IQ/polarity converter.

FEM circuitry 708 may include a receive signal path that may include circuitry configured to operate on RF signals received from one or more antennas 710, amplify the received signals, and provide an amplified version of the received signals to RF circuitry 706 for further processing. FEM circuitry 708 may also include a transmit signal path, which may include circuitry configured to amplify signals provided by RF circuitry 706 for transmission by one or more of antennas 710.

In some embodiments, FEM circuitry 708 may include a TX/RX switch to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEM circuitry may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuitry may include a Low Noise Amplifier (LNA) to amplify the received RF signal and provide the amplified received RF signal as an output (e.g., to RF circuitry 706). The transmit signal path of FEM circuitry 708 may include a Power Amplifier (PA) to amplify an input RF signal (e.g., provided by RF circuitry 706) and one or more filters to generate an RF signal for subsequent transmission (e.g., via one or more of one or more antennas 710).

In some embodiments, the vehicular UE device 700 may include additional elements such as memory/storage, a display, a camera, sensors, and/or an input/output (I/O) interface.

Fig. 8 illustrates a diagram 800 of a node 810 (e.g., an eNB and/or base station) and a vehicle UE 820 according to an example. The node may include a Base Station (BS), a Node B (NB), an evolved node B (eNB), a baseband unit (BBU), a Remote Radio Head (RRH), a Remote Radio Equipment (RRE), a Remote Radio Unit (RRU), or a Central Processing Module (CPM). In one aspect, the node may be a serving GPRS support node. Node 810 may include node device 812. Node device 812 or node 810 may be configured to communicate with vehicle UE 820. Node device 812 may be configured to implement the described techniques. Node device 812 may include a processing module 814 and a transceiver module 816. In one aspect, the node device 812 may include a transceiver module 816 and a processing module 814, the transceiver module 816 and the processing module 814 forming a circuit 818 of the node 810. In one aspect, transceiver module 816 and processing module 814 may form circuitry of node device 812. The processing module 814 may include one or more processors and memory. In one embodiment, the processing module 814 may include one or more application processors. Transceiver module 816 may include a transceiver and one or more processors and memory. In one embodiment, transceiver module 816 may include a baseband processor.

The vehicle UE 820 may include a transceiver module 824 and a processing module 822. The processing module 822 can include one or more processors and memory. In one embodiment, the processing module 822 may include one or more application processors. The transceiver module 824 may include a transceiver and one or more processors and memory. In one embodiment, transceiver module 824 may include a baseband processor. The vehicle UE 820 may be configured to implement the described techniques. The node 810 and the vehicle UE 820 may also include one or more storage media, such as transceiver modules 816, 824 and/or processing modules 814, 822. In one aspect, the components of transceiver module 816 described herein may be included in one or more separate devices that may be used in a cloud RAN (C-RAN) environment.

Fig. 9 shows a diagram of a vehicle UE 900 according to one example. The vehicle UE 900 may be located in an autonomous car, an in-vehicle infotainment device, an in-vehicle navigation system, an in-vehicle internet of things (IOT) device, or similar in-vehicle wireless communication device configured to provide communication services. In one example, the vehicle UE 900 may be integrated into a dashboard instrument of the vehicle. In one aspect, the vehicular UE 900 may include at least one of: an antenna 905, a touch-sensitive display 910, a speaker 915, a microphone 920, a graphics processor 925, a baseband processor 930, an application processor 935, an internal memory 940, a keyboard and/or one or more other keys, buttons, knobs, etc 945, a non-volatile memory port 950, and combinations thereof.

