Distinguishing between feedback and traffic in sidelink relay

Abstract

To improve or enhance relay transmission in wireless communication systems or networks.SOLUTION: User equipment (UE) for a wireless communication network operates as a relay entity and provides functionality to support connectivity between a transmitting entity and one or more receiving entities of the wireless communication network. In response to receiving a transmission from the transmitting entity and relaying the transmission towards the receiving entities, the UE is adapted to transmit feedback to the transmitting entity. The feedback indicates that the receiving entities have successfully received the transmission and / or have not.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2(a)

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of wireless communication systems or networks, and more particularly to the field of relay devices, in particular sidelink relay devices, used to provide functionality supporting a connection between a transmitting entity of a wireless communication system or network and a remote user device (UE). Embodiments of a first aspect of the invention relate to feedback, such as NR Hybrid Automatic Retransmission Request (HARQ) feedback for sidelink relay, and embodiments of a second aspect of the invention relate to traffic differentiation by relay devices, such as NR sidelink relay. [Background technology]

[0002] FIG. 1 includes a core network 102 and one or more radio access networks RAN1, RAN2, ...RAN N FIG. 1(b) illustrates a schematic diagram of an example of a terrestrial wireless network 100 including a radio access network RAN, which may include one or more base stations gNB1 to gNB5. nFIG. 1(b) is a schematic diagram of an example of a RAN, each serving a specific area around a base station, which is represented diagrammatically by a respective cell 1061-1065. The base station serves users within the cell. One or more base stations may serve users in licensed and / or unlicensed bands. The term base station BS means gNB in ​​5G networks, eNB in ​​UMTS / LTE / LTE-A / LTE-A Pro, or simply BS in other mobile communication standards. The users may be fixed or mobile devices. The wireless communication system may also be accessed by mobile or fixed IoT devices that connect to the base station or the user. The mobile or IoT devices may include physical devices, ground-based vehicles such as robots or cars, aircraft such as manned or unmanned aerial vehicles UAV, the latter also called drones, buildings, and other items or devices with embedded electronics, software, sensors, actuators, etc. therein, as well as network connections that enable these devices to collect and exchange data across the existing network infrastructure. FIG. 1(b) shows an example diagram of five cells, but the RAN may also include a mobile or fixed IoT device that connects to the base station or the user. n may contain more or fewer such cells, and the RAN nThe wireless communication system may include only one base station. Fig. 1(b) shows two users UE1 and UE2, also called user equipment UE, in a cell 1062 and served by a base station gNB2. Another user UE3 is shown in a cell 1064 served by a base station gNB4. The arrows 1081, 1082, 1083 represent diagrammatically the uplink / downlink connections for transmitting data from the users UE1, UE2, UE3 to the base stations gNB2, gNB4 or from the base stations gNB2, gNB4 to the users UE1, UE2, UE3. This may be realized in licensed or unlicensed bands. Furthermore, Fig. 1(b) shows two IoT devices 1101, 1102 in the cell 1064, which may be fixed or mobile devices. The IoT device 1101 accesses the wireless communication system via the base station gNB4, as diagrammatically represented by the arrow 1121, for receiving and transmitting data. The IoT device 1102 accesses the wireless communication system via a user UE 3, as represented diagrammatically by the arrow 1122. Each base station gNB1 to gNB5 may be connected to the core network 102 via a respective backhaul link 1141 to 1145, e.g., via an S1 interface, represented diagrammatically in FIG. 1(b) by an arrow pointing to "core". The core network 102 may be connected to one or more external networks. The external network may be the Internet, or a private network such as an intranet, or another type of campus network, e.g., a private WiFi or a 4G or 5G mobile communication system. Furthermore, some or all of the respective base stations gNB1 to gNB5 may be connected to each other via a respective backhaul link 1161 to 1165, e.g., via an S1 or X2 interface or XN interface in NR, represented diagrammatically in FIG. 1(b) by an arrow pointing to "gNB". Sidelink channels, also called device-to-device (D2D) communication, enable direct communication between UEs.In 3GPP, the sidelink interface is named PC5.

[0003] For data transmission, a physical resource grid may be used. The physical resource grid may comprise a set of resource elements onto which various physical channels and physical signals are mapped. For example, the physical channels may include a physical downlink shared channel, a physical uplink shared channel, and a physical sidelink shared channel (PDSCH, PUSCH, PSSCH) carrying user specific data also referred to as downlink payload data, uplink payload data, and sidelink payload data, a physical broadcast channel (PBCH) carrying, for example, a master information block (MIB) and one or more system information blocks (SIBs), one or more sidelink information blocks (SLIBs) if supported, a physical downlink control channel, a physical uplink control channel, and a physical sidelink control channel (PDCCH, PUCCH, PSCCH) carrying downlink control information (DCI), uplink control information (UCI), and sidelink control information (SCI), and a physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH) carrying PC5 feedback response. Note that the sidelink interface may support two stages of SCI. This refers to a first control area that contains a portion of the SCI and, optionally, a second control area that contains a second portion of the control information.

[0004] For the uplink, the physical channel may further include a physical random access channel (PRACH or RACH) that the UE uses to access the network once it has synchronized and acquired the MIB and SIB. The physical signal may comprise a reference signal or a symbol (RS) synchronization signal, etc. The resource grid may comprise a frame or radio frame having a specific duration in the time domain and a given bandwidth in the frequency domain. The frame may have a specific number of subframes of a predefined length, e.g., 1 ms. Each subframe may include one or more slots of 12 or 14 OFDM symbols depending on the cyclic prefix (CP) length. The frame may also consist of a smaller number of OFDM symbols, e.g., when utilizing a reduced transmission time interval (sTTI) or a minislot / non-slot based frame structure with several OFDM symbols.

[0005] The wireless communication system may be any single-tone or multi-carrier system using frequency division multiplexing, such as an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) system, an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) system, or any other IFFT-based signal with or without CP, such as DFT-s-OFDM. Other waveforms such as non-orthogonal waveforms for multiple access, such as Filter Bank Multi-Carrier (FBMC), Generalized Frequency Division Multiplexing (GFDM) or Universal Filter Multi-Carrier (UFMC), may also be used. The wireless communication system may operate, for example, according to the LTE-Advanced pro standard, or the 5G or NR (New Radio) standard, or the NR-U (New Radio unlicensed) standard.

[0006] The wireless network or communication system shown in FIG. 1 may be a heterogeneous network with different overlay networks, for example a network of macro cells with each macro cell including a macro base station, such as base stations gNB1 to gNB5, and a network of small cell base stations, such as femto or pico base stations (not shown in FIG. 1). In addition to the terrestrial wireless networks mentioned above, there are also non-terrestrial wireless communication networks (NTNs) including spaceborne transceivers, such as satellites, and / or airborne transceivers, such as unmanned aerial systems. The non-terrestrial wireless communication networks or systems may operate in a similar manner to the terrestrial system described above with reference to FIG. 1, for example according to the LTE-Advanced Pro standard or the 5G or new radio (NR) standard.

[0007] In a mobile communication network, such as a LTE or 5G / NR network as described above with reference to FIG. 1, there may be UEs that communicate directly with each other by one or more sidelink (SL) channels, for example using a PC5 / PC3 interface or direct Wifi. UEs that communicate directly with each other by sidelink may include vehicles that communicate directly with other vehicles (V2V communication), vehicles that communicate with other entities of the wireless communication network (V2X communication), roadside units (RSUs), roadside entities, such as traffic lights, traffic signs, or pedestrians. RSUs may have BS or UE functionality depending on the particular network configuration. The other UEs may not be vehicle-related UEs and may include any of the devices mentioned above. Such devices may also communicate directly with each other (D2D communication) using SL channels.

[0008] When considering two UEs that communicate directly with each other by sidelink, both UEs may be served by the same base station, allowing the base station to provide sidelink resource allocation configuration or assistance to the UEs. For example, both UEs may be within the coverage area of ​​a base station, such as one of the base stations shown in FIG. 1. This is called the "in-coverage" scenario. Another scenario is called the "out-of-coverage" scenario. "Out-of-coverage" does not mean that the two UEs are not within range of one of the cells shown in FIG. 1, but rather that the UEs are within the coverage area of ​​a base station, such as one of the base stations shown in FIG. 1. - the UE may, for example, not be in an RRC connected state and not be connected to the base station, and the UE does not receive any sidelink resource allocation configuration or assistance from the base station; and / or - connected to a base station, but for one or more reasons the base station may not provide sidelink resource allocation configuration or assistance to the UE; and / or - May be connected to base stations that do not support NR V2X services, e.g. GSM, UMTS, LTE base stations; Please note that this means

[0009] If we consider two UEs communicating directly with each other by sidelink, for example using a PC5 / PC3 interface, one of the UEs may be connected with the BS and may relay information from the BS to the other UE via the sidelink interface or vice versa. The relaying may be performed in the same frequency band (in-band relaying) or a different frequency band may be used (out-of-band relaying). In the first case, the communication on Uu and the communication on the sidelink may be separated using different time slots as in a Time Division Duplex (TDD) system.

[0010] Fig. 2(a) is a schematic diagram of an in-coverage scenario where two UEs communicating directly with each other are both connected to a base station gNB. The base station gNB has a coverage area, which is represented diagrammatically by a circle 150, and basically corresponds to the cell diagrammatically represented in Fig. 1. The UEs communicating directly with each other include a first vehicle 152 and a second vehicle 154 both in the coverage area 150 of the base station gNB. Both vehicles 152, 154 are connected to the base station gNB and are further directly connected to each other by a PC5 interface. Scheduling and / or interference management of V2V traffic is assisted by the gNB via control signaling over the Uu interface, which is the radio interface between the base station and the UE. In other words, the gNB provides the UE with a SL resource allocation configuration or assistance, and the gNB allocates resources to be used for V2V communication over sidelink. This configuration is also called Mode 1 configuration in NR V2X and Mode 3 configuration in LTE V2X.

[0011] Figure 2(b) is a schematic diagram of an out-of-coverage scenario where UEs that communicate directly with each other may be physically present within a cell of the wireless communication network but are not connected to the base station, or some or all of the UEs that communicate directly with each other are connected to the base station but the base station does not provide SL resource allocation configuration or assistance. Three vehicles 156, 158, 160 are shown to communicate directly with each other by sidelink, for example using a PC5 interface. Scheduling of V2V traffic and / or interference management is based on algorithms implemented between the vehicles. This configuration is also called Mode 2 configuration in NR V2X and Mode 4 configuration in LTE V2X. As mentioned above, the scenario of FIG. 2(b), which is an out-of-coverage scenario, does not necessarily mean that the respective Mode 2 UE (for NR) or Mode 4 UE (for LTE) is out of the coverage 150 of the base station, but rather that the respective Mode 2 UE (for NR) or Mode 4 UE (for LTE) is not served by the base station, is not connected to the base station in the coverage area, or is connected to the base station but does not receive SL resource allocation configuration or assistance from the base station. Thus, there is a situation in which, in addition to NR Mode 1 or LTE Mode 3 UEs 152, 154, there are also NR Mode 2 or LTE Mode 4 UEs 156, 158, 160 within the coverage area 150 shown in FIG. 2(a). In addition, FIG. 2(b) illustrates a schematic out-of-coverage UE that uses a relay to communicate with the network. For example, UE 160 may communicate with UE1 by sidelink and may be connected to the gNB via the Uu interface. Thus, UE1 may relay information between the gNB and UE 160.

[0012] 2(a) and 2(b) illustrate vehicular UEs, it should be noted that the described in-coverage and out-of-coverage scenarios also apply to non-vehicular UEs. In other words, any UE that communicates directly with another UE using a SL channel, such as a hand-held device, can be in-coverage and out-of-coverage.

[0013] In wireless communication systems or networks such as those described above with reference to FIG. 1, relay devices or relay nodes are employed to solve performance problems such as reduced data rates, weak signals and high interference that may be encountered at the edge of radio coverage of a base station's cell. The relay node can extract data from the received signal, perform noise compensation and retransmit a new signal itself. In addition to repeating the signal, the relay node also improves the quality of the signal. The 3GPP specifications for 4G specify UE-to-Network relaying.

[0014] Please note that the information in the above sections is merely intended to enhance understanding of the background of the invention, and therefore may contain information that does not form part of prior art already known to those skilled in the art. Summary of the Invention

[0015] Starting from the above, there is a need for improvements or enhancements to relay transmission in wireless communication systems or networks.

[0016] Embodiments of the invention will now be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0017] [Figure 1(a)] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an example terrestrial wireless network, where FIG. 1(a) shows a core network and one or more radio access networks. [Figure 1(b)] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an example of a terrestrial wireless network, and FIG. 1(b) is a schematic diagram of an example of a radio access network RAN. [Figure 2(a)] FIG. 2 shows a schematic representation of in-coverage and out-of-coverage scenarios, where FIG. 2(a) shows a schematic representation of an in-coverage scenario in which two UEs that communicate directly with each other are both connected to a base station. [Figure 2(b)]FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic representation of in-coverage and out-of-coverage scenarios, and FIG. 2(b) illustrates a schematic representation of the out-of-coverage scenario in which UEs communicate directly with each other. [Figure 3(a)] FIG. 3 illustrates several relaying scenarios, where FIG. 3(a) illustrates a scenario in which a relay UE acts as a UE-to-network relay. [Figure 3(b)] FIG. 3 shows a schematic of multiple relaying scenarios, where FIG. 3(b) shows a scenario where the relay is a UE-to-UE relay. [Figure 3(c)] FIG. 3 illustrates a schematic of multiple relay scenarios, and FIG. 3(c) illustrates the operation of an LTE relay system including a transmitting entity, a receiving entity and a relay entity. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a wireless communication system including a transmitter, such as a base station, one or more receivers, such as user devices UE, and one or more relay UEs, for implementing an embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 5] FIG. 5 illustrates an embodiment of a relay UE according to the first aspect of the present invention. [Figure 6] FIG. 6 illustrates an embodiment of a transmitting entity according to the first aspect of the present invention. [Figure 7] FIG. 7 illustrates an embodiment in which an additional feedback link between a relay node and a TX UE according to the first aspect of the present invention is used to provide overall HARQ feedback for transmissions from the TX UEs relayed via the relay node to the RX UE. [Figure 8] FIG. 8 illustrates an embodiment in which an existing feedback link between a relay node and a TX UE according to the first aspect of the present invention is reused to provide overall HARQ feedback for transmissions from the TX UE relayed to the RX UE via the relay node. [Figure 9(a)] FIG. 9 shows embodiments for an RLC feedback arrangement provided according to a first aspect of the present invention, where FIG. 9(a) illustrates an embodiment introducing a global RLC acknowledgement. [Figure 9(b)]FIG. 9 shows an embodiment for an RLC feedback configuration provided according to a first aspect of the present invention, where FIG. 9(b) illustrates end-to-end feedback. [Figure 10] FIG. 10 illustrates a first embodiment of a wireless communication network including a relay UE and a TX UE according to an embodiment of the first aspect of the present invention, both operating in Mode 1, where resources for transmission from the TX UE to the relay and resources for relaying the transmission are scheduled by the gNB. [Figure 11] FIG. 11 illustrates a second embodiment of a wireless communication network including a relay UE and a TX UE according to an embodiment of the first aspect of the present invention, both operating in Mode 1, where resources for transmissions from the TX UE to the relay are scheduled by the gNB and the relay UE is pre-configured with resources to be used for relaying the transmission. [Figure 12] FIG. 12 illustrates a first embodiment of a wireless communication network including a relay UE operating in Mode 2 and a TX UE operating in Mode 1 according to an embodiment of the first aspect of the present invention, where resources for transmission from the TX UE to the relay are scheduled by the gNB and resources used to relay the transmission are sensed by the relay UE. [Figure 13] FIG. 13 illustrates a first embodiment of a wireless communication network including a relay UE operating in Mode 1 and a TX UE operating in Mode 2 according to an embodiment of the first aspect of the present invention, where resources for transmission from the TX UE to the relay are sensed by the TX UE and resources for relaying the transmission are scheduled by the gNB. [Figure 14] FIG. 14 illustrates a second embodiment of a wireless communication network including a relay UE operating in Mode 1 and a TX UE operating in Mode 2 according to an embodiment of the first aspect of the present invention, where the TX UE does not sense resources for transmission to the relay UE but sends a request for such resources to the relay UE. [Figure 15]FIG. 15 illustrates a first embodiment of a wireless communication network including a TX entity being a gNB and a relay UE operating in Mode 1 according to an embodiment of the first aspect of the present invention, where resources for each link between the gNB and the relay UE and between the relay UE and the RX UE are provided in separate control messages. [Figure 16] FIG. 16 illustrates a second embodiment of a wireless communication network including a TX entity being a gNB and a relay UE operating in Mode 1 according to an embodiment of the first aspect of the present invention, where resources for respective links between the gNB and the relay UE and between the relay UE and the RX UE are provided in a common control message. [Figure 17] FIG. 17 illustrates an embodiment of a wireless communication network including a TX entity being a relay UE and a gNB operating in mode 2 according to an embodiment of the first aspect of the invention. [Figure 18] FIG. 18 illustrates a first embodiment of a wireless communication network including an RX entity being a relay UE and a gNB operating in Mode 1 according to an embodiment of the first aspect of the present invention, where resources for a link between the gNB and the relay UE are provided by a control message from the gNB and resources for transmission from the TX UE to the relay UE are obtained by sensing by the TX UE. [Figure 19] FIG. 19 illustrates a second embodiment of a wireless communication network including a RX entity being a relay UE and a gNB operating in Mode 1 according to an embodiment of the first aspect of the present invention, where resources for a link between the gNB and the relay UE are provided by a control message from the gNB and resources for transmission from the TX UE to the relay UE are obtained from the gNB by the TX UE via the relay UE. [Figure 20(a)] FIG. 20(a) illustrates an embodiment of a relay UE according to the second aspect of the invention, which distinguishes between relay traffic and traffic intended for the relay UE. [Figure 20(b)] FIG. 20(b) illustrates an embodiment of a transmitting entity according to the second aspect of the invention, which distinguishes between relay traffic and traffic intended for relay UEs. [Figure 21] FIG. 21 shows an embodiment according to the second aspect of the invention, employing predefined or new destination IDs that are mapped at relay nodes. [Figure 22] Figure 22 shows an embodiment of a receiving entity according to the second aspect of the invention, which uses a specific or new relay ID to be used by the transmitting entity when a transmission to the receiving entity is to be sent via a relay node. [Figure 23] FIG. 23 shows an embodiment according to the second aspect of the invention employing a MAC header containing the L1 destination ID of the relaying UE and the L2 destination ID of the receiving entity for traffic differentiation. [Figure 24] FIG. 24 shows an embodiment according to the second aspect of the invention implementing a dedicated relay control channel. [Diagram 25] FIG. 25 illustrates a SL-BWP-Pool configuration information element defining an additional relay resource pool according to an embodiment of the second aspect of the invention. [Figure 26] FIG. 26 illustrates an embodiment of the present invention using N relays for communication between a transmitting entity and a receiving entity. [Figure 27] FIG. 27 illustrates an embodiment of the present invention employing N=2 relay layers for end-to-end communication between a transmitting entity and a receiving entity. [Figure 28] FIG. 28 illustrates an example of a computer system in which the units or modules as well as the method steps described according to the approach of the present invention may be executed. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0018] Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which like or similar elements are given the same reference numerals, in which:

[0019] In a wireless communication system or network, such as the one described above with reference to FIG. 1, a relay device or relay node may be employed to extend the coverage of the wireless network or to solve performance problems such as reduced data rates, weaker signals and higher interference, as may be encountered at the radio coverage edge of a base station's cell. A relay node may simply repeat and forward a received signal or transmission. In another example, a relay node may extract data from a received signal or transmission, apply noise compensation and transmit a new signal or new transmission alone. Rather than simply repeating a signal, a relay node may also improve signal quality. FIG. 3(a) illustrates a scenario in which a relay UE operates as a UE-network relay. The above mentioned relay device or relay node may be a user equipment (UE) and is referred to as a relay UE in the following. FIG. 3(a) illustrates a UE 200 that is to connect to a destination 202, an entity of a core network 202a, such as a gNB, to an entity of an access network 202a. End-to-end communication between the UE 200, also referred to as remote UE, and the destination uses a relay UE 2040, which provides functionality supporting connectivity to the destination 202 in the core network for the remote UE 200. The remote UE 200 and the relay UE can communicate using a PC5 interface, and the relay UE and the access network can communicate using a Uu interface.

