Relay communication method, terminal, and network-side device

Abstract

This application discloses a relay communication method, apparatus, and terminal, and belongs to the field of mobile communications. The relay communication method according to an embodiment of this application includes: a step in which a first device acquires first information, where the first information includes configuration information for establishing a bearer for a first communication; and a step in which the first device establishes the bearer for the first communication with a second device based on the first information and performs communication. The first device is one of a source terminal and a destination terminal, the second device is the other of the source terminal and the destination terminal, the first communication is a sidelink relay communication, and the first information includes at least one of: first configuration information that is end-to-end configuration information in the bearer configuration information; and second configuration information that is hop-by-hop configuration information corresponding to a first target hop between the first device and a third device in the bearer configuration information, where the third device is a relay device connected to the first device in the first communication.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application claims the priority of a Chinese patent application filed with the China National Intellectual Property Administration on June 9, 2022, with the application number 202210648837.1 and the invention title "Relay Communication Method, Apparatus and Terminal", and all the contents of this application are incorporated into the present invention by reference.

[0002] This application belongs to the technical field of mobile communications, and specifically relates to a relay communication method, apparatus and terminal.

Background Art

[0003] In the case of sidelink relay communication between terminals (also referred to as User Equipment (UE)), i.e., UE-to-UE (U2U), at least one relay UE is included between two remote UEs at both ends. In this case, two remote UEs (i.e., the source remote UE1 and the destination remote UE2) transfer data transmission between remote UE1 and remote UE2 through a sidelink with the relay UE, and the relay UE plays the role of data relay.

[0004] In the case of U2U sidelink relay, it is necessary to determine the setting method at each terminal of the bearer of sidelink relay communication.

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0005] Embodiments of this application provide a relay communication method, apparatus and terminal that can realize determining the setting at each terminal of the bearer of sidelink relay communication in the case of U2U sidelink relay.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0006] On a first aspect, a relay communication method applied to a first device, comprising: a step in which the first device acquires first information, where the first information includes configuration information for establishing a bearer for a first communication; and a step in which the first device establishes the bearer for the first communication with a second device based on the first information and performs communication, where the first device is one of a source terminal and a destination terminal of the first communication, the second device is the other of the source terminal and the destination terminal of the first communication, the first communication is sidelink relay communication, and the first information includes at least one of: first configuration information that is end-to-end configuration information in the bearer configuration information; and second configuration information that is hop-by-hop configuration information corresponding to a first target hop between the first device and a third device in the bearer configuration information, where the third device is a relay device connected to the first device in the first communication. A relay communication method is provided.

[0007] On a second aspect, a first transmission module for acquiring first information, comprising: a first transmission module in which the first information includes configuration information for establishing a bearer for a first communication; and a first execution module for establishing the bearer for the first communication with a second device based on the first information and performing communication, where the relay communication device is one of a source terminal and a destination terminal of the first communication, the second device is the other of the source terminal and the destination terminal of the first communication, the first communication is sidelink relay communication, and the first information includes at least one of: first configuration information that is end-to-end configuration information in the bearer configuration information; and second configuration information that is hop-by-hop configuration information corresponding to a first target hop between the relay communication device and a third device in the bearer configuration information, where the third device is a relay device connected to the first device in the first communication. A relay communication device is provided.

[0008] On a third side, a relay communication method applied to a fourth device, the method comprising: a step in which the fourth device acquires third information, where the third information includes setting information related to the fourth device in setting information for establishing a bearer of a first communication; and a step in which the fourth device establishes a hop-by-hop sidelink bearer of a second target hop and / or a hop-by-hop sidelink bearer of a third target hop based on the third information, where the fourth device is one of relay devices in the first communication, the second target hop is one hop between the fourth device and an upstream device, the third target hop is one hop between the fourth device and a downstream device, the upstream device is a relay device or a first device in the first communication, the downstream device is a relay device or a second device in the first communication, the first device is one of a source terminal and a destination terminal of the first communication, the second device is the other of the source terminal and the destination terminal of the first communication, the first communication is a sidelink relay communication, and the third information includes at least one of third setting information that is setting information of the second target hop in the bearer setting information and fourth setting information that is setting information of the third target hop in the bearer setting information.

[0009] On a fourth side, a second transmission module for acquiring third information, the third information including configuration information related to a relay communication device in configuration information for establishing a bearer of a first communication, and a second execution module for establishing a hop-by-hop sidelink bearer of a second target hop and / or a hop-by-hop sidelink bearer of a third target hop based on the third information, the relay communication device being one of relay devices in the first communication, the second target hop being one hop between the relay communication device and an upstream device, the third target hop being one hop between the relay communication device and a downstream device, the upstream device being a relay device or a first device of the first communication, the downstream device being a relay device or a second device of the first communication, the first device being one of a source terminal and a destination terminal of the first communication, the second device being the other of the source terminal and the destination terminal of the first communication, the first communication being a sidelink relay communication, and the third information including at least one of third configuration information which is configuration information of the second target hop in the bearer configuration information and fourth configuration information which is configuration information of the third target hop in the bearer configuration information.

[0010] On a fifth side, a terminal including a processor and a memory, the memory storing a program or command executable by the processor, and when the program or command is executed by the processor, steps of the method according to the first side are realized.

[0011] On a sixth side, a terminal including a processor and a communication interface, the processor being used to establish a bearer of the first communication with a second device based on the first information and perform communication, the communication interface being used to acquire the first information, and the first information including configuration information for establishing a bearer of the first communication.

[0012] On a seventh side, it includes a processor and a memory, wherein the memory stores a program or command executable by the processor, and when the program or command is executed by the processor, the steps of the method described in the third side are realized, and another terminal is provided.

[0013] On an eighth side, it includes a processor and a communication interface, wherein the processor is used to establish a hop-by-hop sidelink bearer for a second target hop and / or a hop-by-hop sidelink bearer for a third target hop based on the third information, the communication interface is used to acquire the third information, and the third information includes the setting information related to the fourth device in the setting information for establishing a bearer of a first communication, and a terminal is provided.

[0014] On a ninth side, it includes a first device and a fourth device, wherein the first device can be used to execute the steps of the relay communication method described in the first side, and the fourth device can be used to execute the steps of the relay communication method described in the third side, and a relay communication system is provided.

[0015] On a tenth side, a program or command is stored, and when the program or command is executed by a processor, the steps of the method described in the first side are realized, or the steps of the method described in the third side are realized, and a readable storage medium is provided.

[0016] On an eleventh side, it includes a processor and a communication interface, wherein the communication interface is coupled to the processor, and the processor is used to execute a program or command to realize the method described in the first side or the method described in the third side, and a chip is provided.

[0017] On the 12th aspect, there is provided a computer program / product stored in a storage medium and executed by at least one processor to implement the steps of the relay communication method described in the 1st aspect or the 3rd aspect.

Advantages of the Invention

[0018] In an embodiment of the present application, first information including configuration information for establishing a bearer of a first communication is obtained, and further, based on the first information, a bearer of the first communication is established with a second device to perform communication. The first information includes first configuration information for establishing an end-to-end sidelink bearer and / or second configuration information for establishing a hop-by-hop sidelink bearer. Thereby, the bearer configuration of sidelink relay communication can be quickly executed, and service data transmission on a U2U path and even a multi-hop U2U path can be realized.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0019]

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Embodiments for Carrying Out the Invention

[0020] In the following, while referring to the drawings in the embodiments of the present application, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be clearly described. Naturally, the described embodiments are part of the embodiments of the present application, not all of the embodiments. All other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art based on the embodiments in the present application belong to the protection scope of the present application.

[0021] In the description and claims of this application, terms such as "first", "second", etc. are not for explaining a specific order or sequence, but for distinguishing similar objects. When used in this way, these terms may be replaced with each other in appropriate cases so that the embodiments of this application can be implemented in an order other than those illustrated or described in this specification. Moreover, it should be understood that the objects distinguished by "first" and "second" usually belong to one category, and the number of objects is not limited. For example, the first object may be one or multiple. Also, "and / or" in the description and claims represents at least one of the connected objects, and the symbol " / " generally represents that the related objects before and after are in an "or" relationship.

[0022] It should be noted that the technology described in the embodiments of this application is not limited to the Long Term Evolution (LTE) / Long Term Evolution-Advanced (LTE-A) system. Furthermore, for example, it 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), and Single-carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA), as well as other systems. In the embodiments of this application, the terms "system" and "network" can generally be used interchangeably, and the described technology may be used in the above-mentioned systems and radio communication technologies, or in other systems and radio communication technologies. However, for the purpose of illustration in the following description, the New Radio (NR) system is described, and the NR term is used in most of the following descriptions. These technologies are applicable beyond the NR system. For example, the 6th generation (6th It is also applicable to a (6G) communication system for generation.

[0023] FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a wireless communication system to which the embodiments of the present application can be applied. The wireless communication system includes a terminal 11 and a network-side device 12. Here, the terminal 11 may be a mobile phone, a tablet personal computer, a laptop computer (also called a notebook computer), a personal digital assistant (PDA), a portable information terminal, a netbook, an ultra-mobile personal computer (UMPC), a mobile Internet device (MID), an augmented reality (AR) / virtual reality (VR) device, a robot, a wearable device, a vehicle user equipment (VUE), a pedestrian user equipment (PUE), a smart home (a home device having a wireless communication function such as a refrigerator, a television, a washing machine, or furniture), a game machine, a personal computer (PC), a cash dispenser, or a kiosk. The wearable device may include a smart watch, a smart wristband, smart earphones, smart glasses, a smart accessory (such as a smart bracelet, a smart necklace, a smart ring, a smart anklet), a smart lanyard, or smart clothing. It should be noted that the specific type of the terminal 11 is not limited in the embodiments of the present application. The network-side device 12 may include an access network device or a core network device. Here, the access network device 12 may be called a wireless access network device, a radio access network (RAN), a wireless access network function, or a wireless access network unit.The access network device 12 may include a base station, a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) access point, a WiFi node, etc. The base station may be called a Node B, an evolved Node B (eNB), an access point, a Base Transceiver Station (BTS), a radio base station, a radio transceiver, a Basic Service Set (BSS), an Extended Service Set (ESS), a Home B Node, a Home evolved B Node, a Transmitting Receiving Point (TRP), or other suitable terms in the art. As long as the same technical effect can be achieved, the base station is not limited to specific technical terms. In the embodiments of the present application, only the base station in the NR system is taken as an example for description, but it is necessary to explain that the specific type of the base station is not limited.The core network device may include at least one of a core network node, a core network function, a Mobility Management Entity (MME), an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), a Session Management Function (SMF), a User Plane Function (UPF), a Policy Control Function (PCF), a Policy and Charging Rules Function unit (PCRF), an Edge Application Server Discovery Function (EASDF), a Unified Data Management (UDM), a Unified Data Repository (UDR), a Home Subscriber Server (HSS), a Centralized network configuration (CNC), a Network Repository Function (NRF), a Network Exposure Function (NEF), a Local NEF (Local NEF or L-NEF), a Binding Support Function (BSF), an Application Function (AF), etc., but is not limited thereto. In the embodiments of the present application, only the core network device in the NR system is introduced as an example, but it should be explained that the specific types of core network devices are not limited.

[0024] In the following, with reference to the drawings, the relay communication method, apparatus, and terminal provided by the embodiments of the present application will be described in detail by means of several embodiments and their application scenarios.

