Reference signal configuration

Abstract

According to one example aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method comprising receiving or transmitting at least one reference signal, where the at least one reference signal is transmitted according to a reference signal configuration, and wherein the reference signal configuration indicates power muting for at least one internal resource block of the plurality of resource blocks allocated to the at least one reference signal in the frequency domain, and power boosting for at least two edge resource blocks of the plurality of resource blocks.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] Various example embodiments relate generally to cellular communication networks, and more particularly to reference signal configuration in such networks. Background Art

[0002] Reference signals are very important in various cellular communication networks, such as in cellular communication networks operating according to 5G radio access technology. 5G radio access technology may also be referred to as new radio NR access technology. The 3rd Generation Partnership Project 3GPP has developed the 5G / NR standard, and some topics in 3GPP discussions are related to reference signals, which may be used to estimate the position and / or velocity of an object. It is desirable to provide improved methods, apparatus, and computer programs related to reference signal configuration. Such improvements may also be used in other cellular communication networks, such as 6G networks. Summary of the invention

[0003] According to some aspects, the subject matter of the independent claims is provided. Some example embodiments are defined in the dependent claims.

[0004] The independent claims define the scope of protection of various exemplary embodiments of the present invention. Exemplary embodiments and features described in this specification that do not belong to the scope of the independent claims (if any) are to be construed as examples that help understand the various exemplary embodiments of the present invention.

[0005] According to a first aspect of the present invention, a device is provided, comprising: at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions, which instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the device to at least: receive or send at least one reference signal, wherein the at least one reference signal is sent according to a reference signal configuration, and wherein the reference signal configuration indicates: power muting for at least one internal resource block of a plurality of resource blocks allocated to the at least one reference signal in the frequency domain, and power boosting for at least two edge resource blocks of the plurality of resource blocks.

[0006] Example embodiments of the first aspect may include at least one feature from the following bulleted list or any combination of the following features:

[0007] · wherein the stored instructions, when executed by at least one processor, further cause the apparatus to at least: receive at least one reference signal from a radio network node, and determine a reference signal configuration based on the received at least one reference signal;

[0008] · wherein the stored instructions, when executed by at least one processor, further cause the apparatus to at least: receive a reference signal configuration from a wireless network node;

[0009] wherein at least one reference signal is a positioning reference signal;

[0010] · wherein the stored instructions, when executed by at least one processor, further cause the apparatus to at least: estimate a position and / or velocity of the apparatus based on at least one reference signal;

[0011] · wherein the stored instructions, when executed by at least one processor, further cause the apparatus to at least: receive a reference signal configuration from a radio network node, and transmit at least one reference signal according to the received reference signal configuration;

[0012] The instructions stored therein, when executed by at least one processor, further cause the apparatus to at least: determine a reference signal configuration based on a mute mode received from a wireless network node and a capability of the apparatus, and according to the determined reference signal configuration,

[0013] sending at least one reference signal;

[0014] wherein at least one reference signal is a sounding reference signal;

[0015] · wherein the stored instructions, when executed by at least one processor, further cause the apparatus to at least: determine a number of at least one inner resource blocks, and determine a power boost for at least two edge resource blocks based on the number of at least one inner resource blocks;

[0016] Wherein a resource block is a physical resource block;

[0017] Wherein power muting includes: full muting or partial muting of at least one internal resource block.

[0018] According to a second aspect of the present invention, a device is provided, comprising: at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions, which instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the device to at least: determine a reference signal configuration for at least one reference signal to be received or sent by a user equipment, wherein the reference signal configuration indicates: power muting of at least one internal resource block among multiple resource blocks allocated to the at least one reference signal in the frequency domain, and power boosting of at least two edge resource blocks among the multiple resource blocks, and sending reference information configuration.

[0019] Example embodiments of the second aspect may include at least one feature from the following bulleted list or any combination of the following features:

[0020] • wherein the stored instructions, when executed by at least one processor, further cause the apparatus to at least: determine the number of at least one inner resource blocks based on a required tradeoff between distance detection and speed detection of the user equipment.

[0021] According to a third aspect of the present invention, a first method is provided, comprising: receiving or sending at least one reference signal, wherein the at least one reference signal is sent according to a reference signal configuration, and wherein the reference signal configuration indicates: power muting for at least one internal resource block among a plurality of resource blocks allocated to the at least one reference signal in a frequency domain, and power boosting for at least two edge resource blocks among the plurality of resource blocks.

[0022] According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, a second method is provided, comprising: determining a reference signal configuration for at least one reference signal to be received or sent by a user equipment, wherein the reference signal configuration indicates: power muting of at least one internal resource block among multiple resource blocks allocated to the at least one reference signal in the frequency domain, and power boosting of at least two edge resource blocks among the multiple resource blocks, and sending the reference signal configuration.

