WO2025208408A1

WO2025208408A1 - Proximity determination for ambient wireless devices

Info

Publication number: WO2025208408A1
Application number: PCT/CN2024/085786
Authority: WO
Inventors: Luanxia YANG; Le LIU; Piyush Gupta; Peter Gaal; Zhikun WU
Original assignee: Qualcomm Inc
Current assignee: Qualcomm Inc
Priority date: 2024-04-03
Filing date: 2024-04-03
Publication date: 2025-10-09
Anticipated expiration: 2026-10-03

Abstract

Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communications are described. An ambient wireless device may receive proximity thresholds and signaling associated with a proximity determination procedure from a reader device. The ambient wireless device may perform the proximity determination procedure to obtain proximity information associated with the ambient wireless device. In some cases, the signaling may include a dedicated proximity determination signal, a signal associated with a contention based access procedure, or both. The proximity thresholds may include a threshold received power, a threshold quantity of instances of the signaling that satisfy the threshold received power, a threshold quantity of decoded instances of the signaling, or any combination thereof. In some cases, the ambient wireless device may indicate the proximity information to the reader device, where the proximity information may indicate one of a near proximity or a far proximity of the ambient wireless device relative to the reader device.

Description

PROXIMITY DETERMINATION FOR AMBIENT WIRELESS DEVICES

FIELD OF TECHNOLOGY

The following relates to wireless communications, including proximity determination for ambient wireless devices.

BACKGROUND

Wireless communications systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, and so on. These systems may be capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing the available system resources (e.g., time, frequency, and power) . Examples of such multiple-access systems include fourth generation (4G) systems such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) systems, or LTE-A Pro systems, and fifth generation (5G) systems which may be referred to as New Radio (NR) systems. These systems may employ technologies such as code division multiple access (CDMA) , time division multiple access (TDMA) , frequency division multiple access (FDMA) , orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA) , or discrete Fourier transform spread orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (DFT-S-OFDM) . A wireless multiple-access communications system may include one or more base stations, each supporting wireless communication for communication devices, which may be known as user equipment (UE) .

SUMMARY

The described techniques relate to improved methods, systems, devices, and apparatuses that support proximity determination for ambient wireless devices. For example, the described techniques enable an ambient wireless device to receive, from a reader device, one or more proximity thresholds and signaling associated with a proximity determination procedure. The ambient wireless device may perform the proximity determination procedure (e.g., based on the proximity thresholds and the signaling) to obtain proximity information associated with the ambient wireless device. In some cases, the signaling may include a dedicated proximity determination signal, a signal associated with a contention based access procedure, or both. Additionally, or alternatively, the proximity thresholds may include a threshold received power associated with the signaling from the reader device, a threshold quantity of instances of the signaling that satisfy the threshold received power, a threshold quantity of decoded instances of the signaling, or any combination thereof. In some cases, the ambient wireless device may indicate the proximity information to the reader device, where the proximity information may indicate one of a near proximity or a far proximity of the ambient wireless device relative to the reader device. For example, the ambient wireless device may transmit the proximity information to the reader device within a time window for communicating the signaling from the reader device, after the time window, or both.

A method for wireless communication by an ambient wireless device is described. The method may include receiving first signaling that indicates one or more proximity thresholds for a proximity determination procedure for the ambient wireless device, where the one or more proximity thresholds correspond to a near proximity and a far proximity of the ambient wireless device relative to a reader device, monitoring for second signaling from the reader device, the second signaling associated with the proximity determination procedure for the ambient wireless device, and performing the proximity determination procedure to obtain proximity information of the ambient wireless device based on the monitoring and on the one or more proximity thresholds, where the proximity information includes an indication of one of the near proximity or the far proximity of the ambient wireless device relative to the reader device.

An ambient wireless device for wireless communication is described. The ambient wireless device may include one or more memories storing processor executable code, and one or more processors coupled with the one or more memories. The one or more processors may individually or collectively be operable to execute the code to cause the ambient wireless device to receive first signaling that indicates one or more proximity thresholds for a proximity determination procedure for the ambient wireless device, where the one or more proximity thresholds correspond to a near proximity and a far proximity of the ambient wireless device relative to a reader device, monitor for second signaling from the reader device, the second signaling associated with the proximity determination procedure for the ambient wireless device, and perform the proximity determination procedure to obtain proximity information of the ambient wireless device based on the monitoring and on the one or more proximity thresholds, where the proximity information includes an indication of one of the near proximity or the far proximity of the ambient wireless device relative to the reader device.

Another ambient wireless device for wireless communication is described. The ambient wireless device may include means for receiving first signaling that indicates one or more proximity thresholds for a proximity determination procedure for the ambient wireless device, where the one or more proximity thresholds correspond to a near proximity and a far proximity of the ambient wireless device relative to a reader device, means for monitoring for second signaling from the reader device, the second signaling associated with the proximity determination procedure for the ambient wireless device, and means for performing the proximity determination procedure to obtain proximity information of the ambient wireless device based on the monitoring and on the one or more proximity thresholds, where the proximity information includes an indication of one of the near proximity or the far proximity of the ambient wireless device relative to the reader device.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code for wireless communication is described. The code may include instructions executable by one or more processors to receive first signaling that indicates one or more proximity thresholds for a proximity determination procedure for the ambient wireless device, where the one or more proximity thresholds correspond to a near proximity and a far proximity of the ambient wireless device relative to a reader device, monitor for second signaling from the reader device, the second signaling associated with the proximity determination procedure for the ambient wireless device, and perform the proximity determination procedure to obtain proximity information of the ambient wireless device based on the monitoring and on the one or more proximity thresholds, where the proximity information includes an indication of one of the near proximity or the far proximity of the ambient wireless device relative to the reader device.

In some examples of the method, ambient wireless devices, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described herein, monitoring for the second signaling associated with the proximity determination procedure may include operations, features, means, or instructions for monitoring for a dedicated proximity determination signal.

In some examples of the method, ambient wireless devices, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described herein, a transmit power of the dedicated proximity determination signal may be predefined, dynamically configured by a network entity, determined by the reader device based on a threshold transmit power, or any combination thereof.

In some examples of the method, ambient wireless devices, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described herein, the dedicated proximity determination signal includes a field that includes one or more bits to indicate a purpose of the dedicated proximity determination signal, a preamble that indicates the purpose of the dedicated proximity determination signal, or both.

In some examples of the method, ambient wireless devices, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described herein, monitoring for the second signaling associated with the proximity determination procedure may include operations, features, means, or instructions for monitoring for a third signal associated with a contention based access procedure.

In some examples of the method, ambient wireless devices, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described herein, and the method, apparatuses, and non-transitory computer-readable medium may include further operations, features, means, or instructions for receiving one or more instances of the second signaling within a time window based on the monitoring, where the proximity determination procedure may be based on one or more received power measurements associated with the received one or more instances of the second signaling.

Some examples of the method, ambient wireless devices, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described herein may further include operations, features, means, or instructions for obtaining the proximity information of the ambient wireless device from the proximity determination procedure based on whether an average received power measurement of the one or more received power measurements satisfies the received power threshold.

Some examples of the method, ambient wireless devices, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described herein may further include operations, features, means, or instructions for obtaining the proximity information of the ambient wireless device from the proximity determination procedure based on whether a quantity of the one or more received power measurements that satisfy the received power threshold satisfies a threshold quantity of received power measurements.

Some examples of the method, ambient wireless devices, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described herein may further include operations, features, means, or instructions for decoding one or more received instances of the second signaling based on the monitoring and obtaining the proximity information of the ambient wireless device from the proximity determination procedure based on whether a quantity of the decoded one or more instances of the second signaling satisfies a threshold quantity of decoded instances.

Some examples of the method, ambient wireless devices, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described herein may further include operations, features, means, or instructions for communicating the proximity information to the reader device within a time window for receiving the second signaling, after the time window for receiving the second signaling, or both, where the proximity information may be communicated based on the proximity information including the indication of the near proximity.

Some examples of the method, ambient wireless devices, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described herein may further include operations, features, means, or instructions for receiving, from the reader device, an indication of one or more wireless communication resources for communication of the proximity information to the reader device and communicating the proximity information to the reader device via the one or more wireless communication resources.

Some examples of the method, ambient wireless devices, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described herein may further include operations, features, means, or instructions for skipping a monitoring of the second signaling within a time window that occurs after the proximity determination procedure may be performed based on the proximity information including the indication of the near proximity.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows an example of a wireless communications system that supports proximity determination for ambient wireless devices in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 shows an example of a wireless communications system that supports proximity determination for ambient wireless devices in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 shows an example of a received power diagram that supports proximity determination for ambient wireless devices in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure.

FIGs. 4 and 5 show examples of signaling timing diagrams that support proximity determination for ambient wireless devices in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 shows an example of a process flow that supports proximity determination for ambient wireless devices in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure.

FIGs. 7 and 8 show block diagrams of devices that support proximity determination for ambient wireless devices in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 9 shows a block diagram of a communications manager that supports proximity determination for ambient wireless devices in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 10 shows a diagram of a system including a device that supports proximity determination for ambient wireless devices in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 11 shows a flowchart illustrating methods that support proximity determination for ambient wireless devices in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Some wireless communications systems may include one or more ambient wireless devices (e.g., ambient internet of things (IoT) devices) , which may use power from ambient power sources (e.g., from incident radio signals, other ambient power supplies) to communicate information with a reader device (e.g., a user equipment (UE) , a network entity) . In some cases, communications with ambient wireless devices may be affected a proximity of the ambient wireless device to the reader device (e.g., a distance between the ambient wireless device and the reader device) . Thus, a method for determining the proximity of the ambient wireless device relative to the reader device may be beneficial for some wireless communications systems.

According to techniques described herein, an ambient wireless device may receive, from the reader device, one or more proximity thresholds, as well as signaling that is associated with a proximity determination procedure. The ambient wireless device may perform the proximity determination procedure (e.g., based on the proximity thresholds and the signaling) to obtain proximity information associated with the ambient wireless device. In some cases, the signaling may include a dedicated proximity determination signal, a signal associated with a contention based access procedure, or both. Additionally, or alternatively, the proximity thresholds may include a threshold received power associated with the signaling from the reader device, a threshold quantity of instances of the signaling that satisfy the threshold received power, a threshold quantity of instances of the signaling that the ambient wireless device correctly decodes, or any combination thereof.

In some cases, the ambient wireless device may communicate (e.g., via backscattering, via wireless transmission) the proximity information to the reader device, where the proximity information may indicate one of a near proximity or a far proximity of the ambient wireless device relative to the reader device. For example, the ambient wireless device may transmit the proximity information to the reader device within a time window for communicating the signaling associated with proximity determination procedure, after the time window, or both. In some cases, the reader device may configure the time window for the ambient wireless device. The reader device may also configure a skipping time window during which the ambient wireless device may skip monitoring of signaling based on proximity information of the ambient wireless device indicating the near proximity.

Aspects of the disclosure are initially described in the context of wireless communications systems. Aspects of the disclosure are also described in the contexts of received power diagrams, signaling timing diagrams, and process flows. Aspects of the disclosure are further illustrated by and described with reference to apparatus diagrams, system diagrams, and flowcharts that relate to proximity determination for ambient wireless devices. As used herein, the term “ (pre-) configured” may mean either configured or preconfigured, and the term “predefined” may mean defined in an accessible format, such as one or more standards documents. For example, if a proximity threshold is (pre-) configured at a device, the device may receive signaling (e.g., control signaling) that configures (e.g., indicates) the proximity threshold to the device, the device may be preconfigured with the proximity threshold, or both. Additionally, or alternatively, if the proximity threshold is predefined, the proximity threshold may be defined in one or more standards documents.

FIG. 1 shows an example of a wireless communications system 100 that supports proximity determination for ambient wireless devices in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure. The wireless communications system 100 may include one or more devices, such as one or more network devices (e.g., network entities 105) , one or more UEs 115, and a core network 130. In some examples, the wireless communications system 100 may be a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network, an LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) network, an LTE-A Pro network, a New Radio (NR) network, or a network operating in accordance with other systems and radio technologies, including future systems and radio technologies not explicitly mentioned herein.

The network entities 105 may be dispersed throughout a geographic area to form the wireless communications system 100 and may include devices in different forms or having different capabilities. In various examples, a network entity 105 may be referred to as a network element, a mobility element, a radio access network (RAN) node, or network equipment, among other nomenclature. In some examples, network entities 105 and UEs 115 may wirelessly communicate via communication link (s) 125 (e.g., a radio frequency (RF) access link) . For example, a network entity 105 may support a coverage area 110 (e.g., a geographic coverage area) over which the UEs 115 and the network entity 105 may establish the communication link (s) 125. The coverage area 110 may be an example of a geographic area over which a network entity 105 and a UE 115 may support the communication of signals according to one or more radio access technologies (RATs) .

