Determining subsets of candidate positioning anchors

Abstract

A method is disclosed that includes receiving, by a device, assistance information associated with at least one of: at least one positioning anchor of the device to be replaced, or at least one positioning anchor to be added to the device; determining, by the apparatus, a subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors from a set of one or more discovery candidate positioning anchors based on the assistance information, wherein a subset of the one or more candidate positioning anchors satisfies at least one criterion associated with at least one of: at least one positioning anchor of the device to be replaced, or at least one positioning anchor to be added for the device; and transmitting, by the apparatus, measurement information associated with a subset of the one or more candidate positioning anchors.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The following example embodiments relate to wireless communications and positioning. Background Art

[0002] Positioning technology can be used to estimate the location of a user device. However, positioning involves the use of network resources. Since resources are limited, it is desirable to optimize the use of network resources. Summary of the Invention

[0003] The scope of protection sought by various exemplary embodiments is defined by the independent claims. Exemplary embodiments and features described in this specification that do not fall within the scope of the independent claims, if any, should be interpreted as examples that aid in understanding the various embodiments.

[0004] According to one aspect, a device is provided, comprising at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions, which, when executed by the at least one processor, causes the device to at least: receive auxiliary information associated with at least one of the following: at least one positioning anchor of the device to be replaced, or at least one positioning anchor to be added to the device; determine a subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors from a set of one or more discovered candidate positioning anchors based on the auxiliary information, wherein the subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors meets at least one criterion associated with at least one of the following: at least one positioning anchor of the device to be replaced, or at least one positioning anchor to be added to the device; and send measurement information associated with the subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors.

[0005] According to another aspect, an apparatus is provided, comprising: a component for receiving auxiliary information associated with at least one of: at least one positioning anchor of the apparatus to be replaced, or at least one positioning anchor to be added to the apparatus; a component for determining a subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors from a set of one or more discovered candidate positioning anchors based on the auxiliary information, wherein the subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors satisfies at least one criterion associated with at least one of: at least one positioning anchor of the apparatus to be replaced, or at least one positioning anchor to be added to the apparatus; and a component for sending measurement information associated with the subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors.

[0006] According to another aspect, a method is provided, the method comprising: receiving, by a device, auxiliary information associated with at least one of the following: at least one positioning anchor of the device to be replaced, or at least one positioning anchor to be added to the device; determining, by the device, a subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors from a set of one or more discovered candidate positioning anchors based on the auxiliary information, wherein the subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors satisfies at least one criterion associated with at least one of the following: at least one positioning anchor of the device to be replaced, or at least one positioning anchor to be added to the device; and sending, by the device, measurement information associated with the subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors.

[0007] According to another aspect, a computer program is provided, comprising instructions that, when executed by an apparatus, cause the apparatus to at least perform the following: receive auxiliary information associated with at least one of: at least one positioning anchor of the apparatus to be replaced, or at least one positioning anchor to be added to the apparatus; determine a subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors from a set of one or more discovered candidate positioning anchors based on the auxiliary information, wherein the subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors satisfies at least one criterion associated with at least one of: at least one positioning anchor of the apparatus to be replaced, or at least one positioning anchor to be added to the apparatus; and send measurement information associated with the subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors.

[0008] According to another aspect, a computer-readable medium is provided, comprising program instructions that, when executed by an apparatus, cause the apparatus to at least perform the following: receive auxiliary information associated with at least one of: at least one positioning anchor of the apparatus to be replaced, or at least one positioning anchor to be added to the apparatus; determine a subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors from a set of one or more discovered candidate positioning anchors based on the auxiliary information, wherein the subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors satisfies at least one criterion associated with at least one of: at least one positioning anchor of the apparatus to be replaced, or at least one positioning anchor to be added to the apparatus; and send measurement information associated with the subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors.

[0009] According to another aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium is provided, the medium comprising program instructions, which, when executed by an apparatus, causes the apparatus to at least perform the following: receive auxiliary information associated with at least one of the following: at least one positioning anchor of the apparatus to be replaced, or at least one positioning anchor to be added to the apparatus; determine a subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors from a set of one or more discovered candidate positioning anchors based on the auxiliary information, wherein the subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors satisfies at least one criterion associated with at least one of the following: at least one positioning anchor of the apparatus to be replaced, or at least one positioning anchor to be added to the apparatus; and send measurement information associated with the subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors.

[0010] According to another aspect, a device is provided, comprising at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions, which, when executed by the at least one processor, causes the device to at least: generate auxiliary information, the auxiliary information being used to assist a user device in determining a subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors from a set of one or more discovered candidate positioning anchors, wherein the auxiliary information is associated with at least one of the following: at least one positioning anchor of the user device to be replaced, or at least one positioning anchor to be added to the user device; send the auxiliary information to the user device; and receive measurement information associated with the subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors from the user device, wherein the subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors satisfies at least one criterion associated with at least one of the following: at least one positioning anchor of the user device to be replaced, or at least one positioning anchor to be added to the user device.

[0011] According to another aspect, an apparatus is provided, comprising: a component for generating auxiliary information, the auxiliary information being used to assist a user equipment in determining a subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors from a set of one or more discovered candidate positioning anchors, wherein the auxiliary information is associated with at least one of: at least one positioning anchor of the user equipment to be replaced, or at least one positioning anchor to be added to the user equipment; a component for sending the auxiliary information to the user equipment; and a component for receiving measurement information associated with the subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors from the user equipment, wherein the subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors satisfies at least one criterion associated with at least one of: at least one positioning anchor of the user equipment to be replaced, or at least one positioning anchor to be added to the user equipment.

[0012] According to another aspect, a method is provided, the method comprising: generating auxiliary information for assisting a user device in determining a subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors from a set of one or more discovered candidate positioning anchors, wherein the auxiliary information is associated with at least one of: at least one positioning anchor of the user device to be replaced, or at least one positioning anchor to be added to the user device; sending the auxiliary information to the user device; and receiving measurement information associated with the subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors from the user device, wherein the subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors satisfies at least one criterion associated with at least one of: at least one positioning anchor of the user device to be replaced, or at least one positioning anchor to be added to the user device.

[0013] According to another aspect, a computer program is provided, comprising instructions that, when executed by an apparatus, cause the apparatus to at least perform the following: generate auxiliary information for assisting a user device in determining a subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors from a set of one or more discovered candidate positioning anchors, wherein the auxiliary information is associated with at least one of: at least one positioning anchor of the user device to be replaced, or at least one positioning anchor to be added to the user device; send the auxiliary information to the user device; and receive measurement information associated with the subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors from the user device, wherein the subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors satisfies at least one criterion associated with at least one of: at least one positioning anchor of the user device to be replaced, or at least one positioning anchor to be added to the user device.

[0014] According to another aspect, a computer-readable medium is provided, comprising program instructions that, when executed by an apparatus, cause the apparatus to at least perform the following: generate auxiliary information for assisting a user device in determining a subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors from a set of one or more discovered candidate positioning anchors, wherein the auxiliary information is associated with at least one of: at least one positioning anchor of the user device to be replaced, or at least one positioning anchor to be added to the user device; send the auxiliary information to the user device; and receive measurement information associated with the subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors from the user device, wherein the subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors satisfies at least one criterion associated with at least one of: at least one positioning anchor of the user device to be replaced, or at least one positioning anchor to be added to the user device.

[0015] According to another aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium is provided, the medium comprising program instructions, which, when executed by an apparatus, causes the apparatus to at least perform the following: generate auxiliary information, the auxiliary information being used to assist a user equipment in determining a subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors from a set of one or more discovered candidate positioning anchors, wherein the auxiliary information is associated with at least one of the following: at least one positioning anchor of the user equipment to be replaced, or at least one positioning anchor to be added to the user equipment; send the auxiliary information to the user equipment; and receive measurement information associated with the subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors from the user equipment, wherein the subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors satisfies at least one criterion associated with at least one of the following: at least one positioning anchor of the user equipment to be replaced, or at least one positioning anchor to be added to the user equipment. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0016] Hereinafter, various example embodiments will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0017] Figure 1 An example of a cellular communication network is illustrated;

[0018] Figure 2 An example of a network-assisted sidelink positioning scenario is illustrated;

[0019] Figure 3 An example of a candidate anchor measurement report is shown;

[0020] Figure 4 A signaling diagram is illustrated;

[0021] Figure 5 A signaling diagram is illustrated;

[0022] Figure 6 A flow chart is illustrated;

[0023] Figure 7 A flow chart is illustrated;

[0024] Figure 8 An example of an apparatus is illustrated; and

[0025] Figure 9 An example of an apparatus is illustrated. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0026] The following embodiments are illustrative. Although the specification may refer to "an," "one," or "some" embodiments at several locations in the text, this does not necessarily mean that each reference refers to the same embodiment(s) or that a particular feature applies only to a single embodiment. Individual features of different embodiments may also be combined to provide further embodiments.

[0027] In the following, different example embodiments will be described using radio access architectures based on Long Term Evolution Advanced (LTE-Advanced, LTE-A), New Radio (NR, 5G), beyond 5G or sixth generation (6G) as examples of access architectures to which example embodiments may be applied, without limiting the example embodiments to such architectures. It will be clear to a person skilled in the art that, by appropriately adjusting parameters and procedures, example embodiments may also be applied to other types of communication networks with appropriate means. Some examples of other options for suitable systems may be Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Radio Access Network (UTRAN or E-UTRAN), Long Term Evolution (LTE, which is essentially the same as E-UTRA), Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN or Wi-Fi), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), Personal Communications 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.

[0028] Figure 1 An example of a simplified system architecture is depicted, showing some elements and functional entities, which are all logical units, the implementation of which may differ from what is shown. Figure 1 The connections shown are logical connections; the actual physical connections may be different. It will be clear to those skilled in the art that the system may also include Figure 1 Other functions and structures than those shown.

[0029] However, the exemplary embodiments are not limited to the systems given as examples, and a person skilled in the art may apply the solution to other communication systems having the necessary properties.

[0030] Figure 1 The example of FIG. 1 shows a portion of an exemplary radio access network.

[0031] Figure 1 User equipment 100 and 102 are shown, which are configured to wirelessly connect to an access node (AN) 104 (such as an evolved Node B (abbreviated eNB or eNodeB) or a next-generation Node B (abbreviated gNB or gNodeB)) providing the radio cell over one or more communication channels in the radio cell. The physical link from the user equipment to the access node may be referred to as an uplink (UL) or reverse link, while the physical link from the access node to the user equipment may be referred to as a downlink (DL) or forward link. A user equipment may also communicate directly with another user equipment via sidelink (SL) communications. It will be appreciated that an access node or its functionality may be implemented using any entity such as a node, host, server, or access point suitable for such purpose.

[0032] A communication system may include more than one access node, in which case the access nodes may also be configured to communicate with each other via wired or wireless links designed for this purpose. These links may be used for signaling purposes as well as for routing data from one access node to another. An access node may be a computing device configured to control the radio resources of the communication system to which it is coupled. An access node may also be referred to as a base station, a base transceiver station (BTS), an access point, or any other type of interface device, including a relay station capable of operating in a wireless environment. An access node may include or be coupled to a transceiver. From the transceiver of the access node, a connection to an antenna unit may be provided, which establishes a two-way radio link to a user equipment. The antenna unit may include multiple antennas or antenna elements. The access node may also be connected to a core network 110 (CN or next generation core NGC). Depending on the deployed technology, the counterpart to which the access node can be connected on the CN side can be a serving gateway (S-GW, which routes and forwards user data packets), a packet data network gateway (P-GW) for providing user equipment with connectivity to external packet data networks, a user plane function (UPF), a mobility management entity (MME), or an access and mobility management function (AMF), etc.

[0033] Regarding positioning, a service-based architecture (core network) may include an AMF 111 and a Location Management Function (LMF) 112. The AMF provides location information for call processing, policy, and billing to other network functions in the core network, as well as to other entities requesting the location of terminal devices. The AMF receives and manages location requests from several sources: mobile-originated location requests (MO-LRs) from user equipment and mobile-terminated location requests (MT-LRs) from other functions in the core network or from other network elements. The AMF selects an LMF for a given request and uses its location services to trigger a positioning session. The LMF then performs positioning upon receiving such a request from the AMF. The LMF manages the resources and timing of positioning activities. The LMF may request the location of the user equipment from one or more access nodes using the Namf_Communication service on the NL1 interface, or the LMF may communicate with the user equipment over N1 for UE-based or UE-assisted positioning. Positioning may include an estimate of location, and the LMF may also estimate the movement or accuracy of location information upon request. Connectivity-wise, the AMF may be located between the access node and the LMF, and therefore closer to the access node than the LMF.

[0034] A user equipment illustrates one type of apparatus to which resources on the air interface may be allocated and assigned, and thus any features described herein with respect to a user equipment may be implemented with a corresponding apparatus, such as a relay node.

[0035] An example of such a relay node may be a layer 3 relay towards an access node (self-backhaul relay). A self-backhaul relay node may also be referred to as an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node. An IAB node may comprise two logical parts: a mobile terminal (MT) part that is responsible for (one or more) backhaul links (i.e., (one or more) links between the IAB node and a donor node (also referred to as a parent node)), and a distributed unit (DU) part that is responsible for (one or more) access links (i.e., (one or more) sub-links between the IAB node and (one or more) user equipments, and / or (one or more) sub-links between the IAB node and other IAB nodes (multi-hop scenario)).

[0036] Another example of such a relay node may be a layer 1 relay called a repeater.A repeater may amplify a signal received from an access node and forward it to a user device, and / or amplify a signal received from a user device and forward it to an access node.

[0037] User equipment may also be referred to as a subscriber unit, mobile station, remote terminal, access terminal, user terminal, terminal device, or user equipment (UE), to name just a few names or devices. User equipment may refer to a portable computing device, which includes wireless mobile communication devices operating with or without a subscriber identity module (SIM), including but not limited to the following types of devices: mobile stations (mobile phones), smartphones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), cell phones, devices using wireless modems (alarm or measurement devices, etc.), laptops and / or touch screen computers, tablets, game consoles, notebook computers, multimedia devices, low capacity (RedCap) devices, wireless sensor devices, or any device integrated into a vehicle.

[0038] It should be understood that a user device may also be an almost exclusively uplink-only device, an example of which may be a camera or camcorder that loads images or video clips to a network. A user device may also be a device capable of operating in an Internet of Things (IoT) network, which is a scenario in which objects are provided with the ability to transmit data over a network without the need for human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction. User devices may also utilize the cloud. In some applications, a user device may include a small portable or wearable device (such as a watch, headphones, or glasses) with a radio component, and computing may be performed in the cloud or in another user device. A user device (or, in some example embodiments, a layer 3 relay node) may be configured to perform one or more of the user device functions.

[0039] The various techniques described in this article can also be applied to cyber-physical systems (CPS)—systems of collaborative computing elements that control physical entities. CPS can enable the implementation and utilization of large numbers of interconnected ICT devices (sensors, actuators, processors, microcontrollers, etc.) embedded in physical objects in different locations. Mobile cyber-physical systems are a subcategory of cyber-physical systems in which the physical systems in question can be inherently mobile. Examples of mobile physical systems include mobile robots and electronic devices transported by humans or animals.

[0040] Furthermore, although these devices are depicted as a single entity, different units, processors and / or memory units may be implemented. Figure 1 Not all are shown).

[0041] 5G enables the use of multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antennas, many more base stations or nodes than LTE (the so-called small cell concept), including macro sites operating in cooperation with smaller sites, and the use of various radio technologies depending on service requirements, use cases and / or available spectrum. 5G mobile communications can support a wide range of use cases and related applications, including video streaming, augmented reality, different data sharing methods and various forms of machine-type applications, such as (massive) machine-type communications (mMTC), including vehicle safety, different sensors and real-time control. 5G can have multiple radio interfaces, namely below 6 GHz, cmWave and mmWave, and can also be integrated with existing traditional radio access technologies (such as LTE). For example, integration with LTE can be implemented as a system where macro coverage can be provided by LTE and 5G radio interface access can come from small cells by aggregation to LTE. In other words, 5G can support both inter-RAT operability (such as LTE-5G) and inter-RI operability (inter-radio interface operability, such as below 6 GHz-cmWave-mmWave). One of the concepts being considered for use in 5G networks may be network slicing, in which multiple independent and dedicated virtual subnets (network instances) can be created within essentially the same infrastructure to run services with different requirements for latency, reliability, throughput and mobility.

[0042] Current architectures in LTE networks can be fully distributed in the radio and fully centralized in the core network. Low-latency applications and services in 5G may require content to be close to the radio, leading to local breakout and multi-access edge computing (MEC). 5G may enable analytics and knowledge generation at the data source. This approach may require leveraging resources that may not be continuously connected to the network, such as laptops, smartphones, tablets, and sensors. MEC provides a distributed computing environment for application and service hosting. It may also have the ability to store and process content close to cellular subscribers for faster response times. Edge computing can encompass a wide range of technologies, such as wireless sensor networks, mobile data acquisition, mobile signature analysis, collaborative distributed peer-to-peer networking and processing (also categorized as local cloud / fog computing and grid / grid computing), dew computing, mobile edge computing, cloudlets, distributed data storage and retrieval, autonomous self-healing networks, remote cloud services, augmented and virtual reality, data caching, the Internet of Things (massive connectivity and / or latency-critical), and critical communications (autonomous vehicles, traffic safety, real-time analytics, time-critical control, and healthcare applications).

[0043] The communication system may also be capable of communicating with, or utilizing services provided by, one or more other networks 113, such as a public switched telephone network or the Internet. The communication network may also be capable of supporting the use of cloud services, for example, at least a portion of the core network operations may be performed as a cloud service (this is in the context of Figure 1 114). The communication system may also include a central control entity or the like to provide facilities for the networks of different operators to collaborate, for example, in terms of spectrum sharing.

[0044] The access node can also be split into: a radio unit (RU), which includes a radio transceiver (TRX), i.e., a transmitter (Tx) and a receiver (Rx); one or more distributed units (DU) 105, which can be used for so-called layer 1 (L1) processing and real-time layer 2 (L2) processing; and a central unit (CU) 108 (also called a centralized unit), which can be used for non-real-time L2 and layer 3 (L3) processing. The CU 108 can be connected to one or more DUs 105, for example, via an F1 interface. Such a split can achieve centralization of the CU relative to the cell site and the DU, while the DU can be more distributed and can even be retained at the cell site. The CU and DU together can also be called a baseband or baseband unit (BBU). The CU and DU can also be included in the radio access point (RAP).

[0045] The CU 108 may be defined as a logical node that hosts the higher layer protocols of the access node, such as radio resource control (RRC), service data adaptation protocol (SDAP), and / or packet data convergence protocol (PDCP). The DU 105 may be defined as a logical node that hosts the radio link control (RLC), medium access control (MAC), and / or physical (PHY) layers of the access node. The operation of the DU may be at least partially controlled by the CU. The CU may include a control plane (CU-CP), which may be defined as a logical node that hosts the control plane portion of the RRC and PDCP protocols for the CU of the access node. The CU may also include a user plane (CU-UP), which may be defined as a logical node that hosts the user plane portion of the PDCP protocol and the SDAP protocol for the CU of the access node.

[0046] The cloud computing platform can also be used to run the CU 108 and / or DU 105. The CU can run in the cloud computing platform, which can be called a virtualized CU (vCU). In addition to the vCU, a virtualized DU (vDU) can also run in the cloud computing platform. In addition, there can also be a combination in which the DU can use a so-called bare metal solution, such as an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or a customer-specific standard product (CSSP) system-on-chip (SoC) solution. It should also be understood that the functional distribution between the above-mentioned access node units, or different core network operations and access node operations can be different.

[0047] Edge cloud can be introduced into the radio access network (RAN) by leveraging network function virtualization (NFV) and software defined networking (SDN). The use of edge cloud can mean that access node operations are at least partially performed in a server, host, or node that is operationally coupled to a remote radio head (RRH) or radio unit (RU) or access node including radio components. Node operations can also be distributed across multiple servers, nodes, or hosts. The application of the cloudRAN architecture enables RAN real-time functions to be performed on the RAN side (e.g., in DU 105) and enables non-real-time functions to be performed in a centralized manner (e.g., in CU 108).

[0048] It should also be understood that the functional distribution between core network operations and access node operations may be different from that of LTE, or even non-existent. Some other technological advancements that may be used include big data and all-IP, which may change the way networks are constructed and managed. 5G (or New Radio NR) networks can be designed to support multiple hierarchical structures, where MEC servers can be placed between the core and access nodes. It should be understood that MEC can also be applied to 4G networks.

[0049] 5G can also utilize non-terrestrial communications (e.g., satellite communications) to enhance or supplement the coverage of 5G services, for example by providing backhaul. Possible use cases could be providing service continuity for machine-to-machine (M2M) or Internet of Things (IoT) devices or for passengers on board, or ensuring service availability for critical communications and future rail / maritime / aeronautical communications. Satellite communications can utilize geostationary orbit (GEO) satellite systems as well as low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite systems, in particular mega-constellations (systems in which hundreds of (nano) satellites are deployed). A given satellite 106 in a mega-constellation can cover several satellite-enabled network entities creating a terrestrial cell. A terrestrial cell can be created by a terrestrial relay node or by an access node 104 located on the ground or in a satellite.

[0050] 6G networks are expected to utilize flexible decentralized and / or distributed computing systems and architectures, as well as ubiquitous computing. Based on mobile edge computing, artificial intelligence, short packet communications, and blockchain technologies, they will enable local spectrum licensing, spectrum sharing, infrastructure sharing, and intelligent automated management. Key features of 6G may include intelligent interconnected management and control capabilities, programmability, integrated sensing and communications, a reduced energy footprint, trustworthy infrastructure, scalability, and affordability. Furthermore, 6G targets new use cases, including integrating positioning and sensing capabilities into system definitions to unify the user experience across the physical and digital worlds.

[0051] It is clear to those skilled in the art that the depicted system is only an example of a portion of a radio access system, and in practice, the system may include multiple access nodes, user equipment may access multiple radio cells, and the system may also include other devices, such as physical layer relay nodes or other network elements. At least one of the access nodes may be a home eNodeB or a home gNodeB.

[0052] Furthermore, in a geographical area of ​​a radio communication system, a plurality of different kinds of radio cells and a plurality of radio cells may be provided. A radio cell may be a macro cell (or umbrella cell), which may be a large cell with a diameter of up to tens of kilometres, or a smaller cell, such as a micro cell, a femto cell or a pico cell. Figure 1 The access node(s) may provide any of these cells. A cellular radio system may be implemented as a multi-layer network comprising several types of radio cells. In a multi-layer network, one access node may provide one or more types of radio cells, and thus providing such a multi-layer network structure may require multiple access nodes.

[0053] In order to meet the requirements of improving the deployment and performance of communication systems, the concept of "plug-and-play" access nodes can be introduced. In addition to the home eNodeB or home gNodeB, a network that can use "plug-and-play" access nodes can also include a home NodeB gateway or HNB-GW ( Figure 1 (not shown). The HNB-GW, which may be installed in the operator's network, may aggregate services from a large number of home eNodeBs or home gNodeBs back to the core network.

[0054] Positioning techniques can be used to estimate the location (e.g., geographic location) of a user equipment. Here, the user equipment to be positioned is referred to as a target user equipment or target UE. For example, positioning techniques used in NR can be based on at least one of the following: time difference of arrival (TDoA), time of arrival (TOA), time of departure (TOD), round-trip time (RTT), angle of departure (AoD), angle of arrival (AoA), and / or carrier phase.

[0055] The location of the target UE may be estimated in an absolute manner (in the case of absolute positioning) or in a relative manner (in the case of relative positioning).

[0056] Absolute positioning refers to estimating the position of a target UE in two-dimensional or three-dimensional geographic coordinates (eg, latitude, longitude, and / or altitude) within a coordinate system.

[0057] Relative positioning refers to estimating the position of a target UE relative to one or more network nodes or relative to one or more other UEs.

[0058] In Uu positioning (UL / DL positioning), multiple transmission reception points (TRPs) in known locations can send and / or receive one or more positioning reference signals (PRS) to and from a target UE. In the uplink, a sounding reference signal (SRS) can be used as a positioning reference signal. For example, multilateration techniques can then be used to locate (i.e., determine the position) of the target UE relative to the TRPs. At least one of these TRPs can be used as a positioning anchor, and the TDoA difference relative to the positioning anchor can be calculated. A positioning anchor may also be referred to as an anchor, anchor node, multilateration anchor, or reference point.

[0059] In network-based positioning, the position of the target UE is calculated by a network node. For network-based positioning, the target UE may report information to the network to enable the calculation.

[0060] In UE-based positioning, the position of a target UE is calculated by the target UE or another UE.

[0061] Sidelink (SL) positioning refers to a positioning method in which the target UE utilizes a sidelink (i.e., a device-to-device direct link) to locate itself either absolutely (in the case of absolute positioning) or relatively (in the case of relative positioning). SL positioning can benefit (but is not limited to) the following use cases: public safety, vehicle-to-everything (V2X), and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT).

[0062] SL positioning can be based on the transmission of sidelink positioning reference signals (SL-PRS) by multiple anchor UEs (anchor user equipment), where the SL-PRS is received and measured by the target UE to enable positioning of the target UE within certain delay and accuracy requirements of the corresponding SL positioning session (e.g., using SL TDoA techniques). Alternatively or in addition, the target UE can send SL-PRS for reception and measurement by the anchor UE. The exchange of SL-PRS between the target UE and the anchor UE can be used, for example, for SL RTT-based positioning techniques.

[0063] An anchor UE can be defined as a UE that supports positioning of a target UE, for example, by sending and / or receiving reference signals for positioning (e.g., SL-PRS) over the SL interface. This can be similar to UL / DL-based positioning, where the gNB can act as a positioning anchor to send and / or receive reference signals to and from the target UE for positioning. Here, the anchor UE may also be referred to as a positioning anchor.

[0064] The SL PRS is a reference signal sent over the SL for positioning purposes. The SL PRS can be configured based on various parameters, including time-frequency resources such as bandwidth and periodicity; directionality parameters such as beam direction, beam width, and number of beams; and transmit power. These parameters are collectively referred to as the SL PRS (pre-)configuration.

[0065] In network coverage or partial coverage scenarios, the SL PRS configuration can be determined by the network, for example by the location management function (LMF) or gNB. In out-of-coverage scenarios, the SL PRS configuration can be autonomously (pre-)configured and / or determined by the UE.

[0066] For UE-assisted positioning (in SL positioning and Uu positioning), the target UE can utilize the sidelink to obtain positioning measurements and report these measurements to a network entity such as the LMF. Sidelink positioning can also be used to obtain ranging information. Ranging refers to determining the distance between two UEs and / or the direction from one UE to another UE via a direct device connection.

[0067] In network-assisted sidelink positioning, the network (e.g., LMF) controls the sidelink positioning. In this case, the network can perform, for example, anchor (re)selection and / or SL-PRS (re)configuration. For network-assisted sidelink positioning, the UE can report information such as sidelink measurements to the network.

[0068] Figure 2 The diagram illustrates an example of a network-assisted sidelink positioning scenario, in which a target UE 201 is performing a sidelink positioning session, i.e., receiving SL-PRS from three anchor UEs 202, 203, and 204 to determine the location of the target UE 201. Here, the anchor UEs 202, 203, and 204 are referred to as providing SL-PRS assistance (including SL-PRS transmission) to the target UE 201. The LMF 205 may fully or partially control SL positioning. The LMF 205 is responsible for at least anchor (re)selection based on, for example, sidelink measurement information reported from the target UE via the LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP). The target UE may obtain measurement information by measuring the SL-PRS and / or anchor discovery messages received from the anchor UEs 202, 203, and 204. The measurement information may include, for example, the reference signal received power (RSRP) of the SL-PRS and / or anchor discovery messages.

[0069] In network-assisted sidelink positioning (e.g., based on SL TDOA, SL multi-RTT, etc.), the network (e.g., LMF) may fully or partially control SL positioning. For example, the LMF may be responsible for anchor (re)selection based at least on measurement information reported from the target UE (e.g., via LPP). However, anchor (re)selection is not a simple task because it directly affects positioning accuracy. For example, if the selected anchor UE is collinear with the target UE, the target UE may experience a high geometric dilution of precision (GDOP) and the positioning accuracy may be significantly reduced. In addition, the radio link quality between a given anchor UE and the target UE may affect the reception quality of the SL-PRS at the target UE and, thereby, also affect the positioning accuracy. To this end, the target UE may report information related to candidate anchor UEs so that the LMF can perform informed anchor (re)selection to meet the accuracy requirements of the target UE. Here, a candidate anchor UE (candidate positioning anchor) refers to a potential anchor UE (positioning anchor) that has not yet actively supported the positioning of the target UE (e.g., has not yet sent SL-PRS) but has the potential to do so.

[0070] For anchor discovery, a candidate anchor UE may send an anchor discovery message over the sidelink (i.e., PC5 interface). The target UE may receive the discovery message and report the corresponding measurements (including discovery information, such as anchor UE position) to the LMF to assist in anchor (re)selection. Currently, during anchor reselection, the target UE may report measurements of all candidate anchor UEs to the LMF. However, this may introduce a large signaling overhead on the Uu interface. The signaling overhead may be more severe when there are frequent anchor reselections (which may occur in SL positioning due to UE mobility) and when there are a large number of candidate anchor UEs (e.g., in dense UE deployment scenarios).

[0071] Figure 3 The diagram illustrates an example of reporting candidate positioning anchor measurements from the target UE 300 to the LMF 320 for anchor reselection when the active positioning anchor 301 is unable to support the target UE 300 in SL positioning. Here, the candidate positioning anchor measurements may include discovery-related measurements corresponding to anchor discovery messages sent from a group of candidate positioning anchors 302, 303, 304, 305, 307, 308, 310, 311, 312, and 313 (e.g., candidate anchor UEs), excluding the active positioning anchors 301, 306, and 309. For example, for the active positioning anchor, the target UE 300 may report SL-PRS-related measurements. If the target UE 300 reports discovery-related measurements for all candidate positioning anchors 302, 303, 304, 305, 307, 308, 310, 311, 312, and 313, this may introduce significant signaling overhead on the Uu interface. Therefore, there is a need to improve this suboptimal approach of reporting discovery related measurements to the LMF in terms of signaling overhead.

[0072] Some example embodiments provide a network-assisted candidate positioning anchor filtering mechanism that may be used to reduce signaling overhead on the Uu interface during anchor reselection.

[0073] However, some example embodiments are described below using the principles and terminology of 5G technology without limiting the example embodiments to 5G communication systems.

[0074] In an example embodiment, upon detecting that a target UE requires a new positioning anchor (e.g., observing that one of the currently active positioning anchors has failed or is in a non-line-of-sight state relative to the target UE), the LMF may trigger a candidate positioning anchor measurement report at the target UE and provide the target UE with assistance information for filtering candidate positioning anchors. The assistance information may be associated with at least the positioning anchor to be replaced and / or a potential new positioning anchor to be added for the target UE. The target UE may then filter the candidate positioning anchors based on the received assistance information and report only the filtered candidate positioning anchor measurements to the LMF.

[0075] In one example, the LMF can adjust the filtering so that when the target UE is selected as a positioning anchor to replace a failed anchor, only measurements of (one or more) candidate positioning anchors that are likely to meet at least the GDOP criteria (and therefore likely to meet the positioning requirements) are reported. In this way, the signaling overhead of the measurement report can be reduced because the target UE reports measurements associated with some but not all candidate positioning anchors. It should be noted that GDOP is used as an example in this article, and other criteria can alternatively be used to instruct the target UE how to filter measurements.

[0076] Considering the impact of GDOP in positioning anchor (re)selection, knowing at the target UE which positioning anchor will be replaced by a new positioning anchor (as part of the anchor reselection process) can enable the target UE to filter candidate positioning anchor measurements to reduce signaling overhead on the Uu interface.

[0077] When an active positioning anchor fails and needs to be replaced (while other active positioning anchors continue to support the target UE), a suitable candidate positioning anchor for replacing the failed positioning anchor may have similar geometric characteristics (e.g., angle relative to the target UE) as the failed positioning anchor. In other words, the selection of the replacement anchor may be limited by the GDOP performance. Therefore, when the target UE provides the LMF with discovery-related measurements of candidate positioning anchors, the relevant measurements of the LMF in anchor reselection are those of candidate positioning anchors that have similar geometric characteristics to the failed positioning anchor that needs to be replaced.

[0078] Therefore, by having the target UE report only measurements of relevant candidate positioning anchors (rather than all discovered candidate positioning anchors), signaling overhead can be reduced. This can also make sidelink positioning more feasible in scenarios with a large number of candidate positioning anchors (e.g., in IoT use cases) and / or in scenarios involving mobile target UEs and / or mobile positioning anchors (e.g., in V2X use cases).

[0079] To this end, the LMF may provide the target UE with assistance information, through which the LMF may convey information about the positioning anchor to be replaced, such as the identity of the failed positioning anchor and / or the geometric characteristics of the failed positioning anchor relative to the target UE. Using this assistance information, the target UE may then identify a (filtered) subset of candidate positioning anchors that may be of interest in anchor reselection (e.g., identifying candidate positioning anchors that can ensure sufficient GDOP performance when used as positioning anchors to replace the failed positioning anchor).

[0080] For example, some example embodiments may be applied to Figure 3In this case, when the active positioning anchor 301 is unable to support the target UE 300 in SL positioning, the target UE 300 can perform filtered candidate positioning anchor measurement reporting to the LMF 320 for anchor reselection. After identifying the failed positioning anchor 301, the LMF 320 provides the target UE 300 with assistance information associated with the failed positioning anchor 301.

[0081] The assistance information may include, for example, at least one of the following: an identifier of the failed location anchor 301 to be replaced (which now serves as a reference for selecting a new anchor), a reason for replacing the failed location anchor 301, and / or a geometric characteristic of the failed location anchor 301 relative to the target UE 300.

[0082] The target UE 300 then uses the assistance information to identify a subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors from the set of discovered candidate positioning anchors 302, 303, 304, 305, 307, 308, 310, 311, 312, and 313, wherein the subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors meets at least one criterion associated with the failed positioning anchor 301 to be replaced (e.g., similar geographic characteristics relative to the target UE 300, such as an angle relative to the target UE 300, or the same geographic area / zone relative to the target UE 300, or closer to the failed positioning anchor 301, etc.). For example, the subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors may include candidate positioning anchors 302 and 304, which are located near the failed positioning anchor 301 to be replaced.

[0083] Subsequently, the target UE 300 sends a filtered candidate positioning anchor measurement report to the LMF 320, which includes measurement information associated with a subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors 302, 304 (filtered candidate positioning anchors) (rather than all discovered candidate positioning anchors 302, 303, 304, 305, 307, 308, 310, 311, 312, 313). Therefore, signaling overhead on the Uu interface can be reduced. Here, the measurement information reported to the LMF may include discovery-related measurements corresponding to anchor discovery messages sent from corresponding candidate positioning anchors.

[0084] refer to Figure 3In an example embodiment, the LMF 320 may be configured to: perform positioning anchor selection and reselection for the target UE 300; determine whether a new positioning anchor needs to be added for the target UE 300 (e.g., due to a degradation in the reception quality of the SL PRS at the target UE 300 sent by the anchor 301 causing the existing positioning anchor 301 to fail); request a candidate positioning anchor measurement report from the target UE 300 based at least on the determination of the need for a new positioning anchor; and prepare assistance information for candidate positioning anchor filtering based at least on the “to be replaced” positioning anchor and / or the potential new anchor to be added.

[0085] The auxiliary information used for filtering candidate positioning anchors may include at least one of the following: an identifier of the positioning anchor to be replaced, a geometric characteristic of the new positioning anchor to be added and / or the positioning anchor to be replaced (for example, the angle or sector of the failed anchor UE relative to the target UE 300), one or more states about the positioning anchor to be added (for example, SL PRS RSRP is higher than a certain threshold), and a reason for replacing the positioning anchor to be replaced (for example, non-line-of-sight state, UL transmission priority, deprioritization of an existing session, link failure, etc.).

[0086] The LMF 320 may also be configured to: send assistance information to the target UE 300; receive a filtered candidate positioning anchor measurement report from the target UE 300, the report including discovery-related measurement information associated with a subset of the filtered candidate positioning anchors (but not all discovered candidate positioning anchors); perform positioning anchor reselection based at least on the filtered candidate positioning anchor measurement report; and send a positioning anchor reconfiguration to the target UE 300, wherein the positioning anchor reconfiguration indicates at least the selected positioning anchor to be added.

[0087] The target UE 300 may be configured to: receive a request for a candidate positioning anchor measurement report from the LMF 320; receive candidate positioning anchor filtering assistance information from the LMF 320; perform candidate positioning anchor discovery (which may include performing measurements on discovery messages sent by the set of discovered candidate positioning anchors 302, 303, 304, 305, 307, 308, 310, 311, 312, 313), or perform anchor discovery based on candidate anchor filtering (in the case of model B type discovery); filter the discovered candidate anchors based on the candidate positioning anchor filtering assistance information; prepare a filtered candidate anchor measurement report by including discovery-related measurement information associated with the filtered candidate positioning anchors (but not all candidate positioning anchors); send the filtered candidate positioning anchor measurement report to the LMF 320; receive a positioning anchor reconfiguration from the LMF 320, wherein the reconfiguration at least indicates that a new positioning anchor is to be added; and perform SL positioning based on the positioning anchor reconfiguration.

[0088] Figure 4 A signaling diagram according to an example embodiment is illustrated. Here, the LMF is considered to have selected a set of positioning anchors for a target user equipment (target UE), e.g. based on complete candidate anchor measurements (i.e. measurements of all candidate positioning anchor discovery messages received by the target user equipment), and the LMF has indicated the selected positioning anchors to the target user equipment as part of the anchor configuration. In this example embodiment, all (candidate) positioning anchors are considered to send anchor discovery messages of the Model A type. The target user equipment may be performing, e.g., SL TDoA-based positioning using the selected positioning anchors. Figure 4 In , UE-A1 represents one of the currently active positioning anchors of the target UE.

[0089] Here, for example, a given positioning anchor or candidate positioning anchor may include an anchor UE, a network node (e.g., a gNB), a roadside unit (RSU), or any other device capable of supporting positioning of the target user equipment. For example, an RSU is a fixed infrastructure entity of the UE type or gNB type that supports V2X applications.

[0090] refer to Figure 4 In block 401, one of the active positioning anchors (UE-A1) of the target user equipment transmits a reference signal, such as an SL-PRS. However, the transmission fails, causing the target user equipment (UE-A1) to Figure 4 For example, the reception quality (e.g., SL-PRS RSRP) of the SL-PRS sent by UE-A1 may fall below a certain threshold at the target user equipment. Therefore, it is assumed that the positioning anchor UE-A1 has failed.

[0091] The target user equipment may correspond to Figure 3 target UE 300 or Figure 1 UE 100, and UE-A1 may correspond to Figure 3 Failure of anchor 301 or Figure 1 UE 102.

[0092] In block 402, the target user equipment reports (one or more) SL-PRS measurements to the LMF. In network-based sidelink positioning, the target user equipment sends its (one or more) SL-PRS measurements to the LMF, and the LMF may calculate the position of the target user equipment based on the (one or more) measurements. The LMF may correspond to Figure 3 LMF 320 or Figure 1 LMF112.

[0093] As an alternative or in addition to block 402, the target user equipment or (one or more) positioning anchors (e.g., UE-A1) may notify the LMF of (one or more) specific positioning anchors (e.g., UE-A1) that it has determined to have failed. In addition, in order to reselect a positioning anchor, the target user equipment may explicitly request assistance information from the LMF to assist in filtering candidate positioning anchors at the target user equipment.

[0094] In block 403, the LMF triggers anchor reselection after identifying a failed positioning anchor UE-A1 based on, for example, SL-PRS reception quality falling below a certain threshold, as indicated by the SL-PRS measurement report received from the target user equipment.

[0095] In block 404, the LMF generates and sends to the target user equipment assistance information associated with at least one of the following: at least one positioning anchor to be replaced (e.g., UE-A1) of the target user equipment, or at least one positioning anchor to be added for the target user equipment. For example, to perform anchor reselection, the LMF may send a request message to the target user equipment requesting the target user equipment to report discovery-related measurements of candidate positioning anchors (also referred to as candidate anchor measurements). The assistance information may be included in the request message.

[0096] The auxiliary information may include, for example, an identifier (eg, anchor ID) of at least one positioning anchor to be replaced. In this way, the failed positioning anchor may serve as a reference based on which a new positioning anchor may be selected.

[0097] Alternatively or additionally, the assistance information may include or indicate a reason for replacing the at least one positioning anchor to be replaced. For example, the reason may include at least one of the following: a non-line-of-sight (NLOS) state between the target user equipment and the at least one positioning anchor to be replaced, uplink transmission priority, de-prioritization of an existing session, or radio link failure.

[0098] Alternatively or additionally, the assistance information may include or indicate one or more geometric characteristics of a positioning anchor relative to the target user equipment, wherein the positioning anchor includes at least one of the following: at least one positioning anchor to be replaced or at least one positioning anchor to be added.

[0099] The one or more geometric characteristics of the positioning anchor may include at least one of the following: an angle of the positioning anchor relative to a pointing direction of the target user device, or a geographic area of ​​the positioning anchor relative to the target user device. The pointing direction (also known as the pointing axis) is a reference direction in an antenna system that describes the orientation of an antenna in space.

[0100] Alternatively or additionally, the assistance information may include or indicate at least one criterion associated with at least one of: at least one positioning anchor to be replaced for the target user equipment, or at least one positioning anchor to be added for the target user equipment. For example, the at least one criterion may include at least a criterion that a signal metric (such as RSRP) for a reference signal (e.g., SL-PRS) is above a threshold. Alternatively or additionally, the at least one criterion may include at least a threshold for a geometric dilution of precision, for example, for identifying a candidate positioning anchor whose GDOP is below a threshold.

[0101] Alternatively or additionally, the assistance information may include a group identifier indicating a group of positioning anchors to be added for the target user equipment.

[0102] In block 405, the target user equipment monitors discovery messages from candidate positioning anchors. Assume that the candidate positioning anchors (eg, UE-A2, UE-A3) are sending anchor discovery messages (eg, periodically). That is, assume model A type anchor discovery.

[0103] In the case of Model A discovery, each UE capable of positioning anchor functionality is considered to be sending discovery messages (which may include its location information). When the target user equipment detects these discovery messages (for example, the RSRP of the discovery message is above a certain threshold), it identifies that there are UEs capable of positioning anchor functionality nearby. UEs identified in this way can be called candidate positioning anchors because they have the potential to become positioning anchors for the target user equipment.

[0104] In block 406, the target user equipment receives a first discovery message from the first candidate positioning anchor (UE-A2). The first discovery message may include, for example, location information of the first candidate positioning anchor. The location information indicates the location of the first candidate positioning anchor.

[0105] In block 407, the target user equipment receives a second discovery message from the second candidate positioning anchor (UE-A3). The second discovery message may include, for example, location information of the second candidate positioning anchor. The location information indicates the location of the second candidate positioning anchor.

[0106] although Figure 4 Two candidate positioning anchors (UE-A2 and UE-A3) are shown in FIG, but it should be noted that the number of candidate positioning anchors may be different from two. In other words, there may be one or more candidate positioning anchors. Figure 4 The signaling process shown can be expanded and applied according to the actual number of candidate positioning anchors.

[0107] In block 408, the target user equipment obtains measurement information associated with the set of one or more discovery candidate location anchors by measuring one or more signals (e.g., discovery messages) received from the set of one or more discovery candidate location anchors. For example, the measurement information may include RSRP of the one or more signals (e.g., discovery messages).

[0108] The set of one or more discovery candidate location anchors refers to (one or more) candidate location anchors from which the target user equipment has received a discovery message. For example, the set of one or more discovery candidate location anchors may include at least a first candidate location anchor (UE-A2) and a second candidate location anchor (UE-A3).

[0109] In box 409, the target user device determines a subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors from the set of one or more discovered candidate positioning anchors based on the auxiliary information, wherein the subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors meets at least one criterion associated with at least one of the following: at least one positioning anchor of the target user device to be replaced, or at least one positioning anchor to be added for the target user device.

[0110] The determination of the subset may also be based on location information of the set of one or more discovery candidate positioning anchors (eg, included in the discovery message). That is, the subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors may be determined based on at least location information and assistance information.

[0111] The subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors may include some but not all candidate positioning anchors in the set of one or more discovered candidate positioning anchors. For example, the subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors may include the first candidate positioning anchor or the second candidate positioning anchor.

[0112] For example, when the assistance information includes an identifier (e.g., anchor ID) of at least one positioning anchor to be replaced (e.g., UE-A1), the target user equipment may determine a subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors by identifying one or more candidate positioning anchors that are within a certain distance (e.g., very close) to the at least one positioning anchor to be replaced. To this end, the target user equipment may utilize a geographic area associated with the identifier (anchor ID) (e.g., by means of an area ID) to determine the proximity of the candidate positioning anchors to the at least one positioning anchor to be replaced.

[0113] As another example, in a case where the auxiliary information indicates a geographic area (e.g., an area ID) of at least one positioning anchor to be replaced, the target user device may determine a subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors by identifying one or more candidate positioning anchors, which are, for example, located in the same area / zone or an adjacent area / zone relative to the at least one positioning anchor to be replaced.

[0114] As another example, when the assistance information indicates a reason for replacing at least one positioning anchor to be replaced and the reason is uplink transmission priority or deprioritization of the current SL positioning session, the target user equipment may determine a subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors by identifying one or more candidate positioning anchors that are very close to the at least one positioning anchor to be replaced (similar to the above example). On the other hand, if the reason for replacement is an NLOS state between the target user equipment and the at least one positioning anchor to be replaced, the target user equipment may avoid candidate positioning anchors that are very close to the at least one positioning anchor to be replaced.

[0115] As another example, where the assistance information includes or indicates a criterion that a signal metric of a reference signal (such as RSRP) is above a threshold, the target user equipment may determine a subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors by identifying one or more candidate positioning anchors from which the target user equipment has received a signal, such as an SL-PRS or a discovery message, where the measured signal metric (such as RSRP) is above a threshold that may be indicated in the assistance information.

