Duplicate SIB handling in sidelink relay

Abstract

According to one aspect, a method is provided for managing received system information blocks (SIBs) implemented by a first wireless device having a direct signaling connection to a base station and an indirect signaling connection to the base station via a relay wireless device. The method in the first wireless device includes receiving a first type of SIB from the base station, receiving a second type of SIB from the relay wireless device, and applying system information (SI) comprised in the received SIBs.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a sidelink relay in which a first wireless device has a direct signaling connection to a base station and an indirect signaling connection to the base station via a relay wireless device. [Background technology]

[0002] Generally, all terms used herein should be interpreted according to the ordinary meaning of those terms in the relevant technical field, unless a different meaning is expressly given and / or implied from the context in which the term is used. All references to a / an / the element, apparatus, component, means, step, etc. should be openly interpreted as referring to at least one instance of that element, apparatus, component, means, step, etc., unless expressly stated otherwise. The steps of any method disclosed herein need not be performed in the exact order disclosed, unless a step is expressly described as following or preceding another step, and / or it is implicit that a step must follow or precede another step. Any feature of any of the embodiments disclosed herein may be applied to any other embodiment, wherever appropriate. Similarly, any advantage of any of the embodiments may be applied to any other embodiment, and vice versa. Other objectives, features, and advantages of the enclosed embodiments will become apparent from the following description.

[0003] System information handling in New Radio (NR) / Long Term Evolution (LTE) The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) document: 3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Networks; NR; NR and NG-RAN Overall Description; Stage 2 (Release 16), 3GPP TS38.300 v16.4.0(2020-12) describes the following in section 7.3.1:

[0004] System Information (SI) consists of a MIB [Master Information Block] and several SIBs [System Information Blocks], which are divided into a small SI and other SIs. - The minimum SI comprises the basic information required for initial access and for collecting any other SI. The minimum SI consists of: - The MIB contains cell barred status information and further system information, e.g. essential physical layer information of cells required to receive the CORESET#0 configuration. The MIB is broadcast periodically on the BCH. - SIB1 specifies the scheduling of the other system information blocks and contains information required for initial access. SIB1 is also called Minimum Residual SI (RMSI) and is either broadcast periodically on the DL-SCH or sent in a dedicated manner on the DL-SCH to UEs that are in RRC_CONNECTED. - Other SI encompasses all SIBs that are not broadcast in the minimum SI. They may either be broadcast periodically on the DL-SCH, on demand (i.e., upon request from a UE in RRC_IDLE or RRC_INACTIVE) or RRC_CONNECTED, broadcast on the DL-SCH, or sent to UEs in RRC_CONNECTED in a dedicated manner on the DL-SCH (i.e., upon request from a UE in RRC_CONNECTED or when the UE has an active BWP without a configured common search space). Other SI consists of: - SIB2 contains cell reselection information, mainly related to the serving cell; - SIB3 contains information about the serving frequency and intra-frequency neighboring cells relevant for cell reselection (including common cell reselection parameters for frequencies as well as cell-specific reselection parameters); - SIB4 contains information about other NR frequencies and inter-frequency neighboring cells relevant for cell reselection (including common cell reselection parameters for frequencies as well as cell-specific reselection parameters); - SIB5 contains information on E-UTRA frequencies and E-UTRA neighboring cells relevant for cell reselection (including common cell reselection parameters for frequencies as well as cell-specific reselection parameters); - SIB6 contains the ETWS primary notification, - SIB7 contains the ETWS secondary notification, - SIB8 contains CMAS warning notifications, - SIB9 contains information related to GPS time and Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), ...

[0005] For sidelinks, other SI also includes: - SIB12 contains information related to NR sidelink communications; - SIB13 contains information related to SystemInformationBlockType21 for V2X sidelink communication as specified in TS36.331, clause 5.2.2.28; - SIB14 contains information related to SystemInformationBlockType26 for V2X sidelink communication as specified in TS36.331, clause 5.2.2.33.

[0006] Figure 7.3-1 [Figure 1 in the accompanying drawings] summarizes system information provisioning.

[0007] For a cell / frequency considered for camping by the UE, the UE is not required to collect the content of the minimum SI of that cell / frequency from another cell / frequency layer. This does not preclude the case where the UE applies a stored SI from a previously visited cell(s).

[0008] If the UE is unable to determine the complete contents of a cell's minimum SI by receiving from that cell, the UE shall consider that cell as barred.

[0009] In the case of BA, the UE only collects SI on the active BWP.

[0010] The 3GPP document: 3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Radio Resource Control (RRC) Protocol Specification (Release 16), 3GPP TS38.331 v16.3.1(2021-01), explains in section 5.2.1:

[0011] The System Information (SI) is divided into the MIB, several SIBs and the posSIB, where: - The MIB is always transmitted on the BCH with a periodicity of 80 ms and repetitions within 80 ms (TS 38.212, clause 7.1), the MIB contains the parameters required to collect SIB1 from the cell. The first transmission of the MIB is scheduled in a subframe as specified in TS 38.213, clause 4.1, and the repetitions are scheduled according to the period of the SSB. - SIB1 is transmitted on DL-SCH with a periodicity of 160 ms and a variable transmission repetition periodicity within 160 ms as specified in TS38.213, clause 13. The default transmission repetition periodicity of SIB1 is 20 ms, but the actual transmission repetition periodicity is up to the network implementation. For SSB and CORESET multiplexing pattern 1, the SIB1 repetition transmission period is 20 ms. For SSB and CORESET multiplexing pattern 2 / 3, the SIB1 transmission repetition period is the same as the SSB period (TS38.213, clause 13). SIB1 contains information about the availability and scheduling of other SIBs (e.g. mapping of SIBs to SI messages, periodicity, SI window size), along with an indication of whether one or more SIBs are provided only on demand and, if so, the configuration required by the UE to implement the SI request. SIB1 is a cell-specific SIB. - SIBs other than SIB1 and posSIB are carried in SystemInformation (SI) messages, and SI messages are transmitted on DL-SCH. Only SIBs or posSIBs with the same periodicity can be mapped to the same SI message. SIBs and posSIBs are mapped to different SI messages. Each SI message is transmitted within a periodically occurring time domain window (called SI window, which has the same length for all SI messages). Each SI message is associated with an SI window, and the SI windows of different SI messages do not overlap, i.e., within one SI window, only the corresponding SI message is transmitted. An SI message can be transmitted several times within an SI window. Any SIB or posSIB, except SIB1, can be configured to be cell-specific or area-specific using an indication in SIB1. A cell-specific SIB is only applicable within the cell that provides the SIB, and an area-specific SIB is applicable within an area called SI area, which consists of one or several cells and is identified by a systemInformationAreaID. - the mapping of SIBs to SI messages is configured in schedulingInfoList and the mapping of posSIBs to SI messages is configured in posSI-SchedulingInfoList; - For a UE in RRC_CONNECTED, the network may provide system information through dedicated signaling using an RRCReconfiguration message, e.g., if the UE has an active BWP with no common search space configured to monitor system information or paging. - For PSCell and SCell, the network provides the required SI by dedicated signaling, i.e. in the RRCReconfiguration message. Nevertheless, the UE shall collect the MIB of the PSCell to obtain the SFN timing of the SCG (which may differ from the MCG). Upon change of the relevant SI for a SCell, the network releases and adds the SCell in question. For a PSCell, the required SI can only be changed in a reconfiguration with synchronization. NOTE: The physical layer imposes a limit on the maximum size a SIB can take. The maximum SIB1 or SI message size is 2976 bits.

[0012] Section 5.2.2.2.1 of 3GPP TS38.331 v16.3.1(2021-01) explains:

[0013] SIB Effectiveness The UE shall apply the SI collection procedure specified in clause 5.2.2.3 upon cell selection (e.g. upon power up), upon cell reselection, upon return from out of coverage, after reconfiguration completion with synchronization, after entering the network from another RAT, upon receiving an indication that the system information has changed, upon receiving a PWS notification, upon receiving a positioning request from higher layers and whenever the UE does not have a valid version of the SIB stored.

[0014] When the UE collects MIB or SIB1 or SI messages in the serving cell as described in clause 5.2.2.3, if the UE stores the collected SIB, it shall store the associated areaScope if present, the first PLMN-Identity in the PLMN-IdentityInfoList for non-NPN-limited cells, the first NPNIdentity in the NPN IdentityInfoList for NPN-limited cells (SNPN identity in case of SNPN or PNI-NPN identity in case of PNI-NPN, see TS 23.501), the cellIdentity, if present, systemInformationAreaID, and if present, valueTag, indicated in si-SchedulingInfo for the SIB. The UE may use the valid stored version of the SI, except for MIB, SIB1, SIB6, SIB7 or SIB8, e.g. after cell reselection, upon return from out of coverage or after receiving a SI change indication. A value tag for posSIB is optionally provided in LPP signaling.

[0015] Section 5.2.2.2.2 of 3GPP TS38.331 v16.3.1(2021-01) explains:

[0016] SI Change Orders and PWS Notifications A modification period is used, i.e. updated SI messages (other than SI messages for ETWS, CMAS, and positioning assistance data) are broadcast during a modification period following the modification period in which the SI change indication is sent. The modification period boundary is defined by the SFN value, SFN mod m=0, where m is the number of radio frames comprising the modification period. The modification period is set by the system information. The UE receives an indication regarding SI modification and / or PWS notification using a short message sent with the P-RNTI over the DCI (see clause 6.5). Repetition of an SI change indication may occur within a previous modification period. An SI change indication is not applicable for SI messages containing posSIB.

[0017] A UE in RRC_IDLE or RRC_INACTIVE shall monitor for SI change indications in its own paging occasions every DRX cycle. A UE in RRC_CONNECTED shall monitor for SI change indications in any paging occasion at least once per modification period if the UE has been provided with a common search space on an active BWP for monitoring paging as specified in TS 38.213

[13] , clause 13.

[0018] An ETWS or CMAS capable UE in RRC_IDLE or in RRC_INACTIVE shall monitor for an indication for a PWS notification in its own paging occasion every DRX cycle. An ETWS or CMAS capable UE in RRC_CONNECTED shall monitor for an indication for a PWS notification in any paging occasion at least once per defaultPagingCycle if the UE has been provided with a common search space on an active BWP for monitoring paging.

[0019] For short message reception on a paging occasion, the UE monitors the PDCCH monitoring occasion(s) for paging as specified in TS 38.304

[20] and TS 38.213.

[0020] On-Demand System Information On-demand system information request is a feature in NR that allows the network to only broadcast some of the system information messages when there is a user equipment (UE) that needs to collect them. The UE then requests such system information messages using either the msg1-based or msg3-based procedure. The procedure allows the UE to request needed content on demand, and it allows the network to minimize the overhead of constantly broadcasting information that the UE does not currently collect.

[0021] Additionally, some of the system information messages may also be provided to UEs in a dedicated state using Radio Resource Control (RRC) Connection Reconfiguration messages.

[0022] For the RRC on-demand SI framework, the parameter si-BroadcastStatus is used to indicate whether an SI message is currently being broadcast or not. si-BroadcastStatus ENUMERATED{broadcasting,notBroadcasting}

[0023] From the UE perspective, regardless of whether the SI message is indicated as broadcasting or notBroadcasting, the UE obtains the SI scheduling information for the SI message from SIB1. If the SI message is indicated as broadcasting, the UE can directly collect the SI message based on the SI scheduling information. However, if the SI message is indicated as notBroadcasting, the UE needs to first perform an on-demand SI request procedure to the base station to initiate the transmission of the SI message (according to the SI scheduling information).

[0024] On-demand broadcast for UEs currently in RRC_IDLE / INACTIVE is based on the following msg1 and msg3 solutions. Broadcast (Msg1 option): - Msg1 SI Request Random Access Channel (RACH) Procedure (Physical RACH (PRACH), Random Access Response "RAR") - Broadcast SI messages (for a certain period of time) Broadcast (Msg3 option): - Msg3 SI Request RACH Procedure (PRACH, RAR, RRCSystemInfoRequest, "Msg4") - Broadcast SI messages (for a certain period of time)

[0025] Additionally, the following unicast (dedicated signaling) from idle / inactive is currently being discussed in 3GPP: Unicast (from IDLE / INACTIVE): - Full RACH procedure (PRACH, RAR, RRC Setup / Resume Request, RRC Setup / Resume) - On-Demand Request Message - Dedicated SI Message

[0026] For UEs in RRC_CONNECTED, SIBs can be requested on demand, with a granularity of per SIB. To do so, the UE sends a DedicatedSIBRequest message with the requested SIBs, and the network may choose to broadcast those SIBs or send them via dedicated signaling in an RRC reconfiguration message.

[0027] NR V2X (Vehicle-to-anything) Cellular Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) aim to define a new cellular ecosystem for the delivery of vehicular services and their distribution. Such a Cellular ITS (C-ITS) ecosystem includes both short-range and long-range V2X service transmissions, as illustrated in FIG. 2. In particular, short-range communication involves transmission over a device-to-device (D2D) link, also defined in 3GPP as a sidelink or PC5 interface, towards other vehicular UEs or roadside units (RSUs). On the other hand, long-range transmissions consider transmission over the Uu interface between UEs and base stations, where packets can be distributed to different ITS service providers, which can be road traffic authorities, road operators, automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), cellular operators, etc.

