Method, communication device, and infrastructure equipment

Abstract

A method is provided for operating a communications device functioning as a relay node configured to transmit and receive signals to and from a wireless communications network and to and from a plurality of remote communications devices, the method comprising: accumulating a plurality of measurement reports each indicative of a measurement of a communications channel between the relay communications device and one of the remote communications devices, generating an accumulated measurement report comprising an indication for a selected one or more of the accumulated plurality of measurement reports, and transmitting the generated accumulated measurement report to the wireless communications network.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates generally to communication devices and infrastructure equipment operating in wireless communication networks, and more particularly to handover procedures performed in such wireless communication networks.

[0002] This application claims Paris Convention priority of European Patent Application No. 21217506.1, filed December 23, 2021, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. [Background technology]

[0003] The "Background" description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the present disclosure. The work of the currently named inventors to the extent described in this Background section, and aspects of the present specification that may not qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are not admitted expressly or impliedly as prior art against the present invention.

[0004] The latest generation of mobile communication systems can support a wider range of services than the simple voice and messaging services offered by previous generations of mobile communication systems. For example, the improved air interface and increased data rates offered by LTE systems allow users to enjoy high data rate applications such as mobile video streaming and mobile video conferencing that were previously only available over fixed line data connections. As such, there is a high demand for the deployment of such networks, and the coverage areas (geographic locations where the network can be accessed) of such networks are expected to continue to expand rapidly in the future.

[0005] Future wireless communication networks are expected to efficiently support communication with an ever-increasing variety of devices and data traffic profiles than existing systems are optimized to support. For example, future wireless communication networks are expected to efficiently support communication with devices including reduced complexity devices, machine-type communication devices, high resolution video displays, virtual reality headsets, etc. Some of these various types of devices may be deployed in large numbers, e.g., low complexity devices to support the "Internet of Things," and may typically be associated with the transmission of relatively small amounts of data with relatively high latency tolerance.

[0006] For this reason, it is desired that future wireless communication networks, e.g., what may be called 5G or new radio systems / New Radio Access Technology (RAT) systems [1], as well as future new versions / releases of existing systems, efficiently support connectivity for a wide range of devices associated with different applications and different characteristic data traffic profiles. Device connectivity is conventionally maintained by using so-called "handover" procedures, in which a communication device changes its access point to the wireless communication network upon instruction from the wireless communication network or upon the fulfillment of one or more conditions. Considering the wide range of device types and capabilities of future wireless communication networks, improvements to handover procedures are necessary. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0007] [Patent Document 1] International Publication No. 2017 / 119919 [Patent Document 2] U.S. Patent Application No. 2016 / 345345 [Patent Document 3] U.S. Patent Application No. 2018 / 213379 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0008] The present disclosure is intended to help address or alleviate at least some of the problems set forth above. [Means for solving the problem]

[0009] An embodiment of the present technology may provide a method of operating a communications device functioning as a relay node configured to transmit and receive signals to and from a wireless communications network and to and from a plurality of remote communications devices, the method comprising: accumulating a plurality of measurement reports each indicative of a measurement of a communications channel between the relay communications device and one of the remote communications devices, generating an accumulated measurement report comprising an indication for a selected one or more of the accumulated plurality of measurement reports, and transmitting the generated accumulated measurement report to the wireless communications network.

[0010] Embodiments of the present technology, which relate to methods of operating communication devices as well as communication devices, infrastructure equipment, methods of operating infrastructure equipment, and circuitry for communication devices and infrastructure, enable communication devices in wireless communication networks to more efficiently perform handovers.

[0011] Various aspects and features of the present disclosure are defined in the appended claims.

[0012] It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are not restrictive of the present technology. The described embodiments, together with further advantages, will be best understood by reference to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0013] The present disclosure and many of the attendant advantages thereof will be readily appreciated and will become more fully understood as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters indicate the same or corresponding parts throughout the several views. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0014] [Figure 1] 1 illustrates generally certain aspects of an LTE-type wireless telecommunications system that can be configured to operate in accordance with certain embodiments of the present disclosure; [Diagram 2] 1 illustrates generally certain aspects of a new Radio Access Technology (RAT) wireless telecommunications system that can be configured to operate in accordance with certain embodiments of the present disclosure; [Diagram 3] FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of example infrastructure equipment and communication devices that can be configured to operate in accordance with certain embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 4] 1 illustrates a schematic representation of aspects of a conventional handover procedure; [Diagram 5] The following example is taken from [4] and shows an example scenario for a group handover procedure. [Figure 6] Taken from [4], this shows an example of a group handover command. [Figure 7] 1 is a partly schematic, partly message flow diagram, of communication between a communications device and infrastructure equipment forming part of a wireless communications network in accordance with an embodiment of the present technology; [Figure 8] 1 is a flowchart illustrating a communication process in a communication system according to an embodiment of the present technology. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0015] Long Term Evolution Advanced Wireless Access Technology (4G) Figure 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating some basic features of a mobile communication network / system 6 that generally operates according to LTE principles, but may support other radio access technologies and be adapted to implement the embodiments of the present disclosure described herein. Certain aspects of the various elements of Figure 1 and their respective modes of operation are well known and defined in the relevant standards administered by the 3GPP® (RTM) organization, and are also described in many books on the subject, e.g., Holma H. ​​and Toskala A [2]. It will be understood that operational aspects of the telecommunications network described herein that are not specifically described (e.g., with respect to specific communication protocols and physical channels for communicating between different elements) can be implemented in accordance with known techniques, e.g., the relevant standards, and known amendments and additions thereto.

[0016] The network 6 includes a number of base stations 1 connected to a core network 2. Each base station provides a coverage area 3 (e.g., a cell) over which data can be communicated to and from communication devices 4. Although each base station 1 is shown in Figure 1 as a single entity, those skilled in the art will appreciate that some of the functions of a base station may be performed by disparate, interconnected elements such as antennas, remote radio heads, amplifiers, etc. Collectively, one or more base stations may form a Radio Access Network (RAN).

[0017] Data is transmitted from the base stations 1 to the communication devices 4 in their respective coverage areas 3 via a wireless downlink (DL). Data is transmitted from the communication devices 4 to the base stations 1 via a wireless uplink (UL). The core network 2 routes data to and from the communication devices 4 via their respective base stations 1 and provides functions such as authentication, mobility management, charging, etc. The terminal devices are also referred to as mobile stations, user equipment (UE), user terminals, mobile radios, communication devices, etc. [Yuhei 1] Services provided by the core network 2 may include connections to the Internet or external telephone services. The core network 2 may further track the location of the communication devices 4 so that they can be efficiently contacted (i.e., paged) to transmit downlink data to the communication devices 4.

[0018] A base station, which is an example of network infrastructure equipment, is also referred to as a transceiver station, Node B, e-nodeB, eNB, g-nodeB, gNB, etc. In this regard, different terminology is often associated with different generations of wireless communication systems for elements that provide roughly equivalent functionality. However, certain embodiments of the present disclosure may be equally implemented in different generations of wireless telecommunications systems, and for simplicity, a particular terminology may be used regardless of the underlying network architecture. That is, the use of a particular terminology in connection with certain exemplary embodiments is not intended to indicate that these embodiments are limited to a particular generation of networks that may be most relevant to that particular terminology.

[0019] New Wireless Access Technology (5G) An example of the configuration of a wireless communication network using some of the terminology proposed and used in new radio and 5G is shown in FIG. 2. In FIG. 2, a number of Transmission and Reception Points (TRP) 10 are connected to Distributed Control Units (DU) 41, 42 by connection interfaces represented by lines 16. Each of the TRPs 10 is arranged to transmit and receive signals over the radio access interface in the radio frequency band available in the wireless communication network. Thus, within the range for performing wireless communication over the radio access interface, each of the TRPs 10 forms a cell of the wireless communication network, as represented by a circle 12. In this way, a wireless communication device 14 present within the wireless communication range provided by the cell 12 can transmit and receive signals to the TRP 10 over the radio access interface. Each of the distributed units 41, 42 is connected to a Central Unit (CU) 40 (also referred to as a control node) via an interface 46. The central unit 40 is in turn connected to a core network 20, which includes all other functions necessary for data transmission to communicate with wireless communication devices, and the core network 20 may be connected to other networks 30.

[0020] The elements of the radio access network illustrated in Figure 2 may operate similarly to corresponding elements of an LTE network as described with respect to the example of Figure 1. It will be understood that operational aspects of the telecommunications network depicted in Figure 2, as well as other networks described herein according to embodiments of the present disclosure, that are not specifically described (e.g., those relating to particular communication protocols and physical channels for communicating between different elements) may be implemented in accordance with any known technology, e.g., in accordance with currently used techniques for implementing such operational aspects of wireless telecommunications systems, e.g., in accordance with relevant standards.

