Relay connection establishment method and apparatus

Abstract

Provided in the embodiments of the present application are a relay connection establishment method and apparatus. The method comprises: receiving first information, wherein the first information comprises a discovery response message sent by each of a plurality of relay terminals, the discovery response message is a response message for a first discovery message, the discovery response message comprises first indication information and first discovery information, the first indication information is used for indicating a relay terminal through which the first discovery information passes, the first discovery information comprises a terminal identifier and a relay service code, and the first discovery message is used by a first terminal to discover a second terminal; on the basis of the first information, determining a first relay terminal, wherein the first relay terminal is one of the plurality of relay terminals; and sending a connection message to the first relay terminal, wherein the connection message comprises the terminal identifier and second indication information, and the second indication information is the first indication information in the discovery response message sent by the first relay terminal. The present application improves the quality of relay communication.

Description

Relay connection establishment method and device

[0001] This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the China Patent Office on February 15, 2024, with application number 202410180844.2 and application name “Method and Device for Establishing Relay Connection”, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference into this application. Technical Field

[0002] The present application relates to communication technology, and in particular to a method and device for establishing a relay connection. Background Art

[0003] With the development of communication technology, in proximity services, direct communication between user equipment (UE) is allowed, which enables UE to communicate or access the network through other UEs when there is no wireless network coverage. Among them, UEs are connected through the Near Field Communication 5 (Proximity Communications 5, PC5) interface, and PC5 direct communication can be carried out after completing mutual discovery between UEs. However, when two end UEs (End UEs) that need to perform terminal-to-terminal (UE-to-UE, U2U) PC5 communication cannot establish a direct PC5 connection, one or more intermediate UEs can be used as relays to forward communication signals or data for the two UEs, so that the two UEs indirectly establish a PC5 connection. When a remote UE (Remote UE) that needs to perform terminal-to-network (UE-to-Network, U2N) cannot establish a direct air interface (Uu interface) connection, one or more intermediate UEs can be used as relays to forward communication signals or data for the Remote UE, so that the UE indirectly accesses the network.

[0004] In the prior art, the first relay terminal is selected mainly based on the signal quality or the TTL value of the discovery signal or the discovery response signal, and the relay connection is further established in combination with the layer 2 address association relationship of the relay address.

[0005] However, in the prior art, in the process of selecting the first relay terminal by signal quality or lifetime value TTL, it is impossible to accurately select the relay terminal on the connection path with the communication target, and the overhead of avoiding loops by lifetime value is large, which further reduces the quality of relay communication. Summary of the Invention

[0006] The present application provides a method and apparatus for establishing a relay connection to solve the problem of poor quality of relay communication.

[0007] In the first aspect, the present application provides a method for establishing a relay connection, comprising: receiving first information; wherein the first information includes a discovery response message sent by each relay terminal among multiple relay terminals; the discovery response message is a response message of the first discovery message; the discovery response message includes first indication information and first discovery information; the first indication information is used to indicate the relay terminal through which the first discovery information passes; the first discovery information includes: a terminal identifier and a relay service code; the first discovery message is used by the first terminal to discover the second terminal; based on the first information, determining the first relay terminal, the first relay terminal is one of the multiple relay terminals; sending a connection message to the first relay terminal; the connection message includes: a terminal identifier and second indication information; the second indication information is the first indication information in the discovery response message sent by the first relay terminal.

[0008] The present application determines the first relay terminal by receiving first information including a discovery response message sent by each relay terminal in a plurality of relay terminals, and further sends a connection message to the first terminal to establish a relay connection between the first terminal and the second terminal. The discovery response message in the first information includes an indication of the relay terminals through which the first discovery information passes. Therefore, in the process of determining the first relay terminal based on the first information, the discovery response message with the smallest number of relay terminals passed by the first discovery information indicated by the first indication information can be selected, and the relay terminal that sends the discovery response message can be determined as the first relay terminal, so as to achieve the effect of improving the efficiency of the relay connection and further save the wireless resources of the relay communication.

[0009] In a possible implementation manner, determining the first relay terminal according to the first information includes: determining the first relay terminal according to first indication information in the first information.

[0010] In one possible implementation, the discovery response message also includes a lifetime value; and / or, the first information also includes the signal quality of the discovery response message; the lifetime value is the numerical value of the lifetime when the first discovery message corresponding to the discovery response message is responded to.

[0011] In one possible implementation, determining the first relay terminal based on the first information includes: determining the first relay terminal based on the lifetime value in the first information, the signal quality of the discovery response message, one or more of the preset third indication information, and the first indication information; the preset third indication information is used to indicate the relay terminal that the first terminal expects to select.

[0012] In one possible implementation, the method further includes: broadcasting the first discovery message; the first discovery message includes: first discovery information, first hop information, and first indication information; wherein the first hop information is used to limit the maximum number of hops for transmitting the first discovery information; and the first indication information is used to indicate the relay terminal through which the first discovery information passes.

[0013] In a possible implementation manner, the method further includes: receiving a connection response message sent by the first relay terminal; wherein the connection response message is a response message to the connection message.

[0014] In a possible implementation manner, the terminal identifier includes: a first terminal identifier and a second terminal identifier, or the terminal identifier includes: a first terminal identifier.

[0015] In the second aspect, the present application provides a method for establishing a relay connection, including: receiving second information; wherein the second information includes a second discovery message broadcast by each relay terminal among multiple relay terminals; the second discovery message is used by the first terminal to discover the second terminal; the second discovery message comes from the relay terminal, and the second discovery message includes: fourth indication information and second discovery information; the fourth indication information is used to indicate the relay terminal through which the second discovery information passes; the second discovery information includes: terminal identification and relay service code; the second discovery information comes from the second terminal; based on the second information, determine the first relay terminal, the first relay terminal is one of the multiple relay terminals; send a connection message to the first relay terminal; the connection message includes: terminal identification and fifth indication information; the fifth indication information is the fourth indication information in the second discovery message sent by the first relay terminal.

[0016] The present application determines the first relay terminal by receiving the second information including the second discovery message sent by each relay terminal in a plurality of relay terminals, and further sends a connection message to the first terminal to establish a relay connection between the first terminal and the second terminal. The second discovery message in the second information includes an indication of the relay terminals through which the second discovery information passes. Therefore, in the process of determining the first relay terminal based on the second information, the second discovery message with the smallest number of relay terminals passed by the second discovery information indicated by the fourth indication information can be selected, and the relay terminal that sends the second discovery message can be determined as the first relay terminal, so as to achieve the effect of improving the efficiency of the relay connection and further save the wireless resources of the relay communication.

[0017] In a possible implementation manner, determining the first relay terminal according to the second information includes: determining the first relay terminal according to fourth indication information in the second information.

[0018] In a possible implementation, the second discovery message further includes second hop count information; and / or the second information further includes signal quality of the second discovery message; and the second hop count information is used to limit a maximum hop count for transmitting the second discovery information.

[0019] In one possible implementation, determining the first relay terminal based on the second information includes: determining the first relay terminal based on the second hop count information in the second information, the signal quality of the second discovery message, one or more of the preset third indication information, and the fourth indication information; the preset third indication information is used to indicate the relay terminal that the first terminal expects to select.

[0020] In a possible implementation manner, the method further includes: receiving a connection response message sent by the first relay terminal; wherein the connection response message is a response message to the connection message.

[0021] In a possible implementation manner, the terminal identifier includes: a first terminal identifier and a second terminal identifier, or the terminal identifier includes: a first terminal identifier.

[0022] In the third aspect, the present application provides a method for establishing a relay connection, including: receiving a connection message sent by a first terminal or other relay terminal; the connection message includes: a terminal identifier and second indication information; the second indication information is the first indication information in a discovery response message sent by the first relay terminal; the first relay terminal is a relay terminal determined according to the first information, and the first information is information received by the first terminal including a discovery response message sent by each of multiple relay terminals; according to the second indication information, determining the other relay terminals or second terminals to which the connection message will be sent, and sending the connection message to them.

[0023] The present application receives a connection message sent by a first terminal or other relay terminal, and determines, based on the second indication information, the other relay terminal or second terminal to which the connection message will be sent, and sends a connection message to it, wherein the first discovery message to be sent is determined based on the number of relay terminals indicated by the first indication information, thereby saving wireless resources for relay connection establishment and relay communication.

[0024] In one possible implementation, based on the second indication information, determining the other relays or second terminals to which the connection message will be sent, and sending the connection message thereto, includes: based on the second indication information, if it is determined that the connection message will be sent to other relay terminals, unicasting the connection message thereto; based on the second indication information, if it is determined that the connection message will be sent to the second terminal, sending the connection message to it according to the type of the second terminal device; wherein the types of the second terminal devices include: relay devices and terminal devices.

[0025] In a possible implementation, sending a connection message to the second terminal device according to its type includes: if the second terminal device is a relay device, unicasting the connection message to it; if the second terminal device is a terminal device, broadcasting the connection message.

[0026] In a possible implementation, the method also includes: receiving a discovery response message sent by a second terminal or other relay terminal; the discovery response message is a response message to the first discovery message; the discovery response message includes first indication information and first discovery information; the first indication information is used to indicate the relay terminal through which the first discovery information passes; the first discovery information includes: terminal identification and relay service code; the first discovery message is used by the first terminal to discover the second terminal; and according to the layer 2 address association relationship, the discovery response message is sent to the corresponding other relay terminals or the first terminal.

[0027] In one possible implementation, the method also includes: receiving third information; wherein the third information includes a first discovery message broadcast by the first terminal or other relay terminal; the first discovery message includes: first discovery information, first hop information, and first indication information; wherein the first hop information is used to limit the maximum number of hops for transmitting the first discovery information; the first indication information is used to indicate the relay terminal through which the first discovery information passes; and based on the third information, determining and broadcasting the first discovery message to be sent.

[0028] In one possible implementation, the third information also includes the signal quality of the first discovery message; based on the third information, determining and broadcasting the first discovery message to be sent, including: determining and broadcasting the first discovery message to be sent based on one or more of the first hop number information, the signal quality of the first discovery message, and the first indication information.

[0029] In one possible implementation, the method further includes: receiving a connection response message sent by a second terminal or other relay terminal; wherein the connection response message is a response message to the connection message; the connection response message includes: a terminal identifier and an identifier of the relay terminal that sends the connection response message; and sending the connection response message to the first terminal or other relay terminal based on the terminal identifier included in the connection response message and the identifier of the relay terminal that receives the connection response message.

[0030] In a possible implementation manner, the terminal identifier includes: a first terminal identifier and a second terminal identifier, or the terminal identifier includes: a first terminal identifier.

[0031] In fourth aspect, the present application provides a method for establishing a relay connection, including: receiving a connection message sent by a first terminal or other relay terminal; the connection message includes: a terminal identifier and fifth indication information; the fifth indication information is the fourth indication information in the second discovery message sent by the first relay terminal; based on the fifth indication information, determining the other relays or second terminals to which the connection message will be sent, and sending the connection message to them.

[0032] The present application receives a connection message sent by a first terminal or other relay terminal, and determines, based on the fifth indication information, the other relay or second terminal to which the connection message will be sent, and sends a connection message to it, wherein the relay terminal or second terminal to be sent is determined based on the fifth indication information in the connection message, thereby improving the accuracy of the relay connection, saving the signaling overhead in the connection establishment process, and further improving the quality of the relay communication.

[0033] In one possible implementation, based on the fifth indication information, determining the other relays or second terminals to which the connection message will be sent, and sending the connection message thereto, includes: based on the fifth indication information, if it is determined that the connection message will be sent to other relay terminals, unicasting the connection message thereto; based on the fifth indication information, if it is determined that the connection message will be sent to the second terminal, sending the connection message to it according to the type of the second terminal device; wherein the types of the second terminal device include: relay devices and terminal devices.

[0034] In one possible implementation, sending a connection message to the second terminal device according to its type includes: if the second terminal device is a relay device, unicasting the connection message to it; if the second terminal device is a relay device, broadcasting the connection message.

[0035] In one possible implementation, the method also includes: generating and broadcasting a second discovery message; the second discovery message is used by the first terminal to discover the second terminal; the second discovery message includes: fourth indication information and second discovery information; the fourth indication information is used to indicate the relay terminal through which the second discovery information passes; the second discovery information includes: terminal identification and relay service code; the second discovery information comes from the second terminal.

[0036] In one possible implementation, the method further includes: receiving fourth information; wherein the fourth information includes a second discovery message broadcast by each of a plurality of other relay terminals; and determining and broadcasting the second discovery message to be sent based on the fourth information.

[0037] In a possible implementation manner, determining and broadcasting the second discovery message to be sent according to the fourth information includes: determining and broadcasting the second discovery message to be sent according to the fourth indication information.

[0038] In one possible implementation, the second discovery message also includes second hop count information; and / or the fourth information also includes the signal quality of the second discovery message; the second hop count information is used to limit the maximum hop count for transmitting the second discovery information; based on the fourth information, determining and broadcasting the second discovery message to be sent, including: based on one or more of the second hop count information and the signal quality of the second discovery message in the fourth information, and fourth indication information, determining and broadcasting the second discovery message to be sent.

[0039] In one possible implementation, the method further includes: receiving a connection response message sent by a second terminal or other relay terminal; wherein the connection response message is a response message to the connection message; the connection response message includes: a terminal identifier and an identifier of the relay terminal that sends the connection response message; and sending the connection response message to the first terminal or other relay terminal based on the terminal identifier included in the connection response message and the identifier of the relay terminal that sends the connection response message.

[0040] In a possible implementation manner, the terminal identifier includes: a first terminal identifier and a second terminal identifier, or the terminal identifier includes: a first terminal identifier.

[0041] In a fifth aspect, the present application provides a method for establishing a relay connection, comprising: receiving a connection message sent by a relay terminal; the connection message comprises: a terminal identifier and second indication information; the second indication information is the first indication information in a discovery response message sent by a first relay terminal; the first relay terminal is a relay terminal determined according to the first information, and the first information is information received by the first terminal including discovery response messages sent by each of a plurality of relay terminals; based on the terminal identifier and the second indication information included in the connection message, a connection response message corresponding to the connection message is generated, and the relay terminal corresponding to the connection response message is determined; and the connection response message is sent to the relay terminal corresponding to the connection response message.

[0042] The present application receives a connection message sent by a relay terminal, generates a connection response message corresponding to the connection message according to the terminal identifier and second indication information included in the connection message, and determines the relay terminal corresponding to the connection response message; sends the connection response message to the relay terminal corresponding to the connection response message, wherein the terminal to be sent to is determined according to the second indication information in the connection message, thereby improving the accuracy of the relay connection, saving the signaling overhead of the connection establishment process, and further improving the quality of the relay communication.

[0043] In a possible implementation, the connection response message includes a terminal identifier, an identifier of the second terminal or the relay terminal that sends the connection response message, and an identifier of the relay terminal or the first terminal that receives the connection response message.

[0044] In a possible implementation, the method also includes: receiving fifth information; wherein the fifth information includes a first discovery message broadcast by each of a plurality of relay terminals, and the first discovery message includes: first discovery information, first hop information, and first indication information; wherein the first hop information is used to limit the maximum number of hops for transmitting the first discovery information; the first indication information is used to indicate the relay terminal through which the first discovery information passes; based on the fifth information, determining the first discovery message to be responded to; generating a discovery response message for the first discovery message to be responded to; the discovery response message includes the first indication information and the first discovery information; the first indication information is used to indicate the relay terminal through which the first discovery information passes; the first discovery information includes: a terminal identifier and a relay service code; and sending the discovery response message to the corresponding relay terminal based on the layer 2 address association relationship.

[0045] In a possible implementation manner, determining the first discovery message to be responded to according to the fifth information includes: determining the first discovery message to be responded to according to the first hop count information and / or the first indication information.

[0046] In a possible implementation manner, the fifth information further includes signal quality of the first discovery message.

[0047] In one possible implementation, the first discovery message to be responded to is determined based on the fifth information, including: determining the first discovery message to be responded to based on the first hop count information, the signal quality of the first discovery message, one or more of the preset sixth indication information, and the first indication information; the preset sixth indication information is used to indicate the relay terminal that the second terminal expects to select.

[0048] In a possible implementation manner, the terminal identifier includes: a first terminal identifier and a second terminal identifier, or the terminal identifier includes: a first terminal identifier.

[0049] In a sixth aspect, the present application provides a method for establishing a relay connection, comprising: receiving a connection message sent by a relay terminal; the connection message comprises: a terminal identifier and fifth indication information; the fifth indication information is the fourth indication information in the second discovery message sent by the first relay terminal; the first relay terminal is a relay terminal determined according to the second information, and the second information is information received by the first terminal including the second discovery message sent by each of multiple relay terminals; based on the terminal identifier and the fifth indication information included in the connection message, a connection response message corresponding to the connection message is generated, and the relay terminal corresponding to the connection response message is determined; and the connection response message is sent to the relay terminal corresponding to the connection response message.

[0050] The present application receives a connection message sent by a relay terminal, and generates a connection response message corresponding to the connection message according to the terminal identifier and fifth indication information included in the connection message, and determines the relay terminal corresponding to the connection response message; sends the connection response message to the relay terminal corresponding to the connection response message, wherein the terminal to be sent to is determined according to the fifth indication information in the connection message, thereby improving the accuracy of the relay connection, saving the signaling overhead in the connection establishment process, and further improving the quality of the relay communication.

[0051] In a possible implementation, the connection response message includes: a terminal identifier, an identifier of the second terminal or the relay terminal that sends the connection response message, and an identifier of the relay terminal or the first terminal that receives the connection response message.

[0052] In a possible implementation manner, the terminal identifier includes: a first terminal identifier and a second terminal identifier, or the terminal identifier includes: a first terminal identifier.

[0053] In a seventh aspect, the present application provides a relay connection establishment device, comprising: a transceiver unit and a processing unit;

[0054] The transceiver unit is configured to receive first information; wherein the first information includes a discovery response message sent by each relay terminal of a plurality of relay terminals; the discovery response message is a response message to the first discovery message; the discovery response message includes first indication information and first discovery information; the first indication information is used to indicate the relay terminal through which the first discovery information passes; the first discovery information includes: a terminal identifier and a relay service code; the first discovery message is used by the first terminal to discover the second terminal;

[0055] The processing unit is used to determine a first relay terminal based on the first information, where the first relay terminal is one of the multiple relay terminals; send a connection message to the first relay terminal; the connection message includes: a terminal identifier and second indication information; the second indication information is the first indication information in a discovery response message sent by the first relay terminal.

[0056] The present application determines the first relay terminal by receiving first information including a discovery response message sent by each relay terminal in a plurality of relay terminals, and further sends a connection message to the first terminal to establish a relay connection between the first terminal and the second terminal. The discovery response message in the first information includes an indication of the relay terminals through which the first discovery information passes. Therefore, in the process of determining the first relay terminal based on the first information, the discovery response message with the smallest number of relay terminals passed by the first discovery information indicated by the first indication information can be selected, and the relay terminal that sends the discovery response message can be determined as the first relay terminal, so as to achieve the effect of improving the efficiency of the relay connection and further save the wireless resources of the relay communication.

