CN117751625A

CN117751625A - Method and equipment for relaying communication

Info

Publication number: CN117751625A
Application number: CN202180101255.5A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 卢飞; 郭雅莉; 杨皓睿
Original assignee: Guangdong Oppo Mobile Telecommunications Corp Ltd
Current assignee: Guangdong Oppo Mobile Telecommunications Corp Ltd
Priority date: 2021-10-18
Filing date: 2021-10-18
Publication date: 2024-03-22
Also published as: WO2023065093A1

Abstract

The embodiment of the application provides a method and equipment for relay communication, wherein network equipment can determine a transmission mode of data aiming at remote equipment, and the transmission mode can be a unicast/multicast mode or a unicast mode, so that different service requirements are met, and relay communication is optimized. The method for relaying communication comprises the following steps: the remote device sends first information to the network device; the first information is used for the network device to determine a transmission mode of data for the remote device, wherein the transmission mode is a unicast/multicast mode or the transmission mode is a unicast mode.

Description

Method and equipment for relaying communication

Technical Field

The embodiment of the application relates to the field of communication, and more particularly, to a method and equipment for relaying communication.

Background

In a New Radio (NR) system, a remote device (e.g., a remote terminal (remote UE)) may establish a direct connection with a relay device (e.g., a relay terminal (relay UE)) through a PC5 interface, and connect to a network through the relay device. In NR systems, a remote device may support unicast and multicast services, however, how to determine a transmission manner of data for the remote device by a network device is a problem to be solved.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application provides a method and equipment for relay communication, wherein network equipment can determine a transmission mode of data aiming at remote equipment, and the transmission mode can be a unicast/multicast mode or a unicast mode, so that different service requirements are met, and relay communication is optimized.

In a first aspect, a method of relaying communications is provided, the method comprising:

the remote device sends first information to the network device; the first information is used for the network device to determine a transmission mode of data for the remote device, where the transmission mode is a unicast/multicast mode, or the transmission mode is a unicast mode.

In a second aspect, there is provided a method of relaying communications, the method comprising:

in the process that the relay equipment forwards an uplink non-access layer transmission message sent by the remote equipment to the network equipment, the relay equipment sends first information to the network equipment; the first information is used for the network device to determine a transmission mode of data for the remote device, where the transmission mode is a unicast/multicast mode, or the transmission mode is a unicast mode.

In a third aspect, a method of relaying communications is provided, the method comprising:

The network equipment receives first information; the first information is used for indicating whether the relay device has the capability of relaying the multicast service, or the first information is used for indicating a mode of requesting access by the remote device, wherein the mode of requesting access by the remote device is a unicast/multicast mode, or the mode of requesting access by the remote device is a unicast mode;

the network device determines a transmission mode of data for the remote device according to the first information, wherein the transmission mode is a unicast/multicast mode or the transmission mode is a unicast mode.

In a fourth aspect, a remote device is provided for performing the method of the first aspect described above.

In particular, the remote device comprises functional modules for performing the method in the first aspect described above.

In a fifth aspect, a relay device is provided for performing the method in the second aspect.

Specifically, the relay device includes a functional module for executing the method in the second aspect described above.

In a sixth aspect, a network device is provided for performing the method in the third aspect.

Specifically, the network device comprises functional modules for performing the method in the third aspect described above.

In a seventh aspect, a remote device is provided that includes a processor and a memory. The memory is used for storing a computer program, and the processor is used for calling and running the computer program stored in the memory to execute the method in the first aspect.

In an eighth aspect, a relay device is provided that includes a processor and a memory. The memory is for storing a computer program and the processor is for calling and running the computer program stored in the memory for performing the method of the second aspect described above.

In a ninth aspect, a network device is provided that includes a processor and a memory. The memory is for storing a computer program and the processor is for calling and running the computer program stored in the memory for performing the method of the third aspect described above.

In a tenth aspect, there is provided an apparatus for implementing the method of any one of the first to third aspects.

Specifically, the device comprises: a processor for calling and running a computer program from a memory, causing a device in which the apparatus is installed to perform the method of any of the first to third aspects as described above.

In an eleventh aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided for storing a computer program that causes a computer to execute the method of any one of the above first to third aspects.

In a twelfth aspect, there is provided a computer program product comprising computer program instructions for causing a computer to perform the method of any one of the first to third aspects above.

In a thirteenth aspect, there is provided a computer program which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method of any one of the first to third aspects described above.

Through the technical scheme, the network equipment can determine the transmission mode of the data aiming at the remote equipment based on whether the relay equipment has the capability of relaying the multicast service or not, or the network equipment can determine the transmission mode of the data aiming at the remote equipment based on the mode that the remote equipment requests to access, and the transmission mode can be a unicast/multicast mode or a unicast mode, thereby meeting different service demands and optimizing relay communication.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system architecture to which embodiments of the present application apply.

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a relay communication provided herein.

Fig. 3 is a system architecture diagram of a U2N relay provided in the present application.

Fig. 4 is a schematic flow chart of relay discovery provided herein.

Fig. 5 is a schematic flow chart of another relay discovery provided herein.

Fig. 6 is a schematic flow chart diagram of a method of relaying communications according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 7 is a schematic flow chart diagram of another method of relaying communications provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 8 is a schematic flow chart diagram of a method of relaying communications according to yet another embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 9 to 11 are schematic flowcharts of relay communications provided according to an embodiment of the present application, respectively.

Fig. 12 is a schematic block diagram of a remote device provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 13 is a schematic block diagram of a relay device provided according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 14 is a schematic block diagram of a network device provided according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 15 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device provided according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 16 is a schematic block diagram of an apparatus provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 17 is a schematic block diagram of a communication system provided according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The following description of the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be made with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present application, and it is apparent that the described embodiments are some embodiments of the present application, but not all embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be made by one of ordinary skill in the art without undue burden for the embodiments herein, are intended to be within the scope of the present application.

The technical solution of the embodiment of the application can be applied to various communication systems, for example: global system for mobile communications (Global System of Mobile communication, GSM), code division multiple access (Code Division Multiple Access, CDMA) system, wideband code division multiple access (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access, WCDMA) system, universal packet Radio service (General Packet Radio Service, GPRS), long term evolution (Long Term Evolution, LTE) system, advanced long term evolution (Advanced long term evolution, LTE-a) system, new Radio (NR) system, evolved system of NR system, LTE-based access to unlicensed spectrum, LTE-U) system on unlicensed spectrum, NR (NR-based access to unlicensed spectrum, NR-U) system on unlicensed spectrum, non-terrestrial communication network (Non-Terrestrial Networks, NTN) system, universal mobile communication system (Universal Mobile Telecommunication System, UMTS), wireless local area network (Wireless Local Area Networks, WLAN), internet of things (internet of things, ioT), wireless fidelity (Wireless Fidelity, wiFi), fifth Generation communication (5 th-Generation, 5G) system, or other communication systems, etc.

Generally, the number of connections supported by the conventional communication system is limited and easy to implement, however, with the development of communication technology, the mobile communication system will support not only conventional communication but also, for example, device-to-Device (D2D) communication, machine-to-machine (Machine to Machine, M2M) communication, machine type communication (Machine Type Communication, MTC), inter-vehicle (Vehicle to Vehicle, V2V) communication, or internet of vehicles (Vehicle to everything, V2X) communication, etc., and the embodiments of the present application may also be applied to these communication systems.

In some embodiments, the communication system in the embodiments of the present application may be applied to a carrier aggregation (Carrier Aggregation, CA) scenario, a dual connectivity (Dual Connectivity, DC) scenario, and a Stand Alone (SA) networking scenario.

In some embodiments, the communication system in the embodiments of the present application may be applied to unlicensed spectrum, where unlicensed spectrum may also be considered as shared spectrum; alternatively, the communication system in the embodiments of the present application may also be applied to licensed spectrum, where licensed spectrum may also be considered as non-shared spectrum.

Embodiments of the present application describe various embodiments in connection with network devices and terminal devices, where a terminal device may also be referred to as a User Equipment (UE), access terminal, subscriber unit, subscriber station, mobile station, remote terminal, mobile device, user terminal, wireless communication device, user agent, user Equipment, or the like.

The terminal device may be a STATION (ST) in a WLAN, may be a cellular telephone, a cordless telephone, a session initiation protocol (Session Initiation Protocol, SIP) phone, a wireless local loop (Wireless Local Loop, WLL) STATION, a personal digital assistant (Personal Digital Assistant, PDA) device, a handheld device with wireless communication capabilities, a computing device or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, a vehicle mounted device, a wearable device, a terminal device in a next generation communication system such as an NR network, or a terminal device in a future evolved public land mobile network (Public Land Mobile Network, PLMN) network, etc.

In embodiments of the present application, the terminal device may be deployed on land, including indoor or outdoor, hand-held, wearable or vehicle-mounted; can also be deployed on the water surface (such as ships, etc.); but may also be deployed in the air (e.g., on aircraft, balloon, satellite, etc.).

In the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device may be a Mobile Phone (Mobile Phone), a tablet computer (Pad), a computer with a wireless transceiving function, a Virtual Reality (VR) terminal device, an augmented Reality (Augmented Reality, AR) terminal device, a wireless terminal device in industrial control (industrial control), a wireless terminal device in unmanned driving (self driving), a wireless terminal device in telemedicine (remote media), a wireless terminal device in smart grid (smart grid), a wireless terminal device in transportation security (transportation safety), a wireless terminal device in smart city (smart city) or a wireless terminal device in smart home (smart home), a vehicle-mounted communication device, a wireless communication Chip/application specific integrated circuit (application specific integrated circuit, ASIC)/System-on Chip (SoC), or the like.

