Method and apparatus for supporting connectivity of remote user equipment with relay access via interworking function

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to wireless communications, and more particularly to providing connectivity (2, 3, 4, 5) of a PC5 remote user equipment (UE) to a 5G core (5GC) with UE-to-network (NW) relay access via an IWF (e.g., N3IWF). A remote UE (5) supporting a network access stratum (NAS) connection to the 5GC via the IWF is provided. Access traffic steering, switching and splitting (ATSSS) support may be provided for the remote UE.

Description

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

[0002] This application claims the benefit of Greek Patent Application No. 20200100002, filed on January 3, 2020, entitled "TECHNIQUES FOR SUPPORTING CONNECTIVITY OF REMOTE USER EQUIPMENTS WITH RELAY ACCESS VIA AN INTERWORKING FUNCTION", which is expressly incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

[0003] background

[0004] Aspects of the present disclosure relate generally to wireless communication systems, and more particularly to configuring connectivity of a PC5 remote user equipment (UE) to a 5G core with UE-to-network (NW) relay access via an interworking function (IWF).

[0005] Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, etc. These systems may be multiple-access systems capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources (e.g., time, frequency, and power). Examples of such multiple-access systems include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, and orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems, and single-carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) systems.

[0006] These multiple access technologies have been adopted in various telecommunication standards to provide common protocols that enable different wireless devices to communicate at city, country, region, and even global levels. For example, the fifth generation (5G) wireless communication technology (which may be referred to as NR) is designed to expand and support diverse usage scenarios and applications relative to current mobile network generations. On the one hand, 5G communication technology may include: enhanced mobile broadband for human-centric use cases for accessing multimedia content, services, and data; ultra-reliable low latency communications (URLLC) with certain specifications on latency and reliability; and massive machine type communications, which may allow very large numbers of connected devices and the transmission of relatively small amounts of non-delay sensitive information.

[0007] For example, for various communication technologies (such as but not limited to NR), UE-to-NW relay in NR implementation may increase transmission speed and flexibility but also increase transmission complexity. Thus, improvements to wireless communication operations may be desirable.

[0008] Overview

[0009] A brief summary of one or more aspects is given below to provide a basic understanding of such aspects. This summary is not an exhaustive overview of all conceived aspects, and is neither intended to identify the key or critical elements of all aspects nor to define the scope of any or all aspects. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of one or more aspects in a simplified form as a prelude to a more detailed description that will be presented later.

[0010] According to an example, a method of wirelessly communicating at a remote user equipment (UE) is provided. The method may include discovering an interworking function (IWF) when connected to a relay UE on a sidelink interface. The method may further include establishing a non-access stratum (NAS) connection with a network entity via the IWF. The method may further include communicating with the network entity via the IWF.

[0011] Another example implementation includes an apparatus for wireless communication, the apparatus comprising a memory and at least one processor in communication with the memory. The at least one processor may be configured to discover an IWF when connected to a relay UE on a sidelink interface. The at least one processor may be configured to establish a NAS connection with a network entity via the IWF. The at least one processor may be configured to communicate with the network entity via the relay UE and via the IWF.

[0012] An additional example implementation includes an apparatus for wireless communication. The apparatus may include means for discovering an IWF when connected to a relay UE on a sidelink interface. The apparatus may further include means for establishing a NAS connection with a network entity via the IWF. The apparatus may further include means for communicating with the network entity via the relay UE and via the IWF.

[0013] A further example implementation includes a computer-readable medium storing computer code executable by a processor for wireless communication at a network entity, including code for: discovering an IWF when connected to a relay UE on a sidelink interface; establishing a NAS connection with the network entity via the IWF; and communicating with the network entity via the relay UE and via the IWF.

[0014] According to another example, a method for wireless communication at a relay UE is provided. The method may include receiving at least one relay discovery parameter from a network entity. The method may further include: determining at least one parameter for establishing one or more packet data unit (PDU) sessions toward an IWF when connected to the remote UE on a side link interface based at least on the at least one relay discovery parameter from the remote UE. The method may further include: establishing a single relay PDU session or multiple relay PDU sessions for the remote UE.

[0015] Another example implementation includes an apparatus for wireless communication, the apparatus comprising a memory and at least one processor in communication with the memory. The at least one processor may be configured to: receive at least one relay discovery parameter from a network entity. The at least one processor may be configured to: determine at least one parameter for establishing one or more PDU sessions toward an IWF while connected to the remote UE on a sidelink interface based at least on the at least one relay discovery parameter from the remote UE. The at least one processor may be configured to: establish a single relay PDU session or multiple relay PDU sessions for the remote UE.

[0016] An additional example implementation includes an apparatus for wireless communication. The apparatus may include means for receiving at least one relay discovery parameter from a network entity. The apparatus may further include means for determining at least one parameter for establishing one or more PDU sessions toward an IWF while connected to the remote UE on a sidelink interface based at least on the at least one relay discovery parameter from the remote UE. The apparatus may further include means for establishing a single relay PDU session or multiple relay PDU sessions for the remote UE.

[0017] A further example implementation includes a computer-readable medium storing computer code executable by a processor for wireless communication at a network entity, comprising code for: receiving at least one relay discovery parameter from the network entity; determining at least one parameter for establishing one or more PDU sessions toward an IWF while connected to the remote UE on a sidelink interface based at least on the at least one relay discovery parameter from the remote UE; and establishing a single relay PDU session or multiple relay PDU sessions for the remote UE.

[0018] According to yet another example, a method of wireless communication at a node is provided. The method may include determining that a service continuity condition on a radio interface or a sidelink interface is satisfied when connecting to a network entity via a relay UE. The method may further include: establishing a multiple access packet data unit (MA-PDU) session via at least one of a radio interface or an IWF. The method may further include: communicating data with the network entity via the relay UE via the radio interface or the IWF.

[0019] Another example implementation includes an apparatus for wireless communication, the apparatus comprising a memory and at least one processor in communication with the memory. The at least one processor may be configured to determine that a service continuity condition on a radio interface or a sidelink interface is satisfied when connected to a network entity via a relay UE. The at least one processor may be configured to establish an MA-PDU session via at least one of a radio interface or an IWF. The at least one processor may be configured to communicate data with a network entity via a relay UE via the radio interface or the IWF.

[0020] An additional example implementation includes an apparatus for wireless communication. The apparatus may include means for determining that a service continuity condition on a radio interface or a sidelink interface is satisfied while connected to a network entity via a relay UE. The apparatus may further include means for establishing an MA-PDU session via at least one of a radio interface or an IWF. The apparatus may further include means for communicating data with the network entity via the relay UE via the radio interface or the IWF.

[0021] A further example implementation includes a computer-readable medium storing computer code executable by a processor to perform wireless communications at a network entity, comprising code for: determining that a service continuity condition on a radio interface or a sidelink interface is satisfied while connected to the network entity via a relay UE; establishing an MA-PDU session via at least one of the radio interface or the IWF; and performing data communications with the network entity via the relay UE via the radio interface or the IWF.

[0022] To achieve the foregoing and related ends, the one or more aspects include the features fully described below and particularly pointed out in the claims. The following description and drawings set forth in detail certain illustrative features of the one or more aspects. However, these features are merely indicative of several of the various ways in which the principles of the various aspects may be employed, and this description is intended to cover all such aspects and their equivalents. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0024] The disclosed aspects will be described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which are provided to illustrate rather than limit the disclosed aspects, wherein like reference numerals designate like elements, and wherein:

[0025] Figure 1 An example of a wireless communication system according to various aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated;

[0026] Figure 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a network entity (also referred to as a base station) according to various aspects of the present disclosure;

[0027] Figure 3is a block diagram illustrating an example of a user equipment (UE) according to various aspects of the present disclosure;

[0028] Figure 4 is a flow chart illustrating an example of a method for wireless communication at a remote UE (e.g., a remote UE non-access stratum (NAS) connection with a 5G core (5GC) via an interworking function (IWF)) in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure;

[0029] Figure 5 is a flow chart illustrating an example of a method for wireless communication at a relay UE (e.g., a relay UE non-access stratum (NAS) connection with a 5G core (5GC) via an interworking function (IWF)) according to various aspects of the present disclosure;

[0030] Figure 6 is a flow chart illustrating an example of a method for wireless communication at a remote UE, such as access traffic steering, switching, and splitting (ATSSS) at a remote UE, according to various aspects of the present disclosure;

[0031] Figure 7 is a conceptual diagram of a device-to-device (D2D) communication system according to various aspects of the present disclosure;

[0032] Figure 8 is a block diagram of a non-roaming architecture of a 5G Core (5GC) system with UE to Network (NW) relay access in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure;

[0033] Fig. 9 is a conceptual diagram of a control plane protocol stack between a remote UE and an IWF for UE-to-NW relay access according to various aspects of the present disclosure;

[0034] Fig.10 is a conceptual diagram of a user plane protocol stack between a remote UE and an IWF for UE to NW relay access according to various aspects of the present disclosure;

[0035] Fig.11 is a flow chart of a registration scheme for UE to NW relay access according to various aspects of the present disclosure;

[0036] Fig.12 is a block diagram of a relay packet data unit (PDU) session for UE to NW access via an IWF in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure;

[0037] Fig.13 An example non-roaming architecture for ASSSS support over the radio interface and UE to NW relay access via IWF is illustrated in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure;

[0038] Fig.14is a flow chart of a remote UE PDU session setup via a radio interface in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure;

[0039] Fig.15 is a flow chart of a remote UE PDU session setup over UE to NW relay access via IWF in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure;

[0040] Fig.16 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a MIMO communication system including a base station and a UE according to various aspects of the present disclosure;

[0041] Fig.17 is an example architecture of a system employing ATSSS in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure;

[0042] Fig.18 is a user plane protocol stack for supporting ASSS for UE to NW relay according to various aspects of the present disclosure;

[0043] Fig.19 is an initial MA PDU session setup over Uu according to various aspects of the present disclosure;

[0044] Fig. 20 is a multiple access (MA) PDU session establishment over a PC5 relay path according to various aspects of the present disclosure;

[0045] Fig.21 is a MA PDU session establishment on a PC5 relay path according to various aspects of the present disclosure;

[0046] Fig. 22 is an initial MA PDU session setup on a PC5 relay path according to various aspects of the present disclosure; and

[0047] Fig.23 It is a MA PDU session establishment over Uu procedure according to various aspects of the present disclosure.

[0048] Detailed Description

[0049] Now, various aspects are described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description, for the purpose of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth to provide a thorough understanding of one or more aspects. However, it is apparent that such aspects can be practiced without these specific details.

[0050] Aspects of the present disclosure relate generally to wireless communication systems, and more particularly to providing connectivity of a PC5 remote user equipment (UE) to a 5G core (5GC) with UE-to-network (NW) relay access via an interworking function (IWF) (e.g., non-3GPP IWF). Specifically, as part of a system enhancement for proximity-based services (ProSe) in a 5G system (5GS), L3 UE-to-NW relay may be implemented to support relaying for remote UEs. In such a system, a ProSe 5G UE-to-NW relay UE may provide functionality for supporting connectivity of a remote UE to the network by relaying remote UE user plane (UP) traffic to a gNB / 5GC.

[0051] However, the L3 UE to NW relay scheme may have several drawbacks. For example, on the PC5 UE to NW relay path, there may be no network access stratum (NAS) connection between the remote UE and the 5GC, for example, there is no authorization and authentication of the remote UE by the 5GC. In addition, for example, for remote UE data, there may be no end-to-end security, and only hop-by-hop (e.g., PC5 and Uu) security is supported. Additionally, when the data path switches between the radio interface (e.g., Uu) link and the relay link, there may be no remote UE Internet Protocol (IP) session continuity. Specifically, the remote UE may have multiple paths available, such as a Uu path (within the coverage of the gNB) or a UE to NW relay path via PC5 or multiple UE to NW relay paths (e.g., such as Figure 1 In this case, the UE may switch from one path to another path exhibiting better radio conditions to support service continuity.

