Terminal identification for communications using relay terminal devices - Patents.com

Abstract

A first terminal device connects with a second terminal device via at least one third terminal device acting as a relay between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. The first terminal device determines identification information for identifying the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device on a link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. The first terminal device allocates the determined identification information to at least one corresponding hop on the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE Embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to communications, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for communications using a relay terminal device. [Background technology]

[0002] This section introduces aspects that may facilitate a better understanding of the present disclosure. Accordingly, the statements in this section are to be read in this light and not understood as admissions about what is in the prior art or what is not in the prior art.

[0003] For Release 16 (Rel.16), sidelink transmissions over New Radio (NR) are specified. These are an extension of the Proximity Based Services (ProSe) specified for long term evolution (LTE). Four new extensions are introduced specifically for NR sidelink transmissions:

[0004] First, support for unicast and groupcast transmissions is added in the NR sidelink. For unicast and groupcast, a physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH) is introduced for the receiver user equipment (UE) to return the decoding status to the transmitter UE. Second, to improve latency performance, grant-free communication, which is adopted in the NR uplink transmission, is also provided in the NR sidelink transmission. Third, to mitigate resource collisions between different sidelink transmissions launched by different UEs, it enhances the channel sensing procedure and resource selection procedure, which also leads to a new design of the physical sidelink common control channel (PSCCH). Fourth, to achieve high connection density, congestion control, and therefore quality of service (QoS) management, is supported in the NR sidelink transmission.

[0005] To enable the above enhancements, new physical channels and reference signals are introduced in NR (previously available in LTE). One of the new physical channels is the Physical Sidelink Shared Channel (PSSCH), which is a sidelink (SL) version of the Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH). The PSSCH is transmitted by a sidelink transmitter UE, which carries sidelink transmission data, a system information block (SIB) for radio resource control (RRC) configuration, and part of the sidelink control information (SCI). Another one of the new physical channels is the PSFCH. The PSFCH is transmitted by a sidelink receiver UE for unicast and groupcast, which carries one bit of information on one resource block (RB) for hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) acknowledgement (ACK) and negative ACK (NACK). In addition, channel state information (CSI) is carried in the medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) on the PSSCH instead of the PSFCH. Another one of the new physical channels is the PSCCH, which is an SL version of the Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH). When traffic to be sent to the receiver UE arrives at the transmitter UE, the transmitter UE should first send the PSCCH, which conveys part of the sidelink control information (SCI, the SL version of the downlink control information (DCI)) to be decoded by any UE for channel sensing purposes, including reserved time-frequency resources for transmission, demodulation reference signal (DMRS) pattern and antenna ports, etc.

[0006] One of the new reference signals is the sidelink primary synchronization signal / secondary synchronization signal (S-PSS / S-SSS). Similar to downlink transmission in NR, primary and secondary synchronization signals (referred to as S-PSS and S-SSS, respectively) are supported in sidelink transmission. Through detecting the S-PSS and S-SSS, the UE can identify the sidelink synchronization identity (SSID) from the UE sending the S-PSS / S-SSS. Through detecting the S-PSS / S-SSS, the UE can thus know the characteristics of the UE sending the S-PSS / S-SSS. The series of processes of acquiring timing and frequency synchronization along with the UE's SSID is called initial cell search. It should be noted that the UE sending the S-PSS / S-SSS may not necessarily be involved in the sidelink transmission, and the node sending the S-PSS / S-SSS (UE or evolved Node B (eNB) or next generation Node B (gNB)) is called the synchronization source. There are 2 S-PSS sequences and 336 S-SSS sequences making a total of 672 SSIDs in the cell.

[0007] Another one of the new physical channels is the Physical Sidelink Broadcast Channel (PSBCH). The PSBCH is transmitted together with the S-PSS / S-SSS as a synchronization signal / PSBCH block (SSB). The SSB has the same numerology as the PSCCH / PSSCH on that carrier, and the SSB should be transmitted within the bandwidth of the configured Bandwidth Partition (BWP). The PSBCH conveys information related to synchronization, such as the Direct Frame Number (DFN), an indication of slot and symbol level time resources for sidelink transmissions, and an in-coverage indicator. The SSB is transmitted periodically every 160 ms.

[0008] Some of the new reference signals are DMRS, Phase Tracking Reference Signal (PT-RS), and Channel State Information Reference Signal (CSIRS). These physical reference signals supported by NR downlink / uplink transmissions are also adopted by sidelink transmissions. Similarly, PT-RS is only applicable to Frequency Range 2 (FR2) transmissions.

[0009] Another new feature is the two-stage Sidelink Control Information (SCI). This is a version of DCI for SL. Unlike DCI, only a part of the SCI (first stage) is sent on the PSCCH. This part (including reserved time-frequency resources for transmission, DMRS pattern and antenna ports, etc.) is used for channel sensing purposes and can be read by all UEs, while the remaining (second stage) scheduling and control information, such as 8-bit source identification (ID) and 16-bit destination ID, new data indicator (NDI), redundancy version (RV) and HARQ process ID, is sent on the PSSCH to be decoded by the receiver UE.

[0010] Similar to ProSe in LTE, NR sidelink transmission has two modes of resource allocation: In the first mode (Mode 1), sidelink resources are scheduled by the gNB. In the second mode (Mode 2), the UE autonomously selects sidelink resources from (one or more) (pre-)configured sidelink resource pools based on a channel sensing mechanism. For in-coverage UEs, the gNB may be configured to employ Mode 1 or Mode 2. For out-of-coverage UEs, only Mode 2 may be employed.

[0011] As in LTE, scheduling over the sidelink in NR is performed differently for Mode 1 and Mode 2. Mode 1 supports two types of grants. The first type of grant is a dynamic grant. When traffic to be sent over the sidelink arrives at the transmitter UE, the UE should launch a four-message exchange procedure (Scheduling Request (SR) on the uplink (UL), Grant, Buffer Status Report (BSR) on the UL, Grant for data on SL sent to the UE) to request sidelink resources from the gNB. During the resource request procedure, the gNB may assign a Sidelink Radio Network Temporary Identifier (SL-RNTI) to the transmitter UE. If this sidelink resource request is granted by the gNB, the gNB indicates the resource allocation for PSCCH and PSSCH in the Downlink Control Information (DCI) carried by the PDCCH with a Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) scrambled with the SL-RNTI. When the transmitter UE receives such DCI, it can obtain the grant only if the scrambled CRC of the DCI can be successfully resolved by the allocated SL-RNTI. The transmitter UE then indicates the time-frequency resources and transmission scheme of the allocated PSSCH in the PSCCH and launches the PSCCH and PSSCH on the allocated resources for sidelink transmission. When the grant is obtained from the gNB, the transmitter UE can transmit only a single transport block (TB). As a result, this type of grant is suitable for traffic with loose latency requirements.

[0012] The second type of grant is a configured grant. For traffic with strict latency requirements, performing a four-message exchange procedure to request sidelink resources may induce unacceptable latency. In this case, prior to traffic arrival, the transmitter UE may perform a four-message exchange procedure and request a set of resources. If a grant can be obtained from the gNB, the requested resources are reserved in a periodic manner. Once the traffic arrives at the transmitter UE, the UE can launch PSCCH and PSSCH on the upcoming resource occasion. In effect, this type of grant is also known as grant-free communication.

[0013] In both dynamic and configured grants, the sidelink receiver UE cannot receive the DCI (because the DCI is addressed to the transmitter UE), and therefore the receiver UE should perform blind decoding to identify the presence of the PSCCH and find the resources for the PSSCH through the SCI. When the transmitter UE launches the PSCCH, the CRC is also inserted in the SCI without scrambling.

[0014] In Mode 2 resource allocation, when traffic arrives at the transmitter UE, the transmitter UE should autonomously select resources for PSCCH and PSSCH. To further minimize the latency of feedback HARQ ACK / NACK transmission and subsequent retransmission, the transmitter UE may also reserve resources for PSCCH / PSSCH for retransmission. To further enhance the probability of successful TB decoding in one shot and thus suppress the probability of performing retransmission, the transmitter UE may repeat TB transmission along with the initial TB transmission. This mechanism is also known as blind retransmission. As a result, when traffic arrives at the transmitter UE, the transmitter UE should select resources for the following transmissions: 1) PSSCH associated with PSCCH for initial transmission and blind retransmission, and 2) PSSCH associated with PSCCH for retransmission.

[0015] Since each transmitter UE in a sidelink transmission should autonomously select resources for said transmission, it turns out that how to prevent different transmitter UEs from selecting the same resources is an important issue in Mode 2. Therefore, a specific resource selection procedure is imposed for Mode 2 based on channel sensing. The channel sensing algorithm involves measuring Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) on different subchannels and requires knowledge of different UE power levels of DMRS on PSSCH or DMRS on PSCCH depending on the configuration. This information is known only after the receiver SCI has been launched by (all) other UEs. The sensing and selection algorithm is somewhat complex. Summary of the Invention

[0016] This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter.

[0017] One of the objectives of the present disclosure is to provide an improved solution for communication using relay terminal devices. In particular, one of the problems to be solved by the present disclosure is that existing solutions for UE-network relays cannot be reused for UE-to-UE relays, and thus there is a need for a new solution for UE-to-UE relays.

[0018] According to a first aspect of the present disclosure, a method is provided that is implemented by a first terminal device. The first terminal device may connect with a second terminal device via at least one third terminal device that serves as a relay between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. The method may include determining, for the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device, identification information for identifying the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device on a link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. The method may further include allocating the determined identification information to at least one corresponding hop on the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device.

[0019] In this manner, the identity can be used to effect secure communications over the link.

[0020] The identification information may have the purpose of being applied during and / or after the procedure for link establishment, which in some scenarios may fail.

[0021] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, allocating the determined identity may include transmitting a timestamp or a prohibition timer associated with the identity to a terminal device on at least one corresponding hop. The timestamp may indicate when the identity was determined, and the prohibition timer may indicate a predetermined period of time during which the identity should not be updated.

[0022] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the method may further include determining whether the identification information needs to be updated. When determining that the identification information needs to be updated, the determining of the identification information and the allocating of the identification information may be performed again.

[0023] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the method may further include detecting a conflict between the identification information of at least two different terminal devices based on a transmission initiated by one or more neighboring terminal devices of the first terminal device. The method may further include notifying one or more neighboring terminal devices or base stations of the detected conflict.

[0024] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the identification information of the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device may be determined in one or more of the following manners, namely, based on a Layer 2 (L2) identifier (ID) of the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device, in a random manner, and based on a predetermined mathematical function.

[0025] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the identification information of the first terminal device / second terminal device may be determined to be in a one-to-one mapping to the L2 ID of the first terminal device / second terminal device.

[0026] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the first terminal device may be a source terminal device. Determining the identification information may include determining a first temporary ID of the first terminal device. The first temporary ID of the first terminal device should be used while a link between the first terminal device / second terminal device and one of the at least one third terminal device is established.

[0027] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the first terminal device may be a destination terminal device. Determining the identification information may include determining a first temporary ID of the second terminal device. The first temporary ID of the second terminal device should be used while a link between the second terminal device / first terminal device and one of the at least one third terminal device is established.

[0028] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the first terminal device may be a source terminal device or a destination terminal device. Determining the identification information may include determining a second temporary ID of the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device. The second temporary ID of the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device should be used after a link between the first terminal device / second terminal device and one of the at least one third terminal device is established.

[0029] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the second temporary ID of the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device may be valid for the entire link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device.

[0030] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, allocating the determined identification information may include transmitting, to at least one of a third terminal device and the second terminal device, the determined identification information and an ID that identifies a link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device.

[0031] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the method may further include receiving a response message from the second terminal device in response to allocating the identification information. When the response message indicates a rejection of the identification information of the second terminal device, determining the identification information and allocating the identification information may be performed again for the second terminal device.

[0032] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the second temporary ID of the first terminal device may be valid for a hop between the first terminal device and one of the at least one third terminal device.

[0033] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, allocating the determined identification information may include transmitting the determined identification information of the first terminal device to one of the at least one third terminal device.

[0034] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the first terminal device may be a destination terminal device. The method may further include, in response to receiving a direct communication request (DCR) message, determining whether the DCR message includes an identification information of the second terminal device. The method may further include determining that the DCR message was sent from the second terminal device via one of the at least one third terminal device when the DCR message includes the identification information of the second terminal device. The method may further include determining that the DCR message was sent directly from the second terminal device when the DCR message does not include the identification information of the second terminal device.

[0035] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the determined identification information may be allocated by one or more of Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling, PC5 signaling (PC5-S) signaling, discovery signaling, a Medium Access Control (MAC) control element (CE), a Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP) or Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) or Radio Link Control (RLC) or an adaptation layer control protocol data unit (PDU), and Layer 1 (L1) signaling.

[0036] According to a second aspect of the present disclosure, a method is provided that is implemented by a third terminal device. The third terminal device may act as a relay between a first terminal device and a second terminal device. The method may include determining, for the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device, an identification information for identifying the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device on a link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. The method may further include allocating the determined identification information to at least one corresponding hop on the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device.

[0037] In this manner, the identity can be used to effect secure communications over the link.

[0038] The identification information may have the purpose of being applied during and / or after the procedure for link establishment, which in some scenarios may fail.

[0039] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, allocating the determined identity may include transmitting a timestamp or a prohibition timer associated with the identity to a terminal device on at least one corresponding hop. The timestamp may indicate when the identity was determined, and the prohibition timer may indicate a predetermined period of time during which the identity should not be updated.

[0040] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the method may further include determining whether the identification information needs to be updated. When determining that the identification information needs to be updated, the determining of the identification information and the allocating of the identification information may be performed again.

[0041] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the method may further include detecting a conflict between the identification information of at least two different terminal devices based on a transmission initiated by one or more neighboring terminal devices of the third terminal device. The method may further include notifying one or more neighboring terminal devices or a base station of the detected conflict.

[0042] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the method may further include maintaining a mapping between an identification information of the first terminal device / second terminal device applied on an ingress hop of the third terminal device and an identification information of the first terminal device / second terminal device applied on an egress hop of the third terminal device.

[0043] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the identification information of the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device may be determined in one or more of the following manners, namely, based on the L2 ID of the third terminal device, in a random manner, and based on a predetermined mathematical function.

[0044] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the identification information of the first terminal device / second terminal device may be determined to be in a one-to-one mapping to the L2 ID of the first terminal device / second terminal device.

[0045] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the first terminal device may be a source terminal device. Determining the identification information may include determining a first temporary ID of the first terminal device. The first temporary ID of the first terminal device should be used while the link between the first terminal device and the third terminal device is established.

[0046] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the second terminal device may be a source terminal device. Determining the identification information may include determining a first temporary ID of the second terminal device. The first temporary ID of the second terminal device should be used while the link between the second terminal device and the third terminal device is established.

[0047] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the method may further include, in response to receiving the DCR message from the source terminal device, sending another DCR message on behalf of the source terminal device, the DCR message including the first temporary ID of the source terminal device.

[0048] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the first terminal device may be a source terminal device or a destination terminal device. Determining the identification information may include determining a second temporary ID of the first terminal device and the second terminal device. The second temporary ID of the first terminal device and the second terminal device should be used after the link between the first terminal device / second terminal device and the third terminal device is established.

[0049] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the second temporary IDs of the first terminal device and the second terminal device may be valid for the entire link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device.

[0050] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, allocating the determined identification information may include transmitting the determined identification information and an ID identifying the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device to other terminal devices on the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device.

[0051] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, a different second temporary ID of the first terminal device may be determined for each hop on the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. A different second temporary ID of the second terminal device may be determined for each hop on the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device.

[0052] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, allocating the determined identification information may include transmitting to a terminal device on each hop the identification information of the first terminal device and the second terminal device determined for the hop and an ID identifying the hop.

[0053] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the method may further include receiving a response message from the first terminal device / second terminal device in response to allocating the identification information. When the response message indicates a rejection of the identification information of the first terminal device / second terminal device, determining the identification information and allocating the identification information may be performed again for the first terminal device / second terminal device.

[0054] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the determined identification information may be allocated by one or more of RRC signaling, PC5-S signaling, discovery signaling, MAC CE, SDAP or PDCP or RLC or adaptation layer control PDU, and L1 signaling.

[0055] According to a third aspect of the present disclosure, a method is provided that is implemented by a manager terminal device. The manager terminal device may be under the coverage of a base station and may be one of a first terminal device, a second terminal device, and at least one third terminal device that serves as a relay between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. The method may include reporting information about a link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device to the base station. The method may further include receiving, from the base station, identification information of the first terminal device and the second terminal device for identifying the first terminal device and the second terminal device on the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. The method may further include allocating the determined identification information to a corresponding hop on the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device.

[0056] In this manner, the identity can be used to effect secure communications over the link.

[0057] The identification information may have the purpose of being applied during and / or after the procedure for link establishment, which in some scenarios may fail.

