ProSe remote and relaying entity QoS management
A user device, UE, for a wireless communication network, acts as a relaying entity so as to provide functionality to support connectivity between one or more remote UEs and a destination of the wireless communication network, wherein a connection between the remote UE and the destination comprises one or more sidelinks, each sidelink associated with a predefined or negotiated Quality-of-Service, QoS. The UE is connected via a sidelink to one or more of the following: one or more of the remote UEs, the destination, one or more further relay UEs. The UE determines a status of the sidelink with regard to the predefined or negotiated QoS, and sends the status of the sidelink towards a network entity, like a base station, of the wireless communication network.
1 . A device comprising:
a processor circuit and a memory circuit, wherein the memory circuit is arranged to store instructions for the processor circuit,
wherein the processor circuit is arranged to support connectivity between at least one remote UEs and a destination of a wireless communication network,
wherein a connection between the at least one remote UEs and the destination comprises at least one sidelinks,
wherein each of the at least one sidelinks is associated with a predefined or negotiated Quality-of-Service, Qos,
wherein the device is connected via the at least one sidelinks to the at least one remote UEs, the destination or at least one relay UEs,
wherein the processor circuit is arranged to determine a status of the sidelink with regard to the predefined or negotiated Qos,
wherein the processor circuit is arranged to send the status of the sidelink towards a network entity,
wherein the processor circuit is arranged to use QoS assistance information, QoS AI,
wherein the QoS AI comprises tolerances for the at least one Qos parameters on the sidelink.
2 . The device of claim 1 ,
wherein the device is connected over a first sidelink to the at least one remote UEs and/or to at least one further relay UEs and over a second sidelink to the destination if the destination a further UE, or
wherein the device is connected over a first sidelink to at least one of the at least remote UEs and/or to at least one further relay UEs and over a second sidelink to at least one further relay UEs, or
wherein the device is connected over a sidelink to at least one of the at least remote UEs and/or to at least one further relay UEs and over a network link to the destination.
3 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the sidelink comprises a PC5 connection or a Bluetooth or WiFi connection.
4 . The device of claim 1 ,
wherein the processor circuit is arranged to send the status of the sidelink to the network entity if the device is connected to the network entity,
wherein the processor circuit is arranged to send the status to the network entity via the at least one further relay UEs connected to the network entity if the device is not connected to the network entity,
wherein the device is connected to the at least one further relay UEs directly or via at least one other relay UEs.
5 . The device of claim 1 ,
wherein the device is configured with a Quality-of-Service, Qos, profile for the sidelink,
wherein the Qos provide provides the predefined or negotiated Qos between the at least remote UEs and the destination via the device,
wherein the QoS profile enables or activates the processor circuit to determine and signal the status of the sidelink.
6 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the processor circuit measures at least one Qos parameters associated with the predefined or negotiated QoS of the sidelink so as to determine the status of the sidelink.
7 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the processor circuit signals the status using Radio Resource Control, RRC, signaling or using a Media Access Control, MAC, Control Element, CE.
8 . The device of claim 1 ,
wherein the status indicates that the sidelink no longer fulfils or fulfills again the predefined or negotiated Qos on the sidelink and/or the predefined or negotiated Qos between the at least remote UEs and the destination, or
wherein the status indicates a measurement result of the at least one QoS parameters associated with the predefined or negotiated QoS on the sidelink, or
wherein the status indicates that the sidelink is capable to support a higher Qos than the predefined or negotiated QoS.
9 . The device of claim 8 , wherein the QoS_FR indicates which of the sidelinks connecting the at least one remote UEs to the device do not fulfil or satisfy the predefined or negotiated Qos if the device is acting as a relaying entity for the at least one remote UEs.
10 . The device of claim 8 ,
wherein the processor circuit is arranged to predict a Qos failure using at least one predefined parameters on the sidelink,
wherein the processor circuit is arranged to send an early QoS_FR based on a prediction of a QoS failure,
wherein the at least one predefined parameters comprises:
a Reference Signal Received Power, RSRP, measured over a predefined time window;
Channel State Information, CSI, acquired over the predefined time window;
beam measurements and/or beam failures;
a Hybrid Acknowledge Request, HARQ, feedback over the predefined time window;
a limitation of the transmit power at the device;
a limitation of the battery power at the device;
a limitation of the computational power at the device;
a congestion of the link to the at least remote UEs indicated by the Channel Busy Ratio, CBR, or the Channel occupancy Ratio, CR; and
at least one of the Bit Error Rate, BER, the Packet Error Rate, PER, packet loss or packet delay over the predefined time window.
