Splitting and concatenation of medium access control (MAC) protocol data units (PDUs) for direct transport block (TB) forwarding in relay operation

Abstract

Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide techniques for direct TB forwarding. In aspects, a relay node receives, from a source node, an indication to forward one or more TBs directly to one or more destination nodes, where the direct forwarding comprises transmitting a TB of the one or more TBs to the one or more destination nodes only through a PHY layer and a HARQ portion of a MAC layer of a protocol stack of the relay node; receives, from the source node, control information for one or more data channels, the control information configuring one DL grant and two or more SL grants or two or more DL grants and one SL grant; decodes the one or more TBs based at least in part on the control information; and forwards the one or more TBs directly to the one or more destination nodes based on the indication and the control information.

Description

[0001] Cross-references to related applications

[0002] This application claims the benefit and priority of U.S. Application No. 17 / 127,658, filed on December 18, 2020, which has been assigned to the assignee of this application and is expressly incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, as fully set forth below and for all available purposes. Technical Field

[0003] This disclosure relates to aspects of wireless communication, and more specifically, to techniques for direct transport block (TB) forwarding in relay operations. Background Technology

[0004] Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide a variety of telecommunications services such as telephone, video, data, messaging, and broadcasting. These wireless communication systems can employ multiple access technologies that enable communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources (e.g., bandwidth, transmit power, etc.). Examples of such multiple access systems include 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, Advanced LTE (LTE-A) systems, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) systems, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) systems, Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) systems, Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) systems, Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) systems, and Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA) systems, to name just a few.

[0005] In some examples, a radio multiple access communication system may include a number of base stations (BSs), each capable of simultaneously supporting communication for multiple communication devices (otherwise referred to as user equipment (UE)). In LTE or LTE-A networks, a set of one or more base stations may define an eNodeB (eNB). In other examples (e.g., in next-generation, new radio (NR), or 5G networks), a radio multiple access communication system may include a number of distributed units (DUs) (e.g., edge units (EUs), edge nodes (ENs), radio heads (RHs), smart radio heads (SRHs), transmit / receive points (TRPs), etc.) communicating with a number of central units (CUs) (e.g., central nodes (CNs), access node controllers (ANCs), etc.), wherein a set of one or more DUs communicating with a CU may define an access node (e.g., which may be referred to as a BS, a 5G NB, a next-generation node B (gNB or gNodeB), a transmit / receive point (TRP), etc.). The BS or DU can communicate with a set of UEs on both downlink channels (e.g., for transmissions from the BS or DU to the UE) and uplink channels (e.g., for transmissions from the UE to the BS or DU).

[0006] These multiple access technologies have been adopted in various telecommunications standards to provide a common protocol that enables different wireless devices to communicate at the city, country, region, and even global levels. NR (e.g., New Radio or 5G) is an example of an emerging telecommunications standard. NR is a collection of enhancements to the LTE mobile standard released by 3GPP. NR is designed to better support mobile broadband internet access by: improving spectrum efficiency, reducing costs, improving service, utilizing new spectrum, and better integrating with other open standards that use OFDMA with a cyclic prefix (CP) on both the downlink (DL) and uplink (UL). To this end, NR supports beamforming, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology, and carrier aggregation.

[0007] However, with the continued increase in demand for mobile broadband access, further improvements to NR and LTE technologies are needed. These improvements should be applicable to other multiple access technologies and telecommunications standards that employ them. Summary of the Invention

[0008] The systems, methods, and apparatuses of this disclosure each have several aspects, and no single aspect is solely responsible for its desired properties. After considering this discussion, and especially after reading the section entitled "Detailed Description," it will be understood how the features of this disclosure provide the advantages of improved communication between access points and stations included in a wireless network.

[0009] Certain aspects of the subject matter described in this disclosure provide a method for wireless communication by a relay node. The method generally includes: receiving from a source node an instruction to directly forward one or more transport blocks (TBs) to one or more destination nodes, wherein direct forwarding includes: transmitting one or more TBs to one or more destination nodes solely through a Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) portion of the physical (PHY) layer and media access control (MAC) layer in the relay node's protocol stack. The method generally includes: receiving from the source node control information for one or more data channels, the control information configuring a downlink (DL) permission and two or more sidelink (SL) permissions, or two or more DL permissions and one SL permission. The method generally includes: decoding one or more TBs at least partially based on the control information. The method generally includes: directly forwarding one or more TBs to one or more destination nodes at least partially based on the instruction and control information.

[0010] Certain aspects of the subject matter described in this disclosure provide a method for wireless communication by a source node. The method generally includes: sending an instruction to a relay node to directly forward one or more data channels (TBs) to one or more destination nodes, wherein direct forwarding includes: sending one of the TBs to the one or more destination nodes solely through the PHY layer and the HARQ portion of the MAC layer in the relay node's protocol stack. The method generally includes: sending control information to the relay node for one or more data channels, the control information configuring one DL permission and two or more SL permissions, or two or more DL permissions and one SL permission.

[0011] Certain aspects of the subject matter described in this disclosure can be implemented in an apparatus for wireless communication by a relay node. The apparatus generally includes: a memory and at least one processor coupled to the memory, the memory and at least one processor being configured to: receive from a source node an instruction to directly forward one or more data blocks (TBs) to one or more destination nodes, wherein direct forwarding includes sending one or more TBs to one or more destination nodes only through the HARQ portions of the PHY and MAC layers in the relay node's protocol stack; receive from the source node control information for one or more data channels, the control information configuring one DL permission and two or more SL permissions, or two or more DL permissions and one SL permission; decode one or more TBs at least in part based on the control information; and directly forward one or more TBs to one or more destination nodes at least in part based on the instruction and control information.

[0012] Certain aspects of the subject matter described in this disclosure can be implemented in an apparatus for wireless communication by a source node. The apparatus generally includes: a memory and at least one processor coupled to the memory, the memory and at least one processor being configured to: send an instruction to a relay node to directly forward one or more data blocks (TBs) to one or more destination nodes, wherein direct forwarding includes: sending one of the TBs to the one or more destination nodes only through the HARQ portions of the PHY and MAC layers in the relay node's protocol stack; and sending control information to the relay node for one or more data channels, the control information configuring one DL permission and two or more SL permissions, or two or more DL permissions and one SL permission.

[0013] Certain aspects of the subject matter described in this disclosure can be implemented in an apparatus for wireless communication by a relay node. The apparatus generally includes: unit for receiving from a source node an instruction to directly forward one or more Data Blocks (TBs) to one or more destination nodes, wherein direct forwarding includes: transmitting one or more TBs to one or more destination nodes only through the PHY layer and the HARQ portion of the MAC layer in the relay node's protocol stack; unit for receiving from the source node control information for one or more data channels, the control information configuring a DL permission and two or more SL permissions, or two or more DL permissions and one SL permission; unit for decoding one or more TBs at least partially based on the control information; and unit for directly forwarding one or more TBs to one or more destination nodes at least partially based on the instruction and control information.

[0014] Certain aspects of the subject matter described in this disclosure can be implemented in an apparatus for wireless communication by a relay node. The apparatus generally includes: units for sending to the relay node an instruction to directly forward one or more Data Blocks (TBs) to one or more destination nodes, wherein direct forwarding includes: sending one or more TBs to one or more destination nodes only through the PHY layer and the HARQ portion of the MAC layer in the relay node's protocol stack; and units for sending to the relay node control information for one or more data channels, the control information configuring a DL permission and two or more SL permissions, or two or more DL permissions and one SL permission.

[0015] Certain aspects of the subject matter described in this disclosure may be implemented in a computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that cause a relay node to: receive from a source node an instruction to directly forward one or more TBs to one or more destination nodes, wherein direct forwarding includes: sending one or more TBs to one or more destination nodes only through the PHY layer and the HARQ portion of the MAC layer in the relay node's protocol stack; receiving from the source node control information for one or more data channels, the control information configuring one DL permission and two or more SL permissions or two or more DL permissions and one SL permission; decoding one or more TBs at least in part based on the control information; and directly forwarding one or more TBs to one or more destination nodes at least in part based on the instruction and control information.

[0016] Certain aspects of the subject matter described in this disclosure may be implemented in a computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that cause a source node to: send an instruction to a relay node to directly forward one or more TBs to one or more destination nodes, wherein direct forwarding includes: sending one or more TBs to one or more destination nodes only through the HARQ portion of the PHY layer and MAC layer in the relay node's protocol stack; and sending control information to the relay node for one or more data channels, the control information configuring one DL permission and two or more SL permissions or two or more DL permissions and one SL permission.

[0017] To achieve the foregoing and related objectives, one or more aspects include the features fully described below and particularly pointed out in the claims. The following description and drawings set forth certain illustrative features of one or more aspects in detail. However, these features indicate only some of the various ways in which the principles of these aspects may be employed. Attached Figure Description

[0018] To understand in detail the features of this disclosure described above, a more specific description of the aspects outlined above can be made, some of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. However, it should be noted that the drawings illustrate only certain typical aspects of this disclosure, and the description may allow for other equally valid aspects.

[0019] Figure 1 This is a conceptual block diagram illustrating an example telecommunications system based on certain aspects of this disclosure.

[0020] Figure 2 This is a block diagram illustrating an example architecture of a distributed radio access network (RAN) according to certain aspects of this disclosure.

[0021] Figure 3 This is a block diagram illustrating an example of a communication protocol stack for implementing an example RAN architecture, based on certain aspects of this disclosure.

[0022] Figure 4 This is a block diagram conceptually illustrating the design of an example base station (BS) and user equipment (UE) according to certain aspects of this disclosure.

[0023] Figure 5 An example of a frame format for a telecommunications system is shown, based on certain aspects of this disclosure.

[0024] Figure 6 An example relay operation is shown, in which the transport block (TB) size supported by the link between the source node and the relay node is not supported by the link between the relay node and the destination node.

[0025] Figure 7 An example of packet processing via a communication protocol stack is shown, based on certain aspects of this disclosure.

[0026] Figure 8A and 8B Examples of one-to-many and many-to-one relays are shown in accordance with certain aspects of this disclosure.

[0027] Figure 9 An example relay operation is shown in accordance with certain aspects of this disclosure, wherein the source-relay link and the relay-destination link support the same TB size.

[0028] Figure 10 This is a flowchart illustrating example operations for wireless communication by a relay node, based on certain aspects of this disclosure.

[0029] Figure 11 This is a flowchart illustrating an example operation for wireless communication by a source node, based on certain aspects of this disclosure.

[0030] Figure 12 This is a call flowchart illustrating example signaling for one-to-many relay operation in sidelink (SL) transmission mode 1 according to aspects of this disclosure.

[0031] Figure 13 The breakdown of a Media Access Control (MAC) Protocol Data Unit (PDU) in an example one-to-many relay operation is shown.

[0032] Figure 14 This is a flowchart illustrating example signaling for many-to-one relay operation in SL transmission mode 1, according to aspects of this disclosure.

[0033] Figure 15 A communication device, shown according to aspects of this disclosure, may include various components configured to perform operations using the techniques disclosed herein.

[0034] Figure 16 A communication device, shown according to aspects of this disclosure, may include various components configured to perform operations using the techniques disclosed herein.

[0035] To facilitate understanding, the same reference numerals have been used wherever possible to designate the same elements that are common to the accompanying drawings. It is anticipated that elements disclosed in one aspect may be advantageously used in other aspects without specific description. Detailed Implementation

[0036] This disclosure provides apparatus, methods, processing systems, and computer-readable media for relay operations. As will be described herein, Direct Transport Block (TB) forwarding can be implemented in relay operations, wherein the TB is sent to the destination node without traversing the entire protocol stack of the relay node. Therefore, the TB can be sent to the destination node only through the physical (PHY) layer and a portion of the media access control (MAC) layer. In this disclosure, the TB is forwarded through the hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) portion of the PHY and MAC layers in the relay node's protocol stack.

[0037] In some aspects, a source node can create a one-to-many relay operation by sending two or more packets required by two or more target nodes through the same relay node in a cascaded downlink (DL) TB. In other aspects, a source node can create a many-to-one relay operation by sending two or more packets to a destination node through the same relay node on different component carriers (CC) or at different times.

