Relay communication method and device, terminal and readable storage medium

Abstract

The invention discloses a relay communication method and device, a terminal and a readable storage medium, and belongs to the technical field of communication, and the relay communication method comprises the steps that a first terminal receives or monitors at least one first discovery message sent by at least one second terminal; each first discovery message comprises at least one piece of hop count information and at least one of the following items associated with each piece of hop count information: a terminal identifier and first information; sending or forwarding a connection establishment request according to the at least one first discovery message; wherein the first information comprises a cell identifier, or the first information is used for indicating that the corresponding second terminal can access the network under the hop count indicated by the hop count information associated with the first information; the hop count information indicates the hop count between the corresponding second terminal and the terminal corresponding to the terminal identifier associated with the hop count information, or the hop count information indicates the hop count between the corresponding second terminal and the network corresponding to the first information associated with the hop count information.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application belongs to the field of communication technology, and specifically relates to a relay communication method, device, terminal and readable storage medium. Background Art

[0002] In order to expand network coverage or extend communication between terminals, relay communication is introduced. Relay communication includes terminal-to-network relay communication (U2N Relay) and terminal-to-terminal relay communication (U2U Relay). In related technologies, relay communication is usually one-hop relay communication, that is, in the U2N Relay scenario, there is only one-hop relay between the remote terminal and the network; in the U2U Relay scenario, there is only one-hop relay between the terminals. However, under the further requirements of public safety services, the relay communication of one-hop relay has insufficient coverage or the terminals cannot communicate, so multi-hop relay communication is considered. In this case, how to realize the connection establishment of multi-hop relay communication is an urgent problem that needs to be solved. Summary of the Invention

[0003] The embodiments of the present application provide a relay communication method, apparatus, terminal, and readable storage medium, which can solve the problem of how to establish a connection for multi-hop relay communication.

[0004] In a first aspect, a relay communication method is provided, which is performed by a first terminal. The method includes:

[0005] The first terminal receives or monitors at least one first discovery message sent by at least one second terminal; each of the first discovery messages includes: at least one hop number information and at least one of the following items associated with each hop number information: a terminal identifier and the first information;

[0006] The first terminal sends or forwards a connection establishment request according to the at least one first discovery message;

[0007] The first information includes a cell identifier, or the first information is used to indicate that the corresponding second terminal can access the network under the number of hops indicated by the hop information associated with the first information; the hop information indicates the number of hops between the corresponding second terminal and the terminal corresponding to the terminal identifier associated with the hop information, or the hop information indicates the number of hops between the corresponding second terminal and the network corresponding to the first information associated with the hop information.

[0008] In a second aspect, a relay communication device is provided, applied to a first terminal, including:

[0009] A receiving module, configured to receive or monitor at least one first discovery message sent by at least one second terminal; wherein each of the first discovery messages includes: at least one hop count information and at least one of the following items associated with each hop count information: a terminal identifier and first information;

[0010] A first sending module, configured to send or forward a connection establishment request according to the at least one first discovery message;

[0011] The first information includes a cell identifier, or the first information is used to indicate that the corresponding second terminal can access the network under the number of hops indicated by the hop information associated with the first information; the hop information indicates the number of hops between the corresponding second terminal and the terminal corresponding to the terminal identifier associated with the hop information, or the hop information indicates the number of hops between the corresponding second terminal and the network corresponding to the first information associated with the hop information.

[0012] In a third aspect, a terminal is provided, comprising a processor and a memory, wherein the memory stores a program or instruction that can be run on the processor, and when the program or instruction is executed by the processor, the steps of the method described in the first aspect are implemented.

[0013] In a fourth aspect, a terminal is provided, comprising a processor and a communication interface, wherein the communication interface is used to receive or monitor at least one first discovery message sent by at least one second terminal; each of the first discovery messages includes: at least one hop information and at least one of the following items associated with each hop information: a terminal identifier, a first information; according to the at least one first discovery message, a connection establishment request is sent or forwarded; wherein the first information includes a cell identifier, or the first information is used to indicate that the corresponding second terminal can access the network under the hop number indicated by the hop number information associated with the first information; the hop number information indicates the number of hops between the corresponding second terminal and the terminal corresponding to the terminal identifier associated with the hop number information, or the hop number information indicates the number of hops between the corresponding second terminal and the network corresponding to the first information associated with the hop number information.

[0014] In a fifth aspect, a readable storage medium is provided, on which a program or instruction is stored. When the program or instruction is executed by a processor, the steps of the method described in the first aspect are implemented.

[0015] In a sixth aspect, a chip is provided, comprising a processor and a communication interface, wherein the communication interface is coupled to the processor, and the processor is configured to run a program or instruction to implement the steps of the method described in the first aspect.

[0016] In a seventh aspect, a computer program / program product is provided, wherein the computer program / program product is stored in a storage medium, and the program / program product is executed by at least one processor to implement the steps of the method described in the first aspect.

[0017] In an embodiment of the present application, by means of receiving or monitoring at least one first discovery message sent by at least one second terminal, and the first discovery message includes hop count information and first information associated with the hop count information, the first terminal can reasonably initiate a connection establishment process based on the first discovery message, thereby realizing the connection establishment of multi-hop relay communication and ensuring the reliability of the multi-hop relay communication connection establishment. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0018] Figure 1 is a block diagram of a wireless communication system to which embodiments of the present application may be applied;

[0019] Figure 2 This is a flow chart of a relay communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0020] Figure 3 This is an example diagram of broadcasting a discovery message in Example 1 of the present application;

[0021] Figure 4 This is an example diagram of broadcasting a discovery message in Example 2 of the present application;

[0022] Figure 5 This is an example diagram of broadcasting a discovery message in Example 3 of the present application;

[0023] Figure 6 This is a schematic structural diagram of a relay communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0024] Figure 7 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0025] Figure 8 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a terminal provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0026] The following will be combined with the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of this application to clearly describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of this application. Obviously, the embodiments described are part of the embodiments of this application, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments in this application, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field are within the scope of protection of this application.

[0027] The terms "first", "second", etc. in this application are used to distinguish similar objects, and are not used to describe a specific order or sequence. It should be understood that the terms used in this way are interchangeable where appropriate, so that the embodiments of the present application can be implemented in an order other than those illustrated or described herein, and the objects distinguished by "first" and "second" are generally of the same type, and do not limit the number of objects, for example, the first object can be one or more. In addition, "or" in this application represents at least one of the connected objects. For example, "A or B" covers three options, namely, Option 1: including A but not including B; Option 2: including B but not including A; Option 3: including both A and B. The character " / " generally indicates that the objects associated before and after are in an "or" relationship.

[0028] It is worth noting that the technology described in the embodiments of the present application is not limited to the Long Term Evolution (LTE) / LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) system, but can also be used in other wireless communication systems, such as Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA), Single-carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) or other systems. The terms "system" and "network" in the embodiments of the present application are often used interchangeably, and the technology described can be used for the systems and radio technologies mentioned above, as well as for other systems and radio technologies. The following description describes a New Radio (NR) system for illustrative purposes, and NR terminology is used in most of the following description, but these technologies can also be applied to systems other than NR systems, such as 6th generation (6G) systems. th Generation, 6G) communication system.

[0029] Figure 1The block diagram of a wireless communication system applicable to the embodiments of the present application is shown. The wireless communication system includes a terminal 11 and a network-side device 12. The terminal 11 can be a mobile phone, a tablet computer (Tablet Personal Computer), a laptop computer (Laptop Computer), a notebook computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a handheld computer, a netbook, an ultra-mobile personal computer (UMPC), a mobile internet device (MID), an augmented reality (AR), a virtual reality (VR) device, a robot, a wearable device (Wearable Device), an aircraft (flight vehicle), a vehicle user equipment (VUE), a ship-borne device, a pedestrian user equipment (PUE), a smart home (home appliances with wireless communication capabilities, such as refrigerators, televisions, washing machines, or furniture, etc.), a game console, a personal computer (PC), a teller machine, or a self-service machine, etc., and other terminal-side devices. Wearable devices include: smart watches, smart bracelets, smart headphones, smart glasses, smart jewelry (smart bracelets, smart bracelets, smart rings, smart necklaces, smart anklets, smart anklets, etc.), smart wristbands, smart clothing, etc. Among them, the vehicle-mounted device can also be called a vehicle-mounted terminal, a vehicle-mounted controller, a vehicle-mounted module, a vehicle-mounted component, a vehicle-mounted chip or a vehicle-mounted unit, etc. It should be noted that the specific type of the terminal 11 is not limited in the embodiment of the present application. The network side device 12 may include an access network device or a core network device, wherein the access network device may also be called a radio access network (Radio Access Network, RAN) device, a radio access network function or a radio access network unit. The access network device may include a base station, a wireless local area network (WLAN) access point (AP) or a wireless fidelity (WiFi) node, etc.Among them, the base station can be called Node B (NB), Evolved Node B (eNB), the next generation Node B (gNB), New Radio Node B (NR Node B), access point, Relay Base Station (RBS), Serving Base Station (SBS), Base Transceiver Station (BTS), radio base station, radio transceiver, Basic Service Set (BSS), Extended Service Set (ESS), Home Node B (HNB), Home evolved Node B (home evolved Node B), Transmission Reception Point (TRP) or other appropriate terms in the relevant field. As long as the same technical effect is achieved, the base station is not limited to specific technical vocabulary.

[0030] In the embodiment of the present application, a remote terminal in a U2N Relay scenario or a source end UE or a target end UE in a U2U Relay scenario may be collectively referred to as a remote terminal.

[0031] In the embodiments of the present application, a relay terminal in a U2N Relay scenario or a relay terminal in a U2U Relay scenario may be collectively referred to as a relay terminal or a relay.

[0032] In the embodiment of the present application, a terminal may also be referred to as a user equipment (UE).

[0033] In the embodiment of the present application, the discovery message may be a discovery message or a discovery announcement message.

[0034] The relay communication method, device, terminal and readable storage medium provided in the embodiments of the present application are described in detail below with reference to some embodiments and their application scenarios in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[0035] See Figure 2 , Figure 2This is a flow chart of a relay communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application, which is executed by a first terminal, which may be a relay terminal or a remote terminal in a U2N Relay scenario, or a relay terminal or an End UE in a U2U Relay scenario. Figure 2 As shown, the method includes the following steps:

[0036] Step 21: The first terminal receives or monitors at least one first discovery message sent by at least one second terminal;

[0037] Step 22: The first terminal sends or forwards a connection establishment request according to the at least one first discovery message.

[0038] In this embodiment, each first discovery message includes: at least one hop count information and at least one of the following items associated with each hop count information: a terminal identifier and first information. The first information includes a cell identifier, or the first information is used to indicate that the corresponding second terminal can access the network at the number of hops indicated by the hop count information associated with the first information. The hop count information indicates the number of hops between the corresponding second terminal and the terminal corresponding to the terminal identifier associated with the hop count information, or the hop count information indicates the number of hops between the corresponding second terminal and the network corresponding to the first information associated with the hop count information.

[0039] Optionally, the number of hops indicated by the hop count information may be one hop or multiple hops. That is, the second terminal may broadcast the identifier of a terminal that is one hop or multiple hops away from it, or broadcast its distance to the access network that is one hop or multiple hops away, with the help of the first discovery message, so that the terminal that receives or monitors the first discovery message is informed.

[0040] Optionally, the terminal identifier is, for example, a UE ID, used to identify the terminal UE, which may be upper-layer user information (user info) or a truncated portion of user information, or a layer 2 (Layer 2, L2) identifier or a truncated portion of a layer 2 identifier, or other information that can identify the terminal.

[0041] Optionally, the cell identifier is, for example, a cell ID, which is used to identify a cell and may be a physical cell identifier (PCI), a global cell identifier (global cell ID), or other information that can identify a cell.

[0042] Optionally, the number of hops between terminals (hop) can be numbered starting from 0 or 1, with no limitation. For example, when numbering starting from 0, if hop = 0, it means the two terminals are directly connected and a connection can be established without a relay; if hop = 1, it means the two terminals are separated by one hop and a connection is required. For another example, when numbering starting from 1, if hop = 1, it means the two terminals are directly connected and a connection can be established without a relay; if hop = 2, it means the two terminals are separated by one hop and a connection is required.

[0043] Optionally, the first discovery message may also include a measurement result of the corresponding terminal or cell, including but not limited to a reference signal received power (RSRP), a reference signal received quality (RSRQ), etc., so as to obtain the signal quality of the corresponding terminal or cell. When the measured RSRP is the RSRP of the PC5 interface, it may refer to a sidelink SL-RSRP, where the SL-RSRP is the measurement result corresponding to the data-associated DMRS, or to SD-RSRP, where the SD-RSRP is the measurement result corresponding to the discovery message.

