Method and apparatus for controlling sidelink positioning procedure in wireless communication system

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a communication technology that fuses an IoT technology with a 5G communication system to support a higher data transmission rate than a 4G system, and a system therefor. The present disclosure may be applied to intelligent services (e.g., smart home, smart building, smart city, smart car or connected car, health care, digital education, retail business, security and security-related services, etc.) based on the 5G communication technology and the IoT-related technology. A method and apparatus for serving sidelink positioning in a wireless communication system are disclosed.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for providing a sidelink positioning service in a wireless communication system. Background Art

[0002] In order to meet the increased demand for wireless data services since the deployment of 4G communication systems, efforts have been made to develop improved 5G or quasi-5G communication systems. Therefore, 5G or quasi-5G communication systems are also called "super 4G network" communication systems or "post-LTE" systems. 5G communication systems are considered to be implemented in ultra-high frequency (millimeter wave) bands (e.g., 60GHz bands) in order to achieve higher data rates. In order to reduce the propagation loss of radio waves and increase the transmission distance of radio waves in ultra-high frequency bands, beamforming, massive multiple input multiple output (massive MIMO), full-dimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO), array antennas, analog beamforming, and massive antenna technology are being discussed in 5G communication systems. In addition, in 5G communication systems, technical development of system network improvements is being carried out based on evolved small cells, advanced small cells, cloud radio access networks (cloud RAN), ultra-dense networks, device-to-device (D2D) communications, wireless backhaul, mobile networks, cooperative communications, coordinated multi-point (CoMP), receiving-end interference elimination, etc. In 5G systems, hybrid FSK with QAM modulation (FQAM) and sliding window superposition coding (SWSC) have been developed as advanced coding modulation (ACM) schemes, and filter bank multi-carrier (FBMC), non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA), and sparse code multiple access (SCMA) as advanced access technologies.

[0003] The Internet, which is a human-centered connectivity network in which humans generate and consume information, has now evolved into the Internet of Things (IoT), in which distributed entities (such as things) exchange and process information without human intervention. The Internet of Everything (IoE) has emerged, which is a combination of IoT technology and big data processing technology through connection with cloud servers, etc. Since IoT implementation requires technical elements such as "sensing technology", "wired / wireless communication and network infrastructure", "service interface technology" and "security technology", research has recently been conducted on sensor networks, machine-to-machine (M2M) communication, machine-type communication (MTC), etc. This IoT environment can provide smart Internet technology (IT) services that create new value for human life by collecting and analyzing data generated between connected things. IoT can be applied to a variety of fields, including smart homes, smart buildings, smart cities, smart cars or connected cars, smart grids, health care, smart appliances, and advanced medical services, through the integration and combination between existing information technology (IT) and various industrial applications.

[0004] Therefore, various attempts have been made to apply 5G communication systems to IoT networks. For example, technologies such as sensor networks, machine type communication (MTC), and machine-to-machine (M2M) communication are implemented through beamforming, MIMO, and array antennas as 5G communication technologies. Cloud radio access network (cloud RAN) as an application of the above-mentioned big data processing technology can also be considered as an example of the fusion of 5G technology and IoT technology.

[0005] In order to provide services in a mobile communication system, a base station needs to support sidelink positioning of a terminal within a communication range. Summary of the invention

[0006] Technical issues

[0007] An aspect of the present disclosure is to provide an apparatus and method capable of effectively providing a service in a next-generation wireless communication system.

[0008] Problem Solution

[0009] A method for a location management function (LMF) entity in a communication system for implementing the above-mentioned task according to an example of the present disclosure may include: receiving a request message from an access and mobility management function (AMF) entity requesting the location of a target terminal related to a side link positioning (SL-P) process; sending a discovery request message to the target terminal requesting discovery of an anchor terminal; receiving a discovery response message from the target terminal in response to the discovery request message, including information related to candidate anchor terminals; and selecting at least one anchor terminal from the candidate anchor terminals to perform the SL-P process.

[0010] In addition, a method of a target terminal in a communication system according to an example of the present disclosure may include: Receiving a discovery request message from a location management function (LMF) entity requesting discovery of an anchor terminal related to a side link positioning (SL-P) process; performing a discovery operation based on the discovery request message; and sending a discovery response message in response to the discovery request message to the LMF entity, the discovery response message including information related to candidate anchor terminals based on the discovery operation.

[0011] In addition, a location management function (LMF) entity in a communication system according to an example of the present disclosure may include a communication unit, and a controller, which is configured to: control the communication unit to receive a request message requesting the location of a target terminal related to a side link positioning (SL-P) process from an access and mobility management function (AMF) entity; control the communication unit to send a discovery request message requesting discovery of an anchor terminal to the target terminal; control the communication unit to receive a discovery response message including information related to candidate anchor terminals in response to the discovery request message from the target terminal; and select at least one anchor terminal from the candidate anchor terminals to perform the SL-P process.

[0012] In addition, according to an example of the present disclosure, a target terminal in a communication system may include a transceiver, and a controller, which is configured to: control the transceiver to receive a discovery request message from a location management function (LMF) entity requesting discovery of an anchor terminal related to a side link positioning (SL-P) process; perform a discovery operation based on the discovery request message; and control the transceiver to send a discovery response message to the LMF entity in response to the discovery request message, the discovery response message including information related to candidate anchor terminals based on the discovery operation.

[0013] Advantageous Effects of the Invention

[0014] According to the embodiments of the present disclosure, services can be efficiently provided in the next generation wireless communication system. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0015] Figure 1 is a diagram showing a structure of an NR system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; Figure 2 is a diagram showing a radio protocol structure of an LTE system and an NR system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; Figure 3 is a diagram showing a network structure for providing LCS in a next generation mobile communication system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; Figure 4 is a flowchart of a process of performing LCS in a next generation mobile communication system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; Figure 5 is a flowchart of a detailed LPP message exchange process of a UE process according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; Figure 6 is a diagram illustrating a SL-P service scenario according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; Figure 7 is a diagram illustrating a scenario in which LMF may involve a specific SL-P configuration and an anchor UE for position estimation of a target UE when performing SL-P according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; Figure 8 is a flow chart of a process of LMF controlling an overall SL-P process according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; Fig. 9 is a flowchart of an anchor UE information registration process using an MT-LR process and an NI-LR process according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; Fig.10 is a flowchart of an anchor UE information registration process using a MO-LR process according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; Fig.11is a flowchart of a process for an LMF to obtain information required for SL-P configuration via LPP signaling with an anchor UE during SL-P service process control according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; Fig.12 is a flowchart of a process of performing SL-P when an LCS client requests an SL-P operation between one or more pairs of UEs according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; Fig.13 is a diagram for describing a method of determining a location estimation scheme and an anchor UE for SL-P according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; Fig.14 is a diagram for describing a method for determining a specific location estimation scheme and an anchor UE for SL-P according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; Fig.15 is a flowchart of a process for an LMF to determine a location estimation scheme and an anchor UE for SL-P when an LCS client requests location information of a specific target UE according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; Fig.16 is a diagram showing a UE device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; Fig.17 is a diagram showing a base station apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; and Fig.18 is a block diagram associated with the structure of an LMF entity according to an example of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0016] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. When describing the present disclosure below, when it is determined that the description may make the subject matter of the present disclosure unnecessarily unclear, the detailed description of the known functions or configurations combined herein will be omitted. The terms to be described below are terms defined in consideration of the functions in the present disclosure, and may differ depending on the user, the user's intention or custom. Therefore, the definition of the term should be determined based on the content throughout the entire specification.

[0017] By referring to the embodiments described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, the advantages and features of the present disclosure and the methods for achieving them will become apparent. However, the present disclosure is not limited to the embodiments set forth below, but can be implemented in various different forms. The following embodiments are provided only to fully disclose the present disclosure and inform those skilled in the art of the scope of the present disclosure, and the present disclosure is limited only by the scope of the attached claims. Throughout the entire specification, the same or similar reference numerals indicate the same or similar elements.

[0018] In this article, it should be understood that each box of the flowchart diagram and the box combination in the flowchart diagram can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions can be provided to the processor of a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer or other programmable data processing device to produce a machine, so that the instructions executed by the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing device create a device for implementing the functions specified in one or more flowchart boxes. These computer program instructions can also be stored in a computer-available or computer-readable memory, which can instruct the computer or other programmable data processing device to operate in a specific manner, so that the instructions stored in the computer-available or computer-readable memory produce an article including an instruction device, which implements the functions specified in the one or more flowchart boxes. Computer program instructions can also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing device so that a series of operating steps are performed on a computer or other programmable device, thereby generating a computer-implemented process, so that the instructions executed on a computer or other programmable device provide steps for implementing the functions specified in one or more flowchart boxes.

[0019] In addition, each box in the flowchart diagram may represent a module, a code segment or a code portion, which includes one or more executable instructions for implementing a specified logical function. It should also be noted that in some alternative implementations, the functions mentioned in the box may not occur in order. For example, depending on the functionality involved, two boxes shown in succession may actually be executed roughly at the same time, or the boxes may sometimes be executed in reverse order.

[0020] As used in the embodiments of the present disclosure, the term "unit" refers to a software element or a hardware element that performs a predetermined function, such as a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), and a "unit" can perform certain functions. However, a "unit" does not always have a meaning limited to software or hardware. A "unit" can be constructed to be stored in an addressable storage medium or to execute one or more processors. Therefore, a "unit" includes, for example, a software element, an object-oriented software element, a class element or a task element, a process, a function, a property, a procedure, a subroutine, a program code segment, a driver, a firmware, a microcode, a circuit, data, a database, a data structure, a table, an array, and a parameter. The elements and functions provided by a "unit" can be combined into a smaller number of elements or "units", or divided into a larger number of elements or "units". In addition, elements and "units" can be implemented to reproduce one or more CPUs in a device or a secure multimedia card. In addition, a "unit" in an embodiment can include one or more processors.

[0021] In the following description of the present disclosure, when it is determined that the description may make the subject matter of the present disclosure unnecessarily unclear, a detailed description of known functions or configurations incorporated herein will be omitted. Hereinafter, various embodiments of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0022] In the following description, for convenience, terms for identifying access nodes, terms referring to network entities, terms referring to messages, terms referring to interfaces between network entities, terms referring to various identification information, etc. are illustratively used. Therefore, the present disclosure is not limited to the terms described below, and other terms referring to subjects having equivalent technical meanings may also be used.

[0023] In the following description, the terms "physical channel" and "signal" may be used interchangeably with the terms "data" or "control signal". For example, the term "physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH)" refers to a physical channel through which data is transmitted, but PDSCH may also be used to refer to data. That is, in the present disclosure, the expression "transmitting a physical channel" may be interpreted as having the same meaning as the expression "transmitting data or a signal through a physical channel".

[0024] In the following description of the present disclosure, upper layer signaling refers to a signal transmission scheme from a base station to a terminal via a downlink data channel of a physical layer, or a signal transmission scheme from a terminal to a base station via an uplink data channel of a physical layer. Upper layer signaling can also be understood as radio resource control (RRC) signaling or medium access control (MAC) control element (CE).

[0025] In the following description of the present disclosure, the terms and names defined in the 3rd Generation Partnership Project New Radio (3GPP NR) or 3GPP Long Term Evolution (3GPP LTE) standards will be used for ease of description. However, the present disclosure is not limited to these terms and names, and can be applied to systems that comply with other standards in the same manner. In the present disclosure, for the convenience of description, the term "gNB" can be used interchangeably with the term "eNB". That is, a base station described as an "eNB" can be used instead of a "gNB". In addition, the term "terminal" can refer not only to mobile phones, MTC devices, NB-IoT devices, and sensors, but also to other wireless communication devices.

[0026] In the following description, a base station is an entity that allocates resources to a terminal, and may be at least one of a gNode B (gNB), an eNode B (eNB), a Node B, a base station (BS), a wireless access unit, a base station controller, and a node on a network. A terminal may include a user equipment (UE), a mobile station (MS), a cellular phone, a smart phone, a computer, or a multimedia system capable of performing a communication function. Of course, examples of base stations and terminals are not limited to those mentioned above.

[0027] The present disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for performing sidelink (SL) positioning in a mobile communication system. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for performing sidelink positioning (SL-P) by a UE within a base station communication range in 3GPP 5GS.

[0028] The present disclosure describes a method and process for a network to control the process required for a UE within the communication range of a base station to perform SL-P. To this end, specifically, information related to the anchor UE (UE capability information, side link information, and known location information) that can assist in SL-P to estimate the location of a specific target UE is defined, and a method and process for the network to obtain the corresponding information is described. In addition, a method for determining whether to use SL-P to estimate the location of the target UE is described. In addition, a description of the following is provided: a method and process for determining the anchor UE to be used in SL-P, a location estimation technique (e.g., a round-trip transmission (RTT) type solution using SL, SL arrival angle (AoA), SL arrival time difference (TDOA), and SL departure angle (AoD)), a location estimation mode (e.g., independent, UE-based or UE-assisted mode), and a SL-P operation configuration (e.g., SL-PRS transmission and reception operation configuration, RTT / TDOA / AoA / AoD measurement operation configuration, and result reporting operation configuration).

[0029] Through the present disclosure, the network can instruct the UE within the communication range of the base station to perform SL-P. The mobile initiated location request (MO-LR), mobile terminated location request (MT-LR) and network induced location request (NI-LR) processes can be used to register information about anchor UEs available for SL-P in the location management function (LMF). In addition, the location management function (LMF) can open a separate LTE positioning protocol (LPP) session and exchange LPP messages with each of the anchor UEs to obtain information about available anchor UEs during the SL-P process for estimating the location of the target UE. The LMF can instruct the target UE to perform an anchor UE discovery operation to identify available anchor UEs around the target UE, and the target UE can perform an anchor UE discovery operation and then report its results to the LMF. The LMF may involve: determining the anchor UE to be used when performing SL-P to estimate the location of the target UE based on the obtained anchor UE related information, determining the location estimation technology, determining the location estimation mode, determining a specific SL-P operation configuration, etc.

[0030] The terms used in this disclosure can be defined as follows.

[0031] - Sidelink Positioning (SL-P): The position of the UE is estimated by using the reference signal transmitted on the SL. In this case, the position of the UE can be absolute position information (absolute positioning), relative position information, and ranging information (e.g., distance / direction information relative to another UE). The ranging operation (estimation of the distance / direction / relative position between UEs) can be included in the concept of SL-P.

[0032] - Target UE: UE that is the target of position estimation.

[0033] -Anchor UE: A UE that assists in estimating the location of a target UE. (For example, a UE that sends and receives a reference signal for estimating the location of a target UE, a UE that transmits information required for location estimation to a target UE via a SL, etc.)

[0034] - Reference UE: UE that determines the reference plane and reference direction in ranging and SL-P services.

[0035] - Assisting UE: A UE that assists when direct ranging and SL-P between a reference UE and a target UE are not possible.

[0036] - Positioning UE: A UE with a known location or with a location that can be identified via a location estimation technique based on the Uu interface. A positioning UE can be used to perform position estimation on a target UE by using SL-P.

[0037] Figure 1 is a diagram showing the structure of an NR system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0038] refer to Figure 1 , the wireless communication system may include a plurality of base stations (e.g., gNB 105, ng-eNB 110, ng-eNB 115, and gNB 120), an access and mobility management function (AMF) 125, and a user plane function (UPF) 130. A user equipment (hereinafter referred to as a UE or terminal) 135 may access an external network via the base stations (e.g., gNB 105, ng-eNB 110, ng-eNB 115, and gNB 120) and the UPF 130.

[0039] exist Figure 1In the cellular network, the base station (e.g., gNB 105, ng-eNB 110, ng-eNB 115, and gNB 120) is an access node of the cellular network and can provide wireless access to UEs accessing the network. That is, in order to provide services to the user's business, the base station (e.g., gNB 105, ng-eNB 110, ng-eNB 115, and gNB 120) can collect UE status information such as buffer status, available transmission power status, and channel status, and perform scheduling to support the connection between the UE and the core network (CN, in particular, the CN of the new radio (NR) is called 5GC). In communication, the user plane (UP) related to actual user data transmission and the control plane (CP), such as connection management, can be divided and configured. In this figure, gNBs 105 and 120 use the UP technology and CP technology defined in the NR technology, and although ng-eNBs 110 and 115 are connected to 5GC, ng-eNBs 110 and 115 can use the UP technology and CP technology defined in the long term evolution (LTE) technology.

[0040] The AMF 125 is a device responsible for various control functions and a mobility management function of the UE and is connected to a plurality of base stations, and the UPF 130 may refer to a gateway device that provides data transmission. Figure 1 Although not shown, the NR wireless communication system may include a session management function (SMF). The SMF may manage packet data network connections, such as protocol data unit (PDU) sessions provided to the UE.

[0041] Figure 2 2 is a diagram showing a radio protocol structure of an LTE system and an NR system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0042] refer to Figure 2 , the radio protocols of the LTE system may include a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) 205 and 240 , a Radio Link Control (RLC) 210 and 235 , and a Medium Access Control (MAC) 215 and 230 in the UE and the eNB, respectively.

[0043] The packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) 105 and 140 is responsible for operations such as IP header compression / reconstruction, and the radio link control (RLC) 210 and 235 reconfigures the PDCP protocol data unit (PDU) to an appropriate size. The MAC 215 or 230 is connected to a plurality of RLC layer devices included in one UE, and performs multiplexing of the RLC PDU on the MAC PDU and demultiplexing of the RLC PDU from the MAC PDU. The physical (PHY) layer 220 and 225 performs channel coding and modulation on the higher layer data, converts the data into orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols and transmits it via a wireless channel, or demodulates and channel decodes the OFDM symbols received via the wireless channel and transmits it to a higher layer. In addition, the physical layer also uses hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) for additional error correction, and the receiving end sends 1 bit to indicate whether the packet sent by the transmitting end is received. This is called HARQ acknowledgement (ACK) / negative acknowledgement (NACK) information. In LTE, downlink HARQ ACK / NACK information for uplink data transmission is transmitted via a physical hybrid ARQ indicator channel (PHICH) as a physical channel, and in NR, whether retransmission is required or whether new transmission is performed can be determined via scheduling information of the corresponding UE in a physical dedicated control channel (PDCCH), which is a channel through which downlink / uplink resource allocation, etc. is transmitted. This is because asynchronous HARQ is applied in NR. Uplink HARQ ACK / NACK information for downlink transmission can be transmitted via a physical channel such as a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH). PUCCH is generally transmitted in the uplink of a primary cell (PCell) to be described later. However, when the UE supports it, the base station can perform additional transmission to the UE in a secondary cell (SCell) to be described later, in which case the SCell is called a PUCCH SCell.

[0044] although Figure 2 Although not shown in the figure, a radio resource control (RRC) layer exists above the PDCP layer of each of the UE and the base station, and the RRC layer can exchange access and measurement-related configuration control messages for radio resource control.

[0045] The PHY layer may include one or more frequencies / carriers, and the technology of configuring and using multiple frequencies at the same time is called carrier aggregation (CA) technology. In CA technology, instead of using only one carrier to communicate between a terminal (or user equipment (UE)) and a base station (E-UTRAN NodeB (eNB)), a primary carrier and one or more additional secondary carriers may be used, so that the transmission capacity can be significantly increased by the number of secondary carriers. In LTE, a cell in a base station using a primary carrier is called a primary cell or primary cell (PCell), and a cell in a base station using a subcarrier is called a subcell or secondary cell (SCell).

[0046] Figure 3 is a diagram illustrating a network structure for providing a location service (LCS) in a next generation mobile communication system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0047] refer to Figure 3 , a network for providing LCS in a next generation mobile communication system includes a UE 300, a base station (NG-RAN node) 305, an access and mobility management function (AMF) 310, and a location management function (LMF) 315. In this case, the UE 300 communicates with the LMF 315 via the base station 305 and the AMF 310, and exchanges information required for location estimation. The roles of the respective components for providing LCS are as follows.

[0048] The UE (terminal) 300 plays a role of measuring radio signals required for position estimation and sending the result thereof to the LMF 315 .

[0049] The base station 305 may play a role in transmitting downlink radio signals required for position estimation, measuring uplink radio signals transmitted by the target UE, and the like.

[0050] AMF 310 may play a role in receiving an LCS request message from an LCS requester and then transmitting it to LMF 315 to indicate providing a location providing service. When LMF 315 processes the location estimation request and then sends a response to the location estimation result of the UE, AMF 310 may transmit the result to the LCS requester.

[0051] LMF 315 is a device that receives and processes LCS requests from AMF 310, and can play a role in controlling the overall process required for position estimation. LMF 315 provides auxiliary information required for position estimation and signal measurement for UE position estimation to UE 300, and receives its result value, and in this case, LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP) can be used as a protocol for data exchange. LPP can define the specifications of messages for position estimation services exchanged between UE 300 and LMF 315. In addition, LMF 315 can exchange downlink reference signal (PRS) configuration information and uplink reference signal (SRS) measurement results to be used for position estimation with the base station 305. In this case, NR Positioning Protocol A (NRPPa) can be used as a protocol for data exchange, and NRPPa can define the specifications of messages exchanged between the base station 305 and LMF 315.

[0052] Figure 4 is a flowchart of a process of performing LCS in a next generation mobile communication system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0053] refer to Figure 4 , after obtaining the LCS request S400a / S400b / S400c, the AMF 405 may transmit it to the LMF 407. Then, the LMF 407 may control the process of exchanging necessary information with the UE and the base station in order to process the LCS request S400a / S400b / S400c, and may transmit its result value (position estimation result) to the AMF 405. The AMF 405 may transmit the result value to the target 410 that has requested the LCS, thereby completing the execution of the LCS.

[0054] In step S400, AMF 405 receives three types of LCS requests.

[0055] 1. LCS request S400a received from external LCS client 410

[0056] 2. LCS request S400b generated by AMF 405 itself

[0057] 3. LCS request received from UE 400 S400c

[0058] The LCS request may include an identity (ID) of the LCS target UE and LCS quality of service (QoS) request information (eg, requirements on location estimation accuracy and delay time).

[0059] After obtaining one of the three types of LCS requests, the AMF 405 may request the provision of a location estimation service by sending a location service request message S405 to the LMF 407. Then, in the NG-RAN node process step S410, the LMF 407 may perform the procedures required for location estimation (e.g., configuring PRS for the base station, obtaining SRS measurement information from the base station, etc.) via an NRPPa message exchange with the NG-RAN node 403.

[0060] In addition, in the UE process step S415, the LMF 407 may exchange LPP messages to exchange necessary information with the UE 400. Through this process, the LMF 407 may perform operations such as exchanging UE capability information related to position estimation, transmitting auxiliary information for signal measurement of the UE, requesting UE measurement results, and obtaining UE measurement results, thereby performing corresponding processes. In this regard, reference will be made later to Figure 5 Provide a more detailed description.

[0061] When the estimated location of the UE is determined based on the various measurement results acquired by the LMF 407, the LMF 407 may transmit a location service response message S420 based on the estimated location to the AMF 405. The AMF 405 may transmit an LCS response message S425a / S425b / S425c to the target requesting the LCS, and the LCS response message S425a / S425b / S425c may include the location estimation result of the UE.

[0062] Figure 5 is a flowchart of a detailed LPP message exchange process of a UE process according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0063] refer to Figure 5 , the UE process according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may include the following processes: exchanging UE capability information related to position estimation between the LMF 505 and the UE 500, transmitting auxiliary information for signal measurement of the UE, requesting UE measurement results, and then obtaining the UE measurement results, etc. More specifically, the purpose and definition of each LPP message exchanged at each step are as follows.

[0064] LPP capability request (LPP request capability) (LMF→UE, S510)

[0065] : This is a message that can be used by the LMF 505 to request UE capability information related to position estimation from the UE 500. The information included in the message can be as defined in the following [Table 1]. Referring to [Table 1], regardless of the position estimation method (e.g., Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), Observed Time Difference of Arrival (OTDOA), Enhanced Cell ID (ECID), etc.), a request for common information is included in CommonIEsRequestCapabilities, and a request for additional information required for each position estimation method can be included in a separate information element (IE) for each method.

[0066] [Table 1]

[0067] LPP capability provision (LPP provision capability) (LMF→UE, S515): This is a message that can be used for UE 500 to transmit UE capability information requested by LMF 505. The information included in the message can be as defined in the following [Table 2]. Referring to [Table 2], similar to the LPP request capabilities message, information that is commonly applied regardless of the location estimation method is included in commonIEsProvideCapabilities, and information additionally requested for each location estimation scheme may be included in a separate IE.

[0068] [Table 2]

[0069] LPP auxiliary information provision (LPP provides auxiliary data) (LMF→UE, S520): This is a message that can be used for LMF 505 to provide information necessary or helpful for UE 500 to measure radio signals for location estimation. The information included in the message can be defined as in [Table 3] below.

[0070] [Table 3]

[0071] LPP location information request (LPP request location information) (LMF→UE, S525): This is a message that can be used by LMF 505 to request signal measurement and position estimation results required for position estimation from UE 500. LMF 505 can determine which position estimation method to use, which measurement the UE should perform for this, or how to respond with which result, and then can send the relevant information to UE 500 by including the information in the message. The information included in the message can be defined as in [Table 4] below.

[0072] [Table 4]

[0073] LPP location information provision (LPP provides location information) (UE→LMF, S530): This is a message that can be used by UE 500 to transmit the measurement results and location estimation results that LMF 505 has requested to LMF 105. The information included in the message can be defined as in the following [Table 5].

[0074] [Table 5]

[0075] Figure 6 is a diagram illustrating a side link positioning service scenario according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0076] refer to Figure 6 ,Depending on whether the target / anchor UE is within the communication range of the base station (i.e., the cell coverage of the base station), three SL-P scenarios can be defined as follows.

[0077] - Coverage of 600 scenes: This is a scenario in which a target UE 603 ​​serving as a location estimation target and an anchor UE 605 assisting in location estimation are both within the communication range of a base station 610 in SL-P.

[0078] In this case, each of the target UE 603 ​​and the anchor UE 605 is connected to a cell operated by the base station 610 and is able to perform communication via the Uu interface. In this case, the LMF 615 can exchange LPP messages with the target UE 603 / anchor UE 605 for SL-P operation and participate in the SL-P operation. The LPP messages between the LMF 615 and the target UE 603 / anchor UE 605 are transmitted via the Uu interface between the target UE 603 / anchor UE 605 and the base station 610.

[0079] For SL-P operation, the target UE 603 ​​may transmit and receive SL-PRS to and from the anchor UE 605 via the PC5 interface. In addition, the target UE 603 ​​and the anchor UE 605 may perform SL-PRS transmission and reception, and exchange control messages for performing SL-P via the PC5 interface. Mode 1 or Mode 2 may be used as a resource configuration method for sidelink (SL) transmission of the target UE 603 / anchor UE 605.

[0080] When using mode 1, the base station can directly allocate SL transmission resources for SL-P operation. In this case, SL transmission resources can be allocated from a licensed band carrier used only for SL communication (a licensed carrier dedicated to SL communication) or a licensed band carrier used for SL and uplink transmission (a licensed carrier that shares resources between SL and UL communication). The SL transmission resource configuration of the base station may include information about the time domain (time slot) and the frequency domain (subchannel), and if the resource configuration is performed in the configuration grant (CG) scheme, it may also include transmission resource periodicity information. When using the resource configuration of mode 1, the LMF may request the base station to configure SL transmission resources to perform SL-P operations of the target UE / anchor UE (e.g., SL-PRS and control message transmission and reception via the PC5 interface), and the base station may configure SL transmission resources for the target UE / anchor UE in mode 1 accordingly. In addition, the LMF may configure the operations required to perform SL-P for the target UE / anchor UE, and the target UE / anchor UE may directly request the SL transmission resources required for the corresponding operation from the base station. In this case, the base station may allocate the required SL transmission resources in response to the request of each UE.

[0081] When using mode 2, the base station can allocate a resource pool (side link resource pool) that can be used for SL transmission, and the target UE / anchor UE can directly select the transmission resources required for SL-P operation from the allocated resource pool. In this case, the LMF can transmit requirements (e.g., frequency, bandwidth, etc.) for the SL resource pool used to perform SL-P operation to the base station. In response to the request of the LMF, the base station can configure a new SL resource pool for the target UE / anchor UE, or change the configuration of a previously configured SL resource pool.

[0082] In the resource configuration of Mode 1 and Mode 2, a shared resource pool or a dedicated resource pool can be configured as the SL resource pool for SL-P operation. Here, using a shared SL resource pool indicates using a resource pool configured for SL communication purposes to send SL-P related information, and using a dedicated SL resource pool indicates using a resource pool configured separately for the SL-P function to send SL-P related information.

[0083] - Partial coverage scenario 620: This is a scenario in which a target UE 623 that is a target of position estimation is outside the communication range of a base station 630 in SL-P, while an anchor UE 625 that assists in position estimation is within the communication range of the base station 630 .

[0084] In this case, the anchor UE 625 is connected to a cell operated by the base station 630 and is able to communicate with the base station 630 via a Uu interface, and the target UE 623 is able to communicate with the anchor UE 625 via a SL PC5 interface. In this case, the LMF 615 may exchange LPP messages with the target UE 623 / anchor UE 625 for SL-P operation and participate in SL-P operation. The LPP messages between the LMF 635 and the anchor UE 625 are transmitted and received via a Uu interface associated with the base station 630, and the LPP messages between the LMF 635 and the target UE 623 may be exchanged through a SL relay operation of the anchor UE 625. For example, the LPP message sent by the target UE 623 to the LMF 635 may be transmitted to the anchor UE 625 via a PC5 interface, and then transmitted to the network via the Uu interface of the anchor UE 625.

[0085] For SL-P operation, the target UE 623 may transmit and receive SL-PRS to and from the anchor UE 625 via the PC5 interface. In addition, the target UE 623 and the anchor UE 625 may perform SL-PRS transmission and reception, and exchange control messages for performing SL-P via the PC5 interface. Mode 1 or Mode 2 may be used as a resource configuration method for sidelink transmission of the target UE 623 / anchor UE 625.

[0086] When using mode 1, the base station can directly allocate SL transmission resources for SL-P operation. In this case, SL transmission resources can be allocated from a licensed band carrier used only for SL communication (a licensed carrier dedicated to SL communication) or a licensed band carrier used for SL and uplink transmission (a licensed carrier that shares resources between SL and UL communication). The SL transmission resource configuration of the base station may include information about the time domain (time slot) and the frequency domain (subchannel), and if the resource configuration is performed in the configuration grant (CG) scheme, it may also include transmission resource periodicity information. When using the resource configuration of mode 1, the LMF may request the base station to configure SL transmission resources to perform SL-P operations of the target UE / anchor UE (e.g., SL-PRS and control message transmission and reception via the PC5 interface), and the base station may configure SL transmission resources for the anchor UE in mode 1 accordingly. In addition, the LMF may configure the operations required to perform SL-P for the target UE / anchor UE, and the anchor UE may directly request the SL transmission resources required for the corresponding operation from the base station. In this case, the base station may allocate the required SL transmission resources in response to the request of the anchor UE.

[0087] When using mode 2, the base station can allocate a resource pool (side link resource pool) that can be used for SL transmission, and the target UE / anchor UE can directly select the transmission resources required for SL-P operation. In this case, the LMF can transmit the requirements (e.g., frequency, bandwidth, etc.) for the SL resource pool used to perform SL-P operation to the base station. In response to the request of the LMF, the base station can configure a new SL resource pool for the target UE / anchor UE, or change the configuration of a previously configured SL resource pool.

[0088] In the resource configuration of Mode 1 and Mode 2, a shared resource pool or a dedicated resource pool can be configured as the SL resource pool for SL-P operation. Here, using a shared SL resource pool indicates using a resource pool configured for SL communication purposes to send SL-P related information, and using a dedicated SL resource pool indicates using a resource pool configured separately for the SL-P function to send SL-P related information.

[0089] -Scene 640 outside coverage: This is a scenario in which a target UE 643 that is a target of position estimation and an anchor UE 645 that assists in position estimation are both outside the communication range of the base station in SL-P.

[0090] In this case, both the target UE 643 and the anchor UE 645 cannot communicate with the base station via the Uu interface, and the target UE 643 can communicate with the anchor UE 645 only via the SL PC5 interface. In addition, the LMF cannot exchange LPP messages with the target UE 643 / anchor UE 645 for SL-P operation, and therefore cannot directly participate in the SL-P operation. For SL-P operation, the target UE 643 can send and receive SL-PRS to and from the anchor UE 645 via the PC5 interface. In addition, the target UE 643 and the anchor UE 645 can perform SL-PRS transmission and reception, and exchange control messages for performing SL-P via the PC5 interface. Mode 2 can be used as a resource configuration method for sidelink transmission of the target UE 643 / anchor UE 645.

[0091] When using mode 2, the base station can allocate in advance a resource pool (side link resource pool) that can be used for SL transmission (for example, communication is possible when within the communication range of the base station), and the target UE 643 / anchor UE 645 can directly select the transmission resources required for SL-P operation by using the pre-configured resource pool. In this case, the LMF can transmit requirements for the SL resource pool for performing SL-P operation (for example, frequency, bandwidth, etc.) to the base station. In response to the request of the LMF, the base station can configure a new SL resource pool for the target UE 643 / anchor UE 645, or change the configuration of a previously configured SL resource pool. A shared resource pool or a dedicated resource pool can be configured as a SL resource pool for SL-P operation. Here, using a shared SL resource pool indicates using a resource pool configured for SL communication purposes to send SL-P related information, and using a dedicated SL resource pool indicates using a resource pool configured separately for the SL-P function to send SL-P related information.

[0092] Figure 7 is a diagram illustrating a scenario in which LMF may involve a specific SL-P configuration and an anchor UE for position estimation of a target UE when SL-P is performed according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0093] refer to Figure 7 , the LMF 700 may receive a position estimation request 701 for a target UE 707 from the AMF 703. In addition, the LMF 700 may determine that the position estimation of the target UE 707 requires an SL-P operation. When the position estimation of the target UE 707 requires SL-P, there may be a plurality of anchor UEs 710, 711, 712, 713, and 715 that may be used for SL-P for the position estimation of the target UE 707. Roadside units (RSUs) 710, 711, and 712, positioning reference units (PRUs) 713, positioning UEs 715, and the like may be used as anchor UEs.

[0094] The LMF 700 may directly determine one or more anchor UEs of the SL-P for position estimation of the target UE 707, or may assist in anchor UE selection by determining candidate anchor UEs and then sending information about the candidate anchor UEs to the target UE 707. The LMF 700 may determine a position estimation technique (e.g., an RTT-based scheme, a TDOA scheme, an AoA / AoD scheme, etc.) for the SL-P of the target UE 707, and may configure the target UE and anchor UE operations required for the position estimation. Alternatively, the LMF 700 may provide the target UE 707 with a plurality of candidate position estimation techniques that may be used for the SL-P and configurations of the target UE and anchor UE operations required for each technique, thereby assisting the target UE in directly selecting the position estimation technique to be used for the SL-P.

[0095] For the above operations, the target UE 707 may exchange messages related to the location estimation operation (e.g., LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP) messages) with the LMF 700 via the Uu interface associated with the serving gNB 705. For the described operations (determining whether SL-P operation is required, determining (candidate) anchor UEs, determining (candidate) location estimation techniques, and configuring UE operations), the LMF 700 may acquire and store information about the available anchor UEs 700, 711, 712, 713, and 715 in advance (e.g., SL-P related UE capability information, location information, SL operation information, etc.).

[0096] Figure 8 is a flow chart of a process of LMF controlling the overall SL-P process according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0097] refer to Figure 8 In the SL-P process for estimating the position of the target UE 810, the LMF 810 may be involved in determining S821 whether an SL-P operation is required, determining S822 an anchor UE 803 to be used for SL-P, and configuring S823 the SL-P operation. The operation of each step is as follows. (However, the order of each step in the following embodiments is not fixed, and the order of each step may be changed according to circumstances.)

[0098] -Anchor UE information exchange S810: LMF 810 may obtain information about a UE that may operate as an anchor UE in advance (eg, SL-P related UE capability information, location information, SL operation information, etc.).

[0099] -0. Location request in S820: The LMF 810 may receive a location estimation request S820 for the target UE 800 from the AMF 807. In this case, the message for the location estimation request S820 may include the positioning service quality (QoS) requirements (accuracy and delay time) of the target UE and positioning-related UE capability information. In addition, the AMF 807 may explicitly request a ranging service or SL-P service for the target UE 800 from the LMF 810 via a location estimation request message S720. For example, when the AMF 807 requests the ranging service from the LMF 810, the relative distance and direction information of one or more UE pairs may be sent via the location estimation request message S820. In addition, as an example, when the AMF 807 requests the SL-P service from the LMF 810, a list of anchor UEs that can be used to estimate the location of the target UE 800 and additional information about the corresponding anchor UEs (e.g., SL-P-related UE capability information, location information, SL operation information, etc.) may be included together in the location estimation request message S820.

[0100] -1. Decision in S821 to use SL POS: The LMF 810 may determine whether ranging or SL-P operation is required by considering the position estimation requirement, the position estimation related capability information of the target UE 800, the previously identified position of the target UE, the presence or absence of available anchor UEs near the target UE, etc. However, this step may be omitted if the AMF 807 has explicitly requested ranging or SL-P operation via the position estimation request message S820 as described above.

[0101] -2. Selecting anchor UE in S821: If it is determined in step S820 that the position estimation of the target UE 800 requires SL-P operation, the LMF 810 may select the anchor UE 803 actually used for SL-P from multiple anchor UEs available for SL-P of the target UE. Alternatively, the LMF 810 may provide the target UE 800 with information about multiple available candidate anchor UEs, thereby assisting the target UE to directly select the anchor UE to be used for SL-P.

[0102] -3. Determine the configuration of SL-P in S823: LMF 810 may determine the location estimation technology (e.g., RTT-based scheme, TDOA scheme, AoA / AoD scheme, etc.) for SL-P of target UE 800, and may determine the target / anchor UE operation configuration required for location estimation. Alternatively, LMF 810 may provide the target UE 800 with a plurality of candidate location estimation technologies that may be used for SL-P and the target / anchor UE operation configuration required for each technology, thereby assisting the target UE to directly select the location estimation technology to be used for SL-P.

[0103] -4. SL-P operation and result reporting in S824: The target UE 810 and the anchor UE 803 may perform the operations required for SL-P (such as SL-PRS transmission and reception, RTT measurement, TDOA measurement, AoA / AoD measurement, etc.) according to the operation configuration determined in step 3S823, and report the results thereof to the LMF 810.

[0104] -5. Position determination in S825: LMF 810 may obtain the position estimation result requested by AMF 807 in step 0 S810 based on the results reported from target UE 800 and anchor UE 803 in step 4 S824.

[0105] -6. Location response in S826: LMF 810 may transmit the result of performing positioning to AMF 807.

[0106] like Figure 8As shown, in order for the LMF to participate in determining whether SL-P operation is required, determining the anchor UE to be used for SL-P, and configuring the SL-P operation, it may be necessary to obtain information about UEs that can operate as anchor UEs. In this case, the following three examples can be provided as methods for the LMF to obtain information about available anchor UEs.

[0107] Option 1. Pre-configuration by the network: An Operation, Administration and Maintenance (OAM) system operated by a communication service provider may provide the LMF with information about the anchor UE that the service provider has identified in advance.

[0108] Option 2. Anchor UE information registration using Mobile Terminated Location Request (MT-LR), Mobile Originated Location Request (MO-LR) and Network Induced Location Request (NI-LR) 2-1. MT-LR based anchor UE information registration: A method in which any entity that knows information about available anchor UEs registers information about anchor UEs in the LMF by using the MT-LR procedure.

[0109] 2-2. NI-LR based anchor UE information registration: A method in which the AMF registers information about available anchor UEs in the LMF by using the NI-LR procedure.

[0110] 2-3. Anchor UE information registration based on MO-LR: A method in which a UE capable of operating as an anchor UE registers information on the anchor UE in the LMF by using the MO-LR procedure.

[0111] Option 3. Directly obtain via LPP session when performing SL-P: A method in which the LMF obtains additional information about the corresponding anchor UE via an LPP session with the candidate anchor UE when performing the SL-P process for position estimation of the target UE.

[0112] Fig. 9 is a flowchart of an anchor UE information registration procedure using a mobile terminated location request (MT-LR) procedure and a network induced location request (NI-LR) procedure according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0113] More specifically, as a method by which the LMF can obtain information about available anchor UEs, Fig. 9 Based on the above option 2-1, a case is shown where an entity that knows the available anchor UE triggers the MT-LR process to provide information about the available anchor UE to the LMN (case 1), and based on the above option 2-2, a case is shown where the AMF triggers the NI-LR process to provide information about the available anchor UE to the LMF (case 2).

[0114] refer to Fig. 9 , as in case 1 S900a, any entity that has identified the existence of an available anchor UE 900 may send an MT-LR message to the AMF 907 so that the MT-LR process for registering the information of the specific anchor UE 900 in the LMF 905 may be initiated. Alternatively, as in case 2 S900b, when the AMF 907 has identified the existence of an available anchor UE 900, the AMF 907 may initiate the NI-LR process by itself to register the information of the specific anchor UE 900 in the LMF 905. The specific process of registering the information about the specific anchor UE 900 in the LMF 905 through the MT-LR process and the NI-LR process initiated as described above is as follows. (However, the order of each step in the following embodiments is not fixed, and the order of each step may be changed according to the situation.)

[0115] -0. Location request in S910: When the MT-LR or NI-LR procedure for registering a specific anchor UE is initiated, the AMF 907 may send a location request S910 for the UE to the LMF 905.

[0116] In this case, it may be explicitly indicated that the request is for SL-P anchor UE registration.

[0117] When the MT-LR or NI-LR procedure is initiated for anchor UE registration, the positioning QoS (eg, accuracy and latency) and the like included in the existing location request message S910 may be omitted (excluded).

[0118] The location request message S910 may include information about the types (e.g., positioning reference unit (PRU), road side unit (RSU), etc.) and roles (e.g., reference UE, auxiliary UE, and positioning UE) that the anchor UE 900 can support. For case 1 S900a, this information may be included in the MT-LR message that any entity has transmitted to the AMF 907.

[0119] In addition, when there is previously acquired positioning capability of the UE 900, the positioning capability may be transmitted together with the LCS request. In this case, steps 1a / 1b S911 and S912 may be omitted.

[0120] -1a. LPP RequestCapabilities in S911: The LMF 905 may send an LPP RequestCapabilities message to obtain the position estimation related UE capabilities of the anchor UE 900.

[0121] In this case, a separate indicator may be included in the LPP RequestCapabilities message to request only specific capability information related to the role of the anchor UE instead of receiving the entire capability information.

[0122] -1b. LPP ResponseCapabilities in S912: The UE 900 may report the UE capability information that has been requested by the LMF 905 to the LMF 905 via the LPPResponseCapabilities message S912.

[0123] The following information related to side link positioning may be newly added to the LPP ResponseCapabilities message S912.

[0124] SL-PRS Tx / Rx Support: Whether to support SL-PRS transmission and reception SL positioning methods supported as anchor UE (e.g. RTT-type solutions using SL, SL AoA, SL-TDOA or SL-AoD): Supported SL-P position estimation techniques.

[0125] Available SL positioning modes associated with each SL positioning method (ie, standalone, UE-based, or UE-assisted): SL-P modes that can be supported by each SL-P position estimation technique. Alternatively, SL-P modes that can be supported regardless of the position estimation technique.

[0126] Available roles for SL positioning associated with each SL positioning method (e.g., target UE, reference UE, assisting UE, or positioning UE): Anchor UE roles that can be supported by each SL-P position estimation technique. Alternatively, anchor UE roles that can be supported regardless of the position estimation technique.

[0127] Known location support: Whether previously acquired location information can be reported.

[0128] Mobility type (e.g., fixed or mobile): The mobility of the UE, whether the UE is mobile or fixed. Alternatively, whether the mobility can be reported.

[0129] Supported SL-P Discovery (e.g., Model A or Model B): The SL discovery models supported by SL-P.

[0130] Anchor UE type (eg, PRU, LSU, ...): device type of the anchor UE.

[0131] -2a. LPP RequestSidelinkInformation in S913: The LMF 905 may send a newly defined LPP RequestSidelinkInformation message to obtain the SL-P operation related information of the anchor UE 900.

[0132] In this case, a separate indicator may be included in the LPP RequestSidelinkInformation message to request only the information required by the LMF 905 without receiving all SL-P operation related information.

[0133] -2b. LPP ProvideSidelinkInformation in S914: UE 900 may report the SL-P operation related information requested by LMF 905 in step 2a S813 to LMF 905 via the newly defined LPP ProvideSidelinkInformation message S914. In this case, the message may include the following information.

[0134] Serving cell ID (e.g., ECGI): UE’s serving gNB 903 ID SL frequency / BWP: UE's SL operating frequency band and SL BWP configuration information.

[0135] SL Tx / Rx resource pool (shared or dedicated): SL transmit / receive resource pool information that can be used to perform SL-P operations. Resource pools shared with existing SL operations or resource pools configured separately for SL-P operations.

[0136] SRC L2 ID, DST L2 ID (for SL-P unicast / multicast or broadcast): SRC L2 ID and DST L2 ID used by the UE 900 for unicast / multicast or broadcast during SL-P operation.

[0137] (For discovery) Announcement message Tx interval: when supporting the Model S discovery scheme, the UE 900's announcement message sending time interval information.

[0138] If the SL-P operation related information changes, the UE 900 may report the change via the LPPProvideSidelinkInformation message S914 even without the request of the LMF 905.

[0139] The LMF 905 and the UE 900 may reuse existing messages S911 and S912 instead of sending newly defined messages S913 and S914 to exchange SL-P operation related information. In this case, the LPP RequestCapabilities message S911 may include a separate indicator for requesting SL-P operation related information, and the LPP ResponseCapabilities message S912 may include SL-P operation related information. In this case, unnecessary signaling load and delay time can be reduced by omitting steps 2a / 2b S913 and S914.

[0140] -3. LPP ProvideAssistanceData: If the LMF 905 requires a positioning operation to obtain the position of the UE 900, the LMF 905 may determine the method (e.g., A-GNSS, E-CID, DL-TDOA, ...) and mode (i.e., independent, UE-based, or UE-assisted) to be used for positioning, and may perform the positioning operation. To this end, the LMF 905 may transmit the assistance information required for the positioning operation to the UE via the LPPProvideAssistanceData message S915.

[0141] When the LMF 905 has identified through operations S910 to S912 of steps 0 and 1 that the UE 900 is capable of reporting a known location (ie, when the UE supports the positioning UE role), no additional positioning operation is required and thus the LPPProvideAssistanceData sending operation S915 may be omitted.

[0142] -4. LPP RequestLocationInformation in S916: LMF 905 may send an LPP RequestLocationInformation message S916 to UE 900 to obtain location information of UE 900.

[0143] If the UE 900 is able to report the known location immediately, the LMF 905 may include an indicator for requesting the known location in the LPPRequestLocationInformation. In addition, the LPPRequestLocationInformation may also include a field for indicating reporting information (such as the method / time at which the known location has been obtained). In addition, the LPP RequestLocationInformation may include information indicating that reporting is performed only when the known location meets certain conditions. For example, the LPP RequestLocationInformation may include reporting conditions such as the accuracy, completeness, type, and acquisition time point of the known location.

[0144] When additional positioning operations are required to obtain the UE position, LMF 905 can determine the method (e.g., A-GNSS, E-CID, DL-TDOA, ...) and mode (i.e., independent, UE-based, or UE-assisted) to be used for positioning, and can include detailed configuration of the positioning operation in LPPRequestLocationInformation S916.

[0145] -5. Positioning process in S917: UE 900 may perform the required positioning operation according to the instruction of LMF 905 received in step 4 S916. In this case, if LMF 905 has indicated to report only known locations, this step may be omitted.

[0146] -6. LPP ProvideLocationInformation in S918: The UE 900 may report the location information requested by the LMF 905 in step 4 S916 to the LMF 905 via the LPP ProvideLocationInformation message S918.

[0147] If the instruction is to report a known location, the UE 900 can report the known location while explicitly indicating that the location information is a known location. To this end, a new field that is only used for known locations can be defined. In addition, the LPP ProvideLocationInformation message can also include the following information, such as the method / time of obtaining the known location. If the UE cannot transmit the known location, the UE can explicitly report the failure to provide the known location and the specific reason through LPP ProvideLocationInformation.

[0148] Known location: location information previously identified by the UE 900.

[0149] Known position accuracy (uncertainty) Known Location Integrity Known location acquisition time: The time point when the known location has been obtained.

[0150] Known location type (e.g. pre-configured, previously estimated using a method for estimation, ...): A known location type. For example, a location configured at installation time, a location previously estimated via positioning (in which case information about the previously used location estimation technique may be additionally reported), etc.

[0151] Known location failure reason (e.g. no data, invalid, ...): If a known location cannot be reported, an indicator for reporting the specific reason may be included (e.g. when there is no data to report, or the existing data is no longer valid due to a change in location, ...).

[0152] If the location information is known to change, the UE 900 may report the change via the LPPProvideLocationInformation message S918 even without a request from the LMF 905.

[0153] When an estimated location or measurement result is obtained via the positioning procedure in step 5 S917, the UE 900 may report it to the LMF 905 by using parameters in the existing LPP ProvideLocationInformation message S918.

[0154] -7. Location response in S919: LMF 905 may complete the registration procedure of the specific anchor UE based on the information received from UE 900 in step 6 S918. Then, LMF 905 may notify AMF 907 that the anchor UE registration procedure requested in step 0 S910 has been completed.

[0155] Fig.10 is a flowchart of an anchor UE information registration procedure using a Mobile Originated Location Request (MO-LR) procedure according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0156] More specifically, as a method by which the LMF can obtain information about available anchor UEs, Fig.10Based on the above Option 2-3, a situation is shown where each anchor UE triggers the MO-LR process by itself to provide the LMF with information about available anchor UEs.

[0157] refer to Fig.10 , the UE 1000 which can be used as an anchor UE can initiate the MO-LR process by sending a MO-LR message 1008 to the AMF 1007, so that the UE 1000 is registered as an anchor UE in the LMF 1005.

[0158] In this case, the MO-LR request message S1000 may explicitly indicate that the request is for anchor UE registration.

[0159] The anchor UE 1000 may include additional information required for anchor UE registration in the MO-LR request message S1000. To this end, one or more LPP messages may be included together in the MO-LR request message S1000, and the following information may be newly added to the LPP message for anchor UE registration.

[0160] (in LPP ProvideCapabilities) SL-PRS Tx / Rx Support: Whether to support SL-PRS transmission and reception SL positioning methods supported as anchor UE (e.g. RTT-type solutions using SL, SL AoA, SL-TDOA or SL-AoD): Supported SL-P position estimation techniques.

[0161] Available SL positioning modes associated with each SL positioning method (ie, standalone, UE-based, or UE-assisted): SL-P modes that can be supported by each SL-P position estimation technique. Alternatively, SL-P modes that can be supported regardless of the position estimation technique.

[0162] Available roles for SL positioning associated with each SL positioning method (e.g., target UE, reference UE, assisting UE, or positioning UE): Anchor UE roles that can be supported by each SL-P position estimation technique. Alternatively, anchor UE roles that can be supported regardless of the position estimation technique.

[0163] Known location support: Whether previously acquired location information can be reported.

[0164] Mobility type (eg, fixed or mobile): The mobility of the UE, such as whether the UE is mobile or fixed, or whether mobility can be reported.

[0165] Supported SL-P Discovery (e.g., Model A or Model B): The SL discovery models supported by SL-P.

[0166] Anchor UE type (eg, PRU, LSU, ...): device type of the anchor UE.

[0167] (in LPP ProvideLocationInformation) Known location: location information previously identified by the UE 100.

[0168] Known position accuracy (uncertainty) Known Location Integrity Known location acquisition time: The time point when the known location has been obtained.

[0169] Known location type (e.g. pre-configured, previously estimated using a method for estimation, ...): A known location type. For example, a location configured at installation time, a location previously estimated via positioning (in which case information about the previously used location estimation technique may be additionally reported), etc.

[0170] (In the newly defined LPP ProvideSidelinkInformation message) Serving cell ID (e.g., ECGI): UE’s serving gNB 1003 ID SL Frequency / BWP: UE's SL operating frequency band and SL bandwidth part (BWP) configuration information.

[0171] SL Tx / Rx resource pool (shared or dedicated): SL transmit / receive resource pool information that can be used to perform SL-P operations. Resource pools shared with existing SL operations or resource pools configured separately for SL-P operations.

[0172] SRC L2 ID, DST L2 ID (for SL-P unicast / multicast or broadcast): SRC L2 ID and DST L2 ID used by the UE 1000 for unicast / multicast or broadcast during SL-P operation.

[0173] (For discovery) Announcement message Tx interval: the announcement message sending time interval information of the UE 1000 when supporting the Model S discovery scheme.

[0174] The specific process of registering information about a specific anchor UE 1000 in the LMF 1005 through the MO-LR process is as follows. (However, the order of each step in the following embodiment is not fixed, and the order of each step may be changed according to the situation)

[0175] -0. Location request in S1010: When the MO-LR procedure for anchor UE registration is initiated, the AMF 1007 may send a location request S1010 for the UE to the LMF 1005.

[0176] In this case, the location request S1010 may explicitly indicate that the request is for SL-P anchor UE registration.

[0177] When the MO-LR procedure is initiated for anchor UE registration, positioning QoS (eg, accuracy and latency) and the like included in the existing location request message S1010 may be omitted (excluded) from the message.

[0178] The location request message S1010 may include information about types (eg, PRU, RSU, etc.) and roles (eg, reference UE, assistive UE, and positioning UE) that the anchor UE 1000 can support.

