Proximity service communication method and apparatus, and communication apparatus and storage medium

Abstract

The present application relates to the technical field of wireless communications, and specifically relates to a proximity service communication method. The method applied to a source terminal device comprises: acquiring multi-hop relay information; and sequentially initiating direct communication requests at relay terminal devices on the basis of the multi-hop relay information.

Description

Proximity service communication method, device, communication device, and storage medium Cross-references

[0001] This application refers to Chinese Patent Application No. 2024101707244 filed on February 6, 2024, entitled “Proximity Service Communication Method, Device, Communication Device, Storage Medium”, which is incorporated into this application in its entirety by reference. Technical Field

[0002] The present application relates to the field of wireless communication technology, and in particular to a proximity service communication method, device, communication device, processor-readable storage medium, and computer program product. Background Art

[0003] 3GPP Release 18 researched and standardized Proximity Services (ProSe) in 5G systems. When two UEs (User Equipment) cannot communicate directly due to distance or poor signal quality, they can communicate using another UE as a relay. In ProSe, these two UEs are called End UEs, and the UE acting as a relay is called a UE-to-UE Relay. Currently, the Release 18 standard only supports an End UE establishing a connection to another End UE via a single-hop UE-to-UE Relay. Summary of the Invention

[0004] In a first aspect, the present application provides a proximity service communication method, applied to a source terminal device, the method comprising:

[0005] Get multi-hop relay information;

[0006] Based on the multi-hop relay information, a direct communication request is initiated in each relay terminal device in turn.

[0007] In one embodiment, the initiating a direct communication request in each relay terminal device in sequence based on the multi-hop relay information includes:

[0008] A first direct communication request is sent to the first relay terminal device based on the multi-hop relay information.

[0009] In one embodiment, the method further includes: receiving first response information, and establishing a connection between the source terminal device and the first relay terminal device.

[0010] In one of the embodiments, the method further includes: receiving a first direct communication acceptance message from the first relay terminal device.

[0011] In one embodiment, the direct communication request includes: source terminal device information, relay terminal device information corresponding to each relay terminal device, target terminal device information, jump count information for indicating the number of hops between the current terminal device and the target terminal device, and any one or a combination of any multiple items of the relay service code RSC; wherein, the device information corresponding to the source terminal device, the target terminal device, and the relay terminal device includes: terminal device user information identification and layer 2 identification information.

[0012] In one of the embodiments, the layer 2 identification information corresponding to the source terminal device and the layer 2 identification information corresponding to the target terminal device in the direct communication request are based on the terminal device configuration corresponding to the current connection.

[0013] In one embodiment, obtaining multi-hop relay information includes: sending a discovery request message; wherein the discovery request message includes: target terminal device information; receiving a discovery response message of the relay terminal device, and determining the multi-hop relay information based on the discovery response message; wherein the multi-hop relay information includes: relay terminal device information and multi-hop path information.

[0014] In a second aspect, the present application provides a proximity service communication device, applied to a source terminal device, the device comprising:

[0015] A multi-hop relay information acquisition module, used to obtain multi-hop relay information;

[0016] The request initiating module is used to initiate a direct communication request in each relay terminal device in turn based on the multi-hop relay information.

[0017] In a third aspect, the present application further provides a communication device, including a memory, a transceiver, and a processor:

[0018] memory for storing computer programs;

[0019] a transceiver, configured to transmit and receive data under the control of the processor;

[0020] The processor is configured to read the computer program in the memory and perform the following operations: obtaining multi-hop relay information; and initiating a direct communication request in each relay terminal device in sequence based on the multi-hop relay information.

[0021] In one embodiment, the initiating a direct communication request in each relay terminal device in sequence based on the multi-hop relay information includes: sending a first direct communication request to a first relay terminal device based on the multi-hop relay information.

[0022] In one embodiment, the direct communication request includes: any one or a combination of any two of the following: source terminal device information, relay terminal device information corresponding to each relay terminal device, target terminal device information, hop count information indicating the number of hops between the current terminal device and the target terminal device, and a relay service code RSC;

[0023] The device information corresponding to the source terminal device, the target terminal device, and the relay terminal device includes: terminal device user information identification and layer 2 identification information.

[0024] In one of the embodiments, the layer 2 identification information corresponding to the source terminal device and the layer 2 identification information corresponding to the target terminal device in the direct communication request are based on the terminal device configuration corresponding to the current connection.

[0025] In one embodiment, obtaining multi-hop relay information includes: sending a discovery request message; wherein the discovery request message includes: target terminal device information; receiving a discovery response message of the relay terminal device, and determining the multi-hop relay information based on the discovery response message; wherein the multi-hop relay information includes: relay terminal device information and multi-hop path information.

[0026] In a fourth aspect, the present application further provides a processor-readable storage medium storing a program configured to cause the processor to implement the steps of the method according to any one of the embodiments of the first aspect when the program is executed.

[0027] In a fifth aspect, the present application further provides a computer program product, which includes a computer program, and when the computer program is executed by a processor, it implements the steps of the method in any one of the embodiments of the first aspect.

[0028] In a sixth aspect, the present application provides a proximity service communication method, applied to a relay terminal device, the method comprising:

[0029] receiving a first direct communication request from a first terminal device, and verifying the first direct communication request; wherein the first terminal device includes: a source terminal device or a relay terminal device; and the first direct communication request includes multi-hop relay information;

[0030] When the verification of the first direct communication request is completed, a second direct communication request is initiated to a second terminal device; wherein the second terminal device includes: a target terminal device or a relay terminal device.

[0031] In one embodiment, the verifying the first direct communication request includes:

[0032] Comparing the relay terminal device information corresponding to the relay terminal device with the relay terminal device information included in the first direct communication request; and / or

[0033] The relay service code RSC included in the first direct communication request is compared with the relay service code RSC obtained by the PCF network element.

[0034] In one embodiment, when the first direct communication request is successfully verified, the method further includes: sending a first response message to the first terminal device to establish a connection between the relay terminal device and the first terminal device.

[0035] In one of the embodiments, the method further includes: receiving a safety message sent by the first terminal device, and determining a PQI parameter between the first terminal device and the relay terminal device based on the safety message;

[0036] The security message includes at least one of: IP address configuration information and end-to-end PQI parameters.

[0037] In one embodiment, the method further includes: receiving a second direct communication acceptance message from the second terminal device, and sending a first direct communication acceptance message to the first terminal device.

[0038] In one embodiment, the direct communication request includes: any one or a combination of any two of the following: source terminal device information, relay terminal device information corresponding to each relay terminal device, target terminal device information, hop count information indicating the number of hops between the current terminal device and the target terminal device, and a relay service code RSC;

[0039] The device information corresponding to the source terminal device, the target terminal device, and the relay terminal device includes: terminal device user information identification and layer 2 identification information.

[0040] In one of the embodiments, the layer 2 identification information corresponding to the source terminal device and the target terminal device in the direct communication request is based on the terminal device configuration corresponding to the current connection.

[0041] In one embodiment, the multi-hop relay information includes: relay terminal device information and multi-hop path information.

[0042] In a seventh aspect, the present application provides a proximity service communication device, applied to a relay terminal device, the device comprising:

[0043] a request verification module, configured to verify a first direct communication request in response to a first terminal device; wherein the first terminal device includes: a source terminal device or a relay terminal device; and the first direct communication request includes multi-hop relay information;

[0044] The request processing module is configured to initiate a second direct communication request to a second terminal device when verification of the first direct communication request is completed; wherein the second terminal device includes: a target terminal device or a relay terminal device.

[0045] In an eighth aspect, the present application further provides a communication device, including a memory, a transceiver, and a processor:

[0046] Memory for storing computer programs;

[0047] a transceiver, configured to transmit and receive data under the control of the processor;

[0048] A processor is configured to read the computer program in the memory and perform the following operations: receiving a first direct communication request from a first terminal device, and verifying the first direct communication request; wherein the first terminal device includes: a source terminal device or a relay terminal device; the first direct communication request includes multi-hop relay information; when the verification of the first direct communication request is completed, initiating a second direct communication request to a second terminal device; wherein the second terminal device includes: a target terminal device or a relay terminal device.

[0049] In one embodiment, the verification of the first direct communication request includes: comparing the relay terminal device information corresponding to the current relay terminal device with the relay terminal device information contained in the first direct communication request; and / or comparing the relay service code RSC contained in the first direct communication request with the relay service code RSC obtained by the PCF network element.

[0050] In one embodiment, the processor reads the computer program in the memory and performs the following operations: when the first direct communication request is successfully verified, sends a first response message to the first terminal device to establish a connection between the relay terminal device and the first terminal device.

[0051] In one embodiment, the processor reads the computer program in the memory and performs the following operations: receiving a security message sent by the first terminal device, and determining the PQI parameters between the first terminal device and the relay terminal device based on the security message; wherein the security message includes: IP address configuration information, at least one of end-to-end PQI parameters.

[0052] In one embodiment, the direct communication request includes: source terminal device information, relay terminal device information corresponding to each relay terminal device, target terminal device information, jump count information for indicating the number of hops between the current terminal device and the target terminal device, and any one or more of the relay service codes RSC; wherein, the device information corresponding to the source terminal device, the target terminal device, and the relay terminal device includes: terminal device user information identification and layer 2 identification information.

[0053] In one of the embodiments, the layer 2 identification information corresponding to the source terminal device and the target terminal device in the direct communication request is based on the terminal device configuration corresponding to the current connection.

[0054] In one embodiment, the multi-hop relay information includes: relay terminal device information and multi-hop path information.

[0055] In a ninth aspect, the present application further provides a processor-readable storage medium storing a program configured to cause the processor to implement the steps of the method according to any one of the embodiments of the sixth aspect when executing the program.

[0056] In the tenth aspect, the present application also provides a computer program product, which includes a computer program, and when the computer program is executed by a processor, it implements the steps of the method in any one of the embodiments of the sixth aspect.

[0057] In an eleventh aspect, the present application provides a proximity service communication method, applied to a relay terminal device, the method comprising:

[0058] receiving a second direct communication acceptance message from the second terminal device, and establishing a connection between the relay terminal device and the second terminal device; wherein the second terminal device includes: a target terminal device or a relay terminal device;

[0059] Sending a first direct communication acceptance message to the first terminal device; wherein the first terminal device includes: a source terminal device or a relay terminal device;

[0060] The first and second direct communication acceptance messages include: multi-hop relay information.

[0061] In one embodiment, the first and second direct communication acceptance messages further include: source terminal device information, target terminal device information, and hop count information indicating the number of hops between the current terminal device and the target terminal device;

[0062] The device information corresponding to the source terminal device, the target terminal device, and the relay terminal device includes: terminal device user information identification and layer 2 identification information.

[0063] In one embodiment, the multi-hop relay information includes: relay terminal device information and multi-hop path information.

[0064] In one embodiment, the layer 2 identification information corresponding to the source terminal device and the target terminal device is based on the terminal device configuration corresponding to the current connection.

[0065] In one embodiment, before receiving the second direct communication acceptance message from the second terminal device, the method further includes:

[0066] Receiving a first direct communication request from a first terminal device; wherein the first terminal device includes a source terminal device or a relay terminal device;

[0067] A second direct communication request is generated based on the relay terminal device information, and the second direct communication request is sent to the second terminal device; wherein the second direct communication request includes the relay terminal device information; the second terminal device includes: a relay terminal device and / or a target terminal device.

[0068] In one embodiment, the first direct communication request includes: source terminal device information, target terminal device information, and relay service code RSC; or, the first direct communication request includes: source terminal device information, target terminal device information, relay service code RSC, and at least one relay terminal device information;

[0069] The second direct communication request includes: source terminal device information, target terminal device information, relay service code RSC, and at least one relay terminal device information;

[0070] The device information corresponding to the source terminal device, the target terminal device, and the relay terminal device includes: terminal device user information identification and layer 2 identification information.

[0071] In one embodiment, the first direct communication request and / or the second direct communication request further includes: relay terminal device performance parameters.

[0072] In one embodiment, the method further includes: determining a target relay terminal device according to the relay terminal device performance parameters corresponding to each relay terminal device;

[0073] The relay terminal device information corresponding to the target relay terminal device is written into a direct communication request, and the direct communication request is sent.

[0074] In one embodiment, the relay terminal device performance parameter includes at least one of a signal strength parameter between the relay terminal device and the source terminal device and a load parameter of the relay terminal device.

[0075] In one embodiment, the first direct communication request and / or the second direct communication request further includes: relay multi-hop threshold information.

[0076] In a twelfth aspect, the present application provides a proximity service communication device, applied to a relay terminal device, the device comprising:

[0077] a request message receiving module, configured to receive a second direct communication acceptance message from the second terminal device, and establish a connection between the relay terminal device and the second terminal device; wherein the second terminal device includes: a target terminal device or a relay terminal device;

[0078] A request message sending module, configured to send a first direct communication acceptance message to the first terminal device; wherein the first terminal device includes: a source terminal device or a relay terminal device;

[0079] The first and second direct communication acceptance messages include: multi-hop relay information.

[0080] In a thirteenth aspect, the present application further provides a communication device including a memory, a transceiver, and a processor:

[0081] Memory for storing computer programs;

[0082] a transceiver, configured to transmit and receive data under the control of the processor;

[0083] A processor, configured to read the computer program in the memory and perform the following operations: receiving a second direct communication acceptance message from the second terminal device, establishing a connection between the relay terminal device and the second terminal device; wherein the second terminal device includes: a target terminal device or a relay terminal device; sending a first direct communication acceptance message to the first terminal device; wherein the first terminal device includes: a source terminal device or a relay terminal device; wherein the first and second direct communication acceptance messages include: multi-hop relay information.

[0084] In one embodiment, the first and second direct communication acceptance messages also include: source terminal device information, target terminal device information, and hop count information indicating the number of hops between the current terminal device and the target terminal device; wherein the device information corresponding to the source terminal device, the target terminal device, and the relay terminal device includes: terminal device user information identification and layer 2 identification information.

