Method and apparatus for supporting multi-hop ue-to-network relay in a wireless communication system

A second relay User Equipment (UE) for supporting multi-hop UE-to-Network (U2N) Relay, wherein the second relay UE is provided with a maximum number of hops specific for a Relay Service Code (RSC) by a network, comprising:

• a control circuit;
• a processor installed in the control circuit;
• and
• a memory installed in the control circuit and operatively coupled to the processor;
• wherein the processor is configured to execute a program code stored in the memory to:
• receive a first U2N Relay Discovery Announcement message from a first relay UE, wherein the first U2N Relay Discovery Announcement message includes a User Info Identity (ID) of the first relay UE, the RSC, and a first accumulated number of hops;
• and
• transmit or broadcast a second U2N Relay Discovery Announcement message if the first accumulated number of hops plus 1 is less than or equal to the maximum number of hops, wherein the second U2N Relay Discovery Announcement message includes the User Info ID of the second relay UE, the RSC, and a second accumulated number of hops.