CN116074802A

CN116074802A - Relay UE selection method and device and electronic equipment

Info

Publication number: CN116074802A
Application number: CN202310088364.9A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 毛源泽; 李靖
Original assignee: Vivo Mobile Communication Co Ltd
Current assignee: Vivo Mobile Communication Co Ltd
Priority date: 2023-01-17
Filing date: 2023-01-17
Publication date: 2023-05-05
Also published as: WO2024152997A1

Abstract

The application discloses a relay UE selection method, a relay UE selection device and electronic equipment, which belong to the technical field of communication, wherein the method comprises the following steps: the method comprises the steps that a first UE sends a relay discovery request to a plurality of relay UEs; receiving a plurality of first feedback messages sent by a plurality of relay UE (user equipment) on a relay discovery request, wherein the first feedback messages carry a first network parameter and a second network parameter, the first network parameter is used for representing the signal quality of the relay UE, and the second network parameter is used for representing the connection information of the relay UE and other communication equipment; determining a target relay UE from the plurality of relay UEs according to the first network parameter and the second network parameter; and switching to the target relay UE.

Description

Relay UE selection method and device and electronic equipment

Technical Field

The application belongs to the technical field of communication, and particularly relates to a relay UE selection method, a relay UE selection device and electronic equipment.

Background

In order to extend coverage of a network and a side link, improve power efficiency and support wider application and service, the third generation partnership project has developed a new air interface side link relay technology in R17, introduced a relay technology from User Equipment (UE) to the network, and when the link quality between a remote UE and a base station is poor, the remote UE may select an appropriate relay UE, and the relay UE provides network service for the remote UE, so as to ensure continuity of the remote UE service. In the related art, a remote UE selects a relay UE to be accessed according to the signal quality of the relay UE.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application aims to provide a relay UE selection method, a relay UE selection device and electronic equipment, which can enable remote UE to select to connect to a proper relay UE.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a relay UE selection method, applied to a first UE, where the method includes:

transmitting a relay discovery request to a plurality of relay UEs;

receiving a plurality of first feedback messages sent by a plurality of relay UEs to the relay discovery request, wherein the first feedback messages carry a first network parameter and a second network parameter, the first network parameter is used for representing the signal quality of the relay UEs, and the second network parameter is used for representing the connection information of the relay UEs and other communication equipment;

determining a target relay UE from a plurality of relay UEs according to the first network parameter and the second network parameter;

and switching to the target relay UE.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a relay UE selection method, applied to a relay UE, where the method includes:

receiving a relay discovery request sent by a first UE;

and sending a first feedback message to the first UE, wherein the first feedback message carries a first network parameter and a second network parameter, the first network parameter is used for representing the signal quality of the relay UE, and the second network parameter is used for representing the connection information of the relay UE and other communication equipment.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a relay UE selection apparatus, applied to a first UE, where the apparatus includes:

a first sending module, configured to send a relay discovery request to a plurality of relay UEs;

the first receiving module is used for receiving a plurality of first feedback messages sent by the relay UE to the relay discovery request, wherein the first feedback messages carry a first network parameter and a second network parameter, the first network parameter is used for representing the signal quality of the relay UE, and the second network parameter is used for representing the connection information of the relay UE and other communication equipment;

a determining module, configured to determine a target relay UE from a plurality of relay UEs according to the first network parameter and the second network parameter;

and the switching module is used for switching to the target relay UE.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a relay UE selecting apparatus, which is applied to a relay UE, and includes:

the second receiving module is used for receiving a relay discovery request sent by the first UE;

the second sending module is configured to send a first feedback message to the first UE, where the first feedback message carries a first network parameter and a second network parameter, the first network parameter is used to represent signal quality of the relay UE, and the second network parameter is used to represent connection information of the relay UE and other communication devices.

In a fifth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide an electronic device, including a processor and a memory, where the memory stores a program or instructions executable on the processor, the program or instructions implementing the steps of the relay UE selection method according to the first aspect when executed by the processor.

In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an electronic device, including a processor and a memory, where the memory stores a program or instructions executable on the processor, where the program or instructions implement the steps of the relay UE selection method according to the second aspect when executed by the processor.

In a seventh aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a readable storage medium having stored thereon a program or instructions which, when executed by a processor, implement the steps of the relay UE selection method according to the first or second aspect.

In an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a chip, where the chip includes a processor and a communication interface, where the communication interface is coupled to the processor, and the processor is configured to execute a program or instructions to implement the steps of the relay UE selection method according to the first aspect or the second aspect.

In a ninth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a computer program product stored in a storage medium, the program product being executed by at least one processor to implement the steps of the relay UE selection method according to the first or second aspect.

In the embodiment of the application, a first UE sends a relay discovery request to a plurality of relay UEs; receiving a plurality of first feedback messages sent by a plurality of relay UE (user equipment) on a relay discovery request, wherein the first feedback messages carry a first network parameter and a second network parameter, the first network parameter is used for representing the signal quality of the relay UE, and the second network parameter is used for representing the connection information of the relay UE and other communication equipment; determining a target relay UE from the plurality of relay UEs according to the first network parameter and the second network parameter; and switching to the target relay UE.

In the embodiment of the present application, the remote UE may determine, from among the plurality of relay UEs, the target relay UE to be switched according to the signal quality of each relay UE and the connection information of each relay UE and other communication devices, and, when selecting the target relay UE, not only refer to the signal quality of the relay UE, but also refer to the connection information of the relay UE and other communication devices, so that the problem that the plurality of remote UEs simultaneously request to connect to the same relay UE can be avoided, and the success rate of connecting the remote UE to the relay UE is improved, so that the remote UE selects to connect to the appropriate relay UE.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is an exemplary diagram of a relay technology of a UE to a network in the related art;

fig. 2 is a flowchart of a relay UE selection method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3 is an exemplary diagram of an application scenario of a relay UE selection method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a flowchart of another relay UE selection method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is a block diagram of a relay UE selecting device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6 is a block diagram of another relay UE selection apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application;

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

fig. 8 is a schematic hardware structure of an electronic device implementing various embodiments of the present application.

