Adaptive positioning measurements

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to adaptive positioning measurements. A first device (110) receives a signal on a first resource from a second device (120) and receives a positioning reference signal, PRS, on a second resource from at least one third device (130-1, 130-2). The first resource overlaps the second resource in the time domain and partially overlaps the second resource in the frequency domain. Further, the first device (110) determines at least one of a quality of the received signal, a quality of the received PRS, or configuration information on a positioning measurement for the first device (110). The first device (110) also selects one of the positioning measurement operations for the first device (110) based on the determination. In turn, the first device (110) performs the selected positioning measurement operation.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field of telecommunications, and more particularly to methods, devices, apparatuses, and computer-readable storage media for adaptive positioning measurements. Background Art

[0002] New Radio (NR) systems provide positioning support. The terminal device can perform positioning measurement operations based on a positioning reference signal (PRS) received from at least one non-serving network device. However, at the same time, the terminal device can receive a signal from a serving network device. Therefore, the PRS may conflict with the signal from the serving network device. This conflict cannot be completely avoided in current NR positioning. From the perspective of positioning, the main disadvantage is the reduction in positioning accuracy due to the conflict. Summary of the invention

[0003] Generally speaking, example embodiments of the present disclosure provide a solution for adaptive positioning measurements.

[0004] In a first aspect, a first device is provided. The first device includes at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions. When the instructions are executed by the at least one processor, the instructions cause the first device to at least: receive a signal from a second device on a first resource, and receive a positioning reference signal PRS from at least one third device on a second resource, the first resource overlapping with the second resource in the time domain and partially overlapping with the second resource in the frequency domain; determine at least one of the following: the quality of the received signal, the quality of the received PRS, or configuration information about the positioning measurement for the first device; and select one of the positioning measurement operations for the first device based on the determination; and perform the selected positioning measurement operation.

[0005] In a second aspect, a method implemented at a first device is provided. The method includes: at the first device, receiving a signal from a second device on a first resource, and receiving a positioning reference signal PRS from at least one third device on the second resource, the first resource overlapping with the second resource in the time domain and partially overlapping with the second resource in the frequency domain; determining at least one of the following: quality of the received signal, quality of the received PRS, or configuration information about positioning measurement for the first device; and selecting one of the positioning measurement operations for the first device based on the determination; and performing the selected positioning measurement operation.

[0006] In a third aspect, an apparatus is provided. The apparatus includes: a component for receiving a signal from a second device on a first resource and receiving a positioning reference signal (PRS) from at least one third device on a second resource at a first device, the first resource overlapping with the second resource in the time domain and partially overlapping with the second resource in the frequency domain; a component for determining at least one of the following: a quality of a received signal, a quality of a received PRS, or configuration information about a positioning measurement for the first device; and a component for selecting one of the positioning measurement operations for the first device based on the determination; and a component for performing the selected positioning measurement operation.

[0007] In a fourth aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising a computer program is provided, the computer program being configured to cause an apparatus to at least execute the method according to the third or fourth aspect above.

[0008] It should be understood that the summary is not intended to identify the key or essential features of the embodiments of the present disclosure, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Other features of the present disclosure will become readily understood through the following description. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0009] Some example embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0010] Figure 1 shows an example communication network in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented;

[0011] Figure 2 An example of PRS and SSB collision according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure is shown;

[0012] Figure 3 shows the relationship between positioning accuracy and SIR according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0013] Figure 4 A flowchart showing a method implemented at a first device according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure is shown;

[0014] Figure 5 A flowchart showing a method implemented at a first device according to other example embodiments of the present disclosure is shown;

[0015] Figure 6 Simulation results of methods according to other example embodiments of the present disclosure are presented;

[0016] Figure 7 shows a simplified block diagram of an apparatus suitable for implementing an embodiment of the present disclosure; and

[0017] Figure 8 A block diagram of an example computer-readable medium is shown according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0018] Throughout the drawings, the same or similar reference numerals refer to the same or similar elements. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0019] The principles of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to some example embodiments. It should be understood that these embodiments are described for illustrative purposes only and to help those skilled in the art understand and implement the present disclosure without implying any limitation on the scope of the present disclosure. The disclosure described herein can be implemented in various ways different from the ways described below.

[0020] In the following description and claims, unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs.

[0021] References in this disclosure to "one embodiment," "an embodiment," "an example embodiment," etc., indicate that the described embodiment may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but not every embodiment necessarily includes the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Furthermore, these phrases do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment. Furthermore, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in conjunction with an exemplary embodiment, it is considered to be within the knowledge of those skilled in the art to affect such feature, structure, or characteristic in conjunction with other embodiments (whether or not explicitly described).