[0023] According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, a device is provided, comprising: a component for receiving or sending at least one reference signal, wherein the at least one reference signal is sent according to a reference signal configuration, and wherein the reference signal configuration indicates: power muting for at least one internal resource block among a plurality of resource blocks allocated to the at least one reference signal in the frequency domain, and power boosting for at least two edge resource blocks among the plurality of resource blocks.

[0024] According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, a device is provided, comprising: a component for determining a reference signal configuration for at least one reference signal to be received or sent by a user equipment, wherein the reference signal configuration indicates: power muting of at least one internal resource block among multiple resource blocks allocated to the at least one reference signal in the frequency domain, and power boosting of at least two edge resource blocks among the multiple resource blocks; and a component for sending the reference signal configuration.

[0025] According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a non-transitory computer-readable medium having a computer-readable instruction set stored thereon, which, when executed by at least one processor, causes an apparatus to at least perform a first method. According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a non-transitory computer-readable medium having a computer-readable instruction set stored thereon, which, when executed by at least one processor, causes an apparatus to at least perform a second method.

[0026] According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer program comprising instructions, which, when executed by a device, causes the device to perform a first method. According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer program comprising instructions, which, when executed by a device, causes the device to perform a second method. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0027] Figure 1 illustrates examples of network scenarios according to at least some example embodiments;

[0028] Figure 2 illustrates a first signaling diagram according to at least some example embodiments;

[0029] Figure 3 illustrates a second signaling diagram according to at least some example embodiments;

[0030] Figure 4 illustrates resource blocks according to at least some example embodiments;

[0031] Figure 5 illustrates frequency muting according to at least some example embodiments;

[0032] Figure 6 illustrates example apparatus capable of supporting at least some example embodiments;

[0033] Figure 7 illustrates a flow chart of a first method according to at least some example embodiments;

[0034] Figure 8 A flow chart of a second method according to at least some example embodiments is illustrated. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0035] Embodiments of the present disclosure provide improvements in the estimation of the position and / or speed of a target (such as a user equipment UE) in a cellular communication network. More specifically, the estimation of the position and / or speed of the target can be improved by utilizing a reference signal configuration, wherein at least one internal resource block of a plurality of resource blocks allocated to at least one reference signal in the frequency domain is muted. Then, at least two edge resources can be power-boosted to better estimate the speed of the target. In fact, power muting of internal resource blocks and power boosting of edge resource blocks can be particularly beneficial for speed estimation. For example, in the case of UE-based estimation, at least one reference signal can be a positioning reference signal PRS, and in the case of network-based estimation, at least one reference signal can be a sounding reference signal SRS.

[0036] Figure 1 Examples of network scenarios are illustrated in accordance with at least some example embodiments. Figure 1In an example scenario, there may be a network scenario including a UE 110, a first radio network node 120, a second radio network node 122, a core network 130, and a location management function LMF 132. The first radio network node 120 may be a serving base station BS or a serving transmission reception point TRP. The second radio network node 120 may be a neighboring BS or a neighboring TRP. The UE 110 may be connected to and communicate with the first radio network node 120 via an air interface 115. In some example embodiments, the UE 110 may also communicate with the second radio network node 122 via the interface 115.

[0037] For example, UE 110 may include a smartphone, a cellular phone, a machine-to-machine (M2M) node, a machine-type communication (MTC) node, an Internet of Things (IoT) node, a reduced capability RedCap node, an automotive telemetry unit, a laptop, a tablet, a ground / sea / air vehicle, or virtually any type of suitable wireless terminal.

[0038] LMF 132 may be a network entity that configures some or all control information for UE 110 and allocates at least some resources. Figure 1 A scenario is illustrated where the radio network nodes 120 and 122 (such as TRPs) are not co-located, i.e., in different physical devices. In some example embodiments, the radio network nodes 120 and 122 may be co-located. In the case of a co-located TRP, the radio network nodes 120 and 122 may be in the same physical device and share some common functions / circuitry. That is, in the case of a co-located TRP, two antenna panels may be provided to generate the co-located TRPs 120 and 122.

[0039] The air interface 115 between the UE 110 and the radio network nodes 120, 122 may be configured according to the RAT, and the UE 110 and the radio network nodes 120, 122 are configured to support the RAT. Examples of cellular RATs include Long Term Evolution LTE (also referred to as the fourth generation 4G), New Radio NR (also referred to as the fifth generation 5G radio access technology), 6G, and MulteFire. Cellular RATs may be standardized by, for example, the Third Generation Partnership Project 3GPP. In the context of NR, the radio network nodes 120 and 122 may be referred to as gNBs, while in the context of LTE, the radio network nodes 120 and 122 may be referred to as eNBs. In any case, the example embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited to any particular wireless technology. Instead, the example embodiments may be utilized in any wireless communication system in which reference signals are sent based on a configuration.

