阅读说明：本技术 用于传输功率控制的装置和方法 (Apparatus and method for transmission power control ) 是由 林晖闵 于 2020-03-16 设计创作，主要内容包括：提供了用于传输功率控制的装置和方法,该装置和方法能够提供良好的通信性能和高可靠性。用于第一用户设备(UE)的传输功率控制的方法包括向第二UE发送触发信令以请求第二UE报告侧行链路-参考信号接收功率(SL-RSRP)测量结果,从第二UE接收SL-RSRP测量报告,并根据所报告的SL-RSRP测量结果估计第一UE和第二UE之间的路径损耗。(An apparatus and method for transmission power control are provided, which are capable of providing good communication performance and high reliability. A method for transmission power control of a first User Equipment (UE) includes sending trigger signaling to a second UE to request the second UE to report a sidelink-reference signal received power (SL-RSRP) measurement result, receiving a SL-RSRP measurement report from the second UE, and estimating a path loss between the first UE and the second UE according to the reported SL-RSRP measurement result.)

1. A first user equipment, UE, for transmission power control, comprising:

a memory;

a transceiver; and

a processor coupled to the memory and the transceiver;

wherein the processor is configured to:

controlling the transceiver to send a trigger signaling to a second UE to request the second UE to report a sidelink-reference signal received power (SL-RSRP) measurement result;

control the transceiver to receive a SL-RSRP measurement report from the second UE; and

estimating a path loss between the first UE and the second UE according to the reported SL-RSRP measurement results.

2. The first user equipment of claim 1, wherein the trigger signaling indicates a SL-RSRP measurement reporting interval or a reporting slot number.

3. A first user equipment according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the triggering signaling for the SL-RSRP measurement report is part of sidelink control information, SCI, to be encoded and transmitted in physical sidelink control channel, PSCCH, signaling or radio resource control, RRC, signaling.

4. The first user equipment according to any of claims 1 to 3, wherein the transceiver is further configured to transmit a demodulation reference signal, DMRS, of a physical side uplink shared channel, PSSCH, to the second UE for the purpose of SL-RSRP measurement at the second UE.

5. The first user equipment of any of claims 1-4, wherein the transceiver is further configured to receive the SL-RSRP measurement report from the second UE over the PSSCH.

6. The first user equipment of any of claims 1-5, wherein the pathloss between the first UE and the second UE is estimated from a reference SL transmission power level used for transmission of the PSSCH from the first UE to the second UE.

7. The first user equipment of any of claims 1 to 5, wherein the path loss between the first UE and the second UE is estimated by performing the following calculation: the path loss between the first UE and the second UE is equal to a reference SL transmission power level used for transmission of the PSSCH from the first UE to the second UE minus the reported SL-RSRP measurement.

8. The first user equipment of any of claims 1-7, wherein the processor is further configured to determine a new SL transmission power level for transmitting the PSSCH from the first UE to the second UE.

9. The first user equipment of claim 8, wherein the new SL transmission power level is determined from at least one of an estimated pathloss value, a modulation and coding scheme, MCS, level, allocation of frequency resource blocks, RBs, size of frequency RBs, and a packet transport block, TB, size.

10. The first user equipment of any of claims 1 to 9, wherein the reported SL-RSRP measurement comprises a measured SL-RSRP level, and the measured SL-RSRP level is averaged via layer three filtering.

11. A method for transmission power control of a first user equipment, UE, comprising:

sending a trigger signaling to a second UE to request the second UE to report a sidelink-reference signal received power (SL-RSRP) measurement result;

receiving a SL-RSRP measurement report from the second UE; and

estimating a path loss between the first UE and the second UE according to the reported SL-RSRP measurement results.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the trigger signaling indicates a SL-RSRP measurement reporting interval or a reporting slot number.

13. The method according to claim 11 or 12, wherein the trigger signaling for the SL-RSRP measurement report is part of sidelink control information SCI to be encoded and transmitted in physical sidelink control channel PSCCH signaling or radio resource control RRC signaling.

14. The method according to any of claims 11 to 13, further comprising transmitting a demodulation reference signal, DMRS, of a physical sidelink shared channel, PSSCH to the second UE for the purpose of SL-RSRP measurement at the second UE.

15. The method of any of claims 11 to 14, further comprising receiving the SL-RSRP measurement report from the second UE over the PSSCH.

16. The method of any of claims 11 to 15, wherein the pathloss between the first UE and the second UE is estimated from a reference SL transmission power level used for transmitting the PSSCH from the first UE to the second UE.

17. The method of any of claims 11 to 15, wherein the path loss between the first UE and the second UE is estimated by performing the following calculation: the path loss between the first UE and the second UE is equal to a reference SL transmission power level used for transmission of the PSSCH from the first UE to the second UE minus the reported SL-RSRP measurement.

18. The method of any of claims 11 to 17, further comprising determining a new SL transmission power level for transmitting the PSSCH from the first UE to the second UE.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the new SL transmission power level is determined according to at least one of an estimated pathloss value, a modulation and coding scheme, MCS, level, allocation of frequency resource blocks, RBs, size of frequency RBs, and a packet transport block, TB, size.

20. The method of any of claims 11 to 19, wherein the reported SL-RSRP measurement comprises a measured SL-RSRP level, and the measured SL-RSRP level is averaged via layer three filtering.

21. A second user equipment, UE, for transmission power control, comprising:

a memory;

a transceiver; and

a processor coupled to the memory and the transceiver;

wherein the processor is configured to:

triggering by a trigger signal received from a first UE to control the transceiver to report a sidelink-reference signal received power, SL-RSRP, measurement report; and

control the transceiver to report the SL-RSRP measurement to the first UE.

22. A second user equipment according to claim 21, wherein the trigger signalling indicates a SL-RSRP measurement reporting interval or a reporting slot number.

23. A second user equipment according to claim 21 or 22, wherein the triggering signalling for the SL-RSRP measurement report is part of sidelink control information, SCI, to be encoded and transmitted in physical sidelink control channel, PSCCH, signalling or radio resource control, RRC, signalling.

24. A second user equipment according to any of claims 21 to 23, wherein for the purpose of SL-RSRP measurement at the second UE, the transceiver is further configured to receive a demodulation reference signal, DMRS, of a physical side uplink shared channel, psch from the first UE, and the second UE is configured to perform the SL-RSRP measurement based on the transmitted DMRS of the psch.

25. A second user equipment according to any of claims 21 to 24, wherein the transceiver is further configured to transmit the SL-RSRP measurement report to the first UE over the PSSCH.

26. A second user equipment according to any of claims 21 to 25, wherein a path loss between the first UE and the second UE is estimated from at least one of the SL-RSRP measurement and a reference SL transmission power level used for transmission of the psch from the first UE to the second UE.

27. The second user equipment according to any of claims 21 to 25, wherein the path loss between the first UE and the second UE is estimated by performing the following calculation: the path loss between the first UE and the second UE is equal to a reference SL transmission power level used for transmission of the PSSCH from the first UE to the second UE minus the received SL-RSRP measurement report.

28. A second user equipment as claimed in any of claims 21 to 27, wherein the reported SL-RSRP measurement comprises a measured SL-RSRP level and the measured SL-RSRP level is averaged via layer three filtering.

29. A method for transmission power control of a second user equipment, UE, comprising:

triggered by trigger signaling received from the first UE to report sidelink-reference signal received power, SL-RSRP, measurement results;

reporting the SL-RSRP measurement to the first UE.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the trigger signaling indicates a SL-RSRP measurement reporting interval or a reporting slot number.

31. The method according to claim 29 or 30, wherein the trigger signaling for the SL-RSRP measurement report is part of sidelink control information SCI to be encoded and transmitted in physical sidelink control channel PSCCH signaling or radio resource control RRC signaling.

32. The method of any of claims 29 to 31, further comprising receiving a demodulation reference signal, DMRS, of a physical side downlink shared channel, PSSCH from the first UE for purposes of SL-RSRP measurement at the second UE, and the second UE being configured to perform the SL-RSRP measurement based on the transmitted DMRS of the PSSCH.

33. The method of any of claims 29 to 32, further comprising transmitting the SL-RSRP measurement report to the first UE over the PSSCH.

34. The method of any of claims 29 to 33, wherein a path loss between the first user equipment and the second user equipment is estimated from at least one of the SL-RSRP measurement and a reference SL transmission power level used for transmission of the PSSCH from the first UE to the second UE.

35. The method of any of claims 29 to 33, wherein the path loss between the first UE and the second UE is estimated by performing the following calculation: the path loss between the first UE and the second UE is equal to a reference SL transmission power level used for transmitting the PSSCH from the first UE to the second UE minus a reported SL-RSRP measurement.

36. A method as claimed in any of claims 29 to 34, wherein the reported SL-RSRP measurement comprises a measured SL-RSRP level, and the measured SL-RSRP level is averaged via layer three filtering.

37. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 11-20 and 29-36.

38. A chip, comprising:

a processor configured to invoke and execute a computer program stored in memory to cause a device on which the chip is installed to perform the method of any of claims 11 to 20 and 29 to 36.

39. A computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program, wherein the computer program causes a computer to perform the method of any one of claims 11 to 20 and 29 to 36.

40. A computer program product comprising a computer program, wherein the computer program causes a computer to perform the method of any one of claims 11 to 20 and 29 to 36.

41. A computer program, wherein the computer program causes a computer to perform the method of any one of claims 11 to 20 and 29 to 36.

2. Description of the related Art

In current Long Term Evolution (LTE) Sidelink (SL) device-to-device (D2D) and vehicle-to-vehicle (V2X) communications, the transmitting User Equipment (UE) often uses the maximum allowed output power for transmitting SL signals and channels in order to reach as large a wireless coverage area as possible to support mission critical services and road safety applications, while ensuring that high reliability of the wireless SL communication connection is maintained within a given required distance range. Also, for these types of applications and services, higher UE power levels are also defined in the third generation partnership project (3GPP) to expect the UE to transmit at even higher output power levels.