Detailed Description

Technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be clearly described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present application, and it is apparent that the described embodiments are some embodiments of the present application, but not all embodiments. All other embodiments obtained by a person of ordinary skill in the art based on the embodiments in the present application are within the scope of the protection of the present application.

The terms first, second and the like in the description and in the claims, are used for distinguishing between similar objects and not necessarily for describing a particular sequential or chronological order. It is to be understood that the data so used may be interchanged, as appropriate, such that embodiments of the present application may be implemented in sequences other than those illustrated or described herein, and that the objects identified by "first," "second," etc. are generally of a type and not limited to the number of objects, e.g., the first object may be one or more. Further, the character "/", generally indicates that the front-rear association object is an "or" relationship.

The embodiment of the application provides a relay UE selection method and device and electronic equipment.

The relay UE selection method provided in the embodiment of the present application is described in detail below by means of specific embodiments and application scenarios thereof with reference to the accompanying drawings.

UE-to-Network Relay technology (U2N Relay): when the link quality between the remote UE and the base station is poor, the remote UE may select an appropriate relay UE, and the relay UE provides network services for the remote UE, so as to ensure the continuity of the remote UE service.

In one example, fig. 1 shows an application scenario of the U2N Relay technology, where the application scenario includes two base stations, namely, base station 10 and base station 13, and Relay UE11 is in the signal coverage of base station 10 and has a higher signal quality, and Relay UE14 is in the signal coverage of base station 13 and has a higher signal quality. For the remote UE12 in a mobile state, the remote UE12 is initially located at an edge position of a signal coverage of the base station 10 and has poor signal quality, so that in order to ensure continuity of service of the remote UE12, the remote UE12 may access the relay UE11, and the relay UE11 provides network services for the remote UE 12. Thereafter, the remote UE12 moves to an edge position of the signal coverage of the base station 13 and the signal quality is poor, at which time the relay UE may be reselected, for example, the access relay UE14 is selected, and the relay UE14 provides network service to the remote UE 12. Finally, the remote UE12 moves to the coverage area of the base station 13 and has higher signal quality, and at this time, the base station 13 is selected to be accessed, and the base station 13 provides network service for the remote UE 12.

It should be noted that, the relay UE selection method provided in the embodiment of the present application is applicable to an electronic device, and in practical application, the electronic device may include: mobile terminals such as smartphones, tablet computers, personal digital assistants, etc., to which embodiments of the present application are not limited.

Fig. 2 is a flowchart of a relay UE selection method provided in an embodiment of the present application, which is applied to a first UE, where the first UE is a remote UE, as shown in fig. 2, and the method may include the following steps: step 201, step 202, step 203 and step 204;

in step 201, a relay discovery request is transmitted to a plurality of relay UEs.

In some embodiments, the following application scenarios apply: the first UE, namely the remote UE, is currently in a no-signal area, and the remote UE performs a scene of a network access service or a call service by means of the relay UE. Accordingly, in the case where the first UE initiates the network attachment service, if no available network is detected, a relay discovery request is sent to the plurality of relay UEs.

In the embodiment of the present application, the signal-free area refers to an area outside the coverage area of the base station network.

In the embodiment of the present application, the network attachment service may include any one of the following: LTE attachment, 5G network attachment, etc.

In the embodiment of the application, when the remote UE initiates the network attachment service, network searching is performed, and network attachment is performed. Because the remote UE is out of the coverage area of the base station network, the corresponding available network is not searched, and at this time, the selection of the relay UE can be triggered and switched to the selected relay UE, and the relay UE provides services for the remote UE.

In one example, the remote UE is outside the coverage area of the base station network, and when a user wants to make a call to another user using the remote UE, the remote UE can access the relay UE, and the relay UE provides a call service for the remote UE.

In one example, the remote UE is outside the coverage of the base station network, and when the user wants to browse news using the remote UE, the remote UE can access the relay UE, and the relay UE provides internet service for the remote UE.

In some embodiments, the following application scenarios apply: the remote UE is currently in a weak signal area, and the remote UE performs the scene of the internet service or the call service by the relay UE. Accordingly, in case the first UE initiates the network attach service, if an available network is detected and the signal quality of the available network after attaching to the available network is lower than a fourth threshold, a relay discovery request is transmitted to the plurality of relay UEs.

In the embodiment of the present application, the weak signal area refers to an edge weak signal area of the base station.

In the embodiment of the application, when the remote UE initiates the network attachment service, network searching is performed, and network attachment is performed. Because the remote UE is in the marginal weak signal area of the base station, a corresponding available network can be searched, a corresponding attachment network procedure is performed on the available network, then the signal quality of the available network is measured, if the signal quality of the available network is poor, the selection of the relay UE is triggered, and the relay UE is switched to the selected relay UE, and the relay UE provides service for the remote UE.

In one example, the remote UE is in an edge weak signal region of the base station, and when a user wants to make a call to other users using the remote UE, the remote UE can access the relay UE, and the relay UE provides a call service for the remote UE.

In one example, the remote UE is in an edge weak signal region of the base station, and when a user wants to browse news using the remote UE, the remote UE can access the relay UE, and the relay UE provides internet service for the remote UE.

In some embodiments, the following application scenarios apply: and the relay UE which is accessed by the remote UE currently instructs the remote UE to perform relay reselection. Accordingly, when a relay reselection instruction from a relay UE to which the first UE is currently connected is received, a relay discovery request is sent to a plurality of relay UEs, wherein the relay reselection instruction is used for instructing the first UE to reselect the relay UE.

In this embodiment of the present application, for a relay UE to which a remote UE is currently connected, when a Uu link of the relay UE fails in a radio link or moves, the relay UE may instruct the remote UE to perform relay reselection, so as to ensure that a service of the remote UE can be performed normally.

