CN107360617B

CN107360617B - Method for sending positioning reference signal, base station and terminal

Info

Publication number: CN107360617B
Application number: CN201610305982.4A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 王锐; 沈晓冬; 侯雪颖; 邵华
Original assignee: China Mobile Communications Group Co Ltd; China Mobile Communications Ltd Research Institute
Current assignee: China Mobile Communications Group Co Ltd; China Mobile Communications Ltd Research Institute
Priority date: 2016-05-10
Filing date: 2016-05-10
Publication date: 2020-02-04
Anticipated expiration: 2036-05-10
Also published as: CN107360617A

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention discloses a method for sending a Positioning Reference Signal (PRS), a base station and a terminal. The method comprises the following steps: when positioning requirements exist, a first base station configures a Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) window and PRS mapping information; and the first base station sends control information carrying the PRS window and the PRS mapping information to a terminal.

Description

Method for sending positioning reference signal, base station and terminal

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a wireless communication technology, and in particular, to a method, a base station, and a terminal for transmitting a Positioning Reference Signal (PRS).

Background

In the existing Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, PRS is transmitted periodically, and the time-frequency domain resource and period of PRS are configured by a higher layer. And the narrow-band Internet of things (NB-IOT) technology is mainly used for the Internet of things terminal with large coverage, low cost and low power consumption. The internet of things terminal has higher requirement on power consumption, and generally requires that a battery can be used for more than 10 years, so that the terminal side can reduce unnecessary signals as much as possible and only receive necessary signals, thereby achieving the purpose of saving power. In the conventional PRS periodic transmission mode, the PRS is transmitted according to the transmission period of the PRS no matter whether the terminal has the positioning requirement or not, so that the terminal receives unnecessary positioning reference signals, the electric quantity of the terminal is greatly consumed, and the power saving requirement of the NB-IOT terminal is not facilitated.

Disclosure of Invention

In order to solve the existing technical problem, embodiments of the present invention provide a method, a base station, and a terminal for sending a positioning reference signal, which can implement aperiodic sending and receiving of a PRS.

In order to achieve the above purpose, the technical solution of the embodiment of the present invention is realized as follows:

the embodiment of the invention provides a method for sending a positioning reference signal, which comprises the following steps:

when positioning requirements exist, a first base station configures a Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) window and PRS mapping information;

and the first base station sends control information carrying the PRS window and the PRS mapping information to a terminal.

In the above solution, the sending, by the first base station, control information carrying the PRS window and the PRS mapping information to a terminal includes:

the first base station sends Downlink Control Information (DCI) or Media Access Control (MAC) signaling to a terminal; the DCI or the MAC signaling carries the PRS window and the PRS mapping information.

In the foregoing solution, before the first base station sends, to a terminal, control information carrying the PRS window and the PRS mapping information, the method further includes: the first base station informs an adjacent base station of PRS to be sent through X2 signaling; wherein, the X2 signaling includes a starting transmission subframe of the PRS, a continuous transmission time of the PRS, a number of transmission occasions of the PRS, and a transmission occasion period of the PRS.

In the foregoing solution, the configuring, by the first base station, PRS mapping information includes: the first base station configures the continuous sending time of the PRS, the number of base stations sending the PRS, the number of sending occasions of the PRS and the sending occasion period of the PRS.

In the foregoing solution, the configuring, by the first base station, a PRS window includes: the first base station configures the length of a PRS window and the number of occasions for sending PRS in the PRS window;

the first base station configures a first transmission opportunity of the PRS in the PRS window to transmit the PRS; after receiving the X2 signaling, the adjacent base station preferentially adopts the first sending opportunity in the X2 signaling to send the PRS, and only when the first sending opportunity is occupied, the adjacent base station sequentially selects other sending opportunities except the first sending opportunity to send the PRS.

In the foregoing solution, the sending, by the first base station, DCI or MAC signaling to a terminal includes:

the first base station sends DCI or MAC signaling to a terminal; a preset field in the DCI or the MAC signaling represents at least part of PRS mapping information in the PRS mapping information; the at least partial PRS mapping information comprises: the continuous sending time of PRS, the number of base stations sending PRS and the number of occasions sending PRS.

The embodiment of the invention also provides a method for sending the positioning reference signal, which comprises the following steps:

a terminal receives control information of a first base station;

and receiving the PRS based on the PRS window and the PRS mapping information carried in the control information.

In the foregoing solution, the receiving, by the terminal, the control information of the first base station includes: the terminal receives DCI or MAC signaling of a first base station;

correspondingly, the receiving PRS based on the PRS window and the PRS mapping information carried in the control information includes: and receiving the PRS based on the PRS window and the PRS mapping information carried in the DCI or the MAC signaling.

In the foregoing scheme, the receiving PRS based on the PRS window and PRS mapping information carried in the DCI or MAC signaling includes:

the terminal periodically detects a preset field in the DCI or the MAC signaling according to the configured sending opportunity period of the PRS and the sending opportunity number of the PRS in the PRS window to obtain PRS mapping information represented by the preset field; the PRS mapping information includes: the continuous sending time of the PRS, the number of base stations sending the PRS and the number of occasions sending the PRS;

and the terminal determines a subframe for sending the PRS based on the PRS mapping information and receives the PRS based on the subframe for sending the PRS.

In the above scheme, the method further comprises: and stopping receiving the PRS after determining the subframe which does not transmit the PRS.

An embodiment of the present invention further provides a base station, where the base station includes: a configuration unit and a transmission unit; wherein the content of the first and second substances,

the configuration unit is configured to configure a Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) window and PRS mapping information when there is a positioning requirement;

and the sending unit is used for sending control information carrying the PRS window and the PRS mapping information to a terminal.

In the foregoing solution, the sending unit is configured to send downlink control information DCI or media access control MAC signaling to a terminal; the DCI or the MAC signaling carries the PRS window configured by the configuration unit and the PRS mapping information, so that the terminal receives the PRS based on the received PRS window and the PRS mapping information in the DCI or the MAC signaling.