[0022] It should be understood that although the terms "first" and "second", etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another element. For example, a first element may be referred to as a second element, and similarly, a second element may be referred to as a first element, and similarly, a second element may be referred to as a first element. As used herein, the term "and / or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the listed terms.

[0023] The terms used herein are for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and are not intended to limit the example embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms "a", "an", and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will also be understood that the terms "include", "comprise", "have", "have", "include" and / or "comprising" when used herein specify the presence of stated features, elements and / or components, etc., but do not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components and / or combinations thereof.

[0024] As used in this application, the term "circuitry" may refer to one, more than one, or all of the following: (a) only hardware circuit implementation (e.g., only implementation in analog and / or digital circuits) and (b) a combination of hardware circuitry and software, such as (where applicable): (i) a combination of analog and / or digital hardware circuitry and software / firmware, and (ii) a hardware processor (including a digital signal processor) with software, software and any portion of memory that work together to enable a device such as a mobile phone or server to perform various functions) and (c) Hardware circuits and / or processors (e.g., a microprocessor or a portion of a microprocessor) that require software (e.g., firmware) to operate, but where software is not required to operate, the software may not be present.

[0025] This definition of circuitry applies to all uses of this term in this application, including in any claims. As another example, as used in this application, the term circuitry also covers an implementation of only a hardware circuit or processor (or multiple processors) or a portion of a hardware circuit or processor and its (or its) accompanying software and / or firmware. The term circuitry also covers (for example and if applicable to a particular claim element) a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device or a similar integrated circuit in a server, a cellular network device or other computing or network device.

[0026] As used herein, the term "communication network" refers to a network that follows any suitable communication standard, such as a fifth generation (5G) system, long term evolution (LTE), advanced LTE (LTE-A), wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA), high speed packet access (HSPA), narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT), etc. In addition, the communication between the terminal device and the network device in the communication network can be performed according to any suitable generation of communication protocols, including but not limited to the first generation (1G), second generation (2G), 2.5G, 2.75G, third generation (3G), fourth generation (4G), 4.5G, fifth generation (5G) new radio (NR) communication protocol, and / or any other protocol currently known or to be developed in the future. The embodiments of the present disclosure can be applied to various communication systems. In view of the rapid development of communication, there are of course future types of communication technologies and systems, using which the present disclosure can be implemented. It should not be regarded as limiting the scope of the present invention to the above-mentioned systems.

[0027] As used herein, the term "network device" refers to a node in a communication network via which a terminal device accesses the network and receives services from it. Depending on the terminology and technology applied, a network device may refer to a base station (BS) or an access point (AP), such as a Node B (Node B or NB), an evolved Node B (eNodeB or eNB), a NR next-generation Node B (gNB), a remote radio unit (RRU), a radio head (RH), a remote radio head (RRH), a relay, a low-power node such as a femto, a pico, etc. The RAN split architecture includes a gNB-CU (centralized unit, controlling RRC, SDAP, and PDCP) that controls multiple gNB-DUs (distributed units, controlling RLC, MAC, and PHY).

[0028] The term "terminal device" refers to any terminal device capable of wireless communication. By way of example and not limitation, a terminal device may also be referred to as a communication device, user equipment (UE), subscriber station (SS), portable subscriber station, mobile station (MS) or access terminal (AT). The terminal device may include, but is not limited to, a mobile phone, a cellular phone, a smart phone, a voice over IP (VoIP) phone, a wireless local loop phone, a tablet computer, a wearable terminal device, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a portable computer, a desktop computer, an image capture terminal device such as a digital camera, a game terminal device, a music storage and playback device, a vehicle-mounted wireless terminal device, a wireless endpoint, a mobile station, a laptop embedded device (LEE), a laptop mounted equipment (LME), a USB dongle, a smart device, a wireless client equipment (CPE), an Internet of Things (IoT) device, a watch or other wearable device, a head mounted display (HMD), a vehicle, a target, medical equipment and applications (e.g., remote surgery), industrial equipment and applications (e.g., robots and / or other wireless devices operating in industrial and / or automated process chain environments, consumer electronic devices, devices operating on commercial and / or industrial wireless networks, etc. In the following description, the terms "terminal device", "communication device", "terminal", "user equipment" and "UE" may be used interchangeably.