[0058] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, information regarding the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device may include one or more of the number of hops on the link, the L2 ID of the first terminal device, the L2 ID of the second terminal device, and if the number of the at least one third terminal device is two or more, the L2 ID of the (one or more) remaining third terminal device, the Uu ID of the first terminal device, the Uu ID of the second terminal device, and if the number of the at least one third terminal device is two or more, the Uu ID of the (one or more) remaining third terminal device, and whether the identification information is valid at a per-hop level or an end-to-end level.

[0059] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, information regarding the link may be reported or the identification information may be received by one or more of RRC signaling, MAC CE, paging message, SDAP or PDCP or RLC or adaptation layer control PDU, and L1 signaling.

[0060] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the method may further include providing user data and forwarding the user data to the host computer via transmission to the base station.

[0061] According to a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, a method implemented by a base station is provided. The base station connects with a manager terminal device, which may be one of a first terminal device, a second terminal device, and at least one third terminal device acting as a relay between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. The method may include receiving information about a link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device from the manager terminal device. The method may further include determining, for the first terminal device and the second terminal device, identification information for identifying the first terminal device and the second terminal device on the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. The method may further include allocating the determined identification information to the manager terminal device.

[0062] In this manner, the identity can be used to effect secure communications over the link.

[0063] The identification information may have the purpose of being applied during and / or after the procedure for link establishment, which in some scenarios may fail.

[0064] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, information regarding the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device may include one or more of the number of hops on the link, the L2 ID of the first terminal device, the L2 ID of the second terminal device, and if the number of the at least one third terminal device is two or more, the L2 ID of the (one or more) remaining third terminal device, the Uu ID of the first terminal device, the Uu ID of the second terminal device, and if the number of the at least one third terminal device is two or more, the Uu ID of the (one or more) remaining third terminal device, and whether the identification information is valid at a per-hop level or an end-to-end level.

[0065] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, allocating the determined identity may include transmitting to the manager terminal device a timestamp or a prohibition timer associated with the identity, The timestamp may indicate when the identity was determined, and the prohibition timer may indicate a predetermined period of time during which the identity should not be updated.

[0066] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the method may further include determining whether the identification information needs to be updated. When determining that the identification information needs to be updated, the determining of the identification information and the allocating of the identification information may be performed again.

[0067] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the method may further include detecting a conflict between identities of at least two different terminal devices. The method may further include notifying one or more neighboring base stations or network nodes of the base station of the detected conflict.

[0068] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the identification information of the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device may be determined in one or more of the following manners, namely, based on the L2 ID of the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device, in a random manner, and based on a predetermined mathematical function.

[0069] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the identification information of the first terminal device / second terminal device may be determined to be in a one-to-one mapping to the L2 ID of the first terminal device / second terminal device.

[0070] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the method may further include receiving a response message from the first terminal device / second terminal device in response to allocating the identification information. When the response message indicates a rejection of the identification information of the first terminal device / second terminal device, determining the identification information and allocating the identification information may be performed again for the first terminal device / second terminal device.

[0071] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, information regarding the link may be received or the identification information may be allocated by one or more of RRC signaling, MAC CE, paging message, SDAP or PDCP or RLC or adaptation layer control PDU, and L1 signaling.

[0072] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the detected conflict may be notified to one or more neighboring base stations by one or more of XnAP signaling, F1AP signaling, and a paging message.

[0073] According to a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, a first terminal device is provided. The first terminal device may connect with a second terminal device via at least one third terminal device acting as a relay between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. The first terminal device may comprise at least one processor and at least one memory. The at least one memory including instructions executable by the at least one processor, whereby the first terminal device may be operable to determine, for the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device, an identification information for identifying the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device on a link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. The first terminal device may further be operable to allocate the determined identification information to at least one corresponding hop on the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device.

[0074] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the first terminal device may be operable to implement the method according to the first aspect above.

[0075] According to a sixth aspect of the present disclosure, a third terminal device is provided. The third terminal device may act as a relay between a first terminal device and a second terminal device. The third terminal device may comprise at least one processor and at least one memory. The at least one memory may include instructions executable by the at least one processor, whereby the third terminal device may be operable to determine, for the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device, an identification information for identifying the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device on a link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. The third terminal device may further be operable to allocate the determined identification information to at least one corresponding hop on the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device.

[0076] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the third terminal device may be operable to implement the method according to the second aspect above.

[0077] According to a seventh aspect of the present disclosure, a manager terminal device is provided. The manager terminal device may be under the coverage of a base station and may be one of a first terminal device, a second terminal device, and at least one third terminal device serving as a relay between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. The manager terminal device may comprise at least one processor and at least one memory. The at least one memory may include instructions executable by the at least one processor, whereby the manager terminal device may be operable to report information regarding a link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device to the base station. The manager terminal device may be further operable to receive, from the base station, identification information of the first terminal device and the second terminal device for identifying the first terminal device and the second terminal device on the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. The manager terminal device may be further operable to allocate the determined identification information to a corresponding hop on the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device.

[0078] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the manager terminal device may be operable to implement the method according to the third aspect above.

[0079] According to an eighth aspect of the present disclosure, a base station is provided. The base station may connect with a manager terminal device, which may be one of a first terminal device, a second terminal device, and at least one third terminal device serving as a relay between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. The base station may comprise at least one processor and at least one memory. The at least one memory may include instructions executable by the at least one processor, whereby the base station may be operable to receive information regarding a link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device from the manager terminal device. The base station may be further operable to determine, for the first terminal device and the second terminal device, identification information for identifying the first terminal device and the second terminal device on the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. The base station may be further operable to allocate the determined identification information to the manager terminal device.

[0080] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the manager terminal device may be operable to implement the method according to the fourth aspect above.

[0081] According to a ninth aspect of the present disclosure there is provided a computer program product, which may comprise instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform a method according to any of the first to fourth aspects above.

[0082] According to a tenth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer-readable storage medium, which may store instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform a method according to any of the first to fourth aspects above.

[0083] According to an eleventh aspect of the present disclosure, a first terminal device is provided. The first terminal device may connect with a second terminal device through at least one third terminal device acting as a relay between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. The first terminal device may comprise a determination module for determining, for the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device, an identification information for identifying the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device on a link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. The first terminal device may further comprise an allocation module for allocating the determined identification information to at least one corresponding hop on the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device.

[0084] According to a twelfth aspect of the present disclosure, a third terminal device is provided. The third terminal device may act as a relay between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. The third terminal device may comprise a determination module for determining, for the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device, an identification information for identifying the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device on a link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. The third terminal device may further comprise an allocation module for allocating the determined identification information to at least one corresponding hop on the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device.

[0085] According to a thirteenth aspect of the present disclosure, a manager terminal device is provided. The manager terminal device may be under the coverage of a base station and may be one of a first terminal device, a second terminal device, and at least one third terminal device serving as a relay between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. The manager terminal device may comprise a reporting module for reporting information regarding a link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device to the base station. The manager terminal device may further comprise a receiving module for receiving, from the base station, identification information of the first terminal device and the second terminal device for identifying the first terminal device and the second terminal device on the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. The manager terminal device may further comprise an allocation module for allocating the determined identification information to a corresponding hop on the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device.

[0086] According to a fourteenth aspect of the present disclosure, a base station is provided. The base station may connect with a manager terminal device, which may be one of a first terminal device, a second terminal device, and at least one third terminal device serving as a relay between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. The base station may include a receiving module for receiving information about a link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device from the manager terminal device. The base station may further include a determining module for determining, for the first terminal device and the second terminal device, identification information for identifying the first terminal device and the second terminal device on the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. The base station may further include an allocating module for allocating the determined identification information to the manager terminal device.

[0087] According to a fifteenth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method implemented in a communication system including a manager terminal device and a base station, the method may include steps of the method according to the third aspect above and steps of the method according to the fourth aspect above.

[0088] According to a sixteenth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a communication system including a manager terminal device according to the seventh or thirteenth aspect above and a base station according to the eighth or fourteenth aspect above.

[0089] These and other objects, features and advantages of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following detailed description of illustrative embodiments thereof, which should be read in connection with the accompanying drawings. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0090] [Figure 1] A diagram showing a user plane protocol stack for L2 UE-to-UE relay. [Diagram 2] FIG. 1 illustrates a control plane protocol stack for L2 UE-to-UE relay. [Diagram 3] 1 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented by a first terminal device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 4] 4 is a flow chart for explaining the method of FIG. 3. [Diagram 5] 4 is a flow chart for explaining the method of FIG. 3. [Figure 6] 1 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented by a first terminal device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 7] 1 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented by a first terminal device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 8] 1 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented by a first terminal device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 9] 1 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented by a first terminal device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 10] 11 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented by a third terminal device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 11] 11 is a flow chart for explaining the method of FIG. 10. [Figure 12] 11 is a further flow chart illustrating the method of FIG. 10. [Figure 13] 11 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented by a third terminal device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 14] 11 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented by a third terminal device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 15] 11 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented by a third terminal device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 16] 11 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented by a third terminal device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 17] 11 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented by a third terminal device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 18] 4 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented by a manager terminal device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 19] 4 is a flowchart illustrating a method performed by a base station according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 20] 4 is a flowchart illustrating a method performed by a base station according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 21] 4 is a flowchart illustrating a method performed by a base station according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 22] 4 is a flowchart illustrating a method performed by a base station according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Diagram 23] FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an apparatus suitable for use in practicing some embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 24] FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a first terminal device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Diagram 25] FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating a third terminal device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 26]FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a manager terminal device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 27] FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a base station according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 28] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a communication system, according to some embodiments. [Figure 29] FIG. 2 illustrates a UE according to some embodiments. [Diagram 30] FIG. 2 illustrates a network node according to some embodiments. [Diagram 31] FIG. 2 illustrates a host, according to some embodiments. [Diagram 32] FIG. 1 illustrates a virtualization environment in which functionality implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized. [Diagram 33] FIG. 1 illustrates a host communicating with a UE via a network node over a partial wireless connection in accordance with some embodiments. [Diagram 34] 1 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in a communication system according to some embodiments. [Diagram 35] 1 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in a communication system according to some embodiments. [Diagram 36] 1 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in a communication system according to some embodiments. [Figure 37] 1 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in a communication system according to some embodiments. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0091] For purposes of explanation, in the following description, details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the disclosed embodiments. However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that the embodiments may be practiced without these specific details or with equivalent configurations.

[0092] In 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Technical Report (TR) 23.752 V2.0.0, clause 6.7, Layer 2 (L2) based UE-network relay is described. In 3GPP TR38.836 V17.0.0, clause 5.5, L2 UE-to-UE relay is described. Figures 1 and 2 (Figures 5.5.1-1 and 5.5.1-2 in TR38.836 V17.0.0) show protocol stacks for the user plane and control plane of the L2 UE-to-UE relay architecture. As shown, an adaptation layer is supported on the second PC5 link (i.e., the PC5 link between the relay UE and the destination UE) for L2 UE-to-UE relay. For L2 UE-to-UE relay, the adaptation layer is placed on the Radio Link Control (RLC) sublayer for both the control plane (CP) and the user plane (UP) on the second PC5 link. Sidelink Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP) / Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) and RRC are terminated between two remote UEs, and RLC, MAC and physical layer (PHY) are terminated in each PC5 link.

[0093] For the first hop of an L2 UE-to-UE relay, N:1 mapping is supported by the PC5 adaptation layer in the first hop between the remote UE SL radio bearer and the PC5 RLC channel in the first hop for the relay. The adaptation layer across the first PC5 hop between the source remote UE and the relay UE supports distinguishing between traffic destined for different destination remote UEs.

[0094] For the second hop of the L2 UE-to-UE relay, a PC5 adaptation layer at the second hop may be used to support bearer mapping at the relay UE between an ingress RLC channel across the first PC5 hop and an egress RLC channel across the second PC5 hop. The PC5 adaptation layer supports N:1 bearer mapping between multiple ingress PC5 RLC channels across the first PC5 hop and one egress PC5 RLC channel across the second PC5 hop and supports remote UE identification functionality.

[0095] In case of L2 UE-to-UE relay, the identity information of the remote UE end-to-end radio bearer is included in the adaptation layer at the first and second PC5 hops. Furthermore, the source remote UE identity and / or the destination remote UE identity are candidate information to be included in the adaptation layer, which should be determined in the WI phase.

[0096] 3GPP Technical Specification (TS) 24.334 V17.2.0 describes Layer 2 ID Conflict Detection / Resolution. As described in clause 11.4.4.1 of TS 24.334 V17.2.0, a DIRECT_COMMUNICATION_REJECT message is sent by a UE to another peer UE to indicate that the corresponding direct link setup request has been rejected. Table 1 below is Table 11.4.4.1.1 of TS 24.334 V17.2.0, which shows the message content of DIRECT_COMMUNICATION_REJECT. TIFF2025502714000002.tif42170Table 1: DIRECT_COMMUNICATION_REJECT message content

[0097] As explained in clause 12.5.1.7 of TS 24.334 V17.2.0, the purpose of the PC5 signaling protocol cause value information element is to indicate an error cause value used in a PC5 signaling protocol procedure. The PC5 signaling protocol cause value is a Type 3 information element with a length of 2 octets. The Information Element Identifier (IEI) of the PC5 signaling protocol cause value IE is 5. Tables 2 and 3, Figure 12.5.1.7.1 and Table 12.5.1.7.1 of TS 24.334 V17.2.0, respectively, show the coding of the PC5 signaling protocol cause value information element. TIFF2025502714000003.tif16170Table 2: PC5 Signaling Protocol Cause Value Information Element TIFF2025502714000004.tif77170Table 3: PC5 Signaling Protocol Cause Value Information Element

[0098] In Rel-17 L2 UE-Network (U2N) relay, the protocol stack consists of an end-to-end termination of the Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer, where security is enabled for the corresponding Protocol Data Units (PDUs), i.e., including header information. Furthermore, PDCP PDUs are carried across two hops, i.e., across the first hop (PC5 interface) to the U2N relay, and across the second hop (Uu interface) to the gNB / network. Therefore, to facilitate routing across the two hops, 3GPP agreed to introduce an adaptation layer with header information in the U2N relay to map the corresponding PDCP PDUs from a specific remote UE to the gNB / network. However, this header information is not protected and can be used by malicious attackers to compromise the system. Therefore, as part of this header information, the concept of a local or temporary ID was introduced with the aim of hiding the real identity of the remote UE. Furthermore, the agreement in 3GPP is that how this local / temporary ID is generated, maintained, and how collisions are avoided is up to the gNB implementation.

[0099] In the case of L2 U2U relay as described in Rel-18, a similar problem exists, i.e., the header information in the adaptation layer is not protected. However, since the operation of U2U relay can be in either full coverage, partial coverage, or no coverage scenarios, the gNB cannot be relied upon to provide local or temporary (or temp) IDs, and therefore existing techniques of Rel-17 U2N relay cannot be reused to perform local / temporary ID allocation.

[0100] Furthermore, the initialization of the U2U relay procedure is the communication of a so-called Direct Communication Request (DCR) message. The DCR is broadcast in the area by the sidelink source UE in order to find a suitable sidelink destination UE. However, if the sidelink destination UE is not in the immediate vicinity of the sidelink source UE, this message will need to be relayed to a suitable sidelink destination UE by a (nearby) U2U relay. In some cases, in addition to the U2U relay, the DCR message from the source sidelink UE can also be received by the sidelink destination UE. The sidelink destination UE will then need to distinguish between the DCRs received from the sidelink source UE and the U2U relay in order to decide which path to use.

[0101] This disclosure proposes an improved solution for sidelink transmission. One of the main ideas is to propose a new mechanism on how to assign local / temp IDs based on different coverage scenarios as mentioned above for U2U relay. The following three options are proposed to assign local / temp IDs to sidelink UEs in U2U relay scenarios, mainly to hide the real identity of sidelink UEs and to protect the system from malicious attacks such as denial of service or sidelink UE impersonation.

[0102] As a first option, the U2U relay may allocate a local or temporary ID to the sidelink source / destination UE to be used in the adaptation layer header. This local / temp ID is used during both hops between the sidelink source UE and the sidelink destination UE. This local / temp ID may be valid either on the end-to-end link or on a hop-by-hop link.

[0103] As a second option, depending on the coverage situation of the sidelink UE implementing U2U relay, this local / temporary ID can either be allocated by the gNB or generated locally by the U2U relay based on its own sidelink identity, i.e., L2 ID, and allocated / assigned to the sidelink source / destination UE.

[0104] As a third option, the sidelink source / destination UE may auto-allocate a local or temporary ID and share this information with neighboring sidelink U2U relay UEs. The sidelink destination / source UE may also allocate a local or temporary ID to the corresponding sidelink source / destination UE.

[0105] Hiding the real identity of the sidelink source / destination UE, via any of the above options, can help to prevent a malicious attacker from spoofing the sidelink source / destination UE and thereby stopping them from using denial of service to the real sidelink source / destination UE and compromising the system.