[0020] In addition to UE-to-network relaying, NR or 5G also supports UE-to-UE relaying. In such a scenario, the destination 202 is another UE. Figure 3(b) shows the scenario when the relay is a UE-to-UE relay 204. The remote UE 200 is adapted to connect to the other UE 202, and the relay UE 204 provides functionality to support the connection to the destination UE 208 for the remote UE 200. The remote UE 200 and the relay UE can communicate using a PC5 interface, and the relay UE and the other UE 202 can communicate using a PC5 interface.

[0021] It should be noted that although Fig. 3(a) and Fig. 3(b) show that the relay is a UE, the relay may be any entity that has network connectivity and allows a remote UE 200 to be connected to a destination 202, such as a core network or another UE. For example, a relay entity may be a group leader UE, a roadside unit (RSU), or any mobile or fixed device. Such a relay entity may be a relay node with some base station functionality, such as resource scheduling. Furthermore, the relay may be a relay node in the classical sense, e.g., a base station infrastructure device that provides relay functionality, e.g., amplify-and-forward (AF) relaying, or decode-and-forward (DF) relaying, operating at Layer 2 (L2) or even Layer 3 (L3), e.g., forwarding data at the Internet Protocol (IP) level.

[0022] In the above-mentioned scenario of vehicular user devices (UE), such multiple user devices may form a user device group, also simply referred to as a group, and communication within or between group members may be performed via a sidelink interface between the user devices, such as a PC5 interface. For example, the above-mentioned scenario using vehicular user devices may be employed in the field of transportation industry, where multiple vehicles equipped with vehicular user devices may be grouped, for example, by a remote driving application. Other use cases in which multiple user devices may be grouped for sidelink communication with each other include, for example, factory automation and power distribution. In the case of factory automation, multiple mobile or fixed machines in a factory may be equipped with user devices and grouped for sidelink communication to control the operation of the machines, such as, for example, controlling the operation of a robot. In the case of power distribution, entities in a power distribution network, each equipped with a user device, may be grouped to communicate with each other via sidelink communication within a certain area of ​​the system to monitor the system and address faults and outages in the power distribution network.

[0023] Of course, in the above use cases, the sidelink communication is not limited to intra-group communication, rather, the sidelink communication may be between any UEs, such as any pair of UEs. 3GPP specifications for 4G prescribe UE-to-network relaying. In LTE, the relay is featured as a standalone concept with an extension for device-to-device (D2D) relaying. In LTE, the relay node acts like a UE when communicating with a base station (BS) and like a BS when communicating with a UE. Transmissions between base stations and relay nodes (RNs), so-called BS-to-RN (BS-to-RN) transmissions, occur in downlink (DL) subframes, while RN-to-BS transmissions occur in uplink (UL) subframes. For frequency division duplex (FDD) systems, BS-to-RN and RN-to-UE transmissions occur in DL frequency bands, while RN-to-BS and UE-to-RN transmissions occur in UL frequency bands. For time division duplex (TDD) systems, DL BS-to-RN transmissions occur in D subframes, while UL RN-to-BS transmissions occur in U subframes, where D and U subframes are defined per LTE subframe configuration. If relay nodes are supported by the system or network, there are specific subframes used for BS-RN communication. For FDD systems, RN-BS communication occurs four subframes later than BS-RN communication, and for TDD systems, RN-BS communication occurs with a predefined offset from BS-RN communication. Control information from the BS to the RN is transmitted using a separate control channel called the R-PDCCH or Relay PDCCH. The R-PDCCH is used to carry control information such as DCI from the BS to the RN, and the regular PDCCH is used to carry control information from the RN to the UE.

[0024] TIFF2025027052000002.tif88129

[0025] In 3GPP, apart from the above relaying operation between eNB and receiving entity, D2D relay nodes or entities are also specified, but only UE-network relaying is specified. The base station is responsible for transmitting the configuration of the transmission resource pool to be used for relay detection together with the Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ) threshold for the quality of the Uu link between the base station and the receiving entity. This configuration is transmitted using System Information Block (SIB) 18 / 19, and the RSRQ threshold is used by the receiving entity to decide whether to maintain a direct link with the base station or to switch to a connection via a relay node if the RSRQ falls below a predefined threshold. The receiving entity is adapted to select an entity capable of relaying and informs the base station of this selection if the receiving entity is within the coverage of the base station. The base station then schedules or determines the resource allocation for the relay-based communication between the relay node and the receiving entity, i.e. the base station determines the resources to be used for the transmission between the receiving entity and the relay entity.

[0026] D2D communications also includes vehicular applications, and Release 14 of the 3GPP standard includes the initial Vehicle-to-Thing (V2X) specification. While using the original D2D communications standard as the basis for the design, the scheduling and resource allocation have been modified according to the requirements of V2X. Release 15 of the LTE V2X standard (also called enhanced V2X or eV2X) and Release 16 of the 5G NR V2X standard introduce a resource pool design that includes a dedicated feedback channel in addition to control and data channels. Release 17 focuses on sidelink enhancement and sidelink relaying with emphasis on power saving, improved reliability, and reduced latency, addressing all kinds of D2D communications, not just vehicular communications, but also public safety and commercial use cases, and using relaying to provide UE-to-network and UE-to-UE coverage extension.

[0027] However, as mentioned above, when it comes to feedback in relay transmission, there is only feedback on the transmission from the transmitting entity to the relay entity and from the remote entity to the relay entity, but there is no global feedback such that the base station or transmitting entity knows to the receiving entity whether the transmission was successful or not. For example, in LTE, for data transmission from the relay entity to the base station, physical layer HARQ feedback between the base station and the relay entity on the Physical Hybrid ARQ Indicator Channel (PHICH) was not supported. Rather, feedback is delivered to higher layers for each transport block (TB) transmitted on each uplink data channel such as the PUSCH.

[0028] When transmitting from a base station via a relay entity to a receiving entity, some kind of feedback takes place between the respective entities, but D2D relaying does not support any kind of feedback so that the transmitting UE is not aware whether its transmission was successful or unsuccessful at the receiving entity, let alone a global feedback from the transmitting UE via the relay entity to the receiving entity.

[0029] Furthermore, in conventional relay systems, since relay nodes such as D2D nodes only support UE-network relaying, there is no need for the relay node to distinguish between control and data in terms of whether it is intended for the relay entity or for the receiving entity. Relaying in LTE for example achieves this by maintaining a separate control channel, but with the introduction of relays, which are essentially UEs, there is a need to distinguish between the traffic received by the UE acting as a relay entity. A relay entity can receive transmissions or packets intended for the UE itself as well as transmissions or packets that are intended for relay to a receiving entity such as a destination UE or receiving entity.

[0030] The present invention solves the above problem. An embodiment of a first aspect of the present invention provides an approach for informing a transmitting entity of the final status of a transmission relayed to a receiving entity. An embodiment of a second aspect of the present invention provides an approach for distinguishing transmissions such as control and data messages in a relay node RN into a first transmission, which is a relayed transmission, and a second transmission, which is a transmission intended for the relay node. Thus, the present invention solves the above problem and provides improvements and enhancements regarding feedback and / or traffic differentiation by sidelink relaying, such as NR sidelink relaying. An embodiment of the present invention may be implemented in a wireless communication system as shown in FIG. 1, including a base station and a user, such as a mobile terminal or an IoT device. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a wireless communication system including a transmitter 300, such as a base station or a gNB, one or more user devices (UEs) 302, 304, and one or more relay entities 306, 308, 310, such as relay UEs, for implementing an embodiment of the present invention. The transmitter 300 and receivers 302, 304 can communicate via respective relay entities 306, 308, 310 using respective wireless communication links or channels, such as respective radio links 310a, 310b, 312a, 312b, 314a, 314b. The transmitter 300 includes one or more antennas ANT T Alternatively, the receivers 302, 304 may include an antenna array having multiple antenna elements, a signal processor 300a, and a transceiver 300b. UEor an antenna array having multiple antennas, a signal processor 302a, 304a, and a transceiver 302b, 304b. Each of the relay entities 306, 308, 310 includes one or more antennas ANT or an antenna array having multiple antennas, a signal processor, and a transceiver T coupled to each other. The base station 300 and the UE 302 can communicate via the relay entity 310 using a wireless communication link 314b, such as a radio link using a Uu interface or another 3GPP or non-3GPP interface, between the base station 300 and the relay entity 310, and using a wireless communication link 314a, such as a radio link using a PC5 / sidelink (SL) interface between the UE 302 and the relay entity 310. Similarly, the base station 300 and the UE 304 can communicate via the relay entity 308 using a wireless communication link 312b, such as a radio link using a Uu interface, between the base station 300 and the relay entity 308, and using a wireless communication link 312a, such as a radio link using a SL interface, between the UE 304 and the relay entity 308. The UEs 302, 304 can communicate with each other via the relay entity 306 using a wireless communication link 310a, such as a radio link using a SL interface, between the UE 302 and the relay entity 306, and using a wireless communication link 310b, such as a radio link using a SL interface, between the UE 304 and the relay entity 310. Any one of the system or network, one or more UEs 302, 304, one or more relay entities 306-310 and / or base station 300 as shown in FIG. 4 can operate in accordance with the inventive teachings described herein. In the following description, a relay entity is referred to as a relay UE.

[0031] First aspect A first aspect of the present invention addresses the problem that in a relay transmission system, when transmitting through a relay node or relay UE, there is currently no way to make the actual transmitting entity, such as a base station or UE, aware of the state of transmission at the receiving entity, such as the UE or base station.

[0032] Relay UE According to a first aspect, the present invention provides a User Device (UE) for a wireless communication network, comprising: the UE is adapted to operate as a relay entity to provide functionality supporting connectivity between a transmitting entity and one or more receiving entities of the wireless communications network; In response to receiving a transmission from the transmitting entity and relaying the transmission towards the receiving entity, the UE is configured to transmit feedback to the transmitting entity, the feedback indicating successful and / or unsuccessful reception of the transmission by the receiving entity.

[0033] According to an embodiment, When the UE receives feedback from the receiving entity, such as a HARQ-ACK or a HARQ-NACK, indicating successful and / or unsuccessful reception of the transmission by the receiving entity, the UE is adapted to transmit the feedback received from the receiving entity to the transmitting entity; If the UE does not receive feedback from the receiving entity, the UE signals to the transmitting entity that the receiving entity did not successfully receive the transmission, such as with a HARQ-NACK.

[0034] According to an embodiment, when the UE receives feedback from the receiving entity, such as a HARQ-ACK, indicating that the receiving entity has successfully received the transmission, the UE is arranged to transmit the feedback received from the receiving entity to the transmitting entity within a configured or pre-configured time window after the reception of the feedback, e.g. at the earliest possible opportunity.

[0035] According to an embodiment, if the UE receives feedback from the receiving entity indicating that the receiving entity did not successfully receive the transmission, such as a HARQ-NACK, the UE: - transmitting the feedback received from the receiving entity to the transmitting entity within a configured or pre-configured time window after the reception of the feedback, e.g. at the earliest possible opportunity, and not re-transmitting the transmission to the receiving entity; or ● Retransmit the transmission to the receiving entity, receive feedback from the receiving entity indicating successful reception of the transmission, and continue retransmitting the transmission using the same or different transmission parameters, e.g. MCS or coding rate, until it transmits feedback of the success received from the receiving entity to the transmitting entity, or until one or more of predefined events occur.

[0036] According to an embodiment, the expiration of a configured or pre-configured timer during which the UE performs the retransmission, or reaching a configured or pre-configured maximum number of relay retransmissions performed by the UE; Contains one or more of the events listed above.

[0037] According to an embodiment, in response to the one or more events, the UE is arranged to transmit feedback to the transmitting entity, such as a HARQ-NACK, within a configured or pre-configured time window following receipt of the feedback, e.g. at the earliest possible opportunity, indicating that the receiving entity did not successfully receive the transmission.

[0038] According to an embodiment, the UE is adapted to receive the transmission from the transmitting entity by way of a direct interface, such as a sidelink, or by way of an access network interface, such as a 3GPP or non-3GPP interface.

[0039] According to an embodiment, the transmitting entity comprises a user device (UE) or a relay entity, and the receiving entity comprises a user device (UE) or a relay entity; or the transmitting entity comprises a user device (UE) or a relay entity and the receiving entity comprises a network entity such as a radio access network (RAN) entity, or The transmitting entity includes a network entity such as a RAN entity, and the receiving entity includes a user device (UE) or a relay entity.

[0040] According to an embodiment, the feedback received from the receiving entity may indicate successful and / or unsuccessful reception of the transmission by the receiving entity, as well as: the link quality between the UE and the receiving entity; a distance measurement or a zone ID indicating the distance between the UE and the receiving entity; additional data to assist the transmitting entity in enabling the receiving entity to successfully receive the transmission; an indication that the receiving entity intends to transmit data to the transmitting entity (e.g. a Scheduling Request (SR) or a Buffer Status Report (BSR)); a signal from the receiving entity indicating the stopping of the HARQ / transmission process; the beam index of the best beam or the top m beams received at the receiving UE and transmitted from the UE; includes additional information such as one or more of the following:

[0041] According to an embodiment, the feedback received from the receiving entity is aggregated feedback indicating successful and / or unsuccessful reception of two or more transmissions by the receiving entity.

[0042] According to an embodiment, the aggregated feedback comprises: An indication of successful or unsuccessful reception of some or all transmissions, such as packets, within a predefined time window; An indication of successful or unsuccessful receipt of a transmission of a predefined number of packets or the like; Which of said transmissions, such as packets, were successfully received, and / or which of said transmissions, such as packets, were not successfully received or failed; Of the successfully received transmissions, which ones were received beyond the delay budget? an indication that the link quality between the UE and the receiving entity is deteriorating, e.g. the link quality is approaching or below a configured or pre-configured threshold; an update indicating the new maximum QoS possible on the relay link between the UE and the remote UE; It may include one or more of the following:

[0043] According to an embodiment, the UE is adapted to transmit the feedback received from the receiving entity at a physical layer (PHY), for example using a PSFCH if the transmitting entity is a UE or a relay entity, or using a PUCCH or a PUSCH if the transmitting entity is a network entity.

[0044] According to an embodiment, In response to receiving the transmission from the transmitting entity, the UE is adapted to send further feedback to the transmitting entity using a first feedback link between the transmitting entity and the UE, the further feedback indicating successful and / or unsuccessful reception of the transmission by the UE, such as a HARQ-ACK or a HARQ-NACK; and The UE is adapted to transmit the feedback associated with the receiving entity using a second feedback link between the transmitting entity and the UE, the first feedback link and the second feedback link being adapted to transmit on different resources in an existing PHY channel, for example using the PSFCH if the transmitting entity is a UE or a relay entity, or using the PUCCH or the PUSCH if the transmitting entity is a network entity.

[0045] According to an embodiment, if the transmitting entity is another UE or a relay entity, the UE is adapted to transmit the feedback received from the receiving entity using the PSFCH, and resources for transmitting the feedback received from the receiving entity are: Implicitly, by a relationship between a mapping on the PSFCH resources for feedback transmission from the receiving entity to the UE and a feedback transmission from the UE to the transmitting entity, or Explicitly by the transmitting entity indicating to the UE which resources on the PSFCH to use for reporting feedback associated with the receiving entity; To be mapped.

[0046] According to an embodiment, if the transmitting entity is a network entity, the UE is adapted to transmit the feedback received from the receiving entity using the PUCCH or the PUSCH resources.

[0047] According to an embodiment, the UE is adapted to receive from the network entity, for example in a DCI, resources to use for reporting the feedback received from the receiving entity and the further feedback.

[0048] According to an embodiment, the connection between the transmitting entity and the UE includes a feedback link on an existing PHY channel, e.g. using the PSFCH if the transmitting entity is the UE or a relay entity, or using the PUCCH or PUSCH if the transmitting entity is a network entity, for indicating successful and / or unsuccessful reception of the transmission by the UE; and The UE is configured to transmit the feedback received from the receiving entity on the feedback link in lieu of feedback indicating successful and / or unsuccessful reception of the transmission by the UE.

[0049] According to an embodiment, if the transmitting entity is another UE or a relay entity, the UE is adapted to transmit the feedback received from the receiving entity using the PSFCH resources scheduled by the transmitting entity for the feedback indicating successful and / or unsuccessful reception of the transmission by the UE.

[0050] According to an embodiment, when the transmitting entity is a network entity, the UE is adapted to transmit the feedback received from the receiving entity using the PUCCH or PUSCH resources scheduled by the transmitting entity for the feedback indicating successful and / or unsuccessful reception of the transmission by the UE.

[0051] According to an embodiment, if the feedback received from the receiving entity indicates that the transmission was unsuccessful, the feedback also includes information regarding the particular connection that caused the transmission to be unsuccessful.

[0052] According to an embodiment, the indication of a connection failure to the transmitting entity comprises a one-bit indicator and / or a two-bit indicator indicating whether the unsuccessful transmission occurred in the connection between the transmitting entity and the UE and / or in the connection between the UE and the receiving entity.

[0053] According to an embodiment, the UE is adapted to transmit the feedback received from the receiving entity at a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer.

[0054] According to an embodiment, the UE is adapted to transmit the feedback received from the receiving entity using a MAC Control Element (MAC CE).

[0055] According to an embodiment, in response to receiving the transmission from the transmitting entity, the UE is adapted to send further feedback to the transmitting entity using a feedback channel in the PHY layer between the transmitting entity and the UE, the further feedback indicating successful and / or unsuccessful reception of the transmission by the UE, such as a HARQ-ACK or a HARQ-NACK.

[0056] According to an embodiment, the UE is adapted to transmit the feedback received from the receiving entity at a Radio Link Control (RLC) layer.

[0057] According to an embodiment, the transmitting entity operates in an acknowledged mode (AM), and the feedback received from the receiving entity is an RLC ACK; The UE is configured to receive the RLC ACK from the receiving entity and forward the RLC ACK from the receiving entity to the transmitting entity to provide end-to-end feedback replacing the RLC ACK from the UE to the transmitting entity.

[0058] According to an embodiment, the transmitting entity is operating in an acknowledged mode (AM); The UE is configured to transmit a first RLC ACK upon successful reception of the transmission from the transmitting entity, and to transmit a second RLC ACK as the feedback received from the receiving entity upon receipt of confirmation by the receiving entity of successful reception of the transmission.

[0059] According to an embodiment, the user device comprises one or more of a mobile terminal, or a stationary terminal, or a cellular IoT-UE, or a vehicular UE, or a Group Leader (GL) UE, or an IoT or Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) device, or a wearable device such as a smart watch or a fitness tracker or smart glasses, or a ground vehicle, or an airborne vehicle, or a drone, or a mobile base station, or a Roadside Unit (RSU), or a building, or any other item or device provided with network connectivity capable of communicating using the wireless communications network, such as a sensor or actuator, or any other item or device provided with network connectivity capable of communicating using a sidelink of the wireless communications network, such as a sensor or actuator, or any sidelink capable network entity.

[0060] Sending Entity According to a first aspect, the present invention provides a transmitting entity for a wireless communication network, comprising: the transmitting entity is capable of connecting to a relay entity to provide functionality supporting connectivity between the transmitting entity and one or more receiving entities of the wireless communication network; and In response to sending a transmission to the relay entity for relaying to the receiving entity, the transmitting entity is adapted to receive feedback from the relay entity, the feedback indicating successful and / or unsuccessful reception of the transmission by the receiving entity, such as a HARQ-ACK or a HARQ-NACK.

[0061] According to an embodiment, the transmitting entity is adapted to receive from the relay entity feedback received from the receiving entity when the relay entity receives feedback from the receiving entity, such as a HARQ-ACK or a HARQ-NACK, indicating successful and / or unsuccessful reception of the transmission by the receiving entity; and If the relay entity does not receive feedback from the receiving entity, the transmitting entity is adapted to receive a signal from the relay entity, such as a HARQ-NACK, that the receiving entity did not successfully receive the transmission.

