WO2023186811A1

WO2023186811A1 - Indirect communication path in a communication network

Info

Publication number: WO2023186811A1
Application number: PCT/EP2023/057850
Authority: WO
Inventors: Min Wang; Zhang Zhang; Antonino ORSINO; Nithin SRINIVASAN
Original assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson AB
Current assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson AB
Priority date: 2022-03-28
Filing date: 2023-03-27
Publication date: 2023-10-05
Anticipated expiration: 2024-09-28

Abstract

A remote communication device (12A) is configured for use in a communication network (10). The remote communication device (12A) establishes an indirect path (16) to the communication network (10) via a relay communication device (12B). The indirect path (16) may for example comprise a first hop between the remote communication device (12A) and the relay communication device (12B) and a second hop between the relay communication device (12B) and the communication network (10). Regardless, the remote communication device (12A) suspends the indirect path (16), e.g., by suspending the first hop and/or the second hop.

Description

INDIRECT COMMUNICATION PATH IN A COMMUNICATION NETWORK

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present application relates generally to a communication network, and relates more particularly to an indirect communication path in such a network.

BACKGROUND

A communication device traditionally connects directly to a communication network in order to receive communication service from that network. In the context of a wireless communication network, for example, a wireless communication device may connect directly to a radio network node (e.g., a base station) if the wireless communication device is within wireless coverage of the radio network node.

More recently, a communication device that is outside of the communication network’s coverage may connect to the communication network indirectly via another communication device that is within the network’s coverage. This other communication device facilitates the indirect connection by relaying communication to and from the communication network, e.g., at layer 2 or layer 3 of the protocol stack. Effectively, then, a remote communication device outside of the network’s coverage indirectly connects to the network via a relay communication device. The remote communication device may for instance directly connect to the relay communication device over a sidelink, and the relay communication device may in turn directly connect to the communication network.

Exploiting both a direct path and an indirect path to a communication network could prove advantageous for improving transmission throughput and/or reliability. The remote communication device could, for example, switch between the direct path and the indirect path as needed depending on which one provides higher transmission reliability. Or, the remote communication device could transmit/receive over both the direct path and the indirect path simultaneously to achieve higher data throughput.

Challenges exist, though, regarding how to manage the indirect path, especially in circumstances where the indirect path can be exploited together with the direct path. For example, tearing down the indirect path when it becomes less needed would require the indirect path to be re-established if it later becomes needed again. Such re-establishment would introduce undesirable latency on the indirect path.

SUMMARY

According to some embodiments herein, a remote communication device establishes an indirect path to a communication network via a relay communication device, e.g., in addition to or instead of establishing a direct path to the communication network. Notably, the indirect path according to some embodiments is able to be suspended, e.g., when the indirect path is no longer needed for transmission throughput and/or reliability. In one embodiment, while the indirect path is suspended, no traffic is communicable on the indirect path but the remote communication device, the relay communication device, and/or the communication network stores information about the indirect path (e.g., one or more configurations for the indirect path) usable for resuming the indirect path, e.g., when the indirect path becomes needed again for transmission throughput and/or reliability. Suspension of the indirect path thereby preserves the possibility to efficiently and/or quickly resume the indirect path if needed, so as to avoid the latency that would otherwise be required in order to re-establish the indirect path altogether.

In some embodiments, the indirect path traverses a sidelink between the remote communication device and the relay communication device, and also traverses a backhaul link between the relay communication device and the communication network. In these embodiments, then, suspending the indirect path may entail suspending the sidelink and/or the backhaul link that the indirect path traverses. Some embodiments herein thereby provide signaling or otherwise coordinate amongst the remote communication device, the relay communication device, and the communication network as needed to suspend the sidelink and/or the backhaul link that an indirect path traverses.

More particularly, embodiments herein include a method performed by a remote communication device configured for use in a communication network. The method comprises establishing an indirect path to the communication network via a relay communication device. The method also comprises suspending the indirect path.

In some embodiments, suspending the indirect path comprises suspending an end-to- end radio bearer mapped to the indirect path. In other embodiments, suspending the indirect path comprises suspending a sidelink radio bearer between the remote communication device and the relay communication device. In some embodiments, suspending the indirect path comprises suspending the end-to-end radio bearer mapped to the indirect path but keeping another end-to-end radio bearer mapped to the indirect path in an active state. In some embodiments, the method further comprises, after suspending the indirect path, monitoring for signaling on the another end-to-end radio bearer indicating that the indirect path is to be resumed. In some embodiments, suspending the indirect path comprises suspending the sidelink radio bearer between the remote communication device and the relay communication device but keeping another sidelink radio bearer between the remote communication device and the relay communication device in an active state. In some embodiments, the method further comprises, after suspending the indirect path, monitoring for signaling on the another sidelink radio bearer indicating that the indirect path is to be resumed.

In some embodiments, suspending the indirect path comprises storing, at the remote communication device, information about the indirect path. In some embodiments, the stored information includes at least information about an end-to-end connection or radio bearer mapped to the indirect path. In some embodiments, the stored information includes at least information about a sidelink between the remote communication device and the relay communication device. In some embodiments, the indirect path comprises an end-to-end connection between the remote communication device and the communication network, with the end-to-end connection connecting the remote communication device and the communication network via a sidelink between the remote communication device and the relay communication device. In some embodiments, the stored information includes at least a sidelink relay adaptation protocol configuration for the sidelink. In some embodiments, the stored information includes at least a mapping of the end-to-end connection to the sidelink. In some embodiments, the stored information includes at least one or more cryptographic keys for the end-to-end connection and/or one or more cryptographic keys for the sidelink. In some embodiments, the stored information includes at least a robust header compression state for the end-to-end connection and/or robust header compression state for the sidelink. In some embodiments, the stored information includes at least quality of service, QoS, flow to data radio bearer, DRB, mapping rules for the end-to-end connection and/or QoS flow to DRB mapping rules for the sidelink. In some embodiments, the stored information includes at least a radio network temporary identifier. In some embodiments, the stored information includes at least a cell identity. In some embodiments, the method further comprises resuming the indirect path using the stored information about the indirect path.

In some embodiments, suspending the indirect path comprises suspending the indirect path according to signaling received by the remote communication device indicating that the indirect path is to be suspended. In other embodiments, suspending the indirect path comprises suspending the indirect path according to a decision autonomously made by the remote communication device to suspend the indirect path. In some embodiments, the method further comprises establishing a direct path to the communication network. In some embodiments, the direct path is a direct path to a radio network node in the communication network. In some embodiments, the indirect path is an indirect path to the same radio network node via the relay communication device. In some embodiments, the signaling is received from the radio network node. In some embodiments, the method further comprises autonomously making the decision to suspend the indirect path based on one or more suspension criteria being met. In some embodiments, the one or more suspension criteria include at least a volume of data transmitted or received by the remote communication device is below a data volume threshold. In some embodiments, the one or more suspension criteria include at least a transmission reliability is below a reliability threshold. In some embodiments, the one or more suspension criteria include at least a packet delay budget is below a budget threshold. In some embodiments, the one or more suspension criteria include at least a number of services or channels with specified requirements for transmission reliability and/or data rate is below a threshold. In some embodiments, the one or more suspension criteria include at least a latency requirement is below a latency threshold. In some embodiments, the one or more suspension criteria include at least a throughput is below a throughput threshold. In some embodiments, the one or more suspension criteria include at least a number of re-transmissions is lower than a re-transmission threshold.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises starting or re-starting a timer upon establishment or re-establishment of the indirect path or of a sidelink between the remote communication device and the relay communication device. In some embodiments, the method further comprises detecting expiration of the timer. In some embodiments, suspending the indirect path comprises suspending the indirect path upon detecting expiration of the timer.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises transmitting signaling, to the relay communication device and/or to the communication network, indicating that the indirect path has been or is to be suspended. In other embodiments, the method further comprises alternatively or additionally transmitting signaling to the relay communication device commanding or requesting the relay communication device to suspend a sidelink between the remote communication device and the relay communication device carrying traffic for the indirect path. In yet other embodiments, the method further comprises alternatively or additionally transmitting signaling to the communication network requesting the communication network to suspend a link between the communication network and the relay communication device carrying traffic for the indirect path.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises, after suspending the indirect path, resuming the indirect path according to signaling received by the remote communication device indicating that the indirect path is to be resumed. In other embodiments, the method further comprises, after suspending the indirect path, resuming the indirect path according to a decision autonomously made by the remote communication device to resume the indirect path. In some embodiments, the method further comprises establishing a direct path to the communication network. In some embodiments, the signaling indicating that the indirect path is to be resumed is received on the direct path. In some embodiments, the method further comprises autonomously making the decision to resume the indirect path based on one or more resumption criteria being met. In some embodiments, the one or more resumption criteria include at least a volume of data transmitted or received by the remote communication device is above a data volume threshold. In some embodiments, the one or more resumption criteria include at least a transmission reliability is above a reliability threshold. In some embodiments, the one or more resumption criteria include at least a packet delay budget is above a budget threshold. In some embodiments, the one or more resumption criteria include at least a number of services or channels with specified requirements for transmission reliability and/or data rate is above a threshold. In some embodiments, the one or more resumption criteria include at least a latency requirement is above a latency threshold. In some embodiments, the one or more resumption criteria include at least a throughput is above a throughput threshold. In some embodiments, the one or more resumption criteria include at least a number of re-transmissions is higher than a re-transmission threshold. In some embodiments, the method further comprises releasing the suspended indirect path according to signaling received by the remote communication device indicating that the indirect path is to be released. In other embodiments, the method further comprises releasing the suspended indirect path according to a decision autonomously made by the remote communication device to release the indirect path. In some embodiments, the method further comprises autonomously making the decision to release the suspended indirect path based on one or more release criteria being met. In some embodiments, the one or more release criteria include at least no data being transmitted or received by the remote communication device. In some embodiments, the one or more release criteria include at least no services or channels having specified requirements for transmission reliability. In some embodiments, the one or more release criteria include at least no services or channels having specified requirements for data rate.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises establishing a direct path to the communication network before suspending the indirect path, maintaining both the direct path and the indirect path in an active state. In some embodiments, suspending the indirect path comprises suspending the indirect path while keeping the direct path in an active state. In some embodiments, the indirect path as suspended is in an inactive state.

Other embodiments herein include a method performed by a radio network node configured for use in a communication network. The method comprises establishing an indirect path to a remote communication device via a relay communication device. The method also comprises suspending the indirect path.

In some embodiments, suspending the indirect path comprises suspending an end-to- end radio bearer mapped to the indirect path. In other embodiments, suspending the indirect path comprises suspending a backhaul link between the relay communication device and the radio network node. In some embodiments, the backhaul link is mapped to the indirect path.

In some embodiments, suspending the indirect path comprises suspending the end-to- end radio bearer mapped to the indirect path but keeping another end-to-end radio bearer mapped to the indirect path in an active state.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises, after suspending the indirect path, monitoring for signaling on the another end-to-end radio bearer indicating that the indirect path is to be resumed.

In some embodiments, suspending the indirect path comprises suspending a first radio bearer on the backhaul link but keeping a second radio bearer on the backhaul link in an active state. In some embodiments, the method further comprises, after suspending the indirect path, monitoring for signaling on the second radio bearer indicating that the indirect path is to be resumed.

In some embodiments, suspending the indirect path comprises storing, at the radio network node, information about the indirect path. In some embodiments, the stored information includes at least information about an end-to-end connection or radio bearer mapped to the indirect path. In some embodiments, the stored information includes at least information about a backhaul link between the relay communication device and the radio network node. In some embodiments, the indirect path comprises an end-to-end connection between the remote communication device and the radio network node, with the end-to-end connection connecting the remote communication device and the communication network via a backhaul link between the relay communication device and the radio network node. In some embodiments, the stored information includes at least a backhaul relay adaptation protocol configuration for the backhaul link. In some embodiments, the stored information includes at least a mapping of the end-to-end connection to the backhaul link. In some embodiments, the stored information includes at least one or more cryptographic keys for the end-to-end connection and/or one or more cryptographic keys for the backhaul link. In some embodiments, the stored information includes at least a robust header compression state for the end-to-end connection and/or robust header compression state for the backhaul link. In some embodiments, the stored information includes at least quality of service, QoS, flow to data radio bearer, DRB, mapping rules for the end-to- end connection and/or QoS flow to DRB mapping rules for the backhaul link. In some embodiments, the stored information includes at least a radio network temporary identifier. In some embodiments, the stored information includes at least a cell identity. In some embodiments, the method further comprises resuming the indirect path using the stored information about the indirect path.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises autonomously making a decision to suspend the indirect path based on one or more suspension criteria being met. In some embodiments, the one or more suspension criteria include at least a volume of data transmitted or received is below a data volume threshold. In some embodiments, the one or more suspension criteria include at least a transmission reliability is below a reliability threshold. In some embodiments, the one or more suspension criteria include at least a packet delay budget is below a budget threshold. In some embodiments, the one or more suspension criteria include at least a number of services or channels with specified requirements for transmission reliability and/or data rate is below a threshold. In some embodiments, the one or more suspension criteria include at least a latency requirement is below a latency threshold. In some embodiments, the one or more suspension criteria include at least a throughput is below a throughput threshold. In some embodiments, the one or more suspension criteria include at least a number of re-transmissions is lower than a re-transmission threshold.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises starting or re-starting a timer upon establishment or re-establishment of the indirect path or of a backhaul link between the relay communication device and the radio network node mapped to the indirect path. In some embodiments, the method further comprises detecting expiration of the timer. In some embodiments, suspending the indirect path comprises suspending the indirect path upon detecting expiration of the timer.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises receiving, from the remote communication device, signaling that comprises a request to suspend the indirect path. In some embodiments, the method further comprises transmitting, to the remote communication device, signaling indicating that the communication network approves the request to suspend the indirect path. In some embodiments, suspending the indirect path comprises suspending the indirect path according to the request.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises transmitting, to the remote communication device and/or the relay communication device, signaling indicating that the indirect path has been or is to be suspended. In other embodiments, the method further comprises receiving signaling from the remote communication device indicating that the indirect path has been or is to be suspended.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises, after suspending the indirect path, resuming the indirect path according to signaling transmitted to or from the remote communication device or the relay communication device indicating that the indirect path is to be resumed. In other embodiments, the method further comprises, after suspending the indirect path, resuming the indirect path according to a decision autonomously made by the radio network node to resume the indirect path.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises establishing a direct path to the remove communication device. In some embodiments, the signaling indicating that the indirect path is to be resumed is transmitted or received on the direct path.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises autonomously making the decision to resume the indirect path based on one or more resumption criteria being met. In some embodiments, the one or more resumption criteria include at least a volume of data transmitted or received is above a data volume threshold. In some embodiments, the one or more resumption criteria include at least a transmission reliability is above a reliability threshold. In some embodiments, the one or more resumption criteria include at least a packet delay budget is above a budget threshold. In some embodiments, the one or more resumption criteria include at least a number of services or channels with specified requirements for transmission reliability and/or data rate is above a threshold. In some embodiments, the one or more resumption criteria include at least a latency requirement is above a latency threshold. In some embodiments, the one or more resumption criteria include at least a throughput is above a throughput threshold. In some embodiments, the one or more resumption criteria include at least a number of re-transmissions is higher than a re-transmission threshold.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises releasing the suspended indirect path according to signaling received from the remote communication device or the relay communication device indicating that the indirect path is to be released. In other embodiments, the method further comprises releasing the suspended indirect path according to a decision autonomously made by the radio network node to release the indirect path. In some embodiments, the method further comprises autonomously making a decision to release the suspended indirect path based on one or more release criteria being met. In some embodiments, the one or more release criteria include at least no data being transmitted or received. In some embodiments, the one or more release criteria include at least no services or channels having specified requirements for transmission reliability. In some embodiments, the one or more release criteria include at least no services or channels having specified requirements for data rate.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises establishing a direct path to the remote communication device before suspending the indirect path, maintaining both the direct path and the indirect path in an active state. In some embodiments, suspending the indirect path comprises suspending the indirect path while keeping the direct path in an active state. In some embodiments, the indirect path as suspended is in an inactive state.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises, before suspending the indirect path, transmitting or receiving traffic on the direct path while simultaneously transmitting or receiving traffic on the indirect path

Other embodiments herein include a method performed by a relay communication device configured for use in a communication network. The method comprises establishing an indirect path between a remote communication device and the communication network by establishing a backhaul link with the communication network and by establishing a sidelink between the relay communication device and the remote communication device. In some embodiments, the sidelink and the backhaul link are mapped to the indirect path. The method also comprises suspending the indirect path by suspending the sidelink and/or the backhaul link.

In some embodiments, suspending the indirect path comprises suspending the backhaul link. In some embodiments, suspending the backhaul link comprises suspending a first radio bearer that is on the backhaul link and that is mapped to the indirect path but keeping a second radio bearer that is on the backhaul link and that is mapped to the indirect path in an active state. In some embodiments, the method further comprises, after suspending the indirect path, monitoring for signaling on the second radio bearer indicating that the indirect path is to be resumed.

In some embodiments, suspending the indirect path comprises suspending the sidelink. In some embodiments, suspending the sidelink comprises suspending a sidelink radio bearer between the remote communication device and the relay communication device but keeping another sidelink radio bearer between the remote communication device and the relay communication device in an active state. In some embodiments, the method further comprises, after suspending the indirect path, monitoring for signaling on the another sidelink radio bearer indicating that the indirect path is to be resumed.

In some embodiments, suspending the indirect path comprises storing, at the relay communication device, information about the indirect path. In some embodiments, the stored information includes at least a sidelink relay adaptation protocol configuration for the sidelink. In some embodiments, the stored information includes at least one or more cryptographic keys for the sidelink and/or one or more cryptographic keys for the backhaul link. In some embodiments, the stored information includes at least robust header compression state for the sidelink and/or robust header compression state for the backhaul link. In some embodiments, the stored information includes at least quality of service, QoS, flow to data radio bearer, DRB, mapping rules for the backhaul link and/or QoS flow to DRB mapping rules for the sidelink. In some embodiments, the stored information includes at least a radio network temporary identifier. In some embodiments, the stored information includes at least a cell identity. In some embodiments, the method further comprises resuming the indirect path by resuming the backhaul link and/or the sidelink. In some embodiments, the indirect path is resumed using the stored information about the indirect path.

In some embodiments, suspending the indirect path comprises suspending the indirect path according to signaling received by the relay communication device indicating that the indirect path is to be suspended. In other embodiments, suspending the indirect path comprises suspending the indirect path according to a decision autonomously made by the relay communication device to suspend the indirect path. In some embodiments, the method further comprises autonomously making the decision to suspend the indirect path based on one or more suspension criteria being met. In some embodiments, the one or more suspension criteria include at least a volume of data transmitted or received is below a data volume threshold. In some embodiments, the one or more suspension criteria include at least a transmission reliability is below a reliability threshold. In some embodiments, the one or more suspension criteria include at least a packet delay budget is below a budget threshold. In some embodiments, the one or more suspension criteria include at least a number of services or channels with specified requirements for transmission reliability and/or data rate is below a threshold. In some embodiments, the one or more suspension criteria include at least a latency requirement is below a latency threshold. In some embodiments, the one or more suspension criteria include at least a throughput is below a throughput threshold. In some embodiments, the one or more suspension criteria include at least a number of re-transmissions is lower than a retransmission threshold.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises starting or re-starting a timer upon establishment or re-establishment of the backhaul link or of the sidelink. In some embodiments, the method further comprises detecting expiration of the timer. In some embodiments, suspending the indirect path comprises suspending the indirect path upon detecting expiration of the timer.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises transmitting signaling to the communication network indicating that the indirect path has been or is to be suspended. In other embodiments, the method further comprises alternatively or additionally receiving signaling from the remote communication device commanding or requesting the relay communication device to suspend the sidelink carrying traffic for the indirect path.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises, after suspending the indirect path, resuming the indirect path according to signaling received by the relay communication device indicating that the indirect path is to be resumed. In other embodiments, the method further comprises, after suspending the indirect path, resuming the indirect path according to a decision autonomously made by the relay communication device to resume the indirect path. In some embodiments, the method further comprises autonomously making the decision to resume the indirect path based on one or more resumption criteria being met. In some embodiments, the one or more resumption criteria include at least a volume of data transmitted or received is above a data volume threshold. In some embodiments, the one or more resumption criteria include at least a transmission reliability is above a reliability threshold. In some embodiments, the one or more resumption criteria include at least a packet delay budget is above a budget threshold. In some embodiments, the one or more resumption criteria include at least a number of services or channels with specified requirements for transmission reliability and/or data rate is above a threshold. In some embodiments, the one or more resumption criteria include at least a latency requirement is above a latency threshold. In some embodiments, the one or more resumption criteria include at least a throughput is above a throughput threshold. In some embodiments, the one or more resumption criteria include at least a number of re-transmissions is higher than a re-transmission threshold.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises releasing the suspended indirect path according to signaling received by the relay communication device indicating that the indirect path is to be released. In other embodiments, the method further comprises releasing the suspended indirect path according to a decision autonomously made by the relay communication device to release the indirect path. In some embodiments, the method further comprises autonomously making the decision to release the indirect path based on the one or more release criteria being met with respect to the indirect path. In some embodiments, the one or more release criteria include at least no data being transmitted or received. In some embodiments, the one or more release criteria include at least no services or channels having specified requirements for transmission reliability. In some embodiments, the one or more release criteria include at least no services or channels having specified requirements for data rate. Other embodiments herein include a remote communication device configured for use in a communication network. The remote communication device is configured to establish an indirect path to the communication network via a relay communication device. The remote communication device is also configured to suspend the indirect path.

In some embodiments, the remote communication device is configured to perform the steps described above for a remote communication device.

Other embodiments herein include a radio network node configured for use in a communication network. The radio network node is configured to establish an indirect path to a remote communication device via a relay communication device. The radio network node is also configured to suspend the indirect path.

In some embodiments, the radio network node is configured to perform the steps described above for a radio network node.

Other embodiments herein include a relay communication device configured for use in a communication network. The relay communication device is configured to establish an indirect path between a remote communication device and the communication network by establishing a backhaul link with the communication network and by establishing a sidelink between the relay communication device and the remote communication device. In some embodiments, the sidelink and the backhaul link are mapped to the indirect path. The relay communication device is also configured to suspend the indirect path by suspending the sidelink and/or the backhaul link.

In some embodiments, the relay communication device is configured to perform the steps described above for a relay communication device.

In some embodiments, a computer program comprising instructions which, when executed by at least one processor of a remote communication device, causes the remote communication device to perform the steps described above for a remote communication device.

In some embodiments, a computer program comprising instructions which, when executed by at least one processor of a radio network node, causes the radio network node to perform the steps described above for a radio network node.

In some embodiments, a computer program comprising instructions which, when executed by at least one processor of a relay communication device, causes the relay communication device to perform the steps described above for a relay communication device.

In some embodiments, a carrier containing the computer program is one of an electronic signal, optical signal, radio signal, or computer readable storage medium.

Other embodiments herein include a remote communication device configured for use in a communication network. The remote communication device comprises communication circuitry and processing circuitry. The processing circuitry is configured to establish an indirect path to the communication network via a relay communication device. The processing circuitry is also configured to suspend the indirect path.

In some embodiments, the processing circuitry is configured to perform the steps described above for a remote communication device.

Other embodiments herein include a radio network node configured for use in a communication network. The radio network node comprises communication circuitry and processing circuitry. The processing circuitry is configured to establish an indirect path to a remote communication device via a relay communication device. The processing circuitry is also configured to suspend the indirect path.

In some embodiments, the processing circuitry is configured to perform the steps described above for a radio network node.

Other embodiments herein include a relay communication device configured for use in a communication network. The relay communication device comprises communication circuitry and processing circuitry. The processing circuitry is configured to establish an indirect path between a remote communication device and the communication network by establishing a backhaul link with the communication network and by establishing a sidelink between the relay communication device and the remote communication device. In some embodiments, the sidelink and the backhaul link are mapped to the indirect path. The processing circuitry is also configured to suspend the indirect path by suspending the sidelink and/or the backhaul link.

In some embodiments, the processing circuitry is configured to perform the steps described above for a relay communication device.

Of course, the present invention is not limited to the above features and advantages. Indeed, those skilled in the art will recognize additional features and advantages upon reading the following detailed description, and upon viewing the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Figure 1 is a block diagram of a communication network in accordance with some embodiments.

Figure 2 is a block diagram of a time-frequency grid in an NR network according to some embodiments.

Figure 3 is a block diagram of a protocol stack for the user plane transport, related to a PDU Session, including a Layer 2 UE-to-Network Relay UE, according to some embodiments.

Figure 4 is a block diagram of a protocol stack of the non-access stratum (NAS) connection for the Remote UE to the NAS-MM and NAS-SM components, according to some embodiments.

Figure 5 is a block diagram of an architecture in which a ProSe 5G UE-to-Network Relay entity provides the functionality to support connectivity to the network for Remote UEs, according to some embodiments. Figure 6 is a block diagram of a protocol stack for Layer-3 UE-to-Network Relays according to some embodiments.