[0179] In addition, if the MO-LR message S1000 includes an LPP message for transmitting additional information about the anchor UE 1000, the LPP message may be transmitted to the LMF 1005 together.

[0180] If the LPP ProvideCapabilities message is included, the following steps 1a / 1b S1011 and S1012 may be omitted.

[0181] If the LPP ProvideSidelinkInformation message is included, the following steps 2a / 1b S1013 and S1014 may be omitted.

[0182] If the LPP ProvideLocationInforamtion message is included, the following steps 3 to 6 S1015 to S1018 may be omitted.

[0183] -1a. LPP RequestCapabilities in S1011: The LMF 1005 may send an LPP RequestCapabilities message to obtain the position estimation related UE capabilities of the anchor UE 1000.

[0184] In this case, a separate indicator may be included in the LPP RequestCapabilities message to request only specific capability information related to the role of the anchor UE instead of receiving the entire capability information.

[0185] -1b. LPP ResponseCapabilities in S1012: The UE 1000 may report the requested UE capability information to the LMF 1005 via the LPPResponseCapabilities message S1012.

[0186] The following information related to side link positioning may be newly added to the LPP ResponseCapabilities message S1012.

[0187] SL-PRS Tx / Rx Support: Whether to support SL-PRS transmission and reception SL positioning methods supported as anchor UE (e.g. RTT-type solutions using SL, SL AoA, SL-TDOA or SL-AoD): Supported SL-P position estimation techniques.

[0188] Available SL positioning modes associated with each SL positioning method (ie, standalone, UE-based, or UE-assisted): SL-P modes that can be supported by each SL-P position estimation technique. Alternatively, SL-P modes that can be supported regardless of the position estimation technique.

[0189] Available roles for SL positioning associated with each SL positioning method (e.g., target UE, reference UE, assisting UE, or positioning UE): Anchor UE roles that can be supported by each SL-P position estimation technique. Alternatively, anchor UE roles that can be supported regardless of the position estimation technique.

[0190] Known location support: Whether previously acquired location information can be reported.

[0191] Mobility type (eg, fixed or mobile): The mobility of the UE, such as whether the UE is mobile or fixed, or whether mobility can be reported.

[0192] Supported SL-P Discovery (e.g., Model A or Model B): The SL discovery models supported by SL-P.

[0193] Anchor UE type (eg, PRU, LSU, ...): device type of the anchor UE.

[0194] -2a. LPP RequestSidelinkInformation in S1013: The LMF 1005 may send a newly defined LPP RequestSidelinkInformation message to obtain SL-P operation related information of the anchor UE 1000.

[0195] In this case, a separate indicator may be included in the LPP RequestSidelinkInformation message to request only the information required by the LMF 1005 without receiving all SL-P operation related information.

[0196] -2b. LPP ProvideSidelinkInformation in S1014: UE 1000 may report the SL-P operation related information requested by LMF 1005 in step 2a S113 to LMF 1005 via the newly defined LPP ProvideSidelinkInformation message S1014. In this case, the message may include the following information.

[0197] Serving cell ID (e.g., ECGI): UE’s serving gNB 1003 ID SL frequency / BWP: UE's SL operating frequency band and SL BWP configuration information.

[0198] SL Tx / Rx resource pool (shared or dedicated): SL transmit / receive resource pool information that can be used to perform SL-P operations. Resource pools shared with existing SL operations or resource pools configured separately for SL-P operations.

[0199] SRC L2 ID, DST L2 ID (for SL-P unicast / multicast or broadcast): SRC L2 ID and DST L2 ID used by the UE 100 for unicast / multicast or broadcast during SL-P operation.

[0200] (For discovery) Announcement message Tx interval: when supporting the Model S discovery scheme, the UE 100's announcement message sending time interval information.

[0201] If the SL-P operation related information changes, the UE 1000 may report the change via the LPP ProvideSidelinkInformation message S1014 even without a request from the LMF 1005.

[0202] The LMF 1005 and the UE 1000 may reuse existing messages S1011 and S1012 instead of sending newly defined messages S1013 and S1014 to exchange SL-P operation related information. In this case, the LPP RequestCapabilities message S1011 may include a separate indicator for requesting SL-P operation related information, and the LPP ResponseCapabilities message S1012 may include SL-P operation related information. In this case, unnecessary signaling load and delay time may be reduced by omitting steps 2a / 2b S1013 and S1014.

[0203] -3. LPP ProvideAssistanceData: If a positioning operation is required to obtain the position of the UE 1000, the LMF 1005 may determine the method (e.g., A-GNSS, E-CID, DL-TDOA, ...) and mode (i.e., independent, UE-based, or UE-assisted) to be used for positioning, and may perform the positioning operation. To this end, the LMF 1005 may transmit the assistance information required for the positioning operation to the UE via the LPPProvideAssistanceData message S1015.

[0204] When the LMF 1005 has identified, via operations S1010 to S1012 of steps 0 to 1, that the UE 1000 is capable of reporting a known location (ie, when the UE supports the positioning UE role), no additional positioning operation is required and therefore the LPPProvideAssistanceData sending operation S1015 may be omitted.

[0205] -4. LPP RequestLocationInformation in S1016: LMF 1005 may send an LPP RequestLocationInformation message S1016 to UE 1000 to obtain location information of UE 1000.

[0206] If UE 1000 is able to report the known location immediately, LMF 1005 may include an indicator for requesting the known location in the LPPRequestLocationInformation message. In addition, the LPPRequestLocationInformation message may also include a field for indicating reporting information (such as the method / time at which the known location has been obtained). In addition, it may be indicated in the LPP RequestLocationInformation message that the known location is reported only when certain conditions are met. For example, the LPP RequestLocationInformation message may include reporting conditions, such as the accuracy, completeness, type, and acquisition time point of the known location.

[0207] When additional positioning operations are required to obtain the UE position, LMF 1005 can determine the method (e.g., A-GNSS, E-CID, DL-TDOA, ...) and mode (i.e., independent, UE-based, or UE-assisted) to be used for positioning, and can include detailed configuration of the positioning operation in LPPRequestLocationInformation S1016.

[0208] -5. Positioning process in S1017: UE 1000 may perform the required positioning operation according to the instruction of LMF 1005 received in step 4 S1016. However, if LMF 1005 has indicated to report only known locations, this step may be omitted.

[0209] -6. LPP ProvideLocationInformation in S1018: UE 1000 may report the location information requested by LMF 1005 in step 4 S1016 to LMF 1005 via LPP ProvideLocationInformation message S1018.

[0210] If the known location is reported, the UE 1000 may report the known location while explicitly indicating that the location information is a known location. To this end, a new field used only for known locations may be defined. In addition, the report may also include the following information, such as the method / time at which the known location was obtained. If the UE cannot transmit the known location, the UE may explicitly report the failure to provide the known location with the specific reason using LPPProvideLocationInformation.

[0211] Known location: location information previously identified by UE 1000.

[0212] Known position accuracy (uncertainty) Known Location Integrity Known location acquisition time: The time point when the known location has been obtained.

[0213] Known location type (e.g. pre-configured, previously estimated using a method for estimation, ...): A known location type. For example, a location configured at installation time, a location previously estimated via positioning (in which case information about the previously used location estimation technique may be additionally reported), etc.

[0214] Known location failure reason (e.g. no data, invalid, ...): If a known location cannot be reported, an indicator for reporting the specific reason may be included (e.g. when there is no data to report, or the existing data is no longer valid due to a change in location, ...).

[0215] If the location information is known to have changed, UE 1000 may report the change to LMF 1005 via LPPProvideLocationInformation message S1018 even without a request from LMF 1005.

[0216] When an estimated location or measurement result is obtained via the positioning procedure in step 5 S1017, the UE 1000 may report it to the LMF 1005 by using parameters in the existing LPP ProvideLocationInformation message S1018.

[0217] -7. Location response in S1019: LMF 1005 may complete the registration procedure of the specific anchor UE based on the information received from UE 1000 in step 6 S1018. Then, LMF 1005 may notify AMF 1007 that the anchor UE registration procedure requested in step 0 S1010 has been completed.

[0218] -8. MO-LR response in S1020: AMF 1007 may inform UE 1000 that the anchor UE registration procedure has been completed, and UE 1000 initiates the anchor UE registration procedure via MO-LR request S1000. To this end, the MO-LR response message S1020 may include an indicator indicating that the anchor UE registration procedure is completed.

[0219] Fig.11 4 is a flowchart of a process in which an LMF acquires information required for SL-P configuration via LPP signaling with an anchor UE during SL-P service process control according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0220] refer to Fig.11 , AMF 1107 may request LMF 1110 to estimate the location of the target UE 1100, and LMF 1110 may perform the requested location estimation and then respond to AMF 1107 with its result. In this case, LMF 1110 may indicate anchor UE discovery to the target UE 1100, and based on the results of its report, may determine the anchor UE to be used for SL-P operation. LMF 1110 may then additionally obtain the capabilities / side link / known location information, etc. of the selected anchor UE via additional LPP signaling with the anchor UE. In addition, based on this, LMF 1110 may determine a specific SL-P operation configuration. The specific process of each step is as follows. (However, the order of each step in the following embodiments is not fixed, and the order of each step may change according to the circumstances)

[0221] -0. Location request in S1110: The AMF 1107 may initiate a location service by sending a location request message S1110 for the target UE 1110 to the LMF 1110. The location request message S1110 may include information on QoS requirements (eg, accuracy and latency) of the location service.

[0222] If there is a positioning capability of the target UE 1100 / anchor UE 1101 that has been obtained, the AMF 1107 can transmit it to the LMF 1110 via the location request message S1110.

[0223] 1. LPP capability / side link / location information transmission with target UE in S1111: LMF 1110 may exchange capabilities, side link information, and known location information required for performing SL-P with target UE 1100 via LPP messages as needed, which are included in the location request message S1110 in step 0. To this end, communication with target UE 1100 may be performed. Fig. 9 The LPP message exchanges corresponding to steps S911, S912, S913, S914, S916 and S918 described in FIG.

[0224] If the AMF 1107 has provided the positioning capability of the target UE 1100 in step 0 S1110, step 1 S1111 may be omitted.

[0225] -2. Anchor UE discovery in S1112a / S1112b / S1112c: The LMF 1110 may request an anchor UE discovery operation from the target UE 1100. The target UE 1100 may perform a discovery operation in response to the request of the LMF 1110, determine a candidate anchor UE accordingly, and then report it to the LMF 1110.

[0226] -2a. Anchor UE discovery request in S1112a: The LMF 1110 may request an anchor UE discovery operation from the target UE 1100. In order to perform the discovery operation, the anchor UE discovery request may include the following information.

[0227] SL Frequency / BWP and Tx / Rx Resource Pool: This can be omitted if already provided via system information or pre-configuration.

[0228] Reference Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) / Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) / Reference Information Received Quality (RSRQ) / Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio (SINR) Threshold: The LMF 1110 may instruct the target UE 1100 not to select and report candidate anchor UEs whose signal strength measured during discovery is equal to or less than a certain threshold.

[0229] RSSI / RSRP / RSRQ / SINR reporting configuration: If the LMF 1110 requires information about the signal strength between the candidate anchor UE and the target UE 1100 to determine the SL-P configuration, the target UE 1100 may be instructed to measure the corresponding value during discovery and then report the value later.

[0230] Distance Threshold: The LMF 1110 may instruct the target UE 1100 not to report candidate anchor UEs whose distances from the anchor UE obtained during discovery are equal to or greater than a certain threshold.

[0231] Capability condition: The LMF 1110 may instruct the target UE 1100 not to report anchor UEs that do not support a specific position estimation technique / mode, etc., based on the positioning capability information of the candidate anchor UEs additionally obtained during discovery.

[0232] Capability reporting configuration: When the LMF 1110 is to identify the capabilities of the anchor UE during discovery S112b, instead of obtaining the capabilities of the candidate anchor UEs via LPP message exchange in the following step 5 S1115, the LMF 1110 may instruct the target UE 1100 to report the capabilities of the candidate anchor UEs.

[0233] Known location condition: If the known location of the anchor UE obtained additionally during discovery differs from the known location information provided by the LMF 1110 by a certain level or higher, a certain amount of time has passed since the location collection time, the information of the known location is no longer valid, or the accuracy / completeness of the known location is at a certain level or lower, the LMF 1110 may instruct the target UE 1100 not to report the corresponding candidate anchor UE.

[0234] Known location reporting configuration: When the LMF 1110 is to additionally identify the known location of a candidate anchor UE during discovery, instead of obtaining the known location of the candidate anchor UE via LPP message exchange in the following step 5 S1115, the LMF 1110 may instruct the target UE 1100 to report the known location of the (candidate) anchor UE. In this case, it may be indicated to report information such as the accuracy, completeness, time of acquisition, and type of the known location together with the known location of the (candidate) anchor UE.

[0235] Request message periodicity / duration / number of transmissions (only for model B): When SL discovery mode B is used for SL-P discovery, LMF 1110 can configure the periodicity, transmission duration, number of transmissions, etc. to be used by the target UE 1100 when sending request messages.

[0236] Latency requirements for discovery (e.g., maximum allowed response time for discovery results): LMF 1110 may configure requirements for the latency from the time the target UE 1100 performs a discovery operation to the time the target UE 1100 reports its results.

[0237] Number of anchor UEs required: The LMF 1110 may configure the number of anchor UEs required to perform SL-P for position estimation of the target UE 1100. After performing discovery, the target UE 1100 may select and report as many or more candidate anchor UEs as the number of anchor UEs configured by the LMF 1110.

[0238] -2b. Anchor UE discovery in S1112b: The target UE 1100 and the anchor UE 1102 may perform a discovery operation. In the case of the Model A scheme, the target UE 1100 may receive an announcement message sent by the anchor UE 1101. In the case of the Model B scheme, the anchor UE 1101 may receive a request message sent by the target UE 1100 and then respond thereto.

[0239] If the target UE 1100 has performed discovery with results before the location estimation process, this step can be omitted.

[0240] -2c. Anchor UE discovery response in S1112c: After performing the discovery operation, the target UE 1100 may select a candidate anchor UE satisfying the conditions configured by the LMF 1110 from the successfully discovered anchor UEs, and may report the ID (eg, SUPI) of the corresponding UE to the LMF 1110.

[0241] If the LMF 1110 instructs to obtain and report additional information in step 2a S1112a, the additional information (signal strength, capability, known location, etc.) about each candidate anchor UE may be reported to the LMF 1110 together.

[0242] If the LMF 1110 has configured a threshold for the signal strength between the target UE 1100 and the anchor UE in step 2a S1112a, the candidate anchor UEs whose measured signal strength is lower than the threshold may not be reported.

[0243] If the LMF 1110 has instructed in step 2a S1112a to report only candidate anchor UEs supporting specific capabilities, the target UE 1100 may identify capability information of each candidate anchor UE in step 2b S1112b and then report only candidate anchor UEs satisfying the condition to the LMF 1100 .

[0244] If the LMF 1110 has instructed in step 2a S1112a to report only candidate anchor UEs satisfying the condition of known location, the target UE 1100 may identify the known location information of each candidate anchor UE in step 2b S1112b and then report only the candidate anchor UEs satisfying the condition.

[0245] -3. Decision in S1113 to use SL-P: LMF 1110 may determine to use SL-P based on the positioning capability, side link information and known location information of the target UE 1100 obtained in step 1 S1111 and the QoS requirements of the positioning service provided from AMF 1107 in step 0 S1100.

[0246] -4. Selecting anchor UE in S1114: If LMF 1110 determines to use SL-P in step 3 S1113, it can determine the available SL-P position estimation methods for position estimation of target UE 1100 and the anchor UE 1101 to be used for each position estimation method based on the discovery result reported by the target UE 1100 in step 2 S1112.

[0247] -5. LPP capability / side link / location information transmission with candidate anchor UE in S1115: LMF 1110 may exchange capabilities, side link information and known location information required for performing SL-P with anchor UE 1101 via LPP messages as needed, which are included in the location request message S1110 in step 0. To this end, communication with the candidate anchor UE may be performed. Fig. 9 The LPP message exchanges corresponding to steps S911, S912, S913, S914, S916 and S918 described in FIG.

[0248] When the AMF 1105 requests a location estimate for the target UE 1100 and the LMF 1110 performs SL-P for the UE's location estimate, a separate LPP session may be opened with respect to each anchor UE 1101 to be used for SL-P, and necessary LPP messages may be exchanged.

[0249] -6. Determine SL-P configuration in S1116: Based on (1) the capabilities / sidelink / known location information of the target UE 1100 / anchor UE 1101 obtained in step 1 / step 5 S1111 and S1115, (2) the anchor UE discovery result provided from the target UE 1100 in step 2 S1112a / S1112b / S1112c, and (3) the positioning QoS requirements and ranging / SL-P requirements given in step 0 S1110, the LMF 1110 can finally determine the (1) anchor UE to be used, (2) the location estimation technology (e.g., RTT-type solution using SL, SL-AoA, SL-TDOA, or SL-AoD), (3) the location estimation mode (i.e., standalone, UE-based, or UE-assisted), and (4) the specific SL-P operation configuration (e.g., SL-PRS transmission / reception configuration, RTT / TDOA / AoA / AoD measurement, reporting configuration, etc.).

[0250] -7. SL-P process in S1117: LMF 1110 may instruct the target UE 1100 and the selected anchor UE 1101 to perform the SL-P operation determined in step 6 S1116, and then report the result thereof. The target UE 1100 and the anchor UE 1101 may perform the required SL-P operation according to the instruction of LMF 1110, and then report the result thereof to LMF 1110.

[0251] -8. Position determination in S1118: LMF 1110 may confirm the result of the position estimation requested by AMF 1107 in step 0 S1110 based on the results reported from target UE 1100 and anchor UE 1101 in step 7 S1117.

[0252] -9. Position response in S1119: LMF 1110 may transmit the result of performing positioning to AMF 1107.

