CN113271656B

CN113271656B - Power control of positioning reference signals

Info

Publication number: CN113271656B
Application number: CN202110190044.5A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 陶涛; R·基廷; 朴景敏; 尹大中
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: 2020-02-14
Filing date: 2021-02-18
Publication date: 2022-12-30
Anticipated expiration: 2041-02-18
Also published as: WO2021159498A1; CN113271656A

Abstract

Example embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a solution for controlling the transmit power of a reference signal. In an aspect, a first device receives power control information from a second set of devices related to a terminal device, the power control information for controlling a transmit power of a reference signal to be transmitted by the terminal device to the second set of devices for locating the terminal device. The first device determines at least one set of power control parameters for the terminal device to transmit reference signals to the second set of devices based at least on the received power control information. The first device provides at least one set of power control parameters to the terminal device. Example embodiments of the present disclosure may improve positioning performance for positioning a terminal device based on reference signals.

Description

Power control of positioning reference signals

Technical Field

Example embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to the field of communications, and, in particular, to devices, methods, apparatuses, and computer-readable media for configuring transmit power of reference signals.

Background

A work item is made in the third generation partnership project (3 GPP) for local positioning support in New Radios (NR) during release 16 (Rel-16). As a result of this work, the following positioning solutions are specified for Rel-16 NR positioning, e.g., downlink time difference of arrival (DL-TDOA), uplink time difference of arrival (UL-TDOA), downlink departure angle (DL-AoD), uplink angle of arrival (UL-AoA), and Multi-cell round trip time (Multi-RTT).

In particular, this work will specify solutions to enable Radio Access Technology (RAT) dependent NR positioning technologies (for both frequency range 1 (FR 1) and FR 2) and RAT independent NR positioning technologies. In the Downlink (DL), a new positioning reference signal (DL PRS) is introduced, and in the Uplink (UL), a new Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) for positioning is introduced. In release 17, there will be further work on NR positioning, focusing primarily on the industrial internet of things (IIoT), and improving accuracy and reducing latency for Rel-16 NR positioning.

Disclosure of Invention

In general, example embodiments of the present disclosure provide a solution for controlling the transmit power of a reference signal.

In a first aspect, a first device is provided. The first device includes at least one processor and at least one memory storing 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 power control information from a second set of devices related to the terminal device, the power control information for controlling a transmit power of a reference signal to be transmitted by the terminal device to the second set of devices for locating the terminal device. The at least one memory and the computer program code are also configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the first device at least to determine, based on the received power control information, at least one set of power control parameters for the terminal device to transmit reference signals to the second set of devices. The at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the first device to provide the terminal device with at least one set of power control parameters.

In a second aspect, a second apparatus is provided. The second device includes at least one processor and at least one memory storing 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 power control information to the first device, the power control information for controlling a transmit power of a reference signal to be transmitted by the terminal device to the second device for use in locating the terminal device. The at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the second device to receive, from the terminal device, a reference signal transmitted using a set of power control parameters, the set of power control parameters determined by the first device based on the power control information. The at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the second device to perform at least one positioning measurement based on the received reference signal from the terminal device.

In a third aspect, a method is provided. The method comprises the following steps: power control information is received at the first device from a second set of devices related to the terminal device, the power control information being used to control the transmit power of reference signals to be transmitted by the terminal device to the second set of devices for locating the terminal device. The method further comprises the following steps: at least one set of power control parameters for the terminal device to transmit reference signals to the second set of devices is determined based at least on the received power control information. The method further comprises the following steps: at least one set of power control parameters is provided to the terminal device.

In a fourth aspect, a method is provided. The method comprises the following steps: the method comprises transmitting power control information to the first device at the second device, the power control information being used to control the transmit power of reference signals to be transmitted by the terminal device to the second device for use in locating the terminal device. The method further comprises the following steps: the method further includes receiving, from the terminal device, a reference signal transmitted using a set of power control parameters, the set of power control parameters determined by the first device based on the power control information. The method further comprises the following steps: at least one positioning measurement is performed based on the received reference signal from the terminal device.

In a fifth aspect, an apparatus is provided. The device includes: means for receiving, at a first device, power control information from a second set of devices related to a terminal device, the power control information for controlling a transmit power of a reference signal to be transmitted by the terminal device to the second set of devices for locating the terminal device. The device also includes: means for determining at least one set of power control parameters for the terminal device to transmit reference signals to the second set of devices based at least on the received power control information. The apparatus further comprises: means for providing at least one set of power control parameters to a terminal device.

In a sixth aspect, an apparatus is provided. The device comprises: means for transmitting, at the second device, power control information to the first device, the power control information for controlling a transmit power of a reference signal to be transmitted by the terminal device to the second device for use in locating the terminal device. The device also includes: means for receiving, from a terminal device, a reference signal transmitted using a set of power control parameters, the set of power control parameters determined by a first device based on power control information. The apparatus further comprises: means for performing at least one positioning measurement based on the received reference signal from the terminal device.

In a seventh aspect, there is provided a non-transitory computer readable medium storing program instructions for causing an apparatus to perform at least a method according to the third or fourth aspect.

It will be understood that the summary section is not intended to identify key or essential features of the example 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 readily apparent from the following description.

Drawings

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

FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic diagram of a communication environment in which some example embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented;

fig. 2 illustrates an example communication process between a first device, a second set of devices, and a terminal device, according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

fig. 3 illustrates another example communication process between a first device, a second set of devices, and a terminal device, according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

figure 4 illustrates an example communication process between a first device, a serving device of a terminal device, and a terminal device, in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

fig. 5 illustrates another example communication process between a first device, a serving device of a terminal device, and the terminal device, in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

fig. 6 illustrates yet another example communication process between a first device, a serving device of a terminal device, and the terminal device, in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

fig. 7 illustrates an example of grouping of a second set of devices, in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

fig. 8 illustrates another example of grouping of a second set of devices, in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

fig. 9 illustrates a flow diagram of an example method according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

fig. 10 illustrates a flow diagram of another example method in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 11 illustrates a simplified block diagram of a device suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure; and

fig. 12 illustrates a block diagram of an example computer-readable medium, in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure.

Throughout the drawings, the same or similar reference numbers refer to the same or similar elements.

Detailed Description

The principles of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to a few exemplary embodiments. It is to be understood that these example embodiments are described for illustrative purposes only and to aid those skilled in the art in understanding and enabling the present disclosure, and are not meant to imply any limitations with respect to the scope of the present disclosure. The disclosure 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.

References in the present disclosure to "one embodiment," "an example embodiment," etc., indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but every example embodiment may not necessarily include the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same example embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an example 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 example embodiments whether or not explicitly described.

It will be understood that, although the terms first, 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. 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 items.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular example 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," "having," "includes," "including," and/or "including," when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, elements, components, and/or the like, 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) Hardware-only circuit implementations (such as implementations in only analog circuitry and/or digital circuitry); and

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

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

(ii) Hardware processor(s) with software (including digital signal processor (s)), software, and any portion of memory(s) that work together to cause a device, 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 a portion of microprocessor(s), that require software (e.g., firmware) for operation, but the software may not be present when it is not required for operation.

This definition of "circuitry" applies to all uses of this term in this application, including in any claims. As another example, as used in this application, the term "circuitry" also covers an implementation of merely a hardware circuit or processor (or multiple processors), or an implementation of a hardware circuit or processor and a portion of its (or their) accompanying software and/or firmware. For purposes of example, and if applicable to the particular claim element, the term "circuitry" would also cover 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 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 so forth. Further, communication between terminal devices and network devices 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) communication protocols, and/or any other protocol currently known or to be developed in the future. Example embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied in various communication systems. Given the rapid development of communications, there will of course also be future types of communication technologies and systems with which the present disclosure may be embodied. And should not be construed as limiting the scope of the disclosure to only the above-described systems.

As used herein, the term "network device" refers to a node in a communication network via which a terminal device accesses the network and receives services therefrom. The network device may refer to a Base Station (BS) or an Access Point (AP), e.g. a node B (NodeB or NB), a Radio Access Network (RAN) node, an evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB), an NR NB (also referred to as a gNB), a Remote Radio Unit (RRU), a Radio Head (RH), infrastructure equipment for V2X (vehicle to anything) communication, a transmission/reception point (TRP), a Reception Point (RP), a Remote Radio Head (RRH), a relay, a low power node (such as femto, pico, etc.), depending on the terminology and technology applied.

The term "terminal device" refers to any end device that may be 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), unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), 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 installation devices (LMEs), USB dongles, smart devices, wireless Customer Premises Equipment (CPE), internet of things (loT) 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 an industrial and/or automated processing chain context), consumer electronics, 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 used herein, the terms "resource," "transmission resource," "resource block," "physical resource block," "uplink resource," or "downlink resource" may refer to any resource used to perform communication (e.g., communication between a terminal device and a network device), such as a resource in the time domain, a resource in the frequency domain, a resource in the spatial domain, a resource in the code domain, or any other resource that enables communication, etc. In the following, resources in both the frequency domain and the time domain will be used as examples of transmission resources for describing some example embodiments of the present disclosure. Note that example embodiments of the present disclosure are equally applicable to other resources in other domains.

