Patent Application
20250203568
This application pertains to the field of communication technologies, and specifically relates to a positioning method and apparatus, a terminal, and a network-side device.
A long term evolution (Long Term Evolution, LTE) system supports sidelink (also translated as secondary link or side link) (sidelink) transmission, that is, data transmission between UEs (User Equipment, UE) is directly performed on a physical layer. In LTE sidelink, communication is performed based on broadcast. Although the LTE sidelink may be used to support basic security communication of vehicle to everything (vehicle to everything, V2X), the LTE sidelink is not applicable to other more advanced V2X services.
A 5G new radio (New Radio, NR) system supports more advanced sidelink transmission designs, such as unicast, multicast, or groupcast, and therefore can support more comprehensive service types. Currently, for mobile-network-based positioning technologies, the following types of positioning are supported:
It can be learned that the existing positioning technologies are based on reference signals of Uu interface (that is, radio interface between the UE and the base station) for positioning.
Embodiments of this application provide a positioning method and apparatus, a terminal, and a network-side device.
According to a first aspect, a positioning method is provided, where the positioning method includes:
According to a second aspect, a positioning method is provided, where the positioning method includes:
According to a third aspect, a positioning method is provided, where the positioning method includes:
According to a fourth aspect, a positioning apparatus is provided, where the positioning apparatus includes:
According to a fifth aspect, a positioning apparatus is provided, where the positioning apparatus includes:
According to a sixth aspect, a positioning apparatus is provided, where the positioning apparatus includes:
According to a seventh aspect, this application provides a terminal, where the terminal includes a processor and a memory, and the memory stores a program or instructions capable of running on the processor, and when the program or instructions are executed by the processor, the steps of the method according to the first aspect or the second aspect are implemented.
According to an eighth aspect, a network-side device is provided, where the network-side device includes a processor and a memory, and the memory stores a program or instructions capable of running on the processor, and when the program or instructions are executed by the processor, the steps of the method according to the third aspect are implemented.
According to a ninth aspect, a positioning system is provided, where the positioning system includes a terminal and a network-side device, the terminal is capable of being configured to execute the steps of the positioning method according to the first aspect or the second aspect, and the network-side device is capable of being configured to execute the steps of the positioning method according to the third aspect.
According to a tenth aspect, a readable storage medium is provided. The readable storage medium stores a program or an instruction, and when the program or instruction is executed by a processor, the steps of the method according to the first aspect or the steps of the method according to the second aspect or the steps of the method according to the third aspect are implemented.
According to an eleventh aspect, a chip is provided, where the chip includes a processor and a communication interface, the communication interface is coupled to the processor, and the processor is configured to run a program or instructions to implement the steps of the method according to the first aspect, or to implement the steps of the method according to the second aspect, or to implement the steps of the method according to the third aspect.
According to a twelfth aspect, a computer program/program product is provided, where the computer program/program product is stored in a storage medium, and the computer program/program product is executed by at least one processor to implement the steps of the method according to the first aspect, the second aspect, or the third aspect.
According to a thirteenth aspect, an embodiment of this application provides a positioning apparatus, where the apparatus is configured to execute the steps of the positioning method according to the first aspect, the second aspect, or the third aspect.
The following clearly describes the technical solutions in the embodiments of this application with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of this application. Apparently, the described embodiments are only some rather than all of the embodiments of this application. All other embodiments obtained by persons of ordinary skill in the art based on the embodiments of this application shall fall within the protection scope of this application.
The terms “first”, “second”, and the like in this specification and claims of this application are used to distinguish between similar objects rather than to describe a specific order or sequence. It should be understood that terms used in this way are interchangeable in appropriate circumstances so that the embodiments of this application can be implemented in other orders than the order illustrated or described herein. In addition, “first” and “second” are usually used to distinguish objects of a same type, and do not restrict a quantity of objects. For example, there may be one or a plurality of first objects. In addition, “and/or” in the specification and claims represents at least one of connected objects, and the character “/” generally indicates that the associated objects have an “or” relationship. It should be noted that technologies described in the embodiments of this
application are not limited to a long term evolution (Long Term Evolution, LTE)/LTE-Advanced (LTE-Advanced, LTE-A) system, and may also be applied to other wireless communication systems, for example, code division multiple access (Code Division Multiple Access, CDMA), time division multiple access (Time Division Multiple Access, TDMA), frequency division multiple access (Frequency Division Multiple Access, FDMA), orthogonal frequency division multiple access (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access, OFDMA), single-carrier frequency division multiple access (Single-carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access, SC-FDMA), and other systems. The terms “system” and “network” in the embodiments of this application are often used interchangeably, and the technology described herein may be used in the above-mentioned systems and radio technologies as well as other systems and radio technologies. In the following descriptions, a new radio (New Radio, NR) system is described for an illustration purpose, and NR terms are used in most of the following descriptions, although these technologies may also be applied to other applications than an NR system application, for example, the 6th generation (6th Generation, 6G) communication system.
The core network device may include but is not limited to at least one of the following: a core network node, a core network function, a mobility management entity (Mobility Management Entity, MME), an access and mobility management function (Access and Mobility Management Function, AMF), a session management function (Session Management Function, SMF), a user plane function (User Plane Function, UPF), a policy control function (Policy Control Function, PCF), a policy and charging rules function (Policy and Charging Rules Function, PCRF) unit, an edge application server discovery function (Edge Application Server Discovery Function, EASDF), unified data management (Unified Data Management, UDM), a unified data repository (Unified Data Repository, UDR), a home subscriber server (Home Subscriber Server, HSS), a centralized network configuration (Centralized network configuration, CNC), a network repository function (Network Repository Function, NRF), a network exposure function (Network Exposure Function, NEF), a local NEF (Local NEF, or L-NEF), a binding support function (Binding Support Function, BSF), and an application function (Application Function, AF). It should be noted that the embodiments of this application are described with only the core network device in the NR system as an example, but the core network device is not limited to any specific type.
In order to facilitate understanding of the positioning method of the embodiments of this application, the following related art technologies are now introduced.
First, positioning based on Uu interface:
During the positioning, the LMF may need to perform interaction with the terminal through LPP protocol and/or with a base station through NRPPa protocol, for example, interacting capabilities, interacting positioning assistance data, and interacting positioning measurement results, so that the LMF sends a location service response to the AMF, where the location service response carries the location of the terminal.
The protocol stack of LPP is shown in
However, in addition to positioning based on the reference signals of the Uu interface, there is also a demand for positioning based on PC5 interface (that is, radio interface between UEs) in scenarios such as V2X. For example, when a vehicle is outside the coverage of a mobile network, sidelink positioning may be required.
But currently, no SL positioning method based on PC5 interface has been provided.
Embodiments of this application provide a positioning method and apparatus, a terminal, and a network-side device, so as to implement SL positioning based on PC5 interface.
The following describes in detail a positioning method provided in the embodiments of this application using some embodiments and application scenarios thereof with reference to the accompanying drawings.
According to a first aspect, referring to
Step 701: A location server UE determines to perform sidelink positioning for a target UE.
The positioning method of this embodiment of this application may be applied to a sidelink positioning architecture shown in
In the positioning architecture shown in
In one sidelink positioning procedure, the location server UE may be a separate role (UE), or may also assume the role of a target UE (that is, target UE). Certainly, it can also be said that the target UE concurrently takes on the role of the location server UE. In this case, the location server UE conducts self-positioning. The location server UE may also concurrently assume the role of an anchor (Anchor) UE or a reference (Reference) UE. For example, the location server UE assists in the sending or measurement of SL PRS. The reference UE is a location reference UE during relative positioning or range positioning. The reference UE may be a separate UE or may be one of anchor UEs or the location server UE.
The location request may be sent by a third-party UE or a location management function (Location Management Function, LMF) or an access and mobility management function (Access and Mobility Management Function, AMF).
In addition, in one sidelink positioning procedure, one UE may serve as a location server UE, and in another sidelink positioning procedure, this UE may not serve as a location server UE, for example, only serve as an anchor UE.
It should be noted that the location server UE plays a role in controlling the execution of sidelink positioning in one positioning procedure, and it may also be called by other names, such as controlling (controlling) UE, which is not limited herein.
In addition, the target UE (Target UE) is a target UE for positioning, where the positioning requires obtaining an absolute position, relative position, or ranging (ranging) of the UE. When the location server UE receives a request sent by another device, the target UE is UE indicated by the location request; and when the location server UE autonomously triggers a positioning requirement, the target UE is determined by the location server UE.
Step 702: The location server UE obtains information about candidate anchor UEs.
The anchor UE may be UE whose location is known (or can be known) and who participates in sending a sidelink positioning reference signal, or the anchor UE may be UE whose location is known (or can be known) and who participates in measuring a sidelink positioning reference signal.
That is, the anchor UE (that is, Anchor UE) is UE that provides positioning assistance, for example, in sending or measurement SL PRS. For absolute positioning, the anchor UE is UE with a known location or UE whose location can be known. There may be one or more anchor UEs, or there may not be a separate anchor UE, such as a location server UE that also concurrently assumes the role of an anchor UE. The anchor UE may also be called a located (located) UE. Usually, a roadside unit (RoadSide Unit, RSU) may be used as an anchor UE.