[0044] Optionally, the second terminal that sends or broadcasts the first discovery message can be a Relay terminal or a Remote terminal. The corresponding relay process can be relay discovery and selection under mode model A, that is, the Relay terminal acts as the initiator of relay discovery and selection, or it can be relay discovery and selection under mode model B, that is, the Remote terminal acts as the initiator of relay discovery and selection. For example, a terminal can send a model A discovery message in a multi-hop U2U Relay scenario, and the message carries the number of hops and the UE ID associated with the number of hops information. For another example, a terminal can send a model A discovery message in a multi-hop U2N Relay scenario, and the message carries the number of hops and the UE ID or cell ID associated with the number of hops information.

[0045] Therefore, by means of receiving or monitoring at least one first discovery message sent by at least one second terminal, the first terminal can select a suitable terminal to initiate a connection establishment process, thereby further realizing connection establishment of multi-hop relay communication.

[0046] It should be noted that the applicable scenarios of the embodiments of the present application include but are not limited to pure multi-hop U2U Relay scenarios, pure multi-hop U2N Relay scenarios, and scenarios including multi-hop U2U Relay and multi-hop U2N Relay.

[0047] Optionally, the above step 22 may include:

[0048] The first terminal selects a third terminal from at least one second terminal based on the at least one first discovery message; wherein the first discovery message sent by the third terminal includes the terminal identifier of the target terminal, and the number of hops indicated by the hop number information associated with the terminal identifier of the target terminal is the smallest of the hop numbers indicated by the hop number information associated with the terminal identifier of the target terminal included in the at least one first discovery message; or, the first discovery message sent by the third terminal includes first information, and the number of hops indicated by the hop number information associated with the first information is the smallest of the hop numbers indicated by the hop number information associated with the first information included in the at least one first discovery message;

[0049] The first terminal sends or forwards a connection establishment request to the third terminal.

[0050] That is, in a U2U Relay scenario, the first terminal can, based on the received first discovery message, select the second terminal with the smallest number of hops from the target terminal from at least one second terminal as the third terminal, and send or forward a connection establishment request to the third terminal. For example, if the first terminal is a remote terminal, the connection establishment request is sent; if the first terminal is a relay terminal, the connection establishment request is forwarded.

[0051] In a U2N Relay scenario, based on the received first discovery message, the first terminal can select, from at least one second terminal, the second terminal with the smallest number of hops from the access network as the third terminal, and send or forward a connection establishment request to the third terminal. For example, if the first terminal is a remote terminal, the connection establishment request is sent; if the first terminal is a relay terminal, the connection establishment request is forwarded.

[0052] In this way, by selecting the second terminal with the smallest number of hops from the target terminal or access network as the third terminal and sending or forwarding the connection establishment request to the third terminal, the entire multi-hop U2U Relay or multi-hop U2N Relay connection establishment process can be accelerated.

[0053] Optionally, when multiple third terminals are selected, the sending or forwarding of the connection establishment request may include:

[0054] The first terminal selects a fourth terminal from the plurality of third terminals; wherein the fourth terminal is randomly selected or selected based on implementation, or the fourth terminal satisfies at least one of the following: a signal quality from the first terminal to the fourth terminal is a maximum among signal qualities from the first terminal to the plurality of third terminals; a signal quality from the fourth terminal to the target terminal is a maximum among signal qualities from the plurality of third terminals to the target terminal; and a sum of a signal quality from the first terminal to the fourth terminal and a signal quality from the fourth terminal to the target terminal is a maximum among the sums of signal qualities from the first terminal to the plurality of third terminals and signal qualities from the plurality of third terminals to the target terminal;

[0055] The first terminal sends or forwards a connection establishment request to the fourth terminal.

[0056] Here, the signal quality may include, but is not limited to, RSRP, RSRQ, etc. When the measured RSRP is the RSRP of the PC5 interface, it may refer to the sidelink SL-RSRP or SD-RSRP. By selecting the signal with the highest signal quality to send or forward the connection establishment request, the efficiency of the entire multi-hop U2U Relay or multi-hop U2N Relay connection establishment process can be improved.

[0057] For example, in a multi-hop U2U Relay scenario, the Remote UE sends a connection establishment request (for the target UE) to the Relay UE, which forwards the request. When the Remote UE selects the Relay UE and the Relay UE selects the next-hop Relay UE, if the received discovery message contains a Relay UE with the smallest number of hops from the target UE, the Relay UE with the smallest number of hops is selected to send or forward the connection establishment request. If there are multiple Relay UEs with the same and smallest number of hops from the target UE, the Relay UE with a larger RSRP, or the RSRP from the selected Relay UE to the target UE is larger, or the sum of the two is larger, is selected to send or forward the connection establishment request.

[0058] In the embodiment of the present application, a connection establishment request can be directly sent or forwarded to the target terminal under certain conditions. Optionally, the relay communication method further includes:

[0059] The first terminal sends or forwards a connection establishment request to the target terminal when a first condition is met; the first condition includes at least one of the following:

[0060] The terminal identifier of the target terminal is in a terminal identifier list associated with first hop number information of the first terminal, where the first hop number information indicates that the first terminal and the target terminal are directly connected; for example, the first hop number information indicates that the number of hops between the first terminal and the target terminal is 0 (e.g., hop numbers start from 0) or 1 (e.g., hop numbers start from 1);

[0061] The signal quality between the first terminal and the target terminal is greater than or equal to a first threshold.

[0062] Here, the signal quality may be, but is not limited to, RSRP, RSRQ, etc. The first threshold may be set based on actual needs.

[0063] For example, assuming that UE-0 wants to initiate a connection establishment, the target UE is UE-3, and the hop count starts at 0, UE-0 can select a relay UE to send the connection establishment request in at least one of the following ways:

[0064] a) RelayUEs in their own terminal list with hop=0 or whose measured RSRP is greater than or equal to the preset threshold;

[0065] b) The discovery message includes the UE ID of UE-3;

[0066] c) The relay UE with the smallest hop count associated with the UE ID of UE-3; If more than one relay UE has the same smallest hop count, UE-0 may select the relay UE in one of the following ways: ① Random selection or implementation-based selection; ② The relay UE with the largest RSRP between UE-0 and UE-3;

[0067] d) The relay UE with the largest RSRP associated with UE-3.