In the foregoing solution, the sending unit is further configured to notify, through an X2 signaling, an adjacent base station of a PRS to be sent before sending, to a terminal, control information carrying the PRS window and the PRS mapping information; wherein, the X2 signaling includes a starting transmission subframe of the PRS, a continuous transmission time of the PRS, a number of transmission occasions of the PRS, and a transmission occasion period of the PRS.

In the foregoing solution, the configuration unit is configured to configure a persistent transmission time of the PRS, a number of base stations transmitting the PRS, a number of transmission occasions of the PRS, and a transmission occasion period of the PRS.

In the above scheme, the configuration unit is configured to configure a length of a PRS window and a number of occasions for sending PRSs in the PRS window; further configured to configure a PRS within the PRS window for a first transmission occasion to transmit a PRS; after receiving the X2 signaling, the adjacent base station preferentially adopts the first sending opportunity in the X2 signaling to send the PRS, and only when the first sending opportunity is occupied, the adjacent base station sequentially selects other sending opportunities except the first sending opportunity to send the PRS.

In the foregoing solution, the sending unit is configured to send DCI or MAC signaling to a terminal; a preset field in the DCI or the MAC signaling represents at least part of PRS mapping information in the PRS mapping information; the at least partial PRS mapping information comprises: the continuous sending time of PRS, the number of base stations sending PRS and the number of occasions sending PRS.

An embodiment of the present invention further provides a terminal, where the terminal includes: a receiving unit and an identification processing unit; wherein the content of the first and second substances,

the receiving unit is used for receiving control information of the first base station; the PRS processing unit is also used for receiving a PRS based on the identification processing result of the PRS window and the PRS mapping information carried in the control information;

and the identification processing unit is used for identifying and processing the PRS window and the PRS mapping information carried in the control information.

In the foregoing solution, the receiving unit is configured to receive DCI or MAC signaling of a first base station; the PRS is received based on the recognition processing result of the recognition processing unit on the PRS window and the PRS mapping information carried in the DCI or the MAC signaling;

and the identification processing unit is configured to perform identification processing on the PRS window and PRS mapping information carried in the DCI or the MAC signaling.

In the foregoing solution, the identification processing unit is configured to detect a preset field in the DCI or the MAC signaling periodically according to a configured sending opportunity period of the PRS and a sending opportunity number of the PRS in the PRS window, and obtain PRS mapping information represented by the preset field; the PRS mapping information includes: the continuous sending time of the PRS, the number of base stations sending the PRS and the number of occasions sending the PRS; determining a subframe for transmitting a PRS based on the PRS mapping information;

the receiving unit is configured to receive the PRS based on the subframe, determined by the processing unit, for transmitting the PRS.

In the foregoing solution, the receiving unit is further configured to stop receiving the PRS after the subframe that is determined by the processing unit and does not transmit the PRS is determined.

The embodiment of the invention provides a method for sending a positioning reference signal, a base station and a terminal. On one hand, when the positioning requirement exists, a first base station configures a Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) window and PRS mapping information; and the first base station sends control information carrying the PRS window and the PRS mapping information to a terminal. On the other hand, the terminal receives control information of the first base station; and receiving PR based on the PRS window and the PRS mapping information carried in the control information. Thus, by adopting the technical scheme of the embodiment of the invention, the terminal is triggered to receive the PRS in the corresponding subframe through the configured PRS window and the PRS mapping information, and the aperiodic transmission and reception of the PRS are realized, so that unnecessary signals received by the terminal are reduced, the consumption of the electric quantity of the terminal is reduced, the service life of a battery of the terminal (especially an NB-IOT terminal) can be prolonged, and the node requirement of the terminal is met.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a flowchart illustrating a method for transmitting a positioning reference signal according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a method for transmitting a positioning reference signal according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a method for transmitting a positioning reference signal according to a third embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating PRS transmission within a PRS window according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of a system architecture applied to a method for sending a positioning reference signal according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a base station according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

The present invention will be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments.

Example one

The embodiment of the invention provides a method for sending a Positioning Reference Signal (PRS). Fig. 1 is a flowchart illustrating a method for transmitting a positioning reference signal according to a first embodiment of the present invention; as shown in fig. 1, the method includes:

step 101: when positioning requirements exist, the first base station configures a PRS window and PRS mapping information.

Step 102: and the first base station sends control information carrying the PRS window and the PRS mapping information to a terminal.

In this embodiment, the Control information may specifically be a Downlink Control Information (DCI) signaling or a Media Access Control (MAC) signaling; the DCI or the MAC signaling carries the PRS window and the PRS mapping information, so that the terminal receives PRS based on the received PRS window and the received PRS mapping information in the DCI or the MAC signaling.

In this embodiment, when there is a terminal positioning requirement, the first base station prepares to send a PRS to the terminal. The terminal positioning requirement may be a positioning requirement actively reported by the terminal, or a positioning requirement of the terminal actively acquired by the base station, or a positioning requirement sent by an application in the terminal. Specifically, the first base station configures a PRS window; wherein configuring the PRS window comprises configuring a length of the PRS window; for example, the subframe length of the PRS window indicates that, starting from a certain subframe, M consecutive subframes are PRS windows, and then the length of the PRS window is M frames. Specifically, the length of the PRS window may be preconfigured in the base station and the terminal before information interaction; or configured by one field in transmitting DCI or MAC signaling. The configuring the PRS window further comprises configuring the number of transmission occasions of the PRS within the PRS window; normally, 1 to 3 PRS transmission occasions are configured within one PRS window. And the first base station configures a first transmission occasion of PRS of the PRS window to transmit PRS; the neighboring base station of the first base station preferentially adopts a first sending opportunity to send the PRS, and only when the first sending opportunity is occupied, the neighboring base station sequentially selects other sending opportunities except the first sending opportunity to send the PRS, namely when the first sending opportunity for sending the PRS in the PRS window is not occupied by other reference signals or channel transmission, the neighboring base station selects the first sending opportunity for sending the PRS in the PRS window to send the PRS; correspondingly, when a first transmission occasion for transmitting the PRS in the PRS window is occupied by other reference signals or channel transmissions, the neighboring base station selects a second transmission occasion for transmitting the PRS in the PRS window or a third transmission occasion for transmitting the PRS. By adopting the scheme, the adjacent base station can conveniently obtain the sending resource of the PRS.