[0057] In an eighth aspect, the present application provides a relay connection establishment device, comprising: a transceiver unit and a processing unit;

[0058] The transceiver unit is configured to receive second information; wherein the second information includes a second discovery message broadcast by each relay terminal of a plurality of relay terminals; the second discovery message is used by the first terminal to discover the second terminal; the second discovery message comes from the relay terminal, and the second discovery message includes: fourth indication information and second discovery information; the fourth indication information is used to indicate the relay terminal through which the second discovery information passes; the second discovery information includes: a terminal identifier and a relay service code; the second discovery information comes from the second terminal;

[0059] The processing unit is used to determine a first relay terminal based on the second information, where the first relay terminal is one of the multiple relay terminals; send a connection message to the first relay terminal; the connection message includes: a terminal identifier and fifth indication information; the fifth indication information is the fourth indication information in the second discovery message sent by the first relay terminal.

[0060] The present application determines the first relay terminal by receiving the second information including the second discovery message sent by each relay terminal in a plurality of relay terminals, and further sends a connection message to the first terminal to establish a relay connection between the first terminal and the second terminal. The second discovery message in the second information includes an indication of the relay terminals through which the second discovery information passes. Therefore, in the process of determining the first relay terminal based on the second information, the second discovery message with the smallest number of relay terminals passed by the second discovery information indicated by the fourth indication information can be selected, and the relay terminal that sends the second discovery message can be determined as the first relay terminal, so as to achieve the effect of improving the efficiency of the relay connection and further save the wireless resources of the relay communication.

[0061] In a ninth aspect, the present application provides a relay connection establishment method, comprising: a transceiver unit and a processing unit;

[0062] The transceiver unit is used to receive a connection message sent by a first terminal or other relay terminal; the connection message includes: a terminal identifier and a second indication information; the second indication information is the first indication information in the discovery response message sent by the first relay terminal; the first relay terminal is a relay terminal determined according to the first information, and the first information is information received by the first terminal including a discovery response message sent by each relay terminal in a plurality of relay terminals;

[0063] The processing unit is configured to determine, according to the second indication information, another relay terminal or a second terminal to which the connection message will be sent, and send the connection message thereto.

[0064] The present application receives a connection message sent by a first terminal or other relay terminal, and determines, based on the second indication information, the other relay terminal or second terminal to which the connection message will be sent, and sends a connection message to it, wherein the first discovery message to be sent is determined based on the number of relay terminals indicated by the first indication information, thereby saving wireless resources for relay connection establishment and relay communication.

[0065] In a tenth aspect, the present application provides a relay connection establishment method, comprising: a transceiver unit and a processing unit;

[0066] The transceiver unit is configured to receive a connection message sent by the first terminal or other relay terminal; the connection message includes: a terminal identifier and fifth indication information; the fifth indication information is the fourth indication information in the second discovery message sent by the first relay terminal;

[0067] The processing unit is configured to determine, according to the fifth indication information, another relay or second terminal to which the connection message will be sent, and send the connection message thereto.

[0068] The present application receives a connection message sent by a first terminal or other relay terminal, and determines, based on the fifth indication information, the other relay or second terminal to which the connection message will be sent, and sends a connection message to it, wherein the relay terminal or second terminal to be sent is determined based on the fifth indication information in the connection message, thereby improving the accuracy of the relay connection, saving the signaling overhead in the connection establishment process, and further improving the quality of the relay communication.

[0069] In an eleventh aspect, the present application provides a relay connection establishment method, comprising: a transceiver unit and a processing unit;

[0070] The transceiver unit is configured to receive a connection message sent by a relay terminal; the connection message includes: a terminal identifier and second indication information; the second indication information is the first indication information in a discovery response message sent by a first relay terminal; the first relay terminal is a relay terminal determined according to the first information, and the first information is information received by the first terminal including a discovery response message sent by each of a plurality of relay terminals;

[0071] The processing unit is configured to generate a connection response message corresponding to the connection message according to the terminal identifier and the second indication information included in the connection message, determine the relay terminal corresponding to the connection response message, and send the connection response message to the relay terminal corresponding to the connection response message.

[0072] The present application receives a connection message sent by a relay terminal, generates a connection response message corresponding to the connection message according to the terminal identifier and second indication information included in the connection message, and determines the relay terminal corresponding to the connection response message; sends the connection response message to the relay terminal corresponding to the connection response message, wherein the terminal to be sent to is determined according to the second indication information in the connection message, thereby improving the accuracy of the relay connection, saving the signaling overhead of the connection establishment process, and further improving the quality of the relay communication.

[0073] In a twelfth aspect, the present application provides a relay connection establishment method, comprising: a transceiver unit and a processing unit;

[0074] The transceiver unit is configured to receive a connection message sent by a relay terminal; the connection message includes: a terminal identifier and fifth indication information; the fifth indication information is the fourth indication information in the second discovery message sent by the first relay terminal; the first relay terminal is a relay terminal determined according to the second information, and the second information is information received by the first terminal including the second discovery message sent by each relay terminal in the plurality of relay terminals;

[0075] The processing unit is configured to generate a connection response message corresponding to the connection message according to the terminal identifier and the fifth indication information included in the connection message, determine the relay terminal corresponding to the connection response message, and send the connection response message to the relay terminal corresponding to the connection response message.

[0076] The present application receives a connection message sent by a relay terminal, and generates a connection response message corresponding to the connection message according to the terminal identifier and fifth indication information included in the connection message, and determines the relay terminal corresponding to the connection response message; sends the connection response message to the relay terminal corresponding to the connection response message, wherein the terminal to be sent to is determined according to the fifth indication information in the connection message, thereby improving the accuracy of the relay connection, saving the signaling overhead in the connection establishment process, and further improving the quality of the relay communication.

[0077] In a thirteenth aspect, the present application provides a relay connection establishment device, comprising: a processor, a memory, and a communication interface;

[0078] In which, the memory is used to store computer-executable program code, and the program code includes instructions; when the processor executes the instructions, the instructions cause the terminal device to execute the method as described in the first aspect above, or execute the method as described in the second aspect above, or execute the method as described in the third aspect above, or execute the method as described in the fourth aspect above, or execute the method as described in the fifth aspect above, or execute the method as described in the sixth aspect above.

[0079] In the fourteenth aspect, a computer storage medium is provided, in which a program code is stored, and the program code is used to indicate instructions for executing the method in the above-mentioned first aspect, second aspect, third aspect, fourth aspect, fifth aspect, sixth aspect or any possible implementation thereof.

[0080] In the fifteenth aspect, a processor is provided for coupling with a memory, for executing the method in the above-mentioned first aspect, second aspect, third aspect, fourth aspect, fifth aspect, sixth aspect or any possible implementation thereof.

[0081] In the sixteenth aspect, a computer program product comprising instructions is provided, which, when executed on a computer, enables the computer to execute the method in the above-mentioned first aspect, second aspect, third aspect, fourth aspect, fifth aspect, sixth aspect or any possible implementation thereof.

[0082] In the seventeenth aspect, a computer storage medium is provided, in which a program code is stored, and the program code is used to indicate instructions for executing the method in the above-mentioned first aspect, second aspect, third aspect, fourth aspect, fifth aspect, sixth aspect or any possible implementation thereof. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0083] FIG1 is a schematic diagram of an application scenario provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0084] FIG2 is a schematic diagram of another application scenario provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0085] FIG3 is a flow chart of a method for establishing a relay connection provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0086] FIG4 is a signaling diagram of a relay connection establishment method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0087] FIG5 is a signaling diagram of another relay connection establishment method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0088] FIG6 is a signaling diagram of another relay connection establishment method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0089] FIG7 is a signaling diagram of another relay connection establishment method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0090] FIG8 is a flowchart of another method for establishing a relay connection provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0091] FIG9 is a flowchart of another method for establishing a relay connection provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0092] FIG10 is a flowchart of another method for establishing a relay connection provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0093] FIG11 is a flowchart of another method for establishing a relay connection provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0094] FIG12 shows a schematic block diagram of a relay connection establishment apparatus 1200 on a first terminal side according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0095] FIG13 shows a schematic block diagram of a relay connection establishment apparatus 1300 on a relay terminal side according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0096] FIG14 shows a schematic block diagram of a relay connection establishment apparatus 1400 on a second terminal side according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0097] FIG15 shows a schematic block diagram of a relay connection establishment device 1500 on a first terminal side according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0098] FIG16 shows a schematic block diagram of a relay connection establishment device 1600 on a relay terminal side according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0099] FIG17 shows a schematic block diagram of a relay connection establishing device 1700 on a second terminal side according to an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0100] The technical solution provided in this application will be described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[0101] To facilitate understanding of the embodiments of the present application, the following points are first explained:

[0102] First, in this application, indications include explicit indications (also called direct indications) and implicit indications (also called indirect indications). Specifically, explicit indication information A refers to including information A; implicit indication information A refers to indicating information A through the correspondence between information A and information B and directly indicating information B. The correspondence between information A and information B can be predefined, pre-stored, pre-burned, or pre-configured; or, it can also refer to indicating information A through information B and preset rules.

[0103] Second, in this application, information C is used to determine information D, which includes both information D being determined solely based on information C and information D being determined based on information C and other information. Furthermore, information C can also be used to determine information D indirectly, for example, when information D is determined based on information E, and information E is determined based on information C.

[0104] Third, in this application, "at least one" means one or more, and "more" means two or more. "And / or" describes the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that three relationships may exist. For example, A and / or B can mean: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. The character " / " generally indicates that the previous and next associated objects are in an "or" relationship, but it does not exclude the situation where the previous and next associated objects are in an "and" relationship. The specific meaning can be understood in conjunction with the context. "At least one of the following items" or similar expressions refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of single items or plural items. For example, at least one of a, b, or c can mean: a, b, c; a and b; a and c; b and c; or a and b and c. Where a, b, c can be single or multiple.

[0105] Fourth, in this application, prefixes such as "first" and "second" are used solely to distinguish between different items belonging to the same category and do not constrain the order, size, or quantity of the items. For example, "first information" and "second information" are simply different pieces of information; there is no temporal, size, or priority relationship between them.

[0106] Fifth, the "sending" and "receiving" in this application indicate the direction of signal transmission. For example, "sending information to a terminal" can be understood as the destination end of the information being the terminal, which can include direct sending through the air interface, and also includes indirect sending through the air interface by other units or modules. "Receiving information from a network device" can be understood as the source end of the information being the network device, which can include direct receiving from the network device through the air interface, and also includes indirect receiving from the network device through the air interface from other units or modules. "Sending" can also be understood as the "output" of the chip interface, and "receiving" can also be understood as the "input" of the chip interface.

[0107] In other words, sending and receiving can be performed between devices, for example, between a terminal and a network device; or it can be performed within a device, for example, sending or receiving between components, modules, chips, software modules or hardware modules within the device through a bus, wiring or interface.

[0108] Sixth, in the embodiments of the present application, "when", "if" and "if" all mean that the device will make corresponding processing under certain objective circumstances, which does not limit the time, nor does it require that the device must perform judgment actions when it is implemented, nor does it mean that there are other limitations.

[0109] Seventh, in this application, words such as "example," "exemplarily," "for example," or "such as" are used to indicate examples, illustrations, or explanations. Any embodiment or design described in this application as "example," "exemplarily," "for example," or "such as" should not be construed as being preferred or advantageous over other embodiments or designs. Rather, the use of words such as "example," "exemplarily," "for example," or "such as" is intended to present the relevant concepts in a concrete manner.

[0110] Eighth, this document describes the method provided by this application using downlink channel measurement as an example, but this should not limit the scenarios to which this solution is applicable. In uplink channel measurement, the network device may also configure a reference signal resource group corresponding to multiple CCs for the terminal, and then receive reference signals on multiple reference signal resources in the reference signal resource group, and perform channel measurement and reporting. Based on the same concept, those skilled in the art can make simple transformations based on the embodiments of this document to obtain the process of uplink channel measurement. For the sake of brevity, this document does not elaborate on this process.

[0111] The technical solutions provided in this application can be applied to various communication systems, such as long term evolution (LTE) system, LTE frequency division duplex (FDD) system, LTE time division duplex (TDD), sidelink (SL) communication system, universal mobile telecommunication system (UMTS), world-wide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) communication system, fifth generation (5G) mobile communication system or new radio access technology (NR). Among them, the 5G mobile communication system may include non-standalone (NSA) and / or standalone (SA). The technical solutions provided in this application can also be applied to future communication systems, such as sixth generation (6G) mobile communication systems. This application is not limited to this.

[0112] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of an application scenario provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 1, when the terminal device performs terminal-to-terminal (UE-to-UE, U2U) communication through a relay connection, the network architecture of the application scenario includes a first terminal, a second terminal and one or more relay terminals, wherein the first terminal is connected to the second terminal through one or more relay terminals, the first terminal is the source terminal (Source UE) of the relay connection, and the second terminal is the target terminal (Target UE) of the relay connection, wherein the source terminal (Source UE) is the end terminal that initiates the relay connection, and the target terminal (Target UE) is the end terminal that accepts the relay connection. Among them, the first terminal can also be the target terminal (Target UE) in other relay connections or relay communication processes, and similarly, the second terminal can also be the source terminal (Source UE) in other relay connections or relay communication processes. For example, as shown in Figure 1, the first terminal UE1 establishes a communication connection with the second terminal UE2 through the first relay terminal R1, the second relay terminal R2 and the third relay terminal R3 to complete the relay connection method of the present application.

[0113] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of another application scenario provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 1, when the terminal device performs terminal-to-network (UE-to-Network, U2N) communication through a relay connection, the network architecture of the application scenario includes a network device, a first terminal, a second terminal and one or more relay terminals, wherein the first terminal is communicatively connected to the network device through one or more relay terminals and the second terminal, wherein the first terminal is a remote terminal (Remote UE) of the relay connection, and the second terminal is a relay terminal that has been connected to the network device. For example, as shown in Figure 2, the first terminal UE1 establishes a communication connection with the second terminal UE2 through the first relay terminal R1, the second relay terminal R2 and the third relay terminal R3 to complete the relay connection method of the present application, wherein a network connection has been established between the second terminal UE2 and the network device A.

[0114] In the embodiments of the present application, the terminal and network device can be hardware devices, or software functions running on dedicated hardware, software functions running on general-purpose hardware, such as virtualization functions instantiated on a platform (for example, a cloud platform), or entities including dedicated or general-purpose hardware devices and software functions. The present application does not limit the specific form of the terminal and network device.

[0115] In order to better understand the method provided in the embodiments of the present application, the terms involved in the present application are briefly explained below.

[0116] Terminals, also known as terminal devices, user equipment (UE), mobile stations, and mobile terminals, can be widely used in various scenarios, such as device-to-device (D2D), vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication, machine-type communication (MTC), the Internet of Things (IoT), virtual reality, augmented reality, industrial control, autonomous driving, telemedicine, smart grids, smart furniture, smart offices, smart wearables, smart transportation, and smart cities. Terminals can be mobile phones, tablets, computers with wireless transceiver capabilities, wearable devices, vehicles, drones, helicopters, airplanes, ships, robots, robotic arms, and smart home appliances.

[0117] Access network equipment: refers to the intervention equipment that terminals use to access the wireless network through wireless means, or in other words, the radio access network (RAN) node (or device) that connects the terminal to the wireless network. Among them, the access network device can be an evolved node B (eNB), a radio network controller (RNC), a node B (NB), a base station controller (BSC), a base transceiver station (BTS), a home base station (for example, a home evolved node B, or a Home Node B, HNB), a baseband unit (BBU), an access point (AP) in a wireless fidelity (WIFI) system, a wireless relay node, a wireless backhaul node, a transmission point (TP) or a transmission and reception point (TRP), etc. It can also be a network device or a transmission point (TRP or TP) in a 5G (such as NR) system, or one or a group of antenna panels (including multiple antenna panels) of a base station in a 5G system, or it can also be a network node constituting a network device or a transmission point, such as a baseband unit (BBU), or a distributed unit (DPU). The embodiments of this application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form used by the wireless access network equipment. In the embodiments of this application, the access network equipment may also be referred to as network equipment or base station. Unless otherwise specified, in the embodiments of this application, network equipment refers to access network equipment.

[0118] Proximity Service (ProSe) allows user equipment (UE) to communicate directly with each other, enabling UEs to communicate or access the network through other UEs even when there is no wireless network coverage. ProSe communication is currently being used in 5G systems. ProSe UEs connect via the Near Field Communication 5 (PC5) interface, and after mutual discovery between UEs, direct PC5 communication can be achieved.

[0119] Terminal-to-terminal (UE-to-UE, U2U) transmits data between the source terminal and the target terminal through a relay terminal.

[0120] Terminal-to-Network (UE-to-Network, U2N) transmits data between remote terminals and network devices through relay terminals.

[0121] The method provided by this application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0122] FIG3 is a flowchart of a method for establishing a relay connection provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG3 , a method for establishing a relay connection provided in an embodiment of the present application is performed by a first terminal and includes:

[0123] S101: A first terminal receives first information.

[0124] The first information includes a discovery response message sent by each of the multiple relay terminals; the discovery response message is a response message to the first discovery message; the first discovery message is used by the first terminal to discover the second terminal;

[0125] In this embodiment, the first discovery message is a discovery message broadcast by a first terminal to discover a second terminal. In one example, if the first discovery message is received directly by the second terminal, the first terminal can discover the second terminal without a relay terminal. That is, in U2U communication, the source terminal directly discovers the target terminal, and in U2N communication, the remote terminal directly discovers the relay terminal connected to the network device. After receiving the first discovery message, the second terminal generates a corresponding discovery response message and feeds it back to the first terminal. In one example, if the first discovery message broadcast by the first terminal is not directly received by the second terminal but is received by a relay terminal, the relay terminal adds its own identity information, such as a user info ID, to the first discovery message and then broadcasts it again until it is received by the second terminal. After receiving the first discovery message, the second terminal generates a corresponding discovery response message and unicasts it to the relay terminal that sent the first discovery message. The relay terminal that receives the discovery response message then unicasts it to the relay terminal that sent the first discovery message to the relay terminal, until the discovery response message is sent to the first terminal. In this embodiment, the first discovery message broadcast by the first terminal is received by the second terminal after being received and forwarded by different relay terminals. That is, the first terminal discovers the second terminal via different relay terminals. The second terminal generates a response message for each received first discovery message and sends it to the first terminal via the relay terminals through which the first discovery message passed. In this embodiment, the discovery response messages included in the first information are all discovery response messages corresponding to the first discovery message received by the first terminal.

[0126] The discovery response message includes first indication information and first discovery information; the first indication information is used to indicate the relay terminal through which the first discovery information passes; the first discovery information includes: a terminal identifier and a relay service code;

[0127] In this embodiment, the terminal identifier refers to the identifier of the terminal that has been determined to require a relay connection before the relay connection is established. Optionally, the terminal identifier can be the terminal's user information identifier User Info ID. Specifically, in U2U communication, the terminals that have been determined to require a relay connection include the source terminal and the destination terminal. Therefore, for the scenario shown in Figure 1, the terminal identifier includes the identifier of the first terminal and the identifier of the second terminal. Specifically, in U2N communication, the terminals that have been determined to require a relay connection only include the remote terminal. Therefore, for the scenario shown in Figure 2, the terminal identifier includes the identifier of the first terminal. In this embodiment, the relay service code (RSC) is a relay service code pre-configured before the relay connection is established, which is used to characterize the type of relay service. In this embodiment, the first discovery information is information that has been determined before the relay connection is established. The first discovery information is included in the discovery message broadcasted by the first terminal to discover the second terminal, that is, the first discovery message. The first discovery information is also included in the response message to the first discovery message, that is, the discovery response message.