[0038] 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 function and arrangement of the elements discussed without departing from this disclosure. Individual processes or components may be omitted, substituted, or added as appropriate in the examples. For example, the described methods may be performed in a different order than described, and steps may be added, omitted, or combined. Furthermore, features described with respect to some examples may be combined in other examples. For example, any number of aspects set forth herein may be used to implement an apparatus or practice. Additionally, this disclosure is intended to cover such apparatuses or methods practiced using structures, functionalities, or structures and functionalities other than or different from the aspects of this disclosure set forth herein. It should be understood that any aspect of this disclosure disclosed herein may be embodied by one or more elements of the claims. The word “exemplary” is used herein to mean “serving as an example, instance, or illustration.” Any aspect described herein as “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as superior to or better than other aspects.

[0039] The technologies described in this document can be used in various wireless communication technologies, such as LTE, CDMA, TDMA, FDMA, OFDMA, SC-FDMA, and other networks. The terms "network" and "system" are often used interchangeably. CDMA networks can implement radio technologies such as Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), cdma2000, etc. UTRA includes Wideband CDMA (WCDMA) and other variants of CDMA. cdma2000 covers the IS-2000, IS-95, and IS-856 standards. TDMA networks can implement radio technologies such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). OFDMA networks can implement radio technologies such as NR (e.g., 5G RA), Evolved UTRA (E-UTRA), Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, Flash-OFDMA, etc. UTRA and E-UTRA are part of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS).

[0040] New Radio (NR) is an emerging wireless communication technology being developed in conjunction with the 5G Technology Forum (5GTF). 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) and Advanced LTE (LTE-A) are versions of UMTS using 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 technologies described herein can be used in the aforementioned wireless network and radio technologies, as well as other wireless network and radio technologies. For clarity, although terms generally associated with 3G and / or 4G wireless technologies may be used to describe aspects herein, aspects of this disclosure can be applied to communication systems based on other generations, such as 5G and beyond, including NR technology.

[0041] New radio (NR) access (e.g., 5G technology) can support a variety of wireless communication services, such as enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) targeting wide bandwidth (e.g., 80 MHz or above), millimeter wave (mmW) targeting high carrier frequencies (e.g., 25 GHz or above), massive machine-type communication (mMTC) targeting non-backward-compatible MTC technologies, and / or mission-critical communication targeting ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC). These services can include latency and reliability requirements. These services can also have different transmission time intervals (TTI) to meet corresponding quality of service (QoS) requirements. Furthermore, these services can coexist in the same subframe.

[0042] Example wireless communication system

[0043] Figure 1 An example wireless communication network 100 in which aspects of this disclosure can be implemented is shown. For example, the wireless communication network 100 could be a new radio (NR) network or a 5G network. For example, as... Figure 1 As shown, according to aspects described herein, UE120a has a relay manager that can be configured to perform the following: receiving from a source node an instruction to directly forward one or more transport blocks (TBs) to one or more destination nodes, wherein direct forwarding includes: sending one or more TBs to one or more destination nodes only through the hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) portion of the physical (PHY) layer and media access control (MAC) layer in the relay node's protocol stack; receiving from the source node control information for one or more data channels, the control information configuring one downlink (DL) permission and two or more sidelink (SL) permissions or two or more DL permissions and one SL permission; decoding one or more TBs at least in part based on the control information; and directly forwarding one or more TBs to one or more destination nodes at least in part based on the instruction and control information. For example, as Figure 1 As shown, according to the aspects described herein, BS 110a has a relay manager that can be configured to perform the following: sending an instruction to a relay node to directly forward one or more TBs to one or more destination nodes, wherein direct forwarding includes: sending one or more TBs to one or more destination nodes only through the PHY layer and the HARQ portion of the MAC layer in the relay node's protocol stack; and sending control information to the relay node for one or more data channels, the control information configuring one DL permission and two or more SL permissions or two or more DL permissions and one SL permission.

[0044] like Figure 1As shown, the wireless communication network 100 may include multiple base stations (BS) 110 and other network entities. A BS may be a station communicating with a user equipment (UE). Each BS 110 may provide communication coverage for a specific geographic area. In 3GPP, depending on the context in which the term "cell" is used, the term "cell" may refer to the coverage area of ​​a Node B (NB) and / or the NB subsystem serving that coverage area. In NR systems, the terms "cell" and Next Generation Node B (gNB or gNodeB), NRBS, 5G NB, Access Point (AP), or Transmit / Receive Point (TRP) may be interchangeable. In some examples, a cell may not necessarily be stationary, and the geographic area of ​​the cell may move depending on the location of a mobile BS. In some examples, base stations may interconnect with each other and / or interconnect to one or more other base stations or network nodes (not shown) in the wireless communication network 100 via various types of backhaul interfaces (such as direct physical connections, wireless connections, virtual networks, or the like using any suitable transport network).

[0045] Generally, any number of wireless networks can be deployed in a given geographical area. Each wireless network can support a specific Radio Access Technology (RAT) and can operate on one or more frequencies. A RAT can also be referred to as a radio technology, air interface, etc. A frequency can also be referred to as a carrier, subcarrier, frequency channel, tone, subband, etc. Each frequency can support a single RAT in a given geographical area to avoid interference between wireless networks using different RATs. In some cases, NR or 5G RAT networks can be deployed.

[0046] A BS can provide communication coverage for macrocells, picocells, femtocells, and / or other cell types. A macrocell can cover a relatively large geographic area (e.g., a radius of several kilometers) and allows unrestricted access by UEs with service subscriptions. A picocell can cover a relatively small geographic area and allows unrestricted access by UEs with service subscriptions. A femtocell can cover a relatively small geographic area (e.g., a home) and allows restricted access by UEs associated with the femtocell (e.g., UEs in a Closed Subscriber Group (CSG), UEs for users in a home, etc.). A BS for macrocells can be called a macro BS. A BS for picocells can be called a pico BS. A BS for femtocells can be called a femto BS or a home BS. Figure 1In the examples shown, BS 110a, 110b, and 110c can be macro BSs for macro cells 102a, 102b, and 102c, respectively. BS 110x can be a pico BS for pico cell 102x. BS 110y and 110z can be femto BSs for femto cells 102y and 102z, respectively. A BS can support one or more (e.g., three) cells.

[0047] The wireless communication network 100 may also include relay stations. A relay station is a station that receives data and / or other information transmissions from an upstream station (e.g., a BS or UE) and sends data and / or other information transmissions to a downstream station (e.g., a UE or BS). A relay station may also be a UE that relays transmissions to other UEs or BSs. Figure 1 In the example shown, relay station 110r can communicate with BS 110a and UE 120r to facilitate communication between BS 110a and UE 120r. UE 120a can also be a relay station used to communicate with BS 110a and UE 120s to facilitate communication between BS 110a and UE 120s. Repeater 120s can be located within coverage area 102a. Relay stations can also be referred to as relay BS, relay UE, repeater, relay node, etc.

[0048] The wireless communication network 100 can be a heterogeneous network comprising different types of base stations (BSs) (e.g., macro BSs, pico BSs, femto BSs, repeaters, etc.). These different types of BSs can have different transmit power levels, different coverage areas, and different effects on interference in the wireless communication network 100. For example, a macro BS can have a high transmit power level (e.g., 20 watts), while pico BSs, femto BSs, and repeaters can have lower transmit power levels (e.g., 1 watt).

[0049] The wireless communication network 100 can support synchronous or asynchronous operation. For synchronous operation, the base stations (BSs) can have similar frame timings, and transmissions from different BSs can be approximately time-aligned. For asynchronous operation, the BSs can have different frame timings, and transmissions from different BSs can be out of time-aligned. The techniques described herein can be used for both synchronous and asynchronous operations.

[0050] Network controller 130 can be coupled to a collection of BSs and provide coordination and control for these BSs. Network controller 130 can communicate with BS 110 via backhaul. BS 110 can also communicate with each other (e.g., directly or indirectly) via wireless or wired backhaul.

[0051] UE 120 (e.g., 120x, 120y, etc.) can be distributed throughout the wireless communication network 100, and each UE can be stationary or mobile. UE can also be referred to as a mobile station, terminal, access terminal, user unit, station, customer premises equipment (CPE), cellular phone, smartphone, personal digital assistant (PDA), wireless modem, wireless communication device, handheld device, laptop computer, cordless phone, wireless local loop (WLL) station, tablet computer, camera, gaming device, netbook, smartbook, ultrabook, home appliance, medical device or medical equipment, biosensor / device, wearable devices such as smartwatches, smart clothing, smart glasses, smart wristbands, smart jewelry (e.g., smart rings, smart bracelets, etc.), entertainment devices (e.g., music devices, video devices, satellite radios, etc.), vehicle components or sensors, smart meters / sensors, industrial manufacturing equipment, GPS devices, or any other suitable device configured to communicate via wireless or wired media. Some UEs can be considered machine-type communication (MTC) devices or evolved MTC (eMTC) devices. MTC and eMTCUE include, for example, robots, drones, remote devices, sensors, meters, monitors, location tags, etc., that can communicate with a BS, another device (e.g., a remote device), or some other entity. Wireless nodes can provide connectivity to or from a network (e.g., a wide area network such as the Internet or cellular networks) via wired or wireless communication links. Some UEs can be considered Internet of Things (IoT) devices, which may be narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) devices.

[0052] Some wireless networks (e.g., LTE) utilize Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) on the downlink and Single-Carrier Frequency Division Multiplexing (SC-FDM) on the uplink. OFDM and SC-FDM divide the system bandwidth into multiple (K) orthogonal subcarriers, which are also commonly referred to as tones, frequency bands, etc. Each subcarrier can be modulated using data. Generally, modulation symbols are transmitted using OFDM in the frequency domain and SC-FDM in the time domain. The spacing between adjacent subcarriers can be fixed, and the total number of subcarriers (K) can depend on the system bandwidth. For example, the subcarrier spacing could be 15 kHz, and the minimum resource allocation (called a "resource block" (RB)) could be 12 subcarriers (or 180 kHz). Therefore, for system bandwidths of 1.25, 2.5, 5, 10, or 20 MHz, the nominal Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) size could be equal to 128, 256, 512, 1024, or 2048, respectively. The system bandwidth can also be divided into subbands. For example, a subband can cover 1.08MHz (i.e., 6 resource blocks), and there can be 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16 subbands for system bandwidths of 1.25, 2.5, 5, 10, or 20MHz, respectively.

[0053] While the aspects of the examples described herein may be associated with LTE technology, aspects of this disclosure can be applied to other wireless communication systems (such as NR). NR can use OFDM with CP on both the uplink and downlink, and includes support for half-duplex operation using TDD. Beamforming can be supported, and beam direction can be dynamically configured. MIMO transmission with precoding can also be supported. MIMO configuration in DL can support up to 8 transmit antennas with multi-layer DL transmission and up to 2 streams per UE. Multi-layer transmission with up to 2 streams per UE can be supported. Aggregation of multiple cells with up to 8 serving cells can be supported.

[0054] In some examples, access to the air interface can be scheduled. A scheduling entity (e.g., a BS) allocates resources for communication between some or all devices and apparatuses within its service area or cell. The scheduling entity may be responsible for scheduling, allocating, reconfiguring, and releasing resources for one or more subordinate entities. That is, for scheduled communication, the subordinate entities use the resources allocated by the scheduling entity. The base station is not the only entity acting as a scheduling entity. In some examples, a UE can act as a scheduling entity and can schedule resources for one or more subordinate entities (e.g., one or more other UEs), and other UEs can utilize the resources scheduled by that UE for wireless communication. In some examples, a UE can act as a scheduling entity in peer-to-peer (P2P) networks and / or mesh networks. In mesh network examples, in addition to communicating with a scheduling entity, UEs can communicate directly with each other.

[0055] exist Figure 1 In the diagram, a solid line with a double arrow indicates a desired transmission between the UE and the serving BS, which is the BS designated to serve the UE on the downlink and / or uplink. A thin dashed line with a double arrow indicates interference transmission between the UE and the BS.

[0056] Figure 2 It shows that it can be used Figure 1 An example architecture of a distributed radio access network (RAN) 200 implemented in the wireless communication network 100 shown. Figure 2 As shown, the distributed RAN includes a core network (CN) 202 and an access node 208.

[0057] CN 202 can be responsible for core network functions. CN 202 can be centrally deployed. CN 202 functions can be offloaded (e.g., to Advanced Wireless Services (AWS)) to handle peak capacity. CN 202 may include Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) 204 and User Plane Function (UPF) 206. AMF 204 and UPF 206 can perform one or more core network functions.

