Beam-based relay node switch

Techniques for beam-based relay node switch. An example method of wireless communication by a first wireless node generally includes relaying wireless communications between a user equipment (UE) (120, 120a-y) and a network entity; transmitting, to one or more second wireless nodes, relay request signals via a plurality of beams (402a-d, 602a-d, 604a-b, 706a-b) at relay request signal occasions (1, 2, 3), wherein each of the relay request signals indicates a request to switch relay services of the UE (120, 120a-y) from the first wireless node to the one or more second wireless nodes; and switching the relay services of the UE (120, 120a-y) to at least one of the one or more second wireless nodes.

CROSS-REFERENCE OF RELATED APPLICATION(S)

This application is a national stage application under 35 U.S.C. 371 which claims benefit of and priority to International Application No. PCT/CN2019/126925, filed Dec. 20, 2019, which is hereby assigned to the assignee hereof, and hereby expressly incorporated by reference herein in its entirety as if fully set forth below and for all applicable purposes.

INTRODUCTION

Aspects of the present disclosure relate to wireless communications, and more particularly, to techniques for switching a relay node.

SUMMARY

Certain aspects provide a method of wireless communication by a first wireless node. The method generally includes relaying wireless communications between a user equipment (UE) and a network entity; transmitting, to one or more second wireless nodes, relay request signals via a plurality of beams at relay request signal occasions, wherein each of the relay request signals indicates a request to switch relay services of the UE from the first wireless node to the one or more second wireless nodes; and switching the relay services of the UE to at least one of the one or more second wireless nodes.

Certain aspects provide a method of wireless communication by a second wireless node. The method generally includes receiving, from a first wireless node, one or more relay request signals via one or more beams at one or more relay request signal occasions, wherein each of the relay request signals indicates a request to switch wireless communication relay services of a user equipment (UE) from the first wireless node to the second wireless node; switching wireless communication relay services of the UE to the second wireless node; and after switching the wireless communication relay services, relaying communications between the UE and a network entity.

Certain aspects provide a method of wireless communication by a user equipment (UE). The method generally includes communicating with a network entity via first wireless communications with a first wireless node; receiving, from one or more second wireless nodes, one or more discovery signals at one or more discovery signal occasions; switching from the first wireless node to at least one of the second wireless nodes to communicate with the network entity based on the received discovery signals; and communicating with the network entity via second wireless communications with at least one of the second wireless nodes.

Certain aspects provide a method of wireless communication by a network entity. The method generally includes communicating with a user equipment (UE) via first wireless communications with a first wireless node; configuring the first wireless node with one or more associations between relay request signal occasions and at least one of acknowledgement signal occasions, control signal occasions, discovery signal occasions, or a plurality of beams used to switch relay services of the UE from the first wireless node to one or more second wireless nodes; and communicating with the UE via second wireless communications with the one or more second wireless nodes.

Certain aspects provide an apparatus for wireless communication. The apparatus generally includes a transceiver configured to relay wireless communications between a user equipment (UE) and a network entity and transmit, to one or more second wireless nodes, relay request signals via a plurality of beams at relay request signal occasions, wherein each of the relay request signals indicates a request to switch relay services of the UE from the apparatus to the one or more second wireless nodes. The apparatus further includes a processing system configured to switch the relay services of the UE to at least one of the one or more second wireless nodes.

Certain aspects provide an apparatus for wireless communication. The apparatus generally includes a transceiver configured to receive, from a first wireless node, one or more relay request signals via one or more beams at one or more relay request signal occasions, wherein each of the relay request signals indicates a request to switch wireless communication relay services of the UE from the first wireless node to the apparatus. The apparatus further includes a processing system configured to switch wireless communication relay services of a UE to the apparatus. The transceiver is further configured to relay communications between the UE and a network entity after switching the wireless communication relay services.

Certain aspects provide an apparatus for wireless communication. The apparatus generally includes a transceiver configured to communicate with a network entity via first wireless communications with a first wireless node and receive, from one or more second wireless nodes, one or more discovery signals at one or more discovery signal occasions. The apparatus further includes a processing system configured to switch from the first wireless node to at least one of the second wireless nodes to communicate with the network entity based on the received discovery signals. The transceiver is further configured to communicate with the network entity via second wireless communications with at least one of the second wireless nodes.

Certain aspects provide an apparatus for wireless communication. The apparatus generally includes a transceiver configured to communicate with a user equipment (UE) via first wireless communications with a first wireless node. The apparatus further includes a processing system configured to configure the first wireless node with one or more associations between relay request signal occasions and at least one of acknowledgement signal occasions, control signal occasions, discovery signal occasions, or a plurality of beams used to switch relay services of the UE from the first wireless node to one or more second wireless nodes. The transceiver is further configured to communicate with the UE via second wireless communications with the one or more second wireless nodes.

Certain aspects provide an apparatus for wireless communication. The apparatus generally includes means for relaying wireless communications between a user equipment (UE) and a network entity; means for transmitting, to one or more second wireless nodes, relay request signals via a plurality of beams at relay request signal occasions, wherein each of the relay request signals indicates a request to switch relay services of the UE from the first wireless node to the one or more second wireless nodes; and means for switching the relay services of the UE to at least one of the one or more second wireless nodes.

Certain aspects provide an apparatus for wireless communication. The apparatus generally includes means for receiving, from a first wireless node, one or more relay request signals via one or more beams at one or more relay request signal occasions, wherein each of the relay request signals indicates a request to switch wireless communication relay services of a user equipment (UE) from the first wireless node to the apparatus; means for switching wireless communication relay services of the UE to the second wireless node; and means for relaying communications between the UE and a network entity, after switching the wireless communication relay services.

Certain aspects provide an apparatus for wireless communication. The apparatus generally includes means for communicating with a network entity via first wireless communications with a first wireless node; means for receiving, from one or more second wireless nodes, one or more discovery signals at one or more discovery signal occasions; means for switching from the first wireless node to at least one of the second wireless nodes to communicate with the network entity based on the received discovery signals; and means for communicating with the network entity via second wireless communications with at least one of the second wireless nodes.

Certain aspects provide an apparatus for wireless communication. The apparatus generally includes means for communicating with a user equipment (UE) via first wireless communications with a first wireless node; means for configuring the first wireless node with one or more associations between relay request signal occasions and at least one of acknowledgement signal occasions, control signal occasions, discovery signal occasions, or a plurality of beams used to switch relay services of the UE from the first wireless node to one or more second wireless nodes; and means for communicating with the UE via second wireless communications with the one or more second wireless nodes.

Certain aspects provide a computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon for relaying wireless communications between a user equipment (UE) and a network entity; transmitting, to one or more second wireless nodes, relay request signals via a plurality of beams at relay request signal occasions, wherein each of the relay request signals indicates a request to switch relay services of the UE from the first wireless node to the one or more second wireless nodes; and switching the relay services of the UE to at least one of the one or more second wireless nodes.

Certain aspects provide a computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon for receiving, from a first wireless node, one or more relay request signals via one or more beams at one or more relay request signal occasions, wherein each of the relay request signals indicates a request to switch wireless communication relay services of a user equipment (UE) from the first wireless node to the second wireless node; switching wireless communication relay services of the UE to the second wireless node; and relaying communications between the UE and a network entity, after switching the wireless communication relay services.