[0029] Although the functions described herein may be performed in fixed and / or wireless network nodes in various example embodiments, in other example embodiments, the functions may be implemented in a user equipment device (such as a cellular phone or a tablet computer or a laptop computer or a desktop computer or a mobile IoT device or a fixed IoT device). The user equipment device may, for example, be appropriately equipped with the corresponding capabilities described in conjunction with the fixed and / or wireless network nodes. The user equipment device may be a user device and / or a control device, such as a chipset or a processor, which is configured to control the user device when installed therein. Examples of such functions include a bootstrap server function and / or a home user server, which may be implemented in a user equipment device by providing the user equipment device with software configured to cause the user equipment device to execute from the perspective of these functions / nodes.

[0030] Figure 1 An example communication network 100 is shown in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented. The network 100 includes a first device 110, a second device 120, and third devices 130-1 and 130-2 that may communicate with each other.

[0031] In some embodiments, some of the first device 110, the second device 120, and the third devices 130-1 and 130-2 may be implemented as terminal devices, while others may be implemented as network devices. In such an embodiment, for example, the first device 110 may be implemented as a terminal device, and each of the second device 120 and the third devices 130-1 and 130-2 may be implemented as a network device. In such an embodiment, the second device 120 may serve the first device 110, while each of the third devices 130-1 and 130-2 does not serve the first device 110. In addition, in such an embodiment, each of the second device 120 and the third devices 130-1 and 130-2 may be implemented as a transmission reception point (TRP).

[0032] In other embodiments, each of the first device 110, the second device 120, and the third devices 130-1 and 130-2 may be implemented as a terminal device. In such an embodiment, the first device 110, the second device 120, and the third devices 130-1 and 130-2 may communicate with each other via a side link therebetween.

[0033] It should be understood that the number of network devices and terminal devices is only for illustrative purposes and does not imply any limitation. Network 100 may include any suitable number of network devices and terminal devices suitable for implementing the embodiments of the present disclosure. Although not shown, it should be understood that one or more terminal devices may be served by second device 120.

[0034] The communication in the communication system 100 can be implemented according to any appropriate communication protocol, including but not limited to cellular communication protocols of the first generation (1G), the second generation (2G), the third generation (3G), the fourth generation (4G) and the fifth generation (5G), wireless local area network communication protocols such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11, and / or any other protocol currently known or developed in the future. In addition, the communication can utilize any appropriate wireless communication technology, including but not limited to: code division multiple access (CDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division duplex (FDD), time division duplex (TDD), multiple input multiple output (MIMO), orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), discrete Fourier transform spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) and / or any other technology currently known or to be developed in the future.

[0035] The first device 110 receives a signal from the second device 120 on the first resource. In addition, the first device 110 receives a PRS from at least one of the third devices 130-1 and 130-2 on the second resource. The first device 110 performs a positioning measurement operation based on the received PRS.

[0036] The first resource overlaps with the second resource in the time domain. For example, if the first resource and the second resource include the same symbol, the first resource overlaps with the second resource in the time domain. In addition, the first resource partially overlaps with the second resource in the frequency domain. For example, if the subcarrier included in the second resource partially overlaps with the subcarrier included in the first resource, the first resource partially overlaps with the second resource in the frequency domain. In other words, a conflict occurs between the signal from the second device 120 and the PRS. In this case, from the perspective of positioning, the signal from the second device 120 can be considered as additional interference. Due to the additional interference, the positioning accuracy may be reduced.

[0037] In some embodiments, the signal from the second device 120 may include at least one of the following: a reference signal, data, or control information.

[0038] In some embodiments, the reference signal or control information from the second device 120 may include, but is not limited to, a synchronization signal and a physical broadcast channel (PBCH) block (SSB).

[0039] In some embodiments, the data from the second device 120 may include, but is not limited to, data associated with ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC) traffic transmission.

[0040] Hereinafter, some embodiments of the present disclosure will be described by taking SSB as an example of a reference signal. In this case, the collision between the signal from the second device 120 and the PRS may be referred to as a collision between the SSB and the PRS.

[0041] Figure 2 An example 200 of a collision between SSB and PRS according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. In example 200, in order to maintain synchronization with the second device 120, the first device 110 receives the SSB from the second device 120 on the symbol 210 and the first group of resource elements (REs) 220. In addition, in order to perform a positioning measurement operation, the first device 110 receives the PRS from at least one of the third devices 130-1 and 130-2 on the symbol 210 and the second group of REs 230. The second group of REs 230 partially overlaps with the first group of REs 220. In other words, a collision occurs between the SSB and the PRS.

