Terminal, server device, and wireless communication method

Abstract

This terminal receives, from a network, an acquisition request for terminal position information, and generates the terminal position information including a parameter designated by the acquisition request. The terminal transmits the generated terminal position information to the network.

Description

Terminal, server device, and wireless communication method

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a terminal, a server device, and a wireless communication method capable of acquiring terminal location information.

[0002] The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP: registered trademark) has developed specifications for Long Term Evolution (LTE) and 5th generation mobile communication systems (5G, also known as New Radio (NR) or Next Generation (NG)), and is also developing specifications for the next generation, known as Beyond 5G, 5G Evolution, or 6G.

[0003] In 3GPP, LPP (LTE Positioning Protocol) is widely used as a method for providing location information of a terminal (User Equipment, UE) to a network (see Non-Patent Document 1). LPP provides location information using signaling on the control plane.

[0004] Specifically, in response to a request for location information from the network (RequestLocationInformation), the UE returns the location information of the UE (ProvideLocationInformation) to the network.

[0005] 3GPP TS 37.355 V17.7.0, 3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP) (Release 17), 3GPP, December 2023

[0006] The UE can add parameters other than those requested by the network to the ProvideLocationInformation and return them. This can result in an excessively large ProvideLocationInformation message, which may exceed the size of the message (NASTransportMessage) that the network can process. In this case, the network may miss parameters essential for UE positioning, resulting in UE positioning failure.

[0007] In particular, UE location information is now being used for emergency calls, and failure to locate the UE in such situations can be a major problem.

[0008] Therefore, the following disclosure has been made in consideration of this situation, and aims to provide a terminal, a server device, and a wireless communication method that can reliably avoid positioning failures due to excessive data size when providing terminal location information using LPP.

[0009] One aspect of the present disclosure is a terminal comprising a receiving unit (acquisition request receiving unit 230) that receives a request to acquire terminal location information from a network, a control unit (control unit 250) that generates the terminal location information including parameters specified by the acquisition request, and a transmitting unit (location information transmitting unit 240) that transmits the generated terminal location information to the network.

[0010] One aspect of the present disclosure is a server device (location server 40) that includes a transmitter (acquisition request transmitter 42) that transmits a request to acquire terminal location information to a terminal, and a receiver (location information receiver 43) that receives the terminal location information including parameters specified by the acquisition request from the terminal.

[0011] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the overall configuration of a wireless communication system 10. FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of a location server 40. FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of a UE 200. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a sequence for acquiring location information according to a conventional LPP. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a sequence for acquiring location information according to an LPP of an embodiment. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of the location server 40, the gNB 100, and the UE 200. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a vehicle 2001.

[0012] Hereinafter, embodiments will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that the same or similar reference numerals are used to designate the same functions or configurations, and descriptions thereof will be omitted as appropriate.

[0013] (1) Overall Schematic Configuration of Wireless Communication System Fig. 1 is a diagram showing the overall schematic configuration of a wireless communication system 10 according to this embodiment. The wireless communication system 10 is a wireless communication system conforming to 4G / Long Term Evolution (LTE) or 5G New Radio (NR), and includes a Radio Access Network 20 (hereinafter, RAN 20) and a terminal 200 (User Equipment 200, hereinafter, UE 200). Note that the wireless communication system 10 may also be a wireless communication system conforming to a scheme called Beyond 5G, 5G Evolution, or 6G.

[0014] The RAN 20 includes a radio base station 100 (hereinafter, gNB 100). Note that the specific configuration of the radio communication system 10, including the number of gNBs and UEs, is not limited to the example shown in FIG. 1 .

[0015] The RAN 20 actually includes a plurality of RAN nodes, specifically, gNBs (or ng-eNBs), and is connected to a core network (not shown) conforming to 4G / 5G. The RAN 20 and the core network may be simply referred to as a "network."

[0016] The gNB100 is a radio base station conforming to 4G / 5G standards, and performs 4G / 5G radio communications with the UE 200. The gNB100 and UE 200 are capable of supporting Massive MIMO, which generates highly directional beams by controlling radio signals transmitted from multiple antenna elements, Carrier Aggregation (CA), which aggregates and uses multiple component carriers (CCs), and Dual Connectivity (DC), which enables simultaneous communication between the UE and multiple NG-RAN nodes.

[0017] The network can also acquire location information of the UE 200. Specifically, a location server 40 (server device) is provided in the wireless communication system 10. In this embodiment, the LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP) may be used as a method for providing the location information of the UE 200 to the network. The LPP provides the location information using signaling on the control plane (C-Plane). A method for providing location information using the LPP is described in, for example, 3GPP TS37.355, Chapter 5.3.1. Specific sequence examples will be described later.

[0018] The wireless communication system 10 may support a method other than LPP. For example, Secure User Plane Location (SUPL), which provides location information by including it in a packet on a user plane (U-Plane), or base station positioning, in which the gNB 100 (wireless base station) determines the location information of the UE 200 based on information about the cell in which the UE 200 is located, may be used. Furthermore, these methods may be used in combination.

[0019] The location information of the UE 200 acquired by the network is used to estimate the location of the UE 200 (caller) when making an emergency call such as calling 119.

[0020] (2) Functional Block Configuration of Wireless Communication System Next, a functional block configuration of the wireless communication system 10 will be described. Specifically, the functional block configuration of the location server 40 and the UE 200 will be described.