[0253] Fig.12 is a flowchart of a process of performing SL-P when an LCS client requests an SL-P operation between one or more pairs of UEs (eg, distance and direction estimation between two UEs) according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0254] More specifically, in Fig.12 In the description of Option 1, i.e., the case where the LCS client (e.g., third-party UE / server, 5GC NF, etc.) can select the anchor UE, is provided as a method for selecting the anchor UE to be used for SL-P.

[0255] refer to Fig.12, AMF 1207 may request SL-P operation between one or more UE pairs from LMF 1205, and LMF 1205 may perform the requested SL-P process and then respond to AMF 1207 with its result. To this end, the specific process of each step is performed as follows. (However, the order of each step in the following embodiments is not fixed, and the order of each step may change according to the situation)

[0256] -0. Location request in S1210: The AMF 1207 may initiate a location service by sending a location request message S1210 for the target UE 1205 to the LMF 1210. The location request message S1210 may include information on QoS requirements (eg, accuracy and latency) for the location service.

[0257] If the service request for ranging / SL positioning service sent by the LCS client includes an anchor UE ID, the location request message S1210 may include the IDs of one or more anchor UEs 1201 and the ID of the target UE 1200. Alternatively, if the service request sent by the LCS client does not include an anchor UE ID, the AMF 1207 may include in the location request message S1210 the IDs of one or more anchor UEs 1201 that may be used for SL-P to estimate the location of the target UE 1200.

[0258] For the ranging service, the service request sent by the LCS client may include information about a pair of UEs (eg, UE1 and UE2) that are targets of ranging. In this case, the role of each UE, eg, target UE or anchor UE, may not be specified.

[0259] For the UE ID, the General Public Subscription Identifier (GPSI) or Subscription Permanent Identifier (SUPI) given in the LCS Service Request message may be used as is, or the SRC L2 ID of each UE used in the SL may be used.

[0260] The location request message S1210 for the ranging / SL-P service may include information on ranging / SL-P requirements (requirements on distances and / or directions between two or more UE pairs, etc.).

[0261] If there is a positioning capability of the target UE 1200 / anchor UE 1201 that has been obtained, the AMF 1207 can transmit it to the LMF 1205 via the location request message S1210.

[0262] -1. LPP capability / side link / location information transmission with target UE in S1211: LMF 1205 may exchange capabilities, side link information, and known location information required for performing SL-P with target UE 1200 via LPP messages as needed, which are included in the location request message S1210 in step 0. To this end, communication with target UE 1205 may be performed. Fig. 9 The LPP message exchanges corresponding to steps S911, S912, S913, S914, S916 and S918 described in FIG.

[0263] If the AMF 1207 has provided the positioning capability of the target UE 1200 in step 0 S1210, step 1 S1211 can be omitted.

[0264] -2. LPP capability / side link / location information transmission with candidate anchor UE in S1212: LMF 1205 may exchange capabilities, side link information and known location information required for performing SL-P with anchor UE 1201 via LPP messages as needed, which are included in the location request message S1210 in step 0. To this end, communication with the anchor UE may be performed. Fig. 9 The LPP message exchanges corresponding to steps S911, S912, S913, S914, S916 and S918 described in FIG.

[0265] If SL-P for one or more UEs is requested in step 0 S1210, it can be determined whether each UE plays the role of target UE 1200 or anchor UE 1201. In addition, even before the role is determined, each UE 1200 or 1201 can exchange capabilities, side link information, and known location information required to perform SL-P with LMF 1205 via LPP message exchange corresponding to step 1 / step 2 S1211 or S1212.

[0266] -3. Determine SL-P configuration in S1213: Based on (1) the capabilities / sidelink / known location information of the target UE 1200 / anchor UE 1201 obtained in step 1 / step 2 S1211 and S1212 and (2) the positioning QoS requirements, anchor UE ID and ranging / SL-P requirements given in step 0 S1210, the LMF 1205 can finally determine the (1) location estimation technology to be used (e.g., RTT-type solution using SL, SL-AoA, SL-TDOA or SL-AoD), (2) location estimation mode (i.e., independent, UE-based or UE-assisted) and (3) the role of each UE. If there are multiple available combinations, all possible combinations can be transmitted to the UE in step 4 S1214, and the target UE 1200 can make a final determination based on the discovery results. In addition, when a combination of multiple location estimation technologies is transmitted as in Alt3 below, the LMF 1205 can configure an indicator to indicate whether the positioning results of all transmitted combinations are required or whether only the results of some combinations are required. In addition, LMF1205 can transmit the information received in step 0 S1210 (e.g., positioning QoS requirements, anchor UE ID, ranging / SL-P requirements, etc.) to the target UE 1200 as is, and all determinations (e.g., determinations regarding location estimation technology, location estimation mode, and each UE role to be used) can be made by the target UE 1200.

[0267] Specifically, LMF 1205 may transmit the configuration required to perform SL-P to the target UE 1200 by using one of the following methods.

[0268] Alt1. Positioning QoS requirements, ranging / SL-P requirements, and anchor UE list: LMF 1205 may transmit QoS requirements, ranging / SL-P requirements, and a list of anchor UEs to be used for positioning services to the target UE 1200 (in this case, positioning capability information, sidelink operation information, known location information, etc. of each anchor UE may be provided together). Based on this, the target UE 1200 may determine the location estimation technology, location estimation mode, and specific operation configuration (e.g., SL-PRS transmission / reception operation, RTT / TDOA / AoA / AoD measurement operation, result reporting operation, etc.) to be used for ranging / SL-P operations with each anchor UE 1201.

[0269] Alt2. Positioning method (with mode) and anchor UE list: The LMF 1205 may transmit a SL-P configuration combination {position estimation technology, position estimation mode, specific operation configuration, list of anchor UEs 101 to be used} to the target UE 1200. In this case, positioning capability information, side link operation information, known location information, etc. of each anchor UE may be provided together. The target UE 1200 may perform SL-P operations for a SL-P configuration combination provided by the LMF 1205. For example, the LMF 1205 may instruct the target UE 1200 to measure a relative distance relative to the anchor UE 1201 via an RTT-based position estimation technology and report the relative distance.

[0270] Alt3. List of {positioning methods (with modes), anchor UE list}: The LMF 1205 may transmit a plurality of SL-P configuration combinations {position estimation technology, position estimation mode, specific operation configuration, list of anchor UEs 1201 to be used} to the target UE 1200. In this case, positioning capability information, side link operation information, known location information, etc. of each anchor UE may be provided together. The LMF 1205 may instruct the target UE 1200 to perform one or more required SL-P operations of the plurality of SL-P configuration combinations provided to the target UE 1200.

[0271] In the above example, the positioning capability information, the sidelink operation information, and the known location information may correspond to the information defined in LPP ResponseCapabilities S1012, LPP ProvideSidelinkInformation S1014, and LPP ProvideLocatioInformation S1018 of FIG. 110, respectively.

[0272] -4. SL-P Request in S1214: LMF 1205 may send an SL-P request message S1214 to transmit information about the SL-P configuration combination determined in step 3 S1213 to the target UE 1200. For the SL-P request message, the existing LPP RequestLocationInformation message may be reused, or a new message may be defined. In order to perform SL-P, the following information may be additionally transmitted to the target UE 1200. In this case, if LMF 1205 transmits a plurality of SL-P configuration combinations, as in the case of Alt3 of step 3 S1213, the following information may be reported separately for each combination.

[0273] SL Frequency / BWP and Tx / Rx Resource Pool: This can be omitted if already provided via system information or pre-configuration.

[0274] L2 ID of anchor UE: If the information of the anchor UE determined by the LCS client is transmitted to the LMF 1205 in step 0 S1210, a multicast / broadcast DST L2 ID for the anchor UE may be provided so that discovery is performed only with the corresponding UE.

[0275] Positioning service QoS requirement: If location estimation technology selection, location estimation mode selection, etc. are all assigned to the target UE 1200, this information may be included.

[0276] -5. Anchor UE discovery in S1215: The target UE 1200 may perform anchor UE discovery based on the configuration received from the LMF 1205 in step 4 S1214. In the case of the Model A scheme, the target UE 1200 may receive an announcement message sent by the anchor UE 1201. In the case of the Model B scheme, the anchor UE 1201 may receive a request message sent by the target UE 1200 and then respond thereto.

[0277] -6. Determine SL-P configuration in S1216: Based on the result of the discovery performed in step 5 S1215 and the information given from the LMF 1205 in step 4 S1214, the target UE 1200 can finally determine the position estimation technology to be used (e.g., RTT-type solution using SL, SL-AoA, SL-TDOA or SL-AoD), the position estimation mode (i.e., independent, UE-based or UE-assisted), the specific SL-P operation configuration (e.g., SL-PRS transmission / reception operation, RTT / TDOA / AoA / AoD measurement operation and result reporting operation), etc.

[0278] When LMF 1205 transmits multiple SL-P configuration combinations as in Alt3 in step 3 S1213, the UE may select only one of the combinations to perform positioning, or may perform positioning on all or some of the multiple SL-P configuration combinations. (For this purpose, reference may be made to the indicator configured by LMF 1205 in step 3 S1213.)

[0279] -7. SL-PRS measurement and reporting in S1217: The target UE 1200 and the anchor UE 1201 may perform the required SL-PRS measurement operation according to the SL-P configuration determined in step 6 S1216, and exchange the results thereof.

[0280] -8. SL-P Response in S1218: The target UE 1200 may report the result of performing SL-P to the LMF 1205 via the SL-P response message S1218. For the SL-P response message S1218, the existing LPPResponseLocationInformation message may be reused, or a new message may be defined. If the location estimation mode is a UE-based mode, the calculated (predicted) location information may be reported, and if the location estimation mode is a UE-assisted mode, the measurement result may be reported.

[0281] -9. Position determination in S1219: The LMF 1205 may confirm the result of the position estimation requested by the AMF 1207 in step 0 S1210 based on the results reported from the target UE 1200 and the anchor UE 1201 in step 8 S1218.

[0282] -10. Position response in S1220: LMF 1205 can transmit the result of performing positioning to AMF 1207.

[0283] Fig.13 is a diagram for describing a method of determining a location estimation scheme and an anchor UE for SL-P according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0284] More specifically, Fig.13 is a flowchart of the following process: when the LCS client requests the location information of a specific target UE, the LMF determines the location estimation scheme and candidate anchor UE to be used for SL-P based on the pre-acquired information and then provides them to the target UE, and the target UE finally determines the location estimation scheme and anchor UE to be used. Fig.13 In the description of Option 2, i.e., the case where the target UE can select the anchor UE by using the anchor UE information in the LMF, is provided as a method of selecting the anchor UE to be used for SL-P.

[0285] refer to Fig.13 , AMF 1307 may request LMF 1305 to estimate the location of target UE 1300, and LMF 1305 may perform the requested location estimation and then respond to AMF 1307 with its result. In this case, LMF 1305 may determine the candidate anchor UE to be used for SL-P based on the pre-acquired information about the available anchor UEs. The specific process of each step is as follows. (However, the order of each step in the following embodiments is not fixed, and the order of each step may change according to the situation)

[0286] -0. Location request in S1310: The AMF 1307 may initiate a location service by sending a location request message S1310 for the target UE 1305 to the LMF 1310. The location request message S1310 may include information on QoS requirements (eg, accuracy and latency) for the location service.

[0287] If the service request for ranging / SL positioning service sent by the LCS client includes an anchor UE ID, the location request message S1310 may include the IDs of one or more anchor UEs 1301 and the ID of the target UE 1300. If the service request sent by the LCS client does not include an anchor UE ID, the AMF 1307 may include in the location request message S1310 the IDs of one or more anchor UEs 1301 that may be used for SL-P to estimate the location of the target UE 1300.

[0288] For the ranging service, the service request sent by the LCS client may include information about a pair of UEs (eg, UE1 and UE2) that are targets of ranging. In this case, the role of each UE, eg, target UE or anchor UE, may not be specified.

[0289] For the UE ID, the General Public Subscription Identifier (GPSI) or Subscription Permanent Identifier (SUPI) given in the LCS Service Request message may be used as is, or the SRC L2 ID of each UE used in the SL may be used.

[0290] The location request message S1310 for the ranging / SL-P service may include information on ranging / SL-P requirements (requirements for distances and / or directions between two or more UE pairs, etc.).

[0291] If there is a positioning capability of the target UE 1300 / anchor UE 1301 that has been obtained, the AMF 1307 can transmit it to the LMF 1305 via the location request message S1310.

[0292] -1. LPP capability / side link / location information transmission with target UE in S1311: LMF 1305 may exchange capabilities, side link information and known location information required for performing SL-P with target UE 1300 via LPP messages as needed, which are included in the location request message S1310 in step 0. To this end, communication with target UE 1300 may be performed. Fig. 9The LPP message exchanges corresponding to steps S911, S912, S913, S914, S916 and S918 described in FIG.

[0293] If the AMF 1307 has provided the positioning capability of the target UE 1300 in step 0 S1310, step 1 S1311 may be omitted.

[0294] -2. Decision in S1312 to use SL-P: LMF 1305 may determine to use SL-P based on the positioning capability, side link information and known location information of the target UE 1300 obtained in step 1 S1311 and the QoS requirements of the positioning service provided from AMF 1307 in step 0 S1300.

[0295] -3. Selection of candidate anchor UEs in S1313: If the LMF 1305 determines in step 2 S1312 to use SL-P, available SL-P position estimation methods and available candidate anchor UEs 1301 for each position estimation method for position estimation of the target UE 1300 may be determined based on pre-acquired information about available anchor UEs. If the LMF 1305 does not have existing information about available anchor UEs, this step may be omitted.

[0296] If the location request message S1300 in step 0 includes the anchor UE ID provided by the LCS client, the LMF 1305 uses the corresponding UE as the candidate anchor UE 1301 .

[0297] -4. LPP capability / side link / location information transmission with candidate anchor UE in S1314: LMF 1305 may exchange capabilities, side link information and known location information required for performing SL-P with anchor UE 1301 via LPP messages as needed, which are included in the location request message S1310 in step 0. To this end, communication with the candidate anchor UE may be performed. Fig. 9 The LPP message exchanges corresponding to steps S911, S912, S913, S914, S916 and S918 described in FIG.

[0298] If SL-P for one or more UEs is requested in step 0 S1310, it can be determined whether each UE plays the role of target UE 1300 or anchor UE 1301. In addition, even before the role is determined, each UE 1300 or 1301 can exchange capabilities, side link information, and known location information required to perform SL-P with LMF 1305 via LPP message exchange corresponding to step 1 / step 2 S1311 or S1312.

[0299] -5. Determine SL-P configuration in S1313: Based on (1) the capabilities / sidelink / known location information of the target UE 1300 / anchor UE 1301 obtained in step 1 / step 4 S1311 and S1314 and (2) the positioning QoS requirements and ranging / SL-P requirements given in step 0 S1110, the LMF 1305 can finally determine the (1) location estimation technology to be used (e.g., RTT-type solution using SL, SL-AoA, SL-TDOA, or SL-AoD), (2) location estimation mode (i.e., independent, UE-based, or UE-assisted), and (3) candidate anchor UE combinations. If there are multiple available combinations, all possible combinations can be transmitted to the UE in step 6 S1316, and the target UE 1300 can make a final determination based on the discovery results. When a combination of multiple location estimation technologies is transmitted as in Alt5 below, an indicator can be configured to indicate whether the positioning results of all transmitted combinations are required or whether only the results of some combinations are required. In addition, the LMF 1305 may transmit the positioning QoS requirement received in step 0 S1310 to the target UE 1300 as is, and may enable all determinations (eg, determinations regarding the location estimation technique, location estimation mode, and anchor UE to be used) to be made by the target UE 1300.

[0300] Specifically, LMF 1305 may transmit the configuration required to perform SL-P to the target UE 1300 by using one of the following methods.

[0301] Alt1. Positioning QoS: The LMF 1305 may transmit the positioning QoS requirement received in step 0 S1310 to the target UE 1300 as is, and may cause all determinations (eg, determinations regarding the location estimation technique, location estimation mode, and anchor UE to be used) to be made by the target UE 1300.

[0302] Alt2. Positioning QoS and positioning method: LMF 1305 may provide the available position estimation techniques and positioning QoS requirements received in step 0 S1310 to the target UE 1300. The target UE 1300 may determine the anchor UE, position estimation mode, and specific SL-P operation configuration to be used by referring to the given positioning QoS requirements.

[0303] Alt3. Positioning QoS requirements, ranging / SL-P requirements and anchor UE list: LMF 1305 may transmit QoS requirements and a list of candidate anchor UEs to be used for positioning services to the target UE 1300 (in this case, positioning capability information, sidelink operation information, known location information, etc. of each anchor UE may be provided together). Based on this, the target UE 1300 may determine the location estimation technology, location estimation mode, anchor UE, and specific operation configuration (e.g., SL-PRS transmission / reception operation, RTT / TDOA / AoA / AoD measurement operation, result reporting operation, etc.) to be used for ranging / SL-P operations with each anchor UE 1301.

[0304] Alt4. Positioning method (with mode) and candidate anchor UE list: LMF 1305 may transmit one SL-P configuration combination {position estimation technology, position estimation mode, specific operation configuration, list of candidate anchor UEs 101 to be used} to the target UE 1300. In this case, positioning capability information, side link operation information, known location information, etc. of each anchor UE may be provided together. The target UE 1300 may perform SL-P operation for one SL-P configuration combination provided by the LMF 1305. In this case, the target UE 1300 may perform discovery (step 7 S1317) to select an actually available anchor UE from the candidate anchor UEs provided by the LMF 1305. For example, the LMF 1305 may instruct the target UE 1300 to measure the relative distance relative to one of the candidate anchor UEs 1 / 2 / 3 via an RTT-based position estimation technology and report the relative distance, and the target UE 1300 may select the most suitable anchor UE from the candidate anchor UEs via discovery, and then measure and report the relative distance.