The UEs 115 may be dispersed throughout a coverage area 110 of the wireless communications system 100, and each UE 115 may be stationary, or mobile, or both at different times. The UEs 115 may be devices in different forms or having different capabilities. Some example UEs 115 are illustrated in FIG. 1. The UEs 115 described herein may be capable of supporting communications with various types of devices in the wireless communications system 100 (e.g., other wireless communication devices, including UEs 115 or network entities 105) , as shown in FIG. 1.

As described herein, a node of the wireless communications system 100, which may be referred to as a network node, or a wireless node, may be a network entity 105 (e.g., any network entity described herein) , a UE 115 (e.g., any UE described herein) , a network controller, an apparatus, a device, a computing system, one or more components, or another suitable processing entity configured to perform any of the techniques described herein. For example, a node may be a UE 115. As another example, a node may be a network entity 105. As another example, a first node may be configured to communicate with a second node or a third node. In one aspect of this example, the first node may be a UE 115, the second node may be a network entity 105, and the third node may be a UE 115. In another aspect of this example, the first node may be a UE 115, the second node may be a network entity 105, and the third node may be a network entity 105. In yet other aspects of this example, the first, second, and third nodes may be different relative to these examples. Similarly, reference to a UE 115, network entity 105, apparatus, device, computing system, or the like may include disclosure of the UE 115, network entity 105, apparatus, device, computing system, or the like being a node. For example, disclosure that a UE 115 is configured to receive information from a network entity 105 also discloses that a first node is configured to receive information from a second node.

In some examples, network entities 105 may communicate with a core network 130, or with one another, or both. For example, network entities 105 may communicate with the core network 130 via backhaul communication link (s) 120 (e.g., in accordance with an S1, N2, N3, or other interface protocol) . In some examples, network entities 105 may communicate with one another via backhaul communication link (s) 120 (e.g., in accordance with an X2, Xn, or other interface protocol) either directly (e.g., directly between network entities 105) or indirectly (e.g., via the core network 130) . In some examples, network entities 105 may communicate with one another via a midhaul communication link 162 (e.g., in accordance with a midhaul interface protocol) or a fronthaul communication link 168 (e.g., in accordance with a fronthaul interface protocol) , or any combination thereof. The backhaul communication link (s) 120, midhaul communication links 162, or fronthaul communication links 168 may be or include one or more wired links (e.g., an electrical link, an optical fiber link) or one or more wireless links (e.g., a radio link, a wireless optical link) , among other examples or various combinations thereof. A UE 115 may communicate with the core network 130 via a communication link 155.

One or more of the network entities 105 or network equipment described herein may include or may be referred to as a base station 140 (e.g., a base transceiver station, a radio base station, an NR base station, an access point, a radio transceiver, a NodeB, an eNodeB (eNB) , a next-generation NodeB or giga-NodeB (either of which may be referred to as a gNB) , a 5G NB, a next-generation eNB (ng-eNB) , a Home NodeB, a Home eNodeB, or other suitable terminology) . In some examples, a network entity 105 (e.g., a base station 140) may be implemented in an aggregated (e.g., monolithic, standalone) base station architecture, which may be configured to utilize a protocol stack that is physically or logically integrated within one network entity (e.g., a network entity 105 or a single RAN node, such as a base station 140) .

In some examples, a network entity 105 may be implemented in a disaggregated architecture (e.g., a disaggregated base station architecture, a disaggregated RAN architecture) , which may be configured to utilize a protocol stack that is physically or logically distributed among multiple network entities (e.g., network entities 105) , such as an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) network, an open RAN (O-RAN) (e.g., a network configuration sponsored by the O-RAN Alliance) , or a virtualized RAN (vRAN) (e.g., a cloud RAN (C-RAN) ) . For example, a network entity 105 may include one or more of a central unit (CU) , such as a CU 160, a distributed unit (DU) , such as a DU 165, a radio unit (RU) , such as an RU 170, a RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) , such as an RIC 175 (e.g., a Near-Real Time RIC (Near-RT RIC) , a Non-Real Time RIC (Non-RT RIC) ) , a Service Management and Orchestration (SMO) system, such as an SMO system 180, or any combination thereof. An RU 170 may also be referred to as a radio head, a smart radio head, a remote radio head (RRH) , a remote radio unit (RRU) , or a transmission reception point (TRP) . One or more components of the network entities 105 in a disaggregated RAN architecture may be co-located, or one or more components of the network entities 105 may be located in distributed locations (e.g., separate physical locations) . In some examples, one or more of the network entities 105 of a disaggregated RAN architecture may be implemented as virtual units (e.g., a virtual CU (VCU) , a virtual DU (VDU) , a virtual RU (VRU) ) .

The split of functionality between a CU 160, a DU 165, and an RU 170 is flexible and may support different functionalities depending on which functions (e.g., network layer functions, protocol layer functions, baseband functions, RF functions, or any combinations thereof) are performed at a CU 160, a DU 165, or an RU 170. For example, a functional split of a protocol stack may be employed between a CU 160 and a DU 165 such that the CU 160 may support one or more layers of the protocol stack and the DU 165 may support one or more different layers of the protocol stack. In some examples, the CU 160 may host upper protocol layer (e.g., layer 3 (L3) , layer 2 (L2) ) functionality and signaling (e.g., Radio Resource Control (RRC) , service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) , Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) ) . The CU 160 (e.g., one or more CUs) may be connected to a DU 165 (e.g., one or more DUs) or an RU 170 (e.g., one or more RUs) , or some combination thereof, and the DUs 165, RUs 170, or both may host lower protocol layers, such as layer 1 (L1) (e.g., physical (PHY) layer) or L2 (e.g., radio link control (RLC) layer, medium access control (MAC) layer) functionality and signaling, and may each be at least partially controlled by the CU 160. Additionally, or alternatively, a functional split of the protocol stack may be employed between a DU 165 and an RU 170 such that the DU 165 may support one or more layers of the protocol stack and the RU 170 may support one or more different layers of the protocol stack. The DU 165 may support one or multiple different cells (e.g., via one or multiple different RUs, such as an RU 170) . In some cases, a functional split between a CU 160 and a DU 165 or between a DU 165 and an RU 170 may be within a protocol layer (e.g., some functions for a protocol layer may be performed by one of a CU 160, a DU 165, or an RU 170, while other functions of the protocol layer are performed by a different one of the CU 160, the DU 165, or the RU 170) . A CU 160 may be functionally split further into CU control plane (CU-CP) and CU user plane (CU-UP) functions. A CU 160 may be connected to a DU 165 via a midhaul communication link 162 (e.g., F1, F1-c, F1-u) , and a DU 165 may be connected to an RU 170 via a fronthaul communication link 168 (e.g., open fronthaul (FH) interface) . In some examples, a midhaul communication link 162 or a fronthaul communication link 168 may be implemented in accordance with an interface (e.g., a channel) between layers of a protocol stack supported by respective network entities (e.g., one or more of the network entities 105) that are in communication via such communication links.

In some wireless communications systems (e.g., the wireless communications system 100) , infrastructure and spectral resources for radio access may support wireless backhaul link capabilities to supplement wired backhaul connections, providing an IAB network architecture (e.g., to a core network 130) . In some cases, in an IAB network, one or more of the network entities 105 (e.g., network entities 105 or IAB node (s) 104) may be partially controlled by each other. The IAB node (s) 104 may be referred to as a donor entity or an IAB donor. A DU 165 or an RU 170 may be partially controlled by a CU 160 associated with a network entity 105 or base station 140 (such as a donor network entity or a donor base station) . The one or more donor entities (e.g., IAB donors) may be in communication with one or more additional devices (e.g., IAB node (s) 104) via supported access and backhaul links (e.g., backhaul communication link (s) 120) . IAB node (s) 104 may include an IAB mobile termination (IAB-MT) controlled (e.g., scheduled) by one or more DUs (e.g., DUs 165) of a coupled IAB donor. An IAB-MT may be equipped with an independent set of antennas for relay of communications with UEs 115 or may share the same antennas (e.g., of an RU 170) of IAB node (s) 104 used for access via the DU 165 of the IAB node (s) 104 (e.g., referred to as virtual IAB-MT (vIAB-MT) ) . In some examples, the IAB node (s) 104 may include one or more DUs (e.g., DUs 165) that support communication links with additional entities (e.g., IAB node (s) 104, UEs 115) within the relay chain or configuration of the access network (e.g., downstream) . In such cases, one or more components of the disaggregated RAN architecture (e.g., the IAB node (s) 104 or components of the IAB node (s) 104) may be configured to operate according to the techniques described herein.

In the case of the techniques described herein applied in the context of a disaggregated RAN architecture, one or more components of the disaggregated RAN architecture may be configured to support test as described herein. For example, some operations described as being performed by a UE 115 or a network entity 105 (e.g., a base station 140) may additionally, or alternatively, be performed by one or more components of the disaggregated RAN architecture (e.g., components such as an IAB node, a DU 165, a CU 160, an RU 170, an RIC 175, an SMO system 180) .

A UE 115 may include or may be referred to as a mobile device, a wireless device, a remote device, a handheld device, or a subscriber device, or some other suitable terminology, where the “device” may also be referred to as a unit, a station, a terminal, or a client, among other examples. A UE 115 may also include or may be referred to as a personal electronic device such as a cellular phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA) , a tablet computer, a laptop computer, or a personal computer. In some examples, a UE 115 may include or may be referred to herein as an ambient wireless device 115, a wireless local loop (WLL) station, an IoT device (e.g., an ambient IoT device) , an Internet of Everything (IoE) device, or a machine type communications (MTC) device, among other examples, which may be implemented in various objects such as appliances, vehicles, or meters, among other examples.

The UEs 115 described herein may be able to communicate with various types of devices, such as UEs 115 that may sometimes operate as relays, as well as the network entities 105 and the network equipment including macro eNBs or gNBs, small cell eNBs or gNBs, or relay base stations, among other examples, as shown in FIG. 1.

The UEs 115 and the network entities 105 may wirelessly communicate with one another via the communication link (s) 125 (e.g., one or more access links) using resources associated with one or more carriers. The term “carrier” may refer to a set of RF spectrum resources having a defined PHY layer structure for supporting the communication link (s) 125. For example, a carrier used for the communication link (s) 125 may include a portion of an RF spectrum band (e.g., a bandwidth part (BWP) ) that is operated according to one or more PHY layer channels for a given RAT (e.g., LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, NR) . Each PHY layer channel may carry acquisition signaling (e.g., synchronization signals, system information) , control signaling that coordinates operation for the carrier, user data, or other signaling. The wireless communications system 100 may support communication with a UE 115 using carrier aggregation or multi-carrier operation. A UE 115 may be configured with multiple downlink component carriers and one or more uplink component carriers according to a carrier aggregation configuration. Carrier aggregation may be used with both frequency division duplexing (FDD) and time division duplexing (TDD) component carriers. Communication between a network entity 105 and other devices may refer to communication between the devices and any portion (e.g., entity, sub-entity) of a network entity 105. For example, the terms “transmitting, ” “receiving, ” or “communicating, ” when referring to a network entity 105, may refer to any portion of a network entity 105 (e.g., a base station 140, a CU 160, a DU 165, a RU 170) of a RAN communicating with another device (e.g., directly or via one or more other network entities, such as one or more of the network entities 105) .

Signal waveforms transmitted via a carrier may be made up of multiple subcarriers (e.g., using multi-carrier modulation (MCM) techniques such as orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) or discrete Fourier transform spread OFDM (DFT-S-OFDM) ) . In a system employing MCM techniques, a resource element may refer to resources of one symbol period (e.g., a duration of one modulation symbol) and one subcarrier, in which case the symbol period and subcarrier spacing may be inversely related. The quantity of bits carried by each resource element may depend on the modulation scheme (e.g., the order of the modulation scheme, the coding rate of the modulation scheme, or both) , such that a relatively higher quantity of resource elements (e.g., in a transmission duration) and a relatively higher order of a modulation scheme may correspond to a relatively higher rate of communication. A wireless communications resource may refer to a combination of an RF spectrum resource, a time resource, and a spatial resource (e.g., a spatial layer, a beam) , and the use of multiple spatial resources may increase the data rate or data integrity for communications with a UE 115.

The time intervals for the network entities 105 or the UEs 115 may be expressed in multiples of a basic time unit which may, for example, refer to a sampling period of T_s=1/ (Δf_max·N_f) seconds, for which Δf_max may represent a supported subcarrier spacing, and N_f may represent a supported discrete Fourier transform (DFT) size. Time intervals of a communications resource may be organized according to radio frames each having a specified duration (e.g., 10 milliseconds (ms) ) . Each radio frame may be identified by a system frame number (SFN) (e.g., ranging from 0 to 1023) .

