IP Library › Granted Patent US 12,732,901
Granted Patent B2
US 12,732,901 · App. 17/757,276 · Granted Sep 8, 2026

Interworking function selection by remote UE

Inventors: Karthika Paladugu (San Diego, CA); Hong Cheng (Basking Ridge, NJ); Haris Zisimopoulos (London, GB); Stefano Faccin (San Ysidro, CA); Gavin Bernard Horn (La Jolla, CA)
Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
H04W48/18H04W8/005H04W88/04H04W92/02H04W92/18
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,732,901
App. No.
17/757,276
Granted
Sep 8, 2026
Kind
B2
Abstract

Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide techniques for interworking function selection by a remote user equipment (UE) for UE-to-network sidelink relay access. A method that may be performed by a remote user equipment (UE) includes receiving a plurality of interworking function configurations, for accessing a network via a sidelink relay UE, and a plurality of relay service codes. The remote UE determines a service to use for communications in the network. The remote UE selects one of the plurality of interworking function configurations based on the relay service code for the determined service.

Claims (43)

1 . A method for wireless communication by a remote user equipment (UE), the method comprising:

receiving sidelink policy information including a plurality of relay service codes (RSCs) and interworking function (IWF) selection information, the IWF selection information including an indication to select an IWF based on a tracking area identifier (TAI) or an operator identifier;

receiving an indication, from a sidelink relay UE, of the TAI corresponding to a location of the sidelink relay UE;

receiving an indication of a public land mobile network (PLMN) associated with the sidelink relay UE; and

selecting an IWF, for accessing a network via the sidelink relay UE, based on at least one of the plurality of RSCs for at least one service and on the IWF selection information.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the IWF is associated with the least one of the plurality of RSCs.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the IWF selection information includes a prioritized list of preferred PLMNs for IWF selection.

4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the IWF selection information further includes home PLMNs (HPLMNs) associated with the PLMNs in the prioritized list of preferred PLMNs.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the IWF selection information comprises fully qualified domain names (FQDNs) or Internet Protocol (IP) addresses of one or more IWFs in the HPLMN.

6 . The method of claim 4 , further comprising deriving fully qualified domain names (FQDNs) or Internet Protocol (IP) addresses of the IWF.

7 . The method of claim 4 , wherein:

the selected IWF is associated with an IWF in the HPLMN; and

the method further comprises determining an Internet protocol (IP) address of the IWF in the HPLMN using an identifier configuration of the selected IWF.

8 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining a fully qualified domain names (FQDN) for the selected IWF using the TAI of a tracking area in which the remote UE is located or the operator identifier of the PLMN associated with the selected IWF.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the indication from the sidelink relay UE is received in a relay discovery additional information message.

10 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the selecting includes:

selecting the IWF associated with the HPLMN when the remote UE and the sidelink relay UE are located in the same HPLMN; and

selecting the IWF based on the prioritized list of preferred PLMNs when the remote UE and the sidelink relay UE are located in different HPLMNs.

11 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the selecting includes:

performing a sidelink relay discovery procedure;

determining to establish a sidelink unicast link only with relay UEs that are in a PLMN in the prioritized list of preferred PLMNs; and

selecting the IWF associated with one of the sidelink relay UEs.

12 . The method of claim 1 , wherein:

the network is a 3GPP network; and

the selected IWF is a non-3GPP IWF.

13 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising accessing the network via an access link or via a sidelink UE-to-network relay access provided by the sidelink relay UE.

14 . A method for wireless communication by a sidelink relay user equipment (UE), the method comprising:

receiving a plurality of relay service codes (RSCs);

providing an indication to a remote UE of a tracking area identifier (TAI) corresponding to a location of the sidelink relay UE;

receiving, from the remote UE via a sidelink, data and an identifier of an interworking function (IWF); and

forwarding the data to a network via the IWF based on the identifier.

15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the indication is provided in a relay discovery additional information message.

16 . The method of claim 14 , wherein:

the network is a 3GPP network; and

the IWF comprises a non-3GPP IWF.

17 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the IWF is associated with a fully qualified domain name (FQDN) or Internet Protocol (IP) address.

18 . An apparatus for wireless communication, the apparatus comprising:

a receiver configured to receive sidelink policy information including a plurality of relay service codes (RSCs), interworking function (IWF) selection information, the IWF selection information including an indication to select an IWF based on a tracking area identifier (TAI) or an operator identifier;

a memory comprising computer executable code executable; and

at least one processor configured to execute the computer executable code to cause the apparatus to:

receive an indication from a sidelink relay UE, of the TAI corresponding to a location of the sidelink relay UE;

receive an indication of a public land mobile network (PLMN) associated with the sidelink relay UE; and

select an IWF, for accessing a network via the sidelink relay UE, from based on at least one of the plurality of RSCs for at least one service and on the IWF selection information.

Priority Claims (1)
GR 20200100003 · Jan 3, 2020 · national
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20250184879A1 · Jun 5, 2025
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