Communication method, terminal, and network-side device

Abstract

The present application relates to the technical field of communications, and discloses a communication method, a terminal, and a network-side device. The communication method in the embodiments of the present application comprises: a terminal sends a first signal to a network-side device, the first signal being used for at least one of indicating terminal position information, indicating terminal position change information, and uplink positioning, and the terminal position change information being determined on the basis of the terminal position information.

Description

Communication method, terminal and network side equipment

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the China Patent Office on November 28, 2023, with application number 202311612240.2 and invention name “Communication Method, Terminal and Network Side Equipment”. The entire contents of the Chinese patent application are incorporated herein by reference. Technical Field

[0003] The present application belongs to the field of communication technology, and specifically relates to a communication method, a terminal, and a network-side device. Background Art

[0004] In related technologies, a terminal in a tracking area (track area) or a radio access network (RAN) coverage area can usually indicate or update the terminal location information to the network side when moving across cells or relative cell groups to determine the paging area.

[0005] However, with the continuous development of communication technology, the terminal location indication or update solutions provided in related technologies are no longer applicable to terminal location indication, update or uplink positioning in scenarios such as future large cells or cell-free networks, which in turn affects the performance of the communication system. Summary of the Invention

[0006] The embodiments of the present application provide a communication method, terminal, and network-side equipment, which can solve the problems of implementing terminal position indication, update, or uplink positioning in scenarios such as future large cells or cell-free networks, thereby ensuring the performance of the communication system.

[0007] In a first aspect, a communication method is provided, including: a terminal sends a first signal to a network side device; wherein, the first signal is used for at least one of an indication of terminal location information, an indication of terminal location change information, and uplink positioning, and the terminal location change information is determined based on the terminal location information.

[0008] In a second aspect, a communication method is provided, including: a network side device receives a first signal sent by a terminal; wherein the first signal is used for at least one of an indication of terminal location information, an indication of terminal location change information, and uplink positioning, and the terminal location change information is determined based on the terminal location information.

[0009] According to a third aspect, a communication device is provided, including: a sending module for sending a first signal to a network side device; wherein the first signal is used for at least one of an indication of terminal location information, an indication of terminal location change information, and uplink positioning, and the terminal location change information is determined based on the terminal location information.

[0010] In a fourth aspect, a communication device is provided, including: a receiving module for receiving a first signal sent by a terminal; wherein the first signal is used for at least one of an indication of terminal location information, an indication of terminal location change information, and uplink positioning, and the terminal location change information is determined based on the terminal location information.

[0011] In a fifth aspect, a terminal is provided, comprising a processor and a memory, wherein the memory stores a program or instruction that can be run on the processor, and when the program or instruction is executed by the processor, the steps of the method described in the first aspect are implemented.

[0012] In a sixth aspect, a terminal is provided, comprising a processor and a communication interface, wherein the communication interface and the processor are coupled, and the processor is used to run a program or instruction to implement the steps of the method described in the first aspect.

[0013] In the seventh aspect, a network side device is provided, which includes a processor and a memory, wherein the memory stores programs or instructions that can be run on the processor, and when the program or instructions are executed by the processor, the steps of the method described in the second aspect are implemented.

[0014] In an eighth aspect, a network side device is provided, comprising a processor and a communication interface, wherein the communication interface and the processor are coupled, and the processor is used to run programs or instructions to implement the steps of the method described in the second aspect.

[0015] In the ninth aspect, a readable storage medium is provided, on which a program or instruction is stored. When the program or instruction is executed by a processor, the steps of the method described in the first aspect are implemented, or the steps of the method described in the second aspect are implemented.

[0016] In the tenth aspect, a wireless communication system is provided, comprising: a terminal and a network side device, wherein the terminal can be used to execute the steps of the method described in the first aspect, and the network side device can be used to execute the steps of the method described in the second aspect.

[0017] In the eleventh aspect, a chip is provided, which includes a processor and a communication interface, wherein the communication interface is coupled to the processor, and the processor is used to run programs or instructions to implement the steps of the method described in the first aspect, or to implement the steps of the method described in the second aspect.

[0018] In the twelfth aspect, a computer program / program product is provided, which is stored in a storage medium and is executed by at least one processor to implement the steps of the method described in the first aspect, or to implement the steps of the method described in the second aspect.

[0019] In an embodiment of the present application, the terminal sends a first signal to the network side device for at least one of indication of terminal location information, indication of terminal location change information, and uplink positioning, so that the network side device can understand the location or location change of the terminal, thereby determining a suitable or matching network node, paging cell, etc. for the terminal, thereby ensuring the performance of the communication system. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0020] FIG1a is a schematic structural diagram of a wireless communication system provided by an exemplary embodiment of the present application.

[0021] FIG1 b is a schematic diagram of a structure of a cell-free network system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present application.

[0022] FIG1c is a second structural diagram of a cell-free network system provided by an exemplary embodiment of the present application.

[0023] FIG2 is a flowchart of a communication method according to an exemplary embodiment of the present application.

[0024] FIG3 is a second flowchart of a communication method provided by an exemplary embodiment of the present application.

[0025] FIG4 is a schematic diagram of providing terminal location information according to an exemplary embodiment of the present application.

[0026] FIG5 is a third flowchart of a communication method provided by an exemplary embodiment of the present application.

[0027] FIG6 is a schematic diagram of a structure of a communication device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present application.

[0028] FIG7 is a second schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device provided by an exemplary embodiment of the present application.

[0029] FIG8 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided by an exemplary embodiment of the present application.

[0030] FIG9 is a schematic structural diagram of a terminal provided by an exemplary embodiment of the present application.

[0031] FIG10 is a schematic structural diagram of a network-side device provided by an exemplary embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0032] The following will be combined with the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of this application to clearly describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of this application. Obviously, the embodiments described are part of the embodiments of this application, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments in this application, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field are within the scope of protection of this application.

[0033] The terms "first", "second", etc. in this application are used to distinguish similar objects, and are not used to describe a specific order or sequence. It should be understood that the terms used in this way are interchangeable where appropriate, so that the embodiments of the present application can be implemented in an order other than those illustrated or described herein, and the objects distinguished by "first" and "second" are generally of the same type, and do not limit the number of objects, for example, the first object can be one or more. In addition, "or" in this application represents at least one of the connected objects. For example, "A or B" covers three options, namely, Option 1: including A but not including B; Option 2: including B but not including A; Option 3: including both A and B. The character " / " generally indicates that the objects associated before and after are in an "or" relationship.

[0034] The term "indication" in this application can be either a direct indication (or explicit indication) or an indirect indication (or implicit indication). A direct indication can be understood as the sender explicitly informing the receiver of specific information, the operation to be performed, or the requested result, etc. in the instruction sent; an indirect indication can be understood as the receiver determining the corresponding information based on the instruction sent by the sender, or making a judgment and determining the operation to be performed or the requested result, etc. based on the judgment result.

[0035] It is worth noting that the technology described in the embodiments of the present application is not limited to the Long Term Evolution (LTE) / LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) system, but can also be used in other wireless communication systems, such as Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA), Single-carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) or other systems. The terms "system" and "network" in the embodiments of the present application are often used interchangeably, and the described technology can be used for the systems and radio technologies mentioned above, as well as for other systems and radio technologies. The following description describes a New Radio (NR) system for example purposes, and NR terminology is used in most of the following description, but these technologies can also be applied to systems other than NR systems, such as 6th Generation (6G) communication systems.