[0068] After UE-0 initiates a connection establishment, a relay UE, such as Relay UE-Y, can select a next-hop relay UE to forward the connection establishment request in the following ways:

[0069] d) The discovery message includes the UE ID of UE-3;

[0070] e) The relay UE with the smallest hop count associated with the UE ID of UE-3; If more than one relay UE has the same smallest hop count, Relay UE-Y may select the relay UE in one of the following ways: ① Random selection or implementation-based selection; ② The relay UE with the largest RSRP between it and Relay UE-Y;

[0071] f) The relay UE with the largest RSRP associated with UE-3.

[0072] In addition, if UE-3 is in Relay UE-Y's own terminal list with hop=0 or the RSRP between Relay UE-Y and UE-3 is greater than or equal to a preset threshold, Relay UE-Y directly sends a connection establishment request to UE-3.

[0073] In an embodiment of the present application, in a multi-hop U2U Relay or U2N Relay scenario, a remote terminal or a relay terminal may update its own discovery message based on the discovery message received from other terminals. After step 21 above, the relay communication method may further include:

[0074] The first terminal updates its own second discovery message according to the at least one first discovery message, thereby ensuring the accuracy of the information carried in its own discovery message.

[0075] Optionally, the first terminal updating its own second discovery message according to the at least one first discovery message may include at least one of the following:

[0076] 1) The first terminal adds the first terminal identifier or first information associated with the second hop number information in the first discovery message to the second discovery message, and sets the hop number indicated by the hop number information associated with the first terminal identifier or first information in the second discovery message to the hop number indicated by the second hop number information plus a first value; the first value is determined based on the hop number between the first terminal and the second terminal that sends the first discovery message; for example, if the first terminal and the second terminal that sends the first discovery message are directly connected, that is, the hop number between the first terminal and the second terminal that sends the first discovery message is 0 (such as the hop number starts from 0) or 1 (such as the hop number starts from 1), then the first value is equal to 1; if there is 1 hop between the first terminal and the second terminal that sends the first discovery message, then the first value is equal to 2; and so on.

[0077] 2) When a second terminal identifier or first information is included in multiple first discovery messages, and the second terminal identifier or first information is associated with multiple hop count information, the first terminal adds the second terminal identifier or first information to the second discovery message, and sets the hop count indicated by the hop count information associated with the second terminal identifier or first information in the second discovery message to the minimum of the hop counts indicated by the multiple hop count information plus a second value, where the second value is determined based on the hop count between the first terminal and the second terminal corresponding to the minimum. For example, if the first terminal and the second terminal corresponding to the minimum value are directly connected, the second value is equal to 1; if the first terminal and the second terminal corresponding to the minimum value are separated by 1 hop, the first value is equal to 2; and so on.

[0078] It should be noted that when the first terminal updates its own second discovery message, it needs to delete some duplicate or conflicting hop count information and its associated information from the second discovery message to ensure the accuracy of the information carried in its own second discovery message. If the hop count information and its associated information carried in the first discovery message are the same as the corresponding information in its own second discovery message, the second discovery message will not be updated based on the hop count information and its associated information.

[0079] Optionally, the second discovery message for updating itself may further include:

[0080] The first terminal updates its own second discovery message according to the at least one first discovery message when a second condition is met; the second condition includes at least one of the following:

[0081] The first terminal is capable of serving as a relay terminal in a U2U scenario, or is capable of serving as a relay terminal in a U2N scenario;

[0082] The first terminal is operating as a relay terminal in a U2U scenario, or is operating as a relay terminal in a U2N scenario;

[0083] The signal quality of the at least one first discovery message is greater than or equal to a second threshold.

[0084] Here, the signal quality may be, but is not limited to, RSRP, RSRQ, etc. The second threshold may be set based on actual needs. If the second condition is not met, the first terminal may stop updating or sending discovery messages.

[0085] Optionally, the relay communication method may further include:

[0086] The first terminal updates its own second discovery message according to its own measurement result, such as RSRP, RSRQ, etc.

[0087] For example, in a multi-hop U2U Relay or U2N Relay scenario, the remote terminal or relay terminal may update its discovery message based on the measured RSRP or RSRQ.

[0088] Optionally, the first terminal may update its own second discovery message according to its own measurement result, including at least one of the following:

[0089] (1) when the signal quality between the first terminal and the fifth terminal is less than a third threshold, and the number of hops indicated by the hop count information associated with the terminal identifier of the fifth terminal in the second discovery message is a third value, the first terminal removes the terminal identifier of the fifth terminal from the second discovery message;

[0090] (2) When the signal quality between the first terminal and the sixth terminal is greater than or equal to the fourth threshold, and the number of hops indicated by the hop number information associated with the terminal identifier of the sixth terminal in the second discovery message is greater than or equal to the fourth value, the first terminal sets the number of hops indicated by the hop number information associated with the terminal identifier of the sixth terminal in the second discovery message to the fifth value.

[0091] Here, the signal quality may be selected as but not limited to RSRP, RSRQ, etc. The third threshold and the fourth threshold may be set based on actual needs. The third value may be 0 (such as the hop number starts from 0) or 1 (such as the hop number starts from 1), that is, the first terminal and the fifth terminal are directly connected. For example, the Relay UE measures the nearby UE or base station with hop=0, and when the preset condition is not met, it removes it from its own discovery message; when the preset condition is met, it allows it to be moved into or retained in its own discovery message; the preset condition is that the measured RSRP is greater than or equal to the preset threshold.

[0092] The fourth value is greater than the fifth value. For example, when the hop count is numbered starting from 0, the hop count of a UE with a hop count greater than or equal to 1 may be set to 0 when the RSRP measured by the UE is greater than or equal to a preset threshold; or, when the hop count is numbered starting from 1, the hop count of the UE may be set to 1 when the RSRP measured by the UE with a hop count greater than or equal to 2 is greater than or equal to the preset threshold. For example, when a relay UE measures a nearby UE or base station with a hop count greater than or equal to 1, and when a preset condition is met, the hop count of the UE is set to 0, where the preset condition is that the measured RSRP is greater than or equal to the preset threshold.

[0093] The present application is described below with reference to specific examples.

