Association mechanism for positioning using multiple terminal devices

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a terminal device, a network node, and a method for associating a plurality of terminal devices to enable positioning of a target by using the plurality of terminal devices. The method, at a first terminal device, for locating a target associated with a plurality of terminal devices including the first terminal device includes: obtaining an association with at least one second terminal device other than the first terminal device in the plurality of terminal devices; and positioning by using the associated data.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application claims priority to PCT International Application No. PCT / CN2022 / 126431, filed on October 20, 2022, entitled “IMPROVED TARGET POSITIONING BY USING MULTIPLE TERMINAL DEVICES,” and PCT International Application No. PCT / CN2023 / 089933, filed on April 21, 2023, entitled “ASSOCIATION MECHANISM FOR POSITIONING USING MULTIPLE TERMINAL DEVICES,” the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. Technical Field

[0002] The present disclosure relates to the field of telecommunications, and in particular, to a network node, a terminal device, and a method for associating a plurality of terminal devices to enable locating a target by using the plurality of terminal devices. Background Art

[0003] With the development of electronic and communication technology, mobile devices such as mobile phones, smart phones, laptops, tablet computers, car-mounted devices, etc. have become an important part of our daily life. One of the key features provided by mobile devices is location-based services (LBS). Due to the popularity of social networks and the widespread use of mobile devices, the demand for LBS is increasing in both indoor and outdoor environments.

[0004] Positioning may be performed with or without utilizing a cellular mobile communication network, such as a fourth generation (4G) Long Term Evolution (LTE) or a fifth generation (5G) New Radio (NR) network.

[0005] There are many positioning solutions that do not utilize cellular mobile communication networks (i.e., third-party solutions). For example, these solutions can utilize some combination of the following technologies: Wi-Fi fingerprint technology, ZigBee / Bluetooth fingerprint technology, geomagnetic fingerprint technology, inertial navigation, radio frequency identification (RFID), ultra-wideband (UWB) communication, visible light communication, ultrasound, infrared, map matching, etc.

[0006] For positioning solutions that utilize cellular mobile communication networks (i.e., cellular-based positioning), there are several traditional positioning methods in the 4G standard, and they can be naturally applied to 5G networks. Here, the following is a non-exhaustive list of technologies that vendors and operators currently have and may first use for positioning services.

[0007] - Enhanced Cell Identification (E-CID): E-CID provides a range of measurements for positioning purposes: Angle of Arrival / Departure (AoA / AoD), Received Signal Strength with Path Loss Model (RSSPLM), Timing Advance Type 1 (TADV1, essentially round trip time) or Type 2 (TADV2)

[0008] - Positioning based on "relative time difference" (or known as ranging-based positioning): Typically, this method involves observing the time difference of arrival or uplink time difference of arrival (OTDoA or UTDoA), which are respectively called downlink TDoA (DL-TDoA) or uplink TDoA (UL-TDoA) in the 5G standard. Both methods are multi-point positioning techniques based on relative timing measurements (DL-TDOA is based on DL reference signal time difference (RSTD), and ULTDoA is based on UL relative time of arrival (RTOA)). RSTD is the difference in the time of arrival (ToA) of an RS received from one transmission point and another RS ​​received from another (reference) transmission point. The conventional method for estimating ToA is to find the time delay at which the correlation between the RS and the received signal has a maximum value.

[0009] - Radio frequency (RF) pattern matching (or fingerprinting as it is also known) is commonly used for indoor positioning: this method requires a database of signal fingerprints associated with different geographical locations. Typically, the fingerprint of a location is associated with at least one signal measurement, such as received signal strength (RSS). The location of the positioning target is estimated by comparing the online measurements with a set of training samples at known locations. This method has some significant disadvantages, for example, the fingerprint characteristics of each location must be measured before the location is estimated, locations with similar fingerprint characteristics may be difficult to distinguish, and previously collected fingerprints may not remain accurate in dynamic environments.

[0010] - Assisted Global Navigation Satellite System (A-GNSS), commonly used for outdoor positioning: This method is used to significantly improve the startup performance of the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS). Specifically, this method provides the necessary information (e.g., almanac, ephemeris) to the user device via the cellular network instead of the slow satellite link, which essentially helps the GNSS receiver achieve a faster first fix time. The reason why A-GNSS is not used for indoor positioning is that in indoor scenarios, satellite signals are usually lost.

[0011] In addition, 5G introduces some new positioning methods, some of which are briefly summarized below.

[0012] - A new positioning method based on "Relative Time Difference": This method is based on multi-cell round trip time (multi-RTT) measurements. For the multi-RTT positioning method, after the gNB and the user equipment (UE) send the Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) in the downlink and the Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) in the uplink respectively, the UE reports the measurement results to the Location Management Function (LMF) and the gNB reports the measurement to the LMF. By doing so, the round trip time can be estimated, and thus the ToA of the one-way signal propagation between the UE and the gNB can be estimated. This method is robust to network time synchronization errors.

[0013] - Angle-based positioning: This method includes downlink angle of departure (DL-AoD) and uplink angle of arrival (UL-AoA), which are more relevant to the use of millimeter wave (mmWave) and multiple antennas in 5G NR. For the DL-AoD positioning method, the UE provides the PRS beam received signal received power (RSRP) measurement to the LMF, and the gNB provides the beam azimuth and elevation information to the LMF. For the UL-AoA positioning method, the UE position is estimated based on SRS AoA measurements made at different antenna reception points (ARPs) of the antenna array of the transmit / receive point (TRP) or at different TRPs. For the DL-AoD or UL-AoA methods, the LMF estimates the UE position by using the angle information and other configuration and deployment information such as the center location of the ARP (or the coordinates of the TRP) and the beam configuration details.

[0014] - Sensor measurements: There are different types of sensors that have been discussed previously in the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), and there is some support for providing measurements such as displacement readings from Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) sensors and air pressure sensors for calculating altitude to the location server (referred to as Location Management Function (LMF) in NR). There are other sensors such as light sensors, cameras, light detection and ranging (LiDar) sensors that will play an important role in providing rich information such as indoor / outdoor classification, 3D model of the surrounding environment, etc. Having this information for location estimation will be a gold mine. The use of these advanced sensors and further enhancements to the IMU sensor in reporting accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer readings will become an integral part of the next generation positioning solutions. Summary of the invention

[0015] In order to improve the positioning accuracy and integrity of cellular-based positioning, international patent application PCT / CN2022 / 126431 proposes an enhanced positioning solution by utilizing multiple UEs on the same target to be positioned. A brief introduction to the enhanced positioning solution is given below.

[0016] Consider the case where the target to be located (which may be a person or an object) carries two (or even more) 5G UEs, each of which may be a conventional 5G UE, or a RedCap (reduced capability) 5G UE, or a further simplified mMTC type UE. In practice, it is increasingly common for one person to carry two or more UEs. In addition, when it is necessary to locate a target, multiple UEs may be intentionally carried by the target, placed at the target, installed at the target, attached to the target, or otherwise co-located with the target, especially when the target is an object.

[0017] When using a positioning solution based on "relative time difference" (such as DL-TDoA / UL-TDoA / multi-RTT solution), the Each of the 5G UEs can generate RSTD when performing corresponding PRS / SRS ToA measurements. The RSTD generated by the PRS / SRS transmission between , then for each available , can be through The ToA measured by the 5G UE is appropriately “fused” to obtain .

[0018] Specifically, the three proposed fusion processing methods include:

[0019] 1) In Among the 5G UEs, if there is at least one "full line-of-sight path UE or full LOS path UE" (whose ToA measurements are all ToA measurements caused by the LOS path), it is recommended to select the ToA measurement of one of the "full LOS path UEs" as the output of the fusion processing. This approach can be regarded as giving priority to the ToA caused by LOS, where the priority granularity is UE.

[0020] 2) In Among the 5G UEs, if there is no "full LOS path UE", the main recommended fusion processing method is arithmetic averaging. Specifically, uniform averaging or weighted averaging can be performed, where the weight is designed based on the "path PRSRSRP".

[0021] 3) In order to cover all possible reasonable ways, the following ways can be considered as optional ways (which can be considered as giving priority to ToA caused by LOS, where the priority granularity is ToA):

[0022] 3.1) Using two 5G UEs as an example, if the ToA measured by the two UEs for PRS transmission from available access points includes a ToA caused by LOS and a ToA caused by non-line of sight (NLOS), the ToA from the considered access point to the target to be positioned is determined as the ToA caused by the LOS. This optional fusion processing method will only achieve performance gains when "the two 5G UEs are close enough" and "the ToA offset caused by NLOS is large enough".

[0023] 3.2) Using two 5G UEs as an example, if the ToA measured by the two UEs for PRS transmission from available access points includes two ToAs caused by LOS, the ToA from the considered access point to the target to be positioned is determined as the ToA caused by LOS with a larger LOS path PRS RSRP. This optional fusion processing method will only achieve performance gains when "the two 5G UEs are close enough".

[0024] Used to send signals with The way to associate relevant information between UEs:

[0025] Option 1: Only the association information is signaled from the location service (LCS) client to the LMF via the interface between the LCS client and the Gateway Mobile Location Center (GMLC), the interface between the GMLC and the Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), and the interface between the AMF and the LMF. The fusion processing of the ToA measured by multiple UEs is performed at the LMF, and the proposed multi-UE positioning scheme is transparent to the access point and the UE. Each of the UEs needs to feed back ToA measurements over the air interface.

[0026] Option 2: Based on Option 1 above, the association information is also signaled to the access point via the interface between the AMF and the access point. The ToAs measured by multiple UEs can be fused at the access point, and the proposed multi-UE positioning solution is transparent only to the UE. Each of the UEs still needs to feed back ToA measurement results over the air interface, but the number of ToA measurement results sent from the access points involved to the LMF is smaller.

[0027] Option 3: In addition to Option 2, the association information is also sent to the UE via a signal via the interface between the UE and its serving access point. The ToA measured by multiple UEs is fused at one of the UEs, where UE aggregation is used to enable other UEs to send their measurements to the selected one UE via the use of UE-UE interconnection (e.g., Wi-Fi, Bluetooth). One of the UEs needs to feed back the aggregated ToA measurement over the air interface.

[0028] In addition, a method for determining whether multiple UEs are actually carried by the target to be located is provided:

[0029] - When the target to be located is an object, One of the 5G UEs may be accidentally lost, although the probability of this happening is very small. When the target to be located is a person, the person may sometimes forget to bring Although the probability of such an event is low, it is necessary to design a method to determine An appropriate method to determine whether a UE is actually carried by the target to be located.

[0030] Using DL-TDoA as an example of the used “relative time difference” based positioning scheme, the designed method includes the following two steps:

[0031] Step 1: Check Whether the serving cell IDs of the two UEs are the same serving cell ID.

[0032] Step 2: After passing the check in step 1, check UE for "by this Whether the measured PRS RSRP of any given PRS resource "that can be received and measured by a UE" has a sufficiently small relative difference.

[0033] This method can be used to determine all Whether a 5G UE is actually carried by the target to be located.

[0034] There is still a need for further enhancements to the multi-UE positioning solution recently proposed in the international patent application PCT / CN2022 / 126431. For example, it will be studied and determined how to establish and maintain associations between multiple UEs. In addition, how to utilize multi-UE positioning.

[0035] In the above-mentioned international patent application, it is assumed that the association relationship between multiple UEs is determined after subscribing to the positioning service (as part of the external LCS client positioning request) and is available at the LCS client. Of course, each time before the start of an incoming positioning session, the actual association status will be checked via a carefully designed manner (i.e., the manner introduced above for determining whether multiple UEs are actually carried by the target). For the question of which network elements should know the information about the determined association relationship, three design options are further considered.

[0036] However, in order to have greater flexibility and convenience in practical applications, it makes sense to consider not determining the association relationship of multiple UEs after subscribing to the positioning service (the LCS client has requested positioning). In this case, the management of dynamic association relationships needs to be carefully designed accordingly.

[0037] In addition, it is still necessary to consider how to utilize the different capabilities that each device may have to improve positioning accuracy.

[0038] Therefore, in order to solve or at least alleviate at least one of the above problems, some embodiments of the present disclosure are provided.

[0039] According to a first aspect of the present disclosure, a method for locating a target associated with a plurality of terminal devices including the first terminal device is provided at a first terminal device. The method comprises: obtaining an association with at least one second terminal device other than the first terminal device among the plurality of terminal devices; and performing positioning using the association data.

[0040] In some embodiments, the method further comprises: sending a first message indicating the association data to the first network node. In some embodiments, the method further comprises: receiving a second message from the first network node indicating whether the association is successfully registered. In some embodiments, the association data indicates at least one public identifier (ID) of the association. In some embodiments, the first terminal device comprises a master terminal device. In some embodiments, the first message indicates at least one of the following: an identifier associated with the first terminal device; an identifier associated with at least one or each of the at least one second terminal device; a public identifier preconfigured for the association; and an indicator indicating that the first terminal device and the at least one second terminal device are associated for positioning.

[0041] In some embodiments, the second message further indicates at least one of the following: a temporary identifier assigned to the first terminal device; a temporary identifier assigned to each of the at least one second terminal device; and a public identifier assigned to the association. In some embodiments, the step of obtaining the association includes: attempting one or more rounds of associating the first terminal device with at least one of the plurality of terminal devices based on one or more factors, the one or more factors being obtained by at least one of the following: a preconfiguration at the first terminal device, and a dynamic configuration provided from a network node. In some embodiments, the one or more factors include at least one of the following: an identifier associated with the first terminal device; an identifier associated with at least one of the at least one second terminal device; an indicator indicating which of the first terminal device and / or the at least one second terminal device is the master terminal device; an identifier associated with the association; the number of terminal devices actually required to locate the target in the association; the order in which the first terminal device attempts to associate itself with the at least one second terminal device; whether the members in the association have the same ownership; whether the members in the association have the same synchronization reference source; whether the members in the association have the same group communication; the whether members in the association are registered to the same list; whether members in the association are logged in under the same identifier; whether members in the association have the same associated positioning request or measurement request; whether members in the association have the same associated positioning result; whether members in the association are quasi-co-located (QCL); and whether members in the association have a common timing correlation group; whether members in the association have a common ID associated with the association; for at least one type of radio measurement, whether members in the association have related measurement results close to each other within a range defined by one or more thresholds; whether members in the association have the same user or the same operator when the association is obtained. In some embodiments, the trying step is performed one by one for the multiple terminal devices in the order indicated by the one or more factors until the number indicated by the one or more factors is reached or association with all the multiple terminal devices has been attempted.

[0042] In some embodiments, the method further includes: in response to receiving the second message, sending a message indicating at least one content indicated by the second message to the at least one second terminal device to trigger the at least one second terminal device to report its positioning capability. In some embodiments, the method further includes: in response to determining that the association is successfully registered, sending a third message to the second network node, the third message indicating the positioning capability of the first terminal device or the positioning capability of both the first terminal device and the at least one second terminal device; and receiving a fourth message from the second network node, the fourth message indicating: positioning configuration for the first terminal device or the positioning configuration for both the first terminal device and the at least one second terminal device, and / or a measurement request. In some embodiments, the positioning configuration includes at least one of the following items: a configuration for positioning for a radio signal to be received; a configuration for positioning for a radio signal to be sent; and a configuration for positioning measurement.

[0043] In some embodiments, the third message indicates at least one of the following: a temporary identifier assigned to the first terminal device; a temporary identifier assigned to each of the at least one second terminal device; a common identifier assigned to the association; the number of terminal devices associated with each other for positioning; and a list of capabilities, one capability for each terminal device associated with each other for positioning. In some embodiments, when the fourth message indicates one or more positioning configurations for the first terminal device and the at least one second terminal device, the method further includes: in response to receiving the fourth message, sending a fifth message to the at least one second terminal device, respectively, the fifth message indicating at least one positioning configuration for the at least one second terminal device.

[0044] In some embodiments, the third message is sent to the second network node and the fourth message is received from the second network node without involving any of the at least one second terminal device, or the third message is sent to the second network node and the fourth message is received from the second network node via one or more of the at least one second terminal device. In some embodiments, the method further includes at least one of the following: performing one or more measurement-related operations for locating the target based at least on the positioning configuration for the first terminal device; sending a sixth message indicating one or more measurement results obtained by the first terminal device for locating the target to one of the at least one second terminal device; and receiving a sixth message indicating one or more measurement results obtained by the at least one second terminal device for locating the target from the at least one second terminal device.

[0045] In some embodiments, before the step of sending the third message, the method further includes: receiving a seventh message for requesting positioning of the target from one of the at least one second terminal device, and the step of sending the third message is performed in response to receiving the seventh message. In some embodiments, the method further includes: sending an eighth message to the second network node, the eighth message indicating a measurement result obtained by the first terminal device and / or the at least one second terminal device, or indicating a filtered measurement result derived by the first terminal device from the measurement result obtained by the first terminal device and / or the at least one second terminal device; and receiving a ninth message from the second network node, the ninth message indicating the positioning result of the target. In some embodiments, the eighth message is sent to the second network node and the ninth message is received from the second network node without involving any of the at least one second terminal device, or the eighth message is sent to the second network node and the ninth message is received from the second network node via one or more of the at least one second terminal device. In some embodiments, the measurement result indicated by the eighth message includes at least one of the following items: a list of one or more measurement results of arrival time (ToA); and a list of one or more measurement results of reference signal time difference (RSTD).

[0046] In some embodiments, the public identifier assigned to the association is at least one of: an identifier identifying the association; an identifier identifying the first terminal device; an identifier identifying one of the at least one second terminal devices; an identifier identifying the target; and a set of multiple identifiers associated with multiple terminal devices, the multiple terminal devices being associated with the same target and capable of performing different measurements for positioning. In some embodiments, the set of multiple identifiers includes at least one of: a temporary mobile subscription identifier (TMSI) associated with the first terminal device; at least one TMSI associated with the at least one second terminal device; a layer 2 side link identifier associated with the first terminal device; at least one layer 2 side link identifier associated with the at least one second terminal device; a Bluetooth identifier associated with the first terminal device; at least one Bluetooth identifier associated with the at least one second terminal device; a Wi-Fi identifier associated with the first terminal device; and a Wi-Fi identifier associated with the at least one second terminal device.

[0047] In some embodiments, the first terminal device is a master terminal device of the association. In some embodiments, the first terminal device is determined to be a master terminal device by at least one of the following: pre-configuration; dynamic configuration; and selection based on one or more predefined rules. In some embodiments, the one or more predefined rules include at least one of the following: the master terminal device has a minimum capability defined for the master terminal device; a primary cell (PCell) of the master terminal device is located in a specific carrier frequency or frequency range; the master terminal device is capable of communicating with the communication network to perform positioning services; the master terminal device belongs to a power class defined for the master terminal device; the master terminal device has the strongest reference signal received power (RSRP) in the association; the master terminal device has an RSRP at least above a threshold; the master terminal device has a line of sight (LOS) path to a radio access network (RAN) node included in the communication network; the master terminal device has the shortest timing measurement relative to the communication network in the association; and the master terminal device is not a reduced capability (RedCap) terminal device. In some embodiments, the master terminal device is capable of performing at least one of the following: taking action on behalf of the association to a node outside the association; performing at least one radio measurement configured for the association; sending at least one radio signal configured for the association; reporting radio measurements on behalf of the association; receiving requests for one or more radio measurements to be performed by members of the association on behalf of members in the association; forwarding auxiliary data to the at least one second terminal device; triggering the at least one second terminal device to perform positioning measurements; collecting radio measurements from the at least one second terminal device; acting as a synchronization reference to the at least one second terminal device; providing information about the association to another node outside the association; and notifying another node outside the association about changes to the association.

[0048] In some embodiments, the location of the master terminal device is used as a reference location for the at least one second terminal device. In some embodiments, the master terminal device is a quasi co-located (QCL) reference for the at least one second terminal device. In some embodiments, the method further comprises at least one of: associating with a new terminal device to allow the new terminal device to join the association; detecting a need to initiate a new round of association establishment; once the new terminal device has joined the association, reporting information about the updated association to the first network node; detecting that the terminal device leaves the association; and once the terminal device leaves the association, reporting information about the updated association to the first network node. In some embodiments, the first network node is an access and mobility management function (AMF) or a location management function (LMF), and / or the second network node is an LMF.

[0049] According to a second aspect of the present disclosure, a first terminal device is provided, comprising: a processor; and a memory storing instructions, which, when executed by the processor, enable the processor to execute any method according to the first aspect.

