>In some embodiments, the configuration information on the downlink positioning signal further includes a positioning signal set or a positioning node or a TRP corresponding to each downlink positioning signal.

In some embodiments, the configuration information on the downlink positioning signal includes identification information corresponding to the downlink positioning signal, which includes identification of the positioning signal set or identification of the positioning node. In some embodiments, the downlink positioning signals can be divided into several sets. In some embodiments, the downlink positioning signals from the same base station or TRP belong to the same downlink positioning signal set.

According to the method provided by embodiments of the present disclosure, the carrier phase difference is introduced into the cellular network, to configure the downlink positioning signal, which can be used for positioning based on the carrier phase difference, for the terminal. The terminal receives the downlink positioning signal based on the configuration information, and measures the carrier phase difference, so that the location of the terminal can be calculated based on the carrier phase difference, thereby positioning the terminal accurately, and achieving the centimeter level positioning accuracy.

Embodiments where the carrier phase difference is measured based on a first positioning signal and a second positioning signal will be provided in the following.

As shown in FIG. 4, where a flowchart of a downlink positioning method according to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure is provided. The method can be applied to the terminal and the network device in the communication system shown in FIG. 1, and the network device can be the access network device or the core network device. The method includes the following steps.

In step 401, the terminal receives configuration information on a downlink positioning signal sent by the network device.

In some embodiments, the network device sends an LPP message to the terminal, which includes the configuration information on the downlink positioning signal. The terminal receives the LPP message sent by the network device and reads the configuration information on the downlink positioning signal in the LPP message. The configuration information is used to configure the first positioning signal and the second positioning signal.

In step 403, the terminal receives the first positioning signal sent by the first positioning node.

The first positioning node sends the first positioning signal to the terminal based on the configuration information on the downlink positioning signal. The terminal receives the first positioning signal based on the configuration information on the downlink positioning signal, measures the first positioning signal, and obtains the carrier phase of the first positioning signal.

In some embodiments, the terminal receives at least one first positioning signal sent by at least one first positioning node.

In some embodiments, the terminal measures the carrier phase of the first positioning signal (first carrier phase). In some embodiments, the terminal can measure the first positioning signal at multiple time points to obtain the carrier phase corresponding to each of the multiple time points (timestamps).

In some embodiments, the terminal can also measure multiple first positioning signals at one time point to obtain the carrier phases corresponding to each of the multiple first positioning signals. Each carrier phase (first carrier phase) corresponds to the identification and/or the timestamp corresponding to the first positioning signal.

In step 404, the terminal receives the second positioning signal sent by the second positioning node.

The second positioning node sends the second positioning signal to the terminal based on the configuration information on the downlink positioning signal. The terminal receives the second positioning signal based on the configuration information on the downlink positioning signal and measurement configuration information, and measures the second positioning signal. The second positioning node is the reference positioning node configured by the network device. The second positioning signal is the reference positioning signal.

In some embodiments, the terminal measures the carrier phase (second carrier phase) of the second positioning signal. In some embodiments, the terminal can measure the second positioning signal at multiple time points to obtain the carrier phase corresponding to each of the multiple time points (timestamps).

The execution order of steps 403 and 404 is not in any particular order, that is, the two steps can be executed simultaneously or in any order.

In some embodiments, before executing the step 404, the terminal also needs to determine whether the reference positioning node has failed. The failure criterion can be configured by the network device, or can be a default criterion. In some embodiments, the terminal determines whether it is within the coverage range of the reference positioning node, or whether the reference positioning node can send the reference downlink positioning signal at a specified time.

The terminal determines that the valid state of the second positioning node based on the failure criterion. The failure criterion is configured by the network device, or the failure criterion is pre-configured. In some embodiments, if a change in the Timing Advance (TA) of the terminal with respect to the second positioning node is greater than a threshold, it is determined that the second positioning node has failed.

In some embodiments, in the case where the second positioning node is valid, the terminal receives and measures the second positioning signal sent by the second positioning node.

In some embodiments, in the case where the second positioning node fails, the terminal sends a failure indication to the network device, which is configured to indicate the invalid state of the second positioning node, so that the network device can reconfigure the reference positioning node for the terminal.

In step 405, the terminal obtains the carrier phase difference.