[0094] Example 1

[0095] This example 1 is a scenario involving multi-hop U2U Relay and multi-hop U2N Relay. Figure 3 As shown, Figure 3 This is an example diagram of how a relay UE broadcasts or sends a discovery message, where the double-arrow line indicates that the RSRP that can be directly connected or measured is greater than or equal to a preset threshold.

[0096] exist Figure 3In the example, Relay UE 1 is close to UE 0, UE 2, and UE 3. If the measured RSRP is greater than or equal to the preset threshold, the discovery message broadcast or sent by Relay UE 1 includes: {hop=0, UE 0, UE 2, UE 3}, that is, hop=0 is associated with UE 0, UE 2, and UE 3. If UE 0 moves away, if the measured RSRP is less than the preset threshold, Relay UE 1 removes it from its own discovery message, which includes: {hop=0, UE 2, UE 3}, that is, hop=0 is associated with UE 2 and UE 3.

[0097] Similarly, Relay UE 2 broadcasts or sends a discovery message including: {hop=0, UE 1, UE 4, cellX}, that is, hop=0 is associated with UE 1, UE 4 and cellX.

[0098] After receiving the discovery message from Relay UE 2, Relay UE 1 adds the UE ID associated with hop=0 to its own discovery message and sets it to hop=1, thus carrying: {hop=1, UE 1, UE 4, cell X}. Since UE 1 is itself, it deletes this, leaving: {hop=1, UE 4, cell X}; this indicates that Relay UE 1 can reach UE 4 and cell X in one hop. Assuming that Relay UE 1 later measures that UE 4's RSRP is greater than or equal to a preset threshold, it can associate UE 4 with Hop=0 and no longer associate it with hop=1, indicating that Relay UE 1 can reach UE 4 in 0 hops.

[0099] After receiving the updated discovery message from Relay UE 1, which includes: {Hop=1, UE 4, cell X}, Relay UE 2 adds its UE ID with hop=1 to its own discovery message and sets it to hop=2, thus carrying: {hop=2, UE 4, cell X}. However, since the discovery message sent by UE 2 itself includes: {hop=0, UE1, UE 4, cell X}, UE 4 and cell X are associated with more than one hop, only the one with the smaller hop is used. Therefore, the content {hop=2, UE 4, cell X} is not included in the discovery message of Relay UE 2.

[0100] Example 2

[0101] This example 2 is a pure multi-hop U2U Relay scenario. Figure 4 As shown, Figure 4This is an example diagram of a connection establishment initiated by UE0. The double-arrowed line indicates that a direct connection is possible or that the measured RSRP is greater than or equal to the preset threshold. The specific process includes:

[0102] Step 1: Assume that UE 0 wants to communicate with UE 4. UE 0 finds that the discovery message from Relay UE 1 carries {hop=1, UE 4}. Then, UE 0 sends a connection establishment request (such as a DCR message) to Relay UE 1 to request connection establishment.

[0103] Step 2: After receiving the connection establishment request, Relay UE 1 proceeds to the next step of forwarding. Since the discovery messages of Relay UE 2 and Relay UE 3 both carry UE 4, and the associated hop counts are equal to 0, Relay UE 1 can select Relay UE 2 with a larger RSRP measurement value to forward the connection establishment request based on the RSRP measurement results between Relay UE 2 and Relay UE 3. Alternatively, Relay UE 1 can forward the connection establishment request to both Relay UE 2 and Relay UE 3 at the same time.

[0104] Step 3: After Relay UE 2 or Relay UE 3 receives the connection establishment request, since it can directly reach UE 4, Relay UE 2 or Relay UE 3 can directly forward the connection establishment request to UE 4.

[0105] Step 4: UE 4 sends a connection establishment response (e.g., a DCR response) to Relay UE 2 or Relay UE 3. If UE 4 receives connection establishment requests from both Relay UE 2 and Relay UE 3, UE 4 may select one of the Relay UEs to send the connection establishment response, for example, the Relay UE with a larger RSRP or the Relay UE based on other information.

[0106] Example 3

[0107] This example 3 is a pure multi-hop U2U Relay scenario. In addition to carrying the UE ID, the discovery message also carries the corresponding measurement results. Figure 5 This is an example diagram of a connection establishment initiated by UE0. The double-arrowed line indicates that a direct connection is possible or that the measured RSRP is greater than or equal to the preset threshold. The specific process includes:

[0108] Step 1: Assume that UE 0 wants to communicate with UE 4. UE 0 finds that the discovery message from Relay UE 1 carries {hop=1, UE 4}. Then, UE 0 sends a connection establishment request (such as a DCR message) to Relay UE 1 to request connection establishment.

[0109] Step 2: After receiving the connection establishment request, Relay UE 1 proceeds to the next step of forwarding. Since the discovery messages of Relay UE 2 and Relay UE 3 both carry UE 4, and the associated hop counts are equal to 0, Relay UE 1 can select the UE with a larger RSRP associated with UE 4 as the final choice for forwarding. Alternatively, Relay UE 1 can compare the sum of the RSRP measurement between itself and Relay UE 2 and the RSRP associated with UE 4 in Relay UE 2, as well as the sum of the RSRP measurement between itself and Relay UE 3 and the RSRP associated with UE 4 in Relay UE 3, and select the Relay UE with the larger RSRP sum to forward the connection establishment request.

[0110] Step 3: After Relay UE 2 or Relay UE 3 receives the connection establishment request, since it can directly reach UE 4, Relay UE 2 or Relay UE 3 can directly forward the connection establishment request to UE 4.

[0111] Step 4: UE 4 sends a connection establishment response (e.g., a DCR response) to Relay UE 2 or Relay UE 3. If UE 4 receives connection establishment requests from both Relay UE 2 and Relay UE 3, UE 4 may select one of the Relay UEs to send the connection establishment response, for example, the Relay UE with a larger RSRP or the Relay UE based on other information.

[0112] The relay communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application can be executed by a relay communication device. In the embodiment of the present application, the relay communication device provided in the embodiment of the present application is described by taking the relay communication device executing the relay communication method as an example.

[0113] See Figure 6 , Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a relay communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application, which is applied to a first terminal, such as Figure 6 As shown, the relay communication device 60 includes:

[0114] A receiving module 61 is configured to receive or monitor at least one first discovery message sent by at least one second terminal; wherein each of the first discovery messages includes: at least one hop count information and at least one of the following items associated with each hop count information: a terminal identifier and first information;

[0115] A first sending module 62 is configured to send or forward a connection establishment request according to the at least one first discovery message;

[0116] The first information includes a cell identifier, or the first information is used to indicate that the corresponding second terminal can access the network under the number of hops indicated by the hop information associated with the first information; the hop information indicates the number of hops between the corresponding second terminal and the terminal corresponding to the terminal identifier associated with the hop information, or the hop information indicates the number of hops between the corresponding second terminal and the network corresponding to the first information associated with the hop information.