[0042] The main reason for the conflict may be that at least one PRS configuration from at least one of the third devices 130-1 and 130-2 is determined by at least one of the third devices 130-1 and 130-2 itself. The third devices 130-1 and 130-2 may not know the SSB configuration from the second device 120. Therefore, it is impossible to avoid such a conflict due to the unknown configuration.

[0043] When a collision occurs, the SSB with high received power will greatly interfere with the PRS with lower received power. Figure 3 The relationship between positioning accuracy and SIR according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. Figure 3 As shown, the time of arrival (ToA) estimation error will be very large in a low signal-to-interference ratio (SIR) situation, even in a line-of-sight (LOS) situation. SIR is equal to the ratio of the received power of PRS to the received power of SSB. It is worth mentioning that if the first device 110 expects to receive PRS from a very far third device 130-1 or 130-2, the SIR may be much lower than -25dB.

[0044] In view of the above, how to increase positioning accuracy is discussed.

[0045] According to some example embodiments, a scheme for adaptive positioning measurement is provided. According to the scheme, when a conflict occurs between a signal from a second device and a PRS from at least one third device, a first device determines at least one of the following: the quality of the received signal, the quality of the received PRS, or configuration information about the positioning measurement of the first device. Then, the first device selects one of the positioning measurement operations for the first device based on the determination, and performs the selected positioning measurement operation. In this way, when a conflict occurs, the positioning measurement accuracy can be improved.

[0046] Reference now Figure 4, which shows a flowchart of an example method 400 implemented at a first device according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, reference will be made to Figure 1 The method 400 is described from the perspective of the first device 110. However, the method 400 may also be applied to other communication scenarios.

[0047] In block 410, the first device 110 receives a signal from the second device 120 on the first resource and receives a PRS from at least one of the third devices 130-1 and 130-2 on the second resource. The first resource overlaps with the second resource in the time domain and partially overlaps with the second resource in the frequency domain.

[0048] At block 420, the first device 110 determines at least one of the following: the quality of the received signal, The quality of the received PRS, or Configuration information about positioning measurements for the first device 110 .

[0049] In block 430, the first device 110 selects one of the positioning measurement operations for the first device 110 based on the determination. In other words, the first device 110 may select one of the positioning measurement operations to measure the PRS.

[0050] In block 440 , the first device 110 performs the selected positioning measurement operation.

[0051] Utilizing the method 400, positioning measurement accuracy may be improved when a PRS collides with an SSB or potentially other signals.

[0052] In some embodiments, the positioning measurement operation may include acquiring time and / or angle measurements representing one or more third devices required as input to a position estimation method for the first device 110 .

[0053] In some embodiments, the location estimation method may include one of the following: Downlink Time Difference of Arrival (DL-TDOA), Uplink Time Difference of Arrival (UL-TDOA), Downlink Angle of Departure (DL-AoD), Uplink Angle of Arrival (UL-AoA), or Multi-cell round trip time (Multi-RTT).

[0054] In some embodiments, the positioning measurement operation includes a first positioning measurement operation on all resource elements of the second resource. In such an embodiment, the first device 110 may perform the first positioning measurement operation on all resource elements. In some embodiments, the first positioning measurement operation may include a first correlation operation.

[0055] Alternatively or additionally, the positioning measurement operation includes a second positioning measurement operation on some resource elements of the second resource. The some resource elements do not overlap with the first resource. In such an embodiment, the first device 110 may perform the second positioning measurement operation on the some resource elements. In some embodiments, the second positioning measurement operation may include a second related operation.

[0056] consider Figure 2 In this example, the first device 110 may perform the first positioning measurement operation on all the second group of REs 230. Alternatively or additionally, the first device 110 may perform the second positioning measurement operation on some REs in the second group of REs 230 that do not overlap with the first group of REs 220.

[0057] In this example, to implement the second positioning measurement operation, a filter may be applied to filter out signals on the first group of REs 220 before performing the second positioning measurement operation on the second group of REs 230 .

[0058] Alternatively, in order to further improve the positioning measurement accuracy, some neighboring REs around the first group of REs 220 may also be excluded.

[0059] In some embodiments, the first positioning measurement operation may include a successive interference cancellation (SIC) operation. In such an embodiment, the first device 110 may first decode the SSB from the first group of REs 220. Then, the first device 110 may cancel the SSB from the received signal including the SSB and the PRS. In turn, the first device 110 may perform the first positioning measurement operation on the received signal without the SSB.

[0060] In some embodiments, the first device 110 may determine the quality of the received PRS by determining a first ratio of the received power of the PRS to the noise power.

