Patent Description:
A mobile communication system typically comprises a transceiver, e.g. a transceiver of the base station, and a plurality of mobile transceivers, e.g. of e UE or of a vehicle. The different mobile transceivers typically require at different point of times a different amount of resources. According to common communication systems, there are two widespread resource allocation modes:.

Both resource allocation modes do not enable to take into account the current requirements for resources of the different mobile transceivers. Therefore, there is a need for an improved approach enabling a resource redistribution.

It is an objective of the present invention to provide a concept enabling resource managing like resource redistribution, especially for V2X resource allocation networks.

This problem is solved by the subject matter of the independent claims. The invention is defined by independent claims.

invention will subsequently be discussed referring to the enclosed Figures, wherein.

Below, embodiments of the present invention will subsequently be discussed referring to the enclosed Figures. Here, identical reference numbers are provided to objects having similar or identical function, so that the description thereof is mutually applicable and interchangeable.

<FIG> shows a first mobile communication system <NUM> having a transceiver <NUM>, a first mobile transceiver <NUM>, also referred to as UE-D or donor and a second mobile transceiver <NUM>, also referred to as UE-T or taker. Both mobile transceivers <NUM> and <NUM> can have an active communication with the base station so as to exchange data and/or control information. This communication link is marked by the reference numerals 14R and 16R. In order to enable the communications 14R and 16R, first resources 14R are allocated to the first mobile transceiver <NUM>, while second resources 16R are allocated to the second mobile transceiver <NUM>. Note the first and second resources can be resources to be used for the communication between the base station <NUM> and the respective UE /transceiver <NUM> and <NUM>. Alternatively, the first and second resources can be used for enabling a direct communication between the UEs <NUM> and <NUM> (e.g. pre-configured resources or in general sidelink resources).

It should be noted that the communication system <NUM> can be a cellular communication system enabling data exchange between the base station <NUM> and V2X/D2D sidelink users. Here, a centralized resource allocation mode (Mode <NUM> - like) and distributed resource allocation mode (Mode <NUM> - like) users for V2X and D2X can be performed, such that V2X and D2X can use sidelinks (both directions). These modes are referred to as Mode-<NUM> and Mode-<NUM> in D2D sidelinks. Note, between the same mode users with different QoS constraints the sharing of preconfigured resources is possible. In the current 3GPP specification, resource pool sharing is proposed with sensing and reporting mechanisms. Sensing itself consumes a complete period of <NUM>, which will induce a long latency. The reporting maybe carried to the base-station via CBR messages only and this might not be enough.

Below, an improved approach for resource sharing will be discussed with respect to <FIG>. The situation is, that the mobile transceiver <NUM> has allocated, but not completely used resources 14R. The portion of the first resources 14R to be shared can be shared. The second mobile transceiver <NUM> has also allocated second resources 16R, but requires more. In order to enable the resource sharing between the transceivers <NUM> and <NUM>, the transceiver <NUM> can send a request S-SR (sidelink scheduling request). This request is preferably sent directed from the transceiver <NUM> to the transceiver <NUM>, as illustrated by the communication channel marked by S-SR. As response to S-SR, the transceiver <NUM> can grant the request using a sidelink grant response S-GR which is transmitted to the transceiver <NUM>. Of course, the donor <NUM> may also reject the request using S-GR. The grant of the resources S-GR enables the taker <NUM> to use the allocated, but portion of the resources 14R to be shared/offered/granted. Note, the portion of the (first) resources to be shared/offered/granted may also be resources used for the direct communication (in cases the group of UEs <NUM>, <NUM> is in or out of coverage of the BS <NUM>). For example the taker user <NUM> sends the request to one or multiple user equipment in a proximity. Note, if the message is not decodable by the donor <NUM>, then the request can be neglected. This principle of RRC (radio resource controlling) is initiated by the taker transceiver <NUM>. The mode is referred to as taker user equipment (UE-T or taker).