Certain aspects provide a computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon for communicating with a network entity via first wireless communications with a first wireless node; receiving, from one or more second wireless nodes, one or more discovery signals at one or more discovery signal occasions; switching from the first wireless node to at least one of the second wireless nodes to communicate with the network entity based on the received discovery signals; and communicating with the network entity via second wireless communications with at least one of the second wireless nodes.

Certain aspects provide a computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon for communicating with a user equipment (UE) via first wireless communications with a first wireless node; configuring the first wireless node with one or more associations between relay request signal occasions and at least one of acknowledgement signal occasions, control signal occasions, discovery signal occasions, or a plurality of beams used to switch relay services of the UE from the first wireless node to one or more second wireless nodes; and communicating with the UE via second wireless communications with the one or more second wireless nodes.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Aspects of the present disclosure provide apparatus, methods, processing systems, and computer readable mediums for performing a beam-based relay node switch. In certain cases, a relay node may handover wireless communication relay services of a UE to another neighbor relay node. The handover of relay services may also be referred to herein as a relay switch. In certain cases, if the relay switch operation is performed solely by the UE without any assistance from the source relay node, like detecting and awaking target relay nodes, the power consumption from the relay switch activities may significantly impact the battery life of the UE. In certain cases, if there is a large number of neighbors, discovering and activating each neighbor separately may increase the latency of the relay switch and consume high power at a source relay node and/or UE. Such a relay switch process may impact relay switch performance and power consumption of the source relay node and/or UE.

Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide the relay node assisting the UE in performing the relay switch to reduce the power consumption of the UE and mitigate the interruption time of the relay switch process, which may provide enhanced performance (e.g., improved latency and bandwidth) of the wireless communications of the UE. In one or more aspects, the relay node may discover and activate one or more neighbors on a beam basis where the source relay node multicasts/broadcasts various signals across one or more beams to discover and activate neighbors. In other words, instead of performing the discovery and activation on a per neighbor basis, the source relay node may perform the discovery and activation across a certain number of beams, where in certain cases, multiple neighbors may reside in the coverage of one or more beams. Therefore, the relay switch techniques described herein may reduce relay switch latency and reduce power consumption of the source relay and the UE.

FIG.1illustrates an example wireless communication network100in which aspects of the present disclosure may be performed. The wireless communication network100may be an NR system (e.g., a 5G NR network).

As shown inFIG.1, the BS110aincludes a relay node manager112that configures a first wireless node (e.g., the UE120a) with one or more associations between relay request signal occasions and at least one of acknowledgement signal occasions, control signal occasions, discovery signal occasions, or a plurality of beams used to switch relay services of the UE (e.g., the UE120b) from the first wireless node to one or more second wireless nodes (e.g., the UE120c), in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

The UE120aincludes a relay node manager122athat performs a relay switch on a per beam basis, in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. The UE120bincludes a relay node manager122bthat receives discovery signals from a relay node (e.g., the UE120c) and switches from the UE120ato the UE120cto communicate with the BS110based on the received discovery signals, in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. The UE120cincludes a relay node manager122cthat performs a relay switch on a per beam basis, in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

In some circumstances, two or more subordinate entities (e.g., the UEs120a-c) may communicate with each other using sidelink signals. Real-world applications of such sidelink communications may include public safety, proximity services, UE-to-network relaying, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications, Internet of Everything (IoE) communications, IoT communications, mission-critical mesh, and/or various other suitable applications. Generally, a sidelink signal may refer to a signal communicated from one subordinate entity (e.g., the UE120a) to another subordinate entity (e.g., the UE120b) without relaying that communication through the scheduling entity (e.g., a UE or BS), even though the scheduling entity may be utilized for scheduling and/or control purposes. In some examples, the sidelink signals may be communicated using a licensed spectrum (unlike wireless local area networks, which typically use an unlicensed spectrum).

Various sidelink channels may be used for sidelink communications, including a physical sidelink discovery channel (PSDCH), a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH), a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH), and a physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH). The PSDCH may carry discovery expressions that enable proximal devices to discover each other. The PSCCH may carry control signaling such as sidelink resource configurations and other parameters used for data transmissions, and the PSSCH may carry the data transmissions. The PSFCH may carry feedback including HARQ feedback and/or channel state feedback (CSF) related to a sidelink channel quality.

NR access (e.g., 5G NR) may support various wireless communication services, such as enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) targeting wide bandwidth (e.g., 80 MHz or beyond), millimeter wave (mmWave) targeting high carrier frequency (e.g., 24 GHz to 53 GHz or beyond), massive machine type communications MTC (mMTC) targeting non-backward compatible MTC techniques, and/or mission critical services targeting ultra-reliable low-latency communications (URLLC). These services may include latency and reliability requirements. These services may also have different transmission time intervals (TTI) to meet respective quality of service (QOS) requirements. In addition, these services may co-exist in the same subframe.

Wireless communication network100may also include relay stations (e.g., relay station110r), also referred to as wireless relay nodes, relay nodes, relays, or the like, that receive a transmission of data and/or other information from an upstream station (e.g., a BS110aor a UE120r) and sends a transmission of the data and/or other information to a downstream station (e.g., a UE120or a BS110), or that relays transmissions between UEs120, to facilitate communication between devices.

A network controller130may couple to a set of BSs110and provide coordination and control for these BSs110. The network controller130may communicate with the BSs110via a backhaul. The BSs110may also communicate with one another (e.g., directly or indirectly) via wireless or wireline backhaul.

FIG.2illustrates example components of BS110and UE120(e.g., in the wireless communication network100ofFIG.1), which may be used to implement aspects of the present disclosure.

At the BS110, a transmit processor220may receive data from a data source212and control information from a controller/processor240. The control information may be for the physical broadcast channel (PBCH), physical control format indicator channel (PCFICH), physical hybrid ARQ indicator channel (PHICH), physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), group common PDCCH (GC PDCCH), etc. The data may be for the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), etc. The processor220may process (e.g., encode and symbol map) the data and control information to obtain data symbols and control symbols, respectively. The transmit processor220may also generate reference symbols, such as for the primary synchronization signal (PSS), secondary synchronization signal (SSS), and PBCH demodulation reference signal (DMRS). A transmit (TX) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) processor230may perform spatial processing (e.g., precoding) on the data symbols, the control symbols, and/or the reference symbols, if applicable, and may provide output symbol streams to the modulators (MODs)232a-232t. Each modulator232may process a respective output symbol stream (e.g., for OFDM, etc.) to obtain an output sample stream. Each modulator may further process (e.g., convert to analog, amplify, filter, and upconvert) the output sample stream to obtain a downlink signal. Downlink signals from modulators232a-232tmay be transmitted via the antennas234a-234t, respectively.

The memories242and282may store data and program codes for BS110and UE120, respectively. A scheduler244may schedule UEs for data transmission on the downlink and/or uplink.

