WO2024198973A1 - Positioning method and apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

The present application relates to the technical field of communications, and provides a positioning method and apparatus. A first device can receive a sidelink positioning reference signal from a terminal device according to first identification information when no communication connection is established with the terminal device, which reduces a ProSe direct discovery process of the terminal device and a process of establishing a communication connection between the terminal device and a first device. Therefore, the signaling overhead required by the terminal device for ProSe direct discovery can be reduced, and the signaling overhead required for establishing a communication connection between the terminal device and the first device can also be reduced. Moreover, the first device further performs positioning measurement according to the sidelink positioning reference signal to obtain a first measurement result, which means that the implementation above is a positioning scenario, and thus, the positioning delay can be reduced.

Description

A positioning method and device

This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application with application number 202310357984.8 filed with the State Intellectual Property Office of China on March 30, 2023, and priority to the Chinese patent application with invention name “Positioning Method and Device”, all contents of which are incorporated by reference in this application.

Technical Field

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

Background Art

With the rapid development of communication technology, high-precision positioning has gradually been identified as an important research project in the 5th generation mobile networks (or 5th generation wireless systems, 5G) of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). Among them, the sidelink (SL) in the cellular vehicle-to-everything application is one of the focuses of current positioning research, which complements the enhancement functions such as improving positioning integrity and accuracy.

In the sidelink positioning scenario, the terminal device to be positioned needs to first complete the ProSe direct discovery (ProSe direct discovery) and terminal direct communication interface (PC5) link establishment processes with multiple roadside units (RSUs), and then complete the transmission and measurement of positioning-related signaling through PC5 unicast or multicast communication. In other words, the terminal device to be positioned must perform ProSe discovery and establish PC5 links with different RSUs, which makes the signaling overhead and positioning delay of sidelink positioning large. Especially in high-precision positioning, it is often necessary to establish PC5 links with more than three RSUs to provide information redundancy, which further aggravates the signaling overhead and positioning delay of sidelink positioning. Therefore, how to reduce signaling overhead and positioning delay has become a technical problem that needs to be solved urgently at the current stage.

Summary of the invention

The present application provides a positioning method and apparatus, which can reduce the signaling overhead required for a terminal device to perform ProSe direct discovery, can also reduce the signaling overhead required for the terminal device to establish a communication connection with a first device, and can also reduce positioning delay.

In a first aspect, a positioning method is provided, which is applied to a first device, and the method includes: obtaining first identification information, the first identification information is used to identify a terminal device, and no communication link is established between the terminal device and the first device; based on the first identification information, receiving a side positioning reference signal from the terminal device; and performing positioning measurement based on the side positioning reference signal to obtain a first measurement result.

In the above implementation, the first device can obtain a side positioning reference signal from the terminal device based on the first identification information without establishing a communication connection with the terminal device, which reduces the ProSe direct discovery process of the terminal device and the process of establishing a communication connection between the terminal device and the first device. Therefore, this can not only reduce the signaling overhead required for the terminal device to perform ProSe direct discovery, but also reduce the signaling overhead required for the terminal device to establish a communication connection with the first device. At the same time, the first device also performs positioning measurements based on the side positioning reference signal to obtain a first measurement result, which means that the above implementation is a positioning scenario, and therefore, the positioning delay can also be reduced.

Optionally, the first device can be used to perform positioning measurement on the terminal device.

The first identification information may be an identification of a terminal device, such as layer 1 identification (L1 ID), layer 2 identification (L2 ID) or layer 3 identification (L3 ID). It may also be called a source identification, such as source L1 ID, source L2 ID or source L3 ID.

It should be noted that the communication link involved in this application may refer to a side link, a PC5 link or a PC5 connection. For example, if a communication link is not established between the terminal device and the first device, it can be understood that a side link, a PC5 link or a PC5 connection is not established between the terminal device and the first device.

Among them, the sidelink positioning reference signal involved in this application is used for positioning, such as positioning reference signal (PRS), demodulation reference signal (DMRS) or sidelink synchronization signal (SLSS). PRS can also be called sidelink positioning reference signal (SL-PRS).

Among them, the first measurement result may, for example, include at least one of the following: relative time of arrival (RTOA) from the terminal device to the first device, time of arrival (TOA), angle of arrival (AOA), reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal received path power (RSRPP), path arrival time (relative of path arrival), angle of arrival (angle of path arrival), reference signal Doppler component (reference signal doppler component), reference signal path Doppler component (reference signal path doppler component), terminal device speed (UE velocity), etc. One or more of the following.

It should be noted that the RTOA involved in this application refers to the time when the receiving end receives the starting point of the subframe where the reference signal is located relative to the RTOA reference time. ToA refers to the time when the receiving end receives the starting point of the subframe where the reference signal is located; AOA refers to the time when the reference signal is located relative to the reference direction. Azimuth and vertical angle. RSRP refers to the mean of the received signal power on the resource unit carrying the reference signal within the measurement time and measurement bandwidth configured for the reference signal. RSRPP refers to the mean of the received power of the resource unit carrying the reference signal on a certain delay path of the transmission channel within the measurement time and measurement bandwidth configured for the reference signal, wherein the RSRPP of the first delay path is the corresponding mean of the received power on the first detected (i.e., first detected) transmission path. Path arrival time refers to the time when the receiving end receives the corresponding received component of the reference signal on a certain path of the transmission channel. The time can be the time relative to the starting point of the subframe where the reference signal is located, the time relative to ToA, or the time relative to the arrival time of a certain path. Path arrival angle refers to the azimuth and vertical angle of the reference signal on a certain transmission path relative to the reference direction. The reference signal Doppler component refers to the arrival phase difference of the reference signal obtained by two consecutive measurements by the receiving end when the reference signal arrival time and arrival angle are given. The reference signal path Doppler component refers to the arrival phase difference of the reference signal on the transmission path obtained by two consecutive measurements by the receiving end under the condition of the arrival time and arrival angle of the reference signal transmission path. The terminal device speed refers to the speed of the target device (such as the terminal device of this application) measured by the receiving end based on the reference signal, including direction and size information.

In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation manner, obtaining the first identification information includes: receiving the first identification information from a second device or a positioning server. Optionally, the second device may be used to perform positioning measurement on the terminal device.

In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation, the method also includes: obtaining sidelink control information (SCI) corresponding to the sidelink positioning reference signal; receiving the sidelink positioning reference signal from the terminal device according to the first identification information, including: when the second identification information included in the SCI is the same as the first identification information, receiving the sidelink positioning reference signal from the terminal device.

In the above implementation, when the second identification information included in the SCI corresponding to the sideline positioning reference signal is the same as the first identification information, the first device can receive the sideline positioning reference signal from the terminal device, thereby avoiding the situation where the first device erroneously receives the sideline positioning reference signal.

Among them, the second identification information can be the identification of the terminal device, such as L1 ID, L2 ID or L3 ID.

In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation, the method also includes: receiving third identification information from a second device or a positioning server, the third identification information being used to identify the second device, a device group or a broadcast address where the second device is located; the SCI also includes fourth identification information, receiving a side positioning reference signal from a terminal device, including: when the second identification information is the same as the first identification information, and the fourth identification information is the same as the third identification information, receiving a side positioning reference signal from the terminal device.

In the above embodiment, when the second identification information included in the SCI corresponding to the sideline positioning reference signal is the same as the first identification information, and the fourth identification information included in the SCI is the same as the third identification information, the first device can receive the sideline positioning reference signal from the terminal device, thereby avoiding the situation where the first device erroneously receives the sideline positioning reference signal.

When the third identification information is used to identify the second device, the third identification information may be an identification of the second device, such as L1 ID, L2 ID, or L3 ID, etc. It may also be called a destination identification, such as a destination L1 ID, a destination L2 ID, or a destination L3 ID, etc. The fourth identification information may be an identification of the second device.

When the third identification information is used to identify the device group to which the second device belongs, the third identification information may be the group identification of the group to which the second device belongs. The fourth identification information may be the group identification of the group to which the second device belongs.

When the third identification information is used to identify a broadcast address, the third identification information may be broadcast address information. The fourth identification information may be broadcast address information.

In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation, before receiving the side positioning reference signal from the terminal device according to the first identification information, the method further includes: receiving a first measurement request from the second device or the positioning server, the first measurement request being used to indicate a first positioning type, such as one or more of RTOA, TOA, AOA, RSRP, RSRPP, path arrival time, path arrival angle, reference signal Doppler component, reference signal path Doppler component, terminal device speed, etc. from the terminal device to the first device. This enables the first device to know what the corresponding positioning types are.

In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation, the method further includes: sending the first measurement result to the second device or the positioning server, so that the second device or the positioning server can obtain the first measurement result, and then determine the location information of the terminal device according to the first measurement result.

In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation, the method further includes: sending an identifier of the first device to the second device.

Among them, the identifier of the first device can be L1 ID, L2 ID or L3 ID, etc.

In a second aspect, a positioning method is provided, which is applied to a second device, and the method includes: receiving first identification information from a terminal device, the first identification information is used for the first device to perform positioning measurement, and no communication link is established between the terminal device and the first device; and sending the first identification information to the first device.

In the above implementation, the second device can obtain the first identification information from the terminal device, and then send the first identification information to the first device, so that when the first device has not established a communication connection with the terminal device, the first device can obtain the side positioning reference signal of the terminal device according to the first identification information and perform positioning measurement, which reduces the ProSe direct discovery process of the terminal device and the process of establishing a communication connection between the terminal device and the first device. Therefore, this can not only reduce the signaling overhead required for the terminal device to perform ProSe direct discovery, but also The signaling overhead required for the terminal device to establish a communication connection with the first device is reduced.

In combination with the second aspect, in a possible implementation, the method also includes: determining at least one first device from multiple first candidate devices based on prior information between the second device and multiple first candidate devices; wherein the prior information includes at least one of the following: the location of the first candidate device, the communication connection relationship between the second device and the first candidate device, historical unicast context information or historical multicast context information corresponding to the first candidate device, and the channel condition between the second device and the first candidate device.

In the above embodiment, by determining at least one first device through prior information, the speed at which the second device determines at least one first device can be accelerated, thereby reducing the positioning delay.

In one possible implementation, the location of the first candidate device involved in the present application may include at least one of the following: the longitude and latitude coordinates of the first candidate device or the longitude and latitude coordinate interval value of the longitude and latitude coordinates. In another possible implementation, the location of the first candidate device involved in the present application may include at least one of the following: the cell where the first candidate device is located or the tracking area where the first candidate device is located. In another possible implementation, the location of the first candidate device involved in the present application may be the relative position of the first candidate device, such as the direction and distance of the first candidate device relative to the second device, or the direction and distance of the first candidate device relative to a base station (the base station may or may not cover the second device).

In one possible implementation, the communication connection relationship between the second device and any one of the multiple first candidate devices may include a previously established communication connection or a previously unestablished communication connection. In another possible implementation, the communication connection relationship between the second device and any one of the multiple first candidate devices may include an established communication connection or a previously unestablished communication connection. When the second device uses a first candidate device as the first device, and the communication connection relationship between the second device and the first candidate device is a previously established communication connection, the second device may establish a communication connection with the first candidate device based on the historical unicast context information or historical multicast context information corresponding to the first candidate device. When the second device uses a first candidate device as the first device, and the communication connection relationship between the second device and the first candidate device is a previously unestablished communication connection, the second device may establish a communication connection with the first candidate device.

The historical unicast context information corresponding to each of the multiple first candidate devices may include at least one of the following: an identifier of the first candidate device (such as L1 ID, L2 ID or L3 ID of the first candidate device), a historical service type identifier between the second device and the multiple first candidate devices, a vehicle to everything (V2X) service quality characteristic identifier corresponding to the historical sidelink between the second device and the multiple first candidate devices, etc. The historical multicast context information corresponding to each of the multiple first candidate devices may include at least one of the following: a group identifier of the group to which the first candidate device belongs, a historical service type identifier between the second device and the multiple first candidate devices, and a V2X service quality characteristic identifier corresponding to the historical sidelink between the second device and the multiple first candidate devices.

It should be noted that the historical service type identifier involved in this application can be used to identify the V2X service type on the PC5 link, such as positioning service information or road warning information, etc. The service quality characteristic identifier can be used to identify the service quality of the PC5 link, such as scheduling priority, etc.

The channel conditions involved in the present application may include, for example, at least one of the following: reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR), path loss or path type. The path type includes line of sight (LOS) and/or non-line of sight (NLOS).

In combination with the second aspect, in a possible implementation, the method further includes: receiving first information from a terminal device, the first information being used to request determination of a first device. This reminds the second device to determine the first device involved in positioning the terminal device, and also indicates that the terminal device does not need to perform ProSe direct discovery, thereby reducing the signaling overhead required for the terminal device to perform ProSe direct discovery and also reducing positioning delay.

In conjunction with the second aspect, in a possible implementation, the method further includes: receiving an identifier of the first device from the first device; and sending the first identifier information, the identifier of the first device, and third identifier information to a positioning server, wherein the third identifier information is used to identify the second device, the device group or the broadcast address to which the second device belongs. This enables the positioning server to know which devices are involved in positioning the terminal device, and then to send corresponding measurement requests to these devices.

In conjunction with the second aspect, in a possible implementation, the method further includes: receiving an identifier of the first device from the first device; and sending the first identifier information and the identifier of the first device to the positioning server. This enables the positioning server to learn the identifier of the first device, and then send a corresponding measurement request to the first device according to the identifier of the first device.

In combination with the second aspect, in a possible implementation, before sending the first identification information and the identification of the first device to the positioning server, the method further includes: receiving a first request message from the positioning server, where the first request message is used to request the identification of the first device.

In conjunction with the second aspect, in a possible implementation, the method further includes: receiving an identifier of the first device from the first device; and sending the identifier of the first device to the terminal device, so that the terminal device can know that the devices involved in positioning include the first device.

In combination with the second aspect, in a possible implementation, the method further includes: sending third identification information to the first device or the terminal device, where the third identification information is used to identify the second device, a device group to which the second device belongs, or a broadcast address.

In combination with the second aspect, in a possible implementation, the method further includes: receiving, according to the first identification information, a sidewalk positioning reference signal; perform positioning measurement according to the sidewalk positioning reference signal to obtain a second measurement result. This indicates that the second device can perform positioning measurement on the terminal device according to the sidewalk positioning reference signal.

Among them, the second measurement result includes at least one of the following: one or more of RTOA, TOA, AOA, RSRP, RSRPP, path arrival time, path arrival angle, reference signal Doppler component, reference signal path Doppler component, terminal device speed, etc. from the terminal device to the second device.

In combination with the second aspect, in a possible implementation, the method also includes: obtaining the SCI corresponding to the side positioning reference signal; receiving the side positioning reference signal from the terminal device according to the first identification information, including: when the second identification information included in the SCI is the same as the first identification information, receiving the side positioning reference signal from the terminal device.

In the above implementation, when the second identification information included in the SCI corresponding to the sideline positioning reference signal is the same as the first identification information, the second device can receive the sideline positioning reference signal from the terminal device, thereby avoiding the situation where the second device erroneously receives the sideline positioning reference signal.

Optionally, the SCI also includes fourth identification information, and receives a side positioning reference signal from the terminal device, including: when the second identification information is the same as the first identification information, and the fourth identification information is the same as the third identification information, receiving the side positioning reference signal from the terminal device.

In combination with the second aspect, in a possible implementation, before performing positioning measurement according to the side positioning reference signal to obtain a second measurement result, the method further includes: receiving a second measurement request from the positioning server, the second measurement request is used to indicate a second positioning type. For example, one or more of RTOA, TOA, AOA, RSRP, RSRPP, path arrival time, path arrival angle, reference signal Doppler component, reference signal path Doppler component, terminal device speed, etc. from the terminal device to the second device. This allows the second device to know what the corresponding positioning types are.

In conjunction with the second aspect, in a possible implementation, the method further includes: receiving a first measurement result from the first device; determining location information of the terminal device according to the second measurement result and the first measurement result; and sending the location information of the terminal device to the terminal device. This indicates that the second device can determine the location of the terminal device according to each measurement result.

In conjunction with the second aspect, in a possible implementation, the method further includes: sending a first measurement request to the first device, where the first measurement request is used to indicate a first positioning type, so that the first device can learn which corresponding positioning types there are.

According to a third aspect, a positioning method is provided, which is applied to a terminal device, and the method includes: generating first identification information, the first identification information is used for a first device to perform positioning measurement, and no communication link is established between the terminal device and the first device; and sending the first identification information to a second device or a positioning server.

In the above implementation, the terminal device can send the first identification information to the second device or the positioning server, so that the first device can obtain the first identification information through the second device or the positioning server, and then when the first device does not establish a communication connection with the terminal device, the side positioning reference signal from the terminal device can be obtained according to the first identification information and the positioning measurement can be performed, which reduces the ProSe direct discovery process of the terminal device and the process of establishing a communication connection between the terminal device and the first device. Therefore, this can not only reduce the signaling overhead required for the terminal device to perform ProSe direct discovery, but also reduce the signaling overhead required for the terminal device to establish a communication connection with the first device.

In combination with the third aspect, in a possible implementation, the method further includes: sending first information to the second device or the positioning server, where the first information is used to request to determine the first device. This reminds the second device or the positioning server to determine the first device involved in positioning the terminal device, and also indicates that the terminal device does not need to perform ProSe direct discovery, thereby reducing the signaling overhead required for the terminal device to perform ProSe direct discovery and reducing the positioning delay.

In conjunction with the third aspect, in a possible implementation, the method further includes: receiving third identification information from the second device, the third identification information being used to identify the second device, the device group or the broadcast address to which the second device belongs; and sending the third identification information to the positioning server, so that the positioning server can learn the third identification information.

In conjunction with the third aspect, in a possible implementation, before sending the third identification information to the positioning server, the method further includes: receiving a second request message from the positioning server, the second request message being used to request the third identification information. This indicates that the terminal device may send the third identification information to the positioning server after receiving the second request message.

In combination with the third aspect, in a possible implementation, when sending the first information to the second device, the method further includes: receiving the identification and third identification information of the first device from the second device, the third identification information being used to identify the second device, the device group or the broadcast address to which the second device belongs; and sending the identification and third identification information of the first device to the positioning server. This indicates that the terminal device can send the identification and third identification information of the first device to the positioning server, so that the positioning server can know which devices are involved in positioning the terminal device, and then can send corresponding measurement requests to these devices.

In conjunction with the third aspect, in a possible implementation, before sending the identifier and third identifier information of the first device to the positioning server, the method further includes: receiving a third request message from the positioning server, the third request message being used to request the identifier and third identifier information of the first device. This indicates that the terminal device may send the identifier and third identifier information of the first device to the positioning server after receiving the third request message.

In combination with the third aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the method further includes: sending a sideways positioning reference signal, the sideways positioning reference signal The signal is used by the first device and the second device to perform positioning measurement.

In combination with the third aspect, in a possible implementation, the method further includes: receiving location information of a terminal device from a second device.

In a fourth aspect, a positioning method is provided, which is applied to a positioning server, and the method includes: receiving first identification information from a terminal device, the first identification information is used to identify the terminal device, no communication link is established between the terminal device and the first device, and the first device is used to perform positioning measurement on the terminal device; sending the first identification information to the first device.

In the above implementation, the positioning server obtains the first identification information and sends the first identification information to the first device, so that the first device can obtain the side positioning reference signal from the terminal device according to the first identification information when the communication connection with the terminal device is not established, which reduces the ProSe direct discovery process of the terminal device and the process of establishing a communication connection between the terminal device and the first device. Therefore, this can not only reduce the signaling overhead required for the terminal device to perform ProSe direct discovery, but also reduce the signaling overhead required for the terminal device to establish a communication connection with the first device.

In conjunction with the fourth aspect, in a possible implementation, the method further includes: receiving first information from a terminal device, the first information being used to request determination of a first device; and determining the first device. This indicates that the positioning server can determine the first device involved in positioning the terminal device, and also indicates that the terminal device does not need to perform ProSe direct discovery, thereby reducing the signaling overhead required for the terminal device to perform ProSe direct discovery, and also reducing the positioning delay.

In combination with the fourth aspect, in a possible implementation, the method also includes: receiving third identification information from a terminal device, the third identification information is used to identify a second device, a device group or a broadcast address where the second device is located, and the second device is used to perform positioning measurements on the terminal device; determining, based on the third identification information, prior information between the second device and a plurality of first candidate devices; determining the first device, including: determining the first device from a plurality of first candidate devices based on the prior information.

In the above embodiment, by determining the first device through a priori information, the speed at which the positioning server determines the first device can be accelerated, thereby reducing the positioning delay.

In combination with the fourth aspect, in a possible implementation, the prior information includes at least one of the following: the location of the first candidate device, the communication connection relationship between the second device and the first candidate device, the historical unicast context information or historical multicast context information corresponding to the first candidate device, and the channel condition between the second device and the first candidate device.

In combination with the fourth aspect, in a possible implementation, the method further includes: sending third identification information to the first device.

In a fifth aspect, a positioning method is provided, which is applied to a second device, and the method includes: receiving first information from a terminal device, the first information is used to request the determination of a first device, the first device is used to perform positioning measurements on the terminal device, and no communication link is established between the terminal device and the first device; determining the first device.

In the above implementation, after obtaining the first information, the second device can determine the first device involved in positioning the terminal device, which indicates that the terminal device does not need to perform ProSe direct discovery, which reduces the signaling overhead required for the terminal device to perform ProSe direct discovery and also reduces the positioning delay. In addition, no communication link is established between the terminal device and the first device, which can reduce the signaling overhead required for the terminal device to establish a communication connection with the first device.

In combination with the fifth aspect, in a possible implementation, determining the first device includes: determining the first device from multiple first candidate devices based on prior information between the second device and the multiple first candidate devices; wherein the prior information includes at least one of the following: the location of the first candidate device, the communication connection relationship between the second device and the first candidate device, historical unicast context information or historical multicast context information corresponding to the first candidate device, and the channel condition between the second device and the first candidate device.

In the above embodiment, by determining the first device through a priori information, the speed at which the second device determines the first device can be accelerated, thereby reducing the positioning delay.

In combination with the fifth aspect, in a possible implementation, the method further includes: receiving first identification information from a terminal device, the first identification information being used to identify the terminal device; and sending the first identification information to the first device.

In the above implementation, the second device can obtain the first identification information from the terminal device, and then send the first identification information to the first device, so that when the first device does not establish a communication connection with the terminal device, the side positioning reference signal from the terminal device can be obtained according to the first identification information, which reduces the ProSe direct discovery process of the terminal device and the process of establishing a communication connection between the terminal device and the first device. Therefore, this can not only reduce the signaling overhead required for the terminal device to perform ProSe direct discovery, but also reduce the signaling overhead required for the terminal device to establish a communication connection with the first device.

In conjunction with the fifth aspect, in a possible implementation, the method further includes: receiving an identifier of the first device from the first device; and sending the first identifier information, the identifier of the first device, and third identifier information to a positioning server, wherein the third identifier information is used to identify the second device, the device group or the broadcast address to which the second device belongs. This enables the positioning server to know which devices are involved in positioning the terminal device, and then to send corresponding measurement requests to these devices.

In conjunction with the fifth aspect, in a possible implementation, the method further includes: receiving an identifier of the first device from the first device; The positioning server sends the first identification information and the identification of the first device, so that the positioning server can learn the identification of the first device, and then send a corresponding measurement request to the first device according to the identification of the first device.

In combination with the fifth aspect, in a possible implementation, before sending the first identification information and the identification of the first device to the positioning server, the method further includes: receiving a first request message from the positioning server, where the first request message is used to request the identification of the first device.

In conjunction with the fifth aspect, in a possible implementation, the method further includes: receiving an identifier of the first device from the first device; and sending the identifier of the first device to the terminal device, so that the terminal device can know that the devices involved in positioning include the first device.

In combination with the fifth aspect, in a possible implementation, the method further includes: sending third identification information to the first device or the terminal device, where the third identification information is used to identify the second device, the device group to which the second device belongs, or the broadcast address.

In conjunction with the fifth aspect, in a possible implementation, the method further includes: receiving a side positioning reference signal from the terminal device according to the first identification information; and performing positioning measurement according to the side positioning reference signal to obtain a second measurement result. This indicates that the second device can perform positioning measurement on the terminal device according to the side positioning reference signal.

In combination with the fifth aspect, in a possible implementation, the method also includes: obtaining the SCI corresponding to the side positioning reference signal; receiving the side positioning reference signal from the terminal device according to the first identification information, including: when the second identification information included in the SCI is the same as the first identification information, receiving the side positioning reference signal from the terminal device.

In the above implementation, when the second identification information included in the SCI corresponding to the sideline positioning reference signal is the same as the first identification information, the second device can receive the sideline positioning reference signal from the terminal device, thereby avoiding the situation where the second device erroneously receives the sideline positioning reference signal.

Optionally, the SCI also includes fourth identification information, and receives a side positioning reference signal from the terminal device, including: when the second identification information is the same as the first identification information, and the fourth identification information is the same as the third identification information, receiving the side positioning reference signal from the terminal device.

In conjunction with the fifth aspect, in a possible implementation, before performing positioning measurement according to the sideways positioning reference signal to obtain a second measurement result, the method further includes: receiving a second measurement request from a positioning server, the second measurement request being used to indicate a second positioning type. This enables the second device to know which corresponding positioning types are.

In conjunction with the fifth aspect, in a possible implementation, the method further includes: receiving a first measurement result from the first device; determining location information of the terminal device according to the second measurement result and the first measurement result; and sending the location information of the terminal device to the terminal device. This indicates that the second device can determine the location of the terminal device according to each measurement result.

In conjunction with the fifth aspect, in a possible implementation, the method further includes: sending a first measurement request to the first device, where the first measurement request is used to indicate a first positioning type, so that the first device can learn which corresponding positioning types there are.

In a sixth aspect, a positioning method is provided, which is applied to a terminal device, and the method includes: generating first information, the first information is used to request to determine a first device, and the first device is used to perform positioning measurement on the terminal device; and sending the first information to a second device or a positioning server.

In the above implementation, the terminal device can send the first information to the second device or the positioning server, so that the second device or the positioning server can determine the first device involved in positioning the terminal device after obtaining the first information. This indicates that the terminal device does not need to perform ProSe direct discovery, which reduces the signaling overhead required for the terminal device to perform ProSe direct discovery and also reduces the positioning delay.

In combination with the sixth aspect, in a possible implementation, the method further includes: sending first identification information to the second device or the positioning server, where the first identification information is used to identify the terminal device, and no communication link is established between the terminal device and the first device.

In the above implementation, the terminal device can send the first identification information to the second device or the positioning server, so that the first device can obtain the first identification information through the second device or the positioning server without establishing a communication connection with the terminal device, and then can obtain the side positioning reference signal from the terminal device based on the first identification information, which reduces the ProSe direct discovery process of the terminal device and the process of establishing a communication connection between the terminal device and the first device. Therefore, this can not only reduce the signaling overhead required for the terminal device to perform ProSe direct discovery, but also reduce the signaling overhead required for the terminal device to establish a communication connection with the first device.

In conjunction with the sixth aspect, in a possible implementation, the method further includes: receiving third identification information from the second device, the third identification information being used to identify the second device, a device group or a broadcast address to which the second device belongs; and sending the third identification information to the positioning server, so that the positioning server can learn the third identification information.

In conjunction with the sixth aspect, in a possible implementation, before sending the third identification information to the positioning server, the method further includes: receiving a second request message from the positioning server, where the second request message is used to request the third identification information. This indicates that the terminal device may send the third identification information to the positioning server after receiving the second request message.

In conjunction with the sixth aspect, in a possible implementation, when sending the first information to the second device, the method further includes: receiving the identification and third identification information of the first device from the second device, the third identification information being used to identify the second device, the device group or the broadcast address to which the second device belongs; and sending the identification and third identification information of the first device to the positioning server. This indicates that the terminal device can send the identification and third identification information of the first device to the positioning server, so that the positioning server can know which devices are involved in positioning the terminal device, and can then send corresponding measurement requests to these devices.

In conjunction with the sixth aspect, in a possible implementation, before sending the identifier and third identifier information of the first device to the positioning server, the method further includes: receiving a third request message from the positioning server, where the third request message is used to request the identifier and third identifier information of the first device. This indicates that the terminal device may send the identifier and third identifier information of the first device to the positioning server after receiving the third request message.

In combination with the sixth aspect, in a possible implementation, the method further includes: sending a sideways positioning reference signal, where the sideways positioning reference signal is used for the first device and the second device to perform positioning measurements.

In combination with the sixth aspect, in a possible implementation, the method further includes: receiving location information of a terminal device from a second device.

In a seventh aspect, a positioning method is provided, which is applied to a positioning server, and the method includes: receiving first information from a terminal device, the first information is used to request to determine a first device, and the first device is used to perform positioning measurement on the terminal device; and determining the first device.