[0036] FIG1a shows a block diagram of a wireless communication system applicable to an embodiment of the present application. The wireless communication system includes a terminal 11 and a network-side device 12. The terminal 11 may be a mobile phone, a tablet computer (Tablet Personal Computer), a laptop computer (Laptop Computer), a notebook computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a handheld computer, a netbook, an ultra-mobile personal computer (UMPC), a mobile internet device (MID), an augmented reality (AR), a virtual reality (VR) device, a robot, a wearable device (Wearable Device), an aircraft (flight vehicle), a vehicle user equipment (VUE), a ship-borne device, a pedestrian user equipment (PUE), a smart home (home appliances with wireless communication capabilities, such as refrigerators, televisions, washing machines, or furniture), a game console, a personal computer (PC), an ATM, or a self-service machine, or other terminal-side devices. Wearable devices include: smart watches, smart bracelets, smart headphones, smart glasses, smart jewelry (smart bracelets, smart bracelets, smart rings, smart necklaces, smart anklets, smart anklets, etc.), smart wristbands, smart clothing, etc. Among them, the vehicle-mounted device can also be called a vehicle-mounted terminal, a vehicle-mounted controller, a vehicle-mounted module, a vehicle-mounted component, a vehicle-mounted chip or a vehicle-mounted unit, etc. It should be noted that the specific type of the terminal 11 is not limited in the embodiment of the present application. The network side device 12 may include an access network device or a core network device, wherein the access network device may also be called a radio access network (Radio Access Network, RAN) device, a radio access network function or a radio access network unit. The access network device may include a base station, a wireless local area network (WLAN) access point (AP) or a wireless fidelity (WiFi) node, etc.Among them, the base station can be referred to as Node B (NB), Evolved Node B (eNB), the next generation Node B (gNB), New Radio Node B (NR Node B), access point, Relay Base Station (RBS), Serving Base Station (SBS), Base Transceiver Station (BTS), radio base station, radio transceiver, Basic Service Set (BSS), Extended Service Set (ESS), Home Node B (HNB), Home Evolved Node B (home evolved Node B), Transmission Reception Point (TRP) or other appropriate terms in the field. As long as the same technical effect is achieved, the base station is not limited to specific technical vocabulary. It should be noted that in the embodiment of the present application, only the base station in the NR system is used as an example for introduction, and the specific type of the base station is not limited.

[0037] For ease of understanding, the relevant terms mentioned in this application are introduced here as follows.

[0038] (1) Cell-free network

[0039] The cell-free massive multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) system can be considered a deconstruction of the traditional massive MIMO system. In a traditional massive MIMO system, antennas are concentrated at a single site (such as a base station), and UEs are distributed around the base station in cells. In a massive MIMO system, each base station deploys a large number of antennas, resulting in higher array gain and spatial resolution. Multiple UEs can be served simultaneously using the same time-frequency resources, providing high throughput, high reliability, and high energy efficiency.

[0040] Cell-free massive MIMO systems eliminate the concept of cells. Instead, a large number of antennas are distributed over a wide area, and UEs are also dispersed across this wide area. These antennas are called TRPs or access points (APs). In theory, each UE can communicate with every AP. With the help of the fronthaul network and the central processing unit (CPU), a large number of geographically dispersed TRPs can jointly serve a smaller number of UEs. The CPU uses channel statistics for joint detection. Cell-free massive MIMO networks are expected to be applied to next-generation indoor and hotspot coverage scenarios, such as smart factories, train stations, shopping malls, stadiums, subways, hospitals, community centers, or university campuses.

[0041] In actual deployment, the cell-free network in the hotspot area can be regarded as a super cell containing multiple TRPs, and multiple TRPs use the same cell identifier (ID). Based on the synchronization accuracy and connection relationship between these TRPs, multiple TRPs with high synchronization accuracy can achieve collaborative transmission.

[0042] The broadcast-related channels of a cell-free network can be implemented according to a single frequency network (SFN) or a distributed network, as shown in Figures 1b and 1c. As the number of TRPs included in a cell-free network increases and the coverage area expands, the number of synchronization signal blocks (SSB) beams required will continue to increase, and the corresponding broadcast physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) resources will also continue to increase. Among them, the broadcast-related channels of a cell-free network may include but are not limited to synchronization channels, random access channels, broadcast PDCCHs, PDSCHs, etc.

[0043] The technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application are described in detail below through some embodiments and their application scenarios in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[0044] FIG2 is a flow chart of a communication method 200 provided in an exemplary embodiment of the present application. The method 200 may be, but is not limited to, executed by a terminal, specifically by hardware or software installed in the terminal. In this embodiment, the method 200 may include at least the following steps.

[0045] S210: The terminal sends a first signal to a network-side device.

[0046] Among them, considering that for situations such as no cells or future large cells, the solutions provided in the related art for location updates and uplink positioning at the cell granularity are no longer applicable. For example, for situations such as no cells or future large cells, even if the terminal's position or position changes within the cell, the network-side equipment needs to be clear to obtain more accurate terminal location information or uplink positioning, so as to determine the appropriate or matching network node, paging cell, etc. for the terminal to ensure communication system performance. Among them, the "no cell" can be understood as a cell without cell network coverage, such as a particularly large cell or a network coverage area without the concept of cells.

[0047] To this end, in this application, a first signal is sent from the terminal to the network-side device, wherein the first signal is used to indicate at least one of the terminal's location information, the terminal's location change information, and uplink positioning, so that the network-side device can determine the terminal's location information, determine the terminal's location change information, perform uplink positioning, etc. based on the first signal, and determine a suitable or matching network node and paging cell for the terminal based on the determined terminal location information, terminal location change information, uplink positioning results, etc., to ensure communication system performance. In this embodiment, the terminal location change information can be determined based on the terminal location information.

[0048] It can be understood that the terminal indicates to the network side device that the terminal's position or position change within the cell is no longer restricted by cell switching or cell group switching, thereby enabling the network side device to more flexibly determine the terminal location information, terminal location change information, uplink positioning, etc. based on the first signal, and promptly determine suitable or matching network nodes, paging cells, etc. for the terminal based on the determined terminal location information, terminal location change information, uplink positioning results, etc., to ensure the performance of the communication system.

[0049] In some embodiments, the terminal may determine the first signal in a variety of ways. For example, the terminal may determine the first signal according to an indication of the terminal location information or terminal location change information.

[0050] For example, in the case of explicitly indicating the terminal location information or the terminal location change information, the first signal may be, but is not limited to, a signal that can directly carry the terminal location information or the terminal location change information.

[0051] For the case of implicitly indicating the terminal location information or terminal location change information, the first signal may be a signal that directly indicates the terminal location information or terminal location change information. For example, the first signal may be, but is not limited to, at least one of a sounding reference signal (SRS), a physical random access channel (PRACH), a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), an uplink notification, and a wake-up signal.

[0052] For the PUSCH, for example, a Medium Access Control Control Element (MAC CE) may be used to indicate the location information or location change information of the terminal on the PUSCH.

[0053] For the PUCCH, a special PUCCH format may be used to indicate terminal location information or terminal location change information.

[0054] For uplink notification, it can be dedicated to the indication of the terminal location information, the indication of the terminal location change information, and uplink positioning, or it can be multiplexed with other uplink notifications, such as uplink notifications that can be multiplexed for feedback on specific downlink information. There is no restriction here.

[0055] For the wake-up signal, when the terminal wakes up certain on-demand synchronization signal blocks (Synchronization Signal and PBCH block, SSB), the coverage area corresponding to the SSB is the terminal location information indicated by the terminal. It is understood that the "SSB" mentioned in the context of this application can also be any signal including a synchronization signal, a broadcast signal, a broadcast channel, other system messages or a downlink broadcast channel.

[0056] In some other embodiments, for the situation where the first signal is used for the uplink positioning, the first signal may also be but is not limited to at least one of SRS, PRACH, PUSCH, PUCCH, uplink notification, and wake-up signal.

[0057] Based on this, as a possible implementation, the first signal may be sent by the terminal when a predetermined trigger condition is met, wherein the predetermined trigger condition may be, but is not limited to, a periodic trigger condition, an event trigger condition, etc. configured by pre-configuration, protocol agreement, etc.

[0058] For example, if the predetermined trigger event is a periodic trigger condition, the terminal may send the first signal to the network-side device during a sending period of the first signal.

[0059] For another example, if the predetermined trigger condition is an event trigger condition, the terminal may send a first signal to the network-side device if a first condition is satisfied. The first condition may include, but is not limited to, at least one of the following 11)-18). The first condition is the event trigger condition.

[0060] 11) The terminal switches, reselects or changes the target object.

[0061] 12) The terminal desires to switch, reselect or transform to a target object.

[0062] For the above 11)-12), the target object may include but is not limited to at least one of a network node, a network node group, a cell, a cell group, a RAN, and a RAN group. The network node may be but is not limited to a TRP, an AP, etc.

[0063] For example, taking a network node or a network node group as an example, if the terminal switches, reselects or changes from the current network node to another network node, the terminal switches, reselects or changes from the current network node to a network node in another network node group, the terminal expects to switch, reselect or change from the current network node to another network node, the terminal expects to switch, reselect or change from the current network node to a network node in another network node group, etc., then the terminal can send a first signal to the network side device.

[0064] It is worth noting that the network node mentioned in this application may be the same as or different from the network-side device that receives the first signal.

[0065] 13) The terminal cannot select a downlink signal that meets the requirements.

[0066] The “demand” may be a measurement demand, a positioning demand, etc.

[0067] For example, assuming that the "demand" is a measurement demand, then if the terminal finds that the signal quality or signal energy of all downlink signals is below a certain threshold during downlink measurement, the terminal may send a first signal to the network-side device to indicate terminal location information, terminal location change information, etc. At the same time, the first signal may be used to notify the network-side device to turn on an auxiliary downlink signal, increase the power of the downlink signal, or turn on certain TRPs near the terminal location, etc., to ensure the continuity of the terminal's signal measurement service.

[0068] 14) The terminal detects abnormal timing advance (TA) information.

[0069] The abnormal TA information may be, but is not limited to, at least one of the following a)-c).

[0070] a) The TA change detected by the terminal exceeds a fourth threshold, or the TA detected by the terminal exceeds a fifth threshold.

[0071] b) The terminal detects at two specific time points that a change in reference signal received power (RSRP) of the same downlink reference signal is no less than or exceeds a fifth threshold.

[0072] Among them, the specific time point can be implemented by protocol agreement, high-level configuration, default configuration, etc., and the two specific time points can be two adjacent time points, two specific time points for signal measurement, etc., which are not limited here.

[0073] c) The terminal detects that a change in RSRP of a downlink reference signal measured at two time points is not less than or exceeds a sixth threshold.

[0074] The time points may be implemented by protocol agreement, high-level configuration, default configuration, etc., and the two time points may be two adjacent time points, two specific time points for signal measurement, etc., which are not limited here.

[0075] 15) The change in the moving speed of the terminal is not less than a first threshold.

[0076] For example, the change in the moving speed of the terminal in at least a certain direction over a period of time is not less than or exceeds a first threshold, or the change in the moving speed of the terminal between specific time periods is not less than or exceeds the first threshold.

[0077] The specific time may be implemented by a protocol, a high-level configuration, a default configuration, etc., and is not limited here.

[0078] 16) The round-trip time (RTT) or RTT variation estimated by the terminal is not less than a second threshold.

[0079] 17) The change in the terminal location information estimated by the terminal based on the downlink signal is not less than a third threshold.

[0080] The downlink signal may be, but is not limited to, a downlink positioning reference signal (PRS) or an SSB.

[0081] For example, the terminal can send a first signal to the network side device based on the change in terminal location information estimated based on downlink PRS or SSB from different network nodes (such as TRP), and when the change is not less than a third threshold.

[0082] 18) The terminal receives a location information reporting request sent by the network side device.

[0083] It can be understood that for no cell or future large cell, configuring an event trigger condition to send the first signal can effectively reduce resource overhead and signal transmission and reception complexity when sending and receiving the first signal.

[0084] In addition, the aforementioned first threshold, second threshold, third threshold, fourth threshold, fifth threshold, sixth threshold, etc. can be implemented by protocol agreement, high-level configuration or network-side configuration, and are not limited here.

[0085] In this embodiment, the terminal sends a first signal to the network side device for at least one of indication of terminal location information, indication of terminal location change information, and uplink positioning, so that the network side device can understand the terminal's location or location change, thereby determining a suitable or matching network node, paging cell, etc. for the terminal, thereby ensuring the performance of the communication system.

[0086] FIG3 is a flow chart of a communication method 300 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present application. The method 200 may be, but is not limited to, executed by a terminal, specifically by hardware or software installed in the terminal. In this embodiment, the method 300 may include at least the following steps.

[0087] S310: The terminal sends a first signal to a network-side device.

[0088] The first signal is used for at least one of indication of terminal location information, indication of terminal location change information, and uplink positioning, and the terminal location change information is determined based on the terminal location information.

[0089] It is understood that the implementation process of S310 can refer to the relevant description in the aforementioned method embodiment 200. Of course, in addition to referring to the relevant description in the aforementioned method embodiment 200, as a possible implementation, please refer to Figure 3 again. The process of the terminal sending the first signal to the network-side device can be shown in Figure 3, and the content is as follows.

[0090] S311: The terminal determines a first transmission resource based on the terminal location information and a preset association relationship.

[0091] Based on this, the preset association relationship includes an association relationship between the first transmission resource and the terminal location information, so that the terminal can determine and send the first transmission resource for sending the first signal based on the detected terminal location information or terminal location change information.

[0092] Correspondingly, after receiving the first signal sent by the terminal, the network side device can also determine the terminal location information or terminal location information of the terminal sending the first signal by determining the first transmission resource for transmitting the first signal, thereby realizing the indication of the terminal location information, indication of terminal location change information, etc.

[0093] Optionally, in some embodiments, the terminal location information may include but is not limited to at least one of information of the first area, information of the second area, information of the area without cell coverage, information of the tracking area, and information of the radio access network (RAN) area.

[0094] The first area is an area covered by a network node or a network node group. Based on this, the preset association relationship may be an association relationship between the first transmission resource and the network node or the network node group.

[0095] The second region corresponds to an identifier of a downlink reference signal. For example, the terminal location information is represented by an identifier or an index of the downlink reference signal.

[0096] The RAN area is the basis for device tracking at the radio access network level. A terminal in an inactive state may be assigned a RAN notification area, which may be composed of any one of a cell ID list, a RAN Identity (RAI) list, and a Tracking Area Identity (TAI) list.

[0097] The tracking area is the basis for core network-level device tracking. The core network allocates a terminal registration area (registration area) to each device, which consists of a list of tracking area identifiers.

[0098] Based on this, in this application, there may be multiple ways to represent the terminal location information, such as direct representation or indirect representation.

[0099] For example, when the terminal location information is directly represented, the terminal location information may include but is not limited to at least one of the following 21)-24).

[0100] 21) Coordinate position information with the preset position as the origin.

[0101] The preset position may be achieved by protocol agreement, network configuration, or autonomous determination by the terminal.

[0102] In this embodiment, the coordinate position information may be different depending on the coordinate system. For example, the coordinate position information may be a two-dimensional grid in a two-dimensional coordinate system with the preset position as the origin as shown in FIG4 , a three-dimensional grid in a three-dimensional coordinate system with the preset position as the origin, or the position information of a sub-region in a polar coordinate system with the preset position as the origin.

[0103] It is worth noting that in the case where the coordinate position information with a preset position as the origin represents the terminal position information, the representation form or format of the terminal position information can be determined by protocol agreement, the terminal autonomously determines it and sends it to the network side device, or the network side device indicates it to the terminal.

[0104] The representation form or format of the terminal location information may include but is not limited to the method of determining the preset position, the size of the grid in the two-dimensional coordinate system, the size of the grid in the three-dimensional coordinate system, the size of a sub-area in the polar coordinate system, etc., and is not limited here.

[0105] 22) Latitude and longitude information.

[0106] 23) Position information relative to a reference point. The reference point may be determined by protocol agreement, network-side instructions, or the like. For example, the previously reported or last reported terminal location information may be used as the reference point, as determined by protocol agreement, network-side instructions, or the like.

[0107] 24) Location change information.

[0108] It can be understood that the use of the direct representation method described in the above 21)-24) to represent the terminal location information can improve the convenience of pre-set association relationship query.

[0109] For another example, when the terminal location information is not directly represented, the indirect representation method may include at least one of the following 31)-33).

[0110] 31) Quantify the directly represented terminal position information.

[0111] For example, taking the direct representation as longitude and latitude information as an example, the continuous longitude and latitude information can be quantized according to a predetermined granularity to obtain indirect terminal location information. The predetermined granularity can be 100m, 1km, etc., which is not limited here.

[0112] 32) An identifier of a network node or an identifier of a network node group, wherein the network node may be a TRP, an AP, etc.

[0113] That is, the network node or the area covered by the network node is the terminal location information.

[0114] 33) An index of a downlink reference signal, wherein the index of the downlink reference signal is visible to the terminal, and different downlink reference signals correspond to different area locations. Optionally, the downlink reference signal includes an SSB, etc.

[0115] For example, the terminal may first measure and determine one or more associated downlink reference signals, and indicate the terminal location information of the terminal through an identifier of a downlink reference signal whose RSRP is higher than a seventh threshold.

[0116] It can be understood that using an indirect representation method to represent the terminal location information can reduce overhead and avoid privacy leakage caused by too detailed a location.

[0117] In some embodiments, in addition to the association relationship between the aforementioned first transmission resource and the terminal location information, the preset association relationship may also include an association relationship between the first transmission resource and the terminal information. Thus, for idle terminals or inactive terminals, after the terminal sends a first signal based on the association relationship between the first transmission resource and the terminal information, the network side device can accurately determine the sender of the first signal based on the association relationship between the first transmission resource and the terminal information, thereby ensuring the reliability of subsequent communications.

[0118] Optionally, the terminal information may include but is not limited to at least one of the following 41)-44).

[0119] 41) Partial or complete identification of the terminal.

[0120] 42) Part or all of the Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RNTI) of the terminal.

[0121] 43) Partial or complete International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) of the terminal.

[0122] 44) Partial or complete temporary mobile subscriber identity (TMSI) of the terminal.

[0123] S312: Send the first signal to the network side device based on the first transmission resource.

[0124] In other embodiments, the aforementioned first transmission resource may be a time-frequency resource, a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) resource, sequence-related information, etc. In this embodiment, the first transmission resource may be implemented through protocol agreement, high-layer configuration, network-side configuration, etc.

[0125] For example, when the first transmission resource is configured through a network side device, the network side device can send a second signal to the terminal, and correspondingly, the terminal receives the second signal sent by the network side device; wherein, the second signal carries the first transmission resource.

[0126] Optionally, the second signal may include but is not limited to at least one of the first signaling, a broadcast message, and a physical layer signaling.

[0127] The first signaling can be understood as a configuration dedicated to the first transmission resource. For example, a dedicated SRS resource set can be configured for a connected terminal through dedicated radio resource control (RRC) signaling, specifically for sending the first signal to the network-side device. The first transmission resource belongs to the SRS resource set. The SRS resource set may include but is not limited to a port or SRS occasion, an SRS time-frequency position, etc.

[0128] The broadcast message may be, but is not limited to, a System Information Block (SIB), etc. For example, an SRS resource set may be configured via a broadcast message such as SIB1, wherein the first transmission resource belongs to the SRS resource set.

[0129] The physical layer signaling may be, but is not limited to, downlink control information (DCI). In this embodiment, the first transmission resource may be dynamically scheduled through the physical layer signaling to trigger the terminal to send the first signal. For example, when the network-side device detects that the measurement quality reported by the terminal is less than or does not exceed a certain threshold, the network-side device may dynamically instruct the terminal to send the corresponding position reporting first signal through physical layer signaling, such as a PDCCH sequence (order). In this case, the first transmission resource for reporting the first signal may be specified or configured by the PDCCH order.

[0130] In some embodiments, the first transmission resource can be configured independently of the second transmission resource, that is, the network-side device can independently configure the first transmission resource without sharing the transmission resource of other signals, thereby obtaining greater transmission flexibility. The second transmission resource is a transmission resource other than the first transmission resource.

[0131] Alternatively, the first transmission resource may also be a shared resource or a common resource with the second transmission resource; that is, the network side device may configure the shared resource for the transmission of the first signal and other signals except the first signal, thereby reducing the signaling overhead during resource configuration.

[0132] Based on this, if the first transmission resource and the second transmission resource are configured independently, then the first transmission resource and the second transmission resource can satisfy at least one of the following 51)-54).

[0133] 51) A cyclic prefix (CP) used by the first signal is greater than a CP used by a third signal, wherein the third signal is a signal other than the first signal.

[0134] For example, compared with the third signal, the first signal may use an extended CP to tolerate greater signal errors.

[0135] 52) The first time domain resource containing the first signal is located within a gap between resources included in the second time domain resource. That is, the time-frequency resource containing the first signal is reserved within a gap between the second time domain resources. The first time domain resource belongs to the first transmission resource, and the second time domain resource belongs to the second transmission resource.

[0136] 53) The first frequency domain resource where the first signal resides is independent of the second frequency domain resource. The first frequency domain resource belongs to the first transmission resource, and the second frequency domain resource belongs to the second transmission resource.

[0137] 54) There is a gap between the first frequency domain resource where the first signal is located and the second frequency domain resource. That is, the frequency domain resource where the first signal is located is separated from the frequency resources of other signals and a certain gap is maintained.

[0138] It is worth noting that, through the design of the aforementioned 51)-54), reliable transmission of the first signal can also be achieved when the TA of the first signal is not indicated.

[0139] If the first transmission resource and the second transmission resource are shared resources or public resources, the resource sharing method between the first transmission resource and the second transmission resource includes at least one of the following 61)-64).

[0140] 61) Time division multiplexing (TDM).

[0141] For example, assuming that the first signal and the third signal are both SSBs, then the TDM of each (per) SSB has different transmission resources.

[0142] 62) Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM)

[0143] For example, assuming that both the first signal and the third signal are SSB, then the FDM per SSB has different transmission resources.

[0144] 63) Determine the first transmission resource and the second transmission resource in a predetermined order, wherein the predetermined order includes at least one of frequency domain first and time domain second, or time domain first and frequency domain second.

[0145] For example, assuming that both the first signal and the third signal are SSB, the transmission resources per SSB may be determined according to a frequency domain order first and then a time domain order.

[0146] 64) The first transmission resource and the second transmission resource overlap in time-frequency resources.

[0147] For example, assuming that the common resource is the PRACH resource, when transmitting a random access signal, a portion of a preamble sequence may be specifically allocated at a random access opportunity (RACH Occasion, RO) as a transmission resource for a first signal, i.e., a first transmission resource. The portion of the preamble sequence may be allocated at a granularity of SSB.

[0148] Based on this, as a possible implementation, after completing the configuration of the first transmission resource, there may be multiple ways to configure the preset association information based on the first transmission resource. For example, the preset association information may be configured on the terminal and the network device through protocol agreement, high-level configuration, network device indication, or terminal autonomous determination, so that the terminal and the network device have a consistent understanding of the preset association relationship.

[0149] For example, assuming that the preset association is indicated by the network-side device, the network-side device may also indicate the preset association relationship when sending the first transmission resource through the second information, and no limitation is made here.

[0150] For another example, assuming that the preset association relationship is determined by the terminal, in order to ensure that the terminal and the network side device have the same understanding of the preset association relationship, the terminal can indicate the preset association relationship to the network side device in an explicit or implicit manner.

[0151] Among them, assuming that the preset association relationship is indicated to the network side device in an explicit manner, the preset association relationship can be indicated through a channel with relatively more transmission bits such as PUSCH, PUCCH, etc., and the terminal location information in the preset association relationship is represented by a direct representation.

[0152] Assuming that the preset association relationship is indicated to the network side device in an implicit manner, the preset association relationship can be indicated through a channel with relatively few transmission bits, such as a reference signal, preamble, etc., wherein the terminal position information in the preset association relationship is represented in an indirect manner; or, the determination rule of the preset association relationship can also be indicated to the network side device, such as mapping the order of information IDs with the order of resource time domain and frequency domain sequences.

[0153] It is worth noting that the terminal and the network-side device have a consistent understanding of the preset association relationship, thereby ensuring consistency in understanding the terminal location information.

[0154] In some embodiments, when the terminal sends the first signal, in addition to considering the first transmission resource, the first condition, etc., if the first signal is used for uplink positioning, then the terminal can also send the first signal to the network side device according to the positioning configuration information.

[0155] The positioning configuration information may include but is not limited to at least one of a signal transmission period, a signal transmission time offset, and uplink positioning trigger information.

[0156] The uplink positioning trigger information may be periodic trigger information, event trigger information, etc. For example, the network may request the terminal when to send the first signal (ie, the uplink positioning signal) for uplink positioning.

[0157] Optionally, the positioning configuration information can be implemented by protocol agreement, high-level configuration, network side configuration, etc. For example, when the positioning configuration information includes the sending period and the signal sending time offset, the positioning configuration information can be included in the first transmission resource and configured through the second signal; for example, when the positioning configuration information includes the uplink positioning trigger information, the positioning configuration information can be included in the first condition and configured by the network side device, etc. This application does not impose any restrictions on this.

[0158] The present application proposes a method for tracking the terminal location based on a first signal, so that the network side device can more accurately update the terminal location information or determine the terminal location information or perform uplink positioning based on the introduction of a certain uplink signaling overhead.

[0159] FIG5 is a flow chart of a communication method 500 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present application. This method 500 may be, but is not limited to, executed by a network-side device, specifically hardware or software installed in the network-side device. In this embodiment, the method 500 may include at least the following steps.

[0160] S510: A network-side device receives a first signal sent by a terminal.

[0161] The first signal is used for at least one of indication of terminal location information, indication of terminal location change information, and uplink positioning, and the terminal location change information is determined based on the terminal location information.

[0162] Optionally, the method also includes: the network side device determines the first transmission resource corresponding to the first signal; determines the terminal location information, determines the terminal location change information, and performs at least one of uplink positioning based on the first transmission resource and a preset association relationship; wherein the preset association relationship includes the association relationship between the first transmission resource and the terminal location information.