[0085] In one embodiment, the multi-hop relay information includes: relay terminal device information and multi-hop path information.

[0086] In one embodiment, the layer 2 identification information corresponding to the source terminal device and the target terminal device is based on the terminal device configuration corresponding to the current connection.

[0087] In one embodiment, the processor reads the computer program in the memory and performs the following operations: before receiving the second direct communication acceptance message from the second terminal device, receiving a first direct communication request from the first terminal device; generating a second direct communication request based on the relay terminal device information, and sending the second direct communication request to the second terminal device; wherein the second direct communication request includes the relay terminal device information.

[0088] In one embodiment, the first direct communication request includes: source terminal device information, target terminal device information, relay service code RSC; or, the first direct communication request includes: source terminal device information, target terminal device information, relay service code RSC, and at least one relay terminal device information; the second direct communication request includes: source terminal device information, target terminal device information, relay service code RSC, and at least one relay terminal device information; wherein, the device information corresponding to the source terminal device, target terminal device, and relay terminal device includes: terminal device user information identification and layer 2 identification information.

[0089] In one embodiment, the first direct communication request and / or the second direct communication request further includes: relay terminal device performance parameters.

[0090] In one embodiment, the processor reads the computer program in the memory and performs the following operations: determining the target relay terminal device based on the relay terminal device performance parameters corresponding to each relay terminal device; writing the relay terminal device information corresponding to the target relay terminal device into a direct communication request, and sending the direct communication request.

[0091] In one embodiment, the relay terminal device performance parameter includes at least one of a signal strength parameter between the relay terminal device and the source terminal device and a load parameter of the relay terminal device.

[0092] In one embodiment, the first direct communication request and / or the second direct communication request further includes: relay multi-hop threshold information.

[0093] In a fourteenth aspect, the present application further provides a processor-readable storage medium having a program stored therein, the program being configured to enable the processor to implement the steps of the method in any one of the embodiments of the eleventh aspect when executed.

[0094] In the fifteenth aspect, the present application further provides a computer program product, which includes a computer program, and when the computer program is executed by a processor, it implements the steps of the method in any one of the embodiments of the eleventh aspect.

[0095] In a sixteenth aspect, the present application provides a proximity service communication method, applied to a target terminal device, the method comprising:

[0096] Establishing multi-hop relay information according to the received direct communication request corresponding to at least one relay terminal device;

[0097] Based on the multi-hop relay information, a direct communication acceptance message is initiated in each of the relay terminal devices in turn.

[0098] In one embodiment, the direct communication request includes: relay terminal device performance parameters.

[0099] In one embodiment, establishing multi-hop relay information according to a received direct communication request corresponding to at least one relay terminal device includes:

[0100] sorting the relay terminal devices according to the performance parameters of the relay terminal devices;

[0101] A target relay terminal device is selected based on the ranking result, and the multi-hop relay information is generated.

[0102] In one embodiment, the direct communication request includes: a target relay terminal device configured by a relay terminal device; the method further includes: establishing multi-hop relay information based on the target relay terminal device.

[0103] In one embodiment, the performance parameter of the relay terminal device includes at least one of a signal strength parameter between the relay terminal device and the source terminal device and a load parameter of the relay terminal device.

[0104] In one embodiment, the multi-hop relay information includes: relay terminal device information and multi-hop path information.

[0105] In one embodiment, the direct communication request further includes: relay multi-hop threshold information;

[0106] The method further includes: selecting a target relay terminal device that meets the relay multi-hop threshold information quantity, and generating the multi-hop relay information.

[0107] In a seventeenth aspect, the present application provides a proximity service communication device, applied to a target terminal device, the device comprising:

[0108] A multi-hop relay information building module, configured to build multi-hop relay information according to a received direct communication request corresponding to at least one relay terminal device;

[0109] The request processing module is used to initiate a direct communication acceptance message in each relay terminal device in turn based on the multi-hop relay information.

[0110] In an eighteenth aspect, the present application further provides a communication device, including a memory, a transceiver, and a processor:

[0111] memory for storing computer programs;

[0112] a transceiver, configured to transmit and receive data under the control of the processor;

[0113] The processor is configured to read the computer program in the memory and perform the following operations: establishing multi-hop relay information according to a direct communication request corresponding to at least one relay terminal device received; and initiating a direct communication acceptance message in each relay terminal device in turn based on the multi-hop relay information.

[0114] In one embodiment, the direct communication request includes: relay terminal device performance parameters.

[0115] In one of the embodiments, establishing multi-hop relay information based on a direct communication request corresponding to at least one received relay terminal device includes: sorting each of the relay terminal devices according to the performance parameters of the relay terminal devices; selecting a target relay terminal device based on the sorting result, and generating the multi-hop relay information.

[0116] In one of the embodiments, the direct communication request includes: a target relay terminal device configured by the relay terminal device;

[0117] The processor reads the computer program in the memory and performs the following operations: establishing multi-hop relay information based on the target relay terminal device.

[0118] In one embodiment, the performance parameter of the relay terminal device includes at least one of a signal strength parameter between the relay terminal device and the source terminal device and a load parameter of the relay terminal device.

[0119] In one embodiment, the multi-hop relay information includes: relay terminal device information and multi-hop path information.

[0120] In one embodiment, the direct communication request further includes: relay multi-hop threshold information;

[0121] The processor reads the computer program in the memory and performs the following operations: selecting a target relay terminal device that meets the relay multi-hop threshold information quantity, and generating the multi-hop relay information.

[0122] In a nineteenth aspect, the present application further provides a processor-readable storage medium having a program stored therein, the program being configured to enable the processor to implement the steps of the method in any one of the embodiments of the sixteenth aspect when executed.

[0123] In the twentieth aspect, the present application further provides a computer program product, comprising a computer program, which implements the steps of the method in any one of the embodiments of the sixteenth aspect when executed by a processor.

[0124] The above description is only an overview of the technical solution of the present application. In order to more clearly understand the technical means of the present application, it can be implemented in accordance with the contents of the specification. In order to make the above and other purposes, features and advantages of the present application more obvious and easy to understand, the specific implementation methods of the present application are listed below. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0125] Various other advantages and benefits will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading the detailed description of the embodiments below. The accompanying drawings are for illustration purposes only and are not to be considered as limiting the present application. The same reference numerals are used throughout the drawings to represent the same components. In the drawings:

[0126] FIG1 is a schematic flow chart of a proximity service communication method applied to a source terminal device in some embodiments;

[0127] FIG2 is a schematic flow chart of a proximity service communication method applied to a relay terminal device in some embodiments;

[0128] FIG3 is a timing diagram of a multi-hop UE-to-UE Relay connection establishment process in some embodiments;

[0129] FIG4 is a flow chart of another proximity service communication method applied to a relay terminal device in some embodiments;

[0130] FIG5 is a schematic flow chart of a method for a relay terminal device to select a target relay terminal device in some embodiments;

[0131] FIG6 is a flowchart of a method for a relay terminal device to process a direct communication acceptance message in some embodiments;

[0132] FIG7 is a flow chart of another proximity service communication method applied to a target terminal device in some embodiments;

[0133] FIG8 is a timing diagram of another multi-hop UE-to-UE Relay connection establishment process in some embodiments;

[0134] FIG9 is a schematic diagram of a multi-hop UE-to-UE Relay architecture in some embodiments;

[0135] FIG10 is a structural block diagram of a proximity service communication apparatus applied to a source terminal device in some embodiments;

[0136] FIG11 is a structural block diagram of a proximity service communication apparatus applied to a relay terminal device in some embodiments;

[0137] FIG12 is a structural block diagram of another proximity service communication apparatus applied to a relay terminal device in some embodiments;

[0138] FIG13 is a structural block diagram of another proximity service communication apparatus applied to a target terminal device in some embodiments;

[0139] FIG14 is a schematic diagram of a communication device in some embodiments. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0140] The following embodiments of the technical solution of the present application will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The following embodiments are only used to more clearly illustrate the technical solution of the present application and are therefore only examples and are not intended to limit the scope of protection of the present application.

[0141] Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by those skilled in the art to which this application belongs; the terms used herein are only for the purpose of describing specific embodiments and are not intended to limit this application; the terms "including" and "having" and any variations thereof in the specification and claims of this application and the above-mentioned figure descriptions are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions.

[0142] In the description of the embodiments of this application, the technical terms "first" and "second" are used only to distinguish different objects and should not be understood to indicate or imply relative importance or implicitly specify the quantity, specific order, or primary and secondary relationship of the indicated technical features. In the description of the embodiments of this application, the meaning of "plurality" is more than two, unless otherwise clearly and specifically defined.

[0143] References herein to "embodiments" mean that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiments may be included in at least one embodiment of the present application. The appearance of this phrase in various places in the specification does not necessarily refer to the same embodiment, nor does it constitute an independent or alternative embodiment that is mutually exclusive of other embodiments. It is understood, both explicitly and implicitly, by those skilled in the art that the embodiments described herein may be combined with other embodiments.

[0144] In the description of the embodiments of this application, the term "and / or" is simply a description of the association relationship between associated objects, indicating that three relationships can exist. For example, A and / or B can represent the following three situations: A exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone. In addition, the character " / " in this document generally indicates that the associated objects are in an "or" relationship.

[0145] In the description of the embodiments of the present application, the term "multiple" refers to more than two (including two). Similarly, "multiple groups" refers to more than two groups (including two groups), and "multiple pieces" refers to more than two pieces (including two pieces).

[0146] In the description of the embodiments of the present application, the technical terms "center", "longitudinal", "lateral", "length", "width", "thickness", "up", "down", "front", "back", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inside", "outside", "clockwise", "counterclockwise", "axial", "radial", "circumferential", etc., indicating the orientation or position relationship, are based on the orientation or position relationship shown in the accompanying drawings, and are only for the convenience of describing the embodiments of the present application and simplifying the description, and do not indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore cannot be understood as a limitation on the embodiments of the present application.

[0147] In the description of the embodiments of the present application, unless otherwise expressly specified or limited, technical terms such as "installed," "connected," "connected," and "fixed" should be understood in a broad sense. For example, they can refer to fixed connections, detachable connections, or integration; mechanical connections or electrical connections; direct connections or indirect connections through an intermediate medium; internal connections between two components or interactions between two components. Those skilled in the art can understand the specific meanings of the above terms in the embodiments of the present application based on specific circumstances.

[0148] In related technologies, an End UE communicates with a target End UE via a UE-to-UE Relay, which can extend the communication range and save UE power. This is an important form of communication in public safety and commercial applications. In some scenarios, such as in a basement or a forest, after an End UE connects to a UE-to-UE Relay via a single hop, the End UE is often unable to communicate with the target End UE. The End UE often needs to communicate with the target End UE via multiple hops. R18 studies and standardizes the process of establishing a connection for an End UE via a single hop UE-to-UE Relay, but how the End UE establishes a connection via a multi-hop UE-to-UE Relay is an unresolved issue in the standard.

[0149] In one embodiment, as shown in FIG1 , a proximity service communication method is provided, which can be applied to the architecture shown in FIG9 . The above communication method can be applied to a source terminal device, and includes the following steps:

[0150] Step S11, obtaining multi-hop relay information;

[0151] Step S12: Initiate a direct communication request in each relay terminal device in turn based on the multi-hop relay information.

[0152] Exemplarily, referring to the architecture shown in FIG9 , for a source terminal device (source End UE), a discovery process can be used to obtain a target terminal device (target End UE) and n relay terminal devices (UE-to-UE Relay) that can communicate with the target End UE, i.e., the multi-hop relay information described above; wherein n is a positive integer. For example, the source terminal device can currently establish a connection with the target terminal device through two relay terminal devices, the relay terminal devices including Relay-1 and Relay-2; or, the source terminal device can currently establish a connection with the target terminal device through three relay terminal devices, the relay terminal devices including Relay-1, Relay-2, and Relay-3.

[0153] In some embodiments, each terminal device may obtain parameters for connection establishment provided by the PCF (Policy Control Function) network element to the End UE and UE-to-UE Relay during registration, such as the RSC (Relay Service Code) parameter. Furthermore, when indicating the RSC parameter, the PCF network element may also indicate the number of hops for a multi-hop connection; for example, indicating that the terminal device uses a multi-hop connection, or indicating the maximum number of relays that the terminal device can use.

[0154] In some exemplary embodiments, in step S11 above, obtaining multi-hop relay information includes:

[0155] Send a discovery request message; wherein the discovery request message includes: target terminal device information;

[0156] Receive a discovery response message from a relay terminal device, and determine multi-hop relay information based on the discovery response message; wherein the multi-hop relay information includes: relay terminal device information and multi-hop path information.

[0157] The source terminal device (source End UE) determines the relay terminal device (UE-to-UE Relay) that can communicate with the target terminal device (target End UE) through an independent Discovery process. In some embodiments, the source terminal device broadcasts a discovery request message, which may include: the target terminal device identifier. After receiving the discovery request message, the adjacent terminal device may forward the discovery request message to the target terminal device after determining that the relay conditions are met. After receiving the discovery request message forwarded by the adjacent terminal device, the target terminal device may feedback a discovery response message to the source terminal device through the adjacent terminal device (as a relay terminal device); the discovery response message may include information about each relay terminal device on the relay path. For the source terminal device, the available relay terminal device and the multi-hop path (jump order) can be determined based on the discovery response information forwarded by the received relay terminal device, the relay terminal device information contained therein, and the multi-hop path corresponding to the relay process; wherein the multi-hop path can be represented by the identification information of the relay terminal device.

[0158] In some exemplary embodiments, the discovery request message sent by the source terminal device may also include hop count indication information, which is used to indicate the number of multi-hops to the relay terminal device. For example, when the hop count indication information is 1, it indicates that the current relay connection uses one relay device; when the hop count indication information is 2, it indicates that the current relay connection uses two relay devices. Alternatively, when the hop count indication information is 2, it can indicate the use of a multi-hop connection, in which case the specific number of hops is not limited.

