CN120455980A

CN120455980A - Information transmission method, communication device and storage medium

Info

Publication number: CN120455980A
Application number: CN202411075503.5A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 章晨宇; 许胜锋
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2024-02-08
Filing date: 2024-08-05
Publication date: 2025-08-08
Also published as: WO2025167197A1; TW202533597A

Abstract

The present application provides an information transmission method, a communication device, and a storage medium, which relate to the field of communications and can ensure that the service requirements between terminals are met as much as possible. The method includes: determining a first hop number and sending a first discovery message, wherein the first hop number is the maximum hop number for transmitting discovery information, the discovery information is used by the source terminal to discover the target terminal, and the first discovery message includes the first hop number and the discovery information; wherein the first hop number is related to the information of the first service of the source terminal, and the information of the first service includes at least one of the following: a service quality parameter corresponding to the first service, a relay service type corresponding to the first service, the type of the first service, or the hop number requirement of the first service.

Description

Information transmission method, communication device, and storage medium

The present application claims priority from the chinese patent application filed on 2024, 02 and 08, filed on the national intellectual property agency, application number 202410178207.1, application name "information transmission method, communication device, and storage medium", the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of communications, and in particular, to an information transmission method, a communication device, and a storage medium.

Background

In a communication system supporting proximity services (proximity service, proSe), a terminal can determine a plurality of relay terminals through a discovery procedure and implement connection with other terminals through the plurality of relay terminals. However, in the discovery process, it is necessary to limit the number of hops to transmit discovery information in order to avoid discovery information from being transmitted endlessly. However, currently, the value for limiting the number of hops for transmitting the discovery information is preconfigured, which is likely to cause that the value for limiting the number of hops for transmitting the discovery information is not suitable for the actual situation, and thus is likely to cause that the traffic demand between terminals is not satisfied.

Disclosure of Invention

In order to solve the technical problems, embodiments of the present application provide an information transmission method, a communication device, and a storage medium, which can ensure that service requirements between terminals are satisfied as much as possible.

In a first aspect, an information transmission method is provided, where the method may be performed by a source terminal, or a component of the source terminal, for example, a processor, a chip, or a system on a chip of the source terminal, or may be implemented by a logic module or software capable of implementing all or part of the source terminal. The following description will be made with this method by way of example of the source terminal. The information transmission method comprises the steps of determining a first hop count based on information of a first service, and sending a first discovery message, wherein the first hop count is the maximum hop count for transmitting discovery information, the discovery information is used for a source terminal to discover a target terminal, the first discovery message comprises the first hop count and the discovery information, and the information of the first service comprises at least one of a service quality parameter corresponding to the first service, a relay service type corresponding to the first service, a type of the first service or a hop count requirement of the first service.

In the embodiment of the application, the source terminal can determine the maximum hop count (i.e. the first hop count) for transmitting the discovery information and send the first discovery message comprising the first hop count and the discovery information, so that other terminals can acquire the first hop count while receiving the discovery information, and the source terminal can limit the hop count for transmitting the discovery information based on the first hop count in the discovery process. The service quality parameter corresponding to the first service, the relay service type corresponding to the first service, the type of the first service and the hop count requirement of the first service are parameters related to the service requirement, and the first hop count is related to at least one of the service quality parameter corresponding to the first service, the relay service type corresponding to the first service, the type of the first service or the hop count requirement of the first service, so that the first hop count can be more attached to the actual requirement of the service, and further the service requirement between terminals can be ensured to be met as much as possible.

With reference to the first aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the determining the first hop count based on the information of the first service includes determining the first hop count based on a quality of service parameter corresponding to the first service. Because the service quality parameter corresponding to the first service can reflect the parameter related to the service requirement more accurately, the first hop count determined based on the service quality parameter corresponding to the first service can be attached to the actual requirement of the service as much as possible, and further the service requirement between the terminals can be ensured to be met as much as possible.

With reference to the first aspect, in a possible implementation manner, sending the first discovery message includes generating and sending the first discovery message when the first hop count is different from a maximum hop count determined based on a relay service type corresponding to the first service.

As can be seen from the above description about the "first hop count", the first hop count determined based on the quality of service parameter corresponding to the first service can be attached to the actual requirement of the service as much as possible, so that the service requirement between the terminals can be ensured to be satisfied as much as possible. In view of this, under the condition that the first hop count determined based on the quality of service parameter corresponding to the first service is different from the maximum hop count determined based on the relay service type corresponding to the first service, the first discovery message is generated and sent, that is, the first hop count is also sent while the discovery information is sent, so that the terminal receiving the first discovery message can obtain the first hop count which can be more attached to the actual requirement of the service, and further, the service requirement between the terminals is ensured to be satisfied.

With reference to the first aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the method provided by the embodiment of the present application further includes generating and sending an eleventh discovery message, where the first hop count is the same as the maximum hop count determined based on the relay service type corresponding to the first service, and the eleventh discovery message includes discovery information, and the eleventh discovery message does not include the first hop count.

That is, since the maximum hop count determined based on the relay service type corresponding to the first service is known to each terminal related to the first service, each terminal related to the first service does not need to know the first hop count through the first hop count transmitted by the source terminal in the case that the first hop count is the same as the maximum hop count determined based on the relay service type corresponding to the first service, so that the source terminal does not need to transmit the discovery information while transmitting the first hop count, that is, the source terminal may transmit the eleventh discovery message including the discovery information, the eleventh discovery message not including the first hop count, so that signaling overhead is saved on the basis of ensuring that service requirements between the terminals are satisfied.

With reference to the first aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the method provided by the embodiment of the application further includes receiving first indication information from a network element of a policy control function, where the first indication information is used for indicating a correspondence between at least one maximum hop count and at least one of at least one service quality parameter, at least one relay service type, at least one service type, or at least one hop count requirement of the at least one service, where the at least one service quality parameter includes a service quality parameter corresponding to the first service, the at least one relay service type includes a relay service type corresponding to the first service, the at least one service type includes a type of the first service, the hop count requirement of the at least one service includes a hop count requirement of the first service, and determining the first hop count based on the information of the first service includes determining, according to the first indication information, the maximum hop count corresponding to the information of the first service as the first hop count.

That is, the source terminal may simply determine the first hop count directly through the correspondence between at least one information related to the service requirement (for example, the quality of service parameter and/or the relay service type and/or the type of service and/or the hop count requirement of service), so as to reduce the complexity of determining the first hop count by the source terminal, and further improve the efficiency of determining the first hop count by the source terminal.

With reference to the first aspect, in one possible implementation manner, determining the first hop count based on the information of the first service includes determining the first hop count according to a quality of service parameter corresponding to the first service and a first quality of service parameter, where the first quality of service parameter is a quality of service parameter corresponding to the connection of the near field communication PC 5.

That is, in this implementation manner, the source terminal may determine the first hop count according to the quality of service parameter corresponding to the first service and the first quality of service parameter, so that the accuracy of determining the first hop count based on the actual quality of service parameter is higher, and further, the service requirements between the terminals can be better guaranteed to be satisfied later.

With reference to the first aspect, in one possible implementation manner, the target terminal is a relay terminal connected to the network, and determining the first hop count based on the information of the first service includes determining the first hop count according to a quality of service parameter corresponding to the first service and first information, where the first information includes a first quality of service parameter and/or a second quality of service parameter, the first quality of service parameter is a quality of service parameter corresponding to the connection of the near field communication PC5, and the second quality of service parameter is a quality of service parameter corresponding to the connection between the target terminal and the network device.

However, in the case that the target terminal is a relay terminal connected to the network, there is not only a connection between the terminals, but also a connection between the terminal and the network, and in this scenario, in addition to being capable of improving the accuracy of the first hop count based on the actual quality of service parameter, the source terminal may determine, based on the current scenario adaptability, the first quality of service parameter and/or the second quality of service parameter as the quality of service parameter required by the first hop count, so that the first hop count determined by itself based on the quality of service parameter can be more attached to the actual situation of the current scenario, thereby further improving the accuracy of the first hop count.

With reference to the first aspect, in one possible implementation manner, the information of the first service includes a quality of service parameter corresponding to the first service and/or a hop count requirement of the first service, and the determining the first hop count based on the information of the first service includes that a ProSe layer of an adjacent service layer of the source terminal receives the quality of service parameter corresponding to the first service and/or the hop count requirement of the first service from an application layer of the source terminal, and determines the first hop count according to the quality of service parameter corresponding to the first service and/or the hop count requirement of the first service.

That is, in the case that the information of the first service includes the quality of service parameter corresponding to the first service and/or the hop count requirement of the first service, the ProSe layer of the source terminal may obtain the quality of service parameter corresponding to the first service and/or the hop count requirement of the first service from the application layer of the source terminal, and determine the first hop count based on the quality of service parameter corresponding to the first service and/or the hop count requirement of the first service, so that a specific implementation manner of determining the first hop count inside the source terminal is provided, which may effectively support implementation effects achieved by corresponding upper steps.

With reference to the first aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the method provided by the embodiment of the present application further includes that the ProSe layer of the source terminal obtains a quality of service requirement corresponding to the first service from an application layer of the source terminal, and determines a quality of service parameter corresponding to the first service according to the quality of service requirement corresponding to the first service, so that a data basis can be provided for subsequent determination of the first hop count.

With reference to the first aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the method provided by the embodiment of the present application further includes that the ProSe layer of the source terminal obtains the type of the first service from the application layer of the source terminal, and determines the quality of service parameter corresponding to the first service according to the type of the first service, so that a data basis can be provided for subsequent determination of the first hop count.

With reference to the first aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the method provided by the embodiment of the present application further includes determining, by a ProSe layer of the source terminal, a relay service type corresponding to the first service according to the type of the first service and policy information configured on the source terminal, so that a data base can be provided for subsequent determination of the first hop count.

With reference to the first aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the method provided by the embodiment of the present application further includes that when the source terminal determines that the existing PC5 qos flow can match a packet or a request of a first service from an application layer of the source terminal, the source terminal determines a qos parameter corresponding to the first service according to the qos parameter corresponding to the existing PC5 qos flow, so that a data basis can be provided for subsequent determination of the first hop count.

With reference to the first aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the method provided by the embodiment of the present application further includes that when the source terminal determines that no PC5 service quality flow can match a data packet or a request of a first service from an application layer of the source terminal, the source terminal determines a service quality parameter corresponding to the first service according to a service quality requirement corresponding to the first service, or the source terminal determines the service quality parameter corresponding to the first service according to a type of the first service, so that a data basis can be provided for subsequently determining a first hop count.

With reference to the first aspect, in a possible implementation manner, before sending the first discovery message, the method provided by the embodiment of the present application further includes determining that the first discovery message needs to be sent based on whether there is a connection between the source terminal and the target terminal, and/or second information, where the second information includes a hop count of the connection between the source terminal and the target terminal, and the first hop count, so that whether the first discovery message needs to be sent may be predetermined, so that the source terminal may send the first discovery message under an appropriate condition, to avoid signaling overhead that causes redundancy.

With reference to the first aspect, in one possible implementation manner, determining that the first discovery message needs to be sent based on whether there is a connection between the source terminal and the target terminal and/or the second information includes determining that the first discovery message needs to be sent when there is no connection between the source terminal and the target terminal, that is, when there is no communication between the source terminal and the target terminal, the source terminal needs to send the first discovery message to discover the target terminal, so that the first discovery message is repeatedly sent when there is communication between the source terminal and the target terminal, and signaling overhead caused by redundancy is avoided.

Or under the condition that connection exists between the source terminal and the target terminal, and the hop number of the connection between the source terminal and the target terminal is larger than the first hop number, determining that the first discovery message needs to be sent, that is, although the connection exists between the current source terminal and the target terminal, the connection cannot meet the service requirement, so that the current source terminal and the target terminal cannot communicate, in this case, the source terminal needs to send the first discovery message to discover the target terminal, so that the first discovery message is repeatedly sent under the condition that the communication can be carried out between the source terminal and the target terminal, and redundant signaling overhead is avoided.

In a second aspect, an information transmission method is provided, where the method may be performed by a second relay terminal, or may be performed by a component of the second relay terminal, for example, a processor, a chip, or a chip system of the second relay terminal, or may be implemented by a logic module or software capable of implementing all or part of the second relay terminal, where the second relay terminal is a relay terminal that is not directly connected to a network. The following description will be made on the case where the method is executed by the second relay terminal. The information transmission method includes the steps of obtaining a second hop count, and sending a second discovery message, wherein the second hop count is the maximum hop count for transmitting discovery information after the second relay terminal receives the discovery information, the discovery information is used for a source terminal to discover a target terminal, and the second discovery message comprises the second hop count and the discovery information, and the second hop count is related to a relay service type corresponding to a first service of the source terminal.

In the embodiment of the application, the second relay terminal can determine the maximum hop count (i.e. the second hop count) of the discovery information after the second relay terminal receives the discovery information, and send the second discovery message including the second hop count and the discovery information, so that other terminals can know the second hop count while receiving the discovery information, and the second relay terminal can limit the hop count of the discovery information after the second relay terminal receives the discovery information based on the second hop count in the discovery process. Because the relay service type corresponding to the first service included in the information of the first service is a parameter related to the service requirement, and the second hop count is related to the relay service type corresponding to the first service, the second hop count can be more fit with the actual requirement of the service, and further, the service requirement between terminals can be ensured to be met as much as possible.

With reference to the second aspect, in one possible implementation manner, the obtaining the second hop count includes receiving fourth indication information, where the fourth indication information is used to indicate the second hop count, so that the second relay terminal can directly obtain the second hop count through the fourth indication information, so as to save a calculation burden of the second relay terminal in determining the second hop count.

With reference to the second aspect, in one possible implementation manner, the obtaining the second hop count includes obtaining a first hop count and a third hop count, and determining the second hop count according to the first hop count and the third hop count, where the first hop count is a maximum hop count for transmitting discovery information, the first hop count is related to a relay service type corresponding to the first service, and the third hop count is a hop count connected between the second relay terminal and the target terminal.

That is, the second relay terminal may determine the second hop count based on the maximum hop count from the source terminal to the destination terminal (i.e., the first hop count) and the hop count of the connection between the second relay terminal and the destination terminal (i.e., the third hop count), in addition to directly obtaining the second hop count, so that in the case that other terminals cannot provide the second hop count for the second relay terminal, the second relay terminal may determine the second hop count based on the first hop count and the third hop count, that is, another implementation manner of determining the second hop count is provided, and reliability of determining the second hop count by the second relay terminal is further improved.

With reference to the second aspect, in one possible implementation manner, the acquiring the first hop count includes receiving second indication information, where the second indication information indicates the first hop count, so that the second relay terminal can directly acquire the first hop count through the second indication information, so as to save a calculation burden of determining the first hop count by the second relay terminal.

With reference to the second aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the method provided by the embodiment of the application further includes receiving third indication information from the network element of the policy control function, where the third indication information is used to indicate a correspondence between at least one maximum hop count and at least one relay service type, where the at least one relay service type includes a relay service type corresponding to the first service, and obtaining the first hop count includes determining, according to the third indication information, the maximum hop count corresponding to the relay service type of the first service as the first hop count.

That is, the second relay terminal can simply determine the first hop count directly through the corresponding relation between the information related to the service requirement (for example, the relay service type) and the maximum hop count, so that the complexity of determining the first hop count by the second relay terminal is reduced, and the efficiency of determining the first hop count by the second relay terminal is improved.

In a third aspect, an information transmission method is provided, where the method may be performed by a first relay terminal, or may be performed by a component of the first relay terminal, for example, a processor, a chip, or a chip system of the first relay terminal, or may be implemented by a logic module or software capable of implementing all or part of the first relay terminal, where the first relay terminal is a relay terminal connected to a network. The following description will be made on the case where the method is executed by the first relay terminal. The information transmission method comprises the steps of obtaining a first hop count, and sending a third discovery message, wherein the first hop count is the maximum hop count for transmitting discovery information, the discovery information is used for a source terminal to discover a first relay terminal, and the third discovery message comprises the first hop count and the discovery information, and the first hop count is related to a relay service type corresponding to a first service of the source terminal.

In the embodiment of the application, the first relay terminal can determine the maximum hop count (i.e. the first hop count) for transmitting the discovery information, and send the third discovery message including the first hop count and the discovery information, so that other terminals can acquire the first hop count while receiving the discovery information, and the first relay terminal can limit the hop count for transmitting the discovery information based on the first hop count in the discovery process. Because the relay service type corresponding to the first service included in the information of the first service is a parameter related to the service requirement, and the second hop count is related to the relay service type corresponding to the first service, the first hop count can be more fit with the actual requirement of the service, and further, the service requirement between terminals can be ensured to be met as much as possible.