[0021] The TRP 10 of FIG. 2 may have functionality corresponding in part to a base station or eNodeB of an LTE network. Similarly, the communication device 14 may have functionality corresponding to a UE device 4 known for operation in an LTE network. It will therefore be understood that the operational aspects of the new RAT network (e.g., relating to specific communication protocols and physical channels for communicating between different elements) may differ from those known from LTE or other known mobile communication standards. However, it will also be understood that each of the core network components, base stations, and communication devices of the new RAT network are functionally similar to the core network components, base stations, and communication devices of an LTE wireless communication network, respectively.

[0022] From the point of view of broad top-level functionality, the core network 20 connected to the new RAT telecommunication system represented in Fig. 2 can be broadly considered to correspond to the core network 2 represented in Fig. 1, and the respective central units 40 and their associated distributed units / TRPs 10 can be broadly considered to provide functionality corresponding to the base stations 1 of Fig. 1. The term network infrastructure equipment / access nodes may be used to encompass these elements as well as traditional base station type elements of wireless communication systems. Scheduling responsibility for transmissions scheduled on the air interface between the respective distributed units and the communication devices may lie in the control nodes / central units and / or in the distributed units / TRPs, depending on the application at hand. In Fig. 2, a communication device 14 is represented within the coverage area of ​​a first communication cell 12. This communication device 14 can therefore exchange signaling with a first central unit 40 in the first communication cell 12 via one of the distributed units / TRPs 10 associated with the first communication cell 12.

[0023] It will be further appreciated that FIG. 2 represents merely one example of a proposed architecture for a new RAT-based telecommunications system in which techniques consistent with the principles described herein may be employed, and that the functionality disclosed herein may also be applied in relation to wireless telecommunications systems having different architectures.

[0024] Thus, certain embodiments of the present disclosure described herein may be implemented in wireless telecommunications systems / networks according to a variety of different architectures, such as the exemplary architectures shown in Figures 1 and 2. Thus, it will be understood that the particular wireless telecommunications architecture in any given implementation is not critical to the principles described herein. In this regard, certain embodiments of the present disclosure may be generally described in the context of communications between network infrastructure equipment / access nodes and communication devices, with the specific nature of the network infrastructure equipment / access nodes and communication devices depending on the network infrastructure of the implementation at hand. For example, in some scenarios, the network infrastructure equipment / access nodes may consist of base stations, such as the LTE type base station 1 as shown in Figure 1, adapted to provide functionality in accordance with the principles described herein, and in other examples, the network infrastructure equipment may consist of a control unit / control node 40 and / or TRP 10 as shown in Figure 2, adapted to provide functionality in accordance with the principles described herein.

[0025] A more detailed view of some of the components of the network shown in Figure 2 is provided by Figure 3. In Figure 3, the TRP 10 as shown in Figure 2 comprises, as a simplified representation, a radio transmitter 30, a radio receiver 32, and a controller or control processor 34 operable to control the transmitter 30 and the radio receiver 32 to cause one or more UEs 14 in the cell 12 formed by the TRP 10 to transmit and receive radio signals. As shown in Figure 3, the exemplary UE 14 comprises a corresponding transmitter 49, a receiver 48, and a controller 44 configured to control the transmitter 49 and the receiver 48 to transmit signals representing uplink data to the wireless communication network via the radio access interface formed by the TRP 10 and to receive downlink data as signals transmitted by the transmitter 30 and received by the receiver 48 according to conventional operation.

[0026] The transmitters 30, 49 and receivers 32, 48 (as well as other transmitters, receivers and transceivers described in connection with examples and embodiments of the present disclosure) may include radio frequency filters and amplifiers as well as signal processing components and devices, for example to transmit and receive wireless signals according to 5G / new wireless standards. The controllers 34, 44 (as well as other controllers described in connection with examples and embodiments of the present disclosure) may be, for example, a microprocessor, a CPU, or a dedicated chipset, etc., configured to execute instructions stored in a computer readable medium, such as a non-volatile memory. The processing steps described herein may be performed, for example, by a microprocessor in combination with a random access memory operating according to instructions stored in a computer readable medium. The transmitters, receivers and controllers are shown in FIG. 3 as separate elements for simplicity of illustration. However, it will be appreciated that the functionality of these elements may be provided in a variety of different ways, for example using one or more appropriately programmed programmable computers, or one or more appropriately configured application specific integrated circuits / circuits / chips / chipsets. As will be appreciated, the infrastructure equipment / TRP / base station and UE / communication device generally comprise various other elements related to their operational functions.

[0027] 3, the TRP 10 also includes a network interface 50 that connects to the DU 42 via the physical interface 16. The network interface 50 thus provides a communication link for data and signaling traffic from the TRP 10 to the core network 20 via the DU 42 and the CU 40.

[0028] The interface 46 between the DU 42 and the CU 40 is known as the F1 interface and can be a physical or logical interface and can be formed from optical fiber or other wired or wireless high bandwidth connection. In one example, the connection 16 from the TRP 10 to the DU 42 is via optical fiber. The connection between the TRP 10 and the core network 20 can be generally referred to as the backhaul, which consists of the interface 16 from the network interface 50 of the TRP 10 to the DU 42 and the F1 interface 46 from the DU 42 to the CU 40.

[0029] A detailed diagram of a wireless communication network in which a handover may be performed is shown in Figure 4. As can be seen from Figure 4, a communication device 72 is handed over from a source infrastructure equipment 74 to a target infrastructure equipment 76 which is part of a radio access network to a core network 60. As can be seen, the communication device 72 is an example of a communication device such as the communication device 14 of Figures 1, 2 and 3. The communication device 72 may be a UE in one example.

[0030] Before the handover, the communication device 72 transmits signals on the uplink UL and receives signals on the downlink DL from the source infrastructure equipment 74. The source infrastructure equipment 74 and the target infrastructure equipment 76 can be considered as a gNB1 as shown in FIG. 1, or a combination of the control node 40 and the TRP10 as shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, respectively. Before the handover, the communication device 72 is shown to transmit uplink data to the source infrastructure equipment 74 via uplink resources UL of the radio access interface, as shown diagrammatically by the dashed arrow 64b. The communication device 72 can be similarly configured to receive downlink data transmitted by the source infrastructure equipment 74 via downlink resources DL, as shown diagrammatically by the dashed arrow 66b, from the source infrastructure equipment 74 to the communication device 72. After the handover, the communication device 72 is shown to transmit uplink data to the target infrastructure equipment 76 via uplink resources UL of the radio access interface, as shown diagrammatically by the solid arrow 66a. The communication device 72 can similarly be configured to receive downlink data transmitted by the target infrastructure equipment 76 via downlink resources DL, as indicated by solid arrow 64a from the target infrastructure equipment 76 to the communication device 72.

[0031] In Fig. 4, the source and target infrastructure equipment 74, 76 are connected to the core network 60 via interfaces 61, 62 to the controllers 74c, 76c of the respective infrastructure equipment 74 [Yuhei 2]. The source and target infrastructure equipment 74, 76 each include a receiver 74b, 76b connected to an antenna 74d, 76d, and a transmitter 74a, 76a connected to the antenna 74d, 76d. Correspondingly, the communication device 72 includes a controller 72c connected to a receiver 72b that receives a signal from the antenna 72d, and a transmitter 72a also connected to the antenna 72d.

[0032] The controllers 74c, 76c are configured to control the source and target infrastructure equipment 74, 76, respectively, and may consist of processor circuitry. The processor circuitry may consist of various subunits / subcircuitry for providing functions as further described herein. These subunits may be implemented as separate hardware elements or as appropriately configured functions of the processor circuitry. Thus, the controllers 74c, 76c may consist of circuits appropriately configured / programmed to provide the desired functions using conventional programming / configuration techniques for devices of wireless telecommunications systems. The transmitters 74a, 76a and receivers 74b, 76b may consist of signal processing and radio frequency filters, amplifiers and circuits according to conventional arrangements. The transmitters 74a, 76a, receivers 74b, 76b and controllers 74c, 76c are shown in FIG. 4 diagrammatically as separate elements for ease of illustration. However, it will be appreciated that the functionality of these elements may be provided in a variety of different ways, for example using one or more appropriately programmed programmable computers, or one or more appropriately configured application specific integrated circuits / circuits / chips / chipsets. As will be appreciated, infrastructure equipment 74 generally comprises various other elements associated with its operational functions.

[0033] Correspondingly, the controller 72c of the communication device 72 is configured to control the transmitter 72a and the receiver 72b and may consist of a processor circuit. The processor circuit may consist of various sub-units / sub-circuits for providing the functionality as further described herein. These sub-units may be implemented as separate hardware elements or as appropriately configured functions of the processor circuit. Thus, the controller 72c may consist of circuits suitably configured / programmed to provide the desired functionality using conventional programming / configuration techniques for devices of wireless telecommunication systems. Similarly, the transmitter 72a and the receiver 72b may consist of signal processing and radio frequency filters, amplifiers and circuits according to conventional arrangements. The transmitter 72a, the receiver 72b and the controller 72c are shown in FIG. 4 as separate elements for simplicity of illustration. However, it will be appreciated that the functionality of these elements may be provided in a variety of different ways, for example using one or more suitably programmed programmable computers or one or more suitably configured application specific integrated circuits / circuits / chips / chipsets. As will be appreciated, communications device 72 typically comprises various other elements associated with its operational functions, such as a power source, a user interface, etc., which are not shown in FIG. 4 for simplicity.

