A communication method and apparatus

Abstract

The application relates to a communication method and device. A terminal device receives a downlink control channel from an access network device, the downlink control channel indicating that the type of system information is a first type or a second type, the system information of the first type comprising positioning information, the system information of the second type not comprising the positioning information, and the positioning information comprising information for configuring an uplink reference signal. If the downlink control channel indicates that the type of system information is the first type, the terminal device detects the system information. The terminal device sends the uplink reference signal to the access network device according to the positioning information. Through the scheme provided in the application, the random access communication process originally needed to be performed by the terminal device before being positioned is reduced, and the positioning process can be simplified. Moreover, since the communication process needed to be performed by the terminal device is reduced, the random access related code does not need to be placed in the terminal device, thereby the storage space of the terminal device can be reduced, and the power consumption of the terminal device can be saved.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application relates to the technical field of communication, and in particular to a communication method and device. BACKGROUND

[0002] In the latest 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) standard, multiple positioning technologies are supported, including uplink-time difference of arrival (UL-TDOA) positioning technology.

[0003] For the UL-TDOA positioning technology, a base station needs to measure a reference signal of an uplink, for example, measure the arrival time of a sounding reference signal (SRS) received from a user equipment (UE), and then a location management function (LMF) performs positioning on the UE according to the measurement result of the base station. The positioning process under the UL-TDOA technology generally includes the following steps: first, the LMF requests SRS configuration information from a serving base station of a UE to be positioned, the serving base station feeds back the SRS configuration information to the LMF and sends the SRS configuration information to the UE; then the LMF indicates the SRS configuration information to other base stations; the LMF requests measurement from each base station that has obtained the SRS configuration information, and these base stations start receiving SRS from the UE and measuring the arrival time of the SRS after receiving the indication from the LMF; finally, these base stations report the measurement result to the LMF, and the LMF estimates the position of the UE by using the received measurement result.

[0004] Currently, a UE to be positioned needs to support both the communication function of 3GPP and the positioning function, and the UE can be positioned only after establishing a radio resource control (RRC) connection with a base station. It can be seen that the current positioning process is not conducive to saving the power consumption of the UE. SUMMARY

[0005] Embodiments of the present application provide a communication method and device for saving the power consumption of a terminal device.

[0006] In a first aspect, a first communication method is provided, which can be performed by a terminal device, or by another device including functions of the terminal device, or by a chip system or another functional module capable of implementing functions of the terminal device, e.g., arranged in the terminal device. The method includes: receiving, from an access network device, a downlink control channel, the downlink control channel being used for scheduling system information, and the downlink control channel further indicating that a type of the system information is a first type or a second type, the system information of the first type including positioning information, the system information of the second type not including the positioning information, the positioning information including information used for configuring an uplink reference signal; if the downlink control channel indicates that the type of the system information is the first type, detecting the system information; and sending, to the access network device, the uplink reference signal according to the positioning information.

[0007] In embodiments of the present application, the positioning information used for configuring the uplink reference signal can be included in the system information, and the terminal device can obtain the positioning information by receiving the system information, and the terminal device can send the uplink reference signal to the access network device after obtaining the positioning information, without completing random access, or in other words, the terminal device can send the uplink reference signal to the access network device without performing random access, so that the network can locate the terminal device. Through the scheme provided in embodiments of the present application, the random access and other communication processes that the terminal device needs to perform before being located are reduced, and the location process can be simplified. Moreover, since the communication processes that the terminal device needs to perform are reduced, it is not necessary to place random access related code in the terminal device, thereby reducing the storage space of the terminal device, and saving the power consumption of the terminal device. In addition, the system information including the positioning information is of the first type, for example, the system information of the first type can not include the common configuration information of a cell included in traditional system information, and only includes positioning related information (e.g., the positioning information), so that the capacity of the system information of the first type can be reduced, the transmission overhead can be saved, the code complexity of the terminal device is reduced, the storage space of the terminal device is saved, and finally the terminal device can be located with lower power consumption, and the service life of the terminal device is prolonged.

[0008] In an optional embodiment, the system information further includes information used for evaluating whether the terminal device is allowed to access a cell, and / or UAC information. For example, the system information is SIB1, or can also be other system information.

[0009] In an optional implementation, the downlink control channel further indicates that the type of the system information is a first type or a second type, including: the downlink control channel carrying downlink control information, the downlink control information including information for indicating that the type of the system information is the first type or the second type; or, a scrambling sequence of the downlink control channel being a first sequence for indicating that the type of the system information is the first type, or a second sequence for indicating that the type of the system information is the second type. The downlink control channel can indicate the type of the system information through the information for indicating the type of the system information, so that the terminal device can determine the type of the system information according to the information for indicating the type of the system information, and the indication manner is more explicit. Alternatively, the downlink control channel can indicate the type of the system information through the scrambling sequence, without the need of additional information for indication, which is beneficial to saving signaling overhead.

[0010] In an optional implementation, the method further includes: sending an identifier of the terminal device on an uplink channel configured by the system information, the uplink channel including an uplink control channel or an uplink shared channel. In the embodiment of the application, the terminal device does not perform random access, and if the terminal device directly requests positioning or directly sends an uplink reference signal, the network can not be able to identify the identity of the terminal device. Therefore, the terminal device can send the identifier of the terminal device to the access network device, so that the network can determine the identity of the terminal device, thereby positioning the terminal device.

[0011] In an optional implementation, the uplink channel includes the uplink control channel, and the uplink control channel is used for requesting positioning; or, the uplink channel includes the uplink shared channel, and the method further includes: sending request information to the access network device, the request information being used for requesting positioning. If the uplink channel includes the uplink control channel, the uplink control channel can be used for requesting positioning in addition to carrying the identifier of the terminal device. For example, the uplink control channel is in a first format, and the uplink control channel in the first format can be used for requesting positioning, and if the access network device receives the uplink control channel in the first format, it can be determined that the terminal device requests positioning, and the identity of the terminal device requesting positioning can be determined according to the identifier of the terminal device carried by the uplink control channel. The uplink control channel is used for requesting positioning in addition to carrying the identifier of the terminal device, so that the terminal device does not need to additionally send information for requesting positioning, and signaling overhead can be saved. If the uplink channel includes the uplink shared channel, the terminal device can further send the request information to the access network device to request positioning, so that the access network device can determine the purpose of sending the identifier by the terminal device.

[0012] In an optional implementation, the uplink reference signal is determined according to the identifier of the terminal device. The terminal device can determine the uplink reference signal according to the identifier of the terminal device, and the terminal device also sends the identifier of the terminal device to the access network device, so that the access network device can also determine the uplink reference signal according to the identifier of the terminal device, thereby being able to correctly detect the uplink reference signal. In this way, the access network device does not need to configure the uplink reference signal for the terminal device, thereby reducing the amount of information configured by the access network device and saving signaling overhead. In addition, the access network device and the terminal device can both determine the uplink reference signal according to the identifier of the terminal device, so that the uplink reference signals determined by the access network device and the terminal device are consistent, thereby improving the detection success rate of the access network device.

[0013] In an optional implementation, the uplink reference signal is determined according to the identifier of the terminal device and the positioning information. The uplink reference signal is determined according to the identifier of the terminal device, for example, including the following two cases. In one case, the uplink reference signal can be determined according to the identifier of the terminal device alone, without referring to other information. In another case, the uplink reference signal can be determined according to the identifier of the terminal device and other information, for example, configuration information of the uplink reference signal. It can be seen that the determination manner of the uplink reference signal is relatively flexible.

[0014] In an optional implementation, the positioning information includes one or more of the following: bandwidth information of the uplink reference signal, a period of the uplink reference signal, a number of symbols occupied by the uplink reference signal, or comb information of the uplink reference signal in the frequency domain. The configuration information of the uplink reference signal can configure various parameters related to the uplink reference signal. The above are only a few examples, and in addition to the above parameters, the configuration information can also configure other parameters of the uplink reference signal.

[0015] In an optional implementation, the sequence identifier of the uplink reference signal is the same as the identifier of the terminal device, or the sequence identifier of the uplink reference signal is obtained by taking the modulus of the identifier of the terminal device, or the sequence identifier of the uplink reference signal is part of the identifier of the terminal device. The uplink reference signal is determined according to the identifier of the terminal device, for example, including that the sequence identifier of the uplink reference signal is determined according to the identifier of the terminal device. There can be multiple determination manners, which are relatively flexible.

[0016] In an optional implementation, the time domain position and / or the frequency domain position of the uplink reference signal is determined according to the identity of the terminal device. For example, the time domain position and / or the frequency domain position of the uplink reference signal is determined according to the identity of the terminal device. It can be understood that the determination of the uplink reference signal according to the identity of the terminal device can include the determination of the sequence identity of the uplink reference signal according to the identity of the terminal device, and / or the determination of the time domain position and / or the frequency domain position of the uplink reference signal according to the identity of the terminal device.

[0017] In an optional implementation, the time domain position of the uplink reference signal includes a time slot in which the uplink reference signal is located, and the number of the time slot in which the uplink reference signal is located is determined according to the identity of the terminal device. The number of the time slot in which the uplink reference signal is located can be determined according to the identity of the terminal device, so that the terminal device and the access network device can both determine the number of the time slot in which the uplink reference signal is located according to the identity of the terminal device, and the access network device can detect the uplink reference signal in the correct time slot. In addition, the time slot of the uplink reference signal is determined according to the identity of the terminal device, so that the time slot of the uplink reference signal sent by different terminal devices can be different, thereby reducing the interference between the uplink reference signals.

[0018] In an optional implementation, the time domain position of the uplink reference signal includes a starting symbol of the uplink reference signal, and the number of the starting symbol of the uplink reference signal is determined according to the identity of the terminal device and first information. The first information includes the number of symbols occupied by the uplink reference signal and / or the number of symbols included in a time slot. The number of the starting symbol of the uplink reference signal can be determined according to the identity of the terminal device and the first information, so that the terminal device and the access network device can both determine the starting symbol of the uplink reference signal according to the identity of the terminal device and the first information, and the access network device can detect the uplink reference signal in the correct symbol. In addition, the starting symbol of the uplink reference signal is determined according to the identity of the terminal device, so that the starting symbol of the uplink reference signal sent by different terminal devices can be different, thereby reducing the interference between the uplink reference signals.

[0019] In an optional implementation, the frequency domain position of the uplink reference signal comprises a frequency domain starting position of the uplink reference signal, and a subcarrier number at which the frequency domain starting position of the uplink reference signal is located is determined according to the identifier of the terminal device and comb information of the uplink reference signal in the frequency domain. The frequency domain starting position of the uplink reference signal can be determined according to the identifier of the terminal device, so that the terminal device and the access network device can both determine the frequency domain starting position of the uplink reference signal according to the identifier of the terminal device, and the access network device can detect the uplink reference signal at the correct frequency domain position. Moreover, the frequency domain starting position of the uplink reference signal is determined according to the identifier of the terminal device, so that the frequency domain positions of the uplink reference signals sent by different terminal devices can be different, thereby reducing interference between the uplink reference signals.

[0020] In an optional implementation, the uplink reference signal is a positioning SRS or a ranging SRS. The uplink reference signal in the embodiments of the present application can be a reference signal dedicated to positioning or a reference signal dedicated to ranging, that is, the uplink reference signal is used for positioning or used for ranging. Alternatively, the embodiments of the present application can also not limit the use of the uplink reference signal. The uplink reference signal is, for example, an SRS, or can also be other reference signals in the uplink direction.

[0021] In an optional implementation, the terminal device is only used for positioning. In the embodiments of the present application, the terminal device can be a terminal device dedicated to positioning, for example, the terminal device only has a positioning requirement and has no other requirements such as communication. Alternatively, the terminal device can also be a general terminal device, which is not limited in particular.

[0022] In a second aspect, a second communication method is provided, which can be performed by an access network device, or by other devices including the functions of the access network device, or by a chip system or other functional modules capable of implementing the functions of the access network device, for example, the chip system or the functional modules are arranged in the access network device. The access network device is, for example, a base station. The method comprises: transmitting a downlink control channel, the downlink control channel being used for scheduling system information, and the downlink control channel further indicating that the type of the system information is a first type or a second type, the system information of the first type comprising positioning information, the system information of the second type not comprising the positioning information, the positioning information comprising information used for configuring an uplink reference signal; transmitting the system information; and if the type of the system information is the first type, receiving an uplink reference signal from a terminal device.

[0023] In an optional implementation, the system information further comprises information used for evaluating whether the terminal device is allowed to access a cell and / or UAC information.

[0024] In an optional implementation, the downlink control channel further indicates that the type of the system information is a first type or a second type, including: the downlink control channel carrying downlink control information, the downlink control information including information indicating that the type of the system information is the first type or the second type; or, a scrambling sequence of the downlink control channel being a first sequence, indicating that the type of the system information is the first type, or a scrambling sequence of the downlink control channel being a second sequence, indicating that the type of the system information is the second type.

[0025] In an optional implementation, the method further includes: sending, on an uplink channel configured by the fifth information, an identifier of the terminal device, the uplink channel including an uplink control channel or an uplink shared channel.

[0026] In an optional implementation, the uplink channel includes the uplink control channel, the uplink control channel being used for requesting positioning; or, the uplink channel includes the uplink shared channel, the method further including: receiving, from the terminal device, request information, the request information being used for requesting positioning.

[0027] In an optional implementation, the uplink reference signal is determined according to the identifier of the terminal device.

[0028] In an optional implementation, the uplink reference signal is determined according to the identifier of the terminal device and the positioning information.

[0029] In an optional implementation, the positioning information includes one or more of the following: bandwidth information of the uplink reference signal, a period of the uplink reference signal, a number of symbols occupied by the uplink reference signal, or comb information of the uplink reference signal in the frequency domain.

[0030] In an optional implementation, a sequence identifier of the uplink reference signal is the same as the identifier of the terminal device; or, the sequence identifier of the uplink reference signal is obtained by taking the modulus of the identifier of the terminal device; or, the sequence identifier of the uplink reference signal is part of the identifier of the terminal device.

[0031] In an optional implementation, a time domain position and / or a frequency domain position of the uplink reference signal are determined according to the identifier of the terminal device.

[0032] In an optional implementation, a time domain position of the uplink reference signal includes a time slot in which the uplink reference signal is located, a number of the time slot in which the uplink reference signal is located being determined according to the identifier of the terminal device, the number of the time slot in which the uplink reference signal is located being a number of the time slot in which the uplink reference signal is located within a system frame.

[0033] In an optional implementation, the time domain position of the uplink reference signal comprises a starting symbol of the uplink reference signal, wherein a number of the starting symbol of the uplink reference signal is determined according to the identifier of the terminal device and first information, and the first information comprises a number of symbols occupied by the uplink reference signal and / or a number of symbols included in one time slot.

[0034] In an optional implementation, the frequency domain position of the uplink reference signal comprises a frequency domain starting position of the uplink reference signal, and a number of a subcarrier where the frequency domain starting position of the uplink reference signal is located is determined according to the identifier of the terminal device and comb information of the uplink reference signal in the frequency domain.

[0035] In an optional implementation, the method further comprises: sending a first positioning request to a core network device, the first positioning request comprising the identifier of the terminal device, for requesting to position the terminal device. For example, the first positioning request comprises the identifier of the terminal device, so that the core network device can send the identifier of the terminal device to a positioning server, so that the positioning server can send the identifier of the terminal device to a plurality of access network devices, so that the plurality of access network devices can jointly implement positioning of the terminal device.