With reference to the second aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the method provided by the embodiment of the application further includes receiving third indication information from the network element of the policy control function, where the third indication information is used to indicate a correspondence between at least one maximum hop count and at least one relay service type, where the at least one relay service type includes a relay service type corresponding to the first service, and obtaining the first hop count includes determining, according to the third indication information, the maximum hop count corresponding to the relay service type corresponding to the first service as the first hop count.

That is, the first relay terminal can simply determine the first hop count directly through the corresponding relation between the information related to the service requirement (for example, the relay service type) and the maximum hop count, so that the complexity of determining the first hop count by the first relay terminal is reduced, and the efficiency of determining the first hop count by the first relay terminal is improved.

In a fourth aspect, an information transmission method is provided, where the method may be performed by a second relay terminal, or may be performed by a component of the second relay terminal, for example, a processor, a chip, or a chip system of the second relay terminal, or may be implemented by a logic module or software capable of implementing all or part of the second relay terminal, where the second relay terminal is a relay terminal that is not directly connected to a network. The following description will be made on the case where the method is executed by the second relay terminal. The information transmission method comprises the steps of receiving a twelfth discovery message and determining a first hop count according to a first relay service type, wherein the twelfth discovery message comprises discovery information and the first relay service type, the discovery information is used for a source terminal to discover a target terminal, and the first hop count is the maximum hop count for transmitting the discovery information. The discovery information is transmitted or not transmitted according to the first hop count.

In the embodiment of the present application, the second relay terminal may determine the maximum hop count (i.e., the first hop count) for transmitting the discovery information according to the discovery message including the first relay service type, and send the discovery information or not send the discovery information according to the first hop count. The first hop count is related to the relay service type corresponding to the first service of the source terminal, so that the first hop count can be more fit with the actual requirement of the service, the rationality of the hop count of the transmission discovery information can be ensured as much as possible, namely redundant transmission discovery information or missing transmission discovery information is avoided as much as possible.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the method provided by the embodiment of the application further includes receiving a corresponding relation between at least one maximum hop count from the policy control function network element and at least one relay service type, wherein the at least one relay service type includes a first relay service type, and determining the first hop count according to the first relay service type includes determining the first hop count according to the corresponding relation and the first relay service type.

In a fifth aspect, a communication device is provided for implementing the various methods described above. The communication device may be a source terminal in the first aspect, or any implementation manner of the first aspect, or a device including the source terminal, or a device included in the source terminal, such as a chip, or the communication device may be a second relay terminal in the second aspect, or any implementation manner of the second aspect, or a device including the second relay terminal, or a device included in the second relay terminal, such as a chip, or the communication device may be a first relay terminal in the third aspect, or any implementation manner of the third aspect, or a device including the first relay terminal, or a device included in the first relay terminal, such as a chip, or the communication device may be a second relay terminal in the fourth aspect, or any implementation manner of the fourth aspect, or a device included in the second relay terminal, such as a chip. The communication device comprises corresponding modules, units or means (means) for implementing the above method, where the modules, units or means may be implemented by hardware, software, or implemented by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules or units corresponding to the functions described above.

In some possible designs, the communication device may include a processing module and a transceiver module. The transceiver module, which may also be referred to as a transceiver unit, is configured to implement the transmitting and/or receiving functions of any of the above aspects and any possible implementation thereof. The transceiver module may be formed by a transceiver circuit, transceiver or communication interface. The processing module may be configured to implement the processing functions of any of the aspects described above and any possible implementation thereof.

In some possible designs, the transceiver module includes a transmitting module and a receiving module for implementing the transmitting and receiving functions in any of the above aspects and any possible implementation thereof, respectively.

In a sixth aspect, there is provided a communications device comprising a processor and a memory for storing computer instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the communications device to perform the method of any of the above aspects. The communication device may be a source terminal in the first aspect, or any implementation manner of the first aspect, or a device including the source terminal, or a device included in the source terminal, such as a chip, or the communication device may be a second relay terminal in the second aspect, or any implementation manner of the second aspect, or a device including the second relay terminal, or a device included in the second relay terminal, such as a chip, or the communication device may be a first relay terminal in the third aspect, or any implementation manner of the third aspect, or a device including the first relay terminal, or a device included in the first relay terminal, such as a chip, or the communication device may be a second relay terminal in the fourth aspect, or any implementation manner of the fourth aspect, or a device included in the second relay terminal, such as a chip.

In a seventh aspect, there is provided a communications device comprising a processor and a communications interface for communicating with a module external to the communications device, the processor being operable to execute a computer program or instructions to cause the communications device to perform the method of any of the above aspects. The communication device may be a source terminal in the first aspect, or any implementation manner of the first aspect, or a device including the source terminal, or a device included in the source terminal, such as a chip, or the communication device may be a second relay terminal in the second aspect, or any implementation manner of the second aspect, or a device including the second relay terminal, or a device included in the second relay terminal, such as a chip, or the communication device may be a first relay terminal in the third aspect, or any implementation manner of the third aspect, or a device including the first relay terminal, or a device included in the first relay terminal, such as a chip, or the communication device may be a second relay terminal in the fourth aspect, or any implementation manner of the fourth aspect, or a device included in the second relay terminal, such as a chip.

In an eighth aspect, there is provided a communications apparatus comprising at least one processor, the processor being configured to execute a computer program or instructions stored in a memory to cause the communications apparatus to perform the method of any of the above aspects. The memory may be coupled to the processor or may be separate from the processor. The communication device may be a source terminal in the first aspect, or any implementation manner of the first aspect, or a device including the source terminal, or a device included in the source terminal, such as a chip, or the communication device may be a second relay terminal in the second aspect, or any implementation manner of the second aspect, or a device including the second relay terminal, or a device included in the second relay terminal, such as a chip, or the communication device may be a first relay terminal in the third aspect, or any implementation manner of the third aspect, or a device including the first relay terminal, or a device included in the first relay terminal, such as a chip, or the communication device may be a second relay terminal in the fourth aspect, or any implementation manner of the fourth aspect, or a device included in the second relay terminal, such as a chip.

In a ninth aspect, there is provided a computer readable storage medium having stored therein a computer program or instructions which, when run on a communications device, cause the communications device to perform the method of any one of the above aspects or any implementation thereof.

In a tenth aspect, there is provided a computer program product comprising instructions which, when run on a communications apparatus, cause the communications apparatus to perform the method of any one of the above aspects or any implementation thereof.

In an eleventh aspect, there is provided a communications device (e.g. which may be a chip or a system of chips) comprising a processor for carrying out the functions involved in any one of the above aspects or any implementation thereof.

In some possible designs, the communication device includes a memory for holding necessary program instructions and data.

In some possible designs, the device may be a system-on-chip, may be formed from a chip, or may include a chip and other discrete devices.

It will be appreciated that where the communications device provided in any of the above aspects is a chip, the above described transmitting actions/functions may be understood as outputs and the above described receiving actions/functions may be understood as inputs.

A twelfth aspect provides an information transmission method comprising the method of the first aspect or any implementation thereof, the method of the second aspect or any implementation thereof, and the method of the third aspect or any implementation thereof.

A thirteenth aspect provides a communication system including the source terminal of the above aspect, the second relay terminal of the above aspect, and the first relay terminal of the above aspect.

The technical effects caused by any implementation manner of the fifth aspect to the thirteenth aspect may be referred to the technical effects caused by the corresponding implementation manner of the first aspect to the fourth aspect, and are not repeated here.

Wherein, it should be noted that, various possible implementation manners of any one of the above aspects, on the premise that the schemes are not contradictory, the combination can be carried out.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a ProSe communication architecture based on relay provided in an embodiment of the present application;

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of another relay-based ProSe communication architecture provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of a discovery process provided by an embodiment of the application;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart of another discovery process provided by an embodiment of the application;

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of another discovery process provided by an embodiment of the application;

Fig. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present application;

Fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

Fig. 8 is a schematic flow chart of an information transmission method according to an embodiment of the present application;

Fig. 9 is a schematic flow chart of another information transmission method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 10 is a schematic flow chart of another information transmission method according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of another information transmission method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 12 is a schematic flow chart of another information transmission method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 13 is a schematic flow chart of another information transmission method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 14 is a schematic flow chart of another information transmission method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 15 is a schematic flow chart of another information transmission method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 16 is a schematic flow chart of another information transmission method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 17 is a schematic flow chart of another information transmission method according to an embodiment of the present application;

Fig. 18 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

1、ProSe

ProSe communication refers to communication indirectly performed between two terminals through relay of at least one relay terminal, and specifically, communication between terminals can be performed through a near field communication (proximity communications, PC) 5 interface.

ProSe communication can be applied in a scenario where two terminals cannot communicate directly, that is, proSe communication can be applied in a scenario where two terminals cannot communicate directly based on a PC5 interface. In this scenario, a terminal-to-terminal (U2U) connection needs to be implemented, and specifically, the two terminals may implement communication between the two terminals through message relay of at least one relay terminal.

For example, as shown in fig. 1, when the terminal 1 and the terminal 2 cannot communicate directly based on the PC5 interface, the terminal 1 may perform multi-hop relay forwarding through the relay terminal 1, the relay terminal 2, and the relay terminal 3 to implement indirect connection with the terminal 2.

ProSe communication, however, may also be applied in scenarios where the terminal cannot directly access the network, i.e. ProSe communication may be applied in scenarios where the terminal cannot communicate with the network directly based on the air interface. In this scenario, it is necessary to implement connection of a terminal to a network (U2N), specifically, the terminal may perform connection with a relay terminal capable of accessing the network through message relay of at least one relay terminal, so that the terminal may communicate with the network through the relay terminal capable of accessing the network.

For example, as shown in fig. 2, when the terminal 1 cannot directly access the network, the terminal 1 may perform multi-hop relay through the relay terminal 4 and the relay terminal 5 to implement connection with the relay terminal capable of accessing the network (i.e., the relay terminal 6), so that the terminal 1 may indirectly access the network through the relay terminal 6.

2. Discovery process

The discovery procedure refers to a procedure in which a terminal finds a nearby terminal that can perform direct communication through the discovery procedure. After the discovery process, the terminal may establish a unicast connection with the discovered terminal to enable data transmission. The current discovery process includes a discovery process of mode a (model a) and a discovery process of mode B (model B), respectively, as described below.

2.1 Discovery procedure of Pattern A

As shown in fig. 3, the discovery process of the pattern a can be specifically realized by the following S301 and S302.

S301, the bulletin terminal (announcing UE) acquires discovery information (discovery information) in advance through other discovery processes.

Here, since the discovery procedure of the mode a is initiated by the relay terminal, the above-mentioned advertisement terminal is a relay terminal (relay UE).

During discovery of mode a, discovery information may also be referred to as an advertisement message (announcement message), or may be carried in an advertisement message. The discovery information in the discovery process of the mode a may include at least one of a discovery type, user information (user info) of the listening terminal, a relay service code (RELAY SERVICE code, RSC) corresponding to a service of the listening terminal, or a user info ID of the advertising terminal, for example. In this case, the discovery type may be used to indicate that the discovery process is a discovery process of mode a. Of course, the foregoing is merely exemplary of the discovery information in the discovery process of the mode a, and the discovery information in the discovery process of the mode a may further include other information, which is not limited in any way by the embodiment of the present application. Further, the discovery information may include a direct discovery set (direct discovery set). The direct discovery set may include one or more user information, which may include a user information identification (user information ID, user info ID) and an application layer identification (application layer ID).

S302, the bulletin terminal broadcasts and sends a discovery message 1. Accordingly, a monitoring terminal (monitoring UE) receives the discovery message 1.

For example, as shown in fig. 3, S302 may be that the announcement terminal broadcasts a discovery message 1, and accordingly, the listening terminal 1 and the listening terminal 2 receive the discovery message 1, respectively.

The listening terminal may also be referred to as a destination terminal (end UE). The discovery message 1 includes a layer 2 (L2) Identifier (ID), a destination L2ID, and discovery information. The source L2ID is an L2ID assigned to the advertising terminal. The destination L2ID is an L2ID allocated for a broadcast message.

In addition, the discovery process of pattern a can be further subdivided into the discovery process of pattern A U2U and the discovery process of pattern A U N. The discovery process of the mode A U U and the discovery process of the mode A U N can be understood by referring to the flow shown in fig. 3, and are not described herein. However, the discovery procedure of mode A U U and the discovery procedure of mode A U N differ in that the target terminal, for example, the one-hop relay is taken as an example, that is, the above-mentioned listening terminal is taken as the target terminal, that in the discovery procedure of mode A U U, the listening terminal may or may not be connected to the network, and in the discovery procedure of mode A U N, the listening terminal needs to be connected to the network.

2.2 Discovery procedure for mode B

For the discovery process of mode B, the discovery process of mode B may be further subdivided into the discovery process of mode B U U and the discovery process of mode B U N. As shown in fig. 4, taking the U2U relay discovery of the mode B as the single hop discovery as an example, the discovery procedure of the mode B U U may be specifically implemented through the following S401 to S408.

S401, the discovery terminal (discoverer) broadcasts and transmits a discovery message 2. Accordingly, the relay terminal 1, the relay terminal 2, and the relay terminal 3 receive the discovery message 2.

Among these, the discovery terminal may also be referred to as a source terminal (source UE). The discovery message may also be referred to as a request message (solicitation message) in mode B. The discovery message 2 may include a source L2 ID, a destination L2 ID, and discovery information. The source L2 ID of the discovery message 2 is an L2 ID allocated for the discovery terminal, and the destination L2 ID of the discovery message 2 is an L2 ID allocated for the broadcast message. The discovery information in the discovery process of the mode B U U may include at least one of a discovery type, a user info ID of the discovery terminal, an RSC, or a user info ID of the discovered terminal. In this case, the discovery type may be used to indicate that the discovery process is a discovery process of mode B U U.

Specifically, the discovery message 2 may be used to request the discovery target terminal, for example, a discovery request message, and further, the discovery request message carries the discovery information.

Of course, the above-described exemplary description of discovery information in discovery process for mode B U U2 is only exemplary of discovery information in discovery process for mode B U U, and other information may also be included in discovery information, which is not limited in any way by the embodiments of the present application.

S402, the relay terminal 1 broadcasts and transmits the discovery message 3, and the discovered terminal receives the discovery message 3 accordingly.

The discovered terminal may also be referred to as a target terminal (target UE), and the discovered terminal may also be referred to as an end terminal (end UE). The discovery message 3 is that the identity of the relay terminal 1 is added to the discovery message 2, that is, the discovery message 3 may include the identity of the relay terminal 1 and the discovery information, and in addition, the source L2 ID in the discovery message 3 is the L2 ID allocated to the relay terminal 1, and the destination L2 ID in the discovery message 3 is the L2 ID allocated to the broadcast message.

S403, the relay terminal 2 broadcasts the transmission discovery message 4, and the discovered terminal receives the discovery message 4 accordingly.

Wherein the discovery message 4 is that the identity of the relay terminal 2 is added on the basis of the discovery message 2, that is, the discovery message 4 may include the identity of the relay terminal 2 and the discovery information, and in addition, the source L2ID in the discovery message 4 is an L2ID allocated to the relay terminal 2, and the destination L2ID in the discovery message 4 is an L2ID allocated to the broadcast message. The discovery information may be understood by referring to the description of the corresponding location, and will not be described herein.

Note that, the relay terminal 1 and the relay terminal 2 described above are both relay terminals supporting broadcast transmission of discovery information.

Alternatively, the relay terminal may determine whether broadcast transmission discovery information is supported according to the signal quality, and may also determine whether broadcast transmission discovery information is supported according to the supported service type. Of course, the foregoing is merely an exemplary description of determining whether to support the broadcast transmission discovery information for the relay terminal, and the relay terminal may also determine whether to support the broadcast transmission discovery information based on other parameters, which the embodiment of the present application does not limit.

S404, the discovered terminal sends the discovery response message 1 to the relay terminal 1, and correspondingly, the relay terminal 1 receives the discovery response message 1 from the discovered terminal.

Specifically, the above S404 may be that the discovered terminal is a discovery response message 1 sent to the relay terminal 1 in a unicast manner, and accordingly, the relay terminal 1 receives the discovery response message 1 from the discovered terminal.

The discovery response message 1 may include a source L2ID, a destination L2ID, and discovery response information, among others. The source L2ID of the discovery response message 1 is an L2ID allocated to the discovered terminal, and the destination L2ID of the discovery response message 1 is an L2ID allocated to the relay terminal 1. The discovery response information may be at least one of a discovery type, a user info ID of the discovery terminal, an RSC, a user info ID of the discovered terminal, or a user info ID of the relay terminal 1. Of course, the foregoing is merely exemplary of the discovery response information, and the discovery response information may further include other information, which is not limited in any way by the embodiments of the present application.