In the above implementation, the positioning server can receive the first information. After obtaining the first information, the positioning server can determine the first device involved in positioning the terminal device, which indicates that the terminal device does not need to perform ProSe direct discovery, thereby reducing the signaling overhead required for the terminal device to perform ProSe direct discovery and also reducing the positioning delay.

In combination with the seventh aspect, in a possible implementation, the method also includes: receiving third identification information from a terminal device, the third identification information is used to identify a second device, a device group or a broadcast address where the second device is located, and the second device is used to perform positioning measurements on the terminal device; determining, based on the third identification information, prior information between the second device and a plurality of first candidate devices; determining the first device, including: determining the first device from a plurality of first candidate devices based on the prior information.

In the above embodiment, by determining the first device through a priori information, the speed at which the positioning server determines the first device can be accelerated, thereby reducing the positioning delay.

In combination with the seventh aspect, in a possible implementation, the prior information includes at least one of the following: the location of the first candidate device, the communication connection relationship between the second device and the first candidate device, the historical unicast context information or historical multicast context information corresponding to the first candidate device, and the channel condition between the second device and the first candidate device.

In combination with the seventh aspect, in a possible implementation, the method further includes: sending third identification information to the first device.

In combination with the seventh aspect, in a possible implementation, the method also includes: receiving first identification information from a terminal device, the first identification information is used to identify the terminal device, and no communication link is established between the terminal device and the first device; and sending the first identification information to the first device.

In the above implementation, the positioning server can obtain the first identification information from the terminal device, and then send the first identification information to the first device, so that the first device can obtain the side positioning reference signal from the terminal device according to the first identification information when the communication connection with the terminal device is not established, which reduces the ProSe direct discovery process of the terminal device and the process of establishing a communication connection between the terminal device and the first device. Therefore, this can not only reduce the signaling overhead required for the terminal device to perform ProSe direct discovery, but also reduce the signaling overhead required for the terminal device to establish a communication connection with the first device.

In an eighth aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising a unit or module for implementing the method as described in any one of the first to seventh aspects.

In a ninth aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising at least one processor and a memory; wherein the memory is used to store computer programs or instructions; and at least one processor is used to execute the computer programs or instructions in the memory, so that any method described in any one of the first aspect to the eighth aspect is executed.

In the tenth aspect, a communication system is provided, the communication system comprising a first device, a second device and a terminal device; the first device is used to execute a method as described in any one of the first aspect; the second device is used to execute a method as described in any one of the second aspect or the fifth aspect; the terminal device is used to execute a method as described in any one of the third aspect or the sixth aspect.

In the eleventh aspect, a communication system is provided, the communication system comprising a first device, a terminal device and a positioning server; the first device is used to execute a method as described in any one of the first aspect; the terminal device is used to execute a method as described in any one of the third aspect or the sixth aspect; the positioning server is used to execute a method as described in any one of the fourth aspect or the seventh aspect.

In a twelfth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, wherein the computer-readable storage medium stores computer instructions, and when the computer instructions are executed, the computer executes the method as described in any one of aspects 1 to 7.

In a thirteenth aspect, a computer program product is provided, the computer program product comprising: a computer program code, when the computer program code is executed by a computer, the computer executes a method as described in any one of the first to seventh aspects.

In a fourteenth aspect, a chip is provided, which is coupled to a memory and is used to read and execute program instructions in the memory so that the device where the chip is located implements the method described in any possible implementation method of the first to seventh aspects.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The following is a brief introduction to the drawings required for describing the embodiments.

FIG1 is a basic architecture of a communication system provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG2 is a schematic diagram of a specific possible network architecture applicable to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG3 is a schematic diagram of a flow chart of a positioning method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG4 is a schematic diagram of a flow chart of another positioning method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG5 is a schematic diagram of a flow chart of another positioning method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG6 is a schematic diagram of a flow chart of a positioning method under network coverage provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG7 is a schematic diagram of a flow chart of a positioning method without network coverage provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG8 is a schematic diagram of a flow chart of another positioning method under network coverage provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG9 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG10 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a simplified UE provided in an embodiment of the present application.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be described below in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiments of the present application. Among them, the terms "system" and "network" in the embodiments of the present application can be used interchangeably. Unless otherwise specified, "/" indicates that the objects associated before and after are in an "or" relationship. For example, A/B can represent A or B; "and/or" in this application is only a description of the association relationship of the associated objects, indicating that there can be three relationships. For example, A and/or B can represent: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone. These three situations, where A and B can be singular or plural. And, in the description of the present application, unless otherwise specified, "multiple" refers to two or more than two. "At least one of the following" or similar expressions refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of single items or plural items. For example, at least one 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 one or more. 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 between network elements and identical or similar items with substantially the same functions. Those skilled in the art can understand that words such as "first" and "second" do not limit the quantity and execution order, and words such as "first" and "second" do not necessarily limit the difference.

References to "one embodiment" or "some embodiments" etc. described in the embodiments of the present application mean that one or more embodiments of the present application include specific features, structures or characteristics described in conjunction with the embodiment. Therefore, the statements "in one embodiment", "in some embodiments", "in some other embodiments", "in some other embodiments", etc. that appear in different places in this specification do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment, but mean "one or more but not all embodiments", unless otherwise specifically emphasized in other ways. The terms "including", "comprising", "having" and their variations all mean "including but not limited to", unless otherwise specifically emphasized in other ways.

The following specific implementation methods further describe in detail the objectives, technical solutions and beneficial effects of the present application. It should be understood that the following are only specific implementation methods of the present application and are not intended to limit the scope of protection of the present application. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements, etc. made on the basis of the technical solutions of the present application should be included in the scope of protection of the present application.

In the various embodiments of the present application, unless otherwise specified or provided in a logical conflict, the terms and/or descriptions between the different embodiments are consistent and may be referenced to each other, and the technical features in the different embodiments may be combined to form new embodiments according to their inherent logical relationships.

The following introduces the basic architecture of the communication system provided by the embodiments of the present application.

Referring to Figure 1, Figure 1 is an infrastructure of a communication system provided in an embodiment of the present application. In 1-1 of Figure 1, the communication system may include at least one first device (Figure 1 only shows two first devices, namely, the first device 101 and the first device 102) and a second device 103. Among them, the first device 101 and the first device 102 can perform side link communication with the second device 103. Optionally, the communication system may also include a terminal device 104. The terminal device 104 can perform side link communication with the second device 103. No communication link is established between the terminal device 104 and the first device 101 and the first device 102. In addition, the communication system may also include a network device 105 and a positioning server 106, and the first device 101, the first device 102, the second device 103 and the terminal device 104 may also communicate with the positioning server 106 through the network device 105. Exemplarily, the communication system may further include an access and mobility management device 107. The network device 105 may respectively send various signaling and/or data from the first device 101, the first device 102, the second device 103 and the terminal device 104 to the positioning server 106 through the access and mobility management device 107, and may also respectively send various signaling and/or data from the positioning server 106 to the first device 101, the first device 102, the second device 103 and the terminal device 104 through the access and mobility management device 107.

In 1-2 of FIG. 1 , the communication system may include at least one first device (FIG. 1 only shows two first devices, namely, the first device 111 and the first device 112) and a second device 113. The first device 111 and the first device 112 may perform sidelink communication with the second device 113. Optionally, the communication system may further include a terminal device 114. The terminal device 114 may perform sidelink communication with the second device 113. No communication link is established between the terminal device 114 and the first device 111 and the first device 112.

It should be noted that Fig. 1 is only an example and should not be regarded as a specific limitation of the present application.

1. First Equipment

The first device is an entity on the user side that is used to receive signals, or send signals, or receive and send signals. The first device is used to provide one or more of voice services and data connectivity services to the user. The first device can be a device that includes wireless transceiver functions and A device that can cooperate with a network device to provide communication services to a user. Specifically, the first device may refer to user equipment (UE), access terminal, user unit, user station, mobile station, mobile station, remote station, remote terminal, mobile device, terminal, wireless communication device, user agent, user device or road side unit (RSU). The first device may also be a drone, an Internet of Things (IoT) device, a station (ST) in a wireless local area network (WLAN), a cellular phone, a smart phone, a cordless phone, a wireless data card, a tablet computer, a session initiation protocol (SIP) phone, a wireless local loop (WLL) station, a personal digital assistant (PDA) device, a laptop computer, a machine type communication (MTC) terminal, a handheld device with wireless communication function, a computing device or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, an in-vehicle device, a wearable device (also referred to as a wearable smart device), a virtual reality (VR) terminal, an augmented reality (AR) terminal, a wireless terminal in industrial control, a wireless terminal in self driving, a wireless terminal in transportation safety, a wireless terminal in a smart city, a wireless terminal in a smart home, etc. The first device may also be a terminal in a 5G system or a terminal in a next generation communication system, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application. Optionally, the first device may be referred to as an anchor device.

The embodiments of the present application do not limit the device form of the first device. The device for implementing the function of the first device may be the first device; or it may be a device that can support the first device to implement the function, such as a chip system. The device may be installed in the first device or used in combination with the first device. In the embodiments of the present application, the chip system may be composed of a chip, or may include a chip and other discrete devices.

It should be pointed out that the first device involved in the present application can be used to perform positioning measurement on the terminal device.

2. Second Equipment

The second device is an entity on the user side for receiving signals, or sending signals, or receiving signals and sending signals. The second device is used to provide one or more of voice services and data connectivity services to users. The second device can be a device that includes wireless transceiver functions and can cooperate with network equipment to provide communication services to users. Specifically, the second device can refer to UE, access terminal, user unit, user station, mobile station, mobile station, remote station, remote terminal, mobile device, terminal, wireless communication device, user agent, user device or RSU. The second device can also be a drone, IoT device, ST in WLAN, cellular phone, smart phone, cordless phone, wireless data card, tablet computer, SIP phone, WLL station, PDA device, laptop, MTC terminal, handheld device with wireless communication function, computing device or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, vehicle-mounted device, wearable device (also called wearable smart device), VR terminal, AR terminal, wireless terminal in industrial control, wireless terminal in unmanned driving, wireless terminal in transportation safety, wireless terminal in smart city, wireless terminal in smart home, etc. The second device may also be a terminal in a 5G system or a terminal in a next generation communication system, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application. Optionally, the second device may be referred to as an anchor device.

The embodiments of the present application do not limit the device form of the second device. The device for realizing the function of the second device may be the second device; or it may be a device that can support the second device to realize the function, such as a chip system. The device may be installed in the second device or used in combination with the second device. In the embodiments of the present application, the chip system may be composed of a chip, or may include a chip and other discrete devices.

It should be pointed out that the second device involved in the present application can be used to perform positioning measurement on the terminal device.

3. Terminal Equipment

The terminal device is an entity on the user side for receiving signals, or sending signals, or receiving and sending signals. The terminal device can be used to provide one or more of voice services and data connectivity services to users. The terminal device can be a device that includes wireless transceiver functions and can cooperate with network devices to provide communication services to users. Specifically, the terminal device can refer to UE, access terminal, user unit, user station, mobile station, mobile station, remote station, remote terminal, mobile device, terminal, wireless communication device, user agent, user device or RSU. The terminal device can also be a drone, IoT device, ST in WLAN, cellular phone, smart phone, cordless phone, wireless data card, tablet computer, SIP phone, WLL station, PDA device, laptop, MTC terminal, handheld device with wireless communication function, computing device or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, vehicle-mounted device, wearable device (also called wearable smart device), VR terminal, AR terminal, wireless terminal in industrial control, wireless terminal in unmanned driving, wireless terminal in transportation safety, wireless terminal in smart city, wireless terminal in smart home, etc. The terminal device may also be a terminal in a 5G system or a terminal in a next-generation communication system, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

The embodiments of the present application do not limit the device form of the terminal. The device for realizing the function of the terminal device can be a terminal device; it can also be a device that can support the terminal device to realize the function, such as a chip system. The device can be installed in the terminal device or used in combination with the terminal device. In the embodiments of the present application, the chip system can be composed of chips, or it can include chips and other discrete devices.

4. Network equipment

A network device is an entity on the network side that is used to send signals, or receive signals, or both send and receive signals. A network device can be a device deployed in a radio access network (RAN) to provide wireless communication functions for terminal devices, such as For example, it can be a transmission reception point (TRP), a base station, or various forms of control nodes. For example, a network controller, a wireless controller, or a wireless controller in a cloud radio access network (CRAN) scenario. Specifically, the network device can be various forms of macro base stations, micro base stations (also called small stations), relay stations, access points (APs), radio network controllers (RNCs), node Bs (NBs), base station controllers (BSCs), base transceiver stations (BTSs), home base stations (e.g., home evolved node Bs, or home node Bs, HNBs), baseband units (BBUs), transmission points (TRPs), transmission points (TPs), mobile switching centers, satellites, or drones, or antenna panels of base stations. The control node can connect to multiple base stations and configure resources for multiple terminals covered by multiple base stations. In systems using different wireless access technologies, the names of devices with base station functions may be different. For example, it can be a gNB in 5G, or a network-side device in a network after 5G, or a network device in a future evolved public land mobile (communication) network (public land mobile network, PLMN) network, or a device that performs base station functions in device-to-device (D2D) communication, machine-to-machine (M2M) communication, and vehicle networking communication, etc. This application does not limit the specific name of the network device. The network device can also be an open access network (open RAN, O-RAN or ORAN), a cloud radio access network (cloud radio access network, CRAN), etc.

In a possible implementation, multiple network devices collaborate to assist the terminal in achieving wireless access, and different network devices respectively implement part of the functions of the base station. For example, the network device may be a centralized unit (CU), a distributed unit (DU), a CU-control plane (CP), a CU-user plane (UP), or a radio unit (RU). The CU and DU may be set separately, or may be included in the same network element, such as a BBU. The RU may be included in a radio frequency device or a radio frequency unit, such as a remote radio unit (RRU), an active antenna unit (AAU), or a remote radio head (RRH). It is understandable that the network device may be a CU node, a DU node, or a device including a CU node and a DU node. In addition, the CU may be divided into a network device in the access network RAN, or the CU may be divided into a network device in the core network CN, without limitation here.

In different systems, CU (or CU-CP and CU-UP), DU or RU may also have different names, but those skilled in the art can understand their meanings. For example, in the ORAN system, CU may also be called O-CU (open CU), DU may also be called O-DU, CU-CP may also be called O-CU-CP, CU-UP may also be called O-CU-UP, and RU may also be called O-RU. For the convenience of description, CU, CU-CP, CU-UP, DU and RU are described as examples in this application. Any unit of CU (or CU-CP, CU-UP), DU and RU in this application may be implemented by a software module, a hardware module, or a combination of a software module and a hardware module.

