Granted Patent B2

US 12,659,991 · App. 18/699,521 · Granted Jun 16, 2026

Inventors: Majid Ghanbarinejad (Chicago, IL); Vijay Nangia (Woodridge, IL); Hyejung Jung (Northbrook, IL)

Assignee: Lenovo (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.

H04W74/0808H04B7/0697H04B7/15528H04W84/047

Abstract

Claims (50)

1 . A network equipment (“NE”), comprising:

at least one memory; and

at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory and configured to cause the NE to:

sense a shared medium using a first entity of the NE;

transmit, using the first entity, a first plurality of signals for a first duration and over the shared medium in response to the shared medium being in an idle state; and

transmit, using a second entity of the NE that is collocated with the first entity, a second plurality of signals for a second duration and over the shared medium without sensing the shared medium.

2 . The NE of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the NE to:

determine that the second entity is allowed to transmit the second plurality of signals without sensing the shared medium based at least in part on that the first duration is less than a threshold, or a sum of the first duration and the second duration is less than or equal to the threshold, or both.

3 . The NE of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the NE to:

determine that the second entity is allowed to transmit the second plurality of signals without sensing the shared medium based at least in part on that the first duration is less than a first threshold, or a sum of the first duration and the second duration is less than a second threshold, wherein the second threshold is different from the first threshold.

4 . The NE of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the NE to:

determine that the second entity is allowed to transmit the second plurality of signals without sensing the shared medium based at least in part on a first spatial parameter associated with transmission of the first plurality of signals being identical to a second spatial parameter associated with transmission of the second plurality of signals.

5 . The NE of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the NE to:

determine that the second entity is allowed to transmit the second plurality of signals without sensing the shared medium based at least in part on an angular relationship between a first beam associated with transmission of the first plurality of signals and a second beam associated with transmission of the second plurality of signals, the angular relationship comprising the first beam overlapping with the second beam, a first coverage of one of the first beam and the second beam being a subset of a second coverage of the other of the first beam and the second beam, a first relationship between beam angles of the first beam and the second beam, a second relationship between widths of the first beam and the second beam, or a combination thereof.

6 . The NE of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the NE to:

receive control signaling indicating a channel access configuration comprising an indication that the second entity is allowed to transmit the second plurality of signals without sensing the shared medium.

7 . The NE of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the NE to:

determine whether the second entity is allowed to transmit the second plurality of signals based at least in part on a first quality of service (“QoS”) requirement associated with the first plurality of signals, a second QoS requirement associated with the second plurality of signals, or both.

8 . The NE of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the NE to:

receive signaling indicating at least one of the first duration, the second duration, a sum of the first duration and the second duration, a maximum of the first duration, a maximum of the second duration, or a maximum of the sum of the first duration and the second duration,

wherein the signaling comprises a radio resource control (“RRC”) message, a physical (“PHY”) layer signaling, a medium access control (“MAC”) signaling, or a combination thereof.

9 . The NE of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the NE to:

multiplex the first plurality of signals and the second plurality of signals according to a time-division multiplexing (“TDM”) scheme.

10 . The NE of claim 1 , wherein the first plurality of signals and the second plurality of signals overlap in a time domain according to a frequency-division multiplexing (“FDM”) scheme, a spatial-division multiple (“SDM”) scheme, or a combination thereof.

11 . The NE of claim 1 , wherein to:

sense the shared medium is based on a first energy detection threshold in response to that the second entity is not allowed to transmit the second plurality of signals without sensing the shared medium; and

sense the shared medium is based on a second energy detection threshold in response to that the second entity is allowed to transmit a second plurality of signals without sensing the medium, and wherein the second energy detection threshold is different from the first energy detection threshold.

12 . The NE of claim 1 , wherein:

the NE is a wireless integrated access and backhaul (“IAB”) node;

the first entity is at least one of an IAB-distributed unit (“DU”) or an IAB-mobile terminal (“MT”); and

the second entity is at least one of the IAB-MT or the IAB-DU.

13 . A method performed by a network equipment (“NE”), comprising:

sensing, using a first entity of a wireless node, a shared medium;

transmitting, using the first entity, a first plurality of signals for a first duration and over the shared medium in response to the shared medium being in an idle state; and

transmitting, using a second entity of the NE that is collocated with the first entity, a second plurality of signals for a second duration and over the shared medium without sensing the shared medium.

14 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising determining that the second entity is allowed to transmit the second plurality of signals without sensing the shared medium based at least in part on that the first duration is less than a threshold, or a sum of the first duration and the second duration is less than or equal to the threshold, or both.

15 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising determining that the second entity is allowed to transmit the second plurality of signals without sensing the shared medium based at least in part on that the first duration is less than a first threshold, or a sum of the first duration and the second duration is less than a second threshold, wherein the second threshold is different from the first threshold.

16 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising determining that the second entity is allowed to transmit the second plurality of signals without sensing the shared medium based at least in part on a first spatial parameter associated with transmission of the first plurality of signals being identical to a second spatial parameter associated with transmission of the second plurality of signals.

17 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising determining that the second entity is allowed to transmit the second plurality of signals without sensing the shared medium based at least in part on an angular relationship between a first beam associated with transmission of the first plurality of signals and a second beam associated with transmission of the second plurality of signals, the angular relationship comprising the first beam overlapping with the second beam, a first coverage of one of the first beam and the second beam being a subset of a second coverage of the other of the first beam and the second beam, a first relationship between beam angles of the first beam and the second beam, a second relationship between widths of the first beam and the second beam, or a combination thereof.

18 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising receiving control signaling indicating a channel access configuration comprising an indication that the second entity is allowed to transmit the second plurality of signals without sensing the shared medium.

19 . A wireless network node comprising:

at least one memory; and

at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory and, configured to cause the wireless network node to:

sense a shared medium using one of an integrated access and backhaul distributed unit (“IAB-DU”) or an IAB-mobile terminal (“MT”), wherein the IAB-DU and the IAB-MT are collocated within the wireless network node and cooperate for channel access;

transmit, using the IAB-DU or the IAB-MT, a first plurality of signals for a first duration and over the shared medium in response to the shared medium being in an idle state; and

transmit, based at least in part on the other of the IAB-DU or the IAB-MT being allowed to use the shared medium without sensing the shared medium, a second plurality of signals for a second duration and over the shared medium using the other of the one of the IAB-DU and the IAB-MT.

20 . A method performed by a wireless network node, comprising:

sensing a shared medium using one of an integrated access and backhaul distributed unit (“IAB-DU”) and or an IAB-mobile terminal (“MT”), wherein the IAB-DU and the IAB-MT are collocated within the wireless network node and cooperate for channel access;

transmitting, using the IAB-DU or the IAB-MT, a first plurality of signals for a first duration and over the shared medium in response to the shared medium being in an idle state; and

transmitting, based at least in part on the other of the IAB-DU or the IAB-MT being allowed to use the shared medium without sensing the shared medium, a second plurality of signals for a second duration and over the shared medium using the other of the one of the IAB-DU and the IAB-MT.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (2)

References Cited (29)