In summary, the relay UE selection method in the embodiment of the present application may be applied to various communication scenarios, for example, a scenario in which the remote UE is out of coverage of the base station, a scenario in which the remote UE is in an edge weak signal area of the base station, and a scenario in which the remote UE triggers relay reselection, where the application scenario is relatively wide.

In this embodiment of the present invention, a remote UE may send a relay discovery request to a plurality of surrounding relay UEs in a broadcast manner, where the relay discovery request is used to request the relay UE to feed back its own first network parameter and second network parameter to the remote UE, and the relay discovery request may carry, in addition to the identifier of the remote UE, location information of the remote UE.

In one example, fig. 3 shows an application scenario of the relay UE selection method in the embodiment of the present application, where the application scenario includes a base station 30, a relay UE311, relay UEs 312, …, a relay UE31n, and a remote UE32, where n is an integer greater than 1.

The relay UEs 311 to 31n are all located in the signal coverage of the base station 30 and have high signal quality, and the remote UE32 is located at the edge of the signal coverage of the base station 30 and has poor signal quality.

In order to ensure the continuity of the service of the remote UE32, the remote UE32 may select one from the relay UEs 311 to 31n and access. When a relay UE needs to be selected, the remote UE32 may first send a relay discovery request to the relay UEs 311 to 31n by broadcasting.

In step 202, a plurality of first feedback messages sent by a plurality of relay UEs to the relay discovery request are received, where the first feedback messages carry a first network parameter and a second network parameter, the first network parameter is used to represent signal quality of the relay UEs, and the second network parameter is used to represent connection information of the relay UEs and other communication devices.

In the embodiment of the present application, one first feedback message corresponds to one relay UE.

In an embodiment of the present application, the first network parameter may include at least one of: reference signal received power (Reference Signal Receiving Power, RSRP), signal reference received quality (Reference Signal Received Quality, RSRQ), and signal-to-noise ratio (Signal To Noise Ratio, SNR), etc.

To ensure that the remote UE can select an appropriate relay UE, in the embodiment of the present application, the "degree" and the "shortest path principle" in the complex network are introduced, and accordingly, the second network parameters may include at least one of the following: the number of second UEs accessing the relay UE (i.e. "degree"), the distance between the relay UE and the target communication device (i.e. "shortest path principle"), wherein the target communication device may comprise any one of the following: the base station, the second UE and the third UE.

In the embodiment of the application, the second UE refers to a remote UE connected to the relay UE; the number of second UEs accessing the relay UE refers to the number of remote UEs to which the relay UE is connected.

In the embodiment of the present application, the distance between the relay UE and the target communication device refers to the distance between the relay UE and the target communication device in the geographic location.

In this embodiment of the present application, when the first UE, that is, the remote UE, communicates with the base station, the target communication device is the base station, and the distance between the relay UE and the target communication device refers to the distance between the relay UE and the base station. When the first UE communicates with the second UE, the distance between the relay UE and the target communication device refers to the distance between the relay UE and the second UE, where the second UE has access to the relay UE. When the first UE communicates with a third UE in the case of multi-hop, the distance between the relay UE and the target communication device refers to the distance between the relay UE and the third UE.

In one example, as shown in fig. 3, after receiving the relay discovery request sent by the remote UE32, each of the relay UEs 311 to 31n returns a first feedback message to the remote UE32, for example, the relay UE311 returns a first feedback message, where the first feedback message carries the number of remote UEs connected to the relay UE311 and the distance between the relay UE311 and the base station 30; the relay UE312 returns a first feedback message carrying the number of remote UEs to which the relay UE312 is connected and the distance between the relay UE312 and the base station 30; the relay UE31n returns a first feedback message carrying the number of remote UEs to which the relay UE31n is connected and the distance between the relay UE31n and the base station 30.

In step 203, a target relay UE is determined from the plurality of relay UEs based on the first network parameter and the second network parameter.

In the embodiment of the present application, the target relay UE may be selected from the plurality of relay UEs according to the first network parameter and the second network parameter.

In some embodiments, a part of relay UEs satisfying the signal quality condition may be screened from the plurality of relay UEs based on the first network parameter, and then, the target relay UE may be screened from the relay UEs satisfying the signal quality condition based on the second network parameter, and accordingly, the step 203 includes the following steps: step 2031, step 2032, and step 2033;

In step 2031, a plurality of first relay UEs are determined from the plurality of relay UEs according to a first network parameter, wherein the signal quality of the first relay UEs is greater than a first threshold.

In step 2032, at least one second relay UE is determined from the plurality of first relay UEs according to the second network parameters.

In step 2033, a target relay UE is determined from the at least one second relay UE.

In the embodiment of the present application, when the number of the second relay UEs is 1, the second relay UEs are directly determined as target relay UEs; when the number of the second relay UEs is greater than 1, randomly selecting one second relay UE to determine as the target relay UE.

In one example, as shown in fig. 3, 5 first relay UEs are selected from the relay UEs 311 to 31n according to signal quality, then 3 second relay UEs are selected from the 5 first relay UEs according to connection information of the first relay UEs and other communication devices, and finally one of the 3 second relay UEs is randomly selected as a target relay UE.

In step 204, a handover is made to the target relay UE.

In the embodiment of the present application, the first UE, that is, the remote UE, may be switched to the target relay UE to perform the transitional communication, so as to ensure service continuity and stability of the remote UE.

In some embodiments, the step 204 includes the steps of: step 2041 and step 2042;

in step 2041, a connection request is sent to the target relay UE.

In the embodiment of the present application, the connection request is used to request handover to the target relay UE.

In step 2042, a second feedback message sent by the target relay UE to the connection request is received, where the second feedback message carries a target connection state value, where the target connection state value is used to indicate that the first UE establishes a connection with the target relay UE.

