WO2025108068A1 - Communication method and apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

A communication method and apparatus, which can be used for positioning a terminal device. A first terminal device is used as a virtual network device to exchange a reference signal with a target terminal device to be positioned (i.e., a second terminal device), such that the number of network devices reachable by signals is increased, thereby improving the positioning success rate or positioning precision. The method comprises: on the basis of an instruction of a network device, a second terminal device respectively sending reference signals on first resources; correspondingly, on the basis of the instruction of the network device, at least one first terminal device respectively receiving the reference signals on the corresponding first resources; on the basis of the reference signals, the at least one first terminal device determining second information that indicates a positioning measurement amount; and the at least one first terminal device sending the second information to the network device.

Description

A communication method and device

This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the State Intellectual Property Office on November 23, 2023, with application number 202311582117.0 and application name “A Communication Method and Device”, all contents of which are incorporated by reference in this application.

Technical Field

The embodiments of the present application relate to the field of communications, and in particular, to a communication method and device.

Background Art

With the development and maturity of information and communication technology, digital intelligent society construction solutions such as the Internet of Things and the Internet of Intelligence are gradually being launched around the world, such as "Industrial Internet" and "Industry 4.0". The rise of the concept of digital intelligence has led to the new concept of "digital twins". The mutual correspondence, mutual mapping, and collaborative interaction between the digital world and the real world are inseparable from the acquisition of location information. Therefore, positioning solutions have also become an urgent need for vertical industries.

Current positioning technologies are usually based on uplink-time difference of arrival (UL-TDOA), downlink-time difference of arrival (DL-TDOA), arrival angle (arrival of angle, AOA), multi-round trip time (Multi-RTT) or enhanced-cell identity (E-CID).

However, multi-point positioning technologies based on UL-TDOA, DL-TDOA, AOA, Multi-RTT or E-CID require multiple network devices to perform measurements simultaneously to calculate the location of the terminal device. However, for some scenarios, the number of network devices performing measurements is limited, resulting in positioning failure or poor positioning accuracy.

Summary of the invention

The present application provides a communication method and device, which can improve positioning accuracy or positioning success rate.

In a first aspect, a communication method is provided, which can be executed by a first terminal device, or by a component of the first terminal device, such as a processor, a chip, or a chip system of the first terminal device, or by a logic module or software that can implement all or part of the functions of the first terminal device. The method includes: receiving first information from a network device, the first information indicating that the first terminal device receives a reference signal on a first resource; receiving a reference signal from a second terminal device on the first resource, the reference signal being used to locate the second terminal device; determining second information based on the reference signal, the second information indicating a positioning measurement amount; and sending the second information to the network device.

Based on this solution, when positioning the target terminal device (i.e., the second terminal device), the network device schedules sidelink resources to at least one first terminal device, so that the first terminal device can receive the reference signal sent by the target terminal device in the sidelink, so as to obtain the positioning measurement quantity used to estimate the position of the second terminal device. That is, the first terminal device can be used as a virtual network device to interact with the target terminal device to be positioned through the reference signal, that is, the virtual network device is used to increase the number of network devices that can be reached by the signal, thereby improving the positioning success rate or positioning accuracy.

In one possible design, the second information includes channel data of a reference signal, and/or the second information includes a positioning measurement quantity.

Based on this possible design, when the second information includes channel data of the reference signal, the first terminal device does not need to measure the reference signal to obtain the positioning measurement amount, which can reduce the implementation complexity of the first terminal device. When the second information includes the positioning measurement amount, the implementation complexity of the network device can be reduced.

In a possible design, if the second information includes a positioning measurement value, the first terminal device needs to measure the reference signal to obtain the second information.

In one possible design, the reference signal is a sidelink positioning reference signal SL-PRS or a channel state information reference signal CSI-RS.

In one possible design, the positioning measurement quantity includes at least one of the following: relative arrival time RTOA, arrival angle AOA, transmit-receive time difference, or reference signal received power RSRP.

Based on this possible design, the position of the second terminal device can be estimated according to at least one of RTOA, AOA, transmit and receive time difference or RSRP, thereby improving positioning flexibility.

In a second aspect, a communication method is provided, which can be executed by a second terminal device, or by a component of the second terminal device, such as a processor, a chip, or a chip system of the second terminal device, or by a logic module or software that can implement all or part of the functions of the second terminal device. The method includes: receiving third information from a network device, the third information instructing the second terminal device to send a reference signal on a first resource; sending a reference signal to the first terminal device on the first resource, the reference signal being used to locate the second terminal device.

Based on this solution, when positioning the target terminal device (i.e., the second terminal device), the network device schedules the sidelink resource to the target terminal device, so that the target terminal device can send a reference signal to the first terminal device on the sidelink, so as to obtain a reference signal for estimating the second terminal device. Positioning measurement of the terminal device position. That is, the first terminal device can be used as a virtual network device to interact with the target terminal device to be located through reference signals, that is, the virtual network device is used to increase the number of network devices that can be reached by the signal, thereby improving the positioning success rate or positioning accuracy.

In one possible design, the reference signal is: a sidelink positioning reference signal SL-PRS or a channel state information reference signal CSI-RS.

In a third aspect, a communication method is provided, which can be executed by a network device, or by a component of the network device, such as a processor, a chip, or a chip system of the network device, or can be implemented by a logic module or software that can implement all or part of the functions of the network device. The method includes: sending first information to at least one first terminal device, the first information indicating that the first terminal device receives a reference signal on a first resource; sending third information to a second terminal device, the third information indicating that the second terminal device sends a reference signal on the first resource, the reference signal being used to locate the second terminal device; receiving second information from at least one first terminal device, the second information indicating a positioning measurement amount, the second information being determined based on the reference signal.

Based on this solution, when positioning the target terminal device (i.e., the second terminal device), the network device schedules sidelink resources to the target terminal device and at least one first terminal device, so that the target terminal device can send a reference signal to the first terminal device on the sidelink, and the first terminal device can receive the reference signal on the sidelink to obtain a positioning measurement for estimating the position of the second terminal device. That is, the first terminal device can be used as a virtual network device to interact with the target terminal device to be positioned through reference signals, that is, a virtual network device is used to increase the number of network devices to which the signal can reach, thereby improving the positioning success rate or positioning accuracy.