By way of example, and not limitation, in embodiments of the present application, the terminal device may also be a wearable device. The wearable device can also be called as a wearable intelligent device, and is a generic name for intelligently designing daily wear by applying wearable technology and developing wearable devices, such as glasses, gloves, watches, clothes, shoes and the like. The wearable device is a portable device that is worn directly on the body or integrated into the clothing or accessories of the user. The wearable device is not only a hardware device, but also can realize a powerful function through software support, data interaction and cloud interaction. The generalized wearable intelligent device includes full functionality, large size, and may not rely on the smart phone to implement complete or partial functionality, such as: smart watches or smart glasses, etc., and focus on only certain types of application functions, and need to be used in combination with other devices, such as smart phones, for example, various smart bracelets, smart jewelry, etc. for physical sign monitoring.

In this embodiment of the present application, the network device may be a device for communicating with a mobile device, where the network device may be an Access Point (AP) in a WLAN, a base station (Base Transceiver Station, BTS) in GSM or CDMA, a base station (NodeB, NB) in WCDMA, an evolved base station (Evolutional Node B, eNB or eNodeB) in LTE, a relay station or an Access Point, a vehicle device, a wearable device, a network device or a base station (gNB) in an NR network, a network device in a PLMN network of future evolution, or a network device in an NTN network, etc.

By way of example and not limitation, in embodiments of the present application, a network device may have a mobile nature, e.g., the network device may be a mobile device. In some embodiments, the network device may be a satellite, a balloon station. For example, the satellite may be a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite, a medium earth orbit (medium earth orbit, MEO) satellite, a geosynchronous orbit (geostationary earth orbit, GEO) satellite, a high elliptical orbit (High Elliptical Orbit, HEO) satellite, or the like. In some embodiments, the network device may also be a base station located on land, in water, etc.

In this embodiment of the present application, a network device may provide a service for a cell, where a terminal device communicates with the network device through a transmission resource (e.g., a frequency domain resource, or a spectrum resource) used by the cell, where the cell may be a cell corresponding to a network device (e.g., a base station), and the cell may belong to a macro base station, or may belong to a base station corresponding to a Small cell (Small cell), where the Small cell may include: urban cells (Metro cells), micro cells (Micro cells), pico cells (Pico cells), femto cells (Femto cells) and the like, and the small cells have the characteristics of small coverage area and low transmitting power and are suitable for providing high-rate data transmission services.

It should be understood that the terms "system" and "network" are used interchangeably herein. The term "and/or" is herein merely an association relationship describing an associated object, meaning that there may be three relationships, e.g., a and/or B, may represent: a exists alone, A and B exist together, and B exists alone. In addition, the character "/" herein generally indicates that the front and rear associated objects are an "or" relationship.

The terminology used in the description section of the present application is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments of the present application only and is not intended to be limiting of the present application. The terms "first," "second," "third," and "fourth" and the like in the description and in the claims of this application and in the drawings, are used for distinguishing between different objects and not for describing a particular sequential order. Furthermore, the terms "comprise" and "have," as well as any variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion.

It should be understood that, in the embodiments of the present application, the "indication" may be a direct indication, an indirect indication, or an indication having an association relationship. For example, a indicates B, which may mean that a indicates B directly, e.g., B may be obtained by a; it may also indicate that a indicates B indirectly, e.g. a indicates C, B may be obtained by C; it may also be indicated that there is an association between a and B.

In the description of the embodiments of the present application, the term "corresponding" may indicate that there is a direct correspondence or an indirect correspondence between the two, or may indicate that there is an association between the two, or may indicate a relationship between the two and the indicated, configured, or the like.

In the embodiment of the present application, the "pre-defining" or "pre-configuring" may be implemented by pre-storing a corresponding code, a table or other manners that may be used to indicate relevant information in a device (including, for example, a terminal device and a network device), and the specific implementation manner is not limited in this application. Such as predefined may refer to what is defined in the protocol.

In this embodiment of the present application, the "protocol" may refer to a standard protocol in the communication field, for example, may include an LTE protocol, an NR protocol, and related protocols applied in a future communication system, which is not limited in this application.

In order to facilitate understanding of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, the technical solutions of the present application are described in detail below through specific embodiments. The following related technologies may be optionally combined with the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, which all belong to the protection scope of the embodiments of the present application. Embodiments of the present application include at least some of the following.

With The development of The fifth generation mobile communication (The 5th Generation,5G) application, the network control interactive service (Network Controlled Interactive Services, NCIS) service is introduced as a new service form into The standard for related standardized services. The NCIS service is mainly aimed at AR/VR, game and other applications, and has high requirements on the service quality such as speed, time delay, packet loss rate, high-speed encoding and decoding. For example: for VR games, it is desirable to achieve 10Gbps, and the packet loss rate may not exceed 10E-4. The session established for the NCIS service is an NCIS session, and UEs in the same NCIS session may be considered to constitute an NCIS group, for example: team formation in game.

An important scenario for ProSe, which contains NCIS, proSe, is the scenario of terminal-to-network (U2N) relay. The U2N relay relays data for a remote terminal through one or more relay terminals, so that the remote terminal can communicate with a network.

Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a communication system to which the present application applies. As shown in fig. 1, the communication system 100 mainly includes an access and mobility management function (Access and mobility management function, AMF) 101, a session management function (Session Management Function, SMF) 102, a radio access Network (Radio Access Network, RAN) 103, an authentication server function (Authentication Server Function, AUSF) 104, a unified Data management (Unified Data Management, UDM) 105, a policy control function (Policy Control function, PCF) 106, a Data Network (DN) 107, a User plane function (User Plane Function, UPF) 108, and a User Equipment (UE) 109. Wherein, UE 109 is connected with AMF 101 through N1 interface, UE 109 is connected with RAN 103 through radio resource control (Radio Resource Control, RRC) protocol; RAN 103 is connected with AMF 101 through N2 interface, RAN 103 is connected with UPF 108 through N3 interface; the UPFs 108 are connected through an N9 interface, the UPFs 108 are connected with the DN 107 through an N6 interface, and meanwhile, the UPFs 108 are connected with the SMF 102 through an N4 interface; SMF 102 is connected with PCF 106 through N7 interface, SMF 102 is connected with UDM 105 through N10 interface, at the same time, SMF 102 is connected with AMF 101 through N11 interface; the AMFs 101 are connected through an N14 interface, the AMFs 101 are connected with the UDM 105 through an N8 interface, the AMFs 101 are connected with the AUSF 104 through an N12 interface, and meanwhile, the AMFs 101 are connected with the PCF 106 through an N15 interface; the AUSF 104 is connected to the UDM 105 via an N13 interface. AMF 101 and SMF 102 obtain user subscription data from UDM 105 via the N8 and N10 interfaces, and policy data from PCF 106 via the N15 and N7 interfaces, respectively. The SMF 102 controls the UPF 108 over the N4 interface.

Devices that communicate with UE 109, such as base stations or base station controllers, etc., may be included in RAN 103. It should be appreciated that the RAN 103 may communicate with any number of UEs similar to the UE 109. Each RAN may provide communication coverage for a particular geographic area and may communicate with terminal devices (e.g., UEs) located within the coverage area (cell), and RAN 103 may support different standards of communication protocols or may support different modes of communication. Alternatively, the RAN 103 may be an Evolved Node B (eNodeB), or a wireless fidelity access point (Wireless Fidelity Access Point, wiFi AP), or a worldwide interoperability for microwave access base station (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access Base Station, wiMAX BS), or a wireless controller in a cloud wireless access network (Cloud Radio Access Network, CRAN), or the network device may be a network device in a 5G network, or a network device in a PLMN that evolves in the future, or the like.

In some embodiments, one AMF 101 may serve multiple UEs 109 simultaneously.

In some embodiments, one SMF 102 may serve multiple UEs 109 simultaneously.

In some embodiments, AMF 101 may reselect a serving AMF for UE 109.

In some embodiments, as shown in fig. 1, AMF 101 may also connect to a network slice selection function (Network Slice Selection Function, NSSF) entity through an N22 interface. PCF entity 106 may connect with an application function (Application Function, AF) entity through an N5 interface.

It should be appreciated that when the UE 109 enters an idle state, the RRC connection and N2 interface for the UE 109 may be released.

In an NR system, a Proximity-based Services (ProSe) capable terminal device may communicate directly with another ProSe capable terminal device via a PC5 interface. When a terminal device can connect to an external data network through a 5G network and has ProSe capability, the terminal device can act as a relay terminal (relay UE), another remote terminal (remote UE) with ProSe capability can establish a direct connection with the relay terminal through a PC5 interface, and interact with the external network through a protocol data unit (Protocol Data Unit, PDU) session established between the relay terminal and the 5G network, and the system architecture thereof can be shown in fig. 2. In fig. 2, the remote terminal is connected to the relay terminal through a PC5 interface, and the relay terminal is connected to the next generation evolved radio access network (Next Generation Evolutional Radio Access Network, NG-RAN) through a Uu interface, thereby connecting to a 5G core network (5G Core Network,5GC), and the 5GC is connected to an application server (application server, AS) through an N6 interface.

Fig. 2 is an illustration of a 5G communication system, but of course, the present invention is not limited to this, and may be applied to other 3GPP communication systems, such as a 4G communication system, or a future 3GPP communication system. In addition, in the embodiment of the present application, the Application Server (AS) in fig. 2 may also be other terminal devices or the external public security internet.

In some embodiments, the system architecture of the U2N relay may be as shown in fig. 3. A PC5 link is established between the Remote UE and the relay UE (layer 2 ProSe u2n relay). In order to implement Relay communication, the Relay UE and the remote UE need to obtain necessary configuration parameters before Relay communication is performed. These configuration parameters may come from the PCF entity, an application server, pre-configured on the terminal or in the subscriber identity module (Subscriber Identity Module, SIM) card. Before transmitting data, the Remote UE needs to discover a suitable relay UE and establish a PC5 connection with the relay UE. As shown in fig. 3, the remote terminal may connect to the NG-RAN through the relay terminal, and the NG-RAN may connect to both network elements of the remote terminal (such as AMF, SMF, and UPF) and network elements of the relay terminal (such as AMF, SMF, and UPF). That is, the remote terminal is connected to the core network of the remote terminal through the relay terminal.