During Rel-16 operation, SRS enhancements are made to transmit SRS for positioning to neighbor cells. One enhancement is to allow the UE to be configured with the "spatial relationship info" and "pathlossRS" reference RSs from the neighbor cells. However, for the problems listed below, this enhancement is not sufficient and further work needs to be addressed in Rel-17.

A first problem may be misalignment between the power control procedure defined in the standard and the actual operation. In particular, the power control equation is originally intended to be composed of two parts. One part is the target received power P0 and the other part is the path loss compensation of the UE according to the path loss measurement of the UE. When the reception point (TRP/gNb) is aligned with the transmission point (TRP/gNb) of the path loss RS, the UE can properly compensate the path loss, but if the two points are not aligned, the required reception power P0 will not be satisfied at the intended receiver.

In NR positioning, SRS for positioning needs to reach multiple neighbor cells for positioning purposes. However, according to the discussion of 3gpp RAN1 Rel-15 and Rel-16, the UE is severely limited in the number of path loss RSs it can measure, and therefore the number of path loss RSs should be smaller than the number of receivers for positioning SRS transmissions. As a result, misalignment between the transmitter of the path loss RS and the receiver of the positioning SRS is unavoidable.

A second problem may be that the gbb determines the power control parameters. As described above, in NR positioning, SRS (as UL positioning reference signal) may be expected at neighbor cells for positioning purposes, and the UE cannot always compensate for path loss. As an alternative solution, the gNb may adjust for such misalignment by the configuration of the P0 specific SRS resource set, as shown in the power control equation. With this approach, for example, when SRSs received at certain reception points continuously show 3dB less power than required, then the gNb may configure a higher value of 3dB for P0 for sets of SRS resources configured for transmission towards those reception points.

In this approach, it is apparent that the SRS transmit power will be better adjusted according to the neighbor cell's expectations when the SRS is transmitted towards the neighbor cell. However, in the current standard, the power control parameters for SRS are configured by the serving gNB via RRC signaling. Without any knowledge of the SRS's target gbb/TRP, the serving gbb cannot assign the appropriate power control parameters. Any UL transmit power adjustment may result in insufficient coverage (inability to reach the target cell) or excessive interference.

A third problem may be that the power control parameters are common to the set of SRS resources. In NR, power control parameters (including P0, α, path loss RS) may be configured per SRS resource set. Currently, rel-16 NR positioning allows "spatialRelationInfo" to be configured per SRS resource. Thus, within one set of SRS resources, the UE may scan across beams for multiple cells. However, controlling power to multiple neighbor cells in different SRS resources is not allowed because the power control parameters are common per set of SRS resources.

Currently, there is no feasible solution that directly addresses the above-mentioned problems. One potential approach to address the third problem may be that the serving gNB may configure a set of SRS resources for each cell that the UE is targeting for SRS for positioning. Thus, multiple sets of SRS resources may be used for SRS transmissions towards multiple cells. However, the number of sets of SRS resources supported depends on the UE capabilities. Thus, even though the maximum number defined in the 3GPP specifications is 16, a given UE may even support only one set of resources for positioning. In this case, the UE has no way to control the power to the neighbor cells. Further, more UE capability values between 1 and 16 may still be agreed upon during UE feature discussion. Therefore, a maximum number of multiple UE capability values for a set of SRS resources used for positioning may not be sufficient to solve the above problem. Furthermore, with this potential approach, the first and second problems mentioned above remain.

In view of the above-mentioned problems and other potential problems in the conventional solutions, example embodiments of the present disclosure provide a solution for controlling the transmission power of reference signals in order to solve the above-mentioned problems of power control towards neighbor cells for NR positioning, thereby improving the positioning performance of positioning a terminal device based on reference signals. In some example embodiments, a centralized UL power control for UL positioning signaling transmissions to multiple cells (or gnbs, TPRs, etc.) is presented.

An advantage of example embodiments of the present disclosure is to allow the transmit power of a reference signal (such as SRS) for positioning on a set of resources to be controlled taking into account neighbor cell/TRP reception. Without the signaling proposed in the example embodiments of the present disclosure to allow a location server (such as a location management function, LMF) to make an informed decision regarding transmit power control, the UE will not be able to accurately control its transmit power to the neighbor cells. A significant benefit may be that more neighbor cells are able to hear reference signals (e.g., SRS) for positioning, thus making more measurements and improving the achievable positioning accuracy. The principles and implementations of example embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

Fig. 1 illustrates a schematic diagram of a communication environment 100 in which some example embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented. As shown in fig. 1, a communication environment (also referred to as a communication network) 100 includes a first device 110, which first device 110 may be used to determine and manage a location of a terminal device, such as terminal device 130. For example, to determine the location of the terminal device 130, the first device 110 may communicate with the second set of devices 120 related to the terminal device 130. In particular, first device 110 may communicate with second device 120-1 via communication link 115, with second device 120-2 via communication link 125, and with second device 120-3 via communication link 135.

In some example embodiments, the first device 110 may be a location server for determining or managing the location of the device. For example, the first device 110 may be a Location Management Function (LMF) in a core network. Alternatively, the first device 110 may be at a network device of the access network. For example, the first device 110 may be a component of one or more second devices in the second set of devices 120. In some example embodiments, the second set of devices 120 may include a plurality of network devices, where the second device 120-1 may be a serving device for the terminal device 130, and the terminal device 130 is located in the cell 122 of the second device 120-1.

In particular, end device 130 may communicate with second device 120-1 via communication link 145. For transmissions from second device 120-1 to terminal device 130, communication link 145 may be referred to as a downlink channel, while for transmissions from terminal device 130 to second device 120-1, communication link 145 may alternatively be referred to as an uplink channel. For a terminal device 130 served by the second device 120-1, other second devices including the second devices 120-2, 120-3, etc. may be referred to as non-serving devices of the terminal device 130.

In communication with the terminal device 130, the second device 120-1 (e.g., the gNB) may transmit downlink Reference Signals (RSs) such as Positioning Reference Signals (PRS), demodulation reference signals (DM-RS), channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS), phase tracking reference signals (PT-RS), fine time and frequency Tracking Reference Signals (TRS), and so on. A terminal device 130 (e.g., user equipment) in the communication network 100 can receive the downlink RS on the allocated resources.

In addition, the terminal device 130 may also transmit uplink RSs (such as DM-RSs, PT-RSs, SRSs) to the second device 120-1 on the corresponding allocated resources. To indicate the allocated resources and/or other necessary information for the RS, the second device 120-1 may transmit the RS configuration to the terminal device 130 prior to transmission of the RS. In some example embodiments, uplink reference signals transmitted by terminal device 130 (e.g., reference signals for positioning) may also be received by non-serving devices of terminal device 130 (e.g., second devices 120-2 and 120-3). In other words, the terminal device 130 may also transmit the reference signal to the second device 120-2 via the communication link 155 and to the second device 120-3 via the communication link 165.

As used herein, a Reference Signal (RS) is a signal sequence (also referred to as an "RS sequence") known to both the second device 120-1 (or other second device) and the terminal device 130. For example, the RS sequence may be generated and transmitted by the second device 120-1 (or other second device) based on some rule, and the terminal device 130 may infer the RS sequence based on the same rule. In the transmission of the downlink RS and the uplink RS, the second device 120-1 may allocate corresponding resources (also referred to as "RS resources") for transmission and/or specify which RS sequence is to be transmitted.

Among these various reference signals, some reference signals (e.g., PRS in downlink and SRS in uplink) may be used to locate terminal device 130. In particular, the terminal device 130 may transmit reference signals for positioning to the second set of devices 120, the second set of devices 120 including the serving device 120-1 and the non-serving devices 120-2, 120-3, etc. Thus, the second set of devices 120 may receive reference signals for positioning from the terminal device 130 and then perform positioning measurements on the terminal device 130 based on the received reference signals. For example, the second set of devices 120 may measure distances between the terminal device 130 and the second set of devices 120, or any other suitable positioning parameter that may be used to locate the terminal device 130. Thereafter, the second set of devices 120 may transmit measurements of the positioning measurements to the first device 110, and the first device 110 may determine the location of the terminal device 130 based on the measurements.

In some example embodiments, the reference signal used to locate the terminal device 130 may be an uplink reference signal, such as a sounding reference signal. Alternatively or additionally, the reference signal used to locate the terminal device 130 may be a downlink reference signal, such as a positioning reference signal. More generally, it should be understood that example embodiments of the present disclosure cover the case where all possible existing or future reference signals (such as CSI-RS in DL, DM-RS in UL, etc.) are used for locating terminal device 130.

Although the first device 110, the second set of devices 120, and the terminal device 130 are described in the communication environment 100 of fig. 1, example embodiments of the present disclosure may be equally applicable to any other suitable communication devices that communicate with one another. That is, example embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited to the example scenario of fig. 1. In this regard, it is noted that although the second set of devices 120 and the terminal device 130 are schematically depicted in fig. 1 as base stations and mobile phones, it is understood that this depiction is for example only and does not imply any limitation. In other example embodiments, the first device 110, the second set of devices 120, and the terminal device 130 may be any other communication device, for example, a wireless communication device.

It will be understood that the number of communication devices, the number of communication links, and the number of other elements as shown in fig. 1 are for illustrative purposes only and do not imply any limitations. Communication environment 100 may include any suitable number of communication devices, any suitable number of communication links, and any suitable number of other elements adapted to implement example embodiments of the present disclosure. In addition, it will be appreciated that various wireless as well as wired communications may exist between all of the communication devices, if desired.