In one possible design, the second information includes channel data of a reference signal, and/or the second information includes a positioning measurement quantity.

In a possible design, if the second information includes channel data of a reference signal, it is necessary to measure the channel data of the reference signal to obtain a positioning measurement value.

In one possible design, the reference signal is a sidelink positioning reference signal SL-PRS or a channel state information reference signal CSI-RS.

In one possible design, the positioning measurement quantity includes at least one of the following: relative arrival time RTOA, arrival angle AOA, transmit-receive time difference, or reference signal received power RSRP.

In a possible design, the first terminal device is a stationary terminal device and/or a terminal device with a known location.

Based on this possible design, since network devices are usually stationary and their positions are known, when the first terminal device is stationary and/or its position is known, it can better simulate the network device to perform the positioning process, thereby improving the positioning performance.

In a fourth aspect, a communication device is provided for implementing various methods. The communication device may be a terminal device in the first aspect or the second aspect, or a device included in the terminal device, such as a chip or a chip system; or, the communication device may be a network device in the third aspect, or a device included in the network device, such as a chip or a chip system. The communication device includes a module, unit, or means corresponding to the implementation method, and the module, unit, or means may be implemented by hardware, software, or by hardware executing the corresponding software implementation. The hardware or software includes one or more modules or units corresponding to the functions.

In some possible designs, the communication device may include a processing module and a transceiver module. The processing module may be used to implement the processing function in any of the above aspects and any possible implementations thereof. The transceiver module may include a receiving module and a sending module, respectively used to implement the receiving function and the sending function in any of the above aspects and any possible implementations thereof.

In some possible designs, the transceiver module may be composed of a transceiver circuit, a transceiver, a transceiver or a communication interface.

In a fifth aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising: a processor and a memory; the memory is used to store computer instructions, and when the processor executes the instructions, the communication device executes the method described in any aspect. The communication device can be the terminal device in the first aspect or the second aspect, or a device included in the terminal device, such as a chip or a chip system; or the communication device can be the network device in the third aspect, or a device included in the network device, such as a chip or a chip system.

In a sixth aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising: a processor and a communication interface; the communication interface is used to receive and/or send signals; the processor is used to execute a computer program or instruction so that the communication device performs the method described in any aspect. The communication device can be the terminal device in the first aspect or the second aspect, or a device included in the terminal device, such as a chip or a chip system; or the communication device can be the network device in the third aspect, or a device included in the network device, such as a chip or a chip system.

In a seventh aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising: at least one processor; the processor is used to execute a computer program or instruction stored in a memory so that the communication device performs the method described in any aspect. The memory may be coupled to the processor, or may be independent of the processor. The communication device may be a terminal device in the first aspect or the second aspect, or a device included in the terminal device, such as a chip or a chip system; or the communication device may be a network device in the third aspect, or a device included in the network device, such as a chip or a chip system.

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

In a ninth aspect, a communication device (for example, the communication device may be a chip or a chip system) is provided, wherein the communication device includes a processor for implementing the functions involved in any aspect.

In some possible designs, the communication device includes a memory for storing necessary program instructions and data.

In some possible designs, when the device is a chip system, it can be composed of a chip or include a chip and other discrete devices.

It can be understood that when the communication device provided in any one of the fourth to ninth aspects is a chip or a chip system, the sending action/function of the communication device can be understood as output information, and the receiving action/function of the communication device can be understood as input information.

Among them, the technical effects brought about by any design method in the fourth to ninth aspects can refer to the technical effects brought about by different design methods in the first aspect, and will not be repeated here.

In a tenth aspect, a computer program product comprising instructions is provided, which, when executed on a communication device, enables the communication device to execute the method described in any one of the aspects.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG1 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication system provided by the present application;

FIG2 is a schematic diagram of an end-to-end network for 5G NR positioning provided by this application;

FIG3 is a schematic diagram of a UL-TDOA positioning method provided by the present application;

FIG4 is a schematic diagram of a DL-TDOA positioning method provided by the present application;

FIG5 is a schematic diagram of an AOA positioning method provided by the present application;

FIG6 is a flow chart of a communication method provided by the present application;

FIG7 is a flow chart of another communication method provided by the present application;

FIG8 is a flow chart of another communication method provided by the present application;

FIG9 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device provided by the present application;

FIG10 is a schematic diagram of the structure of another communication device provided in the present application.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the description of this application, unless otherwise specified, "/" indicates that the objects associated with each other are in an "or" relationship, for example, A/B can represent A or B; "and/or" in this application is merely a description of the association relationship between associated objects, indicating that three relationships may exist, for example, A and/or B can represent: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone, where A and B can be singular or plural.

In the description of this application, unless otherwise specified, "plurality" means 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 mean: a, b, c, a-b, a-c, b-c, or a-b-c, where a, b, and c can be single or multiple.

In addition, in order to clearly describe the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, in the embodiments of the present application, words such as "first" and "second" are used to distinguish the same items or similar items with substantially the same functions and effects. 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.

In the embodiments of the present application, words such as "exemplary" or "for example" are used to indicate examples, illustrations or descriptions. Any embodiment or design described as "exemplary" or "for example" in the embodiments of the present application should not be interpreted as being more preferred or more advantageous than other embodiments or designs. Specifically, the use of words such as "exemplary" or "for example" is intended to present related concepts in a concrete way for easy understanding.

It is understood that the "embodiment" mentioned throughout the specification means that the specific features, structures or characteristics related to the embodiment are included in at least one embodiment of the present application. Therefore, the various embodiments in the entire specification do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment. In addition, these specific features, structures or characteristics can be combined in one or more embodiments in any suitable manner. It is understood that in various embodiments of the present application, the size of the sequence number of each process does not mean the order of execution, and the execution order of each process should be determined by its function and internal logic, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiment of the present application.

