WO2025189445A1

WO2025189445A1 - Network initiated qos handling for multi-hop u2n relay operation

Info

Publication number: WO2025189445A1
Application number: PCT/CN2024/081805
Authority: WO
Inventors: Jianhua Liu; Hong Cheng; Haris Zisimopoulos; Masato Kitazoe
Original assignee: Qualcomm Inc
Current assignee: Qualcomm Inc
Priority date: 2024-03-15
Filing date: 2024-03-15
Publication date: 2025-09-18
Anticipated expiration: 2026-09-15

Abstract

Network-initiated QoS handling for multi-hop U2N relay operation is described. An apparatus is configured to obtain a hop count for a relay path between a remote UE and a first relay UE of a set of relay UEs. The hop count is associated with a QoS profile for a QoS flow. The relay path comprises the set of relay UEs between the remote UE and a network node. The apparatus is configured to provide a first indication of the hop count. The hop count is further associated with a set of PCC rules of a service data flow SDF.

Description

NETWORK INITIATED QOS HANDLING FOR MULTI-HOP U2N RELAY OPERATION

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to communication systems, and more particularly, to wireless communications utilizing user equipment (UE) relays.

INTRODUCTION

Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various telecommunication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging, and broadcasts. Typical wireless communication systems may employ multiple-access technologies capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources. Examples of such multiple-access technologies include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems, single-carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) systems, and time division synchronous code division multiple access (TD-SCDMA) systems.

These multiple access technologies have been adopted in various telecommunication standards to provide a common protocol that enables different wireless devices to communicate on a municipal, national, regional, and even global level. An example telecommunication standard is 5G New Radio (NR) . 5G NR is part of a continuous mobile broadband evolution promulgated by Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) to meet new requirements associated with latency, reliability, security, scalability (e.g., with Internet of Things (IoT) ) , and other requirements. 5G NR includes services associated with enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) , massive machine type communications (mMTC) , and ultra-reliable low latency communications (URLLC) . Some aspects of 5G NR may be based on the 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard. There exists a need for further improvements in 5G NR technology. These improvements may also be applicable to other multi-access technologies and the telecommunication standards that employ these technologies.

BRIEF SUMMARY

The following presents a simplified summary of one or more aspects in order to provide a basic understanding of such aspects. This summary is not an extensive overview of all contemplated aspects. This summary neither identifies key or critical elements of all aspects nor delineates the scope of any or all aspects. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of one or more aspects in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.

In an aspect of the disclosure, a method, a computer-readable medium, and an apparatus are provided. The apparatus is configured to obtain a hop count for a relay path between a remote UE and a first relay UE of a set of relay UEs, where the hop count is associated with a quality of service (QoS) profile for a QoS flow, where the relay path comprises the set of relay UEs between the remote UE and a network node. The apparatus is also configured to provide a first indication of the hop count, where the hop count is further associated with a set of policy and charging control (PCC) rules of a service data flow (SDF) .

In the aspect, the method includes obtaining a hop count for a relay path between a remote UE and a first relay UE of a set of relay UEs, where the hop count is associated with a QoS profile for a QoS flow, where the relay path comprises the set of relay UEs between the remote UE and a network node. The method also includes providing a first indication of the hop count, where the hop count is further associated with a set of PCC rules of an SDF.

In the aspect, the computer-readable medium stores computer executable code at a network entity, the code when executed by at least one processor causes the at least one processor to obtain a hop count for a relay path between a remote UE and a first relay UE of a set of relay UEs, where the hop count is associated with a QoS profile for a QoS flow, where the relay path comprises the set of relay UEs between the remote UE and a network node. The code when executed by at least one processor also causes the at least one processor to provide a first indication of the hop count, where the hop count is further associated with a set of PCC rules of an SDF.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the one or more aspects may include the features hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims. The following description and the drawings set forth in detail certain illustrative features of the one or more aspects. These features are indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of various aspects may be employed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a wireless communications system and an access network.

FIG. 2A is a diagram illustrating an example of a first frame, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2B is a diagram illustrating an example of downlink (DL) channels within a subframe, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2C is a diagram illustrating an example of a second frame, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2D is a diagram illustrating an example of uplink (UL) channels within a subframe, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a base station and user equipment (UE) in an access network.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating examples of UE-to-network (U2N) relaying.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example basic QoS handling for U2N relaying.

FIG. 6 is a call flow diagram for wireless communications, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating examples of network-initiated QoS handling for multi-hop U2N relay operation, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating examples of network-initiated QoS handling for multi-hop U2N relay operation, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a method of wireless communication.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of a method of wireless communication.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware implementation for an example apparatus and/or network entity.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware implementation for an example network entity.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware implementation for an example network entity.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Wireless communication networks may be designed to support communications between network nodes (e.g., base stations, gNBs, etc. ) /network entities (e.g., in a core network) and UEs. For instance, a UE in a wireless communication network may communicate in various configurations and using various communication schema via a network node, a network entity, and/or an application server (or the like) beyond the core network. One example communication scheme, one or more UE relays between a remote UE and the network node may be configured to provide a U2N communication path between the UE and the network node. For utilization of service data flows (SDFs) associated with applications /communication traffic services beyond the core network, QoS flows may be utilized to ensure /improve performance in view of QoS metrics /parameters such as link quality /E2E timing of the SDFs.

However, QoS flow establishment initiated by a network, e.g., by a Session Management Function (SMF) , presents issues with meeting the QoS metrics /parameters (e.g., link quality /E2E timing of the SDFs) in multi-hop relays. For instance, a policy control function (PCF) may not know how many hops are between a first relay UE in a downstream relay path to a remote UE. Accordingly, the PCF cannot properly determine the PCC rules as for single-hop relays. Further, the SMF may not know how many hops there are to the remote UE, and therefore, the SMF cannot properly determine the per-hop QoS. Additionally, the SMF may bind traffic for different remote UEs to the same QoS flow, resulting in mixed PC5 QoS implementations.

Various aspects relate generally to UE relays. Some aspects more specifically relate to network-initiated QoS handling for multi-hop U2N relay operation. In some examples for network-initiated QoS flow establishment, an SMF may informed a PCF of the hop count for a remote UE so that the PCC rules for the SDF can be generated accordingly. As examples, an SMF may obtain a hop count for a remote UE from: a first relay UE utilizing a remote UE report, or an Internet protocol (IP) prefix delegation procedure when allocating an IP prefix to a remote UE. As another example, a PCF may provide an IP version 6 (IPv6) address structure to the SMF so that the SMF may identify /learn /determine the hop count from IPv6 address. In some examples, the SMF may perform a QoS split for the QoS flows for the remote UE, which may not rely on the PCF. The SMF may identify /learn /determine the hop count based on or using the examples noted above. The SMF may also be configured to not bind different SDFs into the same QoS flows. In some examples, a static split configuration on the SMF may be utilized. As an example, the SMF may use an assumed splitting ratio for UE-to-universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) terrestrial radio access network (UTRAN) (Uu) and PC5 QoS flows (e.g., leaving 20 ms for PC5 QoS) , regardless of the hop count associated with the relay path. That is, the multi-hop PC5 QoS split may be performed when the hop count is within a limit (e.g., less than 4 hops) .

Particular aspects of the subject matter described in this disclosure can be implemented to realize one or more of the following potential advantages. In some examples, by obtaining /identifying, at an SMF, a hop count for a U2N relay path between a remote UE and a first relay UE, the described techniques can be used to properly set PCC rules for network-initiated QoS handling for multi-hop U2N relay operation. In some examples, by splitting E2E QoS profiles based on hop counts, at an SMF, into Uu and PC5 QoS profiles for a U2N relay path, the described techniques can be used to meet E2E QoS metrics /parameters such as link quality /E2E timing of SDFs and enable flexibility in meeting the E2E QoS metrics /parameters. In some examples, by configuring an SMF to separate SDFs with different hop counts into different QoS flows, mixed PC5 QoS flows are avoided.

The detailed description set forth below in connection with the drawings describes various configurations and does not represent the only configurations in which the concepts described herein may be practiced. The detailed description includes specific details for the purpose of providing a thorough understanding of various concepts. However, these concepts may be practiced without these specific details. In some instances, well known structures and components are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring such concepts.

Several aspects of telecommunication systems are presented with reference to various apparatus and methods. These apparatus and methods are described in the following detailed description and illustrated in the accompanying drawings by various blocks, components, circuits, processes, algorithms, etc. (collectively referred to as “elements” ) . These elements may be implemented using electronic hardware, computer software, or any combination thereof. Whether such elements are implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system.

By way of example, an element, or any portion of an element, or any combination of elements may be implemented as a “processing system” that includes one or more processors. When multiple processors are implemented, the multiple processors may perform the functions individually or in combination. Examples of processors include microprocessors, microcontrollers, graphics processing units (GPUs) , central processing units (CPUs) , application processors, digital signal processors (DSPs) , reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processors, systems on a chip (SoC) , baseband processors, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) , programmable logic devices (PLDs) , state machines, gated logic, discrete hardware circuits, and other suitable hardware configured to perform the various functionality described throughout this disclosure. One or more processors in the processing system may execute software. Software, whether referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or otherwise, shall be construed broadly to mean instructions, instruction sets, code, code segments, program code, programs, subprograms, software components, applications, software applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, executables, threads of execution, procedures, functions, or any combination thereof.

Accordingly, in one or more example aspects, implementations, and/or use cases, the functions described may be implemented in hardware, software, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on or encoded as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media includes computer storage media. Storage media may be any available media that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example, such computer-readable media can include a random-access memory (RAM) , a read-only memory (ROM) , an electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM) , optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage, other magnetic storage devices, combinations of the types of computer-readable media, or any other medium that can be used to store computer executable code in the form of instructions or data structures that can be accessed by a computer.

While aspects, implementations, and/or use cases are described in this application by illustration to some examples, additional or different aspects, implementations and/or use cases may come about in many different arrangements and scenarios. Aspects, implementations, and/or use cases described herein may be implemented across many differing platform types, devices, systems, shapes, sizes, and packaging arrangements. For example, aspects, implementations, and/or use cases may come about via integrated chip implementations and other non-module-component based devices (e.g., end-user devices, vehicles, communication devices, computing devices, industrial equipment, retail/purchasing devices, medical devices, artificial intelligence (AI) -enabled devices, etc. ) . While some examples may or may not be specifically directed to use cases or applications, a wide assortment of applicability of described examples may occur. Aspects, implementations, and/or use cases may range a spectrum from chip-level or modular components to non-modular, non-chip-level implementations and further to aggregate, distributed, or original equipment manufacturer (OEM) devices or systems incorporating one or more techniques herein. In some practical settings, devices incorporating described aspects and features may also include additional components and features for implementation and practice of claimed and described aspect. For example, transmission and reception of wireless signals necessarily includes a number of components for analog and digital purposes (e.g., hardware components including antenna, RF-chains, power amplifiers, modulators, buffer, processor (s) , interleaver, adders/summers, etc. ) . Techniques described herein may be practiced in a wide variety of devices, chip-level components, systems, distributed arrangements, aggregated or disaggregated components, end-user devices, etc. of varying sizes, shapes, and constitution.

Deployment of communication systems, such as 5G NR systems, may be arranged in multiple manners with various components or constituent parts. In a 5G NR system, or network, a network node, a network entity, a mobility element of a network, a radio access network (RAN) node, a core network node, a network element, or a network equipment, such as a base station (BS) , or one or more units (or one or more components) performing base station functionality, may be implemented in an aggregated or disaggregated architecture. For example, a BS (such as a Node B (NB) , evolved NB (eNB) , NR BS, 5G NB, access point (AP) , a transmission reception point (TRP) , or a cell, etc. ) may be implemented as an aggregated base station (also known as a standalone BS or a monolithic BS) or a disaggregated base station.

An aggregated base station may be configured to utilize a radio protocol stack that is physically or logically integrated within a single RAN node. A disaggregated base station may be configured to utilize a protocol stack that is physically or logically distributed among two or more units (such as one or more central or centralized units (CUs) , one or more distributed units (DUs) , or one or more radio units (RUs) ) . In some aspects, a CU may be implemented within a RAN node, and one or more DUs may be co-located with the CU, or alternatively, may be geographically or virtually distributed throughout one or multiple other RAN nodes. The DUs may be implemented to communicate with one or more RUs. Each of the CU, DU and RU can be implemented as virtual units, i.e., a virtual central unit (VCU) , a virtual distributed unit (VDU) , or a virtual radio unit (VRU) .

Base station operation or network design may consider aggregation characteristics of base station functionality. For example, disaggregated base stations may be utilized in an integrated access backhaul (IAB) network, an open radio access network (O-RAN (such as the network configuration sponsored by the O-RAN Alliance) ) , or a virtualized radio access network (vRAN, also known as a cloud radio access network (C-RAN) ) . Disaggregation may include distributing functionality across two or more units at various physical locations, as well as distributing functionality for at least one unit virtually, which can enable flexibility in network design. The various units of the disaggregated base station, or disaggregated RAN architecture, can be configured for wired or wireless communication with at least one other unit.

FIG. 1 is a diagram 100 illustrating an example of a wireless communications system and an access network. The illustrated wireless communications system includes a disaggregated base station architecture. The disaggregated base station architecture may include one or more CUs 110 that can communicate directly with a core network 120 via a backhaul link, or indirectly with the core network 120 through one or more disaggregated base station units (such as a Near-Real Time (Near-RT) RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) 125 via an E2 link, or a Non-Real Time (Non-RT) RIC 115 associated with a Service Management and Orchestration (SMO) Framework 105, or both) . A CU 110 may communicate with one or more DUs 130 via respective midhaul links, such as an F1 interface. The DUs 130 may communicate with one or more RUs 140 via respective fronthaul links. The RUs 140 may communicate with respective UEs 104 via one or more radio frequency (RF) access links. In some implementations, the UE 104 may be simultaneously served by multiple RUs 140.