[0052] Thus, in order to overcome the above-mentioned defects, it is desirable to provide connectivity of a PC5 remote UE with UE-to-NW relay access to a 5GC via an IWF (e.g., N3IWF). In one implementation, the remote UE may configure a NAS connection with the 5GC via the N3IWF. The UE-to-NW relay on the PC5 may be another access type connected to the N3IWF. On the other hand, access traffic steering, switching, and splitting (ATSSS) may be implemented at the remote UE. For example, the remote UE NAS may send a message to the 5GC for ASSS support carried via the N3IWF.

[0053] In one implementation, the remote UE may discover the IWF while connected to the relay UE on the sidelink interface. The remote UE may further establish a non-access stratum (NAS) connection with the network entity using a signaling IPsec security association established through the IWF (via Internet Key Exchange (IKE) Security Association (SA) procedures), similar to untrusted non-3GPP access via the N3IWF. The remote UE may further communicate with the network entity via the relay UE by sending data over the IPsec sub-SA established with the IWF for the corresponding PDU session.

[0054] In another implementation, the relay UE may receive at least one relay discovery parameter from the network entity. The relay UE may further determine at least one parameter for establishing one or more PDU sessions toward the IWF when connected to the remote UE on the side link interface based at least on the at least one relay discovery parameter from the remote UE. The relay UE may further establish a single relay PDU session or multiple relay PDU sessions for the remote UE.

[0055] In another implementation, the remote UE may determine that a service continuity condition on a radio interface or a sidelink interface is satisfied while connected to the network entity via the relay UE. The remote UE may further establish a multiple access packet data unit (MA-PDU) session via at least one of the radio interface or the IWF. The remote UE may further communicate data with the network entity via the relay UE via the radio interface or the IWF.

[0056] The following will refer to Figure 1-Figure 23 The described features are presented in more detail.

[0057] As used in this application, the terms "component", "module", "system" and similar terms are intended to include computer-related entities, such as but not limited to hardware, software, a combination of hardware and software, or software in execution. For example, a component can be, but not limited to, a process, a processor, an object, an executable, a thread of execution, a program, and / or a computer running on a processor. As an illustration, both an application running on a computing device and the computing device can be a component. One or more components may reside in a process and / or a thread of execution, and a component may be localized on a computer and / or distributed between two or more computers. In addition, these components can be executed from various computer-readable media on which various data structures are stored. These components can communicate by means of local and / or remote processes, such as according to a signal having one or more data packets, such as data from a component that interacts with another component in a local system, a distributed system, and / or interacts with other systems across a network such as the Internet. Software shall be construed broadly to mean instructions, instruction sets, code, code segments, program code, programs, subroutines, software modules, applications, software applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, executables, threads of execution, procedures, functions, etc., whether referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or otherwise.

[0058] The technology described herein can be used for various wireless communication systems, such as CDMA, TDMA, FDMA, OFDMA, SC-FDMA and other systems. The terms "system" and "network" are usually used interchangeably. A CDMA system can implement radio technologies such as CDMA2000, Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA). CDMA2000 covers IS-2000, IS-95 and IS-856 standards. IS-2000 versions 0 and A are commonly referred to as CDMA2000 1X, 1X, etc. IS-856 (TIA-856) is commonly referred to as CDMA2000 1xEV-DO, High Rate Packet Data (HRPD), etc. UTRA includes Wideband CDMA (WCDMA) and other variants of CDMA. A TDMA system can implement radio technologies such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). OFDMA systems can implement technologies such as Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), Evolved UTRA (E-UTRA), IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, Flash-OFDM TMRadio technologies such as UTRA and E-UTRA are part of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS). 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) and Advanced LTE (LTE-A) are new UMTS versions that use E-UTRA. UTRA, E-UTRA, UMTS, LTE, LTE-A, and GSM are described in documents from an organization called the "3rd Generation Partnership Project" (3GPP). CDMA2000 and UMB are described in documents from an organization called the "3rd Generation Partnership Project 2" (3GPP2). The techniques described herein can be used for the systems and radio technologies mentioned above as well as for other systems and radio technologies, including cellular (e.g., LTE) communications on shared radio frequency spectrum bands. However, the following description describes an LTE / LTE-A system for example purposes, and LTE terminology is used in most of the following descriptions, but these techniques can also be applied beyond LTE / LTE-A applications (e.g., to fifth generation (5G) NR networks or other next generation communication systems).

[0059] The following description provides examples and does not limit the scope, applicability, or examples set forth in the claims. Changes may be made to the functions and arrangements of the elements discussed without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Various examples may appropriately omit, substitute, or add various procedures or components. For example, the described methods may be performed in an order different from that described, and various steps may be added, omitted, or combined. In addition, features described with reference to some examples may be combined in other examples.

[0060] Various aspects or features will be presented in the form of systems that may include a number of devices, components, modules, and the like, etc. It should be understood and appreciated that the various systems may include additional devices, components, modules, etc., and / or may not include all of the devices, components, modules, etc. discussed in conjunction with the figures. Combinations of these approaches may also be used.

[0061] Figure 1 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a wireless communication system and access network 100. The wireless communication system (also referred to as a wireless wide area network (WWAN)) may include a base station 102, a UE 104, an evolved packet core (EPC) 160, and / or a 5G core (5GC) 190. The base station 102 (which may also be referred to as a network entity) may include a macro cell (a high-power cellular base station) and / or a small cell (a low-power cellular base station). A macro cell may include a base station. A small cell may include a femto cell, a pico cell, and a micro cell. In an example, the base station 102 may also include a gNB 180, as further described herein.

[0062] In one example, some nodes (such as UE 104 of a wireless communication system) may have a modem 340 and a communication component 342 for providing PC5 remote UE to 5GC connectivity with UE to NW relay access via an IWF (e.g., N3IWF), as described herein. In another example, some nodes (such as base station 102 / gNB 180) may have a modem 240 and a communication component 242 for facilitating communication with one or more UEs 104. Although UE 104 is shown as having a modem 340 and a communication component 342 and base station 102 / gNB 180 is shown as having a modem 240 and a communication component 242, this is merely an illustrative example, and substantially any node or type of node may include a modem 240 and a communication component 242 for providing the corresponding functionality described herein.

[0063] The base station 102 configured for 4G LTE (which may be collectively referred to as the Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN)) may interface with the EPC 160 via a backhaul link 132 (e.g., using an S1 interface). Alternatively or additionally, the base station 102 configured for 5G NR (which may be collectively referred to as the Next Generation RAN (NG-RAN)) may interface with the 5GC 190 via a backhaul link 184. The base station 102 may perform one or more of the following functions, among other functions: delivery of user data, radio channel encryption and decryption, integrity protection, header compression, mobility control functions (e.g., handover, dual connectivity), inter-cell interference coordination, connection establishment and release, load balancing, distribution of non-access stratum (NAS) messages, NAS node selection, synchronization, radio access network (RAN) sharing, multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS), subscriber and equipment tracking, RAN information management (RIM), paging, positioning, and delivery of alert messages. Base stations 102 may communicate with each other directly or indirectly (e.g., through EPC 160 or 5GC 190) over backhaul links 134 (e.g., using an X2 interface). Backhaul links 132, 134, and / or 184 may be wired or wireless.

[0064] The base station 102 may communicate wirelessly with one or more UEs 104. Each base station 102 may provide communication coverage for a respective geographic coverage area 110. There may be overlapping geographic coverage areas 110. For example, a small cell 102' may have a coverage area 110' that overlaps with the coverage area 110 of one or more macro base stations 102. A network including both small cells and macro cells may be referred to as a heterogeneous network. A heterogeneous network may also include a home evolved Node B (eNB) (HeNB), which may provide services to a restricted group (which may be referred to as a closed subscriber group (CSG)). The communication link 120 between the base station 102 and the UE 104 may include an uplink (UL) (also referred to as a reverse link) transmission from the UE 104 to the base station 102 and / or a downlink (DL) (also referred to as a forward link) transmission from the base station 102 to the UE 104. The communication link 120 may use multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology, including spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and / or transmit diversity. These communication links may be through one or more carriers. For each carrier allocated in a carrier aggregation of up to Yx MHz (e.g., for x component carriers) for transmission in the DL and / or UL direction, the base station 102 / UE 104 may use a spectrum of up to Y MHz (e.g., 5, 10, 15, 20, 100, 400 MHz, etc.) bandwidth. These carriers may or may not be adjacent to each other. The allocation of carriers may be asymmetric with respect to DL and UL (e.g., more or fewer carriers may be allocated to DL compared to UL). The component carrier may include a primary component carrier and one or more secondary component carriers. The primary component carrier may be referred to as a primary cell (PCell), and the secondary component carrier may be referred to as a secondary cell (SCell).

[0065] In another example, some UEs 104 may communicate with each other using a device-to-device (D2D) communication link 158. The D2D communication link 158 may use DL / UL WWAN spectrum. The D2D communication link 158 may use one or more sidelink channels, such as a physical sidelink broadcast channel (PSBCH), a physical sidelink discovery channel (PSDCH), a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH), and a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH). The D2D communication may be through a variety of wireless D2D communication systems, such as, for example, FlashLinQ, WiMedia, Bluetooth, ZigBee, Wi-Fi based on the IEEE 802.11 standard, LTE, or NR.

[0066] The wireless communication system may further include a Wi-Fi access point (AP) 150 communicating with a Wi-Fi station (STA) 152 in the 5 GHz unlicensed spectrum via a communication link 154. When communicating in the unlicensed spectrum, the STA 152 / AP 150 may perform a clear channel assessment (CCA) to determine whether the channel is available prior to communication.

[0067] The small cell 102' may operate in a licensed and / or unlicensed spectrum. When operating in an unlicensed spectrum, the small cell 102' may employ NR and use the same 5 GHz unlicensed spectrum as used by the Wi-Fi AP 150. The small cell 102' employing NR in the unlicensed spectrum may boost the coverage of the access network and / or increase the capacity of the access network.

[0068] Whether a small cell 102' or a large cell (e.g., a macro base station), the base station 102 may include an eNB, a gB node (gNB), or other types of base stations. Some base stations (such as gNB 180) may operate in traditional sub-6 GHz spectrum, millimeter wave (mmW) frequencies, and / or near mmW frequencies to communicate with UE 104. When gNB 180 operates in mmW or near mmW frequencies, gNB 180 may be referred to as a mmW base station. Extremely high frequency (EHF) is part of the RF in the electromagnetic spectrum. EHF has a range of 30 GHz to 300 GHz and a wavelength between 1 mm and 10 mm. The radio waves in this band may be referred to as millimeter waves. Near mmW can be extended down to 3 GHz frequencies with a wavelength of 100 mm. The super high frequency (SHF) band extends between 3 GHz and 30 GHz, which is also referred to as centimeter waves. Communications using mmW / near mmW radio frequency bands have extremely high path loss and short range. The mmW base station 180 may utilize beamforming 182 with the UE 104 to compensate for the extremely high path loss and short range. The base station 102 referred to herein may include a gNB 180.

[0069] The EPC 160 may include a mobility management entity (MME) 162, other MMEs 164, a serving gateway 166, a multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS) gateway 168, a broadcast multicast service center (BM-SC) 170, and a packet data network (PDN) gateway 172. The MME 162 may be in communication with a home subscriber server (HSS) 174. The MME 162 is a control node that handles signaling between the UE 104 and the EPC 160. In general, the MME 162 provides bearer and connection management. All user Internet Protocol (IP) packets are delivered through the serving gateway 166, which itself is connected to the PDN gateway 172. The PDN gateway 172 provides UE IP address allocation and other functions. The PDN gateway 172 and the BM-SC 170 are connected to IP services 176. The IP services 176 may include the Internet, an intranet, an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS), a PS streaming service, and / or other IP services. The BM-SC 170 may provide functionality for MBMS user service provisioning and delivery. The BM-SC 170 may serve as an entry point for content provider MBMS transmissions, may be used to authorize and initiate MBMS bearer services within a public land mobile network (PLMN), and may be used to schedule MBMS transmissions. The MBMS gateway 168 may be used to distribute MBMS traffic to base stations 102 belonging to a multicast broadcast single frequency network (MBSFN) area that broadcasts a specific service, and may be responsible for session management (start / stop) and for collecting eMBMS-related charging information.