Communications in communication environment 100 may be implemented in accordance with any appropriate communication protocol(s), including, but not limited to, first-generation (1G), second-generation (2G), third-generation (3G), fourth-generation (4G), and 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 protocol currently known or developed in the future. Further, the communication may utilize any appropriate 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 spectrum OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM), and/or any other technique that is currently known or that will be developed in the future.

Referring now to fig. 2, fig. 2 illustrates an example communication process 200 between the first device 110, the second set of devices 120, and the terminal device 130, according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For purposes of discussion, the communication process 200 will be described with reference to fig. 1. However, it will be appreciated that the communication process 200 may be equally applicable to other communication scenarios in which multiple devices communicate with one another.

As shown in fig. 2, the second set of devices 120 may transmit power control information to the first device 110. For example, the second set of devices 120 may include network devices that may participate in locating the terminal device 130 based on the reference signal 260, which reference signal 260 will be transmitted 255 by the terminal device 130 to the second set of devices 120. Accordingly, the power control information may be determined by the respective second device of the second set of devices 120 and may be intended for controlling the transmit power of the reference signal 260.

In some example embodiments, the power control information may be transmitted to the first device 110 via the NR positioning protocol a (NRPPa) defined in the 3GPP specifications. However, it will be appreciated that in other example embodiments, the power control information may be transmitted using any other existing or future protocol. In some example embodiments, the second set of devices 120 may transmit power control information to the first device 110 in response to a request for power control information from the first device 110. In other words, the first device 110 may transmit a request to the second set of devices 120 for power control information for the second set of devices 120. Upon receiving a request from the first device 110, the second set of devices 120 may transmit power control information to the first device 110.

More specifically, as a serving device for terminal device 130, second device 120-1 may transmit 210 power control information 215 to first device 110 via communication link 115. The power control information 215 may be intended for controlling the transmit power of the reference signal 260 to be transmitted 255 by the terminal device 130 to the second device 120-1. In a similar manner, the second device 120-2, as a non-serving device of the terminal device 130, may transmit 220 the power control information 225 to the first device 110 via the communication link 125. The power control information 225 may be intended for controlling the transmit power of the reference signal 260 to be transmitted 255 by the terminal device 130 to the second device 120-2. Although not shown, other non-serving devices of terminal device 130 (e.g., second device 120-3, etc.) may also transmit power control information to first device 110, which may be intended for controlling the transmit power of reference signal 260 to be transmitted 255 by terminal device 130 to the corresponding second device.

In some example embodiments, the

power control information

215, 225, etc. may include received power of the reference signal 260 expected by the respective second device of the second set of devices 120, e.g., expected received power of the reference signal 260 at the gNB/TRP/RP, i.e., parameter p0 defined in the 3GPP specification. In particular, the power control information 215 may include a received power of the reference signal 260 expected by the second device 120-1, the power control information 225 may include a received power of the reference signal 260 expected by the second device 120-2, and so on.

There may be various ways for the second device 120-1 (or other second device) to determine the expected received power of the reference signal 260. As an example, the second device 120-1 (or other second device) may determine the expected received power as the cell normalized power for data reception. For example, the transmit power of a plurality of terminal devices in a cell may be normalized to obtain a cell normalized power. As another example, the expected received power of the reference signal 260 may refer to a power sufficient for the reference signal 260 to be detectable by the second device 120-1 (or other second device). In other words, the reference signal 260 is strong enough so that the second device 120-1 (or other second device) can perform positioning measurements based on the received reference signal 260. For example, the expected received power may be the minimum power at which SRS transmissions from the UE can be detected or measured by the gNB.

As a further example, the expected received power of the reference signal 260 may correspond to a power of the reference signal 260 sufficient for achieving a predefined positioning measurement quality using the reference signal 260. For example, the expected received power may be the minimum power to achieve a predefined positioning measurement accuracy (e.g., in a received time of arrival, RTOA, measurement). With these various types of expected received power, the second device 120-1 (or other second device) may achieve a greater degree of flexibility in the measurement accuracy of the positioning measurements for the reference signal 260.

In addition to or in lieu of the expected received power, the

power control information

215, 225, etc. may include other parameters related to the transmit power control of the reference signal 260. For example, these other parameters may include, but are not limited to: an offset from an expected received power of the reference signal 260, a fractional power control factor (i.e., parameter α defined in the 3GPP specifications) associated with the second device 120-1 (or other second device), information about a path loss reference signal (i.e., pathlossReferenceRS) to be transmitted by the second device 120-1 (or other second device) for determining a path loss between the second device 120-1 (or other second device) and the terminal device 130, or information about a beam of the second device 120-1 (or other second device) to be used during reception of the reference signal 260.

With these various types of power control information associated with the second set of devices 120 for controlling the transmit power of the reference signal 260, the first device 110 may be aware of various requirements or expectations of the second set of devices 120 for the transmit power of the reference signal 260 and may therefore determine more appropriate power control parameters for the terminal device 130 to transmit the reference signal 260 in order to achieve more comprehensive control over the transmission of the reference signal 260, thereby improving the positioning performance of the terminal device 130 based on the reference signal 260.

With continued reference to fig. 2, the first device 110 receives 230

power control information

215, 225, etc. from the second set of devices 120 related to the terminal device 130. For example, the first device 110 may collect such power control information from a second device that may participate in a location service for the terminal device 130. Then, based at least on the received

power control information

215, 225, etc., the first device 110 may determine 235 at least one set of power control parameters 245 for the terminal device 130 to transmit reference signals 260 to the second set of devices 120. In other words, the first device 110 may determine the one or more sets of power control parameters 245 available to the terminal device 130 based on the requirements or expectations of the second set of devices 120.

As an example embodiment, the first device 110 may also consider the spatial direction of the receive beam to be used by the second set of devices 120 when determining the at least one set of power control parameters 245. For example, if multiple second devices are to receive the reference signal 260 using receive beams having similar spatial directions, the first device 110 may determine a set of power control parameters for the multiple second devices such that the terminal device 130 may transmit the reference signal 260 using transmit beams corresponding to receive beams having similar spatial directions. As another example, the first device 110 may determine a plurality of groups of second devices from the second set of devices 120, and the second devices in each of the plurality of groups are located in a cell having a predefined size. The first device 110 may then consider the respective spatial directions of the receive beams for each group of second devices when determining the set of power control parameters for that group. Such an example will be further described with reference to fig. 6 and 8.

In some example embodiments, the at least one set of power control parameters 245 may include a received power of the reference signal 260 expected by the second set of devices 120. In other words, the expected received power of the reference signal 260 determined by the first device 110 may be the expected received power to be used by the terminal device 130 to determine the actual transmit power of the reference signal 260 and is common to all second devices 120.

In addition to the expected received power (P0), the at least one set of power control parameters 245 may include an offset from the expected received power of the reference signal 260, a fractional power control factor (i.e., alpha defined in the 3GPP specifications) used to transmit the reference signal 260, or a configuration of a path loss reference signal (i.e., pathlossfrereferencers) to be transmitted by the second set of devices 120.

Additionally or alternatively, the at least one set of power control parameters 245 may contain other parameters in the transmit power equation for the reference signal as specified in existing or future specifications. With these various power control parameters, the first device 110 may control the transmit power of the reference signal 260 of the terminal device 130 in a more efficient, effective, and flexible manner.

In some example embodiments, in determining 235 at least one set of power control parameters 245, the first device 110 may determine 235 one set of power control parameters 245 for all second devices in the second set of devices 120. Alternatively, the first device 110 may select a portion of the second set of devices 120 to perform the positioning of the terminal device 130 and then determine one set of power control parameters 245 for the selected second device. In this way, the computational, storage, or communication resource overhead of the first device 110 for locating the terminal device 130 may be reduced.

In particular, depending on e.g. positioning performance requirements, the first device 110 may first determine a subset of the second set of devices 120 to perform positioning of the terminal device 130 and to provide positioning measurements. The first device 110 may then determine one set of power control parameters 245 for the subset of second devices such that the reference signal 260 transmitted by the terminal device 130 is detectable by the subset of second devices. For example, the first device 110 may determine appropriate power control parameters 245 to ensure that the reference signal 260 transmitted from the terminal device 130 may be detected by a sufficient number of second devices in the second set of devices 120.

In some other example embodiments, instead of determining 235 one set of power control parameters 245 for some or all of the second set of devices 120, the first device 110 may determine 235 multiple sets of power control parameters 245 available for the terminal device 130 to transmit the reference signal 260. These example embodiments will be described in detail below with reference to fig. 4 and 5.

With continued reference to fig. 2, after determining 235 at least one set of power control parameters 245, the first device 110 may provide 240 the at least one set of power control parameters 245 to the terminal device 130 for transmitting the reference signal 260. There are various possible ways to provide at least one set 245 of power control parameters from the first device 110 to the terminal device 130. For example, if a direct communication link exists between the first device 110 and the terminal device 130, the first device 110 may transmit the at least one set of power control parameters 245 directly to the terminal device 130.

In other example embodiments, the first device 110 may transmit the at least one set of power control parameters 245 to the terminal device 130 through the serving device 120-1 of the terminal device 130 (e.g., via NRPPa). In this way, the direct communication link between the first device 110 and the terminal device 130 may be omitted, thereby saving communication resources and avoiding potential interference due to direct communication between the first device 110 and the terminal device 130. Such an example embodiment will be described in detail below with reference to fig. 3.

