WO2023274042A1

WO2023274042A1 - Communication method, apparatus, and system

Info

Publication number: WO2023274042A1
Application number: PCT/CN2022/100942
Authority: WO
Inventors: 许胜锋; 杨艳梅
Original assignee: 华为技术有限公司
Priority date: 2021-07-02
Filing date: 2022-06-24
Publication date: 2023-01-05
Also published as: CN115567908A

Abstract

Embodiments of the present application provide a communication method, apparatus, and system. The method comprises: a network device determines relay discovery that needs to be activated; the network device determines the role indication information of a first terminal device and the role indication information of a second terminal device, the first terminal device and the second terminal device being terminal devices that participate in relay discover; the network device transmits the role indication information of the first terminal device to the first terminal device; and the network device transmits the role indication information of the second terminal device to the second terminal device. By means of the method, the network device can allocate, for the first terminal device and the second terminal device, roles participating in relay discovery, so that the first terminal device and the second terminal device participate in relay discovery according to the roles indicated by the role indication information allocated thereto, thereby improving the efficiency of implementation of relay discovery, also reducing the power consumption of the first terminal device or the second terminal device, and saving the electrical quantity.

Description

A communication method, device and system

This application claims the priority of a Chinese patent application filed with the State Intellectual Property Office of China on July 02, 2021, with the application number 202110746993.7 and the application name "A Communication Method, Device, and System", the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference in this application.

technical field

The present application relates to the communication field, and in particular to a communication method, device and system.

Background technique

Device-to-Device (D2D) communication is a method that allows multiple terminal devices to communicate directly. This communication technology allows the multiple terminal devices to share spectrum resources under the control of the cell network, so that the spectrum Resource utilization has been improved. This communication technology supports one-to-one communication and one-to-many communication between terminal devices. In one-to-one communication technology, when the source terminal device and the target terminal device communicate The distance is within a distance range supporting D2D communication, which depends on practical applications, and the two can directly communicate after discovering each other.

When the remote (Remote) terminal device is located outside the network coverage, or the network signal is lower than the strength that can support communication, the remote terminal device uses the relay (Relay) terminal device to establish communication with the network side, for example, the remote terminal device Communication is established with the relay terminal device, and the relay terminal device establishes communication with the network side, and further, the remote terminal device can establish communication with the network side through the relay terminal device. Through the relay terminal equipment, remote terminal equipment outside the coverage of the network can establish communication with the network, extending the communication coverage.

The realization of the above method depends on that the remote terminal device or the source terminal device first implements relay discovery (Relay Discovery), that is, discovers the relay terminal device. Taking the remote terminal device as an example, the discovery of the relay terminal device can be realized by sending a discovery message from the remote terminal device or the relay terminal device, and listening to the discovery message by the other of the remote terminal device or the relay terminal device . When one of the remote terminal device or the relay terminal device sends a discovery message, but the other of the remote terminal device or the relay terminal device does not listen to the discovery message, the relay discovery fails. Then the remote terminal device or the relay terminal device periodically repeats the above actions, for example, the remote terminal device frequently sends discovery messages, or repeats the above actions randomly, so as to increase the success probability of realizing relay discovery. But the above method is inefficient.

Contents of the invention

This application describes a communication method, device and system for improving the efficiency and success probability of relay discovery.

In a first aspect, the embodiments of the present application provide a communication method, and the method is executed by a network device. The method includes: the network device determines that relay discovery needs to be activated; the network device determines the role indication information of the first terminal device and the role indication information of the second terminal device, and the first terminal device and the second terminal device are to participate in the middle After discovering the terminal device; the network device sends the role indication information of the first terminal device to the first terminal device; the network device sends the role indication information of the second terminal device to the second terminal device. Through the above method, the network device can assign roles for participating in relay discovery to the first terminal device and the second terminal device, so that the first terminal device participates in relay discovery according to the role indicated by the role indication information of the first terminal device. The second terminal device participates in the relay discovery according to the role indicated by the role indication information of the second terminal device, which improves the efficiency of relay discovery, reduces the power consumption of the first terminal device or the second terminal device, and saves The power of the first terminal device or the second terminal device.

In particular, participation in relay discovery can be understood as sending discovery messages or listening to discovery messages. The above description is also applicable to the methods provided in other aspects of the present application, and will not be repeated here.

In a possible implementation manner, the network device determining that relay discovery needs to be activated includes: the network device receiving relay activation request information or signal measurement information; the network device according to the relay activation request information or the signal measurement information, Determined that relay discovery needs to be activated.

In a possible implementation manner, the role indication information of the first terminal device is at least one of role information of the first terminal device or relay discovery mode information of the first terminal device, and the role of the second terminal device The indication information is at least one of role information of the second terminal device or relay discovery mode information of the second terminal device. It can be understood that the role information is the role participating in the relay discovery, and the relay discovery mode information is the mode of participating in the relay discovery. Since the first terminal device clearly identifies itself as a remote terminal device, then after receiving the relay discovery mode, the first terminal device determines which role it will participate in relay discovery, for example, if the relay discovery mode information is mode B, then the first terminal device determines that it participates in relay according to the role of the announced terminal device Find. Similarly, if the second terminal device identifies itself as a relay terminal device, after receiving the mode of the relay discovery, the second terminal device determines which role it will play in the relay discovery, for example, if the relay discovery If the mode information is mode B, then the first terminal device determines that it participates in relay discovery according to the role of the listening terminal device. It can be understood that the role information of the first terminal device is different from the role information of the second terminal device, and the relay discovery mode information of the first terminal device is the same as the relay discovery mode information of the second terminal device. The above description is also applicable to the methods provided in other aspects of the present application, and will not be repeated here. It can also be understood that if the role indication information of the first terminal device is the role information of the first terminal device, then the role indication information of the second terminal device is the role information of the second terminal device; if the role indication information of the first terminal device If the information is the relay discovery mode information of the first terminal device, then the role indication information of the second terminal device is the relay discovery mode information of the second terminal device. That is to say, both the role indication information of the first terminal device and the role indication information of the second terminal device are role information, or both the role indication information of the first terminal device and the role indication information of the second terminal device are mode information, or, both the role indication information of the first terminal device and the role indication information of the second terminal device include role information and mode information. Of course, the role indication information of the first terminal device is the role information of the first terminal device, and the role indication information of the second terminal device is the mode information of the second terminal device, and vice versa, which is not limited in this application. However, it should be emphasized that the role indication information of the first terminal device and the role indication information of the second terminal device can finally achieve the effect that the first terminal device and the second terminal device participate in relay discovery according to different roles.

In a possible implementation manner, the network device determines the role indication information of the first terminal device and the role indication information of the second terminal device, including: if the network device is a core network element, the core network A terminal device receives a request message, the request message includes status information of the first terminal device; the core network element receives a registration message from the second terminal device, and the registration message includes status information of the second terminal device; The network device determines the role indication information of the first terminal device and the role indication information of the second terminal device according to the state information of the first terminal device and the state information of the second terminal device; or, if the network device is An access network device, where the access network device receives a radio resource control RRC message from the first terminal device, or receives a first message from an access and mobility management functional device, the radio resource control RRC message or the first message Including the state information of the first terminal device; the access network device obtains the state information of the second terminal device; the access network device determines according to the state information of the first terminal device and the state information of the second terminal device The role indication information of the first terminal device and the role indication information of the second terminal device. For example, if the network device is a core network element, the request message in this embodiment may include the relay activation request information or signal measurement information in the foregoing embodiments; if the network device is an access network device, the implementation In the mode, the RRC message may include the relay activation request information or the signal measurement information in the foregoing embodiments, or the first message may include the relay activation request information or the signal measurement information in the foregoing embodiments. The above description is also applicable to the methods provided in other aspects of the present application, and will not be repeated here.

For example, the status information of the first terminal device included in the first message is obtained by the access and mobility management function device from the first terminal device. The above description is also applicable to the methods provided in other aspects of the present application, and will not be repeated here.

For example, the state information may be power state information, or other state information, such as load state information, or mobile state information. For example, taking the state information as power state information as an example, the network device may select a terminal device whose power remaining is more than a certain threshold according to the power state information of the first terminal device and the power state information of the second terminal device , and assigned to the terminal device to declare the role of the terminal device, which can maximize the sustainable duration of the business and the stability of the service quality. After declaring the role of the terminal device, the consumption of the remaining power of the terminal device is accelerated. For example, if the terminal device with a large amount of power remaining is the first terminal device, then the network device determines the role indication information of the first terminal device, that is, determines the role of the first terminal device as the announcement terminal device, or determines the role of the first terminal device Relay discovery mode information is mode B. If the status information is load status information, then the network device selects a terminal device whose load is lower than a specific threshold, or the network device selects the terminal device with the lowest load among the first terminal device and the second terminal device , and assign it to the terminal device to announce the role of the terminal device. This method can also maximize the sustainable duration of the business and the stability of the service quality. It is also possible to use the terminal device with the lowest load to play the role of the announced terminal device. The load of the terminal device whose load is higher than a specific threshold can be alleviated, and the power consumption of the terminal device whose load is higher than a specific threshold can also be reduced. The mobile status information may indicate the mobile status of the terminal device. If the status information is mobile status information, then the network device selects a stationary terminal device, or a terminal device that remains in a static state for the longest period of time within a specific period of time. Therefore, the handover caused by the movement of the terminal equipment can be reduced, and the interaction of signaling can also be reduced. The network device may assign the terminal device the role of announcing terminal device, and may also assign the role of listening terminal device. In addition, the network device may also only receive the status information of the first terminal device from the first terminal device, or only receive the status information of the second terminal device from the second terminal device, and determine according to the received status information of a terminal device The role indication information of the first terminal device and the role indication information of the second terminal device. For example, the network device receives status information of the first terminal device from the first terminal device, the status information of the first terminal device is power status information, and the power status information shows that the power remaining is greater than a specific threshold, and the threshold This application does not limit it, then the network device determines that the role of the first terminal device is the announcement terminal device, or the mode in which the first terminal device participates in relay discovery is mode B, then correspondingly, the network device determines the role of the second terminal device Mode B is the mode for listening to the terminal device or for the second terminal device to participate in relay discovery. If the state information is the load state information or the movement state information, the same applies. The logic of this implementation may also be referred to in subsequent implementations, that is, the network device may determine the role indication information of the first terminal device and the role indication information of the second terminal device only according to the information of one terminal device. The above description is also applicable to the methods provided in other aspects of the present application, and will not be repeated here.

In a possible implementation manner, the network device determines the role indication information of the first terminal device and the role indication information of the second terminal device, including: if the network device is a core network element, the core network A terminal device receives a request message, the request message includes the role willingness information of the first terminal device; the core network element receives a registration message from the second terminal device, and the registration message includes the role willingness information of the second terminal device information; the network device determines the role indication information of the first terminal device and the role indication information of the second terminal device according to the role will information of the first terminal device and the role will information of the second terminal device; or, if The network device is an access network device, and the access network device receives a radio resource control RRC message from the first terminal device, or receives a first message from an access and mobility management function device, and the radio resource control RRC message or the The first message includes the role willing information of the first terminal device; the access network device obtains the role willing information of the second terminal device; the network device obtains the role willing information of the first terminal device and the second terminal device Determine the role indication information of the first terminal device and the role indication information of the second terminal device. That is to say, the network device may determine the role indication information of the first terminal device and the role indication information of the second terminal device according to the respective wishes of the first terminal device or the second terminal device, so as to meet the requirements of the terminal device.

In a possible implementation manner, the network device determines the role indication information of the first terminal device and the role indication information of the second terminal device, including: if the network device is a core network element, the core network A terminal device receives a request message, and the request message includes role willingness information of the first terminal device and status information of the first terminal device; the core network element receives a registration message from the second terminal device, and the registration message includes including the role will information of the second terminal device and the state information of the second terminal device; role willingness information and status information of the second terminal device, determine the role indication information of the first terminal device and the role indication information of the second terminal device; or, if the network device is an access network device, the access network The device receives a radio resource control RRC message from the first terminal device, or receives a first message from an access and mobility management function device, and the radio resource control RRC message or the first message includes the role willingness of the first terminal device information and status information of the first terminal device; the access network device obtains the role willingness information of the second terminal device and the status information of the second terminal device; the network device obtains the role willingness information and the status information of the first terminal device The state information of the first terminal device, as well as the role intention information of the second terminal device and the state information of the second terminal device determine the role indication information of the first terminal device and the role indication information of the second terminal device.

In a possible implementation manner, the core network element includes a network element with a direct connection discovery name management function, a policy control function network element, or an access management function network element. It should be understood that the core network element is any network element or device that can be used for relay discovery. The above description is also applicable to the methods provided in other aspects of the present application, and will not be repeated here.

In a possible implementation manner, the above method further includes: the network device receiving relay capability information of the second terminal device from the second terminal device, where the relay capability information is used to indicate the relay capability of the second terminal device Capability: the network device determines that the second terminal device is a relay terminal device according to the relay capability information of the second terminal device.

In a possible implementation manner, the above method further includes: the network device acquiring service information of the first terminal device and service information of the second terminal device; the network device judging the service information of the first terminal device and the service information of the second terminal device Whether the service information of the two terminal devices matches; if the service information of the first terminal device matches the service information of the second terminal device, it is determined that the second terminal device is a relay terminal device. The service information can be understood as information about services authorized by the terminal device. The above description is also applicable to the methods provided in other aspects of the present application, and will not be repeated here. For example, the service information is the identification information of the service type of the network slice that the first terminal device can use or the codeword of the relay service. It can be understood that when the codeword of the first terminal device is the same as the codeword of the second terminal device Or it can correspond in a specific way, then the first terminal device and the second terminal device can participate in the same relay discovery service.