Figure 7 is a logic flow diagram of a method performed by a remote communication device according to some embodiments.

Figure 8 is a logic flow diagram of a method performed by a remote communication device according to other embodiments.

Figure 9 is a logic flow diagram of a method performed by a relay communication device according to some embodiments.

Figure 10 is a logic flow diagram of a method performed by a radio network node according to some embodiments.

Figure 11 is a block diagram of a remote communication device according to some embodiments.

Figure 12 is a block diagram of a relay communication device according to some embodiments.

Figure 13 is a block diagram of a radio network node according to some embodiments.

Figure 14 is a block diagram of a communication system in accordance with some embodiments.

Figure 15 is a block diagram of a user equipment according to some embodiments.

Figure 16 is a block diagram of a network node according to some embodiments.

Figure 17 is a block diagram of a host according to some embodiments.

Figure 18 is a block diagram of a virtualization environment according to some embodiments.

Figure 19 is a block diagram of a host communicating via a network node with a UE over a partially wireless connection in accordance with some embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Figure 1 shows a communication network 10, such as a 5G network, according to some embodiments. The communication network 10 is configured to provide communication service to communication devices, including communication device 12A and communication device 12B. In embodiments where the communication network 10 is a wireless communication network, for example, the communication network 10 is configured to provide wireless communication service to wireless communication devices.

As shown, communication device 12A is a so-called remote communication device and communication device 12B is a so-called relay communication device. Remote communication device 12A establishes an indirect path 16 to the communication network 10 via relay communication device 12B. The indirect path 16 is indirect in the sense that the path includes relay communication device 12B on the path. As shown, for example, the indirect path 16 traverses a sidelink 16S between the remote communication device 12A and the relay communication device 12B, and also traverses a backhaul link 16B (e.g., a Uu link) between the relay communication device 12B and the communication network 10. The sidelink 16S thereby serves as a first hop for the indirect path 16 and the backhaul link 16B serves as a second hop for the indirect path 16. Generally, then, the indirect path 16 may include or traverse multiple hops.

The indirect path 16 may accordingly contrast with a direct path 18 between the remote communication device 12A and the communication network 10. The direct path 18 has no such intermediate communication device on the path. Instead, the direct path 18 has a single hop, e.g., corresponding to a direct connection between the remote communication device 12A and the communication network 10 over an interface 18A.

In some embodiments, the indirect path 16 is just one of multiple paths to the communication network 10. In one embodiment, such as where the remote communication device 12A is in coverage of the communication network 10, the remote communication device 12A may establish both the indirect path 16 and the direct path 18 to the communication network 10. As shown in this example, the direct path 18 is a direct path to a radio network node 14 in the communication network 10, and the indirect path 16 is an indirect path to the same radio network node 14 via the relay communication device 12B. Regardless, in some embodiments, the remote communication device 12A may maintain both the direct path 18 and the indirect path 16 in an active state. In these and other embodiments, then, the remote communication device 12A may transmit or receive traffic on the direct path 18 while simultaneously transmitting or receiving traffic on the indirect path 16, e.g., for improved throughput or diversity. Alternatively, the remote communication device 12A may switch between the direct path 18 and the indirect path 16, e.g., so as to use whichever of the paths 16, 18 provides better throughput or reliability.

In any event, in some embodiments, the indirect path 16 may be suspended, e.g., when the indirect path 16 is no longer needed for improving transmission throughput and/or reliability. In one or more embodiments, while the indirect path 16 is suspended, no traffic is communicable on the indirect path 16, or at least no user data traffic is communicable. Indeed, in one embodiment, no transmission resources are allocated or scheduled on the indirect path 16 for such communication. But, while the indirect path 16 is suspended, the remote communication device 12A, the relay communication device 12B, and/or the communication network 10 stores information 20 about the indirect path 16, e.g., information about an end-to- end connection, information about the sidelink 16S, and/or information about the backhaul link 16B. As shown in Figure 1 , for instance, such information 20 may be stored in storage 12A-S at the remote communication device 12A, in storage 12B-S at the relay communication device 12B, and/or in storage 14S at the radio network node 14. The stored information 20 may include one or more configurations for the indirect path 16, where the configuration(s) are usable for resuming the indirect path 16, e.g., when the indirect path 16 becomes needed again for improving transmission throughput and/or reliability. Suspension of the indirect path 16 may therefore differ from release of the indirect path 16, e.g., where neither the remote communication device 12A, the relay communication device 12B, or the radio network node 14 stores any such configuration(s) for the indirect path 16 once released. Suspension of the indirect path 16 accordingly preserves the possibility to efficiently and/or quickly resume the indirect path 16 if needed, so as to avoid the latency that would otherwise be required in order to re-establish the indirect path 16 altogether.

Note that, in some embodiments where both the indirect path 16 and the direct path 18 are established, the indirect path 16 may be suspended while keeping the direct path 18 in an active state. In this regard, in one or more embodiments, while the indirect path 16 is suspended the indirect path 16 is in an inactive state. This way, for example, only the direct path 18 can be used if the direct path 18 alone is able to meet transmission throughput and/or reliability requirements. But the indirect path 16, as suspended, can remain in an inactive state so that the indirect path 16 can be efficiently and/or quickly resumed if circumstances change to where both the direct path 18 and the indirect path 16 become needed to meet transmission throughput and/or reliability requirements.

On the other hand, after the indirect path 16 is suspended, the indirect path 16 may be released after some time. The suspended indirect path may be released, for instance, if the indirect path 16 is still no longer needed after a certain period of time since suspension or establishment, e.g., as supervised by a timer at the remote communication device 12A, the relay communication device 12B, and/or the radio network node 14.

Some embodiments herein provide signaling or otherwise coordinate amongst the remote communication device 12A, the relay communication device 12B, and the communication network 10 as needed to suspend the indirect path 16, e.g., by suspending the sidelink 16A and/or the backhaul link 16B that the indirect path 16 traverses.

In one or more embodiment, for example, the remote communication device 12A autonomously makes a decision to suspend the indirect path 16, e.g., responsive to expiration of a timer at the remote communication device 12A and/or based on data inactivity on the indirect path 16 and/or the direct path 18. In this case, the remote communication device 12 may transmit, to the communication network 10, signaling indicating the decision to suspend the indirect path 16. If and when the remote communication device 12 receives signaling indicating that the communication network 10 approves the decision to suspend the indirect path 16, the remote communication device 12A may suspend the indirect path 16, e.g., by initiating or triggering a suspend procedure with the relay communication device 12B and/or the radio network node 14.

In other embodiments, the communication network 10 makes the decision to suspend the indirect path 16. In this case, the remote communication device 12A may receive signaling indicating that the indirect path 16 is to be suspended and may suspend the indirect path 16 responsive to that signaling. Consider now some embodiments herein as exemplified in the following context where the communication network 10 may be exemplified as a 5G or New Radio (NR) network, where the remote communication device 12A may be exemplified as a remote user equipment (UE), where the relay communication device 12B may be exemplified as a relay UE or a L2 UE-to- Network Relay UE, and where the radio network node 14 may be exemplified as an eNB or gNB. In one or more embodiments where the communication network 10 is exemplified as a 5G or New Radio (NR) network, the sidelink between the remote communication device 12A and the relay communication device 12B may be exemplified as an NR sidelink.

NR frame structure

More particularly, similar to Long Term Evolution (LTE), NR uses OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) in the downlink (i.e. , from a network node, gNB, eNB, or base station, to a user equipment or UE). The basic NR physical resource over an antenna port can thus be seen as a time-frequency grid as illustrated in Figure 2, where a resource block (RB) in a 14-symbol slot is shown. A resource block corresponds to 12 contiguous subcarriers in the frequency domain. Resource blocks are numbered in the frequency domain, starting with 0 from one end of the system bandwidth. Each resource element corresponds to one OFDM subcarrier during one OFDM symbol interval.

Different subcarrier spacing values are supported in NR. The supported subcarrier spacing values (also referred to as different numerologies) are given by Af=(15x2^Ap) kHz where p e (0,1, 2, 3, 4). Af=15 kHz is the basic (or reference) subcarrier spacing that is also used in LTE.

In the time domain, downlink and uplink transmissions in NR will be organized into equally-sized subframes of 1ms each similar to LTE. A subframe is further divided into multiple slots of equal duration. The slot length for subcarrier spacing Af=(15*2^A p) kHz is 1/2^A p ms. There is only one slot per subframe for Af=15kHz and a slot consists of 14 OFDM symbols.

In some embodiments, downlink transmissions are dynamically scheduled, i.e., in each slot the gNB transmits downlink control information (DCI) about which UE data is to be transmitted to and which resource blocks in the current downlink slot the data is transmitted on. This control information may be transmitted in the first one or two OFDM symbols in each slot in NR. The control information is carried on the Physical Control Channel (PDCCH) and data is carried on the Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH). A UE first detects and decodes PDCCH and if a PDCCH is decoded successfully, it then decodes the corresponding PDSCH based on the downlink assignment provided by decoded control information in the PDCCH.

In addition to PDCCH and PDSCH, there are also other channels and reference signals transmitted in the downlink, including Synchronization Signal Block (SSB), Channel State Information (CSI) Reference Signal (CSI-RS), etc. Uplink data transmissions, carried on Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH), can also be dynamically scheduled by the gNB by transmitting a DCI. The DCI (which is transmitted in the DL region) always indicates a scheduling time offset so that the PUSCH is transmitted in a slot in the UL region.

NR sidelink

The sidelink (SL) according to some embodiments herein is NR sidelink communication, e.g., as specified by 3GPP in Rel-16. The NR SL is an evolution of the LTE sidelink, in particular of the features introduced in Rel-14 and Rel-15 for Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) communication. In some embodiments, the NR sidelink includes one or more of the following features: (i) support for unicast and groupcast transmissions, in addition to broadcast transmissions, which were already supported in LTE; (ii) support for hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback over the SL for unicast and groupcast, which may be conveyed by the receiver UE to the transmitted UE using the physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH); (iii) enhanced channel sensing and resource selection procedures, which leads to a new design of physical channels carrying the sidelink control information (CSI); (iv) grant-free transmissions, which are supported in NR uplink transmissions, are also provided in NR sidelink transmissions, to improve the latency performance; and (v) ito achieve a high connection density, congestion control and thus the QoS management is supported in NR sidelink transmissions. Note that the enhanced channel sensing and resource selection procedures alleviate resource collisions among different sidelink transmissions launched by different UEs. The new design of the SCI simplifies coexistence between releases by grouping together all the information related to resource allocation (which is critical for coexistence) in a single channel with a robust, predefined format. Other control information is carried by other means, in a more flexible manner.

A/R SL physical channels

In some embodiments, one or more of the following physical layer (PHY) channels are defined for the NR SL.

PSCCH (Physical Sidelink Common Control Channel): This channel carries sidelink control information (SCI) including part of the scheduling assignment (SA) that allows a receiver to further process and decode the corresponding PSSCH (e.g., demodulation reference signal (DMRS) pattern and antenna port, modulation and coding scheme (MCS), etc). In addition, the PSCCH indicates future reserved resources. This allows a receiver (RX) to sense and predict the utilization of the channel in the future. This sensing information is used for the purpose of UE-autonomous resource allocation (Mode 2), which is described below. PSSCH (Physical Sidelink Shared Channel): The PSSCH is transmitted by a sidelink transmitter UE, which conveys sidelink transmission data (i.e. , the SL shared channel SL- SCH), and a part of the sidelink control information (SCI). In addition, higher layer control information may be carried using the PSSCH (e.g., medium access control (MAC) control elements (CEs), radio resource control (RRC) signaling, etc.). For example, channel state information (CSI) is carried in the medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) over the PSSCH instead of the PSFCH.

PSFCH (Physical Sidelink feedback channel): The PSFCH is transmitted by a sidelink receiver UE for unicast and groupcast. It conveys the SL HARQ acknowledgement, which may consist of ACK/NACK (used for unicast and groupcast option 2) or NACK-only (used for groupcast option 1).

Physical Sidelink Broadcast Channel (PSBCH): The PSBCH conveys information related to synchronization, such as the direct frame number (DFN), indication of the slot and symbol level time resources for sidelink transmissions, in-coverage indicator, etc. The SSB is transmitted periodically at every 160 ms. The PSBCH is transmitted along with the S-PSS/S- SSS as a sidelink synchronization signal block (S-SSB). Here, S-PSS is the Sidelink Primary Synchronization Signal, and S-SSS is the Sidelink Secondary Synchronization Signal.

Sidelink Primary/Secondary Synchronization Signal (S-PSS/S-SSS) are used by UEs to establish a common timing references among UEs in the absence of another reference such as GNSS time of NW time.

Along with the different physical channels, reference signals (RS) are transmitted for different purposes, including demodulation (DM-RS), phase tracking RS (PT-RS), or RS for channel state information acquisition (CSI-RS).

Some embodiments utilize two-stage sidelink control information (SCI). A first part (first stage) of the SCI is sent on the PSCCH. This part is used for channel sensing purposes (including the reserved time-frequency resources for transmissions, demodulation reference signal (DM RS) pattern and antenna port, etc.) and can be read by all UEs while the remaining part (second stage) of the SCI carries the remaining scheduling and control information such as a 8-bits source identity (ID) and a 16-bits destination ID, NDI, RV and HARQ process ID is sent on the PSSCH to be decoded by the receiver UE.

Resource allocation

In some embodiments, NR sidelink supports the following two modes of resource allocation:

Mode 1 : Sidelink resources are scheduled by a gNB.

Mode 2: The UE autonomously selects sidelink resources from a (pre-)configured sidelink resource pool. To avoid collisions between UEs a procedure based on the channel sensing and resource reservation is used. An in-coverage UE can be configured by a gNB to use Mode 1 or Mode 2. For the out- of-coverage UE, only Mode 2 can be used.

Like in LTE, scheduling over the sidelink in NR is done in different ways for Mode 1 and Mode 2.

In Mode 1 , the grant is provided by the gNB. The following two kinds of grants are supported in some embodiments:

Dynamic grants are provided for one or multiple transmissions of a single packet (i.e., transport block). When the traffic to be sent over sidelink arrives at a transmitter UE (i.e., at the corresponding TX buffer), the UE initiates the four-message exchange procedure to request sidelink resources from a gNB (SR on UL, grant, buffer status report (BSR) on UL, grant for data on SL sent to UE). A gNB indicates the resource allocation for the PSCCH and the PSSCH in the downlink control information (DCI) conveyed by PDCCH with cyclic redundancy check (CRC) scrambled with the sidelink radio network temporary identifier (SL- RNTI) of the corresponding UE. A UE receiving such a DCI, assumes that it has been provided a SL dynamic grant only if the detects that the CRC of DCI has been scrambled with its SL-RNTI. A transmitter UE then indicates the time-frequency resources and the transmission scheme of the allocated PSSCH in the PSCCH, and launches the PSCCH and the PSSCH on the allocated resources for sidelink transmissions. When a grant is obtained from a gNB, a transmitter UE can only transmit a single TB. As a result, this kind of grant is suitable for traffic with a loose latency requirement.

Configured grant: For the traffic with a strict latency requirement, performing the four- message exchange procedure to request sidelink resources may induce unacceptable latency. In this case, prior to the traffic arrival, a transmitter UE may perform the four-message exchange procedure and request a set of resources. If a grant can be obtained from a gNB, then the requested resources are reserved in a periodic manner. Upon traffic arriving at a transmitter UE, this UE can launch the PSCCH and the PSSCH on the upcoming resource occasion. This kind of grant is also known as grant-free transmissions.

Note that only the transmitter UE is scheduled by the gNB. The receiver UE does not receive any information directly from the gNB. Instead, it is scheduled by the transmitter UE by means of the SCI. Therefore, a receiver UE should perform blind decoding to identify the presence of PSCCH and find the resources for the PSSCH through the SCI.

In Mode 2 resource allocation, the grant is generated by the UE itself. When traffic arrives at a transmitter UE (i.e., at the corresponding TX buffer), this transmitter autonomously selects resources for the PSCCH and the PSSCH. To further enhance the probability of successful transport block (TB) decoding at one shot and thus suppress the probability to perform retransmissions, a transmitter UE may repeat the TB transmission along with the initial TB transmission. These retransmissions may be triggered by the corresponding SL HARQ feedback or may be sent blindly by the transmitter UE. In either case, to minimize the probability of collision for potential retransmissions, the transmitter UE may also reserve the corresponding resources for PSCCH/PSSCH for retransmissions. That is, the transmitter UE selects resources for: (1) the PSCCH/PSSCH corresponding to the first transmission.; and (2) The PSCCH/PSCCH corresponding to the retransmissions. Resources for up to 2 retransmissions may be reserved. These reserved resources are always used in case of blind retransmissions. If SL HARQ feedback is used, the used of the reserved resources is conditional on a negative SL HARQ acknowledgement.

Since each transmitter UE in sidelink transmissions should autonomously select resources for its own transmissions, preventing the different transmitter UEs from selecting the same resources turns out to be a critical issue in Mode 2. A particular resource selection procedure is therefore imposed to Mode 2 based on channel sensing. The channel sensing algorithm involves detecting the reservations transmitted by other UEs and performing power measurements (i.e., reference signal received power or RSRP) on the incoming transmissions. o CNR sidelink Layer 2(L2) UE-to-Network relay

A relay communication device 12B in some embodiments herein is a layer-2 (L2) based UE-to-Network relay, e.g., as described in 3GPP TR 23.752 v 17.0.0 clause 6.7. The protocol architecture supporting a L2 UE-to-Network Relay UE is provided.

The L2 UE-to-Network Relay UE provides forwarding functionality that can relay any type of traffic over the PC5 link.

The L2 UE-to-Network Relay UE provides the functionality to support connectivity to the 5GS for Remote UEs. A UE is considered to be a Remote UE if it has successfully established a PC5 link to the L2 UE-to-Network Relay UE. A Remote UE can be located within NG-RAN coverage or outside of NG-RAN coverage. Such a Remote UE may exemplify the remote communication device 12A herein.

Figure 3 illustrates the protocol stack for the user plane transport, related to a Protocl Data Unit (PDU) Session, including a Layer 2 UE-to-Network Relay UE. The PDU layer corresponds to the PDU carried between the Remote UE and the Data Network (DN) over the PDU session. The PDU layer corresponds to the PDU carried between the Remote UE and the Data Network (DN) over the PDU session. It is important to note that the two endpoints of the Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) link are the Remote UE and the gNB. The relay function is performed below PDCP. This means that data security is ensured between the Remote UE and the gNB without exposing raw data at the UE-to-Network Relay UE.

The adaptation relay layer within the UE-to-Network Relay UE can differentiate between signalling radio bearers (SRBs) and data radio bearers (DRBs) for a particular Remote UE. The adaption relay layer is also responsible for mapping PC5 traffic to one or more DRBs of the Uu.

Figure 4 illustrates the protocol stack of the non-access stratum (NAS) connection for the Remote UE to the NAS-MM and NAS-SM components. Here, MM stands for mobility management and SM stands for session management. The NAS messages are transparently transferred between the Remote UE and 5G-AN over the Layer 2 UE-to-Network Relay UE using: (i) PDCP end-to-end connection where the role of the UE-to-Network Relay UE is to relay the PDUs over the signalling radio bear without any modifications; (ii) N2 connection between the 5G-AN and AMF over N2; and (iii) N11 connection access and mobility function (AMF) and session management function (SMF) over N11.

The role of the UE-to-Network Relay UE is to relay the PDUs from the signaling radio bearer without any modifications.

NR SL Layer 3 (L3) UE-to-Network relay

In the TR 23.752 v 17.0.0 clause 6.6, the layer-3 based UE-to-Network relay is described. Such a Layer-3 UE-to-Network Relay may be an alternative example of the relay communication device 12B herein.

The ProSe 5G UE-to-Network Relay entity provides the functionality to support connectivity to the network for Remote UEs (see Figure 5). It can be used for both public safety services and commercial services (e.g. interactive service).

A UE is considered to be a Remote UE for a certain ProSe UE-to-Network relay if it has successfully established a PC5 link to this ProSe 5G UE-to-Network Relay. A Remote UE can be located within NG-RAN coverage or outside of NG-RAN coverage.

The ProSe 5G UE-to-Network Relay shall relay unicast traffic (UL and DL) between the Remote UE and the network. The ProSe UE-to-Network Relay shall provide generic function that can relay any IP traffic.

One-to-one Direct Communication is used between Remote UEs and ProSe 5G UE-to- Network Relays for unicast traffic as specified in solutions for Key Issue #2 in the TR 23.752.

The protocol stack for Layer-3 UE-to-Network Relays is shown in Figure 6, according to some embodiments.

Hop-by-hop security is supported in the PC5 link and Uu link. If there are requirements beyond hop-by-hop security for protection of Remote UE's traffic, security over IP layer needs to be applied.

Some embodiments herein address certain challenge(s) in this context.

SL relay may enable a remote UE to be able to connect to a gNB via a relay UE. During the Rel-17 time phase, the remote UE may be in coverage (IC) or out of coverage (OOC). For the remote UE in IC and has both direct connection and indirect connection, the remote UE is heretofore only allowed to use single connectivity to transmit data. Due to this restriction, it would be reasonable and straightforward for the remote UE to only use the indirect connection to transmit data to the gNB. With this restriction i.e. , the remote UE only uses single connectivity for data transfer and reception, it is beneficial to simplify design efforts in NR Rel-17. However, the drawback is that the remote UE is heretofore not able to utilize the second connection even if it is available. In case of high data volume, it would be very helpful if the remote UE in IC can utilize both a direct connection and an indirect connection to achieve aggregated data rate over both connections.

Accordingly, it may be beneficial to allow a UE to connect to the same gNB using one direct path and one indirect path via a Layer-2 UE-to-Network relay. Such multi-path support may enhance reliability and throughput (e.g., by switching among or utilizing the multiple paths simultaneously).

However, for this case, the following issue regarding management of the indirect path may arise. The indirect path can be configured to the UE in addition to the direct path to enhance reliability or throughput. However, the indirect path may become less needed after the UE has completed transmission or reception for services requiring high reliability or high data rate. Some embodiments accordingly enable the UE to handle the indirect path properly in this case, e.g., considering balance between quality of service (QoS) satisfaction and maintenance overhead. It would not be efficient to simply tear down the indirect path when it is less needed. In that case, unnecessary latency due to reestablishment of the indirect path would be incurred if the UE needs the indirect path again after a while. Some embodiments thereby enable the UE to better handle the indirect path, e.g., in a way that avoids tearing down the indirect path when it is less needed and that correspondingly avoids latency that would occur due to reestablishment of the indirect path.

Various embodiments are described to cover mechanisms on how to maintain paths for a UE which connects to the same gNB via both a direct path and indirect path.

In some embodiments, the UE maintains the indirect path according to the monitored data activities. For example, the UE may suspend the indirect path in case of low data activities is expected or being detected by the UE. The UE may resume the indirect path in case of high data activities is expected or being detected by the UE or upon reception of a signaling from the gNB or the relay UE. Or, the UE may release the indirect path if there are no data activities detected or expected on the indirect path or upon reception of a signaling from the gNB or the relay UE. Certain embodiments may provide one or more of the following technical advantage(s). Using the proposed mechanism for path management, the UE can measure both paths efficiently, signaling overhead or latency to setup an indirect path is avoided by maintaining inactive/suspension state for the indirect path, and/or QoS of the services are better guaranteed.

In some embodiments, the remote UE (e.g., referred to as UE1) can connect to the same gNB (e.g., gNB1) via both a direct path and an indirect path (e.g., UE1 also connects to gNB1 via a relay UE, i.e., UE2). Here, then, UE1 is an example of the remote communication device 12A in Figure 1 , UE2 is an example of the relay communication device 12B in Figure 1, and the gNB1 is an example of the radio network node 14 in Figure 1. The term “suspend” is interchangeably applied with the other term “inactivate”. Both terms mean that a UE goes into an intermediate state between active and idle, while storing the relevant configurations. In this way, the UE keeps itself to be active at a minimum level and be readily to resume its full activity quickly without performing a full re-establishment/setup procedure.

For a first embodiment, upon reception of a signaling from the gNB, UE1 inactivates or suspends the indirect path which has been active for transmission or reception. By doing so, UE1 keeps the indirect path in a state without data transmission or reception, while keeping the relevant configurations for the indirect path so that UE1 can quickly resume or activate the indirect path to be active again when there is a need, e.g., for increasing reliability or enhancing throughput.

Later, the gNB may send another signaling to UE1 to resume/activate the indirect path which has been suspended.

In another example, when UE1 receives an activation/inactivation signaling from the gNB, it informs its serving relay UE over PC5 to activate/inactivate the Uu RLC channels/RBs and the PC5 link of the relevant indirect path,

For a second embodiment, UE1 may decide to change the activity state for the indirect path, e.g.,

• change the indirect path from active to inactive (i.e., suspended)

• change the indirect path from inactive (i.e., suspended) to active

• release/remove the indirect path, i.e., UE1 only keeps the direct path

In this case, as soon as UE1 has made the decision, the UE1 needs to signal its gNB of its decision. UE1 may wait for the gNB’s response/decision to take further actions. In this case, if the gNB agrees with UETs decision, UE1 can just act according to its decision. Otherwise, if the gNB disagrees with UETs decision, UE1 will not change the state of the indirect path.