[0021] Fig. 2 is a functional block diagram of the location server 40. Fig. 3 is a functional block diagram of the UE 200. Note that Figs. 2 and 3 only show main functional blocks relevant to the description of the embodiments, and that the location server 40 and the UE 200 have other functional blocks (e.g., a power supply unit, etc.). Figs. 2 and 3 show functional block configurations of the location server 40 and the UE 200, and for the hardware configuration, see Fig. 6.

[0022] (2.1) Location Server 40 As shown in FIG. 2, the location server 40 includes a network interface (NW IF) unit 41, an acquisition request transmitting unit 42, a location information receiving unit 43, and a control unit 44.

[0023] The NW IF unit 41 provides a connection interface with a network (which may include the RAN 20). Specifically, the NW IF unit 41 may include an interface capable of transmitting and receiving messages of a non-access stratum (NAS). The NW IF unit 41 may also provide an interface that supports SUPL / ULP (User Plane Location Protocol).

[0024] The acquisition request transmission unit 42 transmits an acquisition request for the location information of the UE 200. In this embodiment, the acquisition request transmission unit 42 can transmit RequestLocationInformation according to the LPP to the UE 200. In this embodiment, the acquisition request transmission unit 42 may constitute a transmission unit that transmits the acquisition request for the terminal location information to the UE 200.

[0025] The RequestLocationInformation can specify parameters of location information required by the network. Specifically, the RequestLocationInformation may include the type of parameter of location information required by the network (e.g., parameter A, B, C, D). Alternatively, the RequestLocationInformation may include the number of parameters (which may be the amount of data) that the network can accept.

[0026] The location information receiving unit 43 receives the location information of the UE 200 from the UE 200. In this embodiment, the location information receiving unit 43 can receive ProvideLocationInformation according to the LPP. The ProvideLocationInformation received from the UE 200 may include parameters specified by RequestLocationInformation. In this embodiment, the location information receiving unit 43 may constitute a receiving unit that receives, from the terminal, terminal location information including parameters specified by the acquisition request.

[0027] An upper limit may be applied to the number of parameters included in ProvideLocationInformation or the size of ProvideLocationInformation. Preferably, ProvideLocationInformation includes only the parameters specified in the acquisition request. However, if there is room up to the upper limit, other parameters may be added.

[0028] The control unit 44 controls each functional block constituting the location server 40. Specifically, the control unit 44 executes control related to acquisition of location information of the UE 200. As described above, in this embodiment, RequestLocationInformation and ProvideLocationInformation, which are messages conforming to the LPP, are transmitted and received.

[0029] The control unit 44 can determine the type of parameters specified by RequestLocationInformation. The control unit 44 also controls the transmission of the location information included in ProvideLocationInformation to another entity (e.g., an entity related to emergency calls).

[0030] (2.2) UE 200 As shown in FIG. 3, the UE 200 includes a radio communication unit 210, a location acquisition unit 220, an acquisition request receiving unit 230, a location information transmitting unit 240, and a control unit 250.

[0031] The wireless communication unit 210 transmits and receives wireless signals conforming to 4G or 5G. Specifically, the NW IF unit 41 transmits uplink signals (UL signals) conforming to 4G or 5G and receives downlink signals (DL signals) conforming to 4G or 5G.

[0032] The position acquisition unit 220 acquires the position of the UE 200. Specifically, the position acquisition unit 220 can acquire information indicating the position of the UE 200 by using a Global Navigation Satellite System or a radio signal of LTE (4G) / NR (5G), etc. The method used to acquire the position of the UE 200 may be only a GNSS or an LTE / NR radio signal, or a combination of both methods.

[0033] More specifically, LPP positioning methods (see TS37.355, Chapter 4.1.3) may be used, and methods such as Observed Time Difference Of Arrival (OTDOA, based on LTE signals), A-GNSS, E-Cell-ID (E-CID, based on LTE signals), Sensor, TBS (Terrestrial Beacon System), WLAN, Bluetooth, NR E-CID, NR DL-Time Difference Of Arrival (TDOA), NR DL-Angle-of-Departure (AoD), and NR Multi-Round Trip Time (RTT) may be used.

[0034] The location acquisition unit 220 may generate location information of the UE 200 including designated parameters in accordance with an instruction from the control unit 250 based on the location of the UE 200 acquired by these methods.

[0035] The acquisition request receiving unit 230 receives a request to acquire location information from the network. Specifically, the acquisition request receiving unit 230 can receive RequestLocationInformation in accordance with LPP from the location server 40. In this embodiment, the acquisition request receiving unit 230 may constitute a receiving unit that receives a request to acquire terminal location information from the network.

[0036] As mentioned above, RequestLocationInformation may include the type of location information parameters required by the network.

[0037] The location information transmitting unit 240 transmits the location information of the UE 200 generated by the location acquiring unit 220 to the network. Specifically, the location information transmitting unit 240 can transmit ProvideLocationInformation according to the LPP to the location server 40. In this embodiment, the location information transmitting unit 240 may constitute a transmitting unit that transmits the generated terminal location information to the network.

[0038] The control unit 250 controls each functional block constituting the UE 200. In particular, in this embodiment, the control unit 250 can execute control related to the location information of the UE 200. Specifically, the control unit 250 can generate terminal location information including only parameters specified by the acquisition request received by the acquisition request receiving unit 230.