[0025] As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the embodiment of the present application provides a relay communication method, and the execution subject of the method is the first device 21. In other words, the method can be executed by software or hardware installed in the first device. The method includes the following steps S110 and S120.

[0026] In S110, the first device acquires first information, and the first information includes configuration information for establishing a bearer of the first communication.

[0027] The first communication is sidelink relay communication. As shown in FIG. 2, the first communication refers to U2U sidelink relay communication between the first device 21 and the second device 22. Data relay is performed between the first device 21 and the second device 22 via N relay devices 23, where N is a positive integer. Data transmission is performed between the first device 21 and the relay device 23, between each relay device 23, and between the relay device 23 and the second device 22 via a sidelink interface (PC5).

[0028] The first device 21 may be one of the source terminal and the destination terminal of the first communication, the second device 22 may be the other of the source terminal and the destination terminal of the first communication, and the relay device 23 may be a relay terminal relay UE between the source terminal and the destination terminal in the first communication.

[0029] The source terminal may be a service start side device of the first communication or a service flow transmission side device during service transmission of the first communication. Accordingly, the destination terminal may be a service reception side device of the first communication or a service flow reception side device during service transmission of the first communication.

[0030] The configuration information for establishing the bearer of the first communication can be determined, configured, and / or maintained by the first device 21. The first device 21 can be configured according to actual needs. In one embodiment, the first device can be one of the service start-side device of the sidelink relay communication, the service flow transmission-side device of the sidelink relay communication, the service flow reception-side device of the sidelink relay communication, and one of the source terminal and the destination terminal of the sidelink relay communication.

[0031] In one embodiment, for each service or two-way service, the service start-side device of the service flow can determine the bearer configuration information and lead the configuration and / or maintenance process. For example, in a one-way service, when transmitting from remote UE1 to remote UE2, the bearer configuration information corresponding to the one-way service can be determined by remote UE1 as the first device 21, and can be configured and / or maintained for the peer remote UE2 through the sidelink radio resource control (PC5 RRC) process. Also, for example, in a two-way service, which consists of two service flows in two directions, for the bearer configuration information corresponding to the service flow transmitted from remote UE1 to remote UE2, it can be determined by remote UE1 and the configuration and / or maintenance process can be led, while for the bearer configuration information corresponding to the reverse service flow transmitted from remote UE2 to remote UE1, it can be determined by remote UE2 and the configuration and / or maintenance can be led. The advantage of this method is that for each service or each service flow in each direction, since the remote UE generating the service has the best understanding, an accurate configuration and / or maintenance process can be provided.

[0032] In another embodiment, for each service or one-way service, the bearer configuration information can be determined, configured, and / or maintained by the service starting side device. For example, in a one-way service, the service starting side remote UE1 determines, and takes the lead in the configuration and / or maintenance process of the bearer configuration information. Also, for example, in a two-way service, the service starting side remote UE can determine, and take the lead in the configuration and / or maintenance process of the bearer configuration information, without distinguishing the service flow direction of the two-way service, and for all directions, it is determined and led by the remote UE1. When the two-way service starts from the remote UE1, although there is also a reverse service flow to the remote UE2, only the remote UE1 determines the bearer configuration information and takes the lead in the configuration and / or maintenance process. The advantage of this method is to avoid configuration conflicts and failures, reduce the delay of signaling interaction in the scenario related to U2U relay UE and even multiple relay UE relaying, and improve the efficiency of configuration and control.

[0033] In another embodiment, regardless of whether each service is one-way or two-way, the bearer configuration information is determined by the terminal determined based on the regulations among the source terminal and the destination terminal, and the configuration and / or maintenance process is led. The said regulations can be set according to the actual needs.

[0034] In one embodiment, for example, a default rule may be adopted for determination, such as being determined by a UE that first initiates a sidelink communication establishment request. For example, when a remote UE1 first initiates a communication request (Direct Communication Request, DCR), it is determined by the remote UE1, and the configuration and / or maintenance process is led. In another embodiment, according to the service situation, it may be determined by the UE on the actual service providing side, and the configuration and / or maintenance process may be led. For example, when data transmission is performed between two UEs, it is determined by the UE on the side providing the data, and the configuration and / or maintenance process is led. In another embodiment, according to the negotiation situation between two UEs, one of them may be selected as the UE that determines and leads the configuration and / or maintenance process. For example, two UEs exchange information and tendencies regarding the determination of control authority in the PC5-S or PC5 RRC interaction process. For example, when one of the UEs is in an Out Of Coverage (OOC) state and the other is within the network coverage area and in the RRC connected state, obviously, the second UE can obtain more support from the network side, so it can be determined by the second UE and the configuration and / or maintenance process can be led.

[0035] It should be noted that when the first device that determines the bearer configuration information and leads the configuration and / or maintenance process is not the source terminal, the first device first needs to obtain the service-related information and / or link-related information of the first communication. Specifically, it can be obtained from the source terminal by the sidelink radio resource control process, the PC5-S process, or the service layer.

[0036] The first information includes at least one of: first setting information that is end-to-end setting information in the setting information of the bearer; and second setting information that is hop-by-hop setting information corresponding to a first target hop between the first device and the third device in the setting information of the bearer, where the third device is a relay device connected to the first device in the first communication.

[0037] When the first device is a source terminal, the first target hop is the hop from the source terminal to the first relay terminal directly connected thereto among the N + 1 hops between the source terminal and the destination terminal, that is, the first hop. When the first device is a destination terminal, the first target hop is the hop from the destination terminal to the Nth relay terminal directly connected thereto, that is, the (N + 1)th hop.

[0038] In one embodiment, the first communication is one of: layer 2 (L2) sidelink relay communication, that is, the L2 U2U scenario; and layer 3 (L3) sidelink relay communication, that is, the L3 U2U scenario.

[0039] When the first communication is the L2 U2U scenario, it is necessary to establish an end-to-end sidelink bearer (E2E SLRB) and a hop-by-hop sidelink bearer corresponding to each hop between the first device and the second device, which may also be called a radio link control bearer (RLC Bearer) or a radio link control channel (RLC Channel). For the sake of simplicity, in the following examples, RLC Bearer is taken as an example for description. Accordingly, the bearer setting information of the first communication may include first setting information corresponding to the E2E SLRB and second setting information corresponding to the RLC Bearer.

[0040] The first setting information mainly includes the Packet Data Convergence Protocol layer (PDCP layer) and the setting information of the above layers, and includes at least one of the setting information of the Packet Data Convergence Protocol layer, the setting information of the Service Data Adaptation Protocol layer (SDAP layer), and the identifier of the end-to-end side link bearer (E2E SLRB ID).

[0041] The second setting information in the L2 U2U scenario includes at least one of the setting information of the Radio Link Control layer (RLC layer), the setting information of the Medium Access Control layer (MAC layer), and the setting information of the Physical layer (PHY layer).

[0042] When the first communication is in the L3 U2U scenario, since all the links of each hop between the first device and the second device are layer 3 links (L3 links), it is necessary to establish the side link bearer of the link of each hop for the first communication, and the bearer setting information of the first communication may include the second setting information corresponding to the side link bearer of the link of each hop.

[0043] The second setting information in the L3 U2U scenario includes at least one of the setting information of the Service Data Adaptation Protocol layer, the setting information of the Packet Data Convergence Protocol layer, the setting information of the Radio Link Control layer, the setting information of the Medium Access Control layer, and the setting information of the Physical layer.

[0044] At S120, the first device establishes the bearer of the first communication with the second device based on the first information and performs communication.

[0045] After determining the bearer configuration information, the first device can configure the corresponding configuration information for the second device and the relay device to establish the bearer for the first communication. After successful configuration, it can realize side-link relay communication with the second device.

[0046] For the L2 U2U scenario, the first device can send the first configuration information to the second device through the side-link radio resource control process to establish an E2E SLRB. Further, to establish an RCL bearer with an adjacent relay device, the first device can send the second configuration information to the adjacent relay device through the side-link radio resource control process.

[0047] For the L3 U2U scenario, the first device can send the service-related information and / or link-related information of the first communication to the second device and each relay device. For example, through signaling in the PC5-S process, it can send the service-related information and / or link-related information corresponding to each hop, and each transmitting end of each hop can obtain the corresponding configuration information based on the corresponding service-related information and / or link-related information and send it to the peer device to establish the side-link bearer for each hop.

[0048] As can be seen from the above embodiments, for the first communication, one terminal may determine the bearer configuration information and lead the configuration and / or maintenance process, or according to different directions of the service flow, two terminals may determine the bearer configuration information in different directions and lead the configuration and / or maintenance process in that direction. For the first configuration information and the second configuration information, they can also be determined by the same or different terminals respectively to lead the configuration and / or maintenance process. For the sake of simplicity, the following embodiments will all be described by taking one terminal as an example to determine the bearer configuration information and lead the configuration and / or maintenance process.

[0049] As can be seen from the technical solution of the above embodiments, the embodiments of the present application obtain first information including configuration information for establishing a bearer for a first communication, and further establish the bearer for the first communication with a second device based on the first information to perform communication. The first information includes first configuration information for establishing an end-to-end sidelink bearer and / or second configuration information for establishing a hop-by-hop sidelink bearer. Thereby, the bearer configuration of sidelink relay communication can be quickly executed to realize service data transmission on a U2U path and even a multi-hop U2U path.

[0050] Based on the above embodiments, as further shown in FIG. 4, step S110 includes step S111 in which the first device receives a first message from a network-side device and obtains the first information based on the first message. The first message includes at least one of the first configuration information and / or the second configuration information, a configuration table for searching the first configuration information and / or the second configuration information and providing corresponding first configuration information and / or second configuration information in consideration of all possible service scenarios in advance, and a mapping relationship between the first configuration information and the second configuration information.

[0051] The first message may be at least one of the dedicated signaling, broadcast signaling, System Information Block (SIB) signaling, or pre-configured signaling according to the network state of the first device.

[0052] In one embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5, step S111 includes step S113 in which when the first device is in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connected state, the first device receives the first signaling including the first configuration information and / or the second configuration information from the network-side device.

[0053] The first signaling may be dedicated signaling, that is, the network-side device directly distributes the first setting information and / or the second setting information to the first device.

[0054] The first signaling may further include a mapping relationship between the first setting information and the second setting information.

[0055] In order to obtain accurate first setting information and / or second setting information from the network-side device, after receiving the first signaling from the network-side device, the method further includes step S112 in which the first device transmits second information of the first communication to the network-side device, and the second information includes service-related information and / or link-related information of the first communication.

[0056] In one embodiment, the service-related information of the first communication includes at least one of end-to-end Quality of Service (QoS) parameter information and hop-by-hop QoS parameter information.

[0057] In one embodiment, the hop-by-hop QoS parameter information includes at least one of hop QoS parameter information, allocated or occupied QoS parameter information, remaining QoS parameter information excluding the allocated or occupied QoS information, and QoS division information.

[0058] Here, the QoS division information is for dividing QoS parameters, and determines the QoS parameter value of a hop based on the end-to-end QoS parameter information, the hop-by-hop QoS parameter information, the allocated or occupied QoS parameter information, and the characteristics of the hop.

