EP4338551A1

EP4338551A1 - Method and a relay ue (user equipment) for service relaying

Info

Publication number: EP4338551A1
Application number: EP22728543.4A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Andreas Andrae; David GONZALEZ GONZALEZ; Osvaldo Gonsa; Hueseyin Daglioglu
Original assignee: Continental Automotive Technologies GmbH
Current assignee: Aumovio Germany GmbH
Priority date: 2021-05-11
Filing date: 2022-05-10
Publication date: 2024-03-20
Also published as: CN117296447A; US20240251459A1

Abstract

A method for Service Relaying in a Relay User Equipment (UE) and such Relay UE is provided. The method comprises the following steps. A connection between a Relay UE and a UE is established. A Service Catalogue of a Remote Service Provider is received. The Remote Service Provider is arranged for providing services to a UE. The Service Catalogue comprises information about these services. Meta-data is generated which comprises additional information about the services for the UE. Information about the Service Catalogue and about the meta-data is provided to the UE. The UE selects one of the services based on the provided information and the Relay UE relays the selected service from the Remote Service Provider to the UE.

Description

Method and a Relay UE (User Equipment) for service relaying

BACKGROUND

The present invention relates to a method and a Relay UE (User Equipment) for service relaying.

Today's vehicles are limited in terms of computing capabilities and face stringent cost restrictions. However, advanced and more sophisticated use cases exhibit challenging computing requirements, e.g., due to their dependency on AI/ML, which drives the need for access to services in a powerful cloud infrastructure.

Furthermore, vehicles that use cellular connectivity for accessing cloud-based and Al-powered services may face situations of poor or insufficient mobile network coverage, particularly when using high frequencies (i.e. , millimeter waves). As situations of limited, partial, or no mobile network coverage are not unlikely, vehicles operating under these circumstances may not be able to access those cloud-based services.

The objective of the invention is to improve access to cloud-based services in area with limited or no network coverage.

SUMMARY

The objective of the invention is met by providing methods according to claim 1 and 8, a Relay UE according to claim 9 and a UE according to claim 10.

According to a first aspect a method for Service Relaying in a Relay UE is provided, comprising the steps of: receiving a Service Catalogue (SC) of a Remote Service Provider, establishing a connection between said Relay UE and a UE, wherein the Remote Service Provider is arranged for providing services to a UE; wherein the Service Catalogue comprises information about said services; wherein the Relay UE is arranged for relaying one or more of said services from the Remote Service Provider to said UE; generating meta-data, wherein said meta-data comprises additional information about said services for said UE; providing information about said Service Catalogue and about said meta-data to said UE; and, when the UE selects one of said services based on said provided information, relaying said selected service from the Remote Service Provider to the UE.

A Relay UE is a User Equipment that is arranged for relaying a service. A User Equipment may be vehicle that is arranged for connecting to a communication network, a mobile telephone or any other device that is arranged for connecting to a communication network, preferably a wireless network. Examples of such a communication network are cellular mobile networks, networks as defined by 3GPP, a WLAN, a Bluetooth network and DSRC networks.

In case a UE cannot connect to a first communication network such that it cannot receive desired cloud-based services, but it can connect to a Relay UE using a second communication network, the Relay UE may, when it is also connected to the first communication network, relay the cloud-based services from the first communication network over the second communication network to the UE. The first communication network may be cellular mobile network and the second communication network may be a DSRC-based network.

In that case, the Relay UE can help to extend the mobile network’s coverage and act as a “middleman” for accessing and enabling connected, cloud-based services.

In one or more embodiments, the services comprise services at a connection layer and/or services at an application layer, wherein preferably said services at an application-layer comprise at least one of a group comprising: remote computing, preferably for Artificial Intelligence calculations or Machine Learning calculations; remote storage of data; infotainment.

A Remote Service Provider may be one or more clustered servers that are arranged for generating - in communication with the UE - one or more of the services as described in this document. These servers may be provided in the cloud. Alternatively, a UE or even a Relay UE may be provided with a Remote Service Provider, preferably in the same vehicle, more preferably in the High-Performance Computer of the vehicle. A Remote Service Provider may be connected to other computing devices, such that the Remote Service Provider is arranged for providing computing or storage services on these computing devices. Such computing devices may be so-called intelligent road signs, which may be in the neighborhood of the UE needing the computing or storage service.