In this embodiment, the first base station configures PRS mapping information, where the PRS mapping information is used to indicate a terminal to receive PRS and indicate a reception range where the terminal receives PRS. Specifically, the configuring, by the first base station, PRS mapping information includes: the first base station configures a starting transmission subframe of the PRS, a continuous transmission time of the PRS, a number of transmission occasions of the PRS, and a transmission occasion period of the PRS. In this embodiment, the first base station may configure a transmission opportunity period of a fixed PRS, and based on this, the transmission opportunity period of the fixed PRS may be configured in the terminal in advance, and information representing the transmission opportunity period of the PRS does not need to be carried in a downlink transmission signaling. For example, the transmission timing period of the configured PRS is 10 milliseconds (ms), the continuous transmission time of the PRS is 10ms, and the number of transmission timings of the PRS is 3.

In step 102 of this embodiment, the first base station triggers, through DCI or MAC signaling, the terminal to prepare to receive PRS. Specifically, the sending, by the first base station, DCI or MAC signaling to the terminal includes: the first base station sends DCI or MAC signaling to a terminal; a preset field in the DCI or the MAC signaling represents at least part of PRS mapping information in the PRS mapping information; the at least partial PRS mapping information comprises: the PRS transmission time, the number of base stations transmitting PRS, and the number of transmission occasions of PRS. Specifically, a preset field may be configured in the DCI or the MAC signaling, and the preset field may be a PRS range (PRSregion) field; the PRS region field may include at least two portions, respectively: a PD field and an ON field; wherein the PD field indicates a continuous transmission time of the PRS; the PD field may be composed of 3 bits (bit). The ON field indicates the number of transmission occasions of the PRS; the ON field may be composed of 2 bits.

By adopting the technical scheme of the embodiment of the invention, the aperiodic transmission and reception of the PRS are realized by the configured PRS window and the PRS mapping information and triggering the terminal to receive the PRS in the corresponding subframe through DCI or MAC signaling, thereby reducing the unnecessary signals received by the terminal, reducing the consumption of the electric quantity of the terminal, prolonging the service life of the battery of the terminal (especially NB-IOT terminal) and meeting the node requirement of the terminal.

Example two

The embodiment of the invention also provides a method for sending the Positioning Reference Signal (PRS). Fig. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a method for transmitting a positioning reference signal according to a second embodiment of the present invention; as shown in fig. 2, the method includes:

step 201: when the positioning requirement exists, the first base station informs the adjacent base station of PRS to be sent through X2 signaling.

In this embodiment, the first base station is a serving base station of a terminal; the adjacent base station is a base station of an adjacent cell of the cell corresponding to the first base station.

In this embodiment, when a first base station has a terminal positioning requirement, the first base station notifies other neighboring base stations through an X2 signaling, and notifies the other neighboring base stations that the first base station is to send PRSs. The terminal positioning requirement may be a positioning requirement actively reported by the terminal, or a positioning requirement of the terminal actively acquired by the base station, or a positioning requirement sent by an application in the terminal. As an implementation manner, when the first base station notifies a neighboring base station through X2 signaling that a PRS is to be transmitted, the first base station further notifies PRS mapping information, such as a starting transmission subframe of the PRS, a duration transmission time of the PRS, a number of transmission occasions of the PRS, and a transmission occasion period of the PRS, to the neighboring base station. Correspondingly, the first base station obtains the PRS to be sent by the neighboring base station through an X2 signaling. As an implementation manner, the first base station obtains PRS mapping information of PRS to be sent by the neighboring base station through X2 signaling, where the PRS mapping information includes: a starting transmission subframe of PRS, a persistent transmission time of PRS, the number of transmission occasions of PRS, and a transmission occasion period of PRS, etc. Based on this, the first base station and its neighboring base stations notify each other of the situation of PRS to be transmitted, so that when the first base station transmits DCI or MAC signaling, the first base station carries related PRS mapping information that other neighboring base stations also transmit PRS in a PRS window.

Step 202: the first base station configures a PRS window and PRS mapping information.

Here, the first base station configures a PRS window; wherein configuring the PRS window comprises configuring a length of the PRS window; for example, the subframe length of the PRS window indicates that, starting from a certain subframe, M consecutive subframes are PRS windows, and then the length of the PRS window is M subframes. Specifically, the length of the PRS window may be preconfigured in the base station and the terminal before information interaction; or configured by one field in transmitting DCI or MAC signaling. The configuring the PRS window further comprises configuring the number of transmission occasions of the PRS within the PRS window; normally, 1 to 3 PRS transmission occasions are configured within one PRS window. The first base station configures a first sending opportunity of the PRS in the PRS window to send the PRS, after receiving an X2 signaling, a neighboring base station of the first base station preferentially adopts a first sending opportunity in the X2 signaling to send the PRS, and only when the first sending opportunity is occupied, the neighboring base station sequentially selects other sending opportunities except the first sending opportunity to send the PRS, that is, when the first sending opportunity for sending the PRS in the PRS window is not occupied by other reference signals or channel transmissions, the neighboring base station selects the first sending opportunity of the PRS in the PRS window to send the PRS; correspondingly, when a first transmission occasion for transmitting the PRS in the PRS window is occupied by other reference signals or channel transmissions, the neighboring base station selects a second transmission occasion for transmitting the PRS in the PRS window or a third transmission occasion for transmitting the PRS. By adopting the scheme, the adjacent base station can conveniently obtain the sending resource of the PRS.