[0106] Another one of the main ideas is to address scenarios of distinguishing DCRs. For example, for a sidelink destination UE to distinguish between a DCR from a sidelink source UE and a DCR from a U2U relay, the sidelink source UE can generate an ID that uniquely identifies the sidelink source UE and pass this information to the U2U relay. The U2U relay then includes this information in the DCR message to the sidelink destination UE. This ID can also be generated by the U2U relay.

[0107] The solution of the present disclosure may be applied to a communication system including a terminal device and a base station. The terminal device may communicate with the base station through a wireless access communication link. The base station may provide a wireless access communication link to the terminal device that is within the communication service cell of the base station. It should be noted that the communication may be performed between the terminal device and the base station according to any suitable communication standard and protocol.

[0108] The term terminal device may also be referred to as, for example, a device, an access terminal, a user equipment (UE), a mobile station, a mobile unit, a subscriber station, etc. A terminal device may refer to any end device capable of accessing and receiving services from a wireless communication network. By way of example and not limitation, a terminal device may include a portable computer, an image capture terminal device such as a digital camera, a gaming terminal device, a music storage and playback appliance, a mobile phone, a cellular phone, a smartphone, a tablet, a wearable device, a personal digital assistant (PDA), etc.

[0109] In an Internet of Things (IoT) scenario, a terminal device may represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and / or measurements and transmits results of such monitoring and / or measurements to another terminal device and / or network equipment. In this case, the terminal device may be a machine-to-machine (M2M) device, which may be referred to in the 3GPP context as a machine-type communication (MTC) device. Particular examples of such machines or devices may include sensors, metering devices such as power meters, industrial machinery, bikes, vehicles, or household or personal electrical appliances, e.g., personal wearables such as refrigerators, televisions, watches, etc.

[0110] The term "base station (BS)" may refer to, for example, a Node B (Node B or NB), an evolved Node B (eNode B or eNB), a next generation Node B (gNode B or gNB), an MSR radio node such as a multi-standard radio (MSR) BS, a master eNode B (MeNB), a secondary eNode B (SeNB), an integrated transmission backhaul (IAB) node, an access point (AP), a transmission point, a transmit receive point (TRP), a remote radio unit (RRU), a radio header (RH), a remote radio head (RRH), a relay, a low power node such as femto, pico, etc. For example, a base station may comprise a central unit (CU) including a CU user plane (UP) and a CU control plane (CP), and one or more distributed units (DUs). The CU and the DU(s) may be co-located in the same network node, e.g., the same base station.

[0111] In the following, several embodiments are described to explain the solutions of the present disclosure. Although these embodiments are described in the context of NR (i.e., two or more SL UEs are deployed in the same or different NR cells), the same principles can be applied to LTE or any other technology that allows direct connection of two (or more) nearby devices. The embodiments are also applicable to relay scenarios of UE-to-UE relay, where the remote UE and relay UE can be based on LTE sidelink or NR sidelink, and the Uu connection between the relay UE and the base station can be LTE Uu or NR Uu.

[0112] To describe these embodiments, an L2-based U2U relay scenario is taken, but these embodiments are not limited by the terminology defined in this disclosure. Any other similar terminology may be interchangeably applicable here without loss of meaning.

[0113] Who assigns local / temp IDs? In the first embodiment, during the link establishment procedure between the sidelink source remote UE and the destination remote UE via the sidelink U2U relay(s), an identification information should be included for unique identification of the sidelink source / destination UE. This identification information should be included in the adaptation layer header to enable the sidelink U2U relay(s) to perform routing of packets between the sidelink source UE and the sidelink destination UE. Furthermore, this identification information can be either generated / assigned by the sidelink source / destination remote UE, or the sidelink U2U relay, or the gNB, under partial or full coverage of the sidelink UE(s). It should be noted that in some scenarios, the link establishment procedure may also fail.

[0114] In the second embodiment, the sidelink source / destination UE may generate an identification information in the first embodiment in the form of a local or temporary ID, which is used to identify the sidelink source / destination UE when they communicate with each other via one or more relay UEs. This local / temp ID may be generated based on the sidelink source / destination UE ID (i.e., L2 ID), or the local / temp ID may be generated randomly or according to some mathematical function. The sidelink source / destination UE may allocate the local / temp ID either at a per-hop level or at an end-to-end level. As an example, the sidelink source UE may generate a local / temp ID for itself and one local / temp ID for the destination UE (if those IDs are used end-to-end). As another example, the sidelink destination UE may generate a local / temp ID for itself and one local / temp ID for the source UE (if those IDs are used end-to-end). As yet another example, a sidelink source UE generates a local / temp ID for itself and a sidelink destination UE generates a local / temp ID for itself (which is valid for both if the IDs are used hop-by-hop).

[0115] At a per-hop level, a sidelink source / destination UE can generate and auto-allocate a local / temp ID that is valid for links in its immediate vicinity. For example, in a single-hop scenario, a sidelink source UE can auto-allocate a local / temp ID that is valid only for the first hop (i.e., the immediate next hop) between the sidelink source UE and the sidelink U2U relay, and the relay UE maps that local / temp ID to another local / temp ID that represents the source UE in the second hop between the sidelink U2U relay and the sidelink destination UE. Similarly, a sidelink destination UE also auto-allocates a different local / temp ID that is valid only for the immediate next hop, i.e., the second hop between the sidelink destination UE and the sidelink U2U relay, and the relay UE maps that local / temp ID to another local / temp ID that represents the destination UE in the first hop between the sidelink U2U relay and the sidelink source UE. In a multi-hop scenario, the sidelink U2U relay will maintain a separate mapping between local / temp IDs for source / destination UEs applied on each of the ingress hop(s) and egress hop(s).

[0116] At the end-to-end level, the sidelink source / destination UE can generate and auto-allocate a local / temp ID that is valid for the entire path, i.e. across all hops. For example, in a single-hop scenario, the sidelink source / destination UE can auto-allocate a local / temp ID that is valid for the first hop (between the sidelink source UE and the sidelink U2U relay) and for the second hop (between the sidelink U2U relay and the sidelink destination UE).

[0117] In another aspect of this embodiment, a sidelink source / destination UE can allocate a local / temp ID to a corresponding sidelink destination / source UE during an end-to-end link establishment procedure. For example, when a per-hop PC5 connection is established between a source / destination UE and a relay UE, or in case of multi-hop, among all relay UEs, the source / destination UE informs the directly connected relay UE of its local / temp ID and which end-to-end link it should be used for, which may be represented by the L2 ID of the source / destination UE, which is known to the source / destination UE and relay UEs along the path during discovery or after exchange of initial link establishment request and response messages. The relay UE further forwards the local / temp ID and the associated end-to-end link until the message reaches the destination / source UE. If a local / temp ID is used per-hop, the relay UE may regenerate another local / temp ID for the source / destination UE as described above and then forward this regenerated local / temp ID.

[0118] In the third embodiment, the sidelink U2U relay is responsible for generating a local / temp ID and allocating it to both the sidelink source and destination UEs or other sidelink U2U relay(s) during the link establishment procedure. As described in the second embodiment, this local / temp ID can be allocated either at a per-hop level or at an end-to-end level.

[0119] The division of local / temp IDs may be based on the sidelink identity, i.e., the L2 ID of the sidelink U2U relay, or based on random generation, or based on some mathematical function. In this way, different ID spaces are associated with different relay UEs. The relay UE allocates different local / temp IDs within its associated ID space to different remote UEs connecting to it. Remote UEs served by different relay UEs will also have different local / temp IDs, since their IDs belong to different ID spaces.

[0120] In a fourth embodiment, the gNB may be responsible for generating local / temp IDs and allocating the local / temp IDs to sidelink source / destination UEs and / or sidelink U2U(s) based on at least one of the following options:

[0121] In option 1, depending on which sidelink UE is under the coverage of the gNB, it will be the responsibility of that particular sidelink UE (so-called ID manager) to allocate local / temp IDs to other sidelink UEs.

[0122] The ID manager may report to the gNB at least one of the following information elements: number of hops, L2 ID of source / destination UE, L2 ID of other relay UE(s) along the path in case of multi-hop, any other known Uu ID (e.g., TMSI, RNTI) of source / destination UE, any other known Uu ID (e.g., TMSI, RNTI) of other relay UE(s) in case of multi-hop, per-hop or end-to-end local / temp ID allocation information.

[0123] Based on this information from the ID manager, the gNB can generate and allocate corresponding local / temp IDs for the source / destination UEs and, if IDs are allocated per hop, for which hops / route the ID should apply. The ID manager should then inform all UEs along the route of this local / temp ID, which may follow a similar procedure as described in the second embodiment, i.e., the ID manager informs its direct neighbor UE(s) of the local / temp ID along with the corresponding L2 ID and the hops for which the local / temp ID should apply, which in turn forwards the information until it reaches the source and / or destination UE.

[0124] In one example, the ID manager may simply be a sidelink source UE. When a sidelink source UE has incoming data and needs to use a sidelink U2U relay link, after discovering the relay UE(s) and sidelink destination UE, the sidelink source UE may signal to the gNB asking for a local / temp ID. After receiving this information from the gNB, the sidelink source UE may simply inform the relay UE and / or sidelink destination UE of their local / temp ID during the sidelink relay establishment procedure.

[0125] In option 2, there is no ID manager. Each remote UE or relay UE may be assigned a local / temp ID by the gNB for relay communication when it is connected to the gNB. The UE reports the same information as described in option 1.

[0126] In a fifth embodiment, either the sidelink source / destination UE(s) or the sidelink U2U relay(s) can trigger a local / temp ID update procedure. Conditions for triggering such a procedure can include: a timer related to the validity of the local ID expires; one of the sidelink UE(s) in the end-to-end link triggers a reselection; one of the hops in the end-to-end link experiences a link failure, e.g., one of the sidelink UE(s) triggers a Radio Link Failure (RLF) procedure; based on signaling received from the gNB / sidelink UE(s), the gNB has changed (i.e., a handover procedure has been triggered) and new services / traffic need to be transmitted (which implies that there can also be different local / temp IDs for each service / traffic transmitted).

[0127] If the ID is applied end-to-end, when the ID is updated, the new ID should be notified to all UEs along the route by the UE updating the ID, which may follow a similar procedure as described in the fourth embodiment, implemented by the ID manager. The updating UE may associate the new ID with a timestamp indicating when the ID was updated and, optionally, a prohibition timer indicating that the ID should not be updated again for a certain period of time, and other UEs along the route should avoid updating the ID again as long as the prohibition timer is running (not expired). Alternatively, when a UE receives a new ID with an older timestamp than the one associated with the currently used ID, the UE continues to use the current ID.

[0128] If the ID is applied per hop, the above conditions are defined and checked for each hop, and local / temp ID updates can be triggered and performed separately and independently for each hop. When the ID applied for a hop is updated, it only needs to be notified to the direct neighboring UEs of this hop, i.e., there is no need to further distribute the new ID to other UEs along the path. The relevant UEs will then update the ID mapping between the ingress and egress hops.

[0129] In another aspect of this embodiment, the ID manager (from the fourth embodiment) can notify a particular sidelink UE, which may not be a direct neighbor UE, to update its local / temp ID based on the above trigger condition. In this case, the ID manager can include additional information in the update message (e.g., for L2 ID, previous local / temp ID) to identify that particular sidelink UE along the path / link.

[0130] In a sixth embodiment, during the link establishment procedure, when the sidelink U2U relay receives a DCR message from the sidelink source UE, it generates / allocates an initial local / temp ID to the sidelink source UE. This may or may not be in addition to the sidelink UE ID, i.e., the L2 ID of the sidelink source UE. The sidelink U2U relay then sends another DCR message on behalf of the sidelink source UE including this initial temp / local ID. The sidelink destination UE can then distinguish between the two requests based on the presence or absence of the initial local / temp ID.

[0131] In another aspect of this embodiment, the initial local temp ID may also be generated and communicated by the sidelink source / destination UE during the previous PC5-RRC link establishment procedure. In this case, the U2U relay also maintains a mapping between the sidelink UE ID, i.e., L2 ID, and the initial local / temp ID to be used in the DCR message. The initial local / temp ID may also be updated based on the embodiments described herein.

[0132] How to avoid ID conflicts In this section, several embodiments on how to deal with / avoid ID conflicts are described. An event of ID conflict may be declared by the UE or gNB when one of the following conditions is met: at least two SL UEs share the same ID within a given area / neighborhood, at least two SL UEs served by the same gNB or different gNBs share the same ID, at least two SL UEs served by the same or different relay UEs share the same ID, at least two SL UEs interested in the same service share the same ID, at least two SL UEs on the same relay path or different relay paths share the same ID.

[0133] An ID conflict event may be declared for the IDs of the UEs (including sidelink source / destination UEs and / or U2U relay UEs), including at least one of the source L2 ID, destination L2 ID, local / temp UE ID used in the adaptation layer in case of SL relay, PC5 signaling, PC5 RRC signaling, MAC CE, control PDUs of the protocol layer (e.g., SDAP, PDCP, RLC, or adaptation layer in case of SL), or any other UE ID used in L1 signaling.

[0134] In a seventh embodiment, a procedure for detecting ID conflicts may be maintained by the UE (e.g., either a sidelink source / destination UE or a sidelink U2U relay). The UE may monitor data transmissions / signaling initiated by its neighboring UEs (whether the transmissions are directed to the UE or not) to see if there is an ID conflict. If an ID conflict is detected, the UE may signal an event to its neighboring UEs and / or the gNB.

[0135] As another option, a similar procedure for detecting ID conflicts may be maintained by the gNB. The gNB may detect ID conflicts based on signaling messages received from UEs or other gNBs. Alternatively, the gNB may also detect ID conflicts via monitoring SL transmissions and / or receptions between SL UEs in its vicinity. When an ID conflict is detected, the gNB may signal the event to its neighboring gNBs via inter-gNB signaling. In addition, the gNB may also signal the event to a core network entity, such as an AMF or SMF. If the gNB is a distributed unit (DU), the gNB may signal the event to a central unit (CU) via a CU-DU interface.

[0136] In an eighth embodiment, for any one of the above embodiments, during a procedure of local ID / temp ID allocation for a remote UE (e.g., source remote UE or destination remote UE), at least one of the following options is taken by a control entity (responsible for allocating local ID / temp ID for the remote UE) to avoid ID conflict with other remote UEs. The control entity may be a relay UE, a destination remote UE or a gNB. Furthermore, the control entity may also be an ID manager described in the fourth embodiment.

[0137] In option 1, local IDs are one-to-one mapped to L2 IDs. Since different UEs will most likely be associated with different L2 IDs, the corresponding local ID for each L2 ID will also be different.

[0138] In option 2, whenever a local ID is allocated to a remote UE, the remote UE can indicate acceptance or rejection to the control entity. After receiving the local ID from the control entity, the remote UE may perform detection to see if this ID conflicts with its neighboring UEs. If an ID conflict is detected, the remote UE indicates rejection to the control entity in a response message. Otherwise, the remote UE may accept the ID.

[0139] The response message may comprise at least one of the following information: the L2 ID of the remote UE sending the response message; an indicator indicating acceptance or rejection of the allocated local ID; a rejection cause if rejection is indicated; and one or more preferred local ID values ​​based on which the control entity may select the most suitable local ID value for the remote UE.

[0140] Upon receiving a response message from the remote UE, the control entity may decide to reallocate a different local ID. The control entity then resends the new ID to the remote UE. The remote UE may further check whether the new ID is acceptable, i.e., whether there is an ID conflict. The procedure may be repeated multiple times until the remote UE and the control entity can finally agree on a suitable local ID.

[0141] Signaling Alternatives In a ninth embodiment, for any of the above embodiments, the described signaling alternatives may include at least one of the following: For signaling between the UE and the gNB, at least one of the following signaling alternatives may be applied: RRC signaling, MAC CE, paging messages, control PDUs of a protocol layer (e.g., SDAP, PDCP, RLC, or adaptation layer in case of SL relay), L1 signaling on channels such as PRACH, PUCCH, PDCCH, etc.

[0142] For signaling between UEs, at least one of the following signaling alternatives may be applied: RRC signaling (e.g., PC5-RRC), PC5 signaling, discovery signaling, MAC CE, control PDUs of a protocol layer (e.g., SDAP, PDCP, RLC, or adaptation layer in case of SL relay), L1 signaling on channels such as PSSCH, PSCCH, or PSFCH.

[0143] For signaling between gNBs, at least one of the following signaling alternatives may be applied: XnAP signaling, F1AP signaling, paging messages.