It should be noted that, since the location server UE may also serve as the anchor UE, in the architecture shown in
Step 703: The location server UE determines at least one anchor UE to be used for participating in positioning from the candidate anchor UEs.
The location server UE may use each candidate anchor UE as the anchor UE to be used for participating in positioning; or may determine a sidelink positioning method based on the location QoS, and select a UE that supports the positioning method from these candidate anchor UEs as the anchor UE to be used for participating in positioning; or may select, after sorting according to sizes of RSRPs, a UE with a high RSRP (for example, greater than a certain threshold) as the anchor UE to be used for participating in positioning; or may select a candidate anchor UE that can establish a sidelink unicast connection with the location server UE from these candidate anchor UEs as the anchor UE to be used for participating in positioning.
Step 704: The location server UE performs interaction with the target UE and/or the at least one anchor UE to position the target UE.
The process of step 704 may include:
Alternatively, step 704 may include:
In addition, if the location server UE executes the aforementioned steps 701 to 704 after receiving a location request sent by another device, after obtaining the location information of the target UE, the location server UE may also return the location information of the target UE to the device that has sent the above location request, for example, carrying the location information of the target UE in a location response and returning the location response to the device that has sent the location request.
It can be learned from the above steps 701 to 704 that in this embodiment of this application, after determining to perform sidelink positioning for the target UE, the location server UE may obtain information about candidate anchor UEs to select at least one anchor UE to be used for participating in positioning from the candidate anchor UEs, and then perform interaction with the target UE and/or the at least one anchor UE to be used for participating in positioning to execute a positioning procedure of the target UE. Therefore, in this embodiment of this application, the positioning procedure of the target UE is implemented based on sidelink through information interaction among the location server UE, the target UE, and the anchor UE, that is, positioning of a certain terminal is implemented through the interaction between UEs. In other words, this embodiment of this application implements the sidelink positioning based on PC5 interface.
Optionally, the foregoing step 702 “the location server UE obtains information about candidate anchor UEs” includes:
It can be learned that the location server UE may obtain the information about the candidate anchor UEs from the target UE, and may also obtain the information about the candidate anchor UEs from the network-side device, where the network-side device may be a core network device (for example, AMF and LMF) or an access network device (for example, base station).
The following will specifically introduce the process of the location server UE obtaining the information about the candidate anchor UEs from the target UE or the network-side device.
Case 1: The location server UE obtains the information about the candidate anchor UEs from the target UE, which may be specifically the following way 1-1 or way 1-2.
Way 1-1: Optionally, the location server UE obtains the information about the candidate anchor UEs from the target UE includes:
It can be learned from this that the location server UE may send the foregoing first message to the target UE to request the information about the candidate anchor UEs. In this way, after receiving the first message, the target UE may trigger the process of obtaining the candidate anchor UEs, so as to carry the obtained first list of candidate anchor UEs in the second message and returning the second message to the location server UE.
The first message may be one of an SLPP message, an LPP message, and a PC5 RRC message.
Optionally, the method further includes:
Optionally, the method further includes:
Step H2: in a case that the target UE is not successfully discovered and/or the sidelink unicast connection has not been successfully established between the location server UE and the target UE, the location server UE sends a location response message or a positioning failure message to a device that has sent a location request, where the location response message or the positioning failure message carries first indication information, and the first indication information is used to indicate that the target UE is not successfully discovered and/or the sidelink unicast connection is not successfully established between the location server UE and the target UE.
It can be learned from the foregoing steps H1 to H2 that in an embodiment of this application, if the location server UE does not establish a sidelink unicast connection with the target UE (for example, in a scenario in which a third-party UE or a location management function (Location Management Function, LMF) or an access and mobility management function (Access and Mobility Management Function, AMF) initiates a request for positioning the target UE), the location server UE executes a discovery procedure for the target UE and/or a sidelink unicast connection establishment procedure with the target UE.
If the location server UE does not discover the target UE or fails to successfully establish a sidelink unicast connection with the target UE, the location server UE replies with a location response message or a positioning failure message to the device that has sent the location request, so as to end the process. The location response message or the positioning failure message may include a failure reason (that is, the first indication information mentioned above), and the failure reason may be one of failure to execute, failure to discover the target UE, and failure to establish a unicast connection.
Optionally, the first message includes a target condition that the candidate anchor UEs need to meet, and the candidate anchor UEs in the first list meet the target condition.
The target condition includes at least one of the following items A-1 to A-12:
For the above items A-1 and A-2, for example, when the absolute position of the target UE needs to be obtained, the anchor UE to be used for participating in positioning should be a UE with a known position or a UE whose location can be known. In this case, the above target condition includes the foregoing item A-1 (that is, having known location information) or item A-2 (being capable of obtaining location information);
The RSRP measurement result in the foregoing item A-4 may be RSRP of a radio signal of the anchor UE measured by the target UE, or may be RSRP of a radio signal of the target UE measured by the anchor UE.
For the foregoing item A-5, the specific UE type may be a roadside unit (RoadSide Unit, RSU) or a positioning reference unit (Positioning Reference Unit, PRU).
For the foregoing item A-6, the specific sidelink positioning capability may include at least one of supporting a certain sidelink positioning method, supporting a certain sidelink measurement quantity, supporting sending SL-PRS, and supporting measuring SL-PRS.
The “specific area” in the foregoing item A-8 may be the coverage area of a cell or a cell in the cell list.
The “specified RRC state” in the foregoing item A-9 includes, for example, at least one of an RRC connected state and an RRC idle state.
For the foregoing item A-12, a UE list may be included in the first request message. For example, UEs in the UE list may be fixed-position roadside units (Road Side Unit, RSU), and thus the UEs in the candidate anchor UE list provided by the target UE need to be in the UE list.
In addition, the target UE may adopt the following way 1-1.1 or way 1-1.2 or way 1-1.3 to obtain candidate anchor UEs that meet the target condition.
Way 1-1.1: The target UE broadcasts a discovery request message. After receiving the discovery request message, one or more UEs reply with a first response message to the target UE. The target UE then selects UEs that meet the target condition from the UEs corresponding to the received first response message as the candidate anchor UEs.
Way 1-1.2: The target UE receives an announcement message broadcast by one or more UEs, where the announcement messages include parameter information of the UE(s). In this way, the target UE may select UEs that meets the target condition from the UE(s) that send the announcement message as the candidate anchor UEs based on the parameter information in the announcement message.
Way 1-1.3: The target UE broadcasts a discovery request message, where the discovery request message carries the foregoing target condition. Among the UEs that receive the discovery request message, UEs that meet the target condition each reply with a first response message to the target UE, and the target UE uses the UEs corresponding to the received first response message as candidate anchor UEs.
Way 1-2: Optionally, that a location server UE determines to perform sidelink positioning for a target UE includes:
Optionally, the location request is sent by the target UE, and the location request includes a first list of the candidate anchor UEs; and
It can be learned from this that if the location request received by the location server UE is sent by the target UE, the location request may carry the candidate anchor UEs obtained by the target UE. To be specific, in a case that the location request comes from the target UE, the target UE has performed the discovery procedure for anchor UEs in the recent period of time and obtained information related to the candidate anchor UEs, where this information is still valid. Thus, the information about the candidate anchor UEs may be carried in the location request, thereby reducing the positioning delay.
Optionally, the second message or the location request further includes first UE information of the candidate anchor UEs, where the first UE information includes at least one of the following item B-1 to item B-13:
For the foregoing item B-1, the UE identifier may include, for example, at least one of temporary UE identifier (for example, SAE-Temporary Mobile Subscription Identifier, S-TMSI), international mobile subscriber identity (International Mobile Subscriber Identity, IMSI), subscription permanent identifier (Subscription Permanent Identifier, SUPI), cell-radio network temporary identifier (Cell-Radio Network Temporary Identifier, C-RNTI), sidelink layer 2 identifier (SL layer2 ID), and application layer (Application Layer) UE ID.
For the UE index in the foregoing item B-2, each candidate anchor UE is assigned a UE index to facilitate subsequent interaction.
The RRC state in the foregoing item B-3 may include at least one of an RRC connected state, an RRC idle state, and an RRC deactivated state.
For the foregoing item B-4, the identification information of the serving cell may include at least one of a frequency, physical cell identifier (Physical Cell Identifier, PCI), and cell global identifier (Cell Global Identifier, CGI) of the serving cell.
For the foregoing item B-5, the registered AMF information may include at least one of a currently serving public land mobile network (Public Land Mobile Network, PLMN) ID and an AMF ID of the registered AMF.
For the foregoing item B-6, the sidelink positioning capability information may include at least one of: whether to support sending a sidelink positioning reference signal (Sidelink Positioning Reference Signals, SL-PRS), whether to support measuring SL-PRS, a supported sidelink positioning method, and whether to provide its own location.