[0036] In an optional implementation, the method further comprises: measuring the uplink reference signal to obtain a measurement result; and sending the measurement result to a positioning server, the measurement result being used for positioning the terminal device. The access network device can receive the uplink reference signal and measure the received uplink reference signal to obtain a measurement result, and the measurement result can be sent to a positioning server, so that the positioning server can determine the position of the terminal device according to the measurement result, thereby implementing positioning of the terminal device.

[0037] In an optional implementation, the uplink reference signal is a positioning SRS.

[0038] In an optional implementation, the terminal device is only used for positioning.

[0039] As to the technical effects brought by the second aspect or various optional implementations, reference can be made to the introduction of the technical effects of the first aspect or corresponding implementations.

[0040] In a third aspect, a third communication method is provided, which can be performed by a terminal device, or by other equipment including functions of the terminal device, or by a chip system or other functional module capable of realizing functions of the terminal device, e.g., arranged in the terminal device. The method includes: receiving a downlink broadcast channel, the downlink broadcast channel including configuration information of a downlink control channel; receiving the downlink control channel, the downlink control channel carrying positioning information, the positioning information including information for configuring an uplink reference signal; and transmitting, according to the positioning information, the uplink reference signal to the access network device.

[0041] In the embodiments of the present application, the terminal device obtains the positioning information through the downlink control channel, so that the terminal device can realize positioning without performing random access, and even without receiving system information, thereby reducing the communication procedures, such as receiving system information and random access, that the terminal device needs to perform before being positioned, and simplifying the positioning process. Moreover, since the communication procedures that the terminal device needs to perform are reduced, it is not necessary to place the random access related code inside the terminal device, thereby reducing the storage space of the terminal device and saving the power consumption of the terminal device. For some scenarios, such as asset inventory, logistics tracking, electronic fence, etc., there is a higher demand for the power consumption of positioning, e.g., a service life of 6 to 18 months needs to be maintained, and the demand for communication is far less than the demand for positioning in these scenarios. Therefore, if the technical solution of the embodiments of the present application is applied to these scenarios, the terminal device can help to maintain a longer service life since it does not need to perform the communication procedures such as random access.

[0042] In an optional implementation, the downlink broadcast channel indicates that the type of the downlink control channel is a first type, and the downlink control information carried by the downlink control channel of the first type includes the positioning information; or, the scrambling sequence of the downlink control channel is a first sequence, and the first sequence is used to indicate that the downlink control information carried by the downlink control channel includes the positioning information. The downlink broadcast channel can indicate the type of the downlink control channel. For example, for the terminal device of the embodiments of the present application, if the downlink broadcast channel indicates that the type of the downlink control channel is a first type, the terminal device can detect the downlink control channel, and if the downlink broadcast channel indicates that the type of the downlink control channel is a second type, the terminal device can not need to detect the downlink control channel, thereby reducing the power consumption of the terminal device. Alternatively, the type of the downlink control channel can also be indicated by the scrambling sequence of the downlink control channel, which does not need to increase additional indication information and can save signaling overhead.

[0043] In an optional implementation, the method further includes: sending an identifier of the terminal device on an uplink channel configured by the positioning information, the uplink channel including an uplink control channel or an uplink shared channel.

[0044] In an optional implementation, the uplink channel includes the uplink control channel, and the uplink control channel is used for requesting positioning; or, the uplink channel includes the uplink shared channel, and the method further includes: sending request information to the access network device, the request information being used for requesting positioning.

[0045] In an optional implementation, the uplink reference signal is determined according to the identifier of the terminal device.

[0046] In an optional implementation, the uplink reference signal is determined according to the identifier of the terminal device and the positioning information.

[0047] In an optional implementation, the positioning information includes one or more of the following: bandwidth information of the uplink reference signal, a period of the uplink reference signal, a quantity of symbols occupied by the uplink reference signal, or comb information of the uplink reference signal in a frequency domain.

[0048] In an optional implementation, a sequence identifier of the uplink reference signal is the same as the identifier of the terminal device; or, the sequence identifier of the uplink reference signal is obtained by taking a modulus of the identifier of the terminal device; or, the sequence identifier of the uplink reference signal is part of the identifier of the terminal device.

[0049] In an optional implementation, a time domain position and / or a frequency domain position of the uplink reference signal are determined according to the identifier of the terminal device.

[0050] In an optional implementation, the time domain position of the uplink reference signal includes a slot in which the uplink reference signal is located, and a number of the slot in which the uplink reference signal is located is determined according to the identifier of the terminal device, the number of the slot in which the uplink reference signal is located being a number of the slot in which the uplink reference signal is located within a system frame.

[0051] In an optional implementation, the time domain position of the uplink reference signal includes a starting symbol of the uplink reference signal, and a number of the starting symbol of the uplink reference signal is determined according to the identifier of the terminal device and first information, the first information including a quantity of symbols occupied by the uplink reference signal and / or a quantity of symbols included in a slot.

[0052] In an optional implementation, the frequency domain position of the uplink reference signal comprises a frequency domain starting position of the uplink reference signal, and a number of a subcarrier where the frequency domain starting position of the uplink reference signal is located is determined according to the identifier of the terminal device and comb information of the uplink reference signal in the frequency domain.

[0053] In an optional implementation, the uplink reference signal is a positioning SRS.

[0054] In an optional implementation, the terminal device is only used for positioning.

[0055] The technical effects brought by some optional implementations of the third aspect can be referred to the introduction of the technical effects of the first aspect or the corresponding implementations.

[0056] In a fourth aspect, a fourth communication method is provided. The method can be performed by an access network device, or by other devices including the function of the access network device, or by a chip system or other functional module capable of realizing the function of the access network device, such as being arranged in the access network device. The access network device is, for example, a base station. The method comprises: transmitting a downlink broadcast channel, wherein the downlink broadcast channel comprises configuration information of a downlink control channel; transmitting the downlink control channel, wherein the downlink control channel carries positioning information, and the positioning information comprises information for configuring an uplink reference signal; and receiving an uplink reference signal from a terminal device according to the positioning information.

[0057] In an optional implementation, the downlink broadcast channel indicates that the type of the downlink control channel is a first type, and the downlink control information carried by the downlink control channel of the first type comprises the positioning information; or, a scrambling sequence of the downlink control channel is a first sequence, and the first sequence is used to indicate that the downlink control information carried by the downlink control channel comprises the positioning information.

[0058] In an optional implementation, the method further comprises: receiving an identifier of the terminal device on an uplink channel configured by the positioning information, and the uplink channel comprises an uplink control channel or an uplink shared channel.

[0059] In an optional implementation, the uplink channel comprises the uplink control channel, and the uplink control channel is used to request positioning; or, the uplink channel comprises the uplink shared channel, and the method further comprises: receiving request information from the terminal device, and the request information is used to request positioning.

[0060] In an optional implementation, the uplink reference signal is determined according to the identifier of the terminal device.

[0061] In an optional implementation, the uplink reference signal is determined according to the identifier of the terminal device and the positioning information.

[0062] In an optional implementation, the positioning information comprises one or more of the following: bandwidth information of the uplink reference signal, a period of the uplink reference signal, a quantity of symbols occupied by the uplink reference signal, or comb information of the uplink reference signal in the frequency domain.

[0063] In an optional implementation, a sequence identifier of the uplink reference signal is the same as the identifier of the terminal device, or the sequence identifier of the uplink reference signal is obtained by taking the modulus of the identifier of the terminal device, or the sequence identifier of the uplink reference signal is part of the identifier of the terminal device.

[0064] In an optional implementation, a time domain position and / or a frequency domain position of the uplink reference signal is determined according to the identifier of the terminal device.

[0065] In an optional implementation, the time domain position of the uplink reference signal comprises a time slot in which the uplink reference signal is located, and a number of the time slot in which the uplink reference signal is located is determined according to the identifier of the terminal device, the number of the time slot in which the uplink reference signal is located being a number of the time slot in which the uplink reference signal is located within a system frame.

[0066] In an optional implementation, the time domain position of the uplink reference signal comprises a starting symbol of the uplink reference signal, wherein a number of the starting symbol of the uplink reference signal is determined according to the identifier of the terminal device and first information, and the first information comprises a quantity of symbols occupied by the uplink reference signal and / or a quantity of symbols included in one time slot.

[0067] In an optional implementation, the frequency domain position of the uplink reference signal comprises a frequency domain starting position of the uplink reference signal, and a number of a subcarrier in which the frequency domain starting position of the uplink reference signal is located is determined according to the identifier of the terminal device and comb information of the uplink reference signal in the frequency domain.

[0068] In an optional implementation, the method further comprises: sending, to a core network device, a first positioning request, the first positioning request comprising the identifier of the terminal device, to request positioning of the terminal device.

[0069] In an optional implementation, the method further comprises: measuring the uplink reference signal to obtain a measurement result, and sending, to a positioning server, the measurement result, the measurement result being used for positioning of the terminal device.

[0070] In an optional implementation, the uplink reference signal is a positioning SRS.

[0071] In an optional implementation, the terminal device is only used for positioning.

[0072] As to the technical effects brought by the fourth aspect or the various optional implementations of the fourth aspect, reference can be made to the introduction of the technical effects of the second aspect or the corresponding implementations.

[0073] In a fifth aspect, a communication system is provided, which includes a terminal device and an access network device, e.g., the access network device of the first aspect and / or the second aspect, and the terminal device, e.g., the terminal device of the first aspect and / or the second aspect. For example, the access network device is configured to transmit a downlink control channel, and the terminal device is configured to receive the downlink control channel from the access network device, the downlink control channel being used to schedule system information, and the downlink control channel further indicating a type of the system information as a first type or a second type, the system information of the first type including positioning information, the system information of the second type not including the positioning information, the positioning information including information used to configure an uplink reference signal; the access network device is further configured to transmit the system information, and the terminal device is further configured to detect the system information if the downlink control channel indicates that the type of the system information is the first type; the terminal device is further configured to transmit an uplink reference signal to the access network device according to the positioning information, and the access network device is further configured to receive the uplink reference signal from the terminal device if the type of the system information is the first type.

[0074] In an optional implementation, the communication system further includes the positioning server of the first aspect and / or the second aspect.

[0075] As to the methods that can be implemented by the various devices in the communication system, and the corresponding technical effects, etc., reference can be made to the introduction of the first aspect and / or the second aspect.

[0076] In a sixth aspect, a communication system is provided, which comprises a terminal device and an access network device, e.g., the access network device of the third aspect and / or the fourth aspect, and the terminal device, e.g., the terminal device of the third aspect and / or the fourth aspect. For example, the access network device is configured to transmit a downlink broadcast channel, and the terminal device is configured to receive the downlink broadcast channel, wherein the downlink broadcast channel comprises configuration information of a downlink control channel; the access network device is further configured to transmit the downlink control channel, and the terminal device is further configured to receive the downlink control channel, wherein the downlink control channel carries positioning information, and the positioning information comprises information used for configuring an uplink reference signal; the terminal device is further configured to transmit the uplink reference signal to the access network device according to the positioning information, and the access network device is further configured to receive the uplink reference signal from the terminal device according to the positioning information.

[0077] In an optional implementation, the communication system further comprises the positioning server of the third aspect and / or the fourth aspect.

[0078] For the method that can be implemented by each device in the communication system, and the corresponding technical effects, etc., reference can be made to the introduction of the third aspect and / or the fourth aspect.

[0079] In a seventh aspect, a communication apparatus is provided. The communication apparatus can be the terminal device of any one of the first aspect to the sixth aspect. The communication apparatus has the functions of the terminal device. The communication apparatus is, for example, a terminal device, or a functional module in a terminal device, e.g., a baseband device or a chip system, etc. In an optional implementation, the communication apparatus comprises a baseband device and a radio frequency device. In another optional implementation, the communication apparatus comprises a processing unit (sometimes referred to as a processing module) and a transceiver unit (sometimes referred to as a transceiver module). The transceiver unit can implement the transmitting function and the receiving function. When the transceiver unit implements the transmitting function, it can be referred to as a transmitting unit (sometimes referred to as a transmitting module). When the transceiver unit implements the receiving function, it can be referred to as a receiving unit (sometimes referred to as a receiving module). The transmitting unit and the receiving unit can be the same functional module, which is referred to as a transceiver unit, and can implement the transmitting function and the receiving function. Alternatively, the transmitting unit and the receiving unit can be different functional modules, and the transceiver unit is a general term for these functional modules.

[0080] In an optional implementation, the transceiver is configured to receive a downlink control channel from the access network device, the downlink control channel is used to schedule system information, and the downlink control channel further indicates that the type of the system information is a first type or a second type, the system information of the first type includes positioning information, the system information of the second type does not include the positioning information, and the positioning information includes information used to configure an uplink reference signal; the processor is configured to detect the system information through the transceiver if the downlink control channel indicates that the type of the system information is the first type; and the processor is further configured to send an uplink reference signal to the access network device through the transceiver according to the positioning information. Alternatively, the transceiver is configured to receive a downlink control channel from the access network device, the downlink control channel is used to schedule system information, and the downlink control channel further indicates that the type of the system information is a first type or a second type, the system information of the first type includes positioning information, the system information of the second type does not include the positioning information, and the positioning information includes information used to configure an uplink reference signal; and the transceiver is further configured to detect the system information if the downlink control channel indicates that the type of the system information is the first type; and the transceiver is further configured to send an uplink reference signal to the access network device according to the positioning information.

[0081] In an optional implementation, the transceiver is configured to receive a downlink broadcast channel, and the downlink broadcast channel includes configuration information of a downlink control channel; the transceiver is further configured to receive the downlink control channel, and the downlink control channel carries positioning information, and the positioning information includes information used to configure an uplink reference signal; and the processor is configured to send an uplink reference signal to the access network device through the transceiver according to the positioning information. Alternatively, the transceiver is configured to receive a downlink broadcast channel, and the downlink broadcast channel includes configuration information of a downlink control channel; the transceiver is further configured to receive the downlink control channel, and the downlink control channel carries positioning information, and the positioning information includes information used to configure an uplink reference signal; and the transceiver is further configured to send an uplink reference signal to the access network device according to the positioning information.

[0082] In an optional implementation, the communication apparatus further includes a storage unit (also referred to as a storage module), and the processor is coupled to the storage unit and executes programs or instructions in the storage unit to enable the communication apparatus to perform the functions of the terminal device in any of the first aspect to the sixth aspect.

[0083] In an eighth aspect, a communication apparatus is provided. The communication apparatus can be the access network device of any of the first aspect to the sixth aspect. The communication apparatus has the functions of the access network device. The communication apparatus is, for example, the access network device, or a functional module (for example, a baseband device or a chip system) in the access network device. In an optional implementation, the communication apparatus includes a baseband device and a radio frequency device. In another optional implementation, the communication apparatus includes a processing unit (also referred to as a processing module) and a transceiver unit (also referred to as a transceiver module). For the implementation of the transceiver unit, refer to the description of the seventh aspect.

[0084] In an optional implementation, the transceiver unit is configured to send a downlink control channel, where the downlink control channel is used to schedule system information, and the downlink control channel further indicates that the type of the system information is a first type or a second type, the system information of the first type includes positioning information, the system information of the second type does not include the positioning information, and the positioning information includes information used to configure an uplink reference signal. The transceiver unit is further configured to send the system information. The processing unit is configured to receive, by the transceiver unit, the uplink reference signal from the terminal device if the type of the system information is the first type. Alternatively, the transceiver unit is configured to send a downlink control channel, where the downlink control channel is used to schedule system information, and the downlink control channel further indicates that the type of the system information is a first type or a second type, the system information of the first type includes positioning information, the system information of the second type does not include the positioning information, and the positioning information includes information used to configure an uplink reference signal. The transceiver unit is further configured to send the system information. The transceiver unit is further configured to receive, from the terminal device, the uplink reference signal if the type of the system information is the first type.

