Dynamic uplink device aggregation

Abstract

The primary user equipment sends an aggregation connection request message to the serving radio access network node requesting uplink connection information for one or more user equipments corresponding to the aggregation group. The node determines and sends uplink connection information of the user equipments of the aggregated group to the primary user equipment for establishing a connection to the node. The primary user equipment individually transmits corresponding uplink connection information to the secondary user equipment device. The primary user equipment may aggregate uplink traffic received from the secondary user equipment along with multiple media access control control elements into an aggregated payload message, and send the aggregated payload message to the node in a single transport block.

Description

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This application claims priority to U.S. non-provisional patent application No. 18 / 069,122, filed on December 20, 2022, entitled “DYNAMIC UPLINK DEVICEAGGREGATION,” the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. Background Art

[0003] The term "New Radio" (NR), associated with fifth-generation mobile wireless communication systems ("5G"), refers to various technical aspects used in the radio access network ("RAN"), which includes several quality of service (QoS) categories, including ultra-reliable and low-latency communication ("URLLC"), enhanced mobile broadband ("eMBB"), and massive machine-type communication ("mMTC"). The URLLC QoS category is associated with strict latency requirements (e.g., low latency or low signal / message latency) and high reliability of wireless performance, while conventional eMBB use cases may be associated with high-capacity wireless communication, which may allow for less stringent latency requirements (e.g., higher latency than URLLC) and less reliable wireless performance than URLLC. Performance requirements for mMTC may be lower than for eMBB use cases. Some use case applications involving mobile devices or mobile user equipment, such as smartphones, wireless tablets, and smartwatches, may impose variations in the load or demand on a given RAN resource.

[0004] Sidelink communications can facilitate various cellular use cases such as autonomous vehicle collision avoidance, public avoidance, coordinated vehicle cruise control, etc., where devices become able to communicate and coordinate directly with each other without the need for communication messages and signaling through the RAN network. This is particularly important when some or all of the user devices coordinated as part of a sidelink group are located outside of RAN wireless coverage. User device devices can also communicate with each other via other means (e.g., Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, etc.). Summary of the Invention

[0005] The following presents a simplified summary of the disclosed subject matter in order to provide a basic understanding of some of the various embodiments. This summary is not an extensive overview of the various embodiments. It is not intended to identify key or critical elements of the various embodiments, nor is it intended to delineate the scope of the various embodiments. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of the invention in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.

[0006] In an example embodiment, a method includes sending, by a first user device including a processor, an uplink aggregation request message including user device access information corresponding to a second user device to a radio access network node (e.g., a RAN). The user device access information may include information that the user device may send to the RAN to establish an RRC connection with the RAN. The first user device may be a master user device or a relay user device in an aggregation group of user device devices. The method may also include receiving, by the first user device, an uplink aggregation grant message including uplink grant information corresponding to the second user device from the radio access network node in response to the uplink aggregation request message. The uplink grant information may include information that the RAN may provide to the user device during an RRC connection establishment procedure, such as one or more indications of one or more time or frequency resource grants. The example method may also include sending, by the first user device, a first uplink grant message to the second user device, the first uplink grant message including the uplink grant information corresponding to the second user device.

[0007] The user equipment access information corresponding to the second user equipment may be first user equipment access information, and the uplink aggregation request message may include second user equipment access information corresponding to the third user equipment. The uplink grant information corresponding to the second user equipment may be first uplink grant information, and the uplink aggregation grant message may include second uplink grant information corresponding to the third user equipment. The first user equipment, the second user equipment, and the third user equipment may be members of an aggregation group of user equipment. The example method may also include sending, by the first user equipment, a second uplink grant message including the second uplink grant information to the third user equipment.

[0008] The uplink aggregation request message may be sent by the first user equipment to the radio access network node via the uplink control channel as an uplink control channel information message.This embodiment may be used if the first user equipment is already in an RRC connected state with respect to the serving RAN.

[0009] In one embodiment, the example method may further include determining, by the first user equipment, that the uplink aggregation request message is larger than a configured uplink control channel indication criterion, such as a configured size limit in terms of bits, bytes, or packets of uplink control channel message traffic imposed by the RAN, wherein based on the uplink aggregation request message being determined to be larger than the configured uplink control channel indication criterion, the uplink aggregation request message is sent by the first user equipment to the radio access network node via an uplink data channel.

[0010] In an embodiment, the method may also include determining, by the first user equipment, a service beam corresponding to the first user equipment having the highest signal strength at the first user equipment from multiple available beams, wherein the uplink aggregation request message is sent via the service beam corresponding to the first user equipment.

[0011] In another embodiment, the uplink aggregation request message may include a random access preamble corresponding to the first user equipment.The random access preamble may include a group preamble that has been allocated to the aggregation group.

[0012] The user equipment access information may include the determined serving downlink beam index, the target service identifier, or a device identifier corresponding to the second user equipment. The user equipment access information may be determined by the second user equipment.

[0013] The uplink grant information may include a first uplink channel resource grant indication and a second uplink channel resource grant indication, wherein the first uplink channel resource grant indication is used to indicate a first uplink channel resource grant to be used by the first user equipment to send a first uplink data service corresponding to the first user equipment, and the second uplink channel resource grant indication is used to indicate a second uplink channel resource grant to be used by the second user equipment to send a second uplink data service corresponding to the second user equipment. The first or second uplink channel resource grant may include time or frequency resources.

[0014] In one embodiment, the first user equipment and the second user equipment may be members of an aggregation group, wherein the first user equipment is a relay user equipment of the aggregation group, wherein the second user equipment is a remote user equipment of the aggregation group, wherein the aggregation group includes a third user equipment as a remote user equipment, and wherein the user equipment access information includes a preamble indicating to the radio access network node that the uplink aggregation grant message includes a request for uplink grant information corresponding to the second user equipment and the third user equipment.

[0015] In another embodiment, the relay user equipment may include a processor configured to receive first access information corresponding to a first tethered user equipment tethered to the relay user equipment, and to send an uplink radio resource connection aggregation request message including the first access information to a radio access network node. The first access information is intended for establishing a radio resource control connection between the first tethered user equipment and the radio access network node. The processor may be configured to receive, from the radio access network node, an uplink aggregation grant message including first uplink grant information in response to the uplink radio resource connection aggregation request message, the first uplink grant information to be used by the first tethered user equipment to transmit first uplink data traffic from the first tethered user equipment to the radio access network node, and to send a first uplink grant message including the first uplink grant information to the first tethered user equipment.

[0016] The uplink radio resource connection aggregation request message includes a preamble that can be used to establish a radio resource control connection between the relay user equipment and the radio access network node. The uplink radio resource connection aggregation request message can indicate to the serving RAN that an RRC connection request for members of the aggregation group is being requested. The preamble can include a group PRACH - upon receiving the group PRACH from the primary / relay user equipment, the RAN can be configured to recognize the PRACH preamble as an indication of a request from the primary / relay user equipment for the transmission of an RRC grant for the aggregation group of aggregated user equipment, and the RAN can automatically send an uplink aggregation grant message.

[0017] The relay user equipment and the first tethered user equipment may be members of an aggregation group, wherein the uplink radio resource connection aggregation request message includes relay access information for establishing a radio resource control connection between the relay user equipment and the radio access network node, and wherein the uplink aggregation grant message includes relay uplink grant information to be used by the relay user equipment to transmit uplink data traffic from the relay user equipment to the radio access network node. The aggregation group may include a second tethered user equipment, and the processor of the relay user equipment may be further configured to receive second access information corresponding to the second tethered user equipment from the second tethered user equipment. The uplink radio resource connection aggregation request message may include the second access information, and the second access information is used to establish a radio resource control connection between the second tethered user equipment and the radio access network node. The uplink aggregation grant message may include second uplink grant information to be used by the second tethered user equipment to transmit second uplink data traffic from the second tethered user equipment to the radio access network node. The processor of the relay user equipment may be further configured to send a second uplink grant message including second uplink grant information to the second tethered user equipment.

[0018] The uplink aggregation grant message may include a null uplink grant indication indicating that the second tethered user equipment has not been granted uplink resources for transmitting uplink data traffic from the second tethered user equipment to the radio access network node. The processor of the relay user equipment may also be configured to send a second uplink grant message including the null uplink grant indication to the second tethered user equipment.

[0019] In another embodiment, a non-transitory machine-readable medium may include executable instructions that, when executed by a processor of a first user device, facilitate execution of operations. The operations may include receiving a group access preamble corresponding to an aggregation group from a radio access network node, the aggregation group including the first user device, a second user device, and a third user device. The operations may also include sending an uplink radio resource connection request message to the radio access network node, the uplink radio resource connection request message including the group access preamble, first access information, and second access information, the first access information being used to establish a radio resource control connection between the radio access network node and the second user device, and the second access information being used to establish a radio resource control connection between the radio access network node and the third user device, respectively. The operations may also include receiving an uplink grant message from the radio access network node in response to the uplink radio resource connection request message, the uplink grant message including first uplink grant information, second uplink grant information, and relay grant information. The operations may also include sending a first uplink grant message including the first uplink grant information to the second user device; and sending a second uplink grant message including the second uplink grant information to the third user device. In one embodiment, the first uplink grant information or the second uplink grant information includes a radio network temporary identifier that is a null indication.

[0020] The first access information may include at least one of the following: a first device identifier associated with the second user equipment, a first best serving downlink beam corresponding to the second user equipment, or a first service identifier corresponding to a first service to be received by the second user equipment from the radio access network node. The second access information may include at least one of the following: a second device identifier associated with the third user equipment, a second best serving downlink beam corresponding to the third user equipment, or a second service identifier corresponding to a second service to be received by the third user equipment from the radio access network node.

[0021] The first uplink authorization information may include at least one of the following: a first radio network temporary identifier corresponding to the second user equipment, a first uplink time to be used by the second user equipment to send uplink data services to the wireless access network node, a first uplink frequency to be used by the second user equipment to send uplink data services to the wireless access network node, or a first uplink power control setting corresponding to a first spectral efficiency of the second user equipment.

[0022] In one embodiment, the first user equipment may be in a connected radio resource control state and may send an uplink radio resource connection request message as an uplink control channel information message via an uplink control channel. When the first user equipment sends the uplink radio resource connection request message via the uplink control channel, the second user equipment and the third user equipment may be in an inactive radio resource control state.

[0023] In another embodiment, an example method may include: generating, by a first user device comprising a processor, an aggregated uplink traffic indication, wherein the aggregated uplink traffic indication is used to indicate an aggregated uplink traffic amount, the aggregated uplink traffic amount comprising a first amount of a first uplink traffic portion of first uplink traffic at a second user device and a second amount of a second uplink traffic portion of second uplink traffic at a third user device; and transmitting, by the first user device, the aggregated uplink traffic indication to a radio access network node (e.g., a RAN). The aggregated uplink traffic indication may be referred to as an aggregated buffer status report. The method may also include receiving, by the first user device, the first uplink traffic portion and the second uplink traffic portion. The method may also include generating, by the first user device, an aggregated payload message, wherein the aggregated payload message comprises the first uplink traffic portion and the second uplink traffic portion, and wherein the aggregated payload message comprises a first control element corresponding to the first uplink traffic portion and a second control element corresponding to the second uplink traffic portion. The method may also include transmitting, by the first user device, the aggregated payload message to the radio access network node. The aggregated payload message may be transmitted via a single transport block.

[0024] The example method may further include receiving, by the first user equipment, first user equipment information corresponding to the second user equipment. The method may further include receiving, by the first user equipment, second user equipment information corresponding to a third user equipment, wherein the first user equipment information includes first buffer status report information indicating a first uplink traffic portion in a first buffer of the second user equipment, and wherein the second user equipment information includes second buffer status report information indicating a second uplink traffic portion in a second buffer of the third user equipment.

[0025] The first user equipment information may be received from the second user equipment, or the second user equipment information may be received from the third user equipment.

[0026] The first user equipment, the second user equipment, and the third user equipment may be members of an aggregation group of user equipment devices. In the aggregation group, the first user equipment may be a relay user equipment, and the second or third user equipment may be a remote user equipment connected to the relay user equipment via a sidelink, a Bluetooth link, a Wi-Fi link, or other type of short-range wireless communication link.

[0027] In one embodiment, the first user equipment may include a first buffer. The method may further include determining, by the first user equipment, a free amount of the first buffer. The method may further include receiving, from a fourth user equipment, a join request message requesting that the fourth user equipment be included in the aggregation group, wherein the join request message includes first user equipment information, the first user equipment information including first buffer status report information indicating a third amount of a third uplink traffic portion of a third uplink traffic at the fourth user equipment. The method may further include determining that the free amount of the first buffer is insufficient to store the third uplink traffic portion. The method may further include sending a join reject message to the fourth user equipment, the join reject message indicating that the first user equipment has rejected inclusion of the fourth user equipment in the aggregation group.

[0028] The first control element and the second control element may be a first medium access control control element ("MAC-CE") and a second medium access control control element, respectively. The first control element may indicate a first aggregate portion of an aggregate payload message including a first uplink traffic portion, and the second control element may indicate a second aggregate portion of an aggregate payload message including a second uplink traffic portion.

[0029] In one embodiment, the example method may include receiving, by a first user equipment, an uplink resource grant message from a radio access network node, the uplink resource grant message including at least one uplink resource indication indicating at least one uplink resource to be used by the first user equipment to transmit a first uplink traffic portion and a second uplink traffic portion to the radio access network node, wherein the at least one uplink resource is based on an aggregated uplink traffic indication, and wherein the first user equipment transmits an aggregate payload message based on the at least one uplink resource. The uplink resource grant message may include a time or frequency to be used for transmitting a transport block including the aggregate payload message.

[0030] The first control element may indicate a first uplink resource of the at least one uplink resource used to transmit a first aggregated portion of an aggregated payload message including a first uplink traffic portion, and the second control element may indicate a second uplink resource of the at least one uplink resource used to transmit a second aggregated portion of an aggregated payload message including a second uplink traffic portion. The first or second traffic portion may include one or more packets, frames, files, or portions thereof.

[0031] The first uplink resource and the second uplink resource may be different.The first uplink resource and the second uplink resource may be the same.

[0032] The example method may also include determining, by the first user equipment, a determined aggregation amount corresponding to the aggregated uplink traffic amount. The method may also include determining a determined transport block size for sending the aggregate payload message based on the determined aggregation amount. The aggregate payload message may be sent by the first user equipment using a transport block having the determined transport block size. The first user equipment may determine the determined transport block size from a set of configured transport block sizes. The first user equipment may receive a transport block configuration of the set of configured transport block sizes from the RAN. Different transport block sizes may be associated with a range of traffic portion sizes. Thus, the first user equipment may select or determine the determined transport block size from the transport block configuration such that the aggregate payload message meets the range corresponding to a transport block having a minimum size from the set of transport block sizes that can accommodate the aggregate payload message.

[0033] In one embodiment, the first uplink traffic portion may be received from the second user equipment via the sidelink channel link, or the second uplink traffic portion may be received from the third user equipment via the sidelink channel link.

[0034] In another embodiment, the relay user device may include a processor configured to receive first user device information from a first remote user device, indicating a first amount of a first uplink traffic portion of a first uplink traffic in a first buffer of the first remote user device, and receive second user device information from a second remote user device, indicating a second amount of a second uplink traffic portion of a second uplink traffic in a second buffer at the second remote user device. The first remote user device, the second remote user device, and the relay user device may be members of an aggregation group of user devices. The processor of the relay user device may further be configured to generate an aggregated uplink traffic indication indicating an aggregated uplink traffic amount including the first amount of the first uplink traffic portion and the second amount of the second uplink traffic portion, and to send the aggregated uplink traffic indication to a radio access network node (e.g., a RAN). The processor of the relay user device may further be configured to receive the first uplink traffic portion and the second uplink traffic. The processor of the relay user equipment may be configured to generate an aggregate payload message including a first uplink traffic portion and a second uplink traffic portion, wherein the aggregate payload message includes a first control element corresponding to the first uplink traffic portion and a second control element corresponding to the second uplink traffic portion. The relay user equipment may be configured to receive an uplink resource grant message from the radio access network node, the uplink resource grant message including at least one uplink resource indication indicating that at least one uplink resource is to be used for transmitting the first uplink traffic portion and the second uplink traffic portion, and to send the aggregate payload message to the radio access network node based on the at least one uplink resource.

[0035] The at least one uplink resource may be based on the aggregated uplink traffic indication. The RAN may determine or schedule the at least one uplink resource based on the size, type, or quality of service of the uplink traffic indicated by the aggregated uplink traffic indication.

[0036] The first control element and the second control element may be a first medium access control control element and a second medium access control control element, respectively. The first control element may indicate a first aggregate portion (e.g., a packet, a block, a frame, a file, or a complete traffic flow) of an aggregate payload message including a first uplink traffic portion, and wherein the second control element indicates a second aggregate portion of an aggregate payload message including a second uplink traffic portion.

[0037] The processor of the relay user equipment may also be configured to determine a determined aggregation amount corresponding to the traffic volume of the aggregated uplink traffic, and determine a determined transport block size for transmitting the aggregate payload message based on the determined aggregation amount. The relay user equipment may transmit the aggregate payload message using a transport block having the determined transport block size.

[0038] In yet another embodiment, an example non-transitory machine-readable medium may include executable instructions that, when executed by a processor of a first user device, facilitate performance of operations, including: receiving a second user device-associated buffer status report from a second user device indicating a first size of a first uplink traffic portion at the second user device. The operations may also include receiving a third user device-associated buffer status report from a third user device indicating a second size of a second uplink traffic portion at the third user device. The operations may also include generating a first user device-associated buffer status report based on the second user device-associated buffer status report and the third user device-associated buffer status report. The operations may also include sending the first user device-associated buffer status report to a radio access network node. The operations may also include receiving the first uplink traffic portion and the second uplink traffic portion from the second user device and the third user device, respectively. The operations may also include generating an aggregated payload message including the first uplink traffic portion and the second uplink traffic portion. The operations may also include generating a first media access control control element indicating the first uplink traffic portion within the aggregated payload message, and a second media access control control element indicating the second uplink traffic portion within the aggregated payload message. The aggregate payload message may include a first media access control control element and a second media access control control element. The operations may also include receiving an uplink resource grant message from the radio access network node, the uplink resource grant message including at least one uplink resource indication indicating a first user equipment-associated amount to be used by the first user equipment to transmit uplink traffic corresponding to the first user equipment-associated buffer status report. The operations may also include sending the aggregate payload message to the radio access network node based on the at least one uplink resource, wherein the first user equipment, the second user equipment, and the third user equipment are members of an aggregation group.

[0039] In one embodiment, the operations may further include determining a size of the aggregate payload message, thereby obtaining a determined size. The operations may further include determining a determined transport block size for transmitting the aggregate payload message based on the determined size of the aggregate payload message, wherein the determined size of the aggregate payload message satisfies a transport block size criterion (e.g., a range of traffic portion sizes) corresponding to the determined transport block size. The operations may further include transmitting, by the first user equipment, the aggregate payload message using a transport block having the determined transport block size.

[0040] In one embodiment, the first media access control control element is adjacent to the first uplink traffic portion within the aggregate payload message, and wherein the second media access control control element is adjacent to the second uplink traffic portion within the aggregate payload message. The first or second media access control control elements may precede or follow their corresponding first or second traffic portions. In one embodiment, the first and second media access control control elements may include first and second traffic portion sizes corresponding to the first and second traffic portions, and may be placed in a media access control control element portion of a transport block, the media access control control element portion facilitating RAN retrieval of the first and second traffic portion sizes from the transport block in which the aggregate payload message is sent. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0041] Figure 1 A wireless communication system environment is shown.

[0042] Figure 2A An example environment is shown in which a relay user equipment requests aggregated uplink resources using an uplink aggregation request message.

[0043] Figure 2B An example environment is shown in which a relay user equipment relays an uplink resource grant including an uplink aggregation grant message to a remote user equipment.

[0044] Figure 3 A timing diagram illustrating an example method of requesting and relaying uplink resources.

[0045] Figure 4 A flow chart illustrating an example method for aggregating uplink resource grants is shown.

[0046] Figure 5A An environment is shown in which a relay user equipment relays an indication that uplink data traffic is to be sent from a remote user equipment.

[0047] Figure 5B An environment is shown in which a relay user equipment relays uplink data traffic from a remote user equipment in an uplink transmission block.

[0048] Figure 6 A timing diagram illustrating an example method of relaying uplink data traffic.

[0049] Figure 7 A flow chart illustrating an example method of relaying uplink traffic.

[0050] Figure 8 A block diagram of an example method is shown.

[0051] Figure 9 A block diagram of an example relay user equipment is shown.

[0052] Figure 10 A block diagram of an example non-transitory machine-readable medium is shown.

[0053] Figure 11 A block diagram of an example method is shown.

[0054] Figure 12 A block diagram of an example relay user equipment is shown.

[0055] Figure 13 A block diagram of an example non-transitory machine-readable medium is shown.

[0056] Figure 14 An example computer environment is shown.

[0057] Figure 15 A block diagram of an example wireless UE is shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0058] As a preliminary matter, it will be readily understood by those skilled in the art that this embodiment allows for a wide range of utility and application. According to the essence or scope of the various embodiments of the present application, many methods, embodiments and modifications of the present application and many variations, modifications and equivalent arrangements will be obvious or reasonably suggested.

[0059] Therefore, although the present application has been described in detail herein with respect to various embodiments, it should be understood that the present disclosure is an illustration of one or more concepts expressed by various example embodiments and is made only for the purpose of providing a complete and enabling disclosure. The following disclosure is not intended to and should not be interpreted as limiting the present application or otherwise excluding any such other embodiments, modifications, variations, modifications, and equivalent arrangements, and the present embodiments described herein are limited only by the appended claims and their equivalents.

[0060] As used in this disclosure, in some embodiments, the terms "component," "system," and the like are intended to refer to or include a computer-related entity or an entity associated with an operating device having one or more specific functions, where the entity can be hardware, a combination of hardware and software, software, or software in execution. By way of example, a component can be, but is not limited to, a process running on a processor, a processor, an object, an executable, a thread of execution, computer-executable instructions, a program, and / or a computer. By way of illustration and not limitation, both an application running on a server and the server can be a component.

[0061] One or more components may reside within a process and / or execution thread, and a component may be located on a computer and / or distributed between two or more computers. In addition, these components may be executed from various computer-readable media having various data structures stored thereon. These components may communicate via local and / or remote processes, such as according to a signal having one or more data packets (e.g., data from a component that interacts with another component in a local system, a distributed system, and / or interacts with other systems across a network such as the Internet via the signal). As another example, a component may be a device having a specific function provided by a mechanical component operated by an electrical or electronic circuit system, which is operated by a software application or firmware application executed by a processor, wherein the processor may be inside or outside the device and execute at least a portion of the software or firmware application. As yet another example, a component may be a device that provides a specific function by an electronic component that does not have a mechanical component, wherein the electronic component may include a processor to execute software or firmware that at least partially gives the electronic component functionality. Although various components are shown as separate components, it should be understood that, without departing from the exemplary embodiments, multiple components may be implemented as a single component, or a single component may be implemented as multiple components.

[0062] In view of the nature of complex computing environments in which multiple components and / or multiple devices may be involved in some computing operations, the term "facilitate" as used herein is in the context of a system, device, or component "facilitating" one or more actions or operations. Non-limiting examples of actions that may or may not involve multiple components and / or multiple devices include sending or receiving data, establishing a connection between devices, determining intermediate results toward obtaining a result, and the like. In this regard, a computing device or component may facilitate an operation by playing any role in implementing the operation. When the operation of a component is described herein, it should be understood that where an operation is described as being facilitated by a component, the operation may optionally be accomplished through the cooperation of one or more other computing devices or components, such as, but not limited to, sensors, antennas, audio and / or visual output devices, other devices, and the like.

[0063] In addition, the various embodiments may be implemented as methods, apparatus, or articles of manufacture using standard programming and / or engineering techniques to produce software, firmware, hardware, or any combination thereof to control a computer to implement the disclosed subject matter. The term "article of manufacture" as used herein is intended to encompass a computer program accessible from any computer-readable (or machine-readable) device or computer-readable (or machine-readable) storage / communication medium. For example, computer-readable storage media may include, but are not limited to, magnetic storage devices (e.g., hard disks, floppy disks, magnetic strips), optical disks (e.g., compact disks (CDs), digital versatile disks (DVDs)), smart cards, and flash memory devices (e.g., cards, sticks, key drives). Of course, those skilled in the art will recognize that many modifications may be made to this configuration without departing from the scope or spirit of the various embodiments.

[0064] The 5G NR system's PDCCH can deliver downlink and uplink control information to cellular devices. Compared to the control channel design of the fourth generation (e.g., LTE), the 5G control channel can match the requirements of URLLC and eMBB use cases and can provide efficient coexistence between those different QoS categories.

[0065] Unlike the fourth generation control channel, the 5G PDCCH channel can be beamformed using the favorable channel vector of each UE together with the embedded demodulation auxiliary demodulation reference signal ("DMRS"). The PDCCH can be modulated by a fixed QPSK modulation scheme and a conservative coding rate can be used, such as to maximize the reliability of receiving the PDCCH channel at the UE device. For example, in order to meet the URLLC 10e-5 reliability level, the PDCCH channel decoding capability can be enhanced on the device side.

[0066] The resource size of each PDCCH channel, which may carry downlink control information ("DCI") for one or more UEs, may be time-varying and may be referred to as the PDCCH aggregation level. In particular, to enhance PDCCH decoding, the network may increase the resource size of the PDCCH channel and, therefore, employ a more conservative and resource-inefficient coding rate for the PDCCH. This means that the same amount of PDCCH control information is sent with a stronger coding rate (i.e., more redundant bits for error detection and correction), at the expense of consuming more channel resources for sending the PDCCH information.

[0067] There are two types of PDCCH channels. First, UE-specific PDCCH, where the channel resources set are periodically monitored by a single UE / device. After being configured, the device will attempt to blindly decode these candidate resources if these candidate resources may potentially carry DCI information. This DCI information includes the configuration of the scheduled uplink or downlink grant, the transmission configuration, and information about common system signaling and updates. In addition, blind decoding is the process when the UE attempts to decode DCI with all possible transmission configurations and aggregation levels. This means that a lot of power is consumed on the device side; however, this is necessary because the UE does not yet know the actual configuration of the PDCCH channel and the corresponding transmission. It should know this after it successfully decodes the PDCCH. In active mode, the UE can monitor one or more configured PDCCH search spaces, where the search space means a set of candidate resources that can carry PDCCH / DCI information. The search space definition can be used to refer to the varying size of the PDCCH channel (i.e., aggregation level), and therefore the size of the resources required to carry the PDCCH can vary.

[0068] The common PDCCH search space is monitored by all UEs. Those common PDCCH channels typically carry DCI information relevant to all devices. Examples include system update and control information, UE-wide power control information, and general system information.

[0069] For each scheduled downlink or uplink transmission, there is typically a preceding PDCCH control transmission that informs the UE device about the resources scheduled by the network for transmission and the transmission configuration for transmission in the uplink or reception in the downlink. Therefore, PDCCH transmissions are considered signaling overhead, which should always be minimized and are required for successful device transmission and / or reception.

[0070] As an example use case illustrating example embodiments disclosed herein, virtual reality ("VR") applications and VR variants (e.g., mixed and augmented reality) may perform optimally at certain times when using NR radio resources associated with URLLC, while lower performance levels may suffice at other times. A virtual reality smart glass device may consume NR radio resources at a given broadband data rate with more stringent wireless latency and reliability standards to provide a satisfactory end-user experience.

[0071] 5G systems should support “any reality” (“XR”) services. XR services may include VR applications, which are widely adopted XR applications that provide an immersive environment that can stimulate the senses of an end user so that he or she can be “tricked” into being in an environment that is different from the one he or she actually is in. XR services may include augmented reality (‘AR’) applications, which may augment the real-world environment by providing additional virtual-world elements via the user’s senses focusing on real-world elements in the user’s actual surroundings. XR services may include mixed reality (“MR”) applications that help merge or converge the virtual and real worlds so that an end user of the XR service interacts with elements of his or her real environment and the virtual environment simultaneously.

[0072] Different XR use cases can be associated with certain radio performance targets. Common to XR scenarios, and unlike URLLC or eMBB, a high-capacity link with stringent radio and reliability requirements is often required for a satisfactory end-user experience. For example, some XR applications require a 100Mbps link with an allowed radio latency of several milliseconds, compared to a 5Mbps URLLC link with a 1ms radio budget. Therefore, 5G radio designs and associated procedures can be adapted to the new XR QoS categories and associated targets.

[0073] XR services can be facilitated by traffic that has certain characteristics associated with XR services. For example, XR traffic can often be periodic, with time-varying packet sizes and packet arrival rates. Furthermore, different packet traffic flows for a single XR session may impact the end-user experience differently. For example, smart glasses streaming 180-degree high-resolution frames may use a large percentage of the broadband service capacity to achieve a satisfactory user experience. However, frames presented to the user in the gestural direction (e.g., the forward direction) are most important for a satisfactory user experience for the end-user, while frames presented to the user's peripheral vision have less impact on the user experience and may therefore be associated with lower QoS requirements for transmitting traffic packets than for transmitting gestural direction traffic flows. Therefore, prioritizing some flows or packets of an XR session over other flows or packets can help efficiently use the capacity of the communication system to deliver traffic. Furthermore, due to the limited form factor of the devices, XR-enabled devices (e.g., smart glasses, projection wearables, etc.) may be more power-constrained than conventional mobile handheld devices. Therefore, techniques are needed to maximize power-saving operation at XR-enabled devices. Thus, user equipment devices accessing traffic flows of an XR service or XR session may be associated with certain QoS metrics to meet performance targets for the XR service, for example in terms of perceived data rate or end-to-end latency and reliability.

[0074] Sidelink communication refers to cellular devices communicating directly with each other by establishing a sidelink communication link, without having to go through a serving RAN node. However, the RAN node may or may not control how different sidelink devices reserve and indicate sidelink resources. In one sidelink radio resource management option, a sidelink device is configured to always request sidelink resources from a serving RAN node to another sidelink device. This requires, at a minimum, that the sending sidelink node be within the coverage of the serving node. In addition, the communication delay experienced by the sidelink is significantly increased due to the additional transmission of a RAN scheduling request and the receipt of a corresponding scheduling grant before the sidelink scheduling and transmission is triggered. Advantageously, this reduces the likelihood of sidelink channel collisions.

[0075] In another radio resource management option, the sidelink devices are configured to autonomously sense sidelink channel resources, determine which sidelink resources are reserved for sidelink transmissions of other devices, and determine which resource sets are idle / available for their own transmissions. Channel sensing rules and advanced channel sensing configurations are indicated from the RAN network. Therefore, the sidelink control channel has been designed to support efficient channel sensing on the sidelink interface. In particular, the sidelink control channel is designed in a two-level format. The first level carries first-level sidelink control information ("SCI") and the second level carries second-level SCI.

[0076] The first stage SCI is similar to the RAN downlink control information ("DCI") and may carry the following information elements: information on reserved data resources for scheduling sidelink transmissions of interest, and resource information for the second stage SCI that schedules transmission-specific configurations for the sidelink data channel.

[0077] Therefore, the sidelink device attempts to blindly decode the first-level SCI to determine which sidelink data resource will be reserved by which nearby sidelink device. However, the sensing sidelink device cannot determine whether the actual sidelink data payload is destined for it, so the sidelink device decodes the second-level SCI. The second-level SCI carries the following information elements: the source and destination device identifiers of the sidelink transmission, and the sidelink transmission configuration including the modulation scheme, coding scheme, and HARQ feedback information.

