CN116897592A - Multiple application identification using layer 3 relay - Google Patents

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to methods and apparatus for supporting multiple application IDs on a single unicast link using layer 3 relay. Methods and apparatus are provided for operation by a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU). In an embodiment, a method may include any of the following steps: receiving a first request message to establish direct communication with a peer WTRU, the request message including an indication of first user information of the peer WTRU, the first user information being associated with a first application and/or a first application identity; transmitting information indicating a first Internet Protocol (IP) address to the peer WTRU; receiving a second request message associating a second application with the direct communication; transmitting a second response message including a second IP address; and transmitting, with the peer WTRU, data related to the first application using the first IP address and data related to the second application using the second IP address using the direct communication.

Description

Multiple application identification using layer 3 relay

Cross Reference to Related Applications

The present application claims the benefits of (i) U.S. provisional patent application No. 63/150,275 filed on day 2, month 17 of 2021 and (ii) U.S. provisional patent application No. 63/253,804 filed on day 10, month 8 of 2021, each of which are incorporated herein by reference.

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates generally to the field of communications, software, and coding, including, for example, methods, architectures, devices, systems that support multiple application IDs on a single unicast link using layer 3 relay.

Background

The 5G proximity service (ProSe) allows Wireless Transmit Receive Units (WTRUs) in a wireless network to act as relays for other WTRUs to transmit data (and/or control information) between nodes of the network. However, the current procedure for WTRU-to-WTRU relay in 5G is inefficient.

Drawings

A more detailed understanding can be obtained from the following detailed description, which is given by way of example in connection with the accompanying drawings. As with the detailed description, the drawings in such figures are exemplary. Accordingly, the drawings and detailed description are not to be regarded as limiting, and other equally effective examples are possible and contemplated. Additionally, like reference numerals ("ref") in the drawings ("figures") refer to like elements, and wherein:

FIG. 1A is a system diagram illustrating an exemplary communication system in which one or more disclosed embodiments may be implemented;

fig. 1B is a system diagram illustrating an exemplary wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) that may be used within the communication system shown in fig. 1A, according to one embodiment;

Fig. 1C is a system diagram illustrating an exemplary Radio Access Network (RAN) and an exemplary Core Network (CN) that may be used within the communication system shown in fig. 1A, according to one embodiment;

fig. 1D is a system diagram illustrating another exemplary RAN and another exemplary CN that may be used within the communication system shown in fig. 1A, according to one embodiment; and is also provided with

Fig. 2 is a signal flow diagram illustrating WTRU-to-WTRU relay specified in 3GPP technical report 23.752v1.0.0;

figure 3 is a signal flow diagram illustrating the addition of support for new applications to an existing PC5 unicast link using WTRU-to-WTRU relay in accordance with an embodiment;

fig. 4 is a signal flow diagram illustrating the removal of support for an application from a PC5 unicast link using WTRU-to-WTRU relay in accordance with an embodiment; and is also provided with

Figure 5 is a signal flow diagram illustrating the use of a new application at another WTRU via an existing PC5 unicast link established with a particular relay according to an embodiment.

Figure 6 is a flow chart illustrating a representative method implemented by a WTRU of adding support for new applications to direct communication between the WTRU and a peer WTRU.

Fig. 7 is a flow chart illustrating a representative method implemented by a relay WTRU for relaying communications between a first other WTRU and a second other WTRU.

Detailed Description

1. Introduction to the invention

In the following detailed description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments and/or examples disclosed herein. However, it should be understood that such embodiments and examples may be practiced without some or all of the specific details set forth herein. In other instances, well-known methods, procedures, components, and circuits have not been described in detail so as not to obscure the description below. Furthermore, embodiments and examples not specifically described herein may be practiced in place of or in combination with embodiments and other examples that are explicitly, implicitly, and/or inherently described, disclosed, or otherwise provided (collectively, "provided"). Although various embodiments are described and/or claimed herein, wherein an apparatus, system, device, etc., and/or any element thereof, performs an operation, procedure, algorithm, function, etc., and/or any portion thereof, it is to be understood that any embodiment described and/or claimed herein assumes that any apparatus, system, device, etc., and/or any element thereof, is configured to perform any operation, procedure, algorithm, function, etc., and/or any portion thereof.

2. Exemplary communication System

The methods, apparatus and systems provided herein are well suited for communications involving both wired and wireless networks. An overview of various types of wireless devices and infrastructure is provided with respect to fig. 1A-1D, wherein various elements of a network may utilize, perform, adapt and/or configure the methods, apparatuses and systems provided herein, according to and/or with respect to the methods, apparatuses and systems provided herein.

Fig. 1A is a system diagram illustrating an exemplary communication system 100 in which one or more disclosed embodiments may be implemented. Communication system 100 may be a multiple-access system that provides content, such as voice, data, video, messages, broadcasts, etc., to a plurality of wireless users. Communication system 100 may enable multiple wireless users to access such content through the sharing of system resources, including wireless bandwidth. For example, communication system 100 may employ one or more channel access methods, such as Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA), single carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA), zero Tail (ZT) Unique Word (UW) Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) spread OFDM (ZT UW DTS-s OFDM), unique word OFDM (UW-OFDM), resource block filtered OFDM, filter Bank Multicarrier (FBMC), and the like.

As shown in fig. 1A, the communication system 100 may include wireless transmit/receive units (WTRUs) 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d, radio Access Networks (RANs) 104/113, core Networks (CNs) 106/115, public Switched Telephone Networks (PSTN) 108, the internet 110, and other networks 112, although it should be understood that the disclosed embodiments contemplate any number of WTRUs, base stations, networks, and/or network elements. Each of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d may be any type of device configured to operate and/or communicate in a wireless environment. As an example, the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d (any of which may be referred to as a "station" and/or a "STA") may be configured to transmit and/or receive wireless signals and may include (or may be) User Equipment (UE), mobile stations, fixed or mobile subscriber units, subscription-based units, pagers, cellular telephones, personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), smartphones, laptop computers, netbooks, personal computers, wireless sensors, hotspots or Mi-Fi devices, internet of things (IoT) devices, watches or other wearable devices, head-mounted displays (HMDs), vehicles, drones, medical devices and applications (e.g., tele-surgery), industrial devices and applications (e.g., robots and/or other wireless devices operating in an industrial and/or automated processing chain environment), consumer electronics devices, devices operating on a commercial and/or industrial wireless network, and the like. Any of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, and 102d may be interchangeably referred to as a UE.

Communication system 100 may also include base station 114a and/or base station 114b. Each of the base stations 114a, 114b may be any type of device configured to wirelessly interface with at least one of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d, for example, to facilitate access to one or more communication networks, such as the CN 106/115, the internet 110, and/or the network 112. As an example, the base stations 114a, 114B may be any of a Base Transceiver Station (BTS), a Node B (NB), an evolved node B (eNB), a Home Node B (HNB), a home evolved node B (HeNB), a g node B (gNB), an NR node B (NR NB), a site controller, an Access Point (AP), a wireless router, and the like. Although the base stations 114a, 114b are each depicted as a single element, it should be appreciated that the base stations 114a, 114b may include any number of interconnected base stations and/or network elements.

Base station 114a may be part of RAN 104/113 that may also include other base stations and/or network elements (not shown), such as Base Station Controllers (BSCs), radio Network Controllers (RNCs), relay nodes, and the like. Base station 114a and/or base station 114b may be configured to transmit and/or receive wireless signals on one or more carrier frequencies, which may be referred to as cells (not shown). These frequencies may be in a licensed spectrum, an unlicensed spectrum, or a combination of licensed and unlicensed spectrum. A cell may provide coverage of wireless services to a particular geographic area, which may be relatively fixed or may change over time. The cell may be further divided into cell sectors. For example, a cell associated with base station 114a may be divided into three sectors. Thus, in an embodiment, the base station 114a may include three transceivers, i.e., one for each sector of a cell. In an embodiment, the base station 114a may employ multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technology and may utilize multiple transceivers for each or any sector of a cell. For example, beamforming may be used to transmit and/or receive signals in a desired spatial direction.

The base stations 114a, 114b may communicate with one or more of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d over an air interface 116, which may be any suitable wireless communication link (e.g., radio Frequency (RF), microwave, centimeter wave, millimeter wave, infrared (IR), ultraviolet (UV), visible light, etc.). The air interface 116 may be established using any suitable Radio Access Technology (RAT).

More specifically, as noted above, communication system 100 may be a multiple access system and may employ one or more channel access schemes, such as CDMA, TDMA, FDMA, OFDMA, SC-FDMA, or the like. For example, a base station 114a in the RAN 104/113 and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement a radio technology such as Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) terrestrial radio access (UTRA), which may use Wideband CDMA (WCDMA) to establish the air interface 116.WCDMA may include communication protocols such as High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) and/or evolved HSPA (hspa+). HSPA may include High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) and/or High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA).

In an embodiment, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement a radio technology such as evolved UMTS terrestrial radio access (E-UTRA), which may use Long Term Evolution (LTE) and/or LTE-advanced (LTE-a) and/or LTE-advanced Pro (LTE-a Pro) to establish the air interface 116.

In an embodiment, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement a radio technology such as NR radio access that may use a new air interface (NR) to establish the air interface 116.

In embodiments, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement multiple radio access technologies. For example, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement LTE radio access and NR radio access together, e.g., using a Dual Connectivity (DC) principle. Thus, the air interface utilized by the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may be characterized by multiple types of radio access technologies and/or transmissions sent to/from multiple types of base stations (e.g., enbs and gnbs).

In an embodiment, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement radio technologies such as IEEE 802.11 (i.e., wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi)), IEEE 802.16 (i.e., worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX)), CDMA2000 1X, CDMA EV-DO, tentative standard 2000 (IS-2000), tentative standard 95 (IS-95), tentative standard 856 (IS-856), global system for mobile communications (GSM), enhanced data rates for GSM evolution (EDGE), GSM EDGE (GERAN), and the like.

The base station 114B in fig. 1A may be, for example, a wireless router, home node B, home evolved node B, or access point, and may utilize any suitable RAT to facilitate wireless connections in local areas such as businesses, homes, vehicles, campuses, industrial facilities, air corridors (e.g., for use by drones), roads, and the like. In an embodiment, the base station 114b and the WTRUs 102c, 102d may implement a radio technology such as IEEE 802.11 to establish a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN). In an embodiment, the base station 114b and the WTRUs 102c, 102d may implement a radio technology such as IEEE 802.15 to establish a Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN). In an embodiment, the base station 114b and the WTRUs 102c, 102d may utilize a cellular-based RAT (e.g., WCDMA, CDMA2000, GSM, LTE, LTE-A, LTE-a Pro, NR, etc.) to establish any of a micro-cell, pico-cell, or femto-cell. As shown in fig. 1A, the base station 114b may be directly connected to the internet 110. Thus, the base station 114b may not need to access the Internet 110 via the CN 106/115.

The RANs 104/113 may communicate with the CNs 106/115, which may be any type of network configured to provide voice, data, application, and/or voice over internet protocol (VoIP) services to one or more of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102 d. The data may have different quality of service (QoS) requirements, such as different throughput requirements, delay requirements, error tolerance requirements, reliability requirements, data throughput requirements, mobility requirements, and the like. The CN 106/115 may provide call control, billing services, mobile location based services, prepaid calls, internet connections, video distribution, etc., and/or perform advanced security functions such as user authentication. Although not shown in fig. 1A, it should be appreciated that the RANs 104/113 and/or CNs 106/115 may communicate directly or indirectly with other RANs that employ the same RAT as the RANs 104/113 or a different RAT. For example, in addition to being connected to the RAN 104/113 that may utilize NR radio technologies, the CN 106/115 may also communicate with another RAN (not shown) employing any of GSM, UMTS, CDMA, wiMAX, E-UTRA, or Wi-Fi radio technologies.

The CN 106/115 may also act as a gateway for the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d to access the PSTN 108, the Internet 110, and/or other networks 112.PSTN 108 may include circuit-switched telephone networks that provide Plain Old Telephone Services (POTS). The internet 110 may include a global system for interconnecting computer networks and devices using common communication protocols, such as Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), user Datagram Protocol (UDP), and/or Internet Protocol (IP) in the TCP/IP internet protocol suite. Network 112 may include wired and/or wireless communication networks owned and/or operated by other service providers. For example, network 112 may include another CN connected to one or more RANs, which may employ the same RAT as RAN 104/114 or a different RAT.

Some or all of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d in the communication system 100 may include multi-mode capabilities (e.g., the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d may include multiple transceivers for communicating with different wireless networks over different wireless links). For example, the WTRU 102c shown in fig. 1A may be configured to communicate with a base station 114a, which may employ a cellular-based radio technology, and with a base station 114b, which may employ an IEEE 802 radio technology.

Fig. 1B is a system diagram illustrating an exemplary WTRU 102. As shown in fig. 1B, the WTRU 102 may include a processor 118, a transceiver 120, a transmit/receive element 122, a speaker/microphone 124, a keypad 126, a display/touchpad 128, non-removable memory 130, removable memory 132, a power source 134, a Global Positioning System (GPS) chipset 136, and/or other elements/peripherals 138, etc. It should be appreciated that the WTRU 102 may include any sub-combination of the foregoing elements while remaining consistent with an embodiment.

The processor 118 may be a general purpose processor, a special purpose processor, a conventional processor, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in association with a DSP core, a controller, a microcontroller, application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) circuits, any other type of Integrated Circuit (IC), a state machine, or the like. The processor 118 may perform signal coding, data processing, power control, input/output processing, and/or any other functions that enable the WTRU 102 to operate in a wireless environment. The processor 118 may be coupled to a transceiver 120, which may be coupled to a transmit/receive element 122. Although fig. 1B depicts the processor 118 and the transceiver 120 as separate components, it should be understood that the processor 118 and the transceiver 120 may be integrated together, for example, in an electronic package or chip.

The transmit/receive element 122 may be configured to transmit signals to and receive signals from a base station (e.g., base station 114 a) over the air interface 116. For example, in one embodiment, the transmit/receive element 122 may be an antenna configured to transmit and/or receive RF signals. In one embodiment, the transmit/receive element 122 may be an emitter/detector configured to emit and/or receive, for example, IR, UV, or visible light signals. In an embodiment, the transmit/receive element 122 may be configured to transmit and/or receive both RF signals and optical signals. It should be appreciated that the transmit/receive element 122 may be configured to transmit and/or receive any combination of wireless signals.

Although the transmit/receive element 122 is depicted as a single element in fig. 1B, the WTRU 102 may include any number of transmit/receive elements 122. For example, the WTRU 102 may employ MIMO technology. Thus, in an embodiment, the WTRU 102 may include two or more transmit/receive elements 122 (e.g., multiple antennas) for transmitting and receiving wireless signals over the air interface 116.

The transceiver 120 may be configured to modulate signals to be transmitted by the transmit/receive element 122 and demodulate signals received by the transmit/receive element 122. As noted above, the WTRU 102 may have multi-mode capabilities. For example, therefore, the transceiver 120 may include multiple transceivers to enable the WTRU 102 to communicate via multiple RATs (such as NR and IEEE 802.11).

The processor 118 of the WTRU 102 may be coupled to and may receive user input data from a speaker/microphone 124, a keypad 126, and/or a display/touchpad 128, such as a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) display unit or an Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) display unit. The processor 118 may also output user data to the speaker/microphone 124, the keypad 126, and/or the display/touchpad 128. Further, the processor 118 may access information from and store data in any type of suitable memory, such as the non-removable memory 130 and/or the removable memory 132. The non-removable memory 130 may include Random Access Memory (RAM), read Only Memory (ROM), a hard disk, or any other type of memory storage device. Removable memory 132 may include a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card, a memory stick, a Secure Digital (SD) memory card, and the like. In other embodiments, the processor 118 may never physically locate memory access information on the WTRU 102, such as on a server or home computer (not shown), and store the data in that memory.

The processor 118 may receive power from the power source 134 and may be configured to distribute and/or control power to other components in the WTRU 102. The power source 134 may be any suitable device for powering the WTRU 102. For example, the power source 134 may include one or more dry battery packs (e.g., nickel cadmium (NiCd), nickel zinc (NiZn), nickel metal hydride (NiMH), lithium ion (Li-ion), etc.), solar cells, fuel cells, and the like.

The processor 118 may also be coupled to a GPS chipset 136, which may be configured to provide location information (e.g., longitude and latitude) regarding the current location of the WTRU 102. In addition to or in lieu of information from the GPS chipset 136, the WTRU 102 may receive location information from base stations (e.g., base stations 114a, 114 b) over the air interface 116 and/or determine its location based on the timing of signals received from two or more nearby base stations. It should be appreciated that the WTRU 102 may obtain location information by any suitable location determination method while remaining consistent with an embodiment.

The processor 118 may also be coupled to other elements/peripherals 138 that may include one or more software modules/units and/or hardware modules/units that provide additional features, functionality, and/or wired or wireless connections. For example, the elements/peripherals 138 may include an accelerometer, an electronic compass, a satellite transceiver, a digital camera (e.g., for photos and/or videos), universal Serial Bus (USB) port, vibration device, television transceiver, hands-free headset,Modules, frequency Modulation (FM) radio units, digital music players, media players, video game player modules, internet browsers, virtual reality and/or augmented reality (VR/AR) devices, activity trackers, and the like. The element/peripheral 138 may include one or more sensors, which may be one or more of the following: tourbillon A screw meter, an accelerometer, a Hall effect sensor, a magnetometer, an azimuth sensor, a proximity sensor, a temperature sensor, a time sensor; a geographic position sensor; altimeters, light sensors, touch sensors, magnetometers, barometers, gesture sensors, biometric sensors, and/or humidity sensors.

WTRU 102 may include a full duplex radio for which transmission and reception of some or all signals (e.g., associated with a particular subframe for both uplink (e.g., for transmission) and downlink (e.g., for reception)) may be concurrent and/or simultaneous. The full duplex radio station may include an interference management unit for reducing and/or substantially eliminating self-interference via hardware (e.g., choke) or via signal processing by a processor (e.g., a separate processor (not shown) or via processor 118). In an embodiment, the WTRU 102 may include a half-duplex radio for which transmission and reception of some or all signals (e.g., associated with a particular subframe for uplink (e.g., for transmission) or downlink (e.g., for reception)).

Fig. 1C is a system diagram illustrating a RAN 104 and a CN 106 according to an embodiment. As noted above, the RAN 104 may communicate with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, and 102c over the air interface 116 using an E-UTRA radio technology. RAN 104 may also communicate with CN 106.

RAN 104 may include enode bs 160a, 160B, 160c, but it should be understood that RAN 104 may include any number of enode bs while remaining consistent with an embodiment. The enode bs 160a, 160B, 160c may each include one or more transceivers to communicate with the WTRUs 102a, 102B, 102c over the air interface 116. In one embodiment, the evolved node bs 160a, 160B, 160c may implement MIMO technology. Thus, the enode B160a may use multiple antennas to transmit wireless signals to and receive wireless signals from the WTRU 102a, for example.

Each of the evolved node bs 160a, 160B, and 160c may be associated with a particular cell (not shown) and may be configured to process radio resource management decisions, handover decisions, user scheduling in the Uplink (UL) and/or Downlink (DL), and so on. As shown in fig. 1C, the enode bs 160a, 160B, 160C may communicate with each other over an X2 interface.

The CN 106 shown in fig. 1C may include a Mobility Management Entity (MME) 162, a Serving Gateway (SGW) 164, and a Packet Data Network (PDN) gateway (PGW) 166. Although each of the foregoing elements are depicted as part of the CN 106, it should be understood that any of these elements may be owned and/or operated by an entity other than the CN operator.

MME 162 may be connected to each of evolved node bs 160a, 160B, and 160c in RAN 104 via an S1 interface and may function as a control node. For example, the MME 162 may be responsible for authenticating the user of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, bearer activation/deactivation, selecting a particular serving gateway during initial attach of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, and the like. MME 162 may provide control plane functionality for switching between RAN 104 and other RANs (not shown) employing other radio technologies such as GSM and/or WCDMA.

SGW 164 may be connected to each of the evolved node bs 160a, 160B, 160c in RAN 104 via an S1 interface. The SGW 164 may generally route and forward user data packets to/from the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102 c. The SGW 164 may perform other functions such as anchoring user planes during inter-enode B handover, triggering paging when DL data is available to the WTRUs 102a, 102B, 102c, managing and storing the contexts of the WTRUs 102a, 102B, 102c, etc.

The SGW 164 may be connected to a PGW 166 that may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to a packet switched network, such as the internet 110, to facilitate communications between the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c and IP-enabled devices.

The CN 106 may facilitate communications with other networks. For example, the CN 106 may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to a circuit-switched network (such as the PSTN 108) to facilitate communications between the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c and legacy landline communication devices. For example, the CN 106 may include or may communicate with an IP gateway (e.g., an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) server) that serves as an interface between the CN 106 and the PSTN 108. In addition, the CN 106 may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to other networks 112, which may include other wired and/or wireless networks owned and/or operated by other service providers.

Although the WTRU is depicted in fig. 1A-1D as a wireless terminal, it is contemplated that in some representative embodiments such a terminal may use a wired communication interface with a communication network (e.g., temporarily or permanently).