[0050] According to a third aspect of the present disclosure, a first terminal device is provided for locating a target associated with a plurality of terminal devices including the first terminal device. The first terminal device comprises: an acquisition module configured to obtain an association with at least one second terminal device other than the first terminal device among the plurality of terminal devices; and a use module configured to use the association data for positioning. In some embodiments, the terminal device may comprise one or more additional modules, each of which may perform any step of any method according to the first aspect.

[0051] According to a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, a method at a first network node is provided for facilitating a first terminal device to locate a target associated with a plurality of terminal devices including the first terminal device. The method comprises: receiving a first message from the first terminal device, the first message indicating association data for an association of the first terminal device with at least one second terminal device, the at least one second terminal device being from the plurality of terminal devices and different from the first terminal device; determining whether registration of the association is allowed; and sending a second message to the first terminal device based at least on the determination, the second message indicating whether the association is successfully registered.

[0052] In some embodiments, the association data indicates at least one public identifier (ID) of the association. In some embodiments, the first terminal device comprises a master terminal device. In some embodiments, the first message indicates at least one of the following: an identifier associated with the first terminal device; an identifier associated with at least one or each of the at least one second terminal device; a public identifier preconfigured for the association; and an indicator indicating that the first terminal device and the at least one second terminal device are associated for positioning. In some embodiments, the second message further indicates at least one of the following: a temporary identifier assigned to the first terminal device; a temporary identifier assigned to each of the at least one second terminal device; and a public identifier assigned to the association. In some embodiments, the method further comprises: sending a message indicating one or more factors to the first terminal device, the one or more factors being used to select one or more terminal devices to be associated with the first terminal device. In some embodiments, the one or more factors include at least one of the following: an identifier associated with the first terminal device; an identifier associated with at least one of the at least one second terminal device; an indicator indicating which of the first terminal device and / or the at least one second terminal device is a master terminal device; an identifier associated with the association; the number of terminal devices in the association actually required to locate the target; the order in which the first terminal device attempts to associate itself with the at least one second terminal device; whether members in the association have the same ownership; whether members in the association have the same synchronization reference source; whether members in the association have the same group communication; the Whether the members of the association are registered to the same list; whether the members of the association are logged in under the same identifier; whether the members of the association have the same associated positioning request or measurement request; whether the members of the association have the same associated positioning results; whether the members of the association are quasi-co-located (QCL); and whether the members of the association have a common timing related group; whether the members of the association have a common ID associated with the association; for at least one radio measurement type, whether the members of the association have related measurement results that are close to each other within a range defined by one or more thresholds; whether the members of the association have the same user or the same operator when the association is obtained.

[0053] In some embodiments, the first terminal device is a master terminal device of the association. In some embodiments, the method further comprises at least one of: receiving a report from the first terminal device indicating that a new terminal device has joined the association; and receiving a report from the first terminal device indicating that the terminal device has left the association. In some embodiments, the first network node is an access and mobility management function (AMF) and / or a location management function (LMF).

[0054] According to a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, a first network node is provided, comprising: a processor; and a memory storing instructions, wherein when the instructions are executed by the processor, the processor executes any method according to the fourth aspect.

[0055] According to a sixth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a first network node for facilitating a first terminal device to locate a target associated with a plurality of terminal devices including the first terminal device. The first network node comprises: a receiving module configured to receive a first message from the first terminal device, the first message indicating association data for an association of the first terminal device with at least one second terminal device, the at least one second terminal device being from the plurality of terminal devices and different from the first terminal device; a determining module configured to determine whether registration of the association is allowed; and a sending module configured to send a second message to the first terminal device based at least on the determination, the second message indicating whether the association is successfully registered. In some embodiments, the first network node may include one or more additional modules, each of which may perform any step of any method according to the fourth aspect.

[0056] According to a seventh aspect of the present disclosure, a method at a second network node is provided for facilitating a first terminal device to locate a target associated with a plurality of terminal devices including the first terminal device. The method comprises: receiving an eighth message from the first terminal device, the eighth message indicating a measurement result obtained by the first terminal device and / or at least one second terminal device, or indicating a filtered measurement result derived by the first terminal device from the measurement result obtained by the first terminal device and / or the at least one second terminal device, the at least one second terminal device being from the plurality of terminal devices and different from the first terminal device; determining a positioning result of the target based at least on the eighth message; and sending a ninth message indicating the positioning result of the target to the first terminal device.

[0057] In some embodiments, the eighth message is received from the first terminal device and the ninth message is sent to the first terminal device without involving any of the at least one second terminal device, or the eighth message is received from the first terminal device and the ninth message is sent to the first terminal device via one or more of the at least one second terminal device. In some embodiments, the measurement result indicated by the eighth message includes at least one of the following items: a list of one or more measurement results of arrival time (ToA); and a list of one or more measurement results of reference signal time difference (RSTD). In some embodiments, before the step of receiving the eighth message, the method further includes: receiving a third message from the first terminal device, the third message indicating the positioning capability of the first terminal device or the positioning capability of both the first terminal device and the at least one second terminal device; determining a positioning configuration for the first terminal device based at least on the positioning capability of the first terminal device, or determining a positioning configuration for the first terminal device and the at least one second terminal device based at least on the positioning capability of both the first terminal device and the at least one second terminal device; and sending a fourth message to the first terminal device and / or the at least one second terminal device, the fourth message indicating: a positioning configuration for the first terminal device or a positioning configuration for both the first terminal device and the at least one second terminal device, and / or a measurement request. In some embodiments, the positioning configuration includes at least one of the following: a configuration for positioning for radio signals to be received; a configuration for positioning for radio signals to be sent; and a configuration for positioning measurements. In some embodiments, the third message indicates at least one of the following: a temporary identifier assigned to the first terminal device; a temporary identifier assigned to each of the at least one second terminal device; a common identifier assigned to the association; the number of terminal devices for positioning associated with each other; and a list of capabilities, one capability for each terminal device for positioning associated with each other.

[0058] In some embodiments, the third message is received from the first terminal device and the fourth message is sent to the first terminal device and / or the at least one second terminal device without involving any of the at least one second terminal device, or the third message is received from the first terminal device and the fourth message is sent to the first terminal device and / or the at least one second terminal device via one or more of the at least one second terminal device.

[0059] In some embodiments, the public identifier assigned to the association is at least one of: an identifier identifying the association; an identifier identifying the first terminal device; an identifier identifying one of the at least one second terminal devices; an identifier identifying the target; and a set of multiple identifiers associated with multiple terminal devices, the multiple terminal devices being associated with the same target and capable of performing different measurements for positioning. In some embodiments, the set of multiple identifiers includes at least one of: a temporary mobile subscription identifier (TMSI) associated with the first terminal device; at least one TMSI associated with the at least one second terminal device; a layer 2 side link identifier associated with the first terminal device; at least one layer 2 side link identifier associated with the at least one second terminal device; a Bluetooth identifier associated with the first terminal device; at least one Bluetooth identifier associated with the at least one second terminal device; a Wi-Fi identifier associated with the first terminal device; and a Wi-Fi identifier associated with the at least one second terminal device.

[0060] In some embodiments, the first terminal device is a master terminal device for the association. In some embodiments, the method further comprises at least one of: receiving information about an updated association from the first terminal device once a new terminal device has joined the association; and receiving information about an updated association from the first terminal device once a terminal device has left the association. In some embodiments, the second network node is a location management function (LMF).

[0061] According to an eighth aspect of the present disclosure, a second network node is provided, comprising: a processor; and a memory storing instructions, wherein when the instructions are executed by the processor, the processor executes any method according to the seventh aspect.

[0062] According to the ninth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a second network node for facilitating a first terminal device to locate a target associated with a plurality of terminal devices including the first terminal device. The second network node comprises: a receiving module configured to receive an eighth message from the first terminal device, the eighth message indicating a measurement result obtained by the first terminal device and / or at least one second terminal device, or indicating a filtered measurement result derived by the first terminal device from the measurement result obtained by the first terminal device and / or the at least one second terminal device, the at least one second terminal device being from the plurality of terminal devices and different from the first terminal device; a determining module configured to determine the positioning result of the target based at least on the eighth message; and a sending module configured to send a ninth message indicating the positioning result of the target to the first terminal device. In some embodiments, the second network node may include one or more additional modules, each of which may perform any step of any method according to the seventh aspect.

[0063] According to a tenth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer program comprising instructions. When the instructions are executed by at least one processor, the at least one processor performs any method according to at least one of the first aspect, the fourth aspect and the seventh aspect.

[0064] According to an eleventh aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a carrier of a computer program comprising the tenth aspect. In some embodiments, the carrier may be one of an electrical signal, an optical signal, a radio signal or a computer-readable storage medium.

[0065] According to a twelfth aspect of the present disclosure, a telecommunication system is provided for locating a target associated with a plurality of terminal devices including a first terminal device. The telecommunication system includes the first terminal device, the first terminal device including: a processor; a memory storing instructions, the instructions, when executed by the processor, causing the processor to: obtain an association with at least one second terminal device other than the first terminal device among the plurality of terminal devices; and perform positioning using the association data.

[0066] In some embodiments, the telecommunications system also includes a first network node, which includes: a processor; a memory storing instructions, which when executed by the processor, causes the processor to: receive a first message from a first terminal device, the first message indicating association data for an association between the first terminal device and at least one second terminal device; determine whether registration of the association is allowed; and based at least on the determination, send a second message to the first terminal device, the second message indicating whether the association is successfully registered.

[0067] In some embodiments, the telecommunications system also includes a second network node, which includes: a processor; a memory, storing instructions, which when executed by the processor, cause the processor to: receive an eighth message from the first terminal device, the eighth message indicating a measurement result obtained by the first terminal device and / or at least one second terminal device, or indicating a filtered measurement result derived by the first terminal device from the measurement results obtained by the first terminal device and / or the at least one second terminal device; determine a positioning result of the target based at least on the eighth message; and send a ninth message to the first terminal device, the ninth message indicating the positioning result of the target.

[0068] In some embodiments, when the instructions stored by the memory of the first terminal device are executed by the processor of the first terminal device, the processor of the first terminal device performs any method according to the first aspect. In some embodiments, when the instructions stored by the memory of the first network node are executed by the processor of the first network node, the processor of the first network node performs any method according to the fourth aspect. In some embodiments, when the instructions stored by the memory of the second network node are executed by the processor of the second network node, the processor of the second network node performs any method according to the seventh aspect.

[0069] Through some embodiments of the present disclosure, more accurate positioning and higher integrity can be achieved. For example, when a mobile phone needs a positioning estimate and the phone is connected via sidelink / Bluetooth to other sensors such as a watch or wearable device (when (for example) compared to the phone, these sensors produce even better IMU results). In this case, measurements from multiple devices including the phone, watch and / or wearable device can be utilized.

[0070] In addition, through some embodiments of the present disclosure, an association can be established for other auxiliary devices with the primary phone. The LMF (also known as the location server) can be informed of the association and the different positioning capabilities. The location server can assign different or the same measurement requirements to the associated devices and combine the obtained measurement results to improve the positioning accuracy and integrity.

[0071] Furthermore, through some embodiments of the present disclosure, simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) may be achieved. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0072] According to the following description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the appended claims, the foregoing features and other features of the present disclosure will become more fully apparent. It should be understood that these drawings only depict several embodiments according to the present disclosure and therefore should not be considered to limit the scope of the present disclosure, which will be described with additional specificity and detail through the use of the drawings.

[0073] Figure 1 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary telecommunication network in which improved target positioning by using multiple terminal devices may be applied according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0074] Figure 2 is a flowchart showing an exemplary method for multi-terminal device assisted target positioning at a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0075] Figure 3 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method for multi-terminal device-assisted target positioning at a network node according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0076] Figure 4 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary process of locating a target by using a plurality of terminal devices according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0077] Figure 5 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method at a first terminal device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the method being used to locate targets associated with a plurality of terminal devices including the first terminal device.

[0078] Figure 6 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method at a first network node according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the method being used to facilitate a first terminal device to locate a target associated with a plurality of terminal devices including the first terminal device.

[0079] Figure 7 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method at a second network node according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the method being used to facilitate a first terminal device to locate a target associated with a plurality of terminal devices including the first terminal device.

[0080] Figure 8 An embodiment of an arrangement which may be used in a terminal device or a network node according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is schematically illustrated.

[0081] Fig. 9 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary terminal device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0082] Fig.10 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary first network node according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0083] Fig.11 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary second network node according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0084] Fig.12 An example of a communication system according to some embodiments of the present disclosure is shown.

[0085] Fig.13 An exemplary UE according to some embodiments of the present disclosure is shown.

[0086] Fig.14 An exemplary network node according to some embodiments of the present disclosure is shown.

[0087] Fig.15 is a block diagram of an exemplary host according to various aspects described herein, which may be Fig.12 An embodiment of a host.

[0088] Fig.16is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary virtualization environment in which functionality implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized.

[0089] Fig.17 A communication diagram illustrating an exemplary host communicating with an exemplary UE via an exemplary network node over a partially wireless connection in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0090] The present disclosure is described below with reference to the embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings. However, it should be understood that these descriptions are provided only for illustrative purposes and are not intended to limit the present disclosure. In addition, the description of known structures and technologies is omitted below to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the concept of the present disclosure.

[0091] Those skilled in the art will understand that the term "exemplary" is used herein to mean "illustrative" or "used as an example," and is not intended to imply that a particular embodiment is superior to another embodiment or that a particular feature is essential. Likewise, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, the terms "first" and "second," and similar terms are used only to distinguish one particular instance of an item or feature from another particular instance, without indicating a particular order or arrangement. Furthermore, as used herein, the term "step" is intended to be synonymous with "operation" or "action." Unless the context or details of the operations being described clearly indicate otherwise, any description herein of a sequence of steps does not imply that the operations must be performed in a particular order, or even that the operations are performed in any order.

[0092] Unless expressly limited herein or understood from the context, conditional language used herein (e.g., "can," "may," "likely," "for example," etc.) is generally intended to convey that some embodiments include some features, elements, and / or states while other embodiments do not include the features, elements, and / or states. Therefore, such conditional language is generally not intended to imply that features, elements, and / or steps are necessary for one or more embodiments in any case, or to imply that one or more embodiments must include logic circuits to determine whether to include these features, elements, and / or states in any particular embodiment with or without author input or authorization, or to perform the features, elements, and / or states in any particular embodiment. In addition, the term "or" is used as an inclusive meaning (and not an exclusive meaning), so that when used, for example, to connect a list of elements, the term "or" represents one, a part, or all of the elements in the list. In addition, in addition to having its ordinary meaning, the term "each" used herein may also mean any subset of the set of elements to which the term "each" is applied.

[0093] The term "based on" should be interpreted as "based at least in part on". The terms "one embodiment" and "embodiment" should be interpreted as "at least one embodiment". The term "another embodiment" should be interpreted as "at least one other embodiment". The following may include other definitions, both explicit and implicit. In addition, unless otherwise explicitly limited herein, statements such as phrases "at least one of X, Y, and Z" should be understood in conjunction with the context as generally used to express that an item, term, etc. can be X, Y, or Z, or a combination thereof.

[0094] The terms used herein are only used for the purpose of describing specific embodiments and are not intended to limit the exemplary embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms "one", "an" and "the" are intended to include plural forms unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will also be understood that when used in this article, the words "comprising", "having", "including" indicate the existence of stated features, elements and / or components, etc., but do not exclude the existence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components and / or combinations thereof. It will also be understood that: unless clearly stated to the contrary, when used in this article, the terms "connect", "connected to", "connected to", etc. only mean that there is an electrical connection or communication connection between two elements and they can be directly or indirectly connected.

[0095] Of course, without departing from the scope and essential features of the present disclosure, the present disclosure may be implemented in other specific ways different from those set forth herein. One or more specific processes discussed below may be performed in any electronic device including one or more appropriately configured processing circuits, which in some embodiments may be embodied in one or more application specific integrated circuits (ASICs). In some embodiments, these processing circuits may include one or more microprocessors, microcontrollers, and / or digital signal processors programmed with appropriate software and / or firmware to implement one or more of the above-mentioned operations and variations thereof. In some embodiments, these processing circuits may include custom hardware that performs one or more of the above-mentioned functions. The proposed embodiments are therefore to be considered illustrative rather than restrictive in all respects.

[0096] Although several embodiments of the present disclosure will be shown in the drawings and described in the following detailed description, it will be understood that the disclosure is not limited to the disclosed embodiments, but is also capable of various rearrangements, modifications and substitutions without departing from the present disclosure as will be set forth and defined in the appended claims.

[0097] In addition, please note that although the following description of some embodiments of the present disclosure is given in the context of 5G New Radio (5G NR), the present disclosure is not limited thereto. In fact, as long as it involves an association mechanism for positioning using multiple terminal devices, the inventive concept of the present disclosure can be applied to any appropriate communication architecture, for example, it can be applied to Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) / General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Wideband CDMA (WCDMA), Time Division Synchronous CDMA (TD-SCDMA), CDMA2000, Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi), Long Term Evolution (LTE), future 6G systems, etc. Therefore, it can be easily understood by those skilled in the art that the terms used herein can also refer to their equivalent terms in any other infrastructure. For example, the term "terminal device" used in this article can refer to UE, mobile device, mobile terminal, mobile station, user equipment, user terminal, wireless device, wireless terminal, IoT device, vehicle, or any other equivalent. For another example, the term "network node" used herein may refer to a base station, a base transceiver station, an access point, a hotspot, a Node B (NB), an evolved Node B (eNB), a gNB, a DoT, a network element, a network function, or any other equivalent. In addition, hereinafter, the terms "syncretize", "fuse", "combine", and "filter" may be used interchangeably. In addition, hereinafter, the terms "group" and "associate" may be used interchangeably. In addition, hereinafter, the terms "plurality", "several", "more than one", "two or more", and "at least two" may be used interchangeably.

[0098] In addition, the following 3GPP documents are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety:

[0099] - 3GPP TS 23.273 V18.0.0 (2022-12), Technical Specification, 3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Services and System Aspects; 5G System (5GS) Location Services (LCS); Stage 2 (Release 18); and

[0100] - 3GPP TS 38.305 V17.4.0 (2023-03), Technical Specification, 3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NG Radio Access Network (NG-RAN); Stage 2 Functional Specification for User Equipment (UE) Positioning in NG-RAN (Release 17).

[0101] In addition, the following publications are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety:

[0102] - Satyam Dwivedi, Ritesh Shreevastav, Florent Munier, Johannes Nygren, Iana Siomina, et al., “Positioning in 5G Networks,” IEEE Communications Magazine, vol. 59, No. 11, pp. 38-44, Nov. 2021.

[0103] As described above, the management of the dynamic association relationship between multiple terminal devices (eg, multiple UEs) associated with the same target to be positioned needs to be carefully designed accordingly. In addition, in terms of improving positioning accuracy, it is still necessary to consider how to utilize the different capabilities that each device may have.

[0104] Thus, in some embodiments, a common ID may be associated with an association of a group or multiple terminal devices. It may be used (for example, by a UE associated with the group) to indicate the association of the UE with the group during a positioning session and / or in communications with any node outside the group (other UEs or network nodes). In some embodiments, the common ID may be a group ID. In some embodiments, the common ID may be an ID of one of the UEs included in the group / association. In some embodiments, the common ID may be a positioning target ID. In some embodiments, the common ID may be used to represent a group of UEs during a positioning session. In some embodiments, the common ID may also be a collection of multiple UE / device IDs associated with a user (e.g., a person), and different measurements that may be used for positioning may be performed. In some embodiments, this may be done, for example, via Figure 1 Any interface in the positioning session signals a common ID between different nodes involved in the positioning session. In some embodiments, there may be measurements associated with groups and / or group characteristics that are signaled together with the ID.

[0105] In some embodiments, if each device is equipped with a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card, the group ID may consist of a number of respective Temporary Mobile Subscription Identities (TMSIs) that each UE will have (a temporary identifier that each UE will obtain after registering with the AMF). If the device is not equipped with a SIM card, the ID may be a layer 2 ID from the side link (PC5) or a Bluetooth ID or a Wi-Fi association ID, etc.

[0106] In some embodiments, a group of UEs may include a master UE, which may also be referred to as a primary UE, an anchor UE, etc. In some embodiments, the master UE may be pre-configured, may be dynamically configured, and / or may be selected based on predefined rules, etc. In some embodiments, the master UE may have at least one group responsibility. In some embodiments, the master UE may also act on behalf of other UEs in the group to nodes outside the group, for example, sending measurements and other data associated with the group and / or group characteristics according to the master UE responsibility (see more examples below).