[0116] As another example, where the assistance information indicates a group identifier for a set of positioning anchors to be used for positioning, the target user equipment can determine a subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors by identifying one or more candidate positioning anchors corresponding to characteristics associated with the group. The group can be determined by the LMF or another core network entity based on various characteristics of the anchors. For example, a mobile UE can be in group #1, a static UE with a known location can be in group #2, a static UE with an unknown location can be in group #3, and so on.

[0117] In block 410, the target user device filters measurement information associated with a set of one or more discovered candidate location anchors based on the assistance information. That is, the target user device retains only measurements associated with a subset of one or more candidate location anchors (referred to as filtered candidate location anchors) determined based on the assistance information received from the LMF. In other words, the measurement information may be filtered so that it does not include measurement information associated with candidate location anchors other than the determined subset of one or more candidate location anchors.

[0118] For example, filtered measurement information associated with a subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors may be obtained by selecting a subset of measurement information from measurement information associated with a set of one or more discovered candidate positioning anchors, the subset of measurement information corresponding to the subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors.

[0119] In block 411, the target user equipment sends filtered measurement information associated with a subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors to the LMF. That is, the measurements reported by the target user equipment are associated only with a subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors, rather than with all discovered candidate positioning anchors, thereby reducing signaling overhead.

[0120] In block 412, the LMF selects one or more positioning anchors from a subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors based at least on the filtered measurement information to support positioning of the target user equipment. In other words, the LMF performs anchor reselection based on the received filtered measurement reports to ensure, for example, a low GDOP and, thereby, high positioning accuracy.

[0121] In block 413, the LMF sends a message to the target user equipment indicating that the selected one or more positioning anchors will be used to support the positioning of the target user equipment. For example, after selecting (one or more) new positioning anchors, the LMF may notify the target user equipment of this change by sending an anchor reconfiguration message to the target user equipment. As a result, the target user equipment may begin to use the newly selected (one or more) positioning anchors to continue to obtain SL positioning support (e.g., SL-PRS) for its positioning.

[0122] Figure 5 A signaling diagram according to an example embodiment is illustrated.

[0123] refer to Figure 5 In block 501, one of the active positioning anchors (UE-A1) of the target user equipment (UE-T) transmits a reference signal, such as an SL-PRS. However, the transmission fails, causing the target user equipment (UE-T) to Figure 5 For example, the reception quality (e.g., SL-PRS RSRP) of the SL-PRS sent by UE-A1 may fall below a certain threshold at the target user equipment. Therefore, it is assumed that the positioning anchor UE-A1 has failed.

[0124] The target user equipment may correspond to Figure 3 target UE 300 or Figure 1 UE 100, and UE-A1 may correspond to Figure 3 Failure of anchor 301 or Figure 1 UE 102.

[0125] In block 502, the target user equipment reports (one or more) SL-PRS measurements to the LMF. In network-based sidelink positioning, the target user equipment sends its (one or more) SL-PRS measurements to the LMF, and the LMF may calculate the position of the target user equipment based on the (one or more) measurements. The LMF may correspond to Figure 3 LMF 320 or Figure 1 LMF112.

[0126] As an alternative or in addition to block 502, the target user equipment or (one or more) positioning anchors (e.g., UE-A1) may notify the LMF of (one or more) specific positioning anchors (e.g., UE-A1) that it has determined to have failed. In addition, in order to reselect a positioning anchor, the target user equipment may explicitly request assistance information from the LMF to assist in filtering candidate positioning anchors at the target user equipment.

[0127] In block 503, the LMF triggers anchor reselection upon identifying a failed positioning anchor UE-A1 based on, for example, SL-PRS reception quality falling below a certain threshold, as indicated by the SL-PRS measurement report received from the target user equipment.

[0128] In block 504, the LMF generates and sends to the target user equipment assistance information associated with at least one of the following: at least one positioning anchor to be replaced (e.g., UE-A1) of the target user equipment, or at least one positioning anchor to be added for the target user equipment. For example, to perform anchor reselection, the LMF may send a request message to the target user equipment requesting the target user equipment to report discovery-related measurements of candidate positioning anchors (also referred to as candidate anchor measurements). The assistance information may be included in the request message.

[0129] The assistance information may include or indicate at least one criterion associated with at least one of: at least one positioning anchor of the target user equipment to be replaced, or at least one positioning anchor to be added for the target user equipment.

[0130] For example, the assistance information may include at least a criterion for a signal metric of at least one positioning anchor to be replaced, such as RSRP. In this case, the target user equipment may use a Model B type of discovery and communicate the criterion to the candidate positioning anchors, for example, in a discovery request message. Only candidate positioning anchors that meet the criterion then respond to the target user equipment and are considered a subset of the filtered candidate positioning anchors. For example, the candidate positioning anchors may measure the SL-PRS RSRP of at least one positioning anchor to be replaced and respond to the discovery request message if the RSRP is above a certain indication threshold (which indicates that the candidate anchor is very close to the anchor to be replaced).

[0131] In block 505, the target user equipment sends information including signal metric criteria to a set of one or more candidate positioning anchors. For example, the information may be sent via broadcast, unicast, or multicast transmission. For example, the information may be sent in an anchor discovery request message.

[0132] In block 506 , the positioning anchor to be replaced (UE-A1) transmits a reference signal, such as an SL-PRS, which is received by one or more candidate positioning anchors (eg, UE-A2 and UE-A3).

[0133] In block 507, the first candidate positioning anchor (UE-A2) evaluates whether the first candidate positioning anchor meets the signal metric criteria based on the reference signal received from the positioning anchor to be replaced. In this example, the first candidate positioning anchor meets at least one criterion (e.g., the RSRP of the reference signal is above a threshold).

[0134] In block 508, the second candidate positioning anchor (UE-A3) evaluates whether the second candidate positioning anchor meets the signal metric criteria based on the reference signal received from the positioning anchor to be replaced. In this example, the second candidate positioning anchor does not meet the criteria (e.g., the RSRP of the reference signal is below a threshold).

[0135] although Figure 5 Two candidate positioning anchors (UE-A2 and UE-A3) are shown in FIG, but it should be noted that the number of candidate positioning anchors may be different from two. In other words, there may be one or more candidate positioning anchors. Figure 5 The signaling process shown can be expanded and applied according to the actual number of candidate positioning anchors.

[0136] In block 509 , the target user equipment monitors discovery messages from candidate positioning anchors.

[0137] In block 510, the target user equipment receives one or more signals, such as one or more discovery messages, from a subset of one or more candidate location anchors, wherein the one or more signals are sent from the subset of one or more candidate location anchors based on the subset of one or more candidate location anchors satisfying a criterion of a signal metric. For example, the one or more discovery messages may include location information of the subset of one or more candidate location anchors.

[0138] For example, the first candidate positioning anchor (UE-A2) may send a signal (e.g., a discovery message) to the target user equipment based on the first candidate positioning anchor satisfying the signal metric criteria. However, if the second candidate positioning anchor does not satisfy the signal metric criteria, the second candidate positioning anchor (UE-A3) may not send a signal (e.g., a discovery message).

[0139] In block 511, the target user equipment determines a subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors (e.g., UE-A2) from a set of one or more candidate positioning anchors (e.g., UE-A2 and UE-A3), wherein the subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors satisfies a criterion of a signal metric. In this example embodiment, the subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors may be determined by including some or all of the discovered candidate positioning anchors from which the target user equipment has received discovery messages, because these candidate positioning anchors meet the criterion of the signal metric.

[0140] In block 512, the target user equipment obtains measurement information associated with the subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors by measuring one or more signals (e.g., discovery messages) received from the subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors. For example, the measurement information may include RSRP of the one or more signals (e.g., discovery messages).

[0141] In block 513, the target user equipment sends measurement information associated with a subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors to the LMF.

[0142] In block 514, the LMF selects one or more positioning anchors from a subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors based at least on the measurement information to support positioning of the target user equipment. In other words, the LMF performs anchor reselection based on the received filtered measurement reports to ensure, for example, a low GDOP and thereby high positioning accuracy.

[0143] In block 515, the LMF sends a message to the target user equipment indicating that the selected one or more positioning anchors will be used to support the positioning of the target user equipment. For example, after selecting the new positioning anchor(s), the LMF may notify the target user equipment of this change by sending an anchor reconfiguration message to the target user equipment. As a result, the target user equipment may begin to use the newly selected one or more positioning anchors to continue to obtain SL positioning support (e.g., SL-PRS) for its positioning.

[0144] Figure 6 A flow chart of a method performed by an apparatus according to an example embodiment is illustrated. For example, the apparatus may be a user equipment, or include a user equipment, or be included in a user equipment. A user equipment may also be referred to as a subscriber unit, a mobile station, a remote terminal, an access terminal, a user terminal, a terminal device, or a user equipment (UE). A user equipment may correspond to Figure 1 One of the user equipment 100, 102, or corresponding to Figure 3 target UE 300.

[0145] See also Figure 6In step 601, auxiliary information associated with at least one of the following is received: at least one positioning anchor to be replaced by the device, or at least one positioning anchor to be added to the device;

[0146] In block 602, a subset of one or more candidate location anchors is determined from a set of one or more discovered candidate location anchors based on assistance information, wherein the subset of one or more candidate location anchors satisfies at least one criterion associated with at least one of: at least one location anchor of the apparatus to be replaced, or at least one location anchor to be added for the apparatus.

[0147] In block 603, measurement information associated with a subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors is sent.

[0148] Figure 7 A flow chart of a method performed by an apparatus according to an example embodiment is illustrated. For example, the apparatus may correspond to Figure 1 The core network 110 or LMF 112, or corresponding to Figure 3 LMF 320.

[0149] refer to Figure 7 In block 701, auxiliary information is generated, the auxiliary information being used to assist a user equipment in determining a subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors from a set of one or more discovered candidate positioning anchors, wherein the auxiliary information is associated with at least one of: at least one positioning anchor of the user equipment to be replaced, or at least one positioning anchor to be added for the user equipment.

[0150] In block 702, assistance information is sent to a user equipment.

[0151] In block 703, measurement information associated with a subset of one or more candidate location anchors is received from the user equipment, wherein the subset of the one or more candidate location anchors satisfies at least one criterion associated with at least one of: at least one location anchor of the user equipment to be replaced, or at least one location anchor to be added for the user equipment.

[0152] The above is with the help of Figure 4-Figure 7 The described boxes, related functions and information exchanges (messages) are not performed in an absolute chronological order, and some of them may be performed simultaneously or in an order different from the described order. Other functions may also be performed between them or within them, and other information may be sent, and / or other rules may be applied. Some boxes or parts of boxes or one or more pieces of information in the box may also be omitted or replaced with corresponding boxes or parts of boxes or one or more pieces of information.

[0153] As used herein, “at least one of: ” and “at least one of ” and similar expressions (where a list of two or more elements is connected by “and” or “or”) refer to at least any one of these elements, or at least any two or more of these elements, or at least all of these elements.

[0154] Figure 8 The diagram shows an example of an apparatus 800 including components for performing one or more of the above-described exemplary embodiments. For example, the apparatus 800 may be an apparatus such as a user device, or may include a user device, or may be included in a user device. The user device may correspond to Figure 1 One of the user equipment 100, 102, or Figure 3 target UE 300, or Figure 4 or Figure 5 A user device may also be referred to as a subscriber unit, mobile station, remote terminal, access terminal, user terminal, terminal device, or user equipment (UE).

[0155] The device 800 may include a circuit system or chipset suitable for implementing one or more of the above-described example embodiments. For example, the device 800 may include at least one processor 810. The at least one processor 810 interprets instructions (e.g., computer program instructions) and processes data. The at least one processor 810 may include one or more programmable processors. The at least one processor 810 may include programmable hardware with embedded firmware, and alternatively or additionally, may include one or more application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs).

[0156] At least one processor 810 is coupled to at least one memory 820. At least one processor is configured to write data to and read data from at least one memory 820. At least one memory 820 may include one or more memory cells. The memory cells may be volatile or non-volatile. It should be noted that there may be one or more non-volatile memory cells and one or more volatile memory cells, or alternatively, there may be one or more non-volatile memory cells, or alternatively, there may be one or more volatile memory cells. Volatile memory may be, for example, random access memory (RAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), or synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM). Non-volatile memory may be, for example, read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, optical storage device, or magnetic storage device. In general, memory may be referred to as non-transitory computer-readable medium. The term "non-transitory" as used herein is a limitation on the medium itself (i.e., tangible, not a signal), rather than a limitation on the persistence of data storage (e.g., RAM vs. ROM). At least one memory 820 stores computer-readable instructions that are executed by at least one processor 810 to perform one or more of the above-described example embodiments. For example, non-volatile memory stores computer-readable instructions, and at least one processor 810 uses volatile memory for temporary storage of data and / or instructions to execute the instructions. Computer-readable instructions may refer to computer program code.

[0157] The computer readable instructions may have been pre-stored in at least one memory 820, or alternatively or additionally, they may be received by the device via an electromagnetic carrier signal and / or may be copied from a physical entity such as a computer program product. Execution of the computer readable instructions by at least one processor 810 causes the device 800 to perform one or more of the above-described example embodiments. That is, at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions may provide means for providing or causing the execution of any of the above-described methods and / or blocks.

[0158] In the context of this document, "memory" or "a computer-readable medium" or "computer-readable media" can be any one or more non-transitory media or components that can contain, store, communicate, propagate, or transport instructions for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device (such as a computer). The term "non-transitory" as used herein is a limitation on the medium itself (i.e., tangible, not a signal), not on the persistence of data storage (e.g., RAM vs. ROM).

[0159] The device 800 may also include or be connected to an input unit 830. The input unit 830 may include one or more interfaces for receiving input. The one or more interfaces may include, for example, one or more temperature, motion, and / or orientation sensors, one or more cameras, one or more accelerometers, one or more microphones, one or more buttons, and / or one or more touch detection units. In addition, the input unit 830 may include an interface to which an external device may be connected.

[0160] The apparatus 800 may also include an output unit 840. The output unit may include or be connected to one or more displays capable of rendering visual content, such as a light emitting diode (LED) display, a liquid crystal display (LCD), and / or a liquid crystal on silicon (LCoS) display. The output unit 840 may also include one or more audio outputs. The one or more audio outputs may be, for example, speakers.

[0161] The apparatus 800 also includes a connection unit 850. The connection unit 850 enables wireless connection to one or more external devices. The connection unit 850 includes at least one transmitter and at least one receiver, which can be integrated into the apparatus 800 or the apparatus 800 can be connected to the transmitter and receiver. At least one transmitter includes at least one transmit antenna, and at least one receiver includes at least one receive antenna. The connection unit 850 can include an integrated circuit or a set of integrated circuits that provide wireless communication capabilities for the apparatus 800. Alternatively, the wireless connection can be a hardwired application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC). The connection unit 850 can also provide components for performing at least some of the blocks in one or more of the example embodiments described above. The connection unit 850 can include one or more components controlled by a corresponding control unit, such as a power amplifier, a digital front end (DFE), an analog-to-digital converter (ADC), a digital-to-analog converter (DAC), a frequency converter, a modulator (demodulator), and / or an encoder / decoder circuit system.

[0162] It should be noted that the apparatus 800 may also include Figure 8 Various components are not shown in the figure. The various components can be hardware components and / or software components.

[0163] Figure 9 The diagram illustrates an example of an apparatus 900 including components for performing one or more of the above-described exemplary embodiments. For example, the apparatus may be provided by a location management function (LMF) of a core network. The apparatus 900 may correspond to Figure 1 Core network 110 or LMF 112, or Figure 3 LMF 320, or Figure 4 or Figure 5 of LMF.

[0164] For example, the apparatus 900 may include a circuit system or chipset suitable for implementing one or more of the example embodiments described above. The apparatus 900 may be an electronic device including one or more electronic circuit systems. The apparatus 900 may include a communication control circuit system 910 (such as at least one processor), and at least one memory 920 storing instructions 922, which, when executed by the at least one processor, causes the apparatus 900 to perform one or more of the example embodiments described above. For example, such instructions 922 may include computer program code (software), wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, together with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus 900 to perform one or more of the example embodiments described above. The at least one processor and the at least one memory storing instructions may provide means for providing or causing the execution of any of the methods and / or blocks described above.

[0165] The processor is coupled to the memory 920. The processor is configured to read data from the memory 920 and write data to it. The memory 920 may include one or more memory cells. The memory cells may be volatile or non-volatile. It should be noted that there may be one or more non-volatile memory cells and one or more volatile memory cells, or alternatively, there may be one or more non-volatile memory cells, or alternatively, there may be one or more volatile memory cells. Volatile memory may be, for example, random access memory (RAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), or synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM). Non-volatile memory may be, for example, read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, optical storage device, or magnetic storage device. In general, memory may be referred to as non-transitory computer-readable medium. The term "non-transitory" as used herein is a restriction on the medium itself (i.e., tangible, not a signal), rather than a restriction on the persistence of data storage (e.g., RAM and ROM). The memory 920 stores computer-readable instructions executed by the processor. For example, non-volatile memory stores computer-readable instructions, and the processor uses volatile memory to temporarily store data and / or instructions to execute the instructions.

[0166] The computer readable instructions may have been pre-stored in the memory 920, or alternatively or additionally, they may be received by the device via an electromagnetic carrier signal and / or may be copied from a physical entity such as a computer program product. Execution of the computer readable instructions causes the device 900 to perform one or more of the functions described above.

[0167] Memory 920 may be implemented using any suitable data storage technology, such as semiconductor-based memory devices, flash memory, magnetic memory devices and systems, optical memory devices and systems, fixed memory, and / or removable memory. The memory may include a configuration database for storing configuration data. For example, the configuration database may store a list of current neighboring cells and, in some example embodiments, a structure of frames used in detected neighboring cells.

[0168] The device 900 may also include a communication interface 930, which includes hardware and / or software for implementing a communication connection according to one or more communication protocols. The communication interface 930 may include at least one transmitter (Tx) and at least one receiver (Rx), which may be integrated into the device 900 or the device 900 may be connected to them. The communication interface 930 may provide components for performing some blocks of one or more example embodiments described above. The communication interface 930 may include one or more components controlled by a corresponding control unit, such as: a power amplifier, a digital front end (DFE), an analog-to-digital converter (ADC), a digital-to-analog converter (DAC), a frequency converter, a modulator (demodulator) and / or an encoder / decoder circuit system.

[0169] The communication interface 930 provides the apparatus with communication capabilities for communicating in a cellular communication system. The communication interface may, for example, provide a radio, cable or optical fiber interface to one or more network nodes of a radio access network and / or one or more user equipment.

[0170] It should be noted that the apparatus 900 may also include Figure 9 Various components are not shown in the figure. The various components can be hardware components and / or software components.

[0171] As used in this application, the term "circuitry" may refer to one or more or all of the following: a) a hardware circuit implementation only (such as an implementation only in analog and / or digital circuitry); and b) a combination of hardware circuitry and software, such as (as applicable): i) a combination of (one or more) analog and / or digital hardware circuits and software / firmware, and ii) (one or more) hardware processors (including (one or more) digital signal processors, software and any portion of (one or more) memories) with software that work together to enable the device (such as a mobile phone) to perform various functions; and c) (one or more) hardware circuits and / or (one or more) processors, such as (one or more) microprocessors or portions of (one or more) microprocessors, which require software (e.g., firmware) to operate, but the software may not be present when the software is not required for operation.

[0172] This definition of circuitry applies to all uses of the term in this application, including in any claims. As a further example, as used in this application, the term circuitry also covers merely a hardware circuit or processor (or multiple processors) or a portion of a hardware circuit or process and its accompanying software and / or firmware implementation. For example, the term circuitry also covers a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device, or a similar integrated circuit in a server, cellular network device, or other computing or networking device, if applicable to the particular claim element.

[0173] The techniques and methods described herein can be implemented in various ways. For example, these techniques can be implemented in hardware (one or more devices), firmware (one or more devices), software (one or more modules), or a combination thereof. For hardware implementation, the (one or more) devices of the example embodiments can be implemented in one or more application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), digital signal processors (DSPs), digital signal processing devices (DSPDs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), graphics processing units (GPUs), processors, controllers, microcontrollers, microprocessors, other electronic units designed to perform the functions described herein, or a combination thereof. For firmware or software, implementation can be achieved by modules (e.g., processes, functions, etc.) of at least one chipset that performs the functions described herein. The software code can be stored in a memory unit and executed by a processor. The memory unit can be implemented within the processor or externally. In the latter case, as is known in the art, the memory unit can be communicatively coupled to the processor in various ways. In addition, those skilled in the art will understand that the components of the systems described herein can be rearranged and / or supplemented by additional components to facilitate the implementation of the various aspects described, etc., and they are not limited to the precise configurations set forth in the given figures.

[0174] It is clear to those skilled in the art that, as technology advances, the inventive concept can be implemented in various ways. The embodiments are not limited to the above-described example embodiments, but may vary within the scope of the claims. Therefore, all words and expressions should be interpreted broadly, and they are intended to illustrate rather than limit the example embodiments.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions, wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least: receiving auxiliary information associated with at least one of: at least one location anchor of the apparatus to be replaced, or at least one location anchor to be added for the apparatus; determining, based on the auxiliary information, a subset of one or more candidate location anchors from a set of one or more discovered candidate location anchors, wherein the subset of the one or more candidate location anchors satisfies at least one criterion associated with at least one of: the at least one location anchor to be replaced for the apparatus, or the at least one location anchor to be added for the apparatus; as well as Measurement information associated with the subset of the one or more candidate positioning anchors is sent. 2 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the transmitted measurement information does not include measurement information associated with other candidate positioning anchors other than the determined subset of the one or more candidate positioning anchors. 3 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one criterion is indicated by or included in the auxiliary information. 4 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the auxiliary information comprises an identifier of the at least one positioning anchor to be replaced. 5 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the auxiliary information includes or indicates a reason for replacing the at least one positioning anchor to be replaced.

6. The device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the auxiliary information includes or indicates one or more geometric characteristics of a positioning anchor relative to the device, wherein the positioning anchor includes at least one of the following: the at least one positioning anchor to be replaced, or the at least one positioning anchor to be added.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the one or more geometric characteristics of the location anchor include at least one of: an angle of the location anchor relative to an aiming direction of the apparatus, or a geographic area of ​​the location anchor relative to the apparatus.

8. The device according to any one of claims 1 to 7, further configured to: Position information of the set of one or more discovered candidate positioning anchors is received from the set of one or more discovered candidate positioning anchors, wherein a subset of the one or more candidate positioning anchors is determined based on at least the position information and the assistance information.

9. The device according to any one of claims 1 to 8, further configured to: Acquire measurement information associated with the set of one or more discovery candidate positioning anchors by measuring one or more signals received from the set of one or more discovery candidate positioning anchors, The measurement information sent and associated with the subset of the one or more candidate positioning anchors is obtained by selecting a subset of measurement information from the measurement information associated with the set of one or more discovered candidate positioning anchors, and the subset of measurement information corresponds to the subset of the one or more candidate positioning anchors.

10. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the at least one criterion comprises at least a criterion for a signal metric of a reference signal.

11. The apparatus according to claim 10, further configured to: sending information including at least the criterion for the signal metric to the set of one or more discovered candidate positioning anchors; and receiving one or more signals from the subset of the one or more candidate positioning anchors, wherein the one or more signals are sent from the subset of the one or more candidate positioning anchors based on the subset of the one or more candidate positioning anchors satisfying the criterion of the signal metric, The measurement information associated with the subset of the one or more candidate positioning anchors is obtained by measuring the one or more signals received from the subset of the one or more candidate positioning anchors.

12. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein the at least one criterion comprises at least a threshold value for the geometric dilution of precision.

13. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 12, wherein the assistance information comprises a group identifier indicating a group of positioning anchors to be added for the apparatus.

14. An apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions, the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, causing the apparatus to at least: generating assistance information for assisting a user equipment in determining a subset of one or more candidate location anchors from a set of one or more discovered candidate location anchors, wherein the assistance information is associated with at least one of: at least one location anchor to be replaced for the user equipment, or at least one location anchor to be added for the user equipment; sending the auxiliary information to the user equipment; as well as Receiving measurement information associated with the subset of the one or more candidate positioning anchors from the user equipment, wherein the subset of the one or more candidate positioning anchors satisfies at least one criterion associated with at least one of: the at least one positioning anchor to be replaced for the user equipment, or the at least one positioning anchor to be added for the user equipment.

15. The apparatus according to claim 14, further configured to: selecting one or more positioning anchors from a subset of the one or more candidate positioning anchors based at least on the measurement information; and A message is sent to the user equipment, the message indicating that the selected one or more positioning anchors are to be used to support positioning of the user equipment. 16 . The apparatus according to claim 14 , wherein the received measurement information does not include measurement information associated with other candidate positioning anchors other than the subset of the one or more candidate positioning anchors. 17 . The apparatus according to claim 14 , wherein the auxiliary information comprises at least one of the following: an identifier of the at least one positioning anchor to be replaced, or a reason for replacing the at least one positioning anchor to be replaced.

18. An apparatus according to any one of claims 14 to 17, wherein the auxiliary information includes or indicates one or more geometric characteristics of a positioning anchor relative to the user equipment, wherein the positioning anchor includes at least one of the following: the at least one positioning anchor to be replaced, or the at least one positioning anchor to be added.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the one or more geometric characteristics of the location anchor include at least one of: an angle of the location anchor relative to an aiming direction of the user device, or a geographical area of ​​the location anchor relative to the user device.

20. The apparatus according to any one of claims 14 to 19, wherein the at least one criterion comprises at least a criterion for a signal metric of a reference signal.

21. The apparatus according to any one of claims 14 to 20, wherein the at least one criterion comprises at least a threshold value for the geometric dilution of precision.

22. The apparatus according to any one of claims 14 to 21, wherein the assistance information comprises a group identifier indicating a group of positioning anchors to be added for the user equipment.

23. A method comprising: Receiving, by a device, assistance information associated with at least one of: at least one location anchor of the device to be replaced, or at least one location anchor to be added for the device; determining, by the device, a subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors from a set of one or more discovered candidate positioning anchors based on the auxiliary information, wherein the subset of the one or more candidate positioning anchors satisfies at least one criterion associated with at least one of: the at least one positioning anchor to be replaced of the device, or the at least one positioning anchor to be added to the device; as well as Measurement information associated with the subset of the one or more candidate positioning anchors is sent by the apparatus.

24. A method comprising: generating assistance information for assisting a user equipment in determining a subset of one or more candidate location anchors from a set of one or more discovered candidate location anchors, wherein the assistance information is associated with at least one of: at least one location anchor to be replaced for the user equipment, or at least one location anchor to be added for the user equipment; sending the auxiliary information to the user equipment; as well as Receiving measurement information associated with the subset of the one or more candidate positioning anchors from the user equipment, wherein the subset of the one or more candidate positioning anchors satisfies at least one criterion associated with at least one of: the at least one positioning anchor to be replaced for the user equipment, or the at least one positioning anchor to be added for the user equipment.

25. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising program instructions, which, when executed by a device, cause the device to at least perform the following: receiving auxiliary information associated with at least one of: at least one location anchor of the apparatus to be replaced, or at least one location anchor to be added for the apparatus; determining a subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors from a set of one or more discovered candidate positioning anchors based on the assistance information, wherein the subset of one or more candidate positioning anchors satisfies at least one criterion associated with at least one of: the at least one positioning anchor to be replaced for the apparatus, or the at least one positioning anchor to be added for the apparatus; as well as Measurement information associated with the subset of the one or more candidate positioning anchors is sent.

26. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising program instructions, which, when executed by a device, cause the device to at least perform the following: generating assistance information for assisting a user equipment in determining a subset of one or more candidate location anchors from a set of one or more discovered candidate location anchors, wherein the assistance information is associated with at least one of: at least one location anchor to be replaced for the user equipment, or at least one location anchor to be added for the user equipment; sending the auxiliary information to the user equipment; as well as Receiving measurement information associated with the subset of the one or more candidate positioning anchors from the user equipment, wherein the subset of the one or more candidate positioning anchors satisfies at least one criterion associated with at least one of: the at least one positioning anchor to be replaced for the user equipment, or the at least one positioning anchor to be added for the user equipment.

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