[0040] The wireless network nodes 120 and 122 may be connected to the core network 130 via a wired interface 125 directly or via at least one intermediate node. The core network 130 may also be connected to another network ( Figure 1 (not shown) via which connectivity to other networks (eg, the global interconnection network) may be obtained.

[0041] The purpose of wireless sensing technology is to obtain information about remote objects and their characteristics without physical contact with the remote objects. For example, the perception data of remote objects and their surroundings can be used for various analyses to obtain information about remote objects. In the context of 3GPP standardization, sensing can refer to the use of the infrastructure of a cellular communication network to provide sensing capabilities, for example, by using the same 5G NR infrastructure used for communication. Sensing information can be inferred from radio signals, such as RF-based and / or non-RF-based sensors. Sensing can include communication-assisted sensing scenarios, in which cellular communication networks provide sensing services or sensing-assisted communications. Sensing can be used to provide sensing information related to a communication channel or environment, and the sensing information can also be used to improve communication services. For example, sensing information can be used for radio resource management tasks, interference mitigation, beam management, mobility, etc. At least some sensing use cases may also require object sensing performance and identity (e.g., the identity of UE 110) to be identified via communication in order to take further actions, such as detecting and avoiding DAA, selecting routes for unmanned aerial vehicles UAV, etc. In some example embodiments, sensing may be used to find the location of passive objects and thus allow positioning (e.g., as part of a local 5G communication system) and sensing to be performed in a seamless manner.

[0042] Taking 5G / NR as an example, use cases and potential requirements for enhancing 5G / NR systems may include providing integrated communication and sensing services for different target verticals and / or applications, such as autonomous driving / assisted driving, vehicle-to-infrastructure V2X, aviation, UAV, 3D map reconstruction, smart cities / factories, public sectors, healthcare, smart homes, and maritime sectors. Alternatively or additionally, it may be necessary to identify key performance indicators related to 5G / NR-based sensing (e.g., distance, motion, speed) and performance requirements for transmitting sensing-related data. Aspects related to security, privacy, regulatory requirements, and charging may also need to be considered.

[0043] Sensing of wireless communication channels and environments can also improve the performance of communication systems. For example, sensing-assisted communication scenarios include the following:

[0044] Sense the UE’s location and channel environment to reduce the beam scanning range and shorten the beam training time;

[0045] Sense the UE’s position, speed, motion trajectory, and channel environment for beam prediction and reduce the overhead of beam measurement and the delay of beam tracking;

[0046] · Sensing the properties of the UE and the channel environment to improve the performance of channel estimation.

[0047] For example, in 5G, positioning and / or velocity estimation can be based on downlink or uplink reference signals. In the downlink, PRS can be sent by a radio network node (such as a TRP and / or BS) to enable position and / or velocity estimation. In the uplink, SRS can be sent by a UE to enable position and / or velocity estimation.

[0048] In the case of downlink reference signals, positioning can be UE-based or UE-assisted. In the former case, the UE can determine its own position, and the position of the radio network node is delivered to the UE by the LMF. In the latter case, the position of the UE can be determined by the LMF, and the auxiliary UE measurement is sent to the LMF by signaling. The radio network node can send a PRS waveform. Upon reception, the UE can use the received samples together with the sent samples, which can be assumed to be known to the UE and copied by the UE to locate itself. By processing the sent and received samples, the UE can estimate its own position and / or speed, or the position and / or speed of the target (another UE in the environment, or a passive target).

[0049] In the case of uplink, the radio network node can use the received samples together with the transmitted samples (which can be assumed to be known) for positioning and / or velocity estimation. The UE can then be positioned by the LMF (positioning mode) or other targets in the sensing environment (dual static UL sensing mode). Alternatively or additionally, the radio network node can determine (infer) the distance and velocity of the target (e.g., UE and other passive targets in the environment) by processing the transmitted and received samples.

[0050] Speed ​​estimation can be particularly useful in various use cases, such as the automotive industry, automated guided vehicles (AGVs), factories, and UAVs. Sequential position estimation can be used for speed estimation. However, this approach can result in poor speed estimation due to propagation errors in the position estimate. A more reliable approach may be to directly utilize the transmitted and received signals for speed estimation, i.e., by measuring the Doppler shift. Although positioning using a reference signal waveform with uniform power distribution (such as a PRS or SRS) can be beneficial for detecting and estimating the distance (positioning) of the UE, such a waveform is not suitable for speed estimation due to the increased side lobes of the velocity distribution of the waveform. This is particularly problematic in multipath scenarios, as different signal propagation paths may significantly deteriorate the estimation process.

[0051] Thus, embodiments of the present disclosure provide improved speed detection and estimation, which can be performed by appropriately scaling resource blocks, such as PRBs including reference signals. An inner set of resource blocks can be power muted at the center of the band, while increasing the power boost of resource block sets at the edge of the band. The transmission power of the modified reference waveform can remain the same as the waveform without power muting / boosting, so the improvement in speed estimation and detection may be due solely to power muting of resource blocks and power boosting of edge PRBs (via power reallocation).

