CN112153558A - A communication method and device - Google Patents

Abstract

The present application relates to the field of communication technologies, and discloses a communication method and device. The method includes: the IoT platform determines N terminal devices to process the first service, and determines P target terminal devices that support short-range communication from the N terminal devices; the IoT platform determines M relays that support the first service device, and send the first message to the M relay devices, and send the second message to the terminal devices other than the P target terminal devices among the N terminal devices. Using the above method, the IoT platform sends the first message to the M relay devices, so that the M relay devices can broadcast the service information of the first service through the short-range communication. For the N terminal devices except the P target terminal devices The IoT platform can send the service information of the first service in a unicast manner, thereby effectively ensuring that all N terminal devices can effectively receive the service information of the first service.

Description

A communication method and device

technical field

The present application relates to the field of communication technologies, and in particular, to a communication method and device.

Background technique

The Internet of Things (IoT) is an important part of the new generation of information technology and an important development stage in the "informationization" era. As the name implies, the Internet of Things is the Internet of things connected, which has two meanings: first, the core and foundation of the Internet of Things is still the Internet, which is an extension and expansion network based on the Internet; second, its user-end extension and It extends to any item and item for information exchange and communication, that is, the relationship between things. The Internet of Things is widely used in the integration of networks through communication perception technologies such as intelligent perception, identification technology and ubiquitous computing.

The Internet of Vehicles is a typical application of the Internet of Things in the field of intelligent transport system (ITS). Interaction standard, a large system network for wireless communication and information exchange between vehicles and the outside world (vehicle to X, V2X), where X is vehicles, mobile devices, pedestrians, networks, etc. The Internet of Vehicles is an integrated network that can realize intelligent traffic management, intelligent dynamic information services and intelligent vehicle control.

In the field of intelligent transportation systems, V2X communication can be applied to a variety of possible scenarios, such as the signal light push business scenario, in which the IoT platform needs to push the signal light information to a group of vehicles at a specified location; another example is the road congestion push business A scenario in which the IoT platform needs to send road congestion information to a set of roadside signs and vehicles at a specified location. In the two scenarios exemplified above, both involve sending service information to a group of terminal devices (including vehicles). However, how to effectively send service information to a group of terminal devices still needs further research. .

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of this, the present application provides a communication method and apparatus to effectively send service information to a group of terminal devices.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, including:

The IoT platform determines N terminal devices to process the first service, and determines P target terminal devices that support short-range communication from the N terminal devices, and the N terminal devices support the first service; the IoT platform determines to support the first service M relay devices, the short-range communication of each relay device in the M relay devices covers at least one target terminal device in the P target terminal devices; the IoT platform sends the first message to the M relay devices, the first message A message includes indication information and service information of the first service, and the indication information is used to instruct broadcasting of the service information of the first service through short-range communication; A second message is sent, where the second message includes service information of the first service; wherein, N, M, and P are all integers.

Using the above method, the IoT platform determines P target terminal devices that support short-range communication and M relay devices from the N terminal devices, and sends the first message to the M relay devices, so that the M relay devices The service information of the first service can be sent to P target terminal devices through short-range communication. For terminal devices other than the P target terminal devices among the N terminal devices, the IoT platform can send the first service through unicast. The service information of the service effectively ensures that all N terminal devices can effectively receive the service information of the first service. Further, in this embodiment of the present application, when the M relay devices are determined, the services supported by the M relay devices are fully considered, so that the determined M relay devices are all relay devices supporting the first service. , to avoid the phenomenon that the P target terminal devices may not receive the service information of the first service because the relay device does not support the first service and discards the service information of the first service.

In a possible design, the IoT platform determines N terminal devices, including: the IoT platform receives a third message from the application server, where the third message includes information of the first area, service information of the first service, and target terminal type, the third message The service information of a service includes the service identifier of the first service; the IoT platform obtains multiple terminal devices located in the first area according to the information of the first area; the IoT platform obtains a list of services supported by multiple terminal devices and multiple terminal devices N terminal devices are determined from the multiple terminal devices according to the list of services supported by the multiple terminal devices and the types of the multiple terminal devices. The list of services supported by the N terminal devices includes the identifier of the first service. The type of each of the end devices matches the target type.

That is, the IoT platform can determine N terminal devices according to the information of the first area, the service information of the first service, and the target terminal type, that is, the IoT platform can determine N terminal devices according to the dynamic group message sent by the application server.

In a possible design, the IoT platform determines N terminal devices, including: the IoT platform receives a third message from the application server, where the third message includes the identifier of the first group and the service information of the first service, the The service information includes the service identifier of the first service; the IoT platform obtains N terminal devices belonging to the first group.

That is, the IoT platform can determine N terminal devices according to the static group message sent by the application server.

In a possible design, the IoT platform determines P target terminal devices that support short-range communication from the N terminal devices, including: the IoT platform obtains the communication capability information of the N terminal devices, and the N terminal devices include the No. A terminal device, the communication capability information of the first terminal device is used to indicate whether the first terminal device supports short-range communication, or indicates the public land mobile network PLMN list of the first terminal device that supports short-range communication; the IoT platform according to N The communication capability information of the terminal device, and P target terminal devices are determined from the N terminal devices; the communication capability information of the target terminal device indicates that the target terminal device supports short-range communication, or the PLMN list of the target terminal device that supports short-range communication includes The PLMN accessed by the target terminal device.

In a possible design, the IoT platform determines the M relay devices, including: the IoT platform obtains the mobile identifiers of the P target terminal devices, and the mobile identifiers of the target terminal devices are used to indicate that the target terminal device is in a moving state or in a stationary state ; If the IoT platform determines that the P target terminal devices include M target terminal devices in a stationary state, the M target terminal devices in a stationary state are determined as M relay devices.

In the above manner, the IoT platform directly determines the relay device from the P target terminal devices, thereby effectively saving processing resources and improving processing efficiency.

In a possible design, the indication information is also used to instruct to process the service information of the first service. Since the relay device is one of the P target terminal devices, the indication information may further instruct the relay device to locally process the service information of the first service.

In a possible design, the method further includes: the IoT platform, according to the information of the first area, the communication capability information of the at least one terminal device, the list of services supported by the at least one terminal device, and the mobile identifier of the at least one terminal device, from at least one terminal device. M relay devices are determined in one terminal device; at least one terminal device is a terminal device other than the P target terminal devices; wherein, at least one terminal device includes a second terminal device, and the mobile identifier of the second terminal device is used to indicate the first terminal device. The second terminal device is in a moving state or is in a stationary state; the communication capability information of the second terminal device is used to indicate whether the second terminal device supports short-range communication, or indicates the PLMN list of the second terminal device that supports short-range communication; If the two terminal devices support short-range communication, the communication capability information of the second terminal device includes the short-range communication coverage of the second terminal device; the M relay devices are terminal devices in a stationary state, and the services supported by the M relay devices The list includes the identification of the first service.

In a possible design, before the IoT platform determines the M relay devices from the at least one terminal device, the method further includes: the IoT platform determines that the P target terminal devices do not include terminal devices in a stationary state.

In a possible design, the short-range communication of the M relay devices completely covers the target terminal device in the moving state among the P target terminal devices.

In a possible design, if the short-range communication of the M relay devices does not completely cover the target terminal device in the moving state, the first message also includes the target terminal device in the moving state of at least one target terminal device. Location information and movement speed.

In this way, by sending the position information and moving speed of at least one target terminal device in the moving state to the relay device, the relay device can determine the position information and the moving speed of the at least one target terminal device based on the position information and the moving speed of the at least one target terminal device. Broadcast times and broadcast time to ensure that the target terminal equipment in the moving state can receive the service information of the first service.

In a possible design, the first message is a multicast message or a unicast message; and/or the second message is a unicast message.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, including:

The relay device receives the first message sent by the IoT platform, where the first message includes indication information and service information of the first service, and the indication information is used to instruct the relay device to broadcast the service information of the first service through short-range communication; the first message also includes Including the position information and moving speed of at least one target terminal device in the P target terminal devices; the relay device determines, according to the position information and moving speed of at least one terminal device in the P target terminal devices, to broadcast the broadcast of the service information of the first service time and broadcast times; the relay device broadcasts the service information of the first service according to the broadcast time and broadcast times.

In a possible design, the first message includes location information and moving speed of each of the P target terminal devices;

The relay device determines the broadcast time and the number of times of broadcasting the service information of the first service according to the position information and moving speed of the P target terminal devices, including: the relay device determines the position of each target terminal device in the P target terminal devices according to the position of the relay device. information, determine the third terminal device farthest from the relay device, and determine the broadcast time and broadcast times of the service information of the first service according to the position information and moving speed of the third terminal device.