[0107] In some embodiments, combinations of one or more of the above embodiments are also possible.

[0108] In addition, in order to solve or at least partially alleviate the above problems, some example solutions according to some embodiments of the present disclosure built on the above proposals are briefly summarized below:

[0109] For the newly considered design option of not determining the association relationship between multiple UEs after subscribing to the positioning service, one of the multiple UEs in the group can be configured as the master UE, and it can be responsible for: i) initiating and maintaining the association relationship that may change via UE-UE interconnection; and ii) reporting the dynamic changes of the association relationship (including newly occurred association and newly occurred separation) to the LMF.

[0110] This option can make the implementation of multiple UE positioning solutions more flexible and convenient. For this option, a well-designed mechanism for managing dynamic association relationships is provided.

[0111] Figure 1 1 is a diagram showing an exemplary telecommunication system 10 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, in which improved target positioning by using multiple terminal devices can be applied. Although the telecommunication system 10 is a system defined in the context of 5GS, the present disclosure is not limited thereto. Figure 1 As shown, the system 10 may include one or more UEs 100, a radio access network (RAN) 105, and some network nodes / functions related to positioning.

[0112] In some embodiments, the RAN 105 may be a Next Generation RAN (NG-RAN). However, the present disclosure is not limited thereto. In some other embodiments, the RAN 105 may be an Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) or a RAN based on another RAT. Figure 1, the NG-RAN 105 may include one or more RAN nodes (such as gNB 105-1 and NG-eNB 105-2), which may provide access to the UE 100 based on one or more radio access technologies (RATs). For example, the gNB 105-1 may provide NR access to the UE 100, and the NG-eNB 105-2 may provide the Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) to the UE 100. The RAN 105 may be involved in processing various positioning procedures, including positioning of a target UE, providing location-related information that is not associated with a specific target UE, and transmitting positioning messages between the AMF or LMF and the target UE. The RAN 105 may support determining a position estimate in geographic coordinates and / or local coordinates.

[0113] In addition, if Figure 1 As shown, the system 10 may also include one or more network nodes, such as AMF 110, GMLC 115, LCS client 120, LMF 125, and enhanced service mobile location center (E-SMLC) 130. Please note that the present disclosure is not limited thereto. In some other embodiments, the system 10 may include more nodes, fewer nodes, or may be able to replace Figure 1 Different nodes of the nodes shown.

[0114] In some embodiments, for all types of location requests, the AMF 110 may include functionality responsible for managing the positioning of the target UE. The AMF 110 may access the GMLC 115 via the Namf interface, the RAN 105 via the N2 or NG-C reference point, and the UE 100 via the N1 reference point (which is enabled by the NG-C and NR-Uu / LTE-Uu reference points).

[0115] In some embodiments, the LMF 125 may manage the overall coordination and scheduling of resources required for positioning of a UE that is registered with or accessing a 5G core network (CN). It may also calculate or verify the final position and any velocity estimate, and may estimate the accuracy achieved. The LMF 125 may receive a location request for a target UE (e.g., UE 100) from a serving AMF 110 using an Nlmf interface. The LMF 125 may interact with the UE 100 to exchange location information applicable to UE-assisted and UE-based positioning methods, and may interact with the NG-RAN 105 to obtain location information.

[0116] In some embodiments, LMF 125 can determine the positioning result in geographic coordinates and / or local coordinates. If requested and if available, the positioning result may also include the speed of UE 100. When receiving a location request, LMF 125 can determine the coordinate type based on the LCS client type and the supported geographic area description (GAD) shape. If the location request indicates a regulatory LCS client type, LMF 125 can determine the geographic location and optionally the location in local coordinates. For location requests that indicate the value of adding the LCS client type, LMF 125 can determine the UE position in local coordinates or in geographic coordinates or both. If the supported GAD shape is not received or the supported GAD shape does not include local coordinates, LMF 125 can determine the geographic location.

[0117] In some embodiments, the GMLC 115 may include the functionality required to support LCS. In one public land mobile network (PLMN), there may be more than one GMLC 115. The GMLC 115 may be the first node accessed by an external LCS client (e.g., LCS client 120) in the PLMN (i.e., the GMLC 115 supports the Le reference point). The application function (AF) and the network function (NF) may access the GMLC 115 directly or via the network development function (NEF). The GMLC 115 may request routing information and / or target UE privacy information from the UDM via the Nudm interface. After performing authorization of the external LCS client or AF and verifying the target UE privacy, the GMLC 115 may forward the location request to the serving AMF (e.g., AMF 110) using the Namf interface, or forward the location request to the GMLC in another PLMN using the Ngmlc interface in the case of a roaming UE.

[0118] In some embodiments, the AF and NF as LCS clients 120 can access LCS services from the GMLC 115 in the same trust domain (e.g., the same PLMN) using the Ngmlc interface, or access event exposure (Event Exposure) with location information from the AMF 110 in the same trust domain using the Namf interface. The LCS client 120 can access LCS services from the GMLC 115 using the Le reference point. In addition, the external AF can access LCS services from the NEF using the Nnef interface or the Common Application Programming Interface (API) Framework (CAPIF) for Northbound APIs. In addition, when the UE is able to determine a location estimate, the LCS client 120 can access the LCS services from the UE (e.g., UE 100) through a user plane connection so that the UE reports location events for periodic or triggered 5G Core Mobile Terminated Location Requests (5GC-MT-LR).

[0119] In some embodiments, the system 10 may further include a UDM. In some embodiments, the UDM may include an LCS subscriber LCS privacy profile and routing information. The UDM may be accessible from the AMF 110, GMLC 115, or NEF via a Nudm interface. The UDM may also include an indication of whether a UE (e.g., UE 100) is allowed to act as a PRU that is part of the UE subscription data. In addition, the UDM may also include an LMF identifier in the UE LCS subscription data.

[0120] like Figure 1 As shown and also described above, the AMF 110 may receive a request for certain location services associated with a specific target UE (e.g., UE 100) from another entity (e.g., GMLC 115 or another UE), or the AMF 110 itself may decide to initiate certain location services on behalf of the specific target UE (e.g., for an Internet Protocol Multimedia System (IMS) emergency call from the UE). The AMF 110 may then send a location service request to the LMF 125. The LMF 125 may process the location service request, which may include transmitting assistance data to the target UE to assist in UE-based and / or UE-assisted positioning, and / or may include locating the target UE. The LMF 125 may then return the result of the location service (e.g., a position estimate of the UE) to the AMF 110. In the event that the location service is requested by an entity other than the AMF 110 (e.g., GMLC 115 or UE), the AMF 110 may return the location service result to that entity.

[0121] In addition, if Figure 1 As shown, an NG-RAN node (e.g., gNB 105-1, NG-eNB 105-2) can control several TRPs / transmission points (TPs) (such as remote radio heads or DL-PRS-only TPs) to support a PRS-based terrestrial beacon system (TBS).

[0122] In addition, the LMF 125 may have a dedicated signaling connection with the E-SMLC 130, which may enable the LMF 125 to access information from the Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) (e.g., to support OTDOA for E-UTRA positioning methods using downlink measurements obtained by the target UE of signals from an eNB (e.g., NG-eNB 105-2) and / or PRS-only TPs in the E-UTRAN).

[0123] Next, we will refer to Figures 2 to 4 Some embodiments of multi-terminal device assisted target positioning (wherein the association mechanism is for multiple terminal devices) are described in detail.

[0124] Figure 2 1 is a flowchart showing an exemplary method 200 for multi-terminal device assisted target positioning at a terminal device (eg, UE 100) according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The method 200 may be performed at a terminal device (eg, Figure 1 UE 100 shown in the figure). Method 200 may include steps S210 to S260. However, the present disclosure is not limited thereto. In some other embodiments, method 200 may include more steps, fewer steps, different steps, or any combination thereof. In addition, the steps of method 200 may be performed in an order different from the order described herein. In addition, in some embodiments, the steps in method 200 may be split into multiple sub-steps and performed by different entities, and / or multiple steps in method 200 may be combined into a single step.

[0125] The method 200 may start at step S210 , where the UE may obtain associations with other devices (eg, other UEs) belonging to the user to perform positioning based on multiple devices.

[0126] At step S220, the UE may provide the LMF with multi-device association information (eg, indicating that the UE is associated with other RedCap devices (such as a smart watch or smart glasses, etc.)).

[0127] At step S230, the UE may provide the LMF with the positioning capability of each device in the association, for example, when the UE is the primary UE of the association.

[0128] At step S240 , the UE may receive the positioning configuration and the configuration of the measurements required for each device in the association (eg, RSTD measurements for a smart phone, IMU measurements for a smart watch, or image-based measurements for smart glasses).

[0129] At step S250 , the UE may obtain specific results of measurements configured by the network (NW) from each device in the association and report them to the LMF.

[0130] At step S260 , the UE may receive user location information or positioning results from a location server (such as LMF).

[0131] Figure 3 300 is a flowchart showing an exemplary method for multi-terminal device assisted target positioning at a network node according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The method 300 may be performed at a network node (eg, Figure 1The method 300 may include steps S310 to S360. However, the present disclosure is not limited thereto. In some other embodiments, the method 300 may include more steps, fewer steps, different steps, or any combination thereof. In addition, the steps of the method 300 may be performed in an order different from the order described herein. In addition, in some embodiments, the steps in the method 300 may be split into multiple sub-steps and performed by different entities, and / or multiple steps in the method 300 may be combined into a single step.

[0132] The method 300 may start at step S310, where the network node may provide the UE with criteria for multi-device association (e.g., proximity-related criteria (e.g., the distance between devices should be less than 1 meter), or the association should be achieved through a certain wireless technology (e.g., Wi-Fi, Bluetooth), etc.). However, this step S310 may be optional. In some other embodiments, the criteria for association may be preconfigured at the UE, or the criteria for association may be dynamically determined based on the environment.

[0133] At step S320 , the network node may obtain and / or receive information about the multi-device association and / or device types (eg, RedCap, smart watch, smart glasses) of the multiple devices from the UE.

[0134] At step S330 , the network node may obtain the positioning capability of each device from the UE.

[0135] At step S340 , the network node may determine which positioning measurements are appropriate for which device based on these capabilities (eg, IMU for a smart watch, image-based measurements for smart glasses, and RSTD for a smartphone).

[0136] At step S350 , the network node may obtain, from the UE, a specific measurement result consisting of different or identical measurements from associated multiple devices.

[0137] At step S360 , the network node may join / combine / fuse the measurements and use them for SLAM or to improve positioning accuracy (and / or reduce uncertainty), and provide a position estimate to the requester.

[0138] Through some embodiments of the present disclosure, measurements from multiple devices may be utilized to locate the same target. For example, when a mobile phone may require a positioning estimate and the phone is connected to other sensors such as a watch or wearable device via a sidelink / Bluetooth (when (for example) these sensors produce even better IMU results compared to the phone), some embodiments of the present disclosure provide a mechanism for associating multiple devices and locating the mobile phone (or its user) by using multiple devices. Through some embodiments of the present disclosure, an association of other auxiliary devices (e.g., watches, glasses, etc.) with a primary device (e.g., a mobile phone) may be established. Through some embodiments of the present disclosure, the LMF (also known as a location server) may be informed of the association and different positioning capabilities. Through some embodiments of the present disclosure, the location server may assign different or identical measurement requirements to associated devices, and combine the measurements obtained to improve positioning accuracy and integrity. Through some embodiments of the present disclosure, SLAM may be supported.

[0139] Although reference Figure 2 and Figure 3 The embodiments of performing target positioning by using multiple terminal devices are described from the perspective of the terminal device and the perspective of the network node respectively, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

[0140] For example, the above embodiment describes that the terminal device (e.g., UE) can provide the positioning capability of each device to the network node (e.g., LMF) at step S230 / S330, and obtain the corresponding positioning configuration for each device from the network node at step S240 / S340, that is, the terminal device / UE can act as the master terminal device / UE of the association / group. However, the present disclosure is not limited to this. In some other embodiments, each terminal device / UE in the association / group can directly provide its own capabilities to the network node and obtain its own configuration directly from the network node. Similarly, each terminal device / UE in the association / group can directly provide its own measurement results to the network node instead of via the master terminal device / UE, and / or receive positioning results from the network node. In some embodiments, some terminal devices / UE in the group / association can provide capabilities and / or receive configurations via the master terminal device / UE, while the remaining terminal devices / UE in the group / association can directly provide capabilities and / or receive configurations without involving the master UE / terminal device.

[0141] Furthermore, in some other embodiments, the measurement results obtained by each terminal device / UE in the group / association may be obtained at one or more terminal devices / UEs in the group / association instead of at Figure 3In addition, in some other embodiments, each terminal device / UE in the group / association can be directly connected to the network node shown in step S360. Figure 2 Step S220 and Figure 3 The master terminal device / UE shown at step S320 in FIG. 1 registers the group / association (or more specifically, its own association with the group / association) with the network node.

[0142] In addition, the UE / terminal device can also register the group / association, report its capabilities, receive configurations, report measurement results, and / or receive positioning results via indirect UE / terminal device communication. For example, when 3 UEs are associated with the same target to be located, UE1 only supports Wi-Fi communication, UE2 supports Bluetooth and 5G NR communication but not Wi-Fi communication, and UE3 only supports Wi-Fi and Bluetooth communication. In this case, UE2 can act as the master UE of the association, and UE3 can act as a relay between UE1 and UE2. In this case, when UE2 is the master UE of the association, UE1 can also be used to locate the target.

[0143] Furthermore, there may also be more than one master UE / terminal device in the group / association, so that a more robust communication between the group and the network node may be achieved.

[0144] In some embodiments, the term "radio measurement" may include, but is not limited to, for example, radio resource management (RRM) measurements (e.g., cell identity, SSB index, received signal strength, RSRP, PRP, received signal quality, RSRQ, SINR, RSSI, etc.), positioning measurements, unprocessed raw data, layer 1 (L1) measurements, layer 2 (L2) measurements, or layer 3 (L3) measurements or their functions, such as timing measurements (e.g., TOA, RTOA, Rx-Tx time difference, RTT, timing advance, TDOA, propagation delay, delay spread, etc.), fingerprint measurements, power delay profile, multipath measurement results, multipath distribution, received power or signal quality (e.g., RSSI, RSRP, RSRQ, SINR, Es / Iot, L1-RSRP, L1-RSRQ, power distribution, etc.), path loss, angle measurement (angle of arrival, angle of departure), timing of one or more correlation peaks, average / median / distribution of multiple sensing measurements, channel state estimation, range measurement, code phase measurement, pseudorange, Doppler measurement, carrier phase measurement, cumulative delta range, Doppler measurement, Doppler shift, Doppler frequency, speed, unprocessed raw data including I / Q samples, baseband signal, RF signal, ranging measurement, multipath measurement, timing of one or more correlation peaks, channel state or quality measurement or estimation (rank indication or RI, PMI, CSI, CQI, etc.), radio link assessment or monitoring (RLM), beam measurement (BM) (BM may also be referred to as link recovery process), beam assessment or beam management, beam failure detection (BFD), candidate beam detection (CBD), signal detection, synchronization. RLM may also include out-of-sync (OOS) detection, in-sync (IS) detection, etc. Examples of L1 measurements include measurements performed on RLM, BM, L1-RSRP, L1-SINR, etc.

[0145] In some embodiments, the term "UE" may refer to any type of wireless device that communicates with a network node and / or another UE in a cellular or mobile communication system. Examples of UE include (but are not limited to) a mobile device, a target device, a device-to-device (D2D) UE, a vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), a sidelink (SL) UE, a machine-type UE, an MTC UE, or a UE capable of machine-to-machine (M2M) communication, a PDA, a tablet computer, a mobile terminal, a smart phone, a laptop embedded device (LEE), a laptop mounted device (LME), a USB dongle, a smart phone, an Apple iOS device, an iPhone, an iPod Touch, an iPad, a mobile device, a digital media player, a smart watch, an Apple TV, an Apple Watch, a reduced capability or reduced capability UE (RedCap UE), a NB-IoT UE, an environmental IoT UE, etc.

[0146] In some embodiments, the term "radio signal" or "RS" may include any physical signal or physical channel. Physical signals may also be referred to as reference signals (RS). Some examples of DL physical signals include positioning signals, synchronization signals, PSS, SSS, CSI-RS, DMRS, signals in SSB, discovery reference signals, DRS, CRS, positioning reference signals (PRS), tracking signals, TRS, RLM signals, RLM-RS, beam management signals, BFD-RS, BM-RS, etc. Examples of UL physical signals include sounding reference signals (SRS), DMRS, etc. RS may be periodic, for example, RS opportunities carrying one or more RSs may appear at a certain period (e.g., 20ms, 40ms, etc.). RS may also be non-periodic. In 4 consecutive symbols, each SSB carries NR-PSS, NR-SSS, and NR-PBCH. One or more SSBs are sent in one SSB burst, which is repeated at a certain period (e.g., 5ms, 10ms, 20ms, 40ms, 80ms, and 160ms). Through one or more SS / PBCH block measurement timing configuration (SMTC) configurations, the UE is configured with information about SSBs on a cell with a certain carrier frequency. The SMTC configuration includes parameters such as the SMTC period, the SMTC opportunity time length or duration, the SMTC time offset relative to the reference time (e.g., the SFN of the serving cell), etc. Therefore, the SMTC opportunity may also occur at a specific period (e.g., 5ms, 10ms, 20ms, 40ms, 80ms, and 160ms). The SMTC opportunity may contain one or more RSs, such as SSBs. The term "physical channel" refers to any channel that carries high-layer information (e.g., data, control, etc.). Examples of physical channels include data channels, control channels, PBCH, NPBCH, PDCCH, PDSCH, sPUCCH, sPDSCH, sPUCCH, sPUSCH, MPDCCH, NPDCCH, NPDSCH, E-PDCCH, PUSCH, PUCCH, NPUSCH, etc.

[0147] In some embodiments, a group of UEs may include two or more UEs, and the group may be characterized by the physical proximity of the UEs in the group. The level of physical proximity (e.g., within 1 meter or 5 meters) may be preconfigured, predefined, configured by an application or another node (e.g., a network node). In some examples, the group may change over time, for example, one or more UEs may leave or join, for example, depending on proximity to at least one of the other group members; for example, a UE may be forgotten at home or lost, and therefore needs to be removed from the group.

[0148] In some embodiments, the relationship between the UEs in the group may be further characterized by any one or more of the following:

[0149] - same ownership (same owner for all UEs in the group),

[0150] - the same synchronization reference source or the same SyncRef,

[0151] - same group communication (e.g. via sidelink interface, PC5 interface, device-to-device link, Bluetooth, etc.),

[0152] - registered to the same list (e.g. in a configuration file),

[0153] - Sign in under the same ID (e.g. Apple ID),

[0154] - the same associated positioning request (e.g. a request to determine the positions of the group of UEs),

[0155] - the same associated positioning results (e.g. the positions of the group of UEs),

[0156] - the public ID associated with the group,

[0157] - For at least one radio measurement type (e.g., RSRP, timing measurement, Doppler, DL measurement, UL measurement, etc.), the measurement results associated with different UEs in the same group are the same or similar, or have the same or similar characteristics (for RS sent from the same network node, the two measurement results may include a first measurement result at UE1 and a second measurement result at UE2; or the two measurement results are obtained by the network node based on RS1 received from UE1 and RS2 received from UE2, respectively), for example:

[0158] - The difference between RSRP1 and RSRP2 does not exceed the threshold,

[0159] - both measurements are characterized by the same or nearly the same Doppler,

[0160] - The difference between arrival time 1 and arrival time 2 does not exceed the threshold, etc.

[0161] - The same user or the same operator at the time the association was formed, for example:

[0162] - For example: only devices used by the same person or the same operator are used for positioning, rather than UEs lent to friends who are also located nearby,

[0163] - Quasi Co-location (QCL): In some examples, UEs in the same group or their radio signals may be defined as quasi co-location or having the same or similar locations or radio characteristics (e.g., Doppler characteristics, Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, delay spread, power delay profile, spatial receiver parameters, beamforming properties of the transmitted radio signals (such as the main angle of arrival at the receiving side, the average angle of arrival, etc.)),

[0164] - Common timing correlation group (eg, common timing error group (TEG)): UEs in the same group or their radio signals may be associated with the same timing correlation group.

[0165] - For example, to another radio node (UE or radio network node), multiple UEs may appear as one super UE with multiple antennas or antenna panels, wherein the delays between transmissions from / receptions at the multiple UEs may differ by a value associated with a timing correlation group.