[0052] Figure 2 A first signaling diagram is illustrated according to at least some example embodiments. Figure 2 The diagram shows the signaling of positioning and / or speed estimation based on downlink reference signals (such as PRS). Figure 1 UE 110, first radio network node 120, second radio network node 122 and LMF 132. Time passes from top to bottom.

[0053] In step 202, downlink positioning may be performed using conventional methods (UE capabilities, LTE Positioning Protocol LPP, NR Positioning Protocol A NRPPa). In step 204, LMF 132 may determine a reference signal configuration of at least one reference signal (such as a PRS) to be received by UE 110 at least from radio network node 120 for positioning and / or velocity estimation of UE 110. The reference signal configuration may indicate power muting of at least one inner resource block of a plurality of resource blocks allocated by LMF 132 to at least one reference signal in the frequency domain, and power boosting of at least two edge resource blocks of the plurality of resource blocks.

[0054] The power muting indicated in the reference signal configuration may include full muting or partial muting of at least one inner resource block. In the case of full muting, each inner resource in the at least one inner resource block may be zeroed, i.e., the power may be set to zero. In the case of partial muting, power backoff may be used, i.e., the power of each inner resource block in the at least one inner resource block may be reduced but not set to zero. In some example embodiments, the power backoff of some inner resource blocks may be different from the power backoff of other inner resource blocks. Power boosting may include increasing the power of each edge resource block in at least two edge resource blocks, possibly in proportion to the power muting of the inner resource blocks, to maintain the overall transmission power.

[0055] The number of inner and edge resource blocks can be calculated based on the desired trade-off accuracy between range / position and speed detection. Increasing the number of muted resource blocks (i.e., reducing the number of edge resource blocks) reduces the side lobes of the speed profile while increasing the side lobes of the range profile. Thus, speed detection and estimation are improved at the expense of reduced performance of range / position estimation.

[0056] In steps 206 and 208, the LMF 132 may send a reference signal configuration to the first radio network node 120 and the second radio network node 122, respectively. The LMF 132 may indicate the number of internal and / or edge PRBs, and power muting for internal PRBs and / or power boosting for edge PRBs, for example, via NRPPa. Then, a reference signal waveform may be generated at the radio network nodes 120 and 122 based on the positioning requirements.

[0057] At steps 210 and 212, the first radio network node 120 and the second radio network node 122 may respectively send at least one reference signal to the UE 110. The at least one reference signal may be sent according to a reference signal configuration.

[0058] UE 110 may have two options to reconstruct the transmitted reference signal waveform. A first option may be that, at step 214, UE 110 uses a signal energy detector to determine the number of edge and internal resource blocks, which may then be used to determine the power boost, assuming that the total transmission power is preserved. That is, UE 110 may determine the reference signal configuration based on at least one received reference signal. The power boost information may be used to reconstruct the transmitted reference signal waveform locally at UE 110. A second option may be that, at step 216, LMF 132 indicates to UE 110 the number of edge and / or internal resource blocks, their locations, and power muting and / or boost parameters. That is, UE 110 may receive the reference signal configuration from the first radio network node 120. Using the second option, UE 110 may save power resources at the expense of additional signaling compared to the first option.

[0059] After step 214 or step 216, UE 110 may determine the number of at least one inner resource blocks, the number of at least two edge resource blocks, and further determine a power boost for the at least two edge resource blocks based on the number of at least one inner resource blocks, the number of at least two edge resource blocks, and the amount of power muting for the at least one inner resource block. In some example embodiments, the power boost may be calculated such that the total transmit power remains unchanged (i.e., the total transmit power is preserved).

[0060] At step 218, UE 110 may estimate its position and / or velocity based on at least one reference signal. For example, UE 110 may perform UE-based positioning or radar processing using the reconstructed transmitted reference signal waveform and the received waveform to obtain a range-speed map corresponding to UE 110 or an environmental target. UE 110 may then report back to LMF 132 information about its own position and velocity, or about the position and velocity of a detected target.

[0061] Depending on the information received from UE 110, LMF 132 may choose to modify the number of inner and / or edge resource blocks, and / or power boost, depending on the desired tradeoff between position and speed estimation. The process may then be repeated. For example, if the speed of the target is well detected, LMF 132 may reduce the number of inner resource blocks and / or reduce muting / boosting to make the reference signal spectrum as flat as possible, thereby also detecting the distance of the target, thereby helping to track a target with a specific speed.

[0062] Figure 3 A second signaling diagram is illustrated according to at least some example embodiments. Figure 3 The diagram shows the signaling for uplink reference signals (such as SRS). Figure 1 UE 110, first radio network node 120, second radio network node 122 and LMF 132. Time advances from top to bottom.

