Patent Description:
Self-driving vehicles may include advanced sensors and internal computer systems designed to monitor and control vehicle operations and driving functions. One approach to assist self-driving vehicles is to communicate with other vehicles travelling on the same roadways. Typical sensors used by self-driving vehicles may include Lidar detectors, radar detectors, and/or cameras, which are line-of-sight (LOS) sensors. Vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications can occur over LOS channels and/or non-line-of-sight (NLOS) channels.

V2V communications can be particularly helpful in cases where two vehicles approach an intersection (e.g., a NLOS condition). Vehicles can share sensor information with each other via V2V communications. For a particular location or geographical area, there may be several vehicles sensing the same information such as an obstacle or a pedestrian. If all vehicles broadcast this information, bandwidth and/or data rate usages may be significantly increased.

<CIT> relates to a vehicle to vehicle communication apparatus for use in a vehicle. <CIT> relates to a radio communication apparatus that carries out vehicle to vehicle communication with a plurality of mobile units located within a communication range. <CIT> relates to an inter-vehicle or road-to-vehicle wireless communication method and apparatus for sharing information on moving bodies and obstacles on roads obtained from sensors.

The following summarizes some aspects of the present disclosure to provide a basic understanding of the discussed technology. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of one or more aspects of the disclosure in summary form as a prelude to the more detailed description presented later.

While vehicles may share sensor data with each other using broadcast, improved procedures for sharing sensor data with more efficient bandwidth utilization may be desirable. Embodiments of the present disclosure provide mechanisms for vehicles or devices to efficiently share sensing information with each other. The sharing may be based on a transmission latency budget for a given observed object (e.g., a pedestrian or another vehicle). The use of a transmission latency budget may avoid multiple vehicles or devices sending the same sensing information.

In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a method of wireless communication as set out in claim <NUM> and an apparatus associated with a first vehicle as set out in claim <NUM>. Other aspects of the invention can be found in the dependent claims.

In similar fashion, while exemplary embodiments may be discussed below as device, system, or method embodiments. Such exemplary embodiments can be implemented in various devices, systems, and methods.

The detailed description set forth below, about the appended drawings, is intended as a description of various configurations and is not intended to represent the only configurations in which the concepts described herein may be practiced. The detailed description includes specific details for providing a thorough understanding of the various concepts. In some instances, well-known structures and components are shown in block diagram form to avoid obscuring such concepts.

The techniques described herein may employ various wireless communication networks such as code-division multiple access (CDMA), time-division multiple access (TDMA), frequency-division multiple access (FDMA), orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA), single-carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) and other networks. An OFDMA network may implement a radio technology such as Evolved UTRA (E-UTRA), Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), IEEE <NUM> (Wi-Fi), IEEE <NUM> (WiMAX), IEEE <NUM>, Flash-OFDMA, etc. UTRA and E-UTRA are part of Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS). 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) and LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) are new releases of UMTS that use E-UTRA. 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, such as a next generation (e.g., <NUM>th Generation (<NUM>)) network.

The present disclosure describes mechanisms for sharing sensor data among wireless sensor nodes. For example, a vehicle may be equipped with sensors and wireless communication device. The vehicle may sense surrounding objects and associate a transmission latency budget with each sensor data sensed by the vehicle. Examples of surrounding objects may include pedestrians, obstacles, and/or vehicles on a roadway. The vehicle may also listen to a channel for sensor data transmitted by other vehicles travelling on the same roadway. The channel may include time-frequency resources. When a vehicle senses an observed object and receives sensor data about the same object within a transmission latency budget of the observed object, the vehicle may refrain from transmitting the same information in the network. Otherwise, the vehicle may contend for channel resources and transmit sensing information about the observed object. In some embodiments, the vehicle may determine a transmission probability or a backoff time duration based on the transmission latency budget. In some embodiments, a network may allow for a maximum number of transmissions of sensing information about the same object to increase security and/or reliability. In some embodiments, a network may associate channel resources with locations of observed objects. The disclosed embodiments may employ a combination of long-range and short-range wireless technologies for V2V and/or vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications. While the disclosed embodiments are described in the context of sharing sensor data among vehicles, the disclosed embodiments can be applied to air borne drones, autonomous robots, industrial applications, cars, boats, planes, and/or any devices with sensors.