[0059] Taking the Packet Delay Budget (PDB) as an example, when assuming that the end-to-end PDB requirement of the sidelink service is 100 milliseconds (ms), when transmitting via one relay device, i.e., relay UE, the hop-by-hop PDB parameter between remote UE1 and relay UE is set to 50 ms, and the remaining hop-by-hop PDB parameter between relay UE and remote UE2 is set to 50 ms, or they can be divided such as 40 ms or 60 ms between the two, or when transmitting via two relay devices, i.e., relay UE1 and relay UE2, the PDB between remote UE1 and relay UE1 is set to 30 ms, the PDB between relay UE1 and relay UE2 is set to 35 ms, and the PDB between relay UE2 and remote UE2 is set to 35 ms (the sum of which is equal to the end-to-end PDB of 100 ms), or the three PDBs are set to 20 ms, 40 ms, 40 ms, etc., respectively. Each hop can only determine the PDB of the hop, and refers to the end-to-end PDB, and the PDB occupied by other hops or the remaining PDB to obtain the PDB parameter of the hop.

[0060] In one embodiment, the link-related information of the first communication includes at least one of first relay indication information for instructing to adopt layer 2 or layer 3 end-to-end relay communication, and hop-by-hop relay link information, and the hop-by-hop relay link information includes at least one of the total number of hops and the hop number.

[0061] In another embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6, step S111 includes the following steps S114 and S115.

[0062] In S114, when the first device is in the RRC Idle state or Inactive state, the first device receives second signaling including the setting table from the network-side device.

[0063] The setting table includes a mapping relationship between the first information and the second information.

[0064] In S115, the first device searches for the first information from the setting table based on the second information of the first communication, and the second information includes service-related information and / or link-related information of the first communication.

[0065] The second signaling may be broadcast signaling or SIB.

[0066] The second signaling may further include a mapping relationship between the first setting information and the second setting information.

[0067] In another embodiment, as shown in FIG. 7, step S111 includes the following steps S116 and S117.

[0068] In S116, when the first device is in OOC, the first device obtains the pre-setting information including the setting table from the third signaling.

[0069] The setting table includes a mapping relationship between the first information and the second information, where the third signaling may be pre-setting signaling and can be sent from the network-side device to the first device when the first device is in the RRC connected state, non-active state or idle state.

[0070] In S117, the first device searches for the first information from the setting table based on the second information of the first communication, and the second information includes service-related information and / or link-related information of the first communication.

[0071] The third signaling may further include a mapping relationship between the first setting information and the second setting information.

[0072] In one embodiment, step S115 or S117 includes at least one of the following steps: the first device retrieves the first setting information from the setting table based on the end-to-end related information in the second information; the first device retrieves the second setting information from the setting table based on the end-to-end related information and / or hop-by-hop related information in the second information; the first device retrieves the second setting information from the setting table based on the end-to-end related information in the second information and / or the mapping relationship between the first setting information and the second setting information.

[0073] The end-to-end related information in the second information may include at least one of end-to-end QoS parameter information, peer device information, first relay instruction information, hop-by-hop relay link information, total number of hops, etc.

[0074] The hop-by-hop related information in the second information may include at least one of hop-by-hop QoS parameter information, hop QoS parameter information, allocated or occupied QoS parameter information, remaining QoS parameter information excluding the allocated or occupied QoS information, QoS division information, hop number, etc.

[0075] In one embodiment, the setting table for retrieving the first setting information and the second setting information may be the same setting table, or may include a first setting table for retrieving the first setting information and a second setting table for retrieving the second setting information. The first device obtains the first setting table and the second setting table from the network-side device respectively, and further retrieves the first setting information from the first setting table based on the end-to-end related information in the second information, and retrieves the second setting information from the second setting table based on the end-to-end related information and / or hop-by-hop related information in the second information.

[0076] For the sake of simplicity, all of the following embodiments will be described by taking the first setting table and the second setting table as examples.

[0077] As can be seen from the technical solutions of the above embodiments, the embodiments of the present application can flexibly implement the bearer setting of sidelink relay communication by obtaining the first setting information and / or the second setting information in different ways when the first device is in different network states.

[0078] Based on the above embodiments, as shown in FIG. 8, the setting and / or maintenance process of the first setting information in the L2 U2U scenario includes the following steps S810 and S820.

[0079] In step S810, the first device obtains the first setting information.

[0080] Regarding the acquisition of the first setting information based on the network state of the first device, when the first device is in the RRC connected state, the first setting information is obtained from the network-side device by steps S112 to S113. When the first device is in the RRC idle state or the inactive state, the first setting table is obtained from the second signaling received from the network-side device by steps S114 to S115, and then the first setting information is retrieved from the first setting table based on the end-to-end related information in the second information.

[0081] When the first device is outside the network coverage area, the first setting table is obtained from the third signaling by steps S116 to S117, and then the first setting information is retrieved from the first setting table based on the end-to-end related information in the second information.

[0082] It should be noted that since both the second signaling and the third signaling are common signaling, the first setting tables for the second signaling and the third signaling need to provide a first setting table corresponding to each service scenario in consideration of all possible service scenarios, for example, direct transmission, one-hop relay transmission, two-hop relay transmission, or N-hop relay transmission. Therefore, the network-side device can be set for different scenarios in the following ways.

[0083] In one embodiment, without distinguishing service scenarios, the same first setting table is adopted in all scenarios, and further, based on the service-related information in the end-to-end related information such as end-to-end QoS parameter information, the corresponding first setting information is retrieved from the first setting table, which is simple in processing and has a small signaling overhead. In another embodiment, different first setting tables are adopted according to service scenarios. For example, the first setting table A1 is used for direct transmission, the first setting table A2 is used for U2U relay communication by relay, or the corresponding first setting table is used according to the total number of different hops. Alternatively, different scenarios are grouped, and each scenario group corresponds to a different first setting table. For example, scenario group 1 corresponds to the first setting table A1, scenario group 2 corresponds to the first setting table A2,..., and scenario group m corresponds to the first setting table Am.

[0084] In another embodiment, the setting parameters in the first setting information are divided into common parameters and differentiation parameters. Since the common parameters are the same, a common first setting table A0 can be adopted. The differentiation parameters can be individually set according to different scenes or different scene groups. For example, the first setting information includes a common parameters and b differentiation parameters. The a common parameters are common to each scene and can be retrieved from the common first setting table A0. The b differentiation parameters correspond to different first setting tables according to the scene or scene group. For a specific scene, the first device first retrieves the a parameters from the common first setting table A0 based on the service-related information in the end-to-end related information, then determines the corresponding first setting table based on the belonging scene group, obtains the corresponding b differentiation parameters, and finally combines the a + b parameters to obtain the complete first setting information.

[0085] Through the above process, the first device obtains the first setting information for the first communication, and further sets the first setting information for the second device. Step S120 includes step S820 in which the first device sends a second message including the first setting information to the second device through the PC5 RRC process.

[0086] Since the first device and the second device cannot communicate directly, it is necessary to relay through a relay device. The data relayed through the relay device is the protocol data unit (PDU) of the E2E layer 2, and generally is the encrypted packet data convergence protocol data unit (PDCP PDU). The relay device cannot read the data to be relayed, ensuring the needs of security and privacy.

[0087] Specifically, the PC5 RRC process may be transmitted to the second device by means of a sidelink radio resource control reconfiguration process.

[0088] In one embodiment, when the first device receives a response to the Reconfiguration Complete message from the second device, it determines that the setup process of the end-to-end sidelink bearer is complete.

[0089] In another embodiment, when the first device receives a response to the Reconfiguration Failure message from the second device, it determines that the current setup has failed, rolls back to the previous setup, and needs to perform the next setup based on the failure reason, failure indication information, etc. The failure reason may be that a setup conflict has occurred between the two terminals, or the setup of the second terminal has failed.

[0090] As can be seen from the technical solutions of the above embodiments, the embodiments of the present application realize end-to-end sidelink bearer setup by obtaining first setup information and performing setup on the second device. Also, based on different service scenarios and QoS parameter information, the end-to-end sidelink bearer is matched, and different service data is transmitted on the U2U path and even the multi-hop U2U path, achieving the guarantee and improvement of communication performance and system performance such as reliability and throughput.

[0091] Based on the above embodiments, the setup and / or maintenance process of the second setup information in the L2 U2U scenario is as follows.

[0092] Regarding the end-to-end sidelink bearer, since it cannot be directly transmitted between the first device and the second device via the sidelink, it is necessary to relay through a relay device. The relay link includes the RLC Bearer from the first device to the adjacent relay device, between two adjacent relay devices, and from the adjacent relay device to the second device, that is, the end-to-end sidelink bearer is mapped to the RCL Bearer of each hop to perform transmission for each hop and finally reach the second device.

[0093] Devices on both sides of each hop can all lead the setting of the second setting information and / or the maintenance process, and can be the first device or a relay device. For example, when the first device is outside the network coverage area, relevant information can be sent to the relay device, and the relay device can determine the second setting information.

[0094] In one embodiment, as shown in FIG. 9, the first device executes the setting of the second setting information and / or the maintenance process, including the following steps S910 and S920.

[0095] In step S910, the first device acquires the second setting information.

[0096] The determination method of the first device is as described in the above embodiment, and the first device may be a source terminal, a destination terminal, a service start-side device, a service flow transmission-side device, etc., and detailed description is omitted here.

[0097] Regarding the acquisition of the second setting information based on the network state of the first device, when the first device is in the RRC connected state, the second setting information is acquired from the network-side device according to steps S112 to S113. When the first device is in the RRC idle state or the inactive state, according to steps S114 to S115, the second setting table is acquired from the second signaling received from the network-side device, and further, the second setting information is retrieved from the second setting table based on the end-to-end related information and / or hop-by-hop related information in the second information, or the second setting information is retrieved from the second setting table based on the end-to-end related information in the second information and / or the mapping relationship between the first setting information and the second setting information.

[0098] When the first device is outside the network coverage range, the second setting table is obtained from the third signaling according to steps S116 to S117, and the second setting information is retrieved from the second setting table based on the end-to-end related information and / or hop-by-hop related information in the second information, or the second setting information is retrieved from the second setting table based on the end-to-end related information in the second information and / or the mapping relationship between the first setting information and the second setting information.

[0099] It should be noted that since both the second signaling and the third signaling are common signaling, the second setting tables in the second signaling and the third signaling need to provide the second setting tables corresponding to each service scenario considering all possible service scenarios. Further, the mapping relationship between the first setting information and the second setting information corresponding to each service scenario may also be provided.

[0100] In one embodiment, the second signaling and the third signaling may include a second setting table corresponding to the end-to-end related information in the second information, for example, a second setting table B corresponding to the end-to-end QoS parameter information. The first device can obtain the setting parameters of the second setting information from the second setting table based on the end-to-end QoS parameter information. For example, when the end-to-end QoS parameter information 1 is satisfied, a set 1 of the setting parameters of the second setting information is retrieved from the second setting table B; when the end-to-end QoS parameter information 2 is satisfied, a set 2 of the setting parameters of the second setting information is retrieved from the second setting table B. Similarly, when the end-to-end QoS parameter information n is satisfied, a set n of the setting parameters of the second setting information is retrieved from the second setting table B. When there is no end-to-end QoS parameter information that satisfies the condition, it corresponds to the set of the setting parameters of the default second setting information.

[0101] From the above embodiments, it can be seen that the first device can also retrieve the corresponding first setting information from the first setting table based on the end-to-end QoS parameter information, and based on the same end-to-end QoS parameter information, the corresponding first setting information and second setting information can be retrieved respectively. Therefore, it is clear that it can be determined that there is a mapping relationship between the first setting information and the second setting information.