[0070] 5GC 190 may include an access and mobility management function (AMF) 192, other AMFs 193, a session management function (SMF) 194, and a user plane function (UPF) 195. AMF 192 may be in communication with a unified data management (UDM) 196. AMF 192 may be a control node that processes signaling between UE 104 and 5GC 190. In general, AMF 192 may provide QoS flow and session management. User Internet Protocol (IP) packets (e.g., from one or more UEs 104) may be delivered via UPF 195. UPF 195 may provide UE IP address allocation for one or more UEs and other functions. UPF 195 is connected to IP services 197. IP services 197 may include the Internet, an intranet, an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS), a PS streaming service, and / or other IP services.

[0071] A base station may also be referred to as a gNB, a Node B, an evolved Node B (eNB), an access point, a base transceiver station, a radio base station, a radio transceiver, a transceiver function, a basic service set (BSS), an extended service set (ESS), a transmit reception point (TRP), or some other suitable term. Base station 102 provides an access point for UE 104 to EPC 160 or 5GC 190. Examples of UE 104 include cellular phones, smart phones, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phones, laptops, personal digital assistants (PDAs), satellite radios, positioning systems (e.g., satellite, terrestrial), multimedia devices, video devices, digital audio players (e.g., MP3 players), cameras, game consoles, tablet devices, smart devices, robots, drones, industrial / manufacturing equipment, wearable devices (e.g., smart watches, smart clothing, smart glasses, virtual reality eyepieces, smart wristbands, smart jewelry (e.g., smart rings, smart bracelets)), vehicles / vehicle equipment, meters (e.g., parking meters, electricity meters, gas meters, water meters, flow meters), gas pumps, large or small kitchen appliances, medical / health care equipment, implants, sensors / actuators, displays, or any other similarly functional devices. Some UE 104 may be referred to as IoT devices (e.g., meters, gas pumps, monitors, cameras, industrial / manufacturing equipment, appliances, vehicles, robots, drones, etc.). IoT UEs may include MTC / enhanced MTC (eMTC, also known as CAT-M, Cat M1) UEs, NB-IoT (also known as CAT NB1) UEs, and other types of UEs. In the present disclosure, eMTC and NB-IoT may refer to future technologies that may evolve from or be based on these technologies. For example, eMTC may include FeMTC (further eMTC), eFeMTC (further enhanced eMTC), mMTC (massive MTC), etc., and NB-IoT may include eNB-IoT (enhanced NB-IoT), FeNB-IoT (further enhanced NB-IoT), etc. UE 104 may also be referred to as a station, a mobile station, a subscriber station, a mobile unit, a subscriber unit, a wireless unit, a remote unit, a mobile device, a wireless device, a wireless communication device, a remote device, a mobile subscriber station, an access terminal, a mobile terminal, a wireless terminal, a remote terminal, a handset, a user agent, a mobile client, a client, or some other suitable terminology.

[0072] Now go to Figure 2-Figure 6 , various aspects are depicted with reference to one or more components and one or more methods that can perform the actions or operations described herein, where various aspects in dashed lines may be optional. Figure 4-Figure 6The operations described in the description are presented in a particular order and / or as being performed by example components, but it should be understood that the order of these actions and the components performing the actions may vary depending on the implementation. Moreover, it should be understood that the following actions, functions, and / or components described may be performed by a specially programmed processor, a processor executing specially programmed software or computer-readable media, or by any other combination of hardware components and / or software components capable of performing the described actions or functions.

[0073] refer to Figure 2 , an example of an implementation of a node such as base station 102 (e.g., base station 102 and / or gNB 180, as described above) may include various components, some of which have been described above and are further described herein, including components such as one or more processors 212 and memory 216 and a transceiver 202 in communication via one or more buses 244, which may operate in conjunction with a modem 240 and / or a communication component 242 including a RACH component 244 to facilitate communications with a UE such as UE 104.

[0074] In one aspect, the one or more processors 212 may include the modem 240 and / or may be part of the modem 240 using one or more modem processors. Thus, various functions associated with the communication component 242 may be included in the modem 240 and / or the processor 212, and in one aspect, may be performed by a single processor, while in other aspects, different ones of these functions may be performed by a combination of two or more different processors. For example, in one aspect, the one or more processors 212 may include any one or any combination of the following: a modem processor, or a baseband processor, or a digital signal processor, or a transmit processor, or a receiver processor, or a transceiver processor associated with the transceiver 202. In other aspects, some of the features of the one or more processors 212 and / or the modem 240 associated with the communication component 242 may be performed by the transceiver 202.

[0075] In addition, the memory 216 can be configured to store local versions of data and / or applications 275 used herein, or the communication component 242 and / or one or more subcomponents thereof executed by the at least one processor 212. The memory 216 can include any type of computer-readable medium usable by a computer or the at least one processor 212, such as random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), tape, magnetic disk, optical disk, volatile memory, non-volatile memory, and any combination thereof. In one aspect, for example, when the base station 102 is operating the at least one processor 212 to execute the communication component 242 and / or one or more subcomponents thereof, the memory 216 can be a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores one or more computer-executable codes defining the communication component 242 and / or one or more subcomponents thereof and / or data associated therewith.

[0076] The transceiver 202 may include at least one receiver 206 and at least one transmitter 208. The receiver 206 may include hardware for receiving data, and / or software code executable by a processor, the code including instructions and stored in a memory (e.g., a computer-readable medium). The receiver 206 may be, for example, a radio frequency (RF) receiver. In one aspect, the receiver 206 may receive signals transmitted by at least one base station 102. In addition, the receiver 206 may process such received signals and may also obtain measurements of the signals, such as, but not limited to, Ec / Io, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), reference signal received power (RSRP), received signal strength indicator (RSSI), and the like. The transmitter 208 may include hardware and / or software executable by a processor for transmitting data, the code including instructions and stored in a memory (e.g., a computer-readable medium). Suitable examples of the transmitter 208 may include, but are not limited to, an RF transmitter.

[0077] Moreover, in one aspect, the base station 102 may include an RF front end 288 that may operate in communication with one or more antennas 265 and the transceiver 202 for receiving and transmitting radio transmissions, such as wireless communications transmitted by at least one base station 102 or wireless transmissions transmitted by the UE 104. The RF front end 288 may be connected to the one or more antennas 265 and may include one or more low noise amplifiers (LNA) 290, one or more switches 292, one or more power amplifiers (PA) 298, and one or more filters 296 for transmitting and receiving RF signals. The antenna 265 may include one or more antennas, antenna elements, and / or antenna arrays.

[0078] In one aspect, the LNA 290 can amplify the received signal to a desired output level. In one aspect, each LNA 290 can have a specified minimum and maximum gain value. In one aspect, the RF front end 288 can use one or more switches 292 to select a particular LNA 290 and its specified gain value based on the desired gain value for a particular application.

[0079] In addition, for example, one or more PAs 298 can be used by the RF front end 288 to amplify the signal to obtain an RF output at a desired output power level. In one aspect, each PA 298 can have a specified minimum and maximum gain value. In one aspect, the RF front end 288 can use one or more switches 292 to select a particular PA 298 and its specified gain value based on the desired gain value for a particular application.

[0080] In addition, for example, one or more filters 296 can be used by the RF front end 288 to filter the received signal to obtain the input RF signal. Similarly, in one aspect, for example, a corresponding filter 296 can be used to filter the output from the corresponding PA 298 to produce an output signal for transmission. In one aspect, each filter 296 can be connected to a specific LNA 290 and / or PA 298. In one aspect, the RF front end 288 can use one or more switches 292 to select a transmit or receive path using a specified filter 296, LNA 290, and / or PA 298 based on the configuration as specified by the transceiver 202 and / or the processor 212.

[0081] As such, the transceiver 202 may be configured to transmit and receive wireless signals through one or more antennas 265 via the RF front end 288. In an aspect, the transceiver may be tuned to operate at a specified frequency so that the UE 104 may communicate, for example, with one or more base stations 102 or one or more cells associated with the one or more base stations 102. In an aspect, the modem 240 may configure the transceiver 202 to operate at a specified frequency and power level based on, for example, a UE configuration of the UE 104 and a communication protocol used by the modem 240.

[0082] In one aspect, modem 240 may be a multi-band-multi-mode modem that may process digital data and communicate with transceiver 202 so that digital data is sent and received using transceiver 202. In one aspect, modem 240 may be multi-band and configured to support multiple frequency bands for a specific communication protocol. In one aspect, modem 240 may be multi-mode and configured to support multiple operating networks and communication protocols. In one aspect, modem 240 may control one or more components (e.g., RF front end 288, transceiver 202) of UE 104 to enable transmission and / or reception of signals from the network based on a specified modem configuration. In one aspect, modem configuration may be based on the mode of the modem and the frequency band used. In another aspect, modem configuration may be based on UE configuration information associated with UE 104, such as provided by the network during cell selection and / or cell reselection.

[0083] In one aspect, the processor(s) 212 may correspond to a Fig.16 Similarly, the memory 216 may correspond to one or more of the processors described in the base station in FIG. Fig.16 The memory described in the base station.

[0084] Reference Figure 3 , one example of an implementation of UE 104 may include various components, some of which have been described above and are further described herein, including components such as one or more processors 312 and memory 316 in communication via one or more buses 344 and transceiver 302, which may operate in conjunction with modem 340 and / or communication component 342 including RACH component 244 for providing PC5 remote UE to 5GC connectivity with UE to NW relay access via an IWF (e.g., N3IWF). .

[0085] The transceiver 302, receiver 306, transmitter 308, one or more processors 312, memory 316, application 375, bus 344, RF front end 388, LNA 390, switch 392, filter 396, PA 398, and one or more antennas 365 may be the same as or similar to corresponding components of the base station 102 as described above, but are configured or otherwise programmed for base station operations rather than base station operations.

[0086] In one aspect, processor(s) 312 may correspond to a combination of Fig.16 Similarly, the memory 316 may correspond to one or more of the processors described in conjunction with the UE. Fig.16 The memory described by the UE in.

[0087] Now go to Figure 4-Figure 6 , various aspects are depicted with reference to one or more components and one or more methods that can perform the actions or operations described herein, where various aspects in dashed lines may be optional. Figure 4-Figure 6 The operations described in the examples are presented in a particular order and / or as being performed by example components, but it should be understood that the order of these actions and the components performing the actions may vary depending on the implementation. Figure 2 , Figure 3 and / or Fig.16 As described herein, the following actions, functions and / or components may be performed by a specially programmed processor, a processor executing specially programmed software or one or more components of a computer-readable medium, or any other combination of hardware components and / or software components capable of performing the actions or functions.

[0088] Figure 4 A flowchart illustrating an example of a method 400 for wirelessly communicating at a remote UE to obtain a NAS connection with a 5GC via an N3IWF. In one example, a UE 104 may use Figure 1 , 3 and 16 to perform the functions described in method 400. Additionally, method 400 may use Figure 8 The architecture shown in and correspondingly described in this article is executed. Fig. 9 The control plane protocol stack shown in and described herein may be used as part of method 400. Similarly, Fig.10 The user plane stack shown in and described herein may be used as part of method 400. Method 400 may also include Fig.11 Any one or more characteristics of a process.