[0034] The controllers 74c, 72c may be configured to execute instructions stored in a computer readable medium, such as a non-volatile memory. The process steps described herein may be performed, for example, by a microprocessor in combination with a random access memory operating according to instructions stored in the computer readable medium.

[0035] Side Link Relay As mentioned above, new radio introduces a wide variety of new devices and capabilities, which creates technical challenges in maintaining connectivity between devices and wireless communication networks. One aspect of new radio currently under development in the 3GPP group is sidelink relay, which is being discussed in the 3GPP group's standards 3GPP Release-17. For example, a 3GPP study item [3] discusses single-hop new radio sidelink-based relaying. In particular, [3] lists the following goals: For Layer 3 relaying and Layer 2 relaying, consider mechanisms with minimal impact to specifications to support the Service and System Aspect (SA) requirements for sidelink based UE-to-UE relaying and UE-to-UE relaying with a focus on the following aspects (if applicable) [RAN2]: -Relay (re)selection criteria and procedures -Relay / remote UE authentication - QoS for relay function - Continuity of service -Security of relay connections after SA3 has concluded - Impact on user plane protocol stacks and control plane procedures (e.g. connection management of relay connections) Consider mechanisms to support higher layer operation of discovery models / procedures for sidelink relay, assuming no new physical layer channels / signals [RAN2].

[0036] [3] points out that it is expected that UE-to-UE relaying and UE-to-UE relaying will use the same relaying solution, and forward compatibility of multi-hop relaying support in future standard releases should be considered.[3] also states that for Layer 2 UE-to-UE relaying, the end-to-end Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) and hop-by-hop Radio Link Control (RLC) architecture recommended in [4] is considered as a starting point.

[0037] This was initially agreed upon in an email discussion [5] at a 3GPP meeting (RAN2#115e). It was agreed that a relay UE should not be configured with measurements for a particular remote UE for the purpose of path switching for that remote UE. That is, according to [5], a relay UE should not be configured with measurements for a remote UE. However, during the email discussion, interest was shown in this proposal. It was then agreed that some additional enhancements related to handover would be possible if a relay UE could be configured with measurements for a remote UE. In a further extension of the Device-to-Device (FeD2D) network, a group handover scenario defines that a relay and its remote UEs perform handover together, so that a group handover command is triggered by relay UE measurements (based on reference signals received from the serving base station) being indicated to the serving base station. This group handover scenario is called Group Handover Scenario 1. In Group Handover Scenario 1, the problem still remains of how a relay UE knows which remote UEs connected to it will move together with the relay UE (if not all remote UEs will move together with the relay UE). An example of a group handover according to group handover scenario 1 is shown in Figures 5 and 6 (both taken from [4]).

[0038] Another group handover scenario is possible, where a group of remote UEs hand over from one relay UE to another relay UE, and is called group handover scenario 2. In this case, if the relay UE is not configured to measure to the remote UEs, the legacy procedure is as follows: the remote UE performs measurements and sends these measurements to the serving base station via the relay UE. However, this procedure has the following drawbacks: Each remote UE transmits its own measurement reports to the base station via the relay UE, resulting in signalling overhead on both the PC5 (between remote UE and relay UE) and Uu (between relay UE and base station) links. If the network configures multiple handover configurations in one RRC message to the relay and the relay forwards the RRC message to each remote UE, instead the network will send individual handover commands to each remote UE based on that remote UE sending its own measurement report, so group handover may not be triggered, thus losing the benefit of group handover.

[0039] Embodiments of the present technology assume that (at least in some embodiments) a relay UE may be configured with measurements for remote UEs, and based on this assumption, several enhancements are proposed (particularly related to measurements and group handover procedures).

[0040] Improving measurements and handover in sidelink relay FIG. 7 shows a part schematic diagram, part message flow chart, of communication in a wireless communication system 100 between a communication device or UE 101 acting as a relay node and a wireless communication network according to an embodiment of the present technology. The wireless communication network may include an infrastructure equipment 102 providing and controlling a first cell having a coverage area in which the relay communication device 101 may be located or may enter or leave. The relay communication device 101 comprises a transceiver (or transceiver circuit) 101.1 configured to transmit and receive signals to a plurality of remote communication devices and to transmit and receive signals to and from a wireless communication network (e.g., to the infrastructure equipment 102 via a radio access interface provided by the wireless communication network) or indeed to receive signals from other wireless communication networks, and a controller (or control circuit) 101.2 configured to control the transceiver circuit 101.1 to transmit and receive signals. As seen in FIG. 7, the infrastructure equipment 102 may also comprise a transceiver (or transceiver circuit) 102.1 that may be configured to transmit and receive signals to and from the relay communication device 101 via the radio access interface, and a controller (or control circuit) 102.2 that may be configured to control the transceiver circuit 102.1 to transmit and receive signals. Each of the controllers 101.2, 102.2 may be, for example, a microprocessor, a CPU, or a dedicated chipset.

[0041] The control circuit 101.2 of the relay communication device 101 is configured in combination with the transceiver circuit 101.1 of the relay communication device 101 to accumulate (104) a plurality of measurement reports each indicative of a measurement of a communication channel between the relay communication device 101 and one of the remote communication devices, generate (106) an accumulated measurement report comprising an indicator for one or more selected measurement reports from the accumulated plurality of measurement reports, and transmit (108) the generated accumulated measurement report to the wireless communication network (e.g., to the infrastructure equipment 102).

[0042] Essentially, embodiments of the present technology propose that, instead of forwarding each individual measurement report received from the remote UE or sending individual measurement reports generated by the relay UE based on measurements performed towards each remote UE, an accumulated measurement report is collected, generated and sent from the relay UE to the network in order to help the network to perform informed group handover with reduced signaling overhead. Furthermore, at least some embodiments of the present technology propose that, when the serving relay UE and the target relay UE are configured with measurements towards the remote UEs, a potential target relay candidate UE (according to group handover scenario 2 above) can initiate the handover procedure itself if it is monitoring a group of remote UEs / if a single remote UE is moving towards it. This procedure allows to reduce the signaling overhead dependent on measurement report triggered handover.

[0043] 7, a selected one or more of the stored measurement reports, e.g., a remote communication device associated with the selected one or more of the stored measurement reports, may be selected by the relay communication device 101 based on a determination that a group handover should be performed from a first infrastructure equipment 101 [Yuhei 3] of the wireless communication network to a second infrastructure equipment of the wireless communication network using the relay communication device 102 [Yuhei 4], i.e., according to group handover scenario 1. Alternatively, a selected one or more of the stored measurement reports, e.g., a remote communication device associated with the selected one or more of the stored measurement reports, may be selected by the relay communication device 101 based on a determination that a group handover should be performed from the relay communication device 101 to another relay communication device, i.e., according to group handover scenario 2. Thus, in effect, the relay communication device 101 accumulates measurement reports associated with a plurality of remote communication devices (where such measurement reports may be generated by individual remote communication devices or may be generated by the relay communication device 101 for each remote communication device separately). A selected one or more of the accumulated measurement reports are then included in the generated accumulated measurement report, e.g. based on their similarity and thus the relay communication device 101 has determined that a handover should be performed by the relay communication device 101 and one or more of the remote communication devices between the relay communication device 101 and infrastructure equipment of the wireless communication network, or by multiple remote communication devices between the relay communication device 101 and other relay communication devices. Thus, the relay communication device 101 essentially performs a filtering function on the measurement reports to be included in the accumulated measurement report and transmits the accumulated measurement report as a single report, rather than as individual measurement reports.This therefore allows for a reduction in signaling overhead in two ways, further improving measurement report efficiency and group handover performance. According to some arrangements of embodiments of the present technology, the relay UE may not be configured with measurements on the remote UEs, i.e., the relay UE does not perform measurements itself and generate measurement reports on signals (e.g., reference signals or discovery messages) received from those remote UEs. In this case, the remote UE transmits measurement reports to the relay UE, which generates accumulated measurement reports and transmits them to the serving gNB. In other words, the relay communication device may be configured to transmit reference signals / discovery messages to the remote communication devices and receive measurement reports from the remote communication devices, where the measurements indicated by the measurement reports are those that the remote communication devices performed on the transmitted reference signals / discovery messages.

[0044] [Yuhei 5][Yuhei 6] In group handover scenario 1, remote UEs with similar measurement results (which may have relatively stable measurement results for relay UEs) indicate that they should be handed over from eNBl to eNB2 with relay UEs, and thus these measurement results are accumulated. In group handover scenario 2, remote UEs with similar measurement results indicate that they are moving towards a particular relay UE, and thus such measurement results are accumulated as well. Sending an accumulated measurement report instead of sending an individual measurement report for each remote UE provides benefits in terms of reducing control signaling overhead.