Each of the units, i.e., the CUs 110, the DUs 130, the RUs 140, as well as the Near-RT RICs 125, the Non-RT RICs 115, and the SMO Framework 105, may include one or more interfaces or be coupled to one or more interfaces configured to receive or to transmit signals, data, or information (collectively, signals) via a wired or wireless transmission medium. Each of the units, or an associated processor or controller providing instructions to the communication interfaces of the units, can be configured to communicate with one or more of the other units via the transmission medium. For example, the units can include a wired interface configured to receive or to transmit signals over a wired transmission medium to one or more of the other units. Additionally, the units can include a wireless interface, which may include a receiver, a transmitter, or a transceiver (such as an RF transceiver) , configured to receive or to transmit signals, or both, over a wireless transmission medium to one or more of the other units.

In some aspects, the CU 110 may host one or more higher layer control functions. Such control functions can include radio resource control (RRC) , packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) , service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) , or the like. Each control function can be implemented with an interface configured to communicate signals with other control functions hosted by the CU 110. The CU 110 may be configured to handle user plane functionality (i.e., Central Unit –User Plane (CU-UP) ) , control plane functionality (i.e., Central Unit –Control Plane (CU-CP) ) , or a combination thereof. In some implementations, the CU 110 can be logically split into one or more CU-UP units and one or more CU-CP units. The CU-UP unit can communicate bidirectionally with the CU-CP unit via an interface, such as an E1 interface when implemented in an O-RAN configuration. The CU 110 can be implemented to communicate with the DU 130, as necessary, for network control and signaling.

The DU 130 may correspond to a logical unit that includes one or more base station functions to control the operation of one or more RUs 140. In some aspects, the DU 130 may host one or more of a radio link control (RLC) layer, a medium access control (MAC) layer, and one or more high physical (PHY) layers (such as modules for forward error correction (FEC) encoding and decoding, scrambling, modulation, demodulation, or the like) depending, at least in part, on a functional split, such as those defined by 3GPP. In some aspects, the DU 130 may further host one or more low PHY layers. Each layer (or module) can be implemented with an interface configured to communicate signals with other layers (and modules) hosted by the DU 130, or with the control functions hosted by the CU 110.

Lower-layer functionality can be implemented by one or more RUs 140. In some deployments, an RU 140, controlled by a DU 130, may correspond to a logical node that hosts RF processing functions, or low-PHY layer functions (such as performing fast Fourier transform (FFT) , inverse FFT (iFFT) , digital beamforming, physical random access channel (PRACH) extraction and filtering, or the like) , or both, based at least in part on the functional split, such as a lower layer functional split. In such an architecture, the RU (s) 140 can be implemented to handle over the air (OTA) communication with one or more UEs 104. In some implementations, real-time and non-real-time aspects of control and user plane communication with the RU (s) 140 can be controlled by the corresponding DU 130. In some scenarios, this configuration can enable the DU (s) 130 and the CU 110 to be implemented in a cloud-based RAN architecture, such as a vRAN architecture.

The SMO Framework 105 may be configured to support RAN deployment and provisioning of non-virtualized and virtualized network elements. For non-virtualized network elements, the SMO Framework 105 may be configured to support the deployment of dedicated physical resources for RAN coverage requirements that may be managed via an operations and maintenance interface (such as an O1 interface) . For virtualized network elements, the SMO Framework 105 may be configured to interact with a cloud computing platform (such as an open cloud (O-Cloud) 190) to perform network element life cycle management (such as to instantiate virtualized network elements) via a cloud computing platform interface (such as an O2 interface) . Such virtualized network elements can include, but are not limited to, CUs 110, DUs 130, RUs 140 and Near-RT RICs 125. In some implementations, the SMO Framework 105 can communicate with a hardware aspect of a 4G RAN, such as an open eNB (O-eNB) 111, via an O1 interface. Additionally, in some implementations, the SMO Framework 105 can communicate directly with one or more RUs 140 via an O1 interface. The SMO Framework 105 also may include a Non-RT RIC 115 configured to support functionality of the SMO Framework 105.

The Non-RT RIC 115 may be configured to include a logical function that enables non-real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources, artificial intelligence (AI) /machine learning (ML) (AI/ML) workflows including model training and updates, or policy-based guidance of applications/features in the Near-RT RIC 125. The Non-RT RIC 115 may be coupled to or communicate with (such as via an A1 interface) the Near-RT RIC 125. The Near-RT RIC 125 may be configured to include a logical function that enables near-real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources via data collection and actions over an interface (such as via an E2 interface) connecting one or more CUs 110, one or more DUs 130, or both, as well as an O-eNB, with the Near-RT RIC 125.

In some implementations, to generate AI/ML models to be deployed in the Near-RT RIC 125, the Non-RT RIC 115 may receive parameters or external enrichment information from external servers. Such information may be utilized by the Near-RT RIC 125 and may be received at the SMO Framework 105 or the Non-RT RIC 115 from non-network data sources or from network functions. In some examples, the Non-RT RIC 115 or the Near-RT RIC 125 may be configured to tune RAN behavior or performance. For example, the Non-RT RIC 115 may monitor long-term trends and patterns for performance and employ AI/ML models to perform corrective actions through the SMO Framework 105 (such as reconfiguration via O1) or via creation of RAN management policies (such as A1 policies) .

At least one of the CU 110, the DU 130, and the RU 140 may be referred to as a base station 102. Accordingly, a base station 102 may include one or more of the CU 110, the DU 130, and the RU 140 (each component indicated with dotted lines to signify that each component may or may not be included in the base station 102) . The base station 102 provides an access point to the core network 120 for a UE 104. The base station 102 may include macrocells (high power cellular base station) and/or small cells (low power cellular base station) . The small cells include femtocells, picocells, and microcells. A network that includes both small cell and macrocells may be known as a heterogeneous network. A heterogeneous network may also include Home Evolved Node Bs (eNBs) (HeNBs) , which may provide service to a restricted group known as a closed subscriber group (CSG) . The communication links between the RUs 140 and the UEs 104 may include uplink (UL) (also referred to as reverse link) transmissions from a UE 104 to an RU 140 and/or downlink (DL) (also referred to as forward link) transmissions from an RU 140 to a UE 104. The communication links may use multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology, including spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and/or transmit diversity. The communication links may be through one or more carriers. The base station 102 /UEs 104 may use spectrum up to Y MHz (e.g., 5, 10, 15, 20, 100, 400, etc. MHz) bandwidth per carrier allocated in a carrier aggregation of up to a total of Yx MHz (x component carriers) used for transmission in each direction. The carriers may or may not be adjacent to each other. Allocation of carriers may be asymmetric with respect to DL and UL (e.g., more or fewer carriers may be allocated for DL than for UL) . The component carriers may include a primary component carrier and one or more secondary component carriers. A primary component carrier may be referred to as a primary cell (PCell) and a secondary component carrier may be referred to as a secondary cell (SCell) .

Certain UEs 104 may communicate with each other using device-to-device (D2D) communication link 158. The D2D communication link 158 may use the DL/UL wireless wide area network (WWAN) spectrum. The D2D communication link 158 may use one or more sidelink channels, such as a physical sidelink broadcast channel (PSBCH) , a physical sidelink discovery channel (PSDCH) , a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) , and a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) . D2D communication may be through a variety of wireless D2D communications systems, such as for example, Bluetooth^TM (Bluetooth is a trademark of the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) ) , Wi-Fi^TM (Wi-Fi is a trademark of the Wi-Fi Alliance) based on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard, LTE, or NR.

The wireless communications system may further include a Wi-Fi AP 150 in communication with UEs 104 (also referred to as Wi-Fi stations (STAs) ) via communication link 154, e.g., in a 5 GHz unlicensed frequency spectrum or the like. When communicating in an unlicensed frequency spectrum, the UEs 104 /AP 150 may perform a clear channel assessment (CCA) prior to communicating in order to determine whether the channel is available.

The electromagnetic spectrum is often subdivided, based on frequency/wavelength, into various classes, bands, channels, etc. In 5G NR, two initial operating bands have been identified as frequency range designations FR1 (410 MHz –7.125 GHz) and FR2 (24.25 GHz –52.6 GHz) . Although a portion of FR1 is greater than 6 GHz, FR1 is often referred to (interchangeably) as a “sub-6 GHz” band in various documents and articles. A similar nomenclature issue sometimes occurs with regard to FR2, which is often referred to (interchangeably) as a “millimeter wave” band in documents and articles, despite being different from the extremely high frequency (EHF) band (30 GHz –300 GHz) which is identified by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) as a “millimeter wave” band.

The frequencies between FR1 and FR2 are often referred to as mid-band frequencies. Recent 5G NR studies have identified an operating band for these mid-band frequencies as frequency range designation FR3 (7.125 GHz –24.25 GHz) . Frequency bands falling within FR3 may inherit FR1 characteristics and/or FR2 characteristics, and thus may effectively extend features of FR1 and/or FR2 into mid-band frequencies. In addition, higher frequency bands are currently being explored to extend 5G NR operation beyond 52.6 GHz. For example, three higher operating bands have been identified as frequency range designations FR2-2 (52.6 GHz –71 GHz) , FR4 (71 GHz –114.25 GHz) , and FR5 (114.25 GHz –300 GHz) . Each of these higher frequency bands falls within the EHF band.

With the above aspects in mind, unless specifically stated otherwise, the term “sub-6 GHz” or the like if used herein may broadly represent frequencies that may be less than 6 GHz, may be within FR1, or may include mid-band frequencies. Further, unless specifically stated otherwise, the term “millimeter wave” or the like if used herein may broadly represent frequencies that may include mid-band frequencies, may be within FR2, FR4, FR2-2, and/or FR5, or may be within the EHF band.

The base station 102 and the UE 104 may each include a plurality of antennas, such as antenna elements, antenna panels, and/or antenna arrays to facilitate beamforming. The base station 102 may transmit a beamformed signal 182 to the UE 104 in one or more transmit directions. The UE 104 may receive the beamformed signal from the base station 102 in one or more receive directions. The UE 104 may also transmit a beamformed signal 184 to the base station 102 in one or more transmit directions. The base station 102 may receive the beamformed signal from the UE 104 in one or more receive directions. The base station 102 /UE 104 may perform beam training to determine the best receive and transmit directions for each of the base station 102 /UE 104. The transmit and receive directions for the base station 102 may or may not be the same. The transmit and receive directions for the UE 104 may or may not be the same.

The base station 102 may include and/or be referred to as a gNB, Node B, eNB, an access point, a base transceiver station, a radio base station, a radio transceiver, a transceiver function, a basic service set (BSS) , an extended service set (ESS) , a TRP, network node, network entity, network equipment, or some other suitable terminology. The base station 102 can be implemented as an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node, a relay node, a sidelink node, an aggregated (monolithic) base station with a baseband unit (BBU) (including a CU and a DU) and an RU, or as a disaggregated base station including one or more of a CU, a DU, and/or an RU. The set of base stations, which may include disaggregated base stations and/or aggregated base stations, may be referred to as next generation (NG) RAN (NG-RAN) .

The core network 120 may include an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) 161, a Session Management Function (SMF) 162, a User Plane Function (UPF) 163, a Unified Data Management (UDM) 164, one or more location servers 168, and other functional entities. The AMF 161 is the control node that processes the signaling between the UEs 104 and the core network 120. The AMF 161 supports registration management, connection management, mobility management, and other functions. The SMF 162 supports session management and other functions. The UPF 163 supports packet routing, packet forwarding, and other functions. The UDM 164 supports the generation of authentication and key agreement (AKA) credentials, user identification handling, access authorization, and subscription management. The one or more location servers 168 are illustrated as including a Gateway Mobile Location Center (GMLC) 165 and a Location Management Function (LMF) 166. However, generally, the one or more location servers 168 may include one or more location/positioning servers, which may include one or more of the GMLC 165, the LMF 166, a position determination entity (PDE) , a serving mobile location center (SMLC) , a mobile positioning center (MPC) , or the like. The GMLC 165 and the LMF 166 support UE location services. The GMLC 165 provides an interface for clients/applications (e.g., emergency services) for accessing UE positioning information. The LMF 166 receives measurements and assistance information from the NG-RAN and the UE 104 via the AMF 161 to compute the position of the UE 104. The NG-RAN may utilize one or more positioning methods in order to determine the position of the UE 104. Positioning the UE 104 may involve signal measurements, a position estimate, and an optional velocity computation based on the measurements. The signal measurements may be made by the UE 104 and/or the base station 102 serving the UE 104. The signals measured may be based on one or more of a satellite positioning system (SPS) 170 (e.g., one or more of a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) , global position system (GPS) , non-terrestrial network (NTN) , or other satellite position/location system) , LTE signals, wireless local area network (WLAN) signals, Bluetooth signals, a terrestrial beacon system (TBS) , sensor-based information (e.g., barometric pressure sensor, motion sensor) , NR enhanced cell ID (NR E-CID) methods, NR signals (e.g., multi-round trip time (Multi-RTT) , DL angle-of-departure (DL-AoD) , DL time difference of arrival (DL-TDOA) , UL time difference of arrival (UL-TDOA) , and UL angle-of-arrival (UL-AoA) positioning) , and/or other systems/signals/sensors.