The carrier phase difference is the measurement result by the terminal. The carrier phase difference is the difference between the first carrier phase of the first positioning signal and the second carrier phase of the second positioning signal. In some embodiments, the difference between the first carrier phase and the second carrier phase is calculated, to obtain the carrier phase difference that corresponds to the timestamp at which the first carrier phase is obtained.

In some embodiments, for the case where multiple first carrier phases correspond to multiple first positioning signals, the subtraction can be performed between each first carrier phase and the second carrier phase of the second positioning signal, to obtain multiple carrier phase differences corresponding to the multiple first positioning signals. The carrier phase differences each corresponds to the identification of the first positioning signal. The multiple carrier phase differences correspond to different identifications of the first positioning signals, and the same timestamp.

In some embodiments, for the case where multiple first carrier phases correspond to the same first positioning signal located at multiple time points, the subtraction can be performed between each of multiple second carrier phases of the second positioning signals at multiple time points and each first carrier phase correspondingly (the time is in one-to-one correspondence), to obtain multiple carrier phase differences corresponding to the multiple time points. The multiple carrier phase differences correspond to the same identification of the first positioning signal, different timestamps of the first positioning signal, and different timestamps of the second positioning signal. In some embodiments, the carrier phase difference is in one-to-one correspondence with at least one of the following: the timestamp of the first positioning signal, the timestamp of the second positioning signal, the identification of the first positioning signal, or the identification of the second positioning signal.

In some embodiments, the terminal can send at least one carrier phase difference obtained to the network device. In some embodiments, the terminal can calculate its location based on the at least one carrier phase difference, obtain location information, and send the location information thereof to the network device.

According to the method provided by embodiments of the present disclosure, the carrier phase difference is introduced into the cellular network, to configure the downlink positioning signal, which can be used for positioning based on the carrier phase difference, for the terminal. The terminal receives the reference downlink positioning signal sent by the reference positioning node and other downlink positioning signals sent by other positioning nodes based on the configuration information, and obtains the carrier phase difference by measuring the phase difference between the reference downlink positioning signal and other downlink positioning signals, so that the location of the terminal can be calculated based on the carrier phase difference, thereby positioning the terminal accurately, and achieving the centimeter level positioning accuracy.

In some embodiments, the network device can also configure measurement configuration information for the terminal, indicating a time window for receiving the downlink positioning signal.

As shown in FIG. 5, where a flowchart of a downlink positioning method according to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure is provided. The method can be applied to the terminal and the network device in the communication system shown in FIG. 1, and the network device can be the access network device or the core network device. Based on embodiments shown in FIG. 4, the method further includes step 402.

In step 401, the terminal receives configuration information on a downlink positioning signal sent by the network device.

In step 402, the terminal receives measurement configuration information sent by the network device.

The measurement configuration information is used to configure a measurement time for measuring the downlink positioning signal. The measurement configuration information is used to configure at least one measurement gap (MG) and/or at least one processing window for receiving of the downlink positioning signal. In some embodiments, at least one MG and/or processing window is configured for all downlink positioning signals, or at least one MG and/or processing window is configured for each downlink positioning signal set on each carrier frequency, or at least one MG and/or processing window is configured for the downlink positioning signal set on multiple carrier frequencies.

In some embodiments, the measurement configuration information can be configured based on the Radio Resource Control (RRC) message. Parameter information on the at least one MG/processing window is configured in the RRC message. In some embodiments, the measurement configuration information can be configured based on the RRC message and the Medium Access Control Control Element (MAC CE) message. Parameter information on multiple MGs/processing windows and corresponding MG IDs (identities)/processing window IDs are configured in the RRC message, and the MAC CE activates the MG ID/processing window ID corresponding to at least one MG/processing window.

When the measurement configuration information is used to configure at least one MG, the measurement configuration information includes at least one of a cycle, a starting slot, or a gap duration of at least one MG. For example, the cycle of the MG is 20/40/80/160 ms, and the length of the MG is 1/1.5/2/2.5/3/3.5/4/4.5/5/5.5/6 ms. The terminal can receive, within the periodically occurring MG, the downlink positioning signal and measure the downlink positioning signal, without receiving other downlink channel signals, such as PDCCH (Physical Downlink Control Channel), PDSCH (Physical Downlink Shared Channel), CSI-RS (Channel State Information Reference Signal), PBCH (Physical Broadcast Channel), SSB (Synchronization Signal Block), etc., sent by the access network device.