S405, the discovered terminal sends a discovery response message 2 to the relay terminal 2, and accordingly, the relay terminal 2 receives the discovery response message 2 from the discovered terminal.

Specifically, the above S405 may be that the discovered terminal transmits the discovery response message 2 to the relay terminal 2, and accordingly, the relay terminal 2 receives the discovery response message 2 from the discovered terminal.

The discovery response message 2 may include a source L2ID, a destination L2ID, and discovery response information, among others. The source L2ID of the discovery response message 2 is an L2ID allocated for the discovered terminal, and the destination L2ID of the discovery response message 2 is an L2ID allocated for the relay terminal 2. The discovery response information may be understood with reference to the description of the corresponding location, and will not be repeated here.

Alternatively, the discovered terminal may send the discovery response message to all relay terminals that broadcast the discovery information to the discovered terminal, and may also send the discovery response message to a portion of relay terminals that broadcast the discovery information to the discovered terminal, which the embodiment of the present application does not limit.

In addition, alternatively, the above-mentioned part of relay terminals may be determined by the discovered relay terminal from all relay terminals broadcasting the discovery information to the discovered terminal according to parameters such as signal quality, and the embodiment of the present application does not impose any limitation on this.

S406, the relay terminal 1 sends the discovery response message 3 to the discovery terminal, and the discovery terminal receives the discovery response message 3 from the relay terminal 1.

Specifically, the above S406 may be that the relay terminal 1 is a discovery response message 3 sent to the discovery terminal in a unicast manner, and the discovery terminal receives the discovery response message 3 from the relay terminal 1 accordingly.

The discovery response message 3 may include a source L2ID, a destination L2ID, and discovery response information, among others. The source L2ID of the discovery response message 3 is an L2ID allocated to the relay terminal 1, and the destination L2ID of the discovery response message 3 is an L2ID allocated to the discovery terminal. The discovery response information may be understood with reference to the description of the corresponding location, and will not be repeated here.

S407, the relay terminal 2 transmits the discovery response message 4 to the discovery terminal, and the discovery terminal receives the discovery response message 4 from the relay terminal 2.

Specifically, the above S407 may be that the relay terminal 2 transmits the discovery response message 4 to the discovery terminal, and accordingly, the discovery terminal receives the discovery response message 4 from the relay terminal 2.

The discovery response message 2 may include a source L2ID, a destination L2ID, and discovery response information, among others. The source L2ID of the discovery response message 4 is an L2ID allocated to the relay terminal 2, and the destination L2ID of the discovery response message 4 is an L2ID allocated to the discovery terminal. The discovery response information may be understood with reference to the description of the corresponding location, and will not be repeated here.

And S408, the discovery terminal selects a relay terminal for establishing PC5 connection according to the received discovery response message.

As shown in fig. 5, taking the U2N relay discovery of the mode B as the single hop discovery as an example, a specific flow of the U2N relay discovery of the mode B may include S501 to S503.

S501, the remote terminal (remote UE) broadcasts a transmission discovery message 5. Accordingly, the relay terminal 1, the relay terminal 2, and the relay terminal 3 receive the discovery message 5.

The discovery message 5 includes a source L2 ID, a destination L2 ID, and discovery information. The source L2 ID of the discovery message 5 is an L2 ID allocated for the remote terminal, and the destination L2 ID of the discovery message 5 is an L2 ID allocated for the broadcast message. The discovery information in the discovery process of the mode B U N may include at least one of a discovery type, a user info ID of the remote terminal, or RSC. In this case, the discovery type may be used to indicate that the discovery process is a discovery process of mode B U N.

Of course, the foregoing is merely exemplary of the discovery information in the discovery process of the mode B U N, and the discovery information in the discovery process of the mode B U N may also include other information, which is not limited in any way by the embodiment of the present application.

S502, the relay terminal 1 sends the discovery response message 5 to the remote terminal, and correspondingly, the remote terminal receives the discovery response message 5 from the relay terminal 1.

Specifically, the step S502 may be that the relay terminal 1 transmits the discovery response message 5 to the remote terminal in a unicast manner, and the remote terminal receives the discovery response message 5 from the relay terminal 1.

The discovery response message 5 may include a source L2ID, a destination L2ID, and discovery response information, among others. The source L2ID of the discovery response message 5 is an L2ID allocated to the relay terminal 1, and the destination L2ID of the discovery response message 5 is an L2ID allocated to the remote terminal. The discovery response information may be understood with reference to the description of the corresponding location, and will not be repeated here.

S503, the relay terminal 2 sends the discovery response message 6 to the remote terminal, and correspondingly, the remote terminal receives the discovery response message 6 from the relay terminal 2.

The relay terminal 1 and the relay terminal 2 are both relay terminals (in-coverage relay UE) capable of connecting to a network.

Specifically, the above S503 may be that the relay terminal 2 transmits the discovery response message 6 to the remote terminal, and the remote terminal receives the discovery response message 6 from the relay terminal 2 accordingly.

The discovery response message 6 may include a source L2ID, a destination L2ID, and discovery response information, among others. The source L2ID of the discovery response message 6 is an L2ID allocated to the relay terminal 2, and the destination L2ID of the discovery response message 6 is an L2ID allocated to the remote terminal. The discovery response information may be understood with reference to the description of the corresponding location, and will not be repeated here.

As is known from the foregoing description about "ProSe communication", in a ProSe-enabled communication system, if one terminal (denoted as terminal 1) cannot directly communicate with another terminal (denoted as terminal 2), the terminal 1 can determine a plurality of relay terminals through a discovery process and realize communication between the terminal 1 and the terminal 2 or a network through the plurality of relay terminals, whereas if one terminal 1 cannot directly communicate with the network, the terminal 1 can determine a plurality of relay terminals through a discovery process and connect with a terminal (denoted as terminal 3) capable of connecting with the network through the plurality of relay terminals to realize communication between the terminal 1 and the network through the terminal 3.

However, in the discovery process, it is necessary to limit the number of hops to transmit discovery information in order to avoid discovery information from being transmitted endlessly.

Alternatively, the implementation of limiting the hop count of the transmission discovery information may include the following three types:

in implementation 1, when a relay terminal receives a discovery message, the relay terminal adds 1 on the basis of a hop count indication included in the discovery message, so as to determine the hop count of transmitted discovery information counted by the relay terminal, and when the hop count of transmitted discovery information counted by the relay terminal is smaller than the maximum hop count, the relay terminal broadcasts and transmits the discovery message including the discovery information.

Specifically, taking the discovery process of the discovery process as the mode B U U as an example, the implementation 1 may specifically include the following steps:

Step 1, the discovery terminal broadcasts and transmits a discovery message #1, and correspondingly, the relay terminal receives the discovery message #1.

In this case, the discovery message #1 includes not only the source L2 ID, the destination L2 ID, and the discovery information mentioned above, but also the maximum hop count and the hop count indication, where the maximum hop count is the maximum hop count for transmitting the discovery information, the discovery information is used for the discovery terminal to discover the discovered terminal, or the discovery information is used for the remote terminal to discover the relay terminal capable of connecting to the network, and the hop count indication is used for indicating the hop count of the discovered terminal that has transmitted the discovery information, and in general, the hop count indication carried by the discovery message #1 is 0.

Step 2, the relay terminal 1 adds 1 on the basis of the hop count indication included in the discovery message #1 to obtain the hop count indication determined by the relay terminal 1, and if the hop count indication determined by the relay terminal 1 is smaller than the maximum hop count, the discovery message #2 is broadcast and sent, and accordingly, the relay terminal 2 receives the discovery message #2.

The discovery message #2 may be understood with reference to the discovery message #1, and will not be described here.

And 3, adding 1 to the relay terminal 2 on the basis of the hop count indication carried by the discovery message #2 to obtain the hop count indication determined by the relay terminal 2, and broadcasting and transmitting the discovery message #3 when the hop count indication determined by the relay terminal 2 is smaller than the maximum hop count, wherein the discovered terminal receives the discovery message #3 correspondingly.

The discovery message #3 may be understood with reference to the discovery message #1, and will not be described here.

In implementation 2, when the relay terminal receives the discovery message, the relay terminal subtracts 1 on the basis that the discovery message includes a hop count indication, so as to determine the maximum hop count of the remaining transmission discovery information, and if the maximum hop count of the remaining transmission discovery information determined by the relay terminal is greater than 0, the relay terminal broadcasts and transmits the discovery message including the discovery information.

Specifically, taking the discovery process of the discovery process as the mode B U U as an example, the implementation 2 may specifically include the following steps:

And 4, the discovery terminal broadcasts and transmits a discovery message #4, and correspondingly, the relay terminal receives the discovery message #4.

In this case, the discovery message #4 includes not only the source L2 ID, the destination L2 ID, and the discovery information referred to above, but also a maximum hop count and a hop count indication, wherein the maximum hop count is the maximum hop count for transmitting the discovery information, the discovery information is used for the discovery terminal to discover the discovered terminal, or the discovery information is used for the remote terminal to discover the relay terminal capable of connecting to the network, the hop count indication is used for indicating the maximum hop count of the remaining transmission discovery information, and in general, the hop count carried by the discovery message #4 is indicated as the maximum hop count included in the discovery message # 4.

And 5, subtracting 1 from the hop count indication included in the discovery message #4 by the relay terminal 1 to obtain the hop count indication determined by the relay terminal 1, and broadcasting and transmitting the discovery message #5 when the hop count indication determined by the relay terminal 1 is greater than 0, and correspondingly, receiving the discovery message #5 by the relay terminal 2.

The discovery message #5 may be understood with reference to the discovery message #4, and will not be described here.

And 6, subtracting 1 from the hop count indication carried by the discovery message #5 by the relay terminal 2 to obtain the hop count indication determined by the relay terminal 2, and broadcasting and transmitting the discovery message #6 when the hop count indication determined by the relay terminal 2 is greater than 0, wherein the discovered terminal receives the discovery message #6 correspondingly.

The discovery message #6 may be understood with reference to the discovery message #4, and will not be described here.

Implementation 3, when the relay terminal receives the discovery message, the relay terminal determines the hop count of the transmitted discovery message according to the number of the relay terminals identifying the relay terminal for the discovery message included in the received discovery message, and if the hop count of the transmitted discovery message determined by the relay terminal is less than the maximum hop count, the relay terminal sends the discovery message.

Specifically, taking the discovery process of the discovery process as the mode B U U as an example, the implementation 3 may specifically include the following steps:

And 7, the discovery terminal broadcasts and transmits a discovery message #7, and correspondingly, the relay terminal receives the discovery message #7.

In this case, the discovery message #7 includes not only the source L2 ID, the destination L2 ID, and the discovery information referred to above, but also the maximum hop count, which is the maximum hop count for transmitting the discovery information for the discovery terminal to discover the discovered terminal or the discovery information for the remote terminal to discover the relay terminal capable of connecting to the network, and the identification of the relay terminal that performs the terminal on the discovery information.

Step 8, the relay terminal 1 determines the hop count of the transmitted discovery information for the number of the relay terminals identifying the discovery information terminals included in the discovery message #7, and if the hop count of the transmitted discovery information determined by the relay terminal 1 is smaller than the maximum hop count, the relay terminal 2 receives the discovery message #8.

The discovery message #8 may be understood with reference to the discovery message #7, and will not be described here.

Step 9, the relay terminal 2 determines the hop count of the transmitted discovery information for the number of the relay terminals identifying the discovery information terminals included in the discovery message #8, and if the hop count of the transmitted discovery information determined by the relay terminal 2 is smaller than the maximum hop count, the discovery message #9 is broadcast and sent, and accordingly, the discovered terminal receives the discovery message #9.

The discovery message #9 may be understood with reference to the discovery message #7, and will not be described here.

However, the values for limiting the number of hops (i.e., the value of the maximum number of hops) for transmitting discovery messages described in the above-described implementations 1 to 3 are preconfigured, which may cause that the values for limiting the number of hops for transmitting discovery messages are not suitable for practical situations, and may cause that the traffic demands between terminals are not satisfied.

Based on this, the embodiment of the application provides an information transmission method, a source terminal can determine the maximum hop count (i.e. the first hop count) for transmitting discovery information, and send a first discovery message including the first hop count and the discovery information, so that other terminals can acquire the first hop count while receiving the discovery information, and the source terminal can limit the hop count for transmitting the discovery information based on the first hop count in the discovery process. The service quality parameter corresponding to the first service, the relay service type corresponding to the first service, the type of the first service and the hop count requirement of the first service are parameters related to the service requirement, and the first hop count is related to at least one of the service quality parameter corresponding to the first service, the relay service type corresponding to the first service, the type of the first service or the hop count requirement of the first service, so that the first hop count can be more attached to the actual requirement of the service, and further the service requirement between terminals can be ensured to be met as much as possible.

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present application.

In order to facilitate understanding of the embodiments of the present application, the following description is made before describing the embodiments of the present application.

1. In the embodiment of the present application, for convenience of description, when numbering is related, the numbering may be performed continuously from 1, or from 0, or from any parameter. It should be understood that the foregoing is a setting for describing the second technical solution provided in the embodiments of the present application, and is not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments of the present application.

2. In the embodiment of the application, the indication can comprise direct indication and indirect indication, and can also comprise explicit indication and implicit indication. The information indicated by a certain information (hereinafter, first indication information) is referred to as information to be indicated, and in a specific implementation process, there are various ways of indicating the information to be indicated, for example, but not limited to, the information to be indicated may be directly indicated, such as the information to be indicated itself or an index of the information to be indicated. The information to be indicated can also be indicated indirectly by indicating other information, wherein the other information and the information to be indicated have an association relation. A portion of the information to be indicated may also be indicated, while other portions of the information to be indicated are known or agreed in advance. For example, the indication of the specific information may also be achieved by means of a pre-agreed (e.g., protocol-specified) arrangement sequence of the respective information, thereby reducing the indication overhead to some extent. And meanwhile, the universal part of each information can be identified and indicated uniformly, so that the indication cost caused by independently indicating the same information is reduced.

The specific indication means may be any of various existing indication means, such as, but not limited to, the above indication means, various combinations thereof, and the like. Specific details of various indications may be referred to the prior art and are not described herein. As can be seen from the above, for example, when multiple pieces of information of the same type need to be indicated, different indication manners of different pieces of information may occur. In a specific implementation process, a required indication mode can be selected according to specific needs, and the selected indication mode is not limited in the embodiment of the present application, so that the indication mode according to the embodiment of the present application is understood to cover various methods that can enable a party to be indicated to learn information to be indicated.

It should be understood that the information to be indicated may be sent together as a whole or may be sent separately in a plurality of sub-information, and the sending periods and/or sending timings of these sub-information may be the same or different. Specific transmission method the embodiment of the present application is not limited. The transmission period and/or the transmission timing of the sub-information may be predefined, for example, predefined according to a protocol, or may be configured by the transmitting end device by transmitting configuration information to the receiving end device. The configuration information may include, for example, but not limited to, radio resource control signaling.

3. The "pre-defining" or "pre-configuring" may be implemented by pre-storing a corresponding code, table, or other manner that may be used to indicate the relevant information in the device (including, for example, the source terminal and/or the first relay terminal and/or the second relay terminal), and the embodiment of the present application is not limited to a specific implementation manner thereof. Where "save" may refer to saving in one or more memories. The one or more memories may be provided separately or may be integrated in an encoder or decoder, processor, or communication device. The one or more memories may also be provided separately as part of the decoder, processor, or communication device as part of the integrated circuit. The type of memory may be any form of storage medium, and embodiments of the application are not limited in this regard.

4. The "protocol" referred to in the embodiments of the present application may refer to a standard protocol in the communication field, and may include, for example, a long term evolution (long term evolution, LTE) protocol, an NR protocol, and related protocols applied in future communication systems, which are not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

5. In the embodiments of the present application, the descriptions of "when..and", "in the case of..and..and" if "and the like all refer to that, in some objective case, the device (e.g., the source terminal and/or the first relay terminal and/or the second relay terminal) will make a corresponding process, and are not limited in time, nor do they require that the device (e.g., the source terminal and/or the first relay terminal and/or the second relay terminal) must have a judging action when implementing, nor are they meant to have other limitations.