In a possible design, the first message includes the position information and moving speed of the third terminal device among the P target terminal devices; the third terminal device is the target terminal farthest from the relay device among the P target terminal devices equipment;

The relay device determines, according to the position information and moving speed of at least one terminal device in the P target terminal devices, the broadcast time and the number of times of broadcasting the service information of the first service, including: the relay device according to the position information of the third terminal device and the number of broadcasts. The moving speed determines the broadcast time and broadcast times of the service information for broadcasting the first service.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, including: an application server determining a third message, where the third message includes information of a first area and service information of a first service; wherein the service information of the first service includes a third message. A service identifier of a service; the application server sends a third message to the IoT platform.

In one possible design, the third message also includes the target terminal type.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, including: an application server determining a third message, where the third message includes an identifier of a first group and service information of a first service; wherein the service information of the first service includes The service identifier of the first service; the application server sends the third message to the IoT platform.

In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an apparatus, and the apparatus may be an IoT platform, or may also be a semiconductor chip provided in the IoT platform. The device has the function of implementing various possible designs of the above-mentioned first aspect. This function can be implemented by hardware or by executing corresponding software by hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more units or modules corresponding to the above functions.

In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an apparatus, and the apparatus may be a relay device, or may also be a semiconductor chip disposed in the relay device. The device has the function of implementing various possible designs of the above-mentioned second aspect. This function can be implemented by hardware or by executing corresponding software by hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more units or modules corresponding to the above functions.

In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an apparatus, and the apparatus may be an application server, or may also be a semiconductor chip provided in the application server. The device has the function of realizing the third aspect or the fourth aspect. This function can be implemented by hardware or by executing corresponding software by hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more units or modules corresponding to the above functions.

In an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication system, where the communication system includes the IoT platform described in the fifth aspect and the relay device described in the sixth aspect, and may further include the seventh aspect. application server.

In a ninth aspect, an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application includes: a processor and a memory; the processor is configured to execute an instruction stored in the memory, and when the instruction is executed, the apparatus is made to execute the above-mentioned first to fourth aspects method in any possible design.

In a tenth aspect, embodiments of the present application further provide a computer-readable storage medium, including instructions, when the instructions are executed, the above aspects or the methods in any possible designs of the various aspects are implemented.

In an eleventh aspect, the embodiments of the present application further provide a computer program product, including a computer program or instruction, when the computer program or instruction is executed, the above aspects or the method in any possible design of each aspect is implemented.

Description of drawings

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of some scenarios of V2X;

2 is a schematic diagram of a system architecture provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a terminal device 1 reporting data to an IoT platform according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 4 is an example of a process of sending a message to a group member by multicasting provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 5 is a schematic flowchart corresponding to a communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application;

6a is a schematic diagram of group creation provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 6b is a schematic diagram of the implementation of a communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application;

6c is a schematic diagram of a first area determined according to location information of P target terminal devices according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 7 is a possible exemplary block diagram of the apparatus involved in the embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of an IoT platform provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a relay device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed ways

In order to make the objectives, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present application more clear, the embodiments of the present application will be described in further detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application can be applied to various communication systems, for example, a wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) mobile communication system, an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (evolved universal terrestrial radio access network) , E-UTRAN) system, next generation radio access network (NG-RAN) system, long term evolution (long termevolution, LTE) system, worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) communication system, the future fifth generation (5th Generation, 5G) system, such as a new generation of radio access technology (new radio access technology, NR), and the future communication system, such as 6G system.

The business scenarios (or application scenarios) described in the embodiments of the present application are for the purpose of illustrating the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application more clearly, and do not constitute a limitation on the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application. With the emergence of new business scenarios, the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application are also applicable to similar technical problems.

In addition, in the embodiments of the present application, the word "exemplarily" is used to mean serving as an example, illustration or illustration. Any embodiment or implementation described in this application as an "example" should not be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments or implementations. Rather, the use of the word example is intended to present a concept in a concrete way.

Hereinafter, some terms in the embodiments of the present application will be explained, so as to facilitate the understanding of those skilled in the art.

(1) Terminal devices, including devices that provide voice and/or data connectivity to users, may include, for example, handheld devices with wireless connectivity, or processing devices connected to wireless modems. The terminal equipment may communicate with the core network via a radio access network (RAN), and exchange voice and/or data with the RAN. The terminal device may include a vehicle, a vehicle module, a user equipment (UE), a wireless terminal device, a mobile terminal device, a subscriber unit, a subscriber station, a mobile station ( mobile station), mobile station (mobile), remote station (remotestation), access point (access point, AP), remote terminal equipment (remote terminal), access terminal equipment (access terminal), user terminal equipment (user terminal) , user agent, or user device, etc. For example, it may include mobile phones (or "cellular" phones), computers with mobile terminal equipment, portable, pocket-sized, hand-held, computer-built or vehicle-mounted mobile devices, smart wearable devices, and the like. For example, personal communication service (PCS) phones, cordless phones, session initiation protocol (SIP) phones, wireless local loop (WLL) stations, personal digital assistants (personal digital assistants), PDA), etc. Also includes constrained devices, such as devices with lower power consumption, or devices with limited storage capacity, or devices with limited computing power, etc. For example, information sensing devices such as barcodes, radio frequency identification (RFID), sensors, global positioning systems (GPS), and laser scanners are included.

As an example and not a limitation, in this embodiment of the present application, the terminal device may also be a wearable device. Wearable devices can also be called wearable smart devices, which are the general term for the intelligent design of daily wear and the development of wearable devices using wearable technology, such as glasses, gloves, watches, clothing and shoes. A wearable device is a portable device that is worn directly on the body or integrated into the user's clothing or accessories. Wearable device is not only a hardware device, but also realizes powerful functions through software support, data interaction, and cloud interaction. In a broad sense, wearable smart devices include full-featured, large-scale, complete or partial functions without relying on smart phones, such as smart watches or smart glasses, and only focus on a certain type of application function, which needs to cooperate with other devices such as smart phones. Use, such as all kinds of smart bracelets, smart helmets, smart jewelry, etc. for physical sign monitoring.

The terminal device in this embodiment of the present application may also be an on-board module, on-board module, on-board component, on-board chip or on-board unit built into the vehicle as one or more components or units. A group, an on-board component, an on-board chip, or an on-board unit may implement the methods of the embodiments of the present application.

(2) V2X, including vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P) Several application requirements such as direct communication and vehicle-to-network (V2N) communication interaction. As shown in Figure 1. V2V refers to communication between vehicles; V2P refers to communication between vehicles and people (including pedestrians, cyclists, drivers, or passengers); V2I refers to communication between vehicles and roadside units (RSUs). Communication, there is another kind of V2N that can be included in V2I, V2N refers to the communication between the vehicle and the base station/network.

The RSU may be a fixed infrastructure entity supporting V2X applications, and may exchange messages with other entities supporting V2X applications. There are two types of RSUs: terminal type RSUs, which are in a non-mobile state because they are located on the roadside, and do not need to consider mobility; base station type RSUs, which can provide timing synchronization and resources for vehicles that communicate with them. schedule. The RSUs involved in the embodiments of this application mainly refer to terminal-type RSUs.

(3) The terms "system" and "network" in the embodiments of the present application may be used interchangeably. "Plurality" refers to two or more than two, and in view of this, "plurality" may also be understood as "at least two" in the embodiments of the present application. "At least one" can be understood as one or more, such as one, two or more. For example, including at least one means including one, two or more, and does not limit which ones are included. For example, if at least one of A, B, and C is included, then A, B, C, A and B, A and C, B and C, or A and B and C may be included. Similarly, the understanding of descriptions such as "at least one" is similar. "And/or", which describes the association relationship of the associated objects, means that there can be three kinds of relationships, for example, A and/or B, which can mean that A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone. In addition, the character "/", unless otherwise specified, generally indicates that the related objects are an "or" relationship.

Unless stated to the contrary, ordinal numbers such as "first" and "second" mentioned in the embodiments of the present application are used to distinguish multiple objects, and are not used to limit the order, sequence, priority, or importance of multiple objects. For example, the first time domain resource and the second time domain resource are only for distinguishing different time domain resources, and do not limit the priority or importance of the two time domain resources.

The embodiments of the present application may be applicable to various possible systems, such as an intelligent transportation system, which will be described in detail below by taking an intelligent transportation system as an example.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a system architecture provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 2 , the system architecture includes an application server, an IoT platform, and one or more terminal devices (such as the terminal device 1 shown in FIG. 2 ). , terminal equipment 2, terminal equipment 3, terminal equipment 4, terminal equipment 5).

Among them, (1) application server: it can be a vehicle networking application server (V2X application server, V2XAS), which is used to provide various business services for terminal devices (such as vehicle-mounted terminals). (2) IoT platform: used to provide IoT services, the IoT platform can support terminal devices to report terminal device data (such as terminal device location information) to it, and can also send business information and control commands to terminal devices. In one example, the IoT platform may be a cloud platform, or a cloud server, or a network-side server; in another example, the IoT platform may also be an edge gateway or edge node deployed on the edge side. (3) One or more terminal devices: may include various types of terminal devices, such as terminal devices held by pedestrians, terminal devices installed or placed in vehicles (ie, vehicle-mounted terminals), RSUs, and the like.

