How to trigger discovery;

Abstract

An embodiment of the present invention discloses a method for triggering discovery, a terminal device, and a network device, the method being applied to a first terminal, and including: a step of sending a discovery wake-up request to a network device, the discovery wake-up request being for requesting the network device to trigger a second terminal to initiate a discovery process, the second terminal and the first terminal having a contract binding relationship; and a step of initiating the discovery process upon receiving a reply message sent from the network device, the reply message being for identifying that the second terminal is initiating the discovery process.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of communications, and in particular to a method for triggering discovery, a terminal device and a network device. [Background technology]

[0002] Currently, the discovery startup process between devices is blind. Take relay technology in wireless communication systems as an example. Relay technology adds one or more relay nodes between a base station and a terminal, which are responsible for one or more forwardings of a wireless signal, that is, a wireless signal cannot reach a terminal without multi-hopping. Wireless relay technology can not only be used to expand cell coverage and complement cell coverage blind spots, but also increase cell capacity through spatial resource multiplexing. For indoor coverage, relay technology can play a role in overcoming penetration loss and improving indoor coverage quality. Take simple two-hop relay as an example. Wireless relay splits one base station-terminal link into two links, base station-relay and relay-terminal, bringing the possibility of replacing one low-quality link with two high-quality links, thereby obtaining larger link capacity and better coverage.

[0003] Currently, Long Term Evolution (LTE) or New Radio (NR) supports UE-to-Network relay, that is, one end of the relay is connected to the UE and the other end is connected to the network. The terminal connected to the relay may be called a remote terminal (Remote UE), and the terminal as a relay may be called a relay terminal (Relay UE). There are two methods of relay discovery:

[0004] In Method 1, as shown in FIG. 1, for a certain nearby service, if a Relay UE desires for nearby UEs to establish a UE-To-Network relay connection through itself, the Relay UE broadcasts a discovery message and declares that it is a Relay UE and can realize UE-To-Network relay for the service.

[0005] In Method 2, for a certain nearby service, if the Remote UE wants to establish a UE-To-Network relay connection through a nearby Relay UE, the Remote UE broadcasts a discovery message to discover the nearby Relay UE. If the nearby Relay UE approves and authorizes the establishment of the UE-To-Network relay connection, it returns discovery response information to the Remote UE. As shown in Figure 2, Relay UE1 and Relay UE3 authorize the establishment of a UE-To-Network relay connection with the Remote UE.

[0006] As can be seen from the discovery activation process in the above two methods, the current discovery activation process has blindness, especially between devices that have a contractual binding relationship. Since devices that have a contractual binding relationship can establish a relay communication connection, one device may always broadcast a discovery message or monitor a discovery message to discover another device, which obviously increases the power consumption of the device. Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0007] An object of embodiments of the present invention is to provide a method for triggering discovery, a terminal device and a network device to solve the problem of increased device power consumption caused by devices continuously broadcasting or monitoring each other for discovery messages. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] In order to solve the above technical problems, an embodiment of the present invention is realized as follows.

[0009] In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a method for triggering discovery applied to a first terminal, the method including: a step of sending a discovery wake-up request to a network device, the discovery wake-up request being for requesting the network device to trigger a second terminal to initiate a discovery process, the second terminal and the first terminal having a contract binding relationship; and a step of initiating the discovery process upon receiving a reply message sent from the network device, the reply message being for identifying that the second terminal is initiating the discovery process.

[0010] In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a method for triggering discovery applied to a second terminal, the method including: receiving a discovery activation command sent from a network device, the discovery activation command being generated based on a discovery wake-up request sent by the network device from a first terminal, the second terminal and the first terminal having a contract binding relationship; and initiating a discovery process based on the discovery activation command.

[0011] In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a method for triggering discovery applied to a network device, the method including the steps of: receiving a discovery wake-up request sent from a first terminal, the discovery wake-up request being for requesting a network device to trigger a second terminal to initiate a discovery process, the second terminal and the first terminal having a contract binding relationship; sending a discovery activation command to the second terminal based on the discovery wake-up request; and sending a reply message to the first terminal after the second terminal initiates the discovery process based on the discovery activation command, the reply message being for identifying that the second terminal is initiating the discovery process.

[0012] In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a terminal device including: a first sending module for sending a discovery wake-up request to a network device, the discovery wake-up request being for requesting the network device to trigger a second terminal to initiate a discovery process, the second terminal and the first terminal having a contract binding relationship; and a first initiation module for initiating the discovery process upon receiving a reply message sent from the network device, the reply message being for identifying that the second terminal is initiating the discovery process.

[0013] In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a terminal device including: a second receiving module for receiving a discovery start-up command sent from a network device, the discovery start-up command being generated by the network device based on a discovery wake-up request sent from a first terminal, the second terminal and the first terminal having a contract binding relationship; and a second start-up module for starting a discovery process based on the discovery start-up command.

[0014] In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a network device including: a fourth receiving module for receiving a discovery wake-up request sent from a first terminal, the discovery wake-up request being for requesting a network device to trigger a second terminal to initiate a discovery process, the second terminal and the first terminal having a contract binding relationship; a second transmitting module for transmitting a discovery initiate command to the second terminal based on the discovery wake-up request; and a third transmitting module for transmitting a reply message to the first terminal after the second terminal initiates the discovery process based on the discovery initiate command, the reply message being for identifying that the second terminal has initiated the discovery process.

[0015] In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a terminal device comprising a memory in which computer program instructions are stored and a processor which, when said computer program instructions are executed thereon, implements the method of triggering discovery as defined in the first or second aspect above.

[0016] In an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a network device comprising a memory having computer program instructions stored therein, and a processor which, when executed thereon, implements the method of triggering discovery as set forth in the third aspect above.

[0017] In a ninth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a computer readable storage medium comprising instructions which, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform a method for triggering discovery according to the first, second or third aspect above. Effect of the Invention

[0018] In an embodiment of the present invention, a discovery wake-up request is sent by a first terminal to a network device, requesting the network device to trigger a second terminal having a contract binding relationship with the first terminal to start a discovery process. The network device sends a discovery start command to the second terminal based on the discovery wake-up request, and the second terminal starts a discovery process based on the sent discovery start command. Then, the network device sends a reply message to the first terminal to identify that the second terminal has started a discovery process, triggering the first terminal to start a discovery process. As can be seen from the above, the technical solution allows terminals having a contract binding relationship to start a discovery process triggered by one terminal without blindly continuing discovery, and thus the power consumption of the terminals is greatly reduced. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0019] [Figure 1] 1 is a schematic diagram of a discovery mode procedure in a discovery process in the prior art; [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a procedure of another discovery mode in a discovery process in the prior art; [Diagram 3] 2 is a flow diagram of a method for triggering discovery in one embodiment of the present invention; [Figure 4] FIG. 13 is a flow diagram of a method for triggering discovery in another embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 5] FIG. 13 is a flow diagram of a method for triggering discovery in yet another embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 6] FIG. 13 is a flow diagram of a method for triggering discovery in yet another embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 7] FIG. 2 is a structural schematic diagram of a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present invention; [Figure 8] FIG. 4 is a structural schematic diagram of a terminal device according to another embodiment of the present invention; [Figure 9] FIG. 2 is a structural schematic diagram of a network device according to an embodiment of the present invention; [Figure 10] FIG. 11 is a structural schematic diagram of a terminal device according to yet another embodiment of the present invention; [Figure 11] FIG. 11 is a structural schematic diagram of a terminal device according to yet another embodiment of the present invention; [Figure 12] FIG. 4 is a structural schematic diagram of a network device according to another embodiment of the present invention; DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0020] In order to more clearly describe the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments of the present invention or the prior art are briefly described above, and it should be understood that the drawings in the above description are only a part of the embodiments of the present invention, and those skilled in the art can derive other drawings from these drawings without any creative efforts.

[0021] In the following, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention, and it is to be understood that the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present invention, and are not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without any creative efforts shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

[0022] The technical solution of the present invention can be applied to various communication systems, such as Global System for Mobile communication (GSM), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) system, Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Long Term Evolution (LTE) / Long Term Evolution Advanced (LTE-A), New Radio (NR), etc.

[0023] The terminal equipment (User Equipment, UE), which may also be referred to as a Mobile Terminal, mobile terminal device, etc., can communicate with one or more core networks via a Radio Access Network (RAN), and the user equipment may be terminal equipment such as a mobile phone (also referred to as a "cellular" phone) and a computer having terminal equipment, for example a portable, handheld, computer-embedded or vehicle-mounted mobile device that exchanges language and / or data with the radio access network.

