Triggering sensing operations performed by a wireless communications system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2025380298-A1
Application number	US-202418737456-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 7, 2024
Priority date	Jun 7, 2024
Publication date	Dec 11, 2025
Grant date	—

Abstract

Various aspects of the present disclosure provide a sensing management component (SMC), which can be located or other placed within a radio access network (RAN) architecture, such as within an NG-RAN node or user equipment (UE). The SMC, which may communicate with a sensing function of a core network, facilitates or supports new or enhanced sensing requests or triggers, such as requests that originate from RAN nodes and/or UEs and are associated with sensing operations performed by the SMC.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A network function for wireless communication, comprising:
at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory and configured to cause the network function to:
receive a request to perform a sensing operation,
wherein the request identifies a request type and comprises a sensing quality of service (Qos);

determine a sensing mode for the sensing operation based on the request type;
transmit one or more sensing reference signal configurations to one or more radio access nodes (RANs); and
receive, from the one or more RANs, sensing measurements based on the one or more RANs performing the sensing operations.

2 . The network function of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to cause the network function to:
determine a sensing result based on the sensing measurements received from the one or more RANs; and transmit the determined sensing result to an entity that requested the sensing operation.

3 . The network function of claim 1 , wherein the request type includes:
a RAN induced sensing request (RI-SR); an entity terminated sensing request (ET-SR); a mobile originated sensing request (MO-SR); a network induced sensing request (NI-SR); a deferred sensing request; a user equipment (UE) sensing request (UE-SR); or combinations thereof.

4 . The network function of claim 3 , wherein the RI-SR comprises sensing operations for RAN functions.

5 . The network function of claim 1 , wherein the sensing QoS comprises:
sensing accuracy; detection range resolution, range accuracy, direction or angle accuracy, doppler resolution and accuracy, update rate, beamwidth, false alarm rate, probability of detection, clutter rejection metrics, coverage area, azimuth or elevation coverage, sensing response time, sensing latency metrics, sensing reliability metrics, or combinations thereof.

6 . The network function of claim 1 , wherein the network function includes a sensing management component (SMC).

7 . The network function of claim 1 , wherein the network function is a location management function (LMF) that manages requests to perform sensing operations.

8 . The network function of claim 1 , wherein the network function is a RAN node performing sensing transmissions during the sensing operations and exchanges information with a user equipment (UE) performing sensing reception during the sensing operations via UE-RAN signaling mechanisms.

9 . The network function of claim 1 , wherein the network function is a RAN node performing sensing transmissions during the sensing operations and exchanges information with a different RAN node performing sensing reception during the sensing operations via RAN-RAN signaling mechanisms.

10 . The network function of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the network function to transmit one or more sensing reference signal configurations to the one or more RANs via a message transfer function that supports capability exchange, transmission-reception point (TRP) information exchange, or sensing information exchange.

11 . The network function of claim 1 , wherein the network function is an access and mobility management function (AMF) and selects a RAN node, from the one or more RANs, which includes a sensing management component (SMC) to manage requests to perform sensing operations.

12 . The network function of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the network function to:
transmit a first sensing reference signal configuration to a RAN node that includes a sensing management component (SMC) when the sensing operation is associated with a high sensing QoS; and transmit a second sensing reference signal configuration to a function of a core network (CN) when the sensing operation is associated with a low sensing QoS.

13 . The network function of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the network function to transmit the one or more sensing reference signal configurations to a RAN node and centralized network function of a core network (CN).

14 . A method performed by a network function, the method comprising:
receiving a request to perform a sensing operation,
wherein the request identifies a request type and a sensing quality of service (QoS);
determining a sensing mode for the sensing operation based on the request type; transmitting one or more sensing reference signal configurations to one or more radio access nodes (RANs); and receiving, from the one or more RANs, sensing measurements based on the one or more RANs performing the sensing operations.

15 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising:
determining a sensing result based on the sensing measurements received from the one or more RANs; and transmitting the determine sensing result to an entity that requested the sensing operation.

16 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the request type includes:
a RAN induced sensing request (RI-SR); an entity terminated sensing request (ET-SR); a mobile originated sensing request (MO-SR); a network induced sensing request (NI-SR); a deferred sensing request; a user equipment (UE) sensing request (UE-SR); or combinations thereof.

17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the RI-SR comprises sensing operations for RAN functions.

18 . A network function for wireless communication, comprising:
at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory and configured to cause the network function to:
receive a request to perform a sensing operation from a radio access node (RAN);
transmit one or more sensing reference signal configurations to one or more RANs in response to the received request; and
receive, from the one or more RANs, sensing measurements based on the one or more RANs performing the sensing operations.

19 . The network function of claim 18 , wherein the network function is a sensing management component (SMC) that receives a RAN induced sensing request (RI-SR) from the RAN.

20 . A method performed by a network function, the method comprising:
receiving a request to perform a sensing operation from a radio access node (RAN); transmitting one or more sensing reference signal configurations to one or more RANs in response to the received request; and receiving, from the one or more RANs, sensing measurements based on the one or more RANs performing the sensing operations.

Assignees

• Lenovo Singapore Pte Ltd

Inventors

• Thomas Robin Rajan
• Taghizadeh Motlagh Seyedomid
• Velev Genadi

Classifications

• H04W24/10

  Scheduling measurement reports {; Arrangements for measurement reports} · CPC title

• H04L5/0051

  of dedicated pilots, i.e. pilots destined for a single user or terminal · CPC title

• H04W74/0808 Primary

  using carrier sensing, e.g. carrier sense multiple access [CSMA] · CPC title

• H04W24/08 Primary

  Testing, {supervising or monitoring} using real traffic · CPC title