The controller/processor280and/or other processors and modules at the UE120may perform or direct the execution of processes for the techniques described herein. For example, as shown inFIG.2, the controller/processor240of the BS110has a relay node manager241that configures a first wireless node (e.g., the UE120a) with one or more associations between relay request signal occasions and at least one of acknowledgement signal occasions, control signal occasions, discovery signal occasions, or a plurality of beams used to switch relay services of the UE (e.g., the UE120b) from the first wireless node to one or more second wireless nodes (e.g., the UE120c), according to aspects described herein. The controller/processor280of the UE120has a relay node manager281that performs a relay switch on a per beam basis, in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. In certain aspects, the relay node manager281receives discovery signals from a relay node and switches to another relay node for relay services, according to aspects described herein. Although shown at the Controller/Processor, other components of the UE120and BS110may be used to perform the operations described herein.

While the examples provided inFIG.2are described with respect to wireless communications between a UE and a base station, to facilitate understanding, aspects ofFIG.2may also apply to UEs communicating with each other via sidelink interfaces, for example, as described herein with respect toFIG.1.

FIG.3is a diagram showing an example of a frame format300for NR. The transmission timeline for each of the downlink and uplink may be partitioned into units of radio frames. Each radio frame may have a predetermined duration (e.g., 10 ms) and may be partitioned into 10 subframes, each of 1 ms, with indices of 0 through 9. Each subframe may include a variable number of slots depending on the subcarrier spacing. Each slot may include a variable number of symbol periods (e.g., 7 or 14 symbols) depending on the subcarrier spacing. The symbol periods in each slot may be assigned indices. A mini-slot, which may be referred to as a sub-slot structure, refers to a transmit time interval having a duration less than a slot (e.g., 2, 3, or 4 symbols).

In NR, a synchronization signal (SS) block is transmitted. The SS block includes a PSS, a SSS, and a two symbol PBCH. The SS block can be transmitted in a fixed slot location, such as the symbols 0-3 as shown inFIG.3. The PSS and SSS may be used by UEs for cell search and acquisition. The PSS may provide half-frame timing, the SS may provide the CP length and frame timing. The PSS and SSS may provide the cell identity. The PBCH carries some basic system information, such as downlink system bandwidth, timing information within radio frame, SS burst set periodicity, system frame number, etc. The SS blocks may be organized into SS bursts to support beam sweeping. Further system information such as, remaining minimum system information (RMSI), system information blocks (SIBs), other system information (OSI) can be transmitted on a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) in certain subframes. The SS block can be transmitted up to sixty-four times, for example, with up to sixty-four different beam directions for mmWave transmissions. The up to sixty-four transmissions of the SS block are referred to as the SS burst set. SS blocks in an SS burst set are transmitted in the same frequency region, while SS blocks in different SS bursts sets can be transmitted at different frequency locations.

Example Beam-Based Relay Node Switch

In certain wireless communication networks (e.g., 5G NR), device-to-device (D2D) communications, such as sidelink communications, may include communications between an Internet-of-Things (IoT) device (e.g., smart appliances or wearable devices such as a smart watch, activity tracker, etc.) and a UE (e.g., a mobile phone or access point). In certain cases, the UE may serve as a wireless relay node for the IoT device to communicate with another wireless node and/or a network entity, such as a base station (e.g., the BS110aofFIG.1). That is, the UE may relay wireless communications between the IoT device and the network entity, where such relay services may enable the IoT device to reduce its power consumption via low power transmissions to or from the UE.

For example, a relay node (e.g., the UE120aor UE120c) may reside in the cell coverage of a base station (e.g., the BS110a), and a UE (e.g., the UE120b, which may include an IoT device) may reside either in or out of the cell coverage of the base station. In aspects, the base station communicates with the relay node UE via a Uu (e.g., BS to UE or UE to BS) interface (DL, UL), and the relay node may communicate with the UE via a sidelink interface. In certain cases, it may be quite power inefficient for the UE to communicate directly with the base station, due to various conditions or factors, such as long distance or blocks between the UE and base station, weak reception capability of the UE, low transmission power of the UE, or limited battery capacity of the UE. In aspects, a relay node may include a wireless communication device such as a UE, access point, transmission-reception point, or the like.

When communicating in mmWave spectrum (such as Frequency Range2of 5G NR), the relay node may have multiple transmit/receive antennas, enabling beamformed transmissions between the UE and the relay node. In aspects, the beamformed transmissions may extend the coverage and reduce co-channel interference. In certain cases, for example, if the number of transmit/receive antennas is large, the relay node may extend the coverage significantly with a narrow beam, though, at the cost of a large number of beam directions, in certain cases, resulting in a long latency of sweeping all of the beam directions.

In certain cases, the relay node may handover wireless communication relay services of the UE to another relay node. The handover of relay services may also be referred to herein as a relay switch. When a source relay node (i.e., the current relay node relaying communications between the UE and the base station) detects a relay switch is about to occur (e.g. due to various factors, such as mobility of the UE and/or relay node, channel variance, battery status change or load status changes of the relay node), the source relay node may inform the UE to perform a relay switch. If the relay switch operation is performed solely by the UE without any assistance from the source relay node, like detecting and awaking target relay nodes, the power consumption from the relay switch activities may significantly impact the battery life of the UE. Moreover, if the bandwidth of the UE is smaller than the bandwidth of the relay node, the UE may perform inter-frequency measurements, which may cause data transfer interruption, to facilitate the relay switch.

In certain cases of discovering and activating a neighbor relay node, the source relay node may monitor certain frequency spectrums to detect the neighbor relay nodes, then exchange messages with the neighbor relay node to determine the neighbor's availability to relay a UE, and finally indicate to the neighbor to transmit discovery signals to the UE. If the working frequency spectrum is at high-frequency spectrum, like mmWave spectrum, the beam management for the link between source relay node and the neighbor relay node may be involved. If there is a large number of neighbors, discovering and activating each neighbor separately may increase the latency of the relay switch and consume high power at the source relay node. Such a relay switch process may impact relay switch performance and power consumption of the source relay node.

Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide the relay node assisting the UE in performing the relay switch to reduce the power consumption of the UE and mitigate the interruption time of the relay switch process, which may provide enhanced performance (e.g., improved latency and bandwidth) of the wireless communications of the UE. In aspects, the relay node may discover and activate one or more neighbors on a beam basis where the source relay node multicasts/broadcasts various signals across one or more beams to discover and activate neighbors. In other words, instead of performing the discovery and activation on a per neighbor basis, the source relay node may perform the discovery and activation across a certain number of beams where multiple neighbors may reside in the coverage of one or more beams. Therefore, the relay switch techniques described herein may reduce relay switch latency and reduce power consumption of the source relay and/or the UE.

In certain cases, a UE may enter sleep mode so as to save power. For example, when a UE is in sleep mode (e.g., a low power state such as idle state or inactive state), the UE may suspend reception of signals on the PDCCH and PDSCH from the base station. While in sleep mode the UE may periodically monitor a wake-up signal (WUS) at certain time-frequency resource units, for example, called WUS occasions. When the UE successfully detects a WUS, the UE will wake up to receive PDCCH and PDSCH. The WUS may be a certain kind of easy-detectable signal, such as a sequence of symbols modulated with an amplitude and phase-based modulation, that allows the UE to monitor the WUS with an active power consumption of less than the power consumed to detect and decode the PDCCH and PDSCH, for example, less than 1 mW. In certain cases, the WUS may be detectable while a UE is in a lower power state (e.g., a sleep mode) and/or detectable with certain low power hardware.