In representative embodiments, the other network 112 may be a WLAN.

A WLAN in an infrastructure Basic Service Set (BSS) mode may have an Access Point (AP) for the BSS and one or more Stations (STAs) associated with the AP. The AP may have access or interface to a Distribution System (DS) or another type of wired/wireless network that carries traffic to and/or from the BSS. Traffic originating outside the BSS and directed to the STA may arrive through the AP and may be delivered to the STA. Traffic originating from the STA and leading to a destination outside the BSS may be sent to the AP to be delivered to the respective destination. Traffic between STAs within the BSS may be sent through the AP, for example, where the source STA may send traffic to the AP and the AP may pass the traffic to the destination STA. Traffic between STAs within a BSS may be considered and/or referred to as point-to-point traffic. Point-to-point traffic may be sent between (e.g., directly between) the source and destination STAs using Direct Link Setup (DLS). In certain representative embodiments, the DLS may use 802.11e DLS or 802.11z Tunnel DLS (TDLS). A WLAN using an Independent BSS (IBSS) mode may not have an AP, and STAs (e.g., all STAs) within or using the IBSS may communicate directly with each other. The IBSS communication mode may sometimes be referred to herein as an "ad-hoc" communication mode.

When using the 802.11ac infrastructure mode of operation or similar modes of operation, the AP may transmit beacons on a fixed channel, such as a primary channel. The primary channel may be a fixed width (e.g., 20MHz wide bandwidth) or a width dynamically set by signaling. The primary channel may be an operating channel of the BSS and may be used by STAs to establish a connection with the AP. In certain representative embodiments, carrier sense multiple access/collision avoidance (CSMA/CA) may be implemented, for example, in an 802.11 system. For CSMA/CA, STAs (e.g., each STA), including the AP, may listen to the primary channel. If the primary channel is listened to/detected by a particular STA and/or determined to be busy, the particular STA may backoff. One STA (e.g., only one station) may transmit at any given time in a given BSS.

High Throughput (HT) STAs may communicate using 40MHz wide channels, for example, via a combination of a primary 20MHz channel with an adjacent or non-adjacent 20MHz channel to form a 40MHz wide channel.

Very High Throughput (VHT) STAs may support channels that are 20MHz, 40MHz, 80MHz, and/or 160MHz wide. 40MHz and/or 80MHz channels may be formed by combining consecutive 20MHz channels. The 160MHz channel may be formed by combining 8 consecutive 20MHz channels, or by combining two non-consecutive 80MHz channels (this may be referred to as an 80+80 configuration). For the 80+80 configuration, after channel coding, the data may pass through a segment parser that may split the data into two streams. An Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) process and a time domain process may be performed on each stream separately. These streams may be mapped to two 80MHz channels and data may be transmitted by the transmitting STA. At the receiver of the receiving STA, the operations described above for the 80+80 configuration may be reversed, and the combined data may be sent to a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer, entity, or the like.

The 802.11af and 802.11ah support modes of operation below 1 GHz. Channel operating bandwidth and carrier are reduced in 802.11af and 802.11ah relative to those used in 802.11n and 802.11 ac. The 802.11af supports 5MHz, 10MHz, and 20MHz bandwidths in the television white space (TVWS) spectrum, and the 802.11ah supports 1MHz, 2MHz, 4MHz, 8MHz, and 16MHz bandwidths using non-TVWS spectrum. According to representative embodiments, 802.11ah may support meter type control/Machine Type Communication (MTC), such as MTC devices in macro coverage areas. MTC devices may have certain capabilities, such as limited capabilities, including supporting (e.g., supporting only) certain bandwidths and/or limited bandwidths. MTC devices may include batteries with battery lives above a threshold (e.g., to maintain very long battery lives).

WLAN systems that can support multiple channels, and channel bandwidths such as 802.11n, 802.11ac, 802.11af, and 802.11ah, include channels that can be designated as primary channels. The primary channel may have a bandwidth equal to the maximum common operating bandwidth supported by all STAs in the BSS. The bandwidth of the primary channel may be set and/or limited by STAs from all STAs operating in the BSS (which support a minimum bandwidth mode of operation). In the example of 802.11ah, for STAs (e.g., MTC-type devices) that support (e.g., only) 1MHz mode, the primary channel may be 1MHz wide, even though the AP and other STAs in the BSS support 2MHz, 4MHz, 8MHz, 16MHz, and/or other channel bandwidth modes of operation. The carrier sense and/or Network Allocation Vector (NAV) settings may depend on the state of the primary channel. If the primary channel is busy, for example, because the STA (supporting only 1MHz mode of operation) is transmitting to the AP, the entire available frequency band may be considered busy even though most of the frequency band remains idle and possibly available.

The available frequency band for 802.11ah in the united states is 902MHz to 928MHz. In korea, the available frequency band is 917.5MHz to 923.5MHz. In Japan, the available frequency band is 916.5MHz to 927.5MHz. The total bandwidth available for 802.11ah is 6MHz to 26MHz, depending on the country code.

Fig. 1D is a system diagram illustrating a RAN 113 and a CN 115 according to an embodiment. As noted above, RAN 113 may employ NR radio technology to communicate with WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c over an air interface 116. RAN 113 may also communicate with CN 115.

RAN 113 may include gnbs 180a, 180b, 180c, although it will be appreciated that RAN 113 may include any number of gnbs while remaining consistent with an embodiment. Each of the gnbs 180a, 180b, 180c may include one or more transceivers to communicate with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c over the air interface 116. In an embodiment, the gnbs 180a, 180b, 180c may implement MIMO technology. For example, the gnbs 180a, 180b may utilize beamforming to transmit signals to and/or receive signals from the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102 c. Thus, the gNB180a may use multiple antennas to transmit wireless signals to the WTRU 102a and/or receive wireless signals from the WTRU 102a, for example. In an embodiment, the gnbs 180a, 180b, 180c may implement carrier aggregation techniques. For example, the gNB180a may transmit multiple component carriers to the WTRU 102a (not shown). A subset of these component carriers may be on the unlicensed spectrum while the remaining component carriers may be on the licensed spectrum. In embodiments, the gnbs 180a, 180b, 180c may implement coordinated multipoint (CoMP) techniques. For example, WTRU 102a may receive coordinated transmissions from gNB180a and gNB180 b (and/or gNB180 c).

The WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may communicate with the gnbs 180a, 180b, 180c using transmissions associated with the scalable parameter sets. For example, the OFDM symbol interval and/or OFDM subcarrier interval may vary from transmission to transmission, from cell to cell, and/or from part of the wireless transmission spectrum. The WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may communicate with the gnbs 180a, 180b, 180c using various or scalable length subframes or Transmission Time Intervals (TTIs) (e.g., including different numbers of OFDM symbols and/or continuously varying absolute time lengths).

The gnbs 180a, 180b, 180c may be configured to communicate with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c in an independent configuration and/or in a non-independent configuration. In a standalone configuration, the WTRUs 102a, 102B, 102c may communicate with the gnbs 180a, 180B, 180c while also not accessing other RANs (e.g., such as the enode bs 160a, 160B, 160 c). In an independent configuration, the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may use one or more of the gnbs 180a, 180b, 180c as mobility anchor points. In an independent configuration, the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may use signals in unlicensed frequency bands to communicate with the gnbs 180a, 180b, 180 c. In a non-standalone configuration, the WTRUs 102a, 102B, 102c may communicate or connect with the gnbs 180a, 180B, 180c, while also communicating or connecting with other RANs (such as the enode bs 160a, 160B, 160 c). For example, the WTRUs 102a, 102B, 102c may implement DC principles to communicate with one or more gnbs 180a, 180B, 180c and one or more enodebs 160a, 160B, 160c substantially simultaneously. In a non-standalone configuration, the enode bs 160a, 160B, 160c may serve as mobility anchors for the WTRUs 102a, 102B, 102c, and the gnbs 180a, 180B, 180c may provide additional coverage and/or throughput for serving the WTRUs 102a, 102B, 102 c.

Each of the gnbs 180a, 180b, 180c may be associated with a particular cell (not shown) and may be configured to handle radio resource management decisions, handover decisions, scheduling of users in UL and/or DL, support of network slices, dual connectivity, interworking between NR and E-UTRA, routing of user plane data towards User Plane Functions (UPFs) 184a, 184b, routing of control plane information towards access and mobility management functions (AMFs) 182a, 182b, and so on. As shown in fig. 1D, gnbs 180a, 180b, 180c may communicate with each other through an Xn interface.

The CN 115 shown in fig. 1D may include at least one AMF 182a, 182b, at least one UPF 184a, 184b, at least one Session Management Function (SMF) 183a, 183b, and at least one Data Network (DN) 185a, 185b. While each of the foregoing elements are depicted as part of the CN 115, it should be understood that any of these elements may be owned and/or operated by an entity other than the CN operator.

AMFs 182a, 182b may be connected to one or more of gNB 180a, 180b, 180c in RAN 113 via an N2 interface and may function as a control node. For example, the AMFs 182a, 182b may be responsible for authenticating users of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, support for network slices (e.g., handling of different Protocol Data Unit (PDU) sessions with different requirements), selection of a particular SMF 183a, 183b, management of registration areas, termination of NAS signaling, mobility management, and so on. The AMFs 182a, 182b may use network slices to customize CN support for the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, e.g., based on the type of service used by the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102 c. For example, different network slices may be established for different use cases, such as services relying on ultra high reliability low latency (URLLC) access, services relying on enhanced large-scale mobile broadband (eMBB) access, services for MTC access, etc. AMF 162 may provide control plane functionality for switching between RAN 113 and other RANs (not shown) employing other radio technologies, such as LTE, LTE-A, LTE-a Pro, and/or non-3 GPP access technologies, such as Wi-Fi.

The SMFs 183a, 183b may be connected to AMFs 182a, 182b in the CN 115 via an N11 interface. The SMFs 183a, 183b may also be connected to UPFs 184a, 184b in the CN 115 via an N4 interface. SMFs 183a, 183b may select and control UPFs 184a, 184b and configure traffic routing through UPFs 184a, 184b. The SMFs 183a, 183b may perform other functions such as managing and assigning UE IP addresses, managing PDU sessions, controlling policy enforcement and QoS, providing downlink data notifications, etc. The PDU session type may be IP-based, non-IP-based, ethernet-based, etc.

UPFs 184a, 184b may be connected to one or more of the gnbs 180a, 180b, 180c in the RAN 113 via an N3 interface, which may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to a packet-switched network, such as the internet 110, for example, to facilitate communications between the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c and IP-enabled devices. UPFs 184, 184b may perform other functions such as routing and forwarding packets, enforcing user plane policies, supporting multi-host PDU sessions, handling user plane QoS, buffering downlink packets, providing mobility anchoring, and the like.