The vehicular UE 900 may include one or more antennas configured to communicate with nodes or transmission stations, such as Base Stations (BS), evolved node BS (enbs), baseband units (BBUs), remote Radio Heads (RRHs), remote Radio Equipment (RREs), relay Stations (RSs), radios (REs), remote Radio Units (RRUs), central Processing Modules (CPMs), or other types of Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN) access points. One or more antennas of the vehicle UE 900 may also be configured to communicate with one or more other vehicle UEs. The vehicular UE 900 may be configured to communicate using at least one wireless communication standard including 3GPP LTE, wiMAX, high Speed Packet Access (HSPA), bluetooth, and WiFi. The wireless devices may communicate using separate antennas for each wireless communication standard or shared antennas for multiple wireless communication standards. The vehicular UE 900 may communicate in a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), a Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN), and/or a WWAN. The vehicle UE 900 may include a storage medium. In one aspect, the storage medium may be associated with and/or in communication with: an application processor, a graphics processor, a display, a non-volatile memory port, and/or internal memory. In one aspect, the application processor and the graphics processor are storage media.

Example

The following examples relate to particular technical embodiments and point out particular features, elements or steps that may be used or otherwise combined in implementing such embodiments.

Example 1 includes an apparatus of an evolved node B (eNB) operable to coordinate resource allocation for prioritized vehicle User Equipment (UE) to vehicle UE communications, the apparatus comprising one or more processors and memory configured to: processing, at the eNB, resource utilization information of a plurality of priorities received from one or more neighboring enbs; and generating, at the eNB, a message including an allocation of one or more resources for one or more priorities of communications for a vehicle User Equipment (UE) based on the received resource utilization information to allow the vehicle UE to perform vehicle UE-to-vehicle UE communications using the one or more resources allocated to the vehicle UE.

Example 2 includes the apparatus of example 1, wherein the resource utilization information is received at the eNB from one or more neighboring enbs via an Evolved Packet Core (EPC).

Example 3 includes the apparatus of example 1 or 2, wherein the resource utilization information is received at the eNB via an X2 interface between the eNB and one or more neighboring enbs.

Example 4 includes the apparatus of example 1, wherein the message comprising an allocation of the one or more resources is encoded for transmission from the eNB to the vehicle UE using a Radio Resource Control (RRC) interface.

Example 5 includes the apparatus of example 1, wherein the one or more processors and memory are further configured to: processing, at the eNB, updated resource utilization information for a plurality of priorities received from one or more neighboring enbs; and generating, at the eNB, a message including an allocation of one or more resources for communication of one or more priorities to a vehicle User Equipment (UE) based on the updated resource utilization information to reduce scheduled communications with different priorities for different vehicle UEs on the same or a neighboring set of resources.

Example 6 includes the apparatus of example 1 or 5, wherein the one or more resources comprise one or more communication spectrum characteristics selected from the group consisting of communication reliability, communication range, medium access, and communication latency.

Example 7 includes an apparatus of a User Equipment (UE) operable to prioritize vehicle User Equipment (UE) to vehicle UE communication over allocated resources, the apparatus comprising one or more processors and memory configured to: processing, at the vehicle UE, a message received from the eNB, the message including an allocation of one or more resources for one or more priority communications; determining, at the vehicle UE, a priority of the side link message; and processing the side link message using the resources allocated to the determined priority for transmission from the vehicle UE to the neighboring vehicle UE.

Example 8 includes the apparatus of example 7, further comprising a transceiver configured to receive an allocation from the eNB, the allocation comprising one or more resources for one or more priority vehicle UE-to-vehicle UE communications.

Example 9 includes the apparatus of example 7, wherein the one or more processors and memory are further configured to: processing, at the vehicle UE, a message received from the eNB, the message including updated allocations of one or more resources for one or more priority communications; determining, at the vehicle UE, a priority of the second side link message; and processing a second side chain message for transmission to the neighboring vehicle UE using the updated allocated resources for the determined priority for transmission from the vehicle UE to the neighboring vehicle UE.

Example 10 includes the apparatus of example 7, wherein the message from the eNB including the allocated one or more resources processed by the vehicle UE is decoded from a Radio Resource Control (RRC) interface.

Example 11 includes the apparatus of examples 7, 8, or 9, wherein the one or more resources comprise one or more communication spectrum characteristics selected from the group consisting of communication reliability, communication range, medium access, and communication latency.