[0024] The network device may be a core network element on the network side, such as an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), a Policy Control Function (PCF), etc. The network device may also be a base station, for example, a base station (Base Transceiver Station, BTS) in GSM (registered trademark) or CDMA, a base station (Node B) in WCDMA (registered trademark), an evolved base station (eNB, or e-Node B) in LTE, and a 5G base station (gNB), and is not limited in the present invention.

[0025] The technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present invention are described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

[0026] 3 is a process diagram of a method for triggering discovery in an embodiment of the present invention, which can be performed by an electronic device such as a terminal device or a network device. In other words, the method can be performed by software or hardware installed in the terminal device or the network device. The method of FIG. 3 is applied to a first terminal, a second terminal and a network device, and may include the following steps:

[0027] In S302, the first terminal sends a discovery wake-up request to the network device, where the discovery wake-up request is for requesting the network device to trigger the second terminal to initiate a discovery process.

[0028] The first terminal and the second terminal have a contract binding relationship. The contract binding configuration information may include one or more of the following information: identification information of the first terminal, identification information of the second terminal, binding group identification information corresponding to the contract binding relationship, capability information of the first terminal (presence or absence of relay function, etc.), capability information of the second terminal (presence or absence of relay function, etc.), dedicated certification authentication information, default configuration information (configuration of default discovery mode, configuration of the terminal as a default relay device, etc.). The identification information of the terminal has uniqueness, for example, a Media Access Control (MAC) address of the terminal, a communication number, etc. The binding group identification information may be assigned by a network device, and can uniquely identify a binding group having a contract binding relationship.

[0029] The contract binding configuration information may be pre-configured in the first terminal and / or the second terminal, or may be configured and sent by the network device to the first terminal and / or the second terminal before triggering discovery. For example, the network device sends the pre-configured contract binding configuration information to the first terminal before receiving a discovery wake-up request sent from the first terminal. Or, the network device sends the contract binding configuration information to the second terminal before sending a discovery wake-up command to the second terminal.

[0030] For example, the first terminal is a mobile phone and the second terminal is a smart watch, and upon contract, the mobile phone is bound to the smart watch by its corresponding mobile phone number, thereby establishing a contractual binding relationship between the mobile phone and the smart watch.

[0031] The discovery wake-up request may include one or more of the following information: identification information of the first terminal, identification information of the second terminal, binding group identification information corresponding to the contract binding relationship, discovery mode corresponding to the discovery process, discovery start time, discovery duration, dedicated authorization authentication information, etc. Among them, the discovery mode may be any mode shown in Figure 1 or Figure 2. The dedicated authorization authentication information is for the first terminal and the second terminal to authenticate and authenticate each other in the discovery process.

[0032] In S304, the network device receives the discovery wake-up request, and sends a discovery wake-up command to the second terminal based on the discovery wake-up request.

[0033] The discovery initiation command may include one or more of the following information corresponding to the discovery process: a discovery mode, a discovery initiation time, a discovery duration, dedicated authentication information, and the like.

[0034] In this step, if the discovery wake-up request includes the identification information of the second terminal, a discovery wake-up command is sent to the second terminal corresponding to the identification information.

[0035] If the discovery wake-up request does not include the identification information of the second terminal, the network device may send the discovery wake-up command to a terminal having a contract binding relationship with the first terminal. Optionally, the network device may determine a second terminal having a contract binding relationship with the first terminal based on the identification information of the first terminal and / or the binding group identification information included in the discovery wake-up request, and further send the discovery wake-up command to the determined second terminal. Optionally, the network device may send the discovery wake-up command to a default terminal device based on the contract binding configuration information.

[0036] At S306, the second terminal receives the discovery initiation command and initiates a discovery process based on the discovery initiation command.

[0037] At S308, the network device sends a reply message to the first terminal, the reply message being for identifying that the second terminal is initiating a discovery process.

[0038] The reply message may include one or more of the following information corresponding to the discovery process: discovery mode, discovery activation time, discovery duration, dedicated authentication credentials, and the like.

[0039] At S310, the first terminal initiates a discovery process based on the received reply message sent from the network device.

[0040] In an embodiment of the present invention, a discovery wake-up request is sent by a first terminal to a network device, requesting the network device to trigger a second terminal having a contract binding relationship with the first terminal to start a discovery process. The network device sends a discovery start command to the second terminal based on the discovery wake-up request, and the second terminal starts a discovery process based on the sent discovery start command. Then, the network device sends a reply message to the first terminal to identify that the second terminal has started a discovery process, triggering the first terminal to start a discovery process. As can be seen from the above, the technical solution allows terminals having a contract binding relationship to start a discovery process triggered by one terminal without blindly continuing discovery, and thus the power consumption of the terminals is greatly reduced.

[0041] In one embodiment, if the discovery wake-up request does not include a discovery mode corresponding to the discovery process, the network device may determine a preconfigured default discovery mode as the discovery mode corresponding to the discovery process before sending a discovery wake-up command to the second terminal, and send a discovery wake-up command including the determined discovery mode to the second terminal.

[0042] In one embodiment, when executing S306, the second terminal initiates a discovery process based on information contained in the discovery initiation command, as follows: If the discovery initiation command includes a discovery mode corresponding to the discovery process, the second terminal initiates the discovery process in the discovery mode included in the discovery initiation command. If the discovery start-up command includes a discovery start-up time, the second terminal starts a discovery process at the discovery start-up time included in the discovery start-up command. If the discovery initiation command includes a discovery duration, the second terminal initiates a discovery process and continues the discovery process for the discovery duration included in the discovery initiation command. If the discovery initiation command includes the dedicated authorization authentication information, the second terminal initiates a discovery process, and in the discovery process, authorizes and authenticates the first terminal based on the dedicated authorization authentication information included in the discovery initiation command.

[0043] In one embodiment, if the discovery initiation command does not include a discovery mode corresponding to the discovery process, the second terminal may determine a preconfigured default discovery mode as the discovery mode corresponding to the discovery process, and further initiate the discovery process in the determined discovery mode.

[0044] In one embodiment, after the second terminal initiates the discovery process, the second terminal may send a discovery initiation confirmation message to the network device. The discovery initiation confirmation message is for identifying that the second terminal initiates the discovery process. The discovery initiation confirmation message may include one or more of information corresponding to the discovery process, such as a discovery mode, a discovery initiation time, a discovery duration, and dedicated authentication information.

[0045] After receiving the discovery initiation confirmation message sent by the second terminal, the network device generates a reply message according to the discovery initiation confirmation message, and sends the reply message to the first terminal to trigger the first terminal to initiate a discovery process. The reply message may include one or more of information such as a discovery mode, a discovery initiation time, a discovery duration, and dedicated authorization authentication information corresponding to the discovery process.

[0046] In one embodiment, the second terminal may not send a discovery start confirmation message to the network device after starting the discovery process. In this case, when the network device learns that the second terminal has started the discovery process, it may directly generate a reply message and send the reply message to the first terminal to trigger the first terminal to start the discovery process. The reply message may include one or more of the following information corresponding to the discovery process: a discovery mode, a discovery start time, a discovery duration, dedicated authentication information, etc.

[0047] In one embodiment, when performing S310, the first terminal initiates a discovery process based on information contained in the reply message, specifically as follows: If the reply message includes a discovery mode corresponding to the discovery process, the first terminal initiates the discovery process with the discovery mode included in the reply message. If the reply message includes a discovery activation time, the first terminal initiates a discovery process at the discovery activation time included in the reply message. If the reply message includes a discovery duration, the first terminal initiates a discovery process and continues the discovery process for the discovery duration included in the reply message. If the reply message contains the dedicated certification authentication information, the first terminal initiates a discovery process, and in the discovery process certifies and authenticates the second terminal based on the dedicated certification authentication information contained in the reply message.

[0048] In one embodiment, contract binding configuration information is pre-configured in the first terminal or in a Universal Subscriber Identity Module (USIM) card of the first terminal.

[0049] In one embodiment, before the first terminal transmits a discovery wake-up request to the network device, the first terminal may receive contract binding configuration information configured and transmitted by the network device. If the contract binding configuration information is pre-configured in the first terminal or in the USIM card of the first terminal, the contract binding configuration information configured by the network device can be preferably used.