In a possible implementation manner, the above method further includes: the network device acquiring the location information of the first terminal device and the location information of the second terminal device; the network device selecting a combination of the location information and the location information of the first terminal device The second terminal device whose distance is within the first threshold range is a relay terminal device. Through this implementation, the network device selects the second terminal device within a specific distance from the first terminal device. When the distance between the two terminal devices is smaller, this method can save energy consumption for relay discovery. Then This method can further save power consumption of the first terminal device or the second terminal device.

In a possible implementation manner, the network device receiving the location information of the first terminal device and the location information of the second terminal device includes: the network device receiving the location information of the first terminal device from the first terminal device , receiving the location information of the second terminal device from the second terminal device, or, the network device receiving the location information of the first terminal device and the location information of the second terminal device from the gateway mobile location center.

In a possible implementation manner, the above method further includes: the network device acquiring relay service authorization information of the second terminal device, where the relay service authorization information indicates authorization information of the relay service of the second terminal device; The network device determines the second terminal device according to the relay service authorization information of the second terminal device.

In a possible implementation manner, the above method further includes: the network device sending first activation time information to the first terminal device and the second terminal device, where the first activation time information is the start time of the relay discovery or At least one of the on-periods of the relay discovery. It can be understood that the opening period may be a time period during which the first terminal device and the second terminal device enable relay discovery once, and the enabling period may be a period during which the first terminal device and the second terminal device enable relay discovery once. The regulation of the turn-on time makes it unnecessary for the first terminal device and the second terminal device to keep the relay discovery turned on all the time, which saves their own power, and the regulation of the turn-on period makes the first terminal device and the second terminal device turn on according to a certain cycle Relay discovery, increase the time to enable relay discovery, thereby improving the efficiency of relay discovery. The above description is also applicable to the methods provided in other aspects of the present application, and will not be repeated here.

In a possible implementation manner, the above method further includes: the network device receives second activation time information from the first terminal device, and the second activation time is used to determine the first activation time information.

In a possible implementation manner, the above method further includes: the network device sending relay discovery activation information to the second terminal device, where the relay discovery activation information is used to instruct the second terminal device to participate in the relay discovery. That is to say, the second terminal device enables relay discovery after receiving the relay discovery activation information.

In a second aspect, the embodiments of the present application provide a communication method, and the method is executed by a first terminal device. The method includes: a first terminal device sends a relay activation request or signal measurement information to a network device; the first terminal device receives first information from the network device, and the first information includes role indication information of the first terminal device; The first terminal device determines a role for the first terminal device to participate in relay discovery according to the role indication information; the first terminal device participates in relay discovery according to the role. Through the above method, the first terminal device can perform a specific action according to the specified role, improve the efficiency of relay discovery, and can also reduce the power consumption of the first terminal device, saving the power of the first terminal device.

In a possible implementation manner, the role indication information is at least one of first role information or relay discovery mode information.

In a possible implementation manner, the above method further includes: if the network device is a network element of the core network, the first terminal device sends a request message to the network element of the core network, and the request message includes the role of the first terminal device At least one of willingness information or state information of the first terminal device, if the network device is an access network device, the first terminal device sends a radio resource control RRC message to the access network device, or triggers access and The mobility management function device sends a first message to the network device, the RRC message includes at least one of the role willingness information of the first terminal device or the state information of the first terminal device, and the first message includes the first At least one of the role will information of the terminal device or the state information of the first terminal device, the role will information of the first terminal device or the state information of the first terminal device is used for determining the first information. It should be understood that when the first message includes the role willing information of the first terminal device, the request message also includes the role willing information of the first terminal device, and when the first message includes the status information of the first terminal device, the request The message also includes status information of the first terminal. In this embodiment, the first terminal device triggers the access and mobility management function device to send the first message to the network device, which may be implemented in the following manner: the first terminal device sends the access and mobility management function device the At least one of role intention information of the first terminal device or status information of the first terminal device, the access and mobility management function device sends a first message to the network device, the first message includes the first terminal device At least one of the role willingness information of the first terminal device or the state information of the first terminal device, that is, through the first message, the access and mobility management function device forwards the role willingness information of the first terminal device or the first terminal device At least one of the status information of the device. The foregoing description is also applicable to the methods provided in other implementation manners in this application, and details are not repeated here.

In a possible implementation manner, the above method further includes: if the network device is a network element of the core network, the first terminal device sends a request message to the network element of the core network, and the request message includes the location of the first terminal device Information or at least one of the service information of the first terminal device. If the network device is an access network device, the first terminal device sends a radio resource control RRC message to the access network device, or triggers access and mobile The performance management function device sends a first message to the network device, the RRC message includes at least one of the location information of the first terminal device or the service information of the first terminal device, and the first message contains the information of the first terminal device At least one of the location information or the service information of the first terminal device, at least one of the location information of the first terminal device or the service information of the first terminal device is used to determine the second terminal device, and the second terminal A device is a terminal device participating in the relay discovery.

In a possible implementation manner, the above method further includes: the first terminal device receives first activation time information from the network device, and the first activation duration is at least one of an on-time or an on-period of the relay discovery.

In a possible implementation manner, the above method further includes: the first terminal device sending second activation time information to the network device, where the second activation time is used to determine the first activation time information.

In the third aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a communication method, and the method is executed by a second terminal device. The method includes: the second terminal device receives second information from the network device, the second information includes role indication information of the second terminal device; the second terminal device determines that the second terminal device participates in the relay according to the role indication information A discovered role; the second terminal device participates in relay discovery according to the role. Through the above method, the second terminal device can perform a specific action according to the specified role, improve the efficiency of relay discovery, and also reduce the power consumption of the second terminal device, saving the power of the second terminal device.

In a possible implementation manner, the second information includes relay discovery activation information, and the second terminal device participates in the relay discovery according to the relay discovery activation information.

In a possible implementation manner, the role indication information of the second terminal device is at least one of second role information or relay discovery mode information.

In a possible implementation manner, the above method further includes: the second terminal device sending at least one of the second state information of the second terminal device or the second role willingness information of the second terminal device to the network device, The second state information or the second role intention information of the second terminal device is used for determining the second information.

In a possible implementation manner, the above method further includes: the second terminal device sending the relay capability information of the second terminal device, the service information of the second terminal device or the location of the second terminal device to the network device At least one of the information, the relay capability information is used to indicate the relay capability of the second terminal device, the relay capability information of the second terminal device, the service information of the second terminal device, or the At least one of the position information is used for the determination of the second terminal.

In a possible implementation manner, the above method further includes: the second terminal device receives location information of the first terminal device from the network device, and the first terminal device is a terminal device participating in the relay discovery; the second terminal device The device judges whether the distance between the first terminal device and the second terminal device is within the first threshold range according to the location information of the first terminal device; if the distance between the first terminal device and the second terminal device is within the first Within the threshold range, the second terminal device determines to participate in the relay discovery.

In a possible implementation manner, the above method further includes: the second terminal device receiving first activation time information from the network device, where the first activation time information is the duration of enabling the relay discovery or the enabling duration of the relay discovery At least one of the cycles.

In the fourth aspect, the embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, including a processor, the processor is used to read and run a program from the memory, so that the communication device can realize the first aspect or any possible implementation method (for example, when the communication device is a network device), or to implement the method as in the second aspect above or any possible implementation mode (for example, when the communication device is a first terminal device), or, to Implement the method as in the third aspect above or any possible implementation manner (for example, when the communication device is the second terminal device).

In a fifth aspect, the embodiments of the present application provide a communication system, including a network device, a first terminal device, and a second terminal device. The network device can execute the method in the first aspect or any possible implementation manner. The first A terminal device may execute the method of the second aspect or any possible implementation manner, and the second terminal device may execute the method of the third aspect or any possible implementation manner.

In the sixth aspect, the embodiments of the present application provide a computer program product containing instructions, which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to execute the method as in the first aspect or any possible implementation manner, or the second aspect or The method of any possible embodiment, or the third aspect or the method of any possible embodiment.

In the seventh aspect, the embodiments of the present application provide a computer-readable storage medium, where instructions are stored in the computer-readable storage medium, and when the computer-readable storage medium is run on a computer, the processor is made to perform the first aspect or any possible The method of the embodiment, or the method of the second aspect or any possible embodiment, or the method of the third aspect or any possible embodiment.

Description of drawings

FIG. 1 is a network architecture of a 5G ProSe communication system applicable to the present application;

Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of a relay capability applicable to this application;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a mode of relay discovery applicable to the present application;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of another relay discovery mode applicable to the present application;

FIG. 5 is an interactive schematic diagram of a method for activating relay discovery applicable to the present application;

FIG. 6 is an interactive schematic diagram of another method for activating relay discovery applicable to the present application;

FIG. 7 is an interactive schematic diagram of another method for activating relay discovery applicable to the present application;

FIG. 8 is an interactive schematic diagram of another method for activating relay discovery applicable to the present application;

FIG. 9 is an interactive schematic diagram of another method for activating relay discovery applicable to the present application;

FIG. 10 is an interactive schematic diagram of another method for activating relay discovery applicable to the present application;

FIG. 11 is a flowchart interaction diagram of another method for activating relay discovery applicable to the present application;

FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram of a communication device provided according to an embodiment of the present application;

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

detailed description

The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application can be applied to various communication systems, such as long term evolution (long term evolution, LTE) system, LTE frequency division duplex (frequency division duplex, FDD) system, LTE time division duplex (time division duplex, TDD), fifth generation (5th generation, 5G) mobile communication system or new radio (new radio, NR) system, or applied to future communication systems or other similar communication systems, etc. In addition, the embodiments of the present application may also be applicable to other future-oriented communication technologies. The network architecture and business scenarios described in this application are to illustrate the technical solution of this application more clearly, and do not constitute a limitation to the technical solution provided by this application. Those of ordinary skill in the art know that with the evolution of network architecture and new business scenarios The technical solutions provided by this application are also applicable to similar technical problems.

Device-to-device communication is a method that allows multiple user devices to communicate directly. This communication technology allows the multiple user devices to share spectrum resources under the control of the cell network, making the utilization of spectrum resources more efficient. improvement. The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3rd Generation Partnership Project, 3GPP) standards organization has formulated a device-to-device communication standard, and the device-to-device communication service may also be called a proximity-based service (Proximity-based Services, ProSe). ProSe includes ProSe discovery, which can be called terminal device discovery, and its purpose is to enable a ProSe-supporting terminal device to discover another neighboring terminal device that also supports ProSe. Through the discovery of terminal devices, one terminal device can communicate with another terminal device through the PC5 (ProSe Communication 5) interface.

This application takes a 5G system as an example, and FIG. 1 shows a network architecture of a 5G ProSe communication system applicable to this application. The above network architecture may include the following parts, which are terminal equipment, radio access network (radio access network, RAN), core network and ProSe application server.

The parts involved in the network architecture are described in detail below:

A terminal device is a device with a wireless transceiver function. The terminal device is connected to the access network device in a wireless manner, so as to be connected to the communication system. A terminal device may also be called a terminal, a user equipment (user equipment, UE), a mobile station, a mobile terminal, and the like. Terminal devices can be mobile phones, tablet computers, computers with wireless transceiver functions, virtual reality terminal devices, augmented reality terminal devices, wireless terminals in industrial control, wireless terminals in unmanned driving, wireless terminals in remote surgery, smart grids wireless terminals in transportation security, wireless terminals in smart cities, or wireless terminals in smart homes, etc. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the specific technology and specific device form adopted by the terminal device. As an example but not a limitation, the terminal device may also be a wearable device. Wearable devices can also be called wearable smart devices or smart wearable devices, etc., which is a general term for the application of wearable technology to intelligently design daily wear and develop wearable devices, such as glasses, gloves, watches, clothing and shoes Wait. A wearable device is a portable device that is worn directly on the body or integrated into the user's clothing or accessories. Wearable devices are not only a hardware device, but also achieve powerful functions through software support, data interaction, and cloud interaction. Generalized wearable smart devices include full-featured, large-sized, complete or partial functions without relying on smart phones, such as smart watches or smart glasses, etc., and only focus on a certain type of application functions, and need to cooperate with other devices such as smart phones Use, such as various smart bracelets, smart helmets, smart jewelry, etc. for physical sign monitoring. The terminal device can also be an on-board module, on-board component, on-board chip or on-board unit built into the vehicle as one or more components or units, and the vehicle can A unit may implement the methods of the present application. For the convenience of expression, the terminal equipment is hereinafter referred to as UE, the remote terminal equipment is hereinafter referred to as remote UE, the relay terminal equipment is hereinafter referred to as relay UE, the source terminal equipment is hereinafter referred to as source UE, and the target terminal equipment is hereinafter referred to as UE. Hereinafter, it is referred to as the target UE for short.

The wireless access network is used to implement wireless related functions. A node in a wireless access network may also be called an access network device or a base station, and is used to connect a terminal device to a wireless network. The access network device may be a base station (base station), an evolved base station (evolved NodeB, eNodeB) in an LTE system or an evolved LTE system (LTE-Advanced, LTE-A), or a next-generation base station in a 5G communication system (next generation NodeB, gNB), transmission reception point (transmission reception point, TRP), base band unit (base band unit, BBU), WiFi access point (access point, AP), base station or WiFi system in the future mobile communication system Access nodes in etc. The radio access network device may also be a module or unit that completes some functions of the base station, for example, it may be a centralized unit (central unit, CU) or a distributed unit (distributed unit, DU). The embodiment of the present application does not limit the specific technology and specific equipment form adopted by the radio access network equipment. For example, in a network structure, the radio access network device may be a CU node, or a DU node, or an access network device including a CU node and a DU node. Specifically, the CU node is used to support radio resource control (radio resource control, RRC), packet data convergence protocol (packet data convergence protocol, PDCP), service data adaptation protocol (service data adaptation protocol, SDAP) and other protocols; the DU node It is used to support radio link control (radio link control, RLC) layer protocol, medium access control (medium access control, MAC) layer protocol and physical layer protocol. For the convenience of expression, the radio access network is hereinafter referred to as RAN for short.