Illustratively, taking the terminal device 1 as an example, FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a possible implementation manner in which the terminal device 1 reports the data of the terminal device 1 to the IoT platform. As shown in Figure 3, it includes:

Step 301 , the terminal device 1 acquires the first information of the terminal device 1 from a control function (control function, CF) network element in the home public land mobile network (PLMN) of the terminal device 1 .

Here, the operator may pre-configure the configuration information of the terminal device 1 and store it in the CF network element. The configuration information of the terminal device 1 may include the identification of the terminal device 1, the mobile identification of the terminal device 1, the type of the terminal device 1, the terminal The communication capability information of the device 1 and one or more items in the list of services supported by the terminal device 1 are not specifically limited. Exemplarily, the first information of the terminal device 1 may include part of the information in the configuration information of the terminal device 1, for example, the first information of the terminal device 1 may include the identifier of the terminal device 1, the mobile identifier of the terminal device 1, the terminal device 1 type, the communication capability information of the terminal device 1. In other possible embodiments, the first information of the terminal device 1 may also be the configuration information of the terminal device 1 .

The content included in the configuration information of the terminal device 1 is explained below: (1) The identifier of the terminal device 1 is information used to identify the terminal device 1, which is not specifically limited. (2) The mobile identification of the terminal device 1 is used to indicate that the terminal device is in a mobile state or in a stationary state. For example, if the mobile identification of the terminal device 1 is mobile, it means that the terminal device 1 is in a mobile state; if the mobile identification of the terminal device 1 is If it is stationary, it means that the terminal device 1 is in a stationary state. For another example, the mobile identification of the terminal device 1 may be 1 bit. If the value of the bit is "1", it indicates that the terminal device 1 is in a mobile state. If the value of the bit is "0", it indicates that the terminal device is in a mobile state. 1 is at rest. (3) The types of the terminal device 1 may include vehicle-mounted terminals, terminal devices held by pedestrians, and RSUs, and may also include other possible types, which are not specifically limited. (4) Communication capability information of terminal device 1: If terminal device 1 is an RSU, the communication capability information of terminal 1 is used to indicate whether terminal device 1 supports short-range communication. Further, if terminal device 1 supports short-range communication, then The communication capability information of the terminal device 1 may include the coverage of the short-range communication of the terminal device 1; if the terminal device 1 is a vehicle-mounted terminal or a terminal device held by a pedestrian, the communication capability information of the terminal 1 is used to indicate that the terminal device 1 supports the short-range communication. The list of PLMNs for distance communication, for example, the list of PLMNs supporting short-range communication of terminal device 1 includes PLMN1, PLMN2 and PLMN3. If the PLMN currently accessed by terminal device 1 is PLMN1, then terminal device 1 supports short-range communication in the currently accessed PLMN. Distance communication; if the PLMN currently accessed by the terminal device is PLMN4, the terminal device 1 does not support short-range communication in the PLMN currently accessed. (5) The list of services supported by the terminal device 1 may include the identifiers of one or more services supported by the terminal device 1 .

Step 302 , the terminal device 1 registers with the IoT platform, and reports the second information of the terminal device 1 .

Here, the second information of the terminal device 1 may include part or all of the information in the first information of the terminal device 1, which is not specifically limited. For example, the second information of the terminal device 1 may include the identification of the terminal device 1, the mobile identification of the terminal device 1, the type of the terminal device 1, and the communication capability information of the terminal device 1; further, it may also include the location information of the terminal device 1. , the PLMN accessed by the terminal device 1.

It should be noted that, if the mobile identifier of the terminal device 1 is mobile, the terminal device 1 can report the location information of the terminal device 1 to the IoT platform according to the set period; or, the terminal device 1 can also determine the location information of the terminal device 1 After the change occurs, the changed location information of the terminal device 1 is reported to the IoT platform; so that the location information of the terminal device 1 recorded in the IoT platform can be updated in time to ensure that the location information of the terminal device 1 recorded in the IoT platform is consistent. accuracy.

Exemplarily, in the system architecture shown in FIG. 2 , the application server may deliver a group message (the group message includes service information) to the IoT platform, and then the IoT platform sends the service information to a group of terminal devices.

In the intelligent transportation system, by sending business information to terminal devices (such as vehicle-mounted terminals), the terminal devices can obtain a series of traffic information such as real-time road conditions, road information, pedestrian information, etc., so as to improve driving safety, reduce congestion, and improve traffic efficiency. . In specific implementation, there may be a variety of service information. In one example, the service information may include: road safety related information (such as broadcast speed, location, model, etc.); emergency vehicle priority signal control service information (such as ambulance, fire truck, road danger alarm, etc.); signal light information; road congestion information; traffic accident information (such as a car accident ahead, rear-end collision alarm).

For example, terminal device 3, terminal device 4, and terminal device 5 are all vehicle-mounted terminals. The IoT platform receives service information of a certain service (such as service 1) from the application server, and needs to send the service information to terminal devices 3 and 5. Terminal Device 4 and Terminal Device 5.

In a possible implementation manner, the IoT platform may send service information to terminal device 3, terminal device 4, and terminal device 5 in a unicast manner, that is, the IoT platform sends the service information to terminal device 3, terminal device 4, and terminal device 5 respectively. Send a unicast message, and the unicast message includes service information. In this way, when the service information needs to be sent to a large number of terminal devices, the efficiency of this method is too low, which affects the user experience. Moreover, since the IoT platform needs to send messages to multiple terminal devices, the IoT platform needs to send messages to multiple terminal devices. The burden is heavier and the consumption of transmission resources is large.

In another possible implementation manner, the IoT platform can send service information to terminal equipment 3, terminal equipment 4, and terminal equipment 5 through multicast, such as IP multicasting or improved multimedia broadcast multicast. Service (evolved multimedia broadcast multicast service, eMBMS). Taking IP multicast as an example, IP multicast is an extension of the standard IP network layer protocol. It transmits IP data packets to a set of hosts in a multicast group according to the principle of maximum delivery by using a specific IP multicast address. Its basic method is: when a certain device sends data to a group of devices, the device does not have to send the data to each device in the group of devices, but only needs to send the data to a specific multicast address, Then all devices that join the multicast group can receive the data. Figure 4 is an example of the process of sending a message to group members through multicast. As can be seen from Figure 4, before multicasting, a request for creating a multicast group (which may include multicasting) must be sent through unicasting Relevant user service description information (such as multicast address, joining a multicast group, etc.) and receiving the response returned by the terminal device, so as to ensure that the terminal can receive the multicast message. In this way, since the time of the vehicle terminal in the designated area is not very long, it is unicast first and then multicast, and there are too many interactive messages. If the service is broadcast multiple times, it may be too late to complete all the processes, so that the service cannot be effectively transmitted. information is sent to the terminal device.

Based on this, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method for effectively sending service information to a group of terminal devices.

FIG. 5 is a schematic flowchart corresponding to a communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application, as shown in FIG. 5 , including:

Step 501, the IoT platform determines N terminal devices to be processed for the first service.

Here, there may be various specific implementation manners for the IoT platform to determine the N terminal devices to be processed for the first service.

In a possible implementation manner, the IoT platform may receive a third message from the application server, where the third message includes information of the first area and service information of the first service, and the service information of the first service includes a service identifier of the first service ; In this case, the third message can be understood as a dynamic group message. Further, the IoT platform may acquire multiple terminal devices in the first area according to the location information of the terminal device (wherein, the location information of the terminal device may be reported by the terminal device to the IoT platform in the above step 302), and acquire multiple terminal devices in the first area. A list of services supported by multiple terminal devices, N terminal devices are determined from the multiple terminal devices according to the list of services supported by multiple terminal devices, and the list of services supported by the N terminal devices includes the identifier of the first service, that is, the N terminal devices Support the first business.

Exemplarily, the third message may further include a target terminal type, for example, the target terminal type may include a vehicle-mounted terminal and an RSU. The type of each terminal device in the above N terminal devices matches the type of the target terminal (that is, the type of each terminal device belongs to the type of the target terminal).

For example, the third message includes the information of the first area, the service information of the first service, and the type of the target terminal (such as a vehicle-mounted terminal). The first area includes 10 terminal devices, namely terminal device 1 to terminal device 10. The IoT platform can obtain the types and supported services list of terminal device 1 to terminal device 10, and then according to the type of terminal device 1 to terminal device 10. and the list of supported services, determine N (N=8) terminal devices (such as terminal device 1 to terminal device 8), where the types of terminal device 1 to terminal device 8 are all vehicle-mounted terminals, and the types of terminal device 1 to terminal device 8. The list of supported services includes the identifier of the first service. The types of terminal equipment 9 and terminal equipment 10 are both vehicle-mounted terminals, but the list of services supported by terminal equipment 9 and terminal equipment 10 does not include the identifier of the first service, that is, terminal equipment 9 and terminal equipment 10 do not support the first service, and further There is also no need to send the service information of the first service to the terminal device 9 and the terminal device 10 .