In some embodiments, the terminal receives a first RRC message sent by the network device. The first RRC message includes the measurement configuration information on at least one MG. In some embodiments, the terminal receives a second RRC message sent by the network device. The second RRC message includes the measurement configuration information for configuring m MGs, where m is a positive integer. The terminal also receives a first MAC CE sent by the network device. The first MAC CE is used to activate at least one MG out of m MGs.

When the measurement configuration information is used to configure at least one processing window, the measurement configuration information includes at least one of a cycle, a starting slot, a duration, reference SCS, or a priority of the downlink positioning signal of at least one processing window.

The priority of the downlink positioning signal includes: the priority of the downlink positioning signal compared to the non-URLLC (Ultra Reliability and Low Latency Communication) signal and the URLLC signal. The non-URLLC signal includes at least one of PDCCH, PDSCH, or CSI-RS corresponding to the non-URLLC signal. The URLLC signal includes at least one of PDCCH, PDSCH, or CSI-RS corresponding to the URLLC.

In some embodiments, the priority of the downlink positioning signal is higher than the above two types of PDCCH/DSCH/CSI-RS, or the priority of the downlink positioning signal is higher than non-URLLC PDCCH/DSCH/CSI-RS but lower than the URLLC PDCCH/DSCH/CSI-RS, or the priority of the downlink positioning signal is lower than the above two types of PDCCH/DSCH/CSI-RS. In some embodiments, the priority of PDCCH/PDMSH/CSI-RS corresponding to the URLLC is determined by the priority of HARQ-ACK (Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest-Acknowledgement) for the URLLC. In some embodiments, the downlink positioning signal can be received and processed according to the priority thereof during the measurement.

In some embodiments, the terminal receives a third RRC message sent by the network device. The third RRC message includes the measurement configuration information on at least one processing window. In some embodiments, the terminal receives a fourth RRC message sent by the network device. The fourth RRC message includes the measurement configuration information for configuring n processing windows, where n is a positive integer. The terminal also receives a second MAC CE sent by the network device. The second MAC CE is used to activate at least one processing window out of n processing windows.

In some embodiments, the measurement configuration information can further include the identification of the downlink positioning signal corresponding to the MG/processing window, and/or the identification of the carrier frequency used for sending the downlink positioning signal, which is used to indicate that the MG/processing window receives the downlink positioning signal corresponding to the identification or the downlink positioning signal on the carrier frequency corresponding to the identification.

In step 403, the terminal receives the first positioning signal sent by the first positioning node.

The terminal receives the first positioning signal within the MG/processing window indicated by the measurement configuration information, and measures the first positioning signal to obtain at least one first carrier phase.

In step 404, the terminal receives the second positioning signal sent by the second positioning node.

The terminal receives the second positioning signal within the MG/processing window indicated by the measurement configuration information, and measures the second positioning signal to obtain at least one second carrier phase.

In step 405, the terminal obtains the carrier phase difference.

The difference between the first carrier phase and the second carrier phase is calculated, to obtain the carrier phase difference, and at least one of the following is correspondingly recorded: the carrier phase difference, the identification of the first positioning signal corresponding to the carrier phase difference, the timestamp of the first carrier phase, the identification of the second positioning signal, and the timestamp of the second carrier phase.

According to the method provided by embodiments of the present disclosure, the measurement configuration information is sent to the terminal, and at least one MG/processing window is configured for the terminal, so that the terminal can receive and measure the downlink positioning signal within the at least one MG/processing window, to obtain the carrier phase difference. The location of the terminal can then be determined based on the carrier phase difference, thereby improving the accuracy of positioning of the terminal.

Embodiments where the terminal sends a positioning report will be provided in the following.

As shown in FIG. 6, where a flowchart of a downlink positioning method according to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure is provided. The method can be applied to the terminal and the network device in the communication system shown in FIG. 1, and the network device can be the access network device or the core network device. Based on embodiments shown in FIG. 4, the method further includes step 406.

In step 401, the terminal receives configuration information on a downlink positioning signal sent by the network device.

In step 403, the terminal receives the first positioning signal sent by the first positioning node.