[0089] At block 402, method 400 may include discovering an IWF while connected to a relay UE on a sidelink interface. In one aspect, communication component 342 (e.g., in conjunction with processor(s) 312, memory 316, and / or transceiver 302) may be configured to discover an IWF while connected to a relay UE on a sidelink interface. Thus, UE 104, processor(s) 312, communication component 342, or one of its subcomponents may define means for discovering an IWF while connected to a relay UE on a sidelink interface. For example, a remote UE may identify an IWF of a network via a PC5 connection with a relay UE, to which the relay UE is in turn connected via Uu.

[0090] At block 404, method 400 may include establishing a NAS connection with a network entity via the IWF. In an aspect, communication component 342 (e.g., in conjunction with processor(s) 312, memory 316, and / or transceiver 302) may be configured to establish a NAS connection with a network entity via the IWF. For example, communication component 342 may establish a NAS connection with a network entity via the IWF, as described in more detail above. Thus, UE 104, processor 312, communication component 342, or one of its subcomponents may define means for establishing a NAS connection with a network entity via the IWF. For example, the remote UE may send NAS signaling to the IWF IP address to establish a NAS connection with the network entity.

[0091] In some aspects, establishing a NAS connection may include performing 5GS registration and connection management with the 5GC over the UE-to-NW relay access.

[0092] In some aspects, establishing the NAS connection includes establishing an Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP)-5G session with the IWF using an EAP-5G protocol.

[0093] In some aspects, establishing the NAS connection can be further based on the Extensible Access Protocol for 5G (EAP-5G) protocol and the Internet Key Exchange (IKE) protocol.

[0094] In some aspects, establishing the NAS connection may include establishing an Internet Protocol Security (IPsec) tunnel with the IWF using IKE procedures over the relay UE access.

[0095] In some aspects, establishing the NAS connection may include establishing an EAP-5G session with the 5GC to support sending NAS messages encapsulated within EAP-5G packets.

[0096] In some aspects, establishing the NAS connection may further include transmitting PDU session management information associated with the PDU session to the network entity over the IPsec tunnel established with the N3IWF to establish the PDU session.

[0097] In some aspects, the transmit PDU session management information may include a transmit PDU session request type field to indicate that the PDU session is for transmitting data via relay UE access.

[0098] In some aspects, establishing the NAS connection may further include initiating an Internet Key Exchange (IKE) procedure for establishing an IPSec tunnel with the IWF, and initiating at least one NAS procedure over the IPSec tunnel when connected to a relay UE supporting the one or more relay service codes.

[0099] At block 406, method 400 may include communicating with a network entity via a relay UE and via an IWF. In one aspect, communication component 342 (including, for example, in conjunction with processor(s) 312, memory 316, and / or transceiver 302) may be configured to communicate with a network entity via a relay UE and via an IWF. Thus, UE 104, processor(s) 312, communication component 342, or one of its subcomponents may define means for communicating with a network entity via a relay UE and via an IWF. For example, in order to provide a remote UE with a NAS connection to a 5GC on a PC5 UE to NW relay path, and to provide end-to-end security for remote UE data, the remote UE may communicate with a network entity via an IWF via a radio component.

[0100] In some aspects, communicating data with the network entity may include communicating data for a PDU session with the network entity or with a different network entity over a sidelink interface and via a sub-IPSec tunnel to the IWF.

[0101] In some aspects, the method 400 may optionally include transmitting, via a radio interface, in a registration message, a capability indication indicating support for connection to a network entity via an IWF. In one aspect, the communication component 342 (including, for example, in conjunction with the processor 312, the memory 316, and / or the transceiver 302) may be configured to transmit, via a radio interface, in a registration message, a capability indication indicating support for connection to a network entity via an IWF. Thus, the UE 104, the processor(s) 312, the communication component 342, or one of its subcomponents may define means for transmitting, via a radio interface, in a registration message, a capability indication indicating support for connection to a network entity via an IWF. For example, a remote UE may transmit, via a radio component, a message indicating NAS connection capability via an IWF to a network entity via a relay UE.

[0102] In some aspects, the method 400 may optionally include: receiving provisioning information including at least one ProSe parameter from a network entity (i.e., an AMF) based on transmitting the capability indication. In an aspect, the communication component 342 (including, for example, in conjunction with the processor(s) 312, the memory 316, and / or the transceiver 302) may be configured to receive provisioning information including at least one ProSe parameter from the network entity based on transmitting the capability indication. Thus, the UE 104, the processor(s) 312, the communication component 342, or one of their subcomponents may define means for receiving provisioning information including at least one ProSe parameter from the network entity based on transmitting the capability indication. For example, the remote UE may be provisioned with policies / parameters for ProSe communication by the AMF via the ProSe parameters.

[0103] In some aspects, the method 400 may optionally include receiving one or more relay service codes for relay access via the N3IWF from a network entity via a relay UE. In one aspect, the communication component 342 (including, for example, in combination with the processor(s) 312, the memory 316, and / or the transceiver 302) may be configured to receive one or more relay service codes for relay access via the N3IWF from a network entity via a relay UE. Thus, the UE 104, the processor(s) 312, the communication component 342, or one of its subcomponents may define a device for receiving one or more relay service codes for relay access via the N3IWF from a network entity via a relay UE. For example, a remote UE may use a relay service code to identify connectivity services provided by a ProSe relay UE. The remote UE may participate in PC5 communications with the relay UE via a PC5 interface via the relay service code.

[0104] In some aspects, the network entity may correspond to a 5GC entity and the side link interface may correspond to a PC5 interface. In some aspects, the IWF may correspond to an N3IWF.

[0105] Figure 5 A flow chart illustrating an example of a method 500 for wirelessly communicating at a relay UE to obtain a NAS connection with a 5GC via an N3IWF. In one example, a UE 104 may use Figure 1 , 3 and 16 to perform the functions described in method 500. In addition, method 500 may be performed according to Fig.12 The architecture shown in FIG. 1 is implemented in accordance with the embodiment of the present invention, which involves relaying packet data sessions for UE to NW relay access via N3IWF.

[0106] At block 502, method 500 may include receiving at least one relay discovery parameter from a network entity. In one aspect, communication component 342 (e.g., in conjunction with processor(s) 312, memory 316, and / or transceiver 302) may be configured to receive at least one relay discovery parameter from a network entity. Thus, UE 104, processor(s) 312, communication component 342, or one of their subcomponents may define means for receiving at least one relay discovery parameter from a network entity. For example, a relay UE may receive a wireless signal corresponding to a discovery parameter at one or more antennas or antenna arrays, and the RF front end and / or transceiver demodulates and decodes the signal to obtain data or instructions for use by a processor or modem.

[0107] At box 504, method 500 may include: determining at least one parameter for establishing one or more PDU sessions toward the IWF when connected to the remote UE on the side link interface based on at least the at least one relay discovery parameter from the remote UE. In one aspect, communication component 342 (e.g., in conjunction with processor(s) 312, memory 316, and / or transceiver 302) may be configured to: determine at least one parameter for establishing one or more PDU sessions toward the IWF when connected to the remote UE on the side link interface based on at least the at least one relay discovery parameter from the remote UE. Thus, UE 104, processor 312, communication component 342, or one of its subcomponents may define a device for determining at least one parameter for establishing one or more PDU sessions toward the IWF when connected to the remote UE on the side link interface based on at least the at least one relay discovery parameter from the remote UE.

[0108] At box 506, method 500 may include establishing a single relay PDU session or multiple relay PDU sessions corresponding to the relay discovery parameters for the remote UE. In one aspect, the communication component 342 (e.g., in combination with the processor(s) 312, the memory 316, and / or the transceiver 302) may be configured to establish a single relay PDU session or multiple relay PDU sessions corresponding to the relay discovery parameters for the remote UE. Therefore, the UE 104, the processor(s) 312, the communication component 342, or one of its subcomponents may define a device for establishing a single relay PDU session or multiple relay PDU sessions corresponding to the relay discovery parameters for the remote UE. For example, upon receiving an indication of an established IPSec tunnel with the remote UE, the associated UE may form a PDU session for packet transmission with the network via the onboard radio component.

[0109] In some aspects, establishing a dual relay PDU session may correspond to two PDU sessions, which includes determining at least one packet filter for the PDU session to limit NAS and UP data passing through the IWF to a specific PDU session.

[0110] In some aspects, a single Relay PDU session may support communication of both NAS and UP data via the IWF.

[0111] In some aspects, the multiple relay PDU sessions may correspond to at least two PDU sessions, which may include: a first PDU session for relaying IKE / NAS and UP data of the remote UE via the N3IWF, and a second PDU session for relaying the UP data of the remote UE directly to the DN.

[0112] In some aspects, the plurality of relayed PDU sessions may correspond to the two PDU sessions, which include separate PDU sessions for relaying IKE / NAS and UP data for the remote UE via the IWF.

[0113] In some aspects, establishing a dual relay PDU session may correspond to two PDU sessions, which may include at least one of: forming a NAS and UP data PDU session of the remote UE via the IWF, or forming a UP data PDU session when an IPSec tunnel with the IWF is successfully established by the remote UE.

[0114] In some aspects, forming the UP data session may be further based on determining to transmit one or more NAS messages with IPSec tunnel mode over the NAS PDU session.

[0115] In some aspects, method 500 may include transmitting to a remote UE a plurality of IP addresses for a unicast PC5 link, one of the IP addresses being used to relay IKE / NAS and UP data of the remote UE via the N3IWF, and another IP address being used to relay the UP data of the remote UE directly to the DN. In one aspect, communication component 342 (e.g., in conjunction with processor(s) 312, memory 316, and / or transceiver 302) may be configured to transmit to a remote UE a plurality of IP addresses for a unicast PC5 link, one of the IP addresses being used to relay IKE / NAS and UP data of the remote UE via the N3IWF, and another IP address being used to relay the UP data of the remote UE directly to the DN. Thus, UE 104, processor(s) 312, communication component 342, or one of its subcomponents may define means for transmitting to a remote UE a plurality of IP addresses for a unicast PC5 link, one of the IP addresses being used to relay IKE / NAS and UP data of the remote UE via the N3IWF, and another IP address being used to relay the UP data of the remote UE directly to the DN. For example, the relay UE may transmit wireless signals corresponding to multiple IP addresses for a unicast PC5 link via one or more antennas or antenna arrays, and the RF front end and / or transceiver modulates and encodes the signal for use by the processor or modem.

[0116] In some aspects, method 500 may optionally include receiving a PC5 message indicating the successful establishment of an IPSec tunnel on a PC5 unicast link from a remote UE. On the one hand, communication component 342 (e.g., in conjunction with (all) processors 312, memory 316, and / or transceiver 302) may be configured to receive a PC5 message indicating the successful establishment of an IPSec tunnel on a PC5 unicast link from a remote UE. Therefore, UE 104, (all) processors 312, communication component 342, or one of its subcomponents may define a device for receiving a PC5 message indicating the successful establishment of an IPSec tunnel on a PC5 unicast link from a remote UE. For example, a relay UE may receive a wireless signal corresponding to a PC5 message at one or more antennas or antenna arrays, and an RF front end and / or transceiver may demodulate and decode the signal to obtain data or instructions for use by a processor or modem.

[0117] In some aspects, the method 500 may optionally include transmitting a capability indication in a registration message via a radio interface indicating support for connection to a network entity via an IWF. In one aspect, the communication component 342 (including, for example, in conjunction with the processor(s) 312, the memory 316, and / or the transceiver 302) may be configured to transmit a capability indication in a registration message via a radio interface indicating support for connection to a network entity via an IWF. Thus, the UE 104, the processor(s) 312, the communication component 342, or one of its subcomponents may define a device for transmitting a capability indication in a registration message via a radio interface indicating support for connection to a network entity via an IWF. For example, the relay UE may transmit a wireless signal corresponding to the capability indication via one or more antennas or antenna arrays, and the RF front end and / or transceiver modulates and encodes the signal for use by the processor or modem.

