WO2010031427A1 - Monitoring relayed connection in cellular communication system - Google Patents

Monitoring relayed connection in cellular communication system Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2010031427A1
WO2010031427A1 PCT/EP2008/062329 EP2008062329W WO2010031427A1 WO 2010031427 A1 WO2010031427 A1 WO 2010031427A1 EP 2008062329 W EP2008062329 W EP 2008062329W WO 2010031427 A1 WO2010031427 A1 WO 2010031427A1
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
parameter
relayed
communication link
relay terminal
monitored
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/EP2008/062329
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Kari Horneman
Vinh Van Phan
Original Assignee
Nokia Siemens Networks Oy
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Nokia Siemens Networks Oy filed Critical Nokia Siemens Networks Oy
Priority to PCT/EP2008/062329 priority Critical patent/WO2010031427A1/en
Publication of WO2010031427A1 publication Critical patent/WO2010031427A1/en

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Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L12/00—Data switching networks
    • H04L12/02—Details
    • H04L12/14—Charging, metering or billing arrangements for data wireline or wireless communications
    • H04L12/1453—Methods or systems for payment or settlement of the charges for data transmission involving significant interaction with the data transmission network
    • H04L12/1471—Methods or systems for payment or settlement of the charges for data transmission involving significant interaction with the data transmission network splitting of costs
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L12/00—Data switching networks
    • H04L12/02—Details
    • H04L12/14—Charging, metering or billing arrangements for data wireline or wireless communications
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L43/00—Arrangements for monitoring or testing data switching networks
    • H04L43/08—Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters
    • H04L43/0876—Network utilisation, e.g. volume of load or congestion level
    • H04L43/0882—Utilisation of link capacity
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04M2215/00—Metering arrangements; Time controlling arrangements; Time indicating arrangements
    • H04M2215/20—Technology dependant metering
    • H04M2215/204—UMTS; GPRS
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W24/00—Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements
    • H04W24/08—Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic

Definitions

  • the invention relates to the field of relayed cellular radio telecommunications and, particularly, to monitoring relayed communication links in such a system.
  • Modern cellular telecommunication systems and terminals of such systems are capable of supporting device-to-device communication capabilities for efficient and cost-effective content delivery, network operation and performance. Accordingly, two terminals located relatively close to each other in the same cell may be configured by the network to communicate over a direct connection instead of routing the data through a cellular network. It is even known that an ad hoc network among multiple terminal devices may be formed based on the IEEE 802.1 1 standard, for example, and connections with the cellular network may utilize this ad hoc network to improve the overall coverage and performance of the cellular system. This is implemented by providing a shadowed terminal device with a relayed connection to a serving base station through a relay terminal.
  • the relayed link utilizes a device-to- device connection between the shadowed terminal device and the relay terminal and a regular cellular connection between the relay terminal and the serving base station. As a consequence, the relayed terminal effectively relays data of the shadowed terminal device.
  • a mobile terminal as specified in claim 23.
  • an apparatus as specified in claim 25.
  • a computer program product embodied on a computer readable distribution medium as specified in claim 27.
  • Figure 1 illustrates utilization of relayed communication links in a cell of a mobile telecommunication system
  • Figure 2 illustrates a process for implementing fair charging and rewarding for the utilization of the relayed communication links
  • FIG. 3 illustrates the structure of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the invention
  • Figure 4 illustrates an embodiment of a relay link controller implemented in a terminal device according to an embodiment of the invention
  • Figure 5 illustrates communication with respect to verifying the parameters related to a relayed communication link
  • Figure 6 illustrates an embodiment of a process for monitoring the load of the relayed communication link on the relay terminal and for verifying the monitored load
  • Figure 7 illustrates an embodiment of a process for reducing signaling overhead with respect to the termination of the relayed communication links.
  • Figure 1 illustrates communication links in a cell 102 of a mobile telecommunication system according to an embodiment of the invention.
  • the cell 102 is associated with a base station 100 controlling communications within the cell.
  • the cell 102 controlled by the base station 100 may be divided into sectors.
  • the base station 100 may control cellular radio communication links established between the base station 100 and a plurality of terminal devices 1 10 to 122 located within the cell 102.
  • device-to-device connections and ad hoc networks may be established among the terminal devices 1 10 to 122.
  • Let us now discriminate the cellular radio connections from the device-to- device connections by denoting that a cellular radio communication link is established directly between a terminal device and the base station 100, and the cellular radio communication link may be established and operated according to a given radio standard supported by the mobile communication system of the base station 100.
  • a radio standard may be a long-term evolution of the UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunication System), for example.
  • the terminal device may support other communication protocol standards, such as GSM, GPRS, EDGE.
  • device-to-device communication links are established directly between two terminal devices, e.g. between terminal devices 118 and 120 in Figure 1.
  • the device-to-device connections may be based on cognitive radio technology.
  • the terminal devices may be equipped with cognitive radio capability to provide the device-to-device communication links according to any of a plurality of radio access technologies.
  • the terminal devices are equipped with capability to adaptively select one of the supported radio access technologies according to the communication environment.
  • Such radio access technologies may include standard and non- standard radio access technologies, e.g. Wireless LAN (IEEE 802.11 ), Bluetooth ®, Ultra Wide Band.
  • the radio access technologies may operate on the same frequency band as the cellular communication links and/or outside those frequency bands to provide the arrangement with flexibility.
  • Terminal devices supporting the device-to-device connections may be used to implement relayed communication links, wherein a communication link between a first terminal device (source terminal) and a serving base station is established through a second terminal device operating as a relay terminal. Efficient utilization of relayed communication links improves the capacity and coverage of the cellular telecommunication system.
  • the selection of whether to use a direct or relayed connection may be made by the terminal device itself, by the serving base station in a centralized manner, or as a result of negotiation between the terminal device and the serving base station. Since user terminals are used as relay transmitters, such relay terminals transfer not only data related to applications executed in the user terminal itself but also data related to applications executed in the source terminal(s).
  • the user of the relay terminal does not want to pay for the data he does not transfer with respect to his own application. Furthermore, the relay terminal should be rewarded for providing assistance in improving the performance of the cellular system. Therefore, a procedure for determining the load the relayed communication link on the relay terminal is needed to implement fair charging and rewarding for the relayed communication links. This procedure should also be transparent to the user.
  • Figure 2 illustrates a process for determining the load of the relayed connection on the relay terminal.
  • Figure 2 illustrates the process on a general level, and the process may be carried out by a controller applicable to the relay terminal, source terminal, and/or a network element monitoring the relayed connections.
  • a network element should be considered to exclude mobile terminal devices, i.e. the network element is an element of the cellular communication network providing the mobile terminals with wireless communication services.
  • the process starts in block 200.
  • a relayed communication link between a source terminal and a serving base station is provided through a relay terminal.
  • the relayed communication link has been established and data is transferred over the relayed communication link.
  • a parameter indicating the load of the relayed communication link on the relay terminal is monitored.
  • the parameter is monitored in at least one of the terminal devices, i.e. in the source and/or relay terminal. Additionally, the network element monitors the parameter.