[0305] Alt5. List of {positioning method (with mode), candidate anchor UE list}: LMF 1305 may transmit multiple SL-P configuration combinations {position estimation technology, position estimation mode, specific operation configuration, list of candidate anchor UEs 1301 to be used} to the target UE 1300. In this case, positioning capability information, side link operation information, known location information, etc. of each candidate anchor UE may be provided together. LMF 1305 may instruct the target UE 1300 to perform one or more required SL-P operations of the multiple SL-P configuration combinations provided to the target UE 1300. In this case, the target UE 1300 may perform discovery (step 7 S1317) to select an actually available anchor UE from the candidate anchor UEs provided by LMF 1305 for each SL-P configuration combination.

[0306] In the above example, the positioning capability information, the side link operation information and the known location information may correspond to Fig.10 The information defined in LPP ResponseCapabilities S1012, LPP ProvideSidelinkInformation S1014 and LPP ProvideLocatioInformation S1018.

[0307] The LMF 1305 may additionally transmit some conditions so that the target UE 1300 can exclude unsuitable UEs from the candidate anchor UEs. For example, conditions such as the signal strength (e.g., RSSI / RSRP / RSRQ / SINR) of the candidate anchor UE obtained during discovery, positioning capability, distance, accuracy / completeness of the known position, etc. may be added here.

[0308] -6. SL-P Request in S1316: LMF 1305 may send SL-P Request message S1316 to transmit information about the SL-P configuration combination determined in step 5 S1315 to the target UE 1300. For the SL-P Request message, the existing LPP RequestLocationInformation message may be reused, or a new message may be defined. In order to perform SL-P, the following information may be additionally transmitted to the target UE 1300. In this case, if LMF 1305 transmits a plurality of SL-P configuration combinations, as in the case of Alt5 of step 5 S1315, the following information may be reported separately for each combination.

[0309] SL Frequency / BWP and Tx / Rx Resource Pool: This can be omitted if already provided via system information or pre-configuration.

[0310] L2 ID of candidate anchor UE: If the LMF 1305 determines a candidate anchor UE for each SL-P configuration combination in step 5 S1315, a multicast / broadcast DST L2 ID for the anchor UE may be provided so that discovery may be performed only with the corresponding UE.

[0311] Positioning service QoS requirement: This requirement may be included when location estimation technology selection, location estimation mode selection, etc. are all assigned to the target UE 1300 .

[0312] RSSI / RSRP / RSRQ / SINR threshold: The LMF 1305 may instruct the target UE 1300 not to use candidate anchor UEs whose signal strength measured during discovery is equal to or less than a certain threshold.

[0313] Distance Threshold: The LMF 1305 may instruct the target UE 1300 not to use candidate anchor UEs obtained during discovery whose distances from the anchor UE are equal to or greater than a certain threshold.

[0314] Capability condition: The LMF 1305 may instruct the target UE 1300 not to use an anchor UE that does not support a specific position estimation technique / mode, etc., based on the positioning capability information of the candidate anchor UEs additionally obtained during discovery.

[0315] Known location condition: If the known location of the anchor UE obtained additionally during discovery differs from the known location information provided by LMF 1305 by a certain level or higher, a certain amount of time has passed since the location collection time, the information of the known location is no longer valid, or the accuracy / completeness of the known location is at a certain level or lower, then LMF 1305 may instruct the target UE 1300 not to use the corresponding candidate anchor UE.

[0316] -7. Anchor UE discovery in S1317: The target UE 1300 may perform anchor UE discovery based on the configuration received from the LMF 1305 in step 6 S1316. In the case of the Model A scheme, the target UE 1300 may receive an announcement message sent by the anchor UE 1301. In the case of the Model B scheme, the anchor UE 1301 may receive a request message sent by the target UE 1300 and then respond thereto.

[0317] If the target UE 1300 has performed a discovery with results before the current location estimation process, this step can be omitted.

[0318] -8. Determine anchor UE and SL-P configuration in S1318: Based on the result of the discovery performed in step 7 S1315 and the information given from the LMF 1305 in step 6 S1314, the target UE 1300 can finally determine the anchor UE to be used, the position estimation technology (e.g., RTT-type solution using SL, SL-AoA, SL-TDOA or SL-AoD), the position estimation mode (i.e., independent, UE-based or UE-assisted), the specific operation configuration (e.g., SL-PRS transmission / reception operation, RTT / TDOA / AoA / AoD measurement operation and result reporting operation), etc.

[0319] When the LMF 1305 transmits a plurality of SL-P configuration combinations as in Alt5 in step 6 S1313, the target UE 1300 may select only one of the combinations to perform positioning, or may perform positioning on all or some of the plurality of SL-P configuration combinations (for this purpose, reference may be made to the indicator configured by the LMF 1305 in step 5 S1315). In this case, the target UE 1300 may perform positioning after determining the anchor UE to be used for each combination and the SL-P position estimation method and mode.

[0320] -9. SL-PRS measurement and reporting in S1319: The target UE 1300 and the anchor UE 1301 may perform the required SL-PRS measurement operation according to the SL-P configuration determined in step 8 S1318, and exchange the results thereof.

[0321] -10. SL-P Response in S1320: The target UE 1300 may report the result of performing SL-P to the LMF 1305 via the SL-P response message S1320. For the SL-P response message S1320, the existing LPPResponseLocationInformation message may be reused, or a new message may be defined. If the location estimation mode is a UE-based mode, the calculated (predicted) location information may be reported, and if the location estimation mode is a UE-assisted mode, the measurement result may be reported.

[0322] -11. Position determination in S1321: The LMF 1305 may confirm the result of the position estimation requested by the AMF 1307 in step 0 S1310 based on the results reported from the target UE 1300 and the anchor UE 1301 in step 10 S1320.

[0323] -12. Position response in S1322: LMF 1305 may transmit the result of performing positioning to AMF 1307.

[0324] Fig.14 is a diagram for describing a method of determining a specific location estimation scheme and an anchor UE for SL-P according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0325] More specifically, Fig.14 is a flowchart of the following process: wherein when the LCS client requests the location information of a specific target UE, the LMF determines the location estimation scheme and candidate anchor UEs to be used for SL-P based on the anchor UE discovery result of the target UE and then provides them to the target UE, and the target UE finally determines the specific location estimation scheme and anchor UE to be used. Fig.14In, a description of Option 2, i.e., a case where the target UE can select an anchor UE without using the anchor UE information in the LMF, is provided as a method of selecting an anchor UE to be used for SL-P.

[0326] refer to Fig.14 , AMF 1407 may request LMF 1405 to estimate the location of target UE 1400, and LMF 1405 may perform the requested location estimation and then respond to AMF 1407 with its result. In this case, in order to obtain available anchor UE information, LMF 1405 may instruct target UE 1400 to perform and determine anchor UE discovery, and may determine available SL-P configuration based on its result. The specific process of each step is as follows. (However, the order of each step in the following embodiments is not fixed, and the order of each step may change according to the situation)

[0327] -0. Location request in S1410: The AMF 1407 may initiate a location service by sending a location request message S1410 for the target UE 1405 to the LMF 1410. The location request message S1410 may include information on QoS requirements (eg, accuracy and latency) for the location service.

[0328] If the service request for ranging / SL positioning service sent by the LCS client includes an anchor UE ID, the location request message S1410 may include the IDs of one or more anchor UEs 1401 and the ID of the target UE 1400. If the service request sent by the LCS client does not include an anchor UE ID, the AMF 1407 may include in the location request message S1410 the IDs of one or more anchor UEs 1401 that may be used for SL-P to estimate the location of the target UE 1400.

[0329] For the ranging service, the service request sent by the LCS client may include information about a pair of UEs (eg, UE1 and UE2) that are targets of ranging. In this case, the role of each UE, eg, target UE or anchor UE, may not be specified.

[0330] For the UE ID, the General Public Subscription Identifier (GPSI) or Subscription Permanent Identifier (SUPI) given in the LCS Service Request message may be used as is, or the SRC L2 ID of each UE used in the SL may be used.

[0331] The location request message S1410 for the ranging / SL-P service may include information on ranging / SL-P requirements (requirements for distances and / or directions between two or more UE pairs, etc.).

[0332] If there is a positioning capability of the target UE 1400 / anchor UE 1401 that has been obtained, the AMF 1407 can transmit it to the LMF 1405 via the location request message S1410.

[0333] -1. LPP capability / side link / location information transmission with target UE in S1411: LMF 1405 may exchange capabilities, side link information and known location information required for performing SL-P with target UE 1400 via LPP messages as needed, which are included in the location request message S1410 in step 0. To this end, communication with target UE 1405 may be performed. Fig. 9 The LPP message exchanges corresponding to steps S911, S912, S913, S914, S916 and S918 described in FIG.

[0334] If the AMF 1407 has provided the positioning capability of the target UE 1400 in step 0 S1410, step 1 S1411 may be omitted.

[0335] -2. Decision in S1412 to use SL-P: LMF 1405 may determine to use SL-P based on the positioning capability, side link information and known location information of the target UE 1400 obtained in step 1 S1411 and the QoS requirements of the positioning service provided from AMF 1407 in step 0 S1400.

[0336] -3. Anchor UE discovery in S1413a / S1413b / S1413c: LMF 1405 may request an anchor UE discovery and selection operation from target UE 1400. Target UE 1400 may perform a discovery operation in response to the request of LMF 1405, determine a (candidate) anchor UE, and then report it to LMF 1405.

[0337] -3a. Anchor UE discovery request in S1413a: The LMF 1405 may request an anchor UE discovery and selection operation from the target UE 1400. In order to perform the discovery operation, the anchor UE discovery request S1413a may include the following information.

[0338] SL frequency / BWP and Tx / Rx resource pool: This information may be omitted if already provided via system information or pre-configuration.

[0339] RSSI / RSRP / RSRQ / SINR threshold: The LMF 1405 may instruct the target UE 1400 not to select and not to report candidate anchor UEs whose signal strength measured during discovery is equal to or less than a certain threshold.

[0340] RSSI / RSRP / RSRQ / SINR reporting configuration: If the LMF 1405 requires information about the signal strength between the (candidate) anchor UE and the target UE 1400 to determine the SL-P configuration, the target UE 1400 may be instructed to measure the corresponding value during discovery and then report it later.

[0341] Distance Threshold: The LMF 1405 may instruct the target UE 1400 not to use candidate anchor UEs obtained during discovery whose distances from the anchor UE are equal to or greater than a certain threshold.

[0342] Capability condition: The LMF 1405 may instruct the target UE 1400 not to use an anchor UE that does not support a specific position estimation technique / mode, etc., based on the positioning capability information of the candidate anchor UEs additionally obtained during discovery.

[0343] Capability reporting configuration: When the LMF 1405 is to identify the capabilities of the anchor UE during discovery S1413, instead of obtaining the capabilities of the candidate anchor UEs via LPP message exchange in the following step 4 S1414, the LMF 1405 may instruct the target UE 1400 to report the capabilities of the (candidate) anchor UEs.

[0344] Known location condition: If the known location of the anchor UE obtained additionally during discovery differs from the known location information provided by LMF 1405 by a certain level or higher, a certain amount of time has passed since the location collection time, the information of the known location is no longer valid, or the accuracy / completeness of the known location is at a certain level or lower, then LMF 1405 may instruct the target UE 1400 not to use the corresponding candidate anchor UE.

[0345] Known location reporting configuration: When the LMF 1405 is to additionally identify the known location of the (candidate) anchor UE during discovery, instead of obtaining the known location of the (candidate) anchor UE via LPP message exchange in step 4 S1414 below, the LMF 1405 may instruct the target UE 1400 to report the known location of the (candidate) anchor UE. In this case, the LMF 1405 may instruct to report information together with the known location, such as the accuracy, completeness, time of acquisition, and type of the known location.

[0346] Request message periodicity / duration / number of transmissions (only for model B): When SL discovery mode B is used for SL-P discovery, LMF 1405 can configure the periodicity, transmission duration, number of transmissions, etc. to be used by the target UE 1400 when sending request messages.

[0347] Latency requirements for discovery (e.g., maximum allowed response time for discovery results): LMF 1405 may configure requirements for the latency between the time the target UE 1400 performs a discovery operation and the time the target UE 1400 reports its results.

[0348] Number of anchor UEs required: The LMF 1405 may configure the number of anchor UEs required to perform SL-P for position estimation of the target UE 1400. After performing discovery, the target UE 1400 may select and report as many or more (candidate) anchor UEs as the number of anchor UEs configured by the LMF 1405.

[0349] -3b. Anchor UE discovery in S1413b: The target UE 1400 and the anchor UE 1402 may perform a discovery operation. In the case of the Model A scheme, the target UE 1400 may receive an announcement message sent by the anchor UE 1401. In the case of the Model B scheme, the anchor UE 1401 may receive a request message sent by the target UE 1400 and then respond thereto.

[0350] If the target UE 1400 has performed discovery with results before the location estimation process, this step can be omitted.

[0351] -3c. Anchor UE discovery response in S1413c: After performing the discovery operation, the target UE 1400 may select a (candidate) anchor UE satisfying the conditions configured by the LMF 1405 from the successfully discovered anchor UEs, and may report the ID (eg, SUPI) of the corresponding UE to the LMF 1405.

[0352] If the LMF 1405 instructs to obtain and report additional information in step 3a S1413a, additional information (signal strength, capability, known location, etc.) about each of the (candidate) anchor UEs may be reported to the LMF 1405 together.

[0353] If the LMF 1405 has configured a threshold for the signal strength between the target UE 1400 and the anchor UE in step 3a S1413a, then a (candidate) anchor UE whose measured signal strength is lower than the threshold may not be selected.

[0354] If the LMF 1405 has indicated in step 3a S1413a to report only candidate anchor UEs supporting specific capabilities, the target UE 1400 may identify capability information of each (candidate) anchor UE in step 3b S1413b, and then select and report only (candidate) anchor UEs that meet the conditions.

[0355] If the LMF 1405 has indicated in step 3a S1413a to report only (candidate) anchor UEs that satisfy the known location condition, the target UE 1400 may identify the known location information of each (candidate) anchor UE in step 3b S1413b, and then select and report only the (candidate) anchor UEs that satisfy the condition.

[0356] -4. LPP capability / sidelink / location information transmission with candidate anchor UE in S1414: LMF 1405 may exchange capabilities, sidelink information and known location information required for performing SL-P with (candidate) anchor UE 1401 via LPP messages as needed, which are included in the anchor UE discovery response message S1413c in step 3c. To this end, communication with the candidate anchor UE may be performed. Fig. 9 The LPP message exchanges corresponding to steps S911, S912, S913, S914, S916 and S918 described in FIG.

[0357] -5. Determine SL-P configuration in S1413: Based on (1) the capabilities / sidelink / known location information of the target UE 1400 / anchor UE 1401 obtained in step 1 / step 4 S1411 and S1414 and (2) the positioning QoS requirements and ranging / SL-P requirements given in step 0 S1410, the LMF 1405 can finally determine the (1) location estimation technology to be used (e.g., RTT-type solution using SL, SL-AoA, SL-TDOA, or SL-AoD), (2) location estimation mode (i.e., independent, UE-based, or UE-assisted), and (3) candidate anchor UE combinations. If there are multiple available combinations, all possible combinations can be transmitted to the UE in step 6 S1416, and the target UE 1400 can make a final determination based on the discovery results. When a combination of multiple location estimation technologies is transmitted as in Alt5 below, an indicator can be configured to indicate whether the positioning results of all transmitted combinations are required or whether only the results of some combinations are required. In addition, the LMF 1405 may transmit the positioning QoS requirements received in step 0 S1410 to the target UE 1400 as is, and may enable all determinations (eg, determinations regarding the location estimation technique, location estimation mode, and anchor UE to be used) to be made by the target UE 1400.

[0358] Specifically, LMF 1405 may transmit the configuration required to perform SL-P to the target UE 1400 by using one of the following methods.

[0359] Alt1. Positioning QoS: The LMF 1405 may transmit the positioning QoS requirement received in step 0 S1410 to the target UE 1400 as is, and may cause all determinations (eg, determinations regarding the location estimation technique, location estimation mode, and anchor UE to be used) to be made by the target UE 1400.

[0360] Alt2. Positioning QoS and positioning method: LMF 1405 may provide the available position estimation techniques and positioning QoS requirements received in step 0 S1410 to the target UE 1400. The target UE 1400 may determine the anchor UE, position estimation mode, and specific SL-P operation configuration to be used by referring to the given positioning QoS requirements.

[0361] Alt3. Positioning QoS requirements, ranging / SL-P requirements and anchor UE list: LMF 1405 may transmit QoS requirements and a list of candidate anchor UEs to be used for positioning services to the target UE 1400 (in this case, positioning capability information, sidelink operation information, known location information, etc. of each anchor UE may be provided together). Based on this, the target UE 1400 may determine the location estimation technology, location estimation mode, anchor UE, and specific operation configuration (e.g., SL-PRS transmission / reception operation, RTT / TDOA / AoA / AoD measurement operation, result reporting operation, etc.) to be used for ranging / SL-P operations with each anchor UE 1401.

[0362] Alt4. Positioning method (with mode) and candidate anchor UE list: LMF 1405 may transmit a SL-P configuration combination {position estimation technology, position estimation mode, specific operation configuration, list of (candidate) anchor UEs 101 to be used} to the target UE 1400. In this case, positioning capability information, side link operation information, known location information, etc. of each anchor UE may be provided together. The target UE 1400 may perform SL-P operation for a SL-P configuration combination provided by LMF 1405. For example, LMF 1405 may instruct the target UE 1400 to measure and report the relative distance relative to one of the candidate anchor UEs 1 / 2 / 3 via an RTT-based position estimation technology, and the target UE 1400 may select the most suitable anchor UE from the (candidate) anchor UEs based on the discovery result in step 3 S1413, and then measure and report the relative distance.

[0363] Alt5. List of {positioning method (with mode), candidate anchor UE list}: The LMF 1405 may transmit a plurality of SL-P configuration combinations {position estimation technology, position estimation mode, specific operation configuration, list of (candidate) anchor UEs 101 to be used} to the target UE 1400. In this case, positioning capability information, side link operation information, known location information, etc. of each candidate anchor UE may be provided together. The LMF 1405 may instruct the target UE 1400 to perform one or more required SL-P operations of the plurality of SL-P configuration combinations provided to the target UE 1400.