In certain aspects, while in sleep mode, a relay UE may suspend reception of certain sidelink channels, such as the PSCCH or PSSCH, so as to save power. The sleeping relay UE may periodically monitor the WUS, and when the relay UE successfully detects a WUS, the relay UE may wake up to receive transmissions on the PSCCH and/or PSSCH.

FIG.4illustrates an example wireless communication network400in which aspects of the present disclosure may be performed. As shown, the source relay node (SRN)120a, also referred to as a wireless relay node, may relay wireless communications between the UE120band the base station110. In certain cases, the SRN120amay initialize a remote relay switch, for example, due to load status changes at the SRN120a. The SRN120amay probe the surrounding area with relay request signals via beams402a-dto identify neighbor relay nodes (NRNs) for the relay switch. In this example, the SRN120amay wirelessly communicate with the NRNs120c-gvia beamformed transmission such as the beams402a-d, which may represent transmit and/or receive beams of the SRN120aand/or NRNs120c-g. For example, the NRNs120c-gmay be located within the coverage area of the beams402a-d, and in certain cases, multiple NRNs120c,120gare located within the coverage area of the beam402a. In aspects, the NRNs120c-gmay be able to detect beamformed transmissions from all or some of the beams402a-d, but a single beam may provide the best channel properties between the NRNs120c-gand SRN120a. For example, the beam402amay provide the best channel properties between the NRN120cand SRN120a.

The SRN120aand NRNs120c-gmay communicate various signals (such as a relay request signals, acknowledgement signals, and control signals) via the beams402a-din order to discover and activate at least one of the NRNs120c-gfor the relay switch, for example, as further described herein with respect toFIG.5. Each of the signals transmitted via the beams402a-dmay be transmitted at various occasions. As used herein, transmission and/or reception occasions may include certain radio resources such as a time-frequency resources and/or code-division sequences.

As an example, after identifying the NRNs that lie in the beam402aas being a candidate for the relay switch, the SRN120amay transmit a control signal via the beam402a, which may be received by the NRN120cand NRN120g, where the control signal indicates to the NRN to transmit a discovery signal to the UE120b. After performing a relay switch with the UE120b, the NRN120cmay relay communication between the UE120band the base station110. In aspects, the SRN120a, UE120b, and NRN(s)120c-gmay communicate with each other via beamformed sidelink communication channels (e.g., PSDCH, PSCCH, PSSCH, and/or PSFCH).

FIG.5is a call flow diagram illustrating example operations for performing a beam-based relay node switch, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure. In certain aspects, the SRN120aand NRN(s)120cmay be configured with one or more associations between relay request signal (RRS) occasions and at least one of acknowledgement signal (AS) occasions, control signal (CS) occasions, discovery signal (DS) occasions, or a plurality of beams (e.g., the beams402a-d). The SRN120aand/or BS110may configure the NRNs120cwith the associations between RRS occasions and the following AS occasions, CS occasions, and/or DS occasions. In certain cases, the associations may be predetermined and known to the SRN120aand NRNs120c.

In certain cases, a network entity, such as BS110, may control the configuration of the wireless relay nodes, such as the SRN120aand NRNs120c. For example, at502, the SRN120amay receive, from the BS110, a configuration indicating the one or more associations. In aspects, the configuration may indicate which of the NRNs120cmay be candidates for a relay switch. As the BS110may control the configuration of the associations between the various occasions, at504b, the NRNs120cmay receive the configuration indicating the one or more associations from the BS110.

In certain cases, at504a, the SRN120amay transmit, to the NRNs120c, a broadcasting signal (e.g., an SS block and/or a burst of SS blocks) indicating the one or more associations of the various occasions. In aspects, at504a, the SRN120amay forward the configuration received at502to the NRNs120c. In certain cases, the associations transmitted at504amay be determined by the SRN120awithout the configuration from the BS110.

In aspects, the SRN120amay broadcast an indication of the associations, for example, via a beamformed sidelink-SS block (S-SSB). In aspects, the SRN may configure the NRNs with the associations via an indication with all the occasions. For example, a common indication, which includes the associations of all the beams, may be transmitted via all the beams of the S-SSBs.

In certain aspects, the associations may be indicated to the NRNs on a per beam basis. For example, an indication, which includes the association of only one beam, may be transmitted in a beamformed S-SSB via a beam that is identical to the RRS and/or CS beam.

In certain aspects, the associations may be indicated via a beam that covers multiple beams used to discover and activate neighbor wireless nodes. For example, an indication, which includes the association of multiple RRS beams, may be transmitted via the S-SSB at the corresponding S-SSB beam that corresponds to several RRS and/or CS beams.

The various occasions may enable the NRNs120cto identify radio resources to acknowledge a relay switch request, receive control signals, and transmit discovery signals. In certain aspects, the various occasions may enable the SRN120ato identify the beams in which acknowledgements are received and radio resources to transmit control signals that indicate to the NRN to transmit a discovery signal to the UE.

The SRN120amay relay wireless communications between the UE120band the BS110. For example, at506, the UE120bmay transmit data to the SRN120a, which may forward the data to the BS110via the Uu interface at508.

At510, the SRN120amay identify that a relay switch is to occur, for example, based on various factors or conditions such as due to channel variance and/or mobility of the UE. At512, the SRN120amay transmit to the NRNs120crelay request signals via a plurality of beams (e.g., the beams402a-d) at RRS occasions, where each of the relay request signals indicates a request to switch relay services of the UE120bfrom the SRN120ato NRNs120c.

For example, at514, the NRNs120cmay determine whether to perform the relay switch as requested by the SRN120a. In certain cases, the NRNs120cmay consider various conditions or factors, such as the load status or battery life of the NRN120c, in determining whether to perform the relay switch. After determining to perform the relay switch, the NRN120cmay identify one of the SRN beams (e.g., beams402a-d) for transmitting an acknowledgement signal based on properties of the relay request signals. The properties may include a channel quality indicator, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), signal-to-interference plus noise ratio (SINR), signal-to-noise plus distortion ratio (SNDR), and/or a received signal strength indicator (RSSI). In certain cases, the the NRN120cmay identify one of the SRN beams with the best channel quality compared to the other beams. The NRN120cmay identify the beams based on an association between the beams and the RRS occasions. For example, each relay request signal may be transmitted via a different beam and different RRS occasion, which may enable the NRN120cto identify the beam associated with the RRS occasion.