In some embodiments, relay discovery (Relay discovery) may be in the following manner: mode a (Model a) (shown in fig. 4) or mode B (Model B) (shown in fig. 5). Model a is a relay UE actively broadcasting a relay service code (Relay service code, RSC) that itself can provide a relay service; the model B is that the remote UE firstly sends out the RSC needed by the user, and if relay UE capable of supporting the RSC exists around the RSC, the relay UE replies to the remote UE.

After the discovery procedure, the relay UE and the remote UE establish a PC5 connection.

In some embodiments, multicast broadcast services (Multicast Broadcast Service, MBS) are also introduced to 5G services (5G service,5 gs). A temporary mobile group identity (Temporary Mobile Group Identity, TMGI) is used to represent a certain multicast or broadcast service. The UE obtains TMGI corresponding to the service from the MBS information configured by the application server (Application Server) or the core network.

In order to facilitate a better understanding of embodiments of the present application, the problems addressed by the present application are described.

In order to implement layer 2 (L2) relay for remote UEs to relay MBS traffic, the remote UEs are required to join the traffic of interest. However, the SMF entity cannot know whether the remote UE accesses the network through the relay UE, and cannot reasonably allocate unicast or multicast resources.

Based on the above problems, the present application proposes a scheme of relay communication, where a network device may determine a transmission mode of data for a remote device, and the transmission mode may be a unicast/multicast mode or a unicast mode, so as to satisfy different service requirements and optimize relay communication.

The technical scheme of the present application is described in detail below through specific embodiments.

Fig. 6 is a schematic flow chart of a method 200 of relaying communications according to an embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 6, the method 200 of relaying communications may include at least some of the following:

s210, the remote equipment sends first information to the network equipment; the first information is used for the network device to determine a transmission mode of data for the remote device, wherein the transmission mode is a unicast/multicast mode or the transmission mode is a unicast mode.

In this embodiment of the present application, the remote device is connected to the network device through the relay device, that is, in S210 described above, the remote device may send the first information to the network device through the relay device, and the relay device forwards only the first information. And, before the remote device transmits the first information, a PC5 connection has been established between the remote device and the relay device.

In the embodiment of the application, the remote device indicates to the network device whether the relay device has the capability of relaying the multicast service, so that the network device can determine the transmission mode of the data for the remote device based on whether the relay device has the capability of relaying the multicast service. Alternatively, the remote device indicates to the network device the manner in which the remote device requests access, so that the network device may determine the manner in which data is transmitted for the remote device based on the manner in which the remote device requests access. Further, the network device may reasonably allocate resources based on the determined transmission manner.

In the embodiment of the present application, the remote device may be, for example, a remote terminal (remote UE), but of course, may be other similar devices, which is not limited in this application.

In the embodiment of the present application, the relay device may be, for example, a relay terminal (relay UE), specifically, a layer 2 (L2) relay terminal (relay UE), and of course, may also be other similar devices, which is not limited in this application.

In some embodiments, the network device is an AMF entity, or the network device is an SMF entity, or the network device is an access network device. The network device is a network device of the remote device, and specifically, refer to fig. 3. For example, the network device is an AMF entity of the remote device, or the network device is an SMF entity of the remote device, or the network device is an access network device of the remote device.

In some embodiments, the first information is used to indicate whether the relay device has the capability to relay multicast traffic.

In some embodiments, the first information is used to indicate a manner in which the remote device requests access, where the manner in which the remote device requests access is a unicast/multicast manner, or where the manner in which the remote device requests access is a unicast manner.

In some embodiments, in a case where the first information is used to indicate that the relay device has a capability to relay multicast service, or in a case where the remote device indicated by the first information requests access in a unicast/multicast manner, the network device determines that the transmission manner of the data for the remote device is a unicast/multicast manner.

In some embodiments, in a case where the first information is used to indicate that the relay device does not have a capability to relay multicast service, or in a case where the remote device indicated by the first information requests access in a unicast manner, the network device determines that a transmission manner of data for the remote device is a unicast manner.

In some embodiments, in a case where the relay device has a capability to relay multicast traffic, the manner in which the remote device requests access indicated by the first information is a unicast/multicast manner.

In some embodiments, in a case where the relay device does not have the capability to relay multicast traffic, the manner in which the remote device requests access indicated by the first information is a unicast manner.

In some embodiments, the remote device receives capability information sent by the relay device, where the capability information is used to indicate whether the relay device has a capability to relay multicast traffic. That is, the remote device acquires the capability information transmitted by the relay device before the remote device transmits the first information to the network device.

The capability information may be, for example, a relay multicast capability of the relay device.

In some embodiments, the remote device receives the capability information sent by the relay device during the discovery process.

In some embodiments, where the remote device receives the capability information sent by the relay device during discovery, the capability information is characterized by a relay service code (relay service code).

In some embodiments, in the event that the remote device receives the capability information sent by the relay device during discovery, the capability information is indicated by an information element (Information element, IE) in an announcement message sent by the relay device during discovery. For example, in the discovery procedure as shown in fig. 4, the relay device indicates the capability information through an IE newly added in the announcement message.

In some embodiments, in the case where the remote device receives the capability information sent by the relay device during discovery, the capability information is indicated by an IE in a response message sent by the relay device during discovery. For example, in the discovery procedure as shown in fig. 5, the relay device indicates the capability information through an IE newly added in the response message.

In some embodiments, the remote device receives the capability information sent by the relay device after a link between the remote device and the relay device is established. That is, after the remote device establishes the PC5 connection with the relay device, the remote device acquires the relay multicast capability of the relay device.

In some embodiments, the remote device receives the capability information sent by the relay device after a link is established with the relay device. In this case, the capability information is indicated by one IE in a direct communication accept (Direct Communication Accept) message transmitted by the relay device, or the capability information is indicated by a relay capability exchange message transmitted by the relay device.

In the embodiment of the present application, the "Information Element (IE)" may be an additional IE in the corresponding message, or may be an existing IE in the multiplexed corresponding message, which is not limited in this application. The "Information Element (IE)" may be an element, a field, or a field, and is not limited in this application.

In some embodiments, the first information is carried by an uplink non-access stratum transport message.

In some embodiments, the uplink non-access stratum transport message further includes a TMGI and protocol data unit (Protocol Data Unit, PDU) session modification request (PDU session Modification Request).

In some embodiments, the uplink non-access stratum transport message includes a PDU session modification request (PDU session Modification Request), and the PDU session modification request includes a TMGI.

In some embodiments, a TMGI is used to represent a certain multicast or broadcast service. The remote device may obtain the TMGI corresponding to the service from the MBS information configured by the application server (Application Server) or the core network.

Specifically, for example, in a case where the first information is used to indicate that the relay device has a capability of relaying multicast service, or in a case where the remote device indicated by the first information requests access in a unicast/multicast manner, the TMGI is unicast/multicast service.

Specifically, for example, in a case where the first information is used to indicate that the relay device does not have the capability of relaying multicast service, or in a case where the remote device indicated by the first information requests access in a unicast manner, the TMGI is unicast/multicast service.

In some embodiments, the first information may be an element or a field, which is not limited in this application.

In some embodiments, in a case where the first information is used to indicate that the relay device has a capability to relay multicast service, or in a case where the manner in which the remote device requests access indicated by the first information is a unicast/multicast manner, the remote device receives data transmitted through the unicast/multicast manner. That is, the network device determines that the transmission mode of the data for the remote device is a unicast/multicast mode.

In some embodiments, in a case where the first information is used to indicate that the relay device does not have a capability to relay multicast service, or in a case where the manner in which the remote device requests access indicated by the first information is a unicast manner, the remote device receives data transmitted in the unicast manner. That is, the network device determines that the transmission mode of the data for the remote device is a unicast mode.

Therefore, in the embodiment of the present application, the network device may determine the transmission mode of the data for the remote device based on whether the relay device has the capability of relaying the multicast service, or the network device may determine the transmission mode of the data for the remote device based on the mode that the remote device requests access, and the transmission mode may be a unicast/multicast mode or a unicast mode, thereby meeting different service requirements and optimizing relay communication.

The remote device side embodiment of the present application is described in detail above with reference to fig. 6, and the relay device side embodiment of the present application is described in detail below with reference to fig. 7, it being understood that the relay device side embodiment corresponds to the remote device side embodiment, and similar descriptions may refer to the remote device side embodiment.

Fig. 7 is a schematic flow chart of a method 300 of relaying communications according to an embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 7, the method 300 of relaying communications may include at least some of the following:

s310, in the process that the relay equipment forwards an uplink non-access layer transmission message sent by the remote equipment to the network equipment, the relay equipment sends first information to the network equipment; the first information is used for the network device to determine a transmission mode of data for the remote device, wherein the transmission mode is a unicast/multicast mode or the transmission mode is a unicast mode.

In this embodiment of the present application, the remote device is connected to the network device through the relay device, that is, in S310 described above, the remote device may send the uplink non-access stratum transmission message to the network device through the relay device, and the relay device only forwards the uplink non-access stratum transmission message. And, before the remote device sends the upstream non-access stratum transmission message, the PC5 connection between the remote device and the relay device has been established.

Specifically, for example, the relay device adds an information field to the signaling carrying the uplink non-access stratum transmission message, where the information field is used to indicate whether the relay device has the capability of relaying the multicast service.

In the embodiment of the application, the relay device indicates to the network device whether the relay device has the capability of relaying the multicast service, so that the network device can determine the transmission mode of the data for the remote device based on whether the relay device has the capability of relaying the multicast service. Further, the network device may reasonably allocate resources based on the determined transmission manner.

In some embodiments, the network device determines that the transmission mode of the data for the remote device is a unicast/multicast mode in case the first information is used to indicate that the relay device has the capability to relay multicast traffic.

In some embodiments, the network device determines that the transmission mode of the data for the remote device is a unicast mode in case the first information is used to indicate that the relay device does not have the capability to relay multicast traffic.