[0063] At step 302, uplink positioning may be performed using conventional methods (UE capabilities, LPP, NRPPa). At step 304, LMF 132 may determine a reference signal configuration of at least one reference signal (such as a PRS) to be transmitted by UE 110 for positioning and / or velocity estimation of UE 110. The reference signal configuration may indicate power muting of at least one inner resource block of a plurality of resource blocks allocated to at least one reference signal in the frequency domain, and / or power boosting of at least two edge resource blocks of the plurality of resource blocks. The number of inner and edge resource blocks may be in the same order as Figure 2 The calculation is performed in the same manner as step 204.

[0064] At step 306, the LMF 132 may send a reference signal configuration to the UE 110, the first radio network node 120, and / or the second radio network node 122. The LMF 132 may indicate the number of inner and / or edge PRBs, and power muting parameters for the inner PRBs and / or power boosting parameters for the edge PRBs to the first radio network node 120 and the second radio network node 122 via NRPPa. The LMF 132 may indicate the number of inner and / or edge PRBs, and power muting and / or boosting parameters to the UE 110 via LPP.

[0065] There may be two options for determining the power boost of edge PRBs. A first option may be that, at step 308, the first radio network node 120 determines the power muting / boosting based on the reference signal configuration received from the LMF 132. Then, at step 310, the first radio network node 120 may send the reference signal configuration to the UE 110. The UE 110 may thus receive the reference signal configuration from the first radio network node 120 and send at least one reference signal according to the received reference signal configuration.

[0066] A second option may be that, at step 312, the UE 110 determines power muting for the internal PRBs and / or power boosting for the edge PRBs based on the reference signal configuration received by the LMF 132 and possibly based on its own capabilities. For example, the first radio network node 120 may send a muting / boosting pattern to the UE 110, and the UE 110 may determine the reference signal configuration based on the muting / boosting pattern. The UE 110 may then send at least one reference signal according to the determined reference signal configuration. The muting pattern may include: each resource block or a group of resource blocks having a binary string of one bit, such as a "1" value = power muting / zeroing of the corresponding resource block or a group of resource blocks; a "0" value = power muting / zeroing of the corresponding resource block or a group of resource blocks. For example, if the reference signal includes 12 resource blocks and there are 4 internal resource blocks to be muted, the muting pattern may be "000011110000". Alternatively, the first radio network node 120 may send a boosting pattern to the UE 110, and the UE 110 may determine the reference signal configuration based on the boosting pattern. Still for example, if the reference signal includes 12 resource blocks and there are 4 edge resource blocks to be boosted, the boosting pattern may be "110000000011".

[0067] At steps 314 and 316, UE 110 may send at least one reference signal to radio network nodes 120 and 122, respectively. At step 318, network-based position and / or velocity estimation may be performed based on the at least one reference signal. For example, LMF 132 may perform network-based positioning or radar processing based on information received from first radio network node 120 and second radio network node 122 to obtain a range-velocity map corresponding to UE 110 or an environmental target. LMF 132 may then perform the network-based positioning or radar processing based on information received from first radio network node 120 and second radio network node 122 to obtain a range-velocity map corresponding to UE 110 or an environmental target. Figure 2 The same actions are performed in the case of the example.

[0068] Figure 4 Resource blocks according to at least some example embodiments are illustrated. The resource blocks shown may be resource blocks for reference signals (such as PRS or SRS). According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the frequency domain symbols of the transmitted resource blocks may be modified. The resource blocks may have a comb size of 2, and 12 orthogonal frequency division multiplexing OFDM symbols may be used.

[0069] Depending on the required range / position and velocity resolution, the total number of subcarriers and OFDM symbols may be defined, which may result in multiple resource blocks for reference signal transmission. Muting is applied in the frequency domain such that the inner resource blocks are muted / empty. Frequency domain muting may be used to provide a better estimate of the velocity of the UE 110 or the velocity of the target.

[0070] Figure 5 Frequency muting is illustrated in accordance with at least some example embodiments. Figure 5 , the entire resource block set (such as PRB) in the frequency domain is represented by 510, the edge resource blocks are represented by 520, and the inner resource blocks are represented by 530.

[0071] The inner resource blocks 530 may be partially or completely muted. The total available transmission power may be evenly distributed between the two edge resource block sets 520. Thus, compared to a reference signal having uniform power distribution along all resource blocks, the edge resource blocks 520 have higher power at the edge of the allocated bandwidth, while the inner resource blocks 530 located at the center of the allocated bandwidth have lower power or no power at all. The inner resource blocks 530 may be zeroed, while the edge resource blocks 520 may be appropriately scaled by real-valued numbers. Thus, power boost allocation is feasible.

[0072] like Figure 5 As shown in , at least one inner resource block 530 may be located between a first edge resource block set 520 (e.g., on the left) and a second edge resource block set 520 (e.g., on the right). In this case, at least one inner resource block 530 may be referred to as a center resource block. Thus, muting / zeroing and power boosting may be symmetrical.