Each frame may include multiple consecutively-numbered subframes or slots, and each subframe or slot may have the same duration. In some examples, a frame may be divided (e.g., in the time domain) into subframes, and each subframe may be further divided into a quantity of slots. Alternatively, each frame may include a variable quantity of slots, and the quantity of slots may depend on subcarrier spacing. Each slot may include a quantity of symbol periods (e.g., depending on the length of the cyclic prefix prepended to each symbol period) . In some wireless communications systems, such as the wireless communications system 100, a slot may further be divided into multiple mini-slots associated with one or more symbols. Excluding the cyclic prefix, each symbol period may be associated with one or more (e.g., N_f) sampling periods. The duration of a symbol period may depend on the subcarrier spacing or frequency band of operation.

A subframe, a slot, a mini-slot, or a symbol may be the smallest scheduling unit (e.g., in the time domain) of the wireless communications system 100 and may be referred to as a transmission time interval (TTI) . In some examples, the TTI duration (e.g., a quantity of symbol periods in a TTI) may be variable. Additionally, or alternatively, the smallest scheduling unit of the wireless communications system 100 may be dynamically selected (e.g., in bursts of shortened TTIs (sTTIs) ) .

Physical channels may be multiplexed for communication using a carrier according to various techniques. A physical control channel and a physical data channel may be multiplexed for signaling via a downlink carrier, for example, using one or more of time division multiplexing (TDM) techniques, frequency division multiplexing (FDM) techniques, or hybrid TDM-FDM techniques. A control region (e.g., a control resource set (CORESET) ) for a physical control channel may be defined by a set of symbol periods and may extend across the system bandwidth or a subset of the system bandwidth of the carrier. One or more control regions (e.g., CORESETs) may be configured for a set of the UEs 115. For example, one or more of the UEs 115 may monitor or search control regions for control information according to one or more search space sets, and each search space set may include one or multiple control channel candidates in one or more aggregation levels arranged in a cascaded manner. An aggregation level for a control channel candidate may refer to an amount of control channel resources (e.g., control channel elements (CCEs) ) associated with encoded information for a control information format having a given payload size. Search space sets may include common search space sets configured for sending control information to UEs 115 (e.g., one or more UEs) or may include UE-specific search space sets for sending control information to a UE 115 (e.g., a specific UE) .

In some examples, a carrier may support multiple cells, and different cells may be configured according to different protocol types (e.g., MTC, narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) , enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) ) that may provide access for different types of devices.

In some examples, a network entity 105 (e.g., a base station 140, an RU 170) may be movable and therefore provide communication coverage for a moving coverage area, such as the coverage area 110. In some examples, coverage areas 110 (e.g., different coverage areas) associated with different technologies may overlap, but the coverage areas 110 (e.g., different coverage areas) may be supported by the same network entity (e.g., a network entity 105) . In some other examples, overlapping coverage areas, such as a coverage area 110, associated with different technologies may be supported by different network entities (e.g., the network entities 105) . The wireless communications system 100 may include, for example, a heterogeneous network in which different types of the network entities 105 support communications for coverage areas 110 (e.g., different coverage areas) using the same or different RATs.

Some UEs 115, such as MTC or IoT devices (e.g., ambient wireless devices 115) , may be relatively low cost or low complexity devices and may provide for automated communication between machines (e.g., via Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication) . M2M communication or MTC may refer to data communication technologies that allow devices to communicate with one another or a network entity 105 (e.g., a base station 140) without human intervention. In some examples, M2M communication or MTC may include communications from devices that integrate sensors or meters to measure or capture information and relay such information to a central server or application program that uses the information or presents the information to humans interacting with the application program. Some UEs 115 may be designed to collect information or enable automated behavior of machines or other devices. Examples of applications for MTC devices include smart metering, inventory monitoring, water level monitoring, equipment monitoring, healthcare monitoring, wildlife monitoring, weather and geological event monitoring, fleet management and tracking, remote security sensing, physical access control, and transaction-based business charging.

The wireless communications system 100 may be configured to support ultra-reliable communications or low-latency communications, or various combinations thereof. For example, the wireless communications system 100 may be configured to support ultra-reliable low-latency communications (URLLC) . The UEs 115 may be designed to support ultra-reliable, low-latency, or critical functions. Ultra-reliable communications may include private communication or group communication and may be supported by one or more services such as push-to-talk, video, or data. Support for ultra-reliable, low-latency functions may include prioritization of services, and such services may be used for public safety or general commercial applications. The terms ultra-reliable, low-latency, and ultra-reliable low-latency may be used interchangeably herein.

In some examples, a UE 115 may be configured to support communicating directly with other UEs (e.g., one or more of the UEs 115) via a device-to-device (D2D) communication link, such as a D2D communication link 135 (e.g., in accordance with a peer-to-peer (P2P) , D2D, or sidelink protocol) . In some examples, one or more UEs 115 of a group that are performing D2D communications may be within the coverage area 110 of a network entity 105 (e.g., a base station 140, an RU 170) , which may support aspects of such D2D communications being configured by (e.g., scheduled by) the network entity 105. In some examples, one or more UEs 115 of such a group may be outside the coverage area 110 of a network entity 105 or may be otherwise unable to or not configured to receive transmissions from a network entity 105. In some examples, groups of the UEs 115 communicating via D2D communications may support a one-to-many (1: M) system in which each UE 115 transmits to one or more of the UEs 115 in the group. In some examples, a network entity 105 may facilitate the scheduling of resources for D2D communications. In some other examples, D2D communications may be carried out between the UEs 115 without an involvement of a network entity 105.

The core network 130 may provide user authentication, access authorization, tracking, Internet Protocol (IP) connectivity, and other access, routing, or mobility functions. The core network 130 may be an evolved packet core (EPC) or 5G core (5GC) , which may include at least one control plane entity that manages access and mobility (e.g., a mobility management entity (MME) , an access and mobility management function (AMF) ) and at least one user plane entity that routes packets or interconnects to external networks (e.g., a serving gateway (S-GW) , a Packet Data Network (PDN) gateway (P-GW) , or a user plane function (UPF) ) . The control plane entity may manage non-access stratum (NAS) functions such as mobility, authentication, and bearer management for the UEs 115 served by the network entities 105 (e.g., base stations 140) associated with the core network 130. User IP packets may be transferred through the user plane entity, which may provide IP address allocation as well as other functions. The user plane entity may be connected to IP services 150 for one or more network operators. The IP services 150 may include access to the Internet, Intranet (s) , an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) , or a Packet-Switched Streaming Service.

The wireless communications system 100 may operate using one or more frequency bands, which may be in the range of 300 megahertz (MHz) to 300 gigahertz (GHz) . Generally, the region from 300 MHz to 3 GHz is known as the ultra-high frequency (UHF) region or decimeter band because the wavelengths range from approximately one decimeter to one meter in length. UHF waves may be blocked or redirected by buildings and environmental features, which may be referred to as clusters, but the waves may penetrate structures sufficiently for a macro cell to provide service to the UEs 115 located indoors. Communications using UHF waves may be associated with smaller antennas and shorter ranges (e.g., less than one hundred kilometers) compared to communications using the smaller frequencies and longer waves of the high frequency (HF) or very high frequency (VHF) portion of the spectrum below 300 MHz.

The wireless communications system 100 may also operate using a super high frequency (SHF) region, which may be in the range of 3 GHz to 30 GHz, also known as the centimeter band, or using an extremely high frequency (EHF) region of the spectrum (e.g., from 30 GHz to 300 GHz) , also known as the millimeter band. In some examples, the wireless communications system 100 may support millimeter wave (mmW) communications between the UEs 115 and the network entities 105 (e.g., base stations 140, RUs 170) , and EHF antennas of the respective devices may be smaller and more closely spaced than UHF antennas. In some examples, such techniques may facilitate using antenna arrays within a device. The propagation of EHF transmissions, however, may be subject to even greater attenuation and shorter range than SHF or UHF transmissions. The techniques disclosed herein may be employed across transmissions that use one or more different frequency regions, and designated use of bands across these frequency regions may differ by country or regulating body.

The wireless communications system 100 may utilize both licensed and unlicensed RF spectrum bands. For example, the wireless communications system 100 may employ License Assisted Access (LAA) , LTE-Unlicensed (LTE-U) RAT, or NR technology using an unlicensed band such as the 5 GHz industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) band. While operating using unlicensed RF spectrum bands, devices such as the network entities 105 and the UEs 115 may employ carrier sensing for collision detection and avoidance. In some examples, operations using unlicensed bands may be based on a carrier aggregation configuration in conjunction with component carriers operating using a licensed band (e.g., LAA) . Operations using unlicensed spectrum may include downlink transmissions, uplink transmissions, P2P transmissions, or D2D transmissions, among other examples.

A network entity 105 (e.g., a base station 140, an RU 170) or a UE 115 may be equipped with multiple antennas, which may be used to employ techniques such as transmit diversity, receive diversity, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communications, or beamforming. The antennas of a network entity 105 or a UE 115 may be located within one or more antenna arrays or antenna panels, which may support MIMO operations or transmit or receive beamforming. For example, one or more base station antennas or antenna arrays may be co-located at an antenna assembly, such as an antenna tower. In some examples, antennas or antenna arrays associated with a network entity 105 may be located at diverse geographic locations. A network entity 105 may include an antenna array with a set of rows and columns of antenna ports that the network entity 105 may use to support beamforming of communications with a UE 115. Likewise, a UE 115 may include one or more antenna arrays that may support various MIMO or beamforming operations. Additionally, or alternatively, an antenna panel may support RF beamforming for a signal transmitted via an antenna port.

The network entities 105 or the UEs 115 may use MIMO communications to exploit multipath signal propagation and increase spectral efficiency by transmitting or receiving multiple signals via different spatial layers. Such techniques may be referred to as spatial multiplexing. The multiple signals may, for example, be transmitted by the transmitting device via different antennas or different combinations of antennas. Likewise, the multiple signals may be received by the receiving device via different antennas or different combinations of antennas. Each of the multiple signals may be referred to as a separate spatial stream and may carry information associated with the same data stream (e.g., the same codeword) or different data streams (e.g., different codewords) . Different spatial layers may be associated with different antenna ports used for channel measurement and reporting. MIMO techniques include single-user MIMO (SU-MIMO) , for which multiple spatial layers are transmitted to the same receiving device, and multiple-user MIMO (MU-MIMO) , for which multiple spatial layers are transmitted to multiple devices.

Beamforming, which may also be referred to as spatial filtering, directional transmission, or directional reception, is a signal processing technique that may be used at a transmitting device or a receiving device (e.g., a network entity 105, a UE 115) to shape or steer an antenna beam (e.g., a transmit beam, a receive beam) along a spatial path between the transmitting device and the receiving device. Beamforming may be achieved by combining the signals communicated via antenna elements of an antenna array such that some signals propagating along particular orientations with respect to an antenna array experience constructive interference while others experience destructive interference. The adjustment of signals communicated via the antenna elements may include a transmitting device or a receiving device applying amplitude offsets, phase offsets, or both to signals carried via the antenna elements associated with the device. The adjustments associated with each of the antenna elements may be defined by a beamforming weight set associated with a particular orientation (e.g., with respect to the antenna array of the transmitting device or receiving device, or with respect to some other orientation) .

In some cases, the wireless communications system 100 may include one or more ambient wireless devices 115, which may be examples of ambient IoT devices, UEs 115, or other devices. Ambient wireless devices 115 may be of one or more categories. For example, a first category of ambient wireless device 115 (e.g., Device 1) may include ambient wireless devices 115 that are associated with approximately 1 microwatt (μW) of peak power consumption, include energy storage, are associated with an initial sampling frequency offset (SFO) that satisfies a threshold value (e.g., 10^X parts per million (ppm) , where X may be determined by a work group) , are incapable of downlink or uplink amplification, are capable of transmission (e.g., uplink transmission) via backscattered (e.g., reflecting and modulating a carrier wave that an external device (e.g., a UE 115, a network entity 105) provides) , or any combination thereof. A second category of ambient wireless device 115 (e.g., Device 2) may include ambient wireless devices 115 that are associated with less than a few hundred μW (e.g., 300 μW) of peak power consumption, include energy storage, are associated with an initial SFO that satisfies a threshold value, are capable of downlink or uplink amplification, are capable of transmission (e.g., uplink transmission) via backscattered, or any combination thereof. A third category of ambient wireless device 115 (e.g., Device 3) may include ambient wireless devices 115 that are associated with less than a few hundred μW (e.g., 300 μW) of peak power consumption, include energy storage, are associated with an initial SFO that satisfies the threshold value, are capable of downlink and uplink amplification, are capable of transmission (e.g., uplink transmission) via a carrier wave that the ambient wireless device 115 generates internally, or any combination thereof.