[0163] Optionally, when the terminal location information is represented by direct representation, the terminal location information includes at least one of the following: coordinate location information with a preset location as the origin; longitude and latitude information; location information relative to a reference point; and location change information.

[0164] Optionally, when the terminal location information is represented in an indirect manner, the indirect representation includes: quantizing the directly represented terminal location information.

[0165] Optionally, the terminal location information includes at least one of the following: information on a first area, where the first area is an area covered by a network node or a network node group; information on a second area, where the second area corresponds to an identifier of a downlink reference signal; information on an area without cell coverage; information on a tracking area; and information on a wireless access network RAN ​​area.

[0166] Optionally, the preset association relationship further includes an association relationship between the first transmission resource and terminal information.

[0167] Optionally, the terminal information includes at least one of the following: part or all of the identification ID of the terminal; part or all of the wireless network temporary identification RNTI of the terminal; part or all of the international mobile user identity IMSI of the terminal; part or all of the temporary mobile user identity TMSI of the terminal.

[0168] Optionally, the method further includes: the network side device sending a second signal to the terminal; wherein the second signal carries the first transmission resource.

[0169] Optionally, the second signal includes at least one of the following: a first signaling dedicated to the configuration of the first transmission resource; a broadcast message; and a physical layer signaling.

[0170] Optionally, the first transmission resource satisfies at least one of the following: the first transmission resource and the second transmission resource are independently configured; the first transmission resource and the second transmission resource are shared resources; wherein, the second transmission resource is a transmission resource other than the first transmission resource.

[0171] Optionally, when the first transmission resource and the second transmission resource are configured independently, the first transmission resource and the second transmission resource satisfy at least one of the following: the cyclic prefix CP used by the first signal is greater than the CP used by the third signal, wherein the third signal is a signal other than the first signal; the first time domain resource where the first signal is located is located in the interval gap between the resources included in the second time domain resource; the first frequency domain resource where the first signal is located is independent of the second frequency domain resource; there is a gap between the first frequency domain resource where the first signal is located and the second frequency domain resource; wherein, the first time domain resource and the first frequency domain resource belong to the first transmission resource, and the second time domain resource and the second frequency domain resource belong to the second transmission resource.

[0172] Optionally, when the first transmission resource and the second transmission resource are shared resources, the resource sharing method between the first transmission resource and the second transmission resource includes at least one of the following: time division multiplexing TDM; frequency division multiplexing FDM; determining the first transmission resource and the second transmission resource in a predetermined order, wherein the predetermined order includes at least one of frequency domain first and time domain later, or time domain first and frequency domain later; the first transmission resource and the second transmission resource overlap in time and frequency resources.

[0173] Optionally, the first signal includes at least one of the following: a sounding reference signal SRS; a physical random access channel PRACH; a physical uplink shared channel PUSCH; a physical uplink control channel PUCCH; an uplink notification; or a wake-up signal.

[0174] It can be understood that since the various implementation methods of method embodiment 500 have the same or corresponding technical features as the aforementioned method embodiments 200-300, the implementation process of each implementation method of method embodiment 500 can refer to the relevant descriptions in method embodiments 200-300 and achieve the same or corresponding technical effects. To avoid repetition, they will not be repeated here.

[0175] The communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application can be executed by a communication device. In the embodiment of the present application, the communication device provided in the embodiment of the present application is described by taking the communication method executed by the communication device as an example.

[0176] As shown in Figure 6, which is a structural diagram of a communication device 600 provided in an embodiment of the present application, the device 600 includes: a sending module 610, used to send a first signal to a network side device; wherein, the first signal is used for at least one of an indication of terminal location information, an indication of terminal location change information, and uplink positioning, and the terminal location change information is determined based on the terminal location information.

[0177] Optionally, the apparatus 600 further includes a determination module, configured to determine the first signal.

[0178] Optionally, the sending module 610 sends a first signal to the network side device, including: the terminal determines a first transmission resource based on the terminal location information and a preset association relationship; and sends the first signal to the network side device based on the first transmission resource; wherein the preset association relationship includes an association relationship between the first transmission resource and the terminal location information.

[0179] Optionally, when the terminal location information is represented by direct representation, the terminal location information includes at least one of the following: coordinate location information with a preset location as the origin; longitude and latitude information; location information relative to a reference point; and location change information.

[0180] Optionally, when the terminal location information is represented in an indirect manner, the indirect representation includes: quantizing the directly represented terminal location information.

[0181] Optionally, the terminal location information includes at least one of the following: information on a first area, where the first area is an area covered by a network node or a network node group; information on a second area, where the second area corresponds to an identifier of a downlink reference signal; information on an area without cell coverage; information on a tracking area; and information on a wireless access network RAN ​​area.

[0182] Optionally, the preset association relationship further includes an association relationship between the first transmission resource and terminal information.

[0183] Optionally, the terminal information includes at least one of the following: part or all of the identification ID of the terminal; part or all of the wireless network temporary identification RNTI of the terminal; part or all of the international mobile user identity IMSI of the terminal; part or all of the temporary mobile user identity TMSI of the terminal.

[0184] Optionally, the apparatus 600 further includes: a receiving module configured to receive a second signal sent by the network-side device; wherein the second signal carries the first transmission resource.

[0185] Optionally, the second signal includes at least one of the following: a first signaling dedicated to the configuration of the first transmission resource; a broadcast message; and a physical layer signaling.

[0186] Optionally, the first transmission resource satisfies at least one of the following: the first transmission resource and the second transmission resource are independently configured; the first transmission resource and the second transmission resource are shared resources; wherein, the second transmission resource is a transmission resource other than the first transmission resource.

[0187] Optionally, when the first transmission resource and the second transmission resource are configured independently, the first transmission resource and the second transmission resource satisfy at least one of the following: the cyclic prefix CP used by the first signal is greater than the CP used by the third signal, wherein the third signal is a signal other than the first signal; the first time domain resource where the first signal is located is located in the interval gap between the resources included in the second time domain resource; the first frequency domain resource where the first signal is located is independent of the second frequency domain resource; there is a gap between the first frequency domain resource where the first signal is located and the second frequency domain resource; wherein, the first time domain resource and the first frequency domain resource belong to the first transmission resource, and the second time domain resource and the second frequency domain resource belong to the second transmission resource.

[0188] Optionally, when the first transmission resource and the second transmission resource are shared resources, the resource sharing method between the first transmission resource and the second transmission resource includes at least one of the following: time division multiplexing TDM; frequency division multiplexing FDM; determining the first transmission resource and the second transmission resource in a predetermined order, wherein the predetermined order includes at least one of frequency domain first and time domain later, or time domain first and frequency domain later; the first transmission resource and the second transmission resource overlap in time and frequency resources.

[0189] Optionally, the sending module 610 is used to execute the step of sending the first signal to the network side device when a first condition is met; wherein, the first condition includes at least one of the following: the terminal switches, reselects or changes the target object, wherein the target object includes at least one of a network node, a network node group, a cell, a cell group, a RAN, and a RAN group; the terminal expects to switch, reselect or change to the target object; the terminal cannot select a downlink signal that meets the requirements; the terminal detects abnormal timing advance TA information; the change in the terminal's moving speed is not less than a first threshold; the terminal's estimated round-trip time RTT or the RTT change is not less than a second threshold; the change in the terminal's position information estimated by the terminal based on the downlink signal is not less than a third threshold.

[0190] Optionally, the sending module 610 is used to send a first signal to a network side device, including: when the first signal is used for uplink positioning, the terminal sends the first signal to the network side device according to the positioning configuration information; wherein the positioning configuration information includes at least one of the following: signal sending period; signal sending time offset; uplink positioning trigger information.

[0191] Optionally, the first signal includes at least one of the following: a sounding reference signal SRS; a physical random access channel PRACH; a physical uplink shared channel PUSCH; a physical uplink control channel PUCCH; an uplink notification; or a wake-up signal.

[0192] The communication device 600 in the embodiment of the present application can be an electronic device, such as an electronic device with an operating system, or a component in an electronic device, such as an integrated circuit or chip. The electronic device can be a terminal or other device other than a terminal. For example, the terminal can include but is not limited to the types of terminal 11 listed above, and other devices can be servers, network attached storage (NAS), etc., which are not specifically limited in the embodiment of the present application.

[0193] The communication device 600 provided in the embodiment of the present application can implement the various processes implemented in the method embodiments of Figures 2 to 3 and achieve the same technical effects. To avoid repetition, they will not be described here.

[0194] As shown in Figure 7, which is a structural diagram of a communication device 700 provided in an embodiment of the present application, the device 700 includes: a receiving module 710, used to receive a first signal sent by a terminal; wherein the first signal is used for at least one of an indication of terminal location information, an indication of terminal location change information, and uplink positioning, and the terminal location change information is determined based on the terminal location information.