Examples of UEs 104 include a cellular phone, a smart phone, a session initiation protocol (SIP) phone, a laptop, a personal digital assistant (PDA) , a satellite radio, a global positioning system, a multimedia device, a video device, a digital audio player (e.g., MP3 player) , a camera, a game console, a tablet, a smart device, a wearable device, a vehicle, an electric meter, a gas pump, a large or small kitchen appliance, a healthcare device, an implant, a sensor/actuator, a display, or any other similar functioning device. Some of the UEs 104 may be referred to as IoT devices (e.g., parking meter, gas pump, toaster, vehicles, heart monitor, etc. ) . The UE 104 may also be referred to as a station, a mobile station, a subscriber station, a mobile unit, a subscriber unit, a wireless unit, a remote unit, a mobile device, a wireless device, a wireless communications device, a remote device, a mobile subscriber station, an access terminal, a mobile terminal, a wireless terminal, a remote terminal, a handset, a user agent, a mobile client, a client, or some other suitable terminology. In some scenarios, the term UE may also apply to one or more companion devices such as in a device constellation arrangement. One or more of these devices may collectively access the network and/or individually access the network.

Referring again to FIG. 1, in certain aspects, the UE 104 may have a component 198 that may be configured to perform at least one communication operation in association with a remote UE over a relay path comprising a U2N link between the remote UE and the network node, where the at least one communication operation is associated with a network-initiated QoS flow and in accordance with a set of per-hop QoS profiles associated with the relay path.

In certain aspects, the base station 102 may have a component 199 that may be configured to obtain a hop count for a relay path between a remote UE and a first relay UE of a set of relay UEs, where the hop count is associated with a QoS profile for a QoS flow, where the relay path comprises the set of relay UEs between the remote UE and a network node. The component 199 may be configured to provide a first indication of the hop count, where the hop count is further associated with a set of PCC rules of an SDF. The component 199 may be configured to split the QoS profile for the QoS flow into a set of per-hop QoS profiles based on the hop count for the relay path. The component 199 may be configured to provide, for the first relay UE, the set of per-hop QoS profiles.

Accordingly, aspects provide for E2E QoS metrics /parameters such as link quality /E2E timing of SDFs to be met, and for flexibility in meeting the E2E QoS metrics /parameters, by enabling an SMF to determine a hop count for a relay path and split the E2E QoS profiles into Uu and PC5 QoS profiles based on the hop count, and provide for mixed PC5 QoS avoidance by enabling an SMF to separate SDFs with different hop counts into different QoS flows.

FIG. 2A is a diagram 200 illustrating an example of a first subframe within a 5G NR frame structure. FIG. 2B is a diagram 230 illustrating an example of DL channels within a 5G NR subframe. FIG. 2C is a diagram 250 illustrating an example of a second subframe within a 5G NR frame structure. FIG. 2D is a diagram 280 illustrating an example of UL channels within a 5G NR subframe. The 5G NR frame structure may be frequency division duplexed (FDD) in which for a particular set of subcarriers (carrier system bandwidth) , subframes within the set of subcarriers are dedicated for either DL or UL, or may be time division duplexed (TDD) in which for a particular set of subcarriers (carrier system bandwidth) , subframes within the set of subcarriers are dedicated for both DL and UL. In the examples provided by FIGs. 2A, 2C, the 5G NR frame structure is assumed to be TDD, with subframe 4 being configured with slot format 28 (with mostly DL) , where D is DL, U is UL, and F is flexible for use between DL/UL, and subframe 3 being configured with slot format 1 (with all UL) . While subframes 3, 4 are shown with slot formats 1, 28, respectively, any particular subframe may be configured with any of the various available slot formats 0-61. Slot formats 0, 1 are all DL, UL, respectively. Other slot formats 2-61 include a mix of DL, UL, and flexible symbols. UEs are configured with the slot format (dynamically through DL control information (DCI) , or semi-statically/statically through radio resource control (RRC) signaling) through a received slot format indicator (SFI) . Note that the description infra applies also to a 5G NR frame structure that is TDD.

FIGs. 2A-2D illustrate a frame structure, and the aspects of the present disclosure may be applicable to other wireless communication technologies, which may have a different frame structure and/or different channels. A frame (10 ms) may be divided into 10 equally sized subframes (1 ms) . Each subframe may include one or more time slots. Subframes may also include mini-slots, which may include 7, 4, or 2 symbols. Each slot may include 14 or 12 symbols, depending on whether the cyclic prefix (CP) is normal or extended. For normal CP, each slot may include 14 symbols, and for extended CP, each slot may include 12 symbols. The symbols on DL may be CP orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) (CP-OFDM) symbols. The symbols on UL may be CP-OFDM symbols (for high throughput scenarios) or discrete Fourier transform (DFT) spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) symbols (for power limited scenarios; limited to a single stream transmission) . The number of slots within a subframe is based on the CP and the numerology. The numerology defines the subcarrier spacing (SCS) (see Table 1) . The symbol length/duration may scale with 1/SCS.

Table 1: Numerology, SCS, and CP

For normal CP (14 symbols/slot) , different numerologies μ 0 to 4 allow for 1, 2, 4, 8, and 16 slots, respectively, per subframe. For extended CP, the numerology 2 allows for 4 slots per subframe. Accordingly, for normal CP and numerology μ, there are 14 symbols/slot and 2^μ slots/subframe. The subcarrier spacing may be equal to 2^μ*15 kHz, where μ is the numerology 0 to 4. As such, the numerology μ=0 has a subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz and the numerology μ=4 has a subcarrier spacing of 240 kHz. The symbol length/duration is inversely related to the subcarrier spacing. FIGs. 2A-2D provide an example of normal CP with 14 symbols per slot and numerology μ=2 with 4 slots per subframe. The slot duration is 0.25 ms, the subcarrier spacing is 60kHz, and the symbolduration is approximately 16.67μs. Within a set of frames, there may be one or more different bandwidth parts (BWPs) (see FIG. 2B) that are frequency division multiplexed. Each BWP may have a particular numerology and CP (normal or extended) .

A resource grid may be used to represent the frame structure. Each time slot includes a resource block (RB) (also referred to as physical RBs (PRBs) ) that extends 12 consecutive subcarriers. The resource grid is divided into multiple resource elements (REs) . The number of bits carried by each RE depends on the modulation scheme.

As illustrated in FIG. 2A, some of the REs carry reference (pilot) signals (RS) for the UE.The RS may include demodulation RS (DM-RS) (indicated as R for one particular configuration, but other DM-RS configurations are possible) and channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS) for channel estimation at the UE. The RS may also include beam measurement RS (BRS) , beam refinement RS (BRRS) , and phase tracking RS (PT-RS) .

FIG. 2B illustrates an example of various DL channels within a subframe of a frame. The physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) carries DCI within one or more control channel elements (CCEs) (e.g., 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16 CCEs) , each CCE including six RE groups (REGs) , each REG including 12 consecutive REs in an OFDM symbol of an RB. A PDCCH within one BWP may be referred to as a control resource set (CORESET) . A UE is configured to monitor PDCCH candidates in a PDCCH search space (e.g., common search space, UE-specific search space) during PDCCH monitoring occasions on the CORESET, where the PDCCH candidates have different DCI formats and different aggregation levels. Additional BWPs may be located at greater and/or lower frequencies across the channel bandwidth. A primary synchronization signal (PSS) may be within symbol 2 of particular subframes of a frame. The PSS is used by a UE 104 to determine subframe/symbol timing and a physical layer identity. A secondary synchronization signal (SSS) may be within symbol 4 of particular subframes of a frame. The SSS is used by a UE to determine a physical layer cell identity group number and radio frame timing. Based on the physical layer identity and the physical layer cell identity group number, the UE can determine a physical cell identifier (PCI) . Based on the PCI, the UE can determine the locations of the DM-RS. The physical broadcast channel (PBCH) , which carries a master information block (MIB) , may be logically grouped with the PSS and SSS to form a synchronization signal (SS) /PBCH block (also referred to as SS block (SSB) ) . The MIB provides a number of RBs in the system bandwidth and a system frame number (SFN) . The physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) carries user data, broadcast system information not transmitted through the PBCH such as system information blocks (SIBs) , and paging messages.

As illustrated in FIG. 2C, some of the REs carry DM-RS (indicated as R for one particular configuration, but other DM-RS configurations are possible) for channel estimation at the base station. The UE may transmit DM-RS for the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) and DM-RS for the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) . The PUSCH DM-RS may be transmitted in the first one or two symbols of the PUSCH. The PUCCH DM-RS may be transmitted in different configurations depending on whether short or long PUCCHs are transmitted and depending on the particular PUCCH format used. The UE may transmit sounding reference signals (SRS) . The SRS may be transmitted in the last symbol of a subframe. The SRS may have a comb structure, and a UE may transmit SRS on one of the combs. The SRS may be used by a base station for channel quality estimation to enable frequency-dependent scheduling on the UL.

FIG. 2D illustrates an example of various UL channels within a subframe of a frame. The PUCCH may be located as indicated in one configuration. The PUCCH carries uplink control information (UCI) , such as scheduling requests, a channel quality indicator (CQI) , a precoding matrix indicator (PMI) , a rank indicator (RI) , and hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) acknowledgment (ACK) (HARQ-ACK) feedback (i.e., one or more HARQ ACK bits indicating one or more ACK and/or negative ACK (NACK) ) . The PUSCH carries data, and may additionally be used to carry a buffer status report (BSR) , a power headroom report (PHR) , and/or UCI.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a base station 310 in communication with a UE 350 in an access network. In the DL, Internet protocol (IP) packets may be provided to a controller/processor 375. The controller/processor 375 implements layer 3 and layer 2 functionality. Layer 3 includes a radio resource control (RRC) layer, and layer 2 includes a service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) layer, a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer, and a medium access control (MAC) layer. The controller/processor 375 provides RRC layer functionality associated with broadcasting of system information (e.g., MIB, SIBs) , RRC connection control (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connection modification, and RRC connection release) , inter radio access technology (RAT) mobility, and measurement configuration for UE measurement reporting; PDCP layer functionality associated with header compression /decompression, security (ciphering, deciphering, integrity protection, integrity verification) , and handover support functions; RLC layer functionality associated with the transfer of upper layer packet data units (PDUs) , error correction through ARQ, concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC service data units (SDUs) , re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functionality associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC SDUs onto transport blocks (TBs) , demultiplexing of MAC SDUs from TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction through HARQ, priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

The transmit (TX) processor 316 and the receive (RX) processor 370 implement layer 1 functionality associated with various signal processing functions. Layer 1, which includes a physical (PHY) layer, may include error detection on the transport channels, forward error correction (FEC) coding/decoding of the transport channels, interleaving, rate matching, mapping onto physical channels, modulation/demodulation of physical channels, and MIMO antenna processing. The TX processor 316 handles mapping to signal constellations based on various modulation schemes (e.g., binary phase-shift keying (BPSK) , quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK) , M-phase-shift keying (M-PSK) , M-quadrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM) ) . The coded and modulated symbols may then be split into parallel streams. Each stream may then be mapped to an OFDM subcarrier, multiplexed with a reference signal (e.g., pilot) in the time and/or frequency domain, and then combined together using an Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) to produce a physical channel carrying a time domain OFDM symbol stream. The OFDM stream is spatially precoded to produce multiple spatial streams. Channel estimates from a channel estimator 374 may be used to determine the coding and modulation scheme, as well as for spatial processing. The channel estimate may be derived from a reference signal and/or channel condition feedback transmitted by the UE 350. Each spatial stream may then be provided to a different antenna 320 via a separate transmitter 318Tx. Each transmitter 318Tx may modulate a radio frequency (RF) carrier with a respective spatial stream for transmission.

At the UE 350, each receiver 354Rx receives a signal through its respective antenna 352. Each receiver 354Rx recovers information modulated onto an RF carrier and provides the information to the receive (RX) processor 356. The TX processor 368 and the RX processor 356 implement layer 1 functionality associated with various signal processing functions. The RX processor 356 may perform spatial processing on the information to recover any spatial streams destined for the UE 350. If multiple spatial streams are destined for the UE 350, they may be combined by the RX processor 356 into a single OFDM symbol stream. The RX processor 356 then converts the OFDM symbol stream from the time-domain to the frequency domain using a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) . The frequency domain signal includes a separate OFDM symbol stream for each subcarrier of the OFDM signal. The symbols on each subcarrier, and the reference signal, are recovered and demodulated by determining the most likely signal constellation points transmitted by the base station 310. These soft decisions may be based on channel estimates computed by the channel estimator 358. The soft decisions are then decoded and deinterleaved to recover the data and control signals that were originally transmitted by the base station 310 on the physical channel. The data and control signals are then provided to the controller/processor 359, which implements layer 3 and layer 2 functionality.

The controller/processor 359 can be associated with at least one memory 360 that stores program codes and data. The at least one memory 360 may be referred to as a computer-readable medium. In the UL, the controller/processor 359 provides demultiplexing between transport and logical channels, packet reassembly, deciphering, header decompression, and control signal processing to recover IP packets. The controller/processor 359 is also responsible for error detection using an ACK and/or NACK protocol to support HARQ operations.

Similar to the functionality described in connection with the DL transmission by the base station 310, the controller/processor 359 provides RRC layer functionality associated with system information (e.g., MIB, SIBs) acquisition, RRC connections, and measurement reporting; PDCP layer functionality associated with header compression /decompression, and security (ciphering, deciphering, integrity protection, integrity verification) ; RLC layer functionality associated with the transfer of upper layer PDUs, error correction through ARQ, concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC SDUs, re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functionality associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC SDUs onto TBs, demultiplexing of MAC SDUs from TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction through HARQ, priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

Channel estimates derived by a channel estimator 358 from a reference signal or feedback transmitted by the base station 310 may be used by the TX processor 368 to select the appropriate coding and modulation schemes, and to facilitate spatial processing. The spatial streams generated by the TX processor 368 may be provided to different antenna 352 via separate transmitters 354Tx. Each transmitter 354Tx may modulate an RF carrier with a respective spatial stream for transmission.