[0085] In an optional implementation, the transceiver unit is configured to send a downlink broadcast channel, where the downlink broadcast channel includes configuration information of a downlink control channel. The transceiver unit is further configured to send the downlink control channel, where the downlink control channel carries positioning information, and the positioning information includes information used to configure an uplink reference signal. The processing unit is configured to receive, by the transceiver unit, the uplink reference signal from the terminal device according to the positioning information. Alternatively, the transceiver unit is configured to send a downlink broadcast channel, where the downlink broadcast channel includes configuration information of a downlink control channel. The transceiver unit is further configured to send the downlink control channel, where the downlink control channel carries positioning information, and the positioning information includes information used to configure an uplink reference signal. The transceiver unit is further configured to receive, from the terminal device, the uplink reference signal according to the positioning information.

[0086] In an alternative implementation, the communication apparatus further comprises a storage unit (also referred to as a storage module), and the processing unit is coupled with the storage unit and executes programs or instructions in the storage unit to enable the communication apparatus to perform the functions of the access network device according to any one of the first aspect to the sixth aspect.

[0087] In a ninth aspect, a computer readable storage medium is provided, which is configured to store computer programs or instructions, when executed, to enable the method performed by the terminal device or the access network device according to the above aspects.

[0088] In a tenth aspect, a computer program product is provided, which comprises instructions, when executed on a computer, to enable the method according to the above aspects. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0089] Figure 1A Flowchart for uplink positioning of UE;

[0090] Figure 1B Schematic diagram for determining target to be positioned by LMF;

[0091] Figure 2 Schematic diagram of network architecture applied to embodiments of the present application;

[0092] Figure 3 Flowchart of a first communication method provided by embodiments of the present application;

[0093] Figure 4 Flowchart of a second communication method provided by embodiments of the present application;

[0094] Figure 5 Schematic diagram of a slot where the uplink reference signal determined by the UE in embodiments of the present application is located;

[0095] Figure 6 Schematic diagram of a starting symbol of the uplink reference signal determined by the UE in embodiments of the present application;

[0096] Figure 7 Schematic diagram of a frequency domain position of the uplink reference signal determined by the UE in embodiments of the present application;

[0097] Figure 8 Protocol stack of UE, base station and AMF;

[0098] Figure 9 Schematic diagram of the protocol stack after pruning in embodiments of the present application;

[0099] Figure 10 Flowchart of a third communication method provided by embodiments of the present application;

[0100] Figure 11 a flowchart of a fourth communication method provided for an embodiment of the present application;

[0101] Figure 12 a schematic diagram of an apparatus provided for an embodiment of the present application;

[0102] Figure 13 a schematic diagram of another apparatus provided for an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0103] In order to make the purposes, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present application clearer, the embodiments of the present application will be further described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

[0104] In the following, some terms or concepts in the embodiments of the present application are explained and described, so as to facilitate the understanding of the skilled in the art.

[0105] The method and apparatus provided by the embodiments of the present application can be applied to various communication systems, for example, 5th generation (5G), new radio (NR), long term evolution (LTE), internet of things (IoT), wireless-fidelity (WiFi), 3GPP related wireless communication, or other wireless communication that may appear in the future, etc.

[0106] In the embodiments of the present application, the terminal device is a device with wireless transceiving function, which can be a fixed device, a mobile device, a handheld device (for example, a mobile phone), a wearable device, a vehicle-mounted device, or a wireless device (for example, a communication module, a modem, or a chip system, etc.) built in the above devices. The terminal device is used to connect people, things, machines, etc., and can be widely used in various scenes, for example, including but not limited to the following scenes: cellular communication, device-to-device (D2D) communication, vehicle to everything (V2X) communication, machine-to-machine / machine-type communications (M2M / MTC), internet of things (IoT), virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), industrial control, self driving, remote medical, smart grid, smart furniture, smart office, smart wear, smart transportation, smart city, unmanned aerial vehicle, robot, etc. The terminal device can be sometimes referred to as a user equipment (UE), a terminal, an access station, a UE station, a remote station, a wireless communication device, or a user apparatus, etc. For the convenience of description, the terminal device is taken as an example of UE in the embodiments of the present application.

[0107] The network device in the embodiments of the present application may, for example, include an access network device and / or a core network device. The access network device is a device with wireless transceiving function, used for communicating with the terminal device. The access network device includes but is not limited to a base station (BTS, Node B, eNodeB / eNB, or gNodeB / gNB), a transmission reception point (TRP), a base station of subsequent evolution of the 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP), an access node in a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) system, a wireless relay node, a wireless backhaul node, and the like. The base station may be a macro base station, a micro base station, a pico base station, a small station, a relay station, and the like. A plurality of base stations may support a network of the same access technology or a network of different access technologies. A base station may include one or more co-sited or non-co-sited transmission reception points. The access network device may also be a wireless controller, a centralized unit (CU), and / or a distributed unit (DU) in a cloud radio access network (CRAN) scenario. The access network device may also be a server or the like. For example, the network device in vehicle to everything (V2X) technology may be a road side unit (RSU). The following takes the base station as an example to describe the access network device. The base station may communicate with the terminal device or communicate with the terminal device through a relay station. The terminal device may communicate with a plurality of base stations in different access technologies. The core network device is used to implement mobile management, data processing, session management, policy and charging, and the like. The device names implementing core network functions in systems of different access technologies may be different, and the embodiments of the present application do not limit this. Taking the 5G system as an example, the core network device includes an access and mobility management function (AMF), a session management function (SMF), a policy control function (PCF), a user plane function (UPF), and the like.

[0108] In the embodiments of the present application, the communication device for implementing the function of the network device can be a network device, or a device capable of supporting the network device to implement the function, such as a chip system, which can be installed in the network device. In the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application, the device for implementing the function of the network device is taken as an example to describe the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application.

[0109] In the embodiments of the present application, the number of nouns represents "a singular noun or a plural noun", that is, "one or more" unless otherwise specified. "At least one" means one or more, and "a plurality of" means two or more. The association relationship of the associated objects is described by "and / or", which means that there can be three kinds of relationships, for example, A and / or B can represent the following three cases: A exists alone, A and B exist together, and B exists alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. The character " / " generally represents an "or" relationship between the front and rear associated objects. For example, A / B represents A or B. "At least one of the following" or similar expressions means any combination of these items, including any combination of single item or multiple items. For example, at least one of a, b, or c represents a, b, c, a and b, a and c, b and c, or a and b and c, where a, b, and c can be single or multiple.

[0110] The ordinal numbers "first", "second", and the like mentioned in the embodiments of the present application are used to distinguish a plurality of objects, and are not used to limit the size, content, order, time sequence, priority, or importance of the plurality of objects. For example, the first sequence and the second sequence can be the same sequence or different sequences, and such names do not mean that the sizes, contents, sending orders, priorities, or importance of the two sequences are different. In addition, the numbering of steps in each embodiment introduced in the present application is only for distinguishing different steps, and is not used to limit the order of the steps. For example, S301 can occur before S302, or can occur after S302, or can occur simultaneously with S302.

[0111] The technical features related to the embodiments of the present application are briefly introduced below.

[0112] According to the current protocol process, under the UL-TDOA technology, the UE needs to access the network before positioning, that is, the UE needs to perform cell search and random access first, establish an RRC connection with the base station, and then can initiate a positioning request. After initiating the positioning request, the UE can obtain the information required for positioning from the base station, such as obtaining SRS configuration information, and then the UE sends a positioning reference signal to the base station, and the network can position the UE. For reference Figure 1A The flowchart for positioning the UE in uplink is based on the UL-TDOA technology.

[0113] S101, a serving base station of the UE transmits a synchronization signal and PBCH block (SSB). Correspondingly, the UE receives the SSB from the serving base station.

[0114] The SSB can carry a master information block (MIB), so that the UE can obtain the MIB, which can carry configuration information of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH).

[0115] S102, the serving base station transmits the PDCCH. Correspondingly, the UE receives the PDCCH from the serving base station.

[0116] The UE can detect the PDCCH according to the configuration information of the PDCCH, which can schedule a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) that can carry a system information block 1 (SIB1).

[0117] S103, the serving base station transmits the PDSCH. Correspondingly, the UE receives the PDSCH from the serving base station.

[0118] The UE can receive the PDSCH according to the scheduling of the PDCCH, so as to obtain the SIB1 carried by the PDSCH. The SIB1 can configure random access resources required by the UE to initiate random access, for example, a preamble is configured. After receiving the SIB1, the UE can initiate random access. S101-S103 can be regarded as a cell search process, and S104-S107 below are a random access process of the UE.

[0119] S104, the UE transmits a physical random access channel (PRACH) to the serving base station. Correspondingly, the serving base station receives the PRACH from the UE.

[0120] For example, the UE transmits a preamble to the serving base station through the PRACH according to the configuration of the SIB1, and the serving base station receives the preamble from the UE. The preamble can also be referred to as a first message (Msg1) in the random access process.

[0121] S105, the serving base station sends a random access response (RAR) to the UE. Correspondingly, the UE receives the RAR from the serving base station. The RAR can also be referred to as a second message (Msg2) in the random access procedure.

[0122] S106, the UE sends an RRC setup request message to the serving base station. Correspondingly, the serving base station receives the RRC setup request message from the UE. The RRC setup request message can also be referred to as a third message (Msg3) in the random access procedure.

[0123] S107, the serving base station sends an RRC setup response message to the UE. Correspondingly, the UE receives the RRC setup response message from the serving base station. The RRC setup response message can also be referred to as a fourth message (Msg4) in the random access procedure.

[0124] So far, the random access procedure of the UE is completed, and if the random access is successful, the UE establishes an RRC connection with the base station. Next, the positioning procedure for the UE is performed, i.e., S108-S117 below are the positioning procedure.

[0125] S108, the UE sends a message for requesting positioning to the AMF. Correspondingly, the AMF receives the message for requesting positioning from the UE.

[0126] S109, the AMF sends a message for requesting positioning to the LMF. Correspondingly, the LMF receives the message for requesting positioning from the AMF.

[0127] S110, the LMF sends a positioning information request message to the serving base station. Correspondingly, the serving base station receives the positioning information request message from the LMF. The positioning information request message is used to request to obtain SRS configuration information.

[0128] S111, the serving base station sends a positioning information response to the LMF. Correspondingly, the LMF receives the positioning information response from the serving base station. The positioning information response can carry the SRS configuration information.

[0129] After the LMF receives the SRS configuration information, the LMF can send the SRS configuration information to multiple base stations, and the multiple base stations jointly perform positioning on the UE.

[0130] S112, the serving base station sends the SRS configuration information to the UE. Correspondingly, the UE receives the SRS configuration information from the serving base station.

[0131] S113, the LMF sends a measurement request to multiple base stations. For example, the multiple base stations include the serving base station, and correspondingly, the serving base station receives the measurement request from the LMF.

[0132] S114, the UE sends the SRS. Correspondingly, the serving base station receives the SRS from the UE.

[0133] Because the LMF sends the SRS configuration information to multiple base stations, the multiple base stations can also receive the SRS from the UE in addition to the serving base station.

[0134] S115, the serving base station sends the measurement result to the LMF. Correspondingly, the LMF receives the measurement result from the serving base station.

[0135] The serving base station measures the SRS from the UE, for example, the measurement result includes the arrival time of the SRS, and the serving base station can send the measurement result to the LMF.

[0136] Because the LMF sends the SRS configuration information to multiple base stations, the multiple base stations can also receive the SRS from the UE in addition to the serving base station, and the multiple base stations can also measure the SRS and send the respective measurement results to the LMF, so that the LMF can obtain multiple measurement results.

[0137] S116, the LMF estimates the position of the UE. The LMF receives the measurement results from multiple base stations, so the LMF can estimate the position of the UE according to the multiple measurement results.

[0138] The following briefly introduces how the measurement result of the LMF based on UL-TDOA technology is calculated to obtain the position of the target to be positioned. The following introduction process takes three base stations participating in positioning as an example, that is, the LMF sends a measurement request to three base stations and also receives measurement results from the three base stations. The three base stations include, for example, the serving base station of the target to be positioned, and the positions of the three base stations are known. Define the coordinates of the i-th base station in the three base stations as (x i ,y i ), i = 1, 2, 3, and define the coordinates of the target to be positioned as (x UE ,y UE ). For example, take the first base station (i.e., i = 1) in the three base stations as the reference base station, and assume that the arrival times of the SRS measured by the other two base stations are t i , then the time difference between the arrival time of the SRS measured by any one of the other two base stations and the arrival time of the SRS measured by the reference base station is Δt i1 . According to the definition of the hyperbola (the distance from two fixed points is constant), the target to be positioned is located on the hyperbola with the two base stations as the foci, so the following equation group can be listed:

[0139]

[0140]

[0141] In formula 1 and formula 2, c represents the speed of light, and there are only two unknowns (x UE and y UE ) in the two formulas, and the two unknowns can be solved by combining formula 1 and formula 2, so that the position coordinates of the UE to be positioned can be obtained. It should be noted that, due to the existence of measurement errors, the above equation generally does not have a closed-form solution, and in engineering, a classical optimization algorithm such as a least squares algorithm or a particle swarm filter algorithm is used to estimate the optimal solution of the above equation.

[0142] Referring to Figure 1B , a schematic diagram for determining a target to be positioned by the LMF. For example, if three base stations are involved in positioning, then a hyperbola can be determined based on any two of the base stations, and a total of three hyperbolas can be determined. The intersection of the three hyperbolas is the position of the UE to be positioned.

[0143] As can be known from the above description, the UE needs to establish an RRC connection with the base station before being positioned, that is, if a UE needs to support the UL-TDOA positioning technology, the UE needs to complete basic communication processes such as cell search and random access, and then obtain SRS configuration information. For the UE, if both the communication function and the positioning function of 3GPP need to be supported, a large amount of code needs to be built into the UE to support it, and the increase in the amount of code requires a larger storage space to be set in the UE for storage, and the larger the storage space, the higher the power consumption of the UE. It can be seen that the current positioning process is not conducive to saving the power consumption of the UE.

[0144] In view of this, the technical scheme of the embodiments of the present application is provided. In the embodiments of the present application, the positioning information for configuring the uplink reference signal can be included in the system information, and the UE can obtain the positioning information by receiving the system information, and the UE can send the uplink reference signal to the access network device after obtaining the positioning information, without completing the random access, or in other words, the UE can send the uplink reference signal to the access network device without performing random access, so that the network can position the UE. Through the scheme provided in the embodiments of the present application, the communication processes such as random access that the UE needs to perform before being positioned are reduced, and the positioning process can be simplified. Moreover, since the communication processes that the UE needs to perform are reduced, it is not necessary to build random access related code into the UE, thereby reducing the storage space of the UE and saving the power consumption of the UE. In addition, the system information including the positioning information is of a first type, for example, the first type of system information can not include the public configuration information of the cell included in the traditional system information and the like, but only includes the positioning related information (such as the positioning information), so that the capacity of the first type of system information can be reduced, the transmission overhead can be saved, the code complexity of the UE can be reduced, the storage space of the UE can be saved, and finally the UE can realize positioning with lower power consumption, prolonging the service life of the UE.