[0078] Therefore, the sidelink device monitors and blindly decodes the first-level SCI to determine the reserved channel resources for the associated sidelink transmission, determines the transmission configuration of the second-level SCI, and decodes the second-level SCI to determine whether the corresponding sidelink transmission is destined for it. If the sidelink device is a transmit-only device (e.g., an M2M device), the device only needs to receive and blindly decode the first-level SCI and skip decoding the second-level SCI. In this case, channel sensing can only include monitoring, detecting, and blind decoding the first-level SCI.

[0079] There are two modes of channel sensing. First, continuous channel sensing can be configured so that the control channel for the sidelink interface signaling can be flexibly placed at any time, so that the sensing sidelink device needs to always search for and monitor the control channel carrying the first level SCI. Second, and due to the significant power consumption burden of continuous sensing, a partial channel sensing process can be implemented so that the sidelink control channel is configured to be transmitted periodically or aperiodically during predefined moments, and therefore, the sensing sidelink device only needs to monitor and blindly decode those timing and frequency moments, while being potentially in deep sleep at other times.

[0080] A sidelink repeater is a sidelink device that performs sidelink and RAN functions on behalf of or for other remote sidelink devices in the vicinity of the sidelink repeater. The sidelink repeater provides a number of sidelink functions to the remote sidelink devices, including channel authorization, multi-hop traffic relaying, or paging monitoring. As a result, less capable sidelink remote devices gain several performance advantages, such as power saving gains, and sidelink and RAN network coverage extension. Therefore, there are two modes that sidelink relay devices can adopt to announce their presence to nearby remote devices. In one variant, the sidelink repeaters use a pre-configured discovery process to explicitly announce their presence. During the configured discovery period, the sidelink repeater broadcasts an announcement message indicating its presence and its associated relay configuration. The remote device receives the repeater's discovery message and, when interested in becoming part of or a member of a sidelink zone or group that includes the repeater, initiates a direct communication link with the sidelink repeater.

[0081] In another discovery variant, the sidelink remote device proactively sends a discovery message that requests nearby sidelink repeaters to advertise their presence and corresponding relay services. This option provides the advantages of on-demand discovery signaling, where the sidelink repeater avoids sending unnecessary discovery messages that may not be utilized by the current remote device in the vicinity.

[0082] Layer-2 relaying means that the end-to-end protocol stack and QoS objectives on the sidelink interface are not disrupted at the relay. For example, the relay modifies lower-layer headers to perform traffic relaying. Therefore, with Layer-2 relaying, end-to-end QoS and flows can be tracked and maintained. However, with Layer-3 relaying, end-to-end QoS is lost at the relay because the relay modifies the original QoS flow metrics and converts them into corresponding relay-specific metrics.

[0083] The problem of device battery consumption is partially addressed by sidelink discontinuous reception ("DRX") cycles and channel local sensing. The sidelink device is configured with a DRX cycle that consists of periods of monitoring a control channel to determine if there are scheduled sidelink receptions, and periods of deep sleep, so that the power consumption of the sidelink device is optimized. Unlike the RANDRX process, due to the distributed nature of the sidelink interface, a sidelink inter-device coordination process must replace the sidelink DRX. For example, a sidelink device may send sidelink scheduling information to another nearby sidelink device that is currently in deep sleep, causing the sleeping device to lose detection of the scheduling information and thereby increasing the sidelink transmission delay. Therefore, the nearby sidelink devices coordinate for a DRX cycle that is common to at least the pair of devices of interest.

[0084] With respect to partial channel sensing, a sidelink device implementing continuous channel sensing needs to always monitor the sidelink control channel for potential scheduled transmissions, which results in significant battery consumption due to frequent blind decoding attempts. With partial channel sensing and sidelink DRX, the scheduling of the control channel is preconfigured during certain periodic occasions when the sidelink device expects to perform channel sensing. Thus, partial channel sensing enables the sidelink device to sleep deeply for extended periods of time even during the sidelink DRX channel wake-up period.

[0085] However, due to the functions performed by the sidelink repeater, the power consumption of the sidelink relay is exacerbated compared to a non-relay sidelink UE. That is, the sidelink repeater needs to perform RAN-like processes and sidelink functions for the relay device itself and its connected remote sidelink device, resulting in significant battery consumption. The sidelink repeater relays traffic and performs RAN / sidelink functions on behalf of the connected remote sidelink device. The sidelink repeater can monitor and decode RAN / sidelink paging on behalf of the remote device. The higher the number of remote devices connected to the repeater as part of a sidelink group or zone, the more paging opportunities the sidelink repeater monitors, detects and decodes, which consumes the battery power of the sidelink repeater at high rates. In addition, the sidelink repeater can perform sidelink routing and relay traffic to sidelink devices that are not in RAN coverage. The sidelink relay device can also perform continuous and / or partial channel sensing on behalf of the remote sidelink device in the connected coverage area. Such upgraded or additional functionality of the sidelink relay device introduces power consumption constraints at the device end. Therefore, a power saving optimization process is required to enhance battery charging / energy availability at the battery-powered sidelink repeater.

[0086] The user equipment of a multi-device aggregation group can dynamically coordinate with each other to perform specific functions at a specific device or release specific radio functions from a specific coordinating device. For example, one of the user equipment devices in the group can act as a relay device for communicating with the RAN serving the group members. The relay UE can be referred to as a relay UE or a master UE. The other members of the group can be referred to as remote, secondary, or tethered UE devices. Device aggregation and corresponding device-to-device signaling exchanges can be performed over a sidelink interface, which can comply with, for example, the Third Generation Partnership Project ("3GPP") specifications, or via a dedicated communication link implemented by the device.

[0087] Device aggregation facilitates members of a user equipment device group to collaborate / coordinate the execution of one or more functions of one or more coordinating devices. Device-to-device communication and corresponding signaling can be performed through a standardized sidelink interface or through a device-specific communication link. The embodiments disclosed herein facilitate network support for aggregation schemes to perform efficient wireless function aggregation, wherein a master / relay device (e.g., an aggregation or delegation device) performs wireless functions or receives or sends wireless services on behalf of a secondary device (e.g., a delegation device). Instead of a master aggregation device performing a separate random access process on behalf of each of a plurality of connected secondary devices (e.g., sending multiple preambles, multiple radio resource control (RRC) connection requests, and receiving multiple independent RRC connection establishment responses), the master device can perform the process for initial random access and uplink traffic scheduling for aggregation, and can process the aggregated traffic, thereby avoiding duplication of certain connection establishment actions for each of one or more connected secondary devices of an aggregation group of user equipment. Embodiments disclosed herein may include novel uplink indications and novel signaling formats, wherein the novel uplink indications facilitate aggregate uplink establishment or deployment of network RAN-aware devices, and the novel signaling formats are used for aggregate processing of multi-device control and data uplink information or services.

[0088] Utilizing the device aggregation embodiments disclosed herein, a group of user devices can coordinate with respect to specific radio functions of one or more user devices to optimize capacity and power savings gains. Network RAN ​​awareness can facilitate the aggregation process of granting uplink resources or for transmitting aggregated uplink traffic.

[0089] Turning now to the accompanying drawings, Figure 1An example of a wireless communication system 100 that supports blind decoding of PDCCH candidates or search spaces according to various aspects of the present disclosure is shown. The wireless communication system 100 may include one or more base stations 105, one or more UEs 115, and a core network 130. In some examples, the wireless communication system 100 may be a long-term evolution (LTE) network, an LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) network, an LTE-A Pro network, or a new radio (NR) network. In some examples, the wireless communication system 100 may support enhanced broadband communication, ultra-reliable (e.g., mission-critical) communication, low-latency communication, communication with low-cost and low-complexity devices, or any combination thereof. As shown, examples of UE 115 may include smartphones, cars or other vehicles, or drones or other aircraft. Another example of a UE may be a virtual reality device 117, such as smart glasses, virtual reality headsets, augmented reality headsets, and other similar devices that can provide images, video, audio, touch, taste, or smell to the wearer. A UE such as VR device 117 may transmit or receive wireless signals with a RAN base station 105 via a long-range wireless link 125, or a UE / VR device may transmit or receive wireless signals via a short-range wireless link 137, which may include a wireless link with UE device 115, such as a Bluetooth link, a Wi-Fi link, etc. A UE such as device 117 may communicate simultaneously via multiple wireless links, such as via link 125 with base station 105 and via a short-range wireless link. VR device 117 may also communicate with a wireless UE via a cable or other wired connection. The RAN or its components may be referenced by Figure 12 The described one or more computer components are implemented.

[0090] Continue the discussion Figure 1 , base stations 105 may be dispersed throughout a geographic area to form the wireless communication system 100 and may be devices of different forms or capabilities. The base stations 105 and UEs 115 may communicate wirelessly via one or more communication links 125. Each base station 105 may provide a coverage area 110 over which a UE 115 and the base station 105 may establish one or more communication links 125. The coverage area 110 may be an example of a geographic area over which a base station 105 and a UE 115 may support communication of signals according to one or more radio access technologies.

[0091] The UEs 115 may be dispersed throughout the coverage area 110 of the wireless communication system 100, and each UE 115 may be stationary, mobile, or both at different times. The UEs 115 may be devices of different forms or capabilities. Figure 1Some example UEs 115 are shown in FIG. 1 . The UEs 115 described herein may be capable of communicating with various types of devices, such as other UEs 115, base stations 105, or network devices (e.g., core network nodes, relays, integrated access and backhaul (IAB) nodes, or other network devices), such as Figure 1 shown.

[0092] The base stations 105 can communicate with the core network 130, or with each other, or with both. For example, the base stations 105 can interface with the core network 130 via one or more backhaul links 120 (e.g., via S1, N2, N3, or other interfaces). The base stations 105 can communicate with each other via the backhaul links 120 (e.g., via X2, Xn, or other interfaces) directly (e.g., directly between the base stations 105) or indirectly (e.g., via the core network 130), or both. In some examples, the backhaul links 120 may include one or more wireless links.

[0093] The one or more base stations 105 described herein may include or may be referred to by one of ordinary skill in the art as a base transceiver station, a wireless base station, an access point, a wireless transceiver, a Node B, an eNodeB (eNB), a next-generation NodeB or a giga-NodeB (any of which may be referred to as a bNodeB or gNB), a Home NodeB, a Home eNodeB, or other appropriate terminology.

[0094] UE 115 may include or may be referred to as a mobile device, a wireless device, a remote device, a handheld device, or a subscriber device, or some other suitable terminology, where "device" may also be referred to as a unit, a station, a terminal, or a client, etc. UE 115 may also include or may be referred to as a personal electronic device, such as a cellular phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a personal computer, or a router. In some examples, UE 115 may include or be referred to as a wireless local loop (WLL) station, an Internet of Things (IoT) device, an Internet of Everything (IoE) device, or a machine type communication (MTC) device, etc., which may be implemented in various objects, such as appliances, vehicles, or smart meters.

[0095] The UE 115 may be able to communicate with various types of devices, such as other UEs 115, which may sometimes act as relays, as well as base stations 105 and network devices, including macro eNBs or gNBs, small cell eNBs or gNBs, or relay base stations, etc. Figure 1 shown.

[0096] The UE 115 and the base station 105 can wirelessly communicate with each other over one or more carriers via one or more communication links 125. The term "carrier" can refer to a set of radio frequency spectrum resources having a defined physical layer structure for supporting the communication link 125. For example, a carrier used for the communication link 125 can include a portion of a radio frequency spectrum band (e.g., a bandwidth portion (BWP)) operating in accordance with one or more physical layer channels of a given radio access technology (e.g., LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, NR). Each physical layer channel can carry acquisition signaling (e.g., synchronization signals, system information), control signaling to coordinate the operation of the carrier, user data, or other signaling. The wireless communication system 100 can use carrier aggregation or multi-carrier operation to support communications with the UE 115. The UE 115 can be configured with multiple downlink component carriers and one or more uplink component carriers according to a carrier aggregation configuration. Carrier aggregation can be used with frequency division duplex (FDD) and time division duplex (TDD) component carriers.

[0097] In some examples (e.g., in a carrier aggregation configuration), a carrier may also have acquisition signaling or control signaling that coordinates the operation of other carriers. A carrier may be associated with a frequency channel (e.g., an Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) Absolute Radio Frequency Channel Number (EARFCN)) and may be located according to a channel raster for discovery by a UE 115. A carrier may operate in a standalone mode, where initial acquisition and connection may be performed by a UE 115 via the carrier, or in a non-standalone mode, where a different carrier (e.g., with the same or different radio access technology) is used to anchor the connection.

[0098] The communication link 125 shown in the wireless communication system 100 may include an uplink transmission from the UE 115 to the base station 105, or a downlink transmission from the base station 105 to the UE 115. A carrier may carry downlink or uplink communications (e.g., in FDD mode) or may be configured to carry both downlink and uplink communications (e.g., in TDD mode).

[0099] A carrier may be associated with a particular bandwidth of a wireless spectrum, and in some examples, the carrier bandwidth may be referred to as the "system bandwidth" of the carrier or wireless communication system 100. For example, the carrier bandwidth may be one of a plurality of determined bandwidths of a carrier for a particular radio access technology (e.g., 1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15, 20, 40, or 80 megahertz (MHz)). The devices of the wireless communication system 100 (e.g., base station 105, UE 115, or both) may have a hardware configuration that supports communication on a particular carrier bandwidth, or may be configured to support communication on one of a set of carrier bandwidths. In some examples, the wireless communication system 100 may include a base station 105 or UE 115 that supports simultaneous communication via carriers associated with multiple carrier bandwidths. In some examples, each served UE 115 may be configured to operate on a portion (e.g., a subband, BWP) or the entire carrier bandwidth.

[0100] The signal waveform transmitted on the carrier may be composed of multiple subcarriers (e.g., using multicarrier modulation (MCM) techniques such as orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) or discrete Fourier transform spread OFDM (DFT-S-OFDM)). In a system employing MCM techniques, a resource element may be composed of one symbol period (e.g., the duration of one modulation symbol) and one subcarrier, where the symbol period and subcarrier spacing are inversely related. The number of bits carried by each resource element may depend on the modulation scheme (e.g., the order of the modulation scheme, the coding rate of the modulation scheme, or both). Therefore, the more resource elements received by the UE 115 and the higher the order of the modulation scheme, the higher the data rate of the UE. Wireless communication resources may refer to a combination of wireless spectrum resources, time resources (e.g., search space), or spatial resources (e.g., spatial layers or beams), and the use of multiple spatial layers may further increase the data rate or data integrity used for communication with the UE 115.

[0101] One or more numerical configurations of a carrier may be supported, where the numerical configuration may include a subcarrier spacing (Δf) and a cyclic prefix. A carrier may be divided into one or more BWPs having the same or different numerical configurations. In some examples, a UE 115 may be configured with multiple BWPs. In some examples, a single BWP for a carrier may be active at a given time, and communication by the UE 115 may be limited to the one or more active BWPs.

[0102] The time interval of the base station 105 or the UE 115 may be expressed as a multiple of a basic time unit, which may be, for example, T s =1 / (Δf max ·N f ) seconds sampling period, where Δf maxIt can represent the maximum supported subcarrier spacing, and N f The maximum supported discrete Fourier transform (DFT) size may be indicated. Time intervals for communication resources may be organized according to radio frames, each having a specified duration (e.g., 10 milliseconds (ms)). Each radio frame may be identified by a system frame number (SFN) (e.g., ranging from 0 to 1023).

[0103] Each frame may include a plurality of consecutively numbered subframes or time slots, and each subframe or time slot may have the same duration. In some examples, the frame may be divided (e.g., in the time domain) into subframes, and each subframe may be further divided into a plurality of time slots. Alternatively, each frame may include a variable number of time slots, and the number of time slots may depend on the subcarrier spacing. Each time slot may include a plurality of symbol periods (e.g., depending on the length of a cyclic prefix prepended to each symbol period). In some wireless communication systems 100, a time slot may also be divided into a plurality of mini-time slots containing one or more symbols. In addition to the cyclic prefix, each symbol period may contain one or more (e.g., N subframes). f The duration of a symbol period may depend on the subcarrier spacing or the frequency band of operation.