[0159] In an exemplary embodiment, the direct communication request includes: any one or a combination of any multiple of the following: source terminal device information, relay terminal device information corresponding to each relay terminal device, target terminal device information, hop count information indicating the number of hops between the current terminal device and the target terminal device, and a relay service code RSC;

[0160] The device information corresponding to the source terminal device, the target terminal device, and the relay terminal device includes: terminal device user information identification and layer 2 identification information.

[0161] In an exemplary embodiment, the layer 2 identification information corresponding to the source terminal device and the target terminal device in the direct communication request is based on the terminal device configuration corresponding to the current connection.

[0162] In an exemplary embodiment, initiating a direct communication request in each relay terminal device in sequence based on the multi-hop relay information includes:

[0163] A first direct communication request is sent to the first relay terminal device based on the multi-hop relay information.

[0164] In some embodiments, for the source terminal device, after determining the multi-hop relay information, the source terminal device (source End UE) can first send a first direct communication request (Direct Communication Request, DCR) message to the first relay terminal device (Relay-1). After establishing a connection between the source End UE and Relay-1, the first relay terminal device can be triggered to initiate a second direct communication request to the subsequent relay terminal device based on the multi-hop relay information.

[0165] For example, the current connection includes two relay terminal devices: Relay-1 and Relay-2. The source terminal device (source End UE) can first send a first direct communication request (DCR) message to the first relay terminal device (Relay-1) to initiate the establishment of a multi-hop connection between the source End UE and the target End UE. After the first relay terminal device processes the first DCR message and establishes a secure connection between Relay-1 and the source End UE, Relay-1 sends a second DCR message to the second relay terminal device (Relay-2) and establishes a secure connection between Relay-1 and Relay-2; thereafter, Relay-2 can send a third DCR message to the target terminal device (target End UE) to establish a secure connection between Relay-2 and the target End UE, thereby realizing a multi-hop relay connection between the source terminal device (source End UE) and the target terminal device (target End UE) based on the two relay devices (Relay-1, Relay-2).

[0166] In some embodiments, for the source terminal device, the first DCR message may include: source terminal device information, relay terminal device information corresponding to each relay terminal device, target terminal device information, hop count information indicating the number of hops between the current terminal device and the target terminal device, and relay service code RSC. The source terminal device information may include the terminal device user information identifier corresponding to the source terminal device, and layer 2 identification information {source End UE User Info ID, source End UE Layer-2 ID}. When the multi-hop path includes two relay terminal devices, the relay terminal device information may include the terminal device user information identifier corresponding to the first relay terminal device and the second relay terminal device, and layer 2 identification information {Relay-1 User Info ID, Relay-1 Layer-2 ID}, {Relay-2 User Info ID, Relay-2 Layer-2ID}. The target terminal device information may include the terminal device user information identifier corresponding to the target terminal device, and layer 2 identification information {target End UE User Info ID, target End UE Layer-2 ID}. The hop count information indicates the number of hops from the current terminal device (currently the source terminal device) to the target terminal device. For relay terminal devices, corresponding identifiers can be used to represent the corresponding multi-hop path; for example, Relay-1 represents the first relay terminal device corresponding to the first hop, and Relay-2 represents the second relay terminal device corresponding to the second hop.

[0167] The source Layer-2 ID used to send the first DCR message is configured according to the source End UE Layer-2 ID; the target Layer-2 ID is configured according to the Relay-1 Layer-2 ID obtained during the discovery process. The layer 2 identification information (Layer-2 ID) can be used to instruct the relay terminal device to forward data and signaling between the source terminal device and the target terminal device through layer 2 (such as the adaptation layer).

[0168] In an exemplary embodiment, the proximity service communication method further includes: receiving first response information, and establishing a connection between the source terminal device and the first relay terminal device.

[0169] In some embodiments, between the source terminal device and the first relay terminal device, the first relay terminal device can compare and judge the parameters carried in the first DCR message, including comparing the relay terminal device information and the RSC parameters. In some embodiments, the first relay terminal device can compare the Relay-1 User Info ID included in the first DCR message with the User Info ID of the relay device Relay-1 to determine whether they match; in addition, the RSC parameters obtained by the PCF network element can be compared with the RSC parameters included in the first DCR message to determine whether they match; when the Relay-1 User Info ID included in the first DCR message matches the User Info ID of the relay device Relay-1, and the RSC parameters obtained by the PCF network element also match the RSC parameters included in the first DCR message, Relay-1 establishes a secure connection with the source End UE and can send a first response message to the source terminal device to notify the source terminal device. The first response message is generated by the first relay terminal device after processing the first direct communication request.

[0170] In an exemplary embodiment, the proximity service communication method further includes: the source terminal device sending a first safety message to the first relay terminal device, so that the first relay terminal device determines a PQI (PC5 QoS Identifier) ​​parameter between the source terminal device and the first relay terminal device based on the first safety message;

[0171] The first security message includes at least one of: IP address configuration information and end-to-end PQI parameters.

[0172] In some embodiments, between the source terminal device and the first relay terminal device, the source terminal device may respond to the first response information, send a first security message to Relay-1, and send IP address configuration information to Relay-1 through the first security message, including: IP Address Configuration or Link-Local IPv6 Address; and may also send parameters such as E2E (End to End) PQI through the first security message. Relay-1 determines the PQI parameter between the source End UE and Relay-1 as PQI1 based on the E2E PQI and hop count.

[0173] Similarly, a pairwise secure connection may be established between the first relay terminal device and the second relay terminal device, and between the second relay terminal device and the target terminal device in the above manner.

[0174] In an exemplary embodiment, the proximity service communication method further includes: receiving a first direct communication acceptance message from the first relay terminal device.

[0175] In some embodiments, after the target terminal device compares the second DCR message sent by the second relay terminal device to determine a match, it can feedback a Direct Communication Accept (DCA) message to the second relay terminal device; the second relay terminal device responds to the DCA message and sends a second DCA message to the first relay terminal device; the first relay terminal device then responds to the second DCA message and sends the first DCA message to the source terminal device. The source terminal device can receive the first DCA message sent by the first relay terminal device to achieve a multi-hop connection. After the connection is established, the source End UE can send an IP data packet to the target End UE via the target End UE IP address.

[0176] For the first DCA message sent to the source End UE by Relay-1 and received by the source End UE, the message includes the target terminal device information {target End UE User Info ID, target End UE Layer-2 ID, target End UE IP address}, relay terminal device information, including: {Relay-2 User Info ID, Relay-2 Layer-2 ID, Relay-2 IP address}, {Relay-1 User Info ID, Relay-1 Layer-2 ID}, source terminal device information {source End UE User Info ID, source End UE Layer-2 ID}, PQI1 and other parameters. Among them, the source Layer-2 ID is configured according to the Relay-1Layer-2 ID, and the target Layer-2 ID is configured according to the source End UE Layer-2 ID. Among them, the relay terminal device information is used to describe the multi-hop relay information, the user identity of the relay terminal device can be used to represent the basic information of the relay terminal device, and the serial number of the relay terminal device, for example, Relay-1 and Relay-2 can be used to represent the hopping order of each relay terminal device in the multi-hop path.

[0177] In one embodiment, as shown in FIG2 , a proximity service communication method is provided, which is applied to a relay terminal device and includes the following steps:

[0178] Step S21: receiving a first direct communication request from a first terminal device, and verifying the first direct communication request; wherein the first terminal device includes: a source terminal device or a relay terminal device; and the first direct communication request includes multi-hop relay information;

[0179] Step S22: When the verification of the first direct communication request is completed, a second direct communication request is initiated to the second terminal device; wherein the second terminal device includes: a target terminal device or a relay terminal device; and multi-hop relay information.

[0180] A relay terminal device can interact with a source terminal device, a target terminal device, or other adjacent relay terminal devices.

[0181] In one embodiment, in the above step S21, verifying the first direct communication request includes:

[0182] comparing the relay terminal device information corresponding to the relay terminal device with the relay terminal device information included in the first direct communication request; and / or,

[0183] The relay service code RSC included in the first direct communication request is compared with the relay service code RSC obtained by the PCF network element.

[0184] In one embodiment, the direct communication request includes: source terminal device information, relay terminal device information corresponding to each relay terminal device, target terminal device information, jump count information for indicating the number of hops between the current terminal device and the target terminal device, and any one or more of the relay service codes RSC; wherein, the device information corresponding to the source terminal device, the target terminal device, and the relay terminal device includes: terminal device user information identification and layer 2 identification information.

[0185] In one embodiment, the layer 2 identification information corresponding to the source terminal device and the target terminal device in the direct communication request is based on the terminal device configuration corresponding to the current connection.

[0186] In some embodiments, taking the current multi-hop connection including two relay terminal devices as an example; for the first relay terminal device Relay-1, the corresponding first terminal device is the source terminal device, and the corresponding second terminal device is the second relay terminal device; Relay-1 can receive the first direct communication request from the source terminal device and verify it. In some embodiments, Relay-1 can compare the Relay-1 User Info ID in the first DCR message with the User Info ID of the first relay terminal device Relay-1 itself; at the same time, Relay-1 can compare the RSC in the first DCR message with the RSC parameters obtained from the PCF; when both parameters match, Relay-1 establishes a secure connection with the source End UE. At the same time, a second DCR message can be sent to the second relay device.

[0187] Alternatively, if the current relay terminal device is Relay-2, the corresponding first terminal device is Relay-1 corresponding to the multi-hop path. After receiving Relay-1's first direct communication request, Relay-2 can compare the RCS parameters and User Info ID. After successful parameter verification, Relay-2 establishes a secure connection with Relay-1 and simultaneously sends a second DCR message to the target terminal device.

[0188] In one embodiment, when the first direct communication request is successfully verified, the proximity service communication method further includes: sending a first response message to the first terminal device to establish a connection between the relay terminal device and the first terminal device.

[0189] In some embodiments, if Relay-1 successfully matches the parameters, it establishes a secure connection with the source end UE and may send a first response message to the source end UE to notify the source end UE of successful verification and connection establishment. Alternatively, if Relay-1 fails to match any parameter, it may send a match failure response message back to the source end UE to notify the source end UE that the multi-hop relay connection could not be established.

[0190] In one embodiment, the proximity service communication method further includes: receiving a security message sent by the first terminal device, and determining the PQI parameters between the preceding terminal device and the relay terminal device based on the security message; wherein the security message includes: IP address configuration information, at least one of the end-to-end PQI parameters.

[0191] In some embodiments, the source end UE sends security information to Relay-1 in response to the received first response information, and sends parameters such as the IP Address Configuration or Link-Local IPv6 Address and the E2E PQI to Relay-1 via a security message. Relay-1 determines the PQI parameter between the source end UE and Relay-1 as PQI1 based on the E2E PQI and the hop count.

[0192] In one embodiment, the proximity service communication method further includes: receiving a second direct communication acceptance message from the second terminal device, and sending a first direct communication acceptance message to the first terminal device.

[0193] For example, if the current multi-hop connection includes two relay terminal devices, if the current relay terminal device is Relay-1, then the corresponding second terminal device is Relay-2, and the corresponding first terminal device is the source terminal device. Alternatively, if the current relay terminal device is Relay-2, then the corresponding second terminal device is the target terminal device, and the corresponding first terminal device is Relay-1.

[0194] In some embodiments, when Relay-1 completes the verification of the first DCR message and establishes a secure connection with the source End UE, Relay-1 sends a second DCR message to the second relay terminal device Relay-2. The message includes source terminal device information {source End UE User Info ID, source End User Info ID}, relay device information, and the relay device information includes first relay device information and second relay device information {Relay-1 User Info ID, Relay-1 Layer-2 ID}, {Relay-2 User Info ID, Relay-2 Layer-2 ID}, {target End UE User Info ID, target End UE Layer-2 ID}, RSC, hop count-1 and other parameters. Among them, the source Layer-2 ID in the second DCR message is configured according to the Relay-1 Layer-2 ID of the first relay terminal device, and the target Layer-2 ID is configured according to the Relay-2 Layer-2 ID of the second relay terminal device.

[0195] After receiving the second DCR message, Relay-2 verifies it. Relay-2 compares the Relay-2 User Info ID in the second DCR message with the User Info ID of the second relay terminal device Relay-2; and compares the RSC obtained from the PCF network element with the RSC parameters in the second DCR message. When the verification is completed, Relay-2 sends a second response message to Relay-1; Relay-1 sends security information to Relay-2, and sends IP Address Configuration or Link-Local IPv6 Address, and parameters such as {E2E PQI-PQI1} to Relay-2 through a security message. Relay-2 determines that the PQI parameter between Relay-1 and Relay-2 is PQI2 based on {E2E PQI-PQI1} and hop count-1, and the PQI parameter between Relay-2 and the target End UE is {E2E PQI-PQI1-PQI2}.

[0196] After establishing a secure connection with Relay-1, Relay-2 can send a third DCR message to the target End UE. The message includes source terminal device information {source End UE User Info ID, source End UE Layer-2 ID}, relay device information: {Relay-1 User Info ID, Relay-1 Layer-2 ID}, {Relay-2 User Info ID, Relay-2 Layer-2 ID}, target terminal device information {target End UE User Info ID, target End UE Layer-2 ID}, RSC and other parameters. Among them, the source Layer-2 ID is configured according to the Relay-2 Layer-2 ID of the second relay terminal device, and the target Layer-2 ID is configured according to the target End UE Layer-2 ID of the target terminal device.

[0197] The target End UE verifies the received third DCR message, compares the target End UE User Info ID in the third DCR message with the User Info ID of the target terminal device, and compares the RSC contained in the third DCR message with the RSC parameters obtained from the PCF network element. If both match, the target End UE establishes a secure connection with Relay-2. Relay-2 sends the IP Address Configuration or Link-Local IPv6 Address and parameters such as {E2E PQI-PQI1-PQI2} ​​to the target End UE in a security message.