[0061] Alternatively or additionally, in some embodiments, the first device 110 may determine the quality of the received PRS and the quality of the received signal by determining a second ratio of the received power of the PRS to the received power of the signal from the second device 120 .

[0062] In some embodiments, the first device 110 may determine the second ratio based on a third ratio of received power of the first reference signal previously measured from the second device 120 to received power of the second reference signal previously measured from the third device 130-1 or 130-2.

[0063] In such an embodiment, each of the first reference signal and the second reference signal comprises one of: an SSB, or a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS).

[0064] Alternatively, in an embodiment where the quality of the received PRS includes a second ratio of received power of the PRS to received power of the signal, the first device 110 may determine the second ratio based on a distance between the second device 120 and the third device 130-1 or 130-2.

[0065] In such an embodiment, the first device 110 may obtain the distance from the location management function (LMF). Alternatively, because the first device 110 knows the allocation of the second device 120, the third device 130-1 and 130-2, the first device 110 may already know the distance in the UE-based positioning mode.

[0066] Alternatively, in an embodiment where the quality of the received PRS includes a second ratio of received power of the PRS to received power of the signal, the first device 110 may determine the second ratio based on an angle between the second device 120 and the third device 130-1 or 130-2.

[0067] In such an embodiment, the first device 110 may obtain the angle from the LMF. Alternatively, the first device 110 may already know the angle from previous reception of the PRS and SSB.

[0068] In some embodiments, the configuration information about the positioning measurement of the first device 110 may include at least one of the following: The first bandwidth of PRS, the ratio of the first bandwidth to the second bandwidth of the signal, the capabilities of the first device 110, the operating mode of the first device 110, or · Determine the quality of service (QoS) requirements.

[0069] In some embodiments, the operation mode of the first device 110 may include one of: a radio resource control (RRC) connected mode, an RRC inactive mode, an RRC idle mode, or a power saving mode.

[0070] In some embodiments, the positioning QoS requirements may include positioning accuracy or positioning latency.

[0071] Reference now Figure 5 , Figure 5 4 is a flowchart of an example method 500 implemented at a first device according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. Method 500 may be considered an example implementation of method 400. For the purpose of discussion, reference will be made to Figure 1 The method 500 is described from the perspective of the first device 110. However, the method 500 may also be applied to other communication scenarios.

[0072] At block 510, the first device 110 determines whether it is in a power saving mode. If the first device 110 is in a power saving mode, the method 500 proceeds to block 560. At block 560, the first device 110 selects a first positioning measurement operation different from the SIC operation. Hereinafter, for the sake of brevity, the first positioning measurement operation other than the SIC operation is also referred to as "operation #1". On the other hand, if the first device 110 is not in a power saving mode, the method 500 proceeds to block 520.

[0073] At block 520 , the first device 110 determines whether the first device 110 supports SIC operation based on the capabilities of the first device 110 . If SIC operation is not supported, the method 500 proceeds to block 530 .

[0074] At block 530 , the first device 110 determines whether a first ratio of received power of the PRS to noise power (also referred to as “SNR”) is greater than a first threshold. If the SNR is not greater than the first threshold, the method 500 proceeds to block 540 .

[0075] At block 540 , the first device 110 determines whether the first bandwidth of the PRS is greater than a second threshold. If the first bandwidth of the PRS is not greater than the second threshold, the method 500 proceeds to block 550 .

[0076] At block 550 , the first device 110 determines whether a second ratio of the received power of the PRS to the received power of the signal is greater than a third threshold. Hereinafter, for simplicity, the second ratio is also referred to as “SIR.” If the SIR is not greater than the third threshold, the method 500 proceeds to block 560 .

[0077] On the other hand, if the first device 110 determines at block 520 that SIC operation is supported, the method 500 proceeds to block 580. At block 580, the first device 110 selects SIC operation.

[0078] On the other hand, if the first device 110 determines at block 530 that the SNR is greater than the first threshold, the method 500 proceeds to block 570. At block 570, the first device 110 selects a second positioning measurement operation. Hereinafter, for simplicity, the second positioning measurement operation is also referred to as "operation #2".

[0079] If the first device 110 determines at block 540 that the first bandwidth of the PRS is greater than the second threshold, the method 500 proceeds to block 570 .

[0080] If the first device 110 determines at block 550 that the SIR is greater than the third threshold, the method 500 proceeds to block 570 .