In some cases, the wireless communications system 100 may employ ambient wireless devices 115 in one or more topologies, where each topology may be associated with one or more characteristics, a deployment scenario, or both. For example, a first topology (e.g., Deployment scenario 1, Topology 1) may include a network entity 105 communicating directly with an ambient wireless device 115 (e.g., the network entity 105 is the reader device of the ambient wireless device 115) . In some cases, a wireless communications system may employ the first topology based on the network entity 105 and the ambient wireless devices 115 being within a micro-cell, or in a same location (e.g., co-site) . A second topology (e.g., Topology 2, Deployment scenario 2) may include an intermediate node (e.g., a UE 115) communicating directly with the ambient wireless device 115 and transmitting data from the ambient wireless device 115 to a network entity 105 (e.g., the intermediate node is the reader device of the ambient wireless device 115) . In some cases, the intermediate node may be under the control of the network entity 105. In some cases, a wireless communications system may employ the second topology based on the network entity 105 and the ambient wireless device 115 being within a macro-cell, or in a same location. Additionally, or alternatively, the intermediate node may be located inside (e.g., indoors) .

In either topology, a device that communicates with the ambient wireless devices 115 may be referred to as a reader device (e.g., a UE 115, a network entity 105) . The ambient wireless devices 115 may communicate one or more types of wireless traffic with the reader device, including device originated device terminate trigger (DO-DTT) traffic, device terminate (DT) traffic, rUC1 traffic (e.g., for indoor inventory management) , and rUC4 traffic (e.g., for indoor command management) .

In some cases, an ambient wireless devices 115 may begin (e.g., or continue) communications with a reader device via a contention based access procedure. For example, the reader device may communicate with multiple ambient wireless devices 115 simultaneously (e.g., interleaved within a period) , and the reader device may employ a contention based access procedure to mitigate signaling collisions between different ambient wireless devices 115. In some cases, the contention based access procedure may include one or more operations (e.g., steps) .

In a first operation of the contention based access procedure, the reader device may transmit signaling (e.g., a command, a query) that may request a response from a group of ambient wireless devices 115. For example, the group may be based on geographic location of the ambient wireless devices 115 (e.g., relative to the reader device) . In some cases, (e.g., if the contention based access procedure is interleaved among contention based access procedures associated with one or more different reader devices) , the reader device may also indicate, via the signaling, an identifier (e.g., reader ID) corresponding to the reader device.

In a second operation of the contention based access procedure, an ambient wireless device 115 may communicate the response to the reader device based on the signaling. For example, the ambient wireless device 115 may communicate the response via backscattering incident radio signals or by transmitting the response via a carrier wave that the ambient wireless device 115 generates internally. In some cases, the ambient wireless device 115 may select a frequency shift with which to communicate the response, which may differentiate the response of the ambient wireless device 115 from one or more other responses from one or more other ambient wireless devices 115 (e.g., which may not be known to the reader device) . To reduce a chance of collisions between the responses of multiple ambient wireless devices 115, the ambient wireless device 115 may utilize orthogonal sequences (e.g., Hadamard sequences) as part of communicating the response.

In a third operation of the contention based access procedure, the reader device may transmit an indication of the response (e.g., a sequence associated with the response, a frequency shift associated with the response) based on receiving the response. In some cases, the reader device may include the identifier (e.g., corresponding to the reader device) and a message index in the indication.

In a fourth operation of the contention based access procedure, the ambient wireless device 115 may determine whether the indication from the reader device (e.g., from the third operation) corresponds to the ambient wireless device 115 (e.g., instead of one or more other ambient wireless devices 115) . If the indication from the reader device corresponds to the ambient wireless device 115, the ambient wireless device 115 may transmit an identifier (e.g., a device identifier, a group identifier, related information) to the reader device for contention resolution. In some cases, the reader device may identify the ambient wireless device 115 based on receiving the identifier of the fourth operation and may communicate with the ambient wireless device 115 based on identifying the ambient wireless device 115.

A reader device in the wireless communications system 100 may communicate with an ambient wireless device 115 based on proximity information (e.g., a binary distance indication) of the ambient wireless device 115 relative to a reader device. In some cases, the proximity information may include an indication of either a near proximity or a far proximity of the ambient wireless device 115 relative to the reader device. The near proximity and the far proximity may be defined by one or more threshold distances, or any other distance indicating scheme.

According to the techniques described herein, proximity information of an ambient wireless device 115 may be based on a threshold-based response from the ambient wireless device 115 to signaling from the reader device, where the signaling may include one or more different kinds of signaling. For example, an ambient wireless device 115 may receive, from a reader device, one or more proximity thresholds and signaling associated with the proximity determination procedure. The ambient wireless device 115 may perform the proximity determination procedure (e.g., based on the proximity thresholds and the signaling) to obtain the proximity information associated with the ambient wireless device 115. In some cases, the signaling may include a dedicated proximity determination signal, a signal associated with a contention based access procedure, or both (as described herein with respect to FIG. 2) . Additionally, or alternatively, the proximity thresholds may include a threshold received power associated with the signaling from the reader device, a threshold quantity of instances of the signaling that satisfy the threshold received power, a threshold quantity of instances of the signaling that the ambient wireless device 115 receives or decodes correctly, or any combination thereof (e.g., as described herein with respect to FIGs. 3 and 4) .

In some cases, the ambient wireless device 115 may communicate (e.g., via backscattering, via wireless transmission) the proximity information to the reader device. For example, the ambient wireless device 115 may transmit the proximity information to the reader device within a time window for communicating the signaling associated with proximity determination, after the time window, or both (e.g., as described herein with respect to FIG. 5) . In some cases, the reader device may configure the time window for the ambient wireless device 115. The reader device may also configure a skipping time window (e.g., a same window as the time window, a different window from the time window) during which the ambient wireless device 115 may skip monitoring of signaling during the skipping window based on proximity information of the ambient wireless device 115 indicating the near proximity.

FIG. 2 shows an example of a wireless communications system 200 that supports proximity determination for ambient wireless devices in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure. In some cases, aspects of the wireless communications system 200 may implement or be implemented by aspects of FIG. 1. For example, the wireless communications system 200 may include a reader device 210 and an ambient wireless device 115-a, which may be examples of the reader devices and ambient wireless devices as described herein with respect to FIG. 1. In some cases, the reader device 210 may be a UE 115, a network entity 105, or any other wireless device or network entity described herein. In some aspects, the ambient wireless device 115-a may obtain proximity information for the ambient wireless device 115-a relative to the reader device 210 based on signaling communicated between the reader device 210 and the ambient wireless device 115-a.

The ambient wireless device 115-a may determine the proximity information based on one or more proximity thresholds 220 (e.g., response thresholds) for the ambient wireless device 115-a. In some cases, the ambient wireless device 115-a may receive an indication of one or more of the proximity thresholds 220 via signaling from the reader device 210. In some cases, a second ambient wireless device 115 may be associated with different values of the proximity thresholds 220 than the ambient wireless device 115-a. Additionally, or alternatively, one or more of the proximity thresholds 220 may be defined in one or more standards documents.

The ambient wireless device 115-a may determine the proximity information as part of a communication procedure with the reader device 210. A first operation of the communication procedure may include the reader device 210 transmitting signaling 225 (e.g., second signaling, as described herein with respect to FIG. 6) associated with a proximity determination procedure to the ambient wireless device 115-a. A second operation of the communication procedure may include the ambient wireless device 115-a performing the proximity determination procedure based on the signaling 225 and the one or more proximity thresholds 220. The ambient wireless device 115-a may obtain proximity information for the ambient wireless device 115-a from the proximity determination procedure. A third operation of the communication procedure may include the ambient wireless device 115-a responding to the reader device (e.g., indicating the proximity information to the reader device) based on the proximity information 230. For example, the ambient wireless device 115-a may respond to the reader device based on the proximity information 230 indicating a near proximity of the ambient wireless device 115-a relative to the reader device 210. Additionally, or alternatively, the ambient wireless device 115-a may transmit the proximity information 230 to the reader device 210.

In some cases, the signaling 225 may include (e.g., be) a dedicated proximity determination signal. For example, the dedicated proximity determination signal may be a query with an express purpose of proximity information determinations at an ambient wireless device 115. In some cases, a transmit power of the dedicated proximity determination signal may be different from a transmit power of signaling transmitted for a contention-based access procedure (e.g., the signaling in the first operation of the contention based access procedure, as described herein with respect to FIG. 1) . For example, the transmit power of the signaling for the contention based access procedure may be higher than the transmit power of the dedicated proximity determination signal, for example, due to a larger target coverage area of the signaling for the contention based access procedure than the dedicated proximity determination signal.

In some cases, the reader device 210 may determine a transmit power to use for the dedicated proximity determination signal. For example, the transmit power may be (pre-) configured at the reader device 210, the transmit power may be defined in one or more standards documents, or a network entity 105 may transmit an indication to (e.g., configure) the reader device 210 with the transmit power. For example, (e.g., in the second topology described herein) , the network entity 105 may indicate (e.g., dynamically, semi-statically) the transmit power to the reader device.

Additionally, or alternatively, the reader device 210 may determine the transmit power for the dedicated proximity determination signal based on a threshold transmit power. For example, the reader device 210 may be (pre-) configured with a threshold transmit power or may receive an indication of the threshold transmit power (e.g., from a network entity 105) , and the reader device 210 may select a transmit power for the dedicated proximity determination signal that satisfies (e.g., is less than) the threshold transmit power. In some cases, the ambient wireless device 115 may determine the transmit power for the dedicated proximity determination signal based on the target coverage area of the dedicated proximity determination signal (e.g., within the threshold transmit power) . In some cases, the reader device 210 may select a transmit power for the dedicated proximity determination signal that is less than the threshold transmit power to reduce interference for other signaling within a same geographical area as the reader device 210.

In some cases, due to the relatively low transmit power of the dedicated proximity determination signal, the reader device 210 may not use reserved resources from the network entity 105 for transmission of the dedicated proximity determination signal. For example, the dedicated proximity determination signal may cause limited interference and cause limited issues for coexistence between the dedicated proximity determination signal and other signaling due to the relatively low transmit power.

In some cases, the dedicated proximity determination signal may include an indication of the purpose of the dedicated proximity determination signal (e.g., compared to other signaling or queries) . In some cases, the dedicated proximity determination signal may explicitly indicate the purpose via a field in the dedicated proximity determination signal. The field may include one or more bits that may indicate the purpose of the dedicated proximity determination signal to the ambient wireless device 115-a. Additionally, or alternatively, the dedicated proximity determination signal may implicitly indicate the purpose of the dedicated proximity determination signal via a preamble (e.g., of one or more dedicated preambles for the dedicated proximity determination signal) . The preamble may be added before the dedicated proximity determination signal and may to indicate the purpose of the dedicated proximity determination signal to the ambient wireless device 115-a.

Additionally, or alternatively, the signaling 225 for the proximity determination procedure may include a signal (e.g., query) associated with the contention based access procedure (e.g., such as the signaling described herein in the first operation of the contention base access procedure of FIG. 1) . In such a case, the network entity 105 may indicate (e.g., dynamically, semi-statically) a received power threshold for the proximity determination procedure based on the transmit power of the signal associated with the contention based access procedure. For example, the proximity thresholds 220 may include the received power threshold. In some aspects, the proximity thresholds 220 and use of the proximity thresholds 220 at the ambient wireless device 115-a may be described herein with respect to FIGs. 3 and 4.

FIG. 3 shows an example of a received power diagram 300 that supports proximity determination for ambient wireless devices in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure. In some cases, aspects of the received power diagram 300 may implement or be implemented by aspects of FIGs. 1 and 2. For example, the received power diagram 300 may include one or more received power measurements 305 and a received power threshold 310, which may be examples of the received power measurement at an ambient wireless device 115 (e.g., based on the signaling 225) and the received power threshold as described herein with respect to FIGs. 1 and 2. In some aspects, the received power diagram 300 may illustrate techniques (e.g., of a proximity determination procedure) for an ambient wireless device 115 to obtain proximity information (e.g., such as the proximity information 230 described herein with respect to FIG. 2) based on one or more received power measurements 305.

In some cases, the proximity information may indicate whether the ambient wireless device 115 is associated with a near proximity or a far proximity relative to a reader device (e.g., such as a reader device 210 as described herein with respect to FIG. 2) . In some cases, the ambient wireless device 115 may receive an indication of the received power threshold 310 (e.g., a value for the received power threshold 310) from the reader device (e.g., via the signaling 225 as described herein with respect to FIG. 2, via other signaling) , or the ambient wireless device 115 may be (pre-) configured with the received power threshold 310. Additionally, or alternatively, the received power threshold 310 may be predefined.

The received power measurements 305 may be associated with the signaling 225 for the proximity determination procedure. For example, each received power measurement 305 may correspond to one or more instances, tones, symbols, hops (e.g., nonconsecutive portions in frequency or time) , packets, or any combination thereof, associated with the signaling 225. Additionally, although the received power diagram 300 illustrates RSRP measurements as the received power measurements, any metric associated with the power of the signaling 225 received at the ambient wireless device 115 may be anticipated by the present disclosure. For example, the received power measurements 305 and the received power threshold 310 may be received powers of the signaling 225, RSRPs associated with the signaling 225, RSSIs associated with the signaling 225, or any combination thereof.