[0045] An accumulated measurement report may contain one or more of the following information elements: 1) Remote UE ID - Local UE ID 2) The number of remote UEs (i.e., UEs that have similar measurements and therefore (or otherwise) have their measurements included in the accumulated measurement report). 3) Measurement Results: Individual measurement results of each remote UE (e.g. Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ), interference level, or Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI)). For example, in the case of group handover scenario 1, the relay UEs receive the handover command from the network and can independently decide which relay UEs should be handed over together. Otherwise, they need to send this information to the network to assist the network in making the necessary handover decisions. 4) Trigger events (e.g., events A3 / A5 / A4 defined in [6] (as would be well understood by one skilled in the art) 5) A target node (e.g., a target eNB / gNB in ​​group handover scenario 1, or a target relay UE in group handover scenario 2). This target node indication may be implicit, e.g., a list of measurement results (mentioned in item 3) above) in order of increasing strength may implicitly indicate the target node of the group handover or one or more remote UEs that should be part of the group handover.

[0046] In other words, the accumulated measurement report may include an identifier associated with each of the remote communications devices associated with a selected one or more of the accumulated measurement reports, a number of remote communications devices associated with a selected one or more of the accumulated measurement reports, a measurement for each of the selected one or more of the accumulated measurement reports, and an indication of one or more of one or more events triggered based on the measurement.

[0047] If at least some of the individual measurement results are not included in the stored report, the amount of information transmitted can be reduced accordingly. For example, without stored reports, the relaying UE needs to forward each individual report upon receipt of each report from the remote UE. On the other hand, with stored reports, the relaying UE only needs to transmit one such report. This reduces the required access signaling from the relaying UE. Also, power consumption at the relaying UE can potentially be reduced, since the relaying UE transmits the stored report once per message instead of transmitting each message separately at different times.

[0048] Since it is not expected that all remote UEs will send measurement reports at the same time, a measurement report receiving window (i.e., a time period) can be configured in the relay UE to know when to generate and send an accumulated measurement report and which individual remote UE measurement reports should be included in the accumulated measurement report. In other words, the one or more measurement reports selected from the plurality of accumulated measurement reports are those received from the remote communication devices during a predetermined period of time.

[0049] The relay UE may collect the measurement reports received during this time period and transmit the accumulated report only on condition that the number of received reports is equal to or greater than a predefined threshold. In other words, the relay communication device is configured to transmit the generated accumulated measurement report to the wireless communication network only if a selected one or more number of the accumulated measurement reports received from the remote communication device during a given time period is equal to or greater than a predefined threshold.

[0050] The receiving window may be triggered (i.e., start) after the relay UE receives the first measurement report from any remote UE (i.e., the first measurement report since the last received measurement report included in the most recently transmitted accumulated measurement report). Those skilled in the art will appreciate that this threshold can be set to 1, meaning that an accumulated report is sent no matter how many reports are received during the time window. If the threshold is greater than 1, only individual reports are forwarded if the number of reports received during the window falls below the threshold.

[0051] According to some arrangements of embodiments of the present technology, a relay UE can be configured with measurements for remote UEs. That is, the relay UE performs measurements and generates measurement reports on signals (e.g., reference signals) received from those remote UEs. The relay UE then generates an accumulated measurement report that includes one or more of these generated measurement reports and transmits the accumulated measurement report to its serving gNB. In other words, the relay communication device can be configured to receive a reference signal from a remote communication device and perform measurements on the received reference signal to generate a plurality of measurement reports.

[0052] For group handover scenario 1, the relay UE / gNB needs to identify which remote UEs will be camped on the relay UE (and which will not be camped on) during handover between gNBs. If the relay UE is configured with measurements on the remote UEs and can associate reference signals received from the remote UEs with specific remote UEs (e.g., the reference signals are scrambled with the ID of the local remote UE [Yuhei 7]), the relay UE can identify remote UEs that are camped on it, e.g., by determining that they have a stable RSRP value or a stable relative distance to the relay UE. An accumulated measurement report is then sent from the relay UE to the gNB. In other words, each received reference signal consists of an indication on an identifier associated with the remote communication device on which it was received. For group handover scenario 2, the potential target relay UE needs to identify which remote UE it is trying to switch to. In other words, the relay communication device may be configured to transmit, via infrastructure equipment of the wireless communication network, to other relay communication devices, an indication on an identifier associated with a remote communication device associated with a selected one or more of the accumulated measurement reports, the other relay device being a target of a group handover performed from the relay communication device to the other relay communication device by the remote communication device associated with the selected one or more of the accumulated measurement reports. More generally, according to some arrangements of embodiments of the present technology, ID sharing may not be performed based on (or in relation to) the accumulated measurement reports at all, in other words, the relay communication device may be configured to transmit, via infrastructure equipment of the wireless communication network, to other relay communication devices, an indication on an identifier associated with one or more of the multiple remote communication devices.

[0053] The other (target) relay communication device may be in the same cell of the wireless communication network as the relay communication device (intra-cell), or the other (target) relay communication device may be in a different cell of the wireless communication network from the relay communication device (inter-cell). In the intra-cell case, all relay UEs in the cell can be configured by measurements on any remote UE. Local remote UE identities can be shared between relays, but it is up to the gNB implementation to ensure that there is no collision of local remote UE identities between relays. In the inter-cell case, inter-cell exchange signaling is performed to exchange local remote UE identities to allow relay UEs across different cells to identify a specific remote UE.

[0054] The enhanced group handover procedure described herein is applicable to both group handover scenario 1 and group handover scenario 2. Here, in the deployment described below, it is assumed that the relay UE is configured with measurements towards the remote UE. The enhanced group handover procedure described below can be initiated by either the source relay UE or (in the case of group handover scenario 2) the target relay UE, depending on the different deployment of the embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0055] In an embodiment deployment of the present technology where the group handover procedure is initiated by the source relay UE (for either group handover scenario 1 or group handover scenario 2), the source relay UE performs measurements towards the remote UEs to obtain information related to, for example, which remote UEs will remain at the remote UE when handing over from one gNB to another (group handover scenario 1) or which remote UEs will switch to other relay UEs (group handover scenario 2). The source relay UE then transmits to the network the accumulated measurement report including the remote UE information and an implicit indication regarding the target node of the group handover, as well as regarding the triggered event or events (as described above with respect to the information elements of the accumulated measurement report). Either the target node is a second infrastructure equipment of the wireless communication network and the group handover is performed from the first infrastructure equipment of the wireless communication network to the second infrastructure equipment by the relay communication device and one or more remote communication devices (group handover scenario 1), or the target node is another relay communication device and the group handover is performed from the relay communication device to the other relay communication device by multiple remote communication devices (group handover scenario 2).

[0056] The network then negotiates with the target node and transmits a group handover command to the source relay UE as already described for FeD2D group handover, before the group handover is performed as described in the above paragraph. In other words, the relay communication device may be configured to receive a group handover command from the wireless communication network in response to the transmitted accumulated measurement report, indicating that the group handover is to be performed.

[0057] In the deployment of an embodiment of the present technology where the group handover procedure is initiated by the target relay UE (for group handover scenario 2), if the target relay UE is configured with measurements towards remote UEs and is monitoring a group of remote UEs moving towards the target relay UE, the potential target relay UE will send accumulated measurement reports to the network. It is then the role of the network to identify the source nodes of these remote UEs and issue group handover commands to both the source relay UE and the target relay UE if they belong to the same source node.

[0058] If the network determines that a group handover is not necessary despite receiving accumulated measurement reports from the source relay UE or the target relay UE, it may indicate so to the source relay UE or the target relay UE, which may be particularly important in case the target relay UE has initiated a potential handover procedure, so that the target relay UE can release resources reserved for potential remote UEs that may be handed over to it.

[0059] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the arrangements of embodiments of the present technology described above with respect to a target relay UE initiated group handover procedure may also be applied to either or both of the non-accumulated measurement report and non-group handover cases, where in the same manner as described above with respect to group handover and the use of accumulated measurement reports, the target relay UE may initiate a decision [Yuhei 8] that a single remote UE / group of remote UEs should be handed over from the current relay UE to the target relay UE based on measurements performed on that single remote UE / group of remote UEs (without actually generating and sending accumulated measurement reports). In other words, the target relay UE can be configured to accumulate one or more measurement reports each indicating a measurement of a communication channel between the relay communication device and one of a plurality of remote communication devices connecting to the wireless communication network via another relay communication device, determine based on the accumulated one or more measurement reports that one or more of the associated remote communication devices should perform a handover from the other relay communication device to the relay communication device, and transmit an indication to infrastructure equipment of the wireless communication network indicating that one or more of the associated remote communication devices should perform a handover from the other relay communication device to the relay communication device.