[0058] AN 208 can communicate with CN 202 (e.g., via a backhaul interface). AN 208 can communicate with AMF 204 via an N2 (e.g., NG-C) interface. AN 208 can communicate with UPF 208 via an N3 (e.g., NG-U) interface. AN 208 may include a Central Unit Control Plane (CU-CP) 210, one or more Central Unit User Planes (CU-UP) 212, one or more Distributed Units (DUs) 214-218, and one or more Antenna / Remote Radio Units (AU / RRUs) 220-224. CUs and DUs may also be referred to as gNB-CU and gNB-DU, respectively. One or more components of AN 208 may be implemented in gNB 226. AN 208 can communicate with one or more neighboring gNBs.

[0059] The CU-CP 210 can be connected to one or more DUs from DU 214-218. The CU-CP 210 and DU 214-218 can be connected via the F1-C interface. Figure 2 As shown, the CU-CP 210 can be connected to multiple DUs, but a DU can be connected to only one CU-CP. Although Figure 2 Only one CU-UP 212 is shown, but AN 208 may include multiple CU-UPs. CU-CP 210 selects the appropriate CU-UP for the requested service (e.g., for the UE). CU-UP 212 can be connected to CU-CP 210. For example, CU-UP 212 and CU-CP 210 can be connected via an E1 interface. CU-CP 212 can be connected to one or more DUs among DUs 214-218. CU-UP 212 and DUs 214-218 can be connected via an F1-U interface. Figure 2 As shown, CU-CP 210 can be connected to multiple CU-UPs, but CU-UPs can be connected to only one CU-CP.

[0060] A DU (such as DU 214, 216, and / or 218) can be responsible for one or more TRPs (transmit / receive points, which may include edge nodes (EN), edge units (EU), radio heads (RH), smart radio heads (SRH), etc.). DUs can be located at the edge of a network with radio frequency (RF) capabilities. DUs can be connected to multiple CU-UPs, which are connected to the same CU-CP (e.g., under the control of the same CU-CP) (e.g., for RAN sharing, Radio as a Service (RaaS), and service-specific deployments). DUs can be configured to provide services to UEs individually (e.g., dynamically selected) or jointly (e.g., jointly transmitted). Each DU 214-216 can be connected to one of the AU / RRUs 220-224.

[0061] The CU-CP 210 can connect to multiple DUs, and these DUs can be connected to the same CU-UP 212 (e.g., under the control of the same CU-UP 212). Connections between the CU-UP 212 and DUs can be established via the CU-CP 210. For example, bearer context management functions can be used to establish connections between the CU-UP 212 and DUs. Data forwarding between CU-UP 212s can be performed via the Xn-U interface.

[0062] The distributed RAN 200 can support fronthaul schemes across different deployment types. For example, the RAN 200 architecture can be based on transmit network capabilities (e.g., bandwidth, latency, and / or jitter). The distributed RAN 200 can share features and / or components with LTE. For example, AN 208 can support dual connectivity with NR and can share common fronthaul for LTE and NR. The distributed RAN 200 can achieve cooperation between and within DUs 214-218, for example, via CU-CP 212. Inter-DU interfaces may not be used.

[0063] Logical functions can be dynamically distributed across the distributed RAN 200. (Refer to...) Figure 3 In more detail, the Radio Resource Control (RRC) layer, Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer, Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, Media Access Control (MAC) layer, Physical (PHY) layer, and / or Radio Frequency (RF) layer can be adaptively placed in the AN and / or UE.

[0064] Figure 3A schematic diagram illustrating an example of a communication protocol stack 300 for implementing a RAN (e.g., such as RAN 200) according to aspects of this disclosure is shown. The illustrated communication protocol stack 300 can be implemented by a device operating in a wireless communication system such as a 5G NR system (e.g., wireless communication network 100). In various examples, layers of the protocol stack 300 can be implemented as separate software modules, portions of a processor or ASIC, portions of non-co-located devices connected via communication links, or various combinations thereof. Co-located and non-co-located implementations can be used, for example, in a protocol stack for a network access device or a UE. Figure 3 As shown, the system can support various services on one or more protocols. One or more protocol layers of protocol stack 300 can be implemented by AN and / or UE.

[0065] like Figure 3 As shown, in AN (e.g., Figure 2 In AN 208, the protocol stack 300 is split. The RRC layer 305, PDCP layer 310, RLC layer 315, MAC layer 320, PHY layer 325, and RF layer 530 can be implemented by AN. For example, CU-CP (e.g., Figure 2 CU-CP 210) and CU-UP (e.g., Figure 2 Each of the CU-UP 212 can implement the RRC layer 305 and the PDCP layer 310. DU (e.g., Figure 2 DU 214-218 in the code can implement the RLC layer 315 and the MAC layer 320. AU / RRU (e.g., Figure 2 The AU / RRU220-224 in the RF module can implement the PHY layer 325 and the RF layer 330. The PHY layer 325 can include a high PHY layer and a low PHY layer.

[0066] The UE can implement the entire protocol stack 300 (e.g., RRC layer 305, PDCP layer 310, RLC layer 315, MAC layer 320, PHY layer 325 and RF layer 330).

[0067] Figure 4 As shown (as in) Figure 1 The example components of BS 110 and UE 120 (described herein) can be used to implement aspects of this disclosure. For example, antenna 452, processors 466, 458, 464 and / or controller / processor 480 of UE 120, and / or antenna 434, processors 420, 430, 438 and / or controller / processor 440 of BS 110 can be used to perform various techniques and methods described herein. For example, as Figure 4As shown, according to aspects described herein, processor 440 has a relay manager that can be configured to perform the following: sending an instruction to a relay node to directly forward one or more TBs to one or more destination nodes, wherein direct forwarding includes: sending one or more TBs to one or more destination nodes only through the HARQ portions of the PHY and MAC layers in the relay node's protocol stack; and sending control information to the relay node for one or more data channels, the control information configuring one DL permission and two or more SL permissions, or two or more DL permissions and one SL permission. For example, as... Figure 4 As shown, according to aspects described herein, processor 480 has a relay manager that can be configured to perform the following: receiving from a source node an instruction to directly forward one or more TBs to one or more destination nodes, wherein direct forwarding includes: sending one or more TBs to one or more destination nodes only through the PHY layer and the HARQ portion of the MAC layer in the relay node's protocol stack; receiving from the source node control information for one or more data channels, the control information configuring one DL permission and two or more SL permissions or two or more DL permissions and one SL permission; decoding one or more TBs at least in part based on the control information; and directly forwarding one or more TBs to one or more destination nodes at least in part based on the instruction and control information.

[0068] At BS 110, the transmit processor 420 can receive data from data source 412 and control information from controller / processor 440. The control information can be used for the Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH), Physical Control Format Indicator Channel (PCFICH), Physical Hybrid ARQ Indicator Channel (PHICH), Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), Group Common PDCCH (GC PDCCH), etc. Data can be used for the Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH), etc. The processor 420 can process (e.g., encode and symbol map) the data and control information to obtain data symbols and control symbols, respectively. The processor 420 can also generate reference symbols, such as for the Primary Synchronization Signal (PSS), Secondary Synchronization Signal (SSS), and Cell-Specific Reference Signal (CRS). The transmit (TX) Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) processor 430 can perform spatial processing (e.g., precoding) on ​​the data symbols, control symbols, and / or reference symbols (if applicable) and can provide an output symbol stream to modulators (MODs) 432a to 432t. Each modulator 432 can process a corresponding output symbol stream (e.g., for OFDM, etc.) to obtain an output sample stream. Each modulator can further process (e.g., convert to analog, amplify, filter, and up-convert) the output sample stream to obtain a downlink signal. The downlink signal from modulators 432a to 432t can be transmitted via antennas 434a to 434t respectively.

[0069] At UE 120, antennas 452a to 452r can receive downlink signals from base station 110 and can provide the received signals to demodulators (DEMODs) in transceivers 454a to 454r respectively. Each demodulator 454 can adjust (e.g., filter, amplify, down-convert, and digitize) the corresponding received signal to obtain an input sample. Each demodulator can further process the input sample (e.g., for OFDM, etc.) to obtain the received symbols. MIMO detector 456 can obtain the received symbols from all demodulators 454a to 454r, perform MIMO detection on the received symbols (if applicable), and provide the detected symbols. Receiver processor 458 can process (e.g., demodulate, deinterleave, and decode) the detected symbols, provide decoded data for UE 120 to data sink 460, and provide decoded control information to controller / processor 480.

[0070] On the uplink, at UE 120, the transmitting processor 464 can receive and process data from data source 462 (e.g., for the Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH)) and control information from controller / processor 480 (e.g., for the Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH)). The transmitting processor 464 can also generate reference symbols for reference signals (e.g., for Sounding Reference Signals (SRS)). Symbols from the transmitting processor 464 can be pre-encoded by the TX MIMO processor 466 (if applicable), further processed by demodulators in transceivers 454a to 454r (e.g., for SC-FDM, etc.), and transmitted to base station 110. At BS 110, uplink signals from UE 120 can be received by antenna 434, processed by modulator 432, detected by MIMO detector 436 (if applicable), and further processed by receiving processor 438 to obtain decoded data and control information transmitted by UE 120. The receiver processor 438 can provide decoded data to the data sink 439 and decoded control information to the controller / processor 440.

[0071] Controllers / processors 440 and 480 can direct operations at BS 110 and UE 120, respectively. Processor 440 and / or other processors and modules at BS 110 can execute or direct the execution of processes using the techniques described herein. Memory 442 and 482 can store data and program code for BS 110 and UE 120, respectively. Scheduler 444 can schedule the UE for data transmission on downlink and / or uplink.

[0072] Figure 5 This diagram illustrates an example of frame format 500 for NR. The transmission timeline for each of the downlink and uplink can be divided into units of radio frames. Each radio frame can have a predetermined duration (e.g., 10 ms) and can be divided into 10 subframes with indices from 0 to 9, each subframe being 1 ms. Depending on the subcarrier spacing, each subframe can include a variable number of time slots. Depending on the subcarrier spacing, each time slot can include a variable number of symbol periods (e.g., 7 or 14 symbols). Indices can be assigned to the symbol periods in each time slot. A micro-slot (which may be referred to as a sub-slot structure) refers to a transmission time interval with a duration less than the time slot (e.g., 2, 3, or 4 symbols). Each symbol in a time slot can indicate the link direction used for data transmission (e.g., DL, UL, or flexible), and the link direction for each subframe can be dynamically switched. The link direction can be based on the time slot format. Each time slot can include DL / UL data and DL / UL control information.

[0073] In NR, a synchronization signal (SS) block is transmitted. The SS block consists of the PSS, SSS, and two-symbol PBCH. SS blocks can be transmitted at fixed time slot locations (e.g., ...). Figure 5 (Symbols 0-3 shown). PSS and SSS can be used by the UE for cell search and acquisition. PSS provides half-frame timing, and SS provides CP length and frame timing. PSS and SSS can provide cell identity. PBCH carries some basic system information, such as downlink system bandwidth, timing information within radio frames, SS burst set period, system frame number, etc. SS blocks can be organized into SS bursts to support beam scanning. Additional system information, such as Residual Minimum System Information (RMSI), System Information Block (SIB), and Other System Information (OSI), can be transmitted on the Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) in certain subframes. For mmW, SS blocks can be transmitted up to sixty-four times, for example, using up to sixty-four different beam directions. Up to sixty-four transmissions of SS blocks are called SS burst sets. SS blocks in an SS burst set are transmitted in the same frequency region, while SS blocks in different SS burst sets can be transmitted at different frequency locations.

[0074] In some cases, two or more dependent entities (e.g., UEs) can communicate with each other using sidelink signaling. Real-world applications of such sidelink communication can include public safety, proximity services, UE-to-network relay, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication, Internet of Things (IoE) communication, IoT communication, mission-critical mesh, and / or various other suitable applications. Typically, sidelink signaling can refer to a signal transmitted from one dependent entity (e.g., UE1) to another dependent entity (e.g., UE2) without requiring relaying by a scheduling entity (e.g., UE or BS), even if the scheduling entity may be used for scheduling and / or control purposes. In some examples, licensed spectrum can be used to transmit sidelink signals (unlike wireless LANs that can use unlicensed spectrum).