The core network network may include one or more of the following network elements: access and mobility management function (access and mobility management function, AMF) network element, session management function network element (session management function, SMF) network element, user User plane function (UPF) network element, policy control function (policy control function, PCF) network element, network data analysis function (network data analytics function, NWDAF) network element, unified data management (unified data management, UDM) Network elements, fifth-generation direct discovery name management function (5G DDNMF, 5G Direct Discovery Name Management Function) network elements, etc.

Access and mobility management functional network element: mainly used for terminal attachment and mobility management in the mobile network. When the network element with the access and mobility management function provides services for the session of the terminal device, it provides storage resources on the control plane for the session, such as storing the session ID and the session management function network element ID associated with the session ID.

Session management function network element: mainly used for session management in mobile networks, such as session establishment, modification, and release. Specific functions include assigning an Internet Protocol (internet protocol, IP) address to the terminal, selecting a user plane network element that provides a packet forwarding function, and the like.

User plane functional network element: mainly responsible for processing user packets, such as forwarding, billing, legal listening, etc. The user plane network element may also be called a protocol data unit (protocol data unit, PDU) session anchor (PDU session anchor, PSA).

Policy control function network element: including user subscription data management function, policy control function, charging policy control function, quality of service (quality of service, QoS) control, etc. It needs to be pointed out that in the actual network, according to the level or function, PCF can have various forms, such as global PCF and PCF in the network slice, or session management PCF (Session Management PCF, SM-PCF) and access management PCF (Access Management PCF, AM-PCF).

Network data analysis function network elements: collect data from various network function (network function, NF) network elements, such as policy control function network elements, session management function network elements, user plane function network elements, application function network elements, etc. , and analyze and predict.

Unified data management network element: responsible for managing the contract information of terminal equipment. For example, the storage and management of terminal equipment identification, and the access authorization of terminal equipment.

The fifth-generation direct connection discovery name management function network element is used for the discovery of terminal equipment, and allocates discovery parameters for terminal equipment supporting ProSe. Usually, operators will deploy it in a public land mobile network (PLMN) A network element with the fifth-generation direct connection discovery name management function. The fifth-generation direct connection discovery name management function network element interacts with the ProSe application server through the PC2 (ProSe Communication 2) interface or service-based interface (service-based interface). The PC2 interface or service-based interface is used for the fifth generation The network element with the name management function of direct connection discovery obtains the ProSe discovery authorization information from the ProSe application server. The network element with the fifth-generation direct connection discovery name management function interacts with the terminal device through the PC3a (ProSe Communication 3 a) interface. The PC3a interface is used for the terminal device to obtain discovery parameters from the fifth-generation direct connection discovery name management function network element.

The above "network element" may also be called "entity" or "device", which is not limited in this application. For ease of description, the session management function network element is referred to as SMF for short, and the policy control function network element is referred to as PCF for short.

ProSe Application Server (ProSe Application Server) is a server used to provide application services for ProSe, and the intercommunication of data between the server and the terminal device is realized through a protocol data unit (protocol data unit, PDU) session.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a UE-to-Network Relay (UE-to-Network Relay) communication applicable to this application. When the remote UE is outside the network coverage or the network signal is poor, the remote UE uses the relay UE to establish communication with the network side, for example, the remote UE establishes communication with the relay UE, and the relay UE establishes communication with the network side , furthermore, the remote UE can establish communication with the network side through the relay UE. Through the relay UE, the remote UE outside the network coverage can establish communication with the network, which extends the communication coverage. The relay communication from the UE to the network can be further divided into a layer-2 relay (layer-2 relay, L2 relay) mode and a layer-3 relay (layer-3 relay, L3 relay) mode. In layer 2 relay mode, the remote UE establishes an end-to-end radio resource control (radio resource control, RRC) connection with the base station through the relay UE. The relay UE forwards the uplink and downlink signaling of the remote UE according to the Access Stratum layer (AS layer), so that the remote UE accesses the RAN. In the layer 3 relay mode, the data of the remote UE is forwarded through the Internet protocol (internet protocol, IP) layer, that is, the data of the remote UE is parsed to the IP layer by the relay UE, and then transmitted through the PDU session of the relay UE. Forward. In the layer 2 relay mode, the relay UE has the layer 2 relay capability, and in the layer 3 relay mode, the relay UE has the layer 3 relay capability.

Currently, the method for relay discovery can be implemented using the modes shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 . Wherein, the remote UE is UE1 in FIG. 3 or FIG. 4 , the relay UE is UE2 (or UE3) in FIG. 3 or FIG. 4 , or the remote UE is UE2 (or UE3) in FIG. 3 or FIG. 4 , the relay UE is UE1 in FIG. 3 or FIG. 4 .

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a mode of relay discovery applicable to the present application. This mode is mode B. As shown in Figure 3, the pattern includes the following steps:

Step 301, UE1 (remote UE) sends a discovery message. For example, the discovery message is a relay discovery request message (Relay Discovery Solicitation Message). Correspondingly, UE2 and UE3 (relay UEs) listen to and receive the discovery message.

The discovery message is a broadcast message, and the message is an omnidirectional message, that is, UEs in all directions around UE1 can receive the discovery message.

The discovery message may include a message type (for example, Solicitation), a destination layer 2 identifier (Destination Layer 2 ID), a source layer 2 identifier (Source Layer 2 ID), a user information identifier (User Info ID), and discovery parameters. In the discovery message, the destination layer 2 identifier is the broadcast address, the source layer 2 identifier is the layer 2 identifier of the UE1, the user information identifier is the identifier of the UE1, and the identifier of the UE1 may be the application layer identifier of the UE1, and the discovery parameters include Relay Service Code. It should be noted that before step 301, UE1 obtains a relay service codeword from the core network element PCF, and the layer 2 relay mode or layer 3 relay mode corresponds to different relay service codewords. In other words, if UE1 wants to perform communication in Layer 2 relay mode, it finds that the relay service codeword in the message is a codeword corresponding to Layer 2 relay mode; if UE1 wants to perform communication in Layer 3 relay mode, it finds that The relay service codeword in the message is the codeword corresponding to the Layer 3 relay mode.

Step 302, UE2 and UE3 send a response message to UE1, where the response message is used to respond to the discovery message. For example, the response message is a Relay Discovery Response Message (Relay Discovery Response Message). The response message may include message type (for example, Response), destination layer 2 identifier, source layer 2 identifier, user information identifier and discovery parameters. In the response message, the destination layer 2 identifier is the source layer 2 identifier in the discovery message in step 301, the source layer 2 identifier is the destination layer 2 identifier in the discovery message in step 301, and the user information identifier is the UE that sent the response message ID, such as the application layer ID of UE3. The discovery parameter is the relay service code word in the request message.

It should be noted that when the discovery parameter in the discovery message is a relay service codeword, only a specific UE will send a response message to UE1 because only specific UEs have the same relay service codeword. In other words, when the discovery parameter is a relay service codeword, only a specific UE with the same or corresponding relay service codeword can discover each other with UE1 and perform subsequent UE-to-network relay communication.

In the method shown in FIG. 3 , UE1 can be used as a remote UE. UE1 actively sends a discovery message to find a relay UE. When interested in discovering parameters, send a response message to UE1, that is, inform UE1 that itself (such as UE2 or UE3) can be used as a relay UE. Thus, relay discovery is realized.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of another relay discovery mode applicable to this application. This mode is mode A. As shown in Figure 4, the pattern includes the following steps:

Step 401, UE1 (relay UE) sends a discovery message. For example, the discovery message is a relay discovery notification message (Relay Discovery Announcement message). Correspondingly, at least one of UE2 or UE3 (remote UE) listens to and receives the discovery message.

The discovery message may include message type (ie Announcement), destination layer 2 identifier, source layer 2 identifier, user information identifier and discovery parameters. For example, the discovery parameter may include a relay service codeword. Before step 401, UE1 may obtain a relay service codeword from the PCF.

Subsequently, when at least one of UE2 or UE3 is interested in the discovery parameter in the discovery message (can be matched with the discovery parameter, such as a relay service codeword), it can initiate a connection establishment request to UE1, thereby realizing UE2 or UE3 Perform UE-to-network relay communication with UE1.

In the method shown in FIG. 4 , UE1 acts as a relay UE, and UE1 sends a discovery message to at least one of the surrounding UE2 or UE3, informing at least one of UE2 or UE3 that UE1 can serve as a relay UE and can match the discovery message in the discovery message. The remote UE that discovers the parameters can initiate a connection establishment request to UE1 in the subsequent time.

It should be noted that the remote UE or relay UE that wants to participate in relay discovery should meet the following conditions: when the air interface signal strength of the remote UE is lower than threshold 1, the remote UE can participate in relay discovery; When the air interface signal strength of the UE is lower than threshold 2 and higher than threshold 3, the relay UE can participate in relay discovery. Taking the relay UE as an example, the relay UE may acquire the above threshold information (threshold 1, threshold 2, and threshold 3) from the RAN, or the above threshold information is pre-configured in the relay UE. Wherein, the UE actively sends the discovery message, or the UE listens to and receives the discovery message, which can be understood as the UE participating in the relay discovery.

Through the method shown in FIG. 3 or FIG. 4 above, the remote UE and the relay UE can realize relay discovery, so that the remote UE finally realizes communication with the network by establishing a connection with the relay UE.

However, when the remote UE wants to discover the relay UE, take the method shown in FIG. 3 as an example for the remote UE to select, that is, the remote UE selects as the announcement UE. In a possible situation, the method shown in FIG. 4 is adopted for the relay UE selection, that is, the relay UE is selected as the announcement UE. In the above possible situation, both the relay UE and the remote UE send discovery messages. Or, in a possible situation, the relay UE has not enabled the relay discovery, and at this time, the relay discovery cannot be implemented between the remote UE and the relay UE.

Subsequently, the remote UE may keep using the method shown in FIG. 3 , and wait for the relay UE to also enable relay discovery and choose to use the method shown in FIG. 3 . Or, when the remote UE finds that the relay discovery cannot be successfully implemented, it immediately chooses to use the method shown in Figure 4, or after waiting for a period of time, chooses to use the method shown in Figure 4, changes its role to a listening UE, and waits to learn from it. After the UE receives the discovery message. When the relay UE and the remote UE enable relay discovery and both select the same method, or in other words, both select different roles from each other, then the relay UE and the remote UE can implement relay discovery. That is to say, if the first two UEs do not implement relay discovery, the UE in the role of declaring UE will choose to send discovery messages irregularly, while the UE in the role of listening UE will always enable the listening function, and the remote UE or relay UE It will also switch the roles or methods of their choice, and finally realize the relay discovery. However, this method will increase the power consumption of the relay UE or the remote UE, and the efficiency of realizing relay discovery is low. The present application provides a method, which can be used to solve the above problems.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart interaction diagram of a method for activating relay discovery applicable to the present application. Wherein, in this embodiment, the executor who executes the action of DDNMF can be DDNMF, PCF, AMF, or a new network element, and the executor can realize the relay discovery service The network element or device is not limited in this application, and the following will be described by taking the execution subject as DDNMF as an example.

The method includes the following steps:

Step 501, the relay UE sends the identifier of the relay UE and the relay capability information of the relay UE to the DDNMF.

Wherein, the relay UE may include UE1, may also include UE2, or other UEs that may serve as relays, that is, the relay UE may be at least one UE. The foregoing description is also applicable to the methods described in other embodiments of the present application, and details are not repeated here.

For example, the relay UE sends a registration message to the DDNMF, and the registration message includes the identifier of the relay UE, the relay capability information of the relay UE, and the role willingness information of the relay UE.

Taking the relay UE as UE1 as an example, UE1 sends a registration message to the DDNMF, and the registration message includes the identifier of UE1, the relay capability information of UE1, and the role willingness information of UE1. For UE2 or other UEs that can serve as relays, refer to the relevant description of UE1, and details are not repeated here.

The identifier of UE1 may be a subscription permanent identifier (Subscription Permanent Identifier, SUPI) of UE1.

The relay capability information of UE1 may include at least one of layer 2 relay capability information or layer 3 relay capability information, wherein the layer 2 relay capability information indicates that UE1 has a layer 2 relay forwarding capability, and the layer 3 relay capability information Indicates that UE1 has the layer 3 relay forwarding capability.

Optionally, UE1 also sends UE1's role willingness information to the DDNMF, the UE1's role willingness information includes at least one of the declaring UE or the listening UE, and the UE1's role willingness information is used to indicate that UE1 is willing to be the declaring UE or listening UE , or willing to only serve as an announcing UE, or willing to only serve as a listening UE.

Optionally, UE1 also sends indication information to the DDNMF, where the indication information is used to indicate that UE1 can act as a relay UE, or wants to act as a relay UE.

Optionally, the UE1 also sends the location information of the UE1 to the DDNMF, where the location information indicates the real-time location of the UE1 or the moving path information of the UE1. For example, the location information of UE1 may be obtained by UE1 through a positioning method of the fifth generation communication system, or may be obtained by UE1 through a global positioning system (Global Positioning System, GPS). For example, the location information of UE1 may be sent through a registration message or other types of messages, such as a notification message, which is not limited in this application. In addition, the location information of UE1 may be acquired periodically and sent by the UE1 to the DDNMF.