[0145] Reference is made to Figure 2 a schematic diagram of a network architecture applied in embodiments of the present application. Figure 2 The network architecture includes a core network device, an access network device and a UE. The access network device and the core network device can jointly implement positioning of the UE. The core network device includes a location server and an AMF, for example. In different communication systems (e.g., a 4G system or a 5G system), the location server can be different, for example, the location server includes an LMF, an enhanced serving mobile location centre (E-SMLC) or a secure user plane location platform (SLP). Figure 2 In the network architecture, the location server includes the LMF as an example, and the E-SMLC and the SLP are represented by dashed lines to show several optional items parallel to the LMF. The location server (e.g., the E-SMLC, the SLP or the LMF) can be used to obtain measurement results from one or more positioning units (e.g., the access network device) and can also obtain other location-related information, and can provide assistance data to the positioning unit to help determine the location of the target device. Figure 2 The access network device in the network architecture includes the access network device 1 and the access network device 2, etc. The UE is connected to the access network device through a Uu interface, the access network device is connected to the AMF through a next generation (NG)-C interface, the access network devices are connected through an Xn interface, and the LMF is connected to the AMF through an NLs interface.

[0146] Figure 2 In the network architecture, the LMF is a device or component deployed in the core network to provide positioning functions for the UE. Figure 2 The access network device in the network architecture is a base station, for example. In different systems, the access network device corresponds to different devices, for example, in a 4G system, the access network device can correspond to an eNB, and in a 5G system, the access network device can correspond to an access network device in the 5G system, for example, a gNB. Of course, the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application can also be applied to future mobile communication systems, so the Figure 2 The access network device in the network architecture can also correspond to a network device in a future mobile communication system. The embodiments of the present application take the access network device as a base station as an example. In fact, referring to the foregoing description, the access network device can also be an RSU and the like. Figure 2 The access network device 1 and the access network device 2 in the network architecture can be the same type of device, for example, both are eNBs; or, Figure 2 The access network device 1 and the access network device 2 in the network architecture can also be different types of devices, for example, the access network device 1 is an eNB, and the access network device 2 is a gNB.

[0147] The technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application are described below with reference to the drawings. It should be noted that in the drawings corresponding to the various embodiments of the present application, the steps represented by dashed lines are optional steps. In the various embodiments of the present application, the terms "uplink reference signal", "uplink positioning reference signal", "positioning reference signal" and the like represent the same feature, i.e., representing an uplink reference signal for positioning, which will not be distinguished explicitly in the following description. If the uplink reference signal is SRS, the terms "SRS signal", "positioning SRS signal" and "SRS" also represent the same feature, i.e., representing an SRS for positioning.

[0148] The various embodiments of the present application relate to devices such as UE, access network device, core network device and positioning server. The positioning server can also be referred to as a positioning device, a location server, a positioning service center or a positioning processing center, etc., in short, the positioning server can determine the position of the UE according to the measurement results of the access network device, and the name thereof is not limited. In the following description, the methods provided are applied to the network architecture shown. Figure 2 The UE described in the various embodiments below is, for example, the UE in the network architecture shown. Figure 2 The access network device described in the various embodiments below is, for example, the access network device 1 or the access network device 2 in the network architecture shown. Figure 2 The core network device described in the various embodiments below is, for example, the AMF in the network architecture shown. Figure 2 The positioning server described in the various embodiments below is, for example, the LMF, E-SMLC or SLP in the network architecture shown. In order to simplify the description, in the various embodiments of the present application, the core network device is taken as the AMF and the positioning server is taken as the LMF. Figure 2

[0149] The first communication method provided by the embodiments of the present application is described below with reference to the flowchart of the method. Figure 3

[0150] S301, the access network device sends a downlink control channel. Correspondingly, the UE receives the downlink control channel from the access network device.

[0151] The downlink control channel can be used to schedule system information, which can be understood as that the downlink control channel can schedule a PDSCH, and the PDSCH can carry system information. The downlink control channel is, for example, a PDCCH. The PDCCH carries downlink control information (DCI), the PDCCH schedules a PDSCH, and specifically, the DCI schedules the PDSCH.

[0152] ​​The PDCCH can indicate the type of the scheduled system information, e.g., indicate the type of the system information is a first type or a second type, e.g., all types except the first type belong to the second type. The first type of system information, e.g., includes positioning information, while the second type of system information does not include positioning information. The positioning information can be used for positioning, e.g., the positioning information includes information for configuring uplink reference signals, and the uplink reference signals can be used for positioning. Optionally, the first type is, e.g., a positioning dedicated type, and the second type is, e.g., a non-positioning dedicated type.

[0153] The PDCCH indicates the type of the system information, and there can be different ways of indication. For example, one way of indication is that the DCI carried by the PDCCH can include indication information, which can indicate the type of the system information is a first type or a second type. Optionally, the indication information can be carried by reserved bits in the DCI, so as to indicate the type of the system information. For example, there are still 15 bits to 17 bits of reserved space in the DCI scrambled by the system information radio network temporary identity (SI-RNTI) at present, and the indication information can occupy one or more bits therefrom. For example, the indication information occupies 1 bit, if the value of the bit is “1”, it indicates that the type of the system information is the first type; if the value of the bit is “0”, it indicates that the type of the system information is the second type. The UE can determine the type of the system information according to the indication information included in the DCI.

[0154] For another example, another way of indication is that the indication can be made by scrambling sequences. For example, if the scrambling sequence of the PDCCH (or the DCI) is a first sequence, it indicates that the type of the system information is the first type; if the scrambling sequence of the PDCCH (or the DCI) is a second sequence, it indicates that the type of the system information is the second type. The first sequence is, e.g., a newly defined scrambling sequence, e.g., called positioning (POS)-SI-RNTI, and the second sequence is, e.g., the SI-RNTI. The UE can determine the type of the system information according to the scrambling sequence used to scramble the PDCCH.

[0155] S302, the access network device sends the system information. Correspondingly, if the downlink control channel indicates that the type of the system information is the first type, the UE detects the system information.

[0156] The access network device sends the PDSCH after sending the PDCCH. If the PDCCH indicates that the type of the system information is the first type, the UE can detect the PDSCH according to the scheduling of the PDCCH, and the PDSCH can carry the system information. At this time, the PDSCH carries the system information of the first type. If the PDCCH indicates that the type of the system information is the second type, the UE can not need to detect the PDSCH, thereby saving the power consumption of the UE. The UE is, for example, a UE that needs positioning, or a UE that needs positioning and has high requirements on power consumption and / or latency, or a UE that needs positioning and has low requirements on communication. In addition, if it is a common UE, for example, a UE that does not need positioning, or a UE that needs positioning but has low requirements on power consumption and / or latency, or a UE that has requirements on communication, the response mode of such a UE is opposite to that of the above-mentioned UE. For example, if the PDCCH indicates that the type of the system information is the first type, the UE does not need to detect the PDSCH, and if the PDCCH indicates that the type of the system information is the second type, the UE can detect the PDSCH according to the scheduling of the PDCCH to receive the system information of the second type, thereby further performing the random access process and the like. The embodiments of the present application mainly introduce the content related to the system information of the first type.

[0157] The system information of the first type can include positioning information, and the positioning information can include information used for configuring an uplink reference signal, for example, the information used for configuring the uplink reference signal is referred to as first configuration information. For example, the positioning information only includes the first configuration information, and at this time, the positioning information and the first configuration information can be the same concept. Alternatively, the positioning information includes other information used for implementing the positioning function in addition to the first configuration information. The first configuration information includes, for example, one or more of the following: bandwidth information of the uplink reference signal, a period of the uplink reference signal, a number of symbols occupied by the uplink reference signal in the time domain, a comb type of the uplink reference signal in the frequency domain, frequency domain starting position information of the uplink reference signal, a number of slots in which the uplink reference signal is located, or time domain starting position information of the uplink reference signal. Alternatively, the first configuration information can also include other information used for configuring the uplink reference signal. The positioning information is, for example, included in an information element (IE) of the system information. For example, the positioning information is included in an existing IE in the system information, or a new IE can be added in the system information to carry the positioning information.

[0158] Optionally, the first type of system information can further comprise channel configuration information, which can be used to configure an uplink channel. For example, the channel configuration information can be included in the positioning information, e.g., the channel configuration information is included in the first configuration information, or the channel configuration information is included in the positioning information but not included in the first configuration information; or for example, the channel configuration information is not included in the positioning information but included in the first type of system information, i.e., the first type of system information comprises the positioning information and the channel configuration information. The uplink channel can comprise an uplink control channel and / or an uplink shared channel. If the channel configuration information is not included in the positioning information, the channel configuration information and the positioning information can be included in one IE in the system information, or can be included in different IEs in the system information.

[0159] Optionally, the first type of system information can further comprise other information in addition to the positioning information (or in addition to the positioning information and the channel configuration information). For example, the first type of system information can further comprise cell selection information, and / or unified access control (UAC) information. The cell selection information can be used to configure parameters for determining whether a cell is suitable for cell selection (e.g., the cell selection information comprises a minimum signal quality level that needs to be met for accessing the cell), e.g., the cell comprises a cell that transmits the first type of system information. The UAC information can comprise UAC restriction information (uac-BarringInfo) for restricting network access. For example, the system information can be SIB1, or can be other system information in addition to SIB1 and MIB.

[0160] Taking the system information as SIB1 as an example, the positioning information can be included in the existing BWP-UplinkCommon in SIB1, or the positioning information can be included in other existing IEs in SIB1, or a new IE can be added in SIB1 to carry the positioning information.

[0161] At S303, the UE transmits an uplink reference signal to the access network device according to the positioning information. Correspondingly, if the access network device indicates that the type of the system information is the first type, the access network device receives the uplink reference signal from the UE.

[0162] The UE has obtained the positioning information through the first type of system information, and the UE can send an uplink reference signal to the access network device according to the positioning information, where the uplink reference signal can be used for positioning, for example, for positioning of the UE. After the access network device receives the uplink reference signal, the access network device can measure the uplink reference signal and send the measurement result to the LMF, so that the LMF can position the UE according to the measurement result. That is, the UE obtains the positioning information through the first type of system information, so that the UE can realize positioning without random access, reduces the communication process that the UE needs to perform before being positioned, such as random access, and can simplify the positioning process. Moreover, since the communication process that the terminal device needs to perform is reduced, it is not necessary to implant code irrelevant to the positioning function (for example, random access related code) in the terminal device, thereby reducing the storage space of the terminal device and saving the power consumption of the terminal device. In addition, for some scenarios, such as asset inventory, logistics tracking, electronic fence, and the like, there is a higher demand for positioning power consumption, for example, a service life of 6 to 18 months needs to be maintained, and the demand for communication is much less than the demand for positioning. Therefore, if the technical solution of the embodiment of the present application is applied to these scenarios, the UE can help maintain a longer service life without performing communication processes such as random access. In addition, the system information including the positioning information is of the first type, and the first type of system information, for example, is positioning-specific system information, for example, the first type of system information can not include the public configuration information of the cell included in the traditional system information, and only includes positioning-related information (for example, positioning information). In this way, the capacity of the first type of system information can be reduced, the transmission overhead can be saved, the code complexity of the terminal device is also reduced, thereby saving the storage space of the terminal device, and finally the terminal device can realize positioning with lower power consumption, prolonging the service life of the terminal device.

[0163] To better understand the technical solution of the embodiments of the present application, the second communication method provided by the embodiments of the present application is introduced below, which can be regarded as an optional implementation of the embodiment shown in Figure 3 Figure 4 , which is a flowchart of the method.

[0164] S401, the access network device sends a physical broadcast channel (PBCH). Correspondingly, the UE receives the PBCH from the access network device. The access network device, for example, sends the PBCH in a certain cell, so that multiple UEs in the cell can receive the PBCH, and the embodiments of the present application take the UE as an example. The access network device is, for example, a serving base station of the UE. For example, the access network device sends an SSB, and the SSB is carried on the PBCH.

[0165] ​The PBCH can carry a MIB, and the MIB can include some common configuration information of the current cell, for example, the MIB can configure a system frame number (SFN), and can also include configuration information of the PDCCH, and the like. In addition, the UE can obtain downlink time synchronization with the current cell by receiving the PBCH.

[0166] S402, the access network device sends a downlink control channel. Correspondingly, the UE receives the downlink control channel from the access network device. The downlink control channel is, for example, a PDCCH. Alternatively, it is understood that the access network device sends downlink control information (DCI) through the PDCCH, and correspondingly, the UE receives the DCI from the access network device through the PDCCH.

[0167] The MIB includes configuration information of the PDCCH, for example, including time domain information and / or frequency domain information of the PDCCH, and the like, and the UE can detect the PDCCH according to the configuration information of the PDCCH. It can be understood that the PDCCH can schedule a PDSCH, and the PDSCH can carry system information. Alternatively, the PDCCH carries DCI, the DCI can schedule a PDSCH, and the PDSCH can carry system information.

[0168] The PDCCH can indicate the type of the scheduled system information, for example, indicating that the type of the system information is a first type or a second type, and types other than the first type belong to the second type.

[0169] Alternatively, the UE can also detect the PDCCH without the MIB, but through other ways, so S401 is an optional step.

[0170] S402 and Figure 3 S301 shown in FIG. 3 can be the same step, so for more information about S402, please refer to S301.

[0171] S403, the access network device sends system information. Correspondingly, if the PDCCH indicates that the type of the system information is the first type, the UE detects the system information.

[0172] S403 and Figure 3 S302 shown in FIG. 3 can be the same step, so for more information about S403, please refer to S302.

[0173] S404, the UE sends an identifier of the UE to the access network device. Correspondingly, the access network device receives the identifier of the UE from the UE.

[0174] In the embodiments of the present application, the UE does not perform random access, and if the UE directly requests positioning or directly sends an uplink reference signal, the network can not be able to identify the identity of the UE. Therefore, the UE can send the identity of the UE to the access network device, so that the network can explicitly identify the identity of the UE, thereby positioning the UE. The identity of the UE is, for example, an identity number (ID) of the UE, and the UE ID is, for example, a serial number used to uniquely identify the UE. The identity of the UE can be configured when the UE is manufactured, and is fixed in the chip inside the UE, or can be a number allocated to the UE by other devices, for example, a number allocated to the UE by the access network device or the core network device. In summary, the identity of the UE is associated with the UE.

[0175] The UE can send the identity of the UE to the access network device on an uplink channel configured by the first type of system information, for example, an uplink control channel and / or an uplink shared channel. The following is an example of the UE sending the identity of the UE through different uplink channels.

[0176] As an optional implementation, the uplink channel includes an uplink control channel. Optionally, the uplink control channel can also be used to request positioning, that is, the uplink control channel can be used to request positioning in addition to carrying the identity of the UE. After the access network device receives the uplink control channel, the UE can explicitly request positioning. The uplink control channel is, for example, a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), or can be another type of uplink control channel. The embodiments of the present application take the PUCCH as an example. Taking SIB1 as an example of the first type of system information, SIB1 can configure a common PUCCH (pucch-ConfigCommon), which can be used as the uplink control channel, and the UE can send information to the access network device using the common PUCCH configured by SIB1 without being scheduled. In the embodiments of the present application, the UE can send the identity of the UE to the access network device using the common PUCCH configured by SIB1.

