Method and apparatus for facilitating multicast communication

1. A method implemented at a server, comprising:

determining at least one cluster, wherein a cluster of the at least one cluster is defined with coverage smaller than a cell, located across cell edges of multiple cells and identified by a same identifier across the multiple cells, for delivering of a message received by the server from a source device, and wherein the cluster is further determined based on at least one of the following:

a cell identification and a signal quality,

a device type, and

a service type;

determining a mapping between the cluster and at least one bearer;

indicating the determined mapping to a radio access network (RAN);

sending a definition of the cluster to the RAN; and

multicasting to devices within the cluster the message using a first bearer via the RAN, the first bearer being selected from the at least one bearer based on the mapping.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the indicating the determined mapping to the RAN comprises:

sending the determined mapping to at least one terminal device in the RAN via an interface between the at least one terminal device and the server; or

sending the determined mapping to an access node of the RAN via a Broadcast Multicast-Service Centre (BM-SC).

3. The method according to claim 2 ,

wherein the multicasting the message further comprises selecting the first bearer from among the at least one bearer based on the mapping and at least one of a location of the source device and content of the message.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one bearer is identified at least by one of:

a Temporary Mobile Group Identity (TMGI) used as the identifier, and

the TMGI and a flow identifier (ID).

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the sending the definition of the cluster to the RAN comprises:

sending the definition of the cluster to at least one terminal device in the RAN via an interface between the at least one terminal device and the server; or

sending the definition of the cluster to an access node of the RAN via a Broadcast Multicast-Service Centre (BM-SC).

6. A method implemented at a base station in a radio access network (RAN), comprising:

determining at least one cluster, wherein a cluster of the at least one cluster is defined with coverage smaller than a cell, located across cell edges of multiple cells and identified by a same identifier across the multiple cells, for delivering of a message received by a server from a source device, and wherein the cluster is further determined based on at least one of the following:

a cell identification and a signal quality,

a device type, and

a service type;

obtaining, from the server, a mapping between the cluster and at least one bearer;

obtaining, from the server, a definition of the cluster;

receiving the message from the server over a first bearer, the first bearer being selected from the at least one bearer based on the mapping; and

sending the message to at least one terminal device within the cluster using the first bearer.

7. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the obtaining the mapping comprising:

receiving the mapping via a Broadcast Multicast-Service Centre (BM-SC).

8. The method according to claim 6 , further comprising:

sending the mapping to the at least one terminal device.

9. The method according to claim 8 , wherein the sending the mapping to the at least one terminal device comprising:

sending to the at least one terminal device geographical coordinates or a reference position associated with a second bearer.

10. The method according to claim 6 , further comprising:

sending the definition of the cluster to the at least one terminal device.

11. The method according to claim 9 , further comprising:

obtaining, from the at least one terminal device, at least one of a location of the at least one terminal device and an identifier of a third bearer; and

sending to the at least one terminal device an indicator of a fourth bearer for monitoring.

12. A method implemented at a terminal device, comprising:

receiving information for determining a bearer to be monitored for receiving a multicast message received by a server from a source device, wherein the multicast message is multicast to a configured cluster that is defined with coverage smaller than a cell, located across cell edges of multiple cells and identified by a same identifier across the multiple cells, for delivering of the multicast message, wherein the information includes a definition of the cluster sent by the server to a radio access network (RAN), and wherein the configured cluster is further determined based on at least one of the following:

a cell identification and a signal quality,

a device type, and

a service type;

determining the bearer to be monitored based on the information; and

receiving the multicast message sent to the cluster over the determined bearer.

13. The method according to claim 12 , wherein the information for determining the bearer to be monitored includes

a mapping between the cluster and at least one bearer.

14. The method according to claim 12 , wherein the receiving the information for determining the bearer to be monitored comprising:

receiving the information via an interface between the terminal device and the server; or

receiving the information from an access node of the RAN.

15. The method according to claim 13 , wherein the determining the bearer to be monitored based on the information comprises:

determining the cluster to which the terminal device belongs; and

determining the bearer to be monitored based on the received mapping and the determined cluster.

16. The method according to claim 12 , wherein the receiving the information for determining the bearer to be monitored further comprises:

receiving an indicator of the bearer to be monitored from an access node of the RAN; or

receiving from the access node an indication of geographical coordinates or a reference position associated with the bearer to be monitored.

17. The method according to claim 12 , further comprising:

transmitting, to an access node of the RAN, at least one of a location of at least one terminal device and an identifier of another bearer.

18. An apparatus in a server, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory, said memory containing instructions executable by said processor to cause said apparatus to perform operations to:

determine at least one cluster, wherein a cluster of the at least one cluster is defined with coverage smaller than a cell, located across cell edges of multiple cells and identified by a same identifier across the multiple cells, for delivering of a message received by the server from a source device, and wherein the cluster is further determined based on at least one of the following:

a cell identification and a signal quality,

a device type, and

a service type;

determine a mapping between the cluster and at least one bearer;

indicate the mapping to a radio access network (RAN);

send a definition of the cluster to the RAN; and

multicast the message to devices within the cluster using a first bearer via the RAN, the first bearer being selected from the at least one bearer based on the mapping.

19. An apparatus in a base station in a radio access network (RAN), comprising:

a processor; and

a memory, said memory containing instructions executable by said processor to cause said apparatus to perform operations to:

determine at least one cluster, wherein a cluster of the at least one cluster is defined with coverage smaller than a cell, located across cell edges of multiple cells and identified by a same identifier across the multiple cells, for delivering of a message received by a server from a source device, and wherein the cluster is further determined based on at least one of the following:

a cell identification and a signal quality,

a device type, and

a service type;

obtain, from the server, a mapping between the cluster and at least one bearer;

obtain, from the server, a definition of the cluster to the RAN;

receive the message from the server over a first bearer, the first bearer being selected from the at least one bearer based on the mapping; and

send the message to at least one terminal device within the cluster using the first bearer.

20. An apparatus in a terminal device, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory, said memory containing instructions executable by said processor to cause said apparatus to perform operations to:

receive information for determining a bearer to be monitored for receiving a multicast message received by a server from a source device, wherein the multicast message is multicast to a configured cluster that is defined with coverage smaller than a cell, located across cell edges of multiple cells and identified by a same identifier across the multiple cells, for delivering of the multicast message, wherein the information includes a definition of the cluster sent by the server to a radio access network (RAN), and wherein the configured cluster is further determined based on at least one of the following:

a cell identification and a signal quality,

a device type, and

a service type;

determine the bearer to be monitored based on the information; and

receive the multicast message sent to the cluster over the determined bearer.