Exemplarily, the IoT platform may acquire the types of terminal devices 1 to 10 and the list of supported services in various ways. For example, taking terminal device 1 as an example, if terminal device 1 reports the type of terminal device 1 and the list of supported services to the IoT platform through a registration request, the IoT platform can directly obtain the type of terminal device 1 and the list of supported services; If terminal device 1 does not report the type of terminal device 1 and the list of supported services to the IoT platform through a registration request, the IoT platform can obtain the type and supported services of terminal device 1 from the CF network element in the home PLMN of terminal device 1 list.

It should be noted that, still taking the terminal device 1 as an example, if the terminal device 1 reports the type of the terminal device 1 to the IoT platform through a registration request, the IoT platform can directly obtain the type of the terminal device 1, and the IoT platform can obtain the terminal device 1 type. The CF network element in the home PLMN of the device 1 obtains the list of services supported by the terminal device 1 .

In yet another possible implementation manner, the IoT platform receives a third message from the application server, where the third message includes the identifier of the first group and service information of the first service, and the service information of the first service includes the service of the first service In this case, the third message can be understood as a static group message. The first group may be pre-created by the IoT platform and the application server. Exemplarily, FIG. 6a is a schematic flowchart of the first group of the IoT platform and the application server. Referring to FIG. 6a, it includes: sending the application server to the IoT platform Send a first group creation request, where the first group creation request includes the identifiers of multiple terminal devices (such as terminal device 1 to terminal device 10); the IoT platform receives the first creation request, and according to the first creation request A first group is created, and a creation response is sent to the application server, the creation response including an identification of the first group.

After receiving the third message, the IoT platform obtains multiple terminal devices (ie, terminal device 1 to terminal device 10) belonging to the first group according to the identifier of the first group; the IoT platform obtains a list of services supported by the multiple terminal devices , and according to the list of services supported by the multiple terminal devices, N (N=8) terminal devices (such as terminal device 1 to terminal device 8) are determined from the multiple terminal devices, and the list of services supported by the terminal device 1 to the terminal device 8 Including the identifier of the first service, while the list of services supported by the terminal device 9 and the terminal device 10 does not include the identifier of the first service, that is, the terminal device 9 and the terminal device 10 do not support the first service, and thus do not need to notify the terminal device 9 and the terminal device. The device 10 sends service information of the first service.

According to the foregoing description, the N terminal devices determined in step 501 may all be vehicle-mounted terminals, or may also include vehicle-mounted terminals and RSUs.

Step 502, the IoT platform determines P target terminal devices supporting short-range communication from the N terminal devices.

In the embodiment of the present application, the IoT platform may determine the P target terminal devices supporting short-range communication from the N terminal devices in various specific implementation manners. For example, the IoT platform obtains the communication capability information of the N terminal devices, according to For the communication capability information of the N terminal devices, P target terminal devices are determined from the N terminal devices. There are various ways for the IoT platform to obtain the communication capability information of N terminal devices. Taking terminal device 1 as an example, if terminal device 1 reports the communication capability information of terminal device 1 to the IoT platform through a registration request, the IoT platform will The communication capability information of the terminal device 1 can be directly obtained; if the terminal device 1 does not report the communication capability information of the terminal device 1 to the IoT platform through a registration request, the IoT platform can obtain it from the CF network element in the home PLMN of the terminal device 1 Communication capability information of the terminal device 1.

Exemplarily, the N terminal devices include a first terminal device. If the first terminal device is an RSU, the communication capability information of the first terminal device is used to indicate whether the first terminal device supports short-range communication. In this case, The IoT platform can determine whether the first terminal device supports short-range communication according to the communication capability information of the first terminal device. If so, the first terminal device is the target terminal device; if the first terminal device is a vehicle-mounted terminal, the first terminal device The communication capability information of the device is used to indicate the list of PLMNs that support short-range communication of the first terminal device. In this case, the IoT platform can obtain the PLMN accessed by the first terminal device (for example, the PLMN accessed by the first terminal device can be (reported by the first terminal device to the IoT platform through a registration request), if the PLMN list of the first terminal device supporting short-range communication includes the PLMNs accessed by the first terminal device, the first terminal device can be determined as the target terminal device.

Following the above example, the N terminal devices include terminal device 1 to terminal device 8. For example, the determined P target terminal devices may include terminal device 1 to terminal device 7, and terminal device 8 does not support short-range communication.

It should be noted that if the IoT platform determines N terminal devices according to the static group message, after the IoT platform determines the P target terminal devices, it can determine the coverage P targets according to the location information of the P target terminal devices. Information about the first area of the terminal device. For example, referring to FIG. 6c, it is a schematic diagram of the first area determined according to the location information of the P target terminal devices. FIG. 6c is only a simple example, and there may be various shapes of the first region determined in the specific implementation, which is not specifically limited.

In this embodiment of the present application, the short-range communication may include various types, such as dedicated short range communications (DSRC), proximity communication five (proximity communication five, PC5), etc., which are not specifically limited.

In one example, the IoT platform can obtain the mobile identifiers of the P target terminal devices, and if the number of the target terminal devices in the mobile state among the P target terminal devices is greater than or equal to the first threshold, step 503 can be executed, otherwise, The service information of the first service may be sent to the N terminal devices by means of multicast in the prior art. The first threshold may be set by those skilled in the art according to actual needs and experience, for example, the first threshold may be 1.

Step 503, the IoT platform determines M relay devices.

Here, the relay device refers to a device used to send the received service information sent by the IoT platform to the target terminal device. For example, the relay device may be an RSU, a stationary vehicle, or the like.

In the embodiment of the present application, there may be various specific implementation manners for the IoT platform to determine the M relay devices. For example, the IoT platform can determine at least one relay device whose short-range communication coverage intersects with the first area, and use the at least one relay device as M relay devices; or, the IoT platform can also determine the short-range communication coverage. The communication covers at least one relay device of at least one target terminal device, and uses the at least one relay device as M relay devices.

The short-range communication of the relay device involved in the embodiments of the present application covers at least one target terminal device, which can be understood as that at least one target terminal device is located within the short-range communication coverage of the relay device. For example, the short-range communication of the relay device covers the target terminal device a and the target terminal device b. It can be understood that the target terminal device a and the target terminal device b are located within the short-range communication coverage of the relay device.

Two possible specific implementations are described below.

In a possible implementation, the IoT platform may try to select a relay device from the P target terminal devices. Exemplarily, the IoT platform may acquire the mobile identifiers of the P target terminal devices, and determine whether the P target terminal devices include target terminal devices in a stationary state, and if the P target terminal devices include target terminal devices in a stationary state, then A target terminal device in a stationary state may be determined as a relay device. For example, if terminal device 1 to terminal device 7 include two terminal devices in a stationary state, the IoT platform can use these two terminal devices in a stationary state as relay devices (referred to as relay device 1 and relay device). 2). In this case, on the one hand, since the relay device is located in the first area, the short-range communication coverage of the relay device overlaps with the first area; on the other hand, because the relay device is located in the first area It is the target terminal device itself, therefore, the short-range communication of the relay device covers at least one target terminal device.

For this situation, in an example, after the IoT platform selects relay devices from the P target terminal devices, it can also select other possible relay devices. For example, if the IoT platform selects relay device 3, then At this time, the relay devices determined by the IoT platform include relay device 1, relay device 2, and relay device 3; exemplarily, the IoT platform can select other possible relay devices in various ways. For example, see In the following, if the IoT platform determines that the P target terminal devices do not include terminal devices in a stationary state, the mode of the relay device is selected. In an example, after the IoT platform selects a relay device from the P target terminal devices, other possible relay devices may not be selected. At this time, the relay devices determined by the IoT platform include relay devices 1 and middle Following device 2.

If the IoT platform determines that the P target terminal devices do not include terminal devices in a stationary state (that is, terminal device 1 to terminal device 7 are all in a moving state), it can select a relay device among the terminal devices other than the P target terminal devices. For example, M relay devices can be determined from at least one terminal device according to the information of the first area, the communication capability information of the at least one terminal device, the service list supported by the at least one terminal device, and the mobile identifier of the at least one terminal device. For example, the IoT platform obtains at least one terminal device (such as terminal device 11 to terminal device 13) whose distance from the P target terminal devices is less than or equal to a preset distance. The preset distance can be determined by those skilled in the art according to actual needs and experience. Make settings. Taking the terminal device 11 as an example, the distance between the terminal device 11 and the P target terminal devices is less than or equal to the preset distance, which can be understood as the distance between the terminal device 11 and a certain target terminal device among the P target terminal devices. Less than or equal to the preset distance. Further, the IoT platform may obtain the communication capability information and the supported service list of at least one terminal device, and determine M relay devices from the at least one terminal device according to the communication capability information and the supported service list of the at least one terminal device, For example, the selected relay devices are terminal device 11 and terminal device 12 . For convenience of description, terminal device 11 is referred to as relay device 1 , and terminal device 12 is referred to as relay device 2 . Both relay device 1 and relay device 2 support the first service, both relay device 1 and relay device 2 are in a stationary state, and the short-range communication coverage of relay device 1 and the first area overlap (or, medium The short-range communication of relay device 1 covers at least one target terminal device), and the short-range communication coverage of relay device 2 overlaps with the first area (or the short-range communication of relay device 2 covers at least one target terminal device); However, since the terminal device 13 does not support the first service, if the IoT platform sends the service information of the first service to the terminal device 13, the terminal device 13 will discard the service information of the first service. Therefore, the IoT platform may not use it as a target service. A relay device that forwards the service information of the first service by the target terminal device.