[0198] In one embodiment, if the current multi-hop connection includes three relay terminal devices, after Relay-2 successfully verifies the second DCR message, it can send a third DCR message to the third relay terminal device Relay-3, which verifies the third DCR message. After the verification is successful, Relay-3 prepares to send a fourth DCR message to the target terminal, which verifies the fourth DCR message.

[0199] Exemplarily, for the target terminal device, after the connection is established between the target End UE and Relay-2, a Direct Communication Accept (DCA) message can be sent to Relay-2, which includes parameters such as {target End UE User Info ID, target End UE Layer-2 ID}, {Relay-2 User Info ID, Relay-2 Layer-2 ID}, {Relay-1 User Info ID, Relay-1 Layer-2 ID}, {source End UE User Info ID, source End UE Layer-2 ID}. Among them, the source Layer-2 ID used to send the DCA message is configured according to the target End UE Layer-2 ID of the target terminal device, and the target Layer-2 ID is configured according to the Relay-2 Layer-2 ID of the second relay terminal device.

[0200] After receiving the DCA message from the target End UE, Relay-2 can send a DCA message to Relay-1. The DCA message includes the target terminal device information: {target End UE User Info ID, target End UE Layer-2 ID, target End UE IP address}, relay terminal device information: {Relay-2 User Info ID, Relay-2 Layer-2 ID}, {Relay-1 User Info ID, Relay-1 Layer-2 ID}, source terminal device information {source End UE User Info ID, source End UE Layer-2 ID}, PQI2 and other parameters. Among them, the source Layer-2 ID is configured according to the Relay-2 Layer-2 ID of the second relay terminal device, and the target Layer-2 ID is configured according to the Relay-1 Layer-2 ID of the first relay terminal device.

[0201] After receiving the DCA message from Relay-2, Relay-1 sends a DCA message to the source terminal device source End UE. The DCA message includes target terminal device information: {target End UE User Info ID, target End UE Layer-2 ID, target End UE IP address}, relay terminal device information: {Relay-2 User Info ID, Relay-2 Layer-2 ID, Relay-2 IP address}, {Relay-1 User Info ID, Relay-1 Layer-2 ID}, source terminal device information: {source End UE User Info ID, source End UE Layer-2 ID}, PQI1 and other parameters. The source Layer-2 ID used in the DCA message is configured according to the first relay terminal device Relay-1 Layer-2 ID, and the target Layer-2 ID is configured according to the source End UE Layer-2 ID of the source terminal device.

[0202] After the connection is established, the source End UE can send IP data packets to the target End UE through the target End UE IP address.

[0203] In one embodiment, the target terminal device may verify the direct communication request received from the relay terminal device. For example, when the current multi-hop connection includes two relay terminal devices, the target terminal device receives the direct communication request from the second relay terminal device and performs verification; or, when the current multi-hop connection includes three relay terminal devices, the target terminal device receives the direct communication request from the third relay device and performs verification.

[0204] The target terminal device verifies the received DCR message, including comparing the target End UE User Info ID in the DCR message with the User Info ID of the target terminal device, and comparing the RSC contained in the DCR message with the RSC parameters obtained from the PCF network element; when both match, the target End UE establishes a secure connection with Relay-2 (or Relay-3). Relay-2 sends the IP Address Configuration or Link-Local IPv6 Address, and parameters such as {E2E PQI-PQI1-PQI2} ​​to the target End UE in the security message. The target End UE sends a DCA message to Relay-2 (or Relay-3). Relay-2 can then send a DCA request to another relay terminal device in the reverse direction based on the multi-hop path, and enable the relay terminal device to send a DCA message to the source terminal device, thereby completing the establishment of the multi-hop connection.

[0205] In an exemplary embodiment, referring to FIG3 and corresponding to the system architecture shown in FIG8 , a multi-hop UE-to-UE relay connection establishment process configured with an independent Discovery process may include:

[0206] Step 0. The source End UE discovers the target End UE and Relay-1 and Relay-2 that can communicate with the target End UE through the Discovery process. The source End UE obtains the target terminal device information: {target End UE User Info ID, target End UE Layer-2 ID}, and the relay terminal device information: {Relay-1 User Info ID, Relay-1 Layer-2 ID} and {Relay-2 User Info ID, Relay-2 Layer-2 ID}. Among them, Relay-1 Layer-2 ID is the Layer-2 ID specified by Relay-1 for use in subsequent communication processes. The target End UE Layer-2 ID and Relay-2 Layer-2 ID are obtained in the same way as Relay-1.

[0207] Step 1. The source End UE sends a DCR message to Relay-1 to initiate a multi-hop connection between the source End UE and the target End UE. This message includes source terminal device information: {source End UE User Info ID, source End UE Layer-2 ID}, relay terminal device information: {Relay-1 User Info ID, Relay-1 Layer-2 ID}, {Relay-2 User Info ID, Relay-2 Layer-2 ID}, target relay terminal device information: {target End UE User Info ID, target End UE Layer-2 ID}, RSC, hop count and other parameters. The hop count is used to indicate the number of hops from the current UE (source End UE or Relay UE) to the target End UE.

[0208] The source Layer-2 ID used to send the DCR is the source End UE Layer-2 ID, and the target Layer-2 ID is set to the Relay-1 Layer-2 ID obtained in step 0.

[0209] Step 2: If Relay-1 verifies that the Relay-1 User Info ID in the DCR matches Relay-1's User Info ID, and the RSC obtained by Relay-1 from the PCF network element matches the RSC in the DCR, Relay-1 establishes a secure connection with the source End UE. The source End UE sends parameters such as the IP Address Configuration or Link-Local IPv6 Address and the E2E PQI to Relay-1 in a security message. Relay-1 determines the PQI parameter between the source End UE and Relay-1 as PQI1 based on the E2E PQI and hop count.

[0210] Step 3. Relay-1 sends a DCR message to Relay-2. The DCR message includes source terminal device information: {source End UE User Info ID, source End User Info ID}, relay terminal device information: {Relay-1 User Info ID, Relay-1 Layer-2 ID}, {Relay-2 User Info ID, Relay-2 Layer-2 ID}, target terminal device information: {target End UE User Info ID, target End UE Layer-2 ID}, RSC, hop count-1 and other parameters.

[0211] The source Layer-2 ID of the DCR message is set to the Relay-1 Layer-2 ID obtained in step 1, and the target Layer-2 ID is set to the Relay-2 Layer-2 ID obtained in step 1.

[0212] Step 4. If Relay-2 verifies that the Relay-2 User Info ID in the DCR message matches Relay-2's User Info ID, and the RSC obtained by Relay-2 from the PCF network element matches the RSC in the DCR, Relay-2 establishes a secure connection with Relay-1. Relay-1 sends the IP Address Configuration or Link-Local IPv6 Address, and parameters such as {E2E PQI-PQI1}, to Relay-2 in a security message. Based on {E2E PQI-PQI1} and hop count-1, Relay-2 determines that the PQI parameter between Relay-1 and Relay-2 is PQI2, and the PQI parameter between Relay-2 and the target End UE is {E2E PQI-PQI1-PQI2}.

[0213] Step 5. Relay-2 sends a DCR message to the target End UE, which includes source terminal device information: {source End UE User Info ID, source End UE Layer-2 ID}, relay terminal device information: {Relay-1 User Info ID, Relay-1 Layer-2 ID}, {Relay-2 User Info ID, Relay-2 Layer-2 ID}, target terminal device information: {target End UE User Info ID, target End UE Layer-2 ID}, RSC and other parameters.

[0214] The source Layer-2 ID used to send the DCR message is set to the Relay-2 Layer-2 ID obtained in step 3, and the target Layer-2 ID is set to the target End UE Layer-2 ID obtained in step 3.

[0215] Step 6: If the target End UE verifies that the target End UE User Info ID in the DCR matches the target End UE's User Info ID, and the RSC obtained by the target End UE from the PCF network element matches the RSC in the DCR, the target End UE establishes a secure connection with Relay-2. Relay-2 sends the IP Address Configuration or Link-Local IPv6 Address, and parameters such as {E2E PQI-PQI1-PQI2} ​​to the target End UE in a security message.

[0216] Step 7. The target End UE sends a DCA message to Relay-2, which includes target terminal device information: {target End UE User Info ID, target End UE Layer-2 ID}, relay terminal device information: {Relay-2 User Info ID, Relay-2 Layer-2 ID}, {Relay-1 User Info ID, Relay-1 Layer-2 ID}, source terminal device information: {source End UE User Info ID, source End UE Layer-2 ID} and other parameters.

[0217] The source Layer-2 ID used to send the DCA message is set to the target End UE Layer-2 ID obtained in step 5, and the target Layer-2 ID is set to the Relay-2 Layer-2 ID obtained in step 5.

[0218] Step 8. Relay-2 responds to the DCA message sent by the target End UE and sends a DCA message to Relay-1. The message includes the target terminal device information: {target End UE User Info ID, target End UE Layer-2 ID, target End UE IP address}, relay terminal device information: {Relay-2 User Info ID, Relay-2 Layer-2 ID}, {Relay-1 User Info ID, Relay-1 Layer-2 ID}, source terminal device information: {source End UE User Info ID, source End UE Layer-2 ID}, PQI2 and other parameters.

[0219] The source Layer-2 ID used in sending the DCA message is set to the Relay-2 Layer-2 ID obtained in step 7, and the target Layer-2 ID is set to the Relay-1 Layer-2 ID obtained in step 7.

[0220] Step 9. Relay-1 responds to the DCA message sent by Relay-1 and sends a DCA message to the source End UE. The message includes target terminal device information: {target End UE User Info ID, target End UE Layer-2 ID, target End UE IP address}, relay terminal device information: {Relay-2 User Info ID, Relay-2 Layer-2 ID, Relay-2 IP address}, {Relay-1 User Info ID, Relay-1 Layer-2 ID}, source terminal device information: {source End UE User Info ID, source End UE Layer-2 ID}, PQI1 and other parameters.

[0221] The source Layer-2 ID used to send the DCA message is set to the Relay-1 Layer-2 ID obtained in step 8, and the target Layer-2 ID is set to the source End UE Layer-2 ID obtained in step 8.

[0222] After the connection is established, the source End UE can send IP data packets to the target End UE through the target End UE IP address.

[0223] In another embodiment, a proximity service communication method is provided, which can be applied to the system architecture shown in Figure 9. In some embodiments, the communication method can be applied to a source terminal device.

[0224] In some embodiments, for the source terminal device source End UE, a first DCR message can be sent by broadcasting, and the DCR message may include: source terminal device information: {source End UE User Info ID, source End UE Layer-2 ID}, target terminal device information: target End UE User Info ID, RSC and other parameters. Among them, the source End UE Layer-2 ID is the Layer-2 ID specified by the source End UE itself for use in the subsequent connection establishment process. The source Layer-2 ID used to send the DCR message is the above-mentioned source End UE Layer-2 ID, and the target Layer-2 ID is set to the default Layer-2 ID provided by the PCF network element.

[0225] In some exemplary embodiments, the DCR message sent by the source terminal device may also include information indicating the number of times the DCR message can be forwarded by the relay terminal device. For example, the indication information may be used to indicate single hop or multi-hop, or may indicate a specific number of hops, such as 2 or 3 hops.

[0226] In addition, the DCR message may also carry a relay terminal device performance threshold parameter for screening relay terminal devices. For example, the threshold value may be the signal strength between a nearby relay terminal device and the source terminal device, or the signal strength threshold value of the relay terminal device.

[0227] After receiving the first DCR message, the terminal device adjacent to the source terminal device acts as a relay terminal device, such as the first relay terminal device Relay-1 and the second relay terminal device Relay-2; and after processing the first DCR message, sends a second DCR message in a broadcast manner; the DCR message may include: source terminal device information: {source End UE User Info ID, source End UE Layer-2 ID}, target terminal device information: target End UE User Info ID, relay terminal device information: {Relay-1 User Info ID, Relay-1 Layer-2 ID} or {Relay-2 User Info ID, Relay-2 Layer-2 ID}, RSC and other parameters. Among them, Relay-1 / Relay-2 Layer-2 ID is the Layer-2 ID specified by Relay-1 / Relay-2 itself for use in the subsequent connection establishment process. In addition, the source Layer-2 ID used by the relay terminal device to send the second DCR message is the above-mentioned Relay-1 Layer-2 ID or Relay-2 Layer-2 ID, and the target Layer-2 ID is set to the default Layer-2 ID provided by the PCF network element.

[0228] The second DCR message broadcast by the relay terminal device can be received by other nearby relay terminal devices and trigger the transmission of a third DCR message; or it can also be received by the target terminal device, the target End UE. The target terminal device, the target End UE, determines the multi-hop path based on the DCR messages broadcast by each relay device it receives, and feeds back multiple DCA messages to the corresponding relay terminal device along the multi-hop path to the source terminal device. The source terminal device then establishes a secure connection based on the DCA message from the relay terminal device, thereby establishing a multi-hop connection between the source terminal device and the target terminal device.

[0229] In another embodiment, referring to FIG4 , a proximity service communication method is provided, which is applied to a relay terminal device and includes the following steps:

[0230] Step S41: receiving a first direct communication request from a first terminal device; wherein the first terminal device includes a source terminal device or a relay terminal device;

[0231] Step S42: Generate a second direct communication request based on the relay terminal device information, and send the second direct communication request to the second terminal device; wherein the second direct communication request includes the relay terminal device information; the second terminal device includes: a relay terminal device and / or a target terminal device.

[0232] In one embodiment, the first direct communication request includes: source terminal device information, target terminal device information, and a relay service code RSC; or the first direct communication request includes: source terminal device information, target terminal device information, a relay service code RSC, and at least one relay terminal device information;

[0233] The second direct communication request includes: source terminal device information, target terminal device information, relay service code RSC, and at least one relay terminal device information;

[0234] The device information corresponding to the source terminal device, the target terminal device, and the relay terminal device includes: terminal device user information identification and layer 2 identification information.