The CN 115 may facilitate communications with other networks. For example, the CN 115 may include or may communicate with an IP gateway (e.g., an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) server) that serves as an interface between the CN 115 and the PSTN 108. In addition, the CN 115 may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to other networks 112, which may include other wired and/or wireless networks owned and/or operated by other service providers. In embodiments, WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may connect to local Data Networks (DNs) 185a, 185b through UPFs 184a, 184b via an N3 interface to UPFs 184a, 184b and an N6 interface between UPFs 184a, 184b and DNs 185a, 185b.

In view of fig. 1A-1D and the corresponding descriptions of fig. 1A-1D, one or more or all of the functions described herein with reference to any one of the following may be performed by one or more emulation elements/devices (not shown): the WTRUs 102a-102d, base stations 114a-114B, eNodeBs 160a-160c, MME 162, SGW 164, PGW 166, gNB 180a-180c, AMFs 182a-182B, UPFs 184a-184B, SMFs 183a-183B, DNs 185a-185B, and/or any other elements/devices described herein. The emulated device may be one or more devices configured to emulate one or more or all of the functions described herein. For example, the emulation device may be used to test other devices and/or analog network and/or WTRU functions.

The simulation device may be designed to enable one or more tests of other devices in a laboratory environment and/or an operator network environment. For example, the one or more emulation devices can perform one or more or all of the functions while being fully or partially implemented and/or deployed as part of a wired and/or wireless communication network in order to test other devices within the communication network. The one or more emulation devices can perform one or more functions or all functions while being temporarily implemented/deployed as part of a wired and/or wireless communication network. The emulation device may be directly coupled to another device for testing purposes and/or may perform testing using over-the-air wireless communications.

The one or more emulation devices can perform one or more (including all) functions while not being implemented/deployed as part of a wired and/or wireless communication network. For example, the simulation device may be used in a test laboratory and/or a test scenario in a non-deployed (e.g., test) wired and/or wireless communication network in order to enable testing of one or more components. The one or more simulation devices may be test equipment. Direct RF coupling and/or wireless communication via RF circuitry (e.g., which may include one or more antennas) may be used by the emulation device to transmit and/or receive data.

IP routing in prose WTRU-to-WTRU relay-release 17

The WTRU-to-WTRU relay solution based on IP routing as shown in fig. 2 (re-load from TR 23.752 v1.0.0) is described in detail in 3GPP technical report TR 23.752 v1.0.0 section 6.10.

Any WTRU that wants to utilize proximity services (ProSe) 5G WTRU-to-WTRU relay may (e.g., need) establish a unicast L2 link (e.g., a PC5 unicast link) with the WTRU-to-WTRU relay. If there are multiple ProSe 5G WTRU-to-WTRU relays in the vicinity, the WTRU may establish a PC5 unicast link with each relay. For example, if WTRU1 can reach five relays, it may establish 5 different PC5 unicast links, e.g., one PC5 unicast link per relay. WTRU1 may receive a different IP address/prefix for each PC5 unicast link.

As part of the unicast L2 link establishment procedure, proSe 5G WTRU-to-WTRU relay may assign an IP address/prefix to the WTRU, and may store the WTRU's user information and/or an association of the assigned IP address/prefix into its Domain Name System (DNS) entry. ProSe 5G WTRU-to-WTRU relay may act as DNS server.

If (e.g., when) (source) the WTRU wants (e.g., needs) to communicate with another (target) WTRU or wants (e.g., needs) to discover ProSe service via ProSe 5G WTRU-to-WTRU relay, it may send a DNS query for the target WTRU (e.g., based on target user information) or for ProSe service over a unicast link to ProSe 5G WTRU-to-WTRU relay, which may return the IP address/prefix (e.g., in DNS response) of the target WTRU or ProSe service.

The source WTRU may send IP data (or non-IP data encapsulated in IP) to the target WTRU, for example, via a unicast L2 link to a WTRU-to-WTRU relay, which may return the IP address/prefix of the target WTRU (e.g., DNS response). ProSe 5G WTRU-to-WTRU relay may act as an IP router and may forward packets to the corresponding unicast L2 link towards the target WTRU. Any of the unicast L2 links (e.g., each unicast L2 link) may be considered an IP interface.

If there are multiple ProSe 5G WTRU-to-WTRU relays in the vicinity, the source WTRU may select any one or more ProSe 5G WTRU-to-WTRU relays to establish the unicast L2 link based on the WTRU implementation. For example, the WTRU may send DNS queries to ProSe 5G WTRU-to-WTRU relays on each unicast L2 link. Then, for example, the source WTRU may choose to use the first ProSe 5G WTRU-to-WTRU relay that returns a positive DNS response for the target WTRU.

The layer 3 WTRU-to-WTRU relay solution in TR 23.751 v1.0.0 as described above may support registration of user information (or supported application IDs) of a WTRU with multiple relays. As is well known, the WTRU's user information may be specific to ProSe service (or application ID).

According to the layer 3 WTRU-to-WTRU relay solution described above, any (e.g., all) WTRUs wanting to use L3 relays may establish a PC5 unicast link and/or may register their user information (or supported ProSe services) with any (e.g., all) reachable relays and/or may obtain an IP address from any of these relays (e.g., each relay). For example, WTRU1 may establish a PC5 unicast link with relay 1 (obtain IP 1), relay 2 (obtain IP 2), relay 3 (obtain IP 3) for, for example, "WTRU1 user info_1" (or ProSe application id_1).

If WTRU1 wants to use ProSe application id_2, it may (e.g., needs to) establish a second PC5 unicast link with the same relay because the PC5 unicast link is for each application ID. In practice, the user information of WTRU1, e.g., specified on a Direct Communication Request (DCR) message, may be application ID specific. For example, if WTRU1 can reach ten relays and WTRU1 wants to support five application IDs, 50 unicast links may be established (e.g., needed) with 50 different IP addresses assigned to WTRU1 (e.g., five unicast links between WTRU1 and each relay and one IP address/prefix times ten relays per PC5 unicast link).

Having so many PC5 unicast links can be problematic because PC5 signaling can (e.g., needs) keep the unicast links active, e.g., can exchange keep-alives, can periodically perform link identifier update procedures, etc. The unicast link context information may be stored locally on the WTRU and in the relay and may consume memory and processing resources.

Thus, the current layer 3 WTRU-to-WTRU relay solutions currently described may not be reasonably scalable. Thus, it would be desirable to support multiple ProSe applications running on a WTRU via WTRU-to-WTRU relay without exhausting local resources and/or generating excessive PC5 signaling, so that support for multiple ProSe applications is more scalable from both relay and WTRU perspectives.

4. Special expression

In an embodiment, the terms source WTRU (S-WTRU) and target WTRU (T-WTRU) are used to identify peer WTRUs. In this specification, an S-WTRU may also be referred to as an originating WTRU or a peer WTRU. Also, a T-WTRU may be referred to as a responding WTRU, a target WTRU, or a peer WTRU. In addition, any WTRU may also be referred to as a WTRU or a wireless transmit/receive unit.

Further, WTRU-to-WTRU relay refers to a WTRU that acts as a relay between two peer WTRUs, and may be referred to simply as an R-WTRU, a relay WTRU, or a relay. Further, proSe application ID, proSe service are used interchangeably, and ProSe application layer ID of WTRU, proSe user information of WTRU, application layer ID of WTRU, and user information of WTRU are used interchangeably. The terms unicast link and direct communication are used interchangeably. Finally, whenever the term IP address is used, it may be replaced with an IP prefix.

5. Support for scalable WTRU-to-WTRU relay

5.1 overview

The following outlines a procedure for supporting multiple applications (e.g., user information and/or application IDs) on a single (e.g., PC 5) unicast link/direct communication with a relay.

In an embodiment, support for new application ID/user information is added. In particular, the S-WTRU may use a request message (e.g., a link modification request message) to add support for application IDs on existing (e.g., PC 5) unicast links/direct communications with the relay. The request message (e.g., a link modification request) may specify user information of the WTRU associated with the new application and/or the new application ID and a "required new IP address" indication. The S-WTRU may also indicate the specific policies (e.g., security, privacy, qoS) applicable to the added application.

The S-WTRU may send a request message (e.g., a link modification request message) to any (e.g., each) relay with which to establish (e.g., PC 5) a unicast link/direct communication to register its new user information and/or application ID.

The relay may receive the request message (e.g., a link modification request message) and may, for example, save the user information (and/or application ID) of the new WTRU locally (e.g., into a mapping table) in addition to the existing user information/application ID that may have been registered on the (e.g., PC 5) unicast link/direct communication. If a new IP address indication is specified (e.g., set to true), a new IP address may be assigned to the S-WTRU in addition to the existing IP address associated with the (e.g., PC 5) unicast link/direct communication, and the new IP address may be associated with the new registered user information and/or application ID.

The existing IP address associated with the (e.g., PC 5) unicast link/direct communication may be reused with new user information and/or application ID, e.g., if the desired new IP address indication is not specified (e.g., set to false). The security policy may be maintained and used to determine whether a security procedure (e.g., a direct link security mode procedure) may be (e.g., needs to) run (e.g., security enabled on the control plane and/or user plane if it has not been enabled).

The relay station may send a response message (e.g., a link modification accept message) back to the S-WTRU (e.g., to indicate acceptance of the request to modify (e.g., PC 5) the unicast link/direct communication), the response message including/containing the IP address associated with the user information and/or application ID of the newly registered S-WTRU.

When sending (e.g., PC 5) signaling messages or traffic related to a particular application over (e.g., PC 5) unicast link/direct communication, the S-WTRU may use the IP address associated with the application and (e.g., PC 5) unicast link/direct communication.

The T-WTRU may discover the IP address of the S-WTRU using a request (e.g., DNS query request) that is sent to the relay and specifies the user information and/or application ID of the S-WTRU associated with the required application ID.

The relay may reply to the T-WTRU by sending the S-WTRU' S IP address associated with the specified user information and/or application ID.

In alternative embodiments, a new (e.g., PC 5) signaling message may be introduced instead of using a modified request/response message (e.g., a link modification request/accept message).

It should be noted that the procedure of adding support for applications to an existing (e.g., PC 5) unicast link/direct communication (which is described herein as using WTRU-to-WTRU relay) may alternatively be used with a direct (e.g., PC 5) unicast link (e.g., a direct (e.g., PC 5) unicast link between two WTRUs without using relay).

5.2 details of scalable support for WTRU-to-WTRU relay

5.2.1 Provisioning related to support for New applications on existing unicast links

In embodiments, the WTRU may be provisioned with, for example, supported application IDs and security policies. New parameters may be added to indicate whether the application ID is allowed to be used with other applications on the same (e.g., PC 5) unicast link/direct communication and to categorize applications that are allowed to share (e.g., PC 5) unicast link/direct communication.