[0117] Optionally, the first sending module 62 includes:

[0118] A selection unit, configured to select a third terminal from the at least one second terminal based on the at least one first discovery message; wherein the first discovery message sent by the third terminal includes a terminal identifier of the target terminal, and the number of hops indicated by the hop number information associated with the terminal identifier of the target terminal is the smallest of the hop numbers indicated by the hop number information associated with the terminal identifier of the target terminal included in the at least one first discovery message; or, the first discovery message sent by the third terminal includes first information, and the number of hops indicated by the hop number information associated with the first information is the smallest of the hop numbers indicated by the hop number information associated with the first information included in the at least one first discovery message;

[0119] A sending unit is configured to send or forward the connection establishment request to the third terminal.

[0120] Optionally, when multiple third terminals are selected,

[0121] The selection unit is further configured to: select a fourth terminal from the plurality of third terminals; wherein the fourth terminal is randomly selected or selected based on implementation, or the fourth terminal satisfies at least one of the following: a signal quality from the first terminal to the fourth terminal is a maximum among signal qualities from the first terminal to the plurality of third terminals; a signal quality from the fourth terminal to a target terminal is a maximum among signal qualities from the plurality of third terminals to the target terminal; a sum of a signal quality from the first terminal to the fourth terminal and a signal quality from the fourth terminal to the target terminal is a maximum among the sums of signal qualities from the first terminal to the plurality of third terminals and signal qualities from the plurality of third terminals to the target terminal;

[0122] The sending unit is further configured to send or forward the connection establishment request to the fourth terminal.

[0123] Optionally, the relay communication device 60 further includes:

[0124] The second sending module is configured to send or forward, by the first terminal, a connection establishment request to the target terminal when a first condition is met; the first condition includes at least one of the following:

[0125] The terminal identifier of the target terminal is in the terminal identifier list associated with the first hop number information of the first terminal;

[0126] The signal quality between the first terminal and the target terminal is greater than or equal to a first threshold.

[0127] Optionally, the relay communication device 60 further includes:

[0128] The first updating module is configured to update the second discovery message of the first terminal according to the at least one first discovery message after receiving or monitoring at least one first discovery message sent by at least one second terminal.

[0129] Optionally, the first update module is specifically configured to perform at least one of the following:

[0130] adding the first terminal identifier or first information associated with the second hop number information in the first discovery message to the second discovery message, and setting the number of hops indicated by the hop number information associated with the first terminal identifier or the first information in the second discovery message to the number of hops indicated by the second hop number information plus a first value; the first value is determined based on the number of hops between the first terminal and the second terminal sending the first discovery message;

[0131] When a second terminal identifier or first information is included in multiple first discovery messages, and the second terminal identifier or first information is associated with multiple hop count information, the second terminal identifier or first information is added to the second discovery message, and the number of hops indicated by the hop count information associated with the second terminal identifier or first information in the second discovery message is set to the minimum of the hop counts indicated by the multiple hop count information plus a second value, where the second value is determined based on the number of hops between the first terminal and the second terminal corresponding to the minimum.

[0132] Optionally, the first update module is specifically configured to:

[0133] When a second condition is met, updating the second discovery message of the first terminal according to the at least one first discovery message; the second condition includes at least one of the following:

[0134] The first terminal is capable of serving as a relay terminal in a terminal-to-terminal (U2U) scenario, or is capable of serving as a relay terminal in a terminal-to-network (U2N) scenario;

[0135] The first terminal is operating as a relay terminal in a U2U scenario, or is operating as a relay terminal in a U2N scenario;

[0136] The signal quality of the at least one first discovery message is greater than or equal to a second threshold.

[0137] Optionally, the relay communication device 60 further includes:

[0138] The second updating module is configured to update the second discovery message of the first terminal according to the measurement result of the first terminal.

[0139] Optionally, the second update module is specifically configured to perform at least one of the following:

[0140] When the signal quality between the first terminal and the fifth terminal is less than a third threshold, and the number of hops indicated by the hop number information associated with the terminal identifier of the fifth terminal in the second discovery message is a third value, removing the terminal identifier of the fifth terminal from the second discovery message;

[0141] When the signal quality between the first terminal and the sixth terminal is greater than or equal to the fourth threshold, and the number of hops indicated by the hop number information associated with the terminal identifier of the sixth terminal in the second discovery message is greater than or equal to the fourth value, the number of hops indicated by the hop number information associated with the terminal identifier of the sixth terminal in the second discovery message is set to the fifth value.

[0142] The relay communication device 60 in the embodiment of the present application can be an electronic device, such as an electronic device with an operating system, or a component in an electronic device, such as an integrated circuit or chip. The electronic device can be a terminal or other device other than a terminal. For example, the terminal can include but is not limited to the types of terminal 11 listed above, and other devices can be servers, network attached storage (NAS), etc., which are not specifically limited in the embodiment of the present application.

[0143] The relay communication device 60 provided in the embodiment of the present application can achieve Figure 2 The various processes implemented by the method embodiment achieve the same technical effect and are not described here again to avoid repetition.

[0144] like Figure 7As shown, an embodiment of the present application also provides a communication device 70, including a processor 71 and a memory 72, and the memory 72 stores a program or instruction that can be run on the processor 71. When the program or instruction is executed by the processor 71, the various steps of the above-mentioned relay communication method embodiment are implemented, and the same technical effect can be achieved. To avoid repetition, it will not be repeated here.

[0145] The embodiment of the present application further provides a terminal, comprising a processor and a communication interface, wherein the communication interface is coupled to the processor, and the processor is configured to execute a program or instruction to implement the following Figure 2 The terminal embodiment corresponds to the above-mentioned terminal side method embodiment, and each implementation process and implementation method of the above-mentioned method embodiment are applicable to the terminal embodiment and can achieve the same technical effect.

[0146] Specifically, Figure 8 A schematic diagram of the hardware structure of a terminal for implementing an embodiment of the present application.

