Positioning Reference Signal Design for Low Power Tracking

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a device, method, apparatus, and computer-readable storage medium for PRS design for low-power tracking. The method includes receiving an indication from a second device that a sounding reference signal (SRS) will be used in a positioning process for the first device unless further instructions are received, and transmitting the SRS to a third device and a fourth device, where the third device is responsible for measuring the location of the first device in the positioning process. In this way, the SRS can be applied to multiple cells, and even if a handover occurs in the UE, handover and reconfiguration of SRS resources can be avoided. This also reduces UE power consumption and positioning latency. This also reduces signaling overhead for establishing an RRC connection.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE Embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to the field of telecommunications, and more particularly to devices, methods, apparatus, and computer-readable storage media for positioning reference signal (PRS) design for low power tracking. [Background technology]

[0002] New Radio (NR) now supports native positioning. In Release 16, several solutions are specified for NR positioning. For example, solutions may include Downlink Time Difference of Arrival (DL-TDOA), Uplink Time Difference of Arrival (UL-TDOA), Downlink Angle of Arrival (DL-AoD), Uplink Angle of Arrival (UL-AoA), and Multi-cell Round Trip Time (Multi-RTT). These solutions are intended to enable Radio Access Technology (RAT) dependent and RAT independent NR positioning techniques.

[0003] Further research on NR positioning will be conducted in Release 17, with a primary focus on the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). One key objective of the NR positioning research in Release 17 is to support high accuracy (horizontal and vertical), low latency, network efficiency (scalability, RS overhead, etc.), and device efficiency (power consumption, complexity, etc.) requirements for commercial use cases. Summary of the Invention

[0004] Generally speaking, the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure provide a PRS design solution for low power tracking.

[0005] In a first aspect, a first device is provided, the first device comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured by the at least one processor to cause the first device to receive an instruction from a second device to use SRS in a positioning process of the first device unless further instructions are received, and to transmit the SRS to a third device and a fourth device, the third device being responsible for measuring a position of the first device in the positioning process.

[0006] In a second aspect, a second device is provided, the second device comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to cause the second device to generate an indication to use SRS for a positioning process of the first device according to a determination of a low power consumption requirement in the first device, and to transmit the indication to the first device unless further indication is received.

[0007] In a third aspect, a fourth device is provided, the fourth device comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code configured by the at least one processor to cause the fourth device to: determine resources for transmitting the SRS and mute the resources for transmitting the SRS in response to receiving the SRS from the first device.

[0008] In a fourth aspect, a method is provided, the method including: receiving an indication from a second device that an SRS is to be used for a positioning process of the first device unless further indication is received; and transmitting the SRS to a third device and a fourth device, the third device responsible for measuring a location of the first device in the positioning process.

[0009] In a fifth aspect, a method is provided, the method including: generating an indication that an SRS is used for a positioning process of the first device according to a determination of a low power consumption requirement in the first device, unless a further indication is received, and transmitting the indication to the first device.

[0010] In a sixth aspect, a method is provided. The method includes, in response to receiving an SRS from a first device, determining resources for transmitting the SRS and muting the resources for transmitting the SRS.

[0011] In a seventh aspect, an apparatus is provided that includes: means for receiving an indication from a second device that the SRS will be used for a positioning process of the first device unless further indication is received; and means for transmitting the SRS to a third device and a fourth device, the third device responsible for measuring a position of the first device in the positioning process.

[0012] In an eighth aspect, an apparatus is provided, comprising: means for generating an indication to use SRS for a positioning process of the first device according to a determination of a low power consumption requirement in the first device, unless further indication is received; and means for transmitting the indication to the first device.

[0013] In a ninth aspect, an apparatus is provided, comprising: means for determining resources for transmitting the SRS in response to receiving an SRS from a first device; and means for muting the resources for transmitting the SRS.

[0014] In a tenth aspect, there is provided a computer readable medium storing a computer program which, when executed by at least one processor of a device, causes the device to perform a method according to the fourth aspect.

[0015] In an eleventh aspect, there is provided a computer readable medium storing a computer program which, when executed by at least one processor of a device, causes the device to perform a method according to the fifth aspect.

[0016] In a twelfth aspect, there is provided a computer readable medium storing a computer program which, when executed by at least one processor of a device, causes the device to perform a method according to the sixth aspect.

[0017] Other features and advantages of the presently disclosed embodiments will become apparent from the following description of specific embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate, by way of example, the principles of the presently disclosed embodiments. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0018] Embodiments of the present disclosure are presented by way of example only and the advantages thereof will be described in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. [Figure 1] FIG. 1 illustrates an example environment in which an example embodiment of the present disclosure may be implemented. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 illustrates a signaling chart illustrating a process of PRS design for low power tracking, according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. [Diagram 3] FIG. 3 is a flowchart of an example method of PRS design for low power tracking in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 illustrates a flowchart of an example method of PRS design for low power tracking, in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. [Diagram 5]FIG. 5 illustrates a flowchart of an example method of PRS design for low power tracking, in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 6] FIG. 6 is a simplified block diagram of a device suitable for implementing exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 7] 7 is a block diagram of an exemplary computer-readable medium in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. Throughout the drawings, identical or similar reference numbers refer to identical or similar elements. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0019] The principles of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to some exemplary embodiments. It should be understood that these embodiments are set forth for illustrative purposes only, without implying any limitation on the scope of the present disclosure, to aid those skilled in the art in understanding and implementing the present disclosure. The disclosure described herein can be implemented in various ways other than those described below.

[0020] In the following description and claims, unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs.

[0021] References in this disclosure to "one embodiment," "an embodiment," "exemplary embodiment," and the like indicate that the embodiment being described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but do not require that all embodiments include the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment. Furthermore, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an exemplary embodiment, it is understood that it is within the knowledge of one of ordinary skill in the art to affect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments, whether or not explicitly described.

[0022] In this specification, terms such as "first" and "second" may be used to describe various elements, but it should be understood that these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are merely used to distinguish the function of the various elements. As used in this specification, the term "and / or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the listed terms.

[0023] The terms used herein are for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and are not intended to limit the exemplary embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms "a," "an," and "the" are intended to include the plural forms unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms "comprises," "comprising," "has," "having," "includes," and / or "including," as used herein, specify the presence of stated features, elements, and / or components, etc., but do not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components, and / or combinations thereof.

[0024] As used herein, the term "circuitry" may refer to one or more or all of the following: (a) a hardware-only circuit implementation (e.g., an implementation using only analog and / or digital circuitry); and (b) A combination of hardware circuitry and software, such as (where applicable) (i) a combination of analog and / or digital hardware circuitry and software / firmware; and (ii) Any part of software (including digital signal processors), software, hardware processor(s) having memory that work together to cause a device, such as a mobile phone or a server, to perform various functions; (c) A hardware circuit(s) and / or processor(s), such as a microprocessor(s) or portion of a microprocessor(s), that requires software (e.g., firmware) to operate, but the software may not be present when not necessary for operation.

[0025] This definition of circuitry applies to all uses of the term in this application, including any claims. As a further example, as used in this application, the term circuitry may simply cover a hardware circuit or processor (or processors) or a portion of a hardware circuit or processor and its (or their) accompanying software and / or firmware implementation. The term circuitry may also cover, for example, a baseband or processor integrated circuit for a mobile terminal, or a similar integrated circuit in a server, cellular network device, or other computing or network device, if applicable to a particular claim element.

[0026] As used herein, the term "communication network" refers to a network conforming to any suitable communication standard, such as a fifth generation (5G) system, Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), High Speed ​​Packet Access (HSPA), Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT), etc. Furthermore, communication between terminal devices and network devices in the communication network may be performed according to any suitable generation communication program, including but not limited to first generation (1G), second generation (2G), 2.5G, 2.75G, third generation (3G), fourth generation (4G), 4.5G, future fifth generation (5G) New Radio (NR) communication protocols, and / or any other protocols currently known or developed in the future. The embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied in various communication systems. Considering the rapid development of communication, there will of course be future communication technologies and systems in which the present disclosure may be embodied. The scope of the present disclosure should not be considered as being limited to only the above-mentioned systems.

[0027] As used herein, the term "network equipment" refers to a node in a communication network where a terminal device accesses the network and receives services therefrom. Depending on the terminology and technology applied, the network equipment may refer to, for example, a base station (BS) or access point (AP), a Node B (NodeB or NB), an evolved Node B (eNodeB or eNB), a NR next generation Node B (gNB), a remote radio unit (RRU), a radio header (RH), a remote radio head (RRH), a relay, a femto, a pico, or other low power node. The RAN split architecture includes a gNB-CU (centralized unit, RRC, SDAP, hosting PDCP) that controls multiple gNB-DUs (distributed units, RLC, MAC, hosting PHY). A relay node may correspond to the DU part of an IAB node.

[0028] The term "terminal" refers to any end device capable of wireless communication. By way of example and not limitation, a terminal may also be referred to as a communication device, user equipment (UE), subscriber station (SS), mobile subscriber station, mobile station (MS), or access terminal (AT). The terminal equipment may include, but is not limited to, mobile phones, cellular phones, smartphones, voice over IP (VoIP) phones, wireless local loop phones, tablets, wearable terminal equipment, personal digital assistants (PDAs), portable computers, desktop computers, imaging terminal equipment such as digital cameras, gaming terminal equipment, music storage and playback appliances, in-vehicle wireless terminal equipment, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, laptop embedded equipment (LEE), laptop mounted equipment (LME), USB dongles, smart devices, wireless customer premises equipment (CPE), Internet of Things (IoT) devices, wearables such as watches, head mounted displays (HMD), vehicles, drones, medical devices and applications (e.g., remote surgery), industrial devices and applications (e.g., robots and / or other wireless devices operating in the context of industrial and / or automated processing chains), consumer electronics devices, devices operating in commercial and / or industrial wireless networks, etc. The terminal equipment may also correspond to the mobile termination (MT) portion of an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node (also known as a relay node). In the following description, the terms "terminal device", "communications device", "terminal", "user equipment" and "UE" may be used interchangeably.

[0029] While the functions described herein may be performed in fixed and / or wireless network nodes in various exemplary embodiments, in other exemplary embodiments the functions may be implemented in a user equipment device (such as a mobile phone, tablet computer, laptop computer, desktop computer, mobile IoT device, or fixed IoT device), which may comprise corresponding functions, as appropriate, for example, as described in connection with the fixed and / or wireless network node(s). The user equipment device may be user equipment and / or a control device, such as a chipset or processor, configured to control the user equipment when installed therein. Examples of such functions include a bootstrap server function and / or a home subscriber server, which may be implemented in the user equipment device by providing the user equipment device with software configured to cause the user equipment device to execute in terms of these functions / nodes.

[0030] As mentioned above, native positioning has been supported in New Radio (NR). In Release 16, several solutions have been specified for NR positioning. Further work on NR positioning is expected in Release 17, with most focus on the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT).

[0031] One of the use cases in industrial IIoT is asset tracking. Asset trackers are solutions for tracking the location of mobile assets, which are becoming increasingly important for process improvement and flexibility in industrial environments. For example, asset tracking devices can be several smart tags using low-power tags, and can be disposable, persistent, or permanent. Therefore, this use case requires the combination of positioning and wireless communication technologies in a cost- and power-efficient manner.

[0032] FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary communication network 100 in which an embodiment of the present disclosure may be implemented. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the communication network 100 may include a terminal device 110 (hereinafter also referred to as a UE 110 or a first device 110). The communication network 100 may further include a network device 120-1 (hereinafter also referred to as a serving gNB 120-1 or a fifth device 120-1). The network device 120-1 may be a serving gNB of the terminal device 110. The terminal device 110 may communicate with the network device 120-1.

[0033] Further, the communication network 100 may further include network devices 120-2 and 120-3. In some scenarios, for example, when the positioning process of the terminal device 110 is initiated, the network device 120-2 can measure the position of the terminal device 110 based on the reference signal received from the terminal device 110, and generate a positioning measurement report of the terminal device 110. Hereinafter, the network device 120-2 is also referred to as a measuring gNB 120-2 or a third device 120-2. In this case, the network device 120-3 may be referred to as a non-positioning gNB 120-3 or a fourth device 120-3 that does not play a role in positioning measurement.

[0034] Communications network 100 may also include a Location Management Function (LMF) 130 that may communicate with terminal device 110 and network devices 120-1, 120-2, and 120-3. LMF 130 may be referred to as a management node in the core network.

[0035] It should be understood that the number of network devices and terminal devices shown in Figure 1 is given for illustrative purposes, without implying any limitation, and that communication network 100 may include any suitable number of network devices and terminal devices.

[0036] A sounding reference signal (SRS) design supporting UL-TDOA positioning algorithms to achieve low power tracking is envisioned in NR. The SRS design includes aspects such as SRS sequence generation and SRS resource configuration. For example, in the communication network 100, parameters of SRS sequence generation and SRS transmission occasions are set by the serving gNB 120-1. When the UE 110 moves from one cell to another cell in a handover, the new serving gNB reconfigures the parameters of the SRS sequence and the SRS transmission occasions, which may result in high power consumption of the asset tracking device.

[0037] For example, handover adds signaling overhead and complexity. When the UE accesses a new gNB, the RRC connection with the new serving gNB is re-established. The UE then obtains SRS reconfiguration information from the new serving gNB via RRC signaling.

[0038] Moreover, reconfiguring SRS resources brings additional complexity and power consumption to the UE, which has to regenerate the SRS sequence and remap the SRS to the newly allocated resources, which also brings significant power consumption and complexity.

[0039] Therefore, the embodiment of the present invention proposes a solution of SRS design for low power tracking. In this solution, the LMF can determine whether the UE should be set to a low power mode based on the UE's capability. In that case, the LMF can instruct the UE to use SRS for the positioning process unless further instructions are received, even if the UE is handed over from one serving cell to another. In this way, the UE's power consumption and positioning latency can be reduced. Also, the signaling overhead for setting up an RRC connection can be reduced.

[0040] The principles and implementations of the present disclosure are described in detail below with reference to Figures 2-5. Figure 2 is a signaling chart illustrating a process of PRS design for low power tracking according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. For discussion purposes, process 200 is described with reference to Figure 1. Process 200 may include UE 110, serving gNB 120-1, measuring gNB 120-2, non-measuring gNB 120-3 and LMF 130 as shown in Figure 1.

[0041] 2, the LMF 130 may send a request for a capability report to the UE 110 (202). If the UE 110 receives the request, the UE 110 may generate a report that includes capability information related to the power consumption of the UE 110. For example, the capability information may include the type of the UE 110, such as that the UE 110 has low tracking lag, or the battery life of the UE 110.

[0042] After generating the report, the UE 110 may transmit the report to the LMF 130 (204). Based on the report, for example, if the report indicates that the UE 110 needs low power consumption, the LMF 130 may determine a low power mode for the UE 110 and generate an indication to use the SRS for the positioning process of the UE 110 unless further indication is received (206). This indication may be considered as a low power mode indication. If the UE 110 receives this indication, it means that the UE 110 may not change the SRS for the positioning process even if the UE 110 is to be handed over from the current serving cell to a new serving cell. Hereinafter, the SRS is a reference signal that provides information about the channel quality, and may be, for example, a common SRS in case the SRS is common to multiple cells with respect to the UE, or a dedicated SRS specific to the UE.

[0043] The LMF 130 may then send a low power mode indication to the UE 110 (208). For example, the indication may be sent from the LMF 130 to the UE 110 via signaling such as the Long Term Evolution Positioning Protocol (LPP). The LMF 130 may also send the low power mode indication to the serving gNB 120-1 of the UE 110 (210). When the serving gNB 120-1 receives the low power mode indication, the serving gNB 120-1 recognizes that new configuration information for the SRS is not reconfigured for the UE 110. For example, the indication may be sent from the LMF 130 to the serving gNB 120-1 via a radio positioning protocol such as NRPPa.

[0044] The above operations describe the initiation of the low power mode of the UE 110. Next, the process of determining the SRS-related configuration information will be described in the following operations. It should be understood that the determination of the SRS-related configuration information and the allocation of the SRS-related configuration information to the UE may occur after the initiation of the low power mode. It means that the UE may be configured with the SRS-related configuration information when the UE receives a low power mode indication from the LMF 130.

[0045] In some demonstrative embodiments, the SRS-related configuration information may be determined by the serving gNB 120-1. Alternatively, the SRS-related configuration information may be determined by the LMF 130. The LMF 130 may transmit the SRS-related configuration information to the UE 110 along with the low power mode indication.

[0046] The configuration information associated with the SRS may indicate an SRS sequence and an SRS transmission opportunity, which may include at least a time / frequency resource allocation, a port number, a periodicity, etc.

[0047] Regarding the SRS sequence, generally, when the UE accesses a new gNB, the gNB shall determine the new SRS sequence according to its own priority. Therefore, the UE needs to regenerate the SRS sequence when accessing a new cell, which results in increased overhead and complexity for the UE.

[0048] To reduce complexity, the SRS-related configuration information of the present disclosure may design a dedicated SRS sequence for a UE, where an index of the SRS sequence may be bundled with an index of the UE.

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[0053] Optionally, parameters of SRS sequence generation and SRS transmission opportunities may be determined in the LMF 130. The LMF 130 may configure one SRS resource that attempts to meet the requirements of all gNBs in one RAN tracking area. For example, the LMF 130 may collect assistance information from gNBs and UEs in one RAN tracking area, such as the UE 110 and gNB 120-1 shown in FIG. 1. The gNB assistance information may include information such as traffic load, downlink / uplink subframe structure, SRS resource usage, and interference level. The UE assistance information may include UE capabilities such as supported bands and port numbers.

[0054] 2, based on the assist information, LMF 130 may determine configuration information related to the SRS (212). LMF 130 may then send the configuration information related to the SRS to UE 110, e.g., via LPP signaling (214). LMF 130 may also send the configuration information related to the SRS to serving gNB 120-1, e.g., via NRPPa signaling (216).

