Method to assist message transmission in non-terrestrial network without feeder link

1 . An apparatus configured for wireless communications, comprising one or more processors, coupled to one or more memories, and configured to cause the apparatus to:

receive, from a non-terrestrial network (NTN) entity, a signal comprising an indication that the NTN entity supports relay operation, via an NTN, of messages associated with one or more services; and

send, to the NTN entity, a message associated with one of the one or more services and configured for relay, via the NTN, to one or more user equipments, wherein the message is to be relayed from the apparatus to the one or more user equipments via the NTN entity without going through a feeder link,

wherein:

(i) the one or more processors are configured to cause the apparatus to: send the message to the NTN entity over a predefined resource, wherein the message is to be relayed to the one or more user equipments using the predefined resource;

(ii) the one or more processors are configured to cause the apparatus to: send first additional information with the message, wherein the first additional information comprises information pertaining to a location of the one or more other user equipments, wherein the one or more other user equipments are a target recipient of the message, wherein the message is to be relayed to the one or more user equipments within a targeted coverage area that includes the location of the target recipient, wherein the targeted coverage area is less than a reachable area that the NTN entity is capable of sending messages to user equipments; or

(iii) the one or more processors are configured to cause the apparatus to: send second additional information with the message, wherein the second additional information comprises information pertaining to a location of the first user equipment, wherein the message is to be relayed to the one or more user equipments within a transmit area that comprises a predetermined radius around the location of the first user equipment.

2 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to cause the apparatus to: send the message to the NTN entity over the predefined resource, wherein the message is to be relayed to the one or more user equipments using the predefined resource.

3 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to cause the apparatus to: send the first additional information with the message, wherein the first additional information comprises the information pertaining to the location of the one or more other user equipments, wherein the one or more other user equipments are the target recipient of the message, wherein the message is to be relayed to the one or more user equipments within the targeted coverage area that includes the location of the target recipient, wherein the targeted coverage area is less than the reachable area that the NTN entity is capable of sending messages to user equipments.

4 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to cause the apparatus to: send the second additional information with the message, wherein the second additional information comprises information pertaining to the location of the first user equipment, wherein the message is to be relayed to the one or more user equipments within the transmit area that comprises the predetermined radius around the location of the first user equipment.

5 . A method for wireless communications by an apparatus, comprising:

receiving, from a non-terrestrial network (NTN) entity, a signal comprising an indication that the NTN entity supports relay operation, via an NTN, of messages associated with one or more services; and

sending, to the NTN entity, a message associated with one of the one or more services and configured for relay, via the NTN, to one or more user equipments, wherein the message is to be relayed from the apparatus to the one or more user equipments via the NTN entity without going through a feeder link,

wherein:

(i) the method comprises: sending the message to the NTN entity over a predefined resource, wherein the message is to be relayed to the one or more user equipments using the predefined resource;

(ii) the method comprises: sending first additional information with the message, wherein the first additional information comprises information pertaining to a location of the one or more other user equipments, wherein the one or more other user equipments are a target recipient of the message, wherein the message is to be relayed to the one or more user equipments within a targeted coverage area that includes the location of the target recipient, wherein the targeted coverage area is less than a reachable area that the NTN entity is capable of sending messages to user equipments; or

(iii) the method comprises: sending second additional information with the message, wherein the second additional information comprises information pertaining to a location of the first user equipment, wherein the message is to be relayed to the one or more user equipments within a transmit area that comprises a predetermined radius around the location of the first user equipment.

6 . The method of claim 5 , comprising: sending the message to the NTN entity over the predefined resource, wherein the message is to be relayed to the one or more user equipments using the predefined resource.

7 . The method of claim 5 , comprising: sending the first additional information with the message, wherein the first additional information comprises the information pertaining to the location of the one or more other user equipments, wherein the one or more other user equipments are the target recipient of the message, wherein the message is to be relayed to the one or more user equipments within the targeted coverage area that includes the location of the target recipient, wherein the targeted coverage area is less than the reachable area that the NTN entity is capable of sending messages to user equipments.

8 . The method of claim 5 , comprising: sending the second additional information with the message, wherein the second additional information comprises information pertaining to the location of the first user equipment, wherein the message is to be relayed to the one or more user equipments within the transmit area that comprises the predetermined radius around the location of the first user equipment.

9 . A non-terrestrial network (NTN) entity configured for wireless communications, comprising one or more processors, coupled to one or more memories, and configured to cause the NTN entity to:

broadcast a signal comprising an indication that the NTN entity is configured to support relay operation, via an NTN, of messages associated with one or more services;

receive a message from a first user equipment, the message associated with the one or more services; and

send, via the NTN, the message to one or more other user equipments without going through a feeder link,

wherein:

(i) the one or more processors are configured to cause the NTN entity to: receive the message from the first user equipment over a predefined resource; determine that the message from the first user equipment is a transmission associated with the NTN based on reception of the message over the predefined resource; and send the message using the predefined resource to the one or more other user equipments; or

(ii) the one or more processors are configured to cause the NTN entity to: receive first additional information with the message, wherein the first additional information comprises information pertaining to a location of the one or more other user equipments, and wherein the one or more other user equipments are a target recipient of the message; determine a targeted coverage area including the location of the target recipient to which the message is to be transmitted, wherein the targeted coverage area is less than a reachable area that the NTN entity is capable of sending messages to user equipments; and send the message such that the message is transmitted within the targeted coverage area; or

(iii) the one or more processors are configured to cause the NTN entity to: receive second additional information with the message, wherein the second additional information comprises information pertaining to a location of the first user equipment; determine a transmit area comprising a predetermined radius around the location of the first user equipment; and send the message such that the message is transmitted within the transmit area.