In the embodiment of the present application, after receiving a connection request of a remote UE, a target relay UE tries to establish a connection with the remote UE, and if the connection is successfully established, a second feedback message is sent to the remote UE, and carries a target connection state value; after receiving the second feedback message of the target relay UE, the remote UE analyzes a connection state value, and if the connection state value is true or 1, the remote UE and the target relay UE are successfully connected and can communicate; otherwise, the connection fails, and the above steps 201 to 203 need to be repeated to select a suitable relay UE and access successfully.

In the embodiment of the present application, after the remote UE is successfully switched to the target relay UE, the corresponding call service or the internet service is performed based on the target relay UE terminal.

As can be seen from the above-described embodiment, in this embodiment, a first UE sends a relay discovery request to a plurality of relay UEs; receiving a plurality of first feedback messages sent by a plurality of relay UE (user equipment) on a relay discovery request, wherein the first feedback messages carry a first network parameter and a second network parameter, the first network parameter is used for representing the signal quality of the relay UE, and the second network parameter is used for representing the connection information of the relay UE and other communication equipment; determining a target relay UE from the plurality of relay UEs according to the first network parameter and the second network parameter; and switching to the target relay UE. In the embodiment of the present application, the remote UE may determine, from among the plurality of relay UEs, the target relay UE to be switched according to the signal quality of each relay UE and the connection information of each relay UE with other communication devices, and, when selecting the target relay UE, not only refer to the signal quality of the relay UE, but also refer to the connection information of the relay UE with other communication devices, so that the remote UE may select to connect to an appropriate relay UE, thereby improving the success rate of connecting the remote UE to the relay UE.

In another embodiment provided in the present application, the degree of relay UE connection (the number of remote UEs) may be considered, so as to make up for the disadvantage of the method of selecting relay UEs based on signal quality only in the related art, and accordingly, the second network parameters include: the number of second UEs accessing the relay UE, step 2032, includes the following steps: step 301;

In step 301, from among the plurality of first relay UEs, the first relay UE having the second UE access number smaller than the second threshold is determined as the second relay UE.

In one example, as shown in fig. 3, 5 first relay UEs are selected from the relay UEs 311 to 31n according to signal quality, which are respectively the relay UE311, the relay UE312, the relay UE313, the relay UE314, and the relay UE315; then, according to the number of other remote UEs connected with the relay UE311, the number of other remote UEs connected with the relay UE312, the number of other remote UEs connected with the relay UE313, the number of other remote UEs connected with the relay UE314 and the number of other remote UEs connected with the relay UE315, 3 second relay UEs are screened out from the UEs 311 to 315, namely the relay UE313, the relay UE314 and the relay UE315; finally, one relay UE is randomly selected from the relay UEs 313 to 315 as a target relay UE, for example, the relay UE315 is finally selected as the target relay UE.

In the embodiment of the present application, the remote UE may select the target relay UE to be switched from the plurality of relay UEs according to the signal quality of each relay UE and the number of other remote UEs connected to each relay UE, and when selecting the target relay UE, the remote UE may select to connect to an appropriate relay UE, thereby improving the success rate of connecting the remote UE to the relay UE.

In another embodiment provided in the present application, the target relay UE may be selected based on a shortest path principle, and the second network parameters include: the distance between the relay UE and the target communication device, step 2032, includes the following steps: step 302 and step 303;

in step 302, a plurality of first distances between the first UE and the target communication device of each first relay UE is calculated based on the distances between each first relay UE and the target communication device of the first relay UE.

In this embodiment of the present invention, for each first relay UE, a remote UE may obtain a distance between the remote UE and the first relay UE, and calculate, according to the distance between the remote UE and the first relay UE and the distance between the first relay UE and a target communication device, a first distance between the remote UE and the target communication device corresponding to the first relay UE through the first relay UE.

In step 303, at least one second relay UE is determined from the plurality of first relay UEs according to the plurality of first distances, where the first distance corresponding to the at least one second relay UE is smaller than the first distance corresponding to a third relay UE, and the third relay UE is a relay UE other than the second relay UE in the first relay UEs.

In the embodiment of the application, the first distances can be sorted from small to large to obtain a first sorting result; and selecting a second relay UE corresponding to a first distance of the first M bits in the first sequencing result from the plurality of first relay UEs, wherein M is a positive integer.

In one example, as shown in fig. 3, 5 first relay UEs are selected from the relay UEs 311 to 31n according to signal quality, which are respectively the relay UE311, the relay UE312, the relay UE313, the relay UE314, and the relay UE315; then, the distance between the remote UE32 and the relay UE311 and the distance between the relay UE311 and the base station 30 are summed to obtain the distance between the remote UE32 and the base station 30 through the relay UE 311; similarly, other 4 distance values can be obtained; selecting 3 second relay UEs of the minimum distance values from the calculated distance values, namely relay UE311, relay UE312 and relay UE313; finally, one relay UE is randomly selected from the relay UEs 311 to 313 as a target relay UE, for example, the relay UE311 is finally selected as the target relay UE.

In the embodiment of the present application, the remote UE may select the target relay UE to be switched from the plurality of relay UEs according to the signal quality of each relay UE and the distance between each relay UE and the target communication device, and when selecting the target relay UE, the remote UE may select to connect to the appropriate relay UE by referring to not only the signal quality of the relay UE but also the distance between the remote UE and each target communication device through each relay UE, thereby improving the success rate of connecting the remote UE to the relay UE. In addition, the short path from the remote UE to the target communication equipment through the relay UE is selected, so that the signaling transmission delay can be shortened, the network response speed can be increased, and the network adaptability of the UE can be further improved.

In another embodiment provided herein, the second network parameters include: the number of second UEs accessing the relay UE and the distance between the relay UE and the target communication device, correspondingly, the step 2032 includes the following steps: step 304, step 305 and step 306.

In step 304, from the plurality of first relay UEs, the first relay UE whose second UE access number is smaller than the third threshold is determined as the fourth relay UE.

In step 305, a plurality of second distances between the first UE and the target communication device of each fourth relay UE are calculated based on the distances between each fourth relay UE and the target communication device of each fourth relay UE.