Alternatively, instead of establishing a new (e.g., PC 5) unicast link/direct communication, new parameters may be added to an existing (e.g., PC 5) unicast link/direct communication. For example, the following parameters may be added:

● Sharing/affinity: this parameter may indicate whether the WTRU may reuse an existing (e.g., PC 5) unicast link/direct communication using the application ID (e.g., enabled, disabled); and/or

● Class: such a parameter may indicate a class (e.g., category or group) for allowing an application to use on a shared (e.g., PC 5) unicast link/direct communication. For example, any (e.g., all) applications that may use (e.g., require) full security protection on the control plane and user plane may be configured as "class=a", other applications that may not use (e.g., require) any security protection but may accept security protection may be configured as "class=b", and applications that do not want to run on a protected (e.g., PC 5) unicast link/direct communication may be configured as "class=c", and so on. Other parameters may be considered in setting up the class. For example, quality of service (QoS) or privacy requirements may be considered. Applications that may use (e.g., require) privacy may not be classified as applications that may not use (e.g., require) privacy and may not be authorized to share (e.g., PC 5) unicast links/direct communications.

When a new application is started, the WTRU may verify whether the already established (e.g., PC 5) unicast link/direct communication may be reused for the application. In an embodiment, the WTRU may verify the affinity of the new application and its class compared to the already established (e.g., PC 5) unicast link/direct communication. Affinity or anti-affinity rules between two particular applications specify whether the two applications may or may not share the same (e.g., PC 5) unicast link/direct communication, respectively. If no existing (e.g., PC 5) unicast link/direct communication may be reused, e.g., because affinity does not allow or because of class mismatch, the WTRU may establish a new (e.g., PC 5) unicast link/direct communication. Otherwise, the WTRU may add support for the new application to the existing (e.g., PC 5) unicast link/direct communication, e.g., using the procedure described in the next section.

5.2.2 adding support for new applications at the relay

With reference to the signal flow diagram of fig. 3, the following procedure details steps at the S-WTRU and at the L3 WTRU-to-WTRU relay to enable use of the new application via existing (e.g., PC 5) unicast links/direct communications established with the particular relay according to an embodiment. The same process may be repeated for any (e.g., all) relays with which the S-WTRU has established (e.g., PC 5) a unicast link/direct communication to support other applications.

WTRU1 (e.g., WTRU 102 b) and WTRU2 (e.g., WTRU 102 c) have established direct communications (e.g., PC5 unicast link) with relay R-WTRU 303 (e.g., WTRU 102 a) (at 310, 312, respectively). This may be performed in a conventional manner. WTRU1 (e.g., WTRU 102 b) may track (e.g., store/save) the IP address (314) obtained from relay R-WTRU 303 (e.g., WTRU 102 a) and associated with (e.g., PC 5) unicast link/direct communication, app ID (e.g., app id_1), and user information of WTRU1 (e.g., user information_1).

The relay R-WTRU 303 (e.g., WTRU 102 a) may track (e.g., store/save) the user information of WTRU1 and/or may track (e.g., store/save) the associated application ID (316).

At 318, a new application may be launched on WTRU1 301 (e.g., WTRU 102 b) that may verify affinities and classes as described above. WTRU1 (e.g., WTRU 102 b) may send a request message (e.g., link modification request message) 320 to relay R-WTRU 303 (e.g., WTRU 102 a) to add support for the application on an existing (e.g., PC 5) unicast link/direct communication with the relay. The request message (e.g., a link modification request message) may include a new command, such as a value of "add application support", user information of WTRU1 associated with the new application, and/or a new application ID, and may specify a "new IP address required" indication.

WTRU1 301 (e.g., WTRU 102 b) may specify a security policy for the added application in a request message (e.g., a link modification request message). In the event that the added application may use (e.g., require) security protection for (e.g., PC 5) signaling and/or user traffic and the security protection is not enabled or does not satisfy the new application security policy, WTRU1 (e.g., WTRU 102 b) may specify the security policy in a request message (e.g., a link modification request message). If (e.g., PC 5) the unicast link/direct communication link satisfies the security policy of the new application, the security policy may be omitted. The new application may be associated with a different QoS parameter. In this case, the QoS parameters may be modified (e.g., needed), for example, in a subsequent link modification process as described below.

Although only one relay is shown in fig. 3, it should be appreciated that WTRU1 (e.g., WTRU 102 b) may send such a request message (e.g., a link modification request message) to any (e.g., each) relay with which a unicast link/direct communication may be established (e.g., PC 5) to register its new user information and/or application ID.

The relay R-WTRU 303 (e.g., WTRU 102 a) may receive the request message (e.g., link modification request message) 320 and may associate new user information (and/or application ID) of WTRU1 with the (e.g., PC 5) unicast link/direct communication and possibly new QoS parameters (in addition to the already registered existing user information and/or application ID) (324). If a new IP address indication is specified (e.g., set to true), a new IP address may be assigned to WTRU1 (e.g., WTRU 102 b) (in addition to the existing IP address associated with (e.g., PC 5) unicast link/direct communication) and associated with the new registered user information and/or application ID.

The existing IP address associated with (e.g., PC 5) unicast link/direct communication may be associated with new user information and/or application ID, e.g., if the (e.g., required) new IP address indicates not specified (e.g., set to false) and/or WTRU1 301 (e.g., WTRU 102 b) does not provide a new IP address.

If the WTRU1 301 (e.g., WTRU 102 b) specifies a new IP address on the request message (e.g., link modification request message), the new IP address may be stored locally at the relay R-WTRU 303 (e.g., WTRU 102 a) and/or associated with new user information and/or application ID (part of step 324).

The request message (e.g., link modification request message) may also include security parameters to reestablish security of the current (e.g., PC 5) unicast link/direct communication. In addition to the security policy, new security parameters may be included. If the security policy for the new application is different from the current security policy of the (e.g., PC 5) unicast link/direct communication, then the new security parameters and security policies may be included. The security parameters included in the request message (e.g., link modification request message) may be any of the following: key establishment container, nonce, key session ID (e.g., MSB of Knrp-set ID), knrp ID, etc.

For example, if security policies are received, the relay R-WTRU 303 (e.g., WTRU 102 a) may save them and new security parameters received in the request message (e.g., link modification request message) and may compare them to the security established over the (e.g., PC 5) unicast link/direct communication. If the requirements for the new policy are not met, the relay R-WTRU 303 (e.g., WTRU 102 a) may trigger a new security setup (at 322) with the WTRU1 (e.g., WTRU 102 b). The relay R-WTRU 303 (e.g., WTRU 102 a) may trigger an authentication procedure, for example, before triggering a security setup procedure if security was not previously enabled on the (e.g., PC 5) unicast link/direct communication and/or a Knrp ID was not specified on the request message (e.g., link modification request message).

For example, the (e.g., PC 5) unicast link/direct communication may not enable security protection because an application running on the (e.g., PC 5) unicast link/direct communication may not use (e.g., require) security protection. In another example, some insufficient security may have been enabled, e.g., integrity and confidentiality protection is enabled on the control plane and security is not enabled on the user plane. The new application may use (e.g., require) full protection on both the control plane and the user plane, or may, for example, reduce the overall security level (e.g., due to need) to save network resources.

If the required security cannot be established (e.g., because the relay R-WTRU 303 (e.g., WTRU 102 a) does not have sufficient available resources and/or has a different policy profile for the application, or the policy is not compatible with existing security applied over an existing (e.g., PC 5) unicast link/direct communication), or if the authentication procedure fails (e.g., because of lack of resources), the request message (e.g., link modification request message) may be denied, and new application support may not be added.

In the absence of an unresolved security issue, the relay R-WTRU 303 (e.g., WTRU 102 a) may send a response message (e.g., a link modification accept message) 326 back to the WTRU1 (e.g., WTRU 102 b), including/containing, for example, an IP address associated with the user information and/or application ID of the newly registered WTRU 1. User information and/or application ID may be included with agreed QoS parameters for modified (e.g., PC 5) unicast link/direct communication and/or agreed user plane security protection. WTRU1 301 (e.g., WTRU 102 b) may save the data (328).

Additional details/alternatives

In an embodiment, if support for multiple new applications is to be (e.g., needed) added to (e.g., PC 5) the unicast link/direct communication, these new applications may be specified together in the same message (e.g., link modification request). In this case, the relay R-WTRU 303 (e.g., WTRU 102 a) may reply with a response message (e.g., link modification accept) indicating which new applications were successfully added along with their associated IP addresses.

A rejection message (e.g., a link modification rejection message) may be sent if the application specified in the request message was not successfully added.

In addition to the WTRU's user information, a request (e.g., DNS query request) message (e.g., step 6 in fig. 2) may specify an application ID. In this case, the relay R-WTRU 303 (e.g., WTRU 102 a) may obtain an entry with matching user information and/or application ID values.

In the case of direct WTRU-WTRU communication, this (e.g., link modification) procedure may be used to add support for other applications to the already established (e.g., PC 5) unicast link/direct communication. For example, WTRU1 (e.g., WTRU 102 b) may have a unicast link/direct communication established (e.g., PC 5) with WTRU2 (e.g., WTRU 102 c). WTRU1 301 (e.g., WTRU 102 b) may want to use another application (App 2) with the same user. WTRU1 (e.g., WTRU 102 b) may send a request message (e.g., a link modification request message) directly to WTRU2 305 (e.g., WTRU 102 c) to add App2.WTRU2 305 (e.g., WTRU 102 c) may accept the addition of App2 and reply with a response message (e.g., a link modification accept message) that may include its user information and/or IP address associated with App2.

5.2.3 deleting support for applications at the Relay

Referring to the signal flow diagram of fig. 4, the following procedure details the steps of deleting/disabling support for a particular application at WTRU1 and L3 WTRU-to-WTRU relays via existing (e.g., PC 5) unicast links/direct communications established with the particular relay according to an embodiment. The same process may be repeated for any (e.g., all) relays with which WTRU1 has established (e.g., PC 5) a unicast link/direct communication and with which it supports deletion of applications.

WTRU1 (e.g., WTRU 102 b) and WTRU2 (e.g., WTRU 102 c) may have established (e.g., PC 5) a unicast link/direct communication with relay R-WTRU 403 (e.g., WTRU 102 a) (at 410, 412, respectively). This may be performed in a conventional manner. In this example, WTRU1 401 (e.g., WTRU 102 b) may have registered support for two applications (e.g., app id_1, app id_2) with the relay.

