COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS

Abstract

A path selection method for use in a communication system, the system comprising at least three communication apparatuses, a particular one of said apparatuses being operable to transmit and/or receive a communication signal along at least two different communication paths, each said path being either a single-link path extending from the particular apparatus to another said apparatus directly over a single communication link therebetween, or being a multi-link path extending from the particular apparatus to said other or another said apparatus indirectly via one or more intermediate said apparatuses over a plurality of consecutive such links link-by-link along the path, and at least one said path being such a multi-link path, the method comprising: for each link along at least the or one of the multi-link paths, obtaining link-suitability information indicative of the suitability of the link concerned for transmission and/or reception; for at least the or said one of the multi-link paths, combining the link-suitability information for each link of the path concerned so as to generate path-suitability information indicative of the suitability of the path concerned for transmission and/or reception; and selecting one of said paths for transmission and/or reception in dependence upon said path-suitability information.

Description

Currently there exists significant interest in the use of multihop techniques in packet based radio and other communication systems, where it is purported that such techniques will enable both extension in coverage range and increase in system capacity (throughput).

In a multi-hop communication system, communication signals are sent in a communication direction along a communication path (C) from a source apparatus to a destination apparatus via one or more intermediate apparatuses. FIG. 5 illustrates a single-cell two-hop wireless communication system comprising a base station BS (known in the context of 3 G communication systems as “node-B” NB) a relay node RN (also known as a relay station RS) and a user equipment UE (also known as mobile station MS). In the case where signals are being transmitted on the downlink (DL) from a base station to a destination user equipment (UE) via the relay node (RN), the base station comprises the source station (S) and the user equipment comprises the destination station (D). In the case where communication signals are being transmitted on the uplink (UL) from a user equipment (UE), via the relay node, to the base station, the user equipment comprises the source station and the base station comprises the destination station. The relay node is an example of an intermediate apparatus (I) and comprises: a receiver, operable to receive data from the source apparatus; and a transmitter, operable to transmit this data, or a derivative thereof, to the destination apparatus.

Simple analogue repeaters or digital repeaters have been used as relays to improve or provide coverage in dead spots. They can either operate in a different transmission frequency band from the source station to prevent interference between the source transmission and the repeater transmission, or they can operate at a time when there is no transmission from the source station.

FIG. 6 illustrates a number of applications for relay stations. For fixed infrastructure, the coverage provided by a relay station may be “in-fill” to allow access to the communication network for mobile stations which may otherwise be in the shadow of other objects or otherwise unable to receive a signal of sufficient strength from the base station despite being within the normal range of the base station. “Range extension” is also shown, in which a relay station allows access when a mobile station is outside the normal data transmission range of a base station. One example of in-fill shown at the top right of FIG. 6 is positioning of a nomadic relay station to allow penetration of coverage within a building that could be above, at, or below ground level.

Other applications are nomadic relay stations which are brought into effect for temporary cover, providing access during events or emergencies/disasters. A final application shown in the bottom right of FIG. 6 provides access to a network using a relay positioned on a vehicle.

Relays may also be used in conjunction with advanced transmission techniques to enhance gain of the communications system as explained below.

It is known that the occurrence of propagation loss, or “pathloss”, due to the scattering or absorption of a radio communication as it travels through space, causes the strength of a signal to diminish. Factors which influence the pathloss between a transmitter and a receiver include: transmitter antenna height, receiver antenna height, carrier frequency, clutter type (urban, sub-urban, rural), details of morphology such as height, density, separation, terrain type (hilly, flat). The pathloss L (dB) between a transmitter and a receiver can be modelled by:

L=b+10n log d  (A)

Where d (metres) is the transmitter-receiver separation, b(db) and n are the pathloss parameters and the absolute pathloss is given by l=10^(L/10).