11 . The device of claim 8 ,
wherein the processor circuit is arranged to attempt a transmission on the sidelink using other resources before sending the QoS_FR for the sidelink,
wherein the processor circuit is arranged not to send the QoS_FR if the transmission using the other resources meets the predefined or negotiated QoS.
12 . The device of claim 8 , wherein the processor circuit is arranged to send the QoS_MR periodically, and/or in response to a request, and/or in response to a failure, and/or in response to at least one events.
13 . The device of claim 12 , wherein the at least one events comprises:
the QoS_MR changes with regard to at least one measurement items significantly when compared to a previous QoS_MR;
at least one of the Qos parameters on the sidelink reach a configured or preconfigured threshold;
at least one of radio link failure, beam recovery procedure or beam failure, synchronization failure or high interference condition;
at least one of the Qos parameters on the sidelink differ from configured QoS parameters by more than a configured or preconfigured threshold; and
a configured or preconfigured counter indicating a number of HARQ failures or retransmissions on the sidelink is reached.
14 . The device of claim 8 , wherein the processor circuit is arranged to send the QoS_UP based on at least one of improvements in the measured Qos parameters allowing to satisfy a QoS higher than the predefined or negotiated Qos, a previously send QoS_FR and improvements in the measured QoS parameters allowing the predefined or negotiated QoS to be satisfied again, the expiry of a configured or preconfigured time window after sending a QoS_FR and a query.
15 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the processor circuit is arranged to trigger an early Buffer Status Report, BSR, for a duration of a Packet Data Unit, PDU, session with the at least one remote UE.
16 . The device of claim 1 ,
wherein the device comprises the QoS manager, or
wherein the device is connected to the QoS manager, wherein the Qos manager is located at the at least remote UEs or at the at least one further relay UEs or at the destination or at a network entity.
17 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the tolerances are determined by the Qos manager based on the number of hops between the at least remote UEs and the destination and/or using measurements of Qos parameters associated with the predefined or negotiated Qos on at least one or all of the links between the at least remote UEs and the destination.
18 . The device of claim 1 ,
wherein the device is to arranged as an anchor relay UE if the Qos manager is located in a network entity of the wireless communication network and the connection between the at least one remote UEs and the destination comprises the UE and at least one further UEs act as a relaying entity,
wherein the anchor relay UE is the only UE acting as a relay that communicates with the QoS Manager.
19 . The device of claim 18 , wherein the processor circuit is arranged to receive from the at least remote UEs or from the destination or from the network entity a signaling informing the device to act as the anchor relay UE.
20 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the tolerances comprise:
aggregated tolerances for the at least one sidelinks between a portion of a plurality of the at least one remote UEs and the device; and
a remote UE tolerances for the sidelink between a first remote UE of the at least one remote UEs and the device.
21 . The device of claim 20 ,
wherein the aggregated tolerances are associated with non-GBR traffic,
Wherein the UE specific tolerances are associated with GBR traffic,
the processor circuit is arranged to trigger a load balancing reselection by signaling to any of the at least one remote UEs or any further relay UE subscribing to or handling non-GBR traffic if at least one of the Qos parameters are not fulfilled.
22 . The device of claim 20 , wherein the load balancing reselection is signaled as at least one of an RRC message, an RLC message, a MAC CE, a physical layer signal, and a higher layer signaling.
23 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the destination comprises a second device another UE of the wireless communication network or an entity of the core network or an entity of the access network.
24 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the user device comprises:
a mobile terminal;
a stationary terminal;
a cellular IoT-UE;
a vehicular UE;
a leader, GL, UE;
an IoT or narrowband IoT, NB-IoT, device;
a wearable device;
a ground based vehicle;
an aerial vehicle;
a drone;
a moving base station;
a road side unit, RSU;
a building; and
any other item or device provided with network connectivity enabling the item/device to communicate using the wireless communication network.