For the “sidelink PRS transmitting configuration information” in the foregoing item B-7, the anchor UE sends SL PRS on resources indicated by the configuration information.
For the foregoing item B-8, the sidelink resource configuration includes at least one of currently used sidelink resources and sidelink resources configured by a base station.
The foregoing item B-9 is used to indicate whether the sidelink resource allocation mode of the terminal is mode1 (mode1) or mode2 (mode2).
NR V2X defines two resource allocation modes (mode), one is mode1, to be specific, the base station schedules resources; and the other is mode2, to be specific, the UE decides what resources to use for transmission, and the resource information may come from a broadcast message of the base station or pre-configured information. If the UE works within the coverage area of the base station and has an RRC connection with the base station, the resource allocation mode may be mode1 and/or mode2; if the UE works within the coverage area of the base station but does not have an RRC connection with the base station, the resource allocation mode can only be mode2; and if the UE is outside the coverage area of the base station, the resource allocation mode can only be mode2, for example, V2X transmission is performed according to pre-configured information.
For the foregoing item B-10, the resource scheduling type used to indicate the sidelink resource allocation mode of the terminal being mode1 is specifically one of the following types:
The “geographical location information” in the foregoing item B-11 may be, for example, latitude and longitude information.
The “associated RSRP measurement result” in the foregoing item B-12 means RSRP associated with the candidate anchor UEs, where the RSRP associated with the candidate anchor UEs may include: RSRP of a radio signal of the candidate anchor UEs measured by the target UE, or may be RSRP of a radio signal of the target UE measured by the candidate anchor UEs.
When the location server UE obtains the candidate anchor UEs from the target UE, the candidate anchor UEs are identified by the target UE in performing the discovery procedure, in other words, the candidate anchor UEs are in the vicinity of the target UE, and anchor UEs to be used for participating in positioning finally selected by the location server UE are in the vicinity of the target UE. This may cause a problem: the location server UE may be too far away from some of the anchor UEs to be used for participating in positioning, resulting in the location server UE being unable to establish a sidelink unicast connection with these anchor UEs for communication.
In order to solve the preceding problem, the following method 1, method 2 or method 3 may be used to solve it.
Method 1: Optionally, the method further includes:
It can be learned that after receiving the second message sent by the target UE, the location server UE may perform a discovery procedure for the candidate anchor UEs (that is, the candidate anchor UEs in the first list) carried in the second message, or (if the location server UE has not established a sidelink unicast connection with the candidate anchor UEs) try to establish a sidelink unicast connection with these candidate anchor UEs. In this way, when selecting an anchor UE to be used for participating in positioning, the anchor UE to be used for participating in positioning is selected from the candidate anchor UEs that can successfully discover or successfully establish a sidelink unicast connection.
Method 2: Optionally, before the location server UE sends a first message to the target UE, the method further includes:
It can be learned from this that the location server UE may first perform the discovery procedure for the candidate anchor UEs before sending the first message to the target UE, and obtain the second list of candidate anchor UEs, so as to carry the second list in the first message and send the first message to the target UE. In this way, after receiving the second message, the target UE may further perform the discovery procedure to identify the candidate anchor UEs in UEs in the second list, so as to put a list of candidate anchor UEs (that is, the first list) obtained at this point in the second message and send the second message to the location server UE, that is, the candidate anchor UEs included in the second message are UEs that can be discovered by both the target UE and the location server UE.
Method 3: Optionally, that the location server UE performs interaction with the anchor UE includes:
It can be learned from this that when there are multiple anchor UEs to be used for participating in positioning, the information interacted between the location server UE and each of the anchor UEs to be used for participating in positioning may be forwarded through the target UE.
Alternatively, the information interacted between the location server UE and some of anchor UEs to be used for participating in positioning is forwarded through the target UE, and the communication between the other of the anchor UEs to be used for participating in positioning and the location server UE is implemented through establishment of a sidelink unicast connection. For example, after selecting the anchor UEs to be used for participating in positioning, the location server UE may first attempt to discover each of the anchor UEs to be used for participating in positioning or establish a sidelink unicast connection with each of the anchor UEs to be used for participating in positioning. For anchor UEs that fail to be discovered or fail to establish a unicast connection, the information is forwarded through the target UE, otherwise the interaction is directly performed through the sidelink unicast connection.
The information interacted between the location server UE and the anchor UE is forwarded through the target UE, which can solve the problem of “the location server UE may be too far away from some of the anchor UEs to be used for participating in positioning, resulting in the location server UE being unable to establish a sidelink unicast connection with these anchor UEs for communication”.
Optionally, that the location server UE performs interaction with the anchor UE through the target UE includes at least one of the following:
It can be learned from this that when the location server UE needs to send the fourth message to the anchor UE, the location server UE first sends the third message carrying the fourth message to the target UE, so that the target UE sends a ninth message to the anchor UE, where the ninth message includes a third container, and the third container includes the fourth message. To be specific, the target UE adds the fourth message that the location server UE needs to send to the anchor UE in the ninth message and sends the ninth message to the anchor UE. Herein, the third message is one of the following: an SLPP message, a PC5 RRC message, and a PC5 signaling (that is, PC5-S) message; and the ninth message is one of the following: an SLPP message, a PC5 RRC message, and a PC5 signaling (that is, PC5-S) message.
In addition, when the anchor UE needs to send a fifth message to the location server UE, the anchor UE first sends a tenth message to the target UE, where the tenth message includes a fourth container, and the fourth container includes the fifth message that the anchor UE needs to send to the location server UE, so that the target UE sends a sixth message carrying the fifth message to the location server UE. Herein, the tenth message is one of the following: an SLPP message, a PC5 RRC message, and a PC5 signaling (that is, PC5-S) message.
In addition, during the process of the location server UE performing interaction with the anchor UE through the target UE, the target UE is configured to forward messages. In a case that the message received by the target UE includes a container, the target UE may not decode the container.
It should be noted that the SLPP message may be a message of a newly introduced sidelink positioning protocol or a message of an LPP protocol.
The newly introduced SLPP protocol layer is used for sidelink positioning. This protocol layer is used for the location server UE to perform positioning message interaction with the target UE and anchor UEs. For example, as shown in
Optionally, the third message may include a message sent to one or more anchor UEs.
Optionally, for each anchor UE, the third message may include one or more messages sent to the anchor UE so as to reduce positioning delay and signaling overhead.
It should be noted that the target UE may determine a corresponding anchor UE according to the identifier or index of the anchor UE in the third message. If no sidelink unicast connection is established between the target UE and the anchor UE, the target UE establishes a sidelink unicast connection with the anchor UE; if the unicast connection establishment fails, the target UE may also send a failure message to the location server UE, where the failure message may carry a cause value to indicate a delivery failure or a failure to establish a unicast connection. The anchor UE that fails to establish a sidelink unicast connection with the target UE cannot participate in the positioning procedure.
Case 2: The location server UE obtains the information about the candidate anchor UEs from a network-side device, which may be specifically the following way 2-1 or way 2-2.
Way 2-1: Optionally, that the location server UE performs interaction with a network-side device to obtain the information about the candidate anchor UEs includes:
It can be learned from this that the location server UE may send the foregoing first request message to the network-side device to request the information about the candidate anchor UEs. In this way, after receiving the first request message, the network-side device may carry the third list of candidate anchor UEs in the seventh message and returning the seventh message to the location server UE.
Herein, the network-side device may be, for example, an LMF or an AMF or a base station. To be specific, the LMF or the AMF or the base station may store the information about candidate anchor UEs, such as information obtained through an operation administration and maintenance (Operation Administration and Maintenance. OAM) system. After receiving the foregoing first request message sent by the location server UE, the LMF or the AMF or the base station may obtain the third list of candidate anchor UEs according to the information about the candidate anchor UEs stored therein, and then carry the third list in the seventh message and return the seventh message to the location server UE.
Optionally, the network-side device is a location management function LMF, and the first request message is a location service LCS message or a long term evolution positioning protocol LPP message; or
Optionally, the seventh message is one of an LPP message, an LCS message, a NAS message, and a dedicated RRC message.
Optionally, the first request message includes location information of the location server UE, and the candidate anchor UEs in the third list are determined based on the location information of the location server UE.
The location information of the location server UE may be latitude and longitude information, or may be an ID of a current serving cell corresponding to the location server UE.
It can be learned from this that when the location server UE sends the first request message to the network-side device to request the information about the candidate anchor UEs, it can also carry its own location information in the first request message and send the first request message to the network-side device. In this way, the network-side device may determine the candidate anchor UEs based on the location information of the location server UE (for example, select the candidate anchor UEs within a certain distance range from the location server UE, or the candidate anchor UEs in the same serving cell as the location server UE and in a neighboring serving cell of the cell corresponding to the location server UE), so as to reduce unnecessary signaling overhead, and thus carry the third list of candidate anchor UEs determined based on the location information of the location server UE in the seventh message and send the seventh message to the location server UE.
