CN117320190A

CN117320190A - Communication method and device

Info

Publication number: CN117320190A
Application number: CN202210904404.8A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 姚楚婷; 徐海博; 才宇; 彭文杰
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2022-06-24
Filing date: 2022-07-29
Publication date: 2023-12-29
Also published as: WO2023246544A1

Abstract

The application relates to a communication method and device. The remote device receives a first deactivation command for the remote device to deactivate a non-direct path of the remote device. Wherein the remote device communicates with the access network device via a direct connection path. The remote device deactivates the non-direct path according to a first deactivation command. The embodiment of the application can not release the non-direct connection path, but the remote device can deactivate the non-direct connection path according to the first deactivation command. Since the non-direct path is not released, if a path is added to the remote device later, the non-direct path is reactivated, the signaling overhead required for the activation process is smaller and the communication delay is smaller than for the process of establishing the path.

Description

Communication method and device

Cross Reference to Related Applications

The present application claims priority from the chinese patent application filed 24 months 2022, at the chinese national intellectual property agency, application number 202210738953.2, application name "a method of activating deactivation", the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a communications method and apparatus.

Background

A remote User Equipment (UE) that is currently supported may connect to a network through a relay (relay), i.e., communicate with the network through a non-direct (direct) path. Still further, it is desirable to support simultaneous communication of remote UEs over direct (direct) paths and non-direct paths to increase the communication capacity of the remote UEs.

In the scenario that the remote UE communicates with the non-direct path through the direct path, if the traffic of the remote UE becomes smaller, the base station may release one of the paths, and if the subsequent traffic becomes larger, the path may be added again. The process of releasing the path and adding the path involves more signaling interaction processes, and the cost is high.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application provides a communication method and device for reducing signaling overhead.

In a first aspect, a first communication method is provided, which may be performed by a remote device, or by another device comprising the functions of the remote device, or by a system-on-chip (or chip) or other functional module capable of implementing the functions of the remote device, the system-on-chip or functional module being for example provided in the remote device. The remote device is for example a terminal device or a network device. The method comprises the following steps: receiving a first deactivation command, wherein the first deactivation command is used for the remote equipment to deactivate a non-direct connection path of the remote equipment, and the remote equipment is communicated with an access network equipment through the direct connection path; and according to the first deactivation command, deactivating the non-direct connection path.

The embodiment of the application can not release the non-direct connection path, but the remote device can deactivate the non-direct connection path according to the first deactivation command. Since the non-direct path is not released, if a path is added to the remote device later, the non-direct path is reactivated, the signaling overhead required for the activation process is smaller and the communication delay is smaller than for the process of establishing the path. In addition, the deactivation process may not require release of the corresponding configuration as compared to the release process, thereby also reducing the delay associated with the release process.

In an alternative embodiment, receiving a first deactivation command includes: receiving the first deactivation command from the access network device through the direct connection path; or, receiving the first deactivation command from the access network device through the non-direct path; or, receiving the first deactivation command from a relay device, wherein the remote device communicates with the access network device through the relay device on the non-direct path. The access network device can instruct the remote device to deactivate the non-direct-connection path through the direct-connection path or the non-direct-connection path, or the access network device can instruct the relay device to deactivate the non-direct-connection path, and the relay device instructs the remote device to deactivate the non-direct-connection path.

In an alternative embodiment, after receiving the first deactivation command from the access network device via the direct path or the non-direct path, the method further comprises: and sending a second deactivation command to a relay device, wherein the second deactivation command is used for deactivating the non-direct connection path by the relay device, and the remote device communicates with the access network device through the relay device on the non-direct connection path. If the access network device directly indicates to the remote device that the non-direct path is deactivated, the remote device may further instruct the relay device to deactivate the non-direct path because the non-direct path also involves the relay device, so that both the remote device and the relay device can cease using the non-direct path.

In an alternative embodiment, the second deactivation command is a PC5 RRC message, or is a PC5 MAC CE, or is an SRAP control PDU. Or the second deactivation command may have other implementations without limitation.

In an alternative embodiment, the first deactivation command from the access network device is an RRC message, PDCP control PDU or MAC CE. Or the first deactivation command may have other implementations without limitation.

In an alternative embodiment, the first deactivation command is for deactivating a non-direct path of the remote device, including: the MAC CE is used for deactivating the non-direct connection path through deactivating a cell corresponding to the non-direct connection path; or, the MAC CE is configured to deactivate the non-direct path, and is not configured to deactivate a cell corresponding to the non-direct path. For example, the first deactivation command is a MAC CE, an existing MAC CE may be applied to implement the function of the first deactivation command. The existing MAC CE may be used to deactivate the cell corresponding to the non-direct path, and the non-direct path in the cell may be deactivated by deactivating the cell. Alternatively, the MAC CE may be newly defined, and the newly defined MAC CE may be used to deactivate the non-direct path, without deactivating the cell in which the non-direct path is located, so that the deactivation process is more targeted. If there are other transmission paths in the cell, the non-direct path may be deactivated or other transmission paths may be reserved by the newly defined MAC CE.

In an alternative embodiment, if the MAC CE is configured to deactivate the non-direct path and is not configured to deactivate a cell corresponding to the non-direct path, the MAC CE further includes an identifier of the relay device. The remote device may have one or more non-direct paths and the MAC CE includes an identification of the relay device to indicate which non-direct path should be deactivated.

In an alternative embodiment, the remote device includes a PDCP entity, and after deactivating the non-direct path, the method further includes: the PDCP entity stops sending data to the relay equipment corresponding to the non-direct connection path, and the PDCP entity performs data recovery to recover the data which is not transmitted by the non-direct connection path. After the non-direct path is deactivated, the PDCP entity of the remote device may stop sending data to the relay device corresponding to the non-direct path, so as to deactivate the non-direct path. In addition, before the non-direct path is deactivated, the PDCP entity may have transmitted data to a relay device corresponding to the non-direct path, and the data may not reach a remote device due to the non-direct path being deactivated, which may cause packet loss. Therefore, optionally, the PDCP entity may also perform data recovery to recover the data that was not transmitted by the non-direct link. Through the data recovery procedure, data that has been delivered to the non-direct path may be recovered, for example, the PDCP entity may transmit the recovered data through a transmission path (e.g., a direct path) where the remote device is not deactivated, so that the packet loss rate can be reduced.

In an alternative embodiment, the first deactivation command includes first indication information for indicating the PDCP entity to perform data recovery. The behavior of the PDCP entity may be triggered by a first deactivation command. For example, the first deactivation command includes first indication information, which may indicate the PDCP entity to perform data recovery. And carrying out explicit indication through the first indication information, so that the remote equipment can more clearly and correspondingly act.

In an alternative embodiment, after deactivating the non-direct path, the method further comprises: reconstructing the PC5RLC entity of the remote device. Because the non-direct path is deactivated, the PC5RLC entity of the remote device can be re-established.

In an alternative embodiment, the first deactivation command includes second indication information for instructing the remote device to re-establish the PC5RLC entity. The behavior of the PC5RLC entity may be triggered by a first deactivation command. For example, the first deactivation command includes second indication information, which may indicate re-establishment of the PC5RLC entity. And carrying out explicit indication through the second indication information, so that the remote equipment can more clearly and correspondingly act. Alternatively, the first indication information and the second indication information may be the same information, or may be different information.

In an alternative embodiment, the remote device includes a MAC entity, and after deactivating the non-direct path, the method further includes: the MAC entity determines DRX configuration; or the MAC entity modifies the DRX configuration, wherein the DRX period indicated by the modified DRX configuration is larger than the DRX period applied before modification. For example, the MAC entity may determine a DRX configuration with a larger DRX cycle or modify the DRX cycle of the DRX configuration to a larger cycle. Because the non-direct path has been deactivated and no more data is transmitted on the non-direct path, the DRX cycle may be larger to reduce the time the remote device is in an active state so that the remote device may be in a sleep state for more time to save power consumption of the remote device.

In an alternative embodiment, prior to said receiving the first deactivation command, the method further comprises: and receiving a first RRC reconfiguration message from the access network equipment, wherein the first RRC reconfiguration message is used for configuring the non-direct connection path and the direct connection path. The plurality of transmission paths of the remote device may be configured by a first RRC reconfiguration message.

In an alternative embodiment, the first RRC reconfiguration message includes one or more morethnonerlc cells, where the one or more morethnonerlc cells include a first morethnonerlc cell, and the first morethnonerlc cell includes configuration information of the non-direct connection path and configuration information of the direct connection path, where the configuration information of the non-direct connection path includes an identifier of a relay device corresponding to the non-direct connection path; or, the first RRC reconfiguration message includes a plurality of morethnonerlc cells, a second morethnonerlc cell of the plurality of morethnonerlc cells includes configuration information of the direct connection path, and the first RRC reconfiguration message further includes configuration information of the non-direct connection path and a morethnonepith cell for indicating a primary path and/or a secondary path; or, the first RRC reconfiguration message includes a sideline SRAP configuration cell, where the sideline SRAP configuration cell includes information of an RLC entity corresponding to the direct link path, and includes information of an RLC entity corresponding to the non-direct link path. The first RRC reconfiguration message may be configured in a flexible manner by configuring multiple transmission paths in different manners, for example, by Morethnonerlc cells, or by Morethnonerlc cells and newly defined Morethnonepith cells, or by sidestream SRAP configuration cells, etc.

In a second aspect, a second communication method is provided, which may be performed by a relay device, or by another device comprising the functionality of the relay device, or by a system-on-chip (or chip) or other functional module capable of implementing the functionality of the relay device, the system-on-chip or functional module being provided in the relay device, for example. The relay device is, for example, a terminal device or a network device. The method comprises the following steps: receiving a second deactivation command, wherein the second deactivation command is used for the relay equipment to deactivate a non-direct connection path of the relay equipment for serving the remote equipment; and according to the second deactivation command, deactivating the non-direct connection path.

In an alternative embodiment, receiving the second deactivation command includes: receiving the second deactivation command from an access network device; or, receiving said second deactivation command from the remote device.

In an alternative embodiment, after receiving the second deactivation command from the access network device, the method further comprises: a first deactivation command is sent to the remote device, the first deactivation command being for the remote device to deactivate the non-direct path.

In an alternative embodiment, the first deactivation command is a PC5 RRC message, or is a PC5 MAC CE, or is an SRAP control PDU.

In an alternative embodiment, the second deactivation command from the access network device is an RRC message, an SRAP control PDU or a MAC CE.

In an alternative embodiment, the second deactivation command further comprises an identification of the remote device.