[0028] Concerning the sidelink interface, the first standardization work in 3GPP dates back to Release (Rel) 12, targeting public safety use cases. Since then, several extensions have been introduced with the aim of expanding the use cases that can benefit from D2D technology. In particular, in LTE Rel-14 and Rel-15, the extensions for D2D work consist of supporting V2X communications, including any combination of direct communications between vehicles (V2V, Vehicle-to-Vehicle), between pedestrians (V2P, Vehicle-to-Pedestrian), and between infrastructures (V2I, Vehicle-to-Infrastructure).

[0029] 5G New Radio (NR) is capable of realizing V2X communication and autonomous driving since 3GPP Rel-16, i.e. called NR V2X. Compared to LTE Rel-15 V2X, NR V2X provides technical solutions for Quality of Service (QoS) management of the air interface, including both Uu (i.e. network-vehicle UE communication) and sidelink (i.e. vehicle UE-vehicle UE communication) used for V2X operation.

[0030] While LTE V2X is primarily aimed at road safety services, NR V2X has a much broader scope that not only includes basic safety services but also targets non-safety application cases such as enhanced sensor / data sharing between vehicles to enhance the perception of the vehicle's surrounding environment. Therefore, a new set of application cases such as advanced driving, vehicle platooning, cooperative operation between vehicles, and remote driving, which will require enhanced NR systems and a new NR sidelink framework, have been captured in the "Study on enhancement of 3GPP support for 5G V2X services" (3GPP TR22.886 v16.2.0).

[0031] In this context, the expected requirements to meet the required data rates, capacity, reliability, latency, coverage, and speed are made more stringent. Moreover, importantly, both communication interfaces, PC5 and Uu, may be used to support advanced V2X use cases, taking into account the radio conditions and environment in which enhanced V2X (eV2X) scenarios take place. Given the variety of services that may be transmitted over the sidelink, for example, a robust QoS framework appears to be needed that takes into account the different performance requirements of different V2X services.

[0032] NR sidelink flow and radio bearer setup provision In NR, a Sidelink (SL) QoS flow model is adopted. At the Non-Access Stratum (NAS) layer, the UE maps one V2X packet to a corresponding SL QoS flow, which is then mapped to a SL radio bearer at the Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP) layer.

[0033] In NR, the SL Radio Bearer (SLRB) configuration, including the QoS flow-to-SLRB mapping, is either pre-configured or configured by the network (NW) when the UE is in coverage. The provision of NR SL Radio Bearer configuration provided by the NW is shown in FIG. 3. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, when the UE wants to establish a new SL QoS flow / SLRB for a new service, the UE can send a request to the associated gNB / g Node B. The request can include the QoS information of the service. The gNB then determines the appropriate SLRB configuration to support such SL QoS flow. After receiving the SLRB configuration from the gNB, the UE establishes a local SLRB accordingly and prepares for data transmission over SL. It should be noted that to enable successful reception at the receiving (RX) UE side, the transmitting (TX) UE may need to inform the RX UE about the necessary parameters, e.g., sequence number space for PDCP / RLC, before data transmission starts. Summary of the Invention

[0034] Currently, certain challenge(s) exist: In a sidelink relay scenario (i.e., when a UE (called "relay UE") acts or can act as a relay for another UE (called "remote UE") towards the Radio Access Network (RAN), the remote UE may also be camped in the same cell as the possible relay UE. This may mean that the remote UE receives the same SIB(s) via Uu (gNB) and PC5 (relay UE).

[0035] Assuming that the same SIB may be received shifted in time (because the relay path (i.e., the path through the relay UE) may be slower than the broadcast on the Uu path, or vice versa), the remote UE may actually apply the old SIB.

[0036] Furthermore, if the same SIB is received within the same modification period over both Uu and PC5, one of the SIBs may be discarded to avoid applying the same settings twice.

[0037] According to the two problems described above, currently there is no mechanism for the UE to decide how to proceed, e.g., which SIBs should be discarded and which SIBs should be considered valid, and how to determine such.

[0038] Also, given the possible scenarios described above, it is not clear how or whether the UE may prioritize reception of SIB(s) via one path (i.e., Uu or PC5) over the other.

[0039] Some aspects of the present disclosure and their embodiments may provide solutions to these or other problems. The methods and solutions in the present disclosure target enabling a remote (RM) UE to accurately receive SIBs that may be received from the network (e.g., broadcast or sent via dedicated signaling) or from a relay (RL) UE. In doing so, these possible options are proposed: If the UE receives the same SIB from the network and from a RL UE during the same modification period, the RM UE applies the SIB received from the network and discards the SIB received from the RL UE. If the UE receives the same SIB from the network and from a RL UE during the same modification period, the RM UE applies the SIB received from the RL UE and discards the SIB received from the network. If the UE receives the same SIB from the network and from the RL UE during the same modification period, the RM UE applies the first SIB received and discards the last SIB received. If the UE receives the same SIB from the network and from the RL UE during the same modification period, the RM UE applies the last SIB received and discards the first SIB received. If the UE receives the same SIB from the network and from a RL UE during the same modification period, the RM UE shall discard the SIB received from the network if there is an indication in the SIB received from the RL UE that additional information has been added on top of the SIB generated by the network. If the UE receives the same SIB from the network and from a RL UE during the same modification period, the RM UE shall discard both the SIB received from the network and the SIB received from the RL UE. · The network configures the UE to only use the SIB(s) received from the network or via a relay UE.

[0040] Various embodiments are proposed herein that address one or more of the problems disclosed herein.

[0041] Some embodiments provide a method implemented by a first wireless device for managing received SIBs. The first wireless device has a direct signaling connection to a base station and an indirect signaling connection to the base station via a relay wireless device. The method in the first wireless device includes receiving a first type of SIB from the base station and receiving another SIB of the first type from the relay wireless device, and either applying system information (SI) comprised in one of the received SIBs or discarding both SIBs.

[0042] Some embodiments provide a method implemented by a first wireless device for managing received SIBs. The first wireless device has a direct signaling connection to a base station and an indirect signaling connection to the base station via a relay wireless device. The method in the first wireless device includes receiving a first type of SIB from the base station, receiving a second type of SIB from the relay wireless device, and applying the SI comprised in the received SIB.

[0043] Some embodiments provide a method implemented by a first wireless device for managing received SIBs. The first wireless device has a direct signaling connection to a base station and an indirect signaling connection to the base station via a relay wireless device. The method in the first wireless device includes receiving one or more SIBs from the base station, transmitting an indication to the relay wireless device that the relay wireless device should not transmit the SIBs to the first wireless device, and applying the SI comprised in the received SIBs.

[0044] Some embodiments provide a method implemented by a relay wireless device. A first wireless device has a direct signaling connection to a base station and an indirect signaling connection to the base station via the relay wireless device. The method in the relay wireless device includes receiving a SIB from the base station, adding and / or modifying SI in the SIB to form a further SIB that includes an indication that content of the further SIB differs from content of the SIB received from the base station, and sending the further SIB to the first wireless device.

[0045] Some embodiments provide a method implemented by a relay wireless device. A first wireless device has a direct signaling connection to a base station and an indirect signaling connection to the base station via the relay wireless device. The method in the relay wireless device includes transmitting one or more SIBs to the first wireless device, the SIB(s) comprising a relay relationship SI.

[0046] Some embodiments provide a method implemented by a relay wireless device. A first wireless device has a direct signaling connection to a base station and an indirect signaling connection to the base station via the relay wireless device. The method in the relay wireless device includes receiving an indication from the first wireless device indicating that the relay wireless device should not transmit a SIB to the first wireless device and ceasing transmission of the SIB to the first wireless device.

[0047] Some embodiments provide a method implemented by a base station. A first wireless device has a direct signaling connection to the base station and an indirect signaling connection to the base station via a relay wireless device. The method in the base station includes receiving an indication from the first wireless device to indicate that the base station should stop providing one or more SIBs comprising a relay relationship SI to the first wireless device, and transmitting one or more SIBs comprising a non-relay relationship SI to the first wireless device.

[0048] Some embodiments provide a computer program product comprising a computer readable medium having computer readable code embodied thereon that, when executed by a suitable computer or processor, causes the computer or processor to perform the method of any of the above embodiments.

[0049] Some embodiments provide an apparatus, for example in the form of a wireless device or base station, configured to perform any of the above method embodiments.

[0050] Some embodiments provide an apparatus, e.g. in the form of a wireless device or base station, comprising a processor and a memory, the memory including instructions executable by the processor, such that the apparatus is operable to perform any of the method embodiments described above.

[0051] Some embodiments may provide one or more of the following technical advantages(s): According to the methods and solutions disclosed herein, a RM UE can avoid applying the same SIB twice, and some embodiments can also ensure or enable that the SIB applied by the UE is the latest updated SIB.

[0052] Some embodiments may enable the RM UE to properly establish a UE-NW relay path with the RL UE and the gNB and to obtain up-to-date system information as the contents of the SIB(s) change.

[0053] Some of the embodiments contemplated herein will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0054] [Figure 1] This figure summarizes system information provisioning and corresponds to Figure 7.3-1 in 3GPP TS38.300 v16.4.0(2020-12). [Diagram 2] FIG. 1 illustrates the C-ITS ecosystem. [Diagram 3] A diagram showing the provision of NR SL radio bearer setup provided by the NW. [Figure 4] A diagram showing the configuration of a remote UE, a relay UE, and a base station in a sidelink scenario in which the remote UE is also camped on the same base station as the relay UE. [Diagram 5] 1 is a flowchart illustrating a method performed by a first wireless device, according to one aspect. [Figure 6] 11 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented by a first wireless device, according to another aspect. [Figure 7] 11 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented by a relay wireless device according to another aspect. [Figure 8] 1 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented by a relay wireless device, according to one aspect. [Figure 9] 10 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented by a base station according to another aspect. [Figure 10] 11 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented by a first wireless device, according to another aspect. [Figure 11]1 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented by a relay wireless device, according to one aspect. [Figure 12] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a wireless network, according to some embodiments. [Figure 13] FIG. 1 illustrates a UE in accordance with some embodiments. [Figure 14] FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment in which functionality implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized. [Figure 15] FIG. 1 illustrates a communications network connected to a host computer through an intermediate network, according to some embodiments. [Figure 16] FIG. 2 illustrates a host computer communicating with user equipment via a base station over a partially wireless connection according to some embodiments. [Figure 17] FIG. 1 illustrates a method implemented in a communications system including a host computer, a base station, and user equipment, according to some embodiments. [Figure 18] FIG. 1 illustrates a method implemented in a communications system including a host computer, a base station, and user equipment, according to some embodiments. [Figure 19] FIG. 1 illustrates a method implemented in a communications system including a host computer, a base station, and user equipment, according to some embodiments. [Figure 20] FIG. 1 illustrates a method implemented in a communications system including a host computer, a base station, and user equipment, according to some embodiments. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0055] Some of the embodiments contemplated herein will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: However, other embodiments are included within the scope of the subject matter disclosed herein, and the disclosed subject matter should not be construed as being limited to only the embodiments described herein, but rather, these embodiments are provided as examples to convey the scope of the subject matter to those skilled in the art.

[0056] Although the embodiments are described herein in the context where the radio access technology (RAT) is NR, i.e., the remote UE and the relay UE are deployed in (camped on) the same NR cell, it will be appreciated that the embodiments are also applicable in other relay scenarios, including UE-to-network relay UE, where the link between the remote UE and the relay UE may be based on LTE sidelink or NR sidelink, i.e., the Uu connection between the relay UE and the base station (eNB or gNb, as appropriate) may be LTE Uu or NR Uu. Also, the connection between the remote UE and the relay UE is not limited to a sidelink (e.g., NR sidelink or LTE sidelink). Instead, any short-range communication technology, such as WiFi or Bluetooth, may be used. The disclosed embodiments may also be applied to relay scenarios where the relay UE is configured with multiple connections (i.e., the number of connections is equal to or greater than two) to the RAN, e.g., using dual connectivity (DC), carrier aggregation (CA), etc.

[0057] The disclosed embodiments are applicable at least to Layer 2 (L2) relay scenarios. Thus, an L2 UE-network relay UE (herein referred to as a "relay UE") can provide a forwarding function capable of relaying traffic on a PC5 link and can also provide functionality to support connectivity to a 5G system (5GS) for one or more remote UEs. If the UE successfully establishes a PC5 link to the relay UE, the UE may be considered to be a remote UE. In the scenario described herein, the remote UE is located within the same Next Generation Radio Access Network (NG-RAN) coverage as the relay UE (i.e., the remote UE also has coverage from the Radio Access Network (RAN)), and in particular, the remote UE is camped on the same cell as the relay UE. With cell selection, the UE searches for a suitable cell of the selected Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN), selects the cell to provide available services, and monitors its control channel. This procedure is defined as "camping on a cell".

[0058] The term “direct path” is used herein to denote a direct connection from a remote UE to a gNB (the term for “base station” in NR), and the term “indirect path” is used herein to denote an indirect connection between a remote UE and a gNB via an intermediate node, i.e., a relay UE.

[0059] FIG. 4 shows a configuration of a remote UE, a relay UE and a base station in a sidelink scenario where the remote UE is also camped on the same base station as the relay UE, and in particular, where the remote UE is camped on the same cell as the relay UE.