While the operating principle of always using the maximum available output power may be traditionally applicable to the target use cases and services, it imposes a considerable burden on UE battery consumption, especially for portable devices such as tablet computers, smart phones, augmented reality/virtual reality (AR/VR) glasses, laptop computers, etc., when the wireless SL communication technology is used for commercial services. Even for mission critical applications and V2X services, UEs with limited power supplies, such as portable communication devices carried by emergency personnel and pedestrian UEs, are often deployed in the field. Furthermore, for some enhanced V2X use cases, large wireless SL signal coverage may be less critical when the target V2X communication range is only shared between cars that are close to each other, e.g., autonomous driving and sensors. If the output power of the UE for SL transmission can be reduced, not only can the UE battery power be saved, but also the interference it causes to surrounding UEs can be limited and thus the overall system performance is improved.

Therefore, there is a need for an apparatus and method for transmission power control that can provide good communication performance and high reliability.

SUMMARY

An object of the present disclosure is to propose an apparatus and method for transmission power control, which can provide good communication performance and high reliability.

In a first aspect of the disclosure, a first user equipment for transmission power control includes a memory, a transceiver, and a processor coupled to the memory and the transceiver. The processor is configured to control the transceiver to send trigger signaling to the second UE to request the second UE to report a sidelink-reference signal received power (SL-RSRP) measurement result, to receive a SL-RSRP measurement report from the second UE, and to estimate a path loss between the first UE and the second UE from the reported SL-RSRP measurement result.

In a second aspect of the disclosure, a method for transmission power control of a first user equipment comprises: sending trigger signaling to the second UE to request the second UE to report a sidelink-reference signal received power (SL-RSRP) measurement result; receiving a SL-RSRP measurement report from a second UE; and estimating a path loss between the first UE and the second UE from the reported SL-RSRP measurement.

In a third aspect of the disclosure, a second user equipment for transmission power control includes a memory, a transceiver, and a processor coupled to the memory and the transceiver. The processor is configured to be triggered by trigger signaling received from the first UE to control the transceiver to report a sidelink-reference signal received power (SL-RSRP) measurement and to control the transceiver to report the SL-RSRP measurement to the first UE.

In a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, a method for transmission power control of a second user equipment comprises: triggered by trigger signaling received from the first UE to report a sidelink-reference signal received power (SL-RSRP) measurement, and to report the SL-RSRP measurement to the first UE.

In a fifth aspect of the disclosure, a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium has instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform the above-described method.

In a sixth aspect of the disclosure, a terminal device includes a processor and a memory configured to store a computer program. The processor is configured to execute a computer program stored in the memory to perform the above-described method.

In a seventh aspect of the disclosure, a base station comprises a processor and a memory configured to store a computer program. The processor is configured to execute a computer program stored in the memory to perform the above-described method.

In an eighth aspect of the disclosure, a chip comprises a processor configured to call and run a computer program stored in a memory to cause a device in which the chip is installed to perform the above-described method.

In a ninth aspect of the present disclosure, a computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program causes a computer to execute the above-described method.

In a tenth aspect of the disclosure, the computer program product comprises a computer program, and the computer program causes a computer to perform the above method.

In an eleventh aspect of the present disclosure, a computer program causes a computer to execute the above-described method.

Brief Description of Drawings

In order to more clearly explain embodiments of the present disclosure or related art, the following drawings, which will be described in the embodiments, are briefly introduced. It is apparent that the drawings are merely some embodiments of the disclosure and that one of ordinary skill in the art can derive other drawings from these drawings without making a prerequisite.

Fig. 1 is a block diagram of a first User Equipment (UE) and a second user equipment for transmission power control in a communication network system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a method for transmission power control of a first user equipment according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a method for transmission power control of a second user equipment according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a method of controlling UE transmission power in New Radio (NR) side downlink communication according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 5 is an exemplary illustration of the proposed method of UE power control for NR side downlink communication involving a first UE for transmission, path loss estimation and application of a new transmission power level and a second UE for receiving power measurements and providing feedback reports according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 6 is a block diagram of a system for wireless communication in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Detailed description of the embodiments

Embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the following drawings using technical subjects, structural features, achieved objects, and effects. In particular, the terminology in the embodiments of the present disclosure is for the purpose of describing certain embodiments only, and is not intended to limit the present disclosure.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, receiving User Equipment (UE) measurements and feedback are provided to control the output power of a transmitting UE for Sidelink (SL) data transmission to address the above-described problems of UE battery power consumption and unnecessary interference to surrounding UEs. Benefits of employing the proposed power control method for wireless SL transmission of some embodiments include:

1. battery power of the portable UE device is saved and this will result in longer device runtime.

2. Interference to other surrounding nearby UEs is minimized, resulting in better SL system performance and more radio frequency reuse in more areas.

3. Interference to the cellular Uplink (UL) Base Station (BS) receiver is minimized and cellular performance is better in the UL direction.

SL transmission parameters are better adapted to the radio channel environment and this will make SL data transmission more reliable, radio resource utilization better, data throughput increased and data transmission delay possibly shorter.

Fig. 1 illustrates that in some embodiments, a first User Equipment (UE)10 and a second UE20 for transmission power control in a communication network system 30 are provided according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The communication network system 30 includes a first UE 10 and a second UE 20. The first UE 10 may include a memory 12, a transceiver 13, and a processor 11 coupled to the memory 12 and the transceiver 13. The second UE20 may include a memory 22, a transceiver 23, and a processor 21 coupled to the memory 22 and the transceiver 23. The processor 11 or 21 may be configured to implement the proposed functions, processes and/or methods described in this specification. The layers of the radio interface protocol may be implemented in the processor 11 or 21. The memory 12 or 22 is operatively coupled with the processor 11 or 21 and stores various information to operate the processor 11 or 21. The transceiver 13 or 23 is operatively coupled with the processor 11 or 21 and transmits and/or receives radio signals.