Way 2-2: Optionally, that the location server UE performs interaction with a network-side device to obtain the information about the candidate anchor UEs includes:
Herein, the network-side device may be, for example, a base station. To be specific, the base station may broadcast the third list of candidate anchor UEs in a system message of a cell, so that the location server UE may receive the system message.
In addition, the system information message may be a positioning system information block (positioning System Information Block posSIB) or may be a conventional system information block (System Information Block, SIB) message.
Optionally, the information about the anchor UEs included in the system information message is encrypted information; and
It can be learned that in this embodiment of this application, the information about the candidate anchor UEs carried in the system information message (for example, the third list) may be encrypted so that only the location server UE with the corresponding key (for example, an authenticated location server UE) can correctly decrypt it.
Optionally, the seventh message or the system information message further includes second UE information of the candidate anchor UEs, where the second UE information includes at least one of the following:
For the above-mentioned item C-1, the UE identifier may include, for example, at least one of S-TMSI, IMSI, SUPI, C-RNTI, SL layer2 ID, and application layer UE ID.
The “geographical location information” in the foregoing item C-2 may be, for example, latitude and longitude information.
For the foregoing item C-3, the sidelink positioning capability information may include at least one of: whether to support sending SL-PRS, whether to support measuring SL-PRS, a supported sidelink positioning method, and whether to provide its own location.
For the foregoing item C-4, the identification information of the serving cell may include at least one of a frequency, PCI, and CGI of the serving cell.
For the “sidelink PRS transmitting configuration information” in the foregoing item C-5, the anchor UE sends SL PRS on resources indicated by the configuration information.
Optionally, the third list includes at least one UE of the following:
It can be learned from this that the third list fed back by the network-side device (for example, LMF or AMF or base station) to the location server UE may include anchor UEs in the current serving cell corresponding to the location server UE, or may include anchor UEs in the current serving cell and neighboring cell of the serving cell corresponding to the location server UE.
According to a second aspect, referring to
Step 901: A target UE receives a first message sent by a location server UE.
The first message is used to request information about candidate anchor UEs. The first message may be one of an SLPP message, an LPP message, and a PC5 RRC message.
The positioning method of this embodiment of this application may be applied to a sidelink positioning architecture shown in
In the positioning architecture shown in
In one sidelink positioning procedure, the location server UE may be a separate role (UE), or may also assume the role of a target UE (that is, target UE). Certainly, it can also be said that the target UE concurrently takes on the role of the location server UE. In this case, the location server UE conducts self-positioning. The location server UE may also concurrently assume the role of an anchor (Anchor) UE or a reference (Reference) UE. For example, the location server UE assists in the sending or measurement of SL PRS. The reference UE is a location reference UE during relative positioning or range positioning. The reference UE may be a separate UE or may be one of anchor UEs or the location server UE.
The target UE is a target UE for which the location server UE performs sidelink positioning. To be specific, the target UE (Target UE) is a target UE for positioning, where the positioning requires obtaining an absolute position, relative position, or ranging (ranging) of the UE. When the location server UE receives a request sent by another device, the target UE is UE indicated by the location request; and when the location server UE autonomously triggers a positioning requirement, the target UE is determined by the location server UE.
In addition, the anchor UE may be UE whose location is known (or can be known) and who participates in sending a sidelink positioning reference signal, or the anchor UE may be UE whose location is known (or can be known) and who participates in measuring a sidelink positioning reference signal.
Step 902: The target UE executes a discovery procedure for candidate anchor UEs to obtain a first list of candidate anchor UEs.
Step 903: The target UE sends a second message to the location server UE.
The second message includes the first list.
It can be learned from steps 901 to 903 that the location server UE may send the foregoing first message to the target UE to request the information about the candidate anchor UEs. In this way, after receiving the first message, the target UE may trigger the process of obtaining the candidate anchor UEs, so as to carry the obtained first list of candidate anchor UEs in the second message and returning the second message to the location server UE.
The implementation process of the foregoing step 902 “the target UE executes a discovery procedure for candidate anchor UEs to obtain a first list of candidate anchor UEs” will be described in detail below, for example, in the following way 3-1 or way 3-2 or way 3-3.
Way 3-1: Optionally, that the target UE executes a discovery procedure for candidate anchor UEs to obtain a first list of candidate anchor UEs includes:
Optionally, the first message includes a target condition that the candidate anchor UEs need to meet; and
It can be learned from this that the target UE may broadcast a discovery request message. After receiving the discovery request message, UEs reply with a first response message to the target UE. The target UE then selects UEs that meet the target condition from the UEs corresponding to the received first response message as the candidate anchor UEs.
It can be learned that the target UE may also use some of UEs that meet the target condition among the UEs corresponding to the received first response message as the candidate anchor UEs.
Way 3-2: Optionally, that the target UE executes a discovery procedure for candidate anchor UEs to obtain a first list of candidate anchor UEs includes:
Optionally, the first message includes a target condition that the candidate anchor UEs need to meet; and
It can be learned from this that the target UE may receive announcement messages broadcast by UEs, where the announcement messages include parameter information of the UEs. In this way, the target UE may select UEs that meet the target condition from the UEs that send the announcement message as the candidate anchor UEs based on the parameter information in the announcement message.
It can be learned that the target UE may also use some of UEs that meet the target condition among the UEs corresponding to the received announcement message as the candidate anchor UEs.
It should be noted herein that the parameter information of the UE included in the announcement message may include at least one of the following items D-1 to D-8:
Way 3-3: Optionally, the first message includes a target condition that the candidate anchor UEs need to meet, and the discovery request message includes the target condition; and
It can be learned from this that the target UE may broadcast a discovery request message, where the discovery request message carries the foregoing target condition. Among the UEs that receive the discovery request message, UEs that meet the target condition each reply with a first response message to the target UE, and the target UE uses the UEs corresponding to the received first response message as candidate anchor UEs.
Optionally, the target condition includes at least one of the following items A-1 to A-12:
For the relevant explanations of each of the foregoing items A-1 to A-12, refer to the foregoing description. Details are not repeated herein.
Optionally, the method further includes:
It can be learned from this that if the location request received by the location server UE is sent by the target UE, the location request may carry the candidate anchor UEs obtained by the target UE. To be specific, in a case that the location request comes from the target UE, the target UE has performed the discovery procedure for anchor UEs in the recent period of time and obtained information related to the candidate anchor UEs, where this information is still valid.
Thus, the information about the candidate anchor UEs may be carried in the location request, thereby reducing the positioning delay.
Optionally, the second message or the location request further includes first UE information of the candidate anchor UEs, where the first UE information includes at least one of the following item B-1 to item B-13:
For the relevant explanations of each of the foregoing items B-1 to B-13, refer to the foregoing description. Details are not repeated herein.
When the location server UE obtains the candidate anchor UEs from the target UE, the candidate anchor UEs are identified by the target UE in performing the discovery procedure, in other words, the candidate anchor UEs are in the vicinity of the target UE, and anchor UEs to be used for participating in positioning finally selected by the location server UE are in the vicinity of the target UE. This may cause a problem: the location server UE may be too far away from some of the anchor UEs to be used for participating in positioning, resulting in the location server UE being unable to establish a sidelink unicast connection with these anchor UEs for communication.
In order to solve the preceding problem, the following way 4-1 or way 4-2 may be used to solve it.
Way 4-1: Optionally, the first message includes a second list, and candidate anchor UEs included in the second list are UE successfully discovered by the location server UE; and
It can be learned from this that the location server UE may first perform the discovery procedure for the candidate anchor UEs before sending the first message to the target UE, and obtain the second list of candidate anchor UEs, so as to carry the second list in the first message and send the first message to the target UE. In this way, after receiving the second message, the target UE may further perform the discovery procedure to identify the candidate anchor UEs in UEs in the second list, so as to put a list of candidate anchor UEs (that is, the first list) obtained at this point in the second message and send the second message to the location server UE, that is, the candidate anchor UEs included in the second message are UEs that can be discovered by both the target UE and the location server UE.
Way 4-2: Optionally, the method further includes:
It can be learned from this that when the location server UE needs to send the fourth message to the anchor UE, the location server UE first sends the third message carrying the fourth message to the target UE, so that the target UE sends a ninth message to the anchor UE, where the ninth message includes a third container, and the third container includes the fourth message. To be specific, the target UE adds the fourth message that the location server UE needs to send to the anchor UE in the ninth message and sends the ninth message to the anchor UE. Herein, the third message is one of the following: an SLPP message, a PC5 RRC message, and a PC5 signaling (that is, PC5-S) message; and the ninth message is one of the following: an SLPP message, a PC5 RRC message, and a PC5 signaling (that is, PC5-S) message.
Optionally, the third message may include a message sent to one or more anchor UEs.
Optionally, for each anchor UE, the third message may include one or more messages sent to the anchor UE so as to reduce positioning delay and signaling overhead.
It should be noted that the target UE may determine a corresponding anchor UE according to the identifier or index of the anchor UE in the third message. If no sidelink unicast connection is established between the target UE and the anchor UE, the target UE establishes a sidelink unicast connection with the anchor UE; if the unicast connection establishment fails, the target UE may also send a failure message to the location server UE, where the failure message may carry a cause value to indicate a delivery failure or a failure to establish a unicast connection. The anchor UE that fails to establish a sidelink unicast connection with the target UE cannot participate in the positioning procedure.