At516, the NRNs120cmay transmit, to the SRN120a, an acknowledgement signal at an AS occasion, which may be associated with one of the RRS occasions, for example, as further described herein with respect toFIG.6. The NRN120cmonitors certain RRS occasions and conditionally transmits an AS on the associated AS occasion to acknowledge relay switch. If the NRN120cdetects an RRS and agrees on performing a relay switch, the NRN120cselects one of the RRS occasions with detected RRS beam and transmits the AS on the associated AS occasion to acknowledge relay switch, where the AS occasion is associated with the RRS occasion of the same beam. The AS occasion for one beam may be unique, so multiple NRNs may transmit ASs without collisions. At the SRN, AS reception may only detect the presence of transmitted AS, regardless of the number of transmitters. For example, the AS may be a certain sequence of symbols, which is common for an AS occasion (e.g., a beam) or for an SRN. Such a configuration for the AS may enable the SRN to receive multiple folds of the AS at one AS occasion without impairing the detection success ratio at the SRN.

After transmitting the AS, the NRN monitors the associated CS occasion for possible CS reception. The CS occasion may be associated with the AS occasion or RRS occasion of the same beam, so multiple NRNs may receive the same signal simultaneously. For example, At518, the SRN120amay select the at least one of the beams with acknowledged NRNs, and at520, the SRN120amay transmit one or more control signals via the selected beams at one or more CS occasions, which may be associated with the AS occasions, for example, as described herein with respect toFIG.8.

In certain aspects, at522, the SRN120amay configure the UE120bwith a measurement configuration indicating various parameters for the UE120cto discover the NRNs120cvia one or more discovery signals. For example, the measurement configuration may indicate occasions for the UE120bto receive discovery signals from the NRNs120c. In aspects, the SRN120amay transmit the measurement configuration via various control signals such as sidelink control information.

At524, the NRNs120cmay transmit, to the UE120b, one or more discovery signals at a DS occasion. If there are multiple NRNs120ctransmitting discovery signals, the UE120bmay select one of the NRNs120cbased on various properties associated with the discovery signals, such as channel quality, SNR, SINR, SNDR, RSSI, or the like. For example, the UE120bmay select one of the NRNs120cthat provides the best channel quality compared to the other discovery signals.

The NRN120amay relay wireless communications between the UE120band the BS110. For example, at526, the UE120bmay transmit data to the NRN120c, which may forward the data to the BS110via the Uu interface at528.

In aspects, the RRS occasions (which may also be referred to a WUS occasions) may be associated with AS occasions. For example,FIG.6illustrates a diagram of an SRN120atransmitting relay request signals via beams602a-dat WUS occasions 1-4, where NRNs120c-fmay be located in the coverage area of each of the beams602a-drespectively. As shown, the SRN120amay receive acknowledgement signals from the NRNs120c-fvia beams604a-dat the respective AS occasions 1-4. In this example, WUS occasion 1 is associated with the beams602a,604aand the AS occasion 1; WUS occasion 2 is associated with the beams602b,604band the AS occasion 2; and so on.

In certain aspects, multiple relay nodes may be in the coverage area of a beam, such as the RRS beam602a. For example,FIG.7illustrates a diagram of NRNs120cand120gresponding to a RRS via the beam604a, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure. In this example, NRN120cand NRN120gboth transmit ASs at the AS occasion 1, NRN120dtransmits an AS at AS occasion 2, and NRN120etransmits an AS at AS occasion 3. As the SRN120amay only be aware of the number ASs received on the AS occasions, the SRN120amay only know that at least one NRN transmitted via the beams of the three AS occasions, but SRN120amay not know the number of NRNs at each beam. In certain cases, the NRN120fmay not transmit an AS based on various conditions or factors, for example, due to the load status of the NRN.

FIG.7also illustrates that the AS occasions may be associated with the CS occasions. As shown, after the SRN120areceives ASs at AS occasion 1, 2 and 3, the SRN120atransmits CSs at CS occasions 1 and 2, where each of the AS occasions and CS occasions is associated with one of the beams706a-d. In this example, AS occasion 1 is associated with the beams604a,706aand the CS occasion 1; AS occasion 2 is associated with the beams604b,706band the CS occasion 2, and so on.

After the NRN120cand NRN120gtransmit the AS at AS occasion 1, the NRN120cand NRN120gmonitor CS occasion 1 and both receive the same CS from the SRN120a. After the NRN120dtransmits the AS at AS occasion 2, NRN120dmonitors the CS occasion 2 and receives a CS from the SRN120a. After the NRN120etransmits the AS at AS occasion 3, the NRN120emonitors the CS occasion 3 but does not receive any CS from the SRN120a. As the NRN120fdid not transmit an AS, the NRN120fdoes not monitor CS occasion 4.

In aspects, the CS occasions may be associated with DS occasions. For example,FIG.8illustrates a diagram of the association between CS occasions and DS occasions, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure. In this example, CS occasion 1 is associated with the beam706aand the DS occasion 1; AS occasion 2 is associated with the beam706band the CS occasion 2, and so on.

In aspects, after receiving the CSs, the NRNs may transmit DSs at the respective DS occasions. Referring toFIG.8, NRN120cand NRN120guse DS occasion 1 (associated with CS occasion 1) to transmit a DS to the UE120b, and NRN120duses DS occasion 2 (associated with CS occasion 2) to transmit another DS to the UE120b. Under such a scheme, mutual interference for DS transmissions by NRNs with different SRN beams (called inter-beam) may be mitigated. The mutual interference for DS transmissions by NRNs with the same SRN beam (called intra-beam) may be resolved using a Zadoff-Chu sequence. For example, in some cases, the DS waveforms may be Zadoff-Chu sequences (like PSS) with different root values, and the DS waveforms of different NRNs may be distinguished by a UE. The intra-beam interference may also be resolved using different time-frequency resources at the DS occasion. For example, the DS occasion for one SRN beam may be associated with multiple time-frequency resources. Each acknowledged NRN in this beam may select one of the resources for transmission of the DS to reduce the DS collision ratio.

While the examples depicted inFIGS.6-8show the NRN120gbelow the NRN120cto facilitate understanding, aspects of the present disclosure apply to cases where the NRN120glies in the same coverage area as the NRN120cwith respect to the various beams (e.g., beams602a,604a, and706a) used to communicate between the SRN120aand NRNs120c,120g, for example, as depictedFIG.4.

FIG.9is a flow diagram illustrating example operations900for wireless communication, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure. The operations900may be performed, for example, by a wireless node (e.g., the SRN120aofFIG.4). The operations900may be implemented as software components that are executed and run on one or more processors (e.g., controller/processor280ofFIG.2). Further, the transmission and reception of signals by the wireless node in operations900may be enabled, for example, by one or more antennas (e.g., antennas252ofFIG.2). In certain aspects, the transmission and/or reception of signals by the wireless node may be implemented via a bus interface of one or more processors (e.g., controller/processor280) obtaining and/or outputting signals.

The operations900may begin at902, where a first wireless node (e.g., the SRN120aofFIG.4) may relay wireless communications between a UE (e.g., the UE120bofFIG.4) and a network entity (e.g., the BS110ofFIG.4). At904, the first wireless node may transmit, to one or more second wireless nodes (e.g., the NRNs120c-gofFIG.4), relay request signals via a plurality of beams (e.g., the beams402a-d) at relay request signal occasions. Each of the relay request signals indicates a request to switch relay services of the UE from the first wireless node to the one or more second wireless nodes. At906, the first wireless node may switch the relay services of the UE to at least one of the one or more second wireless nodes.