After receiving 250 (e.g., by the second device 120-1) the at least one set of power control parameters 245 provided by the first device 110, the terminal device 130 may transmit 255 a reference signal 260 to the second set of devices 120 using the at least one set of power control parameters 245. For example, the terminal device 130 may transmit 255 the reference signal 260 to the second set of devices 120 using the at least one set of power control parameters 245.

In particular, the terminal device 130 may transmit 255 the reference signal 260 to the second device 120-1 via the communication link 145, 255 the reference signal 260 to the second device 120-2 via the

communication link

155, 255 the reference signal 260 to the second device 120-3 via the communication link 165, and so on, using the at least one set of power control parameters 245. Because the at least one set 245 of power control parameters of the reference signal 260 is determined based on the requirements or expectations of the second set 120 of devices, the respective second device of the second set 120 of devices may successfully and correctly receive the reference signal 260 from the terminal device 130.

Accordingly, the second set of devices 120 can each receive reference signals 260 transmitted using the set of power control parameters 245 from the terminal devices 130. For example, second device 120-1 may receive 265 reference signal 260 from terminal device 130 via communication link 145, second device 120-2 may receive 270 reference signal 260 from terminal device 130 via communication link 155, and second device 120-3 may receive reference signal 260 from terminal device 130 via communication link 165, and so on.

After receiving the reference signals 260, the second set of devices 120 may perform positioning measurements on the reference signals 260, respectively. For example, the second set of devices 120 may calculate distances between the terminal device 130 and the second set of devices 120, respectively. In some other example embodiments, the positioning measurements may include measuring any existing or future positioning parameters that may be used to position the terminal device.

In particular, the second device 120-1 may perform 275 at least one positioning measurement based on the received reference signal 260 from the terminal device 130. In a similar manner, the second device 120-2 may perform 280 at least one positioning measurement based on the received reference signal 260 from the terminal device 130. Although not shown in fig. 2, other non-serving devices of terminal device 130 (e.g., second device 120-3, etc.) may also perform at least one positioning measurement on reference signal 260.

In some example embodiments, after performing the positioning measurements, the second device set 120 may transmit the measurement results of the positioning measurements to the first device 110, respectively. For example, second device 120-1 may transmit its measurements to first device 110 via communication link 115, second device 120-2 may transmit its measurements to first device 110 via communication link 125, and second device 120-3 may transmit its measurements to first device 110 via communication link 135, and so on. Based on the measurement results from the second set of devices 120, the first device 110 may determine the location of the terminal device 130.

Various technical advantages may be realized through communication process 200. For example, in contrast to conventional solutions, power control of reference signals (e.g., SRS) for positioning towards neighbor cells may be made possible. As indicated above, conventional solutions do not fully allow for power control of reference signals towards neighbor cells. In addition, the positioning accuracy based on the reference signal can be improved. In particular, by allowing more second devices (such as the gNB) to receive reference signals (such as SRS) for positioning, overall positioning performance may be enhanced. Furthermore, network flexibility or control of interference due to reference signal transmission may also be improved. For example, by allowing a first device (such as an LMF) to obtain power control information for many cells, the network may make informed decisions about the level of interference that may be generated.

As noted in describing the providing operation 240 of the communication process 200, in some example embodiments, the first device 110 may transmit at least one set of power control parameters 245 to the terminal device 130 through the serving device 120-1 of the terminal device 130. Such an example embodiment will now be described in detail with reference to fig. 3.

Fig. 3 illustrates another example communication process 300 between the first device 110, the second set of devices 120, and the terminal device 130, according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For purposes of discussion, the communication process 300 will be described with reference to fig. 1. However, it will be appreciated that the communication process 300 may be equally applicable to other communication scenarios in which multiple devices communicate with one another.

Referring to both fig. 2 and fig. 3, to provide 240 at least one set of power control parameters 245 to terminal device 130, first device 110 may transmit 310 at least one set of power control parameters 245 to second device 120-1, second device 120-1 being a serving device for terminal device 130. Accordingly, the second device 120-1 may receive 320 at least one set of power control parameters 245 from the first device 110. The second device 120-1 may then transmit 330 the at least one set of power control parameters 245 to the terminal device 130.

In this way, the at least one set of power control parameters 245 is provided to the terminal device 130 by the serving device 120-1 of the terminal device 130, thereby saving potential communication resources for direct communication between the first device 110 and the terminal device 130 and avoiding potential interference due to the direct communication. After receiving 340 the at least one set of power control parameters 245 from the second device 120-1, the terminal device 130 may transmit 255 a reference signal 260 to the second set of devices 120 using the at least one set of power control parameters 245.

In some example embodiments, prior to transmitting 330 the at least one set of power control parameters 245 to the terminal device 130, the second device 120-1 may estimate the interference that would be caused by the transmission of the reference signal 260 using the set of power control parameters 245. If the second device 120-1 determines that the estimated interference exceeds the predefined threshold, the second device 120-1 may adjust 350 the at least one set of power control parameters 245 prior to transmitting 330 the at least one power control parameter 245 in order to reduce potential interference due to the transmission of the reference signal 260.

More specifically, if the terminal device 130 is requested by the first device 110 to transmit to a neighbor cell (e.g., a non-serving device) with a large transmit power, and if the serving device 120-1 knows that the additional interference is too high, the serving device 120-1 may adjust the power control parameters 245 provided by the first device 110 accordingly. In this case, the transmission of these power control parameters 245 may be in the form of a request from the first device 110 to the second device 120-1.

In some example embodiments, after receiving 320 the at least one set of power control parameters 245 from the first device 110, the second device 120-1 may update 360 a measurement configuration for performing 275 at least one positioning measurement based on the at least one set of power control parameters 245, because the power control parameters 245 determined by the first device 110 may be different from the initial intended power control information 215 determined by the second device 120-1. In this manner, the positioning measurements to be performed 275 by the second device 120-1 on the reference signal 260 may be optimized.

In some example embodiments, the first device 110 may also transmit at least one set of power control parameters 245 to the non-serving devices of the terminal device 130, such that the non-serving devices may update their respective measurement configurations for performing positioning measurements on the reference signal 260 transmitted by the terminal device 130 based on the at least one set of power control parameters 245. For example, the first device 110 may transmit 370 at least one set of power control parameters 245 to the second device 120-2.

Accordingly, the second device 120-2 may receive 380 at least one set of power control parameters 245 from the first device 110. Then, similar to the update 360 performed by the second device 120-1, the second device 120-2 may update 390 the measurement configuration for performing 280 at least one positioning measurement based on the set of power control parameters 245. Because the power control parameters 245 determined by the first device 110 may be different from the initial intended power control information 225 determined by the second device 120-2, the positioning measurements to be performed 280 by the second device 120-2 on the reference signal 260 may be optimized by updating 390.

As mentioned in describing the determining operation 235 of the communication process 200, in some example embodiments, the first device 110 may determine 235 a plurality of sets of power control parameters 245 available to the terminal device 130 for transmitting the reference signal 260 and may transmit the plurality of sets of power control parameters 245 to the serving device 120-1. In this case, the second device 120-1 may have various options to configure the transmission of the reference signal 260 by the terminal device 130. These example embodiments will now be described in detail with reference to fig. 4 and 5.

Fig. 4 illustrates an example communication process 400 between the first device 110, the serving device 120-1 of the terminal device 130, and the terminal device 130, according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For purposes of discussion, the communication process 400 will be described with reference to fig. 1. However, it will be appreciated that the communication process 400 may be equally applicable to other communication scenarios in which three devices communicate with each other.

Referring to both fig. 3 and 4, in transmitting 310 at least one set of power control parameters 245 to the second device 120-1, the first device 110 may transmit 410 multiple sets of power control parameters 405 to the second device 120-1. In other words, the first device 110 determines that multiple sets of power control parameters 405 are available for the terminal device 130 to transmit the reference signals 260 to the second set of devices 120 and sends them to the serving device 120-1 for provision to the terminal device 130. In some example embodiments, the plurality of sets of power control parameters 405 may be determined based on grouping the second set of devices 120 into a plurality of groups. Such example embodiments will be described in further detail with reference to fig. 6 to 8.

With continued reference to fig. 4, the second device 120-1 may receive 420 the plurality of sets of power control parameters 405 from the first device 110. The second device 120-1 may then select 430 a target set of power control parameters 415 from the plurality of sets of power control parameters 405 as the set of power control parameters used by the terminal device 130 to transmit the reference signal 260. For example, the second device 120-1 may select 430 a target set of power control parameters 415 corresponding to a maximum transmit power value for the reference signal 260 to ensure that the non-serving device having the greatest distance from the terminal device may receive the reference signal 260.

As another example, the selection of the target set of power control parameters 415 by the second device 120-1 may be based on estimated interference to neighbor cells (e.g., cells of non-serving devices) and its own cell 122 due to the transmission of the reference signal 260 using the multiple sets of power control parameters 405, respectively. By selecting only one set 415 of power control parameters, the second device 120-1 may simplify the configuration of the terminal device 130 to transmit the reference signal 260 and reduce potential interference.