[0062] According to an embodiment, in response to the feedback from the relay entity indicating that the receiving entity at the receiving entity did not successfully receive the transmission, or to no feedback from the relay entity within a configured or pre-configured time period, the receiving entity modifies transmission parameters, e.g. MCS or coding rate, and initiates a retransmission, or attempts an alternative route using another relay UE.

[0063] According to an embodiment, the transmitting entity is adapted to transmit to the relay entity by a direct interface, such as a sidelink, or by a network interface, such as a 3GPP or non-3GPP interface.

[0064] According to an embodiment, the transmitting entity comprises a user device (UE) or a relay entity, and the receiving entity comprises a user device (UE) or a relay entity; or the transmitting entity comprises a user device (UE) or a relay entity and the receiving entity comprises a network entity such as a radio access network (RAN) entity, or The transmitting entity includes a network entity such as a RAN entity, and the receiving entity includes a user device (UE) or a relay entity.

[0065] According to an embodiment, the transmitting entity is adapted to receive the feedback from the receiving entity at one of the physical (PHY) layer, the medium access control (MAC) layer, or the radio link control (RLC) layer.

[0066] According to an embodiment, the method includes a timer that starts upon sending of the transmission and indicates a time period during which the transmitting entity is expected to receive from the relay entity the feedback received from the receiving entity.

[0067] According to an embodiment, in response to the passage of time, the transmitting entity is adapted to assume that the receiving entity has not successfully received the transmission and to trigger a retransmission of the transmission, e.g. according to a configured or pre-configured retransmission scheme.

[0068] According to an embodiment, in response to a predefined event, the transmitting entity is adapted to trigger a relay reselection process.

[0069] According to an embodiment, the predetermined event is: the number, rate or proportion of feedback indicating that the receiving entity has not successfully received the transmission, such as HARQ failures or HARQ-NACKs, approaching or exceeding a configured or pre-configured threshold, where the threshold may be less than a configured or pre-configured maximum number of retransmissions for the transmission; the link quality of the relay link between the relay entity and the receiving entity degrades; ● Change in beam index, the communication distance approaches or exceeds a minimum communication distance requirement of either the UE and the receiving entity or the UE and the transmitting entity; ● A change in location, e.g. indicated by a change in zone ID, the battery level of the relay entity is approaching or exceeding a configured or pre-configured threshold; Contains one or more of the following:

[0070] According to an embodiment, in response to the feedback received from the receiving entity indicating that the receiving entity did not successfully receive the transmission, the transmitting entity is adapted to maintain the transmission, e.g. at the MAC layer, for transmission of the transmission via a different relay entity.

[0071] According to an embodiment, if the feedback received from the receiving entity is received at a MAC layer, the transmitting entity is adapted to receive further feedback from the relay entity using a feedback link of a PHY channel between the transmitting entity and the relay entity, the further feedback indicating successful and / or unsuccessful reception of the transmission by the relay entity, such as a HARQ-ACK or a HARQ-NACK.

[0072] According to an embodiment, the transmitting entity comprises one or more of a macro cell base station, or a small cell base station, or a central unit of a base station, or an IAB node, or a distributed unit of a base station, or a roadside unit (RSU), or a UE, or a group leader (GL), or a relay or a remote radio head, or an AMF, or an MME, or an SMF, or a core network entity, or a Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) entity, or a network slice in the NR or 5G core context, or any transmitting / receiving point (TRP) for enabling an item or device to communicate using the wireless communication network, the item or device being provided with network connectivity.

[0073] network According to a first aspect, the present invention provides a wireless communication network comprising: A transmitting entity according to the invention, one or more remote user devices, a receiving entity; one or more user devices, relay entities according to the present invention, providing functionality for supporting connectivity between said transmitting entity and said one or more receiving entities; Includes.

[0074] According to an embodiment, the wireless communication network comprises: A base station is included. The transmitting entity is another UE or a relay entity, and the relay entity and the transmitting entity operate in mode 1, and the base station indicates the resources used by the transmitting entity and the relay entity.

[0075] According to an embodiment, (1) the transmitting entity is adapted to transmit a Buffer Status Report (BSR) to the base station to request resources for transmission of data to the relay entity; (2) the base station is adapted to transmit a control message, such as downlink control information (DCI), to the transmitting entity, the control message including resources for the transmission to the relay entity; (3) the transmitting entity is adapted to transmit a sidelink control message, such as a sidelink control information (SCI), and the data to the relay entity using resources indicated in the control message received in (2); (4) the relay entity is configured to send HARQ feedback to the transmitting entity; (5) the transmitting entity is configured to report the HARQ feedback from the relay entity to the base station; (6) the relay entity is configured to, if the relay entity successfully receives the data, transmit a scheduling request (SR) to the base station requesting resources for relaying the transmission received from the transmitting entity; (7) the base station is adapted to transmit a control message, such as a downlink control information (DCI), to the relay entity, the control message including resources for the transmission to the receiving entity; (8) the relay entity is adapted to transmit a sidelink control message, such as a sidelink control information (SCI), and the data to the receiving entity using resources indicated in the control message received in (7); (9) the receiving entity is adapted to send HARQ feedback to the relay entity; and (10) The relay entity is configured to report the HARQ feedback of the receiving entity to the transmitting entity.

[0076] According to an embodiment, (1) the transmitting entity is configured to transmit a Buffer Status Report (BSR) to the base station to request resources for transmission of data to the relay entity, and to instruct the base station to relay the transmission to the receiving entity; (2) the base station is adapted to transmit a control message, such as downlink control information (DCI), to the transmitting entity, the control message including resources for the transmission to the relay entity; (3) the transmitting entity is adapted to transmit a sidelink control message, such as a sidelink control information (SCI), and the data to the relay entity using resources indicated in the control message received in (2); (4) the relay entity is configured to send HARQ feedback to the transmitting entity; (5) the transmitting entity is configured to report the HARQ feedback from the relay entity to the base station; (6) the relay entity is adapted to transmit a sidelink control message, such as a sidelink control information (SCI), and the data to the receiving entity using resources configured or preconfigured by the relay entity; and (7) the receiving entity is adapted to send HARQ feedback to the relay entity; and (8) The relay entity is configured to report the HARQ feedback of the receiving entity to the transmitting entity.

[0077] According to an embodiment, the relay entity is configured or pre-configured with resources via a configured grant for the transmission of the data to the receiving entity; and If the base station determines that the resources in the configured grant are insufficient for the transmission of the data from the relay entity to the receiving entity, the base station is configured to provide a control message, such as Downlink Control Information (DCI), to the relay entity indicating additional resources for the transmission to the relay entity.

[0078] According to an embodiment, the wireless communication network comprises: A base station is included. the transmitting entity is another UE or a relay entity operating in Mode 1 and the base station indicates the resources used by the transmitting entity; and The relay entity operates in mode 2, in which the base station does not provide assistance for the allocation of the resources in the relay entity, and the relay entity autonomously selects and allocates resources.

[0079] According to an embodiment, (1) the transmitting entity is adapted to transmit a Buffer Status Report (BSR) to the base station to request resources for transmission of data to the relay entity; (2) the base station is adapted to transmit a control message, such as downlink control information (DCI), to the transmitting entity, the control message including resources for the transmission to the relay entity; (3) the transmitting entity is adapted to transmit a sidelink control message, such as a sidelink control information (SCI), and the data to the relay entity using resources indicated in the control message received in (2); (4) the relay entity is configured to send HARQ feedback to the transmitting entity; (5) the transmitting entity is configured to report the HARQ feedback of the relay entity to a base station; (6) the relay entity is adapted to identify and select resources determined by sensing and to transmit sidelink control messages, such as sidelink control information (SCI), and the data to the receiving entity using the identified and selected resources; (7) the receiving entity is adapted to send HARQ feedback to the relay entity; and (8) The relay entity is configured to report the HARQ feedback of the receiving entity to the transmitting entity.

[0080] According to an embodiment, operations (5) and (6) are performed at least partially or entirely in parallel.

[0081] According to an embodiment, A base station is included. the transmitting entity is another UE or a relay entity operating in mode 2, where the base station does not provide assistance for the allocation of resources at the transmitting entity and the transmitting entity performs resource selection and allocation autonomously; and The relay entity operates in mode 1 and the base station indicates the resources used by the relay entity.

[0082] According to an embodiment, (1) the transmitting entity is adapted to identify and select resources determined by sensing for transmission of data to the relay entity by sensing; (2) the transmitting entity is adapted to transmit sidelink control messages, such as sidelink control information (SCI), and the data to the relay entity using the identified and selected resources; (3) the relay entity is configured to send HARQ feedback to the transmitting entity; (4) the relay entity is configured to transmit a scheduling request (SR) to the base station requesting resources for relaying the transmission received from the transmitting entity; (5) the base station is adapted to transmit a control message, such as a downlink control information (DCI), to the relay entity, the control message including resources for the transmission to the receiving entity; (6) the relay entity is adapted to transmit a sidelink control message, such as a sidelink control information (SCI), and the data to the receiving entity using resources indicated in the control message received in (5); (7) the receiving entity is adapted to send HARQ feedback to the relay entity; and (8) The relay entity is configured to report the HARQ feedback of the receiving entity to the transmitting entity.

[0083] According to an embodiment, (1) the transmitting entity is adapted to request resources from the relay entity to be allocated by the base station; (2) the relay entity is adapted to transmit a scheduling request (SR) to the base station requesting resources for the transmitting entity for transmission of data to the relay entity and resources for the transmitting entity for relaying the transmission received from the transmitting entity to the receiving entity; (3) the base station is adapted to transmit one or more control messages to the relay entity, such as downlink control information (DCI), including the resources for the transmission by the transmitting entity and resources for the transmission used by the relay entity to relay the transmission to the receiving entity; (4) the relay entity is adapted to send a message to the transmitting entity, such as an assistance information message (AIM), including resources to be used by the transmitting entity; (5) the transmitting entity is adapted to transmit a sidelink control message, such as a sidelink control information (SCI), and the data to the relay entity using resources received by the message or by a combination of the message and a sensing result; (6) the relay entity is configured to send HARQ feedback to the transmitting entity; (7) the relay entity is configured to transmit a sidelink control message, such as a sidelink control information (SCI), and the data to the receiving entity using resources indicated in the control message received in (3); and (8) the receiving entity is adapted to send HARQ feedback to the relay entity; and (9) The relay entity is configured to report the HARQ feedback of the receiving entity to the transmitting entity.

[0084] According to an embodiment, the transmitting entity is a base station of the wireless communication network; The relay entity operates in mode 1 and the base station indicates the resources used by the relay entity.

[0085] According to an embodiment, (1) the base station is adapted to transmit control messages, such as downlink control information (DCI), and the data to the relay entity; (2) the relay entity is adapted to transmit HARQ feedback to the base station, e.g., on a PUCCH; (3) the relay entity is adapted to send a scheduling request (SR) to the base station requesting resources for relaying the transmission to the receiving entity; (4) the base station is adapted to transmit a control message, such as a downlink control information (DCI), to the relay entity, the control message including resources for the transmission to the receiving entity; (5) the relay entity is adapted to transmit a sidelink control message, such as a sidelink control information (SCI), and the data to the receiving entity using resources indicated in the control message received in (4); and (6) the receiving entity is configured to send HARQ feedback to the relay entity; and (7) The relay entity is configured to report the HARQ feedback of the receiving entity to the base station.

[0086] According to an embodiment, (1) the base station is adapted to transmit one or more control messages, such as downlink control information (DCI), and the data to the relay entity, the one or more control messages including resources to be used by the relay entity to transmit the data to the receiving entity; (2) the relay entity is adapted to transmit HARQ feedback to the base station, e.g., on a PUCCH; (3) the relay entity is adapted to transmit a sidelink control message, such as a sidelink control information (SCI), and the data to the receiving entity using resources indicated in the control message received in (1); and (4) the receiving entity is configured to send HARQ feedback to the relay entity; and (5) The relay entity is configured to report the HARQ feedback of the receiving entity to the base station.

[0087] According to an embodiment, the transmitting entity is a base station of the wireless communication network; The relay entity operates in mode 2, in which the base station does not provide assistance for the resource allocation in the relay entity, and the relay entity performs resource selection and allocation autonomously.

[0088] According to an embodiment, (1) the base station is adapted to transmit control messages, such as downlink control information (DCI), and the data to the relay entity; (2) the relay entity is adapted to transmit HARQ feedback to the base station, e.g., on a PUCCH; (3) the relay entity is adapted to identify and select resources to use for transmitting the data to the receiving entity, as determined by the sensing; (4) the relay entity is adapted to transmit sidelink control messages, such as sidelink control information (SCI), and the data to the receiving entity using the identified and selected resources; (5) the receiving entity is configured to send HARQ feedback to the relay entity; and (6) The relay entity is configured to report the HARQ feedback of the receiving entity to the base station.

[0089] According to an embodiment, the receiving entity is a base station; the transmitting entity is another UE or a relay entity operating in mode 2, where the base station does not provide assistance for the resource allocation at the transmitting entity and the transmitting entity performs resource selection and allocation autonomously; The relay entity operates in mode 1 and the base dictates the resources used by the relay entity.

[0090] According to an embodiment, (1) the transmitting entity is adapted to identify and select resources determined by sensing for transmission of data to the relay entity; (2) the transmitting entity is adapted to transmit sidelink control messages, such as sidelink control information (SCI), and the data to the relay entity using the identified and selected resources; (3) the relay entity is configured to send HARQ feedback to the transmitting entity; (4) the relay node is adapted to transmit a Scheduling Request (SR) to the base station, e.g., using Uplink Control Information (UCI), requesting resources for the transmission of the data from the relay entity to the base station; (5) the base station is adapted to transmit a control message, such as a downlink control information (DCI), to the relay entity, the control message including resources for the transmission; (6) the relay entity is configured to transmit the data to the base station using resources indicated in the control message received in (5); (7) the base station is configured to send feedback to the relay entity; (8) The relay entity is configured to report the HARQ feedback of the base station to the transmitting entity.

[0091] According to an embodiment, (1) the transmitting entity is adapted to request resources from the relay entity to be allocated by the base station; (2) the relay entity is adapted to transmit a Scheduling Request (SR) to the base station, e.g., using Uplink Control Information (UCI), requesting resources to be used by the transmitting entity and the relay entity for the transmission of data from the transmitting entity to the base station; (3) the base station is adapted to transmit one or more control messages, such as downlink control information (DCI), to the relay entity, the one or more control messages including resources for the transmission to be used by the transmitting entity and the relay entity for the transmission; (4) the relay entity is adapted to send a message, such as an assistance information message (AIM), to the transmitting entity, the message including the resources to be used by the transmitting entity; (5) the transmitting entity is adapted to transmit a sidelink control message, such as a sidelink control information (SCI), and the data to the relay entity using resources received by the message or a combination of the message and a sensing result; (6) the relay entity is configured to send HARQ feedback to the transmitting entity; (7) the relay entity is configured to transmit the data to the base station using resources indicated in the control message received in (3); (8) the base station is configured to send feedback to the relay entity; and (9) The relay entity is configured to report the HARQ feedback of the base station to the transmitting entity.

[0092] According to an embodiment, the feedback provided by the base station comprises: - an implicit feedback to the relay entity indicating whether a retransmission is necessary, for example by using a combination of HARQ process ID and NDI, or ●Downlink Feedback Indicator (DFI), Includes.

[0093] According to an embodiment, the base station comprises one or more of a macro cell base station, or a small cell base station, or a central unit of a base station, or an IAB node, or a distributed unit of a base station, or a roadside unit (RSU), or a remote radio head, or an AMF, or an MME, or an SMF, or a core network entity, or a Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) entity, or a network slice in the context of the NR or 5G Core, or any transmission / reception point (TRP) for enabling an item or device to communicate using the wireless communication network, the item or device being provided with network connectivity for communicating using the wireless communication network.

[0094] method According to a first aspect, the present invention provides a method for operating a user device (UE) for a wireless communications network, comprising: The UE is adapted to operate as a relay entity to provide functionality supporting connectivity between a transmitting entity and one or more receiving entities of the wireless communications network, the method comprising: The method includes transmitting feedback to the transmitting entity in response to receiving a transmission from the transmitting entity and relaying the transmission to the receiving entity, the feedback indicating successful and / or unsuccessful reception of the transmission by the receiving entity.

[0095] According to a first aspect, the present invention provides a method for operating a transmitting entity for a wireless communications network, said transmitting entity being connected to a relay entity providing functionality for supporting connectivity between said transmitting entity and one or more receiving entities of said wireless communications network, said method comprising: receiving feedback from the relay entity in response to sending a transmission to the relay entity for relaying to the receiving entity, the feedback including receiving a HARQ-ACK or HARQ-NACK, indicating successful and / or unsuccessful reception of the transmission by the receiving entity.

[0096] Computer Program Products An embodiment of a first aspect of the invention provides a non-transitory computer program product comprising a computer readable medium having stored thereon instructions which, when executed on a computer, perform the method according to the invention.

[0097] An embodiment of the first aspect of the invention provides an approach for informing the transmitting entity of the final status of a transmission relayed towards a receiving entity, while another embodiment deals with the functionality of a relay UE when operating in mode 1 or mode 2 and how the relay UE may support the transmitting entity in resource allocation. When operating in mode 1, the base station indicates the resources to be used by entities such as the transmitting entity and the relay UE or assists in scheduling the resources in the entities. In other words, in mode 1, the base station schedules the resources of the entities. The base station may provide the resources by dynamic grants or the base station may provide grants of resources selected by the entities using configuration grants. When operating in mode 2, the base station does not provide assistance for resource allocation in entities such as the transmitting entity and the relay UE, and the entities perform the resource selection and allocation autonomously. Thus, an embodiment of the first aspect of the invention provides an approach for sending and receiving feedback for a transmission or packet sent from the transmitting entity towards the receiving entity via a relay UE, also called a relay node RN. Transmission from the transmitting entity via a relay UE towards the receiving entity may mean transmission from a relay UE to another relay UE, such as in a multi-hop relay system, where the relay chain or path is as follows: transmitting entity → relay UE A → relay UE B → receiving entity, or it may mean transmission directly from a relay UE to the receiving entity, such as in a single-hop relay system, where the relay chain or path is as follows: transmitting entity → relay UE → receiving entity.

[0098] TIFF2025027052000003.tif105129

[0099] TIFF2025027052000004.tif77129

[0100] According to an embodiment, feedback regarding the transmission to the receiving entity 404 may be processed as follows:

[0101] If the relaying UE 400 receives an ACK from the receiving UE 404, it reports this to the TX entity 402 within a configured or pre-configured time window following receipt of the feedback, for example at the earliest possible opportunity or as soon as possible.

[0102] If the relaying UE 400 receives a NACK from the receiving UE 404, the relaying UE 400 may report the NACK to the TX entity 402 within a configured or pre-configured time window following receipt of the feedback, e.g., at the earliest possible opportunity or immediately, and wait for a retransmission from the TX entity 402, e.g., with a revised MCS or coding rate.

[0103] If the relay UE 400 receives a NACK from the receiving UE 404, the relay UE 400 may keep attempting to retransmit to the remote UE 404 for a configured or preconfigured time window with the same or different transmission parameters, e.g., MCS or coding rate, while keeping the transmission in its buffer, without immediately reporting to the TX entity 402. Once the relay UE 400 receives an ACK, it reports the feedback to the TX entity 402. If the relay UE 400 does not receive an ACK, it may keep attempting to retransmit until one of the following events occurs: ● Until the timer expires, or ● Until a predefined or preconfigured maximum number of relay retransmissions has been performed. If any of these events occur before the relay UE 400 receives the ACK, the relay UE 400 sends a NACK declaring the transmission unsuccessful to the TX entity 402. In such an event, the TX entity 402 may either retransmit the packet with different transmission parameters, e.g., MCS or coding rate, or attempt an alternative route using another relay UE.

[0104] According to an embodiment, the transmitting entity 402 is a User Device (UE) or another relaying UE and the receiving entity 404 is a UE or another relaying UE, in which case the first and second connections 406, 408 are direct interfaces such as sidelink or PC5 connections or interfaces.