[0166] In some embodiments, the non-limiting term "UE" may refer to any type of wireless device that communicates with a network node and / or another UE in a cellular or mobile communication system. Examples of UE include a mobile device, a target device, a device-to-device (D2D) UE, a vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), a sidelink (SL) UE, a machine-type UE, an MTC UE, or a UE capable of machine-to-machine (M2M) communication, a PDA, a tablet computer, a mobile terminal, a smart phone, a laptop embedded device (LEE), a laptop mounted device (LME), a USB dongle, a smart phone, an Apple iOS device, an iPhone, an iPod Touch, an iPad, a mobile device, a digital media player, a smart watch, smart glasses, a camera, an AppleTV, an Apple Watch, etc.

[0167] In some embodiments, a common ID may be associated with a group. It may be used (e.g., by a UE associated with the group) to indicate the association of the UE with the group during a positioning session and / or in communications with any node outside the group (other UEs or network nodes). In some embodiments, the common ID may be a group ID. In some embodiments, the common ID may be an ID of one of the UEs included in the group. In some embodiments, the common ID may be a positioning target ID. In some embodiments, the common ID may be used to represent a group of UEs during a positioning session. In some embodiments, the common ID may also be a collection of IDs of multiple UEs / devices associated with a user (e.g., a person), and different measurements that can be used for positioning may be performed. In some embodiments, the common ID may be communicated to the user via, for example, a control plane or a user plane, via a higher layer protocol (e.g., a positioning protocol, LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP), an extension of LPP, etc.), and / or Figure 1Any of the interfaces / reference points shown, a common ID is signaled between the different nodes involved in a positioning session. In some embodiments, there may be measurements associated with groups and / or group characteristics that are signaled along with the ID.

[0168] In some embodiments, if each device is equipped with a SIM card, the group ID can be composed of multiple TMSIs (temporary identifiers that each UE will obtain after registering with the AMF) that each UE will have. If the device is not equipped with a SIM card, the ID can be a layer 2 ID from the side link (PC5) or a Bluetooth ID or a Wi-Fi association ID, etc.

[0169] In some embodiments, a group of UEs may include a master UE, which may also be referred to as a primary UE, an anchor UE, etc. In some embodiments, the master UE may be pre-configured, may be dynamically configured, and / or may be selected based on predefined rules, etc. In some embodiments, examples of rules may include (but are not limited to): the master UE must have a minimum capability defined for the master UE, the PCell of the master UE must be at a specific carrier frequency or within a frequency range such as FR1, the master UE must be able to communicate with the communication network to perform positioning services, the master UE belongs to a power class defined for the master UE, the master UE has the strongest RSRP within the group or its RSRP is at least above a threshold, the master UE has a LOS to a BS included in the communication network, the master UE has the shortest timing measurement relative to the communication network in the group, etc. In some embodiments, the master UE may also act on behalf of other UEs in the group to nodes outside the group, for example, sending measurements and other data associated with the group and / or group characteristics according to the master UE responsibilities (see more examples below). The master UE may have (but is not limited to) at least one group responsibility, for example:

[0170] - perform at least one radio measurement configured for the group;

[0171] - sending at least one radio signal configured for the group;

[0172] - taking actions on behalf of the plurality of UEs in the group to at least one other node (e.g. a network node or another UE external to the group), e.g. making radio measurement reports, receiving requests for radio measurements to be performed by group members, if a design option for this step is for the other UEs in the group not to receive positioning requests from the network node,

[0173] - forwarding assistance data to the UEs in the group,

[0174] - triggering UE members in the group to perform positioning measurements,

[0175] - collect radio measurements within the group,

[0176] - acts as a synchronization reference to the UEs in the group,

[0177] - providing information about the group, such as the number of registered UEs in the group, the number of active UEs (i.e., currently associated UEs) in the group, etc., to another node (e.g., a network node),

[0178] - Inform another node (eg, a network node) about changes to the group (eg, adding a new UE, removing a UE, replacing a UE, etc.).

[0179] In some embodiments, the position of the master UE may be used as a reference position for the (relative) position of at least one UE in the group.

[0180] In some embodiments, the master UE may be a quasi co-located (QCL) reference for other UEs in the group. In some embodiments, at least one UE in the group may be quasi co-located (QCL-ed) with the master UE, or a radio signal from the one UE in the group may be quasi co-located (QCL-ed) with the master UE, quasi co-location being an indication that the one UE in the group inherits some properties (e.g., position, speed, or radio-related properties such as radio conditions at its receiver, radio signal transmission, etc.) from the master UE.

[0181] In some embodiments, one or more combinations of the above embodiments are also possible. Therefore, the above embodiments can be implemented independently, or can also be combined with each other in any possible way. For example, there may be a master UE in the UE in the group represented by the group ID.

[0182] In some embodiments, a candidate partner UE for multi-UE positioning One of the registered UEs may be configured as the master UE (or referred to as the anchor UE). In some embodiments, if the two UEs consist of a conventional UE (e.g., a mobile phone) and a RedCap UE (e.g., a smart watch or smart glasses), it may be suggested to select the conventional UE as the primary UE. In some embodiments, the configuration may be performed by the client when subscribing to the location service, or by the LCS client during the location service subscription process, or by the LMF.

[0183] In some embodiments, after the customer completes the subscription to the location service, although the association has not yet been established, one or more of the following information may be available at the LCS client and will be signaled from the LCS client to the LMF via the Mobile Positioning Protocol (MLP):

[0184] - all The customer implementation identity of each candidate partner UE (e.g., mobile directory number, IMSI / TMSI, BT-ID, WI-FI-ID, PC5 L2-ID);

[0185] - Information about which candidate partner UE is configured as the master UE if the master UE is configured by the client of the location service or by the LCS client, or if the master UE is configured by a node such as the AMF or LMFNW or can be determined based on the UE (the most capable UE can become the master UE by default);

[0186] - If the Public Group ID is pre-configured at the Location Server (or by the AMF during the registration process), or is configured by the UE or provided via the LCS Client, then the pre-configured Public Group ID (once established) The preconfigured public group ID takes effect if at least two of the candidate partner UEs are associated with each other.

[0187] In some embodiments, upon receiving information for a multi-device positioning request sent from an LCS client, the LMF may perform one or more of the following actions:

[0188] - All The client implementation identity of candidate partner UEs is converted into all The International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) or Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity (TMSI) of the candidate partner UE.

[0189] - Configure a primary UE if one has not already been provided by the LCS Client (based on these capabilities of the UE) or the Location Server or the AMF.

[0190] - If the LCS client has not yet configured a public group ID, pre-configure the public group ID, once established The public group ID becomes effective if at least two of the candidate partner UEs are associated with each other.

[0191] - Configure the actual number of associated UEs required, which is represented by ;here, This means that multi-UE positioning is downgraded to the existing single UE positioning. In addition, if , then configure "Partner Check Order" between candidate partner UEs (excluding the master UE); when the master UE tries to associate with other This "Partner Check Order" can be used when there are multiple partner UEs.

[0192] In some embodiments, sometimes, it may be is a bit large; however, when several candidate partner UEs are associated (for example, two UEs), the enhancement of positioning accuracy and integrity is sufficient. In addition, sometimes, the positioning accuracy requirement may not be so high, so there is no need to utilize multi-UE positioning. These situations can be solved by flexibly configuring the variable The value of is handled well.

[0193] In some embodiments, The value can be adjusted according to needs.

[0194] - Send the following information to the primary UE via LPP: The IMSI / TMSI of the candidate partner UEs, which candidate partner UE is the primary UE, the pre-configured public group ID, the actual number of associated UEs required (i.e., ), and "excluding the master UE The "partner check order" between the candidate partner UEs.

[0195] In some embodiments, if (i.e., multi-UE positioning is required), the master UE may be responsible for: i) initiating and maintaining association relationships that may change via UE-UE interconnection (e.g., Bluetooth, Wi-Fi); and / or ii) reporting dynamic changes in association relationships (including newly occurring associations and newly occurring separations) to the LMF.

[0196] In some embodiments, in the first round of association establishment, the master UE may use the inter-UE connection to try to establish associations between itself and other UEs. Specifically, by using Bluetooth as an example of the inter-UE connection method, the process is described as follows:

[0197] In some embodiments, according to the "Partner Check Command" indicated by the LMF, the master UE may attempt to establish an association relationship with the candidate partner UE, for example, by initiating a Bluetooth pairing request to the candidate partner UE. After the candidate partner UE may be successfully paired via Bluetooth, the master UE may request the candidate partner UE to send the measured SSB RSRP to the master UE. Once the measured SSB RSRP of the master UE and the candidate partner UE have a small enough relative difference (which means that the two UEs are truly carried by the positioning target together), the candidate partner UE may associate with the master UE.

[0198] ■Note: The effective inter-device distance for Bluetooth pairing is approximately 8 meters; therefore, using Bluetooth pairing alone to determine the association is not sufficient.

[0199] In some embodiments, once the total number of associated UEs reaches or have checked all other If there are no candidate partner UEs, the primary UE may stop further attempts to establish association.

[0200] In some embodiments, at the end of the first round of association establishment, the total number of associated UEs will be equal to most of the time. or sometimes less than (For example, some candidate partner UEs run out of battery, or the positioning target forgets to bring some candidate partner UEs.) Then, whether the total number of associated UEs is equal to or less than (in, ), the primary UE can inform the LMF of the current status of the association between UEs and the corresponding public group ID via LPP.

[0201] In some embodiments, after the first round of association establishment, changes in association relationships will occur for the following two situations:

[0202] 1) Once one of the associated partner UEs is disassociated for some reason (e.g., battery exhaustion or loss from the positioning target), the master UE may inform the LMF of the change in the inter-UE association via LPP. As an example, the master UE may recognize the disassociation due to the loss of Bluetooth pairing with the corresponding partner UE. As another example, the master UE may recognize the disassociation due to the relative difference in SSB RSRP measured by the master UE and the candidate partner UE being greater than a predefined threshold. This may occur when a positioning person places a smartwatch in a room and the person is in another adjacent room of the same house with a phone; in this case, the Bluetooth pairing between the phone (i.e., the master UE) and the smartwatch (i.e., the partner UE) is still active, but the two UEs are no longer in the same location.

[0203] 2) Before the incoming positioning session starts, if the current value of the total number of associated UEs is less than , the master UE can initiate a new round of association establishment to try to increase the total number of associated UEs to After this round of association establishment, if at least one candidate partner UE re-associates with the master UE, the master UE may inform the LMF of the update of the inter-UE association via the LPP.

[0204] In some embodiments, if the "relative time difference" based positioning scheme used is DL-TDoA or a multi-RTT scheme, during the course of any one ongoing positioning session, each of the other associated partner UEs sends its PRS-generated ToA measurements to the master UE via the use of an inter-UE connection (e.g., Wi-Fi, Bluetooth). The master UE can then feed back the fused ToA measurement results over the air interface. In this way, from the perspective of the other associated partner UEs, the master UE can act as a UE-to-network relay.

[0205] In some embodiments, the positioning request can of course be sent from the LMF to Each of the candidate partner UEs.

[0206] However, in some embodiments, when the UE side knows that multiple UEs are associated, it is recommended to let the LMF send positioning requests only to the master UE; then, each time a positioning session is about to start, the master UE can send positioning requests to other associated partner UEs via the inter-UE connection. By doing so, for UEs that are not currently associated with the master UE, unnecessary positioning-related radio measurements can be avoided and energy saving can be achieved.

[0207] In some embodiments, additional steps of the multi-device positioning process may include (but are not limited to) one or more of the following:

[0208] - Get UE / device capabilities of each device (via master UE).

[0209] - Assign positioning measurements to each device based on knowledge of what measurements each device is best able to perform. (e.g. if the device is a watch it will be able to take sensor measurements (e.g. IMU displacement results), if the device is smart glasses it will provide camera vision, if the device is a regular phone it will provide RSTD measurements). If all devices are able to perform the same measurements they can also be aggregated and the best measurement can be considered (whichever has the lower uncertainty).

[0210] - Combine these measurements and improve positioning accuracy.

[0211] In some embodiments, for an example solution in which the master UE is responsible for i) initiating and maintaining a possibly changing association relationship via UE-UE interconnection and ii) reporting dynamic changes of the association relationship (including newly occurring associations and newly occurring separations) to the LMF, the corresponding steps are in Figure 4 is shown in and is summarized as follows.

[0212] Figure 44 is a diagram showing an exemplary process of locating a target by using multiple terminal devices according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The process may start at step S405, where the master UE 100-1 may obtain an association with one or more other UEs / devices 100-2, all of which are associated with the target 400. Specifically, a group / association may be established, formed, or otherwise obtained for at least two devices / UEs (e.g., the master UE 100-1 and the other UEs / devices 100-2). In some embodiments, at step S405a, the multiple devices / UEs themselves may form a group / association. In some other embodiments, at S405b, the association may be configured from the LMF 125 to the multiple UEs / devices. In this case, the LMF 125 may configure the association to any one of the multiple devices / UEs. For example, the LMF 125 may configure the association to the master UE 100-1 so that the master UE 100-1 may form an association with other UEs / devices 100-2. For another example, when there is no master UE among the multiple UEs / devices, LMF 125 can directly configure the association to one or more of the multiple UEs so that the multiple UEs can form the association without involving the master UE.

[0213] For example, the target 400 may carry the main UE 100-1 and other UE / device 100-2. For another example, the target 400 and the main UE 100-1 and other UE / device 100-2 are all placed in the same container and move together. In some embodiments, the association may be formed via a side link, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, etc.

[0214] At step S410, the master UE 100-1 may perform a group registration with the AMF 110. In some embodiments, the IMSI / SUPI (Subscription Permanent Identifier) ​​of each device may be included in the request for group registration.

[0215] At steps S415 and S420 , the AMF 110 may verify the group registration (eg, multiple subscriptions) with the UDM 405 .

[0216] At step S425, upon successful verification of the subscription, the AMF 110 may return a temporary identifier to the primary UE 100-1 for each device in the group / association. In some embodiments, a common group ID may also be assigned.

[0217] At step S435, the master UE 100-1 may initiate a process for positioning the target 400. In some embodiments, at optional step S430, the initiation of the process may be triggered by a positioning request received from one or more other UEs / devices 100-2. In some other embodiments, the initiation of the process may be triggered by the master UE 100-1 itself or by other network nodes (e.g., LCS client or AF).

[0218] At step S440, the master UE may inform the LMF 125 of the multi-device positioning capability using the ID obtained from the AMF 110 in the LCS process. In some embodiments, the capability may be reported via an LPP message embedded in the LCS process. In some embodiments, the AMF 110 may verify the mobile-originated location service request before forwarding it to the LMF 125 for multi-device positioning (i.e., inform that the multi-device positioning capability / subscription is checked at the AMF 110, and inform / indicate to the LMF 125 that multi-device positioning may be sent to the LMF 125 together with the service request). Note: The positioning request may originate from one of these devices; and it may be initiated by the master UE 100-1 to the network.

[0219] At step S445, if it is decided to perform multi-device positioning, the LMF 125 may configure multiple measurements (ie, device-specific measurements or the same measurements required for multiple devices), depending on the capabilities of the multiple devices including the primary UE 100-1 and one or more other devices 100-2.

[0220] At steps S450a and S450b, the plurality of UEs / devices in the association / group may perform measurements based on the received configuration.

[0221] At step S455 , the master UE 100 - 1 may obtain measurement results from the other devices 100 - 2 and provide the original measurement results or the fused measurement results to the LMF 125 .

[0222] At step S460, LMF 125 may join / combine together the received measurements to locate target 400 with improved accuracy and / or completeness.

[0223] At step S465, the LMF 125 may provide positioning results to the multiple UEs / devices 100-1 and 100-2.

[0224] In some embodiments, the master UE may also use the measurement results for UE-based positioning.

[0225] In some embodiments, in order to enable LMF 125 and primary UE 100-1 to exchange capabilities and measurements of associated UEs in a group via LPP, LPPIE may be extended to support requesting and providing information of UE groups. These extensions are marked below with change traces.

[0226] An exemplary ASN.1 is provided below, where the UE reports the number of associated devices and the capabilities of each device.

[0227]

[0228] An exemplary ASN.1 is provided below, where the UE reports multiple device positioning measurements; at least one measurement per device.

[0229]

[0230]

[0231] In some embodiments, the above measurement reports may also be integrated as follows.

[0232]

[0233] Through some embodiments of the present disclosure, more accurate positioning and higher integrity can be achieved. For example, when a mobile phone needs a positioning estimate and the phone is connected via sidelink / Bluetooth to other sensors such as a watch or wearable device (when (for example) compared to the phone, these sensors produce even better IMU results). In this case, measurements from multiple devices including the phone, watch and / or wearable device can be utilized.

[0234] In addition, through some embodiments of the present disclosure, an association can be established for other auxiliary devices with the primary phone. The LMF (also known as the location server) can be informed of the association and the different positioning capabilities. The location server can assign different or the same measurement requirements to the associated devices and combine the obtained measurement results to improve the positioning accuracy and integrity.

[0235] Furthermore, through some embodiments of the present disclosure, simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) may be achieved.

[0236] Figure 5 5 is a flowchart of an exemplary method 500 at a first terminal device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the method being used to locate a target associated with a plurality of terminal devices including the first terminal device. The method 500 may be performed at a terminal device (e.g., Figure 1 The UE 100 shown, Figure 4The method 500 may include step S510 and step S520. However, the present disclosure is not limited thereto. In some other embodiments, the method 500 may include more steps, fewer steps, different steps, or any combination thereof. In addition, the steps of the method 500 may be performed in an order different from the order described herein. In addition, in some embodiments, the steps in the method 500 may be split into multiple sub-steps and performed by different entities, and / or multiple steps in the method 500 may be combined into a single step.

[0237] The method 500 may start at step S510 , where a first terminal device may obtain an association with at least one second terminal device other than the first terminal device among the multiple terminal devices.

[0238] In step S520, the first terminal device may use the associated data for positioning.

[0239] In some embodiments, the method 500 may further include: sending a first message indicating the association data to the first network node. In some embodiments, the method 500 may further include: receiving a second message from the first network node indicating whether the association is successfully registered. In some embodiments, the association data may indicate at least one public ID of the association. In some embodiments, the first terminal device may include a master terminal device. In some embodiments, the first message may indicate at least one of the following items: an identifier associated with the first terminal device; an identifier associated with at least one or each of the at least one second terminal device; a public identifier preconfigured for the association; and an indicator indicating that the first terminal device and the at least one second terminal device are associated for positioning.

[0240] In some embodiments, the second message may also indicate at least one of the following: a temporary identifier assigned to the first terminal device; a temporary identifier assigned to each of the at least one second terminal device; and a public identifier assigned to the association. In some embodiments, the step of obtaining the association may include: attempting one or more rounds of associating the first terminal device with at least one of the plurality of terminal devices based on one or more factors, the one or more factors being obtained by at least one of the following: a preconfiguration at the first terminal device, and a dynamic configuration provided from a network node. In some embodiments, the one or more factors may include at least one of the following: an identifier associated with the first terminal device; an identifier associated with at least one of the at least one second terminal device; an indicator indicating which of the first terminal device and / or the at least one second terminal device is the master terminal device; an identifier associated with the association; the number of terminal devices actually required to locate the target in the association; the order in which the first terminal device attempts to associate itself with the at least one second terminal device; whether the members in the association have the same ownership; whether the members in the association have the same synchronization reference source; whether the members in the association have the same group communication; whether the members in the association are registered to the same list; whether the members in the association are logged in under the same identifier; whether the members in the association have the same associated positioning request or measurement request; whether the members in the association have the same associated positioning result; whether the members in the association are quasi co-located (QCL); and whether the members in the association have a common timing correlation group; whether the members in the association have a common ID associated with the association; for at least one radio measurement type, whether the members in the association have related measurement results close to each other within a range defined by one or more thresholds; whether the members in the association have the same user or the same operator when the association is obtained. In some embodiments, the trying step can be performed one by one for the multiple terminal devices in the order indicated by the one or more factors until the number indicated by the one or more factors is reached or association with all the multiple terminal devices has been attempted.

[0241] In some embodiments, the method 500 may further include: in response to receiving the second message, sending a message indicating at least one content indicated by the second message to the at least one second terminal device to trigger the at least one second terminal device to report its positioning capability. In some embodiments, the method 500 may further include: in response to determining that the association is successfully registered, sending a third message to the second network node, the third message indicating the positioning capability of the first terminal device or the positioning capability of both the first terminal device and the at least one second terminal device; and receiving a fourth message from the second network node, the fourth message indicating: positioning configuration for the first terminal device or the positioning configuration for both the first terminal device and the at least one second terminal device, and / or a measurement request. In some embodiments, the positioning configuration may include at least one of the following items: a configuration for positioning for a radio signal to be received; a configuration for positioning for a radio signal to be sent; and a configuration for positioning measurement.