The UL transmission is processed at the base station 310 in a manner similar to that described in connection with the receiver function at the UE 350. Each receiver 318Rx receives a signal through its respective antenna 320. Each receiver 318Rx recovers information modulated onto an RF carrier and provides the information to a RX processor 370.

The controller/processor 375 can be associated with at least one memory 376 that stores program codes and data. The at least one memory 376 may be referred to as a computer-readable medium. In the UL, the controller/processor 375 provides demultiplexing between transport and logical channels, packet reassembly, deciphering, header decompression, control signal processing to recover IP packets. The controller/processor 375 is also responsible for error detection using an ACK and/or NACK protocol to support HARQ operations.

At least one of the TX processor 368, the RX processor 356, and the controller/processor 359 may be configured to perform aspects in connection with the component 198 of FIG. 1.

At least one of the TX processor 316, the RX processor 370, and the controller/processor 375 may be configured to perform aspects in connection with the component 199 of FIG. 1.

A UE in a wireless communication network may communicate in various configurations and using various communication schema via a network node, a network entity, and/or an application server (or the like) beyond the core network. One example communication scheme, one or more UE relays between a remote UE and the network node may be configured to provide a U2N communication path between the UE and the network node. For utilization of SDFs associated with applications /communication traffic services beyond the core network, QoS flows may be utilized to ensure /improve performance in view of QoS metrics /parameters such as link quality /E2E timing of the SDFs. However, QoS flow establishment initiated by a network, e.g., by an SMF, presents issues with meeting the QoS metrics /parameters (e.g., link quality /E2E timing of the SDFs) in multi-hop relays. For instance, a PCF may not know how many hops are between a first relay UE in a downstream relay path to a remote UE. Accordingly, the PCF cannot properly determine the PCC rules as for single-hop relays. Further, the SMF may not know how many hops there are to the Remote UE, and therefore, the SMF cannot properly determine the per-hop QoS. Additionally, the SMF may bind traffic for different remote UEs to the same QoS flow, resulting in mixed PC5 QoS implementations.

FIG. 4 is a diagram 400 illustrating examples of UE-to-network (U2N) relaying. Diagram 400 shows a single-hop U2N relay and a multi-hop U2N sidelink relay between a remote UE 402 and a network 406 (e.g., a 5G network and/or the like) .

For the single-hop U2N relay, the remote UE 402 may communicate with the network 406 via a relay path that includes a single relay UE, e.g., the relay UE 404. In some configurations, the relay path may include one or more per-hop links associated with the relay UE 404. As illustrated, the single-hop U2N relay may provide for a network coverage extension for the network 406 via the relay UE 404.

For the multi-hop U2N sidelink relay, the remote UE 402 may communicate with the network 406 via a relay path that includes multiple relay UEs, e.g., the relay UE 404 and additional relay UEs: a relay UE 404a, a relay UE 404b, a relay UE 404c, a relay UE 404d, and a relay UE 404e (shown by way of example, while other numbers of additional relay UEs may be utilized) . In some configurations, the relay path may include per-hop links associated with the relay UE 404 and the additional relay UEs of the relay path. As illustrated, the single-hop U2N relay may provide for a network coverage extension for the network 406 and/or a sidelink coverage extension via the relay UE 404 and the additional relay UEs: the relay UE 404a, the relay UE 404b, the relay UE 404c, the relay UE 404d, and the relay UE 404e.

FIG. 5 is a diagram 500 illustrating an example basic QoS handling for U2N relaying. The flow for basic QoS handling for U2N relaying is illustrated by diagram 500 in the context of a UE 512 (e.g., a remote UE) , a UE 514 (e.g., a relay UE) , an NG-RAN 516 and a 5G core network (5G-C 518) (generally, “the network” ) , and an application server 520. For a 5G proximity-based Services (ProSe) layer 3 remote UE (e.g., the UE 512) accessing the network via 5G ProSe layer 3 U2E relay UE /relay path (generally, “aU2E relay” or the relay UE 514) , the QoS metrics /parameters of the relay traffic between 5G ProSe layer 3 remote UE and a UPF may be satisfied by the corresponding QoS control for the PC5 link between the 5G ProSe layer 3 remote UE and the 5G ProSe layer 3 U2E relay (e.g., PC5 QoS control) and the QoS control for the PDU session established between the 5G ProSe layer 3 U2E relay and the UPF (e.g., a Uu QoS control) . The PC5 QoS may be controlled with PC5 QoS rules and PC5 QoS parameters (e.g., a PC5 QoS indicator (PQI) , a guaranteed flow bit rate (GFBR) , a maximum flow bit rate (MFBR) , PC5 link aggregate maximum bit rate (LINK-AMBR) , etc., in association with a 3GPP technical specification (s) ) . The QoS for the PDU session established between the 5G ProSe layer 3 U2E relay and the UPF (e.g., Uu QoS control) may be controlled with QoS rules and 5G QoS parameters (e.g., a 5G QoS indicator (5QI) , GFBR, MFBR, etc. ) . The QoS mapping may be pre-configured or provided to the 5G ProSe layer 3 U2E relay by PCF of the 5G-C 518 using a ProSe policy. The QoS mapping may include combinations of the 5QIs and PQIs mapping as entries, where the PQI and the 5QI may have standardized values as defined in association with a 3GPP technical specification (s) .

If the QoS flows setup are initiated by the network, an SMF of the 5G-C 518, based on the PCC rules or its local configuration, may generate the QoS rules and QoS flow level QoS parameters (e.g., 5QI, GFBR, MFBR) and signal to the 5G ProSe Layer-3 U2N relay using a PDU session establishment /modification procedure. For the PDU sessions used for relaying, the SMF may provide the QoS flow level QoS parameters to the 5G ProSe Layer-3 U2N relay when establishing a QoS flow. Then the 5G ProSe Layer-3 U2N relay may decide the PC5 QoS parameters for the corresponding PC5 QoS flow by determining the PQI based the QoS mapping. The GFBR and MFBR values for the PC5 guaranteed bit rate (GBR) QoS flow may be set as equal to the GFBR and MFBR values for the GBR QoS flow, respectively. The PCF may differentiate the relay traffic based on either a local configuration, e.g., by a dedicated data network name (DNN) or single network slice selection assistance information (S-NSSAI) used for relay traffic, or by the traffic filters.

In some examples for network-initiated QoS flow establishment, an SMF may inform a PCF of a hop count for /to a remote UE so that the PCC rules for the SDF can be generated accordingly. In aspects, a hop count may be a number of hops between relay UEs in a relay path, or may be a number of relay UEs in the relay path. As examples, an SMF may obtain a hop count for a remote UE from: a first relay UE utilizing a remote UE report, or an IP prefix delegation procedure when allocating an IP prefix to a remote UE. As another example, a PCF may provide an IPv6 address structure to the SMF so that the SMF may identify /learn /determine the hop count from IPv6 address. In some examples, the SMF may perform a QoS split for the QoS flows for the remote UE, which may not rely on the PCF. The SMF may identify /learn /determine the hop count based on or using the examples noted above. The SMF may also be configured to not bind different SDFs into the same QoS flows. In some examples, a static split configuration on the SMF may be utilized. As an example, the SMF may use an assumed split ratio of Uu and PC5 QoS flows (e.g., leaving 20 ms for PC5 QoS) , regardless of the hop count associated with the relay path. That is, the multi-hop PC5 QoS split may be performed when the hop count is within a limit (e.g., less than 4 hops) .

Aspects described herein for network-initiated QoS handling for multi-hop U2N relay operation enable proper settings of PCC rules for network-initiated QoS handling for multi-hop U2N relay operation by obtaining /identifying, at an SMF, a hop count for a U2N relay path between a remote UE and a first relay UE. Aspects also enable the meeting of E2E QoS metrics /parameters such as link quality /E2E timing of SDFs and enable flexibility in meeting the E2E QoS metrics /parameters by splitting E2E QoS profiles based on hop counts, at an SMF, into Uu and PC5 QoS profiles for a U2N relay path. Aspects also enable avoidance of mixed PC5 QoS flows by configuring an SMF to separate SDFs with different hop counts into different QoS flows.

FIG. 6 is a call flow diagram 600 for wireless communications, in various aspects. Call flow diagram 600 illustrates network-initiated QoS handling for multi-hop U2N relay operation, e.g., by an SMF 605, for a first wireless device (aremote UE 602, by way of example) . A plurality of relay UEs (e.g., instances of a relay UE 603, by way of example) comprise a relay path between the remote UE 602 and a network node such as a base station 604 (e.g., a gNB, a portion thereof, or other type of base station) . A network entity of a core network (e.g., the SMF 605, a PCF 652, and/or the like) may communicate with each other and/or the UEs, in aspects for the illustrated example of network-initiated QoS handling for multi-hop U2N relay operation. The remote UE 602 may communicate with an application server (AS) 650 (e.g., for an application, communication traffic services, etc. ) , by way of example, as shown and described herein, in various aspects in accordance with a network-initiated QoS flow /SDF. Aspects described for the base station 604, the SMF 605, the PCF 652, and/or the like, of the core network, and for network nodes /entities herein, generally, may be performed in aggregated form and/or by one or more components in disaggregated form. Additionally, or alternatively, the aspects may be performed by the remote UE 602 and/or the relay UE 603 autonomously, in addition to, and/or in lieu of, operations of the base station 604, the SMF 605, the PCF 652, and/or the application server 650.

In the illustrated aspect, a network entity (e.g., of a core network) may be configured to initiate a QoS flow setup or modification. For instance, the SMF 605 may be configured to initiate (at 606) a QoS flow setup (e.g., an initialization) or modification, in aspects. As one example, in a QoS flow to be established /initialized by the SMF 605, a QoS profile, such as an E2E QoS profile by way of example, associated with the QoS flow may be split by the SMF 605, into a set of per-hop QoS profiles based on the hop count for a relay path.

The SMF 605 may be configured to obtain (at 608) a hop count for the relay path, e.g., a U2N link, between the remote UE 602 and a first relay UE, e.g., the relay UE 603, of a set of relay UEs. The hop count may correspond to a number of relay UEs (e.g., instances of the relay UE 603, in the relay path and may be associated with the QoS profile for the QoS flow, e.g., that is being initiated /modified by the SMF 605. In aspects, the relay path may comprise a set of relay UEs between the remote UE 602 and the network node, e.g., the base station 604.

In aspects, the SMF 605 may be configured to obtain (at 608) the hop count for the relay path, including to receive, from the relay UE 603, a second indication that is indicative of the hop count for the relay path. The second indication may comprise at least one of a user information identifier (ID) associated with the remote UE 602, the hop count, optional IP or Ethernet address information, or a remote UE report associated with the remote UE 602. In aspects, the first indication may include one or more of the user information ID, the optional IP or Ethernet address information, or the remote UE report associated with the remote UE 602. The SMF 605 may be configured to receive, from the first relay UE, e.g., the relay UE 603, the second indication based on a layer 2 link initialization between the remote UE 602 and an ultimate relay UE of the set of relay UEs (e.g., a last relay UE downstream from the base station 604) , and a set of respective updates for layer 2 links between the ultimate relay UE of the set of relay UEs and the first relay UE for each relay UE of the set of relay UEs. The set of respective updates for the layer 2 links may be associated with respective QoS flows and may be indicative of the second indication.

In aspects, to obtain (at 608) the hop count for the relay path, the SMF 605 may be configured to provide, for the remote UE 602, an IP prefix delegation request, and to receive, from the remote UE 602, an IP delegation response that includes a second indication that is indicative of the hop count for the relay path. The second indication included in the IP prefix delegation response may be based on dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) signaling, between the first relay UE and the remote UE 602 or between the network entity (e.g., the SMF 605) and the remote UE 602, that includes the hop count for the relay path. In aspects, the IP prefix delegation response may include an IP prefix associated with the remote UE 602.

In some aspects, to obtain (at 608) the hop count for the relay path, the SMF 605 may be configured to receive, from the PCF 652, an address management rule. The address management rule may be associated with multi-hop relays, and may include at least one of a set of IP address information or a set of Ethernet address information. In aspects, each of the set of IP address information or the set of Ethernet address information may respectively comprise at least one of an IP address or an IP address prefix range for a different hop count in an associated multi-hop relay path, or an Ethernet address. In such aspects, as part of obtaining (at 608) the hop count for the relay path, the SMF 605 may be configured to allocate at least one of IP address information of the set of IP address information or Ethernet address information of the set of Ethernet address information for the set of PCC rules of the SDF in accordance with the IP address information or the Ethernet address information being associated with a same hop count as the relay path.

The SMF 605 may be configured to provide a first indication 610 of the hop count. The hop count may be further associated with a set of PCC rules of an SDF. The SMF 605 may be configured to provide, to the PCF 652, the first indication 610 of the hop count. The SMF 605 may be configured to provide, to the PCF 652, the first indication 610 of the hop count and the IP prefix. The PCF 652 may adjust the PCC rules associated with the SDF in accordance with the hop count.

