Terminal device, system and method for energy efficient localization of reduced capacity devices

Abstract

A terminal device includes at least one processor, and at least one memory including computer program code, where the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, such that the terminal device is configured to generate a relaxed state when a relaxed state is detected. And pausing or stopping providing the positioning report.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The following exemplary embodiments relate to wireless communication. Background Art

[0002] Even when the terminal device is shown to become stationary, existing terminal device positioning solutions still exist, especially for reducing capacity terminal devices, and for a limited time duration at least for energy efficiency. This time suspension would be beneficial for the network as it would reduce the unnecessary signaling overhead associated with repeating the same measurement reports from one location. Summary of the Invention

[0003] The scope of protection sought by the various exemplary embodiments is set forth in the claims. The exemplary embodiments and features (if any) described in this specification that do not fall within the scope of the claims are construed as useful examples for understanding the various exemplary embodiments.

[0004] According to one aspect, an energy-efficient terminal device assists in positioning measurements and reporting for a stationary terminal device. The terminal device is configured to suspend or stop positioning reference signal (PRS) measurements regarding stability detection.

[0005] According to one aspect, the terminal device is configured to make one last PRS report regarding stability detection before applying radio resource management (RRM) relaxation.

[0006] According to one aspect, the configuration is provided to the terminal device via system information broadcast (i.e., positioning relaxation for each positioning accuracy indication) or via dedicated signaling.

[0007] According to one aspect, once stability is detected, the terminal device suspends or stops periodic positioning reporting. This can be extended by using a timer-based method. The terminal device stops sending periodic positioning reports, so the network entity can detect via the timer that the terminal device has suspended positioning reporting. The timer value can be set according to the periodicity of the positioning report.

[0008] According to one aspect, once instability is detected, the terminal device resumes or restarts periodic positioning reporting.

[0009] According to one aspect, the terminal device uses the previously configured settings to resume periodic positioning reporting.

[0010] According to one aspect, the network provides a new positioning reporting configuration to be used after suspension. Brief Description of the Drawings

[0011] Hereinafter, the various exemplary embodiments will be described in more detail with reference to the drawings, wherein:

[0012] Figure 1 An exemplary embodiment of a cell communication network is shown;

[0013] Figure 2 A signaling diagram according to an exemplary embodiment is shown;

[0014] Figure 3 A signaling diagram according to an exemplary embodiment is shown;

[0015] Figure 4 A signaling diagram according to an exemplary embodiment is shown;

[0016] Figure 5 A signaling diagram according to an exemplary embodiment is shown. Detailed implementation manners

[0017] Hereinafter, a radio access architecture based on Advanced Long Term Evolution (Advanced LTE, LTE-A) or New Radio (NR, 5G) will be used as an example of an access architecture to which embodiments can be applied to describe different exemplary embodiments. However, the embodiments are not limited to such an architecture. Those skilled in the art will recognize that, by appropriately adjusting parameters and processes, the embodiments can also be applied to other types of communication networks having suitable components. Some examples of other options for suitable systems include Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Radio Access Network (UTRAN or E-UTRAN), Long Term Evolution (LTE, the same as E-UTRA), Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN or WiFi), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), Personal Communication Service (PCS), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), systems using Ultra-Wideband (UWB) technology, sensor networks, Mobile Ad-hoc Networks (MANETs), and Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) or any combination thereof.

[0018] Figure 1 An example of a simplified system architecture is described, showing only some elements and functional entities, which are all logical units and their implementations can be different from those shown. Figure 1 The connections shown in are logical connections; the actual physical connections can be different. It is obvious to those skilled in the art that the system generally also includes those other functions and structures in addition to Figure 1 those shown in.

[0019] However, the embodiments are not limited to the system given as an example, but those skilled in the art can apply this solution to other communication systems providing the necessary features.

[0020] Figure 1 The example of shows a part of an exemplary radio access network.

[0021] Figure 1 Terminal devices or user equipments 100, 101, and 102 are shown, and the terminal devices or user equipments 100, 101, and 102 are configured to be wirelessly connected to an access node (such as an (e / g)NodeB) 104 that provides a cell on one or more communication channels in the cell. As defined in the 3GPP specifications, (e / g)NodeB refers to an eNodeB or a gNodeB. The physical link from the user equipment to the (e / g)NodeB is referred to as the uplink or reverse link, and the physical link from the (e / g)NodeB to the user equipment is referred to as the downlink or forward link. It should be understood that the (e / g)NodeB or their functionality can be implemented by using any entity such as a node, host, server, or access point suitable for such use.

[0022] A communication system generally includes more than one (e / g)NodeB. In this case, the (e / g)NodeB can also be configured to communicate with each other via wired or wireless links designed for this purpose. These links can be used not only for signaling purposes but also for routing data from one (e / g)NodeB to another (e / g)NodeB. The (e / g)NodeB is a computing device configured to control the radio resources of the communication system to which it is coupled. The NodeB can also be referred to as a base station, access point, access node, or any other type of interface device including a relay capable of operating in a wireless environment. The (e / g)NodeB includes or is coupled to a transceiver. A connection is provided from the transceiver of the (e / g)NodeB to an antenna unit, and the antenna unit establishes a two-way radio link to the user equipment. The antenna unit can include multiple antennas or antenna elements. The (e / g)NodeB is also connected to a core network 110 (CN or Next Generation Core NGC). Depending on the system, the corresponding party on the CN side can be a Serving Gateway (S-GW, routing and forwarding user data packets), a Packet Data Network Gateway (P-GW, providing a connection from the user equipment (terminal device) to an external packet data network), or a Mobility Management Entity (MME), etc.

[0023] The user equipment (also referred to as a terminal device, user equipment, user terminal, terminal device, etc.) shows a type of device to which resources on the air interface are allocated and assigned, and thus any feature described herein regarding the user equipment can be implemented using a corresponding device such as a relay node. An example of such a relay node is a Layer 3 relay (self-backhaul relay) towards the base station.

[0024] A user equipment generally refers to a portable computing device, which includes a wireless mobile communication device operating with or without a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM), including but not limited to the following types of devices: mobile station (mobile phone), smart phone, personal digital assistant (PDA), handset, device using a wireless modem (such as an alarm or measurement device, etc.), laptop and / or touch screen computer, tablet computer, game console, notebook computer, and multimedia device. It should be understood that the user equipment may also be an almost dedicated uplink-only device, an example of which is a camera or video camera that loads images or video clips onto a network. The user equipment may also be a device capable of operating in an Internet of Things (IoT) network, which is a scenario where objects are provided with the ability to transmit data over a network without the need for person-to-person or person-to-computer interaction. The user equipment may also utilize the cloud. In some applications, the user equipment may include small portable devices with radio components (such as watches, headphones, or glasses) and perform computations in the cloud. The user equipment (or in some embodiments, a layer 3 relay node) is configured to perform one or more of the user equipment functionalities. The user equipment may also be referred to as a subscriber unit, mobile station, remote terminal, access terminal, user terminal, or User Equipment (UE), to mention just a few names or devices.

[0025] The various techniques described herein may also be applied to a Cyber-Physical System (CPS) (a system of collaborative computing elements that control physical entities). A CPS may enable the realization and utilization of a large number of interconnected devices (sensors, actuators, processors, microcontrollers, etc.) embedded in physical objects located at different positions. A mobile Cyber-Physical System is a subcategory of a Cyber-Physical System, where the physical systems discussed have inherent mobility. Examples of mobile physical systems include mobile robotics and electronic devices transported by a person or an animal.

[0026] Additionally, although the apparatus has been described as a single entity, different units, processors, and / or memory units may be implemented (not all shown Figure 1 herein).

[0027] 5G enables the use of multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) antennas, far more base stations or nodes (the so-called small cell concept) than LTE, including macro sites that cooperate with smaller stations and employ various radio technologies according to service requirements, use cases, and / or available spectrum. 5G mobile communications supports a wide range of use cases and related applications, including video streaming, augmented reality, different ways of data sharing, and various forms of machine-type applications (such as (massive) machine-type communication (mMTC)), including vehicle safety, different sensors, and real-time control. 5G is expected to have multiple radio interfaces, namely below 6 GHz, cmWave, and mmWave, and is also capable of integrating with existing legacy radio access technologies such as LTE. At least in the early stages, the integration with LTE can be realized as a system where macro coverage is provided by LTE, and 5G radio interface access comes from small cells through aggregation to LTE. In other words, 5G is planned to support inter-RAT operability (such as LTE-5G) and inter-RI operability (inter-radio interface operability, such as below 6 GHz - cmWave, below 6 GHz - cmWave - mmWave). One of the concepts considered for use in 5G networks is network slicing, where multiple independent and dedicated virtual subnets (network instances) can be created within the same infrastructure to run services with different requirements for latency, reliability, throughput, and mobility.

