Positioning methods, terminal equipment, and network equipment

Abstract

The present invention provides a positioning method, terminal equipment, and network equipment. The method includes the step of the terminal equipment determining a first beam for transmitting an uplink reference signal based on the result of a signal measurement of a first signal, wherein the first signal includes a downlink signal and / or an uplink signal, and the uplink reference signal is used to position the terminal equipment.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to the field of communication technologies, and more specifically, to a method, a terminal device, and a network device for positioning.

Background Art

[0002] A terminal device can achieve uplink positioning by transmitting an uplink reference signal. In a multi-beam system, the terminal device can transmit an uplink reference signal via a beam. However, currently, there is no clear regulation on how the terminal device determines the beam for transmitting the uplink reference signal.

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0003] This application provides a method, a terminal device, and a network device for positioning. Hereinafter, each aspect according to this application will be described.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0004] In a first aspect, it includes a step in which a terminal device determines a first beam for transmitting an uplink reference signal based on a signal measurement result of a first signal, the first signal includes a downlink signal and / or an uplink signal, and the uplink reference signal is used for positioning the terminal device, and a positioning method is provided.

[0005] In a second aspect, it includes a step in which a first network device transmits first information to a terminal device, the first information and a signal measurement result of a first signal are used for the terminal device to determine a first beam for transmitting an uplink reference signal, the first signal includes a downlink signal from a first cell, the uplink reference signal is used for positioning the terminal device, and the first information is used for indicating a correspondence between a downlink signal index of the first cell and a transmission beam of the terminal device, and a positioning method is provided.

[0006] A third embodiment provides a positioning method, which includes the step of a second network device sending a paging message to a terminal device if the target cell to which the terminal device belongs does not belong to a first cell, the paging message being used to establish a connection between the terminal device and the target cell, the connection between the terminal device and the target cell being used to transmit second information, the second information being used to indicate a correspondence between the downlink signal index of the target cell and the transmit beam of the terminal device, the first cell being a cell having a downlink signal index, and the correspondence between the downlink signal index of the first cell and the transmit beam of the terminal device being stored in the terminal device.

[0007] A fourth aspect provides a positioning method comprising the steps of: a terminal device transmitting an uplink reference signal, the uplink reference signal being used to determine the terminal device's first timing advance (TA) for a fourth cell, the fourth cell being the cell to which the terminal device currently belongs; and the terminal device receiving first instruction information transmitted by a third network device, the first instruction information being used to instruct the terminal device to update its TA, and the first instruction information being transmitted when the first TA satisfies a first condition.

[0008] A fifth aspect provides a positioning method comprising the step of a third network device transmitting first instruction information to a terminal device, the first instruction information being used to instruct the terminal device to update its TA, the first instruction information being transmitted when a first TA satisfies a first condition, the first TA being determined based on an uplink reference signal transmitted by the terminal device, the first TA being the terminal device's TA for a fourth cell, the fourth cell being the cell to which the terminal device currently belongs.

[0009] In a sixth embodiment, a terminal device is provided, which includes a determination unit for determining a first beam for transmitting an uplink reference signal based on the signal measurement result of a first signal, wherein the first signal includes a downlink signal and / or an uplink signal, and the uplink reference signal is used to position the terminal device.

[0010] In a seventh embodiment, a network device is provided, wherein the network device is a first network device, the network device is a transmitting unit that transmits first information to a terminal device, the signal measurement results of the first information and the first signal are used to determine a first beam for the terminal device to transmit an uplink reference signal, the first signal includes a downlink signal from a first cell, the uplink reference signal includes a transmitting unit for positioning the terminal device, and the first information is used to indicate a correspondence between the downlink signal index of the first cell and the transmitting beam of the terminal device.

[0011] In the eighth aspect, a network device is provided, wherein the network device is a second network device, and the network device includes a transmitting unit for sending a paging message to the terminal device when the target cell to which the terminal device belongs does not belong to a first cell, the paging message is used to establish a connection between the terminal device and the target cell, the connection between the terminal device and the target cell is used to transmit second information, the second information is used to indicate a correspondence between the downlink signal index of the target cell and the transmit beam of the terminal device, the first cell is a cell having a downlink signal index, and the correspondence between the downlink signal index of the first cell and the transmit beam of the terminal device is stored in the terminal device.

[0012] In the ninth aspect, a terminal device is provided, comprising: a transmitting unit for transmitting an uplink reference signal, the uplink reference signal being used to determine the terminal device's first TA for a fourth cell, the fourth cell being the cell to which the terminal device currently belongs; and a receiving unit for receiving first instruction information transmitted by a third network device, the first instruction information being used to instruct the terminal device to update its TA, the first instruction information being transmitted when the first TA satisfies a first condition.

[0013] In a tenth embodiment, a network device is provided, wherein the network device is a third network device, and the network device includes a transmitting unit for transmitting first instruction information to a terminal device, the first instruction information is used to instruct the terminal device to update its TA, the first instruction information is transmitted when the first TA satisfies a first condition, the first TA is determined based on an uplink reference signal transmitted by the terminal device, the first TA is the terminal device's TA for a fourth cell, and the fourth cell is the cell to which the terminal device currently belongs.

[0014] In the eleventh aspect, a terminal device is provided, comprising a memory and a processor, wherein the memory is used to store a program, and the processor is used to cause the terminal device to execute the method according to the first or fourth aspect by calling the program in the memory.

[0015] In the twelfth aspect, a network device is provided, comprising memory and a processor, wherein the memory is used to store a program, and the processor is used to cause the network device to execute the method according to any of the second, third, and fifth aspects by calling the program in the memory.

[0016] In the 13th aspect, the present invention provides an apparatus including a processor that causes a program to be called from memory to perform the method described in any of the 1st to 5th aspects.

[0017] In the fourteenth aspect, a chip is provided which includes a processor that causes a device on which the chip is mounted to execute a method according to any of the first to fifth aspects by calling a program from memory.

[0018] The 15th aspect provides a computer-readable storage medium that stores a program causing a computer to execute the method described in any of the 1st to 5th aspects.

[0019] The sixteenth aspect provides a computer program product which includes a program that causes a computer to execute the method described in any of the first to fifth aspects.

[0020] The 17th aspect provides a computer program that causes a computer to perform the method described in any of the 1st to 5th aspects. [Effects of the Invention]

[0021] This application provides a clear technical solution for determining a beam for transmitting an uplink reference signal by determining a first beam for transmitting an uplink reference signal based on the signal measurement results of the uplink signal and / or downlink signal. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0022] [Figure 1] This figure shows a wireless communication system 100 applied to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] This is a schematic diagram of a multibeam system applied to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 3] This is a schematic diagram of a multibeam system applied to another embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 4] It is a system architecture diagram of a positioning system applicable to an embodiment of the present application. [Figure 5] It is an exemplary flowchart of a positioning method according to an embodiment of the present application. [Figure 6] It is an exemplary flowchart of another positioning method according to an embodiment of the present application. [Figure 7] It is an exemplary block diagram of a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present application. [Figure 8] It is an exemplary block diagram of a first network device according to an embodiment of the present application. [Figure 9] It is an exemplary block diagram of a second network device according to an embodiment of the present application. [Figure 10] It is an exemplary block diagram of another terminal device according to an embodiment of the present application. [Figure 11] It is an exemplary block diagram of a third network device according to an embodiment of the present application. [Figure 12] It is a structural schematic diagram of a device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Modes for Carrying Out the Invention

[0023] Hereinafter, the technical solution in the present application will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0024] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a system of a wireless communication system 100 applicable to an embodiment of the present application. This wireless communication system 100 may include a network device 110 and a terminal device 120. The network device 110 may be a device that communicates with the terminal device 120. The network device 110 can provide communication coverage in a specific geographical area and communicate with the terminal device 120 located within this coverage area.

[0025] Figure 1 illustrates one network device and two devices, and optionally, this wireless communication system 100 may include multiple network devices, and the coverage area of ​​each network device may include a number of other terminal devices, but the embodiments of the present application are not limited thereto.

[0026] The wireless communication system 100 may optionally further include other network entities such as a network controller and a mobility management entity, and the embodiments of the present application are not limited thereto.

[0027] It should be understood that the technical solutions of the embodiments of this application can be applied to various communication systems, such as 5th generation (5G) systems, new radio (NR), long-term evolution (LTE) systems, LTE frequency division duplex (FDD) systems, and LTE time division duplex (TDD) systems. The technical solutions of this application can also be applied to future communication systems such as 6th generation mobile communication systems and satellite communication systems.

[0028] In the embodiments of this application, terminal equipment may also be called user equipment (UE), access terminal, user unit, user station, mobile station (MS), mobile terminal (MT), remote station, remote terminal, mobile device, user terminal, terminal, wireless communication device, user agent, or user device. In the embodiments of this application, terminal equipment may also refer to devices that provide voice and / or data connectivity to a user, and can be used to connect humans, objects, and machines, such as handheld devices and in-vehicle devices with wireless connectivity. The terminal devices in the embodiments of this application may include mobile phones, tablet PCs (Pads), notebook computers, palmtop computers, mobile internet devices (MIDs), wearable devices, virtual reality (VR) devices, augmented reality (AR) devices, wireless terminals in industrial control, wireless terminals in self-driving, wireless terminals in remote medical surgery, wireless terminals in smart grids, wireless terminals in transportation safety, wireless terminals in smart cities, and wireless terminals in smart homes. Optionally, the UE can function as a base station. For example, the UE can function as a scheduling entity, providing sidelink signals between UEs in V2X or D2D, etc. For example, a cellular phone and a car communicate with each other using sidelink signals. Communication between a cellular phone and smart home devices does not require relaying communication signals by a base station.

[0029] The network equipment in the embodiments of this application may be equipment for communicating with terminal equipment, and this network equipment may also be called access network equipment or wireless access network equipment, and for example, the network equipment may be a base station. The network equipment in the embodiments of this application may also refer to a radio access network (RAN) node (or equipment) that provides terminal equipment to a wireless network. The term "base station" broadly covers, or may be replaced by, various names such as NodeB, evolved NodeB (eNB), next-generation NodeB (gNB), relay station, access point, transmitting and receiving point (TRP), transmitting point (TP), main base station (MeNB), secondary base station (SeNB), multi-standard radio (MSR) node, home base station, network controller, access node, radio node, access point (AP), transmission node, transceiver node, baseband unit (BBU), remote radio unit (RRU), active antenna unit (AAU), remote radio head (RRH), central unit (CU), distributed unit (DU), and positioning node. A base station may also be a macro base station, micro base station, relay node, donor node, or similar, or a combination thereof. A base station may further refer to a communication module, modem, or chip installed within the equipment or device mentioned in the preceding paragraph.Base stations may also be mobile switching centers and devices that perform base station functions in device-to-device (D2D), vehicle-to-everything (V2X), and machine-to-machine (M2M) communications, network-side devices in 6G networks, and devices that perform base station functions in future communication systems. Base stations can support networks with the same or different access technologies. Embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technologies used in network equipment or the specific forms of equipment.

[0030] Base stations may be fixed or mobile. For example, a helicopter or drone may be configured as a mobile base station, and one or more cells may move depending on the location of this mobile base station. In another example, a helicopter or drone may be configured as equipment for communicating with another base station.

[0031] In some deployments, the network equipment in the embodiments of the present invention refers to a CU or DU, or the network equipment may include both a CU and a DU. The gNB may further include an AAU.

[0032] Network equipment and terminal equipment may be configured on land, including indoors or outdoors, handheld or vehicle-mounted, on water, or in the air on airplanes, balloons, or satellites. The embodiments of this application do not limit the scenarios in which the network equipment and terminal equipment are located.

[0033] It should be understood that all or some of the functions of the communication equipment in this application may be implemented by software functions running on the hardware, or by virtualization functions instantiated on a platform (e.g., a cloud platform).

[0034] [Radio Resource Control (RRC) Status] Currently, the protocol defines three RRC states for terminal devices: RRC connected (RRC_CONNECTED), RRC idle (RRC-IDLE), and RRC inactive (RRC-INACTIVE).

[0035] The RRC_CONNECTED state may refer to the state after a terminal device has completed its random access process but before it performs an RRC release. An RRC connection exists between the terminal device and a network device (e.g., an access network device). In the RRC_CONNECTED state, the terminal device can transmit data with the network device, for example, downlink data transmission and / or uplink data transmission. Alternatively, the terminal device can transmit specific data channels and / or control channels between itself and the network device to transmit specific information or unicast information of the terminal device.

[0036] In the RRC_CONNECTED state, network devices can determine the cell-level location information of terminal devices, that is, they can determine the cell to which a terminal device belongs. In the RRC_CONNECTED state, after a terminal device moves, for example, after moving from one cell to another, network devices can control the terminal device to switch cells. From this, it can be seen that the mobility of terminal devices in the RRC_CONNECTED state is controlled by network devices, and terminal devices can switch to a predetermined cell according to commands issued by the network.

[0037] The RRC-IDLE state refers to the state of a terminal device when it camps on to a cell but is not performing random access. Terminal devices typically enter the RRC-IDLE state after power-on or after RRC release. In the RRC-IDLE state, there is no RRC connection between the terminal device and network devices (e.g., camp-on network devices), the network devices do not remember the context of the terminal device, and no connection to the terminal device has been established between the network devices and the core network. If the terminal device needs to move from the RRC-IDLE state to the RRC_CONNECTED state, the RRC connection establishment process must be initiated.

[0038] In the RRC-IDLE state, the core network (CN) can send paging messages to terminal devices, meaning the paging process can be triggered by the CN. Selectively, the paging area can also be configured by the CN. In the RRC-IDLE state, after a terminal device moves, for example, from one cell to another, the terminal device can initiate cell reselection. This indicates that the mobility of terminal devices in the RRC-IDLE state is based on the terminal device's cell reselection.

[0039] The RRC-INACTIVE state is a newly defined state for reducing air interface signaling, rapidly restoring wireless connectivity, and quickly restoring data services. The RRC_INACTIVE state is between the connected state and the idle state. The terminal device previously entered the RRC_CONNECTED state and then released its RRC connection with the network device, but the network device preserved the context of the terminal device. Also, the connection to the terminal device established between the network device and the core network has not been released; that is, the user plane bearer and control plane bearer between the RAN and CN are still maintained, i.e., a CN-NR connection exists.

[0040] In the RRC-InactivE state, the RAN can send paging messages to terminal devices, meaning the paging process can be triggered by the RAN. Based on the fact that the RAN's paging area is managed by the RAN, network devices can know that the location of terminal devices is based on the RAN's paging area level.

[0041] In the RRC-INACTIVE state, after the terminal device moves, for example, after moving from one cell to another, the terminal device can initiate cell reselection. This indicates that the mobility of the terminal device in the RRC-INACTIVE state is based on the terminal device's cell reselection.

[0042] [Multibeam System] The design goals of communication systems (e.g., NR systems) include broadband communication in high-frequency bands (e.g., bands above 6 GHz). As the operating frequency increases, path loss during transmission increases, thereby affecting the coverage capability of high-frequency systems. Therefore, an effective technical solution to effectively ensure high-frequency band coverage is to use a large-scale antenna array (Massive multiple-in multiple-out, Massive MIMO) to form a shaped beam with greater gain, overcome propagation loss, and ensure the coverage range of the communication system.

[0043] To facilitate understanding of multibeam systems, the following section will explain the communication process based on beam communication, using a communication scenario between network equipment and terminals as an example, with reference to Figures 2 and 3.

[0044] Referring to Figure 2, in conventional communication systems (e.g., 2G, 3G, or 4G systems), a cell (or sector) typically uses a relatively wide beam 210 to cover the entire cell (also called a "sector"). Thus, at each moment, terminals within the cell (e.g., terminals 211-215) can communicate with network equipment via this relatively wide beam and, for example, obtain transmission resources allocated by the network equipment.

[0045] Referring to Figure 3, in a new communication system (e.g., an NR system), a multi-beam system 310 can be used to cover the entire cell. That is, each beam in the multi-beam system (e.g., beams 311-314) covers a small area within the cell, and beam sweeping is used to achieve the effect of covering the entire cell with multiple beams.

[0046] In the beam sweeping process, different beams are used at different times to cover different areas within a cell. Depending on which terminal device a network device is transmitting data to, the beam can be directed towards that terminal device to form a long, narrow beam, thereby increasing the cell's coverage range. For example, at time 1, the communication system can cover the area where terminal 321 is located with beam 311. At time 2, the communication system can cover the area where terminal 322 is located with beam 312. At time 3, the communication system can cover the areas where terminals 323 and 324 are located with beam 313. At time 4, the communication system can cover the area where terminal 325 is located with beam 314.

[0047] Terminal equipment can determine the direction of the beam that needs to be transmitted to network equipment. Terminal equipment can also determine which beam to transmit to network equipment based on the transmission beam used by the network equipment.

[0048] Different beams can be identified according to the signals they bear. For example, different beams may carry different synchronization signals / physical broadcast channel blocks (SSBs), and terminal equipment can identify different beams by their different SSBs. Alternatively, different beams may carry different channel state information reference signals (CSI-RSs), and terminal equipment can identify different beams by their CSI-RSs and / or CSI-RS resources.

[0049] For different communication systems, downlink signals or downlink channels (such as physical downlink control channels (PDCCH) and physical downlink shared channels (PDSCH)) can be transmitted over different downlink beams. For example, in communication systems of 6G or less, terminal equipment generally does not have an analog beam, and therefore, terminal equipment can receive downlink signals transmitted by network equipment using an omnidirectional antenna (or a nearly omnidirectional antenna). Network equipment can transmit downlink signals to terminal equipment over different downlink transmit beams. Also, for example, in millimeter-wave systems, terminal equipment may have an analog beam, and terminal equipment can receive signals using a downlink receive beam corresponding to the downlink transmit beam. In this case, terminal equipment can determine the transmit beam-related information on the network equipment side or the corresponding receive beam-related information on the terminal equipment side based on beam indication information.

[0050] In some embodiments, beam indication information may not directly indicate the beam itself, but rather indicate quasi-colocation (QCL) information (or QCL assumption) between signals. Terminal equipment can determine the corresponding received signal or channel based on the QCL information, of which the QCL information may be indicated by the TCI state.

[0051] In multi-beam systems, relatively narrow beams are used, allowing for a greater concentration of transmission energy and thus enabling coverage of longer distances. However, because the beams are relatively narrow, each beam can only cover a portion of the cell; therefore, multi-beam systems can be understood as a "trade-off between time and space."

[0052] Typically, the beam used by the transmitting side to send a signal is called the "transmit beam," and the beam used by the receiving side to receive a signal is called the "receive beam."

[0053] In some cases, the transmitting beam may be called a spatial domain transmission filter, and accordingly, the receiving beam may be called a spatial domain reception filter. In other cases, the transmitting beam may be called a spatial domain transmission parameter, and accordingly, the receiving beam may be called a spatial domain reception parameter. For ease of understanding, the embodiments of this application will be explained primarily using beams as examples.

[0054] [Positioning technology in communication systems] Referring to Figure 4, the communication system 100 may further include a positioning device 130. The positioning device 130 may be used to determine the location information of a terminal device. The positioning device 130 may be located in the core network. The positioning device 130 may be called a positioning server. Taking an NR system as an example, the positioning device 130 may be a location management function (LMF). Taking other communication systems as an example, the positioning device 130 may be a location management unit (LMU), a location management center (LMC), or an evolved serving mobile location center (E-SMLC). It can be understood that the positioning device 130 may further be other network elements, nodes, or devices for determining the location information of a terminal device, for example, a network element or node for determining the location information of a terminal device in a future communication system, and the embodiments of this application do not particularly limit the name of the positioning device.

[0055] Positioning in the communication system 100 includes uplink positioning and downlink positioning. A certain communication system (such as an NR system) performs downlink positioning based on a positioning reference signal (PRS). The PRS may also be called a downlink positioning reference signal (DL-PRS) and is a reference signal used in the positioning function. For example, in the downlink positioning process, terminal device 120 can first measure the PRS transmitted by the serving cell and adjacent cells (also called adjacent cells) and estimate the relevant information for the positioning measurement. Next, terminal device 120 can report the relevant information for the positioning measurement as the PRS measurement result to positioning device 130. Positioning device 130 can analyze the position of terminal device 120 based on the relevant information for the positioning measurement reported by terminal device 120 and obtain the position information of terminal device 120. For example, positioning device 130 can calculate the position information of terminal device 120 based on trilateration or triangulation.

[0056] A communication system (such as an NR system) performs uplink positioning based on an uplink reference signal. This uplink reference signal may include, for example, a sounding reference signal (SRS). For example, in the uplink positioning process, terminal equipment 120 transmits an uplink reference signal. Base stations 110 (serving cell base stations and adjacent cell base stations) can obtain measurement results based on the uplink reference signal transmitted by the terminal. The measurement results of the uplink reference signal may include information related to the positioning measurement. Next, base station 110 can transmit the information related to the positioning measurement to positioning equipment 130. Positioning equipment 130 can analyze the position of terminal equipment 120 based on the information related to the positioning measurement reported by base station 110 and obtain the position information of terminal equipment 120. For example, positioning equipment 130 can calculate the position information of terminal equipment 120 based on trilateration or triangulation.

[0057] The positioning measurement information mentioned above may include one or more types of information, such as time information, distance information, power information, and angle information. More specifically, the positioning measurement information may include one or more types of information, such as time difference of arrival (TDOA), angle difference of arrival (ADOA), and reference signal receive power (RSRP).

[0058] The terminal device in the embodiment of this application may be a terminal device that has positioning needs. The terminal device may be, for example, an IoT device. The terminal device may be a mobile device, a mobile asset device, a logistics device, a vehicle device, an in-vehicle terminal, an industrial device, etc.

[0059] Mobile devices and mobile asset devices are becoming increasingly prevalent in flexible production. The requirement for real-time location data of these devices is also growing, making positioning particularly important in their applications. In this case, positioning is especially crucial in scenarios such as warehousing, logistics processes, autonomous driving systems, and fleet management, where all relevant cargo and products are continuously tracked from receipt to availability. The tracking process provides relevant contextual information necessary for real-time control, optimization of material logistics, and subsequent production processes. For example, in an autonomous driving system, the tracking process can provide relevant information for independently retrieving components from the warehouse and transporting them to assembly units in the workshop. Also, for example, as part of a flexible fleet management system, where autonomous driving systems are constantly localized, the tracking process can provide relevant information for rapid movement and constant interaction with the environment. Furthermore, for example, seamlessly monitoring production machinery, assembly units, and their status, while simultaneously positioning related objects such as tools and workpieces, requires tracking technology. Tracking technology enables these systems to quickly adapt to environmental changes, achieving flexible and autonomously controllable production.

[0060] Low power consumption and high-precision positioning are essential for industrial applications, and therefore, the issue of power consumption during positioning must be considered. In particular, when terminal equipment moves, for example, when moving from one serving cell to another, the power consumption issue of positioning due to cell conversion must be considered.

[0061] The following explains the power consumption issue during positioning, using SRS-based uplink positioning as an example. For SRS-based uplink positioning, network equipment can transmit SRS configuration information to terminal equipment. This SRS configuration information may include SRS resources and / or SRS parameters. Based on the SRS configuration information, terminal equipment can select the SRS and / or resources to transmit the SRS to the network equipment.

[0062] Generally, SRS configuration information is configured at the cell level; that is, SRS configuration information is configured for each cell. When a terminal device is inactive, it performs radio resource management (RRM) measurements on adjacent cells and selects a cell with superior signal quality (for example, one with superior reference signal receiving power (RSRP)) according to predetermined rules, thereby ensuring the communication quality of the terminal device. This process is called the cell reselection process.

[0063] After re-selecting the target cell, the terminal device needs to re-acquire the corresponding SRS configuration information of the target cell in order to transmit SRS. In order to obtain the corresponding SRS configuration information of the target cell, the terminal device must first establish an RRC connection with the target cell and receive the SRS configuration information transmitted by the target cell while the RRC connection is established.

[0064] As is clear from the process described above, after re-selecting a cell, the terminal device must first establish an RRC connection with the target cell to receive the SRS configuration information transmitted by the target cell in order to obtain the corresponding SRS configuration information of the target cell. This increases the power consumption of the terminal device, resulting in greater power consumption and contradicting the low power consumption requirement of the terminal device.

[0065] To solve the above problem, a feasible technical solution is that SRS configuration information can be configured between cells, that is, the same SRS configuration information, such as the same SRS resources and / or SRS parameters, can be configured in one or more cells within a given area. After the terminal device re-selects a cell, if the terminal device is still located within the area, the terminal device does not need to re-establish an RRC connection with the target cell to obtain new SRS configuration information, and can continue to transmit SRS using the existing SRS configuration information, thereby reducing the power consumption of the terminal device. The area may also be called the active area, and can be understood as the area to which SRS configuration information can be applied.

[0066] In some embodiments, when a terminal device transmits SRS to a network device, it may transmit using an omnidirectional antenna or a directional antenna. That is, the terminal device may transmit using a wide beam as shown in Figure 2, or a narrow beam, i.e., a directional transmission method, as shown in Figure 3.

[0067] When terminal equipment employs a directional transmission method, it can transmit SRS to network equipment by adopting a beam direction that matches the network equipment. If the terminal equipment is offset, for example, when the terminal equipment moves from one cell to another, the direction in which the terminal equipment transmits SRS needs to be adjusted. In this case, how the terminal equipment determines the direction of SRS transmission becomes an urgent issue that needs to be resolved.

[0068] One technical solution is for terminal equipment to transmit SRS using an omnidirectional beam sweeping method, that is, for terminal equipment to transmit SRS in any beam direction. This ensures that each base station can accurately measure the corresponding SRS. Furthermore, for positioning, as many base stations as possible need to participate in the positioning process to improve positioning accuracy, and beam sweeping is advantageous for improving positioning accuracy because it allows more base stations to receive SRS.

[0069] When a terminal device transmits SRS using an omnidirectional beam sweeping method, it is not necessary to establish a spatial relationship with respect to the terminal device, and this spatial relationship may be used to represent the relative positional relationship between the terminal device and the base station.

[0070] In wireless communication systems, hardware limitations prevent terminal devices from transmitting multiple beams simultaneously. As shown in Figure 3, terminal devices can communicate with network devices using different beams at different times using a time-division multiplexing scheme. When a terminal device transmits multiple beams, it requires the occupation of multiple resources; that is, one corresponding transmission resource is required for each beam.

[0071] Furthermore, as mentioned above, one SRS configuration can be applied to multiple cells. That is, the operating range of one SRS is within an effective area, and this effective area includes multiple cells. To avoid the positioning server being unable to identify the terminal device transmitting the SRS when performing positioning detection for the SRS, different SRS configurations can be configured for terminal devices within the effective area. In this case, multiple cells within the effective area must support all SRSs, which necessitates allocating more SRSs to each cell. When SRSs are transmitted using a beam sweeping method, each SRS occupies a significant amount of resources, thus requiring each cell to be allocated more time-frequency resources.

[0072] Spatial relationship information is determined by the relative position of the terminal device and the serving cell and / or adjacent cells. Spatial relationship information can be understood as beam information. In Rel-16, multiple SRS resources can be configured for the terminal device in each cell, and different SRS resources are associated with different spatial relationship information. This method ensures that both the serving cell and adjacent cells can receive SRS through SRS beam sweeping. However, in Rel-18's low-power positioning, configuring multiple SRS resources for each cell requires the network to reserve a large amount of SRS resources for the terminal device, resulting in low resource utilization. After the terminal device moves and / or re-selects a cell, the spatial relationship information may change (the beam direction for which the terminal device transmits SRS to the cell may change), requiring the spatial relationship information to be updated. Therefore, to improve resource utilization, it is necessary to strengthen the spatial relationship configuration of SRS resources across multiple cells.

[0073] From the above, it can be seen that when terminal equipment transmits SRS using a beam sweeping method, a problem arises in terms of power consumption. For example, if terminal equipment transmits SRS in all beam directions, SRS transmitted in a certain beam direction may become invalid and may not be accurately received by the base station. This could result in wasted resources, for example, if SRS in a certain beam direction is transmitted into an area where it is not effective.

[0074] To address the above problem, the embodiment of the present invention first determines the beam for transmitting the uplink reference signal, and then transmits the uplink reference signal using the determined beam, thereby avoiding wasted resources and reducing the overhead of uplink reference signal transmission. However, there is currently no clear technical solution for how to determine the beam for transmitting the uplink reference signal.

[0075] In view of this, the embodiment of the present application proposes a positioning method and apparatus, and provides a clear technical solution for determining a beam for transmitting an uplink reference signal by determining a first beam for transmitting an uplink reference signal based on the signal measurement results of the uplink signal and / or downlink signal.

[0076] In some embodiments, the terminal equipment may transmit the uplink reference signal using a beam sweeping method, i.e., the first beam is all of the terminal equipment's transmit beams. Whether the terminal equipment specifically determines the first beam for transmitting the uplink reference signal based on a beam sweeping method or based on signal measurement results may be determined by the terminal equipment itself based on its implementation, or it may be indicated by the network equipment.

[0077] The technical solutions in the embodiments of this application will be described in detail below with reference to Figure 5.

[0078] Referring to Figure 5, in step S510, the terminal equipment determines the first beam for transmitting the uplink reference signal based on the signal measurement results of the first signal.

[0079] In some embodiments, the terminal device may be a terminal device with positioning needs, for example, it may be any of the terminal devices described above. In some embodiments, the terminal device may be a low-power terminal device. For example, to reduce power consumption, the terminal device may be in an RRC-INACTIVE state. A terminal device in an RRC-INACTIVE state can select a serving cell in a cell reselection manner during the movement process.

[0080] In some embodiments, the first signal may be an uplink signal or a downlink signal. For example, the first signal may include downlink signals from one or more cells. Alternatively, for example, the first signal may include uplink signals transmitted by terminal equipment to one or more cells. The one or more cells may include serving cells and / or neighboring cells, and the number of neighboring cells may be one or more. The downlink signal may be, for example, a downlink reference signal. The downlink reference signal may include SSB and / or CSI-RS, etc. The uplink signal may be, for example, an uplink reference signal. The uplink reference signal may include SRS. The SRS may also be called SRS-Pos.

[0081] In some embodiments, the signal measurement result of the first signal may include one or more of the following: RSRP, reference signal receiving quality (RSRQ), and signal-to-interference plus noise ratio (SINR). In some embodiments, the signal measurement result of the first signal may include the positioning measurement-related information described above. For example, the signal measurement result may include one or more of the following: time information, distance information, power information, and angle information. More specifically, the signal measurement result may include one or more of the following: DOA, ADOA, RSRP, angle of arrival (AOA), and received signal strength indicator (RSSI).

[0082] Because the beam is directional, the terminal equipment determining the first beam for transmitting the uplink reference signal can be understood as the terminal equipment determining the beam direction for transmitting the uplink reference signal. After determining the first beam, the terminal equipment can transmit the uplink reference signal on the first beam.

[0083] The following sections describe technical solutions for cases where the first signal is a downlink signal and an uplink signal, respectively.

[0084] In some embodiments, terminal equipment can determine a first beam for transmitting an uplink reference signal based on the beam direction of the received downlink signal and the signal measurement results of the downlink signal. For example, if the first signal includes a downlink signal from a first cell, the first cell can transmit the downlink signal to the terminal equipment. The terminal equipment can receive the downlink signal from the first cell and measure the downlink signal to obtain a signal measurement result. When transmitting the downlink signal, the first cell employs a beam sweeping method, i.e., it can transmit the downlink signal using different beams. The terminal equipment may receive the downlink signal using only one beam, or it may receive the downlink signal using multiple beams. Based on the signal measurement results in one or more beam directions, the terminal equipment can determine a first beam for transmitting an uplink reference signal to the first cell.

[0085] The embodiments of this application do not specifically limit the timing at which a terminal device measures a downlink signal. In some embodiments, a terminal device may measure a downlink signal when cell reselection has occurred. A terminal device may determine whether or not cell reselection has occurred based on cell reselection parameters. In some embodiments, a terminal device may not be aware that it has moved to a new cell, in which case the terminal device may measure a downlink signal periodically, or the terminal device may determine the timing of downlink signal measurement itself based on its own implementation, or the terminal device may determine the timing of downlink signal measurement based on instructions from network equipment.

[0086] In some embodiments, when a terminal device re-selects a cell, the terminal device triggers a new measurement timing. Because a cell re-selection has occurred, the terminal device's position changes, and all the serving cell base stations and adjacent cell base stations that need to be measured change. Therefore, by performing a remeasurement, the terminal device can obtain the adjacent cell information that needs to be measured for the new adjacent cell.

[0087] In some embodiments, a terminal device can determine a corresponding first beam for each cell, i.e., the first beam may include a beam for the terminal device to transmit uplink reference signals to multiple cells. For example, if the multiple cells include cell 1 and cell 2, the terminal device can determine a beam for transmitting an uplink reference signal to cell 1 and a beam for transmitting an uplink reference signal to cell 2. In other words, the first beam includes a beam for the terminal device to transmit an uplink reference signal to cell 1 and a beam for transmitting an uplink reference signal to cell 2. The beams for which the terminal device transmits uplink reference signals to different cells may be the same or different, and embodiments of the present application do not specifically limit this.

[0088] The embodiments of this application do not specifically limit the method by which the terminal equipment determines the first beam.

[0089] For example, a terminal device can determine the first beam based on a beam with relatively good signal measurement results. A beam with relatively good signal measurement results may be a beam whose signal measurement results are above a predetermined threshold, or it may be a beam ranked in the top N position (where N is a positive integer) of the signal measurement results.

[0090] In some embodiments, the first beam may be a beam that can be transmitted to the effective area.

[0091] In some embodiments, the beam used by the terminal device to transmit the uplink reference signal to the cell may include one beam or multiple beams. If the terminal device transmits the uplink reference signal to the cell with only one beam, the first beam can be determined based on the beam with the best signal measurement result; that is, the terminal device can designate the uplink beam corresponding to the beam with the best signal measurement result as the first beam. Of course, the terminal device can also determine the first beam based on the second-best beam with the best signal measurement result.

[0092] In some embodiments, the first beam corresponding to multiple cells may be the same. For example, the terminal equipment can determine the beam corresponding to each cell. Then, based on the beams corresponding to multiple cells, it selects a beam shared by the multiple cells as the first beam. For example, the multiple cells include a second cell and a third cell, and the terminal equipment can determine the second beam corresponding to the second cell based on the signal measurement results of the downlink signal from the second cell. The terminal equipment can determine the third beam corresponding to the third cell based on the signal measurement results of the downlink signal from the third cell. Furthermore, the terminal equipment can determine the first beam based on the second and third beams. Of these, the first beam may be a beam shared by the second and third beams. The direction of the first beam may be a beam direction in which both the second and third cells can receive the uplink reference signal.

[0093] The second beam may consist of one or more beams, and the third beam may consist of one or more beams. Refer to the above description for the method of determining the second and / or third beams.

[0094] In the above, the method for determining the first beam was explained using the second and third cells as examples, but the embodiments of the present application are not limited thereto. For example, the embodiments of the present application can determine the beam direction in which all three or more cells can receive the uplink reference signal.

[0095] By assigning the same corresponding beam to multiple cells, terminal equipment can transmit uplink reference signals to multiple cells with a single beam. This reduces the number of beams required for terminal equipment to transmit uplink reference signals, which is advantageous for reducing the power consumption of terminal equipment.

[0096] In the case of a base station (such as a base station supporting multiple cells), the base station can still perform SRS detection with all reserved resources; for example, the base station can detect SRS in any beam direction. Considering the mobility of terminal equipment, resources originally reserved for terminal equipment for beam sweeping should not be occupied by other terminal equipment or other signals.

[0097] The following describes a technical solution in which the first signal includes an uplink signal.