The sum of the absolute path losses experienced over the indirect link SI+ID may be less than the pathloss experienced over the direct link SD. In other words it is possible for:

L(SI)+L(ID)<L(SD)  (B)

Splitting a single transmission link into two shorter transmission segments therefore exploits the non-linear relationship between pathloss verses distance. From a simple theoretical analysis of the pathloss using equation (A), it can be appreciated that a reduction in the overall pathloss (and therefore an improvement, or gain, in signal strength and thus data throughput) can be achieved if a signal is sent from a source apparatus to a destination apparatus via an intermediate apparatus (e.g. relay node), rather than being sent directly from the source apparatus to the destination apparatus. If implemented appropriately, multi-hop communication systems can allow for a reduction in the transmit power of transmitters which facilitate wireless transmissions, leading to a reduction in interference levels as well as decreasing exposure to electromagnetic emissions. Alternatively, the reduction in overall pathloss can be exploited to improve the received signal quality at the receiver without an increase in the overall radiated transmission power required to convey the signal.

Multi-hop systems are suitable for use with multi-carrier transmission. In a multi-carrier transmission system, such as FDM (frequency division multiplex), OFDM (orthogonal frequency division multiplex) or DMT (discrete multi-tone), a single data stream is modulated onto N parallel sub-carriers, each sub-carrier signal having its own frequency range. This allows the total bandwidth (i.e. the amount of data to be sent in a given time interval) to be divided over a plurality of sub-carriers thereby increasing the duration of each data symbol. Since each sub-carrier has a lower information rate, multi-carrier systems benefit from enhanced immunity to channel induced distortion compared with single carrier systems. This is made possible by ensuring that the transmission rate and hence bandwidth of each subcarrier is less than the coherence bandwidth of the channel. As a result, the channel distortion experienced on a signal subcarrier is frequency independent and can hence be corrected by a simple phase and amplitude correction factor. Thus the channel distortion correction entity within a multicarrier receiver can be of significantly lower complexity of its counterpart within a single carrier receiver when the system bandwidth is in excess of the coherence bandwidth of the channel.

Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is a modulation technique that is based on FDM. An OFDM system uses a plurality of sub-carrier frequencies which are orthogonal in a mathematical sense so that the sub-carriers' spectra may overlap without interference due to the fact they are mutually independent. The orthogonality of OFDM systems removes the need for guard band frequencies and thereby increases the spectral efficiency of the system. OFDM has been proposed and adopted for many wireless systems. It is currently used in Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) connections, in some wireless LAN applications (such as WiFi devices based on the IEEE802.11a/g standard), and in wireless MAN applications such as WiMAX (based on the IEEE 802.16 standard). OFDM is often used in conjunction with channel coding, an error correction technique, to create coded orthogonal FDM or COFDM. COFDM is now widely used in digital telecommunications systems to improve the performance of an OFDM based system in a multipath environment where variations in the channel distortion can be seen across both subcarriers in the frequency domain and symbols in the time domain. The system has found use in video and audio broadcasting, such as DVB and DAB, as well as certain types of computer networking technology.

In an OFDM system, a block of N modulated parallel data source signals is mapped to N orthogonal parallel sub-carriers by using an Inverse Discrete or Fast Fourier Transform algorithm (IDFT/IFFT) to form a signal known as an “OFDM symbol” in the time domain at the transmitter. Thus, an “OFDM symbol” is the composite signal of all N sub-carrier signals. An OFDM symbol can be represented mathematically as:

$\begin{array}{cc}x\left(t\right)=\frac{1}{\sqrt{N}}\sum _{n=0}^{N-1}c_n·{}^{\mathrm{j2\pi }n\Delta \mathrm{ft}},0\le t\le T_s& \left(1\right)\end{array}$

where Δf is the sub-carrier separation in Hz, Ts=1/Δf is symbol time interval in seconds, and c_n are the modulated source signals. The sub-carrier vector in (1) onto which each of the source signals is modulated cεC_n, c=(C₀, C₁ . . . C_N−1) is a vector of N constellation symbols from a finite constellation. At the receiver, the received time-domain signal is transformed back to frequency domain by applying Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) or Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) algorithm.

OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access) is a multiple access variant of OFDM. It works by assigning a subset of sub-carriers, to an individual user. This allows simultaneous transmission from several users leading to better spectral efficiency. However, there is still the issue of allowing bi-directional communication, that is, in the uplink and download directions, without interference.