In this embodiment, the first base station configures PRS mapping information, where the PRS mapping information is used to indicate a terminal to receive PRS and indicate a reception range where the terminal receives PRS. Specifically, the configuring, by the first base station, PRS mapping information includes: the first base station configures a starting transmission subframe of the PRS, a continuous transmission time of the PRS, the number of base stations transmitting the PRS, the number of transmission occasions of the PRS, and a transmission occasion period of the PRS. In this embodiment, the first base station may configure a transmission opportunity period of a fixed PRS, and based on this, the transmission opportunity period of the fixed PRS may be configured in the terminal in advance, and information representing the transmission opportunity period of the PRS does not need to be carried in a downlink transmission signaling. For example, the transmission timing period of the configured PRS is 10 milliseconds (ms), the continuous transmission time of the PRS is 10ms, and the number of transmission timings of the PRS is 3.

In this embodiment, the step 201 of configuring the PRS window and PRS mapping information by the first base station is not limited to be performed before or after configuring the PRS window and PRS mapping information by the first base station.

Step 203: the first base station sends DCI or MAC signaling to a terminal; the DCI or the MAC signaling carries the PRS window and the PRS mapping information, so that the terminal receives PRS based on the received PRS window and the received PRS mapping information in the DCI or the MAC signaling.

In step 203 of this embodiment, the first base station triggers the terminal to prepare to receive PRS through DCI or MAC signaling. Specifically, the sending, by the first base station, DCI or MAC signaling to the terminal includes: the first base station sends DCI or MAC signaling to a terminal; a preset field in the DCI or the MAC signaling represents at least part of PRS mapping information in the PRS mapping information; the at least partial PRS mapping information comprises: the PRS transmission time, the number of base stations transmitting PRS, and the number of transmission occasions of PRS. Specifically, a preset field may be configured in the DCI or the MAC signaling, and the preset field may be a PRS range (PRSregion) field; the PRS region field may include three portions, respectively: a PD field, a PeNBN field, and an ON field; wherein the PD field represents a continuous transmission time of the PRS; the PD field may be composed of 3 bits (bit). The PeNBN field represents the number of base stations transmitting PRS; the PeNBN field may be composed of 3 bits. The ON field represents the number of transmission occasions of the PRS; the ON field may be composed of 2 bits. For example, the PRS region field may be denoted as 11101010, where the first three bits represent the PD field, the middle three bits represent the PeNBN field, and the last two bits represent the ON field. The PRS region field indicates that the continuous transmission time of the PRS is 7 subframes, and the PRS transmitted by two base stations exist in the subframe; two PRS transmission occasions exist within the PRS window.

EXAMPLE III

The embodiment of the invention also provides a method for sending the Positioning Reference Signal (PRS). Fig. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a method for transmitting a positioning reference signal according to a third embodiment of the present invention; as shown in fig. 3, the method includes:

step 301: the terminal receives control information of the first base station.

Step 302: and the terminal receives the PRS based on the PRS window and the PRS mapping information carried in the control information.

In this embodiment, the control information may specifically be DCI or MAC signaling. The terminal receives control information of the first base station, including: the terminal receives DCI or MAC signaling of a first base station; correspondingly, the receiving PRS based on the PRS window and the PRS mapping information carried in the control information includes: and receiving the PRS based on the PRS window and the PRS mapping information carried in the DCI or the MAC signaling.

Specifically, the receiving PRS based on the PRS window and PRS mapping information carried in the DCI or MAC signaling includes: the terminal periodically detects a preset field in the DCI or the MAC signaling according to the configured sending opportunity period of the PRS and the sending opportunity number of the PRS in the PRS window to obtain PRS mapping information represented by the preset field; the PRS mapping information includes: the continuous sending time of the PRS, the number of base stations sending the PRS and the number of occasions sending the PRS; and the terminal determines a subframe for sending the PRS based on the PRS mapping information and receives the PRS based on the subframe for sending the PRS.

In this embodiment, the sending opportunity period of the PRS may be preconfigured in the terminal, and the sending opportunity period of the PRS may be configured in a fixed manner, that is, the sending opportunity period of the PRS is fixed each time the PRS is sent.

Specifically, the terminal identifies the PRS window in the DCI or the MAC signaling, and may specifically identify the length of the PRS window. For example, if the length of the PRS window is M frames, it means that M consecutive subframes are PRS windows from a starting subframe.

Specifically, the DCI or the MAC signaling is configured with a preset field, and as an implementation, the preset field may be a PRS region (PRS region) field; the PRS region field may include at least two portions, respectively: a PD field and an ON field; wherein the PD field indicates a continuous transmission time of the PRS; the PD field may be composed of 3 bits (bit). The ON field indicates the number of transmission occasions of the PRS; the ON field may be composed of 2 bits. For example, the PRS region field may be denoted as 11110, where the first three bits represent the PD field and the last two bits represent the ON field. The PRSregion field indicates that the continuous transmission time of the PRS is 7 subframes, and the transmission occasions of two PRSs exist in the PRS window. When the terminal detects the PRS region field and identifies PRS mapping information in the field, it indicates that 7 subframes are PRS subframes starting from the subframe where the PRS region field is located; starting from the subframe where the PRS region field is located, lasting M subframes as PRS windows; periodically detecting a PRS region field according to the sending opportunity period of the PRS, wherein the detection times are 2 times (namely, the sending opportunities of two PRSs exist in a PRS window are met); thus, the terminal can determine a subframe in which the base station transmits the PRS, and thus can receive the PRS starting at the subframe in which the PRS is transmitted.