[0102] In one embodiment, the correspondence between the end-to-end QoS parameters and the first setting information and the second setting information is further added to the second signaling and / or the third signaling, and a set of end-to-end QoS parameter information can be simultaneously associated with the set of the first setting information and the set of the second setting information. In this case, regardless of whether it is led by the first device or the relay device, two mutually mapped first setting information and second setting information can be derived from the obtained end-to-end QoS parameter information, and the mapping relationship between the first setting information and the second setting information can be determined.

[0103] In another embodiment, the second signaling and the third signaling may include a second setting table corresponding to the hop-by-hop related information in the second information, for example, a second setting table B corresponding to the hop-by-hop QoS parameter information. The first device can obtain the setting parameters of the second setting information from the second setting table based on the hop-by-hop QoS parameter information. For example, when the hop-by-hop QoS parameter information 1 is satisfied, a set 1 of the setting parameters of the second setting information is retrieved from the second setting table B; when the hop-by-hop QoS parameter information 2 is satisfied, a set 2 of the setting parameters of the second setting information is retrieved from the second setting table B; similarly, when the hop-by-hop QoS parameter information n is satisfied, a set n of the setting parameters of the second setting information is retrieved from the second setting table B. When there is no hop-by-hop QoS parameter information that satisfies the conditions, it corresponds to the set of the default setting parameters of the second setting information.

[0104] In one embodiment, a correspondence relationship between hop-by-hop QoS parameters and second configuration information may be further added to the second signaling and / or the third signaling, or the correspondence relationship is realized and determined by the first device.

[0105] In another embodiment, the second signaling and the third signaling may include a mapping relationship between the first configuration information and the second configuration information, so that the second configuration information can be determined based on the first configuration information. The mapping relationship between the first configuration information and the second configuration information may have multiple forms of expression. The embodiments of the present application will be described by taking only the following two embodiments as examples.

[0106] For Embodiment 1, the second configuration information is determined based on the end-to-end sidelink bearer identifier. A global end-to-end sidelink bearer identifier mechanism is set, that is, different means such as system information block signaling, broadcast signaling, pre-configuration signaling, network-side devices, and cells need to be uniformly numbered with their corresponding end-to-end sidelink bearer identifiers. In this way, the acquisition of the global end-to-end sidelink bearer identifier can be guaranteed, so that the accurate second configuration information can be retrieved, and the mapping relationship between the first configuration information and the second configuration information can be directly obtained.

[0107] For Embodiment 2, the second configuration information is determined based on the characteristics of the end-to-end sidelink bearer. For example, based on at least one of the typical characteristics of the end-to-end sidelink bearer, such as the RLC transmission mode (Acknowledged Mode, AM or Unacknowledged Mode, UM), MAC parameters, channel priority of the end-to-end sidelink bearer, service delay parameters, etc., the second configuration information is determined, and the mapping relationship between the first configuration information and the second configuration information is obtained.

[0108] In all of the above embodiments, the second setting information is determined using QoS parameter information as an example. That is, the hop-by-hop sidelink bearer and mode can be determined based on the QoS parameter information. For example, when the requirement for the reliability of the QoS parameter information is high, the hop-by-hop sidelink bearer can adopt the RLC AM mode. When the requirement for the reliability of the QoS parameter information is low, the RLC UM mode can be adopted. If the service priority in the QoS parameter information is high, the corresponding hop-by-hop sidelink bearer priority is also high. Conversely, if the priority in the QoS parameter information is low, the hop-by-hop sidelink bearer priority is also low. When the guaranteed bit rate corresponding to the QoS parameter information is x, in order to transmit the service, the corresponding guaranteed bit rate of the hop-by-hop sidelink bearer also needs to increase by x.

[0109] For the newly added service flow, there is a possibility that the hop-by-hop sidelink bearer retrieved by the above method has been established (that is, the same service of other similar services or other UEs has triggered the establishment before). In this case, the newly added end-to-end sidelink bearer can be directly mapped to the existing hop-by-hop sidelink bearer, and the necessary interface reconfiguration can be performed on the existing hop-by-hop sidelink bearer. The reconfigured parameters include adjustment of priority and / or increase of the guaranteed bit rate (adding the rate of the new service flow to the original guaranteed bit rate to obtain a new guaranteed bit rate), etc.

[0110] For QoS parameters that require segmentation, the segmentation method can be controlled by the network-side device. For example, all information is reported to the network-side device, waiting for the setting by the dedicated signaling of the network-side device, or according to detailed QoS information, searching for the QoS parameter information of each hop from broadcast signaling, system information block signaling or preset signaling. The QoS parameters of this part that require segmentation may also be realized by the UE. That is, the UE obtains the fixed setting parameters in the second setting information derived from the QoS information from the network, determines the dividable setting parameters by itself, and forms the complete second setting information.

[0111] Through the above process, the first device obtains the second setting information of the first communication, and further sets the second setting information for the third device. Step S120 includes step S920 in which the first device sends a third message including the second setting information and / or the mapping relationship between the first setting information and the second setting information to the third device.

[0112] The third message can be sent by the sidelink radio resource control process. Here, the third device is a relay device connected to the first device among the relay devices of the first communication.

[0113] Based on the above embodiments, in one embodiment, the realization of the setting and / or maintenance process of the second setting information by the relay device is as follows. As shown in FIG. 10, the method includes the following step S1010 and step S1020.

[0114] In S1010, the fourth device obtains the third information, and the third information includes the setting information related to the fourth device in the setting information for establishing the bearer of the first communication.

[0115] The fourth device is one of the relay devices in the first communication.

[0116] The third information is third setting information which is the setting information of the second target hop in the setting information of the bearer, and the third setting information is that the second target hop is one hop between the fourth device and an upstream device which is a relay device or the first device of the first communication, and the fourth setting information which is the setting information of the third target hop in the setting information of the bearer, and the fourth setting information is that the third target hop is one hop between the fourth device and a downstream device which is a relay device or the second device of the first communication, and includes at least one of them.

[0117] In one embodiment, step S1010 includes the following step S1011 and step S1012.

[0118] In S1011, the fourth device receives a fourth message including the third setting information from the upstream device, and in S1012, the fourth device acquires the fourth setting information based on the third setting information, that is, the relay device can acquire the setting information of the next hop based on the setting information of the previous hop it received.

[0119] For the same end-to-end service flow, when transmitting through each hop, different hops can adopt the same or different hop-by-hop setting information, that is, the fourth device can adopt the same or different third setting information and fourth setting information. For example, for the PC5 QoS service flow, it can be determined that its corresponding end-to-end QoS parameter information adopts the same hop-by-hop setting information, that is, the same third setting information and fourth setting information.

[0120] Based on the above principle, in one embodiment, after the first device obtains the second configuration information, it can send the second configuration information to the third device corresponding to the first hop, and for the hop-by-hop configuration information corresponding to the second hop and subsequent hops, the second configuration information can be directly used for the RLC Bearer configuration of each hop in the simplest way of direct multiplexing. Similarly, for the fourth device, the third configuration information and the fourth configuration information are the same, and both are the second configuration information.

[0121] In another embodiment, the configuration information of each hop can also be adjusted according to actual needs. Step S1012 includes the step of obtaining the fourth configuration information based on the third configuration information and / or the relevant information of the third target hop in the second information of the first communication, where the second information includes the service-related information and / or link-related information of the first communication.

[0122] Specifically, based on the QoS parameter information corresponding to each hop, the configuration information of each hop can be adjusted. For QoS parameters that require splitting, the relay device can determine the QoS parameter information of the hop based on the end-to-end QoS parameter information and the remaining QoS parameter information excluding the allocated or occupied QoS parameter information or the allocated or occupied QoS information.

[0123] The fourth device can further obtain the third information through signaling from the network-side device based on the network state of the fourth device.

[0124] In one embodiment, step S1010 includes the step of the fourth device receiving the fourth signaling including the third information from the network-side device when the fourth device is in the radio resource control connection state.

[0125] In one embodiment, before receiving the fourth signaling from the network-side device, the method further includes a step in which the fourth device transmits, to the network-side device, related information of the third target hop in the second information of the first communication, where the second information includes service-related information and / or link-related information of the first communication.

[0126] In another embodiment, step S1010 includes: when the fourth device is in the radio resource control idle state or the inactive state, the fourth device receives fifth signaling from the network-side device; and the fourth device searches for the third information from the fifth signaling based on the related information of the third target hop in the second information of the first communication, where the second information includes service-related information and / or link-related information of the first communication.

[0127] In another embodiment, step S1010 includes: when the fourth device is outside the network coverage area, the fourth device searches for the third information from the sixth signaling based on the related information of the third target hop in the second information of the first communication, where the second information includes service-related information and / or link-related information of the first communication.

[0128] In S1020, the fourth device establishes a hop-by-hop sidelink bearer of the second target hop and / or a hop-by-hop sidelink bearer of the third target hop based on the third information.

[0129] In one embodiment, step S1020 includes a step in which the fourth device transmits a fifth message to the downstream device, where the fifth message includes the fourth configuration information and can be transmitted by a sidelink radio resource control process. Each relay device can transmit the hop configuration information to the downstream device by a PC5 RRC process after receiving the configuration information of the previous hop from the upstream device.

[0130] The method by which the fourth device acquires the third information based on the network state is the same as the method by which the first device in the above embodiment acquires the first information based on the network state. For overlapping parts, detailed descriptions are omitted here.

[0131] As can be seen from the technical solutions of the above embodiments, the embodiments of the present application realize hop-by-hop sidelink bearer setting by acquiring the second setting information and setting it for the third device. Also, based on different service scenarios and QoS parameter information, the hop-by-hop sidelink bearers are matched, and different service data is transmitted on the U2U path and even the multi-hop U2U path, achieving the guarantee and improvement of communication performance and system performance such as reliability and throughput.

[0132] Based on the above embodiments, in the L3 U2U scenario, each hop can be regarded as a complete protocol stack system.

[0133] In one embodiment, first, the end-to-end QoS parameter information is divided, that is, for example, it can be divided into the QoS parameter information of each hop passed through, such as the QoS parameter information of the first hop (Hop1), the QoS parameter information of the second hop (Hop2),..., the QoS parameter information of the Nth hop (HopN).

[0134] The division process of the above QoS parameter information can be performed by PC5-S or the V2X upper layer (Vehicle-to-Everything higher layer, V2X higher layer).

[0135] Therefore, in the process of configuring the sidelink bearer in the L3 U2U scenario, each hop can be performed independently. Each hop retrieves the configuration information of each hop based on the corresponding QoS parameter information, and decomposes it for use in realizing the configuration of the sidelink bearer for each hop. For example, Hop1 performs the SLRB and basic configuration of Hop1 based on the QoS parameter information of Hop1, Hop2 performs the SLRB and basic configuration of Hop2 based on the QoS parameter information of Hop2, …… HopN performs the SLRB and basic configuration of HopN based on the QoS parameter information of HopN. The configuration information of each hop may include the configuration information of the SDAP layer, the configuration information of the PDCP, the RLC configuration information, the MAC configuration information, and the PHY configuration information, etc.

[0136] The configuration of each hop can be performed in the same process. The sidelink bearer of each hop is determined by the transmitting device at that hop, and multiplexes the process of the direct link in the above embodiment as much as possible.

