WO2023273783A1 - Positioning method, apparatus and system - Google Patents

Abstract

Provided in the embodiments of the present application are a positioning method, apparatus and system, which can be applied to a non-terrestrial network (NTN), so as to realize terminal positioning in the NTN. The method comprises: a terminal determining positioning information, and sending the positioning information to a network device; and after receiving the positioning information, the network device determining the actual location of the terminal according to the positioning information. The network device may be an access network device, a mobility management network element, or a location management network element. The positioning information comprises one or more of the following: the remaining coverage time of at least one cell, the continuous coverage time of the at least one cell, or the distance between a first location of the terminal and a cell location, wherein the first location of the terminal is a location that is determined by the terminal, the cell location comprises a central location and/or an edge location of the at least one cell, and the at least one cell is associated with a satellite.

Description

Positioning method, device and system

This application claims the priority of a Chinese patent application filed with the State Intellectual Property Office on June 28, 2021, with application number 202110721308.5 and application name "Positioning Method, Device and System", the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference in this application .

technical field

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

Background technique

Positioning, that is, obtaining location information of a terminal, is one of the important functions in a communication system. Taking the fifth generation (5th generation, 5G) system as an example, the location of the terminal can be determined by a location management function (location management function, LMF) network element using related positioning technologies. Among them, common positioning technologies may include positioning technologies based on signal quality, signal angle, or signal arrival time difference.

With the development of communication requirements, 5G networks and future evolved networks must not only meet various service requirements, but also provide wider service coverage. Among them, the non-terrestrial network (NTN) is less affected by geographical conditions and can achieve the goal of global coverage, which is an important direction for future communication development.

In NTN, the satellite is far away from the ground, and the signal quality and signal arrival time difference between the center of the cell and the edge of the cell associated with the satellite is very small. In addition, the angle of the signal and the angle of the signal in the terrestrial network are very different, and the signal of some satellites is always perpendicular to the ground. Therefore, positioning techniques, whether based on signal quality or signal angle, or signal time of arrival, may no longer be suitable for NTN.

Contents of the invention

The present application provides a positioning method, device and system, which can be used to realize terminal positioning in a non-terrestrial network NTN.

In the first aspect, a positioning method is provided. The method can be executed by a terminal, or by a component of the terminal, such as a processor, a chip, or a chip system of the terminal, or by a device that can realize all or part of the terminal functions. Realized by logic modules or software, this application uses the terminal to execute the method as an example for illustration. The method includes: determining positioning information, and sending the positioning information to network equipment. Wherein, the positioning information includes one or more of the following: the remaining coverage time of at least one cell, the continuous coverage time of at least one cell, or the distance between the first location of the terminal and the location of the cell, where the first location of the terminal is the terminal The determined position, the cell position includes a center position and/or an edge position of at least one cell, and at least one cell is associated with a satellite.

Based on this solution, the terminal reports the remaining time of cell coverage, the continuous coverage time of the cell, or the distance between the terminal and the center and/or edge of the cell to the network device. Therefore, in the NTN, the network equipment can combine the information reported by the terminal and the information specific to the NTN, such as the satellite ephemeris, to realize the terminal positioning in the NTN. In addition, in this application, the network device calculates the position of the terminal based on the remaining coverage time reported by the terminal, the continuous coverage time, or the distance between the terminal and the center and/or edge of the cell, etc., and the network device finds that the calculated position is not If it exists, it can be considered that the information reported by the terminal is false information, so that an illegal terminal, or a terminal that has been hijacked or attacked can be identified, and then services for the terminal can be stopped in the future to reduce the waste of resources.

With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, at least one cell includes the first cell; the positioning information includes the remaining coverage time of the at least one cell; determining the positioning information includes: according to the ephemeris of the first satellite, the first satellite The coverage range of a cell and the first location of the terminal determine the remaining coverage time of the first cell, and the first satellite is associated with the first cell. Based on this embodiment, the terminal can determine the remaining coverage time of the cell according to the specific information in NTN such as satellite ephemeris.

With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, determining the remaining coverage time of the first cell according to the ephemeris of the first satellite, the coverage of the first cell, and the first location of the terminal includes: according to The ephemeris of the first satellite, determine the moving direction and moving speed of the first satellite; determine the first position and the first cell of the terminal according to the first position of the terminal, the coverage of the first cell, and the moving direction of the first satellite The distance between the first edges, the first edge is an edge away from the moving direction; according to the moving speed of the first satellite and the distance between the first position of the terminal and the first edge, determine the remaining coverage time of the first cell. Based on this embodiment, a specific method for determining the remaining time of cell coverage is provided.

With reference to the first aspect, in some implementation manners of the first aspect, the method further includes: receiving first indication information from the network device, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the type of the positioning information includes remaining coverage time. Based on this embodiment, the terminal can determine the positioning information according to the instruction of the network device, thereby improving the usability of the positioning information, reducing the occurrence probability of the terminal determining useless information, and improving the positioning efficiency.

With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, at least one cell includes a second cell, and the positioning information includes the distance between the first location of the terminal and the location of the cell; determining the positioning information includes: according to the second cell coverage range and the first location of the terminal, determine the distance between the first location of the terminal and the edge location and/or center location of the second cell; or, according to the ephemeris of the second satellite and the first location of the terminal, determine The distance between the first location of the terminal and the central location of the second cell, and the second satellite is associated with the second cell. Based on this embodiment, the terminal can determine the distance between the first location of the terminal and the location of the cell according to the specific information in the NTN such as satellite ephemeris.

With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, determining the distance between the first location of the terminal and the center location of the second cell according to the ephemeris of the second satellite and the first location of the terminal includes: Determine the position of the second satellite according to the ephemeris of the second satellite, determine the center position of the second cell according to the position of the second satellite; determine the distance between the center position of the second cell and the first position of the terminal.

With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes: receiving second indication information from the network device, where the second indication information is used to indicate that the type of positioning information includes the location between the terminal and the location of the cell distance. Based on this embodiment, the terminal can determine the positioning information according to the instruction of the network device, thereby improving the usability of the positioning information, reducing the occurrence probability of the terminal determining useless information, and improving the positioning efficiency.

With reference to the first aspect, in some implementation manners of the first aspect, the method further includes: sending first time information to the network device, where the first time information is used to indicate the time when the positioning information is determined. Based on this embodiment, the first time information reported by the terminal can enable the network device to know that the positioning information reported by the terminal corresponds to a certain time, so that the coverage of the cell at that time can be determined according to the time information, and the coverage can be determined based on the coverage. The location of the terminal, thereby improving the positioning accuracy.

With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, at least one cell includes a third cell; the positioning information includes the continuous coverage time of at least one cell; determining the positioning information includes: measuring the third cell to obtain the third cell The signal quality of the third cell; determine the continuous coverage time of the third cell according to the signal quality of the third cell.

With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes: sending second time information to the network device, the second time information is used to indicate the measurement duration, and the measurement duration includes the time when the measurement of the third cell is started Duration until the time the measurement of the third cell is stopped. Based on this scheme, the second time information reported by the terminal can enable the network device to know that the positioning information reported by the terminal corresponds to a certain period of time, so that the coverage of the cell within the period can be determined according to the time information, and based on the coverage The range determines the location of the terminal, thereby improving positioning accuracy.

With reference to the first aspect, in some implementation manners of the first aspect, determining the positioning information includes: starting a timer, and determining the positioning information during running of the timer. Based on this embodiment, the terminal can determine the location information within the running time of the timer, avoiding the terminal from measuring the cell without restriction, thereby reducing the time delay of determining the location information, and further reducing the overall time delay of positioning. In addition, the energy consumption of the terminal can also be saved.

With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, sending the positioning information to the network device includes: sending the positioning information to the network device when the number of at least one cell is greater than or equal to a first threshold; or, When the number of at least one cell is greater than or equal to the first threshold, and the continuous coverage time of at least one cell is greater than or equal to the second threshold, the location information is sent to the network device. Based on this embodiment, the terminal sends positioning information to the network device under certain conditions, that is, the content of the positioning information is limited, so that the positioning information includes the continuous coverage time of a certain number of cells. Further, the continuous coverage time of the cells is greater than Or equal to a certain threshold, so as to improve the accuracy of the network device in locating the terminal according to the locating information.

With reference to the first aspect, in some implementation manners of the first aspect, the method further includes: receiving third indication information from the network device, where the third indication information is used to indicate that the type of the positioning information includes continuous coverage time. Based on this embodiment, the terminal can determine the positioning information according to the instruction of the network device, thereby improving the usability of the positioning information, reducing the occurrence probability of the terminal determining useless information, and improving the positioning efficiency.

With reference to the first aspect, in some implementation manners of the first aspect, the method further includes: receiving fourth indication information from the network device, where the fourth indication information is used to indicate at least one cell.

In the second aspect, a positioning method is provided. The method can be executed by a network device, or by a component of the network device, such as a processor, a chip, or a chip system of the network device, or can be implemented by all or part of the Logical modules or software implementations of network device functions. The method includes: receiving positioning information from the terminal, and determining the second position of the terminal according to the positioning information. Wherein, the positioning information includes one or more of the following: the remaining coverage time of at least one cell, the continuous coverage time of at least one cell, or the distance between the first location of the terminal and the location of the cell, where the first location of the terminal is the terminal The determined position, the cell position includes a center position and/or an edge position of at least one cell, and at least one cell is associated with a satellite. Wherein, the technical effect brought by the second aspect can refer to the technical effect brought by the first aspect above, and will not be repeated here.

With reference to the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, at least one cell includes the first cell; the positioning information includes the remaining coverage time of the first cell; determining the second location of the terminal according to the positioning information includes: according to the first The remaining coverage time of the cell, the moving direction of the first satellite, the moving speed of the first satellite, and the coverage of the first cell determine the second position of the terminal, and the first satellite is associated with the first cell.

With reference to the second aspect, in some implementation manners of the second aspect, the method further includes: sending first indication information to the terminal, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the type of positioning information includes remaining coverage time.

With reference to the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, at least one cell includes a second cell; the positioning information includes the distance between the first location of the terminal and the location of the cell; determining the second location of the terminal according to the positioning information, The method includes: determining the second location of the terminal according to the coverage of the second cell and the distance between the first location of the terminal and the central location or edge location of the second cell.

With reference to the second aspect, in some embodiments of the second aspect, the method further includes: sending second indication information to the terminal, where the second indication information is used to indicate that the type of positioning information includes the distance between the terminal and the location of the cell.

With reference to the second aspect, in some implementation manners of the second aspect, the method further includes: receiving first time information from the terminal, where the first time information is used to indicate the time when the positioning information is determined.

With reference to the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, at least one cell includes a third cell; the positioning information includes the continuous coverage time of the third cell; determining the second location of the terminal according to the positioning information includes: according to the third The continuous coverage time of the cell, the moving direction of the third satellite, the moving speed of the third satellite, and the coverage of the third cell determine the second position of the terminal, and the third satellite is associated with the third cell.

With reference to the second aspect, in some embodiments of the second aspect, the method further includes: sending third indication information to the terminal, where the third indication information is used to indicate that the type of positioning information includes continuous coverage time.

With reference to the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the method further includes: receiving second time information from the terminal, where the second time information is used to indicate a measurement duration, and the measurement duration includes starting to measure the third cell The time period between the time of and the time when the measurement of the third cell is stopped.

With reference to the second aspect, in some implementation manners of the second aspect, the method further includes: sending fourth indication information to the terminal, where the fourth indication information is used to indicate at least one cell.

Wherein, for the technical effects brought by any implementation manner of the second aspect, reference may be made to the technical effects brought by the corresponding implementation manners of the above-mentioned first aspect, which will not be repeated here.

In a third aspect, a communication device is provided for implementing the above various methods. The communication device may be the terminal in the above-mentioned first aspect, or a device including the above-mentioned terminal, or a device included in the above-mentioned terminal, such as a chip; or, the communication device may be the network device in the above-mentioned second aspect, or include the above-mentioned A device of a network device, or a device contained in the above-mentioned network device, such as a chip. The communication device includes a corresponding module, unit, or means (means) for implementing the above method, and the module, unit, or means can be implemented by hardware, software, or by executing corresponding software on hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules or units corresponding to the above functions.

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

In some possible designs, the transceiver module includes a sending module and a receiving module, respectively configured to implement the sending and receiving functions in any of the above aspects and any possible implementations thereof.