[0235] Exemplarily, for relay terminal devices, the first terminal device mentioned above may be a source terminal device, and the second terminal device may be another adjacent relay terminal device.

[0236] In some embodiments, for a relay terminal device, after receiving the first DCR message broadcast by a nearby source terminal device, the relay terminal device processes the first DCR message and sends a second DCR message in a broadcast manner; the second DCR message may include: source terminal device information: {source End UE User Info ID, source End UE Layer-2 ID}, target terminal device information: target End UE User Info ID, relay terminal device information: {Relay-1 User Info ID, Relay-1 Layer-2 ID} or {Relay-2 User Info ID, Relay-2 Layer-2 ID}, RSC and other parameters. Among them, Relay-1 / Relay-2 Layer-2 ID is the Layer-2 ID specified by Relay-1 / Relay-2 itself for use in the subsequent connection establishment process. In addition, the source Layer-2 ID used by the relay terminal device to send the second DCR message is the above-mentioned Relay-1 Layer-2 ID or Relay-2 Layer-2 ID, and the target Layer-2 ID is set to the default Layer-2 ID provided by the PCF network element.

[0237] Exemplarily, for a relay terminal device, the first terminal device mentioned above may also be a nearby relay terminal device, and the second terminal device may be another nearby relay terminal device or a target terminal device.

[0238] In some embodiments, the second DCR message broadcast by the relay terminal device can be received by other nearby relay terminal devices, such as a third relay terminal device, Relay-3. After Relay-3 processes the second DCR message, it can broadcast a third DCR message. The third relay terminal device can receive the second DCR messages broadcast by one or more nearby relay terminal devices.

[0239] In an exemplary embodiment, the DCR message received by the relay terminal device may also carry a relay terminal device performance threshold parameter for screening relay terminal devices. For example, the threshold value may be the signal strength between a nearby relay terminal device and the source terminal device, or the signal strength threshold value of the relay terminal device. Upon receiving the DCR message, the relay terminal device may first determine whether the threshold value requirement is met. If the threshold value requirement is met, it will continue to process the currently received DCR message; otherwise, it will not process the current DCR message.

[0240] In one embodiment, the first direct communication request and / or the second direct communication request further includes: relay terminal device performance parameters.

[0241] The performance parameters of the relay terminal device include at least one of a signal strength parameter between the relay terminal device and the source terminal device and a load parameter of the relay terminal device.

[0242] In some embodiments, the second DCR message broadcast by the relay terminal device can be received by other nearby relay terminal devices, for example, received by the third relay terminal device Relay-3, and a third DCR message is broadcast. For the third relay terminal device, the second DCR message broadcast by one or more nearby relay terminal devices can be received. The third DCR message broadcast by Relay-3 may include: source terminal device information: {source End UE User Info ID, source End UE Layer-2 ID}, target terminal device information: target End UE User Info ID, relay terminal device information: {Relay-1 User Info ID, Relay-1 Layer-2 ID} and / or {Relay-2 User Info ID, Relay-2 Layer-2 ID}, {Relay-3 User Info ID, Relay-3 Layer-2 ID}, RSC and other parameters. The Relay-3 Layer-2 ID is the Layer-2 ID specified by Relay-3 itself for use in the subsequent connection establishment process. The source Layer-2 ID used to send the third DCR message is the Relay-3 Layer-2 ID, and the target Layer-2 ID is set to the default Layer-2 ID provided by the PCF network element. The DCR message may also include signal strength information between the source End UE and Relay-1 (or Relay-2), and signal strength information between Relay-1 (or Relay-2) and Relay-3.

[0243] In one embodiment, as shown in FIG5 , the proximity service communication method further includes:

[0244] Step S51, determining a target relay terminal device according to the relay terminal device performance parameters corresponding to each relay terminal device;

[0245] Step S52: Write the relay terminal device information corresponding to the target relay terminal device into the direct communication request, and send the direct communication request.

[0246] The DCR message may also include device performance parameters between adjacent terminal devices. For example, the second DCR message broadcast by Relay-1 may include a signal strength parameter between the source terminal device and the first relay terminal device, or a load parameter of the first terminal device.

[0247] Alternatively, when a third relay terminal device receives a second DCR message broadcast by multiple nearby relay terminal devices, it can pre-select a relay terminal device in the relay multi-hop path based on the performance parameters of the relay terminal devices. For example, when Relay-3 receives the second DCR message broadcast by Relay-1 and Relay-2, it can select the relay terminal device with better transmission performance as the target relay terminal device based on the relay terminal device performance parameters. This pre-configures a multi-hop path for the target terminal device, reducing the target terminal device's computational burden and improving transmission efficiency.

[0248] For example, Relay-3 can select Relay-1 or Relay-2 based on the signal strength information between the source End UE and Relay-1 (or Relay-2) and the signal strength information between Relay-1 (or Relay-2) and Relay-3. At this time, the DCR message only includes the User Info ID and Layer-2 ID of Relay-1 or Relay-2 (instead of both).

[0249] In one embodiment, as shown in FIG6 , the proximity service communication method further includes:

[0250] Step S61: receiving a second direct communication acceptance message from the second terminal device, and establishing a connection between the relay terminal device and the second terminal device;

[0251] Step S62: Send a first direct communication acceptance message to the first terminal device;

[0252] The first and second direct communication acceptance messages include: multi-hop relay information.

[0253] In one embodiment, the first and second direct communication acceptance messages further include: source terminal device information, target terminal device information, and hop count information indicating the number of hops between the current terminal device and the target terminal device;

[0254] The device information corresponding to the source terminal device, the target terminal device, and the relay terminal device includes: terminal device user information identification and layer 2 identification information.

[0255] In one embodiment, the layer 2 identification information corresponding to the source terminal device and the target terminal device is based on the terminal device configuration corresponding to the current connection.

[0256] In one embodiment, the multi-hop relay information includes: relay terminal device information and multi-hop path information.

[0257] In some embodiments, a relay terminal device on a multi-hop path can receive a DCA message sent by a target terminal device and establish a secure connection between the relay terminal device and the target terminal device. For example, the target terminal device can determine the multi-hop path based on the DCR message broadcast by one or more relay terminal devices. For example, if the multi-hop path includes two relay terminal devices, including: Relay-3 and Relay-2; if the current relay terminal device is Relay-3, the corresponding second terminal device is the target terminal device, and the corresponding first terminal device is Relay-2. Alternatively, if the current relay terminal device is Relay-2, the corresponding second terminal device is Relay-3, and the corresponding first terminal device is the source terminal device.

[0258] For Relay-3, it can receive the DCA message sent by the target terminal device, which may include target terminal device information: {target End UE User Info ID, target End UE Layer-2 ID}, relay terminal device information: {Relay-3 User Info ID, Relay-3 Layer-2 ID}, {Relay-2 User Info ID, Relay-2 Layer-2 ID}, source terminal device information: {source End UE User Info ID, source End UE Layer-2 ID}, IP Address Configuration or Link-Local IPv6 Address, hop number. Among them, the target End UE Layer-2 ID is the Layer-2 ID specified by the target End UE itself for use in the subsequent connection establishment process. Among them, the hop number is used to indicate the number of hops between the current UE (source End UE or Relay UE) and the target End UE. Among them, the source Layer-2 ID used by the target terminal device to send the DCA message is the above-mentioned target End UE Layer-2 ID, and the target Layer-2 ID is the Relay-3 Layer-2 ID. In the relay terminal device information, the User Info ID can be used to represent the relay terminal device information in the multi-hop relay information packet. The relay terminal device sequence number can be used to represent the hop order corresponding to the multi-hop path, for example, the hop order of Relay-2 and Relay-3. Alternatively, a hop sequence sequence number identifier can be configured for each relay terminal device information.

[0259] After receiving the DCA message from the target terminal device, Relay-3 can send a DCA message to Relay-2 and establish a secure connection between Relay-3 and Relay-2. Relay-2 can send the IP Address Configuration or Link-Local IPv6 Address to Relay-3 in the security message. The DCA message sent by Relay-3 to Relay-2 can include target terminal device information: {target End UE User Info ID, target End UE Layer-2 ID, target End UE IP address}, relay terminal device information: {Relay-3 User Info ID, Relay-3 Layer-2 ID}, {Relay-2 User Info ID, Relay-2 Layer-2 ID}, and source terminal device information: {source End UE User Info ID, source End UE Layer-2 ID}. The source Layer-2 ID used by Relay-3 to send the DCA message is the Relay-3 Layer-2 ID, and the target Layer-2 ID is the Relay-2 Layer-2 ID.

[0260] After receiving the DCA message from Relay-3, Relay-2 establishes a secure connection with the source End UE. The source End UE sends the IP Address Configuration or Link-Local IPv6 Address and E2E PQI to Relay-2 in a secure message.

[0261] Relay-2 determines the PQI value between the source End UE and Relay-2 as PQI1 based on the E2E PQI and hop number. Relay-2 sends an LMR message to Relay-3, which contains the target terminal device information: {target End UE User Info ID, target End UE Layer-2 ID}, relay terminal device information: {Relay-3 User Info ID, Relay-3 Layer-2 ID}, {Relay-2 User Info ID, Relay-2 Layer-2 ID}, E2E PQI-PQI1, and hop number. Relay-3 determines the PQI value between Relay-2 and Relay-3 as PQI2 based on the received E2E PQI-PQI1 and hop number. Relay-3 sends an LMR message to the target End UE. This message contains target terminal device information: {target End UE User Info ID, target End UE Layer-2 ID}, relay terminal device information {Relay-3 User Info ID, Relay-3 Layer-2 ID}, {Relay-2 User Info ID, Relay-2 Layer-2 ID}, E2E PQI-PQI1-PQI2, and hop number. The target End UE sends an LMA message to Relay-3, and Relay-3 sends an LMA message to Relay-2.

[0262] At the same time, Relay-2 responds to the DCA message received from Relay-3 and sends a DCA message to the source End UE. The DCA message includes target terminal device information: {target End UE User Info ID, target End UE Layer-2 ID, target End UE IP address}, relay terminal device information: {Relay-3 User Info ID, Relay-3 Layer-2 ID, Relay-3 IP address}, {Relay-2 User Info ID, Relay-2 Layer-2 ID}, source terminal device information: {source End UE User Info ID, source End UE Layer-2 ID}, IP Address Configuration or Link-Local IPv6 Address, PQI1. Among them, the source Layer-2 ID used by Relay-2 to send the DCA message is the Relay-2 Layer-2 ID, and the target Layer-2 ID is the source End UE Layer-2 ID.

[0263] After the connection is established, the source End UE can send IP data packets to the target End UE through the target End UE IP address.

[0264] In another embodiment, referring to FIG7 , a proximity service communication method is provided, which is applied to a target terminal device and includes the following steps:

[0265] Step S71, establishing multi-hop relay information according to the received direct communication request corresponding to at least one relay terminal device;

[0266] Step S72: Initiate a direct communication acceptance message in each relay terminal device in turn based on the multi-hop relay information.

[0267] In one embodiment, the direct communication request includes: relay terminal device performance parameters.

[0268] In one embodiment, establishing multi-hop relay information according to a received direct communication request corresponding to at least one relay terminal device includes:

[0269] Sort each relay terminal device according to the relay terminal device performance parameters;

[0270] The target relay terminal device is selected based on the sorting result, and multi-hop relay information is generated.

[0271] In some embodiments, a target terminal device may receive a second DCR message and / or a third DCR message broadcast by multiple adjacent relay terminal devices; wherein the second DCR message is generated by the relay terminal device based on the first DCR message broadcast by the source terminal device; and the third DCR message may be generated by the relay terminal device based on the second DCR message broadcast by other adjacent relay terminal devices.

[0272] For the target terminal device, multiple relay terminal devices can be sorted according to the signal strength information between the source terminal device and the relay terminal device, between the relay terminal devices, or the load information of the relay devices carried in each DCR message, and n relay terminal devices can be selected as the target relay terminal devices and the corresponding jump order can be determined to determine the multi-hop relay information.

[0273] In addition, in some exemplary embodiments, the discovery request message sent by the source terminal device may also include hop count indication information for indicating the number of multi-hops to the relay terminal device. When generating a new DCR message, the relay terminal device may carry the hop count indication information of the source terminal device, so that the target terminal device can obtain the indication information, select a certain number of relay terminal devices based on the indication information, and configure the corresponding jump path. For example, when the hop count indication information is 1, it indicates that the current relay connection uses one relay device; when the hop count indication information is 2, it indicates that the current relay connection uses two relay devices. Alternatively, when the hop count indication information is 2, it may indicate the use of a multi-hop connection, and the specific number of hops is not limited at this time.

[0274] For example, the multi-hop relay information includes two relay terminal devices, and the multi-hop path is Relay-3 and Relay-2; the target terminal device can first establish a secure connection with Relay-3, and Relay-3 sends a DCA message; then Relay-3 sends a DCA message to Relay-2, and then Relay-2 sends a DCA message to the source terminal device (source End UE), thereby establishing a multi-hop connection.

[0275] In one embodiment, the direct communication request includes: a target relay terminal device configured by the relay terminal device.

[0276] The proximity service communication method further includes: establishing multi-hop relay information based on the target relay terminal device.

[0277] In some embodiments, a target terminal device may simultaneously receive multiple second and / or third DCR messages from different relay terminal devices. A second DCR message is generated by the relay terminal device based on a first DCR message broadcast from a source terminal device; a third DCR message is generated by the relay terminal device based on a second DCR message broadcast from another nearby relay terminal device. The third DCR message may include information about the multiple relay terminal devices involved in the DCR message transmission.

[0278] Exemplarily, the third DCR message may also include the target relay terminal device already determined by the corresponding relay terminal device. For example, the target terminal device receives the third DCR message broadcast by Relay-3, which includes Relay-2, which Relay-3 selected as the target relay terminal device based on the signal strength contained in the second DCR messages broadcast by Relay-1 and Relay-2. When the target terminal device selects Relay-3 as the target terminal device, it can determine Relay-2 as the target relay terminal device based on the third DCR message. Correspondingly, the order of the jump paths includes: Relay-3, Relay-2. That is, for the target terminal device, multi-hop relay information can be configured based on the multi-hop path selected by the relay terminal device.