According to embodiments, this mode may have the following substeps. Sharing intentions from taker-users UE are conveyed (with different steps) to one or more donor-users UEs. Taker-users UEs first start discovery and identify nearby users and, if possible, traffic utilization. Thereafter, taker UEs start announcing some donor-users UEs whose resources are the most promising (has less interference). In this case, if the nearby UEs have high traffic utilization, then taker UEs send the requesting token with a certain power values reaching out farer UEs, i.e., in order to reduce interference if donor continues to use the resources or subset of the resources. The sharing requests shall be a unicast or multicast or broadcast message depending on the scenario.

With respect to <FIG>, another mode, also referred to as donor user equipment (UE-D or donor), will be discussed. The embodiment of <FIG> starts from the same configuration of the communication network <NUM> having a transceiver <NUM>, the donor user <NUM> and the taker user <NUM>. Here, the sharing activation is initiated by the donor user <NUM> having allocated, but portion of the resources 14R to be shared. For this, the donor transceiver <NUM> transmits (using a side channel) a grant message S-GR for offering the portion to the taker <NUM>. As response to the offering, the taker <NUM> can directly use the resources or optionally answer so that a grant acquisition can be performed.

Both embodiments have in common that between the donor transceiver <NUM> and the taker transceiver <NUM>, the granting request S-SR and the granting response S-GR are exchanged on additional resource requesting sidelinks in order to enhance sharing resources among the different users <NUM> and <NUM> with the different QoS flow requirements.

As illustrated by the embodiment of <FIG>, the donor UE starts announcing their unused resources for sharing. Here, the donor UE <NUM> broadcasts their unwanted resource configurations (time and frequency). This message is eventually sent on the next preconfigured (unwanted) grants on the shared resources. The donor UE <NUM> may, for example, be requested to update the gNB (base station) of the shared resources or the amount of the shared resources or the amount of the offered resources as response to the offer.

From the point of view of the donor user <NUM>, the resource sharing of an embodiment of <FIG> may be described as follows. The UE-D shall.

Thus, both modes enable to satisfy the urgent demands of a user equipment, e.g. assume distributed MAC operation which wants to share resources from another user, e.g. Mode <NUM>, wherein it should be noted that both user equipments, either taker or donor, can operate with distributed MAC resource allocation, i.e. as in Mode <NUM> LTE or Mode <NUM>-like NR operation, or can both operate with centralized MAC mechanism, i.e. as in Mode <NUM> LTE or Mode <NUM>-like NR. Note, sharing can be granted as one-shot or multiple grants with and without a period.

According to further embodiments, the donor UEs performs a prioritization selection algorithm and granting sharing resources for selected taker-user UEs via side link control information on dedicated resources for virtual granting, preconfigured data exchange resource pool, and/or exceptional/additional resource pool like or a common bandwidth part.

As discussed above, preferably, the resource controlling information is changed using sidelinks. According to embodiments, Sharing information can be done also via Exceptional resource pool is involved in this idea, this could be as well: additional exceptional pool, extra reserved resource pool for real-time and critical messaging, and/or emergency exceptional resource pool. Yet taker-user shares information not only sent via SCI (as in the classical Rel <NUM> SCI extended with the sharing bits) sent over the defined pools but rather via shared resource pool (in this case it is Exceptional RP or other future ones). The main functionality of this resource pool is to be observed by intended sharing users, e.g., taker and donor-users.

Referring to <FIG>, it should be noted that according to further embodiments, further UEs may be present in the communication system <NUM> which want to participate the resource sharing. All users may be split into two modes based on their packet QoS requirements (i.e. reliability and latency) and their actual service QoS (e.g. represented 5GQ). Consequently, all UEs can serve the purpose as taker UE or donor UE.

According to embodiments, Quality of service satisfaction is carried on different levels; quality of services may be referred to as <NUM> quality-of-services indicator (5QI). This could be:.