[0242] In some embodiments, the third message may indicate at least one of the following: a temporary identifier assigned to the first terminal device; a temporary identifier assigned to each of the at least one second terminal device; a common identifier assigned to the association; the number of terminal devices associated with each other for positioning; and a list of capabilities, one capability for each terminal device associated with each other for positioning. In some embodiments, when the fourth message indicates one or more positioning configurations for the first terminal device and the at least one second terminal device, the method 500 may further include: in response to receiving the fourth message, sending a fifth message to the at least one second terminal device, respectively, the fifth message indicating at least one positioning configuration for the at least one second terminal device.

[0243] In some embodiments, the third message may be sent to the second network node and the fourth message may be received from the second network node without involving any of the at least one second terminal device, or the third message may be sent to the second network node and the fourth message may be received from the second network node via one or more of the at least one second terminal device. In some embodiments, the method 500 may further include at least one of the following items: performing one or more measurement-related operations for locating the target based at least on the positioning configuration for the first terminal device; sending a sixth message indicating one or more measurement results obtained by the first terminal device for locating the target to one of the at least one second terminal device; and receiving a sixth message indicating one or more measurement results obtained by the at least one second terminal device for locating the target from the at least one second terminal device.

[0244] In some embodiments, before the step of sending the third message, the method 500 may further include: receiving a seventh message for requesting to locate the target from one of the at least one second terminal device, and the step of sending the third message is performed in response to receiving the seventh message. In some embodiments, the method 500 may further include: sending an eighth message to the second network node, the eighth message indicating the measurement result obtained by the first terminal device and / or the at least one second terminal device, or indicating the filtered measurement result derived by the first terminal device from the measurement result obtained by the first terminal device and / or the at least one second terminal device; and receiving a ninth message from the second network node, the ninth message indicating the positioning result of the target. In some embodiments, the eighth message may be sent to the second network node and the ninth message may be received from the second network node without involving any of the at least one second terminal device, or the eighth message may be sent to the second network node and the ninth message may be received from the second network node via one or more of the at least one second terminal device. In some embodiments, the measurement result indicated by the eighth message may include at least one of the following items: a list of one or more measurement results of ToA; and a list of one or more measurement results of RSTD.

[0245] In some embodiments, the public identifier assigned to the association may be at least one of: an identifier identifying the association; an identifier identifying the first terminal device; an identifier identifying one of the at least one second terminal devices; an identifier identifying the target; and a set of multiple identifiers associated with multiple terminal devices that are associated with the same target and are capable of performing different measurements for positioning. In some embodiments, the set of multiple identifiers may include at least one of: a TMSI associated with the first terminal device; at least one TMSI associated with the at least one second terminal device; a layer 2 side link identifier associated with the first terminal device; at least one layer 2 side link identifier associated with the at least one second terminal device; a Bluetooth identifier associated with the first terminal device; at least one Bluetooth identifier associated with the at least one second terminal device; a Wi-Fi identifier associated with the first terminal device; and a Wi-Fi identifier associated with the at least one second terminal device.

[0246] In some embodiments, the first terminal device may be the master terminal device of the association. In some embodiments, the first terminal device may be determined as the master terminal device by at least one of the following: preconfiguration; dynamic configuration; and selection based on one or more predefined rules. In some embodiments, the one or more predefined rules may include at least one of the following: the master terminal device has a minimum capability defined for the master terminal device; the PCell of the master terminal device is located in a specific carrier frequency or frequency range; the master terminal device is capable of communicating with the communication network to perform positioning services; the master terminal device belongs to a power class defined for the master terminal device; the master terminal device has the strongest RSRP in the association; the master terminal device has an RSRP at least above a threshold; the master terminal device has a LOS path to a RAN node included in the communication network; the master terminal device has the shortest timing measurement relative to the communication network in the association; and the master terminal device is not a RedCap terminal device. In some embodiments, the master terminal device may be able to perform at least one of the following: take action on behalf of the association to a node outside the association; perform at least one radio measurement configured for the association; send at least one radio signal configured for the association; report radio measurements on behalf of the association; receive requests for one or more radio measurements to be performed by members of the association on behalf of members in the association; forward auxiliary data to the at least one second terminal device; trigger the at least one second terminal device to perform positioning measurements; collect radio measurements from the at least one second terminal device; act as a synchronization reference to the at least one second terminal device; provide information about the association to another node outside the association; and inform another node outside the association about changes to the association.

[0247] In some embodiments, the location of the master terminal device may be used as a reference location of the at least one second terminal device. In some embodiments, the master terminal device may be a QCL reference for the at least one second terminal device. In some embodiments, the method 500 may further include at least one of the following: associating with a new terminal device to allow the new terminal device to join the association; detecting a need to initiate a new round of association establishment; reporting information about the updated association to the first network node once the new terminal device has joined the association; detecting a terminal device leaving the association; and reporting information about the updated association to the first network node once the terminal device leaves the association. In some embodiments, the first network node may be an AMF or an LMF, and / or the second network node may be an LMF.

[0248] In some embodiments, method 500 may also include at least one of the following items: if the measurement-related operation performed by the first terminal device is to receive and measure positioning-related reference signals (but not to send SRS), and if one of the at least one second terminal devices is the only terminal device that will be fully responsible for feeding back positioning-related downlink measurement results to the network side, then a sixth message is sent from the first terminal device to the one of the at least one second terminal devices, and the sixth message indicates one or more measurement results obtained by the first terminal device for positioning the target; and if the measurement-related operation performed by the at least one second terminal device is to receive and measure positioning-related reference signals, and if the first terminal device or another second terminal device of the at least one second terminal device is the only terminal device that will be fully responsible for feeding back positioning-related downlink measurement results to the network side, then a sixth message is sent from one of the at least one second terminal devices to the first terminal device or the other second terminal device of the at least one second terminal device, and the sixth message indicates one or more measurement results obtained by the at least one second terminal device for positioning the target.

[0249] In some embodiments, method 500 may also include at least one of the following items: receiving, at the first terminal device, a sixth message indicating one or more measurement results obtained by the second terminal device used to locate the target from each of the at least one second terminal device, provided that if the measurement-related operation performed by the second terminal device is to receive and measure positioning-related reference signals, and if the first terminal device is the only UE that will be fully responsible for feeding back positioning-related downlink measurement results to the network side; and receiving, at a second terminal device among the at least one second terminal device, a sixth message from the first terminal device and each of all other second terminal devices, the sixth message indicating one or more measurement results obtained by the first terminal device used to locate the target and one of all other second terminal devices, provided that if the measurement-related operation performed by the first terminal device and each of all other second terminal devices is to receive and measure positioning-related reference signals, and if the one of the at least one second terminal device is the only UE that will be fully responsible for feeding back positioning-related downlink measurement results to the network side.

[0250] In some embodiments, method 500 may further include at least one of the following items: sending an eighth message indicating a measurement result measured by the first terminal device to the second network node from the first terminal device, provided that if the measurement-related operation performed by the first terminal device is to receive and measure a positioning-related reference signal (but not to send an SRS), and if there is no UE that will be fully responsible for feeding back the positioning-related downlink measurement result to the network side; sending an eighth message from the first terminal device to the second network node, the eighth message indicating a filtered measurement result derived by the first terminal device based on the measurement result measured by the first terminal device and the at least one second terminal device, provided that if the measurement-related operation performed by the first terminal device and the at least one second terminal device is to receive and measure a positioning-related reference signal, and if the first terminal device is the only UE that will be fully responsible for feeding back the positioning-related downlink measurement result to the network side. E; sending an eighth message indicating the measurement result measured by the second terminal device from one of the at least one second terminal devices to the second network node, provided that the measurement-related operation performed by the second terminal device is to receive and measure the positioning-related reference signal, and if there is no UE that will be fully responsible for feeding back the positioning-related downlink measurement result to the network side; and sending an eighth message indicating the filtered measurement result derived by the second terminal device based on the measurement result measured by the at least one second terminal device and the first terminal device from one of the at least one second terminal devices to the second network node, provided that the measurement-related operation performed by the at least one second terminal device and the first terminal device is to receive and measure the positioning-related reference signal, and if the second terminal device is the only UE that will be fully responsible for feeding back the positioning-related downlink measurement result to the network side.

[0251] In some embodiments, the method 500 may further include: receiving a ninth message indicating a positioning result of the target at one or all of the first terminal device and the at least one second terminal device. In some embodiments, the measurement result indicated by the eighth message may include at least one of the following items: a list of one or more displacement-based measurement results; and a list of one or more barometric pressure sensor-based measurement results.

[0252] In some embodiments, the master terminal device may be able to perform at least one of the following: configure other members in the first association; maintain a list of members in the first association; verify whether the members in the first association still meet the conditions for joining the first association; inform the network node of the status of the first association; take action on behalf of the members in the first association to at least one other node; relay data between at least one member in the first association and nodes outside the first association; distribute or forward at least some of the data and / or information and / or configuration received from the network node to the members in the first association; obtain resources for the first association; configure supplementary resources for each member in the first association; obtain and / or determine combined measurement results based on the results of the supplementary operations of the members in the first association and / or report the combined measurement results to the network node; serve as or provide a synchronization reference for other members in the first association; collect radio measurements within the first association; forward or send auxiliary data to members in the first association; trigger members in the first association to perform at least one positioning measurement; if the service client is resident on the terminal device side, include the service client of the first association; and perform resource coordination or allocation between members in the first association.

[0253] Figure 6 6 is a flowchart of an exemplary method 600 at a first network node according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the method being used to facilitate a first terminal device to locate a target associated with a plurality of terminal devices including the first terminal device. The method 600 may be performed at a network node (e.g., Figure 1 The method 600 may include steps S610, S620, and S630. However, the present disclosure is not limited thereto. In some other embodiments, the method 600 may include more steps, fewer steps, different steps, or any combination thereof. In addition, the steps of the method 600 may be performed in an order different from the order described herein. In addition, in some embodiments, the steps in the method 600 may be split into multiple sub-steps and performed by different entities, and / or multiple steps in the method 600 may be combined into a single step.

[0254] The method 600 may start at step S610, wherein a first network node may receive a first message from a first terminal device, the first message indicating association data for an association of the first terminal device with at least one second terminal device from the plurality of terminal devices and different from the first terminal device.

[0255] At step S620, the first network node may determine whether to allow registration of the association.

[0256] At step S630, the first network node may send a second message to the first terminal device based at least on the determination, the second message indicating whether the association is successfully registered.

[0257] In some embodiments, the association data may indicate at least one public identifier (ID) of the association. In some embodiments, the first terminal device may include a master terminal device. In some embodiments, the first message may indicate at least one of the following: an identifier associated with the first terminal device; an identifier associated with at least one or each of the at least one second terminal device; a public identifier preconfigured for the association; and an indicator indicating that the first terminal device and the at least one second terminal device are associated for positioning. In some embodiments, the second message may also indicate at least one of the following: a temporary identifier assigned to the first terminal device; a temporary identifier assigned to each of the at least one second terminal device; and a public identifier assigned to the association. In some embodiments, method 600 may also include: sending a message indicating one or more factors to the first terminal device, the one or more factors being used to select one or more terminal devices to be associated with the first terminal device. In some embodiments, the one or more factors may include at least one of the following: an identifier associated with the first terminal device; an identifier associated with at least one of the at least one second terminal device; an indicator indicating which of the first terminal device and / or the at least one second terminal device is a master terminal device; an identifier associated with the association; the number of terminal devices in the association actually required to locate the target; the order in which the first terminal device attempts to associate itself with the at least one second terminal device; whether members in the association have the same ownership; whether members in the association have the same synchronization reference source; whether members in the association have the same group communication; Whether the members in the association are registered to the same list; whether the members in the association are logged in under the same identifier; whether the members in the association have the same associated positioning request or measurement request; whether the members in the association have the same associated positioning result; whether the members in the association are quasi-co-located (QCL); and whether the members in the association have a common timing related group; whether the members in the association have a common ID associated with the association; for at least one radio measurement type, whether the members in the association have related measurement results that are close to each other within a range defined by one or more thresholds; whether the members in the association have the same user or the same operator when the association is obtained.

[0258] In some embodiments, the first terminal device may be a master terminal device of the association. In some embodiments, the method 600 may further include at least one of the following: receiving a report from the first terminal device indicating that a new terminal device has joined the association; and receiving a report from the first terminal device indicating that the terminal device has left the association. In some embodiments, the first network node may be an AMF and / or an LMF.

[0259] Figure 7 700 is a flowchart of an exemplary method 700 at a second network node according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the method being used to facilitate a first terminal device to locate a target associated with a plurality of terminal devices including the first terminal device. The method 700 may be performed at a network node (e.g., Figure 1 The method 700 may include steps S710, S720, and S730. However, the present disclosure is not limited thereto. In some other embodiments, the method 700 may include more steps, fewer steps, different steps, or any combination thereof. In addition, the steps of the method 700 may be performed in an order different from the order described herein. In addition, in some embodiments, the steps in the method 700 may be split into multiple sub-steps and performed by different entities, and / or multiple steps in the method 700 may be combined into a single step.

[0260] Method 700 may start at step S710, wherein the second network node may receive an eighth message from the first terminal device, the eighth message indicating a measurement result obtained by the first terminal device and / or at least one second terminal device, or indicating a filtered measurement result derived by the first terminal device from the measurement result obtained by the first terminal device and / or the at least one second terminal device, the at least one second terminal device being from the plurality of terminal devices and different from the first terminal device.

[0261] At step S720, the second network node may determine a positioning result of the target based at least on the eighth message.

[0262] At step S730, the second network node may send a ninth message indicating the positioning result of the target to the first terminal device.

[0263] In some embodiments, the eighth message may be received from the first terminal device and the ninth message may be sent to the first terminal device without involving any of the at least one second terminal device, or the eighth message may be received from the first terminal device and the ninth message may be sent to the first terminal device via one or more of the at least one second terminal device. In some embodiments, the measurement result indicated by the eighth message may include at least one of the following items: a list of one or more measurement results of ToA; and a list of one or more measurement results of RSTD. In some embodiments, before the step of receiving the eighth message, the method 700 may further include: receiving a third message from the first terminal device, the third message indicating the positioning capability of the first terminal device or the positioning capability of both the first terminal device and the at least one second terminal device; determining the positioning configuration for the first terminal device based at least on the positioning capability of the first terminal device, or determining the positioning configuration for the first terminal device and the at least one second terminal device based at least on the positioning capability of both the first terminal device and the at least one second terminal device; and sending a fourth message to the first terminal device and / or the at least one second terminal device, the fourth message indicating: the positioning configuration for the first terminal device or the positioning configuration for both the first terminal device and the at least one second terminal device, and / or a measurement request. In some embodiments, the positioning configuration may include at least one of the following: a configuration for positioning for radio signals to be received; a configuration for positioning for radio signals to be sent; and a configuration for positioning measurements. In some embodiments, the third message may indicate at least one of the following: a temporary identifier assigned to the first terminal device; a temporary identifier assigned to each of the at least one second terminal device; a public identifier assigned to the association; the number of terminal devices for positioning associated with each other; and a list of capabilities, one capability for each terminal device for positioning associated with each other.

[0264] In some embodiments, a third message may be received from the first terminal device and a fourth message may be sent to the first terminal device and / or the at least one second terminal device without involving any of the at least one second terminal device, or a third message may be received from the first terminal device and a fourth message may be sent to the first terminal device and / or the at least one second terminal device via one or more of the at least one second terminal device.

[0265] In some embodiments, the public identifier assigned to the association may be at least one of: an identifier identifying the association; an identifier identifying the first terminal device; an identifier identifying one of the at least one second terminal devices; an identifier identifying the target; and a set of multiple identifiers associated with multiple terminal devices that are associated with the same target and are capable of performing different measurements for positioning. In some embodiments, the set of multiple identifiers may include at least one of: a TMSI associated with the first terminal device; at least one TMSI associated with the at least one second terminal device; a layer 2 side link identifier associated with the first terminal device; at least one layer 2 side link identifier associated with the at least one second terminal device; a Bluetooth identifier associated with the first terminal device; at least one Bluetooth identifier associated with the at least one second terminal device; a Wi-Fi identifier associated with the first terminal device; and a Wi-Fi identifier associated with the at least one second terminal device.

[0266] In some embodiments, the first terminal device may be a master terminal device for the association. In some embodiments, the method 700 may further include at least one of: receiving information about an updated association from the first terminal device once a new terminal device has joined the association; and receiving information about an updated association from the first terminal device once a terminal device has left the association. In some embodiments, the second network node may be a LMF.

[0267] Figure 8 Schematically illustrates an embodiment of an arrangement that can be used in a network node and / or a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The arrangement 800 includes a processing unit 806, for example, having a digital signal processor (DSP) or a central processing unit (CPU). The processing unit 806 can be a single unit or multiple units for performing different actions of the processes described herein. The arrangement 800 can also include an input unit 802 for receiving signals from other entities, and an output unit 804 for providing signals to other entities. The input unit 802 and the output unit 804 can be arranged as an integrated entity or as independent entities.

[0268] Furthermore, the arrangement 800 may include at least one computer program product 808 in the form of a non-volatile or volatile memory, such as an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a flash memory and / or a hard drive. The computer program product 808 includes a computer program 810, which includes code / computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the processing unit 806 in the arrangement 800, causes the arrangement 800 and / or the network nodes and / or terminal devices included therein to perform, for example, the operations described above in connection with Figures 2 to 7or any other variation describing the actions of the process.

[0269] The computer program 810 may be configured as computer program codes constructed in computer program modules 810A and 810B. Therefore, in an exemplary embodiment, when the arrangement 800 is used in a first terminal device to locate a target associated with a plurality of terminal devices including the first terminal device, the codes in the computer program of the arrangement 800 include: a module 810A configured to obtain an association with at least one second terminal device other than the first terminal device in the plurality of terminal devices; and a module 810B configured to perform positioning using the association data.

[0270] Additionally or alternatively, the computer program 810 may also be configured as computer program code constructed in computer program modules 810C, 810D, and 810E. Therefore, in an exemplary embodiment, when the arrangement 800 is used in a first network node to facilitate a first terminal device to locate a target associated with a plurality of terminal devices including the first terminal device, the code in the computer program of the arrangement 800 includes: a module 810C configured to receive a first message from the first terminal device, the first message indicating association data for an association of the first terminal device with at least one second terminal device, the at least one second terminal device being from the plurality of terminal devices and different from the first terminal device; a module 810D configured to determine whether registration of the association is allowed; and a module 810E configured to send a second message to the first terminal device based at least on the determination, the second message indicating whether the association is successfully registered.

[0271] Additionally or alternatively, the computer program 810 may also be configured as computer program code constructed in computer program modules 810F, 810G, and 810H. Therefore, in an exemplary embodiment, when the arrangement 800 is used in the second network node to facilitate the first terminal device to locate a target associated with a plurality of terminal devices including the first terminal device, the code in the computer program of the arrangement 800 includes: a module 810F configured to receive an eighth message from the first terminal device, the eighth message indicating a measurement result obtained by the first terminal device and / or at least one second terminal device, or indicating a filtered measurement result derived by the first terminal device from the measurement result obtained by the first terminal device and / or the at least one second terminal device, the at least one second terminal device being from the plurality of terminal devices and different from the first terminal device; a module 810G configured to determine a positioning result of the target based on at least the eighth message; and a module 810H configured to send a ninth message to the first terminal device, the ninth message indicating the positioning result of the target.

[0272] A computer program module is essentially executable Figures 2 to 7The actions of the process shown are performed to simulate a terminal device and / or a network node. In other words, when different computer program modules are executed in the processing unit 806, these computer program modules may correspond to different modules in the network node and / or the terminal device.

[0273] Although the above combination Figure 8 The code device in the disclosed embodiment is implemented as a computer program module, which, when executed in a processor, enables the device to perform the actions described above in conjunction with the above figures. In an alternative embodiment, at least one code device can be at least partially implemented as a hardware circuit.

[0274] The processor may be a single CPU (central processing unit), but may also include two or more processing units. For example, the processor may include a general-purpose microprocessor, an instruction set processor and / or a related chipset and / or a special-purpose microprocessor (e.g., an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC). The processor may also include on-board memory for high-speed caching purposes. The computer program may be carried by a computer program product connected to the processor. The computer program product may include a computer-readable medium on which the computer program is stored. For example, the computer program product may be a flash memory, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM) or an EEPROM, and the above-mentioned computer program modules may be distributed on different computer program products in the form of memory within the network node and / or terminal device in an alternative embodiment.