[0073] Alternatively, asymmetric muting / nulling and power boosting may be used. For example, the muting pattern may be "0000 0011 1100" with 12 resource blocks. For the symmetric case, the transmission power may be reallocated to some predefined / preconfigured number of edge resource blocks 520.

[0074] Figure 6 An example apparatus capable of supporting at least some example embodiments is illustrated. Illustrated is a device 600, which may be included in, for example, a UE 110 or a LMF 132. A processor 610 is included in the device 600, which may include, for example, a single-core or multi-core processor, wherein a single-core processor includes one processing core and a multi-core processor includes more than one processing core. The processor 610 may generally include a control device. The processor 610 may include more than one processor. The processor 610 may be a control device. The processor 610 may include at least one application-specific integrated circuit ASIC. The processor 610 may include at least one field programmable gate array FPGA. The processor 610 may include at least one Qualcomm Snapdragon and / or Intel Atom processor. The processor 610 may include, for example, a Cortex-A8 processing core manufactured by ARM Holdings or a Steamroller processing core produced by AMD Semiconductor. The processor 610 may be a component for executing method steps (such as determining, causing transmission, and causing reception) in the device 600. The processor 610 may be configured at least in part by computer instructions to perform actions.

[0075] The processor may include, or be constructed as, a circuit system, or one or more circuit systems configured to perform the various stages of the method according to the example embodiments described herein. As used in this application, the term "circuitry" may refer to one or more or all of the following: (a) hardware circuit implementations only, such as implementations in analog and / or digital circuit systems only, and (b) combinations of hardware circuits and software, such as, as applicable: (i) a combination of (multiple) analog and / or digital hardware circuits with software / firmware, and (ii) any portion of (multiple) hardware processors (including (multiple) digital signal processors), software, and (multiple) memories with software, which work together to enable the device (such as a network function) to perform various functions, and (c) (multiple) hardware circuits and / or (multiple) processors, such as (multiple) microprocessors or portions of (multiple) microprocessors, which require software (e.g., firmware) to operate, but the software may not be present when it is not required to operate.

[0076] This definition of circuitry applies to all uses of the term in this application, including in any claims. As a further example, as used in this application, the term circuitry also covers an implementation of only a hardware circuit or processor (or multiple processors) or a portion of a hardware circuit or processor and its (or their) accompanying software and / or firmware. For example, if applicable to a particular claim element, the term circuitry also covers a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device, or a similar integrated circuit in a server, cellular network device, or other computing or network device.

[0077] Device 600 may include memory 620. Memory 620 may include random access memory and / or permanent memory. Memory 620 may include at least one RAM chip. Memory 620 may include, for example, solid-state, magnetic, optical and / or holographic memory. Memory 620 may be at least partially accessible by processor 610. Memory 620 may be at least partially included in processor 610. Memory 620 may be a component for storing information. Memory 620 may include computer instructions that processor 610 is configured to execute. When computer instructions configured to cause processor 610 to perform certain actions are stored in memory 620, and device 600 as a whole is configured to run under the guidance of processor 610 using computer instructions from memory 620, processor 610 and / or at least one of its processing cores may be considered to be configured to perform certain actions described above. Memory 620 may be at least partially included in processor 610. Memory 620 may be at least partially located outside device 600, but device 600 may access memory 620.

[0078] The device 600 may include a transmitter 630. The device 600 may include a receiver 440. The transmitter 630 and the receiver 640 may be configured to transmit and receive information, respectively, according to at least one cellular or non-cellular standard. The transmitter 630 may include more than one transmitter. The receiver 640 may include more than one receiver. For example, the transmitter 630 and / or the receiver 640 may be configured to operate according to the Global System for Mobile Communications GSM, Wideband Code Division Multiple Access WCDMA, Long Term Evolution LTE, and / or 5G / NR standards.

[0079] The device 600 may include a near field communication NFC transceiver 650. The NFC transceiver 650 may support at least one NFC technology, such as Bluetooth, Wibree, or similar technology.

[0080] The device 600 may include a user interface UI 660. The UI 660 may include at least one of a display, a keyboard, a touch screen, a vibrator arranged to send a signal to the user by vibrating the device 600, a speaker, and a microphone. The user may be able to operate the device 600 via the UI 660, such as accepting an incoming call, making a phone call or a video call, browsing the Internet, managing digital files stored in the memory 620, or on a cloud accessible via the transmitter 630 and the receiver 640, or via the NFC transceiver 650, and / or playing games.

[0081] The device 600 may include or be arranged to accept a user identity module 670. The user identity module 670 may include, for example, a subscriber identity module SIM card that may be installed in the device 600. The user identity module 670 may include information identifying a subscription of a user of the device 600. The user identity module 670 may include cryptographic information that may be used to verify the identity of the user of the device 600 and / or facilitate encryption of communication information and billing of the user of the device 600 for communications achieved via the device 600.