In step 306, at least one second relay UE is determined from the plurality of fourth relay UEs according to the plurality of second distances, where the second distance corresponding to the at least one second relay UE is smaller than the second distance corresponding to a fifth relay UE, and the fifth relay UE is a relay UE other than the second relay UE in the fourth relay UEs.

In one example, there are 10 relay UEs whose RSRQ meets a threshold of-12, from which the 4 first relay UEs with the largest RSRQ are selected as a, b, c, d; thereafter, the number of other remote UEs to which the 4 first relay UEs are connected is checked a, b, c, d again, for example, the number of c and d connections is less than 5, and both a and b are greater than 5; then, selecting a fourth relay UE with the connectivity less than 5, wherein the fourth relay UE is c and d respectively; finally, comparing the path lengths of c and d, selecting a short path as the second relay UE if the two path lengths are different, and selecting both as the second relay UE if the two path lengths are the same.

As can be seen, in the embodiment of the present application, the remote UE may select, from a plurality of relay UEs, the target relay UE to be switched according to the signal quality of each relay UE, the number of other remote UEs connected to each relay UE, and the distance between each relay UE and the target communication device, and, when selecting the target relay UE, not only refer to the signal quality of the relay UE, but also refer to the number of other remote UEs connected to the relay UE and the distance between the remote UE and each target communication device via each relay UE, so that the remote UE may select to connect to an appropriate relay UE, thereby improving the success rate of connecting the remote UE to the relay UE. In addition, the short path from the remote UE to the target communication equipment through the relay UE is selected, so that the signaling transmission delay can be shortened, the network response speed can be increased, and the network adaptability of the UE can be further improved.

In another embodiment provided in the present application, the relay UE selection method provided may further include the following steps after the step 202: step 205.

In step 205, a first network parameter and a second network parameter of a plurality of first feedback messages are stored.

In the embodiment of the application, after receiving the first feedback message sent by the surrounding relay UEs, the remote UE analyzes the signal quality parameter, the connectivity parameter and the distance parameter of the target communication device of each relay UE in the first feedback message, and stores the analyzed signal quality parameter, connectivity parameter and distance parameter of the target communication device in the local area for real-time update, so that the remote UE can conveniently and rapidly read and compare the received signal quality parameter and connectivity parameter of each relay UE in the first feedback message.

Fig. 4 is a flowchart of another relay UE selection method provided in some embodiments of the present application, applied to a relay UE, as shown in fig. 4, and the method may include the following steps: step 401 and step 402;

in step 401, a relay discovery request sent by a first UE is received.

Step 401 in the embodiment of the present application is similar to step 201 in the embodiment shown in fig. 2, and will not be described herein.

In step 402, a first feedback message is sent to the first UE, where the first feedback message carries a first network parameter and a second network parameter, where the first network parameter is used to represent signal quality of the relay UE, and the second network parameter is used to represent connection information of the relay UE and other communication devices.

In an embodiment of the present application, the first network parameter may include at least one of: RSRP, RSRQ, SNR, etc.

To ensure that the remote UE may select an appropriate relay UE, in the embodiment of the present application, "degree" and "shortest path principle" in the complex network are introduced, and the second network parameters may include at least one of the following: the number of second UEs accessing the relay UE (i.e. "degree"), and the distance between the relay UE and the target communication device (i.e. "shortest path principle"), wherein the target communication device may comprise any one of the following: the base station, the second UE and the third UE.

As can be seen from the above embodiments, in this embodiment, the relay UE receives a relay discovery request sent by the first UE; and sending a first feedback message to the first UE, wherein the first feedback message carries a first network parameter and a second network parameter, the first network parameter is used for representing the signal quality of the relay UE, and the second network parameter is used for representing the connection information of the relay UE and other communication equipment. In the embodiment of the present application, when the remote UE needs to select the target relay UE to be switched from the plurality of relay UEs, the relay UE may provide the signal quality of the remote UE and the connection information of the other communication devices to the remote UE, so that the remote UE may select the target relay UE to be switched from the plurality of relay UEs according to the signal quality of each relay UE and the connection information of each relay UE and the other communication devices.

According to the relay UE selection method provided by the embodiment of the application, the execution body can be a relay UE selection device. In the embodiment of the present application, a relay UE selecting device executes a relay UE selecting method by using a relay UE selecting device as an example, and the relay UE selecting device provided in the embodiment of the present application is described.

Fig. 5 is a block diagram of a relay UE selection apparatus according to some embodiments of the present application, which is applied to a first UE, and as shown in fig. 5, the relay UE selection apparatus 500 may include: a first sending module 501, a first receiving module 502, a determining module 503 and a switching module 504;

a first sending module 501, configured to send a relay discovery request to a plurality of relay UEs;

a first receiving module 502, configured to receive a plurality of first feedback messages sent by a plurality of relay UEs to the relay discovery request, where the first feedback messages carry a first network parameter and a second network parameter, the first network parameter is used to represent signal quality of the relay UEs, and the second network parameter is used to represent connection information of the relay UEs and other communication devices;

a determining module 503, configured to determine a target relay UE from a plurality of relay UEs according to the first network parameter and the second network parameter;

And a switching module 504, configured to switch to the target relay UE.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the second network parameter includes at least one of: the number of second UE accessing the relay UE and the distance between the relay UE and the target communication equipment; wherein the target communication device comprises any one of the following: and the base station, the second UE and the third UE.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the determining module 503 may include:

a first determining submodule, configured to determine a plurality of first relay UEs from a plurality of relay UEs according to the first network parameter, where a signal quality of the first relay UE is greater than a first threshold;

a second determining submodule, configured to determine at least one second relay UE from among the plurality of first relay UEs according to the second network parameter;

and a third determining sub-module, configured to determine a target relay UE from the at least one second relay UE.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the second network parameter includes: the number of second UEs accessing the relay UE;

the second determination submodule may include:

and the first determining unit is used for determining the first relay UE with the second UE access number smaller than a second threshold value from the plurality of first relay UEs as the second relay UE.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the second network parameter includes: the distance between the relay UE and the target communication equipment;

the second determination submodule may include:

a first calculating unit, configured to calculate a plurality of first distances between the first UE and the target communication devices of the first relay UE according to the distances between the first relay UE and the target communication devices of the first relay UE;