In an alternative embodiment, the relay device includes an SRAP entity, and after deactivating the non-direct path, the method further includes: and discarding the data corresponding to the non-direct connection path by the SRAP entity. After the non-direct path is deactivated, the SRAP entity of the relay device may discard data corresponding to the non-direct path to deactivate the non-direct path.

In an alternative embodiment, the second deactivation command includes third indication information, where the third indication information is used to instruct the SRAP entity to deactivate the non-direct path. The action of the SRAP entity may be triggered by a second deactivation command. For example, the second deactivation command includes third indication information, where the third indication information may instruct the SRAP entity to deactivate the non-direct path, or instruct the SRAP entity to discard data corresponding to the non-direct path. And carrying out explicit indication through the third indication information so that the relay equipment can more clearly and correspondingly act.

In an alternative embodiment, after deactivating the non-direct path, the method further comprises: reconstructing the PC5 RLC entity of the relay device.

In an alternative embodiment, the second deactivation command includes fourth indication information for indicating to re-establish the PC5 RLC entity. Alternatively, the third indication information and the fourth indication information may be the same information, or may be different information.

In an alternative embodiment, the relay device includes a MAC entity, and after deactivating the non-direct path, the method further includes: the MAC entity determines DRX configuration; or the MAC entity modifies the DRX configuration, wherein the DRX period indicated by the modified DRX configuration is larger than the DRX period applied before modification.

With regard to the technical effects brought about by the second aspect or some alternative embodiments, reference may be made to the description of the technical effects of the first aspect or corresponding embodiments.

In a third aspect, a third communication method is provided, which may be performed by a remote device, or by another device comprising the functions of the remote device, or by a system-on-chip (or chip) or other functional module capable of implementing the functions of the remote device, the system-on-chip or functional module being provided in the remote device, for example. The remote device is for example a terminal device or a network device. The method comprises the following steps: receiving a first activation command through a first path, wherein the first activation command is used for activating a second path, the first path is a first non-direct-connection path, and the second path is a direct-connection path or a second non-direct-connection path; and activating the second path according to the first activation command.

In this embodiment of the present application, after the transmission path is deactivated, the transmission path may be activated again. Since the corresponding device does not release the configuration information of the transmission path when the transmission path is deactivated, the device can activate the transmission path according to the stored configuration information, and signaling overhead and time delay caused by setting up the transmission path can be saved. By the technical scheme of the embodiment of the application, the state of the transmission path can be flexibly changed, the service transmission is facilitated, and the power consumption of equipment is also saved.

In an alternative embodiment, receiving the first activation command over the first path includes: receiving the first activation command from an access network device through the first path; or receiving the first activation command from a first relay device through the first path, wherein the first relay device is a relay device corresponding to the first path. The access network device may directly instruct the remote device to activate the second path, or may also instruct the first relay device to activate the second path, where the first relay device instructs the remote device to activate the second path, which is flexible.

In an alternative embodiment, if the second path is the second non-direct path, after receiving the first activation command from the access network device, the method further includes: and sending a third activation command to a second relay device, wherein the third activation command is used for activating the second non-direct-connection path, and the second relay device is a relay device corresponding to the second non-direct-connection path. If the second path is a non-direct path, the non-direct path also relates to the corresponding relay device. The remote device may therefore instruct the second relay device to activate the second non-direct path such that both the remote device and the second relay device may begin using the second non-direct path.

In an alternative embodiment, the first activation command from the access network device is an RRC message or PDCP control PDU.

In an alternative embodiment, the first activation command from the first relay device is a PC5 RRC message, a sidestream MAC CE, or an SRAP control PDU.

In an optional implementation manner, if the second path is the direct connection path, the first activation command includes an identifier of a cell corresponding to the direct connection path; or, if the second path is a second non-direct path, the first activation command includes one or more of: and the identifier of the second relay device corresponding to the second non-direct connection path, the side carrier information corresponding to the second non-direct connection path, or the logic channel identifier corresponding to the second non-direct connection path. The first activation command may include information of the second path so that the remote device makes an explicit determination of which transmission path the second path is.

In an alternative embodiment, if the second path is the direct path, activating the second path according to the first activation command includes one or more of: monitoring a downlink control channel in a cell corresponding to the direct connection path; performing random access on a cell corresponding to the direct connection path; or, the PDCP entity included in the remote device transmits data to the RLC entity corresponding to the direct link path.

In an alternative embodiment, if the second path is the second non-direct path, activating the second path according to the first activation command includes one or more of: the PDCP entity included in the remote equipment transmits data to the SRAP entity corresponding to the second non-direct connection path; the SRAP entity corresponding to the second non-direct connection path included in the remote equipment transmits data to the RLC entity corresponding to the second non-direct connection path; or, the MAC entity included in the remote device disables or modifies the DRX configuration, wherein the DRX cycle indicated by the modified DRX configuration is smaller than the DRX cycle applied before modification. The PDCP entity of the remote device may begin transmitting data using a second non-direct path, e.g., to an SRAP entity corresponding to the second non-direct path. The SRAP entity of the remote device may begin transmitting data using the second non-direct path, e.g., to the RLC entity to which the second non-direct path corresponds. The MAC entity of the remote device may deactivate the DRX configuration or modify the DRX cycle of the DRX configuration to be smaller to meet the data transmission needs on the non-direct path.

In a fourth aspect, a fourth communication method is provided, which may be performed by a first relay device, or by another device comprising the functionality of the first relay device, or by a system-on-chip (or chip) or other functional module capable of implementing the functionality of the first relay device, the system-on-chip or functional module being provided in the first relay device, for example. The first relay device is, for example, a terminal device or a network device. The first relay device is a relay device corresponding to the first non-direct connection path. The method comprises the following steps: receiving a second activation command from an access network device, wherein the second activation command is used for activating a second path, the first path is a first non-direct-connection path served by the first relay device, and the second path is a direct-connection path or a second non-direct-connection path; and sending a first activation command to a remote device, wherein the first activation command is used for activating the second path, and the remote device is the remote device corresponding to the second non-direct-connection path.

In an alternative embodiment, the first activation command is a PC5 RRC message or an SRAP control PDU or a MAC CE.

In an alternative embodiment, the second activation command is an RRC message or an SRAP control PDU or a MAC CE.

Regarding the technical effects brought about by the fourth aspect or various alternative embodiments, reference may be made to the description of the technical effects of the third aspect or corresponding embodiments.

In a fifth aspect, a fifth communication method is provided, which may be performed by a second relay device, or by another device comprising the functionality of the second relay device, or by a system-on-chip (or chip) or other functional module, which is capable of implementing the functionality of the second relay device, the system-on-chip or functional module being provided in the second relay device, for example. The second relay device is, for example, a terminal device or a network device. The second relay device is a relay device corresponding to the second non-direct connection path. The method comprises the following steps: receiving a third activation command from the remote device, wherein the third activation command is used for activating a second path, the first path is a first non-direct-connection path, and the second path is a second non-direct-connection path; and activating the second path according to the third activation command. The remote device may activate the second path upon receiving a first activation command from the access network device or the first relay device. If the second path is a second non-direct path, the second non-direct path also involves the second relay device, so the remote device may instruct the second relay device to activate the second non-direct path so that both the remote device and the second relay device may use the second non-direct path.

In an alternative embodiment, the third activation command is an RRC message or an SRAP control PDU or a MAC CE.

In an alternative embodiment, activating the second path according to the third activation command includes: the SRAP entity included in the second relay device transmits data corresponding to the second path; and/or, the MAC entity included in the second relay device disables or modifies the DRX configuration, wherein the DRX period indicated by the modified DRX configuration is smaller than the DRX period applied before modification.

Regarding the technical effects brought about by the fifth aspect or various alternative embodiments, reference may be made to the description of the technical effects of the third aspect or corresponding embodiments.

In a sixth aspect, a communication device is provided. The communication means may be the remote device of any one of the first to fifth aspects. The communication device has the functions of the remote equipment. The communication means are for example a remote device, or a larger device comprising a remote device, or a functional module in a remote device, such as a baseband means or a chip system, etc. In an alternative implementation, the communication device includes a baseband device and a radio frequency device. In another alternative implementation, the communication device includes a processing unit (sometimes also referred to as a processing module) and a transceiver unit (sometimes also referred to as a transceiver module). The transceiver unit can realize a transmission function and a reception function, and may be referred to as a transmission unit (sometimes referred to as a transmission module) when the transceiver unit realizes the transmission function, and may be referred to as a reception unit (sometimes referred to as a reception module) when the transceiver unit realizes the reception function. The transmitting unit and the receiving unit may be the same functional module, which is called a transceiver unit, and which can implement a transmitting function and a receiving function; alternatively, the transmitting unit and the receiving unit may be different functional modules, and the transmitting and receiving unit is a generic term for these functional modules.

In an alternative embodiment, the transceiver unit (or the receiving unit) is configured to receive a first deactivation command, where the first deactivation command is used by the remote device to deactivate a non-direct path of the remote device, and the remote device is in communication with an access network device through the direct path; the processing unit is configured to deactivate the non-direct connection path according to the first deactivation command.

In an alternative embodiment, the transceiver unit (or the receiving unit) is configured to receive a first activation command through a first path, where the first activation command is used to activate a second path, and the first path is a first non-direct path, and the second path is a direct path or a second non-direct path; the processing unit is configured to activate the second path according to the first activation command.

In an alternative embodiment, the communication apparatus further comprises a storage unit (sometimes also referred to as a storage module), the processing unit being configured to be coupled to the storage unit and execute a program or instructions in the storage unit, to enable the communication apparatus to perform the functions of the remote device according to any one of the first to fifth aspects.

In a seventh aspect, a communication device is provided. The communication apparatus may be the relay device of any one of the first to fifth aspects. The communication device has the function of the relay device. The communication means is for example a relay device, or a larger device comprising a relay device, or a functional module in a relay device, such as a baseband means or a system on chip, etc. In an alternative implementation, the communication device includes a baseband device and a radio frequency device. In another alternative implementation, the communication device includes a processing unit (sometimes also referred to as a processing module) and a transceiver unit (sometimes also referred to as a transceiver module). Reference may be made to the description of the sixth aspect for implementation of the transceiver unit.

In an alternative implementation, the transceiver unit (or the receiving unit) is configured to receive a second deactivation command, where the second deactivation command is used for the relay device to deactivate a non-direct path that the relay device serves for a remote device; and the processing unit is used for deactivating the non-direct connection path according to the second deactivation command.

In an optional implementation manner, the transceiver unit (or the receiving unit) is configured to receive a second activation command from an access network device, where the second activation command is used to activate a second path, the first path is a first non-direct connection path served by the first relay device, and the second path is a direct connection path or a second non-direct connection path; the transceiver unit (or the transmitting unit) is configured to transmit a first activation command to a remote device, where the first activation command is used to activate the second path, and the remote device is a remote device corresponding to the second non-direct connection path.