[0060] Thus, FIG. 4 shows a remote UE 401 connected to an NG-RAN 403 via a relay UE 402 (e.g., a Proximity Services (ProSe) UE-network relay). The NG-RAN 403 may be an NR RAN, and more specifically, the NG-RAN 403 may be a base station, such as a gNB or an eNB. The relay UE 402 may be a dedicated relay device or a general UE that can selectively act as a relay UE 402. For a 3GPP technology-based relay scenario, the interface between the remote UE 401 and the relay UE 403 may be a PC5 interface, and the interface between the relay UE 402 and the RAN 403 is a Uu interface. The relay UE entity 402 provides functionality to support connectivity to the network 403 for the remote UE 401. It may be used for both public safety services and commercial services (e.g., interactive services). The remote UE 401 is also in coverage (IC) of the network and is camped on the same cell of the NG-RAN 403 as the relay UE 402 , and therefore the remote UE 401 has a Uu connection with the NG-RAN 403 .

[0061] In a first group of embodiments, the RM UE 401 starts collecting one or more system information blocks SIB at the beginning of a modification period. A modification period is a defined time period during which the system information (SI) may be changed by the network and during which the SI is transmitted / broadcast by the network. The updated SI (i.e., the updated SIB(s)) may be transmitted / broadcast during the modification period following the modification period during which the SI change notification is transmitted. The modification period boundary is defined by a system frame number (SFN) value, SFN mod m=0, where m is the number of radio frames that comprise the modification period. The modification period may itself be set by the system information.

[0062] Collection of SIB(s) may be triggered in the RM UE 401 for any of the following reasons: · Higher layers require the RM UE 401 to recollect SIBs (an application in the UE requires periodic updates of fields contained in the SIB(s)). The validity of the stored SIB(s) has expired (i.e., the stored SIB(s) is / are no longer valid). The RM UE 401 receives an indication (from the network (e.g. NG-RAN 403) or the RL UE 402) that the content of one or more SIBs has changed. · The RM UE 401 needs to establish a (relay) connection and needs to collect one or more SIBs (e.g. for the first time) to trigger the procedure.

[0063] When collecting the required SIB(s), if the RM UE 401 receives the same SIB(s) from both the network 403 (via dedicated signaling or via broadcast signaling) and the RL UE 402 during the same modification period, the RM UE 401 needs to determine how to handle these SIB(s). In this respect, receiving the "same" SIB means receiving the same type of SIB from the network 403 and the RL UE 402, but the contents of those "same" SIBs can be different from each other. Thus, receiving the same SIB can include, for example, receiving SIB2 from the network 403 and also receiving SIB2 from the RL UE 402 during the same modification period. Thus, the RM UE 401 may apply one of the following options: Option 1. The SIB received from the network is applied by the RM UE and the SIB received from the RL UE is discarded. Option 2. The SIB received from the RL UE is applied by the RM UE and the SIB received from the network is discarded. Option 3. The first / earliest received SIB is applied by the RM UE and the remaining SIBs are discarded. Option 4. The last received SIB is applied by the RM UE and the remaining SIBs are discarded. Option 5. Both SIBs are discarded by the RM UE.

[0064] In a second group of embodiments, similar to the first group of embodiments, the RM UE 401 is capable of receiving SIBs from both the network 403 and the RL UE 402. When the RL UE is sending the SIB(s) to the RM UE, the RL UE may decide to supplement the content of the SIB (that it received from the gNB) with additional information that may be important, for example, for establishing a relay path with the RM UE. In this case, the RL UE may include an indication in the SIB sent to the RM UE to inform the RM UE that the content of the SIB is different from the content of the SIB broadcast by the network (or sent via dedicated signaling). If so, when an RM UE receives SIB(s) from both the network (via dedicated signaling or via broadcast signaling) and a RL UE during the same modification period, the RM UE may discard the SIB(s) received from the network (if an indication is present in the SIB(s) sent by the RL UE) and apply the SIB(s) received from the RL UE.

[0065] The indication in the SIB may be a single bit used to indicate whether the SIB differs from the SIB sent by the network, or the indication in the SIB may be a more complex indication, for example, the indication may include a timestamp as to when the SIB was created and / or what information was added or modified relative to the SIB sent by the network.

[0066] In a third group of embodiments, the RM UE 401 may receive different SIBs from the network 403 and the RL UE 402 separately. That is, the RM UE may receive some SIB(s) from the network and some other (different) SIB(s) from the RL UE. In one example, the RM UE may receive a non-relay related SIB from the network and the RM UE receives a relay related SIB from the RL UE. The relay related SIB includes a SIB type that includes information required for the RM UE to select a RL UE and establish a UE-NW relay path. A SIB type that does not include this type of information is considered a non-relay related SIB. In one example, V2X services may be supported via a SL UE-network relay. In this case, SIB13 and SIB14, which are for V2X communication, may be considered as relay related SIBs.

[0067] In a fourth group of embodiments, after the relay path is established between the RM UE 401 and the RL UE 402, the RM UE may stop collecting SIB(s) related to the sidelink and sidelink relay from the network 403 and instead collect these SIBs via the relay UE only. In doing so, the RM UE may send an indication to the RL UE to inform the RL UE that it is the responsibility of the RL UE to forward the required SIBs to the RM UE during the time the relay path is up (established). At the same or similar time, the RM UE may also send an indication to the network (e.g., via RRC signaling) to inform the network that the sidelink and sidelink relay SIBs are no longer needed (by the RM UE). In such a case, the network may still continue to broadcast the sidelink and / or sidelink relay SIBs within the network's coverage, but the network will stop (or will not) send those SIBs to the RM UE via dedicated RRC signaling.

[0068] Alternatively, after the relay path is established between the RM UE and the RL UE, the RM UE may decide to continue to collect SIBs only via the network and not via the RL UE. In such a case, the RM UE may send an indication (e.g., via a PC5-RRC, MAC CE, or protocol layer control PDU) to the RL UE to inform the RL UE that the SIBs should not be delivered by the RL UE during the time the relay path is up.

[0069] In a fifth group of embodiments, it is up to the UE implementation whether to adopt any of the solutions described in any one of the embodiments, i.e., the implementation of the UE can cause the UE to operate according to any of the first, second and third groups of embodiments when the UE has a relay connection to the network via a relay UE and when the UE also has a direct connection to the network.

[0070] In a sixth set of embodiments, which action, if any, the remote UE should perform according to any of the above group of embodiments may be configured by the network / gNB via dedicated Uu RRC signaling or SIB. For example, the network / gNB may configure the remote UE to operate according to a particular one of the options in the first group of embodiments, the second embodiment, the third embodiment, or the fourth embodiment. Alternatively, the remote UE may be preconfigured with the action(s) to perform according to any of the above group of embodiments. For example, the remote UE may be preconfigured with the action(s) to perform according to any of the above group of embodiments. Alternatively, which action, if any, the remote UE should perform according to any of the above group of embodiments may also be configured by the relay UE or control UE via direct PC5 RRC signaling or sidelink broadcast / groupcast. For example, the relay UE may configure the remote UE to operate according to a particular one of the options in the first group of embodiments, the second group of embodiments, the third group of embodiments, or the fourth group of embodiments.

[0071] The flowcharts in Figures 5 to 11 relate to methods implemented by a remote wireless device (also referred to herein as a first wireless device), a relay wireless device, and a base station, in each of which the first wireless device has a direct signaling connection to the base station and an indirect signaling connection to the base station via the relay wireless device. These methods correspond to or include one or more of the above-described sets of embodiments.

[0072] The methods may be implemented by appropriately configured user equipment, wireless device, base station, or network node, as appropriate. In some embodiments, the UE, wireless device, base station, or network node may implement the methods in response to a computer or processor executing computer readable code embodied on a computer readable medium.

[0073] The flow chart in Fig. 5 relates to a method for operating a first wireless device (remote wireless device) to manage a received SIB. The method in Fig. 5 relates to the third set of embodiments, part of the fourth set of embodiments, and the fifth and sixth sets of embodiments.

[0074] In step 501, a first wireless device receives a first type of SIB from a base station.

[0075] In step 502, the first wireless device receives a second type SIB from the relay wireless device. Steps 501 and 502 may be performed in any order.

[0076] In step 503, the first wireless device applies the SI provided in the received SIB.

[0077] In some embodiments, the first type of SIB comprises a non-relay related SI and the second type of SIB comprises a relay related SI.

[0078] In these embodiments, the method may further include transmitting an indication to the relay wireless device to indicate that the relay wireless device should provide one or more SIBs comprising relay-related SIs to the first wireless device. In these embodiments, the method may alternatively or additionally include transmitting an indication to the base station to indicate that the base station should provide one or more SIBs comprising non-relay-related SIs to the first wireless device.

[0079] In some embodiments, the method may further include one or both of the first wireless device stopping collection of one or more SIBs comprising the relay relationship SI from the base station and stopping collection of one or more SIBs comprising the non-relay relationship SI from the relay wireless device. In these embodiments, stopping collection of one or more SIBs comprising the relay relationship SI from the base station may include sending an indication to the RAN node that the base station should stop transmitting one or more SIBs comprising the relay relationship SI to the first wireless device.

[0080] The flow chart in Fig. 6 relates to a method for operating a first wireless device (remote wireless device) to manage a received SIB. The method in Fig. 6 relates to a part of the fourth set of embodiments and to the fifth and sixth sets of embodiments.

[0081] In step 601, a first wireless device receives one or more SIBs from a base station.

[0082] In step 602, the first wireless device transmits an indication to the relay wireless device that the relay wireless device should not transmit an SIB to the first wireless device.

[0083] In step 603, the first wireless device applies the SI provided in the received SIB.

[0084] In some embodiments, step 603 includes: a. applying SI provided in a SIB received from a base station and, optionally, discarding a SIB received from a relay wireless device; b. applying SI provided in SIBs received from the relay wireless device and, optionally, discarding SIBs received from the base station; c. applying the SI provided in the earliest / first received SIB and, optionally, discarding the latest / most recent / second received SIB; d. applying the SI provided in the latest / most recent / second most recently received SIB and, optionally, discarding the earliest / first most recently received SIB; e. Discarding SIBs received from base stations and relay wireless devices; may include one of:

[0085] In the above embodiment, the method may further include the first wireless device receiving (from the relay wireless device or the base station) an indication of which of a., b., c., and d. should be implemented to apply the SI comprised in one of the received SIBs.

[0086] In an alternative embodiment, the method may further include the first wireless device determining whether the SIB received from the relay wireless device comprises an indication that content of the SIB received from the relay wireless device differs from content of the SIB received from the base station.

[0087] The flow chart in Figure 7 relates to a method of operating a relay wireless device, which relates to the third set of embodiments, part of the fourth set of embodiments, and the fifth and sixth sets of embodiments.

[0088] In step 701, the relay wireless device transmits one or more SIBs to the first wireless device. The SIB(s) comprises a relay relationship SI.

[0089] In some embodiments, the method further includes receiving an indication from the first wireless device to indicate that the relay wireless device should provide one or more SIBs comprising a relay relationship SI to the first wireless device.

[0090] In some embodiments, the method further includes transmitting instructions to the first wireless device for the relay wireless device to instruct the first wireless device on actions to perform to apply the SI comprised in the one or more SIBs received by the first wireless device. In these embodiments, the transmitted instructions include instructions to the first wireless device on the following actions to perform to apply the SI: a. applying SI provided in a SIB received from a base station and, optionally, discarding a SIB received from a relay wireless device; b. applying SI provided in SIBs received from the relay wireless device and, optionally, discarding SIBs received from the base station; c. applying the SI provided in the earliest / first received SIB and, optionally, discarding the latest / most recent / second received SIB; d. applying the SI provided in the latest / most recent / second most recently received SIB and, optionally, discarding the earliest / first most recently received SIB; e. discarding SIBs received from the base station and the relay wireless device; f. determining whether the SIB received from the relay wireless device comprises an indication that the content of the SIB received from the relay wireless device differs from the content of the SIB received from the base station; It may indicate one of the following:

[0091] The flow chart in Figure 8 relates to a method of operating a relay wireless device, which relates to part of the fourth set of embodiments and to the fifth and sixth sets of embodiments.

[0092] In step 801, the relay wireless device receives an indication from the first wireless device indicating that the relay wireless device should not transmit a SIB to the first wireless device.

[0093] In step 802, the relay wireless device stops transmitting the SIB to the first wireless device.

[0094] In some embodiments, the method further includes the relay wireless device transmitting an instruction to the first wireless device to indicate an action to be taken to apply the SI comprised in the one or more SIBs received by the first wireless device.

[0095] The transmitted instructions include the following actions for the first wireless device to perform to apply the SI: a. applying SI provided in a SIB received from a base station and, optionally, discarding a SIB received from a relay wireless device; b. applying SI provided in SIBs received from the relay wireless device and, optionally, discarding SIBs received from the base station; c. applying the SI provided in the earliest / first received SIB and, optionally, discarding the latest / most recent / second received SIB; d. applying the SI provided in the latest / most recent / second most recently received SIB and, optionally, discarding the earliest / first most recently received SIB; e. discarding SIBs received from the base station and the relay wireless device; f. determining whether the SIB received from the relay wireless device comprises an indication that the content of the SIB received from the relay wireless device differs from the content of the SIB received from the base station; One of the following can be specified.