[0128] In this embodiment, the first indication information is used to indicate the relay terminal through which the first discovery information passes. Exemplarily, the first indication information may include the user information identifier User Info ID of the relay terminal through which the first discovery information passes. In the first discovery message, the first indication information is used to indicate the relay terminal through which the first discovery information passes. The first indication information is updated as different relay terminals receive and forward the first discovery message.

[0129] For example, for the scenario shown in Figure 1, the first discovery message broadcast by the first relay terminal R1 and received by the second relay terminal R2 has its first indication information indicating the first relay terminal. The first discovery message broadcast by the third relay terminal R3 and received by the second terminal UE2 has its first indication information indicating: the first relay terminal, the second relay terminal, and the third relay terminal. In the discovery response message, the first indication information is used to indicate the relay terminals through which the first discovery information passes. Since the first discovery information has already passed through all relay terminals in the process of the first terminal discovering the second terminal via the first discovery message, the first indication information is not updated as different relay terminals receive and forward the discovery response message. For example, for the scenario shown in Figure 1, the discovery response message sent by the first relay terminal R1 and received by the first terminal UE1 has its first indication information indicating: the first relay terminal, the second relay terminal, and the third relay terminal.

[0130] For example, for the scenario shown in Figure 2, the first discovery message broadcast by the first relay terminal R1 and received by the second relay terminal R2 has its first indication information indicating the first relay terminal. The first discovery message broadcast by the third relay terminal R3 and received by the second terminal UE2 has its first indication information indicating: the first relay terminal, the second relay terminal, the third relay terminal, and the second terminal. In the discovery response message, the first indication information is used to indicate the relay terminals through which the first discovery information passes. Since the first discovery information has passed through all relay terminals on a certain path in the process of the first terminal discovering the second terminal via the first discovery message, the first indication information is not updated as different relay terminals receive and forward the discovery response message. For example, for the scenario shown in Figure 2, the discovery response message sent by the first relay terminal R1 and received by the first terminal UE1 has its first indication information indicating: the first relay terminal, the second relay terminal, the third relay terminal, and the second terminal.

[0131] S102: The first terminal determines a first relay terminal according to the first information.

[0132] In this embodiment, the first terminal may determine the first relay terminal based on the first information described in step S101, wherein the first relay terminal refers to a relay terminal that directly establishes a connection with the first terminal, and the first relay terminal is one of the multiple relay terminals, that is, the first relay terminal is one of the multiple relay terminals that send a discovery response message to the first terminal as described in step S101. The present application does not limit the process by which the first terminal determines the first relay terminal based on the first information. Optionally, the first relay terminal may be determined based on the first indication information in the first information, that is, the first relay terminal may be determined based on the relay terminals that the first discovery information passes through, as indicated by the first indication information in each discovery response message in the first information. In one example, the first relay terminal may be determined based on the number of relay terminals that the first discovery information passes through, as indicated by the first indication information in each discovery response message in the first information. For example, the discovery response message with the smallest number of relay terminals that the first discovery information passes through, as indicated by the first indication information, is selected from the discovery response messages. The relay terminal that sent the discovery response message is determined as the first relay terminal.

[0133] In one example, the first terminal may determine a first relay terminal according to the first information; in another example, the first terminal may determine multiple first relay terminals according to the first information.

[0134] S103: The first terminal sends a connection message to the first relay terminal.

[0135] Wherein, the connection message includes: a terminal identifier and second indication information; the second indication information is the first indication information in the discovery response message sent by the first relay terminal. Wherein, for the description of the terminal identifier and the discovery response message, please refer to the description in step S101, and this step will not be repeated. In this embodiment, since the second indication information is the first indication information in the discovery response message sent by the first relay terminal, according to the description of the first indication information in the discovery response message in step S101, the second indication information is the identifier of the relay terminal corresponding to the first indication information in the discovery response message sent by the first relay terminal. For example, for the scenario shown in Figure 1, the second indication information includes: the identifier of the first relay terminal, the identifier of the second relay terminal, and the identifier of the third relay terminal. For example, for the scenario shown in Figure 2, the second indication information includes: the identifier of the first relay terminal, the identifier of the second relay terminal, the identifier of the third relay terminal, and the identifier of the second terminal.

[0136] In this embodiment, after the first terminal, as described in step S101, determines the first relay terminal based on the first information, the first terminal may send a connection message to the first relay terminal. This application does not limit the process by which the first terminal sends the connection message to the first relay terminal. In one example, the first relay terminal's layer 2 address may be determined based on the first relay terminal's identifier, and then, based on the first relay terminal's layer 2 address, a connection message may be sent to the first relay terminal to establish a relay connection between the first terminal and the second terminal.

[0137] Optionally, the types of connection messages sent by the first terminal include: direct communication request (Direct Communication Request, DCR message for short), and link modification request (Link Modification Request, LMR for short). In one example, before sending the connection message, if it is determined that the first terminal and the first relay terminal are not connected through the near field communication 5 interface (Proximity Communications 5, PC5), the DCR message is sent. In one example, before sending the connection message, if it is determined that the first terminal and the first relay terminal are connected through the near field communication 5 interface (Proximity Communications 5, PC5), the LMR message is sent to reuse the existing connection between the first terminal and the first relay terminal, wherein optionally, the LMR message also includes the layer 2 address of the first relay terminal.

[0138] In this embodiment, the first terminal determines the first relay terminal by receiving first information including a discovery response message sent by each relay terminal in a plurality of relay terminals, and further sends a connection message to the first terminal to establish a relay connection between the first terminal and the second terminal. The discovery response message in the first information includes an indication of the relay terminals through which the first discovery information passes. Therefore, in the process of determining the first relay terminal based on the first information, the discovery response message with the smallest number of relay terminals passed by the first discovery information indicated by the first indication information can be selected, and the relay terminal that sends the discovery response message can be determined as the first relay terminal, so as to achieve the effect of improving the efficiency of the relay connection and further save the wireless resources of the relay communication.

[0139] FIG4 is a signaling diagram of a relay connection establishment method provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG4 , the method includes:

[0140] S41. The first terminal broadcasts a first discovery message.

[0141] Among them, the first discovery message is used by the first terminal to discover the second terminal. The first discovery message includes: first discovery information, first hop information, and first indication information; the first indication information is used to indicate the relay terminal through which the first discovery information passes. In this embodiment, the description of the first discovery information and the first indication information can refer to the description in step S101, and this step will not be repeated. Among them, since the first indication information included in the first discovery message is updated as different relay terminals receive and forward the first discovery message, the first indication information included in the first discovery message broadcast by the first terminal indicates that the first discovery information has not passed through the relay terminal.

[0142] The first hop count information is used to limit the maximum number of hops for transmitting the first discovery information. In one example, the first hop count information is the time to live value of the first discovery message, where the time to live (TTL) is used to limit the existence time of an IP packet in a computer network. Specifically, although TTL literally means the time it can survive, in fact, TTL is the maximum number of hops that an IP packet can be forwarded in a computer network. The TTL field is set by the sender of the IP packet. During the entire forwarding path from the source to the destination, each router will modify the TTL field value. Specifically, the router will reduce the TTL value by 1 before forwarding the IP packet. If the TTL is reduced to 0 before the IP packet reaches the destination IP, the router will discard the received IP packet with TTL=0 and send an ICMP time exceeded message to the sender of the IP packet, indicating that the sender's packet has exceeded the survival time. Specifically, if the TTL value of the time to live has not been reduced to 0, the number of hops for transmitting the first discovery information has not reached the maximum number of hops. In one example, the first hop count information is a maximum hop value, where the maximum hop value needs to be combined with the first indication information included in the first discovery message to limit the maximum hop number for transmitting the first discovery information. For example, if the number of relay terminals indicated by the first indication information is less than the maximum hop value, the number of hops for transmitting the first discovery information does not reach the maximum hop number.

[0143] In this embodiment, the first terminal broadcasts the first discovery message, which is then received by multiple relay terminals. For example, in the scenario shown in FIG1 , the first terminal UE1 broadcasts the first discovery message, which is received by the first relay terminal and the second relay terminal respectively.

[0144] S42: The relay terminal receives third information, where the third information includes a first discovery message broadcast by the first terminal or other relay terminals.

[0145] The first discovery message includes: first discovery information, first hop information, and first indication information; the first hop information is used to limit the maximum hop number of the transmission of the first discovery information; the first indication information is used to indicate the relay terminal through which the first discovery information passes; for the description of the first discovery information, the first indication information, and the first hop information, reference can be made to the description in step S41, and this step will not be repeated. Since the first indication information included in the first discovery message is updated as different relay terminals receive and forward the first discovery message, if the first discovery message is a message broadcast by the first terminal, the first indication information included in the first discovery message indicates that the first discovery information has not passed through the relay terminal; if the first discovery message is a message broadcast by other relay terminals, the first indication information included in the first discovery message indicates the relay terminal through which the first discovery information passes, and the relay terminal that broadcasts the first discovery message is included in the relay terminal through which the first discovery information indicated by the first indication information passes.

[0146] In this embodiment, the relay terminal may receive the first discovery message broadcast by the first terminal in step S41, and may also receive first discovery messages broadcast by other relay terminals. In one example, the third information received by the relay terminal includes: the first discovery message broadcast by the first terminal, and first discovery messages broadcast by multiple other relay terminals. In one example, the third information received by the relay terminal includes: first discovery messages broadcast by multiple other relay terminals.

[0147] S43. The relay terminal determines and broadcasts a first discovery message to be sent according to the third information.

[0148] In this embodiment, the relay terminal may determine the first discovery message to be sent based on the third information received in step S42, and broadcast the first discovery message to be sent, wherein the third information includes the first discovery message broadcast by the first terminal or other relay terminals. The first discovery message includes: first discovery information, first hop count information, and first indication information; the first hop count information is used to limit the maximum number of hops for transmitting the first discovery information; and the first indication information is used to indicate the relay terminals through which the first discovery information passes. For a description of the first discovery information, first indication information, and first hop count information, refer to the description in step S41 and are not repeated here.

[0149] Among them, this application does not limit the process of the relay terminal determining and broadcasting the first discovery message to be sent based on the third information. Optionally, the first discovery message to be sent can be determined based on the first hop number information and / or first indication information included in the third information.

[0150] In one example, the first discovery message to be sent can be determined based on the first indication information included in the third information. Specifically, the number of relay terminals indicated by the first indication information in the first discovery message can be determined based on the first indication information of each first discovery message. Then, the first discovery message corresponding to the first indication information in which the number of indicated relay terminals is the smallest, or the number of relay terminals is less than a preset number threshold, can be determined as the first discovery message to be sent. Determining the first discovery message to be sent based on the number of relay terminals indicated by the first indication information can save wireless resources for relay connection establishment and relay communication.

[0151] In one example, the first discovery message to be sent can be determined based on the first indication information included in the third information. Specifically, based on the first indication information of each first discovery message, the first discovery message corresponding to the first indication information of the indicated relay terminal that does not include the current relay terminal can be determined as the first discovery message to be sent. Determining the first discovery message to be sent based on the number of relay terminals indicated by the first indication information can avoid loops and broadcast storms in the relay discovery process, improve the efficiency of establishing the relay connection, and save wireless resources for establishing the relay connection.

[0152] In one example, the first discovery message to be sent can be determined based on the first hop count information included in the third information. Specifically, based on the description of the first hop count information in step S41, the first discovery message whose first discovery information does not reach the maximum hop count can be determined as the first discovery message to be sent.

[0153] In one example, the first discovery message to be sent can be determined based on the first hop count information and the first indication information included in the third information. Specifically, the first discovery message whose first discovery information does not reach the maximum hop count can be filtered based on the first hop count information. At the same time, the first discovery message corresponding to the first indication information in which the number of indicated relay terminals is the smallest, or the number of relay terminals is less than a preset number threshold, can be filtered based on the first indication information. Moreover, the first discovery message corresponding to the first indication information in which the indicated relay terminal does not include the current relay terminal can be filtered based on the first indication information, and the first discovery message that meets all the above three filtering conditions at the same time can be determined as the first discovery message to be sent.

[0154] Optionally, the third information further includes the signal quality of the first discovery message. Then, determining and broadcasting the first discovery message to be sent based on the third information may include: determining and broadcasting the first discovery message to be sent based on one or more of the first hop count information, the signal quality of the first discovery message, and the first indication information.

[0155] In one example, the first discovery message to be sent can be determined based on the signal quality of the first discovery message and the first indication information included in the third information, wherein the signal quality of the first discovery message can be obtained after receiving the first discovery message broadcast by the first terminal or other relay terminals. Specifically, the first discovery message having a signal quality greater than a preset signal quality threshold can be screened based on the signal quality of each first discovery message. At the same time, the first discovery message corresponding to the first indication information having the smallest number of indicated relay terminals or having a number of relay terminals less than a preset number threshold can be screened based on the first indication information. Moreover, the first discovery message corresponding to the first indication information in which the indicated relay terminal does not include the current relay terminal can be screened based on the first indication information, and the first discovery message that meets all three of the above screening conditions is determined as the first discovery message to be sent.

[0156] In one example, the first discovery message to be sent can be determined based on the first hop count information, the first indication information, and the signal quality of the first discovery message included in the third information. Specifically, the first discovery message whose first discovery information does not reach the maximum hop count can be screened based on the first hop count information. At the same time, the first discovery message corresponding to the first indication information in which the number of relay terminals indicated is the smallest, or the number of relay terminals is less than a preset number threshold, can be screened based on the first indication information. Moreover, the first discovery message whose signal quality is greater than a preset signal quality threshold can be screened based on the signal quality of each first discovery message. Moreover, the first discovery message corresponding to the first indication information in which the relay terminals indicated do not include the current relay terminal can be screened based on the first indication information. The first discovery message that meets all the above four screening conditions at the same time is determined as the first discovery message to be sent.

[0157] In this embodiment, after the first discovery message to be sent is determined through one of the above processes, the determined first discovery message to be sent may be broadcast.

[0158] S44. The second terminal receives fifth information, where the fifth information includes the first discovery message broadcast by each of the multiple relay terminals.

[0159] Among them, the first discovery message includes: first discovery information, first hop information, and first indication information; wherein the first hop information is used to limit the maximum number of hops for transmitting the first discovery information; the first indication information is used to indicate the relay terminal through which the first discovery information passes; wherein, the description of the first discovery information, the first indication information and the first hop information can refer to the description in step S41, and this step will not be repeated.

[0160] In this embodiment, the relay terminal determines and broadcasts the first discovery message to be sent based on the third information in step S43, and the fifth information received by the second terminal includes the first discovery message received by the second terminal and broadcast by each of the multiple relay terminals.

[0161] S45. The second terminal determines a first discovery message to be responded to based on the fifth information.

[0162] In this embodiment, the second terminal determines the first discovery message to be responded to based on the fifth information received in step S44. The present application does not limit the process by which the second terminal determines the first discovery message to be responded to based on the fifth information. Optionally, the first discovery message to be responded to can be determined based on the first hop count information and / or the first indication information.

[0163] In one example, the first discovery message to be responded to can be determined based on the first indication information included in the fifth information. Specifically, the number of relay terminals indicated by the first indication information in the first discovery message can be determined based on the first indication information of each first discovery message. Then, the first discovery message corresponding to the first indication information in which the number of indicated relay terminals is the smallest, or the number of relay terminals is less than a preset number threshold, can be determined as the first discovery message to be responded to. Determining the first discovery message to be responded to based on the number of relay terminals indicated by the first indication information can save wireless resources for relay connection establishment and relay communication, and improve the quality of relay service.

[0164] In one example, the first discovery message to be responded to can be determined based on the first hop count information included in the fifth information. Specifically, based on the description of the first hop count information in step S41, the first discovery message whose first discovery information does not reach the maximum hop count can be determined as the first discovery message to be responded to.

[0165] In one example, the first discovery message to be responded to can be determined based on the first hop count information and the first indication information included in the fifth information. Specifically, the first discovery message whose first discovery information does not reach the maximum hop count can be filtered out according to the first hop count information. At the same time, the first discovery message corresponding to the first indication information with the smallest number of relay terminals indicated, or the number of relay terminals less than a preset number threshold, can be filtered out according to the first indication information, and the first discovery message that meets both of the above filtering conditions can be determined as the first discovery message to be responded to.

[0166] Optionally, the fifth information also includes the signal quality of the first discovery message. Determining the first discovery message to be responded to based on the fifth information may include: determining the first discovery message to be responded to based on one or more of the first hop count information, the signal quality of the first discovery message, and preset sixth indication information, and the first indication information; the preset sixth indication information is used to indicate the relay terminal that the second terminal desires to select.

[0167] In one example, the first discovery message to be responded to can be determined based on the preset sixth indication information and the first indication information included in the fifth information. Specifically, the first discovery message corresponding to the first indication information of the relay terminal indicated, including the relay terminal that the second terminal expects to select indicated by the preset sixth indication information, can be filtered according to the first indication information, wherein the relay terminal that the second terminal expects to select can be one or more. At the same time, the first discovery message corresponding to the first indication information with the smallest number of indicated relay terminals or the first discovery message with the number of relay terminals less than a preset number threshold can be filtered according to the first indication information, and the first discovery message that meets both of the above-mentioned screening conditions can be determined as the first discovery message to be responded to. Among them, by determining the first discovery message to be responded to based on the number of relay terminals indicated by the first indication information, the relay terminal can be targetedly selected for relay connection according to the preset sixth indication information, thereby improving the service quality of the relay connection establishment.

[0168] In one example, the first discovery message to be responded to can be determined based on the signal quality of the first discovery message and the first indication information included in the fifth information, wherein, after receiving the first discovery message broadcast by the first terminal or other relay terminal, the signal quality of the first discovery message can be obtained. Specifically, the first discovery message with a signal quality greater than a preset signal quality threshold can be filtered out based on the signal quality of each first discovery message. At the same time, the first discovery message corresponding to the first indication information with the minimum number of relay terminals indicated, or the first discovery message with the number of relay terminals less than a preset number threshold, can be filtered out based on the first indication information, and the first discovery message that meets both of the above filtering conditions can be determined as the first discovery message to be responded to.

[0169] In one example, the first discovery message to be responded to can be determined based on the first hop count information, the first indication information, the preset sixth indication information and the signal quality of the first discovery message included in the fifth information. Specifically, the first discovery message whose first discovery information does not reach the maximum hop count can be screened based on the first hop count information. At the same time, the first discovery message corresponding to the first indication information with the smallest number of indicated relay terminals or the number of relay terminals less than the preset number threshold can be screened based on the first indication information. The first discovery message corresponding to the first indication information of the relay terminal desired to be selected by the second terminal indicated by the preset sixth indication information can be screened among the indicated relay terminals based on the first indication information. Moreover, the first discovery message having a signal quality greater than the preset signal quality threshold can be screened based on the signal quality of each first discovery message, and the first discovery message that meets the above four screening conditions at the same time can be determined as the first discovery message to be responded to.

[0170] In one example, the first discovery message to be responded to can be determined based on the first indication information included in the fifth information, the preset sixth indication information, and the signal quality of the first discovery message. The specific process can refer to the description in the above example and will not be repeated here. In one example, the first discovery message to be responded to can be determined based on the first hop count information, the first indication information, and the signal quality of the first discovery message included in the fifth information. The specific process can refer to the description in the above example and will not be repeated here. In one example, the first discovery message to be responded to can be determined based on the first hop count information, the first indication information, and the preset sixth indication information included in the fifth information. The specific process can refer to the description in the above example and will not be repeated here.