  • the monitored parameter may include at least one of the following: amount of data transferred over the relayed communication link, duration of the communication link, portion of the radio resources of the relay terminal used for the relayed link.
  • the monitored parameter value(s) are verified between at least two entities of the relayed communication link upon termination of the relayed communication link.
  • This block may include exchange of monitored parameter value(s) and comparison of the parameter values.
  • the parameter value(s) may be stored in memory storage of the network for charging and rewarding purposes.
  • the parameter values may be stored together with an identifier of the relay terminal and the source terminal so that the source terminal may be charged of the transferred data and the relay terminal may be rewarded for improving the performance of the network.
  • the reward of the relay terminal may be implemented in the form of calls and data transfer free of charge, or in any other manner the operator can think of.
  • the actual implementation of the actual charging based on the verified and stored information may be performed in a manner each operator chooses.
  • Figure 3 illustrates functional elements of an apparatus implementing the process of Figure 2.
  • the apparatus may be a controller applicable to the terminal device or network element implementing the process of Figure 2.
  • the controller comprises an interface 306 to enable transmission and reception of signals and information related to the relayed communication links.
  • the interface 306 may provide a connection to signal processing elements that perform signal processing necessary for transmission and/or reception of radio signals.
  • the interface 306 may be a software interface to other software modules executed by the same physical controller implemented by a digital signal processor, micro controller, etc.
  • the controller further comprises a relay link controller 302 configured to control the relayed communication links through exchange of signals through the interface 306.
  • the relay link controller 302 handles the communication with the network side with respect to the establishment of the relayed communication link (resource allocation and configuration of the link), establishment of a device-to-device connection with the source terminal indicated by the network, transfer of data over the relayed connection, and termination of the relayed connection including release of the device-to-device connection and release of the relayed connection between the relay terminal and the serving base station.
  • the relay link controller 302 performs the exchange of the monitored parameter values with the source terminal and/or the network upon termination of the relayed communication link.
  • the relay link controller 302 handles the establishment of the relayed communication link to the serving base station through the relay terminal by establishing a device-to- device connection with the source terminal and a logical connection associated with the device-to-device connection with the serving base station.
  • the parameters of the device-to-device connection may be received from either the relay terminal or from the base station through dedicated signaling or through broadcast signaling.
  • the controller 302 also handles the operation and the termination of the device-to-device connection as well as the exchange of the monitored parameter values with the source terminal and/or the network upon termination of the relayed communication link.
  • the relay link controller 302 controls the assignment, operation, and termination of the relayed communication links.
  • the relay link controller 302 controls also the exchange of the monitored parameter values with at least one of the terminals of the relayed communication link and verification of the parameter values.
  • the relay link controller 302 sets out rules for the exchange and verification of the parameter values if the rules are not fixed and known to all parties of the relayed communication link beforehand.
  • the rules may include definitions as to where the verification is carried out and which terminals should exchange the parameter values.
  • the relay link controller 302 may inform the terminals of the rules through dedicated signaling or broadcast signaling.
  • the controller also comprises a relay link parameter monitoring unit 300 configured to monitor one or more parameters of the relayed communication link.
  • the one or more parameters may include at least one of the following: amount of data transferred over the relayed communication link, duration of the communication link, a portion of the radio resources of the relay terminal used for the relayed link.
  • the last parameter may be monitored in the relay terminal and/or in the network.
  • the relay link parameter monitoring unit 300 may store the start time and stop time of the relayed communication link to determine the duration of the link. The start time may be acquired upon detection of confirmation signaling indicating completion of the establishment of the link, and the stop time may be acquired upon detection of confirmation signaling indicating release of the link.
  • the relay link parameter monitoring unit 300 may monitor the amount of data transferred over the relayed communication link on a layer below an application layer.
  • Conventional mobile terminals are capable of monitoring data transferred on the application layer but that would not work in the scenario of the present invention, because a portion of the data transferred in the application layer may be transferred over the relayed link, while another portion may be transferred over a direct link. This is because of the mobility of the source and relay terminals, which causes handovers to/from the relay terminals. Accordingly, the monitoring carried out on the application layer cannot discriminate the portion of the data transferred over the relayed link.
  • the relay link parameter monitoring unit 300 monitors layer two (data link layer) and/or layer three (network layer) data. Additionally, the relay link parameter monitoring unit 300 may store a priority level of the relayed link. The priority level may be taken into account when determining the rewarding of the relay terminal. The priority level may be indicated as a quality-of-service (QoS) classification (conversational, streaming, interactive, background), for example. The higher is the priority of the relayed link, the better should the relay terminal be rewarded.
  • QoS quality-of-service
  • the relay link parameter monitoring unit 300 may receive, through the relay link controller 302, one or more parameter values monitored by another party of the link. Then, the relay link parameter monitoring unit 300 may compare the received values with corresponding values monitored by itself and, thereby, verify the parameter values. Upon verification, the verified parameter values may be stored in the memory storage 304 for later charging and/or rewarding. Below, it is described how to solve a conflict in the verification, e.g. mismatch between the parameter values.
  • FIG. 4 illustrates a more detailed structure of the relay link controller 302 in order to illustrate the relayed link concept in the relay terminal.
  • the source terminal may also be configured to function as the relay terminal, i.e. the source terminal and the relay terminal may in practice have the same physical structure.
  • the relay link controller 302 comprises radio interface components 406 capable of providing radio communication parameters according to the physical layer protocols of one or more cellular telecommunication systems supported by the terminal device. Additionally, the radio interface components 406 may be configured to provide radio communication parameters according to a plurality of device-to-device radio communication protocols, e.g. one or more of the radio communication protocols listed above.
  • the radio interface components 406 may include digital signal processing elements capable of providing multiple modulation, coding, and other signal processing operations on the baseband for signals to be transmitted and/or received. Additionally, the radio interface components 406 may comprise analog components, at least some of which may be software defined to provide support for the wide range of radio access technologies.
  • the relay link controller 302 further comprises a higher-level controller 400 controlling the operation and inter-operability of both cellular radio communication links with the serving base station and other parts of the serving cellular network and the cognitive radio based device-to-device communication links with the other terminal devices.
  • the communication controller 400 may provide linking between the cognitive radio connections and the cellular radio connections to provide the relayed link.
  • the communication controller 400 Upon establishment of the relayed communication link through the relay terminal, the communication controller 400 receives data from the source terminal and maps the data to the logical connection established between the communication controller 400 and the serving base station. Similarly, the communication controller maps the data received from the serving base station over the established logical connection to the device-to-device connection.
  • the relay terminal may both provide other terminal devices with a relayed connection or use the cognitive radio connection to establish a device-to-device connection to another terminal device in order to benefit from a relayed connection provided by the other terminal device, i.e. it may also function as the source terminal.
  • the communication controller 400 may be configured to establish a radio resource control (RRC) connection with the serving base station in order to control the operation and parameters of the relayed communication link. Properties of the device-to-device connections of the relay terminal may be directly configured by the base station through RRC signaling.
  • the RRC signaling may be used to configure the radio access technologies and communication parameters of the cognitive radio communication links.