And the second determining unit is used for determining at least one second relay UE from the plurality of first relay UEs according to the plurality of first distances, wherein the first distance corresponding to the at least one second relay UE is smaller than the first distance corresponding to a third relay UE, and the third relay UE is a relay UE except the second relay UE in the first relay UE.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the second network parameter includes: the number of second UE accessing the relay UE and the distance between the relay UE and the target communication equipment;

the second determination submodule may include:

a third determining unit, configured to determine, from among the plurality of first relay UEs, a first relay UE having a second UE access number smaller than a third threshold as a fourth relay UE;

a second calculating unit, configured to calculate a plurality of second distances between the first UE and the target communication devices of the fourth relay UEs according to the distances between the fourth relay UEs and the target communication devices of the fourth relay UEs;

and a fourth determining unit, configured to determine at least one second relay UE from the plurality of fourth relay UEs according to the plurality of second distances, where the second distance corresponding to the at least one second relay UE is smaller than the second distance corresponding to a fifth relay UE, and the fifth relay UE is a relay UE other than the second relay UE in the fourth relay UE.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the relay UE selecting apparatus 500 may further include:

and the storage module is used for storing the first network parameters and the second network parameters in the plurality of first feedback messages.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the switching module 504 may include:

a first sending sub-module, configured to send a connection request to the target relay UE;

and the receiving sub-module is used for receiving a second feedback message sent by the target relay UE to the connection request, wherein the second feedback message carries a target connection state value, and the target connection state value is used for indicating that the first UE and the target relay UE are connected.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the first sending module 501 may include:

a second sending sub-module, configured to send a relay discovery request to a plurality of relay UEs if an available network is not detected in a case where the first UE initiates a network attachment service; or,

a third sending sub-module, configured to send a relay discovery request to a plurality of relay UEs if an available network is detected and the signal quality of the available network after the available network is attached to the first UE is lower than a fourth threshold value, where the first UE initiates a network attachment service; or,

And a fourth sending sub-module, configured to send a relay discovery request to a plurality of relay UEs when a relay reselection instruction from a relay UE currently accessed by the first UE is received, where the relay reselection instruction is used to instruct the first UE to reselect a relay UE.

Fig. 6 is a block diagram of another relay UE selection apparatus according to some embodiments of the present application, which is applied to a relay UE, and as shown in fig. 6, the relay UE selection apparatus 600 may include: a second receiving module 601 and a second transmitting module 602;

a second receiving module 601, configured to receive a relay discovery request sent by a first UE;

the second sending module 602 is configured to send a first feedback message to the first UE, where the first feedback message carries a first network parameter and a second network parameter, the first network parameter is used to represent signal quality of the relay UE, and the second network parameter is used to represent connection information of the relay UE and other communication devices.

The relay UE selecting device in the embodiment of the present application may be an electronic device that works independently, or may be a component in the electronic device, for example, an integrated circuit or a chip. The electronic device may be a terminal, or may be other devices than a terminal. By way of example, the electronic device may be a mobile phone, tablet, notebook, palmtop, vehicle-mounted electronic device, mobile internet appliance (Mobile Internet Device, MID), augmented reality (augmented reality, AR)/Virtual Reality (VR) device, robot, wearable device, ultra-mobile personal computer, UMPC, netbook, or personal digital assistant (personal digital assistant, PDA), etc., but may also be a server, network attached storage (Network Attached Storage, NAS), personal computer (personal computer, PC), television (TV), teller machine, self-service machine, etc., and the embodiments of the present application are not limited in particular.

The relay UE selection device in the embodiment of the present application may be a device with an operating system. The operating system may be an Android operating system, an iOS operating system, or other possible operating systems, which are not specifically limited in the embodiments of the present application.

The relay UE selecting device provided in the embodiment of the present application can implement each process implemented by the embodiment of the method illustrated in fig. 2 or fig. 4, and in order to avoid repetition, a description is omitted here.

Optionally, as shown in fig. 7, the embodiment of the present application further provides an electronic device 700, including a processor 701 and a memory 702, where a program or an instruction capable of running on the processor 701 is stored in the memory 702, and the program or the instruction implements each step of the above embodiment of the relay UE selection method when executed by the processor 701, and the steps can achieve the same technical effects, so that repetition is avoided, and no further description is given here.

The electronic device in the embodiment of the application includes the mobile electronic device and the non-mobile electronic device described above.

The electronic device 800 includes, but is not limited to: radio frequency unit 801, network module 802, audio output unit 803, input unit 804, sensor 805, display unit 806, user input unit 807, interface unit 808, memory 809, and processor 810.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the electronic device 800 may also include a power source (e.g., a battery) for powering the various components, which may be logically connected to the processor 810 by a power management system to perform functions such as managing charge, discharge, and power consumption by the power management system. The electronic device structure shown in fig. 8 does not constitute a limitation of the electronic device, and the electronic device may include more or less components than shown, or may combine certain components, or may be arranged in different components, which are not described in detail herein.

In some embodiments, the electronic device 800 is a first UE;

a processor 810 for transmitting a relay discovery request to a plurality of relay UEs; receiving a plurality of first feedback messages sent by a plurality of relay UEs to the relay discovery request, wherein the first feedback messages carry a first network parameter and a second network parameter, the first network parameter is used for representing the signal quality of the relay UEs, and the second network parameter is used for representing the connection information of the relay UEs and other communication equipment; determining a target relay UE from a plurality of relay UEs according to the first network parameter and the second network parameter; and switching to the target relay UE.