Thereafter, the second device 120-1 may transmit 440 the target set of power control parameters 415 to the terminal device 130. Referring to both fig. 2 and 4, after receiving 450 the target set of power control parameters 415 from the serving device 120-1, the terminal device 130 may transmit 255 a reference signal 260 to the second set of devices 120 using the target set of power control parameters 415.

Fig. 5 illustrates another example communication process 500 between the first device 110, the serving device 120-1 of the terminal device 130, and the terminal device 130, according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For purposes of discussion, the communication process 500 will be described with reference to fig. 1. However, it will be appreciated that the communication process 500 may be equally applicable to other communication scenarios in which three devices communicate with each other.

As shown in fig. 5, similar to the communication process 400, the first device 110 may transmit 410 a plurality of sets of power control parameters 405 to the second device 120-1. In other words, the first device 110 determines that multiple sets of power control parameters 405 are available for the terminal device 130 to transmit the reference signals 260 to the second set of devices 120 and sends them to the serving device 120-1 for provision to the terminal device 130. Accordingly, the second device 120-1 receives 420 the plurality of sets of power control parameters 405 from the first device 110.

Unlike the communication process 400, the second device 120-1 may then determine 510 respective sets of resources associated with the plurality of sets of power control parameters 405. In other words, for each set of power control parameters, the second device 120-1 may determine a corresponding set of resources to be used by the terminal device 130 to transmit the reference signal 260. In this way, second devices of the second set of devices 120 having different requirements or expectations for the transmit power of the reference signal 260 may receive the reference signal 260 transmitted using different sets of power control parameters in the respective sets of resources, thereby improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the reference signal 260 for positioning of the terminal device 130.

As an example, the serving device 120-1 may configure the reference signals 260 in the first set of resources for a first subset of the second set of devices 120. Then, the first set of power control parameters (notified from the first device 110) may be further configured for the first set of resources. Similarly, the serving device 120-1 may configure the reference signals 260 in a second set of resources for a second subset of the second set of devices 120. Then, a second set of power control parameters (notified from the first device 110) may be configured for the second set of resources.

In other words, the second device 120-1 may configure the terminal device 130 to transmit the reference signal 260 using the multiple sets of power control parameters 405 and the respective sets of resources. For example, the second device 120-1 may transmit 520 the configuration information 505 to the terminal device 130. The configuration information 505 may indicate the plurality of sets of power control parameters 405 and the corresponding sets of resources. Referring to both fig. 2 and 5, after receiving 530 the configuration information 505 from the serving device 120-1, the terminal device 130 may transmit 255 a reference signal 260 to the second set of devices 120 using the plurality of sets of power control parameters 405 and the respective sets of resources.

As mentioned above in describing fig. 4, in some example embodiments, when determining 235 the plurality of power control parameters 405, the first device 110 may group (i.e., divide) the second set of devices 120 into different groups of second devices. The first device 110 may then determine a set of power control parameters for each group of second devices. In this manner, power control parameters may be determined for a second group of devices having similar characteristics, thereby enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of the reference signal 260 for positioning of the terminal device 130. These example embodiments will now be described in detail with reference to fig. 6 to 8.

Fig. 6 illustrates another example communication process 600 between the first device 110, the serving device 120-1 of the terminal device 130, and the terminal device 130, according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For purposes of discussion, the communication process 600 will be described with reference to fig. 1. However, it will be appreciated that the communication process 600 may be equally applicable to other communication scenarios in which three devices communicate with each other.

Referring to both fig. 2 and fig. 6, to determine 235 at least one set of power control parameters 245, the first device 110 may first divide 610 the second set of devices 120 into a plurality of groups. It will be appreciated that the first device 110 may divide the second set of devices 120 into groups based on any suitable factors or characteristics of the second set of devices 120, e.g., depending on specific design requirements or technical environment for positioning of the terminal devices 130.

Alternatively, the second set of devices 120 may be divided into a plurality of groups based on their geographic locations. For example, the first device 110 may determine a plurality of groups of second devices based on distances between the serving device 120-1 and other second devices (e.g., second devices 120-2, 120-3, etc.) in the second set of devices 120. That is, the second devices in each of the plurality of groups may have substantially the same distance from the serving device 120-1. In other words, the distance from the second device in each of the plurality of groups to serving device 120-1 may be within a predefined range of distances. In this manner, the transmit power of the reference signal 260 may be configured to be substantially the same for second devices in the same group, thereby improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the reference signal 260 for positioning of the terminal device 130. Specific examples will be described in further detail below with reference to fig. 7.

Fig. 7 illustrates an example 700 of grouping of the second set of devices 120 according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 7, it is assumed that there are twelve (12) second devices participating in the positioning of the terminal device 130. These second devices include the second device 120-1, which is a serving device of the terminal device 130, and the second devices 720-1 to 720-11, which are non-serving devices of the terminal device 130. In the example scenario of FIG. 7, a first circle 705 and a second circle 715 are depicted, both centered on the service device 120-1. It will be understood that the number of second devices, the number of circles, and the size of the circles as shown in fig. 7 are for illustrative purposes only, and do not imply any limitation. Example embodiments of the present disclosure may be equally applicable to any suitable number of second devices, any suitable number of circles, and any suitable size of circle. Additionally, it should be noted that FIG. 7 is not drawn to scale.

As can be seen from fig. 7, the second devices 720-1 through 720-5 are positioned substantially along the first circle 705 and thus have approximately the same first distance 725 from the serving device 120-1. Similarly, the second devices 720-6 through 720-11 are located substantially along the second circle 715 and thus have approximately the same second distance 735 from the serving device 120-1. In the example of fig. 7, the second distance 735 is greater than the first distance 725. In this case, the first device 110 may determine the second devices 720-1 to 720-5 as a first group of second devices and determine the second devices 720-6 to 720-11 as a second group of second devices.

In particular, the first device 110 may assign suitable power control parameters such that the transmit power for the reference signals 260 of the second group is higher than the transmit power for the reference signals 260 of the first group. In some example embodiments, different sets of power control parameters may be configured for the first and second groups of second devices and are simultaneously associated with different sets of resources for transmitting reference signals 260. For example, the terminal device 130 may be configured to transmit a reference signal 260 to a first set of second devices using a first set of resources and a first set of power control parameters, to transmit a reference signal 260 to a second set of second devices using a second set of resources and a second set of power control parameters, and so on.

As another example of grouping based on the geographic location of the second set of devices 120, the first device 110 may determine multiple groups of second devices such that the second devices in each of the multiple groups are located in an area having a predefined size. For example, the first device 110 may assign the second devices 120 located in the cell area as one group. In this way, both the transmit power and the transmit beam of the reference signal 260 may be configured to be substantially the same for second devices in the same group, thereby improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the reference signal 260 for positioning of the terminal device 130. Specific examples will be described in further detail below with reference to fig. 8.

Fig. 8 illustrates another example 800 of grouping of the second set of devices 120 in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 8, it is assumed that there are twelve (12) second devices participating in the positioning of the terminal device 130. These second devices include the second device 120-1, which is a serving device of the terminal device 130, and the second devices 820-1 to 820-11, which are non-serving devices of the terminal device 130.

In the example scenario of fig. 8, a first area 805, a second area 815, a third area 825, and a fourth area 835 are depicted. In some example embodiments, the four regions may have substantially the same predefined size. In some other example embodiments, the four regions may have respective predefined sizes. In some further example embodiments, some of the four regions may have substantially the same predefined size. It will be understood that the number of second devices, the number of regions, and the size of the regions as shown in fig. 8 are for illustrative purposes only and do not imply any limitation. Example embodiments of the present disclosure may be equally applicable to any suitable number of second devices, any suitable number of regions, and any suitable size of regions. Additionally, it should be noted that FIG. 8 is not drawn to scale.

As can be seen from fig. 8, the second devices 820-1 to 820-3 are located in the first area 805, the second devices 820-4 to 820-6 are located in the second area 815, the second devices 820-7 to 820-9 are located in the third area 825, and the second devices 820-10 and 820-11 are located in the fourth area 835. In this case, the first device 110 may determine the second devices 820-1 to 820-3 as a first group of second devices, determine the second devices 820-4 to 820-6 as a second group of second devices, determine the second devices 820-7 to 820-9 as a third group of second devices, and determine the second devices 820-10 and 820-11 as fourth groups of second devices.

In such a grouping scenario, each group of second devices may experience similar path loss (from terminal device 130 to the second device). Thus, the first device 110 may assign a common path loss reference signal for one group accordingly. Such a grouping scenario may further be used when the terminal device 130 beamforms its transmission of the reference signal 260 and thus a spatially similar second device may receive the same transmission of the reference signal 260. For example, as mentioned in describing the determining operation 235 of fig. 2, if the second devices participating in the positioning of the terminal device 130 are divided into a plurality of groups in the manner shown in fig. 8, the first device 110 may consider the respective spatial directions of the receive beams for each group of second devices when determining the respective sets of power control parameters for each group of second devices.

In particular, for the example of fig. 8, first device 110 may consider a first spatial direction of a receive beam directed from terminal device 130 to first region 805 in determining a first set of power control parameters for a first set of second devices 820-1 through 802-3, first device 110 may consider a second spatial direction of a receive beam directed from terminal device 130 to second region 815 in determining a second set of power control parameters for a second set of second devices 820-4 through 802-6, first device 110 may consider a third spatial direction of a receive beam directed from terminal device 130 to third region 825 in determining a third set of power control parameters for a third set of second devices 820-7 through 802-9, and first device 110 may consider a fourth spatial direction of a receive beam directed from terminal device 130 to fourth region 835 in determining a fourth set of power control parameters for fourth sets of second devices 820-10 and 802-11.