It should be noted that, in this embodiment of the present application, when determining a relay device, only a certain type or certain types of terminal devices may also be limited to be determined as a relay device, that is, when determining a relay device, The type of terminal equipment can be considered.

For example, the IoT platform only determines the in-vehicle terminal and RSU in a stationary state as relay devices. For the convenience of description, the in-vehicle terminal and RSU are collectively referred to as the first type. If the type of a terminal device is the first type, it can be It is understood that the type of the terminal device is a vehicle-mounted terminal, or the type of the terminal device is an RSU. In one example, when the relay device is determined from the P target terminal devices, the IoT platform can obtain the mobile identifiers and types of the P target terminal devices, and determine whether the P target terminal devices are in a stationary state and the type is the th For a type of target terminal device, if the P target terminal devices include a target terminal device in a stationary state and of the first type, the target terminal device in a stationary state and of the first type can be determined as a relay device. In yet another example, when the relay device is determined from the terminal devices other than the P target terminal devices, the information of the first area, the communication capability information of the at least one terminal device, the list of services supported by the at least one terminal device, the at least one The mobile identification of one terminal device and the type of at least one terminal device determine M relay devices from the at least one terminal device.

As another example, the IoT platform only identifies the RSU as a relay device. In an example, when the relay device is determined from the P target terminal devices, the IoT platform can obtain the mobile identifiers and types of the P target terminal devices, and determine whether the P target terminal devices include a stationary state and the type is RSU If the target terminal equipment is included, the target terminal equipment in a static state and the type of RSU may be determined as a relay device. It can be understood that if the RSU is usually in a stationary state and its mobility does not need to be considered, the mobile identity may not be considered when determining the relay device; for example, when determining the relay device from the P target terminal devices , the IoT platform can obtain the types of P target terminal devices, and determine whether the P target terminal devices include target terminal devices of type RSU (that is, whether they include RSU). The RSU is determined to be a relay device.

In another possible implementation manner, the IoT platform may also directly select relay devices among terminal devices other than the P target terminal devices. For example, the IoT platform may directly The communication capability information, the service list supported by the at least one terminal device, and the mobile identity of the at least one terminal device are used to determine M relay devices from the at least one terminal device.

Step 504, the IoT platform sends a first message to the M relay devices, where the first message includes indication information and service information of the first service, where the indication information is used to instruct to broadcast the service information of the first service through short-range communication.

Here, the first message may be a unicast message, or the first message may also be a multicast message.

Exemplarily, if the M relay devices are relay devices selected by the IoT platform from the P target terminal devices, the first message may also be a multicast message, and further, the indication information may also be used to indicate the relay. The device processes the service information of the first service. In this case, since the relay device is one of the P target terminal devices, the indication information can instruct the relay device to locally process the service information of the first service, and instruct the relay device to broadcast the first service through short-range communication. Business information for a business.

If the M relay devices are relay devices selected by the IoT platform from devices other than the P target terminal devices, the first message may also be a multicast message.

If the M relay devices include the relay devices selected by the IoT platform from the P target terminal devices, and also include the relay devices selected by the IoT platform from devices other than the P target terminal devices, the first message can be a single broadcast message. Exemplarily, when the first message is a message sent to a relay device selected from the P target terminal devices, the indication information in the first message may also be used to instruct the relay device to process the service information of the first service. ; When the first message is a message sent to a relay device selected from devices other than the P target terminal devices, the indication information in the first message may not need to instruct the relay device to process the service information of the first service.

Step 505, the relay device receives the first message sent by the IoT platform, where the first message includes indication information and service information of the first service; and the relay device broadcasts the service information of the first service through short-range communication according to the indication information.

Exemplarily, if the indication information can also be used to instruct the relay device to process the service information of the first service, the relay device can also process the service information of the first service.

In the embodiment of the present application, if the M relay devices include relay devices (such as relay device 1) selected by the IoT platform from the P target terminal devices, after the relay device 1 receives the first message, it may also will receive the service information of the first service broadcast by other relay devices (such as relay device 2). In this case, relay device 1 can discard the service information of the first service broadcast by relay device 2, or, in other words, The service information of the first service broadcasted by the relay device 2 is no longer processed. For example, the service information of the first service may be carried in a certain field. After the relay device 1 receives and processes the field, if the field is received again, the field may be discarded.

It should be noted that if the short-range communication of the M relay devices completely covers the target terminal devices in the mobile state among the P target terminal devices, it can effectively ensure that the target terminal devices in the mobile state all receive the service of the first service. information, if the short-range communication of the M relay devices does not completely cover the target terminal device in the moving state, in this case, the first message may also include the position of at least one target terminal device in the target terminal device in the moving state information and moving speed, so that the relay device can determine the broadcast time and the number of broadcasts according to the location information and moving speed of at least one target terminal device, so as to ensure that the target terminal device in the moving state can receive the service information of the first service.

The following description will be made by taking the P target terminal devices including the Q target terminal devices in a moving state as an example.

In one example (referred to as example 1), the first message may include location information and moving speed of each of the Q target terminal devices. Correspondingly, taking the relay device 1 as an example, after the relay device 1 receives the position information of the Q target terminal devices, it can determine the third terminal farthest from the relay device 1 according to the position information of the Q target terminal devices. device (such as terminal device 1) (exemplarily, the determined terminal device 1 may be the terminal device farthest from the relay device 1 and moving towards the relay device 1), and then according to the location information and movement of the terminal device 1 Speed, determine the broadcast time and broadcast times. For example, the moving speed of the terminal device 1 is 40km/h, the distance between the relay device 1 and the terminal device 1 is 200m, the short-range communication distance of the relay device 1 is 50m, and the terminal device 1 moves to the relay It takes 13.5s (150m/40km/h=13.5s) to be within the short-range communication coverage of device 1. After terminal device 1 moves to the short-range communication coverage of relay device 1, it needs to move to the vicinity of relay device 1. 4.5s (50m/40km/h=4.5s), so relay device 1 can determine that the number of broadcasts is three times, the broadcast time of the first broadcast is when the first message is received, and the time of the second broadcast is the first time At 13.5s after the broadcast, the third broadcast is at 4.5s after the second broadcast, thereby effectively ensuring that the terminal device 1 can receive the service information of the first service.

In yet another example (referred to as example 2), if the first message is a unicast message, taking the relay device 1 as an example, the IoT platform can use the location information of the Q target terminal devices and the location information of the relay device 1 according to the , determine the third terminal device (such as terminal device 1) that is farthest from the relay device 1 (for example, the determined terminal device 1 may be the terminal farthest from the relay device 1 and moving toward the relay device 1 device), and send the location information and moving speed of the terminal device 1 to the relay device 1 through the first message; accordingly, after receiving the first message, the relay device 1 can , to determine the broadcast time and broadcast times.

It should be noted that the difference between the above example 1 and example 2 is: in the above example 1, the IoT platform sends the location information of Q target terminal devices to the relay device 1, and the relay device 1 determines the farthest distance. The target terminal device, and then determine the broadcast time and the number of broadcasts according to the location information and moving speed of the farthest target terminal device; in this way, the computing resources of the IoT platform can be effectively saved. In Example 2, the IoT platform determines the third terminal device farthest from the relay device 1 according to the position information of the relay device 1 and the position information of the Q target terminal devices, and then combines the position information of the third terminal device with the position information of the Q target terminal devices. The moving speed is sent to the relay device 1. Correspondingly, the relay device 1 can directly determine the broadcast time and the number of broadcasts according to the location information and moving speed of the third terminal device; in this way, since the IoT platform only needs to send the third terminal device The location information and moving speed of the device are sent to the relay device 1, so that transmission resources can be effectively saved. For other content other than this difference, you can refer to each other.

Step 506, the IoT platform sends a second message to terminal devices other than the P target terminal devices among the N terminal devices, where the second message includes service information of the first service.

Here, the second message may be a unicast message, that is, for a terminal device that does not support short-range communication, the IoT platform may send the service information of the first service to the terminal device through a unicast message, thereby ensuring the The terminal device can also receive the service information of the first service.

It should be noted that the numbering of the steps in FIG. 5 is only for the convenience of description, and does not constitute a restriction on the sequential execution order of each step; there is no strict execution between the steps without timing dependencies in the above steps. The order can be adjusted according to the actual situation. The steps in FIG. 5 are not necessary steps in the execution flow, and may be deleted according to actual needs in the specific implementation. When N=P, step 506 may not be executed.