[0050] In one embodiment, the contract binding configuration information is pre-configured in the second terminal or in a USIM card of the second terminal.

[0051] In one embodiment, the second terminal may receive contract binding configuration information configured and transmitted by the network device before receiving the discovery start command transmitted from the network device. If the contract binding configuration information is configured in advance in the second terminal or in the USIM card of the second terminal, the contract binding configuration information configured by the network device can be preferably used.

[0052] In the above embodiment, the contract binding configuration information includes the identification information of the first terminal, the identification information of the second terminal, and binding group identification information corresponding to the contract binding relationship. In addition, the contract binding configuration information may further include one or more of the following information: capability information of the first terminal, capability information of the second terminal, dedicated certification authentication information, default configuration information, etc.

[0053] In one embodiment, the network device may first confirm that the second terminal is in a connected state before sending a discovery start command to the second terminal. If the network device confirms that the second terminal is in an idle state, the network device may send a first paging message including a discovery start command to the second terminal, the first paging message being for triggering the second terminal to change from a current idle state to a connected state and to start a discovery process based on the discovery start command. Or, the network device may first send a second paging message to the network terminal, the second paging message being for triggering the second terminal to change from a current idle state to a connected state, and then the network device sends a discovery start command to the second terminal.

[0054] In one embodiment, the discovery wake-up request includes identification information of the first terminal and identification information of the second terminal. Before sending the discovery wake-up command to the second terminal, the network device may determine whether the second terminal and the first terminal have a contract binding relationship based on the identification information of the first terminal and the identification information of the second terminal. When it is determined that the second terminal and the first terminal have a contract binding relationship, the network device sends the discovery wake-up command to the second terminal, thereby ensuring the accuracy of the command transmission.

[0055] The following describes in detail the discovery triggering method provided in the present invention through some specific examples.

[0056] Figure 4 is a procedure diagram of a method for triggering discovery in one embodiment of the present invention. The method of Figure 4 is applied to a first terminal, a second terminal and a network device, and the first terminal requests the network device to trigger the second terminal to initiate a discovery process by a non-access stratum (NAS) message, and the AMF of the network device is responsible for the second terminal to initiate the discovery process. In addition to the AMF, the PCF of the network device or other core network elements may also be responsible for the second terminal to initiate the discovery process (not shown in the procedure diagram of Figure 4). In this embodiment, the second terminal is in a connected state. Specifically, the method may include the following steps:

[0057] In S401, a contract binding relationship between a first terminal and a second terminal is established, and contract binding configuration information is configured.

[0058] The contract binding configuration information includes the identification information of the first terminal, the identification information of the second terminal, and binding group identification information corresponding to the contract binding relationship. In addition to the above information, the contract binding configuration information may include one or more pieces of information such as the capability information of the first terminal (such as whether or not there is a relay function), the capability information of the second terminal (such as whether or not there is a relay function), dedicated certification authentication information, default configuration information (such as a configuration of a default discovery mode, a configuration of a terminal as a default relay, etc.), etc.

[0059] The contract binding configuration information may be pre-configured in the first terminal and / or the second terminal, or may be configured and sent by the network device to the first terminal and / or the second terminal before triggering discovery. For example, the network device sends the pre-configured contract binding configuration information to the first terminal before receiving a discovery wake-up request sent from the first terminal. Or, the network device sends the contract binding configuration information to the second terminal before sending a discovery wake-up command to the second terminal.

[0060] At S402, the first terminal sends a discovery wake-up request to the network device by a NAS message, and the discovery wake-up request is to request the AMF to trigger the second terminal to initiate a discovery process.

[0061] The discovery wake-up request may include one or more of the following information: identification information of the first terminal, identification information of the second terminal, binding group identification information corresponding to the contract binding relationship, a discovery mode corresponding to the discovery process, a discovery start-up time, a discovery duration, dedicated authorization authentication information, etc.

[0062] In S403, when the AMF receives a discovery wake-up request, it authenticates the first terminal and the second terminal based on the contract binding configuration information.

[0063] In this step, the authentication of the first terminal and the second terminal may include testing whether there is a contract binding relationship between the first terminal and the second terminal.

[0064] In S404, if the authentication is successful, the AMF sends a discovery start command to the second terminal.

[0065] In this embodiment, the discovery start command includes a discovery mode corresponding to a discovery process, and may further include one or more of the following information: a discovery start time, a discovery duration, dedicated authentication information, etc.

[0066] When performing this step, the network device may send a discovery wake-up command to a second terminal corresponding to the identification information based on the identification information of the second terminal included in the discovery wake-up request.

[0067] In one embodiment, if the discovery wake-up request does not include the identification information of the second terminal, the network device may send the discovery wake-up command to a terminal having a contract binding relationship with the first terminal. Optionally, the network device may determine a second terminal having a contract binding relationship with the first terminal based on the identification information of the first terminal and / or the binding group identification information included in the discovery wake-up request, and further send the discovery wake-up command to the determined second terminal. Optionally, the network device may send the discovery wake-up command to a default terminal device based on the contract binding configuration information. For example, if the contract binding configuration information includes the configuration of a default relay device, the network device may send the discovery wake-up command to the default relay device.

[0068] In one embodiment, if authentication has not been successful, the network device may refuse to send a discovery initiation command to the second terminal.

[0069] In S405, when the second terminal receives the discovery start command, the second terminal starts a discovery process based on the discovery mode included in the discovery start command, that is, starts a discovery process corresponding to the discovery mode.

[0070] At S406, the second terminal sends a discovery initiation confirmation message to the AMF.

[0071] The discovery initiation confirmation message is intended to identify that the second terminal is initiating the discovery process.

[0072] At S407, the AMF sends a reply message to the first terminal based on the discovery initiation confirmation message.

[0073] The discovery activation confirmation message may include one or more of the following information corresponding to the discovery process: a discovery mode, a discovery activation time, a discovery duration, dedicated authorization credentials, etc. The reply message may include one or more of the following information corresponding to the discovery process: a discovery mode, a discovery activation time, a discovery duration, dedicated authorization credentials, etc.

[0074] In S408, upon receiving the reply message, the first terminal initiates a discovery process corresponding to the discovery mode.

[0075] In this embodiment, the discovery mode may be included in one or more of a discovery wakeup request, a discovery wakeup command, a discovery wakeup confirmation message, and a reply message.

[0076] As can be seen from this embodiment, the first terminal sends a discovery wake-up request to the AMF of the network device through a NAS message, requesting the AMF to trigger the second terminal having a contractual binding relationship with the first terminal to start a discovery process. The AMF sends a discovery start command to the second terminal based on the discovery wake-up request, and the second terminal starts the discovery process based on the sent discovery start command. Then, the AMF sends a reply message to the first terminal to identify that the second terminal has started the discovery process, triggering the first terminal to start the discovery process. As can be seen from these, the technical solution allows terminals having a contractual binding relationship to start a discovery process triggered by one terminal without blindly continuing discovery, thereby greatly reducing the power consumption of the terminals.

[0077] Figure 5 is a procedure diagram of a method for triggering discovery in another embodiment of the present invention, the method of Figure 5 is applied to a first terminal, a second terminal and a network device, the first terminal requests the network device to trigger the second terminal to initiate a discovery process by a NAS message, and the AMF of the network device is responsible for the second terminal to initiate the discovery process. In addition to the AMF, the PCF of the network device or other core network elements may also be responsible for the second terminal to initiate the discovery process (not shown in the procedure diagram of Figure 5). In this embodiment, the second terminal is in an idle state. Specifically, the method may include the following steps:

[0078] In S501, a contract binding relationship between a first terminal and a second terminal is established, and contract binding configuration information is configured.

[0079] The contract binding configuration information has been explained in detail in the above embodiment, so the explanation will be omitted here.

[0080] At S502, the first terminal sends a discovery wake-up request to the network equipment by a NAS message, and the discovery wake-up request is to request the AMF to trigger the second terminal to initiate a discovery process.

[0081] The discovery wake-up request may include one or more of the following information: identification information of the first terminal, identification information of the second terminal, binding group identification information corresponding to the contract binding relationship, a discovery mode corresponding to the discovery process, a discovery start-up time, a discovery duration, dedicated authorization authentication information, etc.

[0082] In S503, when the AMF receives a discovery wake-up request, it authenticates the first terminal and the second terminal based on the contract binding configuration information.