In an alternative implementation manner, the transceiver unit (or the receiving unit) is configured to receive a third activation command from a remote device, where the third activation command is used to activate a second path, and the first path is a first non-direct connection path, and the second path is a second non-direct connection path; the processing unit is configured to activate the second path according to the third activation command.

In an alternative implementation manner, the communication apparatus further includes a storage unit (sometimes also referred to as a storage module), and the processing unit is configured to couple with the storage unit and execute a program or instructions in the storage unit, so that the communication apparatus performs the functions of the relay device in any one of the first to fifth aspects.

In an eighth aspect, a communication apparatus is provided, which may be a remote device, or a chip or chip system for use in a remote device; alternatively, the communication means may be a relay device, or a chip or chip system for use in a relay device; alternatively, the communication means may be the first relay device, or a chip or chip system for use in the relay device; alternatively, the communication means may be a second relay device, or a chip or chip system for use in a relay device. The communication device comprises a communication interface and a processor, and optionally a memory. The memory is used for storing a computer program, the processor is coupled with the memory and the communication interface, and when the processor reads the computer program or instructions, the communication device executes the method executed by the remote device or the relay device or the first relay device or the second relay device.

A ninth aspect provides a first communication system comprising a remote device for performing the communication method according to the first aspect and a relay device for performing the communication method according to the second aspect.

In a tenth aspect, a second communication system is provided, comprising a remote device for performing the communication method according to the third aspect and a first relay device for performing the communication method according to the fourth aspect.

Optionally, the second communication system further comprises a second relay device for performing the communication method according to the fifth aspect.

In an eleventh aspect, there is provided a computer readable storage medium storing a computer program or instructions that, when executed, cause a method performed by a remote device or relay device or a first relay device or a second relay device in the above aspects to be implemented.

In a twelfth aspect, there is provided a computer program product containing instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the method of the above aspects to be carried out.

In a thirteenth aspect, a chip system is provided, including a processor and an interface, where the processor is configured to invoke and execute instructions from the interface to cause the chip system to implement the method of the above aspects.

Drawings

Fig. 1A and fig. 1B are schematic diagrams of two application scenarios in the embodiments of the present application;

FIGS. 2 and 3 are flowcharts of two communication methods according to embodiments of the present application;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is a schematic view of yet another apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present application more apparent, the embodiments of the present application will be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In this embodiment of the present application, the terminal device is a device with a wireless transceiver function, and may be a fixed device, a mobile device, a handheld device (for example, a mobile phone), a wearable device, an on-board device, or a wireless apparatus (for example, a communication module, a modem, or a chip system) built in the above device. The terminal device is used for connecting people, objects, machines and the like, and can be widely used in various scenes, including but not limited to the following scenes: cellular communication, device-to-device (D2D), vehicle-to-everything (vehicle to everything, V2X), machine-to-machine/machine-to-machine-type communications, M2M/MTC), internet of things (internet of things, ioT), virtual Reality (VR), augmented reality (augmented reality, AR), industrial control (industrial control), unmanned driving (self driving), remote medical (remote media), smart grid (smart grid), smart furniture, smart office, smart wear, smart transportation, smart city (smart city), drone, robot, and other end devices. The terminal device may sometimes be referred to as a User Equipment (UE), a terminal, an access station, a UE station, a remote station, a wireless communication device, or a user equipment, among others. For convenience of description, in the embodiment of the present application, a UE is taken as an example to illustrate a terminal device.

The network device in the embodiments of the present application may include, for example, an access network device, and/or a core network device. The access network equipment is equipment with a wireless receiving and transmitting function and is used for communicating with the terminal equipment. The access network devices include, but are not limited to, base stations (base transceiver stations (base transceiver station, BTS), node B, eNodeB/eNB, or gNodeB/gNB), transceiver points (transmission reception point, TRP), base stations for subsequent evolution of the third generation partnership project (3rd generation partnership project,3GPP), access nodes in wireless fidelity (wireless fidelity, wi-Fi) systems, wireless relay nodes, wireless backhaul nodes, and the like. The base station may be: macro base station, micro base station, pico base station, small station, relay station, etc. Multiple base stations may support networks of the same access technology or may support networks of different access technologies. A base station may comprise one or more co-sited or non-co-sited transmission reception points. The access network device may also be a radio controller, a Centralized Unit (CU), and/or a Distributed Unit (DU) in the context of a cloud radio access network (cloud radio access network, CRAN). The access network device may also be a server or the like. For example, the access network device in the car-to-anything (vehicle to everything, V2X) technology may be a Road Side Unit (RSU). An access network device will be described below taking a base station as an example. The base station may communicate with the terminal device or may communicate with the terminal device through the relay station. A terminal device may communicate with multiple base stations in different access technologies. The core network device is used for realizing the functions of mobile management, data processing, session management, policy and charging, etc. The names of devices implementing the core network function in the systems of different access technologies may be different, and the embodiments of the present application are not limited to this. Taking a 5G system as an example, the core network device includes: access and mobility management functions (access and mobility management function, AMF), session management functions (session management function, SMF), policy control functions (policy control function, PCF) or user plane functions (user plane function, UPF), etc.

In the embodiment of the present application, the communication device for implementing the function of the network device may be a network device, or may be a device capable of supporting the network device to implement the function, for example, a chip system, and the device may be installed in the network device. In the technical solution provided in the embodiments of the present application, the device for implementing the function of the network device is exemplified by the network device, and the technical solution provided in the embodiments of the present application is described.

In the embodiments of the present application, the number of nouns, unless otherwise indicated, means "a singular noun or a plural noun", i.e. "one or more". "at least one" means one or more, and "a plurality" means two or more. "and/or", describes an association relationship of an association object, and indicates that there may be three relationships, for example, a and/or B, and may indicate: a alone, a and B together, and B alone, wherein a, B may be singular or plural. The character "/" generally indicates that the context-dependent object is an "or" relationship. For example, A/B, means: a or B. "at least one of" or the like means any combination of these items, including any combination of single item(s) or plural items(s). For example, at least one (one) of a, b, or c, represents: a, b, c, a and b, a and c, b and c, or a and b and c, wherein a, b, c may be single or plural.

The ordinal terms such as "first," "second," and the like in the embodiments of the present application are used for distinguishing a plurality of objects, and are not used to define a size, a content, an order, a timing, a priority, or an importance level of the plurality of objects. For example, the first deactivation command and the second deactivation command may be the same deactivation command or different deactivation commands, and such names do not indicate the difference in content, transmission order, transmission end/reception end, priority, importance, or the like of the two deactivation commands. In addition, the numbers of the steps in the embodiments described in the present application are only for distinguishing different steps, and are not used for limiting the sequence of the steps. For example, S201 may occur before S202, or may occur after S202, or may also occur concurrently with S202.

The technical solution provided in the embodiments of the present application may be applied to a fourth generation mobile communication technology (the 4th generation,4G) system, for example, a long term evolution (long term evolution, LTE) system, or may be applied to a fifth generation mobile communication technology (the 5th generation,5G) system, for example, a New Radio (NR) system, or may also be applied to a next generation mobile communication system or other similar communication systems, for example, a sixth generation mobile communication technology (the 6th generation,6G) system, etc., which is not limited in particular. In addition, the technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the application can be applied to a device-to-device (D2D) scene, such as an NR-D2D scene and the like, or can be applied to a vehicle networking (vehicle to everything, V2X) scene, such as an NR-V2X scene or a vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) scene and the like. Or, the technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the application can be used in the fields of intelligent driving, auxiliary driving, intelligent network connection and the like. If the method is applied to the D2D scene, the relay equipment and the remote equipment can be UE; if applied to a non-D2D scenario, one of the relay device or the remote device may be a UE, the other device may be a network device (e.g., an access network device), or both the remote device and the relay device may be network devices. The remote device to which the various embodiments hereinafter relate is, for example, a UE or a network device; the relay device is, for example, a UE or a network device.

The present application relates to a UE-to-network relay (UE to network relay) mechanism that may be used to promote coverage of a cellular network. Please refer to fig. 1A and fig. 1B, which are schematic diagrams of two application scenarios in the embodiment of the present application. The relay equipment is in the coverage range of the access network equipment of the cellular network, namely, the relay equipment can be directly communicated with the access network equipment through a Uu interface; the remote device may communicate with the relay device through a PC5 interface, where the remote device may be located within a coverage area of the access network device, or may be located outside the coverage area of the access network device. For data, the remote device can send the data to the relay device, and then the relay device forwards the data of the remote device to the access network device through the Uu interface; or the data from the core network to be sent to the remote UE arrives at the access network equipment, the access network equipment sends the data to the relay equipment through the Uu interface, and the relay equipment forwards the data to the remote equipment through the PC5 interface. For signaling, the remote device may send signaling to the access network device through the relay device; or the remote device may receive signaling from the access network device via the relay device.

In fig. 1A, a non-direct connection path is provided between the remote device and the access network device, and the remote device is further connected with the access network device through the direct connection path; in fig. 1B, two non-direct paths (non-direct path 1 corresponding to relay device 1 and non-direct path 2 corresponding to relay device 2, respectively) are provided between the remote device and the access network device, and in addition, the remote device may be connected to the access network device through the direct paths (fig. 1B illustrates this as an example), or there may be no direct path between the remote UE and the access network device. That is, one or more non-direct paths may be maintained between the remote device and the access network device, which embodiments of the present application are not limited.

In order to better describe the embodiments of the present application, the methods provided by the embodiments of the present application are described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings corresponding to the embodiments of the present application, all steps indicated by dotted lines are optional steps. The methods provided by the embodiments of the present application can be applied to the network architecture shown in fig. 1A or fig. 1B. It should be noted that fig. 1A and fig. 1B take an example that a direct connection path and a non-direct connection path of a remote device are connected to the same access network device, and in various embodiments of the present application, a cell of the direct connection path and a cell where a relay device is located on the non-direct connection path may be the same cell, or may be different cells, and if they are different cells, the two cells may belong to the same access network device, or may belong to different access network devices.

In addition, in various embodiments of the present application, the cells of different non-direct connection paths may be the same cell, or may be different cells, and if they are different cells, they may belong to the same access network device, or may belong to different access network devices. In various embodiments of the present application, different non-direct paths maintained by one remote UE may correspond to the same relay UE, i.e., the same relay UE may also correspond to different non-direct paths; alternatively, different non-direct paths may correspond to different relay UEs.