In addition to or instead of the geographic location based grouping, the first device 110 may determine the plurality of groups based on received powers at the terminal devices 130 associated with reference signals transmitted by the second set of devices 120. In this manner, the transmit power of the reference signal 260 may be configured to be substantially the same for the second devices in the same group, thereby improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the reference signal 260 for positioning of the terminal device 130. As an example, for the case of multi-cell RTT positioning, first device 110 may assign second devices with similar Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) values (e.g., measured based on DL PRS) at terminal device 130 to the same group. In particular, in case of periodic RTT measurements, the configuration of the set of resources for transmitting reference signals 260 may be updated accordingly.

Additionally or alternatively, the first device 110 may determine the plurality of groups based on mobility measurement reports of the terminal device 130. For example, the first device 110 may use previous mobility measurement reports (such as based on TRS), which may include RSRP, reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ), and other measurement results, to help determine the groups of second devices.

Referring back to fig. 6, after dividing 610 the second set of devices 120 into a plurality of groups, the first device 110 may determine 620 a plurality of sets of power control parameters for the plurality of groups, respectively. For example, if the second set of devices 120 is divided based on the distances between the serving device 120-1 and the other second devices, the first device 110 may determine 620 multiple sets of power control parameters such that different transmit power values of the reference signal 260 are used for different groups.

If the second set of devices 120 is divided such that the second devices in each of the plurality of groups are located in an area having a predefined size, the first device 110 may determine 620 the plurality of sets of power control parameters such that a common transmit beam of the common path loss reference signal and the reference signal 260 is used for each of the different groups. Similarly, if the second set of devices 120 is divided based on the received power at the terminal device 130 associated with reference signals transmitted by the second set of devices 120, the first device 110 may determine 620 multiple sets of power control parameters such that a common RSRP value is used for each of the different groups.

First device 110 may then transmit 630 information 605 to serving device 120-1. The information 605 may be related to a grouping of the second set of devices 120. For example, the information 605 may indicate how the second set of devices 120 are grouped into a plurality of groups. Additionally, the first device 110 may also transmit 650 to the serving device 120-1 respective sets of power control parameters 615 for the multiple sets of second devices. In other words, the first device 110 may not only inform the second device 120-1 of the grouping of the second set of devices 120, but may also indicate the corresponding set of power control parameters 615 to the second device 120-1.

In some example embodiments, a respective set of power control parameters 615 may instead be included in information 605. In other words, the packet related information 605 may be transmitted with the corresponding set of power control parameters 615. In this way, the second device 120-1 may associate respective sets of power control parameters 615 with respective groups of second devices, and may accordingly configure the terminal device 130 to transmit the reference signal 260 to the respective groups of second devices, thereby improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the positioning of the terminal device 130. In some other example embodiments, the first device 110 may only notify the second device 120-1 of the set of power control parameters 615 without transmitting the information 605. Such an example embodiment may be an example of the first device 110 transmitting the plurality of power control parameters 405 to the second device 120-1 as described above with reference to fig. 4 and 5.

With continued reference to fig. 6, after receiving 640 the information 605 from the first device 110 and receiving 660 the corresponding set of power control parameters 615, the second device 120-1 may know that the set of power control parameters 615 is used for a plurality of groups of second devices. The second device 120-1 may then configure the terminal device 130 to transmit the reference signals 260 to the plurality of groups using the respective sets of power control parameters, respectively.

For example, the second device 120-1 may transmit 670 the configuration information 625 to the end device 130. The configuration information 625 may indicate such a configuration for the terminal device 130 to transmit the reference signals 260 to the plurality of groups of second devices 120. After receiving 680 the configuration information 625 from the second device 120-1, the terminal device 130 may transmit the reference signal 260 to the second devices of the respective groups using the respective sets of power control parameters, respectively.

Fig. 9 illustrates a flow diagram of an example method 900 according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. In some example embodiments, the method 900 may be implemented at a device in a communication network, such as the first device 110 shown in fig. 1. Additionally or alternatively, method 900 may also be implemented at other devices shown in fig. 1. In some other example embodiments, method 900 may be implemented at a device not shown in fig. 1.

At block 910, the first device 110 receives power control information from the second set of devices 120 relating to the terminal device 130, the power control information for controlling a transmit power of a reference signal to be transmitted by the terminal device 130 to the second set of devices 120 for locating the terminal device 130. At block 920, the first device 110 determines at least one set of power control parameters for the terminal device 130 to transmit reference signals to the second set of devices 120 based at least on the received power control information. At block 930, the first device 110 provides at least one set of power control parameters to the terminal device 130.

In some example embodiments, the power control information comprises at least one of: a received power of a reference signal expected by a second device of the second set of devices 120, an offset from the expected received power of the reference signal, a fractional power control factor associated with the second device, information about a path loss reference signal to be transmitted by the second device to the terminal device 130 for determining a path loss between the second device and the terminal device 130, or information about a beam of the second device to be used during reception of the reference signal.

In some example embodiments, the expected received power of the reference signal comprises at least one of: a power sufficient for a reference signal detectable by the second device, or a power sufficient for a reference signal used to achieve a predefined positioning measurement quality using the reference signal.

In some example embodiments, determining the at least one set of power control parameters comprises: determining a subset of the second set of devices 120 for performing positioning of the terminal device 130; and determining a set of power control parameters such that the reference signal transmitted by the terminal device 130 is detectable by a subset of the second devices.

In some example embodiments, determining the at least one set of power control parameters comprises: dividing the second set of devices 120 into a plurality of groups; and determining a plurality of sets of power control parameters for the plurality of groups, respectively.

In some example embodiments, the second set of devices 120 includes a serving device 120-1 of the terminal device 130, and dividing the second set of devices 120 into the plurality of groups includes at least one of: determining a plurality of groups based on distances between the serving device 120-1 and other second devices in the second set of devices 120; determining a plurality of groups such that the second devices in each of the plurality of groups are located in an area having a predefined size; determining a plurality of groups based on received powers at the terminal devices 130 associated with reference signals transmitted by the second set of devices 120; and determining a plurality of groups based on the mobility measurement reports of the terminal devices 130.

In some example embodiments, the second set of devices 120 includes a serving device 120-1 of the terminal device 130, and the method 900 further includes: information regarding the grouping of the second set of devices 120 is transmitted to the serving device 120-1.

In some example embodiments, the set of power control parameters includes at least one of: a received power of a reference signal expected by the second set of devices 120, an offset from an expected received power of a reference signal, a fractional power control factor used to transmit a reference signal, or a configuration of path loss reference signals to be transmitted by the second set of devices 120.

In some example embodiments, the second set of devices 120 includes a serving device 120-1 of the terminal device 130, and providing the at least one set of power control parameters to the terminal device 130 includes: at least one set of power control parameters is transmitted by serving device 120-1 to terminal device 130.

In some example embodiments, the second set of devices 120 includes a serving device 120-1 and a non-serving device 120-2 of the terminal device 130, and the method 900 further includes: at least one set of power control parameters is transmitted to the non-serving device 120-2.

In some example embodiments, the first device 110 comprises a location server and the second set of devices 120 comprises network devices.

Fig. 10 illustrates a flow diagram of another example method 1000 in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. In some example embodiments, method 1000 may be implemented at a device in a communication network, such as second device 120-1 (or other second device) shown in fig. 1. Additionally or alternatively, method 1000 may also be implemented at other devices shown in fig. 1. In some other example embodiments, method 1000 may be implemented at a device not shown in fig. 1.

At block 1010, the second device 120-1 (or 120-2, 120-3, etc.) transmits power control information to the first device 110, the power control information for controlling a transmit power of a reference signal to be transmitted by the terminal device 130 to the second device 120-1 (or 120-2, 120-3, etc.) for locating the terminal device 130. At block 1020, the second device 120-1 (or 120-2, 120-3, etc.) receives a reference signal from the terminal device 130 that was transmitted using a set of power control parameters determined by the first device 110 based on the power control information. At block 1030, the second device 120-1 (or 120-2, 120-3, etc.) performs at least one positioning measurement based on the received reference signal from the terminal device 130.

In some example embodiments, the power control information comprises at least one of: a received power of a reference signal expected by the second device 120-1 (or 120-2, 120-3, etc.), an offset from the expected received power of the reference signal, a fractional power control factor associated with the second device 120-1 (or 120-2, 120-3, etc.), information about a path loss reference signal to be transmitted by the second device 120-1 (or 120-2, 120-3, etc.) to the terminal device 130 for determining a path loss between the second device 120-1 (or 120-2, 120-3, etc.) and the terminal device 130, or information about a beam of the second device 120-1 (or 120-2, 120-3, etc.) to be used during reception of the reference signal.

In some example embodiments, the expected received power of the reference signal comprises at least one of: a power sufficient for a reference signal detectable by the second device 120-1 (or 120-2, 120-3, etc.) or a power sufficient for a reference signal used to achieve a predefined quality of positioning measurement using the reference signal.