WTRU1 401 (e.g., WTRU 102 b) may have obtained a specific IP address (e.g., IPa and IPb) for each App ID, as shown at 414. In the case of signaling messages or traffic related to a particular application sent (e.g., by PC 5) over a unicast link/direct communication (e.g., by PC 5), WTRU1 (e.g., WTRU 102 b) may use the IP address associated with the application and may send the message over the unicast link/direct communication (e.g., by PC 5).

The relay R-WTRU 403 (e.g., WTRU 102 a) may maintain (e.g., PC 5) a mapping between unicast links/direct communications, user information, and/or application IDs (416).

If the application is turned off on WTRU1 401 (e.g., WTRU 102 b) (at 418), WTRU1 401 (e.g., WTRU 102 b) may transmit a request message (e.g., link modification request message) 420 to relay R-WTRU 403 (e.g., WTRU 102 a) to remove support for the application ID on the existing (e.g., PC 5) unicast link/direct communication.

The request message (e.g., link modification request message) 420 may include any of the following: such as a new command to value "delete application support" request, user information of the WTRU associated with the closed application, and application ID. Although only one relay is shown in fig. 4, it should be understood that WTRU1 401 (e.g., WTRU 102 b) may send such a request message (e.g., a link modification request message) to any (e.g., each) relay used to associate the (e.g., PC 5) unicast link/direct communication with the application ID to be deleted.

Upon receiving (e.g., after) the request message (e.g., the link modification request message), the relay R-WTRU 403 (e.g., WTRU 102 a) may obtain the associated entry (e.g., from its mapping table) based on the user information (and/or application ID) of WTRU 1. The user information and/or application ID may be deleted from the mapping table, e.g., they are no longer associated with (e.g., PC 5) unicast links/direct communications (422). QoS parameters and/or security protection may also be updated for (e.g., PC 5) unicast links/direct communications.

If an IP address associated with the entry, e.g., associated with the user information and/or application ID, is specific to the entry (e.g., not shared with other user information/application IDs), the IP address may be released. If the IP address is shared with other entries, the IP address may be reserved.

If no user information and/or application ID associated with the (e.g., PC 5) unicast link/direct communication remains after the specified user information and/or application ID is deleted, the relay R-WTRU 403 (e.g., WTRU 102 a) may trigger a release procedure (e.g., PC5 unicast link release procedure) on the (e.g., PC 5) unicast link/direct communication. The relay R-WTRU 403 (e.g., WTRU 102 a) may reply by sending a response message (e.g., link modification accept message) 424, which may include the user information and/or application ID that has been deleted. WTRU1 401 (e.g., WTRU 102 b) may forget (e.g., delete) the IP address associated with the closed application (426).

Additional details/alternatives

In embodiments, where the application is turned off (e.g., when the application is turned off), the WTRU1 (e.g., the WTRU 102 b) may determine whether a request message (e.g., a link modification request message) message (e.g., other user/application (e.g., PC 5) unicast link/direct communication association) should be sent, or whether a request message (e.g., a link release request message) to release (e.g., PC 5) unicast link/direct communication may instead be sent (where there is no longer an application ID and/or user information associated with (e.g., PC 5) unicast link/direct communication).

Regarding the support of new applications by existing (e.g., PC 5) unicast links/direct communications, deletion of an application may change (e.g., PC 5) the security protection required for unicast links/direct communications. In this case, a procedure (e.g., a direct security mode procedure) to protect (e.g., PC 5) the unicast link/direct communication may be performed after the application is deleted (step 322 of fig. 3). The process may run during modification of the unicast link/direct communication (e.g., the link modification process) (e.g., after step 420 and before step 424) or at any time after step 424 (e.g., PC 5).

5.2.4 triggering support for new applications at relays from peer WTRUs via an indirect link modification procedure

Referring to the signal flow diagram of fig. 5, the following procedure details the steps at WTRU1, WTRU2 and at the L3-WTRU-to-WTRU relay to trigger the use of a new application at another WTRU via an existing (e.g., PC 5) unicast link/direct communication established with a particular relay.

WTRU1 501 (e.g., WTRU 102 b) and WTRU2 505 (e.g., WTRU 102 c) may have established a direct (e.g., PC 5) unicast link/direct communication with relay R-WTRU 503 (e.g., WTRU 102 a) (at 510, 512, respectively).

WTRU1 501 (e.g., WTRU 102 b) may track (e.g., store/save) an IP address (514) obtained from relay R-WTRU 503 (e.g., WTRU 102 a) and associated with (e.g., PC 5) unicast link/direct communication, app ID (e.g., app id_1) and/or user information of WTRU1 (e.g., user information_1).

The relay R-WTRU 503 (e.g., WTRU 102 a) may maintain a mapping (516) between any (e.g., PC 5) unicast links/direct communications, user information, associated IP addresses, and/or application IDs.

Alternatively, WTRU2 505 (e.g., WTRU 102 c) may obtain the IP address of WTRU1 associated with App id_1 or user information_1 of WTRU 1. WTRU1 501 (e.g., WTRU 102 b) and WTRU2 505 (e.g., WTRU 102 c) exchange traffic associated with App ID 1 (517).

In this example, at 518, WTRU2 505 (e.g., WTRU 102 c) may want to use App id_2 with WTRU1 501 (e.g., WTRU 102 b), but may not be able to find the IP address of WTRU1 501 (e.g., WTRU 102 b) in the context of a different App ID (e.g., app ID 2).

WTRU2 505 (e.g., WTRU 102 c) may send a request message (e.g., a link modification request message) 520 to relay R-WTRU 503 (e.g., WTRU 102 a) to request support for the previously unsupported application (e.g., app id_2) on WTRU1 501 (e.g., WTRU 102 b) via relay R-WTRU 503 (e.g., WTRU 102 a) (e.g., indirectly). WTRU2 505 (e.g., WTRU 102 c) may be aware of the user of WTRU1 associated with, for example, app id_1.

The request message (e.g., link modification request message) 520 may include any one of the following: such as a new command to value "add indirect application support", WTRU1 user information associated with the existing application (App ID 1), new application ID (App ID 2), WTRU2 user information associated with App ID 2, and may include other parameters such as defined in section 5.2.2.

The relay WTRU 503 (e.g., WTRU 102 a) may find the unicast link/direct communication (e.g., PC 5) associated with the user information of WTRU1 as specified in request 520 and may send a request message (e.g., link modification request message) 522 to WTRU1 501 (e.g., WTRU 102 b) to request (e.g., indirectly) support for the previously unsupported application (e.g., app id_2).

The request message (e.g., link modification request message) 522 may include any one of the following: the new command (e.g., value "add indirect application support"), WTRU1 user information associated with the existing application, and may include WTRU2 user information associated with the existing application (e.g., app id_1), WTRU2 user information associated with the new application ID (e.g., app id_2), and WTRU2 IP address.

WTRU1 501 (e.g., WTRU 102 b) may receive the request and may accept use of App id_2. A new application (e.g., app id_2) may be started on WTRU1 501 (e.g., WTRU 102 b) (at 524).

WTRU1 (e.g., WTRU 102 b) may send a request message (e.g., a link modification request message) 526 (e.g., as described in section 5.2.2) to relay R-WTRU 503 (e.g., WTRU 102 a) to add support for the application on the same (e.g., PC 5) unicast link/direct communication as the existing (e.g., PC 5) unicast link/direct communication with relay (e.g., on the same (e.g., PC 5) unicast link/direct communication that relay R-WTRU 503 (e.g., WTRU 102 a) uses to send (e.g., "add indirect application support") request to WTRU1 (e.g., WTRU 102 b).

WTRU1 501 (e.g., WTRU 102 b) may track (e.g., store/save) user information of WTRU2 and/or an IP address associated with App id_2. This may allow WTRU1 501 (e.g., WTRU 102 b) to skip (e.g., DNS query) operations to learn the IP address of WTRU 2.

In the event that a request message (e.g., a link modification request message) 526 is received (e.g., after that), the relay R-WTRU 503 (e.g., WTRU 102 a) may associate new user information (and/or application ID) of WTRU1 with the (e.g., PC 5) unicast link/direct communication (528) in addition to the already registered existing user information and/or application ID (e.g., as described in section 5.2.2).

The relay R-WTRU 503 (e.g., WTRU 102 a) may send a response message (e.g., link modification accept message) 530 back to the WTRU1 501 (e.g., WTRU 102 b).

WTRU1 501 (e.g., WTRU 102 b) may save/store the data of the new application (532) and/or may send a message indicating acceptance of the modification (e.g., link modification accept message) 534 to the relay R-WTRU 503 (e.g., WTRU 102 a) to close (e.g., intermediately internal) the request/accept cycle (e.g., as a response to step 522).

The relay WTRU 503 (e.g., WTRU 102 a) may send a response message (e.g., a link modification response message) 536 to WTRU2 505 (e.g., WTRU 102 c) to confirm that the (e.g., indirect addition) procedure to add support for the application is complete and that support for App id_2 on WTRU1 501 (e.g., WTRU 102 b) via relay R-WTRU 503 (e.g., WTRU 102 a) is complete. Alternatively, the relay R-WTRU 503 (e.g., WTRU 102 a) may include user information for WTRU1 and an IP address associated with App ID_2.

WTRU2 505 (e.g., WTRU 102 c) may track (e.g., store/save) user information of WTRU1 and/or an IP address associated with App id_2. This may allow WTRU2 505 (e.g., WTRU 102 c) to skip (e.g., DNS query) operations to learn the IP address of WTRU 2.

Alternative solution

Alternatively, WTRU1 501 (e.g., WTRU 102 b) may establish a new (e.g., PC 5) unicast link/direct communication with relay R-WTRU 503 (e.g., WTRU 102 a) at step 526 instead of adding support for App id_2 to the existing (e.g., PC 5) unicast link/direct communication.

Figure 6 is a flow chart illustrating a representative method implemented by the WTRU 102a of adding support for new applications to a direct communication/unicast link between the WTRU 102a and the peer WTRU 102 b.

Referring to fig. 6, the exemplary method 600 may include, at block 610, receiving a first request message to establish direct communication with the peer WTRU 102b, the request message including an indication of first user information of the peer WTRU 102b, the first user information being associated with a first application and/or a first application identity. At block 620, the WTRU 102a may transmit a first response message to the peer WTRU 102b, the first response message including an indication to accept the establishment of direct communication with the peer WTRU 102 b. At block 630, the WTRU 102a may transmit information to the peer WTRU 102b indicating a first IP address associated with the first user information and/or the first application identification. At block 640, the WTRU 102a may receive a second request message associating a second application with the direct communication, the second request message including an indication of second user information of the peer WTRU 102b, the second user information being associated with the second application and/or a second application identity. At block 650, the WTRU 102a may transmit a second response message to the peer WTRU 102b, the second response message including a second IP address associated with the second user information and/or the second application identification. At block 660, the WTRU 102a may use direct communication to communicate data related to a first application using a first IP address and data related to a second application using a second IP address with the peer WTRU 102 b.