[0096] The flow chart in Figure 9 relates to a method of operating a base station. The method in Figure 9 relates to the fourth set of embodiments described above.

[0097] In step 901, the base station receives an instruction from the first wireless device to instruct the first wireless device that the base station should stop providing one or more SIBs comprising a relay relationship SI to the first wireless device.

[0098] In step 902, the base station transmits one or more SIBs comprising a non-relay related SI to the first wireless device.

[0099] In some embodiments, the method further includes the base station broadcasting one or more SIBs comprising the relay relationship SI.

[0100] In some embodiments, the method further includes the base station transmitting an instruction to the first wireless device to indicate an action to perform to apply the SI comprised in the one or more SIBs received by the first wireless device.

[0101] The transmitted instructions include the following actions for the first wireless device to perform to apply the SI: a. applying SI provided in a SIB received from a base station and, optionally, discarding a SIB received from a relay wireless device; b. applying SI provided in SIBs received from the relay wireless device and, optionally, discarding SIBs received from the base station; c. applying the SI provided in the earliest / first received SIB and, optionally, discarding the latest / most recent / second received SIB; d. applying the SI provided in the latest / most recent / second most recently received SIB and, optionally, discarding the earliest / first most recently received SIB; e. discarding SIBs received from the base station and the relay wireless device; f. determining whether the SIB received from the relay wireless device comprises an indication that the content of the SIB received from the relay wireless device differs from the content of the SIB received from the base station; One of the following can be specified.

[0102] The flow chart in Figure 10 relates to a method of operating a first wireless device (remote wireless device), which relates to the first and second sets of embodiments and to the fifth and sixth sets of embodiments.

[0103] In step 1001, a first wireless device receives a first type of SIB from a base station and receives another SIB of the first type from a relay wireless device.

[0104] In step 1002, the first wireless device applies an SI comprised in one of the received SIBs.

[0105] In some embodiments, step 1002 includes: a. applying SI provided in a SIB received from a base station and, optionally, discarding a SIB received from a relay wireless device; b. applying SI provided in SIBs received from the relay wireless device and, optionally, discarding SIBs received from the base station; c. applying the SI provided in the earliest / first received SIB and, optionally, discarding the latest / most recent / second received SIB; d. applying the SI provided in the latest / most recent / second most recently received SIB and, optionally, discarding the earliest / first most recently received SIB; e. Discarding SIBs received from base stations and relay wireless devices; Contains one of the following:

[0106] In some embodiments, the method further includes the first wireless device determining whether the SIB received from the relay wireless device comprises an indication that content of the SIB received from the relay wireless device differs from content of the SIB received from the base station. In these embodiments, step 1002 may include applying the SI comprised in the SIB received from the relay wireless device and, optionally, discarding the SIB received from the base station if the SIB received from the relay wireless device comprises the indication.

[0107] In these embodiments, the indication may comprise a value of a bit in the SIB, a timestamp indicating the time the SIB was created, and / or information regarding an SI in the SIB received from the relay wireless device that differs from an SI in the SIB received from the base station.

[0108] In some embodiments, the SIB received from the base station and the SIB received from the relay wireless device are received during the same modification period.

[0109] In some embodiments, the SIB received from the base station is received via dedicated signaling or broadcast signaling.

[0110] The flow chart in Figure 11 relates to a method of operating a relay wireless device. The method in Figure 11 relates to the first and second sets of embodiments and the fifth and sixth sets of embodiments.

[0111] In step 1101, the relay wireless device receives an SIB from the base station.

[0112] In step 1102, the relay wireless device adds and / or modifies SI in the SIB to form a further SIB that includes an indication that the content of the further SIB differs from the content of the SIB received from the base station.

[0113] In step 1103, the relay wireless device sends a further SIB to the first wireless device.

[0114] In some embodiments, the indication comprises a value of a bit in the further SIB, a timestamp indicating the time the further SIB was created, and / or information regarding an SI in the further SIB that is different from the SIB received from the base station.

[0115] Although the subject matter described herein may be implemented in any suitable type of system using any suitable components, the embodiments disclosed herein are described with respect to a wireless network, such as the exemplary wireless network shown in FIG. 12. For simplicity, the wireless network of FIG. 12 illustrates only the network 1206, the network nodes 1260 and 1260b, and the WDs 1210, 1210b, and 1210c. In practice, the wireless network may further include any additional elements suitable for supporting communication between wireless devices, or between a wireless device and another communication device, such as a landline, a service provider, or any other network node or end device. Of the components shown, the network node 1260 and the wireless device (WD) 1210 are illustrated with additional details. The wireless network may provide communication and other types of services to one or more wireless devices to facilitate the wireless device's access to the wireless network and / or use of services provided by or via the wireless network.

[0116] The wireless network may include and / or interface with any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, and / or radio network, or other similar type of system. In some embodiments, the wireless network may be configured to operate according to a particular standard or other type of predefined rules or procedures. Thus, particular embodiments of the wireless network may implement a communications standard, such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Long Term Evolution (LTE), and / or other suitable 2G, 3G, 4G, or 5G standards, a wireless local area network (WLAN) standard, such as the IEEE 802.11 standard, and / or any other suitable wireless communication standard, such as Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Bluetooth, Z-Wave, and / or ZigBee standards.

[0117] The network 1206 may comprise one or more backhaul networks, core networks, IP networks, public switched telephone networks (PSTN), packet data networks, optical networks, wide area networks (WANs), local area networks (LANs), wireless local area networks (WLANs), wired networks, wireless networks, metropolitan area networks, and other networks for enabling communication between devices.

[0118] The network node 1260 and the WD 1210 comprise various components, which are described in more detail below. These components cooperate to provide network node and / or wireless device functionality, such as providing wireless connectivity in a wireless network. In different embodiments, a wireless network may comprise any number of wired or wireless networks, network nodes, base stations, controllers, wireless devices, relay stations, and / or any other components or systems that may facilitate or participate in the communication of data and / or signals, whether via wired or wireless connections.

[0119] A network node, as used herein, refers to a device capable of, set up, configured, and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with wireless devices and / or other network nodes or devices in a wireless network to enable and / or provide wireless access to wireless devices and / or to perform other functions (e.g., administration) in the wireless network. 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)). Base stations may be categorized based on the amount of coverage they provide (or, in other words, their transmit power levels), and may then be referred to as femto, pico, micro, or macro base stations. 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 a remote radio unit may or may not be integrated with an antenna as an antenna-integrated radio. A part of a distributed radio base station may also be referred to as a node in a distributed antenna system (DAS). Still further examples of a network node include 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), a core network node (e.g., MSC, MME), an O&M node, an OSS node, a SON node, a positioning node (e.g., E-SMLC), and / or an MDT. As another example, a network node may be a virtual network node, as described in more detail below.More generally, however, a network node may represent any suitable device (or group of devices) capable of, configured to, and / or operable to enable and / or provide wireless devices with access to a wireless network or to provide some service to wireless devices that have accessed the wireless network.

[0120] In FIG. 12, network node 1260 includes processing circuitry 1270, device readable medium 1280, interface 1290, auxiliary equipment 1284, power source 1286, power circuitry 1287, and antenna 1262. Although network node 1260 shown in the example wireless network of FIG. 12 may represent a device including the shown combination of hardware components, other embodiments may comprise network nodes with different combinations of components. It should be understood that a network node comprises any suitable combination of hardware and / or software required to perform the tasks, features, functions, and methods disclosed herein. Moreover, although the components of network node 1260 are illustrated as a single box located within a larger box or nested within multiple boxes, in reality the network node may comprise multiple different physical components that make up a single shown component (e.g., device readable medium 1280 may comprise multiple separate hard drives as well as multiple RAM modules).

[0121] Similarly, the network node 1260 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.), each of which may have their own respective components. In some scenarios in which the network node 1260 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 1260 may be configured to support several radio access technologies (RATs). In such embodiments, some components may be duplicated (e.g., separate device-readable media 1280 for different RATs) and some components may be reused (e.g., the same antenna 1262 may be shared by the RATs). Network node 1260 may also include multiple sets of the various shown components for different wireless technologies, such as, for example, GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, or Bluetooth wireless technologies, integrated into network node 1260. These wireless technologies may be integrated in the same or different chips or sets of chips and other components within network node 1260.

[0122] The processing circuit 1270 is configured to perform any decision, computation, or similar operations (e.g., some acquisition operations) described herein as being provided by a network node. These operations performed by the processing circuit 1270 may include processing information acquired by the processing circuit 1270, for example, by transforming the acquired information into other information, comparing the acquired or transformed information to information stored in the network node, and / or performing one or more operations based on the acquired or transformed information and as a result of said processing making a decision.

[0123] The processing circuit 1270 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 network node 1260 functionality, either alone or in conjunction with other network node 1260 components, such as device readable medium 1280. For example, the processing circuit 1270 may execute instructions stored on the device readable medium 1280 or in memory within the processing circuit 1270. Such functionality may include providing any of the various wireless features, functions, or benefits described herein. In some embodiments, the processing circuit 1270 may include a system on a chip (SOC).

[0124] In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 1270 may include one or more of a radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 1272 and a baseband processing circuitry 1274. In some embodiments, the radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 1272 and the baseband processing circuitry 1274 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 circuitry 1272 and the baseband processing circuitry 1274 may be on the same chip or set of chips, board, or unit.

[0125] In some embodiments, some or all of the functionality described herein as being provided by a network node, base station, eNB, or other such network device may be performed by the processing circuitry 1270 executing instructions stored in the device-readable medium 1280, or in a memory within the processing circuitry 1270. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functionality may be provided by the processing circuitry 1270 without executing instructions stored in a separate or distinct device-readable medium, such as in a hardwired manner. In any of those embodiments, the processing circuitry 1270 may be configured to perform the described functionality, whether or not it executes instructions stored in a device-readable storage medium. Benefits provided by such functionality are enjoyed by the processing circuitry 1270 alone, or by other components of the network node 1260, but by the network node 1260 as a whole, and / or by end users and wireless networks generally.

[0126] The device readable medium 1280 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 1270. The device readable medium 1280 may store any suitable instructions, data, or information, including applications including one or more of computer programs, software, logic, rules, codes, tables, etc., and / or other instructions that may be executed by the processing circuit 1270 and utilized by the network node 1260. The device-readable medium 1280 may be used to store calculations performed by the processing circuit 1270 and / or data received via the interface 1290. In some embodiments, the processing circuit 1270 and the device-readable medium 1280 may be considered to be integrated.

[0127] The interface 1290 is used in wired or wireless communication of signaling and / or data between the network node 1260, the network 1206, and / or the WD 1210. As shown, the interface 1290 comprises a port(s) / terminal(s) 1294 for sending and receiving data to and from the network 1206, for example, over a wired connection. The interface 1290 also includes a radio front-end circuit 1292, which is coupled to the antenna 1262 or, in some embodiments, may be part of the antenna 1262. The radio front-end circuit 1292 comprises a filter 1298 and an amplifier 1296. The radio front-end circuit 1292 may be connected to the antenna 1262 and the processing circuit 1270. The radio front-end circuit may be configured to condition signals communicated between the antenna 1262 and the processing circuit 1270. The radio front-end circuit 1292 may receive digital data to be sent to other network nodes or WDs via a wireless connection. The radio front-end circuit 1292 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters 1298 and / or amplifiers 1296. The radio signal may then be transmitted via the antenna 1262. Similarly, when receiving data, the antenna 1262 may collect the radio signal, which is then converted into digital data by the radio front-end circuit 1292. The digital data may be passed to the processing circuit 1270. In other embodiments, the interface may comprise different components and / or different combinations of components.

[0128] In some alternative embodiments, the network node 1260 may not include a separate radio front-end circuit 1292; instead, the processing circuit 1270 may comprise a radio front-end circuit and be connected to the antenna 1262 without a separate radio front-end circuit 1292. Similarly, in some embodiments, all or a portion of the RF transceiver circuit 1272 may be considered part of the interface 1290. In still other embodiments, the interface 1290 may include one or more ports or terminals 1294, the radio front-end circuit 1292, and the RF transceiver circuit 1272 as part of a radio unit (not shown), and the interface 1290 may communicate with a baseband processing circuit 1274 that is part of a digital unit (not shown).

[0129] The antenna 1262 may include one or more antennas or antenna arrays configured to send and / or receive wireless signals 1264, 1265. In FIG. 12, the WD 1210b may be considered to operate as a relay UE for the WD 1210c, which is operating as a remote UE that may (or may not) have a connection (or possibly coverage) from the network node 1260. The antenna 1262 may be coupled to the radio front-end circuitry 1292 and may be any type of antenna capable of wirelessly transmitting and receiving data and / or signals. In some embodiments, the antenna 1262 may comprise one or more omnidirectional, sector or panel antennas operable to transmit / receive wireless signals, for example, between 2 GHz and 66 GHz. An omnidirectional antenna may be used to transmit / receive wireless signals in any direction, a sector antenna may be used to transmit / receive wireless signals from devices in a particular area, and a panel antenna may be a line-of-sight antenna used to transmit / receive wireless signals in a relatively straight line. In some instances, the use of two or more antennas may be referred to as MIMO. In some embodiments, the antenna 1262 may be separate from the network node 1260 and may be connectable to the network node 1260 through an interface or port.