5. Location Server

The positioning server is used to provide the interaction of the information required for positioning by selecting the corresponding positioning method according to the positioning accuracy requirements, delay requirements, etc., and selecting the corresponding communication protocol, and is used to provide other information required for positioning services, or positioning strategies. In 4G communications, the positioning server can be an evolved serving mobile location center (E-SMLC). In 5G communications, the positioning server can be a location management function (LMF) network element. In future communications such as the 6th generation (6G) communications, the positioning server can still be an LMF network element, or have other names, and this application does not limit this.

6. Access and mobility management equipment

The access and mobility management device is mainly used for the registration, mobility management, and tracking area update process of terminal devices in the mobile network. The access and mobility management device terminates the non-access stratum (NAS) message, completes registration management, connection management, and reachability management, allocates the tracking area list (TA list) and mobility management, and transparently routes the session management (SM) message to the session management network element. In 5G communication, the access and mobility management device can be an access and mobility management function (AMF) network element. Namf is a service-based interface provided by the AMF network element. The AMF network element can communicate with other network functions through Namf. In future communications such as the 6th generation (6G) communication, the access and mobility management device can still be an AMF network element, or have other names, which is not limited in this application.

Taking the 5G communication system as an example, a specific possible network architecture diagram applicable to the embodiment of the present application is illustrated in combination with Figure 2. Specifically, refer to Figure 2, which is a specific possible network architecture diagram applicable to the embodiment of the present application. The network structure may include the above-mentioned LMF network element, AMF network element, gNB (or ng-eNB), terminal equipment (such as UE1 in Figure 2), a first device (such as UE2 in Figure 2) and a second device (such as UE3 in Figure 2), etc.

Among them, the gNB may include multiple transmission points (TP). It should be noted that the gNB may also include multiple reception points (RP). It can also be understood that the gNB may include multiple transmission and reception points (TRP). In addition, the NL1 interface is a reference point between the AMF network element and the LMF network element, and the NG-C interface is a reference point between the gNB (or ng-eNB) and the AMF network element, which is used for the transmission of NAS messages and next generation application protocol (NGAP) messages. Exemplarily, the AMF network element receives a positioning service request for a UE (such as UE1) initiated by other network elements in the network. The AMF network element sends the received request to the LMF network element, which is responsible for processing the received positioning request and initiating the relevant positioning process. gNB communicates with UE2, UE3, etc. through the air interface. The air interface is a name, and the air interface can be a communication interface between a network device and a terminal device. For example, in 4G, the air interface is called the Uu interface (i.e., the LTE Uu interface in Figure 2); in 5G, the air interface is called the new radio (NR) (i.e., the NR Uu interface in Figure 2). UE1 and UE3 communicate through the PC5 interface, and UE2 and UE3 communicate through the PC5 interface.

In addition, AMF network elements can also use service-oriented interfaces for interaction. For example, the service-oriented interface provided by AMF network elements to the outside world can be Namf.

It should be noted that in Figure 2, the control plane and user plane of the LMF network element are the evolved serving mobile location center (ESMLC) and the secure user plane positioning platform (SUPL location platform, SLP), which can realize the interaction of various types of information with gNB/ng-eNB, UE1, UE2 and UE3.

It is understandable that the network elements or functions shown in Figures 1 and 2 can be network elements in hardware devices, software functions running on dedicated hardware, or virtualized functions instantiated on a platform (e.g., a cloud platform). In one possible implementation, the above-mentioned network elements or functions can be implemented by one device, or by multiple devices together, or can be a functional module within a device, and the embodiments of the present application do not specifically limit this. In addition, in the following text, for the convenience of description, "network element" can be omitted. For example, the LMF network element in the embodiment of the present application expresses the same meaning as LMF, but for the convenience of description, the two words "network element" are omitted, and the rest are similar.

It should be noted that the communication systems shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 do not constitute a limitation on the communication systems to which the embodiments of the present application can be applied. Therefore, the communication method provided in the embodiments of the present application can also be applied to communication systems of various standards, such as: long term evolution (LTE) communication system, 5G communication system, 6G communication system and future communication system, V2X, LTE-vehicle (LTE-V), vehicle to vehicle (V2V), vehicle networking, machine type communications (MTC), IoT, LTE-machine to machine (LTE-M), M2M, Internet of Things, etc. In addition, it should be noted that the embodiments of the present application do not limit the names of the network elements in the communication system. For example, in communication systems of different standards, each network element may have other names; for another example, when multiple network elements are integrated into the same physical device, the physical device may also have other names.

The positioning method provided in the embodiment of the present application will be described in detail below in conjunction with FIG. 1 and FIG. 2. Specifically, the following text takes the network device, the positioning server, and the access and mobility management device as the gNB, LMF, and AMF in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, respectively, as an example for explanation. In addition, for the convenience of description, the terminal device, the first device, and the second device mentioned in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 may be referred to as the target UE, the additional anchor UE, and the initialing anchor UE, respectively.

It should be noted that the message names between network elements or the names of parameters in the messages in the following embodiments of the present application are merely examples, and other names may be used in specific implementations, and the embodiments of the present application do not impose any specific limitations on this.

As shown in FIG3 , a positioning method is provided in an embodiment of the present application, and the positioning method includes but is not limited to the following steps:

301. Additional anchor UE obtains first identification information and/or third identification information, where the first identification information is used to identify the target UE. No communication link is established between the target UE and the additional anchor UE. The third identification information is used to identify the initialing anchor UE, the device group or broadcast address where the initialing anchor UE is located.

In one possible implementation, the additional anchor UE may receive the first identification information and/or the third identification information from the initialing anchor UE. In another possible implementation, the additional anchor UE may receive the first identification information and/or the third identification information from the LMF.

The first identification information may be an identification of the target UE, such as L1 ID, L2 ID or L3 ID. It may also be called a source identification, such as source L1 ID, source L2 ID or source L3 ID. When the third identification information is used to identify the initialing anchor UE, the third identification information may be an identification of the initialing anchor UE, such as L1 ID, L2 ID or L3 ID. It may also be called a destination identification, such as destination L1 ID, destination L2 ID or destination L3 ID. When the third identification information is used to identify the device group to which the initialing anchor UE belongs, the third identification information may be a group identification of the group to which the initialing anchor UE belongs. When the third identification information is used to identify a broadcast address, the third identification information may be broadcast address information.

It should be pointed out that, when the additional anchor UE obtains the first identification information, the first identification information is used to identify the target UE, which can be understood as the first identification information being used to correctly receive signals and/or data from the target UE, such as being used for one or more additional anchor UEs to correctly receive signals and/or data from the target UE.

When the additional anchor UE obtains the first identification information and the third identification information, the identification pair composed of the first identification information and the third identification information is used to correctly receive the signal and/or data from the target UE, such as being used for one or more additional anchor UEs to correctly receive the signal and/or data from the target UE. In one possible implementation, when the third identification information is used to identify the initialing anchor UE, any one of the L1 ID, L2 ID and L3 ID of the target UE can form the identification pair with any one of the L1 ID, L2 ID and L3 ID of the initialing anchor UE. At this time, the identification pair is also used to identify the link between the initialing anchor UE and the target UE, such as a unicast link or a unicast connection. In another possible implementation, when the third identification information is used to identify the initialing anchor UE, When the target UE is in a device group, any one of the L1 ID, L2 ID and L3 ID of the target UE can form the identification pair with the group identifier of the group to which the initialing anchor UE belongs. At this time, the identification pair is also used to identify the link between the initialing anchor UE and the target UE, such as a multicast link or a multicast connection. In another possible implementation, when the third identification information is used to identify the broadcast address, any one of the L1 ID, L2 ID and L3 ID of the target UE can form the identification pair with the broadcast address information.

When the additional anchor UE obtains the third identification information, the third identification information is used to identify the initialing anchor UE, the device group or the broadcast address where the initialing anchor UE is located. It can be understood that the third identification information is used to correctly receive the signal and/or data from the target UE, such as used for one or more additional anchor UEs to correctly receive the signal and/or data from the target UE.

It should be noted that the communication link involved in this application may refer to a side link, a PC5 link or a PC5 connection. For example, if no communication link is established between the target UE and the additional anchor UE, it can be understood that no side link, a PC5 link or a PC5 connection is established between the target UE and the additional anchor UE.

In a possible implementation, the first identification information and/or the third identification information may be used for additional anchor UE to perform positioning measurements, such as performing positioning measurements on a terminal device. The first identification information and/or the third identification information may also be used for initialing anchor UE to perform positioning measurements, such as performing positioning measurements on a terminal device.

302. The additional anchor UE receives the side positioning reference signal from the target UE according to the first identification information and/or the third identification information.

Correspondingly, the target UE sends a side positioning reference signal to the additional anchor UE.

The side positioning reference signal involved in the present application is used for positioning, such as PRS, DMRS or SLSS. PRS can also be called SL-PRS.

Optionally, the method also includes: obtaining the SCI corresponding to the side positioning reference signal. The SCI may include second identification information and/or fourth identification information. The second identification information may be an identification of the target UE. When the third identification information is used to identify the initialing anchor UE, the fourth identification information may be an identification of the initialing anchor UE. When the third identification information is used to identify the device group to which the initialing anchor UE belongs, the fourth identification information may be a group identification of the group to which the initialing anchor UE belongs. When the third identification information is used to identify the broadcast address, the fourth identification information may be broadcast address information.

When the additional anchor UE obtains the first identification information, when the second identification information is the same as the first identification information, the additional anchor UE receives the side positioning reference signal from the target UE.

When the additional anchor UE obtains the first identification information and the third identification information, when the second identification information is the same as the first identification information, and the fourth identification information is the same as the third identification information, the additional anchor UE receives the side positioning reference signal from the target UE.

When the additional anchor UE obtains the third identification information, when the fourth identification information is the same as the third identification information, the additional anchor UE receives the side positioning reference signal from the target UE.

303. The additional anchor UE performs positioning measurement according to the side positioning reference signal to obtain a first measurement result. For example, the additional anchor UE performs positioning measurement on the target UE according to the side positioning reference signal to obtain the first measurement result.

Among them, the first measurement result can be at least one of the following: RTOA, TOA, AOA, RSRP, RSRPP, path arrival time, path arrival angle, reference signal Doppler component, reference signal path Doppler component, target UE speed, etc. from target UE to additional anchor UE.

It should be pointed out that the RTOA involved in this application refers to the time when the receiving end receives the starting point of the subframe where the reference signal is located relative to the RTOA reference time. ToA refers to the time when the receiving end receives the starting point of the subframe where the reference signal is located; AOA refers to the azimuth and vertical angle of the reference signal relative to the reference direction. RSRP refers to the mean of the received signal power on the resource unit carrying the reference signal within the measurement time and measurement bandwidth configured by the reference signal. RSRPP refers to the mean of the received power of the resource unit carrying the reference signal on a certain delay path of the transmission channel within the measurement time and measurement bandwidth configured by the reference signal, wherein the RSRPP of the first delay path is the corresponding mean of the received power on the first detected (i.e., first detected) transmission path. Path arrival time refers to the time when the receiving end receives the corresponding received component of the reference signal on a certain path of the transmission channel. The time can be the time relative to the starting point of the subframe where the reference signal is located, the time relative to ToA, or the time relative to the arrival time of a certain path. Path arrival angle refers to the azimuth and vertical angle of the reference signal on a certain transmission path relative to the reference direction. The reference signal Doppler component refers to the arrival phase difference of the reference signal obtained by two consecutive measurements at the receiving end given the arrival time and arrival angle of the reference signal. The reference signal path Doppler component refers to the arrival phase difference of the reference signal on the transmission path obtained by two consecutive measurements at the receiving end given the arrival time and arrival angle of the reference signal transmission path. The target UE speed refers to the speed of the target device (such as the target UE in this application) measured by the receiving end based on the reference signal, including direction and size information.

In a possible implementation manner, before step 303, the method further includes: the additional anchor UE receives a first measurement request (measurement request) from the initialing anchor UE or the LMF, where the first measurement request is used to indicate a first positioning type, such as one or more of RTOA, TOA, AOA, RSRP, RSRPP, path arrival time, path arrival angle, reference signal Doppler component, reference signal path Doppler component, target UE speed, etc. from the target UE to the additional anchor UE. It should be understood that the first measurement result is consistent with the first positioning type. For example, if the first positioning type is RTOA from the target UE to the additional anchor UE, the first measurement result is RTOA. For another example, if the first positioning type includes AOA, RSRP, RSRPP and path arrival time, the first measurement result includes AOA, RSRP, RSRPP and path arrival time.

In the above implementation, the target UE's ProSe direct discovery process and the process of establishing a communication connection between the target UE and the additional anchor UE are reduced. Therefore, this can not only reduce the signaling overhead required for the target UE to perform ProSe direct discovery, but also reduce the signaling overhead required for the target UE to establish a communication connection with the additional anchor UE. At the same time, the positioning delay can also be reduced.

In a possible implementation, the method further includes: the additional anchor UE sends a first measurement result to the initialing anchor UE or the LMF. Specifically, in the case where the additional anchor UE obtains the first measurement request from the initialing anchor UE, the additional anchor UE sends the first measurement result to the initialing anchor UE. In the case where the additional anchor UE obtains the first measurement request from the LMF, the additional anchor UE sends the first measurement result to the LMF. This allows the initialing anchor UE or the LMF to obtain the first measurement result, and then determine the location information of the target UE based on the first measurement result.

The present application also provides an embodiment shown in FIG4 , which may include the following steps:

401. The target UE generates first identification information, and the first identification information is used for the additional anchor UE to perform positioning measurement. No communication link is established between the target UE and the additional anchor UE.

Among them, regarding the first identification information, please refer to the relevant description of step 301 in Figure 3, which will not be repeated here.

402. The target UE sends the first identification information to the initialing anchor UE.

Correspondingly, the initialing anchor UE receives the first identification information from the target UE.

Optionally, before step 402, the method further includes: the target UE determines the initialing anchor UE. For example, the target UE determines a second candidate anchor UE with the best channel condition among the multiple second candidate anchor UEs as the initialing anchor UE based on the channel condition between the target UE and the multiple second candidate devices (referred to as second candidate anchor UEs).

The channel conditions involved in the present application may include, for example, at least one of the following: RSRP, RSRQ, path loss, or path type. The path type includes LOS and/or NLOS.