In aspects, the relay path may comprise a UE-to-network (U2N) link between the remote UE 602 and the SMF 605 (e.g., as a network node) . In such aspects, the QoS profile may be an E2E QoS profile, and the SMF 605 may be configured to split (at 612) the QoS profile for the QoS flow into a set of per-hop QoS profiles 614 based on the hop count for the relay path. The SMF 605 may also be configured to provide the set of per-hop QoS profiles 614 for the relay UE 603 (e.g., as a first relay UE in the relay path) . In aspects, each of the set of per-hop QoS profiles 614 may be associated with PC5 signaling. In some aspects, the QoS flow for the SDF associated with the hop count may be different than another QoS for another SDF associated with another hop count that is different from the hop count based on at least one of a PCC rule indication or standardized criteria. In aspects, to split (at 612) the QoS profile for the QoS flow into the set of per-hop QoS profiles 614, the SMF 605 may be configured to split (at 612) the QoS profile for the QoS flow into the set of per-hop QoS profiles 614 further based on a splitting ratio associated with the hop count. The splitting ratio may be indicative of a time period that is set aside from a packet delay budget (PDB) of the QoS profile in accordance with a threshold hop count. In some aspects, the splitting ratio may indicate that the time period may be, or may approximately be, 20 ms for a hop count that equals 4 that equals 4 or less. The SMF 605, to provide the set of per-hop QoS profiles 614, may be configured to receive, from a relay UE (e.g., the relay UE 603 or another instance thereof) of the set of relay UEs, a rejection indication that is indicative of an establishment rejection for the QoS flow based on the threshold hop count being exceeded.

In aspects, the remote UE 602 may exchange a communication (s) 616 with the application server 650 (e.g., for an application, communication traffic services, etc. ) , by way of example, in various aspects in accordance with a network-initiated QoS flow /SDF being successfully initiated or modified. As an example, the remote UE 602 may be configured to perform at least one communication operation in association with a remote UE over a relay path comprising a U2N link between the remote UE and the network node, where the at least one communication operation is associated with a network-initiated QoS flow and in accordance with a set of per-hop QoS profiles associated with the relay path.

FIG. 7 is a diagram 700 illustrating examples of network-initiated QoS handling for multi-hop U2N relay operation, in various aspects. Diagram 700 shows a remote UE 702, a first relay UE (e.g., a relay UE 703c) , a second relay UE (e.g., a relay UE 703b) , a third relay UE (e.g., a relay UE 703a) , a base station 704 (e.g., a gNB, a portion thereof, and/or the like of a RAN) , an SMF 705 (e.g., of a core network) , and a PCF 752. A set of relay UEs 707 may include the first (or initial, from a downstream perspective) relay UE (e.g., the relay UE 703a) , the second relay UE (e.g., the relay UE 703b) , and the third (or ultimate, from a downstream perspective) relay UE (e.g., the relay UE 703a) , by way of example and not limitation, and may represent a relay path 708 (e.g., a multi-hop U2N relay) with multiple instances of a hop 710 (which may or may not be identical or similar) over which PC5 signaling may be performed. Diagram 700 is shown, by way of example, for a layer 3 flow. Diagram 700 may be an aspect of call flow diagram 600 in FIG. 6 in which the PCF 752 may be informed of a hop count 738 (e.g., a number of hops to the remote UE 702) by the SMF 705.

As noted herein, an SMF such as the SMF 705 may be configured to initiate (at 712) a QoS flow setup or modification for communications between the remote UE 702 and an application server (e.g., for an application, communication traffic services, etc. ) , by way of example, in various aspects in accordance with a network-initiated QoS flow /SDF being successfully initiated or modified.

In aspects, as shown for a configuration 770, the SMF 705 may be configured to obtain the hop count 738 from a first relay UE of the set of relay UEs 706 in the relay path 708, such as the relay UE 703a, e.g., as a remote UE report 722. According to aspects, PC5 link establishment signaling and link modification signaling may be enhanced. For instance, after the remote UE 702 establishes a layer 2 link 716 with the relay UE 703c, the relay UE 703c may update its link with the relay UE 703b using a layer 2 link modification procedure 718, but with additional information, in accordance with aspects herein. As one example, for the QoS information and the PC5 QoS rule (s) of the PC5 QoS flow that are associated with the remote UE 702 over the link between the relay UE 703b and the relay UE 703c, the following information for the remote UE 702 (e.g., remote UE information) may be added: a user information ID, the hop count 738, and optional IP /Ethernet address information, e.g., {User Info ID, Hop Count, optional IP/Ethernet address Info} . The hop count 738 may be calculated /identified by the relay UE 703c based on how many of the hops 710 are visible from the relay UE 703a.

In turn, the relay UE 703b may modify its link with relay UE 703a using a layer 2 link modification procedure 720, also adding a PC5 QoS Flow with the added remote UE information above (e.g., the user information ID, the hop count 738, and the optional IP /Ethernet address information) for the remote UE 702. The relay UE 703a may thus obtain the information of the remote UE 702 and may include such information in the remote UE report 722 of the remote UE 702 to the SMF 705. That is, aspects herein provide for the hop count 738, as additional information, to be provided as an indication of the number of hops in the relay path 708, to the SMF 705 as remote UE information 724. The SMF 705 may thus be configured to inform the PCF 752 (e.g., by transmitting /providing regarding the corresponding IP/Ethernet address and the hop count 738. The PCF 752 may adjust (at 736) the PCC rules associated with the SDF for the indicated IP/Ethernet address and take the multi-hop PC5 QoS into account.

In aspects, as shown for a configuration 780, the SMF 705 may be configured to obtain (at 714) the hop count 738 via an IP prefix delegation request 726. According to aspects, the remote UE 702 may obtain the IP prefix /address via the relay UE 703a using signaling for DHCPv6 for a prefix delegation 728. The signaling for DHCPv6 for the prefix delegation 728 may be expanded, according to aspects herein, to include the hop count 738 of the remote UE 702. The SMF 705 may be configured to receive, from the remote UE 702, an IP prefix delegation response 730 that includes the hop count 738. Accordingly, aspects enable the SMF 705 to learn /obtain (at 714) the PC5 hop counts associated with the IP prefix allocated to the remote UE 702. The SMF 705 may be configured to then inform the PCF 752 of the IP prefix delegation, e.g., the IP prefix and the hop count 738 associated therewith. The PCF 752 may adjust (at 736) the PCC rules associated with the SDF for the indicated IP prefix and take the multi-hop PC5 QoS into account.

In aspects, as shown for a configuration 790, the SMF 705 may be configured to obtain (at 714) the hop count 738 from the PCF 752. As an example, the PCF 752 may inform the SMF 705 regarding an IP prefix /address or an Ethernet address structure for different ones of the hops 710. According to aspects, the PCF 752 may provide, and the SMF 705 may be configured to receive, an address management rule (AMR) 732 that supports multi-hop relays (e.g., multiple ones of the hop 710 for the set of relay UEs 706 of the relay path 708) and indicates a set of management structures. In aspects, the address management rule 732 may indicate a set of management structures as address /prefix ranges that correspond to hop counts with different numbers of the hop 710. As an example, the address management rule 732 may indicate (i) a first address /prefix range that applies to single-hop remote UEs, (ii) a second address /prefix range that applies to two-hop remote UEs, (iii) a third address /prefix range that applies to three-hop remote UEs, (iv) a fourth address /prefix range that applies to four-hop remote UEs, etc. The SMF 705 may be configured to allocate (at 734) an address /prefix in accordance with the address management rule 732, e.g., based on the address /prefix range indicated therein, which corresponds to the hop count 738. In aspects, the PCF 752 may be configured to generate (at 736) PCC rules according to the address structure indicated in the address management rule 732.

FIG. 8 is a diagram 800 illustrating examples of network-initiated QoS handling for multi-hop U2N relay operation, in various aspects. Diagram 800 shows a remote UE 802, a first relay UE (e.g., a relay UE 803c) , a second relay UE (e.g., a relay UE 803b) , a third relay UE (e.g., a relay UE 803a) , a base station 804 (e.g., a gNB, a portion thereof, and/or the like of a RAN) , an SMF 805 (e.g., of a core network) , and a PCF 852. A set of relay UEs 808 may include the first (or initial, from a downstream perspective) relay UE (e.g., the relay UE 803a) , the second relay UE (e.g., the relay UE 803b) , and the third (or ultimate, from a downstream perspective) relay UE (e.g., the relay UE 803a) , by way of example and not limitation, and may represent a relay path 808 (e.g., a multi-hop U2N relay) with multiple instances of a hop 810 (which may or may not be identical or similar) over which PC5 signaling may be performed. Diagram 800 is shown, by way of example, for a layer 3 flow. Diagram 800 may be an aspect of call flow diagram 600 in FIG. 6 and/or diagram 700 in FIG. 7 in which the SMF 805 may be configured to split an E2E QoS profile into a Uu QoS profile and a PC5 QoS profile.

In aspects, for a configuration utilizing SMF-based QoS splitting, the SMF 805 may be configured to adjust the QoS parameters for a Uu link, taking into account of a number of hops 810, e.g., a hop count 838, for a set of relay UEs 806 of the relay path 808. That is, rather than relying on the PCF 852 to adjust the PCC rules and associated QoS specifications, e.g., as described above with respect to FIG. 7, the SMF 805 may be configured to adjust the QoS parameters for the Uu link, while considering the hops 810 of the relay path 808.

The SMF 805 may be configured to initiate a QoS flow and/or obtain the hop count 838 associated with an SDF, as described herein (e.g., in FIGs. 6, 7) . In aspects, the SMF 805 may be configured to keep the SDFs (for remote UEs such as the remote UE 802) with different hop counts as different QoS flows, during the QoS flow binding process. As one example, the SMF 805 may be configured to split (at 812) a QoS profile (e.g., an E2E QoS profile) for a QoS flow into a set of per-hop QoS profiles 822 based on the hop count 838 for the relay path 808. In aspects, the set of per-hop QoS profiles 822 may include a first per-hop QoS profile (e.g., for a split QoS for Uu 814) and a second per-hop QoS profile (e.g., for a split QoS for PC5 816) .

The SMF 805 may be configured to keep the SDFs with different hop counts as different QoS flows (e.g., QoS flow hop exclusivity) based on a PCC rule indication and/or standardized criteria. As an example, a first SDF with a first hop count of 3 will be bound to a first QoS flow, while a second SDF with a second hop count of 4 will be bound to a second QoS flow that is different than the first QoS flow. Accordingly, aspects provide for the separation of QoS flows based on multi-hop characteristics, e.g., the hop count 838, to ensure that a given E2E QoS may be unaffected by different PC5 hops.

The SMF 805 may be configured to adjust (at 820) QoS parameters for a Uu link associated with the first per-hop QoS profile (e.g., for the split QoS for Uu 814) of the set of per-hop QoS profiles 822. In aspects, the SMF 805 may be configured to inform (e.g., transmit to /provide for) the relay UE 803a of the split QoS for Uu 814 and/or the split QoS for PC5 816 (e.g., the set of set of per-hop QoS profiles 822) . The relay UE 803a may be configured to further derive (at 824) the split QoS for PC5 816 for downstream hops (e.g., the hops 810) in the relay path 808 for the set of relay UEs 806, which may include further, respective derivation (at 824) of per-hop profiles of the split QoS for PC5 816.

In aspects, for a configuration utilizing a splitting ratio for static configuration-based splitting, the SMF 805 may be configured to initiate a QoS flow, as described herein (e.g., in FIGs. 6, 7) . In aspects, the SMF 805 may be configured with, or may be configured to obtain in association with PCC rules, a splitting ratio 811 associated with the hop count 838. The splitting ratio 811 may be indicative of a time period that is set aside from a PDB of the E2E QoS profile in accordance with a threshold hop count, e.g., such that the E2E QoS may be met while the hop count 838 meets a condition for the hop count threshold. In some aspects, the splitting ratio 811 may indicate that the time period may be, or may approximately be, 20 ms for a hop count that equals 4 or less. As an example, the splitting ratio 811 may be utilized to split (at 812) a QoS profile for a QoS flow into the split QoS for Uu 814 and/or the split QoS for PC5 816 (e.g., the set of set of per-hop QoS profiles 822) , e.g., leaving 20 ms for the PC5 QoS, regardless of the hop count associated with the relay path. That is, the multi-hop PC5 QoS split may be performed when the hop count is within a limit (e.g., less than 4 hops) .

The SMF 805 may be configured to adjust (at 820) QoS parameters for a Uu link associated with the first per-hop QoS profile (e.g., for the split QoS for Uu 814) of the set of per-hop QoS profiles 822. In aspects, the SMF 805 may be configured to inform (e.g., transmit to /provide for) the relay UE 803a of the split QoS for Uu 814 and/or the split QoS for PC5 816 (e.g., the set of set of per-hop QoS profiles 822) . The relay UE 803a may be configured to further derive (at 824) the split QoS for PC5 816 for downstream hops (e.g., the hops 810) in the relay path 808 for the set of relay UEs 806, which may include further, respective derivation (at 824) of per-hop profiles of the split QoS for PC5 816. In aspects, if the hop count 838 exceeds the hop count threshold of the hops 810, the QoS flow establishment may be rejected. For instance, the SMF 805 may be configured to receive, from a relay UE of the set of relay UEs 806, a rejection indication 826 that is indicative of an establishment rejection for the QoS flow based on the threshold hop count being exceeded.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart 900 of a method of wireless communication. The method may be performed by a network entity (e.g., the base station 102; the SMF 605, 705, 805; the network entity 1102, 1202, 1360) . In some aspects, the method may include aspects described in connection with the communication flows in FIG. 6, and/or aspects described in FIGs. 4, 5, 7, 8. The method may be for network-initiated QoS handling for multi-hop U2N relay operation. The method may provide for E2E QoS metrics /parameters such as link quality /E2E timing of SDFs to be met, and for flexibility in meeting the E2E QoS metrics /parameters, by enabling an SMF to determine a hop count for a relay path and split the E2E QoS profiles into Uu and PC5 QoS profiles based on the hop count, and provide for mixed PC5 QoS avoidance by enabling an SMF to separate SDFs with different hop counts into different QoS flows.