[0177] In initial access, currently only PUCCH format 0 and PUCCH format 1 are supported, that is, the format of the common PUCCH configured by SIB1 is generally PUCCH format 0 or PUCCH format 1. The PUCCH of the two formats can carry at most 2 bits of information, and if the UE identifier is carried by the PUCCH, the carrying space may be insufficient. Alternatively, the embodiment of the application proposes that the SIB1 can configure a PUCCH of a first format, for example, PUCCH format 2, PUCCH format 3 or PUCCH format 4, or the first format can also be a newly defined PUCCH, for example, PUCCH format 5, or can also have other names. For example, the SIB1 can only configure the PUCCH of the first format, and not configure the traditional PUCCH format 0 or PUCCH format 1, or the SIB1 can configure the PUCCH of the first format in addition to the traditional PUCCH format 0 or PUCCH format 1, but the UE of the embodiment of the application can not use the traditional PUCCH format 0 or PUCCH format 1. When the UE sends the identifier of the UE to the access network device, the UE can send the identifier through the PUCCH of the first format configured by the SIB1, and the PUCCH of the first format can carry more bits of information, and thus can be used to carry the identifier of the UE. In addition, only the UE that needs to be positioned can send the identifier of the UE to the access network device through the PUCCH configured by the SIB1, and the normal UE (for example, the UE that does not need to be positioned, or the UE that needs to be positioned but has low requirements on the time delay or power consumption of positioning) can still perform random access according to the normal process, and thus the PUCCH of the first format can also implement a function, that is, the PUCCH of the first format can be used to request positioning, and the access network device can determine the identity of the UE that requests positioning according to the PUCCH of the first format, and then determine the identity of the UE that requests positioning according to the identifier of the UE.

[0178] As another alternative implementation, the uplink channel comprises an uplink shared channel. In this case, optionally, the UE can further send to the access network device a request information, the request information being used to request the positioning, and the access network device, upon receiving the request information, can explicitly know that the UE requests the positioning, and the access network device, upon determining the identity of the UE, can determine the identity of the UE requesting the positioning. For example, the UE can first send to the access network device the request information, and then send to the access network device the identity of the UE through the uplink shared channel; or the UE can first send to the access network device the identity of the UE through the uplink shared channel, and then send to the access network device the request information; or the request information and the identity of the UE can be sent together, for example, the request information and the identity of the UE can be carried on the uplink shared channel and sent to the access network device together. The uplink shared channel is, for example, a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH). Taking the first type of system information as SIB1, the SIB1 can configure a common PUSCH, and the common PUSCH can be used as the uplink shared channel. Currently, the UE can use the common PUSCH configured by the SIB1 to send data to the access network device after the random access is successful. In the embodiments of the present application, the UE can use the common PUSCH configured by the SIB1 to send the identity of the UE to the access network device without the need for random access.

[0179] Optionally, the request information is, for example, a preamble. In the embodiments of the present application, the UE can provide a preamble without the need for random access, and the preamble is, for example, a preamble used for positioning. The UE can first send the preamble to the access network device before sending the identity of the UE, and the access network device, upon receiving the preamble, can explicitly know that the UE requests the positioning. Then the UE sends the identity of the UE to the access network device through the common PUSCH, and the access network device can explicitly determine the identity of the UE requesting the positioning. For example, the SIB1 comprises a version 16 information A common configuration (msgA-ConfigCommon-r16), and the IE can configure the common PUSCH and can configure the preamble. In the embodiments of the present application, the msgA-ConfigCommon-r16 is configured to configure the preamble used for positioning, so that the UE can send the preamble configured by the msgA-ConfigCommon-r16 to the access network device, and can send the identity of the UE to the access network device on the common PUSCH configured by the msgA-ConfigCommon-r16.

[0180] The optional solution applies preamble, but only borrows preamble to request positioning, and does not perform a random access procedure, so although the UE sends a preamble to the access network device, the access network device can not send a response to the UE after receiving the preamble. In addition, the access network device can also not send a response to the UE after receiving the identifier of the UE. Therefore, compared with the existing random access procedure, the solution of the embodiment of the application reduces the signaling interaction procedure, which is beneficial to saving the power consumption of the UE.

[0181] It is also possible that the UE directly sends an uplink reference signal to the access network device without sending the identifier of the UE, so that S404 is an optional step.

[0182] S405, the UE sends an uplink reference signal to the access network device according to the positioning information. Correspondingly, the access network device receives the uplink reference signal from the UE.

[0183] The UE obtains the corresponding information of the uplink reference signal through the positioning information, for example, obtains the bandwidth information of the uplink reference signal, and then the UE can send the uplink reference signal to the access network device according to the obtained information.

[0184] Optionally, the uplink reference signal can be determined according to the identifier of the UE, that is, the UE can determine the uplink reference signal according to the identifier of the UE, or the identifier of the UE can be used to determine the uplink reference signal.

[0185] In the embodiment of the application, there can be multiple UEs requesting positioning, and these UEs will all send uplink reference signals to the access network device. For example, the UE sends the uplink reference signal in the form of a sequence. Since these UEs do not perform random access, the access network device cannot send a unicast message to these UEs, that is, it cannot configure the sequence identifier (such as the sequence ID of SRS) of the uplink reference signal for each UE, so when these UEs send the sequence of the uplink reference signal to the access network device, the sequence sent by these UEs is very likely to be the same, which will cause interference between UEs, and the access network device cannot identify which UE the received uplink reference signal comes from, so the network cannot position the UE. Therefore, an optional implementation of determining the uplink reference signal according to the identifier of the UE is that the sequence identifier of the uplink reference signal can be determined according to the identifier of the UE, or the UE can determine the sequence identifier of the uplink reference signal according to the identifier of the UE.

[0186] The uplink reference signal is taken as an example of SRS. The SRS sequence is currently composed of a ZC sequence, and different SRS sequences are mainly realized by configuring different sequence initialization IDs, that is, different sequence identifiers correspond to different SRS sequences, so as long as the sequence identifiers of SRS are different, the corresponding SRS sequences are different. Then, since the identifiers of different UEs are different, the sequence identifiers of the uplink reference signals determined by different UEs are different, so the sequences determined by different UEs are different, which can reduce the interference between UEs. The UE also sends the identifier of the UE to the access network device, so the access network device can also determine the sequence identifier of the uplink reference signal of the UE, so that the access network device can identify the relationship between the uplink reference signal and the UE, correctly detect the uplink reference signal, and correctly locate the UE.

[0187] There can be multiple ways to determine the sequence identifier of the uplink reference signal according to the identifier of the UE. For example, one way is that the identifier of the UE is the same as the sequence identifier of the uplink reference signal. In this case, the UE directly uses the identifier of the UE as the sequence identifier of the uplink reference signal. For example, refer to Table 1 for an example in which the identifier of the UE is the same as the sequence identifier of the uplink reference signal. In Table 1, the decimal system is taken as an example.

[0188] Table 1

[0189] Identity of the UE (decimal) Sequence identity of the uplink reference signal (decimal) 1001 1001 1002 1002

[0190] For another example, another way is that the sequence identifier of the uplink reference signal is part of the identifier of the UE, for example, the sequence identifier of the uplink reference signal is the high K bits of the identifier of the UE, or the low K bits of the identifier of the UE, or the middle K bits of the identifier of the UE, etc., K being a positive integer. In this case, the UE can obtain the sequence identifier of the uplink reference signal by intercepting the identifier of the UE. As for which part to intercept, that is, the value of K and the position of the K bits in the identifier of the UE, it can be configured by the access network device, or preconfigured in the UE, or predefined by a protocol. For example, refer to Table 2 for another example in which the sequence identifier of the uplink reference signal is part of the identifier of the UE. In Table 2, the decimal system is taken as an example.

[0191] Table 2

[0192] Identity of the UE (decimal) Sequence identity of the uplink reference signal (decimal) 1001 1 1002 2

[0193] In Table 2, the last bit of the identifier of the UE is taken as an example of the sequence identifier of the uplink reference signal.

[0194] For another example, refer to Table 3 for another example in which the sequence identifier of the uplink reference signal is part of the identifier of the UE. In Table 3, the binary system is taken as an example.

[0195] Table 3

[0196]

[0197] In Table 3, taking the lower 4 bits of the UE's identity as the sequence identity of the uplink reference signal as an example. For example, the UE's identity is "10100101", taking the lower 4 bits of the identity, then "0101", and "0101" can be used as the sequence identity of the uplink reference signal. If "0101" is converted to decimal, it is "9".

[0198] For another example, another way is that the sequence identity of the uplink reference signal is obtained by taking the UE's identity as a modulus. For example, the sequence identity of the uplink reference signal can satisfy the following relationship:

[0199] Sequence identity of uplink reference signal = X mod (Y) (Formula 3)

[0200] Wherein, X represents the UE's identity, or represents a part of the UE's identity (for example, a part of the UE's identity obtained according to the above manner), Y represents the first modulus coefficient, and mod represents the modulus operation. Y can be preconfigured in the UE, or configured by the access network device, or predefined by the protocol. For example, referring to Table 4, taking the sequence identity of the uplink reference signal obtained by taking the UE's identity as a modulus as an example. In Table 4, taking decimal as an example.

[0201] Table 4

[0202]

[0203] According to Table 4, it can be seen that when Y is different, even if the UE's identity is the same, the obtained sequence identity of the uplink reference signal can be different.

[0204] The UE can determine the sequence identity of the uplink reference signal in any of the above manners. For the access network device, because the UE's identity is received, and the UE's identity can be used to determine the uplink reference signal, the access network device can determine the sequence identity of the uplink reference signal in the same manner as the UE. The manner used by the UE and the access network device is preconfigured in the UE and the access network device, or predefined by the protocol, or configured by the access network device, so that the UE can send the uplink reference signal to the access network device, and the access network device can also correctly detect the uplink reference signal from the UE.

[0205] Optionally, another optional implementation of determining the uplink reference signal according to the UE identifier is that the time domain position and / or the frequency domain position of the uplink reference signal can be determined according to the UE identifier, or in other words, the UE can determine the time domain position and / or the frequency domain position of the uplink reference signal according to the UE identifier. It can be understood that the sequence identifier of the uplink reference signal can be determined according to the UE identifier, and / or the time domain position and / or the frequency domain position of the uplink reference signal can be determined according to the UE identifier.

[0206] For example, the time domain position of the uplink reference signal includes the time slot in which the uplink reference signal is located, and the time slot in which the uplink reference signal is located can be determined according to the UE identifier, or in other words, the UE can determine the time slot in which the uplink reference signal is located according to the UE identifier. An optional determination manner is that the number of the time slot in which the uplink reference signal is located is determined according to the UE identifier and the number of time slots included in a subframe, or in other words, the number of the time slot in which the uplink reference signal is located is determined according to the UE identifier, and the number of the time slot in which the uplink reference signal is located is the number of the time slot in which the uplink reference signal is located within a system frame. The system frame can also be referred to as a radio frame, etc. For example, the number of the time slot in which the uplink reference signal is located satisfies the following relationship:

[0207] Number of the time slot in which the uplink reference signal is located = X mod Z (Formula 4)

[0208] Wherein, X represents the UE identifier, and Z represents a modulus coefficient, and Z is for example the number of time slots included in a system frame. For example, Z = 10, and one example of the time slot in which the uplink reference signal is located determined by different UEs can be referred to as Figure 5 . Figure 5 Taking four UEs as an example, the identifiers of the four UEs are 1001, 1002, 1003 and 1004 respectively, Figure 5 The period in the above formula is 10, which represents the length of a system frame. It can be seen from Figure 5 that the number of the time slot in which the uplink reference signal is located determined by the UE with the identifier 1001 is 1, the number of the time slot in which the uplink reference signal is located determined by the UE with the identifier 1002 is 2, the number of the time slot in which the uplink reference signal is located determined by the UE with the identifier 1003 is 3, and the number of the time slot in which the uplink reference signal is located determined by the UE with the identifier 1004 is 4.

[0209] For example, the time domain position of the uplink reference signal includes a time domain starting position of the uplink reference signal, and the time domain starting position of the uplink reference signal can be determined according to the identifier of the UE, or the UE can determine the time domain starting position of the uplink reference signal according to the identifier of the UE. Alternatively, the time domain starting position of the uplink reference signal can be determined according to the identifier of the UE, and specifically, the time domain starting position of the uplink reference signal can be determined according to the identifier of the UE and the configuration information of the uplink reference signal. The time domain starting position of the uplink reference signal is, for example, a starting symbol of the uplink reference signal. An alternative determination method is that the number of the starting symbol of the uplink reference signal is determined according to the identifier of the UE and the first information, and the first information includes the number of symbols occupied by the uplink reference signal and / or the number of symbols included in a time slot. Taking the first information including the number of symbols occupied by the uplink reference signal and the number of symbols included in a time slot as an example, for example, the number of the starting symbol of the uplink reference signal satisfies the following relationship:

[0210] The number of the starting symbol of the uplink reference signal = X × M mod N (Formula 5)

[0211] Wherein, X represents the identifier of the UE, M represents the number of symbols occupied by the uplink reference signal, and N represents the number of symbols included in a time slot. For example, M is configured by the configuration information of the uplink reference signal. The number of the starting symbol of the uplink reference signal is, for example, the number of the starting symbol of the uplink reference signal in a time slot. For example, M = 4, N = 14, and the number of the starting symbol of the uplink reference signal determined by different UEs can be referred to as Figure 6 . Figure 6 Taking three UEs as an example, the identifiers of the three UEs are 1001, 1002, and 1003, respectively. The number of the starting symbol of the uplink reference signal determined by the UE with the identifier 1001 is 0, and the uplink reference signal occupies 4 symbols. The number of the starting symbol of the uplink reference signal determined by the UE with the identifier 1002 is 4, and the uplink reference signal occupies 4 symbols. The number of the starting symbol of the uplink reference signal determined by the UE with the identifier 1003 is 8, and the uplink reference signal occupies 4 symbols.

[0212] For another example, the frequency domain position of the uplink reference signal includes a frequency domain starting position of the uplink reference signal, and the frequency domain starting position of the uplink reference signal can be determined according to the identifier of the UE, or in other words, the UE can determine the frequency domain starting position of the uplink reference signal according to the identifier of the UE. Optionally, the UE determines the frequency domain starting position of the uplink reference signal according to the identifier of the UE, and specifically can include that the UE determines the frequency domain starting position of the uplink reference signal according to the identifier of the UE and the configuration information of the uplink reference signal. One optional determination manner is that the offset (or the number) of the subcarrier where the frequency domain starting position of the uplink reference signal is located is determined according to the identifier of the UE and the comb information of the uplink reference signal in the frequency domain. For example, the offset of the subcarrier where the frequency domain starting position of the uplink reference signal is located satisfies the following relationship:

[0213] The number of the subcarrier where the frequency domain starting position of the uplink reference signal is located = X mod Q (Formula 6)

[0214] Wherein, X represents the identifier of the UE, and Q represents the comb information of the uplink reference signal in the frequency domain, for example, Q is configured through the configuration information of the uplink reference signal. For example, Q = 4, M = 4, and N = 14, and the positions of the uplink reference signal in the frequency domain determined by different UEs can be referred to as follows: Figure 7 . Figure 7 Taking three UEs as an example, the identifiers of the three UEs are 1001, 1002, and 1003, respectively, wherein the box with horizontal lines represents the frequency domain position of the UE with the identifier 1001, the box with " / " represents the frequency domain position of the UE with the identifier 1002, and the box with "\" represents the frequency domain position of the UE with the identifier 1003.