In certain aspects, performing wireless communication relay services (also called relay services) of the UE may include relaying wireless communications between the UE and the network entity.

In aspects, the first wireless node may wirelessly communicate with the second wireless via beamformed transmission on a set of beams. For example, transmitting the relay request signals at904may include transmitting each of the relay request signals via a different beam of the plurality of beams at a different relay request signal occasion of the relay request signal occasions. In aspects, each of the beams may correspond to a different transmit direction (e.g., an azimuth and/or elevation) and a different relay request occasion.

In aspects, the relay request signals may include one or more wake-up signals (WUS) detectable while a UE is in a lower power state (and/or detectable with certain low power hardware). For example, the wake-up signals may include a sequence of symbols detectable with low power consumption such as less than 1 mW. In certain cases, the wake-up signal may be modulated with an amplitude and phase-based modulation.

In aspects, after transmitting the RRSs at904, the first wireless node may receive one or more acknowledgement signals from the second wireless nodes, for example, as described herein with respect toFIG.6. As an example, switching the relay services at906may further include the first wireless node receiving, from at least one of the one or more second wireless nodes, one or more acknowledgement signals at one or more acknowledgement signal occasions. In aspects, each of the acknowledgement signal occasions is associated with one of the relay request signal occasions respectively, for example, as described herein with respect toFIG.6.

After receiving the acknowledgement signals, the first wireless node may select a beam associated with at least one of the acknowledgement signals and transmit CSs via the selected beams to the second wireless nodes, for example, as described herein with respect toFIG.7. For example, switching the relay services at906may further include the first wireless node transmitting, to the at least one of the second wireless nodes, one or more control signals via at least one of the plurality of beams at one or more control signal occasions. In aspects, each of the control signals may indicate to the second wireless nodes to transmit one or more discovery signals at one or more discovery signal occasions.

Each of the beams used to transmit the control signals may correspond to one of the plurality of beams associated with one of the relay request signals. For example, the beam706amay correspond to the beam602a, such that the beam706ais transmitted in the same direction (e.g., azimuth and/or elevation) as the beam602a, and in certain aspects, the beam706amay have the same coverage area as the beam602a.

In aspects, each of the control signal occasions may be associated with one of the relay request signal occasions respectively. For example, CS occasion 1 ofFIG.7may be associated with WUS occasion 1 ofFIG.6. In aspects, each of the control signal occasions may be associated with one of the acknowledgement signal occasions respectively, for example, as depicted inFIG.7. In aspects, each of the discovery signal occasions may be associated with one of the relay request signal occasions respectively. For example, DS occasion 1 ofFIG.8may be associated with WUS occasion 1 ofFIG.6. In aspects, each of the discovery signal occasions may be associated with one of the control signal occasions respectively, for example, as depicted inFIG.8.

In aspects, the first wireless node may identify the one or more acknowledgement signal occasions when the one or more acknowledgement signals are received and determine the one or more control signal occasions associated with the identified acknowledgement signal occasions. The first wireless node may transmit the one or more control signals via at least one of the beams at the one or more determined control signal occasions.

In aspects, the first wireless node may configure the UE (e.g., via sidelink control information) with discovery signal occasions to receive the discovery signals from the second wireless node. As an example, the first wireless node may transmit, to the UE, a signal indicating a measurement configuration for the UE to discover the one or more second wireless nodes via one or more discovery signals. In aspects, the measurement configuration may indicate one or more discovery signal occasions for receiving the one or more discovery signals from the second wireless nodes.

In aspects, the first wireless node may configure associations between the various signals used to discover and activate neighbor wireless nodes, such as the second wireless nodes. The configured associations may be provided by a network entity (e.g., a BS), for example. In certain cases, the first wireless node may configure at least one of the second wireless nodes with one or more associations between the relay request signal occasions and at least one of acknowledgement signal occasions, control signal occasions, discovery signal occasions, or the plurality of beams.

In aspects, the first wireless node may configure the second wireless nodes with the associations via an indication common to all the occasions. For example, the first wireless node may transmit, to at least one of the one or more second wireless nodes, at least one broadcasting signal (e.g., one or more SS blocks) indicating the one or more associations.

In certain aspects, the associations may be indicated to the second wireless on a per beam basis. For example, the first wireless node may transmit, to at least one of the one or more second wireless nodes via one of the plurality of beams, at least one broadcasting signal indicating an association between one of the relay request signal occasions and at least one of an acknowledgement signal occasion, a control signal occasion, a discovery signal occasion, or the one of the plurality of beams. In aspects, the beam used to transmit the broadcasting signal may correspond to the beam associated with the various occasions indicated by the broadcasting signal, such that the beam used to transmit the broadcasting signal may have the same transmit direction and/or cover the same area as the beam associated with the various occasions indicated by the broadcasting signal. For example, an indication of the association may be transmitted via a sidelink-SS block with a beam that is identical to a RRS beam and/or CS beam.

In certain aspects, the associations may be indicated via a beam that covers multiple beams used to discover and activate neighbor wireless nodes. For example, the first wireless node may transmit, to at least one of the second wireless nodes via a beam, at least one broadcasting signal indicating an association between a set of the relay request signal occasions and at least one of acknowledgement signal occasions, control signal occasions, discovery signal occasions, or a set of the plurality of beams, where the beam may correspond to the set of beams indicated via the broadcasting signal. The beam used to transmit the broadcasting signal may correspond to the set of beams by having the same transmit direction and/or covering the same area as the set of beams associated with the various occasions indicated by the broadcasting signal.

In aspects, a network entity may configure the first wireless node with the associations. For example, the first wireless node may receive, from the network entity, a configuration (e.g., control signaling including downlink control information (DCI), radio resource control (RRC) messages, and/or medium access control (MAC) control elements) indicating one or more associations between the relay request signal occasions and at least one of acknowledgement signal occasions, control signal occasions, or discovery signal occasions.

FIG.10is a flow diagram illustrating example operations1000for wireless communication, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure. The operations1000may be performed, for example, by a wireless node (e.g., the NRN120cofFIG.4). Aspects of the operations1000may be complimentary to the operations900performed by the first wireless node. The operations1000may be implemented as software components that are executed and run on one or more processors (e.g., controller/processor280ofFIG.2). Further, the transmission and reception of signals by the wireless node in operations1000may be enabled, for example, by one or more antennas (e.g., antennas252ofFIG.2). In certain aspects, the transmission and/or reception of signals by the wireless node may be implemented via a bus interface of one or more processors (e.g., controller/processor280) obtaining and/or outputting signals.

The operations1000may begin at1002, where a second wireless node (e.g., the NRNs120c-gofFIG.4) may receive, from a first wireless node (e.g., the SRN120aofFIG.4), one or more relay request signals via one or more beams at one or more relay request signal occasions. Each of the relay request signals indicates a request to switch wireless communication relay services of a UE (e.g., the UE120bofFIG.4) from the first wireless node to the second wireless node. At1004, the second wireless node may switch wireless communication relay services of the UE from the first wireless node to the second wireless node. At1006, the second wireless node may relay communications between the UE and a network entity (e.g., the BS110ofFIG.4), after switching the wireless communication relay services.