[0130] The antenna 1262, the interface 1290, and / or the processing circuit 1270 may be configured to perform any receiving operation and / or some obtaining operation described herein as being performed by a network node. Any information, data, and / or signal may be received from a wireless device, another network node, and / or any other network equipment. Similarly, the antenna 1262, the interface 1290, and / or the processing circuit 1270 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 wireless device, another network node, and / or any other network equipment.

[0131] The power circuit 1287 may comprise or be coupled to a power management circuit and is configured to supply power to the components of the network node 1260 for performing the functions described herein. The power circuit 1287 may receive power from a power source 1286. The power source 1286 and / or the power circuit 1287 may be configured to provide power to the various components of the network node 1260 in a form suitable for the respective components (e.g., at voltage and current levels required for each respective component). The power source 1286 may either be included in the power circuit 1287 and / or the network node 1260 or may be external to the power circuit 1287 and / or the network node 1260. For example, the network node 1260 may be connectable to an external power source (e.g., an electrical outlet) via an input circuit or interface, such as an electrical cable, whereby the external power source supplies power to the power circuit 1287. As a further example, power supply 1286 may include a power source in the form of a battery or battery pack connected to or integrated in power circuit 1287. The battery may provide backup power in the event that an external power source fails. Other types of power sources, such as photovoltaic devices, may also be used.

[0132] Alternative embodiments of network node 1260 may include additional components other than those shown in FIG. 12 that may be responsible for providing some aspects of the network node's functionality, including any of the functionality described herein and / or functionality necessary to support the subject matter described herein. For example, network node 1260 may include user interface devices to enable input of information into network node 1260 and output of information from network node 1260. This may enable a user to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions for network node 1260.

[0133] A wireless device (WD) as used herein refers to a device capable of, configured to, and / or operable to wirelessly communicate with network nodes and / or other wireless devices. Unless otherwise noted, the term WD may be used interchangeably herein with user equipment (UE). Any of the WDs may operate as a relay UE as described herein or as a remote UE as described herein. Communicating wirelessly may involve transmitting and / or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic, radio, infrared, and / or other types of signals suitable for conveying information over the air. In some embodiments, the WD may be configured to transmit and / or receive information without direct human interaction. For example, the WD may be designed to transmit information to the network on a predefined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to a request from the network. Examples of WDs 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), in-vehicle wireless terminal devices, etc. A WD may support device-to-device (D2D) communications, for example, by implementing 3GPP standards for sidelink communications, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), vehicle-to-everything (V2X), in which case it may be referred to as a D2D communications device. As yet another specific example, in an Internet of Things (IoT) scenario, a WD may represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and / or measurements and transmits results of such monitoring and / or measurements to another WD and / or network node.The WD may be a machine-to-machine (M2M) device in this case, which may be referred to as a machine-type communication (MTC) device in the 3GPP context. As one particular example, the WD may be a UE implementing the 3GPP Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) standard. Particular examples of such machines or devices are sensors, metering devices such as power meters, industrial machinery, or household or personal appliances (e.g., refrigerators, televisions, etc.), personal wearables (e.g., watches, fitness trackers, etc.). In other scenarios, the WD may represent a vehicle or other equipment capable of monitoring and / or reporting on its operating status or other functions related to its operation. The WD described above may represent an endpoint of a wireless connection, in which case the device may be referred to as a wireless terminal. Furthermore, the WD described above may be mobile, in which case the device may be referred to as a mobile device or mobile terminal.

[0134] As shown, wireless device 1210 includes antenna 1211, interface 1214, processing circuitry 1220, device-readable medium 1230, user interface equipment 1232, auxiliary equipment 1234, power source 1236, and power circuitry 1237. WD 1210 may include multiple sets of one or more of the shown components for different wireless technologies supported by WD 1210, such as, for example, GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, WiMAX, or Bluetooth wireless technologies, just to name a few. These wireless technologies may be integrated on the same or different chip or set of chips as other components in WD 1210.

[0135] The antenna 1211 may include one or more antennas or antenna arrays configured to send and / or receive wireless signals and is connected to the interface 1214. In some alternative embodiments, the antenna 1211 may be separate from the WD 1210 and connectable to the WD 1210 through an interface or port. The antenna 1211, the interface 1214, and / or the processing circuit 1220 may be configured to perform any receiving or transmitting operation described herein as being performed by a WD. Any information, data, and / or signal may be received from a network node and / or another WD. In some embodiments, the wireless front-end circuit and / or the antenna 1211 may be considered an interface.

[0136] As shown, the interface 1214 comprises a radio front-end circuit 1212 and an antenna 1211. The radio front-end circuit 1212 comprises one or more filters 1218 and an amplifier 1216. The radio front-end circuit 1212 is connected to the antenna 1211 and the processing circuit 1220 and is configured to condition signals communicated between the antenna 1211 and the processing circuit 1220. The radio front-end circuit 1212 may be coupled to the antenna 1211 or may be part of the antenna 1211. In some embodiments, the WD 1210 may not include a separate radio front-end circuit 1212, rather the processing circuit 1220 may comprise a radio front-end circuit and be connected to the antenna 1211. Similarly, in some embodiments, some or all of the RF transceiver circuit 1222 may be considered part of the interface 1214. The radio front-end circuit 1212 may receive digital data to be sent to other network nodes or WDs via a wireless connection. The radio front-end circuitry 1212 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters 1218 and / or amplifiers 1216. The radio signal may then be transmitted via the antenna 1211. Similarly, when receiving data, the antenna 1211 may collect the radio signal, which is then converted into digital data by the radio front-end circuitry 1212. The digital data may be passed to the processing circuitry 1220. In other embodiments, the interface may comprise different components and / or different combinations of components.

[0137] The processing circuitry 1220 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 WD1210 functionality, either alone or in conjunction with other WD1210 components such as device readable medium 1230. Such functionality may include providing any of the various wireless features or benefits described herein. For example, the processing circuitry 1220 may execute instructions stored on the device readable medium 1230 or in a memory within the processing circuitry 1220 to provide the functionality disclosed herein.

[0138] As shown, the processing circuit 1220 includes one or more of the RF transceiver circuit 1222, the baseband processing circuit 1224, and the application processing circuit 1226. In other embodiments, the processing circuit may comprise different components and / or different combinations of components. In some embodiments, the processing circuit 1220 of the WD 1210 may comprise a SOC. In some embodiments, the RF transceiver circuit 1222, the baseband processing circuit 1224, and the application processing circuit 1226 may be on separate chips or sets of chips. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the baseband processing circuit 1224 and the application processing circuit 1226 may be combined into one chip or set of chips, and the RF transceiver circuit 1222 may be on a separate chip or set of chips. In yet alternative embodiments, some or all of the RF transceiver circuit 1222 and the baseband processing circuit 1224 may be on the same chip or set of chips, and the application processing circuit 1226 may be on a separate chip or set of chips. In yet other alternative embodiments, some or all of the RF transceiver circuitry 1222, the baseband processing circuitry 1224, and the application processing circuitry 1226 may be combined in the same chip or set of chips. In some embodiments, the RF transceiver circuitry 1222 may be part of the interface 1214. The RF transceiver circuitry 1222 may condition RF signals for the processing circuitry 1220.

[0139] In some embodiments, some or all of the functionality described herein as being performed by the WD may be provided by the processing circuitry 1220 executing instructions stored on a device-readable medium 1230, which in some embodiments may be a computer-readable storage medium. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functionality may be provided by the processing circuitry 1220 without executing instructions stored on a separate or distinct device-readable storage medium, such as in a hardwired manner. In any of those particular embodiments, the processing circuitry 1220 may be configured to perform the described functionality, regardless of whether it executes instructions stored on a device-readable storage medium. Benefits provided by such functionality are enjoyed by the WD 1210 as a whole, and / or by end users and wireless networks in general, but not limited to the processing circuitry 1220 alone or other components of the WD 1210.

[0140] The processing circuit 1220 may be configured to perform any of the decision, calculation, or similar operations (e.g., some of the acquisition operations) described herein as being performed by a WD. These operations as performed by the processing circuit 1220 may include processing information acquired by the processing circuit 1220, for example, by transforming the acquired information into other information, comparing the acquired or transformed information with information stored by the WD 1210, and / or performing one or more operations based on the acquired or transformed information and as a result of the processing making a decision.

[0141] The device-readable medium 1230 may be operable to store applications including one or more of computer programs, software, logic, rules, codes, tables, etc., and / or other instructions that may be executed by the processing circuit 1220. The device-readable medium 1230 may include computer memory (e.g., random access memory (RAM) or read-only memory (ROM)), mass storage media (e.g., hard disk), removable storage media (e.g., compact disc (CD) or digital video disc (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 1220. In some embodiments, the processing circuit 1220 and the device-readable medium 1230 may be considered to be integrated.

[0142] The user interface device 1232 may provide components that allow a human user to interact with the WD 1210. Such interaction may be of many forms, such as visual, auditory, tactile, etc. The user interface device 1232 may be operable to produce output to the user and to allow the user to provide input to the WD 1210. The type of interaction may vary depending on the type of user interface device 1232 installed on the WD 1210. For example, if the WD 1210 is a smartphone, the interaction may be via a touch screen, and if the WD 1210 is a smart meter, the interaction may be through a screen that provides usage (e.g., number of gallons used) or a speaker that provides an audible alarm (e.g., if smoke is detected). The user interface device 1232 may include input interfaces, devices and circuits, as well as output interfaces, devices and circuits. The user interface device 1232 is configured to allow input of information to the WD 1210 and is connected to the processing circuit 1220 to allow the processing circuit 1220 to process the input information. The user interface device 1232 may include, for example, a microphone, proximity or other sensors, keys / buttons, a touch display, one or more cameras, a USB port, or other input circuitry. The user interface device 1232 is also configured to enable output of information from the WD 1210 and to enable the processing circuitry 1220 to output information from the WD 1210. The user interface device 1232 may include, for example, a speaker, a display, vibration circuitry, a USB port, a headphone interface, or other output circuitry. Using one or more input and output interfaces, devices, and circuits of the user interface device 1232, the WD 1210 may communicate with an end user and / or a wireless network and enable the end user and / or the wireless network to benefit from the functionality described herein.

[0143] The auxiliary device 1234 is operable to provide more specific functionality that may not generally be implemented by a WD. It may include specialized sensors for taking measurements for various purposes, interfaces for additional types of communication such as wired communication, etc. The inclusion of components of the auxiliary device 1234 and the types of components of the auxiliary device 1234 may vary depending on the embodiment and / or scenario.

[0144] The power source 1236 may be in the form of a battery or battery pack in some embodiments. Other types of power sources may also be used, such as an external power source (e.g., an electrical outlet), a photovoltaic device, or a battery. The WD 1210 may further comprise a power circuit 1237 for delivering power from the power source 1236 to various parts of the WD 1210 that require power from the power source 1236 to perform any of the functions described or indicated herein. The power circuit 1237 may comprise a power management circuit in some embodiments. The power circuit 1237 may additionally or alternatively be operable to receive power from an external power source, in which case the WD 1210 may be connectable to an external power source (such as an electrical outlet) via an input circuit or interface, such as a power cable. The power circuit 1237 may also be operable in some embodiments to deliver power from the external power source to the power source 1236. This may be for charging the power source 1236, for example. Power circuitry 1237 may perform any formatting, conversion, or other modification on the power from power source 1236 to make the power suitable for the respective components of WD 1210 that are being powered.

[0145] FIG. 13 illustrates an embodiment of a UE according to various aspects described herein. User equipment or UE as used herein 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 be initially 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. The UE 1300 may be any UE identified by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), including an NB-IoT UE, a machine-type communication (MTC) UE, and / or an enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE. The UE 1300 shown in FIG. 13 is an example of a WD configured for communication according to one or more communication standards promulgated by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), such as the 3GPP GSM, UMTS, LTE, and / or 5G standards. As previously mentioned, the terms WD and UE may be used interchangeably. Thus, while FIG. 13 is a UE, the components described herein are equally applicable to a WD and vice versa. The UE in FIG. 13 can operate as a relay UE or as a remote UE as described herein.

[0146] In FIG. 13, UE 1300 includes a processing circuit 1301 operatively coupled to an input / output interface 1305, a radio frequency (RF) interface 1309, a network connection interface 1311, memory 1315 including random access memory (RAM) 1317, read only memory (ROM) 1319, storage medium 1321, etc., a communication subsystem 1331, a power source 1333, and / or any other components, or any combination thereof. Storage medium 1321 includes operating system 1323, application programs 1325, and data 1327. In other embodiments, storage medium 1321 may include other similar types of information. Some UEs may utilize all of the components shown in FIG. 13 or only a subset of those components. 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.

[0147] In Fig. 13, the processing circuit 1301 may be configured to process computer instructions and data. The processing circuit 1301 may be configured to implement any sequential state machine operable to execute machine instructions stored in memory as a machine-readable computer program, such as one or more hardware-implemented state machines (e.g., in discrete logic, FPGA, ASIC, etc.), programmable logic with appropriate firmware, one or more pre-programmed, general-purpose processors, such as a microprocessor or digital signal processor (DSP) with appropriate software, or any combination of the above. For example, the processing circuit 1301 may include two central processing units (CPUs). Data may be information in a form suitable for use by a computer.