Optionally, UE1 also sends status information of UE1 to the DDNMF, for example, the status information may include battery status, load status, or mobility status. The battery status of the UE1 can indicate the current battery level of the UE1, or can indicate the estimated time when the current battery capacity of the UE1 can be used, or can also indicate other information related to the UE1’s battery capacity. This application is not limited, and other implementations Example is the same. The state information can be used to determine the role of the UE1. For example, if the status information is the battery status, then when the battery level of UE1 is lower than a specific threshold, then the UE1 can be determined as the role of listening UE, if the battery level of UE1 is higher than a certain threshold The threshold value, then the UE1 is subsequently determined to declare the role of the UE. The threshold value depends on specific implementations and is not limited in this application. For example, the battery status of the UE1 may be sent through a registration message, or may be sent through other types of messages, such as a notification message, which is not limited in this application. In addition, the battery status of the UE1 may be acquired periodically and sent by the UE1 to the DDNMF. In addition, if the status information of the UE1 includes the load status of the UE1, if the load of the UE1 is lower than a specific threshold, then the UE1 can be determined as the role of the declared UE; otherwise, the UE1 can be determined as the The role of the listening UE, where the specific threshold is not limited in this application. If the state information of UE1 includes the mobile state information of UE1, when the mobile state information of UE1 indicates that UE1 is a stationary UE, or indicates that UE1 is the terminal device that maintains a stationary state for the longest period of time within a certain period of time, Then the subsequent UE1 may be selected as the relay UE.

In step 502, the DDNMF acquires the relay service authorization information of the relay UE.

For example, the DDNMF obtains the relay service authorization information of the relay UE from the UDM. The relay UE is the relay UE in step 501 .

The relay service authorization information of the relay UE indicates whether the UE is authorized to provide the relay service, for example, whether to authorize the provision of the layer 2 relay service, or whether to authorize the provision of the layer 3 relay service.

The relay service authorization information of the relay UE may also include service information that the UE is authorized to provide, and the service information is identification information of service types of network slices that the remote UE can use or a relay service codeword.

A possible implementation method, the DDNMF sends a request message to the UDM, the request message includes the identity of the relay UE, and the request message is used to request the UDM to feed back the relay service authorization of the relay UE represented by the identity of the relay UE Specifically, the UDM finds out the relay service authorization information of the relay UE according to the relay UE identifier and the subscription data of the relay UE, and sends the relay service authorization information of the relay UE to the DDNMF.

In step 503, the DDNMF acquires the location information of the relay UE.

The relay UE is the relay UE in step 501 .

For example, the DDNMF acquires the location information of the relay UE from the Gateway Mobile Location Center (GLMC). Specifically, the DDNMF requests the GLMC to obtain the location information of the relay UE, and the GLMC triggers the positioning process of the fifth generation communication system to obtain the location information of the relay UE, and the GLMC sends the location information of the relay UE to the DDNMF.

This step is optional, for example, when in step 501, the relay UE sends the location information of the relay UE. For example, if the relay UE does not send the location information of the relay UE in step 501, then the DDNMF acquires the location information of the relay UE through this step. In other words, no matter through step 501 or step 503, the DDNMF finally obtains the location information of the relay UE.

Step 504, the remote UE sends the identity of the remote UE and relay activation request information to the DDNMF.

Wherein, the relay activation request information may also be layer 2 relay activation request information or layer 3 relay activation request information, the layer 2 relay activation request information indicates a request to activate a layer 2 relay, and the layer 3 relay activation request information indicates a request Activate layer 3 trunking.

The execution of this step can be triggered by the following possible situations:

A possible situation, for example, the remote UE detects that the signal strength is lower than a specific threshold, or finds that the quality of service (quality of service, QoS) cannot be guaranteed, or finds that the QoS is degraded, the remote UE needs to find A relay UE establishes a relay link through the relay UE to improve QoS.

In another possible situation, the remote UE has already performed relay discovery, but no available relay UE has been found.

In an optional implementation manner, the remote UE sends a request message to the DDNMF, and the request message includes the identifier of the remote UE and relay activation request (Relay activation request) information.

In an optional implementation manner, the remote UE sends a relay activation request message to the DDNMF, and the relay activation request message includes the identifier of the remote UE. Optionally, the relay activation request message further includes the relay activation request information.

For example, the identifier of the remote UE may be the SUPI of the remote UE.

Optionally, the remote UE also sends role willingness information of the remote UE to the DDNMF, where the role willingness information of the remote UE includes at least one of an announcement UE or a listening UE, and the role willingness information of the remote UE is used for Indicates that the remote UE is willing to be an announcing UE or a listening UE, or is only willing to be an announcing UE, or is only willing to be a listening UE.

Optionally, the remote UE also sends an activation duration (activation duration) to the DDNMF. The activation duration may be used to indicate that the remote UE does not need to send the relay activation request again within the activation duration after sending the relay activation request.

Optionally, the remote UE also sends location information of the remote UE to the DDNMF, where the location information of the remote UE indicates the location of the remote UE, or the route of the remote UE within a period of time. For the location information of the remote UE, reference may be made to the description in step 501 .

Optionally, the remote UE also sends the status information of the remote UE to the DDNMF. For the status information of the remote UE, reference may be made to the description in step 501 .

Optionally, the remote UE also sends an activation period to the DDNMF. The activation period can be used. In the subsequent process, the DDNMF can periodically send relay activation request information to the relay UE according to the activation period, or request The relay UE periodically enables the relay service, so that the relay UE can enable the relay service according to the activation period.

Optionally, the remote UE also sends the service information of the remote UE to the DDNMF, the service information of the remote UE is the service that the remote UE can use, for example, the service information is the service that the remote UE can use The identification information of the business type of the network slice or the code word of the relay service.

It should be noted that this step can trigger the execution of step 503, that is, step 503 can be executed after step 504, that is, the remote UE requests to activate the relay discovery, and the DDNMF then requests the GLMC to obtain the location of the relay UE information.

In step 505, the DDNMF acquires the relay service authorization information of the remote UE.

For this step, reference may be made to the description in step 502 .

The relay service authorization information of the remote UE indicates whether the UE is authorized to use the relay service or access the network through the relay, for example, whether to authorize to use the layer 2 relay service or whether to use the layer 3 relay service.

In step 506, the DDNMF determines the UE as the remote UE.

For example, according to the relay service authorization information of the remote UE in step 505, the DDNMF determines that the UE (that is, the remote UE in the preceding steps in the figure) is authorized as a remote UE, or that the UE can turn on Follow discovery or relay communication.

For example, the root DDNMF knows, according to the relay service authorization information of the remote UE in step 505, that the UE is authorized to discover the relay terminal supporting the aforementioned relay service codeword.

In step 507, the DDNMF obtains the location information of the remote UE.

For this step, reference may be made to the description in step 503 .

In step 508, the DDNMF determines that UE1 activates relay discovery.

In other words, the DDNMF selects UE1 as the relay UE of the remote UE.

Wherein, activating the relay discovery means that the UE starts or participates in the relay discovery process.

For example, in a possible implementation manner, the DDNMF determines to select UE1 according to the distance between the remote UE and the relay UE. For example, when the distance between the remote UE and the relay UE is less than a certain threshold, and the relay UE that satisfies this condition is UE1, then DDNMF selects UE1 as the relay UE of the remote UE, and the threshold can be determined by DDNMF settings can be pre-configured in DDNMF, or can be obtained by DDNMF in other ways.

In a possible implementation manner, the DDNMF selects UE1 according to the role willing information of the remote UE and the role willing information of the relay UE. For example, if the role willingness information of the remote UE is the declaring UE, the role willingness information of UE1 among the relay UEs is the listening UE, and the role willingness information of UE2 is the declaring UE, then the DDNMF selects UE1 as the relay UE of the remote UE.

In a possible implementation, the DDNMF selects the UE1 with the best battery status (for example, the largest battery remaining) among the relay UEs as the relay UE of the remote UE according to the status information of the relay UE, taking the battery status as an example . If the status information includes load status information, then the DDNMF selects a terminal device whose load is lower than a specific threshold as a relay UE for the remote UE. If the state information of the relay UE includes the mobile state information, then the DDNMF can select a stationary terminal device according to the mobile state information, or the terminal device that remains stationary for the longest period of time within a specific period of time, thereby reducing the The handover brought about by the movement of the terminal equipment can also reduce the interaction of signaling.

In a possible implementation, the DDNMF obtains the service information of the relay UE, and selects UE1 among the relay UEs that matches the service information of the remote UE. The relay service codeword includes the relay service codeword requested by the remote UE, or corresponds to the relay service codeword requested by the remote UE.

In a possible implementation manner, the DDNMF selects UE1 as the relay UE according to the relay activation request information of the remote UE and the relay service authorization information of the relay UE. For example, the relay activation request information is layer 2 relay activation request information, but if the relay service authorization information of the relay UE indicates that the relay UE is not authorized to provide layer 2 relay service, the relay UE cannot participate in Relay discovery. For another example, the relay activation request information is layer 3 relay activation request information, and the relay service authorization information of the relay UE indicates that the relay UE is authorized to provide layer 3 relay services, then the relay UE can participate in relay discovery .

In a possible implementation manner, the DDNMF selects UE1 as the relay UE according to the relay activation request information of the remote UE and the relay capability information of the relay UE. For example, the relay activation request information is layer 2 relay activation request information, but if the relay capability information of the relay UE indicates that the UE does not support layer 2 relay service, the relay UE cannot participate in relay discovery. For another example, the relay activation request information is layer 3 relay activation request information, and if the relay capability information of the relay UE indicates that the UE supports layer 3 relay service, the relay UE may participate in relay discovery.

It can be understood that the above implementation manners may be combined, that is, the DDNMF selects UE1 in combination with at least one of service information, role will information, status information, distance, relay service authorization information, or relay capability information.

In step 509, the DDNMF sends the relay discovery activation information and the role information of UE1 to UE1.

The relay discovery activation information is used to activate the relay discovery service of the UE1.

In a possible implementation manner, the DDNMF sends a request message (for example, request message) to UE1, and the request message includes relay discovery activation information.

In another possible implementation manner, the DDNMF sends a relay discovery activation message to UE1.

The role information of the UE1 is used to indicate that the UE1 is an announcement UE or a listening UE. For example, in a possible implementation manner, the role information of the UE1 can be determined by the DDNMF according to the status information of the UE1 or the remote UE. Specifically, Taking the status information as the battery status as an example, if the battery level of UE1 is greater than that of the remote UE, the role information of UE1 is the announcement UE; otherwise, the role information of the UE1 is the listening UE. This method can determine the different roles of the two UEs (remote UE and UE1) according to the power status of the two UEs, and the method of selecting the relay UE according to the power status can maximize the sustainable duration of the service, thereby further The allocation of power resources is optimized, and the working hours of the two types of UEs to provide relay discovery services are extended to ensure the stability of service quality. Accelerate the consumption of the remaining power of the terminal device after the role. If the status information is the load status information, the method of selecting the relay UE and assigning the role information through the load status can also maximize the sustainable duration of the service and the stability of the service quality. It is also possible to use the terminal with the lowest load The device plays the role of announcing the terminal device to relieve the load of the terminal device whose load is higher than a certain threshold, and can also reduce the power consumption of the terminal device whose load is higher than the specific threshold.

Optionally, the DDNMF also sends the activation duration to UE1, the activation duration may be the activation duration in step 504, or the activation duration independently set by the DDNMF, in other words, the activation duration may be the same as the activation duration in step 504 , may also be different from the activation duration in step 504. For the function of the activation duration, reference may be made to the description in step 504 .

Optionally, the DDNMF also sends an activation period to UE1, and the activation period may be the activation period in step 504 . The activation period may be used to instruct UE1 to enable relay discovery in a specific period to meet the requirements of the remote UE.

Optionally, the DDNMF also sends the location information of the remote UE to UE1, the location information of the remote UE may be the location information of the remote UE in step 504 or step 506, so that the relay UE determines whether to activate the relay discovery For example, when the relay UE determines according to the location information of the remote UE that the distance between it and the remote UE is within a certain threshold range, the relay UE determines to activate relay discovery.

In addition, the DDNMF may also save an event: sending relay discovery activation information to UE1. In order to follow up when other remote UEs also request to activate the relay discovery service of UE1, if the time requested by the other remote UE is within the activation duration, the DDNMF may no longer send the relay discovery activation service to the relay UE. information, thereby reducing signaling interaction.

In step 510, the DDNMF sends the role information of the remote UE to the remote UE.

For example, the DDNMF sends a response message to the remote UE, where the response message is the response message in step 504, where the response message includes role information of the remote UE.

The role information of the remote UE is used to indicate that the remote UE is an announcement UE or a listening UE. It should be noted here that if the role information of UE1 in step 509 is an announcement UE, then the role information of the remote UE is The listening UE, that is, the role information indicating the remote UE is different from the role information indicating UE1.

Optionally, the DDNMF sends the identifier of UE1 to the remote UE, so that the remote UE can know the implementation of relay discovery with UE1.

Optionally, the DDNMF also sends the activation duration to the remote UE, and the activation duration may be the activation duration in step 509 .

In addition, the role information of the remote UE in this step can also be the same as the role information of UE1 in step 509, that is, both are announcing UEs or both are listening UEs. In this case, both can be selected according to their own wishes. As an announcing UE or as a listening UE.