[0098] In some embodiments, the uplink signal may include an uplink signal transmitted by a terminal device to multiple cells. For example, the terminal device may transmit an uplink signal to each of the multiple cells, and the multiple cells (or a base station corresponding to the multiple cells) may measure the uplink signal to obtain a signal measurement result for the uplink signal. The multiple cells can transmit the signal measurement result to the terminal device. In some embodiments, the multiple cells can transmit both the signal measurement result and the AOA corresponding to the signal measurement result to the terminal device. The terminal device can select an appropriate signal measurement result based on the signal measurement results transmitted by the multiple cells and determine the first beam based on the AOA corresponding to the selected signal measurement result. The method by which the terminal device selects the signal measurement result is similar to the method for selecting the signal measurement result for the downlink signal described above, and will not be repeated here for brevity.

[0099] There are various methods by which multiple cells transmit signal measurement results to a terminal device, and the embodiments of this application do not specifically limit this. For example, a serving cell and neighboring cells transmit signal measurement results to a terminal device via a positioning server. The serving cell and neighboring cells transmit signal measurement results to the positioning server, which can then transmit the signal measurement results to the terminal device. Alternatively, for example, a neighboring cell can transmit signal measurement results to a terminal device via a serving cell. A neighboring cell transmits its own signal measurement results to a serving cell, and the serving cell can transmit the signal measurement results of the neighboring cell and the serving cell to the terminal device.

[0100] In some embodiments, network equipment can transmit first configuration information to terminal equipment, which may be used to configure the resources and / or parameters of the uplink reference signal. For example, if the uplink reference signal is an SRS, the first configuration information may be SRS configuration information. The network equipment can also further designate a first area to the terminal equipment, within which all terminal equipment can transmit the uplink reference signal based on the first configuration information.

[0101] In some embodiments, the positioning server and / or serving cell transmits the signal measurement results of any uplink signal to a terminal device, which can then select the appropriate signal measurement result. Alternatively, the positioning server and / or serving cell may first screen the signal measurement results of the uplink signal and then transmit the selected signal measurement results to the terminal device.

[0102] In some embodiments, if the terminal equipment has the capability to receive beam sweeping or to measure the direction of the incoming wave, the terminal equipment can determine the beam of the received downlink signal based on the index of the downlink signal. For example, if the downlink signal is SSB, the terminal equipment can determine the direction of the received beam based on the SSB index, since different SSBs are beared by different beams.

[0103] In some embodiments, the terminal equipment may not have the capability to receive beam sweeping or to measure the direction of the incoming wave. In this case, even if the terminal equipment knows the index of the downlink signal, it cannot know the beam direction of the received downlink signal and therefore cannot determine the first beam.

[0104] To address this problem, the embodiment of the present application proposes that by instructing the terminal equipment on the correspondence between the cell's downlink signal index and the terminal equipment's transmit beam, the terminal equipment can determine the first beam based on this correspondence, thereby enabling terminal equipment without receive beam sweeping capability to determine the beam for transmitting the uplink reference signal.

[0105] In some embodiments, taking as an example that the first signal includes a downlink signal from a first cell, the terminal equipment can determine a first beam for transmitting an uplink reference signal to the first cell based on the first information and the signal measurement results of the downlink signal from the first cell. The first information may be used to indicate the correspondence between the downlink signal index of the first cell and the transmit beam of the terminal equipment.

[0106] In some embodiments, the first information may include a correspondence between the downlink signal index of the first cell and the transmit beam of the terminal equipment, or the first information may include a correspondence between the downlink signal index of the first cell and the transmit beam of the first cell. Because there is a correspondence between the transmit beam of the first cell and the transmit beam of the terminal equipment, the terminal equipment can determine its own transmit beam based on the transmit beam of the first cell. The transmit beam of the first cell can be understood as the receive beam of the terminal equipment.

[0107] The following explains the correspondence between the SSB index and the SSB transmission direction, using the example that the downlink signal is SSB. The SSB transmission direction may also refer to the direction in which the first cell transmits SSB, and terminal equipment can determine its transmit beam based on the SSB transmission direction.

[0108] In some embodiments, if the maximum value (or sum) of SSB indices of multiple cells is the same, and the SSB transmission direction corresponding to each cell's SSB index is the same, the network side (e.g., one of the multiple cells) transmits a group of associations between SSB transmission direction and SSB index to terminal devices. This association is applicable to all terminal devices within the multiple cells. The maximum value of the SSB index may be one or more of 4, 8, or 64.

[0109] In some embodiments, the maximum SSB index of multiple cells may differ, but if the SSB transmission direction corresponding to the SSB index of multiple cells is the same for each maximum SSB index (which may be 4, 8, or 64), the network side (for example, one of the multiple cells) transmits the relationship between the SSB transmission direction and the SSB index to the network device for each maximum SSB index. For example, if the maximum SSB index includes 4, 8, and 64, the network side can transmit three groups of relationships between the SSB transmission direction and the SSB index to the terminal device. That is, if the maximum SSB index is 4, the network side transmits one group of relationships between the SSB index and the SSB transmission direction to the terminal device; if the maximum SSB index is 8, the network side transmits one group of relationships between the SSB index and the SSB transmission direction to the terminal device; and if the maximum SSB index is 64, the network side transmits one group of relationships between the SSB index and the SSB transmission direction to the terminal device.

[0110] In some embodiments, when the maximum SSB index values ​​of multiple cells differ, the network side (e.g., one of the multiple cells) transmits a group of relationships between the SSB index and the SSB transmission direction to the terminal device for only one maximum SSB index value, and the terminal device can determine the relationship between the SSB index and the SSB transmission direction based on a predetermined correspondence when the maximum SSB index value is a different value.

[0111] In some embodiments, the second information may be used to indicate a first correspondence, which is the correspondence between an SSB index and an SSB transmission direction when the maximum value of the SSB index is M. A terminal device can determine a second correspondence based on the first correspondence, which is the correspondence between an SSB index and an SSB transmission direction when the maximum value of the SSB index is N, where M is one of 4, 8, or 64, and N is one or two of the other values ​​among 4, 8, and 64. For example, a terminal device can determine a second and a third correspondence based on the first correspondence. The first correspondence is the correspondence between an SSB index and an SSB transmission direction when the maximum value of the SSB index is 64, the second correspondence is the correspondence between an SSB index and an SSB transmission direction when the maximum value of the SSB index is 4, and the third correspondence is the correspondence between an SSB index and an SSB transmission direction when the maximum value of the SSB index is 8. Alternatively, the first correspondence is the correspondence between the SSB index and the SSB transmission direction when the maximum value of the SSB index is 4, the second correspondence is the correspondence between the SSB index and the SSB transmission direction when the maximum value of the SSB index is 8, and the third correspondence is the correspondence between the SSB index and the SSB transmission direction when the maximum value of the SSB index is 64. Alternatively, the first correspondence is the correspondence between the SSB index and the SSB transmission direction when the maximum value of the SSB index is 8, the second correspondence is the correspondence between the SSB index and the SSB transmission direction when the maximum value of the SSB index is 4, and the third correspondence is the correspondence between the SSB index and the SSB transmission direction when the maximum value of the SSB index is 64.

[0112] For example, the network side can transmit one group of associations between the SSB transmission direction and the SSB index to terminal devices for an SSB index of 64 (the maximum value of the SSB index). Based on these associations, the terminal devices can determine the associations between the SSB transmission direction and the SSB index for cases where the maximum value of the SSB index is 4 and 8.

[0113] For example, the relationship between the SRS transmission direction and the SSB index when the maximum value L of the SSB index is 4 and 8 can be determined by the following formula: Direction_4(i)=Direction_64(i*16+x1), Direction_8(i)=Direction_64(i*8+x2), Here, i is the SSB_index, i is greater than or equal to 0 and less than the maximum value of the SSB_index, Direction_4(i) represents the SSB transmission direction when the maximum value of the SSB_index is 4 and the SSB_index is i, Direction_8(i) represents the SSB transmission direction when the maximum value of the SSB_index is 8 and the SSB_index is i, and Direction_64(i) represents the SSB transmission direction when the maximum value of the SSB_index is 64 and the SSB_index is i, with 0≦x1≦15 and 0≦x2≦7.

[0114] Furthermore, for example, the network side can transmit one group of associations between the SRS transmission direction and the SSB index to the terminal device for an SSB index of 4 (the maximum value of the SSB index). Based on these associations, the terminal device can determine the associations between the SSB transmission direction and the SSB index for cases where the maximum value of the SSB index is 8 and 64.

[0115] For example, the relationship between the SRS transmission direction and the SSB index when the maximum value L of the SSB index is 8 and 64 can be determined by the following formula: Direction_64(i)=Direction_4(floor(i / 16))+(Direction_4(floor(i / 16))-Direction_4(floor(i / 16)-1)) / 16*mod(i,16) Direction_8(i)=Direction_4(floor(i / 2))+(Direction_4(floor(i / 2))-Direction_4(floor(i / 2)-1)) / 2*mod(i,2) Here, i is the SSB_index, i is greater than or equal to 0 and less than the maximum value of the SSB_index, Direction_4(i) represents the SSB transmission direction when the maximum value of the SSB_index is 4 and the SSB_index is i, Direction_8(i) represents the SSB transmission direction when the maximum value of the SSB_index is 8 and the SSB_index is i, and Direction_64(i) represents the SSB transmission direction when the maximum value of the SSB_index is 64 and the SSB_index is i.

[0116] Furthermore, for example, the network side can transmit one group of associations between the SRS transmission direction and the SSB index to the terminal device for an SSB index of 8, the maximum value of which is 8. Based on these associations, the terminal device can determine the associations between the SSB transmission direction and the SSB index for cases where the maximum value of the SSB index is 4 and 64.

[0117] For example, the relationship between the SRS transmission direction and the SSB index when the maximum value L of the SSB index is 4 and 64 can be determined by the following formula: Direction_4(i)=Direction_8(i*2+x3), Direction_64(i)=Direction_8(floor(i / 8))+Direction_4(floor(i / 8))-Direction_8(floor(i / 8)-1)) / 8*mod(i,8), Here, i is the SSB_index, i is greater than or equal to 0 and less than the maximum value of the SSB_index, Direction_4(i) represents the SSB transmission direction when the maximum value of the SSB_index is 4 and the SSB_index is i, Direction_8(i) represents the SSB transmission direction when the maximum value of the SSB_index is 8 and the SSB_index is i, and Direction_64(i) represents the SSB transmission direction when the maximum value of the SSB_index is 64 and the SSB_index is i, and 0 ≤ x2 ≤ 1.

[0118] In some embodiments, the above-mentioned plurality of cells may be a plurality of cells within the effective area.

[0119] In some embodiments, the downlink signal index of the first cell may include the index of all downlink signals that the first cell can support. The index of downlink signals that the first cell can support can be understood as an index corresponding to all downlink signals that the first cell can transmit. Taking the example that the downlink signals include SSB, the first cell may transmit different SSBs on different beams, and the downlink signal index of the first cell may include the index of SSBs transmitted by the first cell in all beam directions.

[0120] In some embodiments, the downlink signal index of the first cell may include some of the downlink signal indices that the first cell can support. These some downlink signal indices may correspond to downlink signals that a terminal device can receive. Since a terminal device can only receive downlink signals transmitted by the first cell on some beams, the downlink signal index of the first cell may include only some of the downlink signal indices, thus saving signaling overhead for transmitting the first information.

[0121] Some of the downlink signal indices mentioned above can be determined based on the cell in which the terminal device is located. For example, the relative positional relationship between the terminal device and the first cell can be determined based on the cell in which the terminal device is located, and thereby some of the downlink signal indices can be determined.

[0122] Furthermore, if the downlink signal index of the first cell includes some downlink signal indices, the transmit beam of the terminal equipment corresponding to those some downlink signal indices is a subset of the transmit beam of the terminal equipment. This subset of transmit beams may also be called a subset of the transmit beam of the terminal equipment.

[0123] In some embodiments, the first information may be transmitted to a terminal device by a first network device. As shown in Figure 5, the method shown in Figure 5 may include step S502 in which the first network device transmits the first information to the terminal device. The first network device may include a positioning server and / or a base station. The base station may be a serving base station for the terminal device. For example, the first information may be determined by a positioning server, the positioning server may transmit the first information to a base station, and the base station may then transmit the first information to the terminal device. The positioning server may transmit the first information to the base station by NR positioning protocol (NRPP) signaling.

[0124] In some embodiments, the positioning server receives signal measurement results against an uplink reference signal transmitted by multiple cells, and based on the signal measurement results, can determine the cell where the terminal device is located, and further determine first information to transmit to the terminal device.

[0125] In some embodiments, when a terminal device determines the first beam, it can select the first beam from a group of beams pre-configured by the network device. For example, the network device can pre-configure a group of uplink transmit beams (UL Tx beams) for the terminal device, and the terminal device can select the first beam from this uplink transmit beam group based on the signal measurement results of the first signal.

[0126] In some embodiments, the first cell may include all cells within the effective area, or it may include only some of the cells within the effective area. When the first cell includes only some of the cells within the effective area, during the movement of the terminal equipment, the terminal equipment does not leave the effective area, but there may be no correspondence between the downlink signal index of the target cell and the transmit beam of the terminal equipment, making it impossible to determine the beam for transmitting the uplink reference signal to the target cell. The target cell is a cell within the effective area, and the target cell is the cell to which the terminal equipment belongs. After the terminal equipment moves, it is within the coverage range of the target cell.

[0127] In some embodiments, if the target cell does not belong to the first cell, or if the terminal device does not have a correspondence between the target cell's downlink signal index and the terminal device's transmit beam, the terminal device can access the target cell. The terminal device receives second information from the target cell to indicate the correspondence between the target cell's downlink signal index and the terminal device's transmit beam. Based on the second information, the terminal device can determine the beam to transmit an uplink reference signal to the target cell.

[0128] In some embodiments, if a terminal device does not have a correspondence between the target cell's downlink signal index and the terminal device's transmit beam, the terminal device can transmit an uplink reference signal on any transmit beam, i.e., the terminal device can transmit an uplink reference signal across the entire beamset of beam sweeping. Each base station can detect the uplink reference signal and transmit the detection result to a positioning server. The positioning server can analyze the location of the detection result to determine the location of the terminal device and further determine the target cell to which the terminal device belongs.

[0129] In some embodiments, the positioning server can first determine whether the target cell belongs to a first cell, and then determine whether the terminal device has a correspondence between the target cell's downlink signal index and the terminal device's transmit beam. The embodiments of the present application do not specifically limit the method for determining the first cell. For example, the first cell may be determined by the positioning server, for example, when the first information is transmitted to the terminal device by the positioning server, the positioning server can know which cell's downlink signal index and the terminal device's transmit beam correspondence will be indicated to the terminal device. In another example, the first cell may be transmitted to the positioning server by a base station. The base station may be the serving base station of the terminal device, for example, the serving base station before the terminal device moves. For example, when the first information is transmitted to the terminal device by the base station, the base station can transmit a list of first cell information (e.g., a list of cell IDs) to the positioning server. The positioning server can determine whether the target cell belongs to a first cell based on the list of first cell information.

[0130] In some embodiments, the serving base station of a terminal device may further transmit the cell to which the terminal device is registered or camp-on to a positioning server, which can determine, based on the terminal device's location, whether the terminal has already left the registered or camp-on cell. If the terminal device has already left the registered or camp-on cell, the positioning server can determine the target cell to which the terminal device belongs. The serving base station may refer to the serving base station before the terminal device moved or before it re-selected a cell.

[0131] In some embodiments, if the target cell to which the terminal device belongs does not belong to the first cell, or if the terminal device does not have a correspondence between the target cell's downlink signal index and the terminal device's transmit beam, the second network device may send a paging message to the terminal device (see step S504 in Figure 5). The paging message may be used to establish a connection between the terminal device and the target cell, for example, the paging message may be used for the terminal device to access the target cell. After accessing the target cell, the terminal device may obtain second information from the target cell to indicate the correspondence between the target cell's downlink signal index and the terminal device's transmit beam.

[0132] The second network device described above may include a base station corresponding to a core network element and / or a target cell. The core network element may include an AMF and / or an LMF.

[0133] In some embodiments, if the target cell does not belong to the first cell or is not in the list of first cells, the positioning server may determine that there is no correspondence between the target cell's downlink signal index and the terminal device's transmit beam. The positioning server may send instruction information to a second network device. Based on this instruction information, the second network device sends a paging message to the terminal device to enable it to access the target cell.

[0134] In some embodiments, the second network device may be a target cell. Since the positioning server can estimate the location of the terminal device, the positioning server can notify the core network of the terminal device's location. Based on the terminal device's location, the core network can determine the target cell to which the terminal device belongs. In this way, the core network only needs to notify the target cell of the start of paging, and does not need to track that all cells in the area have started paging, thereby saving network resources and improving the accuracy of paging.

[0135] The terminal device can receive a paging message transmitted by the second network device and establish a connection with the target cell based on the paging message. For example, the terminal device can initiate random access to the target cell in order to establish an RRC connection with the target cell. After the terminal device has established a connection with the target cell, the target cell can transmit second information to the terminal device. Based on the second information, the terminal device can determine the beam for transmitting an uplink reference signal to the second cell.

[0136] In some embodiments, a terminal device may move to a new cell, for example, from a serving cell to another cell within the effective area. Assuming the terminal device has moved to the fourth cell, if the terminal device does not access the fourth cell and does not transmit an uplink preamble code, the terminal device cannot update its timing advance (TA). However, in some scenarios, failure to update the TA by the terminal device may result in lower positioning accuracy. Based on the above considerations, embodiments of the present application examine the conditions under which updating the TA is necessary. The technical solutions in embodiments of the present application will be described below with reference to Figure 6. Note that the technical solutions described in Figures 6 and 5 can be used in combination with each other, provided there is no contradiction.

[0137] Referring to Figure 6, in step S610, the terminal equipment transmits an uplink reference signal.

[0138] The uplink reference signal is used to determine the first TA for the fourth cell of the terminal equipment. The method for determining the first TA is described in detail below. The fourth cell is the cell to which the terminal equipment currently belongs, and this may refer to the cell to which the terminal equipment is located after it moves, or the cell to which the terminal equipment re-selects a cell. It should be understood that the terminal equipment is currently located within the coverage range of the fourth cell.

[0139] The method by which terminal equipment transmits the uplink reference signal can be found in the above description and will not be repeated here for brevity. For example, terminal equipment can transmit the uplink reference signal to multiple cells, which can measure the uplink reference signal to obtain a signal measurement result. This signal measurement result may be used for positioning of the terminal equipment. The uplink reference signal may include, for example, an SRS.

[0140] In step S620, the third network device transmits first instruction information to the terminal device. This first instruction information is used to instruct the terminal device to update the TA, and may be transmitted if the first TA satisfies a first condition. In other words, if the first TA satisfies the first condition, the third network device can transmit the first instruction information to the terminal device. The third network device may be a base station corresponding to the fourth cell, or the third network device may be a core network element.

[0141] The embodiments of this application do not specifically limit the first condition. In some embodiments, the first condition relates to one or more types of information, such as the size of the first TA, the size of the second TA, and the signal measurement result of the uplink reference signal. The second TA is the TA of the terminal device to the serving cell, which may be a cell connected before the terminal device moved, or a cell connected before the terminal device re-selected a cell.

[0142] In some embodiments, the first condition may include the first TA being greater than or equal to a first preset threshold. If the first TA is greater than or equal to the first preset threshold, the third network device transmits first instruction information to the terminal device. The first preset threshold may be related to a cyclic prefix (CP). The first preset threshold can be determined based on the time length t corresponding to the CP. The first preset threshold may be, for example, t / 2 or t.

[0143] In some embodiments, the first condition may include the difference between the first TA and the second TA being greater than or equal to a second preset threshold. When the difference between the first TA and the second TA is greater than or equal to the second preset threshold, it means that the difference between the terminal device's current first TA and the second TA locally stored by the terminal device is relatively large, and if the terminal device continues to transmit the uplink reference signal using the second TA, some cells may not be able to accurately receive the uplink reference signal, resulting in lower positioning accuracy. Therefore, the third network device can transmit the first instruction information to the terminal device when the difference between the first TA and the second TA is greater than or equal to the second preset threshold. The second preset threshold may be related to a CP. The second preset threshold can be determined based on the time length t corresponding to the CP. The second preset threshold may be, for example, t / 2 or t.

[0144] In some embodiments, the first condition may include the signal measurement result of the uplink reference signal being below a third preset threshold. When the signal measurement result of the uplink reference signal is below the third preset threshold, it means that the signal quality of the uplink reference signal is low, and if the terminal device continues to be positioned using the uplink reference signal, the positioning accuracy will be low. Therefore, the third network device can transmit the first instruction information to the terminal device when the signal measurement result of the uplink reference signal is below the third preset threshold. The third preset threshold can be determined based on the positioning accuracy of the terminal device.

[0145] The first condition described above may be used alone or in combination with other conditions, and the embodiments of this application do not specifically limit this. For example, the first condition may include that the first TA is greater than or equal to a first preset threshold, and that the signal measurement result of the uplink reference signal is less than or equal to a third preset threshold. Alternatively, the first condition may include that the difference between the first TA and the second TA is greater than or equal to a second preset threshold, and that the signal measurement result of the uplink reference signal is less than or equal to a third preset threshold. Alternatively, the first condition may include that the first TA is greater than or equal to a first preset threshold, that the difference between the first TA and the second TA is greater than or equal to a second preset threshold, and that the signal measurement result of the uplink reference signal is less than or equal to a third preset threshold.

[0146] The embodiments of this application do not specifically limit the method for determining the first TA. In some embodiments, the first TA may be determined by a positioning server. In some other embodiments, the first TA may be determined by a base station corresponding to the fourth cell. These two cases will be described below.

[0147] In some embodiments, the first TA may be determined by a positioning server. The first TA can be determined based on the signal measurement results of the uplink reference signal. For example, the positioning server can determine the location of a terminal device based on the signal measurement results of the uplink reference signal. The positioning server can determine the first TA based on the location of the terminal device. Specifically, the positioning server can determine the cell to which the terminal device currently belongs (e.g., the fourth cell) based on the location of the terminal device, and further determine the first TA based on the location of the terminal device and the location of the base station corresponding to the fourth cell. The process will be illustrated below with examples.

[0148] The terminal device may transmit an uplink reference signal to multiple cells, which can measure the uplink reference signal and obtain a signal measurement result. The multiple cells can transmit the signal measurement result to a positioning server. The positioning server can analyze the position based on the signal measurement result and obtain the first TA of the terminal device relative to the base station corresponding to the fourth cell.

[0149] In some embodiments, the first TA can be determined by a base station corresponding to the fourth cell. The fourth cell can receive an uplink reference signal transmitted by a terminal device, perform synchronization detection on the uplink reference signal, and estimate the first TA. In these embodiments, the function of the uplink reference signal is similar to that of an uplink preamble code, and after receiving the uplink reference signal, the fourth cell can determine the first TA based on a method similar to a random access process. For example, the fourth cell can determine the first TA based on the time the terminal device transmits the uplink reference signal and the time it receives the uplink reference signal.

[0150] In some embodiments, if the first TA is determined by the positioning server and the first condition includes that the difference between the first TA and the second TA is greater than or equal to a second preset threshold, the positioning server can obtain the second TA from the serving base station of the terminal device. In some embodiments, the serving base station can transmit the UE ID of the terminal device and the second TA to the positioning server so that the positioning server can determine whether the terminal device satisfies the first condition.

[0151] As described above, embodiments of the method of this application are explained in detail with reference to Figures 1 to 6, and below, embodiments of the apparatus of this application are explained in detail with reference to Figures 7 to 12. The description of the method embodiments corresponds to the description of the apparatus embodiments, and therefore, please understand that for parts not explained in detail, you can refer to the method embodiments described above.

[0152] Figure 7 is an exemplary block diagram of a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present application. The terminal device 700 shown in Figure 7 may be any of the terminal devices described above. The terminal device 700 may include a decision unit 710.

[0153] The determination unit 710 is used to determine a first beam for transmitting an uplink reference signal based on the signal measurement result of the first signal, the first signal including a downlink signal and / or an uplink signal, and the uplink reference signal is used to position the terminal equipment.

[0154] In some embodiments, the first signal includes a downlink signal from a first cell, the first cell includes a serving cell and / or adjacent cells, the determination unit 710 is used to determine a first beam for transmitting the uplink reference signal to the first cell based on the first information and the signal measurement results of the downlink signal from the first cell, and the first information is used to indicate the correspondence between the downlink signal index of the first cell and the transmit beam of the terminal equipment.

[0155] In some embodiments, the downlink signal index of the first cell includes some of the downlink signal indices that the first cell can support, or the downlink signal index of the first cell includes all of the downlink signal indices that the first cell can support.

[0156] In some embodiments, the partial downlink signal index is determined based on the cell in which the terminal device is located.

[0157] In some embodiments, the first information is transmitted to the terminal device by a positioning server and / or base station.

[0158] In some embodiments, the terminal device further includes an establishment unit 720 for establishing a connection with the target cell when the target cell to which the terminal device belongs does not belong to the first cell, and a receiving unit 730 for receiving second information from the target cell to indicate the correspondence between the downlink signal index of the target cell and the transmit beam of the terminal device.

[0159] In some embodiments, the terminal device further includes a receiving unit 730 for receiving paging messages transmitted by network equipment, the paging messages being transmitted when the target cell does not belong to the first cell, the network equipment includes core network elements and / or a base station corresponding to the target cell, and the establishment unit is used to establish a connection with the target cell based on the paging messages.

[0160] In some embodiments, the target cell is determined based on the location of the terminal device, and the location of the terminal device is determined based on the signal measurement results of the uplink reference signal measured in a plurality of cells.

[0161] In some embodiments, the downlink signal is SSB, the second information is used to indicate a first correspondence, the first correspondence is a correspondence between an SSB index and an SSB transmission direction when the maximum value of the SSB index is 64, and the transmission beam of the terminal equipment and the SSB transmission direction have a correspondence, the determination unit is further used to determine a second correspondence and / or a third correspondence based on the first correspondence, the second correspondence is a correspondence between an SSB index and an SSB transmission direction when the maximum value of the SSB index is 4, the third correspondence is a correspondence between an SSB index and an SSB transmission direction when the maximum value of the SSB index is 8, and the first correspondence, the second correspondence, and the third correspondence satisfy the following equation: Direction_4(i)=Direction_64(i*16+x1), Direction_8(i)=Direction_64(i*8+x2), Here, i represents the SSB index, i is greater than or equal to 0 and less than the maximum SSB index, Direction_4(i) represents the SSB transmission direction when the maximum SSB index is 4 and the SSB index is i, Direction_8(i) represents the SSB transmission direction when the maximum SSB index is 8 and the SSB index is i, and Direction_64(i) represents the SSB transmission direction when the maximum SSB index is 64 and the SSB index is i, with 0≦x1≦15 and 0≦x2≦7.

[0162] In some embodiments, the first beam includes beams corresponding to a plurality of cells, the plurality of cells including a second cell and a third cell, and the determination unit is used to determine a second beam corresponding to the second cell based on the signal measurement result of the downlink signal from the second cell, to determine a third beam corresponding to the third cell based on the signal measurement result of the downlink signal from the third cell, and to determine the first beam, which is a beam shared by the second beam and the third beam, based on the second beam and the third beam.

[0163] In some embodiments, the downlink signal includes SSB and / or the uplink reference signal includes SRS.

[0164] Figure 8 is an exemplary block diagram of network equipment according to an embodiment of the present application. The network equipment 800 shown in Figure 8 may be any of the first network equipment described above. The network equipment 800 may also include a transmitting unit 810.

[0165] The transmitting unit 810 is used to transmit first information to a terminal device, and the signal measurement results of the first information and the first signal are used to determine a first beam for the terminal device to transmit an uplink reference signal, the first signal includes a downlink signal from a first cell, the uplink reference signal includes a transmitting unit for positioning the terminal device, and the first information is used to indicate the correspondence between the downlink signal index of the first cell and the transmitting beam of the terminal device.

[0166] In some embodiments, the downlink signal index of the first cell includes some of the downlink signal indices that the first cell can support, or the downlink signal index of the first cell includes all of the downlink signal indices that the first cell can support.

[0167] In some embodiments, the partial downlink signal index is determined based on the cell in which the terminal device is located.

[0168] In some embodiments, the first beam includes beams corresponding to a plurality of cells, the plurality of cells including a second cell and a third cell, the first beam is a beam shared by the second beam and the third beam, the second beam is determined based on the signal measurement result of the downlink signal from the second cell, and the third beam is determined based on the signal measurement result of the downlink signal from the third cell.

[0169] In some embodiments, the first network device includes a positioning server and / or a base station.

[0170] In some embodiments, the downlink signal includes SSB and / or the uplink reference signal includes SRS.

[0171] Figure 9 is an exemplary block diagram of network equipment according to an embodiment of the present application. The network equipment 900 shown in Figure 9 may be any of the second network equipment described above. The network equipment 900 may also include a transmitting unit 910.

[0172] The transmitting unit 910 is used to send a paging message to a terminal device when the target cell to which the terminal device belongs does not belong to the first cell, the paging message is used to establish a connection between the terminal device and the target cell, the connection between the terminal device and the target cell is used to transmit second information, the second information is used to indicate the correspondence between the downlink signal index of the target cell and the transmit beam of the terminal device, the first cell is a cell having a downlink signal index, and the correspondence between the downlink signal index of the first cell and the transmit beam of the terminal device is stored in the terminal device.

[0173] In some embodiments, the target cell is determined based on the location of the terminal device, and the location of the terminal device is determined based on the signal measurement results of the uplink reference signal measured in a plurality of cells.

[0174] In some embodiments, the network device further includes a receiving unit for receiving second instruction information transmitted by a positioning server, the second instruction information being used to instruct the terminal device that there is no correspondence between the downlink signal index of the target cell and the transmit beam of the terminal device, and a transmitting unit for transmitting the paging message to the terminal device based on the second instruction information.

[0175] In some embodiments, the second network device includes a base station and / or core network element corresponding to the target cell.

[0176] In some embodiments, the downlink signal includes SSB.

[0177] Figure 10 is an exemplary block diagram of a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present application. The terminal device 1000 shown in Figure 10 may be any of the terminal devices described above. The terminal device 1000 may include a transmitting unit 1010 and a receiving unit 1020.

[0178] The transmitting unit 1010 is used to transmit an uplink reference signal, which is used to determine the first TA of the terminal equipment relative to the fourth cell, and the fourth cell is the cell to which the terminal equipment currently belongs.

[0179] The receiving unit 1020 is used to receive first instruction information transmitted by the third network device, the first instruction information is used to instruct the terminal device to update the TA, and the first instruction information is transmitted when the first TA satisfies a first condition.

[0180] In some embodiments, the first condition relates to one or more of the following pieces of information: the size of the first TA, the size of the second TA which is the TA of the terminal equipment relative to the serving cell, and the signal measurement result of the uplink reference signal.

[0181] In some embodiments, the first condition includes one or more of the following: the first TA is greater than or equal to a first preset threshold; the difference between the first TA and the second TA is greater than or equal to a second preset threshold; and the signal measurement result is less than or equal to a third preset threshold.

[0182] In some embodiments, the first TA is determined by a positioning server based on the location of the terminal device, and the location of the terminal device is determined based on the signal measurement results of the uplink reference signal measured in a plurality of cells.

[0183] In some embodiments, the first TA is determined based on the signal measurement result of the uplink reference signal by the base station corresponding to the fourth cell.

[0184] In some embodiments, the third network device is a base station corresponding to the fourth cell.

[0185] In some embodiments, the uplink reference signal includes an SRS.

[0186] Figure 11 is an illustrative block diagram of a network device according to an embodiment of the present application. The network device 1100 shown in Figure 11 may be any of the third network devices described above. The network device 1100 may also include a transmitting unit 1110.

[0187] The transmitting unit 1110 is used to transmit first instruction information to a terminal device, the first instruction information is used to instruct the terminal device to update the TA, the first instruction information is transmitted when the first TA satisfies a first condition, the first TA is determined based on an uplink reference signal transmitted by the terminal device, the first TA is the terminal device's TA for the fourth cell, the fourth cell is the cell to which the terminal device currently belongs.

[0188] In some embodiments, the first condition relates to one or more of the following pieces of information: the size of the first TA, the size of the second TA which is the TA of the terminal equipment relative to the serving cell, and the signal measurement result of the uplink reference signal.

[0189] In some embodiments, the first condition includes one or more of the following: the first TA is greater than or equal to a first preset threshold; the difference between the first TA and the second TA is greater than or equal to a second preset threshold; and the signal measurement result is less than or equal to a third preset threshold.

[0190] In some embodiments, the first TA is determined by a positioning server based on the location of the terminal device, and the location of the terminal device is determined based on the signal measurement results of the uplink reference signal measured in a plurality of cells.

[0191] In some embodiments, the first TA is determined based on the signal measurement result of the uplink reference signal by the base station corresponding to the fourth cell.

[0192] In some embodiments, the third network device is a base station corresponding to the fourth cell.

[0193] In some embodiments, the uplink reference signal includes an SRS.

[0194] Figure 12 shows a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application. The dashed lines in Figure 12 indicate that the unit or module is selectable. The device 1200 can be used to implement the method described in the above embodiment. The device 1200 may be a chip, terminal equipment, or network equipment.

[0195] The apparatus 1200 may include one or more processors 1210. The processors 1210 can support the apparatus 1200 in implementing the methods described in the above embodiment of the method. The processors 1210 may be general-purpose processors or dedicated processors. For example, the processor may be a central processing unit (CPU). Alternatively, the processor may be another general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), or other programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logic device, a discrete hardware component, etc. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, or the processor may be any conventional processor, etc.

[0196] The device 1200 may further include one or more memories 1220. A program is stored in the memory 1220, which can be executed by the processor 1210, causing the processor 1210 to perform the method described in the above embodiment of the method. The memory 1220 may be independent of the processor 1210 or may be integrated with the processor 1210.

[0197] The device 1200 may further include a transceiver 1230. The processor 1210 can communicate with other devices or chips via the transceiver 1230. For example, the processor 1210 can send and receive data with other devices or chips via the transceiver 1230.

[0198] Embodiments of the present application further provide a computer-readable storage medium used for storing a program. This computer-readable storage medium can be applied to terminal equipment or network equipment according to embodiments of the present application, and the program causes a computer to execute the method performed by the terminal equipment or network equipment in each embodiment of the present application.

[0199] Embodiments of the present application further provide a computer program product. This computer program product includes a program. This computer program product can be applied to terminal equipment or network equipment according to embodiments of the present application, and this program causes a computer to execute the methods performed by the terminal equipment or network equipment in each embodiment of the present application.

[0200] Embodiments of the present application further provide a computer program. This computer program can be applied to terminal equipment or network equipment according to embodiments of the present application, and this computer program causes a computer to execute the methods performed by the terminal equipment or network equipment in each embodiment of the present application.

[0201] It should be understood that, in this application, the terms “system” and “network” may be interchangeable. Furthermore, the terms used in this application are used solely to interpret the specific embodiments of this application and are not intended to limit it. Terms such as “first,” “second,” “third,” and “fourth” in the specification, claims, and drawings of this application are used to distinguish different subjects, not to describe a specific order. Also, the terms “include,” “have,” and any variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion.

[0202] In the embodiments of the present application, the “instruction” referred to may be a direct instruction, an indirect instruction, or an indication of a related relationship. For example, A instructing B may mean that A directly instructs B, for example, indicating that B can be obtained by A; or A indirectly instructs B, for example, indicating that A instructs C, indicating that B can be obtained by C; or an indication of a related relationship between A and B.

[0203] In the embodiments of this application, the term "includes" may mean either directly or indirectly. Optionally, the term "includes" in the embodiments of this application may be replaced with "indicate" or "used to determine." For example, "A includes B" may be replaced with "A indicates B" or "A is used to determine B."

[0204] In the embodiments of this application, "B corresponding to A" indicates that B is associated with A and that B can be determined in accordance with A. However, determining B in accordance with A does not mean determining B in accordance with A alone, but rather that B may be determined in accordance with A and / or other information.

[0205] In the embodiments of this application, the term "correspondence" may indicate a direct or indirect correspondence between the two, a related relationship between the two, or a relationship such as instruction and instruction, or component and component.

[0206] In the embodiments of this application, “pre-defined” or “pre-configured” may be implemented by pre-storing in a device (including, for example, terminal devices and network devices) a form that can indicate the corresponding code, form, or related information, and this application does not limit the specific form of such implementation. For example, pre-defined may refer to something defined in a protocol.

[0207] In the embodiments of the present application, the term "protocol" may refer to a standard protocol in the field of communications, and may include, for example, the LTE protocol, the NR protocol, and related protocols applicable to future communications systems, but is not limited thereto.

[0208] In the embodiments of this application, the term "and / or" simply describes the relationship between related objects and indicates that three types of relationships exist. For example, A and / or B include the three situations where only A exists, where A and B exist simultaneously, and where only B exists. In this specification, the symbol " / " generally indicates that the preceding and following related objects have an "or" relationship.

[0209] In the various embodiments of the present application, the magnitude of the process numbers does not indicate the order of execution, and the execution order of each process should be determined based on its function and inherent logic, and does not constitute any limitation on the implementation processes of the embodiments of the present application.

[0210] In some embodiments relating to this application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, devices, and methods can be implemented in other forms. For example, the device embodiments described above are merely illustrative, and the division of the units is merely one type of logic function division. In actual implementations, other division methods may be used, for example, multiple units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be ignored or not performed. Also, the mutual coupling, direct coupling, or communication connection shown or considered may be an indirect coupling or communication connection via some interface, device, or unit, and may be in the form of electrical, mechanical, or other.

[0211] The units described as separation members may or may not be physically separated, and the members referred to as units may or may not be physical units; that is, they may be located in one place or distributed among multiple network units. Some or all of the units can be selected as needed to achieve the objectives of the means of this embodiment.

[0212] Furthermore, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated into a single processing unit, each unit may exist physically separately, and two or more units may be integrated into a single unit.

[0213] In the above embodiments, all or part of the embodiments may be implemented by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented by software, all or part of the embodiments may be implemented in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. Loading and executing the computer program instructions into a computer generates all or part of the procedures or functions described in the embodiments of this application. The computer may be a general-purpose computer, a dedicated computer, a computer network, or other programmable device. The computer instructions may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another. For example, the computer instructions may be transmitted from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center by wire (e.g., coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wirelessly (e.g., infrared, radio, microwave, etc.). The computer-readable storage medium may be any available medium that a computer can read, or a data storage device such as a server or data center that integrates one or more available media. The available media may be magnetic media (e.g., floppy disks, hard disks, tapes), optical media (e.g., digital video discs (DVDs)), or semiconductor media (e.g., solid state disks (SSDs)).

[0214] The above describes specific embodiments of the present application, but the scope of protection of this application is not limited thereto. Any modifications or substitutions that a person skilled in the art could easily conceive without departing from the technical scope disclosed herein fall within the scope of protection of this application. Therefore, the scope of protection of this application should be the same as the scope of protection of the claims.

Claims

1. A method for positioning, A positioning method comprising the step of a terminal device determining a first beam for transmitting an uplink reference signal based on the signal measurement result of a first signal, wherein the first signal includes a downlink signal and / or an uplink signal, and the uplink reference signal is used to position the terminal device.

2. The first signal includes a downlink signal from a first cell, the first cell includes a serving cell and / or adjacent cells, and the terminal equipment determines a first beam for transmitting an uplink reference signal based on the signal measurement result of the first signal, The method according to claim 1, wherein the terminal device includes the step of determining a first beam for transmitting the uplink reference signal to the first cell based on the signal measurement results of the first information and the first signal, the first information is used to indicate a correspondence between the downlink signal index of the first cell and the transmit beam of the terminal device.

3. The method according to 2, characterized in that the downlink signal index of the first cell includes some of the downlink signal indices that the first cell can support, or the downlink signal index of the first cell includes the index of the downlink signals that the first cell can support.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that the aforementioned downlink signal index is determined based on the cell in which the terminal device is located.

5. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 4, characterized in that the first information is transmitted to the terminal device by a positioning server and / or base station.

6. If the target cell to which the terminal device belongs does not belong to the first cell, the terminal device establishes a connection with the target cell. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 5, further comprising the step of the terminal device receiving from the target cell second information for indicating a correspondence between the downlink signal index of the target cell and the transmit beam of the terminal device.

7. The step of establishing a connection with the target cell is as follows: The steps include: the terminal device receiving a paging message transmitted by a network device, wherein the paging message is transmitted when the target cell does not belong to the first cell, and the network device includes a core network element and / or a base station corresponding to the target cell; The method according to 6, further comprising the step of the terminal device establishing a connection with the target cell based on the paging message.

8. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that the target cell is determined based on the position of the terminal device, and the position of the terminal device is determined based on the signal measurement results of the uplink reference signal measured in a plurality of cells.

9. The downlink signal is SSB (synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel block), the second information is used to indicate the first correspondence, the first correspondence is the correspondence between the SSB index and the SSB transmission direction when the maximum value of the SSB index is 64, and the transmission beam of the terminal equipment and the SSB transmission direction have a correspondence. The aforementioned method, The terminal device further includes the step of determining a second correspondence and / or a third correspondence based on the first correspondence, wherein the second correspondence is a correspondence between an SSB index and an SSB transmission direction when the maximum value of the SSB index is 4, and the third correspondence is a correspondence between an SSB index and an SSB transmission direction when the maximum value of the SSB index is 8. The first correspondence, the second correspondence, and the third correspondence satisfy the following equations: Direction_4(i)=Direction_64(i*16+x1), Direction_8(i)=Direction_64(i*8+x2), The method according to any one of claims 6 to 8, wherein i represents the SSB index, i is greater than or equal to 0 and less than the maximum value of the SSB index, Direction_4(i) represents the transmission direction of the SSB when the maximum value of the SSB index is 4 and the SSB index is i, Direction_8(i) represents the transmission direction of the SSB when the maximum value of the SSB index is 8 and the SSB index is i, and Direction_64(i) is the transmission direction of the SSB when the maximum value of the SSB index is 64 and the SSB index is i, and 0 ≤ x1 ≤ 15, 0 ≤ x2 ≤ 7.

10. The first beam includes beams corresponding to a plurality of cells, the plurality of cells include a second cell and a third cell, and the step of the terminal equipment determining the first beam for transmitting the uplink reference signal based on the signal measurement result of the first signal is: The terminal device determines a second beam corresponding to the second cell based on the signal measurement result of the downlink signal from the second cell, The terminal device determines the third beam corresponding to the third cell based on the signal measurement result of the downlink signal from the third cell, The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the terminal equipment includes the step of determining a first beam which is a beam common to the second beam and the third beam, based on the second beam and the third beam.

11. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that the downlink signal includes an SSB and / or the uplink reference signal includes a sounding reference signal (SRS).

12. A method for positioning, The process includes the step of a first network device transmitting first information to a terminal device, wherein the signal measurement results of the first information and the first signal are used to determine a first beam for the terminal device to transmit an uplink reference signal, the first signal includes a downlink signal from a first cell, and the uplink reference signal is used to position the terminal device. A positioning method characterized in that the first information is used to indicate the correspondence between the downlink signal index of the first cell and the transmission beam of the terminal equipment.

13. The method according to 12, characterized in that the downlink signal index of the first cell includes a portion of the downlink signal indexes that the first cell can support, or the downlink signal index of the first cell includes the index of the downlink signal that the first cell can support.

14. The method according to 13, characterized in that the aforementioned downlink signal index is determined based on the cell in which the terminal device is located.

15. The method according to any one of claims 12 to 14, characterized in that the first beam includes beams corresponding to a plurality of cells, the plurality of cells include a second cell and a third cell, the first beam is a beam common to the second beam and the third beam, the second beam is determined based on the signal measurement result of the downlink signal from the second cell, and the third beam is determined based on the signal measurement result of the downlink signal from the third cell.

16. The method according to any one of claims 12 to 15, characterized in that the first network device includes a positioning server and / or a base station.

17. The method according to any one of claims 12 to 16, characterized in that the downlink signal includes an SSB and / or the uplink reference signal includes an SRS.

18. A method for positioning, A positioning method comprising the step of a second network device sending a paging message to a terminal device if the target cell to which the terminal device belongs does not belong to a first cell, the paging message being used to establish a connection between the terminal device and the target cell, the connection between the terminal device and the target cell being used to transmit second information, the second information being used to indicate a correspondence between the downlink signal index of the target cell and the transmit beam of the terminal device, the first cell being a cell having a downlink signal index, and the correspondence between the downlink signal index of the first cell and the transmit beam of the terminal device being stored in the terminal device.

19. The method according to 18, characterized in that the target cell is determined based on the position of the terminal device, and the position of the terminal device is determined based on the signal measurement results of the uplink reference signal measured in a plurality of cells.

20. The second network device receives second instruction information transmitted by the positioning server, wherein the second instruction information is used to instruct the terminal device that there is no correspondence between the downlink signal index of the target cell and the transmit beam of the terminal device. The method according to 18 or 19, further comprising the step of the second network device transmitting the paging message to the terminal device based on the second instruction information.

21. The method according to any one of claims 18 to 20, characterized in that the second network device includes a base station and / or core network element corresponding to the target cell.

22. The method according to any one of claims 18 to 21, characterized in that the downlink signal includes SSB.

23. A method for positioning, The steps include: a terminal device transmitting an uplink reference signal, wherein the uplink reference signal is used to determine the terminal device's first TA (timing advance) for a fourth cell, and the fourth cell is the cell to which the terminal device currently belongs; A positioning method characterized by comprising the steps of: the terminal device receiving first instruction information transmitted by a third network device, the first instruction information being used to instruct the terminal device to update the TA, and the first instruction information being transmitted when the first TA satisfies a first condition.

24. The first condition is, The size of the first TA and, The size of the second TA, which is the TA of the terminal device relative to the serving cell, The method according to 23, characterized in that it relates to one or more types of information among the signal measurement results of the uplink reference signal.

25. The first condition is, The first TA is greater than or equal to the first preset threshold, The difference between the first TA and the second TA is greater than or equal to the second preset threshold, The method according to 24, characterized in that it includes one or more of the following: the signal measurement result is less than or equal to a third preset threshold.

26. The method according to any one of claims 23 to 25, characterized in that the first TA is determined by a positioning server based on the position of the terminal device, and the position of the terminal device is determined based on the signal measurement results of the uplink reference signal measured in a plurality of cells.

27. The method according to any one of claims 23 to 25, characterized in that the first TA is determined based on the signal measurement result of the uplink reference signal by the base station corresponding to the fourth cell.

28. The method according to any one of claims 23 to 27, characterized in that the third network device is a base station corresponding to the fourth cell.

29. The method according to any one of claims 23 to 28, characterized in that the uplink reference signal includes an SRS.

30. A method for positioning, A positioning method comprising the step of a third network device transmitting first instruction information to a terminal device, the first instruction information being used to instruct the terminal device to update a TA, the first instruction information being transmitted when a first TA satisfies a first condition, the first TA being determined based on an uplink reference signal transmitted by the terminal device, the first TA being the terminal device's TA for a fourth cell, and the fourth cell being the cell to which the terminal device currently belongs.

31. The first condition is, The size of the first TA and, The size of the second TA, which is the TA of the terminal device relative to the serving cell, The method according to 30, characterized in that it relates to one or more types of information among the signal measurement results of the uplink reference signal.

32. The first condition is, The first TA is greater than or equal to the first preset threshold, The difference between the first TA and the second TA is greater than or equal to the second preset threshold, The method according to 31, characterized in that it includes one or more of the following: the signal measurement result is less than or equal to a third preset threshold.

33. The method according to any one of claims 30 to 32, characterized in that the first TA is determined by a positioning server based on the position of the terminal device, and the position of the terminal device is determined based on the signal measurement results of the uplink reference signal measured in a plurality of cells.

34. The method according to any one of claims 30 to 32, characterized in that the first TA is determined based on the signal measurement result of the uplink reference signal by the base station corresponding to the fourth cell.

35. The method according to any one of claims 30 to 34, characterized in that the third network device is a base station corresponding to the fourth cell.

36. The method according to any one of claims 30 to 35, characterized in that the uplink reference signal includes an SRS.

37. Terminal device, A terminal device comprising a determination unit for determining a first beam for transmitting an uplink reference signal based on the signal measurement result of a first signal, wherein the first signal includes a downlink signal and / or an uplink signal, and the uplink reference signal is used to position the terminal device.

38. The first signal includes a downlink signal from the first cell, and the first cell includes a serving cell and / or adjacent cells. The aforementioned decision unit, The terminal device according to claim 37, wherein the first information is used to determine the first beam for transmitting the uplink reference signal to the first cell based on the first information and the signal measurement result of the downlink signal from the first cell, and the first information is used to indicate the correspondence between the downlink signal index of the first cell and the transmit beam of the terminal device.

39. The terminal device according to claim 38, characterized in that the downlink signal index of the first cell includes some of the downlink signal indices that the first cell can support, or the downlink signal index of the first cell includes an index of downlink signals that the first cell can support.

40. The terminal device according to claim 39, characterized in that the aforementioned downlink signal index is determined based on the cell in which the terminal device is located.

41. The terminal device according to any one of claims 38 to 40, characterized in that the first information is transmitted to the terminal device by a positioning server and / or base station.

42. If the target cell to which the terminal device belongs does not belong to the first cell, an establishment unit for establishing a connection with the target cell is provided. The terminal device according to any one of claims 38 to 41, further comprising a receiving unit for receiving second information from the target cell for indicating a correspondence between the downlink signal index of the target cell and the transmit beam of the terminal device.

43. A receiving unit for receiving paging messages transmitted by network equipment, wherein the paging messages are transmitted when the target cell does not belong to the first cell, and the network equipment further includes a receiving unit which includes a core network element and / or a base station corresponding to the target cell. The terminal device according to claim 42, wherein the establishment unit is used to establish a connection with the target cell based on the paging message.

44. The terminal device according to claim 43, characterized in that the target cell is determined based on the position of the terminal device, and the position of the terminal device is determined based on the signal measurement results of the uplink reference signal measured in a plurality of cells.

45. The downlink signal is SSB, the second information is used to indicate the first correspondence, the first correspondence is the correspondence between the SSB index and the SSB transmission direction when the maximum value of the SSB index is 64, and the transmission beam of the terminal equipment and the SSB transmission direction have a correspondence. The determination unit is further used in the step of determining a second correspondence and / or a third correspondence based on the first correspondence, wherein the second correspondence is the correspondence between the SSB index and the SSB transmission direction when the maximum value of the SSB index is 4, and the third correspondence is the correspondence between the SSB index and the SSB transmission direction when the maximum value of the SSB index is 8. The first correspondence, the second correspondence, and the third correspondence satisfy the following equations: Direction_4(i)=Direction_64(i*16+x1), Direction_8(i)=Direction_64(i*8+x2), Here, i represents the SSB index, i is greater than or equal to 0 and less than the maximum value of the SSB index, Direction_4(i) represents the SSB transmission direction when the maximum value of the SSB index is 4 and the SSB index is i, Direction_8(i) represents the SSB transmission direction when the maximum value of the SSB index is 8 and the SSB index is i, Direction_64(i) is the SSB transmission direction when the maximum value of the SSB index is 64 and the SSB index is i, and 0 ≤ x1 ≤ 15, 0 ≤ x2 ≤ 7, characterized in that the terminal device is as described in any one of claims 42 to 44.

46. The first beam includes beams corresponding to a plurality of cells, the plurality of cells include a second cell and a third cell, and the decision unit is The steps include determining a second beam corresponding to the second cell based on the signal measurement result of the downlink signal from the second cell, The steps include determining the third beam corresponding to the third cell based on the signal measurement results of the downlink signal from the third cell, The terminal device according to any one of claims 37 to 45, characterized in that it is used in the step of determining a first beam which is a beam common to the second beam and the third beam, based on the second beam and the third beam.

47. The terminal equipment according to any one of claims 37 to 46, characterized in that the downlink signal includes SSB and / or the uplink reference signal includes SRS.

48. A network device, wherein the network device is a first network device, and the network device is A transmitting unit for transmitting first information to a terminal device, wherein the signal measurement results of the first information and the first signal are used to determine a first beam for the terminal device to transmit an uplink reference signal, the first signal includes a downlink signal from a first cell, and the uplink reference signal includes a transmitting unit for positioning the terminal device. The network device is characterized in that the first information is used to indicate the correspondence between the downlink signal index of the first cell and the transmit beam of the terminal device.

49. The network device according to claim 48, characterized in that the downlink signal index of the first cell includes some of the downlink signal indices that the first cell can support, or the downlink signal index of the first cell includes an index of downlink signals that the first cell can support.

50. The network device according to claim 49, characterized in that the aforementioned downlink signal index is determined based on the cell in which the terminal device is located.

51. The network device according to any one of claims 48 to 50, characterized in that the first beam includes beams corresponding to a plurality of cells, the plurality of cells include a second cell and a third cell, the first beam is a beam common to the second beam and the third beam, the second beam is determined based on the signal measurement result of the downlink signal from the second cell, and the third beam is determined based on the signal measurement result of the downlink signal from the third cell.

52. The network device according to any one of claims 48 to 51, characterized in that the first network device includes a positioning server and / or a base station.

53. The network equipment according to any one of claims 48 to 52, characterized in that the downlink signal includes SSB and / or the uplink reference signal includes SRS.

54. Network equipment, The network device is a second network device, and the network device includes a transmission unit for sending a paging message to the terminal device when the target cell to which the terminal device belongs does not belong to a first cell, the paging message is used to establish a connection between the terminal device and the target cell, the connection between the terminal device and the target cell is used to transmit second information, the second information is used to indicate the correspondence between the downlink signal index of the target cell and the transmit beam of the terminal device, the first cell is a cell having a downlink signal index, and the correspondence between the downlink signal index of the first cell and the transmit beam of the terminal device is stored in the terminal device.

55. The network device according to claim 54, characterized in that the target cell is determined based on the location of the terminal device, and the location of the terminal device is determined based on the signal measurement results of the uplink reference signal measured in a plurality of cells.

56. A receiving unit for receiving second instruction information transmitted by a positioning server, wherein the second instruction information is used to instruct the terminal device that there is no correspondence between the downlink signal index of the target cell and the transmit beam of the terminal device. The network device according to claim 54 or 55, further comprising a transmitting unit for transmitting the paging message to the terminal device based on the second instruction information.

57. The network device according to any one of claims 54 to 56, characterized in that the second network device includes a base station and / or core network element corresponding to the target cell.

58. The network device according to any one of claims 54 to 57, characterized in that the downlink signal includes SSB.

59. Terminal device, A transmitting unit for transmitting an uplink reference signal, wherein the uplink reference signal is used to determine the first TA of the terminal equipment relative to the fourth cell, and the fourth cell is the cell to which the terminal equipment currently belongs. A terminal device comprising a receiving unit for receiving first instruction information transmitted by a third network device, wherein the first instruction information is used to instruct the terminal device to update the TA, and the first instruction information is transmitted when the first TA satisfies a first condition.

60. The first condition is, The size of the first TA and, The size of the second TA, which is the TA of the terminal device relative to the serving cell, The terminal device according to claim 59, characterized in that it relates to one or more types of information among the signal measurement results of the uplink reference signal.

61. The first condition is, The first TA is greater than or equal to the first preset threshold, The difference between the first TA and the second TA is greater than or equal to the second preset threshold, The terminal device according to claim 60, characterized in that it includes one or more of the following: the signal measurement result is less than or equal to a third preset threshold.

62. The terminal device according to any one of claims 59 to 61, characterized in that the first TA is determined by a positioning server based on the position of the terminal device, and the position of the terminal device is determined based on the signal measurement results of the uplink reference signal measured in a plurality of cells.

63. The terminal equipment according to any one of claims 59 to 61, characterized in that the first TA is determined based on the signal measurement result of the uplink reference signal by the base station corresponding to the fourth cell.

64. The terminal device according to any one of claims 59 to 63, characterized in that the third network device is a base station corresponding to the fourth cell.

65. The terminal device according to any one of claims 59 to 64, characterized in that the uplink reference signal includes an SRS.

66. A network device, wherein the network device is a third network device, and the network device is A network device comprising a transmitting unit for transmitting first instruction information to a terminal device, wherein the first instruction information is used to instruct the terminal device to update the TA, the first instruction information is transmitted when the first TA satisfies a first condition, the first TA is determined based on an uplink reference signal transmitted by the terminal device, the first TA is the terminal device's TA for a fourth cell, and the fourth cell is the cell to which the terminal device currently belongs.

67. The first condition is, The size of the first TA and, The size of the second TA, which is the TA of the terminal device relative to the serving cell, The network device according to claim 66, characterized in that it relates to one or more types of information among the signal measurement results of the uplink reference signal.

68. The first condition is, The first TA is greater than or equal to the first preset threshold, The difference between the first TA and the second TA is greater than or equal to the second preset threshold, The network device according to 67, characterized in that it includes one or more of the following: the signal measurement result is less than or equal to a third preset threshold.

69. The network device according to any one of claims 66 to 68, characterized in that the first TA is determined by a positioning server based on the location of the terminal device, and the location of the terminal device is determined based on the signal measurement results of the uplink reference signal measured in a plurality of cells.

70. The network equipment according to any one of claims 66 to 68, characterized in that the first TA is determined based on the signal measurement result of the uplink reference signal by the base station corresponding to the fourth cell.

71. The network device according to any one of claims 66 to 70, characterized in that the third network device is a base station corresponding to the fourth cell.

72. The network device according to any one of claims 66 to 71, characterized in that the uplink reference signal includes an SRS.

73. A terminal device comprising memory and a processor, wherein the memory is used to store a program, and the processor is used to cause the terminal device to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 11 or 23 to 29 by calling the program in the memory.

74. A network device comprising memory and a processor, wherein the memory is used to store a program, and the processor is used to cause the network device to execute the method according to any one of claims 12 to 17, 18 to 22, or 30 to 36 by calling the program in the memory.

75. A device comprising a processor that causes a program to be called from memory to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 11 or 23 to 29.

76. An apparatus comprising a processor that causes a program to be called from memory to perform the method described in any one of claims 12 to 17, 18 to 22, or 30 to 36.

77. A chip characterized by including a processor that causes a device on which the chip is mounted to execute a method according to any one of claims 1 to 11 or 23 to 29 by calling a program from memory.

78. A chip characterized by including a processor that causes a device on which the chip is mounted to execute a method according to any one of claims 12 to 17, 18 to 22, or 30 to 36 by calling a program from memory.

79. A computer-readable storage medium characterized in that it stores a program that causes a computer to execute the method described in any one of claims 1 to 11 or 23 to 29.

80. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that it stores a program that causes a computer to execute the method described in any one of claims 12 to 17, 18 to 22, or 30 to 36.

81. A computer program product characterized by including a program that causes a computer to execute the method described in any one of claims 1 to 11 or 23 to 29.

82. A computer program product characterized by including a program that causes a computer to execute the method described in any one of claims 12 to 17, 18 to 22, or 30 to 36.

83. A computer program characterized by causing a computer to execute a method according to any one of claims 1 to 11 or 23 to 29.

84. A computer program characterized by causing a computer to execute the method described in any one of claims 12 to 17, 18 to 22, or 30 to 36.

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