In a fourth aspect, there is provided a communication device, including: a processor and a communication interface; the communication interface is used to communicate with modules or devices other than the communication device; the processor is used to execute computer programs or instructions to enable the The communication device executes the method described in any one of the above aspects. The communication device may be the terminal in the above-mentioned first aspect, or a device including the above-mentioned terminal, or a device included in the above-mentioned terminal, such as a chip; or, the communication device may be the network device in the above-mentioned second aspect, or include the above-mentioned A device of a network device, or a device contained in the above-mentioned network device, such as a chip.

In a fifth aspect, a communication device is provided, including: a logic circuit and an interface circuit; the interface circuit is used to input and/or output information; the logic circuit is used to perform the method described in any of the above aspects, and input the interface circuit process the information and/or generate information output by the interface circuit. The communication device may be the terminal in the above-mentioned first aspect, or a device including the above-mentioned terminal, or a device included in the above-mentioned terminal, such as a chip; or, the communication device may be the network device in the above-mentioned second aspect, or include the above-mentioned A device of a network device, or a device contained in the above-mentioned network device, such as a chip.

With reference to the fifth aspect, in an implementation manner of the fifth aspect, when the communication device is used to realize the functions of the above terminal:

In some possible designs, the output information is: positioning information, the positioning information includes one or more of the following: the remaining coverage time of at least one cell, the continuous coverage time of at least one cell, or the first location of the terminal and the cell The distance between the positions, the first position of the terminal is the position determined by the terminal, the cell position includes the central position and/or the edge position of at least one cell, and at least one cell is associated with a satellite.

In some possible designs, the input information is: first indication information. Correspondingly, processing the input information includes: determining the remaining coverage time of at least one cell according to the first indication information.

In some possible designs, the input information is: second indication information. Correspondingly, processing the input information includes: determining the distance between the terminal and the cell location of at least one cell according to the second indication information.

In some possible designs, the input information is: third indication information. Correspondingly, processing the input information includes: determining the continuous coverage time of at least one cell according to the third indication information.

In some possible designs, the output information is: first time information, where the first time information is used to indicate the time when the positioning information is determined.

In some possible designs, the output information is: second time information, where the second time information is used to indicate the measurement duration, and the measurement duration includes the duration between the time when the measurement of the third cell is started and the time when the measurement of the third cell is stopped.

With reference to the fifth aspect, in an implementation manner of the fifth aspect, when the communication device is used to realize the functions of the above-mentioned network equipment:

In some possible designs, the input information is: positioning information, and the positioning information includes one or more of the following: the remaining coverage time of at least one cell, the continuous coverage time of at least one cell, or the first location of the terminal and the cell The distance between the positions, the first position of the terminal is the position determined by the terminal, the cell position includes the central position and/or the edge position of at least one cell, and at least one cell is associated with a satellite. Correspondingly, processing the input information includes: determining the second location of the terminal according to the positioning information.

In some possible designs, the output information is: first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the type of positioning information includes remaining coverage time.

In some possible designs, the output information is: second indication information, where the second indication information is used to indicate that the type of positioning information includes the distance between the terminal and the location of the cell.

In some possible designs, the output information is: third indication information, where the third indication information is used to indicate that the type of positioning information includes continuous coverage time.

In some possible designs, the input information is: first time information, where the first time information is used to indicate the time when the positioning information is determined.

In some possible designs, the input information is: second time information, the second time information is used to indicate the measurement duration, and the measurement duration includes the time between the time when the measurement of the third cell is started and the time when the measurement of the third cell is stopped.

In a sixth aspect, a communication device is provided, including: an interface circuit and a processor, the interface circuit is a code/data read and write interface circuit, and the interface circuit is used to receive computer-executed instructions (computer-executed instructions are stored in a memory, possibly read directly from the memory, or possibly through other devices) and transmit to the processor; the processor is used to execute computer-executed instructions to enable the communication device to perform the method described in any aspect above. The communication device may be the terminal in the above-mentioned first aspect, or a device including the above-mentioned terminal, or a device included in the above-mentioned terminal, such as a chip; or, the communication device may be the network device in the above-mentioned second aspect, or include the above-mentioned A device of a network device, or a device contained in the above-mentioned network device, such as a chip.

In a seventh aspect, a communication device is provided, including: at least one processor; the processor is configured to execute computer programs or instructions, so that the communication device executes the method described in any aspect above. The communication device may be the terminal in the above-mentioned first aspect, or a device including the above-mentioned terminal, or a device included in the above-mentioned terminal, such as a chip; or, the communication device may be the network device in the above-mentioned second aspect, or include the above-mentioned A device of a network device, or a device contained in the above-mentioned network device, such as a chip.

In some possible designs, the communication device further includes at least one memory, and the memory is used to store necessary program instructions and data. The memory can be coupled to the processor, or it can be independent of the processor.

In some possible designs, the communication device may be a chip or system-on-a-chip. When the device is a system-on-a-chip, it may consist of chips, or may include chips and other discrete devices.

In an eighth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, where a computer program or an instruction is stored in the computer-readable storage medium, and when the computer program or instruction is run on the communication device, the communication device can execute any of the above-mentioned aspects. described method.

In a ninth aspect, there is provided a computer program product containing instructions, which, when run on a communication device, enables the communication device to execute the method described in any aspect above.

It can be understood that when the communication device provided by any one of the third aspect to the ninth aspect is a chip, the above-mentioned sending action/function can be understood as output information, and the above-mentioned receiving action/function can be understood as input information.

Wherein, the technical effects brought about by any one of the design methods in the third aspect to the ninth aspect can refer to the technical effects brought about by the different design methods in the above-mentioned first aspect or the second aspect, and will not be repeated here.

In a tenth aspect, a communication system is provided, and the communication system includes the network device and the terminal described in the above aspect.

Description of drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a positioning process of a terrestrial network provided by the present application;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a non-terrestrial network scenario provided by the present application;

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a satellite orbit provided by the present application;

FIG. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication system provided by the present application;

Figure 5a is a schematic structural diagram of a non-terrestrial network provided by the present application;

Figure 5b is a schematic structural diagram of another non-terrestrial network provided by the present application;

Figure 5c is a schematic structural diagram of another non-terrestrial network provided by the present application;

Figure 5d is a schematic structural diagram of another non-terrestrial network provided by the present application;

FIG. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication system provided by the present application;

FIG. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication system provided by the present application;

FIG. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of an access network device provided by the present application;

FIG. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided by the present application;

FIG. 10 is a schematic flowchart of a positioning method provided by the present application;

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of cell coverage in a satellite communication scenario provided by the present application;

FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram of a positioning principle provided by the present application;

Fig. 13 is a schematic diagram of another positioning principle provided by the present application;

Fig. 14 is a schematic diagram of another positioning principle provided by the present application;

FIG. 15 is a schematic flowchart of another positioning method provided by the present application;

FIG. 16 is a schematic flowchart of another positioning method provided by the present application;

FIG. 17 is a schematic structural diagram of a terminal provided by the present application;

FIG. 18 is a schematic structural diagram of a network device provided by the present application;

FIG. 19 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device provided by the present application.

detailed description

In the description of this application, unless otherwise specified, "/" means that the objects associated with each other are an "or" relationship, for example, A/B can mean A or B; "and/or" in this application is only It is an association relationship describing associated objects, which means that there can be three kinds of relationships, for example, A and/or B, which can mean: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone, among which A, B Can be singular or plural.

In the description of the present application, unless otherwise specified, "plurality" means two or more than two. "At least one of the following" or similar expressions refer to any combination of these items, including any combination of single or plural items. For example, at least one item (piece) of a, b, or c can represent: a, b, c, a-b, a-c, b-c, or a-b-c, where a, b, c can be single or multiple .

In addition, in order to clearly describe the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, in the embodiments of the present application, words such as "first" and "second" are used to distinguish the same or similar items with basically the same function and effect. Those skilled in the art can understand that words such as "first" and "second" do not limit the number and execution order, and words such as "first" and "second" do not necessarily limit the difference.

In the embodiments of the present application, words such as "exemplary" or "for example" are used as examples, illustrations or illustrations. Any embodiment or design scheme described as "exemplary" or "for example" in the embodiments of the present application shall not be interpreted as being more preferred or more advantageous than other embodiments or design schemes. To be precise, the use of words such as "exemplary" or "such as" is intended to present related concepts in a concrete manner for easy understanding.

It is to be understood that references to "an embodiment" throughout the specification mean that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic related to the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present application. Therefore, various embodiments are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment throughout the specification. Furthermore, the particular features, structures or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. It can be understood that in various embodiments of the present application, the serial numbers of the processes do not mean the order of execution, and the execution order of the processes should be determined by their functions and internal logic, and should not be used in the embodiments of the present application. The implementation process constitutes no limitation.

It can be understood that in this application, "...when" and "if" both refer to the corresponding processing under certain objective circumstances, and are not time-limited, nor do they require judgment actions during implementation, nor do they imply that other limitations exist.

It can be understood that some optional features in the embodiments of the present application, in some scenarios, can be independently implemented without relying on other features, such as the current solution on which they are based, to solve corresponding technical problems and achieve corresponding effects , and can also be combined with other features according to requirements in some scenarios. Correspondingly, the devices provided in the embodiments of the present application can also correspondingly implement these features or functions, which will not be repeated here.

In this application, unless otherwise specified, the parts that are the same or similar among the various embodiments can be referred to each other. In the various embodiments in this application, and the various implementation methods/implementation methods/implementation methods in each embodiment, if there is no special description and logical conflict, different embodiments, and each implementation method/implementation method in each embodiment The terms and/or descriptions between implementation methods/implementation methods are consistent and can be referred to each other. Different embodiments, and the technical features in each implementation manner/implementation method/implementation method in each embodiment are based on their inherent Logical relationships can be combined to form new embodiments, implementation modes, implementation methods, or implementation methods. The following embodiments of the present application are not intended to limit the protection scope of the present application.

Taking the 5G system as an example, as shown in Figure 1, the 5G core network (5G core network, 5GC) can locate service entities (5GC location service entities, 5GC LCS entities), access and mobility management function (access and mobility management function) , AMF) network element, or terminal initiates a location service request (location service request) to a location management function (location management function, LMF) network element. Among them, when the location service request is initiated by the 5GC LCS or the terminal, it is necessary to first send the location service request to the AMF network element (see step 1a or step 1c, step 1b means that the location service request is initiated by the AMF network element), and then the AMF network element Forward the location service request to the LMF network element (see step 2).

After the LMF network element receives the positioning request, it can use the relevant positioning technology to determine the location of the terminal based on the measurement results of the terminal and the access network equipment (see steps 3a and 3b), and send a location service response (location service response) to indicate the terminal s position. Similarly, when a location service request is initiated by a 5GC LCS or a terminal, the LMF network element first sends a location service response to the AMF network element (see step 4), and then the AMF network element forwards the location service response to the 5GC LCS or terminal (see step 4). 5a or step 5c, step 5b indicates that when the AMF network element initiates a location service request, the location service response is sent to the AMF network element).

However, as described in the background art above, the process shown in FIG. 1 may no longer be applicable to NTN. Based on this, the present application provides a positioning method for solving the positioning problem in the NTN.

Among them, compared with the traditional ground network, NTN uses a typical flying platform to participate in network deployment, for example, deploying base stations or some base station functions on the flying platform to provide coverage for the terminal, or using the flying platform as a relay to forward ground base stations The signal provides coverage for the terminal.

As shown in Figure 2, according to the height of the flight platform from the ground, the NTN can include a low altitude platform (low altitude platform, LAP) subnetwork (LAP subnetwork), a high altitude platform (high altitude platform, HAP) subnetwork (HAP subnetwork), and Satellite communication subnetwork (SATCOM subnetwork).

Exemplarily, in the LAP subnetwork, the base station or the base station function is deployed on a low-altitude flight platform (such as a UAV) 0.1km to 1km away from the ground to provide coverage for the terminal; in the HAP subnetwork, the base station or the base station function is deployed on the ground 1km to 1km The 50km high-altitude flight platform (such as an airplane) provides coverage for the terminal; in the SATCOM subnetwork, the base station or base station function is deployed on the satellite above 50km from the ground to provide coverage for the terminal. Satellite communication has significant advantages such as global coverage, long-distance transmission, flexible networking, convenient deployment, and no geographical restrictions. It has been widely used in maritime communications, positioning and navigation, disaster relief, scientific experiments, video broadcasting, and earth observation. and many other fields.

Further, according to the satellite height, that is, the satellite orbit height, as shown in Figure 3, satellites can be divided into highly elliptical orbit (highly elliptical orbit, HEO) satellites, high medium earth orbit (MEO) satellites and low-earth orbit (LEO) satellites. Wherein, the GEO satellite is also called a stationary satellite, and its motion speed is the same as the rotation speed of the earth, so the GEO satellite remains stationary relative to the ground, and correspondingly, the cells of the GEO satellite are also stationary. The coverage of the GEO satellite community is relatively large, and the diameter of the community is generally 500km. LEO satellites move faster relative to the ground, about 7km per second, so the service coverage area provided by LEO satellites also moves accordingly. Generally speaking, the higher the orbit of the satellite, the larger the coverage area, but the longer the communication delay.