The users who donate their resources (i.e., who are able to send grant responses) execute different algorithms to grant some resources and refuse others. If sharing is accepted based on this algorithm, the donating users are supposed to send granting token on the shared announcements resources/pools (as stated before). The grant response are transmitted with the power class of the intended users. Hence, a broadcast message may apply and simple granting key maybe specified. The key maybe decodable by every user.

Note a sidelink sharing request (S-SR) is also defined as Request to Send (RTS), while a sidelink grant response is also known as Clear to Send (CTS).

According to further embodiments, the granting policy may be designed as follows.

If the message is xored with the granting request message ID, the UE tries to decode the message first without xoring, if decodable reservation (if granted) is performed. If the message is not decodable, the UE repeats the message decoding after xoring with the message ID field. The message ID can be expanded (by repeating) to cover multiple fields in the granting message.

If the message is un-encrypted, another one or more UEs may capture the SCI information in the virtual grant-request message. Any of these UEs shall tune to transmit (contenting) on the evacuated (granted) resources.

With respect to <FIG>, different situations of sharing requests and granting requests will be discussed. <FIG> illustrates for different point of times t0 to t6 the communication between the taker UE <NUM> (UE-T) and the donor UE <NUM> (UE-D). In the point of time t0, UE-T <NUM> sends the request S-SR using the exceptional/sharing pool <NUM> having a dedicated frequency range. As response, the UE-D <NUM> receiving the request S-SR accepts same and sends a grant message S-GR which can be received by UE-T <NUM> at t2. Here, the request S-SR and the grant S-GR may be send using different frequencies within the frequency band of the sharing pool <NUM>.

Thus, a sharing request is seemed to be sent over the air (OTA) on sharing/exceptional pool or a predefined set of resources. Although, it is not explicitly shown, the sharing message sent on, e.g. at t0, can be received by one or more user equipments, e.g. at t1. As illustrated by S_GR equal to rejected transmitted at t4 as response to the request at t2/t3, the UE-D <NUM> can also reject the resource sharing. If the received message allows sharing, the resources to be granted to the taker UE <NUM> (i.e. mode for UEs) can, according to embodiments be included within the response.

The transmit power for the request S-SR and eventually for S-GR, may have a limited transmit power. Limiting the transmit power enables to define the communication range and ensure not to cause interference range out of the defined range. <FIG> illustrates the communication ranges of two taker UEs 16_1 and 16_2 by two cycles around the taker UEs 16_1 and 16_2 together with a plurality of potential donor UEs 14_1 to 14_8. Around each taker UE 16_1 and 16_2 two circles <NUM> are illustrates representing the limited transmit power. Inside each circle <NUM>, the multicast/unicast of the S-GR is depicted. In detail, S-SR of UE 16_1 can be received by the potential donor UEs 14_1 to 14_3, but not by UE 14_4 to 14_8. Vice versa, S-SR of 16_2 can be just received by the potential donor UEs 14_6, 14_7 and 14_8. The UEs 14_4 and 14_5 do not receive any S-SR.

The UEs requesting resources shall proceed with the discovery mechanism to select the proximity UEs, i.e., if the UEs requires doing multicast or unicast of their scheduling messages. All those UEs are assumed to be active UEs, even if they are RRC idle or not connected. If the discovery mechanism results in multiple tiers of UEs surrounding the taker-user UE and, if necessarily, one or more requests shall be sent with dominant (maximum) reachability power (see <FIG> for more details). Any other UE is not targeted by the communication range are receiving the resource scheduling request (borrow) message in their interference range, i.e., with very weak power signal. Hence, The power selection has to be done accurately to avoid multiple reservation.

According to embodiments, threshold to decide whether the donor would coexist with the taker on the donated resources or not: The received scheduling request message at the donor UEs shall be compared to a defined threshold (Thr). The reason here is to encourage the donor UE to accept the grant-request message coming more from a relatively far UE. In this case, the donor UE may decide to use the donated resources, as the taker UEs are located far from their possible communication range, i.e., the sharing power should be limited in this case to avoid interference.