It can be understood that in the present application, "when" and "if" both mean that corresponding processing will be carried out under certain objective circumstances, and do not limit the time, nor do they require any judgment action when implementing, nor do they mean the existence of other limitations.

It can be understood that some optional features in the embodiments of the present application may be implemented independently in certain scenarios without relying on other features, such as the solution on which they are currently based, to solve corresponding technical problems and achieve corresponding effects, or may be combined with other features according to needs in certain scenarios. Accordingly, the devices provided in the embodiments of the present application may also realize these features or functions accordingly, which will not be elaborated here.

In this application, unless otherwise specified, the same or similar parts between the various embodiments can be referenced to each other. In the various embodiments of this application, if there is no special description and logical conflict, the terms and/or descriptions between different embodiments are consistent and can be referenced to each other. Different embodiments and technical features of each embodiment in each embodiment can be combined to form a new embodiment according to their internal logical relationship. The following embodiments of the present application do not limit the protection scope of the present application.

The technical solution provided in the present application can be used in various communication systems, which can be a 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) communication system, for example, a 4th generation (4G) long term evolution (LTE) system, a 5th generation (5G) new radio (NR) system, a vehicle to everything (V2X) system, a system of LTE and NR hybrid networking, or a sidelink (SL) communication system, a device-to-device (D2D) system, a machine-to-machine (M2M) communication system, an Internet of Things (IoT), and other next generation communication systems. Alternatively, the communication system can also be a non-3GPP communication system without limitation.

Among them, the above-mentioned communication system applicable to the present application is only an example, and the communication system applicable to the present application is not limited to this. It is uniformly explained here and will not be repeated below.

Referring to FIG. 1 , an exemplary communication system provided by the present application is shown. The communication system includes at least one network device (such as 110a and 110b in FIG. 1 ) and multiple terminal devices (such as 120a-120j in FIG. 1 ). The multiple terminal devices may include at least one first terminal device and a second terminal device. The second terminal device is a terminal device to be located, or referred to as a target terminal device. The second terminal device may be used as a signal sending end, and the first terminal device may be used as a signal receiving end.

Optionally, terminal devices and terminal devices and network devices and network devices can communicate with each other in a wired or wireless manner. Figure 1 is only a schematic diagram, and the communication system may also include other network devices, such as wireless relay devices, wireless backhaul devices, core network devices, etc., which are not shown in Figure 1. The number of network devices and terminal devices in Figure 1 is only an example, and the communication system may include more or fewer network devices or terminal devices than those shown in Figure 1.

Optionally, the terminal device may refer to a user-side device with wireless transceiver functions. The terminal device may also be referred to as user equipment (UE), terminal, access terminal, user unit, user station, mobile station (MS), remote station, remote terminal, mobile terminal (MT), user terminal, wireless communication device, user agent or user device, etc. The terminal device may be, for example, a terminal device in a SL communication system, IoT, V2X, D2D, M2M, 5G network, or a future evolved public land mobile network (PLMN).

Exemplarily, the terminal device can be a drone, an IoT device (e.g., a sensor, an electric meter, a water meter, etc.), a V2X device, a station (ST) in a wireless local area network (WLAN), a cellular phone, a cordless phone, a session initiation protocol (SIP) phone, a wireless local loop (WLL) station, a personal digital assistant (PDA) device, a handheld device with wireless communication function, a computing device or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device (also called a wearable smart device), a tablet computer or a computer with wireless transceiver function, a virtual reality (VR) device, a wearable device (also called a wearable smart device), a tablet computer or a computer with wireless transceiver function, a wearable device (also called a wearable smart device), ... , VR) terminal equipment, wireless terminal equipment in industrial control, wireless terminal equipment in self-driving, wireless terminal equipment in remote medical, wireless terminal equipment in smart grid, wireless terminal equipment in transportation safety, wireless terminal equipment in smart city, wireless terminal equipment in smart home, vehicle-mounted terminal equipment, vehicles with vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication capability, intelligent networked vehicles, drones with unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to UAV (UAV to UAV, U2U) communication capability, etc. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form adopted by the terminal equipment.

Optionally, the network device is a device that connects a terminal device to a wireless network, and may be an evolutionary Node B (eNB or eNodeB) in an LTE or evolved LTE system (LTE-Advanced, LTE-A), such as a traditional macro base station eNB and a micro base station eNB in a heterogeneous network scenario; or it may be a next generation node B (gNodeB or gNB) in a 5G system; or it may be a transmission reception point (TRP); or it may be a base station in a future evolved PLMN; or it may be a broadband network service gateway (BNG), an aggregation switch or a non-3GPP access device; or it may be a wireless controller in a cloud radio access network (CRAN); or it may be an access point (AP) in a WiFi system; or it may be a wireless relay node or a wireless backhaul node; or it may be a device that implements base station functions in IoT, V2X, D2D, or M2M, and the embodiments of the present application do not specifically limit this. Exemplarily, the network equipment in the embodiments of the present application may include various forms of base stations, such as: macro base stations, micro base stations (also called small stations), relay stations, access points, etc., and the embodiments of the present application do not specifically limit this.

In some possible scenarios, the network device may also be a module or unit that can implement some or all of the functions of a base station. For example, the network device may be a centralized unit (CU), a distributed unit (DU), a CU and a DU, a CU-control plane (CP), a CU-user plane (UP), or a radio unit (RU). The CU and the DU may be separately configured or may be included in the same network element, such as a baseband unit (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).

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, the network device may be a network device or a module of a network device in an open radio access network (open RAN, ORAN) system. In the ORAN system, CU may also be referred to as open (open, O)-CU, DU may also be referred to as O-DU, CU-CP may also be referred to as O-CU-CP, CU-UP may also be referred to as O-CU-UP, and RU may also be referred to as O-RU. Any of the 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.

The network equipment and terminal equipment can be fixed or movable. The network equipment and terminal equipment can be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, handheld or vehicle-mounted; they can also be deployed on the water (such as ships, etc.); they can also be deployed in the air (such as airplanes, balloons, and artificial satellites, etc.). The embodiments of the present application do not limit the application scenarios of network equipment and terminal equipment.