6. In the description of the present application, "/" means that the related objects are in a "or" relationship, for example, a/B may represent a or B, and "and/or" in the embodiment of the present application means that there may be three relationships, for example, a and/or B, and it may mean that there are three cases, i.e., a alone, a and B together, and B alone, wherein A, B may be singular or plural. Also, in the description of the embodiments of the present application, unless otherwise indicated, "plurality" means two or more than two. "at least one of" or the like means any combination of these items, including any combination of single item(s) or plural items(s). For example, at least one (a, b or c) of a, b, c, a-b, a-c, b-c, or a-b-c may be represented, wherein a, b, c may be single or plural. In addition, in order to facilitate the clear description of the technical solution of the embodiments of the present application, in the embodiments of the present application, the words "first", "second", etc. are used to distinguish the same item or similar items having substantially the same function and effect. It will be appreciated by those of skill in the art that the words "first," "second," and the like do not limit the amount and order of execution, and that the words "first," "second," and the like do not necessarily differ. Meanwhile, in the embodiments of the present application, words such as "exemplary" or "such as" are used to mean serving as examples, illustrations or explanations. Any embodiment or design described herein as "exemplary" or "e.g." in an embodiment should not be taken as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments or designs. Rather, the use of words such as "exemplary" or "such as" is intended to present related concepts in a concrete fashion that may be readily understood.

Embodiments of the present application may be applicable to long term evolution (long term LTE) systems or NR systems (which may also be referred to as 5G systems), internet of vehicles (vehicle to everything, V2X) systems, LTE and NR hybrid networking systems, or device-to-device (D2D) systems, machine-to-machine (machine to machine, M2M) communication systems, internet of things (internet of thing, ioT) systems (e.g., narrowband internet of things (narrow band internet of thing, NB-IoT) systems), and other next generation communication systems, etc. Or the communication system may be a non-3 GPP communication system without limitation.

In addition, the communication architecture and the service scenario described in the embodiments of the present application are for more clearly describing the technical solution of the embodiments of the present application, and do not constitute a limitation on the technical solution provided by the embodiments of the present application, and as a person of ordinary skill in the art can know, with evolution of the communication architecture and occurrence of a new service scenario, the technical solution provided by the embodiments of the present application is also applicable to similar technical problems.

Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating one possible, non-limiting system. As shown in fig. 6, the communication system 6000 includes a radio access network (radio access network, RAN) 600 and a Core Network (CN) 700.RAN 600 includes at least one RAN node (e.g., 610a and 610b in fig. 6, collectively 610) and at least one terminal (e.g., 620a-620j in fig. 6, collectively 620). Other RAN nodes may also be included in RAN600, such as wireless relay devices and/or wireless backhaul devices (not shown in fig. 6), and the like. Terminal 620 is wirelessly connected to RAN node 610. The RAN node 610 is connected to the core network 700 by wireless or wired means. The core network device in the core network 700 and the RAN node 610 in the RAN600 may be different physical devices, or may be the same physical device with integrated core network logic functions and radio access network logic functions.

The RAN600 may be a third generation partnership project (3rd generation partnership project,3GPP) -related cellular system, e.g., a fourth generation (4th generation,4G), fifth generation (5th generation,5G) mobile communication system, or a future-oriented evolution system (e.g., a sixth generation (6th generation,6G) mobile communication system). The RAN600 may also be an open RAN, O-RAN or ORAN, a cloud radio access network (cloud radio access network, CRAN), or a wireless fidelity (WIRELESS FIDELITY, wiFi) system. RAN600 may also be a communication system in which two or more of the above systems are converged.

The RAN node 610, which may also be referred to as an access network device, a RAN entity, or an access node, etc., forms part of a communication system to facilitate wireless access for terminals. The plurality of RAN nodes 610 in the communication system 6000 may be the same type of node or different types of nodes. In some scenarios, the roles of RAN node 610 and terminal 620 are relative, e.g., network element 620i in fig. 6 may be a helicopter or drone, which may be configured as a mobile base station, with network element 620i being a base station for those terminals 620j accessing RAN 600 through network element 620i, but network element 620i being a terminal for base station 610 a. RAN node 610 and terminal 620 are sometimes both referred to as communication devices, e.g., network elements 610a and 610b in fig. 6 may be understood as communication devices with base station functionality and network elements 620a-620j may be understood as communication devices with terminal functionality

For the RAN node, in one possible scenario, the RAN node may be a base station (base station), an evolved NodeB (eNodeB), an Access Point (AP), a transmission and reception point (transmission reception point, TRP), a next generation NodeB (gNB), a next generation base station in a 6G mobile communication system, a base station in a future mobile communication system, or an access node in a WiFi system, etc. The RAN node may be a macro base station (e.g., 610a in fig. 6), a micro base station or an indoor station (e.g., 610b in fig. 6), a relay node or a donor node, or a radio controller in a CRAN scenario. Alternatively, the RAN node may also be a server, a wearable device, a vehicle or an in-vehicle device, etc. For example, the access network device in the vehicle extrapolating (vehicle to everything, V2X) technology may be a Road Side Unit (RSU).

In another possible scenario, a plurality of RAN nodes cooperate to assist a terminal in implementing radio access, and different RAN nodes implement part of the functions of a base station, respectively. For example, the RAN node may be a Centralized Unit (CU), a Distributed Unit (DU), a CU-Control Plane (CP), a CU-User Plane (UP), or a Radio Unit (RU), etc. The CUs and DUs may be provided separately or may be included in the same network element, e.g. in a baseband unit (BBU). The RU may be included in a radio frequency device or unit, such as in a remote radio unit (remote radio unit, RRU), an active antenna processing unit (ACTIVE ANTENNA unit, AAU), or a remote radio head (remote radio head, RRH).

In different systems, CUs (or CU-CP and CU-UP), DUs or RUs may also have different names, but the meaning will be understood by those skilled in the art. For example, in ORAN systems, a CU may also be referred to as an O-CU (open CU), a DU may also be referred to as an O-DU, a CU-CP may also be referred to as an O-CU-CP, a CU-UP may also be referred to as an O-CU-UP, and a RU may also be referred to as an O-RU. For convenience of description, the present application is described by taking CU, CU-CP, CU-UP, DU and RU as examples. Any unit of CU (or CU-CP, CU-UP), DU and RU in the present application may be implemented by a software module, a hardware module, or a combination of software and hardware modules.

For a terminal, in one possible scenario, the terminal may be a device for implementing wireless communication functions, such as a terminal or a chip or the like that may be used in the terminal. The terminal may be a User Equipment (UE), an access terminal, a terminal unit, a terminal station, a mobile station, a remote terminal, a mobile device, a wireless communication device, a terminal agent, a terminal apparatus, or the like in a 5G network or a future evolved public land mobile network (public land mobile network, PLMN). An access terminal may be a cellular telephone, a cordless telephone, a session initiation protocol (session initiation protocol, SIP) phone, a wireless local loop (wireless local loop, WLL) station, a personal digital assistant (personal DIGITAL ASSISTANT, PDA), a handheld device with wireless communication capabilities, a computing device or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, an in-vehicle device or a wearable device, a Virtual Reality (VR) terminal, an augmented reality (augmented reality, AR) terminal, a wireless terminal in industrial control (industrial control), a wireless terminal in unmanned (SELF DRIVING), a wireless terminal in telemedicine (remote medical), a wireless terminal in smart grid (SMART GRID), a wireless terminal in transportation security (transportation safety), a wireless terminal in smart city (SMART CITY), a wireless terminal in smart home (smart home), etc. In one possible implementation, the terminal may be mobile or fixed.

In one possible implementation manner, the source terminal, the first relay terminal, and the second relay terminal in the embodiments of the present application may also be referred to as a communication apparatus, which may be a general-purpose device or a special-purpose device, which is not specifically limited in the embodiments of the present application.

In a possible implementation manner, related functions of the source terminal, the first relay terminal, and the second relay terminal in the embodiments of the present application may be implemented by one device, may be implemented by a plurality of devices together, or may be implemented by one or more functional modules in one device, which is not specifically limited in the embodiments of the present application. It will be appreciated that the above described functionality may be either a network element in a hardware device, or a software functionality running on dedicated hardware, or a combination of hardware and software, or a virtualized functionality instantiated on a platform (e.g., a cloud platform).

For example, the related functions of the source terminal or the first relay terminal or the second relay terminal in the embodiment of the present application may be implemented by the communication apparatus 700 in fig. 7. Fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device 700 according to an embodiment of the present application. The communication device 700 includes one or more processors 701, communication lines 702, and at least one communication interface (illustrated in fig. 7 as including communication interface 704, and one processor 701 for example), and may also include memory 703.

The processor 701 may be a general purpose central processing unit (central processing unit, CPU), microprocessor, application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or one or more integrated circuits for controlling the execution of the programs of the present application.

The communication line 702 may include a path for connecting between different components.

The communication interface 704, which may be a transceiver module, is used to communicate with other devices or communication networks, such as ethernet, RAN, wireless local area network (wireless local area networks, WLAN), etc. For example, the transceiver module may be a device such as a transceiver or a transceiver. In one possible implementation, the communication interface 704 may also be a transceiver circuit located within the processor 701 to enable signal input and signal output by the processor.

The memory 703 may be a device having a memory function. For example, but not limited to, a read-only memory (ROM) or other type of static storage device that can store static information and instructions, a random access memory (random access memory, RAM) or other type of dynamic storage device that can store information and instructions, an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (ELECTRICALLY ERASABLE PROGRAMMABLE READ-only memory, EEPROM), a compact disc read-only memory (compact disc read-only memory) or other optical disk storage, optical disk storage (including compact discs, laser discs, optical discs, digital versatile discs, blu-ray discs, etc.), magnetic disk storage media or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer. The memory may be self-contained and coupled to the processor via communication line 702. The memory may also be integrated with the processor.

The memory 703 is used for storing computer-executable instructions for executing the aspects of the present application, and is controlled by the processor 701 for execution. The processor 701 is configured to execute computer-executable instructions stored in the memory 703, thereby implementing the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application.

Alternatively, in the embodiment of the present application, the processor 701 may perform the functions related to the processing of the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application, and the communication interface 704 is responsible for communicating with other devices or communication networks, which is not particularly limited in the embodiment of the present application.

In one possible implementation, the memory 703 in an embodiment of the present application may also be used to store information or parameters described in the embodiments described below, such as the first indication information.

Computer-executable instructions in embodiments of the application may also be referred to as application code, and embodiments of the application are not limited in this regard.

In a particular implementation, as one embodiment, the processor 701 may include one or more CPUs, such as CPU0 and CPU1 in FIG. 7.

In a particular implementation, as one embodiment, the communications apparatus 700 can include a plurality of processors, such as the processor 701 and the processor 707 in fig. 7. Each of these processors may be a single-core (single-CPU) processor or may be a multi-core (multi-CPU) processor. A processor herein may refer to one or more devices, circuits, and/or processing cores for processing data (e.g., computer program instructions).

In a specific implementation, as an embodiment, the communication apparatus 700 may further include an output device 705 and an input device 706. The output device 705 communicates with the processor 701 and may display information in a variety of ways.

The communication device 700 may be a general-purpose device or a special-purpose device. For example, the communication apparatus 700 may be a desktop computer, a portable computer, a web server, a personal computer (PDA), a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a wireless terminal, an embedded device, or a device having a similar structure as in fig. 7. The embodiments of the present application are not limited to the type of communication device 700.

An information transmission method according to an embodiment of the present application will be described below with reference to fig. 7.

In the following embodiments of the present application, a message name between network elements, a name of each parameter, a name of each information, or the like are merely examples, and in other embodiments, other names may be used, and the method provided by the embodiments of the present application is not limited thereto specifically. It will be understood that, in the embodiments of the present application, each network element may perform some or all of the steps in the embodiments of the present application, these steps or operations are examples, and other operations or variations of the operations may also be performed by the embodiments of the present application. Furthermore, the various steps may be performed in a different order presented in accordance with embodiments of the application, and it is possible that not all of the operations in the embodiments of the application may be performed.

Fig. 8 is an example of an information transmission method according to an embodiment of the present application. The method is described with the source terminal as the execution subject. Of course, the main body for executing the action of the source terminal in the method may also be a device/module in the source terminal, for example, a chip, a processor, a processing unit, etc. in the source terminal, which is not limited in particular in the embodiment of the present application. As illustrated in fig. 8, the information transmission method includes the steps of:

S801, the source terminal determines a first hop count based on information of a first service.

The first hop count is the maximum hop count for transmitting discovery information. The discovery information is used for the source terminal to discover the target terminal. The information of the first service includes at least one of a quality of service parameter corresponding to the first service, a relay service type corresponding to the first service, a type of the first service, or a hop count requirement of the first service.

Alternatively, the quality of service parameters described above may be quality of service (quality of service, qoS) parameters. The QoS parameters may be unquantized QoS parameters, that is, specific parameters are included in the QoS parameters, and the QoS parameters may include, for example, a delay of 20 ms and a packet loss rate of less than or equal to 2%. Of course, the foregoing is merely exemplary of QoS parameters, and the QoS parameters may also include other parameters, which are not limited in this respect by the embodiments of the present application.

However, the QoS parameter may also be a quantized QoS parameter, specifically a 5G QoS identifier (5G QoS identifier,5QI) or a PC5 5G QoS identifier (PC 5QI, PQI), where the 5QI or PQI includes quantized values, e.g., 1,2, and N, where N is a positive integer greater than 2, each quantized value corresponds to a specific parameter, and the QoS parameter may be, for example, 21, such that the QoS parameter corresponds to a time delay of 20 ms and a packet loss rate of less than or equal to 0.01%.

By way of example, the types of the first traffic may include at least one of a service type (SERVICE TYPE), a ProSe ID, or an application (application) ID. Of course, the foregoing is merely an exemplary illustration of the type of the first service, and the type of the first service may further include other information, which is not limited in any way by the embodiments of the present application.

The relay service type may be RSC. Of course, the foregoing is merely exemplary of a relay service type, and the relay service type may also be other information, which is not limited in any way by the embodiment of the present application.

In some possible implementations, the hop count related to the present application may be represented by the number of relay terminals, and may also be represented by the number of PC5 connections, which is not limited in any way by the embodiment of the present application. For example, when there are 3 relay terminals in the path from the source terminal to the destination terminal, if the hop count is understood as the number of relay terminals, the hop count of the path is 3 hops, and if the hop count is understood as the number of PC5 connections, the hop count of the path is 4 hops.

S802, the source terminal sends a first discovery message, and the relay terminal receives the first discovery message correspondingly.

Wherein the first discovery message may include the first hop count and discovery information.

Wherein the first discovery message may be used to request the sending of the target terminal, for example, a discovery request message.

Alternatively, as known from the foregoing description about S801, the source terminal determines the first hop count based on the information of the first service, and the information of the first service may include a quality of service parameter corresponding to the first service. In view of this, the source terminal may determine the first hop count based on the quality of service parameter corresponding to the first service. That is, in this case, the first hop count is determined based on the quality of service parameter corresponding to the first service.

It can be understood that, because the service quality parameter corresponding to the first service can accurately reflect the parameter related to the service requirement, the first hop count determined based on the service quality parameter corresponding to the first service can be attached to the actual requirement of the service as much as possible, so that the service requirement between the terminals can be ensured to be satisfied as much as possible.

However, in this case, when the source terminal transmits the discovery information, the source terminal may transmit the first hop count at the same time, or may not transmit the first hop count at the same time. The following describes in detail the implementation procedure of the source terminal transmitting the first hop count simultaneously or not simultaneously when the source terminal transmits the discovery information.

In one possible implementation manner, the first discovery message is generated and sent when the first hop count is different from the maximum hop count determined based on the relay service type corresponding to the first service (for example, the maximum hop count corresponding to the relay service type corresponding to the first service may refer to the description related to the first indication information in S901). That is, in the case where the above-described first hop count is different from the maximum hop count determined based on the relay service type corresponding to the first service, the source terminal may simultaneously transmit the first hop count when the source terminal transmits the discovery information.

Further, optionally, in the case that the first hop count (e.g., the maximum hop count 1) is included in the first discovery message, the relay terminal may use the first hop count in the first discovery message as the maximum hop count for transmitting the discovery information.

In another possible implementation manner, in a case where the first hop count is different from the maximum hop count determined based on the relay service type corresponding to the first service (for example, the maximum hop count corresponding to the relay service type corresponding to the first service may be specifically described with reference to the first indication information in S901), an eleventh discovery message is generated and sent, where the eleventh discovery message includes discovery information, and the eleventh discovery message does not include the first hop count. That is, in the case where the above-described first hop count is the same as the maximum hop count determined based on the relay service type corresponding to the first service, when the source terminal transmits the discovery information, the source terminal may not simultaneously transmit the first hop count.

Further, optionally, in the case that the first hop count is not included in the eleventh discovery message, the relay service type may be included in the eleventh discovery message, so that the relay terminal may determine the first hop count based on the third indication information (specifically, refer to the description in S1302) and the relay service type (i.e., the relay service type corresponding to the first traffic) included in the eleventh discovery message.