The Remote Service Provider may also provide a Service Catalogue, which comprises information about these services. In case these services are services at a connection layer, the information may be information regarding the needed bandwidth of the connections and regarding the needed QoS of the connections in terms of delay and latency.

In case these services are services at an application layer the information may be information regarding the needed bandwidth and QoS of the connection but also information about the kind of the application, for example “remote computing for machine learning calculation”.

According to the invention, the Service Catalogue is received, for example by the Relay UE. The Service Catalogue may be pushed (for example by the Remote Service Provider broadcasting the Service Catalogue) or may be retrieved (for example by the Relay UE requesting the Service Catalogue, preferably periodically).

In one or more embodiments, a Relay Service Code (RSC) as defined by 3GPP may be used to indicate the services that the Relay UE may provide to the UE. In one or more embodiments, the Relay Service Code comprises information relating to the Service Catalogue. In one or more embodiments, the Relay Service Code may also be used to indicate whether the Relay UE is a Layer-3 or Layer-2 Relay. In one or more embodiments, discovery messages comprising the Relay Service Code may be exchanged between the Relay UE and the UE.

In general, it is noted that the so-called OSI-model defines layers in a communication stack. Layer 3 and Layer 2 connections are defined accordingly. Connectivity services may then be defined as services using at least one of layers 1-3. Application services may be defined as services using at least layer 7. In one or more embodiment, the Service Catalogue, provided by the Remote Service Provider, may be stored in a cloud system, a V2X server, the Remote Service Provider itself, or another UE.

According to the invention, the meta-data is generated and provided to the UE. The meta-data comprises additional information about said services for said UE. From the meta-data it may be derived how the respective service will be experienced by the user of the UE. The available bandwidth and QoS may have its influence on how the respective service will be experienced, but when the bandwidth and QoS are sufficiently available, other factors may have a large influence on how the respective service will be experienced, for example the status and processing capabilities of the Relay UE and/or Remote Service Provider. Information relating to these factors may be comprised in the meta-data.

This additional information may facilitate the selection of services by the UE. For example, the UE may be connected two different Relay UE which both provide a Service Catalogue comprising the same application service provided by the same Remote Service Provider. The meta-data regarding these two services may be used to select one of these two services.

In one or more embodiments, the meta-data comprises addition information regarding at least one of a group comprising:

Quality of Service of a respective service; estimated processing load of said Relay UE; estimated use of a network bandwidth; estimated energy consumption; battery status of the Relay UE; costs of a respective service; and, rating of said Remote Service Provider.

In one or more embodiments, separate discovery messages comprising the meta-data may be exchanged between the Relay UE and the UE.

In one or more embodiments, the method further comprises the steps of: receiving another Service Catalogue from another Remote Service Provider, wherein said other Remote Service Provider is arranged for providing other services to said UE; wherein said other Service Catalogue comprises information about said other services; wherein the Relay UE is arranged for relaying one or more of said other services from said other Remote Service Provider to said UE; generating other meta-data, wherein said other meta-data comprises additional information about said other services for said UE; providing information about said other Service Catalogue and about said other meta-data to said UE.

It may be the case that the Relay UE is able to relay services from two different Remote Services Providers. In order to facilitate a selection of services by the UE, the Relay UE may provide Service Information about services from both Remote Service Providers.

In one or more embodiments, the method further comprises the steps of:

- creating one or more further services based on a selection and/or combination of services provided by said Remote Service Provider and/or said other services provided by said other Remote Service Provider;

- generating a further Service Catalogue comprises information about said further services;

- generating further meta-data, wherein said further meta-data comprises additional information about said further services for said UE;

- providing information about said further Service Catalogue and about said further meta-data to said UE.