Among them, the low-orbit satellite communication system is close to the ground, has short communication delay, high data transmission rate, and the weight and volume of mobile terminals are almost the same as personal mobile devices. It is more suitable for popularization in the mass market and has become a hot spot in current industrial development. Since 1990, several low-orbit and medium-orbit satellite communication networks have officially provided commercial services, among which the more famous ones include the low-orbit Iridium network and the medium-orbit O3b network.

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

The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application can be used in various communication systems, and the communication system can be a third generation partnership project (third generation partnership project, 3GPP) communication system, for example, a long term evolution (long term evolution, LTE) system, a new 5G systems such as air interface (new radio, NR) systems, vehicle to everything (V2X) systems, or LTE and 5G hybrid networking systems, or device-to-device (D2D) communication systems, Machine to machine (M2M) communication systems, Internet of Things (IoT), and other next-generation communication systems. The communication system may also be a non-3GPP communication system without limitation.

The technical solution of the embodiment of the present application can be applied to various communication scenarios, for example, it can be applied to one or more of the following communication scenarios: enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), ultra-reliable low-latency communication (ultra reliable Communication scenarios such as low latency communication (URLLC), machine type communication (MTC), massive machine type communication (mMTC), D2D, V2X, and IoT.

Among them, the above-mentioned communication systems and communication scenarios applicable to this application are only examples, and the communication systems and communication scenarios applicable to this application are not limited thereto. The communication systems and communication scenarios provided by this application do not impose any restrictions on the solutions of this application. Here Unified descriptions will not be repeated below.

As a possible implementation, referring to FIG. 4 , the present application provides a communication system 40 applicable to the solution of the present application, and the communication system 40 includes at least one terminal 401 and at least one network device 402 .

As a specific example, the network device 402 may be an access network device 402 . The access network device is a device in the wireless access network (radio access network, RAN) that connects the terminal to the wireless network. The RAN can be connected to the core network (for example, it can be the core network of LTE or 5G core network, etc.).

Referring to Fig. 5a, the access network device 402 may be deployed on the ground, as a part of the ground network, and communicate with the data network through the core network. At this time, the communication system 40 provided by the present application may also include a relay device deployed on the flight platform, which acts as a layer 1 relay (L1relay), regenerates the physical layer signal and forwards it to the access network device or terminal .

Referring to Fig. 5b, the access network device 402 can be deployed on the flight platform to realize the function of a ground station, communicate directly with the core network, and further communicate with the data network through the core network.

Referring to Fig. 5c, the access network device 402 can be deployed on the flight platform to realize the function of a ground station, communicate directly with the core network, and further communicate with the data network through the core network. In addition, there is an inter-satellite link (ISL) between the access network devices mounted on different flight platforms, and the access network devices can communicate through the ISL.

Referring to FIG. 5d, the access network device 402 may include a distributed unit (distributed unit, DU) deployed on the flight platform and a centralized unit (central unit, CU) deployed on the ground. The DU deployed on the flight platform communicates with the CU deployed on the ground through the FI interface. The CU deployed on the ground communicates with the core network, and further, communicates with the data network through the core network.

As another specific example, referring to FIG. 6 , the network device 402 may be a mobility management network element 402, which is mainly used for procedures of terminal attachment, mobility management, and tracking area update in a mobile network. The mobility management network element terminates non-access stratum (NAS) messages, completes registration management, connection management and reachability management, assigns track area list (TA list) and mobility management, etc., and Transparent routing of session management (session management, SM) messages to session management network elements. In a 5G communication system, the mobility management network element may be an AMF network element. In future communications such as sixth generation (6th generation, 6G) communications, the mobility management network element may still be an AMF network element, or have other names, which are not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

Optionally, in this scenario, the communication system 40 provided by the present application may also include an access network device 403. For the deployment method of the access network device 403, please refer to the relevant descriptions in the above-mentioned FIGS. . In addition, in this scenario, the terminal 401 and the mobility management network element 402 can communicate through forwarding by the access network device 403 .

As yet another specific example, referring to FIG. 7, the network device 402 can be a location management network element 402, which can be used for location request management of location services, location resource allocation, acquisition of terminal location information, and return location information to relevant network elements, etc. In the 5G communication system, the network element or entity corresponding to the location management network element 402 may be the LMF network element in the 5G network architecture. In future communications such as the sixth generation (6th generation, 6G) system, the location management network element 402 may still be an LMF network element, or the location management network element 402 has other names, which are not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

Optionally, in this scenario, the communication system 40 provided by the present application may further include an access network device 403 and a mobility management network element 404 . For the access network device 403 and the mobility management network element 404, reference may be made to the relevant description above, and details are not repeated here. In addition, in this scenario, the terminal 401 and the location management function network element 402 can communicate through the forwarding of the access network device 403 and the mobility management network element 404 .

Optionally, the access network equipment involved in this application may be an evolved base station (evolved Node B, eNB or eNodeB) in LTE; or a base station (gNodeB, gNB) in a 5G network; or a future evolved public land mobile network (public land mobile network, PLMN) base station, broadband network service gateway (broadband network gateway, BNG), aggregation switch or non-3GPP access equipment; or the access network equipment 20 in the embodiment of the present application can also be cloud wireless A wireless controller in an access network (cloud radio access network, CRAN); or a transmission and reception point (transmission and reception point, TRP), or a device including a TRP, etc., which are not specifically limited in this embodiment of the present application. Optionally, the base stations in this embodiment of the present application may include various forms of base stations, such as: macro base stations, micro base stations (also called small stations), relay stations, access points, etc., which are not specifically limited in this embodiment of the present application .

Optionally, the CU and DU involved in this application can be understood as the division of access network devices from the perspective of logical functions. As shown in Figure 8, CU represents that the access network device is connected to the 5G core network (5G core network, 5GC) through the NG interface, and also represents that the access network device is connected to other access network devices through the Xn interface. In addition, the dual connection operation can also be performed on behalf of the access network device to connect with the eNB (or eNodeB) through the X2 interface.

Wherein, the CU and the DU may be connected through an interface, such as an F1 interface. The CU and DU may be physically separated or deployed together, which is not specifically limited in this embodiment of the present application. CU and DU can be divided according to the protocol layer of the wireless network. For example, the function settings of the radio resource control (radio resource control, RRC) protocol layer, service data adaptation protocol stack (service data adaptation protocol, SDAP) protocol layer, and packet data convergence protocol (packet data convergence protocol, PDCP) protocol layer In the CU, functions such as the radio link control (radio link control, RLC) protocol layer, media access control (media access control, MAC) protocol layer, and physical (physical, PHY) protocol layer are set in the DU.

It can be understood that the division of the CU and DU processing functions according to this protocol layer is only an example, and may also be divided in other ways.

For example, a CU or DU can be divided into functions with more protocol layers. For example, a CU or DU can also be divided into some processing functions having a protocol layer. In one design, part of the functions of the RLC layer and the functions of the protocol layers above the RLC layer are set in the CU, and the rest of the functions of the RLC layer and the functions of the protocol layers below the RLC layer are set in the DU. In another design, the functions of the CU or DU may also be divided according to service types or other system requirements. For example, according to delay, the functions whose processing time needs to meet the delay requirement are set in the DU, and the functions that do not need to meet the delay requirement are set in the CU. In another design, the CU may also have one or more functions of the core network. One or more CUs can be set centrally or separately. For example, the CU can be set on the network side to facilitate centralized management. The DU can have multiple radio functions, or the radio functions can be set remotely.

Furthermore, the functions of the CU can be implemented by one entity or by different entities. For example, the CU can be implemented by the CU control plane (CU control plane, CU-CP) and the CU user plane (CU user plane, CU-UP) Composition, CU-CP and CU-UP can be understood as dividing the CU from the perspective of logical functions. Among them, the CU-CP and CU-UP can be divided according to the protocol layer of the wireless network. For example, the functions of the RRC protocol layer and the PDCP protocol layer corresponding to the signaling radio bearer (Signal radio bearer, SRB) are set in the CU-CP, and the data The functions of the PDCP protocol layer corresponding to the radio bearer (data radio bearer, DRB) are set in the CU-UP. In addition, the functions of the SDAP protocol layer may also be set in the CU-UP.

Optionally, the terminal involved in this application may be a device for implementing a communication function. The terminal may also be called user equipment (user equipment, UE), terminal equipment, access terminal, subscriber unit, subscriber station, mobile station (mobile station, MS), remote station, remote terminal, mobile terminal (mobile terminal, MT) , user terminal, wireless communication device, user agent or user device, etc. The terminal may be, for example, an IoT, V2X, D2D, M2M, 5G network, or a wireless terminal or a wired terminal in a future evolved public land mobile network (public land mobile network, PLMN). A wireless terminal can refer to a device with wireless transceiver functions, which can be deployed on land, including indoor or outdoor, hand-held or vehicle-mounted; it can also be deployed on water (such as ships, etc.); it can also be deployed in the air (such as aircraft, balloons and satellites, etc.).

Exemplarily, the terminal may be an IoT device (such as a sensor, an electric meter, a water meter, etc.), a V2X device, a station (station, ST) in a wireless local area network (wireless local area networks, WLAN), a cellular phone, a cordless phone, a session initiation Protocol (session initiation protocol, SIP) telephone, wireless local loop (wireless local loop, WLL) station, personal digital assistant (PDA) device, handheld device with wireless communication function, computing device or connected to a wireless modem Other processing devices, vehicle-mounted devices, wearable devices (also known as wearable smart devices), tablet computers or computers with wireless transceiver functions, virtual reality (virtual reality, VR) terminals, industrial control (industrial control) Wireless terminals, wireless terminals in self driving, wireless terminals in remote medical, wireless terminals in smart grid, wireless terminals in transportation safety, smart city Wireless terminals in (smart city), wireless terminals in smart home (smart home), vehicle-mounted terminals, vehicles with vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication capabilities, intelligent networked vehicles, drones UAVs with UAV (UAV to UAV, U2U) communication capabilities, etc. The terminal may be mobile or fixed, which is not specifically limited in this application.

It should be noted that the communication system described in the embodiment of the present application is to illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application more clearly, and does not constitute a limitation to the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application. With the evolution of the network architecture and the emergence of new business scenarios, the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application are also applicable to similar technical problems.

The relevant functions of the terminal or network device involved in this application can be realized by one device, or by multiple devices, or by one or more functional modules in one device, or by one or more chips , can also be a system on chip (system on chip, SOC) or a chip system, and the chip system can be composed of chips, and can also include chips and other discrete devices, which is not specifically limited in the embodiment of the present application.

It can be understood that the above functions can be network elements in hardware devices, software functions running on dedicated hardware, or a combination of hardware and software, or instantiated on a platform (for example, a cloud platform) virtualization capabilities.

For example, the relevant functions of the terminal or network equipment involved in the present application may be implemented by the communication apparatus 900 in FIG. 9 . FIG. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device 900 provided by an embodiment of the present application. The communication device 900 includes one or more processors 901, communication lines 902, and at least one communication interface (in FIG. 9, it is only exemplary to include a communication interface 904 and a processor 901 for illustration), optional Yes, a memory 903 may also be included.

The processor 901 can be a general-purpose central processing unit (central processing unit, CPU), a microprocessor, a specific application integrated circuit (application-specific integrated circuit, ASIC), or one or more for controlling the implementation of the application program program integrated circuit.

The communication line 902 may be used for communication between different components included in the communication device 900 .

The communication interface 904 may be a transceiver module for communicating with other devices or communication networks, such as Ethernet, wireless access networks (wireless access networks, RAN), wireless local area networks (wireless local area networks, WLAN) and the like. For example, the transceiving module may be a device such as a transceiver or a transceiver. Optionally, the communication interface 904 may also be a transceiver circuit located in the processor 901 to realize signal input and signal output of the processor.

The memory 903 may be a device having a storage function. For example, it can be a read-only memory (ROM) or other type of static storage device that can store static information and instructions, a random access memory (random access memory, RAM) or other types of memory that can store information and instructions A dynamic storage device can also be an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) or other optical disc storage, optical disc storage ( including compact discs, laser discs, optical discs, digital versatile discs, blu-ray discs, etc.), magnetic disk storage media or other magnetic storage devices, or can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and can be stored by a computer Any other medium, but not limited to. The memory may exist independently and be connected to the processor through the communication line 902 . Memory can also be integrated with the processor.