Example 12 includes the apparatus of example 7, wherein the side chain message is transmitted from the vehicle UE to the neighboring vehicle UE on a physical side link shared channel (PSSCH) or one or more slots of the PSSCH.

Example 13 includes the apparatus of example 12, wherein the one or more side link channels support a one-to-one mode, a broadcast mode, and a relay mode between neighboring vehicle UEs.

Example 14 includes the apparatus of example 7, wherein the vehicle UE is integrated in one or more of an autonomous car, an in-vehicle infotainment device, an in-vehicle navigation system, or an in-vehicle internet of things (IOT) device configured to provide communication services.

Example 15 includes at least one machine-readable storage medium having instructions embodied thereon for prioritizing vehicle User Equipment (UE) to vehicle UE communications, the instructions when executed by one or more processors of the vehicle UE perform the following: monitoring, at the vehicle UE, transmissions of one or more neighboring vehicle UEs to detect resources for at least one communication priority; for a transmission from a vehicle UE to a corresponding eNB, processing information about the detected resources for at least one communication priority; generating, at the vehicle UE, a message including an allocation of one or more resources for communication of one or more priorities received from a corresponding eNB, wherein the allocation of the one or more resources is based on information about the resources for the one or more communication priorities; determining, at the vehicle UE, a priority of the side link message; and processing the side link message using one of the one or more resources allocated to the determined priority for transmission from the vehicle UE to the neighboring vehicle UE.

Example 16 includes the at least one machine-readable storage medium of example 15, further comprising instructions that when executed perform the following: in response to one or more events, information about the detected resources is transmitted using a transceiver at the vehicle UE.

Example 17 includes the at least one machine-readable storage medium of example 15, further comprising instructions that when executed perform the following: information about the detected resources is periodically transmitted to the corresponding eNB at a predetermined rate using a transceiver at the vehicle UE.

Example 18 includes the at least one machine-readable storage medium of example 15, further comprising instructions that when executed perform the following: in response to a request from a corresponding eNB, information about the detected resources is transmitted using a transceiver at the vehicle UE.

Example 19 includes the at least one machine-readable storage medium of example 15, further comprising instructions that when executed perform the following: information about the detected resources is encoded for transmission from the vehicle UE to the corresponding eNB using a Radio Resource Control (RRC) interface.

Example 20 includes the at least one machine-readable storage medium of example 15, further comprising instructions that when executed perform the following: generating, at the UE, a message including a reallocation of one or more resources for one or more priority communications received from the corresponding eNB; determining, at the vehicle UE, a priority of the second side link message; and processing the second side link message using the resources reallocated to the determined priority for transmission from the vehicle UE to the neighboring vehicle UE.

Example 21 includes the at least one machine-readable storage medium of example 15, wherein the side link message is transmitted from the vehicle UE to the neighboring vehicle UE on a physical side link shared channel (PSSCH) or one or more slots of the PSSCH.

Example 22 includes at least one machine-readable storage medium having instructions embodied thereon for allocating resources for prioritized vehicle User Equipment (UE) -to-vehicle UE communication at an evolved node B, the instructions when executed by one or more processors of an eNB perform the following: processing, at the eNB, information received from the one or more vehicle UEs regarding the detected resources for the at least one communication priority; and generating a message for transmission from the eNB to the at least one vehicular UE based on the information about the detected resources, the message including an allocation of one or more resources for the communication of the one or more priorities.

Example 23 includes the at least one machine-readable storage medium of example 22, wherein the information from the vehicle UE regarding the detected resources processed by the eNB is decoded from a Radio Resource Control (RRC) interface.

Example 24 includes the at least one machine-readable storage medium of example 22, further comprising instructions that when executed perform the following: processing, at the eNB, updated information received from at least one of the one or more vehicle UEs regarding the detected change in resources for the at least one communication priority; and generating a message for transmission from the eNB to the at least one vehicular UE based on the updated information about the detected resources, the message including a reallocation of at least one of the one or more resources for one or more priority communications.

