WO2023060555A1

WO2023060555A1 - Adaptive resource selection

Info

Publication number: WO2023060555A1
Application number: PCT/CN2021/124098
Authority: WO
Inventors: Gilberto BERARDINELLI; Paolo Baracca; Tao Tao
Original assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co., Ltd.; Nokia Solutions And Networks Oy; Nokia Technologies Oy
Priority date: 2021-10-15
Filing date: 2021-10-15
Publication date: 2023-04-20
Also published as: EP4416848A1; CN118435525A

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to device, method, apparatus and computer readable storage media of adaptive resource selection. The method comprises: receiving, at a first device and from a second device, a message indicating a message indicating resources allocated for data transmission of the first device; determining a first pattern of resources by applying frequency hopping over the resources; and transmitting, to the second device, a first data transmission using the first pattern of resources and at a transmission mode adapted to the first pattern of resources. Accordingly, the UL transmissions can be performed based on frequency hopping while the transmission rate is adapted to the channel conditions. As such, the energy consumption and interference can be reduced. In addition, the spectral efficiency of the network system is improved.

Description

ADAPTIVE RESOURCE SELECTION

FIELD

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field of telecommunication and in particular to devices, methods, apparatuses and computer readable storage media of adaptive resource selection.

BACKGROUND

With the rapid development of communication technology, the short-range system is designed for supporting extreme communication requirements in terms of throughput, latency and reliability (e.g., multi-Gbps data rates, 100μs latencies with 99.99999%reliability, etc. ) . The short-range system has a wide range of applications, and one of various examples is the in-X cell, which is to be installed in entities such as robots, vehicles, production modules, or even human bodies for the support of critical operations. For example, in an in-vehicle scenario, the in-X cell is expected to replace the controller area network bus (CAN-bus) and Automotive Ethernet for applications, such as, engine control, power steering, anti-lock braking system (ABS) or automated assisted driving. For another example, in a case of in-body networks, the in-X cell can be used for streaming high quality virtual reality (VR) videos from a wristband to a headset, or for healthcare implants, such as, wireless pacemaker, insulin pumping for diabetic patients, etc.

The short-range networks can be densely deployed in a certain area, for example in the case of cells installed in vehicles in a crowded road, or cells installed in human bodies attending the same event. On the other hand, potentially high interferences due to the dense deployment may be a main concern.

SUMMARY

Example embodiments of the present disclosure provide a solution of adaptive resource selection.

In a first aspect, there is provided a first device. The first device comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program codes; the at least one memory and the computer program codes are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the first device at least to: receive, from a second device, a message indicating resources allocated for data transmission from the first device; determine a first pattern of resources by applying frequency hopping over the resources; and transmit, to the second device, a first data transmission using the first pattern of resources and at a transmission mode adapted to the first pattern of resources.

In a second aspect, there is provided a second device. The second device comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program codes; the at least one memory and the computer program codes are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the second device at least to: transmit, to a first device, a message indicating resources allocated for data transmission from the first device; and receive, from the first device, a first data transmission on a first pattern of resources, the first pattern of resources being determined by applying frequency hopping over the resources.

In a third aspect, there is provided a method. The method comprises: receiving, at a first device and from a second device, a message indicating resources allocated for data transmission from the first device; determining a first pattern of resources by applying frequency hopping over the resources; and transmitting, to the second device, a first data transmission using the first pattern of resources and at a transmission mode adapted to the first pattern of resources.

In a fourth aspect, there is provided a method. The method comprises: transmitting, at a second device and to a first device, a message indicating resources allocated for data transmission from the first device; and receiving, from the first device, a first data transmission on a first pattern of resources, the first pattern of resources being determined by applying frequency hopping over the resources.

In a fifth aspect, there is provided a first apparatus comprising: means for receiving, at the first apparatus and from a second apparatus, a message indicating resources allocated for data transmission of the first apparatus; means for determining a first pattern of resources by applying frequency hopping over the resources; and means for transmitting, to the second apparatus, a first data transmission using the first pattern of resources and at a transmission mode adapted to the first pattern of resource.

In a sixth aspect, there is provided a second apparatus comprising: means for transmitting, at the second apparatus and to a first apparatus, a message indicating resources allocated for data transmission of the first apparatus; and means for receiving, from the first apparatus, a first data transmission on a first pattern of resources, the first pattern of resources being determined by applying frequency hopping over the resources.

In a seventh aspect, there is provided a computer readable medium having a computer program stored thereon which, when executed by at least one processor of a device, causes the device to carry out the method according to the third aspect.

In an eighth aspect, there is provided a computer readable medium having a computer program stored thereon which, when executed by at least one processor of a device, causes the device to carry out the method according to the fourth aspect.

Other features and advantages of the embodiments of the present disclosure will also be apparent from the following description of specific embodiments when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate, by way of example, the principles of embodiments of the disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the disclosure are presented in the sense of examples and their advantages are explained in greater detail below, with reference to the accompanying drawings, where

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

FIG. 2 shows a signaling chart illustrating a process for adaptive resource selection according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 illustrates schematic diagrams for a tree structure of a root pattern and various sub-patterns of resources according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 illustrates a flowchart of an example method for adaptive resource selection according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 illustrates a flowchart of an example method for adaptive resource selection according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 shows a simplified block diagram of a device that is suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 7 shows a block diagram of an example computer readable medium in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

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

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Principle of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to some example embodiments. It is to be understood that these embodiments are described only for the purpose of illustration and help those skilled in the art to understand and implement the present disclosure, without suggesting any limitation as to the scope of the disclosure. The disclosure described herein can be implemented in various manners other than the ones described below.

In the following description and claims, unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skills in the art to which this disclosure belongs.

References in the present disclosure to “one embodiment, ” “an embodiment, ” “an example embodiment, ” and the like indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but it is not necessary that every embodiment includes the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an example embodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to affect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitly described.

It shall be understood that although the terms “first” and “second” etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish functionalities of various elements. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the listed terms.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of example embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms “a” , “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” , “comprising” , “has” , “having” , “includes” and/or “including” , when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, elements, and/or components etc., but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components and/or combinations thereof.

As used in this application, the term “circuitry” may refer to one or more or all of the following:

(a) hardware-only circuit implementations (such as implementations in only analog and/or digital circuitry) and

(b) combinations of hardware circuits and software, such as (as applicable) :

(i) a combination of analog and/or digital hardware circuit (s) with software/firmware and

(ii) any portions of hardware processor (s) with software (including digital signal processor (s) ) , software, and memory (ies) that work together to cause an apparatus, such as a mobile phone or server, to perform various functions) and

(c) hardware circuit (s) and or processor (s) , such as a microprocessor (s) or a portion of a microprocessor (s) , that requires software (e.g., firmware) for operation, but the software may not be present when it is not needed for operation.