Wherein, the memory 903 is used to store computer-executed instructions for implementing the solutions of the present application, and the execution is controlled by the processor 901 . The processor 901 is configured to execute computer-executed instructions stored in the memory 903, so as to implement the methods provided in the embodiments of the present application.

Or, optionally, in the embodiment of the present application, the processor 901 may also perform processing-related functions in the methods provided in the following embodiments of the present application, and the communication interface 904 is responsible for communicating with other devices or communication networks. The example does not specifically limit this.

Optionally, the computer-executed instructions in the embodiments of the present application may also be referred to as application program codes, which is not specifically limited in the embodiments of the present application.

In a specific implementation, as an embodiment, the processor 901 may include one or more CPUs, for example, CPU0 and CPU1 in FIG. 9 .

In a specific implementation, as an embodiment, the communication device 900 may include multiple processors, for example, the processor 901 and the processor 907 in FIG. 9 . Each of these processors may be a single-core processor or a multi-core processor. The processor here may include but not limited to at least one of the following: central processing unit (central processing unit, CPU), microprocessor, digital signal processor (DSP), microcontroller (microcontroller unit, MCU), or artificial intelligence Various types of computing devices that run software such as processors, each computing device may include one or more cores for executing software instructions to perform calculations or processing.

In a specific implementation, as an embodiment, the communication apparatus 900 may further include an output device 905 and an input device 906 . Output device 905 is in communication with processor 901 and can display information in a variety of ways. For example, the output device 905 may be a liquid crystal display (liquid crystal display, LCD), a light emitting diode (light emitting diode, LED) display device, a cathode ray tube (cathode ray tube, CRT) display device, or a projector (projector), etc. The input device 906 communicates with the processor 901 and can receive user input in various ways. For example, the input device 906 may be a mouse, a keyboard, a touch screen device, or a sensory device, among others.

It should be noted that the composition structure shown in FIG. 9 does not constitute a limitation to the communication device. In addition to the components shown in FIG. 9, the communication device may include more or less components than those shown in the illustration, or combine certain components, or a different arrangement of components.

The positioning method provided by the embodiment of the present application will be described below with reference to the communication systems shown in FIG. 4 to FIG. 7 .

It should be noted that in the following embodiments of the present application, the name of the message between each device, the name of each parameter, or the name of each information is just an example, and it can also be other names in other embodiments. The method provided by the application does not specifically limit this.

It can be understood that in the embodiments of the present application, each device may perform some or all of the steps in the embodiments of the present application, and these steps or operations are only examples, and the embodiments of the present application may also perform other operations or variations of various operations. In addition, each step may be performed in a different order presented in the embodiment of the present application, and it may not be necessary to perform all operations in the embodiment of the present application.

As an example, in the following embodiments, the aforementioned flying platform is used as a satellite, that is, satellite communication in NTN is used as an example for illustration. Of course, this method can also be applied to other scenarios in NTN, such as LAP subnetwork or HAP subnetwork, which is not specifically limited.

In addition, this application can also be applied in other possible communication scenarios or communication systems, such as long-distance communication scenarios involving a relatively long distance between a terminal and an access network device, or a relatively high moving speed, all of which can be implemented through this The method provided in the embodiment of the application is used for positioning.

Referring to FIG. 10 , it is a flow chart of a positioning method provided by an embodiment of the present application. The method can be applied to the interaction between a terminal and a network device in the communication system shown in FIG. 4 to FIG. 7 . As shown in Figure 10, the positioning method may include the following steps:

S1001. The terminal determines location information.

Wherein, the type of the positioning information may include one or more of the following: remaining coverage time (stop serving time), continuous coverage time, or distance between the terminal and the location of the cell.

Correspondingly, the positioning information may include one or more of the following: the remaining coverage time of at least one cell, the continuous coverage time of at least one cell, or the distance between the first location of the terminal and the location of the cell.

Wherein, the at least one cell is associated with a satellite. Exemplarily, associating at least one cell with a satellite may include: the at least one cell is a cell managed by an access network device deployed on the ground, and the satellite serves as a relay to forward signals for the access network device, such as the one shown in Figure 5a Scenes. It can be understood that in this scenario, although the cell is managed by the access network device, since the satellite acts as a relay, the beam of the cell is actually sent by the satellite or the relay device carried by the satellite.

Alternatively, associating at least one cell with a satellite may include: the at least one cell is a cell managed by an access network device deployed on a satellite, or a cell managed by a satellite, such as the scenario shown in FIG. 5b, FIG. 5c, or FIG. 5d.

As a possible implementation, the remaining coverage time of the cell may be understood as: the remaining time that the cell can cover the terminal. Alternatively, the cell provides coverage for the terminal for the remainder of the time. Or, starting from the current moment, the cell will subsequently (or in the future) cover the duration of the terminal, where the current moment may be, for example, the moment at which the terminal determines the remaining coverage time.

Exemplarily, in a satellite communication scenario, due to the high-speed movement of the satellite, the coverage of its cell will change, as shown in Figure 11, assuming that the coverage of cell 1 at time T1 is range 1, as the satellite 1 moves , the coverage of cell 1 at time T2 may be range 2, and if the terminal is stationary within range 1, there will be remaining coverage time of cell 1 at this time.

As a possible implementation, the continuous coverage time of a cell may be understood as: the duration that the cell has covered the terminal. Or, before the current moment, the cell has provided the duration of coverage for the terminal, where the current moment may be, for example, the moment at which the terminal determines the continuous coverage time.

That is to say, the remaining coverage time of the cell indicates the time when the cell can provide coverage for the terminal in the future, and the continuous coverage time of the cell indicates the time when the cell has provided coverage for the terminal. The two are relative to a certain moment, one is the time after that moment, and the other is the time before that moment.

As a specific example, the above time may be a relative time, for example, the remaining coverage time may be the remaining coverage duration, that is, how long the coverage is still available; the continuous coverage time may be the continuous coverage duration, that is, how long the coverage has been covered. Alternatively, the above time may be an absolute time (such as coordinated universal time (UTC)), for example, the remaining coverage time may be the last time to provide coverage, that is, the last moment that can be covered; the continuous coverage time may include the start of coverage and the moment at which the duration of coverage is determined. Alternatively, the foregoing time may also be represented by a system frame number, a subframe number, a time slot number, and the like.

As a specific example, when a certain cell includes multiple beams, the terminal can determine the remaining coverage time of each beam or the continuous coverage time of each beam. Finally, the remaining coverage time of the cell can be multiple The average or minimum or maximum or median value of the remaining coverage time of the beam, etc. Similarly, the continuous coverage time of the cell can be the average or minimum or maximum or median value of the continuous coverage time of multiple beams, etc. .

As a possible implementation, the first location of the terminal is a location determined by the terminal. Exemplarily, the terminal obtains the first position of the terminal through its own positioning module, such as a global navigation satellite system (global navigation satellite system, GNSS).

It can be understood that the network device does not require the terminal to report the first location, and uses the first location as the actual location of the terminal, because the first location reported by the terminal may be false information, for example, the terminal is an illegal terminal, or the terminal is When hijacking or attacking, false location information may be reported to network devices, thereby performing illegal operations.

As a possible implementation, the cell location includes a center location and/or an edge location of at least one cell. That is, the distance between the first location of the terminal and the location of the cell includes: the distance between the first location of the terminal and the center location of at least one cell, and/or, the distance between the first location of the terminal and the edge location of at least one cell distance between.

In some scenarios, a certain cell may have multiple edges. At this time, the edge position of the cell may be the edge position farthest or closest to the center of the cell; or, it may be any edge position; or, it may be The edge position in the moving direction of the satellite; or, it may be the edge position in the direction opposite to the moving direction of the satellite, which is not specifically limited in the present application.

Or, when there are multiple edges in a certain cell, the distance between the first position of the terminal and the edge position of the cell is: the average or maximum value of the distances between the multiple edge positions and the first position of the terminal respectively or minimum. Exemplarily, there are three edge positions in a cell, edge position 1, edge position 2, and edge 3, and the distances between the three edge positions and the first position of the terminal are distance 1 and distance 2 respectively Taking distance 3 as an example, finally, the distance between the first location of the terminal and the edge location of the cell may be the average value of distance 1, distance 2, and distance 3, or the maximum or minimum value among them.

Optionally, when the positioning information includes the remaining coverage time of at least one cell and/or the distance between the first location of the terminal and the location of the cell, the terminal may also determine first time information, and the first time information is used for Indicates when the positioning information was determined.

As a possible implementation, the first time information may include the time when the terminal determines the positioning information of each cell. Exemplarily, taking the positioning information including the remaining coverage time of cell A, cell B, and cell C as an example, the first time information may include: the moment when the terminal determines the remaining coverage time of cell A, the time when the terminal determines the remaining coverage time of cell B time, and the time at which the terminal determines the coverage remaining time of the cell C.

Alternatively, when the positioning information includes the remaining coverage time of at least one cell and/or the distance between the first location of the terminal and the location of the cell, the terminal may determine the first information, and the first information is used to indicate that the terminal determines the location information, at least one cell center location.

Optionally, in the case that the positioning information includes the continuous coverage time of at least one cell, the continuous coverage time of the cell may be obtained by measuring the cell by the terminal. At this point, the terminal may also determine second time information, where the second time information is used to indicate the measurement duration corresponding to at least one cell, and the measurement duration includes a time period between when the terminal starts measuring the cell and when it stops measuring the cell.

Alternatively, when the positioning information includes the continuous coverage time of at least one cell, the terminal may determine the second information, the second information is used to indicate the center of the at least one cell at the start moment and/or the end moment of the continuous coverage time Location.

S1002. The terminal sends positioning information to the network device. Correspondingly, the network device receives the positioning information from the terminal.

As a specific example, when the network device is an access network device, the terminal may send the positioning information to the access network device through an air interface (for example, a Uu interface) with the access network device.

As another specific example, when the network device is a mobility management network element, the terminal may carry location information in a non-access stratum (non-access stratum, NAS) message and send it to the access network device, and then the access network The device forwards the NAS message to the mobility management network element.

As yet another specific example, when the network device is a location management network element, the terminal device may carry location information in a NAS message and send it to the access network device, and the access network device forwards the NAS message to the mobility management network element , and then the mobility management network element forwards it to the location management network element.

As a possible implementation, the positioning information may be encapsulated using a positioning protocol, such as a positioning protocol of LTE, or a positioning protocol A of NR.

As a possible implementation, the positioning information may specifically include a correspondence between the identification information of the cell and one or more of the remaining coverage time, continuous coverage time, or distance between the terminal and the location of the cell. Exemplarily, the identification information of the cell may include a physical cell identifier (physical cell identifier, PCI) and/or a cell global identifier (cell global identifier, CGI).

In some embodiments, in a scenario where a satellite is used as a relay, for example, in the scenario shown in Figure 5a, since there may be multiple satellites providing relay services for ground access network equipment, the terminal may also send a satellite identification to the network equipment information to indicate to the network device that the positioning information is cell positioning information under the satellite indicated by the satellite identification information.

In some embodiments, the terminal may also send the foregoing first time information and/or second time information to the network device.

Based on this solution, the first time information and/or the second time information reported by the terminal can enable the network device to know that the positioning information reported by the terminal corresponds to a certain moment or a certain period of time, so that a certain location can be determined according to the time information. The coverage of the cell at one moment or within a certain period of time, and determine the position of the terminal according to the coverage, thereby improving the positioning accuracy.

In some embodiments, the terminal may also send the foregoing first information and/or second information to the network device.

Based on this scheme, the first information and/or the second information reported by the terminal can enable the network device to know the coverage of the cell corresponding to the positioning information, so that the network device can determine the position of the terminal according to the coverage, thereby improving the positioning accuracy .

S1003. The network device determines the second location of the terminal according to the positioning information.

As a possible implementation, the second location may be used as the actual location of the terminal determined by the network device, and the second location may be sent to the location requesting party subsequently.

The location requester is a device that requests the location of the terminal. Exemplarily, the location requester may be the terminal itself, or a core network location service entity, or a mobility management network element.

As a specific example, before the above step S1001, the location requester may send a location request to the network device to request the location of the terminal. After receiving the positioning request, the network device may send a positioning information request to the terminal to request the terminal to report the positioning information. After receiving the positioning information request from the network device, the terminal may execute step S1001.

As a possible implementation, when the positioning information includes the remaining coverage time of at least one cell, the network device determines the second position of the terminal according to the positioning information, which may include: the network device determines the second position of the terminal according to the moving direction, moving speed, at least one The coverage range of the cell and the remaining coverage time of the at least one cell determine the second location of the terminal.