As another embodiment, the preset field may be a PRS range (PRS region) field; the PRSregion field may include three portions, respectively: a PD field, a PeNBN field, and an ON field; wherein the PD field represents a continuous transmission time of the PRS; the PD field may be composed of 3 bits (bit). The PeNBN field represents the number of base stations transmitting PRS; the PeNBN field may be composed of 3 bits. The ON field represents the number of transmission occasions of the PRS; the ON field may be composed of 2 bits. For example, the PRS region field may be denoted as 11101010, where the first three bits represent the PD field, the middle three bits represent the PeNBN field, and the last two bits represent the ON field. The PRS region field indicates that the continuous transmission time of the PRS is 7 subframes, and the PRS transmitted by two base stations exist in the subframe; two PRS transmission occasions exist within the PRS window. When the terminal detects the PRS region field and identifies PRS mapping information in the field, it indicates that 7 subframes are PRS subframes starting from a subframe where the PRS region field is located; starting from the subframe where the PRS region field is located, lasting M subframes as PRS windows; periodically detecting PRSregion fields according to the sending time of PRS, wherein the detection times are 2 times (namely, the sending time of two PRSs in a PRS window is met); and according to the number of 2 base stations which are indicated by the PeNBN field and used for sending the PRS, the terminal can determine the received base station information of the PRS through the mapping position of the sequence of the PRS.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating PRS transmission within a PRS window according to an embodiment of the present invention; as shown in fig. 4, there are 3 PRS transmission occasions within one PRS window; the PRS lasts 6 subframes in the transmission occasion of each PRS.

The method further comprises the following steps: and stopping receiving the PRS after determining the subframe which does not transmit the PRS.

In this embodiment, the terminal may determine, based on a preset field in DCI or MAC signaling, a subframe to transmit PRS, and correspondingly, may also determine a subframe not to transmit PRS; based on this, in this embodiment, the terminal determines that the subframe that does not transmit the PRS stops receiving the PRS. Therefore, the terminal can reduce unnecessary signals, reduce the consumption of the electric quantity of the terminal, prolong the service life of the battery of the terminal (especially an NB-IOT terminal) and meet the node requirement of the terminal.

Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of a system architecture applied to a method for sending a positioning reference signal according to an embodiment of the present invention; as shown in fig. 5, the system architecture includes a terminal 42 and a base station 41; the terminal 42 may be a narrowband internet of things (NB-IOT) terminal. The terminal 42 and the base station 41 may communicate with each other via a wireless network.

Of course, the above example of fig. 5 is only an example of a system architecture for implementing the embodiment of the present invention, and the embodiment of the present invention is not limited to the system architecture described in fig. 5, and various embodiments of the present invention are proposed based on the system architecture.

Example four

The embodiment of the invention also provides a base station. Fig. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a base station according to an embodiment of the present invention; as shown in fig. 6, the base station includes: a configuration unit 411 and a transmission unit 412; wherein the content of the first and second substances,

the configuring unit 411 is configured to configure a PRS window and PRS mapping information when a positioning requirement exists;

the sending unit 412 is configured to send, to a terminal, control information carrying the PRS window and the PRS mapping information.

In this embodiment, the sending unit 412 is configured to send DCI or MAC signaling to a terminal; the DCI or the MAC signaling carries the PRS window configured by the configuration unit 411 and the PRS mapping information, so that the terminal receives PRS based on the received PRS window and the received PRS mapping information in the DCI or the MAC signaling.

In this embodiment, when there is a terminal positioning requirement, the first base station prepares to send a PRS to the terminal. The terminal positioning requirement may be a positioning requirement actively reported by the terminal, or a positioning requirement of the terminal actively acquired by the base station, or a positioning requirement sent by an application in the terminal. Specifically, the configuration unit 411 configures a PRS window; wherein, the configuring unit 411 is configured to configure a length of a PRS window and a number of occasions for transmitting PRSs within the PRS window; further configured to configure a PRS within the PRS window for a first transmission occasion to transmit a PRS; and the adjacent base station preferentially adopts the first sending opportunity to send the PRS, and only when the first sending opportunity is occupied, the adjacent base station sequentially selects other sending opportunities except the first sending opportunity to send the PRS. Wherein configuring the PRS window comprises configuring a length of the PRS window; for example, the subframe length of the PRS window indicates that, starting from a certain subframe, M consecutive subframes are PRS windows, and then the length of the PRS window is M frames. Specifically, the length of the PRS window may be preconfigured in the base station and the terminal before information interaction; or configured by one field in transmitting DCI or MAC signaling. The configuring the PRS window further comprises configuring the number of transmission occasions of the PRS within the PRS window; normally, 1 to 3 PRS transmission occasions are configured within one PRS window. The first base station configures a first sending opportunity of the PRS in the PRS window to send the PRS, a neighboring base station of the first base station preferentially adopts the first sending opportunity to send the PRS, and the neighboring base station sequentially selects other sending opportunities except the first sending opportunity to send the PRS only when the first sending opportunity is occupied, namely when the first sending opportunity for sending the PRS in the PRS window is not occupied by other reference signals or channel transmission, the neighboring base station selects the first sending opportunity of the PRS in the PRS window to send the PRS; correspondingly, when a first transmission occasion for transmitting the PRS in the PRS window is occupied by other reference signals or channel transmissions, the neighboring base station selects a second transmission occasion for transmitting the PRS in the PRS window or a third transmission occasion for transmitting the PRS. By adopting the scheme, the adjacent base station can conveniently obtain the sending resource of the PRS.

In this embodiment, the configuring unit 411 configures PRS mapping information, where the PRS mapping information is used to indicate a terminal to receive PRS and indicate a reception range of the terminal to receive PRS. Specifically, the configuring unit 411 is configured to configure a persistent transmission time of the PRS, the number of base stations transmitting the PRS, the number of transmission occasions of the PRS, and a transmission occasion period of the PRS. In this embodiment, the configuration unit 411 may configure a sending opportunity period of a fixed PRS, based on which, the sending opportunity period of the fixed PRS may be configured in advance in a terminal, and information representing the sending opportunity period of the PRS does not need to be carried in a downlink transmission signaling. For example, the transmission timing period of the configured PRS is 10 milliseconds (ms), the continuous transmission time of the PRS is 10ms, and the number of transmission timings of the PRS is 3.

In this embodiment, the sending unit 412 triggers the terminal to prepare for receiving PRS through DCI or MAC signaling. Specifically, the sending unit 412 is configured to send DCI or MAC signaling to the terminal; a preset field in the DCI or the MAC signaling represents at least part of PRS mapping information in the PRS mapping information; the at least partial PRS mapping information comprises: the continuous transmission time of the PRS and the number of occasions for transmitting the PRS. Specifically, a preset field may be configured in the DCI or the MAC signaling, and the preset field may be a PRS region (PRS region) field; the PRS region field may include at least two portions, respectively: a PD field and an ON field; wherein the PD field indicates a continuous transmission time of the PRS; the PD field may be composed of 3 bits (bit). The ON field indicates the number of transmission occasions of the PRS; the ON field may be composed of 2 bits.

It should be understood by those skilled in the art that, the functions of each processing unit in the base station according to the embodiment of the present invention may be understood by referring to the related description of the method for transmitting the positioning reference signal, and each processing unit in the base station according to the embodiment of the present invention may be implemented by an analog circuit that implements the functions described in the embodiment of the present invention, or may be implemented by running software that performs the functions described in the embodiment of the present invention on an intelligent terminal.

EXAMPLE five

The embodiment of the invention also provides a base station. The base station may be as shown in fig. 6, and the base station includes: a configuration unit 411 and a transmission unit 412; wherein the content of the first and second substances,

the sending unit 412 is configured to notify, through an X2 signaling, an adjacent base station of a PRS to be sent when there is a positioning requirement; wherein, the X2 signaling includes a starting transmission subframe of PRS, a continuous transmission time of PRS, a number of transmission occasions of PRS and a transmission occasion period of PRS;

the configuring unit 411 is configured to configure a PRS window and PRS mapping information;

the sending unit 412 is further configured to send DCI or MAC signaling to the terminal; the DCI or the MAC signaling carries the PRS window configured by the configuration unit 411 and the PRS mapping information, so that the terminal receives PRS based on the received PRS window and the received PRS mapping information in the DCI or the MAC signaling.

In this embodiment, when the first base station has a terminal positioning requirement, the sending unit 412 notifies other neighboring base stations through an X2 signaling, and notifies the other neighboring base stations that the first base station is to send PRS. The terminal positioning requirement may be a positioning requirement actively reported by the terminal, or a positioning requirement of the terminal actively acquired by the base station, or a positioning requirement sent by an application in the terminal. As an implementation manner, when the sending unit 412 notifies the neighboring base station through X2 signaling that a PRS is to be sent, the sending unit also notifies PRS mapping information, such as a starting sending subframe of the PRS, a continuous sending time of the PRS, the number of sending occasions of the PRS, and a sending occasion period of the PRS, to the neighboring base station. Correspondingly, the sending unit 412 obtains the PRS to be sent by the neighboring base station through the X2 signaling. As an implementation manner, the sending unit 412 obtains PRS mapping information of PRS to be sent by the neighboring base station through X2 signaling, where the PRS mapping information includes: a starting transmission subframe of PRS, a persistent transmission time of PRS, the number of transmission occasions of PRS, and a transmission occasion period of PRS, etc. Based on this, the first base station and its neighboring base stations notify each other of the situation of PRS to be transmitted, so that when the transmitting unit 412 of the first base station transmits DCI or MAC signaling, the first base station carries related PRS mapping information that other neighboring base stations also transmit PRS in a PRS window.

Here, the configuration unit 411 configures a PRS window; the configuring unit 411 is configured to configure a length of a PRS window and a number of occasions for sending PRSs within the PRS window; further configured to configure a PRS within the PRS window for a first transmission occasion to transmit a PRS; and the adjacent base station preferentially adopts the first sending opportunity to send the PRS, and only when the first sending opportunity is occupied, the adjacent base station sequentially selects other sending opportunities except the first sending opportunity to send the PRS. Wherein configuring the PRS window comprises configuring a length of the PRS window; for example, the subframe length of the PRS window indicates that, starting from a certain subframe, M consecutive subframes are PRS windows, and then the length of the PRS window is M subframes. Specifically, the length of the PRS window may be preconfigured in the base station and the terminal before information interaction; or configured by one field in transmitting DCI or MAC signaling. The configuring the PRS window further comprises configuring the number of transmission occasions of the PRS within the PRS window; normally, 1 to 3 PRS transmission occasions are configured within one PRS window. The first base station configures a first sending opportunity of the PRS in the PRS window to preferentially send the PRS, after receiving an X2 signaling, a neighboring base station of the first base station preferentially adopts a first sending opportunity in the X2 signaling to send the PRS, and only when the first sending opportunity is occupied, the neighboring base station sequentially selects other sending opportunities except the first sending opportunity to send the PRS, namely when the first sending opportunity for sending the PRS in the PRS window is not occupied by other reference signals or channel transmission, the neighboring base station selects the first sending opportunity of the PRS in the PRS window to send the PRS; correspondingly, when a first transmission occasion for transmitting the PRS in the PRS window is occupied by other reference signals or channel transmissions, the neighboring base station selects a second transmission occasion for transmitting the PRS in the PRS window or a third transmission occasion for transmitting the PRS. By adopting the scheme, the adjacent base station can conveniently obtain the sending resource of the PRS.

In this embodiment, the sending unit 412 triggers the terminal to prepare for receiving PRS through DCI or MAC signaling. Specifically, the sending unit 412 is configured to send DCI or MAC signaling to the terminal; a preset field in the DCI or the MAC signaling represents at least part of PRS mapping information in the PRS mapping information; the at least partial PRS mapping information comprises: the continuous sending time of PRS, the number of base stations sending PRS and the number of occasions sending PRS. Specifically, a preset field may be configured in the DCI or the MAC signaling, and the preset field may be a PRS region (PRS region) field; the PRS region field may include three portions, respectively: a PD field, a PeNBN field, and an ON field; wherein the PD field represents a continuous transmission time of the PRS; the PD field may be composed of 3 bits (bit). The PeNBN field represents the number of base stations transmitting PRS; the PeNBN field may be composed of 3 bits. The ON field represents the number of transmission occasions of the PRS; the ON field may be composed of 2 bits. For example, the PRS region field may be denoted as 11101010, where the first three bits represent the PD field, the middle three bits represent the PeNBN field, and the last two bits represent the ON field. The PRS region field indicates that the continuous transmission time of the PRS is 7 subframes, and the PRS transmitted by two base stations exist in the subframe; two PRS transmission occasions exist within the PRS window.