In some embodiments, the uplink non-access stratum transport message further includes a TMGI and a PDU session modification request.

In some embodiments, the uplink non-access stratum transport message comprises a PDU session modification request, and the PDU session modification request comprises a TMGI.

In some embodiments, where the first information is used to indicate that the relay device has the capability to relay multicast traffic, the relay device forwards data transmitted by unicast/multicast means to the remote device. That is, the network device determines that the transmission mode of the data for the remote device is a unicast/multicast mode.

In some embodiments, the relay device forwards data transmitted by unicast to the remote device in the case where the first information indicates that the relay device does not have the capability to relay multicast traffic. That is, the network device determines that the transmission mode of the data for the remote device is a unicast mode.

Therefore, in the embodiment of the present application, the network device may determine a transmission mode of data for the remote device based on whether the relay device has the capability of relaying the multicast service, where the transmission mode may be a unicast/multicast mode or a unicast mode, so as to satisfy different service requirements and optimize relay communication.

The remote device side embodiment of the present application is described in detail above with reference to fig. 6, and the relay device side embodiment of the present application is described in detail above with reference to fig. 7, and the network device side embodiment of the present application is described in detail below with reference to fig. 8, it being understood that the network device side embodiment corresponds to the remote device side embodiment and the relay device side embodiment, and similar descriptions may refer to the remote device side embodiment and the relay device side embodiment.

Fig. 8 is a schematic flow chart of a method 400 of relaying communications according to an embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 8, the method 400 of relaying communications may include at least some of the following:

s410, the network equipment receives first information; the first information is used for indicating whether the relay device has the capability of relaying the multicast service, or the first information is used for indicating a mode of requesting access by the remote device, wherein the mode of requesting access by the remote device is a unicast/multicast mode, or the mode of requesting access by the remote device is a unicast mode;

S420, the network device determines a transmission mode of the data for the remote device according to the first information, wherein the transmission mode is a unicast/multicast mode or the transmission mode is a unicast mode.

In the embodiment of the application, the remote device is connected with the network device through the relay device. And, before the network device receives the first information, a PC5 connection has been established between the remote device and the relay device.

In the embodiment of the application, the network device determines the transmission mode of the data for the remote device based on whether the relay device has the capability of relaying the multicast service, or the network device determines the transmission mode of the data for the remote device based on the mode that the remote device requests access. Further, the network device may reasonably allocate resources based on the determined transmission manner.

In some embodiments, the network device is an SMF entity, and S410 may specifically be:

the SMF entity receives the first information sent by the AMF entity.

In some embodiments, where the network device is an SMF entity, the first information is carried by a PDU Session update service management (service management, SM) context request (pdu_session_update smcontext_request).

In some embodiments, where the network device is an SMF entity, the SMF entity sends a PDU Session update service management context response (pdu_session_update_response).

For example, in the case where the first information is used to indicate that the relay device has the capability to relay multicast traffic, or in the case where the remote device indicated by the first information requests access in a unicast/multicast manner, the PDU session update service management context response includes multicast session information and PDU session modification information. The multicast session information may include, for example, multicast resources allocated by the SMF entity.

For another example, in a case where the first information is used to indicate that the relay device does not have the capability to relay multicast traffic, or in a case where the remote device indicated by the first information requests access in a unicast manner, the PDU session update service management context response includes PDU session modification information. That is, the PDU session update service management context response carries only PDU session modification information.

In some embodiments, the network device is an AMF entity or an access network device. The step S410 may specifically be:

the network equipment receives the first information sent by the remote equipment; wherein the first information is carried by an uplink non-access stratum transmission message.

In some embodiments, the network device is an AMF entity or an access network device. The step S410 may specifically be: and in the process that the relay equipment forwards the uplink non-access layer transmission message sent by the remote equipment to the network equipment, the network equipment receives the first information sent by the relay equipment.

In some embodiments, in a case where the network device is an AMF entity, the AMF entity sends a PDU session update service management context request to the SMF entity, the PDU session update service management context request including content included in the first information; and the AMF entity receives the PDU session update service management context response sent by the SMF entity.

The relay communication scheme of the present application is described in detail below in conjunction with embodiments 1 to 3.

In embodiment 1, as shown in fig. 9, the remote device indicates to the network device whether the relay device has the capability to relay multicast traffic. The relay communication can be realized specifically by the following S1-1 to S1-22:

s1-1, a relay device sends a relay multicast capability to a remote device, wherein the relay multicast capability is used for indicating whether the relay device has the capability of relaying multicast service; the remote device may acquire the relay multicast capability of the relay device during discovery (including using the relay service code (relay service code) to characterize the relay multicast capability of the relay device, or add a new IE to the discovery message (such as the announce (announce) message in mode a shown in fig. 4) to indicate the relay multicast capability of the relay device, or add a new IE to the Response (Response) message in mode B shown in fig. 5) to indicate the relay multicast capability of the relay device), or, after the PC5 connection is established between the remote device and the relay device, the remote device reacquires the relay multicast capability of the relay device (which may specifically be adding a new IE to the direct communication accept (Direct Communication Accept) message to indicate the relay multicast capability of the relay device, or add a relay capability interaction message to indicate the relay multicast capability of the relay device);

S1-2, a remote device sends an uplink non-access layer transmission message to an AMF entity, wherein the uplink non-access layer transmission message comprises first information, TMGI and PDU session modification request; or, the uplink non-access layer transmission message includes a PDU session modification request, and the PDU session modification request includes first information and TMGI; the first information is used for indicating whether the relay equipment has the capability of relaying multicast service;

s1-3, the AMF entity sends a PDU Session update service management context request (PDU_Session_updateSMcontext_request) to the SMF entity, wherein the PDU Session update service management context request at least comprises the first information;

s1-4, the SMF entity performs authorization checking (authorization check);

s1-5, the SMF entity interacts with a network warehousing function (Network Repository Function, NRF) entity to discover requests/discovery responses;

s1-6, the SMF entity interacts with a multicast SMF (Multicast Broadcast SMF, MB-SMF) entity with an SM policy control update request/SM policy control update response;

s1-7, the SMF entity sends PDU Session update service management context response (PDU_Session_updateSMcontext_response) to the AMF entity; wherein the PDU session update service management context response comprises multicast session information and PDU session modification information in case the first information is used to indicate that the relay device has the capability to relay multicast traffic; in the case where the first information is used to indicate that the relay device does not have the capability to relay multicast traffic, the PDU session update service management context response includes PDU session modification information;

S1-8, an AMF entity sends an N2 message request to an NG-RAN;

s1-9, establishing a shared channel (NG-RAN, AMF entity, SMF entity, UPF entity, NRF entity, PCF entity, MB-SMF entity, multicast UPF (Multicast Broadcast UPF, MB-UPF) entity);

s1-10, the remote equipment exchanges RRC messages with the NG-RAN through the relay equipment;

s1-11, the NG-RAN sends an N2 message response to the AMF entity;

s1-12, the AMF entity sends PDU Session update service management context request (PDU_Session_updateSMcontext_request) to the SMF entity;

s1-13, establishing a dedicated transmission path (SMF entity, UPF entity, NRF entity, PCF entity, MB-SMF entity, MB-UPF entity);

s1-14, the SMF entity sends PDU Session update service management context response (PDU_Session_updateSMcontext_response) to the AMF entity;

s1-15, the AF entity transmits multicast data to the MB-UPF entity;

in the case that the SMF entity determines that the transmission mode of data for the remote device is a unicast/multicast mode, the following S1-16 to S1-18 are performed; and in the case that the SMF entity determines that the transmission mode of the data for the remote device is a unicast mode, performing the following S1-19 to S1-22.

S1-16, the MB-UPF entity transmits multicast data to the NG-RAN;

S1-17, the ng-RAN transmitting multicast data based on Point-to-multipoint transmission (Point To Multipoint, PTM) or Point-to-Point Transmission (PTP) to the relay device;

s1-18, the relay device uses unicast or multicast to send data to the remote device;

s1-19, the MB-UPF entity transmits multicast data to the UPF entity through PDU session;

s1-20, the UPF entity sends multicast data to the NG-RAN through PDU session;

s1-21, the NG-RAN sends multicast data to the relay equipment through PDU session;

s1-22, the relay device sends data to the remote device using unicast.

In embodiment 2, as shown in fig. 10, the remote device indicates to the network device the manner in which the remote device requests access, where the manner in which the remote device requests access is in unicast/multicast mode, or where the manner in which the remote device requests access is in unicast mode. The relay communication can be realized specifically by the following S2-1 to S2-22:

s2-1, the relay equipment sends relay multicast capability to the remote equipment, wherein the relay multicast capability is used for indicating whether the relay equipment has the capability of relaying multicast service or not; the remote device may acquire the relay multicast capability of the relay device during discovery (including using the relay service code to characterize the relay multicast capability of the relay device, or add a new IE to the discovery message (such as the announce (announce) message in mode a shown in fig. 4) to indicate the relay multicast capability of the relay device, or add a new IE to the Response (Response) message in mode B shown in fig. 5) to indicate the relay multicast capability of the relay device), or, after the PC5 connection is established between the remote device and the relay device, the remote device reacquires the relay multicast capability of the relay device (specifically, may add a new IE to the direct communication accept (Direct Communication Accept) message to indicate the relay multicast capability of the relay device, or add a relay capability interaction message to indicate the relay multicast capability of the relay device);