In the embodiment of the present application, the remote UE may determine, from among the plurality of relay UEs, the target relay UE to be switched according to the signal quality of each relay UE and the connection information of each relay UE with other communication devices, and, when selecting the target relay UE, not only refer to the signal quality of the relay UE, but also refer to the connection information of the relay UE with other communication devices, so that the remote UE may select to connect to an appropriate relay UE, thereby improving the success rate of connecting the remote UE to the relay UE.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the processor 810 is further configured to determine, according to the first network parameter, a plurality of first relay UEs from a plurality of the relay UEs, where a signal quality of the first relay UE is greater than a first threshold; determining at least one second relay UE from a plurality of the first relay UEs according to the second network parameters; and determining a target relay UE from the at least one second relay UE.

the processor 810 is further configured to determine, from the plurality of first relay UEs, a first relay UE with a second UE access number smaller than a second threshold value as a second relay UE.

the processor 810 is further configured to calculate a plurality of first distances between the first UE and the target communication device of each of the first relay UEs according to the distances between each of the first relay UEs and the target communication device of the first relay UE; and determining at least one second relay UE from the plurality of first relay UEs according to the plurality of first distances, wherein the first distance corresponding to the at least one second relay UE is smaller than the first distance corresponding to a third relay UE, and the third relay UE is a relay UE except the second relay UE in the first relay UE.

The processor 810 is further configured to determine, from the plurality of first relay UEs, a first relay UE having a second UE access number smaller than a third threshold value as a fourth relay UE; calculating a plurality of second distances between the first UE and the target communication equipment of each fourth relay UE according to the distance between each fourth relay UE and the target communication equipment of each fourth relay UE; and determining at least one second relay UE from a plurality of fourth relay UEs according to the second distances, wherein the second distance corresponding to the at least one second relay UE is smaller than the second distance corresponding to a fifth relay UE, and the fifth relay UE is a relay UE except the second relay UE in the fourth relay UEs.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the processor 810 is further configured to store the first network parameter and the second network parameter in a plurality of the first feedback messages.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the processor 810 is further configured to send a connection request to the target relay UE; and receiving a second feedback message sent by the target relay UE to the connection request, wherein the second feedback message carries a target connection state value, and the target connection state value is used for indicating that the first UE and the target relay UE establish connection.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the processor 810 is further configured to, if the first UE initiates the network attachment service, send a relay discovery request to a plurality of relay UEs if no available network is detected; or if the first UE initiates a network attachment service, if an available network is detected and the signal quality of the available network is lower than a fourth threshold value after attaching to the available network, sending a relay discovery request to a plurality of relay UEs; or, when receiving a relay reselection instruction from a relay UE currently accessed by the first UE, sending a relay discovery request to a plurality of relay UEs, wherein the relay reselection instruction is used for instructing the first UE to reselect the relay UE.

In some embodiments, the electronic device 800 is a relay UE;

a processor 810, configured to receive a relay discovery request sent by a first UE; and sending a first feedback message to the first UE, wherein the first feedback message carries a first network parameter and a second network parameter, the first network parameter is used for representing the signal quality of the relay UE, and the second network parameter is used for representing the connection information of the relay UE and other communication equipment.

In the embodiment of the present application, when the remote UE needs to select the target relay UE to be switched from the plurality of relay UEs, the relay UE may provide the signal quality of the remote UE and the connection information of the other communication devices to the remote UE, so that the remote UE may select the target relay UE to be switched from the plurality of relay UEs according to the signal quality of each relay UE and the connection information of each relay UE and the other communication devices.

It should be appreciated that in embodiments of the present application, the input unit 804 may include a graphics processor (Graphics Processing Unit, GPU) 8041 and a microphone 8042, with the graphics processor 8041 processing image data of still pictures or video obtained by an image capturing device (e.g., a camera) in a video capturing mode or an image capturing mode. The display unit 806 may include a display panel 8061, and the display panel 8061 may be configured in the form of a liquid crystal display, an organic light emitting diode, or the like. The user input unit 807 includes at least one of a touch panel 8071 and other input devices 8072. Touch panel 8071, also referred to as a touch screen. The touch panel 8071 may include two parts, a touch detection device and a touch controller. Other input devices 8072 may include, but are not limited to, a physical keyboard, function keys (e.g., volume control keys, switch keys, etc.), a trackball, a mouse, a joystick, and so forth, which are not described in detail herein.

The memory 809 can be used to store software programs as well as various data. The memory 809 may mainly include a first storage area storing programs or instructions and a second storage area storing data, wherein the first storage area may store an operating system, application programs or instructions (such as a sound playing function, an image playing function, etc.) required for at least one function, and the like. Further, the memory 809 may include volatile memory or nonvolatile memory, or the memory 809 may include both volatile and nonvolatile memory. The nonvolatile Memory may be a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a Programmable ROM (PROM), an Erasable PROM (EPROM), an Electrically Erasable EPROM (EEPROM), or a flash Memory. The volatile memory may be random access memory (Random Access Memory, RAM), static RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double Data Rate SDRAM (ddr SDRAM), enhanced SDRAM (Enhanced SDRAM), synchronous DRAM (SLDRAM), and Direct RAM (DRRAM). Memory 809 in embodiments of the present application includes, but is not limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.

The processor 810 may include one or more processing units; optionally, the processor 810 integrates an application processor that primarily processes operations involving an operating system, user interface, application programs, etc., and a modem processor that primarily processes wireless communication signals, such as a baseband processor. It will be appreciated that the modem processor described above may not be integrated into the processor 810.

The embodiment of the present application also provides a readable storage medium, where a program or an instruction is stored, and when the program or the instruction is executed by a processor, the processes of the embodiment of the relay UE selection method are implemented, and the same technical effects can be achieved, so that repetition is avoided, and no further description is given here.

Wherein the processor is a processor in the electronic device described in the above embodiment. The readable storage medium includes computer readable storage medium such as computer readable memory ROM, random access memory RAM, magnetic or optical disk, etc.