In the fourth and fifth embodiments of the present invention, the configuration Unit 411 in the base station may be implemented by a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), or a Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) in the base station in practical application; the sending unit 412 in the base station may be implemented by a transmitting antenna in the base station in practical applications.

EXAMPLE six

The embodiment of the invention also provides the terminal. Fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention; as shown in fig. 7, the terminal includes: a receiving unit 421 and an identification processing unit 422; wherein the content of the first and second substances,

the receiving unit 421 is configured to receive control information of a first base station; is further configured to receive a PRS based on a result of the identification processing performed by the identification processing unit 422 on the PRS window and PRS mapping information carried in the control information;

the identification processing unit 422 is configured to perform identification processing on the PRS window and the PRS mapping information carried in the control information.

In this embodiment, the receiving unit 421 is configured to receive DCI or MAC signaling of a first base station; the ue is further configured to receive a PRS based on a recognition processing result of the recognition processing unit 422 on PRS window and PRS mapping information carried in the DCI or MAC signaling;

the identification processing unit 422 is configured to perform identification processing on the PRS window and PRS mapping information carried in the DCI or the MAC signaling.

In this embodiment, the identification processing unit 422 is configured to detect a preset field in the DCI or the MAC signaling periodically according to a configured sending opportunity period of the PRS and a sending opportunity number of the PRS in the PRS window, and obtain PRS mapping information represented by the preset field; the PRS mapping information includes: the continuous sending time of the PRS, the number of base stations sending the PRS and the number of occasions sending the PRS; determining a subframe for transmitting a PRS based on the PRS mapping information;

the receiving unit 421 is configured to receive the PRS based on the subframe of sending the PRS determined by the processing unit.

Specifically, the identifying processing unit 422 identifies the PRS window in the DCI or the MAC signaling, which may specifically be a length of the PRS window. For example, if the length of the PRS window is M frames, it means that M consecutive subframes are PRS windows from a starting subframe.

Specifically, the DCI or the MAC signaling is configured with a preset field, and as an implementation, the preset field may be a PRS region (PRS region) field; the PRS region field may include at least two portions, respectively: a PD field and an ON field; wherein the PD field indicates a continuous transmission time of the PRS; the PD field may be composed of 3 bits (bit). The ON field indicates the number of transmission occasions of the PRS; the ON field may be composed of 2 bits. For example, the PRS region field may be denoted as 11110, where the first three bits represent the PD field and the last two bits represent the ON field. The PRSregion field indicates that the continuous transmission time of the PRS is 7 subframes, and the transmission occasions of two PRSs exist in the PRS window. The identification processing unit 422 indicates that, when the PRS region field is detected and PRS mapping information in the field is identified, 7 subframes lasting as PRS subframes from the subframe where the PRS region field is located are PRS subframes; starting from the subframe where the PRS region field is located, lasting M subframes as PRS windows; periodically detecting a PRS region field according to the sending opportunity period of the PRS, wherein the detection times are 2 times (namely, the sending opportunities of two PRSs exist in a PRS window are met); thus, the identification processing unit 422 can determine the subframe in which the base station transmits the PRS so that the PRS starts to be received at the subframe in which the PRS is transmitted.

As another embodiment, the preset field may be a PRS range (PRS region) field; the PRSregion field may include three portions, respectively: a PD field, a PeNBN field, and an ON field; wherein the PD field represents a continuous transmission time of the PRS; the PD field may be composed of 3 bits (bit). The PeNBN field represents the number of base stations transmitting PRS; the PeNBN field may be composed of 3 bits. The ON field represents the number of transmission occasions of the PRS; the ON field may be composed of 2 bits. For example, the PRS region field may be denoted as 11101010, where the first three bits represent the PD field, the middle three bits represent the PeNBN field, and the last two bits represent the ON field. The PRS region field indicates that the continuous transmission time of the PRS is 7 subframes, and the PRS transmitted by two base stations exist in the subframe; two PRS transmission occasions exist within the PRS window. The identification processing unit 422 indicates that, when the PRS region field is detected and PRS mapping information in the field is identified, 7 subframes lasting as PRS subframes from the subframe where the PRS region field is located are PRS subframes; starting from the subframe where the PRS region field is located, lasting M subframes as PRS windows; periodically detecting a PRS region field according to the sending opportunity period of the PRS, wherein the detection times are 2 times (namely, the sending opportunities of two PRSs exist in a PRS window are met); and the number of the base stations sending the PRS according to the PeNBN field is 2, and the identifying unit 422 may determine the received base station information of the PRS according to the mapping position of the sequence of the PRS.

In this embodiment, as another implementation manner, the receiving unit 421 is further configured to stop receiving the PRS after the subframe that is determined by the processing unit and does not transmit the PRS is determined.

In this embodiment, the identification processing unit 422 may determine, based on a preset field in DCI or MAC signaling, a subframe for sending PRS, and correspondingly, may also determine a subframe for not sending PRS; based on this, in this embodiment, the identification processing unit 422 determines that the subframe not transmitting PRS enables the receiving unit 421 to stop receiving PRS. Therefore, the terminal can reduce unnecessary signals, reduce the consumption of the electric quantity of the terminal, prolong the service life of the battery of the terminal (especially an NB-IOT terminal) and meet the node requirement of the terminal.

It should be understood by those skilled in the art that, the functions of each processing unit in the terminal according to the embodiment of the present invention may be understood by referring to the related description of the method for sending the positioning reference signal, and each processing unit in the terminal according to the embodiment of the present invention may be implemented by an analog circuit that implements the functions described in the embodiment of the present invention, or may be implemented by running software that performs the functions described in the embodiment of the present invention on an intelligent terminal.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the identification processing unit 422 in the terminal may be implemented by a CPU, a DSP, or an FPGA in the terminal in practical application; the receiving unit 421 in the terminal can be implemented by a receiving antenna in the terminal in practical applications.