For a third embodiment, UE1 monitors its own data activity (including transmission and/or reception) during a configured period. Based on the monitoring results, UE1 makes decision as described in the second embodiment. In one case, UE1 determines to change the indirect path from active to inactive, if one or more of the following conditions are met

• the transmitted or received data volume by UE1 is below a configured threshold. Optionally, the condition is met for a configured time period.

• The transmission reliability e.g., in terms of packet error rate, or block error rate, of at least a concerned service/traffic type/LCH/LCG has been lower than a configured threshold, where LCH stands for logical channel and LOG stands for logical channel group. Optionally, the condition is met for a configured time period

• For UE1, there is not any service/traffic type/LCH/LCG with a specific requirement for transmission reliability/data rate. Optionally, the condition is met for a configured time period

• The packet delay budget or latency requirement of a concerned service/traffic type to be transmitted is below a configured threshold.

• The throughput achieved over the direct path is below a threshold.

• If the number of HARQ re-transmissions/RLC re-transmissions is lower than a threshold over the direct path

In one case, UE1 determines to change the indirect path from inactive to active, if one or more of the following conditions are met:

• the transmitted or received data volume by UE1 is above a configured threshold. Optionally, the condition is met for a configured time period.

• The transmission reliability e.g., in terms of packet error rate, or block error rate, of at least a concerned service/traffic type/LCH/LCG has been higher than a configured threshold. Optionally, the condition is met for a configured time period

• For UE1 , there is at least one service/traffic type/LCH/LCG with a specific requirement on transmission reliability/data rate. Optionally, the condition is met for a configured time period

• The packet delay budget or latency requirement of the service/traffic to be transmitted is above a configured threshold.

• The throughput achieved over the direct path is above a threshold.

• If the number of HARQ re-transmissions/RLC re-transmissions is higher than a threshold over the direct path

In one case, UE1 determines to release the indirect path, if one or more of the following conditions are met:

• No data activity is detected on the indirect path for a configured time period.

• For UE1 , there is no service/traffic type/LCH/LCG with a specific requirement on transmission reliability for a configured time period where the time period is longer than the time period used in determining whether to change the indirect path from active to inactive. • For UE1 , there is no service/traffic type/LCH/LCG with a specific requirement on transmission data rate for a configured time period where the time period is longer than the time period used in determining whether to change the indirect path from active to inactive.

For the above embodiment, it is noted that:

1. UE1 may monitor its data activities on both paths when determining whether the indirect path needs to be suspended

2. UE1 may only monitor its data activities on the indirect path when determining whether the indirect path needs to be suspended

3. UE1 may only monitor its data activities on the direct path in order to decide whether the indirect path should be suspended.

4. Data volume or buffer status may be measured using either of the below options a. Measured at upper layers e.g., PDCP and/or RLC layer. b. Measured at lower layer e.g., MAC layer

As an additional embodiment, UE1 first determines to inactivate /suspend the indirect path when UE1 has no need for increased reliability or throughput. When the indirect path has been in inactivate state over a configured time period, UE1 may further determine to release the indirect path.

For a fourth embodiment, UE1 may determine to inactivate/suspend the indirect path, thereafter, UE1 triggers the following signaling towards the relay UE and/or the gNB:

• Inform the relay UE(s) to suspend/inactivate the PC5 link between UE1 and the relay UE, which is being used to carry the relay traffic (i.e. , traffic transmitted between UE1 and the gNB via the relay UE)

• inform the gNB to suspend/inactivate the Uu RLC channels/RBs between the relay UE and the gNB, which are being used to carry the relay traffic. When the relay UE receives the indication from the gNB, the relay UE also suspend/inactivate the PC5 RLC channels/RBs between the relay UE and the gNB. o Alternatively, the relay UE may decode the message sent from the remote UE to the gNB and figure out that the indirect path should be suspected/inactivated. o UE1 may indicate to the relay UE that which message from UE1 can be decoded. An indication may be included in the adaptation layer header or in a control PDU of the adaptation layer.

UE1 may further wait for response/confirmation message from the relay UE and/or the gNB for the information on the suspension/inactivation. In this case, UE1 may only perform the suspension/inactivation towards the indirect path after that the relay UE and/or the gNB also agrees with it. Meanwhile, the relay UE and/or the gNB may also perform the suspension/inactivation towards the indirect path. For a fifth embodiment, after UE1 has determined to inactivate the indirect path (also confirmed from the gNB), UE1 performs at least one of the following actions to suspend/inactivate the indirect path:

• For the end-to-end (E2E) connection between UE1 and the gNB via the relay UE, suspend all E2E SRBs (signaling radio bearers), E2E DRBs (data radio bearers) which are mapped to the indirect path optionally except one E2E SRB or E2E DRB for monitoring resuming signaling purpose (i.e. , a resuming signaling may be sent by the gNB to UE1 via the relay UE)

• For the PC5 hop from UE1 to the relay UE, suspend all SL SRBs, SL DRBs optionally except one SL SRB or SL DRB for monitoring resuming signaling purpose (i.e., a resuming signaling may be sent by the relay UE to UE1)

• Suspend any configured grant on the PC5 hop between UE1 and the relay UE

• Store the Sidelink Relay Adaptation Protocol (SRAP) configuration including the bearer mapping configuration i.e., E2E bearer to egress PC5 RLC channel which is to be reused when coming back to active state.

• Store in the UE1 Inactive SL Context the following information related to the indirect path including the information related to the E2E connection between UE1 and the gNB via the relay UE and the information related to the PC5 hop between UE1 and the relay UE, such as one or more of: o the current K₉NB and KRRcint keys, the ROHC state, the stored QoS flow to DRB mapping rules for both the E2E connection and the PC5 hop o the C-RNTI used in the source PCell, the cellldentity and the physical cell identity of the source PCell, the spCellConfigCommon within ReconfigurationWithSync of the NR PSCell (if configured) and all other parameters configured o Other sidelink communication related configurations and logged measurement configuration

• Keeping L1 RLM/RLF monitoring to be active on the PC5 hop between UE1 and the relay UE if indicated by a configuration received from the gNB. Otherwise, stop the radio link monitoring over the PC5 hop between the remote UE and relay UE (meaning that no radio link failure can be declared as far as the PC5 link is suspended/inactivated.

For a sixth embodiment, the relay UE performs at least one of the following actions to suspend/inactivate the PC5 hop between the relay UE and UE1

• suspend all SL SRBs, SL DRBs optionally except one SL SRB or SL DRB for monitoring resuming signaling purpose (i.e., a resuming signaling may be sent by UE1 to the relay UE) • the relay UE can store the SRAP configuration including the bearer mapping configuration i.e. , E2E bearer ID to egress llu RLC channel (in UL) and E2E bearer ID to egress PC5 channel (in DL). This can be reused when coming back to the active state.

• Store in the relay UE Inactive SL Context the following information related to the PC5 hop between the relay UE and UE1 , such as one or more of: o the current K₉NB and KRRcint keys, the ROHC state, the stored QoS flow to DRB mapping rules o other sidelink communication related configurations and logged measurement configuration.

• Keeping L1 RLM/RLF monitoring to be active on the PC5 hop between the relay UE and UE1 if indicated by a configuration received from the gNB. Otherwise, stop the radio link monitoring over the PC5 hop between the remote UE and relay UE (meaning that no radio link failure can be declared as far as the PC5 link is suspended/inactivated.

Additionally, the relay UE may perform at least one of the following actions to suspend/inactivate the Uu link between the relay UE and the gNB, i.e., the relay goes to RRC INACTIVE state:

• suspend all Uu SRBs, Uu DRBs optionally except one Uu SRB or Uu DRB for monitoring resuming signaling purpose (i.e., a resuming signaling may be sent by the gNB to the relay UE)

• Store in the relay UE Inactive Context the following information related to the Uu link between the relay UE and the gNB, such as one or more of: o the current K₉NB and KRRcint keys, the ROHC state, the stored QoS flow to DRB mapping rules, o the C-RNTI used in the source PCell, the cellldentity and the physical cell identity of the source PCell, the spCellConfigCommon within ReconfigurationWithSync of the NR PSCell (if configured) and all other parameters configured

• Keeping L1 RLM/RLF monitoring to be active on the Uu link between the relay UE and the gNB if indicated by a configuration received from the gNB. Otherwise, stop the radio link monitoring over the Uu hop between the remote UE and relay UE (meaning that no radio link failure can be declared as far as the Uu link is suspended/inactivated. For a seventh embodiment, the gNB may send a signaling to UE1 to instruct UE1 to perform the actions as described in the fifth embodiment.

For a eighth embodiment, the gNB may send a signaling to the relay to instruct the relay UE to perform actions as described in the fifth embodiment. The gNB may send a signaling to a relay UE to activate/inactivate an indirect path where the communication is via the relay UE. The signaling may include one or more of the following:

• the remote UE ID (L2 ID) to which the indirect path is relevant.

• Activate/inactivate the Uu RLC channels/RBs of the indirect path

• Activate/inactivate the PC5 link of the indirect path

• Include the path ID relevant to the indirect path (in the case of more than one indirect path)

In addition, when a relay UE receives an activation/inactivation signaling from the gNB, it informs the relevant remote UE over PC5 to activate/inactivate the PC5 link of the remote UE’s indirect path. In these cases, the gNB may only send the activation/inactivation signaling to either the remote UE or the relay UE but not both.

For a ninth embodiment, for the indirect path, a timer is defined on the PC5 hop for monitoring data activities of UE1. UE1 shall:

• (re)start the timer upon activation of the indirect path or the PC5 hop

• The timer is restarted when any one of the following conditions fulfil: o UE1 has transmitted a SCI to the relay UE on the PC5 hop indicating that UE1 will start a transmission to the relay UE using a SL grant

■ Alternatively, UE1 has obtained a SL grant towards the relay UE, i.e., UE1 will start a SL transmission to the relay UE using the SL grant. The SL grant may be obtained by UE1 using either Mode 1 resource allocation or Mode 2 resource allocation. o UE1 has received a SCI from the relay UE indicating that the relay UE will start a transmission to UE1 using a SL grant

• when the timer is expired, UE1 starts to suspend/inactivate the PC5 hop of the indirect path. Meanwhile, the timer is stopped.

The relay UE may maintain a similar timer for each connected remote UE. The relay UE shall (re)start each timer similar as UE1 does as what described above. When the timer is expired, the relay UE starts to suspend/inactivate the PC5 hop of the indirect path to the remote UE associated to that timer. Meanwhile, the timer is stopped.

The timer may be named as indirectPathSuspensionTimer. The embodiment is not limited to this timer name. Any similar timer name is equally applicable to the embodiment.

For a tenth embodiment, for the indirect path, a similar timer as the timer defined in the eighth embodiment is defined at both remote UE and relay UE on the PC5 hop for releasing the indirect path purpose. At the relay UE, the timer is defined for each connected remote UE. The remote UE and the relay UE can maintain the timer similar as the timer defined in the ninth embodiment. Different from the indirectPathSuspensionTimer, the remote UE and the relay UE release the relevant indirect path when the timer is expired. The timer can be named as indirectPathRemovalTimer. The embodiment is not limited to this timer name. Any similar timer name is equally applicable to the embodiment.

The indirectPathRemovalTimer may be set with a larger value than the indirectPathSuspensionTimer.

The indirectPathRemovalTimer will be kept running by the remote UE and the relay UE even if the remote UE and the relay UE have suspended the indirect path. Alternatively, the indirectPathRemovalTimer is only started after the remote UE and the relay UE have suspended the indirect path.

For any one of the above embodiments, UE1 or the relay UE may send a signaling to the gNB via at least one of the following signaling alternatives:

• dedicated Uu RRC signaling

• MAC CE

• Control PDU of a protocol layer (e.g., SDAP, PDCP, RLC, or a layer designed for relaying purpose )

• L1 signaling carried on physical channels including e.g., PRACH, PUCCH or PUSCH etc.

The gNB may send signaling to UE1 or the relay UE via at least one of the following signaling alternatives:

• System information

• dedicated Uu RRC signaling

• paging message

• MAC CE

• Control PDU of a protocol layer (e.g., SDAP, PDCP, RLC, or a layer designed for relaying purpose)

• L1 signaling carried on physical channels including e.g., PDCCH, PDSCH etc.

UE1 and the relay UE may send signaling between each other via at least one of the following signaling alternatives:

• RRC signaling (i.e. , PC5 RRC)

• PC5-S signaling

• Discovery message

• Control PDU of a protocol layer (e.g., SDAP, PDCP, RLC or a layer which is designed for relaying purpose)

• MAC CE

• L1 signaling on physical channels including e.g., PSSCH, PSCCH, PSFCH etc.

As used herein, a term node is used which can be a network node or a UE. Examples of network nodes are NodeB, base station (BS), multi-standard radio (MSR) radio node such as MSR BS, eNodeB, gNodeB. MeNB, SeNB, integrated access backhaul (IAB) node, network controller, radio network controller (RNC), base station controller (BSC), relay, donor node controlling relay, base transceiver station (BTS), Central Unit (e.g. in a gNB), Distributed Unit (e.g. in a gNB), Baseband Unit, Centralized Baseband, C-RAN, access point (AP), transmission points, transmission nodes, RRU, RRH, nodes in distributed antenna system (DAS), core network node (e.g. MSC, MME etc), O&M, OSS, SON, positioning node (e.g. E- SMLC),etc.

Another example of a node is user equipment (UE), which is a non-limiting term and refers to any type of wireless device communicating with a network node and/or with another UE in a cellular or mobile communication system. Examples of UE are target device, device to device (D2D) UE, vehicular to vehicular (V2V), machine type UE, MTC UE or UE capable of machine to machine (M2M) communication, PDA, Tablet, mobile terminals, smart phone, laptop embedded equipment (LEE), laptop mounted equipment (LME), USB dongles etc.

In some embodiments, generic terminology, “radio network node” or simply “network node (NW node)”, is used. It can be any kind of network node which may comprise base station, radio base station, base transceiver station, base station controller, network controller, evolved Node B (eNB), Node B, gNodeB (gNB), relay node, access point, radio access point, Remote Radio Unit (RRU) Remote Radio Head (RRH), Central Unit (e.g. in a gNB), Distributed Unit (e.g. in a gNB), Baseband Unit, Centralized Baseband, C-RAN, access point (AP etc.

The term radio access technology, or RAT, may refer to any RAT e.g. UTRA, E-UTRA, narrow band internet of things (NB-loT), WiFi, Bluetooth, next generation RAT, New Radio (NR), 4G, 5G, etc. Any of the equipment denoted by the terminology node, network node or radio network node may be capable of supporting a single or multiple RATs.

Further, the term “direct path” may stand for a direct connection from a remote UE to a gNB (e.g., via NR air interface) and the term “indirect path” may stand for an indirect connection between a remote UE and a gNB via an intermediate node also known as relay UE. In the some embodiments, it is assumed that an indirect path contains two hops i.e. , PC5 hop between remote UE and relay UE, and Uu hop between relay UE and gNB. However, the embodiments are not limited to two hops. For an indirect path containing more than two hops, the embodiments are also applicable, e.g., where suspension of the indirect path may involve suspension of one or more of the multiple hops.

Some embodiments are described in the context of NR, i.e., remote UE and relay UE are deployed in a same or different NR cell. The embodiments are applicable to relay scenarios including UE to network (U2N) relay where the link between remote UE and relay UE may be based on LTE sidelink or NR sidelink, the Uu connection between relay UE and base station may be LTE Uu or NR Uu. The connection between remote UE and relay UE is also not limited to sidelink. Any short-range communication technology such as Wifi is equally applicable. The embodiments are also applicable to a relay scenario where the relay UE is configured with multiple connections (i.e., the number of connections is equal or larger than two) to the RAN (e.g., dual connectivity, carrier aggregation etc).

The embodiments are applicable to L2 relay scenarios, as an example.

An example of the general operational procedure according to some embodiments is illustrated in Figure 7. As shown in Figure 7, the UE performs transmission (TX) and reception (RX) with its Uu connection, e.g., as a direct path (Block 700). The UE meanwhile monitors its data activity, e.g., on the Uu connection (Block 705). The UE at some point is configured with an additional indirect path for TX and TX (Block 710). While configured, the UE monitors whether a suspension timer for the indirect path expires (Block 715). The UE continues to check for expiration while the timer has not expired (NO at Block 715). When the suspension timer expires (YES at Block 715), the UE signals to the gNB indicating that the indirect path needs to be suspended (Block 720). The UE correspondingly suspends the indirect path after receiving signaling from the gNB (Block 725).

While the indirect path is suspended, the UE monitors for signaling to resume the indirect path. If the UE receives such signaling (Block 730), the UE resumes the indirect path and repeats Blocks 710-725.

While the indirect path is suspended, the UE also monitors a removal timer for the indirect path (Block 735). If the removal timer has not expired (NO at Block 735), the UE keeps the indirect path suspended (Block 740). If the removal timer expires, though (YES at Block 735), the UE signals to the gNB indicating that the indirect path needs to be removed (Block 745). After receiving further signaling from the gNB, the UE releases the indirect path (Block 745).

In view of the modifications and variations herein, Figure 8 depicts a method performed by a remote communication device 12A configured for use in a communication network 10 in accordance with particular embodiments. The method includes establishing an indirect path 16 to the communication network 10 via a relay communication device 12B, e.g., a layer 2 device- to-network relay (Block 810). In some embodiments, for example, the indirect path 16 traverses a sidelink 16 between the remote communication device 12A and the relay communication device 12B and also traverses a backhaul link 16B (e.g., Uu link) between the relay communication device 12B and the communication network 10.

In some embodiments, the indirect path 16 is just one of multiple paths to the communication network 10. In one embodiment, such as where the remote communication device 12A is in coverage of the communication network 10, the method also comprises establishing a direct path 18 to the communication network 10 (Block 800). In some embodiments, the direct path 18 is a direct path to a radio network node 14 in the communication network 10, and the indirect path 16 is an indirect path 16 to the same radio network node 14 via the relay communication device 12B. Regardless, in some embodiments, the remote communication device 12A may maintain both the direct path and the indirect path 16 in an active state. In these and other embodiments, then, the remote communication device 12A may transmit or receive traffic on the direct path while simultaneously transmitting or receiving traffic on the indirect path 16.

In any event, in some embodiments, the method further comprises suspending the indirect path 16, e.g., while keeping the direct path 18 in an active state (Block 840). In one or more embodiments where the indirect path 16 traverses the sidelink 16S and the backhaul link 16B, suspending the indirect path 16 may comprise suspending the sidelink 16S and/or the backhaul link 16B. In these and other embodiments, suspending the indirect path 16 may entail storing, at the remote communication device 12A, information about the indirect path 16, e.g., information about an end-to-end connection, information about the sidelink 16S, and/or information about the backhaul link 16B. The information may for instance include one or more configurations for the indirect path 16 usable for resuming the indirect path 16. Regardless, in some embodiments, while the indirect path 16 is suspended, no traffic is communicable on the indirect path 16. But, while the indirect path 16 is suspended, the remote communication device 12A stores one or more configurations for the indirect path 16 usable for resuming the indirect path 16. Suspension of the indirect path 16 may therefore differ from release of the indirect path 16, e.g., where the remote communication device 12A does not store any such configuration(s) for the indirect path 16 once released.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises receiving signaling indicating that the indirect path 16 is to be suspended (Block 820). In this case, the indirect path 16 may be suspended responsive to receiving this signaling. In other embodiments, by contrast, the method further comprises autonomously making a decision to suspend the indirect path 16, e.g., responsive to expiration of a timer at the remote communication device 12A and/or based on data inactivity on the indirect path 16 and/or the direct path (Block 830A). In this case, the method may also comprise transmitting, to the communication network 10, signaling indicating the decision to suspend the indirect path 16 (Block 830B) and receiving signaling indicating that the communication network 10 approves the decision to suspend the indirect path 16 (Block 830C). The indirect path 16 may be suspended responsive to such approval.

In some embodiments, the method also comprises transmitting signaling to the relay communication device 12B and/or the communication network 10 indicating that the indirect path 16 has been or is to be suspended (Block 850).

In some embodiments, the method also comprises resuming the indirect path 16, e.g., using stored information about the indirect path 16 (Block 860). The indirect path 16 may be resumed, for instance, as needed for increasing data throughput and/or transmission reliability. In other embodiments, the method comprises releasing the suspended indirect path 16 (Block 870). The suspended indirect path 16 may be released, for instance, if the indirect path 16 is still no longer needed after a certain period of time since suspension or establishment, e.g., as supervised by a timer at the remote communication device 12A.

Other aspects of the method in Figure 8 are enumerated in Group A Embodiments herein.

Figure 9 depicts a method performed by a relay communication device 12B configured for use in a communication network 10 in accordance with other particular embodiments. The method includes establishing an indirect path 16 between a remote communication device 12A and the communication network 10 (Block 910). In some embodiments, for example, the indirect path 16 is established by establishing a backhaul link 16B (e.g., llu link) with the communication network 10 and by establishing a sidelink 16S between the relay communication device 12B and the remote communication device 12A. In one such embodiment, then, the sidelink 16S and the backhaul link 16B are mapped to the indirect path 16. In other words, the indirect path 16 traverses the sidelink 16S and the backhaul link 16B.

In some embodiments, the indirect path 16 is just one of multiple paths that the remote communication device 12A has to the communication network 10. In one embodiment, such as where the remote communication device 12A is in coverage of the communication network 10, the remote communication device 12A may also have a direct path to the communication network 10. In some embodiments, the direct path is a direct path to a radio network node 14 in the communication network 10, and the indirect path 16 is an indirect path 16 to the same radio network node 14 via the relay communication device 12B. Regardless, in some embodiments, the remote communication device 12A may maintain both the direct path and the indirect path 16 in an active state. In these and other embodiments, then, the remote communication device 12A may transmit or receive traffic on the direct path while simultaneously transmitting or receiving traffic on the indirect path 16.

In any event, in some embodiments, the method further comprises suspending the indirect path 16 (Block 940). In one or more embodiments where the indirect path 16 traverses the sidelink 16S and the backhaul link 16B, suspending the indirect path 16 may comprise suspending the sidelink 16S and/or the backhaul link 16B. In these and other embodiments, suspending the indirect path 16 may entail storing, at the relay communication device 12B, information about the indirect path 16, e.g., information about an end-to-end connection, information about the sidelink 16S, and/or information about the backhaul link 16B. The information may for instance include one or more configurations for the indirect path 16 usable for resuming the indirect path 16. Regardless, in some embodiments, while the indirect path 16 is suspended, no traffic is communicable on the indirect path 16. But, while the indirect path 16 is suspended, the relay communication device 12B stores one or more configurations for the indirect path 16 usable for resuming the indirect path 16. Suspension of the indirect path 16 may therefore differ from release of the indirect path 16, e.g., where the relay communication device 12B does not store any such configuration(s) for the indirect path 16 once released. In some embodiments, the method further comprises receiving signaling indicating that the indirect path 16 is to be suspended (Block 920). In this case, the indirect path 16 may be suspended responsive to receiving this signaling. In other embodiments, by contrast, the method further comprises autonomously making a decision to suspend the indirect path 16, e.g., responsive to expiration of a timer at the relay communication device 12B and/or based on data inactivity on the indirect path 16 and/or the direct path (Block 930A). In this case, the method may also comprise transmitting, to the communication network 10, signaling indicating the decision to suspend the indirect path 16 (Block 930B) and receiving signaling indicating that the communication network 10 approves the decision to suspend the indirect path 16 (Block 930C). The indirect path 16 may be suspended responsive to such approval.

In some embodiments, the method also comprises transmitting signaling to the relay communication device 12B and/or the communication network 10 indicating that the indirect path 16 has been or is to be suspended (Block 950).

In some embodiments, the method also comprises resuming the indirect path 16, e.g., using stored information about the indirect path 16 (Block 960). The indirect path 16 may be resumed, for instance, as needed for increasing data throughput and/or transmission reliability. In other embodiments, the method comprises releasing the suspended indirect path 16 (Block 970). The suspended indirect path 16 may be released, for instance, if the indirect path 16 is still no longer needed after a certain period of time since suspension or establishment, e.g., as supervised by a timer at the relay communication device 12B.

Other aspects of the method in Figure 9 are enumerated in Group B Embodiments herein.

Figure 10 depicts a method performed by a radio network node 14 configured for use in a communication network 10 in accordance with other particular embodiments. The method includes establishing an indirect path 16 to a remote communication device 12A via a relay communication device 12B, e.g., a layer 2 device-to-network relay (Block 1010). In some embodiments, for example, the indirect path 16 traverses a sidelink 16S between the remote communication device 12A and the relay communication device 12B and also traverses a backhaul link 16B (e.g., llu link) between the relay communication device 12B and the communication network 10.

