IP Library › Granted Patent US 12677298

Granted Patent B2

US 12677298 · App. 18/371,653 · Granted Jul 7, 2026

Apparatus, method, and computer program

Inventors: Vinh Van Phan (Oulu, FI); Ling Yu (Kauniainen, FI); Faranaz Sabouri-Sichani (Aalborg, DK); Stepan Kucera (Munich, DE); Berthold Panzner (Holzkirchen, DE); Ravi Prasad R K (Karnataka, IN); György Tamás Wolfner (Budapest, HU); Hannu Petri Hietalahti (Kiviniemi, FI)

Assignee: NOKIA TECHNOLOGIES OY

H04W72/25 H04W28/10

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Quick Facts

Patent No.: US 12677298
App. No.: 18/371,653
Granted: Jul 7, 2026
Kind: B2

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Abstract

The disclosure relates to receiving sidelink control information sent from a relay user equipment and performing flow control for ingress data sent from an apparatus to the relay user equipment to be relayed to a destination user equipment paired with the apparatus based on the sidelink control information sent from the relay user equipment.

Claims (57)

1 . An apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to:

receive sidelink control information sent from a relay user equipment to a destination user equipment paired with the apparatus; and

perform flow control for ingress data sent from the apparatus to the relay user equipment to be relayed to the destination user equipment paired with the apparatus based on the sidelink control information sent from the relay user equipment to the destination user equipment paired with the apparatus;

wherein performing flow control for the ingress data sent from the apparatus to the relay user equipment to be relayed to the destination user equipment paired with the apparatus comprises:

performing flow control for ingress data subsequently sent from the apparatus to the relay user equipment to be relayed to the destination user equipment paired with the apparatus based on the determining.

2 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein performing flow control for the ingress data sent from the apparatus to the relay user equipment to be relayed to the destination user equipment paired with the apparatus comprises:

reducing some or all of the ingress data sent from the apparatus to the relay user equipment to be relayed to the destination user equipment paired with the apparatus; or

stopping some or all of the ingress data from being sent from the apparatus to the relay user equipment to be relayed to the destination user equipment paired with the apparatus.

3 . The apparatus of claim 1 , comprising at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to:

determine an amount of ingress data previously sent from the apparatus to the relay user equipment to be relayed to the destination user equipment paired with the apparatus and buffered by the relay user equipment based on the sidelink control information sent from the relay user equipment per a specific priority class or per all priority classes.

4 . The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein determining an amount of ingress data previously sent from the apparatus to the relay user equipment to be relayed to the destination user equipment paired with the apparatus and buffered by the relay user equipment based on the sidelink control information sent from the relay user equipment comprises:

determining an amount of ingress data previously sent from the apparatus to the relay user equipment to be relayed to the destination user equipment paired with the apparatus;

determining an amount of egress data previously sent from the relay user equipment to the destination user equipment paired with the apparatus based on the sidelink control information sent from the relay user equipment; and

determining a difference between the amount of ingress data previously sent from the apparatus to the relay user equipment to be relayed to the destination user equipment paired with the apparatus and the amount of egress data previously sent from the relay user equipment to the destination user equipment paired with the apparatus.

5 . The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein determining the amount of ingress data previously sent from the apparatus to the relay user equipment to be relayed to the destination user equipment paired with the apparatus and buffered by the relay user equipment is further based on at least one of:

a load at the relay user equipment;

a priority policy at the relay user equipment; or

channel conditions between the relay user equipment and the destination user equipment paired with the apparatus.

6 . The apparatus of claim 1 , comprising at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to:

determine an amount of ingress data previously sent from the apparatus to the relay user equipment to be relayed to the destination user equipment paired with the apparatus and buffered by the relay user equipment further per a specific priority class based on a mapping between a priority class of ingress data previously sent from the apparatus to the relay user equipment to be relayed to the destination user equipment paired with the apparatus and a priority class of egress data sent from the relay user equipment and the destination user equipment paired with the apparatus.

7 . The apparatus of claim 6 , comprising at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to:

determine that an amount B of ingress data of a specific priority class or of all priority classes previously sent from the apparatus to the relay user equipment to be relayed to the destination user equipment paired with the apparatus and buffered by the relay user equipment is greater than a first threshold B1 over a first period of time T1 based on sidelink control information sent from the relay user equipment; and

reduce an amount of ingress data of a priority class lower than a determined priority class p subsequently sent from the apparatus to the relay user equipment to be relayed to the destination user equipment paired with the apparatus.