[0075] The UE can operate in various radio resource configurations, including configurations associated with using a dedicated resource set to transmit pilot signals (e.g., Radio Resource Control (RRC) dedicated state, etc.) or configurations associated with using a common resource set to transmit pilot signals (e.g., RRC common state, etc.). When operating in RRC dedicated state, the UE can select the dedicated resource set for transmitting pilot signals to the network. When operating in RRC common state, the UE can select the common resource set for transmitting pilot signals to the network. In either case, the pilot signals transmitted by the UE can be received by one or more network access devices (such as AN or DU or portions thereof). Each receiving network access device can be configured to receive and measure pilot signals transmitted on the common resource set, and also to receive and measure pilot signals transmitted on the dedicated resource set allocated to the UE (for which the network access device is a member of a set of network access devices monitored for the UE). A CU that receives measurements from one or more network access devices or receives pilot signals sent to it by network access devices can use the measurements to identify the serving cell for a UE or initiate a change to the serving cell for one or more UEs.

[0076] In the context of LTE, relaying means that a device (e.g., a destination node) communicates with the network via a relay node that is wirelessly connected to the source node via the LTE radio interface Un, which is a modified version of the Evolved Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) air interface Uu. In addition to sharing its radio resources with the relay node, the source node can serve its own UEs as usual.

[0077] As mentioned earlier, in relay operations, a relay node (also referred to as a relay station in this document) is a node that receives data and / or other information transmissions from an upstream node (e.g., the source node) on the link between the source node and the upstream node. After receiving the transmissions, the relay node forwards the data and / or other information transmissions to a downstream node (e.g., the destination node) on the link between the relay node and the destination node.

[0078] Figure 6 An example relay operation is shown where the TB size supported by the link between the source node and the relay node is not supported by the link between the relay node and the destination node. Figure 6 In the relay example shown, the relay node can communicate with both the source and destination nodes, thereby facilitating communication (i.e., sending data) between them. Data received from the source node can be sent up and down the protocol stack at the relay node before it can send data to the destination node. For example... Figure 6As shown, the relay node receives the TB from the source node. Before the TB is sent to the destination node, it moves up the relay node's protocol stack through the PHY, MAC, RLC, and PDCP layers, and down the relay node's protocol stack through the PDCP, RCL, MAC, and PHY layers.

[0079] Figure 7 Example packet processing via a communication protocol stack is illustrated, according to certain aspects of this disclosure. In wireless communication networks, packets of information may flow through several sublayers of the communication protocol stack as they are transmitted from one node to another. For example... Figure 7 As shown, the 5G New Radio (NR) protocol stack is depicted with higher layers at the top, allowing IP packets to progress downwards through this stack. Packets enter the protocol stack via the Serving Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP) layer and then proceed downwards through the PDCP, RLC, and MAC layers. Each protocol layer can add header or subheader information (such as...) Figure 7 The H layer (as shown) manipulates data by converting it into different formats and / or combining packets into larger packets. The MAC layer generates MAC Protocol Data Units (PDUs), which can include multiple MAC SDUs or just one MAC SDU. Essentially, a MAC PDU becomes a PHY SDU (which may be referred to as a TB) when sent to the PHY layer. When the receiving station receives data, the data can be backed up in its own way by the protocol stack at the receiving station. The protocol at each layer can reverse the processing performed by the corresponding layer by the sending node; headers can be removed; data can be converted back to its original format; packets that have been split into smaller packets can be reassembled into larger messages, and so on.

[0080] Once data has progressed through the PHY, MAC, RLC, PDCP, and SDAP layers, the IP packet can be used, or it can be further processed down the protocol layers and sent to a second receiving node. For example, if the receiving station is also a relay node, the packet can be further processed down the protocol layers, allowing the TB to adopt a format supported by the link between the relay node and the destination node. Therefore, when the packet reaches the PHY layer, it can be sent to the destination node again.

[0081] In some aspects, one-to-many and / or many-to-one relay operations can be implemented to send multiple packets of data and / or other information to one or more target destination nodes via a relay node.

[0082] Figure 8A and 8BExamples of one-to-many and many-to-one relay operations according to certain aspects of this disclosure are shown. One-to-many relay operations may involve sending multiple packets within a single TB, where each IP packet is sent to a different destination node via a single relay node. For example, as... Figure 8A As shown in the example, the source node can send Internet Protocol (IP) packet 1 and IP packet 2, respectively, to destination node 1 and destination node 2, over a single DL transmission (or over a single component carrier (CC)) and through the same relay node. At the relay node, the DL TB (also referred to herein as a PHY SDU, which essentially becomes a MAC PDU as it moves up the protocol stack) can be split into two MAC sub-PDUs and sent to their respective destination nodes. Each MAC sub-PDU represents its corresponding packet after the packet has traveled down the protocol stack through the PDCP, RLC, and MAC layers (i.e., each MAC sub-PDU corresponds to an IP packet that has been converted to a different format, combined with other packets, and / or manipulated using header or sub-header information). Alternatively, many-to-one relay operations may involve sending multiple IP packets in more than one transmission (or over different CCs), where the IP packets need to be for the same destination node. For example, as Figure 8B As shown in the example, the source node can send TB 1 (including IP packet 1) on the first DL transmission (or on the first CC) and TB 2 (including IP packet 2) on the second DL transmission (or on the second CC) via a single relay node. Both IP packet 1 and IP packet 2 can be targeted to the same destination node. Therefore, at the relay node, TB1 and TB2 (also referred to herein as PHY SDU 1 and PHY SDU 2, which essentially become MAC PDU 1 and MAC PDU 2 as they move up the protocol stack) can be cascaded into a single TB for transmission to the destination node.

[0083] Therefore, in some cases, it may be advantageous to forward TBs directly to the destination node without requiring packet processing through all layers of the 5G NR protocol stack. Additionally, when the transmitted data includes multiple IP packets and / or data is destined for multiple destination nodes, concatenating or splitting MAC PDUs at the relay node may be advantageous.

[0084] Some aspects provide techniques for direct TB forwarding in one-to-many and many-to-one relay operations. More specifically, this disclosure provides techniques for sending one or more TBs from a relay node to one or more destination nodes solely through the Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) portion of the PHY and MAC layers in the relay node's protocol stack.

[0085] Example splitting and concatenation of Media Access Control (MAC) Protocol Data Units (PDUs) for Direct Transport Block (TB) forwarding in relay operations

[0086] Certain aspects of this disclosure provide apparatus, methods, processing systems, and computer-readable media for relay operations. For example, certain aspects provide techniques and apparatus for direct transport block (TB) forwarding in one-to-many and many-to-one relay operations.

[0087] As mentioned above, when the link between the source node and the relay node (e.g., a source-relay link) supports a TB size different from the TB size supported by the link between the source node and the destination node (e.g., a relay-destination link), a normal relay scheme can be implemented, requiring data processing before transmission to the destination node (i.e., transmission along the 5G New Radio (NR) protocol stack at the relay node). However, in some cases where the source-relay link and the relay-destination link support the same TB size, according to aspects of this disclosure, the relay node can directly forward the TB received from the source node to the destination node. As used herein, direct forwarding of a TB means that the relay node sends the TB to the destination node without the TB passing through the relay node's full protocol stack.

[0088] Figure 9 Example relay operation according to certain aspects of this disclosure is shown, where the source-relay link and the relay-destination link support the same TB size. Figure 9 In the relay operation illustrated, the relay node can communicate with both the source and destination nodes to send data between them. Data received from the source node can be directly forwarded to the destination node. Direct forwarding may include sending the TB to the destination node only through the Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) portion of the Physical (PHY) and Medium Access Control (MAC) layers in the relay node's protocol stack. Instead of processing packets up and down at each layer in the protocol stack, the relay node can demodulate and decode the received PHY layer data channel from the source node (e.g., demodulate and decode the TB), and then encode and modulate the TB so that it can be forwarded to the destination node. The MAC layer of the protocol stack at the relay node may also be involved in the TB forwarding process, as the MAC layer controls the HARQ process. For example, if the first transmission from the relay node to the destination node fails, the MAC layer may need to perform HARQ. Although the MAC layer may be involved in direct TB forwarding, the MAC Protocol Data Unit (PDU) may remain unchanged at the relay node.

[0089] To enable direct TB forwarding in relay operations, resources can be allocated such that the source-relay link and the relay-destination link support the same TB size. Resource allocation (which can be performed by the source node) may include: determining the number of identifiers (IDs) to be allocated to each link, and determining the modulation and coding scheme (MCS) to be selected for each link based on link quality for each of the source-relay link and the relay-destination link.

[0090] Additionally, relay nodes may know whether they should use the normal relay scheme or the direct TB forwarding scheme. In some aspects, relay nodes can be instructed by the source node to use direct TB forwarding (i.e., the source node can send an instruction to the relay node for direct forwarding TB).

[0091] In this disclosure, when the data being transmitted includes multiple Internet Protocol (IP) packets and / or multiple target destination nodes, one-to-many and many-to-one relay operations can be used.

[0092] In some respects, a relay node may receive a single Data Block (TB) to be forwarded to multiple destination nodes, depending on downlink (DL) permission. A TB may include two or more concatenated MAC Sub-Protocol Data Units (MAC Sub-PDUs) corresponding to two or more IP packets. Therefore, a relay node may be able to split a TB into two or more MAC Sub-PDUs and forward the MAC Sub-PDUs directly to multiple destination nodes.

[0093] In some respects, a relay node can receive multiple Data Blocks (TBs) to be forwarded to a single destination node, based on multiple Data Link (DL) permissions. Each received TB can include a single MAC sub-PDU corresponding to a single IP packet. Therefore, a relay node may be able to concatenate MAC sub-PDUs within concatenated TBs and forward the concatenated TBs directly to a single destination node.

[0094] Figure 10 This is a flowchart illustrating an example operation 1000 for wireless communication according to certain aspects of this disclosure. Operation 1000 can be performed, for example, by a relay node (e.g., UE 120 or relay station 110r, such as in wireless communication network 100). Operation 1000 can be a supplementary operation performed by the relay node to operation 1100 performed by the source node (e.g., BS 110, such as in wireless communication network 100). Operation 1000 can be implemented in one or more processors (e.g., Figure 4 The software components executed and running on the processor 480. Furthermore, the transmission and reception of signals by the relay node in operation 900 can be performed, for example, by one or more antennas (e.g., Figure 4This can be achieved via antenna 452. In some aspects, the transmission and / or reception of signals by the relay node can be achieved via a bus interface of one or more processors (e.g., processor 480) that acquire and / or output signals.

[0095] Operation 1000 may begin at block 1002 with the relay node receiving an instruction from the source node to directly forward one or more data blocks (TBs) to one or more destination nodes, wherein direct forwarding includes sending one or more TBs to one or more destination nodes solely through the PHY layer and the HARQ portion of the MAC layer in the relay node's protocol stack. At block 1004, the relay node receives control information from the source node for one or more data channels, the control information configuring one DL permission and two or more SL permissions, or two or more DL permissions and one SL permission. At block 1006, the relay node decodes one or more TBs at least partially based on the control information. At block 1008, the relay node directly forwards one or more TBs to one or more destination nodes at least partially based on the instruction and control information.

[0096] Figure 11 This is a flowchart illustrating an example operation 1100 for wireless communication according to certain aspects of this disclosure. Operation 1100 can be performed, for example, by a source node (e.g., BS 110 in wireless communication network 100). Operation 1100 can be implemented in one or more processors (e.g., Figure 4 The software components executed and running on the processor 440. Furthermore, the transmission and reception of signals by the source node in operation 1100 can be, for example, by one or more antennas (e.g., Figure 4 This can be achieved via antenna 434. In some aspects, the transmission and / or reception of signals by the source node can be achieved via a bus interface of one or more processors (e.g., processor 440) that acquire and / or output signals.

[0097] Operation 1100 may begin at block 1102 with the source node sending an instruction to the relay node to directly forward one or more Data Blocks (TBs) to one or more destination nodes, wherein direct forwarding includes sending one or more TBs to one or more destination nodes solely through the PHY layer and the HARQ portion of the MAC layer in the relay node's protocol stack. At block 1104, the source node sends control information to the relay node for one or more data channels, the control information configuring one DL permission and two or more SL permissions, or two or more DL permissions and one SL permission.