[0081] It should be understood that method 500 is merely an example of how the first device 110 determines when to use which positioning measurement operation. Figure 5 Each criterion listed in and implements an "AND" type decision process. However, it should be noted that other combinations and test orders may also be implemented. For example, the first device 110 may first perform a SIR test and then evaluate whether to apply a SIC determination.

[0082] Figure 6 The simulation result 600 of the method according to other example embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. In the simulation, different positioning measurement operations are performed in different scenarios.

[0083] The assumed simulation parameters are as follows: 40 MHz PRS bandwidth; 30 kHz subcarrier spacing (SCS); TDL-DLOS channel; -10 dB SNR. The second ratio of the received power of the PRS to the received power of the SSB varies from -25 dB to 0 dB.

[0084] Curves 610, 620, and 630 are associated with operation #1, operation #2, and SIC operation, respectively.

[0085] It can be seen from the simulation results 600 that the SIC operation outperforms operation #1 and operation #2 in the entire SIR region. Here, we simply assume the best case, that is, the first device 110 can perfectly decode the SSB and eliminate the SSB from the received signal. In actual implementation, channel estimation errors will degrade the performance of the SIC operation. Therefore, in the absence of perfect channel estimation, the actual performance from the SIC operation will be Figure 6 Somewhere between curve 630 and curve 610 in FIG. In addition, due to high implementation complexity, SIC operation may only be applicable to certain devices. In addition, compared with operation #1, operation #2 can achieve better positioning measurements in the lower SIR region (from -25dB to about -12dB). It shows the potential benefits of adaptive positioning measurements according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0086] In some example embodiments, an apparatus capable of performing method 400 (e.g., first device 110) may include a component for performing the corresponding operations of method 400. The component may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the component may be implemented in a circuit or a software module. The first apparatus may be implemented as or included in the first device 110. In some example embodiments, the component may include a processor and a memory.

[0087] In some example embodiments, the apparatus includes: a component for receiving, at a first device, a signal from a second device on a first resource and a positioning reference signal PRS from at least one third device on a second resource, the first resource overlapping with the second resource in the time domain and partially overlapping with the second resource in the frequency domain; a component for determining at least one of the following: a quality of a received signal, a quality of a received PRS, or configuration information about a positioning measurement for the first device; and a component for selecting one of the positioning measurement operations for the first device based on the determination; and a component for performing the selected positioning measurement operation.

[0088] In some example embodiments, the positioning measurement operation includes at least one of the following: a first positioning measurement operation on all resource elements of the second resource, or a second positioning measurement operation on some resource elements of the second resource. In some example embodiments, the some resource elements do not overlap with the first resource.

[0089] In some example embodiments, the first positioning measurement operation comprises a continuous interference cancellation operation.

[0090] In some example embodiments, means for determining a quality measure of a received PRS includes means for determining a first ratio of a received power of the PRS to a noise power.

[0091] In some example embodiments, means for determining the quality of the received signal and the quality measure of the received PRS includes means for determining a second ratio of the received power of the PRS to the received power of the signal.

[0092] In some example embodiments, the means for determining the second ratio includes means for determining the second ratio based on one of: a third ratio of a received power of a first reference signal previously measured from the second device to a received power of a second reference signal previously measured from a third device, a distance between the second device and the third device, or an angle between the second device and the third device.

[0093] In some example embodiments, each of the first reference signal and the second reference signal comprises one of: an SSB, or a channel state information reference signal.

[0094] In some example embodiments, the configuration information regarding positioning measurements for the first device includes at least one of: a first bandwidth of the PRS, a ratio of the first bandwidth to a second bandwidth of the signal, capabilities of the first device, an operating mode of the first device, or positioning QoS requirements.

[0095] In some example embodiments, the first device comprises a terminal device, the second device comprises a terminal device or a network device, and the at least one third device comprises a terminal device or a network device.

[0096] In some example embodiments, the signal includes at least one of: an SSB, or data associated with a URLLC service transmission.

[0097] Figure 7 is a simplified block diagram of a device 700 suitable for implementing an example embodiment of the present disclosure. The device 700 may be provided to implement a communication device, such as Figure 1 The first device 110 is shown. As shown, the device 700 includes one or more processors 710, one or more memories 720 coupled to the processors 710, and one or more communication modules 740 coupled to the processors 710.

[0098] The communication module 740 is used for two-way communication. The communication module 740 has one or more communication interfaces to facilitate communication with one or more other modules or devices. The communication interface may represent any interface required to communicate with other network elements. In some example embodiments, the communication module 740 may include at least one antenna.