An advantage of this embodiment may be that the Relay UE can select and/or combine the services provided by one or more Remote Service Providers and thus can offer selected or new/further services to the UE. For example, the computing capabilities of vehicles (e.g., public busses, garbage trucks, community taxies) equipped with computing, storage, and direct wireless communications technologies can enable new services (e.g., Infotainment-, safety-, or loT-related) for any type of vehicle or UE, which does not possess high performance computing capabilities, but supports any V2X or D2D communication technology (e.g., C-V2X, WiFi).

In one or more further embodiments, the selection and/of combination is based on the respective meta-data.

In one or more embodiments, the information provided to UE about the respective Service Catalogues (i.e. the Service Catalogue, the other Service Catalogue and/or the further Service Catalogue) and about the respective meta-data does not comprise all the information available in the Relay UE about the respective Service Catalogues and about the respective meta-data. That means that the Relay UE is arranged for making a selection from all the received and/or generated information about the Service Catalogues and the respective meta-data and for providing only the selection information to the UE. In one or more further embodiments, the selection is based on the respective meta-data.

An advantage of this may be the reduced requirements for processing power in the UE, since part of the selection of services is executed in the Relay UE.

In one or more embodiments, the method further comprises the step of generating said information about services, other services and/or further services, in which the information is logically structured and/or provided with a hierarchy. An advantage of this embodiments may be that it facilitates automated selection of the services by the UE or by the Relay UE.

According to another aspect of the invention, a method for selecting a relayed service in UE is provided, comprising the steps of:

- establishing a connection between said UE and a Relay UE;

- receiving information about a Service Catalogue of a Remote Service Provider and about meta-data from a Relay UE; wherein said Service Catalogue comprises information about services provided by said Remote Service Provider and wherein said meta-data is generated by said Relay UE and comprises additional information about said services;

- selecting one of said services based on the provided information; and,

- receiving said selected service from the Remote Service Provider relayed by said Relay UE.

According to another aspect of the invention a Relay UE for Service Relaying is provided, comprising a a first communication unit for communicating with a Remote Service Provider and a second communication unit for communicating with a UE; a processing unit connected to said first and second communication unit and arranged for carry out the steps of the method of any of the claims 1 -7 or any further embodiments of said method as described in this document. The first communication unit may be arranged for communicating using a first network and the second communication unit may be arranged for communicating using a second network. In one or more embodiments, the first and second network are different networks, optionally using different network technologies. In one or more embodiments, the first and second communication unit are provided combined in a single communication device.

According to yet another aspect of the invention, a UE for receiving a relayed service is provided, comprising: a communication unit for communicating with a Relay UE; a processing unit connected to said communication unit and arranged for carry out the steps of the method of claims 8 or any further embodiments of said method as described in this document.

According to another aspect of the invention, a computer program is provided, comprising instructions which, when the program is executed by a computer, cause the computer to carry out the steps of the method of any of claims 1 -7 and/or claim 8. Also, a computer-readable medium having stored thereon the computer program of claim 11 is provided.

The working, advantages and embodiments of the Relay UE, the UE as well as the working, advantages, and embodiments of the computer program and computer-readable medium, correspond with the working, advantages and embodiments of the methods as described in this document, mutatis mutandis.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding of the present invention, reference in the following description is made to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 shows a schematic overview of a User Equipment (UE), more specifically a Relay UE, according to one or more embodiments of the invention;

Figure 2 shows a schematic overview of a method for Service Relaying in a Relay UE of Figure 1 , according to one or more embodiments of the invention;

Figure 3 shows a schematic overview a use case of the invention according to one or more embodiment of the invention;

Figure 4 shows a schematic overview another use case of the invention according to one or more embodiment of the invention; and,

Figure 5 shows a schematic overview of a method for selecting a relayed service in UE according to one or more embodiment of the invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Figure 1 shows a schematic overview of an example of a User Equipment (UE) that may function as a Relay UE 100, that relays services or as a UE 350 that receives relayed services.

A Relay UE 100 may comprise a first communication unit 110 for receiving a Service Catalogue and one or more services from a Remote Service Provider and a second communication unit 120 for communicating with a UE and a processing unit 130 connected to said first and second communication unit and arranged for carry out the steps of the method for relaying services as described in this document.