In some examples, the ambient wireless device 115 may obtain the proximity information based on an average received power of the one or more on received power measurements 305. In some cases, the ambient wireless device 115 may calculate the average received power of the received power measurements 205 within a time window 315 and may compare the average received power to the received power threshold 310 (e.g., as part of the proximity determination procedure) . In some cases, the time window 315 may be periodic, and the ambient wireless device 115 may receive an indication of the time window 315 from the reader device. For example, if the average received power satisfies (e.g., is above) the received power threshold 310, the ambient wireless device 115 may determine that the associated proximity information indicates the near proximity. Alternatively, if the average received power does not satisfy (e.g., is below) the received power threshold 310, the ambient wireless device 115 may determine that the associated proximity information indicates the far proximity.

In some other examples (e.g., additionally, or alternatively) , the ambient wireless device 115 may determine the proximity information based on a quantity of the received power measurements 305 that satisfy the received power threshold 310. For example, if the quantity of the received power measurements 305 that satisfy the received power threshold 310 satisfy a threshold quantity of received power measurements (e.g., numpower) , the ambient wireless device 115 may determine that the associated proximity information indicates the near proximity (e.g., or indicates the far proximity if not) . In some cases, the ambient wireless device 115 may count the quantity of received power measurements within the time window 315. The threshold quantity of received power measurements may be a value of one, or a higher value.

For example, if the threshold quantity of received power measurements is a value of one, the ambient wireless device 115 may determine that the associated proximity information indicates the near proximity (e.g., as part of the proximity determination procedure) after measuring the received power measurement 305-a (e.g., a first received power measurement 305 that satisfies the received power threshold 310, at numDecodeSucc = 1) . As another example, if the threshold quantity of received power measurements is a value of five, the ambient wireless device 115 may determine that the associated proximity information indicates the near proximity after a received power measurement 305-b (e.g., a fifth received power measurement 305 to satisfy the received power threshold 310, at numDecodeSucc = 5) . In some cases, the ambient wireless device 115 may receive an indication of the threshold quantity of received power measurements (e.g., as part of the proximity thresholds 220 as described with respect to FIG. 2) , or the threshold quantity of received power measurements may be (pre-) configured at the ambient wireless device 115. Additionally, or alternatively, the threshold quantity of received power measurements may be predefined.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a signaling timing diagram 400 that supports proximity determination for ambient wireless devices in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure. In some cases, aspects of the signaling timing diagram 400 may implement or be implemented by aspects of FIGs. 1–3. For example, the signaling timing diagram 400 may illustrate one or more instances of signaling 405 (e.g., an instance of signaling 405-a, an instance of signaling 405-b, an instance of signaling 405-c, an instance of signaling 405-d) transmitted from a reader device (e.g., such as the reader device 210) to an ambient wireless device 115 during a time window 415. The instances of signaling 405 may be instances of the signaling 225 described herein with respect to FIG. 2, and the time window 415 may be an example of the time window 315 as described herein with respect to FIGs. 3. In some aspects, the signaling timing diagram 400 may illustrate techniques (e.g., for a proximity determination procedure) for the ambient wireless device 115 to obtain proximity information (e.g., such as the proximity information 230 described herein with respect to FIG. 2) based on decoding (e.g., reception) of the one or more instances of signaling 405.

In some cases, the techniques described with respect to the signaling timing diagram 400 may apply whether the instances of signaling 405 include instances of the dedicated proximity determination signal, instances of the signal for the contention based access procedure, or both (e.g., as described herein with respect to FIGs. 1 and 2) . Although the signaling timing diagram 400 shows a quantity of the instances of signaling 405 and a quantity of incorrectly and correctly decoded instances, any quantity of the instances of signaling 405 may be anticipated by the present disclosure, and any quantity or order (e.g., pattern) of incorrectly and correctly decoded instances may also be anticipated by the present disclosure.

In some examples, the ambient wireless device 115 may determine the proximity information (e.g., from the proximity determination procedure) based on a quantity of correctly decoded instances of signaling 405 (e.g., correctly received instances of signaling 405) . For example, the ambient wireless device 115 may receive an indication of a threshold quantity of decoded instances (e.g., as part of the proximity thresholds 220 as described herein with respect to FIG. 2) , the ambient wireless device 115 may be (pre-) configured with the threshold quantity of decoded instances, or the threshold quantity of decoded instances may be predefined. If the quantity of correctly decoded instances of signaling 405 (e.g., within the time window 415, for example) satisfies the threshold quantity of decoded instances, the ambient wireless device 115 may determine that the associated proximity information indicates the near proximity.

In some cases, the threshold quantity of decoded instances may be a value of one, such that if the ambient wireless device 115 correctly decodes any instance of signaling 405 (e.g., the instance of signaling 405-d, within the time window 415, without the time window 415) the ambient wireless device 115 may determine that the associated proximity information indicates the near proximity. Additionally, or alternatively, the threshold quantity of decoded instances may be a value greater than one, such the ambient wireless device 115 may correctly decode multiple instance of signaling 405 for the ambient wireless device 115 to determine that the proximity information indicates the near proximity.

FIG. 5 shows an example of a signaling timing diagram 500 that supports proximity determination for ambient wireless devices in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure. In some cases, aspects of the signaling timing diagram 500 may implement or be implemented by aspects of FIGs. 1–4. For example, the signaling timing diagram 500 may include one or more instances of proximity determination signaling 505 (e.g., proximity determination signaling 505-a, proximity determination signaling 505-b) and one or more instances of access signaling 510 (e.g., access signaling 510-a, access signaling 510-b) . In some cases, the proximity determination signaling 505 may include the signaling 225 as described herein with respect to FIG. 2, which may include the dedicated proximity determination signaling, the signaling associated with the contention based access procedure, or both. The access signaling 510 may include the signaling associate with the contention based access procedure. In some aspects, the signaling timing diagram 500 may illustrate techniques for the ambient wireless device 115 may determine a candidate response window 525 for transmitting proximity information (e.g., such as the proximity information 230 as described herein with respect to FIG. 2) to a reader device. The quantities and organization of the various aspects of the signaling timing diagram along the time axis may be merely exemplary.

In some cases, the signaling timing diagram 500 may also include a time window 515, which may be an example of the time windows 315 and 415 as described herein with respect to FIGs. 3 and 4, respectively. For example, the time window 515 may be for communication of signaling associated with proximity determination (e.g., the proximity determination signaling 505, the signaling 225) . The time window 515 may occur periodically or aperiodically. For example, and the ambient wireless device 115 may receive an indication (e.g., periodically, aperiodically, the signaling 225) from the reader device of resources (e.g., periodic resources, aperiodic resources) for the time window 515, the ambient wireless device 115 may be (pre-) configured with the resources for the time window 515, or the resources for the time window 515 may be predefined. In some cases, the techniques described with respect to FIG. 5 may be combined with one or more of the techniques described herein for determining the proximity information (e.g., via the proximity determination procedure) , such as those described herein with respect to FIGs. 2–4.

In some examples, the ambient wireless device 115 may transmit the proximity information (e.g., an indication of the proximity information) to the reader (e.g., respond to the signaling 225) within the time window 515. For example, the ambient wireless device 115 may transmit the proximity information within the time window 515 via a candidate response window 525 that occurs after (e.g., immediately after) determining that the proximity information indicates a near proximity. For example, the ambient wireless device 115 may determine that the associated proximity information indicates the near proximity based on the proximity determination signaling 505-a (e.g., based on one or more received power measurements associated with the proximity determination signaling 505-a, based on correctly receiving or decoding the proximity determination signaling 505-a, or both) . Accordingly, the ambient wireless device 115 may transmit the proximity information (e.g., indicating the near proximity) within the candidate response window 515-a (e.g., directly after the proximity determination signaling 505-a) . In some aspects, the reader may use similar operations as described with respect to the contention based access procedure to identify the ambient wireless device 115 based on receiving the proximity information (e.g., at least the third and fourth operations of the contention based access procedure as described herein with respect to FIG. 1) .

In some other examples (e.g., additionally, or alternatively) , the ambient wireless device 115 may transmit the proximity information to the reader outside of the time window 515. For example, the ambient wireless device 115 may transmit the proximity information to the reader via a candidate response window 535 after a first access signaling 510-b (e.g., for contention-based access) after the time window 515. In some cases, ambient wireless devices 115 associated with the near proximity may transmit the proximity information within a candidate response window 525 after the time window 515, and ambient wireless devices 115 associated with the far may not. For example, the ambient wireless device 115 may determine that the associated proximity information indicates the near proximity during the time window 515, and may transmit the proximity information to the reader device within the candidate response window 515-b (e.g., immediately after the access signaling 510-b) .

When transmitting the proximity information within a candidate response window 525 that follows access signaling 510, the ambient wireless device 115 may indicate the proximity information within a response signal to the access signaling 510 (e.g., as described in the second operation of the contention based access procedure with respect to FIG. 1) . For example, the ambient wireless device 115 may include a field in the response signal that includes one or more bits to indicate the proximity information (e.g., either near proximity or far proximity) .

In yet other examples (e.g., additionally, or alternatively) , the ambient wireless device 115 may transmit the proximity information to the reader device via wireless communication resources configured for the ambient wireless device 115. For example, the reader device may configure (e.g., assign) a set of wireless communication resources for each ambient wireless device 115 of a group of ambient wireless devices 115 (e.g., within a geographical area, with which the reader device has communicated within a duration, selected by the reader device) to transmit the proximity information to the reader device. The wireless communication resources may include time and frequency resources, and may include one or more of the candidate response windows 525, or other resources. Accordingly, the ambient wireless devices 115 of the group of ambient wireless devices 115 may not perform the contention based access procedure. To assign each ambient wireless device 115 a set of resources, the reader device may have access to information indicating each ambient wireless device 115 of the group of ambient wireless devices 115.

If an ambient wireless device 115 is associated with the near proximity, the device may skip monitoring of (e.g., ignore) signaling within a skipping time window 520. For example, the reader device may identify (e.g., based on the contention based access procedure) the ambient wireless device 115 based on the access signaling 510-a. Based on the ambient wireless device 115 being associated with the near proximity, the ambient wireless device 115 may skip monitoring for the proximity determination signaling 505, the access signaling 510, or both, during the skipping time window 520. In some cases, the skipping time window 520 may be a same window or a different window from the time window 515. The skipping time window 520 may occur periodically. Additionally, or alternatively, the ambient wireless device 115 may be (pre-) configured with an indication of the skipping time window 520, may receive an indication of the skipping time window 520 (e.g., dynamically, semi-statically) from the reader device, or the skipping time window 520 (e.g., resources for the skipping time window 520) may be predefined. Thus, the ambient wireless device 115 may reduce power consumption based on refraining from determine proximity information (e.g., again) .

FIG. 6 shows an example of a process flow 600 that supports proximity determination for ambient wireless devices 115 in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure. In some cases, aspects of the process flow 600 may implement or be implemented by aspects of FIGs. 1–5. For example, the process flow 600 may include a reader device 610 (e.g., a network entity 105, a UE 115) and an ambient wireless device 115-b, which may be examples of reader devices and ambient wireless devices 115 as described herein with respect to FIGs. 1–5. In some cases, the ambient wireless device 115-b may receive one or more proximity thresholds and may obtain proximity information by performing a proximity determination procedure associated with the proximity thresholds.

In the following description of process flow 600, the operations may be performed in a different order than the order shown, or other operations may be added or removed from the process flow 600. For example, some operations may also be left out of process flow 600, may be performed in different orders or at different times, or other operations may be added to process flow 600. Although the reader device 610 and the ambient wireless device 115-b are shown performing the operations of process flow 600, some aspects of some operations may also be performed by one or more other wireless devices or network devices.

At 615, the ambient wireless device 115-b may receive first signaling that indicates one or more proximity thresholds associated with (e.g., for, used in) a proximity determination procedure for the ambient wireless device 115-b. In some cases, the one or more proximity thresholds may correspond to a near proximity and a far proximity of the ambient wireless device 115-b relative to the reader device 610. For example, the one or more proximity thresholds may include a received power threshold (e.g., an RSRP threshold) , a threshold quantity of instances of a second signaling associated with proximity determination that satisfy the received power threshold, a threshold quantity of decoded instances of the second signaling, or any combination thereof.

In some cases, at 620, the ambient wireless device 115-b may receive, from the reader device 610, an indication of one or more wireless communication resources. For example, the wireless communication resources may include time resources and frequency resources, and may be for the ambient wireless device 115-b to communicate proximity information associated with the ambient wireless device 115-b to the reader device 610.

At 625, the ambient wireless device 115-b may monitor for second signaling from the reader device 610 (e.g., such as the signaling 225 as descried herein with respect to FIG. 2) . In some cases, the second signaling may be associated with the proximity determination procedure for the ambient wireless device 115-b, and the second signaling may include the one or more proximity thresholds (e.g., the first signaling and the second signaling may be the same) . In some cases, the ambient wireless device 115-b may monitor within a time window that is for communication of the second signaling.