Aspects of the present application can provide several benefits. For example, while vehicles may be equipped with sensors to detect objects on the roads, these sensors may have limited range in terms of both distance and direction(s) of detection. The disclosed embodiments enable vehicles to detect an obstacle and communicate the detection to other vehicles that may not be able to observe the pedestrian or the obstacle directly (e.g., due to the range limits of the sensor(s), being blocked by other obstructions or vehicles, etc.). This information can be used by the vehicle receiving the communication to adjust its speed, direction, or other driving parameter based on the detected obstacle. In this manner, vehicles can be controlled to avoid obstacles that the vehicle itself may not be able to detect. To this end, the disclosed embodiments also provide transmission schemes that allow for efficient sharing of sensor data between vehicles. In addition, the disclosed embodiments provide efficient resource-to-location mapping schemes that can reduce the transmission latency for timing-critical sensor data.

<FIG> illustrates a wireless communication network <NUM> that facilitates V2V communications according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The network <NUM> may include a number of vehicles <NUM> and a number of BSs <NUM>. The BSs <NUM> may include an Evolve Node B (eNodeB) or a next Generation Node B (gNB). A BS <NUM> may be a station that communicates with the vehicles <NUM> and may also be referred to as a base transceiver station, a node B, an access point, and the like.

The BSs <NUM> communicate with the vehicles <NUM>. A vehicle <NUM> may communicate with the BS <NUM> via an uplink (UL) and a downlink (DL). The downlink (or forward link) refers to the communication link from the BS <NUM> to the vehicle <NUM>. The UL (or reverse link) refers to the communication link from the vehicle <NUM> to the BS <NUM>. The BSs <NUM> may also communicate with one another, directly or indirectly, over wired and/or wireless connections.

The vehicles <NUM> may be travelling on a roadway <NUM>. The vehicles <NUM> may travel through different coverage areas or cells <NUM> in the network <NUM>. The vehicles <NUM> may have in-vehicle wireless communication devices for communicating with each other and with the BSs <NUM>. The vehicles <NUM> may have receivers for communication with a global navigation satellite system (GNSS), which may provide accurate location tracking and timing information. The vehicles <NUM> may have sensors for various sensing, which may be for navigational, safety, and/or performance. Some examples of sensors may include Lidars, radars, and high-definition cameras. The network <NUM> is one example of a network to which various aspects of the disclosure apply.

Each BS <NUM> may provide communication coverage for a particular geographic area. In 3GPP, the term "cell" can refer to this particular geographic coverage area of a BS and/or a BS subsystem serving the coverage area, depending on the context in which the term is used. In this regard, a BS <NUM> may provide communication coverage for a macro cell, a pico cell, a femto cell, and/or other types of cell with varying coverage areas and access restrictions. As shown, the BSs 104a, 104b, and 104c provide communication coverage in the cells 110a, 110b, and 110c, respectively. In some embodiments, a BS <NUM> may support one or multiple (e.g., two, three, four, and the like) cells.

For synchronous operation, the BSs <NUM> may have similar frame timing, and transmissions from different BSs <NUM> may be approximately aligned in time. For asynchronous operation, the BSs <NUM> may have different frame timing, and transmissions from different BSs <NUM> may not be aligned in time.

In some implementations, the network <NUM> utilizes orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) on the downlink and single-carrier frequency division multiplexing (SC-FDM) on the UL. OFDM and SC-FDM partition the system bandwidth into multiple (K) orthogonal subcarriers, which are also commonly referred to as tones, bins, or the like. Each subcarrier may be modulated with data. For example, K may be equal to <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM> for a corresponding system bandwidth of <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, or <NUM> megahertz (MHz), respectively. The system bandwidth may also be partitioned into sub-bands. For example, a sub-band may cover <NUM>, and there may be <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> or <NUM> sub-bands for a corresponding system bandwidth of <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, or <NUM>, respectively.

In an embodiment, communications in the network <NUM> may be performed in the form of radio frames. A radio frame may include a plurality of subframes. Each subframe may include a plurality of symbols spanning a frequency band and a time interval. The network <NUM> may employ various transmission configurations. For example, each radio frame may include one or more subframes for DL transmissions and one or more subframes for UL transmissions.