[0118] In some aspects, the method 500 may optionally include: receiving, by the AMF, provisioning information including at least one ProSe parameter based on transmitting the capability indication. In one aspect, the communication component 342 (e.g., in combination with the processor(s) 312, the memory 316, and / or the transceiver 302) may be configured to receive, by the AMF, provisioning information including at least one ProSe parameter based on transmitting the capability indication. Thus, the UE 104, the processor(s) 312, the communication component 342, or one of their subcomponents may define means for receiving, by the AMF, provisioning information including at least one ProSe parameter based on transmitting the capability indication. For example, the relay UE may receive a wireless signal corresponding to the provisioning information at one or more antennas or antenna arrays, and the RF front end and / or transceiver demodulates and decodes the signal to obtain data or instructions for use by the processor or modem.

[0119] In some aspects, the method 500 may optionally include receiving one or more relay service codes for relay access via the IWF from a network entity. In one aspect, the communication component 342 (e.g., in conjunction with the processor(s) 312, the memory 316, and / or the transceiver 302) may be configured to receive one or more relay service codes for relay access via the IWF from a network entity. Thus, the UE 104, the processor(s) 312, the communication component 342, or one of its subcomponents may define a device for receiving one or more relay service codes for relay access via the IWF from a network entity. For example, a relay UE may receive a wireless signal corresponding to the relay service code at one or more antennas or antenna arrays, and the RF front end and / or transceiver demodulates and decodes the signal to obtain data or instructions for use by the processor or modem.

[0120] In some aspects, the network entity may correspond to a 5GC entity and the side link interface may correspond to a PC5 interface. In some aspects, the IWF may correspond to an N3IWF.

[0121] Figure 6 A flowchart illustrating an example of a method 600 for wireless communication for ATSSS at a remote UE. In one example, UE 104 may use Figure 1 , 3 One or more components described in and 16 may perform the functions described in method 600. In addition, method 600 may be performed according to ASSSS for UE to NW relay. Fig.13 , 14 and the architecture shown in 15, and Figure 17-23 The features shown and described in the specification are implemented.

[0122] At block 602, method 600 may determine that a service continuity condition on a radio interface or a side link interface is satisfied when connected to a network entity via a relay UE. In one aspect, communication component 342 (e.g., in conjunction with processor(s) 312, memory 316, and / or transceiver 302) may be configured to determine that a service continuity condition on a radio interface or a side link interface is satisfied when connected to a network entity via a relay UE. Thus, UE 104, processor(s) 312, communication component 342, or one of its subcomponents may define a device for determining that a service continuity condition on a radio interface or a side link interface is satisfied when connected to a network entity via a relay UE. For example, a processor of a remote UE may identify service continuity on a preferred side link based on an operating parameter such as an active data connection.

[0123] At block 604, the method 600 may establish a MA-PDU session via at least one of a radio interface or an IWF. In one aspect, the communication component 342 (e.g., in conjunction with the processor(s) 312, the memory 316, and / or the transceiver 302) may be configured to establish a MA-PDU session via at least one of a radio interface or an IWF. Thus, the UE 104, the processor(s) 312, the communication component 342, or one of their subcomponents may define means for establishing a MA-PDU session via at least one of a radio interface or an IWF. For example, the remote UE may use one or more antennas or antenna arrays, and an RF front end and / or a transceiver to obtain data or instructions for use by a processor or modem in establishing a MA-PDU session.

[0124] At block 606, the method 600 may communicate data with a network entity via a relay UE via a radio interface or an IWF. In one aspect, the communication component 342 (e.g., in conjunction with the processor(s) 312, the memory 316, and / or the transceiver 302) may be configured to communicate data with a network entity via a relay UE via a radio interface or an IWF. Thus, the UE 104, the processor(s) 312, the communication component 342, or one of its subcomponents may define a means for communicating data with a network entity via a relay UE via a radio interface or an IWF. For example, the relay UE may communicate a wireless signal via one or more antennas or antenna arrays, and the RF front end and / or transceiver demodulates and decodes the signal to obtain data or instructions for use by a processor or modem.

[0125] In some aspects, establishing the MA-PDU session may be further based on an Access Traffic Steering, Switching, and Splitting Lower Layer (ATSSS-LL) scheme or a Multipath Transmission Control Protocol (MPTCP) scheme.

[0126] In some aspects, the method 600 may optionally include obtaining an IP address and one or more ATSSS rules for MA-PDU session establishment. In one aspect, the communication component 342 (e.g., in conjunction with the processor(s) 312, the memory 316, and / or the transceiver 302) may be configured to obtain an IP address and one or more ATSSS rules for MA-PDU session establishment. Therefore, the UE 104, the processor(s) 312, the communication component 342, or one of its subcomponents may define a device for obtaining an IP address and one or more ATSSS rules for MA-PDU session establishment. For example, a relay UE may receive a wireless signal corresponding to an IP address and an ATSSS rule via one or more antennas or antenna arrays, and the RF front end and / or transceiver demodulates and decodes the signal to obtain data or instructions for use by a processor or modem. In some aspects, the IWF may correspond to the N3IWF.

[0127] Figure 7 is a conceptual diagram of a device-to-device (D2D) communication system 700. For example, a first UE (e.g., UE1) may be a remote UE, and a second UE (e.g., UE2) and a third UE (e.g., UE3) may be relay UEs. In such a system 700, in some cases, a Uu link may be established between the gNB and UE2 and UE3 and UE1. The link between UE1 and UE2 and UE3 may be PC5. Accordingly, data from the gNB may be relayed to UE1 via one or both of UE2 and UE3 on a downlink via Uu and PC5 interfaces, or directly to UE1 via Uu. Additionally, data from UE1 may be transmitted to the gNB via Uu directly or via one or more of UE2 and UE3 on an uplink. Reference is made herein to Figure 7 The described features can be used in method 400 ( Figure 4 ) and 500( Figure 5 ) is implemented or used in

[0128] Figure 8is a block diagram of a non-roaming architecture of a 5GC system 800 with UE-to-NW relay access. In a non-roaming architecture, the 5GS can extend NAS registration and connection management to untrusted non-3GPP access using the N3IWF for the UE-to-NW relay path. That is, the remote UE can reach the N3IWF on the UE-to-NW relay access path. The remote UE can support independent 5GS registration and connection management procedures on Uu, as well as UE-to-NW relay with 5GC on PC5. Therefore, the 5GC can authorize and authenticate remote UE operations on the UE-to-NW relay path. In addition, the remote UE can discover the N3IWF and establish a NAS connection with the network entity using an IPsec security association with the N3IWF. Additionally, the relay UE can establish a relay PDU session (e.g., shared across other remote UEs) and relay both NAS and UP traffic to the N3IWF. References herein Figure 8 The described features can be used in method 400 ( Figure 4 ) and 500( Figure 5 ) is implemented or used in

[0129] Fig. 9 It is a conceptual diagram of a control plane protocol stack 900 between a remote UE and an IWF for UE to NW relay access. Specifically, the remote UE and the network can support 5GS registration and connection management from the remote UE to the network on UE to NW relay access. The remote UE can establish a PC5 connection with the UE to NW relay and obtain an IP address. Then, the remote UE can establish an IPsec tunnel with the N3IWF on the PC5 relay path (e.g., IKE procedure). Similar to untrusted non-3GPP access, subsequent NAS messages between the UE and the N3IWF can be exchanged via signaling IPsec SA on the Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol (TCP / IP) and on the EAP-5G session. In addition, 5GC authentication and authorization of the remote UE can be supported similarly to the radio interface (e.g., Uu). In some implementations, the remote UE can support NAS, EAP-5G, IKEv2 protocols to support 5GS registration and connection management with 5GC on UE to NW relay access. Additionally, in some implementations, the remote UE can discover the N3IWF IP address and support IPsec tunnel establishment with the N3IWF using IKE procedures over UE to NW relay access. Fig. 9 The described features can be used in method 400 ( Figure 4 ) and 500( Figure 5 ) is implemented or used in

[0130] Fig.101 is a conceptual diagram of a user plane protocol stack 1000 between a remote UE and an IWF for UE to NW relay access. The relay UE may carry the remote UE user plane and NAS traffic to the N3IWF on the relay PDU session(s). The N3IWF may then deliver the data to the user plane function (UPF). There may be multiple implementations to determine which relay PDU session(s) the relay UE uses for remote UE NAS and UP traffic relay, as described herein with respect to Fig.11 Further described herein. Fig.10 The described features can be used in method 400 ( Figure 4 ) and 500( Figure 5 ) is implemented in or used by .

[0131] In some implementations, the remote UE may support PDU session establishment / modification / release procedures for remote UE traffic with the 5GC by conveying PDU session management procedures over the IPsec tunnel established with the N3IWF. In addition, the remote UE may indicate in the PDU session establishment / modification message by means of a special PDU request type field that the PDU session is used to send traffic via UE to NW relay access. Additionally, the remote UE may transmit / receive UP traffic of the PDU session(s) established for remote UE traffic over the PC5 UE to NW relay path via the sub-IPSec tunnel to the N3IWF.

[0132] Fig.11 1 is a flow chart of a registration scheme 1100 for UE to NW relay access. In step 1, 5GS registration and / or PDU session connectivity may occur between the relay UE and UPF. As part of step 1, the remote UE and UPF may also perform 5GS registration and / or PDU session connectivity. In step 2, the relay UE and the remote UE may be provisioned with relay discovery parameters. In step 3, the remote UE may perform a UE to NW relay discovery procedure. In step 4, the remote UE may establish a connection for a one-to-one PC5 communication session. In step 5, the remote UE may establish an IPsec tunnel with the N3IWF using the IKE procedure. References herein Fig.11 The described features can be used in method 400 ( Figure 4 ) and 500( Figure 5 ) is implemented in or used by .

[0133] When the remote UE and the relay UE are within the coverage of the gNB, they may perform Uu registration and obtain N3IWF policy information. In some implementations, the remote UE and the relay UE may indicate in the Uu registration message the capability to support connecting to the 5GC via N3IWF (i.e., support IKE procedures for establishing an IPSec tunnel with the N3IWF) (e.g., as part of step 1). In some implementations, during Uu registration, the relay UE and the remote UE may be provisioned with policies / parameters for ProSe communication (e.g., including relay operation) by the AMF. The ProSe policy for relay operation may indicate to the relay UE whether the network supports UE-to-NW relay path access to the 5GC via the N3IWF and whether the relay UE is allowed to support access to the 5GC via the N3IWF. In addition, even without Uu registration, the remote UE may operate when it is out of coverage of the gNB and may be pre-configured with N3IWF policy information.

[0134] The LTE ProSe UE to NW relay discovery approach may be based on the use of relay service codes to identify connectivity services provided by ProSe relay UEs. Remote UEs interested in UE to NW relays for connectivity services may discover relay UEs by monitoring only the corresponding relay service codes. Relay UEs may establish dedicated PDN connections for each relay service on Uu to provide support for UE to network relay connectivity. Relay UEs may support multiple remote UEs looking for connectivity services (e.g., relay service codes) on the same packet data network (PDN) connection.

[0135] In addition, the relay UE can establish a dedicated PDU session for each relay service code during the establishment of the PC5 unicast link with the remote UE. Each of these relay PDU sessions can be targeted at different DNs. In the case where the network has a N3IWF deployed for UE-to-NW relay access, the network may prefer to route the remote UE UP traffic for a specific relay service code via the N3IWF only after the network authorizes the remote UE on the NAS, rather than before. This can provide end-to-end security for the remote UE UP traffic via an IPSec tunnel. Moreover, there may be some remote UEs that do not support or are not authorized to make N3IWF connections, or they do not need IPsec tunnels for UP traffic for certain services running on the remote UE. For such services / remote UEs, the relay can route the traffic directly to the DN and not via the N3IWF.