[0039] More specifically, the control unit 250 may instruct the location acquisition unit 220 to generate location information including only the parameters specified by the acquisition request. In this embodiment, the location acquisition unit 220 generates the location information, but the control unit 250 itself may generate the location information.

[0040] (3) Operation of the Wireless Communication System Next, a description will be given of the operation of the wireless communication system 10. Specifically, a description will be given of the operation related to the acquisition of location information of the UE 200 in accordance with the LPP.

[0041] (3.1) Prerequisites and Issues LPP was specified as a method for providing location information in LTE, but it is also used in 5G / NR and has become the mainstream method globally.

[0042] 4 shows an example of a conventional sequence for obtaining location information according to LPP. As described above, a method for providing location information using LPP is described in 3GPP TS37.355, Chapter 5.3.1, etc.

[0043] As shown in Fig. 4, the network (server) requests information required for UE positioning from the UE (target) (RequestLocationInformation). The UE can adjust parameters such as the measurement method used for positioning by responding to the request (ProvideLocationInformation).

[0044] In the conventional LPP specifications, in response to RequestLocationInformation from the network (server), the UE (target) can return ProvideLocationInformation including parameters other than the requested parameters.

[0045] However, there is a limit to the processing size of a message (NASTransportMessage) containing ProvideLocationInformation in the network. Therefore, if the UE returns ProvideLocationInformation containing more parameters than necessary, the message size becomes too large, and there is a possibility that parameters actually required for positioning will be missed.

[0046] In the past, it has been confirmed that ProvideLocationInformation contained parameters that were not requested by the network, causing the size to exceed what the network (server) could process, resulting in the message received by the server being corrupted and positioning using LPP failing.

[0047] An example of an operation that can solve this problem will be described below.

[0048] (3.2) Operation Example Fig. 5 shows an example of a sequence for acquiring location information according to the LPP of the embodiment. As shown in Fig. 5, the network (location server 40) transmits RequestLocationInformation to the UE (target). The RequestLocationInformation may specify parameters that need to be acquired by the network (e.g., parameters A, B, C, and D). The RequestLocationInformation may be the same as that of conventional LPP.

[0049] The UE generates ProvideLocationInformation in response to the received RequestLocationInformation. Although the UE supports parameters (e.g., parameter E) other than those required by the network (parameters A, B, C, and D), it generates ProvideLocationInformation that includes only the parameters specified by RequestLocationInformation (parameters A, B, C, and D).

[0050] The UE returns the generated ProvideLocationInformation to the network (location server 40). As described above, if there is room up to the upper limit of the size of ProvideLocationInformation (NASTransportMessage), other parameters (for example, parameter E) may be added.

[0051] According to the above-described operation example, the location server 40 can transmit RequestLocationInformation, in which parameters that need to be acquired by the network are specified, to the UE 200. Furthermore, the UE 200 can return ProvideLocationInformation, which includes only the parameters (parameters A, B, C, and D) specified by the RequestLocationInformation.

[0052] This makes it possible to prevent the size of ProvideLocationInformation from becoming excessive and exceeding the size of the message (NASTransportMessage) that the network can process. That is, according to location server 40 and UE 200, when providing terminal location information using LPP, it is possible to reliably prevent positioning failure due to an excessive data size being provided.

[0053] (4) Other Embodiments Although the embodiments have been described above, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited to the description of the embodiments, and that various modifications and improvements are possible.

[0054] For example, in the above-described embodiment, an example was described in which LPP is used as a method for providing location information of UE200 to the network, but in other methods, terminal location information including only the parameters specified by the acquisition request may also be transmitted to the network.

[0055] Also, in the above description, configure, activate, update, indicate, enable, specify, and select may be interchangeable. Similarly, link, associate, correspond, and map may be interchangeable, and allocate, assign, monitor, and map may be interchangeable.

[0056] Furthermore, specific, dedicated, UE-specific, and UE-dedicated may be interchangeable. Similarly, common, shared, group-common, UE-common, and UE-shared may be interchangeable.

[0057] In this disclosure, terms such as "precoding," "precoder," "weight (precoding weight)," "Quasi-Co-Location (QCL)," "Transmission Configuration Indication state (TCI state)," "spatial relation," "spatial domain filter," "transmit power," "phase rotation," "antenna port," "antenna port group," "layer," "number of layers," "rank," "resource," "resource set," "resource group," "beam," "beam width," "beam angle," "antenna," "antenna element," "panel," etc. may be used interchangeably.

[0058] Furthermore, the block diagrams (FIGS. 2 and 3) used in the description of the above-described embodiments show functional blocks. These functional blocks (components) are realized by any combination of hardware and / or software. Furthermore, the method for realizing each functional block is not particularly limited. That is, each functional block may be realized using a single device that is physically or logically coupled, or may be realized using two or more physically or logically separated devices that are directly or indirectly connected (e.g., wired, wireless, etc.) and these multiple devices. The functional block may also be realized by combining software with the single device or multiple devices.

[0059] Functions include, but are not limited to, judgment, determination, judgment, calculation, computation, processing, derivation, investigation, search, confirmation, reception, transmission, output, access, resolution, selection, selection, establishment, comparison, assumption, expectation, consideration, broadcasting, notifying, communicating, forwarding, configuring, reconfiguring, allocating, mapping, and assignment. For example, a functional block (component) that performs transmission is called a transmitting unit or transmitter. As mentioned above, there are no particular limitations on how each is implemented.