S2-2, the remote equipment sends an uplink non-access layer transmission message to the AMF entity, wherein the uplink non-access layer transmission message comprises first information, TMGI and PDU session modification request; or, the uplink non-access layer transmission message includes a PDU session modification request, and the PDU session modification request includes first information and TMGI; the first information is used for indicating a mode of the remote equipment requesting access, wherein the mode of the remote equipment requesting access is a unicast/multicast mode, or the mode of the remote equipment requesting access is a unicast mode;

s2-3, the AMF entity sends a PDU Session update service management context request (PDU_Session_updateSMcontext_request) to the SMF entity, wherein the PDU Session update service management context request at least comprises the first information;

s2-4, the SMF entity performs authorization checking (authorization check);

s2-5, the SMF entity interacts with the NRF entity to discover a request/discovery response;

s2-6, the SMF entity interacts with the MB-SMF entity to control an updating request of the SM strategy and control an updating response of the SM strategy;

s2-7, the SMF entity sends PDU Session update service management context response (PDU_Session_updateSMcontext_response) to the AMF entity; wherein, in case that the mode of requesting access by the remote device indicated by the first information is a unicast/multicast mode, the PDU session update service management context response includes multicast session information and PDU session modification information; in the case where the first information is used to indicate that the relay device does not have the capability to relay multicast traffic, the PDU session update service management context response includes PDU session modification information;

S2-8, the AMF entity sends an N2 message request to the NG-RAN;

s2-9, establishing a shared channel (NG-RAN, AMF entity, SMF entity, UPF entity, NRF entity, PCF entity, MB-SMF entity, MB-UPF entity);

s2-10, the remote device exchanges RRC messages with the NG-RAN through the relay device;

s2-11, the NG-RAN sends an N2 message response to the AMF entity;

s2-12, the AMF entity sends PDU Session update service management context request (PDU_Session_updateSMcontext_request) to the SMF entity;

s2-13, establishing a dedicated transmission path (SMF entity, UPF entity, NRF entity, PCF entity, MB-SMF entity, MB-UPF entity);

s2-15, the AF entity sends multicast data to the MB-UPF entity;

in the case that the SMF entity determines that the transmission mode of data for the remote device is a unicast/multicast mode, the following S2-16 to S2-18 are performed; and in the case that the SMF entity determines that the transmission mode of the data for the remote device is a unicast mode, performing the following S2-19 to S2-22.

S2-16, the MB-UPF entity transmits multicast data to the NG-RAN;

s2-17, the NG-RAN transmits multicast data based on PTM or PTP to the relay equipment;

S2-18, the relay device transmits data to the remote device by unicast or multicast;

s2-19, the MB-UPF entity transmits multicast data to the UPF entity through PDU session;

s2-20, the UPF entity sends multicast data to the NG-RAN through PDU session;

s2-21, the NG-RAN sends multicast data to the relay equipment through PDU session;

and S2-22, the relay device transmits data to the remote device by unicast.

Embodiment 3, as shown in fig. 11, in the process that the relay device forwards, to the network device, an uplink non-access stratum transmission message sent by the remote device, the relay device indicates to the network device whether the relay device has a capability of relaying multicast service. The relay communication can be realized specifically by the following S3-1 to S3-21:

s3-1, in the process that the relay equipment forwards an uplink non-access stratum transmission message sent by the remote equipment to the AMF entity, the relay equipment sends first information to the AMF entity, wherein the first information is used for indicating whether the relay equipment has the capability of relaying multicast service or not; the uplink non-access layer transmission message comprises a TMGI (traffic control system) and a PDU (protocol data unit) session modification request; or, the uplink non-access stratum transmission message includes a PDU session modification request, and the PDU session modification request includes a TMGI; specifically, for example, the relay device adds an information field in the signaling carrying the uplink non-access layer transmission message, where the information field is used to indicate whether the relay device has the capability of relaying the multicast service;

S3-2, the AMF entity sends a PDU Session update service management context request (PDU_Session_updateSMcontext_request) to the SMF entity, wherein the PDU Session update service management context request at least comprises the first information;

s3-3, the SMF entity performs authorization checking (authorization check);

s3-4, the SMF entity interacts with the NRF entity to discover a request/discovery response;

s3-5, the SMF entity interacts with the MB-SMF entity to control an updating request of the SM strategy and control an updating response of the SM strategy;

s3-6, the SMF entity sends PDU Session update service management context response (PDU_Session_updateSMcontext_response) to the AMF entity; wherein, in case the first information is used to indicate that the relay device has a capability of relaying multicast service, or in case the remote device indicated by the first information requests access in a unicast/multicast manner, the PDU session update service management context response includes multicast session information and PDU session modification information; in the case that the first information is used to indicate that the relay device does not have the capability of relaying multicast service, or in the case that the remote device indicated by the first information requests access in a unicast manner, the PDU session update service management context response includes PDU session modification information;

S3-7, the AMF entity sends an N2 message request to the NG-RAN;

s3-8, establishing a shared channel (NG-RAN, AMF entity, SMF entity, UPF entity, NRF entity, PCF entity, MB-SMF entity, MB-UPF entity);

s3-9, the remote device exchanges RRC messages with the NG-RAN through the relay device;

s3-10, the NG-RAN sends an N2 message response to the AMF entity;

s3-11, the AMF entity sends PDU Session update service management context request (PDU_Session_updateSMcontext_request) to the SMF entity;

s3-12, establishing a dedicated transmission path (SMF entity, UPF entity, NRF entity, PCF entity, MB-SMF entity, MB-UPF entity);

s3-13, the SMF entity sends PDU Session update service management context response (PDU_Session_updateSMcontext_response) to the AMF entity;

s3-14, the AF entity transmits multicast data to the MB-UPF entity;

in the case that the SMF entity determines that the transmission mode of data for the remote device is a unicast/multicast mode, the following S3-15 to S3-17 are performed; and in the case that the SMF entity determines that the transmission mode of the data for the remote device is a unicast mode, performing the following S3-18 to S3-21.

S3-15, the MB-UPF entity transmits multicast data to the NG-RAN;

s3-16, the NG-RAN transmits multicast data based on PTM or PTP to the relay equipment;

S3-17, the relay device transmits data to the remote device by unicast or multicast;

s3-18, the MB-UPF entity transmits multicast data to the UPF entity through PDU session;

s3-19, the UPF entity transmits multicast data to the NG-RAN through PDU session;

s3-20, the NG-RAN sends multicast data to the relay equipment through PDU session;

and S3-21, the relay device transmits data to the remote device by unicast.

The method embodiments of the present application are described in detail above in connection with fig. 6 to 11, and the apparatus embodiments of the present application are described in detail below in connection with fig. 12 to 14, it being understood that the apparatus embodiments and the method embodiments correspond to each other, and similar descriptions may refer to the method embodiments.

Fig. 12 shows a schematic block diagram of a remote device 500 according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 12, the remote device 500 includes:

a communication unit 510, configured to send first information to a network device; the first information is used for the network device to determine a transmission mode of data for the remote device, wherein the transmission mode is a unicast/multicast mode or the transmission mode is a unicast mode.

In some embodiments, in a case where the relay device has a capability of relaying multicast traffic, the manner in which the remote device requests access indicated by the first information is a unicast/multicast manner; and/or the number of the groups of groups,

in the case that the relay device does not have the capability of relaying multicast service, the mode of requesting access by the remote device indicated by the first information is a unicast mode.

In some embodiments, the communication unit 510 is further configured to receive capability information sent by the relay device, where the capability information is used to indicate whether the relay device has a capability of relaying multicast traffic.

In some embodiments, the communication unit 510 is specifically configured to:

the capability information sent by the relay device is received in the discovery process.

In some embodiments, the capability information is characterized by a relay service code, or the capability information is indicated by one information element IE in an announcement message sent by the relay device in a discovery process, or the capability information is indicated by one IE in a response message sent by the relay device in a discovery process.

In some embodiments, the communication unit 510 is specifically configured to:

after a link between the remote device and the relay device is established, the capability information sent by the relay device is received.

In some embodiments, the capability information is indicated by one IE in a direct communication accept message sent by the relay device, or the capability information is indicated by a relay capability exchange message sent by the relay device.

In some embodiments, the first information is carried by an uplink non-access stratum transport message;

wherein, the uplink non-access layer transmission message also includes a temporary mobile group identifier TMGI and a protocol data unit PDU session modification request; alternatively, the uplink non-access stratum transmission message includes a PDU session modification request, and the PDU session modification request includes a TMGI.

In some embodiments, in a case where the first information is used to indicate that the relay device has a capability of relaying multicast service, or in a case where the remote device indicated by the first information requests access in a unicast/multicast manner, the communication unit 510 is further configured to receive data transmitted in the unicast/multicast manner; and/or the number of the groups of groups,

in the case where the first information is used to indicate that the relay device does not have the capability of relaying multicast service, or in the case where the remote device indicated by the first information requests access in a unicast manner, the communication unit 510 is further configured to receive data transmitted in the unicast manner.

In some embodiments, the network device is an access and mobility management function AMF entity, or the network device is a session management function SMF entity, or the network device is an access network device.

In some embodiments, the communication unit may be a communication interface or transceiver, or an input/output interface of a communication chip or a system on a chip.

It should be understood that the remote device 500 according to the embodiments of the present application may correspond to a terminal device in the embodiments of the method of the present application, and the foregoing and other operations and/or functions of each unit in the remote device 500 are respectively for implementing the corresponding flow of the remote device in the method 200 shown in fig. 6, which is not repeated herein for brevity.

Fig. 13 shows a schematic block diagram of a relay device 600 according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 13, the relay apparatus 600 includes: a communication unit 610, wherein,

the communication unit 610 is configured to send first information to a network device during a process that the relay device forwards an uplink non-access stratum transmission message sent by a remote device to the network device; the first information is used for the network device to determine a transmission mode of data for the remote device, wherein the transmission mode is a unicast/multicast mode or the transmission mode is a unicast mode.

In some embodiments, the uplink non-access stratum transmission message further includes a temporary mobile group identity TMGI and a protocol data unit PDU session modification request; alternatively, the uplink non-access stratum transmission message includes a PDU session modification request, and the PDU session modification request includes a TMGI.

In some embodiments, in the case where the first information is used to indicate that the relay device has the capability to relay multicast traffic, the communication unit 610 is further configured to forward data transmitted by unicast/multicast means to the remote device; and/or the number of the groups of groups,

in case the first information is used to indicate that the relay device does not have the capability to relay multicast traffic, the communication unit 610 is further configured to forward data transmitted by unicast to the remote device.