This definition of circuitry applies to all uses of this term in this application, including in any claims. As a further example, as used in this application, the term circuitry also covers an implementation of merely a hardware circuit or processor (or multiple processors) or portion of a hardware circuit or processor and its (or their) accompanying software and/or firmware. The term circuitry also covers, for example and if applicable to the particular claim element, a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device or a similar integrated circuit in server, a cellular network device, or other computing or network device.

As used herein, the term “communication network” refers to a network following any suitable communication standards, such as fifth generation (5G) systems, Long Term Evolution (LTE) , LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) , Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) , High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) , Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT) , Wi-Fi and so on. Furthermore, the communications between a terminal device and a network device in the communication network may be performed according to any suitable generation communication protocols, including, but not limited to, the first generation (1G) , the second generation (2G) , 2.5G, 2.75G, the third generation (3G) , the fourth generation (4G) , 4.5G, the fifth generation (5G) new radio (NR) communication protocols, a future six generation (6G) systems, and/or any other protocols either currently known or to be developed in the future. Embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied in various communication systems. Given the rapid development in communications, there will of course also be future type communication technologies and systems with which the present disclosure may be embodied. It should not be seen as limiting the scope of the present disclosure to only the aforementioned system.

As used herein, the term “network device” refers to a node in a communication network via which a terminal device accesses the network and receives services therefrom. The network device may refer to a base station (BS) or an access point (AP) , for example, a node B (NodeB or NB) , an evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB) , a NR Next Generation NodeB (gNB) , a Remote Radio Unit (RRU) , a radio header (RH) , a remote radio head (RRH) , a relay, a low power node such as a femto, a pico, and so forth, depending on the applied terminology and technology. A RAN split architecture comprises a gNB-CU (Centralized unit, hosting RRC, SDAP and PDCP) controlling a plurality of gNB-DUs (Distributed unit, hosting RLC, MAC and PHY) . A relay node may correspond to DU part of the IAB node.

The term “terminal device” refers to any end device that may be capable of wireless communication. By way of example rather than limitation, a terminal device may also be referred to as a communication device, user equipment (UE) , a subscriber station (SS) , a portable subscriber station, a mobile station (MS) , or an access terminal (AT) . The terminal device may include, but not limited to, a mobile phone, a cellular phone, a smart phone, voice over IP (VoIP) phones, wireless local loop phones, a tablet, a wearable terminal device, a personal digital assistant (PDA) , portable computers, desktop computer, image capture terminal devices such as digital cameras, gaming terminal devices, music storage and playback appliances, vehicle-mounted wireless terminal devices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE) , laptop-mounted equipment (LME) , USB dongles, smart devices, wireless customer-premises equipment (CPE) , an Internet of Things (IoT) device, a watch or other wearable, a head-mounted display (HMD) , a vehicle, a drone, a medical device and applications (e.g., remote surgery) , an industrial device and applications (e.g., a robot and/or other wireless devices operating in an industrial and/or an automated processing chain contexts) , a consumer electronics device, a device operating on commercial and/or industrial wireless networks, and the like. The terminal device may also correspond to Mobile Termination (MT) part of the integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node (a. k. a. a relay node) . In the following description, the terms “terminal device” , “communication device” , “terminal” , “user equipment” and “UE” may be used interchangeably.

Although functionalities described herein can be performed, in various example embodiments, in a fixed and/or a wireless network node, in other example embodiments, functionalities may be implemented in a user equipment apparatus (such as a cell phone or tablet computer or laptop computer or desktop computer or mobile IoT device or fixed IoT device) . This user equipment apparatus can, for example, be furnished with corresponding capabilities as described in connection with the fixed and/or the wireless network node (s) , as appropriate. The user equipment apparatus may be the user equipment and/or or a control device, such as a chipset or processor, configured to control the user equipment when installed therein. Examples of such functionalities include the bootstrapping server function and/or the home subscriber server, which may be implemented in the user equipment apparatus by providing the user equipment apparatus with software configured to cause the user equipment apparatus to perform from the point of view of these functions/nodes.

The deployment of independent radio cells with a short range, for example, in an industrial facility, may be in the order of a few meters. In each independent radio cell, an AP coordinates the operations of a number of connected UEs. The UEs may require highly reliable transmission with ultra-low latency, e.g., less than 100μs. Assuming that the UEs need to transmit small packets in an event-based or periodic fashion, this can be the case of closed loop control applications, or alarm messages. To support ultra-low latency and enhance robustness to interference, short transmission units, which is in the order of few μs, may be used. In case of an OFDM-based air interface, the transmission unit may consist of a single OFDM symbol with a large subcarrier spacing, e.g., larger than 240 kHz. In addition, for the sake of enabling frequency and interference diversity, the channel hopping may be used for each transmission.

The AP takes care of assigning orthogonal hopping patterns to the served devices, such that the intra-cell interference can be avoided, and only inter-cell interference and jamming may jeopardize the performance of the network system. To achieve ultra-reliable and low latency communications, the UEs typically operate with a very conservative transmission rate (i.e., at a very low order MCS) in order to be robust to unpredictable channel quality variations. Given the short distance, the path loss is limited, so that the desired link quality is expected to be sufficiently high. The main obstacle to achieving ultra-reliable communication is potential interferences from neighbor cells and jammers.

However, in the short-range system like the in-X cells, the radio channel quality is expected to be good, but it may experience sudden and unexpected fluctuations due to sporadic interference from neighbor cells or jammers. In other terms, the channel quality is likely to be high in the instances when no interference appears, while it will suddenly drop in the case that a neighbor cell or a jammer hops to the same channel. Since the channel hopping provides a tear of protection towards such interferences, operating with a very conservative transmission rate is unnecessary for most of the time (as most of the time the channel quality is high) and may create unnecessary energy consumption and additional interference to the neighbor cells. Accordingly, there is a need for improving resource utilization and reducing unnecessary interferences.

The present disclosure provides an enhanced mechanism for resource selection. According to the enhanced mechanism, the resources for UL transmissions are autonomously selected from a pool of possible sub-patterns of resources based on frequency hopping while taking the transmission rate of the UE into consideration. In addition, the enhanced mechanism can avoid delays and potential errors caused by exchanging signaling with the AP for each transmission, and eventually opting for reduced resources for transmitting its payload and therefore reducing energy consumption and lowering the potential interferences.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example network environment in which example embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented. The network system 100 includes a first device 110 (hereinafter which may be also referred to as a UE 110) , second devices 120 and 130 (hereinafter which may be also referred to as APs or

network devices

120 and 130 respectively) , and a jammer 140.