At 902, the network node obtains a hop count for a relay path between a remote UE and a first relay UE of a set of relay UEs, where the hop count is associated with a QoS profile for a QoS flow, where the relay path comprises the set of relay UEs between the remote UE and a network node. As an example, the obtainment may be performed by one or more of the component 199, the transceiver (s) 1246, the antennas 1280 in FIG. 12, and/or the network interface 1380 in FIG. 13. FIG. 6 illustrates, in the context of FIGs. 7, 8, an example of the SMF 605 obtaining such a hop count of a relay path.

A network entity (e.g., of a core network) may be configured to initiate a QoS flow setup or modification. For instance, the SMF 605 may be configured to initiate (at 606) a QoS flow setup (e.g., an initialization) or modification, in aspects. As one example, in a QoS flow to be established /initialized by the SMF 605, a QoS profile, such as an E2E QoS profile by way of example, associated with the QoS flow may be split by the SMF 605, into a set of per-hop QoS profiles based on the hop count for a relay path. With respect to FIG. 7, an SMF such as the SMF 705 may be configured to initiate (at 712) a QoS flow setup or modification for communications between the remote UE 702 and an application server (e.g., for an application, communication traffic services, etc. ) , by way of example, in various aspects in accordance with a network-initiated QoS flow /SDF being successfully initiated or modified. With respect to FIG. 8, for a configuration utilizing SMF-based QoS splitting, the SMF 805 may be configured to adjust the QoS parameters for a Uu link, taking into account of a number of hops 810, e.g., a hop count 838, for a set of relay UEs 806 of the relay path 808. That is, rather than relying on the PCF 852 to adjust the PCC rules and associated QoS specifications, e.g., as described above with respect to FIG. 7, the SMF 805 may be configured to adjust the QoS parameters for the Uu link, while considering the hops 810 of the relay path 808. The SMF 805 may be configured to initiate a QoS flow and/or obtain the hop count 838 associated with an SDF, as described herein (e.g., in FIGs. 6, 7) .

With respect to FIG. 7, the SMF 705 may be configured to obtain the hop count 738 from a first relay UE of the set of relay UEs 706 in the relay path 708, such as the relay UE 703a, e.g., as a remote UE report 722. According to aspects, PC5 link establishment signaling and link modification signaling may be enhanced. For instance, after the remote UE 702 establishes a layer 2 link 716 with the relay UE 703c, the relay UE 703c may update its link with the relay UE 703b using a layer 2 link modification procedure 718, but with additional information, in accordance with aspects herein. As one example, for the QoS information and the PC5 QoS rule (s) of the PC5 QoS flow that are associated with the remote UE 702 over the link between the relay UE 703b and the relay UE 703c, the following information for the remote UE 702 (e.g., remote UE information) may be added: a user information ID, the hop count 738, and optional IP /Ethernet address information, e.g., {User Info ID, Hop Count, optional IP/Ethernet address Info} . The hop count 738 may be calculated / identified by the relay UE 703c based on how many of the hops 710 are visible from the relay UE 703a.

At 904, the network node provides a first indication of the hop count, where the hop count is further associated with a set of PCC rules of an SDF. As an example, the provision /transmission may be performed by one or more of the component 199, the transceiver (s) 1246, the antennas 1280 in FIG. 12, and/or the network interface 1380 in FIG. 13. FIG. 6 illustrates, in the context of FIGs. 7, 8, an example of SMF 605 providing such a first indication (e.g., to the PCF 652) .

The SMF 605 may be configured to provide a first indication 610 of the hop count. The hop count may be further associated with a set of PCC rules of an SDF. The SMF 605 may be configured to provide, to the PCF 652, the first indication 610 of the hop count and the IP prefix. The PCF 652 may adjust the PCC rules associated with the SDF in accordance with the hop count.

With respect to FIG. 7, the PCF 752 may be informed of a hop count 738 (e.g., a number of hops to the remote UE 702) by the SMF 705. The SMF 705 may thus be configured to inform the PCF 752 (e.g., by transmitting /providing regarding the corresponding IP/Ethernet address and the hop count 738. The PCF 752 may adjust (at 736) the PCC rules associated with the SDF for the indicated IP/Ethernet address and take the multi-hop PC5 QoS into account. The SMF 705 may be configured to then inform the PCF 752 of the IP prefix delegation, e.g., the IP prefix and the hop count 738 associated therewith. The PCF 752 may adjust (at 736) the PCC rules associated with the SDF for the indicated IP prefix and take the multi-hop PC5 QoS into account.

With respect to FIG. 8, the SMF 805 may be configured to keep the SDFs (for remote UEs such as the remote UE 802) with different hop counts as different QoS flows, during the QoS flow binding process. As one example, the SMF 805 may be configured to split (at 812) a QoS profile (e.g., an E2E QoS profile) for a QoS flow into a set of per-hop QoS profiles 822 based on the hop count 838 for the relay path 808. In aspects, the set of per-hop QoS profiles 822 may include a first per-hop QoS profile (e.g., for a split QoS for Uu 814) and a second per-hop QoS profile (e.g., for a split QoS for PC5 816) .

FIG. 10 is a flowchart 1000 of a method of wireless communication. The method may be performed by a network entity (e.g., the base station 102; the SMF 605, 705, 805; the network entity 1102, 1202, 1360) . In some aspects, the method may include aspects described in connection with the communication flows in FIG. 6, and/or aspects described in FIGs. 4, 5, 7, 8. The method may be for network-initiated QoS handling for multi-hop U2N relay operation. The method may provide for E2E QoS metrics /parameters such as link quality /E2E timing of SDFs to be met, and for flexibility in meeting the E2E QoS metrics /parameters, by enabling an SMF to determine a hop count for a relay path and split the E2E QoS profiles into Uu and PC5 QoS profiles based on the hop count, and provide for mixed PC5 QoS avoidance by enabling an SMF to separate SDFs with different hop counts into different QoS flows.

At 1002, the network node obtains a hop count for a relay path between a remote UE and a first relay UE of a set of relay UEs, where the hop count is associated with a QoS profile for a QoS flow, where the relay path comprises the set of relay UEs between the remote UE and a network node. As an example, the obtainment may be performed by one or more of the component 199, the transceiver (s) 1246, the antennas 1280 in FIG. 12, and/or the network interface 1380 in FIG. 13. FIG. 6 illustrates, in the context of FIGs. 7, 8, an example of SMF 605 obtaining such a hop count of a relay path.

With respect to FIG. 7, the SMF 705 may be configured to obtain the hop count 738 from a first relay UE of the set of relay UEs 706 in the relay path 708, such as the relay UE 703a, e.g., as a remote UE report 722. According to aspects, PC5 link establishment signaling and link modification signaling may be enhanced. For instance, after the remote UE 702 establishes a layer 2 link 716 with the relay UE 703c, the relay UE 703c may update its link with the relay UE 703b using a layer 2 link modification procedure 718, but with additional information, in accordance with aspects herein. As one example, for the QoS information and the PC5 QoS rule (s) of the PC5 QoS flow that are associated with the remote UE 702 over the link between the relay UE 703b and the relay UE 703c, the following information for the remote UE 702 (e.g., remote UE information) may be added: a user information ID, the hop count 738, and optional IP /Ethernet address information, e.g., {User Info ID, Hop Count, optional IP/Ethernet address Info} . The hop count 738 may be calculated /identified by the relay UE 703c based on how many of the hops 710 are visible from the relay UE 703a.

At 1004, the network node provides a first indication of the hop count, where the hop count is further associated with a set of PCC rules of an SDF. As an example, the provision /transmission may be performed by one or more of the component 199, the transceiver (s) 1246, the antennas 1280 in FIG. 12, and/or the network interface 1380 in FIG. 13. FIG. 6 illustrates, in the context of FIGs. 7, 8, an example of SMF 605 providing such a first indication (e.g., to the PCF 652) .

The SMF 605 may be configured to provide a first indication 610 of the hop count. The hop count may be further associated with a set of PCC rules of an SDF. The SMF 605 may be configured to provide, to the PCF 652, the first indication 610 of the hop count. The SMF 605 may be configured to provide, to the PCF 652, the first indication 610 of the hop count and the IP prefix. The PCF 652 may adjust the PCC rules associated with the SDF in accordance with the hop count. With respect to FIG. 7, the PCF 752 may be informed of a hop count 738 (e.g., a number of hops to the remote UE 702) by the SMF 705. The SMF 705 may thus be configured to inform the PCF 752 (e.g., by transmitting /providing regarding the corresponding IP/Ethernet address and the hop count 738. The PCF 752 may adjust (at 736) the PCC rules associated with the SDF for the indicated IP/Ethernet address and take the multi-hop PC5 QoS into account. The SMF 705 may be configured to then inform the PCF 752 of the IP prefix delegation, e.g., the IP prefix and the hop count 738 associated therewith. The PCF 752 may adjust (at 736) the PCC rules associated with the SDF for the indicated IP prefix and take the multi-hop PC5 QoS into account.

At 1006, the network splits the QoS profile for the QoS flow into a set of per-hop QoS profiles based on the hop count for the relay path. As an example, the split may be performed by one or more of the component 199, the transceiver (s) 1246, the antennas 1280 in FIG. 12, and/or the network interface 1380 in FIG. 13. FIG. 6 illustrates, in the context of FIGs. 7, 8, an example of SMF 605 splitting such a QoS profile for the QoS flow into a set of per-hop QoS profiles.

At 1008, the network provides, for the first relay UE, the set of per-hop QoS profiles. As an example, the provision /transmission may be performed by one or more of the component 199, the transceiver (s) 1246, the antennas 1280 in FIG. 12, and/or the network interface 1380 in FIG. 13. FIG. 6 illustrates, in the context of FIGs. 7, 8, an example of the SMF 605 providing such a set of per-hop QoS profiles to a relay UE (e.g., the relay UE 603) .

The SMF 605 may also be configured to provide the set of per-hop QoS profiles 614 for the relay UE 603 (e.g., as a first relay UE in the relay path) . The SMF 605, to provide the set of per-hop QoS profiles 614, may be configured to receive, from a relay UE (e.g., the relay UE 603 or another instance thereof) of the set of relay UEs, a rejection indication that is indicative of an establishment rejection for the QoS flow based on the threshold hop count being exceeded.

In aspects, the remote UE 602 may exchange a communication (s) 616 with the application server 650 (e.g., for an application, communication traffic services, etc. ) , by way of example, in various aspects in accordance with a network-initiated QoS flow /SDF being successfully initiated or modified. As an example, the remote UE 602 may be configured to perform at least one communication operation in association with a remote UE over a relay path comprising a U2N link between the remote UE and the network node, where the at least one communication operation is associated with a network-initiated QoS flow and in accordance with a set of per-hop QoS profiles associated with the relay path. With respect to FIG. 8, the SMF 805 may be configured to split (at 812) a QoS profile (e.g., an E2E QoS profile) for a QoS flow into a set of per-hop QoS profiles 822 based on the hop count 838 for the relay path 808. In aspects, the set of per-hop QoS profiles 822 may include a first per-hop QoS profile (e.g., for a split QoS for Uu 814) and a second per-hop QoS profile (e.g., for a split QoS for PC5 816) . In aspects, the SMF 805 may be configured to inform (e.g., transmit to /provide for) the relay UE 803a of the split QoS for Uu 814 and/or the split QoS for PC5 816 (e.g., the set of set of per-hop QoS profiles 822) . The relay UE 803a may be configured to further derive (at 824) the split QoS for PC5 816 for downstream hops (e.g., the hops 810) in the relay path 808 for the set of relay UEs 806, which may include further, respective derivation (at 824) of per-hop profiles of the split QoS for PC5 816. The SMF 805 may be configured to inform (e.g., transmit to /provide for) the relay UE 803a of the split QoS for Uu 814 and/or the split QoS for PC5 816 (e.g., the set of set of per-hop QoS profiles 822) .

FIG. 11 is a diagram 1100 illustrating an example of a hardware implementation for an apparatus 1104. The apparatus 1104 may be a UE, a component of a UE, or may implement UE functionality. In some aspects, the apparatus 1104 may include at least one cellular baseband processor 1124 (also referred to as a modem) coupled to one or more transceivers 1122 (e.g., cellular RF transceiver) . The cellular baseband processor (s) 1124 may include at least one on-chip memory 1124'. In some aspects, the apparatus 1104 may further include one or more subscriber identity modules (SIM) cards 1120 and at least one application processor 1106 coupled to a secure digital (SD) card 1108 and a screen 1110. The application processor (s) 1106 may include on-chip memory 1106'. In some aspects, the apparatus 1104 may further include a Bluetooth module 1112, a WLAN module 1114, an SPS module 1116 (e.g., GNSS module) , one or more sensor modules 1118 (e.g., barometric pressure sensor /altimeter; motion sensor such as inertial measurement unit (IMU) , gyroscope, and/or accelerometer (s) ; light detection and ranging (LIDAR) , radio assisted detection and ranging (RADAR) , sound navigation and ranging (SONAR) , magnetometer, audio and/or other technologies used for positioning) , additional memory modules 1126, a power supply 1130, and/or a camera 1132. The Bluetooth module 1112, the WLAN module 1114, and the SPS module 1116 may include an on-chip transceiver (TRX) (or in some cases, just a receiver (RX) ) . The Bluetooth module 1112, the WLAN module 1114, and the SPS module 1116 may include their own dedicated antennas and/or utilize the antennas 1180 for communication. The cellular baseband processor (s) 1124 communicates through the transceiver (s) 1122 via one or more antennas 1180 with the UE 104 and/or with an RU associated with a network entity 1102. The cellular baseband processor (s) 1124 and the application processor (s) 1106 may each include a computer-readable medium /memory 1124', 1106', respectively. The additional memory modules 1126 may also be considered a computer-readable medium /memory. Each computer-readable medium /memory 1124', 1106', 1126 may be non-transitory. The cellular baseband processor (s) 1124 and the application processor (s) 1106 are each responsible for general processing, including the execution of software stored on the computer-readable medium /memory. The software, when executed by the cellular baseband processor (s) 1124 /application processor (s) 1106, causes the cellular baseband processor (s) 1124 /application processor (s) 1106 to perform the various functions described supra. The cellular baseband processor (s) 1124 and the application processor (s) 1106 are configured to perform the various functions described supra based at least in part of the information stored in the memory. That is, the cellular baseband processor (s) 1124 and the application processor (s) 1106 may be configured to perform a first subset of the various functions described supra without information stored in the memory and may be configured to perform a second subset of the various functions described supra based on the information stored in the memory. The computer-readable medium /memory may also be used for storing data that is manipulated by the cellular baseband processor (s) 1124 /application processor (s) 1106 when executing software. The cellular baseband processor (s) 1124 /application processor (s) 1106 may be a component of the UE 350 and may include the at least one memory 360 and/or at least one of the TX processor 368, the RX processor 356, and the controller/processor 359. In one configuration, the apparatus 1104 may be at least one processor chip (modem and/or application) and include just the cellular baseband processor (s) 1124 and/or the application processor (s) 1106, and in another configuration, the apparatus 1104 may be the entire UE (e.g., see UE 350 of FIG. 3) and include the additional modules of the apparatus 1104.