Example 25 includes the at least one machine-readable storage medium of examples 22 or 24, wherein the one or more resources comprise one or more communication spectrum characteristics selected from the group consisting of communication reliability, communication range, medium access, and communication latency.

As used herein, the term "circuitry" may refer to, be part of, or include an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), an electronic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group) and/or memory (shared, dedicated, or group) that execute one or more software or firmware programs, a combinational logic circuit, and/or other suitable hardware components that provide the described functionality. In some aspects, the circuitry may be implemented in or the functionality associated with one or more software or firmware modules. In some aspects, the circuitry may comprise logic that may operate at least in part in hardware.

The various techniques, or certain aspects or portions thereof, may take the form of program code (i.e., instructions) embodied in tangible media, such as floppy diskettes, compact disk read-only memories (CD-ROMs), hard drives, transitory or non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, or any other machine-readable storage medium, wherein, when the program code is loaded into and executed by a machine, such as a computer, the machine becomes an apparatus for practicing the various techniques. The circuitry may include hardware, firmware, program code, executable code, computer instructions, and/or software. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium may be a computer readable storage medium that does not include a signal. In the case of program code execution on programmable computers, the computing device can include a processor, a storage medium readable by the processor (including volatile and non-volatile memory and/or storage elements), at least one input device, and at least one output device. Volatile and nonvolatile memory and/or storage elements can be Random Access Memory (RAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), flash memory drives, optical drives, magnetic hard disk drives, solid state drives, or other media for storing electronic data. The node and wireless device may also include a transceiver module (i.e., transceiver), a counter module (i.e., counter), a processing module (i.e., processor), and/or a clock module (i.e., clock) or a timer module (i.e., timer). One or more programs that may implement or utilize the various techniques described herein may use Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), reusable controls, and the like. Such programs may be implemented in a high level procedural or object oriented programming language to communicate with a computer system. However, one or more programs can be implemented in assembly or machine language, if desired. In any case, the language may be a compiled or interpreted language, and combined with hardware implementations.

As used herein, the term processor may include general purpose processors, special purpose processors such as VLSI, FPGA or other type of special purpose processor, as well as baseband processors in transceivers for transmitting, receiving, and processing wireless communications.

It should be appreciated that many of the functional units described in this specification have been labeled as modules, in order to more particularly emphasize their implementation independence. For example, a module may be implemented as a hardware circuit comprising custom Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) circuits or gate arrays, off-the-shelf semiconductors such as logic chips, transistors, or other discrete components. A module may also be implemented in programmable hardware devices such as field programmable gate arrays, programmable array logic, programmable logic devices or the like.

Modules may also be implemented in software for execution by various types of processors. An identified module of executable code may, for instance, comprise one or more physical or logical blocks of computer instructions which may, for instance, be organized as an object, procedure, or function. However, the executables of an identified module may not be physically located together, but may comprise disparate instructions stored in different locations which, when joined logically together, comprise the module and achieve the stated purpose for the module.

Indeed, a module of executable code may be a single instruction, or many instructions, and may even be distributed over several different code segments, among different programs, and across several memory devices. Similarly, operational data may be identified and illustrated herein within modules, and may be embodied in any suitable form and organized within any suitable type of data structure. The operational data may be collected as a single data set, or may be distributed over different locations including over different storage devices. The modules may be passive or active, including agents operable to perform desired functions.

Reference throughout this specification to "an example" or "exemplary" means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the example is included in at least one embodiment of the present technology. Thus, the appearances of the phrase "in one example" or the phrase "exemplary" in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment.

As used herein, a plurality of items, structural elements, compositional elements, and/or materials may be presented in a common list for convenience. However, these lists should be construed as if each member of the list is individually identified as a separate and unique member. Thus, without an opposite indication, any individual member of such a list should not be interpreted as a de facto equivalent of any other member of the same list based solely on their presentation in the common group. Further, various embodiments and examples of the present technology may be referred to herein along with alternatives to its various components. It is understood that such embodiments, examples, and alternatives are not to be construed as actual equivalents of each other, but are to be considered separate and autonomous representations of the present technology.