[0171] S46. The second terminal generates a discovery response message to be responded to the first discovery message.

[0172] The discovery response message includes first indication information and first discovery information; the first indication information is used to indicate the relay terminal through which the first discovery information passes; the first discovery information includes: a terminal identifier and a relay service code;

[0173] In this embodiment, according to the description of the first indication information included in the discovery response message in step S101, the first indication information included in the discovery response message of the first discovery message to be responded to can be determined according to the first indication information included in the first discovery message to be responded to, and a discovery response message for each first discovery message to be responded to can be further generated.

[0174] S47. The second terminal sends a discovery response message to the corresponding relay terminal according to the layer 2 address association relationship.

[0175] Optionally, in the process of sending the first discovery message from the first terminal to the relay terminal, or from the relay terminal to other relay terminals, or from the relay terminal to the second terminal, the terminal receiving the first discovery message will establish a layer-2 address association relationship between the layer-2 address of the terminal and the layer-2 address of the terminal sending the first discovery message, and save the established association relationship in the terminal, wherein the layer-2 address of the terminal sending the first discovery message is the source layer-2 address of the first discovery message, and the layer-2 address of the terminal is the destination layer-2 address of the first discovery message. For example, after receiving the first discovery message sent by the relay terminal, the second terminal can establish an association relationship between the layer-2 address of the relay terminal and the layer-2 address of the second terminal, and save the association relationship in the second terminal, wherein the layer-2 address of the relay terminal is the source layer-2 address of the first discovery message, and the layer-2 address of the second terminal is the destination layer-2 address of the first discovery message.

[0176] In this embodiment, after the second terminal described in step S46 generates a discovery response message for the first discovery message to be responded to, the second terminal can determine the relay terminal to which the discovery response message will be sent based on the layer-2 address association relationship, and send the discovery response message to the corresponding relay terminal. In one example, the second terminal can determine the relay terminal to which the discovery response message will be sent based on the layer-2 address association relationship described above. Specifically, the layer-2 address association relationship stored in the second terminal can be obtained, and then the destination layer-2 address of the first discovery message is set as the source layer-2 address of the discovery response message, and the source layer-2 address of the first discovery message is set as the destination layer-2 address of the discovery response message. Finally, based on the determined destination layer-2 address of the discovery response message, the discovery response message is sent to the corresponding relay terminal.

[0177] S48. The relay terminal receives a discovery response message sent by the second terminal or other relay terminals.

[0178] The discovery response message is a response message to the first discovery message; the discovery response message includes first indication information and first discovery information; the first indication information is used to indicate the relay terminal through which the first discovery information passes; the first discovery information includes: a terminal identifier and a relay service code; the first discovery message is used by the first terminal to discover the second terminal;

[0179] In one example, the relay terminal receives the discovery response message sent by the second terminal according to the layer 2 address association relationship described in step S47.

[0180] In one example, a relay terminal receives a discovery response message sent by another relay terminal based on a layer-2 address association relationship. Specifically, the other relay terminal is a relay terminal that has received a discovery response message. Optionally, the other relay terminal may be a relay terminal that has received a discovery response message sent by a second terminal based on a layer-2 address association relationship. Optionally, the other relay terminal may also be a relay terminal that has received a discovery response message sent by another relay terminal based on a layer-2 address association relationship. The process of other relay terminals sending a discovery response message to a corresponding relay terminal based on a layer-2 address association relationship can refer to the process of the second terminal sending a discovery response message to a corresponding relay terminal based on a layer-2 address association relationship described in step S48, and this step will not be repeated.

[0181] S49. The relay terminal sends a discovery response message to the corresponding other relay terminals or the first terminal according to the layer 2 address association relationship.

[0182] In one example, if the relay terminal determines, based on the layer 2 address association relationship, that the discovery response message is to be sent to other relay terminals, the relay terminal sends the discovery response message to the corresponding other relay terminals.

[0183] In one example, if the relay terminal determines, based on the layer 2 address association relationship, that the discovery response message is to be sent to the first terminal, the relay terminal sends the discovery response message to the first terminal.

[0184] S410: A first terminal receives first information, where the first information includes a discovery response message sent by each of a plurality of relay terminals.

[0185] The discovery response message is a response message to the first discovery message; the discovery response message includes first indication information and first discovery information; the first indication information is used to indicate the relay terminal through which the first discovery information passes; the first discovery information includes: a terminal identifier and a relay service code; the first discovery message is used by the first terminal to discover the second terminal;

[0186] For the description of this step, reference may be made to the description of step S101 , and this step will not be repeated here.

[0187] S411. The first terminal determines a first relay terminal according to the first information.

[0188] The first relay terminal is one of the multiple relay terminals.

[0189] Among them, this application does not limit the process of the first terminal determining the first relay terminal based on the first information. Optionally, determining the first relay terminal based on the first information may include: determining the first relay terminal based on the first indication information in the first information.

[0190] In one example, the first relay terminal can be determined based on the first indication information included in the first information. Specifically, the number of relay terminals indicated by the first indication information in the discovery response message can be determined based on the first indication information of each discovery response message. Then, the discovery response message corresponding to the first indication information with the smallest number of indicated relay terminals or the number of relay terminals less than a preset number threshold is selected as the screening condition for the first relay terminal. Specifically, the relay terminal that sends the discovery response message that meets the screening condition can be determined as the first relay terminal. Determining the first relay terminal based on the number of relay terminals indicated by the first indication information can save wireless resources for relay connection establishment and relay communication, and improve the quality of relay service.

[0191] Optionally, the discovery response message also includes a lifetime value; and / or the first information also includes a signal quality of the discovery response message; wherein the lifetime value is the value of the lifetime when the first discovery message corresponding to the discovery response message is responded to.

[0192] In the process of determining the first relay terminal according to the lifetime value included in the discovery response message, the discovery response message with the smallest lifetime value may be selected as a screening condition for determining the first relay terminal.

[0193] In the process of determining the first relay terminal according to the signal quality of the discovery response message, the discovery response message with a signal quality greater than a preset signal quality threshold may be selected as a screening condition for determining the first relay terminal.

[0194] Optionally, determining the first relay terminal based on the first information may include: determining the first relay terminal based on the lifetime value in the first information, the signal quality of the discovery response message, one or more of the preset third indication information, and the first indication information; wherein the preset third indication information is used to indicate the relay terminal that the first terminal expects to select.

[0195] In one example, the first relay terminal can be determined based on the lifetime value in the first information, the preset third indication information, the signal quality of the discovery response message, and the first indication information. Specifically, the discovery response message with the smallest lifetime value can be screened based on the lifetime value in the first information. At the same time, the discovery response message with a signal quality greater than a preset signal quality threshold can be screened based on the signal quality of the discovery response message. At the same time, the number of relay terminals indicated by the first indication information in the discovery response message can be determined based on the first indication information in the first information. Then, the discovery response message corresponding to the first indication information with the smallest number of indicated relay terminals or the number of relay terminals less than the preset number threshold can be screened. At the same time, the discovery response message corresponding to the first indication information of the relay terminal indicated, including the first indication information of the relay terminal that the first terminal expects to select indicated by the preset third indication information, can be screened based on the first indication information in the first information. The relay terminal that sends the discovery response message that meets the above four screening conditions at the same time is determined as the first relay terminal.

[0196] In one example, the first relay terminal can be determined based on the lifetime value in the first information and the first indication information. The specific process can be described in the above example and will not be repeated here. In one example, the first relay terminal can be determined based on the signal quality of the discovery response message and the first indication information. The specific process can be described in the above example and will not be repeated here. In one example, the first relay terminal can be determined based on the preset third indication information and the first indication information. The specific process can be described in the above example and will not be repeated here. In one example, the first relay terminal can be determined based on the lifetime value in the first information, the signal quality of the discovery response message, and the first indication information. The specific process can be described in the above example and will not be repeated here. In one example, the first relay terminal can be determined based on the signal quality of the discovery response message, the preset third indication information, and the first indication information. The specific process can be described in the above example and will not be repeated here. In one example, the first relay terminal can be determined based on the lifetime value in the first information, the preset third indication information, and the first indication information. The specific process can be referred to the description in the above example and will not be repeated here.

[0197] In this embodiment, the terminal identifier includes: a first terminal identifier and a second terminal identifier, or the terminal identifier includes: a first terminal identifier. Specifically, in U2U communication, the terminal identifier includes: a first terminal identifier and a second terminal identifier, and in U2N communication, the terminal identifier includes: a first terminal identifier.

[0198] In this embodiment, in step S43, the relay terminal determines and broadcasts the first discovery message to be sent based on the third information, wherein the first discovery message to be sent is determined based on the number of relay terminals indicated by the first indication information, which can save wireless resources for relay connection establishment and relay communication, and improve the quality of relay service; in step S45, the second terminal determines the first discovery message to be responded to based on the fifth information, wherein the first discovery message to be responded to is determined based on the number of relay terminals indicated by the first indication information, which can save wireless resources for relay connection establishment and relay communication; in step S411, the first terminal determines the first relay terminal based on the first information, wherein the first relay terminal is determined based on the number of relay terminals indicated by the first indication information, which can save wireless resources for relay connection establishment and relay communication, and improve the quality of relay service.

[0199] FIG5 is a signaling diagram of another method for establishing a relay connection provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG5 , the method includes:

[0200] S51. The first terminal sends a connection message to the first relay terminal.

[0201] The connection message includes: a terminal identifier and second indication information; the second indication information is the first indication information in the discovery response message sent by the first relay terminal. For example, for the scenario shown in Figure 1, the second indication information includes: the identifier of the first relay terminal, the identifier of the second relay terminal, and the identifier of the third relay terminal. For example, for the scenario shown in Figure 2, the second indication information includes: the identifier of the first relay terminal, the identifier of the second relay terminal, the identifier of the third relay terminal, and the identifier of the second terminal.

[0202] In this embodiment, after the first terminal, as described in step S411, determines the first relay terminal based on the first information, the first terminal sends a connection message to the first relay terminal. The present application does not limit the process by which the first terminal sends the connection message to the first relay terminal. Optionally, the first relay terminal identifier may be determined based on the second indication information included in the connection message. The first relay terminal's layer 2 address may then be determined based on an association between the first relay terminal identifier and the first relay terminal's layer 2 address. Finally, the connection message may be sent to the first relay terminal based on the first terminal's layer 2 address.

[0203] S52: The relay terminal receives a connection message sent by the first terminal or other relay terminals, where the connection message includes a terminal identifier and second indication information.

[0204] The second indication information is the first indication information in the discovery response message sent by the first relay terminal; the first relay terminal is the relay terminal determined according to the first information, and the first information is information received by the first terminal including the discovery response message sent by each of the multiple relay terminals;

[0205] In one example, for the scenario shown in Figure 1, the second indication information is: the identifier of the first relay terminal, the identifier of the second relay terminal, and the identifier of the third relay terminal. Alternatively, for the scenario shown in Figure 2, the second indication information is: the identifier of the first relay terminal, the identifier of the second relay terminal, the identifier of the third relay terminal, and the identifier of the second terminal.

[0206] S52a: The first relay terminal receives the connection message sent by the first terminal. The process of the first terminal sending the connection message to the first relay terminal can be referred to the description in step S51, and this step will not be repeated here.

[0207] S52b: The second relay terminal receives the connection message sent by the first relay terminal.

[0208] S52c: The third relay terminal receives the connection message sent by the second relay terminal.

[0209] S53: The relay terminal determines, according to the second indication information, another relay terminal or a second terminal to which the connection message will be sent, and sends the connection message to the second terminal.

[0210] In this embodiment, the relay terminal determines the identifier of the relay terminal receiving the connection message based on the identifier of the relay terminal, i.e., the relay terminal sending the connection message, and the second indication information. Further, the relay terminal can send a connection message to the relay terminal receiving the connection message based on the identifier of the relay terminal receiving the connection message.

[0211] In one example, for the scenario shown in Figure 1, the second indication information includes: the identifier of the first relay terminal, the identifier of the second relay terminal, and the identifier of the third relay terminal. Alternatively, for the scenario shown in Figure 2, the second indication information includes: the identifier of the first relay terminal, the identifier of the second relay terminal, the identifier of the third relay terminal, and the identifier of the second terminal.

[0212] The present application does not limit the process in which the relay terminal determines, based on the second indication information, other relay terminals or second terminals to which the connection message will be sent, and sends the connection message thereto.

[0213] Optionally, determining, according to the second indication information, another relay or second terminal to which the connection message is to be sent, and sending the connection message thereto may include:

[0214] According to the second indication information, if it is determined that the connection message will be sent to other relay terminals, the connection message is unicast to them; specifically, the relay terminal determines the identifier of the relay terminal receiving the connection message based on the identifier of the relay terminal, that is, the relay terminal sending the connection message, and the second indication information, wherein, if the identifier of the relay terminal receiving the connection message corresponds to another relay terminal, the layer 2 address of the relay terminal receiving the connection message can be determined based on the identifier of the relay terminal receiving the connection message, and further, based on the layer 2 address of the relay terminal receiving the connection message, the connection address is unicast to the relay terminal receiving the connection message. For example, for the scenario shown in Figure 1, or for the scenario shown in Figure 2, the other relay terminals include: one of the first relay terminal, the second relay terminal, and the third relay terminal.

[0215] According to the second indication information, if it is determined that the connection message will be sent to the second terminal, a connection message is sent to it according to the type of the second terminal device; specifically, the relay terminal determines the identifier of the relay terminal receiving the connection message based on the relay terminal, that is, the identifier of the relay terminal that sends the connection message, and the second indication information, wherein, if the identifier of the relay terminal receiving the connection message corresponds to the second terminal, a connection message can be sent to it according to the type of the second terminal device. The types of the second terminal devices include: relay devices and terminal devices. For example, for the scenario shown in Figure 1, the type of the second terminal device is a terminal device, and for the scenario shown in Figure 2, the type of the second terminal device is a relay device. In particular, the present application does not limit the process of sending a connection message to the second terminal device according to its type. Optionally, sending a connection message to the second terminal device according to its type may include:

[0216] If the second terminal device is a relay device, a connection message is unicast to it; specifically, if the second terminal device is a relay device, the layer 2 address of the second terminal can be determined based on the association between the second terminal's identifier and the layer 2 address of the second terminal. Furthermore, the connection message can be unicast to the second terminal based on the layer 2 address of the second terminal. If the second terminal device is a terminal device, a connection message is broadcast. Specifically, if the second terminal device is a terminal device, if the association between the second terminal's identifier and the layer 2 address of the second terminal cannot be obtained, a connection message can be broadcast so that the second terminal receives the connection message broadcast by the relay terminal.

[0217] S53a. The first relay terminal determines, based on the second indication information, that the connection message will be sent to the second relay terminal, and sends the connection message to the second relay terminal. Specifically, the first relay terminal determines, based on the identifier of the first relay terminal and the second indication information, that the identifier of the relay terminal receiving the connection message is the identifier of the second relay terminal. Furthermore, based on the association between the identifier of the second relay terminal and the layer 2 address of the second relay terminal, the first relay terminal determines the layer 2 address of the second relay terminal. Then, based on the layer 2 address of the second relay terminal, the first relay terminal sends the connection message to the second relay terminal.

[0218] For example:

[0219] S53b. The second relay terminal determines, based on the second indication information, that the connection message will be sent to the third relay terminal, and sends the connection message to the third relay terminal. Specifically, the second relay terminal determines, based on the identifier of the second relay terminal and the second indication information, that the identifier of the relay terminal receiving the connection message is the identifier of the third relay terminal. Furthermore, the second relay terminal may determine the layer 2 address of the third relay terminal based on the association between the identifier of the third relay terminal and the layer 2 address of the third relay terminal. The second relay terminal then sends the connection message to the third relay terminal based on the layer 2 address of the third relay terminal.

[0220] S53c. The third relay terminal determines that the connection message will be sent to the second terminal based on the second indication information, and sends the connection message to it. Specifically, for the scenario shown in Figure 1, the third relay terminal determines that the third relay terminal is the last relay terminal based on the identifier of the third relay terminal and the second indication information, and the connection message will be sent to the second terminal. At this time, the association relationship between the identifier of the second terminal and the layer 2 address of the second terminal cannot be obtained. Optionally, the third terminal broadcast can broadcast the connection message so that the second terminal receives the connection message broadcast by the third relay terminal. For the scenario shown in Figure 2, the third relay terminal determines that the identifier of the relay terminal receiving the connection message is the identifier of the second terminal based on the identifier of the third relay terminal and the second indication information. It can further determine the layer 2 address of the second terminal based on the association relationship between the identifier of the second terminal and the layer 2 address of the second terminal, and then send the connection message to the second terminal based on the layer 2 address of the second terminal.

[0221] S54: The second terminal receives a connection message sent by the relay terminal, where the connection message includes a terminal identifier and second indication information.

[0222] The second indication information is the first indication information in the discovery response message sent by the first relay terminal; the first relay terminal is the relay terminal determined according to the first information, and the first information is information received by the first terminal including the discovery response message sent by each of the multiple relay terminals;

[0223] In this embodiment, the relay terminal determines, based on the second indication information, another relay terminal or a second terminal to which the connection message will be sent, and after sending the connection message to the relay terminal, the second terminal receives the connection message sent by the relay terminal. Specifically, in the scenario shown in Figure 1, the second terminal receives the connection message sent by the relay terminal based on the second terminal's layer 2 address. In the scenario shown in Figure 2, the second terminal receives the connection message broadcast by the relay terminal.

[0224] For example:

[0225] S54a: The second terminal receives a connection message sent by the third relay terminal. The connection message includes a terminal identifier and second indication information. Specifically, for the scenario shown in Figure 1, the second terminal receives the connection message sent by the third relay terminal based on the second terminal's layer 2 address. For the scenario shown in Figure 2, the second terminal receives the connection message broadcast by the third relay terminal.

[0226] S55: The second terminal generates a connection response message corresponding to the connection message according to the terminal identifier and the second indication information included in the connection message, and determines the relay terminal corresponding to the connection response message.

[0227] Optionally, the connection response message includes a terminal identifier, an identifier of a second terminal or a relay terminal that sends the connection response message, and an identifier of a relay terminal or a first terminal that receives the connection response message.

[0228] In this embodiment, the second terminal can generate a connection response message corresponding to the connection message based on the terminal identifier and the second indication information included in the connection message, wherein the connection response message corresponding to the connection message generated by the second terminal includes: the terminal identifier, the identifier of the second terminal and the identifier of the relay terminal that receives the connection response message, wherein the relay terminal corresponding to the identifier of the relay terminal that receives the connection response message is determined as the relay terminal corresponding to the connection response message.

[0229] For example:

[0230] S55a: The second terminal generates a connection response message corresponding to the connection message based on the terminal identifier and the second indication information included in the connection message, and determines the third relay terminal corresponding to the connection response message. The connection response message of the second terminal includes: the terminal identifier, the identifier of the second terminal, and the identifier of the third relay terminal.

[0231] S56. The second terminal sends a connection response message to the relay terminal corresponding to the connection response message.