[0098] Figure 10 and 11 The operation can be referred to Figure 12 ,13 And 14 to understand, Figure 12 , 13 Figures 1 and 14 illustrate direct TB forwarding in one-to-many and many-to-one relay operations. In some examples, the relay node may know to use direct TB forwarding in the relay operation based on an instruction sent by the source node, in order to forward the TB directly to the destination node.

[0099] Figure 12 This is a flowchart 1200 illustrating example signaling for one-to-many relay operation in SL transmission mode 1, according to aspects of this disclosure. In NR, there are generally two basic SL resource allocation modes. According to the first mode (mode 1), as... Figure 12 As shown, source node 1202 can allocate resources for SL communication between relay node 1204 and destination nodes 1206 and 1208.

[0100] In a one-to-many relay operation, a relay node can receive a single Data Block (TB) to be forwarded to multiple destination nodes based on downlink (DL) permissions. A TB can include two or more concatenated MAC sub-PDUs corresponding to two or more IP packets. Specifically, the MAC layer of the source node's protocol stack can map several Service Data Units (SDUs) to MAC SDUs. Furthermore, multiple MAC SDUs can be concatenated to generate a MAC PDU (essentially a TB) with multiple MAC sub-PDUs (including their headers). Because the source node has the ability to concatenate multiple MAC sub-PDUs into a single TB, it may also know the size of each MAC sub-PDU in the concatenated TB. Therefore, the source node can allocate corresponding SL resources for direct TB forwarding of MAC sub-PDUs to each target destination node in the relay operation.

[0101] Figure 12 A one-to-many relay operation can begin at 1210 by relay node 1204 sending one or more Channel Quality Indicator (CQI) indices to source node 1202. In some examples, one CQI index may include an SL CQI for the link between relay node 1204 and destination node 1206. In some examples, one CQI index may include an SL CQI for the link between relay node 1204 and destination node 1208. In some examples, one CQI index may include a DL CQI for the link between relay node 1204 and source node 1202.

[0102] At 1212, source node 1202 can perform resource allocation based on the received CQI index. In some aspects, upon receiving an SL CQI from relay node 1204, source node 1202 can allocate SL resources for SL permissions (e.g., permissions for TB include SL permissions) based on the SL CQI. In some aspects, upon receiving a DL CQI from relay node 1204, source node 1202 can allocate DL resources for DL ​​permissions (e.g., permissions for TB include DL permissions) based on the DL CQI. The source node can allocate resources for both SL and DL permissions such that the TB size supported by the source-relay link (e.g., DL), the relay-destination link for destination node 1206 (e.g., SL for destination node 1206), and the relay-destination link for destination node 1208 (e.g., SL for destination node 1208) supports the same TB size. In other words, the first TB size supported by the source-relay link, the second TB size supported by the relay-destination link for destination node 1206, and the third TB size supported by the relay-destination link for destination node 1208 can be the same.

[0103] At 1214, source node 1202 can send control information for one or more data channels to relay node 1204 for decoding TB. In a one-to-many relay operation, source node 1202 can send two packets for two destination nodes (e.g., destination nodes 1206 and 1208) through the same relay node 1204. Therefore, the control information sent by source node 1202 to relay node 1204 can configure one DL permission and two SL permissions. In some examples, the DL permission and the two SL permissions can be separate. In some examples, the DL permission and the two SL permissions can be combined to form a joint DL / SL permission.

[0104] In some examples, the control information can also configure one or more length fields for one or more MAC sub-PDUs concatenated in a single TB during a many-to-one relay operation. Therefore, a combined DL / SL grant sent by source node 1202 to relay node 1204 may include a DL grant, two SL grants, and the length of a single MAC sub-PDU in a single format. The source node can configure the MAC sub-PDU length field in the control information because the source node knows the size of each MAC sub-PDU before concatenating them in a single TB for transmission.

[0105] At 1216, source node 1202 may send a single TB according to DL permission. The sent TB may include two concatenated MAC sub-PDUs corresponding to two IP packets. More specifically, a first IP packet destined for destination node 1206 and a second IP packet destined for destination node 1208 may be concatenated in a single DL TB sent by source node 1202 to relay node 1204.

[0106] At 1218, source node 1202 can also send an indication to relay node 1204 to directly forward two TBs (e.g., two MAC sub-PDUs split from a received DL TB) to a destination node, wherein direct forwarding includes sending the two TBs to destination nodes 1206 and 1208 only through the PHY layer and the HARQ portion of the MAC layer in the protocol stack of relay node 1204. In some examples, the indication may include a 1-bit indication in a separate SL grant or as part of a combined DL / SL grant. In some examples, the indication may be sent via Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling. The RRC-preconfigured relay node 1204 can be configured to perform direct TB forwarding throughout the entire relay transmission.

[0107] Upon receiving the control information, at 1220, relay node 1204 can decode the TB at least partially based on the control information. At 1222, relay node 1204 can use the length field in the control information to split the received concatenated TB into two MAC sub-PDUs at the PHY layer (each MAC sub-PDU is targeted at either destination node 1206 or destination node 1208).

[0108] At 1224, relay node 1204 can determine, based on the indication, to send two MAC sub-PDUs only through the PHY layer and the HARQ portion of the MAC layer in the protocol stack at relay node 1204 (the opposite of processing packets at the top and bottom of the protocol stack). Subsequently, relay node 1204 can directly forward one of the MAC sub-PDUs to destination node 1206 at 1226 and 1228 respectively, and directly forward the other MAC sub-PDU to destination node 1208.

[0109] In some aspects, the control information may include an identifier (ID) that indicates that relay node 1104 may forward the TB directly to its destination node 1106. Therefore, relay node 1104 may forward the TB directly to the destination node 1106 corresponding to the received ID at 1120.

[0110] Figure 13 This illustrates the splitting of the MAC PDU in Example 1300 one-to-many relay operation. (Example:) Figure 13As shown, IP packet 1 and IP packet 2 can respectively progress down through several sub-layers along logical channels 1 and 2 of the communication protocol stack at the source node (e.g., gNB). Each protocol layer can be modified by adding header or sub-header information (e.g., such as...). Figure 13 The H layer (as shown) manipulates data by converting it into different formats and combining IP packets 1 and 2 into larger packets. The MAC layer can generate MAC PDUs, which cascade to correspond to the two MAC SDUs of IP packets 1 and 2. Essentially, the MAC PDU becomes a PHY SDU (which may be referred to as a TB) when it is sent to the PHY layer of the relay node.

[0111] When a PHY SDU is sent from a source node to a relay node, the relay node can split the cascaded PHY SDU into two MAC sub-PDUs, at least in part, based on one or more length fields of one or more MAC sub-PDUs (configured by the source node in the control information sent to the relay node). More specifically, the relay node can split the PHY SDU into a first MAC sub-PDU and a second MAC sub-PDU at point 1302. The relay node can determine the split point 1302 of the PHY SDU based on the length field of the first MAC sub-PDU in the joint DL / SL permission sent by the source node. The first MAC sub-PDU can be directly forwarded to the first destination node (e.g., target UE1). The second MAC sub-PDU can be directly forwarded to the second destination node (e.g., target UE2).

[0112] Although Figure 12 and 13 This applies to the transmission of two packets in a one-to-many relay operation, but a similar operation can be applied when more than two packets are sent. Therefore, multiple SL grants and multiple length fields for each MAC sub-PDU in a combined DL / SL grant can be configured such that the received DL TB can be split into multiple (e.g., two or more) MAC sub-PDUs and sent accordingly to multiple (e.g., two or more) destination nodes.

[0113] Figure 14This is a call flow diagram 1400 illustrating example signaling for a many-to-one relay operation under SL transmission mode 1 according to aspects of this disclosure. In a many-to-one relay operation, a relay node may be authorized to receive two or more TBs to be forwarded to a single destination node based on two or more DLs. Each TB may include a MAC sub-PDU corresponding to a single IP packet. To implement relaying multiple TBs to a single destination node, the source node may instruct the relay node to perform TB concatenation. Specifically, multiple MAC SDUs may be concatenated at the relay node to generate a MAC PDU (essentially, a concatenated TB) with multiple MAC sub-PDUs (including their headers). Since the source node may know the number of TBs (with single MAC sub-PDUs) to be sent to the relay node, the source node may know the total DL TB size. Therefore, the source node may allocate corresponding SL resources for direct forwarding of the concatenated TBs to the target destination node.

[0114] Similar to Figure 12 ,exist Figure 14 In this configuration, relay node 1404 can send CQI information to source node 1402, source node 1402 can allocate resources at least partially based on CQI, and source node 1402 can send control information and instructions to relay node 1404 to forward one or more TBs directly to one or more destination nodes. However, compared with... Figure 12 Unlike one-to-many relay operations, Figure 14 The many-to-one relay operation in the example illustrates the transmission of multiple packets to a single destination node (e.g., destination node 1406). Therefore, CQI information can include two DL CQIs and one SL CQI. Additionally, control information can configure two DL permissions and only one SL permission.

[0115] Furthermore, at 1414, source node 1402 can send two TBs based on two DL permissions, where each TB includes a MAC sub-PDU corresponding to a single IP packet. At 1418, relay node 1404 can decode the two TBs based on the received control information. At 1420, relay node 1404 can concatenate the two MAC sub-PDUs in the concatenated TB (essentially combining two DL TBs into a single concatenated TB).

[0116] At 1422, relay node 1404 can determine, based on an indication, to send the concatenated TB only through the PHY layer and the HARQ portion of the MAC layer in the protocol stack at relay node 1404 (as opposed to processing packets at the top and bottom of the protocol stack). Subsequently, relay node 1404 can forward the concatenated TB directly to destination node 1406 at 1424.

[0117] In some examples, all transmitted packets (one packet per TB transmitted) may not be received by relay node 1404. If source node 1402 has sufficient time to receive Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) acknowledgment (ACK) or negative acknowledgment (NACK) feedback from relay node 1404, relay node 1404 can send HARQ ACK feedback to source node 1402 for received TBs and HARQ NACK feedback for TBs not received but transmitted by source node 1402. Based on the ACK / NACK feedback, source node 1402 can determine which TBs were received by relay node 1404 and allocate corresponding SL resources accordingly. Therefore, SL permission sent from source node 1402 to relay node 1404 can be at least partially based on the number of TBs received at relay node 1404.

[0118] In some examples, all transmitted packets (one packet per TB transmitted) may not be received by relay node 1404, and source node 1402 may not have enough time to receive HARQ ACK / NACK feedback from relay node 1404. Therefore, source node 1402 may perform TB matching and SL resource allocation for all possible combinations of TBs that may be received at relay node 1404.

[0119] In some examples, source node 1402 can perform TB matching and SL resource allocation by configuring SL permissions with one or more SL permissions, each SL permission corresponding to a single TB or one or more combinations of SL permissions sent by the source node. For example, when two packets are sent in a many-to-one relay operation that does not provide sufficient time for the relay node to receive ACK / NACK feedback, the source node can allocate resources for permissions such that the permissions include a DL permission for the TB of packet 1, a DL permission for the TB of packet 2, an SL permission in the case where only the TB of packet 1 is received at the relay node, an SL permission in the case where only the TB of packet 2 is received at the relay node, and an SL permission in the case where both the TBs of packet 1 and packet 2 are received at the relay node. In another example involving a transmission of 3 packets, the source node can allocate resources for permits such that the permits include 3 DL permits (one for each TB of a packet) and 7 SL permits (e.g., SL permits for cases where only the TB of packet 1 is received, SL permits for cases where only the TB of packet 2 is received, SL permits for cases where only the TB of packet 3 is received, SL permits for cases where only the TBs of packets 1 and 2 are received, SL permits for cases where only the TBs of packets 1 and 3 are received, SL permits for cases where only the TBs of packets 2 and 3 are received, and SL permits for cases where all the TBs of packets 1, 2, and 3 are received). Therefore, as the number of packets transmitted increases, the number of SL permits configured by the source node grows exponentially.

[0120] Allocating resources for all possible scenarios does not scale with the number of concatenated packets sent from the source node to the relay node; therefore, grant overhead increases as the number of packets sent increases. To reduce grant overhead, in some examples where each packet in the sent packets has the same TB size, the source node 1402 can perform TB matching and SL resource allocation by configuring SL grants with one or more SL grants corresponding to one or more TBs received by the relay node, where the one or more TBs received by the relay node are less than or equal to the number of TBs sent by the source node. The source node can allocate resources for grants such that grants include DL grants for all sent packets (e.g., DL grants for packet 1, packet 2, ..., packet n), SL grants for the case where only one packet is received, SL grants for the case where only two packets are received, and other SL grants up to the case where all sent packets are received. For example, when three packets are sent in a many-to-one relay operation without providing the relay node with sufficient time to receive ACK / NACK feedback and each packet has the same TB size, the source node can allocate resources for permission, such that permission includes DL permission for packets 1, 2 and 3, SL permission if only 1 packet is received, SL permission if only 2 packets are received, and SL permission if all packets are received.