[0099] Processor 710 may be of any type suitable for the local technology network and may include one or more of the following: as non-limiting examples, a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a microprocessor, a digital signal processor (DSP), and a processor based on a multi-core processor architecture. Device 700 may have multiple processors, such as application specific integrated circuit chips that are time slaved to a clock that synchronizes a main processor.

[0100] The memory 720 may include one or more non-volatile memories and one or more volatile memories. Examples of non-volatile memories include (but are not limited to) read-only memory (ROM) 724, electrically programmable read-only memory (EPROM), flash memory, hard disk, compact disk (CD), digital video disk (DVD), optical disk, laser disk and other magnetic storage devices and / or optical storage devices. Examples of volatile memories include, but are not limited to, random access memory (RAM) 722 and other volatile memories that do not persist over the duration of a power outage.

[0101] Computer program 730 includes computer executable instructions that are executable by associated processor 710. Program 730 may be stored in a memory such as ROM 724. Processor 710 may perform any suitable actions and processes by loading program 730 into RAM 722.

[0102] The exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by means of a program 730, so that the device 700 may execute the Figures 4 to 5 Any process of the present disclosure discussed. The exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented by hardware or a combination of software and hardware.

[0103] In some example embodiments, the program 730 may be tangibly embodied in a computer-readable medium that may be included in the device 700 (e.g., in the memory 720) or in other storage devices accessible by the device 700. The device 700 may load the program 730 from the computer-readable medium to the RAM 722 for execution. The computer-readable medium may include any type of tangible non-volatile memory, such as ROM, EPROM, flash memory, hard disk, CD, DVD, etc. Figure 8 An example of a computer readable medium 800 is shown which may be in the form of a CD, DVD or other optical storage disk. The computer readable medium has a program 730 stored thereon.

[0104] In general, various embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in hardware or dedicated circuits, software, logic, or any combination thereof. Some aspects may be implemented in hardware, while other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software, which may be executed by a controller, microprocessor, or other computing device. Although various aspects of the embodiments of the present disclosure are shown and described as block diagrams, flow charts, or using some other graphical representations, it should be understood that the blocks, devices, systems, techniques, or methods described herein may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, dedicated circuits or logic, general hardware or controllers or other computing devices, or some combination thereof, as non-limiting examples.

[0105] The present disclosure also provides at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. The computer program product includes computer executable instructions, such as instructions included in a program module executed in a device on a target physical or virtual processor to perform the above reference Figures 2 to 6 Any method described herein. In general, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, etc. that perform specific tasks or implement specific abstract data types. The functions of program modules can be combined or separated between program modules as needed in various embodiments. The machine executable instructions of program modules can be executed in local or distributed devices. In distributed devices, program modules can be located in local and remote storage media.

[0106] The program code for executing the method of the present disclosure can be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. These program codes can be provided to a processor or controller of a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer or other programmable data processing device so that the program code, when executed by the processor or controller, enables the functions / operations specified in the flow chart and / or block diagram to be implemented. The program code can be executed entirely on the machine, partially on the machine, as a stand-alone software package, partially on the machine, partially on a remote machine, or entirely on a remote machine or server.

[0107] In the context of the present disclosure, computer program codes or related data may be carried by any suitable carrier to enable a device, apparatus or processor to perform various processes and operations as described above. Examples of carriers include signals, computer readable media, etc.

[0108] The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. The computer readable medium may include, but is not limited to, an electrical, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared or semiconductor system, apparatus or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples of computer readable storage media would include an electrical connection with one or more conductors, a portable computer disk, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

[0109] It should be understood that, although some embodiments can be implemented by / at an IAB node, the solutions including the methods and devices proposed in the present disclosure can also be applied to other communication systems with similar technical problems. In addition, although the operations are described in a specific order, this should not be understood as requiring the specific order shown or to perform these operations in sequence, or to perform all the operations shown, to achieve the desired result. In some cases, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Similarly, although several specific implementation details are included in the above discussion, these details should not be interpreted as limitations on the scope of the present disclosure, but should be interpreted as descriptions of features peculiar to a particular embodiment. Certain features described in the context of a separate embodiment may also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. On the contrary, the various features described in the context of a single embodiment may also be implemented in multiple embodiments individually or in any suitable sub-combination.

[0110] Although the disclosure has been described in language specific to structural features and / or methodological actions, it should be understood that the disclosure defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or actions described above. Instead, the specific features and actions described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.

