In-band wireless relay operations

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12069750-B2
Application number	US-202016889665-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 1, 2020
Priority date	Jun 3, 2019
Publication date	Aug 20, 2024
Grant date	Aug 20, 2024

Abstract

Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communications are described. A relay node may establish a control plane connection between the relay node and a base station, wherein establishing the control plane connection comprises receiving from the base station a first network identifier for the relay node. The relay node may receive, via the control plane connection, a relay configuration from the base station. The relay node may monitor grants associated with a set of one or more user equipment (UEs) based at least in part on the relay configuration, each UE comprising a network identifier that is different from the first network identifier. The relay node may relay communications between the base station and the set of one or more UEs according to the monitoring.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for wireless communication at a relay node, comprising:
establishing a control plane connection between the relay node and a network device, wherein establishing the control plane connection comprises receiving from the network device a first network identifier for the relay node;
receiving, via the control plane connection, a relay configuration from the network device;
receiving uplink transmissions from each user equipment (UE) within a subset of one or more UEs, the subset of one or more UEs being associated with relay operations with the relay node from a set of UEs served by the network device, wherein the subset of one or more UEs is identified from the set of UEs based at least in part on the received uplink transmissions;
monitoring grants associated with the subset of one or more UEs based at least in part on the relay configuration, the received uplink transmissions, and a received power level of the received uplink transmissions satisfying a threshold, wherein each UE within the subset of one or more UEs comprises a network identifier that is different from the first network identifier; and
relaying communications between the network device and the subset of one or more UEs according to the monitoring.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
identifying the subset of one or more UEs based at least in part on each UE within the subset of one or more UEs being located within a proximity range of the relay node, or a repetition rate for the relayed communications satisfying a threshold value, or a combination thereof.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the relay configuration identifies the subset of one or more UEs.

4. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
receiving a signal via the control plane connection identifying the subset of one or more UEs.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving the uplink transmissions comprises:
receiving a random access request from at least one UE in the subset of one or more UEs, wherein monitoring the grants is based at least in part on the random access request, and wherein the uplink transmissions comprise the random access request.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein receiving the random access request comprises:
determining relay transmissions associated with the random access request comprise a repetition rate satisfying a threshold value.

7. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
relaying the random access request to the network device;
receiving a random access response from the network device; and
relaying the random access response to the at least one UE, wherein monitoring the grants is based at least in part on the random access response.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a radio resource control configuration for the subset of one or more UEs, wherein relaying the communications between the network device and the subset of one or more UEs is based at least in part on the radio resource control configuration.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the radio resource control configuration is received via at least one of the control plane connection, or a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE), or a combination thereof.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining, based at least in part on the uplink transmissions received from each UE within the subset of one or more UEs, a channel performance metric associated with each UE; and
transmitting a channel performance feedback report to the network device identifying the channel performance metric associated with each UE.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
transmitting a signal to the network device identifying a location of the relay node, wherein the subset of one or more UEs is based at least in part on the location of the relay node and a proximity range between each UE in the subset of one or more UEs and the relay node satisfying a threshold.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
identifying a first priority metric for relaying the communications between the network device and the subset of one or more UEs and a second priority metric for performing communications between the network device and the relay node, wherein relaying the communications between the network device and the subset of one or more UEs is based at least in part on the first priority metric being a higher priority metric than the second priority metric.

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
monitoring, based at least in part on the relay configuration, a control signal identifying scheduling information for a corresponding data signal; and
determining to relay the communications between the network device and the subset of one or more UEs based at least in part on a transmission configuration for the control signal or the corresponding data signal.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
decoding at least a portion of the control signal to identify the scheduling information for the corresponding data signal;
decoding, based at least in part on the decoded portion of the control signal, at least a portion of the corresponding data signal; and
determining to relay the communications between the network device and the subset of one or more UEs based at least in part on the transmission configuration for the control signal, or the corresponding data signal, or a combination thereof.

15. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
identifying a transmission schedule associated with relaying the communications between the network device and the subset of one or more UEs, wherein the relaying is performed according to the transmission schedule.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the transmission schedule comprises a set of starting points for relaying the communications, and wherein relaying communications is scheduled to start in at least one starting point of the set of starting points.

17. The method of claim 1 , wherein relaying the communications between the network device and the subset of one or more UEs comprises:
ramping up a transmission power of the communications relayed between the network device and the subset of one or more UEs.

18. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining that at least one of the communications is received with a corresponding type of reference signal used for decoding the at least one communication; and
determining whether to relay or refrain from relaying the at least one communication between the network device and the subset of one or more UEs based at least in part on the corresponding type of the reference signal.

19. The method of claim 18 , further comprising:
determining that the corresponding type of the reference signal comprises a demodulation reference signal (DMRS); and
determining to relay the at least one communication between the network device and the subset of one or more UEs based at least in part on the DMRS.

20. The method of claim 18 , further comprising:
determining that the corresponding type of the reference signal comprises a cell-specific reference signal (CRS); and
determining not to relay the at least one communication between the network device and the subset of one or more UEs based at least in part on the CRS.

21. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining that at least one of the communications is scheduled on overlapping resources used by the subset of one or more UEs for performing channel performance measurement and reporting with the network d

Assignees

• Qualcomm Inc

Inventors

• Rico Alvarino Alberto
• Liu Le
• Chen Wanshi
• Luo Tao
• Montojo Juan

Classifications

• H04W74/0833

  Random access procedures, e.g. with 4-step access · CPC title

• H04W72/56

  based on priority criteria · CPC title

• H04W72/23

  in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal · CPC title

• H04W80/02

  Data link layer protocols · CPC title

• H04W24/10 Primary

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