A UE 350 may comprise a communication unit 120 for communicating with a Relay UE and a processing unit 130 connected to said communication unit 120 and arranged for carry out the steps of the methods for selecting relayed services as described in this document.

Figure 3 shows UE 100, 350 and 355 which are vehicles, but each one could be any kind of user equipment, such a mobile phone, a laptop or any other computing device which is arranged for connecting to communication networks. The term “vehicle” may refer to a car, a motorbike, a van, a truck, a bicycle or a scooter. UE 100 and UE 355 are further arranged for relaying services and are thus referred to as a Relay UEs.

In the example of figure 3, Relay UE 100 is connected with a Remote Service Provider 320 using a wireless connection 320 between the Relay UE 100 en a base station 310 and a wired connection 329 between base station 310 and Remote Service Provider 320. In the example of figure 3, Relay UE 100 may be located in a cell of the cellular mobile network served by base station 310.

A Service Catalogue 340 is generated, for example by Remote Service Provider 320, which describes the services that the Remote Service Provider 320 may provide, for example to UE 350. Examples of such services are (i) remote computing, preferably for Artificial Intelligence calculations or Machine Learning calculations (ii) remote data storage and (iii) infotainment.

The Service Catalogue 340 may be stored in a cloud system, a V2X server or another UE or any other data storage device that is connected with Relay UE 100. In the example of figure 3, the Service Catalogue 340 is stored in the Remote Service Provider 330.

Using the connection to this location, the Relay UE 100 may receive the Service Catalogue 340. According to the invention, the Relay UE generates meta-data, which comprises additional information about the services of Service Catalogue for the UE.

From the meta-data it may be derived how the respective service will be experienced by the user of the UE. For the experience of the user, not only the available bandwidth and Quality of Service (latency, jitter) of the connection itself is relevant, but also other aspects. The meta-data may thus relate to the (end-to-end) Quality of Service of a respective service; an estimated processing load of said Relay UE, an estimated use of a network bandwidth; an estimated energy consumption, a battery status of the Relay UE; costs of a respective service, and/or rating of said Remote Service Provider.

In the example of figure 3, the UE 350 is not connected to the cellar mobile network provided by base station 310, for example because UE 350 is too far away from base station 310. Flowever, Relay UE 100 is able to establish a connection 323 between Relay UE 100 and UE 350 using another wireless network.

Relay UE 100 may provide information about the Service Catalogue 340 and about the meta-data to UE 350.

Based on the provided information, UE 350 may select one of the services of Remote Service Provider 330, which is then relayed by Relay UE 100 from the Remote Service Provider 330 to UE 350.

In the example of figure 3, UE 350 is not only connected to Relay UE 100, but also to Relay UE 355 using a connection 325. Relay UE 355 may also be connected with Remote Service Provider 320 using a wireless connection 325 between the Relay UE 355 en base station 310 and the wired connection 329 between base station 310 and Remote Service Provider 320. Relay UE 355 may be located in another cell of the cellular mobile network served by base station 310.

Relay UE 355 may provide UE 350 information regarding the same Service Catalogue 340, but the information about the meta-data it provides to UE 350 may be different. For example, Relay UE 355 may have more processing power available for relaying services than Relay UE 100. On the basis of the provided information, UE 350 may select a certain service relayed by Relay UE 355 rather than relayed by Relay UE 100.

In the example of figure 4, it is the case that Relay UE 100 is not only connected to Remote Service Provider 330, but also to another one, Remote Service Provider 430, that may be able to deliver other services.

Relay UE 100 may be connected with Remote Service Provider 430 using a wireless connection 420 between the Relay UE and another base station 410 and a wired connection 429 between base station 410 and Remote Service Provider 430. Relay UE 100 may thus also be located in a cell of the cellular mobile network served by base station 410.

Information about the other services of Remote Service Provider 430 may be comprised in another Service Catalogue 440. Relay UE 100 may also generate other meta-data, providing additional information about said other services of Remote Service Provider 430. Information about the Service Catalogue and the other meta-data may be provided to UE 350. On the basis of the provided information, UE 350 may select a certain service provided by Remote Service Provider 330 rather than provided Remote Service Provider 430.