The roles of network devices and terminal devices can be relative. For example, the helicopter or drone 120i in FIG. 1 can be configured as a mobile network device. For the terminal devices 120j that access the wireless access network through 120i, the terminal device 120i is a network device; but for the network device 110a, 120i is a terminal device, that is, 110a and 120i communicate through the wireless air interface protocol. Of course, 110a and 120i can also communicate through the interface protocol between network devices. In this case, relative to 110a, 120i is also a network device. Therefore, network devices and terminal devices can be collectively referred to as communication devices. 110a and 110b in FIG. 1 can be referred to as communication devices with network device functions, and 120a-120j in FIG. 1 can be referred to as communication devices with terminal device functions.

Network devices and terminal devices, network devices and network devices, and terminal devices and terminal devices can communicate through authorized spectrum, unauthorized spectrum, or both; can communicate through spectrum below 6 gigahertz (GHz), spectrum above 6 GHz, or spectrum below 6 GHz and spectrum above 6 GHz. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the spectrum resources used for wireless communication.

Optionally, the communication system may also include at least one of the following core network elements: location management function (LMF) network element, location service (LCS) client, access and mobility management function (AMF) network element, gateway mobile location center (GMLC) network element, unified data management function (UDM) network element, network exposure function (NEF), application function (AF) network element, etc.

Taking the 5G communication system as an example, a possible network architecture diagram corresponding to the communication system shown in FIG1 applicable to the embodiment of the present application can be shown in FIG2. FIG2 can also be understood as an end-to-end networking architecture diagram positioned under the 5G NR system. Exemplarily, the main functions of each network element in FIG2 are as follows:

1. LCS client: mainly responsible for positioning upper-layer services, including map display, positioning result presentation, historical location storage, etc.

2. AMF network element: Mainly responsible for selecting LMF network elements and triggering the LCS positioning process, and responsible for message forwarding and transparent transmission of each interface.

3. GMLC network element: mainly responsible for processing the positioning request of the LCS client and feeding back the positioning result. GMLC first authenticates and authorizes the LCS client, obtains the authorization information of the user being located and the AMF where the user is located through UDM, and then forwards the positioning request to the corresponding AMF for processing.

4. LMF network element: mainly responsible for selecting the positioning method and triggering the positioning measurement process; obtaining the measurement results from the base station, calculating the terminal device position, and feeding back the positioning results to the AMF/GMLC.

5. NEF network element: mainly responsible for opening the capabilities of 5G network to external systems.

6. AF network element: mainly responsible for communicating with the core network to provide services to users.

7. UDM network element: mainly responsible for the management of user identification, contract data, authentication data, and user service network element registration management.

8. Terminal equipment: Mainly responsible for sending channel sounding reference signal (SRS) or receiving downlink positioning reference signal.

9. gNB: Mainly responsible for sending downlink positioning reference signals or pilot signals, or responsible for detecting the SRS signal of the terminal equipment. Report the measurement quantity according to the requirements of LMF. For example, the measurement quantity may include: arrival angle (arrival of angle, AOA), time deference of arrival (time deference of arrival, TDOA), receive (receive, Rx) send (transmit, Tx) time difference (Rx-Tx Time Difference) or reference signal received power (reference signal received power, RSRP), etc.

In the embodiments of the present application, the functions of the network device may also be performed by a module (such as a chip) in the network device, or by a control subsystem including the network device function. The control subsystem including the network device function here may be a control center in the above-mentioned application scenarios such as smart grid, industrial control, smart transportation, smart city, etc. The functions of the terminal device may also be performed by a module (such as a chip or a modem) in the terminal device, or by a device including the terminal device function. The functions of the core network network element may also be performed by a module (such as a chip) in the core network network element, or by a control subsystem including the core network network element function.

It should be noted that the communication system described in the embodiment of the present application is for the purpose of more clearly illustrating the technical solution of the embodiment of the present application, and does not constitute a limitation on the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application. A person of ordinary skill in the art can know that with the evolution of network architecture and the emergence of new business scenarios, the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application is also applicable to similar technical problems.

In order to facilitate understanding of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, a brief introduction to the related technologies of the present application is first given as follows.

1) TDOA positioning method:

TDOA positioning is a positioning method based on time difference. There are two ways to implement TDOA positioning, uplink-time difference of arrival (UL-TDOA) positioning and downlink-time difference of arrival (DL-TDOA) positioning.

As shown in Figure 3, in the positioning solution based on UL-TDOA, the terminal device sends SRS to at least three network devices, and each network device measures the relative time between the SRS arrival time and the reference time of the network device itself. The SRS arrival time refers to the time when the SRS is received. This relative time is the relative time of arrival (RTOA). The location of the terminal device can be estimated based on RTOA.

As shown in Figure 4, in a positioning scheme based on DL-TDOA, at least three network devices send downlink positioning reference signals (PRS) to the terminal device (Figure 4 takes three network devices as an example for illustration), and the terminal device measures the time of receiving the downlink positioning reference signals from each network device (recorded as the downlink reference signal arrival time), and calculates the difference between the arrival times of the two downlink reference signals, which is TDOA. The location of the terminal device can be estimated based on TDOA.

2) AOA positioning method:

The AOA positioning method is a positioning method based on the angle of arrival of the signal. For example, as shown in Figure 5, the terminal device sends a positioning reference signal (such as SRS), and multiple network devices receive and measure the AOA. The position of the terminal device can be estimated based on the AOA.

3) Multi-round trip time (Multi-RTT) positioning method:

The Multi-RTT positioning method is a positioning method based on the time difference between signal reception and transmission. The terminal device sends reference signals to multiple network devices, and the network devices and the terminal device measure the time difference between the transmission and reception of each reference signal. For example, the time difference between the time when the terminal device receives reference signal a and the time when the terminal device sends reference signal b is the UE Rx-Tx Time difference; the time difference between the time when each network device receives reference signal b and the time when each network device sends reference signal a is the gNB Rx-Tx Time difference. The location of the terminal device can be estimated based on the UE Rx-Tx Time difference or the gNB Rx-Tx Time difference.