[0195] Optionally, the device 700 also includes: a determination module for determining the first transmission resource corresponding to the first signal; and performing at least one of determination of the terminal location information, determination of the terminal location change information, and uplink positioning based on the first transmission resource and a preset association relationship; wherein the preset association relationship includes an association relationship between the first transmission resource and the terminal location information.

[0196] Optionally, when the terminal location information is represented by direct representation, the terminal location information includes at least one of the following: coordinate location information with a preset location as the origin; longitude and latitude information; location information relative to a reference point; and location change information.

[0197] Optionally, when the terminal location information is represented in an indirect manner, the indirect representation includes: quantizing the directly represented terminal location information.

[0198] Optionally, the terminal location information includes at least one of the following: information on a first area, where the first area is an area covered by a network node or a network node group; information on a second area, where the second area corresponds to an identifier of a downlink reference signal; information on an area without cell coverage; information on a tracking area; and information on a wireless access network RAN ​​area.

[0199] Optionally, the preset association relationship further includes an association relationship between the first transmission resource and terminal information.

[0200] Optionally, the terminal information includes at least one of the following: part or all of the identification ID of the terminal; part or all of the wireless network temporary identification RNTI of the terminal; part or all of the international mobile user identity IMSI of the terminal; part or all of the temporary mobile user identity TMSI of the terminal.

[0201] Optionally, the device further includes a sending module, configured to send a second signal to the terminal; wherein the second signal carries the first transmission resource.

[0202] Optionally, the second signal includes at least one of the following: a first signaling dedicated to the configuration of the first transmission resource; a broadcast message; and a physical layer signaling.

[0203] Optionally, the first transmission resource satisfies at least one of the following: the first transmission resource and the second transmission resource are independently configured; the first transmission resource and the second transmission resource are shared resources; wherein, the second transmission resource is a transmission resource other than the first transmission resource.

[0204] Optionally, when the first transmission resource and the second transmission resource are configured independently, the first transmission resource and the second transmission resource satisfy at least one of the following: the cyclic prefix CP used by the first signal is greater than the CP used by the third signal, wherein the third signal is a signal other than the first signal; the first time domain resource where the first signal is located is located in the interval gap between the resources included in the second time domain resource; the first frequency domain resource where the first signal is located is independent of the second frequency domain resource; there is a gap between the first frequency domain resource where the first signal is located and the second frequency domain resource; wherein, the first time domain resource and the first frequency domain resource belong to the first transmission resource, and the second time domain resource and the second frequency domain resource belong to the second transmission resource.

[0205] Optionally, when the first transmission resource and the second transmission resource are shared resources, the resource sharing method between the first transmission resource and the second transmission resource includes at least one of the following: time division multiplexing TDM; frequency division multiplexing FDM; determining the first transmission resource and the second transmission resource in a predetermined order, wherein the predetermined order includes at least one of frequency domain first and time domain later, or time domain first and frequency domain later; the first transmission resource and the second transmission resource overlap in time and frequency resources.

[0206] Optionally, the first signal includes at least one of the following: a sounding reference signal SRS; a physical random access channel PRACH; a physical uplink shared channel PUSCH; a physical uplink control channel PUCCH; an uplink notification; or a wake-up signal.

[0207] The communication device 700 in the embodiment of the present application can be a network-side device, such as a network-side device with an operating system, or a component in a network-side device, such as an integrated circuit or chip. Exemplarily, the network-side device can include, but is not limited to, the types of network-side devices 12 listed above.

[0208] The communication device 700 provided in the embodiment of the present application can implement each process implemented in the method embodiment of Figure 5 and achieve the same technical effect. To avoid repetition, it will not be repeated here.

[0209] As shown in Figure 8, an embodiment of the present application further provides a communication device 800, including a processor 801 and a memory 802. The memory 802 stores a program or instruction that can be run on the processor 801. For example, when the communication device 800 is a terminal, the program or instruction, when executed by the processor 801, implements the various steps of the above-mentioned communication method embodiment and can achieve the same technical effect. When the communication device 800 is a network-side device, the program or instruction, when executed by the processor 801, implements the various steps of the above-mentioned communication method embodiment and can achieve the same technical effect. To avoid repetition, it will not be repeated here.

[0210] The present application also provides a terminal including a processor and a communication interface, wherein the communication interface is coupled to the processor, and the processor is configured to execute a program or instruction to implement the steps in the method embodiment shown in the communication diagram. This terminal embodiment corresponds to the aforementioned terminal-side method embodiment, and each implementation process and implementation method of the aforementioned method embodiment can be applied to this terminal embodiment and achieve the same technical effect. Specifically, Figure 9 is a schematic diagram of the hardware structure of a terminal implementing an embodiment of the present application.

[0211] The terminal 900 includes but is not limited to: a radio frequency unit 901, a network module 902, an audio output unit 903, an input unit 904, a sensor 905, a display unit 906, a user input unit 907, an interface unit 908, a memory 909 and at least some of the components of the processor 910.

[0212] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the terminal 900 may also include a power supply (such as a battery) to power various components. The power supply may be logically connected to the processor 910 via a power management system, thereby enabling the power management system to manage charging, discharging, and power consumption. The terminal structure shown in FIG9 does not limit the terminal. The terminal may include more or fewer components than shown, or may combine certain components, or have different component arrangements, which will not be described in detail here.

[0213] It should be understood that in an embodiment of the present application, the input unit 904 may include a graphics processing unit (GPU) 9041 and a microphone 9042, and the graphics processor 9041 processes the image data of a static picture or video obtained by an image capture device (such as a camera) in a video capture mode or an image capture mode. The display unit 906 may include a display panel 9061, and the display panel 9061 may be configured in the form of a liquid crystal display, an organic light emitting diode, etc. The user input unit 907 includes a touch panel 9071 and at least one of other input devices 9072. The touch panel 9071 is also called a touch screen. The touch panel 9071 may include two parts: a touch detection device and a touch controller. Other input devices 9072 may include, but are not limited to, a physical keyboard, function keys (such as volume control keys, switch keys, etc.), a trackball, a mouse, and an operating stick, which will not be repeated here.

[0214] In the embodiment of the present application, after receiving downlink data from a network-side device, the RF unit 901 may transmit the data to the processor 910 for processing. Furthermore, the RF unit 901 may send uplink data to the network-side device. Typically, the RF unit 901 includes, but is not limited to, an antenna, an amplifier, a transceiver, a coupler, a low-noise amplifier, a duplexer, and the like.

[0215] The memory 909 can be used to store software programs or instructions and various data. The memory 909 may mainly include a first storage area for storing programs or instructions and a second storage area for storing data, wherein the first storage area may store an operating system, applications or instructions required for at least one function (such as a sound playback function, an image playback function, etc.). In addition, the memory 909 may include a volatile memory or a non-volatile memory. Among them, the non-volatile memory may be a read-only memory (ROM), a programmable read-only memory (PROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), or a flash memory. Volatile memory can be random access memory (RAM), static random access memory (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (DDRSDRAM), enhanced synchronous dynamic random access memory (ESDRAM), synchronous link dynamic random access memory (SLDRAM), and direct RAM bus random access memory (DRRAM). The memory 909 in the embodiment of the present application includes but is not limited to these and any other suitable types of memory.

[0216] Processor 910 may include one or more processing units. Optionally, processor 910 integrates an application processor and a modem processor. The application processor primarily handles operations related to the operating system, user interface, and application programs, while the modem processor primarily processes wireless communication signals, such as a baseband processor. It is understood that the modem processor may not be integrated into processor 910.

[0217] Among them, the radio frequency unit 901 is used to send a first signal to the network side device; wherein, the first signal is used for at least one of an indication of terminal location information, an indication of terminal location change information, and uplink positioning, and the terminal location change information is determined based on the terminal location information.

[0218] Optionally, the radio frequency unit 901 sends a first signal to the network side device, including: the terminal determines a first transmission resource based on the terminal location information and a preset association relationship; and sends the first signal to the network side device based on the first transmission resource; wherein the preset association relationship includes an association relationship between the first transmission resource and the terminal location information.

[0219] Optionally, when the terminal location information is represented by direct representation, the terminal location information includes at least one of the following: coordinate location information with a preset location as the origin; longitude and latitude information; location information relative to a reference point; and location change information.

[0220] Optionally, when the terminal location information is represented in an indirect manner, the indirect representation includes: quantizing the directly represented terminal location information.