As discussed supra, the component 198 may be configured to perform at least one communication operation in association with a remote UE over a relay path comprising a U2N link between the remote UE and the network node, where the at least one communication operation is associated with a network-initiated QoS flow and in accordance with a set of per-hop QoS profiles associated with the relay path. The component 198 may be further configured to perform any of the aspects described in connection with the flowcharts in any of FIGs. 9, 10, and/or any of the aspects performed by a UE for any of FIGs. 4-8. The component 198 may be within the cellular baseband processor (s) 1124, the application processor (s) 1106, or both the cellular baseband processor (s) 1124 and the application processor (s) 1106. The component 198 may be one or more hardware components specifically configured to carry out the stated processes/algorithm, implemented by one or more processors configured to perform the stated processes/algorithm, stored within a computer-readable medium for implementation by one or more processors, or some combination thereof. When multiple processors are implemented, the multiple processors may perform the stated processes/algorithm individually or in combination. As shown, the apparatus 1104 may include a variety of components configured for various functions. In one configuration, the apparatus 1104, and in particular the cellular baseband processor (s) 1124 and/or the application processor (s) 1106, may include means for performing at least one communication operation in association with a remote UE over a relay path comprising a U2N link between the remote UE and the network node, where the at least one communication operation is associated with a network-initiated QoS flow and in accordance with a set of per-hop QoS profiles associated with the relay path. The means may be the component 198 of the apparatus 1104 configured to perform the functions recited by the means. As described supra, the apparatus 1104 may include the TX processor 368, the RX processor 356, and the controller/processor 359. As such, in one configuration, the means may be the TX processor 368, the RX processor 356, and/or the controller/processor 359 configured to perform the functions recited by the means.

FIG. 12 is a diagram 1200 illustrating an example of a hardware implementation for a network entity 1202. The network entity 1202 may be a BS, a component of a BS, or may implement BS functionality. The network entity 1202 may include at least one of a CU 1210, a DU 1230, or an RU 1240. For example, depending on the layer functionality handled by the component 199, the network entity 1202 may include the CU 1210; both the CU 1210 and the DU 1230; each of the CU 1210, the DU 1230, and the RU 1240; the DU 1230; both the DU 1230 and the RU 1240; or the RU 1240. The CU 1210 may include at least one CU processor 1212. The CU processor (s) 1212 may include on-chip memory 1212'. In some aspects, the CU 1210 may further include additional memory modules 1214 and a communications interface 1218. The CU 1210 communicates with the DU 1230 through a midhaul link, such as an F1 interface. The DU 1230 may include at least one DU processor 1232. The DU processor (s) 1232 may include on-chip memory 1232'. In some aspects, the DU 1230 may further include additional memory modules 1234 and a communications interface 1238. The DU 1230 communicates with the RU 1240 through a fronthaul link. The RU 1240 may include at least one RU processor 1242. The RU processor (s) 1242 may include on-chip memory 1242'. In some aspects, the RU 1240 may further include additional memory modules 1244, one or more transceivers 1246, antennas 1280, and a communications interface 1248. The RU 1240 communicates with the UE 104. The on-chip memory 1212', 1232', 1242'a nd the additional memory modules 1214, 1234, 1244 may each be considered a computer-readable medium /memory. Each computer-readable medium /memory may be non-transitory. Each of the processors 1212, 1232, 1242 is responsible for general processing, including the execution of software stored on the computer-readable medium /memory. The software, when executed by the corresponding processor (s) causes the processor (s) to perform the various functions described supra. The computer-readable medium /memory may also be used for storing data that is manipulated by the processor (s) when executing software.

As discussed supra, the component 199 may be configured to obtain a hop count for a relay path between a remote UE and a first relay UE of a set of relay UEs, where the hop count is associated with a QoS profile for a QoS flow, where the relay path comprises the set of relay UEs between the remote UE and a network node. The component 199 may be configured to provide a first indication of the hop count, where the hop count is further associated with a set of PCC rules of an SDF. The component 199 may be configured to split the QoS profile for the QoS flow into a set of per-hop QoS profiles based on the hop count for the relay path. The component 199 may be configured to provide, for the first relay UE, the set of per-hop QoS profiles. The component 199 may be further configured to perform any of the aspects described in connection with the flowcharts in any of FIGs. 9, 10, and/or any of the aspects performed by a network entity /network node for any of FIGs. 4-8. The component 199 may be within one or more processors of one or more of the CU 1210, DU 1230, and the RU 1240. The component 199 may be one or more hardware components specifically configured to carry out the stated processes/algorithm, implemented by one or more processors configured to perform the stated processes/algorithm, stored within a computer-readable medium for implementation by one or more processors, or some combination thereof. When multiple processors are implemented, the multiple processors may perform the stated processes/algorithm individually or in combination. The network entity 1202 may include a variety of components configured for various functions. In one configuration, the network entity 1202 may include means for obtaining a hop count for a relay path between a remote UE and a first relay UE of a set of relay UEs, where the hop count is associated with a QoS profile for a QoS flow, where the relay path comprises the set of relay UEs between the remote UE and a network node. In one configuration, the network entity 1202 may include means for providing a first indication of the hop count, where the hop count is further associated with a set of PCC rules of an SDF. In one configuration, the network entity 1202 may include means for splitting the QoS profile for the QoS flow into a set of per-hop QoS profiles based on the hop count for the relay path. In one configuration, the network entity 1202 may include means for providing, for the first relay UE, the set of per-hop QoS profiles. The means may be the component 199 of the network entity 1202 configured to perform the functions recited by the means. As described supra, the network entity 1202 may include the TX processor 316, the RX processor 370, and the controller/processor 375. As such, in one configuration, the means may be the TX processor 316, the RX processor 370, and/or the controller/processor 375 configured to perform the functions recited by the means.

FIG. 13 is a diagram 1300 illustrating an example of a hardware implementation for a network entity 1360. In one example, the network entity 1360 may be within the core network 120. The network entity 1360 may include at least one network processor 1312. The network processor (s) 1312 may include on-chip memory 1312'. In some aspects, the network entity 1360 may further include additional memory modules 1314. The network entity 1360 communicates via the network interface 1380 directly (e.g., backhaul link) or indirectly (e.g., through a RIC) with the CU 1302 and/or the UE 104. The on-chip memory 1312'a nd the additional memory modules 1314 may each be considered a computer-readable medium /memory. Each computer-readable medium /memory may be non-transitory. The network processor (s) 1312 is responsible for general processing, including the execution of software stored on the computer-readable medium /memory. The software, when executed by the corresponding processor (s) causes the processor (s) to perform the various functions described supra. The computer-readable medium /memory may also be used for storing data that is manipulated by the processor (s) when executing software.

As discussed supra, the component 199 may be configured to obtain a hop count for a relay path between a remote UE and a first relay UE of a set of relay UEs, where the hop count is associated with a QoS profile for a QoS flow, where the relay path comprises the set of relay UEs between the remote UE and a network node. The component 199 may be configured to provide a first indication of the hop count, where the hop count is further associated with a set of PCC rules of an SDF. The component 199 may be configured to split the QoS profile for the QoS flow into a set of per-hop QoS profiles based on the hop count for the relay path. The component 199 may be configured to provide, for the first relay UE, the set of per-hop QoS profiles. The component 199 may be further configured to perform any of the aspects described in connection with the flowcharts in any of FIGs. 9, 10, and/or any of the aspects performed by a network entity /network node for any of FIGs. 4-8. The component 199 may be within the network processor (s) 1312. The component 199 may be one or more hardware components specifically configured to carry out the stated processes/algorithm, implemented by one or more processors configured to perform the stated processes/algorithm, stored within a computer-readable medium for implementation by one or more processors, or some combination thereof. When multiple processors are implemented, the multiple processors may perform the stated processes/algorithm individually or in combination. The network entity 1360 may include a variety of components configured for various functions. In one configuration, the network entity 1360 may include means for obtaining a hop count for a relay path between a remote UE and a first relay UE of a set of relay UEs, where the hop count is associated with a QoS profile for a QoS flow, where the relay path comprises the set of relay UEs between the remote UE and a network node. In one configuration, the network entity 1360 may include means for providing a first indication of the hop count, where the hop count is further associated with a set of PCC rules of an SDF. In one configuration, the network entity 1360 may include means for splitting the QoS profile for the QoS flow into a set of per-hop QoS profiles based on the hop count for the relay path. In one configuration, the network entity 1360 may include means for providing, for the first relay UE, the set of per-hop QoS profiles. The means may be the component 199 of the network entity 1360 configured to perform the functions recited by the means.

Aspects herein for network-initiated QoS handling for multi-hop U2N relay operation enable proper settings of PCC rules for network-initiated QoS handling for multi-hop U2N relay operation by obtaining /identifying, at an SMF, a hop count for a U2N relay path between a remote UE and a first relay UE. Aspects also enable the meeting of E2E QoS metrics /parameters such as link quality /E2E timing of SDFs and enable flexibility in meeting the E2E QoS metrics /parameters by splitting E2E QoS profiles based on hop counts, at an SMF, into Uu and PC5 QoS profiles for a U2N relay path. Aspects also enable avoidance of mixed PC5 QoS flows by configuring an SMF to separate SDFs with different hop counts into different QoS flows.

It is understood that the specific order or hierarchy of blocks in the processes /flowcharts disclosed is an illustration of example approaches. Based upon design preferences, it is understood that the specific order or hierarchy of blocks in the processes /flowcharts may be rearranged. Further, some blocks may be combined or omitted. The accompanying method claims present elements of the various blocks in a sample order, and are not limited to the specific order or hierarchy presented.

The previous description is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the various aspects described herein. Various modifications to these aspects will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other aspects. Thus, the claims are not limited to the aspects described herein, but are to be accorded the full scope consistent with the language claims. Reference to an element in the singular does not mean “one and only one” unless specifically so stated, but rather “one or more. ” Terms such as “if, ” “when, ” and “while” do not imply an immediate temporal relationship or reaction. That is, these phrases, e.g., “when, ” do not imply an immediate action in response to or during the occurrence of an action, but simply imply that if a condition is met then an action will occur, but without requiring a specific or immediate time constraint for the action to occur. The word “exemplary” is used herein to mean “serving as an example, instance, or illustration. ” Any aspect described herein as “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects. Unless specifically stated otherwise, the term “some” refers to one or more. Combinations such as “at least one of A, B, or C, ” “one or more of A, B, or C, ” “at least one of A, B, and C, ” “one or more of A, B, and C, ” and “A, B, C, or any combination thereof” include any combination of A, B, and/or C, and may include multiples of A, multiples of B, or multiples of C. Specifically, combinations such as “at least one of A, B, or C, ” “one or more of A, B, or C, ” “at least one of A, B, and C, ” “one or more of A, B, and C, ” and “A, B, C, or any combination thereof” may be A only, B only, C only, A and B, A and C, B and C, or A and B and C, where any such combinations may contain one or more member or members of A, B, or C. Sets should be interpreted as a set of elements where the elements number one or more. Accordingly, for a set of X, X would include one or more elements. When at least one processor is configured to perform a set of functions, the at least one processor, individually or in any combination, is configured to perform the set of functions. Accordingly, each processor of the at least one processor may be configured to perform a particular subset of the set of functions, where the subset is the full set, a proper subset of the set, or an empty subset of the set. A processor may be referred to as processor circuitry. A memory /memory module may be referred to as memory circuitry. If a first apparatus receives data from or transmits data to a second apparatus, the data may be received/transmitted directly between the first and second apparatuses, or indirectly between the first and second apparatuses through a set of apparatuses. A device configured to “output” data or “provide” data, such as a transmission, signal, or message, may transmit the data, for example with a transceiver, or may send the data to a device that transmits the data. A device configured to “obtain” data, such as a transmission, signal, or message, may receive, for example with a transceiver, or may obtain the data from a device that receives the data. Information stored in a memory includes instructions and/or data. All structural and functional equivalents to the elements of the various aspects described throughout this disclosure that are known or later come to be known to those of ordinary skill in the art are expressly incorporated herein by reference and are encompassed by the claims. Moreover, nothing disclosed herein is dedicated to the public regardless of whether such disclosure is explicitly recited in the claims. The words “module, ” “mechanism, ” “element, ” “device, ” and the like may not be a substitute for the word “means. ” As such, no claim element is to be construed as a means plus function unless the element is expressly recited using the phrase “means for. ”

As used herein, the phrase “based on” shall not be construed as a reference to a closed set of information, one or more conditions, one or more factors, or the like. In other words, the phrase “based on A” (where “A” may be information, a condition, a factor, or the like) shall be construed as “based at least on A” unless specifically recited differently.