In some embodiments, the indirect path 16 is just one of multiple paths to the communication network 10. In one embodiment, such as where the remote communication device 12A is in coverage of the communication network 10, the method also comprises establishing a direct path to the remote communication device 12A (Block 1000). In some embodiments, the direct path is a direct path between the remote communication device 12A and the radio network node 14, and the indirect path 16 is an indirect path 16 between the same radio network node 14 and the remote communication device 12A via the relay communication device 12B. Regardless, in some embodiments, the radio network node 14 may maintain both the direct path and the indirect path 16 in an active state. In these and other embodiments, then, the radio network node 14 may transmit or receive traffic on the direct path while simultaneously transmitting or receiving traffic on the indirect path 16.

In any event, in some embodiments, the method further comprises suspending the indirect path 16, e.g., while keeping the direct path in an active state (Block 1040). In one or more embodiments where the indirect path 16 traverses the sidelink 16S and the backhaul link 16B, suspending the indirect path 16 may comprise suspending the sidelink 16S and/or the backhaul link 16B. In these and other embodiments, suspending the indirect path 16 may entail storing, at the radio network node 14, information about the indirect path 16, e.g., information about an end-to-end connection, information about the sidelink 16S, and/or information about the backhaul link 16B. The information may for instance include one or more configurations for the indirect path 16 usable for resuming the indirect path 16. Regardless, in some embodiments, while the indirect path 16 is suspended, no traffic is communicable on the indirect path 16. But, while the indirect path 16 is suspended, the radio network node 14 stores one or more configurations for the indirect path 16 usable for resuming the indirect path 16. Suspension of the indirect path 16 may therefore differ from release of the indirect path 16, e.g., where the radio network node 14 does not store any such configuration(s) for the indirect path 16 once released.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises receiving signaling indicating that the indirect path 16 is to be suspended (Block 1020). In this case, the indirect path 16 may be suspended responsive to receiving this signaling. In other embodiments, by contrast, the method further comprises autonomously making a decision to suspend the indirect path 16, e.g., responsive to expiration of a timer at the radio network node 14 and/or based on data inactivity on the indirect path 16 and/or the direct path (Block 1030A). In this case, the method may also comprise transmitting, to the remote communication device 12A, signaling indicating the decision to suspend the indirect path 16 (Block 1030B).

In some embodiments, the method also comprises transmitting signaling to the relay communication device 12B and/or the communication network 10 indicating that the indirect path 16 has been or is to be suspended (Block 1050).

In some embodiments, the method also comprises resuming the indirect path 16, e.g., using stored information about the indirect path 16 (Block 860). The indirect path 16 may be resumed, for instance, as needed for increasing data throughput and/or transmission reliability. In other embodiments, the method comprises releasing the suspended indirect path 16 (Block 870). The suspended indirect path 16 may be released, for instance, if the indirect path 16 is still no longer needed after a certain period of time since suspension or establishment, e.g., as supervised by a timer at the radio network node 14.

Other aspects of the method in Figure 10 are enumerated in Group X Embodiments herein. Embodiments herein also include corresponding apparatuses. Embodiments herein for instance include a remote communication device 12A configured to perform any of the steps of any of the embodiments described above for the remote communication device 12A.

Embodiments also include a remote communication device 12A comprising processing circuitry and power supply circuitry. The processing circuitry is configured to perform any of the steps of any of the embodiments described above for the remote communication device 12A. The power supply circuitry is configured to supply power to the remote communication device 12A.

Embodiments further include a remote communication device 12A comprising processing circuitry. The processing circuitry is configured to perform any of the steps of any of the embodiments described above for the remote communication device 12A. In some embodiments, the remote communication device 12A further comprises communication circuitry.

Embodiments further include a remote communication device 12A comprising processing circuitry and memory. The memory contains instructions executable by the processing circuitry whereby the remote communication device 12A is configured to perform any of the steps of any of the embodiments described above for the remote communication device 12A.

Embodiments moreover include a user equipment (UE). The UE comprises an antenna configured to send and receive wireless signals. The UE also comprises radio front-end circuitry connected to the antenna and to processing circuitry, and configured to condition signals communicated between the antenna and the processing circuitry. The processing circuitry is configured to perform any of the steps of any of the embodiments described above for the remote communication device 12A. In some embodiments, the UE also comprises an input interface connected to the processing circuitry and configured to allow input of information into the UE to be processed by the processing circuitry. The UE may comprise an output interface connected to the processing circuitry and configured to output information from the UE that has been processed by the processing circuitry. The UE may also comprise a battery connected to the processing circuitry and configured to supply power to the UE.

Embodiments herein further include a relay communication device 12B configured to perform any of the steps of any of the embodiments described above for the relay communication device 12B.

Embodiments also include a relay communication device 12B comprising processing circuitry and power supply circuitry. The processing circuitry is configured to perform any of the steps of any of the embodiments described above for the relay communication device 12B. The power supply circuitry is configured to supply power to the relay communication device 12B.

Embodiments further include a relay communication device 12B comprising processing circuitry. The processing circuitry is configured to perform any of the steps of any of the embodiments described above for the relay communication device 12B. In some embodiments, the relay communication device 12B further comprises communication circuitry.

Embodiments further include a relay communication device 12B comprising processing circuitry and memory. The memory contains instructions executable by the processing circuitry whereby the relay communication device 12B is configured to perform any of the steps of any of the embodiments described above for the relay communication device 12B.

Embodiments moreover include a user equipment (UE). The UE comprises an antenna configured to send and receive wireless signals. The UE also comprises radio front-end circuitry connected to the antenna and to processing circuitry, and configured to condition signals communicated between the antenna and the processing circuitry. The processing circuitry is configured to perform any of the steps of any of the embodiments described above for the relay communication device 12B. In some embodiments, the UE also comprises an input interface connected to the processing circuitry and configured to allow input of information into the UE to be processed by the processing circuitry. The UE may comprise an output interface connected to the processing circuitry and configured to output information from the UE that has been processed by the processing circuitry. The UE may also comprise a battery connected to the processing circuitry and configured to supply power to the UE.

Embodiments herein also include a radio network node 14 configured to perform any of the steps of any of the embodiments described above for the radio network node 14.

Embodiments also include a radio network node 14 comprising processing circuitry and power supply circuitry. The processing circuitry is configured to perform any of the steps of any of the embodiments described above for the radio network node 14. The power supply circuitry is configured to supply power to the radio network node 14.

Embodiments further include a radio network node 14 comprising processing circuitry. The processing circuitry is configured to perform any of the steps of any of the embodiments described above for the radio network node 14. In some embodiments, the radio network node 14 further comprises communication circuitry.

Embodiments further include a radio network node 14 comprising processing circuitry and memory. The memory contains instructions executable by the processing circuitry whereby the radio network node 14 is configured to perform any of the steps of any of the embodiments described above for the radio network node 14.

More particularly, the apparatuses described above may perform the methods herein and any other processing by implementing any functional means, modules, units, or circuitry. In one embodiment, for example, the apparatuses comprise respective circuits or circuitry configured to perform the steps shown in the method figures. The circuits or circuitry in this regard may comprise circuits dedicated to performing certain functional processing and/or one or more microprocessors in conjunction with memory. For instance, the circuitry may include one or more microprocessor or microcontrollers, as well as other digital hardware, which may include digital signal processors (DSPs), special-purpose digital logic, and the like. The processing circuitry may be configured to execute program code stored in memory, which may include one or several types of memory such as read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory, cache memory, flash memory devices, optical storage devices, etc. Program code stored in memory may include program instructions for executing one or more telecommunications and/or data communications protocols as well as instructions for carrying out one or more of the techniques described herein, in several embodiments. In embodiments that employ memory, the memory stores program code that, when executed by the one or more processors, carries out the techniques described herein.

Figure 11 for example illustrates a remote communication device 12A as implemented in accordance with one or more embodiments. As shown, the remote communication device 12A includes processing circuitry 1110 and communication circuitry 1120. The communication circuitry 1120 (e.g., radio circuitry) is configured to transmit and/or receive information to and/or from one or more other nodes, e.g., via any communication technology. Such communication may occur via one or more antennas that are either internal or external to the remote communication device 12A. The processing circuitry 1110 is configured to perform processing described above, e.g., in Figure 8, such as by executing instructions stored in memory 1130. The processing circuitry 1110 in this regard may implement certain functional means, units, or modules.

Figure 12 illustrates a relay communication device 12B as implemented in accordance with one or more embodiments. As shown, the relay communication device 12B includes processing circuitry 1210 and communication circuitry 1220. The communication circuitry 1220 (e.g., radio circuitry) is configured to transmit and/or receive information to and/or from one or more other nodes, e.g., via any communication technology. Such communication may occur via one or more antennas that are either internal or external to the relay communication device 12B. The processing circuitry 1210 is configured to perform processing described above, e.g., in Figure 9, such as by executing instructions stored in memory 1230. The processing circuitry 1210 in this regard may implement certain functional means, units, or modules.

Figure 13 illustrates a radio network node 14 as implemented in accordance with one or more embodiments. As shown, the radio network node 14 includes processing circuitry 1310 and communication circuitry 1320. The communication circuitry 1320 is configured to transmit and/or receive information to and/or from one or more other nodes, e.g., via any communication technology. The processing circuitry 1310 is configured to perform processing described above, e.g., in Figure 10, such as by executing instructions stored in memory 1330. The processing circuitry 1310 in this regard may implement certain functional means, units, or modules.

Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that embodiments herein further include corresponding computer programs. A computer program comprises instructions which, when executed on at least one processor of an apparatus, cause the apparatus to carry out any of the respective processing described above. A computer program in this regard may comprise one or more code modules corresponding to the means or units described above.

Embodiments further include a carrier containing such a computer program. This carrier may comprise one of an electronic signal, optical signal, radio signal, or computer readable storage medium.

In this regard, embodiments herein also include a computer program product stored on a non-transitory computer readable (storage or recording) medium and comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor of an apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform as described above.

Embodiments further include a computer program product comprising program code portions for performing the steps of any of the embodiments herein when the computer program product is executed by a computing device. This computer program product may be stored on a computer readable recording medium.

Figure 14 shows an example of a communication system 1400 in accordance with some embodiments.

In the example, the communication system 1400 includes a telecommunication network 1402 that includes an access network 1404, such as a radio access network (RAN), and a core network 1406, which includes one or more core network nodes 1408. The access network 1404 includes one or more access network nodes, such as network nodes 1410a and 1410b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as network nodes 1410), or any other similar 3^rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) access node or non-3GPP access point. The network nodes 1410 facilitate direct or indirect connection of user equipment (UE), such as by connecting UEs 1412a, 1412b, 1412c, and 1412d (one or more of which may be generally referred to as UEs 1412) to the core network 1406 over one or more wireless connections.

Example wireless communications over a wireless connection include transmitting and/or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared waves, and/or other types of signals suitable for conveying information without the use of wires, cables, or other material conductors. Moreover, in different embodiments, the communication system 1400 may include any number of wired or wireless networks, network nodes, UEs, and/or any other components or systems that may facilitate or participate in the communication of data and/or signals whether via wired or wireless connections. The communication system 1400 may include and/or interface with any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, radio network, and/or other similar type of system.

The UEs 1412 may be any of a wide variety of communication devices, including wireless devices arranged, configured, and/or operable to communicate wirelessly with the network nodes 1410 and other communication devices. Similarly, the network nodes 1410 are arranged, capable, configured, and/or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with the UEs 1412 and/or with other network nodes or equipment in the telecommunication network 1402 to enable and/or provide network access, such as wireless network access, and/or to perform other functions, such as administration in the telecommunication network 1402.

In the depicted example, the core network 1406 connects the network nodes 1410 to one or more hosts, such as host 1416. These connections may be direct or indirect via one or more intermediary networks or devices. In other examples, network nodes may be directly coupled to hosts. The core network 1406 includes one more core network nodes (e.g., core network node 1408) that are structured with hardware and software components. Features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the UEs, network nodes, and/or hosts, such that the descriptions thereof are generally applicable to the corresponding components of the core network node 1408. Example core network nodes include functions of one or more of a Mobile Switching Center (MSC), Mobility Management Entity (MME), Home Subscriber Server (HSS), Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), Session Management Function (SMF), Authentication Server Function (AUSF), Subscription Identifier De-concealing function (SIDF), Unified Data Management (UDM), Security Edge Protection Proxy (SEPP), Network Exposure Function (NEF), and/or a User Plane Function (UPF).

The host 1416 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider other than an operator or provider of the access network 1404 and/or the telecommunication network 1402, and may be operated by the service provider or on behalf of the service provider. The host 1416 may host a variety of applications to provide one or more service. Examples of such applications include live and pre-recorded audio/video content, data collection services such as retrieving and compiling data on various ambient conditions detected by a plurality of UEs, analytics functionality, social media, functions for controlling or otherwise interacting with remote devices, functions for an alarm and surveillance center, or any other such function performed by a server.

As a whole, the communication system 1400 of Figure 14 enables connectivity between the UEs, network nodes, and hosts. In that sense, the communication system may be configured to operate according to predefined rules or procedures, such as specific standards that include, but are not limited to: Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM); Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS); Long Term Evolution (LTE), and/or other suitable 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G standards, or any applicable future generation standard (e.g., 6G); wireless local area network (WLAN) standards, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards (WiFi); and/or any other appropriate wireless communication standard, such as the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Bluetooth, Z-Wave, Near Field Communication (NFC) ZigBee, LiFi, and/or any low- power wide-area network (LPWAN) standards such as LoRa and Sigfox. In some examples, the telecommunication network 1402 is a cellular network that implements 3GPP standardized features. Accordingly, the telecommunications network 1402 may support network slicing to provide different logical networks to different devices that are connected to the telecommunication network 1402. For example, the telecommunications network 1402 may provide Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC) services to some UEs, while providing Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) services to other UEs, and/or Massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC)/Massive loT services to yet further UEs.

In some examples, the UEs 1412 are configured to transmit and/or receive information without direct human interaction. For instance, a UE may be designed to transmit information to the access network 1404 on a predetermined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to requests from the access network 1404. Additionally, a UE may be configured for operating in single- or multi-RAT or multi-standard mode. For example, a UE may operate with any one or combination of Wi-Fi, NR (New Radio) and LTE, i.e. being configured for multi-radio dual connectivity (MR-DC), such as E-UTRAN (Evolved-UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network) New Radio - Dual Connectivity (EN-DC).

In the example, the hub 1414 communicates with the access network 1404 to facilitate indirect communication between one or more UEs (e.g., UE 1412c and/or 1412d) and network nodes (e.g., network node 1410b). In some examples, the hub 1414 may be a controller, router, content source and analytics, or any of the other communication devices described herein regarding UEs. For example, the hub 1414 may be a broadband router enabling access to the core network 1406 for the UEs. As another example, the hub 1414 may be a controller that sends commands or instructions to one or more actuators in the UEs. Commands or instructions may be received from the UEs, network nodes 1410, or by executable code, script, process, or other instructions in the hub 1414. As another example, the hub 1414 may be a data collector that acts as temporary storage for UE data and, in some embodiments, may perform analysis or other processing of the data. As another example, the hub 1414 may be a content source. For example, for a UE that is a VR headset, display, loudspeaker or other media delivery device, the hub 1414 may retrieve VR assets, video, audio, or other media or data related to sensory information via a network node, which the hub 1414 then provides to the UE either directly, after performing local processing, and/or after adding additional local content. In still another example, the hub 1414 acts as a proxy server or orchestrator for the UEs, in particular in if one or more of the UEs are low energy loT devices.

The hub 1414 may have a constant/persistent or intermittent connection to the network node 1410b. The hub 1414 may also allow for a different communication scheme and/or schedule between the hub 1414 and UEs (e.g., UE 1412c and/or 1412d), and between the hub 1414 and the core network 1406. In other examples, the hub 1414 is connected to the core network 1406 and/or one or more UEs via a wired connection. Moreover, the hub 1414 may be configured to connect to an M2M service provider over the access network 1404 and/or to another UE over a direct connection. In some scenarios, UEs may establish a wireless connection with the network nodes 1410 while still connected via the hub 1414 via a wired or wireless connection. In some embodiments, the hub 1414 may be a dedicated hub - that is, a hub whose primary function is to route communications to/from the UEs from/to the network node 1410b. In other embodiments, the hub 1414 may be a non-dedicated hub - that is, a device which is capable of operating to route communications between the UEs and network node 1410b, but which is additionally capable of operating as a communication start and/or end point for certain data channels.

Figure 15 shows a UE 1500 in accordance with some embodiments. As used herein, a UE refers to a device capable, configured, arranged and/or operable to communicate wirelessly with network nodes and/or other UEs. Examples of a UE include, but are not limited to, a smart phone, mobile phone, cell phone, voice over IP (VoIP) phone, wireless local loop phone, desktop computer, personal digital assistant (PDA), wireless cameras, gaming console or device, music storage device, playback appliance, wearable terminal device, wireless endpoint, mobile station, tablet, laptop, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE), laptop-mounted equipment (LME), smart device, wireless customer-premise equipment (CPE), vehicle-mounted or vehicle embedded/integrated wireless device, etc. Other examples include any UE identified by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), including a narrow band internet of things (NB-loT) UE, a machine type communication (MTC) UE, and/or an enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE.

A UE may support device-to-device (D2D) communication, for example by implementing a 3GPP standard for sidelink communication, Dedicated Short-Range Communication (DSRC), vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), or vehicle-to-everything (V2X). In other examples, a UE may not necessarily have a user in the sense of a human user who owns and/or operates the relevant device. Instead, a UE may represent a device that is intended for sale to, or operation by, a human user but which may not, or which may not initially, be associated with a specific human user (e.g., a smart sprinkler controller). Alternatively, a UE may represent a device that is not intended for sale to, or operation by, an end user but which may be associated with or operated for the benefit of a user (e.g., a smart power meter).

The UE 1500 includes processing circuitry 1502 that is operatively coupled via a bus 1504 to an input/output interface 1506, a power source 1508, a memory 1510, a communication interface 1512, and/or any other component, or any combination thereof. Certain UEs may utilize all or a subset of the components shown in Figure 15. The level of integration between the components may vary from one UE to another UE. Further, certain UEs may contain multiple instances of a component, such as multiple processors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc.

The processing circuitry 1502 is configured to process instructions and data and may be configured to implement any sequential state machine operative to execute instructions stored as machine-readable computer programs in the memory 1510. The processing circuitry 1502 may be implemented as one or more hardware-implemented state machines (e.g., in discrete logic, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc.); programmable logic together with appropriate firmware; one or more stored computer programs, general-purpose processors, such as a microprocessor or digital signal processor (DSP), together with appropriate software; or any combination of the above. For example, the processing circuitry 1502 may include multiple central processing units (CPUs).

In the example, the input/output interface 1506 may be configured to provide an interface or interfaces to an input device, output device, or one or more input and/or output devices. Examples of an output device include a speaker, a sound card, a video card, a display, a monitor, a printer, an actuator, an emitter, a smartcard, another output device, or any combination thereof. An input device may allow a user to capture information into the UE 1500. Examples of an input device include a touch-sensitive or presence-sensitive display, a camera (e.g., a digital camera, a digital video camera, a web camera, etc.), a microphone, a sensor, a mouse, a trackball, a directional pad, a trackpad, a scroll wheel, a smartcard, and the like. The presence-sensitive display may include a capacitive or resistive touch sensor to sense input from a user. A sensor may be, for instance, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a tilt sensor, a force sensor, a magnetometer, an optical sensor, a proximity sensor, a biometric sensor, etc., or any combination thereof. An output device may use the same type of interface port as an input device. For example, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port may be used to provide an input device and an output device.

In some embodiments, the power source 1508 is structured as a battery or battery pack. Other types of power sources, such as an external power source (e.g., an electricity outlet), photovoltaic device, or power cell, may be used. The power source 1508 may further include power circuitry for delivering power from the power source 1508 itself, and/or an external power source, to the various parts of the UE 1500 via input circuitry or an interface such as an electrical power cable. Delivering power may be, for example, for charging of the power source 1508. Power circuitry may perform any formatting, converting, or other modification to the power from the power source 1508 to make the power suitable for the respective components of the UE 1500 to which power is supplied.

The memory 1510 may be or be configured to include memory such as random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), magnetic disks, optical disks, hard disks, removable cartridges, flash drives, and so forth. In one example, the memory 1510 includes one or more application programs 1514, such as an operating system, web browser application, a widget, gadget engine, or other application, and corresponding data 1516. The memory 1510 may store, for use by the UE 1500, any of a variety of various operating systems or combinations of operating systems. The memory 1510 may be configured to include a number of physical drive units, such as redundant array of independent disks (RAID), flash memory, USB flash drive, external hard disk drive, thumb drive, pen drive, key drive, high-density digital versatile disc (HD-DVD) optical disc drive, internal hard disk drive, Blu-Ray optical disc drive, holographic digital data storage (HDDS) optical disc drive, external mini-dual in-line memory module (DIMM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), external micro-DIMM SDRAM, smartcard memory such as tamper resistant module in the form of a universal integrated circuit card (UICC) including one or more subscriber identity modules (SIMs), such as a USIM and/or ISIM, other memory, or any combination thereof. The UICC may for example be an embedded UICC (eUlCC), integrated UICC (iUICC) or a removable UICC commonly known as ‘SIM card.’ The memory 1510 may allow the UE 1500 to access instructions, application programs and the like, stored on transitory or non-transitory memory media, to off-load data, or to upload data. An article of manufacture, such as one utilizing a communication system may be tangibly embodied as or in the memory 1510, which may be or comprise a device-readable storage medium.

The processing circuitry 1502 may be configured to communicate with an access network or other network using the communication interface 1512. The communication interface 1512 may comprise one or more communication subsystems and may include or be communicatively coupled to an antenna 1522. The communication interface 1512 may include one or more transceivers used to communicate, such as by communicating with one or more remote transceivers of another device capable of wireless communication (e.g., another UE or a network node in an access network). Each transceiver may include a transmitter 1518 and/or a receiver 1520 appropriate to provide network communications (e.g., optical, electrical, frequency allocations, and so forth). Moreover, the transmitter 1518 and receiver 1520 may be coupled to one or more antennas (e.g., antenna 1522) and may share circuit components, software or firmware, or alternatively be implemented separately.

In the illustrated embodiment, communication functions of the communication interface 1512 may include cellular communication, Wi-Fi communication, LPWAN communication, data communication, voice communication, multimedia communication, short-range communications such as Bluetooth, near-field communication, location-based communication such as the use of the global positioning system (GPS) to determine a location, another like communication function, or any combination thereof. Communications may be implemented in according to one or more communication protocols and/or standards, such as IEEE 802.11 , Code Division Multiplexing Access (CDMA), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), GSM, LTE, New Radio (NR), UMTS, WiMax, Ethernet, transmission control protocol/internet protocol (TCP/IP), synchronous optical networking (SONET), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), QUIC, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and so forth.

Regardless of the type of sensor, a UE may provide an output of data captured by its sensors, through its communication interface 1512, via a wireless connection to a network node. Data captured by sensors of a UE can be communicated through a wireless connection to a network node via another UE. The output may be periodic (e.g., once every 15 minutes if it reports the sensed temperature), random (e.g., to even out the load from reporting from several sensors), in response to a triggering event (e.g., when moisture is detected an alert is sent), in response to a request (e.g., a user initiated request), or a continuous stream (e.g., a live video feed of a patient).

As another example, a UE comprises an actuator, a motor, or a switch, related to a communication interface configured to receive wireless input from a network node via a wireless connection. In response to the received wireless input the states of the actuator, the motor, or the switch may change. For example, the UE may comprise a motor that adjusts the control surfaces or rotors of a drone in flight according to the received input or to a robotic arm performing a medical procedure according to the received input.

A UE, when in the form of an Internet of Things (loT) device, may be a device for use in one or more application domains, these domains comprising, but not limited to, city wearable technology, extended industrial application and healthcare. Non-limiting examples of such an loT device are a device which is or which is embedded in: a connected refrigerator or freezer, a TV, a connected lighting device, an electricity meter, a robot vacuum cleaner, a voice controlled smart speaker, a home security camera, a motion detector, a thermostat, a smoke detector, a door/window sensor, a flood/moisture sensor, an electrical door lock, a connected doorbell, an air conditioning system like a heat pump, an autonomous vehicle, a surveillance system, a weather monitoring device, a vehicle parking monitoring device, an electric vehicle charging station, a smart watch, a fitness tracker, a head-mounted display for Augmented Reality (AR) or Virtual Reality (VR), a wearable for tactile augmentation or sensory enhancement, a water sprinkler, an animal- or item-tracking device, a sensor for monitoring a plant or animal, an industrial robot, an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), and any kind of medical device, like a heart rate monitor or a remote controlled surgical robot. A UE in the form of an loT device comprises circuitry and/or software in dependence of the intended application of the loT device in addition to other components as described in relation to the UE 1500 shown in Figure 15.