In some embodiments, the network device is an access and mobility management function, AMF, entity or the network device is a session management function, SMF, entity.

In some embodiments, the communication unit may be a communication interface or transceiver, or an input/output interface of a communication chip or a system on a chip. The processing unit may be one or more processors.

It should be understood that the relay device 600 according to the embodiment of the present application may correspond to the relay device in the embodiment of the method of the present application, and the foregoing and other operations and/or functions of each unit in the relay device 600 are respectively for implementing the corresponding flow of the relay device in the method 300 shown in fig. 7, which is not described herein for brevity.

Fig. 14 shows a schematic block diagram of a network device 700 according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 14, the network device 700 includes:

a communication unit 710 for receiving the first information; the first information is used for indicating whether the relay device has the capability of relaying the multicast service, or the first information is used for indicating a mode of requesting access by the remote device, wherein the mode of requesting access by the remote device is a unicast/multicast mode, or the mode of requesting access by the remote device is a unicast mode;

the processing unit 720 is configured to determine a transmission mode of data for the remote device according to the first information, where the transmission mode is a unicast/multicast mode or the transmission mode is a unicast mode.

In some embodiments, the processing unit 720 is specifically configured to:

determining that the transmission mode of the data for the remote device is a unicast/multicast mode when the first information is used for indicating that the relay device has the capability of relaying the multicast service or when the mode of the remote device, indicated by the first information, requesting access is a unicast/multicast mode; and/or the number of the groups of groups,

and determining that the transmission mode of the data for the remote equipment is a unicast mode when the first information is used for indicating that the relay equipment does not have the capability of relaying the multicast service or when the mode of the remote equipment, indicated by the first information, for requesting access is a unicast mode.

In some embodiments, the network device is a session management function, SMF, entity and the first information is carried by a protocol data unit, PDU, session update service management context request.

In some embodiments, the communication unit 710 is further configured to send a PDU session update service management context response; wherein,

In the case that the first information is used to indicate that the relay device has the capability of relaying multicast service, or in the case that the remote device indicated by the first information requests access in a unicast/multicast manner, the PDU session update service management context response includes multicast session information and PDU session modification information;

the PDU session update service management context response comprises PDU session modification information in case the first information indicates that the relay device does not have the capability to relay multicast traffic or in case the remote device requests access in unicast as indicated by the first information.

In some embodiments, the network device is an access and mobility management function, AMF, entity or access network device.

In some embodiments, the communication unit 710 is specifically configured to:

receiving the first information sent by the remote equipment; wherein, the first information is carried by an uplink non-access layer transmission message;

the uplink non-access layer transmission message also comprises a temporary mobile group identifier TMGI and a PDU session modification request; alternatively, the uplink non-access stratum transmission message includes a PDU session modification request, and the PDU session modification request includes a TMGI.

In some embodiments, the communication unit 710 is specifically configured to:

receiving the first information sent by the relay device in the process that the relay device forwards an uplink non-access layer transmission message sent by the remote device to the network device;

wherein, the uplink non-access layer transmission message also includes TMGI and PDU session modification request; alternatively, the uplink non-access stratum transport message includes a PDU session modification request including a TMGI.

In some embodiments, in case the network device is an AMF entity, the communication unit 710 is further configured to send a PDU session update service management context request to the SMF entity, the PDU session update service management context request comprising the content comprised by the first information;

the communication unit 710 is further configured to receive a PDU session update service management context response sent by the SMF entity;

wherein, in case the first information is used to indicate that the relay device has a capability of relaying multicast service, or in case the remote device indicated by the first information requests access in a unicast/multicast manner, the PDU session update service management context response includes multicast session information and PDU session modification information; and/or, in a case where the first information is used to indicate that the relay device does not have the capability of relaying multicast traffic, or in a case where the remote device indicated by the first information requests access in a unicast manner, the PDU session update service management context response includes PDU session modification information.

It should be understood that the network device 700 according to the embodiment of the present application may correspond to the network device in the embodiment of the method of the present application, and the foregoing and other operations and/or functions of each unit in the network device 700 are respectively for implementing the corresponding flow of the network device in the method 400 shown in fig. 8, and are not further described herein for brevity.

Fig. 15 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device 800 provided in an embodiment of the present application. The communication device 800 shown in fig. 18 comprises a processor 810, from which the processor 810 may call and run a computer program to implement the method in the embodiments of the present application.

In some embodiments, as shown in fig. 15, the communication device 800 may also include a memory 820. Wherein the processor 810 may call and run a computer program from the memory 820 to implement the methods in embodiments of the present application.

Wherein the memory 820 may be a separate device from the processor 810 or may be integrated into the processor 810.

In some embodiments, as shown in fig. 15, the communication device 800 may further include a transceiver 830, and the processor 810 may control the transceiver 830 to communicate with other devices, and in particular, may transmit information or data to other devices, or receive information or data transmitted by other devices.

Among other things, transceiver 830 may include a transmitter and a receiver. Transceiver 830 may further include antennas, the number of which may be one or more.

In some embodiments, the communication device 800 may be specifically a network device in the embodiments of the present application, and the communication device 800 may implement corresponding flows implemented by the network device in each method in the embodiments of the present application, which are not described herein for brevity.

In some embodiments, the communication device 800 may be a remote device in the embodiments of the present application, and the communication device 800 may implement corresponding flows implemented by the remote device in the methods in the embodiments of the present application, which are not described herein for brevity.

In some embodiments, the communication device 800 may be a relay device in the embodiments of the present application, and the communication device 800 may implement corresponding flows implemented by the relay device in each method in the embodiments of the present application, which are not described herein for brevity.

Fig. 16 is a schematic structural view of an apparatus of an embodiment of the present application. The apparatus 900 shown in fig. 16 includes a processor 910, and the processor 910 may call and execute a computer program from a memory to implement the methods in the embodiments of the present application.

In some embodiments, as shown in fig. 16, apparatus 900 may further comprise a memory 920. Wherein the processor 910 may invoke and run a computer program from the memory 920 to implement the methods in the embodiments of the present application.

Wherein the memory 920 may be a separate device from the processor 910 or may be integrated in the processor 910.

In some embodiments, the apparatus 900 may also include an input interface 930. The processor 910 may control the input interface 930 to communicate with other devices or chips, and in particular, may acquire information or data sent by the other devices or chips.

In some embodiments, the apparatus 900 may further include an output interface 940. Wherein the processor 910 may control the output interface 940 to communicate with other devices or chips, and in particular, may output information or data to the other devices or chips.

In some embodiments, the apparatus may be applied to a network device in the embodiments of the present application, and the apparatus may implement corresponding flows implemented by the network device in each method in the embodiments of the present application, which are not described herein for brevity.

In some embodiments, the apparatus may be applied to a remote device in the embodiments of the present application, and the apparatus may implement a corresponding flow implemented by the remote device in each method in the embodiments of the present application, which is not described herein for brevity.

In some embodiments, the apparatus may be applied to a relay device in the embodiments of the present application, and the apparatus may implement corresponding flows implemented by the relay device in each method in the embodiments of the present application, which are not described herein for brevity.

In some embodiments, the device mentioned in the embodiments of the present application may also be a chip. For example, a system-on-chip or a system-on-chip, etc.

Fig. 17 is a schematic block diagram of a communication system 1000 provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 17, the communication system 1000 includes a far-end device 1010, a relay device 1020, and a network device 1030.

The remote device 1010 may be used to implement the corresponding function implemented by the remote device in the above method, the relay device 1020 may be used to implement the corresponding function implemented by the relay device in the above method, and the network device 1030 may be used to implement the corresponding function implemented by the network device in the above method, which are not described herein for brevity.

It should be appreciated that the processor of an embodiment of the present application may be an integrated circuit chip having signal processing capabilities. In implementation, the steps of the above method embodiments may be implemented by integrated logic circuits of hardware in a processor or instructions in software form. The processor may be a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (Digital Signal Processor, DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (Application Specific Integrated Circuit, ASIC), an off-the-shelf programmable gate array (Field Programmable Gate Array, FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic device, discrete hardware components. The disclosed methods, steps, and logic blocks in the embodiments of the present application may be implemented or performed. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor may be any conventional processor or the like. The steps of a method disclosed in connection with the embodiments of the present application may be embodied directly in hardware, in a decoded processor, or in a combination of hardware and software modules in a decoded processor. The software modules may be located in a random access memory, flash memory, read only memory, programmable read only memory, or electrically erasable programmable memory, registers, etc. as well known in the art. The storage medium is located in a memory, and the processor reads the information in the memory and, in combination with its hardware, performs the steps of the above method.

It will be appreciated that the memory in embodiments of the present application may be either volatile memory or nonvolatile memory, or may include both volatile and nonvolatile memory. The nonvolatile Memory may be a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a Programmable ROM (PROM), an Erasable PROM (EPROM), an Electrically Erasable EPROM (EEPROM), or a flash Memory. The volatile memory may be random access memory (Random Access Memory, RAM) which acts as an external cache. By way of example, and not limitation, many forms of RAM are available, such as Static RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double Data Rate SDRAM (Double Data Rate SDRAM), enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), synchronous DRAM (SLDRAM), and Direct RAM (DR RAM). It should be noted that the memory of the systems and methods described herein is intended to comprise, without being limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.

It should be understood that the above memory is exemplary but not limiting, and for example, the memory in the embodiments of the present application may be Static RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rate SDRAM (DDR SDRAM), enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), synchronous Link DRAM (SLDRAM), direct RAM (DR RAM), and the like. That is, the memory in embodiments of the present application is intended to comprise, without being limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.

Embodiments of the present application also provide a computer-readable storage medium for storing a computer program.

In some embodiments, the computer readable storage medium may be applied to a network device in the embodiments of the present application, and the computer program causes a computer to execute corresponding processes implemented by the network device in the methods in the embodiments of the present application, which are not described herein for brevity.