In order to enable bi-directional communication between two nodes, two well known different approaches exist for duplexing the two (forward or download and reverse or uplink) communication links to overcome the physical limitation that a device cannot simultaneously transmit and receive on the same resource medium. The first, frequency division duplexing (FDD), involves operating the two links simultaneously but on different frequency bands by subdividing the transmission medium into two distinct bands, one for forward link and the other for reverse link communications. The second, time division duplexing (TDD), involves operating the two links on the same frequency band, but subdividing the access to the medium in time so that only the forward or the reverse link will be utilizing the medium at any one point in time. Both approaches (TDD & FDD) have their relative merits and are both well used techniques for single hop wired and wireless communication systems. For example the IEEE802.16 standard incorporates both an FDD and TDD mode.

As an example, FIG. 7 illustrates the single hop TDD frame structure used in the OFDMA physical layer mode of the IEEE802.16 standard (WiMAX).

Each frame is divided into DL and UL subframes, each being a discrete transmission interval. They are separated by Transmit/Receive and Receive/Transmit Transition Guard interval (TTG and RTG respectively). Each DL subframe starts with a preamble followed by the Frame Control Header (FCH), the DL-MAP, and the UL-MAP.

The FCH contains the DL Frame Prefix (DLFP) to specify the burst profile and the length of the DL-MAP. The DLFP is a data structure transmitted at the beginning of each frame and contains information regarding the current frame; it is mapped to the FCH.

Simultaneous DL allocations can be broadcast, multicast and unicast and they can also include an allocation for another BS rather than a serving BS. Simultaneous ULs can be data allocations and ranging or bandwidth requests.

This patent application is one of a set of ten UK patent applications filed on the same date by the same applicant with agent reference numbers P106752 GB00, P106753 GB00, P106754 GB00, P106772 GB00, P106773 GB00, P106795 GB00, P106796 GB00, P106797 GB00, P106798 GB00, and P106799 GB00, describing interrelated inventions proposed by the present inventors relating to communication techniques. The entire contents of each of the other nine applications is incorporated herein by way of reference thereto and copies of each of the other nine applications are filed herewith.

In WiMAX and other networks, a mobile station (MS) may face many possible paths to exchange information with base station (BS). Approaches should be designed for MS to select an optimal path. Especially, in mobile environment, the radio channel condition will be dynamically changing, thus a MS should dynamically select a proper relay station (RS), or BS for handover.

The invention is defined in the independent claims, to which reference should now be made. Advantageous embodiments are set out in the sub claims.

Preferred features of the present invention will now be described, purely by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:—

FIG. 1 shows Scenario 1: BS can cover the MS. An MS will have many possible paths to communication with BS in WiMAX relay systems. The system has to choose an optimal path for the communication between MS and BS;

FIG. 2 shows Scenario 2: BSs cannot cover MS. The system has to choose either RS 1# or RS 2# to relay the information between MS and BSs;

FIG. 3 shows an example of calculating PoR values;

FIG. 4 shows an example of the signaling related to PoR table broadcast;

FIG. 5 shows a single-cell two-hop wireless communication system;

FIG. 6 shows applications of relay stations; and

FIG. 7 shows a single hop TDD frame structure used in the OFDMA physical layer mode of the IEEE 802.16 standard.

FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate scenarios of WiMAX relay systems, where the Mobile Station (MS) could connect to BS directly, or ask RS 1# or RS 2# for relay. Obviously, in FIG. 1, following paths are possible for the communication between MS and BS:

• • a. MS->BS
  • b. MS->RS1#->BS
  • c. MS->RS1#->RS2->BS
  • d. MS->RS2#->BS
  • e. MS->RS2#->RS1->BS

The system shall decide an optimal path for the handover of MS. This decision should be based on the link quality, QoS demand, and so on. Especially in high mobility case, the MS's status will be dynamically changing, thus the RS/BS selection approach will be very important to maintain an acceptable QoS level in MS.

An MS will have many possible paths to communication with BS in WiMAX relay systems. The system has to choose an optimal path for the communication between MS and BS.

The system has to choose either RS 1# or RS 2# to relay the information between MS and BSs.

The previous method for MS to decide the handover is using link quality, such as CINR, which could be measured from preamble or other pre-determined receiving sequences. However, in WiMAX relay systems, we may encounter issues as listed below for MS's handover decision, which are considered in this proposed patent.