Optionally, that the target UE forwards a message interacted between the location server UE and the anchor UE further includes:
It can be learned from this that, when the anchor UE needs to send a fifth message to the location server UE, the anchor UE first sends a tenth message to the target location UE, where the tenth message includes a fourth container, and the fourth container includes the fifth message that the anchor UE needs to send to the location server UE, so that the target UE sends a sixth message carrying the fifth message to the location server UE. Herein, the tenth message is one of the following: an SLPP message, a PC5 RRC message, and a PC5 signaling (that is, PC5-S) message.
In addition, during the process of the location server UE performing interaction with the anchor UE through the target UE, the target UE is configured to forward messages. In a case that the message received by the target UE includes a container, the target UE may not decode the container.
It should be noted that the SLPP message may be a message of a newly introduced sidelink positioning protocol or a message of an LPP protocol. The newly introduced SLPP protocol layer is used for sidelink positioning. This protocol layer is used for the location server UE to perform positioning message interaction with the target UE and anchor UEs. For example, as shown in
According to a third aspect, referring to
Step 1001: A network-side device performs interaction with a location server UE to provide the location server UE with information about candidate anchor UEs.
It can be learned from this that, in this embodiment of this application, the network-side device may provide the location server UE with the information about the candidate anchor UEs, so that the location server UE may select at least one anchor UE to be used for participating in positioning from the candidate anchor UEs, and then perform interaction with the target UE and/or the at least one anchor UE to be used for participating in positioning to perform the positioning procedure for the target UE.
The following will specifically introduce the process of the network-side device providing the information about the candidate anchor UEs to the location server UE, for example, mode 5-1 or the mode 5-2 described below.
Mode 5-1: Optionally, that a network-side device performs interaction with a location server UE to provide the location server UE with information about candidate anchor UEs includes:
It can be learned from this that the location server UE may send the foregoing first request message to the network-side device to request the information about the candidate anchor UEs. In this way, after receiving the first request message, the network-side device may carry the third list of candidate anchor UEs in the seventh message and returning the seventh message to the location server UE.
Herein, the network-side device may be, for example, an LMF or an AMF or a base station. To be specific, the LMF or the AMF or the base station may store the information about candidate anchor UEs, such as information obtained through an OAM system. After receiving the foregoing first request message sent by the location server UE, the LMF or the AMF or the base station may obtain the third list of candidate anchor UEs according to the information about the candidate anchor UEs stored therein, and then carry the third list in the seventh message and return the seventh message to the location server UE.
Optionally, the network-side device is a location management function LMF, and the first request message is a location service LCS message or a long term evolution positioning protocol LPP message; or
Optionally, the seventh message is one of an LPP message, an LCS message, a NAS message, and a dedicated RRC message.
Optionally, the first request message includes location information of the location server UE, and the candidate anchor UEs in the third list are determined based on the location information of the location server UE.
The location information of the location server UE may be latitude and longitude information, or may be an ID of a current serving cell corresponding to the location server UE.
It can be learned from this that when the location server UE sends the first request message to the network-side device to request the information about the candidate anchor UEs, it can also carry its own location information in the first request message and send the first request message to the network-side device. In this way, the network-side device may determine the candidate anchor UEs based on the location information of the location server UE (for example, select the candidate anchor UEs within a certain distance range from the location server UE, or the candidate anchor UEs in the same serving cell as the location server UE and in a neighboring serving cell of the cell corresponding to the location server UE), so as to reduce unnecessary signaling overhead, and thus carry the third list of candidate anchor UEs determined based on the location information of the location server UE in the seventh message and send the seventh message to the location server UE.
Mode 5-2: Optionally, that a network-side device performs interaction with a location server UE to provide the location server UE with information about candidate anchor UEs includes:
Herein, the network-side device may be, for example, a base station. To be specific, the base station may broadcast the third list of candidate anchor UEs in a system message of a cell, so that the location server UE may receive the system message.
In addition, the system information messages may be posSIB or may be a conventional SIB message.
Optionally, before the network-side device sends the system information message, the method further includes:
It can be learned that in this embodiment of this application, the information about the candidate anchor UEs carried in the system information message (for example, the third list) may be encrypted so that only the location server UE with the corresponding key (for example, an authenticated location server UE) can correctly decrypt it.
Optionally, the seventh message or the system information message further includes second UE information of the candidate anchor UEs, where the second UE information includes at least one of the following:
For the relevant explanations of each of the foregoing items C-1 to C-5, refer to the foregoing description. Details are not repeated herein.
Optionally, the third list includes at least one UE of the following:
It can be learned from this that the third list fed back by the network-side device (for example, LMF or AMF or base station) to the location server UE may include anchor UEs in the current serving cell corresponding to the location server UE, or may include anchor UEs in the current serving cell and neighboring cell of the serving cell corresponding to the location server UE.
In summary, the specific implementations of the positioning method of this embodiment of this application may be described in the following implementations 1 and 2.
The location server UE obtains the information about the candidate anchor UEs from the target UE. For example, the location server UE requests the target UE to provide the information about the candidate anchor UEs, and the target UE performs the discovery procedure for the anchor UE, and sends the information about the candidate anchor UEs to the location server UE, or the target UE actively sends the information about the candidate anchor UEs to the location server UE. In this way, the location server UE may determine one or more anchor UEs participating in the sidelink positioning based on the obtained information about the candidate anchor UEs. Based on this method, the anchor UEs to be used for participating in positioning each can measure the SL PRS sent by the target UE, or the target UE can measure the SL PRS sent by the anchor UEs to be used for participating in positioning, so as to reduce unnecessary wireless resource overhead or signaling overhead.
The specific process is shown in
Step 111: The location server UE receives a location request or is triggered by itself, and needs to position the target UE or itself (in other words, the location server UE is also the target UE).
The location request carries location QoS and target UE ID. The location QoS may include positioning accuracy and positioning delay.
In addition, the location request may be one of the following messages:
Optionally, the location request may further include a first list of candidate anchor UEs. Further, optionally, the location request may further include first UE information of one or more candidate anchor UEs (where specific content included in the first UE information will be introduced in the subsequent step 115), so as to reduce the positioning delay. To be specific, when the location request comes from the target UE, the target UE has performed the discovery procedure for anchor UEs in the recent period of time and obtained information related to the candidate anchor UEs, where this information is still valid. Thus, the information about the candidate anchor UEs may be carried in the location request.
Step 112 (optional step): If the location server UE does not establish a sidelink unicast connection with the target UE (for example, in a scenario in which a third-party UE or a location management function (Location Management Function, LMF) or an access and mobility management function (Access and Mobility Management Function, AMF) initiates a request for positioning the target UE), the location server UE executes a discovery procedure for the target UE and/or a sidelink unicast connection establishment procedure with the target UE.
If the location server UE does not discover the target UE or fails to successfully establish a sidelink unicast connection with the target UE, the location server UE replies with a location response message or a positioning failure message to the device that has sent the location request, so as to end the process. The location response message or the positioning failure message may include a failure reason, and the failure reason may be one of failure to execute, failure to discover the target UE, and failure to establish a unicast connection.
Step 113 (optional step): The location server UE sends a first message to the target UE through a sidelink unicast connection, where the first message is used to request candidate anchor UEs.
The first message may be one of an SLPP message, an LPP message, and a PC5 RRC message.
Optionally, the first message carries a target condition, which is used to indicate a condition that the candidate anchor UEs meet. In this way, the target condition is provided so that the location server UE may obtain anchor UEs suitable for this sidelink positioning.
The target condition may include at least one of the following:
Step 114: The target UE executes a discovery procedure for the anchor UE to find candidate anchor UEs that meet the target condition.
The target UE may adopt the following way 1 or way 2 or way 3 to obtain candidate anchor UEs that meet the target condition.
The discovery request message may be a PC5-D message, for example, a direct discovery solicitation (direct discovery solicitation), and thus the first response message may correspondingly be a direct discovery response (direct discovery response); or the discovery request message may be a message introduced in the sidelink positioning protocol, where the message is broadcast and sent for discovering candidate anchor UEs.
Step 115: The target UE sends a second message to the location server UE, where the second message carries a first list of candidate anchor UEs.
Optionally, the second message is a response message to the first message, and the second message may be one of an SLPP message, an LPP message, and a PC5 RRC message.
Optionally, the second message also carries first UE information of one or more candidate anchor UEs.
For each candidate anchor UE, the first UE information of the candidate anchor UE includes at least one of the following:
Step 116: The location server UE may determine anchor UEs to be used for participating in positioning based on the first UE information of the candidate anchor UEs and information such as location QoS.
For example, each candidate anchor UE serves as an anchor UE to be used for participating in positioning; or
Step 117: The location server UE executes a sidelink positioning procedure.