As shown in FIG. 1, the first device 110 is located within a cell 102 of the second device 120, and served by the second device 120. The first device 110 is close to the edge of a neighbor cell 104 of the second device 130, and thus inter-cell interference may exist. In addition, there may be also interference from the jammer 140.

For the sake of frequency and interference diversity, channel hopping may be used for transmissions in the network system 100. Specifically, each transmission unit may be mapped to a different frequency channel, and the total duration of multiple transmission units is significantly lower than the target latency. It should be understood that a packet can be repeated over multiple transmission units, or eventually coded across them.

The second device 120 may define a root pattern of resources allocated for the data transmissions from the first device and a pool of possible sub-patterns of resources based on frequency hopping. Each possible sub-pattern of resources may include a corresponding fractional part of the root pattern of resources in frequency domain, which will be discussed in details below.

In some example embodiments, upon a connection is established between the first device 110 and the second device 120, the second device 120 may transmit a message indicating resources allocated for data transmission from the first device 110. The resources may include one or more of the root patterns of resources and a group of sub-patterns of resources.

In some example embodiments, the message may include at least one indicator of the at least one of the root pattern of resources and the group of sub-patterns of resources, additionally or alternatively, a rule for determining the root pattern of resources and the group of sub-patterns of resources. For example, the rule may include a seed and an algorithm used for generating a pseudo-random sequence, and in this case, the root pattern may be obtained as the pseudo-random sequence spanning several packet transmissions.

The first device 110 may determine a first pattern of resources to be used for UL transmissions by applying frequency hopping over the allocated resources. In some example embodiments, the first device 110 may determine the first pattern of resources based on the channel condition and/or channel state. By way of example, the first device 110 may measure at least one reference signal from the second device 120, and determine the first pattern of resources based on the measurement result. If the signal quality is good enough, a relatively higher amount of resources, for example, the root pattern of resources may not be needed. In this case, the first device 110 may select a sub-pattern of resources that includes a lower amount of resources in frequency domain as the first pattern of resources. Otherwise, if the signal quality is poor, the first device 110 may select a sub-pattern of resources that includes a higher amount of resources in frequency domain or the root pattern of resources as the first pattern of resources.

For another example, the first device 110 may perform sensing on the channel between the first device 110 and the second device, and determine the first pattern of resources based on the sensing result. If the channel is not busy based on the sensing result, a relatively higher amount of resources, for example, the root pattern of resources may not be needed. In this case, the first device 110 may select a sub-pattern of resources that includes a lower amount of resources in frequency domain as the first pattern of resources. Otherwise, if the channel is busy, the first device 110 may select a sub-pattern of resources that includes a higher amount of resources in frequency domain or the root pattern of resources as the first pattern of resources.

In addition, the first device 110 may support link adaptation techniques for adapting the transmission mode to the average or instantaneous channel conditions. The transmission mode may include various modulation and coding schemes and/or bandwidth parts. For example, Adaptive modulation and coding (AMC) relies on the channel quality report to select the MCS to be used according to a target block error rate. The link adaptation technique may improve spectral efficiency, and therefore, in the case of a finite buffer traffic, reduce the potential interferences. As such, the first device 110 may adjust its transmission mode based on the selected first pattern of resources.

For example, in a case that a sub-pattern of resources that includes a lower amount of resources in frequency domain is selected for UL transmission, the first device 110 may adjust to operate at a higher rate (e.g., with a higher order MCS) to transfer a predefined payload within n slots. Otherwise, in a case that a sub-pattern of resources that includes a higher amount of resources in frequency domain or the root pattern of resources is selected for UL transmission, the first device 110 may adjust to operate at a lower rate (e.g., with a lower order MCS) .

It is to be understood that the numbers of first device, second devices, and the jammer are given for the purpose of illustration without suggesting any limitations to the present disclosure. The network system 100 may include any suitable number of devices and/or object adapted for implementing implementations of the present disclosure. Although not shown, it would be appreciated that one or more additional devices may be located in the environment 100.

It should be also understood that, although illustrated as a terminal device, the first device 110 may be other devices than terminal devices. Moreover, although illustrated as a base station, the second device 120 may be a network device other than a base station or a part of a network device.

Depending on the communication technologies, the network system 100 may be a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) network, a Time Division Multiple Address (TDMA) network, a Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) network, an Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) network, a Single Carrier-Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) network or any other. Communications discussed in the network 100 may conform to any suitable standards including, but not limited to, New Radio Access (NR) , Long Term Evolution (LTE) , LTE-Evolution, LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) , Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) , Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) , cdma2000, and Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) and the like. Furthermore, the communications may be performed according to any generation communication protocols either currently known or to be developed in the future. Examples of the communication protocols include, but not limited to, the first generation (1G) , the second generation (2G) , 2.5G, 2.75G, the third generation (3G) , the fourth generation (4G) , 4.5G, the fifth generation (5G) communication protocols. The techniques described herein may be used for the wireless networks and radio technologies mentioned above as well as other wireless networks and radio technologies. For clarity, certain aspects of the techniques are described below for NR in the description below.

Principle and implementations of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to FIGs. 2 to 5. FIG. 2 shows a signaling chart illustrating a process 200 of adaptive resource selection according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the process 200 will be described with reference to FIG. 1. The process 200 may involve the first device 110 and the second device 120.

In the process 200, at step 205, the second device 120 transmits to the first device 110, a message indicating resources allocated for data transmission from the first device 110. The message may be transmitted upon a connection is established between the first device 110 and the second device 120.

In some example embodiments, the resources may include at least one of a root pattern of resources comprising time-frequency resources allocated by the second device 120 for data transmission from the first device 110, and at least a part of the group of sub-patterns of resources. The root pattern of resources and the group of sub-patterns of resources may be predefined by the second device 120, and each of the group of sub-patterns of resources may include a corresponding fractional part of the root pattern of resources in frequency domain.

Reference is now made to FIG. 3, which illustrates schematic diagrams for a tree structure 300 of a root pattern and various sub-patterns of resources according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 3, the second device 120 allocates resources 301 to 304 for the transmission from the first device 110 as a root pattern of resources, denoted by A ₀. In the example shown in FIG. 3, there are four transmissions over 4 time slots, denoted by n=4, and arranged on 4 channels out of 8 available channels.