In some cases, the second signaling may include a dedicated proximity determination signal. For example, the second signaling may be a query transmitted from the reader device 610 for the express purpose of proximity determination. In some cases, a transmit power of the dedicated proximity determination signal may be predefined, dynamically configured by a network entity (e.g., not shown) , determined by the reader device 610 based at least in part on a threshold transmit power, or any combination thereof. For example, a network entity may configure the reader device 610 with the threshold transmit power to reduce interference of the dedicated proximity determination signal with other signaling. Additionally, or alternatively, the dedicated proximity determination signal may indicate a purpose of the dedicated proximity determination signal to the ambient wireless device 115-b. For example, the dedicated proximity determination signal may include a field of one or more bits to indicate a purpose of the dedicated proximity determination signal (e.g., for proximity determination, for use in the proximity determination procedure) . Additionally, or alternatively, the dedicated proximity determination signal may include a preamble (e.g., a preamble is added to the dedicated proximity determination signal) that indicates the purpose of the dedicated proximity determination signal.

Additionally, or alternatively, the second signaling may include a third signal associated with a contention based access procedure. For example, the reader device 610 may transmit the third signal periodically. In some cases, the transmit power of the third signal may be different than (e.g., greater than) the transmit power of the dedicated proximity determination signal.

At 630, the reader device 610 may transmit (e.g., broadcast) the second signaling, which may include a plurality of instances of the second signaling. In some cases, the ambient wireless device 115-b may receive one or more instances of the second signaling based on the monitoring of 625. In some cases, the ambient wireless device 115-b may receive the one or more instances of the second signaling within the time window based at least in part on the monitoring. In some cases, at 635, the ambient wireless device 115-b may decode one or more instances of the second signaling based on receiving the one or more instances of the second signaling.

At 640, the ambient wireless device 115-b may perform the proximity determination procedure to obtain proximity information of the ambient wireless device 115-b. In some cases, the ambient wireless device 115-b may perform the proximity determination procedure based on the monitoring of 625 and on the one or more proximity thresholds. In some cases, the proximity information may include an indication of one of the near proximity or the far proximity of the ambient wireless device 115-b relative to the reader device (e.g., a binary proximity indication) .

In some cases, the proximity determination procedure is based on one or more received power measurements (e.g., RSRP measurements) associated with the one or more instances of the second signaling received at 630 (e.g., as described herein with respect to FIG. 3) . For example, the ambient wireless device 115-b may obtain the proximity information from the proximity determination procedure based on whether an average RSRP measurement of the one or more RSRP measurements satisfies the received power threshold (e.g., received via the first signaling) . In some cases, if the average RSRP measurement satisfies (e.g., is above) the received power threshold, the obtained proximity information may indicate the near proximity, and if the average RSRP measurement fails to satisfy (e.g., is below) the received power threshold, the obtained proximity information may indicate the far proximity.

Additionally, or alternatively, the ambient wireless device 115-b may obtain the proximity information from the proximity determination procedure based on whether a quantity of the one or more RSRP measurements that satisfy the received power threshold satisfies a threshold quantity of RSRP measurements (e.g., as described herein with respect to FIG. 3) . In some cases, the ambient wireless device 115-b may receive the threshold quantity of RSRP measurements via the first signaling, or the threshold quantity of RSRP measurements may be defined by one or more standards documents.

Additionally, or alternatively, the proximity determination procedure may be based on receiving the one or more received or decoded instances of the second signaling (e.g., as described herein with respect to FIG. 4) . For example, the ambient wireless device 115-b may obtain the proximity information from the proximity determination procedure based on whether a quantity of the decoded one or more instances of the second signaling (e.g., from 635) satisfies a threshold quantity of decoded instances. In some cases, the ambient wireless device 115-b may receive the threshold quantity of decoded instances via the first signaling, or the threshold quantity of decoded instances may be defined by one or more standards documents.

At 645, the ambient wireless device 115-b may communicate the proximity information (e.g., an indication of the proximity information) to the reader device 610 (e.g., as described herein with respect to FIG. 5) . In some cases, the ambient wireless device 115-b may communicate the proximity information within the time window for communicating (e.g., receiving) the second signaling. Additionally, or alternatively, the ambient wireless device 115-b may communicate the proximity information after the time window for communicating the second signaling. In some cases, the ambient wireless device 115-b may transmit a signal or may backscatter (e.g., reflect and modulate) one or more incident radio signals to communicate the proximity information to the reader device 610. In some cases, the ambient wireless device 115-b may communicate the proximity information based on the proximity information indicating the near proximity for the ambient wireless device 115-b with reference to the reader device 610. Additionally, or alternatively, the ambient wireless device 115-b may communicate the proximity information to the reader device 610 via the one or more wireless communication resources received at the ambient wireless device 115-b at 620.

In some cases, at 650, the ambient wireless device 115-b may skip a monitoring of the second signaling within a skipping time window for communication of the second signaling (e.g., as described herein with respect to FIG. 5) . In some cases, the skipping time window may occur after the ambient wireless device 115-b performs the proximity determination procedure at 640, and the ambient wireless device 115-b may skip the monitoring based on the proximity information indicating the near proximity. For example, the reader device 610 may configure the ambient wireless device 115-b to skip monitoring during the skipping time window if the ambient wireless device 115-b is associated with the near proximity, or to perform monitoring during the skipping time window if the ambient wireless device 115-b is associated with the far proximity.

According to these techniques, the ambient wireless device 115-b may determine proximity information associated with the ambient wireless device 115-b relative to the reader device 610. In some cases, such techniques may allow the reader device 610 and the ambient wireless device 115-b to perform wireless communications with a higher reliability.

FIG. 7 shows a block diagram 700 of a device 705 that supports proximity determination for ambient wireless devices in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure. The device 705 may be an example of aspects of an ambient wireless device as described herein. The device 705 may include a receiver 710, a transmitter 715, and a communications manager 720. The device 705, or one or more components of the device 705 (e.g., the receiver 710, the transmitter 715, the communications manager 720) , may include at least one processor, which may be coupled with at least one memory, to, individually or collectively, support or enable the described techniques. Each of these components may be in communication with one another (e.g., via one or more buses) .

The receiver 710 may provide a means for receiving information such as packets, user data, control information, or any combination thereof associated with various information channels (e.g., control channels, data channels, information channels related to proximity determination for ambient wireless devices) . Information may be passed on to other components of the device 705. The receiver 710 may utilize a single antenna or a set of multiple antennas.

The transmitter 715 may provide a means for transmitting signals generated by other components of the device 705. For example, the transmitter 715 may transmit information such as packets, user data, control information, or any combination thereof associated with various information channels (e.g., control channels, data channels, information channels related to proximity determination for ambient wireless devices) . In some examples, the transmitter 715 may be co-located with a receiver 710 in a transceiver module. The transmitter 715 may utilize a single antenna or a set of multiple antennas.

The communications manager 720, the receiver 710, the transmitter 715, or various combinations or components thereof may be examples of means for performing various aspects of proximity determination for ambient wireless devices as described herein. For example, the communications manager 720, the receiver 710, the transmitter 715, or various combinations or components thereof may be capable of performing one or more of the functions described herein.

In some examples, the communications manager 720, the receiver 710, the transmitter 715, or various combinations or components thereof may be implemented in hardware (e.g., in communications management circuitry) . The hardware may include at least one of a processor, a DSP, a CPU, an ASIC, an FPGA or other programmable logic device, a microcontroller, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof configured as or otherwise supporting, individually or collectively, a means for performing the functions described in the present disclosure. In some examples, at least one processor and at least one memory coupled with the at least one processor may be configured to perform one or more of the functions described herein (e.g., by one or more processors, individually or collectively, executing instructions stored in the at least one memory) .

Additionally, or alternatively, the communications manager 720, the receiver 710, the transmitter 715, or various combinations or components thereof may be implemented in code (e.g., as communications management software or firmware) executed by at least one processor (e.g., referred to as a processor-executable code) . If implemented in code executed by at least one processor, the functions of the communications manager 720, the receiver 710, the transmitter 715, or various combinations or components thereof may be performed by a general-purpose processor, a DSP, a CPU, an ASIC, an FPGA, a microcontroller, or any combination of these or other programmable logic devices (e.g., configured as or otherwise supporting, individually or collectively, a means for performing the functions described in the present disclosure) .

In some examples, the communications manager 720 may be configured to perform various operations (e.g., receiving, obtaining, monitoring, outputting, transmitting) using or otherwise in cooperation with the receiver 710, the transmitter 715, or both. For example, the communications manager 720 may receive information from the receiver 710, send information to the transmitter 715, or be integrated in combination with the receiver 710, the transmitter 715, or both to obtain information, output information, or perform various other operations as described herein.

The communications manager 720 may support wireless communication in accordance with examples as disclosed herein. For example, the communications manager 720 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for receiving first signaling that indicates one or more proximity thresholds for a proximity determination procedure for the ambient wireless device, where the one or more proximity thresholds correspond to a near proximity and a far proximity of the ambient wireless device relative to a reader device. The communications manager 720 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for monitoring for second signaling from the reader device, the second signaling associated with the proximity determination procedure for the ambient wireless device. The communications manager 720 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for performing the proximity determination procedure to obtain proximity information of the ambient wireless device based on the monitoring and on the one or more proximity thresholds, where the proximity information including an indication of one of the near proximity or the far proximity of the ambient wireless device relative to the reader device.

By including or configuring the communications manager 720 in accordance with examples as described herein, the device 705 (e.g., at least one processor controlling or otherwise coupled with the receiver 710, the transmitter 715, the communications manager 720, or a combination thereof) may support techniques for improved communication reliability and improved coordination between devices. For example, an ambient wireless device 115 employing the techniques described herein may effectively determine and indicate proximity information to a reader device, which may positively affect the signaling and coordination between the ambient wireless device 115 and the reader device.

FIG. 8 shows a block diagram 800 of a device 805 that supports proximity determination for ambient wireless devices in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure. The device 805 may be an example of aspects of a device 705 or an ambient wireless device 115 as described herein. The device 805 may include a receiver 810, a transmitter 815, and a communications manager 820. The device 805, or one or more components of the device 805 (e.g., the receiver 810, the transmitter 815, the communications manager 820) , may include at least one processor, which may be coupled with at least one memory, to support the described techniques. Each of these components may be in communication with one another (e.g., via one or more buses) .

The receiver 810 may provide a means for receiving information such as packets, user data, control information, or any combination thereof associated with various information channels (e.g., control channels, data channels, information channels related to proximity determination for ambient wireless devices) . Information may be passed on to other components of the device 805. The receiver 810 may utilize a single antenna or a set of multiple antennas.

The transmitter 815 may provide a means for transmitting signals generated by other components of the device 805. For example, the transmitter 815 may transmit information such as packets, user data, control information, or any combination thereof associated with various information channels (e.g., control channels, data channels, information channels related to proximity determination for ambient wireless devices) . In some examples, the transmitter 815 may be co-located with a receiver 810 in a transceiver module. The transmitter 815 may utilize a single antenna or a set of multiple antennas.

The device 805, or various components thereof, may be an example of means for performing various aspects of proximity determination for ambient wireless devices as described herein. For example, the communications manager 820 may include a proximity thresholds component 825, a signal monitoring component 830, a proximity determination component 835, or any combination thereof. The communications manager 820 may be an example of aspects of a communications manager 720 as described herein. In some examples, the communications manager 820, or various components thereof, may be configured to perform various operations (e.g., receiving, obtaining, monitoring, outputting, transmitting) using or otherwise in cooperation with the receiver 810, the transmitter 815, or both. For example, the communications manager 820 may receive information from the receiver 810, send information to the transmitter 815, or be integrated in combination with the receiver 810, the transmitter 815, or both to obtain information, output information, or perform various other operations as described herein.

The communications manager 820 may support wireless communication in accordance with examples as disclosed herein. The proximity thresholds component 825 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for receiving first signaling that indicates one or more proximity thresholds for a proximity determination procedure for the ambient wireless device, where the one or more proximity thresholds correspond to a near proximity and a far proximity of the ambient wireless device relative to a reader device. The signal monitoring component 830 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for monitoring for second signaling from the reader device, the second signaling associated with the proximity determination procedure for the ambient wireless device. The proximity determination component 835 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for performing the proximity determination procedure to obtain proximity information of the ambient wireless device based on the monitoring and on the one or more proximity thresholds, where the proximity information including an indication of one of the near proximity or the far proximity of the ambient wireless device relative to the reader device.

FIG. 9 shows a block diagram 900 of a communications manager 920 that supports proximity determination for ambient wireless devices in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure. The communications manager 920 may be an example of aspects of a communications manager 720, a communications manager 820, or both, as described herein. The communications manager 920, or various components thereof, may be an example of means for performing various aspects of proximity determination for ambient wireless devices as described herein. For example, the communications manager 920 may include a proximity thresholds component 925, a signal monitoring component 930, a proximity determination component 935, a signal reception component 940, a signal decoding component 945, a proximity information communication component 950, a resource indication component 955, or any combination thereof. Each of these components, or components or subcomponents thereof (e.g., one or more processors, one or more memories) , may communicate, directly or indirectly, with one another (e.g., via one or more buses) .