[0232] In this embodiment, after the second terminal generates a connection response message corresponding to the connection message based on the terminal identifier and the second indication information included in the connection message, and determines the relay terminal corresponding to the connection response message, the second terminal can send the connection response message to the relay terminal corresponding to the connection response message. The present application does not limit the process by which the second terminal sends the connection response message to the relay terminal corresponding to the connection response message. Optionally, the layer 2 address of the relay terminal corresponding to the connection response message can be determined based on the association between the identifier of the relay terminal corresponding to the connection response message, that is, the relay terminal that receives the connection response message, and the layer 2 address of the relay terminal corresponding to the connection response message. Furthermore, the second terminal can send the connection response message to the relay terminal corresponding to the connection response message based on the layer 2 address of the relay terminal corresponding to the connection response message.

[0233] For example:

[0234] S56a. The second terminal sends the connection response message to the third relay terminal corresponding to the connection response message. Specifically, the second terminal may determine the layer 2 address of the third relay terminal corresponding to the connection response message based on the association between the identifier of the relay terminal corresponding to the connection response message, i.e., the third relay terminal, and the layer 2 address of the third relay terminal. Furthermore, the second terminal may send the connection response message to the third relay terminal based on the layer 2 address of the third relay terminal.

[0235] S57: The relay terminal receives a connection response message sent by the second terminal or other relay terminals.

[0236] The connection response message is a response message to the connection message; the connection response message includes: a terminal identifier and an identifier of a relay terminal that sends the connection response message.

[0237] In this embodiment, the process by which a relay terminal receives a connection response message sent by a second terminal or another relay terminal can refer to the process described in step S56, in which a second terminal sends a connection response message to a relay terminal corresponding to the connection response message. Alternatively, the relay terminal can receive a connection response message sent by the second terminal or another relay terminal using the layer 2 address of the relay terminal. In one example, if the connection response message received by the relay terminal includes the identifier of the second terminal that sent the connection response message, the connection response message received by the relay terminal is the connection response message sent by the second terminal.

[0238] In one example, if the connection response message received by the relay terminal includes the identifier of the other relay terminal that sent the connection response message, the connection response message received by the relay terminal is the connection response message sent by the other relay terminal. In this embodiment, the connection response message sent by the other relay terminal is a connection response message regenerated based on the connection response message sent by the second terminal. The present application does not limit the process of regenerating the connection response message. Optionally, the connection message corresponding to the connection response message received by the relay terminal can be determined based on the terminal identifier, the identifier of the second terminal that sent the connection response message, and the identifier of the relay terminal that received the connection response message, included in the connection response message sent by the second terminal. The identifier of the first terminal or relay terminal that received the connection response message, included in the regenerated connection response message, can be determined based on the second indication information included in the connection response message, and the connection response message can be further regenerated.

[0239] For example:

[0240] S57a. The third relay terminal receives a connection response message sent by the second terminal. The connection response message sent by the second terminal includes: a terminal identifier, an identifier of the second terminal, and an identifier of the third relay terminal. In one example, the third relay terminal regenerates a connection response message based on the connection response message sent by the second terminal and the connection message corresponding to the connection response message. Optionally, the third relay terminal determines the identifier of the second relay terminal that receives the connection response message, included in the connection response message generated by the third relay terminal, based on the connection response message sent by the second terminal and the connection message corresponding to the connection response message, and further determines the connection response message generated by the third relay terminal.

[0241] S57b. The second relay terminal receives a connection response message sent by the third relay terminal. The connection response message sent by the third relay terminal includes: a terminal identifier, an identifier of the third relay terminal, and an identifier of the second relay terminal. In one example, the second relay terminal regenerates a connection response message based on the connection response message sent by the third relay terminal and the connection message corresponding to the connection response message. Optionally, the second relay terminal determines the identifier of the first relay terminal that receives the connection response message, included in the connection response message generated by the second relay terminal, based on the connection response message sent by the third terminal and the connection message corresponding to the connection response message, and further determines the connection response message generated by the second relay terminal.

[0242] S57c. The first relay terminal receives a connection response message sent by the second relay terminal. The connection response message sent by the second relay terminal includes: a terminal identifier, an identifier of the second terminal, and an identifier of the first relay terminal. In one example, the first relay terminal regenerates a connection response message based on the connection response message sent by the second relay terminal and the connection message corresponding to the connection response message. Optionally, the first relay terminal determines the identifier of the first terminal receiving the connection response message, included in the connection response message generated by the first relay terminal, based on the connection response message sent by the second terminal and the connection message corresponding to the connection response message, and further determines the connection response message generated by the first relay terminal.

[0243] S58: The relay terminal sends the connection response message to the first terminal or other relay terminals according to the terminal identifier included in the connection response message and the identifier of the relay terminal that receives the connection response message.

[0244] In this embodiment, the relay terminal sends the regenerated connection response message to the first terminal or other relay terminals based on the terminal identifier included in the connection response message and the identifier of the relay terminal that sent the connection response message. This process may refer to the process described in step S56 where the second terminal sends the connection response message to the relay terminal corresponding to the connection response message. Alternatively, the relay terminal may determine the layer 2 address of the relay terminal that received the connection response message based on the identifier of the relay terminal that received the connection response message. Furthermore, the relay terminal may send the regenerated connection response message to the first terminal or other relay terminals based on the layer 2 address of the relay terminal that received the connection response message.

[0245] For example:

[0246] S58a. The third relay terminal sends the connection response message to the second relay terminal based on the terminal identifier included in the connection response message and the identifier of the relay terminal that receives the connection response message. As described in step S57b, the connection response message sent by the third relay terminal includes: the terminal identifier, the identifier of the third relay terminal, and the identifier of the second relay terminal. Optionally, the third relay terminal sends the connection response message to the second relay terminal based on the terminal identifier included in the connection response message and the identifier of the second relay terminal that receives the connection response message. Specifically, the third relay terminal can determine the layer 2 address of the second relay terminal based on the identifier of the second relay terminal that receives the connection response message. Further, the connection response message regenerated by the third relay terminal can be sent to the second relay terminal based on the layer 2 address of the second relay terminal.

[0247] S58b. The second relay terminal sends the connection response message to the first relay terminal based on the terminal identifier included in the connection response message and the identifier of the relay terminal that receives the connection response message. As described in step S57c, the connection response message sent by the second relay terminal includes: the terminal identifier, the identifier of the second relay terminal, and the identifier of the first relay terminal. Optionally, the second relay terminal sends the connection response message to the first relay terminal based on the terminal identifier included in the connection response message and the identifier of the first relay terminal that receives the connection response message. Specifically, the second relay terminal can determine the layer 2 address of the first relay terminal based on the identifier of the first relay terminal that receives the connection response message. Further, the second relay terminal can send the connection response message regenerated by the second relay terminal to the first relay terminal based on the layer 2 address of the first relay terminal.

[0248] S58c. The first relay terminal sends the connection response message to the first terminal based on the terminal identifier included in the connection response message and the identifier of the relay terminal that receives the connection response message. According to the description in step S57, the connection response message sent by the first relay terminal includes: the terminal identifier, the identifier of the first terminal, and the identifier of the first terminal. Optionally, the first relay terminal sends the connection response message to the first terminal based on the terminal identifier included in the connection response message and the identifier of the first terminal that receives the connection response message. Specifically, the first relay terminal can determine the layer 2 address of the first terminal based on the identifier of the first terminal that receives the connection response message. Furthermore, the connection response message regenerated by the first relay terminal can be sent to the first terminal based on the layer 2 address of the first terminal.

[0249] S59: The first terminal receives a connection response message sent by the first relay terminal.

[0250] The connection response message is a response message to the connection message. In this embodiment, the process by which the first terminal receives the connection response message sent by the first relay terminal can refer to the process described in step S58, in which the relay terminal sends the connection response message to the first terminal or another relay terminal based on the terminal identifier included in the connection response message and the identifier of the relay terminal that receives the connection response message. Optionally, the first terminal receives the connection response message sent by the first intermediate terminal based on the first terminal's layer 2 address.

[0251] In this embodiment, the connection message includes: a terminal identifier and second indication information; the second indication information is the first indication information in the discovery response message sent by the first relay terminal. In the process of the first terminal sending a connection message to the first relay terminal, and the relay terminal sending a connection message to other relay terminals or the second terminal, the relay terminal or the second terminal to be sent is determined according to the second indication information in the connection message, thereby improving the accuracy of the relay connection, saving the signaling overhead in the connection establishment process, and further improving the quality of the relay communication.

[0252] FIG6 is a signaling diagram of another method for establishing a relay connection provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG6 , the method includes:

[0253] S61: The relay terminal generates and broadcasts a second discovery message

[0254] The second discovery message is used by the first terminal to discover the second terminal. The second discovery message includes: fourth indication information and second discovery information. The fourth indication information indicates the relay terminals through which the second discovery information passes. The second discovery information includes: a terminal identifier and a relay service code. The description of the terminal identifier and relay service can be found in step S101 and will not be repeated in this embodiment. The second discovery information comes from the second terminal. Therefore, the relay terminals through which the second discovery information passes, as indicated by the fourth indication information, are all relay terminals through which the first terminal discovers the second terminal.

[0255] In this embodiment, the second discovery message is a discovery message generated by a relay terminal to enable the first terminal to discover the second terminal. The relay terminal that generates the second discovery message is a relay terminal that has already discovered the second terminal through another relay discovery or relay connection establishment process. Optionally, the relay terminal may obtain the second discovery information from the discovered second terminal and, based on the relay terminals passed through by the second terminal to the relay terminal, determine fourth indication information and further generate the second discovery message.

[0256] In this embodiment, after the relay terminal generates the second discovery message, it may broadcast the generated second discovery message so that the first terminal can discover the second terminal. The second discovery information included in the second discovery message does not change with the broadcast of the second discovery message, and the fourth indication information included in the second discovery message is updated with the broadcast of the second discovery message. That is, the fourth indication information is used to indicate the relay terminals that the second terminal passed through to reach the relay terminal that generated the second discovery message, as well as the relay terminals passed through during the broadcast process.

[0257] S62. The relay terminal receives fourth information; wherein the fourth information includes a second discovery message broadcast by each of the multiple other relay terminals.

[0258] In this embodiment, the other relay terminals include the relay terminal that generates the second discovery message, and / or other relay terminals that broadcast the second discovery message. Among them, the second discovery messages broadcast by different relay terminals included in the fourth information include the same second discovery information and different fourth indication information. For example, if the second discovery message is a discovery message broadcast by the relay terminal that generates the second discovery message, the fourth indication information indicates the relay terminals that the second terminal passes through to the relay terminal that generates the second discovery message; if the second discovery message is a discovery message broadcast by other relay terminals that broadcast the second discovery message, the fourth indication information indicates the relay terminals that the second terminal passes through to the relay terminal that generates the second discovery message, and the relay terminals passed through during the broadcast process.

[0259] S63. The relay terminal determines and broadcasts a second discovery message to be sent according to the fourth information.

[0260] In this embodiment, after receiving the fourth information, the relay terminal may determine and broadcast the second discovery message to be sent according to the fourth information. However, this application does not limit the process of determining and broadcasting the second discovery message to be sent according to the fourth information.

[0261] Optionally, determining and broadcasting the second discovery message to be sent according to the fourth information may include: determining and broadcasting the second discovery message to be sent according to the fourth indication information.

[0262] In one example, the second discovery message to be sent can be determined based on the fourth indication information included in the fourth information. Specifically, the number of relay terminals indicated by the fourth indication information in the second discovery message can be determined based on the fourth indication information of each second discovery message. Then, the second discovery message corresponding to the fourth indication information in which the number of indicated relay terminals is the smallest, or the number of relay terminals is less than a preset number threshold, can be determined as the second discovery message to be sent. Determining the second discovery message to be sent based on the number of relay terminals indicated by the fourth indication information can save wireless resources for relay connection establishment and relay communication.

[0263] In one example, the second discovery message to be sent can be determined based on the fourth indication information included in the fourth information. Specifically, the second discovery message corresponding to the fourth indication information of the indicated relay terminal that does not include the current relay terminal can be determined as the second discovery message to be sent based on the fourth indication information of each second discovery message. Determining the first discovery message to be sent based on the number of relay terminals indicated by the fourth indication information can avoid loops and broadcast storms in the relay discovery process, improve the efficiency of establishing the relay connection, and save wireless resources for establishing the relay connection.

[0264] In one example, the second discovery message to be sent can be determined based on the fourth indication information included in the fourth information. Specifically, the historical fourth indication information of the current relay terminal can be first obtained, wherein the historical fourth indication information is used to indicate the relay terminal that discovered the second terminal during the historical relay discovery or relay connection establishment process. The second discovery message corresponding to the fourth indication information where the number of relay terminals indicated by the fourth indication information is less than the number of relay terminals indicated by the historical fourth indication information is determined as the second discovery message to be sent. Determining the first discovery message to be sent based on the number of relay terminals indicated by the fourth indication information can save wireless resources for relay connection establishment and relay communication.

[0265] Optionally, the relay terminal may determine one or more ways of determining the second discovery message to be sent according to the fourth indication information included in the fourth information as shown in the above example, and determine and broadcast the second discovery message to be sent.

[0266] Optionally, the second discovery message also includes second hop count information; and / or the fourth information also includes the signal quality of the second discovery message; the second hop count information is used to limit the maximum number of hops for transmitting the second discovery information; in one example, the second hop count information is the value of the lifetime of the second discovery message, wherein the description of the lifetime can refer to the description in step S41, and this step is not repeated. Specifically, if the value TTL of the lifetime is not reduced to 0, the number of hops for transmitting the second discovery information does not reach the maximum number of hops. In one example, the second hop count information is the maximum hop value, wherein the maximum hop value needs to be combined with the fourth indication information included in the second discovery message to limit the maximum number of hops for transmitting the second discovery information. For example, if the number of relay terminals indicated by the fourth indication information is less than the maximum hop value, the number of hops for transmitting the second discovery information does not reach the maximum number of hops.

[0267] Optionally, determining and broadcasting the second discovery message to be sent based on the fourth information includes: determining and broadcasting the second discovery message to be sent based on one or more of the second hop count information and the signal quality of the second discovery message in the fourth information, and the fourth indication information.

[0268] In one example, the second discovery message to be sent can be determined based on the fourth indication information and the second hop count information included in the fourth information. Specifically, one or more of the ways to determine the second discovery message to be sent based on the fourth indication information included in the fourth information as shown in the above example can be used to determine and broadcast the second discovery message to be sent. At the same time, the second discovery message whose second discovery information does not reach the maximum hop count can be filtered out based on the second hop count information, and the second discovery message that meets both of the above filtering conditions can be determined as the second discovery message to be sent.

[0269] In one example, the second discovery message to be sent can be determined based on the fourth indication information included in the fourth information and the signal quality of the second discovery message, wherein, after receiving the second discovery message broadcast by other relay terminals, the signal quality of the second discovery message can be obtained. Specifically, according to the signal quality of each second discovery message, the second discovery message with a signal quality greater than a preset signal quality threshold can be filtered. At the same time, according to the fourth indication information included in the fourth information shown in the above example, one or more ways of determining the second discovery message to be sent can be determined and broadcast, and the second discovery message that meets both of the above filtering conditions can be determined as the second discovery message to be sent.

[0270] In one example, the second discovery message to be sent can be determined based on the fourth indication information, the second hop number information and the signal quality of the second discovery message included in the fourth information. Specifically, one or more of the ways to determine the second discovery message to be sent based on the fourth indication information included in the fourth information as shown in the above example can be used to determine and broadcast the second discovery message to be sent. At the same time, the second discovery message whose second discovery information does not reach the maximum hop number can be filtered according to the second hop number information. At the same time, the second discovery message whose second discovery information does not reach the maximum hop number can be filtered according to the second hop number information, and the second discovery message that meets all the above three filtering conditions can be determined as the second discovery message to be sent.

[0271] S64. The first terminal receives second information; wherein the second information includes a second discovery message broadcast by each of the multiple relay terminals.

[0272] The second discovery message is used by the first terminal to discover the second terminal; the second discovery message comes from the relay terminal, and the second discovery message includes: fourth indication information and second discovery information; the fourth indication information is used to indicate the relay terminal through which the second discovery information passes; the second discovery information includes: a terminal identifier and a relay service code; the second discovery information comes from the second terminal;

[0273] In this embodiment, the multiple relay terminals include a relay terminal that generates a second discovery message, and / or a relay terminal that broadcasts the second discovery message. Among them, the second discovery messages broadcast by different relay terminals included in the second information include the same second discovery information and different fourth indication information. For example, if the second discovery message is a discovery message broadcast by the relay terminal that generates the second discovery message, the fourth indication information indicates the relay terminals that the second terminal passes through to the relay terminal that generates the second discovery message; if the second discovery message is a discovery message broadcast by the relay terminal that broadcasts the second discovery message, the fourth indication information indicates the relay terminals that the second terminal passes through to the relay terminal that generates the second discovery message, and the relay terminals passed through during the broadcast process.

[0274] S65. The first terminal determines a first relay terminal according to the second information, where the first relay terminal is one of the multiple relay terminals.

[0275] In this embodiment, after receiving the second information, the first relay terminal may be determined based on the second information. The present application does not limit the process of determining the first relay terminal based on the second information. Optionally, determining the first relay terminal based on the second information may include: determining the first relay terminal based on fourth indication information in the second information.

[0276] In one example, the first relay terminal can be determined based on the fourth indication information included in the second information. Specifically, the number of relay terminals indicated by the fourth indication information in the second discovery message can be determined based on the fourth indication information of each second discovery message. Then, the second discovery message corresponding to the fourth indication information with the smallest number of indicated relay terminals or the number of relay terminals less than a preset number threshold is selected as the screening condition for the first relay terminal. Specifically, the relay terminal that sends the second discovery message that meets the screening condition can be determined as the first relay terminal. Determining the first relay terminal based on the number of relay terminals indicated by the fourth indication information can save wireless resources for relay connection establishment and relay communication.

[0277] Optionally, the second discovery message also includes second hop count information; and / or the second information also includes signal quality of the second discovery message; the second hop count information is used to limit the maximum number of hops for transmitting the second discovery information. For a description of the second hop count information, refer to the description in step S63 and will not be repeated in this step.

[0278] Optionally, determining the first relay terminal based on the second information includes: determining the first relay terminal based on the second hop count information in the second information, the signal quality of the second discovery message, one or more of the preset third indication information, and the fourth indication information; the preset third indication information is used to indicate the relay terminal that the first terminal expects to select.

[0279] In one example, the first terminal can be determined based on the second hop count information, the fourth indication information, the signal quality of the second discovery message, and the preset third indication information in the second information. Specifically, the second discovery message whose second discovery information does not reach the maximum hop count can be screened based on the second hop count information. At the same time, one or more of the methods for determining the second discovery message to be sent can be determined based on the fourth indication information included in the fourth information as shown in the above example, and the second discovery message to be sent can be determined and broadcast. At the same time, after receiving the second discovery message broadcast by other relay terminals, the signal quality of the second discovery message can be obtained. Specifically, the second discovery message whose signal quality is greater than the preset signal quality threshold can be screened based on the signal quality of each second discovery message. At the same time, the discovery response message corresponding to the fourth indication information of the relay terminal indicated, including the relay terminal that the first terminal expects to select indicated by the preset third indication information, can be screened based on the fourth indication information in the second information, and the relay terminal that sends the discovery response message that meets the above four screening conditions is determined as the first relay terminal.