As yet another specific example, in an loT scenario, a UE may represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and/or measurements, and transmits the results of such monitoring and/or measurements to another UE and/or a network node. The UE may in this case be an M2M device, which may in a 3GPP context be referred to as an MTC device. As one particular example, the UE may implement the 3GPP NB-loT standard. In other scenarios, a UE may represent a vehicle, such as a car, a bus, a truck, a ship and an airplane, or other equipment that is capable of monitoring and/or reporting on its operational status or other functions associated with its operation.

In practice, any number of UEs may be used together with respect to a single use case. For example, a first UE might be or be integrated in a drone and provide the drone’s speed information (obtained through a speed sensor) to a second UE that is a remote controller operating the drone. When the user makes changes from the remote controller, the first UE may adjust the throttle on the drone (e.g. by controlling an actuator) to increase or decrease the drone’s speed. The first and/or the second UE can also include more than one of the functionalities described above. For example, a UE might comprise the sensor and the actuator, and handle communication of data for both the speed sensor and the actuators.

Figure 16 shows a network node 1600 in accordance with some embodiments. As used herein, network node refers to equipment capable, configured, arranged and/or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with a UE and/or with other network nodes or equipment, in a telecommunication network. Examples of network nodes include, but are not limited to, access points (APs) (e.g., radio access points), base stations (BSs) (e.g., radio base stations, Node Bs, evolved Node Bs (eNBs) and NR NodeBs (gNBs)).

Base stations may be categorized based on the amount of coverage they provide (or, stated differently, their transmit power level) and so, depending on the provided amount of coverage, may be referred to as femto base stations, pico base stations, micro base stations, or macro base stations. A base station may be a relay node or a relay donor node controlling a relay. A network node may also include one or more (or all) parts of a distributed radio base station such as centralized digital units and/or remote radio units (RRUs), sometimes referred to as Remote Radio Heads (RRHs). Such remote radio units may or may not be integrated with an antenna as an antenna integrated radio. Parts of a distributed radio base station may also be referred to as nodes in a distributed antenna system (DAS).

Other examples of network nodes include multiple transmission point (multi-TRP) 5G access nodes, multi-standard radio (MSR) equipment such as MSR BSs, network controllers such as radio network controllers (RNCs) or base station controllers (BSCs), base transceiver stations (BTSs), transmission points, transmission nodes, multi-cel l/multicast coordination entities (MCEs), Operation and Maintenance (O&M) nodes, Operations Support System (OSS) nodes, Self-Organizing Network (SON) nodes, positioning nodes (e.g., Evolved Serving Mobile Location Centers (E-SMLCs)), and/or Minimization of Drive Tests (MDTs).

The network node 1600 includes a processing circuitry 1602, a memory 1604, a communication interface 1606, and a power source 1608. The network node 1600 may be composed of multiple physically separate components (e.g., a NodeB component and a RNC component, or a BTS component and a BSC component, etc.), which may each have their own respective components. In certain scenarios in which the network node 1600 comprises multiple separate components (e.g., BTS and BSC components), one or more of the separate components may be shared among several network nodes. For example, a single RNC may control multiple NodeBs. In such a scenario, each unique NodeB and RNC pair, may in some instances be considered a single separate network node. In some embodiments, the network node 1600 may be configured to support multiple radio access technologies (RATs). In such embodiments, some components may be duplicated (e.g., separate memory 1604 for different RATs) and some components may be reused (e.g., a same antenna 1610 may be shared by different RATs). The network node 1600 may also include multiple sets of the various illustrated components for different wireless technologies integrated into network node 1600, for example GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, Zigbee, Z-wave, LoRaWAN, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) or Bluetooth wireless technologies. These wireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chip or set of chips and other components within network node 1600.

The processing circuitry 1602 may comprise a combination of one or more of a microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, central processing unit, digital signal processor, application-specific integrated circuit, field programmable gate array, or any other suitable computing device, resource, or combination of hardware, software and/or encoded logic operable to provide, either alone or in conjunction with other network node 1600 components, such as the memory 1604, to provide network node 1600 functionality.

In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 1602 includes a system on a chip (SOC). In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 1602 includes one or more of radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 1612 and baseband processing circuitry 1614. In some embodiments, the radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 1612 and the baseband processing circuitry 1614 may be on separate chips (or sets of chips), boards, or units, such as radio units and digital units. In alternative embodiments, part or all of RF transceiver circuitry 1612 and baseband processing circuitry 1614 may be on the same chip or set of chips, boards, or units.

The memory 1604 may comprise any form of volatile or non-volatile computer-readable memory including, without limitation, persistent storage, solid-state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), mass storage media (for example, a hard disk), removable storage media (for example, a flash drive, a Compact Disk (CD) or a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), and/or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device-readable and/or computer-executable memory devices that store information, data, and/or instructions that may be used by the processing circuitry 1602. The memory 1604 may store any suitable instructions, data, or information, including a computer program, software, an application including one or more of logic, rules, code, tables, and/or other instructions capable of being executed by the processing circuitry 1602 and utilized by the network node 1600. The memory 1604 may be used to store any calculations made by the processing circuitry 1602 and/or any data received via the communication interface 1606. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 1602 and memory 1604 is integrated.

The communication interface 1606 is used in wired or wireless communication of signaling and/or data between a network node, access network, and/or UE. As illustrated, the communication interface 1606 comprises port(s)/terminal(s) 1616 to send and receive data, for example to and from a network over a wired connection. The communication interface 1606 also includes radio front-end circuitry 1618 that may be coupled to, or in certain embodiments a part of, the antenna 1610. Radio front-end circuitry 1618 comprises filters 1620 and amplifiers 1622. The radio front-end circuitry 1618 may be connected to an antenna 1610 and processing circuitry 1602. The radio front-end circuitry may be configured to condition signals communicated between antenna 1610 and processing circuitry 1602. The radio front-end circuitry 1618 may receive digital data that is to be sent out to other network nodes or UEs via a wireless connection. The radio front-end circuitry 1618 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters 1620 and/or amplifiers 1622. The radio signal may then be transmitted via the antenna 1610. Similarly, when receiving data, the antenna 1610 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by the radio front-end circuitry 1618. The digital data may be passed to the processing circuitry 1602. In other embodiments, the communication interface may comprise different components and/or different combinations of components.

In certain alternative embodiments, the network node 1600 does not include separate radio front-end circuitry 1618, instead, the processing circuitry 1602 includes radio front-end circuitry and is connected to the antenna 1610. Similarly, in some embodiments, all or some of the RF transceiver circuitry 1612 is part of the communication interface 1606. In still other embodiments, the communication interface 1606 includes one or more ports or terminals 1616, the radio front-end circuitry 1618, and the RF transceiver circuitry 1612, as part of a radio unit (not shown), and the communication interface 1606 communicates with the baseband processing circuitry 1614, which is part of a digital unit (not shown).

The antenna 1610 may include one or more antennas, or antenna arrays, configured to send and/or receive wireless signals. The antenna 1610 may be coupled to the radio front-end circuitry 1618 and may be any type of antenna capable of transmitting and receiving data and/or signals wirelessly. In certain embodiments, the antenna 1610 is separate from the network node 1600 and connectable to the network node 1600 through an interface or port.

The antenna 1610, communication interface 1606, and/or the processing circuitry 1602 may be configured to perform any receiving operations and/or certain obtaining operations described herein as being performed by the network node. Any information, data and/or signals may be received from a UE, another network node and/or any other network equipment. Similarly, the antenna 1610, the communication interface 1606, and/or the processing circuitry 1602 may be configured to perform any transmitting operations described herein as being performed by the network node. Any information, data and/or signals may be transmitted to a UE, another network node and/or any other network equipment.

The power source 1608 provides power to the various components of network node 1600 in a form suitable for the respective components (e.g., at a voltage and current level needed for each respective component). The power source 1608 may further comprise, or be coupled to, power management circuitry to supply the components of the network node 1600 with power for performing the functionality described herein. For example, the network node 1600 may be connectable to an external power source (e.g., the power grid, an electricity outlet) via an input circuitry or interface such as an electrical cable, whereby the external power source supplies power to power circuitry of the power source 1608. As a further example, the power source 1608 may comprise a source of power in the form of a battery or battery pack which is connected to, or integrated in, power circuitry. The battery may provide backup power should the external power source fail.

Embodiments of the network node 1600 may include additional components beyond those shown in Figure 16 for providing certain aspects of the network node’s functionality, including any of the functionality described herein and/or any functionality necessary to support the subject matter described herein. For example, the network node 1600 may include user interface equipment to allow input of information into the network node 1600 and to allow output of information from the network node 1600. This may allow a user to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions for the network node 1600.

Figure 17 is a block diagram of a host 1700, which may be an embodiment of the host 1416 of Figure 14, in accordance with various aspects described herein. As used herein, the host 1700 may be or comprise various combinations hardware and/or software, including a standalone server, a blade server, a cloud-implemented server, a distributed server, a virtual machine, container, or processing resources in a server farm. The host 1700 may provide one or more services to one or more UEs.

The host 1700 includes processing circuitry 1702 that is operatively coupled via a bus 1704 to an input/output interface 1706, a network interface 1708, a power source 1710, and a memory 1712. Other components may be included in other embodiments. Features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the devices of previous figures, such as Figures 15 and 16, such that the descriptions thereof are generally applicable to the corresponding components of host 1700.

The memory 1712 may include one or more computer programs including one or more host application programs 1714 and data 1716, which may include user data, e.g., data generated by a UE for the host 1700 or data generated by the host 1700 for a UE. Embodiments of the host 1700 may utilize only a subset or all of the components shown. The host application programs 1714 may be implemented in a container-based architecture and may provide support for video codecs (e.g., Versatile Video Coding (VVC), High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), Advanced Video Coding (AVC), MPEG, VP9) and audio codecs (e.g., FLAG, Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), MPEG, G.711), including transcoding for multiple different classes, types, or implementations of UEs (e.g., handsets, desktop computers, wearable display systems, heads-up display systems). The host application programs 1714 may also provide for user authentication and licensing checks and may periodically report health, routes, and content availability to a central node, such as a device in or on the edge of a core network. Accordingly, the host 1700 may select and/or indicate a different host for over-the-top services for a UE. The host application programs 1714 may support various protocols, such as the HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) protocol, Real-Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP), Real-Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP), Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (MPEG-DASH), etc.

Figure 18 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment 1800 in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized. In the present context, virtualizing means creating virtual versions of apparatuses or devices which may include virtualizing hardware platforms, storage devices and networking resources. As used herein, virtualization can be applied to any device described herein, or components thereof, and relates to an implementation in which at least a portion of the functionality is implemented as one or more virtual components. Some or all of the functions described herein may be implemented as virtual components executed by one or more virtual machines (VMs) implemented in one or more virtual environments 1800 hosted by one or more of hardware nodes, such as a hardware computing device that operates as a network node, UE, core network node, or host. Further, in embodiments in which the virtual node does not require radio connectivity (e.g., a core network node or host), then the node may be entirely virtualized.

Applications 1802 (which may alternatively be called software instances, virtual appliances, network functions, virtual nodes, virtual network functions, etc.) are run in the virtualization environment Q400 to implement some of the features, functions, and/or benefits of some of the embodiments disclosed herein.

Hardware 1804 includes processing circuitry, memory that stores software and/or instructions executable by hardware processing circuitry, and/or other hardware devices as described herein, such as a network interface, input/output interface, and so forth. Software may be executed by the processing circuitry to instantiate one or more virtualization layers 1806 (also referred to as hypervisors or virtual machine monitors (VMMs)), provide VMs 1808a and 1808b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as VMs 1808), and/or perform any of the functions, features and/or benefits described in relation with some embodiments described herein. The virtualization layer 1806 may present a virtual operating platform that appears like networking hardware to the VMs 1808.

The VMs 1808 comprise virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking or interface and virtual storage, and may be run by a corresponding virtualization layer 1806. Different embodiments of the instance of a virtual appliance 1802 may be implemented on one or more of VMs 1808, and the implementations may be made in different ways. Virtualization of the hardware is in some contexts referred to as network function virtualization (NFV). NFV may be used to consolidate many network equipment types onto industry standard high volume server hardware, physical switches, and physical storage, which can be located in data centers, and customer premise equipment.

In the context of NFV, a VM 1808 may be a software implementation of a physical machine that runs programs as if they were executing on a physical, non-virtualized machine. Each of the VMs 1808, and that part of hardware 1804 that executes that VM, be it hardware dedicated to that VM and/or hardware shared by that VM with others of the VMs, forms separate virtual network elements. Still in the context of NFV, a virtual network function is responsible for handling specific network functions that run in one or more VMs 1808 on top of the hardware 1804 and corresponds to the application 1802.

Hardware 1804 may be implemented in a standalone network node with generic or specific components. Hardware 1804 may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, hardware 1804 may be part of a larger cluster of hardware (e.g. such as in a data center or CPE) where many hardware nodes work together and are managed via management and orchestration 1810, which, among others, oversees lifecycle management of applications 1802. In some embodiments, hardware 1804 is coupled to one or more radio units that each include one or more transmitters and one or more receivers that may be coupled to one or more antennas. Radio units may communicate directly with other hardware nodes via one or more appropriate network interfaces and may be used in combination with the virtual components to provide a virtual node with radio capabilities, such as a radio access node or a base station. In some embodiments, some signaling can be provided with the use of a control system 1812 which may alternatively be used for communication between hardware nodes and radio units.

Figure 19 shows a communication diagram of a host 1902 communicating via a network node 1904 with a UE 1906 over a partially wireless connection in accordance with some embodiments. Example implementations, in accordance with various embodiments, of the UE (such as a UE 1412a of Figure 14 and/or UE 1500 of Figure 15), network node (such as network node 1410a of Figure 14 and/or network node 1600 of Figure 16), and host (such as host 1416 of Figure 14 and/or host 1700 of Figure 17) discussed in the preceding paragraphs will now be described with reference to Figure 19.

Like host 1700, embodiments of host 1902 include hardware, such as a communication interface, processing circuitry, and memory. The host 1902 also includes software, which is stored in or accessible by the host 1902 and executable by the processing circuitry. The software includes a host application that may be operable to provide a service to a remote user, such as the UE 1906 connecting via an over-the-top (OTT) connection 1950 extending between the UE 1906 and host 1902. In providing the service to the remote user, a host application may provide user data which is transmitted using the OTT connection 1950.

The network node 1904 includes hardware enabling it to communicate with the host 1902 and UE 1906. The connection 1960 may be direct or pass through a core network (like core network 1406 of Figure 14) and/or one or more other intermediate networks, such as one or more public, private, or hosted networks. For example, an intermediate network may be a backbone network or the Internet.

The UE 1906 includes hardware and software, which is stored in or accessible by UE 1906 and executable by the UE’s processing circuitry. The software includes a client application, such as a web browser or operator-specific “app” that may be operable to provide a service to a human or non-human user via UE 1906 with the support of the host 1902. In the host 1902, an executing host application may communicate with the executing client application via the OTT connection 1950 terminating at the UE 1906 and host 1902. In providing the service to the user, the UE's client application may receive request data from the host's host application and provide user data in response to the request data. The OTT connection 1950 may transfer both the request data and the user data. The UE's client application may interact with the user to generate the user data that it provides to the host application through the OTT connection 1950.

The OTT connection 1950 may extend via a connection 1960 between the host 1902 and the network node 1904 and via a wireless connection 1970 between the network node 1904 and the UE 1906 to provide the connection between the host 1902 and the UE 1906. The connection 1960 and wireless connection 1970, over which the OTT connection 1950 may be provided, have been drawn abstractly to illustrate the communication between the host 1902 and the UE 1906 via the network node 1904, without explicit reference to any intermediary devices and the precise routing of messages via these devices.

As an example of transmitting data via the OTT connection 1950, in step 1908, the host 1902 provides user data, which may be performed by executing a host application. In some embodiments, the user data is associated with a particular human user interacting with the UE 1906. In other embodiments, the user data is associated with a UE 1906 that shares data with the host 1902 without explicit human interaction. In step 1910, the host 1902 initiates a transmission carrying the user data towards the UE 1906. The host 1902 may initiate the transmission responsive to a request transmitted by the UE 1906. The request may be caused by human interaction with the UE 1906 or by operation of the client application executing on the UE 1906. The transmission may pass via the network node 1904, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. Accordingly, in step 1912, the network node 1904 transmits to the UE 1906 the user data that was carried in the transmission that the host 1902 initiated, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. In step 1914, the UE 1906 receives the user data carried in the transmission, which may be performed by a client application executed on the UE 1906 associated with the host application executed by the host 1902.

In some examples, the UE 1906 executes a client application which provides user data to the host 1902. The user data may be provided in reaction or response to the data received from the host 1902. Accordingly, in step 1916, the UE 1906 may provide user data, which may be performed by executing the client application. In providing the user data, the client application may further consider user input received from the user via an input/output interface of the UE 1906. Regardless of the specific manner in which the user data was provided, the UE 1906 initiates, in step 1918, transmission of the user data towards the host 1902 via the network node 1904. In step 1920, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure, the network node 1904 receives user data from the UE 1906 and initiates transmission of the received user data towards the host 1902. In step 1922, the host 1902 receives the user data carried in the transmission initiated by the UE 1906.

One or more of the various embodiments improve the performance of OTT services provided to the UE 1906 using the OTT connection 1950, in which the wireless connection 1970 forms the last segment.

In an example scenario, factory status information may be collected and analyzed by the host 1902. As another example, the host 1902 may process audio and video data which may have been retrieved from a UE for use in creating maps. As another example, the host 1902 may collect and analyze real-time data to assist in controlling vehicle congestion (e.g., controlling traffic lights). As another example, the host 1902 may store surveillance video uploaded by a UE. As another example, the host 1902 may store or control access to media content such as video, audio, VR or AR which it can broadcast, multicast or unicast to UEs. As other examples, the host 1902 may be used for energy pricing, remote control of non-time critical electrical load to balance power generation needs, location services, presentation services (such as compiling diagrams etc. from data collected from remote devices), or any other function of collecting, retrieving, storing, analyzing and/or transmitting data.

In some examples, a measurement procedure may be provided for the purpose of monitoring data rate, latency and other factors on which the one or more embodiments improve. There may further be an optional network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection 1950 between the host 1902 and UE 1906, in response to variations in the measurement results. The measurement procedure and/or the network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection may be implemented in software and hardware of the host 1902 and/or UE 1906. In some embodiments, sensors (not shown) may be deployed in or in association with other devices through which the OTT connection 1950 passes; the sensors may participate in the measurement procedure by supplying values of the monitored quantities exemplified above, or supplying values of other physical quantities from which software may compute or estimate the monitored quantities. The reconfiguring of the OTT connection 1950 may include message format, retransmission settings, preferred routing etc.; the reconfiguring need not directly alter the operation of the network node 1904. Such procedures and functionalities may be known and practiced in the art. In certain embodiments, measurements may involve proprietary UE signaling that facilitates measurements of throughput, propagation times, latency and the like, by the host 1902. The measurements may be implemented in that software causes messages to be transmitted, in particular empty or ‘dummy’ messages, using the OTT connection 1950 while monitoring propagation times, errors, etc.

Although the computing devices described herein (e.g., UEs, network nodes, hosts) may include the illustrated combination of hardware components, other embodiments may comprise computing devices with different combinations of components. It is to be understood that these computing devices may comprise any suitable combination of hardware and/or software needed to perform the tasks, features, functions and methods disclosed herein. Determining, calculating, obtaining or similar operations described herein may be performed by processing circuitry, which may process information by, for example, converting the obtained information into other information, comparing the obtained information or converted information to information stored in the network node, and/or performing one or more operations based on the obtained information or converted information, and as a result of said processing making a determination. Moreover, while components are depicted as single boxes located within a larger box, or nested within multiple boxes, in practice, computing devices may comprise multiple different physical components that make up a single illustrated component, and functionality may be partitioned between separate components. For example, a communication interface may be configured to include any of the components described herein, and/or the functionality of the components may be partitioned between the processing circuitry and the communication interface. In another example, non-computationally intensive functions of any of such components may be implemented in software or firmware and computationally intensive functions may be implemented in hardware.

In certain embodiments, some or all of the functionality described herein may be provided by processing circuitry executing instructions stored on in memory, which in certain embodiments may be a computer program product in the form of a non-transitory computer- readable storage medium. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functionality may be provided by the processing circuitry without executing instructions stored on a separate or discrete device-readable storage medium, such as in a hard-wired manner. In any of those particular embodiments, whether executing instructions stored on a non-transitory computer- readable storage medium or not, the processing circuitry can be configured to perform the described functionality. The benefits provided by such functionality are not limited to the processing circuitry alone or to other components of the computing device, but are enjoyed by the computing device as a whole, and/or by end users and a wireless network generally.

Notably, modifications and other embodiments of the disclosed invention(s) will come to mind to one skilled in the art having the benefit of the teachings presented in the foregoing descriptions and the associated drawings. Therefore, it is to be understood that the invention(s) is/are not to be limited to the specific embodiments disclosed and that modifications and other embodiments are intended to be included within the scope of this disclosure. Although specific terms may be employed herein, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation.

Example embodiments of the techniques and apparatus described herein include, but are not limited to, the following enumerated examples: Group A Embodiments A1. A method performed by a remote communication device configured for use in a communication network, the method comprising: establishing an indirect path to the communication network via a relay communication device; and suspending the indirect path.

A2. The method of embodiment A1 , wherein suspending the indirect path comprises suspending an end-to-end radio bearer mapped to the indirect path.

A3. The method of embodiment A2, wherein suspending the indirect path comprises suspending the end-to-end radio bearer mapped to the indirect path but keeping another end- to-end radio bearer mapped to the indirect path in an active state, wherein the method further comprises, after suspending the indirect path, monitoring for signaling on the another end-to- end radio bearer indicating that the indirect path is to be resumed.

A4. The method of any of embodiments A1-A3, wherein suspending the indirect path comprises suspending a sidelink radio bearer between the remote communication device and the relay communication device.

A5. The method of embodiment A4, wherein suspending the indirect path comprises suspending a sidelink radio bearer between the remote communication device and the relay communication device but keeping another sidelink radio bearer between the remote communication device and the relay communication device in an active state, wherein the method further comprises, after suspending the indirect path, monitoring for signaling on the another sidelink radio bearer indicating that the indirect path is to be resumed.

A6. The method of any of embodiments A1-A5, wherein suspending the indirect path comprises suspending a configured grant on a sidelink between the remote communication device and the relay communication device.

A7. The method of any of embodiments A1-A6, wherein suspending the indirect path comprises storing, at the remote communication device, information about the indirect path.

A8. The method of embodiment A7, wherein the stored information includes at least one of any one or more of: information about an end-to-end connection or radio bearer mapped to the indirect path; and information about a sidelink between the remote communication device and the relay communication device.

A9. The method of any of embodiments A7-A8, wherein the indirect path comprises an end- to-end connection between the remote communication device and the communication network, with the end-to-end connection connecting the remote communication device and the communication network via a sidelink between the remote communication device and the relay communication device, wherein the stored information includes at least one of any one or more of: a sidelink relay adaptation protocol configuration for the sidelink; a mapping of the end-to-end connection to the sidelink; one or more cryptographic keys for the end-to-end connection and/or one or more cryptographic keys for the sidelink; a robust header compression state for the end-to-end connection and/or robust header compression state for the sidelink; and quality of service, QoS, flow to data radio bearer, DRB, mapping rules for the end-to-end connection and/or QoS flow to DRB mapping rules for the sidelink; a radio network temporary identifier; and a cell identity.

A10. The method of any of embodiments A1-A9, wherein, while the indirect path is suspended, no traffic is communicable on the indirect path but the remote communication device stores one or more configurations for the indirect path usable for resuming the indirect path.

A11. The method of any of embodiments A1-A10, further comprising receiving signaling indicating that the indirect path is to be suspended, and wherein suspending the indirect path comprises suspending the indirect path according to the signaling.

A12. The method of embodiment A11 , wherein the signaling is received from the communication network.

A13. The method of embodiment A12, further comprising establishing a direct path to the communication network, wherein the direct path is a direct path to a radio network node in the communication network, wherein the indirect path is an indirect path to the same radio network node via the relay communication device, and wherein the signaling is received from the radio network node in the communication network. A14. The method of any of embodiments A1-A13, further comprising transmitting signaling to the relay communication device indicating that the indirect path has been or is to be suspended.

A15. The method of any of embodiments A1-A10 and A14, further comprising autonomously making a decision to suspend the indirect path.

A16. The method of embodiment A15, further comprising transmitting, to the communication network, signaling indicating the decision to suspend the indirect path.

A17. The method of embodiment A16, wherein signaling indicating the decision to suspend the indirect path comprises signaling requesting suspension of the indirect path.

A18. The method of any of embodiments A16-A17, further comprising receiving, from the communication network, signaling indicating that the communication network approves the decision to suspend the indirect path, and wherein suspending the indirect path comprises suspending the indirect path responsive to receiving the signaling indicating that the communication network approves the decision to suspend the indirect path.

A19. The method of embodiment A18, wherein the signaling indicating that the communication network approves the decision to suspend the indirect path comprises signaling commanding the remote communication device to suspend the indirect path.