In a further embodiment of the invention, a Relay UE may act as a service broker, wherein the Relay UE is arranged for not only relaying services from one or more Remote Service Providers but also for creating one or more further services based on a selection and/or a combination of services provided by said Remote Service Providers. The Relay UE may also generate a further Service Catalogue for these further services and may generate further meta-data, which comprises additional information about the further services that were created.

In the example of figure 4, Relay UE 100 may select and/or combine certain service from Remote Service Provider 330 and Remote Service Provider 430 into a set of new or further services. It may then generate a further Service Catalogue 445 for these services, and it may generate meta-data about them and may provide information about the further Service Catalogue 445 and the meta-data to UE 350. In a further embodiment, Relay UE 100 may be arranged for selecting or combining certain services from the Remote Service Providers 430 and 330 based on the information about their respective Service Catalogues and meta-data and provide the UE 350 only with the information about the further Service Catalogue 445 and the meta-data to UE 350. It will then provide none or only a selected part of information about Service Catalogue 340 and Service Catalogue 430 to UE 350. Thus, it is the Rely UE 100 that selects the services of Remote Service Providers 430 and 330 that which it will offer to UE 350 as relayed services.

In another embodiment, more than one Relay UE may be involved in relaying services to the UE. In the example of figure 4, Relay UE 100 may be connected to another Rely UE 455 using a connection 421 . Relay UE 455 may be arranged for relaying services from yet another Remote Service Provider (not shown in figure 4). Relay UE 455 may then relay services of this Remote Service Provider to Relay UE 100 which in turn relays them to UE 350.

In general, a UE may automatically select (i.e. without a user of the UE making the selection) one of the services based on the provided information. This provided information about services, other services and/or further services, may be logically structured and/or provided with a hierarchy. This will facilitate the automatic selection of services.

Figure 2 shows a schematic overview of a method 200 for service relaying in a Relay UE of Figure 1 .

Embodiments of the method showed in figure 2 may comprise any combination of the following steps:

210 receiving a Service Catalogue (SC) of a Remote Service Provider 220 establishing a connection between said Relay UE and a UE, wherein the Remote Service Provider is arranged for providing services to a UE; wherein Service Catalogue comprises information about said services; wherein the Relay UE is arranged for relaying one or more of said services from the Remote Service Provider to said UE;

230 generating meta-data, wherein said meta-data comprises additional information about said services for said UE;

240 providing information about said Service Catalogue and about said meta-data to said UE; and, 250 when the UE selects one of said services based on said provided information, relaying said selected service from the Remote Service Provider to the UE.

In one or more embodiments the method may further comprise any combination of the following steps:

215 receiving another Service Catalogue from another Remote Service Provider, wherein said other Remote Service Provider is arranged for providing other services to said UE; wherein said other Service Catalogue comprises information about said other services; wherein the Relay UE is arranged for relaying one or more of said other services from said other Remote Service Provider to said UE;

235 generating other meta-data, wherein said other meta-data comprises additional information about said other services for said UE;

245 providing information about said other Service Catalogue and about said other meta-data to said UE.

207 creating one or more further services based on a combination of services provided by said Remote Service Provider and/or said other services provided by said other Remote Service Provider,

217 generating a further Service Catalogue comprises information about said further services;

237 generating further meta-data, wherein said further meta-data comprises additional information about said further services for said UE;

247 providing information about said further Service Catalogue and about said further meta-data to said UE.

Figure 5 shows a schematic overview of a method 500 for selecting a relayed service in UE according to one or more embodiment of the invention.

Embodiments of the method showed in figure 5 may comprise any combination of the following steps:

510 establishing a connection between said UE and a Relay UE;

520 receiving information about a Service Catalogue of a Remote Service Provider and about meta-data from a Relay UE; wherein said Service Catalogue comprises information about services provided by said Remote Service Provider and wherein said meta-data is generated by said Relay UE and comprises additional information about said services;

530 selecting one of said services based on the provided information; and,

540 receiving said selected service from the Remote Service Provider relayed by said Relay UE.