[0104] A subframe, slot, mini-slot, or symbol may be the smallest scheduling unit (e.g., in the time domain) of the wireless communication system 100 and may be referred to as a transmission time interval (TTI). In some examples, the TTI duration (e.g., the number of symbol periods in a TTI) may be variable. Additionally or alternatively, the smallest scheduling unit of the wireless communication system 100 may be dynamically selected (e.g., in a burst of a shortened TTI (sTTI)).

[0105] Physical channels can be multiplexed on a carrier according to various techniques. Physical control channels and physical data channels can be multiplexed on a downlink carrier using, for example, one or more of a time division multiplexing (TDM) technique, a frequency division multiplexing (FDM) technique, or a hybrid TDM-FDM technique. A control region (e.g., a control resource set (CORESET)) of a physical control channel can be defined by multiple symbol periods and can extend across the system bandwidth of a carrier or a subset of the system bandwidth. One or more control regions (e.g., CORESETs) can be configured for a group of UEs 115. For example, one or more of the UEs 115 can monitor or search a control region or space for control information according to one or more search space sets, and each search space set can include one or more control channel candidates in one or more aggregation levels arranged in a cascaded manner. The aggregation level of a control channel candidate can refer to the number of control channel resources (e.g., control channel elements (CCEs)) associated with coded information of a control information format having a given payload size. The search space sets may include a common search space set configured for sending control information to multiple UEs 115 and a UE-specific search space set for sending control information to a specific UE 115. Disclosed herein are novel and unconventional other search spaces and configurations for monitoring and decoding them.

[0106] The base station 105 may provide communication coverage via one or more cells, such as macro cells, small cells, hot spots, or other types of cells or any combination thereof. The term "cell" may refer to a logical communication entity used to communicate with the base station 105 (e.g., via a carrier) and may be associated with an identifier (e.g., a physical cell identifier (PCID), a virtual cell identifier (VCID), or other) used to distinguish adjacent cells. In some examples, a cell may also refer to a geographic coverage area 110 or a portion of a geographic coverage area 110 (e.g., a sector) on which the logical communication entity operates. Depending on various factors such as the capabilities of the base station 105, such a cell may range from a smaller area (e.g., a structure, a subset of a structure) to a larger area. For example, a cell may be or include a building, a subset of a building, or an external space between or overlapping geographic coverage areas 110, etc.

[0107] A macro cell typically covers a relatively large geographic area (e.g., a radius of several kilometers) and may allow unrestricted access to a UE 115 with a service subscription with a network provider that supports the macro cell. Compared to a macro cell, a small cell may be associated with a low-power base station 105, and the small cell may operate in the same or different (e.g., authorized, unauthorized) frequency band as the macro cell. A small cell may utilize a service subscription with a network provider to provide unrestricted access to a UE 115, or may provide restricted access to a UE 115 associated with the small cell (e.g., a UE 115 in a closed subscriber group (CSG), a UE 115 associated with a user in a home or office). A base station 105 may support one or more cells and may also support communications over one or more cells using one or more component carriers.

[0108] In some examples, a carrier can support multiple cells, and different cells can be configured according to different protocol types (e.g., MTC, narrowband IoT (NB-IoT), enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB)) that can provide access to different types of devices.

[0109] In some examples, base stations 105 can be mobile, and thus provide communication coverage for mobile geographic coverage areas 110. In some examples, different geographic coverage areas 110 associated with different technologies can overlap, but the different geographic coverage areas 110 can be supported by the same base station 105. In other examples, overlapping geographic coverage areas 110 associated with different technologies can be supported by different base stations 105. The wireless communication system 100 can include, for example, a heterogeneous network in which different types of base stations 105 provide coverage for various geographic coverage areas 110 using the same or different radio access technologies.

[0110] The wireless communication system 100 can support synchronous or asynchronous operation. For synchronous operation, the base stations 105 can have similar frame timing, and transmissions from different base stations 105 can be approximately aligned in time. For asynchronous operation, the base stations 105 can have different frame timing, and in some examples, transmissions from different base stations 105 can not be aligned in time. The techniques described herein can be used for either synchronous or asynchronous operation.

[0111] Some UEs 115, such as MTC or IoT devices, may be low-cost or low-complexity devices and may provide automated communication between machines (e.g., via machine-to-machine (M2M) communication). M2M communication or MTC may refer to data communication technology that allows devices to communicate with each other or with a base station 105 without human intervention. In some examples, M2M communication or MTC may include communications from devices that incorporate sensors or meters to measure or capture information and relay such information to a central server or application that utilizes the information or presents it to a person interacting with the application. Some UEs 115 may be designed to collect information or implement automated behavior of machines or other devices. Examples of applications for MTC devices include smart metering, inventory monitoring, water level monitoring, equipment monitoring, healthcare monitoring, wildlife monitoring, weather and geological event monitoring, fleet management and tracking, remote security sensing, physical access control, and transaction-based billing for services.

[0112] Some UEs 115 may be configured to employ a mode of operation that reduces power consumption, such as half-duplex communication (e.g., a mode that supports unidirectional communication via transmission or reception but not simultaneous transmission and reception). In some examples, half-duplex communication may be performed at a reduced peak rate. Other power conservation techniques for UEs 115 include entering a power-saving deep sleep mode when not engaged in active communications, operating over a limited bandwidth (e.g., according to narrowband communication), or a combination of these techniques. For example, some UEs 115 may be configured to operate using a narrowband protocol type associated with a defined portion or range (e.g., a set of subcarriers or resource blocks (RBs)) within a carrier, within a guard band of a carrier, or outside a carrier.

[0113] The wireless communication system 100 can be configured to support ultra-reliable communication or low-latency communication or various combinations thereof. For example, the wireless communication system 100 can be configured to support ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC) or mission-critical communication. UE 115 can be designed to support ultra-reliable, low-latency or critical functions (e.g., mission-critical functions). Ultra-reliable communication can include dedicated communication or group communication and can be supported by one or more mission-critical services, such as mission-critical push-to-talk (MCPTT), mission-critical video (MCVideo), or mission-critical data (MCData). Support for mission-critical functions can include prioritization of services, and mission-critical services can be used for public safety or general commercial applications. The terms "ultra-reliable," "low latency," "mission-critical," and "ultra-reliable low latency" can be used interchangeably herein.

[0114] In some examples, UE 115 may also be able to communicate directly with other UEs 115 via device-to-device (D2D) communication links 135 (e.g., using a peer-to-peer (P2P) or D2D protocol). Communication links 135 may include sidelink communication links. One or more UEs 115 utilizing D2D communication may be within the geographic coverage area 110 of base station 105. Other UEs 115 in such a group may be outside the geographic coverage area 110 of base station 105 or unable to receive transmissions from base station 105. In some examples, a group of UEs 115 communicating via D2D communication may utilize a one-to-many (1:M) system, in which a UE transmits to each other UE in the group. In some examples, base station 105 facilitates scheduling of resources for D2D communication. In other cases, D2D communication is performed between UEs 115 without involving base station 105.

[0115] In some systems, the D2D communication link 135 can be an example of a communication channel (such as a sidelink communication channel) between vehicles (e.g., UE 115). In some examples, the vehicles can communicate using vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication, or some combination of these. The vehicles can send information related to traffic conditions, signal scheduling, weather, safety, emergency situations, or any other information related to the V2X system. In some examples, the vehicles in the V2X system can use vehicle-to-network (V2N) communication to communicate with roadside infrastructure such as roadside units, or with the network, or both, via one or more RAN network nodes (e.g., base station 105).

[0116] The core network 130 can provide user authentication, access authorization, tracking, Internet Protocol (IP) connectivity, and other access, routing, or mobility functions. The core network 130 can be an evolved packet core (EPC) or a 5G core (5GC), which can include at least one control plane entity (e.g., a mobility management entity (MME), an access and mobility management function (AMF)) that manages access and mobility and at least one user plane entity (e.g., a serving gateway (S-GW), a packet data network (PDN) gateway (P-GW), or a user plane function (UPF)) that routes packets or interconnections to external networks. The control plane entity can manage non-access stratum (NAS) functions such as mobility, authentication, and bearer management for UEs 115 served by base stations 105 associated with the core network 130. User IP packets can be transmitted through the user plane entity, which can provide IP address allocation and other functions. The user plane entity can be connected to the IP services 150 of one or more network operators. IP services 150 may include access to the Internet, an intranet, an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), or packet-switched streaming services.

[0117] Some network devices, such as base stations 105, may include subcomponents, such as access network entities 140, which may be an example of an access node controller (ANC). Each access network entity 140 may communicate with a UE 115 through one or more other access network transport entities 145, which may be referred to as radio heads, smart radio heads, or transmission / reception points (TRPs). Each access network transport entity 145 may include one or more antenna panels. In some configurations, the various functions of each access network entity 140 or base station 105 may be distributed across various network devices (e.g., radio heads and ANCs) or consolidated into a single network device (e.g., base station 105).

[0118] The wireless communication system 100 can operate using one or more frequency bands typically in the range of 300 megahertz (MHz) to 300 gigahertz (GHz). Typically, the region from 300 MHz to 3 GHz is referred to as the ultra-high frequency (UHF) region or decimeter band because the wavelengths range from approximately 1 decimeter to 1 meter long. UHF waves can be blocked or redirected by buildings and environmental features, but the waves can penetrate the structures used for macro cells sufficiently to provide service to UEs 115 located indoors. Transmissions using UHF waves can be associated with smaller antennas and a shorter range (e.g., less than 100 kilometers) compared to transmissions using the lower frequencies and longer wavelengths of the high frequency (HF) or very high frequency (VHF) portions of the spectrum below 300 MHz.

[0119] The wireless communication system 100 may also operate in the super high frequency (SHF) region using frequency bands from 3 GHz to 30 GHz (also known as centimeter wave bands), or in the extremely high frequency (EHF) region of the spectrum (e.g., from 30 GHz to 300 GHz) (also known as millimeter wave bands). In some examples, the wireless communication system 100 may support millimeter wave (mmW) communications between the UE 115 and the base station 105, and the EHF antennas of each device may be smaller and more closely spaced than UHF antennas. In some examples, this may facilitate the use of antenna arrays within the device. However, the propagation of EHF transmissions may be subject to even greater atmospheric attenuation and a shorter range than SHF or UHF transmissions. The techniques disclosed herein may be used in transmissions using one or more different frequency regions, and the designated use of frequency bands across these frequency regions may vary by country or regulatory body.

[0120] The wireless communication system 100 can use licensed and unlicensed radio frequency spectrum bands. For example, the wireless communication system 100 can adopt license assisted access (LAA), LTE-unlicensed (LTE-U) radio access technology, or NR technology in an unlicensed band such as the 5 GHz industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) band. When operating in an unlicensed radio frequency spectrum band, devices such as base stations 105 and UEs 115 can use carrier sensing for conflict detection and avoidance. In some examples, operations in the unlicensed band can be based on carrier aggregation configuration and work in conjunction with component carriers operating in the licensed band (e.g., LAA). Operations in the unlicensed spectrum can include downlink transmissions, uplink transmissions, P2P transmissions, or D2D transmissions, etc.

[0121] A base station 105 or a UE 115 may be equipped with multiple antennas that can be used to employ techniques such as transmit diversity, receive diversity, multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) communications, or beamforming. The antennas of a base station 105 or a UE 115 may be located within one or more antenna arrays or antenna panels that can support MIMO operations or transmit or receive beamforming. For example, one or more base station antennas or antenna arrays may be co-located at an antenna assembly such as an antenna tower. In some examples, the antennas or antenna arrays associated with a base station 105 may be located in different geographic locations. A base station 105 may have an antenna array having multiple rows and columns of antenna ports that the base station 105 may use to support beamforming for communications with a UE 115. Similarly, a UE 115 may have one or more antenna arrays that can support various MIMO or beamforming operations. Additionally or alternatively, the antenna panels may support radio frequency beamforming for signals transmitted via the antenna ports.

[0122] The base station 105 or UE 115 can use MIMO communication to take advantage of multipath signal propagation and improve spectral efficiency by sending or receiving multiple signals via different spatial layers. Such a technique may be referred to as spatial multiplexing. For example, multiple signals may be sent by a transmitting device via different antennas or different combinations of antennas. Similarly, a receiving device may receive multiple signals via different antennas or different combinations of antennas. Each of the multiple signals may be referred to as a separate spatial stream and may carry bits associated with the same data stream (e.g., the same codeword) or different data streams (e.g., different codewords). Different spatial layers may be associated with different antenna ports for channel measurement and reporting. MIMO technologies include single-user MIMO (SU-MIMO), in which multiple spatial layers are sent to the same receiving device, and multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO), in which multiple spatial layers are sent to multiple devices.

[0123] Beamforming (which may also be referred to as spatial filtering, directional transmission, or directional reception) is a signal processing technique that can be used at a transmitting device or a receiving device (e.g., a base station 105, a UE 115) to shape or steer an antenna beam (e.g., a transmit beam, a receive beam) along a spatial path between the transmitting device and the receiving device. Beamforming can be achieved by combining signals transmitted via antenna elements of an antenna array so that some signals propagating in a particular orientation relative to the antenna array experience constructive interference, while other signals experience destructive interference. Adjustments to signals transmitted via antenna elements can include the transmitting device or the receiving device applying an amplitude offset, a phase offset, or both to the signals carried via the antenna elements associated with the device. The adjustments associated with each antenna element can be defined by a set of beamforming weights associated with a particular orientation (e.g., relative to the antenna array of the transmitting device or the receiving device, or relative to some other orientation).

[0124] The base station 105 or the UE 115 may use beam scanning techniques as part of a beamforming operation. For example, the base station 105 may use multiple antennas or antenna arrays (e.g., antenna panels) to perform beamforming operations for directional communication with the UE 115. Some signals (e.g., synchronization signals, reference signals, beam selection signals, or other control signals) may be transmitted multiple times by the base station 105 in different directions. For example, the base station 105 may transmit signals according to different sets of beamforming weights associated with different transmit directions. Transmissions in different beam directions may be used to identify (e.g., by a transmitting device such as the base station 105 or by a receiving device such as the UE 115) the beam direction for later transmission or reception by the base station 105.

[0125] Base station 105 may transmit some signals, such as data signals associated with a particular receiving device, in a single beam direction (e.g., a direction associated with a receiving device, such as UE 115). In some examples, the beam direction associated with transmissions along the single beam direction may be determined based on signals transmitted in one or more beam directions. For example, UE 115 may receive one or more signals transmitted by base station 105 in different directions and may report to the base station an indication of the signal received by UE 115 having the highest signal quality or otherwise acceptable signal quality.

[0126] In some examples, transmissions by a device (e.g., base station 105 or UE 115) may be performed using multiple beam directions, and the device may use a combination of digital precoding or radio frequency beamforming to generate a combined beam for transmission (e.g., from base station 105 to UE 115). UE 115 may report feedback indicating precoding weights for one or more beam directions, and the feedback may correspond to the configured number of beams across the system bandwidth or one or more subbands. Base station 105 may send reference signals (e.g., cell-specific reference signals (CRS), channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS)), which may be precoded or unprecoded. UE 115 may provide feedback for beam selection, which may be a precoding matrix indicator (PMI) or codebook-based feedback (e.g., a multi-panel type codebook, a linear combination type codebook, a port selection type codebook). Although these techniques are described with reference to signals sent by base station 105 in one or more directions, UE 115 may employ similar techniques to send signals multiple times in different directions (e.g., to identify a beam direction for subsequent transmission or reception by UE 115) or to send signals in a single direction (e.g., to send data to a receiving device).