Specifically, the relay terminal may determine the first hop count based on the relay service type included in the eleventh discovery message and the correspondence between the relay service type indicated by the third indication information and the maximum hop count.

It should be noted that, if the relay terminal cannot determine the first hop count based on the relay service type included in the eleventh discovery message and the correspondence between the relay service type indicated by the third indication information and the maximum hop count (for example, the third indication information does not include the relay service type included in the eleventh discovery message), the relay terminal determines that the maximum hop count for transmitting the discovery information is 1 hop.

An implementation of the source terminal determining the first hop count in S801 will be described below.

Alternatively, S801 may be replaced with S801A.

S801A, the source terminal determines a first hop count based on information of a first service.

It can be understood that, because the quality of service parameter corresponding to the first service, the relay service type corresponding to the first service, the type of the first service, and the hop count requirement of the first service included in the information of the first service are parameters related to the service requirement, the first hop count determined based on the information of the first service can be attached to the actual requirement of the service as much as possible, and further, the service requirement between the terminals can be ensured to be satisfied as much as possible.

In addition, when the source terminal cannot find available multi-hop connection satisfying the first hop count requirement, the source terminal may also gradually increase on the basis of the determined first hop count, for example, assuming that the determined first hop count is 4 hops, the source terminal may further determine the first hop count as 5 hops.

Further, optionally, the source terminal may determine the first hop count based on the information of the first service by:

The first mode is that the source terminal determines a first hop count according to a corresponding relation related to the maximum hop count and information of a first service, which are acquired in advance.

And the second mode is that the source terminal automatically determines the first hop count based on the parameters related to the service quality parameters.

Of course, the foregoing is merely an exemplary illustration of the manner in which the source terminal determines the first hop count based on the information of the first service, and the source terminal may determine the first hop count in other manners, which is not limited in any way by the embodiment of the present application.

The first and second modes are described in detail below:

The first mode is that the source terminal determines a first hop count according to a corresponding relation related to the maximum hop count and information of a first service, which are acquired in advance. As shown in fig. 9, in the first mode, the source terminal needs to acquire the correspondence relation related to the maximum number of hops in advance, however, a specific process of acquiring the correspondence relation related to the maximum number of hops in advance by the source terminal may be realized by the following S901.

S901, a strategy control network element sends first indication information to a source terminal, and the source terminal correspondingly receives the first indication information from a strategy control function network element.

The first indication information is used for indicating a corresponding relation between at least one maximum hop count and at least one of at least one service quality parameter, at least one relay service type, at least one service type or hop count requirement of at least one service. The at least one quality of service parameter comprises a quality of service parameter corresponding to the first service, the at least one relay service type comprises a relay service type corresponding to the first service, the at least one service type comprises a first service type, and the hop count requirement of the at least one service comprises a hop count requirement of the first service.

In addition, the at least one maximum hop count may also have a correspondence with at least one ProSe ID, and/or the at least one maximum hop count may also have a correspondence with at least one App ID. That is, the first indication information is also used to indicate a correspondence of at least one maximum hop count with at least one ProSe ID and/or at least one App ID.

Optionally, the first indication information may further carry maximum hop count indication information corresponding to the relay service type. The maximum hop count indication information is used for indicating that the first hop count is the maximum hop count corresponding to the relay service type. In this case, the source terminal may determine the maximum hop count corresponding to the relay service type as the first hop count carried in the first discovery message.

The first indication information may be, for example, [ RSC1, maximum hop count indication information; RSC2, maximum hop count 2; RSC3]. That is, the maximum hop count indication information indicates that the first hop count is the maximum hop count corresponding to RSC 1.

The maximum hop count indication information indicates the maximum hop count corresponding to the first hop count RSC 1. In view of this, in this implementation, the source terminal may determine the maximum hop count corresponding to RSC1 as the first hop count carried in the first discovery message.

In addition, since the maximum hop count indication information corresponding to RSC2 is not carried in the first indication information, in the case where the relay service type corresponding to the first service is RSC2, the first hop count carried in the first discovery message may be the maximum hop count corresponding to RSC2, or may not be the maximum hop count corresponding to RSC 2.

In an example, if the first indication information is used to indicate a relationship between at least one maximum hop count and at least one qos parameter, the first indication information may specifically be that the maximum hop count corresponding to the qos parameter 1 is 3, the maximum hop count corresponding to the qos parameter 2 is 4, and the maximum hop count corresponding to the qos parameter 3 is 5.

In yet another example, if the first indication information is used to indicate a relationship between at least one maximum hop count and at least one relay service type, the first indication information may specifically be that the maximum hop count corresponding to the relay service type 1 is 3, the maximum hop count corresponding to the relay service type 2 is 4, and the maximum hop count corresponding to the relay service type 3 is 5.

In yet another example, if the first indication information is used to indicate a relationship between at least one maximum hop count and at least one quality of service parameter and at least one relay service type, the first indication information may specifically be that the maximum hop count corresponding to the quality of service parameter 1 and the relay service type 1 is 2, the maximum hop count corresponding to the quality of service parameter 1 and the relay service type 2 is 3, the maximum hop count corresponding to the quality of service parameter 2 and the relay service type 1 is 4, and the maximum hop count corresponding to the quality of service parameter 2 and the relay service type 2 is 5.

Of course, the foregoing is only an exemplary description of a part of the correspondence relation related to the maximum number of hops, and the other exemplary description of the correspondence relation related to the maximum number of hops may be understood with reference to the description of the foregoing corresponding positions, which is not repeated herein.

Optionally, before S901, the policy control function network element determines a correspondence relation related to a maximum hop count, however, the policy control function network element may determine the correspondence relation related to the maximum hop count by a method 1, the policy control function network element determining the correspondence relation related to the maximum hop count based on policy request information reported by the access and mobility management function network element or the application layer function network element, wherein the policy request information is used for requesting a ProSe related policy of the source terminal, a method 2, the policy control function network element determining the correspondence relation related to the maximum hop count based on ProSe related subscription information of the source terminal reported by the unified data management function network element, and a method 3, the policy control function network element determining the correspondence relation related to the maximum hop count based on pre-configuration information related to ProSe.

In some examples, the policy control function network element may be a policy control function (policy control function, PCF), which is, of course, merely an exemplary illustration of a policy control function network element, and the policy control function network element may also be another network element, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

The unified data management function network element may be a unified data management function (unified DATA MANAGEMENT, UDM), which is, of course, merely an exemplary illustration of a unified data management function network element, and the unified data management function network element may also be another network element, which is not limited in any way in the embodiment of the present application.

The access and mobility management function network element may be an authentication management function (ACCESS AND mobility management function, AMF), which is, of course, merely an exemplary illustration of an access and mobility management function network element, and the access and mobility management function network element may also be another network element, which is not limited in any way by the embodiment of the present application.

The application layer functional network element may be an application layer function (application function, AF), which is, of course, merely an exemplary illustration of an application layer functional network element, and the application layer functional network element may also be another network element, which is not limited in any way in the embodiment of the present application.

In the first embodiment, S801A may be replaced with S902.

And S902, the source terminal determines the maximum hop count corresponding to the information of the first service as a first hop count according to the first indication information.

For example, it is assumed that the maximum hop count corresponding to the indicated qos parameter 1 in the first indication information is 3, and the information of the first service only includes the qos parameter corresponding to the first service, and the qos parameter corresponding to the first service is the qos parameter 1, so that the source terminal may determine that the first hop count is 3.

It can be appreciated that the source terminal can simply determine the first hop count directly through the corresponding relationship between at least one information related to the service requirement (for example, the quality of service parameter and/or the relay service type and/or the hop count requirement of the service), so as to reduce the complexity of determining the first hop count by the source terminal and further improve the efficiency of determining the first hop count by the source terminal.

It should be noted that, the first mode may be applied to not only the U2U scene but also the U2N scene.

And the second mode is that the source terminal automatically determines the first hop count based on the parameters related to the service quality parameters. However, in a different scenario, the quality of service parameters required by the source terminal to determine the first hop count are different, for example, in a U2U scenario, i.e. in a scenario in which the target terminal is a discovered terminal, but not a relay terminal capable of connecting with the network, the source terminal may determine the first hop count based on the quality of service parameters corresponding to the first service and the quality of service parameters corresponding to the PC5 connection, and for example, in a U2N scenario, i.e. in a scenario in which the target terminal is a relay terminal capable of connecting with the network, the source terminal may determine the first hop count based on the quality of service parameters corresponding to the first service, and the quality of service parameters corresponding to the PC5 connection and/or the quality of service parameters corresponding to the connection between the target terminal and the network device.

In view of this, as shown in fig. 9, in the U2U scenario of the second mode, that is, in a scenario in which the target terminal is a found terminal, but not a relay terminal capable of connecting to the network, S801A described above may be replaced with S903.

S903, the source terminal determines a first hop count according to the quality of service parameter corresponding to the first service and the first quality of service parameter.

The first quality of service parameter is a quality of service parameter corresponding to the PC5 connection.

Alternatively, the first quality of service parameter may comprise a quality of service parameter of each of the multi-hop connections in the PC5 connection.

An example assumes that the qos parameter is a delay, the delay corresponding to the first service is 100 ms, and the delay of each hop connection in the multi-hop connection in the PC5 connection indicated by the first qos parameter is 30 ms, so that the source terminal may perform downward rounding on the ratio of the delay corresponding to the first service to the delay indicated by the first qos parameter, to obtain the first hop count (i.e. 3).

In another example, assuming that the qos parameter is a delay, the delay corresponding to the first service is 100 ms, and the delay of each hop connection in the multi-hop connection in the PC5 connection indicated by the first qos parameter is 25 ms, the source terminal may perform a downward rounding on the ratio of the delay corresponding to the first service to the delay indicated by the first qos parameter, to obtain the first hop count (i.e. 4).

In yet another example, assuming that the qos parameter is a delay, the delay corresponding to the first service is 100 ms, and the multi-hop connection in the PC5 connection indicated by the first qos parameter is 20 ms and 30 ms, the source terminal determines M PC5 connections with 20 ms and L PC5 connections with 30 ms according to the delay corresponding to the first service and the delay indicated by the first qos parameter, where M and L are both positive integers. In this case, the sum of 20M and 30L is less than or equal to 100 milliseconds, and the first hop count is the sum of M and L.

In another example, assuming that the qos parameter is 100 ms, the packet loss rate is less than or equal to 2%, and the delay of each hop in the multi-hop connection in the PC5 connection indicated by the first qos parameter is 30 ms and the packet loss rate is 1%, so that the source terminal may perform downward evidence obtaining on the ratio of the delay corresponding to the first service to the delay indicated by the first qos parameter to obtain the hop count corresponding to the delay (i.e. 3), and perform multiple calculation on the packet loss rate corresponding to the first service to the packet loss rate indicated by the first qos parameter and then perform downward rounding to obtain the hop count corresponding to the packet loss rate (i.e. 2), and the source terminal may determine the smaller value of the hop count corresponding to the delay and the hop count corresponding to the packet loss rate as the first hop count (i.e. 2).

Further, optionally, the hop count corresponding to the packet loss rate may satisfy the following formula 1:

Wherein A1 is the hop count corresponding to the packet loss rate. A2 is the packet loss rate indicated by the first quality of service parameter. A3 is the packet loss rate corresponding to the first service.

Still alternatively, the first quality of service parameter may also be a quality of service parameter of a single hop PC5 connection, and the quality of service parameter of the single hop PC5 connection may be an established single hop PC5 connection.

An example is that assuming that the qos parameter is a delay, the delay corresponding to the first service is 100 ms, and the qos parameter of the single hop PC5 connection indicated by the first qos parameter is 20 ms, so that the source terminal may perform a downward rounding on the ratio of the delay corresponding to the first service to the delay indicated by the first qos parameter, to obtain the first hop count (i.e. 5).

It can be understood that in the U2U scenario of the second mode, the source terminal may determine the first hop count by itself according to the quality of service parameter corresponding to the first service and the first quality of service parameter, so that the accuracy of the first hop count determined based on the actual quality of service parameter is higher, and further, the service requirements between the terminals can be better guaranteed to be satisfied later.

As shown in fig. 9, in the U2N scenario of the second embodiment, that is, in a scenario in which the target terminal is a relay terminal capable of connecting to the network, that is, S801A may be replaced with S904.

S904, the source terminal determines a first hop count according to the service quality parameter corresponding to the first service and the first information.

The first information includes a first quality of service parameter and/or a second quality of service parameter, where the first quality of service parameter is a quality of service parameter corresponding to the PC5 connection, and the second quality of service parameter is a quality of service parameter corresponding to the connection between the target terminal and the network device.

In some examples, the network device may include a RAN node and/or a core network element device. Of course, the foregoing is merely exemplary of the network device according to the present application, and the network device according to the present application may further include other devices, which are not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

Optionally, in the case that the first information includes the first quality of service parameter or the second quality of service parameter, the implementation process of determining the first hop count by the source terminal according to the quality of service parameter corresponding to the first service and the first information may be understood by referring to the description related to S903, which is not repeated herein.

And under the condition that the first information comprises the first service quality parameter and the second service quality parameter, the source terminal can process the service quality parameter corresponding to the first service based on the second service quality parameter to obtain a third service quality parameter, and determine the first hop count according to the third service quality parameter and the first service quality parameter. The implementation process of determining the first hop count by the source terminal according to the third quality of service parameter and the first quality of service parameter may be understood by referring to the implementation process of determining the first hop count by the source terminal according to the quality of service parameter and the first quality of service parameter corresponding to the first service, which is not described herein.

In an exemplary case where the first information includes a first quality of service parameter and a second quality of service parameter, taking the quality of service parameter as an example of time delay, the source terminal may determine, according to the quality of service parameter corresponding to the first service and the first information, the first hop count by using the source terminal as an implementation process, that the source terminal may determine a third quality of service parameter by using a difference value between the quality of service parameter corresponding to the first service and the second quality of service parameter, and round down a ratio of the third quality of service parameter and the first quality of service parameter to obtain the first hop count.

It should be appreciated that the description of the corresponding locations with respect to the first quality of service parameter may be understood, and will not be repeated here. For the second qos parameter, the second qos parameter may be a qos parameter corresponding to the default air interface, and the second qos parameter may also be another qos parameter.

It can be understood that in the U2N scenario of the second mode, that is, in a scenario in which the target terminal is a relay terminal capable of connecting with the network, there is not only a connection between the terminals, but also a connection between the terminals and the network, where in this scenario, in addition to the accuracy of the first hop count can be improved based on the actual quality of service parameter, the source terminal may determine, based on the current scenario adaptability, the first quality of service parameter and/or the second quality of service parameter as the quality of service parameter required by the first hop count, so that the first hop count determined based on the quality of service parameter by itself can be more attached to the actual situation of the current scenario, thereby further improving the accuracy of the first hop count.

In addition, when the information of the first service includes a quality of service parameter corresponding to the first service and/or a hop count requirement of the first service, an implementation process of determining the first hop count based on the information of the first service in the source terminal may be that an application layer of the source terminal sends the quality of service parameter corresponding to the first service and/or the hop count requirement of the first service to a ProSe layer of the source terminal, and accordingly, a ProSe layer of an adjacent service layer of the source terminal receives the quality of service parameter corresponding to the first service and/or the hop count requirement of the first service from the application layer of the source terminal, and determines the first hop count according to the quality of service parameter corresponding to the first service and/or the hop count requirement of the first service.

It can be appreciated that the implementation process of determining the first hop count according to the quality of service parameter corresponding to the first service and/or the hop count requirement of the first service by the ProSe layer of the source terminal can be understood by referring to the description related to the first and second modes, which are not repeated herein.

The foregoing describes a process of determining the first hop count based on the information of the first service in the source terminal, however, further optionally, taking the information of the first service as a service quality parameter corresponding to the first service as an example, the process of determining the information of the first service in the source terminal may be that the ProSe layer of the source terminal obtains a service quality requirement corresponding to the first service from an application layer of the source terminal, and determines the service quality parameter corresponding to the first service according to the service quality requirement corresponding to the first service, so as to provide a data basis for subsequently determining the first hop count.

Alternatively, taking the information of the first service as a service quality parameter corresponding to the first service as an example, the implementation process of determining the information of the first service in the source terminal may be that the ProSe layer of the source terminal obtains the type of the first service from the application layer of the source terminal, and determines the service quality parameter corresponding to the first service according to the type of the first service, so that a data basis can be provided for subsequently determining the first hop count.

Alternatively, taking the information of the first service as the relay service type corresponding to the first service as an example, the implementation process of determining the information of the first service inside the source terminal may be that the ProSe layer of the source terminal determines the relay service type corresponding to the first service according to the type of the first service and policy information configured on the source terminal, so that a data basis may be provided for subsequently determining the first hop count.