[0105] According to another embodiment, the transmitting entity 402 is a UE or another relaying UE and the receiving entity 404 is a network entity, e.g. a Radio Access Network (RAN) entity such as a gNB, in which case the first connection 406 is a direct interface such as a sidelink or PC5 connection and the second connection 408 is an access network interface such as a 3GPP interface, a non-3GPP interface, a downlink (DL) interface, e.g. a Uu interface, or a WiFi interface.

[0106] According to yet another embodiment, the transmitting entity 402 is a network entity, e.g. a Radio Access Network (RAN) entity such as a gNB, and the receiving entity 404 is a UE or another relaying UE. In this case, the first connection 406 is an access network interface, such as a 3GPP interface, a non-3GPP interface, a downlink (DL) interface, e.g. a Uu interface or a WiFi interface, and the second connection 408 is a direct interface, such as a sidelink or PC5 connection.

[0107] TIFF2025027052000005.tif97129

[0108] TIFF2025027052000006.tif29128

[0109] In the embodiment of Figures 7 and 8, the feedback may be transmitted over the first sidelink connection 406 using the PSFCH. According to other embodiments, the TX UE 402 may be a transmitting entity including a base station. In this case, the transmitting entity and the relaying UEs may be connected by an access network interface such as a Uu interface, and the feedback may be transmitted over the first connection 406 on a PUCCH or a PUSCH.

[0110] According to an embodiment, the feedback may include additional information in addition to indicating successful and / or unsuccessful reception of data at the RX UE 404. For example, the link quality between the relay UE and the receiving entity may be signaled, for example, to make the transmitting entity aware of the receiving entity's ability to receive a transmission using the current or existing connection 406, 408. In case of a packet transmission failure, i.e., data is not successfully received at the receiving entity 404, the link quality included in the overall feedback message received at the TX UE 402 between the relay UE and the RX UE may be used by the TX UE to initiate a relay reselection process if the link quality at the TX UE falls below a predefined threshold and is deemed to have caused the unsuccessful reception of the data or transmission at the receiving entity. For example, in LTE V2X, the UE may decide to switch to a relay UE if the link quality between the TX entity and the UE falls below a predefined RSRP threshold. For the actual relay selection, a layer 3 protocol is used.

[0111] Also, a distance measure indicating the distance between the relay UE and the receiving entity, or their zone IDs (both or only the receiving entity) where the TX UE can ascertain the distance between the relay UE and the receiving entity may be signaled, for example to make the transmitting entity aware of the receiving entity's ability to provide HARQ feedback based on its distance from the relay UE.

[0112] Additional data may also be included in the feedback to assist the transmitting entity in ensuring that the receiving entity can successfully receive the transmission. This information helps the TX entity determine whether the existing link through the current relay is adequate to ensure successful transmission and, if not, what needs to be changed. For example, a relay UE may have a low battery or a scheduled outage is imminent. This means that the TX entity must find another way to form a link to the receiving entity. The additional information may inform the TX entity that the receiving entity may not be able to receive any more transmissions based on certain factors such as long distance, low battery or scheduled outage.

[0113] The feedback may also include an indication that some data for the TX UE is available at the receiving entity. In other words, the feedback may include an indication that the receiving entity intends to transmit data to the TX UE. For example, the indication may be a Buffer Status Report (BSR) that tells the base station, which is the TX entity, that the RX UE needs resources for transmission, and the indication may include a Scheduling Request (SR) for resources used to transmit data from the RX UE to the TX entity.

[0114] The feedback may also include a signal from the receiving entity indicating the stopping of the HARQ / transmission process, e.g., some stop signal may be included if the UE needs to go into power saving or conserve resources for higher priority traffic.

[0115] The feedback may also include the beam index of the best beam or the top m beams received at the receiving UE and transmitted by the relay UE.

[0116] According to another embodiment, the overall feedback or the first feedback forwarded from the relay node to the TX entity and including an indication regarding the successful / unsuccessful reception of the transmission at the receiving entity may be an aggregated feedback or may include an aggregated report. The aggregated feedback or report may include feedback for multiple transmissions or packets or retransmissions, and the report may indicate, for example, that some or all transmissions, such as data packets or retransmissions, were or were not successfully received at the receiving entity within a predefined time window, or that a predefined number of transmissions, such as data packets or retransmissions, were or were not successfully received. According to another embodiment, the aggregated feedback may indicate which of the data transmissions or packets or retransmissions were successfully received and / or which of the data transmissions or packets or retransmissions were or were not successfully received. The aggregated feedback may also indicate data transmissions or packets or retransmissions that were successfully received beyond a exceeded delay budget or jitter threshold. Depending on the exceeded delay budget or jitter threshold, the TX entity may take action to prevent this for future transmissions or retransmissions of the data flow involved, for example, the TX entity may reconfigure the radio bearer, the TX entity may drop other services / data flows, or the TX entity may handover to a different cell.

[0117] Yet another embodiment may include an indication of a deterioration in the link quality between the relay UE and the receiving entity, for example where the link quality is approaching or below a configured or pre-configured threshold that may cause the TX UE to initiate a relay reselection process. Yet another embodiment may include an update indicating a new maximum QoS possible over the relay link between the relay UE and the receiving entity. For example, this may cause the transmitting entity to know that it is now possible to transmit a transmission that requires a higher QoS when compared to a previously transmitted transmission.

[0118] According to an embodiment of the first aspect of the invention, the transmission of feedback may be performed at the physical layer, at the Medium Access Control (MAC) layer, or at the Radio Link Control (RLC) layer.

[0119] TIFF2025027052000007.tif84130

[0120] TIFF2025027052000008.tif20130

[0121] TIFF2025027052000009.tif32128

[0122] TIFF2025027052000010.tif51129

[0123] TIFF2025027052000011.tif50128

[0124] TIFF2025027052000012.tif78129

[0125] TIFF2025027052000013.tif19129

[0126] TIFF2025027052000014.tif15170

[0127] For UE-UE relaying and UE-network relaying, respectively, resources on the PSFCH or on the PUCCH or PUSCH are also used by the relay UE to report HARQ failure to the TX UE in response to the TX UE triggering a retransmission or relay reselection. For example, in case of a failed transmission, the TX UE may keep the transmission, such as a data packet, at the MAC layer and can perform the transmission without another processing delay if the TX UE is to perform a retransmission or connect to the RX UE via a different relay UE. For example, the transmitting entity may trigger a relay reselection process in response to a predefined event, such as one or more of the following: the number, rate or proportion of feedback indicating that the receiving entity has not successfully received the transmission, such as HARQ failures or HARQ-NACKs, approaching or exceeding a configured or pre-configured threshold, which may be less than a configured or pre-configured maximum number of retransmissions for the transmission; a degradation in link quality of the relay link between the relay UE and the receiving entity, e.g. exceeding a configured or pre-configured link quality threshold; ● Change in beam index, the communication distance approaches or exceeds a minimum communication range requirement between the UE and the receiving entity or between the UE and the transmitting entity; ● A change in location, e.g. indicated by a change in zone ID, ● The battery level of the relay UE approaches or exceeds a configured or pre-configured threshold; for example, the battery level of the relay UE is transmitted to the TX entity and upon seeing the TX entity's level approaching or falling below the threshold, relay reselection may be triggered.

[0128] TIFF2025027052000015.tif37170

[0129] In the above described embodiments, in case of a transmission failure, the overall HARQ feedback may indicate whether link 406 or link 408 has failed, e.g., by including an additional 1-bit or 2-bit indicator in the feedback indicating whether link 406 between the TX entity and the RN UE is the failed link and / or link 408 between the RN UE and the RX UE is the failed link.

[0130] Feedback transmission at the MAC layer Instead of using physical layer feedback from the relay UE to the TX entity as described above, according to another embodiment, the relay UE 400 (see FIG. 5 ) may use a MAC Control Element (MAC CE) to inform the TX entity 402 of the status of the transmission from the relay to the RX UEs.

[0131] According to an embodiment of the MAC layer, the MAC layer of the TX entity, either of the TX entities connected by the sidelink or by the Uu interface, can distinguish the feedback at the physical layer by the relay UE about the status of the transmitting entity's transmission to the relay node from the MAC layer feedback reported by the relay UE to the transmitting entity. Thus, according to an embodiment, a transmission or packet transmitted via one or more relays is considered fully acknowledged if the feedback at the MAC layer, L2 feedback, received by the transmitting entity and reporting the overall feedback at the RX UE, whereas the physical layer or L1 feedback received at the transmitting entity only indicates the status of the transmission from the TX entity to the relay node and does not indicate the overall feedback reported by the L2 feedback as mentioned above.

[0132] If the feedback received by the MAC layer, that is, the L2 feedback, is negative or indicates a transmission failure at the RX UE, according to an embodiment, a maximum number of failures or NACKs that the TX entity may receive from the relay UE may be defined. After reaching the predefined or maximum number of failures, the TX UE may trigger a relay reselection procedure since the link conditions between the TX entity and the relay UE or between the relay UE and the RX UE may have deteriorated. Similarly, if the PHY layer feedback received by the relay UE from the RX UE is negative or indicates a transmission failure, according to an embodiment, a maximum number of failures or NACKs that the relay UE may receive from the RX UE may be defined. After reaching the predefined or maximum number of failures, the relay UE may trigger a relay reselection procedure by providing appropriate signaling to the TX UE since it has identified that the link conditions between the relay UE and the RX UE may have deteriorated. The maximum number of failures may be less than the maximum number of retransmissions configured in the TX UE for a particular packet, and instead of waiting until this maximum number of retransmissions is reached, the relay UE may trigger the relay reselection procedure in the transmitting entity earlier, i.e. already after reaching a predefined number of failures indicating a deterioration of the link quality between the relay node and the RX UE.

[0133] Feedback transmission by the RLC layer According to yet another embodiment, the global feedback may be sent by the RLC layer, which may generate an L2 RLC acknowledgement and confirm the transmission or receipt of a packet or PDU if the respective entity operates in acknowledged mode (AM).

[0134] Figure 9 shows an embodiment regarding RLC feedback configuration: Figure 9(a) illustrates an embodiment introducing global RLC acknowledgement, and Figure 9(b) illustrates end-to-end feedback.

[0135] TIFF2025027052000016.tif32128

[0136] TIFF2025027052000017.tif16130

[0137] Operation of a wireless communication system or network according to an embodiment of the first aspect In the following, an embodiment will be described illustrating the operation of the overall wireless communication system or network including the above-mentioned relaying UE and / or transmitting entity in an embodiment of the first aspect of the present application, where the relaying UE and / or transmitting entity can operate in Mode 1 or Mode 2. First, the operation of UE-UE relaying will be described, followed by the operation of UE-network relaying.

[0138] In the embodiments described below where the base station provides resources to the relay UE, the DCI may be used to define dynamic grants, such as explicit resources meant for the transmission of a particular packet by the relay UE, or to define configured grants type 2 at the relay UE, such as resources configured using RRC signaling and that the relay UE can use from the time it receives the DCI to activate the grant. When provided by the base station, the relay UE can always use configured grants type 1 when operating in Mode 1. If the base station also schedules resources for the transmitting entity, the DCI may define dynamic or configured grants for the transmitting entity.

[0139] 1. UE-UE Relay In the following, embodiments of a wireless communication system and its operation are described, including as a transmitting entity a TX UE connected to a relay UE via sidelink communication, operating in Mode 1 or Mode 2. As far as a remote UE or RX UE is concerned, for all embodiments described thereafter, the RX UE may be in Mode 1 or Mode 2.

[0140] (a) When both TX UE and relay UE are in mode 1 10 illustrates an embodiment of a wireless communication network including a relay node or relay UE 400 and a TX UE 402 both operating in Mode 1, i.e. resources for transmission from the TX UE 402 to the RX UE 404 are scheduled by a RAN entity 452 of the wireless communication network, such as a base station or gNB. The TX UE 402 is connected to the relay UE 400 via a first sidelink connection 406, which in turn is connected to a RX UE, which may be in Mode 1 or Mode 2, via a second sidelink connection 408. Since the TX UE 402 and the relay UE 400 operate in Mode 1, they are connected to the gNB 452 via Uu connections 454 and 456, respectively, for uplink / downlink transmissions between the gNB, the TX UE 402 and the relay UE 404, respectively.

[0141] The functions for providing overall feedback of transmissions from the TX UE 402 to the RX UE 404 are as follows: 1. The TX UE 402 sends a Status Report (SR) or a Buffer Status Report (BSR) to the gNB 452 on the uplink channel requesting resources for transmission to the relay UE 400. 2. The gNB 452 transmits DCI including resources to the TX UE 402 on a downlink channel, which are used by the TX UE 402 for transmission from the TX UE 402 to the relay UE 400 using the resources indicated in the DCI received in (2). 3. The TX UE 402 transmits the SCI and transmission data to the relay node 400 over the first sidelink connection 406. 4. The relay node 400 sends HARQ feedback (FB1) to the TX UE 402a over the first sidelink connection 406 indicating the status of the transmission from the TX UE 402 to the relay UE 400. 5a. The TX UE 402 reports feedback FB1 on the uplink channel to the gNB 452 node so that the gNB 452 knows the status of the transmission using the resources granted by the gNB 452. If the transmission is reported as unsuccessful, the gNB 452 may provide another resource for retransmission without having the TX UE 402 send another BSR or SR. If the transmission is reported as successful, the gNB 452 may assign the same HARQ ID with a New Data Indicator (NDI) toggled to transmit another TB. 5b. The relay UE 400 transmits a Scheduling Request (SR) or BSR to the gNB 452 on the uplink channel requesting resources for relaying the relay UE 400 transmission received from the TX UE 402. 6. The gNB 452 transmits, on the downlink channel, a DCI to the relay UE 400 including the resources to be used by the relay UE or activation of a type 2 configuration grant for relaying transmissions from the TX UE to the RX UE 404 via the sidelink connection 408. 7. The relaying UE 400 transmits the SCI and data for transmission to the RX UE 404 via the sidelink connection 408 using the resources indicated in the DCI received in (6). 8. The RX UE 404 sends HARQ feedback regarding the status of transmission at the RX UE to the relay UE 400 over the sidelink connection 408. 9. The relay UE 400 reports the feedback received from the RX UE 404 to the TX UE 402 via the sidelink connection 406 as described in the above embodiments.

[0142] Figure 11 illustrates another embodiment of a wireless communication system in which a TX UE and a relay UE are used, both operating in Mode 1. In the embodiment of Figure 10, as described above, the relay UE 400 requests resources from the gNB 452 for relaying a transmission received from a TX UE to a RX UE. In the embodiment described with reference to Figure 11, it is assumed that the relay UE 402 has already been configured with resources for transmission, for example by a configuration grant.

[0143] The functionality for providing global feedback about transmissions from the TX UE 402 to the RX UE 404 is as follows. 1. The TX UE 402 transmits an SR or BSR to the gNB 452 on the uplink channel requesting resources for transmission to the relay UE 400. The request also includes an indication that the transmission is to be relayed to the RX UE 404, and when the TX UE 402 sends a BSR or SR to the gNB requesting the resources, it also indicates that the requested resources are for a transmission to be relayed by the RN UE 400 to the RX UE 402. The relay UE 400 operates in Mode 1, where the relay UE 400 has already been configured, e.g., by a configuration grant, with resources for transmission by the gNB, and it is inferred that the gNB 452 already knows the resources available for the relay UE 402 to use to send a transmission to the RX UE 404 in response to receiving an indication from the TX UE that the resources are for a relayed transmission. 2. The gNB 452 transmits DCI to the TX UE 402 on the downlink channel including resources to be used by the TX UE 402 for transmission from the TX UE 402 to the relay UE 400. 3. The TX UE 402 transmits the SCI and transmission data to the relay node 400 via the first sidelink connection 406 using the resources indicated in the DCI received in (2). 4. The relay node 400 sends HARQ feedback (FB1) to the TX UE 402 over the first sidelink connection 406 indicating the status of transmission from the TX UE 402 to the relay UE 400. 5a. The TX UE 402 reports feedback FB1 on the uplink channel to the gNB 452 node so that the gNB 452 knows the status of the transmission using the resources granted by the gNB 452. If the transmission is reported as unsuccessful, the gNB 452 may provide another resource for retransmission without having the TX UE 402 send another BSR or SR. If the transmission is reported as successful, the gNB 452 may allocate the same HARQ ID with New Data Indicator (NDI) toggled to transmit another TB. 5b. The gNB452 is aware that the relay UE400 requires resources for a transmission to be relayed to the RX UE404, and since the relay UE400 is already configured with such resources, such as in a configuration grant, the gNB452 recognizes whether the relay UE has sufficient resources from the already provided configuration grant, and optionally, if it is determined that there are not enough resources from the configuration grant to provide a reliable transmission from the relay UE400 to the RX UE, the gNB452 can send another DCI on the downlink channel to provide additional resources to be used by the relay UE to relay the transmission from the TX UE to the RX UE404. 6. The relay UE 400 transmits the SCI and data for transmission as indicated in the DCI, if received at (5b), to the RX UE 404 over the sidelink connection 408 using the resources that are configured or pre-configured for the relay UE. 7. The RX UE 404 sends HARQ feedback regarding the status of transmission at the RX UE to the relay UE 400 over the sidelink connection 408. 8. The relay UE 400 reports the feedback received from the RX UE 404 to the TX UE 402 via the sidelink connection 406 as described in the above embodiments.

[0144] (b) TX UE operating in mode 1 and relay UE operating in mode 2 Figure 12 illustrates an embodiment of a wireless communication system including a relay UE 400 operating in mode 2 and a TX UE 402 operating in mode 1, as well as a RX UE 404 operating in mode 1 or mode 2. Thus, apart from Figures 10 and 11, in Figure 12 there is only one Uu interface, i.e. connection 454, between the gNB 452 and the TX UE 402. As the relay UE 400 is not supported for resource allocation by the gNB 452, the Uu interface is not depicted.

[0145] The functionality for providing global feedback about transmissions from the TX UE 402 to the RX UE 404 is as follows. 1. The TX UE 402 sends a Buffer Status Report (BSR) or SR to the gNB 452 on the uplink channel requesting resources for transmission to the relay UE 400. 2. The gNB 452 transmits DCI to the TX UE 402 on the downlink channel, the DCI including the resources to be used by the TX UE 402 for transmission from the TX UE 402 to the relay UE 400. 3. The TX UE 402 transmits the SCI and transmission data to the relay node 400 over the first sidelink connection 406 using the resources indicated in the DCI received in (2). 4. The relay node 400 sends HARQ feedback (FB1) to the TX UE 402 over the first sidelink connection 406 indicating the status of transmission from the TX UE 402 to the relay UE 400. 5. The TX UE 402 reports feedback FB1 on the uplink channel to the gNB 452 node so that the gNB 452 knows the status of the transmission using the resources granted by the gNB 452. If the transmission is reported as unsuccessful, the gNB 452 can provide another resource for retransmission without having the TX UE 402 send another BSR or SR. If the transmission is reported as successful, the gNB 452 may allocate the same HARQ ID with New Data Indicator (NDI) toggled to transmit another TB. 6. The relay UE 400 identifies and selects resources for transmission to the RX UE 404 by sensing, and uses these resources to send the SCI and data for transmission to the RX UE 404 over the sidelink connection 408. 7. The RX UE 404 sends HARQ feedback regarding the status of transmission at the RX UE to the relay UE 400 over the sidelink connection 408. 8. The relay UE 400 reports the feedback received from the RX UE 404 to the TX UE 402 via the sidelink connection 406 as described in the above embodiments.

[0146] (c) TX UE operating in mode 2 and relay UE operating in mode 1 13 illustrates an embodiment of a wireless communication system including a relay UE 400 operating in mode 1 and a TX UE 402 operating in mode 2, as well as an RX UE 404 operating in mode 1 or mode 2. Thus, the TX UE 402 is not supported by the gNB 452 with respect to resource scheduling. The gNB 452 supports the relay UE 400 with respect to resource scheduling, and in FIG. 13, only the Uu connection 456 is illustrated.