In the network <NUM>, the vehicles <NUM> may employ various wireless communication technologies. In some embodiments, the network <NUM> may support LTE-based V2V, LTE-based V2I, LTE-based device-to-device (D2D), or direct short range communication (DSRC) communications. In an embodiment, the vehicles <NUM> may share sensing information with each other. For example, a vehicle 102c may detect an object (e.g., a pedestrian or an obstacle) on the roadway <NUM> via a sensor built into the vehicle 102c. The vehicle 102c may broadcast sensing information associated with the detected object using V2V communication. The vehicle 102c may determine whether to broadcast the sensing information based on sensing information received from surrounding vehicles 102a, 102b, 102e, 102d, and/or 102f, as described in greater detail herein. When the vehicles <NUM> travel into a coverage area or a cell <NUM>, the vehicles <NUM> may communicate with a corresponding BS <NUM> and may utilize services (e.g., resource scheduling and/or sensor sharing configurations) provided by the BS <NUM>.

Although not shown, the network <NUM> may further include a number of user equipments (UEs) in communication with the BSs <NUM>. A UE may be a cellular phone, a smartphone, a personal digital assistant, a wireless modem, a laptop computer, a tablet computer, etc. In some embodiments, the UEs and the vehicles <NUM> may employ a similar initial attachment procedure to communicate initiate communication with the BSs <NUM>. For example, the initial attachment procedure may be similar to the LTE random access procedure.

<FIG> illustrate V2V sensor data sharing in a network similar to the network <NUM>. <FIG> illustrates a V2V sensor data sharing scenario <NUM> according to embodiments of the present disclosure. <FIG> illustrates two vehicles <NUM> for purposes of simplicity of discussion, though it will be recognized that embodiments of the present disclosure may scale to many more vehicles <NUM>. The vehicles 202a and 202b are similar to the vehicles <NUM>. <FIG> illustrates a V2V sensor data sharing scheme <NUM> according to embodiments of the present disclosure. In <FIG>, the x-axis represents time in some constant units.

In the scenario <NUM>, the vehicle 202a and the vehicle 202b travel on the same roadway <NUM>. At time <NUM>, the vehicle 202a senses or observes a pedestrian <NUM> running at a location <NUM>. The vehicle 202a determines a transmission latency budget <NUM> for the pedestrian <NUM> and transmits sensing information <NUM> associated with the pedestrian <NUM> at the end of the transmission latency budget <NUM>.

The transmission latency budget <NUM> may vary depending on the embodiments. In some embodiments, the vehicle 202a may dynamically determine the transmission latency budget <NUM>, for example, based on a speed of the observed object (e.g., the pedestrian <NUM>), the type of the observed object, surrounding environment and/or events, operational characteristics of the vehicle 202a, and/or any suitable factor. Examples of surrounding environment may include daylight, snow, rain, temperature, and windy conditions. The vehicle may also include pre-provisional information and/or rules in the determination of the transmission latency budget <NUM>. In some embodiments, the vehicle 202a may determine the transmission latency budget <NUM> statically, for example, based on some predetermined values. In some embodiments, the vehicle 202a may determine transmission latency budget <NUM> using a combination of dynamic events and static information. In some embodiments, the transmission latency budget <NUM> may be about <NUM> milliseconds (ms) long so that the sensing information <NUM> may be within a certain limit of accuracies.

The sensing information <NUM> may include geographical location and/or speed information about the pedestrian <NUM>. In some embodiments, the vehicle 202a may receive sensor data (e.g., images) about the pedestrian <NUM> and may process the sensor data to produce sensing information suitable for sharing with other vehicles.

At time <NUM>, the vehicle 202b also senses or observes the same pedestrian <NUM> at the location <NUM>. Similarly, the vehicle 202b determines a transmission latency budget <NUM> for the pedestrian <NUM>. Since the vehicle 202b receives the sensing information <NUM> about the pedestrian <NUM> within the transmission latency budget <NUM>, the vehicle 202b may avoid transmitting the same information about the pedestrian <NUM>.

At time <NUM>, the vehicle 202b senses or observes pedestrians <NUM> walking at a location <NUM>. The vehicle 202b determines a transmission latency budget <NUM> for the pedestrians <NUM>. Since the vehicle 202b did not receive any information about the pedestrians <NUM> within the transmission latency budget <NUM>, the vehicle 202b transmits sensing information <NUM> associated with the pedestrians <NUM> at the end of the transmission latency budget <NUM>. Similarly, the sensing information <NUM> may include geographical location and/or speed information about the pedestrians <NUM>.