[0028] The current architecture in LTE networks is fully distributed in the radio and typically fully centralized in the core network. Low-latency applications and services in 5G require content to be close to the radio, which leads to local breakout and multi-access edge computing (MEC). 5G enables analysis and knowledge generation to occur at the data source. This approach requires leveraging resources that can be disconnected from the network discontinuously, such as laptops, smartphones, tablets, and sensors. MEC provides a distributed computing environment for application and service hosting. It also has the ability to store and process content near cell subscribers for faster response times. Edge computing covers a wide range of technologies, such as wireless sensor networks, mobile data collection, mobile signature analysis, collaborative distributed peer-to-peer ad hoc networking and processing, and can also be classified as local cloud / fog computing and grid / mesh computing, dew point computing, mobile edge computing, cloudlet, distributed data storage and retrieval, self-healing autonomous networks, remote cloud services, augmented reality and virtual reality, data caching, Internet of Things (massive connections and / or latency-critical), critical communications (autonomous vehicles, traffic safety, real-time analytics, time-critical control, healthcare applications).

[0029] The communication system can also communicate with other networks, such as the public switched telephone network or the Internet 112, or utilize the services provided by them. The communication network may also be able to support the use of cloud services. For example, at least a part of the core network operation can be performed as a cloud service (which is depicted by the "cloud" 114 in Figure 1 ). The communication system may also include a central control entity, etc., which provides facilities for different operators' networks to cooperate, for example, in spectrum sharing.

[0030] By leveraging network function virtualization (NFV) and software defined network (SDN), an edge cloud can be introduced into the radio access network (RAN). Using the edge cloud may mean that the access node operation is at least partially performed in a server, host, or node operably coupled to a remote radio head or base station including a radio part. The node operation can also be distributed among multiple servers, nodes, or hosts. The application of the cloudRAN architecture enables the execution of RAN real-time functions on the RAN side (in the distributed unit DU 105) and the execution of non-real-time functions in a centralized manner (in the centralized unit CU 108).

[0031] It should also be understood that the functional distribution between the core network operation and the base station operation may be different from or even non-existent in the LTE functional distribution. Some other technological advancements that may be used are big data and all-IP, which can change the way the network is built and managed. The 5G (or new radio NR) network is designed to support multiple levels, where the MEC server can be placed between the core and the base station or node B (gNB). It should be understood that MEC can also be applied in the 4G network.

[0032] 5G can also utilize satellite communication to enhance or supplement the coverage of 5G services, for example, by providing backhaul. Possible use cases are to provide service continuity for machine-to-machine (M2M) or Internet of Things (IoT) devices or for in-vehicle passengers, or to ensure the service availability of critical communications and future railway, maritime, and / or aviation communications. Satellite communication can utilize a geostationary earth orbit (GEO) satellite system, but can also utilize a low earth orbit (LEO) satellite system, especially a mega-constellation (a system in which hundreds of (nano) satellites are deployed). Each satellite 109 in the mega-constellation can cover multiple satellite-enabled network entities that create ground cells. The ground cells can be created by ground relay nodes or by a gNB located on the ground or in a satellite.

[0033] It is obvious to those skilled in the art that the depicted system is merely an example of a part of a radio access system. In fact, the system may include multiple (e / g)NodeBs, the user equipment may have access to multiple radio cells, and the system may also include other devices, such as physical layer relay nodes or other network elements, etc. At least one of the (e / g)NodeBs may be a home (e / g)NodeB. Additionally, in the geographical area of a radio communication system, multiple different types of radio cells and multiple radio cells may be provided. The radio cells may be macro cells (or umbrella cells), which are large cells typically having a diameter of up to dozens of kilometers, or smaller cells such as micro cells, femto cells, or pico cells. Figure 1 The (e / g)NodeBs of Figure 1 can provide any type of these cells. The cell radio system can be implemented as a multi-layer network including multiple cell types. Generally, in a multi-layer network, one access node provides one or more cell types, and thus multiple (e / g)NodeBs are required to provide such a network structure.

[0034] To meet the requirements for improving the deployment and performance of communication systems, the concept of "plug-and-play" (e / g)NodeBs has been introduced. Generally, a network capable of using "plug-and-play" (e / g)NodeBs includes, in addition to home (e / g)NodeBs (H(e / g)NodeBs), a home node B gateway or HNB-GW ( Figure 1 not shown in Figure 1 ). The HNB gateway (HNB-GW), which is typically installed within the operator network, can aggregate the traffic from a large number of HNBs back to the core network.

[0035] 5G is designed to address a wide range of use cases, such as enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC), and massive machine-type communication (mMTC), with different requirements in terms of data rate, latency, reliability, coverage, energy efficiency, and connection density. mMTC can cover cell low-power wide-area (LPWA) technologies, such as narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) and Long-Term Evolution for Machine-Type Communication (LTE-MTC). Another use case of 5G is time-sensitive communication (TSC). However, between these use cases, there are also some intermediate-range use cases, such as industrial wireless sensor networks, video surveillance, and wearable devices (e.g., smart watches, rings, e-health related devices, personal protection devices, medical monitoring devices, etc.). In other words, the requirements of these intermediate-range use cases can be higher than LPWA, but lower than eMBB and URLLC. To effectively serve these intermediate-range use cases, the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) introduced reduced-capability (RedCap) devices in NR Release 17 (Rel-17) and considered further complexity reduction technologies in NR Release 18 (Rel-18). RedCap devices can also be referred to as RedCap terminal devices, NR-Lite devices, or NR-Light devices.

[0036] RedCap devices can have lower complexity (e.g., reduced bandwidth and number of antennas), longer battery life, and smaller form factors than non-RedCap devices (such as eMBB terminal devices, URLLC terminal devices, and other traditional terminal devices). For example, RedCap devices can include 1 receiver branch and 1 transmitter branch (1Rx / 1Tx), or 2 receiver branches and 1 transmitter branch (2Rx / 1Tx) in both frequency range 1 (FR1) and frequency range 2 (FR2). RedCap devices can support all FR1 and FR2 frequency bands for both frequency-division duplexing (FDD) and time-division duplexing (TDD).

[0037] Industrial wireless sensors and actuators are an example of RedCap devices. It may be expected to connect these sensors and actuators to 5G radio access and core networks to increase flexibility, productivity, and efficiency, and to improve operational safety. Industrial wireless sensors can include, for example, pressure sensors, humidity sensors, thermometers, motion sensors, and / or accelerometers, etc. Industrial wireless sensor network use cases include not only URLLC services with very high requirements, but also relatively low-end services that require a small device form factor and / or have a battery life of several years and are completely wireless. These low-end services can be provided by RedCap devices. Industrial wireless sensors associated with low-end services may also have the following use case-specific requirements: for all use cases, the communication service availability is at least 99.99%, the end-to-end latency is less than 100 ms, and the reference bit rate is less than 2 Mbps (potentially asymmetric, e.g., UL high traffic), and the device is expected to be mostly stationary. For security-related sensors, the latency requirement may be more stringent, e.g., 5 - 10 ms.

[0038] Video surveillance cameras are another example of RedCap devices. The deployment of surveillance cameras can be beneficial, for example, for smart city use cases as well as for factories and industries, to more effectively monitor and control urban / factory resources. The following requirements can apply to video surveillance use cases: the reference economic video bit rate is 2 - 4 Mbps, the latency is less than 500 ms, and the reliability is at least 99% - 99.9%. High-end video applications (e.g., for agriculture) may require a video bit rate of 7.5 - 25 Mbps. Note that the business model may be dominated by UL transmissions.

[0039] Wearable devices such as smartwatches, rings, electronic health-related devices, personal protection devices, and / or medical monitoring devices are another example of RedCap devices. A characteristic of this use case is the small size of the device. The following requirements can apply to wearable devices: the reference bit rate for smart wearable applications can be 5 - 50 Mbps in the downlink (DL) and 2 - 5 Mbps in the uplink (UL), and the peak bit rate of the device can be higher, e.g., up to 150 Mbps for DL and up to 50 Mbps for UL. In addition, the battery of the wearable device should last for multiple days (e.g., up to 1 - 2 weeks).

[0040] For example, the energy consumption of a terminal device can be reduced by lowering the measurement frequency of the terminal device so that measurements are performed less frequently. Optimizing the energy consumption of the terminal device by reducing the measurement frequency can be studied in two branches. The first branch is mobility-related measurements, and the second branch is user-plane-related measurements. Radio Resource Management (RRM) relaxation studies mobility-related measurements. RRM relaxation can also be referred to as relaxed monitoring or relaxed measurement. RRM relaxation includes two components: RRM relaxation trigger and RRM measurement relaxation.

[0041] The RRM relaxation trigger includes one or more criteria that are configured for the terminal device or obtained by the terminal device from the serving cell to initiate RRM measurement relaxation. In NR Release 16 (R16), two RRM relaxation triggers or criteria have been specified for the terminal device: the low mobility criterion and the non-cell-edge criterion.

[0042] The low mobility criterion is intended to identify a terminal device in a low mobility state. For the low mobility criterion to be satisfied, the reference signal received power (RSRP) of the serving cell, denoted as RSRPrx, should satisfy the following condition within the time period of TSearchDeltaP:

[0043] (RSRPrxRef – RSRPrx) < RSRPSearchDeltaP (1),

[0044] where RSRPrx is the RSRP value of the current serving gNB, and RSRPrxRef is the reference RSRP value that can be updated in three different ways. First, after selecting or reselecting a new gNB, RSRPrxRef can be updated to the RSRP value of the serving gNB. Second, when the terminal device moves closer to the cell center, i.e., (RSRPrx - RSRPrxRef) > 0, RSRPrxRef can be updated to a new RSRP value. Third, when the criteria for TSearchDeltaP do not satisfy the relaxed measurement criteria, the terminal device can set the value of RSRPrxRef to the current RSRPrx value. RSRPSearchDeltaP is a parameter configured for the terminal device to monitor the change in the received signal. The values of RSRPSearchDeltaP and TSearchDeltaP can be used to define the mobility level of the terminal device.

[0045] The non-cell-edge criterion is intended to detect whether the terminal device is at the cell edge of the serving cell. If the non-cell-edge criterion is satisfied, this can mean that the terminal device is not at the cell edge of the serving cell. To detect whether the terminal device is at the cell edge, the terminal device can compare the received signal level with a threshold as follows:

[0046] RSRPrx > RSRPSearchThresholdP, (2)

[0047] Wherein, RSRPrx is the current RSRP value of the serving gNB, and RSRPSearchThresholdP is the RSRP threshold set for the non-cell-edge criterion. When RSRPrx is higher than the threshold RSRPSearchThresholdP (i.e., the terminal device is not at the cell edge), the non-cell-edge criterion is satisfied.

[0048] A given terminal device can be configured to monitor at least one of the RRM relaxation triggers. The network can configure at least one trigger (i.e., the low mobility criterion or the non-cell-edge criterion, or both) independently for the terminal device. In the case where RRM relaxation is triggered with respect to its configuration, the terminal device can apply RRM measurement relaxation.

[0049] There are various ways to relax RRM measurements, such as which cells to relax (e.g., whether to relax the serving cell or neighboring cells), and how frequently to measure the relaxed cells (i.e., the measurement period of the relaxed cells). In other words, in the case where RRM relaxation is triggered, the terminal device can adjust the measurement periods of the serving cell and / or neighboring cells so as to perform RRM measurements less frequently. Relaxed measurements with a longer interval (scaling factor) can be configured. For example, the terminal device can stop RRM measurements for up to 1 hour after triggering RRM relaxation.

[0050] In NR Release 17, considering a new relaxation trigger called stability instead of low mobility, the RRM relaxation framework is expected to be extended for RedCap devices. This stability relaxation trigger is expected to be used to enable a longer RRM relaxation compared to NR Release 16.

[0051] Positioning involves the process of calculating the location of a terminal device, which is referred to as the target terminal device). There are two main positioning modes, namely terminal device-assisted positioning (where the calculation of the terminal device location occurs on the network side) and terminal device-based positioning (where the calculation of the terminal device location occurs on the terminal device side). This disclosure focuses on terminal device-assisted positioning of RedCap terminal devices because the terminal device-assisted positioning concept is compatible with Redcap terminal devices and is of interest for the intended use cases.

[0052] The positioning process involves signaling exchange between the terminal device and the network for calculating and updating the location of the terminal device. This is described in detail in the LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP).

[0053] To account for the monitoring of the location of a mobile terminal device, the LPP protocol includes periodic positioning reports. This allows the positioning process to be repeated at specific periodic time intervals, resulting in an update of the location of the target terminal device.

[0054] The periodicity of the reports is configured by the network according to the application, such that applications with high mobility terminal devices are associated with shorter periodicity values compared to cases with lower mobility. However, the stability on the detection terminal device is not considered to reduce this periodicity to zero, if applicable, which illustrates the problem of the present invention, as described in the subsequent sections.

[0055] According to an embodiment, there is a terminal device, which includes: at least one processor, and at least one memory, the at least one memory including computer program code, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, together with the at least one processor, cause the terminal device to be configured to, when a relaxation state is detected, pause or stop positioning reference signal (PRS) measurements and provide a positioning report, and provide information to the radio access network that the terminal device has paused or stopped providing the positioning report. The terminal device may be configured to receive a first threshold from the radio access network, which is used to determine the relaxation state. If the reference signal received power (RSRP) measurement has changed from a previous RSRP measurement to be less than the first threshold, the terminal device may detect the relaxation state, and the terminal device is stationary. The criterion aims to identify that the terminal device is in a low mobility state. The RSRP (RSRPrx) of the serving cell should satisfy the criterion in Equation 1 within the period of the search interval, where RSRPrx is the current RSRP of the serving gNB, and RSRPrxRef is the reference RSRP value, and the reference RSRP value is updated in three different ways. The search interval may be configured by the serving cell. First, after selecting or reselecting a new gNB, it is updated to the RSRP value of the serving gNB. Second, when the terminal moves closer to the cell center, i.e., (RSRPrx - RSRPrxRef) > 0, it is updated to a new RSRP value. Third, if the measurement criterion for relaxation of the search interval is not met, the terminal device sets the value of RSRPrxRef to the current RSRPrx value. Finally, RSRPSearchDeltaP is a parameter that configures the terminal device to monitor the change in the received signal. According to an embodiment, when the RSRP measurement value is greater than a second threshold, the terminal device is further caused to receive a second threshold from the radio access network, and the second threshold is used by the terminal device to determine the relaxation state. In this case, the RSRP measurement value is high enough, and the terminal device may be considered not to be located at the cell edge. As shown in Equation 2, the terminal device compares the RSRP level with the second threshold. According to an embodiment, when the reference signal received power (RSRP) measurement is substantially the same as the previous RSRP measurement within the limit defined by a third threshold, the terminal device may also be caused to receive a third threshold, and the third threshold is used by the terminal device to determine the relaxation state. This criterion is used to determine the actual stability of the terminal device.

[0056] The terminal device may be configured to monitor at least one of the RRM relaxation triggers. The network may independently configure the trigger to the terminal device (i.e., low mobility, or non-cell edge, or both). In the case where RRM relaxation is triggered regarding its configuration, the terminal device must apply RRM measurement relaxation. The accuracy requirements for the first threshold and the second threshold for relaxation state detection may be set by the core network.

[0057] According to an embodiment, the terminal device is further caused to provide an indication to the core network that the terminal device has suspended or stopped providing positioning reports. The terminal device may continue to provide positioning reports to the core network as indicated by the configuration until the terminal device has detected a relaxed state. The terminal device may indicate to the core network whether it has only suspended providing positioning reports to the core network or has stopped providing positioning reports. If the terminal device has indicated that it has suspended providing positioning reports to the core network, the core network may store the positioning session information to maintain up-to-date positioning information and continue the positioning session once the terminal device has notified that it has resumed providing positioning reports. The indication / information of not providing reports from the terminal device to the core network may be done, for example, using the latest positioning reference signal measurement report.

[0058] According to an embodiment, the terminal device is further caused to receive information on a positioning timer in the core network from the core network. The timer in the core network indicates the time elapsed since the most recent positioning report from the terminal device. The terminal device may pause PRS measurements when a relaxed state is detected knowing the timer in the core network and refrain from providing another positioning report when a relaxed state is detected. Once the timer value has expired, the core network may infer that the terminal device has suspended sending positioning reports.

[0059] According to an embodiment, when the terminal device has detected a relaxed state, the terminal device is further caused to provide information on the latest positioning reference signal (PRS) measurement and information that the terminal device has suspended or stopped providing positioning reports to the core network.

[0060] According to another embodiment, when the terminal device has detected that the relaxed state has ended, the terminal device is further caused to resume or restart providing positioning reports to the core network. The terminal device may detect the end of the relaxed state, for example, when the RSRP measurement value has changed by more than a first threshold compared to a previous RSRP measurement or when the RSRP measurement value is below a second threshold.

[0061] According to another embodiment, there is a device in the radio access network. The access node includes: at least one processor and at least one memory, the at least one memory including computer program code, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, together with the at least one processor, cause the access node to receive information from the core network to enable pausing or stopping of providing positioning reports of at least one terminal device when at least one terminal device has detected a relaxed state; and provide information to a core network element that the access node has enabled at least one terminal device to pause or stop providing positioning reports. The information enabling pausing or stopping of the positioning reports of at least one terminal device may be provided by radio resource control (RRC) message signaling.

[0062] According to another embodiment, there is a device in the core network, the device comprising: at least one processor, and at least one memory, the at least one memory including computer program code, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, together with the at least one processor, cause the device to receive from a terminal device information about the periodicity of radio resource management relaxation, or information about the time interval of RSRP measurement of a serving cell or a neighboring cell; and when the terminal device has detected a relaxation state, provide information to the terminal device to suspend or stop providing location reports.

[0063] According to another embodiment, there is a device in the core network, wherein when the terminal device provides information about suspending the provision of location reports, the device is further caused to store the location session information of the terminal device.

[0064] According to another embodiment, there is a device in the core network, wherein when the terminal device provides information about stopping the provision of location reports, the device is further caused to delete the location session information of the terminal device.

[0065] According to another embodiment, there is a device in the core network, wherein when receiving location information from the terminal device, the device is further caused to start a timer with an expiration value; and when the timer expires, the device is further caused to store the location session information of the terminal device.

[0066] According to another embodiment, there is a device in the core network, wherein when receiving location information from the terminal device, the device is further caused to stop / reset the timer value.

[0067] According to another embodiment, there is a device in the core network, wherein the device is further caused to send an indication to an access node to enable the access node to perform location suspension. Location suspension means suspending the provision of location reports to the access node. Suspending the provision of location reports saves energy of the terminal device.

[0068] According to another embodiment, there is a device in the core network, wherein the device is further caused to receive from the access node an acknowledgement of the indication to enable the access node to perform location suspension.

[0069] According to another embodiment, there is a device in the core network, wherein the device is further caused to send an indication of enabling and disabling location suspension to the terminal device after the detection of the relaxation state.

[0070] Figure 2 A signaling diagram according to an exemplary embodiment is shown. The exemplary embodiment can be used in the configuration of a terminal device for stopping / suspending the provision of location reports. For the configuration, there are two alternatives: 1) configuration through the radio access network and 2) configuration through the core network.

[0071] Reference Figure 2 , the configuration is done by the radio access network ( Figure 2 message sequence diagram in).

[0072] In step 201, the core network 110 requests the access node 104 of the radio access network to enable stopping or pausing the provision of location reports in case the terminal device 100 has detected that it is about to be in a relaxed state (the stability can be detected by the terminal device 100 or by the access node 104).

[0073] In step 202, the access node 104 can confirm the request by notifying the core network 110 that it supports the stability detection process.

[0074] In step 203, the access node 104 learns about the location accuracy requirement of the terminal device 100 from the message in step 1, and can decide to configure the terminal device 100 to pause / stop providing location reports. In this example, this is configured for the terminal device 100 with an RRC reconfiguration message.

[0075] In step 204, the terminal device 100 confirms the completion of the RRC reconfiguration.

[0076] Reference Figure 3 , the configuration is done by the core network 110 ( Figure 3 message sequence diagram in).

[0077] In step 301, the core network 110 requests the capabilities of the terminal device 100 during the location establishment process.

[0078] In step 302, the terminal device 100 answers with the supported frequency bands and location methods, and the terminal device 100 also indicates RRM relaxation support.

[0079] In step 303, the core network 110 provides auxiliary data (e.g., where the terminal device 100 can measure PRS).

[0080] In step 304, the core network 110 requests location information, and it also requests the terminal device 100 to pause / stop providing location reports regarding the detection of the relaxed state. In an alternative, the core network 110 can also indicate to the terminal device 100 whether it supports the timer method to detect that the terminal device 100 has paused / stopped providing location reports. In another alternative, the core network 100 can also indicate to the terminal device 100 that: before the terminal device 100 has paused / stopped providing location reports regarding stability detection, the terminal device 100 should send the last location report. The core network 110 sends the location accuracy requirement to the terminal device 100. If the threshold for RRM relaxation detection falls within the accuracy requirement set by the core network 110, the pause of providing location reports is enabled.

[0081] In step 305, the terminal device 100 continues to provide the location information indicated by the configuration.

[0082] Figure 4 Illustrates the situation when the core network 110 determines through the last positioning report that the terminal device 100 has stopped / paused providing the positioning report ( Figure 4 message sequence diagram).

[0083] In step 401, the terminal device 100 decides to pause / stop providing the positioning report to the core network 110.

[0084] In step 402, the terminal device 100 sends the last available RSTD report.

[0085] The terminal device 100 uses a flag to indicate whether providing the positioning report is paused or stopped. The pause or stop can be determined by the terminal device 100 regarding the expected stability of the terminal device 100.

[0086] In step 403, if the terminal device 100 decides to pause, the core network 110 pauses the reporting session. The relevant context of the terminal device 100 is maintained so that the positioning session can be resumed using the same relevant terminal device context (for example, if the stability, i.e., the relaxed state is no longer valid, the core network 110 can resume the positioning process for this terminal device by skipping Figure 3 steps 301 to 304 (or at least steps 301 and 302) for the purpose of faster position estimation). If the terminal device 100 decides to stop providing the positioning report, the core network 110 clears the relevant terminal device context (i.e., it deletes terminal device 100 specific data such as the capabilities of the terminal device 100).

[0087] In step 404, the terminal device 100 reports that it is no longer in the relaxed state (i.e., not stationary), and it reports to restart or resume providing the positioning report.

[0088] Figure 5 Illustrates the situation when the core network 110 determines through a timer running in the core network 110 that the terminal device 100 has stopped / paused providing the positioning report ( Figure 5 message sequence diagram in).

[0089] In step 501, the terminal device 100 provides a positioning report to the core network 110.

[0090] In step 502, with the receipt of each positioning report, the core network 110 restarts the timer, which can be set according to the period of the positioning report.

[0091] In step 503, the terminal device 100 decides to suspend providing location reports to the core network during relaxed state detection. The terminal device 100 decides not to send the last available RSTD report because the terminal device 100 can know the timer-based method determined by the core network 110 and is provided to the access node 104 and the terminal device 100 as part of the configuration phase.

[0092] In step 504, the timer at the core network 110 expires.

[0093] In step 505, the core network 110 suspends the reporting session. The relevant context of the terminal device 100 is stored so that the positioning session can resume using the relevant context of the same terminal device 100 (e.g., if the stability, i.e., the relaxed state is no longer valid, the core network 110 can resume the positioning process for the terminal device 100 by skipping steps 301 to 304 (or at least steps 301 and 302) from Figure 3 for the purpose of faster position estimation).

[0094] In step 506, the terminal device 100 detects that the stability criterion, i.e., the relaxation criterion, is no longer met.

[0095] In step 507, the terminal device 100 provides a location report to resume the positioning process.

[0096] In all of the above embodiments, when stopping or suspending the provision of location reports, the terminal device may also stop or suspend performing location measurements.

[0097] In the case where the terminal device decides to only stop or suspend providing location reports and continue performing location measurements, the terminal device can detect that it has actually moved in the case where the RRM relaxation trigger does not work as expected through other components such as motion sensors. In this case, the terminal device can decide to resume providing location reports.

[0098] The present disclosure provides a more energy-efficient terminal device positioning process. This is because the conditions for performing location measurements and reports are adjusted with respect to the terminal device mobility. This is particularly beneficial for RedCap terminal devices with strict requirements in terms of power savings. The signaling overhead from performing location measurements and reports is reduced at the UE and the network.

[0099] It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that, as technology progresses, the concepts of the present invention can be implemented in various ways. The present invention and its embodiments are not limited to the above examples, but can vary within the scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A terminal device, comprising: At least one processor, and at least one memory including computer program code, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, together with the at least one processor, cause the terminal device to be configured to pause or stop providing a positioning report when a relaxation state is detected.

2. The terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the terminal device is further caused to receive a first threshold from a radio access network, and when the reference signal received power has changed to be less than the first threshold, the terminal device is further caused to determine the relaxation state.

3. The terminal device according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the terminal device is further caused to receive a second threshold from the radio access network, and when the reference signal received power is greater than the second threshold, the terminal device is further caused to determine the relaxation state.

4. The terminal device according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the terminal device is further caused to provide an indication to the core network that the terminal device has paused or stopped providing a positioning report.

5. The terminal device according to claim 4, wherein the terminal device is further caused to provide an indication to the core network as to whether the terminal device has paused or stopped providing a positioning report.

6. The terminal device according to any one of the preceding claims 1 to 3, wherein the terminal device is further caused to receive information about a positioning timer in the core network from the core network, and when the relaxation state is detected, the terminal device is further caused to pause providing a positioning report.

7. The terminal device according to any one of the preceding claims 1 to 4, wherein when the terminal device has detected the relaxation state, the terminal device is further caused to provide information to the core network that the terminal device has paused or stopped providing a positioning report.

8. The terminal device according to claim 7, wherein the information includes: At least one latest positioning reference signal measurement report.

9. The terminal device according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein when the terminal device has detected that the relaxation state has ended, the terminal device is further caused to resume or restart providing a positioning report and provide information to the core network.

10. An access node in a radio access network, the access node comprising: At least one processor, and at least one memory including computer program code, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, together with the at least one processor, cause the access node to: Receive information from a core network to enable pausing or stopping of the provision of a positioning report of at least one terminal device when the at least one terminal device has detected that the at least one terminal device has detected a relaxation state; And Provide information to a core network element that the access point has enabled the at least one terminal device to pause or stop providing a positioning report.

11. An apparatus in a core network, the apparatus comprising: At least one processor, and at least one memory including computer program code, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, together with the at least one processor, cause the device to: Receive, from a terminal device, information about the periodicity of radio resource management relaxation, or information about the time interval of reference signal received power measurement of a serving cell or a neighboring cell; And When the terminal device has detected a relaxation state, provide the terminal device with information to suspend or stop positioning.

12. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein when the terminal device provides information about suspending the provision of positioning reports, the apparatus is further caused to store the positioning session information of the terminal device.

13. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein when the terminal device provides information about stopping the provision of positioning reports, the apparatus is further caused to delete the positioning session information of the terminal device.

14. The apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims 11 to 13, wherein when receiving positioning information from the terminal device, the apparatus is further caused to start a timer with an expiration value; and when the timer expires, the apparatus is further caused to store the positioning session information of the terminal device.

15. The apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims 11 to 14, wherein when receiving positioning information from the terminal device, the apparatus is further caused to stop / reset the timer value.

16. The apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims 11 to 15, wherein the apparatus is further caused to send an indication to the access node to enable positioning suspension by the access node.

17. The apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims 11 to 16, wherein the apparatus is further caused to receive, from the access node, an indication confirming the enabling of positioning suspension by the RAN node.

18. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the apparatus is further caused to send an indication of enabling and disabling of positioning suspension to the terminal device after the detection of the relaxation state.

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