[0215] Or, the UE may not directly determine the time domain position and / or the frequency domain position of the uplink reference signal according to the identifier of the UE, but determine the time domain information and / or the frequency domain information of the uplink reference signal, and further determine the time domain position of the uplink reference signal according to the time domain information of the uplink reference signal and determine the frequency domain position of the uplink reference signal according to the frequency domain information of the uplink reference signal. For example, the time domain information of the uplink reference signal includes the number of the time slot where the uplink reference signal is located, and / or includes the number of the starting symbol of the uplink reference signal; and the frequency domain information of the uplink reference signal includes the frequency domain starting position information of the uplink reference signal, for example. In other words, the UE can directly determine the time domain position and / or the frequency domain position of the uplink reference signal according to the identifier of the UE (or according to the identifier of the UE and the configuration information of the uplink reference signal), without determining the time domain information and / or the frequency domain information of the uplink reference signal and further determining the resource position; or the UE can first determine the time domain information and / or the frequency domain information of the uplink reference signal according to the identifier of the UE (or according to the identifier of the UE and the configuration information of the uplink reference signal), and then determine the resource position according to the time domain information and / or the frequency domain information of the uplink reference signal.

[0216] Alternatively, the UE may not determine the time-domain position and / or the frequency-domain position of the uplink reference signal according to the identity of the UE, but determine the time-domain resource and / or the frequency-domain resource of the uplink reference signal. The resource is determined, which is equivalent to the position of the resource being determined.

[0217] For the access network device, because the identity of the UE is received and the identity of the UE can be used to determine the uplink reference signal, the access network device can determine the time-domain position and the frequency-domain position of the uplink reference signal in the same way as the UE (or, determine the time-domain information and the frequency-domain information of the uplink reference signal in the same way as the UE, and further determine the resource position according to the time-domain information and / or the frequency-domain information of the uplink reference signal; or, determine the time-domain resource and the frequency-domain resource of the uplink reference signal in the same way as the UE).

[0218] If the time-domain position (or, the time-domain information, or, the time-domain resource) of the uplink reference signal is determined according to the identity of the UE, the positioning information can not include the time-domain information of the uplink reference signal; if the frequency-domain position (or, the frequency-domain information, or, the frequency-domain resource) of the uplink reference signal is determined according to the identity of the UE, the positioning information can not include the frequency-domain information of the uplink reference signal. For example, the time slot in which the uplink reference signal is located is determined according to the identity of the UE, and the positioning information can not include the number of the time slot in which the uplink reference signal is located; or, the positioning information includes the number of the time slot in which the uplink reference signal is located, and the UE and the access network device no longer determine the time slot in which the uplink reference signal is located according to the identity of the UE. For another example, the starting symbol of the uplink reference signal is determined according to the identity of the UE, and the positioning information can not include the time-domain starting position information of the uplink reference signal; or, the positioning information includes the time-domain starting position information of the uplink reference signal, and the UE and the access network device no longer determine the starting symbol of the uplink reference signal according to the identity of the UE. For another example, the frequency-domain starting position of the uplink reference signal is determined according to the identity of the UE, and the positioning information can not include the frequency-domain starting position information of the uplink reference signal; or, the positioning information includes the frequency-domain starting position information of the uplink reference signal, and the UE and the access network device no longer determine the frequency-domain starting position of the uplink reference signal according to the identity of the UE.

[0219] S405 and Figure 3 S303 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 3 can be the same step.

[0220] S406, the access network device sends a first positioning request to the AMF. Correspondingly, the AMF receives the first positioning request from the access network device.

[0221] The first positioning request can request to position the UE, for example, the first positioning request includes the identity of the UE.

[0222] Optionally, after receiving the first location request, the AMF can authenticate the UE. For example, if the UE has registered to the core network, the AMF can determine the registration information of the UE according to the identity of the UE, and authenticate the UE according to the registration information of the UE to determine whether the UE is legal. If the UE has not registered to the core network (for example, the protocol stack of the UE can be clipped and does not reserve the non-access stratum (NAS) as will be introduced later, so the UE can not be able to register to the core network), the AMF can prestore one or more pieces of information of UEs allowed to be located, for example, prestore the identities of the UEs, and then determine whether the identity of the UE has been pre-stored, and if the identity of the UE has been pre-stored, determine that the UE is legal, otherwise, determine that the UE is not legal.

[0223] If the AMF authenticates the UE, if the AMF determines that the UE is legal, the subsequent steps can be continued; if the AMF determines that the UE is not legal, the subsequent steps can not be executed, for example, the AMF can not request the LMF to locate, and optionally, the AMF can send information of refusing to locate to the access network device, so as to end the location process.

[0224] S407, the AMF sends a second location request to the LMF. Correspondingly, the LMF receives the second location request from the AMF. For example, the second location request includes the identity of the UE.

[0225] It should be noted that the identity of the UE included in the second positioning request in S407 can be the same as or different from the identity of the UE in the foregoing steps. In order to distinguish, the identity of the UE involved in the foregoing S401-S406 is referred to as the first identity, and the identity of the UE sent by the AMF to the LMF in S407 is referred to as the second identity. Both the first identity and the second identity are identities of the UE, but they can be the same or different. For example, the AMF can directly send the first identity to the LMF, and the first identity is the same as the second identity; or the AMF can process the first identity to obtain the second identity, and then send the second identity to the LMF, and the first identity is different from the second identity. For example, one processing manner of the AMF for the first identity is that the AMF determines the sequence identity of the uplink reference signal according to the first identity (the determination manner can refer to the foregoing), and the sequence identity of the uplink reference signal can be used as the second identity. For another example, another processing manner is that the AMF determines the number of the symbol where the time domain starting position of the uplink reference signal is located according to the first identity (the determination manner can refer to the foregoing), and the number of the symbol where the time domain starting position of the uplink reference signal is located can be used as the second identity. For another example, the AMF determines the number of the subcarrier where the frequency domain starting position of the uplink reference signal is located according to the first identity (the determination manner can refer to the foregoing), and the number of the subcarrier where the frequency domain starting position of the uplink reference signal is located can be used as the second identity. In the above several manners, although the second identity is actually used to identify the uplink reference signal, since the uplink reference signal is also determined according to the identity of the UE, the second identity can also be used to identify the UE according to the above.

[0226] S408, the LMF sends a first request message to the access network device. Correspondingly, the access network device receives the first request message from the LMF. The first request message is used to request to obtain information used to configure the uplink reference signal.

[0227] S409, the access network device sends a positioning response message to the LMF. Correspondingly, the LMF receives the positioning response message from the access network device. The first response message can include information used to configure the uplink reference signal, for example, the first response message includes positioning information or first configuration information.

[0228] S410, the LMF sends a measurement request to a plurality of access network devices. Correspondingly, the plurality of access network devices receive the measurement request from the LMF. The plurality of access network devices, for example, include the access network device, and then S410 takes the access network device receiving the measurement request from the LMF as an example.

[0229] The plurality of access network devices include which access network devices can be determined by the LMF, for example, the LMF can select a plurality of access network devices with better channel quality, or select a plurality of access network devices with lighter load, etc.

[0230] The measurement request can comprise the positioning information, or comprise the first identifier. Optionally, the measurement request can further comprise a third identifier, which is obtained by the LMF from the second identifier. For example, the third identifier is the same as the second identifier, or the third identifier is different from the second identifier. For example, the AMF directly sends the first identifier to the LMF, and the first identifier is the same as the second identifier. The LMF directly sends the second identifier to the plurality of access network devices, and the second identifier is the same as the third identifier. Alternatively, the LMF can process the second identifier (which is the same as or different from the first identifier) to obtain the third identifier, and then send the third identifier to the access network devices, and the second identifier is different from the third identifier. The manner in which the LMF processes the second identifier can refer to the manner in which the AMF processes the first identifier, which is described in S407.

[0231] The third identifier is included in the measurement request so that the plurality of access network devices can determine the uplink reference signal sent by the UE according to the third identifier, thereby being able to detect the uplink reference signal from the UE. The process in which the access network device determines the uplink reference signal according to the third identifier can refer to the process in which the UE determines the uplink reference signal according to the identifier (the first identifier) of the UE.

[0232] S411, the access network device sends the measurement result to the LMF. Correspondingly, the LMF receives the measurement result from the access network device.

[0233] Each of the plurality of access network devices can perform measurement on the uplink reference signal received from the UE to obtain a measurement result. The measurement result obtained by the access network device can comprise, for example, relative time of arrival (RTOA) and / or angle of arrival (AOA) information. The plurality of access network devices can send the obtained measurement result to the LMF, Figure 4 For example, the serving base station (i.e., the access network device) of the UE sends the measurement result to the LMF.

[0234] S412, the LMF determines the position of the UE according to the measurement result.

[0235] For example, the LMF receives a plurality of measurement results from the plurality of access network devices, and then determines the position of the UE according to the plurality of measurement results. The manner in which the LMF determines the position of the UE can refer to the description of S116 in the flowchart shown in Figure 1A

[0236] S406-S412 are optional steps. For example, after the access network device receives the uplink reference signal from the UE, the network can also use other manners to position the UE.​

[0237] The UE described in the embodiments of the present application is, for example, a UE dedicated for positioning, or in other words, the UE is only used for positioning. That is, the UE only needs to implement positioning related functions, and does not need to implement more functions than that, thereby enabling the UE to implement positioning with lower power consumption. For example, the UE of the embodiments of the present application can implement one or more of the following functions: cell search (for example, including receiving a broadcast channel and / or receiving a downlink control channel), transmitting a positioning reference signal (for example, the uplink reference signal described in the embodiments of the present application), transmitting an uplink control channel, or transmitting an uplink shared channel. The UE can have no NAS layer, and can also have no function of transmitting an RRC setup request and the like.

[0238] Optionally, the protocol stack of the UE can be trimmed, for example, the communication related functions can be trimmed at the UE side, and only the positioning related functions are retained, so that the trimmed UE is the positioning dedicated UE in the embodiments of the present application. For example, refer to Figure 8 for a schematic diagram of the protocol stack before trimming. Figure 8 In the embodiments of the present application, the UE and the AMF both include the NAS layer, and in addition, the UE and the base station both include the RRC layer, the packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, the radio link control (RLC) layer, the media access control (MAC) layer and the physical (PHY) layer. For example, refer to Figure 9 for a schematic diagram of the protocol stack after trimming. Figure 9 In the embodiments of the present application, the NAS layer is represented by a dashed line, indicating that the NAS layer has been trimmed. In addition Figure 9 In the embodiments of the present application, although the RRC layer, the PDCP layer, the RLC layer, the MAC layer and the PHY layer are still retained at the UE side, Figure 9 the blocks used to represent these layers are narrower than those in Figure 8 , indicating that the communication related part or all of the functions of these layers are trimmed, and the positioning related functions are retained. Figure 9 In the embodiments of the present application, the base station side still includes the RRC layer, the PDCP layer, the RLC layer, the MAC layer and the PHY layer, that is, the protocol stack at the base station side can not be trimmed, but the functions of these protocol stacks of the base station for serving Figure 9 the UE shown in FIG. 5 can be reduced, and the part with a diagonal line represents the functions of the protocol stack at the base station side for serving the UE.

[0239] Alternatively, the UE described in the embodiments of the present application can also be a general UE, and is not a positioning dedicated UE, for example, the protocol stack of the UE does not need to be trimmed and the like. That is, the scheme provided in the embodiments of the present application can be applied to various types of UEs.

[0240] In the embodiments of the present application, the positioning information for configuring the uplink reference signal can be included in the system information, and the UE can obtain the positioning information by receiving the system information, and the UE can send the uplink reference signal to the access network device after obtaining the positioning information, without completing random access, or in other words, the UE can send the uplink reference signal to the access network device without random access, so that the network can locate the UE. Through the scheme provided in the embodiments of the present application, the random access and other communication processes that the UE needs to perform before being located are reduced, and the positioning process can be simplified. Moreover, since the communication processes that the UE needs to perform are reduced, it is not necessary to place the random access related code in the UE, thereby reducing the storage space of the UE and saving the power consumption of the UE. In addition, the system information including the positioning information is of a first type, for example, the first type of system information can not include the public configuration information of the cell included in the traditional system information, but only includes the positioning related information (for example, the positioning information), so that the capacity of the first type of system information can be reduced, the transmission overhead can be saved, the code complexity of the UE is also reduced, thereby saving the storage space of the UE, and finally the UE can realize positioning with lower power consumption, prolonging the service life of the UE.

[0241] To solve the same technical problem, the third communication method is provided in the embodiments of the present application, through which the steps in the positioning process can be further saved, and the power consumption of the UE can be saved. Please refer to Figure 10 , the flowchart of the method.

[0242] S1001, the access network device sends a downlink broadcast channel. Correspondingly, the UE receives the downlink broadcast channel from the access network device.

[0243] The downlink broadcast channel can include configuration information of a downlink control channel. For example, the downlink broadcast channel is a physical broadcast channel (PBCH), and the access network device sends the PBCH in a certain cell, so that multiple UEs in the cell can receive the PBCH, and the UE is taken as an example in the embodiments of the present application. The access network device is, for example, a serving base station of the UE. For example, the access network device sends an SSB, and the SSB includes the PBCH.

[0244] The PBCH can carry an MIB, and the MIB can include some public configuration information of the current cell, for example, the MIB can configure a system frame number (SFN), and can also include configuration information of a downlink control channel, for example, a PDCCH. In addition, the UE can obtain the downlink time synchronization with the current cell by receiving the PBCH.

[0245] S1002, The access network device transmits a downlink control channel. Correspondingly, the UE receives the downlink control channel from the access network device. This downlink control channel is, for example, a PDCCH.

[0246] The MIB includes the configuration information of the PDCCH, which may include time-domain and / or frequency-domain information. The UE can detect the PDCCH based on the configuration information. This PDCCH can schedule the PDSCH, or in other words, the DCI carried by this PDCCH can schedule the PDSCH.

[0247] The PDCCH can also carry location information, such as that contained within the DCI, for example, by using reserved space within the DCI. This location information may include information for configuring the uplink reference signal, such as first configuration information. For example, the location information may only include the first configuration information, in which case the location information and the first configuration information can be the same concept; or, the location information may include other information for implementing the location function in addition to the first configuration information. For a more detailed introduction to location information, please refer to [link to relevant documentation]. Figure 3 S302 in the illustrated embodiment. That is to say, in this embodiment, the location information is carried by the PDCCH, and the UE can obtain the location information without receiving system information. Therefore, for UEs that only need to locate (or UEs with high requirements for power consumption and / or latency, or UEs with low requirements for communication), it is not even necessary to receive system information. Based on the location information, the UE can send an uplink reference signal to the access network device to perform the location process, thereby further reducing the steps required in the location process, saving signaling overhead, and reducing the power consumption of the UE.

[0248] Optionally, the PDCCH may also carry scheduling information, which can be used to schedule (or configure) the uplink channel. For example, the scheduling information may be included in the location information, such as in the first configuration information, or in the location information but not in the first configuration information; or, for another example, the scheduling information may not be included in the location information but is included in the DCI, i.e., the DCI includes both location information and scheduling information. The uplink channel may include, for example, an uplink control channel and / or an uplink shared channel.

[0249] The PDCCH in the embodiments of the present application can carry positioning information, such as PDCCH can be considered as a first type of PDCCH, for example, the first type of PDCCH is a PDCCH dedicated for positioning. In addition, the access network device can also send a second type of PDCCH, for example, the second type of PDCCH is a common PDCCH, and the second type of PDCCH can not carry positioning information. Therefore, the UE can identify the type of PDCCH, so as to receive the required PDCCH. In order to enable the UE to identify the PDCCH, the access network device can make a corresponding indication.