Using the above method, the IoT platform determines P target terminal devices that support short-range communication and M relay devices from the N terminal devices, and sends the first message to the M relay devices, so that the M relay devices The service information of the first service can be sent to P target terminal devices through short-range communication. For terminal devices other than the P target terminal devices among the N terminal devices, the IoT platform can send the first service through unicast. The service information of the service effectively ensures that all N terminal devices can effectively receive the service information of the first service. Referring to FIG. 6b, which is a schematic diagram of the implementation of a communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application, in FIG. 6b, N terminal devices include terminal device 1 to terminal device 8, and P target terminal devices include terminal device 1 to terminal device 8. Device 7, the relay device includes relay device 1 and relay device 2 as an example to illustrate, the IoT platform sends a unicast or multicast message (including service information of the first service) to relay device 1 and relay device 2 , and then relay device 1 and relay device 2 send the service information of the first service to terminal device 1 to terminal device 7. Since terminal device 8 does not support short-range communication, the IoT platform sends unicast to terminal device 8. information.

In this way, compared with the IoT platform sending service information to a group of terminal devices through multicast, in the embodiment of the present application, on the one hand, the IoT platform does not need to maintain the member information of the dynamic group in real time, thereby improving performance and improving performance. Resource consumption is relatively low; on the other hand, terminal equipment does not need to support multicast capability, and can still receive service information, which can effectively reduce the cost of terminal equipment; To upgrade, only the relay unit (RSU) needs to upgrade the capability of 5G-Xcast. Further, in this embodiment of the present application, when the M relay devices are determined, the services supported by the M relay devices are fully considered, so that the determined M relay devices are all relay devices supporting the first service. , to avoid the phenomenon that the P target terminal devices may not receive the service information of the first service because the relay device does not support the first service and discards the service information of the first service.

Exemplarily, the following will compare the solutions of unicast, multicast and the embodiments of the present application with reference to a specific example. For example, the coverage of an RSU short-range communication is 200 meters (the coverage can be understood as a circular area with a radius of 200 meters), which can cover up to 50 vehicles; at urban intersections, the number of RSUs is 2 (P), the vehicle terminal is 100 (Q), and the IoT platform sends 100 messages (X). If the IoT platform uses unicast to send messages, the number of messages is 100*100 (ie Q*X); if the IoT platform uses multicast to send messages, the number of messages is 200 (ie Q+X) (Among them, 100 messages are required to build a multicast group for 100 in-vehicle terminals, and 100 messages are required for multicast); if the IoT platform first unicasts to the RSU, and then the RSU sends it to the in-vehicle terminal through PC5, the number of messages is 2 *100 (ie P*X); if the IoT platform multicasts to the RSU first, and then the RSU sends it to the vehicle terminal through PC5, the number of messages is 102 (ie P+X) (2 messages are required to build a multicast group). , multicast requires 100 messages), so it can be seen that when the IoT platform multicasts to the RSU first, and then the RSU sends it to the vehicle terminal through PC5, the number of messages and transmission resources can be effectively saved.

The solution provided in this application is introduced from the perspective of interaction among the above-mentioned main IoT platforms, relay devices and terminal devices. It can be understood that, in order to realize the above functions, each network element includes a corresponding hardware structure and/or software module (or unit) for performing each function. Those skilled in the art should easily realize that the present invention can be implemented in hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software in conjunction with the units and algorithm steps of each example described in the embodiments disclosed herein. Whether a function is performed by hardware or computer software driving hardware depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality using different methods for each particular application, but such implementations should not be considered beyond the scope of the present invention.

In the case of using an integrated unit (module), FIG. 7 shows a possible exemplary block diagram of the apparatus involved in the embodiment of the present application, and the apparatus 700 may exist in the form of software. The apparatus 700 may include: a processing unit 702 and a communication unit 703 . The processing unit 702 is used to control and manage the actions of the device 700 . The communication unit 703 is used to support the communication between the apparatus 700 and other devices. Optionally, the communication unit 703 is also referred to as a transceiving unit, and may include a receiving unit and/or a sending unit, which are respectively configured to perform receiving and sending operations. The apparatus 700 may further include a storage unit 701 for storing program codes and/or data of the apparatus 700 .

The processing unit 702 may be a processor or a controller, which may implement or execute various exemplary logical blocks, modules and circuits described in conjunction with the disclosure of the embodiments of the present application. The communication unit 703 may be a communication interface, a transceiver or a transceiver circuit, etc., where the communication interface is a general term, and in a specific implementation, the communication interface may include multiple interfaces. The storage unit 701 may be a memory.

The apparatus 700 may be the IoT platform in any of the foregoing embodiments, or may also be a semiconductor chip provided in the IoT platform. The processing unit 702 may support the apparatus 700 to perform the actions of the IoT platform in the above method examples. Alternatively, the processing unit 702 mainly performs the internal actions of the IoT platform in the method example, and the communication unit 703 may support the communication between the apparatus 700 and other devices.

Specifically, in one embodiment, the processing unit 702 is configured to: determine N terminal devices to process the first service, and determine, from the N terminal devices, P target terminal devices that support short-range communication, and N terminals The device supports the first service; and, determining M relay devices that support the first service, the short-range communication coverage of each relay device in the M relay devices has an intersection with the first area, and the first area covers at least P target terminal equipment;

The communication unit 703 is configured to: send a first message to the M relay devices, where the first message includes indication information and service information of the first service, where the indication information is used to indicate that the service information of the first service is broadcast through short-range communication; and, A second message is sent to terminal devices other than the P target terminal devices among the N terminal devices, where the second message includes service information of the first service; wherein, N, M, and P are all integers.

In a possible design, the communication unit 703 is further configured to: receive a third message from the application server, where the third message includes the information of the first area, the service information of the first service, the target terminal type, and the service information of the first service Including the business identifier of the first business;

The processing unit 702 is specifically configured to: obtain a plurality of terminal devices located in the first area according to the information of the first area, and obtain a list of services supported by the plurality of terminal devices and the types of the plurality of terminal devices, and according to the information of the plurality of terminal devices The list of supported services and the types of multiple terminal devices. N terminal devices are determined from the multiple terminal devices. The list of services supported by the N terminal devices includes the identifier of the first service. Type matches the target type.

In a possible design, the communication unit 703 is further configured to: receive a third message from the application server, where the third message includes the identifier of the first group and the service information of the first service, and the service information of the first service includes the first the business identity of the business;

The processing unit 702 is specifically configured to: acquire N terminal devices belonging to the first group.

In a possible design, the processing unit 702 is specifically configured to: acquire communication capability information of N terminal devices, the N terminal devices include a first terminal device, and the communication capability information of the first terminal device is used to indicate the first terminal Whether the device supports short-range communication, or, indicates the public land mobile network PLMN list that supports short-range communication of the first terminal device; and, according to the communication capability information of the N terminal devices, determine P target terminals from the N terminal devices device; the communication capability information of the target terminal device indicates that the target terminal device supports short-range communication, or the list of PLMNs supporting short-range communication of the target terminal device includes the PLMNs accessed by the target terminal device.

In a possible design, the processing unit 702 is specifically configured to: acquire the mobile identifiers of P target terminal devices, and the mobile identifiers of the target terminal devices are used to indicate that the target terminal device is in a moving state or in a stationary state; If the terminal devices include M target terminal devices in a stationary state, the M target terminal devices in a stationary state are determined as M relay devices.

In a possible design, the indication information is also used to instruct to process the service information of the first service.

In a possible design, the processing unit 702 is specifically configured to: according to the information of the first area, the communication capability information of the at least one terminal device, the list of services supported by the at least one terminal device, and the mobile identifier of the at least one terminal device, from at least one terminal device M relay devices are determined in one terminal device; at least one terminal device is a terminal device other than the P target terminal devices; wherein, at least one terminal device includes a second terminal device, and the mobile identifier of the second terminal device is used to indicate the first terminal device. The second terminal device is in a moving state or is in a stationary state; the communication capability information of the second terminal device is used to indicate whether the second terminal device supports short-range communication, or indicates the PLMN list of the second terminal device that supports short-range communication; If the two terminal devices support short-range communication, the communication capability information of the second terminal device includes the short-range communication coverage of the second terminal device; the M relay devices are terminal devices in a stationary state, and the services supported by the M relay devices The list includes the identification of the first service.

In a possible design, the processing unit 702 is specifically configured to: before determining M relay devices from at least one terminal device, determine that the P target terminal devices do not include terminal devices in a stationary state.

In a possible design, the short-range communication of the M relay devices completely covers the target terminal device in the moving state among the P target terminal devices.

In a possible design, if the short-range communication of the M relay devices does not completely cover the target terminal device in the moving state, the first message also includes the target terminal device in the moving state of at least one target terminal device. Location information and movement speed.

In a possible design, the first message is a multicast message or a unicast message; and/or the second message is a unicast message.