[0280] In one example, the first terminal can be determined based on the fourth indication information in the second information, the signal quality of the second discovery message, and the preset third indication information. The specific process can be described in the above example and will not be repeated here. In another example, the first terminal can be determined based on the second hop count information, the fourth indication information, and the preset third indication information in the second information. The specific process can be described in the above example and will not be repeated here. In another example, the first terminal can be determined based on the second hop count information, the fourth indication information, and the signal quality of the second discovery message in the second information. The specific process can be described in the above example and will not be repeated here. In another example, the first terminal can be determined based on the fourth indication information in the second information and the preset third indication information. The specific process can be described in the above example and will not be repeated here. In another example, the first terminal can be determined based on the second hop count information and the fourth indication information in the second information. The specific process can be described in the above example and will not be repeated here. In another example, the first terminal can be determined based on the fourth indication information in the second information and the signal quality of the second discovery message. The specific process can be described in the above example and will not be repeated here.

[0281] In this embodiment, the terminal identifier includes: a first terminal identifier and a second terminal identifier, or the terminal identifier includes: a first terminal identifier. Specifically, in U2U communication, the terminal identifier includes: a first terminal identifier and a second terminal identifier, and in U2N communication, the terminal identifier includes: a first terminal identifier.

[0282] In this embodiment, in step S63, the relay terminal determines and broadcasts the second discovery message to be sent based on the fourth information, wherein the second discovery message to be sent is determined based on the number of relay terminals indicated by the fourth indication information, which can save wireless resources for relay connection establishment and relay communication. Determining the first discovery message to be sent based on the number of relay terminals indicated by the fourth indication information can also avoid loop phenomena and broadcast storm phenomena in the relay discovery process, improve the efficiency of relay connection establishment, and save wireless resources for relay connection establishment. Step S65, the first terminal determines the first relay terminal based on the second information, and the first relay terminal is one of the multiple relay terminals. Determining the first relay terminal based on the number of relay terminals indicated by the fourth indication information can save wireless resources for relay connection establishment and relay communication.

[0283] FIG7 is a signaling diagram of another method for establishing a relay connection provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG7 , the method includes:

[0284] S71. The first terminal sends a connection message to the first relay terminal.

[0285] The connection message includes: a terminal identifier and fifth indication information; the fifth indication information is the fourth indication information in the second discovery message sent by the first relay terminal. For example, for the scenario shown in Figure 1, the identifiers of the relay terminals corresponding to the fourth indication information are: the identifier of the first relay terminal, the identifier of the second relay terminal, and the identifier of the third relay terminal. For example, for the scenario shown in Figure 2, the identifiers of the relay terminals corresponding to the fourth indication information are: the identifier of the first relay terminal, the identifier of the second relay terminal, the identifier of the third relay terminal, and the identifier of the second terminal.

[0286] In this embodiment, after the first terminal, as described in step S65, determines the first relay terminal based on the second information, the first terminal sends a connection message to the first relay terminal. The present application does not limit the process by which the first terminal sends the connection message to the first relay terminal. Optionally, the first relay terminal identifier may be determined based on the fifth indication information included in the connection message. The first relay terminal's layer 2 address may then be determined based on an association between the first relay terminal identifier and the first relay terminal's layer 2 address. Finally, the connection message may be sent to the first relay terminal based on the first terminal's layer 2 address.

[0287] S72. The relay terminal receives a connection message sent by the first terminal or other relay terminals.

[0288] The connection message includes: a terminal identifier and fifth indication information. The fifth indication information is the fourth indication information in the second discovery message sent by the first relay terminal;

[0289] For example:

[0290] S72a: The first relay terminal receives the connection message sent by the first terminal. The process of the first terminal sending the connection message to the first relay terminal can be referred to the description in step S71, and this step will not be repeated here.

[0291] S72b. The second relay terminal receives the connection message sent by the first relay terminal.

[0292] S72c. The third relay terminal receives the connection message sent by the second relay terminal.

[0293] S73: The relay terminal determines, according to the fifth indication information, another relay or second terminal to which the connection message will be sent, and sends the connection message to the other relay or second terminal.

[0294] In this embodiment, the relay terminal determines the identifier of the relay terminal receiving the connection message based on the identifier of the relay terminal, i.e., the relay terminal sending the connection message, and the fifth indication information. Further, the relay terminal can send a connection message to the relay terminal receiving the connection message based on the identifier of the relay terminal receiving the connection message.

[0295] In one example, for the scenario shown in Figure 1, the fifth indication information is: the identifier of the first relay terminal, the identifier of the second relay terminal, and the identifier of the third relay terminal. Alternatively, for the scenario shown in Figure 2, the fifth indication information is: the identifier of the first relay terminal, the identifier of the second relay terminal, the identifier of the third relay terminal, and the identifier of the second terminal.

[0296] The present application does not limit the process in which the relay terminal determines, based on the fifth indication information, the other relay terminals or the second terminal to which the connection message will be sent, and sends the connection message thereto.

[0297] Optionally, determining, according to the fifth indication information, another relay or second terminal to which the connection message is to be sent, and sending the connection message thereto may include:

[0298] According to the fifth indication information, if it is determined that the connection message will be sent to other relay terminals, the connection message is unicast to them; specifically, the relay terminal determines the identifier of the relay terminal receiving the connection message based on the identifier of the relay terminal, that is, the relay terminal sending the connection message, and the fifth indication information, wherein, if the identifier of the relay terminal receiving the connection message corresponds to another relay terminal, the layer 2 address of the relay terminal receiving the connection message can be determined based on the identifier of the relay terminal receiving the connection message, and further, based on the layer 2 address of the relay terminal receiving the connection message, the connection address is unicast to the relay terminal receiving the connection message. For example, for the scenario shown in Figure 1, or for the scenario shown in Figure 2, the other relay terminals include: one of the first relay terminal, the second relay terminal, and the third relay terminal.

[0299] According to the fifth indication information, if it is determined that the connection message will be sent to the second terminal, a connection message is sent to it according to the type of the second terminal device; specifically, the relay terminal determines the identifier of the relay terminal receiving the connection message based on the relay terminal, that is, the identifier of the relay terminal that sends the connection message, and the fifth indication information, wherein, if the identifier of the relay terminal receiving the connection message corresponds to the second terminal, a connection message can be sent to it according to the type of the second terminal device. Among them, the types of the second terminal device include: relay device and terminal device. For example, for the scenario shown in Figure 1, the type of the second terminal device is a terminal device, and for the scenario shown in Figure 2, the type of the second terminal device is a relay device. Among them, this application does not limit the process of sending a connection message to the second terminal device according to its type. Optionally, sending a connection message to the second terminal device according to its type may include:

[0300] If the second terminal device is a relay device, a connection message is unicast to it; specifically, if the second terminal device is a relay device, the layer 2 address of the second terminal can be determined based on the association between the second terminal's identifier and the layer 2 address of the second terminal. Furthermore, the connection message can be unicast to the second terminal based on the layer 2 address of the second terminal. If the second terminal device is a terminal device, a connection message is broadcast. Specifically, if the second terminal device is a terminal device, if the association between the second terminal's identifier and the layer 2 address of the second terminal cannot be obtained, a connection message can be broadcast so that the second terminal receives the connection message broadcast by the relay terminal.

[0301] For example:

[0302] S73a. The first relay terminal determines, based on the fifth indication information, that the connection message will be sent to the second relay terminal, and sends the connection message to the second relay terminal. Specifically, the first relay terminal determines, based on the identifier of the first relay terminal and the fifth indication information, that the identifier of the relay terminal receiving the connection message is the identifier of the second relay terminal. Furthermore, based on the association between the identifier of the second relay terminal and the layer 2 address of the second relay terminal, the first relay terminal determines the layer 2 address of the second relay terminal. Then, based on the layer 2 address of the second relay terminal, the first relay terminal sends the connection message to the second relay terminal.

[0303] S73b. The second relay terminal determines, based on the fifth indication information, that the connection message will be sent to the third relay terminal, and sends the connection message to the third relay terminal. Specifically, the second relay terminal determines, based on the identifier of the second relay terminal and the fifth indication information, that the identifier of the relay terminal receiving the connection message is the identifier of the third relay terminal. Furthermore, based on the association between the identifier of the third relay terminal and the layer 2 address of the third relay terminal, the second relay terminal determines the layer 2 address of the third relay terminal. Then, based on the layer 2 address of the third relay terminal, the second relay terminal sends the connection message to the third relay terminal.

[0304] S73c. The third relay terminal determines that the connection message will be sent to the second terminal based on the fifth indication information, and sends the connection message to it. Specifically, for the scenario shown in Figure 1, the third relay terminal determines that the third relay terminal is the last relay terminal based on the identifier of the third relay terminal and the fifth indication information, and the connection message will be sent to the second terminal. At this time, the association relationship between the identifier of the second terminal and the layer 2 address of the second terminal cannot be obtained. Optionally, the third terminal broadcast can broadcast the connection message so that the second terminal receives the connection message broadcast by the third relay terminal. For the scenario shown in Figure 2, the third relay terminal determines that the identifier of the relay terminal receiving the connection message is the identifier of the second terminal based on the identifier of the third relay terminal and the fifth indication information. It can further determine the layer 2 address of the second terminal based on the association relationship between the identifier of the second terminal and the layer 2 address of the second terminal, and then send the connection message to the second terminal based on the layer 2 address of the second terminal.

[0305] S74. The second terminal receives a connection message sent by the relay terminal, where the connection message includes: a terminal identifier and fifth indication information;

[0306] The fifth indication information is the fourth indication information in the second discovery message sent by the first relay terminal; the first relay terminal is the relay terminal determined according to the second information, and the second information is information received by the first terminal including the second discovery message sent by each relay terminal in the multiple relay terminals;

[0307] In this embodiment, the relay terminal determines, based on the fifth indication information, another relay terminal or a second terminal to which the connection message will be sent, and after sending the connection message to the relay terminal, the second terminal receives the connection message sent by the relay terminal. Specifically, in the scenario shown in Figure 1, the second terminal receives the connection message sent by the relay terminal based on the second terminal's layer 2 address. In the scenario shown in Figure 2, the second terminal receives the connection message broadcast by the relay terminal.

[0308] For example:

[0309] S74a: The second terminal receives a connection message sent by the third relay terminal. The connection message includes a terminal identifier and fifth indication information. Specifically, for the scenario shown in FIG1 , the second terminal receives the connection message sent by the third relay terminal based on the second terminal's layer 2 address. For the scenario shown in FIG2 , the second terminal receives the connection message broadcast by the third relay terminal.

[0310] S75. The second terminal generates a connection response message corresponding to the connection message according to the terminal identifier and the fifth indication information included in the connection message, and determines the relay terminal corresponding to the connection response message;

[0311] Optionally, the connection response message includes: a terminal identifier, an identifier of the second terminal or the relay terminal that sends the connection response message, and an identifier of the relay terminal or the first terminal that receives the connection response message.

[0312] In this embodiment, the second terminal can generate a connection response message corresponding to the connection message based on the terminal identifier and the fifth indication information included in the connection message, wherein the connection response message corresponding to the connection message generated by the second terminal includes: the terminal identifier, the identifier of the second terminal and the identifier of the relay terminal that receives the connection response message, wherein the relay terminal corresponding to the identifier of the relay terminal that receives the connection response message is determined as the relay terminal corresponding to the connection response message.

[0313] For example:

[0314] S75a: The second terminal generates a connection response message corresponding to the connection message based on the terminal identifier and the fifth indication information included in the connection message, and determines the third relay terminal corresponding to the connection response message. The connection response message for the second terminal includes: the terminal identifier, the identifier of the second terminal, and the identifier of the third relay terminal.

[0315] S76. The second terminal sends a connection response message to the relay terminal corresponding to the connection response message.

[0316] In this embodiment, after the second terminal generates a connection response message corresponding to the connection message based on the terminal identifier and the fifth indication information included in the connection message, and determines the relay terminal corresponding to the connection response message, the second terminal can send the connection response message to the relay terminal corresponding to the connection response message. The present application does not limit the process by which the second terminal sends the connection response message to the relay terminal corresponding to the connection response message. Optionally, the layer 2 address of the relay terminal corresponding to the connection response message can be determined based on the association between the identifier of the relay terminal corresponding to the connection response message, that is, the relay terminal that receives the connection response message, and the layer 2 address of the relay terminal corresponding to the connection response message. Furthermore, the second terminal can send the connection response message to the relay terminal corresponding to the connection response message based on the layer 2 address of the relay terminal corresponding to the connection response message.

[0317] For example:

[0318] S56a. The second terminal sends the connection response message to the third relay terminal corresponding to the connection response message. Specifically, the second terminal may determine the layer 2 address of the third relay terminal corresponding to the connection response message based on the association between the identifier of the relay terminal corresponding to the connection response message, i.e., the third relay terminal, and the layer 2 address of the third relay terminal. Furthermore, the second terminal may send the connection response message to the third relay terminal based on the layer 2 address of the third relay terminal.

[0319] S77: The relay terminal receives a connection response message sent by the second terminal or other relay terminals.

[0320] The connection response message is a response message to the connection message; the connection response message includes: a terminal identifier and an identifier of a relay terminal that sends the connection response message;

[0321] In this embodiment, the process by which a relay terminal receives a connection response message sent by a second terminal or another relay terminal can refer to the process described in step S76, in which a second terminal sends a connection response message to a relay terminal corresponding to the connection response message. Alternatively, the relay terminal can receive a connection response message sent by the second terminal or another relay terminal using the relay terminal's layer 2 address. In one example, if the connection response message received by the relay terminal includes the identifier of the second terminal that sent the connection response message, the connection response message received by the relay terminal is the connection response message sent by the second terminal.

[0322] In one example, if the connection response message received by the relay terminal includes the identifier of the other relay terminal that sent the connection response message, the connection response message received by the relay terminal is the connection response message sent by the other relay terminal. In this embodiment, the connection response message sent by the other relay terminal is a connection response message regenerated based on the connection response message sent by the second terminal. The present application does not limit the process of regenerating the connection response message. Optionally, the connection message corresponding to the connection response message received by the relay terminal can be determined based on the terminal identifier, the identifier of the second terminal that sent the connection response message, and the identifier of the relay terminal that received the connection response message, included in the connection response message sent by the second terminal. The identifier of the first terminal or relay terminal that received the connection response message, included in the regenerated connection response message, can be determined based on the fifth indication information included in the connection response message, and the connection response message can be further regenerated.

[0323] For example:

[0324] S77a. The third relay terminal receives a connection response message sent by the second terminal. The connection response message sent by the second terminal includes: a terminal identifier, an identifier of the second terminal, and an identifier of the third relay terminal. In one example, the third relay terminal regenerates a connection response message based on the connection response message sent by the second terminal and the connection message corresponding to the connection response message. Optionally, the third relay terminal determines the identifier of the second relay terminal that receives the connection response message, included in the connection response message generated by the third relay terminal, based on the connection response message sent by the second terminal and the connection message corresponding to the connection response message, and further determines the connection response message generated by the third relay terminal.

[0325] S77b. The second relay terminal receives a connection response message sent by the third relay terminal. The connection response message sent by the third relay terminal includes: a terminal identifier, an identifier of the third relay terminal, and an identifier of the second relay terminal. In one example, the second relay terminal regenerates a connection response message based on the connection response message sent by the third relay terminal and the connection message corresponding to the connection response message. Optionally, the second relay terminal determines the identifier of the first relay terminal that receives the connection response message, included in the connection response message generated by the second relay terminal, based on the connection response message sent by the third terminal and the connection message corresponding to the connection response message, and further determines the connection response message generated by the second relay terminal.

[0326] S77c. The first relay terminal receives a connection response message sent by the second relay terminal. The connection response message sent by the second relay terminal includes: a terminal identifier, an identifier of the second terminal, and an identifier of the first relay terminal. In one example, the first relay terminal regenerates a connection response message based on the connection response message sent by the second relay terminal and the connection message corresponding to the connection response message. Optionally, the first relay terminal determines the identifier of the first terminal receiving the connection response message, included in the connection response message generated by the first relay terminal, based on the connection response message sent by the second terminal and the connection message corresponding to the connection response message, and further determines the connection response message generated by the first relay terminal.

[0327] S78: The relay terminal sends the connection response message to the first terminal or other relay terminals according to the terminal identifier included in the connection response message and the identifier of the relay terminal that sends the connection response message.

[0328] In this embodiment, the relay terminal sends the regenerated connection response message to the first terminal or other relay terminals based on the terminal identifier included in the connection response message and the identifier of the relay terminal that sent the connection response message. This process may refer to the process described in step S76 where the second terminal sends the connection response message to the relay terminal corresponding to the connection response message. Alternatively, the relay terminal may determine the layer 2 address of the relay terminal that received the connection response message based on the identifier of the relay terminal that received the connection response message. Furthermore, the relay terminal may send the regenerated connection response message to the first terminal or other relay terminals based on the layer 2 address of the relay terminal that received the connection response message.

[0329] For example:

[0330] S78a. The third relay terminal sends the connection response message to the second relay terminal based on the terminal identifier included in the connection response message and the identifier of the relay terminal that receives the connection response message. As described in step S77b, the connection response message sent by the third relay terminal includes: the terminal identifier, the identifier of the third relay terminal, and the identifier of the second relay terminal. Optionally, the third relay terminal sends the connection response message to the second relay terminal based on the terminal identifier included in the connection response message and the identifier of the second relay terminal that receives the connection response message. Specifically, the third relay terminal can determine the layer 2 address of the second relay terminal based on the identifier of the second relay terminal that receives the connection response message. Further, the connection response message regenerated by the third relay terminal can be sent to the second relay terminal based on the layer 2 address of the second relay terminal.

[0331] S78b. The second relay terminal sends the connection response message to the first relay terminal based on the terminal identifier included in the connection response message and the identifier of the relay terminal that receives the connection response message. As described in step S77c, the connection response message sent by the second relay terminal includes: the terminal identifier, the identifier of the second relay terminal, and the identifier of the first relay terminal. Optionally, the second relay terminal sends the connection response message to the first relay terminal based on the terminal identifier included in the connection response message and the identifier of the first relay terminal that receives the connection response message. Specifically, the second relay terminal can determine the layer 2 address of the first relay terminal based on the identifier of the first relay terminal that receives the connection response message. Further, the second relay terminal can send the connection response message regenerated by the second relay terminal to the first relay terminal based on the layer 2 address of the first relay terminal.

[0332] S78c. The first relay terminal sends the connection response message to the first terminal based on the terminal identifier included in the connection response message and the identifier of the relay terminal that receives the connection response message. According to the description in step S77, the connection response message sent by the first relay terminal includes: the terminal identifier, the identifier of the first terminal, and the identifier of the first terminal. Optionally, the first relay terminal sends the connection response message to the first terminal based on the terminal identifier included in the connection response message and the identifier of the first terminal that receives the connection response message. Specifically, the first relay terminal can determine the layer 2 address of the first terminal based on the identifier of the first terminal that receives the connection response message, and further, can send the connection response message regenerated by the first relay terminal to the first terminal based on the layer 2 address of the first terminal.

[0333] S79. The first terminal receives a connection response message sent by the first relay terminal.