Exemplarily, the SINR of candidate anchor UE1 is greater than the SINR of candidate anchor UE2, and the SINR of candidate anchor UE2 is greater than the SINR of candidate anchor UE3. The path loss of candidate anchor UE1 is less than the path loss of candidate anchor UE2, and the path loss of candidate anchor UE2 is less than the path loss of candidate anchor UE3. The path type of candidate anchor UE1 is LOS, the path type of candidate anchor UE2 is LOS, and the path type of candidate anchor UE3 is NLOS. Among the three candidate anchor UEs, the channel condition of candidate anchor UE1 is the best, so the target UE uses candidate anchor UE1 as the initialing anchor UE.

In a possible implementation, the first identification information may be carried in a direct link establishment request (directlinkestablishmentrequest) message, where the direct link establishment request message is used to request establishment of a sidelink between the target UE and the initialing anchor UE. This application does not limit the process of establishing a sidelink between the target UE and the initialing anchor UE.

It should be noted that step 402 may be an optional step. For example, if the additional anchor UE may receive the side positioning reference signal from the target UE according to the third identification information, in this case, step 402 may not be performed.

After step 402, step 403 may be performed; or steps 404 to 406 may be performed. For the sake of distinction, in FIG4 , step 403 is regarded as one implementation mode, such as mode 1, and steps 404 to 406 are regarded as another implementation mode, such as mode 2.

Method 1:

403. The initialing anchor UE sends the first identification information and/or the third identification information to the additional anchor UE.

Correspondingly, the additional anchor UE receives the first identification information and/or third identification information from the initialing anchor UE.

Among them, the third identification information can refer to the relevant description of step 301 in Figure 3, which will not be repeated here.

Method 2:

404. The initialing anchor UE sends the third identification information to the target UE.

Correspondingly, the target UE receives the third identification information from the initialing anchor UE.

In one possible implementation, the third identification information may be carried in a direct link establishment accept message, which is used to indicate that the sidelink between the target UE and the initializing anchor UE has been successfully established.

It should be noted that step 404 is an optional step. If the additional anchor UE can receive the side positioning reference signal from the target UE according to the first identification information, in this case, step 404 may not be performed.

405. The target UE sends the first identification information and/or the third identification information to the LMF.

Correspondingly, the LMF receives the first identification information and/or the third identification information from the target UE.

406. The LMF sends the first identification information and/or the third identification information to the additional anchor UE.

Correspondingly, the additional anchor UE receives the first identification information and/or third identification information from the LMF.

In the above implementation, the target UE's ProSe direct discovery process and the process of establishing a communication connection between the target UE and the additional anchor UE are reduced. Therefore, this can not only reduce the signaling overhead required for the target UE to perform ProSe direct discovery, but also reduce the signaling overhead required for the target UE to establish a communication connection with the additional anchor UE.

In a possible implementation, the method further includes: the initialing anchor UE receives a side positioning reference signal from the target UE according to the first identification information and/or the third identification information; the initialing anchor UE performs positioning measurement according to the side positioning reference signal to obtain a second measurement result, such as the initialing anchor UE performs positioning measurement on the target UE according to the side positioning reference signal to obtain the second measurement result. This indicates that the initialing anchor UE can perform positioning measurement on the target UE according to the side positioning reference signal.

Among them, the second measurement result includes at least one of the following: one or more of RTOA, TOA, AOA, RSRP, RSRPP, path arrival time, path arrival angle, reference signal Doppler component, reference signal path Doppler component, target UE speed, etc. from the target UE to the initialing anchor UE.

Optionally, the method also includes: initialing anchor UE obtains SCI corresponding to the side positioning reference signal, and the SCI is similar to the relevant description of step 302 in Figure 3, which is not repeated here.

When the initialing anchor UE obtains the first identification information, when the second identification information is the same as the first identification information, the initialing anchor UE receives the side positioning reference signal from the target UE.

When the initialing anchor UE obtains the first identification information and the third identification information, when the second identification information is the same as the first identification information, and the fourth identification information is the same as the third identification information, the initialing anchor UE receives the side positioning reference signal from the target UE.

When the initialing anchor UE obtains the third identification information, when the fourth identification information is the same as the third identification information, the initialing anchor UE receives the side positioning reference signal from the target UE.

The present application also provides an embodiment shown in FIG5 , which may include the following steps:

501. The target UE generates first information, where the first information is used to request to determine an additional anchor UE, and the additional anchor UE is used to perform positioning measurement on the target UE. No communication link is established between the target UE and the additional anchor UE.

After step 501, step 502 and step 503 may be performed; or step 504 and step 505 may be performed. For the sake of distinction, in FIG5 , step 502 and step 503 are regarded as one implementation mode, such as mode A, and step 504 and step 505 are regarded as another implementation mode, such as mode B.

Method A

502. The initialing anchor UE receives the first information from the target UE.

Correspondingly, the target UE sends the first information to the initialing anchor UE. At this time, the first information is used to request the determination of the additional anchor UE, which can be understood as the first information is used to request the initialing anchor UE to determine the additional anchor UE that participates in positioning the target UE.

The first information may be carried in an SCI, a media access control (MAC) control element (CE) or a location information request (locationinformationrequest).

503. Initialing anchor UE determines additional anchor UE.

Optionally, step 503 may include: the initialing anchor UE determines an additional anchor UE, such as at least one additional anchor UE, from multiple first candidate anchor UEs according to prior information between the initialing anchor UE and multiple first candidate devices (recorded as first candidate anchor UEs). Optionally, this may be performed before step 403. In this way, the speed at which the initialing anchor UE determines the additional anchor UE can be accelerated, thereby reducing the positioning delay.

The prior information between the initialing anchor UE and the multiple first candidate anchor UEs may be information sent by the target UE to the initialing anchor UE on the first sidelink, such as sent together with the first identification information in step 402, or sent separately; or, the prior information may be determined by the initialing anchor UE itself, which is not limited here. Optionally, the prior information may include at least one of the following: the position of each first candidate anchor UE among the multiple first candidate anchor UEs, the communication connection relationship between the initialing anchor UE and the multiple first candidate anchor UEs, the historical multicast or unicast context information corresponding to each first candidate anchor UE among the multiple first candidate anchor UEs, and the channel condition between the initialing anchor UE and the multiple first candidate anchor UEs.

In one possible implementation, the position of the first candidate anchor UE involved in the present application may include at least one of the following: the longitude and latitude coordinates of the first candidate anchor UE or the longitude and latitude coordinate interval value of the longitude and latitude coordinates. In another possible implementation, the position of the first candidate anchor UE involved in the present application may include at least one of the following: the cell where the first candidate anchor UE is located or the tracking area where the first candidate anchor UE is located. In another possible implementation, the position of the first candidate anchor UE involved in the present application may be the relative position of the first candidate anchor UE, such as the direction and distance of the first candidate anchor UE relative to the initialing anchor UE, or the first candidate anchor UE. The direction and distance of the UE relative to a certain base station (the base station may or may not cover the initialing anchor UE).

In one possible implementation, the communication connection relationship between the initialing anchor UE and any one of the multiple first candidate anchor UEs may include a previously established communication connection or no established communication connection. In another possible implementation, the communication connection relationship between the initialing anchor UE and any one of the multiple first candidate anchor UEs may include an established communication connection or no established communication connection. When the initialing anchor UE uses a first candidate anchor UE as an additional anchor UE, and the communication connection relationship between the initialing anchor UE and the first candidate anchor UE is a previously established communication connection, the initialing anchor UE may establish a communication connection with the first candidate anchor UE based on the historical unicast context information or historical multicast context information corresponding to the first candidate anchor UE. When the initialing anchor UE takes a first candidate anchor UE as an additional anchor UE, and the communication connection relationship between the initialing anchor UE and the first candidate anchor UE is that the communication connection is not established, the initialing anchor UE can establish a communication connection with the first candidate anchor UE.

The historical unicast context information corresponding to each first candidate anchor UE among the multiple first candidate anchor UEs may include at least one of the following: an identifier of the first candidate anchor UE (such as L1 ID, L2 ID or L3 ID of the first candidate device), a historical service type identifier between the initialing anchor UE and the multiple first candidate anchor UEs, a V2X service quality characteristic identifier corresponding to the historical sidelink between the initialing anchor UE and the multiple first candidate devices, etc. The historical multicast context information corresponding to each first candidate anchor UE among the multiple first candidate anchor UEs may include at least one of the following: a group identifier of the group to which the first candidate anchor UE belongs, a historical service type identifier between the initialing anchor UE and the multiple first candidate anchor UEs, and a V2X service quality characteristic identifier corresponding to the historical sidelink between the initialing anchor UE and the multiple first candidate anchor UEs.

It should be noted that the historical service type identifier involved in this application can be used to identify the V2X service type on the PC5 link, such as positioning service information or road warning information, etc. The service quality characteristic identifier can be used to identify the service quality of the PC5 link, such as scheduling priority, etc.

Method B

504. LMF receives the first information from the target UE.

Correspondingly, the target UE sends the first information to the LMF. At this time, the first information is used to request the determination of the additional anchor UE, which can be understood as the first information is used to request the LMF to determine the additional anchor UE participating in the positioning of the target UE.

The first information may be carried in an additional anchor UE request (additional anchor UErequest) message.

505. LMF determines the additional anchor UE.

In a possible implementation, the method further includes: the LMF receives third identification information from the target UE; the LMF determines, based on the third identification information, prior information between the initialing anchor UE and a plurality of first candidate devices; step 505 includes: the LMF determines, based on the prior information, additional anchor UEs, such as at least one additional anchor UE, from the plurality of first candidate devices. This can speed up the speed at which the LMF determines the additional anchor UE, thereby reducing the positioning delay.

Among them, the third identification information can refer to the relevant description of step 301 in Figure 3, which will not be repeated here.

Optionally, LMF determines the prior information between the initialing anchor UE and multiple first candidate devices based on the third identification information, which may include: LMF obtains the correspondence between the third identification information and the prior information; LMF determines the prior information based on the third identification information and the correspondence.

It should be noted that the prior information mentioned in step 505 is similar to the prior information involved in step 503 and is not described in detail here.

In the above implementation, after obtaining the first information, the initialing anchor UE or LMF can determine the additional anchor UEs participating in positioning the target UE, which indicates that the target UE does not need to perform ProSe direct discovery, thereby reducing the signaling overhead required for the target UE to perform ProSe direct discovery and also reducing the positioning delay.

In a possible implementation, the embodiments shown in FIG. 3 to FIG. 5 can be respectively used as an independent embodiment. Or, one or more steps in FIG. 3 and one or more steps in FIG. 4 can be combined into a new embodiment. For example, in step 301, when the additional anchor UE obtains the first identification information and/or the third identification information through the initialing anchor UE, step 403 in FIG. 4 is a specific implementation of step 301 in FIG. 3. At this time, step 401 and step 402 in FIG. 4 can be executed before step 301. For another example, when the additional anchor UE obtains the first identification information and/or the third identification information through the LMF, step 406 in FIG. 4 is a specific implementation of step 301 in FIG. 3. At this time, step 401, step 404 to step 405 in FIG. 4 can be executed before step 301.

Further, on the basis of combining one or more steps in FIG. 3 with one or more steps in FIG. 4 to form a new embodiment, one or more steps in FIG. 5 may also be combined with the new embodiment. For example, before step 403, steps 501 to 503 may be performed. For another example, before step 406, steps 501, 504, and 505 may be performed.

Optionally, the first identification information in step 402 and the first information in step 502 may be carried in the same message or in different messages. Similarly, the identification information (such as the first identification information and/or the third identification information) sent in step 405 and the first information in step 504 may be carried in in the same message or in different messages.

The above embodiments include many possible implementation schemes. Taking the additional anchor UE or initialing anchor UE receiving the side positioning reference signal from the target UE according to the first identification information as an example, some of the implementation schemes are illustrated in conjunction with Figures 6 to 8. It should be noted that the related concepts, operations or logical relationships not explained in Figures 6 to 8 can refer to the corresponding descriptions in the embodiments shown in Figures 3 to 5, and therefore will not be repeated.

See Figure 6, which is a flow chart of a positioning method under network coverage provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 6, the method includes but is not limited to the following steps:

601. LMF sends a positioning request (position request) to the target UE, where the positioning request is used to request positioning measurement of the target UE.

Correspondingly, the target UE receives a positioning request from the LMF.

In a possible implementation, the LMF may send the positioning request to the AMF, the AMF sends the positioning request to the gNB, and the gNB sends the positioning request to the target UE.

Among them, before step 601, LMF can also obtain the positioning capability of the target UE (such as the target UE's processing capability of the reference signal, etc.), etc. The specific process is not limited here.

602. The target UE determines the initialing anchor UE.

Among them, step 602 can refer to the relevant description of step 402 in Figure 4, and will not be repeated here.

603. The target UE generates first information, and the first information is used to request to determine an additional anchor UE.

Among them, step 603 is similar to step 501 in Figure 5 and is not described again here.

604. The target UE sends the first information to the initialing anchor UE.

Correspondingly, the initialing anchor UE receives the first information from the target UE, and the first information can be carried in the SCI or MAC CE.

605. Initialing anchor UE determines additional anchor UE.

Among them, step 605 is similar to step 503 in Figure 5 and is not described again here.

Optionally, the method further includes: the initialing anchor UE sends second information to the target UE, where the second information is used to notify the target UE that the determination of the additional anchor UE has been completed. The second information can be carried in the SCI or the MAC CE.

606. The target UE generates first identification information.

Among them, step 606 is similar to step 401 in Figure 4 and is not described again here.

607. The target UE sends the first identification information to the initialing anchor UE.

Correspondingly, the initialing anchor UE receives the first identification information from the target UE.

608. Additional anchor UE receives the first identification information from initialing anchor UE.

Correspondingly, the initialing anchor UE sends the first identification information to the additional anchor UE.

609. LMF obtains the third identification information and the identification of the additional anchor UE. The third identification information can refer to the relevant description of step 301 in FIG. 3, which is not repeated here.

In one possible implementation, the LMF receives first identification information, third identification information and identification of additional anchor UEs from an initialing anchor UE.

It should be pointed out that, for the initialing anchor UE, the identification of the additional anchor UE, such as the L1 ID, L2 ID or L3 ID of the additional anchor UE, can be obtained from the additional anchor UE.

In another possible implementation, the LMF receives first identification information and an identification of an additional anchor UE from an initialing anchor UE. Optionally, before the LMF receives the first identification information and an identification of an additional anchor UE from the initialing anchor UE, the method further includes: the LMF receives third identification information from the target UE; and the LMF sends a first request message to the initialing anchor UE based on the third identification information, and the first request message is used to request the identification of the additional anchor UE. In this case, the first identification information and the identification of the additional anchor UE may be carried in a response message to the first request message. Optionally, before the LMF receives the third identification information from the target UE, the method further includes: the LMF sends a second request message to the target UE, and the second request message is used to request the third identification information. In this case, the third identification information may be carried in a response message to the second request message, for example.

In another possible implementation, the LMF receives third identification information and an identification of an additional anchor UE from the target UE. Optionally, before the LMF receives the third identification information and an identification of an additional anchor UE from the target UE, the method further includes: the LMF sends a third request message to the target UE, and the third request message is used to request the third identification information and the identification of the additional anchor UE. In this case, the third identification information and the identification of the additional anchor UE may be carried in a response message of the third request message, for example. It should be noted that, for the target UE, the identification of the additional anchor UE may be obtained from the initialing anchor UE.

The first request message, the second request message, and the third request message involved in step 609 may be referred to as anchor UE request messages. The response message of the first request message, the response message of the second request message, and the response message of the third request message may be referred to as anchor UE response messages.

610. LMF sends a second measurement request and a first measurement request to the initialing anchor UE and the additional anchor UE respectively according to the third identification information and the identification of the additional anchor UE.

Correspondingly, the initialing anchor UE receives the second measurement request from the LMF, and the additional anchor UE receives the first measurement request from the LMF.

The second measurement request is used to indicate the second positioning type, such as one or more of the RTOA, TOA, AOA, RSRP, RSRPP, path arrival time, path arrival angle, reference signal Doppler component, reference signal path Doppler component, target UE speed, etc. from the target UE to the initialing anchor UE. The first measurement request is used to indicate the first positioning type, such as one or more of the RTOA, TOA, AOA, RSRP, RSRPP, path arrival time, path arrival angle, reference signal Doppler component, reference signal path Doppler component, target UE speed, etc. from the target UE to the additional anchor UE.

It should be noted that in step 609, LMF can send the second measurement request and the first measurement request at the same time, or send the second measurement request first and then send the first measurement request, or send the first measurement request first and then send the second measurement request, which is not limited here.

611. The target UE sends a resource request message to the gNB, where the resource request message is used to request the first resource configuration of the sidelink positioning reference signal.

Accordingly, the gNB receives a resource request message from the target UE. Optionally, the resource request message may be referred to as a SL-PRS resource request (SL-PRS resource request) message.

Among them, regarding the side positioning reference signal, please refer to the relevant description of step 302 in Figure 3, which will not be repeated here.

The first resource configuration includes at least one of the following: configuration of time domain resources (including the period of periodic resources and the time slot level offset within the period, the symbol index within the time slot, etc.), configuration of frequency domain resources (including bandwidth, starting resource block (RB), frequency hopping configuration, frequency domain comb configuration) or the pattern of the side positioning reference signal, etc., which are not limited here. The pattern of the side positioning reference signal may refer to one or more resource elements (RE) within an RB of the side positioning reference signal in a time slot, the time domain length and frequency domain length of the side positioning reference signal resource, etc.

612. The gNB sends a response message to the resource request message to the target UE, where the response message to the resource request message includes the resource configuration.

Accordingly, the target UE receives a response message to the resource request message from the gNB. Optionally, the response message to the resource request message may be referred to as an SL-PRS resource response (SL-PRS resourceresponse) message.

Optionally, the method also includes: the target UE broadcasts the first resource configuration.

It should be noted that there is no necessary execution order between steps 611 to 612 and steps 602 to 610 in the embodiment of the present application. Steps 611 to 612 can be executed before or after any one of steps 602 to 610, or can be executed simultaneously with any one of steps 602 to 610.

613. The target UE sends a side positioning reference signal according to the first resource configuration.

Correspondingly, the additional anchor UE and the initialing anchor UE receive the side positioning reference signal from the target UE according to the first identification information.

Optionally, the target UE may also send an SCI according to the first resource configuration, and the SCI includes second identification information. For the second identification information, please refer to the relevant description of step 301 in Figure 3, which will not be repeated here. If the initialing anchor UE detects that the second identification information included in the SCI is the same as the first identification information, the initialing anchor UE comes from the side positioning reference signal of the target UE. Similarly, when the additional anchor UE detects that the second identification information included in the SCI is the same as the first identification information, the additional anchor UE comes from the side positioning reference signal of the target UE.

614. The additional anchor UE performs positioning measurement according to the side positioning reference signal to obtain a first measurement result.

Among them, step 614 is similar to step 303 in Figure 3 and is not described again here.

615. The initialing anchor UE performs positioning measurement according to the side positioning reference signal to obtain a second measurement result.

Among them, the second measurement result can refer to the relevant description of Figure 4, which is not repeated here. It should be understood that the second measurement result is associated with the second positioning type. For example, if the second positioning type is RTOA from the target UE to the initialing anchor UE, the second measurement result is RTOA. For another example, the second positioning type includes AOA, RSRP, RSRPP and path arrival time, and the second measurement result includes AOA, RSRP, RSRPP and path arrival time.

It should be noted that there is no necessary execution order between step 614 and step 615 in the embodiment of the present application. Step 614 can be executed before or after step 615, or simultaneously with step 615.

616. The LMF receives a first measurement result from the additional anchor UE.

Correspondingly, the additional anchor UE sends the first measurement result to the LMF.

The first measurement result may be carried in a response message of the first measurement request, for example. The response message of the first measurement request may be referred to as a measurement response (measurement response) message or a measurement report (measurement report).

617. LMF receives the second measurement result from the initialing anchor UE.

Correspondingly, the initialing anchor UE sends the second measurement result to the LMF.

The second measurement result may be carried in a response message of the second measurement request, for example. The response message of the second measurement request may be called a measurementresponse message or a measurementreport.

It should be noted that there is no necessary execution order between step 616 and step 617 in the embodiment of the present application. Step 616 can be executed before or after step 617, or simultaneously with step 617.

618. LMF determines the location information of the target UE based on the first measurement result and the second measurement result.

In one possible implementation, the location information of the target UE may be geographic location coordinates in a certain location system (e.g., the global positioning system (GPS) or the Beidou satellite system).

In the above embodiment, in the network coverage scenario, the initialing anchor UE determines the additional anchor UE, which reduces the ProSe direct discovery process of the target UE and the process of establishing a communication connection between the target UE and the additional anchor UE. Therefore, this can not only reduce the signaling overhead required for the target UE to perform ProSe direct discovery, but also reduce the signaling overhead required for the target UE to establish a communication connection with the additional anchor UE, and also reduce the positioning delay.

See Figure 7, which is a flow chart of a positioning method without network coverage provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 7, the method includes but is not limited to the following steps:

Among them, steps 702 to 708 in FIG. 7 are similar to steps 602 to 608 in FIG. 6 , respectively, except that:

701. The target UE is pre-configured with the second resource configuration of the side positioning reference signal.

The second resource configuration may include a pattern of a sideline positioning reference signal. For the pattern of the sideline positioning reference signal, reference may be made to the related description of step 611 in FIG6 , which will not be described in detail here.

Optionally, UEs around the target UE may also be pre-configured with a second resource configuration. The UEs around the target UE may be understood as one or more UEs that may participate in locating the target UE.

709. The initialing anchor UE sends a first measurement request to the additional anchor UE.

Correspondingly, the additional anchor UE receives the first measurement request from the initialing anchor UE.

The first measurement request is used to indicate the first positioning type, such as one or more of RTOA, TOA, AOA, RSRP, RSRPP, path arrival time, path arrival angle, side positioning reference signal Doppler component, side positioning reference signal path Doppler component, target UE speed, etc. from the target UE to the additional anchor UE.

Optionally, the first identification information in step 708 and the first measurement request in step 709 may be carried in the same message or in different messages, which is not limited here.

710. The target UE sends a side positioning reference signal according to the second resource configuration.

Correspondingly, the additional anchor UE and the initialing anchor UE receive the side positioning reference signal from the target UE according to the first identification information.

Optionally, the target UE may also send an SCI according to the second resource configuration, and the SCI includes second identification information. For the second identification information, please refer to the relevant description of step 301 in Figure 3, which will not be repeated here. If the initialing anchor UE detects that the second identification information included in the SCI is the same as the first identification information, the initialing anchor UE comes from the side positioning reference signal of the target UE. Similarly, when the additional anchor UE detects that the second identification information included in the SCI is the same as the first identification information, the additional anchor UE comes from the side positioning reference signal of the target UE.

Optionally, before step 710, the method may further include: the target UE determines the sidelink resource according to the sidelink resource perception result; step 710 may include: the target UE sends a sidelink positioning reference signal on the first sidelink according to the second resource configuration and the sidelink resource. Specifically, the target UE may obtain the resources reserved by other UEs by sensing a certain SCI, and determine a resource set based on the resources reserved by other UEs, such as the target UE measures the RSRP of the channel signal for the resources reserved by other UEs, and excludes resources with higher RSRP energy from the resources reserved by other UEs to obtain a resource set. Conversely, if a certain RSRP measurement result is less than or equal to a certain threshold, the target UE may consider that the channel is not occupied and the corresponding resource is available. In this way, the target UE can determine one or more available resources. Further, the target UE can select a sidelink resource from the resource set, such as the target UE selects any one resource from the resource set as the sidelink resource.

711. The additional anchor UE performs positioning measurement according to the sidetrack positioning reference signal to obtain a first measurement result.

Among them, step 711 is similar to step 614 in Figure 6 and is not described again here.

712. The initialing anchor UE receives the first measurement result from the additional anchor UE.

Correspondingly, the additional anchor UE sends the first measurement result to the initialing anchor UE.

713. The initialing anchor UE performs positioning measurement according to the side positioning reference signal to obtain a second measurement result.

Among them, step 713 is similar to step 615 in Figure 6 and is not described again here.

It should be noted that there is no necessary execution order between step 713 and step 711 to step 712. For example, step 713 can be executed before or after any one of step 711 and step 712, or can be executed simultaneously with any one of step 711 and step 712.

714. The initialing anchor UE determines the location information of the target UE based on the first measurement result and the second measurement result.

In one possible implementation, the location information of the target UE may be the geographic location coordinates in a certain location system (e.g., GPS or Beidou satellite system).

715. The target UE receives the location information of the target UE from the initialing anchor UE.

Correspondingly, the initialing anchor UE sends the location information of the target UE to the target UE.

Among them, the location information of the target UE can be carried in the positioning information response (locationinformationresponse) message.

It should be noted that the first information involved in step 704 can be carried in locationinformationrequest. The locationinformationrequest can be used to indicate the second positioning type, such as one or more of RTOA, TOA, AOA, RSRP, RSRPP, path arrival time, path arrival angle, side positioning reference signal Doppler component, side positioning reference signal path Doppler component, target UE speed, etc. from the target UE to the initialing anchor UE.

In the above embodiment, in the scenario without network coverage, the initialing anchor UE determines the additional anchor UE, which reduces the ProSe direct discovery process of the target UE and the process of establishing a communication connection between the target UE and the additional anchor UE. Therefore, this can not only reduce the signaling overhead required for the target UE to perform ProSe direct discovery, but also reduce the signaling overhead required for the target UE to establish a communication connection with the additional anchor UE, and can also reduce the positioning delay.

Referring to FIG8 , FIG8 is a flow chart of another positioning method under network coverage provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG8 , the method includes but is not limited to the following steps:

Among them, steps 801 to 802 in FIG. 8 are similar to steps 602 to 603 in FIG. 6 , steps 804 to 805 in FIG. 8 are similar to steps 504 to 505 in FIG. 5 , and steps 811 to 819 in FIG. 8 are similar to steps 610 to 618 in FIG. 6 , respectively, except that:

803. The target UE sends a positioning request to the LMF, where the positioning request is used to request positioning measurement for the target UE.

Accordingly, in a possible implementation, the target UE may send the positioning request to the gNB, the gNB sends the positioning request to the AMF, and the AMF sends the positioning request to the LMF.

It should be noted that there is no necessary order of execution between step 802 and step 803 , such as step 802 can be executed before or after step 803 , or simultaneously with step 803 .

806. The target UE generates first identification information.

Among them, the first identification information can refer to the relevant description of step 301 in Figure 3, which will not be repeated here.

807. The target UE sends the first identification information to the initialing anchor UE and LMF respectively.

Correspondingly, the initialing anchor UE and LMF receive the first identification information from the target UE.

808. LMF sends the first identification information to the additional anchor UE.

Correspondingly, the additional anchor UE receives the first identification information from the LMF.

809. The target UE receives the third information from the LMF, and the third information is used to notify the LMF that the determination of the additional anchor UE has been completed.

Correspondingly, the LMF sends the third information to the target UE. Optionally, the third information can be carried in an additional anchor UE response message.

Among them, step 809 may be an optional step.

810. LMF receives the third identification information from the target UE.

Correspondingly, the target UE sends the third identification information to the LMF. It should be noted that, for the target UE, the third identification information can be obtained from the initialing anchor UE. The third identification information can refer to the relevant description of step 301 in Figure 3, which is not repeated here.

In a possible implementation, the first information in step 804 may be carried in the same message or in different messages with at least one of the following: the first identification information in step 807, the third identification information in step 810, etc., which are not limited here. Optionally, the first identification information in 807 and the third identification information in step 810 may be carried in the same message or in different messages, which are not limited here.

820. The target UE receives the location information of the target UE from the LMF.

Correspondingly, LMF sends the location information of target UE to target UE.

In the above embodiment, in the network coverage scenario, the additional anchor UE is determined by the LMF, which reduces the ProSe direct discovery process of the target UE and the process of establishing a communication connection between the target UE and the additional anchor UE. Therefore, this can not only reduce the signaling overhead required for the target UE to perform ProSe direct discovery, but also reduce the signaling overhead required for the target UE to establish a communication connection with the additional anchor UE, and also reduce the positioning delay.

It should be noted that the embodiment shown in FIG. 6 or FIG. 8 may be applicable to mode 1 in a V2X communication scenario, and the embodiment shown in FIG. 7 may be applicable to mode 2 in a V2X communication scenario.

The above mainly introduces the solution provided by the present application from the perspective of interaction between various devices. It is understandable that in order to realize the above functions, the above-mentioned implementation devices include hardware structures and/or software modules corresponding to the execution of various functions. It should be easily appreciated by those skilled in the art that, in combination with the units and algorithm steps of each example described in the embodiments disclosed herein, the present application can be implemented in the form of hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is executed in the form of hardware or computer software driving hardware depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Professional and technical personnel can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered to be beyond the scope of the present application.

The embodiment of the present application can divide the target UE, initialing anchor UE, additional anchor UE or LMF into functional modules according to the above method example. For example, each functional module can be divided according to each function, or two or more functions can be integrated into one processing module. The above integrated module can be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of software functional modules. It should be noted that the division of modules in the embodiment of the present application is schematic and is only a logical functional division. There may be other division methods in actual implementation.