As a specific example, taking the at least one cell including the first cell as an example, the network device may determine that the terminal is located at on the first arc. Specifically, the network device may select multiple points on the edge of the cell opposite to the moving direction of the satellite, and use the multiple points as starting points to determine multiple straight lines, where the direction of each straight line is the same as the moving direction of the satellite (or Said to be parallel to the moving direction of the satellite), and the length is the product of the moving speed of the satellite and the remaining coverage time of the first cell. After that, connect the end points of the plurality of straight lines to obtain a first arc.

Exemplarily, the coverage of the first cell may be the coverage of the first cell at a first moment, the first moment is the moment when the terminal determines the remaining coverage time of the first cell, and the first moment may be the time when the terminal passes the above-mentioned The first time information is indicated to the network device. Alternatively, the center position of the coverage of the first cell may be indicated by the terminal to the network device through the first information.

Referring to Figure 12, taking the coverage of the first cell as a circle and the moving direction of the satellite as an example, the network equipment determines the circle shown in Figure 12 according to the coverage of the first cell, and then according to the moving direction of the satellite, in Select multiple points on the cell edge opposite to the moving direction of the satellite (marked by black solid circles in Figure 12), and then determine a number of straight lines according to the product of the moving speed of the satellite and the remaining time of coverage of the first cell (in Figure 12 Marked by a black dotted line), and then connect the endpoints of the multiple straight lines to obtain a first arc (marked by a black dotted arc in FIG. 12 ), and then determine that the terminal is located on the first arc.

In the above example taking the first cell as an example, the involved satellite may be the first satellite associated with the first cell, and the association between the satellite and the cell may refer to the related description in the above step S1001 , which will not be repeated here.

Further, when the at least one cell includes multiple cells, the network device may determine multiple arcs according to the remaining coverage time of the multiple cells according to the above method, and finally determine the intersection point of the multiple arcs as the terminal's second position.

As another possible implementation, when the location information includes the distance between the first location of the terminal and the location of the cell, the network device determines the second location of the terminal according to the location information, including: the network device determines the second location of the terminal according to the coverage of at least one cell The range, and the distance between the first location of the terminal and the central location or edge location of the at least one cell determine the second location of the terminal.

As a specific example, taking the at least one cell including the second cell as an example, the network device may, according to the coverage of the second cell and the distance between the first location of the terminal and the center or edge of the second cell , to determine where the terminal is located at the edge of a certain circular area. Wherein, the circular area is located within the coverage area of the second cell, and the distance between the edge position of the circular area and the center position of the second cell is equal to the distance between the first position of the terminal and the center position of the second cell , or, the distance between the edge position of the circular area and the center position of the second cell is equal to the radius of the second cell minus the distance between the first position of the terminal and the edge position of the second cell. Exemplarily, the coverage of the second cell may be the coverage of the second cell at a second moment, and the second moment is the moment when the terminal determines the distance between the first location and the center location or edge location of the second cell , the second time may be indicated by the terminal to the network device through the first time information.

It can be understood that the distance between the edge position of the circular area and the center of the circular area is equal to the radius of the circular area.

Referring to Figure 13, taking the coverage of the second cell as a circle as an example, the network device determines the circle shown in Figure 13 according to the coverage of the second cell, and then according to the distance between the first location of the terminal and the center of the second cell Or, according to the distance between the first position of the terminal and the edge position of the second cell, determine a certain circular area (see the circle shown by the black dotted line in Figure 13), so as to determine that the terminal is located in the circle The edge position of the region.

Further, when at least one cell includes multiple cells, the network device may determine multiple circular areas according to the above method, and finally determine the intersection point of the multiple circular areas as the second position of the terminal.

As yet another possible implementation, when the positioning information includes the continuous coverage time of at least one cell, the network device determines the second position of the terminal according to the positioning information, including: the network device determines the second position of the terminal according to the moving direction, moving speed, at least one The coverage of the cell and the continuous coverage time of the at least one cell determine the second location of the terminal.

As a specific example, taking at least one cell including the third cell as an example, the network device may determine that the terminal is continuously The start moment corresponding to the coverage time is located on the second arc. Specifically, the network device may select multiple points on the edge of the cell opposite to the moving direction of the satellite, and use the multiple points as starting points to determine multiple straight lines, where the direction of each straight line is the same as the moving direction of the satellite (or Said to be parallel to the moving direction of the satellite), the length is the product of the moving speed of the satellite and the continuous coverage time of the third cell. Afterwards, connect the end points of the plurality of straight lines to obtain a second arc. Wherein, taking the continuous coverage time as the time interval between the time T1 and the time T2 as an example, the start time corresponding to the continuous coverage time is the time T1. The coverage of the third cell may be the coverage of the third cell at the start time corresponding to the continuous coverage time (ie time T1).

Exemplarily, the starting moment corresponding to the continuous coverage time may be indicated by the terminal to the network device. Alternatively, the center position of the coverage area of the third cell at the start time (that is, T1 time) corresponding to the continuous coverage time may be indicated by the terminal to the network device through the second information.

Referring to Figure 14, taking the coverage of the third cell as a circle and the moving direction of the satellite as an example, the network device determines the circle shown in Figure 14 according to the coverage of the third cell at T1, and then according to the moving direction of the satellite , select multiple points on the edge of the cell opposite to the moving direction of the satellite (marked by black solid circles in Figure 14), and then determine multiple straight lines according to the product of the moving speed of the satellite and the continuous coverage time of the third cell (Figure 14 14 marked with a black dashed straight line), and then connect the endpoints of the multiple straight lines to obtain a second arc (marked with a black dashed arc in FIG. 14 ), and then determine that the terminal is located on the second arc.

In the foregoing example using the third cell as an example, the involved satellite may be a third satellite associated with the third cell. In addition, the present application also relates to the second satellite, which will be described in subsequent embodiments and will not be repeated here.

Further, when at least one cell includes multiple cells, the network device may determine multiple arcs according to the continuous coverage time of the multiple cells according to the above method, and finally determine the intersection point of the multiple arcs as the terminal's first Second position.

Optionally, when the positioning information includes the remaining coverage time of some cells, the continuous coverage time of some cells, or the distance between the first position of the terminal and the center position and/or edge position of some cells The network device may determine the second location of the terminal according to the content included in the positioning information in combination with multiple methods in the above three methods.

Exemplarily, the positioning information includes the remaining coverage time of cell A and the distance between the first location of the terminal and the central location of cell B, and the network device can determine the arc where the terminal is located according to the remaining coverage time of cell A, and according to the first location of the terminal The distance between a position and the center position of cell B determines the circular area where the terminal is located, and then combines the arc and the circular area to determine the second position of the terminal, for example, the second position is determined as the arc and the circular area intersection point.

Based on this scheme, the network device can determine the location of the terminal based on the remaining time of cell coverage reported by the terminal, the continuous coverage time of the cell, or the distance between the terminal and the center and/or edge of the cell, making full use of satellite ephemeris, cell NTN-specific information such as coverage time is used to realize terminal positioning in NTN. In addition, in this application, the network device calculates the position of the terminal based on the remaining coverage time reported by the terminal, the continuous coverage time, or the distance between the terminal and the center and/or edge of the cell, etc., and the network device finds that the calculated position is not If it exists, it can be considered that the information reported by the terminal is false information, so that an illegal terminal, or a terminal that has been hijacked or attacked can be identified, and then services for the terminal can be stopped in the future to reduce the waste of resources.

The overall flow of the positioning method provided by the present application has been described above, and some details of the positioning method will be introduced below.

In some embodiments, the type of the above positioning information may be determined by the terminal, or may be predefined by the protocol, or may be configured by the network device to the terminal, which is not specifically limited in this application.

Optionally, in the case where the network device configures the type of positioning information for the terminal, referring to FIG. 15, before the above step S1001, the method may further include one or more of the following steps S1004a, S1004b, or S1004c:

S1004a. The network device sends the first indication information to the terminal. Correspondingly, the terminal receives the first indication information from the network device.

Wherein, the first indication information is used to indicate that the type of the positioning information includes the remaining coverage time; or, the first indication information is used to indicate the use of a positioning method based on the remaining coverage time. After receiving the first indication information, the terminal may determine the remaining coverage time of at least one cell.

S1004b. The network device sends second indication information to the terminal. Correspondingly, the terminal receives the second indication information from the network device.

Wherein, the second indication information is used to indicate that the type of positioning information includes the distance between the terminal and the location of the cell; or, the second indication information is used to indicate the use of a distance-based positioning method. After receiving the second indication information, the terminal may determine the distance between the first location of the terminal and the center location and/or edge location of at least one cell.

S1004c. The network device sends third indication information to the terminal. Correspondingly, the terminal receives third indication information from the network device.

Wherein, the third indication information is used to indicate that the type of positioning information includes continuous coverage time; or, the third indication information is used to indicate the use of a positioning method based on continuous coverage time. After receiving the third indication information, the terminal may determine the continuous coverage time of at least one cell.

It should be noted that, when the method further includes multiple steps in S1004a, S1004b, or S1004c, the execution sequence of the multiple steps is not limited. For example, in the case of including S1004a and S1004b, step S1004a can be executed first, and then step S1004b; or, step S1004b can be executed first, and then step S1004a can be executed; or, step S1004a and step S1004b can be executed simultaneously.

In some embodiments, the network device may indicate to the terminal the cell for which positioning information needs to be determined. Exemplarily, referring to FIG. 16, before the above step S1001, the method may further include:

S1005. The network device sends fourth indication information to the terminal. Correspondingly, the terminal receives fourth indication information from the network device.

Wherein, the fourth indication information is used to indicate at least one cell in the above S1001. For example, the fourth indication information may include one or more items of frequency point, PCI, and CGI of at least one cell. That is to say, the network device may indicate to the terminal which cells' positioning information is to be determined.

Optionally, after receiving the fourth indication information, the terminal may determine the positioning information of at least one cell indicated by the fourth indication information.

Optionally, this step S1005 may be performed in combination with one or more of the above steps S1004a to S1004c. In this scenario, when the network device sends one item of the first indication information, the second indication information, and the third indication information to the terminal, the positioning information of at least one cell indicated by the fourth indication information is of the same type. For example, the fourth indication information indicates cell A, cell B, and cell C, and the terminal receives the first indication information from the network device, but does not receive the second indication information and the third indication information as an example, the terminal in the above step S1001 The determined positioning information may include remaining coverage time of cell A, remaining coverage time of cell B, and remaining coverage time of cell C.

Or, in a case where the network device sends multiple items of first indication information, second indication information, and third indication information to the terminal, the type of positioning information of at least one cell indicated by the fourth indication information may include multiple types. For example, the fourth indication information indicates cell A, cell B, and cell C, and the terminal receives the first indication information and the second indication information from the network equipment, and does not receive the third indication information as an example, the terminal in the above step S1001 The determined positioning information may include the remaining coverage time of cell A, the remaining coverage time of cell B, and the distance between the first location of the terminal and the center location and/or edge location of cell C.

Optionally, when the network device sends multiple items of the first indication information, the second indication information, and the third indication information, the terminal specifically determines which cells have remaining coverage time, which cells have continuous coverage time, or the terminal The distance between the first location of the cell and the center locations/edge locations of which cells may be determined by the terminal, or may be indicated by the network device.

Exemplarily, the network device may send the fourth indication information and multiple items of the first indication information, the second indication information, and the third indication information in one message, so that the message carries information for indicating a cell and information for The corresponding relationship of the information indicating the type of positioning information, so that the terminal determines the positioning information according to the corresponding relationship.

For example, the network device sends the first indication information, the second indication information, and the third indication information to the terminal, and the first indication information, the second indication information, and the third indication information are respectively represented as indicator #1, indicator #2, Taking indicator#3 as an example, the message can carry the following information:

{indicator#1, CGI#A, CGI#B;

indicator#2, CGI#C;

indicator #3, CGI #D;

}

Wherein, the message is used to instruct the terminal to determine the remaining coverage time of cell A and cell B, the distance between the first location of the terminal and the central location/edge location of cell C, and the continuous coverage time of cell D. After receiving the message, the terminal may determine the above positioning information according to the indication of the message. It can be understood that the above CGI#A to CGI#D can be understood as the fourth indication information.

When step S1005 is executed in combination with one or more of the above steps S1004a to S1004c, the execution order of each step is not limited.

Optionally, if the network device does not perform the above step S1005, at least one cell may be a neighboring cell of the serving cell of the terminal, and the neighboring cell may be broadcast in the system information of the serving cell, or may be an access network It is configured in the measurement configuration delivered by the device to the terminal, which is not specifically limited in this application.

The manner of determining the positioning information type is described above, and the specific manner of determining the positioning information by the terminal is described below.

In the case where the positioning information includes the remaining coverage time of at least one cell, taking at least one cell including the first cell as an example, as a possible implementation, determining the positioning information by the terminal may include: the terminal according to the ephemeris of the first satellite, The coverage range of the first cell and the first location of the terminal determine the remaining coverage time of the first cell. Wherein, the first satellite is associated with the first cell, and for the association between the satellite and the cell, reference may be made to relevant descriptions in the above step S1001 , which will not be repeated here.

As a specific example, the terminal determines the remaining coverage time of the first cell according to the ephemeris of the first satellite, the coverage of the first cell, and the first location of the terminal, which may include:

1) According to the ephemeris of the first satellite, determine the moving direction and moving speed of the first satellite.

Exemplarily, satellite ephemeris can be divided into the following two categories: the first category includes satellite orbit, moving speed, moving direction and other information; the second category includes satellite's real-time position. When the ephemeris of the first satellite belongs to the first category, the terminal can directly obtain the moving direction and moving speed of the first satellite; when the ephemeris of the first satellite belongs to the second category, the terminal can The position determines the direction and speed of movement of the first satellite.

2) According to the first position of the terminal, the coverage of the first cell, and the moving direction of the first satellite, determine the distance between the first position of the terminal and the first edge of the first cell, where the first edge is a distance away from The edge in the direction of movement of the first satellite.

Optionally, the coverage of the first cell may be indicated by the access network device to the terminal. For example, the access network device may broadcast system information of the first cell, where the system information includes coverage information for indicating the coverage of the first cell. Correspondingly, the terminal receives the system information of the first cell, so as to obtain the coverage of the first cell. In addition, the system information of the first cell may also indicate the coverage of neighboring cells of the first cell, so that the terminal learns the coverage of multiple cells, so as to determine the remaining coverage time of the multiple cells.

Optionally, the coverage information may include latitude and longitude information covered by the first cell. Alternatively, the coverage information may include a central location and/or a radius of the first cell.

Exemplarily, in this scenario, the terminal obtains the coverage of the first cell according to the system information, then determines the first edge of the first cell according to the moving direction of the first satellite, and obtains the first position of the terminal according to its own positioning module, so that A distance between the first location and the first edge of the first cell is determined.

3) Determine the remaining coverage time of the first cell according to the moving speed of the first satellite and the distance between the first position of the terminal and the first edge of the first cell.

Exemplarily, the remaining coverage time of the first cell may be a ratio of the distance between the first position of the terminal and the first edge to the moving speed of the first satellite. For example, the distance between the first location of the terminal and the first edge of the first cell is 21 kilometers (kilometer, km), and the moving speed of the first satellite is 7 kilometers per second (km/s), then the first The remaining time for the cell to cover the terminal is 3 seconds.

As another possible implementation, determining the positioning information by the terminal may include: the terminal measures the first cell to obtain signal quality of the first cell, and determines remaining coverage time of the first cell according to the signal quality of the first cell.

Exemplarily, the terminal measuring the first cell may include the terminal measuring the reference signal of the first cell, such as channel state information reference signal (channel-state information reference signal, CSI-RS), demodulation reference signal (demodulation reference signal, DMRS) etc., the signal quality of the first cell can be expressed as reference signal receiving power (reference signal receiving power, RSRP), reference signal receiving quality (reference signal receiving quality, RSRQ), or signal to interference plus noise ratio (signal to interference plus noise ratio, SINR), this application does not specifically limit it.

Exemplarily, the terminal determines the remaining coverage time of the first cell according to the signal quality of the first cell, which may include: the signal quality of the first cell is greater than a preset threshold at time 1, and is less than the preset threshold at time 2 after time 1 In this case, the terminal determines that the remaining coverage time of the first cell is 0.

In the case where the location information includes the distance between the first location of the terminal and the center location and/or edge location of at least one cell, taking at least one cell including the second cell as an example, as a possible implementation, the terminal determines the location The information may include: according to the coverage of the second cell and the first location of the terminal, determining the distance between the first location of the terminal and the edge location of the second cell, and/or, determining the distance between the first location of the terminal and the edge location of the second cell The distance between the center locations of .

Optionally, the coverage of the second cell may be indicated by the coverage information carried in the system information of the cell, and reference may be made to relevant descriptions of the coverage of the first cell, which will not be repeated here.

Exemplarily, in this scenario, the terminal can know the coverage of the second cell according to the system information, and further, can know the center position and/or edge position of the second cell, and then know the first position of the terminal according to its own positioning module , so as to determine the distance between the first location of the terminal and the central location of the second cell, and/or, the distance between the first location of the terminal and the edge location of the second cell.

As another possible implementation, the determination of the positioning information by the terminal may include: determining the distance between the first position of the terminal and the center position of the second cell according to the ephemeris of the second satellite and the first position of the terminal, the second The second satellite is associated with the second cell. For the association between the satellite and the cell, reference may be made to the relevant description in the above step S1001, which will not be repeated here.

As a specific example, the terminal determines the distance between the first location of the terminal and the center location of the second cell according to the ephemeris of the second satellite and the first location of the terminal, including:

1) Determine the position of the second satellite according to the ephemeris of the second satellite.

Exemplarily, when the ephemeris of the second satellite belongs to the above-mentioned first type of ephemeris, the terminal can determine the position of the second satellite according to information such as the orbit, moving speed, and moving direction of the second satellite; when the ephemeris of the second satellite belongs to In the above-mentioned second type of ephemeris, the terminal can directly acquire the position of the second satellite.

2). Determine the center position of the second cell according to the position of the second satellite.

Exemplarily, when the beam direction of the second satellite is perpendicular to the ground, the latitude and longitude of the central position of the second cell are the same as the latitude and longitude corresponding to the position of the second satellite.

3). Determine the distance between the center position of the second cell and the first position of the terminal.

Optionally, the above two manners of determining the distance may be combined with each other, for example, determining the edge position of the cell according to the coverage of the cell, so as to determine the distance between the first position of the terminal and the edge position of the cell. And, the center position of the cell is determined according to the position of the satellite, so as to determine the distance between the first position of the terminal and the center position of the cell.

In the case where the positioning information includes the continuous coverage time of at least one cell, taking at least one cell including a third cell as an example, determining the positioning information by the terminal may include: measuring the third cell to obtain the signal quality of the third cell; according to the third cell The signal quality of the cell determines the continuous coverage time of the third cell.

Exemplarily, the terminal measuring the third cell may include the terminal measuring the reference signal of the third cell, such as CSI-RS, DMRS, etc., and the signal quality of the third cell may be expressed as RSRP, RSRQ, or SINR, and this application does not make specific details on this limited.

As a possible implementation, the terminal determining the continuous coverage time of the third cell according to the signal quality of the third cell may include: determining that the continuous coverage time of the third cell is within a period of time, the signal quality of the third cell is greater than or equal to The time period between the moment of the third threshold (denoted as time A) and the moment after time A when the signal quality of the third cell is lower than the third threshold for the first time (denoted as time B). Exemplarily, the third threshold may be -141dB.

It should be noted that the present application also relates to the “first threshold” and the “second threshold”, which will be described in subsequent embodiments and will not be repeated here.

Exemplarily, the period of time may be the measurement duration of the third cell, that is, the duration between the time when the measurement of the third cell is started and the time when the measurement of the third cell is stopped. The time to stop measuring the third cell may be time B, that is, after time A, once it is measured that the signal quality of the third cell is less than the third threshold, the measurement of the third cell is stopped.

As a possible implementation, the terminal can start a timer, and determine the positioning information during the running of the timer. For example, the terminal starts a timer, measures the third cell during the running of the timer, obtains the signal quality of the third cell, and determines the continuous coverage time of the third cell according to the signal quality of the third cell. In this scenario, the measurement duration of the third cell may be the duration of the timer.

As a specific example, the terminal may start the timer after receiving the third indication information. The duration of the timer may be indicated by the network device, or may be defined by the protocol, or may be determined by the terminal, which is not specifically limited in this application.

Based on this solution, the terminal determines the positioning information within the running time of the timer, avoiding the terminal from measuring cells without restriction, thereby reducing the time delay of determining the positioning information, and further reducing the overall time delay of positioning. In addition, the energy consumption of the terminal can also be saved.

In the case that the positioning information includes the continuous coverage time of at least one cell, in the above step S1002, the terminal sends the positioning information to the network device, and the following situations may exist:

Case 1, when the terminal determines the positioning information during the running of the timer, the above step S1002 may specifically be: the terminal sends the positioning information to the network device after the timer expires.

Case 2: When the number of the at least one cell is greater than or equal to the first threshold, the terminal sends positioning information to the network device.

That is to say, when the positioning information includes the continuous coverage time of N cells, and N is greater than or equal to the first threshold, the terminal sends the positioning information to the network device.

Case 3: When the number of the at least one cell is greater than or equal to the first threshold, and the continuous coverage time of the at least one cell is greater than or equal to the second threshold, the terminal sends positioning information to the network device.

That is to say, when the positioning information includes the continuous coverage time of N cells, N is greater than or equal to the first threshold, and the continuous coverage time of M cells in the N cells is greater than or equal to the second threshold, the terminal sends The network device sends location information. Wherein, M is a positive integer less than or equal to N, that is, the M cells are some or all of the N cells.

Based on this solution, the terminal sends positioning information to the network device when the number of cells is greater than the first threshold, or when the number of cells is greater than the first threshold and the continuous coverage time of the cell is greater than the second threshold, that is, the content of the positioning information Restrictions are made so that the positioning information includes the continuous coverage time of a certain number of cells. Further, the continuous coverage time of the cells is greater than or equal to a certain threshold, thereby improving the accuracy of the network device in locating the terminal according to the positioning information.

Wherein, the actions implemented by the network device or terminal in the above-mentioned embodiments may be executed by the processor 901 in the communication device 900 shown in FIG. 9 calling the application code stored in the memory 903 to instruct the network device or terminal to execute There are no restrictions on this.

It can be understood that, in each of the above embodiments, the method and/or steps implemented by the network device may also be implemented by a component (such as a processor, a chip, a chip system, a circuit, a logic module, or software) that can be used in the network device. Implementation: The methods and/or steps implemented by the terminal may also be implemented by components (such as processors, chips, chip systems, circuits, logic modules, or software) that can be used in the terminal.

The foregoing mainly introduces the solution provided by the present application from the perspective of interaction between various devices. Correspondingly, the present application also provides a communication device, which is used to implement the above various methods. The communication device may be the network device in the above method embodiment, or a device including the above network device, or a component that can be used in the network device; or, the communication device may be the terminal in the above method embodiment, or include the above terminal device, or a component that can be used in a terminal.

It can be understood that, in order to realize the above functions, the communication device includes hardware structures and/or software modules corresponding to each function. Those skilled in the art should easily realize that the present application can be implemented in the form of hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software in combination with the units and algorithm steps of each example described in the embodiments disclosed herein. Whether a certain function is executed by hardware or computer software drives hardware depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Those skilled in the art may use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be regarded as exceeding the scope of the present application.

The embodiments of the present application may divide the communication device into functional modules according to the above method embodiments. For example, each functional module may be divided corresponding to each function, or two or more functions may be integrated into one processing module. The above-mentioned integrated modules can be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of software function modules. It should be noted that the division of modules in the embodiment of the present application is schematic, and is only a logical function division, and there may be other division methods in actual implementation.

In an implementation scenario, taking the communication device as the terminal in the foregoing method embodiment as an example, FIG. 17 shows a schematic structural diagram of a terminal 170 . The terminal 170 includes a processing module 1701 and a transceiver module 1702 .

In some embodiments, the terminal 170 may further include a storage module (not shown in FIG. 17 ) for storing program instructions and data.

In some embodiments, the transceiver module 1702, also referred to as a transceiver unit, is used to implement sending and/or receiving functions. The transceiver module 1702 may be composed of a transceiver circuit, a transceiver, a transceiver or a communication interface.

In some embodiments, the transceiver module 1702 may include a receiving module and a sending module, which are respectively used to perform the receiving and sending steps performed by the terminal in the above method embodiments, and/or used to support the technology described herein Other processes: the processing module 1701 may be used to execute steps of the processing type (such as determination, acquisition, etc.) performed by the terminal in the above method embodiments, and/or other processes used to support the technologies described herein.

