Granted Patent B2

US 12,513,596 · App. 18/157,575 · Granted Dec 30, 2025

Inventors: Boyuan Zhang (Shenzhen, CN); Mengzhen Wang (Shenzhen, CN); Lin Chen (Shenzhen, CN)

Assignee: ZTE Corporation

H04W40/22H04W76/10

Abstract

Claims (67)

1 . A method, comprising:

sending, by a second wireless communication device in vicinity of a first wireless communication device, a configuration setup to support relay services to a wireless communication node;

receiving, by the second wireless communication device, information to be used for selection of a relay device, the information generated by the wireless communication node based on the configuration setup; and

determining, by the second wireless communication device, whether to wirelessly connect with the first wireless communication device as the relay device.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein determining, by the second wireless communication device, whether to select the first wireless communication device as the relay device comprises:

receiving, by the second wireless communication device from the wireless communication node, an indication of at least one wireless communication device to wirelessly connect with as the relay device; and

determining, by the second wireless communication device according to the indication, to select with the first wireless communication device to wirelessly connect with as the relay device.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first wireless communication device is configured to:

send to the wireless communication node at least one relay type supported, the at least one relay type comprising at least one of: layer 2 relay or layer 3 relay;

send to the wireless communication node a preference for one or more of the at least one relay type supported;

receive from the wireless communication node a configuration to configure the first wireless communication device with one or more of the at least one relay type;

send to the second wireless communication device, an indication of the one or more of the at least one relay type with which the first wireless communication device is configured; and

receive from the second wireless communication device, an indication of a preferred relay type or a supported relay type.

4 . The method of claim 3 , comprising:

receiving, by the second wireless communication device, the information from the first wireless communication device, the information comprising an indication of the one or more of the at least one relay type with which the first wireless communication device is configured; and

determining, by the second wireless communication device, according to one or more relay types that the second wireless communication device supports, and according to the indication of the one or more of the at least one relay type with which the first wireless communication device is configured, to select with the first wireless communication device to wirelessly connect with as the relay device.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first wireless communication device is configured to:

send, to the wireless communication node, a frequency list with which the first wireless communication device is configured;

receive, from the wireless communication node, a frequency-of-interest list selected from the frequency list to configure the first wireless communication device; and

send, to the second wireless communication device, the frequency-of-interest list.

6 . The method of claim 5 , comprising:

receiving, by the second wireless communication device, the information from the first wireless communication device, the information comprising the frequency-of-interest list; and

determining, by the second wireless communication device, to select the first wireless communication device to wirelessly connect with according to the frequency-of-interest list.

7 . The method of claim 6 , comprising:

selecting, by the second wireless communication device, as the relay device, a wireless communication device with a greatest number of frequencies-of-interest in common with frequencies-of-interest of the second wireless communication device, or in common with frequencies-of-interest targeted on a service destination identifier of the second wireless communication device that has a highest quality-of-service (QoS) or priority.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first wireless communication device is configured to:

receive from the wireless communication node, priority information for the first wireless communication device; and

send to the second wireless communication device, the priority information.

9 . The method of claim 8 , comprising:

receiving, by the second wireless communication device, the information from the first wireless communication device, the information comprising the priority information for the first wireless communication device; and

determining, by the second wireless communication device, to select the first wireless communication device to wirelessly connect with, according to the priority information, whether the first wireless communication device has a highest priority among candidate relay devices.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first wireless communication device is configured to:

receive from the wireless communication node, information about quality-of-service (QoS) supported by the first wireless communication device to relay traffic, comprising at least one of: a white QoS flow identifier (QFI) list, a black QFI list or a default priority threshold; and

send to the second wireless communication device, the information about QoS supported by the first wireless communication device to relay traffic.

11 . The method of claim 10 , comprising:

receiving, by the second wireless communication device, the information from the first wireless communication device, the information comprising the information about QoS supported by the first wireless communication device to relay traffic; and

determining, by the second wireless communication device, to select the first wireless communication device to wirelessly connect with, according to the first wireless communication device having at least one QoS profile of relay traffic supported by the white QFI list or excluded by the black QFI list, or according to the first wireless communication device having a priority value that satisfies the default priority threshold.

12 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first wireless communication device is configured to:

send to a wireless communication node, assistance information of the first wireless communication device.

13 . The method of claim 12 , comprising:

determining, by the second wireless communication device, whether to directly connect with the relay device in network relay mode;

receiving, by the second wireless communication device, the information from the wireless communication node, the information comprising one or more identifiers of candidate relay devices selected according to assistance information of wireless communication devices corresponding to the candidate relay devices; and

determining, by the second wireless communication device according to the one or more identifiers of candidate relay devices, to select the first wireless communication device to wirelessly connect with as the relay device.

14 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the wireless communication node sends assistance information of the first wireless communication device to a second wireless communication node via an Xn or X2 interface of the first wireless communication node.

15 . The method of claim 14 , comprising:

receiving, by the second wireless communication device in a network release message, the information from the wireless communication node, the information comprising one or more identifiers of candidate relay devices selected according to at least the assistance information of the first wireless communication device; and

determining, by the second wireless communication device according to the one or more identifiers of candidate relay devices, to select the first wireless communication device to wirelessly connect with as the relay device.

16 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first wireless communication device is configured to send to a third wireless communication device, a reference signal received power (RSRP) measurement of a link between the first wireless communication device and the second wireless communication device, and

wherein the third wireless communication device is configured to determine whether to include the first wireless communication device as a candidate relay device, according to the RSRP measurement and a configured average RSRP threshold.

17 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first wireless communication device is configured to send to a third wireless communication device, a reference signal received power (RSRP) measurement of a link between the first wireless communication device and the second wireless communication device, and

wherein the third wireless communication device is configured to determine whether to include the first wireless communication device as a candidate relay device, according to a threshold, the RSRP measurement, and a RSRP measurement of a link between the first wireless communication device and the third wireless communication device.

18 . A method, comprising:

sending, by a first wireless communication device in vicinity of a second wireless communication device, a configuration setup to support relay services to a wireless communication node;

receiving, by the first wireless communication device, information to be used for selection of a relay device generated by the wireless communication node;

sending, by the first wireless communication device, the information to be used for selection of the relay device to the second communication device, and

causing the second wireless communication device to determine whether to wirelessly connect with the first wireless communication device as the relay device.

19 . A second wireless communication device, comprising:

at least one processor configured to:

send, via a transmitter in vicinity of a first wireless communication device, a configuration setup to support relay services to a wireless communication node;

receive, via a receiver in, information to be used for selection of a relay device, the information generated by the wireless communication node based on the configuration setup; and

determine whether to wirelessly connect with the first wireless communication device as the relay device.

20 . A first wireless communication device, comprising:

at least one processor configured to:

send, via a transmitter in vicinity of a second wireless communication device, a configuration setup to support relay services to a wireless communication node;

receive, via a receiver, information to be used for selection of a relay device generated by the wireless communication node;

send, via the transmitter, the information to be used for selection of the relay device to the second communication device; and

cause the second wireless communication device to determine whether to wirelessly connect with the first wireless communication device as the relay device.

Assignments (3)

Continuity (2)

References Cited (25)