[0083] In this step, the authentication of the first terminal and the second terminal may include testing whether there is a contract binding relationship between the first terminal and the second terminal.

[0084] In S504, if the authentication is successful, the AMF sends a paging message including a discovery activation command to the second terminal.

[0085] In this embodiment, the discovery start-up command includes a discovery mode corresponding to the discovery process. The discovery start-up command may further include one or more of the following information: a discovery start-up time, a discovery duration, dedicated authentication information, etc. The discovery mode included in the discovery start-up command may be the discovery mode included in the discovery wake-up request, or may be determined by the network device, and the network device may determine the default discovery mode configured in the contract binding configuration information as the discovery mode corresponding to the current discovery process and carry it in the discovery start-up command.

[0086] In one embodiment, if authentication has not been successful, the network device may refuse to send a discovery initiation command to the second terminal.

[0087] In S505, when the second terminal receives the paging message, it converts from an idle state to a connected state according to the paging message, and initiates a discovery process corresponding to an initiated discovery mode according to a discovery initiation command included in the paging message.

[0088] In one embodiment, if the discovery initiation command does not include a discovery mode, the second terminal may determine the default discovery mode configured in the contract binding configuration information as the discovery mode corresponding to the current discovery process.

[0089] At S506, the second terminal sends a discovery initiation confirmation message to the AMF.

[0090] The discovery initiation confirmation message is intended to identify that the second terminal is initiating the discovery process.

[0091] At S507, the AMF sends a reply message to the first terminal based on the discovery initiation confirmation message.

[0092] The discovery activation confirmation message may include one or more of the following information corresponding to the discovery process: a discovery mode, a discovery activation time, a discovery duration, dedicated authorization credentials, etc. The reply message may include one or more of the following information corresponding to the discovery process: a discovery mode, a discovery activation time, a discovery duration, dedicated authorization credentials, etc.

[0093] In S508, when the first terminal receives the reply message, it initiates a discovery process corresponding to the discovery mode.

[0094] In this embodiment, the discovery mode may be included in one or more of a discovery wakeup request, a discovery wakeup command, a discovery wakeup confirmation message, and a reply message.

[0095] As can be seen from this embodiment, the first terminal sends a discovery wake-up request to the AMF of the network device through a NAS message to request the AMF to trigger the second terminal having a contractual binding relationship with the first terminal to start a discovery process. The AMF sends a paging message including a discovery start command to the second terminal based on the discovery wake-up request, and the second terminal converts to a connected state based on the paging message and starts a discovery process. Then, the AMF sends a reply message to the first terminal to identify that the second terminal has started the discovery process, triggering the first terminal to start the discovery process. As can be seen from these, the technical solution allows terminals having a contractual binding relationship to start a discovery process triggered by one terminal without blindly continuing discovery, so that the power consumption of the terminals is greatly reduced.

[0096] Figure 6 is a procedure diagram of a method for triggering discovery in yet another embodiment of the present invention, the method of Figure 6 is applied to a first terminal, a second terminal and a network device, the first terminal requests the network device to trigger the second terminal to initiate a discovery process through a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message, and the second terminal initiates the discovery process in the Radio Access Network (RAN) of the network device. Specifically, it may include the following steps:

[0097] In S601, a contract binding relationship between a first terminal and a second terminal is established, and contract binding configuration information is configured.

[0098] The contract binding configuration information has been explained in detail in the above embodiment, so the explanation will be omitted here.

[0099] In S602, the first terminal sends a discovery wake-up request to the RAN by an RRC message, where the discovery wake-up request is for requesting the RAN to trigger the second terminal to initiate a discovery process.

[0100] The discovery wake-up request may include one or more of the following information: identification information of the first terminal, identification information of the second terminal, binding group identification information corresponding to the contract binding relationship, a discovery mode corresponding to the discovery process, a discovery start-up time, a discovery duration, dedicated authorization authentication information, etc.

[0101] In S603, when the RAN receives the discovery wake-up request, it requests the AMF by an Access Network (AN) message to authenticate the first terminal and the second terminal and to approve the discovery wake-up request of the first terminal.

[0102] At S604, the AMF authenticates the first terminal and the second terminal based on the contract binding configuration information.

[0103] In this step, the authentication of the first terminal and the second terminal may include testing whether there is a contract binding relationship between the first terminal and the second terminal.

[0104] In S605, if the authentication is successful, the AMF notifies the RAN of a message of successful authentication.

[0105] At S606, the RAN transmits a discovery initiation command to the second terminal.

[0106] In this embodiment, the discovery start-up command includes a discovery mode corresponding to the discovery process. The discovery start-up command may further include one or more of the following information: a discovery start-up time, a discovery duration, dedicated authorization authentication information, etc. The discovery mode included in the discovery start-up command may be the discovery mode included in the discovery wake-up request, or may be determined by the network device, and the network device may determine the default discovery mode configured in the contract binding configuration information as the discovery mode corresponding to the current discovery process and carry it in the discovery start-up command.

[0107] In one embodiment, if authentication has not been successful, the network device may refuse to send a discovery initiation command to the second terminal.

[0108] In S607, when the second terminal receives the discovery activation command, it activates a discovery process corresponding to the discovery mode according to the discovery activation command.

[0109] In one embodiment, if the discovery initiation command does not include a discovery mode, the second terminal may determine the default discovery mode configured in the contract binding configuration information as the discovery mode corresponding to the current discovery process.

[0110] At S608, the second terminal transmits a discovery initiation confirmation message to the RAN.

[0111] The discovery initiation confirmation message is intended to identify that the second terminal is initiating the discovery process.

[0112] At S609, the RAN sends a reply message to the first terminal based on the discovery initiation confirmation message.

[0113] The discovery activation confirmation message may include one or more of the following information corresponding to the discovery process: a discovery mode, a discovery activation time, a discovery duration, dedicated authorization credentials, etc. The reply message may include one or more of the following information corresponding to the discovery process: a discovery mode, a discovery activation time, a discovery duration, dedicated authorization credentials, etc.

[0114] At S610, upon receiving the reply message, the first terminal initiates a discovery process corresponding to the discovery mode.

[0115] In this embodiment, the discovery mode may be included in one or more of a discovery wakeup request, a discovery wakeup command, a discovery wakeup confirmation message, and a reply message.

[0116] As can be seen from this embodiment, the first terminal sends a discovery wake-up request to the RAN of the network device through an RRC message to request the RAN to trigger the second terminal having a contractual binding relationship with the first terminal to start a discovery process. After the RAN successfully authenticates the first terminal and the second terminal through the AMF, it sends a discovery start command to the second terminal, and the second terminal starts a discovery process according to the discovery start command. Then, the RAN sends a reply message to the first terminal to identify that the second terminal has started a discovery process, thereby triggering the first terminal to start a discovery process. As can be seen from these, the technical solution allows terminals having a contractual binding relationship to start a discovery process triggered by one terminal without blindly continuing discovery, and thus the power consumption of the terminals is greatly reduced.

[0117] Certain embodiments of the present specification have been described above. Other embodiments are within the scope of the following claims. In some cases, the actions or steps recited in the claims may be performed in an order different from that in the examples and still achieve desirable results. Also, the processes depicted in the figures do not necessarily require the particular order depicted or sequential order to achieve desirable results. In some embodiments, multitasking and parallel processing may also be possible or advantageous.

[0118] FIG. 7 is a structural schematic diagram of a terminal device provided in one embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 7, the terminal device includes: A first sending module 710 for sending a discovery wake-up request to the network device, the discovery wake-up request is for requesting the network device to trigger a second terminal to initiate a discovery process, and the second terminal and the first terminal have a contract binding relationship; and a first initiation module 720 for initiating a discovery process upon receiving a reply message sent from the network device, the reply message being for identifying that a second terminal is initiating the discovery process.

[0119] In one embodiment, the discovery wake-up request includes at least one of an identification information of the first terminal, an identification information of the second terminal, a binding group identification information corresponding to the contract binding relationship, a discovery mode corresponding to the discovery process, a discovery activation time, a discovery duration, and dedicated authorization authentication information.

[0120] In one embodiment, the reply message includes at least one of a discovery mode, a discovery activation time, a discovery duration, and dedicated authentication credentials corresponding to the discovery process; The first activation module 720 further includes: If the reply message contains a discovery mode, launch the discovery process in discovery mode, If the reply message contains a discovery start time, start the discovery process at the discovery start time; If the reply message includes a discovery duration, initiate a discovery process, continue the discovery process for the discovery duration, and If the reply message contains the dedicated authorization authentication information, it is used to initiate a discovery process and to authorize and authenticate the second terminal in the discovery process based on the dedicated authorization authentication information.