4) Enhanced-cell identity (E-CID) positioning method:

The E-CID positioning method mainly performs positioning through cell identity and at least one of the following: AOA, reference signal received power (RSRP) or time of arrival (TOA).

However, multi-point positioning technologies based on UL-TDOA, DL-TDOA, AOA, Multi-RTT or E-CID require multiple network devices to perform measurements simultaneously in order to calculate the location of the terminal device. However, in some scenarios, the number of network devices performing measurements is limited, resulting in positioning failure or poor positioning accuracy.

Based on this, this paper proposes a positioning method in which network devices coordinately schedule the SL resources of each terminal device to realize virtual multi-network device positioning, increase the number of network devices or virtual network devices that can be reached by the signal, and thus improve the positioning success rate or positioning accuracy.

The positioning method provided in the embodiments of the present application will be described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. In the following embodiments of the present application, the method steps performed by the terminal device can be implemented by at least one chip in the terminal device in a specific implementation, and the method steps performed by the network device can be implemented by at least one chip in the network device in a specific implementation.

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

It should be noted that the message names between the devices or the names of the parameters in the messages in the following embodiments of the present application are only examples, and other names may be used in the specific implementation, and the embodiments of the present application do not specifically limit this.

As shown in FIG6 , a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application includes the following steps:

S601: A network device sends first information to at least one first terminal device. Correspondingly, at least one first terminal device receives the first information from the network device.

The first information indicates that the first terminal device receives a reference signal on a first resource.

Exemplarily, the first information may be carried in downlink control information (DCI) or radio resource control (RRC) signaling.

The first resource is a SL resource. Exemplarily, the network device may pre-configure a SL resource pool, and the first resource may be a resource in the SL resource pool. The first information may include an index of the first resource, or time-frequency location information of the first resource.

Optionally, when there are multiple first terminal devices, the first information indicated by the network device to each first terminal device The resources can be the same or different.

Exemplarily, taking the case where there are three first terminal devices, the network device sends first information #1 to the first terminal device #1, where the first information #1 indicates the first resource #1; the network device sends first information #2 to the first terminal device #2, indicating the first resource #2; the network device sends first information #3 to the first terminal device #3, indicating the first resource #3. The first resource #1, the first resource #2, and the first resource #3 may be the same or different.

Optionally, the reference signal is a sidelink positioning reference signal (SL-PRS) or a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS).

Optionally, the first terminal device is a stationary terminal device and/or a terminal device with a known position. A terminal device with a known position can be understood as a terminal device that has been accurately positioned, such as a terminal device with a very small positioning error.

S602: The network device sends third information to the second terminal device. Correspondingly, the second terminal device receives the third information from the network device.

The third information indicates that the second terminal device sends a reference signal on the first resource.

Optionally, if there are multiple first terminal devices, and the network device indicates different first resources for different first terminal devices, then there are multiple first resources, and the third information indicates the multiple first resources. Exemplarily, based on the example in step S601 above, the third information indicates that the second terminal device sends a reference signal on the first resource #1, the first resource #2, and the first resource #3.

Exemplarily, the third information may be carried in DCI or RRC signaling. The third information may include an index of the first resource, or time-frequency location information of the first resource.

It should be noted that there is no strict order between the above steps S601 and S602. Step S601 may be performed first, and then step S602; or step S602 may be performed first and then step S601; or step S601 and step S602 may be performed simultaneously, and this application does not make any specific limitation on this.

S603: The second terminal device sends a reference signal to at least one first terminal device on the first resource. Correspondingly, at least one first terminal device receives the reference signal from the second terminal device on the corresponding first resource.

The reference signal is used to locate the second terminal device.

Optionally, if there are multiple first terminal devices and the network device indicates different first resources for different first terminal devices, the second terminal device may send different reference signals to different first terminal devices on different first resources, and accordingly, the multiple first terminal devices receive corresponding reference signals on corresponding first resources.

Exemplarily, based on the examples in the above steps S601 and S602, the second terminal device sends reference signal #1 to the first terminal device #1 on the first resource #1, and accordingly, the first terminal device #1 receives reference signal #1 on the first resource #1. The second terminal device sends reference signal #2 to the first terminal device #2 on the first resource #2, and accordingly, the first terminal device #2 receives reference signal #2 on the first resource #2. The second terminal device sends reference signal #3 to the first terminal device #3 on the first resource #3, and accordingly, the first terminal device #3 receives reference signal #3 on the first resource #3.

S604. At least one first terminal device determines second information according to the reference signal.

The second information indicates the positioning measurement amount. Optionally, the positioning measurement amount may include at least one of the following: RTOA, AOA, transmit/receive time difference or RSRP.

As a possible implementation, the second information includes channel data of the reference signal. Exemplarily, the channel data of the reference signal includes baseband data of the reference signal received by the first terminal device.

As another possible implementation, the second information includes a positioning measurement quantity.

Optionally, if there are multiple first terminal devices, the multiple first terminal devices may determine multiple second information based on the reference signals respectively received.

Exemplarily, based on the example in the above step S603, the first terminal device #1 determines the second information #1 according to the reference signal #1, the first terminal device #2 determines the second information #2 according to the reference signal #2, and the first terminal device #3 determines the second information #3 according to the reference signal #3.

S605: At least one first terminal device sends second information to the network device respectively. Correspondingly, the network device receives the second information respectively.

Exemplarily, based on the example in step S604 above, the first terminal device #1 sends the second information #1 to the network device, and accordingly, the network device receives the second information #1. The first terminal device #2 sends the second information #2 to the network device, and accordingly, the network device receives the second information #2. The first terminal device #3 sends the second information #3 to the network device, and accordingly, the network device receives the second information #3.

Optionally, after receiving the second information of at least one first terminal device, the network device may determine the positioning measurement value according to the at least one second information.

Optionally, the network device sends the positioning measurement amount to the location management network element. Correspondingly, the location management network element receives the positioning measurement amount from the network device. After receiving the positioning measurement amount, the location management network element can determine the location of the second terminal device according to the positioning measurement amount.