  • the communication controller 400 comprises two sub-controllers: a cognitive radio communication controller 402 and a cellular radio communication controller 404.
  • the cellular radio communication controller 404 is configured to establish, operate, and terminate cellular radio connections with a serving base station of a serving cellular network.
  • the cellular radio communication controller 404 may also convey data and control signals related to the cognitive radio communication links under the control of the higher-level communication controller 400 so as to provide another terminal device with a relayed connection.
  • the base station may control the device-to-device connections in order to provide efficient utilization of radio resources in the cell. Accordingly, the communication controller 400 may communicate with the serving base station through the cellular radio communication controller 404 in order to negotiate radio access technologies for use in direct device-to-device Communications with the other terminal devices in the same cell and communication parameters to be used.
  • the cognitive radio communication controller 402 is configured to establish, operate, and terminate cognitive radio connections (device-to-device connections) established with the other terminal devices.
  • the cognitive radio communication controller 402 may receive the radio access technologies and communication parameters available for use from the communication controller 400. Then, the cognitive radio communication controller 402 may determine the communication parameters to be used in the cognitive radio communication link on the basis of the available communication parameters and the channel environment between the two terminal devices between which the device-to-device connection is to be established.
  • the cognitive radio communication controller 402 may negotiate about the communication parameters to be used with a corresponding cognitive radio communication controller in the source terminal.
  • the determination of the communication parameters may include the determination of modulation and coding schemes, frequency band, bandwidth, data rate, transport block size, diversity method, etc.
  • Figure 5 is a signaling diagram illustrating communication with respect to the termination of the relayed communication link and associated verification of the monitored parameter value(s).
  • the relayed communication link between the source terminal and the base station has already been established through the relay terminal, and data is transferred over the relayed communication link.
  • One or more parameters indicating the load of the relayed link on the relay terminal are also monitored.
  • the parameter(s) are monitored in all parties of the relayed communication link, i.e. in the source terminal, relay terminal, and the base station (or another monitoring unit connected to the base station).
  • a termination procedure with respect to the relayed communication link is initiated in the base station, relay terminal, and source terminal.
  • the termination of the relayed link may be initiated by the network on the basis of a channel measurement report received from either terminal, the report indicating that the relayed link should be handed over. Accordingly, the termination of the relayed link does not mean that the connection between the source terminal and the network is terminated.
  • the termination of the relayed link may be initiated by the relay terminal as a consequence of low battery power, for example, or by the source terminal upon termination of the whole connection as a consequence of closing an application.
  • the release of the relayed communication link is negotiated between the source terminal and the base station.
  • the negotiation may be carried out as RRC signaling, and the exchange of the monitored parameter values may also be embedded in the RRC signaling terminating the relayed link.
  • the source terminal sends the monitored parameter values to the serving base station in S4.
  • the base station may also send the monitored parameter values to the source terminal in S4 so that the verification may be carried out either in the network or in both the network and the source terminal.
  • the parameter values may be transmitted in a signaling frame comprising a request for terminating the relayed communication link or in a signaling frame comprising a confirmation of the termination of the relayed communication link.
  • the verification of the parameter values monitored by the source terminal and the network is carried out in S4 either in the network or in both the network and the source terminal. If the source terminal carries out the verification, the source terminal may send the result of the verification to the network.
  • S5 and S6 a similar procedure to that performed in S3 and S4 is carried out between the base station and the relay terminal. Accordingly, the release of the relayed communication link is negotiated between the relay terminal and the base station in S5, and the monitored parameter values are sent from the relay terminal to the base station (or another network element), or the monitored parameter values are exchanged between the relay terminal and the base station in S6. Additionally, the verification of the parameter values is carried out in S6 in the same manner as described in connection with S4. Additionally, the procedure may comprise negotiation of the termination of the device-to-device connection between the source terminal and the relay terminal. Then, the parameter exchange and verification may also be carried out. In S7, the relayed communication link termination procedure is ended.
  • the relay terminal sends its battery power status to the serving base station together with the monitored parameter value(s).
  • the base station may utilize the knowledge of the battery status of the relay terminal in future relay terminal assignments, and the signaling overhead may be reduced by combining the transmitted signaling information.
  • Figure 6 illustrates a process for monitoring the load of the relayed communication link on the relay terminal according to an embodiment of the invention.
  • the process is a more detailed description of the process of Figure 2 and, therefore, it may be carried out in the network element monitoring the relayed connections, in the relay terminal itself, and/or in the source terminal.
  • the process starts in block 600, and the relayed communication link is established in block 602.
  • block 604 at least one parameter indicating the load of the relayed link on the relay terminal is monitored.
  • Block 606 the termination of the relayed communication link is initiated.
  • Block 606 may be performed upon reception of a request to release the relayed link or upon detection of an event requiring the termination of the relayed link.
  • a request for releasing the relayed connection may be transmitted to one or more other parties of the relayed communication link.
  • the parameter value(s) monitored by one or more of the other parties of the relayed communication link is/are received.
  • the parameter value(s) may be received from the relay terminal and/or the source terminal.
  • the parameter value(s) may be received in connection with reception of a request for releasing the relayed connection or in connection with confirmation of the release of the relayed connection.
  • the received parameter values are compared in block 610 with the corresponding parameter values monitored in block 604.
  • the parameter values indicate the load of the relayed connection on the relay terminal at the time when the termination procedure of the relayed connection is started.
  • a predetermined error tolerance may be set so as to define whether or not the compared values are sufficiently close to one another. If the received parameter value equals to the parameter value monitored in block 604 plus/minus the error tolerance, it is determined that the compared parameter values match with one another, and the process moves to block 614, where a positive verification is acknowledged.
  • the acknowledgment may comprise transmission of an acknowledgment message to the other party whose parameter value(s) were compared in block 610.
  • the verified parameter value(s) are stored in the memory storage together with identifiers of both the source terminal and the relay terminal so that the fair charging and rewarding can be achieved. In practice only one of the corresponding parameter value(s) compared needs to be stored, because it has been confirmed that they are the same within the error tolerance. In block 618, the relayed communication link is terminated.
  • the process proceeds to block 620, where the conflict is reported to the other party of the relayed link whose parameter value(s) were compared. Then, all the parameter values and the identifiers of the parties associated with each parameter value are stored for later use. Then, the relayed communication link is terminated in block 618.
  • Telecommunication networks typically include a third party monitoring element, e.g. a server, which monitors connections in the network.
  • a third party monitoring element e.g. a server
  • Such a monitoring element may be configured to monitor also relayed communication links in the radio access network of the telecommunication system and to monitor the parameters described above. Therefore, the parameter values stored in block 622 and corresponding parameter values monitored by the monitoring element are compared in block 624, and the values of the monitoring element are considered to give the true account.
  • the comparison may be performed so as to find out which one of the network element, relay terminal, and source terminal provided a wrong value, and a self-check or a reset procedure may be started in the element that provided the wrong value. Then, the correct values are stored in the memory storage.