In some embodiments, the terminal measures the carrier phase 1 of the first positioning signal 1 sent by the first positioning node 1 at time instant 1. The terminal measures the carrier phase 2 of the first positioning signal 2 sent by the first positioning node 2 at time instant 2. The time instant 1 can be the same as or different from the time instant 2.

In some embodiments, that the terminal respectively measures two carrier phases of two first positioning signals at two different time instants is taken as an example. In some embodiments, the terminal can also measure any number of first positioning signals sent by any number of positioning nodes at any number of time instants to obtain any number of carrier phases.

In step 404, the terminal receives the second positioning signal sent by the second positioning node.

In some embodiments, the terminal measures the carrier phase 3 of the second positioning signal at time instant 3. The time instant 3 can be the same as or different from the time instant 2.

In some embodiments, that the terminal measures only one carrier phase of one second positioning signal at one time instant is taken as an example. In some embodiments, the terminal can also measure any number of second positioning signals at any number of time instants to obtain any number of carrier phases.

In step 405, the terminal obtains the carrier phase difference.

In some embodiments, the terminal calculates the difference between the carrier phase 3 and the carrier phase 1 to obtain the carrier phase difference 1, and calculates the difference between the carrier phase 3 and the carrier phase 2 to obtain the carrier phase difference 2. In some embodiments, the carrier phase difference 1 corresponds to the first positioning node, the first positioning signal 1, time instant 1, the second positioning signal, and time instant 3, and the carrier phase difference 2 corresponds to the second positioning node, the first positioning signal 2, time instant 2, the second positioning signal, time instant 3.

In some embodiments, for the first carrier phase of the first positioning signal measured in step 402 and the second carrier phase of the second positioning signal measured in step 403, one carrier phase difference can be obtained by arbitrarily selecting one of the first carrier phases and one of the second carrier phases, and by performing the subtraction between the selected first carrier phase and the second carrier phase. In some embodiments, based on the timestamp of the first carrier phase and the timestamp of the second carrier phase, the first carrier phase and the second carrier phase with the same timestamp can be selected, and the carrier phase difference can be obtained by performing the subtraction between the selected first carrier phase and the second carrier phase.

In step 406, the terminal sends a positioning report to the network device, and the positioning report includes the carrier phase difference.

The network device receives the positioning report and calculates the location of the terminal based on the positioning report.

The positioning report includes at least one of the following: a carrier phase difference corresponding to at least one first positioning node, phase error group information corresponding to each carrier phase difference, a first positioning node (identification of the first positioning node) corresponding to each carrier phase difference, identification of a positioning signal (identification of a first positioning signal) corresponding to each carrier phase difference, identification of a positioning signal set corresponding to each carrier phase difference, line-of-sight (LOS) indication information corresponding to each carrier phase difference, or a timestamp corresponding to each carrier phase difference.

The carrier phase difference includes at least one of an intact cycle number of a phase, or a fraction less than one cycle of the phase. The phase error group information includes a phase error group ID or an error value.

One carrier phase difference corresponds to at least one timestamp. The multiple carrier phase differences can correspond to the same identification of the first positioning signal and different timestamps, or the multiple carrier phase differences can correspond to different identifications of first positioning signals and different timestamps, or the multiple carrier phase differences can correspond to different identifications of first positioning signals and the same timestamp.

The LOS indication information is configured to indicate whether a path measurement result is the LOS path, or configured to indicate a probability of being the LOS path.

The positioning report further includes at least one of the following: Reference Signal Receiving Power (RSRP), Angle of Arrival (AoA), Angle of Departure (AoD), Time of Arrival (ToA), Time Difference of Arrival (TDoA), Round Trip Time (RTT), or a time error group. In some embodiments, the time error group includes Rx Time Error Group (REG) or Tx Rx Time Error Group (TREG).

In some embodiments, the parameter included in the positioning report can be based on the path measurement result. In some embodiments, each different path corresponds to a group of parameters in the above positioning report. In some embodiments, the positioning report may not consider different paths, and different paths correspond to the same group of parameters in the above positioning report.

In some embodiments, the terminal can send the positioning report of the present measurement to the network device at the end of the MG/processing window for measuring the downlink positioning signal, and the positioning report includes at least one carrier phase difference. The terminal can also send the positioning report to the network device after obtaining one carrier phase difference, and the positioning report includes this carrier phase difference and the related information thereof.