[0279] In an exemplary embodiment, corresponding to the system architecture shown in FIG9 , with reference to FIG8 , a multi-hop UE-to-UE Relay connection establishment process includes:

[0280] Step 1. The source End UE sends a DCR, which is a broadcast message. This message contains source terminal device information: {source End UE User Info ID, source End UE Layer-2 ID}, target terminal device information: target End UE User Info ID, RSC and other parameters. Among them, the source End UE Layer-2 ID is the Layer-2 ID specified by the source End UE itself for use in the subsequent connection establishment process. The source Layer-2 ID used to send this DCR message is the above-mentioned source End UE Layer-2 ID, and the target Layer-2 ID is set to the default Layer-2 ID provided by the PCF network element.

[0281] Step 2. After receiving the DCR message broadcast by the source terminal device, the adjacent relay terminal devices Relay-1 and Relay-2 can send a new DCR message, which is a broadcast message. The DCR message contains the source terminal device information: {source End UE User Info ID, source End UE Layer-2 ID}, target End UE User Info ID, relay terminal device information: {Relay-1 User Info ID, Relay-1 Layer-2 ID} or {Relay-2 User Info ID, Relay-2 Layer-2 ID}, RSC and other parameters. Among them, Relay-1 / Relay-2 Layer-2 ID is the Layer-2 ID specified by Relay-1 / Relay-2 itself for use in the subsequent connection establishment process. The message can also include signal strength information between the source End UE and Relay-1, or the source End UE and Relay-2.

[0282] The source Layer-2 ID used to send the DCR message is the above-mentioned Relay-1 Layer-2 ID or Relay-2 Layer-2 ID, and the target Layer-2 ID is set to the default Layer-2 ID provided by the PCF network element.

[0283] Step 3. After receiving the DCR message broadcast by the adjacent relay terminal devices Relay-1 and Relay-2, Relay-3 sends a new DCR, which is a broadcast message. The DCR message includes source terminal device information: {source End UE User Info ID, source End UE Layer-2 ID}, target terminal device information: target End UE User Info ID, relay terminal device information: {Relay-1 User Info ID, Relay-1 Layer-2 ID} and {Relay-2 User Info ID, Relay-2 Layer-2 ID}, {Relay-3 User Info ID, Relay-3 Layer-2 ID}, RSC and other parameters. Among them, Relay-3 Layer-2 ID is the Layer-2 ID specified by Relay-3 itself for use in the subsequent connection establishment process. The DCR message can also include signal strength information between the source End UE and Relay-1 (or Relay-2), and signal strength information between Relay-1 (or Relay-2) and Relay-3. Alternatively, Relay-3 may select Relay-1 or Relay-2 based on the signal strength information between the source End UE and Relay-1 (or Relay-2) and the signal strength information between Relay-1 (or Relay-2) and Relay-3. In this case, the DCR only contains the User Info ID and Layer-2 ID of Relay-1 or Relay-2 (instead of both).

[0284] The source Layer-2 ID used to send the DCR message is the aforementioned Relay-3 Layer-2 ID, and the target Layer-2 ID is set to the default Layer-2 ID provided by the PCF.

[0285] Step 4. The target End UE can receive the DCR message broadcast by each relay terminal device, and select the UE-to-UE Relay list to respond, such as Relay-3 and Relay-2, based on the signal strength information between the source End UE and Relay-1 (or Relay-2), the signal strength information between Relay-1 (or Relay-2) and Relay-3, and the signal strength information between Relay-3 and the target End UE.

[0286] Step 5: A secure connection is established between the target End UE and Relay-3. Relay-3 sends the IP Address Configuration or Link-Local IPv6 Address to the target End UE in a security message.

[0287] 6. The target End UE sends a DCA message to Relay-3, which includes the target terminal device information: {target End UE User Info ID, target End UE Layer-2 ID}, relay terminal device information: {Relay-3 User Info ID, Relay-3 Layer-2 ID}, {Relay-2 User Info ID, Relay-2 Layer-2 ID}, source terminal device information: {source End UE User Info ID, source End UE Layer-2 ID}, IP Address Configuration or Link-Local IPv6 Address, and hop number. The target End UE Layer-2 ID is the Layer-2 ID specified by the target End UE itself for use in the subsequent connection establishment process. The hop number is used to indicate the number of hops from the current UE (source End UE or Relay UE) to the target End UE.

[0288] The source Layer-2 ID used to send the DCA message is the target End UE Layer-2 ID, and the target Layer-2 ID is the Relay-3 Layer-2 ID.

[0289] Step 7: Relay-3 establishes a secure connection with Relay-2. Relay-2 sends the IP Address Configuration or Link-Local IPv6 Address to Relay-3 in a security message.

[0290] Step 8. Relay-3 sends a DCA message to Relay-2, which includes the target terminal device information: {target End UE User Info ID, target End UE Layer-2 ID, target End UE IP address}, relay terminal device information: {Relay-3 User Info ID, Relay-3 Layer-2 ID}, {Relay-2 User Info ID, Relay-2 Layer-2 ID}, and source terminal device information: {source End UE User Info ID, source End UE Layer-2 ID}.

[0291] The source Layer-2 ID used in sending this DCA message is the Relay-3 Layer-2 ID, and the target Layer-2 ID is the Relay-2 Layer-2 ID.

[0292] Step 9: A secure connection is established between Relay-2 and the source End UE. The source End UE sends the IP Address Configuration or Link-Local IPv6 Address and E2E PQI to Relay-2 in a security message.

[0293] In step 10a, Relay-2 determines the PQI value between the source End UE and Relay-2 as PQI1 based on the E2E PQI and hop number. Relay-2 sends an LMR message to Relay-3. The message contains the target terminal device information ({target End UE User Info ID, target End UE Layer-2 ID}), relay terminal device information ({Relay-3 User Info ID, Relay-3 Layer-2 ID}, {Relay-2 User Info ID, Relay-2 Layer-2 ID}), E2E PQI-PQI1, and hop number. Relay-3 determines the PQI value between Relay-2 and Relay-3 as PQI2 based on the received E2E PQI-PQI1 and hop number. Relay-3 sends an LMR message to the target End UE, which contains the target terminal device information: {target End UE User Info ID, target End UE Layer-2 ID}, relay terminal device information {Relay-3 User Info ID, Relay-3 Layer-2 ID}, {Relay-2 User Info ID, Relay-2 Layer-2 ID}, E2E PQI-PQI1-PQI2 and hop number.

[0294] Step 10b: The target End UE sends a Link Modification Accept (LMA) message to Relay-3, and Relay-3 sends the LMA message to Relay-2.

[0295] Step 11. Relay-2 sends a DCA message to the source End UE, which includes the target terminal device information: {target End UE User Info ID, target End UE Layer-2 ID, target End UE IP address}, relay terminal device information: {Relay-3 User Info ID, Relay-3 Layer-2 ID, Relay-3 IP address}, {Relay-2 User Info ID, Relay-2 Layer-2 ID}, source terminal device information {source End UE User Info ID, source End UE Layer-2 ID}, IP Address Configuration or Link-Local IPv6 Address, PQI1.

[0296] The source Layer-2 ID used to send the DCA message is the Relay-2 Layer-2 ID, and the target Layer-2 ID is the source End UE Layer-2 ID.

[0297] After the connection is established, the source End UE can send IP data packets to the target End UE through the target End UE IP address.

[0298] In the method provided in the embodiment of the present application, for the multi-hop connection establishment process after discovering the Relay UE and the target End UE through an independent Discovery process, the source End UE includes the User Info ID and Layer-2 ID information of all Relay UEs and target End UEs in the DCR. The Relay UE in the multi-hop path searches for the next-hop Relay UE and establishes a connection based on the above information. It is worth noting that for the one-hop UE-to-UE Relay in the related art, the DCR does not include the Relay UE / target End UE Layer-2 ID, because the Relay UE itself saves the corresponding relationship between the User Info ID and Layer-2 ID of the target End UE. For the multi-hop UE-to-UE Relay, if each Relay UE on the multi-hop path saves the mapping relationship between the User Info ID and Layer-2 ID of the End UE / Relay UE, the storage and computational overhead for the Relay UE is huge. Therefore, the present disclosure proposes to carry the mapping relationship between the User Info ID and Layer-2 ID of the Relay UE / End UE on the path in the DCR, so as to facilitate the Relay UE on the multi-hop path to determine the Layer-2 ID.

[0299] Regarding the determination of the PQI value, the relay UE determines the PQI value of each hop based on the hop count. It should be noted that the hop count does not need to be considered when determining the PQI value for a one-hop UE-to-UE relay in the related art.

[0300] For the multi-hop connection establishment process without an independent Discovery process, the source End UE and each Relay UE add their own Layer-2 ID in the DCR (the Layer-2 ID is used as the unique identifier of the Relay UE for the subsequent connection establishment process) to form a complete User Info ID and Layer-2 ID information of each UE. The Relay UE in the multi-hop path sends a DCA message based on the above information. It is worth noting that for the one-hop UE-to-UE Relay in the related technology, the Relay UE / target End UE Layer-2 ID is not included in the DCR. For the determination of the PQI value, the Relay UE determines the PQI value of each hop based on the hop number. For the selection of Relay UE, the target End UE can make the selection based on the signal strength information, or it can be selected by other Relay UEs based on the signal strength information.

[0301] It should be understood that, although the various steps in the flowcharts involved in the various embodiments described above are displayed in sequence according to the instructions of the arrows, these steps are not necessarily executed in sequence in the order indicated by the arrows. Unless otherwise specified herein, there is no strict order restriction on the execution of these steps, and these steps can be executed in other orders. Moreover, at least a portion of the steps in the flowcharts involved in the various embodiments described above can include multiple steps or multiple stages, and these steps or stages are not necessarily executed and completed at the same time, but can be executed at different times, and the execution order of these steps or stages is not necessarily to be carried out in sequence, but can be executed in turn or alternately with other steps or at least a portion of steps or stages in other steps.

[0302] Based on the same inventive concept, embodiments of the present application also provide an apparatus for implementing the aforementioned proximity service communication method. The solution provided by this apparatus is similar to the solution described in the aforementioned method. Therefore, the specific limitations of one or more of the following embodiments of proximity service communication apparatuses can be found in the aforementioned limitations of the proximity service communication method and are not further elaborated here.

[0303] In one embodiment, as shown in FIG10 , a proximity service communication apparatus is provided, which can be applied to a source terminal device. The proximity service communication apparatus 1000 includes:

[0304] Multi-hop relay information acquisition module 1001, used to acquire multi-hop relay information;

[0305] The request initiating module 1002 is configured to initiate a direct communication request in each relay terminal device in sequence based on the multi-hop relay information.

[0306] In one embodiment, the request initiation module 1002 can be used to send a first direct communication request to a first relay terminal device based on the multi-hop relay information, so that the first relay terminal device can initiate a second direct communication request to a subsequent relay terminal device based on the multi-hop relay information; wherein the subsequent relay terminal device is determined based on the multi-hop relay information.

[0307] In one embodiment, the proximity service communication device 1000 further includes:

[0308] The response information processing module is used to receive the first response information generated by the first relay terminal device in response to the first direct communication request, and establish a connection between the source terminal device and the first relay terminal device.

[0309] In one embodiment, the proximity service communication device 1000 further includes:

[0310] The connection establishing module is configured to receive a first direct communication acceptance message from a first relay terminal device.

[0311] In one embodiment, the direct communication request includes: source terminal device information, relay terminal device information corresponding to each relay terminal device, target terminal device information, jump count information for indicating the number of hops between the current terminal device and the target terminal device, and any one or more of the relay service codes RSC; wherein, the device information corresponding to the source terminal device, the target terminal device, and the relay terminal device includes: terminal device user information identification and layer 2 identification information.

[0312] In one embodiment, the layer 2 identification information corresponding to the source terminal device and the target terminal device in the direct communication request is based on the terminal device configuration corresponding to the current connection.

[0313] In one embodiment, the multi-hop relay information acquisition module 1001 can be used to send a discovery request message; wherein, the discovery request message includes: target terminal device information; receiving a discovery response message of the relay terminal device, and determining the multi-hop relay information based on the discovery response message; wherein, the multi-hop relay information includes: relay terminal device information, multi-hop path information.

[0314] In one embodiment, as shown in FIG11 , a proximity service communication device 1100 is provided, which can be applied to a relay terminal device. The proximity service communication device 1100 includes:

[0315] The request verification module 1101 is configured to receive a first direct communication request from a first terminal device and verify the first direct communication request; wherein the first terminal device includes: a source terminal device or a relay terminal device; and the first direct communication request includes multi-hop relay information;

[0316] The request processing module 1102 is configured to initiate a second direct communication request to a second terminal device when verification of the first direct communication request is completed; wherein the second terminal device includes: a target terminal device or a relay terminal device.

[0317] In one embodiment, the request verification module 1101 is used to compare the relay terminal device information corresponding to the current relay terminal device with the relay terminal device information contained in the first direct communication request; and to compare the relay service code RSC contained in the first direct communication request with the relay service code RSC obtained by the PCF network element.

[0318] In one embodiment, the communication apparatus 1100 further includes: a connection establishing module, configured to send a first response message to the first terminal device to establish a connection between the relay terminal device and the first terminal device.

[0319] In one embodiment, the communication device 1100 also includes: a security message processing module for receiving a security message sent by the first terminal device, and determining the PQI parameters between the first terminal device and the relay terminal device based on the security message; wherein the security message includes: IP address configuration information, at least one of end-to-end PQI parameters.