Alternatively, taking the information of the first service as a service quality parameter corresponding to the first service as an example, the implementation process of determining the information of the first service in the source terminal may be that when the source terminal determines that the existing PC5 service quality flow can match a data packet or a request of the first service from an application layer of the source terminal, the source terminal determines the service quality parameter corresponding to the first service according to the service quality parameter corresponding to the existing PC5 service quality flow, so that a data basis can be provided for subsequently determining the first hop count.

Further, specifically, the implementation process of the source terminal determining the quality of service parameter corresponding to the first service according to the quality of service parameter corresponding to the existing PC5 quality of service flow may be that the source terminal determines the quality of service parameter corresponding to the existing PC5 quality of service flow as the quality of service parameter corresponding to the first service.

In this implementation, optionally, the source terminal may be specifically a ProSe layer of the source terminal, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

Alternatively, taking the information of the first service as a service quality parameter corresponding to the first service as an example, the implementation process of determining the information of the first service in the source terminal may be that when the source terminal determines that no PC5 service quality stream can match a data packet or a request of the first service from an application layer of the source terminal, the source terminal determines the service quality parameter corresponding to the first service according to the service quality requirement corresponding to the first service, or the source terminal determines the service quality parameter corresponding to the first service according to the type of the first service, so that a data basis can be provided for subsequently determining the first hop count.

In this implementation manner, optionally, the source terminal may also be specifically a ProSe layer of the source terminal, which is not limited in any way by the embodiment of the present application.

Furthermore, alternatively, the first and second modes described above may be combined, and the embodiment of the present application is not limited in this regard. In the process of determining the first hop count by the source terminal based on the first mode and/or the second mode, a plurality of first hop counts may be determined, where the plurality of first hop counts includes a first hop count determined based on the relay service type and a first hop count determined based on the quality of service parameter.

In a possible implementation manner, in the above case, the source terminal may determine a minimum value of the plurality of first hops as the first hops carried in the first discovery message.

It will be appreciated that the above described implementation is applicable in scenarios where the overhead of the discovery process is reduced. For example, if the first hop count (e.g., 3 hops) determined based on the quality of service parameter is smaller than the first hop count (e.g., 5 hops) determined based on the relay service type, paths greater than 3 hops cannot meet the QoS requirement. That is, the overhead of the discovery process is currently reduced. Accordingly, the source terminal may determine the first hop count determined based on the quality of service parameter as the first hop count carried in the first discovery message.

Further, in another possible implementation manner, in the above case, the source terminal may determine a maximum value of the plurality of first hop counts as the first hop count carried in the first discovery message.

It will be appreciated that the above implementation is applicable in a scenario where a wider maximum number of hops is used. For example, if the target terminal is not found in the previous discovery process, the source terminal determines the maximum value of the first hop counts as the first hop count carried in the first discovery message.

Optionally, before the source terminal sends the first discovery message, the source terminal may determine in advance whether the first discovery message needs to be sent, so that the source terminal may send the first discovery message if appropriate, to avoid causing redundant signaling overhead. In order to achieve the above technical effects, another information transmission method provided in the embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 10, includes the following steps:

s1001, the source terminal determines that the first discovery message needs to be sent based on whether a connection exists between the source terminal and the target terminal and/or second information.

The second information includes the number of hops connected between the source terminal and the target terminal, and the first number of hops.

It should be noted that, if the connection between the source terminal and the target terminal is not yet established, but the discovery process is completed, the hop count of the connection between the source terminal and the target terminal may be replaced by the hop count of the communication between the source terminal and the target terminal.

It should be understood that the first hop count may be understood with reference to the description of the corresponding position above, and will not be described herein.

Further, alternatively, the step S1001 may be replaced by the step a or the step B.

And step A, the source terminal determines that the first discovery message needs to be sent under the condition that no connection exists between the source terminal and the target terminal.

It can be understood that, in the case that communication between the current source terminal and the target terminal cannot be performed, the source terminal needs to send the first discovery message to discover the target terminal, so that the first discovery message is repeatedly sent under the condition that communication between the source terminal and the target terminal is possible, thereby avoiding redundant signaling overhead.

And B, determining that the first discovery message needs to be sent when the source terminal is connected with the target terminal and the hop count of the connection between the source terminal and the target terminal is larger than the first hop count.

It may be appreciated that although there is a connection between the current source terminal and the target terminal, the connection cannot meet the service requirement, which indicates that communication between the current source terminal and the target terminal cannot be performed, in which case the source terminal also needs to send the first discovery message to discover the target terminal, so that the first discovery message is repeatedly sent under the condition that communication between the source terminal and the target terminal is possible, thereby avoiding redundant signaling overhead.

In addition, when there is a connection between the source terminal and the target terminal, and the hop count of the connection between the source terminal and the target terminal is less than or equal to the first hop count, the source terminal may not send the first discovery message, but trigger the connection modification procedure, so that the source terminal and the target terminal may communicate based on the existing connection, thereby avoiding redundant signaling overhead.

It should be noted that the methods shown in fig. 8 to 10 described above are applied to the discovery process of the mode B, however, as can be seen from the related description about the "discovery process of the mode B" described above, the discovery process of the mode B may further include the discovery process of the mode B U U and the discovery process of the mode B U N. The following describes information transmission methods applied to the discovery process of the mode B U U and the discovery process of the mode B U N, respectively.

In the case of being applied to the discovery process of the mode B U U, as shown in fig. 11, the information transmission method includes the steps of:

S1101, the policy control function network element determines a correspondence between at least one maximum hop count and at least one of at least one quality of service parameter, at least one relay service type, at least one service type, or hop count requirement of at least one service.

Optionally, before S1101, the information transmission method further includes S1100a or S1100b or S1100c.

S1100a, the access and mobility management function network element sends policy request information to the policy control function network element, and the policy control function network element receives the policy request information from the access and mobility management function network element.

S1100b, the application layer functional network element sends policy request information to the policy control functional network element, and the policy control functional network element receives the policy request information from the application layer functional network element.

S1100c, the unified data management function network element sends the signing information related to the ProSe to the strategy control function network element, and correspondingly, the strategy control function network element receives the signing information related to the ProSe from the source terminal of the unified data management function network element.

S1102, the source terminal obtains a correspondence between at least one maximum hop count and at least one of at least one quality of service parameter, at least one relay service type, at least one service type, or hop count requirement of at least one service.

In one possible implementation manner, the policy control function network element sends the first indication information to the source terminal through the access and mobility management function network element, and correspondingly, the source terminal receives the first indication information from the policy control function network element through the access and mobility management function network element, so that the source terminal obtains a corresponding relationship between at least one maximum hop count and at least one of the quality of service parameter, the at least one relay service type, the at least one service type, or the hop count requirement of the at least one service.

In another possible implementation manner, the source terminal determines to acquire the correspondence between at least one maximum hop count and at least one of at least one quality of service parameter, at least one relay service type, at least one service type, or at least one hop count requirement of the at least one service by itself.

S1103, the source terminal determines a first hop count according to the corresponding relation between the acquired at least one maximum hop count and at least one service quality parameter, at least one relay service type, at least one service type or at least one hop count requirement of at least one service and the information of the first service, or determines the first hop count according to the information of the first service.

S1104, the source terminal sends a first discovery message, and correspondingly, the second relay terminal receives the first discovery message.

Optionally, the source terminal may send the correspondence of the at least one maximum hop count with at least one of the at least one quality of service parameter, the at least one relay service type, the at least one service type, or the hop count requirement of the at least one service to the second relay terminal, such that the second relay terminal stores the correspondence of the at least one maximum hop count with at least one of the at least one quality of service parameter, the at least one relay service type, the at least one service type, or the hop count requirement of the at least one service.

And S1105, the second relay terminal broadcasts and transmits a fourth discovery message, and correspondingly, other relay terminals receive the fourth discovery message.

Wherein the fourth discovery message includes the first hop count and discovery information.

And S1106, the other relay terminals broadcast and send fifth discovery messages, and correspondingly, the target terminal receives the fifth discovery messages.

Wherein the fifth discovery message includes the first hop count and discovery information.

However, the process of the target terminal feeding back the discovery response message to the source terminal through the relay terminal may be understood with reference to the description of the corresponding location, and will not be repeated here.

In the case of being applied to the discovery process of the mode B U N, as shown in fig. 12, the information transmission method includes the steps of:

S1201, the policy control function network element determines a correspondence between at least one maximum hop count and at least one of at least one quality of service parameter, at least one relay service type, at least one service type, or hop count requirement of at least one service.

Optionally, before S1201, the information transmission method further includes S1200a or S1200b or S1200c.

S1200a, an access and mobility management function network element sends policy request information to a policy control function network element, and the policy control function network element receives the policy request information from the access and mobility management function network element.

S1200b, the application layer functional network element sends policy request information to the policy control functional network element, and the policy control functional network element receives the policy request information from the application layer functional network element.

S1200c, the unified data management function network element sends the contract information related to the ProSe to the strategy control function network element, and correspondingly, the strategy control function network element receives the contract information related to the ProSe from the source terminal of the unified data management function network element.

S1202, the source terminal obtains a correspondence between at least one maximum hop count and at least one of at least one quality of service parameter, at least one relay service type, at least one service type, or hop count requirement of at least one service.

The source terminal may also be referred to herein as a remote terminal.

S1203, the source terminal determines the first hop count according to the corresponding relation between the acquired at least one maximum hop count and at least one quality of service parameter, at least one relay service type, at least one service type, or at least one hop count requirement of at least one service, and the information of the first service, or determines the first hop count according to the information of the first service.

S1204, the source terminal sends a first discovery message, and correspondingly, the second relay terminal receives the first discovery message.

And S1205, the second relay terminal broadcasts and transmits a sixth discovery message, and correspondingly, other relay terminals which are not connected with the network receive the sixth discovery message.

Wherein the sixth discovery message includes the first hop count and discovery information.

S1206, other relay terminals not connected to the network broadcast and send the seventh discovery message, and correspondingly, the first relay terminal receives the seventh discovery message.

Wherein the seventh discovery message includes the first hop count and discovery information.

S1207, the first relay terminal communicates with the network device.

However, the process of the first relay terminal feeding back the discovery response message to the source terminal through the relay terminal may be understood with reference to the description of the corresponding location, and will not be repeated herein.

It should be noted that the methods shown in fig. 8 to 12 described above are applied to the discovery process of the mode B, however, as known from the related description about the "relay discovery" described above, the discovery process may also include the discovery process of the mode a. In view of this, fig. 13 is a further example of the information transmission method provided in the embodiment of the present application in the discovery process of the mode a. The method is described with a second relay terminal as an execution subject, wherein the second relay terminal is a relay terminal which is not connected with a network. Of course, the main body for executing the action of the second relay terminal in the method may also be a device/module in the second relay terminal, for example, a chip, a processor, a processing unit, etc. in the second relay terminal, which is not limited in particular in the embodiment of the present application. As illustrated in fig. 13, the information transmission method includes the steps of:

S1301, the second relay terminal acquires a second hop count.

The second hop count is the maximum hop count for transmitting the discovery information after the second relay terminal receives the discovery information. The discovery information is used for the source terminal to discover the target terminal. The second hop count is associated with a relay service type corresponding to the first traffic of the source terminal.

Alternatively, the second hop count may be understood as the maximum hop count remaining for transmitting discovery information, for example, assuming that the second relay terminal is a relay terminal of the second hop, so that two hops of discovery information will be transmitted between the target terminal and the second relay terminal, and if the maximum hop count for transmitting discovery information is 5, the second hop count is 3, so that after the second relay terminal receives discovery information, discovery information is transmitted by at most 3 hops by other relay terminals, that is, there can be at most two relay terminals for relaying discovery information between the second relay terminal and the target terminal.

S1302, the second relay terminal sends a second discovery message, and correspondingly, other relay terminals or source terminals receive the second discovery message.

Wherein the second discovery message includes a second hop count and discovery information.

Alternatively, the second relay terminal may transmit a plurality of second discovery messages, and one second discovery message may include one discovery information and one second hop count. In this case, the plurality of second discovery messages may be independently carried, for example, the second discovery message 1 is [ RSC, second hop count= 4,user info ID of{end UE1} ], the second discovery message 2 is [ RSC, second hop count= 4,user info ID of{end UE2} ], that is, the second discovery message 1 and the second discovery message 2 are independently carried.

However, the second discovery message including the same second hop count and RSC may also incorporate bearers, for example, [ RSC1, second hop count= 4,user info ID of{end UE1,end UE2,end UE3} ], that is, since the second hop count and RSC included in the second discovery message corresponding to end UE1, end UE2, and end UE3 are the same, the second discovery message corresponding to end UE1, end UE2, and end UE3 may incorporate bearers.

However, the second discovery message including the same second hop count may also incorporate bearers, for example, [ maximum hop count=4, [ rsc= {1,2}, user info ID of { end UE1, end UE2, end UE3} ], that is, since the second hop counts included in the second discovery messages corresponding to end UE1, end UE2, and end UE3 are the same, the second discovery messages corresponding to end UE1, end UE2, and end UE3 may incorporate bearers.

However, the second discovery message including the same RSC may also be combined with the bearer, for example, [ RSC1, { maximum hop count= 4,user info ID of end UE1}, { maximum hop count= 3,user info ID of end UE4}, { maximum hop count= 2,user info ID of end UE5} ], that is, since RSCs included in the second discovery messages corresponding to end UE1, end UE4, and end UE5 are the same, the second discovery messages corresponding to end UE1, end UE4, and end UE5 may be combined with the bearer.

Alternatively, the second relay terminal may acquire the second hop count by:

and in a third mode, the second relay terminal directly acquires the second hop count from other terminals.

And determining a second hop count for the second relay terminal in a fourth mode. Of course, the foregoing is merely an exemplary illustration of an implementation in which the second relay terminal obtains the second hop count, and the second relay terminal may also obtain the second hop count in other manners, which is not limited in any way by the embodiment of the present application.

The third and fourth modes are described in detail below:

And in a third mode, the second relay terminal directly acquires the second hop count from other terminals. In the third mode, the other terminals send fourth indication information to the second relay terminal in a broadcast or unicast mode, and correspondingly, the second relay terminal receives the fourth indication information, wherein the fourth indication information is used for indicating the second hop count, so that the second relay terminal can directly acquire the second hop count through the second indication information, and the calculation burden of determining the second hop count by the second relay terminal is saved.

In the third aspect, the second hop count in the fourth instruction information may be represented by the hop count instruction described in the above-described embodiment 2.

And determining a second hop count for the second relay terminal in a fourth mode. In the fourth aspect, the second relay terminal may acquire the first hop count and the third hop count, and determine the second hop count according to the first hop count and the third hop count. The first hop count is the maximum hop count for transmitting discovery information, the first hop count is related to a relay service type corresponding to the first service, and the third hop count is the hop count for connecting the second relay terminal and the target terminal.

In one possible implementation, the second relay terminal may acquire a plurality of third hops, in which case the second relay terminal may determine a minimum value of the plurality of third hops as a third hop required to calculate the second hop, e.g., the second relay terminal acquires the third hop from the relay terminal a as 3 and acquires the third hop from the relay terminal b as 4, so that the second relay terminal may determine the third hop required to calculate the second hop as 3.

In another possible implementation, the second relay terminal may acquire a plurality of third hops, in which case the second relay terminal may determine a maximum value of the plurality of third hops as a third hop required to calculate the second hop, e.g., the second relay terminal acquires the third hop from the relay terminal a as 5 and acquires the third hop from the relay terminal b as 4, so that the second relay terminal may determine the third hop required to calculate the second hop as 5.

Alternatively, the second terminal device may determine the difference between the first hop count and the third hop count as the second hop count, e.g., if the first hop count is 5 and the third hop count is 3, the second hop count is 2. Of course, the foregoing exemplary description of determining the second hop count for the second relay terminal is merely that the second relay terminal may determine the second hop count in other manners, which is not limited in any way by the embodiment of the present application.

It may be appreciated that, in addition to directly acquiring the second hop count, the second relay terminal may determine the second hop count based on the total end-to-end maximum hop count (i.e., the first hop count) from the source terminal to the target terminal and the hop count (i.e., the third hop count) connected between the second relay terminal and the target terminal, so that in a case that other terminals cannot provide the second hop count for the second relay terminal, the second relay terminal may determine the second hop count based on the first hop count and the third hop count, that is, another implementation manner of determining the second hop count is provided, thereby improving reliability of determining the second hop count by the second relay terminal.

In the fourth aspect, the second hop count in the fourth instruction information may be represented by the hop count instruction described in the above-described implementation 1 or the number of relay terminals identified in the above-described implementation 3.

Further, optionally, the second relay terminal may acquire the first hop count in the following two manners:

And in a fifth mode, the second relay terminal directly acquires the first hop count from other terminals.