In various embodiments of the present application, an "entity" may also be replaced with a "layer". For example, the "RLC entity" may also be referred to as "RLC layer", the "PDCP entity" may also be referred to as "PDCP layer", the "MAC entity" may also be referred to as "MAC layer", etc.

In various embodiments of the present application, a "direct connection path" refers to a path through which a remote device communicates with an access network device (or a cell provided by the access network device) through a Uu interface, rather than through a relay device; "non-direct path" refers to a path through which a remote device communicates with an access network device (or with a cell provided by the access network device) via a relay device. In addition, the "path" may be replaced by a "link". For example, a "direct path" may also be referred to as a "direct link" and a "non-direct path" may also be referred to as a "non-direct link".

In various embodiments of the present application, device a sends a message to device B, for which it may be considered that the message is from device a. The transmission process may be direct transmission or may be indirect transmission (e.g., forwarding through other devices).

In various embodiments of the present application, deactivating a transmission path refers to stopping end-to-end data transmission on the transmission path. In addition, one transmission path is deactivated, but the configuration of the transmission path is preserved and not released. When it is desired to transmit over the deactivated transmission path, the path needs to be "active" first. When the transmission path is activated (e.g., an activation command is received), the reserved configuration may be enabled without the network issuing the configuration again.

In order to solve the technical problems to be solved by the present application, various embodiments of the present application provide various methods. Referring to fig. 2, a flowchart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application is provided. For example, the remote device according to the embodiments of the present application is the remote device in fig. 1A or fig. 1B; the access network device related to the embodiment of the present application is the access network device in fig. 1A or fig. 1B; the relay device according to the embodiment of the present application is the relay device in fig. 1A, or the relay device 1 or the relay device 2 in fig. 1B.

S201, the remote device receives a first deactivation command.

For example, the remote device maintains at least two paths, including, for example, a direct path and a non-direct path. It will be appreciated that the remote device may communicate with the access network device via the direct path, and that the remote device may also communicate with the access network device via the non-direct path. The first deactivation command may indicate that the non-direct path is deactivated. The receiving end of the first deactivation command is a remote device, and the remote device may deactivate the non-direct connection path according to the first deactivation command, so it may also be considered that the first deactivation command may be used for the remote device to deactivate the non-direct connection path. Alternatively, if the non-direct path is not the primary path (primary path) of the remote device, for example, is the secondary path (secondary path) of the remote device, the solution provided by the embodiments of the present application may be executed; deactivation may not be supported if the non-direct path is the primary path of the remote device. That is, the embodiment of the present application may be applied to a scenario of deactivating a secondary path.

S201 may have different implementations.

1. The first implementation.

In S201, it may be that the access network device sends a first deactivation command to the remote device, and the remote device receives the first deactivation command from the access network device. For example, when the traffic volume of the remote device is small, the access network device may send the first deactivation command to reduce the transmission path maintained by the remote device, so as to save the power consumption of the remote device. For example, the access network device may send a first deactivation command to the remote device over the direct path or the non-direct path. Wherein if the access network device sends a first deactivation command through the non-direct path, the first deactivation command is, for example, a radio resource control (radio resource control, RRC) command or a packet data convergence protocol (packet data convergence protocol, PDCP) control (control) protocol data unit (protocol data unit, PDU) or the like. Alternatively, if the access network device sends the first deactivation command through the direct path, the first deactivation command is, for example, an RRC command, a PDCP control PDU, or a media access control (media access control, MAC) Control Element (CE), etc.

If the first deactivation command is a MAC CE, the format of the MAC CE may be the same as that of a MAC CE for deactivating a secondary cell (SCell). For example, the MAC CE may indicate a cell corresponding to the non-direct path, or the MAC CE may be configured to deactivate the cell corresponding to the non-direct path. Deactivation of the non-direct path can also be achieved by deactivating the cell to which the non-direct path corresponds. The cells corresponding to the non-direct connection path are, for example, cells accessed by the relay device on the non-direct connection path.

Alternatively, if the first deactivation command is a MAC CE, the format of the MAC CE may be newly defined, for example, the MAC CE is used to deactivate the non-direct path, but not to deactivate the cell corresponding to the non-direct path. If the remote device maintains a plurality of non-direct paths, a first deactivation command may be used to deactivate all or a portion of the plurality of non-direct paths. Optionally, if the first deactivation command is used to deactivate a part of the non-direct paths in the plurality of non-direct paths, the first deactivation command may include an identification of a relay device corresponding to the part of the non-direct paths, so as to indicate which non-direct paths are deactivated. For example, the identity of the relay device is a layer (L) 2 Identity (ID) of the relay device. If the remote device has multiple paths in the cell corresponding to the non-direct path, the corresponding non-direct path can be deactivated without deactivating the cell in this way, so that other paths of the remote device in the cell can continue to operate.

Optionally, in the first implementation manner of S201, the method may further include S202: the remote device sends a second deactivation command to the relay device, and the relay device receives the second deactivation command from the remote device. A second deactivation command may be used for the relay device to deactivate the non-direct path. For example, S202 may occur after S201. In addition, the method may further include S203: the relay device deactivates the non-direct path according to a second deactivation command. For example S203 may occur after S202. Equivalently, the access network device instructs the remote device to deactivate the non-direct-connection path, and since the non-direct-connection path involves the remote device and the relay device on the non-direct-connection path, the remote device may send a second deactivation command to the relay device, so that the relay device may deactivate the non-direct-connection path according to the second deactivation command. For example, the second deactivation command is a PC5 RRC command, a PC5 MAC CE, or a sideline relay adaptation protocol (sidelink relay adaptation protocol, SRAP) control PDU, or the like.

Alternatively, in the first implementation manner of S201, the method may further include S204: the access network device sends a second deactivation command to the relay device, and correspondingly, the relay device receives the second deactivation command from the access network device. A second deactivation command may be used for the relay device to deactivate the non-direct path. The method may further comprise S203, as described above. Equivalently, the access network device instructs the remote device and the relay device to deactivate the non-direct connection path, so that the relay device can deactivate the non-direct connection path according to the second deactivation command, and the remote device does not need to send the deactivation command to the relay device. One relay device may provide relay services to multiple remote devices, so that optionally, the second deactivation command may include an identification of the remote device, so that the relay device explicitly needs to "deactivate" what remote device corresponds to the non-direct path. For example, the identification of the remote device includes a local (local) ID or L2ID of the remote device, etc. For example, the second deactivation command is an RRC command, an SRAP control PDU, a MAC CE, or the like.

For example, the access network device may send a second deactivation command to the relay device over the direct path or the non-direct path. Wherein, S201 and S204 may be executed simultaneously, or S201 may be executed before S204, both commands may be sent through a direct path or a non-direct path, or both commands may be sent through different paths; alternatively, S204 may be performed before S201, then the second deactivation command may be sent over a direct path or a non-direct path, and the first activation command may preferably be sent over a direct path, since at this time the relay device may already start performing the deactivation operation for the non-direct path, if the first deactivation command continues to be sent over the non-direct path, the first deactivation command may not reach the remote device due to the deactivation of the non-direct path by the relay device. Alternatively, even if S204 is performed before S201, the first deactivation command may be transmitted through a non-direct path or a direct path, without limitation.

2. A second implementation.

In S201, it may be that the relay device transmits a first deactivation command to the remote device, and the remote device receives the first deactivation command from the relay device. For example, the first deactivation command is a PC5 RRC command, a PC5 MAC CE or srap control PDU, or the like.

Optionally, in the second implementation manner of S201, the method may further include S205: the access network device sends a second deactivation command to the relay device, and correspondingly, the relay device receives the second deactivation command from the access network device. For example S205 occurs before S201. Wherein the access network device may send a second deactivation command to the relay device over the direct path or the non-direct path. A second deactivation command may be used for the relay device to deactivate the non-direct path. The method may further comprise S203, as described above. For example, S203 occurs after S205, and S203 and S201 may occur simultaneously, or S203 occurs before S201, or S203 occurs after S201. Equivalently, the access network device instructs the relay device corresponding to the non-direct connection path to deactivate the non-direct connection path, and because the non-direct connection path also involves the remote device, the relay device may send a first deactivation command to the remote device, so that the remote device may deactivate the non-direct connection path according to the second deactivation command. For example, the second deactivation command is an RRC command, an SRAP control PDU, a MAC CE, or the like; the first deactivation command is, for example, a PC5 RRC command, a PC5 MAC CE or SRAP control PDU, etc.

That is, the access network device may instruct the remote device and/or the relay device to deactivate the non-direct path in a variety of ways, which is more flexible.

Optionally, before S201, S204, or S205, or before the access network device sends the deactivation command (e.g., the first deactivation command and/or the second deactivation command), the method may further include S206: the access network device sends a first RRC reconfiguration message to the remote device, and the remote device receives the first RRC reconfiguration message from the access network device. The first RRC reconfiguration message may be used to configure the direct path as well as the non-direct path. The first RRC reconfiguration message may be configured for the direct path and the non-direct path in a variety of configurations, as described below.

For example, in one configuration, the first RRC reconfiguration message may include one or more than one RLC (morethanoneRLC) cell, and the one or more Morethnonerlc cells may include first Morethnonerlc cells, which may include configuration information for non-direct paths, and configuration information for direct paths. The configuration information of the non-direct link path included in the first Moreathane RLC cell may include an identifier of a relay device corresponding to the non-direct link path, so as to indicate the non-direct link path. Optionally, the configuration information of the non-direct connection path may further include an identifier of a logical channel corresponding to the non-direct connection path, where the identifier of the logical channel is, for example, an identifier of a logical channel on the PC5 interface. Alternatively, the first morothanone rlc cell may indicate a primary path and/or a secondary path of the remote device, e.g., indicate that the direct path is the primary path. The number of the first morethnonerlc cells may be one or more, wherein if the number of the first morethnonerlc cells is plural, configuration information of a direct link path and configuration information of a non-direct link path may be included in each of the plurality of morethnonerlc cells. In this manner, the first morethnonerlc cell may be enabled to configure a non-direct path by modifying the first morethnonerlc cell.