Optionally, when the path between the communication system and the second terminal device is a line of sight (LOS) path, the number of network devices When it is less than 3, step S601 or step S602 is executed again.

Based on this solution, when positioning the target terminal device (i.e., the second terminal device), the network device schedules sidelink resources to the target terminal device and at least one first terminal device, so that the target terminal device sends a reference signal to the first terminal device on the sidelink to obtain a positioning measurement for estimating the position of the second terminal device. That is, the first terminal device can be used as a virtual network device to interact with the target terminal device to be positioned through reference signals, that is, a virtual network device is used to increase the number of network devices to which the signal can reach, thereby improving the positioning success rate or positioning accuracy.

In a possible implementation, when the second information includes channel data of a reference signal, as shown in FIG7 , the above step S604 may include: the first terminal device determines the channel data of the reference signal according to the reference signal.

Optionally, in this manner, as shown in FIG7 , after step S605, the method further includes the following step S606:

S606: The network device measures the channel data of the reference signal to obtain a positioning measurement value.

Exemplarily, the network device may use a high-precision measurement algorithm to measure the channel data of the reference signal, thereby calculating the positioning measurement value.

Based on the example in step S603 above, when the second terminal device sends reference signal #1 to the first terminal device #1 on the first resource #1, sends reference signal #2 to the first terminal device #2 on the first resource #2, and sends reference signal #3 to the first terminal device #3 on the first resource #3:

In the case where the positioning measurement quantity includes RTOA, the RTOA may include at least one of the following: the relative time between the time when the first terminal device #1 receives the reference signal #1 and the reference time of the first terminal device #1 itself, the relative time between the arrival time of the reference signal #2 received by the first terminal device #2 and the reference time of the first terminal device #2 itself, or the relative time between the arrival time of the reference signal #3 received by the first terminal device #3 and the reference time of the first terminal device #3 itself.

When the positioning measurement includes AOA, the AOA may include at least one of the following: the arrival angle of the reference signal #1 received by the first terminal device #1, the arrival angle of the reference signal #2 received by the first terminal device #2, or the arrival angle of the reference signal #3 received by the first terminal device #3.

In the case where the positioning measurement amount includes RSRP, the RSRP may include at least one of the following: the received power of the reference signal #1 received by the first terminal device #1, the received power of the reference signal #2 received by the first terminal device #2, or the received power of the reference signal #3 received by the first terminal device #3.

Optionally, when the positioning measurement amount includes a sending and receiving time difference, the method further includes: at least one first terminal device sends a reference signal to the second terminal device respectively; correspondingly, the second terminal device receives the reference signal from the at least one first terminal device respectively.

Exemplarily, the first terminal device #1 sends a reference signal #4 to the second terminal device on the second resource #1, and accordingly, the second terminal device receives the reference signal #4 on the second resource #1. The first terminal device #2 sends a reference signal #5 to the second terminal device on the second resource #2, and accordingly, the second terminal device receives the reference signal #5 on the second resource #2. The first terminal device #3 sends a reference signal #6 to the second terminal device on the second resource #3, and accordingly, the second terminal device receives the reference signal #6 on the second resource #3.

At this time, when the positioning measurement amount includes the time difference between sending and receiving, the time difference between sending and receiving may include at least one of the following: the time difference between the time when the first terminal device #1 receives the reference signal #1 and the time when the first terminal device #1 sends the reference signal #4, the time difference between the time when the first terminal device #2 receives the reference signal #2 and the time when the first terminal device #2 sends the reference signal #5, the time difference between the time when the first terminal device #3 receives the reference signal #3 and the time when the first terminal device #3 sends the reference signal #6, the time difference between the time when the second terminal device receives the reference signal #4 and the time when the second terminal device sends the reference signal #1, the time difference between the time when the second terminal device receives the reference signal #5 and the time when the second terminal device sends the reference signal #2, or the time difference between the time when the second terminal device receives the reference signal #6 and the time when the second terminal device sends the reference signal #3.

In another possible implementation, when the second information includes a positioning measurement value, as shown in FIG8 , the step S604 may include: at least one first terminal device measures a reference signal to obtain a positioning measurement value.

Exemplarily, the positioning measurement amount includes at least one of RTOA, AOA, transmit/receive time difference or RSRP. In the above example, the specific meaning of each positioning measurement amount can refer to the relevant description in the above step S606, which will not be repeated here.

The above mainly introduces the scheme provided by the present application. Accordingly, the present application also provides a communication device, which is used to implement the above various methods, or in other words, can implement the functions of the above first terminal device, second terminal device or network device. The communication device can be the first terminal device or the second terminal device in the above method embodiment, or a component that can be used for the first terminal device or the second terminal device, such as a chip or a chip system; or, the communication device can be the network device in the above method embodiment, or a component that can be used for the network device, such as a chip or a chip system.

It is understandable that, in order to realize the above functions, the communication device includes hardware structures and/or software modules that perform the corresponding functions. Those skilled in the art should easily realize that, in combination with the units and algorithm steps of the embodiments disclosed in this document, the present application It can be implemented in the form of hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is performed in hardware or in the form of 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 beyond the scope of this application.

The embodiment of the present application can divide the functional modules of the communication device according to the above method embodiment. 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 function division. There may be other division methods in actual implementation.

Communication Device Fig. 9 shows a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device 90. The communication device 90 includes a processing module 901 and a transceiver module 902. The communication device 90 can be used to implement the functions of the first terminal device, the second terminal device or the network device.

In some embodiments, the communication device 90 may further include a storage module (not shown in FIG. 9 ) for storing program instructions and data.

In some embodiments, the transceiver module 902, which may also be referred to as a transceiver unit, is used to implement the sending and/or receiving functions. The transceiver module 902 may be composed of a transceiver circuit, a transceiver, a transceiver or a communication interface.