Transmission latency budget determination may have varying characteristics and may be based on a variety of criteria. In some scenarios, the transmission latency budgets <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM> may have the same duration or different durations. In some embodiments, the transmission latency budgets <NUM> and <NUM> may be dependent on the velocity of the running pedestrian <NUM> and the transmission latency budget <NUM> may be dependent on the velocity of the walking pedestrians <NUM>. The scheme <NUM> avoids repeating transmissions of the same sensing information, and thus may reduce network traffic. The reduction in network traffic may improve sensor data sharing range. In addition, the scheme <NUM> accounts for the mobility of slow-motion objects (e.g., the pedestrians <NUM> and <NUM>) by limiting transmission latency budgets (e.g., the transmission latency budgets <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM>) based on the velocities of the slow-motion objects. As such, the scheme <NUM> allows for in-time sharing of sensor data, and thus may facilitate road safety.

The vehicles 202a and 202b may employ listen-before-talk (LBT) mechanisms to contend for channel resources for transmitting the sensing information <NUM> and <NUM>, respectively, as described in greater detail herein. In some embodiments, when the vehicles <NUM> travel in a coverage area of a BS such as the BSs <NUM>, the vehicles <NUM> may receive configuration information for transmitting sensing information. The configuration information may indicate resources for transmitting sensor data related to observed objects and rules related to sensor data transmission (e.g., a maximum allowable number of transmissions indicating the same object), as described in greater detail herein. Although the scheme <NUM> is described in the context of sharing information about pedestrians, the scheme <NUM> may be applied to share information about any surrounding objects, such as vehicles and obstacles.

<FIG> is a block diagram of an exemplary in-vehicle wireless communication device <NUM> according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The in-vehicle wireless communication device <NUM> may be located in the vehicles <NUM> as discussed above. As shown, the in-vehicle wireless communication device <NUM> may include a processor <NUM>, a memory <NUM>, a sensor data sharing module <NUM>, a transceiver <NUM> including a modem subsystem <NUM> and a radio frequency (RF) unit <NUM>, an antenna <NUM>, and one or more sensors <NUM> (e.g., Lidar detectors, radar detectors, and/or high-definition cameras). These elements may be in direct or indirect communication with each other, for example via one or more buses.

The processor <NUM> may include a central processing unit (CPU), a digital signal processor (DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a controller, a field programmable gate array (FPGA) device, another hardware device, a firmware device, or any combination thereof configured to perform the operations described herein.

The memory <NUM> may include a cache memory (e.g., a cache memory of the processor <NUM>), random access memory (RAM), magnetoresistive RAM (MRAM), read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, solid state memory device, hard disk drives, other forms of volatile and non-volatile memory, or a combination of different types of memory. In an embodiment, the memory <NUM> includes a non-transitory computer-readable medium. The instructions <NUM> may include instructions that, when executed by the processor <NUM>, cause the processor <NUM> to perform the operations described herein with reference to the vehicles <NUM> in connection with embodiments of the present disclosure. Instructions <NUM> may also be referred to as code. The terms "instructions" and "code" should be interpreted broadly to include any type of computer-readable statement(s). For example, the terms "instructions" and "code" may refer to one or more programs, routines, subroutines, functions, procedures, etc. "Instructions" and "code" may include a single computer-readable statement or many computer-readable statements.

The sensor data sharing module <NUM> may be implemented via hardware, software, or combinations thereof. For example, the sensor data sharing module <NUM> may be implemented as a processor, circuit, and/or instructions <NUM> stored in the memory <NUM> and executed by the processor <NUM>. The sensor data sharing module <NUM> may be used for various aspects of the present disclosure. For example, the sensor data sharing module <NUM> is configured to receive sensor data associated with surrounding objects, such as the pedestrians <NUM> and <NUM>, obstacles, or other vehicles <NUM>, from the sensors <NUM>, determine transmission latency budgets for the observed objects, and transmit sensing information associated with the observed objects based on some pre-determine rules, as described in greater detail herein.