The sidelink positioning procedure may include: the location server UE performs interaction with both the target UE and the anchor UE to be used for participating in positioning, for example: configuring the anchor UE to send SL PRS, configuring the target UE to measure SL PRS, or configuring the target UE to send SL PRS, configuring the anchor UE to measure SL PRS; and the location server UE receives a positioning measurement result sent by the anchor UE or the target UE.
Step 118: The location server UE obtains a location result of the target UE, for example, calculates the location of the target UE based on the positioning measurement result. The location server UE sends a location response message carrying the location result of the target UE.
In this implementation 1, the candidate anchor UE is identified by the target UE in executing a discovery procedure, meaning that the candidate anchor UE is in the vicinity of the target UE, and the anchor UE to be used for participating in positioning finally selected by the location server UE is in the vicinity of the target UE. This may lead to a problem: the location server UE may be too far away from some of the anchor UEs to be used for participating in positioning, resulting in the location server UE being unable to establish a sidelink unicast connection with these anchor UEs for communication in step 117.
In order to solve the preceding problem, the following method 1 or method 2 may be used to solve it.
Method 1: The location server UE selects the candidate anchor UEs that can establish a sidelink unicast connection with the location server UE from the candidate anchor UEs obtained from the target UE, and then further selects the anchor UEs that participate in positioning from these UEs, so as to avoid the preceding problem.
Specifically, for example, after the foregoing step 115 and before the foregoing step 116, the location server UE executes a discovery procedure for the candidate anchor UEs carried in the second message, or attempts to establish a sidelink unicast connection with these candidate anchor UEs. In this way, in performing the foregoing step 116, the anchor UE to be used for participating in positioning is selected from the candidate anchor UEs that can be successfully discovered or successfully established with a sidelink unicast connection; or for example, before the foregoing step 113, the location server UE first performs a discovery procedure for candidate anchor UEs to obtain a second list of candidate anchor UEs, and then, in performing the foregoing step 113, adds the second list in the first message and sends the first message to the target UE. In this way, in performing the foregoing step 114, the target UE further executes a discovery procedure to identify the candidate anchor UEs among the UEs in the second list, and then, in performing the foregoing step 115, places the list of candidate anchor UEs obtained in step 114 (that is, the first list) in the second message and sends the second message to the location server UE, meaning that the candidate anchor UEs included in the second message are UEs that can be discovered by both the target UE and the location server UE. In this way, in performing the foregoing step 116, the anchor UE to be used for participating in positioning is selected from the candidate anchor UEs included in the second message.
It should be noted herein that the foregoing method 1 may result in too few anchor UEs, so as to decrease positioning accuracy or even make the positioning impossible.
Method 2: The location server UE may perform interaction with an anchor UE to be used for participating in positioning through target UE, meaning that the information interacted between the location server UE and the anchor UE to be used for participating in positioning is forwarded through target UE, also meaning that the location server UE first sends a message to the target UE, and indicates that the message is sent to an anchor UE and to which anchor UE, and the target UE then sends the message to the corresponding anchor UE.
When there are multiple anchor UEs to be used for participating in positioning, the information interacted between the location server UE and each of the anchor UEs to be used for participating in positioning may be forwarded through the target UE.
Alternatively, the information interacted between the location server UE and some of anchor UEs to be used for participating in positioning is forwarded through the target UE, and the communication between the other of the anchor UEs to be used for participating in positioning and the location server UE is implemented through establishment of a sidelink unicast connection. For example, after selecting the anchor UEs to be used for participating in positioning, the location server UE may first attempt to discover each of the anchor UEs to be used for participating in positioning or establish a sidelink unicast connection with each of the anchor UEs to be used for participating in positioning. For anchor UEs that fail to be discovered or fail to establish a unicast connection, the information is forwarded through the target UE, otherwise the interaction is directly performed through the sidelink unicast connection.
In addition, the process of forwarding the information interacted between the location server UE and one of the anchor UEs to be used for participating in positioning through the target UE may be as shown in
Step 121: In a case that the location server UE needs to send a fourth message (for example, an SLPP message) to the anchor UE, the location server UE sends a third message to the target UE, where the third message is used to transfer the fourth message sent to the anchor UE.
The third message includes an UE ID or UE index of the anchor UE and a container (that is, a container, the target UE does not decode the content of the container), where the container corresponds to the fourth message sent to the anchor UE; and the third message may be an SLPP message or a PC5 RRC or a PC5-S message.
In addition, each anchor UE corresponds to one UE ID or UE index of the anchor UE.
Optionally, the third message may include a message sent to one or more anchor UEs.
Optionally, for each anchor UE, the third message may include one or more messages sent to the anchor UE so as to reduce positioning delay and signaling overhead.
Step 122: The target UE determines the corresponding anchor UE based on the UE ID or UE index of (each) anchor UE in the third message.
Step 123: If no sidelink unicast connection is established between the target UE and the anchor UE, the target UE establishes a sidelink unicast connection with the anchor UE. If the unicast connection establishment fails, the target UE sends a failure message to the location server UE, where the failure message may carry a cause value to indicate a delivery failure or a unicast connection establishment failure.
Step 124: The target UE sends a ninth message to the anchor UE through the sidelink unicast connection between the target UE and the anchor UE, where the ninth message is used to send the fourth message from the location server UE to the anchor UE. The ninth message may be an SLPP message or a PC5 RRC or PC5-S message. The ninth message includes a container, where the container corresponds to the SLPP message in step 1, that is, the fourth message sent by the location server UE to the anchor UE.
Step 125: In a case that the anchor UE needs to send the fifth message (for example, an SLPP message) to the location server UE, the anchor UE sends a tenth message to the target UE, where the tenth message is used to transfer the fifth message sent to the location server UE.
The tenth message includes a container, where the container corresponds to the fifth message; and the tenth message may be an SLPP message or a PC5 RRC or a PC5-S message.
Step 126: The target UE sends a sixth message to the location server UE, where the sixth message is used to send the fifth message from the anchor UE to the location server UE. The sixth message includes a UE ID or UE index of the anchor UE and a container, where the container corresponds to the fifth message sent to the location server UE.
The location server UE determines which anchor UE sends the message, based on the UE ID or UE index of the anchor UE.
The location server UE obtains the information about one or more candidate anchor UEs from a network-side device (for example, LMF or AMF or base station), and then the location server UE selects an anchor UE to be used for participating in positioning from these candidate anchor UEs. For example, the candidate anchor UE near the location server UE may be selected as the anchor UE to be used for participating in positioning, or the anchor UE to be used for participating in positioning may be selected according to a capability of the target UE.
In this embodiment, it can be assumed that the anchor UE (for example, RSU) always sends SL PRS for positioning, its SL PRS transmitting configuration may not be controlled by the location server UE, and the anchor UE does not need to perform measurement; and the target UE always performs SL PRS measurement and does not need to send SL PRS. Therefore, the location server UE may not perform sidelink communication with the anchor UE, but only needs to obtain the information related to the candidate anchor UEs from the network-side device.
The specific process is shown in
Step 131: Before or after receiving a location request, the location server UE obtains a third list of candidate anchor UEs from the LMF or the base station or the AMF.
Optionally, the location server UE may further obtain second UE information of the candidate anchor UEs from the LMF or the base station or the AMF.
The second UE information of each candidate anchor UE may include at least one of the following:
Specifically, the method by which the location server UE obtains information about one or more candidate anchor UEs from the LMF or AMF base station will be described in detail later.
Step 132: The location server UE determines one or more anchor UEs to be used for participating in positioning based on the information about one or more candidate anchor UEs obtained in step 131.
The location server UE may alternatively act as an anchor UE itself.
In addition, for example, it may be determined that all candidate anchor UEs participate in positioning; or
Step 133: The location server UE sends an SL PRS measurement configuration corresponding to each anchor UE to the target UE.
It should be noted herein that such configuration is SL PRS measurement configuration for the target UE and is SL PRS transmitting configuration for the anchor UE.
Step 134: The target UE measures SL PRS based on the received SL PRS measurement configuration to obtain an SL PRS measurement result.
Step 135: The target UE sends the SL PRS measurement result to the location server UE.
Step 136: The location server UE calculates a location of the target UE based on the SL PRS measurement result.
The following specifically describes in this implementation a method by which the location server UE obtains information about one or more candidate anchor UEs from the LMF or AMF base station.
Method 1: As shown in
Step 141: The location server UE sends a first request message to the LMF or AMF to request information about the candidate anchor UEs.
The first request message may be an LCS message, such as a mobile originated location request (Mobile Originated Location Request, MO-LR) message initiated by UE; the first request message carries indication information for indicating a request to obtain the information about the candidate anchor UEs; and the first request message may alternatively be an LPP message or a NAS message.
Optionally, the first request message carries location information of the location server UE, and the location information may be latitude and longitude information, or may be a current serving cell ID of the location server UE.
Step 142: If the LMF or AMF has the information about the candidate anchor UEs (for example, obtained through the operation administration and maintenance (Operation Administration and Maintenance, OAM) system) saved, the LMF or AMF sends a seventh message to the location server UE, where the seventh message carries a third list of candidate anchor UEs.