[0136] In order to support such differentiation for different services and different remote UEs, the network and the UE may use several implementations to provision remote UEs supporting N3IWF, and relay UEs, which may be connected to the N3IWF using these relay service codes. In one implementation, some relay service codes may be reserved (e.g., within a certain value range) for operation via N3IWF. In another implementation, within each relay service code (e.g., which may have a length of 24 bits), the first few bits (e.g., 2 or 3 bits) may be reserved to indicate which UE to NW relay access is supported. That is, for '00' - conventional UE to NW relay access may be implemented for this relay service code; '01' - UE to NW relay access via N3IWF; 10 - UE to NW relay access via N3IWF and ATSSS may be supported; and 11 - UE to NW relay access with ATSSS only is supported. In yet another implementation, each relay service code used to support N3 IWF access may be indicated via a special field or flag value received during provisioning of relay parameters by the ProSe function on PC3 or during discovery between the relay UE and the remote UE on PC5.

[0137] Accordingly, in some aspects, the 5GC network can use the above implementation to indicate to the remote UE and the relay UE that a specific relay service code can be allowed for UE-to-NW relay access via N3IWF. In a further aspect, when connected to a relay supporting the N3IWF relay service code, the remote UE can initiate an IKE procedure for IPSec tunnel establishment with the N3IWF, as well as a NAS procedure on the IPSec tunnel.

[0138] Fig.12 1200 is a block diagram of a relay PDU session for UE to NW access via IWF. Specifically, the relay UE may establish a dedicated PDN connection for each relay service on the Uu interface to provide support for UE to NW relay connectivity. The relay UE may support multiple remote UEs seeking connectivity services (e.g., relay service codes) on the same PDN connection. However, in NR ProSe with UE to NW relay access via N3IWF, the network may prefer to have two different PDU sessions, one for NAS traffic from the remote UE and the other for UP traffic from the remote UE via N3IWF. Therefore, there may be at least two implementations of the relay PDU session establishment as described herein. Reference is made herein to Fig.12 The described features can be used in method 400 ( Figure 4 ) and 500( Figure 5 ) is implemented in or used by .

[0139] In a first implementation, the relay UE may support one relay PDU session for both NAS and UP traffic. Specifically, UP traffic of a remote UE without access to the N3IWF may be supported via a conventional relay PDU session with the traffic being sent directly to the DN. In addition, the remote UE may use an IPSec tunnel established with the N3IWF and NAS established on the PC5 relay path, and another relay PDU session that accesses the N3IWF. Both NAS and UP traffic of the remote UE may be communicated using the above-mentioned PDU session. In some aspects, restrictions on routing NAS and UP traffic via the N3IWF may be imposed via a packet filter at the relay UE or a relay UE PDU session UPF for an established PDU session.

[0140] In a second implementation, the relay UE may support two PDU sessions. The first PDU session may carry only NAS / IKE traffic, and the second PDU session may carry remote UE UP traffic. The relay UE may assign two IP addresses to the remote UE for the unicast PC5 link, one to be used for UP traffic via the N3IWF, and the other directly for UP traffic to the DN. The relay UE may not allow the remote UE to send any UP traffic through the NAS relay PDU session, which is applied to the PDU session via a packet filter. In addition, when the remote UE successfully establishes an IPSec tunnel with the N3IWF, the relay UE may initiate the establishment of a PDU session for UP traffic. The successful establishment of the IPSec tunnel can be indicated to the relay UE by the remote UE using a PC5 message sent on the PC5 unicast link established between the relay UE and the remote UE. Otherwise, the relay UE can establish a UP PDU session after seeing that a NAS message with IPSec tunnel mode is being sent on the NAS PDU session.

[0141] Accordingly, in some aspects, in addition to the PDU session for relaying the remote UE UP traffic directly to the DN without passing through the N3IWF, the relay UE can also establish a PDU session for relaying the remote UE IKE / NAS and UP traffic via the N3IWF. In addition, the relay UE establishes a PDU session that can be separated for relaying the remote UE IKE / NAS and UP traffic via the N3IWF. A packet filter for the relay UE PDU session can be established to limit the NAS and UP traffic passing through the N3IWF to (all) specific PDU sessions. The relay UE can assign two IP addresses to the remote UE for the unicast PC5 link, one to be used for NAS traffic and the other for UP traffic. The relay UE can initiate the establishment of a PDU session for UP traffic and the NAS PDU session establishment when the remote UE successfully establishes an IPSec tunnel with the N3IWF, or only establishes an UP PDU session. The relay UE can establish a UP PDU session after receiving a NAS message with an IPSec tunnel mode being sent on the NAS PDU session. The remote UE may indicate to the relay UE that the IPSec tunnel establishment is successful using a PC5 message sent over a PC5 unicast link established between the relay UE and the remote UE.

[0142] Fig.13 An example non-roaming architecture 1300 is illustrated for ASSSS support over the radio interface and UE to NW relay access via IWF. Specifically, the network architecture is shown to support ASSSS across Uu and UE to NW relay access via N3IWF to provide service continuity during path switching. In some aspects, the control plane and user plane stacks can be connected to Fig. 9 and Fig.10 The same stack as shown in Remote UE Access via N3IWF. Fig.13 The described features can be used in method 600 ( Figure 6 ) is implemented in or used by .

[0143] Fig.14 1400 is a flow chart for remote UE PDU session establishment via a radio interface. At the remote UE, the application layer may indicate a service continuity request and UE to NE relay path switch over Uu. In step 1, the remote UE and the relay UE may initiate 5GS registration and / or PDU session connectivity. In step 2, the remote UE may establish a MA PDU session and ASSS rules provisioned to the UE. At the remote UE, an IP address may be obtained during the MA PDU session establishment and ASSS rules may be provisioned to the UE by the SMF. Reference is made herein to Fig.14 The described features can be used in method 600 ( Figure 6 ) is implemented in or used by .

[0144] Fig.15 1500 is a flowchart for remote UE PDU session establishment on UE to NW relay access via IWF. At the remote UE, the application layer may indicate a service continuity request on Uu and a UE to NE relay path switch. In step 1, the remote UE and the relay UE may initiate 5GS registration and / or PDU session connectivity. In step 2, the remote UE may establish a PC5 link with the relay UE. In step 3, the remote UE may register with the 5GC on the relay access and establish an IPsec tunnel with the N3IWF. In step 4, the remote UE may establish a MA PDU session and ASSS rules provided to the UE. At the remote UE, an IP address may be obtained during the MA PDU session establishment and ASSS rules may be provisioned. References herein Fig.15 The described features can be used in method 600 ( Figure 6 ) is implemented in or used by .

[0145] In some implementations, the remote UE may have a MA PDU session setup on Uu. The remote UE may setup a MA PDU session on the UE to NW relay path via N3IWF. In addition, the existing NAS on N3IWF and ATSSS may be used for MA PDU session setup.

[0146] In some implementations, a remote UE within the coverage of a gNB and registered on the 5GS, or a remote UE registered with the 5GC on UE-to-NW relay access via N3IWF, may establish (all) MA PDU sessions to obtain service continuity for switching between Uu and UE-to-NW relay PC5 paths. In addition, the remote UE may support indication of MA PDU sessions, ASSSS-LL or MPTCP capabilities similar to ATSSS characteristics to the network. The remote UE may obtain an IP address and ATSSS rules for MAPDU session establishment.

[0147] Fig.16 1 is a block diagram of a MIMO communication system 1600, which includes a base station 102 (which may act as an IAB node or a parent node) and a UE 104. The MIMO communication system 1600 may be illustrated with reference to Figure 1 The base station 102 may be a base station 102. Figure 1Examples of various aspects of base station 102 are described. Base station 102 may be equipped with antennas 934 and 935, and UE 104 may be equipped with antennas 952 and 953. In MIMO communication system 900, base station 102 may be able to send data on multiple communication links simultaneously. Each communication link may be referred to as a "layer", and the "rank" of a communication link may indicate the number of layers used for communication. For example, in a 2x2 MIMO communication system in which base station 102 transmits two "layers", the rank of the communication link between base station 102 and UE 104 is 2.

[0148] At the base station 102, a transmit (Tx) processor 920 may receive data from a data source. The transmit processor 920 may process the data. The transmit processor 920 may also generate a control symbol or a reference symbol. The transmit MIMO processor 930 may perform spatial processing (e.g., precoding) on ​​data symbols, control symbols, or reference symbols, where applicable, and may provide an output symbol stream to transmit modulators / demodulators 932 and 933. Each modulator / demodulator 932 to 933 may process a respective output symbol stream (e.g., for OFDM, etc.) to obtain an output sample stream. Each modulator / demodulator 932 to 933 may further process (e.g., convert to analog, amplify, filter, and up-convert) the output sample stream to obtain a DL signal. In one example, the DL signals from modulators / demodulators 932 and 933 may be transmitted via antennas 934 and 935, respectively.

[0149] UE 104 may be a reference Figure 1 and Figure 2 Examples of various aspects of the UE 104 described. At the UE 104, the UE antennas 952 and 953 can receive DL signals from the base station 102 and can provide the received signals to the modulators / demodulators 954 and 955, respectively. Each modulator / demodulator 954 to 955 can condition (e.g., filter, amplify, downconvert, and digitize) the respective received signals to obtain input samples. Each modulator / demodulator 954 to 955 can further process the input samples (e.g., for OFDM, etc.) to obtain received symbols. The MIMO detector 956 can obtain the received symbols from the modulator / demodulators 954 and 955, perform MIMO detection on the received symbols where applicable, and provide detected symbols. The receive (Rx) processor 958 can process (e.g., demodulate, deinterleave, and decode) the detected symbols, provide decoded data for the UE 104 to the data output, and provide decoded control information to the processor 980 or the memory 982.

[0150] Processor 980 may, in some cases, execute stored instructions to instantiate communication component 242 (eg, see Figure 1 and 2 ).

[0151] On the uplink (UL), at the UE 104, a transmit processor 964 may receive and process data from a data source. The transmit processor 964 may also generate reference symbols for a reference signal. The symbols from the transmit processor 964 may be precoded by a transmit MIMO processor 966, if applicable, further processed by modulators / demodulators 954 and 955 (e.g., for SC-FDMA, etc.), and transmitted to the base station 102 according to the communication parameters received from the base station 102. At the base station 102, the UL signal from the UE 104 may be received by antennas 934 and 935, processed by modulators / demodulators 932 and 933, detected by a MIMO detector 936, if applicable, and further processed by a receive processor 938. The receive processor 938 may provide decoded data to a data output and to the processor 940 or memory 942.

[0152] The components of the UE 104 may be implemented individually or collectively using one or more ASICs adapted to perform some or all applicable functions in hardware. Each of the modules mentioned may be a device for performing one or more functions related to the operation of the MIMO communication system 900. Similarly, the components of the base station 102 may be implemented individually or collectively using one or more ASICs adapted to perform some or all applicable functions in hardware. Each of the components mentioned may be a device for performing one or more functions related to the operation of the MIMO communication system 900.

[0153] refer to Fig.17 , an example architecture 1700 for a system employing ATSSS. Specifically, the remote UE and the user plane function (UPF) may support ASSSS functionality to direct, switch, and split traffic across UE to NW relays on Uu access and PC5 access based on ASSSS rules. In addition, ATSSS rules define how to handle traffic across access paths and may be provisioned to the UE and UPF by the SMF.

[0154] In some implementations, the remote UE may be a MA PDU session endpoint. IP session continuity may be performed to this node during path switching. The remote UE may see two access paths (i.e., UE to NW relay over Uu and PC5).

[0155] In some implementations, the Session Management Function (SMF) supports adding two tunnels for a single PDU connection (ie, one on Uu and another for UE to NW relay access).