The following aspects are illustrative only and may be combined with other aspects or teachings described herein, without limitation.

Aspect 1. A method of wireless communication at a network entity, comprising: obtaining a hop count for a relay path between a remote user equipment (UE) and a first relay UE of a set of relay UEs, wherein the hop count is associated with a quality of service (QoS) profile for a QoS flow, wherein the relay path comprises the set of relay UEs between the remote UE and a network node; and providing a first indication of the hop count, wherein the hop count is further associated with a set of policy and charging control (PCC) rules of a service data flow (SDF) .

Aspect 2. The method of aspect 1, wherein the network entity is a session management function (SMF) , and wherein providing the first indication of the hop count comprises providing, to a policy control function (PCF) , the first indication of the hop count.

Aspect 3. The method of aspect 2, wherein obtaining the hop count for the relay path comprises: receiving, from the first relay UE, a second indication that is indicative of the hop count for the relay path, wherein the second indication comprises at least one of a user information identifier (ID) associated with the remote UE, the hop count, optional Internet protocol (IP) or Ethernet address information, or a remote UE report associated with the remote UE.

Aspect 4. The method of aspect 3, wherein the first indication includes one or more of the user information ID, the optional IP or Ethernet address information, or the remote UE report associated with the remote UE.

Aspect 5. The method of aspect 3, wherein receiving, from the first relay UE, the second indication that is indicative of the hop count for the relay path comprises receiving the second indication based on: a layer 2 link initialization between the remote UE and an ultimate relay UE of the set of relay UEs, and a set of respective updates for layer 2 links between the ultimate relay UE of the set of relay UEs and the first relay UE for each relay UE of the set of relay UEs, wherein the set of respective updates for the layer 2 links are associated with respective QoS flows and are indicative of the second indication.

Aspect 6. The method of aspect 2, wherein obtaining the hop count for the relay path comprises: providing, for the remote UE, an Internet protocol (IP) prefix delegation request; and receiving, from the remote UE, an IP delegation response that includes a second indication that is indicative of the hop count for the relay path.

Aspect 7. The method of aspect 6, wherein the second indication included in the IP prefix delegation response is based on dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) signaling between the first relay UE and the remote UE or between the network entity and the remote UE that includes the hop count for the relay path.

Aspect 8. The method of aspect 7, wherein the IP prefix delegation response includes an IP prefix associated with the remote UE, wherein providing the first indication of the hop count comprises: providing, to the PCF, the first indication of the hop count and the IP prefix.

Aspect 9. The method of aspect 2, wherein obtaining the hop count for the relay path comprises: receiving, from the PCF, an address management rule, wherein the address management rule associated with multi-hop relays, wherein the address management rule includes at least one of a set of Internet protocol (IP) address information or a set of Ethernet address information, wherein each of the set of IP address information or the set of Ethernet address information respectively comprises: at least one of an IP address or an IP address prefix range for a different hop count in an associated multi-hop relay path, or an Ethernet address.

Aspect 10. The method of aspect 9, wherein obtaining the hop count for the relay path comprises: allocating at least one of IP address information of the set of IP address information or Ethernet address information of the set of Ethernet address information for the set of PCC rules of the SDF in accordance with the IP address information or the Ethernet address information being associated with a same hop count as the relay path.

Aspect 11. The method of any of aspect 1 to 10, wherein the network entity is a session management function (SMF) and the relay path comprises a UE-to-network (U2N) link between the remote UE and the network node, wherein the QoS profile is an E2E QoS profile, the method further comprising: splitting the QoS profile for the QoS flow into a set of per-hop QoS profiles based on the hop count for the relay path; and providing, for the first relay UE, the set of per-hop QoS profiles.

Aspect 12. The method of aspect 11, wherein each of the set of per-hop QoS profiles is associated with PC5 signaling; wherein the QoS flow for the SDF associated with the hop count is different than another QoS for another SDF associated with another hop count that is different from the hop count based on at least one of a PCC rule indication or standardized criteria.

Aspect 13. The method of aspect 11, wherein splitting the QoS profile for the QoS flow into the set of per-hop QoS profiles comprises: splitting the QoS profile for the QoS flow into the set of per-hop QoS profiles further based on a splitting ratio associated with the hop count, wherein the splitting ratio is indicative of a time period that is set aside from a packet delay budget (PDB) of the QoS profile in accordance with a threshold hop count.

Aspect 14. The method of aspect 13, wherein providing the set of per-hop QoS profiles comprises: receiving, from a relay UE of the set of relay UEs, a rejection indication that is indicative of an establishment rejection for the QoS flow based on the threshold hop count being exceeded.

Aspect 15 is an apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE) , comprising: at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled to the at least one memory, the at least one processor, individually or in any combination, is configured to perform the method of any of aspects 1 to 14.

Aspect 16 is an apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE) , comprising means for performing each step in the method of any of aspects 1 to 14.

Aspect 17 is the apparatus of any of aspects 15 and 16, further comprising a transceiver configured to receive or to transmit in association with the method of any of aspects 1 to 14.

Aspect 18 is a computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable medium) storing computer executable code at a user equipment (UE) , the code when executed by at least one processor causes the at least one processor to perform the method of any of aspects 1 to 14.

Claims

An apparatus for wireless communication at a network entity, comprising:

at least one memory; and

at least one processor coupled to the at least one memory and, based at least in part on information stored in the at least one memory, the at least one processor, individually or in any combination, is configured to:

obtain a hop count for a relay path between a remote user equipment (UE) and a first relay UE of a set of relay UEs, wherein the hop count is associated with a quality of service (QoS) profile for a QoS flow, wherein the relay path comprises the set of relay UEs between the remote UE and a network node; and

provide a first indication of the hop count, wherein the hop count is further associated with a set of policy and charging control (PCC) rules of a service data flow (SDF) .
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the network entity is a session management function (SMF) , and wherein providing the first indication of the hop count comprises providing, to a policy control function (PCF) , the first indication of the hop count.
The apparatus of claim 2, wherein to obtain the hop count for the relay path, the at least one processor, individually or in any combination, is configured to:

receive, from the first relay UE, a second indication that is indicative of the hop count for the relay path, wherein the second indication comprises at least one of a user information identifier (ID) associated with the remote UE, the hop count, optional Internet protocol (IP) or Ethernet address information, or a remote UE report associated with a remote UE.
The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the first indication includes one or more of the user information ID, the optional IP or Ethernet address information, or the remote UE report associated with the remote UE.
The apparatus of claim 3, wherein to receive, from the first relay UE, the second indication that is indicative of the hop count for the relay path, the at least one processor, individually or in any combination, is configured to receive the second indication based on:

a layer 2 link initialization between the remote UE and an ultimate relay UE of the set of relay UEs, and

a set of respective updates for layer 2 links between the ultimate relay UE of the set of relay UEs and the first relay UE for each relay UE of the set of relay UEs, wherein the set of respective updates for the layer 2 links are associated with respective QoS flows and are indicative of the second indication.
The apparatus of claim 2, wherein to obtain the hop count for the relay path, the at least one processor, individually or in any combination, is configured to:

provide, for the remote UE, an Internet protocol (IP) prefix delegation request; and

receive, from the remote UE, an IP delegation response that includes a second indication that is indicative of the hop count for the relay path.
The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the second indication included in the IP prefix delegation response is based on dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) signaling between the first relay UE and the remote UE or between the network entity and the remote UE that includes the hop count for the relay path.
The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the IP prefix delegation response includes an IP prefix associated with the remote UE, wherein to provide the first indication of the hop count, the at least one processor, individually or in any combination, is configured to:

provide, to the PCF, the first indication of the hop count and the IP prefix.
The apparatus of claim 2, wherein to obtain the hop count for the relay path, the at least one processor, individually or in any combination, is configured to:

receive, from the PCF, an address management rule, wherein the address management rule associated with multi-hop relays, wherein the address management rule includes at least one of a set of Internet protocol (IP) address information or a set of Ethernet address information, wherein each of the set of IP address information or the set of Ethernet address information respectively comprises: at least one of an IP address or an IP address prefix range for a different hop count in an associated multi-hop relay path, or an Ethernet address.
The apparatus of claim 9, wherein to obtain the hop count for the relay path, the at least one processor, individually or in any combination, is configured to:

allocate at least one of IP address information of the set of IP address information or Ethernet address information of the set of Ethernet address information for the set of PCC rules of the SDF in accordance with the IP address information or the Ethernet address information being associated with a same hop count as the relay path.
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the network entity is a session management function (SMF) and the relay path comprises a UE-to-network (U2N) link between the remote UE and the network node, wherein the QoS profile is an E2E QoS profile, wherein the at least one processor, individually or in any combination, is further configured to:

split the QoS profile for the QoS flow into a set of per-hop QoS profiles based on the hop count for the relay path; and

provide, for the first relay UE, the set of per-hop QoS profiles.
The apparatus of claim 11, wherein each of the set of per-hop QoS profiles is associated with PC5 signaling;

wherein the QoS flow for the SDF associated with the hop count is different than another QoS for another SDF associated with another hop count that is different from the hop count based on at least one of a PCC rule indication or standardized criteria.
The apparatus of claim 11, wherein to split the QoS profile for the QoS flow into the set of per-hop QoS profiles, the at least one processor, individually or in any combination, is configured to:

split the QoS profile for the QoS flow into the set of per-hop QoS profiles further based on a splitting ratio associated with the hop count, wherein the splitting ratio is indicative of a time period that is set aside from a packet delay budget (PDB) of the QoS profile in accordance with a threshold hop count.
The apparatus of claim 13, further comprising at least one transceiver coupled to the at least one processor, wherein to provide the set of per-hop QoS profiles, the at least one processor, individually or in any combination, is configured to:

receive, from a relay UE of the set of relay UEs via the at least one transceiver, a rejection indication that is indicative of an establishment rejection for the QoS flow based on the threshold hop count being exceeded.
A method of wireless communication at a network entity, comprising:

obtaining a hop count for a relay path between a remote user equipment (UE) and a first relay UE of a set of relay UEs, wherein the hop count is associated with a quality of service (QoS) profile for a QoS flow, wherein the relay path comprises the set of relay UEs between the remote UE and a network node; and

providing a first indication of the hop count, wherein the hop count is further associated with a set of policy and charging control (PCC) rules of a service data flow (SDF) .
The method of claim 15, wherein the network entity is a session management function (SMF) , and wherein providing the first indication of the hop count comprises providing, to a policy control function (PCF) , the first indication of the hop count; and

wherein obtaining the hop count for the relay path comprises at least one of:

receiving, from the first relay UE, a second indication that is indicative of the hop count for the relay path, wherein the second indication comprises at least one of a user information identifier (ID) associated with the remote UE, the hop count, optional Internet protocol (IP) or Ethernet address information, or a remote UE report associated with the remote UE;

providing, for the remote UE, an Internet protocol (IP) prefix delegation request, and receiving, from the remote UE, an IP delegation response that includes the second indication that is indicative of the hop count for the relay path; or

receiving, from the PCF, an address management rule, wherein the address management rule associated with multi-hop relays, wherein the address management rule includes at least one of a set of Internet protocol (IP) address information or a set of Ethernet address information, wherein each of the set of IP address information or the set of Ethernet address information respectively comprises: at least one of an IP address or an IP address prefix range for a different hop count in an associated multi-hop relay path, or an Ethernet address.
The method of claim 15, wherein the network entity is a session management function (SMF) and the relay path comprises a UE-to-network (U2N) link between the remote UE and the network node, wherein the QoS profile is an E2E QoS profile, the method further comprising:

splitting the QoS profile for the QoS flow into a set of per-hop QoS profiles based on the hop count for the relay path; and

providing, for the first relay UE, the set of per-hop QoS profiles.
The method of claim 17, wherein each of the set of per-hop QoS profiles is associated with PC5 signaling;

wherein the QoS flow for the SDF associated with the hop count is different than another QoS for another SDF associated with another hop count that is different from the hop count based on at least one of a PCC rule indication or standardized criteria.
The method of claim 17, wherein splitting the QoS profile for the QoS flow into the set of per-hop QoS profiles comprises:

splitting the QoS profile for the QoS flow into the set of per-hop QoS profiles further based on a splitting ratio associated with the hop count, wherein the splitting ratio is indicative of a time period that is set aside from a packet delay budget (PDB) of the QoS profile in accordance with a threshold hop count; or

wherein providing the set of per-hop QoS profiles comprises:

receiving, from a relay UE of the set of relay UEs, a rejection indication that is indicative of an establishment rejection for the QoS flow based on the threshold hop count being exceeded.
A computer-readable medium storing computer executable code at a network entity, the code when executed by at least one processor causes the at least one processor to:

obtain a hop count for a relay path between a remote user equipment (UE) and a first relay UE of a set of relay UEs, wherein the hop count is associated with a quality of service (QoS) profile for a QoS flow, wherein the relay path comprises the set of relay UEs between the remote UE and a network node; and

provide a first indication of the hop count, wherein the hop count is further associated with a set of policy and charging control (PCC) rules of a service data flow (SDF).