  • the process of Figure 2 may be modified depending on the device where it is implemented. If the process is implemented in the network element, the procedure may be carried out as described above. On the other hand, if the process is carried out in the relay terminal and if the comparison is determined to happen only in the network element, the relay terminal may simply send the parameter value(s) to the network element and terminate the relayed link upon reception of the conflict report or acknowledgement from the network element, instead of executing blocks 608 to 616 and 624. If the comparison is carried out also in the relay terminal, block 616 may still be omitted, because the parameter values should be stored in a database comprised in the memory storage of the network so that the operator may have access to the database.
  • FIG. 7 illustrates a process for reducing signaling overhead, when the relayed communication link is short-lived or did not transfer much data. The process may be included in the process of Figure 6, but it is described as a separate process for simplicity.
  • the blocks with the same reference numerals as those in the process of Figure 6 refer to the same operations. Therefore, blocks 600 to 606 are executed in the process, as described above.
  • block 700 the parameter value(s) monitored in block 604 are read, and in block 702 it is determined whether or not the monitored parameter value(s) is/are below one or more of the predetermined thresholds.
  • the process moves to block 704, where the exchange, verification, and storage of the parameter value(s) are omitted, and the link is then terminated in block 618.
  • the relayed link was simply a signaling connection which did not transfer any payload data, it is unnecessary to carry out the verification. It is to be noted that in this case regular records of the relayed connection, such as date and starting time, may still be stored for bookkeeping purposes.
  • the monitored parameter value is the amount of data transferred over the relayed communication link.
  • Two threshold levels for the execution of block 702 may be set.
  • a first threshold defines the lower bound for the total amount of data transferred over the relayed link.
  • the amount of data may be indicated as the amount of layer 2 or 3 data.
  • a second threshold specifies an error tolerance for the error in the monitored amount of data.
  • the second threshold is preferably smaller than the first threshold.
  • the process may be executed in the relay terminal and in the source terminal.
  • the termination of the relayed communication link is initiated as a result of a release request communicated between the relay/source terminal and the base station.
  • the monitored amount of data is first compared with the second threshold.
  • the process moves to block 704, where the exchange, verification, and storage of the parameter values are omitted. Additionally, the connection release signaling between the relay terminal and the source terminal is omitted in order to further reduce signaling overhead. As a consequence, the connection release signaling is carried out between the relay terminal and the base station and between the source terminal and the base station. If the monitored amount of data is higher than the second threshold, the amount of data is compared with the first threshold. If the monitored amount of data is lower than the first threshold, the process moves to block 704, where the exchange, verification, and storage of the parameter values are omitted. However, the connection release signaling between the relay terminal and the source terminal is carried out.
  • the relayed communication link is considered as a small session, and the load of such small sessions on the relay terminal may be calculated as a number of the small sessions.
  • the relay terminal may report to the network the number of small sessions periodically or when a sufficient number of small sessions has been provided, for example.
  • the network element may then carry out the verification of the number of small sessions upon reception of the number of small sessions observed by the relay terminal. If the monitored amount of data is higher than the first threshold, the process moves to block 706.
  • the amount of data was used as an example in the previous embodiment, it is obvious to one skilled in the art to modify the embodiment by replacing the amount of data with the duration of the relayed communication link or with any other monitored parameter value.
  • multiple parameter values e.g. both the amount of data and the duration, may be used in this embodiment.
  • a given monitored value may be compared with two (or more) error tolerance or minimum amount/duration values.
  • the rule on how to proceed in each case may be defined according to the implementation, e.g. both the duration and the amount of data must be lower/higher than the corresponding thresholds.
  • the rules for the verification, any threshold values, etc. may be predefined and known to all parties of the relayed communication link before establishing the relayed link, or they may be communicated by the base station to the relay terminal and the source terminal during the establishment of the relayed communication link.
  • the base station may inform the terminals through broadcast signaling and/or dedicated control signaling.
  • the processes or methods described in Figures 2, 6 and 7 may also be carried out in the form of a computer process defined by a computer program.
  • the computer program may be in source code form, object code form, or in some intermediate form, and it may be stored on a carrier, which may be any entity or device capable of carrying the program.
  • Such carriers include a record medium, computer memory, read-only memory, electrical carrier signal, telecommunications signal, and software distribution package, for example.
  • the computer program may be executed in a single electronic digital processing unit or it may be distributed amongst a number of processing units.

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Abstract

The present invention presents a solution for fair charging and rewarding when utilizing a relayed communication link in a cellular telecommunication system, wherein the relayed communication link between a terminal and a base station is provided through another terminal (relay terminal). A parameter indicating the load of the relayed communication link on the relay terminal is monitored in at least one of the terminals, and the monitored parameter value may be verified between at least two parties of the relayed communication link upon termination of the relayed communication link. Accordingly, the relay terminal will not be charged for the data transferred over the relayed link, and a fair reward may be given to the relay terminal for its help in improving the performance of the cellular telecommunication system.

Description

Monitoring Relayed Connection in Cellular Communication System
Field
The invention relates to the field of relayed cellular radio telecommunications and, particularly, to monitoring relayed communication links in such a system.
Background
Modern cellular telecommunication systems and terminals of such systems are capable of supporting device-to-device communication capabilities for efficient and cost-effective content delivery, network operation and performance. Accordingly, two terminals located relatively close to each other in the same cell may be configured by the network to communicate over a direct connection instead of routing the data through a cellular network. It is even known that an ad hoc network among multiple terminal devices may be formed based on the IEEE 802.1 1 standard, for example, and connections with the cellular network may utilize this ad hoc network to improve the overall coverage and performance of the cellular system. This is implemented by providing a shadowed terminal device with a relayed connection to a serving base station through a relay terminal. The relayed link utilizes a device-to- device connection between the shadowed terminal device and the relay terminal and a regular cellular connection between the relay terminal and the serving base station. As a consequence, the relayed terminal effectively relays data of the shadowed terminal device.
Brief description According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method as specified in claim 1 .
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus as specified in claim 12.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a mobile terminal as specified in claim 23.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a network element as specified in claim 24.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus as specified in claim 25. According to yet another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer program product embodied on a computer readable distribution medium as specified in claim 27.
Embodiments of the invention are defined in the dependent claims.
List of drawings
Embodiments of the present invention are described below, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which
Figure 1 illustrates utilization of relayed communication links in a cell of a mobile telecommunication system; Figure 2 illustrates a process for implementing fair charging and rewarding for the utilization of the relayed communication links;
Figure 3 illustrates the structure of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the invention;
Figure 4 illustrates an embodiment of a relay link controller implemented in a terminal device according to an embodiment of the invention;
Figure 5 illustrates communication with respect to verifying the parameters related to a relayed communication link;
Figure 6 illustrates an embodiment of a process for monitoring the load of the relayed communication link on the relay terminal and for verifying the monitored load;
Figure 7 illustrates an embodiment of a process for reducing signaling overhead with respect to the termination of the relayed communication links.
Description of embodiments Figure 1 illustrates communication links in a cell 102 of a mobile telecommunication system according to an embodiment of the invention. Referring to Figure 1 , the cell 102 is associated with a base station 100 controlling communications within the cell. The cell 102 controlled by the base station 100 may be divided into sectors. The base station 100 may control cellular radio communication links established between the base station 100 and a plurality of terminal devices 1 10 to 122 located within the cell 102.