[0250] As an optional indication manner, the PBCH can be used for indication. For example, the PBCH can indicate that the type of PDCCH is the first type or the second type. There are still reserved bits in the current MIB which are not used, so the reserved bits can be used to indicate the type of PDCCH. For example, one reserved bit in the MIB is used to indicate the type of PDCCH, if the value of the bit is "0", it indicates that the type of PDCCH is the second type; if the value of the bit is "1", it indicates that the type of PDCCH is the first type. After receiving the MIB, the UE can determine the type of PDCCH to be sent by the access network device according to the indication of the MIB. For the UE of the embodiments of the present application (for example, the UE requiring positioning, or the UE with higher requirements for time delay and / or power consumption, or the UE with lower requirements for communication, etc.), if the MIB indicates that the type of PDCCH is the first type, the UE can detect the PDCCH, and if the MIB indicates that the type of PDCCH is the second type, the UE does not need to detect the PDCCH, thereby saving the power consumption of the UE. For the common UE (for example, the UE without positioning requirement, or the UE with positioning requirement but with lower requirements for power consumption and / or time delay, or the UE with certain communication requirements, etc.), if the MIB indicates that the type of PDCCH is the second type, the UE can detect the PDCCH, and if the MIB indicates that the type of PDCCH is the first type, the UE does not need to detect the PDCCH, thereby also saving the power consumption of the UE.

[0251] As another optional implementation, the indication can be made through the PDCCH. For example, if the scrambling sequence of the PDCCH (or DCI) is a first sequence, it indicates that the type of the PDCCH is a first type, or that the PDCCH carries the positioning information; if the scrambling sequence of the PDCCH (or DCI) is a second sequence, it indicates that the type of the PDCCH is a second type, or that the PDCCH does not carry the positioning information. The first sequence is, for example, a newly defined scrambling sequence, such as a positioning (POS)-SI-RNTI, and the second sequence is, for example, an SI-RNTI. After receiving the PDCCH, the UE can determine whether the PDCCH is the PDCCH required by the UE according to the scrambling sequence used to scramble the PDCCH (or DCI). For example, for the UE (e.g., a UE requiring positioning, or a UE having a higher requirement for latency and / or power consumption, or a UE having a lower requirement for communication, etc.) of the embodiments of the present application, if the scrambling sequence of the PDCCH is the first sequence, the UE can further process the PDCCH (or DCI), such as decoding, etc., and if the scrambling sequence of the PDCCH is the second sequence, the UE does not need to further process the PDCCH, such as discarding the PDCCH, thereby reducing the processing steps of the UE and saving the power consumption of the UE. For a general UE (e.g., a UE not requiring positioning, or a UE requiring positioning but having a lower requirement for power consumption and / or latency, or a UE having a certain requirement for communication, etc.), if the scrambling sequence of the PDCCH is the second sequence, the UE can further process the PDCCH (or DCI), such as decoding, etc., and if the scrambling sequence of the PDCCH is the second sequence, the UE does not need to further process the PDCCH, such as discarding the PDCCH, thereby reducing the processing steps of the UE and saving the power consumption of the UE.

[0252] Alternatively, in addition to the above manner, the access network device can indicate whether the PDCCH carries the positioning information through other manners, and the UE can also identify the PDCCH through other manners, which is not limited by the embodiments of the present application.

[0253] S1003. The UE sends an uplink reference signal to the access network device according to the positioning information. Correspondingly, the access network device can also receive the uplink reference signal from the UE according to the positioning information.

[0254] The UE has obtained the positioning information through the PDCCH, and can then send an uplink reference signal to the access network device according to the positioning information, where the uplink reference signal can be used for positioning, for example, for positioning of the UE. After receiving the uplink reference signal, the access network device can measure the uplink reference signal and send the measurement result to the LMF, so that the LMF can position the UE according to the measurement result. That is, the UE has obtained the positioning information through the PDCCH, so that the UE can achieve positioning without random access and even without receiving system information such as SIB, thereby reducing the communication processes such as receiving system information such as SIB and random access that the UE needs to perform before being positioned, and simplifying the positioning process. Moreover, since the communication processes that the terminal device needs to perform are reduced, it is not necessary to place random access related code in the terminal device, thereby reducing the storage space of the terminal device and saving the power consumption of the terminal device. In addition, for some scenarios such as asset inventory, logistics tracking, and electronic fence, there is a higher demand for positioning power consumption, for example, a service life of 6 to 18 months needs to be maintained, and the demand for communication is much less than the demand for positioning. Therefore, if the technical solution of the embodiment of the present application is applied to these scenarios, the UE can help maintain a longer service life without performing communication processes such as random access.

[0255] In order to better understand the technical solution of the embodiments of the present application, the fourth communication method provided by the embodiments of the present application is introduced below, which can be regarded as an optional implementation of the embodiments shown in Figure 10 Figure 11 is a flowchart of the method.

[0256] S1101, the access network device sends PBCH. Correspondingly, the UE receives the PBCH from the access network device.

[0257] S1101 and S1001 in the embodiments shown in Figure 10 may be the same step, and more details can be referred to the introduction of S1001.

[0258] S1102, the access network device sends a downlink control channel. Correspondingly, the UE receives the downlink control channel from the access network device. The downlink control channel is, for example, a PDCCH.

[0259] S1102 and S1002 in the embodiments shown in Figure 10 may be the same step, and more details can be referred to the introduction of S1002.

[0260] S1103, the UE sends an identifier of the UE to the access network device. Correspondingly, the access network device receives the identifier of the UE from the UE.

[0261] ​In the embodiments of the present application, the UE does not perform random access, and if the UE directly requests positioning or directly sends an uplink reference signal, the network can not be able to identify the identity of the UE. Therefore, the UE can send the identity of the UE to the access network device, so that the network can explicitly identify the identity of the UE, thereby positioning the UE. The identity of the UE is, for example, an identity number (ID) of the UE, and the UE ID is, for example, a serial number used to uniquely identify the UE. The identity of the UE can be configured when the UE is manufactured, and is fixed in the chip inside the UE, or can be a number allocated to the UE by other devices, for example, a number allocated to the UE by the access network device or the core network device. In summary, the identity of the UE is associated with the UE.

[0262] For example, the PDCCH carries scheduling information, and the UE can send the identity of the UE to the access network device on an uplink channel scheduled (or configured) by the scheduling information. The uplink channel includes, for example, an uplink control channel and / or an uplink shared channel. For details of the manner in which the UE sends the identity of the UE to the access network device through the uplink channel, reference can be made to the description of S404 in the embodiments shown in Figure 4 S404 in the embodiments shown in

[0263] It is also possible that the UE directly sends an uplink reference signal to the access network device without sending the identity of the UE, and therefore S1103 is an optional step.

[0264] S1104, the UE sends an uplink reference signal to the access network device according to the positioning information. Correspondingly, the access network device can also receive the uplink reference signal from the UE according to the positioning information.

[0265] The UE obtains the corresponding information of the uplink reference signal through the positioning information, for example, obtains the bandwidth information of the uplink reference signal, and then the UE can send the uplink reference signal to the access network device according to the obtained information.

[0266] Optionally, the uplink reference signal can be determined according to the identity of the UE, or in other words, the UE can determine the uplink reference signal according to the identity of the UE, or in other words, the identity of the UE can be used to determine the uplink reference signal. For details of the manner in which the uplink reference signal is determined according to the identity of the UE, for example, the sequence identity of the uplink reference signal can be determined according to the identity of the UE, and / or the time domain position and / or frequency domain position of the uplink reference signal can be determined according to the identity of the UE, and the like, reference can be made to the description of S405 in the embodiments shown in Figure 4 S405 in the embodiments shown in

[0267] S1104 and S1003 in the embodiments shown in Figure 10 S1003 in the embodiments shown in

[0268] S1105. The access network device sends a first positioning request to the AMF. Correspondingly, the AMF receives the first positioning request from the access network device. The first positioning request can request to position the UE, for example, the first positioning request comprises an identity of the UE.

[0269] For more details about S1105, please refer to S406 in the embodiment shown in Figure 4

[0270] S1106. The AMF sends a second positioning request to the LMF. Correspondingly, the LMF receives the second positioning request from the AMF. For example, the second positioning request comprises an identity of the UE.

[0271] It should be noted that the identity of the UE comprised in the second positioning request in S1106 can be the same as or different from the identity of the UE in the foregoing steps. In order to distinguish them, the identity of the UE involved in the foregoing S1101-S1105 is referred to as the first identity, and the identity of the UE sent by the AMF to the LMF in S1106 is referred to as the second identity. For more details about this part and S1106, please refer to S407 in the embodiment shown in Figure 4

[0272] S1107. The LMF sends a first request message to the access network device. Correspondingly, the access network device receives the first request message from the LMF. The first request message is used to request to obtain information used to configure an uplink reference signal.

[0273] S1108. The access network device sends a positioning response message to the LMF. Correspondingly, the LMF receives the positioning response message from the access network device. The first response message can comprise information used to configure the uplink reference signal, for example, the first response message comprises positioning information or first configuration information.

[0274] S1109. The LMF sends a measurement request to a plurality of access network devices. Correspondingly, the plurality of access network devices receive the measurement request from the LMF. The plurality of access network devices comprise the access network device for example, and S1109 takes the access network device receiving the measurement request from the LMF as an example.

[0275] For more details about S1109, please refer to S410 in the embodiment shown in Figure 4

[0276] S1110. The access network device sends a measurement result to the LMF. Correspondingly, the LMF receives the measurement result from the access network device.

[0277] For more details about S1110, please refer to S411 in the embodiment shown in Figure 4

[0278] ​​​​S1111, the LMF determines the position of the UE according to the measurement result.

[0279] The LMF may, for example, receive a plurality of measurement results from a plurality of access network devices, and then determine the position of the UE according to the plurality of measurement results. For the manner in which the LMF determines the position of the UE, reference can be made to the description of S116 in the flowchart shown in Figure 1A

[0280] S1105-S1111 are all optional steps. For example, after the access network device receives the uplink reference signal from the UE, the network can also use other ways to position the UE.

[0281] In the embodiments of the present application, the UE obtains the positioning information through the PDCCH, so that the UE can achieve positioning without the need for random access, and even without the need for receiving system information such as SIB, thereby reducing the communication processes such as receiving system information such as SIB and random access that the UE needs to perform before being positioned, and simplifying the positioning process. Moreover, since the communication processes that the terminal device needs to perform are reduced, there is no need to place random access related code in the terminal device, thereby reducing the storage space of the terminal device and saving the power consumption of the terminal device. For some scenarios, such as asset inventory, logistics tracking, electronic fence, etc., there is a higher demand for positioning power consumption, such as a service life of 6 to 18 months, and these scenarios have much less demand for communication than for positioning. Therefore, if the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application are applied to these scenarios, the UE can help maintain a longer service life without the need to perform communication processes such as random access.

[0282] In addition, if the UE sends its identifier to the access network device on the uplink control channel, the UE only needs to support control channel coding (such as polar) without the need to support shared channel coding (such as low density parity check code (LDPC)), which makes the UE only need to implement a few protocol functions to work, further simplifying the code implementation of the UE, also means further reduction of storage space, and finally enables the UE to achieve lower power consumption and longer service life.

[0283] Figure 12 A structural schematic diagram of a communication apparatus provided by the embodiments of the present application is given. The communication apparatus 1200 can be Figure 3 the embodiment shown in the figure, Figure 4 the embodiment shown in the figure, Figure 10 the embodiment shown in the figure, or Figure 11 ​The terminal device or the circuit system of the terminal device in the embodiments is configured to implement the method corresponding to the terminal device in the method embodiments. Alternatively, the communication apparatus 1200 can be Figure 3 The embodiments, Figure 4 The embodiments, Figure 10 The embodiments or Figure 11 The access network device or the circuit system of the access network device in the embodiments is configured to implement the method corresponding to the access network device in the method embodiments. For specific functions, refer to the description in the method embodiments. For example, one circuit system is a chip system.

[0284] The communication apparatus 1200 includes at least one processor 1201. The processor 1201 can be used for internal processing of the apparatus, to implement certain control processing functions. Optionally, the processor 1201 includes instructions. Optionally, the processor 1201 can store data. Optionally, different processors can be independent devices, can be located in different physical positions, and can be located on different integrated circuits. Optionally, different processors can be integrated in one or more processors, for example, integrated on one or more integrated circuits.

[0285] Optionally, the communication apparatus 1200 includes one or more memories 1203 for storing instructions. Optionally, the memory 1203 can also store data. The processor and the memory can be separately provided, or integrated together.

[0286] Optionally, the communication apparatus 1200 includes a communication line 1202 and at least one communication interface 1204. Since the memory 1203, the communication line 1202 and the communication interface 1204 are all optional items, they are represented by dashed lines in the Figure 12 .

[0287] Optionally, the communication apparatus 1200 can also include a transceiver and / or an antenna. The transceiver can be used to send information to other devices or receive information from other devices. The transceiver can be referred to as a transceiver, a transceiver circuit, an input / output interface, etc., and is used to realize the transceiving function of the communication apparatus 1200 through the antenna. Optionally, the transceiver includes a transmitter and a receiver. Illustratively, the transmitter can be used to generate a radio frequency signal from a baseband signal, and the receiver can be used to convert a radio frequency signal into a baseband signal.

[0288] The processor 1201 can include a general central processing unit (CPU), a microprocessor, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or one or more integrated circuits used to control the execution of programs of the embodiments of the present application.

[0289] The communication line 1202 can include a path for transmitting information between the above-mentioned components.

[0290] The communication interface 1204 can use any transceiver-like device for communicating with other devices or communication networks, such as an Ethernet, a radio access network (RAN), a wireless local area network (WLAN), a wired access network, etc.

[0291] The memory 1203 can be a read-only memory (ROM) or other type of static storage device that can store static information and instructions, a random access memory (RAM) or other type of dynamic storage device that can store information and instructions, an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) or other optical disk storage, a magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium capable of carrying or storing desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer, but not limited to. The memory 1203 can exist independently, and be connected to the processor 1201 through the communication line 1202. Alternatively, the memory 1203 can be integrated with the processor 1201.

[0292] The memory 1203 is configured to store computer-executable instructions for implementing the embodiments of the present application, and the processor 1201 is configured to control the execution of the computer-executable instructions stored in the memory 1203. The processor 1201 is configured to execute the computer-executable instructions stored in the memory 1203, thereby implementing the communication method provided by the above-mentioned embodiments of the present application.

[0293] Optionally, the computer-executable instructions in the embodiments of the present application can also be referred to as application program codes, and the embodiments of the present application are not limited in this regard.

[0294] In a specific implementation, as one embodiment, the processor 1201 may include one or more CPUs, for example... Figure 12 CPU0 and CPU1 in the CPU.

[0295] In a specific implementation, as one example, the communication device 1200 may include multiple processors, for example... Figure 12 Processors 1201 and 1208 are mentioned. Each of these processors can be a single-core (single-CPU) processor or a multi-core (multi-CPU) processor. A processor here can refer to one or more devices, circuits, and / or processing cores used to process data (e.g., computer program instructions).

[0296] when Figure 12 When the device shown is a chip, such as a chip for an access network device, a UPF chip, an SMF chip, or a terminal device chip, then the chip includes a processor 1201 (which may also include a processor 1208), a communication line 1202, a memory 1203, and a communication interface 1204. Specifically, the communication interface 1204 may be an input interface, pins, or circuits, etc. The memory 1203 may be a register, cache, etc. The processor 1201 and processor 1208 may be a general-purpose CPU, microprocessor, ASIC, or one or more integrated circuits for controlling the execution of a program that controls the communication method of any of the above embodiments.