8 . The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the determined priority class p is a specific priority class of the ingress data when the amount of ingress data of a specific priority class has been determined; or

wherein the determined priority class p is a representative priority class derived from all priority classes when the amount of ingress data of all priority classes has been determined.

9 . The apparatus of claim 7 , comprising at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to:

determine that the amount B of ingress data of a specific priority class or of all priority classes previously sent from the apparatus to the relay user equipment to be relayed to the destination user equipment paired with the apparatus and buffered by the relay user equipment is greater than a second threshold B2 over a second period of time T2 based on the sidelink control information sent from the relay user equipment, wherein the second threshold B2 is smaller than the first threshold B1, wherein the second period of time T2 is greater than the first period of time T1; and

stop ingress data of a priority class lower than the determined priority class p from being subsequently sent from the apparatus to the relay user equipment to be relayed to the destination user equipment paired with the apparatus and/or reducing an amount of ingress data of a priority class equal to the determined priority class p subsequently sent from the apparatus to the relay user equipment to be relayed to the destination user equipment paired with the apparatus.

10 . The apparatus of claim 9 , comprising at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to:

determine that the amount B of ingress data of a specific priority class or of all priority classes previously sent from the apparatus to the relay user equipment to be relayed to the destination user equipment paired with the apparatus and buffered by the relay user equipment is greater than a third threshold B3 over a third period of time T3 based on the sidelink control information sent from the relay user equipment, wherein the third threshold B3 is smaller than the second threshold B2, wherein the third period of time T3 is greater than the second period of time T2; and

send user equipment assistance information to the relay user equipment, sending user equipment assistance information to the destination user equipment paired with the apparatus and/or send a relay user equipment reselection request to the destination user equipment paired with the apparatus.

11 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein multiple destination user equipment are paired with the apparatus via the relay user equipment.

12 . The apparatus of claim 11 , comprising at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to:

determine an amount of ingress data previously sent from the apparatus to the relay user equipment to be relayed to the destination user equipment paired with the apparatus and buffered by the relay user equipment per destination user equipment paired with the apparatus based on the sidelink control information sent from the relay user equipment.

13 . A method comprising:

receiving sidelink control information sent from a relay user equipment to a destination user equipment paired with the apparatus; and

performing flow control for ingress data sent from the apparatus to the relay user equipment to be relayed to the destination user equipment paired with the apparatus based on the sidelink control information sent from the relay user equipment to the destination user equipment paired with the apparatus;

wherein performing flow control for the ingress data sent from the apparatus to the relay user equipment to be relayed to the destination user equipment paired with the apparatus comprises:

14 . A method according to claim 13 , wherein performing flow control for the ingress data sent from the apparatus to the relay user equipment to be relayed to the destination user equipment paired with the apparatus comprises:

reducing some or all of the ingress data sent from the apparatus to the relay user equipment to be relayed to the destination user equipment paired with the apparatus; or

stopping some or all of the ingress data from being sent from the apparatus to the relay user equipment to be relayed to the destination user equipment paired with the apparatus.

15 . The method of claim 13 , comprising:

determining an amount of ingress data previously sent from the apparatus to the relay user equipment to be relayed to the destination user equipment paired with the apparatus and buffered by the relay user equipment based on the sidelink control information sent from the relay user equipment per a specific priority class or per all priority classes.

16 . The method of claim 13 , comprising:

determining an amount of ingress data previously sent from the apparatus to the relay user equipment to be relayed to the destination user equipment paired with the apparatus and buffered by the relay user equipment further per a specific priority class based on a mapping between a priority class of ingress data previously sent from the apparatus to the relay user equipment to be relayed to the destination user equipment paired with the apparatus and a priority class of egress data sent from the relay user equipment and the destination user equipment paired with the apparatus.

17 . The method of claim 16 , comprising:

determining that an amount B of ingress data of a specific priority class or of all priority classes previously sent from the apparatus to the relay user equipment to be relayed to the destination user equipment paired with the apparatus and buffered by the relay user equipment is greater than a first threshold B1 over a first period of time T1 based on sidelink control information sent from the relay user equipment; and

reducing an amount of ingress data of a priority class lower than a determined priority class p subsequently sent from the apparatus to the relay user equipment to be relayed to the destination user equipment paired with the apparatus.

18 . A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions stored thereon for performing:

receiving sidelink control information sent from a relay user equipment to a destination user equipment paired with an apparatus; and

wherein performing flow control for the ingress data sent from the apparatus to the relay user equipment to be relayed to the destination user equipment paired with the apparatus comprises: