CN116530102A

CN116530102A - Receiving data in RRC idle/inactive state

Info

Publication number: CN116530102A
Application number: CN202080107655.2A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 刘建国; 陶涛; 孟艳; 刘勇
Original assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co Ltd; Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy
Current assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co Ltd; Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy
Priority date: 2020-12-04
Filing date: 2020-12-04
Publication date: 2023-08-01
Also published as: WO2022116157A1

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to receiving data in an RRC idle or inactive state. When the network device needs to deliver data to the terminal device in the RRC idle or inactive state, the network device initiates a paging procedure to deliver trigger information to the device via a paging message. The terminal device may be triggered to monitor a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) for data reception in RRC idle or inactive state. Unlike conventional paging procedures, the terminal device may not initiate a RACH procedure to establish/restore an RRC connection upon receipt of a paging message with trigger information, while still maintaining an RCC idle or inactive state.

Description

Receiving data in RRC idle/inactive state

Technical Field

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to the field of communications and, in particular, relate to methods, apparatuses, devices, and computer-readable storage media for receiving data in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) idle or inactive state.

Background

According to the current communication technology, a solution for locating a user equipment is proposed. In the current communication technology, if the user equipment is not in the RRC connected state, the user equipment cannot be located. One solution is to wake up the user equipment to perform positioning when positioning is required. However, there is still no effective solution as to how to locate the user equipment when it is not in RRC connected state.

Disclosure of Invention

In general, example embodiments of the present disclosure provide a solution for receiving data in an RRC idle or inactive state.

In a first aspect, a first device is provided. The first device includes: at least one processor; at least one memory including computer program code; the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the first device to receive a search space configuration from the second device indicating at least one monitoring occasion, the first device being in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) inactive state or an RRC idle state. The first device is also caused to receive trigger information for monitoring the data from the second device. The first device is also caused to monitor data at the first device at least one monitoring occasion.

In a second aspect, a second device is provided. The second device includes: at least one processor; at least one memory including computer program code; the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the second device to transmit a search space configuration indicating at least one monitoring occasion to the first device, the first device being in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) inactive state or an RRC idle state. The second device is also caused to receive data from the third device or the fourth device. The second device is further caused to transmit trigger information for monitoring the data to the first device. The second device is also caused to transmit data to the first device.

In a third aspect, a third device is provided. The third device includes: at least one processor; at least one memory including computer program code; the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the third device to obtain data. The third device is further caused to select at least one device from a plurality of devices for transmitting trigger information to the first device, the plurality of devices being located in a notification area of the first device based on the radio access network. The third device is also caused to transmit data to the at least one device.

In a fourth aspect, a method is provided. The method includes receiving, at a first device, a search space configuration from a second device indicating at least one monitoring occasion, the first device being in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) inactive state or an RRC idle state. The method also includes receiving trigger information for monitoring the data from the second device. The method also monitors data at the first device at least one monitoring occasion.

In a fifth aspect, a method is provided. The method includes transmitting, at a second device, a search space configuration indicating at least one monitoring occasion to a first device, the first device being in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) inactive state or an RRC idle state. The method also includes receiving data from the third device or the fourth device. The method also includes transmitting trigger information for monitoring the data to the first device. The method also includes transmitting data to the first device.

In a sixth aspect, a method is provided. The method includes acquiring data at a third device. The method further comprises selecting at least one device from a plurality of devices for transmitting trigger information to the first device, the plurality of devices being located in a notification area of the first device based on the radio access network. The method also includes transmitting data to at least one device.

In a seventh aspect, an apparatus is provided. The apparatus includes means for receiving, at a first device, a search space configuration from a second device indicating at least one monitoring occasion, the first device being in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) inactive state or an RRC idle state; means for receiving trigger information for monitoring data from a second device; and means for monitoring the data at the first device at least one monitoring occasion.

In an eighth aspect, an apparatus is provided. The apparatus includes means for transmitting, at a second device, a search space configuration indicating at least one monitoring occasion to a first device, the first device being in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) inactive state or an RRC idle state; means for receiving data from the third device or the fourth device; means for transmitting trigger information for monitoring data to the first device; and means for transmitting the data to the first device.

In a ninth aspect, an apparatus is provided. The apparatus includes means for acquiring data at a third device; means for selecting at least one device from a plurality of devices for transmitting trigger information to a first device, the plurality of devices being located in a notification area of the first device based on a radio access network; and means for transmitting data to at least one device.

In a tenth aspect, a computer readable medium is provided. The computer readable medium comprises program instructions for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method according to any one of the fourth, fifth and sixth aspects above.

It should be understood that the summary is not intended to identify key or essential features of the embodiments of the disclosure, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the disclosure. Other features of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following description.

Drawings

Some example embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example communication environment in which example embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented;

fig. 2 illustrates a signaling flow for paging trigger reception of data in an RRC idle/inactive state, according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

Fig. 3 illustrates a flowchart of a method implemented at a first device according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

fig. 4 illustrates a flowchart of a method implemented at a second device according to some other example embodiments of the present disclosure;

fig. 5 illustrates a flowchart of a method implemented at a third device according to some other example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 illustrates a simplified block diagram of an apparatus suitable for practicing the example embodiments of the present disclosure; and

fig. 7 illustrates a block diagram of an example computer-readable medium, according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure.

The same or similar reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like elements.

Detailed Description

Principles of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to some example embodiments. It should be understood that these embodiments are described merely for the purpose of illustrating and helping those skilled in the art understand and practice the present disclosure and are not meant to limit the scope of the present disclosure in any way. The embodiments described herein may be implemented in various ways other than those described below.

In the following description and claims, unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs.

In this disclosure, references to "one embodiment," "an example embodiment," etc., indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but every embodiment may not necessarily include the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to effect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitly described.

It will be understood that, although the terms "first" and "second," etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another element. For example, a first element could be termed a second element, and, similarly, a second element could be termed a first element, without departing from the scope of example embodiments. As used herein, the term "and/or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the listed terms.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of example embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms "a", "an" and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms "comprises," "comprising," "has," "including," and/or "includes" when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, elements, components, and/or groups thereof, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.

As used in this application, the term "circuitry" may refer to one or more or all of the following:

(a) Pure hardware circuit implementations (such as implementations using only analog and/or digital circuitry), and

(b) A combination of hardware circuitry and software, such as (as applicable):

(i) Combination of analog and/or digital hardware circuit(s) and software/firmware, and

(ii) Any portion of the hardware processor(s) having software, including the digital signal processor(s), software, and memory(s), which work together to cause an apparatus (such as a mobile phone or server) to perform various functions, and

(c) Hardware circuit(s) and/or processor(s), such as microprocessor(s) or portion of microprocessor(s), that require software (e.g., firmware) to operate, but software may not exist when operation is not required.

The definition of circuitry is applicable to all uses of that term in this application, including in any claims. As another example, as used in this application, the term circuitry also encompasses hardware-only circuitry or a processor (or multiple processors) or an implementation of a hardware circuit or portion of a processor and its accompanying software and/or firmware. For example, if applicable to the particular claim elements, the term circuitry also encompasses a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device, or a similar integrated circuit in a server, a cellular network device, or other computing or network device.

As used herein, the term "communication network" refers to a network that conforms to any suitable communication standard, such as New Radio (NR), long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-advanced (LTE-a), wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), high Speed Packet Access (HSPA), narrowband internet of things (NB-IoT), and the like. Furthermore, communication between a terminal device and a network device in a communication network may be performed according to any suitable generation communication protocol, including, but not limited to, first generation (1G), second generation (2G), 2.5G, 2.75G, third generation (3G), fourth generation (4G), 4.5G, future fifth generation (5G), sixth generation (6G) communication protocols, and/or any other protocol currently known or to be developed in the future. Embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied to various communication systems. In view of the rapid development of communications, there are, of course, future types of communication techniques and systems that may embody the present disclosure. The scope of the present disclosure should not be limited to only the above-described systems.

As used herein, the term "network device" refers to a node in a communication network through which a terminal device accesses the network and receives services from the network. Network devices may refer to Base Stations (BS) or Access Points (APs), e.g., node BS (NodeB or NB), evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB), NR NB (also known as gNB), remote Radio Unit (RRU), radio Header (RH), remote Radio Head (RRH), relay, integrated and Access Backhaul (IAB) nodes, low power nodes such as femto, pico, non-terrestrial network (NTN) or non-terrestrial network devices such as satellite network devices, low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites and geosynchronous orbit (GEO) satellites, aircraft network devices, etc., depending on the terminology and technology applied.

The term "terminal device" refers to any terminal device capable of wireless communication. By way of example, and not limitation, a terminal device may also be referred to as a communication device, user Equipment (UE), subscriber Station (SS), portable subscriber station, mobile Station (MS), or Access Terminal (AT). The terminal devices may include, but are not limited to, mobile phones, cellular phones, smart phones, voice over IP (VoIP) phones, wireless local loop phones, tablets, wearable terminal devices, personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), portable computers, desktop computers, image capture terminal devices (such as digital cameras), gaming terminal devices, music storage and playback devices, in-vehicle wireless terminal devices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, laptop embedded devices (LEEs), laptop in-vehicle devices (LMEs), USB dongles, smart devices, wireless customer premise devices (CPE), internet of things (IoT) devices, watches or other wearable devices, head Mounted Displays (HMDs), vehicles, drones, medical devices and applications (e.g., tele-surgery), industrial devices and applications (e.g., robots and/or other wireless devices operating in the context of industrial and/or automated processing chains), consumer electronic devices, devices operating on commercial and/or industrial wireless networks, and the like. In the following description, the terms "terminal device", "communication device", "terminal", "user equipment" and "UE" may be used interchangeably.

As mentioned above, solutions for locating user equipment have been proposed. For example, release 16 (Rel-16) local New Radio (NR) positioning support has been standardized. Thus, the following positioning solutions are now specified for NR Rel-16: downlink time difference of arrival (DL-TDOA), uplink time difference of arrival (UL-TDOA), downlink angle of departure (DL-AoD), uplink angle of arrival (UL-AoA), and Multi-cell round trip time (Multi-RTT).

According to conventional techniques, radio Access Technology (RAT) -dependent positioning techniques are limited to terminal devices in RRC connected mode only. Therefore, the number of terminal devices that can be located simultaneously is limited. For example, in an industrial internet of things (IIoT) scenario and other use cases, a large number of terminal devices may need a location service at the same time. Requiring all terminal devices to move to RRC connected state may result in a large signaling overhead. Furthermore, if the terminal device is not in a connected state when positioning is requested, an additional delay may be generated before positioning of the terminal device. It may increase power consumption by requiring the terminal device to move to a connected state prior to positioning.

Thus, one of the key enhancements in question is to support positioning of the terminal device in RRC idle and RRC inactive states. According to conventional techniques, NR localization will have further work, focusing mainly on IIoT. One key goal is to study the enhancements and solutions necessary to support the high accuracy (horizontal and vertical), low latency, network efficiency, and equipment efficiency requirements of commercial use cases. One use case of the IoT industry is asset tracking. Asset trackers are a solution for tracking asset locations, which are becoming increasingly important in improving flow and flexibility in industrial environments. For example, the asset tracking device will be some smart tags with low power tags: disposable, which can be packaged (with minimal battery to collect energy); persistent, which may be an employee badge (one year battery); and permanently attached to the powered entity.

Thus, use cases require that objects combine positioning and wireless communication technologies in a cost and power efficient manner.

Furthermore, terminal devices in the network are considered to be in different RRC modes or states with respect to the network. These states include RRC connected state, RRC inactive state, and RRC idle state. When the terminal device is in the RRC connected state, it may communicate with the network device using typical NR physical channels and procedures. The terminal device in the RRC idle state and the RRC inactive state may save power compared to in the RRC connected state.

However, terminal devices in the RRC idle state and the RRC inactive state do not support data transmission. The terminal device must therefore establish and recover a connection for data transmission, which results in unnecessary power consumption and signaling overhead.

As described above, according to some conventional techniques, a positioning device in an RRC idle state and an RRC inactive state must move to an RRC connected state to receive positioning assistance data from a network. To this end, the network will initiate a paging procedure for the device, and then the device will initiate a 2/4 step Random Access (RA) procedure to establish or resume the connection prior to data transmission. This results in unnecessary power consumption and signaling overhead.

According to the conventional art, small Data Transfer (SDT) in the RRC inactive state is proposed. It mainly focuses on UL small data transmission. Although the terminal device does not require RRC connection state transitions, the network still needs to page the device first and then the device initiates an RRC connection recovery procedure for downlink data transmission in the RRC inactive state. This operation will result in additional signaling overhead, reduced positioning delay and power consumption due to the new random access procedure.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a solution for receiving data in an RRC idle or inactive state is presented. When the network device needs to deliver positioning assistance data to the terminal device in RRC idle or inactive state, the network device initiates a paging procedure to deliver trigger information to the device via a paging message. The terminal device may be triggered to monitor a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) for positioning assistance data reception. Unlike conventional paging procedures, the terminal device may not initiate a RACH procedure to establish/restore an RRC connection upon receipt of a paging message with trigger information, while still maintaining an RCC idle or inactive state.

Fig. 1 illustrates a schematic diagram of a communication environment 100 in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented. The communication environment 100, which is part of a communication network, includes devices 110-1, 110-2, … …, 110-N (which may be collectively referred to as device(s) 110 "). Communication environment 100 includes device 120-1, devices 120-2, … …, device 120-3 (which may be collectively referred to as device(s) 120 "). The parameters N and M may be any suitable number. The communication environment 100 includes a core network device 140. For example, the core network device 140 may include a Location Management Function (LMF) entity. Furthermore, the core network device 140 may comprise a 5G core access and mobility management function (AMF) entity. Device 110 and device 110 may communicate with each other.

Communication environment 100 may include any suitable number of devices and cells. In communication environment 100, device 110 and device 120 may communicate data and control information with each other. In the case where device 110 is a terminal device and device 120 is a network device, the link from device 120 to device 110 is referred to as the Downlink (DL), and the link from device 110 to device 120 is referred to as the Uplink (UL). Device 120 and device 110 are interchangeable.

It should be understood that the number of devices and cells and their connections shown in fig. 1 are given for illustrative purposes and are not meant to be limiting in any way. Communication environment 100 may include any suitable number of devices and networks suitable for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure.

Communication in communication environment 100 may be implemented in accordance with any suitable communication protocol(s), including, but not limited to, first generation (1G), second generation (2G), third generation (3G), fourth generation (4G), fifth generation (5G), etc., cellular communication protocols, wireless local area network communication protocols such as Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11, etc., and/or any other protocols currently known or to be developed in the future. Further, the communication may utilize any suitable wireless communication technology including, but not limited to: code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), frequency Division Duplex (FDD), time Division Duplex (TDD), multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO), orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM), discrete fourier transform spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM), and/or any other technique currently known or developed in the future.

Example embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Referring now to fig. 2, fig. 2 illustrates a signaling flow 200 according to an example embodiment of the present disclosure. For discussion purposes, signaling flow 200 will be described with reference to fig. 1. In some example embodiments, signaling flow 200 may relate to device 110-1 (hereinafter "first device 110-1"), device 120-1 (hereinafter "second device 120-1"), device 120-2 (hereinafter "third device 120-2"), and core network device 140 (hereinafter "fourth device 140"). Alternatively, the signaling flow 200 may involve the device 110-1, the device 120-1, and the core network device 140, meaning that the second device and the third device may be the same device. It is assumed that the first device is in a connected state (e.g., RRC connected state) with the third device, and thus the third device instructs the first device to enter an inactive state (e.g., RRC inactive state). In some embodiments, the first device in the inactive state may perform cell reselection from the third device to the second device for paging reception. In this case, the second device serves as an anchor cell for the first device and the third device serves as a last serving cell for the first device. In some alternative embodiments, the first device in the inactive state may not perform cell reselection. In this case, the third device serves as both the anchor cell and the last serving cell of the first device. In other words, the second device and the third device are the same device. It should be noted that signaling flow 200 may involve any suitable device. It should be noted that embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied to the general scenario of data delivery in RRC idle or inactive states. For example, the data may be delay-free traffic. For purposes of illustration only, embodiments of the present disclosure are described with reference to the context of positioning assistance information.

The second device 120-1 transmits 2005 the search space configuration to the first device 110-1. The search space configuration indicates at least one monitoring occasion. The first device 110-1 is not in the RRC connected state. For example, the first device 110-1 may be in an RRC idle state. Alternatively, the first device 110-1 may be in an RRC inactive state.

In some example embodiments, the search space configuration may indicate a particular range that may carry a PDCCH. For example, the first device 110-1 may determine one or more monitoring opportunities for data reception. For example only, the first device 110-1 may perform blind decoding in the entire search space to find a PDCCH carrying data. The specific region in which the first device 110-1 performs blind decoding may be referred to as a search space.

In some example embodiments, the search space may be a public search space. For example, the search space configuration may be predefined. Alternatively, the search space configuration may be transmitted via RRC signaling. For example, the search space configuration may be transmitted in a System Information Block (SIB).

Alternatively, the search space configuration may indicate a new search space configured for data. The search space configuration may be transmitted via broadcast signaling. For example, a search space identity may be defined in an Information Element (IE) PDCCH-ConfigCommon to configure a search space. Table 1 shows an example configuration of the search space.

TABLE 1

In some example embodiments, the core network device 140 may trigger the third device 120-2 to initiate a paging procedure to deliver data to the first device 110-1. The third device 120-2 obtains the data. In some example embodiments, the third device 120-2 may generate 2010 data. For example, the third device 120-2 may determine positioning assistance information, e.g., uplink positioning, for the first device 110-1. Alternatively, the fourth device 140 may transmit 2012 the data to the third device 120-2. In other embodiments, the fourth device 140 may transmit data to the second device 120-1. The data may be transmitted using NRPPa protocol.

In an example embodiment, the third device 120-2 may be triggered to initiate the paging procedure after receiving data from the fourth device 140. For example, the data may include positioning assistance information. In some example embodiments, the positioning assistance information may include a configuration of Positioning Reference Signals (PRSs). For example, the frequency of PRS may be in positioning assistance information. The positioning assistance information may include a bandwidth of the PRS. Further, the positioning assistance information may include a period of PRS transmission. The number of symbols of PRS may also be included in positioning assistance information. Further, the positioning assistance information may include a resource identifier of the PRS.

In some example embodiments, the positioning assistance information may include a configuration of positioning measurements. For example, the positioning assistance information may indicate a type of positioning measurement. In some example embodiments, the type of positioning measurement may include one or more of the following: reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ), relative time of arrival (RTOA), angle of arrival (AoA), angle of departure (AoD), time difference of arrival (TDOA), or Multi-cell round trip time (Multi-RTT).

In other embodiments, the positioning assistance information may be a configuration reporting positioning measurements. For example, the positioning assistance information may be a period for reporting positioning measurements. For example, the positioning assistance information may be a condition for triggering the transmission of positioning measurements. Alternatively or additionally, the positioning assistance information may comprise uplink measurements. For example, uplink measurements may be used for synchronization error cancellation for combined use of downlink time difference of arrival (DL-TDOA) and UL-TDOA.

In another example embodiment, the fourth device 140 may transmit a request to the third device 120-2 indicating a paging procedure. The third device 120 may be triggered to initiate the paging procedure after receiving the request. In some example embodiments, the positioning assistance information may include a configuration of a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) for positioning. For example, the frequency of SRS may be in the positioning assistance information. The positioning assistance information may include a bandwidth of the SRS. Further, the positioning assistance information may include a period of SRS transmission. The number of symbols of the SRS may also be included in the positioning assistance information. Further, the positioning assistance information may include a resource identifier of the SRS. Alternatively, the positioning assistance information may include activation or deactivation for SRS transmission. It should be noted that the positioning assistance information may comprise any suitable parameters for positioning. The positioning assistance information is not limited to the above-described example information.

The third device 120-2 selects 2015 one or more devices from the plurality of devices for paging the first device 110-1. The plurality of devices may belong to a set of cells in a Radio Access Network (RAN) notification area (RNA) of the first device 110-1. For example, the third device 120-2 may select all devices (cells) in the RNA of the first device 110-1 to page the first device 1101 to monitor the data.

Alternatively, the third device 120-2 may select a group of devices (cells) from a plurality of devices. In some example embodiments, the group of devices may be selected based on the last anchor cell of the first device 110-1. The group of devices may be selected based on the last serving cell of the first device 110-1. Alternatively or additionally, the third device 120-2 may select the group of devices based on the location information of the first device 110-1. In other embodiments, the group of devices may be selected based on mobility information of the first device 110-1.

For example only, if the communication time between the first device 110-1 and the last anchor point is below a threshold, the third device 120-2 may select one or more cells surrounding the last anchor cell as the set of cells. Alternatively, the third device 120-2 may select one or more cells around the location information estimated at the fourth device 140 based on the UL PRS. In other embodiments, the AMF may select the set of cells based on the location information of the first device 110-1 and signal the set of cells to the third device 120-2 to page the first device 110-1. In some example embodiments, the third device 120-2 may also indicate paging procedures at other unselected cells. In this way, network signaling overhead for data transmission is reduced, since only a part of the cells in the RNA need to transmit positioning assistance data information of the first device 110-1 in RRC idle/inactive state.

For illustration purposes only, the second device 120-1 may be selected by the third device 120-2 or the AMF entity. The third device 120-2 transmits 2020 data to the second device 120-1. The data may be transmitted via any suitable signaling between the second device 120-1 and the third device 120-2. For example, data may be transmitted in a backhaul link between the second device 120-1 and the third device 120-2. The X2 interface may be used for transmission of data. The embodiments are not limited in this respect.

The second device 120-1 transmits 2025 trigger information to the first device 110-1 for monitoring the data. For example, the trigger information may be transmitted in a paging message. In this way, network signaling overhead for data transmission is reduced.

For example, the second device 120-1 may page the first device 110-1 with a Monitoring Trigger Signaling (MTS) indication as an example of trigger information. The MTS indication may be used to instruct the first device 110-1 to monitor data for a period of time until the first device 110-1 detects the PDCCH of the data. In some example embodiments, the trigger information may be carried in a UE-specific paging record for the first device 110-1.

In some example embodiments, the first device 110-1 may determine 2030 a period for monitoring data. For example, the period of time may be predefined. Alternatively, the period may be implicitly determined based on the search space configuration. For example, the period may be from a current monitoring occasion to a next monitoring occasion. In some example embodiments, the period may be configured with trigger information. Alternatively, the indication of the period may be transmitted via RRC signaling.

The first device 110-1 monitors 2035 the data at least one monitoring occasion. The second device 120-1 transmits 2040 data to the first device 110-1. For example, the data may be transmitted in a paging message. In some example embodiments, the first device 110-1 may suspend monitoring after the period. Alternatively, the first device 110-1 may suspend monitoring until the first device 110-1 successfully detects the data. Unlike the conventional paging procedure, the first device 110-1 may not initiate a Random Access Channel (RACH) procedure to establish/resume the RRC connection procedure upon receipt of the trigger information, while still maintaining the RCC idle or inactive state. In this way, there is no RRC connection state transition nor RACH procedure, thereby saving power.

In some example embodiments, if data is detected, the first device 110-1 may transmit 2045 an acknowledgement to the second device 120-1. In an example embodiment, the acknowledgement may be transmitted to the second device 120-1 on a Configured Grant (CG) resource. Alternatively, the first device 110-1 may transmit an acknowledgement on the RACH resource. In other embodiments, the acknowledgement may be transmitted on PUCCH resources configured via system information.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a terminal device receives trigger information for monitoring data. The terminal device can receive data while maintaining in an RRC idle state or an RRC inactive state. In this way, there is no RRC connection state transition and no RACH procedure is present or simplified. In addition, paging overhead is reduced. Furthermore, it may be beneficial for UE power saving, end-to-end positioning delay reduction and signaling overhead reduction.

Fig. 3 illustrates a flowchart of an example method 300 implemented at the first device 110-1, according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For discussion purposes, the method 300 will be described from the perspective of the first device 110-1.

At block 310, the first device 110-1 receives a search space configuration. The search space configuration indicates at least one monitoring occasion. The first device 110-1 is not in the RRC connected state. For example, the first device 110-1 may be in an RRC idle state. Alternatively, the first device 110-1 may be in an RRC inactive state.

Alternatively, the search space configuration may indicate a new search space configured for data. The search space configuration may be transmitted via broadcast signaling. For example, a search space identity may be defined in an Information Element (IE) PDCCH-ConfigCommon to configure a search space.

At block 320, the first device 110-1 receives trigger information for monitoring data from the second device 120-1. In this way, network signaling overhead for data transmission is reduced.

In some example embodiments, the first device 110-1 may determine a period for monitoring data. For example, the period of time may be predefined. Alternatively, the period may be implicitly determined based on the search space configuration. For example, the period may be from a current monitoring occasion to a next monitoring occasion. In some example embodiments, the period may be configured with trigger information. Alternatively, the indication of the period may be transmitted via RRC signaling.

At block 330, the first device 110-1 monitors 2035 the data at least one monitoring occasion. The second device 120-1 transmits data to the first device 110-1. For example, the data may be transmitted in a paging message.

In some example embodiments, the data may include positioning assistance information. For example, the positioning assistance information may include a configuration of Positioning Reference Signals (PRS). For example, the frequency of PRS may be in positioning assistance information. The positioning assistance information may include a bandwidth of the PRS. Further, the positioning assistance information may include a period of PRS transmission. The number of symbols of PRS may also be included in positioning assistance information. Further, the positioning assistance information may include a resource identifier of the PRS.

In some example embodiments, the positioning assistance information may include a configuration of a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) for positioning. For example, the frequency of SRS may be in the positioning assistance information. The positioning assistance information may include a bandwidth of the SRS. Further, the positioning assistance information may include a period of SRS transmission. The number of symbols of the SRS may also be included in the positioning assistance information. Further, the positioning assistance information may include a resource identifier of the SRS. Alternatively, the positioning assistance information may include activation or deactivation for SRS transmission. It should be noted that the positioning assistance information may comprise any suitable parameters for positioning. The positioning assistance information is not limited to the above-described example information.

In some example embodiments, the first device 110-1 may suspend monitoring after the period. Alternatively, the first device 110-1 may suspend monitoring until the first device 110-1 successfully detects the data. Unlike the conventional paging procedure, the first device 110-1 may not initiate a Random Access Channel (RACH) procedure to establish/resume the RRC connection procedure upon receipt of the trigger information, while still maintaining in the RCC idle or inactive state. In this way, there is no RRC connection state transition nor RACH procedure, thereby saving power.

In some example embodiments, the first device 110-1 may transmit an acknowledgement to the second device 120-1 if the data is detected. In an example embodiment, the acknowledgement may be transmitted to the second device 120-1 on a Configured Grant (CG) resource. Alternatively, the first device 110-1 may transmit an acknowledgement on the RACH resource. In other embodiments, the acknowledgement may be transmitted on PUCCH resources configured via system information.

Fig. 4 illustrates a flowchart of an example method 400 implemented at the second device 120-1, according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For discussion purposes, the method 400 will be described from the perspective of the second device 120-1. It should be noted that the dashed box is optional.

At block 410, the second device 120-1 transmits the search space configuration to the first device 110-1. The search space configuration indicates at least one monitoring occasion. The first device 110-1 is not in the RRC connected state. For example, the first device 110-1 may be in an RRC idle state. Alternatively, the first device 110-1 may be in an RRC inactive state. In some example embodiments, the search space configuration may indicate a particular range that may carry a PDCCH.

At block 420, the second device 120-1 receives data from the third device 120-2 or the fourth device 140. In some example embodiments, the data may include positioning assistance information. For example, the positioning assistance information may include a configuration of PRSs. For example, the frequency of PRS may be in positioning assistance information. The positioning assistance information may include a bandwidth of the PRS. Further, the positioning assistance information may include a period of PRS transmission. The number of symbols of PRS may also be included in positioning assistance information. Further, the positioning assistance information may include a resource identifier of the PRS.

In some example embodiments, the type of positioning measurement may include one or more of the following: reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ), relative time of arrival (RTOA), angle of arrival (AoA), angle of departure (AoD), time difference of arrival (TDOA), or Multi-cell round trip time (Multi-RTT).

At block 430, the second device 120-1 transmits trigger information for monitoring the data to the first device 110-1. In this way, network signaling overhead for data transmission is reduced.

At block 440, the second device 120-1 transmits data to the first device 110-1. For example, the data may be transmitted in a paging message.

In some example embodiments, the second device 120-1 may receive an acknowledgement from the first device 110-1 if the data is detected. In an example embodiment, the acknowledgement may be transmitted to the second device 120-1 on a Configured Grant (CG) resource. Alternatively, the first device 110-1 may transmit an acknowledgement on the RACH resource. In other embodiments, the acknowledgement may be transmitted on PUCCH resources configured via system information.

Fig. 5 illustrates a flowchart of an example method 500 implemented at the third device 120-2, according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For purposes of discussion, the method 500 will be described from the perspective of the third device 120-2. It should be noted that the dashed box is optional.

At block 510, the third device 120-2 obtains data. In some embodiments, the third device 120-2 may generate data. Alternatively, the third device 120-2 may receive data from the fourth device 140. In some example embodiments, the core network device 140 may trigger the third device 120-2 to initiate a paging procedure to deliver data to the first device 110-1. In an example embodiment, the third device 120-2 may be triggered to initiate the paging procedure after receiving data from the fourth device 140. In some example embodiments, the data may include positioning assistance information. In some embodiments, the positioning assistance information may include a configuration of Positioning Reference Signals (PRSs). For example, the frequency of PRS may be in positioning assistance information. The positioning assistance information may include a bandwidth of the PRS. Further, the positioning assistance information may include a period of PRS transmission. The number of symbols of PRS may also be included in positioning assistance information. Further, the positioning assistance information may include a resource identifier of the PRS.

In another example embodiment, the third device 120-2 may receive a request from the fourth device 140 indicating a paging procedure. The third device 120 may be triggered to initiate the paging procedure after receiving the request. In some example embodiments, the positioning assistance information may include a configuration of a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) for positioning. For example, the frequency of SRS may be in the positioning assistance information. The positioning assistance information may include a bandwidth of the SRS. Further, the positioning assistance information may include a period of SRS transmission. The number of symbols of the SRS may also be included in the positioning assistance information. Further, the positioning assistance information may include a resource identifier of the SRS. Alternatively, the positioning assistance information may include activation or deactivation for SRS transmission. It should be noted that the positioning assistance information may comprise any suitable parameters for positioning. The positioning assistance information is not limited to the above-described example information.

At block 520, the third device 120-2 selects one or more devices from the plurality of devices for paging the first device 110-1. The plurality of devices may belong to a set of cells in a Random Access Network (RAN) notification area (RNA) of the first device 110-1. For example, the third device 120-2 may select all devices (cells) in the RNA of the first device 110-1 to page the first device 1101 to monitor the data.

For example only, if the communication time between the first device 110-1 and the last anchor point is below a threshold, the third device 120-2 may select one or more cells surrounding the last anchor cell as the set of cells. Alternatively, the third device 120-2 may select one or more cells around the location information estimated at the fourth device 140 based on the UL PRS. In other embodiments, the AMF may select the set of cells based on the location information of the first device 110-1 and signal the set of cells to the third device 120-2 to page the first device 110-1. In some example embodiments, the third device 120-2 may also indicate paging procedures at other unselected cells. In this way, network signaling overhead for data transmission is reduced, since only a part of the cells in the RNA need to transmit positioning assistance data information of the first device 110-1 in RRC idle/inactive state. For illustration purposes only, the second device 120-1 may be selected by the third device 120-2 or the AMF entity.

At block 530, the third device 120-2 transmits data to the second device 120-1. The data may be transmitted via any suitable signaling between the second device 120-1 and the third device 120-2. The embodiments are not limited in this respect.

In some example embodiments, a first apparatus (e.g., first device 110-1) capable of performing any of the methods 300 may include means for performing the respective operations of the methods 300. The component may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the components may be implemented in circuitry or software modules. The first apparatus may be implemented as the first device 110-1 or included in the first device 110-1. In some example embodiments, the component may include at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code. The at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause execution of the apparatus.

In some example embodiments, the apparatus includes means for receiving, at a first device, a search space configuration from a second device indicating at least one monitoring occasion, the first device being in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) inactive state or an RRC idle state; means for receiving trigger information for monitoring data from a second device; and means for monitoring, at the first device, the positioning assistance information at least one monitoring occasion.

In some example embodiments, the means for receiving a search space configuration comprises: means for receiving a search space configuration via RRC signaling or broadcast signaling.

In some example embodiments, the data includes positioning assistance information, and the positioning assistance information includes at least one of: configuration of positioning reference signals, configuration of positioning measurements, configuration of reporting positioning measurements, indication for disabling transmission of sounding reference signals, or indication for activating transmission of sounding reference signals.

In some example embodiments, the apparatus further comprises means for transmitting an acknowledgement to the second device in accordance with determining that the data was detected.

In some example embodiments, the acknowledgement is transmitted on a configured grant resource, a random access channel resource, or a physical uplink control channel resource.

In some example embodiments, the apparatus further comprises means for determining a period for monitoring the data; and means for suspending monitoring after the period.

In some example embodiments, the means for determining the period of time comprises one of: means for determining the period from the trigger information, means for determining the period based on the search space configuration, means for receiving an indication of the period via RRC signaling, or means for determining the period from the pre-configuration information.

In some example embodiments, the means for receiving trigger information includes means for receiving trigger information via a paging message.

In some example embodiments, the first device comprises a terminal device and the second device comprises a network device.

In some example embodiments, a second apparatus (e.g., second device 120-1) capable of performing any of the methods 400 may include means for performing the respective operations of the methods 400. The component may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the components may be implemented in circuitry or software modules. The first apparatus may be implemented as the second device 120-1 or included in the second device 120-1. In some example embodiments, the component may include at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code. The at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause execution of the apparatus.

In some example embodiments, the apparatus includes means for transmitting, at a second device, a search space configuration indicating at least one monitoring occasion to a first device, the first device being in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) inactive state or an RRC idle state; means for receiving data from the third device or the fourth device; means for transmitting trigger information for monitoring data to the first device; and means for transmitting the data to the first device.

In some example embodiments, the means for transmitting the search space configuration comprises: means for transmitting the search space configuration via RRC signaling or broadcast signaling.

In some example embodiments, the apparatus further comprises means for receiving, from the first device, an acknowledgement indicating that the data was detected by the first device.

In some example embodiments, the acknowledgement is received on one of: configured grant resources, random access channel resources, or physical uplink control channel resources.

In some example embodiments, the means for transmitting the trigger information comprises means for transmitting the trigger information via a paging message.

In some example embodiments, the first device comprises a terminal device, the second device comprises a network device, the third device comprises a further network device, and the fourth device comprises a location management function.

In some example embodiments, a third device (e.g., third device 120-2) capable of performing any of the methods 500 may include means for performing the respective operations of the methods 500. The component may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the components may be implemented in circuitry or software modules. The first apparatus may be implemented as the third device 120-2 or included in the third device 120-2. In some example embodiments, the component may include at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code. The at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause execution of the apparatus.

In some example embodiments, the apparatus includes means for obtaining data at a third device; means for selecting at least one device from a plurality of devices for transmitting trigger information to a first device, the plurality of devices being located in a notification area of the first device based on a radio access network; and means for transmitting data to at least one device.

In some example embodiments, the means for selecting at least one device comprises means for selecting at least one device based on at least one of: the last serving cell of the first device, location information of the first device, mobility information of the first device, or information received from the core network device indicating at least one device.

In some example embodiments, the means for obtaining data comprises means for receiving downlink data from a fourth device; or means for generating downlink data at the third device.

In some example embodiments, the first device comprises a terminal device, the at least one device comprises a network device, the third device comprises a further network device, and the fourth device comprises a location management function.

Fig. 6 is a simplified block diagram of a device 600 suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure. Device 600 may be provided to implement a communication device, such as device 110 or device 120 as shown in fig. 1. As shown, the device 600 includes one or more processors 610, one or more memories 620 coupled to the processors 610, and one or more communication modules 640 coupled to the processors 610.

The communication module 640 is used for two-way communication. The communication module 640 has one or more communication interfaces to facilitate communications with one or more other modules or devices. The communication interface may represent any interface necessary to communicate with other network elements. In some example embodiments, the communication module 640 may include at least one antenna.

The processor 610 may be of any type suitable to the local technology network and may include, as non-limiting examples, one or more of the following: general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital Signal Processors (DSPs), and processors based on a multi-core processor architecture. The device 600 may have multiple processors, such as an application specific integrated circuit chip that is slaved in time to a clock that is synchronized to the master processor.

Memory 620 may include one or more non-volatile memories and one or more volatile memories. Examples of non-volatile memory include, but are not limited to, read-only memory (ROM) 624, electrically programmable read-only memory (EPROM), flash memory, hard disk, compact Disk (CD), digital Video Disk (DVD), optical disk, laser disk, and other magnetic and/or optical storage. Examples of volatile memory include, but are not limited to, random Access Memory (RAM) 622 and other volatile memory that does not persist during power outages.

The computer program 630 includes computer-executable instructions that are executed by the associated processor 610. Program 630 may be stored in memory, such as in ROM 624. Processor 610 may perform any suitable actions and processes by loading program 630 into RAM 622.

Example embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by program 630 such that device 600 may perform any of the processes of the present disclosure discussed with reference to fig. 2-5. Example embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented in hardware or a combination of software and hardware.

In some example embodiments, program 630 may be tangibly embodied in a computer-readable medium that may be included in device 600 (such as in memory 620) or other storage device that device 600 may access. Device 600 may load program 630 from a computer readable medium into RAM 622 for execution. The computer-readable medium may include any type of tangible, non-volatile memory, such as ROM, EPROM, flash memory, hard disk, CD, DVD, and other magnetic and/or optical storage devices. Fig. 9 shows an example of a computer readable medium 900 in the form of an optical storage disc. The computer readable medium has stored thereon the program 630.

In general, the various embodiments of the disclosure may be implemented in hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic or any combination thereof. Some aspects may be implemented in hardware, while other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software which may be executed by a controller, microprocessor or other computing device. While various aspects of the embodiments of the disclosure are illustrated and described as block diagrams, flow charts, or using some other pictorial representation, it is well understood that these blocks, apparatus, systems, techniques or methods described herein may be implemented in, as non-limiting examples, hardware, software, firmware, special purpose circuits or logic, general purpose hardware or controller or other computing devices, or some combination thereof.

The present disclosure also provides at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. The computer program product comprises computer executable instructions, such as instructions included in a program module, that are executed in a device on a target physical or virtual processor to perform any of the methods described above with reference to fig. 5-7. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. In various embodiments, the functionality of the program modules may be combined or split between program modules as desired. Machine-executable instructions of program modules may be executed within local or distributed devices. In a distributed device, program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage media.

Program code for carrying out the methods of the present disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. These program code may be provided to a processor or controller of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus such that the program code, when executed by the processor or controller, causes the functions/operations specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram to be implemented. The program code may execute entirely on the machine, partly on the machine, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the machine and partly on a remote machine or entirely on the remote machine or server.

In the context of this disclosure, computer program code or related data may be carried by any suitable carrier to enable an apparatus, device or processor to perform the various processes and operations described above. Examples of carriers include signals, computer readable media, and the like.

The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. The computer readable medium may include, but is not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples of a computer-readable storage medium would include an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a Random Access Memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

Moreover, although operations are described in a particular order, this should not be construed as requiring that such operations be performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, or that all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirable results. In some cases, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Also, while several specific implementation details are included in the above discussion, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the disclosure, but rather as descriptions of features that may be specific to particular embodiments. Certain features that are described in the context of separate embodiments can also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment can also be implemented in multiple embodiments separately or in any suitable subcombination.

Although the disclosure has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the disclosure defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.

Claims

1. A first device, comprising:

at least one processor; and

At least one memory including computer program code;

the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the first device to:

receiving a search space configuration indicating at least one monitoring occasion from a second device, the first device being in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) inactive state or an RRC idle state;

receiving trigger information for monitoring data from the second device; and

the data is monitored at the first device at the at least one monitoring occasion.

2. The first device of claim 1, wherein the first device is caused to receive the search space configuration by:

the search space configuration is received via RRC signaling or broadcast signaling.

3. The first device of claim 1, wherein the data comprises positioning assistance information, and wherein the positioning assistance information comprises at least one of:

the configuration of the positioning reference signal(s),

the configuration of the positioning measurements is such that,

the configuration of the positioning measurements is reported,

an indication to deactivate transmission of the sounding reference signal, or

An indication to activate transmission of the sounding reference signal.

4. A first device of claim 1, wherein the first device is caused to:

in accordance with a determination that the data is detected, an acknowledgement is transmitted to the second device.

5. The first device of claim 1, wherein the acknowledgement is transmitted on a configured grant resource, a random access channel resource, or a physical uplink control channel resource.

6. A first device of claim 1, wherein the first device is caused to:

determining a period for monitoring the data; and

the monitoring is suspended after the period of time.

7. A first device of claim 6, wherein the first device is caused to determine the period by:

the period of time is determined from the trigger information,

determining the period based on the search space configuration,

receiving an indication of the period of time from the second device via RRC signaling, or

The period is determined from the preconfigured information.

8. The first device of claim 1, wherein the first device is caused to receive the trigger information by:

and receiving the trigger information through a paging message.

9. The first device of claim 1, wherein the first device comprises a terminal device and the second device comprises a network device.

10. A second device, comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program code;

the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the second device to:

transmitting a search space configuration indicating at least one monitoring occasion to a first device, the first device being in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) inactive state or an RRC idle state;

receiving data from the third device or the fourth device;

transmitting trigger information for monitoring the data to the first device; and

transmitting the data to the first device.

11. A second device according to claim 10, wherein the second device is caused to transmit the search space configuration by:

the search space configuration is transmitted via RRC signaling or broadcast signaling.

12. The second device of claim 10, wherein the data comprises positioning assistance information, and wherein the positioning assistance information comprises at least one of:

the configuration of the positioning reference signal(s),

the configuration of the positioning measurements is such that,

the configuration of the positioning measurements is reported,

An indication to deactivate transmission of the sounding reference signal, or

An indication to activate transmission of the sounding reference signal.

13. A second device of claim 10, wherein the second device is caused to:

an acknowledgement is received from the first device indicating that the data was detected by the first device.

14. The second device of claim 10, wherein the acknowledgement is received on one of:

the authorized resources to be configured are selected,

random access channel resources, or

Physical uplink control channel resources.

15. A second device according to claim 10, wherein the second device is caused to transmit the trigger information by:

and transmitting the trigger information through a paging message.

16. The second device according to any of claims 10 to 15, wherein the first device comprises a terminal device, the second device comprises a network device, the third device comprises a further network device, and the fourth device comprises a location management function.

17. A third device, comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program code;

the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the third device to:

Acquiring data;

selecting at least one device from a plurality of devices for transmitting trigger information to a first device, the plurality of devices being located in a notification area of a radio access network based on the first device; and

transmitting the data to the at least one device.

18. The third device of claim 17, wherein the third device is caused to select the at least one device by:

selecting the at least one device based on at least one of:

the last serving cell of the first device,

the location information of the first device is used,

mobility information of the first device, or

Information received from the core network device indicating the at least one device.

19. The third device of claim 17, wherein the data comprises positioning assistance information, and wherein the positioning assistance information comprises at least one of:

the configuration of the positioning reference signal(s),

the configuration of the positioning measurements is such that,

the configuration of the positioning measurements is reported,

an indication to deactivate transmission of the sounding reference signal, or

An indication to activate transmission of the sounding reference signal.

20. A third device according to claim 17, wherein the third device is caused to acquire downlink data by:

Receiving the downlink data from a fourth device; or (b)

The downlink data is generated at the third device.

21. The third device of any of claims 17-20, wherein the first device comprises a terminal device, the at least one device comprises a network device, and the third device comprises a further network device.

22. A method, comprising:

receiving, at a first device, a search space configuration indicating at least one monitoring occasion from a second device, the first device being in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) inactive state or an RRC idle state;

receiving trigger information for monitoring data from the second device; and

23. The method of claim 22, wherein receiving the search space configuration comprises:

24. The method of claim 22, wherein the data comprises positioning assistance information, and wherein the positioning assistance information comprises at least one of:

the configuration of the positioning reference signal(s),

the configuration of the positioning measurements is such that,

The configuration of the positioning measurements is reported,

an indication to deactivate transmission of the sounding reference signal, or

An indication to activate transmission of the sounding reference signal.

25. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

26. The method of claim 22, wherein the acknowledgement is transmitted on a configured grant resource, a random access channel resource, or a physical uplink control channel resource.

27. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

determining a period for monitoring the data; and

the monitoring is suspended after the period of time.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein determining the period of time comprises one of:

the period of time is determined from the trigger information,

determining the period based on the search space configuration,

receiving an indication of the period via RRC signaling, or

The period is determined from the preconfigured information.

29. The method of claim 22, wherein receiving the trigger information comprises:

and receiving the trigger information through a paging message.

30. The method of any of claims 22 to 29, wherein the first device comprises a terminal device and the second device comprises a network device.

31. A method, comprising:

transmitting, at a second device, a search space configuration indicating at least one monitoring occasion to a first device, the first device being in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) inactive state or an RRC idle state;

receiving data from the third device or the fourth device;

transmitting the data to the first device.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein transmitting the search space configuration comprises:

33. The method of claim 31, wherein the data comprises positioning assistance information, and wherein the positioning assistance information comprises at least one of:

the configuration of the positioning reference signal(s),

the configuration of the positioning measurements is such that,

the configuration of the positioning measurements is reported,

an indication to deactivate transmission of the sounding reference signal, or

An indication to activate transmission of the sounding reference signal.

34. The method of claim 31, further comprising:

35. The method of claim 31, wherein the acknowledgement is received on one of:

the authorized resources to be configured are selected,

random access channel resources, or

Physical uplink control channel resources.

36. The method of claim 31, wherein transmitting the trigger information comprises:

and transmitting the trigger information through a paging message.

37. A method according to any of claims 31 to 36, wherein the first device comprises a terminal device, the second device comprises a network device, the third device comprises a further network device, and the fourth device comprises a location management function.

38. A method, comprising:

acquiring data at a third device;

transmitting the data to the at least one device.

39. The method of claim 38, wherein selecting the at least one device comprises:

selecting the at least one device based on at least one of:

the last serving cell of the first device,

The location information of the first device is used,

mobility information of the first device, or

40. The method of claim 38, wherein the data comprises positioning assistance information, and wherein the positioning assistance information comprises at least one of:

the configuration of the positioning reference signal(s),

the configuration of the positioning measurements is such that,

the configuration of the positioning measurements is reported,

an indication to deactivate transmission of the sounding reference signal, or

An indication to activate transmission of the sounding reference signal.

41. The method of claim 38, wherein acquiring the data comprises:

receiving the downlink data from a fourth device; or (b)

The downlink data is generated at the third device.

42. The method of any of claims 38 to 41, wherein the first device comprises a terminal device, the at least one device comprises a network device, and the third device comprises a further network device.

43. An apparatus, comprising:

means for receiving, at a first device, a search space configuration indicating at least one monitoring occasion from a second device, the first device being in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) inactive state or an RRC idle state;

Means for receiving trigger information for monitoring data from the second device; and

means for monitoring the data at the first device at the at least one monitoring occasion.

44. An apparatus, comprising:

means for receiving data from the third device or the fourth device;

means for transmitting trigger information for monitoring the data to the first device; and

means for transmitting the data to the first device.

45. An apparatus, comprising:

means for acquiring data at a third device;

means for selecting at least one device for transmitting trigger information to a first device from a plurality of devices located in a notification area of a radio access network based on the first device; and

means for transmitting the data to the at least one device.

46. A computer readable medium comprising program instructions for causing an apparatus to perform the method of any one of claims 22 to 30, or to perform the method of any one of claims 31 to 37, or to perform the method of any one of claims 38 to 42.