In certain aspects, performing wireless communication relay services (also called relay services) of the UE may include relaying wireless communications between the UE and the network entity.

In aspects, the second wireless node may wirelessly communicate with the first wireless via beamformed transmission on a set of beams. For example, receiving the relay request signals at1002may include receiving each of the relay request signals via a different beam of the one or more beams at a different relay request signal occasion of the one or more relay request signal occasions. In aspects, each of the beams may correspond to a different transmit direction (e.g., an azimuth and/or elevation) and a different relay request occasion.

In aspects, the relay request signals may include one or more wake-up signals detectable while a UE is in a lower power state (and/or detectable with certain low power hardware). For example, the wake-up signals may include a sequence of symbols detectable with low power consumption such as less than 1 mW. In certain cases, the wake-up signal may be modulated with an amplitude and phase-based modulation.

The method of claim21, after receiving the RRS at1002, the second wireless node may transmit an AS to the first wireless node, for example, as described herein with respect toFIG.6. For example, switching the relay services may further comprise the second wireless node transmitting, to the first wireless node, an acknowledgement signal at an acknowledgement signal occasion. In aspects, the acknowledgement signal occasion is associated with one of the relay request signal occasions. In aspects, the second wireless node may transmit the acknowledgement signal based on properties of one of the relay request signals received at one of the relay request signal occasions associated with the acknowledgement signal occasion. In certain cases, the second wireless node may select one of acknowledgement occasions associated with the properties of the relay request signals, such as channel quality, SNR, SINR, SNDR, RSSI, or the like. For example, the second wireless node may select the acknowledgement occasion associated with one of the RRS that provides that provides the best channel quality compared to the RRSs.

After transmitting the acknowledgement signals, the second wireless node may receive a control signal at a control signal occasion associated with the acknowledgement signal, for example, as described herein with respect toFIG.7. In aspects, switching the relay services may further comprises the second wireless node receiving, from the first wireless node, one or more control signals via at least one of the plurality of beams at one or more control signal occasions. In aspects, each of the control signal occasions is associated with one of the acknowledgement signal occasions and indicates to the second wireless nodes to transmit one or more discovery signals.

In aspects, each of the control signal occasions may be associated with at least one of the relay request signal occasions. For example, CS occasion 1 ofFIG.7may be associated with WUS occasion 1 ofFIG.6. Each of the control signal occasions may be associated with at least one of the acknowledgement signal occasions, for example, as depicted inFIG.7.

Each of the beams used to transmit the control signals may correspond to one of the plurality of beams associated with one of the relay request signals. For example, the beam706amay correspond to the beam602a, such that the beam706ais transmitted in the same direction (e.g., azimuth and/or elevation) as the beam602a, and in certain aspects, the beam706amay have the same coverage area as the beam602a.

After receiving the control signal, the second wireless node may transmit a discovery signal at a discovery signal occasion to the UE. For example, switching the relay services may further comprises the second wireless node transmitting, to the UE, one or more discovery signals at a discovery signal occasion. In aspects, each of the discovery signals is associated with at least one of the control signals and indicates to the UE to switch relay services.

In certain aspects, the discovery signal occasion may be associated with one of the relay request signal occasions. For example, DS occasion 1 ofFIG.8may be associated with WUS occasion 1 ofFIG.6. In aspects, the discovery signal occasion may be associated with one of the control signal occasions, for example, as depicted inFIG.8.

In certain cases, as multiple NRNs may receive a control signal associated with a discovery signal occasion, the discovery signals transmitted by the NRNs may collide in the same discovery signal occasion. In order to reduce the interference from these NRNs, the discovery signals may be transmitted based on a Zadoff-Chu sequence. In certain aspects, the discovery signal occasion may be selected from a plurality of time-frequency resources associated with the discover signal occasion. For example, the NRN120cofFIG.8may select a different time-frequency resource than the NRN120gto transmit the discovery signal at the respective discovery signal occasion. In aspects, each of the time-frequency resources may be associated with a different relay request signal occasion or a different control signal occasion, which may be associated with the discovery signal occasion.

In aspects, the second wireless node may configure associations between the various signals used to monitor and respond to the various signals for discovering and activating the neighbor relay nodes. For example, the second wireless node may configure one or more associations between the relay request signal occasions and at least one of acknowledgement signal occasions, control signal occasions, discovery signal occasions, or the plurality of beams.

In aspects, the first wireless node may configure the second wireless nodes with the associations via an indication common to all the occasions. For example, the second wireless node may receive, from the first wireless node, at least one broadcasting signal indicating the one or more associations, and the second wireless node may configure the associations based on the indication in the at least one broadcasting signal.

In certain aspects, the associations may be indicated to the second wireless on a per beam basis. In certain cases, the second wireless node may receive, from the first wireless node via one of the plurality of beams, at least one broadcasting signal indicating an association between one of the relay request signal occasions and at least one of an acknowledgement signal occasion, a control signal occasion, a discovery signal occasion, or the one of the plurality of beams. The second wireless node may configure the associations based on the indication in the at least one broadcasting signal. In aspects, the beam used to transmit the broadcasting signal may correspond to the beam associated with the various occasions indicated by the broadcasting signal, such that the beam used to transmit the broadcasting signal may have the same transmit direction and/or cover the same area as the beam associated with the various occasions indicated by the broadcasting signal. For example, an indication of the association may be received via a sidelink-SS block with a beam that is identical to a RRS beam and/or CS beam.

In certain aspects, the associations may be indicated via a beam that covers multiple beams used to discover and activate neighbor wireless nodes. In certain cases, the second wireless node may receive, from the first wireless node via a beam, at least one broadcasting signal indicating an association between a set of the relay request signal occasions and at least one of acknowledgement signal occasions, control signal occasions, discovery signal occasions, or a set of the plurality of beams, where the beam may correspond to the set of beams indicated via the broadcasting signal. The second wireless node may configure the associations based on the indication in the at least one broadcasting signal. The beam used to transmit the broadcasting signal may correspond to the set of beams by having the same transmit direction and/or covering the same area as the set of beams associated with the various occasions indicated by the broadcasting signal.

In aspects, a network entity may configure the first wireless node with the associations. For example, the second wireless node may receive, from the network entity, a configuration (e.g., control signaling including DCI, RRC messages, and/or MAC control elements) indicating one or more associations between the relay request signal occasions and at least one of acknowledgement signal occasions, control signal occasions, or discovery signal occasions. The second wireless node may configure the associations based on the configuration.

FIG.11is a flow diagram illustrating example operations1100for wireless communication, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure. The operations1100may be performed, for example, by an UE (e.g., the UE120bofFIG.4). The operations1100may be complimentary to the operations900performed by the first wireless node and/or the operations1000performed by the second wireless node. The operations1100may be implemented as software components that are executed and run on one or more processors (e.g., controller/processor280ofFIG.2). Further, the transmission and reception of signals by the UE in operations1100may be enabled, for example, by one or more antennas (e.g., antennas252ofFIG.2). In certain aspects, the transmission and/or reception of signals by the UE may be implemented via a bus interface of one or more processors (e.g., controller/processor280) obtaining and/or outputting signals.