[0148] In the illustrated embodiment, the input / output interface 1305 may be configured to provide an input device, an output device, or a communication interface to an input / output device. The UE 1300 may be configured to use an output device via the input / output interface 1305. The output device may use the same type of interface port as the input device. For example, a USB port may be used to provide input to and output from the UE 1300. The output device may be 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. The UE 1300 may be configured to use an input device via the input / output interface 1305 to allow a user to capture information into the UE 1300. The input device may 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. The presence-sensitive display may include a capacitive or resistive touch sensor to sense 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, another like sensor, or any combination thereof. For example, the input device may be an accelerometer, a magnetometer, a digital camera, a microphone, and a light sensor.

[0149] In FIG. 13, the RF interface 1309 may be configured to provide a communication interface to RF components, such as a transmitter, a receiver, and an antenna. The network connection interface 1311 may be configured to provide a communication interface to a network 1343a. The network 1343a may encompass a wired and / or wireless network, such as a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a computer network, a wireless network, a communication network, another similar network, or any combination thereof. For example, the network 1343a may comprise a Wi-Fi network. The network connection interface 1311 may be configured to include a receiver and a transmitter interface used to communicate with one or more other devices over a communication network according to one or more communication protocols, such as Ethernet, TCP / IP, SONET, ATM, etc. The network connection interface 1311 may implement receiver and transmitter functions appropriate for a communication network link (e.g., optical, electrical, etc.). The transmitter and receiver functions may share circuit components, software or firmware, or may alternatively be implemented separately.

[0150] The RAM 1317 may be configured to interface to the processing circuit 1301 via the bus 1302 to provide storage or caching of data or computer instructions during execution of software programs, such as an operating system, application programs, and device drivers. The ROM 1319 may be configured to provide computer instructions or data to the processing circuit 1301. For example, the ROM 1319 may be configured to store unchanging low-level system code or data for basic system functions, such as basic input / output (I / O), booting, or receiving keystrokes from a keyboard, stored in non-volatile memory. The storage medium 1321 may be configured to include memory, such as RAM, ROM, programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), magnetic disk, optical disk, floppy disk, hard disk, removable cartridge, or flash drive. In one example, the storage medium 1321 may be configured to include an operating system 1323, an application program 1325, such as a web browser application, a widget or gadget engine, or another application, and data files 1327. The storage medium 1321 may store any of a variety of different operating systems or combinations of operating systems for use by the UE 1300.

[0151] The storage medium 1321 may be configured to include several physical drive units, such as a redundant array of independent disks (RAID), a floppy disk drive, a 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 subscriber identity module or a removable user identity (SIM / RUIM) module, other memory, or any combination thereof. The storage medium 1321 may enable the UE 1300 to access computer executable instructions, application programs, etc. stored in a temporary or non-transitory memory medium, offload data, or upload data. An article of manufacture, such as an article of manufacture utilizing a communication system, may be tangibly embodied in the storage medium 1321, and the storage medium 1321 may comprise a device-readable medium.

[0152] In FIG. 13, the processing circuit 1301 may be configured to communicate with the network 1343b using the communication subsystem 1331. The network 1343a and the network 1343b may be the same network or networks or different networks or networks. The communication subsystem 1331 may be configured to include one or more transceivers used to communicate with the network 1343b. For example, the communication subsystem 1331 may be configured to include one or more transceivers used to communicate with one or more remote transceivers of another device capable of wireless communication, such as another WD, UE, or base station of a radio access network (RAN), according to one or more communication protocols, such as IEEE 802.11, CDMA, WCDMA, GSM, LTE, UTRAN, WiMax, etc. Each transceiver may include a transmitter 1333 and / or a receiver 1335 for implementing a transmitter function or a receiver function, respectively, appropriate for a RAN link (e.g., frequency allocation, etc.). Furthermore, the transmitter 1333 and receiver 1335 of each transceiver may share circuit components, software or firmware, or may alternatively be implemented separately.

[0153] In the illustrated embodiment, the communication capabilities of the communication subsystem 1331 may include data communications, voice communications, multimedia communications, short-range communications such as Bluetooth, near-field communications, location-based communications such as using a global positioning system (GPS) to determine location, another similar communication capability, or any combination thereof. For example, the communication subsystem 1331 may include cellular communications, Wi-Fi communications, Bluetooth communications, and GPS communications. The network 1343b may encompass wired and / or wireless networks, such as a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a computer network, a wireless network, a communications network, another similar network, or any combination thereof. For example, the network 1343b may be a cellular network, a Wi-Fi network, and / or a near-field network. The power source 1313 may be configured to provide alternating current (AC) or direct current (DC) power to the components of the UE 1300.

[0154] The features, benefits and / or functions described herein may be implemented in one of the components of the UE 1300 or distributed across multiple components of the UE 1300. Furthermore, the features, benefits and / or functions described herein may be implemented in any combination of hardware, software or firmware. In one example, the communication subsystem 1331 may be configured to include any of the components described herein. Furthermore, the processing circuit 1301 may be configured to communicate with any of such components over the bus 1302. In another example, any of such components may be represented by program instructions stored in memory that, when executed by the processing circuit 1301, perform the corresponding functions described herein. In another example, the functions of any of such components may be distributed between the processing circuit 1301 and the communication subsystem 1331. In another example, non-computationally intensive functions of any of such components may be implemented in software or firmware and computationally intensive functions may be implemented in hardware.

[0155] FIG. 14 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment 1400 in which functions 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 be applied to a node (e.g., a virtualized base station or a virtualized radio access node) or to a device (e.g., a UE, a wireless device, or any other type of communication device) or to a component of that device, and relates to implementations in which at least a portion of the functionality is implemented as one or more virtual components (e.g., via one or more applications, components, functions, virtual machines, or containers running on one or more physical processing nodes in one or more networks).

[0156] In some embodiments, some or all of the functionality described herein may be implemented as virtual components executed by one or more virtual machines implemented in one or more virtual environments 1400 hosted by one or more of the hardware nodes 1430. Furthermore, in embodiments where the virtual nodes are not wireless access nodes or do not require wireless connectivity (e.g., core network nodes), the network nodes may be fully virtualized.

[0157] The functionality may be implemented by one or more applications 1420 (which may alternatively be referred to as software instances, virtual appliances, network functions, virtual nodes, virtual network functions, etc.) operable to implement some of the features, functions, and / or benefits of some of the embodiments disclosed herein. The applications 1420 are run in a virtualization environment 1400, which provides hardware 1430 comprising a processing circuit 1460 and a memory 1490. The memory 1490 includes instructions 1495 executable by the processing circuit 1460 such that the applications 1420 are operable to provide one or more of the features, functions, and / or benefits of the embodiments disclosed herein.

[0158] The virtualization environment 1400 includes a general-purpose or dedicated network hardware device 1430 that includes a set of one or more processors or processing circuitry 1460, which may be a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) processor, a dedicated application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or any other type of processing circuitry including digital or analog hardware components or dedicated processors. Each hardware device may include a memory 1490-1, which may be a non-persistent memory for temporarily storing instructions 1495 or software executed by the processing circuitry 1460. Each hardware device may include one or more network interface controllers (NICs) 1470, also known as network interface cards, which include a physical network interface 1480. Each hardware device may also include a non-transitory, persistent, machine-readable storage medium 1490-2 that stores software 1495 and / or instructions executable by the processing circuitry 1460. Software 1495 may include any type of software, including software for instantiating one or more virtualization layers 1450 (also called hypervisors), software for running virtual machines 1440, and software that enables it to perform the functions, features and / or benefits described in connection with some embodiments described herein.

[0159] The virtual machines 1440 may comprise virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking or interfaces, and virtual storage, and may be run by a corresponding virtualization layer 1450 or hypervisor. Different embodiments of the virtual appliance 1420 instances may be implemented on one or more of the virtual machines 1440, and the implementations may be done in different ways.

[0160] During operation, the processing circuitry 1460 executes software 1495 to instantiate a hypervisor or virtualization layer 1450, which may sometimes be referred to as a virtual machine monitor (VMM). The virtualization layer 1450 may present to the virtual machine 1440 a virtual operating platform that looks like networking hardware.

[0161] 14, the hardware 1430 may be a standalone network node with general or specific components. The hardware 1430 may include an antenna 14225 and may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, the hardware 1430 may be part of a larger cluster of hardware (e.g., as in the case of a data center or customer premises equipment (CPE)) where many hardware nodes work together and are managed via a management and orchestration (MANO) 14100 that, among other things, oversees the lifecycle management of the applications 1420.

[0162] Hardware virtualization is referred to in some contexts as network function virtualization (NFV). NFV can 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.

[0163] In the context of NFV, virtual machines 1440 may be software implementations of physical machines that run programs as if they were running on a physical, non-virtualized machine. Each virtual machine 1440 and the portion of hardware 1430 on which it runs, whether hardware dedicated to that virtual machine and / or hardware shared by that virtual machine with other ones of virtual machines 1440, form a separate Virtual Network Element (VNE).

[0164] Further in the context of NFV, a Virtual Network Function (VNF) is responsible for handling a specific network function running on one or more virtual machines 1440 on top of the hardware networking infrastructure 1430 and corresponds to application 1420 in FIG. 14.

[0165] In some embodiments, one or more radio units 14200, each including one or more transmitters 14220 and one or more receivers 14210, may be coupled to one or more antennas 14225. The radio units 14200 may communicate directly with a hardware node 1430 via one or more appropriate network interfaces and may be used in combination with a virtualization component to provide a virtual node with wireless capabilities, such as a wireless access node or base station.

[0166] In some embodiments, some signaling may be accomplished using the control system 14230, which may alternatively be used for communication between the hardware node 1430 and the wireless unit 14200.

[0167] FIG. 15 illustrates a communications network connected to a host computer through an intermediate network, according to some embodiments.

[0168] Referring to Fig. 15, according to one embodiment, a communication system includes a communication network 1510, such as a 3GPP type cellular network, comprising an access network 1511, such as a wireless access network, and a core network 1514. The access network 1511 comprises a number of base stations 1512a, 1512b, 1512c, such as NBs, eNBs, gNBs or other types of wireless access points, each defining a corresponding coverage area 1513a, 1513b, 1513c. Each base station 1512a, 1512b, 1512c can be connected to the core network 1514 over a wired or wireless connection 1515. A first UE 1591 located in the coverage area 1513c is configured to wirelessly connect to the corresponding base station 1512c or to be paged by the corresponding base station 1512C. A second UE 1592 in the coverage area 1513a can be wirelessly connected to the corresponding base station 1512a. Although multiple UEs 1591, 1592 are shown in this example, the disclosed embodiments are equally applicable to situations where only one UE is in a coverage area or where only one UE is connected to a corresponding base station 1512.

[0169] The communication network 1510 is itself connected to a host computer 1530, which may be embodied in hardware and / or software of a standalone server, a cloud-implemented server, a distributed server, or as a processing resource in a server farm. The host computer 1530 may be owned or under the control of a service provider, or may be operated by or on behalf of the service provider. The connections 1521 and 1522 between the communication network 1510 and the host computer 1530 may extend directly from the core network 1514 to the host computer 1530, or may proceed through an optional intermediate network 1520. The intermediate network 1520 may be one of a public network, a private network, or a hosted network, or a combination of two or more of them, and the intermediate network 1520 may be a backbone network or the Internet, if any, and in particular the intermediate network 1520 may comprise two or more sub-networks (not shown).

[0170] The communication system of FIG. 15 as a whole enables connectivity between connected UEs 1591, 1592 and a host computer 1530. The connectivity may be described as an over-the-top (OTT) connection 1550. The host computer 1530 and connected UEs 1591, 1592 are configured to communicate data and / or signaling via the OTT connection 1550 using the access network 1511, the core network 1514, any intermediate networks 1520, and possible further infrastructure (not shown) as intermediaries. The OTT connection 1550 may be transparent in the sense that the participating communication devices through which the OTT connection 1550 passes are unaware of the routing of the uplink and downlink communications. For example, the base station 1512 may not be or need not be informed of the past routing of incoming downlink communications involving data originating from the host computer 1530 to be forwarded (e.g., handed over) to the connected UE 1591. Similarly, the base station 1512 does not need to be aware of the future routing of outgoing uplink communications originating from the UE 1591 and destined for the host computer 1530 .

[0171] FIG. 16 illustrates a host computer communicating with user equipment via a base station over a partially wireless connection according to some embodiments.

[0172] Next, an exemplary implementation of the UE, base station and host computer described in the previous paragraph according to an embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 16. In the communication system 1600, the host computer 1610 comprises hardware 1615 including a communication interface 1616 configured to set up and maintain wired or wireless connections with interfaces of different communication devices of the communication system 1600. The host computer 1610 further comprises a processing circuit 1618, which may have storage and / or processing capabilities. In particular, the processing circuit 1618 may comprise one or more programmable processors, application specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays, or combinations thereof (not shown) adapted to execute instructions. The host computer 1610 further comprises software 1611, which is stored in or accessible by the host computer 1610 and is executable by the processing circuit 1618. The software 1611 includes a host application 1612. The host application 1612 may be operable to provide services to a remote user, such as a UE 1630 connecting via an OTT connection 1650 that terminates at the UE 1630 and the host computer 1610. In providing services to the remote user, the host application 1612 may provide user data that is transmitted using the OTT connection 1650.