<FIG> illustrates how the grant requesting UEs 16_1 to 16_4 should, according to embodiments, select the power based on the discovered position of the potential donor UE <NUM>. If the discovery did not result in an information, the grant-requesting UE select high power ranges for better reachability. With respect to <FIG>, it becomes clear that the selecting of a transmit power of the GR message must exceed a certain threshold (cf. UE 16_1 and UE 16_2, but not UE 16_3 and the not received request of UE 16_4). If, not, the received power will be too low to be dedicated by the donor UE <NUM>.

Preferably, granting or offering the portion is performed, if the power level is within a predefined range of thresholds if is sharing is required: For example, UE2-T may have an RX power level within this range (above RX power of UE1-T (high power indicating too near) and below UE3-T (low power level). Further, granting or offering the portion is performed, if the power level is below a second threshold (« Thr ) if is sharing is not required. This may be valid for UE3-T. Consequently, the second threshold may smaller than the thresholds of range or may be defined by the low power level threshold of the range.

Below, an embodiment which is mainly based on the embodiment of <FIG> will be discussed, wherein further details, especially regarding the spontaneous sharing and regarding an optional step of toggling will be discussed. The discussion is made with respect to <FIG>.

<FIG> shows resources for exchanging resource controlling information which are marked by the reference numeral <NUM> and the resources to be shared/offered granted which are marked by the reference numeral <NUM>. As illustrated, the resource sharing is performed with regard to the time frames SF <NUM> to SF <NUM> and also with regard to different sub-channels belonging to the time frames, as can be seen with respect to SF <NUM> or SF <NUM>. The resource controlling information are exchanged within the resources <NUM>, wherein a so called toggle is used. The toggle can indicate that resources are free, wherein a no toggled field enables to retain the resources. The toggled fields are marked by the reference numeral 20T.

In the illustrated sharing activities, the donor UE starts to offer its resources for sharing using a sidelink grant response (S-GR) messages without receiving S-SR. In this case, a mode is introduced in the sharing activation message sent by the network to allow spontaneous sharing.

The S-GR is a control message (or shared data channel with controlled multiplexed within data), which may contain:.

Toggling is seen as a signal to indicate whether the donor allows sharing on its resources in the next slot or not. In case toggling filed = is short indication flag (allow or do-not-allow).

The toggling may, for example, be executed as following:.

According to a further embodiment, a puncturing mechanism can be used. According to this, the donor UEs have a period to donate partially or fully. The taker UEs react passively, i.e. the UE-T scans the shared resource pool for sharing. If the pool indicate the current S-GR subframe, the taker UE may only be able to capture the frames in the next transmission opportunity (as in SF <NUM>, where UE3-D is announcing sharing). This embodiment can be summed up as following: The toggling mechanism allows signaling (e.g. using layer <NUM> SCI) to activate and deactivate sharing on one or more multiple transmit occasions.

According to a further embodiment, the virtually granted resources by the donor UEs may be fed back to the Base-station for further analysis. The granted resources amount or ratios are sent to the base-station to give it an indication of the sharing traffic. The base-station may receive this reporting during one of the measurement reports on the UL. Successful sharing percentage may be sent as an index quantized into <NUM> bits (i.e., <NUM> levels) indicating the successful sharing percentage quantization bits.

This feedback information can be utilized to offload the pre-configuration to the requesting modes/UEs if possible. If not, the base-station may figure out supplementary resources for the donor UEs on same or higher frequencies.

According to a further embodiment, matching users of the Modes and the QoS information is used for selecting granted resources or, in general for the resource sharing algorithm. In the following, we describe the operation of both D-UE and UE-T in V2X. Let us assume now that the UE-D is a Mode <NUM>-like UE and the taker-user is a Mode <NUM>-like UE, i.e., one for a network assisted resource allocation and the other for autonomous (distributed) resource allocation modes, respectively. In mode <NUM>-like operation, the base-station configures grants for one shot transmission and pre-configures grants for grant-free access transmission (as of Rel <NUM> NR). In both cases, it is assumed that if a network coverage exists (via one or more base-stations), it preconfigures certain resources to handle (exchange) grant proposals from one mode and carries the returned back scheduling grants. The UE of the higher 5QI value mode is able to grant one or more UEs at a time on one or more of its costumed (preconfigured or granted) resources.