Referring to FIG. 9 , FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. The communication device 900 can be applied to the method shown in any one of the embodiments of FIG. 3 to FIG. 8 above. As shown in FIG. 9 , the communication device 900 includes: a processing module 901 and a transceiver module 902. The processing module 901 can be one or more processors, and the transceiver module 902 can be a transceiver or a communication interface. The communication device can be used to implement the target UE, initialing anchor UE, additional anchor UE or LMF involved in any of the above method embodiments, or to implement the functions of the network element involved in any of the above method embodiments. The network element or network function can be a network element in a hardware device, a software function running on dedicated hardware, or a virtualized function instantiated on a platform (e.g., a cloud platform). Optionally, the communication device 900 can also include a storage module 903 for storing program code and data of the communication device 900.

In one embodiment, when the communication device serves as an additional anchor UE or a chip used in an additional anchor UE, and executes the steps performed by the additional anchor UE in the above method embodiment. The transceiver module 902 is used to support communication with the initialing anchor UE, gNB, LMF, etc. The transceiver module specifically performs the sending and/or receiving actions performed by the additional anchor UE in any one of the embodiments shown in Figures 3 to 8, such as supporting the additional anchor UE to perform other processes of the technology described in this document. The processing module 901 can be used to support the communication device 900 to perform the processing actions in the above method embodiment, for example, supporting the additional anchor UE to perform step 303, and/or other processes of the technology described in this document.

Specifically, the transceiver module 902 is used to obtain first identification information, where the first identification information is used to identify the target UE, and no communication link is established between the target UE and the additional anchor UE; the transceiver module 902 is also used to receive a side positioning reference signal from the target UE according to the first identification information; the processing module 901 is used to perform positioning measurement according to the side positioning reference signal to obtain a first measurement result.

In a possible implementation, the transceiver module 902 is also used to receive third identification information from the initialing anchor UE or LMF, where the third identification information is used to identify the initialing anchor UE, the device group or broadcast address where the initialing anchor UE is located; the SCI also includes fourth identification information. When receiving the side positioning reference signal from the target UE, the transceiver module 902 is used to receive the side positioning reference signal from the target UE when the second identification information is the same as the first identification information and the fourth identification information is the same as the third identification information.

In a possible implementation, the transceiver module 902 is also used to receive a first measurement request from an initialing anchor UE or LMF, where the first measurement request is used to indicate a first positioning type.

In a possible implementation, the transceiver module 902 is also used to send the first measurement result to the initialing anchor UE or LMF.

In a possible implementation, the transceiver module 902 is also used to send the identifier of the additional anchor UE to the initialing anchor UE.

In one example, when the communication device is used as an initialing anchor UE or a chip used in an initialing anchor UE, and executes the steps performed by the initialing anchor UE in the above method embodiment. The transceiver module 902 is used to support communication with the target UE, additional anchor UE, gNB, LMF, etc. The transceiver module specifically executes the steps performed by the initialing anchor UE in any of the embodiments shown in Figures 3 to 8. The processing module 901 may be used to support the communication device 900 to perform the processing actions in the above method embodiment, for example, supporting the initialing anchor UE to perform step 503, and/or other processes of the technology described in this document.

Exemplarily, the transceiver module 902 is used to: receive first identification information from a target UE, where the first identification information is used for an additional anchor UE to perform positioning measurement, and no communication link is established between the target UE and the additional anchor UE; and send the first identification information to the additional anchor UE.

In a possible implementation, the processing module 901 is further used to determine at least one additional anchor UE from multiple first candidate devices based on prior information between the initialing anchor UE and the multiple first candidate devices; wherein the prior information includes at least one of the following: the position of the first candidate device, the communication connection relationship between the initialing anchor UE and the first candidate device, historical unicast context information or historical multicast context information corresponding to the first candidate device, and the channel condition between the initialing anchor UE and the first candidate device.

In a possible implementation, the transceiver module 902 is also used to receive first information from the target UE, where the first information is used to request determination of an additional anchor UE.

In a possible implementation, the transceiver module 902 is further used to: receive an additional anchor UE identifier from an additional anchor UE; and send first identification information, the additional anchor UE identifier and third identification information to the LMF, wherein the third identification information is used to identify the initialing anchor UE, the device group or broadcast address where the initialing anchor UE is located.

In a possible implementation, the transceiver module 902 is further used to: receive the identifier of the additional anchor UE from the additional anchor UE; and send the first identifier information and the identifier of the additional anchor UE to the LMF.

In a possible implementation, the transceiver module 902 is also used to receive a first request message from the LMF, where the first request message is used to request an identifier of an additional anchor UE.

In a possible implementation, the transceiver module 902 is further used to: receive the identifier of the additional anchor UE from the additional anchor UE; and send the identifier of the additional anchor UE to the target UE.

In a possible implementation, the transceiver module 902 is further used to send third identification information to the additional anchor UE or the target UE, where the third identification information is used to identify the initialing anchor UE, the device group where the initialing anchor UE is located, or the broadcast address.

In a possible implementation, the processing module 901 is further used to: receive a sidetrack positioning reference signal from the target UE according to the first identification information; and perform positioning measurement according to the sidetrack positioning reference signal to obtain a second measurement result.

In one possible implementation, the transceiver module 902 is also used to obtain the SCI corresponding to the side positioning reference signal; when receiving the side positioning reference signal from the target UE according to the first identification information, the transceiver module 902 is used to receive the side positioning reference signal from the target UE when the second identification information included in the SCI is the same as the first identification information.

In a possible implementation, the transceiver module 902 is further configured to receive a second measurement request from the LMF, where the second measurement request is used to indicate a second positioning type.

In a possible implementation, the transceiver module 902 is further used to receive a first measurement result from an additional anchor UE; the processing module 901 is further used to determine the location information of the target UE based on the second measurement result and the first measurement result; the transceiver module 902 is further used to send the location information of the target UE to the target UE.

In a possible implementation, the transceiver module 902 is also used to send a first measurement request to the additional anchor UE, where the first measurement request is used to indicate a first positioning type.

Also exemplarily, the transceiver module 902 is used to receive first information from the target UE, where the first information is used to request to determine an additional anchor UE, and the additional anchor UE is used to perform positioning measurement on the target UE, and no communication link is established between the target UE and the additional anchor UE; the processing module 901 is used to determine the additional anchor UE.

In one possible implementation, when determining an additional anchor UE, the processing module 901 is used to determine the additional anchor UE from multiple first candidate devices based on prior information between the initialing anchor UE and the multiple first candidate devices; wherein the prior information includes at least one of the following: the position of the first candidate device, the communication connection relationship between the initialing anchor UE and the first candidate device, the historical unicast context information or historical multicast context information corresponding to the first candidate device, and the channel condition between the initialing anchor UE and the first candidate device.

In a possible implementation, the transceiver module 902 is further used to: receive first identification information from the target UE, where the first identification information is used to identify the target UE; and send the first identification information to an additional anchor UE.

In a possible implementation, the transceiver module 902 is further used to: receive an additional anchor UE identifier from an additional anchor UE; send first identification information, the additional anchor UE identifier and third identification information to the LMF, wherein the third identification information is used to identify the initialing anchor UE, the device group or broadcast address where the initialing anchor UE is located.

In a possible implementation, the transceiver module 902 is further used to: receive the identifier of the additional anchor UE from the additional anchor UE; and send the first identifier information and the identifier of the additional anchor UE to the LMF.

In a possible implementation, the transceiver module 902 is also used to receive a first request message from the LMF, where the first request message is used to request an identifier of an additional anchor UE.

In a possible implementation, the transceiver module 902 is further used to: receive the identifier of the additional anchor UE from the additional anchor UE; and send the identifier of the additional anchor UE to the target UE.

In a possible implementation, the transceiver module 902 is also used to send third identification information to the additional anchor UE or the target UE, where the third identification information is used to identify the initialing anchor UE, the device group where the initialing anchor UE is located, or the broadcast address.

In a possible implementation, the transceiver module 902 is further used to receive a side positioning reference signal from the target UE according to the first identification information; the processing module 901 is further used to perform positioning measurement according to the side positioning reference signal to obtain a second measurement result.

In a possible implementation, the transceiver module 902 is also used to obtain the SCI corresponding to the side positioning reference signal; when receiving the side positioning reference signal from the target UE according to the first identification information, the transceiver module 902 is used to receive the side positioning reference signal from the target UE when the second identification information included in the SCI is the same as the first identification information.

In a possible implementation, the transceiver module 902 is further configured to receive a second measurement request from the LMF, where the second measurement request is used to indicate a second positioning type.

In a possible implementation, the transceiver module 902 is further used to receive a first measurement result from an additional anchor UE; the processing module 901 is further used to determine the location information of the target UE based on the second measurement result and the first measurement result; the transceiver module 902 is further used to send the location information of the target UE to the target UE.

In a possible implementation, the transceiver module 902 is also used to send a first measurement request to the additional anchor UE, where the first measurement request is used to indicate a first positioning type.

In one embodiment, when the communication device acts as a target UE or a chip used in a target UE, and executes the steps performed by the target UE in the above method embodiment. The transceiver module 902 is used to support communication with the initialing anchor UE, gNB, LMF, etc. The transceiver module specifically performs the sending and/or receiving actions performed by the target UE in any one of the embodiments shown in Figures 3 to 8, such as supporting the target UE to perform other processes of the technology described in this document. The processing module 901 can be used to support the communication device 900 to perform the processing actions in the above method embodiment, for example, supporting the target UE to execute step 501, and/or other processes of the technology described in this document.

Exemplarily, the processing module 901 is used to generate first identification information, where the first identification information is used for additional anchor UE to perform positioning measurement, and no communication link is established between the target UE and the additional anchor UE; the transceiver module 902 is used to send the first identification information to the initialing anchor UE or LMF.

In a possible implementation, the transceiver module 902 is also used to send first information to the initialing anchor UE or LMF, where the first information is used to request to determine an additional anchor UE.

In a possible implementation, the transceiver module 902 is further used to: receive third identification information from the initialing anchor UE, where the third identification information is used to identify the initialing anchor UE, the device group or the broadcast address where the initialing anchor UE is located; and send the third identification information to the LMF.

In a possible implementation, the transceiver module 902 is further used to: receive a second request message from the LMF, where the second request message is used to request third identification information.

When sending the first information to the initialing anchor UE, the transceiver module 902 is further used to: receive the identifier of the additional anchor UE and the third identifier information from the initialing anchor UE, where the third identifier information is used to identify the initialing anchor UE, the device group or the broadcast address where the initialing anchor UE is located; and send the identifier of the additional anchor UE and the third identifier information to the LMF.

In a possible implementation, the transceiver module 902 is also used to receive a third request message from the LMF, where the third request message is used to request the identifier of the additional anchor UE and third identifier information.

In a possible implementation, the transceiver module 902 is also used to send a side positioning reference signal, which is used for additional anchor UE and initialing anchor UE to perform positioning measurements.

In a possible implementation, the transceiver module 902 is also used to receive the location information of the target UE from the initialing anchor UE.

Also illustratively, the processing module 901 is used to generate first information, where the first information is used to request to determine an additional anchor UE, where the additional anchor UE is used to perform positioning measurement on the target UE; the transceiver module 902 is used to send the first information to the initialing anchor UE or the LMF.

In a possible implementation, the transceiver module 902 is also used to send first identification information to the initialing anchor UE or LMF, where the first identification information is used to identify the target UE, and no communication link is established between the target UE and the additional anchor UE.

In a possible implementation, the transceiver module 902 is further used to: receive third identification information from the initialing anchor UE, where the third identification information is used to identify the initialing anchor UE, the device group or the broadcast address where the initialing anchor UE is located; and send the third identification information to the LMF.

In a possible implementation, the transceiver module 902 is further used to: receive a second request message from the LMF, where the second request message is used to request third identification information.

When sending the first information to the initialing anchor UE, the transceiver module 902 is further used to: receive the identifier of the additional anchor UE and the third identifier information from the initialing anchor UE, where the third identifier information is used to identify the initialing anchor UE, the device group or the broadcast address where the initialing anchor UE is located; and send the identifier of the additional anchor UE and the third identifier information to the LMF.

In a possible implementation, the transceiver module 902 is also used to receive a third request message from the LMF, where the third request message is used to request the identifier of the additional anchor UE and third identifier information.

In a possible implementation, the transceiver module 902 is also used to send a side positioning reference signal, which is used for additional anchor UE and initialing anchor UE to perform positioning measurements.

In a possible implementation, the transceiver module 902 is also used to receive the location information of the target UE from the initialing anchor UE.

In one embodiment, when the communication device acts as an LMF or a chip used in an LMF, and executes the steps performed by the LMF in the above method embodiment. The transceiver module 902 is used to support communication with the initialing anchor UE, target UE, additional anchor UE, gNB, LMF, etc. The transceiver module specifically performs the sending and/or receiving actions performed by the LMF in any one of the embodiments shown in Figures 3 to 8, such as supporting the LMF to perform other processes of the technology described in this document. The processing module 901 can be used to support the communication device 900 to perform the processing actions in the above method embodiment, for example, supporting the target UE to perform step 505, and/or other processes of the technology described in this document.

Exemplarily, the transceiver module 902 is used to: receive first identification information from a target UE, where the first identification information is used to identify the target UE, where no communication link is established between the target UE and an additional anchor UE, and where the additional anchor UE is used to perform positioning measurements on the target UE; and send the first identification information to the additional anchor UE.

In a possible implementation, the transceiver module 902 is used to receive first information from the target UE, where the first information is used to request to determine an additional anchor UE; the processing module 901 is used to determine the additional anchor UE.

In a possible implementation, the transceiver module 902 is further used to receive third identification information from the target UE, where the third identification information is used to identify the initialing anchor UE, the device group or broadcast address where the initialing anchor UE is located, and the initialing anchor UE is used to perform positioning measurement on the target UE; the processing module 901 is further used to determine the prior information between the initialing anchor UE and multiple first candidate devices based on the third identification information; when determining additional anchor UEs, the processing module 901 is used to determine the additional anchor UEs from the multiple first candidate devices based on the prior information.

In one possible implementation, the prior information includes at least one of the following: the location of the first candidate device, the communication connection relationship between the initialing anchor UE and the first candidate device, historical unicast context information or historical multicast context information corresponding to the first candidate device, and the channel condition between the initialing anchor UE and the first candidate device.

In a possible implementation, the transceiver module 902 is also used to send third identification information to an additional anchor UE.

Also exemplarily, the transceiver module 902 is used to receive first information from the target UE, where the first information is used to request to determine an additional anchor UE, and the additional anchor UE is used to perform positioning measurement on the target UE; the processing module 901 is used to determine the additional anchor UE.