In addition, there may be a group of sub-patterns of resources, denoted by

and each of the group of sub-patterns of resources comprises a corresponding fractional part of the root pattern A ₀ of resources in frequency domain, where x and y indicate the y-th sub-pattern of the order x associated to the root pattern A ₀, the value of order x is in inverse proportion to the fractional part of the root pattern A ₀ of resources. For example, a sub-pattern

is formed by selecting a fractional part of its allocated channel bandwidth for each entry of the root pattern A ₀, and in this example, the fractional part equals half of the bandwidth. As shown in FIG. 3, the sub-pattern

of resources comprises resources 311 to 314 each equals to half of the resources 301 to 304 in frequency domain. As a consequence, 2 ⁿ sub-patterns can be defined, denoted by a set of

of sub-patterns. In other words, the group of sub-patterns of resources may be determined, from the root pattern A ₀ of resources, based on frequency hopping.

Also, further sub-patterns can be defined for each of the sub-pattern identified in a previous order. In the example shown in FIG. 3, the sub-pattern

comprises resources 321 to 324 formed by selecting half of the bandwidth corresponding to resources 311 to 314 for each entry of the sub-pattern

The division may be further extended in a hierarchical manner as the tree structure 300 shown in FIG. 3. In this example, the sub-pattern

of resources comprises a first fractional part of the root pattern A ₀ of resources in frequency domain, and the first fractional part is half of the entire bandwidth. The sub-pattern

of resources comprises a second fractional part of the root pattern A ₀ of resources in frequency domain, and the second fractional part is a quarter of the entire bandwidth.

In some example embodiments, the message may comprise at least one indicator of at least one of the root pattern of resources and the group of sub-patterns of resources. For example, the message may indicate one or more of the indicators A ₀,

In some example embodiments, to be more robust against malicious attacks like jamming, the root pattern A ₀ may be obtained as pseudo-random sequence spanning several packet transmissions. In this case, the second device 120 may transmit to the first device 110 a seed and an algorithm used for generating a pseudo-random sequence in the message.

At step 210, the first device 110 determines a first pattern of resources by applying frequency hopping over the resources. In some example embodiments, the first pattern of resources may be one of root pattern of resources and the group of sub-patterns of resources. For example, the allocated resources may include both the root pattern A ₀ and the group of sub-patterns

and the first pattern may be determined to be one of A ₀,

In the case that the AP selects and indicates possible sub-patterns to be adopted by the UE, the computational complexity at the UE can be reduced. In this way, the AP is aware of the possible resources where the UL transmissions might be transmitted, and thus blind decoding across all possibilities of resources can be avoided.

Alternatively, in some example embodiments, the message transmitted by the second device 120 may indicate only the root pattern A ₀, and in this case, the first device 110 may determine possible sub-patterns

based on the root pattern A ₀. As such, an overhead of the DL signaling can be reduced. In this case, the UE can autonomously select sub-patterns of different orders based on the measured signal quality level, the estimated channel state, the type and volume of traffic data to be transmitted from the first device 110 to the second device 120 and so on. In the context of the present application, the order of a sub-pattern refers to a level of the sub-pattern relative to the root pattern A ₀, and the higher the order, the lower the fractional part for the sub-pattern in the root pattern A ₀.

Alternatively, in some example embodiments, the message transmitted by the second device 120 may indicate only the sub-patterns

Likewise, the first device 110 may autonomously select one of the sub-patterns

as the first pattern of resources. In this case, the AP directly indicates to the UE the possible sub-patterns rather than the root pattern A ₀. This can happen in case where the channel quality is estimated to be good enough such that the low rate transmission enabled by the root pattern A ₀ is not needed. The UE can always select the sub-pattern with a higher order based on the sub-patterns indicated by the AP.

The first device 110 may determine the first pattern of resources based on a first criterion. The first criterion may be related to a signal quality or a channel state. If the first criterion is met, the first device 110 may determine a first fractional part of the resources in frequency domain to be the first pattern of resources. Otherwise, if the first criterion is not met, the first device 110 may determine a second fractional part of the resources in frequency domain to be the first pattern of resources, and the second fractional part of the resources comprises the first fractional part of the resources.

In some example embodiments, to determine the first pattern of resources, the first device 110 may measure at least one reference signal from the second device 120. The first device 110 may then determine the first pattern of resources based on a measurement result. For example, if the measurement result indicates that the signal quality is good, the first device 110 may select a sub-pattern of resources comprising a lower fractional part of the root pattern A ₀ of resources. Otherwise, if the measurement result indicates that the signal quality is poor, the first device 110 may select a sub-pattern of resources comprising a larger fractional part of the root pattern A ₀ of resources.

In some example embodiments, to determine the first pattern of resources, the first device 110 may perform sensing on the channel between the first device 110 and the second device 120. The first device 110 may determine, based on the sensing result, a channel state indicating whether the channel is busy or idle. The first device 110 may then determine the first pattern of resources adapted to the channel state. For example, if the sensing result indicates that the channel is idle, the first device 110 may select a sub-pattern of resources comprising a lower fractional part of the root pattern A ₀ of resources. Otherwise, if the sensing result indicates that the channel is busy, the first device 110 may select a sub-pattern of resources comprising a larger fractional part of the root pattern A ₀ of resources.

In some example embodiments, the first device 110 may determine the first pattern of resources based on at least one of a type and a volume of traffic data to be transmitted from the first device 110 to the second device 120. For example, if the volume of traffic data to be transmitted exceeds a volume threshold, the first device 110 may select a sub-pattern of resources comprising a larger fractional part of the root pattern A ₀ of resources. Otherwise, if the volume of traffic data to be transmitted is not exceeding the volume threshold, the first device 110 may select a sub-pattern of resources comprising a lower fractional part of the root pattern A ₀ of resources.

In some example embodiments, the second device 120 may also transmit to the first device 110 a rule or a mapping function on how to select a suitable sub-pattern. By way of example, the selection of the sub-pattern may be based on various SNR thresholds. For example, the second device 120 may indicate a first SNR threshold SNR _th, 1 associated with the sub-pattern

and a second SNR threshold SNR _th, 2 associated with the sub-pattern

where the second SNR threshold SNR _th, 2 is greater than the first SNR threshold SNR _th, 1. In this case, if the SNR, denoted by SNR _m, estimated from a signal from the second device 120 is lower or equal than the first SNR threshold SNR _th, 1, that is, SNR _m≤SNR _th, 1, the first device 110 may determine that the signal quality is not enough and the root pattern A ₀ of resources is selected, and if SNR _th, 1<SNR _m<SNR _th, 2, the first device 110 may determine that the signal quality is good, and the sub-pattern

is selected; and if SNR _m≥SNR _th, 2, the first device 110 may determine that the signal quality is enough, and the sub-pattern

is selected.