It can be understood that, in step 509 and step 510, the remote UE or the relay UE (UE1) receives the respective role information, and then activates the relay discovery, or it can be understood that the role information implicitly indicates that the UE Activates the functionality of relay discovery. Then in step 509, the DDNMF may not send the relay discovery activation information to the remote UE.

Step 511, the remote UE and the relay UE complete the relay discovery process.

Specifically, the remote UE and the relay UE complete the relay discovery process according to the received role information. For example, the remote UE is used as the announcing UE, and UE1 is used as the listening UE. The listening UE and the announcing UE may implement relay discovery in the manner shown in FIG. 3 or 4 above.

It should be noted that, in the method of the embodiment shown in FIG. 5 , both the role information of the remote UE and the role information of the relay UE (UE1) can be replaced by the mode information of the relay discovery, and the relay discovery The mode information is the method shown in Figure 3 or Figure 4, for the convenience of description, the method shown in Figure 3 can be called Mode B, and the method shown in Figure 4 can be called Mode A, that is to say, the remote UE The role information of and the role information of the relay UE (UE1) can be replaced by pattern A or pattern B. It should be understood that if the relay discovery mode information received by the remote UE or the relay UE from the DDNMF is mode A, the remote UE acts as the listening UE, and the relay UE acts as the announcing UE; if the remote UE or the relay UE When the mode information of the relay discovery received from the DDNMF is mode B, the remote UE is used as the announcing UE, and the relay UE is used as the listening UE. Regardless of whether the method in the embodiment is to relay the discovered mode information or the role information, it can be replaced by a type of information with the same function. Such a type of information is used to inform the UE that the UE should be used as the UE sending the discovery message , or as a UE listening to discovery messages. Other embodiments are also applicable to the above description, and will not be repeated here.

Through the method of this embodiment, the remote UE sends a relay activation request to the DDNMF, and the DDNMF sends the role information of the relay UE to the relay UE, sends the role information of the remote UE to the remote UE, and the relay UE and the remote According to the received role information, the UEs determine their respective roles in the relay discovery, and realize the relay discovery process. Through the above method, the relay UE can enable the relay discovery as required, thereby improving the efficiency of the relay discovery and reducing power consumption at the same time.

FIG. 6 is an interactive schematic diagram of the flow of another method for activating relay discovery applicable to this application, wherein, in this embodiment, the execution subject of the action performed by DDNMF may be DDNMF, PCF, or AMF, or It may be a new network element, and the execution subject is a network element or device capable of realizing the relay discovery service, which is not limited in this application. The following takes the execution subject as DDNMF as an example for illustration.

The method includes the following steps:

Step 601, the relay UE sends the identifier of the relay UE and the relay capability information of the relay UE to the DDNMF.

In step 602, the DDNMF obtains the relay service authorization information of the relay UE.

In step 603, the DDNMF obtains the location information of the relay UE.

For steps 601 to 603, reference may be made to the descriptions in steps 501 to 503 in FIG. 5 .

Step 604, DDNMF sends network performance evaluation subscription information to NWDAF.

The network performance evaluation subscription information is used to subscribe to network performance status information, for example, the information includes a field of Network performance. The purpose of this step is that the DDNMF subscribes the network performance status information to the NWDAF, so as to obtain the performance status of the current network, for example, the network signal within the coverage area of the network is poor, or other status information of the current network. The NWDAF can send the current network performance to the DDNMF periodically or irregularly.

Step 605, DDNMF acquires area subset and cell status information (gNB status information).

For example, DDNMF obtains area subset and cell status information from Operation Administration and Maintenance (OAM). The cell can be understood as the sector radiated by the antenna of the base station, the area subset is the cell granularity, or the TA (tracking area) granularity, and the TA can be understood as a collection of cells, specifically, the area subset can be understood as A certain signal coverage area. The cell status information may indicate that the cell is turned on (up), or that the cell is turned off (down), or that the signal coverage performance of the cell is poor.

For example, in a possible implementation manner, the remote UE sends signal measurement information to the DDNMF, where the signal measurement information is used to trigger the DDNMF to acquire the area subset and cell status information. For example, the remote UE sends signal measurement information to the DDNMF through the RAN. The signal measurement information may be a measurement result of the UE on signals of different cells, and the measurement value may be a reference signal received power (reference signal received power) or a reference signal received quality (reference signal received quality). For example, the signal measurement information is used to trigger the DDNMF to acquire the area subset and cell state information from other network elements or devices (eg, OAM or NDWAF). It can be understood that the signal measurement information is used to implicitly indicate to the DDNMF that the remote UE needs to use the relay UE. After receiving the signal measurement information, the DDNMF acquires the area subset and cell state information.

For example, in a possible implementation, OAM determines that the signal quality in the area subset is not good, or the base station is not working, or a certain cell in the antenna is not working, and notifies DDNMF, that is, OAM can send the area subset and the cell to DDNMF status information.

For example, in a possible implementation manner, the DDNMF obtains the area subset and cell state information from the OAM after obtaining information that can be used to determine the area subset and cell state.

For example, in a possible implementation manner, the NWDAF sends network performance status information to the DDNMF, and the network performance status information may include area subset and cell status information.

For example, OAM or DDNMF sends a notification message (notify message) to DDNMF, and the notification message includes the above information that can be used to obtain the area subset and cell state information.

In step 606, the DDNMF sends the relay discovery activation information and the role information of the relay UE to the relay UE.

For example, the DDNMF sends a request message to the relay UE, the request message may be a request message, and the request message includes the relay discovery activation information.

It should be noted that the relay UE may be the relay UE in step 601, or may be a part of the relay UE in step 601. That is to say, assuming that the relay UEs in step 601 include UE1 and UE2, the relay UEs in this step may include UE1 and UE2 (shown in the figure), or only UE1, or only UE2. For example, the DDNMF determines which UEs in the relay UEs to send the relay discovery activation information to according to the area subset and the location information of the relay UE, specifically, the UE is located in the area subset, or the UE is located in the area subset within the fringe area.

It should be noted that, taking DDNMF sending role information to UE1 and UE2 as an example, it should be understood that DDNMF sends UE1 role information to UE1, and DDNMF sends UE2 role information to UE2.

In addition, the DDNMF may also perform at least one of the following: obtain service information of the remote UE from other network elements, such as UDM, or obtain relay service authorization information of the remote UE and the relay UE. Therefore, the DDNMF determines to authorize the relay UE and the remote UE to perform relay discovery. For the service information, refer to the description of the service information in step 504 in FIG. 5 .

Optionally, the DDNMF also sends the activation duration to the relay UE.

Optionally, the DDNMF also sends the activation period to the relay UE.

For this step, reference may be made to the description in step 509 in FIG. 5 .

In step 607, the DDNMF sends the role information of the remote UE to the remote UE.

Optionally, the DDNMF sends the identifier of the relay UE to the remote UE.

Optionally, the DDNMF also sends the activation duration to the remote UE.

For this step, reference may be made to the description of step 510 in FIG. 5 .

It should be noted that the role information of the relay UE in step 606 is different from the role information of the remote UE in step 607, and the method for determining the role information of the relay UE and the role information of the remote UE can refer to FIG. Description in 5.

In addition, for the remote UE in this embodiment, the remote UE may be configured to enable the relay discovery service by default, or the remote UE may also enable the relay discovery service when detecting poor signal quality. For example, in a possible implementation manner, the remote UE may be configured by default to announce the role of the UE, then the relaying of the role information of the UE in step 606 in this embodiment is the listening UE. Therefore, this step 607 is an optional step.

Step 608, the remote UE and the relay UE complete the relay discovery procedure.

For this step, reference may be made to the description of step 511 in FIG. 5 .

Through the method shown in this embodiment, the network element responsible for activating the service discovered by the relay, taking the network element as DDNMF as an example, acquires area subsets and cell state information. According to the area subset and the cell state information, the DDNMF selects the relay UE suitable for the cell and determines the role information of the relay UE and the remote UE, and sends the respective role information to the remote UE or the relay UE. The role information of the end UE and the relay UE may be determined by the DDNMF, or may be determined according to the default role information configured in the remote UE.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart interaction diagram of another method for activating relay discovery applicable to the present application. The method includes the following steps:

Step 701, the remote UE sends relay activation request information or signal measurement information to the RAN.

For example, the remote UE sends a radio resource control (radio resource control, RRC) signaling message to the RAN, and the RRC signaling message includes the relay activation request information. Or, the RRC signaling message includes signal measurement information. The signal measurement information may be a measurement result of the UE on signals of different cells, and the measurement value may be a reference signal received power or a reference signal received quality. For example, the remote UE sends a non-access stratum (non-access stratum, NAS) signaling message to the AMF, the NAS signaling message includes the relay activation request information, and the AMF sends the next generation application protocol (Next Generation Application Protocol, NGAP) message, the NGAP message includes the relay activation request information.

In a possible situation, when the remote UE detects that the signal strength is lower than a certain threshold, or finds that QoS cannot be guaranteed, or finds that the QoS is degraded, the remote UE will discover the relay UE, and through the relay UE Establish a relay link to improve QoS.

For the role willingness information, reference may be made to the description of step 501 in FIG. 5 .

Optionally, the remote UE also sends to the RAN the service information of the remote UE, the role willingness information of the remote UE, the activation duration, the location information of the remote UE, the status information of the relay UE, or the status information in the activation period. at least one. For the above information, reference may be made to the description in step 504 in FIG. 5 .

In step 702, the RAN obtains the relay service authorization information of the remote UE from the PCF.

For example, before step 701 of this embodiment, the remote UE performs a registration process (not shown in the figure), and the PCF obtains the relay service authorization information of the remote UE. Then in this step, the RAN obtains the relay service authorization information of the remote UE from the PCF through the AMF. For example, the RAN requests the PCF to obtain the relay service authorization information of the remote UE through the AMF, and the PCF sends the relay service authorization information to the RAN through the AMF. Specifically, the RAN and the AMF communicate through an NGAP message.

Optionally, step 702 is performed before step 701.

In step 703, the RAN determines the UE as a remote UE.

This step can be understood as that the RAN determines that the remote UE uses the relay service according to the role of the remote UE.

According to the relay service authorization information of the remote UE obtained in step 702, the RAN determines that the UE can be used as a remote UE, or as a remote UE using layer 2 relay, or as a remote UE using layer 3 relay. Terminal UE.

In step 704, the RAN sends relay discovery activation information and role information.

Specifically, the RAN determines that the relay discovery needs to be activated according to the relay activation request information or the signal measurement information. For example, when it is determined according to the signal measurement information that the signal information of the UE is lower than a certain threshold, it is determined that the UE needs to access the network through a relay terminal device, and then activate relay discovery.

It should be noted that the role information in this step can be determined by the RAN according to the role willingness information in step 701. Similarly, the role information in this step can also be determined by the RAN according to at least one of the status information and location information in step 701 For a determination, the role information may refer to the description in step 509 in FIG. 5 . Optionally, before step 704 (not shown in the figure), the relay UEs (for example, UE1 and UE2) respectively report at least one of their status information or location information to the RAN through RRC messages. Or, optionally, the relay UEs (for example, UE1 and UE2) respectively send at least one of state information or location information to the AMF through a NAS message, and the AMF forwards the above-mentioned state information included in the NAS message to the RAN through an NGAP message or location information. For the status information or location information, reference may be made to the description in step 501 in FIG. 5 .

This step can include the following implementation methods:

method one:

Step 704A, the RAN sends the relay discovery activation information and the role information of the relay UE to the relay UE. Correspondingly, the relay UE receives the relay discovery activation information and the role information of the relay UE.

The relay UE is at least one UE with relay capability residing in the RAN. In this embodiment, taking UE1 and UE2 as examples, UE1 and UE2 are at least one UE with relay capability residing in the RAN.

For example, the RAN broadcasts the relay discovery activation information and the role information of the relay UE to the relay UE, where the role information of the relay UE is the role information of UE1 and the role information of UE2.

For example, the RAN sends relay discovery activation information and UE1 role information to UE1, and sends relay discovery activation information and UE2 role information to UE2.

Method 2:

In step 704B1, the RAN obtains the relay service authorization information of the relay UE from the PCF. The relay UEs are UE1 and UE2. The relay service authorization information of the relay UE indicates whether the UE is authorized to provide the relay service, or whether it is authorized to provide the layer 2 relay service, or whether it is authorized to provide the layer 3 relay service.

For this step, reference may be made to the description of step 702 .

In step 704B2, the RAN determines that UE1 activates relay discovery.

For example, the RAN determines that UE1 is authorized as a relay UE according to the relay service authorization information of the relay UE obtained in step 704B1. That is, the RAN selects a suitable UE (for example, UE1) from UE1 and UE2 according to the relay service authorization information of UE1 and UE2, and activates the relay discovery of UE1.

For example, the RAN selects UE1 as the relay UE according to the relay service authorization information of the relay UE acquired in step 704B1 and the relay activation request information of the remote UE. For example, the relay activation request information of the remote UE is layer 2 relay activation request information, but the relay service authorization information of the relay UE indicates that the relay UE is not authorized to provide the layer 2 relay service, then the relay UE Cannot be discovered as a participating relay. For another example, the relay activation request information of the remote UE is layer 3 relay activation request information, and the relay service authorization information of the relay UE indicates that the relay UE is authorized to provide layer 3 relay services, then the relay UE can Discovery as a participating relay.

It can be understood that if both UE1 and UE2 satisfy the condition of being the relay UE of the remote UE, then the RAN determines to select UE1 and UE2 to activate the relay discovery.

In step 704B3, the RAN sends relay discovery activation information and UE1 role information to UE1.