[0060] In some embodiments of the present technology, rather than (or possibly in addition to) transmitting an accumulated measurement report including measurement reports associated with separate remote UEs, the relay UE may transmit a modified version of an existing single measurement report including measurements related to all (or at least some) of the remote UEs and / or relay UEs present in range of the relay UE and / or including measurements related to the serving gNB and / or other gNBs present in range of the relay UE. In other words, the relay UE may be configured to receive reference signals from one or more communication devices, including one or more remote communication devices and / or one or more other communication devices functioning as relay nodes, and / or from one or more infrastructure equipment of the wireless communication network, perform measurements on the received reference signals, generate a measurement report comprising an indication for each of the performed measurements, determine that a trigger condition is met, and in response to determining that the trigger condition is met, transmit the generated measurement report to the wireless communication network. Here, such trigger conditions may include one or more events (e.g., events A3, A4, or A5 described above) being triggered based on one or more of the performed measurements, and / or the relay communication device determining that a predefined period of time has elapsed since the last measurement report was sent by the relay communication device to the wireless communication network (i.e., the modified single measurement report is periodic), or an event triggered based on periodic reporting [Yuhei 9][Yuhei 10], and / or at least one of the measurements meeting one or more predefined criteria (e.g., the measured RSRP of one of the remote UEs connected to the relay UE, or the measured RSRP of the signal received from the gNB, may be below a threshold level - although a person skilled in the art will understand that the measurement type or the measurement link involved may be different).

[0061] Essentially, here, according to the embodiment of the present technology, the relay UE reports sidelink remote UE / other relay UE measurements when existing trigger conditions (including periodic measurements) are met for the relay UE. That is, the gNB receives sidelink remote UE / relay UE measurements, for example, when a handover is about to be triggered for the relay UE. Each time a trigger criterion is met for a relay UE, the relay UE includes in this single report the measurement that triggered the report, but may also include other measurements it performed for the remote UE or other relay UEs before sending this report to the network. With this measurement report (which may include both Uu link and sidelink measurements), the network may have a better idea of ​​how to configure or manage a handover or group handover (e.g., which remote UEs may be handed over together with the relay UE).

[0062] 8 is a flow chart illustrating an example process for communication in a communication system according to an embodiment of the present technology. The process illustrated in FIG. 8 is a method of operating a communication device functioning as a relay node configured to transmit and receive signals to and from a wireless communication network and to and from a plurality of remote communication devices.

[0063] The method starts in step S1. In step S2, the method accumulates a plurality of measurement reports each indicating a measurement of a communication channel between the relay communication device and one of the remote communication devices. In step S3, the process generates an accumulated measurement report including an indication of a selected one or more measurement reports of the accumulated plurality of measurement reports. Then, in step S4, the method transmits the generated accumulated measurement report to the wireless communication network. The process ends in step S5.

[0064] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the method illustrated by Figure 8 may be adapted by embodiments of the technology described herein. For example, other intermediate steps may be included in the method, and steps may be performed in any logical order. Furthermore, while embodiments of the technology have been primarily described in terms of the exemplary system shown in Figure 7, those skilled in the art will appreciate that they may be equally applicable to systems other than those described herein.

[0065] Those skilled in the art will further appreciate that wireless communication networks and / or communication devices as defined herein may be further defined by the various arrangements and embodiments discussed in the preceding paragraphs. Those skilled in the art will further appreciate that such wireless communication networks and communication devices as defined and described herein may form part of communication systems other than those defined by the present disclosure. The following numbered paragraphs provide further exemplary aspects and features of the present technology.

[0066] Paragraph 1. A method of operating a communications device functioning as a relay node configured to transmit and receive signals to and from a wireless communications network and to and from a plurality of remote communications devices, comprising: accumulating a plurality of measurement reports each indicative of a measurement of a communication channel between the relay communication device and one of the remote communication devices; generating an accumulated measurement report comprising indicators relating to a selected one or more of the accumulated measurement reports; Transmitting the generated accumulated measurement report to the wireless communication network. method.

[0067] Paragraph 2. The method of paragraph 1, further comprising: The remote communication device associated with the selected one or more of the accumulated measurement reports selects the selected one or more of the accumulated measurement reports based on determining that a group handover should be performed from a first infrastructure equipment of the wireless communication network to a second infrastructure equipment of the wireless communication network using the relay communication device. method.

[0068] Paragraph 3. The method of paragraph 1 or 2, further comprising: The remote communication device associated with the selected one or more of the stored measurement reports selects the selected one or more of the stored measurement reports based on determining that a group handover should be performed from the relay communication device to another relay communication device. method.

[0069] Paragraph 4: A method according to any one of paragraphs 1 to 3, comprising: The accumulated measurement report includes: an identifier associated with each of the remote communications devices associated with a selected one or more of the accumulated measurement reports; a number of remote communications devices associated with a selected one or more of the accumulated measurement reports; the measurements for each of a selected one or more of the stored measurement reports; and One or more events triggered based on said measurements. It consists of indicators related to one or more of the following: method.

[0070] Paragraph 5. The method of paragraph 4, further comprising: receiving a group handover command from the wireless communication network in response to the transmitted accumulated measurement report, the group handover command indicating that a group handover is to be performed to a designated target node; method.

[0071] Paragraph 6. A method according to paragraph 5, comprising: the target node is another relay communication device; The group handover is performed by a plurality of the remote communication devices from the relay communication device to the other relay communication device. method.

[0072] Paragraph 7. The method according to paragraph 5 or 6, comprising the target node is a second infrastructure node of the wireless communication network; The group handover is performed by the relay communication device and one or more of the remote communication devices from a first infrastructure equipment to a second infrastructure equipment of the wireless communication network. method.

[0073] Paragraph 8 The method according to any one of paragraphs 1 to 7, further comprising: transmitting a reference signal to the remote communication device; receiving the measurement report from the remote communication device indicative of the measurements performed on the transmitted reference signal by the remote communication device; method.

[0074] Paragraph 9. A method according to paragraph 8, comprising the steps of: The selected one or more of the accumulated measurement reports were received from the remote communication device during a predetermined period of time. method.

[0075] Paragraph 10. The method according to paragraph 9, further comprising: transmitting the generated accumulated measurement report to the wireless communication network only if the number of the selected one or more of the accumulated measurement reports received from the remote communication device during the predetermined time period exceeds a predefined threshold. method.

[0076] Paragraph 11. The method according to any one of paragraphs 1 to 10, further comprising: receiving a reference signal from the remote communication device; performing the measurements on the received reference signal to generate the plurality of measurement reports; method.

[0077] Paragraph 12. A method according to paragraph 11, comprising the steps of: Each of the received reference signals comprises an indication of an identifier associated with the remote communication device from which it was received. method.

[0078] Paragraph 13. The method according to paragraph 12, further comprising: transmitting, via infrastructure equipment of the wireless communication network, an indication of an identifier associated with the remote communication device associated with the selected one or more of the stored measurement reports to another relay communication device that is a target of a group handover performed by the remote communication device associated with the selected one or more of the stored measurement reports from the relay communication device to the other relay communication device. method.

[0079] Paragraph 14. The method according to any one of paragraphs 1 to 13, further comprising: transmitting an indication of an identifier associated with one or more of the plurality of remote communication devices via infrastructure equipment of the wireless communication network to another intermediate communication device; method.

[0080] Paragraph 15. A method according to paragraph 13 or 14, comprising the steps of: The other relay communication device is in the same cell of the wireless communication network as the relay communication device. method.

[0081] Paragraph 16. A method according to paragraph 13 or 14, comprising the steps of: The other relay communication device is in a different cell of the wireless communication network than the relay communication device. method.

[0082] Paragraph 17: A communications device acting as a relay node, a transceiver circuit configured to transmit and receive signals to and from a wireless communication network and to and from a plurality of remote communication devices; a control circuit configured in combination with the transmitting circuit to accumulate a plurality of measurement reports each indicative of a measurement of a communication channel between the relay communication device and one of the remote communication devices, generate an accumulated measurement report comprising an indication for a selected one or more of the accumulated measurement reports, and transmit the generated accumulated measurement report to the wireless communication network; Equipped with Communication devices.

[0083] Paragraph 18: A circuit for a communications device functioning as a relay node, comprising: a transmitter circuit configured to transmit and receive signals to and from a wireless communication network and to and from a plurality of remote communication devices; a control circuit configured in combination with the transmitting circuit to accumulate a plurality of measurement reports each indicative of a measurement of a communication channel between the relay communication device and one of the remote communication devices, generate an accumulated measurement report comprising an indication for a selected one or more of the accumulated measurement reports, and transmit the generated accumulated measurement report to the wireless communication network. Circuits for communications devices.

[0084] Paragraph 19: A method of operating infrastructure equipment, the infrastructure equipment being part of a wireless communication network configured to transmit and receive signals from a communication device that functions as a relay node for relaying signals between the infrastructure equipment and a plurality of remote communication devices, the method comprising: receiving from the relay communication device an accumulated measurement report comprising an indication for a selected one or more of a plurality of accumulated measurement reports each indicative of a measurement of a communication channel between the relay communication device and one of the remote communication devices; method.