As a concrete example:

The processing module 1701 is configured to determine positioning information, and the positioning information includes one or more of the following: the remaining coverage time of at least one cell, the continuous coverage time of at least one cell, or the distance between the first location of the communication device and the location of the cell , the first position of the communication device is the position determined by the communication device, the cell position includes the central position and/or edge position of at least one cell, and at least one cell is associated with a satellite; the transceiver module 1702 is configured to send positioning information to network equipment.

As a possible implementation, at least one cell includes the first cell; when the positioning information includes the remaining coverage time of at least one cell, the processing module 1701 is used to determine the positioning information, including: the processing module 1701 is used to The ephemeris of the first cell, the coverage of the first cell, and the first location of the communication device determine the remaining coverage time of the first cell, and the first satellite is associated with the first cell.

As a possible implementation, the processing module 1701 is configured to determine the remaining coverage time of the first cell according to the ephemeris of the first satellite, the coverage of the first cell, and the first position of the communication device, including: a processing module 1701, used to determine the moving direction and moving speed of the first satellite according to the ephemeris of the first satellite; The direction of movement is to determine the distance between the first position of the communication device and the first edge of the first cell, the first edge is an edge away from the direction of movement; the processing module 1701 is also used to determine the distance between the first position of the communication device and the first edge of the first cell; the processing module 1701 is also configured to The distance between the first location and the first edge determines the remaining coverage time of the first cell.

As a possible implementation manner, the transceiving module 1702 is further configured to receive first indication information from the network device, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the type of positioning information includes remaining coverage time.

As a possible implementation, when at least one cell includes a second cell, and the positioning information includes the distance between the first location of the communication device and the location of the cell, the processing module 1701 is configured to determine the positioning information, including: a processing module 1701, For determining the distance between the first position of the communication device and the edge position and/or center position of the second cell according to the coverage of the second cell and the first position of the communication device; or, the processing module 1701 is configured to The ephemeris of the second satellite and the first location of the communication device determine a distance between the first location of the communication device and a center location of a second cell with which the second satellite is associated.

As a possible implementation, the processing module 1701 is configured to determine the distance between the first position of the communication device and the center position of the second cell according to the ephemeris of the second satellite and the first position of the communication device, including: The processing module 1701 is used to determine the position of the second satellite according to the ephemeris of the second satellite; the processing module 1701 is also used to determine the center position of the second cell according to the position of the second satellite; the processing module 1701 is also used to determine the position of the second satellite The distance between the central location of the second cell and the first location of the communication device.

As a possible implementation manner, the transceiving module 1702 is further configured to receive second indication information from the network device, where the second indication information is used to indicate that the type of the location information includes the distance between the communication device and the location of the cell.

As a possible implementation manner, the transceiver module 1702 is further configured to send first time information to the network device, where the first time information is used to indicate a time for determining the positioning information.

As a possible implementation, at least one cell includes a third cell; when the positioning information includes the continuous coverage time of at least one cell, the processing module 1701 is configured to determine the positioning information, including: a processing module 1701 configured to measure the third cell , to obtain the signal quality of the third cell; the processing module 1701 is further configured to determine the continuous coverage time of the third cell according to the signal quality of the third cell.

As a possible implementation, the transceiver module 1702 is also configured to send second time information to the network device, the second time information is used to indicate the measurement duration, and the measurement duration includes the time from the start of measuring the third cell to the stop of measuring the third cell The duration between the times.

As a possible implementation manner, the processing module 1701 is configured to determine the positioning information, including: the processing module 1701 is configured to start the timer; the processing module 1701 is also configured to determine the positioning information during the running of the timer.

As a possible implementation, the transceiver module 1702 is configured to send positioning information to the network device, including: when the number of at least one cell is greater than or equal to the first threshold, the transceiver module 1702 is configured to send the positioning information to the network device information; or, when the number of at least one cell is greater than or equal to the first threshold, and the continuous coverage time of at least one cell is greater than or equal to the second threshold, the transceiver module 1702 is configured to send positioning information to the network device.

As a possible implementation manner, the transceiving module 1702 is further configured to receive third indication information from the network device, where the third indication information is used to indicate that a type of positioning information includes continuous coverage time.

As a possible implementation manner, the transceiving module 1702 is further configured to receive fourth indication information from the network device, where the fourth indication information is used to indicate at least one cell.

Wherein, all relevant content of each step involved in the above-mentioned method embodiment can be referred to the function description of the corresponding function module, and will not be repeated here.

In this application, the terminal 170 is presented in the form of dividing various functional modules in an integrated manner. "Module" here may refer to a specific application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), circuit, processor and memory that execute one or more software or firmware programs, integrated logic circuits, and/or other functions that can provide the above functions device.

In some embodiments, in terms of hardware implementation, those skilled in the art can imagine that the terminal 170 may take the form of the communication device 900 shown in FIG. 9 .

As an example, the function/implementation process of the processing module 1701 in FIG. 17 can be realized by the processor 901 in the communication device 900 shown in FIG. The function/implementation process of 1702 may be implemented through the communication interface 904 in the communication device 900 shown in FIG. 9 .

In some embodiments, when the terminal 170 in FIG. 17 is a chip or a chip system, the function/implementation process of the processing module 1701 can be realized through the input and output interface (or communication interface) of the chip or the chip system, and the function of the transceiver module 1702 The/implementation process may be implemented by a chip or a processor (or processing circuit) of a chip system.

Since the terminal 170 provided in this embodiment can execute the above method, the technical effect it can obtain can refer to the above method embodiment, which will not be repeated here.

In an implementation scenario, taking the communication device as an example of the network device in the foregoing method embodiment, FIG. 18 shows a schematic structural diagram of a network device 180 . The network device 180 includes a processing module 1801 and a transceiver module 1802 .

In some embodiments, the network device 180 may also include a storage module (not shown in FIG. 18 ) for storing program instructions and data.

In some embodiments, the transceiver module 1802 may also be referred to as a transceiver unit to implement sending and/or receiving functions. The transceiver module 1802 may be composed of a transceiver circuit, a transceiver, a transceiver or a communication interface.

In some embodiments, the transceiver module 1802 may include a receiving module and a sending module, which are respectively used to perform the receiving and sending steps performed by the network device in the above method embodiments, and/or used to support the technology described herein other processes; the processing module 1801 may be used to execute steps of the processing type (such as determination, acquisition, etc.) performed by the network device in the above method embodiments, and/or other processes used to support the technology described herein.

As a concrete example:

The transceiver module 1802 is configured to receive positioning information from the terminal, the positioning information includes one or more of the following: the remaining coverage time of at least one cell, the continuous coverage time of at least one cell, or the distance between the first location of the terminal and the location of the cell distance, the first position of the terminal is the position determined by the terminal, the cell position includes the central position and/or edge position of at least one cell, and at least one cell is associated with a satellite; the processing module 1801 is configured to determine the second position of the terminal according to the positioning information Location.

As a possible implementation, at least one cell includes the first cell; when the positioning information includes the remaining coverage time of the first cell, the processing module 1801 is configured to determine the second location of the terminal according to the positioning information, including: the processing module 1801, It is used to determine the second position of the terminal according to the remaining coverage time of the first cell, the moving direction of the first satellite, the moving speed of the first satellite, and the coverage of the first cell, and the first satellite is associated with the first cell.

As a possible implementation manner, the transceiver module 1802 is further configured to send first indication information to the terminal, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the type of positioning information includes remaining coverage time.

As a possible implementation, at least one cell includes a second cell; when the positioning information includes the distance between the first location of the terminal and the location of the cell, the processing module 1801 is configured to determine the second location of the terminal according to the positioning information, including : a processing module 1801, configured to determine a second location of the terminal according to the coverage of the second cell and the distance between the first location of the terminal and the center or edge of the second cell.

As a possible implementation manner, the transceiver module 1802 is further configured to send second indication information to the terminal, where the second indication information is used to indicate that the type of positioning information includes the distance between the terminal and the location of the cell.

As a possible implementation manner, the transceiver module 1802 is further configured to receive first time information from the terminal, where the first time information is used to indicate the time for determining the positioning information.

As a possible implementation, at least one cell includes a third cell; when the positioning information includes the continuous coverage time of the third cell, the processing module 1801 is configured to determine the second location of the terminal according to the positioning information, including: a processing module 1801, It is used to determine the second position of the terminal according to the continuous coverage time of the third cell, the moving direction of the third satellite, the moving speed of the third satellite, and the coverage of the third cell, and the third satellite is associated with the third cell.

As a possible implementation manner, the transceiver module 1802 is further configured to send third indication information to the terminal, where the third indication information is used to indicate that the type of positioning information includes continuous coverage time.

As a possible implementation, the transceiver module 1802 is further configured to receive second time information from the terminal, where the second time information is used to indicate the measurement duration, and the measurement duration includes the time when the measurement of the third cell is started to the time when the measurement of the second cell is stopped. The duration between the times of the three cells.

As a possible implementation manner, the transceiver module 1802 is further configured to send fourth indication information to the terminal, where the fourth indication information is used to indicate at least one cell.

Wherein, all relevant content of each step involved in the above-mentioned method embodiment can be referred to the function description of the corresponding function module, and will not be repeated here.

In this application, the network device 180 is presented in the form of dividing various functional modules in an integrated manner. "Module" here may refer to a specific application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), circuit, processor and memory that execute one or more software or firmware programs, integrated logic circuits, and/or other functions that can provide the above functions device.

In some embodiments, in terms of hardware implementation, those skilled in the art can imagine that the network device 180 may take the form of the communication device 900 shown in FIG. 9 .

As an example, the function/implementation process of the processing module 1801 in FIG. 18 can be realized by the processor 901 in the communication device 900 shown in FIG. The function/implementation process of 1802 may be implemented through the communication interface 904 in the communication device 900 shown in FIG. 9 .

In some embodiments, when the network device 180 in FIG. 18 is a chip or a chip system, the function/implementation process of the processing module 1801 can be realized through the input and output interface (or communication interface) of the chip or the chip system, and the transceiver module 1802 The function/implementation process may be implemented by a chip or a processor (or processing circuit) of a chip system.

Since the network device 180 provided in this embodiment can execute the above method, the technical effect it can obtain can refer to the above method embodiment, which will not be repeated here.

As a possible product form, the network equipment and terminal of the embodiment of the present application can also be realized by using the following: one or more field programmable gate arrays (field programmable gate array, FPGA), programmable logic device (programmable logic device (PLD), controller, state machine, gate logic, discrete hardware components, any other suitable circuit, or any combination of circuits capable of performing the various functions described throughout this application.

As a possible product form, the network device and the terminal in the embodiment of the present application may be implemented by a general bus architecture. For ease of description, refer to FIG. 19 , which is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device 1900 provided by an embodiment of the present application, where the communication device 1900 includes a processor 1901 and a transceiver 1902 . The communication device 1900 may be a network device or a terminal, or a chip therein. FIG. 19 shows only the main components of the communication device 1900 . In addition to the processor 1901 and the transceiver 1902, the communication device may further include a memory 1903 and an input and output device (not shown in the figure).

Wherein, the processor 1901 is mainly used to process communication protocols and communication data, control the entire communication device, execute software programs, and process data of the software programs. The memory 1903 is mainly used to store software programs and data. The transceiver 1902 may include a radio frequency circuit and an antenna, and the radio frequency circuit is mainly used for converting a baseband signal to a radio frequency signal and processing the radio frequency signal. Antennas are mainly used to send and receive radio frequency signals in the form of electromagnetic waves. Input and output devices, such as touch screens, display screens, and keyboards, are mainly used to receive data input by users and output data to users.

Wherein, the processor 1901, the transceiver 1902, and the memory 1903 may be connected through a communication bus.

When the communication device is turned on, the processor 1901 can read the software program in the memory 1903, interpret and execute the instructions of the software program, and process the data of the software program. When data needs to be sent wirelessly, the processor 1901 performs baseband processing on the data to be sent, and then outputs the baseband signal to the radio frequency circuit. When data is sent to the communication device, the radio frequency circuit receives the radio frequency signal through the antenna, converts the radio frequency signal into a baseband signal, and outputs the baseband signal to the processor 1901, and the processor 1901 converts the baseband signal into data and processes the data deal with.

In another implementation, the radio frequency circuit and the antenna can be set independently from the processor for baseband processing. For example, in a distributed scenario, the radio frequency circuit and antenna can be arranged remotely from the communication device. .

In some embodiments, the present application further provides a communication device, where the communication device includes at least one processor, configured to implement the method in any one of the foregoing method embodiments.

As a possible implementation manner, the communication device further includes at least one memory. The memory is used to store necessary program instructions and data, and the processor can call the program code stored in the memory to instruct the communication device to execute the method in any one of the above method embodiments. Of course, the memory may not be in the communication device.