It can also be understood that if the RAN determines to select UE1 and UE2 to activate relay discovery, then the RAN sends relay discovery activation information and UE1 role information to UE1, and sends relay discovery activation information and UE2 role information to UE2.

In the above two ways, the RAN may also send at least one of the activation duration and location information, wherein, it can be understood that in step 704A, the RAN sends the location information of UE1 to UE1, and the RAN sends the location information of UE2 to UE2, step In 704B3, the RAN sends the location information of UE1 to UE1. For the relay discovery activation information, activation duration or location information, refer to the description in step 509 in FIG. 5 .

Step 704 in this embodiment may also be implemented in other manners, which are not limited in this application.

Step 705, the RAN sends the role information of the remote UE to the remote UE.

For example, the RAN sends a response message to the remote UE, and the response message is the response message in step 701 .

For this step, reference may be made to the description of step 710 in FIG. 5 .

In this embodiment, it is taken that UE1 is a UE authorized to activate relay discovery as an example. For example, in a possible implementation manner, the RAN also sends the identity of UE1 to the remote UE. It should be understood that the RAN sends the identity of the UE authorized to activate the relay discovery to the remote UE.

The role information of the remote UE is different from the role information in step 704 .

Step 706, the relay UE determines to enable relay discovery.

This step is optional. The relay UE may be UE1 and UE2 in the first manner in step 704, or UE1 in the second manner. In short, the relay UE is the UE that has received the relay discovery activation information.

The relay UE may obtain its own service information or relay service authorization information from a certain network element, such as UDM or PCF, and determine that it is authorized to provide relay service according to the service information or relay service authorization information.

The relay UE may also determine that it has a relay capability according to its own configuration information.

The relay UE may also determine whether to activate the relay discovery service according to the location information of the remote UE in step 704A or step 704B3 and the location information of the relay UE itself.

Step 707, the remote UE and the relay UE complete the relay discovery process.

For this step, reference may be made to the description of step 511 in FIG. 5 .

In the method shown in this embodiment, the remote UE sends relay activation request information to the RAN, and the RAN sends relay discovery activation information and role information to the relay UE, so that the relay UE and the remote UE can each follow the specified role information to enable relay discovery. For the beneficial effects of this embodiment, reference may be made to the description of the embodiment shown in FIG. 5 , which will not be repeated here.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart interaction diagram of another method for activating relay discovery applicable to the present application.

The method includes the following steps:

Step 801, RAN receives notification information.

For example, the RAN receives the notification information from the OAM or the neighboring cell RAN, and the notification information is used to notify the RAN that the neighboring cell RAN is closed or the neighboring cell RAN cannot work normally.

Or, for example, the RAN receives the notification information from the OAM, and the notification information is used to notify the RAN that the OAM requests the RAN to enhance signal coverage.

In step 802, the RAN sends relay discovery activation information and role information.

For this step, reference may be made to the description of step 704 in FIG. 7 .

Likewise, the relay UE is a UE that resides in the RAN and can serve as a relay UE. In the figure, the relay UE includes UE1 and UE2 as an example.

Step 803, the relay UE determines to enable relay discovery.

Step 804, the remote UE and the relay UE complete the relay discovery procedure.

For step 803 and step 804, reference may be made to the description of step 706 and step 707 in FIG. 7 , and details are not repeated here.

It should be particularly noted that, in this embodiment, the remote UE may activate relay discovery according to preset information. For example, when the remote UE detects that the signal strength is lower than a preset specific threshold, or when the remote UE detects no signal, the relay discovery is activated. Alternatively, the remote UE may activate the relay discovery by default, that is, keep the relay discovery activated. In addition, the remote UE in this embodiment can be preset as the role of announcing UE or listening UE, and the RAN can know the preset information before step 801, so the role information in step 802 is the same as the preset information Different role information, that is, for example, if the remote UE is preset as the announcing UE, the role information sent by the RAN is the listening UE.

Through the method described in this embodiment, when the remote UE cannot directly request to activate the relay discovery, the RAN sends the relay discovery activation information to the relay UE according to the obtained notification information, and the remote UE, according to the preset role, The relay UE implements a relay discovery process according to the received role information. For the beneficial effects of this embodiment, reference may be made to the description of the beneficial effects in FIG. 5 , which will not be repeated here.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart interaction diagram of another method for activating relay discovery applicable to the present application. This schematic diagram will be described in conjunction with the steps in FIG. 5 to FIG. 7 . The method in FIG. 9 is executed by a network device. For example, the first terminal device may be the remote UE shown in Figures 5 to 7, the second terminal device may be the relay UE shown in Figures 5 to 7, and the network device may be a network element of the core network, for example, direct connection discovery The name management function network element (such as DDNMF in Figure 5 or Figure 6), the policy control function network element or the access management function network element, can also be an access network device (such as the RAN in Figure 7). For example, the method includes the steps of:

In step 901, the network device determines that relay discovery needs to be activated. For this step, reference may be made to the description of step 504 in FIG. 5 , step 604 in FIG. 6 , and step 701 in FIG. 7 .

In a possible implementation manner, the network device receives relay activation request information or signal measurement information; the network device determines that relay discovery needs to be activated according to the relay activation request information or the signal measurement information. For the relay activation request information, refer to the description of step 504 in FIG. 5 or the description of step 701 in FIG. 7 , and for the signal measurement information, refer to the description of step 604 in FIG. 6 or step 701 in FIG. 7 .

In step 902, the network device determines role indication information of the first terminal device and role indication information of the second terminal device, where the first terminal device and the second terminal device are terminal devices participating in the relay discovery.

For the role indication information of the first terminal device, refer to the description of the role indication information of the remote UE in FIGS. 5 to 7 , and for the role indication information of the second terminal device, refer to the description of the relay UE in FIGS. Description of role indication information or role information of UE1.

In a possible implementation manner, the role indication information of the first terminal device is at least one of role information of the first terminal device or relay discovery mode information of the first terminal device, and the role indication information of the second terminal device The information is at least one of role information of the second terminal device or relay discovery mode information of the second terminal device. The role information may be the role information in FIG. 5 to FIG. 7 , that is, the role information of the relay UE or the role information of the remote UE. The relay discovery mode information may be the mode information in FIG. 5 to FIG. 7 , that is, mode A or mode B.

In a possible implementation manner, if the network device is a network element of the core network, the network element of the core network receives a request message from the first terminal device, and the request message includes status information of the first terminal device (for details, refer to FIG. 5 The description of step 504 in); the core network network element receives a registration message from the second terminal device, and the registration message includes the status information of the second terminal device (for details, refer to the description of step 501 in FIG. 5); The network device determines the role indication information of the first terminal device and the role indication information of the second terminal device according to the state information of the first terminal device and the state information of the second terminal device; or, if the network device is an access network equipment, the access network equipment receives a radio resource control RRC message from the first terminal equipment, or receives a first message from an access and mobility management functional device, and the radio resource control RRC message or the first message includes the The state information of the first terminal device (for details, refer to the description of step 701 in FIG. 7); the access network device acquires the state information of the second terminal device (for details, refer to the description of step 704 in FIG. 7); the The access network device determines the role indication information of the first terminal device and the role indication information of the second terminal device according to the state information of the first terminal device and the state information of the second terminal device.

In another possible implementation manner, if the network device is a network element of the core network, the network element of the core network receives a request message from the first terminal device, and the request message includes the role willingness information of the first terminal device (for details, refer to Description of step 504 in FIG. 5); the core network element receives a registration message from the second terminal device, and the registration message includes the role willingness information of the second terminal device (for details, refer to step 501 in FIG. 5 description); the network device determines the role indication information of the first terminal device and the role indication information of the second terminal device according to the role will information of the first terminal device and the role will information of the second terminal device; or, if The network device is an access network device, and the access network device receives a radio resource control RRC message from the first terminal device, or receives a first message from an access and mobility management functional device, and the radio resource control RRC message or the first A message includes the role willingness information of the first terminal device (for details, refer to the description of step 701 in FIG. 7); the access network device obtains the role willingness information of the second terminal device (for details, refer to the Description of step 704); the network device determines the role indication information of the first terminal device and the role indication information of the second terminal device according to the role will information of the first terminal device and the role will information of the second terminal device.

In another possible implementation manner, if the network device is a network element of the core network, the network element of the core network receives a request message from the first terminal device, and the request message includes the role willingness information of the first terminal device and the first The status information of the terminal device (for details, refer to the description of step 504 in FIG. 5); the network element of the core network receives a registration message from the second terminal device, and the registration message includes the role willingness information of the second terminal device and the The state information of the second terminal device (for details, refer to the description of step 501 in FIG. The role willing information and the state information of the second terminal device determine the role indication information of the first terminal device and the role indication information of the second terminal device; or, if the network device is an access network device, the access network device Receive a radio resource control RRC message from the first terminal device, or receive a first message from an access and mobility management function device, where the radio resource control RRC message or the first signaling message includes the role of the first terminal device Willingness information and status information of the first terminal device (for details, refer to the description of step 701 in FIG. 7); the access network device acquires role willingness information of the second terminal device and status information of the second terminal device; The network device determines the role of the first terminal device according to the role willingness information of the first terminal device and the status information of the first terminal device, as well as the role willingness information of the second terminal device and the status information of the second terminal device The indication information and the role indication information of the second terminal device.

Further optionally, in a possible implementation manner, the network device receives relay capability information of the second terminal device from the second terminal device, where the relay capability information is used to indicate the relay capability of the second terminal device ( For details, please refer to the description of step 501 in FIG. describe.

In another possible implementation manner, the network device obtains the service information of the first terminal device (for details, refer to the description of step 504 in FIG. 5 and step 701 in FIG. 7 ) and the service information of the second terminal device (for details, You can refer to the description of step 502 in FIG. 5 and step 706 in FIG. 7); the network device judges whether the service information of the first terminal device matches the service information of the second terminal device; if the service information of the first terminal device If the information matches the service information of the second terminal device, it is determined that the second terminal device is a relay terminal device. For this method, refer to the description of step 508 in FIG. 5 .

In yet another possible implementation manner, the network device acquires the location information of the first terminal device and the location information of the second terminal device (for details, refer to the description of steps 501, 503, 504, and 507 in FIG. 5); the network device Select the second terminal device whose location information is within a first threshold range from the location information of the first terminal device as the relay terminal device (for details, refer to the description of step 508 in FIG. 5 ).

Among them, in a possible implementation manner, the network device receives the location information of the first terminal device from the first terminal device, and receives the location information of the second terminal device from the second terminal device (for details, refer to description of steps 501 and 504) or, the network device receives the location information of the first terminal device and the location information of the second terminal device from the gateway mobile location center (for details, refer to the description of steps 503 and 507 in FIG. 5 ) .

In another possible implementation manner, the network device obtains the relay service authorization information of the second terminal device, and the relay service authorization information indicates the authorization information of the relay service of the second terminal device (for details, refer to the Description of step 502); the network device determines the second terminal device according to the relay service authorization information of the second terminal device (for details, refer to the description of step 506 in FIG. 5 ).

Step 903, the network device sends role indication information of the first terminal device to the first terminal device. For this step, reference may be made to the description of step 510 in FIG. 5 , step 606 in FIG. 6 , and step 705 in FIG. 7 .

Step 904, the network device sends role indication information of the second terminal device to the second terminal device. For this step, reference may be made to the descriptions of step 509 in FIG. 5 , step 606 in FIG. 6 , step 704A and step 704B3 in FIG. 7 .

In a possible implementation manner, the method in the embodiment shown in the figure further includes that the network device sends relay discovery activation information to the second terminal device, where the relay discovery activation information is used to instruct the second terminal device to participate in the Relay discovery. For this implementation manner, reference may be made to the descriptions of step 509 in FIG. 5 , step 606 in FIG. 6 , step 704A and step 704B3 in FIG. 7 .

It should be noted that step 903 and step 904 can be performed simultaneously or separately, and there is no sequence when the two steps are performed separately.

Among them, in a possible implementation of step 903 and step 904, the network device sends first activation time information to the first terminal device and the second terminal device, and the first activation time information is the start time of the relay discovery or at least one of the on-periods discovered by the relay.

Further, in a possible implementation manner, the network device receives second activation time information from the first terminal device, and the second activation time is used to determine the first activation time information. For this step, reference may be made to the descriptions in step 504 in FIG. 5 and step 701 in FIG. 7 .

For the beneficial effects of the embodiment shown in this figure, reference may be made to the description in FIG. 5 to FIG. 7 , and details are not repeated here.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart interaction diagram of another method for activating relay discovery applicable to the present application. This schematic diagram will be described in conjunction with the steps in FIG. 5 to FIG. 8 . The method in FIG. 10 is executed by the first terminal device. For example, the first terminal device may be the remote UE shown in FIG. 5 to FIG. 7, and the network device may be a core network element, for example, a directly connected discovery name management function network element (such as DDNMF in FIG. 5 or FIG. 6), The network element with the policy control function or the network element with the access management function may also be an access network device (such as the RAN in FIG. 7 ). For example, the method includes the steps of:

Step 1001, the first terminal device sends a relay activation request or signal measurement information to the network device. For this step, reference may be made to the description of step 504 in FIG. 5 , step 604 in FIG. 6 and step 701 in FIG. 7 .

Further, in a possible implementation manner, if the network device is a network element of the core network (for details, refer to the description of step 504 in FIG. 5 ), the first terminal device sends a request message to the network element of the core network, and in the request message Including at least one of the role willingness information of the first terminal device or the state information of the first terminal device, if the network device is an access network device (for details, refer to the description of step 701 in FIG. 7), the first terminal device sends The access network device sends a radio resource control RRC message, or triggers the access and mobility management function device to send a first message to the network device, where the RRC message includes role willingness information of the first terminal device or the first terminal device At least one of the status information of the first terminal device, the first message includes at least one of the role willing information of the first terminal device or the status information of the first terminal device, the role willing information of the first terminal device or the status of the first terminal device The information is used in the determination of the first information.