[0364] In the above example, the positioning capability information, the side link operation information and the known location information may correspond to Fig.10The information defined in LPP ResponseCapabilities S1012, LPP ProvideSidelinkInformation S1014 and LPP ProvideLocatioInformation S1018.

[0365] The LMF 1405 may additionally transmit some conditions so that the target UE 1400 can exclude unsuitable UEs from the candidate anchor UEs. For example, conditions such as the signal strength (e.g., RSSI / RSRP / RSRQ / SINR) of the candidate anchor UE obtained during discovery, positioning capability, distance, accuracy / completeness of the known position, etc. may be added here.

[0366] -6. SL-P Request in S1416: The LMF 1405 may send an SL-P request message S1416 to transmit information about the SL-P configuration combination determined in step 5 S1415 to the target UE 1400. For the SL-P request message, the existing LPP RequestLocationInformation message may be reused, or a new message may be defined. In order to perform SL-P, the following information may be additionally transmitted to the target UE 1400. In this case, if the LMF 1405 transmits a plurality of SL-P configuration combinations, as in the case of Alt5 of step 5 S1415, the following information may be reported separately for each combination.

[0367] SL Frequency / BWP and Tx / Rx Resource Pool: This can be omitted if already provided via system information or pre-configuration.

[0368] L2 ID of candidate anchor UE: If the LMF 1405 determines a candidate anchor UE for each SL-P configuration combination in step 5 S1415, a multicast / broadcast DST L2 ID for the anchor UE may be provided so that discovery may be performed only with the corresponding UE.

[0369] Positioning service QoS requirement: This requirement may be included when location estimation technology selection, location estimation mode selection, etc. are all assigned to the target UE 1400 .

[0370] RSSI / RSRP / RSRQ / SINR threshold: The LMF 1405 may instruct the target UE 1400 not to use candidate anchor UEs whose signal strength measured during discovery is equal to or less than a certain threshold.

[0371] Distance Threshold: The LMF 1405 may instruct the target UE 1400 not to use candidate anchor UEs obtained during discovery whose distances from the anchor UE are equal to or greater than a certain threshold.

[0372] Capability condition: The LMF 1405 may instruct the target UE 1400 not to use an anchor UE that does not support a specific position estimation technique / mode, etc., based on the positioning capability information of the candidate anchor UEs additionally obtained during discovery.

[0373] Known location condition: If the known location of the anchor UE obtained additionally during discovery differs from the known location information provided by LMF 1405 by a certain level or higher, a certain amount of time has passed since the location collection time, the information of the known location is no longer valid, or the accuracy / completeness of the known location is at a certain level or lower, then LMF 1405 may instruct the target UE 1400 not to use the corresponding candidate anchor UE.

[0374] -7. Determine anchor UE and SL-P configuration in S1417: Based on the result of the discovery performed in step 3b S1413b and the configuration received from the LMF 1405 in step 6 S1416, the target UE 1400 can finally determine the anchor UE to be used, the position estimation technology (e.g., RTT-type solution using SL, SL-AoA, SL-TDOA, or SL-AoD), the position estimation mode (i.e., independent, UE-based, or UE-assisted), specific operation configuration (e.g., SL-PRS transmission / reception operation, RTT / TDOA / AoA / AoD measurement operation, and result reporting operation), etc.

[0375] When the LMF 1405 transmits a plurality of SL-P configuration combinations as in Alt5 in step 6 S1413, the target UE 1400 may select only one of the combinations to perform positioning, or may perform positioning on all or some of the plurality of SL-P configuration combinations (for this purpose, reference may be made to the indicator configured by the LMF 1405 in step 5 S1415). In this case, the target UE 1400 may determine the anchor UE and the SL-P position estimation method and mode to be used for each combination, and then perform positioning based thereon.

[0376] -8. SL-PRS measurement and reporting in S1418: The target UE 1400 and the anchor UE 1401 may perform the required SL-PRS measurement operation according to the SL-P configuration determined in step 7 S1417 and exchange the results thereof.

[0377] -9. SL-P Response in S1419: The target UE 1400 may report the result of performing SL-P to the LMF 1405 via the SL-P response message S1419. For the SL-P response message S1419, the existing LPPResponseLocationInformation message may be reused, or a new message may be defined. If the location estimation mode is a UE-based mode, the calculated (predicted) location information may be reported, and if the location estimation mode is a UE-assisted mode, the measurement result may be reported.

[0378] -10. Position determination in S1420: The LMF 1405 may confirm the result of the position estimation requested by the AMF 1407 in step 0 S1410 based on the results reported from the target UE 1400 and the anchor UE 1401 in step 9 S1419.

[0379] -11. Position response in S1421: LMF 1405 can transmit the result of performing positioning to AMF 1407.

[0380] Fig.15 is a flowchart of a process in which an LMF determines a location estimation scheme and an anchor UE for SL-P when an LCS client requests location information of a specific target UE according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0381] More specifically, in Fig.15 In, a description of Option 3, i.e., a case where the LMF can select an anchor UE, is provided as a method of selecting an anchor UE to be used for SL-P.

[0382] refer to Fig.15 , AMF 1507 may request LMF 1505 to estimate the location of target UE 1500, and LMF 1505 may perform the requested location estimation and then respond to AMF 1507 with its result. In this case, based on the pre-acquired information of available anchor UEs and the anchor UE discovery result of target UE 1500, LMF 1505 may determine the anchor UE and available SL-P configuration to be used for SL-P operation. The specific process of each step is as follows. (However, the order of each step in the following embodiments is not fixed, and the order of each step may change according to the situation)

[0383] -0. Location request in S1510: The AMF 1507 may initiate a location service by sending a location request message S1510 for the target UE 1505 to the LMF 1510. The location request message S1510 may include information on QoS requirements (eg, accuracy and latency) for the location service.

[0384] If the service request for ranging / SL positioning service sent by the LCS client includes an anchor UE ID, the location request message S1510 may include the IDs of one or more anchor UEs 1501 and the ID of the target UE 1500. If the service request sent by the LCS client does not include an anchor UE ID, the AMF 1507 may include in the location request message S1510 the IDs of one or more anchor UEs 1501 that may be used for SL-P to estimate the location of the target UE 1500.

[0385] For the ranging service, the service request sent by the LCS client may include information about a pair of UEs (eg, UE1 and UE2) that are targets of ranging. In this case, the role of each UE, eg, target UE or anchor UE, may not be specified.

[0386] For the UE ID, the General Public Subscription Identifier (GPSI) or Subscription Permanent Identifier (SUPI) given in the LCS Service Request message may be used as is, or the SRC L2 ID of each UE used in the SL may be used.

[0387] The location request message S1510 for the ranging / SL-P service may include a ranging / SL-P requirement (a requirement for a distance and / or direction between two or more UE pairs, etc.).

[0388] If there is a positioning capability of the target UE 1500 / anchor UE 1501 that has been obtained, the AMF 1507 can transmit it to the LMF 1505 via the location request message S1510.

[0389] -1. LPP capability / side link / location information transmission with target UE in S1511: LMF 1505 may exchange capabilities, side link information and known location information required for performing SL-P with target UE 1500 via LPP messages as needed, which are included in the location request message S1510 in step 0. To this end, communication with target UE 1500 may be performed. Fig. 9 The LPP message exchanges corresponding to steps S911, S912, S913, S914, S916 and S918 described in FIG.

[0390] If the AMF 1507 has provided the positioning capability of the target UE 1500 in step 0 S1510, step 1 S1511 may be omitted.

[0391] -2. Decision in S1512 to use SL-P: LMF 1505 may determine to use SL-P based on the positioning capability, side link information and known location information of the target UE 1500 obtained in step 1 S1511 and the QoS requirements of the positioning service provided from AMF 1507 in step 0 S1500.

[0392] -3. Selection of candidate anchor UEs in S1513: If the LMF 1505 determines in step 2 S1512 to use SL-P, available SL-P position estimation methods for position estimation of the target UE 1500 and available candidate anchor UEs 1501 for each position estimation method may be determined based on pre-acquired information about available anchor UEs. If the LMF 1505 does not have existing information about available anchor UEs, this step may be omitted.

[0393] If the location request message S1500 in step 0 includes an anchor UE ID provided by the LCS client, the LMF 1505 may use the corresponding UE as a candidate anchor UE 1501 .

[0394] -4. LPP capability / side link / location information transmission with candidate anchor UE in S1514: LMF 1505 may exchange capabilities, side link information and known location information required for performing SL-P with anchor UE 1501 via LPP messages as needed, which are included in the location request message S1510 in step 0. To this end, communication with the anchor UE 1501 may be performed. Fig. 9 The LPP message exchanges corresponding to steps S911, S912, S913, S914, S916 and S918 described in FIG.

[0395] If SL-P for one or more UEs is requested in step 0 S1510, it can be determined whether each UE plays the role of target UE 1500 or anchor UE 1501. In addition, even before the role is determined, each UE 1500 or 1501 can exchange capabilities, side link information, and known location information required to perform SL-P with LMF 1505 via LPP message exchange corresponding to step 1 / step 2 S1511 or S1512.

[0396] -5. Anchor UE discovery in S1515a / S1515b / S1515c: LMF 1505 may request a discovery operation from target UE 1500 / anchor UE 1501 in order to identify whether SL-P operation is actually possible via a side link between target UE 1500 and a candidate anchor UE. In this example, a scheme (Model A) is assumed in which LMF 1505 requests a candidate anchor UE to send an announcement message and the target UE 1500 receives the message. However, a scheme (Model B) is also available in which the target UE 1500 sends a request message and the candidate anchor UE sends a response message. If the LMF 1505 does not require additional discovery operations for the target UE 1500, step 5 S1515a / S1515b / S1515c can be omitted, and the anchor UE to be used, position estimation technology, position estimation mode, SL-P operation configuration, etc. can be determined in step 6 S1516 based on pre-acquired information (e.g., positioning QoS requirements, capabilities / sidelink / known location information about the target UE and candidate anchor UEs, etc.).

[0397] -5a. Discovery message broadcast request in S1515a: The LMF 1505 may request one or more candidate anchor UEs 1501 to send an announcement message for discovery. During the request, the LMF 1505 may provide the following information related to the announcement message transmission.

[0398] SL frequency / BWP and Tx / Rx resource pool (this can be omitted if already provided via system information) Announcement message sending cycle, sending duration and sending times In addition, when LMF 1505 wants to identify information about a candidate anchor UE during discovery, instead of obtaining the capability / side link / known location information of the candidate anchor UE via LPP message exchange in step 4S1514, LMF 1505 can instruct the candidate anchor UE 1501 to send the SL-P related capability / side link / known location information by including the information in the announcement message.

[0399] If the Model B approach is used, process 5a may be omitted.

[0400] -5b. Anchor UE discovery request in S1515b: The LMF 1505 may request an anchor UE discovery operation from the target UE 1501. In order to perform the discovery operation, the anchor UE discovery request may include the following information.

[0401] SL Frequency / BWP and Tx / Rx Resource Pool: This can be omitted if already provided via system information or pre-configuration.

[0402] RSSI / RSRP / RSRQ / SINR threshold: The LMF 1505 may instruct the target UE 1500 not to select and not to report candidate anchor UEs whose signal strength measured during discovery is equal to or less than a certain threshold.

[0403] RSSI / RSRP / RSRQ / SINR reporting configuration: If the LMF 1505 requires information about the signal strength between the (candidate) anchor UE and the target UE 1500 to determine the SL-P configuration, the target UE 100 may be instructed to measure the corresponding value during discovery and then report it later.

[0404] Distance Threshold: The LMF 1505 may instruct the target UE 1500 not to use candidate anchor UEs obtained during discovery whose distances from the anchor UE are equal to or greater than a certain threshold.

[0405] Capability condition: The LMF 1505 may instruct the target UE 1500 not to use an anchor UE that does not support a specific position estimation technique / mode, etc., based on the positioning capability information of the candidate anchor UEs additionally obtained during discovery.

[0406] Capability reporting configuration: When the LMF 1505 is to identify the capabilities of the anchor UE during discovery S1513, instead of obtaining the capabilities of the candidate anchor UEs via LPP message exchange in the following step 4 S1514, the LMF 1505 may instruct the target UE 1500 to report the capabilities of the (candidate) anchor UEs.

[0407] Known location condition: If the known location of the anchor UE obtained additionally during discovery differs from the known location information provided by LMF 1505 by a certain level or higher, a certain amount of time has passed since the location collection time, the information of the known location is no longer valid, or the accuracy / completeness of the known location is at a certain level or lower, then LMF 1505 may instruct the target UE 1500 not to use the corresponding candidate anchor UE.

[0408] Known location reporting configuration: When the LMF 1505 is to additionally identify the known location of the (candidate) anchor UE during discovery, instead of obtaining the known location of the (candidate) anchor UE via LPP message exchange in step 4 S1514 below, the LMF 1505 may instruct the target UE 1500 to report the known location of the (candidate) anchor UE. In this case, the LMF 1505 may instruct to report information together with the known location, such as the accuracy, completeness, time of acquisition, and type of the known location.

[0409] Request message periodicity / duration / number of transmissions (only for model B): When SL discovery mode B is used for SL-P discovery, LMF 1505 can configure the periodicity, transmission duration, number of transmissions, etc. to be used by the target UE 1500 when sending request messages.

[0410] Latency requirements for discovery (e.g., maximum allowed response time for discovery results): LMF 1505 may configure requirements for the latency from the time the target UE 1500 performs a discovery operation to the time the target UE 1500 reports its results.

[0411] Number of anchor UEs required: The LMF 1505 may configure the number of anchor UEs required to perform SL-P for position estimation of the target UE 1500. After performing discovery, the target UE 1500 may select and report as many or more (candidate) anchor UEs as the number of anchor UEs configured by the LMF 1505.

[0412] DST L2 ID of candidate anchor UE: If the LMF 1505 determines a specific UE as a candidate anchor UE in step 3 S1513, a multicast and broadcast DST L2 ID for the candidate anchor UE may be provided so that discovery may be performed only with the corresponding UE.

[0413] -5c. Anchor UE Discovery in S1515c: The target UE 1500 and the anchor UE 1502 may perform a discovery operation. In the case of the Model A scheme, the target UE 1500 may receive an announcement message sent by the anchor UE 1501. In the case of the Model B scheme, the anchor UE 1501 may receive a request message sent by the target UE 1500 and then respond thereto.

[0414] If the target UE 1500 has performed discovery with results before the location estimation process, this step can be omitted.

[0415] -5d. Anchor UE discovery response in S1515d: After performing the discovery operation, the target UE 1500 may select a (candidate) anchor UE satisfying the conditions configured by the LMF 1505 from the successfully discovered anchor UEs, and may report the ID (eg, SUPI) of the corresponding UE to the LMF.

[0416] If the LMF 1505 instructs to obtain and report additional information in step 5b S1515b, the additional information (signal strength, capability, known location, etc.) about each of the (candidate) anchor UEs may be reported to the LMF 1505 together.

[0417] If the LMF 1505 has configured a threshold for the signal strength between the target UE 1500 and the anchor UE in step 5b S1515b, then a (candidate) anchor UE whose measured signal strength is lower than the threshold may not be selected.

[0418] If the LMF 1505 has indicated in step 5b S1515b to report only candidate anchor UEs supporting specific capabilities, the target UE 1500 may identify capability information of each (candidate) anchor UE in step 5c S1515c and then select and report only (candidate) anchor UEs that meet the conditions.

[0419] If the LMF 1505 has indicated in step 5b S1515b to report only (candidate) anchor UEs that satisfy the known location condition, the target UE 1500 may identify the known location information of each (candidate) anchor UE in step 5c S1515c, and then select and report only the (candidate) anchor UEs that satisfy the condition.

[0420] -6. Determine SL-P configuration in S1516: Based on (1) the capabilities / sidelink / known location information of the target UE 1500 / anchor UE 1501 obtained in step 1 / step 4 S1511 and S1514, (2) the anchor UE discovery result provided from the target UE 1500 in step 5 S1515a / S1515b / S1515c / S1515d, and (3) the positioning QoS requirements and ranging / SL-P requirements given in step 0 S1510, the LMF 1505 can finally determine the (1) anchor UE to be used, (2) the location estimation technology (e.g., RTT-type solution using SL, SL-AoA, SL-TDOA, or SL-AoD), (3) the location estimation mode (i.e., standalone, UE-based, or UE-assisted), and (4) specific SL-P operation configuration (e.g., SL-PRS transmission / reception configuration, RTT / TDOA / AoA / AoD measurement, reporting configuration, etc.).

[0421] -7. SL-P process in S1517: LMF 1505 may instruct the target UE 1500 and the selected anchor UE 1501 to perform the SL-P operation determined in step 6 S1516, and then report the result. The target UE 1500 and the anchor UE 1501 may perform the required SL-P operation according to the instruction of LMF 1505, and then report the result.

[0422] -8. Position determination in S1518: The LMF 1505 may confirm the result of the position estimation requested by the AMF 1507 in step 0 S1510 based on the results reported from the target UE 1500 and the anchor UE 1501 in step 7 S1517.

[0423] -9. Position response in S1519: LMF 1505 can transmit the result of performing positioning to AMF 1507.

[0424] Fig.16 is a diagram illustrating a UE device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0425] refer to Fig.16 , the UE may include a radio frequency (RF) processor 16-10, a baseband processor 16-20, a storage unit 16-30, and a controller 16-40. The components of the UE are not limited to Fig.16 The exemplary components shown and may include Fig.16 Fewer components or more components may be shown.

[0426] The RF processor 16-10 may perform functions for transmitting and receiving signals via a wireless channel, such as frequency band switching and amplification of signals. For example, the RF processor 16-10 may up-convert a baseband signal provided from the baseband processor 16-20 into an RF band signal, transmit the converted RF band signal via an antenna, and then down-convert the RF band signal received via the antenna into a baseband signal. For example, the RF processor 16-10 may include a transmit filter, a receive filter, an amplifier, a mixer, an oscillator, a digital-to-analog converter (DAC), an analog-to-digital converter (ADC), etc., but is not limited thereto. Figure 2 In the embodiment, only one antenna is shown, but the UE may have multiple antennas. In addition, the RF processor 16-10 may include multiple RF chains. In addition, the RF processor 16-10 may perform beamforming. For beamforming, the RF processor 16-10 may adjust the phase and amplitude of the corresponding signals sent and received via multiple antennas or antenna elements. In addition, the RF processor 16-10 may perform MIMO and may receive multiple layers when performing MIMO operations.