[0156] In some implementations, both ATSSS Low Layer (LL) and Multipath Transport Control Protocol (MPTCP) bootstrapping functionality may be possible bootstrapping options. However, MPTCP may have several drawbacks. However, the above may not apply to Ethernet traffic. In addition, non-MPTCP traffic may be sent on only one access (i.e., only Active-Standby is supported). In addition, such implementations may lose the benefits of other bootstrapping modes (i.e., minimum delay, load balancing, and priority-based).

[0157] refer to Fig.18 , a user plane protocol stack 1800 is shown for ATSSS supporting UE to NW relay. In some implementations, remote UE uplink traffic may be relayed via layer 3 (L3) UE to NW relay on PC5. The relay UE may maintain a PDU session per UE for each relay service code. In some implementations, the remote UE may not support NAS on the UE to NW relay path. The NW may be aware of the remote UE via remote UE reports.

[0158] refer to Fig.19 , showing the initial MA PDU session setup on Uu 1900. For example, a remote UE (without UE-to-NW relay path setup, within the coverage of the gNB and registered on the 5GS) can establish (all) MA PDU sessions participating in session continuity on Uu for a specific relay service code. In addition, the MA PDU session, ATSSS-LL or MPTCP capability indication can be similar to the ASSSS feature. Additionally, the remote UE can obtain the IP address and ASSSS rules during this process.

[0159] refer to Fig. 20, shows a multi-access (MA) PDU session establishment over a PC5 relay path 2000 (e.g., the same AMF as Uu). For example, the remote UE may have a MA PDU session established over Uu. In addition, the remote UE may indicate the need to continue the MA PDU session over the UE to NW relay path by providing additional information in step 2. In some implementations, MA PDU sessions on the UE to NW relay path are supported by several adjustments (e.g., assuming that the AMF corresponds to the Uu path): the relay PDU session for each remote UE is split to reach the same SMF / UPF as the remote UE PDU session (step 4), the AMF may select the same SMF based on the remote UE PDU session ID to support the relay UE PDU session (step 4), the SMF may maintain the same IP address (i.e., for the remote UE) for the PDU session, the SMF may coordinate with the UPF to establish an N3 tunnel towards the relay UE RAN for the MA PDU session corresponding to the remote UE, the SMF / UPF updates the ATSSS rules to map the remote UE traffic to two PDU sessions (step 6): a Uu remote UE MA PDU session or a relay UE PDU session corresponding to the remote UE.

[0160] In some aspects, the relay UE may include an ATSSS container with updates to the remote UE. In addition, since the MA PDU session may have been established on the Uu interface, the IP address assignment to the remote UE on PC5 may not be performed. In one example, the remote UE may first establish a UE-NW relay path and then move into the coverage of the gNB to establish the MA PDU session and provide the relay PDU with a session identifier (ID) and relay UE ID for assisting the AMF / SMF.

[0161] refer to Fig.21 , shows the MA PDU session establishment on the PC5 relay path 2100 (e.g., an AMF different from Uu). In some implementations, the relay UE AMF is different from the remote UE AMF. In some implementations, the relay UE AMF identifies the remote UE AMF using the remote UE 5G Globally Unique Temporary Identifier (GUTI) received in the MA PDU session establishment request. In some implementations, the relay UE AMF forwards the remote UE MA PDU session establishment request to the remote UE AMF (step 4b). In some implementations, the remote UE AMF processes the PDU session establishment request upon receipt from the remote UE and forwards the request to the same SMF as the remote UE SMF.

[0162] refer to Fig. 22, showing the initial MA PDU session setup on PC5 relay path 2200. The remote UE may not have a MA PDU session setup on Uu. The remote UE may initiate a MA PDU session setup on PC5 without indicating any remote UE PDU session ID, and indicate a new MA PDU session. The relay UE may indicate the MA PDU session ID and relay UE5G-GUTI to the remote UE (step 8), and support IP address allocation for the MA PDU session on PC5.

[0163] refer to Fig.23 , showing the MA PDU session establishment on Uu 2300 (i.e., a different AMF from the relay UE). In some implementations, the remote UE may include information about the MA PDU session established on the PC5 relay path in the Uu request, including the MA PDU session ID and the relay UE ID in the Uu PDU session establishment request message. The remote UE AMF may identify the relay UE AMF using the relay UE 5G-GUTI received in the MA PDU session establishment request. The remote UE AMF may forward the remote UE MA PDU session establishment request to the relay UE AMF (step 2). The relay UE AMF may process the PDU session establishment request and forward the request to the same SMF.

[0164] In with Fig.21 In implementations related to step 4b of , in the case where there is no tunneled NAS messaging between the remote UE and the NW, but instead the relay UE sends the NAS message on behalf of the remote UE, there may be trust issues at the AMF. When the NAS message is not tunneled, the relay UE may request an MA PDU session from the remote UE. In the case of Uu loss and the remote UE has only a PC5 relay path, the network may not modify the PDU session information for the MA PDU session at the remote UE in the absence of any NAS support on the PC5 relay path at the remote UE.

[0165] To address the above issues, the remote UE may support NAS over the PC5 relay path. NAS messages from the remote UE may be tunneled in the relay UE NAS messages (i.e., NAS uses a special Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) PDU type over the PC5 over the NAS tunnel) without any IPSec tunnel establishment as in the N3 IWF solution. MA PDU session management NAS messages may be generated by the remote UE. However, the network may establish an N3 tunnel toward the gNB corresponding to the relay UE. The relay UE may continue to support aspects similar to those described herein for ATSSS for UE to NW relay ( Figure 17-23 ) for multiple PDU sessions for each UE.

[0166] Some additional examples

[0167] Aspects described herein may also include one or more of the following implementation examples described in the following numbered clauses.

[0168] 1. A method of wireless communication at a remote user equipment (UE), comprising:

[0169] Discovering the Interworking Function (IWF) when connected to a relay UE on a sidelink interface;

[0170] Establishing a non-access stratum (NAS) connection with a network entity via the IWF; and

[0171] The UE communicates with the network entity via the relay and via the IWF.

[0172] 2. A method as in clause 1, wherein establishing a NAS connection includes performing 5GS registration and connection management with a 5G core (5GC) over a UE to network (NW) relay access.

[0173] 3. A method as in any preceding clause, wherein establishing the NAS connection comprises establishing an Internet Protocol Security (IPsec) tunnel with the IWF using an Internet Key Exchange (IKE) protocol over the relay UE access.

[0174] 4. A method as in any preceding clause, wherein establishing the NAS connection further comprises transmitting packet data unit (PDU) session management information associated with a PDU session to a network entity over an IPsec tunnel established with the N3IWF to establish the PDU session.

[0175] 5. A method as in any preceding clause, wherein transmitting the PDU session management information comprises transmitting a PDU session request type field to indicate that the PDU session is for transmitting data via a relay UE access.

[0176] 6. A method as in any preceding clause, wherein communicating data with the network entity comprises communicating data for the PDU session with the network entity or a different network entity over a sidelink interface and via an IPSec tunnel to the IWF.

[0177] 7. A method as in any preceding clause, wherein establishing the NAS connection comprises using an Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP)-5G protocol to establish an EAP-5G session with the IWF.

[0178] 8. A method as in any preceding clause, further comprising

[0179] transmitting, in a registration message via a radio interface, a capability indication indicating support for connection to a network entity via the IWF; and

[0180] Based at least on the transmission capability indication, provisioning information including at least one ProSe parameter is received from a network entity.

[0181] 9. A method as in any preceding clause, further comprising: receiving, via the relay UE, from a network entity, one or more relay service codes for relay access via the IWF.

[0182] 10. A method as in any preceding clause, wherein each of the one or more relay service codes comprises a reserved bit for indicating a type of relay access supported, or wherein the one or more relay service codes comprises a flag indicating support for IWF access.

[0183] 11. A method as in any preceding clause, wherein the network entity corresponds to a 5G core (5GC) entity and the side link interface corresponds to a PC5 interface, and wherein the IWF corresponds to a non-3GPP interworking function (N3IWF).

[0184] 12. A wireless communication method at a relay user equipment (UE), comprising:

[0185] receiving at least one relay discovery parameter from a network entity;

[0186] determining, based at least on the at least one relay discovery parameter from the remote UE, at least one parameter for establishing one or more packet data unit (PDU) sessions toward an interworking function (IWF) while connected to the remote UE on the sidelink interface; and

[0187] A single relay PDU session or multiple relay PDU sessions corresponding to the relay discovery parameters are established for the remote UE.

[0188] 13. The method of clause 12, wherein a single relay PDU session supports communication of both non-access stratum (NAS) and user plane (UP) data via the IWF.

[0189] 14. A method as in any of the preceding clauses, wherein

[0190] The plurality of relay PDU sessions corresponding to at least two PDU sessions include:

[0191] A first PDU session for relaying Internet Key Exchange (IKE) / Non-Access Stratum (NAS) and User Plane (UP) data of a remote UE via a non-3GPP IWF (N3IWF); and

[0192] A second PDU session is used to relay the UP data of the remote UE directly to the data network (DN).

[0193] 15. A method as in any preceding clause, wherein the plurality of relayed PDU sessions corresponding to the two PDU sessions include separate PDU sessions for relaying Internet Key Exchange (IKE) / Non-Access Stratum (NAS) and User Plane (UP) data of a remote UE via an IWF.

[0194] 16. A method as in any preceding clause, wherein establishing a single relay PDU session or multiple relay PDU sessions comprises determining at least one packet filter for a PDU session to restrict non-access stratum (NAS) and user plane (UP) data passing through the IWF to a specific PDU session.

[0195] 17. A method as in any preceding clause, further comprising: transmitting multiple Internet Protocol (IP) addresses for a unicast PC5 link to a remote UE, wherein one of the IP addresses is used for user plane (UP) traffic via the IWF and another IP address is used for UP traffic sent directly to the DN.

[0196] 18. A method as in any preceding clause, wherein establishing a single relay PDU session or multiple relay PDU sessions comprises at least one of:

[0197] Forming Non-Access Stratum (NAS) and User Plane (UP) data sessions to remote UEs via the IWF, or

[0198] A UP data session is formed when an Internet Protocol Security (IPSec) tunnel with the IWF is successfully established by the remote UE.

[0199] 19. The method of any preceding clause, wherein forming the UP data session is further based on determining to transmit one or more NAS messages with IPSec tunnel mode over the NAS PDU session.

[0200] 20. The method of any preceding clause, further comprising: receiving a PC5 message from a remote UE over the PC5 unicast link, the PC5 message indicating successful establishment of an Internet Protocol Security (IPSec) tunnel.

[0201] 21. A method as in any of the preceding clauses, further comprising

[0202] transmitting, in a registration message via a radio interface, a capability indication indicating support for connection to a network entity via the IWF; and

[0203] Based on transmitting the capability indication, provisioning information including at least one ProSe parameter is received by an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF).

[0204] 22. The method of any preceding clause, further comprising: receiving from a network entity one or more relay service codes for relay access via the IWF.

[0205] 23. A method as in any preceding clause, wherein the network entity corresponds to a 5G core (5GC) entity and the side link interface corresponds to a PC5 interface, and wherein the IWF corresponds to a non-3GPP interworking function (N3IWF).

[0206] 24. An apparatus corresponding to a remote UE for wireless communication, comprising:

[0207] Transceiver;

[0208] a memory configured to store instructions; and

[0209] at least one processor communicatively coupled to the transceiver and the memory, wherein the at least one processor is configured to:

[0210] Discovering the Interworking Function (IWF) when connected to a relay UE on a sidelink interface;

[0211] Establishing a non-access stratum (NAS) connection with a network entity via the IWF; and

[0212] The UE communicates with the network entity via the relay and via the IWF.

[0213] 25. An apparatus as in clause 24, wherein to establish a NAS connection, the at least one processor is configured to perform 5GS registration and connection management with a 5G Core (5GC) over a UE to Network (NW) relay access.