As shown, the transceiver <NUM> may include the modem subsystem <NUM> and the RF unit <NUM>. The transceiver <NUM> can be configured to communicate bi-directionally with other devices, such as the BSs <NUM>. The modem subsystem <NUM> may be configured to modulate and/or encode the data from the memory <NUM> and/or the sensor data sharing module <NUM> according to a modulation and coding scheme (MCS), e.g., a low-density parity check (LDPC) coding scheme, a turbo coding scheme, a convolutional coding scheme, a digital beamforming scheme, etc. The RF unit <NUM> may be configured to process (e.g., perform analog to digital conversion or digital to analog conversion, etc.) modulated/encoded data from the modem subsystem <NUM> (on outbound transmissions) or of transmissions originating from another source such as a vehicle <NUM> or a BS <NUM>. The RF unit <NUM> may be further configured to perform analog beamforming in conjunction with the digital beamforming. Although shown as integrated together in transceiver <NUM>, the modem subsystem <NUM> and the RF unit <NUM> may be separate devices that are coupled together at the vehicle <NUM> to enable the vehicle <NUM> to communicate with other devices.

The RF unit <NUM> may provide the modulated and/or processed data, e.g. data packets (or, more generally, data messages that may contain one or more data packets and other information), to the antenna <NUM> for transmission to one or more other devices. This may include, for example, transmission of channel reservation signals to contend for channel resources and sensing information associated with observed objects according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The antenna <NUM> may further receive data messages transmitted from other devices. This may include, for example, reception of a transmission grant or messages from other vehicles <NUM> according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The antenna <NUM> may provide the received data messages for processing and/or demodulation at the transceiver <NUM>. Although <FIG> illustrates antenna <NUM> as a single antenna, antenna <NUM> may include multiple antennas of similar or different designs in order to sustain multiple transmission links. The RF unit <NUM> may configure the antenna <NUM>.

<FIG> illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary BS <NUM> according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The BS <NUM> may be a BS <NUM> as discussed above. A shown, the BS <NUM> may include a processor <NUM>, a memory <NUM>, a sensor data sharing module <NUM>, a transceiver <NUM> including a modem subsystem <NUM> and a RF unit <NUM>, and an antenna <NUM>. These elements may be in direct or indirect communication with each other, for example via one or more buses.

The sensor data sharing module <NUM> may be used for various aspects of the present disclosure. For example, the sensor data sharing module <NUM> is configured to determine and transmit configurations for sensor data sharing in the network, as described in greater detail herein.

As shown, the transceiver <NUM> may include the modem subsystem <NUM> and the RF unit <NUM>. The transceiver <NUM> can be configured to communicate bi-directionally with other devices, such as the vehicles <NUM> and <NUM> and the wireless communication device <NUM> and/or another core network element. The modem subsystem <NUM> may be configured to modulate and/or encode data according to a MCS, e.g., a LDPC coding scheme, a turbo coding scheme, a convolutional coding scheme, a digital beamforming scheme, etc. The RF unit <NUM> may be configured to process (e.g., perform analog to digital conversion or digital to analog conversion, etc.) modulated/encoded data from the modem subsystem <NUM> (on outbound transmissions) or of transmissions originating from another source such as a vehicle <NUM>. Although shown as integrated together in transceiver <NUM>, the modem subsystem <NUM> and the RF unit <NUM> may be separate devices that are coupled together at the BS <NUM> to enable the BS <NUM> to communicate with other devices.

The RF unit <NUM> may provide the modulated and/or processed data, e.g. data packets (or, more generally, data messages that may contain one or more data packets and other information), to the antenna <NUM> for transmission to one or more other devices. This may include, for example, transmission of information to complete attachment to a network and communication with a camped vehicle <NUM> according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The antenna <NUM> may further receive data messages transmitted from other devices and provide the received data messages for processing and/or demodulation at the transceiver <NUM>. Although <FIG> illustrates antenna <NUM> as a single antenna, antenna <NUM> may include multiple antennas of similar or different designs in order to sustain multiple transmission links.