The communications manager 920 may support wireless communication in accordance with examples as disclosed herein. The proximity thresholds component 925 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for receiving first signaling that indicates one or more proximity thresholds for a proximity determination procedure for the ambient wireless device, where the one or more proximity thresholds correspond to a near proximity and a far proximity of the ambient wireless device relative to a reader device. The signal monitoring component 930 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for monitoring for second signaling from the reader device, the second signaling associated with the proximity determination procedure for the ambient wireless device. The proximity determination component 935 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for performing the proximity determination procedure to obtain proximity information of the ambient wireless device based on the monitoring and on the one or more proximity thresholds, where the proximity information including an indication of one of the near proximity or the far proximity of the ambient wireless device relative to the reader device.

In some examples, to support monitoring for the second signaling associated with the proximity determination procedure, the signal monitoring component 930 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for monitoring for a dedicated proximity determination signal.

In some examples, a transmit power of the dedicated proximity determination signal is predefined, dynamically configured by a network entity, determined by the reader device based on a threshold transmit power, or any combination thereof.

In some examples, the dedicated proximity determination signal includes a field that includes one or more bits to indicate a purpose of the dedicated proximity determination signal, a preamble that indicates the purpose of the dedicated proximity determination signal, or both.

In some examples, to support monitoring for the second signaling associated with the proximity determination procedure, the signal monitoring component 930 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for monitoring for a third signal associated with a contention based access procedure.

In some examples, the one or more proximity thresholds may include a received power threshold, and the signal reception component 940 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for receiving one or more instances of the second signaling within a time window based on the monitoring, where the proximity determination procedure is based on one or more received power measurements associated with the received one or more instances of the second signaling.

In some examples, the proximity determination component 935 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for obtaining the proximity information of the ambient wireless device from the proximity determination procedure based on whether an average received power measurement of the one or more received power measurements satisfies the received power threshold.

In some examples, the proximity determination component 935 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for obtaining the proximity information of the ambient wireless device from the proximity determination procedure based on whether a quantity of the one or more received power measurements that satisfy the received power threshold satisfies a threshold quantity of received power measurements.

In some examples, the signal decoding component 945 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for decoding one or more received instances of the second signaling based on the monitoring. In some examples, the proximity determination component 935 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for obtaining the proximity information of the ambient wireless device from the proximity determination procedure based on whether a quantity of the decoded one or more instances of the second signaling satisfies a threshold quantity of decoded instances.

In some examples, the proximity information communication component 950 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for communicating the proximity information to the reader device within a time window for receiving the second signaling, after the time window for receiving the second signaling, or both, where the proximity information is communicated based on the proximity information including the indication of the near proximity.

In some examples, the resource indication component 955 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for receiving, from the reader device, an indication of one or more wireless communication resources for communication of the proximity information to the reader device. In some examples, the proximity information communication component 950 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for communicating the proximity information to the reader device via the one or more wireless communication resources.

In some examples, the signal monitoring component 930 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for skipping a monitoring of the second signaling within a time window that occurs after the proximity determination procedure is performed based on the proximity information including the indication of the near proximity.

FIG. 10 shows a diagram of a system 1000 including a device 1005 that supports proximity determination for ambient wireless devices in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure. The device 1005 may be an example of or include components of a device 705, a device 805, or an ambient wireless device as described herein. The device 1005 may include components for bi-directional voice and data communications including components for transmitting and receiving communications, such as a communications manager 1020, an I/O controller, such as an I/O controller 1010, a transceiver 1015, one or more antennas 1025, at least one memory 1030, code 1035, and at least one processor 1040. These components may be in electronic communication or otherwise coupled (e.g., operatively, communicatively, functionally, electronically, electrically) via one or more buses (e.g., a bus 1045) .

The I/O controller 1010 may manage input and output signals for the device 1005. The I/O controller 1010 may also manage peripherals not integrated into the device 1005. In some cases, the I/O controller 1010 may represent a physical connection or port to an external peripheral. In some cases, the I/O controller 1010 may utilize an operating system such as or another known operating system. Additionally, or alternatively, the I/O controller 1010 may represent or interact with a modem, a keyboard, a mouse, a touchscreen, or a similar device. In some cases, the I/O controller 1010 may be implemented as part of one or more processors, such as the at least one processor 1040. In some cases, a user may interact with the device 1005 via the I/O controller 1010 or via hardware components controlled by the I/O controller 1010.

In some cases, the device 1005 may include a single antenna. However, in some other cases, the device 1005 may have more than one antenna, which may be capable of concurrently transmitting or receiving multiple wireless transmissions. The transceiver 1015 may communicate bi-directionally via the one or more antennas 1025 using wired or wireless links as described herein. For example, the transceiver 1015 may represent a wireless transceiver and may communicate bi-directionally with another wireless transceiver. The transceiver 1015 may also include a modem to modulate the packets, to provide the modulated packets to one or more antennas 1025 for transmission, and to demodulate packets received from the one or more antennas 1025. The transceiver 1015, or the transceiver 1015 and one or more antennas 1025, may be an example of a transmitter 715, a transmitter 815, a receiver 710, a receiver 810, or any combination thereof or component thereof, as described herein.

The at least one memory 1030 may include RAM and ROM. The at least one memory 1030 may store computer-readable, computer-executable, or processor-executable code, such as the code 1035. The code 1035 may include instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor 1040, cause the device 1005 to perform various functions described herein. The code 1035 may be stored in a non-transitory computer-readable medium such as system memory or another type of memory. In some cases, the code 1035 may not be directly executable by the at least one processor 1040 but may cause a computer (e.g., when compiled and executed) to perform functions described herein. In some cases, the at least one memory 1030 may include, among other things, a BIOS which may control basic hardware or software operation such as the interaction with peripheral components or devices.

The at least one processor 1040 may include one or more intelligent hardware devices (e.g., one or more general-purpose processors, one or more DSPs, one or more CPUs, one or more graphics processing units (GPUs) , one or more neural processing units (NPUs) (also referred to as neural network processors or deep learning processors (DLPs) ) , one or more microcontrollers, one or more ASICs, one or more FPGAs, one or more programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic, one or more discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof) . In some cases, the at least one processor 1040 may be configured to operate a memory array using a memory controller. In some other cases, a memory controller may be integrated into the at least one processor 1040. The at least one processor 1040 may be configured to execute computer-readable instructions stored in a memory (e.g., the at least one memory 1030) to cause the device 1005 to perform various functions (e.g., functions or tasks supporting proximity determination for ambient wireless devices) . For example, the device 1005 or a component of the device 1005 may include at least one processor 1040 and at least one memory 1030 coupled with or to the at least one processor 1040, the at least one processor 1040 and the at least one memory 1030 configured to perform various functions described herein.

In some examples, the at least one processor 1040 may include multiple processors and the at least one memory 1030 may include multiple memories. One or more of the multiple processors may be coupled with one or more of the multiple memories, which may, individually or collectively, be configured to perform various functions described herein. In some examples, the at least one processor 1040 may be a component of a processing system, which may refer to a system (such as a series) of machines, circuitry (including, for example, one or both of processor circuitry (which may include the at least one processor 1040) and memory circuitry (which may include the at least one memory 1030) ) , or components, that receives or obtains inputs and processes the inputs to produce, generate, or obtain a set of outputs. The processing system may be configured to perform one or more of the functions described herein. For example, the at least one processor 1040 or a processing system including the at least one processor 1040 may be configured to, configurable to, or operable to cause the device 1005 to perform one or more of the functions described herein. Further, as described herein, being “configured to, ” being “configurable to, ” and being “operable to” may be used interchangeably and may be associated with a capability, when executing code 1035 (e.g., processor-executable code) stored in the at least one memory 1030 or otherwise, to perform one or more of the functions described herein.

The communications manager 1020 may support wireless communication in accordance with examples as disclosed herein. For example, the communications manager 1020 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for receiving first signaling that indicates one or more proximity thresholds for a proximity determination procedure for the ambient wireless device, where the one or more proximity thresholds correspond to a near proximity and a far proximity of the ambient wireless device relative to a reader device. The communications manager 1020 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for monitoring for second signaling from the reader device, the second signaling associated with the proximity determination procedure for the ambient wireless device. The communications manager 1020 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for performing the proximity determination procedure to obtain proximity information of the ambient wireless device based on the monitoring and on the one or more proximity thresholds, where the proximity information including an indication of one of the near proximity or the far proximity of the ambient wireless device relative to the reader device.

By including or configuring the communications manager 1020 in accordance with examples as described herein, the device 1005 may support techniques for improved communication reliability and improved coordination between devices. For example, an ambient wireless device 115 employing the techniques described herein may effectively determine and indicate proximity information to a reader device, which may positively affect the signaling and coordination between the ambient wireless device 115 and the reader device.

In some examples, the communications manager 1020 may be configured to perform various operations (e.g., receiving, monitoring, transmitting) using or otherwise in cooperation with the transceiver 1015, the one or more antennas 1025, or any combination thereof. Although the communications manager 1020 is illustrated as a separate component, in some examples, one or more functions described with reference to the communications manager 1020 may be supported by or performed by the at least one processor 1040, the at least one memory 1030, the code 1035, or any combination thereof. For example, the code 1035 may include instructions executable by the at least one processor 1040 to cause the device 1005 to perform various aspects of proximity determination for ambient wireless devices as described herein, or the at least one processor 1040 and the at least one memory 1030 may be otherwise configured to, individually or collectively, perform or support such operations.

FIG. 11 shows a flowchart illustrating a method 1100 that supports proximity determination for ambient wireless devices in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure. The operations of the method 1100 may be implemented by an ambient wireless device or its components as described herein. For example, the operations of the method 1100 may be performed by an ambient wireless device as described with reference to FIGs. 1 through 10. In some examples, an ambient wireless device may execute a set of instructions to control the functional elements of the ambient wireless device to perform the described functions. Additionally, or alternatively, the ambient wireless device may perform aspects of the described functions using special-purpose hardware.

At 1105, the method may include receiving first signaling that indicates one or more proximity thresholds for a proximity determination procedure for the ambient wireless device, where the one or more proximity thresholds correspond to a near proximity and a far proximity of the ambient wireless device relative to a reader device. The operations of 1105 may be performed in accordance with examples as disclosed herein. In some examples, aspects of the operations of 1105 may be performed by a proximity thresholds component 925 as described with reference to FIG. 9.

At 1110, the method may include monitoring for second signaling from the reader device, the second signaling associated with the proximity determination procedure for the ambient wireless device. The operations of 1110 may be performed in accordance with examples as disclosed herein. In some examples, aspects of the operations of 1110 may be performed by a signal monitoring component 930 as described with reference to FIG. 9.

At 1115, the method may include performing the proximity determination procedure to obtain proximity information of the ambient wireless device based on the monitoring and on the one or more proximity thresholds, where the proximity information including an indication of one of the near proximity or the far proximity of the ambient wireless device relative to the reader device. The operations of 1115 may be performed in accordance with examples as disclosed herein. In some examples, aspects of the operations of 1115 may be performed by a proximity determination component 935 as described with reference to FIG. 9.

The following provides an overview of aspects of the present disclosure:

Aspect 1: A method for wireless communication at an ambient wireless device, comprising: receiving first signaling that indicates one or more proximity thresholds for a proximity determination procedure for the ambient wireless device, wherein the one or more proximity thresholds correspond to a near proximity and a far proximity of the ambient wireless device relative to a reader device; monitoring for second signaling from the reader device, the second signaling associated with the proximity determination procedure for the ambient wireless device; and performing the proximity determination procedure to obtain proximity information of the ambient wireless device based at least in part on the monitoring and on the one or more proximity thresholds, wherein the proximity information comprises an indication of one of the near proximity or the far proximity of the ambient wireless device relative to the reader device.

Aspect 2: The method of aspect 1, wherein monitoring for the second signaling associated with the proximity determination procedure comprises: monitoring for a dedicated proximity determination signal.

Aspect 3: The method of aspect 2, wherein a transmit power of the dedicated proximity determination signal is predefined, dynamically configured by a network entity, determined by the reader device based at least in part on a threshold transmit power, or any combination thereof.

Aspect 4: The method of any of aspects 2 through 3, wherein the dedicated proximity determination signal comprises a field that includes one or more bits to indicate a purpose of the dedicated proximity determination signal, a preamble that indicates the purpose of the dedicated proximity determination signal, or both.

Aspect 5: The method of any of aspects 1 through 4, wherein monitoring for the second signaling associated with the proximity determination procedure comprises: monitoring for a third signal associated with a contention based access procedure.

Aspect 6: The method of any of aspects 1 through 5, wherein the one or more proximity thresholds comprises a received power threshold, further comprising: receiving one or more instances of the second signaling within a time window based at least in part on the monitoring, wherein the proximity determination procedure is based at least in part on one or more received power measurements associated with the received one or more instances of the second signaling.

