Prose relay ue activation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017317740-A1
Application number	US-201715650696-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jul 14, 2017
Priority date	Jul 24, 2015
Publication date	Nov 2, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a method for activating a relay functionality of a ProSe capable and relay-capable user equipment within a mobile communication network. The radio base station, to which the relay UE is connected, determines whether further relays are necessary in the radio cell controlled by the radio base station. In case further relays are necessary in the radio cell, the radio base station selects a persistence check value and transmits a broadcast message in the radio cell. The broadcast message at least indicates that further relays are necessary and comprises the selected persistence check value. Upon receiving the broadcast message, the relay UE activates its relay functionality in case it determines that relay requirements for activating its relay functionality in the radio cell are fulfilled and in case a persistence check performed by the relay UE based on the received persistence check value is successful.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method for activating a relay functionality of a relay user equipment within a mobile communication network, wherein the relay user equipment is capable of performing direct communication over a direct sidelink connection respectively with one or more remote user equipments, wherein the relay user equipment is located in a radio cell controlled by a radio base station in the mobile communication network and supports a relay functionality for being capable of serving as a relay, respectively for the one or more remote user equipments, so as to relay communication between the one or more remote user equipments and the radio base station via the direct sidelink connection, the method comprising:
determining by the radio base station whether or not further relays are necessary in the radio cell; in case it is determined that further relays are necessary in the radio cell, selecting by the radio base station a persistence check value and transmitting by the radio base station a broadcast message in the radio cell, the broadcast message at least indicating that further relays are necessary in the radio cell and comprising the selected persistence check value; and upon receiving the broadcast message, the relay user equipment activates its relay functionality in case the relay user equipment determines that relay requirements for activating its relay functionality in the radio cell are fulfilled by the relay user equipment and in case a persistence check performed by the relay user equipment based on the received persistence check value is successful.

2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the performing, by the relay user equipment, of the persistence check comprises:
generating by the relay user equipment a random value within a range of values and comparing the generated random value with the received persistence check value, having been selected by the radio base station within the same range of values, to determine whether the persistence check is successful or not, and preferably wherein in case the generated random value is smaller than or equal to the received persistence check value, the persistence check is successful.

3 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising, after receiving the broadcast message and before the activating of the relay functionality:
determining by the relay user equipment whether radio resources are already configured for the relay user equipment to perform a relay discovery procedure to announce its presence as a relay; in case no radio resources are already configured for the relay user equipment to perform the relay discovery procedure, requesting by the relay user equipment from the radio base station radio resources to perform the relay discovery procedure; and receiving by the relay user equipment from the radio base station information on whether and which radio resources are assigned to perform the relay discovery procedure.

4 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising, after receiving the broadcast message and before the activating of the relay functionality:
transmitting by the relay user equipment to the radio base station a relay activation request message, requesting permission from the radio base station to activate the relay functionality of the relay user equipment; and receiving by the relay user equipment from the radio base station a relay activation response message, giving or denying the permission for the relay user equipment to activate the relay functionality, wherein the activating, by the relay user equipment, of its relay functionality is performed in case of receiving the relay activation response message giving the permission to activate the relay functionality.

5 . The method according to claim 3 , wherein the requesting, by the relay user equipment, of radio resources from the radio base station to perform the relay discovery procedure comprises including said request for radio resources in the relay activation request message transmitted by the relay user equipment to the radio base station to request the permission from the radio base station to activate its relay functionality,
and wherein the receiving, by the relay user equipment from the radio base station, of the information on whether and which radio resources are assigned to perform the relay discovery procedure comprises including said information in the relay activation response message transmitted by the radio base station to give or deny the permission for the relay user equipment to activate its relay functionality, and preferably wherein the radio base station, by assigning radio resources to the relay user equipment for the relay discovery procedure, gives the permission for the relay user equipment to activate its relay functionality, and wherein the radio base station, by not assigning radio resources to the relay user equipment for the relay discovery procedure, denies the permission for the relay user equipment to activate its relay functionality.

6 . The method according to claim 4 , wherein the relay activation request message further comprises:
information on one or more services that can be provided by the relay user equipment to remote user equipments, such as public safety services or non-public safety services, preferably allowing the radio base station to determine a priority associated with the one or more provided services, group identification information of one or more services that can be provided by the relay user equipment to remote user equipments, the group identification information giving information as to which group each of the one or more provided services belongs to, or a request for radio resources for the relay user equipment to perform direct discovery to announce its presence as a direct communication user equipment by transmitting discovery messages in the radio cell.

7 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the broadcast message transmitted by the radio base station in the radio cell further comprises information on radio resources to be used by the relay user equipment for a relay discovery procedure to announce the presence of the relay user equipment as a relay,
and preferably wherein the indication that further relays are necessary is comprised in the broadcast message separately from the information on the radio resources for the relay discovery procedure, or the relay user equipment determines that further relays are necessary from the presence of the information on the radio resources for the relay discovery procedure in the broadcast message and/or from the presence of the persistence check value in the broadcast message.

8 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the relay user equipment has its relay functionality activated, the method further comprising:
receiving by the relay user equipment from the radio base station a relay deactivation command and, in response, deactivating by the relay user equipment the relay functionality, or transmitting by the relay user equipment to the radio base station a relay deactivation request message, receiving, in response, by the relay user equipment in response from the radio base station a relay deactivation response message that instructs the relay user equipment to deactivate or not its relay functionality, and deactivating by the relay user equipment its relay functionality in case the relay deactivation response message instructs to deactivate the relay functionality.

9 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the determining by the radio base station as to if further relays are necessary:
is determining that further relays are necessary in case of receiving a relay initiation message from a proximity services function in the mobil

Assignees

• Panasonic Ip Corp America

Inventors

• Basu Mallick Prateek
• Loehr Joachim
• Hori Takako

Classifications

• H04B7/15557 Primary

  Selecting relay station operation mode, e.g. between amplify and forward mode, decode and forward mode or FDD - and TDD mode · CPC title

• H04W52/0229

  where the received signal is a wanted signal · CPC title

• H04W88/04

  adapted for relaying to or from another terminal or user · CPC title

• H04W8/005

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

• H04W40/22 Primary

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