[0427] The baseband processor 16-20 may perform the function of converting between baseband signals and bit strings according to the physical layer specification of the system. For example, during data transmission, the baseband processor 16-20 may generate complex symbols by encoding and modulating the transmitted bit string. In addition, during data reception, the baseband processor 2-20 (16-20) may reconstruct the received bit string by demodulating and decoding the baseband signal provided from the RF processor 16-10. For example, when following the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) scheme, during data transmission, the baseband processor 16-20 may generate complex symbols by encoding and modulating the transmitted bit string, map the generated complex symbols to subcarriers, and then configure the OFDM symbol via an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) operation and a cyclic prefix (CP) insertion. In addition, during data reception, the baseband processor 16-20 may separate the baseband signal provided from the RF processor 16-10 in units of OFDM symbols, reconstruct the signal mapped to subcarriers through a fast Fourier transform (FFT) operation, and then reconstruct a received bit string through demodulation and decoding.

[0428] The baseband processor 16-20 and the RF processor 16-10 may transmit and receive signals, as described above. Therefore, the baseband processor 16-20 and the RF processor 16-10 may be referred to as a transmitter, a receiver, a transceiver, or a communication unit. In addition, at least one of the baseband processor 16-20 and the RF processor 16-10 may include a plurality of communication modules to support a plurality of different radio access technologies. In addition, at least one of the baseband processor 16-20 and the RF processor 16-10 may include different communication modules to process signals of different frequency bands. For example, different radio access technologies may include wireless LAN (e.g., IEEE802.11), cellular network (e.g., LTE), etc. In addition, different frequency bands may include super high frequency (SHF) (e.g., 2.NRHz or NRhz) bands and millimeter (mm) wave (e.g., 60 GHz) bands. The UE may transmit or receive signals to or from the gNB by using the baseband processor 16-20 and the RF processor 16-10, and the signals may include control information and data.

[0429] The storage unit 16-30 may store data, such as basic programs, applications, and configuration information for UE operation. For example, the storage unit 16-30 may store data information, such as basic programs, applications, and configuration information for UE operation. In addition, the storage unit 16-30 may provide the stored data in response to a request from the controller 16-40.

[0430] The storage unit 16-30 may include a storage medium such as a ROM, a RAM, a hard disk, a CD-ROM, and a DVD, or a combination of storage media. In addition, the storage unit 16-30 may include a plurality of memories. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the storage unit 16-30 may store a program for executing the switching method according to the present disclosure.

[0431] The controller 16-40 may control the overall operation of the UE. For example, the controller 16-40 may send and receive signals via the baseband processor 16-20 and the RF processor 16-10.

[0432] In addition, the controller 16-40 may record and read data in the storage unit 16-30. To this end, the controller 16-40 may include at least one processor. For example, the controller 16-40 may include a communication processor (CP) configured to perform communication control and an application processor (AP) configured to control an upper layer (such as an application). In addition, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the controller 16-40 may include a multi-connection processor 16-42 configured to process a process operating in a multi-connection mode. In addition, at least one component in the UE may be implemented in a single chip.

[0433] Fig.17 is a diagram showing a base station apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0434] Fig.17 A base station may be included in the above network, and a transmitting and receiving point (TRP) may also correspond thereto.

[0435] like Fig.17 As shown, the base station may include an RF processor 17-10, a baseband processor 17-20, a backhaul communication unit 17-30, a storage unit 17-40, and a controller 17-50. The components of the base station are not limited to Fig.17 The exemplary components shown, and the base station may include Fig.17 The components shown may have fewer components or more components. The RF processor 17-10 may perform functions for transmitting and receiving signals via a wireless channel, such as frequency band switching and amplification of signals. For example, the RF processor 17-10 may up-convert a baseband signal provided from the baseband processor 17-20 into an RF band signal, transmit the converted RF band signal via an antenna, and then down-convert the RF band signal received via the antenna into a baseband signal. For example, the RF processor 17-10 may include a transmit filter, a receive filter, an amplifier, a mixer, an oscillator, a DAC, an ADC, etc. In Fig.17 In the figure, only one antenna is shown, but the RF processor 17-10 may have multiple antennas. In addition, the RF processor 17-10 may include multiple RF chains. In addition, the RF processor 17-10 may perform beamforming. For beamforming, the RF processor 17-10 may adjust the phase and amplitude of the corresponding signals sent and received via multiple antennas or antenna elements. The RF processor 17-10 may perform downlink MIMO operations by sending one or more layers.

[0436] The baseband processor 17-20 can perform the function of converting between the baseband signal and the bit string according to the physical layer specification. For example, during data transmission, the baseband processor 17-20 can generate complex symbols by encoding and modulating the transmission bit string. In addition, during data reception, the baseband processor 17-20 can reconstruct the received bit string by demodulating and decoding the baseband signal provided from the RF processor 17-10. For example, when following the OFDM scheme, during data transmission, the baseband processor 17-20 can generate complex symbols by encoding and modulating the transmission bit string, map the generated complex symbols to subcarriers, and then configure the OFDM symbol via IFFT operation and CP insertion. In addition, during data reception, the baseband processor 17-20 can separate the baseband signal provided from the RF processor 17-10 in units of OFDM symbols, reconstruct the signal mapped to the subcarrier via FFT operation, and then reconstruct the received bit string via demodulation and decoding. The baseband processor 17-20 and the RF processor 17-10 can send and receive signals as described above. Therefore, the baseband processor 17-20 and the RF processor 17-10 may be referred to as a transmitter, a receiver, a transceiver, a communication unit, or a wireless communication unit. The base station may transmit or receive signals to or from the UE by using the baseband processor 17-20 and the RF processor 17-10, and the signals may include control information and data.

[0437] The backhaul communication unit 17-30 may provide an interface for performing communication with other nodes within the network. For example, the backhaul communication unit 17-30 may convert a bit string sent from the primary base station to another node (e.g., a secondary base station, a core network, etc.) into a physical signal, and may convert a physical signal received from another node into a bit string.

[0438] The storage unit 17-40 may store data, such as basic programs, applications, and configuration information for the operation of the main base station. For example, the storage unit 17-40 may store information about the bearer assigned to the connected UE, measurement results reported from the connected UE, and the like. Additionally, the storage unit 17-40 may store information that serves as a standard for determining whether to provide multiple connections to the UE or to suspend multiple connections. In addition, the storage unit 17-40 may provide the stored data in response to a request from the controller 17-50. The storage unit 17-40 may include a storage medium, such as a ROM, RAM, hard disk, CD-ROM, and DVD, or a combination of storage media. In addition, the storage unit 17-40 may include multiple memories. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the storage unit 17-40 may store a program for performing a switch according to the contents of the present disclosure.

[0439] The controller 17-50 may control the overall operation of the master base station. For example, the controller 17-50 may send and receive signals via the baseband processor 17-20 and the RF processor 17-10 or via the backhaul communication unit 17-30. In addition, the controller 17-50 may record and read data in the storage unit 17-40. To this end, the controller 17-50 may include at least one processor. In addition, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the controller 17-50 may include a multi-connection processor 17-52 configured to process a process operating in a multi-connection mode.

[0440] Fig.18 is a block diagram associated with the structure of an LMF entity according to an example of the present disclosure.

[0441] refer to Fig.18 , the LMF entity according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may include a communication unit 1810, a controller 1820, and a memory 1830. The communication unit 1810, the controller 1820, and the memory 1830 may operate according to the communication method of the above-mentioned LMF entity. However, the components of the LMF entity are not limited to the above-mentioned examples. For example, the LMF entity may include more components or fewer components than the above-mentioned components. For example, the LMF entity may include a communication unit 1810 and a controller 1820, and the communication unit 1810 may additionally include a backhaul communication unit for communicating with another network entity. In addition, the communication unit 1810, the controller 1820, and the memory 1830 may be implemented in the form of a single chip.

[0442] The communication unit 1810 collectively refers to the receiver and transmitter of the LMF entity, and can send and receive messages to and from another network node, a base station, etc. The communication unit 1810 can, for example, send a request message or a response message to the base station via a predetermined interface. The communication unit 1810 may include various configurations for sending and receiving signals, outputting received signals to the controller 1820 and sending signals output from the controller 1820. In addition, the communication unit 1810 can receive a communication signal and output it to the processor, and can send a signal output from the processor to another network entity via a network.

[0443] The memory 1830 may store data required for the operation of the LMF entity, such as basic programs, application programs, and configuration information. In addition, the memory 1830 may provide the stored data in response to a request of the controller 1820.

[0444] In the present disclosure, the controller 1820 may be defined as a circuit, an ASIC, or at least one processor. The processor may include a communication processor (CP) configured to perform communication control and an application processor (AP) configured to control an upper layer (such as an application). The controller 1820 may control the overall operation of the LMF entity according to the embodiments proposed in the present disclosure. For example, the controller 1820 may control the signal flow between the corresponding blocks to perform operations according to the above-mentioned flowchart.

[0445] The methods disclosed in the claims and / or the methods according to the embodiments described in the specification of the present disclosure may be implemented by hardware, software, or a combination of hardware and software.

[0446] When the method is implemented by software, a computer-readable storage medium for storing one or more programs (software modules) may be provided. One or more programs stored in the computer-readable storage medium may be configured to be executed by one or more processors in an electronic device. At least one program includes instructions that cause the electronic device to perform the method according to various embodiments of the present disclosure as defined by the attached claims and / or disclosed herein.

[0447] These programs (software modules or software) can be stored in non-volatile memory, including random access memory and flash memory, read-only memory (ROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), magnetic disk storage, compact disc-ROM (CD-ROM), digital versatile disc (DVD) or other types of optical storage devices, or magnetic tape cassettes. Alternatively, any combination of some or all of them can form the memory in which the program is stored. In addition, multiple such memories may be included in the electronic device.

[0448] In addition, the program may be stored in an attachable storage device that can access the electronic device through a communication network such as the Internet, an intranet, a local area network (LAN), a wide LAN (WLAN), and a storage area network (SAN), or a combination thereof. Such a storage device can access the electronic device via an external port. In addition, a separate storage device on a communication network can access the portable electronic device.

[0449] In the present disclosure, the term "computer program product" or "computer-readable medium" is generally used to refer to a medium such as a memory, a hard disk installed in a hard disk drive, or a signal. According to the present disclosure, the "computer program product" or "computer-readable medium" is an element provided to a method for reporting UE capabilities in a wireless communication system.

[0450] The machine-readable storage medium may be provided in the form of a non-transitory storage medium. The term "non-transitory storage medium" simply means that the storage medium is a tangible device and does not include signals (e.g., electromagnetic waves), but this term does not distinguish between data semi-permanently stored in the storage medium and data temporarily stored in the storage medium. As an example, the "non-transitory storage medium" may include a buffer where data is temporarily stored.

[0451] According to an embodiment, the method according to various embodiments of the present disclosure may be included and provided in a computer program product. The computer program product may be traded between a seller and a buyer as a product. The computer program product may be published in the form of a machine-readable storage medium (e.g., a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM)), or published online (e.g., downloaded or uploaded) via an application store (e.g., PlayStoreTM), or distributed (e.g., downloaded or uploaded) directly between two user devices (e.g., smart phones). If published online, at least a portion of the computer program product (e.g., a downloadable application) may be temporarily generated or at least temporarily stored in a machine-readable storage medium (such as a memory of a manufacturer's server, an application store's server, or a relay server).

[0452] In the above detailed embodiments of the present disclosure, the elements included in the present disclosure are expressed in the singular or plural, depending on the detailed embodiments presented. However, for ease of description, the singular form or plural form is appropriately selected for the presented situation, and the present disclosure is not limited to elements expressed in the singular or plural. Therefore, an element expressed in the plural may also include a single element, or an element expressed in the singular may also include multiple elements.

[0453] The embodiments of the present disclosure described and shown in the specification and the drawings are only specific embodiments presented for easy explanation of the technical content and embodiments of the present disclosure and to help understand the embodiments of the present disclosure, and are not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments of the present disclosure. That is, it is obvious to those skilled in the art that other variants based on the technical ideas of the present disclosure can be implemented. In addition, if necessary, the above-mentioned corresponding embodiments can be used in combination. For example, a part of an embodiment of the present disclosure can be combined with a part of another embodiment to operate a base station and a terminal. In addition, the embodiments of the present disclosure can be applied to other communication systems, and other variants of the technical ideas based on the embodiments can also be implemented. For example, the embodiments can be applied to LTE, 5G, NR or 6G systems. Therefore, the scope of the present disclosure should not be defined as being limited to the embodiments set forth herein, but should be defined by the attached claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A method for a location management function LMF entity in a communication system, the method comprising: Receiving a request message from an access and mobility management function AMF entity, the request message requesting the location of a target terminal associated with a side link positioning SL-P procedure; Sending a discovery request message to the target terminal, wherein the discovery request message requests discovery of an anchor terminal; receiving, from the target terminal, a discovery response message in response to the discovery request message, the discovery response message including information related to a candidate anchor terminal; as well as At least one anchor terminal is selected from the candidate anchor terminals to perform the SL-P process.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The discovery request message includes configuration information related to the discovery operation and information for configuring a reporting condition of the candidate anchor terminal, and The reporting condition includes at least one of the following: a first threshold of the signal strength measured in the discovery operation, a second threshold related to the distance between the target terminal and the candidate anchor terminal, a condition related to the capability information of the candidate anchor terminal, or an accuracy requirement for the known position of the candidate anchor terminal.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein: The reporting condition includes information indicating reporting the signal strength, and The discovery response message further includes information related to the signal strength value of the candidate anchor terminal.

4. The method of claim 1 , comprising exchanging additional information with each of the at least one anchor terminal via a Long Term Evolution (LTE) Positioning Protocol (LPP) session with each of the at least one anchor terminal, in, The additional information includes capability information of each of the at least one anchor terminal required for the SL-P process.

5. A method for a target terminal in a communication system, the method comprising: Receiving a discovery request message from a location management function LMF entity, wherein the discovery request message requests discovery of an anchor terminal associated with a side link positioning SL-P process; Based on the discovery request message, performing a discovery operation; as well as A discovery response message in response to the discovery request message is sent to the LMF entity, wherein the discovery response message includes information related to candidate anchor terminals based on the discovery operation.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein: The discovery request message includes configuration information related to the discovery operation and information for configuring a reporting condition of the candidate anchor terminal, and The reporting condition includes at least one of the following: a first threshold of the signal strength measured in the discovery operation, a second threshold related to the distance between the target terminal and the candidate anchor terminal, a condition related to the capability information of the candidate anchor terminal, or an accuracy requirement for the known position of the candidate anchor terminal.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein: The reporting condition includes information indicating reporting the signal strength, and The discovery response message further includes information related to the signal strength value of the candidate anchor terminal.

8. The method according to claim 5, comprising: receiving, from the LMF entity, a message instructing to perform the SL-P process with at least one anchor terminal selected from the candidate anchor terminals; as well as Based on the message, the SL-P process is performed.

9. A location management function LMF entity in a communication system, the LMF entity comprising: Communication unit; as well as A controller is configured to: control the communication unit to receive a request message from an access and mobility management function AMF entity, the request message requesting the location of a target terminal related to a side link positioning SL-P process; control the communication unit to send a discovery request message to the target terminal, the discovery request message requesting discovery of an anchor terminal; control the communication unit to receive a discovery response message from the target terminal in response to the discovery request message, the discovery response message including information related to candidate anchor terminals; and select at least one anchor terminal from the candidate anchor terminals to perform the SL-P process.

10. The LMF entity according to claim 9, wherein: The discovery request message includes configuration information related to the discovery operation and information for configuring a reporting condition of the candidate anchor terminal, and The reporting condition includes at least one of the following: a first threshold of the signal strength measured in the discovery operation, a second threshold related to the distance between the target terminal and the candidate anchor terminal, a condition related to the capability information of the candidate anchor terminal, or an accuracy requirement for the known position of the candidate anchor terminal.

11. The LMF entity according to claim 10, wherein: The reporting condition includes information indicating reporting the signal strength, and The discovery response message includes information related to the signal strength value of the candidate anchor terminal.

12. The LMF entity according to claim 9, wherein: The controller is configured to: exchange additional information with each of the at least one anchor terminal via a Long Term Evolution (LTE) Positioning Protocol (LPP) session with each of the at least one anchor terminal, and The additional information includes capability information of each of the at least one anchor terminal required by the SL-P process.

13. A target terminal in a communication system, the terminal comprising: Transceiver; as well as The controller is configured to: control the transceiver to receive a discovery request message from a location management function LMF entity, wherein the discovery request message requests discovery of an anchor terminal related to a side link positioning SL-P process; Based on the discovery request message, performing a discovery operation; and controlling the transceiver to send a discovery response message in response to the discovery request message to the LMF entity, the discovery response message including information related to a candidate anchor terminal based on the discovery operation.

14. The terminal according to claim 13, wherein: The discovery request message includes configuration information related to the discovery operation and information for configuring a reporting condition of the candidate anchor terminal, and The reporting condition includes at least one of the following: a first threshold of the signal strength measured in the discovery operation, a second threshold related to the distance between the target terminal and the candidate anchor terminal, a condition related to the capability information of the candidate anchor terminal, or an accuracy requirement for the known position of the candidate anchor terminal.

15. The terminal according to claim 14, wherein: The reporting condition includes information indicating reporting the signal strength, The discovery response message includes information related to the signal strength value of the candidate anchor terminal, and The controller is configured to: control the transceiver to receive a message from the LMF entity indicating to perform the SL-P process with at least one anchor terminal selected from the candidate anchor terminals; and perform the SL-P process based on the message.

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