The processor 11 or 21 may comprise an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), other chipset, logic circuit and/or data processing device. The memory 12 or 22 may include Read Only Memory (ROM), Random Access Memory (RAM), flash memory, memory cards, storage media, and/or other storage devices. The transceiver 13 or 23 may include a baseband circuit to process radio frequency signals. When an embodiment is implemented in software, the techniques described herein may be implemented with modules (e.g., procedures, functions, and so on) that perform the functions described herein. These modules may be stored in memory 12 or 22 and executed by processor 11 or 21. The memory 12 or 22 may be implemented within the processor 11 or 21 or external to the processor 11 or 21, in which case the memory 12 or 22 may be communicatively coupled to the processor 11 or 21 via various means as is known in the art.

According to sidelink technologies developed under third generation partnership project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE) and New Radio (NR) release 16 and beyond, communication between UEs involves vehicle-to-vehicle (V2X) communication, where V2X includes vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P), and vehicle-to-infrastructure/network (V2I/N). The UEs communicate directly with each other via a sidelink interface, such as the PC5 interface. Some embodiments of the present disclosure relate to sidelink communication techniques in 3GPP NR release 16 and beyond.

In some embodiments, processor 11 is configured to control transceiver 13 to send trigger signaling to second UE20 to request second UE20 to report a sidelink-reference signal received power (SL-RSRP) measurement result, control transceiver 13 to receive a SL-RSRP measurement report from second UE20, and estimate a path loss between first UE 10 and second UE20 from the reported SL-RSRP measurement result. Benefits of employing the proposed power control method for wireless SL transmission of some embodiments include: 1. battery power of the portable UE device is saved and this will result in longer device runtime. 2. Interference to other surrounding nearby UEs is minimized, resulting in better SL system performance and more radio frequency reuse in more areas. 3. Interference to the cellular Uplink (UL) Base Station (BS) receiver is minimized and cellular performance is better in the UL direction. SL transmission parameters are better adapted to the radio channel environment and this will make SL data transmission more reliable, radio resource utilization better, data throughput increased and data transmission delay possibly shorter.

In some embodiments, the trigger signaling indicates a SL-RSRP measurement reporting interval or a reporting slot number. In some embodiments, the trigger signaling for SL-RSRP measurement reporting is part of the Sidelink Control Information (SCI), which will be encoded and transmitted in the Physical Sidelink Control Channel (PSCCH) signaling or Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling. In some embodiments, for purposes of SL-RSRP measurement at the second UE20, the transceiver 13 is further configured to transmit a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) of a physical side downlink shared channel (pscch) to the second UE20, and the second UE20 is configured to perform the SL-RSRP measurement based on the transmitted DMRS of the pscch.

In some embodiments, the trigger signaling includes a SL-RSRP measurement period or slot number as part of the Sidelink Control Information (SCI), which is to be encoded and transmitted in the Physical Sidelink Control Channel (PSCCH). In some embodiments, the transceiver 13 is further configured to transmit a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) of the psch to the second UE20, and the processor 11 is configured to request the second UE20 to measure the SL-RSRP measurement results according to the DMRS of the psch. In some embodiments, the transceiver 13 is further configured to receive a SL-RSRP measurement report from the second UE20 over the PSSCH.

In some embodiments, the path loss between the first UE 10 and the second UE20 is estimated from a reference SL transmission power level used to transmit the psch from the first UE 10 to the second UE 20. In some embodiments, the path loss between the first UE 10 and the second UE20 is estimated by performing the following calculation: the path loss between the first UE 10 and the second UE20 is equal to the reference SL transmission power level used to transmit the pscch from the first UE 10 to the second UE20 minus the received SL-RSRP measurement. In some embodiments, the processor 11 is further configured to determine a new SL transmission power level for transmitting the psch from the first UE 10 to the second UE 20. In some embodiments, the new SL transmission power level is determined based on at least one of an estimated pathloss value, a Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) level, an allocation of frequency Resource Blocks (RBs), a size of the frequency RBs, and a packet Transport Block (TB) size. In some embodiments, the reported SL-RSRP measurement includes a measured SL-RSRP level, and the measured SL-RSRP level is averaged via layer three filtering.

In some embodiments, the processor 21 is configured to be triggered by trigger signalling received from the first UE 10 to control the transceiver 23 to report a sidelink-reference signal received power (SL-RSRP) measurement and to control the transceiver 23 to report the SL-RSRP measurement to the first UE 10. Benefits of employing the proposed power control method for wireless SL transmission of some embodiments include: 1. battery power of the portable UE device is saved and this will result in longer device runtime. 2. Interference to other surrounding nearby UEs is minimized, resulting in better SL system performance and more radio frequency reuse in more areas. 3. Interference to the cellular Uplink (UL) Base Station (BS) receiver is minimized and cellular performance is better in the UL direction. SL transmission parameters are better adapted to the radio channel environment and this will make SL data transmission more reliable, radio resource utilization better, data throughput increased and data transmission delay possibly shorter.