[0144] In the following, the solution of the present disclosure will be further described with reference to Figures 3 to 37. Figure 3 is a flow chart showing a method implemented by a first terminal device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. The method may be applicable to an environment in which the first terminal device connects with a second terminal device via at least one third terminal device acting as a relay between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. The method may be applied during the process of connecting the first terminal device and / or when the connection is already established, for example, when the connection needs to be updated. The third terminal device may be a U2U relay as described above. In block 302, the first terminal device determines, for the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device, an identification information for identifying the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device on the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. The identification information of the given terminal device may be used instead of the actual identification information of the terminal device during the communication of the packet to conceal the actual identification information of the terminal device. For example, the first terminal device / second terminal device identification information may be used in an adaptation layer header of packets communicated on a link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device.

[0145] For example, block 302 may be implemented as any one of blocks 302-1 to 302-3 as shown in FIG. 4. Block 302-1 is applicable to a scenario in which the first terminal device is the source terminal device (and thus the second terminal device is the destination terminal device). In block 302-1, the first terminal device determines a first temporary ID of the first terminal device. The first temporary ID of the first terminal device should be used while a link between the first terminal device / second terminal device and one of at least one third terminal device is established. For example, the first temporary ID may correspond to the initial local / temp ID described in the sixth embodiment above.

[0146] Block 302-2 is applicable to a scenario in which the first terminal device is the destination terminal device (and therefore the second terminal device is the source terminal device). In block 302-2, the first terminal device determines a first temporary ID of the second terminal device. The first temporary ID of the second terminal device should be used while a link between the second terminal device / first terminal device and one of at least one third terminal device is established.

[0147] Block 302-3 is applicable to a scenario in which the first terminal device is a source terminal device or a destination terminal device. In block 302-3, the first terminal device determines a second temporary ID of the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device. The second temporary ID of the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device should be used after a link between the first terminal device / second terminal device and one of at least one third terminal device is established. For example, the second temporary ID may correspond to the local / temp ID described in the second to fourth embodiments above.

[0148] In any one of the above scenarios, the identity of the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device may be determined in one or more of the following manners: based on the L2 ID of the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device, in a random manner, and based on a predetermined mathematical function. For example, the identity of the first terminal device / second terminal device may be determined to be in a one-to-one mapping to the L2 ID of the first terminal device / second terminal device.

[0149] Referring again to FIG. 3, in block 304, the first terminal device allocates the determined identity to at least one corresponding hop on the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. The determined identity may be allocated by one or more of RRC signaling, PC5-S signaling, discovery signaling, MAC CE, SDAP or PDCP or RLC or adaptation layer control PDU, and L1 signaling. In the method of FIG. 3, it is possible to implement secure communication on the link using the identity. For example, block 304 may be implemented as including any one of blocks 304-1 to 304-3 as shown in FIG. 5. Block 304-1 is applicable to a scenario in which the identity (e.g., second temporary ID) of the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device is valid for the entire link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. In block 304-1, the first terminal device transmits to at least one of a third terminal device and the second terminal device the determined identification information and an ID identifying a link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device.

[0150] Block 304-2 is applicable to a scenario in which the second temporary ID of the first terminal device is valid for a hop between the first terminal device and one of the at least one third terminal device. In block 304-2, the first terminal device transmits the determined identification information of the first terminal device to one of the at least one third terminal device.

[0151] Optionally, block 304-3 may be implemented to allocate the identification information. In block 304-3, the first terminal device transmits a timestamp or prohibition timer associated with the identification information to terminal devices on at least one corresponding hop. The timestamp indicates when the identification information was determined (or updated). The prohibition timer indicates a predetermined time period during which the identification information should not be updated.

[0152] FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating a method implemented by a first terminal device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The method may be implemented after blocks 302-304 are implemented. In block 607, the first terminal device receives a response message from the second terminal device in response to allocating the identification information. In block 608, when the response message indicates a rejection to the identification information of the second terminal device, determining the identification information (block 302) and allocating the identification information (block 304) are implemented again for the second terminal device. In the method of FIG. 6, possible conflicts of identification information may be resolved.

[0153] FIG. 7 is a flow chart illustrating a method performed by a first terminal device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. For example, the method may be performed after blocks 302-304 are performed. In block 710, the first terminal device determines whether the identification information needs to be updated. For example, when one or more of the conditions described in the fifth embodiment above are satisfied, the first terminal device may determine that the identification information needs to be updated. When determining that the identification information needs to be updated in block 712, determining the identification information (block 302) and allocating the identification information (block 304) are performed again. In the method of FIG. 7, it is possible to perform secure communication on the link using the updated identification information.

[0154] FIG. 8 is a flow chart illustrating a method implemented by a first terminal device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. In block 814, the first terminal device detects a conflict between identification information of at least two different terminal devices based on transmissions initiated by one or more neighboring terminal devices of the first terminal device. For example, transmissions (e.g., data and / or signaling transmissions) initiated by one or more neighboring terminal devices may be monitored to see if there is such a conflict. In block 816, the first terminal device notifies one or more neighboring terminal devices or base stations of the detected conflict. In the method of FIG. 8, a possible conflict of identification information may be resolved.

[0155] FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented by a first terminal device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. The method may be applicable to a scenario in which the first terminal device is a destination terminal device (and thus the second terminal device is a source terminal device). In block 918, in response to receiving the DCR message, the first terminal device determines whether the DCR message includes an identification information of the second terminal device (e.g., the first temporary ID described above). In block 920, when the DCR message includes an identification information of the second terminal device, the first terminal device determines that the DCR message was sent from the second terminal device via one of at least one third terminal device. As an example, the DCR message may include both the first temporary ID and the L2 ID of the second terminal device. As another example, the DCR message may include the first temporary ID of the second terminal device without including the L2 ID of the second terminal device. In block 922, when the DCR message does not include the identification information of the second terminal device, the first terminal device determines that the DCR message was sent directly from the second terminal device. In the method of FIG. 9, the destination terminal device may be enabled to distinguish between a DCR from a source terminal device and a DCR from a relay terminal device.

[0156] FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented by a third terminal device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The method may be applicable to an environment in which the third terminal device serves as a relay between a first terminal device and a second terminal device. For example, the third terminal device may be a U2U relay as described above. In block 1002, the third terminal device determines, for the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device, identification information for identifying the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device on a link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. The identification information of a given terminal device may be used in place of the actual identification information of the terminal device during communication of a packet to conceal the actual identification information of the terminal device. For example, the identification information of the first terminal device / second terminal device may be used in an adaptation layer header of a packet communicated on a link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device.

[0157] For example, block 1002 may be implemented as any one of blocks 1002-1 to 1002-3 as shown in FIG. 11. Block 1002-1 is applicable to a scenario in which the first terminal device is the source terminal device (and thus the second terminal device is the destination terminal device). In block 1002-1, the third terminal device determines a first temporary ID of the first terminal device. The first temporary ID of the first terminal device should be used while the link between the first terminal device and the third terminal device is established. For example, the first temporary ID may correspond to the initial local / temp ID described in the sixth embodiment above.

[0158] Block 1002-2 is applicable to a scenario in which the second terminal device is the source terminal device (and therefore the first terminal device is the destination terminal device). In block 1002-2, the third terminal device determines a first temporary ID of the second terminal device. The first temporary ID of the second terminal device should be used while the link between the second terminal device and the third terminal device is established.

[0159] Block 1002-3 is applicable to a scenario in which the first terminal device is a source terminal device or a destination terminal device. In block 1002-3, the third terminal device determines second temporary IDs of the first terminal device and the second terminal device. The second temporary IDs of the first terminal device and the second terminal device should be used after the link between the first terminal device / second terminal device and the third terminal device is established. For example, the second temporary ID may correspond to the local / temp ID described in the second to fourth embodiments above.

[0160] In any one of the above scenarios, the identity of the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device may be determined in one or more of the following manners: based on the L2 ID of the third terminal device, in a random manner, and based on a predetermined mathematical function. For example, the identity of the first terminal device / second terminal device may be determined to be in a one-to-one mapping to the L2 ID of the first terminal device / second terminal device.

[0161] Referring again to FIG. 10, in block 1004, the third terminal device allocates the determined identity to at least one corresponding hop on the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. The determined identity may be allocated by one or more of RRC signaling, PC5-S signaling, discovery signaling, MAC CE, SDAP or PDCP or RLC or adaptation layer control PDU, and L1 signaling. In the method of FIG. 10, it is possible to implement secure communication on the link using the identity. For example, block 1004 may be implemented as including any one of blocks 1004-1 to 1004-3 as shown in FIG. 12. Block 1004-1 is applicable to a scenario in which the identity (e.g., the second temporary ID) of the first terminal device and the second terminal device is valid for the entire link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. In block 1004-1, the third terminal device transmits the determined identification information and an ID identifying the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device to other terminal devices on the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device.

[0162] Block 1004-2 is applicable to a scenario in which the identification information (e.g., second temporary ID) of the first terminal device and the second terminal device is valid at a per-hop level. For example, a different second temporary ID of the first terminal device may be determined for each hop on the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. A different second temporary ID of the second terminal device may be determined for each hop on the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. In block 1004-2, the third terminal device transmits to the terminal device on each hop the identification information of the first terminal device and the second terminal device determined for the hop and the ID identifying the hop.

[0163] Optionally, block 1004-3 may be implemented to allocate the identification information. In block 1004-3, the third terminal device transmits a timestamp or prohibition timer associated with the identification information to terminal devices on at least one corresponding hop. The timestamp indicates when the identification information was determined (or updated). The prohibition timer indicates a predetermined time period during which the identification information should not be updated.

[0164] FIG. 13 is a flow chart showing a method implemented by a third terminal device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The method may be implemented after blocks 1002-1004 are implemented. In block 1307, the third terminal device receives a response message from the first / second terminal device in response to allocating the identification information. In block 1308, when the response message indicates a rejection to the identification information of the first / second terminal device, determining the identification information (block 1002) and allocating the identification information (block 1004) are implemented again for the second terminal device. In the method of FIG. 13, possible conflicts of identification information may be resolved.

[0165] FIG. 14 is a flow chart illustrating a method implemented by a third terminal device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown, the method includes blocks 1002-1004 described above and block 1418. In block 1418, the third terminal device maintains a mapping between the first terminal device / second terminal device identification information applied on the ingress hop of the third terminal device and the first terminal device / second terminal device identification information applied on the egress hop of the third terminal device. In the method of FIG. 14, the third terminal device can implement routing of packets between the first terminal device and the second terminal device.

[0166] FIG. 15 is a flow chart illustrating a method performed by a third terminal device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. For example, the method may be performed after blocks 1002-1004 are performed. In block 1510, the third terminal device determines whether the identification information needs to be updated. For example, when one or more of the conditions described in the fifth embodiment above are satisfied, the third terminal device may determine that the identification information needs to be updated. When determining in block 1512 that the identification information needs to be updated, the determining of the identification information (block 1002) and the allocating of the identification information (block 1004) are performed again. In the method of FIG. 15, it is possible to perform secure communication on the link using the updated identification information.

[0167] FIG. 16 is a flow chart illustrating a method implemented by a third terminal device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. In block 1614, the third terminal device detects a conflict between the identification information of at least two different terminal devices based on a transmission initiated by one or more neighboring terminal devices of the third terminal device. For example, a transmission (e.g., data and / or signaling transmission) initiated by one or more neighboring terminal devices may be monitored to see if there is such a conflict. In block 1616, the third terminal device notifies one or more neighboring terminal devices or base stations of the detected conflict. In the method of FIG. 16, a possible conflict of identification information may be resolved.

[0168] FIG. 17 is a flow chart illustrating a method implemented by a third terminal device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown, the method includes blocks 1002-1004 described above and block 1720. In block 1720, in response to receiving a DCR message from a source terminal device (e.g., a first terminal device or a second terminal device), the third terminal device transmits another DCR message including a first temporary ID of the source terminal device on behalf of the source terminal device. As an example, the another DCR message may include both the first temporary ID and the L2 ID of the source terminal device. As another example, the another DCR message may include the first temporary ID of the source terminal device without including the L2 ID of the source terminal device. In the method of FIG. 17, the destination terminal device can distinguish between the DCR from the source terminal device and the DCR from the third terminal device.

[0169] 18 is a flowchart showing a method implemented by a manager terminal device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. The method may be applicable to an environment in which the manager terminal device is one of a first terminal device, a second terminal device, and at least one third terminal device that is under the coverage of a base station and serves as a relay between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. In block 1802, the manager terminal device reports information about a link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device to the base station. For example, the information about the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device may include one or more of the number of hops on the link, the L2 ID of the first terminal device, the L2 ID of the second terminal device, and if the number of the at least one third terminal device is two or more, the L2 ID of the(one or more) remaining third terminal device, the Uu ID of the first terminal device, the Uu ID of the second terminal device, and if the number of the at least one third terminal device is two or more, the Uu ID of the(one or more) remaining third terminal device, and whether the identification information is valid at a per-hop level or an end-to-end level.

[0170] In block 1804, the manager terminal device receives from the base station identification information of the first terminal device and the second terminal device for identifying the first terminal device and the second terminal device on a link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. Information about the link may be reported or the identification information may be received by one or more of RRC signaling, MAC CE, paging message, SDAP or PDCP or RLC or adaptation layer control PDU, and L1 signaling. In block 1806, the manager terminal device allocates the determined identification information to a corresponding hop on the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. Block 1806 may be implemented in a manner similar to block 1004. In the method of FIG. 18, the identification information may be used to perform secure communication on the link.

[0171] 19 is a flowchart showing a method implemented by a base station according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. The method may be applicable to an environment in which a base station connects with a manager terminal device, which is one of a first terminal device, a second terminal device, and at least one third terminal device acting as a relay between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. In block 1902, the base station receives information about a link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device from the manager terminal device. For example, the information about the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device may include one or more of the number of hops on the link, the L2 ID of the first terminal device, the L2 ID of the second terminal device, and if the number of the at least one third terminal device is two or more, the L2 ID of the(one or more) remaining third terminal device, the Uu ID of the first terminal device, the Uu ID of the second terminal device, and if the number of the at least one third terminal device is two or more, the Uu ID of the(one or more) remaining third terminal device, and whether the identification information is valid at a per-hop level or an end-to-end level.

[0172] In block 1904, the base station determines, for the first terminal device and the second terminal device, identification information for identifying the first terminal device and the second terminal device on the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. The identification information of the given terminal device may be used in place of the actual identification information of the terminal device during communication of the packet to hide the actual identification information of the terminal device. For example, the identification information of the first terminal device / second terminal device may be used in the adaptation layer header of the packet communicated on the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device.

[0173] For example, a second temporary ID of the first terminal device and the second terminal device may be determined. The second temporary ID of the first terminal device and the second terminal device should be used after the link between the first terminal device / second terminal device and the third terminal device is established. For example, the second temporary ID may correspond to the local / temp ID described in the second to fourth embodiments above. The second temporary ID of the first terminal device / second terminal device may be valid at a per-hop level or at an end-to-end level.

[0174] The identity of the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device may be determined in one or more of the following manners: based on the L2 ID of the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device, in a random manner, and based on a predetermined mathematical function. The identity of the first terminal device / second terminal device may be determined to be in a one-to-one mapping to the L2 ID of the first terminal device / second terminal device.

[0175] In block 1906, the base station allocates the determined identity to the manager terminal device. Block 1906 may optionally include transmitting a timestamp or a prohibition timer associated with the identity to the manager terminal device. The timestamp indicates when the identity was determined (or updated). The prohibition timer indicates a predetermined time period during which the identity should not be updated. Optionally, information regarding the link may be received or the identity may be allocated by one or more of RRC signaling, MAC CE, paging message, SDAP or PDCP or RLC or adaptation layer control PDU, and L1 signaling. In the method of FIG. 19, the identity may be used to implement secure communication on the link.

[0176] FIG. 20 is a flow chart showing a method implemented by a base station according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. The method may be implemented after blocks 1902-1906 are implemented. In block 2007, the base station receives a response message from the first / second terminal device in response to allocating the identification information. In block 2008, when the response message indicates a rejection to the identification information of the first / second terminal device, determining the identification information (block 1904) and allocating the identification information (block 1906) are implemented again for the first / second terminal device. In the method of FIG. 20, possible conflicts of identification information may be resolved.

[0177] FIG. 21 is a flow chart illustrating a method performed by a base station according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. For example, the method may be performed after blocks 1902-1906 are performed. In block 2110, the base station determines whether the identification information needs to be updated. For example, when one or more of the conditions described in the fifth embodiment above are satisfied, the base station may determine that the identification information needs to be updated. When determining in block 2112 that the identification information needs to be updated, the determining of the identification information (block 1904) and the allocating of the identification information (block 1906) are performed again. In the method of FIG. 21, it is possible to perform secure communication on the link using the updated identification information.

[0178] FIG. 22 is a flow chart illustrating a method implemented by a base station according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. In block 2214, the base station detects a conflict between identification information of at least two different terminal devices. As an example, the base station may monitor signaling messages received from terminal devices served by the base station or from other base stations. As another example, the base station may monitor sidelink transmissions and / or receptions between terminal devices in its vicinity. In block 2216, the base station notifies one or more neighboring base stations or network nodes (e.g., core network nodes such as an Access and Mobility Function (AMF) or a Session Management Function (SMF)) of the detected conflict. For example, the detected conflict may be notified to one or more neighboring base stations by one or more of XnAP signaling, F1AP signaling, and a paging message. In the method of FIG. 22, a possible conflict of identification information may be resolved.