In another possible implementation manner, if the network device is a network element of the core network (for details, refer to the description of step 504 in FIG. 5 ), the first terminal device sends a request message to the network element of the core network, and the request message includes At least one of the location information of the first terminal device or the service information of the first terminal device, if the network device is an access network device (for details, refer to the description of step 701 in FIG. The network access device sends a radio resource control RRC message, or triggers the access and mobility management function device to send a first message to the network device, the RRC message includes the location information of the first terminal device or the service information of the first terminal device At least one of the location information of the first terminal device or the service information of the first terminal device in the first message, at least one of the location information of the first terminal device or the service information of the first terminal device is used Based on the determination of the second terminal device, the second terminal device is a terminal device participating in the relay discovery.

Step 1002, the first terminal device receives first information from the network device, where the first information includes role indication information of the first terminal device. For this step, reference may be made to the description of step 510 in FIG. 5 and step 705 in FIG. 7 .

For the role indication information of the first terminal device, reference may be made to the role indication information of the remote UE in FIG. 5 to FIG. 7 .

Further, in a possible implementation manner, the first terminal device receives first activation time information from the network device, and the first activation time length is at least one of an activation time or an activation period of the relay discovery.

Wherein, in a possible implementation manner, the first terminal device sends the second activation time information to the network device, and the second activation time is used to determine the first activation time information.

Step 1003, the first terminal device determines a role for the first terminal device to participate in relay discovery according to the role indication information.

Step 1004, the first terminal device participates in relay discovery according to the role. For this step, reference may be made to the descriptions of step 511 in FIG. 5 , step 607 in FIG. 6 , and step 7077 in FIG. 7 .

For the beneficial effects of the embodiment shown in this figure, reference may be made to the description in FIG. 5 to FIG. 8 , and details are not repeated here.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart interaction diagram of another method for activating relay discovery applicable to the present application. This schematic diagram will be described in conjunction with the steps in Fig. 5 to Fig. 7 . The method in FIG. 11 is executed by the second terminal device. For example, the second terminal device may be the relay UE shown in FIG. 5 to FIG. 7, and the network device may be a core network element, for example, a directly connected discovery name management function network element (such as DDNMF in FIG. 5 or FIG. 6), The network element with the policy control function or the network element with the access management function may also be an access network device (such as the RAN in Figure 77). For example, the method includes the steps of:

Step 1101, the second terminal device receives second information from the network device, where the second information includes role indication information of the second terminal device. For this step, reference may be made to the description of step 509 in FIG. 5 , step 606 in FIG. 6 , and description 7 of steps 704A and 704B3 in FIG. 7 .

For the role indication information of the second terminal device, reference may be made to the description of the role indication information of the relay UE or the role information of UE1 in FIG. 5 to FIG. 7 .

In a possible implementation manner, the second terminal device receives the location information of the first terminal device from the network device, and the first terminal device is a terminal device participating in the relay discovery; Location information, judging whether the distance between the first terminal device and the second terminal device is within the first threshold range; if the distance between the first terminal device and the second terminal device is within the first threshold range, the second terminal device determines to participate in the The relay was found. For this implementation manner, reference may be made to the description of step 706 in FIG. 7 .

Before step 1101, in a possible implementation manner, the second terminal device sends at least one of the second status information of the second terminal device or the second role willingness information of the second terminal device to the network device, the second status Information or second role willingness information of the second terminal device is used for determining the second information. For this implementation manner, reference may be made to the descriptions in step 501 in FIG. 5 and step 601 in FIG. 6 .

Before step 1101, in a possible implementation manner, the second terminal device sends at least one of the relay capability information of the second terminal device, the service information of the second terminal device, or the location information of the second terminal device to the network device , the relay capability information is used to indicate the relay capability of the second terminal device, at least one of the relay capability information of the second terminal device, the service information of the second terminal device, or the location information of the second terminal device is used for the second terminal device The determination of the second terminal equipment. For this implementation manner, reference may be made to the descriptions in step 501 in FIG. 5 and step 601 in FIG. 6 .

Step 1102, the second terminal device determines a role for the second terminal device to participate in relay discovery according to the role indication information.

Step 1103, the second terminal device participates in relay discovery according to the role. For this step, reference may be made to the descriptions of step 511 in FIG. 5 , step 607 in FIG. 6 , and step 707 in FIG. 7 .

Further, in a possible implementation manner, the second terminal device receives first activation time information from the network device, where the first activation time information is at least one. For this implementation manner, reference may be made to the description of step 509 in FIG. 5 , step 606 in FIG. 6 , and descriptions of steps 704A and 704B3 in FIG. 7 .

Fig. 12 is a schematic diagram of a communication device provided according to an embodiment of the present application.

The communication device includes a processing module 1201 , a receiving module 1202 and a sending module 1203 . The processing module 1201 is used to implement data processing by the communication device. The receiving module 1202 is used for receiving the content of the communication device and other units or network elements, and the sending module 1203 is used for receiving the content of the communication device and other units or network elements. It should be understood that the processing module 1201 in this embodiment of the present application may be implemented by a processor or a processor-related circuit component (or called a processing circuit), and the receiving module 1202 may be implemented by a receiver or a receiver-related circuit component. The sending module 1203 may be implemented by a transmitter or transmitter-related circuit components.

Exemplarily, the communication device may be a communication device device, and may also be a chip applied in the communication device device or other combined devices, components, etc. having the functions of the above communication device device.

Exemplarily, the communication device may be the DDNMF in any of Figure 5 or Figure 6, or the RAN in any of Figure 7 or Figure 8, or the network device in any of Figures 9 to 11, or It may be the relay UE or the second terminal device in any one of FIGS. 5 to 11 , or it may be the remote UE or the first terminal device in any one of FIGS. 5 to 11 .

When the communication device is the DDNMF in any of Figure 5 or Figure 6, or the RAN in any of Figure 7 or Figure 8, or the network device in any of Figures 9 to 11, the processing module 1201 is used to It is determined that the relay discovery needs to be activated (eg, step 901 in FIG. 9); the processing module 1201 is used to determine the role indication information of the first terminal device and the role indication information of the second terminal device (eg, step 902 in FIG. 9), the first A terminal device and a second terminal device are terminal devices participating in relay discovery; the sending module 1203 is used to send the role indication information of the first terminal device to the first terminal device (for example, step 510 in FIG. 5 , step 6 in FIG. 6 607, step 705 in FIG. 7, step 903 in FIG. 9); the sending module 1203 is used to send the role indication information of the second terminal device to the second terminal device (for example, step 509 in FIG. 5, step 6 in FIG. 606, step 704A and step 704B3 in FIG. 7, step 802A and step 802B3 in FIG. 8, step 904 in FIG. 9).

In addition, the various modules described above may also be used in other processes that support the techniques described herein. For the beneficial effect, reference may be made to the foregoing description, and details are not repeated here.

When the communication device is the relay UE or the second terminal device in any one of FIG. 5 to FIG. 606, step 704A and step 704B3 in FIG. 7, step 802A and step 802B3 in FIG. 8, step 1101 in FIG. 11), the second information includes role indication information of the second terminal device; the processing module 1201 is configured to The indication information determines the role of the second terminal device to participate in the relay discovery (for example, step 1102 in FIG. 11); the processing module 1201 is used for the second terminal device to participate in the relay discovery according to the role (for example, step 511 in FIG. Step 608 in FIG. 7, step 707 in FIG. 7, step 804 in FIG. 8, step 1103 in FIG. 11).

When the communication device is the remote UE or the first terminal device in any one of FIGS. 5 to 11, the sending module 1203 is configured to send a relay activation request or signal measurement information to the network device (for example, step 504 in FIG. 5, Step 701 in FIG. 7, step 1001 in FIG. 10); the receiving module 1202 is used to receive the first information from the network device (for example, step 510 in FIG. 5, step 607 in FIG. 6, step 705 in FIG. 7, Step 1002 in FIG. 10 ), the first information includes role indication information of the first terminal device; the processing module 1201 is configured to determine the role of the first terminal device to participate in relay discovery according to the role indication information (for example, step 1003 in FIG. 10 ) The processing module 1201 is used to participate in the relay discovery according to the role (for example, step 511 in FIG. 5, step 608 in FIG. 6, step 707 in FIG. 7, step 804 in FIG. 8, step 1004 in FIG. 10).

FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram of another communication device provided according to an embodiment of the present application. The communication device includes: a processor 1301 , a communication interface 1302 , and a memory 1303 . Wherein, the processor 1301, the communication interface 1302, and the memory 1303 can be connected to each other through a bus 1304; the bus 1304 can be a peripheral component interconnect standard (peripheral component interconnect, PCI) bus or an extended industry standard architecture (extended industry standard architecture, EISA) bus etc. The above-mentioned bus 1304 can be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, and the like. For ease of representation, only one line is used in FIG. 13 , but it does not mean that there is only one bus or one type of bus. The processor 1301 may be a central processing unit (central processing unit, CPU), a network processor (network processor, NP) or a combination of CPU and NP. The processor may further include hardware chips. The aforementioned hardware chip may be an application-specific integrated circuit (application-specific integrated circuit, ASIC), a programmable logic device (programmable logic device, PLD) or a combination thereof. The above-mentioned PLD may be a complex programmable logic device (complex programmable logic device, CPLD), a field-programmable gate array (field-programmable gate array, FPGA), a general array logic (Generic Array Logic, GAL) or any combination thereof. Memory 1303 may be volatile memory or nonvolatile memory, or may include both volatile and nonvolatile memory. Among them, the non-volatile memory can be read-only memory (read-only memory, ROM), programmable read-only memory (programmable ROM, PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (erasable PROM, EPROM), electrically programmable Erases programmable read-only memory (electrically EPROM, EEPROM) or flash memory. Volatile memory can be random access memory (RAM), which acts as external cache memory.

Wherein, the processor 1301 is used to realize the data processing operation of the communication device, and the communication interface 1302 is used to realize the receiving operation and the sending operation of the communication device.

When the communication device is the DDNMF in any of Figure 5 or Figure 6, or the RAN in any of Figure 7 or Figure 8, or the network device in any of Figures 9 to 11, the processor 1301 is used to It is determined that the relay discovery needs to be activated (for example, step 901 in FIG. 9); the processor 1301 is used to determine the role indication information of the first terminal device and the role indication information of the second terminal device (for example, step 902 in FIG. 9), the first A terminal device and a second terminal device are terminal devices participating in relay discovery; the communication interface 1302 is used to send role indication information of the first terminal device to the first terminal device (for example, step 510 in FIG. 5 , step 6 in FIG. 6 607, step 705 in FIG. 7, step 903 in FIG. 9); the communication interface 1302 is used to send the role indication information of the second terminal device to the second terminal device (for example, step 509 in FIG. 5, step 6 in FIG. 606, step 704A and step 704B3 in FIG. 7, step 802A and step 802B3 in FIG. 8, step 904 in FIG. 9).

When the communication device is the relay UE or the second terminal device in any one of FIG. 5 to FIG. 606, step 704A and step 704B3 in FIG. 7, step 802A and step 802B3 in FIG. 8, step 1101 in FIG. 11), the second information includes role indication information of the second terminal device; the processor 1301 is configured to The indication information determines the role of the second terminal device to participate in the relay discovery (for example, step 1102 in FIG. 11); the processor 1301 is used for the second terminal device to participate in the relay discovery according to the role (for example, step 511 in FIG. Step 608 in FIG. 7, step 707 in FIG. 7, step 804 in FIG. 8, step 1103 in FIG. 11).

When the communication device is the remote UE or the first terminal device in any one of FIGS. 5 to 11, the communication interface 1302 is used to send a relay activation request or signal measurement information to the network device (for example, step 504 in FIG. 5, Step 701 in FIG. 7, step 1001 in FIG. 10); the communication interface 1302 is used to receive the first information from the network device (for example, step 510 in FIG. 5, step 607 in FIG. 6, step 705 in FIG. 7, Step 1002 in FIG. 10 ), the first information includes role indication information of the first terminal device; the processor 1301 is configured to determine the role of the first terminal device to participate in relay discovery according to the role indication information (for example, step 1003 in FIG. 10 ) ; Processor 1301 is used to participate in relay discovery according to roles (for example, step 511 in FIG. 5, step 608 in FIG. 6, step 707 in FIG. 7, step 804 in FIG. 8, step 1004 in FIG. 10).

An embodiment of the present application provides a communication system, which includes the aforementioned network device (such as DDNMF), a first terminal device (such as a remote UE) and a second terminal device (such as a relay UE), where the network device executes FIG. 5 To any DDNMF in FIG. 8, the method performed by any network device in FIG. 9, the first terminal device performs any of the remote UEs in FIGS. 5 to 8, and any of the first terminal devices in FIG. 10 performs In the method, the second terminal device executes the relay UE in any one of FIG. 5 to FIG. 8 , and the method executed by the second terminal device in any one of FIG. 11 .

An embodiment of the present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium, the computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program, and when the computer program is executed by a computer, the computer can implement the Figures 5 to 8 provided in the above-mentioned method embodiments. In any of the embodiments shown in the DDNMF, in the embodiment shown in Figure 9, the process related to the network device, or, the computer can implement the method shown in any of Figures 5 to 8 provided in the above method embodiments In the embodiment of the remote UE, the process related to the first terminal device in the embodiment shown in FIG. The process related to the relay UE in the embodiment and the second terminal device in the embodiment shown in FIG. 11 .