According to the method provided by embodiments of the present disclosure, the terminal can send the positioning report to the network device, which includes the carrier phase difference. The network device calculates the location of the terminal based on the carrier phase difference, thereby positioning the terminal accurately, and achieving the centimeter level positioning accuracy.

It should be noted that those skilled in the art can combine any of the steps in any of the above embodiments to obtain new embodiments, which will not be repeated here.

FIG. 7 shows a block diagram of a downlink positioning apparatus according to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure. The apparatus can be implemented as a terminal or as a part of the terminal. The apparatus includes a first receiving module 501.

The first receiving module 501 is configured to receive configuration information on a downlink positioning signal sent by a network device, and the downlink positioning signal is configured for obtaining of a carrier phase difference.

In some embodiments, the downlink positioning signal includes a first positioning signal and a second positioning signal, and the carrier phase difference includes a difference between a phase of the first positioning signal and a phase of the second positioning signal.

In some embodiments, the first receiving module 501 is configured to receive the first positioning signal sent by a first positioning node, and to receive the second positioning signal sent by a second positioning node. The second positioning node is a reference positioning node configured by the network device.

In some embodiments, the configuration information on the downlink positioning signal includes at least one of the following: a cycle, a slot offset, a number of repetitions in a single cycle, a time gap between two repetitions, a number of occupied symbols, a muting pattern, a comb size, a starting symbol position, Sub-Carrier Spacing, Quasi-Colocation (QCL) information, a number of sampling for a measurement, a carrier frequency, a bandwidth, or a starting physical resource block (PRB) position.

In some embodiments, the configuration information on the downlink positioning signal further includes a positioning signal set or a positioning node corresponding to each downlink positioning signal.

In some embodiments, the apparatus further includes a first sending module 502, and the first sending module 502 is configured to send a positioning report to the network device. The positioning report includes the carrier phase difference.

In some embodiments, the positioning report includes at least one of the following: the carrier phase difference corresponding to at least one first positioning node, phase error group information corresponding to each carrier phase difference, the first positioning node corresponding to each carrier phase difference, identification of the positioning signal corresponding to each carrier phase difference, identification of a positioning signal set corresponding to each carrier phase difference, line-of-sight indication information corresponding to each carrier phase difference, or a timestamp corresponding to each carrier phase difference.

In some embodiments, the positioning report further includes at least one of the following: Reference Signal Receiving Power (RSRP), Angle of Arrival, Angle of Departure, Time of Arrival, Time Difference of Arrival, Round Trip Time, or a time error group.

In some embodiments, the apparatus further includes a determination module 503, and the determination module 503 is configured to determine a valid state of the second positioning node based on a failure criterion. The failure criterion is configured by the network device, or the failure criterion is pre-configured.

In some embodiments, the determination module 503 is configured to determine that the second positioning node fails, with a change in Timing Advance (TA) corresponding to the second positioning node being greater than a threshold.

In some embodiments, the first receiving module 501 is configured to receive measurement configuration information sent by the network device. The measurement configuration information is configured for configuring of at least one measurement gap (MG) and/or at least one processing window, and the at least one measurement gap (MG) and/or the at least one processing window are/is configured for receiving of the downlink positioning signal.

In some embodiments, the measurement configuration information is used to configure at least one MG. The first receiving module 501 is configured to receive a first Radio Resource Control (RRC) message sent by the network device, the first RRC message including the measurement configuration information; or the first receiving module 501 is configured to receive a second RRC message sent by the network device, the second RRC message including the measurement configuration information for configuring m MGs, where m is a positive integer; and to receive a first Medium Access Control Control Element (MAC CE) sent by the network device, the first MAC CE being configured for activating at least one MG out of the m MGs.

In some embodiments, the measurement configuration information is used to configure at least one processing window. The first receiving module 501 is configured to receive a third Radio Resource Control (RRC) message sent by the network device, the third RRC message including the measurement configuration information; or the first receiving module 501 is configured to receive a fourth RRC message sent by the network device, the fourth RRC message including the measurement configuration information for configuring n processing windows, where n is a positive integer; and to receive a second Medium Access Control Control Element (MAC CE) sent by the network device, the second MAC CE being configured for activating at least one processing window out of the n processing windows.