In some embodiments, the trigger signaling indicates a SL-RSRP measurement reporting interval or a reporting slot number. In some embodiments, the trigger signaling for SL-RSRP measurement reporting is part of the Sidelink Control Information (SCI), which will be encoded and transmitted in the Physical Sidelink Control Channel (PSCCH) signaling or Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling. In some embodiments, for purposes of SL-RSRP measurement at the second UE20, the transceiver 23 is further configured to receive a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) of a physical side downlink shared channel (pscch) from the first UE 10, and the second UE20 is configured to perform the SL-RSRP measurement based on the DMRS of the transmitted pscch.

In some embodiments, the trigger signaling includes a SL-RSRP measurement period or slot number as part of the Sidelink Control Information (SCI), which is to be encoded and transmitted in the Physical Sidelink Control Channel (PSCCH). In some embodiments, the transceiver 23 is further configured to receive a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) of the PSSCH from the first UE 10, and the processor 21 is configured to measure the SL-RSRP measurement results according to the DMRS of the PSSCH. In some embodiments, the transceiver 23 is further configured to transmit the SL-RSRP measurement report to the first UE 10 over the PSSCH. In some embodiments, the path loss between the first UE 10 and the second UE20 is estimated from at least one of the SL-RSRP measurement and a reference SL transmission power level for transmitting the PSSCH from the first UE 10 to the second UE 20. In some embodiments, the path loss between the first UE 10 and the second UE20 is estimated by performing the following calculation: the path loss between the first UE 10 and the second UE20 is equal to the reference SL transmission power level used to transmit the pscch from the first UE 10 to the second UE20 minus the reported SL-RSRP measurement.

Fig. 2 illustrates a method 200 for transmission power control of a first UE in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. In some embodiments, method 200 includes: block 202, sending a trigger signaling to a second UE to request the second UE to report a sidelink-reference signal received power (SL-RSRP) measurement; block 204, receive a SL-RSRP measurement report from a second UE; and block 206, estimating a path loss between the first UE and the second UE from the reported SL-RSRP measurement. Benefits of employing the proposed power control method for wireless SL transmission of some embodiments include: 1. battery power of the portable UE device is saved and this will result in longer device runtime. 2. Interference to other surrounding nearby UEs is minimized, resulting in better SL system performance and more radio frequency reuse in more areas. 3. Interference to the cellular Uplink (UL) Base Station (BS) receiver is minimized and cellular performance is better in the UL direction. SL transmission parameters are better adapted to the radio channel environment and this will make SL data transmission more reliable, radio resource utilization better, data throughput increased and data transmission delay possibly shorter.

In some embodiments, the trigger signaling indicates a SL-RSRP measurement reporting interval or a reporting slot number. In some embodiments, the trigger signaling for SL-RSRP measurement reporting is part of the Sidelink Control Information (SCI), which will be encoded and transmitted in the Physical Sidelink Control Channel (PSCCH) signaling or Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling. In some embodiments, the method further includes transmitting a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) of a physical side uplink shared channel (PSSCH) to the second UE for the purpose of SL-RSRP measurement at the second UE, and the second UE is configured to perform the SL-RSRP measurement based on the DMRS of the PSSCH.

In some embodiments, the trigger signaling includes a SL-RSRP measurement period or slot number as part of the Sidelink Control Information (SCI), which is to be encoded and transmitted in the Physical Sidelink Control Channel (PSCCH). In some embodiments, the method further includes transmitting a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) of the PSSCH to the second UE, and requesting the second UE to measure the SL-RSRP measurement results according to the DMRS of the PSSCH. In some embodiments, the method further includes receiving a SL-RSRP measurement report from the second UE over the psch.

In some embodiments, the path loss between the first UE and the second UE is estimated from a reference SL transmission power level used to transmit the psch from the first UE to the second UE. In some embodiments, the path loss between the first UE and the second UE is estimated by performing the following calculation: the path loss between the first UE and the second UE is equal to the reference SL transmission power level used to transmit the PSSCH from the first UE to the second UE minus the reported SL-RSRP measurement. In some embodiments, the method further comprises determining a new SL transmission power level for transmitting the psch from the first UE to the second UE. In some embodiments, the new SL transmission power level is determined based on at least one of an estimated pathloss value, a Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) level, an allocation of frequency Resource Blocks (RBs), a size of the frequency RBs, and a packet Transport Block (TB) size. In some embodiments, the reported SL-RSRP measurement includes a measured SL-RSRP level, and the measured SL-RSRP level is averaged via layer three filtering.

Fig. 3 illustrates a method 300 for transmission power control of a second UE in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. In some embodiments, the method 300 includes: block 302, triggered by trigger signaling received from a first UE to report a sidelink-reference signal received power (SL-RSRP) measurement; and block 304, reporting the SL-RSRP measurement to the first UE. Benefits of employing the proposed power control method for wireless SL transmission of some embodiments include: 1. battery power of the portable UE device is saved and this will result in longer device runtime. 2. Interference to other surrounding nearby UEs is minimized, resulting in better SL system performance and more radio frequency reuse in more areas. 3. Interference to the cellular Uplink (UL) Base Station (BS) receiver is minimized and cellular performance is better in the UL direction. SL transmission parameters are better adapted to the radio channel environment and this will make SL data transmission more reliable, radio resource utilization better, data throughput increased and data transmission delay possibly shorter.