• 1. Link quality metrics, such as CINR, and RSSI, are not enough for BS/RS selection for relay systems. For example, if RS 2# has better CINR than RS 1#, but RS 2# does not have enough available bandwidth to afford a kind level of QoS level for MS, then MS may choose RS 1 # for relay;
• 2. If considering multiple metrics for BS/RS selection, the overhead of signaling may be increased;
• 3. The relay path will be more than two hops, such as the listed path c, and e. Therefore, how to measure link quality of multi-hop path, and how to signaling each other with small increasing overhead are the possible issues.
• 4. To support high mobility users, the metrics for BS/RS selection should be efficiently refreshed.

Details of the Proposed BS/RS Selection Scheme

Definition of the Selection Metric, Potent of Relay (PoR):

Each path will have a value of PoR to indicate the potential to afford relay for MS. Greater a potential value is, higher probability this path will have to act as a relay path. Each RS and MS will maintain a table to list the values of PoR for different paths. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, RS 1# has two paths to communicate with BSs, which are “RS 1#-BS 1#”, and “RS 1#-RS 2#-BS 2#”, therefore, an PoR-path table will be maintained in a table as below:

TABLE 1
PoR values maintained in RS 1#
	Recorded Path	PoR of the path	PoR of the path
		“RS 1#-BS 1#”	“RS 1#-RS 2#-BS 2#”
	PoR value	PoRRS 1#-BS 1#	PoRRS 1#-BS 2#

A generic PoR definition between two stations, A and B, can be written as:

$\begin{array}{cc}{\mathrm{PoR}}_{A\text{-}B}=\alpha ·{}^{-\frac{\prod k_n·{\eta }_n}{\prod {\lambda }_m·{\gamma }_m}}\left(k_n>0;{\eta }_n>0;{\lambda }_m>0;{\gamma }_m>0\right)& \left(1\right)\end{array}$

where η_n, n=1, 2, 3 . . . , is the negative factor, which means that the probability of acting relay path will be decreased if this value increases. For example, a typical negative factor is path loss. k_n is the corresponding weight for this particular negative factor. γ_m, n=1, 2, 3 . . . , is the positive factor, which means that the probability of acting relay path will be increased if this value increases. For instance, available bandwidth is a positive factor. λ_m is the weight for the m^th positive factor. α is the weight for this path. Some types of path can have higher weight value of α. For example, if we consider latency and signaling overhead, one-hop path can have bigger value of α than multi-hop paths.

If a path is multi-hop, then the PoR of this path is the product of the PoR values of all the links within this path. For example, the PoR value of α path “A-B-C” can be calculated by:

PoR_A-B-C=PoR_A-B×PoR_B-C  (2)

For example, if we consider path loss, P_L, and available bandwidth, BW_a, as the metrics for BS/RS selection, the PoR of link “A-B” can be defined as:

$\begin{array}{cc}{\mathrm{PoR}}_{A\text{-}B}=\alpha ·{}^{-\frac{P_L}{\min \left\{{\mathrm{BW}}_{a\_A},{\mathrm{BW}}_{a\_B}\right\}}}\left(k>0\right)& \left(3\right)\end{array}$

where P_L, is the path loss, min{BW_a—A, BW_a—B} is the minimal available bandwidth value of each node in the path. If the pass loss and available bandwidth are listed in FIG. 3, we can calculate PoR values in RS 1# as:

$\begin{array}{cc}{\mathrm{PoR}}_{\mathrm{RS}1\#\text{-}\mathrm{BS}1\#}={\alpha }_1·{}^{-\frac{25}{\min \left\{0.5,1.5\right\}}}={\alpha }_1·{}^{-50}{\mathrm{PoR}}_{\mathrm{RS}1\#\text{-}\mathrm{BS}2\#}={\alpha }_2·{}^{-\frac{22}{\min \left\{1.5,1.5\right\}}-\frac{15}{\min \left\{1.5,2.5\right\}}}={\alpha }_2·{}^{-25}& \left(3\right)\end{array}$

If we simply let α₁=α₂=1, obviously, in terms of the definition of PoR, path “RS 1#-BS 2#” is an optimal path for relay.

RS/BS Selection Method for Handover:

A PoR-path table should be maintained by RSs and MSs.