[0121] In one embodiment, contract binding configuration information is pre-configured in the first terminal or in a universal subscriber identity module USIM card of the first terminal, and the contract binding configuration information includes identification information of the first terminal, identification information of the second terminal, and binding group identification information corresponding to the contract binding relationship.

[0122] In one embodiment, the contract binding configuration information further includes at least one of the following: capability information of the first terminal, capability information of the second terminal, dedicated certification authentication information, and default configuration information.

[0123] In one embodiment, the terminal device is The network device further includes a first receiving module for receiving contract binding configuration information configured and sent by the network device before sending the discovery wake-up request to the network device.

[0124] The terminal device provided in the embodiment of the present invention can implement each process implemented by the terminal device in the above method embodiment, and the description will be omitted here to avoid duplication.

[0125] In an embodiment of the present invention, a discovery wake-up request is sent by a first terminal to a network device, requesting the network device to trigger a second terminal having a contract binding relationship with the first terminal to start a discovery process. The network device sends a discovery start command to the second terminal based on the discovery wake-up request, and the second terminal starts a discovery process based on the sent discovery start command. Then, the network device sends a reply message to the first terminal to identify that the second terminal has started a discovery process, triggering the first terminal to start a discovery process. As can be seen from the above, the technical solution allows terminals having a contract binding relationship to start a discovery process triggered by one terminal without blindly continuing discovery, and thus the power consumption of the terminals is greatly reduced.

[0126] FIG. 8 is a structural schematic diagram of a terminal device provided in another embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 8, the terminal device includes: A second receiving module 810 for receiving a discovery wake-up command sent from the network device, the discovery wake-up command being generated by the network device based on a discovery wake-up request sent from the first terminal, and the second terminal and the first terminal have a contract binding relationship; and a second initiation module 820 for initiating the discovery process based on the discovery initiation command.

[0127] In one embodiment, the discovery wake-up request includes at least one of an identification information of the first terminal, an identification information of the second terminal, a binding group identification information corresponding to the contract binding relationship, a discovery mode corresponding to the discovery process, a discovery activation time, a discovery duration, and dedicated authorization authentication information.

[0128] In one embodiment, the discovery initiation command includes at least one of a discovery mode, a discovery initiation time, a discovery duration, and dedicated authentication credentials corresponding to the discovery process; The second startup module 820 further includes: If the discovery initiation command includes a discovery mode, then launch the discovery process in discovery mode; If the discovery start command includes a discovery start time, start the discovery process at the discovery start time; If the discovery initiation command includes a discovery duration, then initiating a discovery process and continuing the discovery process for the discovery duration; and If the discovery initiation command includes dedicated authorization credentials, it is used to initiate a discovery process and to authorize and authenticate the first terminal in the discovery process based on the dedicated authorization credentials.

[0129] In one embodiment, the terminal device is The device further includes a first determining module for determining a preconfigured default discovery mode as the discovery mode if the discovery activation command does not include a discovery mode.

[0130] In one embodiment, the terminal device is The method further includes a first sending module for sending a discovery start-up confirmation message to the network device after initiating the discovery process, where the discovery start-up confirmation message is for identifying that the second terminal is initiating the discovery process, and the discovery start-up confirmation message includes at least one of a discovery mode, a discovery start-up time, a discovery duration, and dedicated authorization authentication information corresponding to the discovery process.

[0131] In one embodiment, contract binding configuration information is pre-configured in the second terminal or in a universal subscriber identity module USIM card of the second terminal, and the contract binding configuration information includes identification information of the first terminal, identification information of the second terminal, and binding group identification information corresponding to the contract binding relationship.

[0132] In one embodiment, the contract binding configuration information further includes at least one of the following: capability information of the first terminal, capability information of the second terminal, dedicated certification authentication information, and default configuration information.

[0133] In one embodiment, the terminal device is The network device further includes a third receiving module for receiving contract binding configuration information configured and transmitted by the network device before receiving the discovery initiation command transmitted from the network device.

[0134] The terminal device provided in the embodiment of the present invention can implement each process implemented by the terminal device in the above method embodiment, and the description will be omitted here to avoid duplication.

[0135] In an embodiment of the present invention, a discovery wake-up request is sent by a first terminal to a network device, requesting the network device to trigger a second terminal having a contract binding relationship with the first terminal to start a discovery process. The network device sends a discovery start command to the second terminal based on the discovery wake-up request, and the second terminal starts a discovery process based on the sent discovery start command. Then, the network device sends a reply message to the first terminal to identify that the second terminal has started a discovery process, triggering the first terminal to start a discovery process. As can be seen from the above, the technical solution allows terminals having a contract binding relationship to start a discovery process triggered by one terminal without blindly continuing discovery, and thus the power consumption of the terminals is greatly reduced.

[0136] FIG. 9 is a structural schematic diagram of a network device provided in another embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 9, the network device includes: A fourth receiving module 910 for receiving a discovery wake-up request sent from a first terminal, the discovery wake-up request is for requesting a network device to trigger a second terminal to start a discovery process, and the second terminal and the first terminal have a contract binding relationship; a second sending module 920 for sending a discovery wake-up command to a second terminal according to the discovery wake-up request; and a third transmitting module 930 for transmitting a reply message to the first terminal after the second terminal initiates the discovery process based on the discovery initiation command, the reply message being for identifying that the second terminal is initiating the discovery process.

[0137] In one embodiment, the discovery wake-up request includes at least one of an identification information of the first terminal, an identification information of the second terminal, a binding group identification information corresponding to the contract binding relationship, a discovery mode corresponding to the discovery process, a discovery activation time, a discovery duration, and dedicated authorization authentication information.

[0138] In one embodiment, the second transmitting module 920 further comprises: When the discovery wake-up request includes the identification information of the second terminal, it is used to send a discovery wake-up command to the second terminal corresponding to the identification information.

[0139] In one embodiment, the second transmitting module 920 further comprises: If the discovery wakeup request does not include the identification information of the second terminal, it is used to send a discovery wakeup command to a terminal that has a contract binding relationship with the first terminal.

[0140] In one embodiment, the network device comprises: Further comprising: a second determination module for determining a pre-configured default discovery mode as a discovery mode corresponding to the discovery process before sending a discovery wake-up command to the second terminal when the discovery wake-up request does not include a discovery mode corresponding to the discovery process; The third sending module 930 is further used for sending a discovery activation command including the determined discovery mode to the second terminal.

[0141] In one embodiment, the discovery initiation command includes at least one of a discovery mode, a discovery initiation time, a discovery duration, and dedicated authentication credentials corresponding to the discovery process.

[0142] In one embodiment, the network device comprises: It further includes a fifth receiving module for receiving a discovery initiation confirmation message sent from the second terminal before sending a reply message to the first terminal.

[0143] In one embodiment, the discovery initiation confirmation message includes at least one of a discovery mode, a discovery initiation time, a discovery duration, and dedicated authentication credentials corresponding to the discovery process.

[0144] In one embodiment, the second transmitting module 920 further comprises: When the second terminal is in an idle state, it is used to send a first paging message including a discovery activation command to the second terminal, and the first paging message is for triggering the second terminal to convert from a current idle state to a connected state and to activate a discovery process based on the discovery activation command.

[0145] In one embodiment, the network device comprises: Further included is a fourth sending module for sending a second paging message to the second terminal before sending a discovery activation command to the second terminal when the second terminal is in an idle state, the second paging message is for triggering the second terminal to convert from a current idle state to a connected state.

[0146] In one embodiment, the network device comprises: The method further includes a third determination module for determining that the second terminal and the first terminal have a contract binding relationship based on the identification information of the first terminal and the identification information of the second terminal before sending a discovery wake-up command to the second terminal when the discovery wake-up request includes the identification information of the first terminal and the identification information of the second terminal.

[0147] In one embodiment, the network device comprises: A fifth sending module is further included for sending pre-configured contract binding configuration information to the first terminal before receiving a discovery wake-up request sent from the first terminal, and for sending the contract binding configuration information to the second terminal before sending a discovery wake-up command to the second terminal; The contract binding configuration information includes identification information of the first terminal, identification information of the second terminal, and binding group identification information corresponding to the contract binding relationship.