For another example, the first RRC reconfiguration message may include a plurality of mothanonerlc cells, where the plurality of mothanonerlc cells includes second mothanonerlc cells, the second mothanonerlc cells may include configuration information of a direct link path, and the number of second mothanonerlc cells may be one or more. In addition, the first RRC reconfiguration message may further include configuration information of the non-direct path, and include the first cell. The number of first cells may be one or more, for example the first cells are more than one path (morothanonepath) cells, or the first cells may be other names. The configuration information of the non-direct path included in the first RRC reconfiguration message is, for example, not located in the second mothanonerlc cell and the mothanonepith cell, i.e., the first RRC reconfiguration message includes the configuration information of the non-direct path, but the second mothanonerlc cell and the mothanonepith cell in the first RRC reconfiguration message do not include the configuration information of the non-direct path. The morothanonepath cell may indicate a primary path and/or a secondary path of the remote device, e.g., indicate that the direct path is the primary path. Optionally, the morothanonepath cell may also include information for the indicated path. For example, if the morethnonepith cell indicates a direct path (e.g., indicates that the direct path is a primary path or indicates that the direct path is a secondary path), the morethnonepith cell may include an identifier of a cell corresponding to the direct path; for another example, if the morehannonepith cell indicates a non-direct path (e.g., indicates that the non-direct path is a primary path or indicates that the non-direct path is a secondary path), the morehannonepith cell may include an identification of a PC5 logical channel corresponding to the non-direct path and/or an identification of a relay device corresponding to the non-direct path, e.g., an L2 ID of the relay device.

For another example, the first RRC reconfiguration message includes a sideline SRAP configuration (SL-SRAP-Config) cell, where the sideline SRAP configuration cell may include information of an RLC entity corresponding to the direct link path and information of an RLC entity corresponding to the non-direct link path. For example, the side SRAP configuration cell includes an identity of a data radio bearer (data radio bearer, DRB) and a logical channel identity (logical channel identifier, LCID) corresponding to the RLC entity, the DRB may correspond to the PDCP entity, and the side SRAP configuration cell may include a correspondence between the PDCP entity and the RLC entity. In this embodiment of the present application, the SRAP configuration element may include a correspondence between a PDCP entity of the remote device and an RLC entity corresponding to the direct link path, and further includes a correspondence between the PDCP entity and an RLC entity corresponding to the non-direct link path, for example, in one implementation manner, the SRAP configuration element includes a correspondence between an identifier of a DRB corresponding to the PDCP entity and an LCID of an RLC entity corresponding to the direct link path, and includes a correspondence between an identifier of a DRB corresponding to the PDCP entity and an LCID of an RLC entity corresponding to the non-direct link path. If the first RRC reconfiguration message is to configure a plurality of non-direct paths for the remote device, the SRAP configuration element may include a correspondence between RLC entities corresponding to the plurality of non-direct paths and PDCP entities of the remote device.

In addition, the access network device may configure multiple transmission paths for the remote device in other manners, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

S207, the remote equipment deactivates the non-direct connection path according to the first deactivation command.

Wherein S207 may occur before S202, or after S202, or simultaneously with S202. S207 may occur before S204, or after S204, or concurrently with S204. S207 may occur before S203, or after S203, or simultaneously with S203.

After the remote device deactivates the non-direct path, the non-direct path may no longer be used to transmit data. The remote device may continue to maintain the configuration of the non-direct path, and if the non-direct path needs to be activated later, the remote device may re-enable the configuration of the non-direct path. Similarly for the relay device, the relay device may not transmit data using the non-direct path after deactivating the non-direct path in S203. But the relay device may continue to reserve the configuration of the non-direct path, and if the non-direct path needs to be activated later, the relay device may re-enable the configuration of the non-direct path. Alternatively, if the non-direct path to which the relay device is connected is deactivated, the Uu port communication of the relay device may also be deactivated, i.e. the configuration on the Uu port may be preserved, but the transmission is stopped. Because the remote device and the relay device do not release the configuration of the non-direct-connection path, when the non-direct-connection path is activated again, the signaling interaction process caused by the reestablishment of the transmission path between the devices can be reduced, the signaling overhead is saved, and the transmission delay can be reduced.

After deactivating the non-direct path, the remote device and/or the relay device may have a corresponding process, as described below.

1. Processing of the remote device. For example, the processing of the remote device may include processing actions of one or more of a PDCP entity, an RLC entity (e.g., a PC5 RLC entity), or a MAC entity (e.g., a PC5 MAC entity) of the remote device. The remote device may receive multiple indication information respectively, and indicate behaviors of multiple entities respectively, or may indicate behaviors of multiple entities based on one deactivation.

The PDCP entity of the remote device may stop transmitting data to the relay device corresponding to the non-direct path. If the non-direct path is deactivated, the non-direct path does not transmit data, and the PDCP entity may stop transmitting data to the relay device corresponding to the non-direct path. In addition, before the non-direct path is deactivated, the PDCP entity may have transmitted data to a relay device corresponding to the non-direct path, and the data may not reach a remote device due to the non-direct path being deactivated, which may cause packet loss. Therefore, optionally, the PDCP entity may also perform data recovery (data recovery) to recover the non-direct link untransmitted data, including, for example, data that has been sent to the relay device. Wherein the data that has been transmitted to the relay device may include data that the PDCP entity has delivered to a lower protocol entity (e.g., RLC entity, SRAP entity) that needs to be transmitted over the non-direct path. It can be seen that, through the data recovery procedure, data that has been submitted to the non-direct path can be recovered, for example, the PDCP entity can transmit the recovered data through a transmission path (e.g., a direct path) where the remote device is not deactivated, so that the packet loss rate can be reduced.

Wherein the behavior of the PDCP entity may be triggered by a first deactivation command. For example, the first deactivation command may include first indication information, which may indicate the PDCP entity to perform data recovery. The first indication information may occupy one or more bits (bits), for example. Alternatively, the first deactivation command may set a transmission path (e.g., a direct path) of the remote device, which is not deactivated, as a primary path (primary path), and may set a threshold (threshold) to infinity, so that the PDCP entity does not transmit data to a relay device corresponding to the non-direct path. Wherein the threshold may be used for the remote device to select a transmission path. For example, if the amount of data to be transmitted by the remote device is less than the threshold, data can only be transmitted on the primary path; alternatively, if the amount of data to be transmitted by the remote device is greater than the threshold, the data may be transmitted on the primary path and/or the secondary path. The first deactivate command has set the non-deactivated path of the remote device as the primary path and the threshold value as infinity, the remote device may be controlled to transmit data only on the primary path without using the non-direct path (secondary path) that has been deactivated. At this time, for example, the first deactivation command is an RRC command, for example, the RRC command is an RRC reconfiguration (RRC reconfiguration) message. Alternatively, the first deactivation command may be another type of message, which is not limited in particular.

Alternatively, the PDCP entity may not perform explicit triggering, but if the remote device determines to deactivate the non-direct path, the PDCP entity of the remote device may perform the above-described actions.

The RLC entity of the remote device may perform the re-establishment. For example, the behavior of the RLC entity may be triggered by a first deactivation command. For example, the first deactivation command may include second indication information, which may indicate re-establishment of the RLC entity. The second indication information may occupy one or more bits, for example. At this time, for example, the first deactivation command is an RRC command, for example, the RRC command is an RRC reconfiguration message. Alternatively, the first deactivation command may be another type of message, such as a PC5 RRC command, etc., which is not limited in particular.

Alternatively, the RLC entity may not explicitly trigger the behavior, but may perform the behavior if the remote device determines to deactivate the non-direct path.

The MAC entity of the remote device may determine a discontinuous reception (discontinuous reception, DRX) configuration or modify the DRX configuration. For example, a set of DRX configurations may include information such as DRX cycles (or duration of DRX cycles) and/or duration (on duration). First, the procedure of determining DRX configuration by the MAC entity will be described. The MAC entity may determine to apply a DRX configuration with a larger DRX cycle when determining the DRX configuration. Because the non-direct path has been deactivated and no more data is transmitted on the non-direct path, the DRX cycle may be larger to reduce the time the remote device is in an active state so that the remote device may be in a sleep state for more time to save power consumption of the remote device.

For example, the MAC entity (or the remote device) is preconfigured with multiple sets of DRX configurations, or the protocol predefines multiple sets of DRX configurations, one of which is applied by the MAC entity when the non-direct path is not deactivated, e.g. the first DRX configuration, and after the non-direct path is deactivated, the MAC entity may determine the DRX configuration, e.g. whether to change the first DRX configuration. Alternatively, if there is at least one set of DRX configurations having a DRX cycle greater than that of the first DRX configuration, the MAC entity may select one set of DRX configurations from the at least one DRX configurations to replace the first DRX configuration, e.g., the MAC entity selects the second DRX configuration, and the MAC entity may start applying the second DRX configuration and stop applying the first DRX configuration. For example, the second DRX configuration is a DRX configuration with a maximum DRX cycle of at least one set of DRX configurations. Wherein if the number of DRX configurations with the largest DRX cycle of the at least one set of DRX configurations is greater than 1, the MAC entity may randomly select one set of DRX configurations from among them as the second DRX configuration.

For another example, the MAC entity (or the remote device) is preconfigured with one or more sets of DRX configurations, or the protocol predefines one or more sets of DRX configurations, the MAC entity does not apply DRX configurations when the non-direct path is not deactivated, and after the non-direct path is deactivated, the MAC entity may determine DRX configurations, e.g., the determination of DRX configurations at this time may also be understood as enabling DRX configurations. Alternatively, if there are multiple sets of DRX configurations, the MAC entity may select the DRX configuration with the largest DRX cycle from the multiple sets of DRX configurations, e.g., the second DRX configuration, and enable the second DRX configuration. Wherein if the number of DRX configurations with the largest DRX cycle among the sets of DRX configurations is greater than 1, the MAC entity may randomly select one set of DRX configurations from among the sets of DRX configurations as the second DRX configuration. Alternatively, if there is only one set of DRX configurations (e.g., the DRX configuration is a default DRX configuration), the MAC entity does not have to perform the selection procedure, but rather the DRX configuration is applied.

The procedure for the MAC entity of the remote device to modify the DRX configuration is described below. For example, the MAC entity has applied a set of DRX configurations before the non-direct path is deactivated. The MAC entity may modify the DRX configuration after the non-direct path is deactivated, e.g., modify the DRX cycle of the DRX configuration such that the DRX cycle becomes longer. Alternatively, the MAC entity may modify the DRX cycle of the DRX configuration according to the cycle of the PC5 keep-alive information (PC 5 keep alive message), e.g. the cycle of the PC5 keep-alive information is 5 seconds(s). The PC5 keep-alive information is similar to heartbeat information and may be periodically transmitted between the remote device and the relay device to maintain a connection between the remote device and the relay device. In this embodiment of the present application, although the non-direct connection path is deactivated, the connection between the remote device and the relay device may be continuously maintained, so the MAC entity may modify the DRX cycle according to the cycle of the PC5 keep-alive information, for example, so that the modified DRX cycle is the same as the cycle of the PC5 keep-alive information, so that the DRX configuration may not only meet the requirement of maintaining the connection, but also save the power consumption of the device.

2. And processing of the relay device. For example, the processing of the relay device may include processing actions of one or more of an SRAP entity, an RLC entity (e.g., a PC5 RLC entity), or a MAC entity (e.g., a PC5 MAC entity) of the relay device.