[0179] 23 is a block diagram showing an apparatus suitable for use in implementing some embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, any one of the first terminal device, the third terminal device, the manager terminal device, and the base station described above may be implemented through the apparatus 2300. As shown, the apparatus 2300 may include a processor 2310, a memory 2320 for storing a program, and optionally a communication interface 2330 for communicating data with other external devices through wired communication and / or wireless communication.

[0180] The program includes program instructions that, when executed by the processor 2310, enable the device 2300 to operate according to embodiments of the present disclosure, as described above. That is, embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented, at least in part, by computer software executable by the processor 2310, or by hardware, or by a combination of software and hardware.

[0181] The memory 2320 may be of any type suitable for the local technology environment and may be implemented using any suitable data storage technology, such as semiconductor-based memory devices, flash memory, magnetic memory devices and systems, optical memory devices and systems, fixed and removable memory, etc. The processor 2310 may be of any type suitable for the local technology environment and may include, by way of non-limiting examples, one or more of a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a microprocessor, a digital signal processor (DSP), and a processor based on a multi-core processor architecture.

[0182] FIG. 24 is a block diagram illustrating a first terminal device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The first terminal device may connect with the second terminal device via at least one third terminal device acting as a relay between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. As shown, the first terminal device 2400 includes a determination module 2402 and an allocation module 2404. The determination module 2402 may be configured to determine, for the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device, an identification information for identifying the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device on a link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. The allocation module 2404 may be configured to allocate the determined identification information to at least one corresponding hop on the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device.

[0183] FIG. 25 is a block diagram illustrating a third terminal device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The third terminal device may act as a relay between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. As shown, the third terminal device 2500 includes a determination module 2502 and an allocation module 2504. The determination module 2502 may be configured to determine, for the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device, an identification information for identifying the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device on a link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. The allocation module 2504 may be configured to allocate the determined identification information to at least one corresponding hop on the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device.

[0184] FIG. 26 is a block diagram illustrating a manager terminal device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The manager terminal device may be under the coverage of a base station and may be one of a first terminal device, a second terminal device, and at least one third terminal device serving as a relay between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. As shown, the manager terminal device 2600 includes a reporting module 2602, a receiving module 2604, and an allocating module 2606. The reporting module 2602 may be configured to report information regarding a link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device to the base station. The receiving module 2604 may be configured to receive, from the base station, identification information of the first terminal device and the second terminal device for identifying the first terminal device and the second terminal device on the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. The allocating module 2606 may be configured to allocate the determined identification information to a corresponding hop on the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device.

[0185] FIG. 27 is a block diagram illustrating a base station according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The base station may connect with a manager terminal device, which may be one of a first terminal device, a second terminal device, and at least one third terminal device serving as a relay between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. As shown, the base station 2700 includes a receiving module 2702, a determining module 2704, and an allocating module 2706. The receiving module 2702 may be configured to receive information about a link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device from the manager terminal device. The determining module 2704 may be configured to determine, for the first terminal device and the second terminal device, identification information for identifying the first terminal device and the second terminal device on the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. The allocating module 2706 may be configured to allocate the determined identification information to the manager terminal device. The above-described modules may be implemented by hardware, or software, or a combination of both.

[0186] FIG. 28 illustrates an example of a communication system 2800, according to some embodiments.

[0187] In this example, the communications system 2800 includes a communications network 2802 including an access network 2804, such as a radio access network (RAN), and a core network 2806 including one or more core network nodes 2808. The access network 2804 includes one or more access network nodes, such as network nodes 2810a and 2810b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as network nodes 2810), or any other similar Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) access nodes or non-3GPP access points. The network nodes 2810 facilitate direct or indirect connectivity of user equipment (UE), such as by connecting UEs 2812a, 2812b, 2812c, and 2812d (one or more of which may be generally referred to as UEs 2812) to the core network 2806 over one or more wireless connections.

[0188] Exemplary wireless communication over a wireless connection includes transmitting and / or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic, radio, infrared, and / or other types of signals suitable for conveying information without the use of wires, cables, or other material conductors. Moreover, in different embodiments, the communication system 2800 may include any number of wired or wireless networks, network nodes, UEs, and / or any other components or systems that may facilitate or participate in the communication of data and / or signals, whether via a wired or wireless connection. The communication system 2800 may include and / or interface with any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, wireless network, and / or other similar types of systems.

[0189] The UE 2812 may be any of a wide variety of communications devices, including a wireless device configured, configured, and / or operable to wirelessly communicate with the network node 2810 and other communications devices. Similarly, the network node 2810 is configured, capable, configured, and / or operable to communicate, directly or indirectly, with the UE 2812 and / or with other network nodes or equipment in the communications network 2802 to enable and / or provide network access, such as wireless network access, and / or to perform other functions, such as administration in the communications network 2802.

[0190] In the illustrated example, the core network 2806 connects the network node 2810 to one or more hosts, such as the host 2816. These connections may be direct or indirect via one or more intermediate networks or devices. In other examples, the network nodes may be directly coupled to the hosts. The core network 2806 includes one or more core network nodes (e.g., the core network node 2808) structured with hardware and software components. Features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the UEs, network nodes, and / or hosts, and therefore those descriptions are generally applicable to the corresponding components of the core network node 2808. Exemplary core network nodes include one or more of the following functions: a Mobile Switching Center (MSC), a Mobility Management Entity (MME), a Home Subscriber Server (HSS), an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), a Session Management Function (SMF), an Authentication Server Function (AUSF), a Subscription Identifier De-concealing Function (SIDF), a Unified Data Management (UDM), a Security Edge Protection Proxy (SEPP), a Network Publishing Function (NEF), and / or a User Plane Function (UPF).

[0191] The host 2816 may be owned or under the control of, and operated by or on behalf of, a service provider other than an operator or provider of the access network 2804 and / or the communication network 2802. The host 2816 may host various applications to provide one or more services. Examples of such applications include live and pre-recorded audio / video content, data collection services such as retrieving and compiling data regarding various ambient conditions detected by multiple UEs, analytics functions, social media, functions for controlling or possibly interacting with remote devices, functions for an alarm and surveillance center, or any other such functions implemented by a server.

[0192] Overall, the communication system 2800 of Figure 28 enables connectivity between UEs, network nodes, and hosts. In that sense, the communication system may be configured to operate according to predefined rules or procedures, such as a particular standard, including, but not limited to, Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Long Term Evolution (LTE), and / or other suitable 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G standards, or any applicable future generation standard (e.g., 6G), a wireless local area network (WLAN) standard, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard (WiFi), and / or any other suitable wireless communication standard, such as Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Bluetooth, Z-Wave, Near Field Communications (NFC) ZigBee, LiFi, and / or any low power wide area network (LPWAN) standard, such as LoRa and Sigfox.

[0193] In some examples, the communication network 2802 is a cellular network implementing 3GPP standardized features. Thus, the communication network 2802 may support network slicing to provide different logical networks to different devices connected to the communication network 2802. For example, the communication network 2802 may provide ultra-reliable low latency communication (URLLC) services to some UEs, while providing enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) services to other UEs, and / or providing massive machine-based communication (mMTC) / massive IoT services to still further UEs.

[0194] In some examples, the UE 2812 is configured to transmit and / or receive information without direct human interaction. For example, the UE may be designed to transmit information to the access network 2804 on a predefined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to a request from the access network 2804. Furthermore, the UE may be configured to operate in a single or multi-RAT or multi-standard mode. For example, the UE may operate in any one or combination of Wi-Fi, NR (New Radio) and LTE, i.e., configured for multi-radio dual connectivity (MR-DC), such as E-UTRAN (Enhanced UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network) New Radio-Dual Connectivity (EN-DC).

[0195] In this example, the hub 2814 communicates with the access network 2804 to facilitate indirect communication between one or more UEs (e.g., UEs 2812c and / or 2812d) and a network node (e.g., network node 2810b). In some examples, the hub 2814 may be a controller, a router, a content source and content analysis, or any of the other communication devices described herein with respect to UEs. For example, the hub 2814 may be a broadband router that allows access to the core network 2806 for the UE. As another example, the hub 2814 may be a controller that sends commands or instructions to one or more actuators in the UE. The commands or instructions may be received from the UE, the network node 2810, or may be due to executable code, scripts, processes, or other instructions in the hub 2814. As another example, the hub 2814 may be a data collector that acts as a temporary storage for UE data and, in some embodiments, may perform analysis or other processing of the data. As another example, the hub 2814 may be a content source. For example, for a UE that is a VR headset, display, loudspeaker, or other media distribution device, the hub 2814 may retrieve, via a network node, VR assets, video, audio, or other media or data related to sensory information, which the hub 2814 then provides to the UE either directly, after performing local processing, and / or after adding additional local content. In yet another example, the hub 2814 acts as a proxy server or orchestrator for the UEs, particularly in the case where one or more of the UEs are low energy IoT devices.

[0196] The hub 2814 may have a full-time / permanent or intermittent connection to the network node 2810b. The hub 2814 may also enable different communication schemes and / or schedules between the hub 2814 and the UEs (e.g., UEs 2812c and / or 2812d) and between the hub 2814 and the core network 2806. In other examples, the hub 2814 is connected to the core network 2806 and / or one or more UEs via a wired connection. Moreover, the hub 2814 may be configured to connect to an M2M service provider over the access network 2804 and / or to another UE over a direct connection. In some scenarios, a UE may establish a wireless connection with the network node 2810 while still being connected via a wired or wireless connection through the hub 2814. In some embodiments, the hub 2814 may be a dedicated hub, i.e., a hub whose main function is to route communications from the UE to / from the network node 2810b to the UE. In other embodiments, the hub 2814 may be a non-dedicated hub, i.e., a device that is capable of operating to route communications between the UE and the network node 2810b, but that is further capable of operating as a communication initiation and / or termination point for some data channels.

[0197] FIG. 29 illustrates a UE 2900, according to some embodiments. A UE, as used herein, refers to a device capable of, set up, configured, and / or operable to wirelessly communicate with network nodes and / or other UEs. Examples of UEs include, but are not limited to, smartphones, mobile phones, cell phones, voice-over-IP (VoIP) phones, wireless local loop phones, desktop computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), wireless cameras, gaming consoles or devices, music storage devices, playback appliances, wearable terminal devices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, tablets, laptop computers, laptop embedded equipment (LEE), laptop mounted equipment (LME), smart devices, wireless customer premises equipment (CPE), vehicle mounted or vehicle embedded / integrated wireless devices, and the like. Other examples include any UE identified by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), including narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) UE, machine type communication (MTC) UE, and / or enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE.

[0198] A UE may support device-to-device (D2D) communications, for example, by implementing 3GPP standards for sidelink communications, dedicated short-range communications (DSRC), vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), or vehicle-to-everything (V2X). In other examples, a UE does not necessarily have a user in the sense of a human user who owns and / or operates an associated device. Instead, a UE may represent a device (e.g., a smart sprinkler controller) that is intended for sale to or operation by a human user, but may not be associated with or may not initially be associated with a particular human user. Alternatively, a UE may represent a device (e.g., a smart power meter) that is not intended for sale to or operation by an end user, but may be associated with or operated for the benefit of a user.

[0199] The UE 2900 includes a processing circuit 2902 operably coupled to an input / output interface 2906, a power source 2908, a memory 2910, a communication interface 2912, and / or any other components, or any combination thereof, via a bus 2904. Some UEs may utilize all or a subset of the components shown in FIG. 29. The level of integration between components may vary from UE to UE. Additionally, some UEs may include multiple instances of a component, such as multiple processors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc.

[0200] The processing circuit 2902 is configured to process instructions and data and may be configured to implement any sequential state machine operable to execute instructions stored in the memory 2910 as a machine-readable computer program. The processing circuit 2902 may be implemented as one or more hardware-implemented state machines (e.g., in discrete logic, a field programmable gate array (FPGA), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), etc.), programmable logic together with appropriate firmware, one or more stored computer programs, such as a microprocessor or digital signal processor (DSP) together with appropriate software, a general-purpose processor, or any combination of the above. For example, the processing circuit 2902 may include multiple central processing units (CPUs).

[0201] In this example, the input / output interface 2906 may be configured to provide one or more interfaces to an input device, an output device, or one or more input and / or output devices. Examples of output devices include a speaker, a sound card, a video card, a display, a monitor, a printer, an actuator, an emitter, a smart card, another output device, or any combination thereof. An input device may allow a user to capture information to the UE 2900. Examples of input devices include a touch-sensitive or presence-sensitive display, a camera (e.g., a digital camera, a digital video camera, a webcam, etc.), a microphone, a sensor, a mouse, a trackball, a directional pad, a trackpad, a scroll wheel, a smart card, etc. A presence-sensitive display may include a capacitive or resistive touch sensor for sensing input from a user. The sensor may be, for example, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a tilt sensor, a force sensor, a magnetometer, a light sensor, a proximity sensor, a biometric sensor, etc., or any combination thereof. An output device may use the same type of interface port as an input device. For example, a universal serial bus (USB) port may be used to provide an input device and an output device.

[0202] In some embodiments, the power source 2908 is structured as a battery or battery pack. Other types of power sources may be used, such as an external power source (e.g., an electrical outlet), a photovoltaic device, or a battery. The power source 2908 may further include a power circuit for delivering power to various parts of the UE 2900 from the power source 2908 itself and / or from an external power source via an input circuit, or an interface such as a power cable. Delivering power may be for charging the power source 2908, for example. The power circuit may perform any formatting, conversion, or other modification on the power from the power source 2908 to make it suitable for the respective component of the UE 2900 to which it is powered.

[0203] The memory 2910 may be or be configured to include memory, such as random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), programmable read only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM), magnetic disk, optical disk, hard disk, removable cartridge, flash drive, etc. In one example, the memory 2910 includes one or more application programs 2914, such as an operating system, a web browser application, a widget, a gadget engine, or other application, and corresponding data 2916. The memory 2910 may store any of a variety of different operating systems or combinations of operating systems for use by the UE 2900.

[0204] The memory 2910 may be configured to include a number of physical drive units, such as a redundant array of independent disks (RAID), flash memory, a USB flash drive, an external hard disk drive, a thumb drive, a pen drive, a key drive, a high density digital versatile disk (HD-DVD) optical disk drive, an internal hard disk drive, a Blu-Ray optical disk drive, a holographic digital data storage (HDDS) optical disk drive, an external mini dual in-line memory module (DIMM), a synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), an external micro-DIMM SDRAM, a smart card memory, such as a tamper-proof module in the form of a universal integrated circuit card (UICC) including one or more subscriber identity modules (SIMs), such as a USIM and / or an ISIM, other memory, or any combination thereof. The UICC may be, for example, an embedded UICC (eUICC), an integrated UICC (iUICC), or a removable UICC, commonly known as a "SIM card". The memory 2910 may enable the UE 2900 to access instructions, application programs, and the like stored on a temporary or non-transitory memory medium, to offload data, or to upload data. An article of manufacture, such as an article of manufacture utilizing a communication system, may be tangibly embodied as or in the memory 2910, which may be or comprise a device-readable storage medium.

[0205] The processing circuit 2902 may be configured to communicate with an access network or other networks using a communication interface 2912. The communication interface 2912 may comprise one or more communication subsystems and may include or be communicatively coupled to an antenna 2922. The communication interface 2912 may include one or more transceivers used to communicate, such as by communicating with one or more remote transceivers of another device capable of wireless communication (e.g., another UE or a network node in the access network). Each transceiver may include a transmitter 2918 and / or a receiver 2920 suitable for providing network communication (e.g., optical, electrical, frequency allocation, etc.). Moreover, the transmitter 2918 and receiver 2920 may be coupled to one or more antennas (e.g., antenna 2922) and may share circuit components, software or firmware or may alternatively be implemented separately.

[0206] In the embodiment shown, the communication capabilities of communication interface 2912 may include cellular communications, Wi-Fi communications, LPWAN communications, data communications, voice communications, multimedia communications, short-range communications such as Bluetooth, near-field communications, location-based communications such as use of a Global Positioning System (GPS) to determine location, another similar communication capability, or any combination thereof. Communications may be implemented according to one or more communications protocols and / or standards, such as IEEE 802.11, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), GSM, LTE, New Radio (NR), UMTS, WiMax, Ethernet, Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol (TCP / IP), Synchronous Optical Networking (SONET), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), QUIC, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), etc.