[0127] A receiving device (e.g., UE 115) may attempt multiple receive configurations (e.g., directional listening) when receiving various signals (such as synchronization signals, reference signals, beam selection signals, or other control signals) from a base station 105. For example, the receiving device may attempt multiple receive directions by receiving via different antenna subarrays, by processing received signals according to different antenna subarrays, by receiving according to different receive beamforming weight sets applied to signals received at multiple antenna elements of an antenna array (e.g., different directional listening weight sets), or by processing received signals according to different receive beamforming weight sets applied to signals received at multiple antenna elements of an antenna array, any of which may be referred to as "listening" according to different receive configurations or receive directions. In some examples, the receiving device may receive along a single beam direction using a single receive configuration (e.g., when receiving data signals). The single receive configuration may be aligned on a beam direction determined based on listening according to different receive configuration directions (e.g., a beam direction determined to have the highest signal strength, highest signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), or otherwise acceptable signal quality based on listening according to multiple beam directions).

[0128] The wireless communication system 100 can be a packet-based network operating according to a layered protocol stack. In the user plane, the communication of the bearer or packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer can be IP-based. The radio link control (RLC) layer can perform packet segmentation and reassembly to communicate on the logical channel. The medium access control (MAC) layer can perform priority processing and multiplexing of logical channels to transport channels. The MAC layer can also use error detection technology, error correction technology, or both to support retransmission at the MAC layer to improve link efficiency. In the control plane, the radio resource control (RRC) protocol layer can provide the establishment, configuration and maintenance of the RRC connection between the UE 115 and the base station 105 or the core network 130 supporting the radio bearer of the user plane data. At the physical layer, the transport channel can be mapped to the physical channel.

[0129] Aggregation of uplink random access - compact / multi-device random access and connection establishment.

[0130] Uplink random access and connection establishment are typically the first procedures performed by a user equipment device to receive or transmit traffic. For device aggregation, a primary device of an aggregation group of user equipment devices conventionally repeats the random access and connection establishment procedures for each of multiple user equipment secondary devices connected to or part of the aggregation group. This procedure may include sending multiple preambles, sending multiple scheduling requests, performing multiple RRC signaling message exchanges, etc. for the respective secondary devices.

[0131] Using the embodiments disclosed herein, a primary device can facilitate a multi-device random access procedure to simultaneously establish connections to a radio access network ("RAN") node for secondary user devices that are members of a group of secondary devices. A single connection establishment can also establish a connection for the primary device.

[0132] Conventionally, with device aggregation, a primary device may perform those signaling moments on behalf of the secondary devices in the aggregation group by independently performing random access and associated signaling for each secondary device, which is battery-inefficient and processing-inefficient. The embodiments disclosed herein facilitate aggregating uplink control channel information used to send random access and connection establishment control signaling messages. Utilizing the network support and new RRC signaling formats disclosed herein, a primary device may aggregate random access connection procedures for multiple secondary devices simultaneously. For example, a primary device may send a multi-device RRC connection establishment request signaling message. As disclosed herein, the aggregated RRC message sent by the primary device may be carried via an uplink resource opportunity associated with the best serving beam of the primary device. The compact RRC message disclosed herein may include primary and secondary network access information, which may include a best serving downlink beam index, a target service identifier, or a device identifier (e.g., IMSI) for each user equipment device. The network RAN ​​can respond to the aggregated RRC request message only to the primary device with the compact RRC response message disclosed herein, which can include uplink resource grants, connected RNTI identifiers, or device-specific power control spectrum efficiency levels for each of the primary and secondary devices of the aggregation group, as if the uplink traffic were to be sent from the secondary device itself. The primary device can generate independent RRC configuration messages based on the compact RRC response message received from the network RAN, each of which will be sent to a single secondary device. As a result, random access and network connection establishment procedures are offloaded from the secondary device to the primary device (providing power savings gains at the secondary device), while the primary device avoids repeating RRC signaling and preamble transmissions for each secondary device, thereby providing reduced battery charge consumption and enhanced processing performance at the primary device.

[0133] Now go to Figure 2A , which illustrates an example environment 200 including a relay or primary user equipment device 115A and secondary, remote or tethered user equipment devices 115B, 115C, ... 115n. Figure 2AAs shown, a primary UE device or relay UE device 115A receives initial access information 205B, 205C, ... 205n from one or more remote / secondary devices 115B, 115C, and 115n. The access information 205 from the secondary UEs 115B-115n may include an access information indication 207 corresponding to the best serving downlink beam for each UE, an identifier of the UE (such as an International Mobile Subscriber Identifier ("IMSI")), a target network service indicator, etc., for connection establishment. For example, the primary device 115A, which may be in an idle or inactive state, may send a random access preamble 208 to the RAN 105 on an uplink resource opportunity that is bundled with or associated with the best downlink beam for the primary UE. The preamble 208 is shown in dashed lines to indicate that the UE 115A may send the preamble while in an idle or inactive state before sending a compact, aggregated connection request 210 (which may be referred to as an uplink radio resource connection aggregation request message or as an uplink radio resource connection aggregation request message). The preamble 208 may be a group preamble selected from a pool of configured preambles, the group preamble indicating to the RAN 105 that the UE 115A may be sending an aggregation request message 210, such that in response to receiving the preamble 208, the RAN 105 schedules one or more uplink resources of the primary UE for sending the aggregation request message 210. The preamble 208 may include a group preamble, such as a PRACH preamble, corresponding to one or more user equipment devices comprising the aggregation group, e.g., the primary user equipment 115A and one or more secondary user equipment devices 115B-115n. The group preamble may be a code selected from a pool of preambles that the RAN 105 has associated with establishment of an RRC connection for the device group (e.g., in an aggregated RRC connection establishment). The preamble 208 may indicate to the RAN 105 that the idle or inactive primary UE 115A sending the preamble 208 is requesting aggregation of the RRC resources of the aggregation group; in response to receiving the preamble 208, the RAN may automatically send an aggregation authorization message, such as a reference to a group preamble. Figure 2B The uplink aggregation grant message 212 is described.

[0134] continue Figure 2AAs described above, the preamble 208 may be configured (e.g., by the RAN 105) to be one of a pool of preambles allocated for RRC aggregation. For example, if an aggregated request message 210 is to be sent, the RAN 105 may configure the UE 115A to select and send a preamble from the pool (e.g., via broadcast). Thus, upon receiving a preamble from the group that is allocated a preamble indicating the aggregated request 210, the RAN 105 may automatically schedule resources for the next RRC request message from the master device 115A to accommodate the message 210, which may be larger (e.g., in bits or bytes) than a conventional single-device RRC request message and may include access information associated with the UE devices of the aggregation group. The group preamble 208 may also facilitate indicating to the RAN 105 which type of upcoming RRC connection request message (e.g., single UE or aggregated) is to be decoded, thereby avoiding or minimizing blind decoding of the request message.

[0135] If the master UE 115A is not idle or inactive when determining to send the aggregated or aggregated request message 210, the master UE 115A may indicate to the RAN 105 via the uplink control channel resources already scheduled for the master UE that an aggregated connection establishment request message 210 may be forthcoming. In response, the RAN 105 may send an upgraded uplink control channel resource grant indication 209 to the master UE 115A, which may indicate an uplink control channel resource that is larger (e.g., of a longer duration or a different frequency) than the uplink resource that has been scheduled for the uplink control channel message for the master UE. The indication 209 is shown in dashed lines to indicate that if the preamble 208 is used to indicate an aggregated request, the resource indication 209 may not be sent from the RAN 105 to the master UE 115A.

[0136] In one embodiment, if the primary device 115A is in a connected RRC state when receiving RRC access information from one or more idle or inactive secondary UE devices 115B-115n, the primary device may send an uplink radio resource connection aggregation request message 210 as an uplink control channel information ("UCI") message via an uplink control channel. In one embodiment, if the size or amount of data in the uplink radio resource connection aggregation request message 210 is greater than a configured threshold for sending UCI, the primary device 115A may send a UCI indication to obtain scheduling of resources for sending the uplink radio resource connection aggregation request message on an uplink data channel between the UE 115A and the RAN 105.

[0137] The request message 210 may include an indication of access information 207B-207m corresponding to one or more secondary user equipment devices 115B-115n. The message 210 may include access information 207A corresponding to the primary user equipment 115A. Accordingly, the primary device 115A may send an uplink radio resource connection aggregation request message 210, which may include RRC signaling information, to establish an RRC connection for members of an aggregation group that may include the user equipment devices 115A-115n. The content 207 corresponding to one of the UEs 115A-115n in the group common RRC connection establishment request message 210 sent from the primary device to the RAN 105 may include random access information for the combination of the primary UE device UE 115A and the secondary UE devices 115B-115n, such as a device identifier, the best serving downlink beam determined by each device 115A-n, or one or more target service identifiers for services to be requested from the RAN 105.

[0138] In response to sending the uplink radio resource connection aggregation request message 210 and exchanging corresponding signaling messages with the RAN 105, the primary user equipment 115A may receive a single group common RRC response 212 from the RAN 105, such as Figure 2BAs shown. The group common RRC response 212 received by UE 115A from RAN 105 may be referred to as an uplink aggregation grant message 212 and may include uplink grant information 220A-220n corresponding to the primary UE 115A and one or more secondary user equipment devices 115B-115n, respectively, which may be part of the aggregation group with the primary UE 115A. For example, the uplink grant information 220 may include information elements such as, for example, the connected RNTI identifiers of each of the primary UE device 115A and the secondary UE devices 115B-115n announced in the RRC connection establishment request message 210 previously transmitted from the primary device 115A. If the RAN 105 does not accept the grant for one or more secondary UE devices 115B-115n, the C-RNTI identifiers corresponding to the unaccepted secondary UE devices may be assigned as NULL in message 212. The uplink grant information associated with each device may include timing or frequency resource information. The device-specific uplink power control settings may be indicated in the message 212 with an indication of the target spectral efficiency corresponding to the UE devices 115B-115n. When the primary UE 115A receives the aggregated RRC multi-device connection establishment response 212 from the network RAN ​​105, the primary UE may compile separate RRC configuration messages 222B-222n. Each message 222B-222n may be directed by the primary UE 115A to a single secondary device 115B-115n, respectively, and may include RRC configuration information and uplink grant information associated with the corresponding secondary device in the aggregated RRC response message 212.

[0139] Now go to Figure 3 , which shows a timing diagram of an example method 300 including a relay UE 115A relaying uplink information on behalf of a UE 115B. In act 305, the secondary / remote UE 115B transmits, and in act 310, the relay UE / WTRU 115A receives access information corresponding to the secondary UE. The access information may include a radio identifier (e.g., a temporary mobile subscriber identity and an international mobile subscriber identity), or a connected mode radio network temporary identifier (e.g., a TMIS, an IMSI, or a C-RNTI, respectively), and may be received from the secondary UE 115B via a common sidelink interface or via a dedicated device-to-device communication link.

[0140] In act 315, in one embodiment, under the condition that the primary / relay WTRU / UE 115A is in an idle or inactive state, the primary UE may transmit a physical random access channel ("PRACH") preamble on a random access channel ("RACH") opportunity associated with the primary UE's best serving downlink beam determined by the primary UE. The preamble sent in act 315 may include a group preamble, which may have been allocated by the RAN 105 to correspond to an aggregation group that includes the primary UE 115A, the secondary UE 115B, and any other secondary UEs that may be part of the aggregation group. Thus, when the RAN 105 receives the group preamble sent in act 315, the RAN recognizes that the primary UE 115A is requesting that uplink resources be scheduled for the user equipment devices of the aggregation group in an aggregated manner. (It will be appreciated that the UE 115A is part of the aggregation group and may have uplink traffic to transmit, and the RAN 105 may schedule uplink resources for the primary UE in response to receiving the preamble sent in act 315.) The primary UE 115A may transmit a primary UE-specific PREACH preamble in act 315. In response to the preamble, the primary / relay WTRU / UE 115A may receive an uplink grant from the RAN 105 for transmitting an aggregate multi-device RRC connection setup message, such as an uplink aggregation request message.

[0141] In another embodiment, if the primary UE 115A is not in an idle or inactive state, or if the primary UE is in an RRC connected state, then at act 315, when uplink traffic to be transmitted is indicated as being present at the secondary UE 115B, the UE 115a may transmit an uplink aggregation request message (such as a reference to an uplink control channel (“UCI”)) via an uplink control channel (“UCI”). Figure 2A In response, the RAN 105 may use radio resource control connection establishment signaling to send an indication to the UE 115A of larger or more robust uplink control channel resources to be used when sending an uplink aggregation request message as an uplink control indication message (“UCI”), which may include an indication of the multiple remote devices, the corresponding serving downlink beams, a radio identifier, or an indication of a target service for each remote device.

[0142] After uplink control channel resources have been granted in response to UE 115A transmitting a preamble or UCI message requesting resources to transmit an uplink aggregation request in act 315, UE 115A may transmit an uplink aggregation request message as UCI via the uplink control channel in act 320, the uplink aggregation request message including an indication of a plurality of remote devices, corresponding serving downlink beams, a radio identifier, or an indication of a target service for each remote device. In act 320, UE 115A may transmit the uplink aggregation request message using radio resource control connection establishment signaling. In one embodiment, if the size of the uplink aggregation request message is greater than a configured UCI message transmission threshold, master UE 115A may transmit a UCI indication in act 320 indicating a request for dynamically scheduling resources on an uplink data channel for transmitting a group-common RRC message (e.g., an RRC message corresponding to the aggregation group).

[0143] In action 325, the RAN 105 sends and the primary UE 115A receives an uplink aggregation grant message that includes an uplink grant information grant corresponding to the secondary user equipment. The uplink grant information may include multiple RRC configuration messages corresponding to the remote UE 115B (and other UE devices of the aggregation group of which UE 115B and UE 115A are members). For example, the uplink grant information may include a C-RNTI ID, an uplink resource grant indication, or a device-specific power control spectrum efficiency target corresponding to each secondary UE device of the aggregation group.

[0144] In act 330, the primary UE 115A individually sends the RRC configuration(s) received in act 325 to the secondary UE 115B or other secondary / remote UE devices of the aggregation group, to which the RRC configuration(s) in the uplink aggregation grant message received in act 325 corresponds.

[0145] Figure 4A flow chart illustrating an example method embodiment 400 for aggregated uplink resource granting is shown. Method 400 begins at act 405. At act 410, a secondary user equipment device sends access information to a primary user equipment, where the primary user equipment and the secondary user equipment are part of an aggregation group. At act 415, the primary user equipment receives the access information sent at act 410. Then, act 420 is added, where the primary user equipment generates an uplink aggregation request message. At act 425, a determination is made at the primary user equipment whether the primary user equipment is in an idle or inactive state relative to the serving RAN. If the determination made at act 425 is that the primary user equipment is in an idle or inactive state, method 400 proceeds to act 427. At act 427, a determination is made whether the primary user equipment will use a group preamble or a preamble specific to the primary user equipment. If the determination made at act 427 is that the group preamble will be sent to the serving RAN, method 400 proceeds to act 430 and sends the group preamble to the serving RAN. Returning to the description of action 427, if a determination is made that the group preamble will not be transmitted by the primary user device, method 400 proceeds to action 432. In action 432, the primary user device transmits a primary-specific preamble to the serving RAN. After transmitting the preamble in action 432, the serving RAN may transmit an indication to the primary user device indicating uplink control channel resources for transmitting the uplink aggregation request message generated in action 420. In action 433, the primary user device receives uplink resources from the serving RAN and transmits an uplink aggregation request message to the serving RAN. In action 433, the transmission of the uplink aggregation request message may be via a UCI message.

[0146] Returning to the description of action 425, if a determination is made that the primary user equipment is in a connected state with the serving RAN, in other words, the primary user equipment is not idle or inactive, method 400 proceeds to action 434. In action 434, the primary user equipment sends an indication via a UCI message to the serving RAN indicating that the primary user equipment may be about to send an aggregation request message for uplink aggregation generated in action 420. In response to sending the indication that the primary user equipment may be about to send an uplink aggregation request message, the serving RAN may send back to the primary user equipment uplink control resources that are greater than the previously scheduled uplink control channel resources used by the primary user equipment to send the indication that it was about to send an uplink aggregation request message in action 434. In action 435, the primary user equipment sends the aggregation request message generated in action 420 via a UCI message.