In certain representative embodiments, the second IP address may correspond to the first IP address.

In some representative embodiments, the second IP address may correspond to a newly allocated IP address.

In some representative embodiments, representative method 600 may include receiving information indicative of an assignment of a new IP address associated with the second user information and/or the second application identification.

In some representative embodiments, representative method 600 may include storing the second user information and/or the second application identification in association with the second IP address.

In some representative embodiments, the second request message may include security information, and the representative method 600 may include transmitting information to the peer WTRU 102b indicating that the security establishment procedure is triggered at the peer WTRU 102b using the received security information, e.g., if the received security information is different from stored security information associated with direct communication.

In some demonstrative embodiments, representative method 600 may include transmitting information to peer WTRU 102b indicating that an authentication procedure is triggered at peer WTRU 102b, e.g., in the event that direct communication is not secured.

In some representative embodiments, the second request message may be received from the peer WTRU 102 b.

In some demonstrative embodiments, representative method 600 may include relaying, by WTRU 102a, the transmitted data associated with the first application and the second application: (1) Relay to peer WTRU 102b via direct communication between WTRU 102a and peer WTRU 102b, or (2) relay from peer WTRU 102a via another direct communication between WTRU 102a and another peer WTRU 102 c.

In some demonstrative embodiments, the second request message may be received from another peer WTRU 102 c.

In some representative embodiments, the direct communication may be a PC5 unicast communication.

In some representative embodiments, representative method 600 may include the second request message being a PC5 signaling link modification request message and/or the second response message being a PC5 signaling link modification accept message.

Fig. 7 is a flow chart illustrating a representative method implemented by the relay WTRU 102a for relaying communications between the first and second other WTRUs (102 b, 102 c).

Referring to fig. 7, the exemplary method 700 may include, at block 710, establishing a first unicast link between a first other WTRU 102b and a relay WTRU 102a with a first WTRU associated with a first proximity services (ProSe) application, including assigning a first Internet Protocol (IP) address/prefix to the first WTRU 102b and/or storing an association of the first IP address/prefix with user information of the first WTRU 102 b. At block 720, the relay WTRU 102a may establish a second unicast link with the second WTRU 102c including assigning a second Internet Protocol (IP) address/prefix to the second WTRU 102c and storing an association of the second IP address/prefix with user information of the second WTRU 102 c. At block 730, the relay WTRU 102a may receive a link modification request message over the first unicast link from the first WTRU 102b requesting the addition of a second ProSe application that the first WTRU 102b wishes to utilize and including user information of the first WTRU 102b and/or an identification of the second ProSe application associated with the second ProSe application. At block 740, in response to the link modification request message, the relay WTRU 102a may transmit a response message to the first WTRU 102b over the first unicast link, the response message including a third IP address/prefix associated with the user information of the first WTRU 102b and/or the identity of the second ProSe application associated with the second ProSe application. At block 750, the relay WTRU 102a may add user information of the first WTRU 102b associated with the second ProSe application and/or an identification of the second ProSe application in memory in association with the first unicast link.

In some representative embodiments, the unicast link may be a PC5 unicast link.

In some representative embodiments, the link modification request message may be a PC5 signaling message.

In some representative embodiments, the response message may be a PC5 signaling link modification accept message.

In some demonstrative embodiments, representative method 700 may include relaying data related to the first ProSe application and the second ProSe application between first WTRU 102b and second WTRU 102c via the same unicast link between relay WTRU 102a and first WTRU 102 b.

In certain representative embodiments, representative method 700 may comprise: determining whether the second ProSe application requires security measures different from the security measures employed by the first ProSe application; and/or if the second ProSe application requires security measures different from those employed by the first ProSe application, performing a security setup procedure with the first WTRU 102 b.

Conclusion(s)

Although features and elements are provided above in particular combinations, one of ordinary skill in the art will understand that each feature or element can be used alone or in any combination with other features and elements. The present disclosure is not limited to the specific embodiments described in this patent application, which are intended as illustrations of various aspects. Many modifications and variations may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the application, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art. No element, act, or instruction used in the description of the present application should be construed as critical or essential to the application unless explicitly described as such. Functionally equivalent methods and apparatus, other than those enumerated herein, which are within the scope of the present disclosure, will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the foregoing description. Such modifications and variations are intended to fall within the scope of the appended claims. The present disclosure is to be limited only by the terms of the appended claims, along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled. It should be understood that the present disclosure is not limited to a particular method or system.

For simplicity, the foregoing embodiments are discussed with respect to the terminology and structure of infrared-capable devices (i.e., infrared emitters and receivers). However, the embodiments discussed are not limited to these systems, but may be applied to other systems using other forms of electromagnetic waves or non-electromagnetic waves (such as acoustic waves).

It is also to be understood that the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting. As used herein, the term "video" or the term "image" may mean any of a snapshot, a single image, and/or multiple images that are displayed on a temporal basis. As another example, as referred to herein, the term "user equipment" and its abbreviation "UE", the term "remote" and/or the term "head mounted display" or its abbreviation "HMD" may mean or include (i) a wireless transmit and/or receive unit (WTRU); (ii) Any of a number of embodiments of the WTRU; (iii) Devices with wireless capabilities and/or with wired capabilities (e.g., tethered) are configured with some or all of the structure and functionality of a WTRU, in particular; (iii) Wireless capability and/or wireline capability devices configured with less than the full structure and functionality of the WTRU; or (iv) etc. Details of an exemplary WTRU that may represent any of the WTRUs described herein are provided herein with respect to fig. 1A-1D. As another example, various disclosed embodiments herein above and below are described as utilizing a head mounted display. Those skilled in the art will recognize that devices other than head mounted displays may be utilized and that some or all of the present disclosure and various disclosed embodiments may be modified accordingly without undue experimentation. Examples of such other devices may include drones or other devices configured to stream information to provide an adapted real-world experience.

Additionally, the methods provided herein may be implemented in a computer program, software, or firmware incorporated in a computer readable medium for execution by a computer or processor. Examples of computer readable media include electronic signals (transmitted over a wired or wireless connection) and computer readable storage media. Examples of computer readable storage media include, but are not limited to, read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), registers, cache memory, semiconductor memory devices, magnetic media (such as internal hard disks and removable disks), magneto-optical media, and optical media (such as CD-ROM disks and Digital Versatile Disks (DVDs)). A processor associated with the software may be used to implement a radio frequency transceiver for a WTRU, UE, terminal, base station, RNC, or any host computer.

Variations of the methods, apparatus, and systems provided above are possible without departing from the scope of the invention. In view of the various embodiments that may be employed, it should be understood that the illustrated embodiments are examples only and should not be taken as limiting the scope of the following claims. For example, embodiments provided herein include a handheld device that may include or be used with any suitable voltage source (such as a battery or the like) that provides any suitable voltage.

Furthermore, in the embodiments provided above, processing platforms, computing systems, controllers, and other devices including processors are indicated. These devices may include at least one central processing unit ("CPU") and memory. References to actions and symbolic representations of operations or instructions may be performed by various CPUs and memories in accordance with practices of persons skilled in the art of computer programming. Such acts and operations, or instructions, may be considered to be "executing," computer-executed, "or" CPU-executed.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the acts and symbolically represented operations or instructions include the manipulation of electrical signals by the CPU. The electrical system represents data bits that may result in a final transformation of the electrical signal or a reduction of the electrical signal and a retention of the data bits at memory locations in the memory system, thereby reconfiguring or otherwise altering the operation of the CPU and performing other processing of the signal. The memory location holding the data bit is a physical location having a particular electrical, magnetic, optical, or organic attribute corresponding to or representing the data bit. It should be understood that embodiments are not limited to the above-described platforms or CPUs, and that other platforms and CPUs may also support the provided methods.

The data bits may also be maintained on computer readable media including magnetic disks, optical disks, and any other volatile (e.g., random access memory ("RAM")) or non-volatile (e.g., read only memory ("ROM")) mass storage system readable by the CPU. The computer readable media may comprise cooperating or interconnected computer readable media that reside exclusively on the processing system or are distributed among a plurality of interconnected processing systems, which may be local or remote relative to the processing system. It should be understood that embodiments are not limited to the above-described memories, and that other platforms and memories may support the provided methods.

In an exemplary embodiment, any of the operations, processes, etc. described herein may be implemented as computer readable instructions stored on a computer readable medium. The computer readable instructions may be executed by a processor of the mobile unit, the network element, and/or any other computing device.

There is little distinction between hardware implementations and software implementations of aspects of the system. The use of hardware or software is often (but not always, as in some contexts the choice between hardware and software may become important) a design choice representing a tradeoff between cost and efficiency. There may be various media (e.g., hardware, software, and/or firmware) that may implement the processes and/or systems and/or other techniques described herein, and the preferred media may vary with the context in which the processes and/or systems and/or other techniques are deployed. For example, if the implementer determines that speed and accuracy are paramount, the implementer may opt for a medium of mainly hardware and/or firmware. If flexibility is paramount, the implementer may opt for a particular implementation of mainly software. Alternatively, the implementer may opt for some combination of hardware, software, and/or firmware.

The foregoing detailed description has set forth various embodiments of the devices and/or processes via the use of block diagrams, flowcharts, and/or examples. Where such block diagrams, flowcharts, and/or examples include one or more functions and/or operations, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that each function and/or operation within such block diagrams, flowcharts, or examples can be implemented, individually and/or collectively, by a wide range of hardware, software, firmware, or virtually any combination thereof. In an embodiment, portions of the subject matter described herein may be implemented via an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), and/or other integrated format. However, those skilled in the art will recognize that some aspects of the embodiments disclosed herein, in whole or in part, can be equivalently implemented in integrated circuits, as one or more computer programs running on one or more computers (e.g., as one or more programs running on one or more computer systems), as one or more programs running on one or more processors (e.g., as one or more programs running on one or more microprocessors), as firmware, or as virtually any combination thereof, and that designing the circuitry and/or writing the code for the software and/or firmware would be well within the skill of one of skill in the art in light of this disclosure. In addition, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the mechanisms of the subject matter described herein are capable of being distributed as a program product in a variety of forms, and that an illustrative embodiment of the subject matter described herein applies regardless of the particular type of signal bearing media used to actually carry out the distribution. Examples of signal bearing media include, but are not limited to, the following: recordable type media (such as floppy disks, hard disk drives, CDs, DVDs, digital tapes, computer memory, etc.); and transmission type media such as digital and/or analog communications media (e.g., fiber optic cable, waveguide, wired communications link, wireless communications link, etc.).