[0207] Regardless of the type of sensor, the UE may provide an output of data captured by the UE's sensors to a network node via a wireless connection through the UE's communications interface 2912. Data captured by the UE's sensors may be communicated to a network node via another UE over a wireless connection. The output may be periodic (e.g., once every 15 minutes when reporting detected temperature), in response to a triggering event (e.g., an alert is sent when humidity is detected), in response to a request (e.g., a user-initiated request), random (e.g., to even out the load from reporting from several sensors), or a continuous stream (e.g., a live video feed of a patient).

[0208] As another example, the UE may include an actuator, motor, or switch associated with a communication interface configured to receive wireless input from a network node via a wireless connection. In response to the received wireless input, the state of the actuator, motor, or switch may change. For example, the UE may include a motor that adjusts a control surface or rotor of a drone in flight according to the received input, or a robotic arm that performs a medical procedure according to the received input.

[0209] The UE, when in the form of an Internet of Things (IoT) device, may be a device for use in one or more application areas, including, but not limited to, urban wearable technology, augmented industrial applications, and healthcare. Non-limiting examples of such IoT devices are devices that are or are embedded in connected refrigerators or freezers, TVs, connected lighting devices, power meters, robotic vacuum cleaners, voice-controlled smart speakers, home security cameras, motion detectors, thermostats, smoke detectors, door / window sensors, water inundation / humidity sensors, electronic door locks, connected doorbells, air conditioning systems such as heat pumps, autonomous vehicles, surveillance systems, weather monitoring devices, vehicle parking monitoring devices, electric vehicle charging stations, smart watches, fitness trackers, head-mounted displays for augmented reality (AR) or virtual reality (VR), wearables for haptic augmentation or sensory augmentation, water sprinklers, animal or product tracking devices, sensors for monitoring plants or animals, industrial robots, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and any kind of medical device such as a heart rate monitor or a remote-controlled surgical robot. A UE in the form of an IoT device comprises circuitry and / or software depending on the intended application of the IoT device, in addition to the other components described with respect to UE 2900 shown in FIG. 29.

[0210] As yet another particular example, in an IoT scenario, a UE may represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and / or measurements and transmits results of such monitoring and / or measurements to another UE and / or network node. The UE may in this case be an M2M device, which may be referred to as an MTC device in the 3GPP context. As one particular example, the UE may implement the 3GPP NB-IoT standard. In other scenarios, the UE may represent a vehicle, such as a car, bus, truck, ship, and airplane, or other equipment capable of monitoring and / or reporting on its operating status or other functions related to its operation.

[0211] In fact, any number of UEs may be used together for a single use case. For example, a first UE may be a drone or be integrated in a drone and provide the drone's speed information (obtained through a speed sensor) to a second UE that is a remote controller that operates the drone. When a user makes a change from the remote controller, the first UE may adjust a throttle on the drone (e.g., by controlling an actuator) to increase or decrease the drone's speed. The first and / or second UE may also include two or more of the functions described above. For example, a UE may comprise a sensor and an actuator and handle communication of data for both the speed sensor and the actuator.

[0212] FIG. 30 illustrates a network node 3000 according to some embodiments. A network node, as used herein, refers to a device capable of, set up, configured, and / or operable to communicate, directly or indirectly, with UEs in a communication network and / or with other network nodes or devices. Examples of network nodes include, but are not limited to, access points (APs) (e.g., wireless access points), base stations (BSs) (e.g., radio base stations, Node Bs, evolved Node Bs (eNBs), and NR Node Bs (gNBs)).

[0213] Base stations may be categorized based on the amount of coverage they provide (or, stated another way, their transmit power level) and may therefore be referred to as femto, pico, micro, or macro base stations depending on the amount of coverage provided. A base station may be a relay node or a relay donor node that controls a relay. A network node may also include one or more (or all) parts of a distributed radio base station, such as a centralized digital unit and / or a remote radio unit (RRU), sometimes referred to as a remote radio head (RRH). Such remote radio units may or may not be integrated with an antenna as an antenna-integrated radio. Parts of a distributed radio base station may also be referred to as nodes in a distributed antenna system (DAS).

[0214] Other examples of network nodes include multiple transmission point (multi-TRP) 5G access nodes, MSR equipment such as a multi-standard radio (MSR) BS, a network controller such as a radio network controller (RNC) or a base station controller (BSC), a base transceiver station (BTS), a transmission point, a transmitting node, a multi-cell / multicast coordination entity (MCE), an operation and maintenance (O&M) node, an operation support system (OSS) node, a self-organizing network (SON) node, a positioning node (e.g., an evolved serving mobile location center (E-SMLC)), and / or a minimization of drive test (MDT).

[0215] The network node 3000 includes a processing circuit 3002, a memory 3004, a communication interface 3006, and a power source 3008. The network node 3000 may be assembled from multiple physically separate components (e.g., a Node B component and an RNC component, or a BTS component and a BSC component, etc.), which may each have their own respective components. In some scenarios in which the network node 3000 comprises multiple separate components (e.g., a BTS component and a BSC component), one or more of the separate components may be shared among several network nodes. For example, a single RNC may control several Node Bs. In such scenarios, each unique Node B and RNC pair may be considered as a single separate network node in some cases. In some embodiments, the network node 3000 may be configured to support several radio access technologies (RATs). In such embodiments, some components may be duplicated (e.g., separate memories 3004 for different RATs) and some components may be reused (e.g., the same antenna 3010 may be shared by different RATs). The network node 3000 may also include multiple sets of the various shown components for different wireless technologies, e.g., GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, Zigbee, Z-wave, LoRaWAN, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) or Bluetooth wireless technologies, integrated into the network node 3000. These wireless technologies may be integrated in the same or different chips or sets of chips and other components within the network node 3000.

[0216] The processing circuitry 3002 may comprise one or more combinations of a microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, central processing unit, digital signal processor, application specific integrated circuit, field programmable gate array, or any other suitable computing device, resources, or combinations of hardware, software and / or coded logic operable to provide the network node 3000 functionality, either alone or in conjunction with other network node 3000 components, such as memory 3004.

[0217] In some embodiments, the processing circuit 3002 comprises a system on a chip (SOC). In some embodiments, the processing circuit 3002 includes one or more of a radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuit 3012 and a baseband processing circuit 3014. In some embodiments, the radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuit 3012 and the baseband processing circuit 3014 may be on separate chips (or sets of chips), boards, or units, such as a radio unit and a digital unit. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the RF transceiver circuit 3012 and the baseband processing circuit 3014 may be on the same chip or set of chips, board, or unit.

[0218] The memory 3004 may comprise any form of volatile or non-volatile computer readable memory, including, but not limited to, persistent storage, solid state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), mass storage media (e.g., hard disk), removable storage media (e.g., flash drive, compact disk (CD) or digital video disk (DVD)), and / or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device readable and / or computer executable memory device that stores information, data, and / or instructions that may be used by the processing circuit 3002. The memory 3004 may store any suitable instructions, data or information, including applications including one or more of computer programs, software, logic, rules, codes, tables, and / or other instructions that may be executed by the processing circuit 3002 and utilized by the network node 3000. The memory 3004 may be used to store calculations performed by the processing circuit 3002 and / or data received via the communication interface 3006. In some embodiments, the processing circuit 3002 and the memory 3004 are integrated.

[0219] The communication interface 3006 is used in wired or wireless communication of signaling and / or data between network nodes, access networks, and / or UEs. As shown, the communication interface 3006 comprises port(s) / terminal(s) 3016 for sending and receiving data to and from a network, for example over a wired connection. The communication interface 3006 also includes a radio front-end circuit 3018, which is coupled to an antenna 3010 or, in some embodiments, may be part of the antenna 3010. The radio front-end circuit 3018 comprises a filter 3020 and an amplifier 3022. The radio front-end circuit 3018 may be connected to the antenna 3010 and the processing circuit 3002. The radio front-end circuit may be configured to condition signals communicated between the antenna 3010 and the processing circuit 3002. The radio front-end circuit 3018 may receive digital data to be sent to other network nodes or UEs via a wireless connection. The radio front-end circuitry 3018 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters 3020 and / or amplifiers 3022. The radio signal may then be transmitted via the antenna 3010. Similarly, when receiving data, the antenna 3010 may collect the radio signal, which is then converted into digital data by the radio front-end circuitry 3018. The digital data may be passed to the processing circuitry 3002. In other embodiments, the communication interface may comprise different components and / or different combinations of components.

[0220] In some alternative embodiments, the network node 3000 does not include a separate radio front-end circuit 3018, and instead the processing circuit 3002 includes the radio front-end circuitry and is connected to the antenna 3010. Similarly, in some embodiments all or a portion of the RF transceiver circuitry 3012 is part of the communications interface 3006. In still other embodiments, the communications interface 3006 includes one or more ports or terminals 3016, the radio front-end circuitry 3018, and the RF transceiver circuitry 3012 as part of a radio unit (not shown), and the communications interface 3006 communicates with baseband processing circuitry 3014 that is part of a digital unit (not shown).

[0221] The antenna 3010 may include one or more antennas or an antenna array configured to send and / or receive wireless signals. The antenna 3010 may be coupled to the radio front-end circuitry 3018 and may be any type of antenna capable of wirelessly transmitting and receiving data and / or signals. In some embodiments, the antenna 3010 is separate from the network node 3000 and connectable to the network node 3000 through an interface or port.

[0222] The antenna 3010, the communication interface 3006, and / or the processing circuit 3002 may be configured to perform any receiving operation and / or some acquisition operation described herein as being performed by a network node. Any information, data, and / or signal may be received from a UE, another network node, and / or any other network equipment. Similarly, the antenna 3010, the communication interface 3006, and / or the processing circuit 3002 may be configured to perform any transmitting operation described herein as being performed by a network node. Any information, data, and / or signal may be transmitted to a UE, another network node, and / or any other network equipment.

[0223] The power source 3008 provides power to the various components of the network node 3000 in a form suitable for each component (e.g., at voltage and current levels required for each respective component). The power source 3008 may further comprise or be coupled to a power management circuit for supplying the components of the network node 3000 with power for performing the functions described herein. For example, the network node 3000 may be connectable to an external power source (e.g., a power grid, an electrical outlet) via an input circuit or interface, such as an electrical cable, whereby the external power source provides power to the power circuit of the power source 3008. As a further example, the power source 3008 may comprise a power source in the form of a battery or battery pack connected to or integrated in the power circuit. The battery may provide backup power in the event that the external power source fails.

[0224] Embodiments of the network node 3000 may include additional components other than those shown in Figure 30 to provide certain aspects of the functionality of the network node, including any of the functionality described herein and / or functionality necessary to support the subject matter described herein. For example, the network node 3000 may include user interface devices to enable input of information into the network node 3000 and output of information from the network node 3000. This may enable a user to perform diagnostics, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions for the network node 3000.

[0225] FIG. 31 is a block diagram of a host 3100, which may be an embodiment of the host 2816 of FIG. 28, in accordance with various aspects described herein. The host 3100, as used herein, may be or comprise various combinations of hardware and / or software, including a standalone server, a blade server, a cloud-implemented server, a distributed server, a virtual machine, a container, or processing resources in a server farm. The host 3100 may provide one or more services to one or more UEs.

[0226] The host 3100 includes a processing circuit 3102 operably coupled to an input / output interface 3106, a network interface 3108, a power source 3110, and a memory 3112 via a bus 3104. In other embodiments, other components may be included. Features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the devices of previous figures, such as Figures 29 and 30, and therefore those descriptions are generally applicable to the corresponding components of the host 3100.

[0227] The memory 3112 may include one or more computer programs including one or more host application programs 3114 and data 3116, which may include user data, e.g., data generated by the UE for the host 3100 or data generated by the host 3100 for the UE. An embodiment of the host 3100 may utilize only a subset or all of the components shown. The host application programs 3114 may be implemented in a container-based architecture and may provide support for video codecs (e.g., Versatile Video Coding (VVC), High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), Advanced Video Coding (AVC), MPEG, VP9), and audio codecs (e.g., FLAC, Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), MPEG, G.711), including transcoding for multiple different classes, types, or implementations of UEs (e.g., handsets, desktop computers, wearable display systems, heads-up display systems). The host application program 3114 may also provide user authentication and license checks, and may periodically report health, route, and content availability to a central node, such as a device in the core network or on the edge of the core network. Thus, the host 3100 may select and / or indicate a different host for over-the-top services for the UE. The host application program 3114 may support a variety of protocols, such as HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) protocol, Real-Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP), Real-Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP), Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (MPEG-DASH), etc.

[0228] FIG. 32 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment 3200 in which functionality implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized. In this context, virtualizing means creating a virtual version of an apparatus or device, which may include virtualizing a hardware platform, storage devices, and networking resources. Virtualization as used herein may apply to any device described herein, or components thereof, and relates to implementations in which at least a portion of functionality is implemented as one or more virtual components. Some or all of the functionality described herein may be implemented as virtual components executed by one or more virtual machines (VMs) implemented in one or more virtual environments 3200 hosted by one or more of the hardware nodes, such as a network node, a UE, a core network node, or a hardware computing device acting as a host. Furthermore, in embodiments in which a virtual node does not require wireless connectivity (e.g., a core network node or a host), the node may be fully virtualized.

[0229] An application 3202 (which may alternatively be referred to as a software instance, a virtual appliance, a network function, a virtual node, a virtual network function, etc.) is run in the virtualization environment Q400 to implement some of the features, functions, and / or benefits of some of the embodiments disclosed herein.

[0230] Hardware 3204 includes processing circuitry, memory that stores software and / or instructions executable by the hardware processing circuitry, and / or other hardware devices described herein, such as network interfaces, input / output interfaces, etc. Software is executed by the processing circuitry to instantiate one or more virtualization layers 3206 (also referred to as a hypervisor or virtual machine monitor (VMM)), provide VMs 3208a and 3208b (one or more of which may be referred to generally as VMs 3208), and / or implement any of the functions, features, and / or benefits described with respect to some embodiments described herein. Virtualization layer 3206 may present to VMs 3208 a virtual operating platform that appears to be networking hardware.

[0231] The VMs 3208 may comprise virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking or interfaces, and virtual storage, and may be run by a corresponding virtualization layer 3206. Different embodiments of the virtual appliance 3202 instance may be implemented on one or more of the VMs 3208, and the implementation may be done in different ways. Hardware virtualization is referred to in some contexts as network function virtualization (NFV). NFV may be used to consolidate many network equipment types onto industry-standard high-volume server hardware, physical switches, and physical storage that may be located in data centers and customer premises equipment.

[0232] In the context of NFV, the VMs 3208 may be software implementations of physical machines that run programs as if they were running on a physical, non-virtualized machine. Each VM 3208 and the portion of the hardware 3204 on which it runs, whether hardware dedicated to that VM and / or hardware shared by that VM with other of the VMs, forms a separate virtual network element. Further in the context of NFV, a virtual network function is responsible for handling a particular network function running in one or more VMs 3208 on the hardware 3204 and corresponds to the application 3202.

[0233] The hardware 3204 may be implemented in a standalone network node with general or specific components. The hardware 3204 may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, the hardware 3204 may be part of a larger cluster of hardware (such as in a data center or CPE, for example) where many hardware nodes work together and are managed via a management and orchestration 3210 that oversees, among other things, the lifecycle management of the application 3202. In some embodiments, the hardware 3204 is coupled to one or more radio units, each including one or more transmitters and one or more receivers, which may be coupled to one or more antennas. The radio units may communicate directly with other hardware nodes via one or more appropriate network interfaces, and may be used in combination with virtual components to provide a virtual node with wireless capabilities, such as a radio access node or base station. In some embodiments, some signaling may be provided using a control system 3212, which may alternatively be used for communication between the hardware nodes and the radio units.

[0234] FIG. 33 illustrates a communication diagram of a host 3302 communicating with a UE 3306 via a network node 3304 over a partial wireless connection, according to some embodiments. Exemplary implementations according to various embodiments of a UE (such as the UE 2812a of FIG. 28 and / or the UE 2900 of FIG. 29), a network node (such as the network node 2810a of FIG. 28 and / or the network node 3000 of FIG. 30), and a host (such as the host 2816 of FIG. 28 and / or the host 3100 of FIG. 31) described in the previous paragraph will now be described with reference to FIG.

[0235] Similar to the host 3100, an embodiment of the host 3302 includes hardware, such as a communications interface, processing circuitry, and memory. The host 3302 also includes software stored on or accessible by the host 3302 and executable by the processing circuitry. The software includes a host application that may be operable to provide services to a remote user, such as a UE 3306 connecting via an over-the-top (OTT) connection 3350 extending between the UE 3306 and the host 3302. In providing services to a remote user, the host application may provide user data that is transmitted using the OTT connection 3350.

[0236] The network node 3304 includes hardware that enables the network node 3304 to communicate with the host 3302 and the UE 3306. The connection 3360 may be direct or may pass through one or more other intermediate networks, such as a core network (similar to the core network 2806 of FIG. 28) and / or one or more public, private, or hosted networks. For example, the intermediate network may be a backbone network or the Internet.