And determining a first hop count for the second relay terminal in a sixth mode. Of course, the foregoing is merely an exemplary illustration of an implementation in which the second relay terminal obtains the first hop count, and the second relay terminal may also obtain the first hop count in other manners, which is not limited in any way by the embodiment of the present application.

The fifth and sixth modes are described in detail below:

And in a fifth mode, the second relay terminal directly acquires the first hop count from other terminals. In the fifth mode, the other terminals send second indication information to the second relay terminal in a broadcast or unicast mode, and correspondingly, the second relay terminal receives the second indication information, and the second indication information indicates the first hop count, so that the second relay terminal can directly acquire the first hop count through the second indication information, and the calculation burden of the second relay terminal for determining the first hop count is saved.

Alternatively, the second relay terminal may obtain the first hop count through the performed discovery process of the mode B, may also obtain the first hop count through the performed discovery process of the mode a, and may also obtain the first hop count through other messages in other processes (for example, integrating communication and discovery processes) (for example, other indication information including the first hop count), which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application. Of course, the method related to the above may be applied to other relay terminals (e.g., the first relay terminal) for acquiring other messages (e.g., the third hop count, RSC, etc.) besides the second relay terminal for acquiring the first hop count, which is not limited in any way by the embodiment of the present application.

In addition, optionally, the second relay terminal may further acquire the first hop count through any message transmitted to the second relay terminal.

Further optionally, any of the messages transmitted to the second relay terminal may include information of the source terminal or the target terminal, path information of the second relay terminal to the source terminal or the target terminal, or the first hop count.

For example, any of the messages transmitted to the second relay terminal may be [ RSC1, { maximum hop count= 4,user info ID of end UE1, path=relay a, relay b }, { maximum hop count= 3,user info ID of end UE4, path information= RelayC }, { maximum hop count= 2,user info ID of end UE5, path information= RelayA } ].

Of course, the method related to the above may be applied to other relay terminals (e.g., the first relay terminal) for acquiring other messages (e.g., the third hop count, RSC, etc.) besides the second relay terminal for acquiring the first hop count, which is not limited in any way by the embodiment of the present application.

And determining a first hop count for the second relay terminal in a sixth mode. In a sixth mode, the second relay terminal may receive third indication information from the policy control function network element, and determine, according to the third indication information, a maximum hop count corresponding to a relay service type of the first service as the first hop count, where the third indication information is used to indicate a correspondence between at least one maximum hop count and at least one relay service type, and the at least one relay service type includes a relay service type corresponding to the first service. The description about the sixth mode may be understood with reference to the description about the first mode, which is not repeated here.

It can be appreciated that the second relay terminal can simply determine the first hop count directly through the corresponding relationship between at least one piece of information related to the service requirement (for example, the relay service type) and the maximum hop count, so that the complexity of determining the first hop count by the second relay terminal is reduced, and the efficiency of determining the first hop count by the second relay terminal is further improved.

It should be noted that the method shown in fig. 13 described above is applied to the discovery process of pattern a, however, as can be seen from the description related to the "discovery process of pattern a" above, the discovery process of pattern a may further include the discovery process of pattern A U U and the discovery process of pattern A U N. The following description will be made on the information transmission method applied to the discovery process of the mode A U2U and the discovery process of the mode A U N, respectively.

In the case of being applied to the discovery process of the mode A U U, taking the second relay terminal as the relay terminal 1 as an example, as shown in fig. 14, the information transmission method includes the steps of:

s1401, the relay terminal 1 determines a second hop count.

Specifically, the relay terminal 1 may determine the second hop count from the first hop count and the third hop count.

Optionally, before S1401, the information transmission method further includes S1400a or S1400b.

S1400a, the source terminal or the first relay terminal sends the first hop count to the relay terminal 1, and accordingly, the relay terminal 1 receives the first hop count from the source terminal or the first relay terminal, that is, the relay terminal 1 may acquire the first hop count through the discovery process of the performed mode B.

S1400b, the relay terminal 0 sends the first hop count to the relay terminal 1, and accordingly, the relay terminal 1 receives the first hop count from other relay terminals, that is, the relay terminal 1 may obtain the first hop count through the discovery process of the performed mode a.

S1402, the relay terminal 1 transmits the second discovery message, and correspondingly, the relay terminal 3 receives the second discovery message.

S1403, the relay terminal 2 transmits the eighth discovery message, and correspondingly, the relay terminal 3 receives the eighth discovery message.

Wherein the eighth discovery message includes the second hop count and discovery information.

S1404, the relay terminal 3 re-determines the second hop count according to the first discovery message and the eighth discovery message.

S1405, the relay terminal 3 transmits the ninth discovery message, and correspondingly, the other relay terminals receive the ninth discovery message.

Wherein the ninth discovery message includes the redetermined second hop count and discovery information.

In the case of being applied to the discovery process of the mode B U N, taking the second relay terminal as the relay terminal 3 as an example, as shown in fig. 15, the information transmission method includes the steps of:

S1501, the relay terminal 3 acquires the first hop count and the third hop count.

Alternatively, the above S1501 may be that the relay terminal 2 transmits the tenth discovery message and, accordingly, the relay terminal 3 receives the tenth discovery message.

Wherein the tenth discovery message includes the first hop count and discovery information.

S1502, the relay terminal 3 determines a second hop count according to the first hop count and the third hop count.

And S1503, the relay terminal 3 sends the second discovery message, and correspondingly, other relay terminals receive the second discovery message.

It should be noted that the method shown in fig. 13 to 15 is applied to the discovery process of the mode a, but is only applicable to the case where the execution subject is a relay terminal that is not connected to the network, and fig. 16 is another example of the information transmission method provided in the embodiment of the present application in the discovery process of the mode a. The method is described with a first relay terminal as an execution subject, wherein the first relay terminal is a relay terminal connected with a network. Of course, the main body for executing the action of the first relay terminal in the method may also be a device/module in the first relay terminal, for example, a chip, a processor, a processing unit, etc. in the first relay terminal, which is not limited in particular in the embodiment of the present application. As illustrated in fig. 16, the information transmission method includes the steps of:

s1601, the first relay terminal acquires a first hop count.

The first hop count is the maximum hop count for transmitting discovery information, the discovery information is used for the source terminal to discover the first relay terminal, and the first hop count is related to a relay service type corresponding to a first service of the source terminal.

S1602, the first relay terminal sends a third discovery message, and other relay terminals or source terminals correspondingly.

Wherein the third discovery message includes the first hop count and discovery information.

In the embodiment of the application, the first relay terminal can determine the maximum hop count (i.e. the first hop count) for transmitting the discovery information, and send the third discovery message including the first hop count and the discovery information, so that other terminals can acquire the first hop count while receiving the discovery information, and the first relay terminal can limit the hop count for transmitting the discovery information based on the first hop count in the discovery process. The second hop count is related to the relay service type corresponding to the first service, so that the first hop count can be more fit with the actual requirement of the service, and further, the service requirement between terminals can be ensured to be met as much as possible.

It is to be understood that the descriptions of S1601 to S1602 may also be understood with reference to the descriptions of S801 to S802, which are not repeated herein.

Alternatively, the first relay terminal may also acquire the first hop count by the first relay terminal determining the first hop count by itself based on a parameter related to the quality of service parameter. Specifically, the implementation process of the method may be that the first relay terminal receives third indication information from the network element of the policy control function, and determines, according to the third indication information, a maximum hop count corresponding to a relay service type corresponding to the first service as the first hop count. The third indication information is used for indicating the corresponding relation between at least one maximum hop count and at least one relay service type, and the at least one relay service type comprises a relay service type corresponding to the first business.

It can be understood that the implementation process of the first relay terminal for obtaining the first hop count may also be understood with reference to the description of the corresponding position, which is not described herein.

It can be appreciated that the first relay terminal can simply determine the first hop count directly through the corresponding relationship between at least one piece of information related to the service requirement (for example, the relay service type) and the maximum hop count, so that the complexity of determining the first hop count by the first relay terminal is reduced, and the efficiency of determining the first hop count by the first relay terminal is further improved.

In addition, it should be noted that, the foregoing is merely an exemplary description of the implementation manner of obtaining the first hop count by the first relay terminal, and the first terminal may also obtain the first hop count by other manners, and may be specifically understood with reference to the description of the corresponding location, which is not repeated herein.

It should be noted that the method shown in fig. 16 is applied to the discovery process of the mode A U N. The following description will be made on the information transmission method applied to the discovery process of the mode A U N, respectively.

In the case of being applied to the discovery process of the mode A U N, taking the first relay terminal as the relay terminal 1 in fig. 15 as an example, as shown in fig. 15, the information transmission method includes the steps of:

S1504, the relay terminal 1 obtains a correspondence between at least one maximum hop count and at least one relay service type.

Alternatively, the implementation process of S1504 may be that the relay terminal 1 may obtain the correspondence between at least one maximum hop count and at least one relay service type from at least one policy control function network element.

S1505, the relay terminal 1 determines the first hop count according to the correspondence between the at least one maximum hop count and the at least one relay service type, and the information of the first service, or determines the first hop count according to the information of the first service.

S1506, the relay terminal 1 sends the third discovery message, and correspondingly, the relay terminal 2 receives the third discovery message.

Fig. 17 is a diagram illustrating another example of an information transmission method according to an embodiment of the present application. The method is described with the second relay terminal as the execution subject. Of course, the main body for executing the action of the source terminal in the method may also be a device/module in the second relay terminal, for example, a chip, a processor, a processing unit, etc. in the second relay terminal, which is not limited in particular in the embodiment of the present application. As illustrated in fig. 17, the information transmission method includes the steps of:

S1701, the second relay terminal receives the twelfth discovery message.

The twelfth discovery message includes discovery information and a first relay service type, and the discovery information is used for the source terminal to discover the target terminal.

Alternatively, the twelfth discovery message may be sent by the source terminal, or may be sent by a relay terminal other than the second relay terminal, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

The first relay service type may be a relay service type corresponding to the first service. Of course, the foregoing is merely exemplary of the first relay service type, and the first relay service type may be another relay service type.

It is to be understood that the discovery information and the relay service type may be understood by referring to the description of the corresponding location, which is not described herein.

S1702, the second relay terminal determines a first hop count according to the first relay service type.

The first hop count is the maximum hop count for transmitting discovery information.

It is to be understood that, the above S1702 may be understood with reference to the related description of the above manner six, which is not repeated herein.

S1703, the second relay terminal transmits or does not transmit discovery information according to the first hop count.

Alternatively, the implementation procedure of S1703 may be that the second relay terminal does not transmit the discovery information in case that the hop count of the current transmission discovery information reaches the first hop count. The second relay terminal may transmit the discovery information in case that the number of hops currently transmitting the discovery information does not reach the first number of hops.

Further, optionally, in a case where the second relay terminal determines to transmit the discovery information, the second relay terminal may also transmit the first hop count. The first hop count and the discovery information may be carried in the same message (e.g., a fifth discovery message, where the fifth discovery message includes the first hop count and the discovery information), and the first hop count and the discovery information may also be carried in different messages.

The implementation procedure of S1702 is described in detail below.

Optionally, the policy control function network element sends a corresponding relation between at least one maximum hop count and at least one relay service type to the second relay terminal, and correspondingly, the second relay terminal may receive the corresponding relation between at least one maximum hop count from the policy control function network element and at least one relay service type, where the at least one relay service type includes the first relay service type.

In this case, the implementation procedure of S1702 may be that the second relay terminal may determine the first hop count according to the above-mentioned correspondence relationship and the first relay service type. The description about S1702 may be understood with reference to the description about the sixth mode, which is not repeated here.

It will be appreciated that the method shown in fig. 17 may be applied in a case where the second relay terminal cannot acquire the first hop count from other discovery messages. That is, if the discovery message sent by the source terminal or other relay terminals does not include the first hop count, the second relay terminal may determine the first hop count through the above method.

The scheme provided by the embodiment of the application is mainly introduced from the interaction angle among the network elements. Correspondingly, the embodiment of the application also provides a communication device which is used for realizing the various methods. The communication device may be the source terminal in the above method embodiment, or a device including the source terminal, or a component that may be used for the source terminal, or the communication device may be the first relay terminal in the above method embodiment, or a device including the first relay terminal, or a component that may be used for the first relay terminal, or the communication device may be the second relay terminal in the above method embodiment, or a device including the second relay terminal, or a component that may be used for the second relay terminal. It will be appreciated that the communication device, in order to achieve the above-described functions, comprises corresponding hardware structures and/or software modules performing the respective functions. Those of skill in the art will readily appreciate that the various illustrative elements and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as hardware or combinations of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is implemented as hardware or computer software driven hardware depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the solution. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present application.

The embodiment of the application can divide the functional modules of the communication device according to the above method embodiment, for example, each functional module can be divided corresponding to each function, or two or more functions can be integrated into one processing module. The integrated modules may be implemented in hardware or in software functional modules. It should be understood that the division of the modules in the embodiment of the present application is schematic, and is a logic function division, and there may be another division manner in actual implementation.

For example, taking a communication device as an example of the terminal in the above method embodiment, fig. 18 shows a schematic structural diagram of a communication device 180. The communication device 180 includes a processing module 1801 and a transceiver module 1802. The transceiver module 1802, which may also be referred to as a transceiver unit, is configured to perform a transceiver function, and may be, for example, a transceiver circuit, a transceiver, or a communication interface.

When the communication apparatus 180 shown in fig. 18 is the source terminal in the above-described embodiment:

In one possible implementation manner, the processing module 1801 is configured to determine a first hop count based on information of a first service, where the first hop count is a maximum hop count for transmitting discovery information, and the discovery information is used for the source terminal to discover the target terminal, where the information of the first service includes at least one of a quality of service parameter corresponding to the first service, a relay service type corresponding to the first service, a type of the first service, or a hop count requirement of the first service, and the transceiver module 1802 is configured to send a first discovery message, where the first discovery message includes the first hop count and the discovery information.

In some embodiments, the processing module 1801 is further configured to determine a first hop count based on a quality of service parameter corresponding to the first service.

In some embodiments, the processing module 1801 is further configured to generate a first discovery message if the first hop count is different from the maximum hop count determined based on the relay service type corresponding to the first service, and the transceiver module 1802 is further configured to send the first discovery message.

In some embodiments, the processing module 1801 is further configured to generate an eleventh discovery message if the first hop count is the same as the maximum hop count determined based on the relay service type corresponding to the first traffic, and the transceiver module 1802 is further configured to send an eleventh discovery message, where the eleventh discovery message includes discovery information, and the eleventh discovery message does not include the first hop count.

In some embodiments, the processing module 1801 is further configured to determine a first hop count based on information of the first service.

In some embodiments, the transceiver module 1802 is further configured to receive first indication information from the policy control function network element, where the first indication information is used to indicate a correspondence between at least one maximum hop count and at least one of at least one quality of service parameter, at least one relay service type, at least one service type, or at least one hop count requirement of the at least one service, where the at least one quality of service parameter includes a quality of service parameter corresponding to the first service, the at least one relay service type includes a relay service type corresponding to the first service, the at least one service type includes a type of the first service, and the hop count requirement of the at least one service includes a hop count requirement of the first service, and the processing module 1801 is further configured to determine, according to the first indication information, the maximum hop count corresponding to the information of the first service as the first hop count.

In some embodiments, the processing module 1801 is further configured to determine a first hop count according to a quality of service parameter corresponding to the first service and a first quality of service parameter, where the first quality of service parameter is a quality of service parameter corresponding to the connection of the near field communication PC 5.

In some embodiments, the target terminal is a relay terminal connected to the network, and the processing module 1801 is further configured to determine a first hop count according to a quality of service parameter corresponding to the first service and first information, where the first information includes a first quality of service parameter and/or a second quality of service parameter, the first quality of service parameter is a quality of service parameter corresponding to the connection of the near field communication PC5, and the second quality of service parameter is a quality of service parameter corresponding to the connection between the target terminal and the network device.

In some embodiments, the information of the first service includes a quality of service parameter corresponding to the first service and/or a hop count requirement of the first service, the transceiver module 1802 is further configured to receive the quality of service parameter corresponding to the first service and/or the hop count requirement of the first service from the application layer of the source terminal, and the processing module 1801 is further configured to determine the first hop count according to the quality of service parameter corresponding to the first service and/or the hop count requirement of the first service.

In some embodiments, the processing module 1801 is further configured to determine that the first discovery message needs to be sent based on whether there is a connection between the source terminal and the target terminal, and/or on second information, where the second information includes a number of hops of the connection between the source terminal and the target terminal, and the first number of hops.