[0147] In act 440, the serving RAN schedules one or more uplink resources to be used by the secondary user equipment device to send an RRC connection request, regardless of whether it arrives via act 435, act 430, or act 433. In act 445, the scheduled uplink resources corresponding to the one or more user equipment devices in the aggregation group are combined into an uplink aggregation grant message, which is sent from the serving RAN to the primary user equipment. In act 450, the primary user equipment receives the uplink aggregation grant message. The primary user equipment distinguishes, segments, extracts, or otherwise retrieves the uplink resources corresponding to the secondary user equipment in the aggregation group, as scheduled in act 440 and indicated in the grant message sent in act 445. In act 440, the primary user equipment individually sends the scheduled resources to each secondary user equipment device corresponding to the scheduled resources. The secondary user equipment device may then receive and use its corresponding scheduled uplink resources to establish a radio resource control connection with the serving RAN. Method 400 ends in act 460.

[0148] Aggregated uplink traffic scheduling and transmission - compact uplink traffic aggregation.

[0149] Currently, for a secondary device in an aggregation group that has uplink traffic available for transmission, a primary device sends a scheduling request, receives a temporary grant, sends a buffer status report to the RAN on behalf of the secondary device, indicating the buffered uplink traffic available at the secondary device for transmission to the RAN, receives an uplink resource grant for the secondary device to transmit the uplink traffic grant, and sends an indication of the uplink resource grant to the secondary device. The primary device performs this process for each of the multiple secondary user devices in the aggregation group, thereby using processing and energy overhead that may be proportional to the number of user devices comprising the aggregation group.

[0150] Existing device aggregation procedures can be used to transmit data traffic for secondary UE devices that have uplink traffic available for transmission but are experiencing poor network reachability or poor radio conditions due to, for example, network conditions. Consequently, the secondary devices can transmit their respective uplink traffic to the primary device of the aggregation group of which the secondary devices are members. Consequently, the primary device typically initiates an uplink resource scheduling request procedure for each connected secondary device, wherein the uplink traffic is to be transmitted to the network RAN. For each secondary device, the primary device typically sends a scheduling request and, in response, receives an initial scheduling grant. The primary device can then send a buffer status report ("BSR") corresponding to the secondary device with traffic to be transmitted and, accordingly, receive a final uplink resource grant for one or more resources used by the primary device to transmit the secondary device's uplink traffic. Repeating the same radio operation (e.g., uplink scheduling request) individually for each secondary device results in the primary UE using energy and processing power proportional to the number of user devices with traffic to be transmitted.

[0151] Now go to Figure 5A , the environment 500 may include a relay UE 115A and remote, tethered (e.g., tethered via a short-range wireless link such as a sidelink, a Bluetooth link, a Wi-Fi link, etc.) or secondary user equipment devices 115B-115n. Embodiments disclosed herein may include compact uplink traffic aggregation messaging. A compact scheduling request message 510 may be sent by the primary UE 115A as a single buffer status report that represents the sum, aggregate amount, or corresponding value, or indication of the combined traffic of the secondary user equipment devices 115B-115n that may be connected to the primary user equipment 115A in an aggregation group of user equipment devices. The message 510 may be referred to as an aggregated uplink traffic indication or a first user equipment associated buffer status report. The primary UE device 115A may determine a transport block size for transmitting traffic received from the secondary UE devices 115B-115n. The format of the traffic placement control element indication for different secondary user equipment 115B-115n in a transmission block disclosed herein may be used to indicate to the RAN 105 how traffic in an aggregated traffic transmission, including traffic for the primary device 115A and traffic for the secondary UE devices 115B-115n, is organized in transmission blocks for different user equipment devices.

[0152] Thus, a primary device using the embodiments disclosed herein can facilitate uplink data / traffic scheduling request, grant, and transmission processes to avoid repeating uplink data transmission scheduling for each connected secondary device with uplink traffic available for transmission. In the embodiments disclosed herein, a primary UE of an aggregated group of user equipment devices can collect buffer status reports from one or more secondary devices. The primary UE device can then combine the individual BSR information contained in the buffer status reports received individually from multiple secondary UE devices into an aggregated BSR report to be sent to the network RAN. The RAN can schedule an aggregated uplink resource grant having a size for carrying the available uplink traffic size for all secondary devices based on the corresponding individual BSR information of all secondary devices. During or after the primary device sends the aggregated BSR report to the network, the primary UE device can receive uplink traffic from multiple connected secondary devices, for example, via a device-to-device high-capacity link (sidelink, Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi, etc.).

[0153] To facilitate the transmission of traffic for multiple secondary user equipment devices, the primary user equipment device may generate multiple media access control elements ("MAC-CEs"), wherein the MAC-CEs are associated with or appended to corresponding uplink data traffic portions received from the secondary user equipment devices. Thus, one uplink transport block may be used by the primary user equipment device to transmit portions of multiple traffic flows and multiple associated MAC-CEs corresponding to the corresponding multiple secondary user equipment devices. The multiple MAC-CEs in a single transport block indicate to the RAN node that multiple traffic portions for the multiple secondary user equipment devices receiving the single transport block from the primary user equipment, the multiple traffic portions for the multiple secondary user equipment devices being transmitted in the transport block based on the granted uplink resources. Thus, despite the transmission of multiple traffic flows or portions thereof from the primary user equipment device in a single transport block, the RAN becomes "aware" that the multiple traffic portions belong to one or more secondary user equipment devices. Thus, using the embodiments disclosed herein, uplink traffic from multiple secondary user equipment devices can be efficiently transmitted via a high-capacity link, where the high-capacity link is either a high-capacity link from the secondary to the primary device, or a link from the primary device to the network RAN, which may have a significantly higher capacity than a link directly from the secondary user equipment device to the RAN, thereby improving battery performance at the primary user device and improving overall uplink spectrum efficiency when transmitting uplink traffic from the user equipment device to the RAN.

[0154] Using References Figures 2A-4In the described embodiment, a primary device can perform compact random access and network RRC connection establishment on behalf of multiple connected secondary devices, but uplink traffic can still be sent from the secondary devices themselves. In such an embodiment, the primary device of an aggregation group of user equipment devices can compile multiple separate RRC connection messages for the corresponding multiple secondary user equipment devices and send a separate RRC connection message to each secondary device. In another embodiment, even if the secondary user equipment receives an RRC connection resource indication from the primary user equipment, the primary device can send uplink data traffic from the secondary devices to the serving RAN, rather than the secondary user equipment sending their corresponding data traffic.

[0155] Therefore, if Figure 5A As shown, the primary user equipment 115A may request or receive buffer status report information 507 from each connected secondary device 115B-115n (e.g., secondary devices that are part of an aggregation group with the primary UE 115A user equipment). Each received BSR information report 507 may indicate to the primary user equipment 115A an approximate amount of traffic 505 that may be stored in the buffer 504 of the corresponding secondary user equipment device and that may be used for uplink transmission to the RAN 105. (The shaded blocks in the buffers 504B-504n represent traffic 505B-505n available for transmission from the corresponding user equipment devices 115B-115n to the RAN 105.) Based on the BSR information reports 507B-507n received from the secondary devices 115B-115n, the primary device 115A may combine the received BSR information and determine / generate an aggregate BSR report 510, which may be referred to as an aggregated uplink traffic indication, to be sent to the RAN 105 for use in determining an aggregate uplink resource size that is large enough to carry the available uplink traffic 505B-505n stored in the buffers 504B-504n and the traffic that may be stored in the buffer 504A at the primary user equipment (which primary device traffic is not shown with shaded blocks in the figure to reduce congestion and also because the primary UE 115A does not need to send a buffer status report to itself to determine how much traffic may be stored in the buffer 504A). The RAN 105 may send an aggregation information indication message 515 that may indicate one or more uplink resources 517 (e.g., time, frequency, size, or duration) to be used by the primary UE 115A to send aggregated uplink traffic to the RAN. The aggregation information indication message 515 may include a reference to Figure 5B Uplink transport block configuration information 518 is described.

[0156] like Figure 5BAs shown, during or after the primary user equipment device 115A sends an aggregated BSR report 510 to the network RAN ​​105, the primary device may receive uplink data traffic 505B-505n from multiple connected secondary devices 115B-115n via, for example, a device-to-device high-capacity link (e.g., sidelink, Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi, etc.). The primary UE device 115A may generate MAC-CEs 530A-530n, each of which may be attached to each uplink traffic portion 505B-505n received from each secondary device 115B-115n (as well as the traffic 505A of the primary device 115A that may be ready for transmission to the RAN 105) in an aggregate payload message. It should be understood that other configurations of the MAC-CEs 530 relative to their corresponding uplink traffic portions 505 may be used, rather than attaching the MAC-CEs to their corresponding traffic portions in an aggregate payload message, which may be transmitted in an aggregated traffic transmission block 525. Reference to an aggregated traffic transport block 525 may be a reference to an aggregate payload message comprising a plurality of traffic parts 505 and corresponding MAC-CEs. Figure 5B As shown, MAC-CEs 530A-530n are shown touching their corresponding traffic portions 505A-505n to indicate the correspondence of the MAC-CEs to a given uplink traffic portion, but the MAC-CEs do not necessarily need to be adjacent to the corresponding traffic portions in the transport block 525.

[0157] Thus, the master device 115A may send a single uplink transport block 525 with multiple MAC-CEs and traffic portions corresponding thereto. The MAC-CEs may indicate to the RAN 115A the set of uplink resources that are granted (e.g., in reference to Figure 2B505n) is used to transmit traffic associated with the secondary device, such that the RAN 105 is "aware" of the secondary device's traffic transmission, even though the secondary device's traffic is transmitted from the primary device UE 115A in a single transmission block 525 based on the resources granted to UE 115A in the aggregation information indication message 515. The size of the transmission block 525 may be selected based on the size of the sum of the traffic 505A-505n or based on the aggregate block size indicated in the aggregation information indication message 515. The size of the transmission block 525 may be determined from a configuration table that associates a range of aggregated traffic sizes or amounts with corresponding transmission block sizes. It should be understood that the primary device 115A has uplink buffer capacity that can buffer / store uplink traffic 505 received from multiple connected secondary devices, as well as uplink traffic that may be buffered at the primary UE itself. The primary UE 115A can adjust how many secondary devices UE 115B-115n can be connected to the primary UE simultaneously so that the primary UE's buffer size can accommodate the traffic from the secondary UE devices 115B-115n. As a result, uplink traffic from the aggregated user equipment devices can be handled via the high-capacity link between the secondary devices 15B-115n and the primary device 115A and via the link or links from the primary device to the network RAN ​​105 to improve the spectral efficiency of the transmission of the uplink traffic. Performance benefits can include improved battery performance for the user equipment of the aggregated group, reduced latency, or higher achievable capacity due to ultra-high-capacity device-to-device links and better network channel conditions for the primary devices.

[0158] Depending on the radio capabilities of the primary device 115A (e.g., multiple radio frequency (RF) chains), the primary device 115A may receive uplink traffic 505B-505n from the secondary devices 115B-115n via a broadband device-to-device link, either simultaneously with, before, or after the transmission of the aggregated BSR report 510. If the primary device 115A is equipped with multiple RF chains so that the primary UE can transmit and receive simultaneously, uplink traffic latency may be significantly reduced because the secondary devices may be able to initiate uplink transmissions to the primary device while the primary device is requesting resources for the aggregated uplink scheduling. Accordingly, the primary device may generate multiple MAC-CEs, each of which indicates a certain secondary device or device identifier, and may attach the MAC-CEs to the uplink aggregate portion. The multiple MAC-CEs facilitate the RAN 105 in determining the secondary UE devices 115B-115n corresponding to the uplink traffic sent from the primary device 115A in the transmission block 525.

[0159] To facilitate efficient multi-MAC-CE transport block detection at the RAN node 105, the master UE 115A may notify the RAN node before sending the aggregated traffic transport block 525 that the master UE may be prepared to send a multi-MAC-CE transport block to the RAN. Otherwise, the RAN node 105 may attempt to decode the transport block using all decoding possibilities, including all multi-MAC-CE possibilities, which may result in wasteful use of processing resources at the RAN. In one embodiment, the RAN 105 may impose a maximum allowable traffic aggregation limit on the master UE 115A, which may reduce the number of decoding possibilities that the RAN performs on the multi-MAC-CE transport block 525. Therefore, when the master device 115A establishes a connection with the RAN 105, the master UE may declare corresponding device-specific capability information, which may include an indication of the number of aggregated uplink traffic portions and the number of corresponding MAC-CEs to be sent in a single uplink transport block. Therefore, the RAN node 105 may configure the primary UE 115A supporting uplink aggregation with uplink transport block configuration information 518 , which may be transmitted in the aggregation information indication message 515 .

[0160] The uplink transport block configuration information 518 may include a maximum allowable number of MAC-CEs within the transmitted uplink transmission 525, where each MAC-CE corresponds to a portion of aggregated traffic corresponding to the secondary UEs 115B-115n. The uplink transport block configuration information may include a minimum threshold for the amount of aggregated traffic to be met before the primary UE 115A activates / requests uplink traffic aggregation from the secondary devices. Meeting such a threshold before enabling uplink traffic aggregation may facilitate, for example, the primary UE activating uplink traffic aggregation only when there is a small amount of traffic from one or more secondary UEs 115B-115n. Transmitting small traffic portions from one or more secondary UEs in an aggregated manner between the primary UE and the RAN 105 may reduce the overhead that would otherwise be used to transmit the small traffic portions in separate transport blocks, as less total control padding 535 may be added to the aggregated traffic transport block 525 than would be added to multiple separate transport blocks that would be used to transmit the separate traffic portions if uplink data aggregation transmission were not used.

[0161] Now go to Figure 6, which shows a timing diagram of an example method embodiment 600 for relaying aggregated uplink traffic. In act 605, the primary / relay UE / WTRU 115A receives a device radio identifier (e.g., TMSI, IMSI, or C-RNTI) from the remote / secondary UE 115B via, for example, a common sidelink interface or over a dedicated device-to-device communication link. In act 610, the secondary EU 115B transmits an uplink buffer status report to the UE 115A. In act 615, the UE 115A receives the individual buffer status reports sent in act 610 and compiles an aggregated uplink traffic buffer status report, which may indicate the sum of the uplink traffic sizes from the remote user equipment UE 115B and other remote UE devices that may be in the aggregation group with the primary UE 115A and the secondary UE 115B. In act 620, the primary / relay UE / WTRU 115A transmits the aggregated uplink traffic buffer status report to the serving RAN node 105. In act 625, the secondary UE 115B transmits the uplink traffic, and in act 630, the primary / relay UE 115A receives the uplink traffic. In act 635, the RAN 105 sends an uplink resource grant message to the primary UE 115A, which includes, for example, a reference to Figure 5A Description message 515.

[0162] continue Figure 6 As described above, at action 640, the primary / relay UE / WTRU 115A generates / compiles a plurality of MAC control elements (MAC-CEs) corresponding to the traffic flows received from the UE 115B or other secondary user equipment at action 630. The primary UE 115A receives the traffic from the aggregated transport block (such as the reference Figure 5B A MAC-CE is attached or otherwise arranged in the transport block 525 described above, with the MAC-CE having a corresponding portion of traffic received from the remote / secondary UE device 115B and other secondary devices (if any) in the aggregation group. Figure 6 In action 645 of FIG. 5 , the master / relay UE / WTRU 115A sends the aggregated traffic payload and the corresponding MAC-CE to the RAN 105 in a single transport block, wherein the MAC-CE indicates in which portion of the allocated uplink resources 517 (which may have been referenced in FIG. 5 ) the traffic is to be transmitted. Figure 5A The RAN 105 receives the aggregate payload message conveyed in the transport block sent in action 645 and processes the traffic portion contained therein according to the corresponding MAC-CE in the aggregate traffic block.