[0085] Paragraph 20. A method according to paragraph 19, comprising the steps of: The accumulated measurement report includes: an identifier associated with each of the remote communications devices associated with a selected one or more of the accumulated measurement reports; a number of remote communications devices associated with a selected one or more of the accumulated measurement reports; the measurements for each of a selected one or more of the stored measurement reports; and One or more events triggered based on said accumulated measurement reports. It consists of indicators related to one or more of the following: method.

[0086] Paragraph 21. The method according to paragraph 20, further comprising: transmitting a group handover command to the relay communication device in response to the received accumulated measurement report, indicating that a group handover is to be performed to a designated target node. method.

[0087] Paragraph 22. A method according to paragraph 21, comprising the steps of: the target node is another relay communication device; The group handover is performed by a plurality of the remote communication devices from the relay communication device to the other relay communication device. method.

[0088] Paragraph 23. A method according to paragraph 21 or 22, comprising the steps of: the target node is a second infrastructure node of the wireless communication network; The group handover is performed by the relay communication device and one or more of the remote communication devices from the infrastructure equipment to the second infrastructure. method.

[0089] Paragraph 24. The method according to any one of Paragraphs 20 to 23, further comprising: transmitting a group handover command to the relay communication device in response to the received accumulated measurement report, the group handover command indicating that a group handover is to be performed from the other relay communication device to the relay communication device; method.

[0090] Paragraph 25 The method according to any one of Paragraphs 20 to 24, further comprising: transmitting a group handover command to the other relay communication device in response to the received accumulated measurement report, indicating that the group handover is to be performed from the other relay communication device to the relay communication device. method.

[0091] Paragraph 26 - Infrastructure equipment forming part of a wireless communications network, a transmitter circuit configured to transmit and receive signals from a communication device that functions as a relay node that relays signals between the infrastructure equipment and a plurality of remote communication devices; a control circuit configured in combination with the transmitting circuit to receive from the relay communication device an accumulated measurement report comprising an indication for a selected one or more of a plurality of accumulated measurement reports each indicative of a measurement of a communication channel between the relay communication device and one of the remote communication devices; Infrastructure equipment.

[0092] Paragraph 27 Circuits for infrastructure equipment forming part of a wireless communications network, a transmitter circuit configured to transmit and receive signals from a communication device that functions as a relay node that relays signals between the infrastructure equipment and a plurality of remote communication devices; a control circuit configured in combination with the transmitting circuit to receive from the relay communication device an accumulated measurement report comprising an indication for a selected one or more of a plurality of accumulated measurement reports each indicative of a measurement of a communication channel between the relay communication device and one of the remote communication devices; Equipped with Circuits for infrastructure equipment.

[0093] Paragraph 28. A method of operating a communications device functioning as a relay node configured to transmit and receive signals to and from a wireless communications network, comprising the steps of: accumulating one or more measurement reports each indicative of a measurement of a communication channel between the relay communication device and one of a plurality of remote communication devices connected to the wireless communication network via another relay communication device; generating an accumulated measurement report comprising indicators relating to a selected one or more of the accumulated one or more measurement reports; Transmitting the generated accumulated measurement report to the wireless communication network. method.

[0094] Paragraph 29. The method according to paragraph 28, further comprising: The remote communication device associated with the selected one or more of the stored one or more measurement reports selects the selected one or more of the stored one or more measurement reports based on determining that a group handover should be performed from the other relay communication device to the relay communication device. method.

[0095] Paragraph 30. A method according to paragraph 28 or 29, comprising the steps of: The accumulated measurement report includes: an identifier associated with each of the remote communications devices associated with a selected one or more of the accumulated one or more measurement reports; a number of remote communications devices associated with a selected one or more of the accumulated one or more measurement reports; the measurements for each of a selected one or more of the accumulated one or more measurement reports; and One or more events triggered based on said accumulated measurement reports. It consists of indicators related to one or more of the following: method.

[0096] Paragraph 31. The method according to paragraph 30, further comprising: receiving a group handover command from the wireless communication network in response to the transmitted accumulated measurement report, the group handover command indicating that a group handover is to be performed from the other relay communication device to the relay communication device; method.

[0097] Paragraph 32 A communications device acting as a relay node, a transmitter circuit configured to transmit and receive signals to and from a wireless communication network; a control circuit configured in combination with the transmitting circuit to accumulate one or more measurement reports each indicative of a measurement of a communication channel between the relay communication device and one of a plurality of remote communication devices connected to the wireless communication network via another relay communication device, generate an accumulated measurement report comprising an indication for a selected one or more of the accumulated one or more measurement reports, and transmit the generated accumulated measurement report to the wireless communication network; Equipped with Communication devices.

[0098] Paragraph 33: A circuit for a communications device functioning as a relay node, comprising: a transmitter circuit configured to transmit and receive signals to and from a wireless communication network; a control circuit configured in combination with the transmitting circuit to accumulate one or more measurement reports each indicative of a measurement of a communication channel between the relay communication device and one of a plurality of remote communication devices connected to the wireless communication network via another relay communication device, generate an accumulated measurement report comprising an indication for a selected one or more of the accumulated one or more measurement reports, and transmit the generated accumulated measurement report to the wireless communication network; Equipped with Circuits for communications devices.

[0099] Paragraph 34: A method of operating a communications device functioning as a relay node configured to transmit and receive signals to and from a wireless communications network, comprising: accumulating one or more measurement reports each indicative of a measurement of a communication channel between the relay communication device and one of a plurality of remote communication devices connected to the wireless communication network via another relay communication device; determining, based on the accumulated one or more measurement reports, that one or more of the associated remote communication devices should perform a handover from the other relay communication device to the relay communication device; one or more of the associated remote communication devices transmit an indication to infrastructure equipment of the wireless communication network indicating that a handover should be performed from the other relay communication device to the relay communication device. method.

[0100] Paragraph 35: A communications device acting as a relay node, a transmitter circuit configured to transmit and receive signals to and from a wireless communication network; a control circuit configured in combination with the transmitting circuit to accumulate one or more measurement reports each indicative of a measurement of a communication channel between the relay communication device and one of a plurality of remote communication devices connected to the wireless communication network via another relay communication device, determine based on the accumulated one or more measurement reports that one or more of the associated remote communication devices should perform a handover from the other relay communication device to the relay communication device, and transmit an indication to infrastructure equipment of the wireless communication network indicating that one or more of the associated remote communication devices should perform a handover from the other relay communication device to the relay communication device. Equipped with Communication devices.

[0101] Paragraph 36: A circuit for a communications device functioning as a relay node, comprising: a transmitter circuit configured to transmit and receive signals to and from a wireless communication network; a control circuit configured in combination with the transmitting circuit to accumulate one or more measurement reports each indicative of a measurement of a communication channel between the relay communication device and one of a plurality of remote communication devices connected to the wireless communication network via another relay communication device, determine based on the accumulated one or more measurement reports that one or more of the associated remote communication devices should perform a handover from the other relay communication device to the relay communication device, and transmit an indication to infrastructure equipment of the wireless communication network indicating that one or more of the associated remote communication devices should perform a handover from the other relay communication device to the relay communication device. Equipped with Circuits for communications devices.

[0102] Paragraph 37: A method of operating a communications device functioning as a relay node configured to transmit and receive signals to and from a wireless communications network, the method comprising the steps of: receiving a reference signal from one or more of said plurality of communication devices, comprising one or more remote communication devices acting as relay nodes and / or one or more other communication devices, and / or from one or more infrastructure equipment of said wireless communication network; performing a measurement on the received reference signal; generating a measurement report comprising metrics for each of the measurements performed; It is determined that the trigger condition is met, In response to determining that the trigger condition is satisfied, transmitting the generated measurement report to the wireless communication network. method.

[0103] Paragraph 38. A method according to paragraph 37, comprising the steps of: The trigger condition includes the relay communication device determining that one or more events are triggered based on one or more of the performed measurements. method.

[0104] Paragraph 39. A method according to paragraph 37 or 38, comprising the steps of: The trigger condition includes a predefined period of time having elapsed since a last measurement report was sent by the relay communication device to the wireless communication network. method.

[0105] Paragraph 40: A method according to any one of Paragraphs 37 to 39, comprising: The trigger condition includes at least one of the measurements meeting one or more predetermined criteria. method.

[0106] Paragraph 41 A communications device acting as a relay node, a transmitter circuit configured to transmit and receive signals to and from a wireless communication network; a control circuit configured in combination with said transmitting circuitry to receive a reference signal from one or more of said plurality of communication devices, said plurality of communication devices being one or more remote communication devices and / or one or more other communication devices functioning as relay nodes, and / or from one or more infrastructure equipment of said wireless communications network, perform measurements on said received reference signals, generate a measurement report comprising indications for each of said performed measurements, determine that a trigger condition is met, and in response to determining that the trigger condition is met, transmit the generated measurement report to said wireless communications network. Equipped with Communication devices.

