Systems, methods, and apparatus for managing a relay connection in a wireless communications network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016295494-A1
Application number	US-201615080462-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 24, 2016
Priority date	Mar 31, 2015
Publication date	Oct 6, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A UE may move out of range of a network. Accordingly, the UE may use a relay node to communicate. To manage the relay node, a wireless device such as the UE may receive a relay search message from a second UE requesting a relay UE to establish a connection to the network through the relay UE. The UE may transmit a message to a base station informing the base station of the relay search message from the second UE. The UE may receive an initiate relay association procedure message from the base station, the initiate relay association procedure message informing the first UE that the first UE has been selected by the base station to initiate a relay association procedure with the second UE. The UE may transmit a relay association message to the second UE including a request to be the relay UE for the second UE.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method of managing a relay connection through a relay device in a wireless communications network at a first (UE), the method comprising:
receiving a relay search message from a second UE requesting a relay UE to establish a connection to the wireless communications network through the relay UE; transmitting a message to a base station informing the base station of the relay search message from the second UE; and receiving an initiate relay association procedure message from the base station, the initiate relay association procedure message informing the first UE that the first UE has been selected by the base station to initiate a relay association procedure with the second UE.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising transmitting a relay association message to the second UE including a request to be the relay UE for the second UE.

3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising sending a UE capability information message to the base station indicating at least one of UE relay capabilities at the first UE or relay capacity supported at the first UE, the relay capacity including at least one of a number of UEs that can be simultaneously supported or an ability to support an MBMS traffic relay.

4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving an acknowledgment from the second UE indicating that the second UE has selected the first UE as the relay device.

5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving a message from the second UE declining the request from the first UE to be the relay for the second UE.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the relay search message from the second UE is a ProSe direct discovery message and includes at least a second UE identification (ID) and the message to the base station comprises the second UE ID.

7 . The method of claim 6 , further comprising:
receiving a reference signal concurrently with the discovery message; and determining at least one of a reference signal received power (RSRP) or a reference signal received quality (RSRQ) based on the received reference signal, wherein the message to the base station comprises at least one of the determined RSRP or RSRQ.

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the message to the base station further includes an indication of link quality associated with an access link between the first UE and the base station.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the relay association procedure message comprises a radio resource control (RRC) message, the RRC message instructing the first UE to initiate the relay association procedure over a ProSe channel, the RRC message including at least one of a unique relay ID or periodic reporting information.

10 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving a message from the base station requesting periodic reporting of second UE-to-relay link quality and transmitting a message to the second UE requesting periodic reporting of second UE-to-relay link quality based on the message from the base station requesting periodic reporting of second UE-to-relay link quality.

11 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising receiving a message containing information regarding second UE-to-relay link quality from the second UE in response to the message to the second UE requesting periodic reporting of second UE-to-relay link quality and transmitting a message to the base station including information regarding second UE-to-relay link quality based on the message containing information regarding second UE-to-relay link quality received from the second UE.

12 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
receiving a message from the base station in response to the second UE-to-relay link quality instructing the second UE to reinitiate a relay search procedure, including transmitting another relay search message; and transmitting a message to the second UE instructing it to reinitiate the relay search procedure.

13 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
receiving a reference signal concurrently with a ProSe measurement channel; determining at least one of an RSRP or an RSRQ based on the received reference signal; and transmitting a message to the base station including information regarding second UE-to-relay link quality including at least one of the determined RSRP or RSRQ.

14 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
receiving a message from the base station in response to the second UE-to-relay link quality instructing the second UE to reinitiate the relay search procedure; and transmitting a message to the second UE instructing it to reinitiate the relay search procedure.

15 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the message is transmitted over an access link (Uu).

16 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving a message from the base station requesting periodic reporting of second UE-to-relay link quality and transmitting a message to the second UE requesting a periodic transmission of a ProSe channel for measurement of the UE-to-relay link quality.

17 . A method of managing a relay connection in a wireless communications network at a base station, the method comprising:
receiving a message from at least one relay UE informing the base station of a relay search message from a first UE; and selecting one relay UE of the at least one relay UEs to initiate a relay association procedure.

18 . The method of claim 17 , further comprising transmitting an initiate relay association procedure message to the one relay UE, the initiate relay association procedure message informing the one relay UE that the one relay UE has been selected by the base station to initiate a relay association procedure.

19 . The method of claim 17 , further comprising:
transmitting a message to the selected relay UE requesting periodic reporting of second UE-to-relay link quality; receiving the requested periodic reporting of second UE-to-relay link quality; and determining if a relay for the second UE should be moved to another relay UE based on the requested periodic reporting of the second UE-to-relay link quality.

20 . The method of claim 17 , wherein the selection is based on at least one of direct link quality between the relay UE and first UE or access link quality between the relay UE and the base station.

21 . An apparatus for managing a relay connection through a relay device in a wireless communications network at a first UE, comprising:
a memory; and at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to:
receive a relay search message from a second UE requesting a relay UE to establish a connection to the wireless communications network through the relay UE;
transmit a message to a base station informing the base station of the relay search message from the second UE; and
receive an initiate relay association procedure message from the base station, the initiate relay association procedure message informing the first UE that the first UE has been selected by the base station to initiate a relay association procedure with the second UE.

22 . The apparatus of claim 21 , wherein the at least processor is further configured to transmit a relay association message to the second UE including a request to be the relay UE for the second UE.

23 . The apparatus of claim 21 , the at least one processor further configured to send a UE capability information message to the base station indicating at least one of UE relay capabilities at the first

Assignees

• Qualcomm Inc

Inventors

• Gulati Kapil
• Tavildar Saurabha Rangrao
• Baghel Sudhir Kumar
• Patil Shailesh
• Vanderveen Michaela
• Sadiq Bilal
• Cheng Hong
• Zisimopoulos Haris

Classifications

• H04W72/542

  using measured or perceived quality · CPC title

• H04W40/12

  based on transmission quality or channel quality · CPC title

• H04W40/22 Primary

  using selective relaying for reaching a BTS [Base Transceiver Station] or an access point · CPC title

• H04W8/005 Primary

  Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals · CPC title

• H04B7/2606

  Arrangements for base station coverage control, e.g. by using relays in tunnels · CPC title