[0237] The UE 3306 includes hardware and software stored in or accessible by the UE 3306 and executable by the processing circuitry of the UE. The software includes a client application, such as a web browser or an operator-specific "app," which may be operable to provide services to a human or non-human user via the UE 3306 with the support of the host 3302. At the host 3302, a running host application may communicate with a running client application via an OTT connection 3350 that terminates at the UE 3306 and the host 3302. In providing services to a user, the client application of the UE may receive request data from the host application of the host and provide user data in response to the request data. The OTT connection 3350 may transfer both the request data and the user data. The client application of the UE may interact with the user to generate user data that the client application of the UE provides to the host application through the OTT connection 3350.

[0238] The OTT connection 3350 may extend through a connection 3360 between the host 3302 and a network node 3304 and through a wireless connection 3370 between the network node 3304 and the UE 3306 to provide a connection between the host 3302 and the UE 3306. The connections 3360 and wireless connections 3370 through which the OTT connection 3350 may be provided are depicted abstractly to show communication between the host 3302 and the UE 3306 through the network node 3304, without explicit reference to intermediary devices and the precise routing of messages through these devices.

[0239] As an example of transmitting data over the OTT connection 3350, in step 3308, the host 3302 provides user data, which may be performed by executing a host application. In some embodiments, the user data is associated with a particular human user interacting with the UE 3306. In other embodiments, the user data is associated with a UE 3306 that shares data with the host 3302 without explicit human interaction. In step 3310, the host 3302 initiates a transmission conveying the user data towards the UE 3306. The host 3302 may initiate the transmission in response to a request transmitted by the UE 3306. The request may be triggered by human interaction with the UE 3306 or by the operation of a client application executing on the UE 3306. The transmission may pass through the network node 3304 in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. Thus, in step 3312, the network node 3304 transmits the user data carried in the transmission initiated by the host 3302 to the UE 3306, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. In step 3314, the UE 3306 receives the user data carried in the transmission, which may be performed by a client application executing on the UE 3306 associated with the host application executed by the host 3302.

[0240] In some examples, the UE 3306 executes a client application that provides user data to the host 3302. The user data may be provided in reaction or response to data received from the host 3302. Thus, in step 3316, the UE 3306 may provide the user data, which may be implemented by executing the client application. In providing the user data, the client application may further take into account user input received from a user via an input / output interface of the UE 3306. Regardless of the particular manner in which the user data is provided, the UE 3306 initiates transmission of the user data towards the host 3302 via the network node 3304 in step 3318. In step 3320, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure, the network node 3304 receives the user data from the UE 3306 and initiates transmission of the received user data towards the host 3302. In step 3322, the host 3302 receives the user data carried in the transmission initiated by the UE 3306.

[0241] One or more of the various embodiments improve the performance of the OTT service provided to the UE 3306 using the OTT connection 3350 of which the wireless connection 3370 forms the final segment. More precisely, the teachings of these embodiments may improve power consumption, thereby providing benefits such as extended battery life.

[0242] In an exemplary scenario, factory status information may be collected and analyzed by the host 3302. As another example, the host 3302 may process audio and video data that may have been retrieved from the UE for use in creating a map. As another example, the host 3302 may collect and analyze real-time data to assist in controlling vehicular congestion (e.g., controlling traffic signals). As another example, the host 3302 may store surveillance videos uploaded by the UE. As another example, the host 3302 may store or control access to media content, such as video, audio, VR or AR, that the host 3302 may broadcast, multicast, or unicast to the UE. As other examples, the host 3302 may be used for energy pricing, remote control of non-time-constrained electrical loads to balance power generation needs, location services, presentation services (such as compiling diagrams, etc. from data collected from remote devices), or any other function of collecting, retrieving, storing, analyzing, and / or transmitting data.

[0243] In some examples, measurement procedures may be provided for the purpose of monitoring data rates, latency, and other factors that one or more embodiments improve upon. There may further be an optional network function to reconfigure the OTT connection 3350 between the host 3302 and the UE 3306 in response to fluctuations in the measurement results. The measurement procedures and / or the network function to reconfigure the OTT connection may be implemented in software and hardware of the host 3302 and / or the UE 3306. In some embodiments, sensors (not shown) may be deployed in or in association with other devices through which the OTT connection 3350 passes, and the sensors may participate in the measurement procedures by providing values ​​of the monitored quantities exemplified above, or other physical quantities from which software may calculate or estimate the monitored quantities. The reconfiguration of the OTT connection 3350 may include message formats, retransmission settings, preferred routing, etc., and the reconfiguration need not directly change the operation of the network node 3304. Such procedures and functions may be known and practiced in the art. In some embodiments, the measurements may involve proprietary UE signaling that facilitates measurements by the host 3302 of throughput, propagation time, latency, etc. The measurements may be implemented in causing messages to be sent, particularly empty or "dummy" messages, using the OTT connection 3350 while software monitors propagation times, errors, etc.

[0244] Although the computing devices (e.g., UEs, network nodes, hosts) described herein may include the depicted combination of hardware components, other embodiments may comprise computing devices with different combinations of components. It should be understood that these computing devices may comprise any suitable combination of hardware and / or software required to perform the tasks, features, functions and methods disclosed herein. The determining, calculating, obtaining, or similar operations described herein may be performed by a processing circuit, which may process information by, for example, transforming the obtained information to other information, comparing the obtained or transformed information to information stored in the network node, and / or performing one or more operations based on the obtained or transformed information and as a result of said processing making a decision. Moreover, while a component is illustrated as a single box located within a larger box or nested within multiple boxes, in reality the computing device may comprise multiple different physical components that make up a single depicted component, and functionality may be partitioned among the separate components. For example, a communications interface may be configured to include any of the components described herein, and / or the functionality of those components may be partitioned between the processing circuitry and the communications interface. In another example, non-computationally intensive functionality of any of such components may be implemented in software or firmware, and computationally intensive functionality may be implemented in hardware.

[0245] In some embodiments, some or all of the functionality described herein may be provided by a processing circuit executing instructions stored in a memory, which in some embodiments may be a computer program product in the form of a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functionality may be provided by the processing circuit without executing instructions stored in a separate or distinct device-readable storage medium, such as in a hardwired manner. In any of those particular embodiments, the processing circuit may be configured to perform the described functionality, whether or not it executes instructions stored in a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. Benefits provided by such functionality are enjoyed by the computing device as a whole, and / or by end users and wireless networks in general, but not limited to the processing circuit alone or other components of the computing device.

[0246] FIG. 34 is a flow chart illustrating a method implemented in a communication system according to one embodiment. The communication system includes a host computer, a base station, and a UE, which may be as described with reference to FIG. 28 and FIG. 33. For simplicity of the disclosure, only drawing references to FIG. 34 are included in this section. In step 3410, the host computer provides user data. In sub-step 3411 of step 3410 (which may be optional), the host computer provides the user data by executing a host application. In step 3420, the host computer initiates a transmission carrying the user data to the UE. In step 3430 (which may be optional), the base station transmits the user data carried in the host computer initiated transmission to the UE, according to the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. In step 3440 (which may also be optional), the UE executes a client application associated with the host application executed by the host computer.

[0247] FIG. 35 is a flow chart illustrating a method implemented in a communication system according to one embodiment. The communication system includes a host computer, a base station, and a UE, which may be as described with reference to FIG. 28 and FIG. 33. For simplicity of the disclosure, only drawing references to FIG. 35 are included in this section. In step 3510 of the method, the host computer provides user data. In an optional sub-step (not shown), the host computer provides the user data by executing a host application. In step 3520, the host computer initiates a transmission carrying the user data to the UE. The transmission may go through a base station in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. In step 3530 (which may be optional), the UE receives the user data carried in the transmission.

[0248] FIG. 36 is a flow chart illustrating a method implemented in a communication system according to one embodiment. The communication system includes a host computer, a base station, and a UE, which may be as described with reference to FIG. 28 and FIG. 33. For simplicity of the disclosure, only drawing references to FIG. 36 are included in this section. In step 3610 (which may be optional), the UE receives input data provided by the host computer. Additionally or alternatively, in step 3620, the UE provides user data. In sub-step 3621 (which may be optional) of step 3620, the UE provides the user data by executing a client application. In sub-step 3611 (which may be optional) of step 3610, the UE executes a client application that provides the user data in response to the received input data provided by the host computer. In providing the user data, the executed client application may further take into account user input received from the user. Regardless of the particular manner in which the user data is provided, the UE initiates transmission of the user data to the host computer in sub-step 3630 (which may be optional). In method step 3640, the host computer receives user data transmitted from the UE in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure.

[0249] FIG. 37 is a flow chart illustrating a method implemented in a communication system according to one embodiment. The communication system includes a host computer, a base station, and a UE, which may be as described with reference to FIG. 28 and FIG. 33. For simplicity of the disclosure, only drawing references to FIG. 37 are included in this section. In step 3710 (which may be optional), the base station receives user data from the UE, according to the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. In step 3720 (which may be optional), the base station initiates transmission of the received user data to the host computer. In step 3730 (which may be optional), the host computer receives the user data carried in the transmission initiated by the base station.

[0250] In one aspect of the present disclosure, a method is provided that is implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station, and a manager terminal device. The base station connects with the manager terminal device, which is one of a first terminal device, a second terminal device, and at least one third terminal device acting as a relay between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. The method includes providing user data in the host computer. The method further includes initiating a transmission in the host computer to carry the user data to the manager terminal device through a cellular network including the base station. The base station receives information about a link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device from the manager terminal device. The base station determines, for the first terminal device and the second terminal device, identification information for identifying the first terminal device and the second terminal device on the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. The base station allocates the determined identification information to the manager terminal device.

[0251] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the method further includes transmitting, at the base station, the user data.

[0252] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the user data is provided by executing, at the host computer, a host application. The method further includes executing, at the manager terminal device, a client application associated with the host application.

[0253] In another aspect of the disclosure, a communication system is provided that includes a host computer comprising a processing circuit configured to provide user data and a communication interface configured to forward the user data to a cellular network for transmission to a manager terminal device. The cellular network comprises a base station having a wireless interface and a processing circuit. The base station connects with a manager terminal device, the manager terminal device being one of a first terminal device, a second terminal device, and at least one third terminal device acting as a relay between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. The processing circuit of the base station is configured to receive information regarding a link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device from the manager terminal device. The processing circuit of the base station is configured to determine, for the first terminal device and the second terminal device, identification information for identifying the first terminal device and the second terminal device on the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. The processing circuit of the base station is configured to allocate the determined identification information to the manager terminal device.

[0254] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the communication system further includes a base station.

[0255] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the communication system further includes a manager terminal device, which is configured to communicate with the base station.

[0256] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the processing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute a host application and thereby provide user data, and the manager terminal device comprises processing circuitry configured to execute a client application associated with the host application.

[0257] In yet another aspect of the present disclosure, a method is provided that is implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station, and a manager terminal device. The manager terminal device is one of a first terminal device, a second terminal device, and at least one third terminal device that is under the coverage of the base station and serves as a relay between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. The method includes providing user data in the host computer. The method further includes initiating a transmission in the host computer to carry the user data to the manager terminal device through a cellular network including the base station. The manager terminal device reports information about a link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device to the base station. The manager terminal device receives, from the base station, identification information of the first terminal device and the second terminal device for identifying the first terminal device and the second terminal device on the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. The manager terminal device assigns the determined identification information to a corresponding hop on the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device.

[0258] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the method further includes receiving, at the manager terminal device, user data from the base station.

[0259] In yet another aspect of the present disclosure, a communication system is provided that includes a host computer comprising a processing circuit configured to provide user data and a communication interface configured to forward the user data to a cellular network for transmission to a manager terminal device. The manager terminal device is one of a first terminal device, a second terminal device, and at least one third terminal device that is under the coverage of a base station and serves as a relay between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. The manager terminal device comprises a wireless interface and a processing circuit. The processing circuit of the manager terminal device is configured to report information regarding a link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device to the base station. The processing circuit of the manager terminal device is configured to receive, from the base station, identification information of the first terminal device and the second terminal device for identifying the first terminal device and the second terminal device on the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. The processing circuit of the manager terminal device is configured to allocate the determined identification information to a corresponding hop on the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device.

[0260] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the communication system further includes a manager terminal device.

[0261] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the cellular network further includes a base station configured to communicate with the manager terminal device.

[0262] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the processing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute a host application thereby providing user data, and the processing circuitry of the manager terminal device is configured to execute a client application associated with the host application.

[0263] In yet another aspect of the present disclosure, a method is provided that is implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station, and a manager terminal device. The manager terminal device is one of a first terminal device, a second terminal device, and at least one third terminal device that is under the coverage of the base station and serves as a relay between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. The method includes receiving user data transmitted from the manager terminal device to the base station in the host computer. The manager terminal device reports information about a link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device to the base station. The manager terminal device receives, from the base station, identification information of the first terminal device and the second terminal device for identifying the first terminal device and the second terminal device on the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. The manager terminal device assigns the determined identification information to a corresponding hop on the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device.

[0264] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the method further includes, at the manager terminal device, providing user data to the base station.

[0265] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the method further includes executing, at the manager terminal device, a client application to provide user data to be transmitted thereby. The method further includes executing, at the host computer, a host application associated with the client application.

[0266] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the method further includes executing a client application at the manager terminal device. The method further includes receiving input data for the client application at the manager terminal device. The input data is provided by executing a host application associated with the client application at the host computer. The user data to be transmitted is provided by the client application in response to the input data.

[0267] In yet another aspect of the present disclosure, a communication system is provided that includes a host computer with a communication interface configured to receive user data originating from a transmission from a manager terminal device to a base station. The manager terminal device is one of a first terminal device, a second terminal device, and at least one third terminal device that is under the coverage of the base station and serves as a relay between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. The manager terminal device includes a wireless interface and a processing circuit. The processing circuit of the manager terminal device is configured to report information regarding a link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device to the base station. The processing circuit of the manager terminal device is configured to receive, from the base station, identification information of the first terminal device and the second terminal device for identifying the first terminal device and the second terminal device on the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. The processing circuit of the manager terminal device is configured to allocate the determined identification information to a corresponding hop on the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device.

[0268] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the communication system further includes a manager terminal device.

[0269] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the communication system further includes a base station, the base station comprising a wireless interface configured to communicate with a manager terminal device and a communication interface configured to forward user data carried by a transmission from the manager terminal device to the base station to a host computer.

[0270] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the processing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute a host application, and the processing circuitry of the manager terminal device is configured to execute a client application associated with the host application, thereby providing user data.

[0271] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the processing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute a host application thereby providing requested data, and the processing circuitry of the manager terminal device is configured to execute a client application associated with the host application thereby providing user data in response to the requested data.

[0272] In yet another aspect of the present disclosure, a method is provided that is implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station, and a manager terminal device. The base station connects with the manager terminal device, which is one of a first terminal device, a second terminal device, and at least one third terminal device acting as a relay between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. The method includes receiving, in the host computer, from the base station, user data originating from a transmission received by the base station from the manager terminal device. The base station receives, from the manager terminal device, information regarding a link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. The base station determines, for the first terminal device and the second terminal device, identification information for identifying the first terminal device and the second terminal device on the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. The base station allocates the determined identification information to the manager terminal device.

[0273] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the method further includes receiving, at the base station, user data from the manager terminal device.

[0274] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the method further includes initiating, at the base station, a transmission of the received user data to the host computer.

[0275] In yet another aspect of the present disclosure, a communication system is provided that includes a host computer with a communication interface configured to receive user data originating from a transmission from a manager terminal device to a base station. The base station connects with a manager terminal device that is one of a first terminal device, a second terminal device, and at least one third terminal device acting as a relay between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. The base station includes a wireless interface and a processing circuit. The processing circuit of the base station is configured to receive information regarding a link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device from the manager terminal device. The processing circuit of the base station is configured to determine, for the first terminal device and the second terminal device, identification information for identifying the first terminal device and the second terminal device on the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. The processing circuit of the base station is configured to allocate the determined identification information to the manager terminal device.

[0276] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the communication system further includes a base station.

[0277] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the communication system further includes a manager terminal device, which is configured to communicate with the base station.

[0278] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the processing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute a host application, and the manager terminal device is configured to execute a client application associated with the host application, thereby providing user data to be received by the host computer.

[0279] In general, various exemplary embodiments may be implemented in hardware or dedicated circuits, software, logic, or any combination thereof. For example, some aspects may be implemented in hardware, and other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software that may be executed by a controller, microprocessor, or other computing device, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto. Although various aspects of the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure may be illustrated and described as block diagrams, as a flowchart, or using some other diagrammatic representation, it will be well understood that these blocks, apparatus, systems, techniques, or methods described herein may be implemented in, as non-limiting examples, hardware, software, firmware, dedicated circuits or logic, general-purpose hardware or controller or other computing device, or any combination thereof.