Alternatively, the SRAP entity of the relay device may discard the data corresponding to the non-direct path. Because the non-direct path has been deactivated, the SRAP entity may cease transmitting data on the non-direct path. If there is data corresponding to the non-direct path that has not been transmitted within the SRAP entity, the SRAP entity may discard the data. For example, packets in the SRAP header that include the remote device ID on the deactivated transmission path are discarded. In addition, the SRAP entity may further store an association relationship between configuration information of the remote device and configuration information of the Uu interface, where the association relationship indicates that data of the remote device is transmitted through a configuration corresponding to the configuration information of the Uu interface. Alternatively, the SRAP entity may retain the association, and if the non-direct path is re-activated in the future, the SRAP entity may directly apply the association without having to re-establish the association.

For example, the action of the SRAP entity may be triggered by a second deactivation command. For example, the second deactivation command may include third indication information, where the third indication information may instruct the SRAP entity to deactivate the non-direct path, or instruct the SRAP entity to discard data corresponding to the non-direct path. The third indication information may occupy one or more bits, for example. At this time, for example, the second deactivation command is an RRC command, for example, the RRC command is an RRC reconfiguration message, or the second deactivation command may be another message, for example, a PC5 RRC command, etc., which is not limited in particular. Alternatively, the SRAP entity may not explicitly trigger, but may perform the actions described above if the relay device determines to deactivate the non-direct path.

Alternatively, the SRAP entity may not operate after the non-direct path is deactivated. For example, the access network device may perform the deactivation process again, such as performing S201 to S205 and S207 as described above, when it is determined that the SRAP entity of the relay device does not include data corresponding to the non-direct path. In this case, the SRAP entity may not perform operations, such as not having to perform operations to discard data corresponding to the non-direct path.

The RLC entity of the relay device may be rebuilt, and reference may be made to the previous description of the behaviour of the RLC entity of the remote device with respect to this procedure.

The MAC entity of the relay device may determine the DRX configuration or modify the DRX configuration, for which reference may be made to the previous introduction of the behavior of the MAC entity of the remote device.

The above steps describe a process of deactivating a non-direct path, and embodiments of the present application may also protect the process of deactivating a direct path. For example, the remote device maintains a direct path and a non-direct path, and if the direct path is a secondary path, the direct path may be deactivated. For example, the access network device may send a third deactivation command to the remote device to instruct to deactivate the direct connection path, or instruct to deactivate a cell corresponding to the direct connection path, or instruct to deactivate a secondary cell group (secondary cell group, SCG) where the cell corresponding to the direct connection path is located. The remote device may deactivate the direct path after receiving the third deactivation command. For example, the third deactivation command is a MAC CE, where the MAC CE may instruct to deactivate the direct-connection path, or instruct to deactivate a cell corresponding to the direct-connection path; or the third deactivation command is an RRC reconfiguration message including an SCG state (SCG-state), wherein the RRC reconfiguration message includes SCG-state, indicating that the SCG is deactivated.

The embodiment of the application can not release the corresponding transmission path, but the remote device can deactivate the transmission path according to the deactivation command. Since the transmission path is not released, if the transmission path is to be added to the remote device later, the transmission path is re-activated, the signaling overhead required in the activation process is smaller than that in the process of establishing the transmission path, and the communication delay is smaller. In addition, the deactivation process may not require release of the corresponding configuration as compared to the release process, thereby also reducing the delay associated with the release process. And after the non-direct path is deactivated, the remote device and/or the relay device may determine or modify the DRX configuration such that the DRX cycle becomes longer to save power consumption of the device.

The embodiment shown in fig. 2 describes a process of deactivating the transmission path. The transmission path may also be reactivated after it has been deactivated. For this purpose, another communication method is provided in the embodiments of the present application to introduce how to activate the transmission path. Please refer to fig. 3, which is a flowchart of the method. For example, the remote device according to the embodiments of the present application is the remote device in fig. 1A or fig. 1B; the access network device related to the embodiment of the present application is the access network device in fig. 1A or fig. 1B; the first relay device according to the embodiment of the present application is the relay device in fig. 1A, or if a second relay device is also involved, the first relay device according to the embodiment of the present application is the relay device 1 in fig. 1B, and the second relay device is the relay device 2 in fig. 1B.

Alternatively, the embodiment shown in FIG. 3 may be used in conjunction with the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, e.g., the embodiment shown in FIG. 3 occurs after the embodiment shown in FIG. 2 is completed; alternatively, the embodiment shown in fig. 3 may not be combined with the embodiment shown in fig. 2, e.g. the second path may be deactivated in other ways, after which the embodiment shown in fig. 3 may be performed to activate the second path.

S301, the remote device receives a first activation command through a first path. The first activation command may be used to activate the second path.

For example, the remote device maintains a first path, such as a non-direct path, which may be referred to as a first non-direct path. It will be appreciated that the remote device may communicate with the access network device via the non-direct path. The first activation command may indicate that the second path is activated. The receiving end of the first activation command is a remote device, and the remote device can activate the second path according to the first activation command, so that it can also be considered that the first activation command can be used for the remote device to activate the second path. The second path is a direct path or an indirect path, for example, the indirect path as the second path is referred to as a second indirect path.

Alternatively, if the second path is a direct path, the first activation command may include an identification of a cell to which the direct path corresponds, such as one or more of an NR cell identification (NR cell identifier, NCI), a physical cell identification (physical cell identifier, PCI), or an NR cell global identification (NR cell global identifier, NCGI) of the cell. Alternatively, if the second path is a second non-direct path, the first activation command may include one or more of the following: the identification of the relay device (e.g., referred to as a second relay device) corresponding to the second non-direct path, information of a Sidelink (SL) carrier corresponding to the second non-direct path, or LCID corresponding to the second non-direct path, through one or more of the above items, may indicate the second non-direct path.

S301 may have different implementations.

1. The first implementation.

In S301, it may be that the access network device sends a first activation command to the remote device through the first path, and the remote device receives the first activation command from the access network device through the first path. For example, when the traffic volume of the remote device is large, the access network device may send a first activation command to increase the transmission path maintained by the remote device, so as to meet the traffic transmission requirement. The first activation command is, for example, an RRC command or a PDCP control PDU. The RRC command is, for example, an RRC reconfiguration message.

If the second path is a second non-direct path, optionally, in the first implementation manner of S301, the method may further include S302: the remote device sends a third activation command to the second relay device, and the second relay device receives the third activation command from the remote device. The third activation command may be for the second relay device to activate the second non-direct path. In addition, the method may further include S303: the second relay device activates the second non-direct path according to the third activation command. Equivalently, the access network device instructs the remote device to activate the second non-direct-connection path, and since the second non-direct-connection path involves the remote device and the second relay device on the second non-direct-connection path, the remote device may send a third activation command to the second relay device, so that the second relay device may activate the second non-direct-connection path according to the third activation command. For example, the third activation command is a PC5 RRC command, a PC5 MAC CE, or an SRAP control PDU, etc.

Alternatively, when the second path is a second non-direct path, the processing behavior involved in activating the second non-direct path by the second relay device may include processing behavior of an SRAP entity and/or a MAC entity (e.g., a PC5 MAC entity) of the relay device.

As can be seen from the description of the embodiment shown in fig. 2, when a transmission path is deactivated, the SRAP entity of the relay device may discard the data corresponding to the transmission path, for example, discard the data packet in the SRAP packet header including the remote device ID on the deactivated path. In this embodiment of the present application, the second non-direct path is activated, so that the SRAP entity of the second relay device may not discard the data corresponding to the second non-direct path, i.e. stop discarding the data packet including the remote device ID on the second non-direct path in the SRAP packet header, so as to transmit the data on the second non-direct path. Because the second non-direct path is activated, the SRAP entity may transmit data on the second non-direct path.

For example, the action of the SRAP entity may be triggered by a third activation command. For example, the third activation command may include fourth indication information, where the fourth indication information may indicate that the SRAP entity activates the second non-direct path, or indicate that the SRAP entity does not discard data corresponding to the second non-direct path. The fourth indication information may occupy one or more bits, for example. At this time, for example, the third activation command is a PC5 RRC command or the like, and is not particularly limited. Alternatively, the SRAP entity may not be explicitly triggered, but the SRAP entity of the second relay device may perform the above-described actions if the second relay device determines to activate the second non-direct path.

The MAC entity of the second relay device may deactivate the DRX configuration or modify the DRX configuration. For example, the MAC entity of the second relay device uses the DRX configuration before the second non-direct path is activated. The second relay device may stop using the DRX configuration, i.e., stop using the DRX mechanism, when the second non-direct path is activated, to ensure normal transmission of data.

Alternatively, the MAC entity of the second relay device may modify the DRX configuration. For example, the MAC entity has applied a set of DRX configurations before the second non-direct path is activated. If the second non-direct path is activated, the MAC entity may modify the DRX configuration, for example, modify the DRX cycle of the DRX configuration, so that the DRX cycle becomes shorter, to ensure normal transmission of data, and reduce the packet loss rate. Optionally, the MAC entity may modify the DRX cycle of the DRX configuration according to the cycle of the traffic transmitted by the second non-direct path, for example, so that the modified DRX cycle is the same as the cycle of the traffic transmitted by the second non-direct path, thereby enabling the DRX configuration to meet the data transmission requirement.

2. A second implementation.

In S301, it may be that the first relay device transmits a first activation command to the remote device through the first path, and the remote device receives the first activation command from the first relay device through the first path. The first relay device is a relay device corresponding to the first non-direct connection path. For example, the first deactivation command is a PC5 RRC command, a PC5 MAC CE or SRAP control PDU, or the like.

Optionally, in the second implementation manner of S301, the method may further include S304: the access network device sends a second activation command to the first relay device, and the first relay device receives the second activation command from the access network device. The second activation command may instruct to activate the second path, instruct the remote device to activate the second path, or instruct to forward the second activation command to the remote device (e.g., the second activation command is an SRAP control PDU that includes an identifier of the remote device, or the first relay device may also determine to forward the second activation command according to an LCID corresponding to the second activation command). Then in S301, the first relay device may generate a first activation command according to the second activation command, and send the first activation command to the remote device through the first path; alternatively, the first relay device may forward the second activation command to the remote device through the first path, where the first activation command is the second activation command. For example, the second activation command is an RRC command, an SRAP control PDU, a MAC CE, or the like. The first activation command and the second activation command may be the same type of message, for example, the second activation command is an SRAP control PDU, and the first activation command may also be an SRAP control PDU; alternatively, the second activation command is an RRC command, and the first activation command may be a PC5 RRC command; alternatively, the second activation command is a MAC CE, and the first activation command may be a PC5 MAC CE. Alternatively, the first activation command and the second activation command may be different types of messages, for example, the second activation command is a MAC CE, and the first activation command is a PC5 RRC command, which is not limited in particular.