A20. The method of any of embodiments A15-A19, wherein autonomously making the decision to suspend the indirect path comprises autonomously making the decision to suspend the indirect path based on one or more suspension criteria being met.

A21. The method of embodiment A20, wherein the one or more suspension criteria include one or more criteria relating to data activity.

A22. The method of any of embodiments A20-A21 , wherein the one or more suspension criteria include one or more of: a volume of data transmitted or received by the remote communication device is below a data volume threshold; a transmission reliability is below a reliability threshold; a packet delay budget is below a budget threshold; a number of services or channels with specified requirements for transmission reliability and/or data rate is below a threshold; a latency requirement is below a latency threshold; a throughput is below a throughput threshold; and a number of re-transmissions is lower than a re-transmission threshold.

A23. The method of any of embodiments A20-A22, wherein autonomously making the decision to suspend the indirect path comprises autonomously making the decision to suspend the indirect path based on the one or more suspension criteria being met with respect to the indirect path.

A24. The method of any of embodiments A20-A23, further comprising establishing a direct path to the communication network, and wherein autonomously making the decision to suspend the indirect path comprises autonomously making the decision to suspend the indirect path based on the one or more suspension criteria being met with respect to the direct path.

A25. The method of any of embodiments A1-A24, further comprising transmitting signaling to the communication network indicating that the indirect path has been or is to be suspended.

A26. The method of any of embodiments A1-A25, further comprising: transmitting signaling to the relay communication device commanding or requesting the relay communication device to suspend a sidelink between the remote communication device and the relay communication device carrying traffic for the indirect path; and/or transmitting signaling to the communication network requesting the communication network to suspend a link between the communication network and the relay communication device carrying traffic for the indirect path.

A27. The method of any of embodiments A1-A26, further comprising: starting or re-starting a timer upon establishment or re-establishment of the indirect path or of a sidelink between the remote communication device and the relay communication device; and detecting expiration of the timer; wherein suspending the indirect path comprises suspending the indirect path upon detecting expiration of the timer.

A28. The method of embodiment A27, further comprising re-starting the timer when any one of one or more conditions are fulfilled, wherein the one or more conditions include one or more of: the remote communication device obtaining a sidelink grant granting the remote communication device resources on the sidelink for performing a transmission to the relay communication device; the remote communication device transmitting sidelink control information to the relay communication device indicating that the remote communication device will perform a transmission to the relay communication device according to a sidelink grant; and the remote communication device receiving sidelink control information from the relay communication device indicating that the relay communication device will perform a transmission to the remote communication device according to a sidelink grant.

A29. The method of embodiment A27, further comprising re-starting the timer when any one of one or more conditions are fulfilled, wherein the one or more conditions include one or more of: the remote communication device obtaining a grant granting the remote communication device resources for performing a transmission on the indirect path; the remote communication device transmitting control information indicating that the remote communication device will perform a transmission on the indirect path; and the remote communication device receiving control information indicating that the remote communication device will receive a transmission on the indirect path.

A30. The method of any of embodiments A1-A29, further comprising resuming the indirect path.

A31. The method of any of embodiments A7-A9, further comprising resuming the indirect path using the stored information about the indirect path.

A32. The method of embodiment A10, further comprising resuming the indirect path using the stored one or more configurations for the indirect path.

A33. The method of any of embodiments A30-A32, further comprising receiving signaling indicating that the indirect path is to be resumed, and wherein resuming the indirect path comprises resuming the indirect path according to the signaling.

A34. The method of embodiment A33, wherein the signaling is received from the communication network. A35. The method of embodiment A34, further comprising establishing a direct path to the communication network, wherein the direct path is a direct path to a radio network node in the communication network, wherein the indirect path is an indirect path to the same radio network node via the relay communication device, and wherein the signaling is received from the radio network node in the communication network.

A36. The method of any of embodiments A30-A35, further comprising transmitting signaling to the relay communication device indicating that the indirect path has been or is to be resumed.

A37. The method of any of embodiments A30-A32 and A35, further comprising autonomously making a decision to resume the indirect path.

A38. The method of embodiment A37, further comprising transmitting, to the communication network, signaling indicating the decision to resume the indirect path.

A39. The method of embodiment A38, wherein signaling indicating the decision to resume the indirect path comprises signaling requesting resumption of the indirect path.

A40. The method of any of embodiments A38-A39, further comprising receiving, from the communication network, signaling indicating that the communication network approves the decision to resume the indirect path, and wherein resuming the indirect path comprises resuming the indirect path responsive to receiving the signaling indicating that the communication network approves the decision to resume the indirect path.

A41. The method of embodiment A40, wherein the signaling indicating that the communication network approves the decision to resume the indirect path comprises signaling commanding the remote communication device to resume the indirect path.

A42. The method of any of embodiments A37-A41 , wherein autonomously making the decision to resume the indirect path comprises autonomously making the decision to resume the indirect path based on one or more resumption criteria being met.

A43. The method of embodiment A42, wherein the one or more resumption criteria include one or more criteria relating to data activity.

A44. The method of any of embodiments A42-A43, wherein the one or more resumption criteria include one or more of: a volume of data transmitted or received by the remote communication device is above a data volume threshold; a transmission reliability is above a reliability threshold; a packet delay budget is above a budget threshold; a number of services or channels with specified requirements for transmission reliability and/or data rate is above a threshold; a latency requirement is above a latency threshold; a throughput is above a throughput threshold; and a number of re-transmissions is higher than a re-transmission threshold.

A45. The method of any of embodiments A42-A44, wherein autonomously making the decision to resume the indirect path comprises autonomously making the decision to resume the indirect path based on the one or more resumption criteria being met with respect to the indirect path.

A46. The method of any of embodiments A42-A45, further comprising establishing a direct path to the communication network, and wherein autonomously making the decision to resume the indirect path comprises autonomously making the decision to resume the indirect path based on the one or more resumption criteria being met with respect to the direct path

A47. The method of any of embodiments A31-A46, further comprising transmitting signaling to the communication network indicating that the indirect path has been or is to be resumed.

A48. The method of any of embodiments A31-A47, further comprising: transmitting signaling to the relay communication device commanding or requesting the relay communication device to resume a sidelink between the remote communication device and the relay communication device carrying traffic for the indirect path; and/or transmitting signaling to the communication network requesting the communication network to resume a link between the communication network and the relay communication device carrying traffic for the indirect path.

A49. The method of any of embodiments A1-A29, further comprising releasing the suspended indirect path.

A50. The method of embodiment A49, further comprising receiving signaling indicating that the suspended indirect path is to be released, and wherein releasing the suspended indirect path comprises releasing the suspended indirect path according to the signaling. A51. The method of embodiment A50, wherein the signaling is received from the communication network.

A52. The method of embodiment A51 , further comprising establishing a direct path to the communication network, wherein the direct path is a direct path to a radio network node in the communication network, wherein the indirect path is an indirect path to the same radio network node via the relay communication device, and wherein the signaling is received from the radio network node in the communication network.

A53. The method of any of embodiments A49-A52, further comprising transmitting signaling to the relay communication device indicating that the suspended indirect path has been or is to be released.

A54. The method of embodiment A49, further comprising autonomously making a decision to release the suspended indirect path.

A55. The method of embodiment A54, further comprising transmitting, to the communication network, signaling indicating the decision to release the suspended indirect path.

A56. The method of embodiment A55, wherein signaling indicating the decision to release the suspended indirect path comprises signaling requesting release of the suspended indirect path.

A57. The method of any of embodiments A54-A56, further comprising receiving, from the communication network, signaling indicating that the communication network approves the decision to release the suspended indirect path, and wherein releasing the suspended indirect path comprises releasing the suspended indirect path responsive to receiving the signaling indicating that the communication network approves the decision to release the suspended indirect path.

A58. The method of embodiment A57, wherein the signaling indicating that the communication network approves the decision to release the suspended indirect path comprises signaling commanding the remote communication device to release the suspended indirect path.

A59. The method of any of embodiments A54-A58, wherein autonomously making the decision to release the suspended indirect path comprises autonomously making the decision to release the suspended indirect path based on one or more release criteria being met. A60. The method of embodiment A59, wherein the one or more release criteria include one or more criteria relating to data activity.

A61. The method of any of embodiments A59-A60, wherein the one or more release criteria include one or more of: no data being transmitted or received by the remote communication device; no services or channels having specified requirements for transmission reliability; and no services or channels having specified requirements for data rate.

A62. The method of any of embodiments A59-A61 , wherein autonomously making the decision to release the suspended indirect path comprises autonomously making the decision to release the suspended indirect path based on the one or more release criteria being met with respect to the indirect path.

A63. The method of any of embodiments A59-A62, further comprising establishing a direct path to the communication network, wherein autonomously making the decision to release the suspended indirect path comprises autonomously making the decision to release the suspended indirect path based on the one or more release criteria being met with respect to the direct path.

A64. The method of any of embodiments A49-A63, further comprising transmitting signaling to the communication network indicating that the indirect path has been or is to be released.

A65. The method of any of embodiments A49-A64, further comprising: transmitting signaling to the relay communication device commanding or requesting the relay communication device to release a sidelink between the remote communication device and the relay communication device carrying traffic for the indirect path; and/or transmitting signaling to the communication network requesting the communication network to release a link between the communication network and the relay communication device carrying traffic for the indirect path.

A66. The method of any of embodiments A49-A65, further comprising: starting or re-starting a release timer upon establishment or re-establishment of the indirect path or of a sidelink between the remote communication device and the relay communication device; and detecting expiration of the release timer; wherein releasing the indirect path comprises releasing the indirect path upon detecting expiration of the release timer.

A67. The method of any of embodiments A49-A65, further comprising: starting or re-starting a release timer upon suspension of the indirect path or of a sidelink between the remote communication device and the relay communication device; and detecting expiration of the release timer; wherein releasing the indirect path comprises releasing the indirect path upon detecting expiration of the release timer.

A68. The method of any of embodiments A66-A67, further comprising re-starting the release timer when any one of one or more conditions are fulfilled, wherein the one or more conditions include one or more of: the remote communication device obtaining a sidelink grant granting the remote communication device resources on the sidelink for performing a transmission to the relay communication device; the remote communication device transmitting sidelink control information to the relay communication device indicating that the remote communication device will perform a transmission to the relay communication device according to a sidelink grant; and the remote communication device receiving sidelink control information from the relay communication device indicating that the relay communication device will perform a transmission to the remote communication device according to a sidelink grant.

A69. The method of any of embodiments A66-A67, further comprising re-starting the release timer when any one of one or more conditions are fulfilled, wherein the one or more conditions include one or more of: the remote communication device obtaining a grant granting the remote communication device resources for performing a transmission on the indirect path; the remote communication device transmitting control information indicating that the remote communication device will perform a transmission on the indirect path; and the remote communication device receiving control information indicating that the remote communication device will receive a transmission on the indirect path. A70. The method of any of embodiments A1-A69, further comprising establishing a direct path to the communication network.

A71. The method of embodiment A70, wherein the direct path is a direct path to a radio network node in the communication network, and wherein the indirect path is an indirect path to the same radio network node via the relay communication device.

A72. The method of any of embodiments A70-A71 , wherein the direct path is a direct connection to a radio network node in the communication network, and wherein the indirect path is an indirect connection to the same radio network node via the relay communication device.

A73. The method of any of embodiments A70-A72, wherein the direct path is a direct connection to the communication network, and wherein the indirect path is an indirect connection to the communication network.

A74. The method of any of embodiments A70-A73, further comprising, before suspending the indirect path, maintaining both the direct path and the indirect path in an active state.

A75. The method of any of embodiments A70-A74, further comprising, before suspending the indirect path, transmitting or receiving traffic on the direct path while simultaneously transmitting or receiving traffic on the indirect path.

A76. The method of any of embodiments A70-A75, wherein suspending the indirect path comprises suspending the indirect path while keeping the direct path in an active state.

A77. The method of any of embodiments A1-A76, wherein the indirect path as suspended is in an inactive state.

A78. The method of any of embodiments A1-A77, wherein the indirect path comprises a first hop between the remote communication device and the relay communication device and a second hop between the relay communication device and the communication network.

A79. The method of embodiment A78, wherein suspending the indirect path comprises suspending the first hop and/or the second hop.

A80. The method of any of embodiments A78-A79, wherein the first hop is a first connection and the second hop is a second connection. A81. The method of any of embodiments A1-A80, wherein the relay communication device is a layer 2 device-to-network relay.

A82. The method of any of embodiments A1-A81 , wherein the remote communication device is in coverage of the communication network.

AA. The method of any of the previous embodiments, further comprising: providing user data; and forwarding the user data to a host computer via the transmission to a base station.

Group B Embodiments

B1. A method performed by a relay communication device configured for use in a communication network, the method comprising: establishing an indirect path between a remote communication device and the communication network by establishing a backhaul link with the communication network and by establishing a sidelink between the relay communication device and the remote communication device, wherein the sidelink and the backhaul link are mapped to the indirect path; and suspending the indirect path by suspending the sidelink and/or the backhaul link.

B2. The method of embodiment B1 , wherein suspending the indirect path comprises suspending the backhaul link.

B3. The method of embodiment B2, wherein suspending the backhaul link comprises suspending a first radio bearer that is on the backhaul link and that is mapped to the indirect path but keeping a second radio bearer that is on the backhaul link and that is mapped to the indirect path in an active state, wherein the method further comprises, after suspending the indirect path, monitoring for signaling on the second radio bearer indicating that the indirect path is to be resumed.

B4. The method of any of embodiments B1-B3, wherein suspending the indirect path comprises suspending the sidelink.

B5. The method of embodiment B4, wherein suspending the sidelink comprises suspending a sidelink radio bearer between the remote communication device and the relay communication device but keeping another sidelink radio bearer between the remote communication device and the relay communication device in an active state, wherein the method further comprises, after suspending the indirect path, monitoring for signaling on the another sidelink radio bearer indicating that the indirect path is to be resumed.

B6. The method of any of embodiments B1-B5, wherein suspending the indirect path comprises suspending a configured grant on the sidelink.

B7. The method of any of embodiments B1-B6, wherein suspending the indirect path comprises storing, at the relay communication device, information about the indirect path.

B8. The method of embodiment B7, wherein the stored information includes at least one of any one or more of: information about the backhaul link; and information about the sidelink.

B9. The method of any of embodiments B7-B8, wherein the stored information includes at least one of any one or more of: a sidelink relay adaptation protocol configuration for the sidelink; one or more cryptographic keys for the sidelink and/or one or more cryptographic keys for the backhaul link; robust header compression state for the sidelink and/or robust header compression state for the backhaul link; quality of service, QoS, flow to data radio bearer, DRB, mapping rules for the backhaul link and/or QoS flow to DRB mapping rules for the sidelink; a radio network temporary identifier; and a cell identity.

B10. The method of any of embodiments B1-B9, wherein, while the indirect path is suspended, no traffic is communicable on the indirect path but the relay communication device stores one or more configurations for the indirect path usable for resuming the indirect path.

B11. The method of any of embodiments B1-B10, further comprising receiving signaling indicating that the indirect path is to be suspended, and wherein suspending the indirect path comprises suspending the indirect path according to the signaling.

B12. The method of embodiment B11 , wherein the signaling is received from the communication network. B13. The method of embodiment B12, wherein the backhaul link is between the relay communication device and a radio network node in the communication network, wherein the signaling is received from the radio network node in the communication network.

B14. The method of any of embodiments B1-B13, further comprising receiving signaling from the remote communication device indicating that the indirect path has been or is to be suspended.

B15. The method of any of embodiments B1-B10 and B14, further comprising autonomously making a decision to suspend the indirect path.

B16. The method of embodiment B15, further comprising transmitting, to the communication network and/or to the remote communication device, signaling indicating the decision to suspend the indirect path.

B17. The method of embodiment B16, wherein signaling indicating the decision to suspend the indirect path comprises signaling requesting suspension of the indirect path.

B18. The method of any of embodiments B16-B17, further comprising receiving, from the communication network, signaling indicating that the communication network approves the decision to suspend the indirect path, and wherein suspending the indirect path comprises suspending the indirect path responsive to receiving the signaling indicating that the communication network approves the decision to suspend the indirect path.

B19. The method of embodiment B18, wherein the signaling indicating that the communication network approves the decision to suspend the indirect path comprises signaling commanding the relay communication device to suspend the indirect path.

B20. The method of any of embodiments B15-B19, wherein autonomously making the decision to suspend the indirect path comprises autonomously making the decision to suspend the indirect path based on one or more suspension criteria being met.

B21. The method of embodiment B20, wherein the one or more suspension criteria include one or more criteria relating to data activity on the indirect path.

B22. The method of any of embodiments B20-B21 , wherein the one or more suspension criteria include one or more of: a volume of data transmitted or received is below a data volume threshold; a transmission reliability is below a reliability threshold; a packet delay budget is below a budget threshold; a number of services or channels with specified requirements for transmission reliability and/or data rate is below a threshold; a latency requirement is below a latency threshold; a throughput is below a throughput threshold; and a number of re-transmissions is lower than a re-transmission threshold.

B23. The method of any of embodiments B20-B22, wherein autonomously making the decision to suspend the indirect path comprises autonomously making the decision to suspend the indirect path based on the one or more suspension criteria being met with respect to the indirect path.

B24. The method of any of embodiments B20-B23, wherein autonomously making the decision to suspend the indirect path comprises autonomously making the decision to suspend the indirect path based on the one or more suspension criteria being met with respect to the sidelink and/or the backhaul link.

B25. The method of any of embodiments B1-B24, further comprising transmitting signaling to the communication network indicating that the indirect path has been or is to be suspended.

B26. The method of any of embodiments B1-B25, further comprising receiving signaling from the remote communication device commanding or requesting the relay communication device to suspend the sidelink carrying traffic for the indirect path.

B27. The method of any of embodiments B1-B26, further comprising: starting or re-starting a timer upon establishment or re-establishment of the backhaul link or of the sidelink; and detecting expiration of the timer; wherein suspending the indirect path comprises suspending the indirect path upon detecting expiration of the timer.

B28. The method of embodiment B27, further comprising re-starting the timer when any one of one or more conditions are fulfilled, wherein the one or more conditions include one or more of: a sidelink grant granting the remote communication device resources on the sidelink for performing a transmission to the relay communication device; the relay communication device receiving sidelink control information from the remote communication device indicating that the remote communication device will perform a transmission to the relay communication device according to a sidelink grant; and the relay communication device transmitting sidelink control information to the remote communication device indicating that the relay communication device will perform a transmission to the remote communication device according to a sidelink grant.

B29. The method of embodiment B27, further comprising re-starting the timer when any one of one or more conditions are fulfilled, wherein the one or more conditions include one or more of: a grant granting the remote communication device resources for performing a transmission on the sidelink; the relay communication device receiving control information indicating that the remote communication device will perform a transmission on the sidelink; the relay communication device receiving control information indicating that the relay communication device will receive, on the backhaul link, a transmission for the remote communication device; the relay communication device transmitting control information indicating that the relay communication device will perform a transmission on the sidelink; and the relay communication device transmitting control information indicating that the relay communication device will transmit, on the backhaul link, a transmission for the remote communication device.

B30. The method of any of embodiments B1-B29, further comprising resuming the indirect path by resuming the backhaul link and/or the sidelink.

B31. The method of any of embodiments B7-B9, further comprising resuming the indirect path using the stored information about the indirect path.

B32. The method of embodiment B10, further comprising resuming the indirect path using the stored one or more configurations for the indirect path.

B33. The method of any of embodiments B30-B32, further comprising receiving signaling indicating that the indirect path is to be resumed, and wherein resuming the indirect path comprises resuming the indirect path according to the signaling. B34. The method of embodiment B33, wherein the signaling is received from the communication network.

B35. The method of embodiment B34, wherein the backhaul link is between the relay communication device and a radio network node in the communication network, wherein the signaling is received from the radio network node in the communication network.

B36. The method of any of embodiments B30-B35, further comprising receiving signaling from the remote communication device indicating that the indirect path has been or is to be resumed.

B37. The method of any of embodiments B30-B32 and B35, further comprising autonomously making a decision to resume the indirect path.

B38. The method of embodiment B37, further comprising transmitting, to the communication network, signaling indicating the decision to resume the indirect path.

B39. The method of embodiment B38, wherein signaling indicating the decision to resume the indirect path comprises signaling requesting resumption of the indirect path.

B40. The method of any of embodiments B38-B39, further comprising receiving, from the communication network, signaling indicating that the communication network approves the decision to resume the indirect path, and wherein resuming the indirect path comprises resuming the indirect path responsive to receiving the signaling indicating that the communication network approves the decision to resume the indirect path.

B41. The method of embodiment B40, wherein the signaling indicating that the communication network approves the decision to resume the indirect path comprises signaling commanding the relay communication device to resume the indirect path.

B42. The method of any of embodiments B37-B41 , wherein autonomously making the decision to resume the indirect path comprises autonomously making the decision to resume the indirect path based on one or more resumption criteria being met.

B43. The method of embodiment B42, wherein the one or more resumption criteria include one or more criteria relating to data activity on the sidelink and/or the backhaul link. B44. The method of any of embodiments B42-B43, wherein the one or more resumption criteria include one or more of: a volume of data transmitted or received is above a data volume threshold; a transmission reliability is above a reliability threshold; a packet delay budget is above a budget threshold; a number of services or channels with specified requirements for transmission reliability and/or data rate is above a threshold; a latency requirement is above a latency threshold; a throughput is above a throughput threshold; and a number of re-transmissions is higher than a re-transmission threshold.

B45. The method of any of embodiments B42-B44, wherein autonomously making the decision to resume the indirect path comprises autonomously making the decision to resume the indirect path based on the one or more resumption criteria being met with respect to the indirect path.

B46. The method of any of embodiments B42-B45, further comprising establishing a direct path to the communication network, and wherein autonomously making the decision to resume the indirect path comprises autonomously making the decision to resume the indirect path based on the one or more resumption criteria being met with respect to the sidelink and/or the backhaul link.

B47. The method of any of embodiments B31-B46, further comprising transmitting signaling to the communication network indicating that the indirect path has been or is to be resumed.

B48. The method of any of embodiments B31-B47, further comprising receiving signaling from the remote communication device commanding or requesting the relay communication device to resume the sidelink carrying traffic for the indirect path.

B49. The method of any of embodiments B1-B29, further comprising releasing the suspended indirect path by releasing the sidelink and/or the backhaul link.

B50. The method of embodiment B49, further comprising receiving signaling indicating that the suspended indirect path is to be released, and wherein releasing the suspended indirect path comprises releasing the suspended indirect path according to the signaling.

B51. The method of embodiment B50, wherein the signaling is received from the communication network. B52. The method of embodiment B51, wherein the backhaul link is between the relay communication device and a radio network node in the communication network, wherein the signaling is received from the radio network node in the communication network.

B53. The method of any of embodiments B49-B52, further comprising transmitting signaling to the communication network indicating that the suspended indirect path has been or is to be released.

B54. The method of embodiment B49, further comprising autonomously making a decision to release the suspended indirect path.

B55. The method of embodiment B54, further comprising transmitting, to the communication network, signaling indicating the decision to release the suspended indirect path.

B56. The method of embodiment B55, wherein signaling indicating the decision to release the suspended indirect path comprises signaling requesting release of the suspended indirect path.

B57. The method of any of embodiments B54-B56, further comprising receiving, from the communication network, signaling indicating that the communication network approves the decision to release the suspended indirect path, and wherein releasing the suspended indirect path comprises releasing the suspended indirect path responsive to receiving the signaling indicating that the communication network approves the decision to release the suspended indirect path.

B58. The method of embodiment B57, wherein the signaling indicating that the communication network approves the decision to release the suspended indirect path comprises signaling commanding the relay communication device to release the suspended indirect path.

B59. The method of any of embodiments B54-B58, wherein autonomously making the decision to release the suspended indirect path comprises autonomously making the decision to release the suspended indirect path based on one or more release criteria being met.

B60. The method of embodiment B59, wherein the one or more release criteria include one or more criteria relating to data activity on the sidelink and/or the backhaul link. B61. The method of any of embodiments B59-B60, wherein the one or more release criteria include one or more of: no data being transmitted or received; no services or channels having specified requirements for transmission reliability; and no services or channels having specified requirements for data rate.

B62. The method of any of embodiments B59-B61 , wherein autonomously making the decision to release the suspended indirect path comprises autonomously making the decision to release the suspended indirect path based on the one or more release criteria being met with respect to the indirect path.

B63. The method of any of embodiments B59-B62, further comprising establishing a direct path to the communication network, wherein autonomously making the decision to release the suspended indirect path comprises autonomously making the decision to release the suspended indirect path based on the one or more release criteria being met with respect to the sidelink and/or the backhaul link.

B64. The method of any of embodiments B49-B63, further comprising transmitting signaling to the communication network indicating that the indirect path has been or is to be released.

B65. The method of any of embodiments B49-B64, further comprising receiving signaling from the remote communication device commanding or requesting the relay communication device to release the sidelink carrying traffic for the indirect path.