In some embodiments, the trigger signaling indicates a SL-RSRP measurement reporting interval or a reporting slot number. In some embodiments, the trigger signaling for SL-RSRP measurement reporting is part of the Sidelink Control Information (SCI), which will be encoded and transmitted in the Physical Sidelink Control Channel (PSCCH) signaling or Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling. In some embodiments, the method further includes receiving a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) of a physical side uplink shared channel (PSSCH) from the first UE for the purpose of SL-RSRP measurement at the second UE, and the second UE is configured to perform the SL-RSRP measurement based on the transmitted DMRS of the PSSCH.

In some embodiments, the trigger signaling includes a SL-RSRP measurement period or slot number as part of the Sidelink Control Information (SCI), which is to be encoded and transmitted in the Physical Sidelink Control Channel (PSCCH). In some embodiments, the method further includes receiving a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) of the psch from the first UE, and measuring the SL-RSRP measurement according to the DMRS of the psch. In some embodiments, the method further comprises transmitting the first RSRP measurement report to the first UE over the psch. In some embodiments, a path loss between the first UE and the second UE is estimated based on at least one of the SL-RSRP measurement and a reference SL transmission power level for transmitting the PSSCH from the first UE to the second UE. In some embodiments, the path loss between the first UE and the second UE is estimated by performing the following calculation: the path loss between the first UE and the second UE is equal to a reference SL transmission power level used to transmit the PSSCH from the first UE to the second UE minus the SL-RSRP measurement.

Fig. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a method of controlling UE transmission power in New Radio (NR) side downlink communication according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Fig. 5 is an exemplary illustration of the proposed method of UE power control for NR side downlink communication involving a first UE for transmission, path loss estimation and application of a new transmission power level and a second UE for receiving power measurements and providing feedback reports according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, referring to diagrams 400 and 500 in fig. 4 and 5, respectively, the proposed method provides: the transmission power of the SL signals and channels of a first UE (sender UE1, Tx-UE1) to at least one second UE (receiver UE2, Rx-UE2) is controlled. Wherein the at least one second UE (recipient UE2, Rx-UE2) is configured to receive SL data from the first UE. The Tx-UE 1504 first reports the sidelink-reference signal received power (SL-RSRP) in operation 402 by triggering the Rx-UE 2505 with an indication of SL-RSRP measurement period/time frame or reporting time slot number as part of the Sidelink Control Information (SCI) to be encoded and transmitted in the PSCCH. The SL-RSRP measurement period/time frame 503 indicated for the Rx-UE 2505 in the SCI may be expressed as the number of NR slots, milliseconds, or the number of psch transmissions from the Tx-UE 1504.

Once Rx-UE 2505 receives the SL-RSRP reporting trigger indicated in the PSCCH SCI in operation 402, Rx-UE 2505 performs measurements of SL-RSRP levels according to the indicated measurement periods/time frames 503. If the timing at which the Rx-UE 2505 may provide the SL-RSRP measurement report is represented as NR (D2D frame number) Direct Frame Number (DFN) or time slot number, the Rx-UE 2505 may perform SL-RSRP measurements on each PSSCH transmitted from Tx-UE 1504 intended for the Rx-UE 2505 in operation 502. If the SL-RSRP measurement period/time frame is represented as a time length duration or number of PSSCH transmissions, Rx-UE 2505 may perform SL-RSRP measurements on each PSSCH transmitted from Tx-UE 1504 during measurement period/time frame 503 intended for Rx-UE 2505 in operation 502.

Further, if Tx-UE 1504 transmits more than one PSSCH intended for Rx-UE 2505 during a measurement period/time frame, Rx-UE 2505 may perform SL-RSRP measurements for each PSSCH transmission and average the multiple measured SL-RSRP levels by means of layer three filtering at operation 502. If there is only one psch transmitted from Tx-UE 1504 intended for Rx-UE 2505 during measurement period/time frame 503, Rx-UE 2505 may perform SL-RSRP measurements on only that transmitted psch intended for its use and no layer three filtering or averaging is applied.

Further, Rx-UE 2505 may assume a constant transmit power imposed on all pscch transmissions from Tx-UE 1504 intended for it after the SL-RSRP reporting trigger of operation 402 and during measurement period/time frame 503. Further, the Rx-UE 2505 may perform measurement of SL-RSRP levels based on a demodulation reference signal (DMRS)501 of the PSSCH transmitted from the Tx-UE 1504. Finally, it is not necessary to indicate the actual transmission power used for transmission of the pscch and/or DMRS from Tx-UE 1504 for the purpose of SL power control for SL-RSRP measurements.