<FIG> illustrates a listen-based V2V sensor data transmission scheme <NUM> according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The scheme <NUM> may be employed by the vehicles <NUM> and <NUM> to transmit sensing information (e.g., the sensing information <NUM> and <NUM>). In <FIG>, the x-axis represents time in some constant units and the y-axis represents frequency in some constant units. In the scheme <NUM>, a channel is divided into subframes <NUM>. Each subframe <NUM> includes a plurality of channel clear assessment (CCA) slots <NUM> and a transmission slot <NUM>. Each CCA slot <NUM> may include one or more symbols. The transmission slot <NUM> may include a greater number of symbols than the CCA slots <NUM>. A vehicle contending for the transmission slot <NUM> may transmit a channel reservation request signal in one of the CCA slots <NUM>. Other vehicles may listen to the channel during the CCA slots <NUM>. Upon detecting the channel reservation request signal, the other vehicles may refrain from transmitting in the transmission slot <NUM> to avoid collisions. In some embodiments, the channel reservation request signal may be a specific sequence or preamble. Thus, the detection may include monitoring signal energy in the channel and/or detecting the specific sequence or preamble. In some embodiments, the CCA slots <NUM> may be ordered based on transmission priorities and each CCA slot <NUM> may be assigned to a particular vehicle or a subset of vehicles for transmitting a channel reservation request signal to reserve the transmission slot <NUM>.

As described above, a vehicle may transmit sensing information about an observed object (e.g., the pedestrians <NUM> and <NUM>) at the end of a transmission latency budget (e.g., the transmission latency budgets <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM>). Instead of having all vehicles to contend for resources at the end of a transmission latency budget, the transmissions of the sensing information may be distributed over time to avoid congestion at a particular time. For example, each vehicle may determine a transmission probability for each sensing information based on a remaining of a transmission latency budget for the sensing information. When the sensing information is initially detected, the transmission probability may be low and the transmission probability may increase as the time approaches the transmission latency budget. For example, the transmission probability may reach a value of <NUM> at the end of the transmission latency budget. In one embodiment, a vehicle may configure a backoff counter or a backoff time duration for contending for resources to transmit sensor data information as a function of transmission latency budget. For example, the vehicle may configure the backoff counter with a large value when the transmission latency budget is high and a small value when the transmission latency budget is low. Thus, time-critical or urgent sensing information may have a higher transmission priority than less urgent sensing information.

In an embodiment, a network may be configured to allow for N number of transmissions for each observed object in order to increase security or reliability of the sensing information about the observed object, where N is a positive integer. For example, a vehicle may detect an object and determine that the vehicle had received sensing information about the same object. Instead of refraining from transmitting sensing information about the object as in the scheme <NUM>, the vehicle may determine whether a number of receptions of the sensing information is less than a pre-determined number of receptions (e.g., N). When the number of receptions is less than the pre-determined number of receptions, the vehicle may transmit the sensing information about the same object in the network. In some embodiments, the vehicle may receive the configuration parameter N from a BS such as the BSs <NUM>.

<FIG> illustrates a listen-based V2V sensor data transmission scheme <NUM> according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The scheme <NUM> may be employed by the vehicles <NUM> and <NUM> to transmit sensing information (e.g., the sensing information <NUM> and <NUM>). The scheme <NUM> is similar to the scheme <NUM>, but additionally associates channel resources with the location of an observed object. In <FIG>, the x-axis represents time in some constant units and the y-axis represents frequency in some constant units. In the scheme <NUM>, the transmission slot <NUM> is divided into a first portion <NUM> and a second portion <NUM>. The first portion <NUM> may be used for transmitting sensing information about an observed object that is within a first distance <NUM> (e.g., <NUM> feet). The second portion <NUM> may be used for transmitting sensing information about an observed object that is within a second distance <NUM> (e.g., <NUM> feet to <NUM> feet). The first portion <NUM> and the second portion <NUM> may be divided into any suitable percentages of the transmission slot <NUM>.

As an example, the vehicle 202b senses or detects the pedestrians <NUM> on the roadway <NUM> and determines to transmit sensing information <NUM> about the pedestrians <NUM> when the vehicle 202b is about <NUM> feet (e.g., within the second distance <NUM>) away from the pedestrians <NUM>. Thus, the vehicle 202b may transmit the sensing information <NUM> in the second portion <NUM> of the transmission slot <NUM>, for example, after transmitting a reservation signal <NUM> to reserve the transmission slot <NUM>, as shown by the transmission configuration <NUM>.

Alternatively, the vehicle 202b may determine to transmit the sensing information <NUM> when the vehicle 202b is about <NUM> feet (e.g., within the first distance <NUM>) away from the pedestrians <NUM>. Thus, the vehicle 202a may transmit the sensing information <NUM> in the first portion <NUM> of the transmission slot <NUM> as shown by the transmission configuration <NUM>.