Using the IoT platform provided in the embodiment of the present application, P target terminal devices supporting short-range communication and M relay devices can be determined from N terminal devices, and by sending the first message to the M relay devices, The M relay devices can send the service information of the first service to the P target terminal devices through short-range communication. For the terminal devices other than the P target terminal devices among the N terminal devices, the IoT platform can unicast The service information of the first service is sent in the manner of the first service, which effectively ensures that all N terminal devices can effectively receive the service information of the first service. Further, in this embodiment of the present application, when the M relay devices are determined, the services supported by the M relay devices are fully considered, so that the determined M relay devices are all relay devices supporting the first service. , to avoid the phenomenon that the P target terminal devices may not receive the service information of the first service because the relay device does not support the first service and discards the service information of the first service.

The apparatus 700 may also be the relay device in any of the foregoing embodiments, or may also be a semiconductor chip or functional module disposed in the relay device. For example, when the relay device is a vehicle, the device 700 may be any of the following devices integrated in the vehicle, such as a telematics box (Telematics BOX, T-Box), a domain controller (Domian Controller, DC), a multi-domain controller (Multi -Domian Controller, MDC), On board Unit (OBU), etc. The processing unit 702 can support the apparatus 700 to perform the actions of the relay device in the above method examples. Alternatively, the processing unit 702 mainly performs the internal actions of the relay device in the method example, and the communication unit 703 may support the communication between the apparatus 700 and other devices.

Specifically, in one embodiment, the communication unit 703 is configured to: receive a first message sent by the IoT platform, where the first message includes indication information and service information of the first service, and the indication information is used to instruct the relay device to communicate through short-range communication Broadcasting the service information of the first service; the first message also includes the position information and moving speed of at least one target terminal device in the P target terminal devices;

The processing unit 702 is configured to: determine the broadcast time and the number of times of broadcasting the service information of the first service according to the position information and moving speed of at least one terminal device in the P target terminal devices;

The communication unit 703 is further configured to: broadcast the service information of the first service according to the broadcast time and the broadcast times.

In a possible design, the first message includes the location information and moving speed of each of the P target terminal devices; the processing unit 702 is configured to: according to the location of each of the P target terminal devices information, determine the third terminal device farthest from the relay device, and determine the broadcast time and broadcast times of the service information of the first service according to the position information and moving speed of the third terminal device.

In a possible design, the first message includes position information and moving speed of a third terminal device among the P target terminal devices, and the third terminal device is the target terminal farthest from the relay device among the P target terminal devices The processing unit 702 is configured to: determine, according to the position information and moving speed of the third terminal device, the broadcast time and the number of times of broadcasting the service information of the first service.

By using the relay device provided in the embodiment of the present application, the number of broadcasts and the broadcast time can be determined based on the position information and moving speed of at least one target terminal device in the target terminal device in a moving state, and the broadcast can be performed according to the number of broadcasts and the broadcast time, In order to ensure that the target terminal equipment in the mobile state can receive the service information of the first service.

It should be noted that the division of units in the embodiments of the present application is illustrative, and is only a logical function division, and other division methods may be used in actual implementation. Each functional unit in the embodiments of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist physically alone, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit. The above-mentioned integrated units may be implemented in the form of hardware, or may be implemented in the form of software functional units.

The integrated unit, if implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as an independent product, may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solutions of the present application can be embodied in the form of software products in essence, or the parts that contribute to the prior art, or all or part of the technical solutions, and the computer software products are stored in a storage medium , including several instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) or a processor (processor) to execute all or part of the steps of the methods described in the various embodiments of the present application. The aforementioned storage medium includes: U disk, removable hard disk, read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), magnetic disk or optical disk and other media that can store program codes .

Based on the above embodiments, the embodiments of the present application further provide an IoT platform, where the IoT platform is applied to the system as shown in FIG. 1 and is used to execute the functions of the IoT platform in the above embodiments. Referring to FIG. 8 , the IoT platform 800 may include: a communication interface 801 , a processor 802 and a memory 803 .

The processor 802 may be a central processing unit (central processing unit, CPU), a network processor (network processor, NP), or a combination of CPU and NP, and so on. The processor 802 may further include a hardware chip. The above-mentioned hardware chip may be an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a programmable logic device (PLD) or a combination thereof. The above-mentioned PLD may be a complex programmable logic device (CPLD), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a generic array logic (GAL) or any combination thereof. When the processor 802 implements the above functions, it can be implemented by hardware, and of course, it can also be implemented by executing corresponding software in hardware.

The communication interface 801 and the processor 802 are connected to each other. Optionally, the communication interface 801 and the processor 802 are connected to each other through a bus 804; the bus 804 may be a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus or an Extended Industry Standard Architecture (Extended Industry Standard Architecture, EISA) bus, etc. The bus can be divided into address bus, data bus, control bus and so on. For ease of presentation, only one thick line is used in FIG. 8, but it does not mean that there is only one bus or one type of bus.

The memory 803, coupled with the processor 802, is used for storing programs and the like. Specifically, the program may include program code, the program code including computer operation instructions. The processor 802 executes the application program stored in the memory 803 to implement the operation of the IoT platform in the foregoing embodiment.

Specifically, when the IoT platform 800 implements the operations of the IoT platform in the foregoing embodiment, it may include:

The communication interface 801 is used to send and receive data, and to communicate and interact with other devices or devices in the system;

The processor 802 is configured to execute the program stored in the memory 803, and when the program is executed, determine N terminal devices to be processed for the first service, and determine from the N terminal devices that support short distance The P target terminal devices for communication, and the N terminal devices support the first service; and, determine M relay devices that support the first service, and the short-range communication coverage of each relay device in the M relay devices is the same as that of the first service. There is an intersection in an area, and the first area covers at least P target terminal devices; and, controlling the communication interface 801 to send a first message to the M relay devices, where the first message includes indication information and service information of the first service, indicating that The information is used to instruct to broadcast the service information of the first service through short-range communication; and send a second message to the terminal devices other than the P target terminal devices among the N terminal devices, where the second message includes the service information of the first service. Exemplarily, the processor 802 and the communication interface 801 may also perform other possible operations performed by the IoT platform in the foregoing method embodiments, and details are not described herein again.

Based on the above embodiment, an embodiment of the present application further provides a relay device, the relay device is used to implement the method or function of the relay device in the above embodiment, and the relay device may be the relay device in the above embodiment , or it may be a device or chip integrated in the relay device described in the above embodiment. Referring to FIG. 9 , the relay apparatus 900 may include: a communication interface 901 , a processor 902 and a memory 903 . For example, when the relay device is a vehicle, the relay device may be a T-Box, or DC, or MDC, or OBU integrated in the vehicle.

Wherein, the processor 902 may be a central processing unit (central processing unit, CPU), a network processor (network processor, NP), or a combination of CPU and NP, or the like. The processor 902 may further include a hardware chip. The above-mentioned hardware chip may be an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a programmable logic device (PLD) or a combination thereof. The above-mentioned PLD may be a complex programmable logic device (CPLD), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a generic array logic (GAL) or any combination thereof. When the processor 902 implements the above functions, it can be implemented by hardware, and of course, it can also be implemented by executing corresponding software in hardware.

The communication interface 901 and the processor 902 are connected to each other. Optionally, the communication interface 901 and the processor 902 are connected to each other through a bus 904; the bus 904 may be a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus or an Extended Industry Standard Architecture (Extended Industry Standard Architecture, EISA) bus, etc. The bus can be divided into address bus, data bus, control bus and so on. For ease of presentation, only one thick line is used in FIG. 9, but it does not mean that there is only one bus or one type of bus.

The memory 903, coupled with the processor 902, is used for storing programs and the like. Specifically, the program may include program code, the program code including computer operation instructions. The processor 902 executes the application program stored in the memory 903 to implement the operation of the relay device in the above embodiment.

Specifically, when the relay apparatus 900 implements the operation of the relay device in the foregoing embodiment, it may include:

The communication interface 901 is used to send and receive data, and to communicate and interact with other devices or devices in the system;

The processor 902 is configured to execute the program stored in the memory 903, and when the program is executed, it controls the communication interface 901 to receive the first message sent by the IoT platform, where the first message includes the indication information and the first message. The service information of the service, the indication information is used to instruct the relay device to broadcast the service information of the first service through short-range communication; the first message also includes the position information and moving speed of at least one target terminal device in the P target terminal devices; and, According to the position information and moving speed of at least one terminal device in the P target terminal devices, determine the broadcast time and the number of broadcasts of the service information of the first service; and, according to the broadcast time and the number of broadcasts, control the communication interface 901 to broadcast the first Business information for a business. Exemplarily, the processor 902 and the communication interface 901 may also perform other possible operations performed by the relay device in the foregoing method embodiments, and details are not described herein again.

Based on the above embodiments, the embodiments of the present application further provide a computer storage medium, where a software program is stored in the storage medium, and when the software program is read and executed by one or more processors, it can implement any one or more of the above Methods provided by the examples. The computer storage medium may include: a U disk, a removable hard disk, a read-only memory, a random access memory, a magnetic disk or an optical disk and other mediums that can store program codes.