[0060] Furthermore, the above-described location server 40, gNB 100, and UE 200 (the devices) may function as a computer that performs processing of the wireless communication method of the present disclosure. Fig. 6 is a diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of the devices. As shown in Fig. 6, the devices may be configured as a computer including a processor 1001, a memory 1002, a storage 1003, a communication device 1004, an input device 1005, an output device 1006, a bus 1007, etc.

[0061] In the following description, the term "apparatus" can be interpreted as a circuit, a device, a unit, etc. The hardware configuration of the apparatus may be configured to include one or more of the apparatuses shown in the drawings, or may be configured to exclude some of the apparatuses.

[0062] Each functional block of the device (see FIGS. 2 and 3) is realized by any hardware element of the computer device or a combination of the hardware elements.

[0063] In addition, each function of the device is realized by loading specified software (programs) onto hardware such as processor 1001 and memory 1002, causing processor 1001 to perform calculations, control communication via communication device 1004, and control at least one of reading and writing data in memory 1002 and storage 1003.

[0064] The processor 1001 controls the entire computer by running, for example, an operating system, and may be configured as a central processing unit (CPU) including an interface with peripheral devices, a control unit, an arithmetic unit, and registers.

[0065] The processor 1001 also reads programs (program codes), software modules, data, etc. from at least one of the storage 1003 and the communication device 1004 into the memory 1002 and executes various processes in accordance with these. The programs used are those that cause a computer to execute at least some of the operations described in the above-described embodiments. Furthermore, the various processes described above may be executed by a single processor 1001, or may be executed simultaneously or sequentially by two or more processors 1001. The processor 1001 may be implemented by one or more chips. The programs may be transmitted from a network via a telecommunications line.

[0066] The memory 1002 is a computer-readable recording medium and may be configured by at least one of, for example, a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable ROM (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), a random access memory (RAM), etc. The memory 1002 may also be called a register, a cache, a main memory (primary storage device), etc. The memory 1002 may store a program (program code), a software module, etc., capable of executing a method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0067] Storage 1003 is a computer-readable recording medium, and may be, for example, at least one of an optical disk such as a Compact Disc ROM (CD-ROM), a hard disk drive, a flexible disk, a magneto-optical disk (e.g., a compact disk, a digital versatile disk, a Blu-ray disc), a smart card, a flash memory (e.g., a card, a stick, a key drive), a floppy disk, a magnetic strip, etc. Storage 1003 may also be referred to as an auxiliary storage device. The above-mentioned recording medium may be, for example, a database, a server, or other suitable medium including at least one of memory 1002 and storage 1003.

[0068] The communication device 1004 is hardware (transmission / reception device) for communicating between computers via at least one of a wired network and a wireless network, and is also called, for example, a network device, a network controller, a network card, or a communication module.

[0069] The communication device 1004 may be configured to include a high-frequency switch, a duplexer, a filter, a frequency synthesizer, etc. to realize, for example, at least one of Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) and Time Division Duplex (TDD).

[0070] The input device 1005 is an input device (e.g., a keyboard, a mouse, a microphone, a switch, a button, a sensor, etc.) that receives input from the outside. The output device 1006 is an output device (e.g., a display, a speaker, an LED lamp, etc.) that outputs to the outside. Note that the input device 1005 and the output device 1006 may be integrated into one device (e.g., a touch panel).

[0071] Furthermore, each device such as the processor 1001 and the memory 1002 is connected to a bus 1007 for communicating information. The bus 1007 may be configured using a single bus, or may be configured using different buses between each device.

[0072] Furthermore, the device may be configured to include hardware such as a microprocessor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a programmable logic device (PLD), or a field programmable gate array (FPGA), and some or all of the functional blocks may be realized by the hardware. For example, the processor 1001 may be implemented using at least one of these pieces of hardware.

[0073] Furthermore, the notification of information is not limited to the aspects / embodiments described in the present disclosure, and may be performed using other methods. For example, the notification of information may be performed by physical layer signaling (e.g., Downlink Control Information (DCI), Uplink Control Information (UCI)), higher layer signaling (e.g., RRC signaling, Medium Access Control (MAC) signaling, broadcast information (Master Information Block (MIB), System Information Block (SIB))), other signals, or a combination thereof. Furthermore, the RRC signaling may be referred to as an RRC message, and may be, for example, an RRC Connection Setup message, an RRC Connection Reconfiguration message, or the like.

[0074] Each aspect / embodiment described in the present disclosure may be applied to at least one of a system using Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), SUPER 3G, IMT-Advanced, a 4th generation mobile communication system (4G), a 5th generation mobile communication system (5G), a 6th generation mobile communication system (6G), an xth generation mobile communication system (xG) (where x is, for example, an integer or a decimal), Future Radio Access (FRA), New Radio (NR), W-CDMA (registered trademark), GSM (registered trademark), CDMA2000, Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi (registered trademark)), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX (registered trademark)), IEEE 802.20, Ultra-WideBand (UWB), Bluetooth (registered trademark), or other suitable system, and a next-generation system extended based on these. Furthermore, a combination of multiple systems (e.g., a combination of at least one of LTE and LTE-A with 5G) may also be applied.

[0075] The order of the procedures, sequences, flowcharts, etc. of each aspect / embodiment described in this disclosure may be changed unless it is consistent. For example, the methods described in this disclosure present elements of various steps using an example order, and are not limited to the particular order presented.