B66. The method of any of embodiments B49-B65, further comprising: starting or re-starting a release timer upon establishment or re-establishment of the backhaul link or of the sidelink; and detecting expiration of the release timer; wherein releasing the indirect path comprises releasing the indirect path upon detecting expiration of the release timer.

B67. The method of any of embodiments B49-B65, further comprising: starting or re-starting a release timer upon suspension of the backhaul link or of the sidelink; and detecting expiration of the release timer; wherein releasing the indirect path comprises releasing the indirect path upon detecting expiration of the release timer. B68. The method of any of embodiments B66-B67, further comprising re-starting the release timer when any one of one or more conditions are fulfilled, wherein the one or more conditions include one or more of: a sidelink grant granting the remote communication device resources on the sidelink for performing a transmission to the relay communication device; the relay communication device receiving sidelink control information indicating that the remote communication device will perform a transmission to the relay communication device according to a sidelink grant; and the relay communication device transmitting sidelink control information to the remote communication device indicating that the relay communication device will perform a transmission to the remote communication device according to a sidelink grant.

B69. The method of any of embodiments B66-B67, further comprising re-starting the release timer when any one of one or more conditions are fulfilled, wherein the one or more conditions include one or more of: a grant granting the remote communication device resources for performing a transmission on the sidelink; the relay communication device receiving control information indicating that the remote communication device will perform a transmission on the sidelink; the relay communication device receiving control information indicating that the relay communication device will receive, on the backhaul link, a transmission for the remote communication device; the relay communication device transmitting control information indicating that the relay communication device will perform a transmission on the sidelink; and the relay communication device transmitting control information indicating that the relay communication device will transmit, on the backhaul link, a transmission for the remote communication device.

B70. The method of any of embodiments B1-B69, wherein the remote communication device also has a direct path established to the communication network.

B71. The method of embodiment B70, wherein the direct path is a direct path to a radio network node in the communication network, and wherein the indirect path is an indirect path to the same radio network node via the relay communication device. B72. The method of any of embodiments B70-B71, wherein the direct path is a direct connection to a radio network node in the communication network, and wherein the indirect path is an indirect connection to the same radio network node via the relay communication device.

B73. The method of any of embodiments B70-B72, wherein the direct path is a direct connection to the communication network, and wherein the indirect path is an indirect connection to the communication network.

B74. The method of any of embodiments B1-B73, wherein the indirect path as suspended is in an inactive state.

B75. The method of any of embodiments B1-B74, wherein the relay communication device is a layer 2 device-to-network relay.

B76. The method of any of embodiments B1-B75, wherein the remote communication device is in coverage of the communication network.

B77. The method of any of embodiments B1-B76, wherein the backhaul link is a llu link.

BB. The method of any of the previous embodiments, further comprising: obtaining user data; and forwarding the user data to a host computer or a communication device.

Group X Embodiments

X1. A method performed by a radio network node configured for use in a communication network, the method comprising: establishing an indirect path to a remote communication device via a relay communication device; and suspending the indirect path.

X2. The method of embodiment X1 , wherein suspending the indirect path comprises suspending an end-to-end radio bearer mapped to the indirect path.

X3. The method of embodiment X2, wherein suspending the indirect path comprises suspending the end-to-end radio bearer mapped to the indirect path but keeping another end- to-end radio bearer mapped to the indirect path in an active state, wherein the method further comprises, after suspending the indirect path, monitoring for signaling on the another end-to- end radio bearer indicating that the indirect path is to be resumed. X4. The method of any of embodiments X1-X3, wherein suspending the indirect path comprises suspending a backhaul link between the relay communication device and the radio network node, wherein the backhaul link is mapped to the indirect path.

X5. The method of embodiment X4, wherein suspending the indirect path comprises suspending a first radio bearer on the backhaul link but keeping a second radio bearer on the backhaul link in an active state, wherein the method further comprises, after suspending the indirect path, monitoring for signaling on the second radio bearer indicating that the indirect path is to be resumed.

X6. The method of any of embodiments X1-X5, wherein suspending the indirect path comprises suspending a configured grant on a backhaul link between the relay communication device and the radio network node.

X7. The method of any of embodiments X1-X6, wherein suspending the indirect path comprises storing, at the radio network node, information about the indirect path.

X8. The method of embodiment X7, wherein the stored information includes at least one of any one or more of: information about an end-to-end connection or radio bearer mapped to the indirect path; and information about a backhaul link between the relay communication device and the radio network node.

X9. The method of any of embodiments X7-X8, wherein the indirect path comprises an end- to-end connection between the remote communication device and the radio network node, with the end-to-end connection connecting the remote communication device and the communication network via a backhaul link between the relay communication device and the radio network node, wherein the stored information includes at least one of any one or more of: a backhaul relay adaptation protocol configuration for the backhaul link; a mapping of the end-to-end connection to the backhaul link; one or more cryptographic keys for the end-to-end connection and/or one or more cryptographic keys for the backhaul link; a robust header compression state for the end-to-end connection and/or robust header compression state for the backhaul link; and quality of service, QoS, flow to data radio bearer, DRB, mapping rules for the end-to-end connection and/or QoS flow to DRB mapping rules for the backhaul link; a radio network temporary identifier; and a cell identity.

X10. The method of any of embodiments X1-X9, wherein, while the indirect path is suspended, no traffic is communicable on the indirect path but the radio network node stores one or more configurations for the indirect path usable for resuming the indirect path.

X11. The method of any of embodiments X1 -X10, further comprising transmitting, to the remote communication device and/or the relay communication device, signaling indicating that the indirect path has been or is to be suspended.

X12-X14. Reserved.

X15. The method of any of embodiments X1-X14, further comprising autonomously making a decision to suspend the indirect path.

X16. The method of embodiment X15, further comprising transmitting, to the remote communication device and/or the relay communication device, signaling indicating the decision to suspend the indirect path.

X17. The method of embodiment X16, wherein signaling indicating the decision to suspend the indirect path comprises signaling commanding suspension of the indirect path.

A18. The method of any of embodiments X15-X17, wherein autonomously making the decision to suspend the indirect path comprises autonomously making the decision to suspend the indirect path based on one or more suspension criteria being met.

X19. The method of embodiment X18, wherein the one or more suspension criteria include one or more criteria relating to data activity on the indirect path.

X20. The method of any of embodiments X18-X19, wherein the one or more suspension criteria include one or more of: a volume of data transmitted or received is below a data volume threshold; a transmission reliability is below a reliability threshold; a packet delay budget is below a budget threshold; a number of services or channels with specified requirements for transmission reliability and/or data rate is below a threshold; a latency requirement is below a latency threshold; a throughput is below a throughput threshold; and a number of re-transmissions is lower than a re-transmission threshold.

X21. The method of any of embodiments X18-AX20, wherein autonomously making the decision to suspend the indirect path comprises autonomously making the decision to suspend the indirect path based on the one or more suspension criteria being met with respect to the indirect path.

X22. The method of any of embodiments X18-X21 , further comprising establishing a direct path to the remote communication device, and wherein autonomously making the decision to suspend the indirect path comprises autonomously making the decision to suspend the indirect path based on the one or more suspension criteria being met with respect to the direct path.

X23. The method of any of embodiments X1-X22, further comprising: receiving, from the remote communication device, signaling that comprises a request to suspend the indirect path; and transmitting, to the remote communication device, signaling indicating that the communication network approves the request to suspend the indirect path; wherein suspending the indirect path comprises suspending the indirect path according to the request.

X24. The method of embodiment X23, wherein the signaling indicating that the communication network approves the request to suspend the indirect path comprises signaling commanding the remote communication device to suspend the indirect path.

X25. The method of any of embodiments X1-X24, further comprising receiving signaling from the remote communication device indicating that the indirect path has been or is to be suspended.

X26. The method of any of embodiments X1-X25, further comprising receiving signaling from the remote communication device requesting the communication network to suspend a backhaul link between the communication network and the relay communication device carrying traffic for the indirect path.

X27. The method of any of embodiments X1-X26, further comprising: starting or re-starting a timer upon establishment or re-establishment of the indirect path or of a backhaul link between the relay communication device and the radio network node mapped to the indirect path; and detecting expiration of the timer; wherein suspending the indirect path comprises suspending the indirect path upon detecting expiration of the timer.

X28. The method of embodiment X27, further comprising re-starting the timer when any one of one or more conditions are fulfilled, wherein the one or more conditions include one or more of: transmitting control information to the relay communication device indicating that the relay communication device will receive, on the backhaul link, a transmission for the remote communication device; and receiving control information from the relay communication device indicating that the radio network node will receive, on the backhaul link, a transmission for the remote communication device.

X29. The method of embodiment X27, further comprising re-starting the timer when any one of one or more conditions are fulfilled, wherein the one or more conditions include one or more of: receipt of control information from the remote communication device indicating that the remote communication device will perform a transmission on the indirect path; and transmission of control information to the remote communication device indicating that the remote communication device will receive a transmission on the indirect path.

X30. The method of any of embodiments X1-X29, further comprising resuming the indirect path.

X31 . The method of any of embodiments X7-X9, further comprising resuming the indirect path using the stored information about the indirect path.

X32. The method of embodiment X10, further comprising resuming the indirect path using the stored one or more configurations for the indirect path.

X33. The method of any of embodiments X30-X32, further comprising receiving signaling indicating that the indirect path is to be resumed, and wherein resuming the indirect path comprises resuming the indirect path according to the signaling.

X34. The method of embodiment X33, wherein the signaling is received from the remote communication device or the relay communication device. X35. Reserved.

X36. The method of any of embodiments X30-X35, further comprising transmitting signaling to the relay communication device indicating that the indirect path has been or is to be resumed.

X37. The method of any of embodiments X30-X32 and X35, further comprising autonomously making a decision to resume the indirect path.

X38. The method of embodiment X37, further comprising transmitting, to the remote communication device and/or the relay communication device, signaling indicating the decision to resume the indirect path.

X39. The method of embodiment X38, wherein signaling indicating the decision to resume the indirect path comprises signaling commanding resumption of the indirect path.

X40. The method of any of embodiments X37-X39, wherein autonomously making the decision to resume the indirect path comprises autonomously making the decision to resume the indirect path based on one or more resumption criteria being met.

X41. The method of embodiment X40, wherein the one or more resumption criteria include one or more criteria relating to data activity.

X42. The method of any of embodiments X40-X41 , wherein the one or more resumption criteria include one or more of: a volume of data transmitted or received is above a data volume threshold; a transmission reliability is above a reliability threshold; a packet delay budget is above a budget threshold; a number of services or channels with specified requirements for transmission reliability and/or data rate is above a threshold; a latency requirement is above a latency threshold; a throughput is above a throughput threshold; and a number of re-transmissions is higher than a re-transmission threshold.

X43. The method of any of embodiments X40-X42, wherein autonomously making the decision to resume the indirect path comprises autonomously making the decision to resume the indirect path based on the one or more resumption criteria being met with respect to the indirect path. X44. The method of any of embodiments X40-X43, further comprising establishing a direct path to the remote communication device, and wherein autonomously making the decision to resume the indirect path comprises autonomously making the decision to resume the indirect path based on the one or more resumption criteria being met with respect to the direct path.

X45. The method of any of embodiments X32-X44, further comprising: receiving, from the remote communication device, signaling that comprises a request to resume the indirect path; and transmitting, to the remote communication device, signaling indicating that the communication network approves the request to resume the indirect path; wherein resuming the indirect path comprises resuming the indirect path according to the request.

X46. The method of embodiment X45, wherein the signaling indicating that the communication network approves the requests to resume the indirect path comprises signaling commanding the remote communication device to resume the indirect path.

X47. The method of any of embodiments X31-X46, further comprising transmitting signaling to the remote communication device indicating that the indirect path has been or is to be resumed.

X48. The method of any of embodiments X31-X47, further comprising receiving signaling requesting the communication network to resume a backhaul link between the communication network and the relay communication device carrying traffic for the indirect path.

X50. The method of embodiment X49, further comprising receiving signaling indicating that the suspended indirect path is to be released, and wherein releasing the suspended indirect path comprises releasing the suspended indirect path according to the signaling.

X51. The method of embodiment X50, wherein the signaling is received from the remote communication device.

X52. Reserved. X53. The method of any of embodiments X49-X52, further comprising transmitting signaling to the relay communication device indicating that the suspended indirect path has been or is to be released.

X54. The method of embodiment X49, further comprising autonomously making a decision to release the suspended indirect path.

X55. The method of embodiment X54, further comprising transmitting, to the remote communication device and/or the relay communication device, signaling indicating the decision to release the suspended indirect path.

X56. The method of embodiment X55, wherein signaling indicating the decision to release the suspended indirect path comprises signaling commanding release of the suspended indirect path.

X57. The method of any of embodiments X54-X56, wherein autonomously making the decision to release the suspended indirect path comprises autonomously making the decision to release the suspended indirect path based on one or more release criteria being met.

X58. The method of embodiment X57, wherein the one or more release criteria include one or more criteria relating to data activity on the indirect path.

X59. The method of any of embodiments X57-X58, wherein the one or more release criteria include one or more of: no data being transmitted or received; no services or channels having specified requirements for transmission reliability; and no services or channels having specified requirements for data rate.

X60. The method of any of embodiments X57-X59, wherein autonomously making the decision to release the suspended indirect path comprises autonomously making the decision to release the suspended indirect path based on the one or more release criteria being met with respect to the indirect path.

X61. The method of any of embodiments X57-X60, further comprising establishing a direct path to the remote communication device, wherein autonomously making the decision to release the suspended indirect path comprises autonomously making the decision to release the suspended indirect path based on the one or more release criteria being met with respect to the direct path. X62. The method of any of embodiments X49-X61 , further comprising: receiving, from the remote communication device, signaling that comprises a request to release the suspended indirect path; and transmitting, to the remote communication device, signaling indicating that the communication network approves the request to release the suspended indirect path; wherein releasing the suspended indirect path comprises releasing the suspended indirect path according to the request.

X63. The method of embodiment X62, wherein the signaling indicating that the communication network approves the decision to release the suspended indirect path comprises signaling commanding the remote communication device to release the suspended indirect path.

X64. The method of any of embodiments X49-X63, further comprising transmitting signaling to the remote communication network indicating that the suspended indirect path has been or is to be released.

X65. The method of any of embodiments X49-X64, further comprising: transmitting signaling to the relay communication device commanding or requesting the relay communication device to release a sidelink between the remote communication device and the relay communication device carrying traffic for the indirect path; and/or transmitting signaling to the relay communication device requesting the remote communication device to release a backhaul link between the communication network and the relay communication device carrying traffic for the indirect path.

X66. The method of any of embodiments X49-X65, further comprising: starting or re-starting a release timer upon establishment or re-establishment of the indirect path or of a backhaul between the relay communication device and the radio network node; and detecting expiration of the release timer; wherein releasing the indirect path comprises releasing the indirect path upon detecting expiration of the release timer.

X67. The method of any of embodiments X49-X65, further comprising: starting or re-starting a release timer upon suspension of the indirect path or of a backhaul link between the relay communication device and the radio network node; and detecting expiration of the release timer; wherein releasing the indirect path comprises releasing the indirect path upon detecting expiration of the release timer.

X68. The method of any of embodiments X66-X67, further comprising re-starting the release timer when any one of one or more conditions are fulfilled, wherein the one or more conditions include one or more of: transmitting control information to the relay communication device indicating that the relay communication device will receive, on the backhaul link, a transmission for the remote communication device; and receiving control information from the relay communication device indicating that the radio network node will receive, on the backhaul link, a transmission for the remote communication device.

X69. The method of any of embodiments X66-X67, further comprising re-starting the release timer when any one of one or more conditions are fulfilled, wherein the one or more conditions include one or more of: receipt of control information from the remote communication device indicating that the remote communication device will perform a transmission on the indirect path; and transmission of control information to the remote communication device indicating that the remote communication device will receive a transmission on the indirect path

X70. The method of any of embodiments X1-X69, further comprising establishing a direct path to the remote communication device.

X71. The method of embodiment X70, wherein the direct path is a direct path to the radio network node in the communication network, and wherein the indirect path is an indirect path to the same radio network node via the relay communication device.

X72. The method of any of embodiments X70-X71, wherein the direct path is a direct connection to the radio network node in the communication network, and wherein the indirect path is an indirect connection to the same radio network node via the relay communication device. X73. The method of any of embodiments X70-X72, wherein the direct path is a direct connection to the communication network, and wherein the indirect path is an indirect connection to the communication network.

X74. The method of any of embodiments X70-X73, further comprising, before suspending the indirect path, maintaining both the direct path and the indirect path in an active state.

X75. The method of any of embodiments X70-X74, further comprising, before suspending the indirect path, transmitting or receiving traffic on the direct path while simultaneously transmitting or receiving traffic on the indirect path.

X76. The method of any of embodiments X70-X75, wherein suspending the indirect path comprises suspending the indirect path while keeping the direct path in an active state.

X77. The method of any of embodiments X1-X76, wherein the indirect path as suspended is in an inactive state.

X78. The method of any of embodiments X1-X77, wherein the indirect path comprises a first hop between the remote communication device and the relay communication device and a second hop between the relay communication device and the communication network.

X79. The method of embodiment X78, wherein suspending the indirect path comprises suspending the first hop and/or the second hop.

X80. The method of any of embodiments X78-X79, wherein the first hop is a first connection and the second hop is a second connection.

X81. The method of any of embodiments X1-X80, wherein the relay communication device is a layer 2 device-to-network relay.

X82. The method of any of embodiments X1-X81, wherein the remote communication device is in coverage of the communication network.

Group C Embodiments

C1. A communication device configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A or Group B embodiments. C2. A communication device comprising processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A or Group B embodiments.

03. A communication device comprising: communication circuitry; and processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A or Group B embodiments.

04. A communication device comprising: processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A or Group B embodiments; and power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the communication device.

05. A communication device comprising: processing circuitry and memory, the memory containing instructions executable by the processing circuitry whereby the communication device is configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A or Group B embodiments.

06. The communication device of any of embodiments 01-05, wherein the communication device is a wireless communication device.

07. A user equipment (UE) comprising: an antenna configured to send and receive wireless signals; radio front-end circuitry connected to the antenna and to processing circuitry, and configured to condition signals communicated between the antenna and the processing circuitry; the processing circuitry being configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A or Group B embodiments; an input interface connected to the processing circuitry and configured to allow input of information into the UE to be processed by the processing circuitry; an output interface connected to the processing circuitry and configured to output information from the UE that has been processed by the processing circuitry; and a battery connected to the processing circuitry and configured to supply power to the UE.

08. A computer program comprising instructions which, when executed by at least one processor of a communication device, causes the communication device to carry out the steps of any of the Group A or Group B embodiments. 09. A carrier containing the computer program of embodiment 07, wherein the carrier is one of an electronic signal, optical signal, radio signal, or computer readable storage medium.

C10. A network node configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group X embodiments.

C11. A network node comprising processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group X embodiments.

012. A network node comprising: communication circuitry; and processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group X embodiments.

013. A network node comprising: processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group X embodiments; power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the network node.

014. A network node comprising: processing circuitry and memory, the memory containing instructions executable by the processing circuitry whereby the network node is configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group X embodiments.

015. The network node of any of embodiments 010-014, wherein the network node is a base station.

016. A computer program comprising instructions which, when executed by at least one processor of a network node, causes the network node to carry out the steps of any of the Group X embodiments.

017. The computer program of embodiment 016, wherein the network node is a base station.

018. A carrier containing the computer program of any of embodiments 016-017, wherein the carrier is one of an electronic signal, optical signal, radio signal, or computer readable storage medium. Group D Embodiments

D1. A communication system including a host computer comprising: processing circuitry configured to provide user data; and a communication interface configured to forward the user data to a cellular network for transmission to a user equipment (UE), wherein the cellular network comprises a base station having a radio interface and processing circuitry, the base station’s processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group X embodiments.

D2. The communication system of the previous embodiment further including the base station.

D3. The communication system of the previous 2 embodiments, further including the UE, wherein the UE is configured to communicate with the base station.

D4. The communication system of the previous 3 embodiments, wherein: the processing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute a host application, thereby providing the user data; and the UE comprises processing circuitry configured to execute a client application associated with the host application.

D5. A method implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: at the host computer, providing user data; and at the host computer, initiating a transmission carrying the user data to the UE via a cellular network comprising the base station, wherein the base station performs any of the steps of any of the Group X embodiments.

D6. The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising, at the base station, transmitting the user data.

D7. The method of the previous 2 embodiments, wherein the user data is provided at the host computer by executing a host application, the method further comprising, at the UE, executing a client application associated with the host application.

D8. A user equipment (UE) configured to communicate with a base station, the UE comprising a radio interface and processing circuitry configured to perform any of the previous 3 embodiments. D9. A communication system including a host computer comprising: processing circuitry configured to provide user data; and a communication interface configured to forward user data to a cellular network for transmission to a user equipment (UE), wherein the UE comprises a radio interface and processing circuitry, the UE’s components configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A or Group B embodiments.

D10. The communication system of the previous embodiment, wherein the cellular network further includes a base station configured to communicate with the UE.

D11. The communication system of the previous 2 embodiments, wherein: the processing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute a host application, thereby providing the user data; and the UE’s processing circuitry is configured to execute a client application associated with the host application.

D12. A method implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: at the host computer, providing user data; and at the host computer, initiating a transmission carrying the user data to the UE via a cellular network comprising the base station, wherein the UE performs any of the steps of any of the Group A or Group B embodiments.

D13. The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising at the UE, receiving the user data from the base station.

D14. A communication system including a host computer comprising: communication interface configured to receive user data originating from a transmission from a user equipment (UE) to a base station, wherein the UE comprises a radio interface and processing circuitry, the UE’s processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A or Group B embodiments.

D15. The communication system of the previous embodiment, further including the UE. D16. The communication system of the previous 2 embodiments, further including the base station, wherein the base station comprises a radio interface configured to communicate with the UE and a communication interface configured to forward to the host computer the user data carried by a transmission from the UE to the base station.

D17. The communication system of the previous 3 embodiments, wherein: the processing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute a host application; and the UE’s processing circuitry is configured to execute a client application associated with the host application, thereby providing the user data.

D18. The communication system of the previous 4 embodiments, wherein: the processing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute a host application, thereby providing request data; and the UE’s processing circuitry is configured to execute a client application associated with the host application, thereby providing the user data in response to the request data.

D19. A method implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: at the host computer, receiving user data transmitted to the base station from the UE, wherein the UE performs any of the steps of any of the Group A or Group B embodiments.

D20. The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising, at the UE, providing the user data to the base station.

D21. The method of the previous 2 embodiments, further comprising: at the UE, executing a client application, thereby providing the user data to be transmitted; and at the host computer, executing a host application associated with the client application.

D22. The method of the previous 3 embodiments, further comprising: at the UE, executing a client application; and at the UE, receiving input data to the client application, the input data being provided at the host computer by executing a host application associated with the client application, wherein the user data to be transmitted is provided by the client application in response to the input data.

D23. A communication system including a host computer comprising a communication interface configured to receive user data originating from a transmission from a user equipment (UE) to a base station, wherein the base station comprises a radio interface and processing circuitry, the base station’s processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group X embodiments.

D24. The communication system of the previous embodiment further including the base station.

D25. The communication system of the previous 2 embodiments, further including the UE, wherein the UE is configured to communicate with the base station.

D26. The communication system of the previous 3 embodiments, wherein: the processing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute a host application; the UE is configured to execute a client application associated with the host application, thereby providing the user data to be received by the host computer.

D27. A method implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: at the host computer, receiving, from the base station, user data originating from a transmission which the base station has received from the UE, wherein the UE performs any of the steps of any of the Group A or Group B embodiments.

D28. The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising at the base station, receiving the user data from the UE.

D29. The method of the previous 2 embodiments, further comprising at the base station, initiating a transmission of the received user data to the host computer.

ABBREVIATIONS

At least some of the following abbreviations may be used in this disclosure. If there is an inconsistency between abbreviations, preference should be given to how it is used above. If listed multiple times below, the first listing should be preferred over any subsequent listing(s).

3GPP 3^rd Generation Partnership Project

4G 4^th Generation

5G 5^th Generation 6G 6^th Generation 5GC 5G Core 5GS 5G System AMF Access and Mobility management Function BSR Buffer status reporting BWP Bandwidth Part CB Contention-Based CN Core Network CORESET Control Resource Set CSS Common Search Space eNB Evolved Node B (A radio base station in LTE.)

E-UTRAN Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network gNB 5G Node B (A radio base station in NR.) IMEI International Mobile Equipment Identity LTE Long Term Evolution MBB Mobile Broadband

MT Mobile Terminated

MTC Machine-Type Communication

NG The interface/reference point between the RAN and the CN in 5G/NR.

NG-C The control plane part of NG (between a gNB and an AMF).

NG-RAN Next Generation Radio Access Network

NG-U The user plane part of NG (between a gNB and a UPF).