[0173] The communication system 1600 further includes a base station 1620 provided in the communication system, the base station 1620 comprising hardware 1625 enabling the base station 1620 to communicate with the host computer 1610 and the UE 1630. The hardware 1625 may include a communication interface 1626 for setting up and maintaining wired or wireless connections with interfaces of different communication devices of the communication system 1600, as well as a wireless interface 1627 for setting up and maintaining at least a wireless connection 1670 with a UE 1630 located in a coverage area (not shown in FIG. 16) served by the base station 1620. The communication interface 1626 may be configured to facilitate a connection 1660 to the host computer 1610. The connection 1660 may be direct or the connection 1660 may pass through a core network (not shown in FIG. 16) of the communication system and / or one or more intermediate networks outside the communication system. In the illustrated embodiment, the hardware 1625 of the base station 1620 further includes processing circuitry 1628, which may comprise one or more programmable processors, application specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays, or combinations thereof (not shown) adapted to execute instructions. The base station 1620 further has software 1621 that is stored internally or accessible via an external connection.

[0174] The communication system 1600 further includes the UE 1630 already mentioned. The hardware 1635 of the UE 1630 may include a wireless interface 1637 configured to set up and maintain a wireless connection 1670 with a base station serving a coverage area in which the UE 1630 is currently located. The hardware 1635 of the UE 1630 further includes a processing circuit 1638, which may comprise one or more programmable processors, application specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays, or combinations thereof (not shown) adapted to execute instructions. The UE 1630 further includes software 1631 stored in or accessible by the UE 1630 and executable by the processing circuit 1638. The software 1631 includes a client application 1632. The client application 1632 may be operable to provide services to a human or non-human user via the UE 1630 with the support of the host computer 1610. At the host computer 1610, a running host application 1612 may communicate with a running client application 1632 via an OTT connection 1650 that terminates at the UE 1630 and the host computer 1610. In providing services to a user, the client application 1632 may receive request data from the host application 1612 and provide user data in response to the request data. The OTT connection 1650 may transfer both the request data and the user data. The client application 1632 may interact with the user to generate the user data that the client application 1632 provides.

[0175] It should be noted that the host computer 1610, base station 1620, and UE 1630 shown in Figure 16 may be similar or equivalent to the host computer 1530, one of the base stations 1512a, 1512b, 1512c, and one of the UEs 1591, 1592, respectively, of Figure 15. That is, the inner workings of these entities may be as shown in Figure 16, and separately, the surrounding network topology may be that of Figure 15.

[0176] 16, the OTT connection 1650 is depicted abstractly to show communication between the host computer 1610 and the UE 1630 via the base station 1620, without explicit reference to intermediary devices and the exact routing of messages through these devices. The network infrastructure may determine the routing, and the network infrastructure may be configured to hide the routing from the UE 1630 or from the service provider operating the host computer 1610, or both. The network infrastructure may also make decisions to dynamically change the routing while the OTT connection 1650 is active (e.g., based on load balancing considerations or reconfiguration of the network).

[0177] The wireless connection 1670 between the UE 1630 and the base station 1620 follows the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. One or more of the various embodiments improve the performance of the OTT service provided to the UE 1630 using the OTT connection 1650 of which the wireless connection 1670 forms the last segment. More precisely, the teachings of these embodiments may enable the remote UE to identify the correct SIB information to apply to the communication link, and thus communication with the network may be more reliable and / or effective.

[0178] 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 for reconfiguring the OTT connection 1650 between the host computer 1610 and the UE 1630 in response to fluctuations in the measurement results. The measurement procedures and / or the network function for reconfiguring the OTT connection 1650 may be implemented in the software 1611 and hardware 1615 of the host computer 1610 or in the software 1631 and hardware 1635 of the UE 1630, or both. In an embodiment, sensors (not shown) may be deployed in or in association with the communication devices through which the OTT connection 1650 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 the software 1611, 1631 may calculate or estimate the monitored quantities. The reconfiguration of the OTT connection 1650 may include message formats, retransmission settings, preferred routing, etc., and the reconfiguration need not affect the base station 1620, and the reconfiguration may be unknown or imperceptible to the base station 1620. Such procedures and functions may be known and practiced in the art. In some embodiments, the measurements may involve proprietary UE signaling that facilitates the host computer 1610 measurements of throughput, propagation time, latency, etc. The measurements may be implemented in the software 1611 and 1631 causing messages, particularly empty or "dummy" messages, to be sent using the OTT connection 1650 while the software 1611 and 1631 monitors propagation times, errors, etc.

[0179] FIG. 17 illustrates a method implemented in a communications system including a host computer, a base station, and user equipment, according to some embodiments.

[0180] FIG. 17 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. 15 and FIG. 16. For simplicity of the disclosure, only drawing references to FIG. 17 are included in this section. In step 1710, the host computer provides user data. In sub-step 1711 (which may be optional) of step 1710, the host computer provides the user data by executing a host application. In step 1720, the host computer initiates a transmission carrying the user data to the UE. In step 1730 (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 1740 (which may also be optional), the UE executes a client application associated with the host application executed by the host computer.

[0181] FIG. 18 illustrates a method implemented in a communications system including a host computer, a base station, and user equipment, according to some embodiments.

[0182] FIG. 18 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. 15 and FIG. 16. For simplicity of the disclosure, only drawing references to FIG. 18 are included in this section. In step 1810 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 1820, the host computer initiates a transmission carrying the user data to the UE. The transmission may proceed via the base station according to the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. In step 1830 (which may be optional), the UE receives the user data carried in the transmission.

[0183] FIG. 19 illustrates a method implemented in a communications system including a host computer, a base station, and user equipment, according to some embodiments.

[0184] FIG. 19 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. 15 and FIG. 16. For simplicity of the disclosure, only drawing references to FIG. 19 are included in this section. In step 1910 (which may be optional), the UE receives input data provided by the host computer. Additionally or alternatively, in step 1920, the UE provides user data. In sub-step 1921 (which may be optional) of step 1920, the UE provides the user data by executing a client application. In sub-step 1911 (which may be optional) of step 1910, 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 1930 (which may be optional). In method step 1940, the host computer receives user data transmitted from the UE according to the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure.

[0185] FIG. 20 illustrates a method implemented in a communications system including a host computer, a base station, and user equipment, according to some embodiments.

[0186] FIG. 20 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. 15 and FIG. 16. For simplicity of the disclosure, only drawing references to FIG. 20 are included in this section. In step 2010 (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 2020 (which may be optional), the base station initiates transmission of the received user data to the host computer. In step 2030 (which may be optional), the host computer receives the user data carried in the transmission initiated by the base station.

[0187] Any suitable steps, methods, features, functions, or benefits disclosed herein may be implemented through one or more functional units or modules of one or more virtual devices. Each virtual device may comprise several of these functional units. These functional units may be implemented via processing circuitry, which may include one or more microprocessors or microcontrollers, as well as other digital hardware, which may include digital signal processors (DSPs), dedicated digital logic, and the like. The processing circuitry may be configured to execute program code stored in memory, which may include one or several types of memory, such as read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), cache memory, flash memory devices, optical storage devices, and the like. The program code stored in memory includes program instructions for implementing one or more communication and / or data communication protocols, as well as instructions for performing one or more of the techniques described herein. In some implementations, the processing circuitry may be used to cause each functional unit to perform a corresponding function according to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0188] The term unit may have its conventional meaning in the field of electronics, electrical devices, and / or electronic devices and may include, for example, electric and / or electronic circuits, devices, modules, processors, memories, logical solid and / or discrete devices, computer programs or instructions, etc., for performing a respective task, procedure, computation, output, and / or display function, such as those described herein.