[0320] In one embodiment, the communication device 1100 also includes: a direct communication acceptance message processing module, used to receive a second direct communication acceptance message from the second terminal device, and send a first direct communication acceptance message to the first terminal device to establish a multi-hop connection between the source terminal device and the target terminal device based on multiple relay terminal devices.

[0321] In one embodiment, the direct communication request includes: source terminal device information, relay terminal device information corresponding to each relay terminal device, target terminal device information, jump count information indicating the number of hops between the current terminal device and the target terminal device, and relay service code RSC; wherein, the device information corresponding to the source terminal device, the target terminal device, and the relay terminal device includes: terminal device user information identification and layer 2 identification information.

[0322] In one embodiment, the layer 2 identification information corresponding to the source terminal device and the target terminal device in the direct communication request is based on the terminal device configuration corresponding to the current connection.

[0323] In one embodiment, the multi-hop relay information includes: relay terminal device information and multi-hop path information.

[0324] In one embodiment, referring to FIG12 , a proximity service communication device 1200 is provided, which can be applied to a relay terminal device. The communication device 1200 includes:

[0325] The request message receiving module 1201 is configured to receive a second direct communication acceptance message from the second terminal device, and establish a connection between the relay terminal device and the second terminal device; wherein the second terminal device includes: a target terminal device or a relay terminal device;

[0326] The request message sending module 1202 is configured to send a first direct communication acceptance message to the first terminal device to establish a multi-hop connection between the source terminal device and the target terminal device based on the plurality of relay terminal devices; wherein the first terminal device includes: a source terminal device or a relay terminal device;

[0327] The first and second direct communication acceptance messages include: multi-hop relay information.

[0328] In one embodiment, the first and second direct communication acceptance messages further include: source terminal device information, target terminal device information, and hop count information indicating the number of hops between the current terminal device and the target terminal device;

[0329] The device information corresponding to the source terminal device, the target terminal device, and the relay terminal device includes: terminal device user information identification and layer 2 identification information.

[0330] In one embodiment, the multi-hop relay information includes: relay terminal device information and multi-hop path information.

[0331] In one embodiment, the layer 2 identification information corresponding to the source terminal device and the target terminal device is based on the terminal device configuration corresponding to the current connection.

[0332] In one embodiment, the communication device 1200 further includes:

[0333] A direct communication request receiving module, configured to receive a first direct communication request from a first terminal device; wherein the first terminal device includes a source terminal device or a relay terminal device;

[0334] A direct communication request sending module is used to generate a second direct communication request based on the relay terminal device information and send the second direct communication request to the second terminal device; wherein the second direct communication request includes the relay terminal device information; the second terminal device includes: a relay terminal device and / or a target terminal device.

[0335] In one embodiment, the first direct communication request includes: source terminal device information, target terminal device information, and a relay service code RSC; or, the first direct communication request includes: source terminal device information, target terminal device information, a relay service code RSC, and at least one relay terminal device information;

[0336] The second direct communication request includes: source terminal device information, target terminal device information, relay service code RSC, and at least one relay terminal device information;

[0337] The device information corresponding to the source terminal device, the target terminal device, and the relay terminal device includes: terminal device user information identification and layer 2 identification information.

[0338] In one embodiment, the first direct communication request and / or the second direct communication request further includes: relay terminal device performance parameters.

[0339] In one embodiment, the communication device 1200 further includes:

[0340] The target relay terminal device selection module is used to determine the target relay terminal device according to the relay terminal device performance parameters corresponding to each relay terminal device; write the relay terminal device information corresponding to the target relay terminal device into the direct communication request, and send the direct communication request.

[0341] In one embodiment, the relay terminal device performance parameter includes at least one of a signal strength parameter between the relay terminal device and the source terminal device and a load parameter of the relay terminal device.

[0342] In an embodiment, the first direct communication request and / or the second direct communication request further includes: relay multi-hop threshold information.

[0343] In one embodiment, referring to FIG13 , a proximity service communication device 1300 is provided, which can be applied to a target terminal device. The communication device 1300 includes:

[0344] The multi-hop relay information building module 1301 is configured to build multi-hop relay information according to a direct communication request corresponding to at least one relay terminal device received;

[0345] The request processing module 1302 is configured to initiate a direct communication acceptance message in each of the relay terminal devices in sequence based on the multi-hop relay information.

[0346] In one embodiment, the direct communication request includes: relay terminal device performance parameters.

[0347] In one embodiment, the multi-hop relay information construction module 1301 is used to sort the relay terminal devices according to the relay terminal device performance parameters; select a target relay terminal device based on the sorting result, and generate the multi-hop relay information.

[0348] In one embodiment, the direct communication request includes: a target relay terminal device configured by the relay terminal device;

[0349] The multi-hop relay information building module 1301 further includes: building multi-hop relay information based on the target relay terminal device.

[0350] In one embodiment, the relay terminal device performance parameter includes at least one of a signal strength parameter between the relay terminal device and the source terminal device and a load parameter of the relay terminal device.

[0351] In one embodiment, the multi-hop relay information includes: relay terminal device information and multi-hop path information.

[0352] In one embodiment, the direct communication request further includes: relay multi-hop threshold information;

[0353] The multi-hop relay information construction module 1301 further includes: selecting a target relay terminal device that meets the relay multi-hop threshold information quantity, and generating the multi-hop relay information.

[0354] Each module in the aforementioned proximity service communication device may be implemented in whole or in part through software, hardware, or a combination thereof. Each module may be embedded in or independent of a processor in a computer device in the form of hardware, or may be stored in a memory in the computer device in the form of software, so that the processor can call and execute the corresponding operations of each module.

[0355] In one embodiment, a communication device is provided, as shown in FIG14 . The device includes a memory 1420, a transceiver 1410, a processor 1400, and a user interface 1430. The processor 1400 is configured to read and execute computer programs stored in the memory 1420 to implement the methods corresponding to the aforementioned embodiments; the transceiver 1410 is configured to receive and transmit data under the control of the processor 1400.

[0356] In FIG14 , the bus architecture may include any number of interconnected buses and bridges, specifically various circuits linked together by one or more processors represented by a processor and a memory represented by a memory. The bus architecture may also link together various other circuits such as peripherals, voltage regulators, and power management circuits, which are well known in the art and are therefore not further described herein. The bus interface provides an interface. The transceiver may be a plurality of components, i.e., a transmitter and a receiver, providing a unit for communicating with various other devices on a transmission medium, such as a wireless channel, a wired channel, an optical cable, and the like. For different user devices, the user interface may also be an interface capable of connecting external or internal devices as required, and the connected devices may include, but are not limited to, a keypad, a display, a speaker, a microphone, a joystick, and the like.

[0357] The processor is responsible for managing the bus architecture and general processing, and the memory can store data used by the processor when performing operations.

[0358] In some embodiments, the processor may be a CPU (central processing unit), an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), an FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array) or a CPLD (Complex Programmable Logic Device), and the processor may also adopt a multi-core architecture.

[0359] The processor calls the program stored in the memory to execute any of the methods provided in the embodiments of the present application according to the obtained executable instructions. The processor and the memory can also be physically separated.

[0360] It should be noted here that the above-mentioned device provided in the embodiment of the present disclosure can implement all the method steps implemented in the above-mentioned method embodiment and can achieve the same technical effect. The parts and beneficial effects of this embodiment that are the same as those in the method embodiment will not be described in detail here.

[0361] The physical device corresponding to the terminal side is shown in Figure 14, which can implement all the method steps implemented in the terminal side method embodiment and can achieve the same technical effects. The parts and beneficial effects of this embodiment that are the same as the method embodiment will not be described in detail here.

[0362] Those skilled in the art will understand that the structure shown in Figure 14 is merely a block diagram of a partial structure related to the scheme of the present application, and does not constitute a limitation on the communication device to which the scheme of the present application is applied. The specific communication device may include more or fewer components than shown in the figure, or combine certain components, or have a different component arrangement.

[0363] In one embodiment, an electronic device is further provided, including a memory and a processor. The memory stores a computer program, and the processor implements the steps in the above method embodiments when executing the computer program.

[0364] In one embodiment, a processor-readable storage medium is provided, on which a computer program is stored. When the computer program is executed by a processor, the steps in the above-mentioned method embodiments are implemented.

[0365] The processor-readable storage medium can be any available medium or data storage device that can be accessed by the processor, including but not limited to magnetic storage (such as floppy disks, hard disks, magnetic tapes, magneto-optical disks (MO)), optical storage (such as CDs, DVDs, BDs, HVDs, etc.), and semiconductor storage (such as ROMs, EPROMs, EEPROMs, non-volatile memories (NAND FLASH), solid-state drives (SSDs)), etc.

[0366] In one embodiment, a computer program product is provided, including a computer program, which implements the steps in the above method embodiments when executed by a processor.

[0367] It should be noted that the user information (including but not limited to user device information, user personal information, etc.) and data (including but not limited to data used for analysis, stored data, displayed data, etc.) involved in this application are all information and data authorized by the user or fully authorized by all parties, and the collection, use and processing of relevant data must comply with the relevant laws, regulations and standards of relevant countries and regions.

[0368] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that all or part of the processes in the above-mentioned embodiment methods can be implemented by instructing the relevant hardware through a computer program, and the computer program can be stored in a non-volatile computer-readable storage medium. When the computer program is executed, it can include the processes of the embodiments of the above-mentioned methods. Among them, any reference to memory, database or other media used in the embodiments provided in this application may include at least one of non-volatile and volatile memory. Non-volatile memory may include read-only memory (ROM), magnetic tape, floppy disk, flash memory, optical memory, high-density embedded non-volatile memory, resistive random access memory (ReRAM), magnetic random access memory (MRAM), ferroelectric random access memory (FRAM), phase change memory (PCM), graphene memory, etc. Volatile memory may include random access memory (RAM) or external cache memory, etc. By way of illustration and not limitation, RAM can be in various forms, such as static random access memory (SRAM) or dynamic random access memory (DRAM). The database involved in the various embodiments provided herein may include at least one of a relational database and a non-relational database. Non-relational databases may include, but are not limited to, distributed databases based on blockchains. The processor involved in the various embodiments provided herein may be, but are not limited to, a general-purpose processor, a central processing unit, a graphics processing unit, a digital signal processor, a programmable logic unit, a data processing logic unit based on quantum computing, and the like.

[0369] The technical features of the above embodiments can be combined arbitrarily. To make the description concise, not all possible combinations of the technical features in the above embodiments are described. However, as long as there is no contradiction in the combination of these technical features, they should be considered to be within the scope of this specification.

[0370] The above-described embodiments merely represent several implementation methods of the present application. While the descriptions are relatively specific and detailed, they should not be construed as limiting the scope of the present application. It should be noted that a person of ordinary skill in the art may make various modifications and improvements without departing from the spirit of the present application, and these modifications and improvements fall within the scope of protection of the present application. Therefore, the scope of protection of the present application shall be determined by the appended claims.

[0371] Finally, it should be noted that the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present application, rather than to limit them. Although the present application has been described in detail with reference to the aforementioned embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that they can still modify the technical solutions described in the aforementioned embodiments, or make equivalent replacements for some or all of the technical features therein. These modifications or replacements do not deviate the essence of the corresponding technical solutions from the scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, and they should all be included in the scope of the claims and specification of the present application. In particular, as long as there is no structural conflict, the various technical features mentioned in the various embodiments can be combined in any way. The present application is not limited to the specific embodiments disclosed herein, but includes all technical solutions that fall within the scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A proximity service communication method, wherein: Applied to a source terminal device, the method includes: Get multi-hop relay information; Based on the multi-hop relay information, a direct communication request is initiated in each relay terminal device in turn.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein The initiating a direct communication request in each relay terminal device in sequence based on the multi-hop relay information includes: A first direct communication request is sent to the first relay terminal device based on the multi-hop relay information.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein: The method further comprises: A first response message is received, and a connection is established between the source terminal device and the first relay terminal device.

4. The method according to claim 2 or 3, wherein: The method further comprises: A first direct communication acceptance message from the first relay terminal device is received.

5. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein: The direct communication request includes: any one or a combination of any two of the following: source terminal device information, relay terminal device information corresponding to each relay terminal device, target terminal device information, hop count information indicating the number of hops between the current terminal device and the target terminal device, and a relay service code RSC; The device information corresponding to the source terminal device, the target terminal device, and the relay terminal device includes: terminal device user information identification and layer 2 identification information.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein: The layer 2 identification information corresponding to the source terminal device and the layer 2 identification information corresponding to the target terminal device in the direct communication request are based on the terminal device configuration corresponding to the current connection.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein The obtaining of multi-hop relay information includes: Sending a discovery request message; wherein the discovery request message includes: target terminal device information; Receive a discovery response message from a relay terminal device, and determine the multi-hop relay information based on the discovery response message; wherein the multi-hop relay information includes: relay terminal device information and multi-hop path information.

8. A proximity service communication method, wherein: Applied to a relay terminal device, the method includes: receiving a first direct communication request from a first terminal device, and verifying the first direct communication request; wherein the first terminal device includes: a source terminal device or a relay terminal device; and the first direct communication request includes multi-hop relay information; When the verification of the first direct communication request is completed, a second direct communication request is initiated to a second terminal device; wherein the second terminal device includes: a target terminal device or a relay terminal device.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein The verifying the first direct communication request includes: comparing the relay terminal device information corresponding to the relay terminal device with the relay terminal device information included in the first direct communication request; and / or, The relay service code RSC included in the first direct communication request is compared with the relay service code RSC obtained by the PCF network element.

10. The method according to claim 8, wherein When the first direct communication request is successfully verified, the method further includes: A first response message is sent to the first terminal device to establish a connection between the relay terminal device and the first terminal device.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein: The method further comprises: receiving a security message sent by the first terminal device, and determining a PQI parameter between the first terminal device and the relay terminal device based on the security message; The security message includes at least one of: IP address configuration information and end-to-end PQI parameters.

12. The method according to claim 8, wherein The method further comprises: A second direct communication acceptance message is received from the second terminal device, and a first direct communication acceptance message is sent to the first terminal device.

