Controlling initiation of dedicated bearer setup following failed dedicated bearer setup

A packet-data-network gateway (PGW) operable in an access network, wherein the access network comprises a base station configured to serve a first user equipment device (UE) over an air interface, wherein the base station is a donor base station and the first UE is a relay user equipment device (relay-UE) configured to provide wireless backhaul connectivity for a relay base station, and wherein the PGW is configured to provide connectivity between the first UE and a packet-switched network, the PGW comprising:

• a processing unit;
• non-transitory data storage;
• and
• program instructions stored in the non-transitory data storage and executable by the processing unit to cause the PCW to carry out operations,
• wherein the operations include initiating setup of a dedicated bearer connection between the first HE and the base station,
• wherein the operations further include detecting failure of the initiated setup of the dedicated bearer connection,
• wherein the operations further include determining that at least a threshold extent of dedicated bearer connections initiated after the detected failure have been successfully set up between the base station and one or more other UEs different from the first UE,
• wherein the operations further include determining that the first UE is a relay-UE rather than an end-user UE, and
• wherein the operations further include, based at least on (i) the determining that at least the threshold extent of dedicated bearer connections initiated after the detected failure have been successfully set up and (ii) the determining that the first UE is a relay-HE rather than an end-user UE, re-initiating setup of the dedicated bearer connection between the first UE and the base station.

A method operable in an access network comprising a donor base station and a relay, wherein the relay comprises a relay user equipment device (relay-UE) and a relay base station, wherein the donor base station is configured to serve the relay-UE over an air interface defining a wireless backhaul connection for the relay, and wherein the relay base station is configured to serve one or more UEs, the method comprising:

• detecting an attach request sent from the relay-UE to the donor base station;
• responsive to detecting the attach request, initiating setup of (i) a default bearer connection for user-plane traffic communicated between the relay-UE and the donor base station and (ii) a dedicated bearer connection for control-plane traffic communicated between the relay-UE and the donor base station;
• detecting failure of the initiated setup of the dedicated bearer connection;
• determining that at least a threshold extent of dedicated bearers initiated after the detected failure have been successfully set up between the donor base station and one or more other UEs different from the relay-UE;
• determining that the relay-UE is a relay-UE rather than an end user UE;
• and
• based at least on (i) the determining that at least the threshold extent of dedicated bearers initiated after the detected failure have been successfully set up and (ii) the determining that the relay-UE is a relay-UE rather than an end user UE, re-initiating setup of the dedicated bearer connection for control-plane traffic communicated between the relay-UE and the donor base station.