[0189] Embodiment Group A Embodiments 1. A method implemented by a first wireless device for managing received system information blocks (SIBs), the first wireless device having a direct signaling connection to a base station and an indirect signaling connection to the base station via a relay wireless device, the method in the first wireless device comprising: - receiving a first type of SIB from the base station and another SIB of the first type from the relay wireless device; - applying System Information (SI) provided in one of the received SIBs; and A method comprising: 2. The step of applying the SI is a. applying SI provided in a SIB received from a base station and, optionally, discarding a SIB received from a relay wireless device; b. applying SI provided in SIBs received from the relay wireless device and, optionally, discarding SIBs received from the base station; c. applying the SI provided in the earliest / first received SIB and, optionally, discarding the latest / most recent / second received SIB; d. applying the SI provided in the latest / most recent / second most recently received SIB and, optionally, discarding the earliest / first most recently received SIB; e. Discarding SIBs received from base stations and relay wireless devices; 2. The method of embodiment 1, comprising one of: 3. The method is - determining whether the SIB received from the relay wireless device comprises an indication that the content of the SIB received from the relay wireless device differs from the content of the SIB received from the base station; 2. The method of embodiment 1, further comprising: 4. The steps to apply SI are: - applying the SI provided in the SIB received from the relay wireless device if the SIB received from the relay wireless device provides an indication, and optionally discarding the SIB received from the base station. 4. The method of embodiment 3, comprising: 5. The method of embodiment 3 or 4, wherein the indication comprises a value of a bit in the SIB, a timestamp indicating the time the SIB was created, and / or information regarding an SI in the SIB received from the relay wireless device that differs from an SI in the SIB received from the base station. 6. The method of any one of embodiments 1 to 5, wherein the SIB received from the base station and the SIB received from the relay wireless device are received during the same modification period. 7. The method of any one of embodiments 1 to 6, wherein the SIB received from the base station is received via dedicated signaling or broadcast signaling. 8. A method implemented by a first wireless device for managing received system information blocks (SIBs), the first wireless device having a direct signaling connection to a base station and an indirect signaling connection to the base station via a relay wireless device, the method in the first wireless device comprising: - receiving a first type SIB from a base station; - receiving a second type SIB from the relay wireless device; - applying the System Information (SI) provided in the received SIB; A method comprising: 9. The method of embodiment 8, wherein the first type SIB comprises a non-relay related SI and the second type SIB comprises a relay related SI. 10. The method is - transmitting an indication to the relay wireless device to instruct the first wireless device that the relay wireless device should provide one or more SIBs comprising a relay relationship SI; - transmitting an indication to the base station to instruct the base station to provide one or more SIBs comprising a non-relay relationship SI to the first wireless device; 10. The method of embodiment 9, further comprising one or both of the following: 11. The method is - stopping collecting one or more SIBs comprising a relay relationship SI from the base station; and - stopping collection of one or more SIBs with non-relay related SIs from the relay wireless device; 11. The method of embodiment 9 or 10, further comprising one or both of the following: 12. The method of embodiment 11, wherein the step of stopping collecting one or more SIBs comprising the relay relationship SI from the base station includes sending an indication to the RAN node that the base station should stop transmitting one or more SIBs comprising the relay relationship SI to the first wireless device. 13. A method implemented by a first wireless device for managing received system information blocks (SIBs), the first wireless device having a direct signaling connection to a base station and an indirect signaling connection to the base station via a relay wireless device, the method in the first wireless device comprising: - receiving one or more SIBs from a base station; - transmitting an indication to the relay wireless device that the relay wireless device should not transmit the SIB to the first wireless device; - applying the System Information (SI) provided in the received SIB; A method comprising: 14. When according to embodiment 2 or 3, the method further comprises: - receiving from the relay wireless device or base station an indication of which of steps a., b., c., d., and determining should be performed to apply the SI comprised in one of the received SIBs; 14. The method of any one of embodiments 1 to 13, further comprising: 15. A method implemented by a relay wireless device, wherein a first wireless device has a direct signaling connection to a base station and an indirect signaling connection to the base station through the relay wireless device, the method in the relay wireless device comprising: - receiving a system information block (SIB) from a base station; - adding and / or modifying system information (SI) in the SIB to form a further SIB including an indication that the content of the further SIB is different from the content of the SIB received from the base station; - sending a further SIB to the first wireless device; A method comprising: 16. The method of embodiment 15, wherein the indication comprises a value of a bit in the further SIB, a timestamp indicating the time the further SIB was created, and / or information regarding an SI in the further SIB that is different from the SIB received from the base station. 17. A method implemented by a relay wireless device, wherein a first wireless device has a direct signaling connection to a base station and an indirect signaling connection to the base station through the relay wireless device, the method in the relay wireless device comprising: - transmitting one or more system information blocks (SIBs) to the first wireless device, the SIB(s) comprising relay-related system information (SI); A method comprising: 18. The method is - receiving an indication from the first wireless device to instruct the relay wireless device to provide one or more SIBs comprising a relay relationship SI to the first wireless device; 18. The method of embodiment 17, further comprising: 19. A method implemented by a relay wireless device, wherein a first wireless device has a direct signaling connection to a base station and an indirect signaling connection to the base station through the relay wireless device, the method in the relay wireless device comprising: - receiving an indication from the first wireless device indicating that the relay wireless device should not transmit a system information block (SIB) to the first wireless device; - stopping transmission of the SIB to the first wireless device; A method comprising: 20. The method is - transmitting an instruction to the first wireless device to instruct which of a., b., c., d. in embodiment 2 and / or the determining step in embodiment 3 should be performed to apply the SI comprised in one or more SIBs received by the first wireless device; 20. The method of any one of embodiments 15 to 19, further comprising: twenty one. - providing user data; - forwarding user data to a host computer, either directly via transmission to a base station or indirectly via transmission to a base station via a relay wireless device; 21. The method of any one of the preceding claims, further comprising: Group B Embodiments 22. A method implemented by a base station, wherein a first wireless device has a direct signaling connection to the base station and an indirect signaling connection to the base station via a relay wireless device, the method in the base station comprising: - receiving an indication from the first wireless device to instruct the base station to stop providing one or more system information blocks (SIBs) comprising relay-related system information (SI) to the first wireless device; - transmitting one or more SIBs comprising a non-relay related SI to the first wireless device; A method comprising: 23. The method is - broadcasting one or more SIBs with relay relationship SIs 23. The method of embodiment 22, further comprising: 24. The method is - transmitting an instruction to the first wireless device to instruct which of a., b., c., d. in embodiment 2 and / or the determining step in embodiment 3 should be performed to apply the SI comprised in one or more SIBs received by the first wireless device; 24. The method of embodiment 22 or 23, further comprising: twenty five. - Obtaining user data; - forwarding user data to the host computer or the first wireless device, either directly or indirectly via a relay wireless device; 25. The method of any one of embodiments 22 to 24, further comprising: Group C Embodiments 26. A wireless device, comprising: - a processing circuit configured to perform any of the steps recited in any one of the embodiments of group A; and - a power delivery circuit configured to power a wireless device; A wireless device comprising: 27. A base station, comprising: - a processing circuit configured to perform any of the steps recited in any one of the embodiments of Group B; - a power supply circuit configured to supply power to a base station; A base station comprising: 28. A user equipment (UE), comprising: - an antenna configured to transmit and receive radio signals; - a radio front-end circuit coupled to the antenna and to the processing circuit and configured to condition a signal communicated between the antenna and the processing circuit; - a processing circuit configured to perform any of the steps recited in any one of the embodiments of group A; and - an input interface connected to the processing circuitry and configured to enable input of information to the UE to be processed by the processing circuitry; - an output interface connected to the processing circuit and configured to output information from the UE that has been processed by the processing circuit; - a battery and a A user equipment (UE) comprising: 29. A communication system including a host computer, the host computer comprising: - processing circuitry configured to provide user data; - a communications interface configured to forward user data to a cellular network for transmission to a user equipment (UE); Equipped with - the cellular network comprises a base station having a radio interface and a processing circuit, the processing circuit of the base station being configured to perform any of the steps of any one of the embodiments of group B; Communication systems. 30. The communication system of embodiment 29, further comprising a base station. 31. The communication system of embodiment 29 or 30, further comprising a UE, the UE being configured to communicate with the base station. 32. - processing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute a host application and thereby provide user data; - the UE comprises processing circuitry configured to execute a client application associated with the host application; A communication system described in any one of embodiments 29 to 31. 33. A method implemented in a communications system including a host computer, a base station, and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: - providing user data at a host computer; initiating, at the host computer, a transmission conveying user data to the UE via a cellular network comprising a base station, the base station performing any of the steps recited in any one of the embodiments of Group B; A method comprising: 34. The method of embodiment 33, further comprising transmitting user data at the base station. 35. The method of embodiment 33 or 34, wherein the user data is provided by executing a host application at the host computer, and the method further includes executing, at the UE, a client application associated with the host application. 36. A user equipment (UE) configured to communicate with a base station, the UE comprising a radio interface and processing circuitry configured to implement any one of embodiments 33 to 35. 37. A communication system including a host computer, the host computer comprising: - processing circuitry configured to provide user data; - a communications interface configured to forward user data to a cellular network for transmission to a user equipment (UE); Equipped with A communications system in which a UE comprises a radio interface and a processing circuit, the components of the UE being configured to perform any of the steps recited in any one of the embodiments of group A. 38. The communication system of embodiment 37, wherein the cellular network further includes a base station configured to communicate with the UE. 39. - processing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute a host application and thereby provide user data; - processing circuitry of the UE configured to execute a client application associated with the host application; A communication system as described in embodiment 37 or 38. 40. A method implemented in a communications system including a host computer, a base station, and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: - providing user data at a host computer; initiating, at the host computer, a transmission conveying user data to a UE via a cellular network comprising a base station, the UE performing any of the steps recited in any one of the embodiments of group A; A method comprising: 41. The method of embodiment 40, further comprising: receiving, at the UE, user data from the base station. 42. A communication system including a host computer, the host computer comprising: - a communications interface configured to receive user data originating from a transmission from a user equipment (UE) to a base station; Equipped with A communications system in which a UE comprises a radio interface and a processing circuit, the processing circuitry of the UE configured to perform any of the steps recited in any one of the embodiments of group A. 43. The communication system of embodiment 42, further comprising a UE. 44. The communication system of embodiment 42 or 43, further comprising a base station, the base station having a radio interface configured to communicate with the UE and a communication interface configured to forward user data carried by a transmission from the UE to the base station to a host computer. 45. - processing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute a host application; - processing circuitry of the UE configured to execute a client application associated with the host application and thereby provide user data; A communication system described in any one of embodiments 42 to 44. 46. - processing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute the host application and thereby provide the requested data; - processing circuitry of the UE configured to execute a client application associated with the host application and thereby provide user data in response to the request data; A communication system described in any one of embodiments 42 to 45. 47. A method implemented in a communications system including a host computer, a base station, and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: - receiving, at the host computer, user data transmitted from the UE to the base station, wherein the UE performs any of the steps recited in any one of the embodiments of group A. A method comprising: 48. The method of embodiment 47, further comprising, in the UE, providing user data to the base station. 49. - running, in the UE, a client application thereby providing user data to be transmitted; - executing, at the host computer, a host application associated with the client application; 49. The method of embodiment 47 or 48, further comprising: 50. - executing, in the UE, a client application; receiving, at the UE, input data for a client application, the input data being provided by executing, at a host computer, a host application associated with the client application; Further comprising: A method according to any one of embodiments 47 to 49, wherein the user data to be transmitted is provided by a client application in response to input data. 51. A communications system including a host computer, the host computer having a communications interface configured to receive user data originating from a transmission from a user equipment (UE) to a base station, the base station having a wireless interface and processing circuitry, the processing circuitry of the base station configured to perform any of the steps recited in any one of the embodiments of Group B. 52. The communication system of embodiment 51, further comprising a base station. 53. The communication system of embodiment 51 or 52, further comprising a UE, the UE being configured to communicate with the base station. 54. - processing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute a host application; - the UE is configured to execute a client application associated with the host application and thereby provide user data to be received by the host computer; A communication system described in any one of embodiments 51 to 53. 55. A method implemented in a communications system including a host computer, a base station, and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: receiving, at the host computer, from a base station, user data originating from a transmission received by the base station from the UE, wherein the UE performs any of the steps recited in any one of the embodiments of group A. A method comprising: 56. The method of embodiment 55, further comprising receiving, at the base station, user data from the UE. 57. The method of embodiment 55 or 56, further comprising initiating, at the base station, transmission of the received user data to the host computer.

[0190] Abbreviation At least some of the following abbreviations may be used in this disclosure. In case of inconsistencies between abbreviations, how the abbreviation is used above should be preferred. If listed multiple times below, the first listing should be preferred over subsequent listing(s). TIFF0007649384000001.tif255170TIFF0007649384000002.tif236170

Claims

1. 1. A method implemented by a remote wireless device for managing received system information blocks (SIBs), the remote wireless device having a direct signaling connection to a base station and an indirect signaling connection to the base station via a relay wireless device, the method in the remote wireless device comprising: receiving a system information base station (SI) from the base station over the direct signaling connection; receiving a SIB comprising a relay relationship SI from the relay wireless device over the indirect signaling connection; applying the SI provided in the received SIB; Including, The method comprises: - stopping collection of one or more SIBs comprising relay relationship SI from said base station by sending an indication to said base station that said base station should stop transmitting one or more SIBs comprising relay relationship SI; Stopping collection of one or more SIBs comprising non-relay related SI from the relay wireless device by sending an indication to the relay wireless device that the relay wireless device should stop transmitting non-relay related SI. Further comprising one or both of method.

2. The method comprises: sending an indication to the relay wireless device for indicating that the relay wireless device should provide one or more SIBs comprising relay related SIs to the remote wireless device; sending an indication to the base station for indicating that the base station should provide the remote wireless device with one or more SIBs comprising non-relay related SI; The method of claim 1 further comprising one or both of the following:

3. 1. A method implemented by a relay wireless device, wherein a remote wireless device has a direct signaling connection to a base station and an indirect signaling connection to the base station via the relay wireless device, the method in the relay wireless device comprising: receiving an indication from the remote wireless device to indicate that the relay wireless device should stop transmitting one or more system information blocks (SIBs) comprising non-relay related system information (SI) to the relay wireless device; transmitting one or more SIBs to the remote wireless device, the SIBs comprising relay relationship SIs; A method comprising:

4. The method comprises: receiving an indication from the remote wireless device to indicate that the relay wireless device should provide one or more SIBs comprising relay-related SI to the remote wireless device; The method of claim 3 further comprising:

5. The method further comprising: transmitting to the remote wireless device an instruction to instruct an action to apply the SI comprised in one or more SIBs received by the remote wireless device; The method of claim 3 or 4, further comprising:

6. The transmitted instructions include the following actions to apply the SI: a. applying the SI comprised in a SIB received from the base station and, optionally, discarding a SIB received from the relay wireless device; b. applying the SI provided in a SIB received from the relay wireless device and, optionally, discarding a SIB received from the base station; c. applying the SI comprised in the earliest / first received SIB and, optionally, discarding the latest / most recent / second received SIB; d. applying the SI comprised in the latest / most recent / second most recently received SIB and, optionally, discarding the earliest / first most recently received SIB; e. Discarding SIBs received from the base station and the relay wireless device; f. determining whether a SIB received from the relay wireless device comprises an indication that content of the SIB received from the relay wireless device differs from content of the SIB received from the base station; The method of claim 5 , wherein the first and second inputs indicate one of:

7. 1. A method implemented by a base station, wherein a remote wireless device has a direct signaling connection to the base station and an indirect signaling connection to the base station via a relay wireless device, the method at the base station comprising: receiving an indication from the remote wireless device to indicate that the base station should stop providing the remote wireless device with one or more system information blocks (SIBs) comprising relay-related system information (SI); transmitting one or more SIBs comprising non-relay related SI to said remote wireless device; A method comprising:

8. The method further comprising: broadcasting one or more SIBs comprising the relay relationship SIs; The method of claim 7 further comprising:

9. The method further comprising: sending to the remote wireless device an instruction for instructing an action to apply the SI comprised in one or more SIBs received by the remote wireless device; The method of claim 7 or 8, further comprising:

10. The transmitted instructions include the following actions to apply the SI: a. applying the SI comprised in a SIB received from the base station and, optionally, discarding a SIB received from the relay wireless device; b. applying the SI provided in a SIB received from the relay wireless device and, optionally, discarding a SIB received from the base station; c. applying the SI comprised in the earliest / first received SIB and, optionally, discarding the latest / most recent / second received SIB; d. applying the SI comprised in the latest / most recent / second most recently received SIB and, optionally, discarding the earliest / first most recently received SIB; e. Discarding SIBs received from the base station and the relay wireless device; f. determining whether a SIB received from the relay wireless device comprises an indication that content of the SIB received from the relay wireless device differs from content of the SIB received from the base station; The method of claim 9 , wherein the first and second inputs indicate one of:

11. A remote wireless device configured to manage received system information blocks (SIBs), the remote wireless device having a direct signaling connection to a base station and an indirect signaling connection to the base station via a relay wireless device, the remote wireless device comprising: receiving a SIB comprising non-relay related SI from the base station over the direct signaling connection; receiving a SIB comprising a relay relationship SI from the relay wireless device over the indirect signaling connection; applying the SI provided in the received SIB; It is set to do The remote wireless device further comprises: - stopping collection of one or more SIBs comprising relay relationship SI from said base station by sending an indication to said base station that said base station should stop transmitting one or more SIBs comprising relay relationship SI; Stopping collection of one or more SIBs comprising non-relay related SI from the relay wireless device by sending an indication to the relay wireless device that the relay wireless device should stop transmitting non-relay related SI. configured to do one or both of the following: Remote radio device.

12. A relay wireless device, wherein a remote wireless device has a direct signaling connection to a base station and an indirect signaling connection to the base station via the relay wireless device, the relay wireless device comprising: receiving an indication from the remote wireless device to indicate that the relay wireless device should stop transmitting one or more system information blocks (SIBs) comprising non-relay related system information (SI) to the relay wireless device; transmitting one or more system information blocks (SIBs) to the remote wireless device, the SIB(s) comprising relay-related system information (SI); A relay radio device configured to

13. A base station, wherein a remote wireless device has a direct signaling connection to the base station and an indirect signaling connection to the base station via a relay wireless device, the base station comprising: receiving an indication from the remote wireless device to indicate that the base station should stop providing the remote wireless device with one or more system information blocks (SIBs) comprising relay-related system information (SI); transmitting one or more SIBs comprising non-relay related SI to said remote wireless device; A base station comprising:

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