[0297] In the first implementation, the communication device 1200 can be used to implement the method corresponding to the terminal device in the above-mentioned application embodiments, and the specific functions are described in the above-mentioned embodiments.

[0298] For example, the communication device 1200 includes a processor 1201, which executes a computer program or instructions to cause the method corresponding to the terminal device in the above-described embodiments to be executed. For instance, the method corresponding to the terminal device in the above-described embodiments includes: receiving a downlink control channel from an access network device, the downlink control channel being used to schedule system information, and the downlink control channel further indicating that the type of the system information is a first type or a second type, the first type of system information including location information, and the second type of system information not including the location information, the location information including information for configuring an uplink reference signal; detecting the system information if the downlink control channel indicates that the type of the system information is the first type; and sending an uplink reference signal to the access network device according to the location information.

[0299] For another example, the method corresponding to the terminal device in the above-mentioned application embodiment includes: receiving a downlink broadcast channel, the downlink broadcast channel including configuration information of a downlink control channel; receiving the downlink control channel, the downlink control channel carrying positioning information, the positioning information including information for configuring an uplink reference signal; and sending the uplink reference signal to the access network device according to the positioning information.

[0300] In the second implementation, the communication apparatus 1200 can be used to implement the method corresponding to the access network device in the above-mentioned application embodiment, and specific functions can be referred to the description in the above-mentioned embodiment.

[0301] For example, the communication apparatus 1200 includes a processor 1201 configured to execute computer programs or instructions, so that the method corresponding to the access network device in the above-mentioned application embodiment is executed. For example, the method corresponding to the access network device in the above-mentioned application embodiment includes: sending a downlink control channel, the downlink control channel being used for scheduling system information, and the downlink control channel further indicating that the type of the system information is a first type or a second type, the system information of the first type including positioning information, the system information of the second type not including the positioning information, the positioning information including information for configuring an uplink reference signal; sending the system information; and receiving the uplink reference signal from a terminal device if the type of the system information is the first type.

[0302] For another example, the method corresponding to the access network device in the above-mentioned application embodiment includes: sending a downlink broadcast channel, the downlink broadcast channel including configuration information of a downlink control channel; sending the downlink control channel, the downlink control channel carrying positioning information, the positioning information including information for configuring an uplink reference signal; and receiving the uplink reference signal from a terminal device according to the positioning information.

[0303] The present application embodiment can divide the function modules of the device according to the above-mentioned method examples. For example, each function module can be divided according to each function, or two or more functions can be integrated in one processing module. The above-mentioned integrated module can be realized in the form of hardware or in the form of a software function module. It should be noted that the division of the modules in the present application embodiment is illustrative, and is only a logical function division. In actual implementation, another division mode can be used. For example, in the case of dividing each function module according to each function, Figure 13 A device schematic diagram is shown, the device 1300 can be an access network device or a terminal device involved in each of the above-mentioned method embodiments, or a chip in the access network device or a chip in the terminal device. The device 1300 includes a sending unit 1301, a processing unit 1302, and a receiving unit 1303.

[0304] It should be understood that the apparatus 1300 can be used to implement the steps performed by the access network device or the terminal device in the methods of the embodiments of the present application, and the related features can refer to the various embodiments described above, which will not be described here.

[0305] Optionally, Figure 13 The functions / implementation procedures of the sending unit 1301, the receiving unit 1303, and the processing unit 1302 in the apparatus 1300 can be implemented by the processor 1201 in the apparatus 1200 invoking the computer-executed instructions stored in the memory 1203. Alternatively, Figure 12 The functions / implementation procedures of the processing unit 1302 in the apparatus 1300 can be implemented by the processor 1201 in the apparatus 1200 invoking the computer-executed instructions stored in the memory 1203. Figure 13 The functions / implementation procedures of the processing unit 1302 in the apparatus 1300 can be implemented by the processor 1201 in the apparatus 1200 invoking the computer-executed instructions stored in the memory 1203. Figure 12 The functions / implementation procedures of the sending unit 1301 and the receiving unit 1303 in the apparatus 1300 can be implemented by the communication interface 1204 in the apparatus 1200. Figure 13 The functions / implementation procedures of the sending unit 1301 and the receiving unit 1303 in the apparatus 1300 can be implemented by the communication interface 1204 in the apparatus 1200. Figure 12 The functions / implementation procedures of the sending unit 1301 and the receiving unit 1303 in the apparatus 1300 can be implemented by the communication interface 1204 in the apparatus 1200.

[0306] Optionally, when the apparatus 1300 is a chip or a circuit, the functions / implementation procedures of the sending unit 1301 and the receiving unit 1303 can also be implemented by pins or circuits, etc.

[0307] The present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium storing computer programs or instructions, which, when executed, implement the method performed by the access network device or the terminal device in the foregoing method embodiments. Thus, the functions described in the above embodiments can be implemented in the form of software function units and sold or used as independent products. Based on this understanding, the technical solutions of the present application can be embodied in the form of a software product, which is stored in a storage medium, includes several instructions for making a computer device (which can be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) execute all or part of the steps of the methods described in the various embodiments of the present application. The storage medium includes: a U disk, a mobile hard disk, a ROM, a RAM, a magnetic disk, or an optical disk, and various other media that can store program codes.

[0308] The present application also provides a computer program product, which includes computer program codes, which, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to execute the method performed by the terminal device or the access network device in any of the foregoing method embodiments.

[0309] The present application also provides a system, which includes a terminal device and an access network device, or, includes a terminal device, an access network device, and a positioning server.

[0310] The embodiment of the present application further provides a processing device, comprising a processor and an interface; the processor is used for executing the method executed by the terminal device or the access network device involved in any method embodiment.

[0311] In the above embodiments, all or part of the embodiments can be implemented by software, hardware, firmware or any combination thereof. When implemented by software, all or part of the embodiments can be implemented in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product comprises one or more computer instructions. When the computer program instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, all or part of the processes or functions described in the embodiments of the present application are generated. The computer can be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network or other programmable device. The computer instructions can 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 can be transmitted from one website, computer, server or data center to another website, computer, server or data center through wired (such as coaxial cable, optical fiber, digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wireless (such as infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) mode. The computer readable storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server, data center, etc. integrated with one or more available media. The available media can be magnetic media (for example, floppy disk, hard disk, magnetic tape), optical media (for example, DVD), or semiconductor media (for example, solid state disk (SSD)) and the like.

[0312] The various illustrative logical blocks and circuits described in the embodiments of the present application can be implemented or operated by a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination of the above. The general-purpose processor can be a microprocessor, and optionally, the general-purpose processor can also be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller or state machine. The processor can also be implemented by a combination of computing devices, such as a digital signal processor and a microprocessor, multiple microprocessors, one or more microprocessors combined with a digital signal processor core, or any other similar configuration.

[0313] The steps of a method or algorithm described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein can be embodied directly in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. A software module can reside in RAM, flash memory, ROM, erasable programmable ROM (EPROM), EEPROM, registers, hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is tangible. In addition, the storage medium can be connected to the processor, so that the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium can be integral to the processor. The processor and the storage medium can reside in an ASIC. The ASIC can reside in a terminal device. In the alternative, the processor and the storage medium can reside as discrete components in a terminal device. Thus, the numerous objects and advantages of the embodiments can be obtained by means of the methods, procedures, and relations of the different embodiments described above and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

[0314] These computer program instructions can also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer-implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart and / or block diagram block or blocks.

[0315] Although the embodiments have been described with reference to specific features, it is evident that various modifications and combinations can be made to the embodiments without departing from the scope of the embodiments. Accordingly, the present embodiments are intended to embrace all such alterations, modifications, combinations, and changes of the embodiments as fall within the scope and spirit of the claims. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the present embodiments without departing from the scope or spirit of the present embodiments. Thus, it is intended that the present embodiments cover the modifications and variations of this application provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that, include: The downlink control channel is received from the access network device. The downlink control channel is used to schedule system information, and the downlink control channel also indicates that the type of the system information is a first type or a second type. The first type of system information includes location information, and the second type of system information does not include the location information. The location information includes information for configuring uplink reference signals. If the downlink control channel indicates that the type of the system information is the first type, the system information is detected; Based on the location information, an uplink reference signal is sent to the access network device.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The system information also includes information for assessing whether a terminal device is allowed to access the cell, and / or Unified Access Control (UAC) information.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, The downlink control channel also indicates whether the type of the system information is a first type or a second type, including: The downlink control channel carries downlink control information, which includes information indicating whether the system information is of the first type or the second type; or, The scrambling sequence of the downlink control channel is a first sequence, used to indicate that the type of the system information is the first type, or the scrambling sequence of the downlink control channel is a second sequence, used to indicate that the type of the system information is the second type.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that, The method further includes: The identifier of the terminal device is transmitted on the uplink channel configured in the system information, and the uplink channel includes an uplink control channel or an uplink shared channel.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that, The uplink channel includes the uplink control channel, which is used to request location; or... The uplink channel includes the uplink shared channel, and the method further includes: sending request information to the access network device, the request information being used to request location.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1-2 and 4-5, characterized in that, The uplink reference signal is determined based on the identifier of the terminal device.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1-2 and 4-5, characterized in that, The uplink reference signal is determined based on the terminal device's identifier and the positioning information.

8. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that, The location information includes one or more of the following: The bandwidth information of the uplink reference signal; The period of the uplink reference signal; The number of symbols occupied by the uplink reference signal; or, The comb information of the uplink reference signal in the frequency domain.

9. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that, The sequence identifier of the uplink reference signal is the same as the identifier of the terminal device; or, The sequence identifier of the uplink reference signal is obtained by taking the modulo of the identifier of the terminal device; or, The sequence identifier of the uplink reference signal is part of the identifier of the terminal device.

10. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that, The time-domain and / or frequency-domain position of the uplink reference signal is determined based on the identifier of the terminal device.

11. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that, The time domain location of the uplink reference signal includes the time slot in which the uplink reference signal is located. The number of the time slot in which the uplink reference signal is located is determined according to the identifier of the terminal device. The number of the time slot in which the uplink reference signal is located is the number of the time slot in which the uplink reference signal is located within a system frame.

12. The method according to claim 10 or 11, characterized in that, The time-domain position of the uplink reference signal includes the starting symbol of the uplink reference signal, wherein the number of the starting symbol of the uplink reference signal is determined according to the identifier of the terminal device and first information, the first information including the number of symbols occupied by the uplink reference signal and / or the number of symbols included in a time slot.

13. The method according to claim 10 or 11, characterized in that, The frequency domain position of the uplink reference signal includes the frequency domain start position of the uplink reference signal. The subcarrier number where the frequency domain start position of the uplink reference signal is located is determined based on the identifier of the terminal device and the comb information of the uplink reference signal in the frequency domain.

14. The method according to any one of claims 1-2, 4-5, 8-11, characterized in that, The uplink reference signal is the positioning SRS.

15. The method according to any one of claims 1-2, 4-5, 8-11, characterized in that, The terminal device is used only for positioning.

16. A communication method, characterized in that, include: A downlink control channel is transmitted, the downlink control channel being used to schedule system information, and the downlink control channel also indicating that the type of the system information is a first type or a second type, the first type of system information including location information, the second type of system information not including the location information, the location information including information for configuring uplink reference signals; Send the system information; If the type of the system information is the first type, an uplink reference signal is received from the terminal device.

17. The method according to claim 16, characterized in that, The system information also includes information for assessing whether the terminal device is allowed to access the cell, and / or Unified Access Control (UAC) information.

18. The method according to claim 16 or 17, characterized in that, The downlink control channel also indicates whether the type of the system information is a first type or a second type, including: The downlink control channel carries downlink control information, which includes information indicating whether the system information is of the first type or the second type; or, The scrambling sequence of the downlink control channel is a first sequence, used to indicate that the type of the system information is the first type, or the scrambling sequence of the downlink control channel is a second sequence, used to indicate that the type of the system information is the second type.

19. The method according to claim 18, characterized in that, The method further includes: On the uplink channel configured in the system information, the identifier of the receiving terminal device is received, and the uplink channel includes an uplink control channel or an uplink shared channel.

20. The method according to claim 19, characterized in that, The uplink channel includes the uplink control channel, which is used to request location; or... The uplink channel includes the uplink shared channel, and the method further includes: receiving request information from the terminal device, the request information being used to request location.

21. The method according to any one of claims 16-17 and 19-20, characterized in that, The uplink reference signal is determined based on the identifier of the terminal device.

22. The method according to any one of claims 16-17 and 19-20, characterized in that, The uplink reference signal is determined based on the identifier of the terminal device and the positioning information.

23. The method according to claim 22, characterized in that, The location information includes one or more of the following: The bandwidth information of the uplink reference signal; The period of the uplink reference signal; The number of symbols occupied by the uplink reference signal; or, The comb information of the uplink reference signal in the frequency domain.

24. The method according to claim 21, characterized in that, The sequence identifier of the uplink reference signal is the same as the identifier of the terminal device; or, The sequence identifier of the uplink reference signal is obtained by taking the modulo of the identifier of the terminal device; or, The sequence identifier of the uplink reference signal is part of the identifier of the terminal device.

25. The method according to claim 21, characterized in that, The time-domain and / or frequency-domain position of the uplink reference signal is determined based on the identifier of the terminal device.

26. The method according to claim 25, characterized in that, The time domain location of the uplink reference signal includes the time slot in which the uplink reference signal is located. The number of the time slot in which the uplink reference signal is located is determined according to the identifier of the terminal device. The number of the time slot in which the uplink reference signal is located is the number of the time slot in which the uplink reference signal is located within a system frame.

27. The method according to claim 25 or 26, characterized in that, The time-domain position of the uplink reference signal includes the starting symbol of the uplink reference signal, wherein the number of the starting symbol of the uplink reference signal is determined according to the identifier of the terminal device and first information, the first information including the number of symbols occupied by the uplink reference signal and / or the number of symbols included in a time slot.

28. The method according to claim 25 or 26, characterized in that, The frequency domain position of the uplink reference signal includes the frequency domain start position of the uplink reference signal. The subcarrier number where the frequency domain start position of the uplink reference signal is located is determined based on the identifier of the terminal device and the comb information of the uplink reference signal in the frequency domain.

29. The method according to any one of claims 16-17, 19-20, and 23-26, characterized in that, The method further includes: A first location request is sent to the core network equipment. The first location request includes the identifier of the terminal device and is used to request the location of the terminal device.

30. The method according to any one of claims 16-17, 19-20, and 23-26, characterized in that, The method further includes: The uplink reference signal is measured to obtain the measurement result; The measurement results are sent to the positioning server, and the measurement results are used to locate the terminal device.

31. The method according to any one of claims 16-17, 19-20, and 23-26, characterized in that, The uplink reference signal is the positioning SRS.

32. The method according to any one of claims 16-17, 19-20, and 23-26, characterized in that, The terminal device is used only for positioning.

33. A communication device, characterized in that, The device includes a processor and a memory; wherein the memory is used to store one or more computer programs, the one or more computer programs including computer execution instructions, and when the communication device is running, the processor executes the one or more computer programs stored in the memory to cause the communication device to perform the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 15, or to cause the communication device to perform the method as described in any one of claims 16 to 32.

34. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, The computer-readable storage medium is used to store a computer program that, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 15, or causes the computer to perform the method as described in any one of claims 16 to 32.

35. A computer program product, characterized in that, The computer program product includes a computer program that, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 15, or causes the computer to perform the method as described in any one of claims 16 to 32.

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