In some example embodiments, the second device 120-1 is a serving device of the terminal device 130, and the method 1000 further comprises: receiving a set of power control parameters from the first device 110; and transmitting the set of power control parameters to the terminal device 130.

In some example embodiments, the method 1000 further comprises: if it is determined that the estimated interference exceeds the predefined threshold, the set of power control parameters is adjusted prior to transmission of the set of power control parameters to the terminal device 130, the estimated interference will be caused by transmission of the reference signal using the set of power control parameters.

In some example embodiments, the second device 120-1 is a serving device of the terminal device 130, and the method 1000 further comprises: receiving a plurality of sets of power control parameters for terminal device 130 to transmit reference signals from first device 110; selecting a target set of power control parameters from the plurality of sets of power control parameters as a set of power control parameters to be used by the terminal device 130 for transmitting reference signals; and transmitting the target set of power control parameters to the terminal device 130.

In some example embodiments, the second device 120-1 is a serving device of the terminal device 130, and the method 1000 further comprises: receiving a plurality of sets of power control parameters including a set of power control parameters from a first device 110; determining a respective set of resources associated with a plurality of sets of power control parameters; and configuring the terminal device 130 to transmit the reference signal using the plurality of sets of power control parameters and the respective sets of resources.

In some example embodiments, the second device 120-1 is a serving device of the terminal device 130, and the method 1000 further comprises: receiving information on grouping a second device set 120 including a second device 120-1 (or 120-2, 120-3, etc.) into a plurality of groups from the first device 110; receiving, from the first device 110, respective sets of power control parameters for a plurality of groups; and configuring the terminal device 130 to transmit reference signals to the plurality of groups using the respective sets of power control parameters.

In some example embodiments, the method 1000 further comprises: receiving a set of power control parameters from the first device 110; and updating a measurement configuration for performing at least one positioning measurement based on the set of power control parameters.

In some example embodiments, the set of power control parameters includes at least one of: a received power of a reference signal expected by a second set of devices 120 including the second device 120-1 (or 120-2, 120-3, etc.), an offset from the expected received power of the reference signal, a fractional power control factor used to transmit the reference signal, or a configuration of path loss reference signals to be transmitted by the second set of devices 120.

In some example embodiments, the first device 110 comprises a location server and the second device 120-1 (or 120-2, 120-3, etc.) comprises a network device.

In some example embodiments, an apparatus (e.g., first device 110) capable of performing method 900 may include means for performing the respective steps of method 900. The components may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the components may be implemented in circuitry or software modules.

In some example embodiments, the apparatus comprises: means for receiving, at a first device, power control information from a second set of devices related to a terminal device, the power control information for controlling a transmission power of a reference signal to be transmitted by the terminal device to the second set of devices for locating the terminal device; means for determining, based at least on the received power control information, at least one set of power control parameters for the terminal device to transmit reference signals to a second set of devices; and means for providing the at least one set of power control parameters to the terminal device.

In some example embodiments, the power control information comprises at least one of: a received power of a reference signal expected by a second device of the set of second devices, an offset from the expected received power of the reference signal, a fractional power control factor associated with the second device, information about a path loss reference signal to be transmitted by the second device to the terminal device for determining a path loss between the second device and the terminal device, or information about a beam of the second device to be used during reception of the reference signal.

In some example embodiments, the means for determining at least one set of power control parameters comprises: means for determining a subset of a second set of devices for performing positioning of the terminal device; and means for determining a set of power control parameters such that reference signals transmitted by the terminal device are detectable by a subset of the second devices.

In some example embodiments, the means for determining at least one set of power control parameters comprises: means for dividing the second set of devices into a plurality of groups; and means for determining a plurality of sets of power control parameters for a plurality of groups, respectively.

In some example embodiments, the second set of devices comprises a serving device of the terminal device, and the means for dividing the second set of devices into a plurality of groups comprises at least one of: means for determining a plurality of groups based on distances between the serving device and other second devices in the second set of devices; means for determining a plurality of groups such that the second devices in each of the plurality of groups are located in an area having a predefined size; means for determining a plurality of groups based on received powers at the terminal device associated with reference signals transmitted by a second set of devices; and means for determining a plurality of groups based on the mobility measurement reports of the terminal devices.

In some example embodiments, the second set of devices comprises a serving device of the terminal device, and the apparatus further comprises: means for transmitting information regarding the grouping of the second set of devices to the serving device.

In some example embodiments, the set of power control parameters includes at least one of: a received power of a reference signal expected by the second set of devices, an offset from the expected received power of the reference signal, a fractional power control factor used to transmit the reference signal, or a configuration of a pathloss reference signal to be transmitted by the second set of devices.

In some example embodiments, the second set of devices comprises a serving device of the terminal device, and the means for providing the at least one set of power control parameters to the terminal device comprises: means for transmitting, by a serving device, at least one set of power control parameters to a terminal device.

In some example embodiments, the second set of devices includes a serving device and a non-serving device of the terminal device, and the apparatus further comprises: means for transmitting at least one set of power control parameters to a non-serving device.

In some example embodiments, the first device comprises a location server and the second set of devices comprises network devices.

In some example embodiments, the apparatus also includes means for performing other steps in some example embodiments of the method 900. In some example embodiments, the means comprises at least one processor, and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause execution of the apparatus.

In some example embodiments, an apparatus (e.g., the second device 120-1, 120-2, or 120-3, etc.) capable of performing the method 1000 may include means for performing the respective steps of the method 1000. The components may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the components may be implemented in circuitry or software modules.

In some example embodiments, the apparatus comprises: means for transmitting, at the second device, power control information to the first device, the power control information for controlling a transmit power of a reference signal to be transmitted by the terminal device to the second device for locating the terminal device; means for receiving, from a terminal device, a reference signal transmitted using a set of power control parameters, the set of power control parameters determined by a first device based on power control information; and means for performing at least one positioning measurement based on the received reference signal from the terminal device.

In some example embodiments, the power control information comprises at least one of: a received power of a reference signal expected by the second device, an offset from the expected received power of the reference signal, a fractional power control factor associated with the second device, information about a path loss reference signal to be transmitted by the second device to the terminal device for determining a path loss between the second device and the terminal device, or information about a beam of the second device to be used during reception of the reference signal.

In some example embodiments, the second device is a serving device of the terminal device, and the apparatus further comprises: means for receiving a set of power control parameters from a first device; and means for transmitting the set of power control parameters to the terminal device.

In some example embodiments, the apparatus further comprises: means for adjusting a set of power control parameters prior to transmission of the set of power control parameters to the terminal device if it is determined that the estimated interference exceeds a predefined threshold, the estimated interference to be caused by transmission of a reference signal using the set of power control parameters.

In some example embodiments, the second device is a serving device of the terminal device, and the apparatus further comprises: means for receiving, from a first device, a plurality of sets of power control parameters for a terminal device to transmit a reference signal; means for selecting a target set of power control parameters from a plurality of sets of power control parameters as a set of power control parameters to be used by a terminal device for transmitting reference signals; and means for transmitting the set of target power control parameters to the terminal device.

In some example embodiments, the second device is a serving device of the terminal device, and the apparatus further comprises: means for receiving a plurality of sets of power control parameters including a set of power control parameters from a first device; means for determining respective sets of resources associated with a plurality of sets of power control parameters; and means for configuring the terminal device to transmit the reference signal using the plurality of sets of power control parameters and the respective sets of resources.

In some example embodiments, the second device is a serving device of the terminal device, and the apparatus further comprises: means for receiving, from a first device, information on grouping a second set of devices including a second device into a plurality of groups; means for receiving, from a first device, respective sets of power control parameters for a plurality of groups; and means for configuring the terminal device to transmit the reference signals to the plurality of groups using the respective sets of power control parameters.

In some example embodiments, the apparatus further comprises: means for receiving a set of power control parameters from a first device; and means for updating a measurement configuration for performing at least one positioning measurement based on the set of power control parameters.

In some example embodiments, the set of power control parameters includes at least one of: a received power of a reference signal expected by a second set of devices including the second device, an offset from the expected received power of the reference signal, a fractional power control factor used to transmit the reference signal, or a configuration of path loss reference signals to be transmitted by the second set of devices.

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

In some example embodiments, the apparatus further comprises means for performing other steps in some example embodiments of the method 1000. In some example embodiments, the means comprises at least one processor, and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause execution of the apparatus.

Fig. 11 illustrates a simplified block diagram of a device 1100 suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure. The device 1100 may be provided to implement communication devices, such as the first device 110, the second set of devices 120, and the terminal device 130 shown in fig. 1. As shown, the device 1100 includes one or more processors 1110, one or more memories 1120 coupled to the processors 1110, and one or more communication modules 1140 coupled to the processors 1110.

The communication module 1140 is used for bidirectional communication. The communication module 1140 has at least one antenna to facilitate communication. A communication interface may represent any interface necessary for communication with other network elements.

The processor 1110 may be of any type suitable for a local technology network, and may include one or more of the following, as non-limiting examples: general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital Signal Processors (DSPs), and processors based on a multi-core processor architecture. Device 1100 may have multiple processors, such as application specific integrated circuit chips that are time-dependent from a clock synchronized to the host processor.

The memory 1120 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) 1124, electrically Programmable Read Only Memory (EPROM), flash memory, a hard disk, a Compact Disk (CD), a Digital Video Disk (DVD), and other magnetic and/or optical storage devices. Examples of volatile memory include, but are not limited to, random Access Memory (RAM) 1122, and other volatile memory that does not persist for the duration of the power loss.