[0107] Paragraph 42: A circuit for a communication device that functions as a relay node, comprising: a transmitter circuit configured to transmit and receive signals to and from a wireless communication network; a control circuit configured in combination with said transmitting circuitry to receive a reference signal from one or more of said plurality of communication devices, said plurality of communication devices comprising one or more remote communication devices functioning as relay nodes and / or one or more other communication devices, and / or from one or more infrastructure equipment of said wireless communication network, perform measurements on said received reference signals, generate a measurement report comprising indications for each of said performed measurements, determine that a trigger condition is met, and in response to determining that the trigger condition is met, transmit the generated measurement report to said wireless communication network. Equipped with Circuits for communications devices.

[0108] Paragraph 43. A wireless communication system comprising at least one of a communication device functioning as a relay device as described in paragraph 17, a communication device functioning as a relay device as described in paragraph 32, a communication device functioning as a relay device as described in paragraph 35, a communication device functioning as a relay device as described in paragraph 41, and infrastructure equipment as described in paragraph 26.

[0109] Paragraph 44. A computer program comprising instructions which, when loaded into a computer, cause the computer to carry out the method according to any of paragraphs 1 to 16, paragraphs 19 to 25, paragraphs 28 to 31, paragraph 34 or paragraphs 37 to 40.

[0110] Paragraph 45. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium having stored thereon a computer program according to Paragraph 44.

[0111] To the extent that embodiments of the present disclosure have been described as being implemented, at least in part, by a software-controlled data processing apparatus, it will be understood that non-transitory machine-readable media bearing such software, such as optical disks, magnetic disks, semiconductor memories, and the like, are also considered to represent embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0112] It will be appreciated that in the above description, for clarity, embodiments have been described with reference to different functional units, circuits and / or processors. However, it will be apparent that any suitable distribution of functionality between different functional units, circuits and / or processors may be used without deviating from the embodiments.

[0113] The described embodiments may be implemented in any suitable form including hardware, software, firmware or any combination of these. The described embodiments may optionally be implemented at least partly as computer software running on one or more data processors and / or digital signal processors. The elements and components of any embodiment may be physically, functionally and logically implemented in any suitable way. Indeed functionality may be implemented in a single unit, in multiple units or as part of other functional units. Thus, the disclosed embodiments may be implemented in a single unit or may be physically and functionally distributed between different units, circuits and / or processors.

[0114] Although the present disclosure has been described in connection with some embodiments, it is not intended to be limited to the specific form set forth herein. Moreover, while certain features may appear to be described in connection with particular embodiments, those skilled in the art will recognize that the various features of the described embodiments can be combined in any manner suitable for implementing the technology.

[0115] [Quote] [1] RP-182090, "Revised SID: Study on NR Industrial Internet of Things (IoT)," 3GPP RAN#81. [2] Holma H. ​​and Toskala A, "LTE for UMTS OFDMA and SC-FDMA based radio access", John Wiley and Sons, 2009. [3] RP-193253, "New SID: Study on NR sidelink relay" (OPPO), December 2019. [4] TR 36.746, "3 rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; Study on further enhancements to LTE Device to Device (D2D), User Equipment (UE) to network relays for Internet of Things (IoT) and wearables; (Release 15) (version 15.1.1)" (3GPP Organisation), April 2018. [5] R2-2108939, "Email Report of (ATI 15 -e]

[0609] [Relay] Service continuity procedures" (MediaTek Inc.), August 2021. [6] TS 38.311, "3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Radio Resource Control (RRC) protocol specification (Release 16)" (3GPP Organisation), September 2021.

Claims

1. 1. A method of operating a communication device functioning as a relay node configured to transmit and receive signals to and from a wireless communication network and to and from a plurality of remote communication devices, comprising the steps of: accumulating a plurality of measurement reports each indicative of a measurement of a communication channel between the relay communication device and one of the remote communication devices; generating an accumulated measurement report comprising indicators relating to a selected one or more of the accumulated measurement reports; Transmitting the generated accumulated measurement report to the wireless communication network. method.

2. 10. The method of claim 1 further comprising: The remote communication device associated with the selected one or more of the accumulated measurement reports selects the selected one or more of the accumulated measurement reports based on determining that a group handover should be performed from a first infrastructure equipment of the wireless communication network to a second infrastructure equipment of the wireless communication network using the relay communication device. method.

3. 10. The method of claim 1 further comprising: The remote communication device associated with the selected one or more of the stored measurement reports selects the selected one or more of the stored measurement reports based on determining that a group handover should be performed from the relay communication device to another relay communication device. method.

4. 2. The method of claim 1 , The accumulated measurement report includes: an identifier associated with each of the remote communications devices associated with a selected one or more of the accumulated measurement reports; a number of remote communications devices associated with a selected one or more of the accumulated measurement reports; the measurements for each of a selected one or more of the stored measurement reports; and One or more events triggered based on the measurements. The indicators consist of one or more of the following: method.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising: receiving a group handover command from the wireless communication network in response to the transmitted accumulated measurement report, the group handover command indicating that a group handover is to be performed to a designated target node; method.

6. 6. The method of claim 5, the target node is another relay communication device; The group handover is performed by a plurality of the remote communication devices from the relay communication device to the other relay communication device. method.

7. 6. The method of claim 5, the target node is a second infrastructure node of the wireless communication network; The group handover is performed by the relay communication device and one or more of the remote communication devices from a first infrastructure equipment to a second infrastructure equipment of the wireless communication network. method.

8. 10. The method of claim 1 further comprising: transmitting a reference signal to the remote communication device; receiving the measurement report from the remote communication device indicative of the measurements performed on the transmitted reference signal by the remote communication device; method.

9. 9. The method of claim 8, The selected one or more of the accumulated measurement reports are received from the remote communication device during a predetermined period of time. method.

10. 10. The method of claim 9 further comprising: transmitting the generated accumulated measurement report to the wireless communication network only if the number of the selected one or more of the accumulated measurement reports received from the remote communication device during the predetermined time period exceeds a predefined threshold. method.

11. 10. The method of claim 1 further comprising: receiving a reference signal from the remote communication device; performing the measurements on the received reference signal to generate the plurality of measurement reports; method.

12. 12. The method of claim 11, Each of the received reference signals comprises an indication of an identifier associated with the remote communication device from which it was received. method.

13. 13. The method of claim 12 further comprising: transmitting, via infrastructure equipment of the wireless communication network, an indication of an identifier associated with the remote communication device associated with the selected one or more of the stored measurement reports to another relay communication device that is a target of a group handover performed by the remote communication device associated with the selected one or more of the stored measurement reports from the relay communication device to the other relay communication device. method.

14. 10. The method of claim 1 further comprising: transmitting an indication of an identifier associated with one or more of the plurality of remote communication devices via infrastructure equipment of the wireless communication network to another intermediate communication device; method.

15. 15. The method according to claim 13 or 14, The other relay communication device is in the same cell of the wireless communication network as the relay communication device. method.

16. 15. The method according to claim 13 or 14, The other relay communication device is in a different cell of the wireless communication network than the relay communication device. method.

17. A communication device that functions as a relay node, a transceiver circuit configured to transmit and receive signals to and from a wireless communication network and to and from a plurality of remote communication devices; a control circuit configured in combination with the transmitting circuit to accumulate a plurality of measurement reports each indicative of a measurement of a communication channel between the relay communication device and one of the remote communication devices, generate an accumulated measurement report comprising an indication for a selected one or more of the accumulated measurement reports, and transmit the generated accumulated measurement report to the wireless communication network; Equipped with Communication devices.

18. 1. A circuit for a communication device functioning as a relay node, comprising: a transmitter circuit configured to transmit and receive signals to and from a wireless communication network and to and from a plurality of remote communication devices; a control circuit configured in combination with the transmitting circuit to accumulate a plurality of measurement reports each indicative of a measurement of a communication channel between the relay communication device and one of the remote communication devices, generate an accumulated measurement report comprising an indication for a selected one or more of the accumulated measurement reports, and transmit the generated accumulated measurement report to the wireless communication network. Circuits for communications devices.

19. 1. A method of operating infrastructure equipment forming part of a wireless communication network configured to transmit and receive signals from a communication device that functions as a relay node relaying signals between the infrastructure equipment and a plurality of remote communication devices, comprising: receiving an accumulated measurement report from the relay communication device, the accumulated measurement report comprising an indication for a selected one or more of a plurality of accumulated measurement reports each indicative of a measurement of a communication channel between the relay communication device and one of the remote communication devices; method.

20. 20. The method of claim 19, The accumulated measurement report includes: an identifier associated with each of the remote communications devices associated with a selected one or more of the accumulated measurement reports; a number of remote communications devices associated with a selected one or more of the accumulated measurement reports; the measurements for each of a selected one or more of the stored measurement reports; and One or more events triggered based on the accumulated measurement reports. The indicators consist of one or more of the following: method.