As noted in the background section, device-to-device connections and ad hoc networks may be established among the terminal devices 1 10 to 122. Let us now discriminate the cellular radio connections from the device-to- device connections by denoting that a cellular radio communication link is established directly between a terminal device and the base station 100, and the cellular radio communication link may be established and operated according to a given radio standard supported by the mobile communication system of the base station 100. Such a standard may be a long-term evolution of the UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunication System), for example. Additionally, the terminal device may support other communication protocol standards, such as GSM, GPRS, EDGE.
Furthermore, device-to-device communication links are established directly between two terminal devices, e.g. between terminal devices 118 and 120 in Figure 1. The device-to-device connections may be based on cognitive radio technology. Accordingly, the terminal devices may be equipped with cognitive radio capability to provide the device-to-device communication links according to any of a plurality of radio access technologies. Moreover, the terminal devices are equipped with capability to adaptively select one of the supported radio access technologies according to the communication environment. Such radio access technologies may include standard and non- standard radio access technologies, e.g. Wireless LAN (IEEE 802.11 ), Bluetooth ®, Ultra Wide Band. The radio access technologies may operate on the same frequency band as the cellular communication links and/or outside those frequency bands to provide the arrangement with flexibility.
Terminal devices supporting the device-to-device connections may be used to implement relayed communication links, wherein a communication link between a first terminal device (source terminal) and a serving base station is established through a second terminal device operating as a relay terminal. Efficient utilization of relayed communication links improves the capacity and coverage of the cellular telecommunication system. The selection of whether to use a direct or relayed connection may be made by the terminal device itself, by the serving base station in a centralized manner, or as a result of negotiation between the terminal device and the serving base station. Since user terminals are used as relay transmitters, such relay terminals transfer not only data related to applications executed in the user terminal itself but also data related to applications executed in the source terminal(s). The user of the relay terminal does not want to pay for the data he does not transfer with respect to his own application. Furthermore, the relay terminal should be rewarded for providing assistance in improving the performance of the cellular system. Therefore, a procedure for determining the load the relayed communication link on the relay terminal is needed to implement fair charging and rewarding for the relayed communication links. This procedure should also be transparent to the user.
Let us refer to Figure 2 and describe the general concept of providing such a procedure according to an embodiment of the invention. Figure 2 illustrates a process for determining the load of the relayed connection on the relay terminal. Figure 2 illustrates the process on a general level, and the process may be carried out by a controller applicable to the relay terminal, source terminal, and/or a network element monitoring the relayed connections. Such a network element should be considered to exclude mobile terminal devices, i.e. the network element is an element of the cellular communication network providing the mobile terminals with wireless communication services. The process starts in block 200.
In block 202, a relayed communication link between a source terminal and a serving base station is provided through a relay terminal. In other words, the relayed communication link has been established and data is transferred over the relayed communication link. In block 204, a parameter indicating the load of the relayed communication link on the relay terminal is monitored. The parameter is monitored in at least one of the terminal devices, i.e. in the source and/or relay terminal. Additionally, the network element monitors the parameter. The monitored parameter may include at least one of the following: amount of data transferred over the relayed communication link, duration of the communication link, portion of the radio resources of the relay terminal used for the relayed link. In block 206, the monitored parameter value(s) are verified between at least two entities of the relayed communication link upon termination of the relayed communication link. This block may include exchange of monitored parameter value(s) and comparison of the parameter values. After verification, the parameter value(s) may be stored in memory storage of the network for charging and rewarding purposes. The parameter values may be stored together with an identifier of the relay terminal and the source terminal so that the source terminal may be charged of the transferred data and the relay terminal may be rewarded for improving the performance of the network. The reward of the relay terminal may be implemented in the form of calls and data transfer free of charge, or in any other manner the operator can think of. The actual implementation of the actual charging based on the verified and stored information may be performed in a manner each operator chooses.
Figure 3 illustrates functional elements of an apparatus implementing the process of Figure 2. The apparatus may be a controller applicable to the terminal device or network element implementing the process of Figure 2. The controller comprises an interface 306 to enable transmission and reception of signals and information related to the relayed communication links. The interface 306 may provide a connection to signal processing elements that perform signal processing necessary for transmission and/or reception of radio signals. Alternatively, the interface 306 may be a software interface to other software modules executed by the same physical controller implemented by a digital signal processor, micro controller, etc.
The controller further comprises a relay link controller 302 configured to control the relayed communication links through exchange of signals through the interface 306. When the controller operates in the relay terminal, the relay link controller 302 handles the communication with the network side with respect to the establishment of the relayed communication link (resource allocation and configuration of the link), establishment of a device-to-device connection with the source terminal indicated by the network, transfer of data over the relayed connection, and termination of the relayed connection including release of the device-to-device connection and release of the relayed connection between the relay terminal and the serving base station. The relay link controller 302 performs the exchange of the monitored parameter values with the source terminal and/or the network upon termination of the relayed communication link.
When the controller operates in the source terminal, the relay link controller 302 handles the establishment of the relayed communication link to the serving base station through the relay terminal by establishing a device-to- device connection with the source terminal and a logical connection associated with the device-to-device connection with the serving base station. The parameters of the device-to-device connection may be received from either the relay terminal or from the base station through dedicated signaling or through broadcast signaling. The controller 302 also handles the operation and the termination of the device-to-device connection as well as the exchange of the monitored parameter values with the source terminal and/or the network upon termination of the relayed communication link. When the controller operates in the network, the relay link controller 302 controls the assignment, operation, and termination of the relayed communication links. The relay link controller 302 controls also the exchange of the monitored parameter values with at least one of the terminals of the relayed communication link and verification of the parameter values. The relay link controller 302 sets out rules for the exchange and verification of the parameter values if the rules are not fixed and known to all parties of the relayed communication link beforehand. The rules may include definitions as to where the verification is carried out and which terminals should exchange the parameter values. The relay link controller 302 may inform the terminals of the rules through dedicated signaling or broadcast signaling.
The controller also comprises a relay link parameter monitoring unit 300 configured to monitor one or more parameters of the relayed communication link. The one or more parameters may include at least one of the following: amount of data transferred over the relayed communication link, duration of the communication link, a portion of the radio resources of the relay terminal used for the relayed link. The last parameter may be monitored in the relay terminal and/or in the network. The relay link parameter monitoring unit 300 may store the start time and stop time of the relayed communication link to determine the duration of the link. The start time may be acquired upon detection of confirmation signaling indicating completion of the establishment of the link, and the stop time may be acquired upon detection of confirmation signaling indicating release of the link. With respect to monitoring the amount of data transferred over the relayed communication link, the relay link parameter monitoring unit 300 may monitor the amount of data transferred over the relayed communication link on a layer below an application layer. Conventional mobile terminals are capable of monitoring data transferred on the application layer but that would not work in the scenario of the present invention, because a portion of the data transferred in the application layer may be transferred over the relayed link, while another portion may be transferred over a direct link. This is because of the mobility of the source and relay terminals, which causes handovers to/from the relay terminals. Accordingly, the monitoring carried out on the application layer cannot discriminate the portion of the data transferred over the relayed link. Preferably, the relay link parameter monitoring unit 300 monitors layer two (data link layer) and/or layer three (network layer) data. Additionally, the relay link parameter monitoring unit 300 may store a priority level of the relayed link. The priority level may be taken into account when determining the rewarding of the relay terminal. The priority level may be indicated as a quality-of-service (QoS) classification (conversational, streaming, interactive, background), for example. The higher is the priority of the relayed link, the better should the relay terminal be rewarded.