[0137] When the transmitting device is in the RRC connected state, the same method as in steps S112~S113 is adopted. The transmitting device reports the relevant information corresponding to each hop, such as the QoS parameter information of each hop, to the network-side device, and receives the dedicated signaling of the network-side device. The dedicated signaling includes the configuration information of each hop.

[0138] When the transmitting device is in the RRC idle state or the inactive state, the same method as in steps S114~S115 is adopted. The transmitting device searches for the configuration information of each hop from the broadcast signaling or the system message block signaling based on the QoS parameter information of each hop.

[0139] When the transmitting device is in OOC, the transmitting device searches for the configuration information of each hop from the pre-configured signaling based on the QoS parameter information of each hop.

[0140] After obtaining the configuration information of each hop, the transmitting device can transmit it to the peer device of each hop through the PC5 RRC process.

[0141] As can be seen from the technical solution of the above embodiment, the embodiment of the present application divides the QoS parameter information of each hop in the L3 U2U scenario, and according to the QoS parameter information of each hop, based on the network state, obtains the configuration information of each hop to realize the sidelink bearer configuration of each hop. In addition, based on different QoS parameters, the sidelink bearers of each hop are matched, and different service data is transmitted on the U2U path and even the multi-hop U2U path, so as to achieve the guarantee and improvement of communication performance and system performance such as reliability and throughput.

[0142] The relay communication method provided by the embodiment of the present application may have a relay communication device as the execution entity. In the embodiment of the present application, taking the relay communication device executing the relay communication method as an example, the relay communication device provided by the embodiment of the present application will be described.

[0143] As shown in FIG. 11, the relay communication device includes a first transmission module 1101 and a first execution module 1102.

[0144] The first transmission module 1101 is used to obtain first information, where the first information includes configuration information for establishing a bearer of a first communication. The first execution module 1102 is used to establish the bearer of the first communication with a second device based on the first information and perform communication. Here, the relay communication device is one of the source terminal and the destination terminal of the first communication, the second device is the other of the source terminal and the destination terminal of the first communication, the first communication is a sidelink relay communication, and the first information includes at least one of: first configuration information which is end-to-end configuration information in the bearer configuration information, and second configuration information which is hop-by-hop configuration information corresponding to a first target hop between the relay communication device and a third device in the bearer configuration information, where the third device is a relay device connected to the first device in the first communication.

[0145] Optionally, the first communication is one of a layer 2 sidelink relay communication and a layer 3 sidelink relay communication.

[0146] Optionally, when the first communication is a layer 2 sidelink relay communication, the second configuration information includes at least one of configuration information of a radio link control layer, configuration information of a media access control layer, and configuration information of a physical layer.

[0147] Optionally, when the first communication is a layer 3 sidelink relay communication, the second configuration information includes at least one of configuration information of a service data adaptation protocol layer, configuration information of a packet data convergence protocol layer, configuration information of a radio link control layer, configuration information of a media access control layer, and configuration information of a physical layer.

[0148] Optionally, the relay communication device is one of the service start side device of the sidelink relay communication, the service flow transmission side device of the sidelink relay communication, the service flow reception side device of the sidelink relay communication, and one of the source terminal and the destination terminal of the sidelink relay communication.

[0149] As can be seen from the technical solution of the above embodiment, the embodiment of the present application acquires first information including configuration information for establishing a bearer of the first communication, and further establishes the bearer of the first communication with a second device based on the first information and performs communication. The first information includes first configuration information for establishing an end-to-end sidelink bearer and / or second configuration information for establishing a hop-by-hop sidelink bearer, thereby enabling rapid execution of sidelink relay communication bearer configuration and realizing service data transmission on a U2U path and even a multi-hop U2U path.

[0150] Optionally, based on the above embodiment, the first transmission module 1101 is used to receive a first message from a network side device and acquire the first information based on the first message. The first message includes at least one of the first configuration information and / or the second configuration information, a configuration table for searching the first configuration information and / or the second configuration information, and a mapping relationship between the first configuration information and the second configuration information.

[0151] Optionally, when in the radio resource control connection state, the first transmission module 1101 is used to receive the first signaling including the first configuration information and / or the second configuration information from the network side device.

[0152] Optionally, the first signaling may further include a mapping relationship between the first configuration information and the second configuration information.

[0153] Optionally, the first transmission module 1101 is further used to transmit second information of the first communication to the network-side device, where the second information includes service-related information and / or link-related information of the first communication.

[0154] Optionally, when in the radio resource control idle state or inactive state, the first transmission module 1101 receives second signaling including the setting table from the network-side device, where the setting table includes a mapping relationship between first information and second information, and searches for the first information from the setting table based on the second information of the first communication, where the second information includes service-related information and / or link-related information of the first communication.

[0155] Optionally, the second signaling further includes a mapping relationship between the first setting information and the second setting information.

[0156] Optionally, when outside the network coverage area, the first transmission module 1101 obtains pre-set information including the setting table from third signaling, where the setting table includes a mapping relationship between first information and second information, and searches for the first information from the setting table based on the second information of the first communication, where the second information includes service-related information and / or link-related information of the first communication.

[0157] Optionally, the third signaling further includes a mapping relationship between the first setting information and the second setting information.

[0158] Optionally, the service-related information of the first communication includes at least one of end-to-end QoS parameter information and hop-by-hop QoS parameter information.

[0159] Optionally, the per-hop QoS parameter information includes at least one of hop QoS parameter information, assigned or occupied QoS parameter information, remaining QoS parameter information excluding the assigned or occupied QoS information, and QoS splitting information.

[0160] Optionally, the link-related information of the first communication includes at least one of first relay indication information for instructing to adopt layer 2 sidelink relay communication or layer 3 sidelink relay communication, and per-hop relay link information, and the per-hop relay link information includes at least one of the total number of hops and the hop number.

[0161] Optionally, the first execution module 1102 is used to perform at least one of: retrieving the first setting information from the setting table based on the end-to-end related information in the second information; retrieving the second setting information from the setting table based on the end-to-end related information and / or per-hop related information in the second information; and retrieving the second setting information from the setting table based on the end-to-end related information in the second information and / or the mapping relationship between the first setting information and the second setting information.

[0162] Optionally, the setting table includes a first setting table for retrieving the first setting information and a second setting table for retrieving the second setting information.

[0163] Optionally, the first execution module 1102 is for the first device to send a second message to a second device, where the second message includes the first configuration information and can be sent by a sidelink radio resource control process, and for the first device to send a third message to a third device, where the third message includes the second configuration information and / or the mapping relationship between the first configuration information and the second configuration information and can be sent by a sidelink radio resource control process. The third device is a relay device connected to the first device among the relay devices of the first communication.

[0164] As can be seen from the technical solutions of the above embodiments, the embodiments of the present application can flexibly implement the bearer configuration of sidelink relay communication by obtaining the first configuration information and / or the second configuration information in different ways when the first device is in different network states.

[0165] The relay communication device in the embodiments of the present application may be an electronic device, for example, an electronic device having an operating system, or a component in an electronic device, for example, an integrated circuit or a chip. The electronic device may be a terminal or a device other than a terminal. Exemplarily, the terminal may include the types of terminals 11 listed above, but is not limited thereto. Other devices may be a server, a Network Attached Storage (NAS), etc., and are not specifically limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0166] The relay communication device provided by the embodiments of the present application can implement each process realized in the method embodiments from FIG. 2 to FIG. 10 and achieve similar technical effects. To avoid repetition, detailed descriptions are omitted here.

[0167] As shown in FIG. 12, the embodiment of the present application further provides a relay communication method. The execution subject of the relay communication method is a fourth device. In other words, the method can be executed by software or hardware installed in the fourth device.

[0168] In S1210, the fourth device acquires third information, and the third information includes the setting information related to the fourth device in the setting information for establishing a bearer of the first communication.

[0169] In S1220, the fourth device establishes a hop-by-hop sidelink bearer of a second target hop and / or a hop-by-hop sidelink bearer of a third target hop based on the third information.

[0170] Here, the fourth device is one of the relay devices in the first communication. The second target hop is one hop between the fourth device and the upstream device. The third target hop is one hop between the fourth device and the downstream device. The upstream device is a relay device or a first device in the first communication. The downstream device is a relay device or a second device in the first communication. The first device is one of the source terminal and the destination terminal of the first communication. The second device is the other of the source terminal and the destination terminal of the first communication. The first communication is sidelink relay communication. The third information is at least one of third setting information, which is the setting information of the second target hop in the bearer setting information, and fourth setting information, which is the setting information of the third target hop in the bearer setting information.

[0171] Optionally, S1210 includes a step in which the fourth device receives a fourth message including the third setting information from the upstream device, and a step in which the fourth device acquires the fourth setting information based on the third setting information.

[0172] Optionally, the step of obtaining the fourth setting information based on the third setting information includes the step of obtaining the fourth setting information based on the third setting information and / or related information of the third target hop in the second information of the first communication, where the second information includes service-related information and / or link-related information of the first communication.

[0173] Optionally, S1210 includes the step of the fourth device receiving, from a network-side device, the fourth signaling including the third information when the fourth device is in a radio resource control connection state.

[0174] Optionally, before receiving the fourth signaling from the network-side device, the method further includes the step of the fourth device transmitting, to the network-side device, related information of the third target hop in the second information of the first communication, where the second information includes service-related information and / or link-related information of the first communication.

[0175] Optionally, S1210 includes the step of the fourth device receiving fifth signaling from a network-side device when the fourth device is in a radio resource control idle state or an inactive state, and the step of the fourth device searching for the third information from the fifth signaling based on related information of the third target hop in the second information of the first communication, where the second information includes service-related information and / or link-related information of the first communication.

[0176] Optionally, S1210 includes the step of the fourth device searching for the third information from the sixth signaling based on related information of the third target hop in the second information of the first communication when the fourth device is outside the network coverage area, where the second information includes service-related information and / or link-related information of the first communication.

[0177] Optionally, before the fourth device acquires the third information, the method further includes a step in which the fourth device acquires, from the upstream device, related information of the third target hop in the second information of the first communication.

[0178] Optionally, S1220 includes a step in which the fourth device transmits a fifth message including the fourth setting information to the downstream device.

[0179] Optionally, as a feature thereof, the first communication is one of layer 2 side link relay communication and layer 3 side link relay communication.

[0180] Optionally, when the first communication is layer 2 side link relay communication, the third setting information and the fourth setting information include at least one of setting information of the radio link control layer, setting information of the media access control layer, and setting information of the physical layer.

[0181] Optionally, when the first communication is layer 3 side link relay communication, the third setting information and the fourth setting information include at least one of setting information of the service data adaptation protocol layer, setting information of the packet data convergence protocol layer, setting information of the radio link control layer, setting information of the media access control layer, and setting information of the physical layer.

[0182] Steps S1210 to S1220 implement the method embodiment shown in FIG. 10 and can achieve similar technical effects. For overlapping parts, detailed descriptions are omitted here.

[0183] As can be seen from the technical solution of the above embodiment, the embodiment of the present application obtains the third information including the configuration information related to the fourth device in the configuration information for establishing the bearer of the first communication, and further based on the third information, by establishing the hop-by-hop sidelink bearer of the second target hop and / or the hop-by-hop sidelink bearer of the third target hop, the hop-by-hop sidelink bearer setting is realized. Also, based on different service scenarios and QoS parameter information, the hop-by-hop sidelink bearers are matched, and different service data is transmitted on the U2U path and further on the multi-hop U2U path, so as to achieve the guarantee and improvement of communication performance and system performance such as reliability and throughput.