At step 215, the first device 110 transmits, to the second device 120, a first data transmission using the first pattern of resources and at a transmission mode adapted to the first pattern of resources. The transmission mode may include various MCSs and/or BWPs configured for the first device 110. For example, if the first device 110 selects, at 210, a sub-pattern with a higher order mapped to a lower amount of resources, the first device may transmit the first data transmission at a higher rate (e.g., with a higher order MCS) .

To receive the first data transmission, the second device 120 may decode based on one of the root pattern of resources or the group of sub-patterns of resources. In the embodiments where the second device 120 only indicates the root pattern A ₀ of resources at 205, at step 220, the second device 120 performs blind decoding based on the root pattern A ₀ of resources.

Alternatively, in the embodiments where the second device 120 indicates the root pattern A ₀ of resources as well as the group of sub-patterns of resources at step 205, at step 225, the second device 120 decodes the first data transmission based on at least one of the group of sub-patterns of resources. As mentioned above, in this case, the blind decoding on all the resources can be avoided. In other words, the second device 120 may decode based on the group of sub-patterns.

After the first data transmission is transmitted, at step 230, the first device 110 determines whether a second criterion is met. The second criterion may be related to whether a coming changing of the current pattern of resources used by the first device 110 is to be happened. For example, the first device 110 may estimate the signal quality or channel state to determine whether the second criterion is met.

If the second criterion is not met, the first device 110 may continue to use the first pattern of resources. For example, the first device 110 may transmit, to the second device 120, the subsequent data transmission using the first pattern of resources and at the transmission mode adapted to the first pattern of resources.

If the second criterion is met, at step 235, the first device 110 determines a second pattern of resources for a subsequent data transmission by applying frequency hopping over the allocated resources. The second pattern of resources may be different from the first pattern of resources.

To determine the second pattern of resources, the first device 110 may determine if a signal quality of a signal received from the second device 120 exceeds a first signal quality threshold. If the signal quality exceeds a first signal quality threshold but does not exceed a second signal quality threshold, the first device 110 may determine a third fractional part of the resources in frequency domain to be the second pattern of resources, and the first pattern of resources comprises the third fractional part of the resources.

Otherwise, if the signal quality is not exceeding the first signal quality threshold, the first device 110 may determine a lower order sub-pattern than the first pattern of resources to be the second pattern of resources, for example, a fourth fractional part of the resources in frequency domain. In this example, the fourth fractional part of the resources may comprise the first pattern of resources. In other words, the first pattern of resources can be considered to be a sub-pattern of the second pattern of resources.

In some example embodiments, at step 240, before transmitting the subsequent data transmission, the first device 110 may transmit, to the second device 120, a second data transmission with an indication of the second pattern of resources using the first pattern of resources. As such, the UE can inform the coming change of sub-pattern to the AP, for example, when moving from a low order sub-pattern to a high order sub-pattern. In this case, the AP becomes aware of the exact resources used by the UE, and thus the decoding complexity at the AP can be further reduced. Besides, it allows the AP to reuse the remaining part of the resources not occupied by the UE for scheduling other transmissions, which improves the throughput and resource utilization.

In the above embodiments, at step 245, the second device 120 may determine the second pattern of resources by decoding the second data transmission with the indication using the first pattern of resources.

However, the indication of the coming change of the current pattern from the first device 110 is not necessary for the process 200. In some other embodiments, at step 250, the first device 110 transmits, to the second device 120, the subsequent data transmission on the second pattern of resources and at the transmission mode adapted to the second pattern of resources, without transmission of the indication of the second pattern of resources in advance.

At step 255, the second device 120 receives the subsequent data transmission on the second pattern of resources. Likewise, to receive the subsequent data transmission, the second device 120 may decode based on the second pattern of resources as indicated by the first device 110, or alternatively, perform blind decoding based on all the possible sub-patterns associated with the root pattern A ₀.

It should be understood that the formulas, equations, expressions, algorithms, the number of sub-patterns, etc. described in process 200 are given for illustrative purpose without any limitations. It should be also understood that the entire or only a part of the process 200 can be implemented for more than one time, for example, when the channel condition or state is changed, depending on a type and/or a volume of traffic data to be transmitted between the first device and the second device, and so on.

In the embodiments of the present disclosure, an enhanced resource selection mechanism is provided. According to the mechanism, the UE is capable of autonomously selecting a sub-pattern of resources to be used for each transmission, while avoiding delays and potential errors associated with signaling exchanged with the AP. As such, resources for transmitting the UE’s payload and the energy consumption of the UE can be reduced and therefore the generated interference can be lowered. Moreover, it leaves unaltered the interference robustness offered by the channel hopping capabilities. In this way, the benefits of both resource adaptation and channel hopping can be jointly harvested.

Corresponding to the process described in connection with FIG. 2, embodiments of the present disclosure provide a solution of enhanced resource selection at terminal devices and network devices. These methods will be described below with reference to FIGs. 4 and 5.

FIG. 4 illustrates a flowchart of an example method 400 of adaptive resource selection according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The method 400 can be implemented at a terminal device, for example, the first device 110 as shown in FIG. 1. For the purpose of discussion, the method 400 will be described with reference to FIG. 1.

At 410, the first device 110 receives, from a second device 120, a message indicating resources allocated for data transmission of the first device. In some example embodiments, the message may be received upon the connection is established with the second device 120.

In some example embodiments, the resources may comprise at least one of the following: a root pattern of resources comprising time-frequency resources allocated by the second device 120 for data transmission from the first device 110, and at least a part of a group of sub-patterns of resources. The root pattern of resources may be associated with the group of sub-patterns of resources each comprising a corresponding fractional part of the root pattern of resources in frequency domain.

In some example embodiments, the message may comprise information indicating at least one of the following: at least one indicator of at least one of the root pattern of resources and the group of sub-patterns of resources; and a rule for determining the root pattern of resources and the group of sub-patterns of resources. For example, the rule may include a seed and an algorithm used for generating a pseudo-random sequence, and in this case, the root pattern may be obtained as the pseudo-random sequence spanning several packet transmissions.

At 420, the first device 110 determines a first pattern of resources by applying frequency hopping over the resources.

In some example embodiments, to determine the first pattern of resources, the first device 110 may determine whether a first criterion is met, and the first criterion may be related to, for example, a signal quality or a channel state.

By way of example, the first device 110 may measure at least one reference signal from the second device 120. Alternatively, the first device 110 may perform sensing on a channel between the first device 110 and the second device 120. The first device 110 may determine, based on the sensing result, a channel state indicating whether the channel is busy or idle. The first device 110 may then determine the first pattern of resources adapted to the channel state.