Let us assume that Mode <NUM> or Mode <NUM>-like users are the users who have preconfigured or granted resources to be used mainly for a semi-persistent scheduling. Other resources can be based on one-shot resources appearing in later sub-frames (if possible according to new-radio definitions, resources can be configured in advance).

In our context: Mode <NUM> UE refers to: any UE of a higher priority UEs, sidelink UE with mode <NUM> configuration, and/or UEs with mode-<NUM>-like operation for NR design utilizing RRC connection/network connection with network-based scheduling. Mode <NUM> can also note as mode <NUM> (for sidelink non-V2X UEs).

According to a further embodiment, the QoS flow aware selection and matching mechanism may be implemented as following. This implementation will be discussed with respect to <FIG>.

<FIG> shows a donor user process <NUM> for resource sharing. Here, the donor UE (UE-D) initiates the method, as illustrated by the method step <NUM>. The first step is <NUM> of starting UE-D grant-based on SPS. Here, a UE-D acquires the SPS, preconfigured resources or random grants (one shot transmission); the donor UE UEs might not need to consume all possible resources. Additionally, the donor UE might not be transmitting high reliability and/or low-latency data. This step <NUM> can have three optional substeps <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM>. Within the step <NUM> is checked, the SIB is received within the sharing command. If the donor UE receives SIB command (this could be, e.g., in LTE SIB <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> for sidelink in LTE, for new radio, this might be different) with sharing activation the following apply:.

Regarding step <NUM>: Once the mode-<NUM> UE identifies the shared resources (pool) it start scanning it for possible grant requests from a lower priority UEs (could be taker UE or taker UE like UE or congested donor UE or congested donor UE like UE).

If sharing is received (cf. step <NUM>), the donor UE analyze the request and identifies if they should accept the sharing requests or reject it for the time being. If the UE accept the sharing and if the RSSI received is less than a threshold (predefined), the low priority UEs are allowed to coexist.

If the RSSI is high, (cf. step <NUM> and <NUM>), and the donor UE is owning a redundant resources, then it decides to share without coexistence (the UE donor UE decides to forbid transmission on shared resources).

Once, the donor UE is accepting the sharing (cf. step 126a or 126c), the donor UE UE sends sharing acceptance short data with short P(U/S)CCH (or long if not possible) containing the resource allocation that has be accepted to be shared. The donor UE UEs only send the time offset, starting PRB and the length of PRBs. If the UE will grant a complete SPS or preconfigured period, the period has to be added as well.

As indicated by step <NUM>, the message is sent as a unicast (for a single UE), multi-case (for multiple granted UEs), or broadcast if unicast and multicast are not possible. The step <NUM> is the last step of the method <NUM> as indicated by the end point <NUM>.

Regarding the method <NUM> it should be noted that there are some optional steps, like <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM>.

Below, the sequence of operations the taker user equipment will be discussed with respect to <FIG>. The method <NUM> starts with point <NUM>. The resource-demanding user is performing distributed MAC scheduling and/or centralized resources allocation. However, in any case, the UE is in urgent need to use resources eventually that does not have. Here, the UE-T starts with distributed MAC as illustrated by Fig. <NUM>.

Within the step <NUM>, the UE scans the SIB for sharing configuration, if identified then:.

Within the step <NUM>, the grant request on the preconfigured resource for message exchange defined before is summed. After sending the grant, the requesting UE starts the timer T timer_grant response (cf.

If the timer T_timer_grant_response did not expire:.

With respect to <FIG>, a mechanism for power control will be discussed.