Step 1: Update PoR of the links between RS/MS and BS

An RS/MS calculates the PoR values of the link between neighboring BSs and itself. The link quality measurement relating to this measurement can depend on the received preamble, pilot subcarriers, synchronization symbols etc.

For example, in FIG. 3, since RS 1# and RS 2# only has one neighboring BS, then the updated PoR-path tables in RS 1#, and RS 2# become:

TABLE 2
PoR table in RS 1#
	Recorded Path	PoR of the path	. . .
		“RS 1#-BS 1#”
	PoR value	PoRRS 1#-BS 1#	. . .

TABLE 2
PoR table in RS 2#
	Recorded Path	PoR of the path	. . .
		“RS 2#-BS 2#”
	PoR value	PoRRS 2#-BS 2#	. . .

Step 2: Update PoR of the Paths between an RS/MS and its neighboring RS.

Within this step, an RS shall broadcast its PoR table to its neighboring RS and MS.

Each RS/MS shall update its PoR table in terms of the received PoR tables.

Firstly, an RS will send a PoR-table-broadcast request, PoR_Br_Req, to its BS. BS will allocate slots in downlink subframe for the RS broadcasting the PoR table. FIG. 4 gives an example of the signaling relating to PoR table broadcast with WiMAX TDD frame structure:

In FIG. 4. after receiving an PoR_Br_Req, the BS will send an response, PoR_Br_Rsp, to the corresponding RS. The PoR_Br_Rsp packet includes the allocation information of an RS Region in downlink subframe, which can allow RS to broadcast its PoR table and other information.

An RS can broadcast a pre-decided sequence within this RS region, thus other RSs and MSs can use this sequence to measure the link quality. RSs can also broadcast other metrics, such as available bandwidth, within this RS region.

An RS/MS will calculate the PoR value of the link between itself and the RS, who broadcasted the PoR table. For example, in FIG. 4, RS 2# can calculate the PoR_{Rs 2#-RS 1#} in terms of the received information, such as mentioned the available bandwidth, and the pre-decided sequence. Then RS 2# shall multiply PoR_{Rs 2#-RS 1#} with the received PoR_{Rs 1#-BS 1#} to obtain the PoR value of the link “RS 2#-RS 1#-BS”, and update its PoR table.

Periodically, an MS shall check the PoR-path table to find an optimal path with the maximal value of PoR for handover.

Main Benefits

Invention embodiments give an efficient solution for BS/RS selection for MS's handover in WiMAX system. The benefits from this are:

• • 1. Through the associated improvement in performance (due to select an optimal BS or RS for handover to guarantee the QoS) to differentiate FUJITSU's wireless/cable OFDMA (such as WiMAX) from that of our competitors;
  • 2. The proposed method gives an approach of selecting the optimal BS/RS for handover in non-relay system, and multi-hop relay system;
  • 3. By dynamically selecting an optimal BS/RS, the MS can adapt to the dynamically changing radio environment and QoS demands;
  • 4. A novel metric, named the potential of relay (PoR), is defined to combine various QoS, or link quality related metrics, to aid the BS/RS selection and decrease the signaling overhead. This metric gives a feasible way to calculate the quality of multi-hop or single-hop links;
  • 5. A genetic signaling mechanism is designed for the proposed selection method, which can be compatible with IEEE802.16e;
  • 6. More flexible for distributed implementation. A distributed implementation can release the computation and signaling load in BS;
  • 7. The definition of RS region gives an feasible method for RSs to broadcast/transmit information to other RSs, and MSs.

Embodiments of the present invention may be implemented in hardware, or as software modules running on one or more processors, or on a combination thereof. That is, those skilled in the art will appreciate that a microprocessor or digital signal processor (DSP) may be used in practice to implement some or all of the functionality of a transmitter embodying the present invention. The invention may also be embodied as one or more device or apparatus programs (e.g. computer programs and computer program products) for carrying out part or all of any of the methods described herein. Such programs embodying the present invention may be stored on computer-readable media, or could, for example, be in the form of one or more signals. Such signals may be data signals downloadable from an Internet website, or provided on a carrier signal, or in any other form.