[0082] The processor 610 may be equipped with a transmitter, which is arranged to output information from the processor 610 to other devices included in the device 600 via electrical conductors inside the device 600. Such a transmitter may include a serial bus transmitter, which is arranged to output information to the memory 620 for storage therein, for example, via at least one electrical conductor. As an alternative to the serial bus, the transmitter may include a parallel bus transmitter. Similarly, the processor 610 may include a receiver, which is arranged to receive information from other devices included in the device 600 in the processor 610 via electrical conductors inside the device 600. Such a receiver may include a serial bus receiver, which is arranged to receive information from the receiver 640, for example, via at least one electrical conductor for processing in the processor 610. As an alternative to the serial bus, the receiver may include a parallel bus receiver.

[0083] The device 600 may include Figure 6 Other devices not shown in the figure. For example, where the device 600 includes a smartphone, it may include at least one digital camera. Some devices 600 may include a rear camera or a front camera, wherein the rear camera may be used for digital photography and the front camera is used for video calls. The device 600 may include a fingerprint sensor arranged to at least partially authenticate a user of the device 600. In some embodiments, the device 600 lacks at least one of the above devices. For example, some devices 600 may lack an NFC transceiver 650 and / or a user identity module 670.

[0084] The processor 610, the memory 620, the transmitter 630, the receiver 640, the NFC transceiver 650, the UI 660 and / or the user identity module 670 may be interconnected in a variety of different ways via electrical conductors inside the device 600. For example, each of the above devices may be individually connected to a main bus inside the device 600 to allow the devices to exchange information. However, those skilled in the art will appreciate that this is just an example, and depending on the embodiment, various ways of interconnecting at least two of the above devices may be selected without departing from the scope of the embodiment.

[0085] Figure 7 1 is a flow chart of a first method according to at least some example embodiments. The various stages of the first method shown may be performed by UE 110.

[0086] In step 710, the first method may include: receiving or sending at least one reference signal, wherein the at least one reference signal is sent according to a reference signal configuration, and wherein the reference signal configuration indicates: power muting for at least one inner resource block among multiple resource blocks allocated to the at least one reference signal in the frequency domain, and power boosting for at least two edge resource blocks among the multiple resource blocks.

[0087] Figure 8 1 is a flow chart of a second method according to at least some example embodiments. The various stages of the second method shown may be performed by LMF 132.

[0088] At step 810, the second method may include: determining a reference signal configuration for at least one reference signal to be received or transmitted by a user equipment, wherein the reference signal configuration indicates: power muting of at least one inner resource block of a plurality of resource blocks allocated to the at least one reference signal in the frequency domain, and power boosting of at least two edge resource blocks of the plurality of resource blocks. At step 820, the second method may also include: transmitting the reference signal configuration.

[0089] It should be understood that the disclosed example embodiments are not limited to the specific structures, process steps or materials disclosed herein, but extend to their equivalents, as recognized by those skilled in the relevant art. It should also be understood that the terms used herein are only used to describe specific example embodiments and are not intended to be limiting.

[0090] References throughout this specification to an exemplary embodiment or exemplary embodiments mean that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in conjunction with the exemplary embodiments is included in at least one exemplary embodiment. Thus, the appearance of the phrase "in an exemplary embodiment" or "in an exemplary embodiment" in various places in this specification does not necessarily refer to the same exemplary embodiment. When terms such as approximately or substantially are used to refer to a value, the exact value is also disclosed.

[0091] As used herein, for convenience, multiple projects, structural elements, constituent elements and / or materials can be presented in a public list. However, these lists should be interpreted as, and each member in the list is individually identified as a separate and unique member. Therefore, in the absence of contrary instructions, any individual member in such a list should not be interpreted as the de facto equivalent of any other member in the same list based only on its existence in the public group. In addition, various exemplary embodiments and examples and alternatives of various components thereof can be referenced herein. It should be understood that such exemplary embodiments, examples and alternatives should not be interpreted as de facto equivalents to each other, but should be considered as separate and autonomous representations.

[0092] In an example embodiment, an apparatus (including, for example, UE 110 or LMF 132) may also include components for performing the above-described example embodiments and any combination thereof. The apparatus may be an apparatus of a cellular communication network (such as a 5G network) and include components for operating in a cellular communication network.

[0093] In an example embodiment, a computer program includes: instructions, when the program is executed by a computer, the instructions cause the computer to perform a method according to the above-described example embodiments and any combination thereof. In an example embodiment, a computer program product embodied on a non-transitory computer-readable medium can be configured to control a processor to perform a process including the above-described example embodiments and any combination thereof. The term "non-transitory" as used herein is a limitation on the medium itself (i.e., tangible, not a signal), not a limitation on data storage persistence (e.g., RAM vs. ROM).