After the indicated SL-RSRP measurement period/time frame, the Rx-UE 2505 may report/feed back its measured and (if applicable) filtered final SL-RSRP level to the Tx-UE 1504 through its own PSSCH transmission at operation 404. If during SL-RSRP reporting Rx-UE 2505 has SL data Transport Blocks (TBs) that will be transmitted to Tx-UE 1504 in the same time slot or subframe, the final SL-RSRP level will be transmitted along with the PSSCH in the PSSCH region of the SL transmission, but not encoded as part of the PSSCH. If during the SL-RSRP reporting Rx-UE 2505 also does not have SL data Transport Blocks (TBs) to be transmitted to Tx-UE 1504 in the same time slot or subframe, the final SL-RSRP level in this case will be coded according to PSSCH and transmitted to Tx-UE 1504.

Once the Tx-UE 1504 receives the SL-RSRP report from the Rx-UE 2505, the Tx-UE 1504 estimates a path loss value according to a simple calculation (path loss ═ transmission power for transmitting the PSSCH — reported SL-RSRP level) based on the SL-RSRP report received during the SL-RSRP measurement period/time frame and the transmission power for transmitting the PSSCH in operation 406. The new SL transmission power may then be determined by the Tx-UE 1504 in operation 408 and applied to the next or subsequent pscch transmission carrying SL data messages intended for use by the same Rx-UE 2505. The determination of the new SL transmission power may be based on at least one of the estimated pathloss value, the selected MCS level, frequency RB allocation/size, and SL data TB size.

In summary, an aspect (system level) of some embodiments provides a method of controlling the transmission power of NR physical side uplink channels and signals of a first UE based on measurement feedback from at least one second UE. The method comprises the following steps: indicating in the PSCCH SCI by the first UE to trigger measurement of SL-RSRP levels at the second UE, reporting the measured SL-RSRP levels from the second UE to the first UE over the PSCCH, and estimating a pathloss value between the first UE and the second UE. The method also includes applying, by the first UE, the newly determined SL transmission power level to an NR SL transmission to the second UE. In some embodiments, the indication comprises at least a SL-RSRP measurement period/time frame. In some embodiments, the measurement of the SL-RSRP is based on the psch-DMRS transmitted from the first UE. In some embodiments, the measurement feedback is transmitted from the second UE over the psch. In some embodiments, the path loss may be estimated by performing the following calculation: pathloss-Tx power used for transmission of pscch-reported SL-RSRP level. In some embodiments, the new SL transmission power level is determined based on at least one of the estimated pathloss value, MCS level, frequency RB allocation/size, and packet TB size.

Another aspect of some embodiments (the first Tx-UE1) provides a method of controlling the transmission power of the NR physical sidelink channel and signal of the first UE based on measurement feedback from at least one second UE. The method comprises the following steps: triggering, by the first UE, SL-RSRP measurements and reporting from the second UE; receiving a SL-RSRP measurement from a second UE; and estimating a path loss between the first and second UEs based on the received SL-RSRP value and a reference SL transmission power level used to transmit the PSSCH from the first UE to the second UE. The method also includes determining a new SL transmission power level to be used for the first UE to transmit the pscch to the second UE based on at least one of the estimated pathloss value, MCS level, frequency RB allocation/size, and packet TB size.

Another aspect of some embodiments (the second Rx-UE2) provides a method of controlling the transmission power of the NR physical sidelink channel and signal of the first UE based on measurement feedback from at least one second UE. The method comprises the following steps: receiving a SL-RSRP measurement trigger in a PSSCH SCI from a first UE; measuring a SL-RSRP level based on a DMRS associated with one or more PSSCHs transmitted from a first UE; and reporting the final SL-RSRP value in the psch to the first UE over the psch.

The commercial benefits of some embodiments are as follows: 1. battery power of the portable UE device is saved and this will result in longer device runtime. 2. Interference to other surrounding nearby UEs is minimized, resulting in better SL system performance and more radio frequency reuse in more areas. 3. Interference to the cellular Uplink (UL) Base Station (BS) receiver is minimized and cellular performance is better in the UL direction. SL transmission parameters are better adapted to the radio channel environment and this will make SL data transmission more reliable, radio resource utilization better, data throughput increased and data transmission delay possibly shorter. 5. Some embodiments of the present disclosure are used by 5G-NR chipset vendors, V2X communication system development vendors, car manufacturers including cars, trains, trucks, buses, bicycles, motorcycles, helmets, etc., unmanned aerial vehicles (unmanned aerial vehicles), smart phone manufacturers, communication devices for public safety uses, AR/VR device manufacturers for gaming, conferencing/seminar, educational purposes, for example. Some embodiments of the present disclosure are a combination of "techniques/processes" that may be employed in 3GPP specifications to create an end product.

Fig. 6 is a block diagram of an example system 700 for wireless communication in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. The embodiments described herein may be implemented in a system using any suitably configured hardware and/or software. Fig. 6 shows a system 700 that includes at least Radio Frequency (RF) circuitry 710, baseband circuitry 720, application circuitry 730, memory/storage 740, display 750, camera 760, sensor 770, and input/output (I/O) interface 780, coupled to each other as shown.

The application circuitry 730 may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The processor may include any combination of general purpose processors and special purpose processors such as a graphics processor, an application processor. The processor may be coupled with the memory/storage and configured to execute instructions stored in the memory/storage to implement various applications and/or operating systems running on the system.