[0121] In the aforementioned example, the relay node can select one of the configured SL permissions based at least in part on the number of one or more received TBs, concatenate one or more received TBs in the concatenated TBs, and forward the concatenated TBs directly to a destination node. The relay node directly forwards the concatenated TBs based on the direct forwarding instruction, the destination node's ID, and the selected configured SL permission.

[0122] Although Figure 14 This is for the transmission of two packets in a many-to-one relay operation; a similar operation can be applied when more than two packets are sent. Therefore, multiple DL permits can be configured for the transmission of multiple DL TBs, so that received DL TBs can be concatenated in a single TB and sent to a single destination node.

[0123] Figure 15 The illustration shows operations that may include being configured to perform the techniques disclosed herein (such as, Figure 10The communication device 1500 comprises various components (e.g., corresponding to unit plus functional components) of the operation shown herein. The communication device 1500 includes a processing system 1502 coupled to a transceiver 1508. The transceiver 1508 is configured to transmit and receive signals (such as various signals as described herein) for the communication device 1500 via an antenna 1510. The processing system 1502 may be configured to perform processing functions for the communication device 1500, including processing signals received and / or to be transmitted by the communication device 1500.

[0124] Processing system 1502 includes processor 1504 coupled to computer-readable medium / memory 1512 via bus 1506. In some aspects, computer-readable medium / memory 1512 is configured to store instructions (e.g., computer-executable code) that, when executed by processor 1504, cause processor 1504 to perform... Figure 10The operations shown herein, or other operations used to perform the various techniques discussed herein for direct TB forwarding in relay operations. In some aspects, the computer-readable medium / memory 1512 stores: code 1514 for receiving (e.g., for receiving from a source node an instruction to directly forward one or more TBs to one or more destination nodes, wherein direct forwarding includes: sending one or more TBs to one or more destination nodes only through the HARQ portion of the PHY layer and MAC layer in the relay node's protocol stack); code 1516 for receiving (e.g., for receiving from a source node control information for one or more data channels, the control information configuring one DL permission and two or more SL permissions or two or more DL permissions and one SL permission); code 1518 for decoding (e.g., for decoding one or more TBs at least partially based on the control information); and code 1520 for direct forwarding (e.g., for directly forwarding one or more TBs to one or more destination nodes at least partially based on the instruction and control information). In some aspects, the processor 1504 has a circuit system configured to implement the code stored in the computer-readable medium / memory 1512. Processor 1504 includes: a receiving circuitry 1524 (e.g., for receiving from a source node an instruction to directly forward one or more TBs to one or more destination nodes, wherein direct forwarding includes sending one or more TBs to one or more destination nodes only through the PHY layer and the HARQ portion of the MAC layer in the relay node's protocol stack); a receiving circuitry 1526 (e.g., for receiving from a source node control information for one or more data channels, the control information configuring a DL permission and two or more SL permissions or two or more DL permissions and one SL permission); a decoding circuitry 1528 (e.g., for decoding one or more TBs at least partially based on the control information); and a direct forwarding circuitry 1520 (e.g., for directly forwarding one or more TBs to one or more destination nodes at least partially based on the instruction and control information).

[0125] Figure 16 The illustration shows operations that may include being configured to perform the techniques disclosed herein (such as, Figure 11 The communication device 1600 comprises various components (e.g., corresponding to unit plus functional components) of the operation shown herein. The communication device 1600 includes a processing system 1602 coupled to a transceiver 1608. The transceiver 1608 is configured to transmit and receive signals (such as various signals as described herein) for the communication device 1600 via an antenna 1610. The processing system 1602 may be configured to perform processing functions for the communication device 1600, including processing signals received and / or to be transmitted by the communication device 1600.

[0126] Processing system 1602 includes processor 1604 coupled to computer-readable medium / memory 1612 via bus 1306. In some aspects, computer-readable medium / memory 1612 is configured to store instructions (e.g., computer-executable code) that, when executed by processor 1604, cause processor 1604 to perform... Figure 11 The operations shown herein, or other operations used to perform the various techniques discussed herein for direct TB forwarding in relay operations. In some aspects, the computer-readable medium / memory 1612 stores: code 1614 for transmission (e.g., for sending an instruction to a relay node to directly forward one or more TBs to one or more destination nodes, wherein direct forwarding includes: sending one or more TBs to one or more destination nodes only through the HARQ portion of the PHY layer and MAC layer in the relay node's protocol stack); and code 1616 for transmission (e.g., for sending control information to a relay node for one or more data channels, the control information configuring one DL permission and two or more SL permissions, or two or more DL permissions and one SL permission). In some aspects, the processor 1604 has a circuit system configured to implement the code stored in the computer-readable medium / memory 1612. Processor 1604 includes: a circuit system 1624 for transmitting (e.g., for transmitting to a relay node an instruction to directly forward one or more TBs to one or more destination nodes, wherein direct forwarding includes transmitting one or more TBs to one or more destination nodes only through the PHY layer and the HARQ portion of the MAC layer in the relay node's protocol stack); and a circuit system 1616 for transmitting (e.g., for transmitting to a relay node control information for one or more data channels, the control information configuring a DL permission and two or more SL permissions or two or more DL permissions and one SL permission).

[0127] Example

[0128] Aspect 1: An apparatus for wireless communication by a relay node, comprising: a memory and at least one processor coupled to the memory, the at least one processor being configured to: receive from a source node an instruction to directly forward one or more transport blocks (TBs) to one or more destination nodes, wherein direct forwarding includes: sending one of the one or more TBs to the one or more destination nodes only through a Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) portion of the physical (PHY) layer and media access control (MAC) layer in the protocol stack of the relay node; receiving from the source node control information for one or more data channels, the control information configuring a downlink (DL) permission and two or more sidelink (SL) permissions or two or more DL permissions and one SL permission; decoding one or more TBs at least in part based on the control information; and directly forwarding the one or more TBs to the one or more destination nodes at least in part based on the instruction and the control information.

[0129] Aspect 2: The apparatus according to aspect 1, wherein the indication includes a 1-bit indication in the SL permission portion of the SL permission or the combined DL / SL permission.

[0130] Aspect 3: The apparatus according to aspect 1 or 2, wherein the instruction is received via Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling.

[0131] Aspect 4: The apparatus according to any one of Aspects 1-3, wherein the control information includes one or more identifiers (IDs) indicating that the one or more TBs should be directly forwarded to their one or more destination nodes.

[0132] Aspect 5: The apparatus according to aspect 4, wherein the memory and the at least one processor are further configured to: receive a single TB according to the DL permission when the control information for the one or more data channels is configured with a DL permission and two or more SL permissions, wherein the TB comprises two or more concatenated MAC sub-protocol data units (MAC sub-PDUs) corresponding to two or more IP packets.

[0133] Aspect 6: The apparatus according to aspect 5, wherein the control information further configures one or more length fields of the one or more MAC sub-PDUs.

[0134] Aspect 7: The apparatus according to aspect 6, wherein the memory and the at least one processor are further configured to: split the TB into the two or more MAC sub-PDUs at least in part based on the one or more length fields of the one or more MAC sub-PDUs, and to forward the two or more MAC sub-PDUs directly to at least two or more destination nodes at least in part based on the indication, two or more IDs corresponding to two or more destination nodes, and two or more SL permissions corresponding to two or more destination nodes.

[0135] Aspect 8: The apparatus according to any one of Aspects 4-7, wherein the memory and the at least one processor are further configured to: receive one or more TBs according to one or more DL permissions when two or more DL permissions and one SL permission are configured for the control information of the one or more data channels, wherein each of the one or more TBs received includes a MAC sub-protocol data unit (MAC sub-PDU) corresponding to a single IP packet.

[0136] Aspect 9: The apparatus according to Aspect 8, wherein the memory and the at least one processor are further configured to: send a Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) acknowledgment (ACK) feedback to the source node for one or more received TBs; receive the SL permission from the source node based at least in part on the number of one or more received TBs at the relay node; concatenate the one or more received TBs in the concatenated TBs; and forward the concatenated TBs directly to a destination node based at least in part on the indication, the ID of the destination node in the one or more IDs, and the SL permission.

[0137] Aspect 10: The apparatus according to aspect 8 or 9, wherein the configured SL permission includes: one or more SL permissions, each SL permission corresponding to a single TB sent by the source node; one or more combinations of SL permissions, wherein each SL permission corresponds to a single TB sent by the source node; or one or more SL permissions corresponding to one or more TBs received by the relay node, wherein the one or more TBs received by the relay node are less than or equal to the number of TBs sent by the source node.

[0138] Aspect 11: The apparatus according to aspect 10, wherein the memory and the at least one processor are further configured to perform the following: selecting a configured SL permission at least in part based on the number of one or more TBs received; concatenating the one or more TBs received in the concatenated TBs; and forwarding the concatenated TBs directly to a destination node at least in part based on the indication, the ID of the destination node in the one or more IDs, and the selected configured SL permission.

[0139] Aspect 12: An apparatus according to any one of aspects 1-11, wherein the memory and the at least one processor are further configured to: send one or more channel quality indicator (CQI) indices to the source node; and receive one or more permission requests for the one or more TBs based at least in part on the one or more CQI indices.

[0140] Aspect 13: The apparatus according to aspect 12, wherein the CQI index in the one or more CQI indices includes SL CQI for the link between the relay node and the destination node in the one or more destination nodes, and the permission in the one or more permissions for the one or more TBs includes SL permission based at least in part on the CQI index.

[0141] Aspect 14: The apparatus according to aspect 12 or 13, wherein the CQI index in the one or more CQI indices includes DL CQI for the link between the relay node and the source node, and the permission in the one or more permissions for the one or more TBs includes DL permission based at least in part on the CQI index.

[0142] Aspect 15: An apparatus for wireless communication by a source node, comprising: a memory and at least one processor coupled to the memory, the at least one processor being configured to: send an instruction to a relay node to directly forward one or more transport blocks (TBs) to one or more destination nodes, wherein direct forwarding includes: sending one of the one or more TBs to the one or more destination nodes only through a hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) portion of the physical (PHY) layer and media access control (MAC) layer in the protocol stack of the relay node; and sending control information to the relay node for one or more data channels, the control information configuring a downlink (DL) permission and two or more sidelink (SL) permissions or two or more DL permissions and one SL permission.

[0143] Aspect 16: The apparatus according to aspect 15, wherein the indication includes a 1-bit indication in the SL permission portion of the SL permission or the combined DL / SL permission.

[0144] Aspect 17: The apparatus according to aspect 15 or 16, wherein the indication is received via radio resource control (RRC) signaling.

[0145] Aspect 18: The apparatus according to any one of Aspects 15-17, wherein the control information includes one or more identifiers (IDs) indicating that the one or more TBs should be forwarded directly to the one or more destination nodes thereto.

[0146] Aspect 19: The apparatus according to aspect 18, wherein the memory and the at least one processor are further configured to: transmit a single TB according to the DL permission when the control information for the one or more data channels is configured with a DL permission and two or more SL permissions, wherein the TB includes two or more concatenated MAC sub-protocol data units (MAC sub-PDUs) corresponding to two or more IP packets.

[0147] Aspect 20: The apparatus according to aspect 19, wherein the control information further configures one or more length fields of the one or more MAC sub-PDUs.

[0148] Aspect 21: The apparatus according to any one of aspects 18-20, wherein the memory and the at least one processor are further configured to: transmit one or more TBs according to one or more DL permissions when two or more DL permissions and one SL permission are configured for the control information of the one or more data channels, wherein each of the one or more TBs transmitted includes a MAC sub-protocol data unit (MAC sub-PDU) corresponding to a single IP packet.

[0149] Aspect 22: The apparatus according to aspect 21, wherein the memory and the at least one processor are further configured to perform the following: receive a Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) acknowledgment (ACK) feedback from the relay node for one or more received TBs at the relay node; and send the SL permission to the relay node based at least in part on the number of the one or more received TBs at the relay node.