[0147] The functionality for providing global feedback about transmissions from the TX UE 402 to the RX UE 404 is as follows. 1. The TX UE 402 identifies and selects resources for transmission to the relay UE 400 through sensing. 2. The TX UE 402 transmits the SCI and data for transmission to the relay node 400 over the first sidelink connection 406 using the identified and selected resource. 3. The relay node 400 sends HARQ feedback FB1 to the TX UE 402 over the first sidelink connection 406 indicating the status of transmission from the TX UE 402 to the relay UE 400. 4. The relay UE 400 transmits a scheduling request SR or BSR to the gNB 452 on the uplink channel to request resources for relaying the transmission of the relay UE 400 received from the TX UE 402. 5. The gNB 452 transmits DCI to the relay UE 400 on the downlink channel including resources to be used by the relay UE to relay transmissions from the TX UE to the RX UE 404 over the sidelink connection 408. 6. The relaying UE 400 transmits the SCI and data for transmission to the RX UE 404 via the sidelink connection 408 using the resources indicated in the DCI received in (5). 7. The RX UE 404 sends HARQ feedback regarding the status of transmission at the RX UE to the relay UE 400 over the sidelink connection 408. 8. The relay UE 400 reports the feedback received from the RX UE 404 to the TX UE 402 via the sidelink connection 406 as described in the above embodiments.

[0148] FIG. 14 illustrates another embodiment of a wireless communication system including a TX UE operating in Mode 2 and a relay UE operating in Mode 1, where the TX UE 402 does not sense resources for transmission to the relay UE, but sends a request for such resources to the relay UE.

[0149] The functions for providing overall feedback on transmissions from the TX UE 402 to the RX UE 404 are as follows: 1. The TX UE 402 sends a request to the relay UE 400 over the sidelink connection 406 to have the relay UE 400 provide resources allocated by the gNB 452 or assisted by the relay UE 400. For example, this can be adopted when the TX UE needs resources for reliable transmission, and the resources may be allocated by the gNB. Thus, instead of relying only on resources determined by sensing, the TX UE requests resources from the relay UE, similar to the TX UE requesting an AIM (Assistance Information Message). 2. The relay UE 400 transmits a scheduling request SR or BSR on the uplink channel to the gNB 452 requesting resources for relaying the transmission it receives from the TX UE 402 and resources for the TX UE to use for transmissions to the relay UE. Thus, the relay UE 400 requests resources from the gNB for the TX UE to transmit to the relay UE and for the relay UE to transmit to the RX UE. 3. The gNB 452 transmits DCI on the downlink channel to the relay UE 400 including resources to be used by the TX UE 402 to send transmissions over the sidelink connection 406 to the relay UE 400 and resources to be used by the relay UE to relay transmissions over the sidelink connection 408 from the TX UE 402 to the RX UE 404. The DCI may be a single DCI with both information together or it may be two separate DCIs transmitting resources of TX UE and relay UE together in time or separately after a predefined short interval. 4. The relay UE 400 sends an assistance information message (AIM) to the TX UE over the sidelink connection 406, including resources to be used by the TX UE 402 for transmission to the relay UE. 5. The TX UE 402 transmits the SCI and transmission data to the relay node 400 over the first sidelink connection 406 using the resources received in the AIM, or in other embodiments, by combining the resources indicated in the AIM with the resources obtained by sensing. 6. The relay node 400 transmits HARQ feedback FB1 indicating the status of transmission from the TX UE 402 to the relay UE 400 via the first sidelink connection 406 to the TX UE 402 using resources indicated in the DCI received in (3). 7. The relaying UE 400 sends the SCI and data for transmission to the RX UE 404 over the sidelink connection 408. 8. The RX UE 404 sends HARQ feedback regarding the status of transmission at the RX UE to the relay UE 400 over the sidelink connection 408. 9. The relay UE 400 reports the feedback received from the RX UE 404 to the TX UE 402 via the sidelink connection 406 as described in the above embodiments.

[0150] The relaying UE 400 can send a feedback report to the gNB 452 over the Uu connection 456 so that the gNB can know the status of the transmission using the resources granted by the gNB 452. If the transmission is reported as unsuccessful, the gNB 452 can provide another resource for retransmission based on the initial request (SR or BSR) without having the relaying UE 400 send another BSR or SR. If the transmission is reported as successful, the gNB 452 may assign the same HARQ ID with a new data indicator (NDI) toggled to transmit another TB.

[0151] 2. UE-Network Relay In the following, an embodiment of the first aspect of the invention related to UE-network relaying is described. Thus, according to the following embodiment, the transmitting entity is no longer a TX UE connected to the relay UE via a sidelink, but a RAN entity such as a gNB connected to the relay UE by a Uu interface.

[0152] (a) The gNB acts as a transmitter and the relay UE operates in mode 1. 15 illustrates an embodiment of a wireless communication system or network including a RAN entity such as a base station or gNB as a transmitting entity 402 connected via a Uu interface 414 to a relaying UE 400, which in turn is connected to a RX UE 404 by a sidelink connection 408. The relaying UE operates in Mode 1 and the RX UE 404 can operate in Mode 1 or Mode 2.

[0153] The functionality for providing overall feedback on transmissions from the gNB 402 to the RX UE 404 is as follows: 1. The gNB 402 sends control and transmission data, such as DCI, to the relaying UE via the Uu interface 414. 2. The relay node 400 sends HARQ feedback FB1 to the gNB 402 over the Uu interface 414, indicating the status of the transmission from the gNB 402 to the relay UE 400. 3. The relay UE 400 sends a scheduling request SR to the gNB 402 on the uplink channel of the Uu interface 414 requesting resources for relaying the transmission that the relay UE 400 received from the TX UE 402. 4. The gNB 452 sends DCI to the relay UE 400 on a downlink channel of the Uu interface 414 including resources to be used by the relay UE to relay transmissions from the gNB to the RX UE 404 over the sidelink connection 408. 5. The relaying UE 400 transmits the SCI and the data for transmission to the RX UE 404 via the sidelink connection 408 using the resources indicated in the DCI received in (4). 6. The RX UE 404 sends HARQ feedback regarding the status of transmission at the RX UE to the relay UE 400 over the sidelink connection 408. 7. The relay UE 400 reports the feedback received from the RX UE 404 to the gNB 402 via the Uu interface 414 as described in the above embodiments.

[0154] According to another embodiment, when providing the DCI (1) and data from the gNB to the relay UE, resources for relaying the transmission to the RX UE can also be included, thereby avoiding an additional scheduling request (3) from the relay UE to the gNB as well as the additional DCI (4) shown in Figure 15. This is because the gNB knows that the transmission is relayed but not sent directly to the RX UE. Another optimization is for the relay UE to send a resource request to the gNB using the HARQ feedback (FB1) (2) from the relay UE to the gNB, thereby avoiding only the additional scheduling request (3) from the relay UE to the gNB. Figure 16 illustrates an embodiment of a wireless communication system where the initial message from the gNB to the relay UE also includes resources to use for relaying.

[0155] The functionality for providing overall feedback on transmissions from the gNB 402 to the RX UE 404 is as follows: 1. The gNB 402 sends control and transmission data, such as DCI, to the relaying UE over the Uu interface 414. The DCI also includes resources that the relaying UE 400 uses to relay the transmission to the RX UE 404. The DCI may be a single DCI with both information together, or it may be two separate DCIs transmitting resources of TX UE and relay UE together in time or separately after a predefined short interval. 2. The relay node 400 sends HARQ feedback FB1 to the gNB 402 over the Uu interface 414, indicating the status of the transmission from the gNB 402 to the relay UE 400. 3. The relaying UE 400 transmits the SCI and data for transmission to the RX UE 404 via the sidelink connection 408 using the resources indicated in the DCI received in (1). 4. The RX UE 404 sends HARQ feedback regarding the state of transmission at the RX UE to the relay UE 400 over the sidelink connection 408. 5. The relay UE 400 reports the feedback received from the RX UE 404 to the gNB 402 via the Uu interface 414 as described in the above embodiments.

[0156] In (1), the gNB 402 is aware that the relay UE is to transmit or relay packets to the RX UE, so instead of waiting for a scheduling request from the relay UE, the gNB proactively transmits in the DCI the resources that the relay UE will use for transmission to the RX UE, separate from the resources that the gNB will use to transmit data to the relay UE.

[0157] (b) When the gNB acts as a transmitter and the relay UE operates in mode 2 FIG. 17 illustrates an embodiment of a wireless communication system in which the transmitting entity is a gNB, the relay UE 400 operates in mode 2, and the RX UE operates in mode 1 or mode 2.

[0158] The functionality for providing overall feedback on transmissions from the gNB 402 to the RX UE 404 is as follows: 1. The gNB 402 sends control and transmission data, such as DCI, to the relay UE via the Uu interface 414. 2. The relay node 400 sends HARQ feedback FB1 to the gNB 402 over the Uu interface 414, indicating the status of the transmission from the gNB 402 to the relay UE 400. 3. The relay UE identifies and selects, by sensing, the resources to be used for relaying the transmission to the RX UE 404 . 4. The relay UE 400 sends the SCI and data for transmission to the RX UE 404 over the sidelink connection 408 using the identified and selected resource. 5. The RX UE 404 sends HARQ feedback regarding the status of transmission at the RX UE to the relay UE 400 over the sidelink connection 408. 6. The relay UE 400 reports the feedback received from the RX UE 404 to the gNB 402 via the Uu interface 414 as described in the above embodiments.

[0159] (c) The TX UE operates in mode 2, the relay UE operates in mode 1, and the RX entity is a gNB. FIG. 18 illustrates an embodiment of a wireless communication system in which the transmitting entity 402 is a user device connected to a relaying UE 400 by a sidelink connection 406 and the receiving entity is a gNB 404 connected to the relay node via a Uu interface 458.

[0160] The functionality for providing overall feedback on transmissions from the gNB 404 to the TX UE 402 is as follows: 1. The TX UE 402 identifies and selects resources for transmission to the relay UE 400 by sensing. 2. The TX UE 402 transmits the SCI and data for transmission to the relay node 400 over the first sidelink connection 406 using the identified and selected resource. 3. The relay node 400 sends HARQ feedback FB1 to the TX UE 402 over the first sidelink connection 406, indicating the status of transmission from the TX UE 402 to the relay UE 400. 4. The relay UE 400 sends a scheduling request SR to the gNB 404 over the Uu interface 458 on the uplink channel, requesting resources for the relay UE 400 to relay the transmission it received from the TX UE 402. 5. The gNB 452 transmits DCI to the relay UE 400 on the downlink channel via the Uu interface 458, including resources that the relay UE will use to relay the transmission from the TX UE to the gNB 404 over the Uu connection 458. 6. The relay UE 400 transmits the transmission data to the gNB UE 404 via the Uu connection 458 using the resources indicated in the DCI received in (5). 7. The gNB UE 404 sends feedback regarding the state of transmission at the gNB to the relay UE 400 over the Uu connection 458. In an embodiment, the feedback may be HARQ feedback. In another embodiment, the concept of a downlink frame indicator DFI as used in NR unlicensed (NR-U) is reused by the gNB sending a DFI to the relay UE, where the DFI includes feedback for multiple transmissions. In the case of a DFI with aggregated feedback for multiple transmissions, a timer is attached to each transmission to ensure that the relay node receives the DFI before the timer expires. If the relay UE does not receive a DFI for a transmission within the timer, the transmission is considered to have failed. 8. The relay UE 400 reports the feedback received from the gNB 404 to the TX UE 402 via the sidelink connection 406 as described in the above embodiments.

[0161] 19 illustrates another embodiment of a wireless communication system in which the transmitting entity 402 is a user device connected to a relay UE 400 by a sidelink connection 406 and the receiving entity is a gNB 404 connected to the relay node via a Uu interface 458. Rather than sensing resources for transmission to the relay UE, the TX UE 402 sends a request for such resources to the relay UE.

[0162] The functionality for providing overall feedback on transmissions from the gNB 404 to the TX UE 402 is as follows: 1. The TX UE 402 sends a request to the relay UE 400 over the sidelink connection 406 to have the relay UE provide resources allocated by the gNB 404 or assisted by the relay UE 400. For example, this can be adopted when the TX UE needs resources for reliable transmission, and the resources may be allocated by the gNB. Thus, instead of relying only on resources determined by sensing, the TX UE requests resources from the relay UE, similar to the TX UE requesting an AIM (Assistance Information Message). 2. The relay UE 400 sends a scheduling request SR or BSR to the gNB 404 over the Uu interface 458 on the uplink channel, requesting resources for relaying the transmission that the relay UE 400 is due to receive from the TX UE 402 and resources that the TX UE will use for transmissions to the relay UE. 3. The gNB 404 sends DCI to the relay UE 400 on the downlink channel of the Uu connection 458, including resources to be used by the TX UE to send transmissions from the TX UE 402 to the relay UE 400 over the sidelink connection 406, and resources to be used by the relay UE to relay transmissions from the TX UE 402 to the relay UE 400 over the Uu connection 458. The DCI may be a single DCI with both information together or it may be two separate DCIs transmitting resources of TX UE and relay UE together in time or separately after a predefined short interval. 4. The relay UE 400 sends an assistance information message (AIM) to the TX UE over the sidelink connection 406, including resources to be used by the TX UE 402 for transmission to the relay UE. 5. The TX UE 402 transmits the SCI and transmission data to the relay node 400 over the first sidelink connection 406 using the resources received in the AIM, or in other embodiments, by combining the resources indicated in the AIM with the resources obtained by sensing. 6. The relay node 400 sends HARQ feedback FB1 to the TX UE 402 over the first sidelink connection 406 indicating the status of transmission from the TX UE 402 to the relay UE 400. 7. The relaying UE 402 sends the transmission data to the gNB 404 via the Uu connection 458 using the resources indicated in the DCI received in (3). 8. The gNB 404 sends feedback regarding the status of the transmission at the RX UE to the relay UE 400 over the Uu connection 458. In an embodiment, the feedback may be HARQ feedback. In other embodiments, the concept of DFI as used in NR-U is reused by the gNB transmitting a DFI to the relay UE, where the DFI includes feedback for multiple transmissions. In the case of a DFI with aggregated feedback for multiple transmissions, a timer is attached to each transmission to ensure that the relay node receives the DFI before the timer expires. If the relay UE does not receive a DFI for a transmission within the timer, the transmission is considered to have failed. 9. The relay UE 400 reports the feedback received from the RX UE 404 to the TX UE 402 via the sidelink connection 406 as described in the above embodiments.

[0163] With regard to the embodiments described with reference to Figures 10 to 19, it should be noted that in the above-mentioned embodiment of the first aspect, instead of sending two feedbacks FB1 and FB2 to the TX UE, only feedback from the RX UE may be sent from the relay UE 400 to the TX UE or gNB, so sending HARQ feedback from the relay UE 400 to the TX entity, which may be a TX UE or a gNB, is optional. Even if the relay UE 400 does not receive and has no feedback from the RX entity, according to the above-mentioned embodiment of the first aspect, it is possible for the relay UE 400 to provide feedback to the TX entity. This is the case when the relay UE has tried to retransmit to the RX entity either for a configured or preconfigured number of retransmissions or for a configured or preconfigured duration, but failed to receive a successful acknowledgement. In this case, the relay UE reports a failed feedback to the TX entity.

[0164] Second Aspect An embodiment of the second aspect of the present invention deals with distinguishing transmissions, such as control messages and data messages, at a relay node (RN) into relayed transmissions, also referred to as first transmissions, and transmissions intended for the relay node, also referred to as second transmissions.

[0165] Relay UE According to a second aspect, the present invention provides a user device (UE) for a wireless communication network, comprising: the UE is adapted to operate as a relay UE and provide functionality supporting connectivity between a transmitting entity and one or more receiving entities of the wireless communications network; The UE is adapted to distinguish a transmission received from a transmitting entity into a first transmission that is relayed to a receiving entity and a second transmission that is intended for the UE; The UE further comprises: ● control information associated with said transmission; resources over which said transmission and / or said associated control information is received; It is distinguished by one or more of the following.

[0166] According to an embodiment, the control information associated with the transmission comprises: a direct interface control message, such as a sidelink control information (SCI) associated with the transmission, the SCI indicating whether the transmission is a first transmission or a second transmission; a network interface control message, such as a downlink control information (DCI) associated with the transmission, the DCI indicating whether the transmission is a first transmission or a second transmission; a Medium Access Control (MAC) header associated with the transmission, the MAC header indicating whether the transmission is a first transmission or a second transmission; Contains one or more of the following:

[0167] According to an embodiment, the resources on which the transmission and / or the associated control information is received are: a relay sidelink control channel, associated with the transmission, and control information received on resources of the relay sidelink control channel indicating that the associated transmission is a first transmission; a relay bandwidth part (R-BWP), where receiving the transmission and / or control information associated with the transmission on resources of the R-BWP indicates that the transmission is a first transmission; a relay sidelink resource pool, wherein receiving the transmission and / or control information associated with the transmission on resources of the relay sidelink resource pool indicates that the transmission is a first transmission; Contains one or more of the following:

[0168] According to an embodiment, the UE is adapted to receive the transmission from a transmitting entity by way of a direct interface, such as a sidelink, or by way of an access network interface, such as a 3GPP or non-3GPP interface.

[0169] According to an embodiment, the transmitting entity includes a user device (UE) or a relay UE, and the receiving entity includes a user device (UE) or a relay UE, or the transmitting entity comprises a user device (UE) or a relay UE, and the receiving entity comprises a network entity, such as a radio access network (RAN) entity, or The transmitting entity includes a network entity such as a RAN entity, and the receiving entity includes a user device (UE) or a relay UE.

[0170] ---SCI--- According to an embodiment, The UE is adapted to distinguish the received transmissions using control information associated with the transmissions, the control information including first stage and / or second stage sidelink control information (SCI) associated with the transmissions; and Sidelink control information (SCI) associated with the transmission a first stage SCI is provided including one or more additional parameters indicating whether the transmission is a first transmission or a second transmission, and the UE, in response to receiving the first stage SCI, uses the one or more additional parameters to determine whether the transmission is a first transmission or a second transmission and, if a first transmission, relays the transmission to the receiving entity; and / or a second stage SCI is provided including one or more parameters modified to indicate whether the transmission is a first transmission or a second transmission, and the UE, in response to receiving the second stage SCI, uses the one or more parameters to determine whether the transmission is a first transmission or a second transmission and, if a first transmission, relays the transmission to the receiving entity; and / or a predefined second stage SCI is provided corresponding to the transmission to be relayed, and the UE, in response to receiving the predefined second stage SCI, determines the transmission to be the first transmission and relays the transmission to the receiving entity; Includes.

[0171] According to an embodiment, the SCI comprises: Destination information indicating only the UE, such as the destination or Layer 1 (L1) ID of the UE, or destination information indicating only the receiving entity, such as the destination or L1 ID of the receiving entity, or first destination information indicating the UE, such as a destination or L1 ID of the UE, and second destination information indicating the receiving entity, such as a destination or L1 ID of the receiving entity, or composite destination information indicating the UE and the receiving entity; Including, in response to receiving destination information indicative of only the UE, the UE determines that the transmission is a second transmission; In response to receiving destination information indicating only the receiving entity, or in response to receiving first destination information indicating the UE and second destination information indicating the receiving entity, or in response to receiving the joint destination information, the UE is configured to determine that the transmission is a first transmission.

[0172] According to an embodiment, the SCI includes an indication, such as a time indicator, of by when the receiving entity will receive the transmission.

[0173] According to an embodiment, if the timer exceeds a threshold, or if the UE determines that the time for the transmission to the receiving entity and the time for the reception of an acknowledgement (ACK) from the receiving entity exceeds a threshold, the UE: Dropping said transmission or packet; or Dropping the transmission or packet and sending a negative acknowledgement (NACK) to the sending entity.

[0174] According to an embodiment, in response to determining that the transmission is a first transmission from the SCI, the UE refrains from decoding the transmission and / or forwarding the transmission to higher layers and loads the transmission into a buffer together with the destination or L1 ID of the receiving entity for transmission to the receiving entity.