The seventh message may be an LPP message, or may be an LCS message, or a NAS message.
Optionally, the seventh message may further carry the second UE information of the candidate anchor UEs. The specific content included in the second UE information may be found in the foregoing description, and will not be repeated herein.
Optionally, the LMF or AMF may further determine, based on the location information of the location server UE, that information about which candidate anchor UEs is carried in the seventh message, for example, selecting candidate anchor UEs within a certain distance range from the location server UE or candidate anchor UEs in the same serving cell as the location server UE and in a neighboring serving cell of the serving cell, so as to reduce unnecessary signaling overhead.
Method 2: As shown in
Step 151: The location server UE enters a connected state.
Step 152 (optional step): The location server UE sends a second request message to the base station.
The second request message may be an RRC message, such as a sidelink UE information (Sidelink UE Information) message, and the second request message carries indication information for indicating a request to obtain the information about the candidate anchor UEs.
Step 153: The base station stores the information about the candidate anchor UEs (for example, obtained through the OAM system), and the base station sends an eighth message to the location server UE, where the eighth message carries the third list of candidate anchor UEs.
Optionally, the eighth message may further carry the second UE information of the candidate anchor UEs. The specific content included in the second UE information may be found in the foregoing description, and will not be repeated herein.
Optionally, the eighth message may be a dedicated RRC message.
Optionally, the third list carried in the eighth message may include anchor UEs in the current serving cell, or may include anchor UEs in the current serving cell and a neighboring cell of the current serving cell.
Method 3: As shown in
Step 161: The base station broadcasts a third list of candidate anchor UEs in a system information message of the cell.
The third list may include anchor UEs in the current serving cell, or may include anchor UEs in the current serving cell and a neighboring cell of the current serving cell.
In addition, the system information message may further carry the second UE information of the candidate anchor UEs. The specific content included in the second UE information may be found in the foregoing description, and will not be repeated herein.
In addition, the system information messages may be posSIB or may be a conventional SIB.
Step 162: The location server UE obtains the candidate anchor UEs by reading system information of the serving cell.
Optionally, the information about the candidate anchor UEs carried in the system information message (including the foregoing third list and/or second UE information) may be encrypted so that only the UE with a corresponding key (for example, the authenticated location server UE) can correctly decrypt it.
It should be noted that
The positioning method according to this embodiment of this application may be executed by a positioning apparatus. In this embodiment of this application, assuming that the positioning apparatus executes the positioning method, the positioning apparatus provided in the embodiments of this application is described.
According to a fourth aspect, an embodiment of this application provides a positioning apparatus, applied to a location server UE, as shown in
Optionally, the first information obtaining module 172 includes:
Optionally, the first obtaining sub-module is specifically configured to:
Optionally, the apparatus further includes:
Optionally, the apparatus further includes:
Optionally, the first message includes a target condition that the candidate anchor UEs need to meet, and the candidate anchor UEs in the first list meet the target condition.
The target condition includes at least one of the following:
Optionally, the first determining module 171 is specifically configured to:
Optionally, the location request is sent by the target UE, and the location request includes a first list of the candidate anchor UEs; and
Optionally, the second message or the location request further includes first UE information of the candidate anchor UEs, where the first UE information includes at least one of the following:
Optionally, the apparatus further includes:
Optionally, the apparatus further includes:
Optionally, the location interaction module 174 includes:
Optionally, the first interaction sub-module is used to perform at least one of the following:
Optionally, the second obtaining sub-module is specifically configured to:
Optionally, the first request message includes location information of the location server UE, and the candidate anchor UEs in the third list are determined based on the location information of the location server UE.
Optionally, the network-side device is a location management function LMF, and the first request message is a location service LCS message or a long term evolution positioning protocol LPP message; or
Optionally, the seventh message is one of an LPP message, an LCS message, a NAS message, and a dedicated RRC message.
Optionally, the second obtaining sub-module is specifically configured to:
Optionally, the information about the anchor UEs included in the system information message is encrypted information; and
Optionally, the seventh message or the system information message further includes second UE information of the candidate anchor UEs, where the second UE information includes at least one of the following:
Optionally, the third list includes at least one UE of the following:
The positioning apparatus in this embodiment of this application may be an electronic device, for example, an electronic device with an operating system, or may be a component in an electronic device, for example, an integrated circuit or a chip. The electronic device may be a terminal. For example, the terminal may include but is not limited to the types of the terminal 11 listed above, which are not specifically limited in the embodiments of this application.
The positioning apparatus provided in this embodiment of this application can implement the processes implemented by the method embodiment in
According to a fifth aspect, an embodiment of this application provides a positioning apparatus, applied to a target UE, as shown in
Optionally, the first discovery module 182 is specifically configured to:
Optionally, the first message includes a target condition that the candidate anchor UEs need to meet; and
Optionally, the first message includes a target condition that the candidate anchor UEs need to meet, and the discovery request message includes the target condition; and
Optionally, the target condition includes at least one of the following:
Optionally, the apparatus further includes:
Optionally, the second message or the location request further includes first UE information of the candidate anchor UEs, where the first UE information includes at least one of the following:
Optionally, the first message includes a second list, and candidate anchor UEs included in the second list are UE successfully discovered by the location server UE; and
Optionally, the apparatus further includes:
Optionally, the forwarding module is specifically configured to:
Optionally, the forwarding module is further configured to:
The positioning apparatus in this embodiment of this application may be an electronic device, for example, an electronic device with an operating system, or may be a component in an electronic device, for example, an integrated circuit or a chip. The electronic device may be a terminal. For example, the terminal may include but is not limited to the types of the terminal 11 listed above, which are not specifically limited in the embodiments of this application.
The positioning apparatus provided in this embodiment of this application can implement the processes implemented by the method embodiment in
According to a sixth aspect, an embodiment of this application provides a positioning apparatus, applied to a network-side device. As shown in
Optionally, the information providing module 191 is specifically configured to:
Optionally, the network-side device is a location management function LMF, and the first request message is a location service LCS message or a long term evolution positioning protocol LPP message; or
Optionally, the seventh message is one of an LPP message, an LCS message, a NAS message, and a dedicated RRC message.
Optionally, the information providing module 191 is specifically configured to:
Optionally, the apparatus further includes:
Optionally, the seventh message or the system information message further includes second UE information of the candidate anchor UEs, where the second UE information includes at least one of the following:
Optionally, the third list includes at least one UE of the following:
The positioning apparatus in this embodiment of this application may be an electronic device, for example, an electronic device with an operating system, or may be a component in an electronic device, for example, an integrated circuit or a chip. The electronic device may be a network-side device. For example, the network-side device may include but is not limited to the types of the network-side device 12 listed above, which are not specifically limited in the embodiments of this application.
The positioning apparatus provided in this embodiment of this application can implement the processes implemented by the method embodiment in
Optionally, as shown in
An embodiment of this application further provides a terminal, as shown in
The terminal 2100 includes, but is not limited to, at least some of components such as a radio frequency unit 2101, a network module 2102, an audio output unit 2103, an input unit 2104, a sensor 2105, a display unit 2106, a user input unit 2107, an interface unit 2108, a memory 2109, and a processor 2110.
Persons skilled in the art can understand that the terminal 2100 may further include a power supply (for example, a battery) for supplying power to the components. The power supply may be logically connected to the processor 2110 through a power management system. In this way, functions such as charge management, discharge management, and power consumption management are implemented by using the power management system. The structure of the terminal shown in
It should be understood that in this embodiment of this application, the input unit 2104 may include a graphics processing unit (Graphics Processing Unit, GPU) 21041 and a microphone 21042. The graphics processing unit 21041 processes image data of a static picture or a video that is obtained by an image capture apparatus (for example, a camera) in a video capture mode or an image capture mode. The display unit 2106 may include a display panel 21061, and the display panel 21061 may be configured in a form of a liquid crystal display, an organic light-emitting diode, and the like. The user input unit 2107 includes at least one of a touch panel 21071 and other input devices 21072. The touch panel 21071 is also referred to as a touchscreen. The touch panel 21071 may include two parts: a touch detection apparatus and a touch controller. The other input devices 21072 may include but are not limited to a physical keyboard, a function key (for example, a volume control key or a power on/off key), a trackball, a mouse, a joystick, and the like. Details are not described herein.
In this embodiment, after receiving downlink data from a network-side device, the radio frequency unit 2101 may transmit the downlink data to the processor 2110 for processing. In addition, the radio frequency unit 2101 may transmit uplink data to the network-side device. Generally, the radio frequency unit 2101 includes but is not limited to an antenna, an amplifier, a transceiver, a coupler, a low noise amplifier, and a duplexer.