In some embodiments, the transceiver module 902 may include a receiving module and a sending module, which are respectively used to execute the receiving and sending steps performed by the first terminal device, the second terminal device or the network device in the above-mentioned method embodiment, and/or used to support other processes of the technology described herein; the processing module 901 may be used to execute the processing steps (such as determination, etc.) performed by the first terminal device, the second terminal device or the network device in the above-mentioned method embodiment, and/or used to support other processes of the technology described herein.

In some embodiments, when the communication device 90 is used to implement the function of the first terminal device:

The processing module 901 is configured to determine second information according to the reference signal, where the second information indicates a positioning measurement value.

The transceiver module 902 is used to receive first information from a network device, where the first information indicates that a first terminal device receives a reference signal on a first resource; to receive a reference signal from a second terminal device on the first resource, where the reference signal is used to locate the second terminal device; and to send the second information to the network device.

Optionally, the processing module 901 is further configured to measure a reference signal to obtain a positioning measurement value.

In some embodiments, when the communication device 90 is used to implement the function of the second terminal device:

The transceiver module 902 is used to receive third information from the network device, where the third information indicates that the second terminal device sends a reference signal on the first resource; and to send a reference signal to the first terminal device on the first resource, where the reference signal is used to locate the second terminal device.

In some embodiments, when the communication device 90 is used to implement the functions of the above network device:

The transceiver module 902 is used to send first information to at least one first terminal device, where the first information indicates that the first terminal device receives a reference signal on a first resource; to send third information to a second terminal device, where the third information indicates that the second terminal device sends a reference signal on the first resource, where the reference signal is used to locate the second terminal device; and to receive second information from at least one first terminal device, where the second information indicates a positioning measurement amount, where the second information is determined based on the reference signal.

Optionally, the processing module 901 is further configured to measure channel data of a reference signal to obtain a positioning measurement value.

Among them, all relevant contents of each step involved in the above method embodiment can be referred to the functional description of the corresponding functional module, which will not be repeated here. In the present application, the communication device 90 can be presented in the form of dividing each functional module in an integrated manner. The "module" here can refer to a specific application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a circuit, a processor and a memory that executes one or more software or firmware programs, an integrated logic circuit, and/or other devices that can provide the above functions.

In some embodiments, when the communication device 90 in Figure 9 is a chip or a chip system, the function/implementation process of the transceiver module 902 can be implemented through the input and output interface (or communication interface) of the chip or the chip system, and the function/implementation process of the processing module 901 can be implemented through the processor (or processing circuit) of the chip or the chip system.

Since the communication device 90 provided in this embodiment can execute the above method, the technical effects that can be obtained can refer to the above method embodiments and will not be repeated here.

As a possible product form, the first terminal device in the embodiment of the present application can be implemented using the following: one or more field programmable gate arrays (FPGA), programmable logic devices (PLD), controllers, state machines, gate logic, discrete hardware components, any other suitable circuits, or any combination of circuits that can perform the various functions described throughout this application.

As another possible product form, the first terminal device in the present application may adopt the composition structure shown in Figure 10, or include the components shown in Figure 10. Figure 10 is a schematic diagram of the composition of a communication device 100 provided in the present application.

As shown in FIG10 , the communication device 100 includes at least one processor 1001. Optionally, the communication device further includes a communication interface 1002.

When the program instructions involved are executed in the at least one processor 1001, the device 100 can implement the communication method provided by any of the aforementioned embodiments and any possible design thereof. Alternatively, the processor 1001 implements the aforementioned communication method through a logic circuit or by executing a code instruction. The communication method provided by any of the above embodiments and any possible design thereof.

The communication interface 1002 may be used to receive program instructions and transmit them to the processor, or the communication interface 1002 may be used for the communication device 100 to communicate and interact with other communication devices, such as interactive control signaling and/or service data, etc. Exemplarily, the communication interface 1002 may be used to receive signals from other devices outside the device 100 and transmit them to the processor 1001 or to send signals from the processor 1001 to other communication devices outside the device 100.

Optionally, the communication interface 1002 may be a code and/or data read/write interface circuit, or the communication interface 1002 may be a signal transmission interface circuit between a communication processor and a transceiver, or may be a pin of a chip.

Optionally, the communication device 100 may further include at least one memory 1003, which may be used to store required program instructions and/or data. It should be noted that the memory 1003 may exist independently of the processor 1001, or may be integrated with the processor 1001. The memory 1003 may be located inside the communication device 100, or may be located outside the communication device 100, without limitation.

Optionally, the communication device 100 may further include a power supply circuit 1004, which may be used to supply power to the processor 1001. The power supply circuit 1004 may be located in the same chip as the processor 1001, or in another chip other than the chip where the processor 1001 is located.

Optionally, the communication device 100 may further include a bus 1005 , and various parts of the communication device 100 may be interconnected via the bus 1005 .

Optionally, the processor in the present application may be a central processing unit (CPU), and the processor may also be other general-purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSP), application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC), field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, or discrete hardware components, etc. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, or the processor may also be any conventional processor, etc.

Optionally, the memory in the present application may be a volatile memory or a non-volatile memory, or may include both volatile and non-volatile memories. Among them, the non-volatile memory may be a read-only memory (ROM), a programmable read-only memory (PROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), or a flash memory. The volatile memory may be a random access memory (RAM), which is used as an external cache. By way of example and not limitation, many forms of random access memory (RAM) are available, such as static RAM (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rate SDRAM (DDR SDRAM), enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), synchronous link DRAM (SLDRAM), or direct rambus RAM (DR RAM).

Optionally, the power supply circuit in the embodiments of the present application includes but is not limited to at least one of the following: a power supply line, a power supply subsystem, a power management chip, a power consumption management processor, or a power consumption management control circuit.

In some embodiments, in terms of hardware implementation, those skilled in the art may conceive that the communication device 90 shown in FIG. 9 may take the form of the communication device 100 shown in FIG. 10 .

As an example, the function/implementation process of the processing module 901 in FIG9 can be implemented by the processor 1001 in the communication device 100 shown in FIG10 calling the computer execution instruction stored in the memory 1003. The function/implementation process of the transceiver module 902 in FIG9 can be implemented by the communication interface 1002 in the communication device 100 shown in FIG10.