[0147] The terminal 800 includes but is not limited to: a radio frequency unit 801, a network module 802, an audio output unit 803, an input unit 804, a sensor 805, a display unit 806, a user input unit 807, an interface unit 808, a memory 809 and at least some of the components of the processor 810.

[0148] Those skilled in the art will understand that the terminal 800 may also include a power supply (such as a battery) to power each component. The power supply can be logically connected to the processor 810 through a power management system, thereby realizing functions such as managing charging, discharging, and power consumption management through the power management system. Figure 8 The terminal structure shown in the figure does not constitute a limitation on the terminal. The terminal may include more or fewer components than shown in the figure, or combine certain components, or arrange the components differently, which will not be repeated here.

[0149] It should be understood that in an embodiment of the present application, the input unit 804 may include a graphics processing unit (GPU) 8041 and a microphone 8042, and the graphics processor 8041 processes the image data of a static picture or video obtained by an image capture device (such as a camera) in a video capture mode or an image capture mode. The display unit 806 may include a display panel 8061, and the display panel 8061 may be configured in the form of a liquid crystal display, an organic light emitting diode, etc. The user input unit 807 includes a touch panel 8071 and at least one of other input devices 8072. The touch panel 8071 is also called a touch screen. The touch panel 8071 may include two parts: a touch detection device and a touch controller. Other input devices 8072 may include, but are not limited to, a physical keyboard, function keys (such as volume control keys, switch keys, etc.), a trackball, a mouse, and an operating stick, which will not be repeated here.

[0150] In the embodiment of the present application, after receiving downlink data from a network-side device, the radio frequency unit 801 may transmit the data to the processor 810 for processing. Furthermore, the radio frequency unit 801 may send uplink data to the network-side device. Typically, the radio frequency unit 801 includes, but is not limited to, an antenna, an amplifier, a transceiver, a coupler, a low-noise amplifier, a duplexer, and the like.

[0151] The memory 809 can be used to store software programs or instructions and various data. The memory 809 may mainly include a first storage area for storing programs or instructions and a second storage area for storing data, wherein the first storage area may store an operating system, applications or instructions required for at least one function (such as a sound playback function, an image playback function, etc.). In addition, the memory 809 may include a volatile memory or a non-volatile memory. Among them, the non-volatile memory may be a read-only memory (ROM), a programmable read-only memory (PROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), or a flash memory. The volatile memory may be random access memory (RAM), static random access memory (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (DDRSDRAM), enhanced synchronous dynamic random access memory (ESDRAM), synchronous link dynamic random access memory (SLDRAM), and direct RAM bus random access memory (DRRAM). The memory 809 in the embodiment of the present application includes but is not limited to these and any other suitable types of memory.

[0152] Processor 810 may include one or more processing units. Optionally, processor 810 integrates an application processor and a modem processor. The application processor primarily handles operations related to the operating system, user interface, and application programs, while the modem processor primarily processes wireless communication signals, such as a baseband processor. It is understood that the modem processor may not be integrated into processor 810.

[0153] Among them, the radio frequency unit 801 is used to receive or monitor at least one first discovery message sent by at least one second terminal; each of the first discovery messages includes: at least one hop information and at least one of the following items associated with each hop information: terminal identification, first information; according to the at least one first discovery message, send or forward a connection establishment request; wherein, the first information includes a cell identification, or the first information is used to indicate that the corresponding second terminal can access the network under the hop number indicated by the hop number information associated with the first information; the hop number information indicates the number of hops between the corresponding second terminal and the terminal corresponding to the terminal identification associated with the hop number information, or the hop number information indicates the number of hops between the corresponding second terminal and the network corresponding to the first information associated with the hop number information.

[0154] It can be understood that the implementation process of each implementation method mentioned in this embodiment can refer to the relevant description of the above-mentioned relay communication method embodiment and achieve the same or corresponding technical effects. To avoid repetition, it will not be repeated here.

[0155] An embodiment of the present application also provides a readable storage medium, on which a program or instruction is stored. When the program or instruction is executed by a processor, the various processes of the above-mentioned relay communication method embodiment are implemented and the same technical effect can be achieved. To avoid repetition, it will not be repeated here.

[0156] The processor is the processor in the terminal described in the above embodiment. The readable storage medium includes a computer-readable storage medium, such as a computer read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a magnetic disk, or an optical disk. In some examples, the readable storage medium may be a non-transitory readable storage medium.

[0157] An embodiment of the present application further provides a chip, which includes a processor and a communication interface, the communication interface and the processor are coupled, and the processor is used to run programs or instructions to implement the various processes of the above-mentioned relay communication method embodiment, and can achieve the same technical effect. To avoid repetition, it will not be repeated here.

[0158] It should be understood that the chip mentioned in the embodiments of the present application can also be called a system-level chip, a system chip, a chip system or a system-on-chip chip, etc.

[0159] An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer program / program product, which is stored in a storage medium. The computer program / program product is executed by at least one processor to implement the various processes of the above-mentioned relay communication method embodiment and can achieve the same technical effect. To avoid repetition, it will not be repeated here.

[0160] It should be noted that, in this article, the terms "comprise", "include" or any other variants thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, so that a process, method, article or device comprising a series of elements includes not only those elements, but also includes other elements that are not explicitly listed, or also includes elements inherent to such process, method, article or device. In the absence of further restrictions, an element defined by the sentence "comprises a..." does not exclude the presence of other identical elements in the process, method, article or device comprising the element. In addition, it should be pointed out that the scope of the methods and devices in the embodiments of the present application is not limited to performing functions in the order shown or discussed, and may also include performing functions in a substantially simultaneous manner or in the opposite order according to the functions involved. For example, the described method may be performed in an order different from that described, and various steps may also be added, omitted or combined. In addition, the features described with reference to certain examples may be combined in other examples.

[0161] Through the description of the above embodiments, those skilled in the art can clearly understand that the above-mentioned embodiment methods can be implemented by means of a computer software product plus a necessary general-purpose hardware platform, or of course, by hardware. The computer software product is stored in a storage medium (such as ROM, RAM, magnetic disk, optical disk, etc.) and includes a number of instructions for enabling a terminal or network-side device to execute the methods described in each embodiment of the present application.

[0162] The embodiments of the present application are described above in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, but the present application is not limited to the above-mentioned specific implementation methods. The above-mentioned specific implementation methods are merely illustrative and not restrictive. Under the guidance of this application, ordinary technicians in this field can also make many forms of implementation methods without departing from the purpose of this application and the scope of protection of the claims. These implementation methods are all within the protection of this application.