[0184] The relay communication method provided by the embodiment of the present application may have a relay communication device as the execution entity. In the embodiment of the present application, taking the relay communication device executing the relay communication method as an example, the relay communication device provided by the embodiment of the present application will be described.

[0185] As shown in FIG. 13, the relay communication device includes a second transmission module 1301 and a second execution module 1302.

[0186] The second transmission module 1301 is used to obtain third information, where the third information includes the configuration information related to the relay communication device in the configuration information for establishing a bearer of the first communication. The second execution module 1302 is used to establish a hop-by-hop sidelink bearer of a second target hop and / or a hop-by-hop sidelink bearer of a third target hop based on the third information. The relay communication device is one of the relay devices in the first communication. The second target hop is one hop between the relay communication device and an upstream device. The third target hop is one hop between the relay communication device and a downstream device. The upstream device is a relay device or a first device in the first communication. The downstream device is a relay device or a second device in the first communication. The first device is one of the source terminal and the destination terminal of the first communication. The second device is the other of the source terminal and the destination terminal of the first communication. The first communication is a sidelink relay communication. The third information includes at least one of third configuration information, which is the configuration information of the second target hop in the bearer configuration information, and fourth configuration information, which is the configuration information of the third target hop in the bearer configuration information.

[0187] Optionally, the second transmission module 1301 is used to receive a fourth message including the third configuration information from the upstream device and obtain the fourth configuration information based on the third configuration information.

[0188] Optionally, the second transmission module 1301 is used to obtain the fourth configuration information based on the third configuration information and / or the related information of the third target hop in the second information of the first communication, where the second information includes the service-related information and / or the link-related information of the first communication.

[0189] Optionally, when in the radio resource control connection state, the second transmission module 1301 is used to receive the fourth signaling including the third information from the network-side device.

[0190] Optionally, the second transmission module 1301 is further used to transmit the related information of the third target hop in the second information of the first communication to the network-side device, and the second information includes the service-related information and / or link-related information of the first communication.

[0191] Optionally, when in the radio resource control idle state or inactive state, the second transmission module 1301 is used to receive a fifth signaling from a network-side device and search for the third information from the fifth signaling based on the related information of the third target hop in the second information of the first communication, where the second information includes the service-related information and / or link-related information of the first communication.

[0192] Optionally, when outside the network coverage area, the second transmission module 1301 is used to search for the third information from a sixth signaling based on the related information of the third target hop in the second information of the first communication, where the second information includes the service-related information and / or link-related information of the first communication.

[0193] Optionally, the second transmission module 1301 is further used to obtain the related information of the third target hop in the second information of the first communication from the upstream device.

[0194] Optionally, the second execution module 1302 is used to transmit a fifth message including the fourth setting information to the downstream device.

[0195] Optionally, as a feature, the first communication is one of layer 2 side-link relay communication and layer 3 side-link relay communication.

[0196] Optionally, when the first communication is layer 2 sidelink relay communication, the third setting information and the fourth setting information include at least one of setting information of a radio link control layer, setting information of a media access control layer, and setting information of a physical layer.

[0197] Optionally, when the first communication is layer 3 sidelink relay communication, the third setting information and the fourth setting information include at least one of setting information of a service data adaptation protocol layer, setting information of a packet data convergence protocol layer, setting information of a radio link control layer, setting information of a media access control layer, and setting information of a physical layer.

[0198] As can be seen from the technical solutions of the above embodiments, the embodiments of the present application obtain third information including setting information related to the relay communication device in the setting information for establishing a bearer of the first communication, and further based on the third information, establish a hop-by-hop sidelink bearer of a second target hop and / or a hop-by-hop sidelink bearer of a third target hop, thereby realizing hop-by-hop sidelink bearer setting. Also, based on different service scenarios and QoS parameter information, match the hop-by-hop sidelink bearers, transmit different service data on the U2U path and even the multi-hop U2U path, and can achieve the guarantee and improvement of communication performance and system performance such as reliability and throughput.

[0199] The relay communication device in the embodiments of the present application may be an electronic device, for example, an electronic device having an operating system, or a member in an electronic device, for example, an integrated circuit or a chip. The electronic device may be a terminal or a device other than a terminal. Exemplarily, the terminal may include the types of terminal 11 listed above, but is not limited thereto. Other devices may be a server, a network attached storage (NAS), etc., and are not specifically limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0200] The relay communication device provided by the embodiments of the present application can implement each process realized in the method embodiment of FIG. 12 and achieve similar technical effects. To avoid repetition, detailed descriptions are omitted here.

[0201] Optionally, as shown in FIG. 14, the embodiments of the present application further provide a communication device 1400. The communication device 1400 includes a processor 1401 and a memory 1402, and the memory 1402 stores programs or commands executable by the processor 1401. For example, when the communication device 1400 is a terminal, when the program or command is executed by the processor 1401, each step of the above method embodiment of the relay communication method can be realized and similar technical effects can be achieved. When the communication device 1400 is a network-side device, when the program or command is executed by the processor 1401, each step of the above method embodiment of the relay communication method can be realized and similar technical effects can be achieved. To avoid repetition, detailed descriptions are omitted here.

[0202] The embodiments of the present application further provide a terminal. The terminal includes a processor and a communication interface. The processor is used to establish a bearer for the first communication with a second device based on the first information and perform communication. The communication interface is used to obtain the first information, and the first information includes configuration information for establishing a bearer for the first communication. The terminal embodiment corresponds to the above method embodiment on the terminal side. Each implementation process and implementation form of the above method embodiment can be applied to the terminal embodiment and similar technical effects can be achieved. Specifically, FIG. 15 is a schematic diagram of the hardware structure of the terminal realizing the embodiments of the present application.

[0203] The terminal 1500 includes at least some of the components such as a high-frequency unit 1501, a network module 1502, an audio output unit 1503, an input unit 1504, a sensor 1505, a display unit 1506, a user input unit 1507, an interface unit 1508, a memory 1509, and a processor 1510, but is not limited thereto.

[0204] Those skilled in the art will understand that the terminal 1500 may further include a power source (e.g., a battery) for supplying power to each component. The power source is logically connected to the processor 1510 by a power management system, and the power management system can further implement functions such as charge and discharge management and power consumption management. The structure of the terminal shown in FIG. 15 does not limit the terminal. The terminal may include more or fewer components than shown, or a combination of some components, or different component arrangements, and detailed descriptions are omitted here.

[0205] In the embodiments of the present application, it should be understood that the input unit 1504 may include a graphics processing unit (GPU) 15041 and a microphone 15042 that process still image or video image data acquired by an image capture device (e.g., a camera) in a video capture mode or an image capture mode. The display unit 1506 may include a display panel 15061, and the display panel 15061 may be arranged in the form of a liquid crystal display, an organic light-emitting diode, or the like. The user input unit 1507 includes at least one of a touch panel 15071 and other input devices 15072. The touch panel 15071 is also called a touch screen. The touch panel 15071 may include two parts: a touch detection device and a touch controller. The other input device 15072 may include, but is not limited to, a physical keyboard, function buttons (e.g., volume control buttons, switch buttons, etc.), a trackball, a mouse, and an operation lever, and detailed descriptions are omitted here.

[0206] In an embodiment of the present application, after receiving downlink data from a network-side device, the high-frequency unit 1501 can transmit the data to the processor 1510 for processing. Further, the high-frequency unit 1501 can transmit uplink data to the network-side device. Usually, the high-frequency unit 1501 includes, but is not limited to, an antenna, an amplifier, a transceiver, a coupler, a low-noise amplifier, a duplexer, etc.

[0207] The memory 1509 can be used to store software programs or commands and various data. The memory 1509 may mainly include a first storage area for storing programs or commands that can store an operating system, applications or commands required for at least one function (for example, a voice playback function, an image playback function, etc.) and a second storage area for storing data. Also, the memory 1509 may include a volatile memory or a non-volatile memory, or the memory 1509 may include both a volatile and a non-volatile memory. Here, 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 a random access memory (RAM), a static random access memory (SRAM), a dynamic random access memory (DRAM), a synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), a double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (DDR SDRAM), an enhanced synchronous dynamic random access memory (ESDRAM), a synch link dynamic random access memory (SLDRAM) and a direct rambus random access memory (DRRAM). The memory 1509 in the embodiments of the present application includes these memories and any other suitable memories, but is not limited thereto.

[0208] Processor 1510 may include one or more processing units. Optionally, the processor 1510 integrates an application processor that mainly processes operations related to an operating system, a user interface, an application, etc., and a modem processor that mainly processes wireless communication signals such as a baseband processor. It can be understood that the modem processor may not be integrated into the processor 1510.

[0209] Here, the high-frequency unit 1501 is used to obtain first information, and the first information includes setting information for establishing a bearer of a first communication.

[0210] The processor 1510 establishes a bearer of the first communication with a second device based on the first information and is used for communication. The relay communication device is one of the source terminal and the destination terminal of the first communication, the second device is the other of the source terminal and the destination terminal of the first communication, the first communication is sidelink relay communication, and the first information includes first setting information that is end-to-end setting information in the bearer setting information, and second setting information that is hop-by-hop setting information corresponding to a first target hop between the relay communication device and a third device in the bearer setting information, where the third device is a relay device connected to the first device in the first communication. The first information includes at least one of the two.

[0211] Optionally, the first communication is one of layer 2 sidelink relay communication and layer 3 sidelink relay communication.

[0212] Optionally, when the first communication is layer 2 sidelink relay communication, the second setting information includes at least one of setting information of a radio link control layer, setting information of a media access control layer, and setting information of a physical layer.

[0213] Optionally, when the first communication is layer 3 sidelink relay communication, the second setting information includes at least one of service data adaptation protocol layer setting information, packet data convergence protocol layer setting information, radio link control layer setting information, media access control layer setting information, and physical layer setting information.

[0214] Optionally, the relay communication device is one of the service start side device of the sidelink relay communication, the service flow transmission side device of the sidelink relay communication, the service flow reception side device of the sidelink relay communication, and one of the source terminal and the destination terminal of the sidelink relay communication.

[0215] The embodiments of the present application realize service data transmission on the U2U path and even the multi-hop U2U path by being able to quickly execute the bearer setting of the sidelink relay communication.

[0216] Optionally, based on the above embodiment, the high-frequency unit 1501 is used to receive a first message from a network-side device and obtain the first information based on the first message. The first message includes at least one of the first setting information and / or the second setting information, a setting table for searching the first setting information and / or the second setting information, and a mapping relationship between the first setting information and the second setting information.

[0217] Optionally, when in the radio resource control connection state, the high-frequency unit 1501 is used to receive the first signaling including the first setting information and / or the second setting information from the network-side device.

[0218] Optionally, the first signaling may further include a mapping relationship between the first setting information and the second setting information.

[0219] Optionally, the high-frequency unit 1501 is further used to transmit second information of the first communication to the network-side device, and the second information includes service-related information and / or link-related information of the first communication.

[0220] Optionally, when in the radio resource control idle state or the inactive state, the high-frequency unit 1501 receives second signaling including the setting table from the network-side device, where the setting table includes a mapping relationship between first information and second information, and searches for the first information from the setting table based on the second information of the first communication, where the second information includes service-related information and / or link-related information of the first communication.

[0221] Optionally, the second signaling further includes a mapping relationship between the first setting information and the second setting information.

