Patent ID: 8660059

Claim:
A method for managing a state of a Relay Node (RN), comprising: switching a state the an RN in a connection state of serving as a User Equipment (UE) to a connection state of enabling a relay function, after the RN in the connection state of serving as a UE acquires information that a base station schedules the RN through a Relay-node Physical Downlink Control Channel (R-PDCCH), or after the RN in the connection state of serving as a UE sends the base station a state-switching request of requiring to switch to the connection state of enabling a relay function; wherein, the connection state of serving as a UE is a state in which the RN has no relay function; and the connection state of enabling a relay function is a state in which the RN has a relay function and provides services for a UE within a covering area of the RN.