Based on the above embodiments, an embodiment of the present application further provides a chip, where the chip includes a processor for implementing the functions involved in any one or more of the above embodiments, such as acquiring or processing the information involved in the above method or information. Optionally, the chip further includes a memory, and the memory is used for necessary program instructions and data to be executed by the processor. The chip may consist of chips, or may include chips and other discrete devices.

In the implementation process, each step in the method provided in this embodiment may be completed by an integrated logic circuit of hardware in a processor or an instruction in the form of software. The steps of the methods disclosed in conjunction with the embodiments of the present application may be directly embodied as executed by a hardware processor, or executed by a combination of hardware and software modules in the processor.

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

In the above-mentioned embodiments, it may be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, it can be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer programs or instructions. When the computer program or instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the processes or functions described in the embodiments of the present application are executed in whole or in part. The computer may be a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, computer network, or other programmable device. The computer program or instructions may be stored in or transmitted over a computer-readable storage medium. The computer-readable storage medium can be any available media that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server that integrates one or more available media. The usable media may be magnetic media such as floppy disks, hard disks, magnetic tapes; optical media such as DVDs; and semiconductor media such as solid state disks (SSDs).

The various illustrative logic units and circuits described in the embodiments of this application may be implemented by general purpose processors, digital signal processors, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) or other programmable logic devices, Discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination of the above are designed to implement or operate the described functions. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, or alternatively, the general-purpose processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be implemented by a combination of computing devices, such as a digital signal processor and a microprocessor, multiple microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in combination with a digital signal processor core, or any other similar configuration. accomplish.

The steps of the method or algorithm described in the embodiments of this application may be directly embedded in hardware, a software unit executed by a processor, or a combination of the two. A software unit may be stored in RAM memory, flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, hard disk, removable disk, CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. Illustratively, a storage medium may be coupled to the processor such that the processor may read information from, and store information in, the storage medium. Optionally, the storage medium can also be integrated into the processor. The processor and storage medium may be provided in the ASIC, and the ASIC may be provided in the terminal device. Alternatively, the processor and the storage medium may also be provided in different components in the terminal device.

These computer program instructions can also be loaded on a computer or other programmable data processing device to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable device to produce a computer-implemented process such that The instructions provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the flow or blocks of the flowcharts and/or the block or blocks of the block diagrams.

Although the embodiments of the present application have been described in conjunction with specific features, it will be apparent that various modifications and combinations may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the embodiments of the present application. Accordingly, the present specification and drawings are merely illustrative of the embodiments of the present application as defined by the appended claims, and are deemed to cover any and all modifications, variations, combinations or equivalents within the scope of the embodiments of the present application.

Claims (21)

1. A method of communication, the method comprising:

the method comprises the steps that an IoT platform of the Internet of things determines N terminal devices of first services to be processed, and determines P target terminal devices supporting near field communication from the N terminal devices, wherein the N terminal devices support the first services;

the IoT platform determines M relay devices supporting the first service, wherein the close range communication of each relay device in the M relay devices covers at least one target terminal device in the P target terminal devices;

the IoT platform sends a first message to the M relay devices, wherein the first message comprises indication information and service information of a first service, and the indication information is used for indicating that the service information of the first service is broadcasted through near field communication; the IoT platform sends a second message to the terminal devices except the P target terminal devices in the N terminal devices, wherein the second message comprises the service information of the first service;

wherein N, M, P are integers.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the IoT platform determines the N terminal devices, comprising:

the IoT platform receives a third message from an application server, wherein the third message comprises information of the first area, service information of a first service and a target terminal type, and the service information of the first service comprises a service identifier of the first service;

the IoT platform acquires a plurality of terminal devices located in the first area according to the information of the first area;

the IoT platform acquires the service lists supported by the plurality of terminal devices and the types of the plurality of terminal devices, and determines the N terminal devices from the plurality of terminal devices according to the service lists supported by the plurality of terminal devices and the types of the plurality of terminal devices, wherein the service lists supported by the N terminal devices comprise the identifier of the first service, and the type of each terminal device in the N terminal devices is matched with the target type.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the IoT platform determines the N terminal devices, comprising:

the IoT platform receives a third message from an application server, wherein the third message comprises an identifier of a first group and service information of a first service, and the service information of the first service comprises a service identifier of the first service;

the IoT platform acquires the N terminal devices belonging to the first group.

4. The method according to any of claims 1 to 3, wherein the IoT platform determines P target terminal devices supporting close range communication from the N terminal devices, comprising:

the IoT platform acquires communication capability information of the N terminal devices, wherein the N terminal devices comprise a first terminal device, and the communication capability information of the first terminal device is used for indicating whether the first terminal device supports short-range communication or indicating a Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) list of the first terminal device, which supports short-range communication;

the IoT platform determines the P target terminal devices from the N terminal devices according to the communication capacity information of the N terminal devices; the communication capability information of the target terminal device indicates that the target terminal device supports near field communication, or the PLMN list of the target terminal device supporting near field communication includes a PLMN accessed by the target terminal device.

5. The method of any of claims 1-4, wherein the IoT platform determines the M relay devices, comprising:

the IoT platform acquires mobile identifications of the P target terminal devices, wherein the mobile identifications of the target terminal devices are used for indicating that the target terminal devices are in a mobile state or a static state;

if the IoT platform determines that the P target terminal devices include M target terminal devices in a static state, the IoT platform determines the M target terminal devices in the static state as the M relay devices.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the indication information is further used for indicating to process the service information of the first service.

7. The method of claims 1 to 4, further comprising:

the IoT platform determines the M relay devices from the at least one terminal device according to the information of the first area, the communication capability information of the at least one terminal device, the service list supported by the at least one terminal device and the mobile identifier of the at least one terminal device; the at least one terminal device is a terminal device except the P target terminal devices;

the at least one terminal device comprises a second terminal device, and the mobile identifier of the second terminal device is used for indicating that the second terminal device is in a mobile state or a static state; the communication capability information of the second terminal device is used for indicating whether the second terminal device supports short-range communication or indicating a PLMN list of the second terminal device, which supports short-range communication; if the second terminal device supports the near field communication, the communication capability information of the second terminal device comprises a near field communication coverage range of the second terminal device;

the M relay devices are terminal devices in a static state, and a service list supported by the M relay devices includes an identifier of the first service.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein before the IoT platform determines the M relay devices from the at least one terminal device, further comprising:

the IoT platform determines that no terminal device in a quiescent state is included in the P target terminal devices.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that:

and the close range communication of the M relay devices completely covers the target terminal device in the moving state in the P target terminal devices.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein if the close-range communication of the M relay devices does not completely cover the moving target terminal devices, the first message further includes location information and moving speed of at least one of the moving target terminal devices.

11. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein:

the first message is a multicast message or a unicast message; and/or the presence of a gas in the gas,

the second message is a unicast message.

12. A method of communication, the method comprising:

the method comprises the steps that a relay device receives a first message sent by an IoT platform, wherein the first message comprises indication information and service information of a first service, and the indication information is used for indicating that the service information of the first service is broadcasted through near field communication; the first message also comprises the position information and the moving speed of at least one target terminal device in the P target terminal devices;

the relay equipment determines the broadcasting time and the broadcasting times of the service information of the first service according to the position information and the moving speed of at least one terminal equipment in the P target terminal equipments;

and the relay equipment broadcasts the service information of the first service according to the broadcasting time and the broadcasting times.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the first message comprises location information and moving speed of each of the P target terminal devices;

the relay device determines the broadcast time and the broadcast times of the service information of the first service according to the position information and the moving speed of the P target terminal devices, and the method comprises the following steps:

and the relay equipment determines a third terminal equipment which is farthest away from the relay equipment according to the position information of each target terminal equipment in the P target terminal equipments, and determines the broadcasting time and the broadcasting times of the service information of the first service according to the position information and the moving speed of the third terminal equipment.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the first message comprises location information and moving speed of a third terminal device of the P target terminal devices; the third terminal device is the target terminal device farthest from the relay device among the P target terminal devices;

the relay device determines the broadcast time and the broadcast times of the service information of the first service according to the position information and the moving speed of at least one terminal device in the P target terminal devices, and the method comprises the following steps:

and the relay equipment determines the broadcasting time and the broadcasting times of the service information of the first service according to the position information and the moving speed of the third terminal equipment.

15. An apparatus comprising a processor, a memory, and instructions stored on the memory and executable on the processor, which when executed, cause the apparatus to perform the method of any of claims 1 to 11.

16. An apparatus comprising a processor, a memory, and instructions stored on the memory and executable on the processor, which when executed, cause the apparatus to perform the method of any of claims 12 to 14.

17. An IoT platform comprising the apparatus of claim 15.

18. A relay device, characterized in that it comprises the apparatus of claim 16.

19. A communication system comprising the IoT platform of claim 17, one or more relay devices of claim 18.

20. A computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions which, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 14.

21. A computer program product, which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 14.

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