The embodiment of the application also provides a chip, which comprises a processor and a communication interface, wherein the communication interface is coupled with the processor, and the processor is used for running programs or instructions to realize the processes of the relay UE selection method embodiment, and the same technical effects can be achieved, so that repetition is avoided, and the repeated description is omitted.

It should be understood that the chips referred to in the embodiments of the present application may also be referred to as system-on-chip chips, chip systems, or system-on-chip chips, etc.

The embodiments of the present application further provide a computer program product, which is stored in a storage medium, and the program product is executed by at least one processor to implement the respective processes of the embodiments of the relay UE selection method, and achieve the same technical effects, so that repetition is avoided, and a detailed description is omitted herein.

It should be noted that, in this document, the terms "comprises," "comprising," or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. Without further limitation, an element defined by the phrase "comprising one … …" does not exclude the presence of other like elements in a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises the element. Furthermore, it should be noted that the scope of the methods and apparatus in the embodiments of the present application is not limited to performing the functions in the order shown or discussed, but may also include performing the functions in a substantially simultaneous manner or in an opposite order depending on the functions involved, e.g., the described methods may be performed in an order different from that described, and various steps may also be added, omitted, or combined. Additionally, features described with reference to certain examples may be combined in other examples.

From the above description of the embodiments, it will be clear to those skilled in the art that the above-described embodiment method may be implemented by means of software plus a necessary general hardware platform, but of course may also be implemented by means of hardware, but in many cases the former is a preferred embodiment. Based on such understanding, the technical solutions of the present application may be embodied essentially or in a part contributing to the prior art in the form of a computer software product stored in a storage medium (e.g. ROM/RAM, magnetic disk, optical disk) comprising several instructions for causing a terminal (e.g. mobile phone, computer, server, network device, etc.) to perform the method described in the embodiments of the present application.

The embodiments of the present application have been described above with reference to the accompanying drawings, but the present application is not limited to the above-described embodiments, which are merely illustrative and not restrictive, and many forms may be made by those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the spirit of the present application and the scope of the claims, which are also within the protection of the present application.

Claims

1. A relay user equipment UE selection method, applied to a first UE, characterized in that the method comprises:

transmitting a relay discovery request to a plurality of relay UEs;

and switching to the target relay UE.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the second network parameter comprises at least one of: the number of second UE accessing the relay UE and the distance between the relay UE and the target communication equipment;

wherein the target communication device comprises any one of the following: and the base station, the second UE and the third UE.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein said determining a target relay UE from a plurality of said relay UEs based on said first network parameter and said second network parameter comprises:

Determining a plurality of first relay UEs from the plurality of relay UEs according to the first network parameters, wherein the signal quality of the first relay UEs is greater than a first threshold;

determining at least one second relay UE from a plurality of the first relay UEs according to the second network parameters;

and determining a target relay UE from the at least one second relay UE.

4. A method according to claim 3, wherein the second network parameters comprise: the number of second UEs accessing the relay UE;

the determining, according to the second network parameter, at least one second relay UE from the plurality of first relay UEs includes:

and determining the first relay UE with the second UE access number smaller than a second threshold value from the plurality of first relay UEs as the second relay UE.

5. A method according to claim 3, wherein the second network parameters comprise: the distance between the relay UE and the target communication equipment;

calculating a plurality of first distances between the first UE and the target communication equipment of each first relay UE according to the distance between each first relay UE and the target communication equipment of the first relay UE;

And determining at least one second relay UE from the plurality of first relay UEs according to the plurality of first distances, wherein the first distance corresponding to the at least one second relay UE is smaller than the first distance corresponding to a third relay UE, and the third relay UE is a relay UE except the second relay UE in the first relay UE.

6. A method according to claim 3, wherein the second network parameters comprise: the number of second UE accessing the relay UE and the distance between the relay UE and the target communication equipment;

from the plurality of first relay UEs, determining the first relay UEs with the second UE access number smaller than a third threshold value as fourth relay UEs;

calculating a plurality of second distances between the first UE and the target communication equipment of each fourth relay UE according to the distance between each fourth relay UE and the target communication equipment of each fourth relay UE;

and determining at least one second relay UE from a plurality of fourth relay UEs according to the second distances, wherein the second distance corresponding to the at least one second relay UE is smaller than the second distance corresponding to a fifth relay UE, and the fifth relay UE is a relay UE except the second relay UE in the fourth relay UEs.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein after the receiving the plurality of first feedback messages sent by the plurality of relay UEs to the relay discovery request, the method further comprises:

storing the first network parameter and the second network parameter in a plurality of the first feedback messages.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the switching to the target relay UE comprises:

sending a connection request to the target relay UE;

and receiving a second feedback message sent by the target relay UE to the connection request, wherein the second feedback message carries a target connection state value, and the target connection state value is used for indicating that the first UE and the target relay UE establish connection.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the sending the relay discovery request to the plurality of relay UEs comprises:

if the first UE initiates network attachment service, sending a relay discovery request to a plurality of relay UEs if the available network is not detected; or,

if the first UE initiates network attachment service, if an available network is detected and the signal quality of the available network is lower than a fourth threshold value after the available network is attached, a relay discovery request is sent to a plurality of relay UEs; or,

And sending a relay discovery request to a plurality of relay UEs under the condition that a relay reselection instruction from the relay UE currently accessed by the first UE is received, wherein the relay reselection instruction is used for instructing the first UE to reselect the relay UE.

10. A relay UE selection method, applied to a relay UE, comprising:

receiving a relay discovery request sent by a first UE;

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the second network parameter comprises at least one of: the number of second UE accessing the relay UE and the distance between the relay UE and the target communication equipment;

12. A relay UE selection apparatus for use with a first UE, the apparatus comprising:

and the switching module is used for switching to the target relay UE.

13. A relay UE selection apparatus applied to a relay UE, the apparatus comprising:

14. An electronic device comprising a processor and a memory storing a program or instructions executable on the processor, which when executed by the processor, performs the steps of the relay UE selection method of any of claims 1 to 9, or performs the steps of the relay UE selection method of any of claims 10 to 11.