[0275] Corresponding to the method 500 described above, an exemplary first terminal device for locating a target associated with a plurality of terminal devices including the first terminal device is provided. Fig. 9 is a block diagram of an exemplary terminal device 900 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, the terminal device 900 may be, for example, a UE 100 or a master UE 100-1 or another UE / device 100-2.

[0276] The terminal device 900 may be configured to perform the above combined Figure 5 The method 500 is described. Fig. 9 As shown, the terminal device 900 may include: an obtaining module 910 configured to obtain an association with at least one second terminal device other than the first terminal device among the multiple terminal devices; and a using module 920 configured to use the association data for positioning.

[0277] The modules 910 and / or 920 may be implemented as a pure hardware solution or as a combination of software and hardware, for example, by one or more of the following: Figure 5A processor or microprocessor and appropriate software and a memory, a programmable logic device (PLD) or other electronic components or processing circuits for storing the actions shown in the figure. In addition, the terminal device 900 may include one or more additional modules, each of which may execute the reference Figure 5 Any step of method 500 as described.

[0278] Corresponding to the above method 600 , an exemplary first network node is provided for facilitating a first terminal device to locate a target associated with a plurality of terminal devices including the first terminal device. Fig.10 is a block diagram of an exemplary first network node 1000 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, the first network node 1000 may be, for example, an AMF 110 or a LMF 125.

[0279] The first network node 1000 may be configured to perform the above Figure 6 The method 600 is described. Fig.10 As shown, the first network node 1000 may include: a receiving module 1010, configured to receive a first message from a first terminal device, the first message indicating association data for an association between the first terminal device and at least one second terminal device, the at least one second terminal device being from the multiple terminal devices and different from the first terminal device; a determining module 1020, configured to determine whether registration of the association is allowed; and a sending module 1030, configured to send a second message to the first terminal device based at least on the determination, the second message indicating whether the association is successfully registered.

[0280] The modules 1010, 1020 and / or 1030 may be implemented as a pure hardware solution or as a combination of software and hardware, for example, by one or more of the following: Figure 6 A processor or microprocessor and appropriate software and a memory, PLD or other electronic component or processing circuit for storing the software. In addition, the first network node 1000 may include one or more additional modules, each of which may execute the reference Figure 6 Any step of method 600 described.

[0281] Corresponding to the above method 700 , an exemplary second network node is provided, for facilitating a first terminal device to locate a target associated with a plurality of terminal devices including the first terminal device. Fig.11 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary second network node 1100 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, the second network node 1100 may be, for example, an AMF 125.

[0282] The second network node 1100 may be configured to perform the above combined Figure 7 The method 700 is described. Fig.11 As shown, the second network node 1100 may include: a receiving module 1110, configured to receive an eighth message from a first terminal device, the eighth message indicating a measurement result obtained by the first terminal device and / or at least one second terminal device, or indicating a filtered measurement result derived by the first terminal device from a measurement result obtained by the first terminal device and / or the at least one second terminal device, the at least one second terminal device being from the multiple terminal devices and different from the first terminal device; a determining module 1120, configured to determine a positioning result of the target based at least on the eighth message; and a sending module 1130, configured to send a ninth message indicating the positioning result of the target to the first terminal device.

[0283] The modules 1110, 1120 and / or 1130 may be implemented as a pure hardware solution or as a combination of software and hardware, for example, by one or more of the following: Figure 7 A processor or microprocessor and appropriate software and a memory, PLD or other electronic component or processing circuit for storing the software. In addition, the second network node 1100 may include one or more additional modules, each of which may execute the reference Figure 7 Any step of method 700 described.

[0284] Fig.12 An example of a communication system QQ 100 is shown in accordance with some embodiments.

[0285] In this example, the communication system QQ100 includes a telecommunication network QQ102 including an access network QQ104 such as a radio access network (RAN) and a core network QQ106 including one or more core network nodes QQ108. The access network QQ104 includes one or more access network nodes, such as network nodes QQ110a and QQ110b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as network nodes QQ110), or any other similar third generation partnership project (3GPP) access nodes or non-3GPP access points. The network node QQ110 facilitates direct or indirect connection of user equipment (UE), such as connecting UE QQ112a, UE QQ112b, UE QQ112c, and UE QQ112d (one or more of which may be generally referred to as UE QQ112) to the core network QQ106 via one or more wireless connections.

[0286] Example wireless communications via wireless connections include sending and / or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared waves, and / or other types of signals suitable for transmitting information without using wiring, cables, or other material conductors. In addition, in different embodiments, the communication system QQ100 may include any number of wired or wireless networks, network nodes, UEs, and / or any other components or systems that can facilitate or participate in the communication of data and / or signals (whether via a wired connection or via a wireless connection). The communication system QQ100 may include any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, radio network, and / or other similar types of systems, and / or be connected to any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, radio network, and / or other similar types of system interfaces.

[0287] UE QQ 112 may be any of a variety of communication devices, including wireless devices that are arranged, configured and / or operable to wirelessly communicate with network node QQ 110 and other communication devices. Similarly, network node QQ 110 is arranged, capable, configured and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with UE QQ 112 and / or with other network nodes or devices in telecommunication network QQ 102 to enable and / or provide network access (e.g., wireless network access) and / or to perform other functions (e.g., management) in telecommunication network QQ 102.

[0288] In the depicted example, the core network QQ106 connects the network node QQ110 to one or more hosts (e.g., host QQ116). These connections may be direct connections or indirect connections via one or more intermediate networks or devices. In other examples, the network node may be directly coupled to the host. The core network QQ106 includes one or more core network nodes (e.g., core network node QQ108) composed of hardware and software components. The features of these components may be substantially similar to the features described with respect to the UE, network node, and / or host, so that their description is generally applicable to the corresponding components of the core network node QQ108. The example core network node includes the functions of one or more of the following items: mobile switching center (MSC), mobility management entity (MME), home subscriber server (HSS), access and mobility management function (AMF), session management function (SMF), authentication server function (AUSF), subscription identifier cancellation hiding function (SIDF), unified data management (UDM), security edge protection agent (SEPP), network open function (NEF) and / or user plane function (UPF).

[0289] The host QQ116 may be owned or controlled by a service provider other than the operator or provider of the access network QQ104 and / or the telecommunications network QQ102, and may be operated by or on behalf of the service provider. The host QQ116 may host a variety of applications to provide one or more services. Examples of such applications include live and pre-recorded audio / video content, data collection services (e.g., retrieving and compiling data about various environmental conditions detected by multiple UEs), analysis functions, social media, functions for controlling remote devices or otherwise interacting with remote devices, functions for alarm and monitoring centers, or any other such functions performed by a server.

[0290] As a whole, Fig.12 The communication system QQ100 implements the connection between UE, network node and host. In this sense, the communication system can be configured to operate according to predefined rules or procedures such as specific standards, including but not limited to: Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM); Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS); Long Term Evolution (LTE) and / or other suitable 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G standards, or any applicable future generation standards (e.g., 6G); Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) standards, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard (WiFi); and / or any other appropriate wireless communication standards, such as Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Bluetooth, Z-Wave, Near Field Communication (NFC) ZigBee, LiFi, and / or any Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) standards such as LoRa and Sigfox.

[0291] In some examples, the telecommunication network QQ 102 is a cellular network that implements 3GPP standardized features. Therefore, the telecommunication network QQ 102 can support network slicing to provide different logical networks to different devices connected to the telecommunication network QQ 102. For example, the telecommunication network QQ 102 can provide ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC) services to some UEs, while providing enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) services to other UEs, and / or providing massive machine type communication (mMTC) / massive IoT services to other other UEs.

[0292] In some examples, UE QQ112 is configured to send and / or receive information without direct human interaction. For example, the UE may be designed to send information to the access network QQ104 according to a predetermined schedule when triggered by an internal or external event or in response to a request from the access network QQ104. In addition, the UE may be configured to operate in a single RAT mode or a multi-RAT mode or a multi-standard mode. For example, the UE may operate using any one or a combination of Wi-Fi, NR (New Radio), and LTE, i.e., configured for multi-radio dual connectivity (MR-DC), such as E-UTRAN (Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network) New Radio-Dual Connectivity (EN-DC).

[0293] In this example, the hub QQ114 communicates with the access network QQ104 to facilitate indirect communication between one or more UEs (e.g., UE QQ112c and / or UE QQ112d) and a network node (e.g., network node QQ110b). In some examples, the hub QQ114 may be a controller, a router, a content source and an analyzer, or any other communication device described herein with respect to the UE. For example, the hub QQ114 may be a broadband router that enables the UE to access the core network QQ106. As another example, the hub QQ114 may be a controller that sends commands or instructions to one or more actuators in the UE. The commands or instructions may be received from the UE, the network node QQ110, or received through executable code, scripts, processes, or other instructions in the hub QQ114. As another example, the hub QQ114 may be a data collector that acts as a temporary storage device for UE data, and in some embodiments, analysis or other processing of the data may be performed. As another example, the hub QQ114 may be a content source. For example, for a UE that is a VR headset, display, speaker, or other media delivery device, the center QQ 114 can retrieve VR assets, video, audio, or other media or data related to sensory information via a network node, and then the center QQ 114 directly provides it to the UE after performing local processing and / or after adding additional local content. In yet another example, the center QQ 114 acts as a proxy server or coordinator for the UEs, especially if one or more of these UEs are low-energy IoT devices.

[0294] The center QQ114 may have a continuous / persistent or intermittent connection with the network node QQ110b. The center QQ114 may also allow different communication schemes and / or scheduling between the center QQ114 and the UE (e.g., UE QQ112c and / or UE QQ112d) and between the center QQ114 and the core network QQ106. In other examples, the center QQ114 is connected to the core network QQ106 and / or one or more UEs via a wired connection. In addition, the center QQ114 may be configured to be connected to an M2M service provider through the access network QQ104, and / or to another UE through a direct connection. In some scenarios, the UE may establish a wireless connection with the network node QQ110 while still being connected through the center QQ114 via a wired or wireless connection. In some embodiments, the center QQ114 may be a dedicated center, that is, a center whose main function is to route communications from the network node QQ110b to the UE / route communications from the UE to the network node QQ110b. In other embodiments, the center QQ 114 may be a non-dedicated center, ie, a device operable to route communications between UEs and network node QQ 110b but additionally operable as a communications origin and / or endpoint for certain data channels.

[0295] Fig.13 UE QQ200 according to some embodiments is shown. As used herein, UE refers to a device that is capable of, configured, arranged and / or operable to wirelessly communicate with a network node and / or other UEs. Examples of UEs include, but are not limited to, smart phones, mobile phones, cellular phones, voice over IP (VoIP) phones, wireless local loop phones, desktop computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), wireless cameras, game consoles or devices, music storage devices, playback devices, wearable terminal devices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, tablet computers, laptop computers, laptop embedded devices (LEEs), laptop-mounted devices (LMEs), smart devices, wireless client equipment (CPEs), vehicle-mounted or vehicle-embedded / integrated wireless devices, etc. Other examples include any UE identified by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), including narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) UEs, machine type communication (MTC) UEs, and / or enhanced MTC (eMTC) UEs.

[0296] The UE may, for example, support device-to-device (D2D) communications by implementing 3GPP standards for sidelink communications, dedicated short-range communications (DSRC), vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), or vehicle-to-everything (V2X). In other examples, the UE may not necessarily have a user in the sense of a human user who owns and / or operates the associated device. Alternatively, the UE may represent a device that is intended to be sold to or operated by a human user but may not or may not initially be associated with a specific human user (e.g., a smart sprinkler controller). Alternatively, the UE may represent a device that is not intended to be sold to or operated by an end user but may be associated with or operated for the benefit of a user (e.g., a smart power meter).

[0297] UE QQ200 includes processing circuit QQ202, which is operatively coupled to input / output interface QQ206, power supply QQ208, memory QQ210, communication interface QQ212, and / or any other components, or any combination thereof, via bus QQ204. Fig.13 All or a subset of the components shown. The level of integration between components may vary from UE to UE. In addition, some UEs may contain multiple instances of a component, such as multiple processors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc.

[0298] The processing circuit QQ202 is configured to process instructions and data, and may be configured to implement any sequential state machine operable to execute instructions stored in the memory QQ210 as a machine-readable computer program. The processing circuit QQ202 may be implemented as: one or more hardware-implemented state machines (e.g., implemented in discrete logic, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc.); programmable logic together with appropriate firmware; one or more stored computer programs, general-purpose processors (e.g., microprocessors or digital signal processors (DSPs)) together with appropriate software; or any combination of the above. For example, the processing circuit QQ202 may include multiple central processing units (CPUs).

[0299] In this example, the input / output interface QQ206 can be configured to provide one or more interfaces to an input device, an output device, or one or more input and / or output devices. Examples of output devices include speakers, sound cards, video cards, displays, monitors, printers, actuators, transmitters, smart cards, another output device, or any combination thereof. An input device can allow a user to capture information into the UE QQ200. Examples of input devices include touch-sensitive or presence-sensitive displays, cameras (e.g., digital cameras, digital video cameras, web cameras, etc.), microphones, sensors, mice, trackballs, direction keyboards, trackpads, rollers, smart cards, etc. The presence-sensitive display can include a capacitive or resistive touch sensor to sense input from the user. The sensor can be, for example, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a tilt sensor, a force sensor, a magnetometer, an optical sensor, a proximity sensor, a biometric sensor, etc., or any combination thereof. An output device can use an interface port of the same type as an input device. For example, a universal serial bus (USB) port can be used to provide input devices and output devices.

[0300] In some embodiments, the power supply QQ208 is constructed as a battery or a battery pack. Other types of power supplies may be used, such as an external power supply (e.g., a power socket), a photovoltaic device, or a battery. The power supply QQ208 may also include a power supply circuit for delivering power from the power supply QQ208 itself and / or an external power supply to various parts of the UEQQ200 via an input circuit or an interface such as a power cable. The delivered power may be used, for example, for charging the power supply QQ208. The power supply circuit may perform any formatting, conversion, or other modification on the power from the power supply QQ208 so that the power is suitable for the various components of the UEQQ200 to which the power is supplied.

[0301] The memory QQ210 may be or be configured to include a memory, such as a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), a programmable read-only memory (PROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a hard disk, a removable tape, a flash drive, etc. In one example, the memory QQ210 includes one or more application programs QQ214, such as an operating system, a web browser application, a widget, a gadget engine, or other applications, and corresponding data QQ216. The memory QQ210 may store any of a variety of operating systems or a combination of operating systems used by the UE QQ200.

[0302] The memory QQ210 may be configured to include multiple physical drive units, such as a redundant array of independent disks (RAID), a flash memory, a USB flash drive, an external hard drive, a thumb drive, a pen drive, a key drive, a high-density digital versatile disc (HD-DVD) optical drive, a built-in hard drive, a Blu-ray optical drive, a holographic digital data storage (HDDS) optical drive, an external mini dual in-line memory module (DIMM), a synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), an external micro DIMM SDRAM, a smart card memory (e.g., a tamper-proof module in the form of a universal integrated circuit card (UICC), including one or more subscriber identity modules (SIMs), such as USIM and / or ISIM), other memories, or any combination thereof. The UICC may be, for example, an embedded UICC (eUICC), an integrated UICC (iUICC), or a removable UICC commonly referred to as a "SIM card". The memory QQ210 may allow the UE QQ200 to access instructions, applications, etc. stored on a temporary or non-temporary storage medium to offload data or upload data. An article of manufacture, such as an article of manufacture utilizing a communication system, may be tangibly embodied as or in memory QQ 210 , which may be or include a device-readable storage medium.

[0303] The processing circuit QQ202 may be configured to communicate with an access network or other network using a communication interface QQ212. The communication interface QQ212 may include one or more communication subsystems and may include an antenna QQ222 or be communicatively coupled to the antenna QQ222. The communication interface QQ212 may include one or more transceivers for communication (e.g., by communicating with one or more remote transceivers of another device capable of wireless communication (e.g., another UE or a network node in an access network)). Each transceiver may include a transmitter QQ218 and / or a receiver QQ220 suitable for providing network communications (e.g., optical, electrical, frequency allocation, etc.). In addition, the transmitter QQ218 and the receiver QQ220 may be coupled to one or more antennas (e.g., antenna QQ222) and may share circuit components, software, or firmware, or alternatively be implemented separately.

[0304] In the illustrated embodiment, the communication functions of the communication interface QQ212 may include cellular communication, Wi-Fi communication, LPWAN communication, data communication, voice communication, multimedia communication, short-range communication such as Bluetooth, near field communication, location-based communication (e.g., using a global positioning system (GPS) to determine location), another type of communication function, or any combination thereof. Communication may be implemented according to one or more communication protocols and / or standards (e.g., IEEE 802.11, code division multiple access (CDMA), wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA), GSM, LTE, new radio (NR), UMTS, WiMax, Ethernet, transmission control protocol / Internet protocol (TCP / IP), synchronous optical network (SONET), asynchronous transfer mode (ATM), QUIC, hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), etc.).

[0305] Regardless of the type of sensor, the UE can provide an output of the data captured by its sensor through its communication interface QQ212 via a wireless connection to a network node. The data captured by the UE's sensor can be transmitted via another UE via a wireless connection to a network node. The output can be periodic (e.g., once every 15 minutes if it reports the sensed temperature), random (e.g., to balance the load of reports from several sensors), in response to a trigger event (e.g., sending an alarm when humidity is detected), in response to a request (e.g., a user-initiated request), or a continuous stream (e.g., a live video feed of a patient).

[0306] As another example, the UE includes an actuator, motor, or switch associated with a communication interface configured to receive wireless input from a network node via a wireless connection. In response to the received wireless input, the state of the actuator, motor, or switch can change. For example, the UE can include a motor that adjusts a control surface or rotor of a drone in flight based on the received input, or adjusts a robotic arm performing a medical procedure based on the received input.

[0307] When the UE is in the form of an Internet of Things (IoT) device, the UE can be a device used in one or more application areas, including but not limited to urban wearable technology, extended industrial applications, and healthcare. Non-limiting examples of such IoT devices are the following devices or devices embedded in the following devices: connected refrigerators or freezers, televisions, connected lighting devices, electricity meters, robotic vacuum cleaners, voice-controlled smart speakers, home security cameras, motion detectors, thermostats, smoke detectors, door and window sensors, flood / humidity sensors, electronic door locks, connected doorbells, air conditioning systems (such as heat pumps), autonomous vehicles, monitoring systems, weather monitoring devices, vehicle parking monitoring devices, electric vehicle charging stations, smart watches, fitness trackers, head-mounted displays for augmented reality (AR) or virtual reality (VR), wearable devices for tactile enhancement or sensory enhancement, sprinklers, animal tracking or item tracking devices, sensors for monitoring plants or animals, industrial robots, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and any kind of medical equipment (such as heart rate monitors or teleoperated surgical robots). In addition to the above, Fig.13 In addition to the other components described for the illustrated UE QQ200 , a UE in the form of an IoT device may also include circuitry and / or software depending on the intended application of the IoT device.

[0308] As yet another specific example, in an IoT scenario, a UE may represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and / or measurement and sends the results of such monitoring and / or measurement to another UE and / or a network node. In this case, the UE may be an M2M device, which may be referred to as an MTC device in the 3GPP context. As a specific example, the UE may implement the 3GPP NB-IoT standard. In other scenarios, a UE may represent a vehicle (e.g., a car, bus, truck, ship, and airplane) or other device that is capable of monitoring and / or reporting its operating status or other functions associated with its operation.

[0309] In fact, for a single use case, any number of UEs may be used together. For example, the first UE may be a drone or integrated in a drone and provide the drone's speed information (obtained via a speed sensor) to a second UE, which is a remote controller that operates the drone. When the user makes changes from the remote controller, the first UE may adjust the throttle on the drone (e.g., by controlling an actuator) to increase or decrease the drone's speed. The first UE and / or the second UE may also include more than one of the above functions. For example, the UE may include a sensor and an actuator and handle data communications for both the speed sensor and the actuator.

[0310] Fig.14A network node QQ300 according to some embodiments is shown. As used herein, a network node refers to a device capable of, configured, arranged and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with a UE and / or with other network nodes or devices in a telecommunications network. Examples of network nodes include, but are not limited to, access points (APs) (e.g., radio access points), base stations (BSs) (e.g., radio base stations, NodeBs, evolved NodeBs (eNBs), and NR NodeBs (gNBs)).