If the second path is a second non-direct path, optionally, after S304, the method may further comprise S302 and S303, for which reference is made to the description above.

That is, the access network device may send the activation command directly to the remote device, or may send the activation command to the remote device through the relay device, which is flexible.

And S305, the remote equipment activates the second path according to the first activation command.

Wherein S305 may occur before S302, after S302, or concurrently with S302.

For example, the remote device may continue to maintain the configuration of the second path after deactivating the second path. Thus, in S305, the remote device may re-enable the configuration of the second path without having to re-establish the second path. For example, the second path is a second non-direct path, which is similar to the second relay device, and after the second relay device deactivates the second non-direct path, the configuration of the second non-direct path may be kept, and in S303 described above, the second relay device may re-activate the configuration of the second non-direct path. Because the remote device (or the remote device and the second relay device) does not release the configuration of the second path, when the second path is activated again, the signaling interaction process caused by reestablishing the transmission path between the devices can be reduced, the signaling overhead is saved, and the transmission delay can be reduced.

The remote device may activate the second path in a corresponding manner, as described below.

1. The second path is a direct path.

When the second path is a direct path, the act of the remote device activating the direct path may include one or more of: and monitoring a downlink control channel in a cell corresponding to the direct connection path, and performing random access on the cell corresponding to the direct connection path, or transmitting data to an RLC entity corresponding to the direct connection path in the remote equipment by a PDCP entity of the remote equipment.

The remote device monitors a downlink control channel in a cell corresponding to the direct connection path, for example, monitors a physical downlink control channel (physical downlink control channel, PDCCH) in the cell.

The remote device performs random access to a cell corresponding to the direct connection path, for example, the remote device may monitor a PDCCH in the cell, if a PDCCH order (order) is received, the remote device may perform random access to the cell, for example, the remote device may send a random access preamble (preamble) to the cell; alternatively, the remote device may also perform random access with the cell after receiving the first activation command, for example, send a preamble to the cell.

2. The second path is a second non-direct path.

When the second path is a second non-direct path, the remote device activates processing actions involved in the second path, which may include processing actions of one or more of a PDCP entity, RLC entity (e.g., PC5 RLC entity), or MAC entity (e.g., PC5 MAC entity) of the remote device.

The PDCP entity of the remote device may transmit data to an SRAP entity in the remote device corresponding to the second non-direct path.

Wherein the behavior of the PDCP entity may be triggered by a first activation command. For example, the first activation command may include fifth indication information, which may indicate that the PDCP entity transmits data corresponding to the second non-direct path. The fifth indication information may occupy one or more bits, for example. Optionally, the first activation command may further set the threshold smaller, so that the PDCP entity may transmit data to the relay device corresponding to the second non-direct path. The threshold may be used by the remote device to select a transmission path as described above. For example, if the amount of data to be transmitted by the remote device is less than the threshold, data can only be transmitted on the primary path; alternatively, if the amount of data to be transmitted by the remote device is greater than the threshold, the data may be transmitted on the primary path and/or the secondary path. For example, the first path is the main path of the remote device, the second non-direct path is the auxiliary path of the remote device, and the first activation command sets the threshold value smaller, so that the remote device can send data on the main path or send data on the second non-direct path. At this time, for example, the first deactivation command is an RRC command, for example, the RRC command is an RRC reconfiguration message. Alternatively, the first deactivation command may be another type of message, which is not limited in particular.

Alternatively, the PDCP entity may perform the above-described actions without explicit triggering if the remote device determines to activate the second non-direct path.

The SRAP entity of the remote device may transmit data to the RLC entity of the remote device corresponding to the second non-direct path or the SRAP entity may transmit data to the RLC entity of the remote device associated with the SRAP entity. Optionally, the data sent by the SRAP entity to the RLC entity may include an SRAP header (header), where the SRAP header may include an identity of the remote device, such as a local ID of the remote device.

For example, the action of the SRAP entity may be triggered by a first activation command. For example, the first activation command may include sixth indication information, where the sixth indication information may indicate that the SRAP entity activates the second non-direct path, or indicate that the SRAP entity does not discard data corresponding to the second non-direct path. The sixth indication information may occupy one or more bits, for example. At this time, for example, the first activation command is an RRC command, for example, the RRC command is an RRC reconfiguration message, or the first activation command may be another message, for example, a PC5 RRC command, etc., which is not limited in particular. Alternatively, the SRAP entity's behavior may not be explicitly triggered, but may be performed by the remote device if the remote device determines to activate the second non-direct path.

The MAC entity of the remote device may deactivate the DRX configuration or modify the DRX configuration, for which reference is made to the description of the behaviour of the MAC entity of the second relay device in S303.

The above steps describe a process of activating the second path through the non-direct path, and the embodiments of the present application can also protect the process of activating the second path through the direct path. For example, the access network device may send a third activation command to the remote device through the direct connection path, so as to instruct activation of the second path, or instruct activation of a cell corresponding to the second path, or instruct activation of an SCG where the cell corresponding to the second path is located. The remote device may activate the second path after receiving the third activation command. For example, the third activation command is a MAC CE, where the MAC CE may instruct to activate the direct connection path, or instruct to activate a cell corresponding to the direct connection path; or the third activation command is an RRC reconfiguration message, where the RRC reconfiguration message does not include scg-state, or if the second path is a non-direct path, the RRC reconfiguration message may not include state information of a cell group (cell group) corresponding to the second relay device. Wherein the RRC reconfiguration message does not include SCG-state, indicating that the SCG is activated; or, the RRC reconfiguration message does not include state information of the cell group corresponding to the second relay device, and indicates that the cell group is activated.

Fig. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application. The communication apparatus 400 may be the remote device or the circuitry of the remote device in the embodiment shown in fig. 2 or the embodiment shown in fig. 3 for implementing the method corresponding to the remote device in the above-mentioned method embodiment. Alternatively, the communication apparatus 400 may be a relay device or a circuit system of the relay device in the embodiment shown in fig. 2, for implementing a method corresponding to the relay device in the above method embodiment. Alternatively, the communication apparatus 400 may be the first relay device or the circuitry of the first relay device in the embodiment shown in fig. 3, for implementing the method corresponding to the first relay device in the above method embodiment. Alternatively, the communication apparatus 400 may be the second relay device or the circuitry of the second relay device in the embodiment shown in fig. 3, for implementing the method corresponding to the second relay device in the above method embodiment. Specific functions can be seen from the description of the method embodiments described above. One type of circuitry is, for example, a chip system.

The communication device 400 comprises at least one processor 401. The processor 401 may be used for internal processing of the device to implement a certain control processing function. Optionally, the processor 401 includes instructions. Alternatively, the processor 401 may store data. Alternatively, the different processors may be separate devices, may be located in different physical locations, and may be located on different integrated circuits. Alternatively, the different processors may be integrated in one or more processors, e.g., integrated on one or more integrated circuits.

Optionally, the communication device 400 includes one or more memories 403 to store instructions. Optionally, the memory 403 may also store data. The processor and the memory may be provided separately or may be integrated.

Optionally, the communication device 400 includes a communication line 402, and at least one communication interface 404. In fig. 4, the memory 403, the communication line 402, and the communication interface 404 are all optional, and are indicated by dashed lines.

Optionally, the communication device 400 may also include a transceiver and/or an antenna. Wherein the transceiver may be used to transmit information to or receive information from other devices. The transceiver may be referred to as a transceiver, a transceiver circuit, an input-output interface, etc. for implementing the transceiver function of the communication device 400 via an antenna. Optionally, the transceiver comprises a transmitter (transmitter) and a receiver (receiver). Illustratively, a transmitter may be used to generate a radio frequency (radio frequency) signal from the baseband signal, and a receiver may be used to convert the radio frequency signal to the baseband signal.

Processor 401 may include a general purpose central processing unit (central processing unit, CPU), microprocessor, application specific integrated circuit (application specific integrated circuit, ASIC), or one or more integrated circuits for controlling the execution of programs of the present application.

Communication line 402 may include a pathway to transfer information between the aforementioned components.

The communication interface 404 uses any transceiver-like device for communicating with other devices or communication networks, such as ethernet, radio access network (radio access network, RAN), wireless local area network (wireless local area networks, WLAN), wired access network, etc.

The memory 403 may be, but is not limited to, a read-only memory (ROM) or other type of static storage device that can store static information and instructions, a random access memory (random access memory, RAM) or other type of dynamic storage device that can store information and instructions, or an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (electrically erasable programmable read-only memory, EEPROM), a compact disc read-only memory (compact disc read-only memory) or other optical disc storage, a compact disc storage (including compact disc, laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc, blu-ray disc, etc.), a magnetic disk storage medium or other magnetic storage device, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer. The memory 403 may be stand alone and be connected to the processor 401 by a communication line 402. Alternatively, the memory 403 may be integrated with the processor 401.

The memory 403 is used for storing computer-executable instructions for executing the embodiments of the present application, and is controlled by the processor 401 to execute the instructions. The processor 401 is configured to execute computer-executable instructions stored in the memory 403, thereby implementing the steps performed by the remote device in the embodiment shown in fig. 2 or the embodiment shown in fig. 3, or implementing the steps performed by the relay device in the embodiment shown in fig. 2, or implementing the steps performed by the first relay device in the embodiment shown in fig. 3, or implementing the steps performed by the second relay device in the embodiment shown in fig. 3.

Alternatively, the computer-executable instructions in the embodiments of the present application may be referred to as application program codes, which are not specifically limited in the embodiments of the present application.

In a particular implementation, processor 401 may include one or more CPUs, such as CPU0 and CPU1 of FIG. 4, as an embodiment.

In a particular implementation, as one embodiment, the communication apparatus 400 may include a plurality of processors, such as the processor 401 and the processor 405 in fig. 4. Each of these processors may be a single-core (single-CPU) processor or may be a multi-core (multi-CPU) processor. A processor herein may refer to one or more devices, circuits, and/or processing cores for processing data (e.g., computer program instructions).

When the apparatus shown in fig. 4 is a chip, for example, a chip of a remote device, or a chip of a relay device, or a chip of a first relay device, or a chip of a second relay device, the chip includes a processor 401 (may further include a processor 405), a communication line 402, a memory 403, and a communication interface 404. In particular, the communication interface 404 may be an input interface, a pin, or a circuit, etc. Memory 403 may be a register, cache, or the like. Processor 401 and processor 405 may be a general purpose CPU, microprocessor, ASIC, or one or more integrated circuits for controlling the execution of the programs of the communication methods of any of the embodiments described above.