Those skilled in the art will recognize that it is common in the art to describe devices and/or processes in the manner set forth herein, and thereafter use engineering practices to integrate such described devices and/or processes into data processing systems. That is, at least a portion of the devices and/or processes described herein may be integrated into a data processing system via a reasonable amount of experimentation. Those skilled in the art will recognize that a typical data processing system may generally include one or more of the following: a system unit housing; a video display device; memories such as volatile memories and nonvolatile memories; a processor, such as a microprocessor and a digital signal processor; computing entities such as operating systems, drivers, graphical user interfaces, and applications; one or more interactive devices, such as a touch pad or screen; and/or a control system comprising a feedback loop and a control motor (e.g. feedback for sensing position and/or speed, a control motor for moving and/or adjusting components and/or amounts). Typical data processing systems may be implemented using any suitable commercially available components, such as those typically found in data computing/communication and/or network computing/communication systems.

The subject matter described herein sometimes illustrates different components included within or connected with different other components. It is to be understood that such depicted architectures are merely examples, and that in fact many other architectures can be implemented which achieve the same functionality. In a conceptual sense, any arrangement of components to achieve the same functionality is effectively "associated" such that the desired functionality is achieved. Thus, any two components herein combined to achieve a particular functionality can be seen as "associated with" each other such that the desired functionality is achieved, irrespective of architectures or intermedial components. Likewise, any two components so associated can also be viewed as being "operably connected," or "operably coupled," to each other to achieve the desired functionality, and any two components capable of being so associated can also be viewed as being "operably couplable," to each other to achieve the desired functionality. Specific examples of operably couplable include, but are not limited to, physically mateable and/or physically interactable components and/or wirelessly interactable components and/or logically interactable components.

With respect to substantially any plural and/or singular terms used herein, those having skill in the art can translate from the plural to the singular and/or from the singular to the plural as is appropriate to the context and/or application. For clarity, various singular/plural permutations may be explicitly listed herein.

It will be understood by those within the art that, in general, terms used herein, and especially in the appended claims (e.g., bodies of the appended claims) are generally intended as "open" terms (e.g., the term "including" should be interpreted as "including but not limited to," the term "having" should be interpreted as "having at least," the term "comprising" should be interpreted as "including but not limited to," etc.). It will be further understood by those with skill in the art that if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is intended, such intent will be explicitly recited in the claim, and in the absence of such recitation no such intent is present. For example, where only one item is contemplated, the term "single" or similar language may be used. To facilitate understanding, the following appended claims and/or descriptions herein may include the use of the introductory phrases "at least one" and "one or more" to introduce claim recitations. However, the use of such phrases should not be construed to imply that the introduction of a claim recitation object by the indefinite articles "a" or "an" limits any particular claim containing such introduced claim recitation object to embodiments containing only one such recitation object. Even when the same claim includes the introductory phrases "one or more" or "at least one" and indefinite articles such as "a" or "an" (e.g., "a" and/or "an" should be interpreted to mean "at least one" or "one or more"). The same holds true for the use of definite articles used to introduce claim recitations. In addition, even if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is explicitly recited, those skilled in the art will recognize that such recitation should be interpreted to mean at least the recited number (e.g., the bare recitation of "two recitations," without other modifiers, means at least two recitations, or two or more recitations). In addition, in those instances where a convention analogous to "at least one of A, B and C, etc." is used, in general such a construction has the meaning that one having skill in the art would understand the convention (e.g., "a system having at least one of A, B and C" would include but not be limited to systems that have a alone, B alone, C alone, a and B together, a and C together, B and C together, and/or A, B and C together, etc.). In those instances where a convention analogous to "at least one of A, B or C, etc." is used, in general such a construction has the meaning that one having skill in the art would understand the convention (e.g., "a system having at least one of A, B or C" would include but not be limited to systems having a alone, B alone, C alone, a and B together, a and C together, B and C together, and/or A, B and C together, etc.). It should also be understood by those within the art that virtually any separate word and/or phrase presenting two or more alternative terms, whether in the specification, claims, or drawings, should be understood to contemplate the possibilities of including one of the terms, either of the terms, or both terms. For example, the phrase "a or B" will be understood to include the possibilities of "a" or "B" or "a and B". In addition, as used herein, the term "…" followed by listing a plurality of items and/or a plurality of item categories is intended to include items and/or item categories "any one of", "any combination of", "any multiple of" and/or any combination of multiples of "alone or in combination with other items and/or other item categories. Furthermore, as used herein, the term "group" is intended to include any number of items, including zero. Furthermore, as used herein, the term "number" is intended to include any number, including zero. Also, as used herein, the term "multiple" is intended to be synonymous with "multiple".

Additionally, where features or aspects of the disclosure are described in terms of markush groups, those skilled in the art will recognize thereby that the disclosure is also described in terms of any individual member or subgroup of members of the markush group.

As will be understood by those skilled in the art, for any and all purposes (such as in terms of providing a written description), all ranges disclosed herein also encompass any and all possible sub-ranges and combinations of sub-ranges thereof. Any listed range can be readily identified as sufficiently descriptive and so that the same range can be divided into at least equal halves, thirds, quarters, fifths, tenths, etc. As a non-limiting example, each range discussed herein can be readily divided into a lower third, a middle third, an upper third, and the like. As will also be understood by those skilled in the art, all language such as "up to", "at least", "greater than", "less than", etc., include the recited numbers and refer to ranges that may be subsequently divided into sub-ranges as described above. Finally, as will be understood by those skilled in the art, the scope includes each individual number. Thus, for example, a group having 1 to 3 units refers to a group having 1, 2, or 3 units. Similarly, a group having 1 to 5 units refers to a group having 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 units, or the like.

Furthermore, the claims should not be read as limited to the order or elements provided, unless stated to that effect. In addition, use of the term "means for …" in any claim is intended to invoke 35U.S. C. ≡112,6 or device plus function claims format, and any claims without the term "device for …" are not intended to be so. />

Claims (24)

1. A method implemented by a Wireless Transmit Receive Unit (WTRU), the method comprising:

receiving a first request message to establish direct communication with a peer WTRU, the request message including an indication of first user information of the peer WTRU, the first user information being associated with a first application and/or a first application identity;

transmitting a first response message to the peer WTRU, the first response message including an indication to accept establishment of the direct communication with the peer WTRU;

transmitting information to the peer WTRU indicating a first Internet Protocol (IP) address associated with the first user information and/or the first application identity;

receiving a second request message associating a second application with the direct communication, the second request message including an indication of second user information of the peer WTRU, the second user information being associated with the second application and/or a second application identity;

Transmitting a second response message to the peer WTRU, the second response message including a second IP address associated with the second user information and/or the second application identity; and

the direct communication is used to communicate data related to the first application using the first IP address and data related to the second application using the second IP address with the peer WTRU.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the second IP address corresponds to the first IP address.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the second IP address corresponds to a newly allocated IP address.

4. A method according to claim 3, the method comprising:

information indicating any assignment of a new IP address associated with the second user information and the second application identification is received.

5. The method of any of claims 1-4, the method comprising storing any of the second user information and the second application identification in association with the second IP address.

6. The method of any of claims 1 to 5, wherein the second request message includes security information, and the method comprises:

Transmitting, to the peer WTRU, information indicating that a security setup procedure is triggered at the peer WTRU using the received security information if the received security information is different from stored security information associated with the direct communication.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, the method comprising:

transmitting information to the peer WTRU indicating that an authentication procedure is triggered at the peer WTRU if the direct communication is not secured.

8. The method of any of claims 1-7, wherein the second request message is received from the peer WTRU.

9. The method of any of claims 1-8, comprising relaying, by the WTRU, the transmitted data related to the first application and the second application: (1) Relay to the peer WTRU via the direct communication between the WTRU and the peer WTRU, or (2) relay from the peer WTRU via another direct communication between the WTRU and another peer WTRU.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the second request message is received from the other peer WTRU.

11. The method of any of claims 1 to 10, wherein the direct communication is a PC5 unicast communication.

12. The method of any of claims 1 to 11, wherein the second request message is any PC5 signaling link modification request message and the second response message is a PC5 signaling link modification accept message.

13. A wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU), the WTRU comprising circuitry including a transmitter, a receiver, and a processor, the WTRU configured to:

receiving a first request message to establish direct communication with a peer WTRU, the request message including an indication of first user information of the peer WTRU, the first user information being associated with a first application and/or a first application identity;

transmitting a first response message to the peer WTRU, the first response message including an indication to accept establishment of the direct communication with the peer WTRU;

transmitting information to the peer WTRU indicating a first Internet Protocol (IP) address associated with the first user information and/or the first application identity;

receiving a second request message associating a second application with the direct communication, the second request message including an indication of second user information of the peer WTRU, the second user information being associated with the second application and/or a second application identity;

Transmitting a second response message to the peer WTRU, the second response message including a second IP address associated with the second user information and/or the second application identity; and

the direct communication is used to communicate data related to the first application using the first IP address and data related to the second application using the second IP address with the peer WTRU.

14. The WTRU of claim 13 wherein the second IP address corresponds to the first IP address.

15. The WTRU of claim 13 wherein the second IP address corresponds to a newly allocated IP address.

16. The WTRU of claim 15, wherein the circuitry is configured to:

information indicating any assignment of a new IP address associated with the second user information and the second application identification is received.

17. The WTRU of any one of claims 13-16, wherein the circuitry includes a memory configured to store any one of the second user information and the second application identity in association with the second IP address.

18. The WTRU of any of claims 13-17, wherein the second request message includes security information, and wherein the circuitry is configured to:

Transmitting, to the peer WTRU, information indicating that a security setup procedure is triggered at the peer WTRU using the received security information if the received security information is different from stored security information associated with the direct communication.

19. The WTRU of any one of claims 13-18, wherein the circuitry is configured to:

transmitting information to the peer WTRU indicating that an authentication procedure is triggered at the peer WTRU if the direct communication is not secured.

20. The WTRU of any one of claims 13-19, wherein the second request message is received from the peer WTRU.

21. The WTRU of any one of claims 13-20, wherein the circuitry is configured to relay, by the WTRU, the transmitted data related to the first application and the second application: (1) Relay to the peer WTRU via the direct communication between the WTRU and the peer WTRU, or (2) relay from the peer WTRU via another direct communication between the WTRU and another peer WTRU.

22. The WTRU of claim 21 wherein the second request message is received from the other peer WTRU.

23. The WTRU of any one of claims 13-22 wherein the direct communication is a PC5 unicast communication.

24. The WTRU of any one of claims 13 to 23 wherein the second request message is any one of PC5 signaling link modification request messages and the second response message is a PC5 signaling link modification accept message.