[0148] In one embodiment, the contract binding configuration information further includes at least one of the following: capability information of the first terminal, capability information of the second terminal, dedicated certification authentication information, and default configuration information.

[0149] The network device provided in the embodiment of the present invention can implement each process implemented by the network device in the above method embodiment, and the description will be omitted here to avoid duplication.

[0150] In an embodiment of the present invention, a discovery wake-up request is sent by a first terminal to a network device, requesting the network device to trigger a second terminal having a contract binding relationship with the first terminal to start a discovery process. The network device sends a discovery start command to the second terminal based on the discovery wake-up request, and the second terminal starts a discovery process based on the sent discovery start command. Then, the network device sends a reply message to the first terminal to identify that the second terminal has started a discovery process, triggering the first terminal to start a discovery process. As can be seen from the above, the technical solution allows terminals having a contract binding relationship to start a discovery process triggered by one terminal without blindly continuing discovery, and thus the power consumption of the terminals is greatly reduced.

[0151] FIG. 10 is a structural schematic diagram of a terminal device according to another embodiment of the present invention. The terminal device 1000 shown in FIG. 10 includes at least one processor 1001, a memory 1002, at least one network interface 1004, and a user interface 1003. Each component in the terminal device 1000 is coupled by a bus system 1005. It is understood that the bus system 1005 is for realizing the connection and communication between these components. In addition to including a data bus, the bus system 1005 also includes a power bus, a control bus, and a status signal bus. However, for the sake of clarity, all the various buses are referred to as the bus system 1005 in FIG. 10.

[0152] The user interface 1003 may include a display, a keyboard, or a pointing device, such as a mouse, a trackball, a touchpad, or a touch screen.

[0153] It is understood that memory 1002 in an embodiment of the present invention may be volatile memory or non-volatile memory, or may include both volatile and non-volatile memory. Non-volatile memory may be Read-Only Memory (ROM), Programmable Read-Only Memory (PROM), Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EPROM), Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM) or Flash memory. Volatile memory may be Random Access Memory (RAM) and is used as an external cache. By way of example and not limitation, many forms of RAM can be used, such as, for example, static random access memory (Static RAM, SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM, DRAM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (Synchronous DRAM, SDRAM), double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (Double Data Rate SDRAM, DDRSDRAM), enhanced synchronous dynamic random access memory (Enhanced SDRAM, ESDRAM), synchronous linked dynamic random access memory (Synchlink DRAM, SLDRAM), and direct Rambus random access memory (DirectRambus RAM, DRRAM). The memory 1002 of the systems and methods described herein is intended to include, but is not limited to, these and any other suitable memory.

[0154] In some embodiments, memory 1002 stores elements such as an operating system 10021 and applications 10022 as executable modules or data structures, or a subset or superset thereof.

[0155] The operating system 10021 includes various system programs, such as a framework layer, a core library layer, a driver layer, etc., and is used to realize various basic services and process hardware-based tasks. The application 10022 includes various applications, such as a media player, a browser, etc., and is used to realize various application services. A program for realizing the method of the embodiment of the present invention may be included in the application 10022.

[0156] In an embodiment of the present invention, the terminal device 1000 further includes a computer program stored in the memory 1009 and executable on the processor 1001, the computer program, when executed by the processor 1001, sending a discovery wake-up request to a network device, the discovery wake-up request being for requesting the network device to trigger a second terminal to initiate a discovery process, the second terminal and the first terminal having a contract binding relationship; and a step of initiating the discovery process upon receiving a reply message sent from the network device, the reply message being for identifying that the second terminal is initiating the discovery process.

[0157] The methods disclosed in the above embodiments of the present invention can be applied to or realized by the processor 1001. The processor 1001 can be an integrated circuit chip having signal processing capabilities. In the implementation process, each step of the above method can be completed by an instruction in the form of a hardware integrated logic circuit or software in the processor 1001. The processor 1001 can be a common processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logic device, a discrete hardware component, etc. Each method, step and logic block diagram disclosed in the embodiments of the present invention can be realized or executed. The common processor can be a microprocessor or any general processor, etc. The steps of the methods disclosed according to the embodiments of the present invention can be directly embodied to be executed and performed by a hardware decoding processor, or executed and performed by a combination of hardware and software modules in the decoding processor. The software module may be located in a computer-readable storage medium commonly used in the art, such as a random access memory, a flash memory, a read-only memory, a programmable read-only memory or an electrically erasable programmable memory, a register, etc. The computer-readable storage medium is located in the memory 1002, and the processor 1001 reads information in the memory 1002 and performs the steps of the above method in cooperation with its hardware. Specifically, the computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program that, when executed by the processor 1001, realizes each step of the embodiment of the method for triggering the above discovery.

[0158] It is understood that the embodiments described in the embodiments of the present invention can be realized by hardware, software, firmware, middleware, microcode, or a combination thereof. For hardware realization, the processing unit can be realized in one or more Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASIC), Digital Signal Processor (DSP), Digital Signal Processing Device (DSPD), Programmable Logic Device (PLD), Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), common processor, controller, microcontroller, microprocessor, other electronic unit, or a combination thereof for performing the functions described in the present invention.

[0159] For software implementation, the techniques described in the embodiments of the present invention can be implemented by modules (e.g., processes, functions, etc.) for performing functions described in the embodiments of the present invention. The software code can be stored in a memory and executed by a processor. The memory can be implemented within the processor or external to the processor.

[0160] Optionally, the discovery wake-up request includes at least one of the following: identification information of the first terminal, identification information of the second terminal, binding group identification information corresponding to the contract binding relationship, a discovery mode corresponding to the discovery process, a discovery start-up time, a discovery duration, and dedicated authorization authentication information.

[0161] Optionally, the reply message includes at least one of a discovery mode, a discovery start time, a discovery duration, and dedicated authentication information corresponding to the discovery process, and the computer program, when executed by the processor 1001, if the reply message includes the discovery mode, initiating the discovery process in the discovery mode; if the reply message includes the discovery activation time, initiating the discovery process at the discovery activation time; if the reply message includes the discovery duration, initiating the discovery process and continuing the discovery process for the discovery duration; If the reply message includes the dedicated certification authentication information, the step of initiating the discovery process and certifying and authenticating the second terminal in the discovery process based on the dedicated certification authentication information can also be achieved.

[0162] Alternatively, contract binding configuration information is pre-configured in the first terminal or in a Universal Subscriber Identity Module (USIM) card of the first terminal, and the contract binding configuration information includes identification information of the first terminal, identification information of the second terminal, and binding group identification information corresponding to the contract binding relationship.

[0163] Optionally, the contract binding configuration information further includes at least one of capability information of the first terminal, capability information of the second terminal, dedicated certification authentication information, and default configuration information.

[0164] Optionally, the computer program, when executed by the processor 1001, A step of receiving the contract binding configuration information configured and sent by a network device before sending a discovery wake-up request to the network device may also be implemented.

[0165] The terminal device 1000 can realize the processes and effects realized by the terminal devices in the above-described embodiments, and the description thereof will be omitted here to avoid duplication.

[0166] In an embodiment of the present invention, a discovery wake-up request is sent by a first terminal to a network device, requesting the network device to trigger a second terminal having a contract binding relationship with the first terminal to start a discovery process. The network device sends a discovery start command to the second terminal based on the discovery wake-up request, and the second terminal starts a discovery process based on the sent discovery start command. Then, the network device sends a reply message to the first terminal to identify that the second terminal has started a discovery process, triggering the first terminal to start a discovery process. As can be seen from the above, the technical solution allows terminals having a contract binding relationship to start a discovery process triggered by one terminal without blindly continuing discovery, and thus the power consumption of the terminals is greatly reduced.

[0167] Fig. 11 is a structural schematic diagram of a terminal device according to yet another embodiment of the present invention. The terminal device 1100 shown in Fig. 11 includes at least one processor 1101, a memory 1102, at least one network interface 1104, and a user interface 1103. Each component in the terminal device 1100 is coupled by a bus system 1105. It is understood that the bus system 1105 is for realizing the connection and communication between these components. In addition to including a data bus, the bus system 1105 also includes a power bus, a control bus, and a status signal bus. However, for the sake of clarity, all the various buses are referred to as the bus system 1105 in Fig. 11.

[0168] The user interface 1103 may include a display, a keyboard, or a pointing device, such as a mouse, a trackball, a touchpad, or a touch screen.