[0175] According to an embodiment, the SCI includes information indicative of the transmitting entity, such as a Layer 1 (L1) ID of the transmitting entity UE; the UE is adapted to use the information indicative of the transmitting entity to determine whether the transmitting entity is in a list of configured or pre-configured transmitting entities; If the transmitting entity is included in the list, the UE determines that the transmission is a first transmission; If the transmitting entity is not included in the list, the UE is configured to determine the transmission as a second transmission.

[0176] According to an embodiment, the SCI includes predefined destination information, such as a predefined destination or a Layer 1 (L1) ID, the predefined destination information indicating that a transmission associated with the SCI is to be relayed; In response to receiving the predefined destination information, the UE maps the predefined destination information to the actual destination information of the receiving entity, such as a destination or Layer 1 (L1) ID of the receiving entity, and relays the transmission to the receiving entity.

[0177] According to an embodiment, the predefined destination information is: Virtual destination ID, A destination ID from a list or pool of configured or pre-configured destination IDs, One or more of the following:

[0178] According to an embodiment, The UE is adapted to provide the predefined destination information to the transmitting entity, which is used by the transmitting entity for a transmission that is relayed to the receiving entity; or The UE is adapted to receive the predefined destination information from the receiving entity and to forward the received predefined destination information to the transmitting entity for use by the transmitting entity for transmissions relayed to the receiving entity.

[0179] According to an embodiment, The SCI includes a specific HARQ process ID or HARQ process number that is mapped to a specific destination ID of a receiving entity, and destination information that indicates only the UE, such as the destination or L1 ID of the UE, and In response to the particular HARQ process ID or HARQ process number, the UE is configured to determine that the transmission is a first transmission and to relay the transmission to which the particular HARQ process ID is mapped to the receiving entity.

[0180] ---MAC Header--- According to an embodiment, if the UE distinguishes the received transmission using a Medium Access Control (MAC) header associated with the transmission, the MAC header includes an indication that informs the UE that the transmission is a first transmission and that the UE is not the intended receiver.

[0181] According to an embodiment, the user device includes a MAC layer including a logical channel, such as a logical relay channel (LRCH), In response to receiving a MAC header including an indication that the transmission is a first transmission and is not intended for the UE, the UE is configured to place the transmission in a buffer or queue of the LRCH for transmission to the receiving entity.

[0182] According to an embodiment, the MAC header includes destination information of the receiving entity, such as a destination or Layer 2 (L2) ID of the receiving entity; In response to the destination information of the receiving entity in the MAC header, the UE is adapted to determine that the transmission is a first transmission.

[0183] According to an embodiment, the SCI further includes destination information indicating the UE, such as a destination or L1 ID of the UE.

[0184] According to an embodiment, the MAC header includes predefined destination information, such as a predefined destination or a Layer 2 (L2) ID, the predefined destination information indicating that the transmission associated with the MAC header is to be relayed; In response to receiving the defined destination information, the UE is configured to map the defined destination information to the actual destination information of the receiving entity, such as a destination or Layer 2 (L2) ID of the receiving entity, and relay the transmission to the receiving entity.

[0185] According to an embodiment, the predefined destination information is: Virtual destination ID, A destination ID from a list or pool of configured or pre-configured destination IDs, One or more of the following:

[0186] According to an embodiment, the UE is adapted to provide the predefined destination information to the transmitting entity, which is used by the transmitting entity for a transmission to be relayed to the receiving entity; or The UE is adapted to receive the defined destination information from the receiving entity and forward the received defined destination information to the transmitting entity for use by the transmitting entity for transmissions relayed to the receiving entity.

[0187] According to an embodiment, the control information comprises a parameter that is decremented or incremented upon transmission of the message by the UE, and when a configured or pre-configured value is reached, the UE does not relay the message.

[0188] According to an embodiment, the fault indication may be the transmitting entity, and / or The network, and / or a previous relay UE that received the packet; is sent to one or more of the

[0189] ---Dedicated Relay Sidelink Control Channel--- According to an embodiment, the wireless communication network includes a relay sidelink control channel; and In response to receiving sidelink control information (SCI) associated with a transmission on the relay sidelink control channel, the UE is configured to determine that the transmission is a first transmission.

[0190] According to an embodiment, the relay sidelink control channel is a sub-channel within a sidelink resource pool, such as the NR V2X resource pool.

[0191] According to an embodiment, the relay sidelink control channel is a sidelink control channel such as the PSCCH, The number of resource blocks (RBs) in the PSCCH used for control messages intended for relaying only; a periodicity in which all RBs in the PSCCH are dedicated to control messages intended only for relaying at specified time intervals, or A periodicity whereby the number of selected RBs across frequencies within the PSCCH is subject to control messages intended only for relaying at specified time intervals; is defined by defining one or more of:

[0192] According to an embodiment, in response to receiving sidelink control information (SCI) associated with a transmission on the relay sidelink control channel, the UE refrains from decoding and forwarding the transmission to higher layers and loads the transmission into a buffer together with the destination ID of the receiving entity for the transmission to the receiving entity.

[0193] --- Dedicated Bandwidth Section --- According to an embodiment, The wireless communication network comprises a relay bandwidth part R-BWP exclusively used for transmission and reception related to control and / or data relay, In response to receiving a transmission and / or control information associated with the transmission in the R-BWP, the UE is configured to determine that the transmission is the first transmission.

[0194] According to an embodiment, the R-BWP is used to send feedback for a relayed transmission.

[0195] --- Dedicated relay side link resource pool --- According to an embodiment, The wireless communications network includes a Relay Sidelink Resource Pool (R-RP) used exclusively for control and / or data relay related transmission and reception, In response to receiving a transmission and / or control information associated with the transmission in the R-RP, the UE is configured to determine that the transmission is the first transmission.

[0196] According to an embodiment, the R-RP is used to send feedback for a relayed transmission.

[0197] According to an embodiment, the relay resource pool (R-RP) is defined within the BWP and includes one or more resource pools, such as one or more transmit / receive pools, one or more transmit relay resource pools (TX R-RP), one or more receive relay resource pools (RX R-RP) or one or more R-RPs where both TX and RX occur.

[0198] According to an embodiment, the R-RPs include a first R-RP configured for a UE operating in mode 1 and a second R-RP configured for a UE operating in mode 2.

[0199] According to an embodiment, the R-RP is configured for UEs operating in Mode 1 and UEs operating in Mode 2, and the UEs are expected to provide periodic congestion reports to the transmitting entity so that the transmitting entity is aware of the available resources in the R-RP.

[0200] According to an embodiment, the relay resource pool (R-RP) is employed for the relay related transmission and / or reception of control and / or data when the link quality of the link between the transmitting entity and the receiving entity and / or between the relay entity and the receiving entity falls below a predefined link quality threshold.

[0201] According to an embodiment, the UE is adapted to receive one or more resource pool configurations, e.g. in one or more system information blocks (SIBs) or other control signaling in a control channel, e.g. a PDCCH or a PDSCH, the one or more resource pool configurations including an R-RP configuration, the R-RP configuration being: ●Indication that the base station supports relaying, the link quality threshold at which the transmitting entity should switch to relay-based transmission; the resources of the R-RP; Includes.

[0202] According to an embodiment, the R-RP configuration further comprises a periodicity of feedback channel resources, such as the Physical Sidelink Feedback Channel (PSFCH) resources, in terms of number of time slots, where if the periodicity is set to a zero value, no feedback channel resources are defined for the R-RP.

[0203] According to an embodiment, the UE is adapted to use the feedback channel to transmit feedback to a transmitting entity for a transmission received from the transmitting entity as follows: if the transmission from the transmitting entity to the UE fails, the UE is adapted to send a NACK to the transmitting entity requesting a retransmission; and / or If the transmission from the transmitting entity to the UE is successful, the UE: sending an ACK only after the UE has received successful feedback from the receiving entity, allowing the UE to provide to the transmitting entity an overall HARQ feedback of the transmission from the transmitting entity to the receiving entity, or o Sending a first ACK after the UE receives the transmission from the transmitting entity and sending a second ACK after the UE receives successful feedback from the receiving entity, so that the UE can provide the transmitting entity with overall HARQ feedback of the transmission from the transmitting entity to the receiving entity.

[0204] According to an embodiment, the UE is adapted to disable feedback transmission in the case of a transmission sent as broadcast, or in the case of a transmission not directed to the UE, or in the case of a transmission sent as unicast or groupcast with feedback disabled.

[0205] According to an embodiment, the relay sidelink control channel and / or the R-BWP and / or the R-RP comprise a spectrum or frequency range different from the spectrum or frequency range in which a second transmission is transmitted and / or received.

[0206] According to an embodiment, in response to determining that the transmission is a first transmission, the UE: refrain from decoding the transmission and forwarding the transmission to higher layers, and load the transmission together with the destination ID of the receiving entity into a buffer for transmission to the receiving entity; or ● Decode the transmission for optimization to higher layers and send this packet to the target RX UE using the normal transmission pool, and load the optimized transmission together with the destination ID of the receiving entity into a buffer for transmission to the receiving entity.

[0207] According to an embodiment, in response to receiving control information associated with a transmission, The Destination ID parameter indicating the UE is left blank, set to a null value, or set to a default value, and the Destination ID parameter indicating the receiving entity is specified; or In the case of composite destination information indicating both the UE and the receiving entity, if the destination ID parameter indicating the UE is left blank, set to a null value or set to a default value, and the destination ID parameter indicating the receiving entity is specified: The UE is adapted to receive the transmission in a broadcast manner and to transmit the transmission to the intended receiving entity in a unicast or groupcast or broadcast manner.

[0208] According to an embodiment, in response to receiving control information associated with a transmission, the destination ID parameter is specified to indicate the UE and the destination ID parameter is specified to indicate the receiving entity; or In the case of composite destination information indicating both the UE and the receiving entity, when the destination ID parameter is specified to indicate the UE and the destination ID parameter is specified to indicate the receiving entity, The UE is adapted to receive the transmission in a groupcast or unicast manner, and is adapted to transmit to the intended receiving entity in a unicast, groupcast or broadcast manner.

[0209] According to an embodiment, the user device comprises one or more of a mobile terminal, or a stationary terminal, or a cellular IoT-UE, or a vehicle UE, or a reader (GL) UE, or an IoT or Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) device, or a wearable device such as a smart watch or a fitness tracker or smart glasses, or a ground vehicle, or an air vehicle, or a drone, or a mobile base station, or a Roadside Unit (RSU), or a building, or any other item or device provided with network connectivity capable of communicating using the wireless communications network, such as a sensor or actuator, or any other item or device provided with network connectivity capable of communicating using a sidelink of the wireless communications network, such as a sensor or actuator, or any sidelink capable network entity.

[0210] Sending Entity According to a second aspect, the present invention provides a transmitting entity for a wireless communication network, comprising: the transmitting entity is connectable to a relay UE, providing functionality for supporting connectivity between the transmitting entity and one or more receiving entities of a wireless communication network; The transmitting entity: Associating said transmission with specific control information; transmitting the transmission and / or the associated control information on specific resources; to indicate to a relaying UE the transmission as a first transmission to be relayed to the receiving entity by one or more of:

[0211] According to an embodiment, associating the transmission with particular control information comprises: Associating a direct interface control message, such as a Sidelink Control Information (SCI), with said transmission, indicating whether it is a first or second transmission intended for said relaying UE; Associating a network interface control message, such as Downlink Control Information (DCI), with said transmission, indicating whether it is a first transmission or a second transmission intended for said relay UE; Associating a Medium Access Control (MAC) with the transmission, the MAC header indicating whether the transmission is a first transmission or a second transmission; Contains one or more of the following:

[0212] According to an embodiment, transmitting the transmission and / or the associated control information on a particular resource comprises: transmitting a direct interface control message, such as sidelink control information (SCI), associated with said transmission on a relay sidelink control channel; using resources of a Relay Bandwidth Part (R-BWP) for transmitting said transmission and / or control information related to said transmission; using resources of a relay sidelink resource pool for transmitting said transmission and / or control information related to said transmission; Contains one or more of the following:

[0213] According to an embodiment, the transmitting entity is adapted to transmit to the relaying UE over a direct interface, such as a sidelink, or over an access network interface, such as a 3GPP or non-3GPP interface.

[0214] According to an embodiment, the transmitting entity includes a user device (UE) or a relay UE, and the receiving entity includes a user device (UE) or a relay UE, or the transmitting entity comprises a user device (UE) or a relay UE, and the receiving entity comprises a network entity, such as a radio access network (RAN) entity, or The transmitting entity includes a network entity such as a RAN entity, and the receiving entity includes a user device (UE) or a relay UE.

[0215] ---SCI--- According to an embodiment, the transmitting entity comprises: a first stage SCI including one or more additional parameters indicating whether the transmission is a first transmission or a second transmission; or a second stage SCI including one or more parameters modified to indicate whether the transmission is a first transmission or a second transmission; or A predefined second stage SCI corresponding to the transmission being relayed; It is now possible to provide

[0216] ---MAC Header--- According to an embodiment, the transmitting entity is adapted to associate with the transmission a Medium Access Control (MAC) header including an indication informing the relaying UE that the transmission is a first transmission and that the UE is not the intended receiver.

[0217] ---Dedicated Relay Sidelink Control Channel--- According to an embodiment, the wireless communication network includes a relay sidelink control channel; The transmitting entity is adapted to transmit sidelink control information (SCI) associated with the transmission on the relay sidelink control channel.

[0218] --- Dedicated Bandwidth Section --- According to an embodiment, the wireless communication network includes a relay bandwidth portion (R-BWP) adapted to be used exclusively for relay related transmission and reception of control and / or data and / or feedback; and The transmitting entity is adapted to transmit, in the R-BWP, a transmission and / or control information and / or feedback information associated with the transmission.

[0219] --- Dedicated relay side link resource pool --- According to an embodiment, The wireless communication network includes a Relay Sidelink Resource Pool (R-RP) used exclusively for relay related transmission and reception of control and / or data and / or feedback; and The transmitting entity is adapted to transmit a transmission in the R-RP and / or control information and / or feedback associated with the transmission.

[0220] According to an embodiment, the transmitting entity comprises: the link quality between the transmitting entity and the relay UE; ● Normal sidelink resource pool congestion state, the distance between the transmitting entity and the receiving entity; The R-RP is adapted to be used in accordance with the present invention, which is dependent on one or more of the following:

[0221] According to an embodiment, If the transmission is to be broadcast and the purpose of the transmission is coverage extension, the transmitting entity is adapted to transmit the transmission to any relay UEs; or if the transmission is a groupcast or unicast transmission, the transmitting entity is adapted to transmit the transmission to any relay UEs on the R-RP that are further expected to transmit to the targeted remote UE, or ● If the transmission is a groupcast or unicast transmission, the transmitting entity is adapted to transmit the transmission to a specific relay UE on the R-RP that is further expected to transmit to the targeted remote UE.

[0222] According to an embodiment, the relay UE: The transmission power is equal to or greater than a configured or pre-configured power threshold (e.g., high power), or ● The battery condition is equal to or exceeds a set or pre-defined threshold; or ● Certain services, such as Public Safety and Disaster Relief Communications (PPDR) services or vehicle safety services, are provided; The devices are selected based on whether they support one or more of the following criteria:

[0223] According to an embodiment, the transmitting entity is adapted to indicate the Destination ID parameter of the relay UE in a Sidelink Control Information (SCI) associated with the transmission, wherein: if the Destination ID parameter is left blank, set to a null value, or set to a default value, then no specific relay UE is selected and any relay UE receiving the transmission is expected to relay the transmission to the receiving entity defined by the Final Destination ID parameter in the SCI; or ●If the Destination ID parameter is specified, then only the relay UE with the specified ID is expected to relay the transmission to the receiving entity defined in the Final Destination ID parameter of the SCI.

[0224] According to an embodiment, the transmitting entity comprises one or more of a macro cell base station, or a small cell base station, or a central unit of a base station, or an IAB node, or a distributed unit of a base station, or a roadside unit (RSU), or a UE, or a group leader (GL), or a relay or a remote radio head, or an AMF, or an MME, or an SMF, or a core network entity, or a Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) entity, or a network slice in an NR or 5G core context, or any transmitting / receiving point (TRP) for enabling an item or device to communicate using the wireless communication network, the item or device being provided with network connectivity.

[0225] network According to a second aspect, the present invention provides a wireless communication network comprising: one or more transmitting entities; one or more receiving entities; one or more relay user devices (relay UEs), the relay UEs providing functionality to support connectivity between the transmitting entity and the receiving entity; Including, The transmitting entity may comprise one or more transmitting entities according to the present invention and / or the relaying UE may comprise one or more user devices (UE) according to the present invention.

[0226] method According to a second aspect, the present invention provides a method of operating a User Device (UE) for a wireless communications network, the UE being adapted to operate as a relay UE and providing functionality to support connectivity between a transmitting entity and one or more receiving entities of the wireless communications network, the method comprising: distinguishing, by the UE, the transmissions received from the transmitting entity into a first transmission that is relayed to a receiving entity and a second transmission intended for the UE; Including, The received transmission: ● control information associated with said transmission; resources over which said transmission and / or said associated control information is received; are distinguished by one or more of the following:

[0227] According to a second aspect, the present invention provides a method for operating a transmitting entity for a wireless communications network, the transmitting entity being connected to a relay UE and providing functionality for supporting connectivity between the transmitting entity and one or more receiving entities of the wireless communications network, the method comprising: a transmission to a relay UE to be relayed to the receiving entity as a first transmission by the transmitting entity; Associating said transmission with specific control information; transmitting said transmission and / or said associated control information on specific resources; 5. The method according to claim 1, Includes.

[0228] Computer Program Products An embodiment of a second aspect of the invention provides a computer program product comprising instructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to carry out one or more methods according to the invention.

[0229] TIFF2025027052000018.tif75129

[0230] TIFF2025027052000019.tif51129

[0231] TIFF2025027052000020.tif101130

[0232] TIFF2025027052000021.tif11129

[0233] TIFF2025027052000022.tif54130

[0234] TIFF2025027052000023.tif34130

[0235] TIFF2025027052000024.tif68130

[0236] According to an embodiment, the transmitting entity 402 is a User Device (UE) or another relaying UE and the receiving entity 404 is a UE or another relaying UE, in which case the first and second connections 406, 408 are direct interfaces such as sidelink or PC5 connections or interfaces.

[0237] According to another embodiment, the transmitting entity 402 is a UE or another relaying UE and the receiving entity 404 is a network entity, e.g. a Radio Access Network (RAN) entity such as a gNB, in which case the first connection 406 is a direct interface, e.g. a sidelink connection, and the second connection 408 is an access network interface, e.g. a 3GPP interface, a non-3GPP interface, a downlink (DL) interface, e.g. a Uu interface, or a WiFi interface.

[0238] According to yet another embodiment, the transmitting entity 402 is a network entity, e.g. a Radio Access Network (RAN) entity such as a gNB, and the receiving entity 404 is a UE or another relaying UE. In this case, the first connection 406 is an access network interface, such as a 3GPP interface, a non-3GPP interface, a downlink (DL) interface, e.g. a Uu interface or a WiFi interface, and the second connection 408 is a direct interface, such as a sidelink connection.

[0239] Next, an embodiment of the above-mentioned second aspect of the invention for distinguishing traffic received at a relaying UE will be described in more detail.

[0240] Distinction based on SCI According to an embodiment, the relaying UE 400 distinguishes the transmission based on the SCI associated with the transmission. One or more additional parameters may be added to an existing SCI format, such as a first stage SCI, or one or more additional parameters of an existing SCI format, such as a second stage SCI, may be modified to indicate whether the transmission is a first or second transmission, and in response to receiving the SCI, the UE uses the one or more additional or modified parameters to determine whether the transmission is a first or second transmission and, if a first transmission, relays the transmission to a receiving entity. According to another embodiment, a new or predefined SCI format, such as a new or predefined second stage SCI, may be implemented corresponding to the relay transmission. Upon receiving the new or predefined SCI, the relaying UE 200 recognizes that the associated transmission or packet is not intended for the relaying UE 400, but should instead be relayed towards, for example, the receiving entity 404.