[0221] Optionally, the terminal location information includes at least one of the following: information on a first area, where the first area is an area covered by a network node or a network node group; information on a second area, where the second area corresponds to an identifier of a downlink reference signal; information on an area without cell coverage; information on a tracking area; and information on a wireless access network RAN ​​area.

[0222] Optionally, the preset association relationship further includes an association relationship between the first transmission resource and terminal information.

[0223] Optionally, the terminal information includes at least one of the following: part or all of the identification ID of the terminal; part or all of the wireless network temporary identification RNTI of the terminal; part or all of the international mobile user identity IMSI of the terminal; part or all of the temporary mobile user identity TMSI of the terminal.

[0224] Optionally, the radio frequency unit 901 is used to receive a second signal sent by the network side device; wherein the second signal carries the first transmission resource.

[0225] Optionally, the second signal includes at least one of the following: a first signaling dedicated to the configuration of the first transmission resource; a broadcast message; and a physical layer signaling.

[0226] Optionally, the first transmission resource satisfies at least one of the following: the first transmission resource and the second transmission resource are independently configured; the first transmission resource and the second transmission resource are shared resources; wherein, the second transmission resource is a transmission resource other than the first transmission resource.

[0227] Optionally, when the first transmission resource and the second transmission resource are configured independently, the first transmission resource and the second transmission resource satisfy at least one of the following: the cyclic prefix CP used by the first signal is greater than the CP used by the third signal, wherein the third signal is a signal other than the first signal; the first time domain resource where the first signal is located is located in the interval gap between the resources included in the second time domain resource; the first frequency domain resource where the first signal is located is independent of the second frequency domain resource; there is a gap between the first frequency domain resource where the first signal is located and the second frequency domain resource; wherein, the first time domain resource and the first frequency domain resource belong to the first transmission resource, and the second time domain resource and the second frequency domain resource belong to the second transmission resource.

[0228] Optionally, when the first transmission resource and the second transmission resource are shared resources, the resource sharing method between the first transmission resource and the second transmission resource includes at least one of the following: time division multiplexing TDM; frequency division multiplexing FDM; determining the first transmission resource and the second transmission resource in a predetermined order, wherein the predetermined order includes at least one of frequency domain first and time domain later, or time domain first and frequency domain later; the first transmission resource and the second transmission resource overlap in time and frequency resources.

[0229] Optionally, the radio frequency unit 901 is used to execute the step of sending a first signal to the network side device when a first condition is met; wherein the first condition includes at least one of the following: the terminal switches, reselects or changes the target object, wherein the target object includes at least one of a network node, a network node group, a cell, a cell group, a RAN, and a RAN group; the terminal expects to switch, reselect or change to the target object; the terminal cannot select a downlink signal that meets the requirements; the terminal detects abnormal timing advance TA information; the change in the terminal's moving speed is not less than a first threshold; the terminal's estimated round-trip time RTT or the RTT change is not less than a second threshold; the change in the terminal's position information estimated by the terminal based on the downlink signal is not less than a third threshold.

[0230] Optionally, the RF unit 901 is used to send a first signal to a network side device, including: when the first signal is used for uplink positioning, the terminal sends the first signal to the network side device according to positioning configuration information; wherein the positioning configuration information includes at least one of the following: signal sending period; signal sending time offset; uplink positioning trigger information.

[0231] Optionally, the first signal includes at least one of the following: a sounding reference signal SRS; a physical random access channel PRACH; a physical uplink shared channel PUSCH; a physical uplink control channel PUCCH; an uplink notification; or a wake-up signal.

[0232] It can be understood that the implementation process of each implementation method mentioned in this embodiment can refer to the relevant description of method embodiments 200-300, and achieve the same or corresponding technical effects. To avoid repetition, it will not be repeated here.

[0233] The present application also provides a network-side device, including a processor and a communication interface, wherein the communication interface is coupled to the processor, and the processor is configured to execute a program or instruction to implement the steps of the method embodiment shown in FIG5 . This network-side device embodiment corresponds to the aforementioned network-side device method embodiment, and each implementation process and implementation method of the aforementioned method embodiment are applicable to this network-side device embodiment and can achieve the same technical effects.

[0234] Specifically, an embodiment of the present application also provides a network-side device. As shown in Figure 10, the network-side device 1000 includes: an antenna 1001, a radio frequency device 1002, a baseband device 1003, a processor 1004, and a memory 1005. Antenna 1001 is connected to radio frequency device 1002. In the uplink direction, radio frequency device 1002 receives information via antenna 1001 and sends the received information to baseband device 1003 for processing. In the downlink direction, baseband device 1003 processes the information to be transmitted and sends it to radio frequency device 1002. Radio frequency device 1002 processes the received information and sends it through antenna 1001.

[0235] The method executed by the network-side device in the above embodiment may be implemented in the baseband device 1003 , which includes a baseband processor.

[0236] The baseband device 1003 may, for example, include at least one baseband board, on which multiple chips are arranged, as shown in Figure 10, one of which is, for example, a baseband processor, which is connected to the memory 1005 through a bus interface to call the program in the memory 1005 and execute the network device operations shown in the above method embodiment.

[0237] The network side device may further include a network interface 1006, which is, for example, a Common Public Radio Interface (CPRI).

[0238] Specifically, the network side device 1000 of the embodiment of the present application also includes: instructions or programs stored in the memory 1005 and executable on the processor 1004. The processor 1004 calls the instructions or programs in the memory 1005 to execute the method of execution of each module shown in Figure 7 and achieve the same technical effect. To avoid repetition, it will not be described here.

[0239] An embodiment of the present application also provides a readable storage medium, on which a program or instruction is stored. When the program or instruction is executed by a processor, the various processes of the above-mentioned communication method embodiment are implemented and the same technical effect can be achieved. To avoid repetition, it will not be repeated here.

[0240] The processor is the processor in the terminal described in the above embodiment. The readable storage medium includes a computer-readable storage medium, such as a computer read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a magnetic disk, or an optical disk. In some examples, the readable storage medium may be a non-transitory readable storage medium.

[0241] An embodiment of the present application further provides a chip, which includes a processor and a communication interface, wherein the communication interface is coupled to the processor, and the processor is used to run programs or instructions to implement the various processes of the above-mentioned communication method embodiment and achieve the same technical effect. To avoid repetition, it will not be repeated here.

[0242] It should be understood that the chip mentioned in the embodiments of the present application can also be called a system-level chip, a system chip, a chip system or a system-on-chip chip, etc.

[0243] An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer program / program product, which is stored in a storage medium. The computer program / program product is executed by at least one processor to implement the various processes of the above-mentioned communication method embodiment and can achieve the same technical effect. To avoid repetition, it will not be repeated here.

[0244] An embodiment of the present application also provides a wireless communication system, including: a terminal and a network side device, wherein the terminal can be used to execute the various processes of the above-mentioned communication method embodiment 200 or 300, and the network side device can be used to execute the various processes of the above-mentioned communication method embodiment 500, and can achieve the same technical effect. To avoid repetition, it will not be repeated here.

[0245] It should be noted that, in this article, the terms "comprise", "include" or any other variants thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, so that a process, method, article or device comprising a series of elements includes not only those elements, but also other elements not explicitly listed, or also includes elements inherent to such process, method, article or device. In the absence of further restrictions, an element defined by the sentence "comprises a ..." does not exclude the presence of other identical elements in the process, method, article or device comprising the element. In addition, it should be pointed out that the scope of the methods and devices in the embodiments of the present application is not limited to performing functions in the order shown or discussed, and may also include performing functions in a substantially simultaneous manner or in the opposite order according to the functions involved. For example, the described method may be performed in an order different from that described, and various steps may also be added, omitted or combined. In addition, the features described with reference to certain examples may be combined in other examples.

[0246] Through the description of the above embodiments, those skilled in the art can clearly understand that the above-mentioned embodiment methods can be implemented by means of a computer software product plus a necessary general-purpose hardware platform, or of course, by hardware. The computer software product is stored in a storage medium (such as ROM, RAM, magnetic disk, optical disk, etc.) and includes a number of instructions for enabling a terminal or network-side device to execute the methods described in each embodiment of the present application.

[0247] The embodiments of the present application are described above in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, but the present application is not limited to the above-mentioned specific implementation methods. The above-mentioned specific implementation methods are merely illustrative and not restrictive. Under the guidance of this application, ordinary technicians in this field can also make many forms of implementation methods without departing from the purpose of this application and the scope of protection of the claims. These implementation methods are all within the protection of this application.