In some embodiments, the computer readable storage medium may be applied to a remote device in the embodiments of the present application, and the computer program causes a computer to execute a corresponding procedure implemented by the remote device in each method of the embodiments of the present application, which is not described herein for brevity.

In some embodiments, the computer readable storage medium may be applied to the relay device in the embodiments of the present application, and the computer program causes a computer to execute corresponding processes implemented by the relay device in the methods in the embodiments of the present application, which are not described herein for brevity.

Embodiments of the present application also provide a computer program product comprising computer program instructions.

In some embodiments, the computer program product may be applied to a network device in the embodiments of the present application, and the computer program instructions cause the computer to execute corresponding flows implemented by the network device in the methods in the embodiments of the present application, which are not described herein for brevity.

In some embodiments, the computer program product may be applied to a remote device in the embodiments of the present application, and the computer program instructions cause the computer to execute the corresponding processes implemented by the remote device in the methods in the embodiments of the present application, which are not described herein for brevity.

In some embodiments, the computer program product may be applied to the relay device in the embodiments of the present application, and the computer program instructions cause the computer to execute the corresponding flow implemented by the relay device in the methods in the embodiments of the present application, which is not described herein for brevity.

The embodiment of the application also provides a computer program.

In some embodiments, the computer program may be applied to a network device in the embodiments of the present application, where the computer program when executed on a computer causes the computer to execute corresponding processes implemented by the network device in the methods in the embodiments of the present application, and for brevity, will not be described in detail herein.

In some embodiments, the computer program may be applied to a remote device in the embodiments of the present application, where the computer program when executed on a computer causes the computer to perform the corresponding processes implemented by the remote device in the methods in the embodiments of the present application, and for brevity, will not be described in detail herein.

In some embodiments, the computer program may be applied to the relay device in the embodiments of the present application, and when the computer program runs on a computer, the computer is caused to execute corresponding processes implemented by the relay device in the methods in the embodiments of the present application, which are not described herein for brevity.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative elements and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, or combinations of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the solution. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present application.

It will be clear to those skilled in the art that, for convenience and brevity of description, specific working procedures of the above-described systems, apparatuses and units may refer to corresponding procedures in the foregoing method embodiments, and are not repeated herein.

In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, devices, and methods may be implemented in other manners. For example, the apparatus embodiments described above are merely illustrative, e.g., the division of the units is merely a logical function division, and there may be additional divisions when actually implemented, e.g., multiple units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted or not performed. Alternatively, the coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed with each other may be an indirect coupling or communication connection via some interfaces, devices or units, which may be in electrical, mechanical or other form.

The units described as separate units may or may not be physically separate, and units shown as units may or may not be physical units, may be located in one place, or may be distributed on a plurality of network units. Some or all of the units may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of this embodiment.

In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated in one processing unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units may be integrated in one unit.

The functions, if implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as a stand-alone product, may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. For such understanding, the technical solutions of the present application may be embodied essentially or in a part contributing to the prior art or in a 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. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: a U-disk, a removable hard disk, a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a random access Memory (Random Access Memory, RAM), a magnetic disk, or an optical disk, or other various media capable of storing program codes.

The foregoing is merely specific embodiments of the present application, but the scope of the present application is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art can easily think about changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the present application, and the changes and substitutions are intended to be covered by the scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

A method of relaying communications, comprising:

the remote device sends first information to the network device; the first information is used for the network device to determine a transmission mode of data aiming at the remote device, wherein the transmission mode is a unicast/multicast mode or the transmission mode is a unicast mode.
The method of claim 1, wherein the first information is used to indicate whether a relay device has a capability to relay multicast traffic.
The method of claim 1, wherein the first information is used to indicate a manner in which the remote device requests access, the manner in which the remote device requests access is a unicast/multicast manner, or the manner in which the remote device requests access is a unicast manner.
The method of claim 3, wherein,

in the case that the relay device has the capability of relaying multicast service, the mode of requesting access by the remote device indicated by the first information is a unicast/multicast mode; and/or the number of the groups of groups,

and under the condition that the relay equipment does not have the capability of relaying the multicast service, the mode of requesting access by the remote equipment indicated by the first information is a unicast mode.
The method of any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the method further comprises:

the remote device receives capability information sent by the relay device, where the capability information is used to indicate whether the relay device has a capability of relaying multicast service.
The method of claim 5, wherein the remote device receiving capability information sent by the relay device comprises:

the remote device receives the capability information sent by the relay device in the discovery process.
The method of claim 6, wherein the capability information is characterized by a relay service code, or wherein the capability information is indicated by one information element, IE, in an announcement message sent by the relay device in a discovery process, or wherein the capability information is indicated by one IE in a response message sent by the relay device in a discovery process.
The method of claim 5, wherein the remote device receiving capability information sent by the relay device comprises:

after a link between the remote device and the relay device is established, the remote device receives the capability information sent by the relay device.
The method of claim 8, wherein the capability information is indicated by one IE in a direct communication accept message sent by the relay device or the capability information is indicated by a relay capability exchange message sent by the relay device.
The method according to any one of claim 1 to 9, wherein,

the first information is carried by an uplink non-access layer transmission message;

wherein, the uplink non-access layer transmission message further comprises a temporary mobile group identifier TMGI and a protocol data unit PDU session modification request; alternatively, the uplink non-access stratum transmission message includes a PDU session modification request, and the PDU session modification request includes a TMGI.
The method of any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the method further comprises:

in the case that the first information is used for indicating that the relay device has the capability of relaying multicast service, or in the case that the mode of requesting access by the remote device indicated by the first information is a unicast/multicast mode, the remote device receives data transmitted by the unicast/multicast mode; and/or the number of the groups of groups,

And receiving, by the remote device, data transmitted in a unicast manner, where the first information is used to indicate that the relay device does not have a capability of relaying multicast services, or where the manner in which the remote device indicated by the first information requests access is in a unicast manner.
The method according to any one of claim 1 to 11,

the network device is an access and mobility management function AMF entity, or the network device is a session management function SMF entity, or the network device is an access network device.
A method of relaying communications, comprising:

in the process that a relay device forwards an uplink non-access layer transmission message sent by a remote device to a network device, the relay device sends first information to the network device; the first information is used for the network device to determine a transmission mode of data aiming at the remote device, wherein the transmission mode is a unicast/multicast mode or the transmission mode is a unicast mode.
The method of claim 13, wherein the first information is used to indicate whether a relay device has a capability to relay multicast traffic.
The method of claim 13 or 14, wherein,

the uplink non-access layer transmission message also comprises a temporary mobile group identifier TMGI and a protocol data unit PDU session modification request; alternatively, the uplink non-access stratum transmission message includes a PDU session modification request, and the PDU session modification request includes a TMGI.
The method of any one of claims 13 to 15, wherein the method further comprises:

in case the first information is used to indicate that the relay device has the capability of relaying multicast traffic, the relay device forwards data transmitted by unicast/multicast mode to the remote device; and/or the number of the groups of groups,

and forwarding the data transmitted in the unicast mode to the remote equipment by the relay equipment under the condition that the first information is used for indicating that the relay equipment does not have the capability of relaying the multicast service.
The method according to any one of claim 13 to 16, wherein,

the network device is an access and mobility management function (AMF) entity, or the network device is a Session Management Function (SMF) entity.
A method of relaying communications, comprising:

the network equipment receives first information; the first information is used for indicating whether the relay device has the capability of relaying the multicast service, or the first information is used for indicating a mode of requesting access by the remote device, wherein the mode of requesting access by the remote device is a unicast/multicast mode, or the mode of requesting access by the remote device is a unicast mode;

And the network equipment determines a transmission mode of data aiming at the remote equipment according to the first information, wherein the transmission mode is a unicast/multicast mode or the transmission mode is a unicast mode.
The method of claim 18, wherein,

in the case that the relay device has the capability of relaying multicast service, the mode of requesting access by the remote device indicated by the first information is a unicast/multicast mode; and/or the number of the groups of groups,

and under the condition that the relay equipment does not have the capability of relaying the multicast service, the mode of requesting access by the remote equipment indicated by the first information is a unicast mode.
The method according to claim 18 or 19, wherein the network device determining a transmission mode of data for the remote device according to the first information comprises:

the network device determines that the transmission mode of the data for the remote device is a unicast/multicast mode when the first information is used for indicating that the relay device has the capability of relaying multicast service or when the mode of the remote device, indicated by the first information, requesting access is a unicast/multicast mode; and/or the number of the groups of groups,