Claims

1. A path selection method for use in a communication system, the system comprising at least three communication apparatuses, a particular one of said apparatuses being operable to transmit and/or receive a communication signal along at least two different communication paths, each said path being either a single-link path extending from the particular apparatus to another said apparatus directly over a single communication link therebetween, or being a multi-link path extending from the particular apparatus to said other or another said apparatus indirectly via one or more intermediate said apparatuses over a plurality of consecutive such links link-by-link along the path, and at least one said path being such a multi-link path, the method comprising: for each link along at least the or one of the multi-link paths, obtaining link-suitability information indicative of the suitability of the link concerned for transmission and/or reception;for at least the or said one of the multi-link paths, combining the link-suitability information for each link of the path concerned so as to generate path-suitability information indicative of the suitability of the path concerned for transmission and/or reception; andselecting one of said paths for transmission and/or reception in dependence upon said path-suitability information.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein said particular apparatus is a user terminal.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein said particular apparatus is a mobile terminal.

4. The method according to any preceding claim, wherein said particular apparatus is a relay apparatus operable to receive a communication signal over such a communication link and transmit a communication signal over another such communication link.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the or each intermediate apparatus is a relay apparatus operable to receive a communication signal over such a communication link and transmit a communication signal over another such communication link.

6. The method according to any preceding claim, wherein the apparatus at the opposite end of each path to the particular apparatus is a base station apparatus.

7. The method according to any preceding claim, wherein at least two of said paths are such multi-link paths.

8. The method according to any preceding claim, further comprising: for the or each link of each said path, obtaining such link-suitability information, such link-suitability information being such path-suitability information in the case of a single-link path;for each said multi-link path, combining the link-suitability information for each link of the path concerned so as to generate path-suitability information for the path concerned; andcarrying out said selection in dependence upon the path-suitability information for each said path.

9. The method according to any preceding claim, wherein each obtained link-suitability information comprises a numerical factor, and wherein said combining comprises mathematically combining the factors concerned.

10. The method according to any preceding claim, comprising carrying out said selection in the particular apparatus.

11. The method according to any preceding claim, comprising carrying out said selection in accordance with predetermined selection criteria.

12. The method according to claim 11, comprising carrying out said selection by selecting the path having a better suitability than that of the other said paths.

13. The method according to claim 11, comprising carrying out said selection by selecting one of the paths whose path-suitability information indicates that its suitability is above a predetermined suitability threshold.

14. The method according to any preceding claim, wherein the link-suitability information for at least one of said links comprises a combination factor being the result of a mathematical combination of a plurality of component factors for that link.

15. The method according to any preceding claim, wherein said system is an OFDM or OFDMA communication system.

16. A suite of computer programs which, when executed by computing devices of a communication system, causes the system to carry out a path selection method, the system comprising at least three communication apparatuses, a particular one of said apparatuses being operable to transmit and/or receive a communication signal along at least two different communication paths, each said path being either a single-link path extending from the particular apparatus to another said apparatus directly over a single communication link therebetween, or being a multi-link path extending from the particular apparatus to said other or another said apparatus indirectly via one or more intermediate said apparatuses over a plurality of consecutive such links link-by-link along the path, and at least one said path being such a multi-link path, and the method comprising: for each link along at least the or one of the multi-link paths, obtaining link-suitability information indicative of the suitability of the link concerned for transmission and/or reception;for at least the or said one of the multi-link paths, combining the link-suitability information for each link of the path concerned so as to generate path-suitability information indicative of the suitability of the path concerned for transmission and/or reception; andselecting one of said paths for transmission and/or reception in dependence upon said path-suitability information.

17. A communication system, comprising: at least three communication apparatuses, a particular one of said apparatuses being operable to transmit and/or receive a communication signal along at least two different communication paths, each said path being either a single-link path extending from the particular apparatus to another said apparatus directly over a single communication link therebetween, or being a multi-link path extending from the particular apparatus to said other or another said apparatus indirectly via one or more intermediate said apparatuses over a plurality of consecutive such links link-by-link along the path, and at least one said path being such a multi-link path;obtaining means operable, for each link along at least the or one of the multi-link paths, to obtain link-suitability information indicative of the suitability of the link concerned for transmission and/or reception;combining means operable, for at least the or said one of the multi-link paths, to combine the link-suitability information for each link of the path concerned so as to generate path-suitability information indicative of the suitability of the path concerned for transmission and/or reception; andselecting means operable to select one of said paths for transmission and/or reception in dependence upon said path-suitability information.