10 . The non-terrestrial network entity of claim 9 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to cause the NTN entity to send the message to the one or more other user equipments as a broadcast or a multicast over a Uu interface in an Access Stratum (AS) layer.

11 . The non-terrestrial network entity of claim 9 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to cause the NTN entity to:

receive the message from the first user equipment over the predefined resource;

determine that the message from the first user equipment is the transmission associated with the NTN based on reception of the message being received over the predefined resource; and

send the message using the predefined resource to the one or more other user equipments.

12 . The non-terrestrial network entity of claim 9 , wherein, to send the message to the one or more other user equipments, the one or more processors are configured to cause the NTN entity to configure a transmission signal of the message to the one or more other user equipments using a configuration associated with at least one of (i) a radio resource configuration or (ii) both a radio bearer and a logical channel.

13 . The non-terrestrial network entity of claim 9 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to cause the NTN entity to:

receive the first additional information with the message, wherein the first additional information comprises information pertaining to a location of the one or more other user equipments, and wherein the one or more other user equipments are the target recipient of the message;

determine the targeted coverage area including the location of the target recipient to which the message is to be transmitted, wherein the targeted coverage area is less than the reachable area that the NTN entity is capable of sending messages to user equipments; and

send the message such that the message is transmitted within the targeted coverage area.

14 . The non-terrestrial network entity of claim 9 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to cause the NTN entity to:

receive the second additional information with the message, wherein the second additional information comprises information pertaining to the location of the first user equipment;

determine the transmit area comprising the predetermined radius around the location of the first user equipment; and

send the message such that the message is transmitted within the transmit area.

15 . The non-terrestrial network entity of claim 9 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to cause the NTN entity to:

generate a modified transmission signal of a received signal of the message from the first user equipment; and

send the message to the one or more other user equipments using the modified transmission signal.

16 . The non-terrestrial network entity of claim 15 , wherein, to generate the modified transmission signal, the one or more processors are configured to cause the NTN entity to: amplify the received signal.

17 . The non-terrestrial network entity of claim 15 , wherein, to generate the modified transmission signal, the one or more processors are configured to cause the NTN entity to: convert a frequency of the received signal to a different frequency, the modified transmission signal using the different frequency for transmission of the message to the one or more other user equipments.

18 . The non-terrestrial network entity of claim 9 , wherein, to send, via the NTN, the message to the one or more other user equipments, the one or more processors are configured to cause the NTN entity to send the message to one or more other NTN entities, wherein the NTN entity and the one or more other NTN entities are configured to support communication, via the NTN, between two or more user equipments.

19 . The non-terrestrial network entity of claim 9 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to cause the NTN entity to communicate with one or more other NTN entities to identify the one or more services that are supported over the NTN.

20 . The non-terrestrial network entity of claim 9 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to cause the NTN entity to communicate with one or more other NTN entities to define a total reachable area of the NTN entity and the one or more other NTN entities based on a combination of a reachable area of the NTN entity and each reachable area of the one or more other NTN entities.

21 . A method for wireless communications by an apparatus, comprising:

broadcasting a signal comprising an indication that the NTN entity is configured to support relay operation, via an NTN, of messages associated with one or more services;

receiving a message from a first user equipment, the message associated with the one or more services; and

sending, via the NTN, the message to one or more other user equipments without going through a feeder link,

wherein:

(i) the method further comprises: receiving the message from the first user equipment over a predefined resource; determining that the message from the first user equipment is a transmission associated with the NTN based on reception of the message over the predefined resource; and sending the message using the predefined resource to the one or more other user equipments; or

ii) the method further comprises: receiving first additional information with the message, wherein the first additional information comprises information pertaining to a location of the one or more other user equipments, and wherein the one or more other user equipments are a target recipient of the message; determining a targeted coverage area including the location of the target recipient to which the message is to be transmitted, wherein the targeted coverage area is less than a reachable area that the NTN entity is capable of sending messages to user equipments; and sending the message such that the message is transmitted within the targeted coverage area; or

(iii) the method further comprises: receiving second additional information with the message, wherein the second additional information comprises information pertaining to a location of the first user equipment; determining a transmit area comprising a predetermined radius around the location of the first user equipment; and sending the message such that the message is transmitted within the transmit area.

22 . The method of claim 21 , comprising:

receiving the message from the first user equipment over the predefined resource;

determining that the message from the first user equipment is the transmission associated with the NTN based on reception of the message over the predefined resource; and

sending the message using the predefined resource to the one or more other user equipments.

23 . The method of claim 21 , comprising:

receiving the first additional information with the message, wherein the first additional information comprises information pertaining to a location of the one or more other user equipments, and wherein the one or more other user equipments are the target recipient of the message;

determining the targeted coverage area including the location of the target recipient to which the message is to be transmitted, wherein the targeted coverage area is less than the reachable area that the NTN entity is capable of sending messages to user equipments; and

sending the message such that the message is transmitted within the targeted coverage area.

24 . The method of claim 21 , comprising:

receiving the second additional information with the message, wherein the second additional information comprises information pertaining to the location of the first user equipment;

determining the transmit area comprising the predetermined radius around the location of the first user equipment; and

sending the message such that the message is transmitted within the transmit area.