[0241] According to an embodiment, the SCI may include destination information indicative of the relay UE 400 only, e.g. a destination or a Layer 1 (L1) ID of the relay UE. Upon receiving the SCI including only the destination information of the relay UE, the relay UE 400 determines the associated transmission to be a second transmission, i.e. a transmission 464 intended for the relay UE 400. According to another embodiment, the additional parameter or predefined second stage SCI may include destination information indicative of only the receiving entity, e.g. a destination or an L1 ID of the receiving entity 404, and in response to receiving such information the relay UE 400 determines that the transmission associated with the SCI is a first transmission 462 to be relayed to the receiving entity 404. According to yet another embodiment, a first destination information of the relay UE 400 and a second destination information of the receiving entity 404, e.g. a respective L1 ID, may be included, and in response to receiving both IDs the relay UE 400 recognizes that the associated transmission is a first transmission 462 to be forwarded to the receiving entity. For example, the SCI may include two or more destination ID fields: intermediate destination IDs indicating one or more relay UEs, and a final destination ID indicating the receiving entity. According to another embodiment, composite destination information indicating both the UE and the receiving entity may be included, and in response to receiving the composite ID, the relay UE 400 recognizes that the associated transmission is the first transmission 462 to be forwarded to the receiving entity. For example, if the transmitting entity knows the destination IDs of the relay UE and the intended receiving entity, it may use the least significant bits of the two destination IDs, combine them, and transmit the composite ID in a new or predefined SCI that is meant for relay only. A composite ID such as a composite destination ID may be generated by the transmitting entity using the destination ID of the relay UE and the destination ID of the receiving entity by one of the following: ● A formula is used to generate a composite destination UE ID using the destination IDs of the relay UE and the receiving entity. ● A configured or pre-configured look-up table is used that contains the destination UE ID that is mapped to a combination of the destination ID of the relay UE and the destination ID of the receiving entity. ● The least significant bits (LSBs) of the relay UE's destination ID and the receiving entity's destination ID are combined. The composite destination ID may be decoded by the relay UE to infer the relay UE destination ID and the receiving entity destination ID using one or more of the following: ●Calculation formula, Reverse lookup table, ● The LSBs of the relay UE's destination ID and the receiving entity's destination ID.

[0242] According to an embodiment, the SCI includes an indication, such as a time indicator, of by when the receiving entity will receive the transmission. If the timer exceeds a threshold, or if the UE determines that the time for transmitting to and receiving an acknowledgment (ACK) from the receiving entity exceeds a threshold, the UE may drop the transmission or packet, or drop the transmission or packet and send a negative acknowledgment (NACK) to the transmitting entity.

[0243] It is believed that the advantage of the above-described embodiment is that the higher layers are unaware of the packet or transmission distinction. For example, when the physical (PHY) layer receives a transmission or packet, the relay UE only needs to decode the control information to determine whether the relay UE is the intended receiver of the corresponding transmission or data, thereby avoiding the need to decode and forward the transmission or data packet to the higher layers if the relay UE determines that it is not the intended receiver of the transmission. In such a case, the relay UE may load the transmission or data into a buffer along with the final destination ID indicated in the received control information as a new destination ID for transmission to the receiving entity. Although the above-described embodiment is similar to an amplify-and-forward solution, thereby achieving the desired coverage extension, an advantage over the simple amplify-and-forward solution is that the relay UE does not decode the relayed transmission or packet, so that piracy concerns are taken into account. According to other embodiments, rather than providing only an amplify-and-forward approach, the relay UE 400 may decode and forward the transmission, preferably without processing the transmission or message content by the higher layers.

[0244] According to the above-mentioned embodiment including only the destination ID of the receiving entity, i.e. the destination ID of the relay UE is not included in the SCI, another advantage is considered to be that the relay UE retrieves any transmission or packet destined for a UE that is known at the relay UE and to which the relay UE can forward the transmission via the sidelink connection. According to such an embodiment, the transmitting entity 402 may simply use the ID of the receiving entity 404 included in the SCI and the relay 400 forwards the transmission or message accordingly. For example, this may be used if a separate relay resource pool or relay BWP or relay control channel is provided or if the message to be transmitted or relayed is otherwise marked or labelled to indicate to the relay UE that the transmission or message is the first transmission to be relayed to the designated receiving entity 404. The relay 400 can then simply take the transmission or message from the pool and relay the transmission to the receiving entity.

[0245] According to another embodiment, the SCI may include information indicative of the transmitting entity 402, e.g. the L1 ID of the transmitting entity. According to such an embodiment, the list of transmitting entities may be determined, for example, if there is a certain number of transmitting entities in the wireless communication network, the relaying UE is aware of the list, and may use the information indicative of the transmitting entity in the control information to determine whether the transmitting entity is listed or not. If the relaying UE 400 determines that the transmitting entity 402 is included in the list, the transmission is recognized by the relaying UE 400 as a first transmission 462 to be relayed to the receiving entity. On the other hand, if the transmitting entity 402 is not in the list, the relaying UE 400 may consider the transmission associated with the SCI as a second transmission intended for the relaying UE and may be processed by the relaying UE 400. For example, the configured list may include a list of trusted devices, which may be authenticated, for example, via the core network, the 5GC, or via a configured or pre-configured list stored in the relaying UE 400. According to another embodiment, the list may indicate transmitting entities, such as UEs belonging to a certain group of UEs, device type, UE category, or UEs transmitting data using a certain cast type.

[0246] According to yet another embodiment of the second aspect of the invention, the additional information may include predefined destination information, such as a predefined destination or Layer 1 (L1) ID, indicating that the transmission associated with the SCI is to be relayed. The predefined destination information may be provided by the relay UE or the receiving entity, and the transmitting entity may receive such predefined destination information to use when a particular transmission is not intended for the relay UE but is to be forwarded to the receiving entity. In other words, the relay UE is aware of the receiving entities that are within the coverage of the relay UE and provides the transmitting entity with a list or pool of L1 UE IDs of such receiving entities. This list of UE IDs may include explicit receiving entity IDs as well as virtual UE IDs, which are UE IDs that are mapped to real receiving entity IDs. Thus, the transmitting entity includes one of these UE IDs in the SCI, and the relay UE makes sure that the transmission is relayed to the indicated receiving entity. Depending on the receiving entity for which the transmission is intended, the transmitting entity may select specific or predefined destination information included in the SCI, which, upon receipt at the relaying UE 400, maps the destination information received in the SCI to the actual destination information of the receiving entity for relaying the transmission associated with the SCI to the receiving entity. In other words, according to such an embodiment, a new destination ID is introduced that is used to reach the receiving entity through the relay. The transmitting entity uses this ID to address the receiving entity through the relay, which, as described above, maps the received new ID to the actual receiving entity ID for forwarding the transmission or message. According to an embodiment, the predefined destination information is one or more of the following: Virtual destination ID, A destination ID from a list or pool of configured or predefined destination IDs.

[0247] When a relay UE receives a virtual destination ID, the relay node may store a mapping of the virtual destination ID to one or more receiving entity destination IDs, e.g., if the destination ID changes. For example, this is the case when a V2X UE wants to transmit data to all RSUs. In this case, it transmits data to the virtual destination ID configured for the RSU, and the relay UE can forward the data to a "real" RSU ID or forward the data to multiple RSUs. Based on the virtual destination ID, the relay node can also change the cast type of the data it transmits, mapping traffic received as unicast on a particular virtual destination ID to a groupcast or broadcast message.

[0248] If the relay UE receives a destination ID that belongs to a pool of destination IDs, the relay UE may have a subset or pool of receiving entity destination IDs assigned by the network that correspond to the receiving entities that the relay UE manages. For example, the n LSBs of the receiving entity's destination ID may be assigned by the relay UE. Furthermore, the predefined value of the LSBs may be the relay ID itself. This can be seen in the sample pool of destination IDs, where the relay UE's LSBs are set to 000, the receiving entity A's LSBs are set to 001, and the receiving entity B's LSBs are set to 010. Relay UE: XXXXXXXX 000 Used by receiving entity A XXXXXXXX 001 Used by receiving entity B: XXXXXXXX 010

[0249] 21 illustrates an embodiment employing a predefined or new destination ID mapped at a relay node. The transmitting entity 402 transmits an SCI to the relay UE 400 over a first connection 406, the SCI including the new identity or destination information 470 mentioned above signaling to the relay UE 400 that a transmission associated with the SCI on the first connection 406 is to be relayed to the receiving entity 404. The relay UE 400 can perform a mapping function to map the new ID 470 received on the SCI on the first connection 406 to an actual RX ID 474 as shown at 472, and can use the actual RX ID 474 to relay the transmission associated with the SCI on the first connection 406 to the receiving entity 404 over the second connection 408. As shown in FIG. 21, the relay UE 400 may include a mapping to actual RX ID for various new IDs.

[0250] According to another embodiment, rather than performing a mapping as described above, the receiving entity 404 can provide a specific or new destination ID to be used by the transmitting entity when direct transmission is not possible or desired, and can relay the transmission using a relay node. FIG. 22 illustrates an embodiment of a receiving entity using a specific or new relay ID to be used by the transmitting entity when a transmission to the receiving entity is to be sent via a relay node. When considering a direct transmission from the transmitting entity 402 to the receiving entity 404, the actual or existing RX ID 474 is included in the SCI due to the direct side link connection 476 between the transmitting entity 402 and the receiving entity 404. As further shown, the actual RX ID 474 is not forwarded to the relay UE 400, rather the receiving entity 404 includes a new or predefined relay ID 470 for one or more receiving entities. The relay ID 470 may be stored in the relay UE, as shown at 480. If the transmission from the transmitting entity 402 is an indirect or relayed transmission, instead of using the actual RX ID 474, the transmitting entity 402 adopts a new relay ID 470 and the relay node 400, upon receiving the ID 470, recognizes that it is a relay ID stored at 480 and points to the receiving entity 404. The relay UE 400 forwards the transmission associated with the ID 470 to the receiving entity by the second connection 408. An advantage of this embodiment is that the new ID 470 is introduced by the receiving entity and the relay UE recognizes the new ID, and there is no need to change the ID at the relay node as in the embodiment described with reference to Figure 21, but rather the ID received at the relay node and identified to be associated with the receiving entity 404 is used to forward the transmission from the transmitting entity 402.

[0251] According to yet another embodiment, the SCI may include a specific HARQ process ID, also called HARQ process number. For example, the transmitting entity and the relay UE may negotiate a set of HARQ process IDs that are mapped to a specific destination ID associated with a specific receiving entity. When the relay UE receives a transmission for one of the negotiated HARQ process IDs or HARQ process numbers, e.g. by setting a field in the SCI to the HARQ process ID and transmitting the destination ID in the relay UE's SCI, the relay UE recognizes that the transmission associated with the SCI is the first transmission to be relayed. The relay UE forwards the transmission to the associated destination ID of the receiving entity that is mapped to the HARQ process ID or HARQ process number.

[0252] Differentiating traffic based on MAC header According to an embodiment, rather than introducing new physical layer signaling at the relay UE to distinguish between a first transmission and a second transmission, a transmission may be indicated as a first transmission or a second transmission in a MAC header that informs the relay UE that the transmission or data packet is to be relayed, i.e. that the relay UE is not the intended receiver, or that the transmission is intended for the relay UE. According to an embodiment, a dedicated logical relay channel (LRCH) may be provided that is used by the relay UE to relay the transmission. For example, upon receiving a MAC header that includes an indication that the transmission is a first transmission, i.e. that the transmission is not intended for the relay UE, the UE may place the transmission in a buffer or queue on the LRCH for transmission to the receiving entity. According to such an embodiment, the transmission or packet is treated from a physical layer perspective as a new transmission from the relay UE to the receiving entity.

[0253] According to another embodiment employing a MAC header for traffic differentiation, a Layer 2 (L2) identity of the destination or receiving entity may be used. If the MAC header contains the Layer 2 destination ID of the receiving entity, the relaying UE knows that the transmission associated with the MAC header is to be relayed to a given address or destination. According to another embodiment, the SCI received by the relaying UE contains destination information that indicates only the relaying UE 400, for example the destination or Layer 1 (L1) ID of the relaying UE. Figure 23 shows an embodiment employing an SCI containing the L1 destination ID of the relaying UE and a MAC header containing the L2 destination ID of the receiving entity. The transmitting entity 402 transmits a packet with an SCI containing the L1 destination of the relaying UE 400, and the relaying UE 400 knows on the physical layer that the transmission received from the transmitting UE is intended for the relaying UE. At the same time, the MAC header 1 contains the L2 destination, and the relaying UE 400 knows that the transmission is to be forwarded to the receiving entity 404. The relaying UE 400 transmits a packet to the RX UE 404 with an SCI containing the L1 destination ID of the RX UE and with a MAC header 2 containing the L2 destination ID of the RX UE.

[0254] According to another embodiment, if the transmission from the transmitting entity 402 to the receiving entity is to go through a relay node, a new or predefined L2 ID may be used for the receiving entity. In such an embodiment, the relay node 400 may perform the mapping of the L2 ID to an existing L2 ID of the receiving entity in the manner as described above with reference to FIG. 21.

[0255] According to another embodiment, when the physical layer or the MAC layer is used to signal the distinction of a transmission being a first transmission or a second transmission in a relaying UE, the control information comprises a parameter that is decremented or incremented upon transmission of the message by the UE, and the UE does not relay the message when a set or pre-configured value is reached, such as a duration (decrement) or a maximum number of relay hops (increment). If the UE does not relay the message, a failure indication may be sent to the transmitting entity and / or the network and / or one or more of the previous relaying UEs that received the packet.

[0256] Traffic differentiation based on a dedicated relay control channel - Patents.com According to an embodiment of the second aspect of the invention, another physical layer solution for the relay UE to differentiate traffic between the first and second transmission is to use another control channel, called Dedicated Relay Control Channel. According to an embodiment, if the transmitting entity or the receiving entity is a UE or a relay UE, the control channel may be called Relay PSCCH or R-PSCCH (Relay Physical Sidelink Control Channel). In the relay UE, any transmission for which associated control information is received or transmitted in the R-PSCCH is recognized as a first transmission to be relayed to the receiving entity. According to an embodiment, if the transmitting entity or the receiving entity is a network entity, the control channel may be called Relay Physical Downlink Control Channel (R-PDCCH). In the relay control channel R-PSCCH or R-PDCCH, the control information is transmitted within the relay control resources (R-CORESET) or relay search space (R-SearchSpace).

[0257] According to an embodiment, the dedicated relay control channel may be implemented as an additional channel in a sidelink resource pool, such as an NR V2X resource pool.

[0258] According to another embodiment, if the transmitting entity or receiving entity is a UE or a relay UE, the existing PSCCH may be reused to define a dedicated relay control channel, for example by defining some resource blocks (RBs) in the PSCCH to be used for control messages intended for relaying only, and the remaining resource blocks in the PSCCH to be used for normal transmission. For example, an independent search space configuration (R-SearchSpace) in the CORESET or R-CORESET defined in the resources of the PSCCH may be configured or pre-configured to be used only for relaying. According to another embodiment, a specific periodicity across frequencies may be defined for the PSCCH, and in each periodicity, all RBs in the PSCCH are used only for relay control messages. In other words, in the time interval defined by the periodicity, all RBs of the control channel are used only for control messages associated with relay transmission. In all other times or time slots, all RBs of the PSCCH are used only for normal transmission. According to yet another embodiment, the periodicity may not be applied to all RBs of the PSSCH, and only a selected number of RBs may be provided for control messages associated only with the relay at time or time slot intervals defined by the periodicity, and all remaining RBs may be used for normal transmission.

[0259] Thus, according to an embodiment using a dedicated relay control channel, data transmitted in a defined data channel such as PSSCH and associated with the control data transmitted on the R-PSCCH is recognized by the relay UE as a transmission or data to be relayed to the receiving entity. According to an embodiment, in response to obtaining the control data on the dedicated control channel, the relay UE may refrain from decoding the transmission or data packet. The relay UE may instead load the transmission or data into its buffer and transmit it to the desired receiving entity. According to an embodiment, the control message transmitted on the dedicated relay control channel may be an SCI as described in the above embodiment with respect to traffic differentiation based on SCI. An advantage of using a dedicated relay control channel is that the relay UE is freed from decoding the transmission or packet and bringing it to the upper layer, thereby ensuring privacy and avoiding potential privacy issues.

[0260] FIG. 24 illustrates an embodiment for implementing a dedicated relay control channel as described above. FIG. 24(a) illustrates an embodiment for implementing the relay control channel as an additional subchannel in a sidelink resource pool, such as the NR V2X resource pool. FIG. 24(a) illustrates a number of sidelink time slots or subframes f1 to f4. Each frame includes resources 482 selected from the sidelink resource pool used for sidelink transmissions. Each subframe may include a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) and a physical sidelink shared channel PSSCH for transmitting actual data associated with the control information in the PSCCH. According to an embodiment, the relay control channel may be defined in one or more of the frames f1 to f4 as an additional subchannel, as shown in FIG. 24(a) as an additional channel R-PSCCH.

[0261] Figure 24(b) shows an embodiment where the PSCCH is used as an R-PSCCH with a certain periodicity, where the periodicity is assumed to be two frames, where in frames 1 and 3 all resource blocks of the PSCCH are used for normal control transmissions, and in frames 2 and 4 all resource blocks of the PSCCH are used only for relay related transmissions.

[0262] Figure 24(c) shows an embodiment in which only a part of the resource blocks of the PSCCH are used for relay-related control information only with a certain periodicity. As in Figure 24(b), a two-frame periodicity is assumed, where in frames f1 and f3, all the resource blocks of the PSCCH are used for normal control transmissions, and in frames f2 and f4, a part of the resource blocks of the PSCCH are used for relay-related control information only.

[0263] It should be noted that the above two periodicities are merely examples, and any other periodicity may be selected. Also, the embodiments of Fig. 24(b) and Fig. 24(c) may be combined, for example, in Fig. 24(b), only a part of the resource blocks in frame f4 may be used for relay-related control information, and in frame f2, all of the resource blocks of the PSCCH may be used for relay-related control information.

[0264] Traffic differentiation with dedicated bandwidth portions According to an embodiment of the second aspect of the invention, another physical layer solution in the relaying UE to differentiate traffic between the first and second transmissions is to use a separate bandwidth portion, called a dedicated relay bandwidth portion (R-BWP), that is used only for transmissions related to control and / or data relaying. In response to receiving a transmission and / or control information associated with a transmission in the R-BWP, the UE determines the transmission to be a first transmission. According to an embodiment, the R-BWP may be used to send feedback for the relayed transmission.

[0265] The R-BWP may contain a Resource Pool (RP), which may contain control and data channels. Conventionally, there is only one active BWP where all configured RPs are defined and where all Uu and sidelink communication takes place. According to a second aspect of the invention, a separate BWP is introduced which is only meant for relaying.

[0266] Traffic differentiation through dedicated transit resource pools According to another embodiment, a separate resource pool is employed that is used exclusively for transmissions and / or receptions related to relaying control information and / or associated data. Thus, whenever a relay UE receives a transmission, i.e. control information and / or associated data, on resources of the dedicated resource pool, the relay UE knows that the transmission is the first transmission that needs to be relayed to the receiving entity. According to an embodiment, the R-RP may also be used to send feedback for the relayed transmission.

[0267] According to an embodiment, a relay resource pool (R-RP) may be defined in the bandwidth part (BWP) as a transmission pool together with other resource pools defined in Release 16, e.g. RX pool, TX pool for Mode 1 transmission, TX pool for Mode 2 transmission and TX exception pool for handover scenarios. For example, an additional relay resource pool (sl-TxPoolRelays-r17) may be defined using the SL-BWP-pool config information element, as shown at 484 in Fig. 25. According to an embodiment, the R-RP includes a first R-RP configured for UEs operating in Mode 1 and a second R-RP configured for UEs operating in Mode 2. This allows a network entity, such as a gNB acting as a transmitting entity, to control the resource allocation aspects of the Mode 1 R-RP. According to another embodiment, an R-RP is configured for UEs operating in Mode 1 and for UEs operating in Mode 2, and when a relay UE operates in Mode 1, it is expected to provide periodic congestion reports to a network entity such as a gNB so that the gNB can be aware of available resources in the R-RP. For example, if a common R-RP can be used, the gNB provides resource allocation support to relay UEs as in a normal RP, but requires congestion reports to know the resources used by Mode 2 UEs. According to another embodiment, the R-RP is defined within the BWP and includes one or more resource pools, such as one or more transmit or receive pools, one or more transmit relay resource pools (TX R-RPs), one or more receive relay resource pools (RX R-RPs) or one or more R-RPs occurring in both TX and RX.