[0076] In the present disclosure, a specific operation described as being performed by a base station may also be performed by its upper node in some cases. In a network consisting of one or more network nodes having a base station, it is clear that various operations performed for communication with a terminal may be performed by at least one of the base station and another network node other than the base station (e.g., MME or S-GW, etc., but are not limited to these). Although the above example illustrates a case where there is one other network node other than the base station, a combination of multiple other network nodes (e.g., MME and S-GW) may also be used.

[0077] Information, signals (information, etc.) may be output from a higher layer (or a lower layer) to a lower layer (or a higher layer), or may be input and output via multiple network nodes.

[0078] The input and output information may be stored in a specific location (for example, a memory) or may be managed using a management table. The input and output information may be overwritten, updated, or added. The output information may be deleted. The input information may be transmitted to another device.

[0079] The determination may be made based on a value represented by one bit (0 or 1), a Boolean value (true or false), or a numerical comparison (e.g., comparison with a predetermined value).

[0080] The aspects / embodiments described in this disclosure may be used alone, in combination, or switched depending on the implementation. Notification of predetermined information (e.g., notification that "X is true") is not limited to explicit notification, but may be implicit (e.g., not notifying the predetermined information).

[0081] Software shall be construed broadly to mean instructions, instruction sets, code, code segments, program code, programs, subprograms, software modules, applications, software applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, executable files, threads of execution, procedures, functions, etc., whether referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or otherwise.

[0082] Software, instructions, information, etc. may also be transmitted or received over a transmission medium. For example, if software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using wired technologies (such as coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)), and / or wireless technologies (such as infrared, microwave), then these wired and / or wireless technologies are included within the definition of transmission media.

[0083] The information, signals, etc. described in this disclosure may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, chips, etc. that may be referred to throughout the above description may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or magnetic particles, optical fields or photons, or any combination thereof.

[0084] Note that terms described in this disclosure and terms necessary for understanding this disclosure may be replaced with terms having the same or similar meanings. For example, at least one of a channel and a symbol may be a signal (signaling). Furthermore, a signal may be a message. Furthermore, a component carrier (CC) may be called a carrier frequency, a cell, a frequency carrier, etc.

[0085] As used in this disclosure, the terms "system" and "network" are used interchangeably.

[0086] Furthermore, the information, parameters, etc. described in the present disclosure may be expressed using absolute values, may be expressed using relative values ​​from a predetermined value, or may be expressed using other corresponding information. For example, a radio resource may be indicated by an index.

[0087] The names used for the above-described parameters are not intended to be limiting in any way. Furthermore, the mathematical expressions using these parameters may differ from those explicitly disclosed in this disclosure. The various channels (e.g., PUCCH, PDCCH, etc.) and information elements may be identified by any suitable names, and therefore the various names assigned to these various channels and information elements are not intended to be limiting in any way.

[0088] In this disclosure, terms such as "base station (BS)," "radio base station," "fixed station," "NodeB," "eNodeB (eNB)," "gNodeB (gNB)," "access point," "transmission point," "reception point," "transmission / reception point," "cell," "sector," "cell group," "carrier," and "component carrier" may be used interchangeably. Base stations may also be referred to by terms such as macrocell, small cell, femtocell, and picocell.

[0089] A base station can accommodate one or more (e.g., three) cells (also called sectors). When a base station accommodates multiple cells, the overall coverage area of ​​the base station can be divided into multiple smaller areas, and each smaller area can be provided with communication services by a base station subsystem (e.g., a small indoor base station (Remote Radio Head: RRH)).

[0090] The terms "cell" or "sector" refer to part or all of the coverage area of ​​a base station and / or base station subsystem that provides communication services within that coverage area.

[0091] In the present disclosure, the base station transmitting information to a terminal may be interpreted as the base station instructing the terminal to control or operate based on the information.

[0092] In this disclosure, the terms "Mobile Station (MS)," "user terminal," "User Equipment (UE)," "terminal," etc. may be used interchangeably.

[0093] A mobile station may also be referred to by those skilled in the art as a subscriber station, mobile unit, subscriber unit, wireless unit, remote unit, mobile device, wireless device, wireless communication device, remote device, mobile subscriber station, access terminal, mobile terminal, wireless terminal, remote terminal, handset, user agent, mobile client, client, or some other suitable terminology.

[0094] At least one of the base station and the mobile station may be referred to as a transmitting device, a receiving device, a communication device, etc. At least one of the base station and the mobile station may be a device mounted on a mobile object, the mobile object itself, etc. The mobile object refers to a movable object, and may move at any speed. Naturally, this also includes cases where the mobile object is stationary. Examples of the mobile object include, but are not limited to, vehicles, transport vehicles, automobiles, motorcycles, bicycles, connected cars, excavators, bulldozers, wheel loaders, dump trucks, forklifts, trains, buses, handcars, rickshaws, ships and other watercraft, airplanes, rockets, satellites, drones (registered trademark), multicopters, quadcopters, balloons, and objects mounted thereon. The mobile object may also be a mobile object that moves autonomously based on an operational command. It may be a vehicle (e.g., a car, an airplane, etc.), an unmanned mobile object (e.g., a drone, an autonomous vehicle, etc.), or a robot (manned or unmanned). At least one of the base station and the mobile station may be a device that does not necessarily move during communication operations. For example, at least one of the base station and the mobile station may be an IoT (Internet of Things) device such as a sensor.