The memory 2109 may be configured to store software programs or instructions and various data. The memory 2109 may include first storage area for storing programs or instructions and a second storage area for storing data. The first storage area may store an operating system, an application program or instruction required by at least one function (for example, a sound playback function or an image playback function), and the like. In addition, the memory 2109 may include either a volatile memory or a non-volatile memory, or the memory 2109 may include both a volatile memory and a non-volatile memory. The non-volatile memory may be a read-only memory (Read-Only Memory, ROM), a programmable read-only memory (Programmable ROM, PROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (Erasable PROM, EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (Electrically EPROM, EEPROM), or a flash memory. The volatile memory may be a random access memory (Random Access Memory, RAM), a static random access memory (Static RAM, SRAM), a dynamic random access memory (Dynamic RAM, DRAM), a synchronous dynamic random access memory (Synchronous DRAM, SDRAM), a double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (Double Data Rate SDRAM, DDRSDRAM), an enhanced synchronous dynamic random access memory (Enhanced SDRAM, ESDRAM), a synchronous link dynamic random access memory (Synch Link DRAM, SLDRAM), and a direct rambus random access memory (Direct Rambus RAM, DRRAM). The memory 2109 in this embodiment of this application includes but is not limited to these and any other suitable types of memories.
The processor 2110 may include one or more processing units. Optionally, an application processor and a modem processor are integrated in the processor 2110.
The application processor primarily processes operations relating to an operating system, user interfaces, application programs, and the like. The modem processor primarily processes radio communication signals, for example, being a baseband processor. It can be understood that the modem processor may alternatively be not integrated in the processor 2110.
When the terminal 2100 serves as a location server UE, the processor 2110 is configured to: determine to perform sidelink positioning for a target UE; obtain information about candidate anchor UEs; and determine at least one anchor UE to be used for participating in positioning from the candidate anchor UEs; and
Optionally, that the processor 2110 obtains information about candidate anchor UEs is specifically configured to:
Optionally, that the processor 2110 obtains the information about the candidate anchor UEs from the target UE is specifically configured to:
Optionally, the processor 2110 is further configured to:
Optionally, the radio frequency unit 2101 is further configured to:
Optionally, the first message includes a target condition that the candidate anchor UEs need to meet, and the candidate anchor UEs in the first list meet the target condition.
The target condition includes at least one of the following:
Optionally, that the processor 2110 determines to perform sidelink positioning for a target UE is specifically configured to:
Optionally, the location request is sent by the target UE, and the location request includes a first list of the candidate anchor UEs; and
Optionally, the second message or the location request further includes first UE information of the candidate anchor UEs, where the first UE information includes at least one of the following:
Optionally, the processor 2110 is further configured to:
Optionally, before the radio frequency unit 2101 sends a first message to the target UE, the processor 2110 is further configured to:
Optionally, the radio frequency unit 2101 performs interaction with the anchor UE, and is specifically configured to:
Optionally, that the radio frequency unit 2101 performs interaction with the anchor UE through the target UE includes at least one of the following:
Optionally, that the processor 2110 controls the radio frequency unit 2101 to perform interaction with a network-side device to obtain the information about the candidate anchor UEs is specifically configured to:
Optionally, the first request message includes location information of the location server UE, and the candidate anchor UEs in the third list are determined based on the location information of the location server UE.
Optionally, the network-side device is a location management function LMF, and the first request message is a location service LCS message or a long term evolution positioning protocol LPP message; or
Optionally, the seventh message is one of an LPP message, an LCS message, a NAS message, and a dedicated RRC message.
Optionally, that the processor 2110 controls the radio frequency unit 2101 to perform interaction with a network-side device to obtain the information about the candidate anchor UEs is specifically configured to:
Optionally, the information about the anchor UEs included in the system information message is encrypted information; and
Optionally, the seventh message or the system information message further includes second UE information of the candidate anchor UEs, where the second UE information includes at least one of the following:
Optionally, the third list includes at least one UE of the following:
When the terminal 2100 serves as a target UE, the radio frequency unit 2101 is configured to receive a first message sent by the location server UE, where the first message is used to request information about candidate anchor UEs;
Optionally, that the processor 2110 executes a discovery procedure for candidate anchor UEs to obtain a first list of candidate anchor UEs is specifically configured to:
Optionally, the first message includes a target condition that the candidate anchor UEs need to meet; and
Optionally, the first message includes a target condition that the candidate anchor UEs need to meet, and the discovery request message includes the target condition; and
Optionally, the target condition includes at least one of the following:
Optionally, the radio frequency unit 2101 is further configured to:
Optionally, the second message or the location request further includes first UE information of the candidate anchor UEs, where the first UE information includes at least one of the following:
Optionally, the first message includes a second list, and candidate anchor UEs included in the second list are UE successfully discovered by the location server UE; and
Optionally, the radio frequency unit 2101 is further configured to:
Optionally, that the radio frequency unit 2101 forwards a message interacted between the location server UE and the anchor UE is specifically configured to:
Optionally, that the radio frequency unit 2101 forwards a message interacted between the location server UE and the anchor UE is further configured to:
An embodiment of this application further provides a network-side device. As shown in
The method performed by the network-side device in the foregoing embodiment may be implemented in the baseband apparatus 223, and the baseband apparatus 223 includes a baseband processor.
The baseband apparatus 223 may include, for example, at least one baseband board, where a plurality of chips are disposed on the baseband board. As shown in
The network-side device may further include a network interface 226, where the interface is, for example, a common public radio interface (common public radio interface, CPRI).
Specifically, the network-side device 2200 in this embodiment of the present invention further includes a program or instructions stored in the memory 225 and capable of running on the processor 224. The processor 224 invokes the program or instructions in the memory 225 to execute the method shown in
Specifically, an embodiment of this application further provides a network-side device. As shown in
Specifically, the network-side device 2300 in this embodiment of the present invention further includes a program or instructions stored in the memory 2303 and capable of running on the processor 2301. The processor 2301 invokes the program or instructions in the memory 2303 to execute the method shown in
An embodiment of this application further provide a readable storage medium, where the readable storage medium stores a program or instructions, and when the program or instructions are executed by a processor, the processes of the foregoing positioning method embodiments are implemented, with the same technical effects achieved. To avoid repetition, details are not described herein again.
The processor is a processor in the terminal described in the foregoing 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 disc.
In addition, an embodiment of this application provides a chip. The chip includes a processor and a communication interface. The communication interface is coupled to the processor. The processor is configured to run a program or instructions to implement each process of the foregoing embodiment of the positioning method, with the same technical effect achieved. To avoid repetition, details are not described herein again.
It should be understood that the chip mentioned in this embodiment of this application may also be referred to as a system-on-chip, a system chip, a system-on-a-chip, or a system on a chip, or the like.
An embodiment of this application further provides a computer program/program product, where the computer program/program product is stored in a storage medium, and the computer program/program product is executed by at least one processor to implement the processes of the foregoing positioning method embodiments, with the same technical effects achieved. To avoid repetition, the details are not repeated herein.
An embodiment of this application further provides a positioning system, where the positioning system includes a terminal and a network-side device, the terminal is capable of being configured to execute the steps of the positioning method according to the first aspect or the second aspect, and the network-side device is capable of being configured to execute the steps of the positioning method according to the third aspect.
It should be noted that in this specification, the terms “include” and “comprise”, or any of their variants are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that includes a list of elements not only includes those elements but also includes other elements that are not expressly listed, or further includes elements inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. In absence of more constraints, an element preceded by “includes a . . . ” does not preclude the existence of other identical elements in the process, method, article, or apparatus that includes the element. Furthermore, it should be noted that the scope of the methods and apparatuses in the embodiments of this application is not limited to performing the functions in the order shown or discussed, but may also include performing the functions in a substantially simultaneous manner or in a reverse order depending on the functions involved. For example, the described methods may be performed in an order different from that described, and various steps may be added, omitted, or combined. In addition, features described with reference to some examples may be combined in other examples.
By means of the foregoing description of the implementations, persons skilled in the art may clearly understand that the method in the foregoing embodiment may be implemented by software with a necessary general hardware platform. Certainly, the method in the foregoing embodiment may also be implemented by hardware. However, in many cases, the former is a preferred implementation. Based on such an understanding, the technical solutions of this application essentially or the part contributing to the related art may be implemented in a form of a software product. The computer software product may be stored in a storage medium (for example, a ROM/RAM, a magnetic disk, or an optical disc), and includes several instructions for instructing a terminal device (which may be a mobile phone, a computer, a server, an air conditioner, a network device, or the like) to perform the method described in each embodiment of this application.
The foregoing describes the embodiments of this application with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, this application is not limited to the foregoing specific embodiments. The foregoing specific embodiments are merely illustrative rather than restrictive. As instructed by this application, persons of ordinary skill in the art may develop many other manners without departing from principles of this application and the protection scope of the claims, and all such manners fall within the protection scope of this application.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 202211105835.4 | Sep 2022 | CN | national |
This application is a continuation of International Patent Application No. PCT/CN2023/116669, filed on Sep. 4, 2023, which claims priority to Chinese patent application No. 202211105835.4, filed on Sep. 9, 2022, entitled “POSITIONING METHOD AND APPARATUS, TERMINAL, AND NETWORK-SIDE DEVICE”, which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | PCT/CN2023/116669 | Sep 2023 | WO |
| Child | 19073035 | US |