[0163] Now go to Figure 7, which illustrates a flow chart of an example embodiment method 700 for aggregating and relaying aggregated uplink traffic of secondary user devices, as well as traffic of primary user devices that are part of an aggregation group, to a serving RAN by a primary user device. Method 700 begins at act 705. At act 710, the primary user device receives identifiers of secondary user devices in the aggregation group. At act 715, the secondary user device transmits uplink traffic buffer status report information to the primary user device. The buffer status report information of the secondary user device may indicate the amount or size of data traffic buffered at each secondary user device. At act 720, the primary user device receives the multiple uplink buffer status report information transmissions sent from the secondary user device at act 715.

[0164] In action 725 , the primary user equipment may generate an aggregated buffer status report, which may be referred to as an aggregated uplink traffic indication. In action 730 , the primary user equipment sends the aggregated buffer status report generated in action 725 to the serving RAN.

[0165] In action 735 , the primary user equipment may receive uplink traffic from the secondary user equipment, the uplink traffic may have been buffered at the secondary user equipment and corresponds to the secondary buffer status report information sent in action 720 .

[0166] In response to the aggregate buffer status report sent in action 730, the serving RAN may send an aggregated information indication message back to the primary user equipment in action 740. In action 735, the aggregated information indication message may include information used by the primary user equipment when sending an aggregated payload message including traffic received from the secondary user equipment.

[0167] In act 745, the primary user device generates a media access control element corresponding to the portion of the uplink traffic received in act 735. In act 745, a separate media access control element may be generated for each traffic flow, each portion of a traffic flow, each packet of a traffic flow, or each other form of traffic received from each secondary user device in act 735. In act 735, the primary user device may generate as many media access control elements as there are secondary user devices transmitting uplink traffic to the primary user device. The primary user device may combine the media access control elements with the traffic received in act 735 in an aggregate payload message. The primary user device may select a transport block to be used as an aggregated traffic transport block to carry the aggregate payload message. In act 750, the primary user device may select a transport block size to carry the aggregate payload message based on the size of the aggregate payload message. Thus, a transport block size may be selected that is as small as possible, but still larger than or equal to the amount or size of the uplink traffic received from the secondary user devices in act 735 plus the size of a number of media access control elements corresponding thereto. In act 755 , the primary user equipment sends the aggregated traffic transport block containing the aggregate payload message to the serving RAN. The method 700 ends in act 760 .

[0168] Now go to Figure 8 , which illustrates an example embodiment method 800, including: at block 805, sending, by a first user equipment including a processor, an uplink aggregation request message including user equipment access information corresponding to a second user equipment to a radio access network node; at block 810, receiving, by the first user equipment, an uplink aggregation grant message including uplink grant information corresponding to the second user equipment from the radio access network node in response to the uplink aggregation request message; at block 815, sending, by the first user equipment, a first uplink grant message including uplink grant information corresponding to the second user equipment to the second user equipment; at block 820, wherein The user equipment access information corresponding to the second user equipment is the first user equipment access information, and the uplink aggregation request message includes the second user equipment access information corresponding to the third user equipment; in box 825, the uplink authorization information corresponding to the second user equipment is the first uplink authorization information, and the uplink aggregation authorization message includes the second uplink authorization information corresponding to the third user equipment; in box 830, the first user equipment, the second user equipment and the third user equipment are members of the aggregation group of user equipment; in box 835, the first user equipment sends a second uplink authorization message including the second uplink authorization information to the third user equipment.

[0169] Now go to Figure 9, the figure shows an example relay user equipment 900, which includes a processor configured to: receive first access information corresponding to the first tethered user equipment tethered to the relay user equipment from a first tethered user equipment tethered to the relay user equipment at box 905; send an uplink radio resource connection aggregation request message including the first access information to a radio access network node at box 910, wherein the first access information will be used to establish a radio resource control connection between the first tethered user equipment and the radio access network node; receive an uplink aggregation grant message from the radio access network node in response to the uplink radio resource connection aggregation request message at box 915, the uplink aggregation grant message including first uplink grant information, the first uplink grant information to be used by the first tethered user equipment to send a first uplink data service from the first tethered user equipment to the radio access network node; and send a first uplink grant message including the first uplink grant information to the first tethered user equipment at box 920.

[0170] Now go to Figure 10 , the figure shows a non-transitory machine-readable medium 1000, which includes executable instructions at block 1005, which, when executed by a processor of a first user device, facilitates the execution of operations, the operations including: receiving a group access preamble from a wireless access network node, the group access preamble corresponding to an aggregation group including the first user device, the second user device, and the third user device; at block 1010, sending an uplink radio resource connection request message to the wireless access network node, the uplink radio resource connection request message including the group access preamble, the first user device, the second user device, and the third user device, respectively, for establishing a wireless connection between the wireless access network node and the second user device. First access information of a radio resource control connection and second access information for establishing a radio resource control connection between the radio access network node and the third user equipment; in box 1015, in response to the uplink radio resource connection request message, receiving an uplink authorization message including first uplink authorization information, second uplink authorization information and relay authorization information from the radio access network node; in box 1020, sending a first uplink authorization message including the first uplink authorization information to the second user equipment; in box 1025, sending a second uplink authorization message including the second uplink authorization information to the third user equipment.

[0171] Now go to Figure 11, which illustrates an exemplary embodiment method 1100, comprising: generating, by a first user equipment comprising a processor, an aggregated uplink traffic indication, at block 1105, the aggregated uplink traffic indication being used to indicate an amount of aggregated uplink traffic, the aggregated uplink traffic amount comprising a first amount of a first uplink traffic portion of a first uplink traffic at a second user equipment and a second amount of a second uplink traffic portion of a second uplink traffic at a third user equipment; sending, by the first user equipment, the aggregated uplink traffic indication to a radio access network node, at block 1110; receiving, by the first user equipment, the first uplink traffic portion and the second uplink traffic portion; generating, by the first user equipment, an aggregated payload message, at block 1120, the aggregated payload message comprising the first uplink traffic portion and the second uplink traffic portion, the aggregated payload message comprising a first control element corresponding to the first uplink traffic portion and a second control element corresponding to the second uplink traffic portion; and sending, by the first user equipment, the aggregated payload message to the radio access network node, at block 1125.

[0172] Now go to Figure 12, the figure shows an example relay user equipment 1200, which includes a processor at box 1205, the processor being configured to: receive first user equipment information from a first remote user equipment, which indicates a first amount of a first uplink traffic portion of a first uplink traffic in a first buffer of the first remote user equipment; at box 1210, receive second user equipment information from a second remote user equipment, which indicates a second amount of a second uplink traffic portion of a second uplink traffic in a second buffer at the second remote user equipment; at box 1215, generate, by the relay user equipment, an aggregated uplink traffic indication, which indicates an aggregated uplink traffic amount including the first amount of the first uplink traffic portion and the second amount of the second uplink traffic portion; at box 1220, send the aggregated uplink traffic indication to the radio access network node; at box 1225, receive the first uplink traffic portion and the second uplink traffic portion; at box 1230, generate an aggregated uplink traffic indication including the first uplink traffic portion and the second uplink traffic portion In block 1235, an uplink resource grant message is received from a wireless access network node, the uplink resource grant message including at least one uplink resource indication indicating at least one uplink resource to be used for sending the first uplink service part and the second uplink service part; in block 1240, an aggregate payload message is sent to the wireless access network node based on the at least one uplink resource; in block 1245, a determined aggregation amount is determined corresponding to a traffic volume of the aggregated uplink traffic volume; in block 1250, a determined transport block size is determined for sending the aggregate payload message based on the determined aggregation amount; and in block 1255, the aggregate payload message is sent by the relay user equipment using a transport block having the determined transport block size.

[0173] Now go to Figure 13, the figure shows a non-transitory machine-readable medium 1300 including executable instructions at box 1305, which, when executed by a processor of a first user device, facilitates performance of operations, the operations comprising: receiving, at a second user device, a second user device-associated buffer status report from a second user device, which indicates a first size of a first uplink traffic portion; at box 1310, receiving a third user device-associated buffer status report from a third user device, which indicates a second size of a second uplink traffic portion at the third user device; at box 1315, generating a first user device-associated buffer status report based on the second user device-associated buffer status report and the third user device-associated buffer status report; at box 1320, sending the first user device-associated buffer status report to a wireless access network node; at box 1325, receiving the first uplink traffic portion and a second uplink service portion; in box 1330, generating an aggregated payload message including the first uplink service and the second uplink service, wherein the aggregated payload message includes a first media access control control element indicating the first uplink service portion within the aggregated payload message and a second media access control control element indicating the second uplink service portion within the aggregated payload message; in box 1335, receiving an uplink resource authorization message from the wireless access network node, which includes at least one uplink resource indication indicating a first user device associated amount to be used by the first user device to send an uplink service corresponding to a buffer status report associated with the first user device; in box 1340, sending the aggregated payload message to the wireless access network node based on the at least one uplink resource; and in box 1345, wherein the first user device, the second user device and the third user device are members of an aggregation group.

[0174] To provide additional context for the various embodiments herein, Figure 14 The following discussion is intended to provide a brief, general description of a suitable computing environment 1400 in which various embodiments described herein may be implemented. Although the embodiments have been described above in the general context of computer-executable instructions that may be executed on one or more computers, those skilled in the art will recognize that the embodiments may also be implemented in conjunction with other program modules and / or as a combination of hardware and software.

[0175] Generally speaking, program modules include routines, programs, components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. Moreover, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the methods can be practiced with other computer system configurations, including single-processor or multi-processor computer systems, minicomputers, mainframe computers, IoT devices, distributed computing systems, as well as personal computers, handheld computing devices, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, etc., each of which can be operatively coupled to one or more associated devices.

[0176] The embodiments described herein can also be practiced in distributed computing environments where certain tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network.In a distributed computing environment, program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage devices.

[0177] Computing devices typically include various media, which may include computer-readable storage media, machine-readable storage media, and / or communication media, the two terms being used differently herein as follows. A computer-readable storage medium or machine-readable storage medium can be any available storage medium that can be accessed by a computer and includes both volatile and non-volatile media, removable and non-removable media. By way of example and not limitation, a computer-readable storage medium or machine-readable storage medium can be implemented in conjunction with any method or technology for storing information, such as computer-readable or machine-readable instructions, program modules, structured data, or unstructured data.

[0178] Computer-readable storage media may include, but are not limited to, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory or other memory technology, compact disk read-only memory (CDROM), digital versatile disk (DVD), Blu-ray disk (BD) or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, solid-state drives or other solid-state storage devices, or other tangible and / or non-transitory media that can be used to store the desired information. In this regard, the terms "tangible" or "non-transitory" as applied herein to storage devices, memories, or computer-readable media should be understood as excluding as modifiers devices that merely propagate transient signals themselves, and do not disclaim all standard storage devices, memories, or computer-readable media that do not merely propagate transient signals themselves.

[0179] Computer-readable storage media can be accessed by one or more local or remote computing devices, eg, through access requests, queries, or other data retrieval protocols, for various operations regarding the information stored on the media.

[0180] Communication media typically embodies computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other structured or unstructured data in a data signal, such as a modulated data signal such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism, and includes any information delivery or transmission media. The term "modulated data signal" or "signals" refers to a signal that has one or more characteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encode information in the signal or signals. By way of example, and not limitation, communication media includes wired media, such as a wired network or direct-wired connection, and wireless media, such as acoustic, RF, infrared, and other wireless media.

[0181] Reference again Figure 14 , an example environment 1400 for implementing various embodiments of various aspects described herein includes a computer 1402, which includes a processing unit 1404, a system memory 1406, and a system bus 1408. The system bus 1408 couples system components including, but not limited to, the system memory 1406 to the processing unit 1404. The processing unit 1404 can be any of various commercially available processors and can include a cache memory. Dual microprocessors and other multi-processor architectures can also be used as the processing unit 1404.

[0182] The system bus 1408 can be any of several types of bus structures, which can further interconnect to a memory bus (with or without a memory controller), a peripheral bus, and a local bus using any of a variety of commercially available bus architectures. The system memory 1406 includes ROM 1410 and RAM 1412. The basic input / output system (BIOS), which contains the basic routines that help transfer information between elements within the computer 1402, such as during startup, can be stored in a nonvolatile memory such as ROM, erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), or EEPROM. RAM 1412 can also include high-speed RAM, such as static RAM for caching data.

[0183] The computer 1402 also includes an internal hard disk drive (HDD) 1414 (e.g., EIDE, SATA), one or more external storage devices 1416 (e.g., a magnetic floppy disk drive (FDD) 1416, a memory stick or flash drive reader, a memory card reader, etc.), and an optical drive 1420 (e.g., which can read or write from a CD-ROM disk, a DVD, a BD, etc.). Although the internal HDD 1414 is shown as being located within the computer 1402, the internal HDD 1414 can also be configured for external use in an appropriate enclosure (not shown). Additionally, although not shown in the environment 1400, a solid-state drive (SSD) can be used in addition to or in place of the HDD 1414. The HDD 1414, the external storage device 1416, and the optical drive 1420 can be connected to the system bus 1408 via an HDD interface 1424, an external storage interface 1426, and an optical drive interface 1428, respectively. The interface 1424 for external drive implementations may include at least one or both of Universal Serial Bus (USB) and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 1194 interface technologies. Other external drive connection technologies are also contemplated by the embodiments described herein.

[0184] The drives and their associated computer-readable storage media provide non-volatile storage of data, data structures, computer-executable instructions, and the like. For computer 1402, the drives and storage media accommodate the storage of any data in a suitable digital format. Although the above description of computer-readable storage media relates to corresponding types of storage devices, those skilled in the art will appreciate that other types of computer-readable storage media, whether currently existing or developed in the future, may also be used in the exemplary operating environment, and further, any such storage media may contain computer-executable instructions for performing the methods described herein.

[0185] A number of program modules may be stored in the drives and RAM 1412, including an operating system 1430, one or more application programs 1432, other program modules 1434, and program data 1436. All or portions of the operating system, application programs, modules, and / or data may also be cached in RAM 1412. The systems and methods described herein may be implemented using various commercially available operating systems or combinations of operating systems.

[0186] The computer 1402 may optionally include emulation technology. For example, a hypervisor (not shown) or other intermediary may emulate the hardware environment of the operating system 1430, and the emulated hardware may optionally be different from the hardware of the operating system 1430. Figure 14The hardware shown. In such an embodiment, the operating system 1430 may include one of multiple virtual machines (VMs) hosted at the computer 1402. In addition, the operating system 1430 may provide a runtime environment, such as a Java runtime environment or a .NET framework, for the application 1432. The runtime environment is a consistent execution environment that allows the application 1432 to run on any operating system that includes a runtime environment. Similarly, the operating system 1430 may support containers, and the application 1432 may be in the form of containers, which are lightweight, independent, executable software packages that include, for example, code, runtime, system tools, system libraries, and settings for the application.

[0187] In addition, the computer 1402 may include a security module, such as a Trusted Processing Module (TPM). For example, with a TPM, before loading the next boot component, the boot component hashes the next boot component in time and waits for the result to match a security value. This process can occur at any layer in the code execution stack of the computer 1402, for example, at the application execution level or at the operating system (OS) kernel level, thereby achieving security at any code execution level.

[0188] A user may enter commands and information into the computer 1402 through one or more wired / wireless input devices (e.g., a keyboard 1438, a touch screen 1440, and a pointing device such as a mouse 1442). Other input devices (not shown) may include a microphone, an infrared (IR) remote control, a radio frequency (RF) remote control, or other remote control, a joystick, a virtual reality controller and / or a virtual reality headset, a game pad, a stylus, an image input device (e.g., a camera), a gesture sensor input device, a visual motion sensor input device, an emotion or facial detection device, a biometric input device (e.g., a fingerprint or iris scanner), and the like. These and other input devices are typically connected to the processing unit 1404 through an input device interface 1444, which may be coupled to the system bus 1408, but may also be connected through other interfaces, such as a parallel port, an IEEE 1194 serial port, a game port, a USB port, an IR port, a memory card, a memory card, a memory card, a graphics ... Interface, etc.