In the several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed apparatus and method may be implemented in other ways. The above-described device embodiments are merely illustrative, for example, the division of the unit is only a logical functional division, and there may be other division ways in actual implementation, such as: multiple units or components may be combined, or may be integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted, or not implemented. In addition, the coupling, direct coupling or communication connection between the components shown or discussed may be through some interfaces, and the indirect coupling or communication connection between the devices or units may be electrical, mechanical or other forms.

The units described as separate parts may or may not be physically separate, and parts displayed as units may or may not be physical units, that is, may be located in one place, or may be distributed on a plurality of network units; some or all of the units can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of the embodiment.

In addition, all the functional units in the embodiments of the present invention may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may be separately regarded as one unit, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit; the integrated unit can be realized in a form of hardware, or in a form of hardware plus a software functional unit.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will understand that: all or part of the steps for implementing the method embodiments may be implemented by hardware related to program instructions, and the program may be stored in a computer readable storage medium, and when executed, the program performs the steps including the method embodiments; and the aforementioned storage medium includes: a mobile storage device, a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), a magnetic disk or an optical disk, and other various media capable of storing program codes.

Alternatively, the integrated unit of the present invention may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium if it is implemented in the form of a software functional module and sold or used as a separate product. Based on such understanding, the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention may be essentially implemented or a part contributing to the prior art may be embodied in the form of a software product, which is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device) to execute all or part of the methods described in the embodiments of the present invention. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: a removable storage device, a ROM, a RAM, a magnetic or optical disk, or various other media that can store program code.

The above description is only for the specific embodiments of the present invention, but the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art can easily conceive of the changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the present invention, and all the changes or substitutions should be covered within the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the protection scope of the present invention shall be subject to the protection scope of the appended claims.

Claims

1. A method for transmitting a positioning reference signal, the method comprising:

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first base station sends control information carrying the PRS window and the PRS mapping information to a terminal, and wherein the sending comprises:

the first base station sends downlink control information DCI or media access control MAC signaling to a terminal; the DCI or the MAC signaling carries the PRS window and the PRS mapping information.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein before the first base station sends control information carrying the PRS window and the PRS mapping information to a terminal, the method further comprises: the first base station informs an adjacent base station of PRS to be sent through X2 signaling; wherein, the X2 signaling includes a starting transmission subframe of the PRS, a continuous transmission time of the PRS, a number of transmission occasions of the PRS, and a transmission occasion period of the PRS.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the first base station configures PRS mapping information, comprising: the first base station configures the continuous sending time of the PRS, the number of base stations sending the PRS, the number of sending occasions of the PRS and the sending occasion period of the PRS.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the first base station configures a PRS window comprising: the first base station configures the length of a PRS window and the number of occasions for sending PRS in the PRS window;

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the first base station sends DCI or MAC signaling to the terminal, and wherein the DCI or MAC signaling comprises:

7. A method for transmitting a positioning reference signal, the method comprising:

a terminal receives control information of a first base station;

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the terminal receives control information of the first base station, and wherein the method comprises: the terminal receives DCI or MAC signaling of a first base station;

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the receiving PRS based on PRS window and PRS mapping information carried in the DCI or MAC signaling comprises:

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising: and stopping receiving the PRS after determining the subframe which does not transmit the PRS.

11. A base station, characterized in that the base station comprises: a configuration unit and a transmission unit; wherein the content of the first and second substances,

the configuration unit is configured to configure a Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) window and PRS mapping information when a positioning requirement exists;

12. The base station of claim 11, wherein the sending unit is configured to send downlink control information DCI or media access control MAC signaling to a terminal; the DCI or the MAC signaling carries the PRS window configured by the configuration unit and the PRS mapping information.

13. The base station of claim 11, wherein the sending unit is further configured to notify, before sending the control information carrying the PRS window and the PRS mapping information to the terminal, an adjacent base station of the PRS to be sent through an X2 signaling; wherein, the X2 signaling includes a starting transmission subframe of the PRS, a continuous transmission time of the PRS, a number of transmission occasions of the PRS, and a transmission occasion period of the PRS.

14. The base station of claim 13, wherein the configuring unit is configured to configure a continuous transmission time of PRS, a number of base stations transmitting PRS, a number of transmission occasions of PRS, and a transmission occasion period of PRS.

15. The base station of claim 13, wherein the configuring unit is configured to configure a length of a PRS window and a number of occasions for sending PRSs within the PRS window; further configured to configure a PRS within the PRS window for a first transmission occasion to transmit a PRS; after receiving the X2 signaling, the adjacent base station preferentially adopts the first sending opportunity in the X2 signaling to send the PRS, and only when the first sending opportunity is occupied, the adjacent base station sequentially selects other sending opportunities except the first sending opportunity to send the PRS.

16. The base station of claim 12, wherein the transmitting unit is configured to transmit DCI or MAC signaling to a terminal; a preset field in the DCI or the MAC signaling represents at least part of PRS mapping information in the PRS mapping information; the at least partial PRS mapping information comprises: the continuous sending time of PRS, the number of base stations sending PRS and the number of occasions sending PRS.

17. A terminal, characterized in that the terminal comprises: a receiving unit and an identification processing unit; wherein the content of the first and second substances,

18. The terminal of claim 17, wherein the receiving unit is configured to receive DCI or MAC signaling of the first base station; the PRS is received based on the recognition processing result of the recognition processing unit on the PRS window and the PRS mapping information carried in the DCI or the MAC signaling;

19. The terminal of claim 18, wherein the identification processing unit is configured to detect a preset field in the DCI or the MAC signaling periodically according to a transmission opportunity period of a configured PRS and a transmission opportunity number of the PRS in the PRS window, and obtain PRS mapping information represented by the preset field; the PRS mapping information includes: the continuous sending time of the PRS, the number of base stations sending the PRS and the number of occasions sending the PRS; determining a subframe for transmitting a PRS based on the PRS mapping information;

20. The terminal of claim 19, wherein the receiving unit is further configured to stop receiving PRS after the subframe not transmitting PRS determined by the processing unit.