Aspect 7: The method of aspect 6, further comprising: obtaining the proximity information of the ambient wireless device from the proximity determination procedure based at least in part on whether an average received power measurement of the one or more received power measurements satisfies the received power threshold.

Aspect 8: The method of any of aspects 6 through 7, further comprising: obtaining the proximity information of the ambient wireless device from the proximity determination procedure based at least in part on whether a quantity of the one or more received power measurements that satisfy the received power threshold satisfies a threshold quantity of received power measurements.

Aspect 9: The method of any of aspects 1 through 8, further comprising: decoding one or more received instances of the second signaling based at least in part on the monitoring; and obtaining the proximity information of the ambient wireless device from the proximity determination procedure based at least in part on whether a quantity of the decoded one or more instances of the second signaling satisfies a threshold quantity of decoded instances.

Aspect 10: The method of any of aspects 1 through 9, further comprising: communicating the proximity information to the reader device within a time window for receiving the second signaling, after the time window for receiving the second signaling, or both, wherein the proximity information is communicated based at least in part on the proximity information comprising the indication of the near proximity.

Aspect 11: The method of any of aspects 1 through 10, further comprising: receiving, from the reader device, an indication of one or more wireless communication resources for communication of the proximity information to the reader device; and communicating the proximity information to the reader device via the one or more wireless communication resources.

Aspect 12: The method of any of aspects 1 through 11, further comprising: skipping a monitoring of the second signaling within a time window that occurs after the proximity determination procedure is performed based at least in part on the proximity information comprising the indication of the near proximity.

Aspect 13: An ambient wireless device for wireless communication, comprising one or more memories storing processor-executable code, and one or more processors coupled with the one or more memories and individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the ambient wireless device to perform a method of any of aspects 1 through 12.

Aspect 14: An ambient wireless device for wireless communication, comprising at least one means for performing a method of any of aspects 1 through 12.

Aspect 15: A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code for wireless communication, the code comprising instructions executable by one or more processors to perform a method of any of aspects 1 through 12.

It should be noted that the methods described herein describe possible implementations. The operations and the steps may be rearranged, or otherwise modified and other implementations are possible. Further, aspects from two or more of the methods may be combined.

Although aspects of an LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, or NR system may be described for purposes of example, and LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, or NR terminology may be used in much of the description, the techniques described herein are applicable beyond LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, or NR networks. For example, the described techniques may be applicable to various other wireless communications systems such as Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB) , Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 (Wi-Fi) , IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX) , IEEE 802.20, Flash-OFDM, as well as other systems and radio technologies not explicitly mentioned herein.

Information and signals described herein may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies and techniques. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referenced throughout the description may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields or particles, or any combination thereof.

The various illustrative blocks and components described in connection with the disclosure herein may be implemented or performed using a general-purpose processor, a DSP, an ASIC, a CPU, a graphics processing unit (GPU) , a neural processing unit (NPU) , an FPGA or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor but, in the alternative, the processor may be any processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices (e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, multiple microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration) . Any functions or operations described herein as being capable of being performed by a processor may be performed by multiple processors that, individually or collectively, are capable of performing the described functions or operations.

The functions described herein may be implemented using hardware, software executed by a processor, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented using software executed by a processor, the functions may be stored as or transmitted using one or more instructions or code of a computer-readable medium. Other examples and implementations are within the scope of the disclosure and appended claims. For example, due to the nature of software, functions described herein may be implemented using software executed by a processor, hardware, firmware, hardwiring, or combinations of any of these. Features implementing functions may also be physically located at various positions, including being distributed such that portions of functions are implemented at different physical locations.

Computer-readable media includes both non-transitory computer storage media and communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one location to another. A non-transitory storage medium may be any available medium that may be accessed by a general-purpose or special-purpose computer. By way of example, and not limitation, non-transitory computer-readable media may include RAM, ROM, electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM) , flash memory, compact disk (CD) ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other non-transitory medium that may be used to carry or store desired program code means in the form of instructions or data structures and that may be accessed by a general-purpose or special-purpose computer or a general-purpose or special-purpose processor. Also, any connection is properly termed a computer-readable medium. For example, if the software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL) , or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave, then the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave are included in the definition of computer-readable medium. Disk and disc, as used herein, include CD, laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD) , floppy disk, and Blu-ray disc. Disks may reproduce data magnetically, and discs may reproduce data optically using lasers. Combinations of the above are also included within the scope of computer-readable media. Any functions or operations described herein as being capable of being performed by a memory may be performed by multiple memories that, individually or collectively, are capable of performing the described functions or operations.

As used herein, including in the claims, “or” as used in a list of items (e.g., 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) . Also, as used herein, the phrase “based on” shall not be construed as a reference to a closed set of conditions. For example, an example step that is described as “based on condition A” may be based on both a condition A and a condition B without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. In other words, as used herein, the phrase “based on” shall be construed in the same manner as the phrase “based at least in part on. ”

As used herein, including in the claims, the article “a” before a noun is open-ended and understood to refer to “at least one” of those nouns or “one or more” of those nouns. Thus, the terms “a, ” “at least one, ” “one or more, ” and “at least one of one or more” may be interchangeable. For example, if a claim recites “a component” that performs one or more functions, each of the individual functions may be performed by a single component or by any combination of multiple components. Thus, the term “a component” having characteristics or performing functions may refer to “at least one of one or more components” having a particular characteristic or performing a particular function. Subsequent reference to a component introduced with the article “a” using the terms “the” or “said” may refer to any or all of the one or more components. For example, a component introduced with the article “a” may be understood to mean “one or more components, ” and referring to “the component” subsequently in the claims may be understood to be equivalent to referring to “at least one of the one or more components. ” Similarly, subsequent reference to a component introduced as “one or more components” using the terms “the” or “said” may refer to any or all of the one or more components. For example, referring to “the one or more components” subsequently in the claims may be understood to be equivalent to referring to “at least one of the one or more components. ”

The term “determine” or “determining” encompasses a variety of actions and, therefore, “determining” can include calculating, computing, processing, deriving, investigating, looking up (such as via looking up in a table, a database, or another data structure) , ascertaining, and the like. Also, “determining” can include receiving (e.g., receiving information) , accessing (e.g., accessing data stored in memory) , and the like. Also, “determining” can include resolving, obtaining, selecting, choosing, establishing, and other such similar actions.

In the appended figures, similar components or features may have the same reference label. Further, various components of the same type may be distinguished by following the reference label by a dash and a second label that distinguishes among the similar components. If just the first reference label is used in the specification, the description is applicable to any one of the similar components having the same first reference label irrespective of the second reference label or other subsequent reference label.

The description set forth herein, in connection with the appended drawings, describes example configurations and does not represent all the examples that may be implemented or that are within the scope of the claims. The term “example” used herein means “serving as an example, instance, or illustration” and not “preferred” or “advantageous over other examples. ” The detailed description includes specific details for the purpose of providing an understanding of the described techniques. These techniques, however, may be practiced without these specific details. In some figures, known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring the concepts of the described examples.

The description herein is provided to enable a person having ordinary skill in the art to make or use the disclosure. Various modifications to the disclosure will be apparent to a person having ordinary skill in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other variations without departing from the scope of the disclosure. Thus, the disclosure is not limited to the examples and designs described herein but is to be accorded the broadest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

Claims

An ambient wireless device, comprising:

one or more memories storing processor-executable code; and

one or more processors coupled with the one or more memories and individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the ambient wireless device to:

receive first signaling that indicates one or more proximity thresholds for a proximity determination procedure for the ambient wireless device, wherein the one or more proximity thresholds correspond to a near proximity and a far proximity of the ambient wireless device relative to a reader device;

monitor for second signaling from the reader device, the second signaling associated with the proximity determination procedure for the ambient wireless device; and

perform the proximity determination procedure to obtain proximity information of the ambient wireless device based at least in part on the monitoring and on the one or more proximity thresholds, wherein the proximity information comprises an indication of one of the near proximity or the far proximity of the ambient wireless device relative to the reader device.
The ambient wireless device of claim 1, wherein, to monitor for the second signaling associated with the proximity determination procedure, the one or more processors are individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the ambient wireless device to:

monitor for a dedicated proximity determination signal.
The ambient wireless device of claim 2, wherein a transmit power of the dedicated proximity determination signal is predefined, dynamically configured by a network entity, determined by the reader device based at least in part on a threshold transmit power, or any combination thereof.
The ambient wireless device of claim 2, wherein the dedicated proximity determination signal comprises a field that includes one or more bits to indicate a purpose of the dedicated proximity determination signal, a preamble that indicates the purpose of the dedicated proximity determination signal, or both.
The ambient wireless device of claim 1, wherein, to monitor for the second signaling associated with the proximity determination procedure, the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the ambient wireless device to:

monitor for a third signal associated with a contention based access procedure.
The ambient wireless device of claim 1, wherein the one or more proximity thresholds comprises a received power threshold, and wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the ambient wireless device to:

receive one or more instances of the second signaling within a time window based at least in part on the monitoring, wherein the proximity determination procedure is based at least in part on one or more received power measurements associated with the received one or more instances of the second signaling.
The ambient wireless device of claim 6, wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the ambient wireless device to:

obtain the proximity information of the ambient wireless device from the proximity determination procedure based at least in part on whether an average received power measurement of the one or more received power measurements satisfies the received power threshold.
The ambient wireless device of claim 6, wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the ambient wireless device to:

obtain the proximity information of the ambient wireless device from the proximity determination procedure based at least in part on whether a quantity of the one or more received power measurements that satisfy the received power threshold satisfies a threshold quantity of received power measurements.
The ambient wireless device of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the ambient wireless device to:

decode one or more received instances of the second signaling based at least in part on the monitoring; and

obtain the proximity information of the ambient wireless device from the proximity determination procedure based at least in part on whether a quantity of the decoded one or more instances of the second signaling satisfies a threshold quantity of decoded instances.
The ambient wireless device of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the ambient wireless device to:

communicate the proximity information to the reader device within a time window for receiving the second signaling, after the time window for receiving the second signaling, or both, wherein the proximity information is communicated based at least in part on the proximity information comprising the indication of the near proximity.
The ambient wireless device of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the ambient wireless device to:

receive, from the reader device, an indication of one or more wireless communication resources for communication of the proximity information to the reader device; and

communicate the proximity information to the reader device via the one or more wireless communication resources.
The ambient wireless device of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the ambient wireless device to:

skip a monitoring of the second signaling within a time window that occurs after the proximity determination procedure is performed based at least in part on the proximity information comprising the indication of the near proximity.
A method for wireless communication at an ambient wireless device, comprising:

receiving first signaling that indicates one or more proximity thresholds for a proximity determination procedure for the ambient wireless device, wherein the one or more proximity thresholds correspond to a near proximity and a far proximity of the ambient wireless device relative to a reader device;

monitoring for second signaling from the reader device, the second signaling associated with the proximity determination procedure for the ambient wireless device; and

performing the proximity determination procedure to obtain proximity information of the ambient wireless device based at least in part on the monitoring and on the one or more proximity thresholds, wherein the proximity information comprising an indication of one of the near proximity or the far proximity of the ambient wireless device relative to the reader device.
The method of claim 13, wherein monitoring for the second signaling associated with the proximity determination procedure comprises:

monitoring for a dedicated proximity determination signal.
The method of claim 14, wherein a transmit power of the dedicated proximity determination signal is predefined, dynamically configured by a network entity, determined by the reader device based at least in part on a threshold transmit power, or any combination thereof.
The method of claim 14, wherein the dedicated proximity determination signal comprises a field that includes one or more bits to indicate a purpose of the dedicated proximity determination signal, a preamble that indicates the purpose of the dedicated proximity determination signal, or both.
The method of claim 13, wherein monitoring for the second signaling associated with the proximity determination procedure comprises:

monitoring for a third signal associated with a contention based access procedure.
The method of claim 13, wherein the one or more proximity thresholds comprises a received power threshold, further comprising:

receiving one or more instances of the second signaling within a time window based at least in part on the monitoring, wherein the proximity determination procedure is based at least in part on one or more received power measurements associated with the received one or more instances of the second signaling.
The method of claim 18, further comprising:

obtaining the proximity information of the ambient wireless device from the proximity determination procedure based at least in part on whether an average received power measurement of the one or more received power measurements satisfies the received power threshold.
A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code for wireless communication, the code comprising instructions executable by one or more processors to:

receive first signaling that indicates one or more proximity thresholds for a proximity determination procedure for an ambient wireless device, wherein the one or more proximity thresholds correspond to a near proximity and a far proximity of the ambient wireless device relative to a reader device;

monitor for second signaling from the reader device, the second signaling associated with the proximity determination procedure for the ambient wireless device; and

perform the proximity determination procedure to obtain proximity information of the ambient wireless device based at least in part on the monitoring and on the one or more proximity thresholds, wherein the proximity information comprising an indication of one of the near proximity or the far proximity of the ambient wireless device relative to the reader device.