The determination of whether the first criterion is met may be based on a corresponding result of the measuring and sensing.

If the first criterion is met, the first device 110 may determine a first fractional part of the resources in frequency domain to be the first pattern of resources. Otherwise, if the first criterion is not met, the first device 110 may determine a second fractional part of the resources in frequency domain to be the first pattern of resources. The second fractional part of the resources may comprise the first fractional part of the resources.

In some example embodiments, the first pattern of resource may be further determined based on at least one of a type and a volume of traffic data to be transmitted between the first device 110 and the second device 120.

At 430, the first device 110 transmits, to the second device 120, a first data transmission using the first pattern of resources and at a transmission mode adapted to the first pattern of resources. The transmission mode may include one or more MCS and/or BWP configured for the first device 110.

In some example embodiments, the first device 110 may further determine whether a second criterion is met. For example, the second criterion may be related to changing a current pattern of resources.

In the above embodiments, if the first device 110 determines that the second criterion is met, the first device 110 may determine a second pattern of resources for a subsequent data transmission from the first device 110 by applying frequency hopping over the resources. The second pattern of resources may be different from the first pattern of resources and comprises a third fractional part of the resources in frequency domain. The first device 110 may then transmit, to the second device 120, the subsequent data transmission on the second pattern of resources and at the transmission mode adapted to the second pattern of resources.

In the above embodiments, prior to the transmission of the subsequent data transmission, the first device 110 may transmit, to the second device 120, a second data transmission with an indication of the second pattern of resources.

In the above embodiments, if the first device 110 determines that the second criterion is not met, the first device 110 may transmit, to the second device 120, the subsequent data transmission using the first pattern of resources and at the transmission mode adapted to the first pattern of resources.

In some example embodiments, to determine the second pattern of resources, the first device 110 may determine whether a signal quality of a signal received from the second device 120 exceeds a first signal quality threshold. If the signal quality is not exceeding the first signal quality threshold, the first device 110 may select a root pattern of resources as the second pattern of resources. Otherwise, if the signal quality exceeds the first signal quality threshold, the first device 110 may select one of the group of sub-patterns of resources as the second pattern of resources.

In some example embodiments, if the first device 110 determines that the signal quality of a signal received from the second device 120 exceeds the first signal quality threshold but does not exceed a second signal quality threshold that is higher than the first signal quality threshold, the first device 110 may determine a third fractional part of the resources in frequency domain to be the second pattern of resources, and the first pattern of resources comprises the third fractional part of the resources. Otherwise, if the first device 110 determines that the signal quality does not exceed the first signal quality threshold, the first device 110 may determine a fourth fractional part of the resources in frequency domain to be the second pattern of resources, and the fourth fractional part of the resources comprises the first pattern of resources.

It should be understood that the entire or only a part of the method 400 can be implemented at the first device 110 for more than one time, for example, based on the channel state, the type of traffic data, the signal quality and so on.

FIG. 5 illustrates a flowchart of an example method 500 of adaptive resource selection according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The method 500 can be implemented at a network device, such as, the second device 120 as shown in FIG. 1. For the purpose of discussion, the method 500 will be described with reference to FIG. 1.

At 510, the second device 120 transmits, to a first device 110, a message indicating resources allocated for data transmission from the first device 110. In some example embodiments, the message may be transmitted upon the connection is established with the first device 110.

In some example embodiments, the message may comprise information indicating at least one of the following: at least one indicator of the at least one of the root pattern of resources and the group of sub-patterns of resources; and a rule for determining the root pattern of resources and the group of sub-patterns of resources. For example, the rule may include a seed and an algorithm used for generating a pseudo-random sequence, and in this case, the root pattern may be obtained as the pseudo-random sequence spanning several packet transmissions.

At 520, the second device 120 receives, from the first device 110, a first data transmission on a first pattern of resources, and the first pattern of resources is determined by applying frequency hopping over the resources.

In some example embodiments, to receive the first data transmission, the second device 120 may decode based on a root pattern of resources comprising time-frequency resources allocated for data transmission from the first device 110. The root pattern of resources may be associated with a group of sub-patterns of resources each comprising a corresponding fractional part of the root pattern of resources in frequency domain.

In some example embodiments, to receive the first data transmission, the second device 120 may decode based on at least one of the group of sub-patterns of resources.

In some example embodiments, the second device 120 may determine that the first data transmission is received on a first pattern of resources. The second device 120 may receive, from the first device 110, a second data transmission with an indication of a second pattern for a subsequent data transmission from the first device 110 using the first pattern of resources. The second device 120 may then receive, from the first device 110, the subsequent data on the second pattern of resources.

It should be understood that the entire or only a part of the method 500 can be implemented at the second device 120 for more than one time, for example, based on the channel state, the type of traffic data, the signal quality and so on.

In some example embodiments, a first apparatus capable of performing the method 400 (for example, implemented at the UE or the first device 110) may comprise means for performing the respective steps of the method 400. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus comprises: means for receiving, from a second apparatus, a message indicating resources allocated for data transmission of the first apparatus; means for determining a first pattern of resources by applying frequency hopping over the resources; and means for transmitting, to the second apparatus, a first data transmission using the first pattern of resources and at a transmission mode adapted to the first pattern of resources.

In some example embodiments, the resources comprise at least one of the following: a root pattern of resources comprising time-frequency resources allocated by the second apparatus for the data transmission of the first apparatus, the root pattern of resources being associated with a group of sub-patterns of resources each comprising a corresponding fractional part of the root pattern of resources in frequency domain; and at least a part of the group of sub-patterns of resources.

In some example embodiments, the message comprises information indicating at least one of the following: at least one indicator of at least one of the root pattern of resources and the group of sub-patterns of resources; and a rule for determining the root pattern of resources and the group of sub-patterns of resources.

In some example embodiments, the means for determining the first pattern of resources comprises: means for determining whether a first criterion is met, the first criterion being related to a signal quality or a channel state; means for if the first criterion is met, determining a first fractional part of the resources in frequency domain to be the first pattern of resources; and means for if the first criterion is not met, determining a second fractional part of the resources in frequency domain to be the first pattern of resources, the second fractional part of the resources comprises the first fractional part of the resources.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for measuring at least one reference signal from the second apparatus; and means for performing sensing on a channel between the first apparatus and the second apparatus, wherein determining whether the first criterion is met is based on a corresponding result of the measuring and sensing.

In some example embodiments, the first pattern of resource is further determined based on at least one of a type and a volume of traffic data to be transmitted between the first apparatus and the second apparatus.