[0095] Furthermore, a base station in the present disclosure may be read as a mobile station (user terminal, the same applies hereinafter). For example, the aspects / embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied to a configuration in which communication between a base station and a mobile station is replaced with communication between multiple mobile stations (which may be called, for example, Device-to-Device (D2D) or Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X)). In this case, the mobile station may be configured to have the functions of a base station. Furthermore, terms such as "uplink" and "downlink" may be read as terms corresponding to terminal-to-terminal communication (for example, "side"). For example, terms such as an uplink channel and a downlink channel may be read as a side channel (or sidelink).

[0096] Similarly, a mobile station in the present disclosure may be interpreted as a base station, in which case the base station may have the functions of a mobile station.

[0097] A radio frame may be composed of one or more frames in the time domain. Each of the one or more frames in the time domain may be called a subframe. A subframe may further be composed of one or more slots in the time domain. A subframe may have a fixed time length (e.g., 1 ms) that is independent of numerology.

[0098] Numerology may be communication parameters that apply to the transmission and / or reception of a signal or channel, such as subcarrier spacing (SCS), bandwidth, symbol length, cyclic prefix length, transmission time interval (TTI), number of symbols per TTI, radio frame structure, specific filtering operations performed by the transceiver in the frequency domain, and specific windowing operations performed by the transceiver in the time domain.

[0099] A slot may consist of one or more symbols in the time domain (such as an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbol, a Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) symbol, etc.) A slot may be a numerology-based time unit.

[0100] A slot may include multiple minislots. Each minislot may consist of one or more symbols in the time domain. A minislot may also be called a subslot. A minislot may consist of fewer symbols than a slot. A PDSCH (or PUSCH) transmitted in a time unit larger than a minislot may be called PDSCH (or PUSCH) mapping type A. A PDSCH (or PUSCH) transmitted using a minislot may be called PDSCH (or PUSCH) mapping type B.

[0101] The radio frame, subframe, slot, minislot, and symbol all represent time units for transmitting signals, and may be referred to by other names corresponding to the radio frame, subframe, slot, minislot, and symbol.

[0102] For example, one subframe may be referred to as a transmission time interval (TTI), multiple consecutive subframes may be referred to as a TTI, or one slot or one minislot may be referred to as a TTI. That is, at least one of the subframe and the TTI may be a subframe (1 ms) in existing LTE, a period shorter than 1 ms (e.g., 1-13 symbols), or a period longer than 1 ms. Note that the unit representing the TTI may be called a slot, minislot, etc., instead of a subframe.

[0103] Here, TTI refers to, for example, the smallest time unit for scheduling in wireless communication. For example, in an LTE system, a base station schedules each user terminal to allocate radio resources (such as frequency bandwidth and transmission power that can be used by each user terminal) in TTI units. Note that the definition of TTI is not limited to this.

[0104] The TTI may be a transmission time unit for a channel-encoded data packet (transport block), a code block, a code word, etc., or may be a processing unit for scheduling, link adaptation, etc. When a TTI is given, the time interval (e.g., the number of symbols) to which a transport block, a code block, a code word, etc. is actually mapped may be shorter than the TTI.

[0105] In addition, when one slot or one minislot is called a TTI, one or more TTIs (i.e., one or more slots or one or more minislots) may be the minimum time unit for scheduling, and the number of slots (minislots) constituting the minimum time unit for scheduling may be controlled.

[0106] A TTI having a time length of 1 ms may be referred to as a regular TTI (TTI in LTE Rel. 8-12), normal TTI, long TTI, regular subframe, normal subframe, long subframe, slot, etc. A TTI shorter than a regular TTI may be referred to as a shortened TTI, short TTI, partial or fractional TTI, shortened subframe, short subframe, minislot, subslot, slot, etc.

[0107] In addition, a long TTI (e.g., a normal TTI, a subframe, etc.) may be interpreted as a TTI having a time length of more than 1 ms, and a short TTI (e.g., a shortened TTI, etc.) may be interpreted as a TTI having a TTI length shorter than the TTI length of a long TTI and equal to or greater than 1 ms.

[0108] A resource block (RB) is a resource allocation unit in the time domain and the frequency domain, and may include one or more consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain. The number of subcarriers included in an RB may be the same regardless of numerology, for example, 12. The number of subcarriers included in an RB may be determined based on numerology.

[0109] The time domain of an RB may include one or more symbols and may have a length of one slot, one minislot, one subframe, or one TTI, each of which may consist of one or more resource blocks.

[0110] Note that one or more RBs may also be called a physical resource block (PRB), a sub-carrier group (SCG), a resource element group (REG), a PRB pair, an RB pair, etc.

[0111] Furthermore, a resource block may be composed of one or more resource elements (REs). For example, one RE may be a radio resource region of one subcarrier and one symbol.

[0112] A Bandwidth Part (BWP) (which may also be referred to as a fractional bandwidth) may represent a subset of contiguous common resource blocks (RBs) for a given numerology on a given carrier, where the common RBs may be identified by their index relative to a common reference point of the carrier. PRBs may be defined in a given BWP and numbered within that BWP.

[0113] The BWP may include a BWP for UL (UL BWP) and a BWP for DL ​​(DL BWP). One or more BWPs may be configured for a UE within one carrier.