The scheme <NUM> may allow another vehicle to determine whether to process received sensing information before transmitting sensing information about an observed object. As an example, the vehicle 202a may have a sensing capability within a distance of <NUM> feet away from the vehicle 202a. When the vehicle 202a detects an object (e.g., within a distance of <NUM> feet), the vehicle 202a is required to process all sensing information (e.g., the sensing information <NUM>) received from the first portion <NUM> of the transmission slot <NUM> in order to determine whether the sensing information is associated with the same detected object.

However, the vehicle 202a can delay the processing of sensing information that is received in the second portion <NUM> of the transmission slot <NUM> since the sensing information is about an object that is farther than the sensing capability of the vehicle 202a. Thus, the vehicle 202a can transmit sensing information about an observed object before processing the received sensing information.

The processing of the sensing information may involve upper layer (e.g., a medium access control (MAC) layer) processing, which may be time consuming, and thus may delay the transmissions of sensing information observed by a vehicle. In some examples, the transmission latency budget (e.g., the transmission latency budgets <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM>) for an observed object may be relatively short, and thus may have a strict latency requirement. Thus, the scheme <NUM> may reduce transmission latency since a vehicle can share sensor data about an observed object at an earlier time without waiting for the processing of all received sensing information (e.g., received during the second portion <NUM>). In some embodiments, a BS such as the BSs <NUM> may transmit a resource-to-location mapping configuration to the vehicles. For example, the resource-to-location mapping configuration may indicate a number of symbols, duration, and/or distance limit for each of the first portion <NUM> and the second portion <NUM>. In some embodiments, the transmission slot <NUM> can be divided into three or four or any suitable number of portions for transmitting sensing information about objects at different distance ranges.

<FIG> is a flow diagram of a method <NUM> of sharing sensor data according to embodiments of the present disclosure. Steps of the method <NUM> can be executed by a computing device (e.g., a processor, processing circuit, and/or other suitable component) of a wireless communication device, such as the vehicles <NUM> and <NUM> and the in-vehicle wireless communication device <NUM>. The method <NUM> may employ similar mechanisms as in the schemes <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM> described with respect to <FIG>, <FIG>, and <FIG>, respectively. As illustrated, the method <NUM> includes a number of enumerated steps, but embodiments of the method <NUM> may include additional steps before, after, and in between the enumerated steps. In some embodiments, one or more of the enumerated steps may be omitted or performed in a different order.

At step <NUM>, the method <NUM> includes receiving, by a first vehicle from a second vehicle, first sensing information (e.g., the sensing information <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM>) associated with a first object (e.g., the pedestrians <NUM> and <NUM>, obstacles, or another vehicle).

At step <NUM>, the method <NUM> includes detecting, by the first vehicle, sensor data associated with a second object.

At step <NUM>, the method <NUM> includes transmitting, by the first vehicle, second sensing information associated with the second object based on at least the sensor data, the first sensing information, and a transmission latency budget (e.g., the transmission latency budget <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM>) for the second sensing information. The transmission of the second sensing information may include contending for channel resources as described in the scheme <NUM> and transmitting on the resources according to a resource-to-location mapping as described in the scheme <NUM>. In some embodiments, the transmission of the second sensing information may be a broadcast transmission.

Also, as used herein, including in the claims, "or" as used in a list of items (for example, a list of items prefaced by a phrase such as "at least one of' or "one or more of') indicates an inclusive list such that, for example, a list of [at least one of A, B, or C] means A or B or C or AB or AC or BC or ABC (i.e., A and B and C).

Claim 1:
A method of wireless communication, comprising:
receiving (<NUM>), by a first vehicle (202b) from a second vehicle (202a), first sensing information (<NUM>) associated with a first object (<NUM>),
collecting (<NUM>), by the first vehicle (202b), sensor data associated with a second object (<NUM>);
determining, by the first vehicle (202b), a transmission latency budget (<NUM>) within which second sensing information (<NUM>) associated with the second object (<NUM>) may be transmitted, the determination of the transmission latency budget (<NUM>) based on at least a speed of the second object (<NUM>), a type of the second object (<NUM>), surrounding environment, surrounding events and/or operational characteristics of the second object (<NUM>); and
transmitting (<NUM>), by the first vehicle (202b) at the end of the transmission latency budget (<NUM>), the second sensing information (<NUM>) if no sensing information associated with the second object (<NUM>) is received by the first vehicle (202b) from the second vehicle (202a) within the transmission latency (<NUM>).