In some example embodiments, the transmission mode comprises one of a modulation and coding scheme, MCS, and a bandwidth part configured for the first apparatus.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for determining whether a second criterion is met, the second criterion being related to changing a current pattern of resources; means for if the second criterion is met, determining a second pattern of resources for a subsequent data transmission of the first apparatus by applying frequency hopping over the resources, the second pattern of resources being different from the first pattern of resources and comprising a third fractional part of the resources in frequency domain; and means for transmitting, to the second apparatus, the subsequent data transmission on the second pattern of resources and at the transmission mode adapted to the second pattern of resources.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for prior to the transmission of the subsequent data transmission, transmit, to the second apparatus, a second data transmission with an indication of the second pattern of resources.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for if the second criterion is not met, transmitting, to the second apparatus, the subsequent data transmission using the first pattern of resources and at the transmission mode adapted to the first pattern of resources.

In some example embodiments, the means for determining the second pattern of resources comprises: means for if a signal quality of a signal received from the second apparatus is not exceeding a first signal quality threshold, selecting the root pattern of resources as the second pattern of resources; and means for if the signal quality exceeds the first signal quality threshold, selecting one of the group of sub-patterns of resources as the second pattern of resources.

In some example embodiments, the means for determining the second pattern of resources comprises: means for if a signal quality of a signal received from the second apparatus exceeds a first signal quality threshold but does not exceed a second signal quality threshold, determining a third fractional part of the resources in frequency domain to be the second pattern of resources, the first pattern of resources comprises the third fractional part of the resources; and means for if the signal quality is not exceeding the first signal quality threshold, determining a fourth fractional part of the resources in frequency domain to be the second pattern of resources, the fourth fractional part of the resources comprises the first pattern of resources.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus is a terminal device, and the second apparatus is a network device.

In some example embodiments, a second apparatus capable of performing the method 500 (for example, implemented at the gNB or the second device 120) may comprise means for performing the respective steps of the method 500. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module.

In some example embodiments, the second apparatus comprises: means for transmitting, to a first apparatus, a message indicating resources allocated for data transmission of the first apparatus; and means for receiving, from the first apparatus, a first data transmission on a first pattern of resources, the first pattern of resources being determined by applying frequency hopping over the resources.

In some example embodiments, the means for receiving the first data transmission comprises one of the following: means for decoding the first data transmission based on a root pattern of resources comprising time-frequency resources allocated for the data transmission of the first apparatus, the root pattern of resources being associated with a group of sub-patterns of resources each comprising a corresponding fractional part of the root pattern of resources in frequency domain; and means for decoding the first data transmission based on at least one of the group of sub-patterns of resources.

In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises: means for determining that the first data transmission is received on a first pattern of resources; means for receiving, from the first apparatus, a second data transmission with an indication of a second pattern for a subsequent data transmission of the first apparatus by using the first pattern of resources; means for receiving, from the first apparatus, the subsequent data on the second pattern of resources.

FIG. 6 is a simplified block diagram of a device 600 that is suitable for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure. The device 600 may be provided to implement the communication device, for example the first device 110 and the second device 120 as shown in FIG. 1. As shown, the device 600 includes one or more processors 610, one or more memories 620 coupled to the processor 610, and one or more transmitters and/or receivers (TX/RX) 640 coupled to the processor 610.

The TX/RX 640 may be configured for bidirectional communications. The TX/RX 640 has at least one antenna to facilitate communication. The communication interface may represent any interface that is necessary for communication with other network elements.

The processor 610 may be of any type suitable to the local technical network and may include one or more of the following: general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs) and processors based on multicore processor architecture, as non-limiting examples. The device 600 may have multiple processors, such as an application specific integrated circuit chip that is slaved in time to a clock which synchronizes the main processor.

The memory 620 may include one or more non-volatile memories and one or more volatile memories. Examples of the non-volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a Read Only Memory (ROM) 624, an electrically programmable read only memory (EPROM) , a flash memory, a hard disk, a compact disc (CD) , a digital video disk (DVD) , and other magnetic storage and/or optical storage media. Examples of the volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a random access memory (RAM) 622 and other volatile memories that will not last in the power-down duration.

A computer program 630 includes computer executable instructions that may be executed by the associated processor 610. The program 630 may be stored in the ROM 624. The processor 610 may perform any suitable actions and processing by loading the program 630 into the RAM 622.

The embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by means of the program 630 so that the device 600 may perform any process of the disclosure as discussed with reference to FIGs. 2 to 5. The embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented by hardware or by a combination of software and hardware.

In some embodiments, the program 630 may be tangibly contained in a computer readable medium which may be included in the device 600 (such as in the memory 620) or other storage devices that are accessible by the device 600. The device 600 may load the program 630 from the computer readable medium to the RAM 622 for execution. The computer readable medium may include any types of tangible non-volatile storage, such as ROM, EPROM, a flash memory, a hard disk, CD, DVD, and the like. FIG. 7 shows an example of the computer readable medium 700 in form of CD or DVD. The computer readable medium has the program 630 stored thereon.

Various embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic or any combination thereof. Some aspects may be implemented in hardware, while other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software which may be executed by a controller, microprocessor or other computing device. While various aspects of embodiments of the present disclosure are illustrated and described as block diagrams, flowcharts, or using some other pictorial representations. It is to be understood that the block, device, system, technique or method described herein may be implemented in, as non-limiting examples, hardware, software, firmware, special purpose circuits or logic, general purpose hardware or controller or other computing devices, or some combination thereof.

The present disclosure also provides at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a non-transitory computer readable storage medium. The computer program product includes computer-executable instructions, such as those included in program modules, being executed in a device on a target real or virtual processor, to carry out the

methods

400 and 500 as described above with reference to FIGs. 4-5. Generally, program modules may include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, or the like that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The functionality of the program modules may be combined or split between program modules as desired in various embodiments. Machine-executable instructions for program modules may be executed within a local or distributed device. In a distributed device, program modules may be located in both local and remote storage media.

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

In the context of the present disclosure, the computer program codes or related data may be carried by any suitable carrier to enable the device, device or processor to perform various processes and operations as described above. Examples of the carrier include a signal, computer readable medium, and the like.