18. A path selection method for use in a particular communication apparatus of a communication system, the system comprising at least three such communication apparatuses, the particular one of said apparatuses being operable to transmit and/or receive a communication signal along at least two different communication paths, each said path being either a single-link path extending from the particular apparatus to another said apparatus directly over a single communication link therebetween, or being a multi-link path extending from the particular apparatus to said other or another said apparatus indirectly via one or more intermediate said apparatuses over a plurality of consecutive such links link-by-link along the path, and at least one said path being such a multi-link path, the method comprising: for each link or for groups of links along at least the or one of the multi-link paths, obtaining link-suitability information and/or link-group-suitability information, as the case may be, indicative of the suitability of the link or group of links concerned for transmission and/or reception;for at least the or said one of the multi-link paths, combining the link-suitability information and/or the link-group-suitability information for the path concerned so as to generate path-suitability information indicative of the suitability of the path concerned for transmission and/or reception; andselecting one of said paths for transmission and/or reception in dependence upon said path-suitability information.

19. A computer program which, when executed by a computing device of a particular communication apparatus of a communication system, causes the particular apparatus to carry out a path selection method, the system comprising at least three such communication apparatuses, the particular one of said apparatuses being operable to transmit and/or receive a communication signal along at least two different communication paths, each said path being either a single-link path extending from the particular apparatus to another said apparatus directly over a single communication link therebetween, or being a multi-link path extending from the particular apparatus to said other or another said apparatus indirectly via one or more intermediate said apparatuses over a plurality of consecutive such links link-by-link along the path, and at least one said path being such a multi-link path, the method comprising: for each link or for groups of links along at least the or one of the multi-link paths, obtaining link-suitability information and/or link-group-suitability information, as the case may be, indicative of the suitability of the link or group of links concerned for transmission and/or reception;for at least the or said one of the multi-link paths, combining the link-suitability information and/or the link-group-suitability information for the path concerned so as to generate path-suitability information indicative of the suitability of the path concerned for transmission and/or reception; andselecting one of said paths for transmission and/or reception in dependence upon said path-suitability information.

20. A particular communication apparatus of a communication system, the system comprising at least three such communication apparatuses, the particular one of said apparatuses being operable to transmit and/or receive a communication signal along at least two different communication paths, each said path being either a single-link path extending from the particular apparatus to another said apparatus directly over a single communication link therebetween, or being a multi-link path extending from the particular apparatus to said other or another said apparatus indirectly via one or more intermediate said apparatuses over a plurality of consecutive such links link-by-link along the path, and at least one said path being such a multi-link path, the particular communication apparatus comprising: obtaining means operable, for each link or for groups of links along at least the or one of the multi-link paths, to obtain link-suitability information and/or link-group-suitability information, as the case may be, indicative of the suitability of the link or group of links concerned for transmission and/or reception;combining means operable, for at least the or said one of the multi-link paths, to combine the link-suitability information and/or the link-group-suitability information for the path concerned so as to generate path-suitability information indicative of the suitability of the path concerned for transmission and/or reception; andselecting means operable to select one of said paths for transmission and/or reception in dependence upon said path-suitability information.

21. The particular communication apparatus according to claim 20, being a user terminal.

22. The particular communication apparatus according to claim 20 or 21, being a mobile terminal.

23. The particular communication apparatus according to claim 20 or 22, being a relay apparatus.

24. A path selection method for use in a communication system, the system comprising at least three communication apparatuses, a particular one of said apparatuses being operable to transmit and/or receive a communication signal along at least two different communication paths, each said path being either a single-link path extending from the particular apparatus to another said apparatus directly over a single communication link therebetween, or being a multi-link path extending from the particular apparatus to said other or another said apparatus indirectly via one or more intermediate said apparatuses over a plurality of consecutive such links link-by-link along the path, and at least one said path being such a multi-link path, the method comprising: for each link along at least the or one of the multi-link paths, obtaining link-suitability information, PoR, indicative of the suitability of the link concerned for transmission and/or reception, wherein the link suitability information, PoR, for each link is defined for a link between apparatuses A and B as: