Communication method and apparatus

Abstract

A communication method and apparatus, which are used for improving positioning accuracy. A first base station receives a frequency hopping positioning reference signal from a terminal device, and determines first channel measurement information on the basis of the frequency hopping positioning reference signal; a first apparatus receives the first channel measurement information from the first base station, and determines second channel measurement information, wherein the second channel measurement information is determined on the basis of the frequency hopping positioning reference signal received by a second base station from the terminal device; and the first apparatus determines, on the basis of the first channel measurement information and the second channel measurement information, a time difference of arrival between the time at which the frequency hopping reference signal arrives at the first base station and the time at which the frequency hopping reference signal arrives at the second base station, wherein the time difference of arrival is used for positioning the terminal device. A first apparatus determines, by means of first channel measurement information and second channel measurement information, a time difference of arrival between the time at which a frequency hopping reference signal arrives at a first base station and the time at which the frequency hopping reference signal arrives at a second base station, so that a phase error introduced by the frequency hopping positioning reference signal of a terminal device can be eliminated, thereby ensuring positioning accuracy.

Description

Communication method and device

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the State Intellectual Property Office of China on November 3, 2023, with application number 202311462388.2 and application name “A Communication Method and Device”, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference into this application. Technical Field

[0003] The present application relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to a communication method and device. Background Art

[0004] In a terminal device positioning scenario, a basic requirement is that the terminal device sends positioning reference signals to multiple base stations. These base stations measure the positioning reference signals, obtain the time of arrival (TOA) of the positioning reference signals at the base stations, and then calculate the time difference of arrival (TDOA) between different base stations. The terminal device is then positioned based on TDOA. Therefore, positioning accuracy is positively correlated with TOA measurement accuracy.

[0005] At present, some studies have shown that the measurement accuracy of TOA is positively correlated with the bandwidth of the positioning reference signal, that is, the larger the bandwidth of the positioning reference signal, the higher the measurement accuracy of TOA. Therefore, in some scenarios with smaller bandwidths, such as passive Internet of Things scenarios, in order to improve positioning accuracy, it can be achieved by increasing the bandwidth corresponding to the positioning reference signal. For example, one method of increasing the bandwidth of the positioning reference signal is to send the positioning reference signal on different frequency domain resources on different time domain symbols, and splice the channels in different frequency domains obtained based on the positioning reference signal and channel estimation on different time domain symbols, thereby combining the low-bandwidth signals on multiple time domain symbols into a large-bandwidth signal to improve positioning accuracy.

[0006] However, due to the limitations of the hardware capabilities of terminal devices in scenarios such as passive Internet of Things, it cannot be guaranteed that the initial phase of the clock is consistent when sending the positioning reference signal each time the frequency hopping is performed, which may cause errors in the spliced ​​channel and thus reduce the positioning accuracy.

[0007] Summary of the Invention

[0008] The present application provides a communication method and device for improving positioning accuracy.

[0009] In a first aspect, the present application provides a communication method, which may include: a first base station receiving a frequency hopping positioning reference signal from a terminal device, and determining first channel measurement information based on the frequency hopping positioning reference signal; the first base station then sending the first channel measurement information to a first device, and the first device determining second channel measurement information; the second channel measurement information is determined based on the frequency hopping positioning reference signal received by the second base station from the terminal device; the first device determining, based on the first channel measurement information and the second channel measurement information, a time difference of arrival of the frequency hopping reference signal to the first base station and the second base station. The time difference of arrival is used to locate the terminal device. The first base station is a positioning reference base station.

[0010] Through the above method, the first device determines the arrival time difference of the frequency hopping reference signal to the first base station and the second base station through the first channel measurement information and the second channel measurement information, which can eliminate the phase error introduced by the frequency hopping positioning reference signal of the terminal device, thereby ensuring positioning accuracy.

[0011] In one possible design, the first channel measurement information is channel measurement information of a first channel, which is the channel between the terminal device and the first base station; the second channel measurement information is channel measurement information of a second channel, which is the channel between the terminal device and the second base station.

[0012] In one possible design, the first device determines the arrival time difference of the frequency hopping reference signal to the first base station and the second base station based on the first channel measurement information and the second channel measurement information, including: the first device determines the channel phase difference between the first base station and the second base station based on the first channel measurement information and the second channel measurement information; the first device determines the arrival time difference of the frequency hopping reference signal to the first base station and the second base station based on the channel phase difference between the first base station and the second base station. In this way, the first device determines the arrival time difference of the frequency hopping reference signal to the first base station and the second base station based on the channel phase difference between the first base station and the second base station, which can eliminate the phase error introduced by the terminal device's frequency hopping positioning reference signal, thereby ensuring positioning accuracy.

[0013] In one possible design, the first device may be the second base station; the first base station may send the first channel measurement information to the first device by: the first base station directly sending the first channel measurement information to the second base station; or, the first base station may send the first channel measurement information to the second base station through a positioning server. Accordingly, the first device may determine the second channel measurement information by: the second base station receives the frequency hopping positioning reference signal from the terminal device and determines the second channel measurement information based on the frequency hopping positioning reference signal. In this way, in a scenario where the first device is the second base station, the second base station can accurately obtain the channel measurement information corresponding to each of the first and second base stations.

[0014] In one possible design, the second base station sends the arrival time difference to the positioning server, and the positioning server receives the arrival time difference from the second base station. In this way, in a scenario where the first device is the second base station, the second base station can report the arrival time difference to the positioning server, so that the positioning server can locate the terminal device based on the positioning time difference.

[0015] In one possible design, the positioning server sends configuration information of the frequency-hopping positioning reference signal to the second base station; accordingly, the second base station receives the configuration information of the frequency-hopping positioning reference signal from the positioning server. In a scenario where the first device is the second base station, the second base station can obtain the configuration information of the frequency-hopping positioning reference signal from the positioning server.

[0016] In one possible design, the positioning server sends a measurement request to the second base station, where the measurement request is used to instruct the first device to perform positioning measurements based on the frequency-hopping positioning reference signal. In response, the second base station receives the measurement request from the positioning server. In this way, in a scenario where the first device is the second base station, the second base station can subsequently perform positioning measurements based on the measurement request.

[0017] In one possible design, the first device may be a positioning server. The first device may determine the second channel measurement information by: the positioning server receiving the second channel measurement information from the second base station. In this way, the positioning server can accurately obtain the second channel measurement information.

[0018] In one possible design, the positioning server sends configuration information for the frequency-hopping positioning reference signal to the first base station and the second base station; correspondingly, the first base station and the second base station receive the configuration information for the frequency-hopping positioning reference signal from the positioning server. In this way, in a scenario where the first device is a positioning server, the first base station and the second base station can accurately obtain the configuration information for the frequency-hopping positioning reference signal.

[0019] In one possible design, the positioning server sends a measurement request to the first base station and the second base station, where the measurement request is used to instruct the first base station and the second base station to perform positioning measurements based on the frequency-hopping positioning reference signal. In response, the first base station and the second base station receive the measurement request from the positioning server. In this way, in a scenario where the first device is a positioning server, the first base station and the second base station can subsequently perform positioning measurements based on the measurement request.

[0020] In one possible design, the configuration information of the frequency hopping positioning reference signal may include at least one of the following: a frequency hopping interval, a bandwidth corresponding to one frequency hopping positioning reference signal, a frequency hopping period, or a number of frequency hopping times.

[0021] In one possible design, the first channel measurement information may include at least one of the following: a frequency domain estimation value of the first channel, a time domain estimation value of the first channel, or a phase estimation value of the first channel; the second channel measurement information may include at least one of the following: a frequency domain estimation value of the second channel, a time domain estimation value of the second channel, or a phase estimation value of the second channel.

[0022] In one possible design, the channel phase difference may be the product of the conjugate of the frequency domain estimation value of the first channel and the frequency domain estimation value of the second channel; or, the channel phase difference may be the ratio of the frequency domain estimation value of the first channel to the frequency domain estimation value of the second channel; or, the channel phase difference may be the convolution of the time domain estimation value of the first channel and the time domain estimation value of the second channel; or, the channel phase difference may be the correlation sequence of the time domain estimation value of the first channel and the time domain estimation value of the second channel; or, the channel phase difference may be the difference between the phase estimation value of the first channel and the phase estimation value of the second channel. In this way, the channel phase difference can be flexibly determined in a variety of ways.

[0023] In a second aspect, the present application further provides a communication device, which can be applied to a first device, or a module in the first device (such as a processor, a chip, or a chip system, etc.). The communication device may include a processing unit. Wherein: the processing unit is used to perform the following operations: determine first channel measurement information and first channel measurement information, the first base station is a positioning reference base station; the first channel measurement information is determined based on the frequency hopping positioning reference signal received by the first base station from the terminal device, and the second channel measurement information is determined based on the frequency hopping positioning reference signal received by the second base station from the terminal device; based on the first channel measurement information and the second channel measurement information, determine the arrival time difference of the frequency hopping reference signal to the first base station and the second base station; the arrival time difference is used to locate the terminal device.

[0024] In one possible design, the first channel measurement information is channel measurement information of a first channel, which is the channel between the terminal device and the first base station; the second channel measurement information is channel measurement information of a second channel, which is the channel between the terminal device and the second base station.

[0025] In one possible design, when the processing unit determines the arrival time difference of the frequency hopping reference signal to the first base station and the second base station based on the first channel measurement information and the second channel measurement information, it can be used to: determine the channel phase difference between the first base station and the second base station based on the first channel measurement information and the second channel measurement information; determine the arrival time difference of the frequency hopping reference signal to the first base station and the second base station based on the channel phase difference between the first base station and the second base station.

[0026] In one possible design, the communication device may be the second base station; the second base station may include a transceiver unit, and the transceiver unit is used for communication. When determining the first channel measurement information, the processing unit may be configured to: control the transceiver unit to receive the first channel measurement information from the first base station; or control the transceiver unit to receive the first channel measurement information from a positioning server, where the first channel measurement information comes from the first base station; when determining the second channel measurement information, the processing unit may be configured to: control the transceiver unit to receive the frequency hopping positioning reference signal from the terminal device; and determine the second channel measurement information based on the frequency hopping positioning reference signal.

[0027] In one possible design, the transceiver unit may also be used to send the arrival time difference to the positioning server.

[0028] In one possible design, the transceiver unit may also be used to: receive configuration information of the frequency hopping positioning reference signal from the positioning server.

[0029] In one possible design, the transceiver unit may also be used to: receive a measurement request from the positioning server, where the measurement request is used to instruct the first device to perform positioning measurement based on the frequency hopping positioning reference signal.

[0030] In one possible design, the communication device may be a positioning server; the positioning server also includes a transceiver unit, which is used for communication; when determining the first channel measurement information and the second channel measurement information, the processing unit may be used to: control the transceiver unit to receive the first channel measurement information from the first base station, and receive the second channel measurement information from the second base station.

[0031] In one possible design, the transceiver unit may also be used to send configuration information of the frequency hopping positioning reference signal to the first base station and the second base station.

[0032] In one possible design, the transceiver unit can also be used to: send a measurement request to the first base station and the second base station, and the measurement request is used to instruct the first base station and the second base station to perform positioning measurement based on the frequency hopping positioning reference signal.

[0033] In one possible design, the configuration information of the frequency hopping positioning reference signal may include at least one of the following: a frequency hopping interval, a bandwidth corresponding to one frequency hopping positioning reference signal, a frequency hopping period, or a number of frequency hopping times.

[0034] In one possible design, the first channel measurement information may include at least one of the following: a frequency domain estimation value of the first channel, a time domain estimation value of the first channel, or a phase estimation value of the first channel; the second channel measurement information may include at least one of the following: a frequency domain estimation value of the second channel, a time domain estimation value of the second channel, or a phase estimation value of the second channel.

[0035] In one possible design, the channel phase difference is the product of the frequency domain estimation value of the first channel and the conjugate of the frequency domain estimation value of the second channel; or, the channel phase difference is the ratio of the frequency domain estimation value of the first channel to the frequency domain estimation value of the second channel; or, the channel phase difference is the convolution of the time domain estimation value of the first channel and the time domain estimation value of the second channel; or, the channel phase difference is the correlation sequence of the time domain estimation value of the first channel and the time domain estimation value of the second channel; or, the channel phase difference is the difference between the phase estimation value of the first channel and the phase estimation value of the second channel.

[0036] In a third aspect, the present application also provides a communication device, which can be applied to a first base station, or a module in the first base station (such as a processor, a chip, or a chip system, etc.). The communication device may include a transceiver unit and a processing unit. Among them: the transceiver unit is used to receive a frequency hopping positioning reference signal from a terminal device; the first base station is a positioning reference base station; the processing unit is used to determine first channel measurement information based on the frequency hopping positioning reference signal; the transceiver unit is also used to send the first channel measurement information to a second base station or a positioning server; the first channel measurement information is used to determine the arrival time difference of the frequency hopping positioning reference signal to the first base station and the second base station; the arrival time difference is used for positioning the terminal device.

[0037] In one possible design, the first channel measurement information is channel measurement information of a first channel, and the first channel is a channel between the terminal device and the first base station.

[0038] In one possible design, the first channel measurement information is used to determine the arrival time difference of the frequency hopping positioning reference signal to the first base station and the second base station, including: the first channel measurement information is used to determine the channel phase difference between the first base station and the second base station; the channel phase difference is used to determine the arrival time difference of the frequency hopping positioning reference signal to the first base station and the second base station.

[0039] In one possible design, the first channel measurement information may include at least one of the following: a frequency domain estimation value of the first channel, a time domain estimation value of the first channel, or a phase estimation value of the first channel.

[0040] In one possible design, the channel phase difference is the product of the frequency domain estimation value of the first channel and the conjugate of the frequency domain estimation value of the second channel; or, the channel phase difference is the ratio of the frequency domain estimation value of the first channel to the frequency domain estimation value of the second channel; or, the channel phase difference is the convolution of the time domain estimation value of the first channel and the time domain estimation value of the second channel; or, the channel phase difference is the correlation sequence of the time domain estimation value of the first channel and the time domain estimation value of the second channel; or, the channel phase difference is the difference between the phase estimation value of the first channel and the phase estimation value of the second channel; wherein, at least one of the frequency domain estimation value of the second channel, the time domain estimation value of the second channel or the phase estimation value of the second channel is second channel measurement information, and the second channel measurement information is determined based on the frequency hopping positioning reference signal received by the second base station from the terminal device.

[0041] In one possible design, the second channel measurement information is channel measurement information of a second channel, and the second channel is a channel between the terminal device and the second base station.

[0042] In one possible design, the transceiver unit may also be used to: receive configuration information of the frequency hopping positioning reference signal from the positioning server.

[0043] In one possible design, the configuration information of the frequency hopping positioning reference signal may include at least one of the following: a frequency hopping interval, a bandwidth corresponding to one frequency hopping positioning reference signal, a frequency hopping period, or a number of frequency hopping times.

[0044] In one possible design, the transceiver unit may also be used to: receive a measurement request from the positioning server, where the measurement request is used to instruct the first base station to perform positioning measurement based on the frequency hopping positioning reference signal.

[0045] In a fourth aspect, the present application further provides a communication device, which may be a first device. The communication device has the function of implementing the first aspect or each possible design example of the first aspect.

[0046] In one possible design, the communication device includes a processor and, optionally, a transceiver and / or memory. The transceiver is used to send and receive information and to communicate and interact with other devices in the system. The processor is configured to support the communication device in performing the corresponding functions of the first device in the first aspect or various possible design examples of the first aspect. The memory is coupled to the processor and stores program instructions and data necessary for the communication device.

[0047] In one possible embodiment, the communication device may be a chip, which may include an input and output interface and a processor, wherein the input and output interface is used to send and receive signals, data, messages or information, and to communicate and interact with other devices in the communication system, and the processor is configured to support the communication device to perform the corresponding functions of the first device in the above-mentioned first aspect or various possible design examples of the first aspect.

[0048] In a fifth aspect, the present application further provides a communication device, which may be a first base station. The communication device has the function of implementing the first base station in the above-mentioned first aspect or various possible design examples of the first aspect.

[0049] In one possible design, the communication device includes a processor and, optionally, a transceiver and / or memory. The transceiver is used to send and receive information and to communicate and interact with other devices in the system. The processor is configured to support the communication device in performing the corresponding functions of the first base station in the first aspect or various possible design examples of the first aspect. The memory is coupled to the processor and stores program instructions and data necessary for the communication device.

[0050] In one possible embodiment, the communication device may be a chip, which may include an input and output interface and a processor, wherein the input and output interface is used to send and receive signals, data, messages or information, and to communicate and interact with other devices in the communication system, and the processor is configured to support the communication device to perform the corresponding functions of the first base station in the above-mentioned first aspect or various possible design examples of the first aspect.

[0051] In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication system, which may include the first base station, second base station and positioning server mentioned above.

[0052] In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium, which stores program instructions. When the program instructions are run on a computer, the computer executes the method described in the first aspect of the embodiment of the present application and any possible design thereof. Exemplarily, the computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer. Taking this as an example but not limited to: the computer-readable medium may include a non-transitory computer-readable medium, a random-access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, a magnetic disk storage medium or other magnetic storage device, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and can be accessed by a computer.

[0053] In an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer program product, comprising instructions, which, when executed on a computer, enable the method described in the above-mentioned first aspect or any possible design of the first aspect to be executed.

[0054] In the ninth aspect, the present application also provides a chip, including a processor, which is coupled to a memory and is used to read and execute program instructions stored in the memory so that the chip implements the method described in the above-mentioned first aspect or any possible design of the first aspect.

[0055] For each of the above-mentioned aspects from the second to the ninth aspect and the technical effects that may be achieved by each of the aspects, please refer to the above-mentioned description of the technical effects that can be achieved by the first aspect or various possible solutions in the first aspect, and no further details will be given here. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0056] FIG1 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a communication system provided by the present application;

[0057] FIG2 is a flow chart of a communication method provided by the present application;

[0058] FIG3 is a graph of a channel phase difference and a frequency domain subcarrier index provided by the present application;

[0059] FIG4 is a flow chart of an example of a communication method provided by the present application;

[0060] FIG5 is a flowchart of an example of another communication method provided by the present application;

[0061] FIG6 is a flowchart of another example of a communication method provided by the present application;

[0062] FIG7 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided by the present application;

[0063] FIG8 is a structural diagram of a communication device provided in this application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0064] The present application will be described in further detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0065] The embodiments of the present application provide a communication method and apparatus for improving positioning accuracy. The method and apparatus described in this application are based on the same technical concept. Since the method and apparatus solve similar problems, the implementation of the apparatus and method can refer to each other, and the repetitions will not be repeated.

[0066] In the description of this application, words such as "first" and "second" are only used for the purpose of distinguishing the description and cannot be understood as indicating or implying relative importance or order.

[0067] In the description of this application, "at least one" means one or more, and "more" means two or more. "At least one of the following" or similar expressions refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of single or plural items. For example, at least one of a, b, or c can mean: a, b, c, a and b, a and c, b and c, or a, b, and c, where a, b, and c can be single or plural.

[0068] In the description of this application, "and / or" describes the relationship between associated objects, indicating that three relationships can exist. For example, "A and / or B" can represent: A exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone. A and B can be singular or plural. " / " means "or", for example, a / b means a or b.

[0069] In order to more clearly describe the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, the communication method and device provided by the embodiments of the present application are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0070] Exemplarily, FIG1 shows an architecture diagram of a communication system to which the communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application can be applied. The communication system may include terminal devices, network devices, core network devices, and the like. For example, FIG1 takes two network devices (such as network device 1 and network device 2) as an example, and takes the core network device as an example including an access and mobility management function (AMF) network element and a positioning server (or location management function) (LMF), etc. It should be understood that the number and type of devices shown in FIG1 are not intended to limit the present application.

[0071] A terminal device, also known as user equipment (UE), mobile station (MS), or mobile terminal (MT), provides voice and / or data connectivity to users. For example, a terminal device may include a handheld device or vehicle-mounted device with wireless connectivity. Currently, terminal devices may be: cellular phones, smart phones, wireless data cards, personal digital assistants (PDAs), computers, mobile phones, tablet computers, laptop computers, handheld computers, wireless modems, laptop computers, mobile internet devices (MIDs), wearable devices, virtual reality (VR) devices, augmented reality (AR) devices, extended reality (XR) devices, mixed reality (MR) 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, or wireless terminals in smart homes, etc.

[0072] The terminal device may also be a D2D terminal device, a V2X communication terminal device, an intelligent vehicle, a vehicle-to-vehicle system (or a telematics box, TBOX), a machine-to-machine / machine-type communications (M2M / MTC) terminal device, or an Internet of Things (IoT) terminal device. For example, the terminal device may be a vehicle, ship, or aircraft, or a terminal-type roadside unit, or a communication module or chip built into a vehicle or roadside unit. For example, the terminal device may be an on-board module. The various terminal devices described above, if located on a vehicle, such as placed inside or installed inside a vehicle, may be considered on-board terminal devices. For example, an on-board terminal device may also be referred to as an on-board unit (OBU).

[0073] As an example and not a limitation, in the embodiments of the present application, the terminal device may also be a wearable device. Wearable devices may also be referred to as wearable smart devices or smart wearable devices, etc., which are a general term for wearable devices that are intelligently designed and developed using wearable technology for daily wear, such as glasses, gloves, watches, clothing, and shoes. A wearable device is a portable device that is worn directly on the body or integrated into the user's clothes or accessories. Wearable devices are not only hardware devices, but also achieve powerful functions through software support, data interaction, and cloud interaction. Broadly speaking, wearable smart devices include those that are fully functional, large in size, and can achieve complete or partial functions without relying on smartphones, such as smart watches or smart glasses, etc., as well as those that only focus on a certain type of application function and need to be used in conjunction with other devices such as smartphones, such as various smart bracelets, smart helmets, and smart jewelry for vital sign monitoring.

[0074] The terminal device can also be an amusement device, smart appliance or other smart device or a drone.

[0075] In this application, the terminal device may also be a functional module, a chip or a chip system. Optionally, the functional module, the chip or the chip system may be provided in the terminal device.

[0076] A network device may be a device that provides access to a terminal device. The network device may include a radio access network (RAN) device, such as a base station. The network device may also refer to a device that communicates with a terminal device over the air interface. The network device may include an evolved Node B (eNB or e-NodeB) in a long term evolution (LTE) system or an advanced long term evolution (LTE-A). An eNB is a device deployed in a radio access network that meets the fourth generation (4G) standard and provides wireless communication functions for terminal devices. The network device may also be a new radio controller (NR controller), a new wireless base station, a radio frequency remote module, a micro base station (also known as a small station), a relay, various forms of macro base stations, a transmission reception point (TRP), a transmission measurement function (TMF) or a transmission point (TP) or any other wireless access device, and the embodiments of the present application are not limited thereto. Network equipment may also include a radio network controller (RNC), a node B (NB), a base station controller (BSC), a base transceiver station (BTS), a home base station (e.g., a home evolved NodeB, or home Node B, HNB), a base band unit (BBU) or a remote radio unit (RRU), or a wireless fidelity (Wifi) access point (AP), or a baseband pool (BBU pool) and RRU in a cloud radio access network (CRAN).The network device can also be a next-generation base station (gNode B, gNB) in a 5G mobile communication system, a base station in a future mobile communication system, or an access node in a wireless local area network (wireless fidelity, WiFi) system, etc. It can also be an access network device in an open access network (open RAN, ORAN) system, etc.

[0077] In addition, the network device may also be a module or unit that performs some of the functions of the base station. Optionally, the functional module, chip, or chip system may be provided within the network device. For example, the network device may be a centralized unit (CU), a distributed unit (DU), a CU-control plane (CP), a CU-user plane (UP), or a radio unit (RU). The CU here performs the functions of the radio resource control protocol and the packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) of the base station, and may also perform the functions of the service data adaptation protocol (SDAP); the DU performs the functions of the radio link control layer and the medium access control (MAC) layer of the base station, and may also perform the functions of part or all of the physical layer. For a detailed description of each of the above protocol layers, reference may be made to the relevant technical specifications of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). In different systems, CU (or CU-CP and CU-UP), DU, or RU may also have different names, but those skilled in the art will understand their meanings. For example, in the ORAN system, CU can also be called open (open, O)-CU, DU can also be called open (open, O)-DU, CU-CP can also be called open (open, O)-CU-CP, CU-UP can also be called open (open, O)-CUP-UP, and RU can also be called open (open, O)-RU.

[0078] In this application, the network device may also be a central processing element (CPE), a router, etc.

[0079] The embodiments of this application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form used by the network device. For example, the network device may correspond to an eNB in ​​a 4G system and to a gNB in ​​a 5G system.

[0080] LMF is a device or component deployed in the core network to provide positioning capabilities for terminal devices. LMF can estimate the location of terminal devices.

[0081] Terminal devices and network devices communicate over Uu links. Network devices communicate with each other over Xn interfaces. Network devices and the AMF communicate over the next-generation control plane (NG-C) interface. The AMF acts as a router for communication between network devices and the LMF. The AMF and LMF communicate over the network localization 1 (NL1) interface.

[0082] The embodiments of the present application can be applied to positioning scenarios using frequency hopping to transmit positioning reference signals. Due to the hardware limitations of terminal devices in scenarios such as passive IoT, the initial phase of the clock cannot be guaranteed to be consistent during each frequency hopping transmission of the positioning reference signal. Each frequency hopping transmission of the positioning reference signal introduces random phase errors, potentially reducing positioning accuracy. Based on this, the embodiments of the present application provide a communication method that can address the problem of reduced positioning accuracy caused by random phase errors introduced by frequency hopping to transmit the positioning reference signal.

[0083] In the embodiments of the present application, the operations performed by any device or equipment may also be performed by a processor, chip, or functional module within that device or equipment, and this application does not limit this. For example, the operations performed by the first device below may also be performed by a processor, chip, or functional module within that device. The same applies to other devices and will not be described one by one.

[0084] Based on the above description, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method. Referring to FIG2 , the process of the method may include the following steps:

[0085] Step 201: The first base station receives a frequency hopping positioning reference signal from a terminal device.

[0086] The first base station can be a positioning reference base station. That is, all other base stations participating in positioning use the first base station as a positioning reference base station. It should be understood that there can be multiple other base stations participating in positioning.

[0087] Exemplarily, the terminal device may send a positioning reference signal to the first base station by frequency hopping on different time domain symbols based on the scheduling of the first base station.

[0088] Of course, the terminal device can send positioning reference signals to other base stations participating in positioning by frequency hopping on different time domain symbols based on the scheduling of other base stations participating in positioning. The following is an example in which the other base stations participating in positioning include the second base station. It should be understood that the other base stations participating in positioning may also include other base stations, such as a third base station. The second base station is used as an example here, and this is not intended to limit the present application. The principles of other base stations are similar to those of the second base station, and reference can be made to each other.

[0089] Optionally, the positioning reference signal may be a positioning reference signal (PRS) or a sounding reference signal (SRS), etc.

[0090] In an optional implementation, before the first base station and the second base station receive the frequency hopping positioning reference signal, the first base station and the second base station may receive configuration information of the frequency hopping positioning reference signal from a positioning server.

[0091] Optionally, the configuration information of the frequency hopping reference signal may include required attribute information of the frequency hopping positioning reference signal, such as the frequency hopping interval, the bandwidth corresponding to each frequency hopping positioning reference signal, the frequency hopping period, the number of frequency hopping times corresponding to a complete frequency hopping transmission, etc.

[0092] In some embodiments, the positioning server may send a positioning information request to the first base station, and the positioning information requests the first base station to feedback the resource information of the frequency hopping positioning reference signal of the terminal device. The first base station allocates time-frequency resources for sending the frequency hopping reference signal to the terminal device based on the required frequency hopping positioning reference signal attribute information included in the configuration information of the frequency hopping positioning reference signal, and the scheduling algorithm. Thereafter, the first base station sends the configuration information of the uplink frequency hopping positioning reference signal of the terminal device to the positioning server, and the configuration information of the uplink frequency hopping positioning reference signal of the terminal device includes the time-frequency resources of the frequency hopping positioning reference signal.

[0093] Furthermore, the positioning server forwards the configuration information of the uplink frequency hopping positioning reference signal of the terminal device to the second base station, so that the second base station determines on which time-frequency resources to perform frequency hopping positioning reference signal measurement.

[0094] Optionally, the positioning server activates the terminal device to send a positioning reference signal so that the terminal device subsequently sends the positioning reference signal in frequency hopping. For example, the positioning server triggers the first base station to send scheduling information to the terminal device to schedule the terminal device to send the frequency hopping positioning reference signal.

[0095] Before the terminal device sends the frequency hopping positioning reference signal to the first base station and the second base station, the positioning server may send a measurement request to the first base station and the second base station, where the measurement request is used to instruct the first base station and the second base station to perform positioning measurement based on the frequency hopping positioning reference signal.

[0096] Step 202: The first base station determines first channel measurement information according to the frequency hopping positioning reference signal.

[0097] The first channel measurement information may be channel measurement information of a first channel, where the first channel is a channel between the terminal device and the first base station.

[0098] In an optional implementation, after receiving the frequency hopping positioning reference signal, the first base station may splice the received frequency hopping positioning reference signal, and then perform channel estimation on the spliced ​​signal to obtain the first channel measurement information.

[0099] In another optional implementation, after receiving the frequency hopping positioning reference signal, the first base station performs channel estimation on the frequency hopping reference signal, and then splices the estimated channels to obtain first channel measurement information.

[0100] For example, the positioning reference signal sent by the terminal device over N symbols is For example, N is an integer greater than or equal to 2, and n represents the channel frequency index corresponding to the nth frequency hopping transmission. For example, n may correspond to the channel where the nth resource block (RB) is located. Indicates the random phase difference introduced by the terminal device each time it transmits by frequency hopping.

[0101] Channel h from terminal device to base station m m It can be in accordance with the following formula 1:

[0102] Here, m is the base station number. For example, the first base station may correspond to base station 1 (ie, m is 1), which is not limited in this application. represents the amplitude and phase of the channel from the terminal device to the base station m. θ represents the phase of the channel.

[0103] The positioning reference signal y received by base station m after N frequency hopping m It can be expressed as the following formula 2:

[0104] Accordingly, the channel estimation corresponding to base station m can be obtained It can be in accordance with the following formula 3:

[0105] From formula 3, we can see that base station m receives signal ym With the estimated channel Both are added with the random initial phase introduced by the terminal device side

[0106] The first channel measurement information includes at least one of the following: a frequency domain estimation value of the first channel, a time domain estimation value of the first channel, or a phase estimation value of the first channel.

[0107] The frequency domain estimate of the first channel can be The frequency domain estimation value of the first channel may also be understood as the channel frequency response (CFR) of the first channel. The time domain estimation value of the first channel may be the channel impulse response (CIR) of the first channel or the time domain phase CIR of the first channel.

[0108] The phase estimate of base station m can be Accordingly, the phase estimate of the first channel can be

[0109] Step 203: The first base station sends first channel measurement information to the first device. Correspondingly, the first device receives the first channel measurement information from the first base station.

[0110] Optionally, the first channel measurement information may be sent at the RB level or the subcarrier level, which is not limited in this application.

[0111] In an optional implementation, based on different situations of the first device, the following scenarios may exist:

[0112] Scenario a1: The first device may be the second base station.

[0113] In the scenario a1, when the first device (ie, the second base station) receives the first channel measurement information from the first base station, the following method may be included:

[0114] Method b1: The second base station directly receives the first channel measurement information from the first base station.

[0115] In method b1, after the first base station determines its own first channel measurement information, it may send it to the second base station.

[0116] Optionally, when the first base station sends the first channel measurement information to the second base station, it can be implemented by the first base station, or sent by the O-DU of the first base station, or sent by the O-RU of the first base station, which is not limited in this application.

[0117] Method b2: The second base station receives the first channel measurement information from the first base station through the positioning server.

[0118] In method b2, after determining its own first channel measurement information, the first base station may send the first channel measurement information to the positioning server, and then the positioning server forwards the first channel measurement information to the second base station.

[0119] Scenario a2: The first device may be a positioning server. In this case, the first base station sends the first channel measurement information to the positioning server.

[0120] Step 204: The first device determines second channel measurement information.

[0121] The second channel measurement information may be channel measurement information of a second channel, where the second channel is a channel between the terminal device and the second base station.

[0122] Exemplarily, the second channel measurement information may include at least one of the following: a frequency domain estimation value of the second channel, a time domain estimation value of the second channel, or a phase estimation value of the second channel.

[0123] Similar to the first base station, after receiving the frequency-hopping positioning reference signal, the second base station may splice the received frequency-hopping positioning reference signals and then perform channel estimation on the spliced ​​signals to obtain second channel measurement information. Alternatively, after receiving the frequency-hopping positioning reference signal, the second base station may perform channel estimation on the frequency-hopping positioning reference signal and then splice the estimated channels to obtain second channel measurement information. The specific process of the second base station determining the second channel measurement information can be found in the relevant description of step 202 and is not further described here.

[0124] In an optional implementation, based on different situations of the first apparatus in step 203, the first apparatus determining the second channel measurement information may include:

[0125] Corresponding to the above scenario a1, when the first device is the second base station, the second base station receives a frequency hopping positioning reference signal from the terminal device and determines the second channel measurement information based on the frequency hopping positioning reference signal. For details, please refer to the method for the second base station to determine the second channel measurement information.

[0126] For the above scenario a2, when the first device is a positioning server, the positioning server receives the second channel measurement information from the second base station.

[0127] In scenario a2, after determining the second channel measurement information, the second base station sends the second channel measurement information to the positioning server.

[0128] Step 205: The first device determines the arrival time difference of the frequency hopping positioning reference signal to the first base station and the second base station based on the first channel measurement information and the second channel measurement information. The arrival time difference is used to locate the terminal device.

[0129] In an optional embodiment, the first device can determine the channel phase difference between the first base station and the second base station based on the first channel measurement information and the second channel measurement information, and then the first device can determine the arrival time difference of the frequency hopping positioning reference signal to the first base station and the second base station based on the channel phase difference between the first base station and the second base station.

[0130] A random phase is introduced on the terminal side, but the random initial phase is the same for each frequency hopping transmission to different base stations. Therefore, the error can be eliminated by using the difference between base stations.

[0131] In the above scenario a1, after acquiring the first channel measurement information and the second channel measurement information, the second base station may further determine the channel phase difference between the first base station and the second base station.

[0132] In the above scenario a2, after acquiring the first channel measurement information and the second channel measurement information, the positioning server may further determine the channel phase difference between the first base station and the second base station.

[0133] The process of determining the channel phase difference by the second base station or the positioning server can be understood as performing channel differentiation between base stations.

[0134] Take the second base station determining the channel phase difference between the first base station and the second base station as an example. For example, base station m+1 (assuming it is the second base station) receives the channel measurement information sent by base station m (assuming it is the first base station). The differential channel between the two can be expressed as Since the channel phase difference between the terminal device's frequency hopping positioning reference signal to base station m and base station m+1 represents the arrival time difference between the terminal device and the two base stations, the differential channel (also known as the channel phase difference) Contains the phase difference information between the terminal device and the channel between base station m and base station m+1.

[0135] Optionally, the channel phase difference may be in the following multiple ways. In the following ways, base station m is used as the first base station and base station m+1 is used as the second base station as an example:

[0136] In mode c1, the channel phase difference may be the product of the frequency domain estimation value of the first channel and the conjugate of the frequency domain estimation value of the second channel.

[0137] For example, in the method c1, the channel phase difference It can be in accordance with the following formula 4:

[0138] in, represents the frequency domain estimate of the second channel, Represents the frequency domain estimate of the first channel The conjugation of .

[0139] In mode c2, the channel phase difference may be a ratio of a frequency domain estimation value of the first channel to a frequency domain estimation value of the second channel.

[0140] For example, in the method c2, the channel phase difference It can be in accordance with the following formula 5:

[0141] In mode c3, the channel phase difference may be the convolution of the time domain estimation value of the first channel and the time domain estimation value of the second channel.

[0142] For example, in the method c3, the channel phase difference The following formula 6 can be met:

[0143] in, yes The time domain form of yes The time domain form of yes The time domain form of . * indicates the convolution operation.

[0144] Mode c4: The channel phase difference may be a correlation sequence between the time domain estimation value of the first channel and the time domain estimation value of the second channel.

[0145] Mode c5: The channel phase difference may be the difference between the phase estimation value of the first channel and the phase estimation value of the second channel.

[0146] For example, in the method c5, the channel phase difference It can be in accordance with the following formula seven:

[0147] From the above methods, it can be seen that the channel phase difference is the phase in the frequency domain equal to the phase difference in the frequency domain between the terminal device to base station m+1 and the base station m channel, thereby eliminating the random phase error introduced by the terminal device.

[0148] In the above scenario a1, when the first device is the second base station, after determining the arrival time difference, the second base station can send the arrival time difference to the positioning server, and then the positioning server locates the terminal device based on the arrival time difference.

[0149] In the above scenario a2, when the first device is a positioning server, the positioning server locates the terminal device based on the arrival time difference after determining the arrival time difference.

[0150] Exemplarily, when the positioning server locates the terminal device, a three-sided positioning method may be used.

[0151] For example, Figure 3 shows a graph of channel phase difference versus frequency domain subcarrier index. The slope of the curve corresponds to the time difference of arrival (TDOA) between the uplink frequency-hopping positioning reference signal arriving at two base stations. Therefore, if the channel phase difference is the frequency-domain phase difference between the terminal device and the two base station channels, TDOA estimation can be performed, ultimately completing positioning.

[0152] Through the above communication method, the arrival time difference of the frequency hopping reference signal to the first base station and the second base station is determined by the channel phase difference between the first base station and the second base station, which can eliminate the phase error introduced by the frequency hopping positioning reference signal of the terminal device, thereby ensuring the positioning accuracy.

[0153] Based on the above embodiment, the communication method provided by the embodiment of the present application is described in detail below through the examples shown in Figures 4 and 5. In the following example, the terminal device is UE, the other base stations participating in positioning include multiple base stations including the second base station, and these multiple base stations are hereinafter referred to as other positioning base stations (also referred to as measurement base stations, etc.), the first base station is called the reference base station, and the positioning server is LMF as an example.

[0154] For example, FIG4 illustrates an example of a communication method, in which a reference base station transmits its channel measurement information based on a frequency hopping positioning signal to other positioning base stations. The other positioning base stations perform a differential operation between their own channel measurement information and the channel measurement information transmitted by the reference base station, and estimate the TDOA of the other positioning base stations and the reference base station based on the differential value. Referring to FIG4 , the process of this example may include the following steps:

[0155] Step 401: The LMF sends configuration information of the frequency hopping positioning reference signal to the reference base station and other positioning base stations.

[0156] For the description of the configuration information of the frequency hopping positioning reference signal, reference may be made to the description of the embodiment shown in FIG. 2 , which will not be repeated here.

[0157] Step 402: The LMF sends a positioning information request to the reference base station, where the positioning information requests the first base station to feed back resource information of the frequency hopping positioning reference signal of the terminal device.

[0158] Step 403: The reference base station allocates time-frequency resources for sending a frequency hopping positioning reference signal to the UE.

[0159] Exemplarily, the reference base station allocates time-frequency resources for sending the frequency hopping positioning reference signal to the UE according to the required frequency hopping positioning reference signal attribute information included in the configuration information of the frequency hopping positioning reference signal and the scheduling algorithm.

[0160] Step 404: The reference base station sends the configuration information of the UE's uplink frequency hopping positioning reference signal to the LMF.

[0161] Here, step 404 is used to respond to step 402.

[0162] For the relevant description of the configuration information of the uplink frequency hopping positioning reference signal of the UE, reference may be made to the relevant description in the embodiment shown in FIG. 2 , which will not be repeated here.

[0163] Step 405: The LMF sends the configuration information of the UE's uplink frequency hopping positioning reference signal to other positioning base stations.

[0164] Step 406: The LMF activates the UE to send a positioning reference signal, so that subsequent terminal devices can frequency hop to send a positioning reference signal.

[0165] For example, the LMF triggers the reference base station to send scheduling information to the UE to schedule the UE to send a frequency hopping positioning reference signal.

[0166] Step 407: The LMF sends a measurement request to the reference base station and other positioning base stations, where the measurement request is used to instruct the reference base station and other positioning base stations to perform positioning measurements based on the frequency hopping positioning reference signal.

[0167] Step 408: The UE sends a frequency hopping positioning reference signal to the reference base station and other positioning base stations.

[0168] Step 409: The reference base station and other positioning base stations respectively determine their own channel measurement information.

[0169] Among them, the channel measurement information determined by the reference base station is the channel measurement information of the channel between the terminal device and the reference base station (such as the aforementioned first channel measurement information), and the channel measurement information determined by other positioning base stations is the channel measurement information of the channel between the terminal device and other positioning base stations (such as the aforementioned second channel measurement information).

[0170] Specifically, the method for each base station to determine its own channel measurement information, and the related description of the channel measurement information can be found in the related description of the embodiment shown in Figure 2, which will not be repeated here.

[0171] Step 410: The reference base station sends channel measurement information of the reference base station to other positioning base stations.

[0172] Optionally, when the reference base station sends the channel measurement information of the reference base station to other positioning base stations, it can be implemented by the reference base station, or sent by the O-DU of the reference base station, or sent by the O-RU of the reference base station, which is not limited in this application.

[0173] Step 411: Other positioning base stations determine the channel phase difference between the reference base station and other positioning base stations based on the channel measurement information of the reference base station and the channel measurement information of other positioning base stations.

[0174] For example, the method for determining the channel phase difference can refer to the relevant description involved in the embodiment shown in Figure 2 above, and will not be repeated here.

[0175] Step 412: The other positioning base stations determine the TDOA of the frequency hopping positioning reference signal to the reference base station and the other positioning base stations based on the channel phase difference between the reference base station and the other positioning base stations.

[0176] Step 413: Other positioning base stations send TDOA to the LMF.

[0177] Step 414: LMF locates the UE based on TDOA.

[0178] Based on this example, the reference base station sends its own measurement channel information to other positioning base stations. Other positioning base stations use the difference in the channel between the terminal device and other positioning base stations and the reference base station to estimate TDOA, eliminating the influence of the terminal device's frequency hopping phase error and ensuring positioning accuracy.

[0179] Figure 5 illustrates another example of a communication method. In this example, a reference base station and other positioning base stations transmit channel measurement information, determined based on frequency-hopping positioning signals, to the LMF. The LMF then uses the differential channel between the other positioning base stations and the reference base station to estimate inter-station TDOA, thereby locating the UE. Referring to Figure 5 , the process of this example may include the following steps:

[0180] Steps 501 to 509 are similar to steps 401 to 409 and can be referred to each other, so they will not be repeated here.

[0181] Step 510: The reference base station and other positioning base stations send their respective channel measurement information to the LMF.

[0182] Among them, the channel measurement information of the reference base station is the channel measurement information of the channel between the terminal device and the reference base station (such as the aforementioned first channel measurement information), and the channel measurement information of other positioning base stations is the channel measurement information of the channel between the terminal device and other positioning base stations (such as the aforementioned second channel measurement information).

[0183] Step 511: The LMF determines the channel phase difference between the reference base station and the other positioning base stations based on the channel measurement information of the reference base station and the channel measurement information of the other positioning base stations.

[0184] For example, the method for determining the channel phase difference can refer to the relevant description involved in the embodiment shown in Figure 4 above, and will not be repeated here.

[0185] Step 512: The LMF determines the TDOA of the frequency hopping positioning reference signal to the reference base station and the other positioning base stations based on the channel phase difference between the reference base station and the other positioning base stations.

[0186] Step 513: LMF locates the UE based on TDOA.

[0187] Based on this example, the reference base station and other positioning base stations report the frequency hopping measurement channel information to the LMF. The LMF estimates the TDOA based on the channel difference between the reference base station and other positioning base stations, eliminating the impact of the frequency hopping phase error on the UE side and ensuring positioning accuracy.

[0188] Figure 6 shows an example of another communication method. In this example, the reference base station sends its channel measurement information determined based on the frequency hopping positioning reference signal to the LMF. The LMF sends the channel measurement information reported by the reference base station to other positioning base stations. The other positioning base stations use the differential channel between themselves and the reference base station to estimate the inter-station TDOA and report the TDOA to the LMF to achieve UE positioning. Referring to Figure 6, the process of this example may include the following steps:

[0189] Steps 601 to 609 are similar to steps 401 to 409 and can be referred to each other, so they will not be repeated here.

[0190] Step 610: The reference base station sends the channel measurement information of the reference base station to the LMF.

[0191] The channel measurement information of the reference base station is the channel measurement information of the channel between the terminal device and the reference base station (such as the aforementioned first channel measurement information).

[0192] Step 611: The LMF sends the channel measurement information of the reference base station to other positioning base stations.

[0193] Step 612: The other positioning base stations determine the channel phase differences between the reference base station and the other positioning base stations based on the channel measurement information of the reference base station and the channel measurement information of the other positioning base stations.

[0194] The channel measurement information of other positioning base stations is the channel measurement information of the channel between the terminal device and other positioning base stations (such as the aforementioned second channel measurement information).

[0195] For example, the method for determining the channel phase difference can refer to the relevant description involved in the embodiment shown in Figure 2 above, and will not be repeated here.

[0196] Step 613: The other positioning base stations determine the TDOA of the frequency hopping positioning reference signal to the reference base station and the other positioning base stations based on the channel phase difference between the reference base station and the other positioning base stations.

[0197] Step 614: Other positioning base stations send TDOA to the LMF.

[0198] Step 615: LMF locates the UE based on TDOA.

[0199] Based on this example, the reference base station reports the measurement channel information to the LMF, and the LMF sends the channel measurement information of the reference base station to other positioning base stations. Other positioning base stations estimate TDOA based on the difference in the inter-station channel between them and the reference base station, eliminating the influence of the UE-side frequency hopping phase error and ensuring positioning accuracy.

[0200] Based on the above embodiments, the embodiments of the present application further provide a communication device. Referring to FIG7 , the communication device 700 may include a processing unit 702. Optionally, the communication device 700 may further include a transceiver unit 701. The transceiver unit 701 is used for the communication device 700 to receive signals (information or data, etc.) or send signals (information or data, etc.), and the processing unit 702 is used to control and manage the actions of the communication device 700. The processing unit 702 may also control the steps performed by the transceiver unit 701.

[0201] Optionally, the transceiver unit 701 may include a receiving unit and / or a sending unit. The receiving unit may be used for the communication device 700 to receive signals (information or data, etc.); the sending unit may be used for the communication device 700 to send signals (information or data, etc.). The sending unit may send signals (information or data, etc.) under the control of the processing unit 702, and the receiving unit may receive signals (information or data, etc.) under the control of the processing unit 702.

[0202] Optionally, the communication device 700 may include a sending unit but not a receiving unit. Alternatively, the communication device 700 may include a receiving unit but not a sending unit. The specific implementation depends on whether the above solution executed by the communication device 700 includes a sending action and / or a receiving action.

[0203] Exemplarily, the communication device 700 may specifically be the first device in the above-mentioned embodiment, the processor in the first device, or a chip, or a chip system, or a functional module, etc.; or, the communication device 700 may specifically be the first base station in the above-mentioned embodiment, the processor of the first base station, or a chip, or a chip system, or a functional module, etc.

[0204] In one embodiment, when the communication device 700 is used to implement the function of the first device in the above embodiment: the processing unit 702 is used to perform the following operations: determine first channel measurement information and second channel measurement information, the first base station is a positioning reference base station; the first channel measurement information is determined based on the frequency hopping positioning reference signal received by the first base station from the terminal device, and the second channel measurement information is determined based on the frequency hopping positioning reference signal received by the second base station from the terminal device; based on the first channel measurement information and the second channel measurement information, determine the arrival time difference of the frequency hopping reference signal to the first base station and the second base station; the arrival time difference is used to locate the terminal device.

[0205] Optionally, the processing unit 702, based on the first channel measurement information and the second channel measurement information, can be used to: determine the channel phase difference between the first base station and the second base station based on the first channel measurement information and the second channel measurement information; determine the arrival time difference of the frequency hopping reference signal to the first base station and the second base station based on the channel phase difference between the first base station and the second base station.

[0206] In an optional implementation, the communication device 700 is the second base station; the second base station may further include a transceiver unit 701; and the processing unit 702, when determining the first channel measurement information, is configured to: control the transceiver unit 701 to receive the first channel measurement information from the first base station; or control the transceiver unit 701 to receive the first channel measurement information from a positioning server, where the first channel measurement information comes from the first base station;

[0207] When determining the second channel measurement information, the processing unit 702 is configured to: control the transceiver unit 701 to receive the frequency hopping positioning reference signal from the terminal device; and determine the second channel measurement information according to the frequency hopping positioning reference signal.

[0208] Optionally, the transceiver unit 701 is further configured to: send the arrival time difference to the positioning server.

[0209] Exemplarily, the transceiver unit 701 is further configured to: receive configuration information of the frequency hopping positioning reference signal from the positioning server.

[0210] In some embodiments, the transceiver unit 701 is further configured to: receive a measurement request from the positioning server, where the measurement request is used to instruct the first apparatus to perform positioning measurement based on the frequency hopping positioning reference signal.

[0211] In another optional embodiment, the communication device 700 is a positioning server; the positioning server may also include a transceiver unit 701; when determining the first channel measurement information and the second channel measurement information, the processing unit 702 is used to: control the transceiver unit 701 to receive the first channel measurement information from the first base station, and to receive the second channel measurement information from the second base station.

[0212] Optionally, the transceiver unit 701 is further configured to: send configuration information of the frequency hopping positioning reference signal to the first base station and the second base station.

[0213] Exemplarily, the transceiver unit 701 is further configured to: send a measurement request to the first base station and the second base station, where the measurement request is used to instruct the first base station and the second base station to perform positioning measurement based on the frequency hopping positioning reference signal.

[0214] In one example, the configuration information of the frequency hopping positioning reference signal includes at least one of the following: a frequency hopping interval, a bandwidth corresponding to one frequency hopping positioning reference signal, a frequency hopping period, or a number of frequency hopping times.

[0215] Exemplarily, the first channel measurement information includes at least one of the following: a frequency domain estimation value of the first channel, a time domain estimation value of the first channel, or a phase estimation value of the first channel; the second channel measurement information includes at least one of the following: a frequency domain estimation value of the second channel, a time domain estimation value of the second channel, or a phase estimation value of the second channel.

[0216] In some embodiments, the channel phase difference is the product of the frequency domain estimation value of the first channel and the conjugate of the frequency domain estimation value of the second channel; or, the channel phase difference is the ratio of the frequency domain estimation value of the first channel to the frequency domain estimation value of the second channel; or, the channel phase difference is the convolution of the time domain estimation value of the first channel and the time domain estimation value of the second channel; or, the channel phase difference is the correlation sequence of the time domain estimation value of the first channel and the time domain estimation value of the second channel; or, the channel phase difference is the difference between the phase estimation value of the first channel and the phase estimation value of the second channel.

[0217] In one embodiment, when the communication device 700 is used to implement the function of the first base station in the above embodiment: the transceiver unit 701 is used to receive a frequency hopping positioning reference signal from a terminal device; the first base station is a positioning reference base station; the processing unit 702 is used to determine first channel measurement information based on the frequency hopping positioning reference signal; the transceiver unit 701 is also used to send the first channel measurement information to a second base station or a positioning server; the first channel measurement information is used to determine the arrival time difference of the frequency hopping positioning reference signal to the first base station and the second base station; the arrival time difference is used for positioning the terminal device.

[0218] Optionally, the first channel measurement information is used to determine the arrival time difference of the frequency hopping positioning reference signal to the first base station and the second base station, including: the first channel measurement information is used to determine the channel phase difference between the first base station and the second base station; the channel phase difference is used to determine the arrival time difference of the frequency hopping positioning reference signal to the first base station and the second base station.

[0219] Exemplarily, the first channel measurement information includes at least one of the following: a frequency domain estimation value of the first channel, a time domain estimation value of the first channel, or a phase estimation value of the first channel.

[0220] In some embodiments, the channel phase difference is the product of the frequency domain estimation value of the first channel and the conjugate of the frequency domain estimation value of the second channel; or, the channel phase difference is the ratio of the frequency domain estimation value of the first channel to the frequency domain estimation value of the second channel; or, the channel phase difference is the convolution of the time domain estimation value of the first channel and the time domain estimation value of the second channel; or, the channel phase difference is the correlation sequence of the time domain estimation value of the first channel and the time domain estimation value of the second channel; or, the channel phase difference is the difference between the phase estimation value of the first channel and the phase estimation value of the second channel; wherein, at least one of the frequency domain estimation value of the second channel, the time domain estimation value of the second channel or the phase estimation value of the second channel is second channel measurement information, and the second channel measurement information is determined based on the frequency hopping positioning reference signal received by the second base station from the terminal device.

[0221] Optionally, the transceiver unit 701 is further configured to: receive configuration information of the frequency hopping positioning reference signal from the positioning server.

[0222] In one example, the configuration information of the frequency hopping positioning reference signal includes at least one of the following: a frequency hopping interval, a bandwidth corresponding to one frequency hopping positioning reference signal, a frequency hopping period, or a number of frequency hopping times.

[0223] In an optional manner, the transceiver unit 701 is further configured to: receive a measurement request from the positioning server, where the measurement request is used to instruct the first base station to perform positioning measurement based on the frequency hopping positioning reference signal.

[0224] It should be noted that the division of units in the embodiments of the present application is schematic and is merely a logical functional division. In actual implementation, other division methods may be used. The functional units in the embodiments of the present application may be integrated into a single processing unit, or each unit may exist physically separately, or two or more units may be integrated into a single unit. The aforementioned integrated units may be implemented in the form of hardware or software functional units.

[0225] If the integrated unit is implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as an independent product, it can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present application is essentially or the contributing part or all or part of the technical solution can be embodied in the form of a software product, and the computer software product is stored in a storage medium, including a number of instructions for enabling a computer device (which can be a personal computer, server, or network device, etc.) or a processor to execute all or part of the steps of the method described in each embodiment of the present application. The aforementioned storage medium includes: various media that can store program codes, such as a USB flash drive, a mobile hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a magnetic disk or an optical disk.

[0226] Based on the above embodiments, the present application also provides a communication device. Referring to FIG8 , the communication device 800 may include a processor 802. Optionally, the communication device 800 may further include a transceiver 801 and / or a memory 803. The memory 803 may be disposed within the communication device 800 or external to the communication device 800. The processor 802 may control the transceiver 801 to receive and transmit signals, messages, information, or data.

[0227] Optionally, the transceiver 801 may include a transmitter and / or a receiver. The transmitter is used to transmit signals, messages, information, or data. The receiver is used to receive signals, messages, information, or data. Exemplarily, the transmitter transmits signals, messages, information, or data under the control of the processor 802. The receiver receives signals, messages, information, or data under the control of the processor 802.

[0228] Specifically, the processor 802 may be a central processing unit (CPU), a network processor (NP), or a combination of a CPU and an NP. The processor 802 may further include a hardware chip. The hardware chip may be an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a programmable logic device (PLD), or a combination thereof. The PLD may be a complex programmable logic device (CPLD), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a generic array logic (GAL), or any combination thereof.

[0229] The transceiver 801, the processor 802, and the memory 803 are interconnected. Optionally, the transceiver 801, the processor 802, and the memory 803 are interconnected via a bus 804; the bus 804 may be a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus or an Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA) bus. The bus may be classified as an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. For ease of illustration, FIG8 shows only one thick line, but this does not mean that there is only one bus or only one type of bus.

[0230] In an optional embodiment, the memory 803 is used to store programs, etc. Specifically, the programs may include program code, which includes computer operating instructions. The memory 803 may include RAM, or may also include non-volatile memory (non-volatile memory), such as one or more disk storage devices. The processor 802 executes the application program stored in the memory 803 to implement the above functions, thereby realizing the functions of the communication device 800.

[0231] Exemplarily, the communication device 800 may be the first device in the above embodiment, or the first base station in the above embodiment, etc. Alternatively, the communication device 800 may be a chip, etc.

[0232] In one embodiment, when the communication device 800 implements the functions of the first device in the above embodiment, the transceiver 801 can implement the transceiver operations performed by the first device in the above embodiment; and the processor 802 can implement other operations performed by the first device in the above embodiment in addition to the transceiver operations. For specific details, please refer to the relevant descriptions in the above embodiment and will not be described in detail here.

[0233] In another embodiment, when the communication device 800 implements the functions of the first base station in the above embodiment, the transceiver 801 may implement the transceiver operations performed by the first base station in the above embodiment; and the processor 802 may implement other operations performed by the first base station in the above embodiment in addition to the transceiver operations. For specific details, please refer to the relevant descriptions in the above embodiment and will not be described in detail here.

[0234] Optionally, when the communication device 800 is a chip, when the chip implements the functions of the first device in the above embodiment, the input and output interfaces may implement the transceiver operations performed by the first device in the above embodiment; and the processor 802 may implement other operations performed by the first device in the above embodiment in addition to the transceiver operations. For specific details, please refer to the relevant descriptions in the above embodiment and will not be described in detail here.

[0235] Optionally, when the communication device 800 is a chip, when the chip implements the functions of the first base station in the above embodiment, the input and output interfaces may implement the transceiver operations performed by the first base station in the above embodiment; and the processor 802 may implement other operations performed by the first base station in the above embodiment in addition to the transceiver operations. For specific details, please refer to the relevant descriptions in the above embodiment and will not be described in detail here.

[0236] Based on the above embodiments, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication system, which may include the first base station, the second base station and the positioning server involved in the above embodiments.

[0237] An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer-readable storage medium, which is used to store a computer program. When the computer program is executed by a computer, the computer can implement a communication method provided by the above method embodiment.

[0238] An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer program product, which is used to store a computer program. When the computer program is executed by a computer, the computer can implement a communication method provided by the above method embodiment.

[0239] An embodiment of the present application also provides a chip, including a processor, wherein the processor is used to enable the chip to implement a communication method provided by the above method embodiment.

[0240] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the embodiments of the present application may be provided as methods, systems, or computer program products. Therefore, the present application may take the form of a complete hardware embodiment, a complete software embodiment, or an embodiment combining software and hardware. Furthermore, the present application may take the form of a computer program product implemented on one or more computer-usable storage media (including but not limited to disk memory, compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), optical storage, etc.) containing computer-usable program code.

[0241] The present application is described with reference to the flowcharts and / or block diagrams of the methods, devices (systems), and computer program products according to the present application. It should be understood that each flow and / or box in the flow chart and / or block diagram, as well as the combination of the flow chart and / or box in the flow chart and / or block diagram, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions can be provided to a processor of a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, an embedded processor, or other programmable data processing device to produce a machine, so that the instructions executed by the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing device produce a device for implementing the functions specified in one or more flow charts and / or one or more boxes in the block diagram.

[0242] These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing device to operate in a specific manner, so that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce a product including an instruction device that implements the functions specified in one or more processes in the flowchart and / or one or more boxes in the block diagram.

[0243] These computer program instructions can also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing device so that a series of operating steps are executed on the computer or other programmable device to produce a computer-implemented process, so that the instructions executed on the computer or other programmable device provide steps for implementing the functions specified in one or more processes in the flowchart and / or one or more boxes in the block diagram.

[0244] Obviously, those skilled in the art may make various changes and modifications to the present application without departing from the scope of the present application. Thus, if these modifications and variations of the present application fall within the scope of the claims of the present application and their equivalents, the present application is intended to include these modifications and variations.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that: include: The first base station receives a frequency hopping positioning reference signal from a terminal device; The first base station is a positioning reference base station; The first base station determines first channel measurement information according to the frequency hopping positioning reference signal; The first base station sends the first channel measurement information to the first device; The first device determines second channel measurement information; the second channel measurement information is determined based on the frequency hopping positioning reference signal received by the second base station from the terminal device; The first device determines the arrival time difference of the frequency hopping reference signal to the first base station and the second base station based on the first channel measurement information and the second channel measurement information; the arrival time difference is used to locate the terminal device.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The first device is the second base station; and the first base station sends the first channel measurement information to the first device, including: The first base station directly sends the first channel measurement information to the second base station; or, the first base station sends the first channel measurement information to the second base station through a positioning server; The first device determines the second channel measurement information, including: The second base station receives the frequency hopping positioning reference signal from the terminal device; The second base station determines the second channel measurement information according to the frequency hopping positioning reference signal.

3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that The method further comprises: The second base station sends the arrival time difference to the positioning server.

4. The method according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that The method further comprises: The positioning server sends configuration information of the frequency hopping positioning reference signal to the second base station.

5. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 4, characterized in that: The method further comprises: The positioning server sends a measurement request to the second base station, where the measurement request is used to instruct the second base station to perform positioning measurement based on the frequency hopping positioning reference signal.

6. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The first device is a positioning server; and the first device determines the second channel measurement information, including: The positioning server receives the second channel measurement information from the second base station.

7. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that The method further comprises: The positioning server sends configuration information of the frequency hopping positioning reference signal to the first base station and the second base station.

8. The method according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that The method further comprises: The positioning server sends a measurement request to the first base station and the second base station, where the measurement request is used to instruct the first base station and the second base station to perform positioning measurement based on the frequency hopping positioning reference signal.

9. The method according to claim 4 or 7, characterized in that The configuration information of the frequency hopping positioning reference signal includes at least one of the following: a frequency hopping interval, a bandwidth corresponding to one frequency hopping positioning reference signal, a frequency hopping period or a frequency hopping number.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that: The first device determines, according to the first channel measurement information and the second channel measurement information, an arrival time difference of the frequency hopping reference signal to the first base station and the second base station, including: The first device determines a channel phase difference between the first base station and the second base station according to the first channel measurement information and the second channel measurement information; The first device determines the arrival time difference of the frequency hopping reference signal to the first base station and the second base station according to the channel phase difference between the first base station and the second base station.

11. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that The first channel measurement information includes at least one of the following: a frequency domain estimation value of the first channel, a time domain estimation value of the first channel, or a phase estimation value of the first channel; The second channel measurement information includes at least one of the following: a frequency domain estimation value of the second channel, a time domain estimation value of the second channel, or a phase estimation value of the second channel.

12. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that The channel phase difference is a product of a frequency domain estimation value of the first channel and a conjugate of a frequency domain estimation value of the second channel; or The channel phase difference is a ratio of a frequency domain estimation value of the first channel to a frequency domain estimation value of the second channel; or The channel phase difference is the convolution of a time domain estimation value of the first channel and a time domain estimation value of the second channel; or The channel phase difference is a correlation sequence of a time domain estimation value of the first channel and a time domain estimation value of the second channel; or The channel phase difference is a difference between a phase estimation value of the first channel and a phase estimation value of the second channel.

13. A communication device, characterized in that: include: A processing unit that performs the following operations: Determine first channel measurement information and second channel measurement information, the first base station being a positioning reference base station; The first channel measurement information is determined based on a frequency hopping positioning reference signal received by the first base station from the terminal device, and the second channel measurement information is determined based on the frequency hopping positioning reference signal received by the second base station from the terminal device; According to the first channel measurement information and the second channel measurement information, the arrival time difference of the frequency hopping reference signal to the first base station and the second base station is determined; the arrival time difference is used to locate the terminal device.

14. The device according to claim 13, characterized in that The communication device is the second base station; the second base station further comprises a transceiver unit, and the transceiver unit is used for communication; When determining the first channel measurement information, the processing unit is configured to: Control the transceiver unit to receive the first channel measurement information from the first base station; or control the transceiver unit to receive the first channel measurement information from a positioning server, where the first channel measurement information comes from the first base station; When determining the second channel measurement information, the processing unit is configured to: Controlling the transceiver unit to receive the frequency hopping positioning reference signal from the terminal device; The second channel measurement information is determined according to the frequency hopping positioning reference signal.

15. The device according to claim 14, characterized in that The transceiver unit is also used for: The arrival time difference is sent to the positioning server.

16. The device according to claim 13, characterized in that The communication device is a positioning server; the positioning server further comprises a transceiver unit, and the transceiver unit is used for communication; When determining the first channel measurement information and the second channel measurement information, the processing unit is configured to: The transceiver unit is controlled to receive the first channel measurement information from the first base station, and to receive the second channel measurement information from the second base station.

17. The device according to any one of claims 13 to 16, characterized in that: The processing unit, when determining the arrival time difference of the frequency hopping reference signal to the first base station and the second base station according to the first channel measurement information and the second channel measurement information, is configured to: determining a channel phase difference between the first base station and the second base station according to the first channel measurement information and the second channel measurement information; The arrival time difference of the frequency hopping reference signal to the first base station and the second base station is determined according to the channel phase difference between the first base station and the second base station.

18. A communication device, characterized in that: include: A transceiver unit, configured to receive a frequency hopping positioning reference signal from a terminal device; The first base station is a positioning reference base station; A processing unit, configured to determine first channel measurement information according to the frequency hopping positioning reference signal; The transceiver unit is further configured to send the first channel measurement information to a second base station or a positioning server; The first channel measurement information is used to determine the arrival time difference of the frequency hopping positioning reference signal to the first base station and the second base station; the arrival time difference is used for positioning the terminal device.

19. A communication system, characterized in that: The invention comprises the communication device according to any one of claims 13 to 17, and the communication device according to claim 18.

20. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that: The computer-readable storage medium stores computer-executable instructions, and when the computer-executable instructions are called by the computer, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 12 is executed.

21. A chip, characterized in that: The method comprises a processor configured to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 12.

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