Computer programs 1130 include computer-executable instructions that are executed by an associated processor 1110. Computer programs 1130 may be stored in ROM 1124. Processor 1110 may perform any suitable actions and processes by loading computer programs 1130 into RAM 1122.

Example embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by way of computer program 1130 such that apparatus 1100 may perform any of the processes of the present disclosure as discussed with reference to fig. 9 or 10. Example embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented by hardware or by a combination of software and hardware.

In some example embodiments, the computer program 1130 may be tangibly embodied in a computer-readable medium, which may be included in the device 1100 (such as in the memory 1120) or other storage device accessible by the device 1100. The device 1100 may load the computer program 1130 from the computer-readable medium into RAM 1122 for execution. The computer readable medium may include any type of tangible, non-volatile storage such as a ROM, EPROM, flash memory, hard disk, CD, DVD, etc.

Fig. 12 illustrates a block diagram of an example computer-readable medium 1200 in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. In the example of fig. 12, the computer readable medium 1200 is in the form of a CD or DVD. The computer-readable medium 1200 has stored thereon a computer program 1130.

In general, the various example embodiments of this 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 example embodiments of this disclosure are illustrated and described as block diagrams, flow charts, or using some other pictorial representation, it is well understood that the 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 those included in program modules, that are executed in a device on a target real or virtual processor to perform the

method

900 or 1000 described above with reference to fig. 9 or 10. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The functionality of the program modules may be combined or split between program modules as desired in various exemplary embodiments. Machine-executable instructions for program modules may be executed within a local or distributed device. In a distributed facility, program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage media.

Program code for performing the methods of the present disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. These program codes 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 codes, when executed by the processor or controller, cause the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram to be performed. 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 the present disclosure, computer program code or related data may be carried by any suitable carrier to enable an apparatus, device or processor to perform various processes and operations as described above. Examples of a carrier include a signal, computer readable medium, and the like.

The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. A 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.

Further, while operations are depicted in a particular order, this should not be understood 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. Likewise, while the above discussion contains several specific implementation details, 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 example embodiments. Certain features that are described in the context of separate example embodiments can also be implemented in combination in a single example embodiment. Conversely, various features that are described in the context of a single example embodiment can also be implemented in multiple example 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 for communication, comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory storing computer program code;

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

receiving power control information from a second set of devices relating to a terminal device, the power control information for controlling a transmit power of a reference signal to be transmitted by the terminal device to the second set of devices for locating the terminal device;

determining, based at least on the received power control information, at least one set of power control parameters for the terminal device to transmit the reference signal to the second set of devices; and

providing the at least one set of power control parameters to the terminal device.

2. The first device of claim 1, wherein the power control information comprises at least one of:

a received power of the reference signal expected by a second device of the second set of devices,

an offset from the expected received power of the reference signal,

a fractional power control factor associated with the second device,

information on a path loss reference signal to be transmitted by the second device to the terminal device, the path loss reference signal being used to determine a path loss between the second device and the terminal device, or

Information on a beam of the second device to be used during reception of the reference signal.

3. The first apparatus of claim 2, wherein the expected received power of the reference signal comprises at least one of:

power sufficient for the reference signal detectable by the second device, or

A power of the reference signal sufficient for achieving a predefined positioning measurement quality using the reference signal.

4. The first device of claim 1, wherein the first device is caused to determine the at least one set of power control parameters by:

determining a subset of the second set of devices for performing positioning of the terminal device; and

determining a set of power control parameters such that the reference signals transmitted by the terminal device are detectable by the subset of second devices.

5. The first device of claim 1, wherein the first device is caused to determine the at least one set of power control parameters by:

dividing the second set of devices into a plurality of groups; and

a plurality of sets of power control parameters are determined for the plurality of groups, respectively.

6. The first device of claim 5, wherein the second set of devices comprises a serving device of the terminal device, and wherein the first device is caused to divide the second set of devices into the plurality of groups by at least one of:

determining the plurality of groups based on distances between the serving device and other second devices in the second set of devices;

determining the plurality of groups such that the second devices in each of the plurality of groups are located in an area having a predefined size;

determining the plurality of groups based on received powers at the terminal device associated with reference signals transmitted by the second set of devices; and

determining the plurality of groups based on mobility measurement reports of the terminal device.

7. The first device of claim 5, wherein the second set of devices comprises a serving device of the terminal device, and wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the first device to:

transmitting information regarding the grouping of the second set of devices to the serving device.

8. The first device of claim 1, wherein the set of power control parameters comprises at least one of:

a received power of the reference signal expected by the second set of devices,

an offset from the expected received power of the reference signal,

fractional power control factor for transmitting the reference signal, or

A configuration of path loss reference signals to be transmitted by the second set of devices.

9. The first device of claim 1, wherein the second set of devices comprises a serving device of the terminal device, and wherein the first device is caused to provide the at least one set of power control parameters to the terminal device by:

transmitting, by the serving device, the at least one set of power control parameters to the terminal device.

10. The first device of claim 1, wherein the second set of devices includes a serving device and a non-serving device of the terminal device, and wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the first device to:

transmitting the at least one set of power control parameters to the non-serving device.

11. The first device of any of claims 1-10, wherein the first device comprises a location server and the second set of devices comprises network devices.

12. A second device for communication, comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory storing computer program code;

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

transmitting power control information to a first device, the power control information for controlling a transmit power of a reference signal to be transmitted by a terminal device to the second device for locating the terminal device;

receiving, from the terminal device, the reference signal transmitted using a set of power control parameters determined by the first device based on the power control information; and

performing at least one positioning measurement based on the received reference signal from the terminal device.

13. The second device of claim 12, wherein the power control information comprises at least one of:

a received power of the reference signal expected by the second device,

an offset from the expected received power of the reference signal,

a fractional power control factor associated with the second device,

14. The second apparatus of claim 13, wherein the expected received power of the reference signal comprises at least one of:

a power sufficient for the reference signal detectable by the second device, or

15. The second device of claim 12, wherein the second device is a serving device of the terminal device, and wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the second device to:

receiving the set of power control parameters from the first device; and

transmitting the set of power control parameters to the terminal device.

16. The second apparatus of claim 15, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the second apparatus to:

adjusting the set of power control parameters prior to transmission of the set of power control parameters to the terminal device if it is determined that the estimated interference would be caused by transmission of the reference signal using the set of power control parameters exceeds a predefined threshold.

17. The second device of claim 12, wherein the second device is a serving device of the terminal device, and wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the second device to:

receiving, from the first device, a plurality of sets of power control parameters for the terminal device to transmit the reference signal;

selecting a target set of power control parameters from the plurality of sets of power control parameters as the set of power control parameters used by the terminal device to transmit the reference signal; and

transmitting the set of target power control parameters to the terminal device.

18. The second device of claim 12, wherein the second device is a serving device of the terminal device, and wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the second device to:

receiving, from the first device, a plurality of sets of power control parameters including the set of power control parameters;

determining respective sets of resources associated with the plurality of sets of power control parameters; and

configuring the terminal device to transmit the reference signal using the plurality of sets of power control parameters and the respective set of resources.

19. The second device of claim 12, wherein the second device is a serving device of the terminal device, and wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the second device to:

receiving, from the first device, information on grouping a second set of devices including the second device into a plurality of groups;

receiving, from the first device, respective sets of power control parameters for the plurality of groups; and

configuring the terminal device to transmit the reference signals to the plurality of groups using the respective sets of power control parameters.

20. The second apparatus of claim 12, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the second apparatus to:

receiving the set of power control parameters from the first device; and

updating a measurement configuration for performing the at least one positioning measurement based on the set of power control parameters.

21. The second device of claim 12, wherein the set of power control parameters comprises at least one of:

a received power of the reference signal expected by a second set of devices including the second device,

an offset from the expected received power of the reference signal,

fractional power control factor for transmitting the reference signal, or

22. The second device of any of claims 12-21, wherein the first device comprises a location server and the second device comprises a network device.

23. A method for communication, comprising:

receiving, at a first device, power control information from a second set of devices relating to a terminal device, the power control information for controlling a transmit power of a reference signal to be transmitted by the terminal device to the second set of devices for locating the terminal device;

24. A method for communication, comprising:

transmitting, at a second device, power control information to a first device, the power control information for controlling a transmit power of a reference signal to be transmitted by a terminal device to the second device for locating the terminal device;

25. An apparatus for communication, comprising:

means for receiving, at a first device, power control information from a second set of devices related to a terminal device, the power control information for controlling a transmit power of a reference signal to be transmitted by the terminal device to the second set of devices for locating the terminal device;

means for determining at least one set of power control parameters for the terminal device to transmit the reference signal to the second set of devices based at least on the received power control information; and

means for providing the at least one set of power control parameters to the terminal device.

26. An apparatus for communication, comprising:

means for transmitting, at a second device, power control information to a first device, the power control information for controlling a transmit power of a reference signal to be transmitted by a terminal device to the second device for locating the terminal device;

means for receiving the reference signal transmitted using a set of power control parameters from the terminal device, the set of power control parameters determined by the first device based on the power control information; and

means for performing at least one positioning measurement based on the received reference signal from the terminal device.

27. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method of claim 23 or 24.