[0055] As another option, the parameters of the SRS sequence generation and SRS transmission opportunity can be determined at the serving gNB 120-1. For example, the serving gNB 120-1 can determine the parameters of the SRS sequence generation and SRS transmission opportunity based on the traffic load, the downlink / uplink subframe structure, the SRS resource usage and the interference level (218). The serving gNB 120-1 may then transmit the SRS-related configuration information to the UE 110 (220), e.g., by RRC signaling. The serving gNB 120-1 may also transmit the SRS-related configuration information to the LMF 130, e.g., via NRPPa signaling (222).

[0056] After the UE receives configuration information related to the SRS, a positioning process for UE 110 may be initiated when the UE moves, for example, to the edge of the range of serving gNB 120-1.

[0057] For the positioning process of UE 110, LMF 130 may instruct a measuring gNB, e.g., measuring gNB 120-2, around the serving cell of UE 110 to perform positioning measurement with configuration of UL positioning assistance information. For example, LMF 130 may send configuration information related to the SRS configured for UE 110 to measuring gNB 120-2 (224).

[0058] When UE 110 moves to a new cell, the UL SRS transmission of UE 110 for the positioning process may interfere with other UL transmissions of the UE in the new cell. Thus, to avoid interference with other UL transmissions, LMF 130 may transmit configuration information related to the SRS configured for UE 110 to a non-measuring gNB, e.g., non-measuring gNB 120-3 (226).

[0059] Based on the received SRS configuration, the UE 110 may generate (228) an SRS and transmit (230) the UL SRS to the measurement gNB 120-2 for positioning measurements during the SRS transmission opportunity.

[0060] Based on the UL positioning assistance information provided by LMF 130, measuring gNB 120-2 may perform positioning measurements during the window of SRS transmission opportunity and send measurement reports to LMF 130 (234). LMF 130 may then perform a position calculation for UE 110 based on the measurement reports (236).

[0061] UE 110 may also transmit the UL SRS to non-measurement gNB 120-3 (232). Once the non-measurement gNB 120-3 receives the UL SRS based on the UL positioning assistance information provided by LMF 130, the non-measurement gNB 120-3 may determine resources for transmitting the SRS and mute the SRS transmission during the SRS transmission opportunity.

[0062] In some demonstrative embodiments, the first device 110 may determine whether the interference level from the SRS transmission exceeds a threshold level. If the non-measuring gNB 120-3 determines that the interference level from the SRS transmission exceeds a threshold level, the non-measuring gNB 120-3 may mute the SRS transmission to avoid interference.

[0063] If the non-measuring gNB120-3 determines that the interference level from the SRS transmission is below a threshold level, it may not need to mute resources to improve resource utilization.

[0064] In this way, the UE power consumption and positioning latency can be reduced, while the signaling overhead for setting up an RRC connection may also be reduced.

[0065] 3 is a flowchart of an example method 300 of PRS design for low power tracking, in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. Method 300 may be implemented in first device 110, as shown in FIG. 1. For discussion purposes, method 300 will be described with reference to FIG.

[0066] At 310, the first device 110 receives an indication from the second device 130 that SRS will be used in the positioning process of the first device unless further indication is received.

[0067] In some demonstrative embodiments, the first device 110 may determine capability information regarding the power consumption of the first device and transmit a capability report to the second device based on the capability information.

[0068] At 320, the first device 110 transmits the generated SRS to the third device 120-2 and the fourth device 120-3, where the third device 120-2 is responsible for measuring the location of the first device 110 in the positioning process, and the fourth device 120-3 is different from the third device 120-2.

[0069] In some example embodiments, the first device 110 may receive configuration information associated with the SRS indicating an index of the first device and a target SRS sequence associated with a transmission opportunity for the SRS.

[0070] In some exemplary embodiments, configuration information related to the SRS is received from the second device via Long Term Evolution Positioning Protocol signaling.

[0071] In some exemplary embodiments, configuration information related to the SRS is received from a fifth device 120-1 serving the first device via radio resource control signaling.

[0072] In some exemplary embodiments, the SRS is generated based on an SRS sequence associated with an index of the first device, the SRS sequence being determined based on configuration information associated with the SRS.

[0073] In some example embodiments, when the first device determines to be handed over from the serving cell to the target cell, the first device may generate an SRS based on configuration information associated with the SRS and determine a transmission opportunity for the SRS based on the configuration information associated with the SRS.

[0074] In some exemplary embodiments, the first device comprises a terminal device, the second device comprises a location management function, the third device comprises a network device, and the fourth device comprises a network device.

[0075] In some exemplary embodiments, the fifth device comprises a network appliance.

[0076] 4 is a flowchart of an example method 400 of PRS design for low power tracking, in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. Method 400 may be implemented in second device 130, as shown in FIG. 1. For purposes of discussion, method 400 will be described with reference to FIG.

[0077] At 410, the second device 130 generates an indication that the sounding reference signal (SRS) configuration will be used for the positioning process of the first device unless further indication is received if the second device 130 determines a low power consumption requirement in the first device.

[0078] In some demonstrative embodiments, when the second device 130 receives a capability report from the first device, the second device 130 may determine a low power consumption requirement based on the capability information regarding the power consumption of the first device determined from the capability report.

[0079] At 420, the second device 130 sends an instruction to the first device.

[0080] In some exemplary embodiments, the second device 130 may generate configuration information associated with the SRS indicating an index of the first device and a target SRS sequence associated with a transmission opportunity for the SRS, and transmit the configuration information associated with the SRS to the first device via Long Term Evolution Positioning Protocol signaling.

[0081] In some exemplary embodiments, the second device 130 may determine a reference SRS sequence and generate a target SRS sequence for the first device based on the reference SRS sequence and an index of the first device. The second device may further determine a transmission opportunity for the SRS and generate configuration information associated with the SRS based on the target SRS sequence and the transmission opportunity.

[0082] In some exemplary embodiments, the second device 130 may obtain configuration information related to the SRS from a fifth device that provides service to the first device via a wireless positioning protocol.

[0083] In some exemplary embodiments, the second device 130 generates positioning assistance information based on at least configuration information associated with the SRS, and transmits the positioning assistance information to the third device and the fourth device, and the third device may be responsible for measuring the location of the first device in the positioning process.

[0084] In some exemplary embodiments, the second device 130 may transmit configuration information related to the SRS to a fifth device that provides services to the first device via a wireless positioning protocol.

[0085] In some exemplary embodiments, the second device 130 may send instructions to a fifth device, a third device, and a fourth device that provide services to the first device, and the third device may be responsible for measuring the location of the first device in a positioning process.

[0086] In some exemplary embodiments, the first device comprises a terminal device and the second device comprises a location management function.

[0087] In some exemplary embodiments, the third device comprises a network device and the fourth device comprises a network device.

[0088] In some exemplary embodiments, the fifth device comprises a network appliance.

[0089] 5 is a flowchart of an example method 500 of PRS design for low power tracking, in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. Method 500 may be implemented in fourth device 120-3 as shown in FIG. 1. For purposes of discussion, method 500 will be described with reference to FIG.

[0090] At 510, the fourth device 120-3 determines resources for transmitting the SRS if the fourth device 120-3 receives the SRS from the first device.

[0091] At 520, the fourth device 120-3 mutes resources for transmitting the SRS.

[0092] In some exemplary embodiments, the fourth device 120-3 may receive positioning assistance information from the second device, where the positioning assistance information includes at least an SRS configuration used for the positioning process of the first device, and determine an interference level of the SRS and a resource for transmitting the SRS based on the configuration information related to the SRS. The fourth device may mute the resource for transmitting the SRS if it determines that the interference level exceeds a threshold level.

[0093] In some exemplary embodiments, the first device comprises a terminal device and the fourth device comprises a network device.

[0094] In some exemplary embodiments, the second device includes location management functionality.

[0095] In some demonstrative embodiments, an apparatus capable of executing the method 300 (e.g., implemented in the UE 110) may comprise means for performing each step of the method 300. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuit module or a software module.

[0096] In some exemplary embodiments, the apparatus comprises means for receiving an indication from the second device that the SRS will be used for a positioning process of the first device unless further indication is received, and means for transmitting the SRS to a third device and a fourth device, the third device being responsible for measuring the location of the first device in the positioning process.

[0097] In some exemplary embodiments, an apparatus capable of executing method 400 (e.g., implemented in LMF 130) may comprise means for performing each step of method 400. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuit or a software module.

[0098] In some demonstrative embodiments, the apparatus comprises means for generating, in accordance with a determination that an expected level of power consumption of the first device is lower than a threshold level, an indication that SRS will be used for a positioning process of the first device unless further indication is received, and means for transmitting the indication to the first device.

[0099] In some demonstrative embodiments, an apparatus capable of executing method 500 (e.g., implemented in a non-measurement gNB 120-3) may comprise means for performing each step of method 500. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuit module or a software module.

[0100] In some demonstrative embodiments, the apparatus comprises means for determining an interference level of the SRS in response to receiving the SRS from the first device, and means for muting transmission of the SRS in accordance with a determination that the interference level exceeds a threshold level.

[0101] 6 is a simplified block diagram of a device 600 suitable for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure. The device 600 may be provided to implement a communication apparatus such as the UE 110, the LMF 130, and the non-measurement gNB 120-3, for example, as shown in FIG 1. As shown, the device 600 includes one or more processors 610, one or more memories 620 coupled to the processor 610, and one or more transmitters and / or receivers (TX / RX) 640 coupled to the processor 610.

[0102] The TX / RX 640 is for bidirectional communication. The TX / RX 640 has at least one antenna to enable communication. The communication interface may represent any interface required for communication with other network elements.

[0103] The processor 610 may be of any type suitable for a local technology network, including, by way of non-limiting example, one or more of a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a microprocessor, a digital signal processor (DSP), and a processor based on a multi-core processor architecture. The device 600 may have multiple processors, such as application specific integrated circuit chips that are slaved in time to a clock that synchronizes a main processor.

[0104] The memory 620 may include one or more non-volatile memories and one or more volatile memories. Examples of non-volatile memories include, but are not limited to, read only memory (ROM) 624, electrically programmable read only memory (EPROM), flash memory, hard disks, compact disks (CDs), digital video disks (DVDs), and other magnetic and / or optical storage devices. Examples of volatile memories include, but are not limited to, random access memory (RAM) 622 and other volatile memories that do not persist through power interruption periods.

[0105] The computer program 630 includes computer executable instructions that are executed by the associated processor 610. The program 630 may be stored in the ROM 620. The processor 610 may load the program 630 into the RAM 620 to perform any suitable operations and processes.

[0106] The embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by the program 630 such that the device 600 may execute any process of the present disclosure as described with reference to Figures 2 to 5. The embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented by hardware or a combination of software and hardware.

[0107] In some embodiments, the program 630 may be tangibly included in a computer readable medium that may be included in the device 600 (such as in memory 620) or other storage accessible by the device 600. The device 600 may load the program 630 from the computer readable medium into RAM 622 for execution. The computer readable medium may include any type of tangible non-volatile storage device, such as a ROM, an EPROM, a flash memory, a hard disk, a CD, a DVD, etc. FIG. 7 shows an example of a computer readable medium 700 in the form of a CD or DVD. The computer readable medium has the program 630 stored thereon.

[0108] In general, various embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic, or any combination thereof. Some aspects may be implemented in hardware, and other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software that may be executed by a controller, microprocessor, or other computing device. Although various aspects of the embodiments of the present disclosure are illustrated and described as block diagrams, flow charts, or using some other graphical representation, it will be understood that the blocks, devices, systems, techniques, or methods described herein may be implemented in, by way of non-limiting examples, hardware, software, firmware, special purpose circuits or logic, general purpose hardware or controllers or other computing devices, or some combination thereof.

[0109] The present disclosure also provides at least one computer program product embodied in a non-transitory computer readable storage medium. The computer program product includes computer executable instructions, such as those included in program modules, that execute on a target real or virtual processor device to perform the methods 300, 400 and 500 as described above with reference to Figures 3-5. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The functionality of the program modules may be combined or split among program modules as desired in various embodiments. Machine executable instructions for program modules may be executed in local or distributed devices. In distributed devices, program modules may be located in both local and remote storage media.

[0110] The program codes for implementing the methods of the present disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. These program codes may be provided to a processor or controller of a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, or other programmable data processing device, and when executed by the processor or controller, the program codes cause the functions / operations specified in the flowcharts and / or block diagrams to be implemented. The program codes may run entirely on the machine, partly on the machine as a stand-alone software package, partly on the machine and partly on a remote machine, or entirely on a remote machine or server.

[0111] In the context of the present disclosure, computer program code or associated data may be transmitted by any suitable carrier to enable a device, apparatus, or processor to perform the various processes and operations as described above. Examples of carriers include signals, computer readable media, etc.

[0112] The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. The computer readable medium may include, but is not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the above. More specific examples of the computer readable storage medium include an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of these.

[0113] Furthermore, although operations are depicted in a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring such operations to be performed in the particular order shown, or in any sequential order, or all of the operations depicted, to achieve desirable results. In certain circumstances, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Similarly, although some specific implementation details are included in the above description, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the disclosure, but rather as descriptions of features that may be specific to certain embodiments. Certain features that are described in the context of separate embodiments may also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment may also be implemented in multiple embodiments separately or in any suitable subcombination.

[0114] Although the present disclosure has been described in language specific to structural features and / or methodological acts, it will be understood that the present disclosure as defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.

Claims

1. At least one processor; at least one memory containing computer program code; A first device comprising: The at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to cause the first device, using the at least one processor, to at least: receiving an indication from a second device that a sounding reference signal (SRS) will be used for a positioning process of the first device unless a further indication is received; transmitting the SRS to a third device; configured to execute the third device is a measurement base station; the first device is a terminal device, the second device is a device having a location management function; the first, second and third devices are included in a communications network; First device.