Claims

1. A communication method, comprising: The terminal sends a first signal to the network side device; The first signal is used for at least one of an indication of terminal location information, an indication of terminal location change information, and uplink positioning, and the terminal location change information is determined based on the terminal location information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein: The terminal sends a first signal to a network side device, including: The terminal determines a first transmission resource based on the terminal location information and a preset association relationship; Sending the first signal to the network side device based on the first transmission resource; The preset association relationship includes an association relationship between the first transmission resource and the terminal location information.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein: When the terminal location information is represented in a direct representation, the terminal location information includes at least one of the following: Coordinate position information with the preset position as the origin; Latitude and longitude information; Position information relative to a reference point; Location change information.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein: In the case where the terminal location information is represented in an indirect manner, the indirect representation includes: quantizing the directly represented terminal location information.

5. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein: The terminal location information includes at least one of the following: Information about a first area, where the first area is an area covered by a network node or a network node group; information of a second region, where the second region corresponds to an identifier of a downlink reference signal; Information about areas without cell coverage; Tracking area information; Information about the radio access network RAN ​​area.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein: The preset association relationship also includes an association relationship between the first transmission resource and terminal information.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein: The terminal information includes at least one of the following: Part or all of the identification ID of the terminal; Part or all of the radio network temporary identification RNTI of the terminal; Part or all of the International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) of the terminal; Partial or complete temporary mobile subscriber identity TMSI of the terminal.

8. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 7, wherein: The method further comprises: The terminal receives a second signal sent by the network side device; The second signal carries the first transmission resource.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein: The second signal includes at least one of the following: A first signaling, dedicated to the configuration of the first transmission resource; Broadcast messages; Physical layer signaling.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein: The first transmission resource satisfies at least one of the following: The first transmission resource and the second transmission resource are configured independently; The first transmission resource and the second transmission resource are shared resources; The second transmission resource is other transmission resource except the first transmission resource.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein: When the first transmission resource and the second transmission resource are independently configured, the first transmission resource and the second transmission resource satisfy at least one of the following conditions: A cyclic prefix CP used by the first signal is greater than a CP used by a third signal, wherein the third signal is a signal other than the first signal; The first time domain resource where the first signal is located is located in a gap between resources included in the second time domain resource; The first frequency domain resource where the first signal is located is independent of the second frequency domain resource; There is a gap between the first frequency domain resource where the first signal is located and the second frequency domain resource; The first time domain resources and the first frequency domain resources belong to the first transmission resources, and the second time domain resources and the second frequency domain resources belong to the second transmission resources.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein: In the case where the first transmission resource and the second transmission resource are shared resources, the resource sharing manner between the first transmission resource and the second transmission resource includes at least one of the following: Time Division Multiplexing TDM; Frequency Division Multiplexing FDM; Determine the first transmission resource and the second transmission resource in a predetermined order, wherein the predetermined order includes at least one of frequency domain first and time domain second, and time domain first and frequency domain second; The first transmission resource and the second transmission resource overlap in time-frequency resources.

13. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 12, wherein: The method further comprises: When the first condition is met, the terminal executes the step of sending a first signal to the network side device; The first condition includes at least one of the following: The terminal switches, reselects or changes a target object, wherein the target object includes at least one of a network node, a network node group, a cell, a cell group, a RAN, and a RAN group; The terminal desires to switch, reselect or change to a target object; The terminal cannot select a downlink signal that meets the requirements; The terminal detects abnormal timing advance TA information; The change in the moving speed of the terminal is not less than a first threshold; The round-trip time RTT or RTT change estimated by the terminal is not less than a second threshold; The change in the terminal location information estimated by the terminal based on the downlink signal is not less than a third threshold.

14. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 12, wherein: The step of the terminal sending a first signal to the network side device includes: In a case where the first signal is used for uplink positioning, the terminal sends the first signal to the network side device according to the positioning configuration information; The positioning configuration information includes at least one of the following: Signal sending cycle; Signal sending time offset; Uplink positioning trigger information.

15. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 14, wherein: The first signal includes at least one of the following: Sounding reference signal SRS; Physical Random Access Channel PRACH; Physical uplink shared channel PUSCH; Physical uplink control channel PUCCH; Uplink notification; Wake-up signal.

16. A communication method, comprising: The network side device receives a first signal sent by the terminal; The first signal is used for at least one of an indication of terminal location information, an indication of terminal location change information, and uplink positioning, and the terminal location change information is determined based on the terminal location information.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein: The method further comprises: The network side device determines a first transmission resource corresponding to the first signal; Perform at least one of determining the terminal location information, determining the terminal location change information, and uplink positioning according to the first transmission resource and the preset association relationship; The preset association relationship includes an association relationship between the first transmission resource and the terminal location information.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein: When the terminal location information is represented in a direct representation, the terminal location information includes at least one of the following: Coordinate position information with the preset position as the origin; Latitude and longitude information; Position information relative to a reference point; Location change information.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein: In the case where the terminal location information is represented in an indirect manner, the indirect representation includes: quantizing the directly represented terminal location information.

20. The method of any one of claims 16 to 18, wherein: The terminal location information includes at least one of the following: Information about a first area, where the first area is an area covered by a network node or a network node group; information of a second region, where the second region corresponds to an identifier of a downlink reference signal; Information about areas without cell coverage; Tracking area information; Information about the radio access network RAN ​​area.

21. The method of claim 17, wherein: The preset association relationship also includes an association relationship between the first transmission resource and terminal information.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein: The terminal information includes at least one of the following: Part or all of the identification ID of the terminal; Part or all of the radio network temporary identification RNTI of the terminal; Part or all of the International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) of the terminal; Partial or complete temporary mobile subscriber identity TMSI of the terminal.

23. The method of any one of claims 17 to 22, wherein: The method further comprises: The network side device sends a second signal to the terminal; The second signal carries the first transmission resource.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein: The second signal includes at least one of the following: A first signaling, dedicated to the configuration of the first transmission resource; Broadcast messages; Physical layer signaling.

25. The method of claim 23, wherein: The first transmission resource satisfies at least one of the following: The first transmission resource and the second transmission resource are configured independently; The first transmission resource and the second transmission resource are shared resources; The second transmission resource is other transmission resource except the first transmission resource.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein: When the first transmission resource and the second transmission resource are independently configured, the first transmission resource and the second transmission resource satisfy at least one of the following conditions: A cyclic prefix CP used by the first signal is greater than a CP used by a third signal, wherein the third signal is a signal other than the first signal; The first time domain resource where the first signal is located is located in a gap between resources included in the second time domain resource; The first frequency domain resource where the first signal is located is independent of the second frequency domain resource; There is a gap between the first frequency domain resource where the first signal is located and the second frequency domain resource; The first time domain resources and the first frequency domain resources belong to the first transmission resources, and the second time domain resources and the second frequency domain resources belong to the second transmission resources.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein: In the case where the first transmission resource and the second transmission resource are shared resources, the resource sharing manner between the first transmission resource and the second transmission resource includes at least one of the following: Time Division Multiplexing TDM; Frequency Division Multiplexing FDM; Determine the first transmission resource and the second transmission resource in a predetermined order, wherein the predetermined order includes at least one of frequency domain first and time domain second, and time domain first and frequency domain second; The first transmission resource and the second transmission resource overlap in time-frequency resources.

28. The method of any one of claims 16 to 27, wherein: The first signal includes at least one of the following: Sounding reference signal SRS; Physical Random Access Channel PRACH; Physical uplink shared channel PUSCH; Physical uplink control channel PUCCH; Uplink notification; Wake-up signal.

29. A communication device, comprising: A sending module, used for sending a first signal to a network side device; The first signal is used for at least one of an indication of terminal location information, an indication of terminal location change information, and uplink positioning, and the terminal location change information is determined based on the terminal location information.

30. A communication device, comprising: A receiving module, used for receiving a first signal sent by a terminal; The first signal is used for at least one of an indication of terminal location information, an indication of terminal location change information, and uplink positioning, and the terminal location change information is determined based on the terminal location information.

31. A terminal comprising a processor and a memory, wherein the memory stores a program or instruction that can be run on the processor, and when the program or instruction is executed by the processor, the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 15 are implemented.

32. A network side device, comprising a processor and a memory, wherein the memory stores a program or instruction that can be run on the processor, and when the program or instruction is executed by the processor, the steps of the method according to any one of claims 16 to 28 are implemented.

33. A readable storage medium storing a program or instruction, wherein the program or instruction, when executed by a processor, implements the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 15, or implements the steps of the method according to any one of claims 16 to 28.

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