As another possible implementation, the communication device further includes an interface circuit, the interface circuit is a code/data read and write interface circuit, and the interface circuit is used to receive computer-executed instructions (computer-executed instructions are stored in the memory, and may be directly read from memory read, or possibly through other devices) and transferred to the processor.

As yet another possible implementation manner, the communication device further includes a communication interface, where the communication interface is used to communicate with modules other than the communication device.

It can be understood that the communication device may be a chip or a system-on-a-chip, and when the communication device is a system-on-a-chip, it may be composed of a chip, or may include a chip and other discrete devices, which is not specifically limited in the present application.

In some embodiments, the present application also provides a communication device (for example, the communication device may be a chip or a chip system), the communication device includes an interface circuit and a logic circuit, and the interface circuit is used for inputting and/or outputting Information; the logic circuit is used to execute the method described in any one of the above aspects, process the information input by the interface circuit and/or generate the information output by the interface circuit.

When the communication device is used to realize the functions of the terminal in the above method embodiment:

In some possible designs, the output information is: positioning information, the positioning information includes one or more of the following: the remaining coverage time of at least one cell, the continuous coverage time of at least one cell, or the first location of the terminal and the cell The distance between the positions, the first position of the terminal is the position determined by the terminal, the cell position includes the central position and/or the edge position of at least one cell, and at least one cell is associated with a satellite.

In some possible designs, the input information is: first indication information. Correspondingly, processing the input information includes: determining the remaining coverage time of at least one cell according to the first indication information.

In some possible designs, the input information is: second indication information. Correspondingly, processing the input information includes: determining the distance between the terminal and the cell location of at least one cell according to the second indication information.

In some possible designs, the input information is: third indication information. Correspondingly, processing the input information includes: determining the continuous coverage time of at least one cell according to the third indication information.

In some possible designs, the output information is: first time information, where the first time information is used to indicate the time when the positioning information is determined.

In some possible designs, the output information is: second time information, where the second time information is used to indicate the measurement duration, and the measurement duration includes the duration between the time when the measurement of the third cell is started and the time when the measurement of the third cell is stopped.

When the communication device is used to implement the functions of the network equipment in the above method embodiments:

In some possible designs, the input information is: positioning information, and the positioning information includes one or more of the following: the remaining coverage time of at least one cell, the continuous coverage time of at least one cell, or the first location of the terminal and the cell The distance between the positions, the first position of the terminal is the position determined by the terminal, the cell position includes the central position and/or the edge position of at least one cell, and at least one cell is associated with a satellite. Correspondingly, processing the input information includes: determining the second location of the terminal according to the positioning information.

In some possible designs, the output information is: first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the type of positioning information includes remaining coverage time.

In some possible designs, the output information is: second indication information, where the second indication information is used to indicate that the type of positioning information includes the distance between the terminal and the location of the cell.

In some possible designs, the output information is: third indication information, where the third indication information is used to indicate that the type of positioning information includes continuous coverage time.

In some possible designs, the input information is: first time information, where the first time information is used to indicate the time when the positioning information is determined.

In some possible designs, the input information is: second time information, the second time information is used to indicate the measurement duration, and the measurement duration includes the time between the time when the measurement of the third cell is started and the time when the measurement of the third cell is stopped.

Wherein, the communication device provided in this embodiment can execute the method in the above-mentioned method embodiment, so the technical effect it can obtain can refer to the above-mentioned method embodiment, which will not be repeated here.

The present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium, where computer programs or instructions are stored in the computer-readable storage medium, and when the computer programs or instructions are run on the communication device, the communication device is enabled to implement any of the above method embodiments. Function.

The present application also provides a computer program product, which, when running on a communication device, enables the communication device to implement the functions of any one of the above method embodiments.

In the above embodiments, all or part of them may be implemented by software, hardware, firmware or any combination thereof. When implemented using a software program, it may be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer program instructions are loaded and executed on the computer, the processes or functions according to the embodiments of the present application will be generated in whole or in part. The computer can be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable devices. The computer instructions may be stored in or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium, for example, the computer instructions may be transmitted from a website, computer, server, or data center Transmission to another website site, computer, server or data center by wired (such as coaxial cable, optical fiber, digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wireless (such as infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer-readable storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer, or may be a data storage device including one or more servers, data centers, etc. that can be integrated with the medium. The available medium may be a magnetic medium (such as a floppy disk, a hard disk, or a magnetic tape), an optical medium (such as a DVD), or a semiconductor medium (such as a solid state disk (solid state disk, SSD)), etc. In the embodiment of the present application, the computer may include the aforementioned apparatus.

Although the present application has been described in conjunction with various embodiments here, however, in the process of implementing the claimed application, those skilled in the art can understand and Other variations of the disclosed embodiments are implemented. In the claims, the word "comprising" does not exclude other components or steps, and "a" or "an" does not exclude a plurality. A single processor or other unit may fulfill the functions of several items recited in the claims. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in mutually different dependent claims does not indicate that these measures cannot be combined to advantage.

Although the application has been described in conjunction with specific features and embodiments thereof, it will be apparent that various modifications and combinations can be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the application. Accordingly, the specification and drawings are merely illustrative of the application as defined by the appended claims and are deemed to cover any and all modifications, variations, combinations or equivalents within the scope of this application. Obviously, those skilled in the art can make various changes and modifications to the application without departing from the spirit and scope of the application. In this way, if these modifications and variations of the present application fall within the scope of the claims of the present application and their equivalent technologies, the present application is also intended to include these modifications and variations.

Claims (29)

A positioning method, characterized in that the method comprises: Determine positioning information, where the positioning information includes one or more of the following: the remaining coverage time of at least one cell, the continuous coverage time of at least one cell, or the distance between the first location of the terminal and the location of the cell, the terminal's The first position is a position determined by the terminal, and the cell position includes a center position and/or an edge position of at least one cell, and the at least one cell is associated with a satellite; Send the positioning information to a network device. The method according to claim 1, wherein the at least one cell includes a first cell; the positioning information includes the remaining coverage time of the at least one cell; and the determining the positioning information includes: Determine the remaining coverage time of the first cell according to the ephemeris of the first satellite, the coverage of the first cell, and the first position of the terminal, and the first satellite is associated with the first cell. The method according to claim 2, wherein the remaining coverage of the first cell is determined according to the ephemeris of the first satellite, the coverage area of the first cell, and the first position of the terminal. time, including: determining the moving direction and moving speed of the first satellite according to the ephemeris of the first satellite; determining a distance between the first location of the terminal and a first edge of the first cell according to the first location of the terminal, the coverage of the first cell, and the moving direction of the first satellite , the first edge is an edge away from the moving direction; Determine the remaining coverage time of the first cell according to the moving speed of the first satellite and the distance between the first position of the terminal and the first edge. The method according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that the method further comprises: Receive first indication information from the network device, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the type of the positioning information includes remaining coverage time. The method according to any one of claims 1-4, wherein the at least one cell includes a second cell, and the positioning information includes the distance between the first location of the terminal and the location of the cell; the Identify location information, including: determining the distance between the first location of the terminal and the edge location and/or central location of the second cell according to the coverage of the second cell and the first location of the terminal; Or, according to the ephemeris of the second satellite and the first position of the terminal, determine the distance between the first position of the terminal and the center position of the second cell, the second satellite and the second Community association. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that, according to the ephemeris of the second satellite and the first position of the terminal, the distance between the first position of the terminal and the central position of the second cell is determined ,include: determining the position of the second satellite based on the ephemeris of the second satellite; determining the center position of the second cell according to the position of the second satellite; determining the distance between the central location of the second cell and the first location of the terminal. The method according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the method further comprises: Receive second indication information from the network device, where the second indication information is used to indicate that the type of the positioning information includes the distance between the terminal and the location of the cell. The method according to any one of claims 2-7, wherein the method further comprises: Sending first time information to the network device, where the first time information is used to indicate the time when the positioning information is determined. The method according to any one of claims 1-8, wherein the at least one cell includes a third cell; the positioning information includes the continuous coverage time of the at least one cell; and the determining the positioning information includes : measuring the third cell to obtain the signal quality of the third cell; Determine the continuous coverage time of the third cell according to the signal quality of the third cell. The method according to claim 9, characterized in that the method further comprises: sending second time information to the network device, where the second time information is used to indicate a measurement duration, and the measurement duration includes the time between the time when the measurement of the third cell is started and the time when the measurement of the third cell is stopped duration. The method according to claim 9 or 10, wherein said determining positioning information comprises: start the timer; The location information is determined while the timer is running. The method according to claim 9 or 10, wherein the sending the positioning information to the network device comprises: When the number of the at least one cell is greater than or equal to a first threshold, sending the positioning information to the network device; Or, when the number of the at least one cell is greater than or equal to a first threshold, and the continuous coverage time of the at least one cell is greater than or equal to a second threshold, sending the positioning information to the network device. The method according to any one of claims 9-12, wherein the method further comprises: Receive third indication information from the network device, where the third indication information is used to indicate that the type of the positioning information includes continuous coverage time. The method according to any one of claims 1-13, wherein the method further comprises: Receive fourth indication information from the network device, where the fourth indication information is used to indicate the at least one cell. A positioning method, characterized in that the method comprises: Receive positioning information from the terminal, the positioning information includes one or more of the following: the remaining coverage time of at least one cell, the continuous coverage time of at least one cell, or the distance between the first location of the terminal and the location of the cell, the The first location of the terminal is the location determined by the terminal, and the cell location includes a central location and/or an edge location of at least one cell, and the at least one cell is associated with a satellite; determining a second location of the terminal according to the positioning information. The method according to claim 15, wherein the at least one cell includes a first cell; the location information includes the remaining coverage time of the first cell; and determining the location of the terminal according to the location information Secondary positions, including: Determine the second position of the terminal according to the remaining coverage time of the first cell, the moving direction of the first satellite, the moving speed of the first satellite, and the coverage of the first cell, the first satellite and The first cell is associated. The method according to claim 16, further comprising: Sending first indication information to the terminal, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the type of the positioning information includes remaining coverage time. The method according to any one of claims 15-17, wherein the at least one cell includes a second cell; the positioning information includes the distance between the first location of the terminal and the location of the cell; the Determining the second location of the terminal according to the positioning information includes: The second location of the terminal is determined according to the coverage area of the second cell and the distance between the first location of the terminal and the center location or edge location of the second cell. The method according to claim 18, further comprising: Sending second indication information to the terminal, where the second indication information is used to indicate that the type of the positioning information includes the distance between the terminal and the location of the cell. The method according to any one of claims 16-19, wherein the method further comprises: receiving first time information from the terminal, where the first time information is used to indicate the time when the positioning information is determined. The method according to any one of claims 15-20, wherein the at least one cell includes a third cell; the positioning information includes the continuous coverage time of the third cell; determining the second location of the terminal, comprising: Determine the second position of the terminal according to the continuous coverage time of the third cell, the moving direction of the third satellite, the moving speed of the third satellite, and the coverage of the third cell, and the third satellite and The third cell is associated. The method according to claim 21, further comprising: Sending third indication information to the terminal, where the third indication information is used to indicate that the type of the positioning information includes continuous coverage time. The method according to claim 21 or 22, further comprising: receiving second time information from the terminal, where the second time information is used to indicate a measurement duration, and the measurement duration includes the time between the time when the measurement of the third cell is started and the time when the measurement of the third cell is stopped duration. The method according to any one of claims 15-23, wherein the method further comprises: Sending fourth indication information to the terminal, where the fourth indication information is used to indicate the at least one cell. A communication device, characterized in that the communication device includes: at least one processor; The processor is configured to execute computer programs or instructions, so that the communication device executes the method described in any one of claims 1-14, or to enable the communication device to execute any one of claims 15-24 the method described. A communication device, characterized in that the communication device includes: a logic circuit and an interface circuit; said interface circuit for inputting and/or outputting information; The logic circuit is used to execute the method described in any one of claims 1-14, or to execute the method described in any one of claims 15-24, to process and/or process the information input by the interface circuit Information output by the interface circuit is generated. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, computer programs or instructions are stored in the computer-readable storage medium, and when the computer programs or instructions are executed by a communication device, the computer program or instructions described in any one of claims 1-14 are realized. described method, or realize the method described in any one of claims 15-24. A computer program product, characterized in that, when the computer program product is run on a communication device, the communication device executes the method according to any one of claims 1-14, or the communication device The device performs the method of any one of claims 15-24. A communication system, characterized in that the communication system includes a terminal and a network device; the terminal is used to perform the method according to any one of claims 1-14, and the network device is used to perform the method according to claims 15-24 any one of the methods described.

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