[0169] It is understood that memory 1102 in embodiments of the invention may be volatile memory or nonvolatile memory, or may include both volatile and nonvolatile memory. Nonvolatile memory may be ROM, PROM, EPROM, EEPROM, or flash memory. Volatile memory may be RAM, used as an external cache. By way of example and not limitation, many forms of RAM may be used, such as, for example, SRAM, DRAM, SDRAM, DDRSDRAM, ESDRAM, SLDRAM, and DRRAM. Memory 1102 in accordance with the systems and methods described herein is intended to include, but is not limited to, these and any other suitable memory.

[0170] In some embodiments, memory 1102 stores elements such as an operating system 11021 and applications 11022 as executable modules or data structures, or a subset or superset thereof.

[0171] The operating system 11021 includes various system programs, such as a framework layer, a core library layer, a driver layer, etc., and is used to realize various basic services and process hardware-based tasks. The application 11022 includes various applications, such as a media player, a browser, etc., and is used to realize various application services. A program for realizing the method of the embodiment of the present invention may be included in the application 11022.

[0172] In an embodiment of the present invention, the terminal device 1100 further includes a computer program stored in the memory 1109 and executable on the processor 1101, the computer program, when executed by the processor 1101, receiving a discovery wake-up command sent from a network device, the discovery wake-up command being generated by the network device based on a discovery wake-up request sent from a first terminal, the second terminal and the first terminal having a contract binding relationship; and initiating a discovery process based on the discovery initiation command.

[0173] The methods disclosed in the above embodiments of the present invention can be applied to or realized by the processor 1101. The processor 1101 can be an integrated circuit chip having signal processing capabilities. In the implementation process, each step of the above method can be completed by an instruction in the form of integrated logic circuitry of hardware or software in the processor 1101. The processor 1101 can be a common processor, a DSP, an ASIC, an FPGA or other programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logic device, a discrete hardware component, etc. Each method, step and logic block diagram disclosed in the embodiments of the present invention can be realized or executed. The common processor can be a microprocessor or any general processor, etc. The steps of the methods disclosed according to the embodiments of the present invention can be directly embodied to be executed and performed by a hardware decoding processor, or executed and performed by a combination of hardware and software modules in the decoding processor. The software modules can be located in a computer-readable storage medium commonly used in the art, such as a random access memory, a flash memory, a read-only memory, a programmable read-only memory or an electrically erasable programmable memory, a register, etc. The computer-readable storage medium is located in the memory 1102, and the processor 1101 reads information in the memory 1102 and performs the steps of the above method in cooperation with the hardware. Specifically, the computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program that, when executed by the processor 1101, realizes each step of the embodiment of the above method for triggering discovery.

[0174] It is understood that the embodiments described in the embodiments of the present invention can be realized by hardware, software, firmware, middleware, microcode, or a combination thereof. For hardware realization, the processing unit can be realized in one or more ASICs, DSPs, DSPDs, PLDs, FPGAs, common processors, controllers, microcontrollers, microprocessors, other electronic units, or a combination thereof for performing the functions described in the present invention.

[0175] For software implementation, the techniques described in the embodiments of the present invention can be implemented by modules (e.g., processes, functions, etc.) for performing functions described in the embodiments of the present invention. The software code can be stored in a memory and executed by a processor. The memory can be implemented within the processor or external to the processor.

[0176] Optionally, the discovery wake-up request includes at least one of the following: identification information of the first terminal, identification information of the second terminal, binding group identification information corresponding to the contract binding relationship, a discovery mode corresponding to the discovery process, a discovery start-up time, a discovery duration, and dedicated authorization authentication information.

[0177] Optionally, the discovery activation instruction includes at least one of a discovery mode, a discovery activation time, a discovery duration, and dedicated authentication information corresponding to the discovery process, and the computer program, when executed by the processor 1101, if the discovery initiation command includes the discovery mode, initiating the discovery process in the discovery mode; if the discovery start command includes the discovery start time, starting the discovery process at the discovery start time; if the discovery initiation command includes the discovery duration, initiating the discovery process and continuing the discovery process for the discovery duration; If the discovery initiation command includes the dedicated certification authentication information, the step of initiating the discovery process and certifying and authenticating the first terminal in the discovery process based on the dedicated certification authentication information can also be realized.

[0178] Optionally, the discovery activation instruction includes at least one of a discovery mode, a discovery activation time, a discovery duration, and dedicated authentication information corresponding to the discovery process, and the computer program, when executed by the processor 1101, Prior to the step of initiating a discovery process, a step of determining a preconfigured default discovery mode as the discovery mode if the discovery mode is not included in the discovery initiation command may also be implemented.

[0179] Optionally, the computer program, when executed by the processor 1101, After the step of initiating a discovery process, a step of sending a discovery initiation confirmation message to the network device can also be implemented, the discovery initiation confirmation message being for identifying that the second terminal is initiating the discovery process, and the discovery initiation confirmation message including at least one of a discovery mode, a discovery initiation time, a discovery duration, and dedicated certification authentication information corresponding to the discovery process.

[0180] Alternatively, contract binding configuration information is pre-configured in the second terminal or in a Universal Subscriber Identity Module (USIM) card of the second terminal, and the contract binding configuration information includes identification information of the first terminal, identification information of the second terminal, and binding group identification information corresponding to the contract binding relationship.

[0181] Optionally, the contract binding configuration information further includes at least one of capability information of the first terminal, capability information of the second terminal, dedicated certification authentication information, and default configuration information.

[0182] Optionally, the computer program, when executed by the processor 1101, A step of receiving the contract binding configuration information configured and transmitted by a network device before receiving a discovery initiation command transmitted from the network device may also be implemented.

[0183] The terminal device 1100 can implement the processes and effects implemented by the terminal device in the above-described embodiments, and the description thereof will be omitted here to avoid duplication.

[0184] In an embodiment of the present invention, a discovery wake-up request is sent by a first terminal to a network device, requesting the network device to trigger a second terminal having a contract binding relationship with the first terminal to start a discovery process. The network device sends a discovery start command to the second terminal based on the discovery wake-up request, and the second terminal starts a discovery process based on the sent discovery start command. Then, the network device sends a reply message to the first terminal to identify that the second terminal has started a discovery process, triggering the first terminal to start a discovery process. As can be seen from the above, the technical solution allows terminals having a contract binding relationship to start a discovery process triggered by one terminal without blindly continuing discovery, and thus the power consumption of the terminals is greatly reduced.

[0185] Please refer to Figure 12, which is a structural diagram of a network device to which the embodiment of the present invention is applied, which realizes the details of the method of triggering discovery performed by the network device in the above embodiment, and can achieve the same effect. As shown in Figure 12, the network device 1200 includes a processor 1201, a transceiver 1202, a memory 1203, a user interface 1204 and a bus interface; In an embodiment of the present invention, the network device 1200 further includes a computer program stored in the memory 1203 and executable on the processor 1201, the computer program, when executed by the processor 1201, receiving a discovery wake-up request sent from a first terminal, the discovery wake-up request being for requesting a network device to trigger a second terminal to initiate a discovery process, the second terminal and the first terminal having a contract binding relationship; sending a discovery wake-up command to the second terminal based on the discovery wake-up request; and a step of transmitting a reply message to the first terminal after the second terminal initiates the discovery process based on the discovery initiation command, the reply message being for identifying that the second terminal is initiating the discovery process.

[0186] In FIG. 12, the bus architecture may include any number of interconnected buses and bridges, specifically connecting together various circuits, such as one or more processors, represented by processor 1201, and memory, represented by memory 1203. The bus architecture may further connect together various other circuits, such as peripherals, voltage regulators, and power management circuits, all of which are well known in the art and will not be described further herein. The bus interface provides an interface. The transceiver 1202 may be multiple components, i.e., includes a transmitter and a receiver, providing a unit for communicating with various other devices over a transmission medium. For different user devices, the user interface 1204 may be an interface that can provide external and internal connection of desired devices, including but not limited to keypads, displays, speakers, microphones, controls, etc.

[0187] The processor 1201 is responsible for managing the bus architecture and normal processing, and the memory 1203 may store data used by the processor 1201 when performing operations.