Those of skill will appreciate that the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or combinations of both. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps have been described above generally in terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system. Those of skill in the art may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present invention.

The previous description of the disclosed embodiments is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the present invention. Various modifications to these embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Thus, the present invention is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown herein but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

The benefits and advantages that may be provided by the present invention have been described above with regard to specific embodiments. These benefits and advantages, and any elements or limitations that may cause them to occur or to become more pronounced are not to be construed as critical, required, or essential features of any or all of the claims. As used herein, the terms “comprises,” “comprising,” or any other variations thereof, are intended to be interpreted as non-exclusively including the elements or limitations which follow those terms. Accordingly, a system, method, or other embodiment that comprises a set of elements is not limited to only those elements and may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to the claimed embodiment. While the present invention has been described with reference to particular embodiments, it should be understood that the embodiments are illustrative and that the scope of the invention is not limited to these embodiments. Many variations, modifications, additions and improvements to the embodiments described above are possible. It is contemplated that these variations, modifications, additions and improvements fall within the scope of the invention as detailed within the following claims.

Claims

1. Method for Service Relaying in a Relay UE, comprising the steps of:

- receiving a Service Catalogue (SC) of a Remote Service Provider,

- establishing a connection between said Relay UE and a UE, wherein the Remote Service Provider is arranged for providing services to a UE; wherein the Service Catalogue comprises information about said services; wherein the Relay UE is arranged for relaying one or more of said services from the Remote Service Provider to said UE;

- generating meta-data, wherein said meta-data comprises additional information about said services for said UE;

- providing information about said Service Catalogue and about said meta-data to said UE; and,

- when the UE selects one of said services based on said provided information, relaying said selected service from the Remote Service Provider to the UE.

2. Method according to claim 1 , wherein said meta-data comprises additional information regarding at least one of a group comprising:

- Quality of Service of a respective service;

- estimated processing load of said Relay UE;

- estimated use of a network bandwidth;

- estimated energy consumption;

- battery status of the Relay UE;

- costs of a respective service; and,

- rating of said Remote Service Provider.

3. Method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein said services comprise services at a connection layer and/or services at an application layer, wherein preferably said services at an application-layer comprise at least one of a group comprising:

- remote computing, preferably for Artificial Intelligence calculations or Machine Learning calculations;

- remote storage of data;

- infotainment.

4. Method according to any of the preceding claims wherein said Service Catalogue is received from at least one of a group comprising:

- a cloud system;

- a V2X server;

- a Remote Service Provider; and,

- another UE.

5. Method according to any of the preceding claims, further comprising the steps of:

- receiving another Service Catalogue from another Remote Service Provider, wherein said other Remote Service Provider is arranged for providing other services to said UE; wherein said other Service Catalogue comprises information about said other services; wherein the Relay UE is arranged for relaying one or more of said other services from said other Remote Service Provider to said UE;

- generating other meta-data, wherein said other meta-data comprises additional information about said other services for said UE;

- providing information about said other Service Catalogue and about said other meta-data to said UE.

6. Method according to the preceding claim, further comprising the step of:

- creating one or more further services based on a selection and/or combination of services provided by said Remote Service Provider and/or said other services provided by said other Remote Service Provider,

7. Method according to any of the preceding claims, further comprising the step of generating said information about services, other services and/or further services, in which the information is logically structured and/or provided with a hierarchy.

8. Method for selecting a relayed Service in UE, comprising the steps of:

- establishing a connection between said UE and a Relay UE;

- selecting one of said services based on the provided information; and,

9. A Rely UE for Service Relaying, comprising a

- a first communication unit for communication with a Remote Service Provider and a second communication unit for communicating with a UE;

- a processing unit connected to said first and second communication unit and arranged for carry out the steps of the method of any of the claims 1 -7.

10. A UE for receiving a relayed Service, comprising:

- a communication unit for communicating with a Relay UE;

- a processing unit connected to said communication unit and arranged for carry out the steps of the method of claims 8.

11.A computer program comprising instructions which, when the program is executed by a computer, cause the computer to carry out the steps of the method of any of claims 1-7 and/or claim 8.

12. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon the computer program of claim 11.