[0334] The connection response message is a response message to the connection message. In this embodiment, the process by which the first terminal receives the connection response message sent by the first relay terminal can refer to the process described in step S78, in which the relay terminal sends the connection response message to the first terminal or another relay terminal based on the terminal identifier included in the connection response message and the identifier of the relay terminal that receives the connection response message. Optionally, the first terminal receives the connection response message sent by the first intermediate terminal based on the first terminal's layer 2 address.

[0335] In this embodiment, the terminal identifier includes: a first terminal identifier and a second terminal identifier, or the terminal identifier includes: a first terminal identifier. Specifically, in U2U communication, the terminal identifier includes: a first terminal identifier and a second terminal identifier, and in U2N communication, the terminal identifier includes: a first terminal identifier.

[0336] In this embodiment, the connection message includes: a terminal identifier and fifth indication information; the fifth indication information is the fourth indication information in the second discovery message sent by the first relay terminal. In the process of the first terminal sending a connection message to the first relay terminal, and the relay terminal sending a connection message to other relay terminals or the second terminal, the relay terminal or the second terminal to be sent is determined according to the fifth indication information in the connection message, thereby improving the accuracy of the relay connection, saving the signaling overhead in the connection establishment process, and further improving the quality of the relay communication.

[0337] FIG8 is a flowchart of another method for establishing a relay connection provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG8 , an embodiment of the present application provides a method for establishing a relay connection, which is executed by a relay terminal and includes:

[0338] S801: A relay terminal receives a connection message sent by a first terminal or other relay terminals.

[0339] The connection message includes: a terminal identifier and second indication information; the second indication information is the first indication information in the discovery response message sent by the first relay terminal; the first relay terminal is a relay terminal determined according to the first information, and the first information is information received by the first terminal including a discovery response message sent by each of the multiple relay terminals;

[0340] For the detailed description of this step, please refer to the description of step S52, and this step will not be repeated here.

[0341] S802: The relay terminal determines, according to the second indication information, another relay terminal or a second terminal to which the connection message will be sent, and sends the connection message to the other relay terminal or the second terminal.

[0342] For the detailed description of this step, please refer to the description of step S53, and this step will not be repeated here.

[0343] In this embodiment, the connection message includes: a terminal identifier and second indication information; the second indication information is the first indication information in the discovery message sent by the first relay terminal. The relay terminal determines the other relay terminals or the second terminal to which the connection message will be sent based on the second indication information, and sends the connection message to them, thereby improving the accuracy of the relay connection, saving the signaling overhead in the connection establishment process, and further improving the quality of the relay communication.

[0344] FIG9 is a flowchart of another method for establishing a relay connection provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG9 , an embodiment of the present application provides a method for establishing a relay connection, which is executed by a relay terminal and includes:

[0345] S901: A relay terminal receives a connection message sent by a first terminal or other relay terminals.

[0346] The connection message includes: a terminal identifier and fifth indication information; the fifth indication information is the fifth indication information and the fourth indication information in the second discovery message sent by the first relay terminal;

[0347] For the specific description of this step, please refer to the description in step S77, and this step will not be repeated here.

[0348] S902: The relay terminal determines, according to the fifth indication information, another relay or second terminal to which the connection message will be sent, and sends the connection message to the other relay or second terminal.

[0349] For the specific description of this step, please refer to the description in step S78, and this step will not be repeated here.

[0350] In this embodiment, the connection message includes: a terminal identifier and second indication information; the fifth indication information is the fourth indication information in the second discovery message sent by the first relay terminal. The relay terminal determines the other relays or second terminals to which the connection message will be sent based on the fifth indication information, and sends the connection message to them, thereby improving the accuracy of the relay connection, saving the signaling overhead in the connection establishment process, and further improving the quality of the relay communication.

[0351] FIG10 is a flowchart of another method for establishing a relay connection provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG10 , an embodiment of the present application provides a method for establishing a relay connection, which is performed by a second terminal and includes:

[0352] S1001. A second terminal receives a connection message sent by a relay terminal.

[0353] The connection message includes: a terminal identifier and second indication information; the second indication information is the first indication information in the discovery response message sent by the first relay terminal; the first relay terminal is a relay terminal determined according to the first information, and the first information is information received by the first terminal including a discovery response message sent by each of the multiple relay terminals;

[0354] The specific description of this step can refer to the description in step S54, and this step will not be repeated here.

[0355] S1002: The second terminal generates a connection response message corresponding to the connection message according to the terminal identifier and the second indication information included in the connection message, and determines the relay terminal corresponding to the connection response message.

[0356] For the detailed description of this step, please refer to the description of step S55, and this step will not be repeated here.

[0357] S1003. The second terminal sends a connection response message to the relay terminal corresponding to the connection response message.

[0358] For the detailed description of this step, please refer to the description of step S56, and this step will not be repeated here.

[0359] In this embodiment, the connection message includes: a terminal identifier and second indication information; the second indication information is the first indication information in the discovery message sent by the first relay terminal. The second terminal generates a connection response message corresponding to the connection message based on the terminal identifier and the second indication information included in the connection message, and determines the relay terminal corresponding to the connection response message, thereby improving the accuracy of the relay connection, saving the signaling overhead in the connection establishment process, and further improving the quality of the relay communication.

[0360] FIG11 is a flowchart of another method for establishing a relay connection provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG11 , an embodiment of the present application provides a method for establishing a relay connection, which is performed by a second terminal and includes:

[0361] S1101. A second terminal receives a connection message sent by a relay terminal; the connection message includes: a terminal identifier and fifth indication information.

[0362] The fifth indication information is the fourth indication information in the second discovery message sent by the first relay terminal; the first relay terminal is the relay terminal determined according to the second information, and the second information is information received by the first terminal including the second discovery message sent by each relay terminal in the multiple relay terminals;

[0363] For the detailed description of this step, please refer to the description of step S74, and this step will not be repeated here.

[0364] S1102. The second terminal generates a connection response message corresponding to the connection message according to the terminal identifier and fifth indication information included in the connection message, and determines the relay terminal corresponding to the connection response message;

[0365] For the detailed description of this step, please refer to the description of step S75, and this step will not be repeated here.

[0366] S1103: The second terminal sends a connection response message to the relay terminal corresponding to the connection response message.

[0367] For the detailed description of this step, please refer to the description in step S76, and this step will not be repeated here.

[0368] In this embodiment, the connection message includes: a terminal identifier and second indication information; the fifth indication information is the fourth indication information in the second discovery message sent by the first relay terminal. The second terminal generates a connection response message corresponding to the connection message based on the terminal identifier and the fifth indication information included in the connection message, and determines the relay terminal corresponding to the connection response message, thereby improving the accuracy of the relay connection, saving the signaling overhead in the connection establishment process, and further improving the quality of the relay communication.

[0369] The measurement method provided in the embodiment of the present application is described in detail above with reference to the accompanying drawings. Below, the device provided in the embodiment of the present application is described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0370] Figures 12 to 14 are schematic block diagrams of possible relay connection establishment devices provided in embodiments of the present application. These relay connection devices can be used to implement the functions of the first terminal, relay terminal or second terminal in the above-mentioned method embodiments, and thus can also achieve the beneficial effects possessed by the above-mentioned method embodiments. In an embodiment of the present application, the relay connection device can be the first terminal, relay terminal or second terminal in any one of the method embodiments shown in Figures 3 to 11, or it can be a component configured in a terminal or network device (such as a chip, a chip system, a processor, etc.), or it can be a logic module or software that can implement part or all of the functions of a terminal or network device.

[0371] In one example, FIG12 shows a schematic block diagram of a relay connection establishment apparatus 1200 on a first terminal side according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG12 , the relay connection establishment apparatus 1200 includes a transceiver unit 1210 and a processing unit 1220 .

[0372] In one possible design, the relay connection establishment device 1200 is used to implement the functions of the first terminal in any of the method embodiments shown in Figures 3 to 11. A more detailed description of the above-mentioned transceiver unit 1210 and processing unit 1220 can be directly obtained by referring to the relevant description of any of the method embodiments shown in Figures 3 to 11, and is not repeated here.

[0373] It should be noted that the transceiver unit may also be referred to as a transceiver module, transceiver, transceiver, or transceiver device. The processing unit may also be referred to as a processor, processing board, processing module, or processing device. Optionally, the transceiver unit is used to perform the sending and receiving operations on the terminal or network device side in the above method. The device used to implement the receiving function in the communication module can be considered the receiving unit, and the device used to implement the sending function in the communication module can be considered the sending unit. That is, the transceiver unit includes the receiving unit and the sending unit.

[0374] It should also be noted that, in one possible design, the aforementioned transceiver unit and / or processing unit may be implemented as a virtual module. For example, the processing unit may be implemented as a software function unit or a virtual device, and the transceiver unit may be implemented as a software function or a virtual device. In another possible design, the processing unit or the transceiver unit may also be implemented as a physical device. For example, if the device is implemented using a chip / chip circuit, the transceiver unit may be an input / output circuit and / or a communication interface that performs input operations (corresponding to the aforementioned receiving operations) and output operations (corresponding to the aforementioned sending operations); the processing unit may be an integrated processor, microprocessor, or integrated circuit.

[0375] The division of units in the embodiments of the present application is schematic and is merely a logical functional division. In actual implementation, other division methods may be used. Furthermore, the functional modules in the various examples of the embodiments of the present application may be integrated into a single processor, or may exist physically separately, or two or more modules may be integrated into a single module. The aforementioned integrated modules may be implemented in the form of hardware or software functional modules.

[0376] In one example, FIG13 shows a schematic block diagram of a relay connection establishment apparatus 1300 on a relay terminal side according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG13 , the relay connection establishment apparatus 1300 includes a transceiver unit 1310 and a processing unit 1320 .

[0377] In one possible design, the relay connection establishment device 1300 is used to implement the functions of the relay terminal in any of the method embodiments shown in Figures 3 to 11. A more detailed description of the transceiver unit 1310 and the processing unit 1320 can be directly obtained by referring to the relevant description of any of the method embodiments shown in Figures 3 to 11, and will not be repeated here.

[0378] It should be noted that the transceiver unit may also be referred to as a transceiver module, transceiver, transceiver, or transceiver device. The processing unit may also be referred to as a processor, processing board, processing module, or processing device. Optionally, the transceiver unit is used to perform the sending and receiving operations on the terminal or network device side in the above method. The device used to implement the receiving function in the communication module can be considered the receiving unit, and the device used to implement the sending function in the communication module can be considered the sending unit. That is, the transceiver unit includes the receiving unit and the sending unit.

[0379] It should also be noted that, in one possible design, the aforementioned transceiver unit and / or processing unit may be implemented as a virtual module. For example, the processing unit may be implemented as a software function unit or a virtual device, and the transceiver unit may be implemented as a software function or a virtual device. In another possible design, the processing unit or the transceiver unit may also be implemented as a physical device. For example, if the device is implemented using a chip / chip circuit, the transceiver unit may be an input / output circuit and / or a communication interface that performs input operations (corresponding to the aforementioned receiving operations) and output operations (corresponding to the aforementioned sending operations); the processing unit may be an integrated processor, microprocessor, or integrated circuit.

[0380] The division of units in the embodiments of the present application is schematic and is merely a logical functional division. In actual implementation, other division methods may be used. Furthermore, the functional modules in the various examples of the embodiments of the present application may be integrated into a single processor, or may exist physically separately, or two or more modules may be integrated into a single module. The aforementioned integrated modules may be implemented in the form of hardware or software functional modules.

[0381] In one example, FIG14 shows a schematic block diagram of a relay connection establishment apparatus 1400 on a second terminal side according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG14 , the relay connection establishment apparatus 1400 includes a transceiver unit 1410 and a processing unit 1420 .

[0382] In one possible design, the relay connection establishment device 1400 is used to implement the functions of the relay terminal in any of the method embodiments shown in Figures 3 to 11. A more detailed description of the transceiver unit 1410 and the processing unit 1420 can be directly obtained by referring to the relevant description of any of the method embodiments shown in Figures 3 to 11, and will not be repeated here.

[0383] It should be noted that the transceiver unit may also be referred to as a transceiver module, transceiver, transceiver, or transceiver device. The processing unit may also be referred to as a processor, processing board, processing module, or processing device. Optionally, the transceiver unit is used to perform the sending and receiving operations on the terminal or network device side in the above method. The device used to implement the receiving function in the communication module can be considered the receiving unit, and the device used to implement the sending function in the communication module can be considered the sending unit. That is, the transceiver unit includes the receiving unit and the sending unit.

[0384] It should also be noted that, in one possible design, the aforementioned transceiver unit and / or processing unit may be implemented as a virtual module. For example, the processing unit may be implemented as a software function unit or a virtual device, and the transceiver unit may be implemented as a software function or a virtual device. In another possible design, the processing unit or the transceiver unit may also be implemented as a physical device. For example, if the device is implemented using a chip / chip circuit, the transceiver unit may be an input / output circuit and / or a communication interface that performs input operations (corresponding to the aforementioned receiving operations) and output operations (corresponding to the aforementioned sending operations); the processing unit may be an integrated processor, microprocessor, or integrated circuit.

[0385] The division of units in the embodiments of the present application is schematic and is merely a logical functional division. In actual implementation, other division methods may be used. Furthermore, the functional modules in the various examples of the embodiments of the present application may be integrated into a single processor, or may exist physically separately, or two or more modules may be integrated into a single module. The aforementioned integrated modules may be implemented in the form of hardware or software functional modules.

[0386] Figures 15 to 17 are schematic block diagrams of possible relay connection establishment devices provided in embodiments of the present application. These relay connection establishment devices can be used to implement the functions of the first terminal, relay terminal or second terminal in the above-mentioned method embodiments, and thus can also achieve the beneficial effects possessed by the above-mentioned method embodiments. In an embodiment of the present application, the relay connection establishment device can be the first terminal, relay terminal or second terminal in any one of the method embodiments shown in Figures 3 to 11, or it can be a component configured in a terminal or network device (such as a chip, a chip system, a processor, etc.), or it can be a logic module or software that can implement some or all of the functions of a terminal or network device.

[0387] In one example, Figure 15 shows a schematic block diagram of a relay connection establishment device 1500 on a first terminal side according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 15, relay connection establishment device 1500 includes a processor 1510. Processor 1510 can be configured to execute computer programs or instructions in memory to implement the steps performed by the first terminal in any of the method embodiments shown in Figures 3 to 11.

[0388] Optionally, the relay connection establishment device 1500 further includes a communication interface 1520. The processor 1510 and the communication interface 1520 are coupled to each other. It is understood that the communication interface 1520 can be a transceiver or an input / output interface.

[0389] Optionally, the relay connection establishing apparatus 1500 may further include a memory 1530 for storing instructions executed by the processor 1510 or storing input data required by the processor 1510 to execute instructions or storing data generated after the processor 1510 executes instructions.

[0390] When the relay connection establishment device 1500 is used to implement the method shown in any of Figures 3 to 11, the processor 1510 is used to execute the functions of the processing unit 1210, and the communication interface 1520 is used to execute the functions of the transceiver unit 1220. Whether the communication interface 1520 is used for sending or receiving can be determined by whether it is used to perform a sending action or a receiving action in the solution implemented by the communication device 1500.

[0391] When the relay connection establishment device 1500 is a chip applied to a terminal, the chip implements the functions of the terminal in the above method embodiment. The chip of the terminal receives a signal from other modules in the terminal (such as a radio frequency module or antenna), and the signal may be sent to the terminal by the network device; or the chip of the terminal sends a signal to other modules in the terminal (such as a radio frequency module or antenna), and the signal may be sent to the network device by the terminal.

[0392] It is understood that when the relay connection establishment device 1500 is a first terminal, the communication interface 1520 may be a transceiver, specifically including a transmitter and a receiver, where the transmitter is used to send signals and the receiver is used to receive signals. When the relay connection establishment device 1500 is a chip applied to a terminal, the communication interface 1520 may be an input / output circuit, a bus, a module, a pin, or other type of communication interface, wherein the input circuit of the input / output circuit can be used for receiving, and the output interface can be used for sending.

[0393] It should be understood that in the relay connection establishment device 1500 shown in Figure 15, the processor 1510 may correspond to the processing unit 1210 in the relay connection establishment device 1200 above, and the communication interface 1520 may correspond to the transceiver unit 1220 in the relay connection establishment device 1200 above.

[0394] It should also be understood that the coupling in the embodiments of the present application is an indirect coupling or communication connection between devices, units, or modules, which can be electrical, mechanical, or other forms, and is used for information exchange between devices, units, or modules. The processor 1510 may operate in conjunction with the memory 1530. The specific connection medium between the processor 1510, communication interface 1520, and memory 1530 is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0395] Optionally, the processor 1510, the communication interface 1520, and the memory 1530 are interconnected via a bus. The bus may be a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) bus or an extended industry standard architecture (EISA) bus. The bus may be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, and the like.

[0396] In one example, Figure 16 shows a schematic block diagram of a relay connection establishment device 1600 on the relay terminal side according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 16, the relay connection establishment device 1600 includes a processor 1610. The processor 1610 can be configured to execute computer programs or instructions in a memory to implement the steps performed by the relay terminal in any of the method embodiments shown in Figures 3 to 11.

[0397] Optionally, the relay connection establishment device 1600 further includes a communication interface 1620. The processor 1610 and the communication interface 1620 are coupled to each other. It is understood that the communication interface 1620 may be a transceiver or an input / output interface.

[0398] Optionally, the relay connection establishing device 1600 may further include a memory 1630 for storing instructions executed by the processor 1610 or storing input data required by the processor 1610 to execute instructions or storing data generated after the processor 1610 executes instructions.

[0399] When the relay connection establishment device 1600 is used to implement the method shown in any of Figures 3 to 11, the processor 1610 is used to perform the functions of the processing unit 1310, and the communication interface 1620 is used to perform the functions of the transceiver unit 1320. Whether the communication interface 1620 is used for sending or receiving can be determined by whether it is used to perform a sending action or a receiving action in the solution implemented by the communication device 1600.

[0400] When the relay connection establishment device 1600 is a chip implemented in a terminal, the chip implements the functions of the terminal in the above-described method embodiment. The terminal chip receives signals from other modules in the terminal (such as a radio frequency module or antenna), which may be signals sent by a network device to the terminal; or the terminal chip sends signals to other modules in the terminal (such as a radio frequency module or antenna), which may be signals sent by the terminal to a network device.

[0401] It is understood that when the relay connection establishment device 1600 is a relay terminal, the communication interface 1620 may be a transceiver, specifically including a transmitter and a receiver, where the transmitter is used to send signals and the receiver is used to receive signals. When the relay connection establishment device 1600 is a chip applied to a terminal, the communication interface 1620 may be an input / output circuit, a bus, a module, a pin, or other type of communication interface, wherein the input circuit of the input / output circuit can be used for receiving, and the output interface can be used for sending.

[0402] It should be understood that in the relay connection establishment device 1600 shown in Figure 16, the processor 1610 may correspond to the processing unit 1310 in the relay connection establishment device 1300 above, and the communication interface 1620 may correspond to the transceiver unit 1320 in the relay connection establishment device 1300 above.

[0403] It should also be understood that the coupling in the embodiments of the present application is an indirect coupling or communication connection between devices, units, or modules, which can be electrical, mechanical, or other forms, and is used for information exchange between devices, units, or modules. The processor 1610 may operate in conjunction with the memory 1630. The specific connection medium between the processor 1610, communication interface 1620, and memory 1630 is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0404] Optionally, the processor 1610, the communication interface 1620, and the memory 1630 are interconnected via a bus. The bus may be a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) bus or an extended industry standard architecture (EISA) bus. The bus may be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, and the like.