Power of requesting message: based on the discovery mechanism, transmission the requests from taker UEs might be selected from multiple power levels. If discovery information is not available, the maximum power level should be selected in this case. The UE may stick the power levels (<NUM> (<NUM> levels) or <NUM> (<NUM>-levels) bits) identifying the power control value to the donor UEs. This value can be used to decide on the Thr of the received S-SR.

Power of the message response: If the donor UE is receiving a requesting for sharing message, and if the power level can be decoded then the donor sends the grant response using the same power value or higher. If the donor UE is not able to decode the power control, the maximum power will be used to send the grant response.

Sharing the donor resource pool: Depending on the results from the threshold check in Marker (A) (<FIG>), the donor UE may prescribe the power value of sharing in the granting response message. If the results in the Marker is blow and the donor UE will use exactly the shared resources (when the taker UE is quite far) the donor UE may select one of the low power levels. Otherwise, if the results of the Marker is that the power exceeds the threshold, the donor UE may not reuse the resources (the taker UE is close enough to the donor UE) and higher power level may be suggested for the taker UE.

According to embodiments, it is suggested that the UE-D announce or inform the BS of the donated resources. If the donor UE receives a specific S-SR, the donor UE shall inform the BS with the possible activity on the donated resources. This information may be provided using a specific control channel or a conventional data channel.

According to further embodiments, the BS shall deactivate the sharing mechanism on some resources (selected resources) or all resources if traffic is high or sharing resources regularities is not assured. According to further embodiments, the UE-D may announce the selected UE <NUM> QI/QoS.

According to embodiments, the BS shall also indicate in the RRC message a minimum acceptable sharing 5QI/CQI. In this case, in the first mechanism (sharing requests and grants), the UE-D will accept UE-T of high or equal the minimum 5QI/CQI. In the other mechanism (grant-requests only by UE-D), only UE-T with the minimum 5QI and higher can start sharing the announced resources.

In above embodiments, the invention has been mainly discussed in connection with general mobile transceivers. Preferred applications are V2X, D2D, mMTC, URLLC, critical communication. Further applications are high traffic scenario for V2X, with some / few / single UEs requesting resources to transmit high priority data (e.g. due to unexpected breaking of preceding vehicle(s) or an accident, while other UE(s) in proximity do not (urgently) need the already granted resources.

Further embodiments refer to a mobile device, like mobile phone or a vehicle using the above described mechanism of resource sharing. According to a first embodiment, the transceiver of the device can initiate the resource sharing with a request, if the transceiver requires more resources. According to a second embodiment, the transceiver can initiate the resource sharing by offering resources, if same has an portion.

In above embodiments, the step of exchanging resource controlling information should be understood as one-way communication (e.g. if the donor UE offers resources without the need for an feedback or request) and as two-way communication (e.g. request by UE-T and offering/granting by UE-D as response to the request).

Claim 1:
A method for managing resources (<NUM>) within a communication system (<NUM>), the communication system (<NUM>) comprises a first mobile transceiver (<NUM>) and a second mobile transceiver (<NUM>), wherein the first mobile transceiver (<NUM>) has a portion of first resources (<NUM>) to be granted and/or shared and/or offered and wherein the second mobile transceiver (<NUM>) requires more resources (<NUM>), the method comprising:
exchanging resource controlling information (S-SR and/or S-GR) between the first and the second mobile transceivers (<NUM>); and granting or offering the portion of the first resources (<NUM>) for the second transceiver as response to exchanging resource controlling information (S-SR, S-GR), wherein the first resources (<NUM>) to be granted and/or shared and/or offered are resources to be used for the communication between the base station (<NUM>) and the respective mobile transceiver (<NUM>, <NUM>); or
exchanging resource controlling information (S-GR) regarding a physical resource block between the first and the second mobile transceivers (<NUM>) so as to offer the portion of the first resources (<NUM>) shared for the second transceiver such that same can directly use the portion.