Method and apparatus for path switch in a wireless communication system

An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:

• at least one memory;
• and
• at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory and configured to cause the apparatus to:
• establish a radio resource control (RRC) connection between a second user equipment (UE) and a base station (BS);
• establish a PC5 RRC connection between a first UE and the second UE;
• receive, at the second UE from the BS, an RRC reconfiguration message that indicates a release of the first UE;
• in response to receiving the RRC configuration message, release the PC5 RRC connection between the first UE and the second UE, the RRC configuration message indicates a list of the first UE;
• in response to receiving the RRC configuration message, transmit a PC5 link release indication to the first UE;
• and
• receive a PC5 link release indication from the first UE.

A method, comprising:

• establishing, at a first user equipment (UE), a radio resource control (RRC) connection with a base station (BS) via a second UE, a PC5 RRC connection between the first UE and the second UE being established and an RRC connection between the second UE and the BS being established;
• receiving an RRC reconfiguration message including a path switching indication from the BS, the path switching indication indicating a switch to a target cell of the BS using a Uu interface, wherein the path switch indication is indicated by a reconfiguration with sync information element (IE);
• transmitting, in response to receiving the path switch indication, a PC5 link release indication to the second UE;
• releasing, in response to receiving the path switch indication, the PC5 RRC connection between the first UE and the second UE;
• performing, in response to the path switch indication, a random access (RA) with the BS;
• and
• transmitting, in response to accessing the target cell, an RRC reconfiguration complete message to the BS.