[0114] At least one of the configured BWPs may be active, and the UE may not expect to transmit or receive a predetermined signal / channel outside the active BWP. Note that the terms "cell," "carrier," etc. in this disclosure may be read as "BWP."

[0115] The above-described structures of the radio frame, subframe, slot, minislot, and symbol are merely examples. For example, the number of subframes included in a radio frame, the number of slots per subframe or radio frame, the number of minislots included in a slot, the number of symbols and RBs included in a slot or minislot, the number of subcarriers included in an RB, the number of symbols in a TTI, the symbol length, the cyclic prefix (CP) length, and other configurations may be changed in various ways.

[0116] The terms "connected," "coupled," or any variation thereof, refer to any direct or indirect connection or coupling between two or more elements, and may include the presence of one or more intermediate elements between two elements that are "connected" or "coupled" to each other. The coupling or connection between elements may be physical, logical, or a combination thereof. For example, "connected" may be read as "access." As used in this disclosure, two elements may be considered to be "connected" or "coupled" to each other using one or more wires, cables, and / or printed electrical connections, as well as electromagnetic energy having wavelengths in the radio frequency range, microwave range, and optical (both visible and invisible) range, as some non-limiting and non-exhaustive examples.

[0117] The reference signal may also be abbreviated as Reference Signal (RS) and may be called a pilot depending on the applicable standard.

[0118] As used in this disclosure, the phrase "based on" does not mean "based only on," unless expressly stated otherwise. In other words, the phrase "based on" means both "based only on" and "based at least on."

[0119] The "means" in the configuration of each of the above devices may be replaced with "part," "circuit," "device," etc.

[0120] As used in this disclosure, any reference to an element using a designation such as "first," "second," etc. does not generally limit the quantity or order of those elements. These designations may be used in this disclosure as a convenient method of distinguishing between two or more elements. Thus, a reference to a first and a second element does not imply that only two elements may be employed therein or that the first element must precede the second element in some way.

[0121] When the terms "include," "including," and variations thereof are used in this disclosure, these terms are intended to be inclusive, similar to the term "comprising." Furthermore, when the term "or" is used in this disclosure, it is not intended to be an exclusive or.

[0122] In this disclosure, where articles are added by translation, such as a, an, and the in English, the disclosure may include that the nouns following these articles are in the plural form.

[0123] As used in this disclosure, the terms "determining" and "determining" may encompass a wide variety of actions. "Determining" and "determining" may include, for example, judging, calculating, computing, processing, deriving, investigating, looking up, searching, inquiring (e.g., searching in a table, database, or other data structure), ascertaining, and the like. "Determining" and "determining" may also include receiving (e.g., receiving information), transmitting (e.g., sending information), input, output, accessing (e.g., accessing data in memory), and the like. Furthermore, "judgment" and "decision" can include regarding resolving, selecting, choosing, establishing, comparing, etc. as having been "judged" or "decided." In other words, "judgment" and "decision" can include regarding some action as having been "judged" or "decided." Furthermore, "judgment (decision)" can be interpreted as "assuming," "expecting," "considering," etc.

[0124] In the present disclosure, the term "A and B are different" may mean "A and B are different from each other." The term may also mean "A and B are each different from C." Terms such as "separate" and "coupled" may also be interpreted in the same way as "different."

[0125] 7 shows an example of the configuration of a vehicle 2001. As shown in Fig. 7, the vehicle 2001 includes a drive unit 2002, a steering unit 2003, an accelerator pedal 2004, a brake pedal 2005, a shift lever 2006, left and right front wheels 2007, left and right rear wheels 2008, an axle 2009, an electronic control unit 2010, various sensors 2021 to 2029, an information service unit 2012, and a communication module 2013.

[0126] The drive unit 2002 is composed of, for example, an engine, a motor, or a hybrid of an engine and a motor. The steering unit 2003 includes at least a steering wheel (also called a handle) and is configured to steer at least one of the front wheels and the rear wheels based on the operation of the steering wheel operated by the user. The electronic control unit 2010 is composed of a microprocessor 2031, memory (ROM, RAM) 2032, and a communication port (IO port) 2033. Signals from various sensors 2021 to 2027 provided in the vehicle are input to the electronic control unit 2010. The electronic control unit 2010 may also be called an ECU (Electronic Control Unit).

[0127] The signals from the various sensors 2021 to 2028 include a current signal from a current sensor 2021 that senses the current of the motor, a rotation speed signal of the front and rear wheels obtained by a rotation speed sensor 2022, an air pressure signal of the front and rear wheels obtained by an air pressure sensor 2023, a vehicle speed signal obtained by a vehicle speed sensor 2024, an acceleration signal obtained by an acceleration sensor 2025, an accelerator pedal depression amount signal obtained by an accelerator pedal sensor 2029, a brake pedal depression amount signal obtained by a brake pedal sensor 2026, a shift lever operation signal obtained by a shift lever sensor 2027, and a detection signal for detecting obstacles, vehicles, pedestrians, etc. obtained by an object detection sensor 2028.

[0128] The information service unit 2012 is composed of various devices, such as a car navigation system, an audio system, speakers, a television, and a radio, for providing (outputting) various types of information, such as driving information, traffic information, and entertainment information, and one or more ECUs for controlling these devices. The information service unit 2012 uses information acquired from external devices via the communication module 2013, etc., to provide various types of multimedia information and multimedia services to the occupants of the vehicle 1.