The embodiment of the application may divide the functional modules of the apparatus according to the above method example, for example, each functional module may be divided corresponding to each function, or two or more functions may be integrated into one processing module. The integrated modules may be implemented in hardware or in software functional modules. It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the division of the modules is schematic, which is merely a logic function division, and other division manners may be implemented in actual implementation. For example, in the case of dividing each functional module by corresponding each function, fig. 5 shows a schematic diagram of an apparatus, and the apparatus 500 may be a remote device or a relay device or a first relay device or a second relay device, or a chip in the remote device or a chip in the relay device or a chip in the first relay device or a chip in the second relay device, which are referred to in each method embodiment described above. The apparatus 500 comprises a transmitting unit 501, a processing unit 502 and a receiving unit 503.

It should be understood that the apparatus 500 may be used to implement the steps performed by the remote device or the relay device or the first relay device or the second relay device in the communication method according to the embodiments of the present application, and the relevant features may refer to the embodiment shown in fig. 2 or the embodiment shown in fig. 3 and will not be described herein.

Alternatively, the functions/implementation procedures of the transmitting unit 501, the receiving unit 503, and the processing unit 502 in fig. 5 may be implemented by the processor 401 in fig. 4 calling computer-executable instructions stored in the memory 403. Alternatively, the functions/implementation procedure of the processing unit 502 in fig. 5 may be implemented by the processor 401 in fig. 4 calling computer-executable instructions stored in the memory 403, and the functions/implementation procedure of the transmitting unit 501 and the receiving unit 503 in fig. 5 may be implemented by the communication interface 404 in fig. 4.

Alternatively, when the apparatus 500 is a chip or a circuit, the functions/implementation procedures of the transmitting unit 501 and the receiving unit 503 may also be implemented by pins or circuits, or the like.

The present application also provides a computer readable storage medium storing a computer program or instructions that, when executed, implement a method performed by a remote device or relay device or a first relay device or a second relay device in the foregoing method embodiments. Thus, the functions described in the above embodiments may be implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as independent products. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the present application may be embodied in essence or contributing part or part of the technical solution in the form of a software product stored in a storage medium, including several instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to perform all or part of the steps of the methods described in the embodiments of the present application. The storage medium includes: a usb disk, a removable hard disk, a ROM, a RAM, a magnetic disk, or an optical disk, etc.

The present application also provides a computer program product comprising: computer program code which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method performed by the remote device or relay device or first relay device or second relay device in any of the method embodiments described above.

The embodiment of the application also provides a processing device, which comprises a processor and an interface; the processor is configured to perform a method performed by the remote device or the relay device or the first relay device or the second relay device according to any of the above method embodiments.

In the above embodiments, it may be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, may be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When loaded and executed on a computer, produces a flow or function in accordance with embodiments of the present application, in whole or in part. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable apparatus. The computer instructions may be stored in or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another, for example, by wired (e.g., coaxial cable, optical fiber, digital Subscriber Line (DSL)), or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer readable storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server, data center, etc. that contains an integration of one or more available media. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium (e.g., a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape), an optical medium (e.g., a DVD), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., a Solid State Disk (SSD)), or the like.

The various illustrative logical blocks and circuits described in the embodiments of the present application may be implemented or performed with a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (digital signal processor, DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (application specific integrated circuit, ASIC), a field-programmable gate array (field-programmable gate array, FPGA), or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the general purpose processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a digital signal processor and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a digital signal processor core, or any other similar configuration.

The steps of a method or algorithm described in the embodiments of the present application may be embodied directly in hardware, in a software element executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. The software elements may be stored in RAM, flash memory, ROM, erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), EEPROM, registers, hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. In an example, a storage medium may be coupled to the processor such that the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integral to the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC, which may reside in a terminal device. In the alternative, the processor and the storage medium may reside in different components in a terminal device.

These computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

The matters in the various embodiments of the present application may be referenced to each other in terms and/or descriptions consistent with each other and to each other in the absence of specific illustrations and logic conflicts between, the technical features of the different embodiments may be combined to form new embodiments based on the inherent logic relationships.

It is understood that in the embodiments of the present application, the remote device and/or the relay device and/or the first relay device and/or the second relay device may perform some or all of the steps in the embodiments of the present application, these steps or operations are merely examples, and in the embodiments of the present application, other operations or variations of the various operations may also be performed. Furthermore, the various steps may be performed in a different order presented in accordance with embodiments of the present application, and it is possible that not all of the operations in the embodiments of the present application may be performed.

Claims

1. A method of communication for a remote device, the method comprising:

receiving a first deactivation command, wherein the first deactivation command is used for the remote equipment to deactivate a non-direct connection path of the remote equipment, and the remote equipment is communicated with an access network equipment through the direct connection path;

and according to the first deactivation command, deactivating the non-direct connection path.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving a first deactivation command comprises:

receiving the first deactivation command from the access network device through the direct connection path; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

receiving the first deactivation command from the access network device through the non-direct path; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the method further includes receiving the first deactivation command from a relay device, wherein the remote device communicates with the access network device over the non-direct path through the relay device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein upon receiving the first deactivation command from the access network device over the direct path or the non-direct path, the method further comprises:

and sending a second deactivation command to a relay device, wherein the second deactivation command is used for deactivating the non-direct connection path by the relay device, and the remote device communicates with the access network device through the relay device on the non-direct connection path.

4. A method according to claim 3, characterized in that the second deactivation command is a PC5 radio resource control, RRC, message, or a PC5 medium access control, MAC, control element, CE, or a sidelink relay adaptation protocol, SRAP, control protocol data unit, PDU.

5. The method according to any of claims 2-4, wherein the first deactivation command from the access network device is an RRC message, a packet data convergence protocol PDCP control PDU or a MAC CE.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the first deactivation command is to deactivate a non-direct path of the remote device, comprising:

the MAC CE is used for deactivating the non-direct connection path through deactivating a cell corresponding to the non-direct connection path; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the MAC CE is used for deactivating the non-direct connection path and is not used for deactivating a cell corresponding to the non-direct connection path.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein if the MAC CE is configured to deactivate the non-direct path and is not configured to deactivate a cell corresponding to the non-direct path, the MAC CE further comprises an identification of the relay device.

8. The method according to any of claims 1-7, wherein the remote device comprises a PDCP entity, the method further comprising, after deactivating the non-direct path:

The PDCP entity stops sending data to the relay equipment corresponding to the non-direct connection path, and the PDCP entity performs data recovery to recover the data which is not transmitted by the non-direct connection path.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the first deactivation command includes first indication information for indicating the PDCP entity for data recovery.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1-9, wherein after deactivating the non-direct path, the method further comprises:

reconstructing the PC5 Radio Link Control (RLC) entity of the remote device.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the first deactivation command includes second indication information for instructing the remote device to re-establish the PC5 RLC entity.

12. The method according to any of claims 1-11, wherein the remote device comprises a MAC entity, the method further comprising, after deactivating the non-direct path:

the MAC entity determines Discontinuous Reception (DRX) configuration; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the MAC entity modifies the DRX configuration, wherein the DRX period indicated by the modified DRX configuration is larger than the DRX period applied before modification.

13. The method according to any one of claims 1-12, wherein prior to said receiving a first deactivation command, the method further comprises:

and receiving a first RRC reconfiguration message from the access network equipment, wherein the first RRC reconfiguration message is used for configuring the non-direct connection path and the direct connection path.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the step of determining the position of the probe is performed,

the first RRC reconfiguration message includes one or more than one morethnonerlc cell, where the one or more than one morethnonerlc cell includes a first morethnonerlc cell, and the first morethnonerlc cell includes configuration information of the non-direct connection path and configuration information of the direct connection path, where the configuration information of the non-direct connection path includes an identifier of a relay device corresponding to the non-direct connection path; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the first RRC reconfiguration message includes a plurality of morethnonerlc cells, a second morethnonerlc cell of the plurality of morethnonerlc cells includes configuration information of the direct link path, the first RRC reconfiguration message further includes configuration information of the non-direct link path and more than one path morethnonepith cell, the morethnonepith cell being used to indicate a primary path and/or a secondary path; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

The first RRC reconfiguration message includes a sideline SRAP configuration cell, where the sideline SRAP configuration cell includes information of an RLC entity corresponding to the direct link path and includes information of an RLC entity corresponding to the non-direct link path.

15. A communication method, applied to a relay device, the method comprising:

receiving a second deactivation command, wherein the second deactivation command is used for the relay equipment to deactivate a non-direct connection path of the relay equipment for serving the remote equipment;

and according to the second deactivation command, deactivating the non-direct connection path.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein receiving a second deactivation command comprises:

receiving the second deactivation command from an access network device; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the second deactivation command is received from the remote device.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein upon receiving the second deactivation command from an access network device, the method further comprises:

a first deactivation command is sent to the remote device, the first deactivation command being for the remote device to deactivate the non-direct path.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the first deactivation command is a PC5 RRC message, or is a PC5 MAC CE, or is a SRAP control PDU.

19. The method according to any of claims 16-18, wherein the second deactivation command from the access network device is an RRC message, an SRAP control PDU or a MAC CE.

20. The method of any of claims 15-19, wherein the second deactivation command further comprises an identification of the remote device.

21. The method according to any of claims 15-20, wherein the relay device comprises an SRAP entity, the method further comprising, after deactivating the non-direct path:

and discarding the data corresponding to the non-direct connection path by the SRAP entity.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the second deactivation command includes third indication information that indicates that the SRAP entity deactivates the non-direct path.

23. The method according to any one of claims 15 to 22, wherein after deactivating the non-direct path, the method further comprises:

Reconstructing the PC5 RLC entity of the relay device.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the second deactivation command includes fourth indication information indicating that the PC5 RLC entity is to be re-established.

25. The method according to any of claims 15-24, wherein the relay device comprises a MAC entity, the method further comprising, after deactivating the non-direct path:

the MAC entity determines DRX configuration; or (b)

26. A communication device comprising a processor and a memory, the memory and the processor being coupled, the processor being configured to perform the method of any one of claims 1-14 or to perform the method of any one of claims 15-25.

27. A computer readable storage medium for storing a computer program which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 14 or causes the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 15 to 25.

28. A chip system, the chip system comprising:

a processor and an interface from which the processor invokes and executes instructions that when executed implement the method of any one of claims 1 to 14 or the method of any one of claims 15 to 25.

29. A computer program product, characterized in that the computer program product comprises a computer program which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to carry out the method according to any one of claims 1 to 14 or causes the computer to carry out the method according to any one of claims 15 to 25.