NR New Radio

NSSAI Network Slice Selection Assistance Information

OFDM Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex

PDCCH Physical Downlink Control Channel

PLMN Public Land Mobile Network

PO PRACH Occasion

PRACH Physical Random Access Channel

PUSCH Physical Uplink Shared Channel

RAN Radio Access Network

RB Resource Block

RF Radio Frequency

RAR Random Access Response

RLC Radio Link Control

RRC Radio Resource Control

RFSP Index RAT/Frequency Selection Priority Index

S-NSSAI Selected NSSAI

SN Sequence Number

SPID Subscriber Profile ID for RAT/Frequency Priority

SSB Synchronization signal Block

TA Tracking Area

TS Technical Specification

UDM Unified Data Management

UE User Equipment

UPF User Plane Function

UR LLC Ultra-Reliable Low-Latency Communication

USIM Universal Subscriber Identity Module

Xn The interface/reference point between two gNBs

1x RTT CDMA2000 1x Radio Transmission Technology

3GPP 3rd Generation Partnership Project

5G 5th Generation

6G 6^th Generation

ABS Almost Blank Subframe

ARQ Automatic Repeat Request

AWGN Additive White Gaussian Noise

BCCH Broadcast Control Channel BCH Broadcast Channel CA Carrier Aggregation CC Carrier Component CCCH SDU Common Control Channel SDU CDMA Code Division Multiplexing Access CGI Cell Global Identifier CIR Channel Impulse Response CP Cyclic Prefix CPICH Common Pilot Channel CPICH Ec/No CPICH Received energy per chip divided by the power density in the band

CQI Channel Quality information C-RNTI Cell RNTI CSI Channel State Information DCCH Dedicated Control Channel DL Downlink DM Demodulation DMRS Demodulation Reference Signal DRX Discontinuous Reception DTX Discontinuous Transmission DTCH Dedicated Traffic Channel DUT Device Under Test E-CID Enhanced Cell-1 D (positioning method) eMBMS evolved Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Services E-SMLC Evolved-Serving Mobile Location Centre ECGI Evolved CGI eNB E-UTRAN NodeB ePDCCH Enhanced Physical Downlink Control Channel E-SMLC Evolved Serving Mobile Location Center E-UTRA Evolved UTRA E-UTRAN Evolved UTRAN FDD Frequency Division Duplex FFS For Further Study gNB Base station in NR GNSS Global Navigation Satellite System HARQ Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request HO Handover HSPA High Speed Packet Access HRPD High Rate Packet Data LOS Line of Sight LPP LTE Positioning Protocol LTE Long-Term Evolution MAC Medium Access Control MAC Message Authentication Code MBSFN Multimedia Broadcast multicast service Single Frequency Network MBSFN ABS MBSFN Almost Blank Subframe MDT Minimization of Drive Tests MIB Master Information Block MME Mobility Management Entity MSC Mobile Switching Center NPDCCH Narrowband Physical Downlink Control Channel NR New Radio OCNG OFDMA Channel Noise Generator OFDM Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing OFDMA Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access OSS Operations Support System OTDOA Observed Time Difference of Arrival O&M Operation and Maintenance PBCH Physical Broadcast Channel P-CCPCH Primary Common Control Physical Channel PCell Primary Cell PCFICH Physical Control Format Indicator Channel PDCCH Physical Downlink Control Channel PDCP Packet Data Convergence Protocol PDP Power Delay Profile PDSCH Physical Downlink Shared Channel PGW Packet Gateway PHICH Physical Hybrid-ARQ Indicator Channel PLMN Public Land Mobile Network PMI Precoder Matrix Indicator PRACH Physical Random Access Channel PRS Positioning Reference Signal PSS Primary Synchronization Signal PUCCH Physical Uplink Control Channel PUSCH Physical Uplink Shared Channel RACH Random Access Channel QAM Quadrature Amplitude Modulation RAN Radio Access Network RAT Radio Access Technology RLC Radio Link Control RLM Radio Link Management RNC Radio Network Controller RNTI Radio Network Temporary Identifier RRC Radio Resource Control RRM Radio Resource Management RS Reference Signal RSCP Received Signal Code Power RSRP Reference Symbol Received Power OR Reference Signal Received Power

RSRQ Reference Signal Received Quality OR Reference Symbol Received Quality

RSSI Received Signal Strength Indicator RSTD Reference Signal Time Difference SCH Synchronization Channel SCell Secondary Cell SDAP Service Data Adaptation Protocol SDU Service Data Unit SFN System Frame Number SGW Serving Gateway SI System Information SIB System Information Block SNR Signal to Noise Ratio SON Self Optimized Network SS Synchronization Signal SSS Secondary Synchronization Signal TDD Time Division Duplex TDOA Time Difference of Arrival TOA Time of Arrival TSS Tertiary Synchronization Signal TTI Transmission Time Interval UE User Equipment UL Uplink USIM Universal Subscriber Identity Module UTDOA Uplink Time Difference of Arrival WCDMA Wide CDMA

WLAN Wide Local Area Network

Claims

CLAIMS What is claimed is:

1. A method performed by a remote communication device (12A) configured for use in a communication network (10), the method comprising: establishing (810) an indirect path (16) to the communication network (10) via a relay communication device (12B); and suspending (840) the indirect path (16).

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein suspending the indirect path (16) comprises: suspending an end-to-end radio bearer mapped to the indirect path (16); or suspending a sidelink radio bearer between the remote communication device (12A) and the relay communication device (12B).

3. The method of claim 2, wherein suspending the indirect path (16) comprises suspending the end-to-end radio bearer mapped to the indirect path (16) but keeping another end-to-end radio bearer mapped to the indirect path (16) in an active state, wherein the method further comprises, after suspending the indirect path (16), monitoring for signaling on the another end- to-end radio bearer indicating that the indirect path (16) is to be resumed.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein suspending the indirect path (16) comprises suspending the sidelink radio bearer between the remote communication device (12A) and the relay communication device (12B) but keeping another sidelink radio bearer between the remote communication device (12A) and the relay communication device (12B) in an active state, wherein the method further comprises, after suspending the indirect path (16), monitoring for signaling on the another sidelink radio bearer indicating that the indirect path (16) is to be resumed.

5. The method of any of claims 1-4, wherein suspending the indirect path (16) comprises storing, at the remote communication device (12A), information about the indirect path (16).

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the stored information includes at least one of any one or more of: information about an end-to-end connection or radio bearer mapped to the indirect path (16); and information about a sidelink (16S) between the remote communication device (12A) and the relay communication device (12B).

7. The method of any of claims 5-6, wherein the indirect path (16) comprises an end-to-end connection between the remote communication device (12A) and the communication network (10), with the end-to-end connection connecting the remote communication device (12A) and the communication network (10) via a sidelink (16S) between the remote communication device (12A) and the relay communication device (12B), wherein the stored information includes at least one of any one or more of: a sidelink relay adaptation protocol configuration for the sidelink (16S); a mapping of the end-to-end connection to the sidelink (16S); one or more cryptographic keys for the end-to-end connection and/or one or more cryptographic keys for the sidelink (16S); a robust header compression state for the end-to-end connection and/or robust header compression state for the sidelink (16S); and quality of service, QoS, flow to data radio bearer, DRB, mapping rules for the end-to-end connection and/or QoS flow to DRB mapping rules for the sidelink (16S); a radio network temporary identifier; and a cell identity.

8. The method of any of claims 5-7, further comprising resuming the indirect path (16) using the stored information about the indirect path (16).

9. The method of any of any of claims 1-8, wherein suspending the indirect path (16) comprises suspending the indirect path (16) according to: signaling received by the remote communication device (12A) indicating that the indirect path (16) is to be suspended; or a decision autonomously made by the remote communication device (12A) to suspend the indirect path (16).

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising establishing a direct path to the communication network (10), wherein the direct path is a direct path to a radio network node (14) in the communication network (10), wherein the indirect path (16) is an indirect path (16) to the same radio network node (14) via the relay communication device (12B), wherein the signaling is received from the radio network node (14).

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising autonomously making the decision to suspend the indirect path (16) based on one or more suspension criteria being met, wherein the one or more suspension criteria include one or more of: a volume of data transmitted or received by the remote communication device (12A) is below a data volume threshold; a transmission reliability is below a reliability threshold; a packet delay budget is below a budget threshold; a number of services or channels with specified requirements for transmission reliability and/or data rate is below a threshold; a latency requirement is below a latency threshold; a throughput is below a throughput threshold; and a number of re-transmissions is lower than a re-transmission threshold.

12. The method of any of claims 1-11 , further comprising: starting or re-starting a timer upon establishment or re-establishment of the indirect path (16) or of a sidelink (16S) between the remote communication device (12A) and the relay communication device (12B); and detecting expiration of the timer; wherein suspending the indirect path (16) comprises suspending the indirect path (16) upon detecting expiration of the timer.

13. The method of any of claims 1-11 , further comprising: transmitting signaling, to the relay communication device (12B) and/or to the communication network (10), indicating that the indirect path (16) has been or is to be suspended; transmitting signaling to the relay communication device (12B) commanding or requesting the relay communication device (12B) to suspend a sidelink (16S) between the remote communication device (12A) and the relay communication device (12B) carrying traffic for the indirect path (16); and/or transmitting signaling to the communication network (10) requesting the communication network (10) to suspend a link between the communication network (10) and the relay communication device (12B) carrying traffic for the indirect path (16).

14. The method of any of claims 1-13, further comprising, after suspending the indirect path (16), resuming the indirect path (16) according to: signaling received by the remote communication device (12A) indicating that the indirect path (16) is to be resumed; or a decision autonomously made by the remote communication device (12A) to resume the indirect path (16).

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising establishing a direct path to the communication network (10), wherein the signaling indicating that the indirect path (16) is to be resumed is received on the direct path.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising autonomously making the decision to resume the indirect path (16) based on one or more resumption criteria being met, wherein the one or more resumption criteria include one or more of: a volume of data transmitted or received by the remote communication device (12A) is above a data volume threshold; a transmission reliability is above a reliability threshold; a packet delay budget is above a budget threshold; a number of services or channels with specified requirements for transmission reliability and/or data rate is above a threshold; a latency requirement is above a latency threshold; a throughput is above a throughput threshold; and a number of re-transmissions is higher than a re-transmission threshold.

17. The method of any of claims 1-16, further comprising releasing the suspended indirect path (16) according to: signaling received by the remote communication device (12A) indicating that the indirect path (16) is to be released; or a decision autonomously made by the remote communication device (12A) to release the indirect path (16).

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising autonomously making the decision to release the suspended indirect path (16) based on one or more release criteria being met, wherein the one or more release criteria include one or more of: no data being transmitted or received by the remote communication device (12A); no services or channels having specified requirements for transmission reliability; and no services or channels having specified requirements for data rate.

19. The method of any of claims 1-18, further comprising: establishing a direct path to the communication network (10): before suspending the indirect path (16), maintaining both the direct path and the indirect path (16) in an active state; wherein suspending the indirect path (16) comprises suspending the indirect path (16) while keeping the direct path in an active state, wherein the indirect path (16) as suspended is in an inactive state.

20. A method performed by a radio network node (14) configured for use in a communication network (10), the method comprising: establishing (1010) an indirect path (16) to a remote communication device (12A) via a relay communication device (12B); and suspending (1040) the indirect path (16).

21. The method of claim 20, wherein suspending the indirect path (16) comprises: suspending an end-to-end radio bearer mapped to the indirect path (16); or suspending a backhaul link (16B) between the relay communication device (12B) and the radio network node (14), wherein the backhaul link (16B) is mapped to the indirect path (16).

22. The method of claim 21 , wherein suspending the indirect path (16) comprises suspending the end-to-end radio bearer mapped to the indirect path (16) but keeping another end-to-end radio bearer mapped to the indirect path (16) in an active state, wherein the method further comprises, after suspending the indirect path (16), monitoring for signaling on the another end-to-end radio bearer indicating that the indirect path (16) is to be resumed.

23. The method of claim 21 , wherein suspending the indirect path (16) comprises suspending a first radio bearer on the backhaul link (16B) but keeping a second radio bearer on the backhaul link (16B) in an active state, wherein the method further comprises, after suspending the indirect path (16), monitoring for signaling on the second radio bearer indicating that the indirect path (16) is to be resumed.

24. The method of any of claims 20-23, wherein suspending the indirect path (16) comprises storing, at the radio network node (14), information about the indirect path (16).

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the stored information includes at least one of any one or more of: information about an end-to-end connection or radio bearer mapped to the indirect path (16); and information about a backhaul link (16B) between the relay communication device (12B) and the radio network node (14).

26. The method of any of claims 24-25, wherein the indirect path (16) comprises an end-to- end connection between the remote communication device (12A) and the radio network node (14), with the end-to-end connection connecting the remote communication device (12A) and the communication network (10) via a backhaul link (16B) between the relay communication device (12B) and the radio network node (14), wherein the stored information includes at least one of any one or more of: a backhaul relay adaptation protocol configuration for the backhaul link (16B); a mapping of the end-to-end connection to the backhaul link (16B); one or more cryptographic keys for the end-to-end connection and/or one or more cryptographic keys for the backhaul link (16B); a robust header compression state for the end-to-end connection and/or robust header compression state for the backhaul link (16B); and quality of service, QoS, flow to data radio bearer, DRB, mapping rules for the end-to-end connection and/or QoS flow to DRB mapping rules for the backhaul link (16B); a radio network temporary identifier; and a cell identity.

27. The method of any of claims 24-26, further comprising resuming the indirect path (16) using the stored information about the indirect path (16).

28. The method of any of claims 20-27, further comprising autonomously making a decision to suspend the indirect path (16) based on one or more suspension criteria being met, wherein the one or more suspension criteria include one or more of: a volume of data transmitted or received is below a data volume threshold; a transmission reliability is below a reliability threshold; a packet delay budget is below a budget threshold; a number of services or channels with specified requirements for transmission reliability and/or data rate is below a threshold; a latency requirement is below a latency threshold; a throughput is below a throughput threshold; and a number of re-transmissions is lower than a re-transmission threshold.

29. The method of any of claims 20-27, further comprising: starting or re-starting a timer upon establishment or re-establishment of the indirect path (16) or of a backhaul link (16B) between the relay communication device (12B) and the radio network node (14) mapped to the indirect path (16); and detecting expiration of the timer; wherein suspending the indirect path (16) comprises suspending the indirect path (16) upon detecting expiration of the timer.

30. The method of any of claims 20-27, further comprising: receiving, from the remote communication device (12A), signaling that comprises a request to suspend the indirect path (16); and transmitting, to the remote communication device (12A), signaling indicating that the communication network (10) approves the request to suspend the indirect path (16); wherein suspending the indirect path (16) comprises suspending the indirect path (16) according to the request.

31. The method of any of claims 20-30, further comprising: transmitting, to the remote communication device (12A) and/or the relay communication device (12B), signaling indicating that the indirect path (16) has been or is to be suspended; or receiving signaling from the remote communication device (12A) indicating that the indirect path (16) has been or is to be suspended.

32. The method of any of claims 20-31 , further comprising, after suspending the indirect path (16), resuming the indirect path (16) according to: signaling transmitted to or from the remote communication device (12A) or the relay communication device (12B) indicating that the indirect path (16) is to be resumed; or a decision autonomously made by the radio network node (14) to resume the indirect path (16).

33. The method of claim 32, further comprising establishing a direct path to the remote communication device (12A), wherein the signaling indicating that the indirect path (16) is to be resumed is transmitted or received on the direct path.

34. The method of any of claims 32-33, further comprising autonomously making the decision to resume the indirect path (16) based on one or more resumption criteria being met, wherein the one or more resumption criteria include one or more of: a volume of data transmitted or received is above a data volume threshold; a transmission reliability is above a reliability threshold; a packet delay budget is above a budget threshold; a number of services or channels with specified requirements for transmission reliability and/or data rate is above a threshold; a latency requirement is above a latency threshold; a throughput is above a throughput threshold; and a number of re-transmissions is higher than a re-transmission threshold.

35. The method of any of claims 20-34, further comprising releasing the suspended indirect path (16) according to: signaling received from the remote communication device (12A) or the relay communication device (12B) indicating that the indirect path (16) is to be released; or a decision autonomously made by the radio network node (14) to release the indirect path (16).

36. The method of claim 35, further comprising autonomously making a decision to release the suspended indirect path (16) based on one or more release criteria being met, wherein the one or more release criteria include one or more of: no data being transmitted or received; no services or channels having specified requirements for transmission reliability; and no services or channels having specified requirements for data rate.

37. The method of any of claims 20-36, further comprising: establishing a direct path to the remote communication device (12A); before suspending the indirect path (16), maintaining both the direct path and the indirect path (16) in an active state; wherein suspending the indirect path (16) comprises suspending the indirect path (16) while keeping the direct path in an active state, wherein the indirect path (16) as suspended is in an inactive state.

38. The method of any of claims 20-37, further comprising, before suspending the indirect path (16), transmitting or receiving traffic on the direct path while simultaneously transmitting or receiving traffic on the indirect path (16).

39. A method performed by a relay communication device (12B) configured for use in a communication network (10), the method comprising: establishing (910) an indirect path (16) between a remote communication device (12A) and the communication network (10) by establishing a backhaul link (16B) with the communication network (10) and by establishing a sidelink (16S) between the relay communication device (12B) and the remote communication device (12A), wherein the sidelink (16S) and the backhaul link (16B) are mapped to the indirect path (16); and suspending (940) the indirect path (16) by suspending the sidelink (16S) and/or the backhaul link (16B).

40. The method of claim 39, wherein suspending the indirect path (16) comprises suspending the backhaul link (16B), wherein suspending the backhaul link (16B) comprises suspending a first radio bearer that is on the backhaul link (16B) and that is mapped to the indirect path (16) but keeping a second radio bearer that is on the backhaul link (16B) and that is mapped to the indirect path (16) in an active state, wherein the method further comprises, after suspending the indirect path (16), monitoring for signaling on the second radio bearer indicating that the indirect path (16) is to be resumed.

41. The method of any of claims 39-40, wherein suspending the indirect path (16) comprises suspending the sidelink (16S), wherein suspending the sidelink (16S) comprises suspending a sidelink radio bearer between the remote communication device (12A) and the relay communication device (12B) but keeping another sidelink radio bearer between the remote communication device (12A) and the relay communication device (12B) in an active state, wherein the method further comprises, after suspending the indirect path (16), monitoring for signaling on the another sidelink radio bearer indicating that the indirect path (16) is to be resumed.

42. The method of any of claims 39-41, wherein suspending the indirect path (16) comprises storing, at the relay communication device (12B), information about the indirect path (16).

43. The method of claim 42, wherein the stored information includes at least one of any one or more of: a sidelink relay adaptation protocol configuration for the sidelink (16S); one or more cryptographic keys for the sidelink (16S) and/or one or more cryptographic keys for the backhaul link (16B); robust header compression state for the sidelink (16S) and/or robust header compression state for the backhaul link (16B); quality of service, QoS, flow to data radio bearer, DRB, mapping rules for the backhaul link (16B) and/or QoS flow to DRB mapping rules for the sidelink (16S); a radio network temporary identifier; and a cell identity.

44. The method of any of claims 42-43, further comprising resuming the indirect path (16) by resuming the backhaul link (16B) and/or the sidelink (16S), wherein the indirect path (16) is resumed using the stored information about the indirect path (16).

45. The method of any of claims 39-44, wherein suspending the indirect path (16) comprises suspending the indirect path (16) according to: signaling received by the relay communication device (12B) indicating that the indirect path (16) is to be suspended; or a decision autonomously made by the relay communication device (12B) to suspend the indirect path (16).

46. The method of claim 45, further comprising autonomously making the decision to suspend the indirect path (16) based on one or more suspension criteria being met, wherein the one or more suspension criteria include one or more of: a volume of data transmitted or received is below a data volume threshold; a transmission reliability is below a reliability threshold; a packet delay budget is below a budget threshold; a number of services or channels with specified requirements for transmission reliability and/or data rate is below a threshold; a latency requirement is below a latency threshold; a throughput is below a throughput threshold; and a number of re-transmissions is lower than a re-transmission threshold.

47. The method of any of claims 39-46, further comprising: starting or re-starting a timer upon establishment or re-establishment of the backhaul link (16B) or of the sidelink (16S); and detecting expiration of the timer; wherein suspending the indirect path (16) comprises suspending the indirect path (16) upon detecting expiration of the timer.

48. The method of any of claims 39-47, further comprising: transmitting signaling to the communication network (10) indicating that the indirect path (16) has been or is to be suspended; and/or receiving signaling from the remote communication device (12A) commanding or requesting the relay communication device (12B) to suspend the sidelink (16S) carrying traffic for the indirect path (16).

49. The method of any of claims 39-48, further comprising, after suspending the indirect path (16), resuming the indirect path (16) according to: signaling received by the relay communication device (12B) indicating that the indirect path (16) is to be resumed; or a decision autonomously made by the relay communication device (12B) to resume the indirect path (16).

50. The method of claim 49, further comprising autonomously making the decision to resume the indirect path (16) based on one or more resumption criteria being met, wherein the one or more resumption criteria include one or more of: a volume of data transmitted or received is above a data volume threshold; a transmission reliability is above a reliability threshold; a packet delay budget is above a budget threshold; a number of services or channels with specified requirements for transmission reliability and/or data rate is above a threshold; a latency requirement is above a latency threshold; a throughput is above a throughput threshold; and a number of re-transmissions is higher than a re-transmission threshold.

51. The method of any of claims 39-50, further comprising releasing the suspended indirect path (16) according to: signaling received by the relay communication device (12B) indicating that the indirect path (16) is to be released; or a decision autonomously made by the relay communication device (12B) to release the indirect path (16).

52. The method of claim 51 , further comprising autonomously making the decision to release the indirect path (16) based on the one or more release criteria being met with respect to the indirect path (16), wherein the one or more release criteria include one or more of: no data being transmitted or received; no services or channels having specified requirements for transmission reliability; and no services or channels having specified requirements for data rate.

53. A remote communication device (12A) configured for use in a communication network (10), the remote communication device (12A) configured to: establish an indirect path (16) to the communication network (10) via a relay communication device (12B); and suspend the indirect path (16).

54. The remote communication device (12A) of claim 53, configured to perform the method of any of claims 2-19.

55. A radio network node (14) configured for use in a communication network (10), the radio network node (14) configured to: establish an indirect path (16) to a remote communication device (12A) via a relay communication device (12B); and suspend the indirect path (16).

56. The radio network node (14) of claim 55, configured to perform the method of any of claims 21-38.

57. A relay communication device (12B) configured for use in a communication network (10), the relay communication device (12B) configured to: establish an indirect path (16) between a remote communication device (12A) and the communication network (10) by establishing a backhaul link (16B) with the communication network (10) and by establishing a sidelink (16S) between the relay communication device (12B) and the remote communication device (12A), wherein the sidelink (16S) and the backhaul link (16B) are mapped to the indirect path (16); and suspend the indirect path (16) by suspending the sidelink (16S) and/or the backhaul link (16B).

58. The relay communication device (12B) of claim 57, configured to perform the method of any of claims 40-52.

59. A computer program comprising instructions which, when executed by at least one processor of a remote communication device (12A), causes the remote communication device (12A) to perform the method of any of claims 1-19.

60. A computer program comprising instructions which, when executed by at least one processor of a radio network node (14), causes the radio network node (14) to perform the method of any of claims 20-38.

61. A computer program comprising instructions which, when executed by at least one processor of a relay communication device (12B), causes the relay communication device (12B) to perform the method of any of claims 39-52.

62. A carrier containing the computer program of any of claims 59-61 , wherein the carrier is one of an electronic signal, optical signal, radio signal, or computer readable storage medium.

63. A remote communication device (12A) configured for use in a communication network (10), the remote communication device (12A) comprising: communication circuitry (1120); and processing circuitry (1110) configured to: establish an indirect path (16) to the communication network (10) via a relay communication device (12B); and suspend the indirect path (16).

64. The remote communication device (12A) of claim 63, the processing circuitry (1110) configured to perform the method of any of claims 2-19.

65. A radio network node (14) configured for use in a communication network (10), the radio network node (14) comprising: communication circuitry (1320); and processing circuitry (1310) configured to: establish an indirect path (16) to a remote communication device (12A) via a relay communication device (12B); and suspend the indirect path (16).

66. The radio network node (14) of claim 65, the processing circuitry (1310) configured to perform the method of any of claims 21-38.

67. A relay communication device (12B) configured for use in a communication network (10), the relay communication device (12B) comprising: communication circuitry (1220); and processing circuitry (1210) configured to: establish an indirect path (16) between a remote communication device (12A) and the communication network (10) by establishing a backhaul link (16B) with the communication network (10) and by establishing a sidelink (16S) between the relay communication device (12B) and the remote communication device (12A), wherein the sidelink (16S) and the backhaul link (16B) are mapped to the indirect path (16); and suspend the indirect path (16) by suspending the sidelink (16S) and/or the backhaul link (16B).

68. The relay communication device (12B) of claim 67, the processing circuitry (1210) configured to perform the method of any of claims 40-52.