[0189] A monitor 1446 or other type of display device may also be connected to the system bus 1408 via an interface, such as a video adapter 1448. In addition to the monitor 1446, computers typically include other peripheral output devices (not shown) such as speakers, printers, and the like.

[0190] Computer 1402 can operate in a networked environment using logical connections to one or more remote computers, such as remote computer 1450, via wired and / or wireless communications. Remote computer 1450 can be a workstation, server computer, router, personal computer, portable computer, microprocessor-based entertainment device, peer device, or other common network node, and typically includes many or all of the elements described with respect to computer 1402, although only memory / storage device 1452 is shown for the sake of simplicity. The depicted logical connections include wired / wireless connectivity to a local area network (LAN) 1454 and / or a larger network, such as a wide area network (WAN) 1456. Such LAN and WAN networking environments are common in offices and companies and facilitate enterprise-wide computer networks, such as intranets, all of which can be connected to a global communications network, such as the Internet.

[0191] When used in a LAN networking environment, the computer 1402 can be connected to the local network 1454 through a wired and / or wireless communication network interface or adapter 1458. The adapter 1458 can facilitate wired or wireless communication to the LAN 1454, which can also include a wireless access point (AP) provided thereon for communicating with the adapter 1458 in a wireless mode.

[0192] When used in a WAN networking environment, the computer 1402 may include a modem 1460 or may be connected to a communications server on the WAN 1456 via other means for establishing communications over the WAN 1456, such as through the Internet. The modem 1460, which may be internal or external and a wired or wireless device, may be connected to the system bus 1408 via the input device interface 1444. In a networked environment, program modules described relative to the computer 1402, or portions thereof, may be stored in the remote memory / storage device 1452. It will be appreciated that the network connections shown are examples and other means of establishing a communications link between the computers may be used.

[0193] When used in a LAN or WAN networking environment, computer 1402 can access a cloud storage system or other network-based storage system in addition to or in place of the external storage devices 1416 described above. Typically, the connection between computer 1402 and the cloud storage system can be established over LAN 1454 or WAN 1456, for example, via adapter 1458 or modem 1460, respectively. When computer 1402 is connected to an associated cloud storage system, external storage interface 1426 can manage the storage provided by the cloud storage system, similar to other types of external storage, via adapter 1458 and / or modem 1460. For example, external storage interface 1426 can be configured to provide access to cloud storage sources as if those sources were physically connected to computer 1402.

[0194] The computer 1402 can be operable to communicate with any wireless device or entity that is operable to communicate in wireless communication, such as printers, scanners, desktop and / or portable computers, portable data assistants, communication satellites, any device or location associated with a wireless detectable tag (e.g., a kiosk, a newsstand, a store shelf, etc.), and telephones. This can include Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) and Wireless technology. Therefore, the communication can be a predefined structure like traditional networks, or simply an ad hoc communication between at least two devices.

[0195] Go to Figure 15 , which shows a block diagram of an example UE 1560. UE 1560 may include a smartphone, a wireless tablet, a laptop with wireless capabilities, a wearable device, a machine device that can facilitate vehicle telematics, a tracking device, a remote sensing device, etc. UE 1560 includes a first processor 1530, a second processor 1532, and a shared memory 1534. UE 1560 includes a wireless front-end circuit system 1562, which may be referred to herein as a transceiver, but is understood to generally include a transceiver circuit system, separate filters, and a separate antenna to facilitate communication in applications such as Figure 1 135, and 137. In addition, transceiver 1562 may include multiple sets of circuitry or may be tunable to accommodate different frequency ranges, different modulation schemes, or different communication protocols to facilitate long-range wireless links (such as link 135), device-to-device links (such as link 135), and short-range wireless links (such as link 137).

[0196] continue Figure 15As described above, the UE 1560 may also include a SIM 1664 or SIM profile, which may include information stored in memory (memory 34 or a separate memory portion) to facilitate communication with the UE. Figure 1 The RAN 105 or core network 130 is shown for wireless communications. Figure 15 SIM 1564 is shown as a single component in the shape of a conventional SIM card, but it should be understood that SIM 1564 can represent multiple SIM cards, multiple SIM profiles, or multiple eSIMs, some or all of which can be implemented in hardware or software. It should be understood that a SIM profile can include information such as security credentials (e.g., encryption keys, values ​​that can be used to generate encryption keys, or information that can be used to identify the user when SIM 1564 is in communication with another device (which can be a Figure 1 The SIM profile 1564 may also include identification information unique to the SIM or SIM profile, such as an International Mobile Subscriber Identity ("IMSI") or information that may constitute an IMSI.

[0197] SIM 1564 is shown coupled to first processor portion 1530 and second processor portion 1532. Such an implementation may provide the following advantages: first processor portion 1530 may not need to request or receive information or data from SIM 1564, which second processor 1532 may request, thereby eliminating the use of the first processor acting as a "middleman" while the second processor uses information from the SIM in performing its functions and executing applications. First processor 1530 (which may be a modem processor or baseband processor) is shown smaller than processor 1532 (which may be a more complex application processor) to visually indicate the relative levels of complexity (i.e., processing power and performance) between the two processor portions, as well as the corresponding relative levels of operating power consumption. Keeping the second processor portion 1532 in a sleep / inactive / low power state when the UE 1560 does not need it to execute applications and process data related to the applications provides the advantage of reducing power consumption when the UE only needs to use the first processor portion 1530 in listening mode to monitor bearer management and mobility management / maintenance procedures that are normally configured, or to monitor a search space that the UE has been configured to monitor while the second processor portion is kept inactive / sleeping.

[0198] The UE 1560 may also include sensors 1566, such as, for example, a temperature sensor, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a barometer, a humidity sensor, etc., which may provide signals to the first processor 1530 or the second processor 1532. The output device 1568 may include, for example, one or more visual displays (e.g., a computer monitor, a VR device, etc.), an acoustic transducer (such as a speaker or microphone), a vibration component, etc. The output device 1568 may include software for interfacing with an output device external to the UE 1560 (e.g., a visual display, a speaker, a microphone, a tactile device, an olfactory or taste device, etc.).

[0199] The following glossary of terms, presented in Table 1, may be applicable to one or more descriptions of the embodiments disclosed herein.

[0200]

[0201]

[0202] Table 1

[0203] The above description includes non-limiting examples of various embodiments. Of course, it is not possible to describe every conceivable combination of components or methodologies for purposes of describing the disclosed subject matter, and one skilled in the art will recognize that further combinations and permutations of the various embodiments are possible. The disclosed subject matter is intended to embrace all such alterations, modifications, and variations that fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

[0204] With respect to the various functions performed by the aforementioned components, devices, circuits, systems, and the like, unless otherwise indicated, the terms used to describe these components (including references to "means") are intended to also include any structure (e.g., functional equivalents) that performs the specified functions of the described components, even if not structurally equivalent to the disclosed structures. Furthermore, while particular features of the disclosed subject matter may be disclosed with respect to only one of several implementations, such features may be combined with one or more other features of the other implementations, as may be desirable and advantageous for any given or particular application.

[0205] The terms "exemplary" and / or "illustrative" or variations thereof, as used herein, are intended to mean serving as examples, instances, or illustrations. For the avoidance of doubt, the subject matter disclosed herein is not limited by these examples. Furthermore, any aspect or design described herein as "exemplary" and / or "illustrative" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects or designs, nor is it intended to preclude equivalent structures and techniques known to those skilled in the art. Furthermore, to the extent that the terms "including," "having," "containing," and other similar words are used in the detailed description or claims, these terms are intended to be inclusive—in a manner similar to the term "comprising" as an open transition word—and do not exclude any additional or other elements.

[0206] As used herein, the term "or" refers to an inclusive "or" rather than an exclusive "or." For example, the phrase "A or B" is intended to include instances of A, B, and both A and B. In addition, the articles "a" and "an" used in this application and the appended claims should generally be construed to mean "one or more" unless otherwise specified or clear from the context to indicate a singular form.

[0207] As used herein, the term "set" does not include an empty set, i.e., a set with no elements. Thus, a "set" in this disclosure includes one or more elements or entities. Likewise, the term "group" as used herein refers to a set of one or more entities.

[0208] The terms "first," "second," "third," etc., used in the claims are for clarity only and do not otherwise indicate or imply any temporal order, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. For example, "a first determination," "a second determination," and "a third determination" do not indicate or imply that the first determination will be made before the second determination, or vice versa, etc.

[0209] The description of the illustrative embodiments of the present disclosure provided herein, including what is described in the Abstract, is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosed embodiments to the precise form disclosed. Although specific embodiments and embodiments are described herein for illustrative purposes, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various modifications may be considered within the scope of these embodiments and embodiments. In this regard, although the subject matter has been described herein in conjunction with various embodiments and corresponding drawings, it will be understood that other similar embodiments may be used, or that modifications and additions may be made to the described embodiments, to perform the same, similar, replacement, or alternative functions of the disclosed subject matter, without departing from the subject matter. Therefore, the subject matter disclosed should not be limited to any single embodiment described herein, but should be interpreted in accordance with the breadth and scope of the claims appended hereto.

Claims

1. A method comprising: Sending, by a first user equipment including a processor, an uplink aggregation request message including user equipment access information corresponding to a second user equipment to a radio access network node; receiving, by the first user equipment, an uplink aggregation grant message including uplink grant information corresponding to the second user equipment from the radio access network node in response to the uplink aggregation request message; as well as The first user equipment sends a first uplink grant message to the second user equipment, where the first uplink grant message includes the uplink grant information corresponding to the second user equipment.

2. The method according to claim 1, comprising: wherein the user equipment access information corresponding to the second user equipment is first user equipment access information, and wherein the uplink aggregation request message includes second user equipment access information corresponding to the third user equipment; wherein the uplink grant information corresponding to the second user equipment is first uplink grant information, and wherein the uplink aggregation grant message includes second uplink grant information corresponding to the third user equipment; The first user equipment, the second user equipment and the third user equipment are members of a user equipment aggregation group; and The method further comprises: A second uplink grant message including the second uplink grant information is sent by the first user equipment to the third user equipment. 3 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the uplink aggregation request message is sent by the first user equipment to the radio access network node via an uplink control channel as an uplink control channel information message.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: The first user equipment determines that the uplink aggregation request message is greater than a configured uplink control channel indication standard, Based on the uplink aggregation request message being determined to be greater than the configured uplink control channel indication standard, the uplink aggregation request message is sent by the first user equipment to the radio access network node via an uplink data channel.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: The first user equipment determines, from a plurality of available beams, a serving beam corresponding to the first user equipment and having the highest signal strength at the first user equipment, The uplink aggregation request message is transmitted via the serving beam corresponding to the first user equipment. 6 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the uplink aggregation request message includes a random access preamble corresponding to the first user equipment.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the user equipment access information comprises a determined serving downlink beam index, a target service identifier, or a device identifier corresponding to the second user equipment.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the uplink grant information includes a first uplink channel resource grant indication and a second uplink channel resource grant indication, the first uplink channel resource grant indication being used to indicate a first uplink channel resource grant to be used by the first user equipment to send a first uplink data service corresponding to the first user equipment, and the second uplink channel resource grant indication being used to indicate a second uplink channel resource grant to be used by the second user equipment to send a second uplink data service corresponding to the second user equipment.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first user equipment and the second user equipment are members of an aggregation group, wherein the first user equipment is a relay user equipment of the aggregation group, wherein the second user equipment is a remote user equipment of the aggregation group, wherein the aggregation group includes a third user equipment as a remote user equipment, and wherein the user equipment access information includes a preamble, which indicates to the radio access network node that the uplink aggregation grant message includes a request for uplink grant information corresponding to the second user equipment and the third user equipment.

10. A relay user equipment, comprising: A processor configured to: receiving, from a first tethered user equipment tethered to the relay user equipment, first access information corresponding to the first tethered user equipment; Sending an uplink radio resource connection aggregation request message including the first access information to a radio access network node, wherein the first access information will be used to establish a radio resource control connection between the first tethered user equipment and the radio access network node; receiving, in response to the uplink radio resource connection aggregation request message, an uplink aggregation grant message from the radio access network node, the uplink aggregation grant message including first uplink grant information, the first uplink grant information to be used by the first tethered user equipment to send a first uplink data service grant from the first tethered user equipment to the radio access network node; as well as A first uplink grant message including the first uplink grant information is sent to the first tethered user equipment. 11 . The relay user equipment according to claim 10 , wherein the uplink radio resource connection aggregation request message comprises a preamble for establishing a radio resource control connection between the relay user equipment and the radio access network node.

12. The relay user equipment according to claim 10, wherein the relay user equipment and the first tethered user equipment are members of an aggregation group, wherein the uplink radio resource connection aggregation request message includes relay access information, which is to be used to establish a radio resource control connection between the relay user equipment and the radio access network node, and wherein the uplink aggregation grant message includes relay uplink grant information, which is to be used by the relay user equipment to authorize uplink data traffic from the relay user equipment to the radio access network node.

13. The relay user equipment according to claim 12, wherein the aggregation group includes a second tethered user equipment, and the processor is further configured to: receiving, from the second tethered user equipment, second access information corresponding to the second tethered user equipment; The uplink radio resource connection aggregation request message includes the second access information, wherein the second access information is used to establish a radio resource control connection between the second tethered user equipment and the radio access network node.

14. The relay user equipment according to claim 13, wherein the uplink aggregation grant message includes second uplink grant information, the second uplink grant information to be used by the second tethered user equipment to send second uplink data traffic from the second tethered user equipment to the radio access network node; and The processor is further configured to: A second uplink grant message including the second uplink grant information is sent to the second tethered user equipment.

15. The relay user equipment according to claim 13 , wherein the uplink aggregation grant message comprises a null uplink grant indication, the null uplink grant indication being used to indicate that the second tethered user equipment has not been granted uplink resources for transmitting uplink data traffic from the second tethered user equipment to the radio access network node; and The processor is further configured to: A second uplink grant message including the null uplink grant indication is sent to the second tethered user equipment.

16. A non-transitory machine-readable medium comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processor of a first user device, facilitate performance of operations comprising: receiving a group access preamble from a radio access network node, the group access preamble corresponding to an aggregation group including the first user equipment, the second user equipment, and the third user equipment; sending an uplink radio resource connection request message to a radio access network node, the uplink radio resource connection request message including the group access preamble, first access information, and second access information, wherein the first access information is used to establish a radio resource control connection between the radio access network node and the second user equipment, and the second access information is used to establish a radio resource control connection between the radio access network node and the third user equipment; receiving, in response to the uplink radio resource connection request message, an uplink grant message including first uplink grant information, second uplink grant information, and relay grant information from the radio access network node; Sending a first uplink grant message including the first uplink grant information to the second user equipment; as well as A second uplink grant message including the second uplink grant information is sent to the third user equipment.

17. A non-transitory machine-readable medium according to claim 16, wherein the first access information includes at least one of the following: a first device identifier associated with the second user equipment, a first best service downlink beam corresponding to the second user equipment, or a first service identifier corresponding to a first service to be received by the second user equipment from the wireless access network node; and wherein the second access information includes at least one of the following: a second device identifier associated with the third user equipment, a second best service downlink beam corresponding to the third user equipment, or a second service identifier corresponding to a second service to be received by the third user equipment from the wireless access network node.

18. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the first uplink authorization information comprises at least one of: a first wireless network temporary identifier corresponding to the second user equipment, a first uplink time to be used by the second user equipment to send uplink data traffic to the wireless access network node, a first uplink frequency to be used by the second user equipment to send uplink data traffic to the wireless access network node, or a first uplink power control setting corresponding to a first spectral efficiency of the second user equipment.

19. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the first uplink grant information or the second uplink grant information comprises a radio network temporary identifier, the radio network temporary identifier being a null indication.

20. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the first user equipment is in a connected radio resource control state, wherein the second user equipment and the third user equipment are in an inactive radio resource control state, and wherein the first user equipment sends the uplink radio resource connection request message as an uplink control channel information message via an uplink control channel.

Images