[0222] Optionally, when outside the network coverage area, the high-frequency unit 1501 obtains preset information including the setting table from third signaling, where the setting table includes a mapping relationship between first information and second information, and searches for the first information from the setting table based on the second information of the first communication, where the second information includes service-related information and / or link-related information of the first communication.

[0223] Optionally, the third signaling further includes a mapping relationship between the first setting information and the second setting information.

[0224] Optionally, the service-related information of the first communication includes at least one of end-to-end QoS parameter information and hop-by-hop QoS parameter information.

[0225] Optionally, the hop-by-hop QoS parameter information includes at least one of hop QoS parameter information, assigned or occupied QoS parameter information, remaining QoS parameter information excluding the assigned or occupied QoS information, and QoS division information.

[0226] Optionally, the link-related information of the first communication includes at least one of first relay instruction information for instructing to adopt layer 2 sidelink relay communication or layer 3 sidelink relay communication, and hop-by-hop relay link information, and the hop-by-hop relay link information includes at least one of the total number of hops and the hop number.

[0227] Optionally, the processor 1510 is used to perform at least one of: searching for the first setting information from the setting table based on the end-to-end related information in the second information; searching for the second setting information from the setting table based on the end-to-end related information and / or hop-by-hop related information in the second information; and searching for the second setting information from the setting table based on the end-to-end related information in the second information and / or the mapping relationship between the first setting information and the second setting information.

[0228] Optionally, the setting table includes a first setting table for searching for the first setting information and a second setting table for searching for the second setting information.

[0229] Optionally, the processor 1510 includes at least one of: the first device transmitting a second message including the first setting information to a second device; and the first device transmitting a third message including the second setting information and / or the mapping relationship between the first setting information and the second setting information to a third device, where the third device is a relay device connected to the first device among the relay devices of the first communication.

[0230] Embodiments of the present application can flexibly implement the bearer setting for sidelink relay communication.

[0231] Embodiments of the present application further provide a terminal. The terminal includes a processor and a communication interface. The processor is used to establish a hop-by-hop sidelink bearer for a second target hop and / or a hop-by-hop sidelink bearer for a third target hop based on the third information. The communication interface is used to obtain the third information, and the third information includes the setting information related to the relay communication device in the setting information for establishing a bearer of a first communication. This terminal embodiment corresponds to the above method embodiment on the terminal side. Each implementation process and implementation form of the above method embodiment can be applied to this terminal embodiment and can achieve similar technical effects. Specifically, FIG. 16 is a schematic diagram of the hardware structure of a terminal for implementing an embodiment of the present application.

[0232] The terminal 1600 includes at least some of the members such as a high-frequency unit 1601, a network module 1602, an audio output unit 1603, an input unit 1604, a sensor 1605, a display unit 1606, a user input unit 1607, an interface unit 1608, a memory 1609, and a processor 1610, but is not limited thereto.

[0233] A person skilled in the art can understand that the terminal 1600 may further include a power source (for example, a battery) for supplying power to each member. The power source is logically connected to the processor 1610 by a power management system, and the power management system can further implement functions such as charge and discharge management and power consumption management. The structure of the terminal shown in FIG. 16 does not limit the terminal. The terminal may include more or fewer members than shown in the figure, or a combination of some members, or different member arrangements, and detailed descriptions are omitted here.

[0234] In an embodiment of the present application, it should be understood that the input unit 1604 may include a graphics processing unit (GPU) 16041 and a microphone 16042 that process still image or video image data acquired by an image capture device (e.g., a camera) in video capture mode or image capture mode. The display unit 1606 may include a display panel 16061, and the display panel 16061 may be arranged in the form of a liquid crystal display, an organic light emitting diode, or the like. The user input unit 1607 includes at least one of a touch panel 16071 and other input devices 16072. The touch panel 16071 is also called a touch screen. The touch panel 16071 may include two parts: a touch detection device and a touch controller. The other input devices 16072 may include, but are not limited to, a physical keyboard, function buttons (e.g., volume control buttons, switch buttons, etc.), a trackball, a mouse, and an operation lever, and detailed descriptions thereof are omitted herein.

[0235] In an embodiment of the present application, after receiving downlink data from a network-side device, the high-frequency unit 1601 can transmit it to the processor 1610 for processing. Also, the high-frequency unit 1601 can transmit uplink data to the network-side device. Usually, the high-frequency unit 1601 includes, but is not limited to, an antenna, an amplifier, a transceiver, a coupler, a low-noise amplifier, a duplexer, and the like.

[0236] The memory 1609 can be used to store software programs or commands and various data. The memory 1609 may mainly include a first storage area for storing programs or commands that can store an operating system, applications or commands required for at least one function (for example, a voice playback function, an image playback function, etc.) and a second storage area for storing data. Also, the memory 1609 may include a volatile memory or a non-volatile memory, or the memory 1609 may include both a volatile and a non-volatile memory. Here, 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 a random access memory (RAM), a static random access memory (SRAM), a dynamic random access memory (DRAM), a synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), a double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (DDR SDRAM), an enhanced synchronous dynamic random access memory (ESDRAM), a synch link dynamic random access memory (SLDRAM) and a direct rambus random access memory (DRRAM). The memory 1609 in the embodiments of the present application includes these memories and any other suitable memories, but is not limited thereto.

[0237] The processor 1610 may include one or more processing units. Optionally, the processor 1610 integrates an application processor that mainly processes operations related to an operating system, a user interface, applications, etc., and a modem processor that mainly processes wireless communication signals such as a baseband processor. It can be understood that the above modem processor may not be integrated into the processor 1610.

[0238] Here, the high-frequency unit 1601 is used to obtain third information, and the third information includes setting information related to the relay communication device in the setting information for establishing a bearer of the first communication.

[0239] The processor 1610 is used to establish a hop-by-hop sidelink bearer of a second target hop and / or a hop-by-hop sidelink bearer of a third target hop based on the third information. The relay communication device is one of the relay devices in the first communication. The second target hop is one hop between the relay communication device and an upstream device. The third target hop is one hop between the relay communication device and a downstream device. The upstream device is a relay device or a first device of the first communication. The downstream device is a relay device or a second device of the first communication. The first device is one of a source terminal and a destination terminal of the first communication. The second device is the other of the source terminal and the destination terminal of the first communication. The first communication is a sidelink relay communication. The third information includes at least one of third setting information that is setting information of the second target hop in the bearer setting information and fourth setting information that is setting information of the third target hop in the bearer setting information.

[0240] Optionally, the high-frequency unit 1601 is used to receive a fourth message including the third setting information from the upstream device and obtain the fourth setting information based on the third setting information.

[0241] Optionally, the high-frequency unit 1601 is used to obtain the fourth setting information based on the third setting information and / or the related information of the third target hop in the second information of the first communication, and the second information includes the service-related information and / or link-related information of the first communication.

[0242] Optionally, when in the radio resource control connection state, the high-frequency unit 1601 is used to receive the fourth signaling including the third information from the network-side device.

[0243] Optionally, the high-frequency unit 1601 is further used to transmit the related information of the third target hop in the second information of the first communication to the network-side device, and the second information includes the service-related information and / or link-related information of the first communication.

[0244] Optionally, when in the radio resource control idle state or inactive state, the high-frequency unit 1601 is used to receive the fifth signaling from the network-side device and search for the third information from the fifth signaling based on the related information of the third target hop in the second information of the first communication, where the second information includes the service-related information and / or link-related information of the first communication.

[0245] Optionally, when outside the network coverage area, the high-frequency unit 1601 is used to search for the third information from the sixth signaling based on the related information of the third target hop in the second information of the first communication, and the second information includes the service-related information and / or link-related information of the first communication.

[0246] Optionally, the high-frequency unit 1601 is further used to obtain the related information of the third target hop in the second information of the first communication from the upstream device.

[0247] Optionally, the processor 1610 is used to transmit a fifth message including the fourth setting information to the downstream device.

[0248] Optionally, as a feature thereof, the first communication is one of layer 2 side-link relay communication and layer 3 side-link relay communication.

[0249] Optionally, when the first communication is layer 2 side-link relay communication, the third setting information and the fourth setting information include at least one of setting information of the radio link control layer, setting information of the media access control layer, and setting information of the physical layer.

[0250] Optionally, when the first communication is layer 3 side-link relay communication, the third setting information and the fourth setting information include at least one of setting information of the service data adaptation protocol layer, setting information of the packet data convergence protocol layer, setting information of the radio link control layer, setting information of the media access control layer, and setting information of the physical layer.

[0251] The embodiments of the present application can match hop-by-hop side-link bearers based on different service scenarios and QoS parameter information, transmit different service data on the U2U path and even the multi-hop U2U path, and achieve the guarantee and improvement of communication performance and system performance such as reliability and throughput.

[0252] The embodiments of the present application further provide a readable storage medium. A program or command is stored in the readable storage medium. When the program or command is executed by a processor, each process of the embodiment of the above relay communication method is realized, and similar technical effects can be achieved. To avoid repetition, detailed description is omitted here.

[0253] Here, the processor is the processor in the terminal described in the above embodiments. The readable storage medium includes, for example, 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.

[0254] Embodiments of the present application further provide a chip. The chip includes a processor and a communication interface, the communication interface is coupled to the processor, and the processor is used to execute a program or command to implement each process of the embodiments of the above relay communication method and can achieve similar technical effects. To avoid repetition, detailed descriptions are omitted here.

[0255] It should be understood that the chip mentioned in the embodiments of the present application may also be referred to as a system-level chip, a system-on-chip, a chip system, or a system-on-a-chip, etc.

[0256] Embodiments of the present application further provide a computer program / program product. The computer program / program product is stored in a storage medium and, when executed by at least one processor, can implement each process of the embodiments of the above relay communication method and can achieve similar technical effects. To avoid repetition, detailed descriptions are omitted here.

[0257] Embodiments of the present application further provide a relay communication system. The relay communication system includes a first device that can be used to execute the steps of the above relay communication method and a fourth device that can be used to execute the steps of the above relay communication method.

[0258] It should be noted that in this specification, the terms "comprising", "consisting of" or any other variations thereof are intended to include non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article or apparatus comprising a series of elements includes not only those elements but also other elements not explicitly listed, or elements inherent to such a process, method, article or apparatus. Unless otherwise specified, the elements limited by the phrase "comprising one..." do not exclude the further presence of the same other elements in the process, method, article or apparatus comprising the said element. Also, it should be pointed out that the scope of the methods and apparatuses in the embodiments of this application is not limited to performing functions in the order illustrated or considered, and may also include performing functions substantially simultaneously or in the reverse order according to such functions. For example, the described method may be performed in an order different from that described, and various steps may be added, omitted, or combined. Also, the features described with reference to any example may be combined in other examples.

[0259] From the description of the above embodiments, those skilled in the art can clearly understand that the method of the above examples can be realized in the form of a combination of software and the necessary common hardware platform. Of course, it may also be realized by hardware, but in many cases the former is a more preferred embodiment. Based on such an understanding, the technical solution of this application, in essence or the part that contributes to the prior art, can be implemented in the form of a computer software product. The computer software product is stored in a storage medium (such as ROM / RAM, magnetic disk, optical disk), and includes a plurality of commands for causing a terminal (which may be a mobile phone, computer, server, air conditioner, or network device, etc.) to execute the methods described in the embodiments of this application.