[0311] Base stations may be classified based on the amount of coverage they provide (or in other words, their transmit power level), and thus may be referred to as femto, pico, micro or macro base stations, depending on the amount of coverage provided. A base station may be a relay node or a relay donor node that controls a relay. A network node may also include one or more (or all) parts of a distributed radio base station, such as a centralized digital unit and / or a remote radio unit (RRU), sometimes referred to as a remote radio head (RRH). These remote radio units may or may not be integrated with an antenna as an antenna-integrated radio. Portions of a distributed radio base station may also be referred to as nodes in a distributed antenna system (DAS).

[0312] Other examples of network nodes include a multi-transmission point (multi-TRP) 5G access node, a multi-standard radio (MSR) device (e.g., an MSR BS), a network controller (e.g., a radio network controller (RNC) or a base station controller (BSC)), a base transceiver station (BTS), a transmission point, a transmission node, a multi-cell / multicast coordination entity (MCE), an operation and maintenance (O&M) node, an operation support system (OSS) node, a self-organizing network (SON) node, a positioning node (e.g., an evolved serving mobile location center (E-SMLC)), and / or a minimization of drive tests (MDT).

[0313] The network node QQ300 includes a processing circuit QQ302, a memory QQ304, a communication interface QQ306, and a power supply QQ308. The network node QQ300 may be composed of multiple physically separated components (e.g., NodeB components and RNC components, BTS components and BSC components, etc.), which may have respective corresponding components. In certain scenarios where the network node QQ300 includes multiple separate components (e.g., BTS and BSC components), one or more separate components may be shared between several network nodes. For example, a single RNC may control multiple NodeBs. In such a scenario, each unique "NodeB and RNC pair" may be considered as a single separate network node in some cases. In some embodiments, the network node QQ300 may be configured to support multiple radio access technologies (RATs). In such an embodiment, some components may be duplicated (e.g., separate memories QQ304 exist for different RATs), and some components may be reused (e.g., the same antenna QQ310 may be shared by different RATs). The network node QQ300 may also include multiple sets of various components shown for different wireless technologies (e.g., GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, Zigbee, Z-wave, LoRaWAN, radio frequency identification (RFID), or Bluetooth wireless technologies) integrated into the network node QQ300. These wireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chips or chipsets and other components within the network node QQ300.

[0314] The processing circuit QQ302 may include a combination of one or more of the following: a microprocessor, a controller, a microcontroller, a central processing unit, a digital signal processor, an application specific integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array, or any other suitable computing device, resource, or combination of hardware, software and / or encoded logic, which is operable to provide network node QQ300 functionality alone or in combination with other network node QQ300 components (e.g., memory QQ304).

[0315] In some embodiments, the processing circuit QQ302 includes a system on a chip (SOC). In some embodiments, the processing circuit QQ302 includes one or more of a radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuit QQ312 and a baseband processing circuit QQ314. In some embodiments, the radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuit QQ312 and the baseband processing circuit QQ314 may be on separate chips (or chipsets), boards, or units (e.g., a radio unit and a digital unit). In alternative embodiments, part or all of the RF transceiver circuit QQ312 and the baseband processing circuit QQ314 may be on the same chip or chipset, board, or unit set.

[0316] The memory QQ304 may include any form of volatile or non-volatile computer-readable memory, including but not limited to permanent storage devices, solid-state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), mass storage media (e.g., hard disk), removable storage media (e.g., flash drive, compact disk (CD) or digital video disk (DVD)) and / or any other volatile memory or non-volatile, non-temporary device readable and / or computer executable memory device, which stores information, data and / or instructions that can be used by the processing circuit QQ302. The memory QQ304 may store any suitable instructions, data or information, including computer programs, software, applications including one or more of logic, rules, codes, tables, and / or other instructions that can be executed by the processing circuit QQ302 and used by the network node QQ300. The memory QQ304 may be used to store any calculations performed by the processing circuit QQ302 and / or any data received via the communication interface QQ306. In some embodiments, the processing circuit QQ302 and the memory QQ304 are integrated together.

[0317] The communication interface QQ306 is used for wired or wireless communication of signaling and / or data between network nodes, access networks and / or UEs. As shown in the figure, the communication interface QQ306 includes a port / terminal QQ316, which is used to send data to the network and receive data from the network, for example, via a wired connection. The communication interface QQ306 also includes a radio front-end circuit QQ318, which can be coupled to the antenna QQ310, or in some embodiments, coupled to a part of the antenna QQ310. The radio front-end circuit QQ318 includes a filter QQ320 and an amplifier QQ322. The radio front-end circuit QQ318 can be connected to the antenna QQ310 and the processing circuit QQ302. The radio front-end circuit can be configured to adjust the signal transmitted between the antenna QQ310 and the processing circuit QQ302. The radio front-end circuit QQ318 can receive digital data to be sent to other network nodes or UEs via a wireless connection. The radio front-end circuit QQ318 can use a combination of a filter QQ320 and / or an amplifier QQ322 to convert the digital data into a radio signal with appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters. The radio signal can then be sent via the antenna QQ310. Similarly, when data is received, antenna QQ310 may collect the radio signal, which is then converted into digital data by radio front end circuit QQ318. The digital data may be passed to processing circuit QQ302. In other embodiments, the communication interface may include different components and / or different combinations of components.

[0318] In certain alternative embodiments, the network node QQ300 does not include a separate radio front end circuit QQ318, instead the processing circuit QQ302 includes the radio front end circuit and is connected to the antenna QQ310. Similarly, in some embodiments, all or some of the RF transceiver circuit QQ312 is part of the communication interface QQ306. In yet another embodiment, the communication interface QQ306 includes one or more ports or terminals QQ316, the radio front end circuit QQ318 and the RF transceiver circuit QQ312 as part of a radio unit (not shown), and the communication interface QQ306 communicates with the baseband processing circuit QQ314, which is part of the digital unit (not shown).

[0319] Antenna QQ310 may include one or more antennas or antenna arrays configured to send and / or receive wireless signals. Antenna QQ310 may be coupled to radio front end circuit QQ318 and may be any type of antenna capable of wirelessly sending and receiving data and / or signals. In some embodiments, antenna QQ310 is separate from network node QQ300 and may be connected to network node QQ300 via an interface or port.

[0320] The antenna QQ310, the communication interface QQ306 and / or the processing circuit QQ302 may be configured to perform any receiving operation and / or certain obtaining operations performed by the network node described herein. Any information, data and / or signal may be received from the UE, another network node and / or any other network device. Similarly, the antenna QQ310, the communication interface QQ306 and / or the processing circuit QQ302 may be configured to perform any sending operation performed by the network node described herein. Any information, data and / or signal may be sent to the UE, another network node and / or any other network device.

[0321] The power supply QQ308 provides power to the various components of the network node QQ300 in a form suitable for the various components (e.g., at the voltage and current levels required by each corresponding component). The power supply QQ308 may also include a power management circuit or be coupled to a power management circuit to supply power to the components of the network node QQ300 for performing the functions described herein. For example, the network node QQ300 may be connected to an external power source (e.g., a power grid, a power outlet) via an input circuit or interface (e.g., a cable), whereby the external power source supplies power to the power circuit of the power supply QQ308. As another example, the power supply QQ308 may include a power source in the form of a battery or a battery pack, which is connected to the power circuit or integrated in the power circuit. If the external power supply fails, the battery can provide backup power.

[0322] Embodiments of network node QQ300 may include beyond Fig.14 Additional components to the components shown are used to provide certain aspects of the functionality of the network node (including any functionality described herein and / or any functionality required to support the subject matter described herein). For example, the network node QQ300 may include a user interface device to allow information to be input into the network node QQ300 and to allow information to be output from the network node QQ300. This may allow a user to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other management functions for the network node QQ300.

[0323] Fig.15 is a block diagram of a host QQ400 according to various aspects described herein, which host QQ400 may be Fig.12 As used herein, host QQ 400 may be or include various combinations of hardware and / or software (including processing resources in a standalone server, blade server, cloud-implemented server, distributed server, virtual machine, container, or server cluster). Host QQ 400 may provide one or more services to one or more UEs.

[0324] The host QQ400 includes a processing circuit QQ402, which is operably coupled to an input / output interface QQ406, a network interface QQ408, a power supply QQ410, and a memory QQ412 via a bus QQ404. Other components may be included in other embodiments. The features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the previous figures (e.g., Fig.13 and Fig.14 ) so that its description is generally applicable to the corresponding components of the host QQ400.

[0325] The memory QQ412 may include one or more computer programs, including data QQ416 and one or more host applications QQ414, which may include user data, such as data generated by the UE for the host QQ400, or data generated by the host QQ400 for the UE. An embodiment of the host QQ400 may utilize only a subset or all of the components shown. The host application QQ414 may be implemented in a container-based architecture and may provide support for video codecs (e.g., general video coding (VVC), high efficiency video coding (HEVC), advanced video coding (AVC), MPEG, VP9) and audio codecs (e.g., FLAC, advanced audio coding (AAC), MPEG, G.711), including transcoding for a variety of different categories, types or implementations of UE (e.g., mobile phones, desktop computers, wearable display systems, head-up display systems). The host application QQ414 may also provide user authentication and license checks, and may periodically report health status, routing, and content availability to a central node (e.g., a device in the core network or a device on the edge of the core network). Thus, the host QQ 400 may select and / or indicate to the UE a different host for the over-the-top service. The host application QQ 414 may support various protocols, such as HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) protocol, Real-time Messaging Protocol (RTMP), Real-time Streaming Protocol (RTSP), Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (MPEG-DASH), etc.

[0326] Fig.16 is a block diagram showing a virtualized environment QQ500 that can virtualize the functions implemented by some embodiments. In this context, virtualization means creating a virtual version of an apparatus or device that can include a virtualized hardware platform, storage device, and network resources. As used herein, virtualization can be applied to any device or component thereof described herein, and relates to an implementation method in which at least a portion of the functions are implemented as one or more virtual components. Some or all of the functions described herein can be implemented as virtual components executed by one or more virtual machines (VMs), which are implemented in one or more virtual environments QQ500 hosted by one or more of the hardware nodes (e.g., hardware computing devices operating as network nodes, UEs, core network nodes, or hosts). In addition, in an embodiment where a virtual node does not require a radio connection (e.g., a core network node or a host), the node can be fully virtualized.

[0327] Application QQ502 (which may alternatively be referred to as a software instance, a virtual application, a network function, a virtual node, a virtual network function, etc.) runs in virtualized environment Q500 to implement some features, functions and / or benefits of some embodiments disclosed herein.

[0328] Hardware QQ504 includes processing circuitry, memory storing software and / or instructions executable by the hardware processing circuitry, and / or other hardware devices described herein (e.g., network interfaces, input / output interfaces, etc.). The software may be executed by the processing circuitry to instantiate one or more virtualization layers QQ506 (also referred to as hypervisors or virtual machine monitors (VMMs)), provide VM QQ508a and VM QQ508b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as VM QQ508), and / or perform any functions, features, and / or benefits described in connection with some embodiments described herein. Virtualization layer QQ506 may present a virtual operating platform to VM QQ508 that appears to be network hardware.

[0329] VM QQ508 includes virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual network or interface, and virtual storage, and can be run by the corresponding virtualization layer QQ506. Different embodiments of the instance of the virtual device QQ502 can be implemented on one or more VM QQ508, and the implementation can be made in different ways. In some contexts, the virtualization of hardware is referred to as network function virtualization (NFV). NFV can be used to unify numerous network device types onto industrial standard high-capacity server hardware, physical switches, and physical storage that can be located in data centers and customer premises equipment (CPE).

[0330] In the context of NFV, VM QQ508 can be a software implementation of a physical machine that runs programs as if they were executed on a physical, non-virtualized machine. Each VM QQ508 and the portion of hardware QQ504 that executes the VM (whether it is hardware dedicated to the VM and / or hardware shared by the VM with other VMs) form a separate virtual network element. Still in the context of NFV, a virtual network function is responsible for handling specific network functions that run in one or more VM QQ508 on top of hardware QQ504 and correspond to application QQ502.

[0331] Hardware QQ504 can be implemented in a standalone network node with general or specific components. Hardware QQ504 can implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, hardware QQ504 can be part of a larger hardware cluster (for example, in a data center or CPE), where many hardware nodes work together and are managed by management and coordination QQ510, which especially oversees the life cycle management of application QQ502. In some embodiments, hardware QQ504 is coupled to one or more radio units, each of which includes one or more transmitters and one or more receivers that can be coupled to one or more antennas. The radio unit can communicate directly with other hardware nodes via one or more appropriate network interfaces, and can be used in conjunction with virtual components to provide radio capabilities to virtual nodes (for example, radio access nodes or base stations). In some embodiments, some signaling can be provided by using a control system QQ512, which can alternatively be used for communication between hardware nodes and radio units.

[0332] Fig.17 A communication diagram is shown in which a host QQ 602 communicates with a UE QQ 606 via a network node QQ 604 over a partial wireless connection according to some embodiments. Fig.17 Describe the UE discussed in the previous paragraphs (e.g., Fig.12 UEQQ112a and / or Fig.13 UE QQ200), network nodes (e.g. Fig.12 The network node QQ110a and / or Fig.14 QQ300) and host (for example, Fig.12 Host QQ116 and / or Fig.15 An example implementation of the host QQ400 according to various embodiments.

[0333] Similar to the host QQ400, an embodiment of the host QQ602 includes hardware, such as a communication interface, a processing circuit, and a memory. The host QQ602 also includes software, which is stored in the host QQ602 or can be accessed by the host QQ602 and can be executed by the processing circuit. The software includes a host application, which is operable to provide services to remote users, such as UEQQ606 via an over-the-top (OTT) connection QQ650 extending between UE QQ606 and the host QQ602. When providing services to remote users, the host application can provide user data sent using the OTT connection QQ650.

[0334] The network node QQ 604 includes hardware that enables it to communicate with the host QQ 602 and the UE QQ 606. The connection QQ 660 can be a direct connection or through a core network (such as Fig.12The intermediate network may be a backbone network or the Internet.

[0335] UE QQ606 includes hardware and software, which is stored in UE QQ606 or accessible by UE QQ606 and can be executed by the processing circuit of UE. The software includes a client application (e.g., a web browser or an operator-specific "application"), which is operable to provide services to human or non-human users via UE QQ606 with the support of host QQ602. In host QQ602, the executing host application can communicate with the executing client application via OTT connection QQ650, which is terminated at UE QQ606 and host QQ602. When providing services to users, the client application of UE can receive request data from the host application of the host and provide user data in response to the request data. OTT connection QQ650 can transmit both request data and user data. The client application of UE can interact with the user to generate user data provided to the host application via OTT connection QQ650.

[0336] The OTT connection QQ650 may extend via a connection QQ660 between the host QQ602 and the network node QQ604 and via a wireless connection QQ670 between the network node QQ604 and the UE QQ606 to provide connectivity between the host QQ602 and the UE QQ606. The connection QQ660 and the wireless connection QQ670 through which the OTT connection QQ650 may be provided have been drawn abstractly to illustrate communications between the host QQ602 and the UE QQ606 via the network node QQ604 without explicitly involving any intermediate devices and the precise routing of messages via these devices.

[0337] As an example of sending data via OTT connection QQ650, in step QQ608, host QQ602 provides user data, which can be performed by executing a host application. In some embodiments, the user data is associated with a specific human user who interacts with UE QQ606. In other embodiments, the user data is associated with UE QQ606, which shares data with host QQ602 without explicit human interaction. In step QQ610, host QQ602 initiates a transmission to UE QQ606, which carries user data. Host QQ602 may initiate a transmission in response to a request sent by UE QQ606. The request may be caused by human interaction with UE QQ606 or by the operation of a client application executed on UE QQ606. According to the teachings of the embodiments described throughout the present disclosure, the transmission may be transmitted via network node QQ604. Therefore, in step QQ612, according to the teachings of the embodiments described throughout the present disclosure, network node QQ604 sends user data carried in the transmission initiated by host QQ602 to UE QQ606. In step QQ614 , UE QQ606 receives the user data carried in the transmission, which may be performed by a client application executing on UE QQ606 that is associated with a host application executed by host QQ602 .

[0338] In some examples, UE QQ606 executes a client application that provides user data to host QQ602. User data can be provided as a reaction or response to data received from host QQ602. Therefore, in step QQ616, UE QQ606 can provide user data, which can be performed by executing the client application. When providing user data, the client application can also consider user input received from the user via the input / output interface of UE QQ606. Regardless of the specific manner of providing user data, in step QQ618, UE QQ606 initiates sending user data to host QQ602 via network node QQ604. In step QQ620, according to the teachings of the embodiments described throughout the present disclosure, network node QQ604 receives user data from UE QQ606 and initiates sending the received user data to host QQ602. In step QQ622, host QQ602 receives user data carried in the transmission initiated by UE QQ606.

[0339] One or more of the various embodiments improve the performance of OTT services provided to UE QQ 606 using OTT connection QQ 650, in which wireless connection QQ 670 forms the final part. More specifically, the teachings of these embodiments can improve data rate, latency, power consumption, thereby providing benefits such as reducing user waiting time, relaxing restrictions on file size, improving content resolution, better responsiveness, and extending battery life.

[0340] In an example scenario, host QQ602 may collect and analyze plant status information. As another example, host QQ602 may process audio and video data that may have been retrieved from a UE for use in creating a map. As another example, host QQ602 may collect and analyze real-time data to assist in controlling vehicle congestion (e.g., controlling traffic lights). As another example, host QQ602 may store surveillance videos uploaded by a UE. As another example, host QQ602 may store or control access to media content such as video, audio, VR, or AR, which may be broadcast, multicast, or unicast to a UE. As other examples, host QQ602 may be used for energy pricing, remote control of non-time-critical power loads to balance power generation demand, positioning services, presentation services (e.g., compiling charts based on data collected from remote devices, etc.), or any other function for collecting, retrieving, storing, analyzing, and / or sending data.

[0341] In some examples, a measurement process may be provided for monitoring data rate, latency, and other factors that are the object of improvement of one or more embodiments. There may also be an optional network function for reconfiguring the OTT connection QQ650 between the host QQ602 and the UE QQ606 in response to changes in the measurement results. The measurement process and / or the network function for reconfiguring the OTT connection may be implemented in the software and hardware of the host QQ602 and / or the UE QQ606. In some embodiments, sensors (not shown) may be deployed in other devices through which the OTT connection QQ650 passes, or associated with the other devices; the sensors may participate in the measurement process by providing the values ​​of the monitoring quantities exemplified above or providing the values ​​of other physical quantities from which the software can calculate or estimate the monitoring quantities. The reconfiguration of the OTT connection QQ650 may include message formats, retransmission settings, preferred routes, etc.; the reconfiguration does not require direct changes to the operation of the network node QQ604. Such processes and functions may be known and practiced in the art. In some embodiments, the measurement may involve proprietary UE signaling that facilitates the host QQ602 to measure throughput, propagation time, latency, etc. The measurement can be achieved by the software using the OTT connection QQ650 to send messages (especially empty or "dummy" messages) while monitoring propagation time, errors, etc.

[0342] Although the computing devices (e.g., UE, network node, host) described herein may include a combination of the hardware components shown, other embodiments may include computing devices with different combinations of components. It should be understood that these computing devices may include any suitable combination of hardware and / or software required to perform the tasks, features, functions, and methods disclosed herein. The determination, calculation, acquisition, or similar operations described herein may be performed by a processing circuit, which may process information by, for example, converting the obtained information to other information, comparing the obtained information or the converted information with the information stored in the network node, and / or performing one or more operations based on the obtained information or the converted information, and making a determination based on the result of the processing. In addition, although the components are depicted as a single box located within a larger box or nested within multiple boxes, in fact, the computing device may include multiple different physical components constituting a single illustrated component, and the functions may be divided between separate components. For example, a communication interface may be configured to include any component described herein, and / or the functions of the components may be divided between the processing circuit and the communication interface. In another example, the non-computationally intensive functions of any such component may be implemented in software or firmware, and the computationally intensive functions may be implemented in hardware.

[0343] In some embodiments, some or all of the functions described herein may be provided by a processing circuit that executes instructions stored in a memory, which in some embodiments may be a computer program product in the form of a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functions may be provided by a processing circuit, for example, in a hardwired manner, without executing instructions stored on a separate or discrete device-readable storage medium. In any of these specific embodiments, the processing circuit may be configured to perform the described functions, regardless of whether instructions stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium are executed. The benefits provided by such functionality are not limited to separate processing circuits or to other components of a computing device, but are enjoyed by the computing device as a whole and / or are generally enjoyed by end users and wireless networks.