In some embodiments, the processing module 1801 is further configured to determine that the first discovery message needs to be sent if there is no connection between the source terminal and the target terminal, or the processing module 1801 is further configured to determine that the first discovery message needs to be sent if there is a connection between the source terminal and the target terminal and the number of hops of the connection between the source terminal and the target terminal is greater than the first number of hops.

All relevant contents of each step related to the above method embodiment may be cited to the functional description of the corresponding functional module, which is not described herein.

In the embodiment of the application, the source terminal is presented in a form of dividing each functional module in an integrated manner. A "module" herein may refer to a particular ASIC, an electronic circuit, a processor and memory that execute one or more software or firmware programs, an integrated logic circuit, and/or other device that can provide the described functionality. In a simple embodiment, one skilled in the art will appreciate that the source terminal may take the form of the communications device 700 shown in fig. 7.

For example, the processor 701 in the communication apparatus 700 shown in fig. 7 may cause the communication apparatus 700 to execute the communication method in the above-described method embodiment by calling the computer-executable instructions stored in the memory 703.

Specifically, the functions/implementation procedures of the transceiver module 1802 and the processing module 1801 in fig. 18 may be implemented by the processor 701 in the communication device 700 shown in fig. 7 calling computer-executable instructions stored in the memory 703. Or the function/implementation of the processing module 1801 in fig. 18 may be implemented by the processor 701 in the communication device 700 shown in fig. 7 calling computer-executable instructions stored in the memory 703, and the function/implementation of the transceiver module 1802 in fig. 18 may be implemented by the communication interface 704 in the communication device 700 shown in fig. 7.

Since the source terminal 180 provided in the embodiment of the present application can execute the above-mentioned information transmission method, the technical effects that can be obtained by the source terminal can refer to the above-mentioned method embodiment, and will not be described herein.

When the communication apparatus 180 shown in fig. 18 is the second relay terminal in the above-described embodiment:

In one possible implementation, the processing module 1801 is configured to instruct the transceiver module 1802 to obtain a second hop count, where the second hop count is a maximum hop count for transmitting discovery information after the second relay terminal receives the discovery information, where the discovery information is used for the source terminal to discover the target terminal, and the second hop count is related to a relay service type corresponding to the first service of the source terminal, and the processing module 1801 is further configured to instruct the transceiver module 1802 to send a second discovery message, where the second discovery message includes the second hop count and the discovery information.

In some embodiments, the processing module 1801 is further configured to instruct the transceiver module 1802 to obtain a first hop count, and a third hop count, where the first hop count is a maximum hop count for transmitting discovery information, the first hop count is related to a relay service type corresponding to the first service, and the third hop count is a hop count for connecting between the second relay terminal and the target terminal, and the processing module 1801 is further configured to determine the second hop count according to the first hop count and the third hop count.

In some embodiments, the processing module 1801 is further configured to instruct the transceiver module 1802 to receive second instruction information, where the second instruction information indicates the first hop count.

In some embodiments, the processing module 1801 is further configured to instruct the transceiver module 1802 to receive third instruction information from the policy control function network element, where the third instruction information is used to indicate a correspondence between at least one maximum hop count and at least one relay service type, where the at least one relay service type includes a relay service type corresponding to the first traffic, and the processing module 1801 is further configured to instruct, according to the third instruction information, to determine the maximum hop count corresponding to the relay service type of the first traffic as the first hop count.

In the embodiment of the application, the second relay terminal is presented in a form of dividing each functional module in an integrated manner. A "module" herein may refer to a particular ASIC, an electronic circuit, a processor and memory that execute one or more software or firmware programs, an integrated logic circuit, and/or other device that can provide the described functionality. In a simple embodiment, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the second relay terminal may take the form of the communication device 700 shown in fig. 7.

Since the second relay terminal 180 provided in the embodiment of the present application may perform the above information transmission method, the technical effects obtained by the second relay terminal may refer to the above method embodiment, and will not be described herein.

When the communication apparatus 180 shown in fig. 18 is the first relay terminal in the above-described embodiment:

In one possible implementation, the processing module 1801 is configured to instruct the transceiver module 1802 to obtain a first hop count, where the first hop count is a maximum hop count for transmitting discovery information, where the discovery information is used for the source terminal to discover the first relay terminal, and the first hop count is related to a relay service type corresponding to the first service of the source terminal, and the processing module 1801 is further configured to instruct the transceiver module 1802 to send a third discovery message, where the third discovery message includes the first hop count and the discovery information.

In some embodiments, the processing module 1801 is further configured to instruct the transceiver module 1802 to receive third instruction information from the policy control function network element, where the third instruction information is used to indicate a correspondence between at least one maximum hop count and at least one relay service type, where the at least one relay service type includes a relay service type corresponding to the first traffic, and the processing module 1801 is further configured to determine, according to the third instruction information, the maximum hop count corresponding to the relay service type corresponding to the first traffic as the first hop count.

In the embodiment of the application, the first relay terminal is presented in a form of dividing each functional module in an integrated manner. A "module" herein may refer to a particular ASIC, an electronic circuit, a processor and memory that execute one or more software or firmware programs, an integrated logic circuit, and/or other device that can provide the described functionality. In a simple embodiment, one skilled in the art will appreciate that the first relay terminal may take the form of the communication device 700 shown in fig. 7.

Since the first relay terminal 180 provided in the embodiment of the present application may perform the above information transmission method, the technical effects that can be obtained by the first relay terminal may refer to the above method embodiment, and will not be described herein.

In one possible implementation, the transceiver module 1802 is configured to receive a twelfth discovery message, where the twelfth discovery message includes discovery information and a first relay service type, and the discovery information is used for the source terminal to discover the target terminal, the processing module 1801 is configured to determine, according to the first relay service type, a first hop count, where the first hop count is a maximum hop count for transmitting the discovery information, and the processing module 1801 is further configured to send the discovery information or not send the discovery information according to the first hop count.

In some embodiments, the transceiver module 1802 is further configured to receive a correspondence between at least one maximum hop count from the policy control function network element and at least one relay service type, where the at least one relay service type includes a first relay service type, and the processing module 1801 is further configured to determine the first hop count according to the correspondence and the first relay service type.

It should be understood that one or more of the above modules or units may be implemented in software, hardware, or a combination of both. When any of the above modules or units are implemented in software, the software exists in the form of computer program instructions and is stored in a memory, and a processor can be used to execute the program instructions and implement the above method flows. The processor may be built in a SoC (system on a chip) or ASIC, or may be a separate semiconductor chip. The processor may further include necessary hardware accelerators, such as field programmable gate arrays (field programmable GATE ARRAY, FPGAs), PLDs (programmable logic devices), or logic circuits implementing dedicated logic operations, in addition to the cores for executing software instructions for operation or processing.

When the above modules or units are implemented in hardware, the hardware may be any one or any combination of a CPU, microprocessor, digital Signal Processing (DSP) chip, micro control unit (microcontroller unit, MCU), artificial intelligence processor, ASIC, soC, FPGA, PLD, special purpose digital circuitry, hardware accelerator, or non-integrated discrete devices that may run the necessary software or that do not rely on software to perform the above method flows.

In one possible implementation, the embodiment of the present application further provides a communication apparatus (for example, the communication apparatus may be a chip or a chip system), where the communication apparatus includes a processor, and is configured to implement the method in any of the method embodiments described above. In one possible design, the communication device further includes a memory. The memory for storing the necessary program instructions and data, and the processor may invoke the program code stored in the memory to instruct the communication device to perform the method of any of the method embodiments described above. Of course, the memory may not be in the communication device. When the communication device is a chip system, the communication device may be formed by a chip, or may include a chip and other discrete devices, which is not particularly limited in the embodiment of the present application.

In one possible implementation, the embodiment of the present application further provides a computer readable storage medium having stored therein a computer program or instructions which, when run on a communication device, enable the communication device to perform the method of any one of the method embodiments or any implementation thereof.

In a possible implementation manner, the embodiment of the application further provides an information transmission method, which includes the method of any one of the above method embodiments or any implementation manner thereof.

In a possible implementation manner, the embodiment of the present application further provides a communication system, where the communication system includes the source terminal of the method embodiment, the first relay terminal of the method embodiment, and the second relay terminal of the method embodiment.

In the above embodiments, it may be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented using a software program, it may 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. When the computer program instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the processes or functions in accordance with embodiments of the present application are produced in whole or in part. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable apparatus. The computer instructions may be stored in or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another, for example, a website, computer, server, or data center via a wired (e.g., coaxial cable, fiber optic, digital subscriber line (digital subscriber line, DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) means. Computer readable storage media can be any available media that can be accessed by a computer or data storage devices including one or more servers, data centers, etc. that can be integrated with the media. Usable media may be magnetic media (e.g., floppy disks, hard disks, magnetic tape), optical media (e.g., DVD), or semiconductor media (e.g., solid State Disk (SSD)) or the like.

Although the application is described herein in connection with various embodiments, other variations to the disclosed embodiments can be understood and effected by those skilled in the art in practicing the claimed application, from a study of the drawings, the disclosure, and the appended claims. In the claims, the word "comprising" does not exclude other elements or steps, and the "a" or "an" does not exclude a plurality. A single processor or other unit may fulfill the functions of several items recited in the claims. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in mutually different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used to advantage.

Although the application has been described in connection with specific features and embodiments thereof, it will be apparent that various modifications and combinations can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the application. Accordingly, the specification and drawings are exemplary illustrations of the application as defined by the appended claims and are considered to cover any and all modifications, variations, combinations, or equivalents within the scope of the application. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the present application without departing from the spirit or scope of the application. Thus, it is intended that the present application also include such modifications and alterations insofar as they come within the scope of the appended claims or the equivalents thereof.

Claims

1. An information transmission method, applied to a source terminal, comprising:

Determining a first hop count based on information of a first service, wherein the first hop count is the maximum hop count for transmitting discovery information, and the discovery information is used for the source terminal to discover a target terminal, and the information of the first service comprises at least one of a service quality parameter corresponding to the first service, a relay service type corresponding to the first service, a type of the first service or a hop count requirement of the first service;

And sending a first discovery message, wherein the first discovery message comprises the first hop count and the discovery information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the first hop count based on the information of the first service comprises:

and determining the first hop count based on the service quality parameter corresponding to the first service.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the sending the first discovery message comprises:

And generating and transmitting the first discovery message under the condition that the first hop count is different from the maximum hop count determined based on the relay service type corresponding to the first service.

4. A method according to claim 3, characterized in that the method further comprises:

and generating and transmitting an eleventh discovery message, wherein the eleventh discovery message comprises the discovery information and does not comprise the first hop count, under the condition that the first hop count is the same as the maximum hop count determined based on the relay service type corresponding to the first service.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1-4, further comprising:

Receiving first indication information from a network element of a strategy control function, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating the corresponding relation between at least one maximum hop count and at least one service quality parameter, at least one relay service type, at least one service type or at least one service hop count requirement, the at least one service quality parameter comprises a service quality parameter corresponding to the first service, the at least one relay service type comprises a relay service type corresponding to the first service, the at least one service type comprises the first service type, and the at least one service hop count requirement comprises the hop count requirement of the first service;

the determining the first hop count based on the information of the first service includes:

and determining the maximum hop count corresponding to the information of the first service as the first hop count according to the first indication information.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the determining the first hop count based on the information of the first service comprises:

and determining the first hop count according to the quality of service parameter corresponding to the first service and a first quality of service parameter, wherein the first quality of service parameter is the quality of service parameter corresponding to the connection of the near field communication PC 5.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1-4, wherein the target terminal is a relay terminal connected to a network, and wherein determining the first hop count based on the information of the first service includes:

And determining the first hop count according to the service quality parameter corresponding to the first service and first information, wherein the first information comprises a first service quality parameter and/or a second service quality parameter, the first service quality parameter is a service quality parameter corresponding to the connection of the near field communication PC5, and the second service quality parameter is a service quality parameter corresponding to the connection between the target terminal and the network equipment.

8. The method according to any of claims 1-4, wherein the information of the first service includes a quality of service parameter corresponding to the first service and/or a hop count requirement of the first service, and wherein determining the first hop count based on the information of the first service includes:

a ProSe layer of an adjacent service layer of the source terminal receives a service quality parameter corresponding to the first service and/or a hop count requirement of the first service from an application layer of the source terminal;

And the ProSe layer of the source terminal determines the first hop count according to the service quality parameter corresponding to the first service and/or the hop count requirement of the first service.

9. The method according to any of claims 1-8, wherein prior to said sending said first discovery message, said method further comprises:

And determining that the first discovery message needs to be sent based on whether a connection exists between the source terminal and the target terminal and/or second information, wherein the second information comprises the hop count of the connection between the source terminal and the target terminal and the first hop count.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the determining that the first discovery message needs to be sent based on whether a connection exists between the source terminal and the target terminal, and/or second information, comprises:

Determining that the first discovery message needs to be sent under the condition that no connection exists between the source terminal and the target terminal;

Or determining that the first discovery message needs to be sent when a connection exists between the source terminal and the target terminal and the number of hops of the connection between the source terminal and the target terminal is larger than the first number of hops.

11. An information transmission method, which is applied to a second relay terminal, wherein the second relay terminal is a relay terminal not connected to a network, the method comprising:

Acquiring a second hop count, wherein the second hop count is the maximum hop count for transmitting discovery information after the second relay terminal receives the discovery information, the discovery information is used for the source terminal to discover the target terminal, and the second hop count is related to a relay service type corresponding to a first service of the source terminal;

And sending a second discovery message, wherein the second discovery message comprises the second hop count and the discovery information.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the obtaining the second hop count comprises:

Acquiring a first hop count and a third hop count, wherein the first hop count is the maximum hop count for transmitting the discovery information, the first hop count is related to a relay service type corresponding to the first service, and the third hop count is the hop count for connecting the second relay terminal and the target terminal;

and determining the second hop count according to the first hop count and the third hop count.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the obtaining the first hop count comprises:

second indication information is received, wherein the second indication information indicates the first hop count.

14. The method according to claim 12, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving third indication information from a strategy control function network element, wherein the third indication information is used for indicating the corresponding relation between at least one maximum hop count and at least one relay service type, and the at least one relay service type comprises a relay service type corresponding to the first business;

the obtaining the first hop count includes:

And determining the maximum hop count corresponding to the relay service type of the first business as the first hop count according to the third indication information.

15. An information transmission method, which is characterized in that the method is applied to a first relay terminal, wherein the first relay terminal is a relay terminal connected with a network, and the method comprises the following steps:

acquiring a first hop count, wherein the first hop count is the maximum hop count for transmitting discovery information, the discovery information is used for the source terminal to discover the first relay terminal, and the first hop count is related to a relay service type corresponding to a first service of the source terminal;

and sending a third discovery message, wherein the third discovery message comprises the first hop count and the discovery information.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the method further comprises:

the obtaining the first hop count includes:

and determining the maximum hop count corresponding to the relay service type corresponding to the first business as the first hop count according to the third indication information.

17. An information transmission method, which is applied to a second relay terminal, wherein the second relay terminal is a relay terminal not connected to a network, the method comprising:

Receiving a twelfth discovery message, wherein the twelfth discovery message comprises discovery information and a first relay service type, and the discovery information is used for a source terminal to discover a target terminal;

determining a first hop count according to the first relay service type, wherein the first hop count is the maximum hop count for transmitting the discovery information;

and sending the discovery information or not sending the discovery information according to the first hop count.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the method further comprises:

Receiving a corresponding relation between at least one maximum hop count from a strategy control function network element and at least one relay service type, wherein the at least one relay service type comprises the first relay service type;

the determining a first hop count according to the first relay service type includes:

and determining the first hop count according to the corresponding relation and the first relay service type.

19. Communication device, comprising functional units for performing the method according to any of claims 1-10, or for performing the method according to any of claims 11-14, or for performing the method according to any of claims 15-16, or for performing the method according to any of claims 17-18, wherein the actions performed by the functional units are implemented in hardware or by hardware executing corresponding software.

20. A communication device comprising a processor for executing a computer program or instructions or for causing the communication device to perform the method according to any one of claims 1-10 or to perform the method according to any one of claims 11-14 or to perform the method according to any one of claims 15-16 or to perform the functional unit of any one of claims 17-18 by logic circuitry.

21. A computer readable storage medium storing computer instructions or a program which, when run on a computer, cause a communication device to perform the method of any one of claims 1-10, or cause the communication device to perform the method of any one of claims 11-14, or cause the communication device to perform the method of any one of claims 15-16, or function units for performing the method of any one of claims 17-18.

22. A communication system comprising communication means for performing the method according to any of claims 1-10, communication means for performing the method according to any of claims 11-14, communication means for performing the method according to any of claims 15-16, and communication means for performing the method according to any of claims 17-18.