[0405] In one example, Figure 17 shows a schematic block diagram of a relay connection establishment device 1700 on the second terminal side according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 17, relay connection establishment device 1700 includes a processor 1710. Processor 1710 can be configured to execute computer programs or instructions in memory to implement the steps performed by the second terminal in any of the method embodiments shown in Figures 3 to 11.

[0406] Optionally, the relay connection establishment device 1700 further includes a communication interface 1720. The processor 1710 and the communication interface 1720 are coupled to each other. It is understood that the communication interface 1720 may be a transceiver or an input / output interface.

[0407] Optionally, the relay connection establishing device 1700 may further include a memory 1730 for storing instructions executed by the processor 1710 or storing input data required by the processor 1710 to execute instructions or storing data generated after the processor 1710 executes instructions.

[0408] When the relay connection establishment device 1700 is used to implement the method shown in any of Figures 3 to 11, the processor 1710 is used to perform the functions of the processing unit 1410, and the communication interface 1720 is used to perform the functions of the transceiver unit 1420. Whether the communication interface 1720 is used for sending or receiving can be determined by whether it is used to perform a sending action or a receiving action in the solution implemented by the communication device 1700.

[0409] When the relay connection establishment device 1700 is a chip implemented in a terminal, the chip implements the terminal functions described in the method embodiments. The terminal chip receives signals from other modules in the terminal (e.g., a radio frequency module or antenna), which may be signals sent by a network device to the terminal; or the terminal chip sends signals to other modules in the terminal (e.g., a radio frequency module or antenna), which may be signals sent by the terminal to a network device.

[0410] It is understood that when the relay connection establishment device 1700 is a second terminal, the communication interface 1720 may be a transceiver, specifically including a transmitter and a receiver, where the transmitter is used to send signals and the receiver is used to receive signals. When the relay connection establishment device 1700 is a chip applied to a terminal, the communication interface 1720 may be an input / output circuit, a bus, a module, a pin, or other type of communication interface, wherein the input circuit of the input / output circuit can be used for receiving, and the output interface can be used for sending.

[0411] It should be understood that in the relay connection establishment device 1700 shown in Figure 17, the processor 1710 may correspond to the processing unit 1410 in the relay connection establishment device 1400 above, and the communication interface 1720 may correspond to the transceiver unit 1420 in the relay connection establishment device 1400 above.

[0412] It should also be understood that the coupling in the embodiments of the present application is an indirect coupling or communication connection between devices, units, or modules, which can be electrical, mechanical, or other forms, and is used for information exchange between devices, units, or modules. The processor 1710 may operate in conjunction with the memory 1730. The specific connection medium between the processor 1710, communication interface 1720, and memory 1730 is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0413] Optionally, the processor 1710, the communication interface 1720, and the memory 1730 are interconnected via a bus. The bus may be a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) bus or an extended industry standard architecture (EISA) bus. The bus may be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, and the like.

[0414] It is understood that the processor in the embodiments of the present application may be a central processing unit (CPU), or may be other general-purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSP), application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC), field programmable gate arrays (FPGA), or other programmable logic devices, transistor logic devices, hardware components, or any combination thereof. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor.

[0415] The memory in the embodiments of the present application may be a volatile memory or a non-volatile memory, or may include both volatile and non-volatile memories. Among them, the non-volatile memory may be a read-only memory (ROM), a programmable read-only memory (PROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), or a flash memory. The volatile memory may be a random access memory (RAM), which is used as an external cache. By way of example and not limitation, many forms of RAM are available, such as static RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rate SDRAM (DDR SDRAM), enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), synchronous link DRAM (SLDRAM), and direct RAM bus RAM (DR RAM). It should be noted that the memory of the systems and methods described herein is intended to include, but is not limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.

[0416] The present application also provides a relay connection establishment system, which includes the aforementioned first terminal, a relay terminal, and a second terminal.

[0417] The present application also provides a computer program product, which includes: a computer program (also referred to as code, or instructions), which, when executed, enables a computer to execute the method executed by a terminal or the method executed by a network device in the embodiments shown in Figures 3 to 11.

[0418] The present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program (also referred to as code or instructions). When the computer program is executed, the computer executes the method executed by the terminal or the method executed by the network device in the embodiments shown in Figures 3 to 11.

[0419] The terms "unit," "module," and the like used in this specification may be used to refer to a computer-related entity, hardware, firmware, a combination of hardware and software, software, or software in execution.

[0420] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative logical blocks and steps described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented using electronic hardware, or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether these functions are performed in hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Professionals and technicians may use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered beyond the scope of this application. In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed devices, equipment, and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are merely illustrative. For example, the division of the units is only a logical function division. In actual implementation, there may be other division methods, such as multiple units or components can be combined or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not performed. In addition, the coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed can be through some interface, indirect coupling or communication connection of devices or units, and can be electrical, mechanical, or other forms.

[0421] The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separate, and the components shown as units may or may not be physical units, that is, they may be located in one place or distributed across multiple network units. Some or all of the units may be selected to achieve the purpose of the solution of this embodiment according to actual needs.

[0422] In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist physically separately, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit.

[0423] In the above embodiments, the functions of each functional unit can be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented using software, it can be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions (programs). When the computer program instructions (programs) are loaded and executed on a computer, the process or function according to the embodiment of the present application is generated in whole or in part. The computer can be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable device. The computer instructions can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium. For example, the computer instructions can be transmitted from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center via a wired (e.g., coaxial cable, optical fiber, digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) method. The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server or data center that includes one or more available media integrated therein. The available medium may be a magnetic medium (eg, a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape), an optical medium (eg, a digital video disc (DVD)), or a semiconductor medium (eg, a solid state disk (SSD)).

[0424] If this function is implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as an independent product, it can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present application, or the part that contributes to the prior art, or the part of the technical solution, can be embodied in the form of a software product. The computer software product is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions for enabling a computer device (which can be a personal computer, server, or network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the steps of the various embodiments of the present application. The aforementioned storage medium includes various media that can store program codes, such as a USB flash drive, a mobile hard disk, a ROM, a RAM, a magnetic disk, or an optical disk.

[0425] The above are only specific embodiments of the present application, but the scope of protection of this application is not limited thereto. Any changes or substitutions that can be easily conceived by a person skilled in the art within the technical scope disclosed in this application should be included in the scope of protection of this application. Therefore, the scope of protection of this application should be based on the scope of protection of the claims.

Claims

1. A method for establishing a relay connection, characterized in that: Applied to the first terminal, including: Receive first information; wherein the first information includes a discovery response message sent by each relay terminal of a plurality of relay terminals; the discovery response message is a response message to the first discovery message; the discovery response message includes first indication information and first discovery information; the first indication information is used to indicate the relay terminal through which the first discovery information passes; the first discovery information includes: a terminal identifier and a relay service code; the first discovery message is used by the first terminal to discover the second terminal; Determine a first relay terminal according to the first information, where the first relay terminal is one of the multiple relay terminals; A connection message is sent to the first relay terminal; the connection message includes: a terminal identifier and second indication information; the second indication information is the first indication information in the discovery response message sent by the first relay terminal.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that Determining a first relay terminal according to the first information includes: The first relay terminal is determined according to the first indication information in the first information.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that The discovery response message also includes a lifetime value; and / or, the first information also includes a signal quality of the discovery response message; the lifetime value is the value of the lifetime when the first discovery message corresponding to the discovery response message is responded to.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that Determining a first relay terminal according to the first information includes: The first relay terminal is determined based on the lifetime value in the first information, the signal quality of the discovery response message, one or more preset third indication information, and the first indication information; the preset third indication information is used to indicate the relay terminal that the first terminal expects to select.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that The method further comprises: Broadcast the first discovery message; the first discovery message includes: first discovery information, first hop information, and first indication information; wherein the first hop information is used to limit the maximum hop number of transmitting the first discovery information; the first indication information is used to indicate the relay terminal through which the first discovery information passes.

6. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that The method further comprises: Receive a connection response message sent by the first relay terminal; wherein the connection response message is a response message to the connection message.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that The terminal identification includes: a first terminal identification and a second terminal identification, or the terminal identification includes: a first terminal identification.

8. A method for establishing a relay connection, characterized in that: Applied to the first terminal, including: receiving second information; wherein the second information includes a second discovery message broadcast by each of the plurality of relay terminals; the second discovery message is used by the first terminal to discover the second terminal; the second discovery message comes from the relay terminal, the second discovery message includes: fourth indication information and second discovery information; the fourth indication information is used to indicate the relay terminal through which the second discovery information passes; the second discovery information includes: a terminal identifier and a relay service code; the second discovery information comes from the second terminal; determining a first relay terminal according to the second information, where the first relay terminal is one of the multiple relay terminals; A connection message is sent to the first relay terminal; the connection message includes: a terminal identifier and fifth indication information; the fifth indication information is the fourth indication information in the second discovery message sent by the first relay terminal.

9. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that Determining the first relay terminal according to the second information includes: The first relay terminal is determined according to the fourth indication information in the second information.

10. The method according to claim 8 or 9, characterized in that The second discovery message further includes second hop count information; and / or the second information further includes signal quality of the second discovery message; the second hop count information is used to limit the maximum hop count for transmitting the second discovery information.

11. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that Determining the first relay terminal according to the second information includes: The first relay terminal is determined based on the second hop count information in the second information, the signal quality of the second discovery message, one or more preset third indication information, and the fourth indication information; the preset third indication information is used to indicate the relay terminal that the first terminal expects to select.

12. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that The method further comprises: Receive a connection response message sent by the first relay terminal; wherein the connection response message is a response message to the connection message.

13. The method according to any one of claims 8 to 12, characterized in that The terminal identification includes: a first terminal identification and a second terminal identification, or the terminal identification includes: a first terminal identification.

14. A method for establishing a relay connection, characterized in that: Applicable to relay terminals, including: Receiving a connection message sent by a first terminal or other relay terminal; the connection message includes: a terminal identifier and second indication information; the second indication information is the first indication information in a discovery response message sent by the first relay terminal; the first relay terminal is a relay terminal determined according to the first information, and the first information is information received by the first terminal including a discovery response message sent by each of the multiple relay terminals; According to the second indication information, it is determined that another relay terminal or a second terminal to which the connection message will be sent is sent, and the connection message is sent thereto.

15. The method according to claim 14, characterized in that Determining, according to the second indication information, another relay or second terminal to which the connection message is to be sent, and sending the connection message thereto, includes: If, according to the second indication information, it is determined that the connection message will be sent to other relay terminals, unicast the connection message to them; According to the second indication information, if it is determined that the connection message will be sent to the second terminal, the connection message is sent to the second terminal device according to the type of the second terminal device; wherein the type of the second terminal device includes: a relay device and a terminal device.

16. The method according to claim 15, characterized in that Sending a connection message to the second terminal device according to its type includes: If the type of the second terminal device is a relay device, unicast the connection message to it; If the type of the second terminal device is a terminal device, a connection message is broadcast.

17. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 16, characterized in that The method further comprises: Receiving a discovery response message sent by a second terminal or other relay terminal; the discovery response message is a response message to the first discovery message; the discovery response message includes first indication information and first discovery information; the first indication information is used to indicate the relay terminal through which the first discovery information passes; the first discovery information includes: a terminal identifier and a relay service code; the first discovery message is used by the first terminal to discover the second terminal; According to the layer 2 address association relationship, the discovery response message is sent to the corresponding other relay terminal or the first terminal.

18. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 16, characterized in that The method further comprises: receiving third information; wherein the third information includes a first discovery message broadcast by the first terminal or other relay terminal; the first discovery message includes: first discovery information, first hop number information, and first indication information; wherein the first hop number information is used to limit the maximum number of hops for transmitting the first discovery information; and the first indication information is used to indicate the relay terminal through which the first discovery information passes; According to the third information, a first discovery message to be sent is determined and broadcast.

19. The method according to claim 18, characterized in that The third information further includes a signal quality of the first discovery message; and determining and broadcasting the first discovery message to be sent based on the third information includes: The first discovery message to be sent is determined and broadcast according to one or more of the first hop count information, the signal quality of the first discovery message, and the first indication information.

20. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 16, characterized in that The method further comprises: Receiving a connection response message sent by a second terminal or other relay terminal; wherein the connection response message is a response message to the connection message; the connection response message includes: a terminal identifier and an identifier of the relay terminal that sends the connection response message; The connection response message is sent to the first terminal or other relay terminals according to the terminal identifier included in the connection response message and the identifier of the relay terminal that receives the connection response message.

21. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 20, characterized in that The terminal identification includes: a first terminal identification and a second terminal identification, or the terminal identification includes: a first terminal identification.

22. A method for establishing a relay connection, characterized in that: Applicable to relay terminals, including: Receive a connection message sent by the first terminal or other relay terminal; the connection message includes: a terminal identifier and fifth indication information; the fifth indication information is the fourth indication information in the second discovery message sent by the first relay terminal; According to the fifth indication information, another relay or second terminal to which the connection message will be sent is determined, and the connection message is sent thereto.

23. The method according to claim 22, characterized in that Determining, according to the fifth indication information, another relay or second terminal to which the connection message is to be sent, and sending the connection message thereto, includes: If, according to the fifth indication information, it is determined that the connection message will be sent to other relay terminals, unicast the connection message to them; According to the fifth indication information, if it is determined that the connection message will be sent to the second terminal, the connection message is sent to the second terminal device according to the type of the second terminal device; wherein the type of the second terminal device includes: a relay device and a terminal device.

24. The method according to claim 23, wherein Sending a connection message to the second terminal device according to its type includes: If the type of the second terminal device is a relay device, unicast the connection message to it; If the type of the second terminal device is a relay device, a connection message is broadcast.

25. The method according to any one of claims 22 to 24, characterized in that The method further comprises: Generate and broadcast a second discovery message; the second discovery message is used by the first terminal to discover the second terminal; the second discovery message includes: fourth indication information and second discovery information; the fourth indication information is used to indicate the relay terminal through which the second discovery information passes; the second discovery information includes: terminal identification and relay service code; the second discovery information comes from the second terminal.

26. The method according to claim 25, characterized in that The method further comprises: receiving fourth information; wherein the fourth information includes a second discovery message broadcast by each of the multiple other relay terminals; A second discovery message to be sent is determined and broadcast according to the fourth information.

27. The method according to claim 26, characterized in that Determining and broadcasting a second discovery message to be sent according to the fourth information includes: According to the fourth indication information, a second discovery message to be sent is determined and broadcast.

28. The method according to claim 26 or 27, characterized in that The second discovery message further includes second hop count information; and / or the fourth information further includes signal quality of the second discovery message; the second hop count information is used to limit the maximum hop count for transmitting the second discovery information; Determining and broadcasting a second discovery message to be sent according to the fourth information includes: The second discovery message to be sent is determined and broadcasted according to one or more of the second hop count information and the signal quality of the second discovery message in the fourth information, and the fourth indication information.

29. The method according to any one of claims 22 to 24, characterized in that The method further comprises: Receiving a connection response message sent by a second terminal or other relay terminal; wherein the connection response message is a response message to the connection message; the connection response message includes: a terminal identifier and an identifier of the relay terminal that sends the connection response message; The connection response message is sent to the first terminal or other relay terminals according to the terminal identifier included in the connection response message and the identifier of the relay terminal that sends the connection response message.

30. The method according to any one of claims 22 to 29, characterized in that The terminal identification includes: a first terminal identification and a second terminal identification, or the terminal identification includes: a first terminal identification.

31. A method for establishing a relay connection, characterized in that: Applied to the second terminal, including: Receive a connection message sent by a relay terminal; the connection message includes: a terminal identifier and second indication information; the second indication information is the first indication information in a discovery response message sent by a first relay terminal; the first relay terminal is a relay terminal determined according to the first information, and the first information is information received by the first terminal including a discovery response message sent by each of the multiple relay terminals; Generate a connection response message corresponding to the connection message according to the terminal identifier and the second indication information included in the connection message, and determine the relay terminal corresponding to the connection response message; The connection response message is sent to the relay terminal corresponding to the connection response message.

32. The method according to claim 31, characterized in that The connection response message includes a terminal identifier, an identifier of a second terminal or a relay terminal that sends the connection response message, and an identifier of a relay terminal or a first terminal that receives the connection response message.

33. The method according to claim 31 or 32, characterized in that The method further comprises: receiving fifth information; wherein the fifth information includes a first discovery message broadcast by each of the plurality of relay terminals, the first discovery message including: first discovery information, first hop number information, and first indication information; wherein the first hop number information is used to limit a maximum number of hops for transmitting the first discovery information; and the first indication information is used to indicate the relay terminals through which the first discovery information passes; Determining a first discovery message to be responded to according to the fifth information; Generate a discovery response message for the first discovery message to be responded to; the discovery response message includes first indication information and first discovery information; the first indication information is used to indicate the relay terminal through which the first discovery information passes; the first discovery information includes: a terminal identifier and a relay service code; According to the layer 2 address association relationship, the discovery response message is sent to the corresponding relay terminal.

34. The method according to claim 33, wherein Determining, according to the fifth information, a first discovery message to be responded to, includes: A first discovery message to be responded to is determined according to the first hop count information and / or the first indication information.

35. The method according to claim 33 or 34, characterized in that The fifth information also includes the signal quality of the first discovery message.

36. The method according to claim 35, characterized in that Determining, according to the fifth information, a first discovery message to be responded to, includes: Determine the first discovery message to be responded to based on the first hop count information, the signal quality of the first discovery message, one or more of the preset sixth indication information, and the first indication information; the preset sixth indication information is used to indicate the relay terminal that the second terminal expects to select.

37. The method according to any one of claims 31 to 36, characterized in that The terminal identification includes: a first terminal identification and a second terminal identification, or the terminal identification includes: a first terminal identification.

38. A method for establishing a relay connection, characterized in that: Applied to the second terminal, including: Receive a connection message sent by a relay terminal; the connection message includes: a terminal identifier and fifth indication information; the fifth indication information is the fourth indication information in the second discovery message sent by the first relay terminal; the first relay terminal is a relay terminal determined according to the second information, and the second information is information received by the first terminal including the second discovery message sent by each relay terminal in the plurality of relay terminals; Generate a connection response message corresponding to the connection message according to the terminal identifier and the fifth indication information included in the connection message, and determine the relay terminal corresponding to the connection response message; The connection response message is sent to the relay terminal corresponding to the connection response message.

39. The method according to claim 38, characterized in that The connection response message includes: a terminal identifier, an identifier of a second terminal or a relay terminal that sends the connection response message, and an identifier of a relay terminal or a first terminal that receives the connection response message.

40. The method according to claim 38 or 39, characterized in that The terminal identification includes: a first terminal identification and a second terminal identification, or the terminal identification includes: a first terminal identification.

41. A relay connection establishment device, characterized in that: include: processor, memory, and communication interfaces; The memory is used to store computer-executable program code, and the program code includes instructions; when the processor executes the instructions, the instructions cause the terminal device to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, or execute the method according to any one of claims 8 to 13, or execute the method according to any one of claims 14 to 21, or execute the method according to any one of claims 22 to 30, or execute the method according to any one of claims 31 to 37, or execute the method according to any one of claims 38 to 40.

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