[0344] The present disclosure is described above with reference to the embodiments of the present disclosure. However, these embodiments are for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to limit the present disclosure. The scope of the present disclosure is defined by the appended claims and their equivalents. A person skilled in the art may make various modifications and variations without departing from the scope of the present disclosure, wherein these modifications and variations all fall within the scope of the present disclosure.

[0345] Abbreviations

[0346] AoA Angle of Arrival

[0347] L1, L2, L3Layer 1, Layer 2, Layer 3

[0348] PRS Positioning Reference Signal

[0349] PSS primary synchronization signal

[0350] RS reference signal

[0351] RSRP reference signal received power

[0352] RSRQ Reference Signal Received Quality

[0353] RSSI Received Signal Strength Indicator

[0354] RTOA relative arrival time

[0355] RTT Round Trip Time

[0356] SINR Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio

[0357] SMTCSSB measurement timing configuration

[0358] SRS sounding reference signal

[0359] SSB synchronization signal and PBCH block

[0360] SSS secondary synchronization signal

[0361] TA timing advance

[0362] TDOA Time Difference of Arrival

[0363] TOA Arrival Time

[0364] TRP sending and / or receiving points

[0365] UE user equipment.

Claims

1. A method (500) at a first terminal device (100-1, 100-2) for locating a target (400) associated with a plurality of terminal devices including the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2), the method (500) comprising: obtaining (S210, S405a, S405b, S510) an association with at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1) among the plurality of terminal devices except the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2); and Use (S230 to S260, S430 to S465, S520) associated data for positioning.

2. The method (500) according to claim 1, further comprising: A first message is sent (S220, S410) to a first network node (110, 125), the first message indicating the associated data.

3. The method (500) according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising: A second message is received (S425) from the first network node (110, 125), the second message indicating whether the association is successfully registered.

4. The method (500) according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein: The association data indicates at least one public identifier (ID) of the association.

5. The method (500) according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein: The first terminal devices (100-1, 100-2) include a main terminal device (100-1).

6. The method (500) according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein: The first message indicates at least one of the following: - an identifier associated with the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2); - an identifier associated with at least one or each of the at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1); - a public identifier preconfigured for the association; and - an indicator indicating that the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2) and the at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1) are associated for positioning.

7. The method (500) according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein: The second message further indicates at least one of the following: - a temporary identifier assigned to said first terminal device (100-1, 100-2); - a temporary identifier assigned to each of the at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1); and - A public identifier assigned to the association.

8. The method (500) according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein: The steps of obtaining (S210, S405a, S405b, S510) the association include: Attempting one or more rounds of associating the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2) with at least one of the plurality of terminal devices based on one or more factors, the one or more factors being obtained by at least one of: pre-configuration at the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2), and dynamic configuration provided from the network node (110, 125).

9. The method (500) according to claim 8, wherein: The one or more factors include at least one of the following: - an identifier associated with the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2); - an identifier associated with at least one of the at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1); - an indicator indicating which of the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2) and / or the at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1) is the master terminal device (100-1); - an identifier associated with said association; - the number of terminal devices actually required to locate the target (400) in the association; - the order in which the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2) attempts to associate itself with the at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1); - whether the members of the association have the same ownership; - whether the members of the association have the same synchronization reference source; - whether the members in the association have the same group communication; - whether the members of the association are registered to the same list; - whether the members of the association are logged in under the same identifier; - whether the members in the association have the same associated positioning request or measurement request; - whether the members in the association have the same associated positioning result; - whether the members in the association are quasi-co-located QCLs; as well as - whether the members of the association have a common timing related group; - whether the members of the association have a public ID associated with the association; - for at least one radio measurement type, whether members of the association have related measurement results that are close to each other within a range defined by one or more thresholds; - Whether the members of the association have the same user or the same operator when acquiring the association.

10. The method (500) according to claim 9, wherein the trying step is performed one by one on the plurality of terminal devices in the order indicated by the one or more factors until the number indicated by the one or more factors is reached or association with all of the plurality of terminal devices has been attempted.

11. The method (500) according to any one of claims 1 to 10, further comprising: In response to receiving (S425) the second message, A message indicating at least one content indicated by the second message is sent to the at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1) to trigger the at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1) to report its positioning capability.

12. The method (500) according to any one of claims 1 to 11, further comprising: In response to determining that the association is successfully registered, sending (S230, S440) a third message to a second network node (125), the third message indicating the positioning capability of the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2) or the positioning capability of both the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2) and the at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1); and A fourth message is received (S240, S445) from the second network node (125), the fourth message indicating: a positioning configuration for the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2) or a positioning configuration for both the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2) and the at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1), and / or a measurement request.

13. The method (500) according to claim 12, wherein: The positioning configuration includes at least one of the following items: - configuration for the radio signals to be received for positioning; - configuration for the radio signals to be transmitted for positioning; and - Configuration for positioning measurements.

14. The method (500) according to claim 12 or 13, wherein: The third message indicates at least one of the following: - a temporary identifier assigned to said first terminal device (100-1, 100-2); - a temporary identifier assigned to each of the at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1); - a public identifier assigned to the association; - the number of terminal devices associated with each other for positioning; and - A list of capabilities, each associated with one capability for positioning the terminal device.

15. The method (500) according to any one of claims 12 to 14, wherein: When the fourth message indicates one or more positioning configurations for the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2) and the at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1), the method (500) further includes: In response to receiving the fourth message, a fifth message is sent (S445) to each of the at least one second terminal devices (100-2, 100-1), the fifth message indicating at least one positioning configuration for the at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1).

16. The method (500) according to any one of claims 12 to 15, wherein: The third message is sent to the second network node (125) and the fourth message is received from the second network node (125) without involving any of the at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1), or The third message is sent to the second network node (125) and the fourth message is received from the second network node (125) via one or more of the at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1).

17. The method (500) according to any one of claims 12 to 16, further comprising at least one of the following: Based at least on the positioning configuration for the at least first terminal device (100-1, 100-2), performing (S450a, S450b) one or more measurement-related operations for positioning the target (400); sending (S455) to one of the at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1) a sixth message indicating one or more measurement results obtained by the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2) for locating the target (400); and A sixth message indicating one or more measurement results obtained by the at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1) for positioning the target (400) is received (S250, S455) from the at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1).

18. The method (500) according to any one of claims 12 to 17, wherein: Before the step of sending (S230, S440) the third message, the method (500) further includes: receiving (S430) a seventh message for requesting to locate the target (400) from one of the at least one second terminal devices (100-2, 100-1), The step of sending (S230, S440) the third message is performed in response to receiving (S430) the seventh message.

19. The method (500) according to any one of claims 1 to 18, further comprising: sending (S455) an eighth message to the second network node (125), the eighth message indicating a measurement result obtained by the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2) and / or the at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1), or indicating a filtered measurement result derived by the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2) from the measurement results obtained by the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2) and / or the at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1); as well as A ninth message is received (S260, S465) from the second network node (125), the ninth message indicating a positioning result of the target (400).

20. The method (500) of claim 19, wherein: The eighth message is sent to the second network node (125) and the ninth message is received from the second network node (125) without involving any of the at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1), or The eighth message is sent to the second network node (125) and the ninth message is received from the second network node (125) via one or more of the at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1).

21. The method (500) according to claim 19 or 20, wherein: The measurement result indicated by the eighth message includes at least one of the following items: - a list of one or more measurements of the time of arrival ToA; and - A list of one or more measurement results of Reference Signal Time Difference RSTD.

22. The method (500) according to any one of claims 7 to 21, wherein the public identifier assigned to the association is at least one of: - an identifier identifying the association; - an identifier identifying the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2); - an identifier identifying one of the at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1); - an identifier identifying said target (400); and - A set of multiple identifiers associated with multiple terminal devices associated with the same target (400) and capable of performing different measurements for positioning.

23. The method (500) of claim 22, wherein: The set of multiple identifiers includes at least one of the following: - a temporary mobile subscription identifier TMSI associated with the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2); - at least one TMSI associated with the at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1); - a layer 2 side link identifier associated with said first terminal device (100-1, 100-2); - at least one layer 2 side link identifier associated with said at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1); - a Bluetooth identifier associated with the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2); - at least one Bluetooth identifier associated with the at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1); - a Wi-Fi identifier associated with the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2); and - A Wi-Fi identifier associated with the at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1).

24. The method (500) according to any one of claims 1 to 23, wherein: The first terminal device (100-1, 100-2) is the associated master terminal device.

25. The method (500) of claim 24, wherein: The first terminal device (100-1, 100-2) is determined as the master terminal device by at least one of the following items: - Pre-configuration; - Dynamic configuration; and - Selection based on one or more predefined rules.

26. The method (500) of claim 25, wherein: The one or more predefined rules include at least one of the following: - the master terminal device has minimum capabilities defined for a master terminal device; - The primary cell PCell of the primary terminal device is located in a specific carrier frequency or frequency range; - the master terminal device is capable of communicating with a communication network to perform positioning services; - the master terminal device belongs to a power class defined for a master terminal device; - the primary terminal device has the strongest reference signal received power RSRP in the association; - the master terminal device has an RSRP at least above a threshold; - the master terminal device has a line-of-sight (LOS) path to a radio access network (RAN) node comprised in the communication network; - said master terminal device has in said association the shortest timing measurement relative to the communication network; as well as - The master terminal device is not a reduced capability RedCap terminal device.

27. The method (500) according to any one of claims 24 to 26, wherein: The master terminal device is capable of performing at least one of the following: - act on behalf of the association towards nodes external to the association; - performing at least one radio measurement configured for said association; - sending at least one radio signal configured for said association; - reporting radio measurements on behalf of the association; - receiving, on behalf of a member of the association, a request for one or more radio measurements to be performed by a member of the association; - forwarding the auxiliary data to the at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1); - triggering the at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1) to perform positioning measurement; - collecting radio measurements from the at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1); - acting as a synchronization reference for the at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1); - providing information about the association to another node external to the association; and - Inform another node external to the association about changes to the association.

28. The method (500) according to any one of claims 24 to 27, wherein: The position of the master terminal device is used as a reference position of the at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1).

29. The method (500) according to any one of claims 24 to 28, wherein: The master terminal device is a quasi-co-located QCL reference for the at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1).

30. The method (500) according to any one of claims 24 to 29, further comprising at least one of the following: Associating with a new terminal device so that the new terminal device joins the association; Detect the need to initiate a new round of association establishment; reporting information about the updated association to the first network node (110, 125) once the new terminal device has joined the association; detecting that a terminal device leaves the association; as well as Once the terminal device leaves the association, information about the updated association is reported to the first network node (110, 125).

31. The method (500) according to any one of claims 1 to 30, wherein: The first network node (110, 125) is an access and mobility management function AMF or a location management function LMF, and / or Wherein, the second network node (125) is a LMF.

32. A terminal device (100-1, 100-2, 800, 900), comprising: Processor (806); A memory (808) storing instructions which, when executed by the processor (806), cause the processor (806) to perform the method (500) according to any one of claims 1 to 31.

33. A method (600) at a first network node (110, 125) for facilitating a first terminal device (100-1, 100-2) to locate a target (400) associated with a plurality of terminal devices including the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2), the method (600) comprising: receiving (S320, S410, S610) a first message from the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2), the first message indicating association data for an association of the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2) with at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1), the at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1) being from the plurality of terminal devices and different from the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2); determining ( S415 , S420 , S620 ) whether registration of the association is permitted; and Based at least on the determination, a second message is sent (S425, S630) to the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2), the second message indicating whether the association is successfully registered.

34. The method (600) of claim 33, wherein: The association data indicates at least one public identifier (ID) of the association.

35. The method (600) of claim 33 or 34, wherein: The first terminal devices (100-1, 100-2) include a main terminal device (100-1).

36. The method (600) according to any one of claims 33 to 35, wherein: The first message indicates at least one of the following: - an identifier associated with the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2); - an identifier associated with at least one or each of the at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1); - a public identifier preconfigured for the association; and - an indicator indicating that the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2) and the at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1) are associated for positioning.

37. The method (600) according to any one of claims 33 to 36, wherein: The second message further indicates at least one of the following: - a temporary identifier assigned to said first terminal device (100-1, 100-2); - a temporary identifier assigned to each of the at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1); and - A public identifier assigned to the association.

38. The method (600) according to any one of claims 33 to 37, further comprising: A message indicating one or more factors is sent (S310) to the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2), the one or more factors being used to select one or more terminal devices to be associated with the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2).

39. The method (600) of claim 38, wherein: The one or more factors include at least one of the following: - an identifier associated with the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2); - an identifier associated with at least one of the at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1); - an indicator indicating which of the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2) and / or the at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1) is a master terminal device; - an identifier associated with said association; - the number of terminal devices actually required to locate the target (400) in the association; - the order in which the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2) attempts to associate itself with the at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1); - whether the members of the association have the same ownership; - whether the members of the association have the same synchronization reference source; - whether the members in the association have the same group communication; - whether the members of the association are registered to the same list; - whether the members of the association are logged in under the same identifier; - whether the members in the association have the same associated positioning request or measurement request; - whether the members in the association have the same associated positioning result; - whether the members in the association are quasi-co-located QCLs; as well as - whether the members of the association have a common timing related group; - whether the members of the association have a public ID associated with the association; - for at least one radio measurement type, whether members of the association have related measurement results that are close to each other within a range defined by one or more thresholds; - Whether the members of the association have the same user or the same operator when acquiring the association.

40. The method (600) according to any one of claims 33 to 39, wherein: The first terminal device (100-1, 100-2) is the associated master terminal device.

41. The method (600) according to any one of claims 33 to 40, further comprising at least one of the following: receiving a report from the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2) indicating that a new terminal device has joined the association; and A report is received from the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2) indicating that the terminal device has left the association.

42. The method (600) according to any one of claims 33 to 41, wherein: The first network node (110, 125) is an access and mobility management function AMF and / or a location management function LMF.

43. A first network node (110, 125, 800, 1000), comprising: Processor (806); A memory (808) storing instructions which, when executed by the processor (806), cause the processor (806) to perform the method (600) according to any one of claims 33 to 42.

44. A method (700) at a second network node (125) for facilitating a first terminal device (100-1, 100-2) to locate a target (400) associated with a plurality of terminal devices including the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2), the method (700) comprising: receiving (S350, S455, S710) an eighth message from the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2), the eighth message indicating a measurement result obtained by the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2) and / or at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1), or indicating a filtered measurement result derived by the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2) from measurement results obtained by the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2) and / or the at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1), the at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1) being from the plurality of terminal devices and different from the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2); determining (S360, S460, S720) a positioning result of the target (400) based at least on the eighth message; and A ninth message indicating a positioning result of the target (400) is sent (S360, S465, S730) to the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2).

45. The method (700) of claim 44, wherein: The eighth message is received from the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2) and the ninth message is sent to the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2) without involving any of the at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1), or Wherein, via one or more of the at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1), the eighth message is received from the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2) and the ninth message is sent to the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2).

46. ​​The method (700) of claim 44 or 45, wherein: The measurement result indicated by the eighth message includes at least one of the following items: - a list of one or more measurements of the time of arrival ToA; and - A list of one or more measurement results of Reference Signal Time Difference RSTD.

47. The method (700) according to any one of claims 44 to 46, wherein: Before the step of receiving (S350, S455, S710) the eighth message, the method (700) further includes: Receiving (S330, S440) a third message from the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2), the third message indicating the positioning capability of the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2) or the positioning capabilities of both the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2) and the at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1); Determining (S340) a positioning configuration for the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2) based at least on the positioning capability of the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2), or determining the positioning configuration for both the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2) and the at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1) based at least on the positioning capabilities of both the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2) and the at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1); and A fourth message is sent (S445) to the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2) and / or the at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1), wherein the fourth message indicates: a positioning configuration for the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2) or a positioning configuration for both the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2) and the at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1), and / or a measurement request.

48. The method (700) of claim 47, wherein: The positioning configuration includes at least one of the following items: - configuration for the radio signals to be received for positioning; - configuration for the radio signals to be transmitted for positioning; and - Configuration for positioning measurements.

49. The method (700) of claim 48, wherein: The third message indicates at least one of the following: - a temporary identifier assigned to said first terminal device (100-1, 100-2); - a temporary identifier assigned to each of the at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1); - a public identifier assigned to the association; - the number of terminal devices associated with each other for positioning; and - A list of capabilities, each associated with one capability for positioning the terminal device.

50. The method (700) according to any one of claims 47 to 49, wherein: The third message is received from the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2) and the fourth message is sent to the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2) and / or the at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1) without involving any of the at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1), or The third message is received from the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2) and the fourth message is sent to the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2) and / or the at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1) via one or more of the at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1).

51. The method (700) of claim 49 or 50, wherein the public identifier assigned to the association is at least one of: - an identifier identifying the association; - an identifier identifying the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2); - an identifier identifying one of the at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1); - an identifier identifying said target (400); and - A set of multiple identifiers associated with multiple terminal devices associated with the same target (400) and capable of performing different measurements for positioning.

52. The method (700) of claim 51, wherein: The set of multiple identifiers includes at least one of the following: - a temporary mobile subscription identifier TMSI associated with the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2); - at least one TMSI associated with the at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1); - a layer 2 side link identifier associated with said first terminal device (100-1, 100-2); - at least one layer 2 side link identifier associated with said at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1); - a Bluetooth identifier associated with the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2); - at least one Bluetooth identifier associated with the at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1); - a Wi-Fi identifier associated with the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2); and - A Wi-Fi identifier associated with the at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1).

53. The method (700) according to any one of claims 44 to 52, wherein: The first terminal device (100-1, 100-2) is the associated master terminal device.

54. The method (700) according to any one of claims 44 to 53, further comprising at least one of the following: receiving information about an updated association from said first terminal device (100-1, 100-2) once a new terminal device has joined said association; and Once the terminal device leaves the association, information about the updated association is received from the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2).

55. The method (700) according to any one of claims 44 to 54, wherein: The second network node (125) is a location management function LMF.

56. A second network node (125, 800, 1100), comprising: Processor (806); A memory (808) storing instructions which, when executed by the processor (806), cause the processor (806) to perform the method (700) according to any one of claims 44 to 55.

57. A computer program (810) comprising instructions which, when executed by at least one processor (806), cause the at least one processor (806) to perform the method (500, 600, 700) according to any one of claims 1 to 31, 33 to 42, and 44 to 55.

58. A carrier (808) comprising a computer program (806) according to claim 57, wherein The carrier (808) is one of an electric signal, an optical signal, a radio signal or a computer-readable storage medium.

59. A telecommunication system (10) for locating a target (400) associated with a plurality of terminal devices including a first terminal device (100-1, 100-2), the telecommunication system (10) comprising: The first terminal device (100-1, 100-2) includes: processor; A memory storing instructions, which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to: Obtaining an association with at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1) other than the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2) among the plurality of terminal devices; and Use linked data for positioning.

60. The telecommunication system (10) of claim 59, further comprising: The first network node (110, 125) includes: processor; A memory storing instructions, which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to: Receiving a first message from the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2), the first message indicating association data for an association between the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2) and at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1); determining whether registration of the association is permitted; and Based at least on the determination, a second message is sent to the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2), the second message indicating whether the association is successfully registered.

61. The telecommunication system (10) according to claim 59 or 60, further comprising: The second network node (125) comprises: processor; A memory storing instructions, which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to: Receiving an eighth message from the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2), the eighth message indicating a measurement result obtained by the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2) and / or at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1), or indicating a filtered measurement result derived by the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2) from the measurement results obtained by the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2) and / or the at least one second terminal device (100-2, 100-1); determining a positioning result of the target (400) based at least on the eighth message; and A ninth message indicating a positioning result of the target (400) is sent to the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2).

62. The telecommunication system (10) according to any one of claims 59 to 61, wherein: When the instructions stored by the memory of the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2) are executed by the processor of the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2), the processor of the first terminal device (100-1, 100-2) executes the method (500) according to any one of claims 2 to 31.

63. The telecommunication system (10) according to any one of claims 59 to 62, wherein: The instructions stored by the memory of the first network node (110, 125) when executed by the processor of the first network node (110, 125) cause the processor of the first network node (110, 125) to perform the method (600) according to any one of claims 34 to 42.

64. The telecommunication system (10) according to any one of claims 59 to 63, wherein: The instructions stored by the memory of the second network node (125) when executed by the processor of the second network node (125) cause the processor of the second network node (125) to perform the method (700) according to any one of claims 45 to 55.

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