Claims

1. A first device, comprising: at least one processor; as well as at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the first device to at least: Receiving a signal from a second device on a first resource, and receiving a positioning reference signal PRS from at least one third device on a second resource, wherein the first resource overlaps with the second resource in the time domain and partially overlaps with the second resource in the frequency domain; Identify at least one of the following: the quality of the signal received, the quality of the PRS received, or configuration information about positioning measurements for the first device; and selecting one of the positioning measurement operations for the first device based on the determination; as well as Execute the selected positioning measurement operation.

2. The first device according to claim 1, wherein the positioning measurement operation comprises at least one of the following: a first positioning measurement operation on all resource elements of said second resource, or A second positioning measurement operation is performed on some resource elements of the second resource, wherein the some resource elements do not overlap with the first resource. 3 . The first device of claim 2 , wherein the first positioning measurement operation comprises a continuous interference cancellation operation.

4. The first device of claim 1 , wherein the first device is caused to determine the quality of the received PRS by: A first ratio of received power of the PRS to noise power is determined.

5. The first device of claim 1 , wherein the first device is caused to determine the quality of the received signal and the quality of the received PRS by: A second ratio of the received power of the PRS to the received power of the signal is determined.

6. The first device of claim 5, wherein the first device is caused to determine the second ratio based on one of: a third ratio of a received power of a first reference signal previously measured from the second device to a received power of a second reference signal previously measured from the third device, the distance between the second device and the third device, or The angle between the second device and the third device.

7. The first device of claim 6, wherein each of the first reference signal and the second reference signal comprises one of: Synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel block SSB, or Channel State Information Reference Signal.

8. The first device according to claim 1, wherein the configuration information about the positioning measurement for the first device comprises at least one of the following: a first bandwidth of the PRS, a ratio of the first bandwidth to a second bandwidth of the signal, the capability of the first device, the operating mode of the first device, or Determine the quality of service (QoS) requirements.

9. The first device according to claim 1, wherein the first device comprises a terminal device, the second device comprises a terminal device or a network device, and the at least one third device comprises a terminal device or a network device.

10. The first device of claim 1, wherein the signal comprises at least one of the following: Synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel block SSB, or Data associated with ultra-reliable low-latency communications (URLLC) service transmissions.

11. A method comprising: At a first device, receiving a signal from a second device on a first resource, and receiving a positioning reference signal PRS from at least one third device on a second resource, wherein the first resource overlaps with the second resource in the time domain and partially overlaps with the second resource in the frequency domain; Identify at least one of the following: the quality of the signal received, the quality of the PRS received, or configuration information about positioning measurements for the first device; and selecting one of the positioning measurement operations for the first device based on the determination; as well as Execute the selected positioning measurement operation.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the positioning measurement operation comprises at least one of the following: a first positioning measurement operation on all resource elements of said second resource, or A second positioning measurement operation is performed on some resource elements of the second resource, wherein the some resource elements do not overlap with the first resource.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the first positioning measurement operation comprises a continuous interference cancellation operation.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein determining a quality measure of the received PRS comprises: A first ratio of received power of the PRS to noise power is determined.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein determining the quality of the received signal and the quality measurement of the received PRS comprises: A second ratio of the received power of the PRS to the received power of the signal is determined.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the second ratio is determined based on one of: a third ratio of a received power of a first reference signal previously measured from the second device to a received power of a second reference signal previously measured from the third device, the distance between the second device and the third device, or The angle between the second device and the third device.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein each of the first reference signal and the second reference signal comprises one of: SSB, or Channel State Information Reference Signal.

18. The method according to claim 11, wherein the configuration information about the positioning measurement for the first device comprises at least one of the following: a first bandwidth of the PRS, a ratio of the first bandwidth to a second bandwidth of the signal, the capability of the first device, the operating mode of the first device, or Determine the quality of service (QoS) requirements.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein the first device comprises a terminal device, the second device comprises a terminal device or a network device, and the at least one third device comprises a terminal device or a network device.

20. The method of claim 11, wherein the signal comprises at least one of: Synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel block SSB, or Data associated with ultra-reliable low-latency communications (URLLC) service transmissions.

21. An apparatus comprising: means for receiving, at a first device, a signal from a second device on a first resource and receiving a positioning reference signal (PRS) from at least one third device on a second resource, the first resource overlapping with the second resource in the time domain and partially overlapping with the second resource in the frequency domain; A component that determines at least one of the following: the quality of the signal received, the quality of the PRS received, or configuration information about positioning measurements for the first device; as well as means for selecting one of the positioning measurement operations for the first device based on the determination; as well as Components for performing selected positioning measurement operations.

22. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising a computer program for causing an apparatus to at least perform the method according to any one of claims 11 to 20.

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