Upon termination of the relayed link, the relay link parameter monitoring unit 300 may receive, through the relay link controller 302, one or more parameter values monitored by another party of the link. Then, the relay link parameter monitoring unit 300 may compare the received values with corresponding values monitored by itself and, thereby, verify the parameter values. Upon verification, the verified parameter values may be stored in the memory storage 304 for later charging and/or rewarding. Below, it is described how to solve a conflict in the verification, e.g. mismatch between the parameter values.
Figure 4 illustrates a more detailed structure of the relay link controller 302 in order to illustrate the relayed link concept in the relay terminal. The source terminal may also be configured to function as the relay terminal, i.e. the source terminal and the relay terminal may in practice have the same physical structure. The relay link controller 302 comprises radio interface components 406 capable of providing radio communication parameters according to the physical layer protocols of one or more cellular telecommunication systems supported by the terminal device. Additionally, the radio interface components 406 may be configured to provide radio communication parameters according to a plurality of device-to-device radio communication protocols, e.g. one or more of the radio communication protocols listed above. The radio interface components 406 may include digital signal processing elements capable of providing multiple modulation, coding, and other signal processing operations on the baseband for signals to be transmitted and/or received. Additionally, the radio interface components 406 may comprise analog components, at least some of which may be software defined to provide support for the wide range of radio access technologies.
The relay link controller 302 further comprises a higher-level controller 400 controlling the operation and inter-operability of both cellular radio communication links with the serving base station and other parts of the serving cellular network and the cognitive radio based device-to-device communication links with the other terminal devices. The communication controller 400 may provide linking between the cognitive radio connections and the cellular radio connections to provide the relayed link. Upon establishment of the relayed communication link through the relay terminal, the communication controller 400 receives data from the source terminal and maps the data to the logical connection established between the communication controller 400 and the serving base station. Similarly, the communication controller maps the data received from the serving base station over the established logical connection to the device-to-device connection. Accordingly, the relay terminal may both provide other terminal devices with a relayed connection or use the cognitive radio connection to establish a device-to-device connection to another terminal device in order to benefit from a relayed connection provided by the other terminal device, i.e. it may also function as the source terminal. The communication controller 400 may be configured to establish a radio resource control (RRC) connection with the serving base station in order to control the operation and parameters of the relayed communication link. Properties of the device-to-device connections of the relay terminal may be directly configured by the base station through RRC signaling. The RRC signaling may be used to configure the radio access technologies and communication parameters of the cognitive radio communication links.
The communication controller 400 comprises two sub-controllers: a cognitive radio communication controller 402 and a cellular radio communication controller 404. The cellular radio communication controller 404 is configured to establish, operate, and terminate cellular radio connections with a serving base station of a serving cellular network. The cellular radio communication controller 404 may also convey data and control signals related to the cognitive radio communication links under the control of the higher-level communication controller 400 so as to provide another terminal device with a relayed connection.
The base station may control the device-to-device connections in order to provide efficient utilization of radio resources in the cell. Accordingly, the communication controller 400 may communicate with the serving base station through the cellular radio communication controller 404 in order to negotiate radio access technologies for use in direct device-to-device Communications with the other terminal devices in the same cell and communication parameters to be used.
The cognitive radio communication controller 402 is configured to establish, operate, and terminate cognitive radio connections (device-to-device connections) established with the other terminal devices. The cognitive radio communication controller 402 may receive the radio access technologies and communication parameters available for use from the communication controller 400. Then, the cognitive radio communication controller 402 may determine the communication parameters to be used in the cognitive radio communication link on the basis of the available communication parameters and the channel environment between the two terminal devices between which the device-to-device connection is to be established. The cognitive radio communication controller 402 may negotiate about the communication parameters to be used with a corresponding cognitive radio communication controller in the source terminal. The determination of the communication parameters may include the determination of modulation and coding schemes, frequency band, bandwidth, data rate, transport block size, diversity method, etc.
Figure 5 is a signaling diagram illustrating communication with respect to the termination of the relayed communication link and associated verification of the monitored parameter value(s). In S1 , the relayed communication link between the source terminal and the base station has already been established through the relay terminal, and data is transferred over the relayed communication link. One or more parameters indicating the load of the relayed link on the relay terminal are also monitored. In this embodiment, the parameter(s) are monitored in all parties of the relayed communication link, i.e. in the source terminal, relay terminal, and the base station (or another monitoring unit connected to the base station).
In S2, a termination procedure with respect to the relayed communication link is initiated in the base station, relay terminal, and source terminal. The termination of the relayed link may be initiated by the network on the basis of a channel measurement report received from either terminal, the report indicating that the relayed link should be handed over. Accordingly, the termination of the relayed link does not mean that the connection between the source terminal and the network is terminated. Alternatively, the termination of the relayed link may be initiated by the relay terminal as a consequence of low battery power, for example, or by the source terminal upon termination of the whole connection as a consequence of closing an application.
In S3, the release of the relayed communication link is negotiated between the source terminal and the base station. The negotiation may be carried out as RRC signaling, and the exchange of the monitored parameter values may also be embedded in the RRC signaling terminating the relayed link. The source terminal sends the monitored parameter values to the serving base station in S4. The base station may also send the monitored parameter values to the source terminal in S4 so that the verification may be carried out either in the network or in both the network and the source terminal. The parameter values may be transmitted in a signaling frame comprising a request for terminating the relayed communication link or in a signaling frame comprising a confirmation of the termination of the relayed communication link. The verification of the parameter values monitored by the source terminal and the network is carried out in S4 either in the network or in both the network and the source terminal. If the source terminal carries out the verification, the source terminal may send the result of the verification to the network.
In S5 and S6, a similar procedure to that performed in S3 and S4 is carried out between the base station and the relay terminal. Accordingly, the release of the relayed communication link is negotiated between the relay terminal and the base station in S5, and the monitored parameter values are sent from the relay terminal to the base station (or another network element), or the monitored parameter values are exchanged between the relay terminal and the base station in S6. Additionally, the verification of the parameter values is carried out in S6 in the same manner as described in connection with S4. Additionally, the procedure may comprise negotiation of the termination of the device-to-device connection between the source terminal and the relay terminal. Then, the parameter exchange and verification may also be carried out. In S7, the relayed communication link termination procedure is ended. It is not necessary to carry out the verification in all parties of the relayed communication link. Typically, it is sufficient to carry out the verification in the network on the basis of the parameter value(s) received from at least one of the terminals. Accordingly, the verification in one or both of the relay terminals may be omitted. In an embodiment of the invention, the relay terminal sends its battery power status to the serving base station together with the monitored parameter value(s). As a consequence, the base station may utilize the knowledge of the battery status of the relay terminal in future relay terminal assignments, and the signaling overhead may be reduced by combining the transmitted signaling information. Figure 6 illustrates a process for monitoring the load of the relayed communication link on the relay terminal according to an embodiment of the invention. The process is a more detailed description of the process of Figure 2 and, therefore, it may be carried out in the network element monitoring the relayed connections, in the relay terminal itself, and/or in the source terminal. The process starts in block 600, and the relayed communication link is established in block 602. In block 604, at least one parameter indicating the load of the relayed link on the relay terminal is monitored.