21. 21. The method of claim 20 further comprising: transmitting a group handover command to the relay communication device in response to the received accumulated measurement report, indicating that a group handover is to be performed to a designated target node. method.

22. 22. The method of claim 21, the target node is another relay communication device; The group handover is performed by a plurality of the remote communication devices from the relay communication device to the other relay communication device. method.

23. 22. The method of claim 21, the target node is a second infrastructure node of the wireless communication network; The group handover is performed by the relay communication device and one or more of the remote communication devices from the infrastructure equipment to the second infrastructure. method.

24. 21. The method of claim 20 further comprising: transmitting a group handover command to the relay communication device in response to the received accumulated measurement report, the group handover command indicating that a group handover is to be performed from the other relay communication device to the relay communication device; method.

25. 21. The method of claim 20 further comprising: transmitting a group handover command to the other relay communication device in response to the received accumulated measurement report, indicating that the group handover is to be performed from the other relay communication device to the relay communication device. method.

26. 1. An infrastructure device forming part of a wireless communication network, comprising: a transmitter circuit configured to transmit and receive signals from a communication device that functions as a relay node that relays signals between the infrastructure equipment and a plurality of remote communication devices; a control circuit configured in combination with the transmitting circuit to receive from the relay communication device an accumulated measurement report comprising an indication for a selected one or more of a plurality of accumulated measurement reports each indicative of a measurement of a communication channel between the relay communication device and one of the remote communication devices; Infrastructure equipment.

27. 1. A circuit for infrastructure equipment forming part of a wireless communication network, comprising: a transmitter circuit configured to transmit and receive signals from a communication device that functions as a relay node that relays signals between the infrastructure equipment and a plurality of remote communication devices; a control circuit configured in combination with the transmitting circuit to receive from the relay communication device an accumulated measurement report comprising an indication for a selected one or more of a plurality of accumulated measurement reports each indicative of a measurement of a communication channel between the relay communication device and one of the remote communication devices; Equipped with Circuits for infrastructure equipment.

28. 1. A method of operating a communications device functioning as a relay node configured to transmit and receive signals to and from a wireless communications network, comprising the steps of: accumulating one or more measurement reports each indicative of a measurement of a communication channel between the relay communication device and one of a plurality of remote communication devices connected to the wireless communication network via another relay communication device; generating an accumulated measurement report comprising indicators relating to a selected one or more of the accumulated one or more measurement reports; Transmitting the generated accumulated measurement report to the wireless communication network. method.

29. 29. The method of claim 28, further comprising: The remote communication device associated with the selected one or more of the stored one or more measurement reports selects the selected one or more of the stored one or more measurement reports based on determining that a group handover should be performed from the other relay communication device to the relay communication device. method.

30. 29. The method of claim 28, The accumulated measurement report includes: an identifier associated with each of the remote communications devices associated with a selected one or more of the accumulated one or more measurement reports; a number of remote communications devices associated with a selected one or more of the accumulated one or more measurement reports; the measurements for each of a selected one or more of the stored one or more measurement reports; and One or more events triggered based on the accumulated measurement reports. The indicators consist of one or more of the following: method.

31. 31. The method of claim 30 further comprising: receiving a group handover command from the wireless communication network in response to the transmitted accumulated measurement report, the group handover command indicating that a group handover is to be performed from the other relay communication device to the relay communication device; method.

32. A communication device that functions as a relay node, a transmitter circuit configured to transmit and receive signals to and from a wireless communication network; a control circuit configured in combination with the transmitting circuit to accumulate one or more measurement reports each indicative of a measurement of a communication channel between the relay communication device and one of a plurality of remote communication devices connected to the wireless communication network via another relay communication device, generate an accumulated measurement report comprising an indication for a selected one or more of the accumulated one or more measurement reports, and transmit the generated accumulated measurement report to the wireless communication network; Equipped with Communication devices.

33. 1. A circuit for a communication device functioning as a relay node, comprising: a transmitter circuit configured to transmit and receive signals to and from a wireless communication network; a control circuit configured in combination with the transmitting circuit to accumulate one or more measurement reports each indicative of a measurement of a communication channel between the relay communication device and one of a plurality of remote communication devices connected to the wireless communication network via another relay communication device, generate an accumulated measurement report comprising an indication for a selected one or more of the accumulated one or more measurement reports, and transmit the generated accumulated measurement report to the wireless communication network; Equipped with Circuits for communications devices.

34. 1. A method of operating a communications device functioning as a relay node configured to transmit and receive signals to and from a wireless communications network, comprising the steps of: accumulating one or more measurement reports each indicative of a measurement of a communication channel between the relay communication device and one of a plurality of remote communication devices connected to the wireless communication network via another relay communication device; determining based on the accumulated one or more measurement reports that one or more of the associated remote communication devices should perform a handover from the other relay communication device to the relay communication device; and transmitting an indication to infrastructure equipment of the wireless communication network that one or more of the associated remote communication devices should perform a handover from the other relay communication device to the relay communication device. method.

35. A communication device that functions as a relay node, a transmitter circuit configured to transmit and receive signals to and from a wireless communication network; a control circuit configured in combination with the transmitting circuit to accumulate one or more measurement reports each indicative of a measurement of a communication channel between the relay communication device and one of a plurality of remote communication devices connected to the wireless communication network via another relay communication device, determine based on the accumulated one or more measurement reports that one or more of the associated remote communication devices should perform a handover from the other relay communication device to the relay communication device, and transmit an indication to infrastructure equipment of the wireless communication network indicating that one or more of the associated remote communication devices should perform a handover from the other relay communication device to the relay communication device. Equipped with Communication devices.

36. 1. A circuit for a communication device functioning as a relay node, comprising: a transmitter circuit configured to transmit and receive signals to and from a wireless communication network; a control circuit configured in combination with the transmitting circuit to accumulate one or more measurement reports each indicative of a measurement of a communication channel between the relay communication device and one of a plurality of remote communication devices connected to the wireless communication network via another relay communication device, determine based on the accumulated one or more measurement reports that one or more of the associated remote communication devices should perform a handover from the other relay communication device to the relay communication device, and transmit an indication to infrastructure equipment of the wireless communication network indicating that one or more of the associated remote communication devices should perform a handover from the other relay communication device to the relay communication device. Equipped with Circuits for communications devices.

37. 1. A method of operating a communication device functioning as a relay node configured to transmit and receive signals to and from a wireless communication network, the method comprising the steps of: receiving a reference signal from one or more of said plurality of communication devices, consisting of one or more remote communication devices acting as relay nodes and / or one or more other communication devices, and / or from one or more infrastructure equipment of said wireless communication network; performing a measurement on the received reference signal; generating a measurement report comprising metrics for each of the measurements performed; It is determined that the trigger condition is met, In response to determining that the trigger condition is satisfied, transmitting the generated measurement report to the wireless communication network. method.

38. 38. The method of claim 37, The trigger condition includes the relay communication device determining that one or more events are triggered based on one or more of the performed measurements. method.

39. 38. The method of claim 37, The trigger condition includes a predefined period of time having elapsed since a last measurement report was sent by the relay communication device to the wireless communication network. method.

40. 38. The method of claim 37, The trigger condition includes at least one of the measurements meeting one or more predetermined criteria. method.

41. A communication device that functions as a relay node, a transmitter circuit configured to transmit and receive signals to and from a wireless communication network; a control circuit configured in combination with said transmitting circuitry to receive a reference signal from one or more of said plurality of communication devices, said plurality of communication devices being one or more remote communication devices and / or one or more other communication devices functioning as relay nodes, and / or from one or more infrastructure equipment of said wireless communications network, perform measurements on said received reference signals, generate a measurement report comprising indications for each of said performed measurements, determine that a trigger condition is met, and in response to determining that the trigger condition is met, transmit said generated measurement report to said wireless communications network. Equipped with Communication devices.

42. 1. A circuit for a communication device functioning as a relay node, comprising: a transmitter circuit configured to transmit and receive signals to and from a wireless communication network; a control circuit configured in combination with said transmitting circuitry to receive a reference signal from one or more of said plurality of communication devices, comprising one or more remote communication devices and / or one or more other communication devices functioning as relay nodes, and / or from one or more infrastructure equipment of said wireless communication network, perform measurements on said received reference signals, generate a measurement report comprising indications for each of said performed measurements, determine that a trigger condition is met, and in response to determining that the trigger condition is met, transmit the generated measurement report to said wireless communication network. Equipped with Circuits for communications devices.

43. A wireless communication system comprising at least one of a communication device functioning as a relay device according to claim 17, a communication device functioning as a relay device according to claim 32, a communication device functioning as a relay device according to claim 35, a communication device functioning as a relay device according to claim 41, and infrastructure equipment according to claim 26.

44. A computer program comprising instructions which, when loaded into a computer, cause the computer to carry out the method according to claim 1, claim 19, claim 28, claim 34 or claim 37.

45. 45. A non-transitory computer readable recording medium having stored thereon the computer program of claim 44.

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