[0268] When a transmitting entity wishes to perform a transmission or to send a packet that needs to be relayed to a receiving entity via a relay UE, the transmitting entity may perform the transmission using resources of the R-RP, e.g., control and / or data packets may be sent on the R-RP. The relay UE may receive the transmission on the R-RP and further transmit it to the receiving entity using its regular resource pool. In case of multi-hop relay, the relay UE transmits on the R-RP to another relay UE.

[0269] According to another embodiment, the definition of the R-RP may include a link quality threshold. The link quality threshold indicates the quality of the link between the transmitting entity and the receiving entity, and relaying may be adopted only when the quality on the link between the transmitting entity and the receiving entity falls below the threshold, and then the transmitting entity may use the R-RP for the transmission relayed to the receiving entity when received by the relay UE. In the case of multi-hop relaying, the link quality threshold indicates the quality of the link between the relay UE and the receiving entity, and the relay UE may transmit with the R-RP only when the quality on the link between the relay UE and the receiving entity falls below the threshold, and then the relay UE may use the R-RP for the transmission relayed to the receiving entity when received by another relay UE. In other words, when the link quality becomes bad, it switches from direct communication to relay-based communication. For example, in the case of mode 1, when a normal transmitting entity has a direct Uu link with a gNB, and when the link quality falls below a predefined threshold, the transmitting entity decides to use a relay UE (also called a UE-to-network relay system). Once the transmitting entity has made this decision, it transmits using resources in the R-RP, which the relay UE receives and then forwards the transmission to the gNB via a normal Uu. In the case of Mode 2, if the UE has a direct PC5 link with another UE, and the link quality deteriorates below a predefined threshold, the UE decides to use a relay UE (also called a UE-UE relay system). Once so decided, the UE transmits on resources of the R-RP, and the relay UE receives on the R-RP and forwards the transmission to the other UE using a normal RP, similar to normal SL communication. According to an embodiment, apart from defining an additional relay resource pool that can be used when the link quality between the transmitting entity and the receiving entity falls below a threshold, the remaining characteristics of the resource pool, such as defining the number of subchannels, bitmap indications, and mathematics, remain the same, with the control, data and feedback channels being maintained.

[0270] According to an embodiment, the resource pool configuration may be provided using a System Information Block (SIB) or via an RRC configuration transmitted by a RAN entity such as a base station, such that all UEs in the vicinity of the base station are aware of at least three main aspects: that the base station supports relaying, the threshold at which the transmitting entity can use the relay resource pool, i.e. switch to relay-based transmission, and the resources that constitute the R-RP. According to other embodiments, the resource pool configuration may be provided using control signaling in one or more control channels, e.g. PBCH, PDCCH, PDSCH.

[0271] According to an embodiment, the transmitting entity may use relayed or direct communication with the receiving entity depending on one or more of the following: the link quality between the transmitting entity and the receiving entity; the congestion state of the normal sidelink resource pool, e.g. if the congestion state of the normal sidelink resource pool is above a certain threshold, the transmitting entity may choose to transmit on the R-RP, or ● The distance between the transmitting entity and the receiving entity, measured as an actual distance or via a Zone ID, e.g., if the distance exceeds the minimum communication range, the transmitting entity may choose to transmit on the R-RP.

[0272] According to an embodiment, when a transmitting entity transmits on an R-RP, it may or may not select a particular destination relay UE. For example, if the packet is broadcast and the intention of the transmission is coverage extension, any relay node or relay UE in the network receiving the transmission on the R-RP may relay the transmission. According to another embodiment, if the transmission is a groupcast or unicast transmission, the transmitting entity may transmit the transmission to any relay UE on the R-RP that is expected to transmit to the intended receiving entity. In this case, the transmitting entity is not burdened with selecting a relay UE and any relay UE that receives this transmission that reaches the receiving entity may perform relay operations for the transmitting entity. This means that there is no change in the current functionality of SL, except for the fact that the transmitting entity must transmit on the R-RP. According to another embodiment, if the transmission is a groupcast or unicast transmission, the transmitting entity may transmit the transmission to one or more specific relay UEs on the R-RP that are expected to transmit to the intended receiving entity. The transmitting entity may select one or more particular relaying UEs based on one or more of their ability to transmit at power above a set or pre-configured power threshold, e.g., higher power to cover a larger area, or whether their battery condition is above a set or pre-configured threshold, or whether they support a particular service, such as Public Protection and Disaster Relief (PPDR) service or vehicle safety service.

[0273] The just described embodiment is advantageous because the transmitting entity does not always need to select a particular relay UE. If the transmitting entity needs to select a particular relay UE, it can do so based on known criteria such as the location of the relay UE, the moving speed of the relay UE, the supported services of the relay UE, the configuration of the relay UE (e.g., supported bandwidth, transmission power, antenna configuration), the security level of the relay UE (e.g., the transmitting entity uses the relay UE only if it is authenticated for a particular trusted service or service flow). According to the embodiment, the information whether a particular relay UE is selected or not is implicitly conveyed by the Destination ID parameter in the SCI. For example, if the Destination ID parameter in the SCI is not specified, e.g., left blank, set to a null value, or set to a default value, this indicates to the relay UE that the transmitting entity has not selected any particular relay UE. Thus, a relay UE receiving a transmission is expected to decode the transmission and relay it to the intended receiving entity defined in the Final Destination ID in the SCI. On the other hand, if the Destination ID is explicitly specified in the SCI, only the relay UE whose ID is specified is expected to decode the packet and relay it towards the receiving entity specified in the Final Destination ID parameter in the SCI.

[0274] According to the above described embodiments using a relay resource pool, the relay UE knows that any transmission it receives on the relay resource pool is meant to be forwarded or relayed to another UE, and details of which UE the transmission is forwarded to may be provided in the SCI, e.g. using the SCI as described in the above described embodiments with reference to traffic differentiation based on the received SCI.

[0275] According to another embodiment, when using an R-RP, a feedback channel may also be defined. For example, the R-RP configuration may further include the periodicity of the feedback channel resources, such as the Physical Sidelink Feedback Channel (PSFCH) resources, in number of time slots. If no feedback channel is provided, the periodicity may be set to a zero value. A transmitting entity intending unicast or groupcast transmission with feedback enabled may use an R-RP with PSFCH enabled, and a transmitting entity making unicast or groupcast transmission or broadcast transmission with feedback disabled may use an R-RP with PSFCH disabled. The resources of the PSFCH may be used for a given transmission of the PSSCH, and to maintain this association, according to an embodiment, the relay UE may use the PSFCH as follows: ● If a transmission from the transmitting entity to the relaying UE fails, the relaying UE may send a NACK to the transmitting entity requesting a retransmission. If the transmission from the transmitting entity to the relay UE is successful, o Only after the UE has received successful feedback from the receiving entity does it send an ACK and the relay UE may provide global HARQ feedback of the transmission from the transmitting entity to the receiving entity to the transmitting entity, e.g. in the manner as described above with reference to the first aspect of the invention. In other words, any of the above described embodiments for global feedback provided according to the first aspect of the invention may also be employed in embodiments using a dedicated relay resource pool, or ○ The UE may provide overall HARQ feedback of the transmission from the transmitting entity to the receiving entity to the transmitting entity, e.g. in the manner described above with reference to the first aspect of the invention, by sending a first ACK after the UE has received a transmission from the transmitting entity and a second ACK after the UE has received successful feedback from the receiving entity.

[0276] According to another embodiment, the feedback option may be disabled, for example, if the transmission is a broadcast transmission or if the packet is broadcast. In this case, the feedback option is disabled since no relay UEs are selected by the transmitting entity and the transmitting entity may otherwise receive multiple feedbacks from different relay UEs for the same packet. Since multiple relay UEs can broadcast the transmission, the transmitting entity may receive multiple feedbacks for the same transmission, but this is not necessary since the purpose of the broadcast transmission is to reach as many UEs as possible for coverage extension. The transmission of feedback by each relay entity may unnecessarily occupy feedback resources, e.g. frequency resources or processing resources, in the relay UEs and the transmitting entity.

[0277] According to another embodiment employing a dedicated relay resource pool, other relay UEs may decode the transmission or packet, e.g., for higher layer optimization. If the destination ID of the receiving entity is included in the MAC header, the relay UE may choose to decode the packet. Also, the cast type of the transmission may be changed, e.g., if the transmission from the transmitting entity to the relay UE is a broadcast transmission and the transmission from the relay UE to the receiving entity must be a unicast or groupcast transmission. The relay UE then transmits the packet to the intended receiving entity on the normal transmission pool instead of the relay resource pool, so that the receiving entity knows that the transmission is intended for the receiving entity and will not be relayed. However, in case of a multi-hop relay system, the first relay may use the R-RP to transmit to other relay UEs, which may know to further relay the transmission.

[0278] In the above-mentioned embodiments employing a dedicated relay sidelink control channel (R-BWP or R-RP), the dedicated relay sidelink control channel (R-BWP and / or R-RP) may be in a spectrum or frequency range different from the spectrum or frequency range in which the second transmission is transmitted or received. By defining a relay dedicated control channel, the R-RP or R-BWP can decouple the resources used for relaying from the macrocells spanned by the gNB, thereby reducing interference between both types of cells. This allows the relay UE to search and receive relay related transmissions only in the defined frequency range. There is no need to search all frequencies with a mix of relay related and non-relay related control information in the SL control, R-RP or R-BWP. If the relay UE wants to save power, it can decide not to receive on this frequency, effectively switching off as a relay UE. Furthermore, a higher carrier frequency may be selected for the relay link since in general the relay node or relay UE is closer to the remote UE, i.e. there is less path loss. This increases the possibility of frequency reuse and can also free up resources in other cells, e.g. macrocells.

[0279] According to another embodiment of the second aspect of the present invention, the relay UE, when receiving the control information associated with the transmission, If the Destination ID parameter indicating the UE is left blank, set to a null value, or set to a default value, and a Destination ID parameter indicating a receiving entity is specified, or In the case of composite destination information indicating both a UE and a receiving entity, if the destination ID parameter indicating the UE is left blank, set to a null value or set to a default value, and a destination ID parameter indicating the receiving entity is specified, The UE receives the transmission in a broadcast manner and transmits to the intended receiving entities in a unicast or groupcast manner.

[0280] In other words, if the relay UE only receives the destination ID of the RX UE in the control information, but does not receive the relay specific destination ID, it will receive in a broadcast manner but transmit in a unicast manner or a group cast manner according to a specific RX UE ID or a specific group ID.

[0281] According to yet another embodiment of the second aspect of the present invention, the relay UE, when receiving the control information associated with the transmission, A destination ID parameter is specified indicating a UE and a destination ID parameter is specified indicating a receiving entity, or In the case of composite destination information indicating both a UE and a receiving entity, if a destination ID parameter indicating the UE is specified and a destination ID parameter indicating the receiving entity is specified, The UE receives transmissions in a groupcast or unicast manner and sends transmissions to intended receiving entities in a unicast or groupcast manner.

[0282] In other words, when the relay UE receives not only the destination ID of the RX UE but also the relay specific destination ID in the control information, it receives in a unicast manner or a groupcast manner (depending on whether the relay destination ID is a specific relay UE ID or a specific relay group ID), but transmits in a unicast manner or a groupcast manner with the specific RX UE ID or the specific group ID.

[0283] general Although each aspect and embodiment of the inventive approach has been described separately, it should be noted that each aspect / embodiment may be practiced independently of the others, or some or all aspects / embodiments may be combined. Furthermore, the embodiments described hereinafter may be used with each aspect / embodiment described previously.

[0284] Multi-hop relay In the above described embodiment, the end-to-end communication between the transmitting entity and the receiving entity is via a single relay which forwards feedback from the receiving entity and / or differentiates traffic as described above. However, the invention is not limited to such an embodiment, but rather, according to alternative embodiments, the end-to-end communication between the transmitting entity and the receiving entity may be via multiple relays, also referred to as a set of relay UEs or a chain of relay UEs.

[0285] 26 illustrates an embodiment in which communication between a transmitting entity 402 and a receiving entity 404 uses N relays 400 (N≧2). Each relay layer includes a number of relay devices 1 through m, such as relay UEs. Each relay layer 4861 through 486 N may include the same number of relay UEs, or the relay layers 4861 to 486 N Some or all of the UEs may include a different number of relay UEs. The receiving entity 404 may connect to a relay in the first relay layer 4861, and the transmitting entity 402 may connect to a relay in the relay layer 486. N27 shows an embodiment employing N=2 relay layers for end-to-end communication between the transmitting entity 402 and the receiving entity 404. The first relay layer 4861 may include n UE relays 400. The transmitting entity 402 may be connectable to a second relay layer 4862, which may include m UE relays 400. According to an embodiment, each relay layer 4861, 4862 may have the same number of relays (n=m). According to other embodiments, the number of relays in each relay layer 4861, 4862 may be different, i.e. n≠m. The respective relays in the different relay layers 4861, 4862 may be connected to each other as shown diagrammatically at 566. Some or all of the relays of the first relay layer 4861 may be connected to some or all of the relays of the second relay layer 4862. Each repeater in the tier forwards feedback from the receiving entity 404 and / or differentiates traffic as described in detail above with reference to the first and second aspects of the invention.

[0286] Although embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above, each embodiment and aspect may be implemented individually or two or more embodiments and aspects may be implemented in combination. In other words, any of the embodiments of the first aspect described above relating to providing global feedback from a receiving entity to a transmitting entity via one or more repeaters may be combined with any of the embodiments of the second aspect described above relating to traffic differentiation at one or more repeaters.

[0287] general According to an embodiment, the wireless communication system may include a terrestrial network, or a non-terrestrial network, or a network or segment of a network that uses airborne or satellite vehicles or a combination thereof as a receiver.

[0288] According to embodiments of the invention, user devices include one or more of the following: power-limited UEs, or handheld UEs such as UEs used by pedestrians, referred to as Vulnerable Roadway Users (VRUs), or Pedestrian UEs (P-UEs), or on-body or handheld UEs used by public safety personnel and first responders, referred to as Public Safety UEs (PS-UEs), or IoT A UE, for example a sensor, actuator, or a mobile terminal provided in a campus network to perform repetitive tasks and that periodically requires input from a gateway node, or a UE serving a fixed terminal, or a Cellular IoT-UE, or a vehicular UE, or a Vehicle Group Leader (GL) UE, or a Sidelink Relay, or an IoT or Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) device, or a wearable device such as a smart watch or a fitness tracker or smart glasses, or a ground-based vehicle, or an airborne vehicle, or a drone, or a mobile base station, or a Roadside Unit (RSU), or a building, or any other item or device provided with network connectivity capable of communicating using a wireless communications network, for example a sensor or actuator, or any other item or device provided with network connectivity capable of communicating using a sidelink of a wireless communications network, for example a sensor or actuator, or any sidelink capable network entity.

[0289] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the network entity includes one or more of the following: a macro cell base station, or a small cell base station, or a central unit of a base station, or a distributed unit of a base station, or a roadside unit (RSU), or a remote radio head, or an AMF, or an MME, or an SMF, or a core network entity, or a Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) entity, or a network slice in an NR or 5G core context, or any Transmission / Reception Point (TRP) for enabling an item or device to communicate using a wireless communication network, where the item or device is provided with network connectivity.

[0290] Although some aspects of the described concepts have been described in the context of an apparatus, it will be apparent that these aspects also represent descriptions of corresponding methods in which blocks or devices correspond to method steps or features of method steps. Similarly, aspects described in the context of a method step also represent descriptions of corresponding blocks or items or features of corresponding apparatus.

[0291] Various elements and features of the invention may be implemented in hardware using analog and / or digital circuitry, in software through execution of instructions by one or more general-purpose or special-purpose processors, or as a combination of hardware and software. For example, embodiments of the invention may be implemented in the environment of a computer system or another processing system. FIG. 28 shows an example of a computer system 500. The units or modules, as well as the steps of the methods performed by these units, may be executed on one or more computer systems 500. The computer system 500 includes one or more processors 502, such as special-purpose or general-purpose digital signal processors. The processors 502 are connected to a communication infrastructure 504, such as a bus or a network. The computer system 500 includes a main memory 506, such as a random access memory (RAM), and a secondary memory 508, such as a hard disk drive and / or a removable storage drive. The secondary memory 508 may allow computer programs or other instructions to be loaded into the computer system 500. The computer system 500 may further include a communication interface 510 to allow software and data to be transferred between the computer system 500 and external devices. The communications may be by electronic, electromagnetic, optical, or other signals capable of being processed by the communications interface. Communications may use wire or cable, fiber optics, phone lines, cellular phone links, RF links, and other communications channels 512.

[0292] The terms "computer program medium" and "computer readable medium" are generally used to refer to tangible storage media, such as a removable storage unit or a hard disk installed in a hard disk drive. These computer program products are a means for providing software to the computer system 500. Computer programs, also called computer control logic, are stored in the main memory 506 and / or the secondary memory 508. Computer programs may also be received via the communication interface 510. The computer programs, when executed, enable the computer system 500 to perform the present invention. In particular, the computer programs, when executed, enable the processor 502 to perform the processes of the present invention, such as any of the methods described herein. Such computer programs may therefore represent the controller of the computer system 500. When the present disclosure is implemented using software, the software may be stored in a computer program product and loaded into the computer system 500 using an interface, such as a removable storage device, the communication interface 510, or the like.

[0293] The implementation in hardware or software can be done using a digital storage medium, such as a floppy disk, DVD, Blue-Ray, CD, ROM, PROM, EPROM, EEPROM or FLASH memory having electronically readable control signals stored thereon, which cooperates or can cooperate with a programmable computer system such that the respective method is executed. The digital storage medium may therefore be computer readable.

[0294] Some embodiments according to the invention comprise a data carrier having an electronically readable control signal, the data carrier being capable of cooperating with a programmable computer system to perform one of the methods described herein.

[0295] In general, embodiments of the present invention can be implemented as a computer program product having program code operable to perform one of the methods when the computer program product is run on a computer. The program code may for example be stored on a machine readable carrier.

[0296] Other embodiments comprise the computer program stored on a machine readable carrier for performing one of the methods described herein. In other words, an embodiment of the inventive method is, therefore, a computer program having a program code for performing one of the methods described herein, when the computer program runs on a computer.

[0297] Therefore, another embodiment of the inventive method is a data carrier or digital recording medium or a computer readable medium comprising a computer program recorded thereon for performing one of the methods described herein. Another embodiment of the inventive method is a data stream or a sequence of signals representing the computer program for performing one of the methods described herein. The data stream or the sequence of signals may for example be arranged to be transferred via a data communication connection, for example the Internet. Another embodiment comprises a processing means, for example a computer, or a programmable logic device, configured or adapted to perform one of the methods described herein. Another embodiment comprises a computer having installed thereon a computer program for performing one of the methods described herein.

[0298] In some embodiments, a programmable logic device, such as a field programmable gate array, may be used to perform some or all of the functionality of the methods described herein. In some embodiments, a field programmable gate array may cooperate with a microprocessor to perform one of the methods described herein. In general, the methods are preferably performed by any hardware apparatus.

[0299] The above-described embodiments are merely illustrative of the principles of the present invention. It is understood that modifications and variations of the arrangements and details described herein will be apparent to those skilled in the art. It is therefore intended to be limited only by the scope of the appended claims, and not by the specific details presented in the description and explanation of the embodiments herein.

Claims

[Claim 1] A user device (UE) for a wireless communications network, comprising: the UE is adapted to operate as a relay entity to provide functionality supporting connectivity between a transmitting entity and one or more receiving entities of the wireless communication network; and in response to receiving a transmission from the transmitting entity and relaying the transmission towards the receiving entity, the UE is adapted to transmit feedback to the transmitting entity, the feedback indicating successful and / or unsuccessful reception of the transmission by the receiving entity. User Device (UE).

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