The operations1100may begin at1102, where the UE communicates with a network entity (e.g., the BS110ofFIG.4) via first wireless communications with a first wireless node (e.g., the SRN120aofFIG.4). At1104, the UE receives, from one or more second wireless nodes, one or more discovery signals at one or more discovery signal occasions. At1106, the UE switches from the first wireless node to at least one of the second wireless nodes to communicate with the network entity based on the received discovery signals. At1108, the UE communicates with the network entity via second wireless communications with at least one of the second wireless nodes.

In aspects, the UE may be configured with a measurement configuration that indicates the discovery occasions for discovering the NRNs. For example, the UE may receive, from the first wireless node, a signal indicating a measurement configuration for the UE to discover the one or more second wireless nodes via the one or more discovery signal, and receiving the one or more discovery signals at1104may comprise receiving the one or more discovery signal based on the measurement configuration. In aspects, the measurement configuration indicates the one or more discovery signal occasions for receiving the one or more discovery signals.

FIG.12is a flow diagram illustrating example operations1200for wireless communication, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure. The operations1200may be performed, for example, by a network entity (e.g., the BS110ofFIG.4). The operations1200may be complimentary to the operations900performed by the first wireless node and/or the operations1000performed by the second wireless node. The operations1200may be implemented as software components that are executed and run on one or more processors (e.g., controller/processor240ofFIG.2). Further, the transmission and reception of signals by the network entity in operations1200may be enabled, for example, by one or more antennas (e.g., antennas234ofFIG.2). In certain aspects, the transmission and/or reception of signals by the network entity may be implemented via a bus interface of one or more processors (e.g., controller/processor240) obtaining and/or outputting signals.

The operations1200may begin at1202, where the network entity communicates with a UE via first wireless communications with a first wireless node. At1204, the network entity configures the first wireless node with one or more associations between relay request signal occasions and at least one of acknowledgement signal occasions, control signal occasions, discovery signal occasions, or a plurality of beams used to switch relay services of the UE from the first wireless node to one or more second wireless nodes. At1206, the network entity communicates with the UE via second wireless communications with the one or more second wireless nodes.

In aspects, configuring the first wireless node at1204may include the network entity transmitting, to the first wireless node, a signal (e.g., control signaling including DCI, RRC messages, and/or MAC control elements) indicating the one or more associations.

In aspects, the network entity may configure the one or more second wireless nodes with the one or more associations. For example, the network entity may transmit, to the one or more second wireless nodes, a signal (e.g., control signaling including DCI, RRC messages, and/or MAC control elements) indicating the one or more associations.

While the examples provided herein are described with respect to a wireless relay node relaying wireless communications between a UE and a network entity, such as a base station, to facilitate understanding, aspects of the present disclosure may also apply to a wireless relay node relaying wireless communications between the UE and another UE, such as UE120cofFIGS.1and4.

FIG.13illustrates a communications device1300(e.g., the SRN120a, UE120b, or NRN120c) that may include various components (e.g., corresponding to means-plus-function components) configured to perform operations for the techniques disclosed herein, such as the operations illustrated inFIG.9,FIG.10, and/orFIG.11. The communications device1300includes a processing system1302coupled to a transceiver1308(e.g., a transmitter and/or receiver). The transceiver1308is configured to transmit and receive signals for the communications device1300via an antenna1310, such as the various signals as described herein. The processing system1302may be configured to perform processing functions for the communications device1300, including processing signals received and/or to be transmitted by the communications device1300.

The processing system1302includes a processor1304coupled to a computer-readable medium/memory1312via a bus1306. In certain aspects, the computer-readable medium/memory1312is configured to store instructions (e.g., computer-executable code) that when executed by the processor1304, cause the processor1304to perform the operations illustrated inFIG.9,FIG.10, and/orFIG.11, or other operations for performing the various techniques discussed herein for performing a relay node switch. In certain aspects, computer-readable medium/memory1312stores code for receiving1314, code for transmitting1316, code for switching1318, code for relaying1320, and/or code for communicating, which may include code for receiving1314and/or code for transmitting1316. In certain aspects, the processor1304has circuitry configured to implement the code stored in the computer-readable medium/memory1312. The processor1304includes circuitry for receiving1322, circuitry for transmitting1324, circuitry for switching1326, circuitry for relaying1328, and/or circuitry for communicating, which may include circuitry for receiving1322and/or circuitry for transmitting1324.

FIG.14illustrates a communications device1400(e.g., the BS110) that may include various components (e.g., corresponding to means-plus-function components) configured to perform operations for the techniques disclosed herein, such as the operations illustrated inFIG.12. The communications device1400includes a processing system1402coupled to a transceiver1408(e.g., a transmitter and/or receiver). The transceiver1408is configured to transmit and receive signals for the communications device1400via an antenna1410, such as the various signals as described herein. The processing system1402may be configured to perform processing functions for the communications device1400, including processing signals received and/or to be transmitted by the communications device1400.

The processing system1402includes a processor1404coupled to a computer-readable medium/memory1412via a bus1406. In certain aspects, the computer-readable medium/memory1412is configured to store instructions (e.g., computer-executable code) that when executed by the processor1404, cause the processor1404to perform the operations illustrated inFIG.12, or other operations for performing the various techniques discussed herein for configuring a relay node switch. In certain aspects, computer-readable medium/memory1412stores code for receiving1414, code for transmitting1416, code for configuring1418, and/or code for communicating, which may include code for receiving1414and/or code for transmitting1416. In certain aspects, the processor1404has circuitry configured to implement the code stored in the computer-readable medium/memory1412. The processor1404includes circuitry for receiving1422, circuitry for transmitting1424, circuitry for configuring1426, and/or circuitry for communicating, which may include circuitry for receiving1422and/or circuitry for transmitting1424.

The techniques described herein may be used for the wireless networks and radio technologies mentioned above as well as other wireless networks and radio technologies. For clarity, while aspects may be described herein using terminology commonly associated with 3G, 4G, and/or 5G wireless technologies, aspects of the present disclosure can be applied in other generation-based communication systems.

NR may utilize OFDM with a CP on the uplink and downlink and include support for half-duplex operation using TDD. In NR, a subframe is still 1 ms, but the basic TTI is referred to as a slot. A subframe contains a variable number of slots (e.g., 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, . . . slots) depending on the subcarrier spacing. The NR RB is 12 consecutive frequency subcarriers. NR may support a base subcarrier spacing of 15 KHz and other subcarrier spacing may be defined with respect to the base subcarrier spacing, for example, 30 kHz, 60 kHz, 120 kHz, 240 kHz, etc. The symbol and slot lengths scale with the subcarrier spacing. The CP length also depends on the subcarrier spacing. Beamforming may be supported and beam direction may be dynamically configured. MIMO transmissions with precoding may also be supported. In some examples, MIMO configurations in the DL may support up to 8 transmit antennas with multi-layer DL transmissions up to 8 streams and up to 2 streams per UE. In some examples, multi-layer transmissions with up to 2 streams per UE may be supported. Aggregation of multiple cells may be supported with up to 8 serving cells.