And under the condition that the first information is used for indicating that the relay device does not have the capability of relaying the multicast service, or under the condition that the mode of requesting access by the remote device indicated by the first information is a unicast mode, the network device determines that the transmission mode of the data aiming at the remote device is the unicast mode.
The method according to any one of claim 18 to 20,

the network device is a session management function, SMF, entity and the first information is carried by a protocol data unit, PDU, session update service management context request.
The method of claim 21, wherein the method further comprises:

the network device sending a PDU session update service management context response; wherein,

in the case that the first information is used to indicate that the relay device has the capability of relaying multicast service, or in the case that the remote device indicated by the first information requests access in a unicast/multicast manner, the PDU session update service management context response includes multicast session information and PDU session modification information;

the PDU session update service management context response comprises PDU session modification information in case the first information is used to indicate that the relay device does not have the capability to relay multicast traffic, or in case the remote device indicated by the first information requests access in a unicast manner.
The method according to any one of claim 18 to 20,

the network equipment is an access and mobility management function AMF entity or access network equipment.
The method of claim 23, wherein the network device receiving the first information comprises:

the network equipment receives the first information sent by the remote equipment; wherein, the first information is carried by an uplink non-access layer transmission message;

wherein, the uplink non-access layer transmission message also includes a temporary mobile group identifier TMGI and a PDU session modification request; alternatively, the uplink non-access stratum transmission message includes a PDU session modification request, and the PDU session modification request includes a TMGI.
The method of claim 23, wherein the network device receiving the first information comprises:

in the process that the relay equipment forwards an uplink non-access layer transmission message sent by the remote equipment to the network equipment, the network equipment receives the first information sent by the relay equipment;

wherein, the uplink non-access layer transmission message also includes TMGI and PDU session modification request; alternatively, the uplink non-access stratum transmission message includes a PDU session modification request, and the PDU session modification request includes a TMGI.
The method according to any one of claim 23 to 25,

in case the network device is an AMF entity, the method further comprises:

the AMF entity sends a PDU session update service management context request to the SMF entity, wherein the PDU session update service management context request comprises the content included in the first information;

the AMF entity receives PDU session update service management context response sent by the SMF entity;

wherein, in case the first information is used to indicate that the relay device has a capability of relaying multicast service, or in case the remote device indicated by the first information requests access in a unicast/multicast manner, the PDU session update service management context response includes multicast session information and PDU session modification information; and/or, in a case where the first information is used to indicate that the relay device does not have a capability of relaying multicast service, or in a case where the remote device indicated by the first information requests access in a unicast manner, the PDU session update service management context response includes PDU session modification information.
A remote device, comprising:

a communication unit for transmitting the first information to the network device; the first information is used for the network device to determine a transmission mode of data aiming at the remote device, wherein the transmission mode is a unicast/multicast mode or the transmission mode is a unicast mode.
The remote device of claim 27, wherein the first information is to indicate whether a relay device has a capability to relay multicast traffic.
The remote device of claim 27, wherein the first information is used to indicate a manner in which the remote device requests access, the manner in which the remote device requests access is a unicast/multicast manner, or the manner in which the remote device requests access is a unicast manner.
The remote device of claim 29,

in the case that the relay device has the capability of relaying multicast service, the mode of requesting access by the remote device indicated by the first information is a unicast/multicast mode; and/or the number of the groups of groups,

and in the case that the relay device does not have the capability of relaying the multicast service, the mode of requesting access by the remote device indicated by the first information is a unicast mode.
The distal device of any one of claim 27 to 30,

the communication unit is further configured to receive capability information sent by a relay device, where the capability information is used to indicate whether the relay device has a capability of relaying multicast service.
The remote device of claim 31, wherein said communication unit is specifically configured to:

and receiving the capability information sent by the relay equipment in the discovery process.
The remote device of claim 32, wherein,

the capability information is characterized by a relay service code, or the capability information is indicated by one Information Element (IE) in an announcement message sent by the relay device in the discovery process, or the capability information is indicated by one IE in a response message sent by the relay device in the discovery process.
The remote device of claim 31, wherein said communication unit is specifically configured to:

and after the link between the remote equipment and the relay equipment is established, receiving the capability information sent by the relay equipment.
The remote device of claim 34, wherein the capability information is indicated by one IE in a direct communication accept message sent by the relay device or the capability information is indicated by a relay capability exchange message sent by the relay device.
The distal device of any one of claim 27 to 35,

the first information is carried by an uplink non-access layer transmission message;

wherein, the uplink non-access layer transmission message further comprises a temporary mobile group identifier TMGI and a protocol data unit PDU session modification request; alternatively, the uplink non-access stratum transmission message includes a PDU session modification request, and the PDU session modification request includes a TMGI.
The distal device of any one of claim 27 to 36,

the communication unit is further configured to receive data transmitted in a unicast/multicast manner, where the first information is used to indicate that the relay device has a capability of relaying multicast service, or where the manner in which the remote device indicated by the first information requests access is in a unicast/multicast manner; and/or the number of the groups of groups,

the communication unit is further configured to receive data transmitted in a unicast manner, where the first information is used to indicate that the relay device does not have a capability of relaying multicast service, or where the manner in which the remote device indicated by the first information requests access is in a unicast manner.
The distal device of any one of claim 27 to 37,

the network device is an access and mobility management function AMF entity, or the network device is a session management function SMF entity, or the network device is an access network device.
A relay apparatus, comprising: a communication unit, wherein,

in the process that the relay device forwards an uplink non-access layer transmission message sent by the remote device to the network device, the communication unit is used for sending first information to the network device; the first information is used for the network device to determine a transmission mode of data aiming at the remote device, wherein the transmission mode is a unicast/multicast mode or the transmission mode is a unicast mode.
The relay device of claim 39, wherein the first information is used to indicate whether the relay device has a capability to relay multicast traffic.
The relay device according to claim 39 or 40, wherein,

the uplink non-access layer transmission message also comprises a temporary mobile group identifier TMGI and a protocol data unit PDU session modification request; alternatively, the uplink non-access stratum transmission message includes a PDU session modification request, and the PDU session modification request includes a TMGI.
The relay device according to any one of claims 39 to 41,

the communication unit is further configured to forward data transmitted by unicast/multicast mode to the remote device, in case the first information is used to indicate that the relay device has the capability to relay multicast traffic; and/or the number of the groups of groups,

the communication unit is further configured to forward data transmitted in a unicast manner to the remote device, in case the first information is used to indicate that the relay device does not have the capability to relay multicast traffic.
The relay device according to any one of claim 39 to 42,

the network device is an access and mobility management function (AMF) entity, or the network device is a Session Management Function (SMF) entity.
A network device, comprising:

a communication unit configured to receive first information; the first information is used for indicating whether the relay device has the capability of relaying the multicast service, or the first information is used for indicating a mode that the remote device requests access, wherein the mode that the remote device requests access is a unicast/multicast mode, or the mode that the remote device requests access is a unicast mode;

And the processing unit is used for determining a transmission mode of the data aiming at the remote equipment according to the first information, wherein the transmission mode is a unicast/multicast mode or the transmission mode is a unicast mode.
The network device of claim 44,

in the case that the relay device has the capability of relaying multicast service, the mode of requesting access by the remote device indicated by the first information is a unicast/multicast mode; and/or the number of the groups of groups,

and under the condition that the relay equipment does not have the capability of relaying the multicast service, the mode of requesting access by the remote equipment indicated by the first information is a unicast mode.
The network device of claim 44 or 45, wherein the processing unit is specifically configured to:

determining that the transmission mode of the data for the remote device is a unicast/multicast mode when the first information is used for indicating that the relay device has the capability of relaying multicast service or when the mode of the remote device, indicated by the first information, requesting access is a unicast/multicast mode; and/or the number of the groups of groups,

and determining that the transmission mode of the data for the remote equipment is a unicast mode when the first information is used for indicating that the relay equipment does not have the capability of relaying the multicast service or when the mode of the remote equipment, indicated by the first information, for requesting access is a unicast mode.
The network device of any one of claims 44 to 46,

the network device is a session management function, SMF, entity and the first information is carried by a protocol data unit, PDU, session update service management context request.
The network device of claim 47,

the communication unit is further configured to send a PDU session update service management context response; wherein,

in the case that the first information is used to indicate that the relay device has the capability of relaying multicast service, or in the case that the remote device indicated by the first information requests access in a unicast/multicast manner, the PDU session update service management context response includes multicast session information and PDU session modification information;

the PDU session update service management context response comprises PDU session modification information in case the first information is used to indicate that the relay device does not have the capability to relay multicast traffic, or in case the remote device indicated by the first information requests access in a unicast manner.
The network device of any one of claims 44 to 46,

The network equipment is an access and mobility management function AMF entity or access network equipment.
The network device of claim 49, wherein the communication unit is specifically configured to:

receiving the first information sent by the remote equipment; wherein, the first information is carried by an uplink non-access layer transmission message;

wherein, the uplink non-access layer transmission message also includes a temporary mobile group identifier TMGI and a PDU session modification request; alternatively, the uplink non-access stratum transmission message includes a PDU session modification request, and the PDU session modification request includes a TMGI.
The network device of claim 50, wherein the communication unit is specifically configured to:

receiving the first information sent by the relay equipment in the process that the relay equipment forwards an uplink non-access layer transmission message sent by a remote equipment to the network equipment;

wherein, the uplink non-access layer transmission message also includes TMGI and PDU session modification request; alternatively, the uplink non-access stratum transmission message includes a PDU session modification request, and the PDU session modification request includes a TMGI.
The network device of any one of claims 49 to 51,

The communication unit is further configured to send a PDU session update service management context request to the SMF entity, where the PDU session update service management context request includes content included in the first information, in case the network device is an AMF entity;

the communication unit is further configured to receive a PDU session update service management context response sent by the SMF entity;

wherein, in case the first information is used to indicate that the relay device has a capability of relaying multicast service, or in case the remote device indicated by the first information requests access in a unicast/multicast manner, the PDU session update service management context response includes multicast session information and PDU session modification information; and/or, in a case where the first information is used to indicate that the relay device does not have a capability of relaying multicast service, or in a case where the remote device indicated by the first information requests access in a unicast manner, the PDU session update service management context response includes PDU session modification information.
A remote device, comprising: a processor and a memory for storing a computer program, the processor being adapted to invoke and run the computer program stored in the memory, to perform the method according to any of claims 1 to 12.
A relay apparatus, comprising: a processor and a memory for storing a computer program, the processor being adapted to invoke and run the computer program stored in the memory to perform the method of any of claims 13 to 17.
A network device, comprising: a processor and a memory for storing a computer program, the processor being for invoking and running the computer program stored in the memory, performing the method of any of claims 18 to 26.
A chip, comprising: a processor for calling and running a computer program from a memory, causing a device on which the chip is mounted to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 12, or to perform the method of any one of claims 13 to 17, or to perform the method of any one of claims 18 to 26.
A computer readable storage medium storing a computer program for causing a computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 12, or to perform the method of any one of claims 13 to 17, or to perform the method of any one of claims 18 to 26.
A computer program product comprising computer program instructions for causing a computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 12, or to perform the method of any one of claims 13 to 17, or to perform the method of any one of claims 18 to 26.
A computer program, characterized in that the computer program causes a computer to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 12, or to perform the method according to any one of claims 13 to 17, or to perform the method according to any one of claims 18 to 26.