Furthermore, the described features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. In the following description, numerous specific details are provided, such as examples of arrangements, distances, network examples, etc., to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the present technology. One skilled in the relevant art will recognize, however, that the technology can be practiced without one or more of the specific details, or with other methods, components, arrangements, etc. In other instances, well-known structures, materials, or operations are not shown or described in detail to avoid obscuring aspects of the technology.

While the foregoing examples illustrate the principles of the technology in one or more particular applications, it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that numerous modifications in form, usage and details of implementation can be made without the exercise of inventive faculty, without departing from the principles and concepts of the technology. Accordingly, it is not intended that the technology be limited, except as by the claims set forth below.

Claims (25)

1. An apparatus of a base station, BS, operable to coordinate resource allocation for prioritized vehicle user equipment, UE, to vehicle UE, communications, the apparatus comprising one or more processors and memory configured to:

At the BS, processing resource utilization information of a plurality of priorities received from one or more neighbor BSs, wherein the resource utilization information indicates a resource set currently used and allocated for each priority of vehicle UE-to-vehicle UE communication in a neighbor cell; and

at the BS, a message is generated that includes an allocation of one or more resources to the vehicle UE for communication of one or more priorities based on the set of resources and associated priorities indicated by the received resource utilization information to allow the vehicle UE to perform vehicle UE-to-vehicle UE communication using the one or more resources allocated to the vehicle UE.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the resource utilization information is received at the BS from one or more neighboring BSs through an evolved packet core EPC.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the resource utilization information is received at the BS via an X2 interface between the BS and one or more neighboring BSs.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the message comprising an allocation of one or more resources is encoded for transmission from the BS to a vehicle UE using a radio resource control, RRC, interface.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors and memory are further configured to:

processing, at the BS, updated resource utilization information of a plurality of priorities received from one or more neighbor BSs; and

at the BS, a message including an allocation of one or more resources to the vehicle user equipment UE for one or more priority communications is generated based on the updated resource utilization information to reduce scheduled communications with different priorities for different vehicle UEs on the same or a neighboring set of resources.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more resources comprise one or more communication spectral characteristics selected from the group consisting of communication reliability, communication range, medium access, and communication latency.

7. An apparatus of a user equipment, UE, operable to prioritize vehicle user equipment, UE, to vehicle UE, communication over allocated resources, the apparatus comprising one or more processors and memory configured to:

at the vehicle UE, processing a message received from the base station BS, the message comprising an allocation of one or more resources for one or more priority communications based on resource utilization information of a plurality of priorities of the plurality of cells, wherein the resource utilization information indicates each priority allocation and a currently used set of resources in a neighboring cell for vehicle UE-to-vehicle UE communications, and wherein the allocation is based on the set of resources and associated priorities indicated by the resource utilization information;

Determining, at the vehicle UE, a priority of the side link message; and

for transmission from a vehicle UE to a neighboring vehicle UE, the side chain message is processed using resources allocated to the determined priority, wherein the association of cells of the neighboring vehicle UE is different from the association of cells of the vehicle UE.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, further comprising a transceiver configured to:

the allocation is received from the BS, the allocation including one or more resources for the one or more priority vehicle UE-to-vehicle UE communications.

9. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the one or more processors and memory are further configured to:

at the vehicle UE, processing a message received from the BS, the message including updated allocations of one or more resources for one or more priority communications;

determining, at the vehicle UE, a priority of the second side link message; and

for transmission from the vehicle UE to the neighboring vehicle UE, the updated allocated resources for the determined priority are used to process a second side chain message for transmission to the neighboring vehicle UE.

10. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein a message from the BS processed by a vehicle UE including the allocated one or more resources is decoded from a radio resource control, RRC, interface.

11. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the one or more resources comprise one or more communication spectral characteristics selected from the group consisting of communication reliability, communication range, medium access, and communication latency.

12. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the sidelink message is transmitted from a vehicle UE to a neighboring vehicle UE on a physical sidelink shared channel, PSSCH, or one or more time slots of the PSSCH.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein one or more side link channels support a one-to-one mode, a broadcast mode, and a relay mode between neighboring vehicle UEs.

14. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the vehicle UE is integrated in one or more of an autonomous car, an in-vehicle infotainment device, an in-vehicle navigation system, or an in-vehicle internet of things IOT device configured to provide communication services.

15. At least one machine readable storage medium having instructions embodied thereon for prioritizing vehicle user equipment, UE, to vehicle UE communications, which when executed by one or more processors of the vehicle UE perform the following:

monitoring, at the vehicle UE, transmissions of one or more neighboring vehicle UEs to detect resources for at least one communication priority;

For a transmission from the vehicle UE to the corresponding base station BS, processing information about the detected resources for the at least one communication priority;

generating, at the vehicle UE, a message comprising an allocation of one or more resources for communication of one or more priorities received from a corresponding BS, wherein the allocation of the one or more resources is based on information regarding resources of a plurality of cells currently used for the one or more communication priorities, and based on the resources indicated by the information and associated communication priorities;

determining, at the vehicle UE, a priority of the side link message; and

for transmission from the vehicle UE to the neighboring vehicle UE, the side link message is processed using one of the one or more resources allocated to the determined priority.

16. The at least one machine readable storage medium of claim 15, further comprising instructions that when executed perform the following: in response to one or more events, information about the detected resources is transmitted using a transceiver at the vehicle UE.

17. The at least one machine readable storage medium of claim 15, further comprising instructions that when executed perform the following: information about the detected resources is periodically transmitted to the corresponding BS at a predetermined rate using a transceiver at the vehicle UE.

18. The at least one machine readable storage medium of claim 15, further comprising instructions that when executed perform the following: in response to a request from a corresponding BS, information about the detected resources is transmitted using a transceiver at the vehicle UE.

19. The at least one machine readable storage medium of claim 15, further comprising instructions that when executed perform the following: information about the detected resources is encoded for transmission from the vehicle UE to the corresponding BS using a radio resource control, RRC, interface.

20. The at least one machine readable storage medium of claim 15, further comprising instructions that when executed perform the following:

generating, at the UE, a message including a reallocation of one or more resources for one or more priority communications received from the corresponding BS;

determining, at the vehicle UE, a priority of the second side link message; and

for transmissions from the vehicle UE to the neighboring vehicle UE, the second side link message is processed using resources reallocated to the determined priority.

21. The at least one machine readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein a side link message is transmitted from a vehicle UE to a neighboring vehicle UE on a physical side link shared channel, PSSCH, or one or more time slots of the PSSCH.

22. At least one machine readable storage medium having instructions embodied thereon for allocating resources for prioritized vehicle user equipment, UE, to vehicle UE, communication at a base station, BS, the instructions when executed by one or more processors of the BS perform the operations of:

at the BS, processing information received from one or more vehicle UEs regarding detected resources of the plurality of cells that are currently used for at least one communication priority; and

for transmission from the BS to at least one vehicular UE, a message is generated based on the detected resources indicated by the information about the detected resources and associated communication priorities, the message including an allocation of one or more resources for communication of one or more priorities.

23. The at least one machine readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the information from the vehicle UE regarding the detected resources processed by the BS is decoded from a radio resource control, RRC, interface.

24. The at least one machine readable storage medium of claim 22, further comprising instructions that when executed perform the following:

at the BS, processing updated information received from at least one of the one or more vehicle UEs regarding the detected change in resources for at least one communication priority; and

For transmission from the BS to the at least one vehicular UE, a message is generated based on the updated information about the detected resources, the message including a reallocation of at least one of the one or more resources for one or more priority communications.

25. The at least one machine readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the one or more resources comprise one or more communication spectrum characteristics selected from the group consisting of communication reliability, communication range, medium access, and communication latency.