In block 606, the termination of the relayed communication link is initiated. Block 606 may be performed upon reception of a request to release the relayed link or upon detection of an event requiring the termination of the relayed link. As a consequence of detecting such an event, a request for releasing the relayed connection may be transmitted to one or more other parties of the relayed communication link.
In block 608 the parameter value(s) monitored by one or more of the other parties of the relayed communication link is/are received. For example, if the process is executed in the network, the parameter value(s) may be received from the relay terminal and/or the source terminal. The parameter value(s) may be received in connection with reception of a request for releasing the relayed connection or in connection with confirmation of the release of the relayed connection. Upon reception of the parameter value(s), the received parameter values are compared in block 610 with the corresponding parameter values monitored in block 604. In particular, the parameter values indicate the load of the relayed connection on the relay terminal at the time when the termination procedure of the relayed connection is started. In block 612, it is determined whether or not the compared parameter value(s) match with one another. Typically, there may arise situations where the compared parameter values are not exactly the same and, therefore, a predetermined error tolerance may be set so as to define whether or not the compared values are sufficiently close to one another. If the received parameter value equals to the parameter value monitored in block 604 plus/minus the error tolerance, it is determined that the compared parameter values match with one another, and the process moves to block 614, where a positive verification is acknowledged. The acknowledgment may comprise transmission of an acknowledgment message to the other party whose parameter value(s) were compared in block 610. In block 616, the verified parameter value(s) are stored in the memory storage together with identifiers of both the source terminal and the relay terminal so that the fair charging and rewarding can be achieved. In practice only one of the corresponding parameter value(s) compared needs to be stored, because it has been confirmed that they are the same within the error tolerance. In block 618, the relayed communication link is terminated.
On the other hand, if it is determined in block 612 that there is a conflict in the compared parameter values, i.e. the compared parameter values do not match with one another within the set error tolerance, the process proceeds to block 620, where the conflict is reported to the other party of the relayed link whose parameter value(s) were compared. Then, all the parameter values and the identifiers of the parties associated with each parameter value are stored for later use. Then, the relayed communication link is terminated in block 618.
The conflict is resolved in another procedure offline in block 624, i.e. in a procedure not directly related to the termination of the relayed link. Telecommunication networks typically include a third party monitoring element, e.g. a server, which monitors connections in the network. Such a monitoring element may be configured to monitor also relayed communication links in the radio access network of the telecommunication system and to monitor the parameters described above. Therefore, the parameter values stored in block 622 and corresponding parameter values monitored by the monitoring element are compared in block 624, and the values of the monitoring element are considered to give the true account. The comparison may be performed so as to find out which one of the network element, relay terminal, and source terminal provided a wrong value, and a self-check or a reset procedure may be started in the element that provided the wrong value. Then, the correct values are stored in the memory storage.
The process of Figure 2 may be modified depending on the device where it is implemented. If the process is implemented in the network element, the procedure may be carried out as described above. On the other hand, if the process is carried out in the relay terminal and if the comparison is determined to happen only in the network element, the relay terminal may simply send the parameter value(s) to the network element and terminate the relayed link upon reception of the conflict report or acknowledgement from the network element, instead of executing blocks 608 to 616 and 624. If the comparison is carried out also in the relay terminal, block 616 may still be omitted, because the parameter values should be stored in a database comprised in the memory storage of the network so that the operator may have access to the database. Moreover, the execution order of blocks 616 and 618 may be reversed, and other modifications are also possible. Figure 7 illustrates a process for reducing signaling overhead, when the relayed communication link is short-lived or did not transfer much data. The process may be included in the process of Figure 6, but it is described as a separate process for simplicity. The blocks with the same reference numerals as those in the process of Figure 6 refer to the same operations. Therefore, blocks 600 to 606 are executed in the process, as described above. In block 700 the parameter value(s) monitored in block 604 are read, and in block 702 it is determined whether or not the monitored parameter value(s) is/are below one or more of the predetermined thresholds. If the parameter value(s) are below the threshold(s), it is determined that the relayed connection did not cause excessive additional load on the relay terminal, and the process moves to block 704, where the exchange, verification, and storage of the parameter value(s) are omitted, and the link is then terminated in block 618. For example, if the relayed link was simply a signaling connection which did not transfer any payload data, it is unnecessary to carry out the verification. It is to be noted that in this case regular records of the relayed connection, such as date and starting time, may still be stored for bookkeeping purposes. On the other hand, if it is determined in block 702 that at least one of the parameter value(s) is over the threshold, it is determined that the relayed connection caused load on the relay terminal and the process moves to block 706, where the exchange, verification, and storage of the parameter value(s) are performed, as described above. Then, the relayed link is terminated in block 618.
Let us describe an implementation of the process of Figure 7. In this embodiment, the monitored parameter value is the amount of data transferred over the relayed communication link. Two threshold levels for the execution of block 702 may be set. A first threshold defines the lower bound for the total amount of data transferred over the relayed link. The amount of data may be indicated as the amount of layer 2 or 3 data. A second threshold specifies an error tolerance for the error in the monitored amount of data. The second threshold is preferably smaller than the first threshold. The process may be executed in the relay terminal and in the source terminal. In block 606, the termination of the relayed communication link is initiated as a result of a release request communicated between the relay/source terminal and the base station. In block 702, the monitored amount of data is first compared with the second threshold. If the monitored amount of data is lower than the second threshold, the process moves to block 704, where the exchange, verification, and storage of the parameter values are omitted. Additionally, the connection release signaling between the relay terminal and the source terminal is omitted in order to further reduce signaling overhead. As a consequence, the connection release signaling is carried out between the relay terminal and the base station and between the source terminal and the base station. If the monitored amount of data is higher than the second threshold, the amount of data is compared with the first threshold. If the monitored amount of data is lower than the first threshold, the process moves to block 704, where the exchange, verification, and storage of the parameter values are omitted. However, the connection release signaling between the relay terminal and the source terminal is carried out. In this case, the relayed communication link is considered as a small session, and the load of such small sessions on the relay terminal may be calculated as a number of the small sessions. The relay terminal may report to the network the number of small sessions periodically or when a sufficient number of small sessions has been provided, for example. The network element may then carry out the verification of the number of small sessions upon reception of the number of small sessions observed by the relay terminal. If the monitored amount of data is higher than the first threshold, the process moves to block 706.