Claims

1. A relay communication method, characterized in that: include: The first terminal receives or monitors at least one first discovery message sent by at least one second terminal; wherein each of the first discovery messages includes: at least one hop count information and at least one of the following items associated with each hop count information: a terminal identifier, and first information; The first terminal sends or forwards a connection establishment request according to the at least one first discovery message; The first information includes a cell identifier, or the first information is used to indicate that the corresponding second terminal can access the network at the number of hops indicated by the hop information associated with the first information; the hop information indicates the number of hops between the corresponding second terminal and the terminal corresponding to the terminal identifier associated with the hop information, or the hop information indicates the number of hops between the corresponding second terminal and the network corresponding to the first information associated with the hop information.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The first terminal sending or forwarding a connection establishment request according to the at least one first discovery message includes: The first terminal selects a third terminal from the at least one second terminal according to the at least one first discovery message; wherein the first discovery message sent by the third terminal includes a terminal identifier of the target terminal, and the number of hops indicated by the hop number information associated with the terminal identifier of the target terminal is the smallest of the hop numbers indicated by the hop number information associated with the terminal identifier of the target terminal included in the at least one first discovery message; or, the first discovery message sent by the third terminal includes first information, and the number of hops indicated by the hop number information associated with the first information is the smallest of the hop numbers indicated by the hop number information associated with the first information included in the at least one first discovery message; The first terminal sends or forwards the connection establishment request to the third terminal.

3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that In a case where multiple third terminals are selected, the first terminal sending or forwarding the connection establishment request to the third terminal includes: The first terminal selects a fourth terminal from the multiple third terminals; wherein the fourth terminal is randomly selected or selected based on implementation, or the fourth terminal satisfies at least one of the following: the signal quality from the first terminal to the fourth terminal is the maximum of the signal qualities from the first terminal to the multiple third terminals; the signal quality from the fourth terminal to the target terminal is the maximum of the signal qualities from the multiple third terminals to the target terminal; the sum of the signal quality from the first terminal to the fourth terminal and the signal quality from the fourth terminal to the target terminal is the maximum of the sum of the signal quality from the first terminal to the multiple third terminals and the signal quality from the multiple third terminals to the target terminal; The first terminal sends or forwards the connection establishment request to the fourth terminal.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that: The method further comprises: When the first condition is met, the first terminal sends or forwards a connection establishment request to the target terminal; The first condition includes at least one of the following: The terminal identifier of the target terminal is in a terminal identifier list of the first terminal associated with first hop number information, and the first hop number information indicates that the first terminal and the target terminal are directly connected; The signal quality between the first terminal and the target terminal is greater than or equal to a first threshold.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that: After the first terminal receives or monitors at least one first discovery message sent by at least one second terminal, the method further includes: The first terminal updates its own second discovery message according to the at least one first discovery message.

6. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that The first terminal updates its own second discovery message according to the at least one first discovery message, including at least one of the following: The first terminal adds the first terminal identifier or the first information associated with the second hop number information in the first discovery message to the second discovery message, and sets the number of hops indicated by the hop number information associated with the first terminal identifier or the first information in the second discovery message to the number of hops indicated by the second hop number information plus a first value; the first value is determined based on the number of hops between the first terminal and the second terminal sending the first discovery message; When a second terminal identifier or first information is included in multiple first discovery messages, and the second terminal identifier or first information is associated with multiple hop count information, the first terminal adds the second terminal identifier or first information to the second discovery message, and sets the number of hops indicated by the hop count information associated with the second terminal identifier or first information in the second discovery message to the minimum of the hop counts indicated by the multiple hop count information plus a second value, wherein the second value is determined based on the number of hops between the first terminal and the second terminal corresponding to the minimum.

7. The method according to claim 5 or 6, characterized in that: The first terminal updates its own second discovery message according to the at least one first discovery message, including: The first terminal updates its own second discovery message according to the at least one first discovery message when a second condition is met; wherein the second condition includes at least one of the following: The first terminal is capable of serving as a relay terminal in a terminal-to-terminal (U2U) scenario, or is capable of serving as a relay terminal in a terminal-to-network (U2N) scenario; The first terminal is operating as a relay terminal in a U2U scenario, or is operating as a relay terminal in a U2N scenario; The signal quality of the at least one first discovery message is greater than or equal to a second threshold.

8. The method according to any one of claims 5 to 7, characterized in that: The method further comprises: The first terminal updates its own second discovery message according to its own measurement result.

9. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that The first terminal updates its own second discovery message according to its own measurement result, including at least one of the following: When the signal quality between the first terminal and the fifth terminal is less than a third threshold, and the number of hops indicated by the hop number information associated with the terminal identifier of the fifth terminal in the second discovery message is a third value, the first terminal removes the terminal identifier of the fifth terminal from the second discovery message; When the signal quality between the first terminal and the sixth terminal is greater than or equal to the fourth threshold, and the number of hops indicated by the hop number information associated with the terminal identifier of the sixth terminal in the second discovery message is greater than or equal to the fourth value, the first terminal sets the number of hops indicated by the hop number information associated with the terminal identifier of the sixth terminal in the second discovery message to a fifth value.

10. A relay communication device, characterized in that: include: A receiving module, configured to receive or monitor at least one first discovery message sent by at least one second terminal; wherein each of the first discovery messages includes: at least one hop count information and at least one of the following items associated with each hop count information: a terminal identifier, and first information; A first sending module, configured to send or forward a connection establishment request according to the at least one first discovery message; The first information includes a cell identifier, or the first information is used to indicate that the corresponding second terminal can access the network at the number of hops indicated by the hop information associated with the first information; the hop information indicates the number of hops between the corresponding second terminal and the terminal corresponding to the terminal identifier associated with the hop information, or the hop information indicates the number of hops between the corresponding second terminal and the network corresponding to the first information associated with the hop information.

11. A terminal, characterized in that: It comprises a processor and a memory, wherein the memory stores a program or instruction that can be run on the processor, and when the program or instruction is executed by the processor, the steps of the relay communication method according to any one of claims 1 to 9 are implemented.

12. A readable storage medium, characterized in that: The readable storage medium stores a program or instruction, and when the program or instruction is executed by the processor, the steps of the relay communication method according to any one of claims 1 to 9 are implemented.

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