2. The first device further comprises: determining capability information relating to power consumption of the first device; sending a capability report to the second device based on the capability information; The first device according to claim 1 .

3. 2. The first device of claim 1, wherein the first device is further adapted to receive configuration information related to an SRS indicating an index of the first device and a target SRS sequence associated with a transmission opportunity for the SRS.

4. The first device of claim 1 , wherein the SRS is generated based on an SRS sequence associated with an index of the first device, the SRS sequence being determined based on configuration information associated with the SRS.

5. The first device is generating an SRS based on configuration information related to an SRS according to a determination that the first device is handed over from a serving cell to a target cell; determining a transmission opportunity for the SRS based on the configuration information; Transmitting the SRS at the transmission opportunity; The SRS is transmitted by The first device of claim 1 .

6. The SRS is transmitted to a fourth device, and the resource on which the SRS is transmitted is muted by the fourth device; the fourth device is a non-measuring base station; the fourth device is included in the communication network; The first device of claim 1 .

7. At least one processor; at least one memory containing computer program code; A second device comprising: The at least one memory and the computer program code are adapted to transmit, using the at least one processor, to the second device at least: generating an indication according to a determination of a low power consumption requirement at the first device that a sounding reference signal (SRS) is to be used for a positioning process of said first device unless a further indication is received; transmitting the instruction to the first device; The device is configured to: the first device is a terminal device, the second device is a device having a location management function; the first and second devices being included in a communications network; Second device.

8. The second device further comprises: in response to receiving a capability report from the first device, determining the low power consumption requirement based on capability information regarding power consumption of the first device determined from the capability report. The second device according to claim 7 .

9. The second device further comprises: generating configuration information associated with the SRS indicating an index of the first device and a target SRS sequence associated with a transmission opportunity for the SRS; transmitting the configuration information to the first device via Long Term Evolution Positioning Protocol signaling; The second device according to claim 7 .

10. The second device is determining a reference SRS sequence; generating the target SRS sequence for the first device based on the reference SRS sequence and the index of the first device; determining the transmission opportunity for the SRS; and generating the configuration information based on the target SRS sequence and the transmission opportunity; The second device of claim 9 , adapted to generate the configuration information by

11. The second device is further configured to obtain configuration information from a fifth device providing a service to the first device via a new wireless positioning protocol signaling A; the fifth device is a serving base station; the fifth device is included in the communication network; The second device according to claim 7.

12. The second device further comprises: generating positioning assist information based on at least the configuration information; transmitting the positioning assistance information to a third device and a fourth device, the third device being responsible for determining the location of the first device in the positioning process; It was made like this, the third device is a measurement base station; the fourth device is a non-measuring base station; the third and fourth devices are included in the communication network; The second device according to claim 9.

13. The second device is further configured to transmit the configuration information to a fifth device providing services to the first device via a wireless positioning protocol; the fifth device is a serving base station; the fifth device is included in the communication network; The second device according to claim 9.

14. The second device further comprises: sending said instructions to a fifth device, a third device and a fourth device providing services to said first device, said third device being responsible for determining the location of said first device in said positioning process; It was made like this, the third device is a measurement base station; the fourth device is a non-measuring base station; the fifth device is a serving base station; the third, fourth and fifth devices are included in a communications network; The second device according to claim 7.

15. receiving, at a first device, an indication from a second device that a sounding reference signal (SRS) will be used for a positioning process of the first device unless further indications are received; transmitting the SRS to a third device; Including, the third device is a measurement base station; the first device is a terminal device, the second device is a device having a location management function; the first, second and third devices are included in a communications network; method.

16. determining capability information relating to power consumption of the first device; sending a capabilities report to the second device based on the capabilities information; The method of claim 15 further comprising:

17. 16. The method of claim 15, further comprising receiving configuration information related to an SRS indicating an index of the first device and a target SRS sequence associated with a transmission opportunity for the SRS.

18. The method of claim 15 , wherein the SRS is generated based on an SRS sequence associated with an index of the first device, the SRS sequence being determined based on configuration information associated with an SRS.

19. Transmitting the SRS generating an SRS based on configuration information related to an SRS according to a determination that the first device is handed over from a serving cell to a target cell; determining a transmission opportunity for the SRS based on the configuration information; Transmitting the SRS at the transmission opportunity; 16. The method of claim 15, comprising:

20. The SRS is transmitted to a fourth device, and a resource on which the SRS is transmitted is muted by the fourth device; the fourth device is a non-measuring base station; the fourth device is included in the communication network; The method of claim 15.

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