In a possible implementation, the transceiver module 902 is further used to receive third identification information from the target UE, where the third identification information is used to identify the initialing anchor UE, the device group or broadcast address where the initialing anchor UE is located, and the initialing anchor UE is used to perform positioning measurement on the target UE; the processing module 901 is further used to determine the prior information between the initialing anchor UE and multiple first candidate devices based on the third identification information; when determining additional anchor UEs, the processing module 901 is used to determine the additional anchor UEs from the multiple first candidate devices based on the prior information.

In one possible implementation, the prior information includes at least one of the following: the location of the first candidate device, the communication connection relationship between the initialing anchor UE and the first candidate device, historical unicast context information or historical multicast context information corresponding to the first candidate device, and the channel condition between the initialing anchor UE and the first candidate device.

In a possible implementation manner, the transceiver module 902 is further configured to send third identification information to the additional anchor UE.

In a possible implementation, the transceiver module 902 is further used to: receive first identification information from the target UE, where the first identification information is used to identify the target UE, and no communication link is established between the target UE and the additional anchor UE; and send the first identification information to the additional anchor UE.

In a possible implementation, when the target UE, initialing anchor UE, additional anchor UE or LMF is a chip, the transceiver module 902 may be a communication interface, a pin or a circuit, etc. The communication interface may be used to input data to be processed to the processor, and may output the processing result of the processor to the outside. In a specific implementation, the communication interface may be a general purpose input output (GPIO) interface, which may be connected to multiple peripheral devices (such as a display (LCD), a camera (camara), a radio frequency (RF) module, an antenna, etc.). The communication interface is connected to the processor via a bus.

The processing module 901 may be a processor, which may execute computer-executable instructions stored in the storage module, so that the chip executes a method involved in any one of the embodiments shown in FIG. 3 to FIG. 8 .

Furthermore, the processor may include a controller, an arithmetic unit and a register. Exemplarily, the controller is mainly responsible for decoding instructions and issuing control signals for operations corresponding to the instructions. The arithmetic unit is mainly responsible for performing fixed-point or floating-point arithmetic operations, shift operations, and logical operations, etc., and may also perform address operations and conversions. The register is mainly responsible for storing register operands and intermediate operation results temporarily stored during the execution of instructions. In a specific implementation, the hardware architecture of the processor may be an ASIC architecture, a microprocessor without interlocked piped stages architecture (MIPS) architecture, an advanced RISC machines (ARM) architecture, or a second processor (NP) architecture, etc. The processor may be single-core or multi-core.

The storage module may be a storage module within the chip, such as a register, a cache, etc. The storage module may also be a storage module located outside the chip, such as a ROM or other types of static storage devices that can store static information and instructions, a RAM, etc.

It should be noted that the functions corresponding to the processor and the interface can be implemented through hardware design, software design, or a combination of hardware and software, and there is no limitation here.

FIG10 is a schematic diagram of a simplified UE structure provided in an embodiment of the present application. For ease of understanding and illustration, in FIG10, UE takes a mobile phone as an example. As shown in FIG10, the UE includes at least one processor, and may also include a radio frequency circuit, an antenna, and an input/output device. Among them, the processor may be used to process communication protocols and communication data, and may also be used to control the UE, execute software programs, process data of software programs, etc. The UE may also include a memory, which is mainly used to store software programs and data. These programs involved may be loaded into the memory when the communication device leaves the factory, or may be loaded into the memory when needed later. The radio frequency circuit is mainly used for conversion between baseband signals and radio frequency signals and processing of radio frequency signals. The antenna is mainly used to transmit and receive radio frequency signals in the form of electromagnetic waves, and the antenna is the antenna provided in an embodiment of the present application. Input/output devices, such as touch screens, display screens, keyboards, etc., are mainly used to receive data input by users and output data to users. It should be noted that some types of UE may not have input/output devices.

When data needs to be sent, the processor performs baseband processing on the data to be sent, and then outputs the baseband signal to the RF circuit. The RF circuit performs RF processing on the baseband signal and then sends the RF signal outward in the form of electromagnetic waves through the antenna. When data is sent to the UE, the RF circuit receives the RF signal through the antenna, converts the RF signal into a baseband signal, and outputs the baseband signal to the processor. The processor converts the baseband signal into data and processes the data. For ease of explanation, only one memory and processor are shown in Figure 10. In an actual UE product, there may be one or more processors and one or more memories. The memory may also be referred to as a storage medium or a storage device, etc. The memory may be set independently of the processor or integrated with the processor, and the embodiments of the present application do not limit this.

In the embodiment of the present application, the antenna and the radio frequency circuit with transceiver functions can be regarded as the receiving unit and the sending unit of the UE (also collectively referred to as the transceiver unit), and the processor with the processing function can be regarded as the processing unit of the UE. As shown in Figure 10, the UE includes a receiving module 31, a processing module 32 and a sending module 33. The receiving module 31 can also be called a receiver, a receiver, a receiving circuit, etc., and the sending module 33 can also be called a transmitter, a transmitter, a transmitter, a transmitting circuit, etc. The processing module 32 can also be called a processor, a processing board, a processing device, etc.

For example, the processing module 32 is used to execute the functions of the target UE, initialing anchor UE or additional anchor UE in any one of the embodiments shown in Figures 3 to 8.

An embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, which includes at least one processor and a memory; wherein the memory is used to store computer programs or instructions; and at least one processor is used to execute the computer programs or instructions in the memory, so that any method described in any one of the embodiments shown in Figures 3 to 8 is executed.

An embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium, which stores computer instructions. When the computer instructions are executed, the computer executes any method in any one of the embodiments shown in Figures 3 to 8.

An embodiment of the present application provides a computer program product, which includes: a computer program code, and when the computer program code is executed by a computer, the computer executes any one of the methods in any one of the embodiments shown in FIG. 3 to FIG. 8 .

An embodiment of the present application provides a chip, which is coupled to a memory and is used to read and execute program instructions in the memory, so that a device where the chip is located implements the method described in any possible implementation of any embodiment shown in Figures 3 to 8.

The units described above as separate components may or may not be physically separated, and the components displayed as units may or may not be physical units, that is, they may be located in one place, or they may be distributed on multiple network units. Some or all of the units may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the objectives of the embodiments of the present application. In addition, each network element unit in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated into a processing unit, or each unit may exist physically separately, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit. The above-mentioned integrated units may be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of software network element units.

If the above-mentioned integrated unit is implemented in the form of a software network element unit and sold or used as an independent product, it can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the part that essentially contributes to the technical solution of the present application, or all or part of the technical solution can be embodied in the form of a software product, which is stored in a storage medium, including several instructions to enable a computer device (which can be a personal computer, a terminal device, a cloud server, or a network device, etc.) to perform all or part of the steps of the above-mentioned methods of each embodiment of the present application. The aforementioned storage medium includes: U disk, mobile hard disk, read-only memory (ROM, Read-Only Memory), random access memory (RAM, Random Access Memory), disk or optical disk and other media that can store program code. The above is only a specific implementation method of the present application, but the protection scope of the present application is not limited thereto. Any technician familiar with the technical field can easily think of various equivalent modifications or replacements within the technical scope disclosed in the present application, and these modifications or replacements should be covered within the protection scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims (37)

A positioning method, characterized in that the method is applied to a first device, and the method comprises: Acquire first identification information, where the first identification information is used to identify a terminal device, and no communication link is established between the terminal device and the first device; receiving a side positioning reference signal from the terminal device according to the first identification information; Positioning measurement is performed according to the sideways positioning reference signal to obtain a first measurement result. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the obtaining of the first identification information comprises: The first identification information is received from a second device or a positioning server. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the method further comprises: Acquire sidelink control information corresponding to the sidelink positioning reference signal; The receiving, according to the first identification information, a side positioning reference signal from the terminal device includes: When the second identification information included in the sidelink control information is the same as the first identification information, the sidelink positioning reference signal is received from the terminal device. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that the method further comprises: receiving third identification information from the second device or the positioning server, where the third identification information is used to identify the second device, a device group or a broadcast address where the second device is located; The sidelink control information further includes fourth identification information, and the receiving the sidelink positioning reference signal from the terminal device includes: When the second identification information is the same as the first identification information, and the fourth identification information is the same as the third identification information, the sideline positioning reference signal is received from the terminal device. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that before receiving the sideline positioning reference signal from the terminal device according to the first identification information, the method further comprises: A first measurement request is received from the second device or the positioning server, where the first measurement request is used to indicate a first positioning type. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the method further comprises: Send the first measurement result to the second device or the positioning server. A positioning method, characterized in that the method is applied to a second device, and the method comprises: receiving first identification information from a terminal device, where the first identification information is used for a first device to perform positioning measurement, and no communication link is established between the terminal device and the first device; The first identification information is sent to the first device. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that the method further comprises: Determine at least one first device from the multiple first candidate devices according to prior information between the second device and the multiple first candidate devices; Among them, the prior information includes at least one of the following: the location of the first candidate device, the communication connection relationship between the second device and the first candidate device, the historical unicast context information or historical multicast context information corresponding to the first candidate device, and the channel condition between the second device and the first candidate device. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that the method further comprises: First information is received from the terminal device, where the first information is used to request to determine the first device. The method according to any one of claims 6 to 9, characterized in that the method further comprises: receiving an identification of the first device from the first device; The first identification information, the identification of the first device, and third identification information are sent to a positioning server, where the third identification information is used to identify the second device, the device group to which the second device belongs, or the broadcast address. The method according to any one of claims 6 to 9, characterized in that the method further comprises: receiving an identification of the first device from the first device; The first identification information and the identification of the first device are sent to a positioning server. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that before sending the first identification information and the identification of the first device to the positioning server, the method further comprises: A first request message is received from the positioning server, where the first request message is used to request an identifier of the first device. The method according to any one of claims 6 to 9, characterized in that the method further comprises: receiving an identification of the first device from the first device; Sending the identifier of the first device to the terminal device. The method according to any one of claims 6 to 9, characterized in that the method further comprises: Send third identification information to the first device or the terminal device, where the third identification information is used to identify the second device, a device group to which the second device belongs, or a broadcast address. The method according to any one of claims 6 to 14, characterized in that the method further comprises: receiving a side positioning reference signal from the terminal device according to the first identification information; Positioning measurement is performed according to the sideways positioning reference signal to obtain a second measurement result. The method according to claim 15, characterized in that the method further comprises: Acquire sidelink control information corresponding to the sidelink positioning reference signal; The receiving, according to the first identification information, a side positioning reference signal from the terminal device includes: When the second identification information included in the sidelink control information is the same as the first identification information, the sidelink positioning reference signal is received from the terminal device. The method according to claim 15, characterized in that the method further comprises: receiving a first measurement result from the first device; Determine the location information of the terminal device according to the second measurement result and the first measurement result; Sending the location information of the terminal device to the terminal device. The method according to claim 17, characterized in that the method further comprises: A first measurement request is sent to the first device, where the first measurement request is used to indicate a first positioning type. A positioning method, characterized in that the method is applied to a terminal device, and the method comprises: Generate first identification information, where the first identification information is used for a first device to perform positioning measurement, and no communication link is established between the terminal device and the first device; The first identification information is sent to the second device or the positioning server. The method according to claim 19, characterized in that the method further comprises: Sending first information to the second device or the positioning server, where the first information is used to request determination of the first device. The method according to claim 20, characterized in that the method further comprises: receiving third identification information from the second device, where the third identification information is used to identify the second device, a device group to which the second device belongs, or a broadcast address; Send the third identification information to the positioning server. The method according to claim 21, characterized in that before sending the third identification information to the positioning server, the method further comprises: A second request message is received from the positioning server, where the second request message is used to request the third identification information. The method according to claim 20, characterized in that, in the case of sending the first information to the second device, the method further comprises: receiving an identification of the first device and third identification information from the second device, wherein the third identification information is used to identify the second device, a device group to which the second device belongs, or a broadcast address; Send the identifier of the first device and the third identifier information to the positioning server. The method according to claim 23, characterized in that before sending the identifier of the first device and the third identifier information to the positioning server, the method further comprises: A third request message is received from the positioning server, where the third request message is used to request the identifier of the first device and the third identifier information. The method according to any one of claims 19 to 24, characterized in that the method further comprises: A sideways positioning reference signal is sent, where the sideways positioning reference signal is used for the first device and the second device to perform positioning measurement. The method according to claim 25, characterized in that the method further comprises: Receive location information of the terminal device from the second device. A positioning method, characterized in that the method is applied to a positioning server, and the method comprises: receiving first identification information from a terminal device, where the first identification information is used to identify the terminal device, no communication link is established between the terminal device and a first device, and the first device is used to perform positioning measurement on the terminal device; The first identification information is sent to the first device. The method according to claim 27, characterized in that the method further comprises: receiving first information from the terminal device, where the first information is used to request to determine the first device; The first device is determined. The method according to claim 28, characterized in that the method further comprises: receiving third identification information from the terminal device, where the third identification information is used to identify a second device, a device group or a broadcast address to which the second device belongs, and the second device is used to perform positioning measurement on the terminal device; Determining, according to the third identification information, prior information between the second device and a plurality of first candidate devices; The determining the first device includes: The first device is determined from a plurality of first candidate devices according to the priori information. The method according to claim 29 is characterized in that the prior information includes at least one of the following: the location of the first candidate device, the communication connection relationship between the second device and the first candidate device, historical unicast context information or historical multicast context information corresponding to the first candidate device, and the channel condition between the second device and the first candidate device. The method according to claim 29, characterized in that the method further comprises: Send the third identification information to the first device. A communication device, characterized in that it comprises a unit or module for implementing the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 31. A communication device, characterized in that the communication device comprises at least one processor and a memory; The memory is used to store computer programs or instructions; and the at least one processor is used to execute the computer programs or instructions in the memory, so that the method described in any one of claims 1 to 31 is executed. A communication system, characterized in that the communication system comprises a first device, a second device and a terminal device; The first device is used to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 6; The second device is used to perform the method according to any one of claims 7 to 18; The terminal device is used to execute the method according to any one of claims 19 to 26. A communication system, characterized in that the communication system comprises a first device, a terminal device and a positioning server; The first device is used to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 6; The terminal device is used to execute the method according to any one of claims 19 to 26 The positioning server is used to execute the method according to any one of claims 27 to 31. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that the computer-readable storage medium stores computer instructions, and when the computer instructions are executed, the computer is caused to execute the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 31. A computer program product, characterized in that the computer program product comprises: a computer program code, and when the computer program code is executed by a computer, the computer executes the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 31.