[0129] The information service unit 2012 may include input devices (e.g., keyboards, mice, microphones, switches, buttons, sensors, touch panels, etc.) that accept input from the outside, and may also include output devices (e.g., displays, speakers, LED lamps, touch panels, etc.) that output to the outside.

[0130] The driving assistance system unit 2030 is composed of various devices that provide functions for preventing accidents and reducing the driver's driving burden, such as millimeter-wave radar, LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), cameras, positioning locators (e.g., GNSS, etc.), map information (e.g., high-definition (HD) maps, autonomous vehicle (AV) maps, etc.), gyro systems (e.g., IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit), INS (Inertial Navigation System), etc.), AI (Artificial Intelligence) chips, and AI processors, as well as one or more ECUs that control these devices. The driving assistance system unit 2030 also transmits and receives various information via the communication module 2013 to realize driving assistance functions or autonomous driving functions.

[0131] The communication module 2013 can communicate with the microprocessor 2031 and components of the vehicle 1 via the communication port. For example, the communication module 2013 transmits and receives data via the communication port 2033 to and from a driving unit 2002, a steering unit 2003, an accelerator pedal 2004, a brake pedal 2005, a shift lever 2006, left and right front wheels 2007, left and right rear wheels 2008, an axle 2009, a microprocessor 2031 and memory (ROM, RAM) 2032 in the electronic control unit 2010, and sensors 2021 to 2028, which are provided in the vehicle 2001.

[0132] The communication module 2013 is a communication device that can be controlled by the microprocessor 2031 of the electronic control unit 2010 and can communicate with an external device. For example, it transmits and receives various information to and from the external device via wireless communication. The communication module 2013 may be located either inside or outside the electronic control unit 2010. The external device may be, for example, a base station, a mobile station, or the like.

[0133] The communication module 2013 may transmit at least one of signals from the above-mentioned various sensors 2021 to 2028 input to the electronic control unit 2010, information obtained based on the signals, and information based on input from the outside (user) obtained via the information service unit 2012 to an external device via wireless communication. The electronic control unit 2010, the various sensors 2021 to 2028, the information service unit 2012, etc. may be referred to as input units that accept input. For example, the PUSCH transmitted by the communication module 2013 may include information based on the above-mentioned input.

[0134] The communication module 2013 receives various information (traffic information, traffic signal information, vehicle-to-vehicle information, etc.) transmitted from external devices and displays it on an information service unit 2012 provided in the vehicle. The information service unit 2012 may also be called an output unit that outputs information (for example, outputs information to a device such as a display or speaker based on the PDSCH (or data / information decoded from the PDSCH) received by the communication module 2013). The communication module 2013 also stores the various information received from external devices in a memory 2032 that can be used by the microprocessor 2031. Based on the information stored in the memory 2032, the microprocessor 2031 may control the drive unit 2002, steering unit 2003, accelerator pedal 2004, brake pedal 2005, shift lever 2006, left and right front wheels 2007, left and right rear wheels 2008, axles 2009, sensors 2021 to 2028, and the like provided in the vehicle 2001.

[0135] 10 Wireless communication system 20 RAN 40 Location server 41 NW IF unit 42 Acquisition request transmission unit 43 Location information reception unit 44 Control unit 100 gNB 200 UE 210 Wireless communication unit 220 Location acquisition unit 230 Acquisition request reception unit 240 Location information transmission unit 250 Control unit 1001 Processor 1002 Memory 1003 Storage 1004 Communication device 1005 Input device 1006 Output device 1007 Bus 2001 Vehicle 2002 Drive unit 2003 Steering unit 2004 Accelerator pedal 2005 Brake pedal 2006 Shift lever 2007 Left and right front wheels 2008 Left and right rear wheels 2009 Axle 2010 Electronic control unit 2012 Information service unit 2013 Communication module 2021 Current sensor 2022 RPM sensor 2023 Air pressure sensor 2024 Vehicle speed sensor 2025 Acceleration sensor 2026 Brake pedal sensor 2027 Shift lever sensor 2028 Object detection sensor 2029 Accelerator pedal sensor 2030 Driving assistance system section 2031 Microprocessor 2032 Memory (ROM, RAM) 2033 Communication port

Claims

1. A terminal comprising: a receiving unit that receives a request to acquire terminal location information from a network; a control unit that generates the terminal location information including parameters specified by the acquisition request; and a transmitting unit that transmits the generated terminal location information to the network.

2. The terminal according to claim 1, wherein the receiving unit receives the acquisition request in accordance with the LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP), and the transmitting unit transmits the terminal location information in accordance with the LPP.

3. A server device comprising: a transmitting unit that transmits a request to obtain terminal location information to a terminal; and a receiving unit that receives the terminal location information including parameters specified by the request from the terminal.

4. The server device according to claim 3, wherein the transmitting unit transmits the acquisition request in accordance with the LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP), and the receiving unit receives the terminal location information in accordance with the LPP.

5. A wireless communication method in a terminal, comprising: receiving a request to acquire terminal location information from a network; generating the terminal location information including parameters specified by the acquisition request; and transmitting the generated terminal location information to the network.

6. A wireless communication method in a server device, comprising: a step of transmitting a request to acquire terminal location information to a terminal; and a step of receiving the terminal location information including parameters specified by the acquisition request from the terminal.

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