[0260] The embodiments of the present application have been described above with reference to the drawings. However, the present application is not limited to the above specific embodiments. The above specific embodiments are merely exemplary and not restrictive. Based on the suggestions of the present application, many forms that those skilled in the art can make without departing from the spirit of the present application and the protection scope of the claims all belong to the protection scope of the present application.

Claims

1. A step in which a first device acquires first information, the step in which the first information includes setting information for establishing a bearer of a first communication, A step in which the first device establishes a bearer of the first communication with a second device based on the first information and performs communication, including: The first device is one of a source terminal and a destination terminal of the first communication, the second device is the other of the source terminal and the destination terminal of the first communication, the first communication is sidelink relay communication, and the first information is First setting information that is end-to-end setting information in the bearer setting information, A relay communication method including at least one of second setting information that is hop-by-hop setting information corresponding to a first target hop between the first device and a third device in the bearer setting information, where the third device is a relay device connected to the first device in the first communication.

2. The step in which the first device acquires first information includes A step in which the first device receives a first message from a network-side device and acquires the first information based on the first message, The first message includes The first setting information and / or second setting information, A setting table for searching for the first setting information and / or second setting information, The relay communication method according to claim 1, including at least one of a mapping relationship between the first setting information and the second setting information.

3. The step in which the first device receives a first message from a network-side device and acquires the first information based on the first message includes A step in which, when the first device is in a radio resource control connection state, the first device receives first signaling including the first setting information and / or second setting information from the network-side device, according to the relay communication method of claim 2.

4. The relay communication method according to claim 3, where the first signaling further includes a mapping relationship between the first setting information and the second setting information.

5. Before receiving the first signaling from the network-side device, The relay communication method according to claim 3 further includes a step in which the first device transmits second information of the first communication to the network-side device, where the second information includes service-related information and / or link-related information of the first communication.

6. The step in which the first device receives a first message from a network-side device and obtains the first information based on the first message is as follows: When the first device is in a radio resource control idle state or an inactive state, the step in which the first device receives, from a network-side device, second signaling including the setting table, where the setting table includes a mapping relationship between first information and second information; The step in which the first device searches the setting table for the first information based on the second information of the first communication, where the second information includes service-related information and / or link-related information of the first communication, is included in the relay communication method according to claim 2. **Claim 7** The relay communication method according to claim 6, wherein the second signaling further includes a mapping relationship between the first setting information and the second setting information. **Claim 8** The step in which the first device receives a first message from a network-side device and obtains the first information based on the first message is as follows: When the first device is outside the network coverage area, the step in which the first device obtains, from third signaling, pre-set information including the setting table, where the setting table includes a mapping relationship between first information and second information; The step in which the first device searches the setting table for the first information based on the second information of the first communication, where the second information includes service-related information and / or link-related information of the first communication, is included in the relay communication method according to claim 2. **Claim 9** The relay communication method according to claim 8, wherein the third signaling further includes a mapping relationship between the first setting information and the second setting information. **Claim 10** The service-related information of the first communication is end-to-end QoS parameter information and hop-by-hop QoS parameter information, and includes at least one of them in the relay communication method according to claim 5, 6, or 8. **Claim 11** The hop-by-hop QoS parameter information is hop QoS parameter information, allocated or occupied QoS parameter information, remaining QoS parameter information excluding the allocated or occupied QoS information, and QoS splitting information, and includes at least one of them in the relay communication method according to claim 10. **Claim 12** The link-related information of the first communication is at least one of first relay instruction information for instructing to adopt layer 2 sidelink relay communication or layer 3 sidelink relay communication, and hop-by-hop relay link information, The hop-by-hop relay link information is the total number of hops, and at least one of the hop numbers, and the relay communication method according to any one of claims 4 to 6.

13. The step in which the first device searches for the first information from the setting table based on the second information of the first communication is the step in which the first device searches for the first setting information from the setting table based on the end-to-end related information in the second information, and the step in which the first device searches for the second setting information from the setting table based on the end-to-end related information and / or hop-by-hop related information in the second information, and the step in which the first device searches for the second setting information from the setting table based on the end-to-end related information in the second information and / or the mapping relationship between the first setting information and the second setting information, and the relay communication method according to claim 6 or 8 includes at least one of them.

14. The setting table includes a first setting table for searching for the first setting information and a second setting table for searching for the second setting information, and the relay communication method according to claim 13.

15. The step in which the first device establishes a bearer for the first communication with the second device based on the first information is the step in which the first device transmits a second message including the first setting information to the second device, and the step in which the first device transmits a third message including the second setting information and / or the mapping relationship between the first setting information and the second setting information to a third device, and The third device is a relay device connected to the first device among the relay devices of the first communication, and the relay communication method according to claim 1.

16. The first communication is layer 2 sidelink relay communication, and one of layer 3 sidelink relay communication, and the relay communication method according to claim 1.

17. When the first communication is layer 2 sidelink relay communication, the second setting information is setting information of the radio link control layer, and setting information of the media access control layer, The relay communication method according to claim 16, including at least one of the physical layer configuration information and...

18. When the first communication is layer 3 sidelink relay communication, the second configuration information is... Service data adaptation protocol layer configuration information, and... Packet data convergence protocol layer configuration information, and... Radio link control layer configuration information, and... Media access control layer configuration information, and... The relay communication method according to claim 16, including at least one of the physical layer configuration information and...

19. The first device is... The service start side device of the sidelink relay communication, and... The service flow transmission side device of the sidelink relay communication, and... The service flow reception side device of the sidelink relay communication, and... One of the source terminal and the destination terminal of the sidelink relay communication, the relay communication method according to claim 1.

20. A first transmission module for acquiring first information, the first information including configuration information for establishing a bearer of a first communication, and... A first execution module for establishing a bearer of the first communication with a second device based on the first information and performing communication, a relay communication device including... The relay communication device is one of the source terminal and the destination terminal of the first communication, the second device is the other of the source terminal and the destination terminal of the first communication, the first communication is sidelink relay communication, and the first information is... First configuration information that is end-to-end configuration information in the bearer configuration information, and... Second configuration information that is hop-by-hop configuration information corresponding to a first target hop between the relay communication device and a third device in the bearer configuration information, the third device being a relay device connected to the first device in the first communication, a relay communication device including at least one of...

21. A step in which a fourth device acquires third information, the third information including configuration information related to the fourth device in configuration information for establishing a bearer of a first communication, and... The step in which the fourth device establishes a hop-by-hop sidelink bearer of a second target hop and / or a hop-by-hop sidelink bearer of a third target hop based on the third information, including... The fourth device is one of the relay devices in the first communication, the second target hop is one hop between the fourth device and the upstream device, the third target hop is one hop between the fourth device and the downstream device, the upstream device is a relay device or a first device in the first communication, the downstream device is a relay device or a second device in the first communication, the first device is one of the source terminal and the destination terminal of the first communication, the second device is the other of the source terminal and the destination terminal of the first communication, the first communication is a sidelink relay communication, and the third information is at least one of: third setting information, which is the setting information of the second target hop in the bearer setting information; and fourth setting information, which is the setting information of the third target hop in the bearer setting information. The relay communication method includes at least one of the above. **Claim 22** The step in which the fourth device acquires the third information includes the step in which the fourth device receives, from the upstream device, a fourth message including the third setting information; and the step in which the fourth device acquires the fourth setting information based on the third setting information. The relay communication method according to claim 21 includes the above steps. **Claim 23** The step of acquiring the fourth setting information based on the third setting information includes the step of acquiring the fourth setting information based on the third setting information and / or related information of the third target hop in the second information of the first communication, where the second information includes service-related information and / or link-related information of the first communication. The relay communication method according to claim 22 includes the above step. **Claim 24** The step in which the fourth device acquires the third information includes the step in which, when the fourth device is in a radio resource control connection state, the fourth device receives, from the network-side device, the fourth signaling including the third information. The relay communication method according to claim 21 includes the above step. **Claim 25** Before receiving the fourth signaling from the network-side device, the fourth device further includes the step of transmitting, to the network-side device, related information of the third target hop in the second information of the first communication, where the second information includes service-related information and / or link-related information of the first communication. The relay communication method according to claim 22 includes the above step. **Claim 26** The step in which the fourth device acquires the third information includes When the fourth device is in the radio resource control idle state or the inactive state, the step of the fourth device receiving fifth signaling from the network-side device; The step in which the fourth device searches for the third information from the fifth signaling based on the related information of the third target hop in the second information of the first communication, where the second information includes service-related information and / or link-related information of the first communication, the relay communication method according to claim 21.

27. The step in which the fourth device obtains the third information is When the fourth device is outside the network coverage area, the step of the fourth device searching for the third information from the sixth signaling based on the related information of the third target hop in the second information of the first communication, where the second information includes service-related information and / or link-related information of the first communication, the relay communication method according to claim 21.

28. Before the step in which the fourth device obtains the third information, The relay communication method according to any one of claims 23 to 27, further including the step in which the fourth device obtains the related information of the third target hop in the second information of the first communication from the upstream device.

29. The step in which the fourth device establishes a hop-by-hop sidelink bearer of the third target hop based on the third information is The relay communication method according to claim 21, including the step in which the fourth device transmits a fifth message including the fourth setting information to the downstream device.

30. The first communication is Layer 2 sidelink relay communication, Layer 3 sidelink relay communication, one of them, the relay communication method according to claim 1.

31. When the first communication is layer 2 sidelink relay communication, the third setting information and the fourth setting information are Setting information of the radio link control layer, Setting information of the media access control layer, Setting information of the physical layer, including at least one of them, the relay communication method according to claim 30.

32. When the first communication is layer 3 sidelink relay communication, the third setting information and the fourth setting information are Setting information of the service data adaptation protocol layer, Setting information of the packet data convergence protocol layer, Setting information of the radio link control layer, Setting information of the media access control layer, The relay communication method according to claim 30, including at least one of the physical layer configuration information.

33. A second transmission module for acquiring third information, wherein the third information includes configuration information related to a relay communication device in the configuration information for establishing a bearer of a first communication. A relay communication device including: a second execution module for establishing a hop-by-hop sidelink bearer of a second target hop and / or a hop-by-hop sidelink bearer of a third target hop based on the third information. The relay communication device is one of the relay devices in the first communication. The second target hop is one hop between the relay communication device and an upstream device. The third target hop is one hop between the relay communication device and a downstream device. The upstream device is a relay device or a first device in the first communication. The downstream device is a relay device or a second device in the first communication. The first device is one of a source terminal and a destination terminal of the first communication. The second device is the other of the source terminal and the destination terminal of the first communication. The first communication is a sidelink relay communication. The third information includes: Third configuration information, which is the configuration information of the second target hop in the bearer configuration information. A relay communication device including at least one of fourth configuration information, which is the configuration information of the third target hop in the bearer configuration information.

34. A terminal including a processor and a memory, wherein a program or command executable by the processor is stored in the memory. When the program or command is executed by the processor, the steps of the relay communication method according to any one of claims 1 to 19 are realized.

35. A network-side device including a processor and a memory, wherein a program or command executable by the processor is stored in the memory. When the program or command is executed by the processor, the steps of the relay communication method according to any one of claims 21 to 32 are realized.

36. A readable storage medium in which a program or a command is stored, and when the program or the command is executed by a processor, the steps of the relay communication method according to any one of claims 1 to 19 are realized, or the steps of the relay communication method according to any one of claims 21 to 32 are realized.

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