It should be noted that the structure shown in FIG10 does not constitute a specific limitation on the first terminal device. For example, in other embodiments of the present application, the first terminal device may include more or fewer components than shown in the figure, or combine certain components, or split certain components, or arrange the components differently. The components shown in the figure may be implemented in hardware, software, or a combination of software and hardware.

In some embodiments, an embodiment of the present application further provides a communication device, which includes a processor for implementing a method in any of the above method embodiments.

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

As another possible implementation, the communication device also includes an interface circuit, which is a code/data read/write interface circuit, which is used to receive computer execution instructions (computer execution instructions are stored in a memory, may be read directly from the memory, or may pass through other devices) and transmit them to the processor.

As another possible implementation, the communication device further includes a communication interface, which can be used to communicate with a device outside the communication device. Module communication.

It can be understood that the communication device can be a chip or a chip system. When the communication device is a chip system, it can be composed of chips, or it can include chips and other discrete devices. The embodiments of the present application do not specifically limit this.

The present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium on which a computer program or instruction is stored. When the computer program or instruction is executed by a computer, the functions of any of the above method embodiments are implemented.

The present application also provides a computer program product, which implements the functions of any of the above method embodiments when executed by a computer.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that, for the sake of convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the systems, devices and units described above may refer to the corresponding processes in the aforementioned method embodiments and will not be repeated here.

It is understood that the systems, devices and methods described in the present application can also be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are only schematic. For example, the division of the units is only a logical function division. There may be other division methods in actual implementation, such as multiple units or components can be combined or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. Another point is that the mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed can be through some interfaces, indirect coupling or communication connection of devices or units, which can be electrical, mechanical or other forms.

The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separated, i.e., they may be located in one place, or they may be distributed over multiple network units. The components shown as units may or may not be physical units. Some or all of the units may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of this embodiment.

In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist physically separately, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit.

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

Although the present application is described herein in conjunction with various embodiments, in the process of implementing the claimed application, those skilled in the art may understand and implement other variations of the disclosed embodiments by viewing the drawings, the disclosure, and the appended claims. In the claims, the word "comprising" does not exclude other components or steps, and "one" or "an" does not exclude multiple situations. A single processor or other unit may implement several functions listed in a claim. Certain measures are recorded in different dependent claims, but this does not mean that these measures cannot be combined to produce good results.

Although the present application has been described in conjunction with specific features and embodiments thereof, it is obvious that various modifications and combinations may be made thereto without departing from the scope of the present application. Accordingly, this specification and the drawings are merely exemplary illustrations of the present application as defined by the appended claims, and are deemed to have covered any and all modifications, variations, combinations or equivalents within the scope of the present application. Obviously, a person skilled in the art may make various modifications and variations to the present application without departing from the scope of the present application. Thus, if these modifications and variations of the present application fall within the scope of the claims of the present application and their equivalents, the present application is also intended to include these modifications and variations.

Claims (18)

A communication method, characterized in that the method comprises: Receiving first information from a network device, wherein the first information indicates that a first terminal device receives a reference signal on a first resource; receiving the reference signal from the second terminal device on the first resource, where the reference signal is used to locate the second terminal device; determining second information according to the reference signal, where the second information indicates a positioning measurement amount; The second information is sent to the network device. The method according to claim 1 is characterized in that the second information includes channel data of the reference signal, and/or the second information includes the positioning measurement amount. The method according to claim 2, wherein, when the second information includes the positioning measurement amount, determining the second information according to the reference signal comprises: The reference signal is measured to obtain the second information. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3 is characterized in that the reference signal is a sidelink positioning reference signal SL-PRS or a channel state information reference signal CSI-RS. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4 is characterized in that the positioning measurement amount includes at least one of the following: relative time of arrival RTOA, angle of arrival AOA, time difference between sending and receiving, or reference signal received power RSRP. A communication method, characterized in that the method comprises: receiving third information from the network device, wherein the third information instructs the second terminal device to send a reference signal on the first resource; The reference signal is sent to the first terminal device on the first resource, where the reference signal is used to locate the second terminal device. The method according to claim 6 is characterized in that the reference signal is: a sidelink positioning reference signal SL-PRS or a channel state information reference signal CSI-RS. A communication method, characterized in that the method comprises: Sending first information to at least one first terminal device, where the first information indicates that the first terminal device receives a reference signal on a first resource; Sending third information to a second terminal device, where the third information instructs the second terminal device to send a reference signal on a first resource, where the reference signal is used to locate the second terminal device; Second information is received from the at least one first terminal device, where the second information indicates a positioning measurement quantity, and the second information is determined according to the reference signal. The method according to claim 8 is characterized in that the second information includes channel data of the reference signal, and/or the second information includes the positioning measurement value. The method according to claim 9, characterized in that when the second information includes channel data of the reference signal, the method further comprises: Channel data of the reference signal is measured to obtain the positioning measurement value. The method according to any one of claims 8 to 10 is characterized in that the reference signal is a sidelink positioning reference signal SL-PRS or a channel state information reference signal CSI-RS. The method according to any one of claims 8 to 11 is characterized in that the positioning measurement amount includes at least one of the following: relative time of arrival RTOA, angle of arrival AOA, time difference between sending and receiving, or reference signal received power RSRP. The method according to any one of claims 8-12 is characterized in that the first terminal device is a stationary terminal device and/or a terminal device with a known location. A communication device, characterized by comprising a module or unit for executing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 13. A communication device, comprising: transceiver, used to receive and send data; Memory for storing computer program instructions and data; A processor, configured to execute and call the computer program instructions and data in the memory so that the communication device executes the method according to any one of claims 1 to 13. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that a computer program or instruction is stored in the computer-readable storage medium, and when the computer program or instruction is executed by a computer, the computer executes the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 13. A computer program product, characterized in that the computer program product comprises a computer program or instructions, and when the computer program or instructions are run on a computer, the computer is caused to execute the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 13. A chip, characterized in that the chip includes a processor, and the chip is used to execute program instructions in a memory to perform The method according to any one of claims 1 to 13.