An embodiment of the present application also provides a computer program product, the computer program product is used to store a computer program, and when the computer program is executed by a computer, the computer can implement any one of Figures 5 to 8 provided in the above method embodiments. In the illustrated embodiment, it is related to DDNMF, and in the embodiment shown in FIG. 9 , the process related to the network device, or, the computer can implement any of the embodiments shown in FIG. 5 to FIG. 8 provided in the above method embodiment In the remote UE, the process related to the first terminal device in the embodiment shown in FIG. 10 , or, the computer may implement any of the embodiments shown in FIG. 5 to FIG. Regarding the relay UE, the process related to the second terminal device in the embodiment shown in FIG. 11 .

The present application also provides a chip, including a processor. The processor is used to read and execute the computer program stored in the memory, so as to execute the method for registering to multiple networks provided by the present application by the network device or DDNMF, the first terminal device or the remote UE, the second terminal device or Corresponding operations and/or processes of the UE are relayed. Optionally, the chip further includes a memory, the memory is connected to the processor through a circuit or wires, and the processor is used to read and execute the computer program in the memory. Further optionally, the chip further includes a communication interface, and the processor is connected to the communication interface. The communication interface is used to receive processed data and/or information, and the processor obtains the data and/or information from the communication interface, and processes the data and/or information. The communication interface may be an input/output interface, interface circuit, output circuit, input circuit, pin or related circuit on the chip. The processor may also be embodied as a processing circuit or logic circuit.

The above-mentioned chip can also be replaced by a system-on-a-chip, which will not be repeated here.

The terms "comprising" and "having" and any variations thereof in this application are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, for example, a process, method, system, product or device comprising a series of steps or units need not be limited to the ones explicitly listed Instead, other steps or elements not explicitly listed or inherent to the process, method, product or apparatus may be included.

Those skilled in the art can appreciate that the units and algorithm steps of the examples described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented by electronic hardware, or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether these functions are executed by hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Skilled artisans may use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be regarded as exceeding the scope of the present application.

Those skilled in the art can clearly understand that for the convenience and brevity of the description, the specific working process of the above-described system, device and unit can refer to the corresponding process in the foregoing method embodiment, which will not be repeated here.

In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, devices and methods may be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are only illustrative. For example, the division of the units is only a logical function division. In actual implementation, there may be other division methods. For example, multiple units or components can be combined or May be integrated into another system, or some features may be ignored, or not implemented. In another point, the mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed may be through some interfaces, and the indirect coupling or communication connection of devices or units may be in electrical, mechanical or other forms.

The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separated, and the components displayed as units may or may not be physical units, that is, they may be located in one place, or may be distributed to multiple network units. Part or all of the units can be selected according to the actual situation to realize the purpose of the solution of this embodiment.

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

If the functions described above are realized in the form of software function units and sold or used as independent products, they can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present application is essentially or the part that contributes to the prior art or the part of the technical solution can be embodied in the form of a software product, and the computer software product is stored in a storage medium, including Several instructions are used to make a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) execute all or part of the steps of the methods described in the various embodiments of the present application. The aforementioned storage medium includes: U disk, mobile hard disk, read-only memory (read-only memory, ROM), random access memory (random access memory, RAM), magnetic disk or optical disc and other media that can store program codes. .

In addition, the terms "first" and "second" in the specification and claims of the present application and the drawings are used to distinguish different objects, rather than to describe a specific order. Furthermore, the terms "include" and "have", as well as any variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion. For example, a process, method, system, product or device comprising a series of steps or units is not limited to the listed steps or units, but optionally also includes unlisted steps or units, or optionally further includes For other steps or units inherent in these processes, methods, products or apparatuses.

Although the application has been described in conjunction with specific features and embodiments thereof, it will be apparent that various modifications and combinations can be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the application. Accordingly, the specification and drawings are merely illustrative of the application as defined by the appended claims and are deemed to cover any and all modifications, variations, combinations or equivalents within the scope of this application. Obviously, those skilled in the art can make various changes and modifications to the application without departing from the spirit and scope of the application. In this way, if these modifications and variations of the present application fall within the scope of the claims of the present application and their equivalent technologies, the present application is also intended to include these modifications and variations.

Claims

A communication method, characterized in that the method comprises:

The network device determines that relay discovery needs to be activated;

determining, by the network device, role indication information of a first terminal device and role indication information of a second terminal device, where the first terminal device and the second terminal device are terminal devices participating in the relay discovery;

sending, by the network device, role indication information of the first terminal device to the first terminal device;

The network device sends role indication information of the second terminal device to the second terminal device.
According to the method according to claim 1, the network device determines that relay discovery needs to be activated, comprising:

The network device receives relay activation request information or signal measurement information;

The network device determines that relay discovery needs to be activated according to the relay activation request information or the signal measurement information.
According to the method according to claim 1 or 2, the role indication information of the first terminal device is at least one of the role information of the first terminal device or the relay discovery mode information of the first terminal device, so The role indication information of the second terminal device is at least one of role information of the second terminal device or relay discovery mode information of the second terminal device.
According to the method according to any one of claims 1-3, the network device determines the role indication information of the first terminal device and the role indication information of the second terminal device, including:

If the network device is a core network element,

The network element of the core network receives a request message from the first terminal device, and the request message includes status information of the first terminal device;

The network element of the core network receives a registration message from the second terminal device, and the registration message includes status information of the second terminal device;

determining, by the network device, the role indication information of the first terminal device and the role indication information of the second terminal device according to the state information of the first terminal device and the state information of the second terminal device;

Or, if the network device is an access network device,

The access network device receives a radio resource control RRC message from the first terminal device, or receives a first message from an access and mobility management function device, and the radio resource control RRC message or the first message includes State information of the first terminal device;

acquiring, by the access network device, status information of the second terminal device;

The access network device determines the role indication information of the first terminal device and the role indication information of the second terminal device according to the state information of the first terminal device and the state information of the second terminal device.
According to the method according to any one of claims 1-3, the network device determines the role indication information of the first terminal device and the role indication information of the second terminal device, including:

If the network device is a core network element,

The network element of the core network receives a request message from the first terminal device, and the request message includes role willingness information of the first terminal device;

The network element of the core network receives a registration message from the second terminal device, and the registration message includes role willingness information of the second terminal device;

The network device determines the role indication information of the first terminal device and the role indication information of the second terminal device according to the role will information of the first terminal device and the role will information of the second terminal device;

Or, if the network device is an access network device,

The access network device receives a radio resource control RRC message from the first terminal device, or receives a first message from an access and mobility management function device, and the radio resource control RRC message or the first message includes role willingness information of the first terminal device;

The access network device acquires role willingness information of the second terminal device;

The network device determines the role indication information of the first terminal device and the role indication information of the second terminal device according to the role intention information of the first terminal device and the role intention information of the second terminal device.
According to the method according to any one of claims 1-3, the network device determines the role indication information of the first terminal device and the role indication information of the second terminal device, including:

If the network device is a core network element,

The network element of the core network receives a request message from the first terminal device, where the request message includes role willingness information of the first terminal device and status information of the first terminal device;

The network element of the core network receives a registration message from the second terminal device, where the registration message includes role willingness information of the second terminal device and status information of the second terminal device;

determining, by the network device, the The role indication information of the first terminal device and the role indication information of the second terminal device;

Or, if the network device is an access network device,

The access network device receives a radio resource control RRC message from the first terminal device, or receives a first message from an access and mobility management function device, and the radio resource control RRC message or the first message includes role willingness information of the first terminal device and status information of the first terminal device;

acquiring, by the access network device, the role willingness information of the second terminal device and the state information of the second terminal device;

determining, by the network device, the The role indication information of the first terminal device and the role indication information of the second terminal device.
According to the method according to any one of claims 4-6, the network element of the core network includes a directly connected discovery name management function network element, a policy control function network element, or an access management function network element.
The method according to any one of claims 1-7, further comprising:

receiving, by the network device, relay capability information of the second terminal device from the second terminal device, where the relay capability information is used to indicate the relay capability of the second terminal device;

The network device determines, according to the relay capability information of the second terminal device, that the second terminal device is a relay terminal device.
The method according to any one of claims 1-7, further comprising:

The network device acquires the service information of the first terminal device and the service information of the second terminal device;

The network device judges whether the service information of the first terminal device matches the service information of the second terminal device;

If the service information of the first terminal device matches the service information of the second terminal device, it is determined that the second terminal device is a relay terminal device.
The method according to any one of claims 1-7, further comprising:

The network device acquires the location information of the first terminal device and the location information of the second terminal device;

The network device selects the second terminal device whose location information is within a first threshold range from the location information of the first terminal device as the relay terminal device.
The method according to any one of claims 1-7, further comprising:

obtaining, by the network device, relay service authorization information of the second terminal device, where the relay service authorization information represents authorization information of the relay service of the second terminal device;

The network device determines the second terminal device according to the relay service authorization information of the second terminal device.
The method according to any one of claims 1-11, further comprising:

The network device sends first activation time information to the first terminal device and the second terminal device, where the first activation time information is the start-up duration of the relay discovery or the start-up period of the relay discovery at least one of the
The method of claim 12, further comprising:

The network device receives second activation time information from the first terminal device, and the second activation time is used to determine the first activation time information.
The method according to any one of claims 1-13, further comprising:

The network device sends relay discovery activation information to the second terminal device, where the relay discovery activation information is used to instruct the second terminal device to participate in the relay discovery.
A communication method, characterized in that the method comprises:

The first terminal device sends a relay activation request or signal measurement information to the network device;

The first terminal device receives first information from the network device, where the first information includes role indication information of the first terminal device;

determining, by the first terminal device, a role for the first terminal device to participate in relay discovery according to the role indication information;

The first terminal device participates in relay discovery according to the role.
The method according to claim 15, the role indication information is at least one of first role information or relay discovery mode information.
The method according to claim 15 or 16, further comprising:

If the network device is a network element of the core network, the first terminal device sends a request message to the network element of the core network, and the request message includes role willingness information of the first terminal device or the first terminal device at least one of the status information of the device,

If the network device is an access network device, the first terminal device sends a radio resource control RRC message to the access network device, or triggers an access and mobility management function device to send a first message to the network device , the RRC message includes at least one of the role will information of the first terminal device or the state information of the first terminal device, and the first message includes the role will information of the first terminal device or at least one of the status information of the first terminal device,

The role intention information of the first terminal device or the state information of the first terminal device is used for determining the first information.
The method according to any one of claims 15-17, further comprising:

If the network device is a network element of the core network, the first terminal device sends a request message to the network element of the core network, and the request message includes the location information of the first terminal device or the first terminal device at least one of the business information,

If the network device is an access network device, the first terminal device sends a radio resource control RRC message to the access network device, or triggers an access and mobility management function device to send a first message to the network device , the RRC message includes at least one of the location information of the first terminal device or the service information of the first terminal device, and the location information of the first terminal device or the first terminal device in the first message At least one of the service information of a terminal device,

At least one of the location information of the first terminal device or the service information of the first terminal device is used for determining a second terminal device, where the second terminal device is a terminal device participating in the relay discovery.
The method according to any one of claims 15-18, further comprising:

The first terminal device receives first activation time information from the network device, and the first activation duration is at least one of an on-time or an on-period of the relay discovery.
The method of claim 19, further comprising:

The first terminal device sends second activation time information to the network device, where the second activation time is used to determine the first activation time information.
A communication method, characterized in that the method comprises:

The second terminal device receives second information from the network device, where the second information includes role indication information of the second terminal device;

determining, by the second terminal device, a role for the second terminal device to participate in relay discovery according to the role indication information;

The second terminal device participates in relay discovery according to the role.
The method according to claim 21, the second information includes relay discovery activation information, and the second terminal device participates in the relay discovery according to the relay discovery activation information.
According to the method according to claim 21 or 22, the role indication information of the second terminal device is at least one of second role information or relay discovery mode information.
The method according to any one of claims 21-23, further comprising:

The second terminal device sends at least one of the second state information of the second terminal device or the second role will information of the second terminal device to the network device, the second state information or the The second role willingness information of the second terminal device is used for determining the second information.
The method according to any one of claims 21-24, further comprising:

The second terminal device sends at least one of relay capability information of the second terminal device, service information of the second terminal device, or location information of the second terminal device to the network device, the The relay capability information is used to indicate the relay capability of the second terminal device, the relay capability information of the second terminal device, the service information of the second terminal device or the location information of the second terminal device At least one of is used for the determination of the second terminal device.
The method according to any one of claims 21-25, further comprising:

receiving, by the second terminal device, location information of a first terminal device from the network device, where the first terminal device is a terminal device participating in the relay discovery;

The second terminal device determines whether the distance between the first terminal device and the second terminal device is within a first threshold range according to the location information of the first terminal device;

If the distance between the first terminal device and the second terminal device is within a first threshold range, the second terminal device determines to participate in the relay discovery.
The method according to any one of claims 21-26, further comprising:

The second terminal device receives first activation time information from the network device, where the first activation time information is at least one of an on-time duration of the relay discovery or an on-period of the relay discovery.
A communication device, characterized by comprising a processor;

The processor is used to read and execute a program from the memory, so that the communication device implements the method according to any one of claims 1-14, 15-20 and 21-27.
A computer program product comprising instructions, characterized in that, when it is run on a computer, it causes the computer to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 27.
A computer-readable storage medium, wherein instructions are stored in the computer-readable storage medium, and when the computer-readable storage medium is run on a computer, it causes a processor to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 27.