13. The method according to claim 8 or 9, wherein: The direct communication request includes: any one or more of the source terminal device information, relay terminal device information corresponding to each relay terminal device, target terminal device information, hop count information indicating the number of hops between the current terminal device and the target terminal device, and a relay service code RSC; The device information corresponding to the source terminal device, the target terminal device, and the relay terminal device includes: terminal device user information identification and layer 2 identification information.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein: The layer 2 identification information corresponding to the source terminal device and the target terminal device in the direct communication request is based on the terminal device configuration corresponding to the current connection.

15. The method according to claim 8, wherein The multi-hop relay information includes: relay terminal equipment information and multi-hop path information.

16. A proximity service communication method, wherein: Applied to a relay terminal device, the method includes: receiving a second direct communication acceptance message from a second terminal device, and establishing a connection between the relay terminal device and the second terminal device; wherein the second terminal device includes: a target terminal device or a relay terminal device; Sending a first direct communication acceptance message to the first terminal device; wherein the first terminal device includes: a source terminal device or a relay terminal device; The first and second direct communication acceptance messages include: multi-hop relay information.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein: The first and second direct communication acceptance messages further include: source terminal device information, target terminal device information, and hop count information indicating the number of hops between the current terminal device and the target terminal device; The device information corresponding to the source terminal device, the target terminal device, and the relay terminal device includes: terminal device user information identification and layer 2 identification information.

18. The method according to claim 16 or 17, wherein The multi-hop relay information includes: relay terminal equipment information and multi-hop path information.

19. The method according to claim 17, wherein The layer 2 identification information corresponding to the source terminal device and the target terminal device is based on the terminal device configuration corresponding to the current connection.

20. The method according to claim 16, wherein Before receiving the second direct communication acceptance message from the second terminal device, the method further includes: receiving a first direct communication request from a first terminal device; A second direct communication request is generated based on the relay terminal device information, and the second direct communication request is sent to the second terminal device; wherein the second direct communication request includes the relay terminal device information.

21. The method according to claim 20, wherein The first direct communication request includes: source terminal device information, target terminal device information, and relay service code RSC; or, the first direct communication request includes: source terminal device information, target terminal device information, relay service code RSC, and at least one relay terminal device information; The second direct communication request includes: source terminal device information, target terminal device information, relay service code RSC, and at least one relay terminal device information; The device information corresponding to the source terminal device, the target terminal device, and the relay terminal device includes: terminal device user information identification and layer 2 identification information.

22. The method according to claim 20, wherein The first direct communication request and / or the second direct communication request further includes: relay terminal device performance parameters.

23. The method according to claim 22, wherein The method further comprises: Determining a target relay terminal device according to the relay terminal device performance parameters corresponding to each relay terminal device; The relay terminal device information corresponding to the target relay terminal device is written into a direct communication request, and the direct communication request is sent.

24. The method according to claim 22 or 23, wherein The relay terminal device performance parameter includes at least one of a signal strength parameter between the relay terminal device and the source terminal device and a load parameter of the relay terminal device.

25. The method according to claim 20, wherein The first direct communication request and / or the second direct communication request further includes: relay multi-hop threshold information.

26. A proximity service communication method, wherein: Applied to a target terminal device, the method includes: Establishing multi-hop relay information according to the received direct communication request corresponding to at least one relay terminal device; Based on the multi-hop relay information, a direct communication acceptance message is initiated in each of the relay terminal devices in turn.

27. The method according to claim 26, wherein The direct communication request includes: relay terminal equipment performance parameters.

28. The method according to claim 27, wherein The establishing of multi-hop relay information according to the received direct communication request corresponding to at least one relay terminal device includes: sorting the relay terminal devices according to the performance parameters of the relay terminal devices; A target relay terminal device is selected based on the ranking result, and the multi-hop relay information is generated.

29. The method according to claim 27, wherein The direct communication request includes: a target relay terminal device configured by the relay terminal device; The method further comprises: Multi-hop relay information is established based on the target relay terminal device.

30. The method according to claim 27 or 28, wherein The performance parameter of the relay terminal device includes at least one of a signal strength parameter between the relay terminal device and the source terminal device and a load parameter of the relay terminal device.

31. The method of claim 26, wherein: The multi-hop relay information includes: relay terminal equipment information and multi-hop path information.

32. The method according to claim 26 or 28, wherein The direct communication request further includes: relay multi-hop threshold information; The method further comprises: Select a target relay terminal device that meets the relay multi-hop threshold information quantity, and generate the multi-hop relay information.

33. A proximity service communication device, wherein: Applied to a source terminal device, the apparatus comprises: A multi-hop relay information acquisition module, used to obtain multi-hop relay information; The request initiating module is used to initiate a direct communication request in each relay terminal device in turn based on the multi-hop relay information.

34. A proximity service communication device, wherein: Applied to a relay terminal device, the apparatus comprises: a request verification module, configured to receive a first direct communication request from a first terminal device and verify the first direct communication request; wherein the first terminal device includes: a source terminal device or a relay terminal device; and the first direct communication request includes multi-hop relay information; The request processing module is configured to initiate a second direct communication request to a second terminal device when verification of the first direct communication request is completed; wherein the second terminal device includes: a target terminal device or a relay terminal device.

35. A proximity service communication device, wherein: Applied to a relay terminal device, the apparatus comprises: a request message receiving module, configured to receive a second direct communication acceptance message from the second terminal device, and establish a connection between the relay terminal device and the second terminal device; wherein the second terminal device includes: a target terminal device or a relay terminal device; A request message sending module, configured to send a first direct communication acceptance message to the first terminal device; wherein the first terminal device includes: a source terminal device or a relay terminal device; The first and second direct communication acceptance messages include: multi-hop relay information.

36. A proximity service communication device, wherein: Applied to a target terminal device, the apparatus comprises: A multi-hop relay information building module, configured to build multi-hop relay information according to a received direct communication request corresponding to at least one relay terminal device; The request processing module is used to initiate a direct communication acceptance message in each relay terminal device in turn based on the multi-hop relay information.

37. A communication device, wherein: Including memory, transceiver, processor: memory for storing computer programs; a transceiver, configured to transmit and receive data under the control of the processor; The processor is configured to read the computer program in the memory and perform the following operations: obtaining multi-hop relay information; and initiating a direct communication request in each relay terminal device in sequence based on the multi-hop relay information.

38. The communication device according to claim 37, wherein: The initiating a direct communication request in each relay terminal device in sequence based on the multi-hop relay information includes: sending a first direct communication request to a first relay terminal device based on the multi-hop relay information.

39. The communication device according to claim 37 or 38, wherein: The direct communication request includes: any one or a combination of any two of the following: source terminal device information, relay terminal device information corresponding to each relay terminal device, target terminal device information, hop count information indicating the number of hops between the current terminal device and the target terminal device, and a relay service code RSC; The device information corresponding to the source terminal device, the target terminal device, and the relay terminal device includes: terminal device user information identification and layer 2 identification information.

40. The communication device according to claim 39, wherein The layer 2 identification information corresponding to the source terminal device and the layer 2 identification information corresponding to the target terminal device in the direct communication request are based on the terminal device configuration corresponding to the current connection.

41. The communication device according to claim 39, wherein The obtaining of multi-hop relay information includes: sending a discovery request message; wherein the discovery request message includes: target terminal device information; receiving a discovery response message of the relay terminal device, and determining the multi-hop relay information based on the discovery response message; wherein the multi-hop relay information includes: relay terminal device information and multi-hop path information.

42. A communication device, wherein: Including memory, transceiver, processor: memory for storing computer programs; a transceiver, configured to transmit and receive data under the control of the processor; A processor is configured to read the computer program in the memory and perform the following operations: receiving a first direct communication request from a first terminal device, and verifying the first direct communication request; wherein the first terminal device includes: a source terminal device or a relay terminal device; the first direct communication request includes multi-hop relay information; when the verification of the first direct communication request is completed, initiating a second direct communication request to a second terminal device; wherein the second terminal device includes: a target terminal device or a relay terminal device.

43. The communication device according to claim 42, wherein The verification of the first direct communication request includes: comparing the relay terminal device information corresponding to the current relay terminal device with the relay terminal device information contained in the first direct communication request; and / or comparing the relay service code RSC contained in the first direct communication request with the relay service code RSC obtained by the PCF network element.

44. The communication device according to claim 42, wherein The processor reads the computer program in the memory and performs the following operations: when the first direct communication request verification succeeds, sends first response information to the first terminal device, and establishes a connection between the relay terminal device and the first terminal device.

45. The communication device according to claim 42, wherein The processor reads the computer program in the memory and performs the following operations: receiving a security message sent by the first terminal device, and determining the PQI parameters between the first terminal device and the relay terminal device based on the security message; wherein the security message includes: IP address configuration information, at least one of end-to-end PQI parameters.

46. The communication device according to claim 42, wherein The direct communication request includes: source terminal device information, relay terminal device information corresponding to each relay terminal device, target terminal device information, jump count information used to indicate the number of hops between the current terminal device and the target terminal device, and any one or more of the relay service codes RSC; wherein, the device information corresponding to the source terminal device, the target terminal device, and the relay terminal device includes: terminal device user information identification and layer 2 identification information.

47. The communication device according to claim 46, wherein The layer 2 identification information corresponding to the source terminal device and the target terminal device in the direct communication request is based on the terminal device configuration corresponding to the current connection.

48. The communication device according to claim 42, wherein The multi-hop relay information includes: relay terminal equipment information and multi-hop path information.

49. A communication device, wherein: Including memory, transceiver, processor: memory for storing computer programs; a transceiver, configured to transmit and receive data under the control of the processor; The following operations: receiving a second direct communication acceptance message from a second terminal device, establishing a connection between the relay terminal device and the second terminal device; wherein the second terminal device includes: a target terminal device or a relay terminal device; sending a first direct communication acceptance message to the first terminal device; wherein the first terminal device includes: a source terminal device or a relay terminal device; wherein the first and second direct communication acceptance messages include: multi-hop relay information.

50. The communication device according to claim 49, wherein The first and second direct communication acceptance messages also include: source terminal device information, target terminal device information, and jump count information used to indicate the number of hops between the current terminal device and the target terminal device; wherein, the device information corresponding to the source terminal device, the target terminal device, and the relay terminal device includes: terminal device user information identification and layer 2 identification information.

51. The communication device according to claim 49 or 50, wherein: The multi-hop relay information includes: relay terminal equipment information and multi-hop path information.

52. The communication device according to claim 49, wherein The layer 2 identification information corresponding to the source terminal device and the target terminal device is based on the terminal device configuration corresponding to the current connection.

53. The communication device according to claim 49, wherein The processor reads the computer program in the memory and performs the following operations: before receiving the second direct communication acceptance message from the second terminal device, receiving a first direct communication request from the first terminal device; A second direct communication request is generated based on the relay terminal device information, and the second direct communication request is sent to the second terminal device; wherein the second direct communication request includes the relay terminal device information.

54. The communication device according to claim 53, wherein The first direct communication request includes: source terminal device information, target terminal device information, relay service code RSC; or, the first direct communication request includes: source terminal device information, target terminal device information, relay service code RSC, and at least one relay terminal device information; the second direct communication request includes: source terminal device information, target terminal device information, relay service code RSC, and at least one relay terminal device information; wherein, the device information corresponding to the source terminal device, target terminal device, and relay terminal device includes: terminal device user information identifier and layer 2 identifier information.

55. The communication device according to claim 54, wherein The first direct communication request and / or the second direct communication request further includes: relay terminal device performance parameters.

56. The communication device according to claim 55, wherein The processor reads the computer program in the memory and performs the following operations: determining a target relay terminal device according to the relay terminal device performance parameters corresponding to each relay terminal device; writing the relay terminal device information corresponding to the target relay terminal device into a direct communication request, and sending the direct communication request.

57. The communication device according to claim 56, wherein The relay terminal device performance parameter includes at least one of a signal strength parameter between the relay terminal device and the source terminal device and a load parameter of the relay terminal device.

58. The communication device according to claim 49, wherein The first direct communication request and / or the second direct communication request further includes: relay multi-hop threshold information.

59. A communication device, wherein: Including memory, transceiver, processor: memory for storing computer programs; a transceiver, configured to transmit and receive data under the control of the processor; The processor is configured to read the computer program in the memory and perform the following operations: establishing multi-hop relay information according to a direct communication request corresponding to at least one relay terminal device received; and initiating a direct communication acceptance message in each relay terminal device in turn based on the multi-hop relay information.

60. The communication device according to claim 59, wherein The direct communication request includes: relay terminal equipment performance parameters.

61. The communication device according to claim 60, wherein The multi-hop relay information is established based on the direct communication request corresponding to at least one received relay terminal device, including: sorting each of the relay terminal devices according to the performance parameters of the relay terminal devices; selecting the target relay terminal device based on the sorting result, and generating the multi-hop relay information.

62. The communication device according to claim 60, wherein The direct communication request includes: a target relay terminal device configured by the relay terminal device; The processor reads the computer program in the memory and performs the following operations: establishing multi-hop relay information based on the target relay terminal device.

63. The communication device according to claim 60 or 61, wherein: The performance parameter of the relay terminal device includes at least one of a signal strength parameter between the relay terminal device and the source terminal device and a load parameter of the relay terminal device.

64. The communication device according to claim 59, wherein The multi-hop relay information includes: relay terminal equipment information and multi-hop path information.

65. The communication device according to claim 59 or 61, wherein: The direct communication request further includes: relay multi-hop threshold information; The processor reads the computer program in the memory and performs the following operations: selecting a target relay terminal device that meets the relay multi-hop threshold information quantity, and generating the multi-hop relay information.

66. A processor-readable storage medium, wherein: The processor-readable storage medium stores a program for causing the processor to execute the steps of the method of any one of claims 1 to 7, 8 to 15, 16 to 25, or 26 to 32.

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