[0280] It should therefore be appreciated that at least some aspects of the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure may be practiced in a variety of components, such as integrated circuit chips and modules. It should therefore be appreciated that the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure may be realized in an apparatus embodied as an integrated circuit, where the integrated circuit may comprise circuitry (and possibly firmware) for embodying at least one or more of a data processor, a digital signal processor, a baseband circuit, and a radio frequency circuit that are configurable to operate in accordance with the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0281] It should be appreciated that at least some aspects of the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure may be embodied in computer-executable instructions, such as in one or more program modules executed by one or more computers or other devices. Generally, a program module includes routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc., that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types when executed by a processor in a computer or other device. The computer-executable instructions may be stored in a computer-readable medium, such as a hard disk, an optical disk, a removable storage medium, a solid-state memory, a RAM, etc. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the functionality of the program modules may be combined or distributed as desired in various embodiments. Furthermore, the functionality may be embodied in whole or in part in firmware or hardware equivalents, such as integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), etc.

[0282] References in this disclosure to "one embodiment," "an embodiment," and the like indicate that the described embodiment may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but not every embodiment necessarily includes the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment. Furthermore, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described with respect to an embodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of one of ordinary skill in the art to implement such feature, structure, or characteristic with respect to other embodiments, whether or not explicitly described.

[0283] Terms such as "first" and "second" may be used herein to describe various elements, but it should be understood that these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are merely used to distinguish one element from another. For example, a first element may be referred to as a second element, and similarly, a second element may be referred to as a first element, without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. The term "and / or" as used herein includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed terms.

[0284] The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to limit the disclosure. As used herein, the singular forms "a", "an" and "the" are intended to include the plural unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms "comprises", "comprising", "has", "having", "includes" and / or "including" as used herein specify the presence of stated features, elements and / or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components and / or combinations thereof. The terms "connect", "connects", "connecting" and / or "connected" as used herein cover direct and / or indirect connections between two elements. It should be noted that, depending on the functionality involved, two blocks shown in succession in the above figures may in fact be performed substantially concurrently or the blocks may sometimes be performed in the reverse order.

[0285] The present disclosure includes any novel feature or combination of features explicitly disclosed herein or any generalization thereof. Various modifications and adaptations to the above exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure may become apparent to those skilled in the art in view of the above description, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. However, any and all modifications will still fall within the scope of the non-limiting and exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.

Claims

1. 1. A method implemented by a third terminal device acting as a relay between a first terminal device and a second terminal device, the method comprising: Determining (1002) identification information for identifying the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device on a link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device; allocating (1004) the determined identity to at least one corresponding hop on the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device; A method comprising:

2. Allocating (1004) the determined identity includes transmitting (1004-3) a timestamp or prohibition timer associated with the identity to a terminal device on the at least one corresponding hop; the timestamp indicating when the identity was determined, and the inhibit timer indicating a predetermined period of time during which the identity should not be updated; The method of claim 1.

3. Determining whether the identification information needs to be updated (1510). Further comprising: The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein when it is determined that the identification information needs to be updated, the determining (1002) of the identification information and the allocating (1004) of the identification information are performed again.

4. Detecting (1614) a conflict between the identification information of at least two different terminal devices based on transmissions initiated by one or more neighboring terminal devices of the third terminal device; notifying the one or more neighboring terminal devices or base stations of the detected conflict (1616); The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

5. maintaining a mapping between the identities of the first and / or second terminal devices applied on an ingress hop of the third terminal device and the identities of the first and / or second terminal devices applied on an egress hop of the third terminal device (1418); The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

6. The identification information of the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device is determined in one or more of the following ways: Based on a Layer 2 (L2) identifier (ID) of the third terminal device, in a random fashion, and Based on a given mathematical function, To be determined, 6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5.

7. The identification information of the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device is determined to be in a one-to-one mapping to an L2 ID of the first terminal device / the second terminal device; 7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6.

8. the first terminal device is a source terminal device; determining the identification information (1002) includes determining a first temporary ID of the first terminal device (1002-1), the first temporary ID of the first terminal device being used while a link between the first terminal device and the third terminal device is established; 8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7.

9. the second terminal device is a source terminal device; determining the identification information (1002) includes determining a first temporary ID of the second terminal device (1002-2), the first temporary ID of the second terminal device being used while a link between the second terminal device and the third terminal device is established; 9. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8.

10. In response to receiving a direct communication request (DCR) message from the source terminal device, sending another DCR message on behalf of the source terminal device including the first temporary ID of the source terminal device (1720).

10. The method of claim 8 or 9, further comprising:

11. the first terminal device is a source terminal device or a destination terminal device; Determining the identification information (1002) includes determining second temporary IDs of the first terminal device and the second terminal device (1002-3), the second temporary IDs of the first terminal device and the second terminal device being used after a link between the first terminal device / the second terminal device and the third terminal device is established.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7.

12. the second temporary IDs of the first terminal device and the second terminal device are valid for an entire link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device; The method of claim 11.

13. Allocating (1004) the determined identity transmitting (1004-1) to another terminal device on the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device the determined identification information and an ID identifying the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device; The method of claim 12, comprising:

14. a different second temporary ID of the first terminal device is determined for each hop on the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device; a different second temporary ID of the second terminal device is determined for each hop on the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device; The method of claim 11.

15. Allocating (1004) the determined identity transmitting to the terminal device on each hop the identification information of the first terminal device and the second terminal device determined for the hop and an ID identifying the hop (1004-2); 15. The method of claim 14, comprising:

16. receiving a response message from the first / second terminal device in response to the allocating of the identification information (1307); Further comprising:

16. The method according to claim 1, wherein when the response message indicates a rejection of the identification information of the first / second terminal device, the determining (1002) of the identification information and the allocating (1004) of the identification information are performed again for the first / second terminal device.

17. The determined identification information is Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling; and PC5 signaling (PC5-S) signaling; Discovery signaling; a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE); A Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP) or Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) or Radio Link Control (RLC) or Adaptation Layer control protocol data unit (PDU); Layer 1 (L1) signaling and allocated by one or more of 17. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 16.

18. 1. A method implemented by a first terminal device, the method comprising: connecting with the second terminal device via at least one third terminal device acting as a relay between the first terminal device and the second terminal device; determining (302) identification information for identifying the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device on a link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device; allocating (304) the determined identification information to at least one corresponding hop on the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device; A method comprising:

19. Allocating (304) the determined identity includes transmitting (304-3) to a terminal device on the at least one corresponding hop a timestamp or prohibition timer associated with the identity; the timestamp indicating when the identity was determined, and the inhibit timer indicating a predetermined period of time during which the identity should not be updated; 20. The method of claim 18.

20. Determining whether the identification information needs to be updated (710). Further comprising: The method according to claim 18 or 19, wherein when it is determined that the identification information needs to be updated, the determining (302) of the identification information and the allocating (304) of the identification information are performed again.

21. Detecting (814) a conflict between the identification information of at least two different terminal devices based on transmissions initiated by one or more neighboring terminal devices of the first terminal device; notifying (816) the one or more neighboring terminal devices or base stations of the detected conflict; 21. The method of any one of claims 18 to 20, further comprising:

22. The identification information of the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device is determined in one or more of the following ways: Based on a Layer 2 (L2) identifier (ID) of the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device, in a random fashion, and Based on a given mathematical function, To be determined, 22. The method according to any one of claims 18 to 21.

23. the identification information of the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device is determined to be in a one-to-one mapping to an L2 ID of the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device; 23. The method according to any one of claims 18 to 22.

24. the first terminal device is a source terminal device; determining (302) the identification information includes determining (302-1) a first temporary ID of the first terminal device, the first temporary ID of the first terminal device being used while a link between the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device and one of the at least one third terminal device is established; 24. The method according to any one of claims 18 to 23.

25. the first terminal device is a destination terminal device; determining (302) the identification information includes determining (302-2) a first temporary ID of the second terminal device, the first temporary ID of the second terminal device being used while a link between the second terminal device and / or the first terminal device and one of the at least one third terminal device is established; 24. The method according to any one of claims 18 to 23.

26. the first terminal device is a source terminal device or a destination terminal device; determining (302) the identification information includes determining (302-3) a second temporary ID of the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device, the second temporary ID of the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device being to be used after a link between the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device and one of the at least one third terminal device is established; 24. The method according to any one of claims 18 to 23.

27. the second temporary ID of the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device is valid for the entire link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device; 27. The method of claim 26.

28. Allocating (304) the determined identity transmitting (304-1) to the at least one third terminal device and the second terminal device the determined identification information and an ID identifying the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device; 28. The method of claim 27, comprising:

29. receiving a response message from the second terminal device in response to the allocating the identification information (607); Further comprising:

29. The method according to claim 27 or 28, wherein when the response message indicates a rejection of the identification information of the second terminal device, the determining (302) of the identification information and the allocating (304) of the identification information are performed again for the second terminal device.

30. the second temporary ID of the first terminal device is valid for a hop between the first terminal device and one of the at least one third terminal device; 27. The method of claim 26.

31. Allocating (304) the determined identity transmitting (304-2) the determined identification information of the first terminal device to the one of the at least one third terminal device; 31. The method of claim 30, comprising:

32. the first terminal device is a destination terminal device; The method comprises: determining (918) in response to receiving a direct communication request (DCR) message whether the DCR message includes the identification information of the second terminal device; determining (920) that the DCR message was sent from the second terminal device via one of the at least one third terminal device when the DCR message includes the identification information of the second terminal device; determining (922) that the DCR message was sent directly from the second terminal device when the DCR message does not include the identification information of the second terminal device; 24. The method of any one of claims 1 to 23, further comprising:

33. The determined identification information is Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling; and PC5 signaling (PC5-S) signaling; Discovery signaling; a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE); A Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP) or Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) or Radio Link Control (RLC) or Adaptation Layer control protocol data unit (PDU); Layer 1 (L1) signaling and allocated by one or more of 33. The method of any one of claims 18 to 32.

34. A method implemented by a manager terminal device, the manager terminal device being one of a first terminal device, a second terminal device, and at least one third terminal device acting as a relay between the first terminal device and the second terminal device under the coverage of a base station, the method comprising: Reporting information regarding a link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device to the base station (1802); receiving, from the base station, identification information of the first terminal device and the second terminal device for identifying the first terminal device and the second terminal device on the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device (1804); allocating (1806) the determined identification information to a corresponding hop on the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device; A method comprising:

35. The information regarding the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device comprises: the number of hops on the link; and A Layer 2 (L2) identifier (ID) of the first terminal device; and an L2 ID of the second terminal device; and If the number of the at least one third terminal device is two or more, the L2 ID of one or more remaining third terminal devices; and a Uu ID of the first terminal device; and the Uu ID of the second terminal device; and If the number of the at least one third terminal device is two or more, the Uu ID of one or more remaining third terminal devices; and Whether the identification information is valid at a per-hop level or at an end-to-end level; [0033] 35. The method of claim 34.

36. The information regarding the link is reported or the identification information is Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling; and a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE); Paging messages, A Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP) or Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) or Radio Link Control (RLC) or Adaptation Layer control protocol data unit (PDU); Layer 1 (L1) signaling and received by one or more of 36. The method of claim 34 or 35.

37. 16. A method implemented by a base station, the method comprising: connecting with a manager terminal device, the manager terminal device being one of a first terminal device, a second terminal device, and at least one third terminal device acting as a relay between the first terminal device and the second terminal device; receiving information about a link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device from the manager terminal device (1902); determining (1904) identification information for identifying the first terminal device and the second terminal device on the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device; Allocating the determined identification information to the manager terminal device (1906); A method comprising:

38. The information regarding the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device comprises: the number of hops on the link; and A Layer 2 (L2) identifier (ID) of the first terminal device; and an L2 ID of the second terminal device; and If the number of the at least one third terminal device is two or more, the L2 ID of one or more remaining third terminal devices; and a Uu ID of the first terminal device; and the Uu ID of the second terminal device; and If the number of the at least one third terminal device is two or more, the Uu ID of one or more remaining third terminal devices; and Whether the identification information is valid at a per-hop level or at an end-to-end level; [0033] 38. The method of claim 37.

39. The step of allocating the determined identity (1906) includes transmitting to the manager terminal device a timestamp or a prohibition timer associated with the identity; the timestamp indicating when the identity was determined, and the inhibit timer indicating a predetermined period of time during which the identity should not be updated; 39. The method of claim 37 or 38.

40. Determining whether the identification information needs to be updated (2110). Further comprising:

40. The method of any one of claims 37 to 39, wherein when it is determined that the identification information needs to be updated, the determining (1904) of the identification information and the allocating (1906) of the identification information are performed again.

41. Detecting (2214) a conflict between said identities of at least two different terminal devices; notifying one or more neighboring base stations or network nodes of the base station of the detected conflict (2216); 41. The method of any one of claims 37 to 40, further comprising:

42. The identification information of the first / second terminal device is determined in one or more of the following ways: Based on a Layer 2 (L2) ID of the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device, in a random fashion, and Based on a given mathematical function, To be determined, 42. The method of any one of claims 37 to 41.

43. the identification information of the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device is determined to be in a one-to-one mapping to an L2 ID of the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device; 43. The method of any one of claims 37 to 42.

44. receiving a response message from the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device in response to the allocating the identification information (2007). Further comprising:

43. The method according to claim 37 or 42, wherein when the response message indicates a rejection of the identification information of the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device, the determining of the identification information (1904) and the allocating of the identification information (1906) are performed again for the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device.

45. The information regarding the link is received or the identification information is Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling; and a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE); Paging messages, A Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP) or Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) or Radio Link Control (RLC) or Adaptation Layer control protocol data unit (PDU); Layer 1 (L1) signaling and allocated by one or more of 45. The method of any one of claims 37 to 44.

46. The detected conflict is reported to the one or more neighboring base stations. XnAP signaling; F1AP signaling; and Paging messages and be notified by one or more of 42. The method of claim 41.

47. A third terminal device (2300), the third terminal device (2300) comprising: Acting as a relay between a first terminal device and a second terminal device; determining identification information for identifying the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device on a link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device; allocating the determined identification information to at least one corresponding hop on the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device; A third terminal device (2300) configured to perform the following:

48. The third terminal device (2300) is operable to implement the method according to any one of claims 2 to 17, The third terminal device (2300) of claim 47.

49. At least one processor (2310); and at least one memory (2320), said at least one memory (2320) containing instructions executable by said at least one processor (2310), whereby said third terminal device (2300) is operable to implement a method according to any one of claims 1 to 17. A third terminal device (2300) according to claim 47 or 48.

50. A first terminal device (2300), comprising: connecting with the second terminal device via at least one third terminal device acting as a relay between the first terminal device and the second terminal device; determining identification information for identifying the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device on a link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device; allocating the determined identification information to at least one corresponding hop on the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device; A first terminal device (2300) configured to perform the following:

51. The first terminal device (2300) is configured to implement the method according to any one of claims 19 to 33, The first terminal device (2300) of claim 50.

52. At least one processor (2310); and at least one memory (2320), said at least one memory (2320) containing instructions executable by said at least one processor (2310), whereby said first terminal device (2300) is operable to perform a method according to any one of claims 18 to 33. A first terminal device according to claim 50 or 51.

53. A manager terminal device (2300), wherein the manager terminal device (2300) is one of a first terminal device, a second terminal device, and at least one third terminal device acting as a relay between the first terminal device and the second terminal device, and is under the coverage of a base station; reporting information regarding a link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device to the base station; receiving, from the base station, identification information of the first terminal device and the second terminal device for identifying the first terminal device and the second terminal device on the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device; allocating the determined identities to corresponding hops on the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device; A manager terminal device (2300) configured to perform the above.

54. The manager terminal device (2300) is operable to implement the method according to claim 35 or 36, 54. The manager terminal device (2300) of claim 53.

55. At least one processor (2310); and at least one memory (2320), said at least one memory (2320) containing instructions executable by said at least one processor (2310), whereby said manager terminal device (2300) is operable to implement a method according to any one of claims 34 to 36. A manager terminal device (2300) according to claim 53 or 54.

56. A base station (2300), comprising: connecting with a manager terminal device, the manager terminal device being one of a first terminal device, a second terminal device, and at least one third terminal device acting as a relay between the first terminal device and the second terminal device; receiving information from the manager terminal device regarding a link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device; determining identification information for identifying the first terminal device and the second terminal device on the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device; assigning the determined identification information to the manager terminal device; A base station (2300) configured to perform the above.

57. The base station (2300) is configured to implement the method according to any one of claims 38 to 46, 57. The base station (2300) of claim 56.

58. At least one processor (2310); and at least one memory (2320), said at least one memory (2320) containing instructions executable by said at least one processor (2310), whereby said base station (2300) is operable to implement a method according to any one of claims 37 to 46.

58. A base station (2300) according to claim 56 or 57.

59. 47. A computer readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by at least one processor (2310), cause the at least one processor (2310) to perform a method according to any one of claims 1 to 46.

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