While the amount of data was used as an example in the previous embodiment, it is obvious to one skilled in the art to modify the embodiment by replacing the amount of data with the duration of the relayed communication link or with any other monitored parameter value. Alternatively, multiple parameter values, e.g. both the amount of data and the duration, may be used in this embodiment. In such an embodiment, a given monitored value may be compared with two (or more) error tolerance or minimum amount/duration values. The rule on how to proceed in each case may be defined according to the implementation, e.g. both the duration and the amount of data must be lower/higher than the corresponding thresholds.
As noted above, the rules for the verification, any threshold values, etc. may be predefined and known to all parties of the relayed communication link before establishing the relayed link, or they may be communicated by the base station to the relay terminal and the source terminal during the establishment of the relayed communication link. The base station may inform the terminals through broadcast signaling and/or dedicated control signaling.
The processes or methods described in Figures 2, 6 and 7 may also be carried out in the form of a computer process defined by a computer program. The computer program may be in source code form, object code form, or in some intermediate form, and it may be stored on a carrier, which may be any entity or device capable of carrying the program. Such carriers include a record medium, computer memory, read-only memory, electrical carrier signal, telecommunications signal, and software distribution package, for example. Depending on the processing power needed, the computer program may be executed in a single electronic digital processing unit or it may be distributed amongst a number of processing units.
It will be obvious to a person skilled in the art that, as technology advances, the inventive concept can be implemented in various ways. The invention and its embodiments are not limited to the examples described above but may vary within the scope of the claims.

Claims

Claims
1. A method, comprising: providing a relayed communication link between a first terminal device and a serving base station through a second terminal device operating as a relay terminal for the relayed communication link; and acquiring a parameter indicating the load of the relayed communication link on the relay terminal, wherein the parameter is monitored in at least one of the terminal devices.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: verifying the parameter values between at least two parties of the relayed communication link upon termination of the relayed communication link.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein communication with respect to the verification of the parameter values is embedded in signaling information related to the termination of the relayed connection.
4. The method of claim 2 or 3, wherein the verification comprises: exchanging the values of the monitored parameter between a relay terminal and a network element monitoring the same parameter; verifying whether or not the exchanged parameter values match; and storing the parameter value in a memory storage together with an identifier of at least the relay terminal if the verification indicates a match.
5. The method of claim 4, wherein the verification further comprises: if the exchanged parameter values do not match, storing the exchanged parameter values and resolving the conflict in a separate procedure not directly related to the termination of the relayed communication link.
6. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 5, wherein the verification is omitted if the parameter indicates that the load of the relayed communication link on the relay terminal is below a predetermined threshold level.
7. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 6, wherein the parameter is monitored in the first terminal device, in the relay terminal, and in a network element of a radio access network providing the terminal devices with wireless communication services, and wherein the verification is carried out in the relay terminal and further comprises: receiving a value of the monitored parameter from the first terminal device; verifying whether or not the received parameter value matches with the corresponding parameter value monitored by the relay terminal; and communicating the verified parameter value to the radio access network for another verification and storage.
8. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 7, further comprising: if the verification indicates a conflict in the monitored parameter value, solving the conflict in a separate procedure not directly related to the termination of the relayed connection, the procedure comprising: contacting a third party network traffic-monitoring element configured to monitor connections in a radio access network including the serving base station; and verifying the monitored parameter value with the corresponding parameter value monitored also by the third party network traffic-monitoring element.
9. The method of claim 8, wherein the conflict is detected when the parameter values being verified differ from one another more than a predetermined tolerance for the difference.
10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the acquired parameter is the amount of data transferred over the relayed communication link on a layer below an application layer and/or the duration of the relayed communication link.
11. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, further comprising: reporting battery status of the relay terminal together with the value of the monitored parameter to the network upon termination of the relayed connection.
12. An apparatus comprising a controller configured to acquire a parameter indicating the load of a relayed communication link on a relay terminal, wherein the relayed communication link is established between a first terminal device and a serving base station through a second terminal device operating as the relay terminal for the relayed communication link and wherein the parameter is monitored in at least one of the terminal devices.
13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the controller is further configured to verify the parameter values between at least two parties of the relayed communication link upon termination of the relayed communication link.
14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein communication with respect to the verification of the parameter values is embedded in signaling information related to the termination of the relayed connection.
15. The apparatus of claim 13 or 14, wherein the controller is configured to carry out the verification by exchanging the values of the monitored parameter between a relay terminal and a network element monitoring the same parameter, verifying whether or not the exchanged parameter values match and storing the parameter value in a memory storage together with an identifier of at least the relay terminal if the verification indicates a match.
16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the controller is further configured to store the exchanged parameter values and resolve the conflict in a separate procedure not directly related to the termination of the relayed communication link if the exchanged parameter values do not match.
17. The apparatus according to any one of claims 13 to 16, wherein the controller is configured to omit the verification if the parameter indicates that the load of the relayed communication link on the relay terminal is below a predetermined threshold level.
18. The apparatus according to any one of claims 13 to 17, wherein the parameter is monitored in the first terminal device, in the relay terminal, and in a network element of a radio access network providing the terminal devices with wireless communication services, and wherein the controller is applicable to the relay terminal and further configured to receive a value of the monitored parameter from the first terminal device, to verify, whether or not the received parameter value matches with the corresponding parameter value monitored by the relay terminal, and to communicate the verified parameter value to the radio access network for another verification and storage.
19. The apparatus according to any one of claims 13 to 18, wherein the controller is further configured to solve a conflict in the verification in a separate procedure not directly related to the termination of the relayed connection by contacting a third party network traffic-monitoring element configured to monitor connections in a radio access network including the serving base station, and by verifying the monitored parameter value together with the third party network traffic-monitoring element.
20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the conflict is detected when the parameter values being verified differ from one another more than a predetermined tolerance for the difference.
21. The apparatus according to any one of claim 12 to 20, wherein the acquired parameter includes the amount of data transferred over the relayed communication link on a layer below an application layer and/or the duration of the relayed communication link.
22. The apparatus according to any one of claims 12 to 21 , wherein the controller is applicable to the relay terminal and further configured to report the battery status of the relay terminal together with the value of the monitored parameter to the network upon termination of the relayed connection.
23. A mobile terminal of a cellular telecommunication system, comprising the apparatus according to any one of claims 12 to 22.
24. A network element of a cellular telecommunication system providing mobile terminals with wireless communication service, comprising the apparatus according to any one of claims 12 to 17, 19 to 21.
25. An apparatus, comprising: means for providing a relayed communication link between a first terminal device and a serving base station through a second terminal device operating as a relay terminal for the relayed communication link; and means for acquiring a parameter indicating the load of the relayed communication link on the relay terminal, wherein the parameter is monitored in at least one of the terminal devices.
26. The apparatus of claim 25, further comprising means for verifying the parameter values between at least two parties of the relayed communication link upon termination of the relayed communication link.
27. A computer program product embodied on a distribution medium readable by a computer and comprising program instructions which, when loaded into an apparatus, execute the method according to any one of the preceding claims 1 to 11.
PCT/EP2008/062329 2008-09-17 2008-09-17 Monitoring relayed connection in cellular communication system WO2010031427A1 (en)

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