Baseband circuitry 720 may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The processor may comprise a baseband processor. The baseband circuitry may handle various wireless control functions that enable communication with one or more wireless networks via the RF circuitry. These wireless control functions may include, but are not limited to, signal modulation, encoding, decoding, radio frequency shifting, and the like. In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry may provide communications compatible with one or more radio technologies. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 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). Embodiments in which the baseband circuitry is configured to support radio communications of more than one wireless protocol may be referred to as multi-mode baseband circuitry.

In various embodiments, baseband circuitry 720 may include circuitry that operates with signals that are not strictly considered to be in the baseband frequency. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry may include circuitry that operates with signals having an intermediate frequency between the baseband frequency and the radio frequency.

RF circuitry 710 may enable communication with a wireless network using modulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. In various embodiments, the RF circuitry may include switches, filters, amplifiers, and the like to facilitate communication with the wireless network.

In various embodiments, RF circuitry 710 may include circuitry that operates with signals that are not strictly considered in radio frequencies. For example, in some embodiments, the RF circuitry may include circuitry that operates with signals having an intermediate frequency between baseband and radio frequencies.

In various embodiments, the transmitter circuitry, control circuitry, or receiver circuitry discussed above with respect to the user equipment, eNB, or gNB may be embodied in whole or in part in one or more of the RF circuitry, baseband circuitry, and/or application circuitry. As used herein, "circuitry" may refer to, be part of, or include the following: 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 embodiments, the electronic device circuitry may be implemented in, or functions associated with, one or more software or firmware modules.

In some embodiments, some or all of the constituent components of the baseband circuitry, application circuitry, and/or memory/storage devices may be implemented together on a system on a chip (SOC).

Memory/storage 740 may be used to load and store data and/or instructions, such as for a system. The memory/storage of one embodiment may comprise any combination of suitable volatile memory (e.g., Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM)) and/or non-volatile memory (e.g., flash memory).

In various embodiments, I/O interface 780 may include one or more user interfaces designed to enable a user to interact with the system and/or peripheral component interfaces designed to enable peripheral components to interact with the system. The user interface may include, but is not limited to, a physical keyboard or keypad, a touchpad, a speaker, a microphone, and the like. The peripheral component interfaces may include, but are not limited to, a non-volatile memory port, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port, an audio jack, and a power interface.

In various embodiments, the sensor 770 may include one or more sensing devices to determine environmental conditions and/or location information related to the system. In some embodiments, the sensors may include, but are not limited to, a gyroscope sensor, an accelerometer, a proximity sensor, an ambient light sensor, and a positioning unit. The positioning unit may also be part of or interact with the baseband circuitry and/or RF circuitry to communicate with components of a positioning network, such as Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites.

In various embodiments, display 750 may include a display, such as a liquid crystal display and a touch screen display. In various embodiments, system 700 may be a mobile computing device, such as, but not limited to, a laptop computing device, a tablet computing device, a netbook, an ultrabook, a smartphone, AR/AV glasses, and the like. In various embodiments, the system may have more or fewer components and/or different architectures. Where appropriate, the methods described herein may be implemented as a computer program. The computer program may be stored on a storage medium, such as a non-transitory storage medium.

One of ordinary skill in the art understands that each of the units, algorithms, and steps described and disclosed in the embodiments of the present disclosure is implemented using electronic hardware or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether a function is run in hardware or software depends on the application conditions and the design requirements of the solution.

Those of ordinary skill in the art may implement the functionality of each particular application in different ways without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. A person skilled in the art understands that he/she may refer to the working of the systems, devices and units in the above-mentioned embodiments, since the working of the above-mentioned systems, devices and units is substantially the same. For ease of description and simplicity, these operations will not be described in detail.

It should be understood that the disclosed systems, devices, and methods in embodiments of the disclosure may be implemented in other ways. The above-mentioned embodiments are merely exemplary. The partitioning of the cells is based solely on the logic function, while other partitions actually exist. Multiple units or components may be combined or integrated in another system. It is also possible to omit or skip some features. On the other hand, the mutual coupling, direct coupling or communicative coupling shown or discussed is operated through some port, device or unit, whether indirectly or communicatively through electrical, mechanical or other kinds of forms.

The elements that are separate components for explanation may or may not be physically separate. The unit for displaying is or is not a physical unit, i.e. located in one place or distributed over multiple network units. Some or all of the elements are used for purposes of the embodiments. Furthermore, each functional unit in each embodiment may be integrated in one processing unit, physically separate, or integrated in one processing unit having two or more units.

If the software functional unit is implemented and used and sold as a product, it may be stored in a readable storage medium in a computer. Based on this understanding, the technical solutions proposed by the present disclosure can be implemented basically or partially in the form of software products. Alternatively, portions of the technical solutions that are helpful to the conventional art may be implemented in the form of software products. The software product in a computer is stored in a storage medium and includes a plurality of commands for causing a computing device (e.g., a personal computer, server, or network device) to execute all or a portion of the steps disclosed by embodiments of the present disclosure. The storage medium includes a USB disk, a removable hard disk, a Read Only Memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), a floppy disk, or other type of medium capable of storing program code.

While the disclosure has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the disclosure is not to be limited to the disclosed embodiment, but is intended to cover various arrangements made without departing from the scope of the broadest interpretation of the appended claims.