[0094] In an example embodiment, the device (including, for example, UE 110 or LMF 132) may also include at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions, which, when executed by the at least one processor, causes the device to perform at least the above-described example embodiments and any combination thereof. The device may be a device of a cellular communication network (such as a 5G network) and is configured to operate in the cellular communication network.

[0095] In addition, the described features, structures or characteristics can be combined in any suitable manner in one or more exemplary embodiments. In the foregoing description, many specific details, such as examples of length, width, shape, etc., are provided to provide a thorough understanding of the exemplary embodiments of the present invention. However, those skilled in the relevant art will recognize that the present invention can be practiced without one or more specific details, or practiced using other methods, components, materials, etc. In other cases, in order to avoid obscuring various aspects of the present invention, known structures, materials or operations are not shown or described in detail.

[0096] Although the above examples illustrate the principles of the exemplary embodiments in one or more specific applications, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that many modifications may be made to the form, usage and implementation details without exercising creative ability and without departing from the principles and concepts of the invention. Therefore, the present invention is not limited except as set forth in the following claims.

[0097] In this document, the verbs "comprise" and "include" are used as open limitations, neither excluding nor requiring the presence of unreferenced features. Unless otherwise expressly stated, the features recorded in the dependent claims can be freely combined with each other. In addition, it should be understood that the use of "one" or "an" (i.e., singular form) in this document does not exclude plural. As used herein, "at least one of the following: " and "at least one of " and similar wordings (wherein a list of two or more elements is connected by "and" or "or") refer to at least any one of these elements, or at least any two or more of these elements, or at least all of these elements.

[0098] Industrial Applicability

[0099] At least some example embodiments find industrial applications in cellular communication networks, such as 5G networks, and possibly other cellular communication networks in the future.

[0100] List of abbreviations

[0101] 3GPP Third Generation Partnership Project

[0102] AGV Automatic Guided Vehicle

[0103] BS Base Station

[0104] DAA Detection and Avoidance

[0105] GSM Global System for Mobile Communications

[0106] IoT

[0107] LMF Location Management Function

[0108] LPP LTE Positioning Protocol

[0109] LTE Long Term Evolution

[0110] M2M Machine to Machine

[0111] MAC Media Access Control

[0112] MTC Machine Type Communication

[0113] NFC Near Field Communication

[0114] NR New Radio

[0115] NRPPa NR Positioning Protocol A

[0116] OFDM Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing

[0117] PRS Positioning Reference Signal

[0118] RAT Radio Access Technology

[0119] RF

[0120] SRS Sounding Reference Signal

[0121] TRP Transmission Reception Point

[0122] UAV

[0123] UE User Equipment

[0124] UI User Interface

[0125] V2X Vehicle to Infrastructure

[0126] WCDMA Wideband Code Division Multiple Access

[0127] WiMAX Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access WLAN Wireless Local Area Network

[0128] Reference numerals list

[0129]

[0130]

Claims

1. A device for communication, comprising: at least one processor; as well as at least one memory storing instructions, which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least: At least one reference signal is received or sent, wherein the at least one reference signal is sent according to a reference signal configuration, and wherein the reference signal configuration indicates: power muting for at least one inner resource block of a plurality of resource blocks allocated to the at least one reference signal in the frequency domain, and power boosting for at least two edge resource blocks of the plurality of resource blocks.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the stored instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the apparatus to at least: receiving the at least one reference signal from a radio network node; determining the reference signal configuration based on the at least one reference signal received; as well as The reference signal configuration is received from a radio network node.

3. An apparatus according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the at least one reference signal is a positioning reference signal.

4. The apparatus of claim 2 or claim 3, wherein the stored instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the apparatus to at least: Based on the at least one reference signal, a position and / or a velocity of the device is estimated.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the stored instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the apparatus to at least: receiving the reference signal configuration from a radio network node; Sending the at least one reference signal according to the received reference signal configuration; determining the reference signal configuration based on a muting pattern received from a wireless network node and capabilities of the device; and The at least one reference signal is sent according to the determined reference signal configuration. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the at least one reference signal is a sounding reference signal.

7. The apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the stored instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the apparatus to at least: determining a number of the at least one inner resource block; and Based on the number of the at least one inner resource blocks, the power boost for the at least two edge resource blocks is determined.

8. The apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the resource blocks are physical resource blocks, and the power muting comprises: Complete muting or partial muting of the at least one inner resource block.

9. An apparatus for communication, comprising: at least one processor; as well as at least one memory storing instructions, which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least: determining a reference signal configuration for at least one reference signal to be received or sent by a user equipment, wherein the reference signal configuration indicates: power muting of at least one inner resource block of a plurality of resource blocks allocated to the at least one reference signal in the frequency domain, and power boosting of at least two edge resource blocks of the plurality of resource blocks; as well as The reference signal configuration is sent.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the stored instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the apparatus to at least: The number of the at least one inner resource block is determined based on a required trade-off between distance detection and speed detection of the user equipment.

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