[0214] 26. An apparatus as in any preceding clause, wherein the at least one processor is configured to:

[0215] transmitting, in a registration message via a radio interface, a capability indication indicating support for connection to a network entity via the IWF; and

[0216] Based at least on the transmission capability indication, provisioning information including at least one ProSe parameter is received from a network entity.

[0217] 27. The apparatus of any preceding clause, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: receive, via the relay UE, from a network entity one or more relay service codes for relay access via the IWF.

[0218] 28. An apparatus corresponding to a relay UE for wireless communication, comprising:

[0219] Transceiver;

[0220] a memory configured to store instructions; and

[0221] at least one processor communicatively coupled to the transceiver and the memory, wherein the at least one processor is configured to:

[0222] receiving at least one relay discovery parameter from a network entity;

[0223] determining, based at least on the at least one relay discovery parameter from the remote UE, at least one parameter for establishing one or more PDU sessions toward an interworking function (IWF) while connected to the remote UE on the sidelink interface; and

[0224] A single relay PDU session or multiple relay PDU sessions corresponding to the relay discovery parameters are established for the remote UE.

[0225] 29. The apparatus of clause 28, wherein a single relay PDU session supports communication of both non-access stratum (NAS) and user plane (UP) data via the IWF.

[0226] 30. The apparatus of any preceding clause, wherein the plurality of relayed PDU sessions corresponding to at least two PDU sessions comprises:

[0227] A first PDU session for relaying Internet Key Exchange (IKE) / Non-Access Stratum (NAS) and User Plane (UP) data of a remote UE via a non-3GPP IWF (N3IWF); and

[0228] A second PDU session is used to relay the UP data of the remote UE directly to the data network (DN).

[0229] The above detailed description set forth above in conjunction with the accompanying drawings describes examples and does not represent the only examples that can be implemented or fall within the scope of the claims. The term "example" when used in this description means "used as an example, instance, or illustration", rather than "better than" or "better than other examples". This detailed description includes specific details to provide an understanding of the described techniques. However, these techniques can be practiced without these specific details. In some instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form to avoid obscuring the concepts of the described examples.

[0230] Information and signals may be represented using any of a variety of different techniques and technologies. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be mentioned throughout the above description may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or magnetic particles, optical fields or optical particles, computer executable codes or instructions stored on computer-readable media, or any combination thereof.

[0231] The various illustrative blocks and components described in conjunction with the disclosure herein may be implemented or executed with a specially programmed device, such as, but not limited to, a processor designed to perform the functions described herein, a digital signal processor (DSP), an ASIC, an FPGA or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof. The specially programmed processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. The specially programmed processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, for example, a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.

[0232] The functions described herein may be implemented in hardware, software, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software executed by a processor, each function may be stored as one or more instructions or codes on or transmitted by a non-transient computer-readable medium. Other examples and implementations fall within the scope and spirit of the present disclosure and the appended claims. For example, due to the nature of software, the above functions may be implemented using software, hardware, hard wiring, or any combination thereof executed by a specially programmed processor. Features that implement the functions may also be physically located in various locations, including being distributed so that parts of the functions are implemented at different physical locations. In addition, the term "or" is intended to represent an inclusive "or" rather than an exclusive "or". That is, unless otherwise specified or clearly seen from the context, phrases such as "X adopts A or B" are intended to represent any natural concurrent arrangement. That is, for example, the phrase "X adopts A or B" is satisfied by any of the following instances: X adopts A; X adopts B; or X adopts both A and B. Additionally, as used herein (including in the claims), “or” used in a list of items followed by “at least one of” indicates a disjunctive list so 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 (A and B and C).

[0233] Computer-readable media include both computer storage media and communication media, including any media that facilitates a computer program to be transferred from one place to another. Storage media can be any available media that can be accessed by a general or special-purpose computer. As an example and not limitation, computer-readable media may include RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store the desired program code means of an instruction or data structure form and can be accessed by a general or special-purpose computer or a general or special-purpose processor. Similarly, any connection is also properly referred to as a computer-readable medium. For example, if software is transmitted from a website, a server or other remote sources using a coaxial cable, a fiber optic cable, a twisted pair, a digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwaves, then the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwaves are included in the definition of the medium. Disk and disc as used herein include compact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk, and Blu-ray disc, wherein disk usually reproduces data magnetically, while disc reproduces data optically with laser. Combinations of the above media are also included in the scope of computer-readable media.

[0234] The previous description of the disclosure is provided to enable those skilled in the art to make or use the disclosure. Various modifications to the disclosure will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the common principles defined herein may be applied to other variations without departing from the spirit or scope of the disclosure. In addition, although the elements of the described aspects and / or embodiments may be described or claimed in the singular, the plural is also contemplated unless explicitly stated to be limited to the singular. In addition, all or part of any aspect and / or embodiment may be used in conjunction with all or part of any other aspect and / or embodiment, unless otherwise stated. Thus, the disclosure is not limited to the examples and designs described herein, but should be granted the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

Claims

1. A method of wireless communication at a remote user equipment (UE), comprising: transmitting, in a registration message via a radio interface, a capability indication indicating support for connection to a network entity via an interworking function (IWF); receiving, based at least on transmitting the capability indication, provisioning information including at least one ProSe parameter from the network entity; discovering the IWF while connected to a relay UE on a sidelink interface; establishing a non-access stratum (NAS) connection with a network entity via the IWF, wherein establishing the NAS connection includes establishing an Internet Protocol Security (IPsec) tunnel with the IWF using an Internet Key Exchange (IKE) protocol over the relay UE access; and Communicating with the network entity via the relay UE and via the IWF.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein establishing the NAS connection comprises performing 5GS registration and connection management with a 5G core (5GC) over a UE-to-network (NW) relay access.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein establishing the NAS connection further comprises transmitting a packet data unit (PDU) session management information associated with a PDU session to the network entity over the IPsec tunnel established with the N3IWF to establish the PDU session.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein transmitting the PDU session management information comprises transmitting a PDU session request type field to indicate that the PDU session is for transmitting data via the relay UE access.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein communicating data with the network entity comprises communicating data for the PDU session with the network entity or a different network entity over the sidelink interface and via the IPSec tunnel to the IWF.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein establishing the NAS connection comprises establishing an Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP)-5G session with the IWF using an EAP-5G protocol.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising: The UE receives, via the relay, one or more relay service codes from the network entity for relay access via the IWF.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein each of the one or more relay service codes includes a reserved bit for indicating a type of relay access supported, or wherein the one or more relay service codes include a flag indicating support for IWF access.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the network entity corresponds to a 5G core (5GC) entity and the side link interface corresponds to a PC5 interface, and wherein the IWF corresponds to a non-3GPP interworking function (N3IWF).

10. A method for wireless communication at a relay user equipment (UE), comprising: transmitting, in a registration message via a radio interface, a capability indication indicating support for connection to a network entity via an interworking function (IWF); Based on transmitting the capability indication, receiving, by an access and mobility management function (AMF), provisioning information including at least one ProSe parameter; receiving at least one relay discovery parameter from a network entity; determining, based at least on the at least one relay discovery parameter from the remote UE, at least one parameter for establishing one or more packet data unit (PDU) sessions toward the IWF while connected to the remote UE on a sidelink interface; and Establishing a single relay PDU session or multiple relay PDU sessions corresponding to the relay discovery parameters for the remote UE, wherein establishing the single relay PDU session or multiple relay PDU sessions includes using an Internet Key Exchange (IKE) protocol on the relay UE access to establish an Internet Protocol Security (IPsec) tunnel with the IWF.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the single relay PDU session supports communication of both non-access stratum (NAS) and user plane (UP) data via the IWF.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the plurality of relay PDU sessions corresponding to at least two PDU sessions comprises: a first PDU session for relaying Internet Key Exchange (IKE) / Non-Access Stratum (NAS) and User Plane (UP) data of the remote UE via a non-3GPP IWF (N3IWF); as well as A second PDU session for relaying the UP data of the remote UE directly to the data network (DN).

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the plurality of relayed PDU sessions corresponding to two PDU sessions include separate PDU sessions for relaying Internet Key Exchange (IKE) / Non-Access Stratum (NAS) and User Plane (UP) data of the remote UE via the IWF.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein establishing the single relay PDU session or multiple relay PDU sessions comprises determining at least one packet filter for the PDU session to limit non-access stratum (NAS) and user plane (UP) data passing through the IWF to a specific PDU session.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising transmitting a plurality of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses for a unicast PC5 link to the remote UE, wherein one of the IP addresses is used for user plane (UP) traffic via the IWF and another IP address is used for UP traffic sent directly to the DN.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein establishing the single relay PDU session or multiple relay PDU sessions comprises at least one of: forming a non-access stratum (NAS) and user plane (UP) data session for the remote UE via the IWF, or The UP data session is formed when an Internet Protocol Security (IPSec) tunnel with the IWF is successfully established by the remote UE.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein forming the UP data session is further based on determining to transmit one or more NAS messages with IPSec tunnel mode over a NAS PDU session.

18. The method of claim 10, further comprising receiving a PC5 message from the remote UE over a PC5 unicast link, the PC5 message indicating successful establishment of an Internet Protocol Security (IPSec) tunnel.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising receiving one or more relay service codes from the network entity for relay access via the IWF.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein the network entity corresponds to a 5G core (5GC) entity and the side link interface corresponds to a PC5 interface, and wherein the IWF corresponds to a non-3GPP interworking function (N3IWF).

21. An apparatus corresponding to a remote UE for wireless communication, comprising: Transceiver; a memory configured to store instructions; as well as at least one processor communicatively coupled to the transceiver and the memory, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: transmitting, in a registration message via a radio interface, a capability indication indicating support for connection to a network entity via an interworking function (IWF); receiving, based at least on transmitting the capability indication, provisioning information including at least one ProSe parameter from the network entity; discovering the IWF while connected to a relay UE on a sidelink interface; establishing a non-access stratum (NAS) connection with a network entity via the IWF, wherein establishing the NAS connection includes establishing an Internet Protocol Security (IPsec) tunnel with the IWF using an Internet Key Exchange (IKE) protocol over the relay UE access; and Communicating with the network entity via the relay UE and via the IWF.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein to establish the NAS connection, the at least one processor is configured to perform 5GS registration and connection management with a 5G Core (5GC) over a UE-to-network (NW) relay access.

23. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the at least one processor is configured to receive, from the network entity via the relay UE, one or more relay service codes for relay access via an IWF.

24. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the at least one processor is configured to perform any of claims 3-6 and 8-9.

25. An apparatus corresponding to a relay UE for wireless communication, comprising: Transceiver; a memory configured to store instructions; as well as at least one processor communicatively coupled to the transceiver and the memory, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: transmitting, in a registration message via a radio interface, a capability indication indicating support for connection to a network entity via an interworking function (IWF); Based on transmitting the capability indication, receiving, by an access and mobility management function (AMF), provisioning information including at least one ProSe parameter; receiving at least one relay discovery parameter from a network entity; determining, based at least on the at least one relay discovery parameter from the remote UE, at least one parameter for establishing one or more PDU sessions towards the IWF while connected to the remote UE on a sidelink interface; and Establishing a single relay PDU session or multiple relay PDU sessions corresponding to the relay discovery parameters for the remote UE, wherein establishing the single relay PDU session or multiple relay PDU sessions includes using an Internet Key Exchange (IKE) protocol on the relay UE access to establish an Internet Protocol Security (IPsec) tunnel with the IWF.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the single relay PDU session supports communication of both non-access stratum (NAS) and user plane (UP) data via the IWF.

27. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the plurality of relay PDU sessions corresponding to at least two PDU sessions comprises: a first PDU session for relaying Internet Key Exchange (IKE) / Non-Access Stratum (NAS) and User Plane (UP) data of the remote UE via a non-3GPP IWF (N3IWF); as well as A second PDU session for relaying the UP data of the remote UE directly to a data network (DN).

28. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the at least one processor is configured to perform any of claims 13-20.

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