[0150] Aspect 23: The apparatus according to aspect 21 or 22, wherein the configured SL permission includes: one or more SL permissions, each SL permission corresponding to a single TB sent by the source node; one or more combinations of SL permissions, wherein each SL permission corresponds to a single TB sent by the source node; or one or more SL permissions corresponding to one or more TBs received by the relay node, wherein the one or more TBs received by the relay node are less than or equal to the number of TBs sent by the source node.

[0151] Aspect 24: An apparatus according to any one of aspects 15-23, wherein the memory and the at least one processor are further configured to: receive one or more channel quality indicator (CQI) indices from the source node; and transmit one or more permissions for the one or more TBs based at least in part on the one or more CQI indices.

[0152] Aspect 25: The apparatus according to aspect 24, wherein the CQI index of the one or more CQI indices includes SL CQI for the link between the relay node and the destination node of the one or more destination nodes, and the permission of the one or more permissions for the one or more TBs includes SL permission based at least in part on the CQI index.

[0153] Aspect 26: The apparatus according to aspect 24 or 25, wherein the CQI index in the one or more CQI indexes includes DL CQI for the link between the relay node and the source node, and the permission in the one or more permissions for the one or more TBs includes DL permission based at least in part on the CQI index.

[0154] Aspect 27: A method for wireless communication by a relay node, comprising: receiving from a source node an instruction to directly forward one or more transport blocks (TBs) to one or more destination nodes, wherein direct forwarding includes: sending one or more TBs to the one or more destination nodes only through a Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) portion of the physical (PHY) layer and media access control (MAC) layer in the protocol stack of the relay node; receiving from the source node control information for one or more data channels, the control information configuring a downlink (DL) permission and two or more sidelink (SL) permissions or two or more DL permissions and one SL permission; decoding one or more TBs at least in part based on the control information; and directly forwarding the one or more TBs to the one or more destination nodes at least in part based on the instruction and the control information.

[0155] Aspect 28: The method according to aspect 28, wherein the indication includes a 1-bit indication in the SL permission portion of the SL permission or the combined DL / SL permission.

[0156] Aspect 29: A method for wireless communication by a source node, comprising: sending an instruction to a relay node to directly forward one or more transport blocks (TBs) to one or more destination nodes, wherein direct forwarding includes: sending one or more TBs to the one or more destination nodes only through a hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) portion of the physical (PHY) layer and media access control (MAC) layer in the protocol stack of the relay node; and sending control information to the relay node for one or more data channels, the control information configuring a downlink (DL) permission and two or more sidelink (SL) permissions or two or more DL permissions and one SL permission.

[0157] Aspect 30: The method according to aspect 29, wherein the indication includes a 1-bit indication in the SL permission portion of the SL permission or the combined DL / SL permission.

[0158] Additional considerations

[0159] The methods disclosed herein include one or more steps or actions for implementing the methods. These method steps and / or actions may be interchanged with each other. In other words, the order and / or use of specific steps and / or actions may be modified unless a particular order of steps or actions is specified.

[0160] As used herein, the phrase “at least one of” in a list of items refers to any combination of those items, including a single member. As an example, “at least one of a, b, or c” is intended to cover a, b, c, ab, ac, bc, and abc, as well as any combination of multiples of the same element (e.g., aa, aaa, aab, aac, abb, acc, bb, bbb, bbb, bbc, cc, and ccc, or any other ordering of a, b, and c).

[0161] As used herein, the term "determine" encompasses a wide variety of actions. For example, "determine" can include calculation, computation, processing, derivation, research, searching (e.g., searching in a table, database, or other data structure), ascertaining, etc. Furthermore, "determine" can include receiving (e.g., receiving information), accessing (e.g., accessing data in memory), etc. Moreover, "determine" can include resolving, selecting, choosing, establishing, etc.

[0162] The above description is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to implement the various aspects described herein. Various modifications to these aspects will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein can be applied to other aspects. References to singular elements are not intended to mean “one and only one” (unless specifically stated so), but rather “one or more.” Unless otherwise specifically stated, the term “some” means one or more. All structural and functional equivalents of elements throughout the various aspects described in this disclosure that are known or will be known hereafter by a person skilled in the art are expressly incorporated herein by reference and are intended to be covered by the claims. Furthermore, the disclosure herein is not intended to be a public offering, whether or not such disclosure is expressly recited in the claims. No claim element should be construed in accordance with 35 U.SC §112(f) unless the element is expressly recited using the phrase “for a unit of…” or, in the case of a method claim, the element is recited using the phrase “for a step of…”.

[0163] The various operations described above can be performed by any suitable unit capable of performing the corresponding function. These units may include various hardware and / or software components and / or modules, including but not limited to circuits, application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), or processors. Generally, where the operations illustrated in the figures are present, these operations may have corresponding paired units with similar numbers plus functional components.

[0164] The various illustrative logic blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with this disclosure may be implemented or executed using a general-purpose processor, digital signal processor (DSP), application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), field-programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device (PLD), discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof, designed to perform the functions described herein. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but alternatively, the processor may be any commercially available processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. The processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, such as a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, multiple microprocessors, one or more microprocessors and a DSP core, or any other such configuration.

[0165] If implemented in hardware, an example hardware configuration could include a processing system in a wireless node. The processing system can be implemented using a bus architecture. Depending on the specific application and overall design constraints of the processing system, the bus can include any number of interconnect buses and bridges. The bus can link various circuits together, including processors, machine-readable media, and bus interfaces. The bus interface can be used to connect network adapters, etc., to the processing system via the bus. The network adapter can be used to implement signal processing functions at the PHY layer. In user terminal 120 (see...) Figure 1 In this case, the user interface (e.g., keyboard, display, mouse, joystick, etc.) can also be connected to the bus. The bus can also link various other circuits known in the art, such as timing sources, peripherals, voltage regulators, power management circuits, etc., and therefore will not be described further. The processor can be implemented using one or more general-purpose and / or special-purpose processors. Examples include microprocessors, microcontrollers, DSP processors, and other circuits capable of executing software. Those skilled in the art will recognize how the described functionality is best implemented for the processing system depending on the specific application and the overall design constraints imposed on the system as a whole.

[0166] If implemented in software, functionality can be stored or transmitted on or on a computer-readable medium as one or more instructions or code. Software should be interpreted broadly as representing instructions, data, or any combination thereof, whether referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or otherwise. Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media, with communication media encompassing any medium that facilitates the transfer of computer programs from one place to another. The processor may be responsible for managing the bus and general processing, including the execution of software modules stored on the machine-readable storage medium. The computer-readable storage medium may be coupled to the processor, enabling the processor to read information from and write information to the storage medium. Alternatively, the storage medium may be integrated into the processor. By way of example, machine-readable media may include transmission lines, carrier waves modulated by data, and / or computer-readable storage media with instructions stored thereon, separate from the wireless node, all of which may be accessible to the processor via a bus interface. Alternatively or additionally, the machine-readable medium or any portion thereof may be integrated into the processor (e.g., for caches and / or general-purpose register files). By way of example, examples of machine-readable storage media may include: RAM (random access memory), flash memory, ROM (read-only memory), PROM (programmable read-only memory), EPROM (erasable programmable read-only memory), EEPROM (electrically erasable programmable read-only memory), registers, disks, optical disks, hard disks, or any other suitable storage media, or any combination thereof. Machine-readable media may be embodied in computer program products.

[0167] Software modules can comprise a single instruction or a number of instructions, and can be distributed across several different code segments, different programs, and multiple storage media. Computer-readable media can include multiple software modules. A software module includes instructions that, when executed by a device such as a processor, cause the processing system to perform various functions. Software modules can include sending modules and receiving modules. Each software module can reside in a single storage device or be distributed across multiple storage devices. For example, when a triggering event occurs, a software module can be loaded from a hard disk drive into RAM. During the execution of a software module, the processor can load some of the instructions into a cache to improve access speed. One or more cache lines can then be loaded into a general-purpose register file for processor execution. When referring to the functionality of a software module below, it should be understood that such functionality is implemented by the processor when instructions from that software module are executed.

[0168] Furthermore, any connection is appropriately referred to as a computer-readable medium. For example, if software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using coaxial cable, optical fiber, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared (IR), radio, and microwave, then that coaxial cable, optical fiber, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave are included in the definition of medium. As used herein, disks and optical discs include compact discs (CDs), laser discs, optical discs, digital multifunction discs (DVDs), floppy disks, and Blu-ray discs, where disks typically copy data magnetically, while optical discs copy data optically using lasers. Therefore, in some aspects, a computer-readable medium can include non-transitory computer-readable media (e.g., tangible media). Furthermore, in other aspects, a computer-readable medium can include transient computer-readable media (e.g., signals). Combinations of the above can also be considered computer-readable media.

[0169] Therefore, certain aspects may include a computer program product for performing the operations presented herein. For example, such a computer program product may include a computer-readable medium having instructions stored (and / or encoded thereon) thereon, which are executable by one or more processors to perform the operations described herein. For example, for performing the operations described herein and Figure 10 and 11 The instructions for the operation shown are as follows.

[0170] Furthermore, it should be understood that modules and / or other suitable units for performing the methods and techniques described herein can be downloaded and / or otherwise obtained by the user terminal and / or base station (if applicable). For example, such a device can be coupled to a server to facilitate the transfer of units for performing the methods described herein. Alternatively, the various methods described herein can be provided via storage units (e.g., RAM, ROM, physical storage media such as CDs or floppy disks, etc.) so that the user terminal and / or base station can obtain the various methods when the storage units are coupled or provided to the device. Furthermore, any other suitable techniques for providing the methods and techniques described herein to the device can be utilized.

[0171] It should be understood that the claims are not limited to the precise configuration and components described above. Various modifications, changes, and variations can be made to the arrangement, operation, and details of the methods and apparatus described above.

Claims

1. An apparatus for wireless communication by a relay node, comprising: Memory, which stores computer-executable instructions; as well as At least one processor coupled to the memory, the at least one processor being configured to execute the computer-executable instructions and cause the device to perform the following: Receive an instruction from the source node to forward two or more transport blocks (TBs) directly to one or more destination nodes, wherein direct forwarding includes sending one of the two or more TBs to the one or more destination nodes only through the hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) portion of the physical (PHY) layer and media access control (MAC) layer in the protocol stack of the relay node; The source node receives control information for one or more data channels, the control information configuring two or more downlink (DL) permissions, wherein the control information includes an identifier (ID) indicating the destination node in the one or more destination nodes to which the two or more TBs should be directly forwarded; To receive two or more of the two or more TBs according to the two or more DL permissions, wherein each of the two or more TBs received includes a MAC sub-protocol data unit (MAC sub-PDU) corresponding to a single Internet Protocol (IP) packet; Decoding the received two or more TBs is based at least in part on the control information; Send a Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) acknowledgment (ACK) feedback to the source node for the received two or more TBs; Receive additional information from the source node regarding configuration-side link (SL) permission, the SL permission being at least in part based on the number of two or more TBs received at the relay node; Concatenate two or more received TBs within a concatenated TB; and The cascaded TB is forwarded directly to the destination node, based at least in part on the instruction, the ID, and the SL permission.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, The indication includes a 1-bit indication in the SL permission portion of the combined DL / SL permission.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, The instruction was received via Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, The configured SL permissions include: Two or more SL authorizations, each SL authorization corresponding to a single TB sent by the source node; One or more combinations of SL permissions, wherein each SL permission corresponds to a separate TB sent by the source node; or One or more SL permissions corresponding to two or more TBs received by the relay node, wherein the two or more TBs received by the relay node are less than or equal to the number of TBs sent by the source node.

5. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein, The at least one processor is configured to execute the computer-executable instructions and further cause the device to perform the following: The configured SL permission is selected based at least in part on the number of two or more TBs received.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, The at least one processor is further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions and further cause the device to perform the following: Send one or more Channel Quality Indicator (CQI) indices to the source node; as well as Receive one or more permissions for the two or more TBs, wherein the one or more permissions are at least partially based on the one or more CQI indexes.

7. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein: The CQI indexes in the one or more CQI indices include: SL CQI for the link between the relay node and the destination node; and The permissions for the two or more TBs include: the SL permissions based at least in part on the CQI index.

8. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein: The CQI indexes in the one or more CQI indexes include: DL CQI for the link between the relay node and the source node; and The permission for one or more of the two or more TBs includes: a DL permission for at least part of the two DL permissions that is based on the CQI index.

9. An apparatus for wireless communication by a source node, comprising: Memory, which stores computer-executable instructions; as well as At least one processor coupled to the memory, the at least one processor being configured to execute the computer-executable instructions and cause the device to perform the following: Sending an instruction to a relay node to directly forward two or more transport blocks (TBs) to one or more destination nodes, wherein direct forwarding includes: sending one of the two or more TBs to the one or more destination nodes only through the Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) portion of the physical (PHY) layer and media access control (MAC) layer in the relay node's protocol stack; and Send control information to the relay node for one or more data channels, wherein the control information includes an identifier (ID) indicating the destination node to which the two or more TBs should be directly forwarded, and the control information configures two or more downlink (DL) permissions; Two or more of the two or more TBs are transmitted according to the two or more DL permissions, wherein each of the two or more TBs transmitted includes a MAC sub-protocol data unit (MAC sub-PDU) corresponding to a single Internet Protocol (IP) packet; Receive, from the relay node, Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) acknowledgment (ACK) feedback for two or more of the two or more TBs transmitted; and Additional information configuring side link (SL) permission is sent to the relay node, the SL permission being at least in part based on the number of two or more TBs for which it has received the HARQ ACK feedback.

10. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein, The indication includes a 1-bit indication in the SL permission portion of the combined DL / SL permission.

11. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein, The instruction was received via Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling.

12. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein, The configured SL permissions include: One or more SL grants, each SL grant corresponding to a single TB sent by the source node; One or more combinations of SL permissions, wherein each SL permission corresponds to a separate TB sent by the source node; or This corresponds to one or more SL permissions for receiving the HARQ ACK feedback for two or more TBs, where the number of TBs received by the HARQ ACK feedback is less than or equal to the number of TBs sent by the source node.

13. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein, The at least one processor is configured to execute the computer-executable instructions and further cause the device to perform the following: Receive one or more Channel Quality Indicator (CQI) indices from the relay node; and One or more permissions for the two or more TBs are sent, at least in part based on the one or more CQI indexes.

14. The apparatus according to claim 13, wherein: The CQI indexes in the one or more CQI indices include: SL CQI for the link between the relay node and the destination node; and The permissions for the two or more TBs include: SL permissions based at least in part on the CQI index.

15. The apparatus according to claim 13, wherein: The CQI indexes in the one or more CQI indexes include: DL CQI for the link between the relay node and the source node; and The permissions for the two or more TBs include: DL permissions based at least in part on the CQI index.

16. A method for wireless communication by a relay node, comprising: Receive an instruction from the source node to forward two or more transport blocks (TBs) directly to one or more destination nodes, wherein direct forwarding includes sending one of the two or more TBs to the one or more destination nodes only through the hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) portion of the physical (PHY) layer and media access control (MAC) layer in the protocol stack of the relay node; Receive control information for one or more data channels from the source node, the control information configuring Two or more downlinks (DLs) are permitted, wherein the control information includes an identifier (ID) indicating the destination node to which the two or more TBs should be directly forwarded; To receive two or more of the two or more TBs according to the two or more DL permissions, wherein each of the two or more TBs received includes a MAC sub-protocol data unit (MAC sub-PDU) corresponding to a single Internet Protocol (IP) packet; Decoding the received two or more TBs is based at least in part on the control information; Send a Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) acknowledgment (ACK) feedback to the source node for the received two or more TBs; Receive additional information from the source node regarding configuration-side link (SL) permission, the SL permission being at least in part based on the number of two or more TBs received at the relay node; Concatenate two or more received TBs within a concatenated TB; and The cascaded TB is forwarded directly to the destination node, based at least in part on the instruction, the ID, and the SL permission.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein, The indication includes a 1-bit indication in the SL permission portion of the combined DL / SL permission.

18. The method according to claim 16, wherein, The instruction was received via Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein, The configured SL permissions include: Two or more SL authorizations, each SL authorization corresponding to a single TB sent by the source node; One or more combinations of SL permissions, wherein each SL permission corresponds to a separate TB sent by the source node; or One or more SL permissions corresponding to two or more TBs received by the relay node, wherein the two or more TBs received by the relay node are less than or equal to the number of TBs sent by the source node.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising: The configured SL permission is selected based at least in part on the number of two or more TBs received.

21. The method of claim 16, further comprising: Send one or more Channel Quality Indicator (CQI) indices to the source node; as well as Receive one or more permissions for the two or more TBs, wherein the one or more permissions are at least partially based on the one or more CQI indexes.

22. The method according to claim 21, wherein: The CQI indexes in the one or more CQI indices include: SL CQI for the link between the relay node and the destination node; and The permissions for the two or more TBs include: the SL permissions based at least in part on the CQI index.

23. The method according to claim 21, wherein: The CQI indexes in the one or more CQI indexes include: DL CQI for the link between the relay node and the source node; and The permission for one or more of the two or more TBs includes: a DL permission for at least part of the two DL permissions that is based on the CQI index.

24. A method for wireless communication by a source node, comprising: Sending an instruction to a relay node to directly forward two or more transport blocks (TBs) to one or more destination nodes, wherein direct forwarding includes sending one of the two or more TBs to the one or more destination nodes only through the hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) portion of the physical (PHY) layer and media access control (MAC) layer in the relay node's protocol stack; Send control information to the relay node for one or more data channels, wherein the control information includes an identifier (ID) indicating the destination node to which the two or more TBs should be directly forwarded, and the control information configures two or more downlink (DL) permissions; Two or more of the two or more TBs are transmitted according to the two or more DL permissions, wherein each of the two or more TBs transmitted includes a MAC sub-protocol data unit (MAC sub-PDU) corresponding to a single Internet Protocol (IP) packet; Receive, from the relay node, Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) acknowledgment (ACK) feedback for two or more of the two or more TBs transmitted; and Additional information configuring side link (SL) permission is sent to the relay node, the SL permission being at least in part based on the number of two or more TBs for which it has received the HARQ ACK feedback.

25. The method according to claim 24, wherein, The indication includes a 1-bit indication in the SL permission portion of the combined DL / SL permission.

26. The method according to claim 24, wherein, The instruction was received via Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling.

27. The method according to claim 24, wherein, The configured SL permissions include: One or more SL grants, each SL grant corresponding to a single TB sent by the source node; One or more combinations of SL permissions, wherein each SL permission corresponds to a separate TB sent by the source node; or This corresponds to one or more SL permissions for receiving the HARQ ACK feedback for two or more TBs, where the number of TBs received by the HARQ ACK feedback is less than or equal to the number of TBs sent by the source node.

28. The method of claim 24, further comprising: Receive one or more Channel Quality Indicator (CQI) indices from the relay node; as well as One or more permissions for the two or more TBs are sent, at least in part based on the one or more CQI indexes.

29. The method according to claim 28, wherein: The CQI indexes in the one or more CQI indices include: SL CQI for the link between the relay node and the destination node; and The permissions for the two or more TBs include: SL permissions based at least in part on the CQI index.

30. The method of claim 28, wherein: The CQI indexes in the one or more CQI indexes include: DL CQI for the link between the relay node and the source node; and The permissions for the two or more TBs include: DL permissions based at least in part on the CQI index.

31. A computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions causing a relay node to perform the following: Receive an instruction from the source node to forward two or more transport blocks (TBs) directly to one or more destination nodes, wherein, Direct forwarding includes sending one of the two or more TBs to the one or more destination nodes solely through the Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) portion of the physical (PHY) layer and media access control (MAC) layer in the relay node's protocol stack; Receive control information for one or more data channels from the source node, the control information configuring Two or more downlinks (DLs) are permitted, wherein the control information includes an identifier (ID) indicating the destination node to which the two or more TBs should be directly forwarded; To receive two or more of the two or more TBs according to the two or more DL permissions, wherein each of the two or more TBs received includes a MAC sub-protocol data unit (MAC sub-PDU) corresponding to a single Internet Protocol (IP) packet; Decoding the received two or more TBs is based at least in part on the control information; Send a Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) acknowledgment (ACK) feedback to the source node for the received two or more TBs; Receive additional information from the source node regarding configuration-side link (SL) permission, the SL permission being at least in part based on the number of two or more TBs received at the relay node; Concatenate two or more received TBs within a concatenated TB; and The cascaded TB is forwarded directly to the destination node, based at least in part on the instruction, the ID, and the SL permission.

32. The computer-readable medium according to claim 31, wherein, The indication includes a 1-bit indication in the SL permission portion of the combined DL / SL permission.

33. The computer-readable medium according to claim 31, wherein, The instruction was received via Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling.

34. The computer-readable medium according to claim 31, wherein, The configured SL permissions include: Two or more SL authorizations, each SL authorization corresponding to a single TB sent by the source node; One or more combinations of SL permissions, wherein each SL permission corresponds to a separate TB sent by the source node; or One or more SL permissions corresponding to two or more TBs received by the relay node, wherein the two or more TBs received by the relay node are less than or equal to the number of TBs sent by the source node.

35. The computer-readable medium according to claim 34, wherein, The instruction further causes the relay node to perform the following: The configured SL permission is selected based at least in part on the number of two or more TBs received.

36. The computer-readable medium of claim 31, wherein, The instruction further causes the relay node to perform the following: Send one or more Channel Quality Indicator (CQI) indices to the source node; as well as Receive one or more permissions for the two or more TBs, wherein the one or more permissions are at least partially based on the one or more CQI indexes.

37. The computer-readable medium of claim 36, wherein: The CQI indexes in the one or more CQI indices include: SL CQI for the link between the relay node and the destination node; and The permissions for the two or more TBs include: the SL permissions based at least in part on the CQI index.

38. The computer-readable medium according to claim 36, wherein: The CQI indexes in the one or more CQI indexes include: DL CQI for the link between the relay node and the source node; and The permission for one or more of the two or more TBs includes: a DL permission for at least part of the two DL permissions that is based on the CQI index.

39. A computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions causing a source node to perform the following: Send an instruction to the relay node to forward two or more transport blocks (TBs) directly to one or more destination nodes, wherein, Direct forwarding includes sending one of the two or more TBs to the one or more destination nodes solely through the Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) portion of the physical (PHY) layer and media access control (MAC) layer in the relay node's protocol stack; Send control information to the relay node for one or more data channels, wherein the control information includes an identifier (ID) indicating the destination node to which the two or more TBs should be directly forwarded, and the control information configures two or more downlink (DL) permissions; Two or more of the two or more TBs are transmitted according to the two or more DL permissions, wherein each of the two or more TBs transmitted includes a MAC sub-protocol data unit (MAC sub-PDU) corresponding to a single Internet Protocol (IP) packet; Receive, from the relay node, Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) acknowledgment (ACK) feedback for two or more of the two or more TBs transmitted; and Additional information configuring side link (SL) permission is sent to the relay node, the SL permission being at least in part based on the number of two or more TBs for which it has received the HARQ ACK feedback.

40. The computer-readable medium according to claim 39, wherein, The indication includes a 1-bit indication in the SL permission portion of the combined DL / SL permission.

41. The computer-readable medium according to claim 39, wherein, The instruction was received via Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling.

42. The computer-readable medium according to claim 39, wherein, The configured SL permissions include: One or more SL grants, each SL grant corresponding to a single TB sent by the source node; One or more combinations of SL permissions, wherein each SL permission corresponds to a separate TB sent by the source node; or This corresponds to one or more SL permissions for receiving the HARQ ACK feedback for two or more TBs, where the number of TBs received by the HARQ ACK feedback is less than or equal to the number of TBs sent by the source node.

43. The computer-readable medium according to claim 39, wherein, The instruction further causes the source node to perform the following: Receive one or more Channel Quality Indicator (CQI) indices from the relay node; and One or more permissions for the two or more TBs are sent, at least in part based on the one or more CQI indexes.

44. The computer-readable medium of claim 43, wherein: The CQI indexes in the one or more CQI indices include: SL CQI for the link between the relay node and the destination node; and The permissions for the two or more TBs include: SL permissions based at least in part on the CQI index.

45. The computer-readable medium according to claim 43, wherein: The CQI indexes in the one or more CQI indexes include: DL CQI for the link between the relay node and the source node; and The permissions for the two or more TBs include: DL permissions based at least in part on the CQI index.

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