The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readable medium may include but not limited to an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, device, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples of the computer readable storage medium would include an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM) , a read-only memory (ROM) , an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory) , an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) , an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

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

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

Claims

A first device, comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program codes;

the at least one memory and the computer program codes are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the first device at least to:

receive, from a second device, a message indicating resources allocated for data transmission from the first device;

determine a first pattern of resources by applying frequency hopping over the resources; and

transmit, to the second device, a first data transmission using the first pattern of resources and at a transmission mode adapted to the first pattern of resources.
The first device of Claim 1, wherein the resources comprise at least one of the following:

a root pattern of resources comprising time-frequency resources allocated by the second device for the data transmission from the first device, the root pattern of resources being associated with a group of sub-patterns of resources each comprising a corresponding fractional part of the root pattern of resources in frequency domain; and

at least a part of the group of sub-patterns of resources.
The first device of Claim 2, wherein the message comprises information indicating at least one of the following:

at least one indicator of at least one of the root pattern of resources and the group of sub-patterns of resources; and

a rule for determining the root pattern of resources and the group of sub-patterns of resources.
The first device of Claim 1, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program codes are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the first device to determine the first pattern of resources by:

determining whether a first criterion is met, the first criterion being related to a signal quality or a channel state;

if the first criterion is met, determining a first fractional part of the resources in frequency domain to be the first pattern of resources; and

if the first criterion is not met, determining a second fractional part of the resources in frequency domain to be the first pattern of resources, the second fractional part of the resources comprises the first fractional part of the resources.
The first device of Claim 4, wherein at least one memory and the computer program codes are configured to, with the at least one processor, further cause the first device to perform one of the following:

measuring at least one reference signal from the second device; and

performing sensing on a channel between the first device and the second device,

wherein determining whether the first criterion is met is based on a corresponding result of the measuring and sensing.
The first device of Claim 1, wherein the first pattern of resource is further determined based on at least one of a type and a volume of traffic data to be transmitted between the first device and the second device.
The first device of Claim 1, wherein the transmission mode comprises one of a modulation and coding scheme, MCS, and a bandwidth part configured for the first device.
The first device of Claim 2, wherein at least one memory and the computer program codes are configured to, with the at least one processor, further cause the first device to:

determine whether a second criterion is met, the second criterion being related to changing a current pattern of resources;

if the second criterion is met, determine a second pattern of resources for a subsequent data transmission from the first device by applying frequency hopping over the resources, the second pattern of resources being different from the first pattern of resources and comprising a third fractional part of the resources in frequency domain; and

transmit, to the second device, the subsequent data transmission on the second pattern of resources and at the transmission mode adapted to the second pattern of resources.
The first device of Claim 8, wherein at least one memory and the computer program codes are configured to, with the at least one processor, further cause the first device to:

prior to the transmission of the subsequent data transmission, transmit, to the second device, a second data transmission with an indication of the second pattern of resources.
The first device of Claim 8, wherein at least one memory and the computer program codes are configured to, with the at least one processor, further cause the first device to:

if the second criterion is not met, transmit, to the second device, the subsequent data transmission using the first pattern of resources and at the transmission mode adapted to the first pattern of resources.
The first device of Claim 8, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program codes are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the first device to determine the second pattern of resources by:

if signal quality of a signal received from the second device is not exceeding a first signal quality threshold, selecting the root pattern of resources as the second pattern of resources; and

if the signal quality exceeds the first signal quality threshold, selecting one of the group of sub-patterns of resources as the second pattern of resources.
The first device of Claim 8, wherein at least one memory and the computer program codes are configured to, with the at least one processor, further cause the first device to determine the second pattern of resources by:

if signal quality of a signal received from the second device exceeds a first signal quality threshold but not exceeds a second signal quality threshold, determining a third fractional part of the resources in frequency domain to be the second pattern of resources, the first pattern of resources comprising the third fractional part of the resources ; and

if the signal quality is not exceeding the first signal quality threshold, determining a fourth fractional part of the resources in frequency domain to be the second pattern of resources, the fourth fractional part of the resources comprising the first pattern of resources.
The first device of Claim 1, wherein the first device comprises a terminal device, and the second device comprises a network device.
A second device, comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program codes;

the at least one memory and the computer program codes are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the second device at least to:

transmit, to a first device, a message indicating resources allocated for data transmission from the first device; and

receive, from the first device, a first data transmission using a first pattern of resources, the first pattern of resources being determined by applying frequency hopping over the resources.
The second device of Claim 14, wherein the resources comprise at least one of the following:

a root pattern of resources comprising time-frequency resources allocated by the second device for the data transmission from the first device, the root pattern of resources being associated with a group of sub-patterns of resources each comprising a corresponding fractional part of the root pattern of resources in frequency domain; and

at least a part of the group of sub-patterns of resources.
The second device of Claim 15, wherein the message comprises information indicating at least one of the following:

at least one indicator of at least one of the root pattern of resources and the group of sub-patterns of resources; and

a rule for determining the root pattern of resources and the group of sub-patterns of resources.
The second device of Claim 14, wherein at least one memory and the computer program codes are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the second device to receive the first data transmission by one of the following:

receiving the first data transmission based on a root pattern of resources comprising time-frequency resources allocated for the data transmission from the first device, the root pattern of resources being associated with a group of sub-patterns of resources each comprising a corresponding fractional part of the root pattern of resources in frequency domain; and

decoding the first data transmission based on at least one of the group of sub-patterns of resources.
The second device of Claim 14, wherein at least one memory and the computer program codes are configured to, with the at least one processor, further cause the second device to:

determine that the first data transmission is received using a first pattern of resources;

receive, from the first device, a second data transmission with an indication of a second pattern for a subsequent data transmission from the first device, using the first pattern of resources; and

receive, from the first device, the subsequent data using the second pattern of resources.
The second device of Claim 14, wherein the first device comprises a terminal device, and the second device comprises a network device.
A method comprising:

receiving, at a first device and from a second device, a message indicating resources allocated for data transmission from the first device;

determining a first pattern of resources by applying frequency hopping over the resources; and

transmitting, to the second device, a first data transmission using the first pattern of resources and at a transmission mode adapted to the first pattern of resources.
A method comprising:

transmitting, at a second device and to a first device, a message indicating resources allocated for data transmission from the first device; and

receiving, from the first device, a first data transmission using a first pattern of resources, the first pattern of resources being determined by applying frequency hopping over the resources.
A first apparatus comprising:

means for receiving, at the first apparatus and from a second apparatus, a message indicating resources allocated for data transmission from the first apparatus;

means for determining a first pattern of resources by applying frequency hopping over the resources; and

means for transmitting, to the second apparatus, a first data transmission using the first pattern of resources and at a transmission mode adapted to the first pattern of resources.
A second apparatus comprising:

means for transmitting, at the second apparatus and to a first apparatus, a message indicating resources allocated for data transmission from the first apparatus; and

means for receiving, from the first apparatus, a first data transmission using a first pattern of resources, the first pattern of resources being determined by applying frequency hopping over the resources.
A computer readable medium comprising program instructions for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method of Claim 20 or 21.