[0188] In an embodiment of the present invention, a discovery wake-up request is sent by a first terminal to a network device, requesting the network device to trigger a second terminal having a contract binding relationship with the first terminal to start a discovery process. The network device sends a discovery start command to the second terminal based on the discovery wake-up request, and the second terminal starts a discovery process based on the sent discovery start command. Then, the network device sends a reply message to the first terminal to identify that the second terminal has started a discovery process, triggering the first terminal to start a discovery process. As can be seen from the above, the technical solution allows terminals having a contract binding relationship to start a discovery process triggered by one terminal without blindly continuing discovery, and thus the power consumption of the terminals is greatly reduced.

[0189] Optionally, the discovery wake-up request includes at least one of the following: identification information of the first terminal, identification information of the second terminal, binding group identification information corresponding to the contract binding relationship, a discovery mode corresponding to the discovery process, a discovery start-up time, a discovery duration, and dedicated authorization authentication information.

[0190] Optionally, the computer program, when executed by the processor 1201, When the discovery wake-up request includes identification information of the second terminal, a step of transmitting the discovery wake-up command to the second terminal corresponding to the identification information can also be implemented.

[0191] Optionally, the computer program, when executed by the processor 1201, If the discovery wake-up request does not include identification information of the second terminal, a step of sending the discovery wake-up command to a terminal having the contract binding relationship with the first terminal may also be implemented.

[0192] Optionally, the computer program, when executed by the processor 1201, before sending a discovery wake-up command to the second terminal, if the discovery wake-up request does not include a discovery mode corresponding to the discovery process, determining a pre-configured default discovery mode as a discovery mode corresponding to the discovery process; The method may also include transmitting the discovery activation command including the determined discovery mode to the second terminal.

[0193] Optionally, the discovery initiation command includes at least one of a discovery mode, a discovery initiation time, a discovery duration, and dedicated authentication information corresponding to the discovery process.

[0194] Optionally, the computer program, when executed by the processor 1201, A step of receiving a discovery initiation confirmation message sent from the second terminal before sending a reply message to the first terminal may also be implemented.

[0195] Optionally, the discovery initiation confirmation message includes at least one of a discovery mode, a discovery initiation time, a discovery duration, and dedicated authentication information corresponding to the discovery process.

[0196] Optionally, the computer program, when executed by the processor 1201, A step of sending a first paging message including the discovery activation command to the second terminal when the second terminal is in an idle state can also be realized, the first paging message being for triggering the second terminal to convert from a current idle state to a connected state and to activate the discovery process based on the discovery activation command.

[0197] Optionally, the computer program, when executed by the processor 1201, Before sending a discovery activation command to a second terminal, if the second terminal is in an idle state, a step of sending a second paging message to the second terminal can also be realized, the second paging message being for triggering the second terminal to convert from a current idle state to a connected state.

[0198] Optionally, the computer program, when executed by the processor 1201, Before sending a discovery wake-up command to the second terminal, if the discovery wake-up request includes identification information of the first terminal and identification information of the second terminal, a step of determining that the second terminal and the first terminal have the contract binding relationship based on the identification information of the first terminal and the identification information of the second terminal can also be implemented.

[0199] Optionally, the computer program, when executed by the processor 1201, Also, a step of sending pre-configured contract binding configuration information to the first terminal before receiving a discovery wake-up request sent from the first terminal, and sending the contract binding configuration information to the second terminal before sending a discovery wake-up command to the second terminal, The contract binding configuration information includes identification information of the first terminal, identification information of the second terminal, and binding group identification information corresponding to the contract binding relationship.

[0200] Optionally, the contract binding configuration information further includes at least one of capability information of the first terminal, capability information of the second terminal, dedicated certification authentication information, and default configuration information.

[0201] Preferably, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a terminal device including a processor, a memory, and a computer program stored in the memory and executable on the processor, which computer program, when executed by the processor, realizes each process of the embodiment of the method for triggering discovery performed by the terminal device described above, and can achieve the same technical effect, and in order to avoid duplication, the description will be omitted here.

[0202] Preferably, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a network device including a processor, a memory, and a computer program stored in the memory and executable on the processor, the computer program implementing each process of the embodiment of the method for triggering discovery performed by the network device when executed by the processor, and can achieve the same technical effect, and in order to avoid duplication, the description will be omitted here.

[0203] The embodiment of the present invention further provides a computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program implementing each process of the embodiment of the method for triggering discovery when executed by a processor, and can achieve the same technical effect, and the description will be omitted here to avoid duplication. The computer-readable storage medium is, for example, a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a magnetic disk, an optical disk, etc.

[0204] It should be explained that, as used herein, the terms "comprising," "consisting of," or any other variation thereof, are intended to include a non-exclusive inclusion, whereby a process, method, article, or apparatus comprising a set of elements includes not only those elements, but also other elements not expressly stated or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. Unless otherwise specified, an element qualified by the phrase "comprising a..." does not exclude the presence of other identical elements in the process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises the element.

[0205] From the above description of the embodiments, those skilled in the art can clearly understand that the methods of the above embodiments can be realized in the form of a combination of software and a necessary common hardware platform, and of course, they can also be realized by hardware, but in many cases the former is a more preferred embodiment. Based on this view, the technical solution of the present invention can be substantially or the part that contributes to the prior art can be embodied in the form of a software product, which is stored in a storage medium (e.g., ROM / RAM, magnetic disk, optical disk) and includes a plurality of instructions that cause a terminal (which may be a mobile phone, a computer, a server, an air conditioner, or a network device, etc.) to execute the methods described in each embodiment of the present invention.

[0206] Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above with reference to the drawings, the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned specific embodiments, which are merely illustrative and not limiting. Based on the teachings of the present invention, many forms that a person skilled in the art can make without departing from the spirit of the present invention and the scope of protection of the claims are all within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0207] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202010002061.7, filed in China on January 2, 2020, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

Claims

1. 1. A method for triggering discovery performed by a first terminal, comprising: sending a discovery wake-up request to a network device, the discovery wake-up request being for requesting the network device to trigger a second terminal to initiate a discovery process, the second terminal and the first terminal having a contract binding relationship; and initiating the discovery process upon receiving a reply message transmitted from the network device, the reply message being for identifying that the second terminal is initiating the discovery process; Contract binding configuration information is pre-configured in the first terminal or in a Universal Subscriber Identity Module (USIM) card of the first terminal, and the contract binding configuration information includes identification information of the first terminal, identification information of the second terminal, and binding group identification information corresponding to the contract binding relationship; The contract binding configuration information further includes dedicated authentication information, and the dedicated authentication information is used by the first terminal and the second terminal to authenticate and authenticate each other in a discovery process; Prior to the step of transmitting the discovery wake-up request to the network device, the method of triggering the discovery includes: receiving the contract binding configuration information configured and transmitted by the network device; How to trigger discovery.

2. 2. The method of triggering discovery according to claim 1, wherein the discovery wake-up request includes at least one of identification information of the first terminal, identification information of the second terminal, binding group identification information corresponding to the contract binding relationship, discovery mode corresponding to the discovery process, discovery activation time, discovery duration, and dedicated certification authentication information.

3. The reply message includes at least one of a discovery mode, a discovery start time, a discovery duration, and dedicated authentication information corresponding to the discovery process; The step of initiating the discovery process comprises: if the reply message includes the discovery mode, initiating the discovery process in the discovery mode; if the reply message includes the discovery activation time, initiating the discovery process at the discovery activation time; if the reply message includes the discovery duration, initiating the discovery process and continuing the discovery process for the discovery duration; 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: if the reply message includes the dedicated certification authentication information, initiating the discovery process, and in the discovery process, certifying and authenticating the second terminal based on the dedicated certification authentication information.

4. A terminal device, A first sending module for sending a discovery wake-up request to a network device, the discovery wake-up request is for requesting the network device to trigger a second terminal to initiate a discovery process, and the second terminal and the first terminal have a contract binding relationship; a first initiation module for initiating the discovery process upon receiving a reply message transmitted from the network device, the reply message being for identifying that the second terminal is initiating the discovery process; Contract binding configuration information is pre-configured in the first terminal or in a Universal Subscriber Identity Module (USIM) card of the first terminal, and the contract binding configuration information includes identification information of the first terminal, identification information of the second terminal, and binding group identification information corresponding to the contract binding relationship; The contract binding configuration information further includes dedicated authentication information, and the dedicated authentication information is used by the first terminal and the second terminal to authenticate and authenticate each other in a discovery process; The terminal device includes: and a first receiving module for receiving the contract binding configuration information configured and transmitted by the network device before the step of transmitting the discovery wake-up request to the network device. Terminal equipment.

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